Harry Potter  The New Marauders
by PotterFanSteve
Summary: Continuing tthe Happily Ever After storyline, TNM follows Al, Lily, Rose, Nick, their friends, and family through the nine years after the DH epilogue, through their years at Hogwarts, and beyond.
1. Hogwarts Express and Sorting Surprises

Harry Potter - The New Marauders

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.

******A/N: Sept. 5, 2011 - If you're looking for something new to read, my Heirs of the Magi blog(see profile homepage) has just started a series of journal entries that continue the Heirs of the Magi storyline beginning on the last day of Book Two - Magi Master. I'd also like to thank everyone who has been reading my HP fan fictions - there have now been over 400,000 chapter hits since the stories were re-posted! Look for 'A Harry Potter Christmas Carol' short story coming in time for Thanksgiving in November, and I plan to have the next installment of 'After the War' ready by Christmas too.**

Synopsis: We take up the HP story from the end of the DH epilogue, using the 'Happily Ever After' storyline.

Year One - Chapters 1-14; Two - 15-35; Three - 36-51; Four - 52-65; Five - 66-81; Six - 82-96; Seven - 97-111; Eight - 112-126; Nine - 127-143.

Chapter One - Hogwarts Express and Sorting Surprises

James had gone to find a compartment with his friends; leaving Al and his cousins to fend for themselves without a second thought, or backward glance. Al had known that his brother wouldn't be helping them, first because James had told him he wasn't going to be his babysitter at least a hundred times over the summer, and second because if James had to choose between responsibility and having fun with his mates, fun always won. He and Rose found an empty compartment together, and they had just begun to put their things away when the door opened, and Nicolas joined them.

"Come on in, Nick," Rose told her cousin with a smile. "I'm surprised you were able to escape that broom lecture so quickly."

Nicolas smiled at her. "Mum ran interference for me," he explained. His cousins laughed with him. Nick did love his father, but sometimes those lectures could be a real snore.

When they'd all stored their things, they sat down, and were about to start talking about what would be happening when they got to school when the door opened again, and the blond-haired boy that Rose's dad had been talking about looked in to see if there was an empty seat.

Rose smiled at him. "We've got room, and you're welcome to join us," she offered. Scorpius Malfoy looked at the three other kids, and they watched him in return, seeing the expression on his face change as he recognized each of them when he looked first at Rose, then Nicolas, and finally at Al.

Rose stood up and walked the few steps to the door. "Our parents aren't here, Scorpius, and we aren't them. Why don't you come in; put your things away; and we can decide for ourselves whether we like each other or not?" Scorpius looked at her for a long moment, and then he nodded, dragged his trunk in with him, and closed the door.

"Since you obviously at least recognize which families we're from by our looks, then you probably just need to get names." Scorpius nodded again as he sat down.

"I'm Rose Weasley," she began, holding her hand out to shake his before continuing. "This is my cousin, Nicolas Weasley," she told the other boy next as she pointed toward him, before turning toward Albus and smiling at him. "I'm sure that you recognize the red-haired carbon copy of my Uncle Harry, my cousin Al."

Al and Nick had both held out a hand to Scorpius too as Rose introduced them, and he shook their hands, though he was still watching them intently, and seemed to be very carefully assessing the unexpected situation he'd suddenly found himself in.

"I hope you won't be offended Rose, but this is really, seriously weird," he finally said, speaking for the first time as he sat back in his seat. His three compartment mates all laughed, and Scorpius couldn't help but smile at them.

"No offense taken," Al answered for them with a smile. "I'd say that was pretty accurate."

The four of them settled in for the long ride, and Scorpius pulled out Hogwarts: A History and turned to the page he'd left off on about half way through the book. Rose saw what he was reading and smiled.

"How do you like the book?" she asked him.

"I like the stories about the founders the best, but Grandpa says the new chapters that cover the last war, and the Battle of Hogwarts is a load of Hippogriff..." he trailed off, blushing a bit, and looked back down at his book.

Rose laughed. "Don't worry, mate. My Mum says there are a lot of mistakes in those chapters too."

Scorpius looked up at her again, his face showing his surprise. "Really?"

Rose nodded. "Nobody in our family ever really talks about the war very much, but I get the feeling there were a lot of things that happened that are never going to make the History books." Scorpius nodded, and he went back to reading his book, but was paying close attention as the other three kids talked quietly together.

"You know," Nicolas said, "even though almost everyone in our family has been in Gryffindor, I'm not sure it'd be all that bad to be sorted into another house instead." Scorpius jumped slightly, and was again surprised – especially since Nick was telling his cousins something that he'd been thinking a lot about for most of the summer.

Rose smiled at her cousin. "Your Mum was in Ravenclaw," she pointed out. "Maybe you'll get sorted into that house instead of Gryffindor."

"If I can't be in Gryffindor, that's where I'd want to be too," Al told them. "You should be sorted into Ravenclaw, Rose - you're the smartest one of us, and Ravenclaw is supposed to be where the best and brightest get sorted."

Rose laughed and leaned over to hug Al. "Maybe, but if I am, it's not by very much. Since Mum was the best in her year, and she got sorted into Gryffindor, I'm not sure that matters. If any of us cousins were going to get sorted into Ravenclaw, though, I'd have to pick Lily for that. I can't wait until she gets to Hogwarts too – that's really going to be fun to watch!"

Al laughed too. "It will be, and that wouldn't surprise me at all. She had every one of my first-year books read just in the time since we got them. I'm planning on getting her to help me with my homework during the holidays, even if she is only nine." The others were surprised when Scorpius joined in while they laughed. He still hadn't said much yet, but they'd all gotten a really good impression of him so far.

When the trolley came by, they each got drinks, a few sweets and pasties, and then passed the rest of the trip to Hogsmeade talking about Hogwarts, school Quidditch, what they thought about all of their their first-year textbooks, which they had all nearly finished reading, and mostly about what they hoped their first year at school would be like. By the time the train pulled into the Hogsmeade station, Al, Nick, and Rose had made one new friend, they'd helped each other work through the nervousness they were all feeling about being away from home for the first time, and were ready to face their new adventures together.

"A'right, first years! Follow me!" Hagrid called out to them. Rose ran over to the big man and gave him a hug. "Hi, Hagrid," she told him, flashing her brightest smile as she looked up at him. He patted her on the back with one huge hand. "Good ter see you, Rose." He looked over at the other three kids. "Al, Nick," he greeted the boys. He hadn't met Scorpius before, but there was no doubt whose boy he was, and he was surprised to see him obviously chumming with the others.

"This is our new friend, Scorpius, Hagrid," Rose told him. "We rode here on the train together."

Hagrid nodded to the boy, who stared back at him with wide eyes. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Mr. Malfoy," Hagrid rumbled. "Now enough chatter, let's get to the boats or we'll be late for the feast."

Rose led the way as they followed Hagrid. She and the three boys got into one of the boats, and they were each thrilled as they crossed the lake, getting to see the amazing view of Hogwarts as they approached, and then arrived at the school. They were ushered into the entrance hall, and were met at the top of the stairs by Professor Longbottom. Rose again ignored protocol and gave him an enthusiastic hug.

"Hi, Neville!" she told him happily.

He looked down at her sternly, and shook his head. "That's Professor Longbottom, Miss Weasley," he told her. "Five points from…" he grinned suddenly "…I guess that one's free, since you don't have a House yet, but remember that next time, young lady." Rose giggled, and her eyes were dancing with delight as she rejoined Scorpius and her cousins.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Neville told them. "When we enter the Great Hall in a few moments, you will each be sorted into one of the four Houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." he looked around at the children, and smiled. "Your House will be your family here at Hogwarts while you attend school. Please wait here; and I will return for you once we are ready to begin the sorting."

Scorpius had been staring at Rose, having seen her now hug a half-giant and a Professor - actually two Professors, he thought, remembering that Hagrid was also a teacher here. She didn't even seem to think about just how unusual doing that really was. Rose saw him watching her and smiled.

"Wait until my Dad finds out that I almost lost points before even getting sorted," she told the boys in a hushed voice. "He'll be so proud of me." She had a mischievous grin on her face, and Scorpius, Al, and Nick all laughed. The more time he spent with his three new friends, the better Scorpius was feeling about what it was going to be like for him at Hogwarts. He'd never in his wildest dreams considered a start to the year that was anything like this.

Professor Longbottom returned, and smiled at the mostly nervous-looking group of kids. "It's time to go in now. Follow me," he told them, waving for them to follow him into the Great Hall.

Rose, and the three boys, walked into the Great Hall close together, and they all had the same awed expression on their faces as they looked around at the incredible sights. Al saw James sitting at the Gryffindor table with his friends; and his brother mouthed the word 'Slytherin', which Al pointedly ignored. When they were all lined up at the front of the hall, and the sorting hat had finished it's song, the sorting began.

Scorpius was the first of the four of them called to be sorted. Since everyone in his family had been sorted into Slytherin, except for two black sheep who were never talked about, Rose wasn't sure if she and her cousins, or Scorpius himself was more surprised when the hat called out – "RAVENCLAW!" He hopped down from the stool, looking stunned, and walked over to the Ravenclaw table, where he sat down next to one of the other new first year Ravenclaw boys. The students in his new House clapped in welcome, but many of them looked just as surprised. The Malfoy name just didn't mean what it used to.

Al was the next one of their foursome to be called. He sat nervously on the stool as Neville placed the hat on his head.

"Hmmm. Another Potter brother. Let's see now. Yes, you are very much like your father, no doubt about that, but wait, yes, this is very interesting. My boy, there's only one place to put you - RAVENCLAW!"

Professor Longbottom lifted the hat, and as Al got off of the stool, he looked over to the Gryffindor table, where he saw James looking at him with stunned amazement. He quickly went over to join Scorpius at the Ravenclaw table, which with this announcement, had gone absolutely wild as the other Ravenclaw students cheered. Ravenclaw was getting a Potter! He smiled at Scorpius.

"Won't our parents be in for a shock when they find out," he told the other boy with a grin.

The two Weasleys were at the end of the alphabet, and the last two to be sorted this year. Nick was called up first, and sat down on the stool. "Well, Well, Well! What do we have here? A Weasley! But oh, look at that mind! You definitely belong in - RAVENCLAW!" Nicolas was smiling happily as he ran over to join Al and Scorpius, where he was getting a welcoming round of applause from the Ravenclaw table that was nearly as loud as it had been for Al. Finally, lastly, it was Rose's turn.

"Another Weasley! Yes, you are quite as brave as your Mum and Dad, and just look at that shining mind! You are every bit as bright as your mother! My dear, you must join your cousins in RAVENCLAW!" Rose was cheered and welcomed by her new house, her cousins, and new friend as she hurried over to the Ravenclaw table, where she hugged all three boys. When the commotion quieted, they were all asked to take their seats, while Professor Longbottom took the stool and sorting hat with him, and joined the other Professors at the head table.

"Good evening," Professor McGonagall began. "To all our first-year students; welcome! For those of you returning to our school, welcome back!" She looked around the room and smiled. "For those of you who do not yet know me, I'm Professor McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before we begin our feast, there are a few announcements. Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes joke products are, as always, banned at Hogwarts. WiComms, GameWizards, and portable WWVN's are not permitted in classrooms or the Library. The forbidden forest is off-limits to all students except when in class with Professor Hagrid." She took a moment to look around, and seemed to be making eye contact with some specific students before she continued.

"Finally, I wish you all the best for the coming year. It will, I'm certain, be the finest one yet at Hogwarts!" With a flourish of her arms, she added, "Let the feast begin!"

The tables filled with food, and everyone started filling their plates. The ghosts entered the hall, and the Grey Lady introduced herself to the first year students at the Ravenclaw table.

"Well, what an interesting group of new students we have this year!" she said happily. "Our house is very fortunate to get some of the best and brightest from families that usually end up in my brother Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses!" She looked at Al for a few extra moments, which made him a bit uncomfortable, but then she moved on along the table, continuing to greet the other new and returning Ravenclaw students.

Dinner was amazing. Al, Rose, Nicolas, and Scorpius talked happily together during the meal, and after the feast ended, and Professor McGonagall wished them all a good night, two of their Prefects gathered the first year students together, led them to Ravenclaw Tower, and into their Common Room and new home for the next seven school years. They hadn't been there very long when an older girl came up to the four of them and introduced herself to Al.

"I'm Trinity Bradley," she told him with a smile, "the Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team." Al returned her smile. It was obvious that she already knew who he was, so he didn't bother to state the obvious, and instead introduced her to Rose, Nick, and Scorpius.

"With today being a Friday, you all get the chance to settle in here all weekend before classes start on Monday, but I wanted to let you know that I'm holding our Quidditch tryouts tomorrow morning. Will you be trying out for the team?" Al hadn't planned on playing Quidditch, but then most of that decision had been because he hadn't wanted to be competing for a spot with James, Aaron, or Arianna. Competing against them, though, was a whole new possibility, and the idea of it had his smile brightening several notches.

"Actually, I'm fairly sure that we'll all be trying out for the team tomorrow," he told her enthusiastically. Trinity looked surprised, and he laughed. "You're probably thinking that you've got one of my Dad's sons, but you've also got the daughter of two-time World Cup Quidditch champion Ron Weasley, the son of a former Slytherin team Captain and Seeker, and I can assure you that my cousin Nick here is about as fast on his Firebolt as any of the rest of us, and I've had the bruises often enough to prove that he's a pretty fair Beater like his Uncle Fred and Uncle George used to be when they played for Gryffindor." Trinity looked like she'd just been given the best Christmas present of her life.

"Then I'll see you all at tryouts tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe we'll finally be able to give Gryffindor a run for their money this year."

Al laughed. "That'd be great if we can, Trinity. I'd feel really bad for my brother if your team beat his, but I'm sure that somehow, I could find a way to get over it fairly quickly." They were all laughing now, and after Trinity had left them, Al turned to the others, and grinned at them.

"I hope you don't mind that I volunteered all of us to try out for the team, but I have a really good feeling about our chances."

Scorpius was the first one to answer him. "I don't know about Rose and Nick, but I was sure planning to try out for my House team anyway. It'll just be way more fun getting to do that with the rest of you too." He turned to look at Nick, and smiled. "You have a Firebolt too?" Nick nodded.

"Actually, we all do. Rose got hers from her Dad, and Al and I got ours from Uncle Harry."

Scorpius nodded, and his smile brightened. "I wasn't really looking forward to coming here, but things are definitely looking up."

Rose laughed and gave him a hug. "Great, isn't it," she told him. Looking into his startled eyes, she smiled. "You're going to have to get used to hugs, mate. They happen a lot in our family, and if you plan on hanging around with us, hugging is definitely going to be involved."

Al laughed too, and put a hand on his new friend's shoulder. "Definitely. If you think Rose hugs a lot, wait a couple of years until you meet my sister Lily."

Rose was led off to the girl's dormitory when she and the other first year girls were rounded up so they could be shown their rooms, while the boys were taken to the boy's first year dorms. Al suspected that someone must have been keeping an eye on which boys were hanging out with each other, because he, Nick, and Scorpius had their beds next to each other, with Nick in the middle of the three beds. They each started unpacking, met the other first year boys in their room, and then got changed and climbed into bed for their first night sleeping at Hogwarts. They did talk for a while, and though they were all tired, with everything that had happened, and so much of that being unexpected, it was quite a while before any of them got to sleep. They were all still a bit shocked about the start of their year, but they were also each sure that whatever happened next, it was going to be very exciting.


	2. Quidditch Tryouts

Chapter Two - Quidditch Team Tryouts

Rose met the boys in the common room in the morning; and they went to the Great Hall together. They found seats among the other first year kids, and enjoyed having a great breakfast before heading back to Ravenclaw Tower to get their brooms. They faced their very first question from the Ravenclaw eagle door knocker, and Rose had happily answered it correctly for them, earning a compliment for her answer as they were admitted into the Common Room. It only took them a few minutes to get their brooms, and then they hurried out of the castle, heading for the Quidditch pitch.

There were over fifty Ravenclaw students there when Trinity called them together, and she began the tryouts by having her team prospects demonstrate their flying skills in groups of ten. Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius were all in the first group, and when they landed, about fifteen of the other students left the pitch without even getting in the air. Last season's team had three seventh, and one sixth year student who hadn't returned to Hogwarts this year. Trinity was a fifth year student, and was one of the Chasers. The other two Chaser spots were open, as was the Keeper and one of the Beater positions. The Seeker and one Beater from last year were trying out today too, but nobody really expected anyone to be able to take their positions away from them.

Nick was one of the six students trying out for one of the Beater jobs; and he was the only first year student in that group. As expected, the Beater from last year, Rick Davies, earned his spot back, and to the surprise of several of the older students, Nick earned the other position with a tryout that proved that he was actually a bit better than Rick. That accomplishment earned him some well-deserved respect from the other boys, and his new third year student Beater partner looked very happy as they talked together while the tryouts continued.

The tryouts for Chaser were next, and Al and Rose stepped forward, along with nine other excited-looking hopefuls. While he was just as excited as the others, Al almost felt sorry for their competition. He and Rose had two years of Quidditch practice, and years more of flying and playing LaserBroom together, and they had trained with, and played against all three of Gryffindor's Chasers. Trinity had just picked two students that she knew were going to try out for the position to play Keeper, and sent the eleven Chaser candidates up to battle against each other, and try scoring against the two temporary Keepers. They'd thought that it was a strange way to do that, but Al and Rose took advantage of the situation, worked together, and scored four and five goals respectively in under fifteen minutes, while only three other players scored a total of four goals. Trinity called everyone back to the ground at that point; and nobody in the stadium had any doubt who'd made the team.

When Trinity called for the Keeper tryout next, Scorpius was the only one to step forward with the two boys Trinity had play Keeper for the Chaser tryouts. She, Al, and Rose took to the air, and the three Keeper candidates faced three shots from each of them. The first two kids, fourth and sixth year students, saved just three shots out of nine each - both of them stopping two out of three of Trinity's shots, and the first guy stopping one of Al's, and missing all three of Rose's shots, while the second guy missed all of Al's and stopped only one of Rose's shots. Scorpius stopped seven out of nine shots; blanking Trinity, and only allowing one goal each against Rose and Al.

"You learn fast," Rose had complimented him after they'd landed. "I take it that you don't make the same mistake twice very often."

Scorpius had grinned at her. "I really try not to, but I'm pretty sure I had a little bit of luck with me today."

"Along with some serious Quidditch skills, mate," Al countered.

Trinity was already moving on to the Seeker tryouts, and had just two students step forward. She released the snitch, the two teens took off, and in just under ten minutes, the sixth year Witch who had played Seeker for Ravenclaw during the last few seasons successfully defended her spot on the team.

Trinity had hugged her smiling friend and teammate after she'd landed, she'd thanked everyone for trying out, and then met with her new team to do the introductions and set up practices while the rest of the Ravenclaw students left the stadium.

"This is the first time that I've ever heard of at Hogwarts where _four_ first year students have made a house team in a single year," she said, smiling at the newest members of her team. "I'd say that from what I saw today, Ravenclaw is going to be a team to look out for over the next seven years."

Since Nick had spent most of the time during the rest of the tryouts talking with his new Beater partner, Trinity's introductions were mostly for the benefit of their Seeker, Christina Chambers, who had been just as excited as Trinity and Rick were about their four very talented new players. While Trinity began going over their practice schedule, which was going to be starting on Monday, Al was smiling as he looked around at the other members of the team. Trinity and Rick were both using decent Nimbus 2015's that would at least allow them to be competitive with the other teams, but Christina was using a school broom. He thought it said a lot about her abilities that she had managed to win the Seeker tryout on a broom like that when her competition had been flying a Nimbus 2015 too. Al's smile brightened; thinking that there was a good chance that, with a little help from his family, his new teammate was going to get a surprise next week that she was really going to love a lot.

When the meeting ended, and after they got back to the Common Room, Rose was gathered up by a group of the other first year girls, while Al, Nick, and Scorpius were surrounded by some of the other first year boys who all wanted to congratulate them and celebrate having so many firsties make the house team. Later that afternoon, Al finally got a chance to sit down and write the first letter home to his parents.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Well, depending on whether you've heard from James, Aaron, or Arianna already, you may or may not know that I was sorted in to Ravenclaw. I'm at least in good company with Rose, Nick, and our newest friend Scorpius Malfoy. Hopefully you didn't fall off your chairs with that news. While we're still just getting to know each other so far, we all really like Scorpius a lot.

Everything has been great so far, but the best news is that Rose and I both made the Ravenclaw Quidditch team at Chaser, Nick is going to be one of our Beaters, and Scorpius made the team too, winning the Keeper job. How's that for a powerhouse group of first years?

While I'm thinking about Quidditch, I think that our Seeker, Christina Chambers, is really great, but she uses the school brooms, and as good as she is, probably can't be very competitive against the other team Seekers flying better brooms. Do you think we could help her out with a Nimbus or a Firebolt? I know, it's for Ravenclaw, and all that, but if we can't help, maybe Nick can see if his Mom wants to help her old House team out, and we can give Gryffindor at least one great team to play against this year.

We get the rest of the weekend to settle in, and the four of us are heroes with the rest of the first years, so it should be loads of fun.

I'll write again soon,

Love you, Al.

P.S. Give Lily a big hug a kiss for me. I miss you sis. Take care of Mum and Dad for us while we're away.

When it was time for dinner, Al went down to the Great Hall with Rose, Nick, and Scorpius, and James was waiting for Al at the bottom of the stairs in the entrance hall when they got there.

"I can't believe that none of you got sorted into Gryffindor," he told Al, Rose, and Nick. "What's up with that?"

Al smiled at his brother. "I don't know, but it's been great here so far, and we're looking forward to playing Quidditch against you this year."

James stared at him in surprise. "I thought you didn't want to play for the House team. You always told us you just like to play for fun." He watched as his brother, cousins, and apparently a new friend all laughed.

"I hadn't planned on trying to compete for a spot against you, Aaron, or Arianna, but since I'm not in your House, that wasn't a problem, and when Trinity asked us about it, playing for Ravenclaw sounded like fun." He waved toward Rose, Nick, and Scorpius, and smiled. "We all tried out for, and made, the team." Al laughed again at the look on James' face. "We really wish you the best of luck this season."

"Except for in your game in May against us," Rose added with a grin. "We're hoping that luck will be on our side that day."

James laughed too. "You know, that sounded a lot like you seriously believe that you have a chance against Gryffindor. That's really funny – and fairly delusional."

Al just smiled and shrugged. "We'll see. You haven't seen Scorpius here play Keeper yet, and we might just surprise you."

James put his hand out to the other boy. "I'm sure that Arianna, Aaron, and I will look forward to playing against you, though I really doubt you'll feel the same way, mate. It's nice to meet you Scorpius. You have my deepest condolences on being stuck in the same House with my loser brother. Stick with Rose and Nick, and maybe it won't be so bad."

Scorpius shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too, James," he said with a grin. "I wouldn't look too forward to that game if I were you."

James laughed again, his eyes lighting up. "That's pretty brave – maybe you should have been Gryffindor. While embarrassing Al in front of the entire school would be fun, I actually do hope your team is good this year. That'd make our win over Ravenclaw that much more satisfying, though getting to beat my brother and cousins will be enough of a reward." He gave them a jaunty wave and left for the Gryffindor table to join his friends.

Rose spent most of the weekend with Al, Nick, and Scorpius, and they quickly became nearly inseparable as they explored the school, walked the grounds, and hung out together in the Common Room with the other firsties. They all went to bed early on Sunday night, and while they were nervous about the first day of classes that would be starting in the morning, they were also excited, and sure that they were about to begin a brilliant, amazing adventure.


	3. First Day of Classes

Chapter Three - First Day of Classes

There was an excited buzz of noise throughout the Great Hall on Monday morning. This year had been one of those rare occasions where September first had landed on a Friday, and the students had started their year with a whole weekend off; instead

of getting right into classes. Al was looking around at his cousins and Scorpius; and was smiling. Rose looked up from her food and smiled back at him.

"You look happy this morning, Al," she told him.

"I am. Was just thinking that maybe not getting in Gryffindor, or in Scorpius' case, Slytherin, is going to be a really good thing for all of us."

Rose nodded. "I think it's brilliant too, Al. We can let James carry on with all of that family tradition and reputation to live up to over at Gryffindor, and we can just do our own thing here in Ravenclaw."

Al laughed. "There goes the family reputation."

Scorpius snorted a laugh. "That would depend on the point of view, mate. From my Grandfather's perspective, I'd say James has nowhere to go but up."

Al, Rose, and Nick all laughed along with Scorpius. Their friend knew by now that he could freely talk with them about some of the less complimentary things he'd always been told about their family without having to worry about offending them. The only thing that he found more surprising than that was the fact that their family never talked badly about his – in fact, these three kids really didn't even know very much about his parents and grandparents at all. They received their schedules after breakfast, and all headed off to Potions with Professor Slughorn. They were all gathered in front of the dungeon doors to the Potions classroom when Professor Slughorn opened the door and invited them all into the room.

"Come in! Come in! Welcome to first year Potions!"

They filed in, and Rose and Al sat at one table, with Nick and Scorpius at the table right behind them. When all of the students were seated, Professor Slughorn stood at the front of the classroom and took attendance. He would make comments about the important family members that he knew of some of the students as he went along, and most of those kids he singled out seemed quite pleased about it. He didn't make any

comments about Scorpius' family, but when he got to Al, he stopped and looked up from his class list at the boy.

"Albus Potter! Well, my boy, it'll be interesting to find out whether you're like your father and grandmother, or if you'll be blowing up your potions like your brother did fairly frequently last year." Al smiled at him and tried not to laugh along with the other students. James had obviously just forgotten to mention anything to him about blowing things up in Potions class. He tucked that little bit of information away for potential future use.

"Nicolas Weasley - how are you, my boy? Your father has come a long way at the Ministry - sure to be Minister of Magic someday, I'll warrant." Nicolas nodded, and Al wasn't sure if it was in answer to the question; or the statement about his father's future. The Professor continued, and having reached the last name on the list, looked up and smiled at Rose. "And last, but certainly not least, Rose Weasley. Yes, of course - the daughter of one of the youngest-ever Order of Merlin First Class recipient Hermione Weasley, and of two-time Quidditch World Cup Champion Ron Weasley." There was a murmur around the classroom at that, and so only Al and Rose heard the muttered - "never would have guessed he'd amount to anything when he was here" comment from him, which had both kids grinning at each other. They knew

how much it had bugged Rose's Dad to not be in the 'Slug club', while Al's parents and her mother had all been members.

"All right, then. Everyone, get your textbooks out and turn to Chapter One," Professor Slughorn told them as he moved back behind his own work bench and got on with their first lesson.

Al was packing up his books, getting ready to move on to DADA. Potions had been a blast – figuratively speaking, and with only the one class so far to go by, he was even happier about being in Ravenclaw with his cousins and with Scorpius. They were

the only two groups that completed their potions correctly in class, and it was like they were all on the same page through the whole lesson. He had known that Rose and Nick were smart too, and avid readers just like he was, but this was the first time they'd actually done schoolwork together, and it was really exciting! Scorpius was exactly like them too; and while they were working in pairs, their tables were close enough that they could all talk through what they were doing and help each other. Al thought that they'd made a really great team, and Professor Slughorn had been very impressed with them too.

Their second class of the morning was Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Williamson. He might be nineteen years older than he'd been when he started teaching at the school, but he was still very young looking and handsome, and Al could see that he was still a favourite teacher with the girls, if the reaction of his

classmates was any indication. Thankfully, he moved through the class attendance without the embellishments that Professor Slughorn had interjected into that menial task, and got straight to the good stuff.

"Today we're going to start with your first shield charms," he told them with a smile. "I don't want any of you to get discouraged, since making shields takes some practice, and it's not unusual to take time before you will be able to create a strong shield, and hold it in place to protect yourselves."

He went on to show them how to create the Protego charm; discussing shield defense in great detail. He carefully worked with each of them, correcting pronunciation and wand movement for more than half of the class time, before pairing them up to practice. Al and Nick were paired up, as were Rose and Scorpius. Nicolas faced his cousin and they were both smiling.

"Here goes nothing," he told Al. Waving his wand, he shouted – "Protego!" His wand sparked, and a shield about the size of a Quaffle shimmered in front of him.

"Nicely done, Mr. Weasley!" Professor Williamson told the boy as his charm winked out after a few seconds. "We have the first successful charm of the class! Five points for Ravenclaw!"

Nick grinned at Al. "Your turn, cuz."

What happened next caused a shock throughout the room. Al lifted his wand, and shouted "PROTEGO!" His shield charm didn't just appear in front of him, it blazed out from his wand, throwing his cousin a considerable distance across the room, where he landed with a hard thump. Al stared at his cousin; dumbfounded. Rose, Scorpius, and his other classmates just stared at him in amazement. He watched as Professor Williamson ran to check on Nick, and help him to his feet. When he turned around to face Al, there was both surprise and amusement on his face.

"Mr. Potter, I think you've proved you can hold a Shield Charm just fine. Why don't you let it go now, and we can all get back to our practice." He stared at the Professor, and suddenly realized that he'd been seeing everything through a shimmering blue haze. The shield he'd created was circular, and about six feet wide. Fortunately for the other students, Nick had been the only one within the now eight-foot space between Al and his shield. When he released the charm, he immediately went over to Nick.

"Are you alright?" he asked his cousin. "I'm really sorry, mate. I had no idea I could do that."

Nick was grinning at him. "No harm done, Al; and that was a really brilliant shield."

Professor Williamson was smiling too. "I'd say so," he agreed. "Ten more points for Ravenclaw!"

Nick and Al exchanged 'high fives'. Rose and Scorpius were two of only five other students that managed to create their shields in that first class, and they were a pretty excited foursome when they headed to the Great Hall for lunch.

"What's next after lunch?" Nick asked the others.

"History of Magic," Scorpius supplied promptly. "After that, we wrap up with Herbology."

"History should be a breeze - we've all read the whole textbook already," Rose said. "I'm not sure how much I'm going to like Herbology though. Some of the stories Dad told me about it make it sound a little scary."

Al nodded. "I don't think it was one of Dad's favourites either, but at least they had Ne - Professor Longbottom and your Mum to help them through it." He looked at Scorpius. "How are you at Herbology?"

Scorpius smiled and shook his head. "Sorry mate. Up until I got my textbooks, I thought Herbology had to do with spices for cooking." They all laughed, though it was clear that he was joking about never having even heard of Herbology before.

History of Magic, with Professor Binns ought to be called How to be bored to sleep by your Professor in under five minutes instead. Rose's assertion that the class would be a breeze was only accurate in that the work was easy. Al thought to himself that the four of them should have gotten ten points each for Ravenclaw, since they were the only students who didn't take the opportunity to have an afternoon nap.

They met Victoire on their way to Herbology, and Al realized that he'd only seen her a couple of times over the weekend. She gave each of her three cousins a hug, asked

them how their first day was going, told them she was already loaded down with NEWT homework and Head Girl duties, and then left them to continue on their way to class. When they started walking again, Al noticed that Scorpius was looking rather dazed, and gave his friend a shake.

"Snap out of it, mate. There's nothing that bugs our beautiful cousin there more than when boys go all stupid over her. Besides, she's already taken, in case you didn't notice the engagement ring." Scorpius gave himself a shake while Rose and Nick watched him; obviously amused.

"Sorry about that. I have no idea what just happened."

Rose patted his arm. "Victoire is part Veela, Scorpius. She has that effect on most boys, but try to get a grip on it. We don't want you purposely getting in trouble and losing points for our house just so you can get sent to the Head Girl's office."

Nick and Al were both laughing until they realized that they now needed to hurry to get to class on time. They had all read their Herbology textbook, as they had read all of their other books

before coming to Hogwarts. The boys might not admit it, but they were all in silent agreement with Rose when she told them how relieved she was to find out that they'd only be lectured about the more dangerous plants, and not actually work with any of them until next year. This year, they'd start with learning to handle plants in general, and how to care for them. They all agreed that Professor Longbottom was going to be a fun teacher.

When they got back to the common room, they saw Trinity and Christina there. They already had their brooms and equipment, and looked like they were about ready to head for the Quidditch pitch. "Get a move on it, guys. Practice starts in fifteen minutes, and you really don't want to be late." Trinity told them with a smile.

They ran to drop off their books, grab their gear, and hurry to the pitch, but were still the last to get there. Trinity started their practice right away by sending the quaffle, snitch, and bludgers into the air, and basically just having them play for an hour - nothing like the workouts that Al and his cousins had all done with James and the other kids they played Quidditch with. While they were walking back to the school, the four of them agreed that they should have Rose try and talk with Trinity, since she at least had the famous Quidditch father as backup for having a little Quidditch credibility. Scorpius had never played Quidditch in practices like his three friends had talked about with him after practice, but he had worked hard by himself at home, and knew exactly what they were talking about. Later, in the common room after dinner, the three boys nudged Rose to go talk with Trinity when she came into the room.

"Trinity?" Rose said quietly.

"Hey, Rose. What's up?"

"Could we go somewhere and talk for a little while? Someplace private?" Trinity agreed, and led Rose to the girls Dorm, where they found an empty room that they could use for a while.

"Trinity, I really hope that I won't offend you, so please take what I want to talk about the way I mean it, if it doesn't come out quite right, okay?" Trinity nodded.

"I don't know how the Ravenclaw team has done it's practices before now, but I've watched my Dad coach for years, and I've practiced with the Gryffindor Chasers, my Uncle Harry, and with Teddy and Stewart, who also played for Gryffindor. I guess you'd know that – and them."

Trinity nodded again. "I do, and they're all really good players."

"The way they practice is very different than what we did today. For instance, when James, Aaron, and Arianna practice at home, they start out with a half hour of precision flying. They follow that up with another half hour of bludger practice, where they basically throw up a bunch of bludgers, and then everyone has to dodge them while the Beaters try to knock them around. That's followed with up to two hours of playing a practice game. They usually have enough players around to have nearly a full team to play against, and most of them are very good players. Did you know that Gryffindor practices with their Reserve team? Those players might not be quite as good, but they do help them practice at close to full game speed."

"No, I didn't," Trinity admitted. "I had no idea how much more work Gryffindor was doing. No wonder they're so much better than the rest of the teams have been for the last few years. The only time any of the other Houses have beaten them in years is if they catch the snitch before Gryffindor gets more than one hundred and fifty points ahead. It's been over ten years since they were outscored by anyone - I looked it up."

Rose nodded. "Don't get me wrong, Trinity. My Dad says that their Chasers are a better trio than he had when my Aunt Ginny played on his team, but that doesn't mean they can't be beaten. We just need to work as hard, and want it as much, as they do if we want to have a chance."

"What do you suggest, Rose?" Trinity asked her. She smiled at the look of relief on Rose's face. "We're Ravenclaws, Rose, and there's nothing we like better than learning."

Rose smiled too. "I'd start by picking someone to Captain a reserve team, and help them put the players together. From what I've seen, Christina's the best flyer - even though she doesn't have a very good broom to use. Get her to make up the precision flying routines we'll need, and then she can lead us through them during our practices. Nick and Rick can be in charge of the bludger practice. Dad uses ten with the Cannons, but we only used four at Uncle Harry's house."

Trinity looked at her; appalled. "The Cannons do bludger practice with ten bludgers?"

Rose smiled and nodded. "Now you know why Demelza never gets hit. Having only two in a game to watch out for is nothing compared to what they do in practice every day. Once we've got all of that going, we also have one secret weapon."

"What's that?" Trinity asked her.

"Don't tell him that I said this, but I've watched a lot of Keepers, and my Dad's a pretty good one too, so I think I can judge them pretty well. Scorpius is the best kid I've ever seen play the position. I don't think Aaron, Arianna, or my cousin James are going to find playing against him much fun." She laughed as Trinity's face lit up with a huge smile.

"I'll get working on your suggestions right away," she told Rose. "The one thing we didn't talk about was making game plans. How do you feel about working with me on those as we go along?"

Rose laughed too. "I'd like that, Trinity." She looked into the older girl's eyes. "We were worried that you might be mad - I'm glad that you're not."

Trinity gave her a hug. "Like I said, Rose - Ravenclaws always want to learn, no matter who's teaching." She grinned. "We leave it up to Gryffindors to walk around like they know it all."

Rose laughed again. "That sounds a lot like James for sure, but there are a lot of Gryffindors in my family, and I know for sure that doesn't apply to most of them, except maybe for Nick's Dad, and we still have hope he'll get over it someday."

When she got back to the Common Room, Rose laughed when she saw the three boys looking at her expectantly. "We didn't have to worry, boys," she told them with a grin. "We just need to get used to being Ravenclaws. We don't let silly things like pride or ego get in the way of learning. Trinity was great, and she loved finding out all about how we"ve trained at home." The boys all laughed too.

"Good," Al said happily. "After practice today, I wasn't so sure that making the team had been a good thing at all."

They spent the rest of the evening doing their homework together, each of them with their Virtual GameWizards on. They started out by working in the VirtualLibrary, and then moved on to the PotionsMaster program to work on their assignments and test their Potions before the next class. The three cousins were all VirtualQuill experts, and Rose taught all of the tricks they knew to Scorpius. He was a very quick study, and soon had no problem keeping up with them. Their reports were done an hour before any of the other Ravenclaw first year students were done, and they'd successfully - at least virtually - tested the potions for the next two classes before calling it a night and heading for bed.


	4. More Points for Ravenclaw

Chapter Four – More Points for Ravenclaw

The Owl Post arrived at breakfast, and the other first year students looked on with interest at the large package that had arrived for Al. He quietly read the note out loud to Scorpius and his cousins.

Dear Al,

Congratulations on making the House team! Tell Rose and Nick we're proud of them too. Lily says she misses you too, and she'll be thinking about you this week while she and I are playing at the beach.

Before we answered your request, I did check with your Aunt Penelope, and so we split the cost, and upgraded. Tell Christina that she's welcome, and that your Aunt wishes her – and all of you - good luck this season.

Your Mum and I have to stick with our House, though, so we can only wish you luck in your games against Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

I know we don't have to tell you all to study hard, so I'll save that reminder for your brother.

We didn't fall off our chairs when we got your letter. I think it's brilliant that the three of you are getting on with Scorpius. If he's as smart as his Dad, you'll be glad to have him for a study partner.

Write again soon,

Love Mum and Dad.

Al handed the package to Nick. "Why don't you and Rose do the honours, mate? It should be a lot of fun."

Rose and Nick were happy to take the package, unopened, and quickly walked down to the other end of the table where Christina and Trinity were sitting with their friends. Al and Scorpius watched as they gave their teammate the package, and they both laughed happily when they heard the shouts from the two

girls, and everyone else around them.

"Your Dad and Aunt bought her a Firebolt? Just like that?"

Al laughed again. "I told you it'd be fun. Now we'll get to find out just how good our Seeker can be with that broom instead of the one she's been using."

Christina and Trinity had both hugged Nick and Rose, and Christina had come back with them to give Al a hug too. "Thank your Mum and Dad for me, Al," she said with tears in her eyes. "I'm pretty sure this is the coolest thing that's ever happened to me in my whole life."

Al had hugged her back. "If you think that's cool, wait until you try it out at practice – and when you leave the other house Seekers in the dust this season. That will definitely top this."

They were on their way to the first class of the morning when they were stopped in the hallway by a Hufflepuff prefect. "I hear that one or two of you are responsible for getting Christina Chambers a broom of her own," she told them.

Rose nodded. "My cousins Al and Nick asked their parents to help with getting her one," she confirmed with her usual bright smile.

The girl nodded, and smiled too. "Nicely done, boys. Ten points for Ravenclaw – each."

Transfiguration was their first class of the morning; and Professor Macmillan quickly got through introductions and started the lesson. He reminded the cousins a lot of Uncle Percy - very formal and a bit stuffy. He did know his subject, though. Scorpius earned another five points for their house by being the first one in class to successfully transfigure his match into a needle. Rose, Nick, and finally Al also managed the feat, along with four other classmates.

Madam Hooch was waiting for them in the schoolyard when they arrived for Flying lessons. Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius had already met her at their first Ravenclaw practice. While the House teams and captains were permitted to practice however they chose, she was technically the coach of all Quidditch teams, and was often present during practices. Learning to fly was not an actual class, but more like training sessions. Each first-year would eventually have to pass a competency test to complete their flying course, and before they'd be permitted to fly brooms unattended. Most years, the first flying lesson always occurred before any Quidditch tryouts or practices, but since that wasn't the case this year, the four of them had needed to pass their flying test first.

Madam Hooch smiled at them when they reached the area where she had the brooms laid out. "Since you have already passed your tests," she told them, "you may go to the library and use this time as a study period."

While they grinned at each other, and walked away from the other first year students, they heard her starting the lesson. "Alright, everyone stand beside a broom now, and when you're ready, reach out your hand and say "UP!"

Mr. Filch met them in the entrance hall. "Aha! What do we have here? A group of first year's skipping class?"

"No, Sir," Nick answered him politely. "We had to pass our flying test already to play on our House team. Madam Hooch just told us to go to the Library to use the time to study instead of taking the flying lesson, and we're on our way there now."

The caretaker looked at each of them carefully, but finding no hint of deception, nodded. "Very well, then. Move along."

They did all of their Transfiguration homework in the Library, then went to the Great Hall for lunch. By now the whole Ravenclaw table was buzzing with the news about Christina's new Firebolt, and they were getting quite a few pats on the back and nods of approval from the older students. After lunch, they had their first Charms class with Professor Flitwick, where the four of them had their fellow first years grumbling as they earned twenty points for their house, thanks to being nearly the only students who had actually read the textbook, and could answer all of the Professor's questions. Since he was the Head of their House, while the students in the other Houses might not be happy, he seemed quite pleased with them. The first charm that they were to try was a colour change charm, and Nick won that ten points too when he successfully turned his feather from white to blue, and then back again just ahead of Rose. Al's first attempt did change colour, but going from white to burned black didn't count, since he had no way to change it back, and then he also needed a second feather to experiment with.

Their last class of the day was Astronomy, with Professor Sinistra. It had been noted on their schedules that this was an introductory lesson, and that starting next week, they would have double Charms on Tuesday afternoon, and Astronomy would be on Wednesday nights at midnight. Al was the only one of their little group that actually found the subject fascinating, and he quickly became the Professor's favourite student. He had a lot of fun, and continued the Ravenclaw point streak they'd been on all day by earning five more points for their house by the end of class.

"Hey, Al!" Al looked up to see James waving at him. "How'd practice go?" His brother was carrying his broom and equipment, and walking toward the Quidditch pitch with Aaron and Arianna, who were both smiling at him.

"I've only got two practices to compare it too, but I geuss it was alright," he told his brother. "Gryffindor has the next slot today?"

James nodded. "Yeah. Your captain was a little faster than ours in booking practice times. This isn't bad, though. Gives us time after classes are over to pretend we're doing homework."

Al and the others all laughed. "Speak for yourself James," Arianna told him. "Maybe you can get by on brains alone, but some of us have to work hard for every mark we can get." She gave Al, Rose, and Nick hugs. "You guys look like you're really liking school so

far," she told them cheerfully, "but from the grumbling we've heard from the Gryffindor firsties, maybe you should have a bit less fun. It sounds like you're not leaving any points left for the other students to try and earn." Turning to James and Aaron, she waved for them to follow her. "Come on, guys. We need to get moving, or we'll be late for practice."

Rose waited until they were gone, and then hugged her cousin. "Nicely done, Al. With any luck, none of the other teams will find out how good we are until after our first game."

They grinned at each other. "It'd be more fun if our first game was against Gryffindor, but I guess we can't have everything we want," Nick said.

In the hour they had until dinner, they completed their Astronomy homework. After dinner they did their Charms homework, which didn't take long using their VirtualQuills, and then they had the rest of the evening to talk and watch a little WWVN together before heading to their dorm rooms for the night. While they were watching the show, Scorpius had been letting his mind wander, and found himself looking at the pin on Al's robe. He'd noticed the ones that Rose, Nick, and some of the other older students wore, but hadn't gotten around to asking anyone about them.

"Hey, Al. What's the pin you guys all wear for?"

Al looked down at the pin, and shrugged. "We're all volunteers for the Phoenix Foundation. Every volunteer has one."

Scorpius looked surprised. "Grandpa says they just throw money away on a bunch of worthless Witches and Wizards that just waste it," he said bluntly. When he suddenly had three fiery stares directed his way, he fidgeted nervously, and blushed. "Sorry, but that's what he says. I didn't say he was right – I don't really know anything about the group."

Rose put a gently restraining hand on Al's arm. "Why don't you let me take this one, Al." Her cousin nodded, not trusting himself to speak right now without saying something he might feel bad about later. "Scorpius, the foundation does everything from running homes for orphaned children - some of whom are in this room right now - to housing, work, and food programs that help Witches and Wizards all over the Wizarding World."

He listened intently as she continued. "They – we – helped well over ten million Witches and Wizards last year alone."

Scorpius was looking a little puzzled now. "Why?" he asked Rose.

She was the one staring now. "Why wouldn't you? There are a lot of really good people out there that just need help to cope when bad things happen to them. Do you actually think that it's a little kid's fault if their parents died, or that they don't deserve the same chances as the rest of us?" Rose watched as her newest friend struggled with concepts that he obviously had never been exposed to before. She pointed at the Virtual GameWizard he had been tossing from one hand to the other.

"You wouldn't know this, but one of the orphans that the Phoenix Foundation helped is the creator of that game system in your hands. Was that a waste of money helping her? That little invention might have never happened if she hadn't been helped by the Phoenix Foundation."

Scorpius looked down at his hands. "Seriously?"

Rose nodded. "Yes, and I could give you dozens of other examples of Witches and Wizards who are now successful thanks to the help of the foundation – just of people the three of us know personally."

The blond-haired boy smiled at his three friends. "I really am sorry, guys. I have a feeling that my perceptions of the World are seriously flawed. I doubt the concept of social responsibility has ever occurred to anyone in my family. Even when they talk about how they think things should be for purebloods, they'd never even dream of giving money away to the poor pureblood families to help them out. My family has never even done anything before for my Mum's family that I've ever heard of."

Rose laughed. "Actually, I'd have to argue that point with you, Scorpius. You do have a pretty great cousin, and he does a lot of really great work with the Phoenix Foundation."

Scorpius was staring at her again. "What are you talking about? I don't have any cousins on my Dad's side of the family, and the few on my Mum's side are just little kids."

She smiled. "Yes, you do, through your Grandmother Malfoy – and you have a great-aunt too, I believe."

"Rose, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your Grandmother Malfoy's sister, Andromeda, and her grandson, your cousin, Teddy Lupin. He's my Uncle Harry's Godson, a former Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, fiancée of our cousin Victoire, and he's one of the Junior Account Manager for the Phoenix Foundation."

The three cousins couldn't help but laugh at the look on Scorpius' face. "Your Dad or Grandmother have never mentioned them? Not ever?" he shook his head 'no'. "That's really too bad, Scorpius," she told him gently. "Teddy's a really great guy, and we only missed getting Grandma Andromeda for a Professor here by a couple of years – she only retired when Teddy graduated and she got married again."

Scorpius now had a thoughtful look on his face. "Grandmother and Grandfather would probably freak out if they found out, but I think it'd be nice to meet my cousin sometime."

Rose laughed. "He is a close personal friend of the family, mate. I think that could be arranged for you without much trouble at all."


	5. Meanwhile, Over at Gryffindor House

Chapter Five – Meanwhile, Over at Gryffindor House…

James was sitting on his bed, writing his first letter of the year to his parents.

Hey Mum, Dad,

I know, I should've written sooner, but we've been having too much fun.

You know by now that Al, Rose, and Nicolas all got sorted to Ravenclaw, and that they also all made the house Quidditch team. I guess that tells you how little talent there was there to start with if four first years can make the team!

I heard Uncle Ron talking at the station about Scorpius – I hope he doesn't lose it that Rose is hanging around with the kid. Haven't talked with him much, but he seems decent enough, and you know that Al and Rose wouldn't hang out with him if he was a jerk.

Aaron, Arianna, and I all made the team again – actually, we have the same team as last year, and I think we're even better this year.

Classes are going fine. DADA and Charms are still my favourites. I haven't blown anything up in Potions so far, which made Professor Slughorn very happy. Herbology is cool! We finally get to play with some plants that are actually interesting this year. Not much else new going on so far with classes, and I'm keeping up with the assignments.

"Yuck!" Arianna just kissed my cheek and told me to pass it on to you guys when she saw what I was doing. "Come on, Arianna, it wasn't _that _funny!"

Anyway, that's all the news from here. It does suck that I don't get to use all of the practical jokes I had planned for Albus on him, but never fear – there are lots of other first years here to play them on instead.

Give Mum and Lily a hug for me, Dad. I'll write again soon.

Love, James

He folded the parchment, put it in an envelope, then turned to where Arianna and Aaron were still laughing at him.

"Message passed along," he grinned at his friends. "Better watch out, though – one of these days I may decide I want to keep those kisses for myself!"

Arianna was still laughing, but Aaron stopped and stared at James. "Hey! That's my sister you're talking about, mate!"

James laughed too. "I noticed that, mate – and a very cute sister she is!" he said pretending to look her up and down.

Aaron smacked him on the shoulder. "Cut it out, James, that isn't funny!"

Arianna smiled sweetly at her brother. "Oh, I'd say that was definitely funny, Aaron, but we have to get back to our homework now, so let's get to it."

James got teased about not working at his studies very hard, but he was actually a pretty good student. The Professors told him he could be a great student if he applied himself more, but he was certainly happy with the two O's and five E's he'd earned last year, so what was the big deal?

This year, the classes were the same as in first year, so there wasn't anything new, other than the work they were doing was getting slightly more advanced.

He grabbed his books and went over to sit with Andy and Jon, who were already started on their reports for Herbology and DADA. Thanks to his VirtualQuill, within an hour he was caught up with his friends. The only bad thing about the device was that if your penmanship in the Virtual World sucked, the real world copy it produced sucked too. No matter how hard he tried (which wasn't very hard), his writing was only barely legible.

Through the rest of the week, he only saw Al, Rose, or Nick in the Great Hall, or passing them on the way to Quidditch practice. His brother seemed to be getting along fine, and even though he really thought it was too bad that he didn't get to bug him all the time, he admitted that each of them having their own space was probably a really good thing for both of them.

The Quidditch practices were going great, and were James' favourite part of the day. He did admit, if only to himself, that getting to spend that time with Arianna was a big part of the reason why that was true.

She was going on fifteen now, and noticeably turning out to be a beautiful young woman. There were other, older boys at school that had noticed her too, and James found that he was very happy that she hadn't, at least so far, shown any interest in any of them.

The weekend arrived, and doing Homework and a Saturday morning Quidditch practice was fit in with some time hanging out with his friends outdoors, and getting away with one extremely cool practical joke on his brother, cousins, and their friend.

It was Saturday, after dinner, and he'd carefully mapped out their route from the Great Hall to Ravenclaw Tower. He recruited his little poltergeist buddy, Peeves, and the two of them lay in wait of the four kids.

When they walked into their little trap, he hit them with Instant Darkness, and tried to contain his laughter as they stumbled into his portable swamp. That was when Peeves swooped in, and taking a few puking pastilles, proceeded to cover the four first years in a seriously messy goo.

With a wave of his wand, James had the portable swamp packed back up, and was gone before the Instant Darkness wore off, leaving his brother, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius covered in swamp muck and poltergeist barf.

The next morning at breakfast, he was terribly disappointed to not even get a single glare from Al. Could it be that he hadn't guessed that James had pulled the stunt on them? He doubted it and smiled. Al probably just doesn't want to give me the satisfaction of seeing that he's ticked off about it, he thought.

An Owl Post from his parents arrived while he was eating, and he quickly opened the letter.

Dear James,

We were actually surprised to hear from you so soon! You did tell your brother only one Post a month, didn't you?

Glad to hear you're keeping up with the homework.

Al's probably pretty happy that you can't play practical jokes on him all the time. I hope you're leaving them alone the rest of the time too.

Don't get too overconfident about your team this year, James. I think your brother and cousins might just surprise you.

Give Arianna and Aaron a kiss for me. ;^)

Lily says 'Hi', and to tell you she's having a blast being an only child for a few months.

Take care of yourself,

Love, Mum (and Dad)

James was laughing by the time he finished reading his Mom's letter.

"What's so funny?" Aaron asked him.

James leaned over and kissed Arianna on the cheek.

"Mom said to give you each a kiss from her." He looked at Aaron. "You're going to have to wait until Christmas Break and collect yours in person, mate."

They all laughed. "Somehow, James, I have no problem with that at all," Aaron told him with a grin.


	6. The New Marauders

Chapter Six – The New Marauders

Al was sitting on his bed Saturday night, finally having gotten clean after an hour of scrubbing. Nick and Scorpius were both just getting back from their showers, and sat on their beds too.

None of them could blame the other kids in their House for laughing when they'd come into the common room. From their perspective, it was certainly very funny. They could blame James, though, and did.

"Your brother is a serious pain in the butt, Al," Nicolas told his cousin. "If I didn't know it'd just egg him on, I'd blast him tomorrow morning."

"How do you know it was your brother?" Scorpius wanted to know.

"Because he's been playing them on all of us our whole lives, mate. I should've been watching out better. I thought because we weren't in the same House that maybe I was safe."

"We could've lived without learning that lesson with you, Al," Scorpius told him grumpily.

"Like I wanted to be there for it either. The good news, though, is that my Dad gave me a secret weapon."

Nicolas looked over at his cousin, with a hopeful look. "Did he smuggle you in some Wheezes?"

Al laughed. "Nope. Something way better. You guys gotta pledge to keep it secret – except from Rose. We'll tell her tomorrow."

Both boys promised. They were alone in the room still, so Al went to his trunk.

"Dad made me swear I wouldn't use this except if James gave me a hard time. He showed the boys a folded parchment, and opened it up.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said quietly.

The other boys watched in amazement as the map was revealed before their eyes.

"This shows us where every single person is on the school grounds at all times."

He pointed out where James was, in the Gryffindor Common room, and they could see that Aaron, Arianna, Andy, and Jon were nearby to him.

"It's called the Marauder's Map, and it was made by my Grandfather and some of his friends." He looked at Scorpius. "One of his friends was your Grandmother's cousin Sirius Black."

Scorpius smiled. "Well, if he was friends with your Grandfather, he couldn't have been as bad as my family seems to think he was."

Al laughed. "He was my Dad's Godfather, so even though I never met him, I'd have to believe he was actually one of the best."

The other boys smiled.

"So how do we use this to our advantage?" Nick asked him.

"For now, I'd say we just wait, and take a little time to plot our revenge." His green eyes were sparkling now. "Being able to find him anytime, anywhere, though, will help us spring any future traps, and then, when we're ready, to pay him back."

The three boys were all grinning now, but when they heard some of the other boys coming into the room, Al quickly mumbled, "Mischief Managed!" and folded the now blank parchment back up again. He decided not to tell them that he had one other, super top-secret weapon folded up in his trunk.

The next morning, before breakfast, the boys took a still very angry Rose into an empty classroom on the way to the Great Hall and showed her the map. They convinced her that the best way to go about dealing with James' prank was to pretend that none of them suspected him of doing it.

Rose had a very pleased smile on her face now. "Al, your Grandfather and the others called themselves the Marauders?"

Al nodded, and Rose smiled even brighter. "James is already known throughout the school as a practical joker, right?"

Her cousin nodded again, starting to smile now too.

"But none of us are. We're the quiet, smart ones."

Nick had jumped onto the same page with his two devious, wonderful cousins, and Scorpius was only moments behind.

"So if practical jokes just happened to go off near James, he'd be the logical suspect," Rose continued.

"He'd be the first person I'd look to," Nick said, his eyes now dancing with excitement too.

"Then I propose that the four of us become the New Marauders," Rose told the boys. "Our mission: Payback James Potter."

Al laughed. "All those in favour?"

Four hands shot into the air.

"I think this year just got a whole lot more fun!" Nick said. "Whatever would my Dad think about this?"

Rose laughed and put her hand on his arm. "I don't know, but I bet your Mom would love it!"

Al 'Mischief Managed' the map, and they all headed for breakfast, feeling much better than they had last night.

"James looks awfully disappointed," Scorpius told them with a grin. "I wonder why?"

The others smirked at him. "He can't take credit for the prank outloud, and we're not blasting him,' Nick told them. "The other thing we have going for us is that our House mates might be happy to laugh at us among themselves, but Ravenclaws do not tell kids in other Houses about things like this, so most of the rest of the school won't even know about it."

Rose laughed. "Being in this House just gets better every day!"

When they'd finished breakfast, they went outside to wander down by the lake and enjoy the beautiful day, then went back to the common room to study until lunchtime. They went down to the Quidditch pitch in the afternoon to practice for a couple of hours, then spent the rest of Sunday relaxing and hanging out mostly with the other first year kids.

During the next few weeks, the new marauders settled into their schedule. They were certainly the top four students in all of their classes. Al was best, by far, in DADA. They were all pretty even in Potions, although Rose probably had the slight edge in that class over the boys. Scorpius was their Transfiguration leader, Nick was the Charms master, and Al had Astronomy. Rose was best in their class in Herbology, and certainly Professor Longbottom's favourite student. Since they were just about the only students that stayed awake for History every class, and all had top marks on their assignments, they decided that in that subject, it was a four-way tie for best.

Trinity took a break for a minute and observed her team doing the flying exercises that Christina had put together. Her best friend was really good! She smiled as Rose whizzed by her, right on Christina's tail. When she'd received her Hogwarts letter in the summer, and found out that she was going to be team captain, she had thought she was ready. That mistaken belief lasted until that talk with Rose the night after their first practice.

Their team had practiced six days a week since then, and she knew that Rose, Nick, Al, and Scorpius came out here for at least an hour on Sundays too. Talk about a workout too! Ravenclaws were supposed to be the brightest students at the school, yet when it came to Quidditch, it had apparently never occurred to any of them to create a training program and develop strategies and game plans for their matches!

Now that they were getting those things in place, she could already see the difference. She and Christina had been surprised that the four first year students had been so much better than the older Ravenclaws that had been trying to make the team. It was clear to them why that had happened. This kind of training was new to Scorpius, but he had a great deal of natural talent. The three cousins were also all talented, but it was the years of training that had made them so much better than everyone else – including her, she was now ready to admit.

"Alright!" she shouted. "Bludger practice!"

She heard several groans, and one 'Me and my big mouth', and laughed. "Come on, Rick, Nicolas, give us your best shots! Let's move it, ladies!"

Most of the older students were gone to Hogsmeade for the day, and the Common Room was empty, except for the Marauders. It was nearly lunchtime, and they were getting ready to head out for lunch, but as they had been doing for weeks, Al checked the map to look for James before he, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius got going.

Usually he was no place they had to worry about – in his own Common Room, or in the Great Hall already. Today the map was showing him lurking in one of the hallways between Ravenclaw Tower and the Great Hall.

"What do you think he's up to this time?" Nick asked.

"I have no idea," Al told him. "This looks like a very good day for a detour, though," he added with a grin. "It'd be a shame if he missed lunch while he waited for us."

Rose, Nick, and Scorpius laughed as Al put the map away, and they went to the Great Hall from the other end of the fifth floor to where James had whatever prank set up.

They didn't expect to actually find out what the prank was going to be, but shortly after they'd sat down for lunch, there was a commotion at the entrance to the hall.

"_Mr. Filch!_ Get away from me!" Madame Pince spat over her shoulder. "What has gotten into you?"

"Come back, Irma! Don't leave me! _I love you!"_ Mr. Filch was following the librarian, a hopelessly devouted, and a look on his face that was completely devoid of any thought. "Give me a little kiss, my dearest heart!"

Madame Pince was nearly running toward the Professor's table now.

"Professor Slughorn! Help me!"

By now, nearly all of the students, which was almost all just first and second year students that weren't in town were laughing. The librarian was now trying to hide behind Professor Slughorn.

"Professor!" Mr. Filch said happily. "Keep her there for me," he told the other man as he ran up the aisle. "That's the woman I love! Don't let her get away!"

Professor Slughorn took one look at the vapid expression on Mr. Filch's face, and gently handed Madame Pince off to Professor Williamson.

"Mr. Filch, I know how deeply you feel about the lady, but certainly you wouldn't wish to act improperly with all of these children around. Come with me and she can meet us in my quarters in a few minutes where you can be alone."

Mr. Filch nodded, probably only hearing 'be alone', and followed the Professor, who was having his own troubles keeping from chuckling, like a happy little puppy.

The Marauders had been laughing along with the other students at the scene. Rose got their attention, and nodded her head to the Gryffindor table, where they all turned to see James slide into a seat, a smirk on his face that told them without any words what had happened to Mr. Filch – and what prank had been lying in wait for them. They smiled at each other.

"So his plan was to have the four of us running around like love starved crazies – in love with Madame Pince?" Rose smiled. "I don't know if that would've worked for me, but since Mr. Filch was the one that got hit instead of us, he probably won't mind that he didn't get us."

The boys all nodded.

"This does give me an idea, though," Al said. "Avoiding his pranks is one thing, but this does make it obvious that if the wrong – or right person – springs those traps, it can be way more fun for everybody – sometimes even for James."

Rose smiled at her cousin. "Al, I don't even need to get caught by a love potion to tell you I love you!"

The next weeks went along smoothly with classes and Qudditch. The New Marauders were nothing if not patient, and it was Hallowe'en night when their first big opportunity to turn things around on James finally happened.

The boys were checking the map in their dorm room before meeting Rose in the Common Room. They'd been using the same route to the Great Hall for the last two weeks, waiting for James to set up his next prank. What they hoped James wouldn't know, and they'd researched carefully themselves, was that the route they'd been using was also the same route to the Dining Hall that Professor Flitwick took.

The Professor always left at the exact same time every day, and so they had been leaving the common room exactly three minutes ahead of him each day. When they saw that James was hiding in an alcove along their route, they all laughed in delight.

"I hope we're right about this," Nick told the other boys. "I do like the Professor."

Scorpius smiled. "If he was really a Duelling Champion, it shouldn't matter what James has planned for us."

Al nodded. "We'll know soon. Let's go meet Rose and get to the Hall for the big feast. I have a feeling it's going to be awesome!"

The four excited Ravenclaws were sitting down when they saw Professor Flitwick enter the Hall from the entrance that the teachers usually used, and he walked over and whispered something to Professor Longbottom, who got up with a grim look on his face, and followed the other man out of the door.

They heard some laughter from the front of the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables. Whatever those students had seen had them buzzing, and as word spread from those who had seen what was outside of the Hall, so did the laughter. Rose was the first one to hear the buzz, and passed it on to them.

"They're saying that James was on the other side of the door when the Professors went out – and he was in a Body-Bind, and was covered in some kind of orange goo," she told them with a grin.

They were all sniggering quietly, along with nearly all of the other students by now. The Hallowe'en feast began before Professors Flitwick and Longbottom returned, accompanied by a very unhappy looking James, who went to sit at the Gryffindor table with Andy and Jon.

He wasn't covered in orange goo, but his skin and hair did have a decidedly orange tinge to it. The sniggering started up again, and Al watched as his brother's orange colouring was darkened by his embarrassed blushing, and he kept his eyes down as he filled his plate, and talked quietly with his friends. Al could tell that they were both trying not to laugh at their best mate too, but weren't being very successful.

The New Marauders waited until after the feast, when they were back in the Ravenclaw Common Room before they quietly congratulated each other on a perfectly executed plan that they all decided paid James back in full. When they found out that he'd be cleaning armour twice a week for the next month, that assessment was changed to paid in full – with interest!.


	7. Quidditch Cup Competition

Chapter Seven – Quidditch Cup Competition

The first Quidditch game of the season was on the Saturday after Hallowe'en. The Ravenclaw team was in attendance, and sat together so they could discuss the game as it went along. Trinity had Rose on one side, and Christina on her other side. Nicolas and Rick were sitting together, leaving Al and Scorpius as the odd ones out. They all had parchment with them, and would be taking notes.

The Gryffindor and Slytherin teams came out onto the pitch, and within a few minutes, Madame Hooch had started the game, and the teams were in the air.

Al and Scorpius were to watch and take notes on both the Gryffindor and Slytherin Chasers. Rick and his cousin would be watching the Beaters. Rose and Trinity would be watching the two Keepers, and Christina would watch both Seekers.

None of the spectators were surprised when the Gryffindor team quickly moved into the lead and kept on scoring frequently on a Slytherin Keeper who didn't seem to be able to react fast enough to the lightning-quick passes of James, Aaron, and Arianna. The Slytherin Chasers weren't helping their Keeper either. They didn't intercept a single pass, and were in turn intercepted twenty-three times during the game that ended near to the end of the second hour when the Gryffindor Seeker caught the snitch with an unchallenged dive that ended with a pretty looking, but time-wasting catch.

When the game was over, and undoubtedly the Gryffindor team was celebrating what they were certain would be another Cup winning season, the Ravenclaw team had commandeered a classroom and were busy until dinnertime pouring over their notes. They would be playing Hufflepuff in a few weeks, but they wanted to talk over what they'd seen today while it was fresh in their minds.

"Their Seeker is even more of a show-boater than he was last year," Christina told them. "If he pulls a stupid move like that on me in our game, all I have to do draft behind him, and when he does it, I'll be able to fly right past him."

Trinity nodded, taking notes.

"The Slytherin Seeker looked lost. He can sure fly, but I don't think he could see the snitch if it was the size of the Quaffle, but it might have been an act, so we should be careful."

Another nod from her friend, and more notes were written down.

Rose was next for her Keeper report. "The Slytherin Keeper always looks where he's going to go," she told everyone quietly. "My cousin, Aaron, and Arianna saw that right away, and took complete advantage of him."

The rest of the team members were smiling at her encouragingly. "The Gryffindor Keeper is pretty good, but he has a big weakness too – Slytherin just either didn't see it, or couldn't take advantage of it."

"He looked pretty good to me," Trinity said. "What'd I miss?"

Rose laughed. "Something very small, and something that's considered a very bad habit for Professional players. He rotates his left or right hand on his broom handle depending on which direction he's going, and moves either his thumbs or forefingers to go up or down."

She was demonstrating as she talked, and the others were nodding. "It's only a split second of warning, but if we practice for it, the Quaffle will be behind him before he knows what hit him."

Trinity was grinning now. "What've you and Nick come up with?" she asked Rick.

"The Slytherin beaters aimed ahead of their targets every single time. That's why they never even came close to hitting any of the Gryffindors. Unless they change tactics before playing us, the easy way to avoid a bludger we see them hit is to change direction. If one of us see them take a shot that another teammate didn't see, we could just each have a code that we could use to warn each other to make a quick turn."

"I like it, Rick. How about the Gryffindors?"

Rick motioned for Nicolas to take that question. "They're not as good as Stewart was when he played for Gryffindor, but they're definitely good. They'll disguise what they're doing, and work together pretty well."

He smiled, and Rick nodded. "Rick and I think that the answer for them is to get between them. When they could see each other, they did a great job communicating and playing. When there was interference from other players, they mostly flew around and didn't do anything."

Rick was grinning now. "We'll get another chance to see them when they play Hufflepuff, but our best plan in that game might just be to play bludger defence all game, and not worry so much about knocking out their players."

The others all nodded. "And finally, gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to give us your Chaser assessment," she said, looking at Al and Scorpius.

Scorpius waved to Al to go first.

"Since I've played against my brother, Aaron, and Arianna, we decided that I would mostly watch the Slytherin Chasers, and put a fresh pair of eyes on the Gryffindor team."

Trinity nodded, and he continued. "The Slytherin Chasers are using a passing scheme straight out of the Puddlemere United playbook – the one they used about twenty years ago. There's a copy of that old playbook available in the Quidditch Museum section of the VirtualLibrary. If anyone doesn't have that program, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, or I can lend our GameWizards to you so you can study it."

Trinity looked impressed. "How did you know that's what they were doing?"

Al laughed. "I love to read, and I read everything. I think I was seven or eight when I was on my Quidditch reading kick, and Uncle Ron told me it was a good starting point to learn strategy."

He grinned wickedly at them. "Too bad for Slytherin that there's about twenty years of advancement in the game since then."

Scorpius started his Gryffindor Chaser analysis. "We all know they have a great team of Chasers," he told them. "Aaron is the playmaker of the group. He almost never takes the shot himself." Al nodded his agreement.

"Arianna is the best shooter. Take her out of the game, and sixty percent of their scoring goes with her."

Trinity laughed. "You weren't here a couple of years ago when Slytherin tried that, and Stewart put both of their Beaters in the Hospital ward."

Scorpius laughed. "True, but that's not what I had in mind. You should shadow her, and keep between her and her brother for the entire match. Aaron will make the pass to James instead, or you'll have a chance to intercept."

Trinity shook her head. "I'll never be able to keep up with her Firebolt, Scorpius – not for a whole game."

"When we get closer to that game, I'll switch you brooms," he told her. "I think I can manage with your Nimbus for one game if I'm careful."

She nodded. "Thanks, That might make the difference, mate. What about handling James? If he's the other forty percent, that's still a lot of goals."

Scorpius smiled again. "That'll be mostly up to me. Hopefully he won't have corrected his little problem by the time we play them in May."

Rose, Al, and Nick all looked at him in surprise. "What's he doing that caught your eye?" Al asked him.

His friend was grinning again. "This doesn't leave the room, right? Not for any reason?" The others agreed. "He winks at Arianna if he's shooting."

"You're kidding!" Rose said.

"Nope. He took nineteen shots, passed twenty-seven times, winked nineteen times. The Slytherin Keeper guessed pass twelve of those nineteen times, and James scored thirteen times, getting one anyway even after the guy had guessed correctly. The Keeper also guessed wrong on sixteen of his passes, which cost them fifteen goals. If I'm right, then they would realistically score two goals on me, depending on how successfully you can all defend against Arianna."

They were all really hyped up now!

"Great work, everyone!" Trinity told them. She looked at her four first year teammates. "Take tomorrow off – no extra practicing!" When she'd received four nods, she concluded the meeting, and they all headed for the Common Room to relax for the little bit of time they had left before dinner.

Everyone on the Ravenclaw team were excited about their chances against Slytherin and Gryffindor this season, but the big unknown would be in facing the Hufflepuff team, which they wouldn't get the chance to see play before game day.

James had been nearly insufferable over the next few weeks as he gloated about their blowout win over Slytherin. Al was thankful that he wasn't able to be in his face constantly, but his brother's overconfidence gave him an idea that he put in front of his team.

"You want to WHAT?" Trinity had practically shouted.

"I think if we're doing well against Hufflepuff, and get up over one hundred and seventy points on them, that we should back off, and keep it close, or even better, let their Seeker catch the snitch!"

"Potter, have you lost your mind?" Rick asked him bluntly.

Nick and Scorpius were nodding their agreement, but Rose was smiling at him. "Hang on a second, guys," she told the others. "I see what he's getting at. "I don't think Aaron and Arianna would ever get too over-confident, but James, and the rest of the Gryffindor team definitely are. You've heard them shooting their mouths off ever since the game. Al is suggesting that we take advantage of that over-confidence to help set them up for next May. We'll only be able to do that if it turns out that we're not really fighting for our lives against Hufflepuff."

She smiled at everyone. Ravenclaws were the best and brightest, and they all caught on quick!

Trinity gave Al a spontaneous hug. "Have I told you that I love you yet today?" The others laughed as Al blushed, but he was grinning too, and his emerald eyes sparkled.

"No, not today, Captain, but thanks. We all love you too!"

Albus was waiting in the locker room with his team. They were already in their azure blue robes, and Trinity was giving them the pre-game pep talk.

"Whatever happens today, I want you guys to know that I'm really proud of what we've done this year. Win or lose, this is the best team we've had in the five years I've been at Hogwarts. Good luck!"

She led them out onto the pitch, and into the air to the cheers of the spectators. Al knew that his Mum, Dad, and sister were in the stands somewhere, as were Rose and Nicolas' parents. He tried not to think about that, or anything else except the game plan, but he couldn't help feeling the thrill of the moment. He was a Chaser for a Hogwarts House team – just like his mother! That wouldn't have happened if he'd been in Gryffindor.

He realized now that part of the reason he'd decided before that he didn't want to play Quidditch at school had been because James had almost always been there when he'd played before. Playing then hadn't been as much fun because James razzed him all the time, making fun of his playing, flying, and even how he looked when he played. With this team, he was accepted and even appreciated.

Both teams landed, and after the Captains shook hands and the announcements were over, Madame Hooch threw the Quaffle into the air, and Al forgot about his musings and concentrated on the game.

The Hufflepuff team had made a very big mistake. Al laughed to himself as he watched their Chasers and Beaters setup to defend the Ravenclaw Chasers. He was close to Trinity, and moved right next to her. "Rose was right!" he told her quietly. "They've guessed that because she's on our team that we'd use the Canons playbook – since her Dad basically wrote it."

Trinity shot him a big grin. "Then it's too bad for them that we didn't." Rose had already moved off, carrying the Quaffle. Al wouldn't need to tell Rose something she knew better than he did, and so he took off, as did Trinity, and they spent the next hour and a half scoring goal after goal on the now baffled Hufflepuff team.

They'd developed quite a few possible scenarios for what to do with the game management, depending on how the Hufflepuff team, and some of the players were doing. It was a lot like one of Uncle Ron's chess matches, Al had thought.

Their early assessment put one of their odder plans into play. The Hufflepuff Seeker was not very good, to be nice, and Christina was confident that she could defend him against catching the snitch, and still catch it herself when they decided it was time to do so.

Al, Rose, and Trinity scored eighteen goals between them, but then also made a high number of misses. Scorpius, playing what Al personally thought was brilliant, was telegraphing his moves, and allowed twelve goals before Trinity signaled her Seeker to wrap it up.

Christina did that, putting on her own acting, and making it look like it had been really hard for her – even going so far as to make her broom wobble at higher speeds, like she was losing control. They met the Hufflepuff team on the ground, and shook hands with each of them and congratulating them on a good game that could've gone either way – they'd just gotten a lucky break catching the snitch first.

Al felt his father's hand on his shoulder before he'd seen them walking onto the field. "Nice game, Al."

He turned around and gave his Dad a very long hug. "Thanks Dad." "I've missed you a lot," he added.

His mother was hugging him tightly next, followed by Lily. James was with them too, and had probably sat with them during the game. "Yeah, nice game, Al – only fourteen missed goals," he whispered so the others wouldn't hear.

Al shrugged. "We won."

"Play like that against Gryffindor and we'll cream you guys."

Al was spared having to continue sparring with his brother by getting to hug Aunt Penelope, who was thrilled with her House's win, and Aunt Hermione. When Uncle Ron shook his hand, he'd smiled at him. "Nice game plan, Al," he'd winked. "I think we'll come back next May to find out if it works" he'd added in a whisper. He laughed at Al's answering grin.

They only got to have a few more minutes with their family. They introduced Aunt Penelope, Harry and Ginny to Christina, who hugged each of them, and thanked them again for her broom. Then it was time to go, and Al had a tearful goodbye with his Mum, Dad, and sister. "It's only a few more weeks, Lily, and we'll be home for the Christmas holidays." She'd hugged him one more time, kissed him, and then, after watching them as they headed for home, Al went with his team to get cleaned up, changed, and then take the walk back to the school, and up to the Common Room for the celebration that was certainly already going on.


	8. Home for Christmas

Chapter Eight – Home for Christmas

Those few weeks until Christmas holidays practically flew by for Al and the others. They were busy with school work and Quidditch practice.

They were as excited as any of the other kids at school about the holidays, and were enjoying the extra activities that went on, especially during that last week before they'd be going home. The group of fledgling Marauders did not, even once, stop keeping an eye out for James. He hadn't tried anything since Hallowe'en, but Al and his two cousins new that he would not give up – probably ever.

"There he is," Rose said, pointing to a spot on the map.

"He didn't get put to cleaning armour again, did he?" Nick asked.

"Not that I've heard," Al answered him. "And it's his last chance before holidays start tomorrow."

He was still scanning the map. James was definitely in the hallway on one of the routes from their Common Room to the Great Hall, but they hadn't been using any real pattern to get around lately, so he was wondering why James would pick that spot. Then he noticed that Jon was hiding along their other normal route, and – yep – there was Andy just inside the door of a storage room right near the entrance to the Ravenclaw Tower.

Al laughed, and pointed the other boys out. "He's recruited accomplices this time. Very nicely done, James!" he complimented his brother. "Rose, we need a plan 'C'. Any ideas?"

He watched as his adorable cousin thought over their options and quickly came up with a plan. Scratch that. Adorable and brilliant!

They headed out into the hallway, and pretended to be horsing around. Nick knocked Scorpius into the door behind which Andy was hiding, and then they all headed toward the place where James was setting his prank.

"They are using their WiComms," Rose whispered as they walked along. "Andy just told James that we're coming his way. He told Andy to follow up behind us, and Jon's been cleared to leave his post."

"Way to go, Rose," Nick told her with a grin. I hadn't even thought about bringing a pair of Uncle George's Wireless Extendable Ears to school with me. Let's get out of sight until he goes past and double back – we won't have much time."

The Marauders weren't trying to be malicious, and their only intention had been to avoid another one of James' pranks, so it was certainly not their fault that when planning the prank James had not told Andy exactly _where_ he would be hiding. Wasn't it reasonable to expect that one of the pranksters would not walk into their own trap?

Rose had picked up her Extendable Ear on the way back past the door, and they'd made their way to the Great Hall for the Yule Feast. She and Al were facing away from the Gryffindor table, but Scorpius and Nick advised them that Jon had just suddently gotten up and left the Hall when he'd seen them sit down.

He hadn't returned by the time the feast began, and there had still been no sign of James or Andy. "What do you think is going on?" Scorpius whispered to the others.

They all shook their heads. Jon must've told the other boys by now that they were here.

"I hope they didn't just wait and prank someone else," Rose said worriedly.

"I don't see anyone from Ravenclaw missing," Nick pointed out. He looked at the entrance, and his mouth fell open. Scorpius started sniggering.

Al and Rose turned in their seats to see James and Jon walking into the Hall with a very upset, and beautifully decorated Andy the Christmas Tree.

The two cousins quickly turned back to the table, grinning. As other students saw the three boys, a ripple of laughter rolled through the room.

"You gotta give him credit for originality," Nick said, admiringly. "He apparently still needs a little work on his contingency planning, though. I wonder how long it'll last before it wears off?"

Al laughed. "Since it was meant for me, I'm guessing not until an hour or two after the train gets to King's Cross Station tomorrow."

He looked back around for a moment, but turned back again. Those blinking lights were definitely distracting!

"Victoire's gone over to them," Nick told his cousins. "She's taking Andy out – and Professor MacMillan is going with them." He grinned.

It only took Victoire and the Professor a few minutes to fix Andy up, and they returned to the feast, which the Marauders thought was pretty funny too.

"James could've saved his mate a lot of embarrassment if he'd just asked for help before bringing Andy into the Hall," Rose told them, obviously feeling sympathetic for her cousin's friend.

"In his case, I think the famous Gryffindor pride and bravery get in the way of common sense sometimes," Nick told her.

They finished their dinner, then left the Hall to go back to their dorms and pack for the trip home in the morning.

Al hopped off the train and threw himself into his father's arms and hugged him tightly. "Miss me?" his Dad said with a grin.

"A lot." He hugged Lily next. "Almost as much as I missed you, sis." She hugged him back, and kissed his cheek.

Carolyn, Brianna, and Hugo were all part of the welcoming committee too, and Al hugged both girls, and shook Hugo's hand as they waited for everyone else to get off of the train.

He, Nick, and Rose had said good-bye to Scorpius while they were still on the train. Their friend had not wanted to cause any more problems than he was already having with his family just from being sorted into Ravenclaw. His parents knew that he was on the same team with 'those Weasleys and that Potter boy', but they didn't know the three kids were also his best friends.

Al did see Scorpius meet his parents, though, and he couldn't help feel a pang of regret for his friend. How different his life had been growing up. He and his brother and sister had spent days at the Institute daycare, or being watched by Kreacher and Winky when his Dad was away. Some of the older kids had watched them during holidays too, but his Mom and Dad were the center of their lives. Scorpius had told them what it had been like growing up at Malfoy mansion, and the difference was like hot and cold.

His father didn't hug him in welcome. His mother did, but it almost seemed to be a formality – like greeting a business acquaintance, and then they left the platform together. Scorpius looked more unhappy than Al had ever seen his friend. He hoped the Christmas present he'd tucked into his bag would cheer him up later when he found it.

Rose, Nick, James, Aaron, Arianna, and Victoire were all with them now. Dad sent their bags to the cottage using the Translocators, and then they all took the TransPortal to the Marauders Mall.

They had about an hour to wander the stores before they were meeting a lot of the rest of the family for lunch. Grandma and Grandpa, Mum, Aunt Hermione, Aunt Penelope, Uncle Ron, and Uncle Percy would all be there. Teddy, Uncle Bill, and Aunt Fleur were coming too, and because they had such a big group this year, Dad had actually needed to reserve a private room at the restaurant to hold them all.

When they were at the restaurant, it took quite a while to get through all of the hugs and kisses. He'd hugged his mother for a long time, so glad to be home for two whole weeks.

Lily was sitting beside him through lunch, and she peppered Al with questions about school, being in Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor, and playing Quidditch for that team. She also gave him a running monologue in between the questions telling him all about her last four months.

"Lily," his mother said patiently, "He'll be home for two weeks you know. You don't have to cover everything in the first hour! Then what would you do the rest of the time?"

Al watched as his sister giggled. "Hug, play, hug some more – repeat as needed," she told her Mum, who was laughing now too.

He gave her another hug. "That's a really great game plan, Lily."

This was Al's first Christmas looking at things from the perspective of one of the students. As long as he could remember, there had always been kids coming in and out of his life going to school, coming back, and going away again. Viewing that from this side was very different. He thought the biggest difference might just be that he appreciated being with his family a lot more now that he'd been away from them for the past few months.

Aaron and James took off to explore the mall after lunch, and probably make their usual stops at the BroomCloset and GamePortal to see what was new for the holidays. Aunt Penelope and Uncle Percy were taking the afternoon off, and Nick left with her to go home and spend the day with them. Rose, and all of the other girls were heading for Spa Magic with Aunt Hermione, Aunt Fleur, and Mum. Teddy had to go back to work. Judging by the smile on Victoire's face when she came back to meet up with them after saying goodbye to him, they definitely hadn't been shaking hands.

That left him with Hugo and his Dad, and a whole afternoon to spend together.

"What do you want to do for the afternoon, Al?" his father asked him.

He looked around the mall. "Mum said we're doing the shopping day tomorrow, and you guys took last weekend for the DREAM Christmas, so how do you guys feel about just heading back to the cottage and hanging out? Knowing Lily, she's probably shopped the two of you half to death since September."

Hugo had grinned and nodded at that. "I can live without another afternoon here. How 'bout you, Uncle Harry?"

Harry smiled at the two boys and pulled out his WiComm. "Let me just let James and Aaron know they're on their own. They can either take the TransPortal home later, or wait for Ginny."

When Al walked into the cottage, he took a deep breath. He was definitely home, yet it was _different_ now. His Dad put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not going to ever be quite the same, son," he told Al quietly, practically reading his thoughts. "Hugo, why don't you go upstairs with Al and keep him company while he unpacks, and then maybe I'll let you guys try to beat me ot one of the GameWizard games. With both of the boys gone, I've had lots of time to practice."

They both laughed. "The way you play, Uncle Harry, 'lots of' practice time won't be nearly enough!" Hugo told him with a grin.

"He's really glad to have you back, Al."

Hugo was sitting on Al's bed. "Rose and I were over here pretty much every week at least one time each week, but since September, I think I've been here nearly as much as at home – at least during the weekdays."

Al smiled at his cousin as he finished putting his things away. "He'll probably 'adopt' a bunch more kids at the residence after you and Lily start at Hogwarts." His cousin laughed and nodded.

"No doubt. Are you done?" Al nodded. "Let's go humour the old guy, then."

"Lead the way, cuz." He didn't think that Hugo had figured out yet that his Dad was a big fake when it came to GameWizard, so he had no intention of spoiling the fun for his cousin.

He and Hugo were sitting at the kitchen table later, talking with his Dad while he was cooking dinner.

"How's everyone else doing?" he'd asked. His father had known who the 'everyone else' was, and given him the condensed version of what had been going on while he was at school.

Teddy and Stewart were on the road two weeks out of every four taking care of Foundation business. Isabelle was mostly working with Hermione at the Institute, but since they always seemed to have projects that were on a need to know, and Harry didn't need to know, he had no idea what she was doing there, but Ginny and Hermione were very happy with her, whatever it was they were working on.

Lisa was still in charge of the Gaming division, and there was always something new coming out from them. Natalie was pregnant, and she and Owen were really excited about the baby that would be along next summer sometime.

Gabrielle, Kevin, and Michael were all doing great. Michael was busy at school, Kevin's paintings continued to get more and more famous, and Gabrielle told him that he couldn't tell the kids about what was going to be new on the island this coming summer. Megan was now one of Marauders Paradise's Assistant Managers, and had actually been dating the same Wizard for nearly three months straight. Harry and the others had met the young man when they were on the island in October. He was one of the diving instructors, and seemed to be a pretty likeable, and fun-loving guy.

Everyone at the residence was fine. Dad and Lily, and sometimes Hugo, were going there twice a week. Carolyn and Brianna had gone to Marauders Paradise with Mum, Dad, Lily, and Hugo, and he'd also taken all of them to their island several other times for a day or an overnight trip.

Al tried not to think too much about Carolyn. He knew exactly why he'd missed her so much while he was at school, but that wasn't something he was prepared to deal with for what he hoped could be a while.

"Has James been giving you a hard time, Al?"

The question dragged him abruptly away from his thoughts about his hazel-eyed charmer.

"He's had his moments," Al answered a bit evasively. "I think we've got it under control, though."

When his Dad's piercing green eyes were leveled on him, Al didn't flinch. Hugo was in the room with them, so he was sure that he wouldn't be asked to go into any detail.

"From the reports I've been sent, I'd say he's had a few 'moments." Harry looked at Al and grinned. "You, Rose, and Nick, on the other hand, seem to be staying out of trouble – or haven't been caught yet!" That had Hugo laughing.

"Are you kidding, Uncle Harry? Rose get in trouble? Or Nick? Even Al – although if you made me pick one of 'em, I guess I'd have to pick him – no offence, cuz."

Al and Harry both laughed. "None taken, mate."

"You're probably right, Hugo," Harry had told his nephew. "I'm almost positive that your sister and cousins have a trouble-free year mapped out for themselves." He grinned again as he saw Al smirk at his comment.

"Who all is coming for dinner tonight?" Al asked.

"It's going to be a pretty quiet night for us compared to normal," Harry told him. "Your dining companions will include your brother and sister, Aaron, Arianna, Rose, Hugo, Carolyn, Brianna, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, your Mother, and finally your humble chef."

Al laughed. "That's your idea of a 'quiet night'? Dinner for thirteen?"

Harry laughed too. "Well, we don't have Bill, Fleur, and their gang too this year – that's six less than we've had before."

James and Aaron were the first to get back to the cottage. None of the kids even thought about how cool it really was to be able to travel by TransPortal. Underage Wizards and Witches could really go a lot more places a lot more easily than they could when there was just the Floo Network and Portkeys.

The two boys excitedly told the others about the cool new GameWizard games that were out for Christmas, and about the Nimbus 2018 – the first all-new model since the 2015, since the 2016's and 2017's didn't really have anything new compared to the 2015's. It still wasn't as fast as the Firebolt, but it was a really great looking broom.

Ginny, Hermione, and the other women of the family came in about fifteen minutes after the boys. Al, remembering Scorpius' assessment of his brother's game, watched him closely as Arianna came into the room, and saw his eyes widen slightly. He'd quickly recovered, and his mouth hadn't completely fallen open, but he'd seen enough. When he saw his Dad's amused look, he realized that his father obviously knew that he was watching a young man that was probably already caught, and didn't either know it, or want to admit it.

He already knew his own answer to that very same question when his attention moved on to Carolyn. Al thought that his Mum and sister were beautiful. Arianna was pretty amazing in her own way too. When he looked at Carolyn, though, he saw what he knew deep down would be the only girl he would love all of his life. Most Wizards and Witches would surely scoff at the notion that an eleven year old could possibly know something like that, but they'd be wrong.

Carolyn was smiling brightly at him now, bringing him out of his musings. He walked over and gave her a hug.

"You look absolutely awesome!" he told her with a smile. "I've really missed you."

She gave him another hug. "I've missed you too, Al. At least Brianna and I'll get to go to Hogwarts next year, but it's really hard not seeing you at the residence and here all the time. I just hope we don't end up in Gryffindor – I'd really hate to have to boo your team when you play!"

Al laughed, but they didn't have much time to talk together, since the kitchen was pretty much a circus of activity, and they were each pulled into different directions.

The supposedly quiet dinner started shortly after Uncle Ron arrived, and Al ended up sitting at a corner of the table, with Lily next to him, and Uncle Ron at that end of the table. James was across the table from them, and at the other end, while Rose and Hugo were directly across from him and Lily.

"So, Al – Who put the game plan together for your match with Hufflepuff?" Uncle Ron was certainly predictable.

"That was mostly Rose," he answered.

He looked at his daughter with a grin. "I bet they're still scratching their heads as to what happened. Didn't you think it was a bit risky picking a gameplan that lost?"

Rose laughed. "We weren't playing against you, Demelza, and Dennis, Daddy. I'm fairly sure that the Bulgarian team would've beaten Hufflepuff too. I was right that they'd think that we'd try to use a Canon's game plan, so the Bulgarian one was a perfect counter to them."

Uncle Ron had laughed too. He and Rose then got into a lengthy discussion on strategy for their upcoming game against Slytherin, leaving Al mostly free to talk with his sister.

"I hope you'll have some time over the holidays to help me with my homework," he told her quietly.

Lily flashed him that smile he loved so much. "Sure, Al, but we both know you don't really need the help."

He shook his head. "Rose, Nick, and I are all doing great, but I love working with you on it. You already understand most of this stuff better than we do, and it's really fascinating to watch. You're like Mum, Aunt Hermione, Lisa, and Isabelle all rolled up into one stunningly beautiful package!"

She'd laughed and hugged him. "I love you, Al." Grinning, she added – "And my brilliant little mind is telling me that we better eat faster before our brother, Aaron, and Uncle Ron have devoured everything on the table."

Rose and Hugo had gone home with their parents for the night, and the rest of them had moved into the sitting room, where there was a Christmas show on the WWVN. Aaron and James were playing 'BroomRacer – Dragon's Revenge' on the GameWizard. Arianna was hanging out with his Mum and the other girls, leaving him with his Dad, both content to talk quietly and watch the show.

"Have you got your shopping list ready for tomorrow?" his Dad asked him.

"Yeah. And thanks for Posting me that present for Scorpius. I didn't want to wait until I see him next week to give it to him, since that won't be until after Christmas Day."

"You're welcome. Being friends with you and your cousins is probably going to be a very tough road for that young man."

Al nodded. "His family knows that we're all on the House team together, but he hasn't told his parents that we're best friends. His grandfather still hasn't gotten over the fact that he was sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin."

"I'm surprised that he's getting together with you at all."

"He'll be going to Trinity's before we all get together, and we've got three practices set up over the holidays. I think a visit to the residence might be a good thing for him too, so maybe we can use the pitch there to practice."

Harry smiled at his son. "Do you have a volunteer candidate for the Foundation?"

Al laughed quietly. "Probably not quite yet, Dad. He's got the heart for it, though. I think seeing for himself what the Foundation does would be really good for him."

"Then why don't you and your team hold your practices there, and I'll keep those pesky Gryffindors away from you on those days."

They both had identical sparkling green eyes and grins now. "Thanks, Dad. I'd appreciate that."

Aaron and James had taken off on their own when they got to the Marauders Mall in the morning, and the girls had all gone off with Ginny. Al and his Dad were once again left to do their own shopping, which suited Al just fine. He'd missed having hours at a time of his father's undivided attention.

"I need to get presents for Mum, Lily, James, Rose, Nick, and Carolyn today. I can sneak off with Mum after lunch to get something for you," he'd told his father in response to the 'Who do you have to get gifts for' question.

The two of them went on to spend their morning picking up those gifts, and they also took about a half hour to help out a nice old couple they'd overheard, making their modest Christmas Dream come true – getting their great-granddaughter a very special present.

They had lunch with everyone, then his Mum and Dad traded kids, and they all happily went back to their shopping.

"Did I ever get the best of that deal," his mother was telling him as she hugged him. "I should've taken two ReVives this morning to keep up with those girls!"

Al hugged her back. "I think I'm the one that's lucky today. I got a whole morning alone with Dad, and get most of the afternoon alone with the most beautiful Mom in the whole country!"

She laughed. "You're just saying that because Fleur's in France this weekend, and Gabrielle's at Marauder's Paradise."

He grinned at her. "They're awfully pretty too, and so is Aunt Hermione and my other aunts, but you and Lily are, I don't know, more _alive _I guess is the word. Aunt Gabrielle is a really close second on that one, though. You can tell she took fun lessons from you and Dad." Ginny had hugged him again. "And you've been taking flattery lessons – I'd say you get an 'O' on the practical test!"

They had a great afternoon. Al finished his shopping, adding an extra present for Lily, and talking his mother into getting a really soft, beautiful sweater for herself that he knew his father was going to get to enjoy when cuddling with her all winter. They all met back at the cottage for dinner, and then took Carolyn and the other kids back to the residence and stayed to visit for a couple of hours before heading back home for the night.

Christmas was on Monday this year, so Sunday was Christmas Eve day. Being able to get the large Weasley clan together was harder to do all the time, especially with the commitments that many of them had at the residences here and in Romania. This year, they'd all agreed that they'd have their family Christmas on the weekend between Christmas and New Year's Day, and make it a three day adventure on the island.

That gave them all the chance to just hang out together for the whole day on Sunday before going to the residence for their annual Christmas Eve visit.

James had been the first one downstairs in the morning, and he and Harry had talked quietly together while breakfast was cooking and everyone else was still upstairs.

"While we've got a little time alone, James, I wanted to talk to you about a few practical jokes that seem to have gotten out of hand for you at school."

He watched as James shrugged, but didn't comment.

Harry sat down next to him, and made sure he had his son's attention.

"You and I both know you've been going after your brother and cousins, James. It was just luck – good for them, bad for you, that those pranks didn't hit them – like the one you got them with back at the first of the year."

James looked surprised, then ticked off.

"Don't look like that, James. He didn't say anything to us, and neither did your cousins. You seem to forget that one of your Professors is one of my best friends, and you were shooting your own mouth off to Andy and Jon in Herbology the next day." He nodded as the realization dawned on his son.

"Up until now, you've just mostly played harmless pranks – like showing Peeves that some of Uncle George's candies had an amusing effect on him, or jokes that you weren't aiming at anyone specifically."

James nodded again.

"When you start trying to pick on specific people, though, you can do a lot of damage to them. I know some of the things that your Grandfather James did when he was at Hogwarts went way beyond funny – he really hurt some of the kids around him – in ways that didn't show up until later."

"You're talking about what he did to Professor Snape, aren't you. I'd never do anything like that to Al, Dad."

"You think so? What's the difference between your Grandpa hanging a kid upside down and laughing at his underwear and what you did to those four kids with the swamp and with Peeves sliming them?"

James looked uncomfortable, and Harry nodded.

"They're lucky the Ravenclaw students didn't announce it all over the school, but I bet that the whole thing was still very embarrassing for all of them."

"I get it, Dad. No more pranking."

Harry laughed. "Hey, I didn't say _no_ pranking!" James looked into his father's eyes in surprise. "I just think you should stick to the fun jokes, and don't make them personal, and don't hurt anyone. That way you get to have fun, and so does everyone else too."

James laughed. "Can I tell Professor Longbottom and Victoire that if I ever get caught again? That I had your permission?"

He grinned as he watched his father's eyes sparkling. "You can try it, but I doubt that'll get you any sympathy – or out of detention. Don't worry about that too much, though. I think the detention record is safely mine to keep."

Everyone else got downstairs just as Harry had finished cooking, and they enjoyed a quiet breakfast with just the five of them. When they were done, James talked them all into going outside to play Quidditch for a while in the morning.

Al was watching his sister chasing the snitch, with his father in hot pursuit. He was holding back, but only in that he kept his speed limited to the same speed that Lily's broom would go. She was really getting good, too. He wondered if the two of them came out and practiced a lot. Knowing his sister, she was probably already planning on making the Quidditch team in her first year, just like her brothers had. It was pretty cold out, though, and he was happy when she beat Dad to the snitch, and they all went inside to warm up and have a snack.

Their quiet day together was followed up with a fun and exciting evening at the residence. Aaron and Arianna were the first to meet them, and exchange hugs. Carolyn and Brianna were spending the night with Lisa and Marcus, and had already left to stay at their house, so Al went to find some of his other friends and hang out with them. Lily, as always, was quickly surrounded by some of the other girls and whisked away, already giggling and chatting exitedly about what they would be doing together.

Harry and Ginny wandered around, trying to spend time with as many of the children as they could. Even though Lily and the other girls were now getting older, he'd still always make time to play dolls with the younger girls, and whatever game was popular with the little boys. This year that was Wizard's Duel action figures, based on a popular WWVN kids adventure show.

Ginny was most popular with the teenage girls (and boys) at the residence, and was regularly drafted to join the girl's team for GameWizard matches. She and Arianna teamed up with some of the other girls, and spent over an hour defending their game system from all challengers before finally losing to a team led by James and Aaron.

The two girls pretended to be upset with the loss until they were out of sight of the boys who now contolled the game – and held the fate of the Wizarding World in their hands playing 'Ministry of Magic – Descent into Madness'.

"Nicely done, Arianna!" Ginny complimented her. "I thought we'd end up playing all night."

Arianna laughed and took her hand. "We probably could have if we didn't let up, but I'd really like to go check out the drinks and snacks, and spend a little time with you where we're not fighting dragons or racing brooms."

Ginny laughed. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go grab something and find a quiet corner someplace."

The two girls managed to hide and have a nice long talk about everything from school and work to fashion and boys. Harry found them first, and after joining their chat for a few minutes, pulled them back out into the fray where they regained their GameWizard supremacy from Aaron and James – mostly because the two boys now had Harry on their team.

"Aaron, Arianna," Ginny said, walking up to them, "we're getting ready to head home – got your bags ready?"

Ginny grinned as she was nearly floored with two hugs. Lily was beside her, and grinning too.

"Come on, Arianna – I'll help you!" She looked up at the other girl. "You do know that it just wouldn't be Christmas without you and your brother anymore, didn't you? Besides, I still haven't completely given up on trading James for you yet." She looked over at Aaron. "I might even consider taking a two for one trade deal!"

Lily giggled as she was hugged too, and happily ran with Arianna to her dorm room to help her pack for the night. When their two overnight guests were ready, they all took the TransPortal home.

The kids all headed for bed shortly after getting back home, and Harry and Ginny only stayed up late enough to get all of the presents out under the tree before going upstairs, curling up together in bed, and going to sleep themselves.

Al woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen, and smiled. He liked opening presents Christmas morning as much as the next eleven year old kid, but his brother normally wanted to do it before dawn. He was happily surprised to see the sun just rising, and that they'd all gotten to sleep longer than James' normally let them.

When he'd dressed and gone downstairs, he was again surprised to find out that only Lily had made it downstairs ahead of him.

"Merry Christmas, Lily," he said, giving her a hug and kiss. "Merry Christmas Dad!"

He received two 'Merry Christmases' back, and a hug from his Dad in between pancake flips. Sitting down beside his sister, he poured himself some juice and took a drink.

"Did someone slip James a sleeping draught last night?" he asked, smiling.

Lily and his Dad both laughed.

"Not that I know of," his father had told him. "I'm not complaining, though."

"Me either. Just a bit surprised."

Aaron and Arianna joined them next, and James and Ginny came downstairs together, only a few minutes behind them. The exchange of Christmas hugs, kisses, and best wishes was followed by a great breakfast, then they all went into the sitting room to open presents.

Lily and Arianna handed out the presents this year, both girls sitting on the floor by the tree, and passing the gifts around. Al was sitting on a sofa with his Mum and Dad, and Aaron and James were on another sofa together.

Opening presents took close to an hour – in part because his parents seemed to be taking even more pictures than in other years. Al got a really great, soft sweater from his sister, and his favourite game was the brand-new Virtual RollerCoaster game.

There were a lot of different kinds of presents, and everyone seemed to like their gifts, whether practical, beautiful, fun, or comical. Al noticed that Arianna kept lifting a hand to look at the beautiful bracelet that she was now wearing, and ran her finger along the sparkling stones. He caught his brother looking away from her once, a very satisfied expression on his face, and had a strong suspicion who had given her that gift. He noticed Lily grinning at James too. Gee, maybe he was just the last to figure it out!

They were all looking forward to the afternoon party at the residence. Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle would all be there, and they hadn't really gotten to spend any time with them since getting back from school, since they'd been in France at the Delacour's all weekend.

When they first got there, Aaron and Arianna took their bags and gifts to their rooms. James went with Aaron, the two boys planning on hanging out with some of their friends. Al was met by Carolyn and Brianna, who were already back from their overnight stay with Lisa and Marcus, and the three of them went off to see what was going on around the residence, and decide what to do for the afternoon.

Lily and Ginny were led off to play with a group of younger girls, and Harry suddenly found himself free to wander around, as he often did, going from group to group, joining some of the games, and enjoying spending time with the kids and volunteers.

Al was sitting with Carolyn in the Dining Hall when the gifts, and pins, were delivered to the kids and volunteers in that amazing, swirling storm of packages. She got her own Virtual GameWitch this year, and it came with quite a few games, and all of the student games that she'd need next year at Hogwarts, and she'd run over to hug his mom and dad before coming to sit back down with him and open her other presents.

His emerald eyes were sparkling, and he was smiling when she opened the present from him last, and laughed when she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug and kiss.

"Al, they're beautiful, thank-you!" She quickly put her new earrings on, and then hugged him again.

"You're welcome, Carolyn. They look a lot better on you than they did in the box."

She laughed. "I'm really glad you're home for a while. I've really missed you."

"We've got nearly two whole weeks left, and you and Brianna will be coming this weekend won't you?" She nodded.

"Then we'll make sure we have as much fun as we can before I have to go back to school."

Carolyn answered his grin with one of her own. "I think I can handle that."

They sat down for dinner then, and later, watched the Christmas show that the kids put on. Al thought that the skit that Carolyn and Brianna put on was the best, but then he was certainly biased. He and Carolyn spent most of the rest of the evening together before his Mum came and told him it was time to head for home.

He was the first of the family that she'd tracked down, and they'd collected James and Lily before finding his Dad playing dolls in one of the Common rooms. They'd all laughed at his disappointed – 'Ah, Mum, do we have to go already? We're having fun!'

"Yes, Harry, we really do have to go. Mommy has to work tomorrow," she had told her biggest little kid as the little girls that had been playing with him all giggled. "If you're a really good boy, though, you can come back and play again soon."

They were home, and Al was in bed before he realized that the whole day had flown by, and he hadn't gotten to spend more than a few minutes with Teddy or the others really at all. When he thought about that, he understood they were both different now than even before he'd started at school. Teddy was a grown-up now, with a job, a fiancée, and even an 'adopted' boy at the residence. He was a student now, and wasn't here at the cottage whenever Teddy had stopped in to visit, or for a meal, and wasn't always with his Dad when they'd gone to visit Teddy, or meet him for lunch like they had even a few months ago.

He decided, somewhat regretfully, that some things about growing up weren't always much fun. Not getting to hang out with Teddy a lot was definitely on the 'not fun' list. The good thing was that there were also a lot of things on the 'finally grown up enough to do' list. When he drifted off to sleep, it was those thoughts that led him into dreams that jumped from Quidditch Cup championships to being old enough to ride the big rollercoasters next summer, to hugs and kisses from a certain pretty girl.


	9. Holiday Adventures

Chapter Nine – Holiday Adventures

The next morning, they sat down for breakfast together, then all saw Ginny off to work before heading to the pitch for a Quidditch workout. That was followed by a study morning which Rose and Nicolas TransPortaled over for. Lily did join them, and as always, Al was impressed with his sister's amazing mind. He actually thought that maybe she was right, and they should have let her come to school early. She not only kept up with what they were discussing for their school work, but even without having all of the classes they'd taken, she could actually help them with the work.

James had finished up the work he wanted to get done for the day by lunchtime, so after lunch he went over to the residence to hang out with Aaron. Al, Rose, and Nick had decided that they wanted to get as much of their work out of the way this week, though, so they could relax for the rest of the holidays, so they worked hard all day, and by just before dinner – in a big part thanks to Lily – they had actually finished every bit of homework they had for the holidays.

Harry had invited Ron, Hermione, Percy, and Penelope over for dinner, since Rose and Nicolas had been there all day studying, and so it was a busy kitchen by the time the kids were finished and started to get their books packed up and off of the table so that it could be set for dinner.

"You all worked really hard today," Harry complimented the four kids. "Why don't you all head into the sitting room and relax until everyone gets here for dinner. I can handle everything here."

The two boys and two girls quickly evacuated the room, and Harry had the table set in the blink of an eye, then moved on to getting the meal ready, putting a bottle of wine into an ice bucket to chill for when the adults arrived, and making up juices for the younger dinner guests. Winky was at Grimmauld place, and would be dropping off one of her famous, decadent desserts.

Ron and Hugo got to the cottage first. Ron and Harry chatted in the kitchen while Hugo ran off to join Lily in the sitting room.

"I wasn't very happy that Rose was sorted into Ravenclaw at first," Ron was telling Harry. "Now I think it might just be the best thing for her. Top marks like her Mum, and turning out to be the strategy genius for their Quidditch team."

Harry laughed. "And you're not worried about Scorpius?"

Ron shrugged. "He can't be much like his Dad, or she'd never have made friends with him. From what she says, he's a pretty good Keeper too."

"I thought the way he was playing against Hufflepuff looked like an act," Harry said.

Ron nodded. "That's what I mean about Rose being great at strategy," he said proudly. "It never even occurred to me when we played to put a strategy together for the whole season. Everything they're doing is mostly a setup for the Gryffindor game next May."

"She's got the best strategy teacher in the game to learn from," Harry told him with a smile. "Too bad the Canons have a game that day."

"Maybe I'll be sick," Ron told him with a grin.

"Right. You guys are 5-2, and should win on Saturday. You're not going to miss a game that close to the playoffs."

"I know, mate. Sometimes, though, I'd really like to not miss out on some of these things. Those kids are growing up way too fast."

"Tell me about it," Harry said. "Today I watched Lily actually helping Al, Rose, and Nick with their homework. I don't know what I'm going to do once she joins them at Hogwarts."

Ron grinned at him. "Maybe we should come out of retirement and play Quidditch!"

Harry laughed. "I don't think that one professional game gives me the right to call myself retired from the game, but no, thanks, anyway. I still get aches all over just thinking about that week working out with the team."

The girls got there next, and James, Percy, and Penelope all got there about fifteen minutes after the girls. By then, Harry had everything ready, and they all sat down for dinner together.

Percy and Penelope didn't come over to the cottage for dinner as often as some of the other members of the family did, but now that the three cousins had become much closer since starting school, Al hoped that they'd see them here more often.

He looked across the table to where Nick was sitting with his parents, and smiled at his cousin, who smiled back and shrugged slightly. His Dad was discussing some Ministry matter with the other adults. Al decided to try and save his cousin from extreme boredom.

"Excuse me, Uncle Percy," Al said politely. "Nick, Rose, and I are all eleven now, and I was wondering if he could play on the jet skis with us, and if you'd come out with Dad and Uncle Ron to help teach us this weekend."

Al smiled at the grateful look from Nick, and then laughed as he watched his Uncle Percy helplessly melt at the hopeful look his son had directed up at him, and soon father and son were both grinning.

"I think that's a brilliant idea, Al, and so that's a yes and a yes to your questions. Maybe I'll even let your Uncle Ron do the safety speech, so that I don't put the three of you to sleep before you get a chance to go out and play on the water."

Nick hugged his father, and the rest of the family laughed, delighted to see him on one of the rare occasions where he lightened up and had a little fun with them. Al caught the slight nod and smile his father directed his way, and smiled back. His diversion worked, and the conversation moved on to more interesting things, and there was soon more laughter and smiles all around the table.

Wednesday afternoon, the Ravenclaw team was getting together for the first of three practices they had planned for over the holidays. They had the game against Slytherin in January, and wanted to keep preparing for it. Al had checked in with Trinity in the morning, and they were all going to meet at the residence at one o'clock. Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna came over to the cottage for lunch, and the two girls were going to go back to the residence with Al and Lily, while Aaron and Arianna were going to spend the afternoon at the cottage with James and Harry.

Al and the girls were already at the residence to greet their teammates when they arrived. Trinity, Christina, and Rick all looked around in surprise, but Scorpius was nearly overwhelmed by what he saw here. He'd obviously had no idea what to expect at all, and hadn't been prepared to find the beautiful facility that had been built for the kids that lived here. When Rose and Nick got there, they all headed for the Quidditch Pitch, and proceeded to have a great two hour practice together.

"How would you all like a tour of the place before we head out?" Al asked Trinity and the others.

Trinity looked at Christina, Rick, and Scorpius, who all nodded to her. "I think we're all interested in a tour, Al. Thanks."

Rose, Nick, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna all went inside, and told them that they'd see if they could get a snack ready for them, and to meet them after the tour in the Dining Hall. Al grinned to himself as he watched his friend Scorpius watch the girls as they walked away. He'd definitely taken notice of Brianna in particular when he'd met them, and she'd certainly noticed the good-looking boy too. He started the tour with the pool, and worked his way through the libraries, gaming, and sitting rooms, then finished the tour with a trip through one of the Common rooms. They even had one of his friends show them all her bedroom suite before heading for the Dining Hall, where the others had hot chocolate and several snack options set up for them.

"This place is amazing!" Scorpius told Al. "You said there's two hundred children here?" Al nodded. "How many residences does the foundation have?"

Lily answered him. "There's Ninety-five residences open now, in just under eighty countries. Fifteen more will open in June – fourteen of them in new countries, which will take us to being in about half of the countries in the world."

Scorpius stared at her in amazement. The foundation takes care of nineteen _thousand _kids – all in homes like _this?_"

Lily had smiled. "Pretty cool, isn't it!" she told him. Looking up, she saw Teddy coming into the Dining Hall. "Hi, Teddy," she said brightly, jumping up to go give him a hug and kiss.

Teddy walked into the room, picked Lily up in his arms, and laughed. "If my fiancée catches me getting hugs and kisses from beautiful girls like you, I'm going to be in big trouble!" Lily giggled as he set her back down.

"How's it going, Al, Rose, Nick," he said, shaking hands with the boys, and hugging Rose. "Didn't get to see you much yet this holiday."

When he saw the brooms, he nodded. "Ah, having a little team practice away from nosey Gryffindor players, are we? I hear you played a good game against Hufflepuff, too."

Al introduced Teddy to the others. Trinity and Christina had known Teddy at school, and Rick had seen him around, even though he was just a first year in Teddy's seventh.

"Finally, this is Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius, Teddy Lupin." As the two of them shook hands, he added in a whisper that only they could hear – "Your cousin."

Teddy looked at Al sharply, then comprehension crashed in on him, and he took a much closer look at the boy, who was smiling as he looked at the handsome young man in front of him. The three of them stepped away from the others for a few minutes.

"I thought I was just keeping Stewart company while he stopped by to see Susan," Teddy mused out loud. "Would've never guessed that I'd be meeting relatives today – especially since Grandma's in Greece on holiday, and she's the only family that I've ever met!"

Scorpius smiled. "You seem to be doing pretty good for someone who never existed – at least from what I'd always been told growing up. They wouldn't be very happy about me meeting you, but I really am."

Teddy smiled too. "Well, cousin, maybe I'll see you around, and we can get to know each other sometime."

"I hope so, Teddy," Scorpius answered him.

Stewart stuck his head in the door. "Come on, Teddy! We're going to be late if we don't hurry. Hey, guys," he said, seeing Al, Rose, and Nick.

Teddy gave the boys a wave. "Gotta go – we're taking the girls out tonight. I'll see you this weekend, Al."

"He seems like a great guy," Scorpius commented to Al.

"Wait until you get to know him a bit. Then you'll know just how amazing he is."

They all left for their homes shortly after Teddy left, planning to come back here next week, on Tuesday and Thursday for two more practices. Al and Lily were the last two to leave. He gave Carolyn a big hug, since he wouldn't see her again until Friday afternoon when they came for a visit, and to pick them up for the trip to the island.

When they got back to the cottage, Al took some teasing from James about three days of practice not being enough to help his team get any better. Lily had practiced with his team, and she smiled at Al when she was sure James wasn't looking.

"You know, Al," she told him in a whisper, "I think it's going to be fun to watch that ego fall come next May. It might do him some good."

Al just smiled, knowing she'd keep the secret. "We're having fun, James. I really think that's more important than the wins and losses."

His brother snorted. "Let me know if you still think that if you ever get to see things from the perspective of the winners."

Al and James spent the rest of the week with Lily and their Dad, just hanging around, and getting things ready for the weekend on the island. Thursday night they spent alone, at home, with their parents and sister. After lunch on Friday, they picked up Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna, and broght them back to the cottage to wait for Ginny to get back from work.

Their group of nine arrived on the island by late morning local time. Al, and Lily put their bags away, then walked Carolyn and Brianna over to the guest house that they'd be staying in with Lisa and Marcus. It would be a little croweded for the three boys in one room, but they'd decided to do that instead of shuffling Aaron and Arianna around. Lily was thrilled to have Arianna for her roommate for the three-day weekend.

Al had been used to coming here for short day trips, weekends, and vacations on a regular basis before starting school, and it was one thing he really missed doing. When he and the three girls were walking to the lagoon, they could already hear some of the jet-skis out on the water. James, Aaron, and Arianna were already out there playing. Since Al knew he did have to wait for his jet-ski lesson with Rose and Nick, the four of them decided to go out on two of the waterbikes and play while they waited for lunch, and for the rest of the family to come.

Rose and Hugo met them out on the water peddling another waterbike. By the time Nick got down to the beach, it was time to eat, and so all of the kids had gotten back to land, and were filling plates, getting drinks, and finding seats. This was going to be one of the biggest family Christmases ever! Almost every guest house was going to be full this year.

Stewart and Isabelle were staying in one, as were Lisa and Marcus. Gabrielle, Kevin, and Michael were staying at the Delacour house with her parents. All of the Weasley families were there. Megan and her boyfriend, and Natalie and Owen would also be coming, but Megan wouldn't be here until Saturday after most of the guests had arrived for the New Year's vacation week.

When Al, Rose, and Nick had all finished eating, they got Uncle Ron to give them their jet-ski safety lesson, and then got to go out on the lagoon, each of them with a father on another jet-ski to help them as they learned to drive them for the first time. Rose quickly proved to be the best of the three cousins – or at least the fastest learner, but they all had a blast. This was definitely on the 'fun things about growing up' list!

There had originally been six jet-skis that first year the houses were built on the island, and those had long since been replaced, and more machines were added as more of the children got old enough to use them. When Al and his cousins were done their lessons, Grandma and Grandpa called everyone who was there together.

"We'll be doing our family Christmas on Sunday, and combine it with a New Year's Eve party, but your Grandpa and I decided that we wanted to get Christmas presents that everyone could use on the island, and it'll be a lot more fun for you if we give them to you all today so you can use them all weekend." Grandma tapped her WiComm, and a moment later, ten shiny new jet-skis, and six new waterbikes appeared at the edge of the water next to the rest of the watercraft that were already parked there.

Grandma and Grandpa were both swarmed with hugs and kisses, first from excited grandchildren, then by their older, but just as fun-loving children. "Go on and play, kids," Grandma told them all as she laughed. As nearly everyone went to the beach to go play, she felt a tug at her hand, and looked down to see Frederica looking up at her with a smile.

"Will you come play with me on a waterbike, Grandma? I can't pedal very good by myself yet." She reached down and picked up her youngest granddaughter and gave her a hug.

"I'd love to, sweetie. Let's hurry before they're all taken and we have to wait for a turn!" Frederica giggled and hugged her back. "I love you, Grandma!" Molly put her down, and holding hands, they ran to the edge of the water and climbed onto a bike. Some of the younger kids would push the jet-skis or waterbikes out into the water, but she had Frederica giggling when she just pulled out her wand, and gently nudged their bike out into the water before they started to happily pedal themselves around the lagoon.

Saturday morning, Al was at the table with the others having breakfast, and had a tough decision to make: spend the day on the island playing, or go with his Dad to see the Canons play. True, they'd probably only be gone a few hours, since they had to leave soon due to the time difference, but it also meant missing out on a lot of fun here.

His decision was helped out when James, Aaron, and Arianna all chose to stay on the island. A couple of WiComm calls confirmed that Carolyn, Nick, and Percy would like to take those three seats. With Rose and Nick both going, and getting to spend a few hours with Carolyn tipping the scales in favour of going to the game, Al chose the game. They were quickly done eating breakfast, went and got dressed for the much colder weather they were going to, and took the TransPortal to the Chudley stadium.

Being on an actual Quidditch team gave Al a different perspective on watching Uncle Ron's team play, and this was the first game he'd watched since going to Hogwarts. He realized after watching the game for a while that he was breaking down plays, analyzing the game plans for each team, and tucking away the information that could hopefully help his own team sometime in the future.

Carolyn took his hand and squeezed it. "Anyone home?"

He smiled at her, knowing that he'd obviously missed something she'd said. "Sorry, I'm back now."

She grinned. "Welcome back." He wasn't in the least bit unhappy that she hadn't let go of his hand yet. "Maybe we should suggest that Uncle Ron should get the Canons to play these winter games someplace warm."

Al nodded. "I think it seems worse today because it's so much warmer on the island." He let go of her hand, and put his arm around her, and grinned again. "That does give us an excuse to stay close, though."

Carolyn laughed and moved closer to him. "In that case, I hope it's a really long game!"

The Canons did win the game, and in under two hours, thanks to a great catch by Dennis. Uncle Ron would be at least an hour before he would be done and could leave, so they all headed back to the island instead, and it was still a couple of hours before lunch when they got there. They all quickly changed, and went out to play.

The rest of the weekend went by too fast, but they all had lots of fun. Al especially liked getting to spend some time with Teddy, Stewart, Isabelle, and Victoire. The four of them spent Saturday and Sunday during the days playing with the younger kids. Natalie and Owen, and Megan and her boyfriend had both gotten to the island on Saturday afternoon. Since Natalie was pregnant, she and Owen mostly did grown-up things, and Al and the kids didn't spend much time with them. Megan and her boyfriend were hanging out with Lisa and Marcus, so they spent a lot of time with Carolyn, Brianna, and the other kids.

On Sunday, after lunch, they opened presents, and this year, the kids had also drawn names, and had each picked out presents for one of their cousins, instead of everyone getting presents for each child. Al had gotten Nick to buy for, and his cousin had loved the new beater bat and gloves set he'd gotten for him. Al had received a new book on Dragons from Art, then had hugged him, and his Aunt and Uncle when he saw that it was written by his Uncle Charlie, and they'd decided that he should get the very first copy. Uncle Kevin also got a hug when Al saw that he had done all of the amazing Dragon pictures in the book.

They all had fun with the gift exchange, and liked their gifts, but it was a beautiful day, and so, as usual when they had Christmas on the island, it didn't take long to open the presents. The afternoon of fun and sun was followed up with dinner and a New Year's Eve dance on the beach. At midnight, Uncle George put on an amazing fireworks display that was even timed to music.

When Al walked Carolyn 'home' after the fireworks, he had no idea that his parents, and most of the adults that had still been on the beach had all been smiling and commenting on how cute the two kids were. He was saved a lot of teasing by the fact that his brother had been away from the scene, out for a walk on the beach with Aaron and Arianna.

New Year's Day, everyone packed up and headed for home. Harry, Ginny, and the kids had left fairly early in the morning, so it was still early afternoon by the time they got back to the cottage after dropping the kids off at the residence and staying for a short visit to find out how the party had gone there the night before. Since they'd all stayed up late for the New Year's Eve dance and fireworks, they were all able to get to sleep that night, Ginny needing to be ready for work in the morning, and Harry and the kids all having a full day planned.

Carolyn and Brianna had come out to watch the Ravenclaw team's Quidditch practice again, despite the cold. Al smiled when he saw Brianna. She'd obviously put quite a bit of extra effort into getting ready today, and her hair was done up, and she was wearing some of her nicest clothes. He didn't think her efforts had been wasted, either, judging by Scorpius' reaction to seeing her again.

They kept the practice to under two hours, and then went to the Dining Hall, where Carolyn and Brianna again hosted the team, having made arrangements ahead of time to have a snack ready for their guests.

"Let's have Thursday's practice at our house," Lily suggested to the others. "That way maybe we could get Dad to practice with us too."

The rest of the team all voted in favour of the change in venue. Carolyn and Brianna looked disappointed until Lily, grinning at them, suggested that a slumber party Wednesday night at the cottage would be fun too – and it was just a happy coincidence that they'd be at the cottage for the practice.

Harry had been happy to accommodate the change in plans that Lily had suggested, and was also happy to join in on the practice. James had already left for the residence in the morning, and was having lunch there, so Al could talk freely with his Dad during lunch.

"Can you try your hardest today in practice, Dad?" Al had asked his father.

Harry smiled. "That might make for a pretty short practice game, Al. Are you sure you want me to do that?"

Al nodded. "Yeah, I think the one thing Christina hasn't faced yet is a really great Seeker. I think she'd learn a lot from watching you playing your best today."

"Just remember later that you did ask for it."

Al was grinning later as he watched his father outrace Christina to the snitch for the third time in less than a half hour. She was grinning too, and her eyes were flashing with excitement as she got to learn first-hand from one of the really great Seekers – and his Dad was teaching as he went along. He pointed out tricks that he used to look for the snitch, and what he did to figure out the best angles and paths to take when chasing the snitch. Trinity had been thrilled to watch her friend have so much fun, and also learn so much too. She made sure that Lily got an extra hug when they went inside after practice to thank her for the great idea.

"You know, I won't be surprised to find out your game plan for this season works out perfectly for you," Harry was telling them. "Win or lose, though, come next season, all of the other House teams are going to know just how good you are. I know Ron would've loved having any of you on his team when we were at Hogwarts."

Al watched as his teammates all reacted to the high praise from his father. They talked for a while with him, then he and Lily took Carolyn and Brianna back to the residence, leaving the Ravenclaws to have a little team meeting before they all headed home.

"Thanks for having us here for the practice, Al," Trinity told him. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I learned a lot today." Christina, Rick, and Scorpius all nodded their agreement.

"We'll be heading back to school on Sunday, and the Slytherin game is in two weeks, so we'll get back to practice on Monday. Before we head out, though, let's just go over the game plan again, so we can all think about it between now and Monday, and make sure we haven't missed anything before we're back into studies and don't have as much time to work on it."

They spent about a half hour on that, then most of the team headed home. Trinity stayed in the kitchen with Rose and let Al have some time to show Scorpius the cottage, and his room. Scorpius was looking around his room with interest.

"Your home is a lot different than mine, Al," he said quietly. He turned to look at his friend. "I live in a mansion, and we have servants that do everything for us, but I'm pretty jealous of what you have here in your cottage."

He smiled at Al's reaction. "You know my father and grandfather, and their friends joke that your Mum has to support your whole family because your Dad spent all his family's money." When Al started to give him an angry retort, he held up his hand.

"It's pretty obvious just from seeing this place that they don't know what they're talking about, mate. Your Mum and Dad choose to live here because it's a great place, not because they don't have any choice. My family would probably never understand, but I think you've got a brilliant home and family."

Al smiled. "Thanks, Scorpius. I think they're pretty special too."

Scorpius looked around one more time. "I guess we better get downstairs so I can head back with Trinity, then get home myself." He shook Al's hand. "Thanks for showing me around. I'll see you on the train Sunday." He grinned again. "Maybe the New Marauders can decide what we're going to do next!"


	10. New Marauders Mission

Chapter Ten – New Marauders Mission

Scorpius watched as his three friends settled in to their compartment for the train ride back to Hogwarts. Getting to spend some time with them over the holidays had given him a lot to think about. He knew a long time ago that he was different than the rest of his family, with the possible exception of his father.

He always thought that his father actually wanted to be different, but either just didn't know how, or didn't have the courage to stand up to his family, and take the risks that Sirius Black, and Andromeda Tonks had taken. Considering what he'd learned that had cost those two phantoms from his family's past, he wasn't surprised by his father's reluctance.

He'd met Al's beautiful mother after the Hufflepuff game, but hadn't seen her at any of their practices. Getting to spend a few hours with Al and his sister, and one afternoon playing Quidditch with his Dad had been experiences that left him feeling somewhat jealous of his friend.

He thought he now understood why his father, and particularly his grandfather held the man in such disdain – he was everything that they weren't. Harry Potter was nothing like what he'd always been told. He was kind, loving, and fun to be around. No wonder so many people loved him.

When the team had voted to have that last practice at Al's house, he'd secretly been nervous about how he'd be treated, considering everything that his family had put Harry through. It meant a lot to him when Harry had been just as friendly with him as the other kids, and he took his cue from his friends, and tried to treat him like he was just another grown-up out playing with his kids and their friends.

The residence was a whole other matter for him to consider. He'd been honest with Rose when he'd told her that he really hadn't known anything about the Phoenix Foundation before her little talk earlier in the year.

What he'd seen and learned during those two visits to the residence had taken that seed Rose had planted, and made that information blossom into understanding what they'd meant, and why being part of the Foundation was so important to all of them. They weren't helping people out – they were helping them up! The kids there might not have parents, but they did have people that genuinely loved them, and friends, and opportunities for their futures.

Thinking about the kids finally brought him around to thinking about Brianna. She was an orphan, and surely didn't have a penny to her name. He knew nobody in his family would give her a second glance if they saw her on the street. When she'd first smiled at him, though, he'd definitely taken notice. She was very pretty, with long dark brown hair, and gray eyes. She was very quiet, but watched everything around her, capturing every detail. He didn't know what to really think about her yet, but he'd been awfully pleased to see her on the second and third visits, and really hoped he'd get to know her a little better.

"Scorpius!"

He looked up to see Al waving his hand in front of his eyes, and grinned.

"Welcome back to the real world!" Al told him, grinning back.

They were all sitting down now, and Scorpius nodded to Al that he had his attention now.

"I was thinking over the holidays about the New Marauders, and what we could do now that our original mission was filled. Dad also told me that he got a promise out of James to quit the mean pranks – although he's ok with the ones James does that aren't meant to hurt people." He watched as his cousins and Scorpius nodded.

"Nick and Rose know about the DREAM Christmas program the Foundation does every year, but since you don't Scorpius, I'll give you the condensed version. It's a program that makes Christmas wishes for needy families come true. It can range from something as simple as a special toy for a child to a New home and life for a family."

Scorpius nodded, and Al continued.

"Maybe the New Marauders could do something like that at Hogwarts – anonymously help out some kids that need the help."

He knew he'd scored a hit when he received three answering grins.

"That's an awesome idea, Al!" Rose said enthusiastically, jumping up from where she sat beside Nick to give him a hug.

The boys agreed, and they spent the rest of the ride to school talking about the things they could do to help their fellow students. Just like they did for the DREAM Christmases, the four friends planned to start watching out for kids that needed help, then doing what they could for them. By the time they reached the Hogsmeade Station, they had dozens of ideas, and high hopes for the rest of the school year.

When Al was in his bed that night, he started writing a letter to his sister.

Dear Lily,

We all got back to school safely, and are looking forward to classes in the morning.

On the train ride here, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, and I talked about some things we'd like to do for the rest of the year. We're going to start looking out for kids here at the school that need help, and we were hoping that maybe you would like to help us out the times that we need to get things from outside the school.

We formed a little group earlier in the year, and call ourselves the New Marauders, and would like you to be our fifth member. One of the things we're going to want to do is get gifts for kids that never get anything for birthdays, Valentine's Day, or on other holidays. That's where you'll come in – I can't think of a better shopper to have in our group than you! I know, sis, it's a big sacrifice we're asking of you, but just think of all the good we'll be doing.

Write me back soon, and let me know.

I miss you already,

Love, Al.

P.S. Rose, Nick, and Scorpius say 'Hey'.

Lily was sitting at the breakfast table on Tuesday morning when the letter came in from Al, and by the time she'd finished reading it, she was bouncing in her seat with excitement.

"What's got you so excited, Lily," Ginny asked her.

"Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius want me to be part of their group, and help them out when they need stuff done from outside of school!"

Harry laughed. "What kind of 'stuff'? They're not trying to get you smuggling in contraband, are they?"

Lily giggled. "No Daddy, we're the New Marauders, and we're going to help kids from the school that need our help – Al makes it sound kinda like we do for the DREAM Christmas." She handed the letter to them, and watched as her parents read it over.

"Can I join? Can I?"

"Well," Ginny said, smiling, "they'd certainly be making up for all the things the previous Marauders did at the school." Looking at Lily, she added – "That's a 'Yes', honey."

Lily jumped up and peppered her parents with kisses and hugs. "Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you!"

When Harry was seeing Ginny off to work, he was still smiling. "What do you think about our son, niece, and nephew reviving the Marauders?"

Ginny grinned too. "We'll see what they do, but if it's half as successful as their campaign to stop James, it'll probably be brilliant."

Harry laughed, and hugged her. "It's pretty obvious they never meant for that last trap to be sprung on anyone, but setting James up to be caught in the act by a Dueling Champion was a really impressive plan. Neville said that Professor Flitwick had laughed about it with the teachers for days, and wished he could have given them points for it."

"It's definitely going to be fun to see what those kids accomplish together." She gave Harry one last kiss, then headed to work.

The Owl Post on Wednesday brought a letter for Al from Lily.

Dear Al,

That'd be a big 'YES'!

Just let me know when you guys need anything.

I miss you too.

Good luck with the game against Slytherin.

Love, Lily

He grinned at the others when he'd read her note. "We've got our outside source," he told them. "Now it's up to us to start looking for some kids to help, so let's all start keeping our eyes open."

There wasn't much time for that over the next week and a half while they were getting back into classes and preparing for their game against Slytherin. The daily practices, and homework kept them busy nearly all of the time right up until game day.


	11. Quidditch Matches and Secret Valentines

Chapter Eleven – Quidditch Matches and Secret Valentines

The snow had at least stopped overnight, but it was briskly cold and windy when the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game started. Trinity and Rose had prepared their team well for playing in the weather, and were also taking advantage of the tips and tricks that Rose had learned from her Dad and the Canons on dealing with playing in winter weather.

When Madame Hooch sent the Quaffle in the air to start the game, the wind sent it flying in crazy directions. Trinity, Rose, and Al were ready for that too, and their passes were more like hand-offs to each other. Scoring required them to physically get past the Slytherin Keeper, since any attempt to throw and score was just caught by the wind and sent wildly off target.

The Slytherin team was completely unprepared for the game, and even with Scorpius giving their team many chances to score on him, they missed more than they could score. Trinity gave her Seeker the green light to catch the snitch and end the farce, and Christina was glad to finish it, even managing to make it look like the snitch had just blown toward her, and allowed her an easy catch to win the game.

James made sure to congratulate his brother and cousins on their win, and get some more jabs in to Al about how badly he'd personally played, and to assure him that his Gryffindor team would have no trouble against Ravenclaw. He'd snorted when Al had politely pointed out that there was only one team that was currently in the lead for the Quidditch Cup.

"When we're done with Hufflepuff, you'll be so far behind on points you'll have no chance at all," James had confidently told him. Al hadn't bothered to mention that if Gryffindor beat Hufflepuff, that points wouldn't matter, except for a tie, since the winner would be undefeated.

The stands had emptied quickly, with everyone heading back to the school to get warm, and the two teams weren't far behind their classmates and Professors. The Ravenclaw Common Room was buzzing with the excitement that having their team in the lead for the Quidditch Cup for the first time in years – even if the lead would likely only last for a few weeks. Trinity and their team were cheered when they arrived, and they were all kept up late celebrating.

The four Hogwarts Marauders found out that an advantage to being first year students was that they were often not seen or heard by the older students, and even sometimes the Professors. By keeping quiet and listening, they started to learn a lot of information about their fellow students. During the rest of January, and into early February, they spent a little time every day collecting information.

On the first Sunday of February, they got together in an empty classroom to talk about what they'd learned, and what they wanted to do about it. Rose was first up to talk about what they'd put together.

"Finding out information for our own House students was easiest, as I'm sure you all found too," she began. "The Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin kids were harder to learn about, but with a little patience, I think we have a good start."

She looked at each of the boys, smiling. "We've come up with thirty-four kids that are definitely in need of help for one reason or another, so the question is – 'What do we do to help them?"

Nick held up his hand. "I think we've all had the idea that doing something special for Valentine's Day should be our first big effort."

The other three all nodded, so he continued. "Whether these kids are poor, or picked on by the other kids, or the other half dozen problems we've heard about, I think that an anonymous Valentine present would be a great way to start our new mission."

"Do you think your sister is up to getting thirty-four gifts, and then sending them by Owl Post?" Scorpius asked Al.

He laughed. "My sister was born to shop, Scorpius. Trust me – she won't have a problem."

"We do need to go through our list and decide what to get each of them, though," Rose told them. "There isn't much point in this if we're not doing something that actually helps them.

The boys had all agreed, and they spent nearly two hours discussing each kid, their specific issues, and coming up with ideas for gifts that would help each of them. When they were done, Al had one more suggestion to put before the group.

"Nine of these kids are getting seriously picked on by some of the other students," he said, stating something they all knew. "I'm not sure if we could do much to help against some of the bullies, but we do know someone who could – James."

He laughed as the other three kids stared at him in surprise.

"I know, but can you guys think of a better way to put his pranking talents to use?"

Rose was the first one grinning and nodding. "I think that's a brilliant idea, Al. We could supply him the information, and he and his friends – and even Peeves, could give those bullies a little 'instruction'."

They were all grinning now.

"Do you think we could do that without telling him about the New Marauders?" Nick asked.

Al thought about that for a moment. "Probably – at least for now. He's a smart guy, though, and when the other things we're going to do start adding up for him, he's going to figure out what we're up to."

Nick agreed. "Probably. I guess that wouldn't be all bad, though – and we don't have to tell him everything – like about the map."

The others all nodded to that. "That's easy enough to keep from him, Nick," Al told him. "Having a bigger group of New Marauders might eventually be a good thing – kind of like our parent's DA, except we'll be helping other kids instead of teaching DADA."

"Al, I'll write to Lily with our list, and you can talk with James and if he agrees to help, give him the list of kids that are getting picked on," Rose said excitedly. She looked at her watch. "First we need to go and get our homework done before dinner, so let's get out of here and go get our books."

James stared at his brother. "You want me help you stop bullying by pulling pranks on the bullies?"

Al laughed. "Think of it as a challenge – with the added bonus that you'll be helping some kids that don't deserve what's being done to them just because they're different."

James shook his head in disbelief. Al had asked to talk with him privately after dinner, and when he'd found out what his brother wanted, he thought maybe he'd been hit in the head with a bludger in practice.

"Do you have any idea what some of those kids would do to me if I got caught? Not to mention that I'd be taking all the risk for detentions, while you sat back and didn't have to worry about any of the risks."

Al grinned at him, and James wanted to smack him.

"What if you had a way to keep from getting caught?" Al asked. "Would you do it then?"

"How? Did your little group of brainiacs make up a batch of polyjuice potion?"

"No," Al said, pulling something out of his bag, "I was thinking more along the lines of this."

James knew exactly what his brother was holding. He'd heard enough stories from Uncle Ron, even if their Dad rarely talked about it. "You brought the invisibility cloak to school?" He was stunned. "Does Dad know?"

His brother shrugged. "Do you really want to know the answer to that question? There's always something to be said for 'plausible deniability', you know."

James laughed in delight as Al handed him the cloak. "The things I could do with this!" he said with a devilish grin.

Al looked at him seriously. "James, I'm asking you to use it to help some of the kids here, and if you use it for some harmless pranks, then I don't have a problem with that. Don't even think about using it to hurt anyone, though."

James looked into his brother's eyes, having heard the change in his voice, and was startled by what he saw – unshielded power! It was gone as quickly as it had been there, and he was again looking into a pair of brilliant emerald eyes, not positive that he'd even seen what he thought he'd seen.

"I'm not going to do anything like that anymore, Al, and I'll even make sure that I don't actually hurt those bullies either. I promise."

Al nodded. "Thanks, James." He handed his brother a parchment. "Here's your first case, complete with a rundown of what's being done to him, where, and by whom. Since these bullies are picking on several kids, we thought they'd be a good first step to getting rid of bullying at Hogwarts."

James took the parchment and read it over. "You guys are certainly thorough," he conceded. "No wonder you're the top students in first year." He held out his hand. "Alright, Al – I'm in."

They shook hands, both of them grinning. "Let's get out of here before we start having some kind of brotherly bonding moment or something horrid like that," James said, and they both left the classroom they'd been talking in, laughing.

Harry was cooking breakfast when the Owl Post arrived. When he saw that it was for Lily, he called her downstairs, and she came on the run, Fluffy at her heels. He handed her the letter, and tossed Fluffy a piece of sausage.

"I see that her royal highness has decided to join her lowly servants for breakfast today," he said to Lily, who giggled.

"She doesn't sleep all the time, Daddy."

Harry laughed. "No, just eighteen or twenty hours a day. Maybe I should see if Neville can make ReVive for Kneazle Cats."

Lily gave him a hug and kiss before sitting down and tearing the envelope open. "It's from Rose!"

Dear Lily,

Ready for your first assignment?

The other parchments have a list of thirty-four students that could really use a Happy Valentine, along with suggested gifts for each of them, that we picked based on their individual needs.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go shopping and get the gifts, wrap them, and send them by Owl Post so that they'll arrive on Valentine's Day.

If you think this letter will self-destruct after you've finished reading it, you've been watching too many of those old Muggle movies on the WWVN. :^)

Have fun shopping!

Love, Rose.

P.S. Let us know when you've got everything ready.

"It's my first New Marauders assignment! Yeah! Can we go shopping today, Daddy?"

He laughed. "Probably – if you don't mind missing the day at the beach we had planned with Carolyn and Brianna."

Lily looked up at him, having forgotten about the trip in her excitement over the letter, then grinned. "Well, we've got until Valentine's Day to do this, I guess we could wait to shop until tomorrow."

"That'll work too, sweetie. What does Rose want you to do?"

Lily went over the list with her Mum and Dad during breakfast, and they decided to split the shopping up over a few days instead of trying to cover all thirty-four kids in one trip. The gift ideas had all been well thought out, and Harry didn't see any problem with getting everything done in time – even with everything he and Lily had to do for the residence Valentine's Day party.

The Hogwarts student rumour network was buzzing with excitement at dinner on the Saturday before Valentine's Day. Today had been a Hogsmeade weekend for the older students, and apparently three boys had smuggled in some Weasley's Wheezes that had backfired on them when they tried to use them on another kid.

When Al and the other Marauders heard the rumour, they'd all looked over to James at the Gryffindor table, who had given them a slight nod when he'd seen them looking at him.

"Score one for the good guys," Rose said quietly to the boys. They were all grinning.

If a first blow against a few bullies was the first point for them, Valentine's Day was definitely thirty-four points – all earned in the few minutes after the Valentine Owl Post arrived.

The addition of those few dozen packages wasn't noticeable among the hundreds of Valentine Posts that arrived, except to the surprised recipients – each of whom had probably never received a Valentine gift before, and didn't expect one.

Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius all watched as those students opened their gifts, and quietly shared in the delight each kid showed when they saw what had been sent to them. They wanted to stay anonymous, and decided that it would be safe to just use 'TNM', so each gift had a simple note attached – 'Happy Valentine's Day! With Love, TNM.

The gifts ranged from a new school robe for a kid that hod never owned a new one before, to sweets, or jewelery. With the exception of one Virtual GameWizard they'd decided would help a second year boy with the trouble he was having with his school work, most of the gifts were pretty modest, yet were obviously appreciated. Most of the kids they'd sent gifts to were in different years and houses, and so very few of them actually talked with another kid that had received a TMN present, so almost nobody in the school realized that something very special had been started that day. The four Hagwarts students, and one red-haired accomplice who did know, quietly celebrated a pretty amazing accomplishment.

The TNM gifts had certainly been the most fun of the day, but were by no means the only Valentine fun that the New Marauders, and others had.

Arianna had a beautiful pair of earrings arrive in the Owl Post from a secret admirer. Victoire received a lengthy love poem, a box of chocolates, and a diamond pin from Teddy. Lily was surprised with her Mum taking the afternoon off, and going for a spa day with her, then having Daddy take his two favourite girls out for dinner, and giving them each another pair of matching necklaces for their jewellery collection.

Carolyn got a present from Al that Harry had delivered to her at the Valentine's Day party that he attended while the girls were off doing their spa afternoon.

Brianna had received a little Valentine gift by Owl Post that morning from Scorpius, and until she'd been given her present from Al, Carolyn had thought that maybe he'd forgotten about her for the first Valentine's Day since he'd given her that little locket that she still kept by her bed, even though it was too small to wear now.

Harry had watched Carolyn as she opened up her present from Al, and was grinning when he got to have the hug he was sure she'd rather be giving his son.

"This is beautiful," she told him happily. "Thank-you!" He laughed as she had Brianna help her to put on the new heart-shaped, gold necklace with the little emerald in the center of it.

"I'm sure Al will be glad to hear that you like it, but I'll let you give him the hug yourself next time you see him." Both girls had giggled, and then gone off to play and enjoy the party.

Rose hadn't been left out either, and not only had her Dad sent her a Valentine present, but her three Marauder co-conspirators had gotten together to buy her a box of her favourite sweets.

The Hogwarts Valentine's feast was another wonderful event. Harry and Ginny dropped Lily off with George, Marietta, and Frederica after their dinner date, and went to the Marauders Institute Valentine dance, where they met up with Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna to celebrate proposal and wedding anniversaries together with a little dance, a little WizardKaraoke from Luna and Harry, and a lot of fun. It was a work night, so they were all home in bed before midnight – some of them were possibly even asleep!

Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff on the Saturday after Valentine's Day. Trinity had their team taking notes again, and they were all sitting together in the Ravenclaw section of the stands. This time, they only needed to concentrate on the Gryffindor players, since they'd already played Hufflepuff.

The Hufflepuff team might have gone into the game thinking they had a chance – especially after a close game against Ravenclaw, but James and his team quickly showed them that they were playing a far superior opponent. They did score more goals than Slytherin had been able to do, and their Seeker was playing hard too, but by the time that the Gryffindor Seeker caught the snitch, James, Arianna, and Aaron had already put their team up three hundred and forty to one hundred and thirty, and put the game out of reach for Hufflepuff anyway.

James was grinning when Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius walked up to him to offer their congratulations.

"How do you like second place, Al?" he teased his brother. "You've got a few months to get used to it, since that's where you'll be at the end of the season too."

Al ignored him. "Congratulations, James. You guys played a great game today." He gave Arianna a hug, and shook Aaron's hand. "I'll leave it up to you guys to keep James from getting that swelled head of his stuck in the Gryffindor portrait hole."

Even James laughed with everyone else at that, and he clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Not bad, Al – needs a little work on the delivery, but not bad."

Later, while Gryffindor celebrated, already crowning themselves Quidditch Cup Champions, Trinity again had her team in a meeting.

"What did we learn new today?" she asked the others.

"Their Keeper is still telegraphing his moves with his hands," Rose told them. "Hufflepuff probably saw it, but they didn't have an answer to Aaron, Arianna, and James, and simply got outscored."

"Their beaters had a different game plan for Hufflepuff, going after their Seeker more than the Chasers, but still practically stopped playing anytime they couldn't see each other," Rick told them.

Nick nodded. "I think our plan to just defend and get between them for the whole match is still the way to take them out of the game."

"Their Seeker was flying to impress again today. He's the best of the other Seekers, but I think I can beat him." She looked at Al, and added – "Especially after your Dad's Seeker lesson."

Al grinned. "He's not bad for an old guy."

"James still did his winking at Arianna all through this game," Scorpius reported. "The Hufflepuff Keeper did better correcting from his mistakes, but obviously hadn't seen that James was doing it, since he got beat twelve times by James, and nineteen times by Arianna. Aaron actually took nine shots this time, scoring three goals, which is an improvement for him, but he's still most dangerous when he can be the playmaker – he hides what he's doing with his passes perfectly."

"Will we need to adjust for that?" Trinity asked.

Al answered her. "Six of his nine shots came on passes from James. If you've got Arianna covered, then all Rose or I have to do is watch for those passes, and maybe we'll even intercept a few of them."

Scorpius nodded. "If he's shooting, I'd rather face his shots than the ones from James, or especially Arianna. Even with Aaron taking more shots and scoring more, she still had over half of their goals."

"Maybe we should think about putting both Rose and I on shadowing her then," Trinity suggested.

Scorpius thought about that. "That's a good idea – we could try it and see if Al and I are enough to keep up with James and Aaron. If we're having trouble early, Rose could switch back, and help us. If we practice to do both, we'd be ready for whichever works best."

That pretty much wrapped up the post-game analysis, and Trinity adjourned the meeting. "We're going to be working harder than ever," she promised them. "Just make sure we don't do anything to tip off the Gryffindor team after we've worked so hard to set them up!"


	12. Springtime Fun

Chapter Twelve – Springtime Fun

James was enjoying the after-glow of the big win over Hufflepuff, and his team being in first place for the Quidditch Cup. He'd also successfully done his first intervention for Al and his cousins – and he had to admit that making that nasty little prank backfire on those three bullies had been very satisfying, and a lot of fun, too!

His housemates were now used to his little pranks around the Common room, and mostly among the boys, and took his little jokes as they were meant to be – to just make school a little more exciting than just going to classes and studying. He did keep his promise, though, and never picked on anyone in particular – he became an equal opportunity jokester.

On the Monday after their game, Al had given him his second assignment – this time it was a fifth year Slytherin girl that was bullying a first year Hufflepuff. James had used the Invisibility Cloak to hide when he'd sprung that trap before Valentine's Day, and he thought he'd probably need it for this too, but he needed to work out a plan first.

When he had time, and could follow the older girl, he'd pull on the cloak, and watch as she practically tormented the poor kid. She took sweets, and anything else from her that she decided she wanted, would lock her into empty classrooms and leave her there, and after watching only a few of these meetings, James had been left very angry. He'd done what he could to unlock doors and help the little girl out without giving himself away, but he needed a way to teach this girl a lesson that would make her stop.

He met on the next weekend with Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius to talk about the idea he'd come up with. They were the brains of the outfit – they should be able to help get the thing working.

"I'm thinking what I need for this girl is a 'Bully Bat'. Can you guys Transfigure a Beater bat to fly and have wings, and then maybe chase her, and shout a few things?"

He'd smiled as he watched the four of them not only work it out, but actually make it right then and there. No wonder they were getting such a reputation around school!

"You're going to need to be close by it to activate the charm each time, James. Can you do that without getting caught?" Nick had asked him.

James had nodded. "Yeah, no problem there, cuz. If I do this right, you won't hear anything about it – I doubt she's going to be telling anyone about what happens, since they'd just think she was nuts."

The other four kids all just grinned. "We'll just be happy to see one less kid getting bullied around here," Rose had said, giving James a hug. "Thanks to you."

Monday afternoon, James had his first opportunity to try out his new bully-bat when he followed the girl to a deserted hallway where she cornered the poor Hufflepuff girl, and started to steal some candy and a new quill the girl had just gotten in the Owl Post to replace the ones that she'd taken the previous week.

"THOU SHALL NOT STEAL!"

The two girls spun around to see a beater bat, flapping it's wings next to the Slytherin girl. She whipped out her wand and tried to put a spell on the bat, which just ignored her attempt, and bopped her on the head.

"THOU SHALL NOT BULLY THINE FELLOW STUDENTS!" the bat proclaimed, bopping her again.

The older girl was getting angry now, and the younger girl watched on, astonished.

"Who's doing this?" the Slytherin girl demanded. "Stay out of this before you get hurt." She tried another spell, but Rose and the boys had made sure that no spell would work to stop their bully-bat, and it just bopped her again, this time earning a yelp of pain from the girl.

"RETURN WHAT YOU STOLE, OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!" the bat roared at her.

"I warned you!" she threatened, looking around for whoever she was sure must be doing this, and threw her strongest spell at the bat, which just hit her again – a little harder this time.

"RETURN WHAT YOU STOLE – NOW!" the bully-bat told her again, punctuating each word with another bop on the head.

The girl, frustrated, and unable to stop the bat, grudgingly gave in and threw the candy and quill on the floor in front of the little girl.

"Fine, keep your stupid things – I can always take them back later." She looked around once more. "When I find out who's doing this, I'll be coming after you," she threatened ominously.

THOU SHALL NOT THREATEN THE MASTER!" the bully-bat declared, bopping her several more times before she fled down the hallway. The little girl looked up at the bat fearfully.

"TNM shall not let you get bullied anymore," the bat told her in a quiet, gentle voice. The girl looked uncertain for a moment, then smiled. She picked up her things, then before leaving, looked up at the bat again.

"Thank-you. Whoever you are, Thank-you very much," she said with tears in her eyes.

James was smiling when he reached out and brought the bat in under the cloak after the little girl had left the hallway.

The Slytherin girl had been stubborn, and it had taken three more 'interventions' until finally, unable to defend herself against the bully-bat, or track down her tormentor, she'd broken down and been forced into swearing an oath to never bully again.

Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius had been kept updated by James on his progress with helping the little Hufflepuff girl, and were very proud of him. They were also keeping busy helping kids out in other ways. Anonymous Birthday presents would show up unexpectedly. New supplies for students that couldn't afford them would be delivered by Owl Post. A kid that was feeling down would be sent a cheerful note and a treat.

By the end of March, there was certainly starting to be some quiet interest in who TNM could be, and why they were helping all of these kids. Those rumours had reached James, and he'd suddenly remembered what the bully-bat had told the little girl, and grinned to himself. He had a pretty good idea who TNM was, and he'd been part of it without even knowing he'd joined.

James continued working with Al, and by Easter had put two more bullies out of business. While stopping the bullies was certainly fun, it wasn't really all that funny, and he'd been feeling an uncontrollable urge to pull a major prank. He couldn't be expected to keep all of this fun bottled up forever, could he?

Easter morning, everyone was enjoying breakfast in the Great Hall, and looking forward to a relaxing day. It looked like it was a beautiful spring morning outside, and most of the kids were planning on spending the day outdoors. Everything seemed normal until about fifteen minutes into the meal, when several commotions sprung up all over the hall.

Al was looking around, trying to see what was happening, when all of a sudden he heard Rose gasp. "Al, You're turning pink! And your ears are growing!" He swung back around and stared at her wide-eyed expression, then realized that she was turning pink too, as were Nick, Scorpius, and every other student in the Hall.

They watched each other in astonishment as their faces turned pink, and they all grew bunny ears! Al was the first one of their group to start laughing, but he wasn't the only one in the room, as they soon heard nearly every kid, and most of the Professors laughing.

Albus turned around in his seat and looked over at his brother at the Gryffindor table, who was just as pink and floppy-eared as the rest of them. "How long?" he mouthed. James shrugged slightly "One hour" and wiggled his hand from side-to-side to suggest it might be a little more or less. Al grinned. "Good one," he mouthed back, before turning around in his chair again.

Rose leaned in next to him. "James did this?" she whispered.

He nodded, still grinning. "He really can be pretty funny when he puts his mind to it." When he saw her worried look he put a comforting hand on her arm. "Don't worry, he said it'll only last about an hour."

They looked around at all of the other students. There were a few that looked pretty upset about it, but the majority thought it was hilarious. Rose pointed Victoire out to Al and the others, and they watched as even the Head Girl couldn't help but laugh at herself and all of the other seventh year bunnies around her.

Through the rest of breakfast, and for another really amusing half hour or so, the Great Hall, then the school grounds was populated by over thirteen hundred pink, floppy-eared students who, thanks to the novelty of experiencing one of the great mass pranks in school history, had an amazing, fun morning that they'd all be able to laugh about together for years to come.


	13. Quidditch Cup Championship Game

Chapter Thirteen – Quidditch Cup Championship Game

It was a beautiful day for the Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin, and the stands were full. This game wouldn't make any difference in the Quidditch Cup race, since neither team had a win this season, but it was expected to be a good game as the two teams were both fighting to avoid have a no-win season.

The game got under way, and it was soon obvious that both teams had studied their opponent's during the other matches they'd played earlier in the season. Hufflepuff took advantage of the Slytherin Keeper's weaknesses, and Slytherin, in turn, had their own game plan to counter the Hufflepuff Chasers, and they did a much better job intercepting passes.

Hufflepuff had a seventy point lead going into the third hour of the match. The two Seekers had been battling throughout the match, and they were obviously closely matched in ability. It was a slight mistake by the Slytherin Seeker, though, that gave Hufflepuff the win. He'd misjudged the angle he'd taken to go after the snitch, and after just missing it with outstretched hand by mere inches, watched as the Hufflepuff Seeker, flying right behind him, caught it to end the game.

The crowd had cheered both teams for an exciting game, and had quickly left the stadium to go and enjoy the rest of the beautiful sunny day while Hufflepuff House celebrated, and Slytherin House promised themselves better things for next year.

Trinity had kept her word, and worked her team mercilessly. They'd know soon if all of the work and the year-long setup for this game would be worth it. They were having their last practice before the big game, and Al had to admit that he was proud of them. Trinity had been practicing with Scorpius' Firebolt for the past three weeks, and for at least a half hour of every practice, she'd shadow Rose while she and Al would attempt to play like Aaron and Arianna.

They used six bludgers now during bludger practice, and they could all fly any routine that Christina could imagine. They practiced their Chaser offence using dozens of different formations, and they would use whichever ones the game would allow, mostly depending on how much Trinity could help them when she wasn't being Arianna's shadow.

After their two hours was up, Trinity called them all in.

"Great practice, everyone. You have tomorrow off!" She received a chorus of tired cheers for that announcement. "We're as ready as we can be for Saturday. Whatever happens, let's have fun. If Gryffindor beats us, then at least we know we tried our best."

Arianna was nervous. They'd finished their practice for the night, and she was walking back to the school with Aaron and James, who were talking excitedly about the game on Saturday, and how badly they were going to crush the Ravenclaw team, along with James' brother and cousins. She was not so sure that it was going to be an easy game at all – sure they'd trounced Ravenclaw last season, and the team hadn't seemed very much better in their two wins against Hufflepuff and Slytherin, but she had a bad feeling about things.

She'd tried to talk with her brother and James about her concerns before, but they'd just scoffed at her. They were way better than all of the other teams, and that wasn't going to change just because Al, Rose, and Nick were on the Ravenclaw team now. Arianna hoped they were right, but that nagging worry wouldn't go away.

Al took a deep breath. It was showtime! Trinity led the way as they circled the stadium. His Mum and Dad were there, and the letter he'd gotten at breakfast also let him know that Carolyn and Brianna were here with Lily, as were Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Hermione, Hugo, Uncle Percy, and Aunt Penelope.

They landed, and Madame Hooch called them to the centre of the pitch, and gave her usual instructions. Trinity shook hands with the Gryffindor captain. Al pushed every thought out of his mind except for the game and game plan, and soared into the air with his team as the Quaffle was thrown into the air.

What happened over the next two hours left the spectators awed and thrilled. None of the Houses had expected this to be a competitive game – most of the students had seen last season's blowout game, and even though Ravenclaw had won both games they'd played, each win had been unimpressive to say the least. The Ravenclaw students were hopeful, but since nobody but the team had been in on the game plan, even they didn't have very high expectations.

The team that came out today executed their game plan to perfection. They completely shut down the Gryffindor Chasers. Trinity was stuck to Arianna like she knew every move the girl was going to make, and Gryffindor's number one scoring machine only had the Quaffle in her hands four times, and didn't score once.

James took thirty-seven shots, and made twenty-three passes on scoring runs, and Scorpius saved all of James' shots, and all but one of his passes to Aaron, who scored the lone Gryffindor goal.

While the Ravenclaw Chasers and Keeper stymied the Gryffidor Chasers, their Beaters were putting on a defensive clinic for the Gryffindor Beaters. They almost completely ignored the bludgers in favour of spending the whole game distracting their counterparts, effectively taking them, and the bludgers, out of the game entirely. None of the Ravenclaw or Gryffindor players had any trouble dodging only two randomly flying bludgers.

Al, Rose, and Trinity weren't just playing defense themselves, though, they put goal after goal past a bewildered Gryffindor Keeper who had until today thought he was practically unbeatable, and had no idea that he gave away his every move before he made it. Rose had scored fourteen goals, Trinity had five, and Al had nine goals as the end of the second hour approached.

A stunned stadium crowd watched as the two Seekers dove toward the snitch. The Gryffindor Seeker was in the lead, with Christina right on his tail. Ravenclaw was way more than one hundred and fifty points ahead, and the Gryffindor players and fans were all screaming at their Seeker not to catch the snitch, but he either didn't hear them, or didn't understand that if he caught it, his team would lose!

He shouldn't have been worried about that, though, because Christina had been waiting for his 'signature move', and when he made it, she shot past him in the draft, and caught the snitch right before his incredulous eyes. The stands erupted with cheers from everyone except the now stunned Gryffindor fans and team.

When the two teams landed, and the Ravenclaw team had finished a round of hugs, they met with the Gryffindor players at the centre of the pitch.

Arianna was the first one of the Gryffindors to actually be able to talk, and she was smiling at Trinity.

"That was an absolutely brilliant game, Trinity!" she told the other girl. "You guys have been setting us up all year, haven't you?"

Trinity just smiled. "I suppose you wouldn't believe it was just a really lucky day for us?"

Arianna laughed. "Not a chance. This was quite possibly the best-executed game plan in school history. We won't be fooled next time, though, so you better be ready the next time we play, 'cause we will be."

James had been listening to Arianna, and as he began to see what had happened, he started to grin too.

"Rose, you little devil," he told her, "How dare you go and bring a Chess game to a Quidditch match! You had us in checkmate before we even knew what game we were playing!"

She laughed and gave him a hug. "Like Arianna said, that's only going to work once. I'm guessing the next few matches are going to be a lot more fun for both of our teams."

James turned to Al and put out his hand. "Congratulations, Al – you played a great game today." He grinned. "I guess the only consolation I have today is that it must've killed you to have to put up with all of my bragging all year, knowing that you guys were a lot better than you were letting on."

Al was grinning too. "Sorry mate, but not really, since that was part of Rose's plan too – to act like we didn't have a chance. I'm thinking about going into theatre next year."

"You better not – I want you there for the rematch."

James looked up and Al turned to see their family coming up to them. There was an extended round of hugs and kisses that included the rest of the Ravenclaw team, James, Aaron, and Arianna. While that was going on, Al had a few minutes to give Carolyn a long hug, and talk quietly together.

"That was a really great game, Al," she told him with a smile. "Your Dad said that Uncle Ron is going to be really disappointed that he couldn't come and watch, but the Canons are playing today too. I think Aunt Hermione recorded it with her 3D Video Camera for him, though."

"Thanks, Carolyn." She saw him looking at her necklace, and smiled.

"I guess this is the first chance I've had to thank you in person for the necklace," she told him, giving him another hug. "Thank-you." He looked into her eyes, and just needed to hug her again. "I really miss you," he told her quietly.

She hugged him back, holding on tightly. "Just a few more weeks, and then we have the whole summer, and then I'll be here too." He nodded, and smiled when they let go of each other.

"Alright, you two, break it up!"

Lily was smiling at them, and gave her brother a hug. "Nicely done, Al. I think our brother has learned a very important lesson today. He'll probably be a little nicer to be around now that his head can go everywhere his body can."

Carolyn and Al laughed with her. She looked at her brother and friend and smiled.

"You know, I think maybe by the time school's out I'm going to be needing a little female support at home when you guys get back and I'm outnumbered again. I think I'll see if Carolyn and Brianna can come and stay with me for a week or so until I can get used to having boys around all day again."

Lily laughed in delight as she was swarmed with more hugs.

Al only got to have a few minutes with his Mum and Dad, and they congratulated him, but mostly just hugged him while they had the chance.

"We'll see you when school gets out," Ginny told him tearfully. "Good luck on your exams."

He'd gotten one more hug from Carolyn, and then watched as they left for home.

"Come on, Al," Trinity yelled at him, "we're going to miss our own celebration if we don't hurry!" He turned and ran to catch up with the rest of his team – his Quidditch Cup Championship team!


	14. Final Exams

Chapter Fourteen – Final Exams

Ravenclaw had won the Quidditch Cup, and that had been one of the best things that had happened to the New Marauders all year, but except for enjoying the celebration in the Common room after the game, they went right back to studying hard for their upcoming exams.

Since the first and second year students only had seven subjects, their exams were spread out more than for the higher grades that had as many as eleven exams. They studied together for all of their subjects, and each of them led the group in the classes they were best in.

Astronomy was going to be the first exam, so Al was grilling the others about constellations, planets, suns, and moons – everything they'd have to do on their exam the next night. They'd been at it for nearly two hours, and it was close to Dinner time, so he called an end to the session that the others surely thought was torture by boredom.

"I don't see what you find so fascinating about the subject," Scorpius was telling Al. "The only difference between Astronomy and History for me is that it's dark in Astronomy, and easier to sleep."

Nick laughed at his friend. "At least we do have someone that can explain all of this to us in English instead of whatever language that is that Professor Sinistra uses."

Rose nodded. "And we do appreciate you helping us, Al."

He grinned at his friends. "No problem – and we're a team – and you'll all be leading in your best subjects too."

They were taking a short walk outside before going to the Great Hall for dinner, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, and they saw James out by the lake with Jon and Andy.

"What are you doing for James' birthday, Al?" Rose asked him. "It's coming up soon, isn't it?"

Al nodded. "Yeah, and Dad and Lily already picked up the gift I wanted to get him and sent it here. I hadn't really planned on anything else, since they'll likely have a birthday party for him in Gryffindor like they did last year."

She nodded. "It seems weird not being at home for a birthday, but I guess you and I don't have to worry about that, since we're both 'off-season' kids."

Scorpius looked at her to see if she was making some kind of joke. "OK, I'll bite – what's an 'off-season' kid?"

She, Nick, and Al all laughed. "It's a kid that's born in July or August – in the Quidditch off-season," Rose told him with a grin. "My brother and I were both born in the summer. Mum says that's why England won the Quidditch World Cup the summer I was born – Dad was making the other teams pay for making him miss most of the first couple of months of my life."

Scorpius laughed too. "I don't remember reading that in 'Modern History of World Cup Quidditch'."

"Well, now you know… the rest of the story," Rose quipped.

They met Victoire on the way into the Dining Hall. She looked a little stressed, but pretty happy.

"Hey, guys!" she said in greeting, "How's it going?"

Rose, Al, and Nick all gave her hugs. "Pretty good," Rose answered for them. "We were just taking a walk to get some fresh air – Al's been trying to beat Astronomy into our heads for most of the afternoon."

Victoire laughed. "Try NEWT Arithmancy, if you think Astronomy sucks."

Rose's eyes danced. "I can hardly wait to take that! I just know it's going to be one of my favourites."

"I forgot who's daughter you were – I should have said 'wait 'til you try Divination'". Victoire told her with a grin.

"I take it you had a good NEWT today, though," Al observed. "You look stressed, but happy."

She nodded. "We got potions out of the way, and I know I aced it, so yeah, I'm pretty happy."

"Congratulations, Victoire," Nick said. "You get them every other day, right?" Victoire nodded again.

"Yes, and only one down, so I've gotta get going – we're going to study right through dinner. Good luck on your exams. I'm sure I'll see you around."

After dinner, they all decided to have a nap, then go to an extra study class on the Astronomy tower, which would also help them be ready to stay up to write the late night exam the next night. Al had them do two more study sessions during the day, before having another nap before the exam.

They were all standing up on the tower, busily filling in star charts, naming constellations, planets, moons, and dozens of other heavenly objects. Al was finished first, and since they weren't allowed to wait there, he went back to the Common room to wait for his friends to return. He was certain that he had done great on the exam, and Professor Sinistra had winked at him after a brief glance at his papers and charts.

Rose was the next to make it back, and they talked for about a half hour until Nick and Scorpius came in together. A few minutes of comparing notes had the other three feeling better about their exams, and that they'd at least get an 'E', which they were all happy with.

"Come on, guys," Rose said, "off to bed – tomorrow you're mine, and we're all shooting for 'O's' for Potions."

The three boys groaned, but did as they were told, and headed for their dorm room and a few more hours of sleep.

Thanks to Rose, and hours of practice in PotionsMaster, they were all ready for their Potions exam. Professor Slughorn gave them the assignment, then stepped back and watched his students work feverishly to create the poison antidote he'd assigned them.

"No trying to get away with handing me a Bezoar, Mr. Potter," he'd said quietly one time when he walked by. "Now that your Father, Teddy, and James have all tried it on me, it's time to put that humorous little joke aside for posterity."

Al had nodded, and grinned. "Darn," he muttered to Rose, "and I was hoping to score a bonus mark or two." She grinned back and patted one of her own pockets meaningfully, and then they both got back to work.

"What an exam!" Nick exclaimed, heaving a huge sigh of relief. "It was getting close to the end there, and I thought I'd made a mistake, but then it finally turned colour like it had when we tested it in PotionMaster."

"We all got it done right, though," Scorpius said. "That should earn us all 'O's'. I only saw one Gryffindor, and two Hufflepuff students that looked like they'd gotten it done too."

Rose shook her head. "I was talking to the Hufflepuffs before we left. One of them was just that happy because she was sure she'd passed. The other one did get it right, though."

"Who's our next slave driver?" Scorpius asked.

Nick laughed. "You are, mate. Transfiguration is the next exam."

The others laughed as a smile spread across his face. "Suddenly, I'm feeling much better! I think we've earned the time off until after dinner, though, so why don't we drop the books off in our dorms, and head outside for a little relaxation?" There were no arguments against his plan, so they all headed toward the Ravenclaw Tower.

There were two parts to the Transfiguration exam – written and practical. The two hour written exam was followed by the task of changing a mouse into a snuffbox. Apparently, this had been a favourite test that Professor McGonagall had used with her first year students back when Professor Macmillan went to school here.

This was a much easier test than any of the Marauders had expected, and they each added their own special flair to their Transfiguration to earn bonus marks. The Professor was very impressed with their four designer snuffboxes, and they were all sure that another quartet of 'O's' had been achieved.

"Happy Birthday, James!" Al, Rose, and Nick all told him as they walked up next to him in the Great Hall before breakfast. They each handed him a present, and he grinned up at them from his seat.

"Thanks, guys!" he told them as Rose gave him a big hug and kiss.

"Better open them quick," Rose teased him, "before the other Gryffindors realize that three members of their Number One Enemy have infiltrated their camp."

Jon and Andy both laughed. "We'll protect you, Rose," Jon told her with a shy smile. Andy winked. "The boys will have to defend themselves, though!" Both boys thought that James' cousin was pretty cute.

The presents were quickly opened anyway, and James loved the new game from Rose that wouldn't be out in stores until after school, the jumbo skiving snackbox refill from Al, and the package of Invisible parchment from Nick.

"When you write on it," he explained to James, "by the next day the parchment is invisible. There is a powder included that will reverse it after you've had your fun."

James was grinning. "This is really cool, Nick, thanks. Thanks again to all of you. These are all really cool presents."

Rose hugged him again. "You're welcome. Have a great day today, James."

He shrugged. "We have our Potions exam today, so I doubt it. Maybe since it's my birthday, I'll get lucky and not blow up the lab today."

Jon and Andy both laughed again. "We'd appreciate that a lot if you didn't, James," Jon told him. "The two of us are usually way too close to you when that happens."

Rose, Nick, and Al left the birthday boy and met Scorpius at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast before heading to their own exam – Herbology.

Rose had again been their study leader. This was not a favourite subject for any of them, but Rose certainly did have the aptitude for it, and by the time they were finished with the grueling three hour examination, she was the only one who was confident that she'd done well on it.

History of Magic had been a snooze all year, but they were also all very good in the subject, and certainly all aced the exam. Their next exam was Charms, and had both written and practical parts to the test. Nick had been team leader while they studied for this, and they were all well prepared for both parts. They each breezed through the written test. After a few moments of demonstrating their four dancing pineapples for Professor Flitwick, who'd been impressed that they had not only made them dance, but had them doing a fox trot in pairs, they were finished the exam, and allowed to leave.

They had nearly two days to prepare for their DADA exam, and Al was team leader to help them get ready for their final exam of the year. Al had them cover all of the hexes, charms, spells, and defensive magic that they'd covered all year, and they used an empty classroom to practice against each other, taking turns shielding and practicing the magic they would be throwing against their partner's shield during the examination.

Since the DADA exam was all practical application of what they'd learned all year, the students were being tested in pairs, and had time slots throughout the day. Al and Nick were paired up, as they had been all year, and would be going about two hours before Rose and Scorpius would be having their exam.

Professor Williamson was smiling at the boys when they walked into the classroom. "Let's get right to it, shall we? Face each other at ten paces, please, wands ready."

Nick and Al stepped to the indicated spots, and held their wands at the ready. "Nick, you shield first, please. Al, when he's ready, please select three different offensive hexes, charms, or spells you've learned this year, and fire them at his shield."

Nick nodded, and raised his wand. _"Protego!"_ he shouted, and his shield appeared, covering him from head to foot, about two feet in front of him.

"Very good!" Professor Williamson said approvingly. "Mr. Potter, proceed."

Al sent his first hex at Nick's shield, and blasted the shield apart. Nick had been used to this happening in practice, and so other than stumbling backward a step, was unharmed.

The Professor looked from one boy to the other for a moment. "Mr. Weasley, I think it would be prudent for you to stand down for the rest of Mr. Potter's offensive test." He stepped over to where Nick had been, and raised his own wand. "When my shield is up, you may proceed with your second spell."

Al nodded, and watched as Professor Williamson put his own formidable shield in place, this one extending about six feet in front of him, and much thicker than the one Nicolas had summoned. He threw his next hex at the shield, and while it did hold, it had momentarily turned from blue to a crimson red before returning to a much diminished and thinner blue.

Professor Williamson held up his hand again, and let his shield drop. "I think that is more than sufficient, Mr. Potter." He grinned at the boys. "Remind me at the end of you fifth year to retire before you're learning the advanced DADA. Alright, your turn to shield. Mr. Weasley, three spells of your choice, please."

Al and Nick faced each other again, and Al yelled "PROTEGO!" His shield burst forth, and reached nearly half-way to where Nick was. Professor Williamson interrupted once again. "Nick, you should probably move back a few more paces – we wouldn't want anything you throw at your cousin to rebound back at you."

Nick did as he was told, and threw three of his best spells at Al's shield. He managed to get it to pulsate each time, but never came close to penetrating it. Professor Williamson had been watching closely, and when Nick had finished, nodded to Al to release his shield.

"Nick, you did all of your spells perfectly – you just happen to be paired with an extraordinarily strong partner. Al, you've impressed me again. Excellent job by both of you. Please let the next pair know they can come in now, and I hope you both have a wonderful summer holiday."

The boys gave Rose and Scorpius the play-by-play of their exam, and the four of them talked about which spells the other two should do if they also were given the choice, then, when it was time for them to go get tested, Al and Nick decided to go outside to wait for them.

"We'll be heading home in a few days, Al. Are you looking forward to the summer?"

Al nodded. "Yeah, I've really missed Mum and Dad, and Lily a lot. It was a little weird being home at Christmas, but I guess that's just part of growing up."

Nick nodded. "I know what you mean. I am going to miss being here though. It's like when I'm here I can finally be the real me – that I don't have to fit myself into what my Dad expects me to be. He'll see the good marks, and the Quidditch Cup was a bonus. I don't think he'd understand the New Marauders stuff at all, or when we actually took time to do a little goofing off."

Al smiled at Nick. "Your Dad is getting better, you know. Your Mom's helping him, and we can too – he just needs to get some more fun into his life, that's all. If he ever is Minister of Magic, he'd make a much better one if he did figure out that there's a lot more important things in life than work."

Rose and Scorpius tracked them down about a half hour later, and she was bouncing around excitedly.

"Are you happy exams are over, or because you aced another one?" Nick asked her, grinning.

"Both," she told him happily, giving each boys hugs. "Scorpius was brilliant too! He even knocked my shield out once." Scorpius smiled.

"She forgot to mention she took mine out twice, but at least I did enough to not get hit by her hexes."

"Professor Williamson said we both did outstanding, Scorpius, and I think we were brilliant!" She gave him a hug too, which for once he actually returned, earning him another dazzling smile. "You're learning," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

It was time for the end-of-year feast, and all of the students had taken their seats when Professor McGonagall stood up.

"This has been another wonderful year, and you should all be proud of your accomplishments. Before we begin the feast, it is time to award the House Cup. With a school record 1170 points, the House Cup goes to RAVENCLAW!

Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius all cheered along with the rest of their house, and they watched with pride as their House colours were blazoned across the Great Hall ceiling for the first time in more than ten years. The students in the other Houses clapped in congratulations.

When they quieted again, Professor McGonagall called for the start of the feast, and the tables filled with food, and the kids all started piling plates high, and enjoying their last night of the school year.

Al had gone to his dorm early, and had his trunk packed long before Nick and Scorpius joined him, and packed their own trunks. They sat in their beds and talked about different things that had happened during the year, and what they were going to do all summer. When the rest of their dorm mates were all there, the three boys decided to go to sleep so they'd be ready for the trip home in the morning.

The next morning, as they waited for their ride to the station, they stopped and turned to take one last look at the school they wouldn't see again until September first. 

"It feels like we're both leaving home, and going home too," Rose said quietly. The boys nodded.

When they got to Hogsmeade station, they boarded the train, found a compartment, and stowed their gear. The train got under way, and the four friends talked quietly together as the train sped them toward home and their families.

They were almost to King's Cross Station, and the mood had definitely become more reticent. Rose finally turned to Scorpius and threw her arms around him.

"I'm really going to miss you, Scorpius," she told him. "We all are." Al and Nick had both nodded.

"Maybe we can get Trinity to put together a couple of team parties or training days or whatever we need to call them for an excuse to get together," Nick suggested.

Rose beamed at him. "That's a brilliant idea, Nick. I think we could all use a few sessions – it'd give us a jump on next year."

"Trinity can get in touch with me when you've set it up, Rose," Scorpius said. "I'm going to really miss all of you guys too."

The train started to slow down.

"I guess we're here," Al said, getting grins from the other, since he'd stated the obvious. "I think for a first year, ours was absolutely brilliant. I can hardly wait to see what will happen next year!"


	15. Summer Holidays Begin

Chapter Fifteen – Summer Holidays Begin

Harry was already waiting on the platform for the kids as the Hogwarts Express pulled in to the station. He had four excited children next to him, all looking around them to catch a first glimpse of 'their' Hogwarts students.

Just like at Christmas, Al was first off the train, and he went straight to his father for a long hug before moving on to hug the girls, and shake Hugo's hand. Rose and Nick were right behind him, and the hugs and kisses continued as they joined the welcoming party, along with Aaron, Arianna, James, and finally Victoire, who seemed to have some mixed feelings about her last trip on the train.

Al was talking quietly with Carolyn when they both noticed Brianna suddenly looking devastated. They both looked up to see Scorpius walking past, ignoring them and going straight to meet his parents. Al reached out and pulled her close to them.

"Brianna, he's in a really difficult position with his family right now, and until he's old enough to handle that, he's probably not going to let on to his parents how much he likes all of us."

She looked into his eyes, letting his words sink in.

"He does like you, Bree. His family just hates mine, and we're all unfortunately going to be stuck in the middle of that."

Brianna nodded. "It isn't right, Al," she told him.

"No, it's not," he agreed.

The rest of their group was ready to leave the platform, so Harry Translocated their things to the residence, cottage, and Victoire's house, and then they all left for the Marauders Mall, where Harry had another private lunch arranged to welcome them all home.

There was so much going on during their lunch that Al gave up trying to keep track of everything, and instead spent his time enjoying being back together with Lily, Carolyn, and his family.

They'd had an extended hugging and kissing session before sitting down to eat. Grandma, Fleur, and Aunt Penelope had come from their office, picking up Uncle Bill on the way. Grandpa and Uncle Percy had come from the Ministry. Ginny and Hermione had come from the Institute, and Uncle Ron came with them. Teddy, Stewart, and Isabelle were there, mostly to welcome Victoire home.

While they ate, Aaron and Arianna found out that they'd be working as game testers again this year. James had been offered a job working for Uncle George that he'd been thrilled to accept. Victoire was told that she had a meeting with her Mum and Grandmother after lunch to talk about her future. 

Al, Rose, and Nick didn't worry about any of that stuff, since they were still considered too young to get jobs. Al thought that with James working a year earlier than expected, that this could turn out to be an awesome summer, and they talked with Lily and the other younger kids about what they could all do with the more than two months that were open ahead of them.

Victoire was sitting in her Mum's office, which was actually quite full at the moment. Her mother was there, of course, but so was Grandma Weasley, Aunt Ginny, and Aunt Penelope. They were all smiling at her, and she smiled back in return.

"Ms. Weasley," her Mum began, "we've asked you here this afternoon to make a job offer to you." Victoire smiled at her Mum, enjoying watching her have some fun, and nodded.

"Last summer, you worked with Mrs. And Mrs. Weasley, and they were very impressed with you." Victoire nodded again.

"Mrs. Potter has joined the three of us today because as you know, we are four of the nine partners in Witch Investments." Victoire flashed her smile and sparkling blue eyes toward her Aunt, who was also obviously enjoying her mother's little show.

"With our own responsibilities, we've finally decided to recruit help for running our Investment group." Fleur handed her daughter several sheets of parchments.

"We'd like you to become the CEO for Witch Investments, and our Account Manager."

Victoire jumped out of her chair, and hugged all four women before sitting back down to read the pages of parchment.

"We can discuss your responsibilities and how we plan to complete your training later, but before we continue the meeting, we need you to read everything over, and agree to your contract and the confidentiality agreement that is included." The four women chatted while Victoire read everything, signed the contract, and handed it back to her mother.

"Thank-you, Victoire," her mother said after getting the contract back from her daughter. "Witch Investments has nine majority owners. Your Aunt Gabrielle, Aunt Hemione, Mandy, Natalie, and Luna are the other partners. In addition, though, PBP Investments also has a forty percent interest in our company." Victoire nodded her understanding.

"Ginny has told us before that you and Isabelle have figured out that Harry is – how did you two put it? – 'Behind' all of the good things that happen in our family."

Victoire laughed. "True. He just leaves a little too much evidence behind to miss."

The other women laughed too. "Well, besides being behind everything, he also is the sole investor of PBP Investments. We all work for him – in your case, about forty percent for him."

"That doesn't surprise me, Mrs. Weasley," Victoire told her mother.

Fleur laughed, handed her two reports, and watched as Victoire's eyes got very large and round. "Surprised now?"

She could only nod. "Who'd ever guess?" she finally said.

"For the most part, nobody. That's always been the plan – to keep the whole thing quiet. He does a lot for us, Victoire, and this is a pretty small thing for us to do for him."

Victoire looked up from the financial statements at her Mum, Grandmother, and Aunts. "The four of you are like financial geniuses, aren't you."

Ginny laughed. "They are – I just like to play in my lab with the other kids and have fun all day."

"Do you all really think I can learn to do this as well as you all can?"

Molly answered for them. "We know you can, sweetie, and don't worry, we'll help you every step of the way until you're ready to take Witch Investments and work your own magic with it. We only hire the best graduates, and for this year – you're it."

Victoire got up and gave them all hugs again. When she sat down, Aunt Ginny pulled an envelope out of her pocket, and she couldn't help grinning, since her sister had already been through this when she'd been hired at Marauders Institute.

"I see that you know what's coming now," Ginny said, smiling too. "Welcome to senior management, Victoire – I have a feeling that for you, the fun is just starting today."

James was standing in front of the door to Uncle George's house, waiting for his knock to be answered. It was Monday morning, and he'd been told to report here for his first day of work for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. When his parents told him that he'd be working for his Uncle, he'd thought that it'd be at one of the stores stocking shelves or demonstrating products like some of the kids from the residence did at the GamePortals. When he'd been told to come to their house instead, he was no longer certain what he'd be doing – maybe he'd be traveling the world with his Aunt Marietta and with Cho Jordan!

Uncle George answered the door and invited him in. "Good timing, James. Lee's on his way over, and we can get started when he gets here. He followed his Uncle into the kitchen, and was greeted by his Aunt Marietta and Frederica. His cousin was eight going on nine. Both girls looked like they were keeping a secret the way they looked at him, and he began to think that his summer job might just be a lot more than he'd expected.

Lee came in to the kitchen a few minutes later, and the two men took him in tow, and went outside, where Uncle George took James' arm and apparated directly into a large, brightly lit room.

"Welcome to the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes laboratory, James," his Uncle said with a grin. "You'll be working here with us for the next couple of months."

James threw his arms around his Uncle and hugged him.

"This is gotta be the coolest summer job in the world!" James said, grinning. "What will I be doing?"

Both men laughed at his enthusiasm. "See, Lee? I told you he was ready this year." Lee had nodded before they turned back to James.

"Word about a certain, extremely cool, practical joke at Hogwarts reached our attention, James," Lee told the boy with a grin.

James didn't bother to try to deny it – he was glad to be able to share with someone besides Al that he had been the mastermind behind it, so he just grinned back.

"This summer, you're going to help us develop that into Chocolate Easter Bunnies that we'll sell next Easter. We think that taking that idea, we will also be able to make Christmas, Hallowe'en, and Valentine products. If we have time, we'll even make up Chocolate Turkeys for our American stores to sell at Thanksgiving. We see a lot of potential for a whole line of products!"

James was thrilled, and he knew that regardless of what they paid him, he'd take the job, but he was practical enough to discuss money first.

"How much does the job pay?" he asked them with a grin.

"Same as the kids that do Game Testing at the Institute," George told him. "There's also a bonus and contract that we worked out with your parents, since you're underage. Don't worry – your Mum took good care of you. I'm not sure if I took it easy on her because she's my baby sister, or if she's just a better negotiator." All three of them laughed.

"Let's get to work! First thing we need, James, is for you to show us how you managed to turn more than thirteen hundred students into bunnies," George said, smiling fondly at his nephew.

Lee was grinning too. "Yeah. It takes a lot to impress us, and that certainly did."

Al woke up on Monday morning to the familiar smell of breakfast cooking. He lay in bed for a while, enjoying the sensations that being home again evoked in him, and thought about the past couple of days.

The first weekend home had been a whirlwind of activity for Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna. They'd stayed at the cottage instead of going on the annual after-school shopping trip with everyone else.

"It'll be a lot easier for you and Dad if you just take the kids that have jobs starting on Monday," Al had told his mother. "The rest of us can always go with Dad some day next week when it won't be so hectic."

His Mum had hugged him, and thanked all of the younger kids. Al had the ulterior motive of getting to have Lily and Carolyn all to himself for a whole day. When the rest of the family had left for the mall, the four of them had gone outside to play Quidditch without the bludgers. He found out then that both Carolyn and Brianna had been practicing once or twice a week with Lily and Harry.

Neither girl was interested in playing for a House team, they just wanted to be able to hop on a broom and join in when all of the other kids were having a game or practice.

The girls could both fly well, and they were fast enough on the Nimbus 2018's that Lisa and Marcus had bought for each of the 'adopted' girls for their eleventh birthday presents this year.

They made and ate lunch together, then decided to take a walk into Godric's Hollow. They wandered through the shops for a while, went to the park, then stopped for ice cream before going back to the cottage.

That night, there was a family dinner at Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's house, and even Uncle Charlie, Aunt Nathalie, and Art had made the trip, coming to spend the whole weekend at the Burrow with Grandma and Grandpa.

While Al might not always pay attention to everything that was going on, since that'd be a full time job in this family, he did find out that Teddy and Victoire were getting married on August twenty-fifth – the last Saturday of the month, and the wedding would be right here at their house.

There was talk about other things that would be happening during the summer, including the Foundation trip to Marauders Paradise, and different weeks that Al's various Aunts, Uncles, and cousins would be vacationing on their island, or taking other trips. When dinner was over, and the conversation turned to business and politics, Al took Carolyn's hand the two of them went for a walk together.

"That was definitely turning boring!" Al said with a grin. They'd walked around to the front of the house, where several sports cars were parked.

Carolyn was admiring Teddy's roadster, like she did every time she saw it. "It sure was – how can grown-ups stand spending so much time talking about stuff like that?" Al had shrugged, and followed her as she walked around the beautiful automobile.

"This is just the most amazing car I've ever seen," she said quietly. "Do you think he'd mind if we sat in it?"

Al grinned, and as they got to the driver's side door, opened it with a flourish.

"I'm sure as long as we don't take it for a spin, he won't mind at all."

Carolyn laughed as he motioned for her to take a seat. He closed her door, and went around to get in on the other side. Her beautiful hazel eyes were alight with excitement as she placed her hands on the steering wheel, and imagined what it would be like to drive something like this. They didn't see Teddy and Victoire approach, or the grin on his face.

"Victoire, the kids you find out parking these days are just getting younger and younger every year!" Victoire laughed as the two kids looked up in surprise.

"What's parking?" Carolyn asked, which had Teddy and Victoire both laughing.

"Nothing for you to worry about quite yet," Victoire told her. "I take it you like Teddy's car." Carolyn nodded.

"Why don't we dump these boys for a few minutes, and I'll take you for a ride in it," she said, opening the driver's door.

Carolyn hopped out, and gave her a hug. "Can we?"

Teddy laughed and handed Victoire the keys. "Have fun! Come on, Al, I think we've lost our girls for a while, so we might as well go see if there's any games going on out back yet."

Al hopped out of the car, and held the door for Carolyn as she got in. They watched as the girls, hair flying, drove out of sight down the road.

"I haven't seen you much over the last year," Teddy said as they turned around and started the walk around to the back yard.

Al nodded. "Not getting to see you much is on the 'not much fun' side of my growing up list."

Teddy laughed. "From what I've heard, I'd say the 'Fun' side of that list is getting longer, though. Quidditch Cup, House Cup, Probably six 'O's' and one 'E' for your first year, driving jet-skis… That's not a bad year."

He paused for a minute, then added – "Wait until you get to Marauders Paradise too. Now that you're eleven, you can do just about everything on the island. You only missed out on it last year by a couple of weeks."

"It has been pretty awesome, Teddy. I just wish sometimes it was possible to have both."

Teddy laughed. "You and me both, Al. The great thing is that once you're grown up too, we'll get to do grown up things together, and someday hang out with our kids like your parents, Aunts and Uncles do now. You should add a 'Will be Fun someday' column to your list."

Al laughed at that. "Thanks, Teddy. And thanks for letting Victoire take Carolyn for a ride in your car. I don't know that we necessarily have to tell Mum that she likes your car better than her Porsche, though."

Teddy laughed too. "You're welcome, Al, and I wouldn't dream of it."

They'd joined the rest of their family, and enjoyed a fun evening together. Sunday was designated to be a lazy day at the cottage, and other than a little morning Quidditch, they all just relaxed, played, and enjoyed having a quiet day together before most of them headed to work, and Harry, Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna would be mostly free for the first few weeks of summer to play and just have fun together – or at least that was the plan.

Al shook himself from his reverie and realized from the sounds upstairs that everyone else was starting to get up and ready for the day. He got up, got dressed, and headed downstairs to the kitchen.


	16. Not So Lazy Summer Days

Chapter Sixteen – Not so Lazy Summer Days

"Morning, Mum, Morning, Dad," Al said as he walked into the kitchen.

James was upstairs getting ready for his first day at work, and he hadn't heard a peep from Lily or the other girls. Aaron and Arianna had gone back to the residence after dinner on Sunday, and would be going directly from there to the Institute for work.

He sat down and poured himself some O.J., then looked over at his mother.

"How do you feel about a suggestion for a GameWizard game?" he asked her.

Ginny smiled. "Suggest away, Al. You know we're always looking for something new."

"When we were studying for exams, I was thinking that if there was an astronomy game like we have for Potions, that it would have been a lot more interesting learning about the subject than it seems to be for most students. I think I was the only one in first year that actually enjoyed the class."

Ginny smiled at him encouragingly. "What've you got in mind?"

"If we had a VirtualAstronomer game, maybe it could not only show the constellations, planets, and everything, but maybe it could actually make it like you were flying through space and traveling to all of the stars and planets, and if there could be lessons as the kids went along, that'd be even better."

Ginny got up and gave him a hug. "I think that's a brilliant idea, Al. I'll give it to Lisa to look into. She'd probably need to hire an astronomer or two to help her out with something like that, but it should be something we could do."

When James came downstairs, he sat down and ate in record time for him, and was out the door, excited to get to Uncle George's and find out what he'd be doing all summer. Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna all got downstairs just as he was leaving.

"What do the five of you have planned for today?" Ginny asked them.

Lily answered first. "I was hoping we could go spend the morning at the residence so we can catch up with all the kids that are back from school this morning." Looking at Carolyn and Brianna, she grinned. "Then maybe Daddy and Al can take three of their favourite girls out for lunch and shopping for summer clothes."

Harry and Ginny both laughed.

"I guess that's pretty much filled the day for us," he said. "Nothing else?"

Lily thought for a moment. "Not for today, nope. We can talk about tomorrow later."

They spent the morning hanging out at the residence, then went to the mall for lunch and shopping. While they were eating, they talked about what they could do during the next few weeks.

"Why don't you get your team to come an have a practice morning once a week, Al?" Lily suggested. "Rose and Nick could come over every morning if they wanted to, but I doubt the rest of your team could do that."

Al thought that was a great idea, and sent five qm's on his WiComm to ask everyone except Scorpius – Trinity would get a mesage to him so that they didn't risk upsetting his parents or family.

Spending a weekend on the island was a popular suggestion, as was a shopping and play trip to the mall in France. Al and Lily thought that it would be nice if they put together some special dinners and nights to spend with their family, which Harry had thought was a pretty awesome idea too.

Harry and Al mostly followed the girls around as they picked out summer clothes and swimsuits. His father had laughed at him when Al told him that for some reason, watching the girls play dressup as they tried on clothes had moved from the 'not so fun' to the 'fun' side of his list when he hadn't been looking.

They TransPortaled back to the cottage in time to make dinner, and through the afternoon, Al had been sending and receiving qm's with the rest of the team. Rose, Hugo, and Nick were going to start coming over every morning for a Quidditch workout with Al, Lily, and when he could, Harry.

The team, or each member that could come that week, were going to practice on Thursday mornings, except for the last weeks of both July, and August. While Harry was cooking, Al confirmed Grandma and Grandpa for the first special dinner night for Wednesday, and had Uncle Percy, Aunt Penelope, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione for a week from Thursday night.

Aaron and Arianna came home with Ginny and joined them for dinner, and James got home at nearly the same time. The three older kids talked excitedly about their jobs, and they had some good-natured jousting over which job was cooler. Ginny told Al that Lisa and Natalie loved his idea for the Astronomy game, and had put a small team on it already.

After dinner, James went to the residence with Aaron and Arianna to hang out, and Harry and Ginny went outside with the rest of the kids, who played on their brooms for a while before convincing the parents that a walk into town for ice cream would be a great way to finish up the day.

The four kids spent the whole day Tuesday having a play day – after having the first of what would be daily Quiddtich practices with Nick, Rose, and Hugo. Wednesday they worked most of the afternoon with Harry to get everything ready for the dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. They even went so far as to have games and entertainment for after dinner.

Everyone in their family seemed to always be busy, and when the family got together, there never seemed to be much time to spend with each person. When Al thought back, he realized that there hadn't really been that many times when they'd had Grandma and Grandpa all to themselves for a whole evening – or any of the rest of their family either. By the end of the night, they had all agreed that the kids had come up with something that they should all take the time to do more often.

Christina and Trinity both had summer jobs in the mall, but it had been easy for them to either have Thursday off, or work a later shift. Rick was going to be able to come to most of the practices except for two weeks when he'd be gone on holidays with his family. Scorpius thought he'd be able to come to all of them with Trinity.

Before they started that first practice, they talked with Al's Dad about ways that he could help to train them to keep getting better on the days that he could work with them. Harry agreed to help them with new flying practice routines, working with Christina and Lily, who had decided she was going to be a Seeker when she went to Hogwarts, and helping the others however else he could.

The first thing that they learned at the practice was that keeping up with Christina's flying exercises, and keeping up with Harry were two vastly different things. By the time they finished up a half hour of futility in trying to keep pace with him as he weaved and danced all over the field, they were all exhausted – and they hadn't even done bludger practice!

"You did ask me not to hold back, Al," his father said, not even breathing hard as the rest of them sat in the stands sucking wind.

"I know, and someday we'll really appreciate that, Dad – just not today." Both boy and man were grinning now. "I also think I'll be dropping any future reference to you as being an 'old guy' until we can practice like this and you're the one huffing and puffing."

Harry laughed. "I think I've tortured you enough for one day. Why don't you do the rest of your practice without me, and I'll go inside and get some work done while you're busy."

Carolyn and Brianna had done the flying exercises with everyone, but stayed in the stands when the others started bludger practice, and cheered everyone on.

"Quit watching the pretty girls and play!" Trinity shouted at Scorpius when she put the Quaffle past him while he'd been sneaking a peek at Brianna.

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Captain. I won't let it happen again!" They could all hear Carolyn and Brianna when they started laughing, and even Trinity couldn't keep a laugh from getting out to go with the chorus of laughter from the rest of their teammates.

She got the practice back under control quickly, and worked them hard for another half hour before calling an end to the practice.

They were having drinks and a snack afterward, winding down from the workout. Scorpius and Brianna were off together talking quietly, and taking the chance to get to know each other a little better. Lily and Rose were in a discussion with Trinity and Christina about Quidditch strategy, leaving Al, Nick, and Rick to sit back and relax.

"I saw the Canons went out in the first round of the playoffs this year," Rick was saying. "That must've been a bit of a shock for your Uncle Ron."

Nick nodded. "United managed to shut Demelza down pretty effectively. They certainly deserved the win."

Everyone headed home before lunch, and Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna went with Harry for an afternoon at the residence. The two girl's nearly week-long stay at the cottage had come to an end, and they stayed there when Harry, Al, and Lily went home.

Aaron and Arianna came to spend the weekend at the cottage on Friday after work. They would be staying with James, Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo while their parents went to the island for a two-day anniversary weekend getaway.

They spent the weekend playing Quidditch and LaserBroom, had an afternoon at Marauders Mall to shop for a few anniversary presents to give their parents on their actual anniversary on Tuesday, and doing a lot of just hanging around and playing.

When Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione got back from the island on Sunday, they all looked happy and rested. Arianna, Rose, and Lily might think that seeing the two couples holding hands, hugging, and kissing more than maybe they normally did was romantic and beautiful. The boys just tried not to think about the words 'romantic weekend' and 'parents' in the same sentence at all. The only thing scarier than that was when Grandma and Grandpa started talking about their 'date nights'.

During the weeks leading up to the trip to Marauders Paradise, Harry, Al, and Lily put on three more of their special dinner nights – the one for Rose and Nick's parents, one for Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle, and the last one for Uncle George, Aunt Marietta, and Frederica.

Rose, Nick, and Hugo came over every weekday morning to practice Quidditch with Al and Lily. There were three more Thursday practices, which coincided with either Wednesday or Thursday night sleepovers for Carolyn and Brianna. The twice-weekly trips to the residence continued, and Harry was also busy helping with details for the upcoming trip.

Lily took Rose for an afternoon at the spa for her twelfth birthday, and when they got back to Rose's house, surprised her with a party with friends from school, the residence, most of their team, and all of her cousins there to help her celebrate her big day with a dinner and dance in the back yard.

Al was dancing with Carolyn later that evening. She had her arms around his neck, and rested her head on his shoulder as they moved to the music.

"This has been a really great day," she told him, nearly whispering the words.

"Most of my day was just good – it didn't get to great until getting to dance all night with you."

Carolyn gave him a squeeze. "Get used to it, Al. I hope to be dancing in your arms for a lot of years to come."

Al grinned at her. "I think I could do that."

The song ended, and as they stepped apart, Carolyn looked around. "Where's Brianna? I haven't seen her in a while."

"She and Scorpius went for a walk together. I get the feeling that he's rather taken with your best friend."

"I was surprised he could come to the party," she said. "Brianna was certainly thrilled, though."

The dance wrapped up by eleven. Harry and Ginny had been there chaperoning the party with Ron and Hermione, and they took seven kids back to the cottage with them, and headed for bed, since Ginny was working in the morning. Aaron, Arianna, and James were all working too, and weren't far behind them, so Al was left in the sitting room with the three younger girls, and they talked quietly about the party.

After about half an hour, Lily stood up. "Come on, Brianna, let's head upstairs, get some sleep, and leave these two alone for a while." Brianna grinned, stood up, and went with Lily up to her room. Al and Carolyn could hear the two of them giggling quietly as they climbed the stairs.

"That wasn't very subtle, was it?" Al said with a grin.

Carolyn moved in closer to him. "Whatever works. If it means I get you to myself for a little while, then I'm all for the direct approach."

She watched as those sparkling emerald eyes looked right into her heart. It felt like it was pounding in her chest as she took a chance, leaned toward him, and kissed him softly.

Sure, she'd kissed him before – but those had been little girl kissing little boy, thank-you kind of pecks. This was definitely not one of those, and that first time real boy-girl kiss left both of them staring at each other in surprise.

"Well, that explains it," Al told her, grinning.

Carolyn was smiling too. "Explains what?"

"Why Mum and Dad, and every other happy couple I see like to do that."

They heard giggling from the other room, and Al blushed.

"Lily, the show's over for you – come get your stupid Wireless Extendable Ear wherever you hid it."

His giggling sister came back in, picked up the ear, and gave them both a hug. "Sorry, guys – it's just hereditary, and I can't control it sometimes."

Al and Carolyn were both laughing too. He stood up and held out his hand to her. "I guess we should all get to sleep now, and we've given Lily and Brianna enough entertainment for one night."

Carolyn took his hand, and let him help her to stand and gave him a hug before they all started to head for the stairs.

"Just let me know the next time you're bored, Lily, and I'll be more than happy to take your brother somewhere and entertain you some more!" All three girls giggled quietly as Al's face turned bright red.

The daily routine of Quidditch practice, trips to the residence, and Thursday team practices continued until it was finally departure day for everyone's favourite trip of the year. Aaron and Arianna had stayed overnight, and their departure time was for noon local time, which would put them on the island before breakfast.

To get ready for that, they'd all stayed up very late the night before, and slept in until late morning. When they did finally all get up, they packed bags, gathered outside, and TransPortaled to the island, ready for another amazing adventure.


	17. Marauders Island Adventures

Chapter Seventeen – Marauders Island Adventures

Lily was feeling left out. She was the only one of their group that was under eleven still, and the other kids had all left to go do all of the rides that Al, Carolyn, and Brianna could now all go on.

Ginny smiled at her daughter, knowing what she was thinking. Growing up with so many older brothers, and being the youngest, she was used to being the last one to get to do things, and being left behind while her older siblings got to go have all of the fun.

"I'm sure they're going to have a lot of fun this morning, honey," she told Lily, who looked even glummer as she nodded her agreement.

"It is too bad that they won't be with us when you and I go Scuba Diving with Devon, though."

Ginny laughed as she watched Lily's face transform from gloomy to sunny in the space of a few heartbeats, and then she threw herself into her mother's arms.

"Come on, or we'll be late for the boat! Your Dad's busy all morning helping with arrivals, so it's just you, me, Megan's b.f., and a date with the fishes and reefs."

The only downside of the morning for Al had been that they couldn't share the fun with Lily. There were now three of the 'big' rollercoasters on the island, and several more new rides had been added this year that all had that minimum age limit. He hoped his sister wouldn't be too down about being the only one that couldn't do those rides.

He was going on the rides with Carolyn and Brianna. They saw James, Aaron, and Arianna around, but they weren't hanging out together. They all loved the coasters, but after one ride on a new, wildly spinning ride, and Brianna decided that she'd be avoiding any future rides that involved more spinning.

"You two go ahead," she'd told Carolyn and Al when they wanted to go on again. "My breakfast and I will wait here for you – if I go on that monstrousity again, we'd be parting company for sure."

They met Harry, Ginny, Lisa, Marcus, and Lily for lunch, and Al was happy to find out that his Mum and sister had gone on their own underwater adventure. Megan and Devon had joined them for lunch too, and she had teased her boyfriend about spending the morning alone with two beautiful women in swimsuits while she was working hard at the hotel, which got Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna all giggling.

After lunch, the four kids gave the grownups the afternoon off to go relax, and headed for the waterpark to play on the incredible, gravity-defying slides, and swim in the pools until it was time to go back to the suite and get ready for the banquet.

This was the tenth anniversary year for the Phoenix Foundation's Marauders Paradise holiday. Things had changed quite a bit since that first year. With more than twenty thousand children and nearly seventeen thousand volunteers spread out over three weeks, they now had more than twelve thousand guests at the resort each of those weeks.

"We can't really take more than fifteen thousand a week, so we'll be adding another week for the Foundation in two years," Gabrielle was telling them at dinner.

"That means you'll need a fifth week before we get to our goal in 2025," Ginny said. "Won't that be too much to do and still handle the PBP guests?

Gabrielle nodded. "We're already building another resort to handle all of the growth that we've got throughout the organization. It's in Indonesia, and geared more toward adult couples than families like this one." She smiled at Megan. "Maybe we'll have a certain manager ready by then to go run it when it opens next year."

Devon laughed. "Then I hope the new manager will have an opening for a diving instructor."

Al tuned out the rest of the 'grownup' conversation, and concentrated on what Lily and the other girls were talking about.

"We've got our Haunted Island Adventure tomorrow night," Lily was telling Carolyn and Brianna. "Are either of you doing the competition for the Phoenix Cup this year?"

Both girls shook their heads that they weren't. They went on to plan out what they wanted to do all week as they had dinner, then sat back to watch the staff talent show. The first day on the island was always a big adjustment because of the time change, so after the show, Al and the girls all decided to head for bed. Harry and Ginny went back to the suite with them, while James, Aaron, and Arianna went out to check out the dance club scene.

There were quite a few things about this year's trip that were different for the kids. The first thing was the absense of Teddy and Victoire, who were both working back home. Stewart had been here on the weekend working closely with Gabrielle and Megan, and would be here each weekend that the Foundation was here with the kids from the residences. Isabelle had stayed to work at the lab with Hermione. Natalie and Owen weren't here this year, staying home with their newborn baby.

Now that Al, Carolyn, and Brianna were older, and could do more of the activities and rides, it also meant that they spent less time with Harry and Ginny – though they usually took Lily with them for most of their adventures. The novelty of not being practically tethered to either parents or babysitters definitely fell into the 'fun' category!

Al and Carolyn weren't exactly ready to say they were boyfriend and girlfriend or anything like that, but there were definitely times during the week that they noticed that things weren't the same anymore either. The Haunted Island Adventure on Monday night was one good example. They'd been on the adventure lots of times with their family before, but they'd never chosen each other to huddle with through the scary parts, or hold hands as they traveled along through the different locations on the island, and experienced the different, amazing stories that were acted out before their eyes.

Lily couldn't go to the underage dance club yet, and Brianna wasn't interested in going alone, so the two girls sent Al and Carolyn off on two of the nights so they could go dancing together. Ginny had taught her sons how to dance so they'd be able to at weddings or parties, so Al wasn't worried about that, but it was certainly a big change over other years that he actually _wanted _to go dancing instead of playing games or going on rides.

It was Thursday night, and he and Carolyn were dancing together on that second night where Lily and Brianna had told them to go dancing while they found something more interesting to do.

"I'm pretty sure this has definitely been my favourite trip here so far," Carolyn told him, smiling brightly at him.

Al hugged her while they danced to another slow song – the only times that the music was quiet enough to be able to hear each other without shouting.

"I know it has been for me," he told her. "Remind me to thank Lily again for telling us to get lost and do our own thing again tonight."

Carolyn laughed and hugged him back. "I do love dancing with you, but we have to be back to our suites by eleven. How do you feel about a walk on the beach before we go back?"

He grinned at her, and holding hands, headed for the exit. They both turned when they heard a couple of boys whistling suggestively, and laughed when they saw that James and Aaron were the ones doing it, and that they were the target of the whistling.

"Where are you two kids off to, young man?" James said, trying to sound parental. Aaron laughed, and they could see Arianna was trying not to laugh.

Carolyn grinned at him and answered for Al. "For a walk on the beach, and if we're lucky, maybe a kiss or two before we have to get back."

This time Arianna couldn't keep the laughter bottled up, and joined in as both boys laughed, and Al started to blush.

"Don't let us interrupt you," Arianna told them, still laughing. "Carry on! We'll see you tomorrow."

Al and Carolyn managed to get back to her suite with a few minutes to spare, and were met at the door by a grinning Marcus before Al had to run to get back before he missed getting himself back on time. Harry and Ginny were both still up, and in the sitting room when he came in.

"Have a nice evening, honey?" Ginny asked him, not really needing to see his answering grin to know the answer.

"This was definitely one of the really great days, yeah," he told her, giving her a hug.

Ginny laughed. "What, no kiss? You didn't use up your quota for the day, did you?"

Al was laughing and couldn't help blushing again too. "No, not used up, Mum. I just thought you'd rather have Dad kissing you instead." He leaned over to give her a kiss anyway. "I'll see you in the morning. If I forget to tell you later, thanks for bringing us all here – we're having a great week."

When he'd gone to his room, Ginny snuggled back into Harry's arms. "We should've known he'd have a girlfriend before James right from the day he got that first Valentine kiss when he was what? Two?"

Harry lifted her chin and kissed her tenderly. "That's true, but I'm not worried at all about him – or Carolyn."

Ginny nodded, and kissed him again. "He's right about one thing, though – I would rather be kissed by you!"

He was just starting to kiss her again when the door opened and James, Aaron, and Arianna came in.

"Oi, Dad, do you mind? I just finished having a snack."

Arianna grinned at them, and Aaron laughed.

Harry kissed Ginny again before answering. "Nope, I don't mind at all."

James groaned and covered his eyes. "Let me know when the scary part is over," he quipped.

The others all laughed, and Arianna leaned over and kissed him while he still had his eyes covered.

"Scary part's over," she said with a grin. "See you all in the morning." James had started blushing while Aaron, Harry, and Ginny continued to laugh.

"That was _not _funny," he told them.

Harry stood up, and helped Ginny to her feet. "You're wrong about that, James. It was very funny. Now that you're all back, though, we're heading to bed. Good night, guys. Don't stay up all night."

The last day on the island, they spent the day with Uncle Charlie, Aunt Nathalie, and Art. They'd all be coming to Teddy and Victoire's wedding, but this would be their last chance to spend much time together before Christmas. They played on jet-skis and WaterBikes in the morning, then stayed at the pools and WaterPark after lunch.

The closing banquet, and residence talent show was as entertaining as always, and afterward, they split up so they could each take their last chance to do favourite rides, games, or other activities.

Al and Carolyn had decided on a moonlight walk on the beach. They were holding hands and walking near the surf, talking quietly about the week, and looking forward to the few weeks they'd still have before it would be time to get ready to go back to school – or to school for the first time in her case. Carolyn pulled him to a stop, put her arms around his neck, and looked into his eyes.

"You are way overdue for giving me a kiss," she told him. "Why don't you do something about that?"

Al grinned, then kissed her softly. They were both still new at it, but she thought he was a fast learner, 'cause she was liking those kisses more and more every time.

"I feel much better now," she said, hugging him and laying her head on his shoulder. When she sighed softly, he hugged her more tightly.

"Why the big sigh?"

"Things will probably be different again when we get back, and you're at the cottage, and I'm at the residence. It's been pretty nice having all of the just you and me time here this week. I'm going to miss it."

"Yeah, probably, but I think we'll figure out a way to still find a little time just for us."

Carolyn looked at her watch. "We better get going, or we'll be late."

"I'm beginning to really dislike the word 'curfew'," Al said. He kissed her one more time, then they started walking back to the hotel.

They had a mid-morning departure time, so they were all able to go for breakfast, then pack before taking the TransPortal home. Lisa and Marcus took the four kids back to the residence, so that Harry and Ginny could go right back to the cottage with their own kids.

It was the middle of the afternoon back home, and after unpacking, went to the Burrow for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, caught up on all of the news they'd missed while they were gone, then were back home, making it an early night. Ginny and James were working on Monday, and Harry and the kids would be getting back to their summer routine, starting with Quidditch practice with Rose and Nick in the morning. Al drifted off to sleep dreaming of unending summer days and a sweet little Hazel-eyed girl.


	18. Teddy and Victoire Get Married

Chapter Eighteen – Teddy and Victoire Get Married

From the day that they returned from the trip to Marauders Paradise, there were four weeks until Teddy and Victoire's wedding, and five weeks until school started.

Harry and Ginny were both busy during those weeks helping to get everything ready for the wedding, dealing with the myriad details and events that surrounded a big family wedding. Al and Lily were at best on the periphery of those activities, and the best way they could help was to do what they could to do their own thing and stay out of the way.

The kids would play Quidditch with Rose, Hugo, and Nick in the mornings, leaving their Dad free to spend his mornings running errands. They'd make their own lunches, then spend the weekday afternoons at the residence, or go on their own outings to the mall or other places.

Carolyn and Brianna stayed overnight on Wednesdays, and Ravenclaw team Quidditch practice was still on Thursdays. Harry was only able to join them for one of the four practices they had in August.

They had a small weekend overnighter at the cottage to watch the Quidditch World Cup final on WWVN. This was the first year that they hadn't taken the kids to the game, but with everything else going on this summer, Harry and Ginny had decided over a year ago that they wouldn't go this year.

Uncle Ron, Demelza, and Dennis had all also declined invitations to coach and play this year. They'd been on all of England's teams since 2002, and weren't interested in another long summer away from their families.

The game was being held in China this year, and the teams from Peru and the finalists. The sports pundits that had suggested that Viktor Krum was over-the-hill and way past his prime were left to eat their inane commentary as his team overpowered the Peruvian team, outscoring them by more than three hundred points before Viktor caught the snitch with an amazing display of flying to give his team the World Cup Championship.

The Hogwarts letters arrived for the students. Aaron and Arianna were going into their OWL year. They both passed everything, and had quite a few 'E's' each. James again had two 'O's', and five 'E's', and would be starting third year. Al took some teasing from James, but had gotten six 'O's' and one 'E' to take into second year. Rose had the same as Al, except having her 'E' in Astronomy instead of Herbology. Nick had five 'O's', and 'E's' in Astronomy and Herbology.

Carolyn and Brianna both got their letters, and were starting to get really excited and nervous about going to Hogwarts for the first time. They would be waiting until after the wedding to do the back to school shopping.

They did have a shopping trip to get new dresses for all of the girls that would be attending, and suits for the boys. The weekend before the wedding, Kreacher and Winky went with all of the kids to the island on Friday, and they stayed until Monday while parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles attended wedding showers and bachelor and bachelorette parties.

The big day finally arrived. Al walked into the kitchen and found his Dad cooking breakfast for the gang of nine they had in the house this morning. It was just after dawn, but Harry nearly had breakfast ready to go, and Al had heard lots of movement in other rooms as he'd gotten dressed himself.

"Morning, Dad," he said as he sat down at the table. "What's up with the extra early start today?"

Harry looked over his shoulder from where he was working. "The girls have to be at MagicSpa by eight o'clock."

"The wedding's not until two! Why so early?"

He smiled as he heard his Dad laugh. "They have all of the spots there for the morning, and six hours is apparently how long it'll take to get them all beautiful, dressed, and to the ceremony on time."

"The girls always look awesome every time they come back from a spa day," Al conceded, "but I think they're all beautiful before they go in the first place."

Two arms wrapped around him from behind and hugged him. "Thank-you, honey, that's very sweet," his mother told him, laughing as she realized that she caught him by surprise.

"What will the guys have to do?" Al asked them.

His Dad had given his mother a kiss, and was now putting platters of food on the table. "We'll be heading over to the house to help Bill for a few hours, then back here to get ready ourselves."

Ginny had sat beside Al at the table. "Your dates will be meeting you here in time to go to the wedding together," she told Al, and her eyes were sparkling in the early morning sunshine.

She watched as her son couldn't help but grin when she said the word 'dates'. He was officially taking Carolyn as his date to the wedding. James was taking Arianna, but unlike his brother, would not admit that it was a 'date'. Aaron, Lily, and Brianna had all decided that they'd all be going 'solo'.

James and Aaron were next downstairs, drawn by the smell of food. The girls weren't far behind, and they all ate quickly, and then TransPortaled with Ginny over to the Marauders Mall and SpaMagic, taking dresses and chosen accessories with them when they left. There was no way that the five girls had any intention of fighting for bathroom time with four boys later in the morning, and would instead do everything right there at the spa.

James, Al, and Aaron had been setting up chairs all morning – first for where the ceremony was being held, and then around the tables where dinner would be served.

"I feel sorry for you guys," Aaron was telling them as they worked.

"Why's that, Aaron?" James asked him.

"You're both going to be tied down with dates all night, so I'll practically have the all of those single French girls to myself all night!"

"I do _not _have a date," James said at the same time that he started laughing. "And you're making a pretty big assumption if you think those girls will be interested in you!"

Aaron just grinned at his friend. "But I have the advantage of having grown up around three part-Veela women, James. I might be one of the only teenage boys that will be able to put a whole, coherent sentence together in front of Victoire's cousins."

"You're probably right," Al told him, grinning too. "Even if I didn't have a date, though, I don't think you and I would be talking with the same girls anyway, since I kinda doubt that the fifteen-sixteen year old girls would be looking at a twelve year old kid as boyfriend material."

James and Aaron both laughed. "True enough, Al," Aaron conceded.

"How 'bout a little more setting up chairs, and a little less yacking! We haven't got all day!"

The boys turned around to see Stewart coming toward them. He was Teddy's best man, and this morning was the setup General.

"Yes, sir! Best man, sir!" James told him, coming to attention and saluting.

Stewart grinned at him. "As you were, soldier. When you're done the chairs, Uncle Harry said you can head back to the cottage and grab some lunch, hit the showers, and start getting ready." He had barely even slowed down, and kept going past them, continuing to check on every detail. "I'll see you guys later if I ever get the chance to slow down sometime before tomorrow."

"Let's get this done," Al told James and Aaron. "After setting up this many chairs, we're all really going to need those showers."

He grinned at Aaron. "And without them, it won't matter how eloquently you can talk to Victoire's cousins if thine scent doth offend the ladies."

Teddy and Victoire had decided to only have Stewart and Isabelle for Best Man and Maid of Honour, and not have Bridesmaids and groomsmen. There were going to be over five hundred guests, though, so some of the cousins were recruited as ushers. Art, James, and Nicolas were selected from the Weasley clan, while Michael and two Delacour cousins were picked from Fleur's side of the family.

Al was walking behind James and Carolyn as his brother escorted his date to the row of seats they would be sitting in. He couldn't hear what he was talking with her about in a quiet voice, but heard both of them laugh several times. They were taken to the fourth row from the front, and after a grinning James placed Carolyn's hand in his, they moved down the row to the furthest two seats from the aisle.

"What was so funny on the walk down the aisle?"

"He told me I looked so great he was thinking about trying to steal me away from you." She laughed at the look on Al's face.

"I told him that he was way too late to try, since you caught me back on Valentine's Day when we were two, and I still remembered him yelling 'YUCK!' at us when I kissed you after you gave me that silver locket."

They were still holding hands and he squeezed hers affectionately. "We could kiss when he comes back down the aisle again and see if he'd actually yell that now, in front of all of these people."

Carolyn looked into his dancing emerald eyes. "Why wait?" She leaned toward him, and they shared a soft, sweet kiss.

Rose, Nick, and Hugo were making their way across the row of chairs, and sat down beside them.

"Don't you just love weddings?" Rose said enthusiastically to them.

Carolyn had nodded, and the boys shrugged. She leaned over so that only Al and Carolyn could hear her next words.

"James said to tell you 'YUCK!'," she said with a grin.

They all laughed, and settled in to wait for all of the guests to be seated. They talked quietly together, and there were times that they'd get up to hug other members of their family as they arrived. Arianna was in the row in front of them, where the ushers and their dates would be sitting. She was getting to know Art's date, a pretty girl that reminded the boys a lot of Isabelle.

The guests were finally all seated, and Teddy and Stewart stood in front of their family and friends with the elderly Wizard who would be performing the ceremony. The music started, and all heads swiveled around to watch as Isabelle, in a stunning blue dress led the small procession up the aisle.

Al looked back around for a moment to see Stewart watching his wife walk toward them, smiled, then turned his attention back to the girls. Victoire was wearing a flowing white dress, and looked beautiful as she walked beside her father. During dinner, Al would hear all about pearls, lace, and dozens of other intricate details that he hadn't noticed about Victoire's dress, but then, he was a guy. He didn't have to comprehend those details to appreciate beauty – you don't need to know how many feathers are on a phoenix to see how beautiful they were in flight.

Guests were taking photos and videos as they walked to the front. Al was already hearing some sniffles, and the ceremony hadn't even started yet! Teddy was smiling when Uncle Bill placed his daughter's hand in his, and stepped back to stand beside Aunt Fleur.

When the ceremony got under way, Al was watching his family more than listening to the monotonous litany from the old wizard. Bill and Fleur were in the front row on the 'bride's side' of the aisle, which in this case was more accurately the 'bride's mother's side', since the Weasley family was there as much for Teddy as for Victoire.

Fleur's parents, and grandparents were sitting with them, as was Aunt Gabrielle and Uncle Kevin. On the 'groom's side', the front row had Andromeda, Grandma and Grandpa, and Al's own parents. The Delacour side of the aisle was filled with lots of Victoire's more distant cousins. The other rows in front of Al held his own Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.

He felt Carolyn squeeze his hand, and he looked at her, but she only nodded to the front. Apparently the monologue had ended, and they'd finally gotten to the 'I do' part of the ceremony.

That part was over quickly, and there were now a lot more of the women with tears and sniffles. The Wizard asked for the rings, and Al watched and listened as Teddy and Victoire exchanged rings and vows.

"Victoire, I remember getting to see you the day you were born, and you've been a part of my life ever since that day." He grinned at her now. "There were a lot of years where I didn't appreciate you – especially when you'd throw your food at me, or bonk me on the head with toys or books."

There was a ripple of laughter among the guests.

"We've come a long way since then, and I definitely don't think you're 'icky' anymore, and you've probably noticed that I've gotten over my fear of girl germs too."

Victoire was smiling at him, and Al couldn't tell if she was shaking from nerves or suppressed laughter.

"I love you, Victoire, and today I pledge my heart to you for all time. We've both got great families to show us what love is and should be, and I promise you that every day I will share that same incredible, beautiful love with you."

He placed the ring on her finger, and then it was Victoire's turn.

"Teddy, your parents would be so proud of the man that you've become – the man that I love with all of my heart. I promise to love you forever, to share our hopes and dreams, and together I know that we'll make them come true."

When she'd slipped the ring on his finger, the Wizard continued with another short blurb that Al pretty much missed entirely until he heard the 'I now pronounce you husband and wife' and 'You may kiss the bride' statements.

He'd been handing Carolyn and Rose a steady supply of tissues from the 'I do's', and as they watched Teddy and Victoire share their first 'married couple' kiss, he continued to hand the girls a fresh supply. He had his arm around Carolyn, and she was resting her head on his shoulder until the newlywed couple headed back down the aisle, led by the old Wizard, and followed by Isabelle and Stewart to the applause of their guests.

Most of the guests were free to roam around and enjoy refreshments during the time between the ceremony and the dinner. Al and Carolyn were able to do that too, but had first spent over half an hour being photographed with the rest of their family in various shots before the kids were all set free and the only slightly more patient adults had to continue with all of the other group pictures that were a part of most weddings.

While siblings were certainly usually kept close to the wedding party, cousins were not. During dinner, the Weasley cousins, their dates, and friends found themselves at two tables that were close enough to parents to be observed, and far enough away from the head table to not attract much attention.

They had fun like all of the guests did with George's Wedding Wheezes, and James secretly exalted that the little chocolate bride and groom that he'd helped develop were such a hit. The transformation into tuxes or wedding dresses only lasted for a few minutes, but was especially funny if the boys and girls ate the chocolates meant for the opposite sex.

James and Aaron were also happy to continually get the crowd clinking glasses to get Teddy and Victoire, or other couples up to kiss – in their case for the annoyance factor and not because they thought it was sweet or romantic. Their fun ended when after their twelfth attempt to get some kissing going on in less than a half hour, Aunt Hermione came over and suggested they give it a rest before she decided to wrap their table in a muffliato spell for the rest of the night.

There was a large area set up for dancing next to the dining tables. They had almost an hour between dinner and the dance where everyone could mingle. Al and Carolyn pretty much stayed at their table and talked with Rose, Nick, Hugo, and Frederica. The other kids were often off wandering around, and people would stop and talk with the five kids occasionally, but mostly they were left alone.

It was after midnight. Al and Carolyn were sitting down, taking a rare break from the dance floor. They had danced together a lot, but had also danced with other people too. He'd had to dance with Victoire, his Mum, Grandma, Aunts, and sister. When he was off dancing with one of them, she was more often than not taken for dances with their respective spouses (excepting Lily, of course).

"They'll probably be leaving soon," Carolyn told him quietly.

Al nodded in agreement. "They're going to their new house on the island for the rest of the weekend before leaving for their trip."

They turned to watch the dance floor for a while. James was dancing with Arianna, holding her close. She might be two years older than he was, but they were about the same height now, and were a good looking couple. Aaron was dancing with one of Victoire's many beautiful cousins, and they were both laughing and seemed to be having fun.

"Rose seems to be very popular with the young Delacour men," Carolyn said with a grin. "She seems reasonably happy with the attention, too."

They both laughed. "I think my cousin has turned into a butterfly tonight, and by the looks of Uncle Ron, I'm not sure if he's decided to be proud or worried about that."

"Grownups worry about that too much," she answered. "Your Mum and Dad aren't worried about us at all – but then maybe it's because she knew she loved your Dad when she was ten."

Al laughed. "Too bad he didn't figure that out until he was almost seventeen. They missed out on a lot of fun."

Carolyn hugged him. "Thankfully my date got his Dad's looks and his mother's intuition."

Teddy and Victoire made the last rounds to say goodbye to everyone, then left for the island, which for this weekend would be closed to the rest of the family.

The dance continued without them until after two o'clock. Ginny took all of their kids back to the cottage when it was time to leave, and Harry stayed to help out with the cleanup, which for the group of Witches and Wizards that stayed to help, was quickly completed. Harry had joined them at the cottage less than a half hour after the rest of the group had gotten home. Ginny, James, and Arianna were the only people that hadn't gone straight to bed, and after a few minutes, only James and Arianna were left downstairs.

She had been sitting on one sofa with Ginny while James had sat on another one. He got up and went to sit next to her after his parents had gone upstairs.

James took her hand in his, and smiled at her. "I had a really great time tonight. Thank-you for going to the wedding with me."

Arianna smiled. "You're welcome," she said, and gave him a hug that he returned. "I have a question for you."

James smiled. "Sure. Go ahead."

She looked directly into his eyes, and held his gaze. "I really like you a lot, James," she started. "I don't care that you're a couple of years younger than I am, and I know that you really like me too."

James nodded as he looked into her eyes, mesmerized.

"Don't you think it's time we stopped pretending that we don't like each other like that? Your family would have to all be blind to not have noticed tonight, and the friends that matter won't bug us about it."

James took a deep breath. "I'm afraid," he told her quietly, and he smiled ruefully.

She was surprised. "Why? 'Cause you think you'll get teased by the guys?"

James laughed. "No, they'd probably all be jealous of me having an older, beautiful, popular girlfriend."

"Then why?" she persisted.

"I'm afraid of how strong the feelings I have for you are, and what would happen if I didn't keep them bottled up."

Arianna laughed, and he looked down at his hands, not sure what to think. She lifted his chin again with her hand. She placed that hand along his cheek.

"Love is scary for all of us, James. Some people find it, and it's a forever kind of love – like your parents – and Victoire and Teddy. Other people miss out and never find it, or are too afraid to take the chance."

She smiled at him, and his heart started beating even faster. "It's just as scary for me – maybe even more scary considering my background, but I'm not going to be one of those people that never take that chance when it's right here in front of me."

James stared at her in wonder for a minute, then leaned forward and kissed her. They'd both had their eyes open, and it certainly wouldn't make the top kisses of all time list, but in that gesture, he'd silently taken that giant leap and opened his heart to her, just as she had done for him.

Arianna put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. "Why don't you try that again – I think a little practice session is definitely in order before we go to bed."

James laughed, and slid his arms around her waist. "That is a brilliant suggestion. Why don't I."


	19. Getting Ready to Go Back to School

Chapter Nineteen – Getting Ready to Go Back to School

The first thing that Aaron noticed on Sunday morning was the matching grins on James and Arianna's faces. He sighed, knowing that the first step in seeing his twin growing apart from him had obviously taken place last night.

"Congratulations, James," he told his friend. He gave Arianna a hug and kiss. "My deepest condolences, sis," he teased James, who'd laughed.

"Thanks, mate," James told him. "What enquiring mind want to know today, though, is how many names and addresses did you take down yesterday?"

Aaron laughed. "Only one, actually. We'll probably send a few qm's back and forth, and that'll be it – nothing worth writing home about. We did have fun last night, though."

"Now that we're done work for the summer, what's up for the last week before school?" Aaron asked, succeeding in changing the topic.

"You're all staying overnight, and we're doing the back-to-school shopping tomorrow," James told them. "Then we have the rest of the week to goof off, except maybe for a little Quidditch practice to start getting back into game shape."

They all spent the whole day Sunday relaxing and playing. Monday morning, Harry made breakfast for everyone, saw Ginny off to work, then took all of the kids to Diagon Alley and the Marauders Mall to do the shopping.

Schoolbooks and supplies were taken care of first, then Harry had the older kids head over to get fitted for school robes while he and Al took Carolyn and Brianna to Olivanders for their wands before joining them again.

It took nearly all day to outfit the six kids with everything they'd need, and the extra things like sweets and Wizarding Wheezes that helped make school fun.

Carolyn, Brianna, Aaron, and Arianna all went back to the residence after dinner on Monday. The rest of the week seemed to fly by. James was over at the residence more than he was at home. Al spent some time with Carolyn, but also read all of his textbooks – which required some organizing, since Lily was also reading them – and doing it faster than he was.

September first was a Saturday. Most parents weren't working, and so the platform was even more crowded than usual. Aaron and Arianna had stayed overnight, and had come to the station with Harry and Ginny – only agreeing to come with them after James proved he was already packed an ready to go first. Carolyn and Brianna had spent the night with Lisa and Marcus, and had been brought by them.

Somehow, they'd managed to get to the platform with fifteen minutes to spare, and so didn't have to rush their goodbyes. James, Aaron, and Arianna all got on the train and went looking for a compartment, and their friends. Al waited for Carolyn, Brianna, Rose, and Nick.

He saw Scorpius with his parents, and again felt sad for his friend, who had probably been counting down the days until he could go back to Hogwarts for weeks. They hadn't seen each other since their last Quidditch team practice over a week ago, and Al was looking forward to getting to spend time with his friend every day.

Brianna had spotted Scorpius too as she and Carolyn got there, and Al hugged both girls. "Ready to get going?" he asked them.

Both girls nodded. "We're just waiting for Rose and Nick, but we can start loading our things on the train – they should be here any minute.

"One of them already is, mate," Nick told him, grinning. "And Rose is right behind me with her Hugo and their parents."

The boys shook hands, and hugged Rose when she caught up to them.

"Come on kids," Ginny told all of them, "It's almost eleven."

Al hugged his parents, and Lily, then they all loaded up their trunks, and an assortment of luggage and cages, then waved one more time to their family before going to find an empty compartment.

Lily and Hugo were standing with all of the grownups on the platform, watching as the train pulled out from the platform.

"Next year," she told Hugo with a big smile, "we're going to be on that train too."

Harry picked her up and hugged her, and she hugged him back. "I suppose you wouldn't consider home schooling so I could keep you with me, would you?"

She smiled at her Dad and hugged him again. "I'd be happy to consider it, but then the answer would be 'no' to doing that."

Harry and Ginny both laughed. The train was rounding the first bend and disappearing out of sight.

"Well, we've got the rest of a beautiful Saturday ahead of us – what should we do now?"

Lily's eyes lit up, and Hugo rolled his eyes. "Please, cuz, don't say 'shopping'! Couldn't we try something different, like a picnic, or the rest of the day on the island – or both?"

She gave him a hug, then looked up at their parents, Lisa, and Marcus. "He's got a very good suggestion, you know, even if shoppin would be my first choice. Do we need to put it to a vote, or will parental veto power be invoked?" They were all laughing, and decided that Hugo had picked a perfect way to spend the rest of their day.

Draco watched Harry hugging his daughter as the Hogwarts Express left. He felt that brief, familiar pang of jealousy, and put it down forcefully. He thought back to last year when he'd seen Scorpius off to Hogwarts, and the events that had followed since then.

His son, according to Lucius, had shamed the family name by being sorted into Ravenclaw. Draco hadn't spoken against him, but he didn't believe that was true – only that his son must have some real potential when it came to learning. Making the House Quidditch team as Keeper in his first year had slightly mollified his grandfather – if only a little.

That had lasted until they'd found out that Harry's youngest son, and not one, but two Weasley kids had also made the team. Then Scorpius was fraternizing with the off-spring of mudbloods and mortal enemies. Thankfully for his son, he'd been at school, and didn't have to endure the weeks of ranting from Lucius.

Then came the Quidditch Cup championship, followed a month later by winning the House Cup too – something that nobody else in their family could lay claim to. When his Hogwarts letter came in the summer, and he had earned six 'O's' and an 'E', there at least was an end to his parent's complaining about their grandson – at least for now.

Draco had suspected that there was more going on. Scorpius was different than he'd been a year ago. He didn't tell Scorpius, but he got a regular statement for all of the TransPortal services that he paid for, so he knew that the boy was not going to Trinity's home for the practices – or at least not staying there, since they continued on to either Harry and Ginny Potter's cottage, or to the Lily Evans Memorial Residence – the apparent actual locations for their practices.

Draco had gone to Godric's Hollow on his son's first trip there in the summer, and had watched them. He hadn't gone to any of his son's games last season, and was impressed with how well he played – and the rest of the team too. That little redhead that Harry was hugging right now looked like she could play for a House team already too.

Scorpius was definitely more than just teammates with the Potter and Weasley kids – they were best mates. Harry had been out there with his son and their team for the first part of their practice. Twenty years later, and he was probably even faster than he'd been when they were at school.

The practice had wrapped up, and he'd been about to leave, when he saw Scorpius meeting with one of the little girls that had been watching the practice from the stands. He'd just about decided that when the boy got home, that he'd be putting an end to the whole nonsense, but when he saw them together, he'd changed his mind.

That moment had been one of the hardest of his life, and he thought that now he had a pretty good idea of what his mother had gone through, lying to Lord Voldemort about Harry in the hopes that it would help keep her son alive. He didn't like the fact that his son was succeeding with the friendship and help of these kids, but the boy was happy – and in that moment when he saw Scorpius smile at the girl, he realized that it had been the first genuine smile he had ever seen on his son's face.

The night before, he'd taken Scorpius for a walk out on the grounds where they wouldn't be heard or seen by anyone else.

"Scorpius," he said in a quiet voice, putting a hand out to stop his son from continuing their walk, "we need to talk about something before you go to school tomorrow."

He'd felt a stab of pain at the fear in the boy's eyes. He was still haunted by childhood fears, and he wondered how he'd managed to make it so that his own son's first reaction to his father talking to him was fear.

"I know about your friends, son," he'd continued. "That girl of yours is quite pretty. What's her name?"

Scorpius had let out a sigh. "Brianna."

Draco couldn't help but see the desperation in his son.

"I brought you out here, because I've decided that we're not going to let anyone else in the family know about this, and maybe you will still have some time before your grandfather finds out – but don't count on that being much longer."

"Why?" Scorpius had asked him, looking at his father rather suspiciously.

"You've accomplished some really good things in your first year. I'm not very happy about your friends, but if they make you happy, and help you succeed, then that's what I want for you."

Scorpius had actually hugged him! He could still feel it now, and more – how it had made him feel inside. It had been tentative, and too brief, but it had been the closest thing to genuine affection either of them had shared together.

"Do you realize what you're risking?" he'd asked Scorpius next.

From the look on his face, he did. The resolve he also found in his son's eyes told him that he was ready to pay that price when the time came. Draco had nodded.

"I won't defy your grandfather when that day comes, Scorpius. I hope you understand, but even if you don't it's the way it will be. Do what you can to keep that day from coming any sooner than it has to."

Scorpius had nodded, hugged him one more time, and then actually thanked him! He'd never been prouder of anyone in his life, while at the same time angry with himself for not being strong enough to be more like his son.

Astoria brought him back to the present with a light touch on his arm.

"The train's gone, Draco. Are you alright?"

He looked at his wife. That almost sounded like genuine concern.

"I'm fine, just lost in thought for a minute. Why don't we go out for lunch before going back to the mansion," he suggested. "Having lunch with my parents right now isn't very high on my list of things I want to do at the moment."

She looked startled, and he realized that they hadn't gone anywhere alone together in a very long time.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my husband," she said with a nervous, tentative smile.

Funny, she wasn't quite so plain and boring when she smiled, and he had a small smile of his own now.

He held out is hand. "I'm Draco Malfoy, and I've been thinking for a long time about turning your husband into a happier man. Are you possibly interested in discussing that over dinner and maybe an afternoon of shopping?"

Astoria had taken his hand, smiled, and even laughed.

"Mum always told me it was never too late to change."

When she didn't move to let go of his hand, he held on to hers as they walked off of the platform, and for the first time in a lot of years, he actually felt, well, anything.


	20. September First

Chapter Twenty – September First

Al, Nick, and the three girls had settled in to their compartment when Scorpius joined them. He quickly put his things away, then sat down next to Brianna, and gave her a hug.

"I've missed you," he told her quietly before looking at the others.

"My Dad knows about us – even Brianna." He hadn't wasted any time getting to what had been on his mind, and kept him awake most of the night.

His friends all looked shocked. "Are you ok, mate?" Al asked him.

Scorpius nodded, pleased that his friend's first question had been about how he was doing. "Yeah, I am. He's not going to do anything about it, or tell Grandfather, but he also told me that he wouldn't go against his father if they found out."

"What would happen if your Grandfather found out?" Brianna asked him.

"I'd probably be kicked out of the family, the house, and be disowned. On the Black side of our family, it's happened just a few times in their whole history."

Brianna took his hand in hers. "If that happens, we'll figure out what to do," she promised him.

Al nodded. "Better yet, we'll work on being ready to deal with that if it does happen."

Scorpius looked at his friend. "You know about Sirius and Andromeda, it won't be a matter of if – only when. I appreciate all of your support, though. It means everything to me."

Rose got up and gave him a hug. "You're welcome, Scorpius."

"Let's talk about more interesting things," he said. "How'd the wedding go? What have you been doing all week? Was Brianna dancing with any boys I have to worry about?"

They all laughed, and allowed their friend to steer them away from his more serious problem.

Brianna grinned at him. "It just so happens that I danced with quite a few good looking boys, if you must know."

When she saw him look worried, she hugged him.

"Let's see – there was Uncle Harry, and Nick, and Hugo, and Al, and Aaron… Anyone else, Carolyn?"

Carolyn was grinning too. "I think you danced with Grandpa once – does that count?"

They were all grinning now. "OK you've had your fun. Now what else have you been up to?" Scorpius repeated.

They went on to tell him all about their week and about the wedding, then he told them about his last week of the summer. The trolley went by and they all ordered pasties and candy from it before settling back down.

Carolyn and Brianna wanted another description of what they'd be expecting when they got to Hogsmeade Station, and for the rest of their first night at Hogwarts. Rose and Nick both pulled out books to read, the novelty of the train ride having already worn off with this, their fifth ride. Al and Scorpius talked with the girls for most of the trip, enjoying watching their reaction to the ride, the scenery they passed, and helping them to talk out some of their nervousness about the upcoming sorting.

"We also get all day Sunday off before classes will start on Monday, so we'll be able to show you around the school and the grounds," Scorpius told them.

When the train finally started to slow down, they all got their school robes on, and got ready.

"We'll see you at the school soon," Al told Carolyn quietly as he hugged her. "Everything will be fine."

"A'right, first years, come with me," Hagrid called.

Carolyn's eyes went round, and her lips formed an 'oh'.

"He's the sweetest Wizard you'll ever meet," Al whispered before she left to join Brianna and the other first years. "Just flash him that smile of yours, and he'll be putty in your hands."

Carolyn laughed. "That be an awfully _big_ hunk of putty, Al," she whispered as she walked away.

He took Scorpius' arm and pulled him toward where Rose and Nick were waiting for them. "They'll be fine, mate," he told the other boy.

They waited in line, and watched the carriages pull up, fill up with students, then pull out again.

"With everything else at Hogwarts that has been so much more amazing to see in person than from the stories we'd been told, I wonder just how incredible the Thestrals really are," Rose told the boys quietly.

"Me, too," Nick told her. "If it's all right with you, though, let's keep the curiousity under control in this one case."

Rose, Al, and Scorpius all laughed. Their turn finally came, since second years were apparently required by some age-old custom to wait for their more senior classmates to go first. The only exception to that was a small group of prefects, the Head Boy, and Head Girl, who stayed to make sure all of the students got to the school safely.

Walking into the Great Hall with all of the other returning students felt as much like coming home as getting a hug from his Dad had been back in June, Al thought. They all knew what to do, and since they were some of the last students to get there, the four friends quickly took their seats.

When all of the students were seated, the doors opened at the side of the Hall, and Professor Longbottom led the first year students in, and they lined up along the front of the Hall.

Al looked from kid to kid until he found the one he had been searching for, and watched her while the hat sang it's welcoming song, and the sorting began.

Carolyn and Brianna were standing next to each other – not exactly holding hands, but arms and hands touching each other in silent support. Brianna was called up to be sorted first, and both girls held their breath.

"Ah," Brianna heard the Sorting hat say when it was placed on her head. "One of our beloved Phoenix Foundation children! Hmmm. Many of your sisters and brothers have done well in Hufflepuff, my dear, but I see spark and wit inside you – and something else very special too. Yes, definitely RAVENCLAW!"

Brianna had been holding her breath the whole time, and had tears in her eyes as she jumped down from the stool and walked over to the Ravenclaw table, where she was welcomed with applause by the other students, and with hugs from Scorpius, Al, Rose, and Nick.

The group of first year students had dwindled considerably before it was Carolyn's turn to step up and be sorted.

"Another Phoenix Foundation girl!" the hat said happily. "Hmmm." The pause seemed to take forever from Carolyn's perspective, but was probably only long seconds. "Your friends are going to need you close, my dear, and while you may not become the greatest among them, you will help to make them more than they would be without you." The hat paused for another moment before shouting – "RAVENCLAW!".

Carolyn was a little stunned at what the hat had told her. It seemed to go further than what Al and the others had described to her, but she'd have to think about that later, because she was suddenly busy being hugged by her five friends as the other Ravenclaw students clapped to welcome her.

They had time to talk quietly together before the sorting was ended and Professor McGonagall stood to welcome them. Al was holding Carolyn's hand and felt he trembling slightly.

"It's done, now," he whispered. "And we've got seven whole school years together!" She looked into his excited face and smiled.

"Yes, we do," she agreed quietly.

Rose and Nick were talking with Brianna about Ravenclaw Tower now, and they both joined in to that conversation until the Headmistress began speaking.

Al was only half listening as Professor McGonagall gave her welcoming speech, the usual restrictions, and offered her best wishes. He looked around the Hall, and picked out James, who was reunited with his best mates; Aaron and Arianna, who were with a group of their fellow fifth year students.

Trinity and Christina had nodded at him when they'd both met his gaze as he looked down the Ravenclaw table. Rick was busy with his friends, and didn't notice. He returned his attention to the table in front of him when he heard the 'Let the feast begin!', and watched as platters and bowls of steaming, mouth-watering food appeared in front of them.

They all started to fill plates, and the Grey Lady welcomed them to their House and school. They had all thought that last year's feast had been incredible, but Al was also sure that having Carolyn next to him, holding her hand, and sharing the experience with her had made this year's feast just that much more incredible.

After dinner, they all went up to Ravenclaw Tower, and showed Carolyn and Brianna around, and hung out in the Common Room together for a short time. Rose then took the two younger girls to their dorm, and helped them settle in, while the three boys went to their dorm and unpacked before heading to bed.

Carolyn and Brianna had beds next to each other. Rose had helped them find their room and beds, and had helped to introduce them to the other girls that were in their room before going to unpack her own things.

They were both sitting on Brianna's bed, talking quietly.

"I think I'm still in shock," Brianna told her best friend quietly. "This whole night has been a sensory overload."

Carolyn nodded. "The whole thing is way bigger and cooler than I'd imagined." She looked at Brianna carefully. "Did… the sorting hat… say anything strange to you when you were sorted?"

Brianna looked surprised. "I don't think so. It said something about a lot of the kids in the residence getting put in Hufflepuff, and that I had wit and talent, and something special. I'm not sure what it could have seen in me that was special. What did it tell you?"

Carolyn quietly told her everything that the hat had said, and Brianna had grinned.

"Sounds like it means we're going to be the superhero sidekicks to me. You remember those Muggle cartoons we used to laugh at on the WWVN when we were little. All those superheroes had at least one. Maybe you'll be Al's Lois Lane."

Both girls laughed, and they talked for a while longer before Carolyn went to her own bed, climbed in, and watched as Brianna turned out the light on the table between them. When she fell asleep and started dreaming, she wasn't sure how she felt as she saw Al flying away to save the day on his broom, but was certainly still able to clearly feel the super-kiss he'd left her with before taking off.

Al was sitting on his bed, writing a letter to his parents and listening to Nick and Scorpius talk together.

Dear Mum and Dad,

We all got to school safely – no surprise there. Carolyn and Brianna were both sorted in to Ravenclaw, and so you can probably guess that Scorpius and I are fairly happy campers tonight. Rose is helping them settle in to their dorms.

I wanted to talk to you about Scorpius. He told us on the train that his Dad found out about his being friends with us. He's keeping it quiet in their family, but told him that he wouldn't stand against Scorpius' grandfather when he eventually found out. He's sure that when his grandparents do eventually find out, he'll be disowned.

Do you have any suggestions on how Rose, Nick, and I can help him when that happens? I don't think I know everything that happened with Sirius Black, or Grandma Andromeda, but I've heard enough to know that Rose, Nick, and I can't stand by and let anything like that happen to one of our best mates.

It would be nice if he still had years before anything happens, but I've had a feeling about it ever since I heard him tell us that I can't shake, and think we need to be ready sooner than later to help.

Please write back soon and let me know what you think.

Love, Al

P.S. Lily, I love and miss you. I hope you're still planning on being our 'outside source' this year – we'll be trying to do even more than last year! When you come to school with us next year, maybe we'll have to pool our allowances and hire Dad to do the job for us. :^)

When he'd finished the letter, Al put it in an envelope, ready to send in the morning with the Owl Post. He talked with Nick and Scorpius for a while, then climbed under the covers and drifted off to sleep to the sound of his cousin and friend continuing to talk quietly together.

While Al was drifting off to sleep, James was sitting in the Gryffindor Common room with his girlfriend next to him. They'd both taken a fair bit of ribbing from some of the other Gryffindors, but it hadn't really been all that bad. Andy and Jon had both gone to their dorm room to unpack, but there were still lots of other Gryffindors hanging around the room getting reacquainted with friends.

"This is going to be an awesome year," Arianna told him. "You're going to get to go with us on Hogsmeade weekends this year, this is going to be a Yule Ball year, and with a little extra work, we're going to win the Quidditch Cup back for Gryffindor."

"The first two are great, the third might be a trick if we don't figure out what went wrong last year. I still find it hard to believe that you and I both didn't even score a single goal."

"We'll see what kind of team we have to work with, then figure it out. We've got lots of time until May," she told him.

Aaron came over and sat down in a chair next to them.

"If I hear one more joke about you guys, I'm gonna have to start hexing people or something," he grumbled.

Arianna laughed. "Let them play – they're having fun, and it doesn't bother us."

"It doesn't bother me either – other than their so stupid! - 'Hey, Aaron, if James and your sister are both caught, can they still be Chasers?' – they're basically proving that all the brains are in Ravenclaw!"

James and Arianna both laughed. "I think we can show them at tryouts that we can still play the game just fine," she told her brother.

"True, but I may still decide to break out some of the new Wheezes if the jokes don't stop by tomorrow. Did you and your Uncle by any chance develop a Chocolate Village Idiot Wheeze?" He thought about that for a minute. "Never mind – for most of those guys, that'd just be redundant."

He stood up as the others laughed, and gave his siter a hug. "I'm heading for bed. I'll see you both in the morning."

"Night, Aaron," Arianna told him, smiling. "I love you."

He'd already started to go, but stopped and turned around again. "I love you too, sis. Remind me to tell you that more often."

James watched him as he left the room. "I get the feeling that he's struggling a bit dealing with you and me," he told Arianna quietly. She nodded.

"We're pretty close – a lot closer than most brothers and sisters. Being twins is only part of that, and I guess shared experiences is the rest."

"Is there anything I can do to help him?" he asked.

Arianna gave him a hug. "Thanks, but I think this is just part of us growing up. Just keep being his friend, and he'll work it out."

She put her arms around his neck, then gave him a kiss and hug. "Time for us to go get settled in too." She kissed him once more, then stood up. "I'll see you in the morning, James. Have pleasant dreams!"

James took a minute to get his bearings, and watch her walk across the room and disappear into the stairway for the girl's dorm. He was smiling when he got up to head for his own dorm room. If he was going to get a goodnight kiss like that every night, then this wasn't going to be a good year – it was going to be absolutely brilliant!


	21. Our Continuing Mission

Chapter Twenty-One – Our Continuing Mission

Sunday was basically a play day for all of the students at Hogwarts. Classes would start up on Monday, but today they could just hang out with their friends, and enjoy a beautiful day.

Carolyn and Al were out walking by the lake in the late morning before lunch. Rose had talked the boys into getting a head start on their classes in the afternoon, but this morning Scorpius and Al were taking the girls on separate tours of the school and grounds, giving each of them a chance to have some alone time.

"No wonder everyone in your family that came here loves this place," she was telling him as they walked.

"The school and grounds are just where we are. When you start learning about magic tomorrow, you'll see what's really great about this place."

"I'm a little nervous about tomorrow."

Al stopped them, and gave her a hug. "Bree will be in classes with you, and you'll be fine. You're going to love most of your classes. I haven't met anyone yet that liked all of them – even Aunt Hermione didn't like Divintation – although we won't have that until third year."

She gave him another hug. "Thanks, Al. We should get back soon, or we'll miss lunch."

The afternoon study time was fairly successful, and while Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius were busy testing their first chapter potion in PotionsMaster, and studying their first lessons in Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology, Carolyn and Brianna both re-read the first lessons for each of their subjects.

They still had some time until dinner, so the four second years spent the rest of the time talking with the two girls about what to expect in their first classes. After dinner, they had the first meeting for the New Marauders in one of the empty classrooms.

"Thanks for coming, James," Al began when they'd all sat on chairs around one of the work tables.

"No prob. Al," James answered. "First thing I want to know, though, is what TNM stands for."

Rose answered for them. "It stands for 'The New Marauders', James. You were an unofficial member for the second half of last year."

"Why didn't you ask me for help in the first half?"

All four of the original Marauders laughed. "Let's just say we had a different mission back then than we had after Christmas."

James looked at each of them suspiciously, then laughed too. "Apparently I didn't just underestimate you in Quidditch," was all he said.

"Scorpius and I told Carolyn and Brianna what we've been doing, and both want to join," Al said by way of continuing the meeting. "They're going to help us out collecting information on the first years. I'm sure that Lily will still be our outside source for the gifts, cards, and everything else we sent last year."

Nick held up his hand. "I know we're all going to be busy with new classes, Quidditch tryouts, and everything else, but this is a really good time of year to help these kids."

Rose nodded. "There will be kids that don't have decent school supplies, or crummy robes and clothes. Others will be having a tough time being away from home, and could use a little cheering up. There's a lot of good we could do over the next couple of weeks."

"This will also be when the bullies come out to make their mark – especially on the younger and new kids," Scorpius said quietly. "We need to find out who they are, and James needs to keep being our enforcement wing."

James laughed at that. "I can do that, but I want to get some help this year too. I'm thinking Aaron for sure, and maybe Jon and Andy."

Rose was nodding her head. "I think that's a good idea, James. You're probably going to need the help at least for a while, and with your extra classes this year, you're going to be even busier."

"Don't remind me, cuz. I can hardly wait for Divintation and Arithmancy, he said sarcastically. Hagrid's class should be cool, though."

Brianna put up her hand.

"Do you think any of the students would be interested in mentoring some of these other kids – kind of like the volunteers do at the residence?"

The others all looked at her in surprise, and she looked down at her hands on the table.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "Just thinking out loud, I guess."

Rose got up and went around to give her a hug.

"Brianna, don't – I think that's a really good idea."

Brianna looked up at the other girl. "You do?"

Rose nodded, and went to sit back down. "The question is, how do we do something like that without giving ourselves away?"

The others thought about that, and Nick was first with a possible solution.

"We won't have a lot of kids – probably less than fifty. What about doing that in the open as Foundation volunteers, and recruiting some of the other volunteers. They won't have to know that our info came from TNM, and we can keep doing all of this stuff too – maybe even more someday."

James was next to Nick and high fived him. "That's absolutely brilliant. We could ask Arianna to lead that – she'd do it in a second!"

They all agreed to Nick's idea, and after talking about some of the things they would get done this week, adjourned their meeting, and headed back to their dorms to get their things ready for classes in the morning, and have a good night's sleep.

Lily watched as her Dad read the letter he'd received in the Post this morning. She was smiling brightly. They'd not only had a wonderful afternoon on the island, but had been having so much fun, decided to stay overnight. They'd gotten home before dinner on Sunday, and had gone to bed fairly early.

Harry handed the letter to Ginny, who read it over quickly. This was a little different, since normally they'd read letters from Al or James out loud. Lily could see from the envelope that it had been from Al.

"What's wrong, Daddy? Are they all ok?"

Harry smiled at her. "They're fine, honey. Al's worried about one of his friends, and wants some advice."

"I'm not sure what advice to give him," Ginny said seriously.

Lily looked at her parents, then grinned. "That's easy. You tell him to do what's right."

Harry and Ginny laughed, and Ginny gave her a hug.

"This one might not be that easy, sweetie."

"May I?" she asked, holding her hand out for the letter.

Harry shrugged, and Ginny handed it over to her, and she read it quickly. Her parents had both noted that she never needed to read something twice.

"I think you should get Teddy, Uncle Percy, and Aunt Penelope involved," she told them. "They're all pretty good friends, but I'd say Nick is Scorpius' best mate, and Teddy is his cousin. He might want to be involved even though they don't really know each other yet."

Harry and Ginny both smiled at their amazing little girl.

"The residence would be an option, I suppose, but I don't really think that'd be best for him. Staying here might be worse – I'm not quite sure about that. We're only talking about having a place to live at holidays, and the cost of taking care of him."

"I'd guess that living with Nick would probably be the best for him – Uncle Percy's position in the Ministry would probably cause the least extra strain between the families."

"Are you sure you're only ten?" Harry asked her, pretending to see if she was in disguise.

She and Ginny both laughed at him. "Going on eleven, Daddy, but yes, I'm sure."

"Well, why don't you write your brother back to tell him you're definitely going to help them out again this year, that I might be interested in that job next year, and that we'll work on getting him an answer to his question, but it'll take a while."

Lily smiled at him. "Is it ok if we have breakfast first, and see Mommy off to work?"

They had eaten breakfast and received their schedules. It was time to head for their own classes, so Carolyn and Brianna went off together toward their first class of the year – Transfiguration. Rose and the boys had wished them well, and they'd hugged Al and Scorpius respectively.

When they were almost to the classroom, they rounded a corner and stopped when they saw their way was blocked by two much larger boys.

"What do we have here?" the one boy said with a sneer. "A couple of firsties, by the looks of them."

"Why don't we see what they have in their bags," the other boy suggested. "Come on, girls, hand them over, or we'll…"

"We'll what?"

Carolyn and Brianna both turned, and saw Aaron, James, Jon, and Andy all standing with wands drawn and pointed at the boys. Aaron had been the one who'd spoken.

"How about we let you know that these two girls aren't to be touched. From now on, if anything – and I mean _anything _happens to them, we'll come looking for the two of you."

James smiled at them. "I think we should all get going so we're not late for class." He took Carolyn's hand, and Aaron took Brianna's. "Come on, girls, we'll walk you to Transfiguration – our class is right next door, and Aaron has a spare."

The two boys left quickly in the other direction. He might only be a third year, but one thing that every kid in school knew was that you didn't mess with James Potter, master prankster.

"Thanks, guys," Carolyn told them after taking a shaky breath. "I guess Brianna and I better start sticking with some of the other first years too."

Aaron nodded. "That's a good idea, but you probably won't have to worry anymore. Word will get around fast that you two are off limits. The school grapevine does have some advantages."

The boys left them at the door to their classroom, and they walked inside and sat at a table together. Professor Macmillan quickly went through the class list, and began the lesson. Both girls were naturally quiet, and so they weren't the first kids putting their hands in the air to answer questions.

When the Professor asked them each a question during that first class, they'd both been able to answer correctly. They were also two of five students that could do the Transfiguration they were taught, and since Brianna was the first one, earned five points for their House.

"Welcome to second year Herbology," Professor Longbottom told his class. "This year, here in Greenhouse Three, you will begin to learn how to deal with some of the more interesting and exciting plants, such as Mandrakes and Abyssinian shrivelfigs!"

The lecture continued with a detailed description and training on how to properly use the protective equipment, followed by an extreme introduction to the Mandrakes that left nearly everyone in the class shaken.

"Apparently our dear Professor needs to look up the difference between the words 'exciting' and 'terrifying'," Nick told them after the class.

Scorpius laughed. "You think that's scary, you should see the full grown one my Grandfather keeps at home."

The other three kids just stared at him. "Are you serious?" Rose asked him. "Why on earth would he want to keep one of those things at home?"

"I don't know, Rose. Trying to think like him would mean going to a very dark scary place – I've never tried to do it."

The others nodded, and let the whole thing drop.

Their Herbology had been a double class, so they went to the Great Hall, and met the girls for lunch.

"How were your first two classes?" Rose asked them as they were sitting down.

"Fine, after Aaron, James, Andy, and Jon rescued us from a couple of bullies before we even got to the first class," Carolyn told them.

"Don't worry," she added when she saw the looks on the other kid's faces. "We'll stick with the pack more, but Aaron's also sure that word will get around fast that we're not to be picked on."

"Anyway, Brianna got five points for being the first to complete the Transfiguration properly. We both loved that class. History of Magic was hard to get very excited about, but we did manage to stay awake."

"What have you got for the afternoon?" Scorpius asked them.

"Charms, then Astronomy – next week it'll be double Charms and Astronomy will be Tuesday night at midnight," Brianna told him.

"We've got Transfiguration and Potions, so I guess we won't see you until after classes," Al told them. "We can meet in the Common room later and do some of our homework before dinner."

They'd agreed, and while they had lunch, Rose entertained the girls with a play-by-play of their first Mandrake adventure, and before they knew it, they had to get to their next classes.

James had been having lunch with Andy and Jon, and they were getting ready to go to their next class when he caught Al's mouthed 'Thanks, mate' from across the Hall. He'd smiled and nodded in return.

When he'd gotten back to the Gryffindor Common room, he'd had a quick meeting with Arianna and the three boys that the New Marauders wanted to recruit, and they'd all jumped at the chance to join. It had been Aaron's idea to keep an eye on Carolyn and Brianna in the morning. They all knew that the two sweet, gentle girls would be certain targets for the bullies in the school.

They were heading for Divination now, and James was not looking forward to putting up with an hour of mumbo-jumbo nonsense.

"Come on, James," Jon told him as they walked, "you've never taken the subject before – it might be interesting. From what some of the older kids said, Professor Stimpson is at least a lot better looking that Professor Trelawney."

They found out during that next hour that while their Professor was indeed pretty enough, she was also just as mystical as her predecessor. Jon, being the most open-minded, and voracious learner of the three boys, found the subject fascinating. James and Andy thought they did well just to keep from snorting and laughing at all of the idiocy.

"I predict that Divination class is going to suck all year," James told his friends.

Jon and Andy both laughed at him. "If it does, will that mean that you have the gift?" Jon asked him.

James shuddered. "Don't even joke about that, mate. If I start going into trances and spouting off prophecy, shoot me."

"Let's get going, guys," Andy told them, "we'll be late for Care of Magical Creatures if we don't hurry."

The other boys rolled their eyes, but picked up the pace. They knew that Andy was the only reason they weren't late for most of their classes – James might be their group leader, but Andy was the organizer that kept them focused on school work and classes when they needed to be kept in line.

The three friends had decided to take two of the same optional classes this year, and found out that they all really liked Professor Hagrid's class. James went to see Hagrid in his cabin once in a while, mostly because his parents wanted him to, but they both knew that James wasn't his father, and they didn't have the kind of friendship that they'd had twenty years ago.

After classes, the three of them met up with Aaron and Arianna in the Common room, and actually worked on homework together until dinner. James had thought they'd been loaded down with work until he saw the amount of homework that Arianna and Aaron had to deal with as OWL students. One day into the year, and he was sure that his days of slacking, and getting by without working hard were over.

Al was doing homework with Rose, Nick, and Scorpius. Carolyn and Brianna were working on their first year assignments with two other girls that were in their dorm at a nearby table. They'd all agreed that, except for helping the two younger girls if they needed help with their homework, they'd study separately so that none of them got distracted.

'Easier said than done', Al thought to himself. They'd finished their Herbology homework before dinner, had finished a Transfiguration assignment, and were now all in PotionsMaster, using their VirtualQuills and the lab to write their reports on how to correctly make the Swelling Solution, it's effects, and antidote.

They finished their work first, then Al and Scorpius went over to help the girls and their new friends finish their Astronomy and Charms homework. Getting all of their work done, Al and Carolyn had a little time to spend together before it was time to head for bed.

They held hands, and sat close together on one of the sofas, talking quietly together.

"Thanks for the homework help," Carolyn told him quietly.

"You're welcome. You've picked yourself a good boyfriend – at least when it comes to having one of the few students here that actually really likes Astronomy."

She sat up and looked into his eyes intently, smiling, then hugged him tightly.

"What'd I say?" he said, hugging her back.

"That's the very first time you referred to yourself as my boyfriend," she told him happily and kissing him.

"I gather that it's ok with you for me to do that," he said, laughing.

"It's very ok, Al."

She sat back into the sofa, and leaned her head on his shoulder. They watched the end of a WWVN show that had been playing, then shared a little kiss goodnight, and went to their dorm rooms, tired, and ready to get some sleep.

The New Marauders were all busier than they'd ever been before during that first week of school. James and his new team dealt with three bullies, one of those being a certain Slytherin girl who'd been quickly disabused of the notion that her oath had ended with the past school year.

New school robes, supplies, and even a few little treats started showing up in the Owl Post by Friday. Arianna had a list of fifteen kids that had been identified so far that could be helped with a mentor, and she already had thirty Phoenix Foundation volunteers who had signed on to become mentors, all of them excited about helping out other students in their school.

James, Jon, and Andy had all the same classes, except for one – Arithmancy. The three boys had gotten their two new classes on Monday, and now knew what to expect from them. They'd had at least one of each of their core classes, which were all just more advanced studies of subjects that were now either old friends or old wrestling buddies, depending on how you looked at each class.

When he went into Arithmancy on Friday morning, wishing now that he'd only picked two extra classes like Jon and Andy had, he wasn't feeling all that happy about his choice. Professor Macmillan – Parvati Macmillan, that is, welcomed him, and the rest of her class.

James knew both Professor Macmillans, since they were friends of his parents. He didn't think she took that into consideration in how she treated him, but while he might not like taking the extra class, he did find out he had an aptitude for the subject. By the end of the class, he was on his way to becoming the teacher's pet – a real novelty for him.

He also noticed that the Professor seemed to have a fair number of boys that were more interested in watching her than paying attention to what she was saying. It seemed that Professor Williamson wasn't the only one who had to deal with student crushes.

Quidditch tryouts were scheduled for both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor on Saturday, and with all of the other exciting things happening to start the year off, they all expected that the good things that were happening for all of them would just keep on rolling through the weekend. There was a confident group of kids in both Houses that went to bed Friday night looking forward to a great day.


	22. Quidditch Upset

Chapter Twenty-Two – Quidditch Upset!

Trinity called all of the students together that had come for the tryouts. The flying test for all of the kids was first, and quickly weeded out over half of the initial group. There were close to thirty students left when she started the Beater tryout.

Nobody was surprised when Nick and Rick both kept their positions. Two of the remaining eight kids that had tried out for the position were offered spots on the practice team.

Twelve students stepped forward for the Chaser tryout, and this year, there was much tougher competition. Al was sure that this had happened for two reasons – first, they were now the defending champions, and second, other students had heard what kind of work it had taken, and were now doing the extra work it took to be better players.

What he hadn't expected, though, was to be fairly soundly outplayed by one of the third year students. When Trinity called the Chasers back in, she looked pretty uncomfortable, but knew what she had to do.

"Rose Weasley, Matt Goldstein; congratulations!" she told them. There was a ripple of noise through the students that were left as they realized that one of their Championship team members had just lost his position. Al and two of the other kids were offered the three Chaser postitions on the practice team, and they all accepted.

Scorpius defended his Keeper position, and Christina, now in her seventh year, kept her spot too. When Trinity thanked everyone, and Al was excused with the other students that hadn't made the team, he was in a bit of shock. There was a good chance that several moments went by before he even realized that Carolyn was walking next to him, holding his hand.

"Are you alright?" she asked him gently.

He gave himself a shake. "I will be. Matt was definitely the better Chaser, though. I'm happy for him."

"They're getting a really great Chaser for the practice team, though. Just remember that Demelza ended up on the Gryffindor practice team in your Mum and Dad's last year here, and she ended up being a pretty good player."

Al grinned at her. "Thanks, Carolyn. I feel better already. And it does mean that we'll have a little more time together too, since the practice team only does about half of the practices, and none of the team meetings."

"If that's true, I hope you never make the team again!" she teased him. "Let's go grab our books, though, and go hide somewhere and study so you don't have to put up with the inevitable pity party that will probably start when Trinity and the others get back to the Common room."

"That, my dear, is a brilliant idea! If we hurry we should be able to avoid that until lunch time."

James was walking to the Quidditch pitch with Aaron and Arianna when they met up with Rose, Nick, and Scorpius on their way out.

"How does Trinity manage to get the best times every year?" he joked with them. It took a minute before it registered that Al wasn't with them, and by the expressions on his cousin's faces, he immediately knew what was up.

"He didn't make the team?" he said incredulously.

Rose shook her head. "No, he got beat out by Matt Goldstein."

"That's tough. Is he alright?" Arianna asked them.

"We haven't talked to him yet – our meeting just ended," Nick told them. "Carolyn left with him, so I'm sure she'll help him. We better get going – good luck with your tryouts."

They were almost late for the start of the Gryffindor tryouts. Their leader and Keeper had just called everyone in, and was getting ready to start the flying tests. The big loss in last year's final game had brought out even more hopefuls than usual – nearly one hundred kids took to the air for the flying test.

Forty-two students remained after that part of the tryout, and fourteen Witches and Wizards stepped forward to tryout for the two Beater positions. There was one pair of players who had obviously worked together that were far better than the rest of the students, and replaced both of last season's Beaters on the new team.

Twenty-one kids tried for the three Chaser positions. Eighteen of them probably thought that because of what had happened last year, that there would be a chance for them to make the team. They were certainly right about that, but apparently forgot that having a chance, and being better were two different things. Aaron, Arianna, and James cleaned up the competition, and left no doubt that they were still the best that Gryffindor had, and the best by a long way.

There were three students trying out for the practice team Keeper job, mostly because they knew the spot would be open next year, and wanted the chance for a year-long audition as the backup.

Finally, their seventh year Seeker stepped forward, along with three other students, who were looking to earn the final spot on the team. Jeremy Kirke was one of those three students – a fourth year that had made the practice team last year. He'd apparently done his homework, too, since he nearly duplicated Christina's move from the game last year, and caught the snitch to earn his place on the team.

The team meeting was short and they got their practice schedules. The only difference from previous years was that they set up a strategy meeting for Sunday to kick off their practice season.

"Three new teammates this season!" Aaron was saying to James and Arianna as they walked back to the school. "Both of our new Beaters looked pretty good, and Jeremy was definitely the better Seeker – he probably won't do all of that hot-dogging either."

"Well, we're going to have to play a lot better this season against Ravenclaw if we want to win the Quidditch Cup back," Arianna said. "I take it the collective ego trip is over now."

James grinned, his eyes lighting up. "Oh, I'd say we all still have pretty big egos, excepting you, of course. We did learn our lesson, though."

Aaron nodded. "And that lesson really sucked, so I for one don't want to see it repeated. I don't mind losing a game if we played our best, but we got killed in that game."

They'd reached the Great Hall by then, and James left his friends to check in with Al at the Ravenclaw table.

"You alright, Al?" he asked his brother when he got to him.

Al looked up, and was smiling.

"That looks like a 'yes' to me," James grinned back. "Apparently last year after that game when I said you better try out again this year, I should have said you better make the team so I could get that rematch."

Al and Carolyn both laughed. "Sorry, James. Maybe next year we can have that game and find out. If I was you, though, I'd be worried about how good a team you'll be playing, since logic suggests that my replacement is a way better player than me."

"Well, I'm glad you're ok with it, Al. I'll see you around."

Carolyn's plan to hide out until lunch had been perfect. The condolences only lasted through lunch, then the matter was dropped, and Al was allowed to get on with his life. There was homework to get finished, and even a little time left over to play and hang out with his cousins and friends.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team had gotten together in a classroom for their meeting on Sunday morning.

"I think the first thing we have to do is to figure out what happened at the game last year," the captain began. "Any thoughts?"

Jeremy put up his hand.

"Ravenclaw found and took advantage of our weaknesses," he told them.

"What weaknesses?" Aaron asked him. "They beat us soundly, but up until then, I thought we were a pretty good team."

Jeremy smiled and nodded. "You were – and are – they were just better prepared, and had you down cold."

When James went to speak, Jeremy held up his hand.

"Hear me out first, please." He turned to the captain. "Do you realize that you telegraph your moves before you make them?" he asked the other boy.

He proceeded to demonstrate and explain exactly what the Ravenclaw team had seen, and taken advantage of.

"James, you've picked up your own little bad habit – you wink at Arianna every time you're going to shoot, and don't when you're going to pass."

Arianna started to laugh as she realized that Jeremy was right.

"Our Seeker last year had a couple of special moves that he liked to use that looked impressive, but left him open to get beat – just like in the game, and yesterday at tryouts."

"What about me?" Arianna asked him curiously.

"They couldn't find anything with you, Arianna – except that you were scoring sixty percent of the goals, and decided that just shutting you down was their best strategy, so they put Trinity and Rose both on you because they had James figured out, and Aaron has been your playmaker, and so didn't shoot very often."

"Anything else?" she asked him.

"They figured out that our beaters only played well when they could see and communicate with each other, so they just played defense against them, and got in their faces. They also, obviously psyched us out all season too – making us think they weren't very good."

Arianna was smiling now. "Well, we've already changed things up with having a new Seeker and Beaters, and I think we can fix the other problems with a little work." She smiled at Jeremy. "I'd say we also have acquired a pretty good player to help us analyze our competition, if he can do that as well as he's broken down our team."

The five boys and two girls were all smiling now. Things were definitely looking brighter for the Gryffindor team already!

"Let's get going," Trinity was telling her team at their first strategy meeting. "I'd like to welcome Matt to the team – Congratulations again, Matt." The rest of the team clapped and nodded.

"Last year's going to be a tough act to follow, and you can bet that we won't be catching any teams by surprise this year," she continued.

"The rumour mill is buzzing that the other three House teams all had some big changes this year. Gryffindor and Slytherin both have three new players, and Hufflepuff has four. Any suggestions on how to start things this year?"

Rose held up her hand, and the others laughed, and she grinned.

"Force of habit," she said. "We've got a pretty good basic training program, so I think we should continue with that. You and I haven't worked with Matt at all before, so I think that maybe for the first few weeks that one of our practices should be just the three of us and Scorpius."

Trinity and Matt were both nodding. "What about strategy? We won't get to see Hufflepuff before we play them. I'm not all that worried about the other games yet, since we'll see both of the other teams play first."

Matt answered Trinity first. "We won't be able to sandbag any of the teams this year, and most of the players will have seen our games last year. We should put a gameplan together that's completely different than anything we've done before – maybe even a bit risky, since in every game we played last year, we were extremely defensive."

Rose smiled at him. "I like it – maybe even something like the Wasps used that year they got to the finals against my Dad's team. That was definitely a go for broke offense."

Matt laughed, and for a moment, it was like the others weren't even there. Apparently Matt new just about as much as Rose did when it came to the history and strategy of the game.

Trinity finally called them to a halt. "The rest of your team happily concedes the strategy expertise to both of you. Come up with our game plan by the end of the month, and we'll learn to do everything you want us to do by game day."

The meeting wrapped up, and they all headed for their Common room, and plans to spend the rest of the day working on homework. Rose, Nick, and Scorpius all wished that Al was still on the team with them, but they couldn't help but be excited about their chances again this year!


	23. Hogsmead Weekends and Hallowe'en Fun

Chapter Twenty-Three – Hogsmeade Weekends and Hallowe'en Fun!

James had been to Hogsmeade lots of times with his family, but this was his first weekend there with his classmates – and Arianna. Andy and Jon weren't all that excited that he wanted to go on their first trip to town with her, instead of them, but they'd survive.

He was having breakfast with them now, and they were talking about what they were going to do in town. Stops at Honeydukes and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes were givens. They were going to check out the shrieking shack, and have lunch at the three broomsticks – they'd heard the older boys talk about Madame Rosmerta's daughter, and definitely wanted to check that out for themselves too.

Arianna was talking with Rose, Carolyn, and Brianna, finding out what they'd like picked up while she and James were in town. It was a small list, really just requests for some sweets and some quills and parchment, but all three girls really appreciated being asked. Rose had given her a big hug.

"Thanks, Arianna," she told her friend. She saw James walking over to them, and grinned. "At least our friends are considerate enough to see if we need anything – even if my dear cousin has utterly forgotten his poor brother and family."

James laughed. "You're not forgotten, and I did ask the guys if they needed anything last night. Arianna agreed to check with you in case you had any requests that might make me blush."

Carolyn and Brianna giggled, and Rose smiled. "You mean you wouldn't want to pick up underwear for us at FashionKnut?" she teased him.

James laughed. "Oh, I'd be fine with that. Then everytime you saw me grinning, you'd be wondering if it was because I knew what you had on under that robe!"

"James!" Rose exclaimed, blushing furiously as the other girls laughed. "That is so not funny on so many levels."

James nodded. "True, but thankfully it only has to be funny on one." He kissed her cheek. "You know I'm just kidding, cuz. When was the last time you saw me voluntarily shop for clothes with the girls?"

Rose laughed. "Never, but I have a feeling your convictions on that might change depending on who was modeling those clothes now."

It was his turn to blush, but he didn't deny her suggestion. Arianna took his hand.

"Come on, James, we better get going. I'll get your things to you at dinner tonight if we don't see you before then," she promised the girls.

There was already a lineup for students heading to town, and it was several minutes before they were checked out, and on their way to town. There was a long, strung out line of students making the walk from school to town, and the young couple held hands as they went.

"We've both been to Hogsmeade lots of times," James said. "I wonder why this just feels so different."

"Being here with about a thousand other kids is probably part of it," Arianna suggested. "I'd hope that getting to spend the day with your girlfriend might also be a factor in why it's different too."

James grinned, and Arianna laughed. "Then, of course, there's the added bonus of no parental supervision."

When they got into town, the usual mob was already at Uncle George's store, so they decided to wander around the rest of town first. That worked out to be a great plan, since it meant that they were two of the first students to find the new SpaMagic that was having it's grand opening today.

They went in and booked two appointments for Arianna – one on the weekend before Hallowe'en, and one on the weekend before the Yule Ball. Arianna found out from some of the other girls later that every Hogsmeade weekend was completely booked there by noon.

Arianna then went to Honeydukes and Scrivenshaft's to get the things that Rose, Carolyn, and Brianna wanted, and the other things that she and James needed to get for themselves, and for Al, Nick, and Scorpius.

They had lunch at the Three Broomsticks, then stopped in at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, where James stocked up his supplies. Their last stop was FashionKnut, where Rose's theory was proven correct by the empirical evidence of the grin on James' face as he happily watched his girlfriend try on several new outfits.

He lamely tried to convince her that the soft cashmere sweater he bought was because it looked so great on her, but they both knew that it was the extreme cuddle factor that was the real reason behind the purchase. Arianna also picked out a new pair of pants and blouse for herself, and after paying for their purchases, decided to head back to school to get a head start on the weekend homework.

While the older students were in Hogsmeade, Al and the other New Marauders had been meeting to go over what they'd accomplished so far, and what they could do next. They had two more bullies for James to deal with, and had used the Marauders Map to carefully document when and where these kids were picking on the younger students.

"That bully-bat idea of James' was pretty awesome last year," Nick was telling them, "but don't you think we could come up with some new weapons for his arsenal?"

Rose and Scorpius were both nodding. "Any suggestions?" she asked everyone.

"We could put a personal TransPortal device on them and send them to the North Pole for a visit," Scorpius suggested with a grin.

The others laughed. "Nice thought, but TransPortals don't work any better than apparating does here," Al told him.

Scorpius looked surprised. "I didn't know that."

Al nodded. "There are a lot of safety precautions that were built into the system to make sure it could never be abused."

"You guys told us about that love potion thing that James tried to pull on you last year that Mr. Filch ended up getting hit with," Carolyn said. "Could we make something like that to use, except maybe have something different happen to those bullies?"

"Like what?" Rose asked her.

"Well, falling in love with themselves might be pretty funny; or maybe in love with the portrait of the Fat Lady, or Peeves."

"That's absolutely brilliant, Carolyn!" Al told her enthusiastically.

"How hard would it be to make something like those Magic Mistletoe, except something different that hounds the bully we set it on for a whole day?" Brianna asked them.

The others all smiled. "Not very," Scorpius said. "Any ideas on what it should look like, and what it should do?"

They talked about that, and came up with a couple other new ideas before moving on to the other issues.

"We're up to twenty-nine kids for Arianna to get mentors for. I'll give her the latest group of six when we see her later today," Rose reported.

"We've gotten all of the birthday information for all of the kids we're working on, and Brianna will keep track of that part of things with Lily." Brianna nodded, agreeing with Rose.

"All of the students that needed help with robes or supplies have been taken care of for now. Carolyn will keep track of anything that they'll need for the rest of the school year."

"Do we have anything else to cover today?" Al asked the others. Nobody had anything, so they adjourned their meeting, and went back to the Common room to get started on homework.

During the next week, the group managed to take their ideas and make four really cool new anti-bullying weapons for James, Aaron, Andy, and Jon to use. The bullies weren't laughing over the next few weeks, but nearly everyone else in the school was.

With a master's stroke of brilliance, James used the new love potions – with three different love targets, on a group of three fourth year Slytherin bullies. The other students watched incredulously as one boy spent the day chasing Peeves around, loudly professing his love, while the second boy spent his time in a lip-lock with the Fat Lady's portrait, to the amusement of the Gryffindors using the portrait hole.

Those two were bad enough, but the third boy received the potion that made him fall madly in love with Mrs. Norris. That day might have been the only time that any of the students ever actually felt sorry for the cat. Watching the chase had been very entertaining – especially when part of that chase happened during lunch in the Great Hall.

In the first week of October, another bully was outed when, from breakfast through until bedtime, the sixth year boy was followed around by a pink stuffed toy snitch that the New Marauders had made to alternately flash the words 'I'm a' and 'Big Bully' in bright neon lights, while continually declaring, in a very shrill voice – "BULLY ALERT! MAKE WAY FOR THE BIG, BAD BULLY!"

They hadn't wanted to irritate the Professors, so during class the snitch would hover in a corner of the room, facing the corner, with the caption 'I've been a bad, bad, boy' flashing on it's back until class ended, and it could again follow the boy around.

The cumulative effect of the campaign on bullying had it's desired results, and by mid-October, they were down to one stubborn pair of Slytherins that had still not learned that picking on kids was no longer going to be tolerated at their school.

One of those boys gave up his evil ways after he got to spend the day dressed like a baby girl, complete with soother and teddy bear.

The last holdout conceded defeat after James, under cover of his invisibility cloak, applied a creative little invisibility charm that only made the boy's outer garments invisible – just before he walked into the Great Hall for their evening meal.

This final victory certainly didn't mean that there weren't still kids going around doing mean things, but the constant terrorizing of younger, weaker kids was definitely over – at least for this year.

That was the good news. The bad news was that James was now free to put his devious little mind to work on his next big prank. The Professors and students found out what that was at Hallowe'en.

The last weekend of October had been another Hogsmeade weekend, and Arianna was at SpaMagic for the morning, so James was hanging out with Andy and Jon until he'd be meeting her for lunch. They were in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, picking up supplies, and the all-new Hallowe'en chocolates. James bought the jumbo assorted pack. Since he'd helped create them, he knew exactly what they'd do, but it was going to be fun watching the other students find out for themselves.

Andy and Jon went with him to pick up the candy and supplies that Rose and the other girls had requested, and wandered through some of the other shops until lunch. They were still together when they got to SpaMagic, and Arianna was just coming out of the building. Andy and Jon both looked like they'd been stupefied as they stared.

Arianna laughed in delight. "I guess that by the looks of your friends that all of that time and money was not wasted."

James held out his hand to take hers. "I'd say that your Wow factor has definitely risen a few notches." He looked at Jon and Andy, and waved his free hand in front of their eyes. "Snap out of it, guys – I haven't seen you look like that since the first few times you met my cousin Victoire!"

Andy and Jon both laughed with him. "Sorry, mate," Andy told his friend. "Yeah, Arianna, I'd definitely say it was worth every minute and knut. If you ever decide to dump this guy, let me know and I'll get in line with the other hundred Gryffindors that'll want to be asking you out."

Arianna and Jon laughed. "Andy! Isn't there something in the best mate rules that says you're not supposed to make passes at my girlfriend?" James asked him, trying not to grin.

Andy shrugged. "Probably, and if it actually worked, I'd miss your friendship, James." Looking at Arianna again, he added – "But probably not for very long."

James couldn't help but laugh with Arianna and his two best mates. "Thanks, mate," he told Andy. "We'll see you guys back at school later."

With Arianna in her OWL year, they only had a couple of hours together before they went back to school and got started on the seemingly endless homework. He was as busy as every other student, and with Quidditch practice was probably busier than most, but when it came to having major fun like he was going to have in just a few days, he was always able to find time.

Al woke up Hallowe'en morning to the shouts of his roommates. He opened his eyes, and all he saw was bright orange. He sat up in bed, and watched Nick and Scorpius, both grinning and looking around at the orange walls. He grinned too, and started laughing. This was going to definitely be a fun day.

The full extent of the prank wasn't known to everyone until word started to spread during breakfast that their school wasn't just orange – it was now a giant pumpkin! Most of the students went outside before classes to see for themselves, and sure enough, it was true.

Students were taking pictures and videos of the sight, and they even watched the WWVN news later to see that their school had become a top story for the day.

James obviously couldn't take credit for the prank, but he was certainly having fun. Only he and Al knew that it had actually taken both boys to have enough power to do the transfiguration charm. Professor McGonagall had been sent an anonymous note assuring her that the school would certainly return to normal at midnight, so she allowed the impressive feat of magic to stay, and run it's course.

James' first major prank of the year was certainly the biggest hit with the students, but the Hallowe'en chocolates were a close second.

There would be at any given time, pumpkin-headed kids, black cat faced students, and a half dozen other incarnations. Now in the Muggle world, the children might even dress up as Witches and Wizards, but in this world, that would be how they dressed every day.

Instead, James, Uncle George, and Lee had made several different Chocolate Muggles as part of the Hallowe'en pack. There was the one that changed you into 'Geek Muggle', which was a favourite for the kids. The 'Bobble-head Muggle' was pretty hilarious too.

The whole day was filled with fun and frivolity, and even the Professors got into the spirit, having students do Hallowe'en themed activities. Professor Macmillan had his classes study the Transfigured school itself, then attempt to turn a rock into a pumpkin.

Thankfully, neither James or Al had Transfiguration that day, since there was a good chance that the Professor's assignment was a test to find out who might have been responsible. It was a really good idea, too, except that he'd been certain that no pre-OWL level students could have pulled off something this big.

The Hallowe'en feast was amazing, and the students were given a night off from homework assignments, so they all enjoyed an entertaining evening. By morning, the school was back to normal, and James and the other students got back to work. The Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch team players were working harder than most: Their game was only three days away!


	24. Still Got Game

Chapter Twenty-Four – Still Got Game?

"That's right, sports fans, it's Game Day!"

James remembered back when he'd joked that Andy should try out to be the game announcer because of his ability to talk endlessly. Here they were in third year, and Andy had, in fact, done that.

"Today's game is brought to you by Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes brand new Christmas Chocolate Wheezes. If you thought the Hallowe'en chocolates were a Howl, you'll find loads of Christmas cheer in every box!"

James laughed, and wondered what 'brought to you by' had cost Uncle George, since it wasn't exactly like there was a lot of cost involved in the school Quidditch matches.

"And now," Andy continued, "Let's welcome the teams that will be competing today!"

James and the rest of the Gryffindor team took to the air, along with their Slytherin counterparts, and flew around the pitch.

"Gryffindor! Slytherin! Give it up for your favourite team!"

Madame Hooch called the teams in, and Andy was quiet as she went over her usual pre-game instructions, then threw the Quaffle into the air to start the game.

"And they're off!" Andy shouted. "Slytherin has the Quaffle, and they circle back behind their goals. Here they come! And they pass – once, twice – OH! – Gryffindor intercepts!"

"Looks like Slytherin is attempting to cover Arianna – they've got two Chasers on her! That only leaves one Chaser to defend – James passes to Aaron, who takes the shot and - GOAL! Gryffindor scores!"

Al was sitting in the stands with Carolyn and Brianna. The Ravenclaw team was in the stands too, but were huddling close, furiously taking notes on the game. He missed that a little, but he found that holding hands with Carolyn, and not having to stress about anything was helping him tremendously in his effort to overcome his disappointment.

"Gryffindor steals again!" Andy was shouting. "Aaron passes to James – back to Aaron – Back to James – HE SCORES!"

"Excitable, isn't he," Carolyn commented.

"Seems to be. He's a lot better than the announcing was last year, though."

"Come on, Slytherin fans! Help out your team!"

"What is he doing?" Brianna asked. "He's trying to get Slytherin fired up?"

Al laughed. "I think it's brilliant. Might even distract them."

"Slytherin takes the shot and MISSES! Excellent try! OH! That had to hurt! The Slytherin Chaser is down! Bad luck, mate!"

The game continued, and James and Aaron toyed with the Slytherin Chasers and Keeper until they had to abandon their game plan to guard Arianna as the score started to mount against them.

"They've peeled off from shadowing Arianna!" Andy exclaimed. "She takes advantage of the break – Aaron passes – GOAL! Arianna scores her first goal of the match!"

Things just kept getting worse for the Slytherin team as their attempt to duplicate what Ravenclaw had done last season was systematically destroyed by the Gryffindor team. Jeremy did them a favour by catching the snitch to end the game.

Al, Carolyn, and Brianna went down onto the pitch to congratulate James, Aaron, and Arianna.

"Nice game," Al told them.

"Thanks, Al," James said with a grin. "See anything about our game you'd like to help us improve on?"

Al laughed. "Actually, since I didn't have to worry about that, I just sat back and enjoyed the game. Andy did a good job today too."

James nodded. "He might be taking the impartiality thing a bit too far, though."

Al gave Arianna a hug, shook Aaron's hand, then started walking back to the school with the girls. Scorpius and the others would be busy with their team meeting for the next hour or two, so they went to the Common room, and he helped the girls finish up their Astronomy homework, and work on some of his own assignments.

The first big question of the Quidditch year had been answered – Gryffindor could still play. The Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw game at the end of the month would let all of the fans know if Ravenclaw had a good team too.

Al was doing his part, working his hardest with the practice team to help their House team get better, and he knew they were good. He and the other practice team players weren't kept in the loop on the entire game plan that they were going to use against Hufflepuff, but Al was enough of a student of the game to have a pretty good idea what they might be planning.

In the week after the big Gryffindor win, Al got a letter from his parents in the morning Owl Post.

Dear Al,

We've been looking into the problem you brought to our attention. Let your friend know that should the time come, he won't need to worry, that help will be there for him.

The details aren't important right now, so don't concern yourselves with them.

We'll be heading for Marauders Paradise with Lily, Hugo, and Frederica for two weeks, so hold off to write back until we return.

Lily says to tell you that if the New Marauders need anything while she's gone, that Grandma Weasley promised to help, and you can send your requests to her.

Wish your team good luck in the game against Hufflepuff.

We'll write again when we get back.

Love, Mum and Dad

Al quietly told Scorpius and the others what his parents had written, and watched as his friend took a big sigh of relief, one less worry to deal with.

The weeks between the two Quidditch games were very busy. Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius were still tops in all of their classes. In DADA they were continuing to learn more advanced hexes and spells, but also began learning defenses other than shields to counter the offensive magic.

Al never intended to disrupt the class, but it did occasionally happen – like when his 'Expelliarmus' not only disarmed Nick, but every other student in the classroom, pelting him with all of their wands. The other students took these little incidents in stride, more often amused than annoyed since he so obviously wasn't trying to show off. Watching Al's face turning as red as his auburn hair was fairly comical too.

There was one Hogsmeade weekend sandwiched in between the two games. James spent the morning there with Andy and Jon, but Arianna and Aaron had both decided that they had too much work to do, and stayed at the school.

Finally, it was Saturday, and the anticipation and excitement was palpable in the Great Hall at breakfast.

"You guys are ready," Al told Rose confidently. "Just go out and have fun."

With their team playing in this game, Al was again sitting with Carolyn and Brianna in the Ravenclaw section of the stands, ready to cheer their team on.

When the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams took to the air for their pre-game laps, the crowd cheered, and soon the game had begun.

Al watched with pride as their team threw caution to the wind, and any semblence of defence with it, putting on an offensive show for the spectators. They scored a lot of goals, and thanks to Scorpius, didn't have many scored on them.

There were a few spectacular mistakes by the Ravenclaw Chasers, leaving Scorpius to face two or three on one rushes, but by the third hour, Ravenclaw was up by over three hundred points. Christina caught the snitch at about halfway through the third hour, ending the game, and showing the fans that last year's two best teams were still the ones to beat.

Scorpius was on the pitch with the rest of the Ravenclaw team when Al and the girls came up to them. Al hugged Rose, Nick, and Scorpius, who was then pulled into a long hug by Brianna that ended with the chaste victory kiss that should be the reward for every valiant hero.

"Why don't you go get cleaned up and changed," Al suggested to Scorpius, Rose, and Nick, "and we'll wait and walk back with you."

When they walked back to school together, Scorpius and Al each holding hands with their girlfriends, none of them noticed that they were being observed, and what that would soon mean for the New Marauders.


	25. December First

Chapter Twenty-Five – December First

Lily and her parents had been home from their trip to Marauders Paradise for almost a week. It was Saturday – Mommy's day to sleep in, so she tried to be quiet as she got dressed and went downstairs, where she smelled breakfast cooking.

Her Dad was at the table, looking over some paperwork that had obviously been delivered by Owl Post, since an Owl was still there waiting, she guessed, for a return letter. She remembered what day it was then, and smiled. She loved watching her parents on Bonus Day. She'd never read any of those reports that came each year, but whatever was in them must be pretty great.

"Morning, Daddy," she said brightly, stopping to give him a hug and kiss before sitting down herself. "How's Bonus Day going for you so far?"

She watched as his eyes lit up and he grinned back at her. "I'd say about as awesome as possible, sweetie."

"Anything I can know about?" she asked, not sure exactly why this year she was interested in asking.

"What would you like to know?" he asked her in return.

Lily laughed. "Everything there is to know in the whole world, but that's probably going to take me a while. For this morning, how about learning all about what those reports are about, and why you and Mum are always so excited on December First every year."

She was surprised when her Mum walked into the kitchen instead of staying in bed late like she normally did on Saturday.

"She's the only one that's asked so far," her father commented to her mother. "Think she's ready?"

Ginny laughed, and gave her a hug and kiss. "I get the feeling she could probably run things right now if we let her."

Harry laughed. "Well, Lily, here you go. Read everything over, and give me your analysis." He handed her the stack of parchment, then got up to keep working on breakfast for the three of them.

Lily's eyes were alight as she took the parchments, and started reading.

Dear Harry,

PBP Investments, and the Investment Partnership completed another outstanding year. We have been continuing to expand ReVive in the Muggle World, and all other divisions continue their extremely strong performance.

A major new product launch is coming next year, and we are devoting a significant proportion of profit into that venture. The return potential will quite possibly be the most outstanding in our history.

The PBP Investment Financial Summary, and Phoenix Foundation reports are included in this package. The Owl will wait for your return post when you have reviewed and approved my incentive authorization.

Fleur Weasley

CEO – PBP Investments

Lily was starting to get really excited as she continued to read the first report.

**Annual Financial Report - PBP Investments**

**Year Ending November 30, 2018**

**Beginning Balance PBPI: 34,379 million galleons**

**Beginning Balance PF: 3,990 million galleons**

**Beginning Balance - IP: 28,267.5 million galleons**

**New Investment: 0 million galleons**

**Total Beginning Balance: 66,636.5 million galleons**

**Profits:**

**Marauders Institute 14,300 million galleons**

**Property Division 4,100 million galleons**

**Goblin Ventures 1,000 million galleons**

**Witch Investment 1,200 million galleons**

**Other Investments 500 million galleons**

**Total Profit 21,100 million galleons**

**Less incentive (40%) 8,440 million galleons**

***Pending approval of projected incentives.**

**Profit after incentives 12,660 million galleons**

**PBP Profit 4,220 million galleons**

**PF Profit 4,220 million galleons**

**IP Profit 4,220 million galleons**

**Ending Balance PBPI: 38,599 million galleons**

**Phoenix Foundation: 8,210 million galleons**

**Less Expenses: 4,010 million galleons**

**Ending Balance - PF: 4,200 million galleons**

**Ending Balance - IP: 32,487.5 million galleons**

**Total Ending Balance: 75,286.5 million galleons**

Lily stopped when she got to the end of the report, and stared up at her parents, who looked back at her and grinned.

"Having fun yet, sweetie?" her mother asked her.

Lily smiled back. "So far, I'd have to say 'yes'."

She flipped to the next page.

**Annual Phoenix Foundation Report**

**Year Ending November 30, 2018**

**Financial Report:**

**Beginning Balance: 3,990.00 million galleons**

**New Revenue: 4,220.00 million galleons**

**Total Expenses: 4,010.00 million galleons**

**Ending Balance: 4,200.00 million galleons**

**Phoenix Foundation Program Expenses:**

**Residences: 1,210 million galleons**

**Vaccine Program: 5 million galleons**

**Goblin Programs: 200 million galleons**

**Food Program: 985 million galleons**

**Housing Program: 700 million galleons**

**Work Program: 855 million galleons**

**DREAM Christmas: 55 million galleons**

**Total Expenses: 4,010 million galleons**

**Phoenix Foundation Program Statistics:**

**Program Persons Aided Cost Per Person**

**Residences: 23,000 19,100 galleons****

**Vaccine Program: 1 million 5 galleons**

**Goblin Programs: 80,000 2,500 galleons**

**Food Program: 4.38 million 225 galleons**

**Housing Program: 70,000 10,000 galleons***

**Work Program: 342,000 2,500 galleons***

**DREAM Christmas: 550,000 100 galleons***

Lily was astounded, and fascinated. This was like seeing a whole new world open before her eyes! She turned to the next page, completely absorbed now.

Deary Mr. Potter,

The Phoenix Foundation account managers are pleased to report another incredible year for our organization. We have continued to expand our operations in every area, and were able to continue to provide aid to millions of Witches and Wizards.

The one hundred and ten residences account for nearly five billion galleons worth of physical assets for our foundation. Those residences can accommodate twenty-two thousand children, and we now have more than one thousand graduates each year who are all well prepared for their futures.

New efforts to help our seniors continue, and the food and housing programs are placing more effort on helping this segment of our population. We hope to nearly eliminate poverty among our seniors within the next ten to fifteen years.

The Phoenix Foundation employees and volunteers should again be pleased with the extraordinary accomplishments that they had achieved in the past year.

Sincerely,

David Matthews

Senior Account Manager – Phoenix Foundtion

Lily glanced quickly at the last page of the report, then finally looked up again and saw that her mother was just finishing reading her own reports, which she then handed to her daughter with a smile.

"I guess if you want to know all about it, you might as well keep going."

Lily took the thre new pages of parchment, and started to read.

Dear Ginny,

I am pleased to advise you that a transfer of one hundred and forty-three million galleons has been made to your account. Marauders Institute had another exceptional year, and we are again pleased to congratulate you on another record year and incentive payout.

Molly Weasley

Senior Account Manager – PBP Investments

Lily smiled, finding it a bit strange seeing Grandma's first name on a letter to her mother. She continued reading.

Dear Mrs. Potter,

Witch Investments enjoyed significant growth again this year, with new investment and re-investment of profits, our partnership continues to prove that our strategy is working extremely well.

We continue our global expansion, and to move into new markets as we move into the future.

Please find your copy of the Witch Investment financial statement included in this package.

Victoire Lupin

CEO – Witch Investments

Lily laughed in delight. She hadn't known that her cousin was now the CEO of a company. Her eyes widened when she looked over the financial report.

**Annual Financial Report - Witch Investments**

**Year Ending November 30, 2018**

**Beginning Balance WI: 8,760 million galleons**

**New Investment: 900 million galleons**

**Beginning Balance PBPI: 5,840 million galleons**

**New Investment: 600 million galleons**

**Total Beginning Balance: 16,100 million galleons**

**Profits:**

**Manufacturing: 1,200 million galleons**

**Retail: 2,800 million galleons**

**Total Profit: 4,000 million galleons**

**Less Incentive (25%) 1,000 million galleons**

**Profit: 3,000 million galleons**

**WI Profit: 1,800 million galleons**

**PBPI Profit: 1,200 million galleons**

**Ending Balance WI: 10,560 million galleons**

**Ending Balance PBPI: 7,240 million galleons**

**Total Ending Balance: 17,800 million galleons**

When she finished the last page, she got up and hugged both of her parents.

"I love you," she told them both.

Harry smiled at her. "Any questions?"

"Nope, I'm good."

Ginny laughed. "That was easy. Let's eat then. Since I have that party today, I'm going to go to work this morning and play in the lab."

Lily laughed too. "OK, now that you say that, I do have one question. Why do you work at all?"

Ginny gave her a hug. "For the same reason we live here instead of some drafty mansion. Because we love livning here. I get to play with my best friends, and do some really cool things that either make a difference helping people, or entertain them."

Lily nodded. "But I'll be starting school next year. Do you think you might consider taking a little extra time off between now and then to come play with me and Daddy instead?"

Ginny hugged her daughter and smiled. "Already planned, sweetie – you're just to quick for us to keep any surprises from you."

Lily hugged her back, and kissed her. She pointed to all of the parchments on the table. "You know the biggest surprise with all of that is the fact that it's so big, and yet is still such a well-kept secret."

Harry nodded. "We'll keep it that way too, if possible."

Just for fun, he had Lily sign off on Fleur's incentived, then signed the letter too to make it official. He sent it back with the Owl, then they sat down for breakfast together, talking happily about their plans for the day – all thoughts about finances, investments, and foundations left behind in favour of planning shopping trips, lunch, and dinner.

The mood at breakfast for the Ravenclaw New Marauders was pretty buoyant too – until the Owl Post arrived. There was a letter for Scorpius, and within moments of opening it, his hands began to shake, his face paled, and there were tears in his eyes.

"Scorpius, what's wrong?" Brianna asked in alarm, getting the attention of the rest of their friends as she put her arm around his shoulders.

He couldn't speak, but just continued to read, even though it must have been nearly impossible with his hands shaking so hard, and the tears clouding his vision. Finally, he just handed the letter to Al, and laid his head on Brianna's shoulder and cried.

Al took the letter, and quietly read it aloud to the others.

Scorpius,

It has been brought to my attention, by a trusted friend, that you have, by your actions at Hogwarts, disgraced me, and all of your family.

How _dare_ you! Bad enough that you were sorted into Ravenclaw, against all tradition, but then you choose to become friends with the detestable spawn of half-bloods, mudbloods, and blood-traitors!

You surely knew that your so-called friends were all enemies of your family!

Then to top it all off, you choose a pathetic _orphan_ for a girlfriend, and parade around your school with the tramp who is certainly only chasing you for your family money. See how long she stays now that you have nothing!

You've made your choices, boy, and now I must make mine.

You are no longer welcome at Malfoy Manor. The shame and humiliation that your acts have caused your family require nothing less than complete disinheritance!

So go, join that filthy bunch of scum that you call friends in squalor and reap the consequences of your choices. You will certainly soon regret giving up a life of privilege as you deal with the shame and disrepute that comes with the poverty you will now face, and the scorn of all true purebloods who must now shun you for the traitor you are.

Lucius Malfoy

As he'd read the letter, the others had all paled right along with their friend.

"Let's get out of here, guys," Carolyn suggested. "This is way too public a place to deal with this."

When they were walking out, Al happened to look over at the Slytherin table and saw another second year student, Dirk Avery sneering at Scorpius, and laughing with his friends. He thought he now had a pretty good idea where the information Scorpius' grandfather had received had come from.

They found an empty classroom, and surrounded their friend, all of them wanting to comfort him.

"I'll write to Mum and Dad today, and they'll let us know what they have planned, Scorpius. We're all going to be here for you, whatever that is," Al told him gently.

Nick nodded. "Count on it. You're my best mate, and we're going to make sure everything works out."

Brianna still had her arms around him, holding on tightly. "When I find out who the big mouth was, I'm going to get Al's Mum to teach me her bat-bogey hex, and make them regret it."

Al smiled. "I can help you with that, Bree. I saw Dirk Avery laughing it up with his boys when he saw Scorpius crying when we left. I'd say that's a pretty good sign that he was the source."

Scorpius looked up, wiping his eyes. "Makes sense – the Avery family have been friends of the Malfoys for a long time."

Brianna was fighting her own tears. "When you write your Mum and Dad, Al, ask her to send me instructions on that hex."

Rose smiled. "I like your idea, Brianna, but I think this might just be a job for the combined force of the New Marauders. I'm sure you all feel the same as I do about adding a little side trip to our mission."

Everyone nodded. "I'd say that was definitely motion carried – Next Marauders mission – Operation Avery."

Ginny, Harry, and Lily were all in the kitchen Sunday morning when the priority Owl Post arrived. Ginny opened the letter and read it aloud.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Scorpius got a letter from his grandfather today. One of the boys in Slytherin House, Dirk Avery, apparently told his family about Scorpius being our mate, and Brianna being his girlfriend.

I made a copy of the letter, and included it in this post. Lily might not want to read it – his grandfather is not a very nice man if that letter is any indication.

Scorpius has been disinherited, and told to never go back to Malfoy Mansion. We need to know what to do for him next, other than the love and support we're already giving him.

Please let us know as soon as you can.

Love, Al.

P.S. Bree would really like bat-bogey hex lessons, and we were wondering if Uncle George happened to have developed a Chocolate Rat Fink Wheeze. :^)

Ginny looked up at Lily before turning to the copy of the letter from Lucius. She looked at her for a long minute, then read the second letter out loud too.

Lily was in her father's lap before her Mum had gotten very far, and was crying into his chest by the time she finished.

"Al's right," she sobbed. "He is a very bad man. How could anyone do that to their own grandson? Why would his parents just let it happen?"

"Mostly because they're self-centered, Lily," Ginny told her quietly as Harry stroked their daughter's hair and cradled her on his lap.

"Why don't you make the calls, Ginny, and then we can write them back and have the letter there by tomorrow. Lily and I will clean up from breakfast. Then I think maybe a shopping trip, and a small gift to go with that letter."

He smiled down at Lily. "There's no rule about the New Marauders doing something to help out one of their own members, is there?"

Lily hugged him tightly. "None that I know of. Thank-you."

"For what?"

Lily laughed through her tears. "Didn't you know that going shopping is an almost instant 'cheerer upper' for girls?"

Ginny laughed, and Lily grinned. "See what I mean?" she said, pointing to her mother.

Ginny stood up and headed for the sitting room. "I'll get on those calls," she told them.

Harry set Lily down in another chair and got up. "And we'll get the cleanup done." He grinned at Lily. "You sit there and be supervisor of the crew."

Scorpius was more scared than he'd ever been before. His friends had been there for him all day, and he appreciated them more than he could say, but the fear was like a iron cold lump in his stomach.

He knew that Al's parents had said they'd be ready to help him, but he had no idea what that meant. Would he be sent to the residence to live with Brianna and Carolyn? Maybe they were full right now. Maybe he'd be sent to an orpanage somewhere. He'd heard stories about some of those horrible places.

Then there was just the fact of dealing with the horrible things his own Grandfather had said. He didn't even know his friends, and had still heaped all of that hate and scorn onto them. He knew he was different than his family, but now realized that the differences were much deeper than he'd ever imagined, or at the least, admitted to himself.

"Scorpius?"

He looked up from where he'd been staring at his hand – and the hand he'd been holding.

"Are you going to be ok if I go to bed now?" Brianna asked him quietly. "We're going to have a long day tomorrow."

He looked around, and saw that the Common room was nearly empty, except for them, Al, Carolyn, and Nick.

"Yeah, Brianna," he said just as softly. "Thank-you for staying with me so late."

There were tears in his eyes again as she hugged him, kissed him goodnight, and then stood up to head for the girl's dorm. Carolyn stood up and went with her, putting her arm around her best friend's shoulders.

Nick walked over and offered Scorpius his hand. "Come on mate. Let's go get some sleep too. There's nobody better than Al's Dad at taking care of big problems. If he does come up with nothing, though, I'll just smuggle you back and forth to my house on holidays in my trunk."

Scorpius smiled. "Thanks, Nick." He took his friend's hand and allowed him to help him stand up. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather do back-to-back double Herbology classes before having another day like this one."

Al and Nick both laughed. "How about we don't' have either again," Al suggested. "Those are two really crummy options. Why couldn't you have chosen a double lesson in girlfriend snogging or something?"

Scorpius managed a small laugh. "Easy, because I'd rather do that than just about _anything _else."

The three boys went to their dorm room, got changed, and into their beds, but it was a long time before Scorpius finally joined his friends in sleep, and his was restless, and filled with dreams that shifted from one uncertain future to another – none of them good.


	26. Problems Solved

Chapter Twenty-Six – Problems: Solved.

Scorpius looked terrible the next morning. Al had again watched the Slytherin table when he'd walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. Dirk was again sitting there with his friends, and as soon as they saw the devastated looking Scorpius, started laughing again and talking animatedly with his mates.

Carolyn put a hand on his arm. "Relax, Al. We'll get to dealing with him soon enough."

He smiled at her. "Thanks, Carolyn." They both knew that with a few words, she'd managed to keep him from doing something that Dirk would regret immediately, and he'd probably regret later after Professor McGonagall got through with him..

There was a letter and package in the Owl Post for Al, and he ripped open the envelope, and read the letter out loud to Scorpius and the others.

Dear Al,

Please let Scorpius know how sorry we are for what's happened with his family. Between now and the holidays, just let us know about anything he needs, and we'll take care of it.

Nick's parents will be taking Scorpius in to stay with them on holidays, although I'm certain that, as part of our unique family, he'll be a frequent guest here and with other family members.

Scorpius,

When you come for the Christmas holidays, we'll discuss how else we're going to help you. Your cousin Teddy and I both want to assure you that you will not have anything to worry about. Trust me when I say that there is not debt to us for this – Teddy and I are paying back your Great-Aunt Andromeda, and your mutual cousin, and my Godfather Sirius Black for everything they've done for each of us.

The package is for you. Lily picked it out for you, and hopes you like it.

Nick,

You probably have the letter from your parents in your hand as Al reads this to all of you. They'll have additional instructions for you.

We're all very proud of each one of you. Keep working hard at school, and we'll see you in a few weeks.

Love, Harry, Ginny, and Lily

P.S. that's a 'no' to the bat-bogey hex, and Uncle George doesn't have one of those chocolates, but said to tell you thanks for the really great idea!

Scorpius was in tears again, but this time it was in relief and gratitude. He was overwhelmed by the unbeliebable generousity of his friend's family. Brianna held his hand, and sat close beside him.

Al handed him the wrapped box, and watched as he opened it, and laughed when he saw what was inside.

"What is it?" Rose asked, then laughed too when he tilted it her way so she could see. "Lovely colour for you, and looks to be exactly Brianna's size."

He handed the box to Brianna who had been laughing too. "Well, in a way it is meant for you, Scorpius, since it takes two to cuddle." He hugged her, and smiled at the others.

"No wonder Lily has you all wrapped around her little finger," he said. "That was a perfect way to cheer me up."

"What do your Mum and Dad have to say, Nick?" Al asked him.

Nick smiled, and tore his own envelope open.

"A better question might be how did your Dad know that you'd open yours first?"

They all laughed, and listened as Nick read his letter.

Dear Nick and Scorpius,

We can hardly wait to see you when school's out for the Christmas Holidays. Uncle Harry will pick you up from the station, and we'll be meeting you for lunch.

By the time you both get here, we'll have the bedroom next to yours, Nick, ready for Scorpius.

You may be thinking right now that you've put yourself on a very lonely road, Scorpius. That's something that I know a little bit about myself. The good news is that you've wisely picked a very special group of friends, and because of that, you also have a very large, amazing family that is going to be there for you every day from now on.

We're glad that our son has a friend like you, Scorpius – you would have made a great Gryffindor!

Nick, we're very proud to see that you're already becoming the man we hoped you'd be.

Love, Mum and Dad

"How cool is that!" Nick said when he'd finished reading the letter. "We'll be practically like brothers."

Scorpius grinned at him. "Thanks, Nick. Thanks to all ofyou. It's incredible how things can go from so bad yesterday to so great this morning!"

Carolyn laughed. "Stick with us, kid – it just keeps getting better."

Before they left for their first class, Al stopped by for a quick word with James.

"Can you, and the rest of your gang join us for a meeting after dinner?" he asked his brother quietly. He'd told James yesterday about what had happened to Scorpius at breakfast.

"Sure, Al. Same place?"

"That should be fine. Thanks, James. See you then."

Their first class they had that Dirk was in with them, was Potions. Since the letter had come on Saturday, Scorpius' friends had been able to shield him from the boy, and from any of the other kids that Dirk might have been shooting his mouth off with.

The bigger boy sauntered over to the table that Scorpius and Nick were sitting at as soon as he walked into class.

"Ah, did iddy biddy Scorpius find out that he was homeless this weekend?" Dirk said with an evil grin. "Guess that's what you get for picking lowlives like these to hang around with."

He wasn't nearly so smug looking when Scorpius smiled brightly at him. "Thanks for your concern, Dirk, but no – I'm not homeless. I just decided to move up to a better neighbourhood. If your old man happens to be talking to my Grandfather, though, I'd appreciate it if you could have him tell him I said 'Thanks'."

Dirk looked a little less sure of himself when he went back to his seat, but had soon regained his sneer, probably thinking that taking Scorpius' comments back to his parents would just get the boy in more trouble than he already had.

"Nicely done, mate," Nick told him quietly.

Scorpius just grinned back at his three best friends.

The New Marauders were together again in an empty classroom.

"So, what's got you all fired up, Al?" James asked his brother.

"Did you tell everyone else about what happened with Scorpius on Saturday?" James nodded.

"Good. We know who ratted him out to his grandfather, and think that a little creative payback is definitely in order, and that the New Marauders are just the right Wizards and Witches for the job."

"Who is it?" James asked.

"Dirk Avery, second year, Slytherin," Rose told him.

"Wasn't he one of the bullies we dealt with back in September?" he asked Jon and Andy, who both nodded.

"Guess he's ready for another lesson, then. Any suggestions?"

Al laughed. "Mum turned Brianna's request down to teach her the bat-bogey hex, and Uncle George doesn't have Chocolate Rat Finks, but apparently thinks it's a great idea, so probably will by next year."

James grinned too. "I bet you'd be able to do a great bat-bogey hex, Bree," he told her.

"We can work out the what together, but we'd really like the when be before the Holidays," Al said.

"Then maybe after we get back, Ravenclaw will put a little punctuation on the message in the game against Slytherin," Rose added, earning two definite nods from Nick and Scorpius.

"We all have a lot of homework tonight," Arianna told them. "Why don't we think about this for the rest of the week, and meet on the weekend again to see what we've each come up with." They all agreed, and after a few hugs, left the classroom for their Common rooms or the library to get started on the never-ending homework.

Al kept up with all of his classes during the week, and also probably helped Carolyn and Brianna out more than normal. He had more energy that he knew what to do with, and he channeled that into his studies, and also in the Quidditch practices. There was one thing that was at the front of his mind all week: How to teach a certain Slytherin a lesson without becoming one of the bullies he so disliked.

The boy hadn't helped his own cause during the week, taking every opportunity to make snide remarks about Scorpius, Al, Rose, Nick, and 'his little orphan girlfriend'.

"Anybody want to go first?" James asked, by way of getting things started.

Brianna put up her hand.

"Yeah, the little orphan girlfriend has a suggestion. I hear that he's got a date for the Yule Ball. Do you think we could modify the snitch hex to spell out something like 'I'm with Stupid' on his forhead, or something equally guaranteed to offend her? Can you make pimples glow in the dark?"

Scorpius gave her a hug. "Nice thinking, Bree."

Rose wrote her idea down, and they continued making a list of the suggestions. Everyone seemed to think that best impact would be at the Yule Ball, so then it was a matter of picking which suggestions to use, then plan out the implementation. They had some work to do in the less that two weeks until the Yule Ball, but they were all happy with the plan when they were done, and motivated to do the work.

The following weekend was the last Hogsmeade weekend before Christmas. Arianna had her Spa appointment in the morning, and then James took her shopping for a gown for the Ball.

While they were gone, the Ravenclaw Marauders were busy working on their little project, getting everything ready for the upcoming evening of entertainment.

Sunday was a study day, and they were all catching up on the homework that they all had for the weekend, but they knew that most of their Professors would be taking it easy on them during the last week of classes before holidays, with most new assignments being homework to be done over the holidays.

Monday morning, three fairly large boxes arrived in the Owl Post for Rose, Carolyn, and Brianna, and the three girls were thrilled when they found out that they'd each been sent new gowns for the Yule Ball by Hermione and Ginny. The letter that came with Rose's dress let them know that Lily, Victoire, and Fleur had all selflessly given up their Saturday to go shopping, and hopefully help pick out the perfect gowns for them.

Nick had snorted at that when Rose had read the letter aloud. "Some sacrifice – at least from their perspective."

Brianna had been looking at her gown in amazement. "Rose, these are from _Paris!" _

Rose laughed. "Well, Aunt Fleur was involved, so where else would she go for either gowns or perfume? You do know 'zee engleesh just do not know 'ow to do these things, don't you?"

Scorpius hadn't met Fleur before, so the comment was lost on him, but the others laughed, even though they knew her English was now much better than that.

There was a fair bit more fun and games for the rest of the week than school work. The students all had Thursday afternoon off, mostly so the girls could get ready for the Yule Ball. Al and James had received packages in the Owl Post that morning, and had distributed a box to each of the girls, with instructions to open when they'd finished dressing for the party.

Arianna was looking at herself in the mirror. Her gown was perfect, and she'd spent over an hour on her hair alone. She thought the results were pretty good. 'Time to open up the package', she thought, picking it up, and unwrapping it. There was a sheet of parchment folded on top of a velvet box, so she read the note first.

Dear Arianna,

THIS IS JUST ON LOAN! :^)

You may know that there was another Yule Ball at the school twenty years ago, that Harry took me to in '98. The necklace is a family heirloom that he gave me that night, and since the bracelet is a nice match for it, I thought they would look nice with your gown this evening. You can return them when I see you tomorrow.

Love, Ginny

Arianna opened the box, and gasped, which brought two of her more curious roommates over to see.

"Those are incredible!" one of the girls commented. "Here let me help you put them on, Arianna – we've got to get going or we'll be late."

There were three similar notes and reactions going on over in the girl's dorm in Ravenclaw Tower, as Rose, Carolyn, and Brianna all opened packages with similar letters and got to borrow some of Ginny's most amazing jewellery. Carolyn, of course, had the set of emerald earrings, necklace, and bracelet. Rose's set was in diamonds, and Brianna's ruby set went perfectly with the gown that had been chosen for her.

Al and Scorpius were sitting in the Common room with Matt, waiting for their girlfriends to arrive so they could escort them to the Ball.

"So, how did you and Rose end up going to this thing together?" Scorpius was asking Matt.

"Beats me, one minute we're talking Quidditch strategy, the next, I'm staring into those incredible eyes of hers and asking if she'd be my date."

Al laughed. "If you think she's pretty now, wait until you meet my aunt and see what she's going to look like when she's grown up."

"Does she look a lot like her mom?"

Al nodded. "Mum and Dad say it's like going back in time she looks so much like her."

The girls all came into the room together, and the three boys forgot all about what they were talking about when they saw them.

Rose, Carolyn, and Brianna were all pleased with that reaction, and walked over to their respective dates.

"Let's just skip the Ball," Al finally managed to say to Carolyn. "I think we should just keep you girls to ourselves tonight."

Brianna laughed at him. "No way, Al. Scorpius and I have been waiting for this night for a month." She didn't have to add that part of their plan had included Scorpius going to the Ball with a much more beautiful date than Dirk.

"Where's Nick?" Rose asked them.

"He's already gone to pick up Allie," Scorpius told the girls. "We should get going. They're going to meet us outside the Great Hall."

Rose nodded. Allie, or Alexandria Summers was a second year Hufflepuff girl that was in some of their classes. It had taken Nick a while to catch on that she liked him, but eventually he did. She was quiet, smart, and very pretty.

Rose and the others didn't know her very well yet, but she seemed to be more interested in the same Nick that they all knew and loved, and not the House Quidditch team player that some of the other girls brainlessly mooned over.

The boys gave them their corsages, which the girls helped each other to put on, then left the Tower to go down to the Great Hall.

James was in the Gryffindor Common room when Arianna walked in, and he nearly dropped her flowers.

"You are absolutely stunning," he told her in a whisper as she came up and hugged him.

He handed her the corsage, and smiled. "So that's what Mum sent," he said, pointing to the necklace.

Arianna smiled too. "Yes, and this," she said, holding her wrist up so he could see the diamond bracelet.

"The necklace was my Grandmother's favourite," he told her.

He laughed when he saw the look on her face. "Yep, that Grandmother. And if she looked half as good wearing it as you do, no wonder my Grandfather married her."

"Where's Aaron?" she asked, looking around.

"We're cutting things close. They've already left for the Great Hall."

"Let's get going then," she said, smiling, "I'd hate to miss any of the fun."

Aaron hadn't wanted a date for the Ball, preferring to instead 'play the field' of the eligible singles that would certainly be there.

Andy and Jon had agreed to help him with their little project tonight – partly because Jon was too shy to even think about asking a girl to the party, and partly because being part of a great prank was more interesting that dancing all night with a girl.

Phase One of their plan was simple. Dirk Avery had been going out of his way to put himself in Scorpius' way all over school. There'd be snide remarks on their way into the Great Hall for meals, in hallways, and before or after classes. They were sure he'd be waiting for them tonight too.

Sure enough, there he was, at the bottom of the stairs with his little band of cling-ons, and his date for the evening. He saw Scorpius first, and had turned to grin at his friends.

"Oh look, it's Homeless Scorpius and his little orphan girl…" he trailed off as he turned back around to mock the other boy, and actually looked at Brianna for the first time.

Brianna smiled at him sweetly. "Pardon, Dirk? We didn't quite catch all of that." Score one for the good guys.

He recovered quickly, though.

"Did you guys hear something?" he asked his friends. "Could it be that the little orphan girlfriend thinks that a pure-blood would be interested in hearing anything she has to say?"

Dirk's 'boys' and girlfriend all laughed, right on cue, and made rude noises, and ruder comments as Scorpius and the others walked past.

"Not much longer," he whispered to a furious Brianna. "You know you floored him back there, even if he did cover it pretty fast."

Brianna grinned at him. "That might even be better by the time we're done with him."

The New Marauders certainly wanted their plan to succeed tonight, but they also wanted to have fun at the Ball. Fortunately, they got to do both.

Since Aaron, Andy, and Jon were going to actually do all of the pranks, that was where they had most of their fun, while everyone else got to enjoy their dates, the dance, and watch the three boys have their fun.

The mysterious and strange things began to happen during dinner. Bad things seemed to keep happening around Dirk all through the meal. It seemed that every other thing that he ate did something to him. One minute, he'd be Transformed into a Canary. The next time, he'd grow donkey ears. By the time he got to the dessert that gave him the pig snout and left him oinking, he was livid.

After the first couple of instances, he was sure something was up, but the only kids he'd suspected were all happily enjoying their dinner, clearly in sight over at the Ravenclaw table.

The stupid Transformations were bad enough, but then there was also the other things happening. He'd apparently become the most clumsy kid in the Hall, and his mates and girlfriend were getting angry with him too.

Trying to eat his soup, he'd splash it onto his friends across the table. He seemed to have knocked a whole plate of food into his date's lap. He knocked over glasses, poked the boy next to him with a knife, and had his food slopping everywhere.

Scorpius, Brianna, Al, and Carolyn were sitting on the side of the Ravenclaw table that would give them the view of the action. Since Allie and Matt weren't in on the plan, the play-by-play would have to wait until tomorrow for the others. Judging by the smiles on their friend's faces, though, Nick and Rose were sure that Phase Two was going just fine.

James and Arianna were enjoying their dinner too. When Aaron came back into the hall and sat down with them, he was grinning.

"Too bad your stomach is so upset tonight, mate," James told him with a grin.

Aaron picked up a fat, chocolate covered pastie and took a bite. "Yeah, it's a shame," he said around the mouthful. "I don't think I'll be feeling any better all night, either. How 'bout you guys?" he asked Andy and Jon, who were also grinning.

"We probably all picked up the same bug," Andy said. "Hopefully it isn't catching."

The dinner came to an end, and the kids mingled while the cleanup was done, and the band got ready to play. Aaron was gone on one more trip to the bathroom then, but was back by the time the band was ready.

"Phase Three implemented," He told the others quietly.

The Gryffindors had thought this part of the plan had been genius, and watched eagerly as the evening went on.

"Look at him pawing his little orphan girlfriend," Dirk was saying as he danced with his date. A moment later he tripped, and stepped on her foot. "Sorry," he muttered.

"My Dad says that his family used to be the best of us, and now look what he's done – hanging out with mudbloods and blook-traitors."

This time, he tripped and fell, taking her to the floor with him.

"Dirk," she told him crossly, "what has gotten into you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, must've tripped over one of the other couples. Sorry."

They started dancing again, and he continued with his rant.

"The only thing I don't understand is why Homeless Scorpius isn't still crying like a baby." He stumbled again, nearly knocking them both down for a second time.

"Dirk, either pay attention to your dancing, or let's just get off of the floor before you hurt someone – like me."

"Apparently he's saying just the right things," Scorpius whispered to Brianna as they danced. "Oh, look at that, he fell down. Who'd have thought that a pure-blood like him could be so uncoordinated?"

"Having fun yet?" Carolyn asked them as she and Al danced close by.

"Having the best night of my life," Brianna answered her. "Thanks for asking!"

They watched as Dirk followed a disgusted looking girlfriend off of the dancefloor.

"Do you think that he'll use any swear words?" Al asked the others, just as they all heard a loud THUMP!

"Never mind," he said, grinning at the others. "Question answered."

Dirk slowly got to his feet, and wiped at the blood on his lip. He turned back to the dance floor and tried to see who had tripped him, but all he found were the laughing faces of the kids that had seen him fall down. He looked for Scopius and his friends, but they were too far away to have done anything.

"Are you alright, Dirk?"

He turned back to his girlfriend, "No, I'm not. I do know that all of this isn't some coincidence though, and when I find out what's going on, somebody's gonna pay."

Jon was back in the Hall a few minutes later. "Phase Three extraction complete. Ready for Phase Four whenever you are, commander," he told Aaron with a grin.

"Andy's up next for that one. Let's give it an hour, though, and let him think his problems are over. In the meantime, why don't you go ask that pretty little girl you've been watching all night for a dance?"

Jon paled, "I couldn't do that!" he told Aaron, who laughed and took his arm.

"Then I'll help you." He led Jon over to where the girl was sitting at a table near the dance floor.

"Excuse me, miss. I'm Aaron, and this is Jon. "Jon, this is…"

"Therese," she supplied.

"Therese. Nice to meet you! I'm on the Yule Ball committee, and couldn't help but notice that the two of you haven't been out on the dancefloor yet tonight." He smiled at her broadly.

"Would you be so kind as to go dancing with my young friend here, and save him from being the only boy in the whole school who didn't have at least one dance tonight? I'd do it, but you understand, it just wouldn't be the same thing at all."

The girl giggled, and nodded her head.

"I wouldn't want to feel responsible for a terrible fate like that," she said in a soft, musical voice. "I'd love to dance with you, Jon."

Aaron grinned. "Great, and you even know each other too! Have fun, kids, my work here is done!"

Andy met him when he got back to where they'd all been sitting. "We've probably lost him for the night," he told Aaron.

"That's ok. You and I can handle it, and he's too nice a guy for the rest of it anyway. Let's not change that about him."

Andy nodded. "Works for me. Maybe he'll stop talking about her constantly after tonight too. Unrequited puppy love is so disgustingly sappy."

Dirk had finally relaxed. Nothing stupid had happened in more than an hour of dancing and hanging out with his friends. He took a long drink from his glass, and ate from the plate of snacks he'd brought to the table.

Looking out on the dance floor, he watched Scorpius and his girlfriend. She certainly didn't look like a poor little orpan. Maybe she was a whiz in Transfiguration, he mused. That was probably it – and it'd be something that a pathetic loser like that would do.

"Do you think if we sent an anti-Transfiguration spell at the little orphan girlfriend that her dress and jewellery would turn back into the paper bag and string that they probably started out as?" he asked his girlfriend and mates.

That's what he'd said, that is. What he and his friends all heard him say was: "Don't you guys think that Brianna's the hottest girl here tonight?"

When he saw his girlfriend's face turn stormy, he quickly said – "I didn't say that! What's going on?"

What they all heard, though, was – "Don't be mad, it's not your fault that compared to her you're an ugly old hag."

She stood up, slapped him as hard as she could, and stormed out of the Hall.

"Have you lost your mind, Dirk?" one of his friends asked him.

"It's gotta be that blood-traitor and his mudblood friends," he spat.

He clapped his hands over his mouth when what he heard was, "no, I'm just sick of putting up with a bunch of pansies like you and settling for a half-wit, no-talent, ugly wench for a girlfriend," come out of his mouth instead.

His friends stood up too. "No problem, mate. We'll leave you alone to moon over your little orphan girlfriend. Come on, pansies, apparently we're not welcome anymore."

"I'd say that went rather well," Aaron said with a grin. "Nicely done, Andy," he added. Wherever his invisible friend was, he'd been doing great.

They watched as Dirk sat there gaping at the retreating backs of his friends, trying to figure out what had happened.

"I'd say his night just went from bad to worse," James told Arianna as they danced.

"It's up to him, now, though. If he just calls it a night, I think we've made our point. If not – he brought the rest of it on himself."

James grinned. "Did Rose tell you how long that last one will last?"

Arianna nodded. "She's not positive, but maybe as long as a month."

"Looks like we're not going to have to wait long to find out. He's being true to form." He nodded to where Dirk was now stomping right toward Scorpius and Brianna.

"Let's move closer in case we need to help," Arianna said quietly.

"What have you been doing to me, Malfoy?" Dirk yelled at him when he got up to them. He was emboldened when what he'd actually said was what he heard too.

"What are you talking about, Dirk? I haven't been anywhere near you all night," Scorpius told him.

Dirk looked at him darkly, and pulled out his wand. "Does Homeless Scorpius and his little orphan girlfriend thing that they can play games with me and get away with it?"

Suddenly, he could see his nose grow two full inches, and heard laughing around them.

He swung his wand as he turned to look at everyone nearby who was looking at him and laughing.

"What are you laughing at? Whatever these filthy mudbloods are doing to me is not funny."

His nose grew another inch.

"What have you done to me, blood-traitor?" he demanded of Scorpius as his nose grew another inch.

He saw Albus and Carolyn among the kids that were laughing.

"What are you laughing at, you half-blood freak. Or you, you little mudblood orphan."

"Well," Carolyn answered, "I'm apparently laughing at a long-nosed Rat Fink," she told him politely, and pointed at one of the big screen WWVN's that were at the front of the Hall. They'd been used by the band all night, but at the moment, was showing Dirk's face, complete with six inch long nose, and the words 'I'm a' glowing bright red across his forhead, and the words 'Rat' and 'Fink' on each cheek.

He finally realized that it wasn't just the kids next to them that were laughing, but all of the kids. Professor Slughorn was the closest teacher, and walked up to where Dirk was facing off against Scorpius, still holding his wand.

"Here now," he said. "What's going on here?"

Dirk waved his wand around wildly.

"Look what this blood-traitor and his mudblood and half-blood friends have done to me!" he shouted as his nose grew three more inches.

Professor Slughorn looked at Dirk sternly. "We do not use such language at this school, Mr. Avery. Ten points from Slytherin."

Dirk stared at the man in open-mouthed astonishment. The head of his own House had just taken ten points from _him!_

"What about _them!_ Look what they've done to me!"

Professor Slughorn looked at him critically, then turned to Scorpius. "Did you do this to Dirk?" he asked.

"No Sir," Scorpius answered him quickly. "Until Dirk confronted us just now, I haven't even been anywhere near him."

Dirk snarled at him. "You lying little blood-traitor. You're a disgrace to your family and deserve everything your Grandfather did to you."

"That's ten," James whispered in Arianna's ear – "I think Rose said something about five bonus inches if he got that far."

Sure enough, they all watched as his nose grew to fifteen inches. Then the 'I'm a Rat Fink' changed to 'I've been a Bad Boy'.

Professor Slughorn was forced to keep from laughing, and putting on his sternest face, took Dirk firmly by the arm.

"I see no way that Mr. Malfoy could have in anyway done this to you, but what I do know is that you obviously didn't take me seriously when I told you the language you are using is unacceptable. Come with me, and we'll see if our Headmistress can convince you."

He looked at Dirk's nose and face. "Might I suggest, however, that keeping those comments to yourself might be a very good idea right now – at least until we can figure out how to fix your little problem."

The professor led the defiant, angry boy out of the Hall, escorted by the roaring laughter of his fellow students.

The New Marauders did not celebrate there in front of their fellow students, but just quietly went back to dancing. At eleven o'clock, the first and second year students had to return to their dorms, so Nick escorted his date 'home', while Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Rose, and Matt headed back to their Common room.

The younger kids had the Common room to themselves while the older students were still at the Yule Ball, so the six of them got to have some of the better seats near one of the fires.

"That was pretty crazy what happened to Dirk tonight," Matt said. "I bet it was TNM that did it – just like with all of the bullies around school."

Al looked over at him. "What makes you say that?"

"They helped my cousin back in like January or February – she was getting picked on by a girl from Slytherin too – just like Dirk was doing with Scorpius. This wasn't a flying beater bat, but it was definitely meant to teach him a lesson."

Rose smiled at him. "I hope it worked. Some of those things he says should be words that stopped getting used twenty years ago."

Matt nodded. "That'd be nice, but don't count on it. His family was one of the worst of the bunch from what my parents say. The Avery's, Blacks, Lestrange's, and Malfoy's – sorry, mate, but that's what they say."

Scorpius smiled. "It's alright, Matt. I've joined the ranks of the family black sheep, so if that makes me the opposite of my Grandfather and his cronies, I can live with that just fine."

Matt smiled. "So can we. It's just too bad that they can't all see how wrong they are."

"Maybe they will someday, Matt. There's always hope," Rose told him.

Aaron was watching his sister and James out dancing. His work was done for the night, and he was sitting at a table, having a drink. Jon was still dancing with the same girl that Aaron had broken the ice with, and that was apparently going pretty well.

Andy was off somewhere with some of the other third year students, and had been out dancing with several girls since the show with Dirk had ended.

"Hi Aaron."

He looked left and up to see one of Arianna's friends standing there. "Hi Tracey, having fun tonight?"

She smiled at him. "That depends."

"On what?" he said, smiling back.

"On if you're ever going to ask me to dance or not, since you didn't ask me to be your date."

Aaron stopped smiling, and stared at her.

When he saw her face fall, he quickly reached for her hand before she could leave.

"Wait, Tracey," he asked gently. "Sit down with me for a minute."

She hesitated, but must have seen something in his eyes, and sat next to him. He just looked into her eyes for what seemed like minutes before talking to her again.

"You're one of Arianna's best friends," he began, and she nodded.

"So she must have talked to you about where we live. Did she ever talk to you about anything – before that?"

Tracey shook her head 'no'.

"Let's just say that before we went to live at the residence, things were really bad for us. She's doing better with getting over those things than I am."

He looked again to where James and Arianna were dancing, and not for the first time, wished he could open up like that with someone else.

Tracey watched him as his emotions played across his face, and waited for him to continue.

"When we first went to live at the residence, I couldn't even talk to other kids or grownups. I've slowly gotten better since then, but I still seem to have a really hard time opening up to people that I'm afraid could hurt me if I do."

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was saying.

"You _like me!_," she exclaimed in an excited whisper.

He looked at her, and she could see the fear shining in his eyes.

"All of that bravado is a big act," she accused him.

Aaron nodded.

Tracey smiled at him. "Lucky for you that I'm patient – I have been waiting over four years now for you to see me as more than one of your sister's friends."

He looked at her smiling face. "I'm still afraid, Tracey. I don't want to hurt you, but I really don't want you – or anyone else to hurt me again."

She stood up and reached for his hand. "Then promise not to step on my feet, and I promise not to step on yours."

Aaron laughed and stood too. "And after that?"

Tracey squeezed his hand. "Then we take things one step at a time, Aaron. This first step was a really big one for both of us, so maybe we can just do some little ones for a while."

"Does giving you a hug count as a little one?"

Tracey laughed. "Definitely."

Arianna had tears in her eyes as she danced with James.

"What's wrong?" he asked when he saw them.

"Nothing, James," she said, nodding to where Aaron was now dancing with Tracey. "She really likes my brother. I guess she finally decided to tell him."

James grinned. "You're saying that one of the few remaining Gryffindor singles may have fallen?"

Arianna laughed, but then got serious. "I think we both know that his staying unattached had nothing to do with lack of opportunity, James. If he's out there with Tracey, it's because he's taking a chance he's been too afraid to risk before."

James nodded. "I'm glad for him. They look pretty good together too."

"Yeah, they do." She looked at her watch. "Why don't we head back to the Common room for a little you and me time before going to sleep. We'll be leaving for home pretty early, and I don't want to miss the ride home."

"That, is the best idea I've heard all night."

She laughed as they started to leave the dance floor. "I would've said the best idea I'd heard was when Professor Slughord suggested that Dirk keep his mouth shut."

The Yule Ball wound down, and the evening for many students ended with sweet goodnight kisses. While those kids dreamed of love and happiness, one boy dreamed of revenge. Not only had he not learned his lesson, he was determined to find out who had inflicted this embarrassment on him, and pay them back.


	27. A Whole New World

Chapter Twenty-Seven – A Whole New World

Harry, Lily, and Hugo were waiting for the train when it pulled in. As usual when it was time to pick up the kids, Harry was early, and they'd had time to have a drink and snack before making their way to platform nine and three-quarters.

Since they'd received the letter about Scorpius from Al, he'd been busy with handling a lot of issues for the boy. Professor McGonagall had received formal notification from Lucius Malfoy that Scorpius was now a ward of the government. Harry had taken things from there, and had everything ready for today.

The kids all started getting off of the train, and he hugged all of them, and added kisses for the girls. He could tell that Scorpius was surprised when he was also hugged. Aaron was the last to join them, and Harry had noticed the young girl he'd hugged goodbye before joining them.

"Cute girl," he said quietly as they hugged.

Aaron grinned. "I think so."

Harry Translocated all of the luggage to the various destinations they needed to be sent to, then took all of the kids to the Marauders Mall to shop until it was time to meet everyone for lunch.

Ginny was already at the restaurant when they got to the private room they'd be using at the restaurant. She hugged all of the kids too, and Scorpius again seemed overwhelmed by all of the attention, and his being completely included in the welcome.

Ron and Hermione, Percy and Penelope, and Molly and Arthur came together, and were all introduced to Scorpius at the same time that the six adults welcomed all of their kids home. Bill, Fleur, Teddy, and Victoire were the last to arrive, and by the time Harry got through introductions, Scorpius was down to mutely nodding, and numbly accepting the offered hugs, handshakes, and kisses.

"And finally, you've already met Teddy Lupin," Harry said with a smile.

Scorpius looked up at his handsome, smiling cousin, who laughed softly.

"And we thought that just having a few of the family come would make it easier for you."

Scorpius laughed too. "This is what you call a few?"

"Less than half for sure, wouldn't you say, Uncle Harry?"

The two men laughed as the watched Scorpius try to decide if they were joking or not.

"You'll get used to all of that soon enough," Teddy told him. "For now, let's just enjoy lunch. We're really glad to have all of you back for the holidays."

Brianna was sitting next to Scorpius throughout lunch, and held his hand most of the time. This was the greatest family to be part of, but she also knew that it could be overwhelming too.

"You know, this is the first time I've ever been to anything family-related where there was actually happy people," he whispered to her.

She squeezed his hand. "It's always like this with them – with us. Carolyn and I, and now you too, are just as much a part of this as their own children."

He looked at her. "Do you really think that?"

She nodded. "Harry and Ginny are Aaron and Arianna's volunteers at the residence, but Carolyn and I have Lisa and Marcus. Since they're part of this family, though, so are we."

"How are your volunteers related?"

"Lisa was Ginny's first 'adoptee' at the residence – the one Rose told you about that basically invented the Virtual GameWizard – along with Ginny and a few other researchers."

"This could take some getting used to," was all he said to that. Brianna grinned. "You're going to love it when you do."

When lunch was over, the kids found out that the women were taking all of the girls to a spa afternoon. Bill and Arthur were taking all of the boys, except Scorpius, to wander the mall. Harry, Teddy, and Percy had an appointment at Gringotts bank that Scorpius would be attending with them.

When he was left alone with the three men, Teddy put a hand on his shoulder.

"This isn't anything to worry about, Scorpius. There are just some things we need to deal with before we can get on with the enjoying the holidays part of the holidays."

Scorpius had been to Gringotts before, of course, but this visit was like nothing he'd experienced before.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Weasley," one of the Goblin guards said. "Welcome to Gringotts."

"Thank-you," Harry had answered – and bowed to the Goblin!

Teddy had seen his look and smiled. "Courtesy and respect go a long way with our goblin neighbours," he said quietly.

Harry led them to an office, where he again bowed deeply.

"Good afternoon, Griphook. It's good to see you."

The Goblin bowed, and motioned them to take seats.

"It is good to see you too, Harry. Good afternoon Mr. Lupin, Mr. Weasley. Thank-you for coming."

Both men bowed before sitting. Scorpius didn't know what to do for sure, but decided to bow too before sitting in the chair next to Teddy.

Griphook certainly knew the Malfoy family – what Goblin didn't, since they'd cheated his brethren many times over the years. Harry Potter was stepping in to help this young boy, though, so he trusted that his friend knew what he was doing, and that Scorpius was one of those rare exceptions in his now former family. He had bowed, following the lead of the men he was with, and that was certainly a first for any Malfoy, and so he had bowed in return, acknowledging and returning the courtesy.

"Mr. Malfoy," he began after sitting down, "you have been asked to come here to deal with matters concerning your welfare and future."

Scorpius swallowed hard, and nodded.

"When your Grandfather, and parents formally disinherited you, at that moment, you became a ward of the Ministry of Magic. Under normal circumstances, this would not involve Gringotts in any way." He paused, briefly glancing at the three men before returning his attention to the boy.

"Since that happened, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Lupin have been petitioning on your behalf to have Mr. Lupin be designated your legal guardian."

Scorpius looked up at Teddy who was smiling at him.

"He is a blood relative of yours, and as the only family member who stepped forward to offer guardianship, his petition was granted by the Minister."

"What exactly does that mean?" Scorpius asked.

"It means that Teddy has agreed to provide for your financial and personal well-being until you are either seventeen, or until you complete your eductation. When you are of age, that choice will be yours."

Scorpius was speechless. Griphook handed him a key and a piece of parchment.

"The key is to your personal vault at Gringotts. Mr. Potter, and Mr. Lupin have provided the funds that will ensure that your expenses during your remaining years at Hogwarts will be taken care of." He handed the boy a bag next.

"This withdrawal was made so you would have spending money over the holidays and when you first get back to school. I will be your account manager, and should you require additional funds while at school, just send written request by Owl Post, and I will have the funds drawn and sent to you."

Scorpius took the bag, and looked briefly at the letter in his hands. The amount was certainly far more than he'd need.

He turned to Harry and Teddy. "Thank-you," was all he could manage before he choked up.

Teddy put a hand on his shoulder again. "You're welcome, Scorpius."

"If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I'll give you some privacy while you deal with the remaining matters."

Harry stood, and bowed once again. "Thank-you, my friend." Griphook bowed too, and left his office.

Teddy turned in his chair so he was facing Scorpius.

"I know that you've already been told where you'll be living, but we wanted to explain why. Before we decided where to have you live, we had to try and figure out what was best for you." He waited until Scorpius nodded.

"If you went to live with Harry and Ginny, it would probably make sure that you'd never have any hope of reconciling with your family." There wasn't any hesitation before this nod of agreement.

"We don't know each other at all, but coming to live with Victoire and I was also an option, but then living with me would also have it's own problems with your family. I am also required to travel a lot with my job, and would only be there half the time." He nodded to Percy, who continued.

"You and Nick are best mates, Scorpius, and Penelope and I think that staying with him – with us – during your holidays from school would be the best thing for you."

Scorpius nodded. "I understand, and I'm more grateful to all of you than I can ever tell you."

"You'll find out that our family is very close, and we do a lot together, so you'll have time to get to know Teddy and everyone else. We can always look at making changes to the situation in the future if you're not happy."

Scorpius laughed, surprising the three men.

"This is the first time in my whole life that anyone has even seemed to put any thought into me being happy, let alone giving me choices on which kind of happy."

He watched as Teddy, Harry and Percy all grinned.

"We'll get out of here in a few minutes," Harry told him. "There's just one more thing that we're going to discuss first."

Scorpius nodded, and waited.

"We think that you have a lot of potential, young man," Harry said next. "One thing that I'm modestly willing to admit is that I'm pretty good at opening up opportunities for people."

Teddy grinned and laughed at the understatement, and Harry grinned back.

"When you've graduated from Hogwarts, and you've reached that potential, I'll help you with whatever you choose to do with your life after that. Dream as big as you want, Scorpius, because anything is possible."

Harry watched as the boy started grinning. "Anything?"

He laughed. "Anything in _your_ future, Scorpius. I can't make your Grandfather into a nice guy or anything like that."

"How did you know…?" Teddy laughed. "Scary isn't it. Don't try to understand, just accept it and leave it at that."

"Teddy, can you take Scorpius back to the mall ahead of us?" Percy asked. 'I just need to go over something with Harry while we've got a moment."

Teddy nodded. "Come on, Scorpius. We can go look for a Christmas present for Brianna while we wait for them."

When they'd left, Harry turned to face Percy. There hadn't been anything else to go over that he knew of.

"I'm a little dense when it comes to my family," Percy began. "Eventually, though, I do manage to figure things out." He smiled at Harry.

"Penelope has done a pretty good job hiding the fact that she's making way more that she openly tells me, but when she does things like buying Firebolts for kids she doesn't even know, even I can't miss those signs."

Harry laughed. "Does she know that you've figured it out yet?"

Percy smiled. "No, but that conversation is coming soon. I wanted to have this one first."

When Harry looked surprised, Percy grinned at him.

"Like I was saying, I catch on eventually, and I'm reasonably bright. You own all of it. PBP Investments, the Phoenix Foundation – all of it" Harry smiled. That hadn't been a question, and there was no point in denying it.

Percy nodded. "How many people work for you? How many does your foundation help?"

"I'm not sure how many work for PBP Investments exactly – probably over a million now, including the Muggles that work for the company that sells ReVive in the Muggle world. In the last year, I think the foundation helped over fifteen million," Harry answered him.

"Which is why you could care less about politics. You just go around all of that and get things done."

Harry nodded again. "it's one of the reasons, yes. I don't want to force people to believe what I do, Percy, but I also don't want them keeping me from doing what I think is right."

"I get the feeling that I've been wasting all of these years working at the Ministry when compared with what you've gotten done."

Harry smiled. "There's tens of thousands of people that make the foundation work, Percy. Your wife, and your Mum, and everyone else in our family that works for PBP investments makes it all happen. I just get to play and have fun." He looked at Percy more closely.

"You do a lot of good at the Ministry, Percy. The only thing that seems to get lost in all of the politics, rules, and regulations, is what we're here for – what life is supposed to be all about."

Percy smiled at him. "You mean it's not for the purpose of following all of the pretty rules and regulations?"

Harry laughed. "Government, rules, work – all of it – is important, but it should be a means to help us all be happy. If you never have fun, how do you do that? If you're never having fun, what's the purpose of all of the effort? When you do start having fun in your job, and everything else, Percy, that's when you know you've got the right balance."

"Penelope found that out the first year she worked for Mum," he said quietly. "I think she's been trying to tell me that ever since."

"You have got yourself a pretty amazing wife, you know. Why don't you make that your first fun lesson, and tell her that."

Percy laughed. "I'll do that, but I think there's been a lot of lessons she's been giving me long before today."

Harry nodded and stood up. "That's probably true. I trust this will stay in the family."

Percy nodded, and stood up too. "It will. The only difference is that now I hope to start really being a part of that family."

Harry grinned. "If you do, I guarantee it will make you a better Minister of Magic some day."

Percy laughed. "Maybe – if when I get the rest of these things figured out, that it's what I still really want to do at all."

"Let's go catch up with the boys. Taking the afternoon off from the Ministry's a great way to find out if you miss it."


	28. This is Christmas

Chapter Twenty-Eight – This is Christmas?

Scorpius grew up in one of the great old family mansions in the Wizarding World. He'd had servants to do everything for him, and all of the luxuries that came with old family wealth.

Tonight, he lay in a large, comfortable, warm bed, in a modest-sized, warmly decorated and furnished room. The room was in a London townhouse. Certainly the home was located in a good neighbourhood, and near to the Ministry of Magic, but also not in an area where the ultra-wealthy lived.

Nick had just gone to his own bedroom after talking with him for over an hour. They'd gone shopping almost all afternoon, then gone to the cottage for dinner before coming here. When Nick's parents had shown him this room, he'd taken a chance, overcome his natural tendency – no, make that trained response toward formality, and hugged all three of them.

They'd sat in their cozy sitting room, and talked for a while, before Nick had suggested that they come up here, and hang out together, while Scorpius settled in and unpacked.

Besides the bed, there was a night table, a desk he could do homework at, a small WWVN receiver, and two chairs. Penelope had told him that he could re-decorate next summer if he wanted to, but he'd told her that it was perfect just the way it was.

He looked at the painting hanging on the wall above the desk. It was an island beach scene, and he wondered if it might be from the island that the kids from the residence went to in the summer – that Marauders Paradise. Until he'd met Nick and the others, he hadn't even heard of the place before.

Now that he was alone for the first time today, he could take a breath, and reflect on everything that had happened. Without Nick's family stepping in, he would have been a ward of the Ministry, probably get sent to an orphanage. Instead, his cousin was his legal guardian until he was either seventeen, or until he graduated from Hogwarts.

They'd set him up with his own Gringotts account, apparently with no limit on spending the money however he chose, and had put one hundred thousand galleons into that account for him. He'd say that was pretty trusting, considering that they didn't really know him, and especially because of his family.

His best mate's parents wanted him to live here with them, and thought that was the best thing for him. He had to agree – not only best, but also way better than things had been with his own family.

He was surprised to find out that fact didn't really hurt very much at all to admit. That night before going back to school, he'd seen the first and only glimpse that his father did, in fact, love him. He knew that his mother loved him too – at least to the extent that they both knew how to love. He was finding out through his friends and their family that his family probably didn't know how to really love at all.

Teddy was right about one thing. Maybe some day he could mend things with his parents, but that day was probably a long way away. He knew that would never happen with his Grandparents.

Before he drifted off to sleep, he promised himself one thing. He was not going to waste the chance that had been given to him. He closed his eyes, and dreamed of unlimited possibilities, a loving family, and goodnight kisses from a certain cute young girl.

All of the students that were staying at the cottage overnight, and Lily, were up watching a Christmas show on WWVN, and talking quietly about their day.

Lisa and Marcus had stopped by to pick up Carolyn and Brianna for the night. They would all be coming for the shopping trip in the morning, so the only couple in the room was James and Arianna.

"Sounds like we're in for a busy weekend," Arianna said.

Lily nodded. "Shopping tomorrow, Christmas at the Burrow on Sunday. The Christmas Eve day on Monday, and Christmas Day."

James nodded. "Then the best part – nearly a week on the island! That is going to be so cool, and there's going to be a lot of the family there the whole week too."

"Wait until Scorpius sees that place," Al said, laughing.

Aaron smiled. "I think he's been in culture shock all day."

Lily was sitting next to him, and patted his arm. "Enough about all of that stuff. I want to know all about the Yule Ball. What happened? What were the girls wearing? Who was that cute girl you hugged goodbye at the station?"

Arianna laughed. "The Yule Ball was amazing. Thanks to you, and the moms, we were by far the best looking girls at the Ball. We had some fun getting back at a certain big mouth whose blabbering to his family got Scorpius kicked out of his family, and the girl is Tracey, a friend of ours from school, and potential future girlfriend for my brother. Does that cover everything?"

Lily smiled. "It'll hold me over until you can go into more details later." She stood up. "I'm heading to bed, though. Gotta be rested up for a big day at the mall tomorrow."

Aaron stood up too and held out his arm. "May I escort you to your room, milady? I believe thine plan is a good one."

Lily laughed and took his arm. "I'd be delighted, sir."

Al smiled at James and Arianna. "Nothing personal, but this is definitely a three's a crowd moment. I'll see you in the morning." He got up and left, not far behind the others.

"I'm not feeling all that tired," Arianna said with a smile, "How about you?"

James put his arms around her waist. "I'm wide awake too. Why don't we watch a late night show or two, and have a little quality cuddling time."

"We can do that, but I can't promise you'll necessarily be seeing much of those shows." She kissed him tenderly, then looked into his eyes. "In fact, I'm thinking I can promise that you won't."

Harry was snuggled close with Ginny in their bed. They'd heard Lily, Aaron, and Al on the stairs and talking quietly in the hallway before going to their beds.

"I hope we're doing the right thing for Scorpius," Ginny said softly. "And for our family. If someone had told me twenty years ago that someday our family would be taking care of Draco's son, I'd have laughed my head off."

Harry smiled and kissed her neck. "We're doing the right thing, and he's a brave kid. With the right help, he could be something really special when he grows up."

Ginny squeezed the arm he had around her waist. "Then we'll make sure he gets that help." She turned her head and smiled at him. "Do you think there's any snogging going on in our sitting room right now?"

Harry grinned back. "Maybe. I'm positive of where there's snogging going on somewhere else, though."

"Where would that be?" she asked him, her eyes sparkling.

Harry leaned in close and gave her a non-verbal response.

Scorpius was having a great day so far. His parents would have been horrified that he thought so. Breakfast had been pancakes, fried potatoes, bacon, and toast. Percy and Penelope had actually cooked it right there in front of him and Nick! No servants, no house-elves, they hadn't even used magic for all that much of it.

The food was delicious for sure. The best part had been how much fun they'd had at breakfast. They joked and laughed, and had a great time. The only seriousness had been when Nick had grinned at his Mum and said – 'OK, Mum, who is this man, and what did you do with my father?'.

She'd laughed, and Percy had smiled at Nick.

"Let's get serious for a minute, Nick," he'd said. "What happened to Scorpius with his family hit pretty close to home for me – except in my case, I was the one that was wrong, and they were right."

Penelope had taken his hand and held it as he talked to the boys. "This helped me to finally put the rest of the pieces together that I was missing. Now that I know what the rest of the family knew all along, it's time for me to start living that way too." He'd grinned again.

"It may take me a while to break all of the bad habits I've learned over the years, so be patient with me."

Scorpius hadn't had any previous experience with Nick's Dad to compare yesterday and today to, but Nick had seemed pretty happy, and had given his father a big hug before they'd gotten back to talking about what they'd be doing today and tomorrow.

After breakfast, he was introduced to the concept of manually cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Nick had been patient showing him what to do, and he'd actually enjoyed himself as they worked, and they'd both had fun with it.

"They don't actually have me do this very often," Nick had told him. "It's faster for Mum and Dad to just do it. I think it's just to teach me a lesson about responsibility and humility, and appreciating what other people have to do that aren't as fortunate as I am."

Then they'd left for the Marauders Mall, where Nick and Scorpius were allowed to go do their own thing for the morning with Al, James, Aaron, and Hugo. Harry and Ginny were doing the DREAM Christmas all day, and so were quite a few others, including Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna.

He'd met Lisa and Marcus before they'd split up, and Brianna had given him a hug before going with them again to do their volunteer work. Nick had a list of gifts he wanted to get, and so did Al, so Scorpius went with them, while James, Aaron, and Hugo decided to go their own way.

Nick had picked out presents for his parents, and grandparents. The Weasley's drew names for getting gifts for the family Christmas, and he'd drawn Lily's name this year, so they went to a jewellery store and picked her out a pair of gold earrings. Al quickly picked out gifts for his Mum and Dad, brother, sister, and for Art, his cousin that lived in Romania.

"I want to get your parents, and Harry and Teddy something, Nick, but I have no idea what to get them that wouldn't just seem dumb."

The three boys still had nearly an hour until they were supposed to meet everyone for lunch, so Nick and Al helped Scorpius to pick out the four presents, and then he also bought a big box of chocolates to give to everyone at the family Christmas on Sunday, since he hadn't drawn a name.

He sat next to Brianna at lunch, and she told him all about the people they'd helped so far that day.

"Do you think anyone would mind if I went with you this afternoon?" he asked her quietly. "I'd like to see what you do, and maybe I could help."

Lisa and Marcus were happy to have him join them, and since Brianna had another partner for the afternoon, she paired up with Al, and went with Harry, Ginny, and Lily. Nick, James, Aaron, and Hugo went with Percy and Penelope to get the shopping done that the other boys had been too busy playing this morning to get finished.

Scorpius decided by the end of that afternoon that just by giving a few hours of his time, that he'd probably done more to help other people than his parents and grandparents had done in their whole lives – which wasn't very hard to do, since they'd all be deep in the negative side of the help meter.

He had watched as Brianna found the first two kids they helped out just by walking around and paying attention to everyone around them, then helped her, Lisa, and Marcus as they would purchase the DREAM gifts, or help the families with money – whatever they needed.

Once he'd started actually paying attention to what other kids were doing, it was easy to find the kids – and adults - that really needed help. He found a boy and his sister that all they wanted to get for their Mum was a new winter cloak, so while he and Brianna helped them, Lisa and Marcus helped their Mum out too.

Sometimes the foundation did some really extreme Christmas dreams, Brianna had told him, but most of the time the people they helped were looking for the basic things that everybody should have – food, clothes, a few toys. These things cost hardly anything, yet made such a huge difference.

By the end of the afternoon, he and Brianna had found eleven kids to help, and Lisa and Marcus had helped nine of their parents, and four other adult couples. The only other thing he and Brianna had done was to pick up a Christmas present for Nick.

Percy and Penelope took their two boys out for dinner instead of having to cook a meal so late in the day. They spent a quiet evening together, then all headed for bed. Nick had told him that a Weasley family Christmas was a total blast, but you needed to have a lot of energy to keep up.

They were spending the whole day at the Burrow on Sunday. Percy and Penelope had thought that if Scorpius had the chance to get used to the whole family as they arrived, instead of all at once, that it'd be less of a shock to his system.

They were probably right. Scorpius had heard stories over the years about the dirt-poor pure bloods, and he knew the Weasleys had been included in that group. The Burrow certainly looked old, but was well kept, and when you went inside, everything there was pretty nice, although it was not a luxurious place.

The morning was another adventure for him. After breakfast, Percy and Nick showed him how to de-gnome the garden while Penelope helped Grandma Weasley with cleaning inside. When they went back in to clean up, there were two house elves working in the kitchen.

While they were in the washroom cleaning up, Scorpius asked Nick about the elves.

"I didn't know your grandparents had any house elves," he told Nick, a bit surprised.

"They don't. Kreacher and Winky are Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's elves. They take turns with cooking the Christmas dinner, usually just with Grandma, since the three of them are the best cooks."

"They were never cooking or working at the cottage when we went there for practices. I thought that they had to do all of their work themselves."

Nick laughed. "Kreacher and Winky help out there sometimes, but they have a lot of other duties, and Uncle Harry does most of the work around the cottage. The two elves live in another house in London."

"Let me introduce you to them," Nick said as they returned to the kitchen.

"Kreacher, Winky, I'd like to introduce you to Scorpius Malfoy."

"Merry Christmas, Master Nicolas," Kreacher said. He looked at Scorpius with narrowed eyes. "Master Malfoy."

Scorpius smiled. "I take it that he's heard of my family, Nick."

"Kreacher, Scorpius has come to live with my family, and his cousin Teddy is now his legal guardian. I'd appreciate it if you'd give him a chance. You'll soon find that he is much more like his cousin and great-aunt Andromeda than his parents and grandparents."

Kreacher bowed and smiled. "Of course Master Nick. Everyone deserves that." He turned to Scorpius. "Forgive me, Master Scorpius. My history with your family was not very good. If the Weasley family believes in you, then you must be worthy of their affection. Should you need anything, you just need to ask."

Scorpius bowed to the house elf. "Thank-you, Kreacher."

He and Nicolas went into the sitting room, which was obviously magically expanded.

"How many people will be here today?" Scorpius asked.

Nick laughed. "I'm not exactly sure. It varies from year to year. Grandma would know for sure if you'd like to ask her."

Scorpius smiled. "She doesn't exactly look like one of the Wizarding World's top duelers."

"After raising seven kids, she probably thought a one-on-one duel was a breeze," Nick told him.

They decided to play GameWizard for a while until they were called to the kitchen for a light lunch. The guests started arriving just after they'd cleaned up, and Scorpius was kept both busy and entertained as he met most of Nick's family.

Charlie and Nathalie were first, with their son Art, who was in his fifth year at his school in Bulgaria. He'd met Bill and Fleur yesterday, and was introduced to her equally beautiful sister and mother, her father, and Gabrielle's husband Kevin. Gabrielle's adopted son was Michael, and he was in his fourth year at school.

George, Marietta, and their daughter Frederica were next to be introduced, and he immediately liked the man behind Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes.

Teddy introduced him to Stewart and Isabelle when he and Victoire came at the same time as the other couple. He found out that Isabelle had been adopted, by Bill and Fleur, when she was thirteen and that Stewart had lived most of his childhood at the residence, but had been moved there from an orphanage.

Harry, Ginny, their three kids, Aaron, and Arianna came next, and while introductions weren't needed, there were lots of hugs. Rose and her family were right behind the Potters, and then Brianna was there giving him a hug, as she, Carolyn, Lisa, and Marcus came in. They introduced him to Megan and Devon. Megan was Lisa's best friend, and had lived at the residence with her, and was now a manager at Marauders Paradise, and Devon was a diving instructor on the island too.

There was a pause in the action, and Scorpius thought that maybe that was the end of the arrivals, but then an older couple came in, and he was shocked as he looked at the woman, recognizing her immediately.

"You're my Great-Aunt Andromeda!" he said to the woman.

She smiled at him. "I'd say at least pretty good, anyway. And you would be the great-nephew I was never allowed to meet," she said, holding out her hand.

Scorpius smiled. "I'm learning hugging today. Would you mind if I practiced?"

Andromeda laughed, and held her arms open. "Practice away. Knowing my sister like I do, it's probably a pretty new concept for you."

She introduced him to her husband Robert, then the couple moved on to be welcomed by everyone else.

"Nicely done," Teddy told him after greeting his Grandparents. "You learn fast."

"I'll have to thank Rose. She's been getting me used to hugs since we met in first year."

Teddy laughed. "Does that mean Brianna is your advanced lessons instructor?" Scorpius only grinned.

"That's everyone for today, too," Teddy added before moving on. "You can catch your breath for a bit."

They all went into the sitting room, and Scorpius sat down with Brianna on one of the sofas. When everyone was in the room, Hermione got everyone's attention.

"I know we won't be doing gifts until later, but a few of us have something for George."

She turned to him. "Since we've previously done the big magic trick surprise gimmick before, we thought we'd just skip all of the theatrics, and just give you your present."

"If you could come and sit in this chair, we'll get on with it."

George stood and went over and sat in the chair she indicated, smiling slightly, and watching her expectantly. Hermione motioned for Isabelle, Lisa, Ginny, and Harry to step forward.

"Harry will be doing the honours this afternoon, George. Close your eyes, and hold on. Part of this will be very uncomfortable. I'm sorry about that, but it's something that couldn't be avoided with this."

Scorpius watched all of them with confusion, having no idea what was going on. Some of the others obviously did, though, and were watching with a mixture of hope and anticipation.

Harry stepped forward, and put his hands on either side of George's head, his wand in one hand. The girls were all close to him, and were holding hands.

Scorpius watched as a brilliant blue light flared to life and surrounded the man's head, and Harry's hands and arms. George stiffened like he was in some pain, and the scene was frozen like that for nearly ten minutes before George suddenly relaxed, and the blue light faded away.

Harry took his hands away, and stepped back from his brother-in-law. George opened his eyes to find four witches and one wizard smiling at him.

"Did it work?" he asked them.

Hermione nodded. "Sorry it took so long, George."

He reached his hands up and put them on both sides of his head, then smiled, stood up, and gave them each a hug. "Thank-you. I'd say this is definitely top five all time presents I've ever had."

Scorpius was watching as the rest of his family gathered around to share hugs and kisses with George. His wife and daughter both looking at each side of his head, and crying what were obviously tears of happiness.

"What just happened," he asked Brianna quietly. They were sitting on the sofa with Nathalie and Charlie, and she answered his question for Brianna.

"Did you know that George had lost an ear during the war from a Dark Arts Curse?"

Scorpius shook his head. "I only met him a few minutes ago. I hadn't even noticed that he was missing one."

"Well, what they just did was heal him, and regrow his ear."

He stared at her. "Dark Arts curses can't be healed," he said.

Nathalie smiled. "That was true until a few minutes ago. Just another little miracle brought to you by the geniuses at Marauders Institute."

The commotion had died down, and George was again sitting with Marietta. "So what did take you so long?" he teased Hermione. "You guys healed Bill years ago."

She laughed at him. "You really want to know?"

George nodded.

"Well, first, the researcher that created the cure had to be born, then the Phoenix Foundation had to build residences all over the world, then that person had to go live in one, then meet certain other people on an island getaway, then go to live with them, go to school, get adopted, graduate school, then come work for the Institute, where she spent a year and a half solving the problem, and creating the cure."

George looked over at Isabelle. "Congratulations, Isabelle, you've just moved to number one on my favourite niece list."

Isabelle laughed. "Thanks, Uncle George. I'm glad you like your present. We'll be ready to let the public know about this soon, but Aunt Hermione and I still have a little more work to do before we'll be able to make it work without Uncle Harry."

"Why?" The question was out before Scorpius had realized he'd said it aloud. "Sorry," he mumbled, turning red.

Harry smiled. "It's alright, Scorpius. There's going to be times when we'll forget that you haven't been around us much, so don't worry about asking questions."

Scorpius nodded, relieved.

"That answer is pretty complicated, but to make it simple for now, Hermione developed a way that Wizards and Witches can share their power to do stronger magic. I can handle more of that power than most people, so once they've been able to do difficult magic with me as the focus wizard, it takes a while before they can make it safe for other groups of Witches and Wizards to do the same spells."

"Thank-you," Scorpius said, nodding his understanding.

"You're welcome," Harry answered, smiling.

For the rest of the afternoon, Scorpius watched, and listened, and learned. He did play games with the other kids, and was never very far from Brianna, but he found the whole scene fascinating.

He didn't have a big family – just his parents and grandparents. There was certainly never the kind of love he felt in this home at any time at Malfoy Mansion. He didn't hear a single harsh word all day from anyone. They didn't talk badly about other people. They didn't seem to have any problems that needed to be blamed on someone.

Was it possible to be this happy all the time? He thought it might be fun to find out.

"Overwhelmed?"

He turned to see that Nathalie had come back to sit on the sofa next to him. Brianna had gone to get a drink, and had been talking with Carolyn on her way back.

"Yes. If there was an opposite to my own family, this would probably be it."

"That's not a very nice thing to say about your family," she said, smiling at him.

Scorpius laughed. "True, I'm sorry. I'm just having a bit of trouble dealing with the prospect that having my family disown me might just have been the nicest thing they've ever done for me."

Nathalie set her drink down, turned back to him and gave him a hug. "It's alright to have mixed feelings, Scorpius. Just try to keep some compassion for your family. You'll sometimes hear good natured teasing here, but you'll probably never hear anyone else put down. We're definitely a 'build people up' kind of group."

"I leave you alone for five minutes, and you're already hugging other women."

Scorpius looked up to see Brianna trying not to grin as she pretended to scold him.

Nathalie laughed and sat back. "Sorry Brianna, he looked like he needed a hug. You can take over now that you're back."

"Well, I guess I can't complain if it was treatment for a medical diagnosis. How many times a day will he need to take his medicine?"

"I think we can leave that up to you. Just go ahead and give him a hug whenever you think he needs one."

Scorpius and Brianna both smiled, and she sat down beside him, and promptly hugged him.

Grandma Weasley called them all in for dinner, and Scorpius was in for his next surprise – the house elves joined them for dinner!

The food was as good as anything Scorpius had tasted before. The noise level was louder than he'd ever heard at a family dinner – probably louder that in the Great Hall. He was asked lots of questions, and prompted to join in on the different conversations that were going on.

"How are you holding up, mate?" Nick asked him quietly.

Scorpius smiled. "It's the most fun I've ever had at a family dinner."

As the last of the family was finishing dinner, Ron got Scorpius' attention.

"Did Nick tell you yet that the newest member of the family each year gets to clean up?"

Scorpius looked around at the unbelievable mass of dirty dishes, and his mouth fell open in an 'O'.

Everyone else was laughing, and Hermione slapped Ron on the arm. "Don't tease him like that! He's just kidding Scorpius, we'd never have anyone do these many dishes by hand."

Scorpius smiled and let out a sigh. "Thanks. For a minute there, I had a mental picture of a little old Wizard finally washing the last plate."

"You go on ahead with the other kids – not you, Ron – Scorpius." Ron grinned at her. "Yes, Dear."

After they'd gone into the sitting room, Scorpius and Brianna were sitting next to Kreacher and Winky, and he thought it would be a good time to try and learn a few things.

"Kreacher, would you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Kreacher looked surprised, but pleased. "Certainly, Master Malfoy."

"The relationship between you and your family is very different than anything I've ever seen before. Why is that?"

He listened eagerly as the house elf pretty much gave him a condensed history of his time serving Harry and Ginny. He found out that both elves had their own rooms, received regular 'gifts' of money that was basically pay, and had one day a week off.

"I find it very strange that you join your family for dinner, and then be with everyone here in the sitting room after. Has it always been like this?"

Kreacher shook his head 'no'. "Harry and Ginny Potter have always given us Christmas gifts, and treated Winky and Kreacher with great respect, but joining in with the family like this didn't happen for many years."

"Why do you suppose that is?"

Kreacher was pleased with this young man's questions. He was eager to learn, and interested in what a house elf thought about things.

"Mostly, Master Scorpius, we all needed to learn how. All of this was as strange for Winky and Kreacher as it seems to you now. Many house elves serve because they must. We serve our family because we love them, and we know they love us too." Winky was nodding vigorously.

The rest of the adults were coming in now, and must have finished with the cleanup.

"Thank-you, Kreacher," Scorpius said. "This might just be the most unique family in the whole wizarding world."

Kreacher smiled. "You're welcome, and are probably right."

Brianna had been listening to Scorpius and Kreacher quietly, and when they were done, gave Scorpius a hug.

"Did I look like I needed another dose?" he teased.

"No, you earned that one."

The gift exchange commenced. Lily and Frederica designated themselves to hand out the presents to everyone. Grandparents and kids all had several gifts, and most of the other grownups had one or two each.

Scorpius saw that, while some of the gifts were quite nice, and picked especially for the recipient, there were also lots of gifts that were for fun or as jokes. He was given a box of the Christmas Chocolate Wheezes, a new game for his GameWizard, and a new sweater – this time one that wasn't in Brianna's size.

Percy had to work in the morning, so he and Penelope took Nick and Scorpius home shortly after the gift exchange was over. The two boys stayed up and watched a show on WWVN before going to bed too. There were still two more sleeps until Christmas, but Scorpius didn't know how Christmas could possibly be any better than his new life had been so far.

Christmas Eve day Nick actually had to wake Scorpius up. At school, it was usually the other way around, at least on days that they had classes.

"Come on, Scorpius, breakfast is almost ready!" Nick had told him after knocking and sticking his head in the door.

He hurriedly go dressed, and met everyone else in the kitchen. While they were eating, he found out that Percy would be working at the Ministry most of the day, and Penelope was going to her office until noon, when she had a Christmas lunch to attend. He and Nick were going to go to the mall for the morning, and then meet Penelope back here after lunch.

"Do you have swim trunks, Scorpius?" Penelope asked him.

"Not anymore, I didn't bring any of my summer clothes with me when I went to school."

"Why don't you pick up two or three pair. We do a fair bit of swimming, and you'll probably need them over the holidays."

Scorpius had nodded, then asked his own question.

"What should I call you, and all of the other adults in the family? I don't really feel all that comfortable with using just first names, and there are way to many Mr. And Mrs. Weasleys for that to work."

Penelope and Percy both laughed, and he shrugged.

"For now, why don't you just do the same thing all of Nick's cousins do, and go with Uncle or Aunt for the parents, including us, and Grandma or Grandpa for our parents," Penelope suggested. "The younger adults like Teddy and Victoire are probably ok to use first names with, since that's what all of the other kids do."

Percy grinned at him. "I'd seriously consider dropping the 'great', or using 'old' or any other extra description for your Aunt Andromeda, though."

They'd pretty much finished breakfast, and Penelope got up and started the clean. "Why don't you two go take showers and get ready for your trip to the mall."

Percy reached into his pocket, and pulled out something that he tossed toward Scorpius. "That reminds me – catch!"

Scorpius almost dropped it, but managed to juggle the Personal TransPortal device and hold on.

Percy laughed. "Now we know why you're Keeper – great at blocking, probably not so good at catching snitches."

Scorpius looked at the coin in his hand. He'd used them before, of course, but this one was slightly different.

"It's different than the ones you've probably used because there are some destinations available on it that aren't open to the general public. Penelope, can you code it for him?"

She smiled, and since she already had her wand out for cleanup, walked over to Scorpius.

"Close your hand around it for a moment, please," she asked him. A moment later he felt a tingle, and it was done.

"What was that?"

"It's now your personal TransPortal device, it won't work for anyone else."

"I didn't know that could be done," he admitted.

"Marauders Institute doesn't advertise everything that the TransPortal system can do, Scorpius. Nick can answer most of your questions about it later, and I have to get to work, so you two need to hurry."

Nick and Scorpius had picked up swimwear, and a few summer tops for Scorpius, then gone to check out the BroomCloset and GamePortal stores, and were now on their way to Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes.

"This seems weird," Scorpius told his friend. "I don't think I've ever gone to the mall without adults."

Nick nodded. "Mum and Dad haven't let me do it for very long, and usually if I come it's with some of my cousins anyway. I'm glad they trust me to do it, though."

Scorpius was amazed with the store. This was now his third time there, and he found new things to see. His parents had never allowed him to go near the place before. He now thought that they could all seriously use a sense of humour. How could anyone _not _be amused by something in this fantastical world that Uncle George had created.

The place was packed with last minute Christmas shoppers, so they didn't stay long before moving on. They had lunch in the food court, then decided to just head back home and play GameWizard until Nick's Mum got home and they found out what they'd be doing for the rest of the day.

Aaron and Arianna were staying with Harry and Ginny until New Year's Day, then would stay at the residence for the rest of the holidays to work on the loads of homework that all OWL and NEWT students had to get done before going back to school.

Christmas Eve Day, they'd all decided to spend the whole day just hanging around the cottage. They played Quidditch in the morning for an hour or so, watched some WWVN, played GameWizard, and had a quiet, fun time.

After dinner, they all went to the residence to spend Christmas Eve there. Carolyn and Brianna were once again spending Christmas with Marcus' family in the United States, having left for there after the Weasley family Christmas, so Al and Lily spent the evening playing with some of their other friends, and helping to entertain some of the younger children.

Harry, as usual, could be found playing dolls with the young girls, and Wayne, or getting beaten at GameWizard with the older boys and girls. The hot toys for young boys this year was the DragonRider figures, and Harry had even brought his own, and one for Wayne so they could play too.

Aaron, Arianna, and James all hung out with their friends. They went with a group of kids to swim for a while, then played GameWizard for most of the night. When they went back to the cottage, everyone went to bed except for James and Arianna, who stayed up to watch a show on the WWVN.

"This was a really great day," Arianna told him as they snuggled up on the sofa. "We should probably go get some sleep, though, so your parents don't have to stay up all night waiting to put the presents out."

James nodded, and kissed her tenderly.

'SNOGGING ALERT! MAJOR CHRISTMAS SNOGGING GOING ON HERE!'

They jumped up from the sofa, having both been scared by the unexpected shouts. Then they could hear giggling coming from the stairway, and the sound of muffled laughter from several rooms upstairs.

Lily walked into the room, and captured her MagicMistletoe. She was still laughing as she gave Arianna a hug.

"I'm really sorry, Arianna, but I just couldn't resist. I think it's all of those years living with James – some of him must've rubbed off."

Arianna and James were both laughing too. "That's ok, Lily," James told her. "I'd give the prank an 'O'. You're getting pretty good at your timing and everything. Nicely done!"

Lily hugged him too, and they all headed upstairs to bed.

Penelope watched the two boys playing GameWizard in the sitting room, and smiled. Having Scorpius come to live with them had been one of the bigger decisions that she and Percy had ever made.

Since he was in school, he'd only be here for about three months out of each year, but it would be up to them, and the rest of their family, to guide the boy through some of the toughest years of growing up – the teenage years.

Harry had convinced them that this young boy was worth helping. She'd never known him to be wrong yet, and they had finally agreed that they would be the best choice to be his surrogate family. So far, it was looking like the right decision.

Percy got home from work then, and they both went into the kitchen, and he told her about his day while she finished with cooking their dinner.

"The Minister's Christmas party starts at eight-thirty. Do you think it's too soon for Scorpius to attend one of these functions?"

"I think we should leave it up to him, but I'd rather spend Christmas Eve with them. Too bad you can't skip it."

Percy laughed. "What, and miss out on watching all of that fake Christmas sentiment while half of the guests are busy trying to stab the other half in the back? What could possibly be better than that, except for maybe everything else."

Penelope laughed. "I'm getting very fond of the new you, honey. Keep up the good work." She was kissing him when Nick and Scorpius walked into the kitchen, drawn by the smell of food.

Nick stopped, and his mouth fell open, then he grinned at them. "We can come back later if you two need more time."

His Mum and Dad both laughed. "Thanks, Nick, but you're just in time," Penelope told him. "Why don't you boys set the table, and I'll finish getting the food ready."

While they worked, Nick kept talking with his Dad.

"You're doing good, Dad. Pretty soon you'll be ready to kiss her in public and everything."

"He used to kiss me in public," Penelope told him.

"Not that I've ever seen," Nick told her.

"Well, you weren't even a good idea back then. Your father could snog with the best of them when we were at school, though."

Nick and Scorpius both laughed. "That might just be more information than we needed to have, Mum."

When they'd all sat down, and started filling their plates, Percy brought up the Minister's Party with the boys.

"Scorpius, the Minister of Magic has a party every Christmas Eve. Penelope and I are required to attend, and Nick has been going to them for several years now too. We'd like you both to come tonight, but only if you feel comfortable with going."

He watched as the boy listened, and considered the matter.

"My family won't be there, but there will certainly be friends of theirs there. Aren't you worried about taking me with you?"

Percy smiled at him. "No. You and Nick might have a few problems when you get back to school, but none of those families can do anything to us, except talk among themselves."

Scorpius smiled. "Then I'd be happy to go too. I doubt there will be anything more happening at school that hasn't already been going on since the beginning of December, and we've been able to handle that."

Nick laughed. "I'd say so, yes."

Percy looked from one boy to the other. "Anything we need to know about?"

Nick grinned at his Dad. "No, I'd say you definitely don't need to know."

Penelope laughed at the look on Percy's face.

"Let's leave it at that Percy. If they get caught doing something they're not supposed to, then I'm certain that Professor Flitwick, or Professor McGonagall can deal with it."

Percy nodded. "Try not to get caught, then," he told the two grinning boys.

They finished dinner, and then all went upstairs to get ready for the party. Scorpius had brought one of his best dress robes, and when he was ready, met Nick and his parents in the sitting room, then they all took the TransPortal to the Minister's mansion.

There was a reception line, and they were greeted by all of the other high-ranking Ministry officials before Percy and Penelope joined the line. Percy was the Minister of Magical Games and Sports, and would be stuck in that line for the next hour or more.

"Come on, Scorpius," Nick said, heading toward a large hallway. "They have a room set up next to the hall they'll be in where the kids that come can hang out and play."

Scorpius nodded, and followed him. There were only a few other kids there so far, and they were all younger. Nick knew all of them, and they sat on one of the sofas, and he gave Scorpius a rundown on them.

"Well, what do we have here?" a voice, dripping with contempt, said loudly.

Nick and Scorpius looked up to see Dirk Avery coming toward them.

"Good to see you, Dirk," Scorpius said, smiling pleasantly.

"You're looking much better than the last time we saw you," Nick added.

Dirk's face clouded over.

"You guys think you're pretty funny. We'll see who gets the last laugh."

"It was pretty funny, Dirk, but neither Nick or I did that to you. Like we told the Professor, we weren't anywhere near you until you confronted us."

"I know it was you," he sneered. "Homeless Scorpius and the Weasel. Blood Traitor, mudblood loving freaks!"

"Um, Dirk," Nick said, "I hate to be the one to tell you, but your little problem has come back."

Dirk didn't need to be told that, though, since he'd aready seen his nose grow five inches.

Some of the other kids around the room had seen it happen, and started laughing.

"Dirk, if you want your mommy, she's in the other room," one of the kids told him in between laughs.

His face paled as he rushed over to a mirror to see 'I WANT MY MOMMY' written on his forehead and cheeks. He whirled around and stomped back to Nick and Scorpius.

"You did it again!" he roared at them, pulling out his wand. "You better fix this right now, or I'll…"

"You will do nothing, young man."

The Minister had walked into the room for a visit with the kids.

"Put your wand away. Underage use of magic is not permitted outside of school." When Dirk turned to face him, he stopped short. "What is going on here?" he demanded.

By this time, both Dirk's parents, and Nick's had arrived, along with many of the other adults who had heard Dirk's loud shouts.

"Dirk, my poor baby," Mrs. Avery exclaimed. "What have these horrible boys done to you?" She stared at his huge nose and the writing on his face, and turned on Nick and Scorpius.

"What have you done to him!"

"We didn't do anything, ma'am." Nick told her.

"That's a lie! Look at him!" she shouted.

The Minister held up his hand. "Please let's calm down. Now, I was informed that a similar incident occurred at Hogwarts during the Yule Ball. Is it possible that this is related to that incident?"

Dirk snorted. "Of course it is! They're the ones that did this to me then too!"

"I was informed that it was a Charm that had been used in that case."

Mr. Avery nodded. "It was. It took Professor Flitwick several hours to reverse it."

The Minister smiled. "Then this is easily reconciled." He pulled out his WiComm, and in moment had the Ministry of Law Enforcement office on the line.

"Please advise me if Mr. Scorpius Malfoy, ar Nicolas Weasley were recorded using magic since leaving Hogwarts."

The answer that they hadn't came back immediately.

"There you have it," he told the others, "Neither boy has performed any Charms, and so couldn't possibly have done this."

"Then how do you explain what has happened to him?" Dirk's mother shouted.

"Daddy."

"Just a minute sweetie."

"Daddy!"

the Minister looked down, and smiled at his daughter.

"I saw what happened, Daddy."

He bent down and picked the little girl up.

"Alright, sweetie. What happened?"

She pointed to the three boys. "They were talking together, and then he" – she said, pointing to Dirk – "called them a bunch of really bad names, and then his nose just started to grow, and the letters showed up all over his face. I tried not to laugh, Daddy, I really did, but I couldn't help it. I'm really sorry though. I really am." She'd said the last to Dirk, and looked like she really meant it.

The Minister hugged his daughter, and set her back down. "Thank-you, honey. I'm sure that young Mr. Avery will forgive you for laughing. You can go play."

He turned back to Dirk and his parents. "Would you all concede that it is possible that this is a continuing effect of what happened at the Yule Ball? It looks to me like Professor Flitwick has missed something in his cure, since it seems to have activated again because of certain words that your son used in his converstion with the other boys."

Mr and Mrs. Avery nodded grudgingly.

"Dirk, might I suggest that until your parents can seek the help to fix this unfortunate thing that has been done to you, that you refrain from using any of the, shall we say, less savory words in our language. I am truly sorry for any embarrassment this has caused you this evening."

The boy nodded curtly, but then glowered at Nick and Scorpius as his agitated parents led him away, planning to take him straight to St. Mungo's for his second treatment in five days.

The Minister watched them leave, then smiled at the other guests. "Please, everyone, let us return to our celebration!"

Percy and Penelope waited behind with the boys as the other guests left the room.

"You boys can explain this to us later," Percy told them. "It should be an entertaining story."

Penelope nodded. "I hope your plan wasn't to be inconspicuous tonight. If it was, you failed miserably. Try to stay out of trouble the rest of the night, would you?"

When she received two nods of agreement, she and Percy left to join the other adults. The rest of the party passed without incident, and from the boy's perspective, even more boring than their History of Magic classes.

They made it back home by shortly after midnight, and both boys quickly went to bed. Percy and Penelope put out presents, and then turned in for the night too.

Scorpius woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking, and smiled. That was something he could really get used to. You never smelled the food from the dormitories at school, and the kitchens were a long way from where his room had been in the mansion.

He got up, got dressed, and taking the few presents he had, went downstairs, where he put them under the tree in the sitting room with the other gifts. When he got to the kitchen, he was welcomed with two 'Merry Christmas, Scorpius' greetings, two hugs, and one kiss.

"Merry Christmas, Uncle Percy, Aunt Penelope," he said, still getting used to calling them that. "Where's Nick?"

"He'll be down soon, I expect," Percy told him. "He doesn't worry to much about getting up early on Christmas. We'll have to get you to spend a Christmas morning at the cottage sometime. James likes to get up an hour or two before dawn to open presents."

Scorpius laughed. "I can see that about him. He's pretty exciteable when it comes to getting gifts."

Nick came in a few minutes later, and also did a round of hugs, kisses, and Christmas wishes.

They had breakfast first, then opened presents. The boys had each been given some GameWizard games, clothes, and books. Teddy had left a present for Scorpius – a WiComm that included the access to everyone in the Weasley family. Scorpius hadn't really had anyone to call before, and so hadn't had one before.

Percy, Penelope, and Nick all liked the gifts that he'd gotten for them, and he reminded himself to thank Nick, Al, and Brianna for helping pick out the gifts.

They spent the rest of the morning together at home, and Scorpius and Nick tried out each of their new games, and even goofed around a bit, trying out several of the Christmas chocolates that Scorpius had gotten on Sunday. Penelope made a much nicer Christmas Angel that Percy did. The boys thought that being Christmas trees for a few minutes was pretty funny, but being Christmas bells left an annoying ringing in their ears.

After lunch they left for the residence Christmas party. Scorpius hadn't been there since the Christmas holidays last year, and was interested in seeing what they did for the kids on Christmas.

There were already dozens of volunteers there when they arrived. Percy and Penelope didn't have specific kids assigned to them right now, and were just going to be helping out wherever they were needed.

Scorpius and Nick met up with Al, and the two boys took Scorpius around to show him what was happening all over the building. He saw Harry and another man playing dolls with some little girls, and Ginny playing GameWizard with Arianna and some other teens. Teddy and Stewart were playing DragonRider with two young boys.

There were groups of kids watching Christmas shows on WWVN's, and lots of other fun and games happening everywhere he looked. Scorpius was also initiated into helping with the things that they, as older kids, could do as volunteers to help the younger kids.

They helped get drinks and snacks for the toddlers, and helped clean them up when they were done. There were a few kids for whom Christmas without their parents was really hard, and they tried to help two of them. Al was particularly gifted at doing that, Scorpius noticed.

Everyone was called into the Dining Hall, and Scorpius watched in amazement as hundreds of gifts went swirlying in the air above everyone, and then, in an incredibly intricate dance, delivered presents to every residence child, and a small gift-wrapped box to every volunteer, including him.

When he opened the little box to find one of the Phoenix pins, he looked up at Nick and Al in surprise.

"You became a volunteer last Saturday when you helped out with the DREAM Christmas, mate," Nick told him. "Welcome to the club!"

Scorpius grinned and put the pin on his sweater. "Thanks, Nick. I'm glad you all let me join!"

The Christmas dinner was as good as anything that they'd had in the Great Hall, and the three boys sat with a group of younger kids, helping them out with anything they needed. None of them noticed the smiles of approval from the adult members of their family – they were having too much fun to notice.

Percy and Penelope got Nick and Scorpius together after dinner. "We're heading out early this year," Penelope told the boys. Are you ready to go?"

Both boys nodded, and so after a few Merrry Christmases and hugs, they left the residence, taking the TransPortal home – or so Scorpius thought.


	29. Island Vacation

Chapter Twenty-Nine – Island Vacation

Scorpius blinked in the bright sunshine. The first things he noticed as he got his bearings was that it was warm, and it was mid-day. It had been early evening and cold a moment ago.

The next thing he noticed was that there were three people grinning at him.

"Where are we?" he asked them as he looked around. There was a one level bungalow in front of him, and palm trees, and all kinds of exotic plants. He could smell the ocean in the breeze.

"You're standing in front of our island home," Nick told him with a grin. "We get to stay here until New Year's Day!"

Scorpius stared at him. "You've never said anything about having another home the whole time I've known you."

Nick grinned. "It's a family secret. Now that you're part of the family, it's your secret too."

Scorpius looked like he was getting ready to ask a barrage of questions, and Penelope put a hand on his arm.

"We can answer your questions as the week goes along, Scorpius, but I bet Nick would rather show you to your room, get into swim trunks and summer shirts, and show you the island."

"Your bags are already here, so go get changed, and have fun this afternoon. It's about one local time, and we'll have what will be a late night snack for everyone around six."

Nick took Scorpius' arm and pulled him toward the bungalow. "Come on, I can answer questions as we go!"

Penelope turned back to Percy, and put her arms around his neck. "Nearly a whole week, just you, me, and a little over half of the clan."

Percy laughed an kissed her. "Maybe we'll get someone to take the boys one night, and we can go hide from the rest of the them and have a little just me and you time too."

"We should go and get changed too, or all of the jet-skis will be out on the lagoon before we get there." She took Percy's hand and they walked to the house together.

Harry and Ginny had watched Percy and Penelope leave. "Let's give them a little time to show Scorpius around," Ginny suggested.

He put his arms around her waist and smiled as he looked into her eyes. "Works for me. I think I can find something for us to do while we wait." He leaned forward and kissed her.

"SNOGGING ALERT! MAJOR CHRISTMAS SNOGGING GOING ON HERE!"

They both laughed, and turned to see a grinning Lily behind them. She had several other giggling girls with her this time.

Ginny laughed. "Please tell me this is just a phase, honey. I don't know if I can handle two practical jokers in the family."

Lily gave her a hug. "I'm just making a special exception for Christmas. I promise."

Their kids all knew they were going to the island, and the bags had already been sent earlier in the day, so it didn't take Harry and Ginny long to get everyone together and leave for the island.

Ginny and Hermione were both taking the entire Christmas holiday off to spend extra time with the kids, and especially with Hugo and Lily, since they'd be starting school next year.

Ron would only be able to come after the game on Saturday, but would try to stop in at least two of the afternoons during the rest of the week.

George, Marietta, and Frederica were probably already here, and were staying for the week. Charlie, Nathalie, and Art were coming for the few days until the weekend before they had to go back for work at the residence and dragon reserve.

Lisa and Marcus were bringing Carolyn and Brianna later today, coming straight from his parent's home. They would be dropping them off for the rest of the week, then come back and spend the New Year's Eve weekend with everyone.

Isabelle, Victoire, Stewart, and Teddy would be coming for the four day weekend too. Aaron and Arianna would stay in the guest house that Lisa and Marcus would use on the weekend with Carolyn and Brianna, then stay with Harry and Ginny for the weekend.

While everyone that had gotten to the island was settling in, Nick was giving Scorpius a tour, and had been answering his stream of questions as they went.

"So all of your family have houses on this island, and it's completely private?" Scorpius was summarizing.

Nick nodded. "Yeah. There's some guest houses for when we want to come here with friends, but there are very few close friends that are ever brought here."

They'd walked the pathway around the island past all of the houses, and Nick had pointed out which family had each place. When they got to the beautiful lagoon, and Scorpius saw the rows of jet-skis and WaterBikes, he stared at them.

"What are those things?"

Nick laughed. "The things with the big fat wheels are called WaterBikes, and you pedal them around on the water. The smaller things are called jet-skis, and they're probably the coolest water toy ever invented – even if it was by muggles. You're going to love learning to drive one later."

"Why wait?"

The boys turned to see Percy and Penelope walking up to them.

"Let's go do the condensed safety lesson, then take them out and teach Scorpius how to drive them."

The four of them walked down to the edge of the water, and Scorpius listened in fascination as Percy explained everything to him. They pushed four of the jet-skis out into the water, and within minutes he was flying across the water, having the most fun he could ever remember having in his life – on a machine that his parents wouldn't even consider trying since it was built by Muggles. There was no way that a Muggle could possibly make anything of interest to a Wizard or Witch as far as they were concerned.

It wasn't very long before the lagoon was filled with jet-skis and WaterBikes. Scorpius and Nick played on the machines for over an hour before Scorpius needed to go in to shore and take a break.

"You weren't kidding about them being fun, Nick, but it must take a while to get used to driving them. I'm actually feeling a bit sore after only an hour."

Nick nodded as he led his friend to where they could get drinks. "It does. We can try the WaterBikes after we rest up if you want. They're fun too, and I imagine that you and Brianna will really like going out on them alone – every other couple I've ever seen ride them seem to think so."

"I'm guessing any couple with an ounce of romance in them is going to like everything about this place. Too bad Allie isn't here for the week."

Nick grinned. "We had fun at the Yule Ball, I guess, but I don't know if that'll be anything serious. If it is someday, then I'll probably bring her here with us sometime. Like I said, we don't just bring anyone here."

"How many friends have you brought here?"

"Including you – one." Nick said, laughing.

Scorpius laughed too. "Let's go try out those WaterBikes. They don't look like my arms will feel like falling off after riding one."

Nick agreed. "True – it'll be your legs that get tired from pedaling, so we'll make it a fairly short trip. Pedaling until you're tired is a bad idea, 'cause then you still have to pedal all the way back."

Penelope and Percy were sitting with Harry, Ginny, and Hermione on the beach, watching the kids play.

"He seems to be adapting pretty well," Hermione said. "Considering how much he's been through in the last month."

"He's doing great," Penelope agreed. "I'm not sure he's been shown much love in his life so far. It's amazing he's turned out to be such a gentle boy."

"There's some steel in him too, though – and in each of the kids in their little group," Percy told them, smiling. "Did any of you know what happened at the Yule Ball? If what Penelope and I saw on Christmas Eve was any hint, our kids are definitely not going to sit around and take abuse from other students."

Hermione nodded. "I got it out of Rose. Want to hear about it?" When the others all nodded, she proceeded to tell them all about what had been going on with Dirk, and the kid's response to his harassment.

"If they're that creative at eleven and twelve, you're going to want all of them in your lab by the time they grow up," Harry told Hermione and Ginny.

Hermione laughed. "I'm not sure there's much of a market for Charms that make your nose grow when you say bad words, except maybe as one of George's Wheezes. The relapse thing, though, now that has serious potential – at least if applied to something more worthwhile. I'll have to get them to show me how they did that part of it."

Ginny was grinning. "I actually think what they did use it for was worthwhile. They'll just have to be careful. The Avery family isn't exactly known for learning a lesson the first time."

When it was late afternoon island time, everyone was getting tired, since for them it had been a long day. Harry and Ginny put together a light meal for them, and were just serving it when Lisa and Marcus got there with Brianna and Carolyn. They were invited to stay and eat, but declined.

"We've had a really long day, and it'll be nearly midnight back home," Lisa had told Ginny. "We'll only get a few hours sleep before Marcus has to get to work. I'll probably just end up going into the lab early too." She gave the girls hugs and kisses. "Be good for Aaron and Arianna. We'll see you on Friday."

Scorpius and Brianna were taking a short walk on the beach before going back to their houses. He handed her the Christmas present he'd bought her with Harry and Percy's help.

She opened the box to find a pair of diamond earrings. "Thank-you, Scorpius. I love them." She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

He grinned at her when she pulled back. "You're welcome." He looked at the setting sun. "I guess we better get back. I know it's not late here, but I'm so tired right now, I could have a nap right here on the sand."

"Carolyn and I had that problem on Sunday after we left the Burrow. We were up with Marcus' family for almost eight more hours that day. He must've carried me to bed, 'cause I don't remember walking there myself."

During the next few days, Scorpius was able to get better acquainted with everyone that was staying on the island. It was interesting watching the family interaction.

It was no surprise to him that Hermione and Ginny were obviously best friends as well as sister-in-laws. Harry and Art's Mum Nathalie seemed more like brother and sister than in-laws. George was definitely the most fun, and Charlie certainly had one of the coolest jobs, and when he talked about his work, the kids actually listened.

He watched Nick and his parents a lot too. Nick got along with all of his cousins and the other kids, and of course was now close with Rose, Al, Carolyn, and Brianna. The relationship between Nick's parents, and the other adults, was definitely different. It was like watching a large group of best friends and two good friends. Actually one good friend when he thought about that some more. Penelope was certainly more accepted into that group than Percy was with his own brothers and sister.

Scorpius had already been given clues as to why that was the case since coming to live with Percy and Penelope. It was obvious to everyone that Percy was trying to join his wife and family instead of standing just on the outside where he'd been most of his life, they were all in turn learning to include him in their group. He could see that it would take some time for that to happen.

"It takes time to heal old differences, even if both sides are ready to do that."

It was after lunch on Friday, and Scorpius had been sitting in a beach chair as he was thinking about everyone, and was startled. He looked beside him to see that Harry had sat down beside him.

"How do you manage to do that?"

Harry grinned. "Some people would tell you it was magic, but mostly it's just that I pay closer attention to details than most."

Scorpius nodded.

"Percy, for instance, is just now ready to fully rejoin his family – we've been ready to let him for over twenty years. It will take time still, but now it can actually happen."

"Is it like that with my family?"

"Very nicely done," Harry complimented him. Scorpius didn't have to explain that he hadn't meant between him and his family, but between his family and Harry and most of the wizarding world.

"Most of the Wizards and Witches that fought against Lord Voldemort would like to include your family, and all of the others that had fought on that side, in the world that we envision, but both sides have to want it first."

Scorpius sighed. "I don't see that ever happening, Uncle Harry."

He watched as Harry's green eyes sparkled with amusement, and he grinned.

"Then you should look in the mirror, since that's where I see it starting already. You have a young lady coming up behind me, though, and you should go enjoy a beautiful afternoon having fun instead of thinking deep thoughts."

Scorpius looked up, and indeed Brianna had almost reached them. "I suppose you heard her footsteps?"

Harry laughed. "And she also has a very unique scent that I'm sure you've already come to appreciate."

They both stood up. "You two go and have fun. That's a great place to start learning about this family. Everything we do starts with the concept that life is supposed to be fun."

Brianna laughed when she heard the last comment. "And we're all pretty good at it too," she told Scorpius, taking his hand. "Come on, and I'll be happy to be your personal fun instructor for the rest of the day."

Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, Isabelle, Lisa, and Marcus all got there Friday afternoon after finishing work back home. Nick and Scorpius were going to be spending the night with Teddy and Victoire while Percy and Penelope had a night to themselves.

This weekend was Scorpius' first chance to really spend some time with his cousin, and even just be able to observe him. The older adults all loved him, and the younger kids looked up to him like the best big brother in the world.

Scorpius had gone to school with Victoire for a whole year, but even though he saw her more than other first year students did because of his proximity to her cousins, he hadn't really gotten to know her.

On Friday night, after they'd all gone back to Teddy and Victoire's house, Teddy sat with Scorpius and told him all about his life growing up. From growing up living most of his life at Hogwarts, to his relationship with his Godfather, friends, and Victoire, he showed his young cousin glimpses of a life surrounded by love and happiness.

In return, Scorpius opened up to the young man, describing a life that certainly was of privilege, but with no real love or affection.

"We're going to need to be very careful with that boy," Victoire was telling Teddy after they'd gone to bed that night.

Teddy had hugged her tightly, and kissed her. "We will be," he promised. "If things with our grandparents had been different, that could have been my life."

Victoire nodded. "Well, at least now we can make sure that it doesn't have to be his life either. We want him to grow close to Percy and Penelope, but I think you can still safely spend some extra time with him this weekend, and maybe be like a big brother to him."

"You know that Uncle Harry sees something in him. It's going to be fun finding out what that is."

"Everything Uncle Harry does is fun, why should this be any different," Victoire told him. He kissed her again, and they quietly talked about other things until drifting off to sleep.

Al had been playing all week, like everyone else. He and Carolyn spent a lot of time together, and they weren't apart very often - just at night when they were sleeping. They were all glad to have Scorpius with them, and that he was having fun and fitting in with everyone else.

The weekend had been even more fun for the younger kids. With Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle there playing with them, they'd all had fun playing at the beach and in the water during the day, and playing games at night. Saturday night's LaserBroom match after dark, and over the beach and lagoon had been one of the highlights.

Today was New Year's Eve day, and there was going to be another dinner and dance on the beach tonight like they'd done last year. The different members of his family had come and gone over the past week, but everyone that had been here for the weekend was staying tonight too. Grandma and Grandpa had come just before lunchtime.

Kreacher and Winky had been here at different times through the week, and Al remembered laughing when he saw the look on Scorpius' face when he first saw the two house elves take a WaterBike out for a ride together.

"They're still learning to have fun," Al had told him with a grin. "You'd probably be amazed to find out that Goblins like to have fun too."

This was their last full day on the island – they'd all be going back home in the morning. That meant that Carolyn would be going back to the residence for the rest of the holidays with Aaron, Arianna, and Brianna.

Al and Carolyn enjoyed the day together, and had fun with their family. Dinners on the beach were always fun, and they danced most of the night together. Uncle George did fireworks at midnight to ring in the New Year, then the party started breaking up as couples went for moonlight walks or swims, and others headed for bed, tired from a long day hard at play.

"How'd you like your first week on the island?" Brianna asked Scorpius as they walked along the moonlit beach.

"This whole holiday has been the best I've ever had," he told her truthfully. "I'm going to miss doing stuff like this with you the most when we go back tomorrow."

Brianna smiled and squeezed his hand. "We can't bring this back with us, but I'll make sure that the hugs and kisses come back with me."

They both laughed. There were other people out walking on the beach too, and they passed close by Al and Carolyn, who waved at them, but continued with their own walk.

"I guess we should get back soon so Lisa and Marcus don't have to stay up and wait for me," she said with a regretful sigh. "This has all been so great, though, I hate to have it end."

Scorpius stopped, and put his arms around her waist for a hug. "I don't see how we can keep that from happening, but I'm thinking we still have enough time before heading back to your hause to delay the inevitable," he said just before kissing her.

Brianna put her arms around his neck. "Your hugging and kissing practice is coming along very nicely," she complimented him.

"Why thank-you," he told her, smiling. "I have a very good instructor."

They both laughed, and then started walking again, heading back toward their houses, ready to get some sleep.

All of the adults, except Harry, Ginny, and Hermione were getting back to work on Wednesday, so everyone packed up in the morning to get home. They'd all long since found out that getting used to the time difference was helped by getting back home as early in the day as possible.

The kids maybe could have stayed until the weekend, except that they all had work of their own to do, and not very much of it had gotten done on the island. Every attempt at doing homework assignments was defeated by the call of the sun and surf, and the sounds of the happy voices and laughter of everyone that was outside having fun.

Going home was the only way to make sure they all did their school work, so they regretfully said goodbye to their island, and returned home with another incredible week of memories.


	30. Work, Work, Work

Chapter Thirty – Work, Work, Work

Nick and Scorpius were having breakfast in the kitchen with Percy and Penelope, who were both already dressed and ready for work.

"What are you boys doing today?" she asked them.

"Heading to the cottage," Nick answered. "We've got a Ravenclaw Quidditch practice, then the rest of the day we have to study with Rose and Al – and probably Lily."

Penelope laughed. "That little spitfire is going to be something when she gets to school."

Nick nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's read all of James' third year textbooks as well as ours. She's like an information sponge."

Penelope got up from the table. "Percy and I have to get going, can you boys clean up this morning before you leave, please?"

The two boys both nodded, and she gave them each a hug and kiss before she and Percy left together.

"I could really get used to that," Scorpius told Nick.

"Get used to what? Being asked to do dishes?"

Scorpius laughed. "I can probably get used to that too, but I was referring to the hugging and kissing. That didn't happen much in my house."

Nick stood up and carried his dirty dishes to the sink. "Seemed to me like you should be used to it already – you and Brianna were practicing enough the whole week we were on the island."

They quickly did the cleanup, went back upstairs to get ready themselves, and then, books and brooms in hand, left for the cottage.

"Come on, ladies!" Trinity shouted at them. "We've only got a little over two weeks to be ready to play Slytherin! Right now, Lily's the best one out here!" When Harry and Ginny laughed, she stared them down. "What are you laughing about? That includes you too!" she shouted.

Lily grinned at Trinity, who winked back.

"Rose, Matt, I'm glad that you're happy about being reunited again, but do you suppose you can catch up _after _the practice?" she continued. "Nick, Scorpius, vacation is over! Considering the crap you've been putting up with from some of the Slytherin students, I'd think you'd want to maybe win the game."

Her little talk had the desired effect, and she watched as the other kids finally got serious about the practice, and worked hard for the next hour and a half. Harry and Ginny played hard too. He pushed Christina to the limit, and Ginny, Al, and Lily pushed the Ravenclaw Chasers, and Scorpius as hard as they could – hard enough that they won two out of three of their practice matches, with Hugo easily keeping up in goal for their team.

"Alright," Trinity said, finally calling the practice to a halt. "That's enough for today. Let's get one more practice in on Friday, then back to normal practice schedule back at school on Monday."

They talked together for a while after practice, and then Trinity, Christina, Rick, and Matt left for their homes, and the others all went inside to start in on their homework.

James was at the residence for the day, and would be doing the same on Friday. Harry and Ginny left them to their studies, and went to the residence in the afternoon to spend some time with the kids there, since they hadn't been there at all since Christmas.

"Your parents could probably both play Professional Quidditch," Scorpius had told Al and Lily.

"He played his one professional game," Al told him. "But he's happy with what he's doing. I doubt Uncle Ron would let him play with dolls or DragonRiders at the Canons practices."

Brianna and Carolyn were spending the day with them too, and Lily happily went back and forth between the first and second year study groups, enjoying being able to help both as they worked. Hugo was quickly bored, though, and went into the sitting room to play GameWizard while they worked.

When it was time for Nick and Scorpius to go home, they packed up their books, got their brooms. Nick talked with Al, Rose, Carolyn, and Lily while Scorpius went off for a private goodbye with Brianna before they left for the townhouse.

Thursday, Nick and Scorpius met Al and Lily at Rose's house, where they spent the whole day working together. Hermione kept them supplied with snacks and drinks, and fed them lunch, but spent the rest of her time with Hugo, leaving them to their work.

The five kids were all using their Virtual GameWizards to work in the PotionsMaster game, but they were having a problem with the assignment, and couldn't figure out what was going wrong.

It was kind of a strange thing to get used to in the games, but when you were linked together with other 'players', you could talk together and everything, but you didn't necessarily have to be doing the same thing. In this game, for instance, you were in a full classroom, so you could work at the tables, and even on different things.

Lily had been doing her own experiments while they'd been working, and so hadn't been watching what they were doing, but when she heard them talking about their problem, she had joined them a their table.

"What's the problem?" she asked them. Al explained what they were doing, and that the potion wasn't working.

She smiled at them when she looked at the textbook. "Oh, that one. There's a mistake in that edition of the textbook. Every third stir needs to be _counter-_clockwise."

"How do you know that?" Rose asked her.

"I've read the original," she answered. "There's a first edition copy in the VirtualLibrary if you want to check."

Rose laughed. "I think we can just trust your photographic memory."

With their problem solved, they were able to quickly finish their potions assignment, and move on to the next subject. By the end of the day, they were nearly done their homework. A little more work after Quidditch practice on Friday, and they'd have all day Saturday to relax again before going back to Hogwarts on Sunday.

Harry and Ginny practiced with the Ravenclaw team again on Friday, and he made Trinity's day when he commented to her after practice that Oliver Wood would have been proud of how hard she worked her team.

After the older kids left, Al, Nick, Rose, and Scorpius finished up the rest of their homework by noon. After lunch, they all went to spend another afternoon at the residence, and then went back to the cottage for dinner, where Nick and Rose's parents joined them.

Nick and Scorpius went shopping with Percy and Penelope on Saturday to stock up on school supplies. They had dinner that night at home with Teddy and Victoire. They spent the evening together, since Teddy wouldn't likely see Scorpius until school got out in June. The two boys went up to bed early, and had most of their things packed and ready to go for the train ride back to Hogwarts in the morning.

They were the first ones to get to platform nine and three-quarters, and took the time to say goodbye while they waited for the rest of their family and friends.

"You make sure to let us know if there's anything at all that you need, Scorpius," Percy told him.

Scorpius had nodded and hugged him, then hugged and kissed Penelope. "Thank-you both for everything. This has been the best two weeks of my life."

Penelope's eyes were filling with tears. "It's been a pretty great two weeks for us too. We're going to really miss you boys."

Nick laughed. "You can use the extra time you'll have helping Dad with his fun lessons." He hugged and kissed both of his parents too. His father had always been free with hugs in private, or when they were with family, but this displaying affection in public was brand new for him. Nick loved every second of it.

Al was the next member of their group to arrive, with the rest of his family, Aaron, and Arianna. Lisa and Marcus had kept Carolyn and Brianna overnight, and they came next. Rose and her family were the last group the get there, with just a few minutes to spare before the train would be pulling out.

The goodbye hugs and kisses sped up at that point, and then it was time for them to get on the train and find compartments for the long trip.

Ginny was holding Harry's hand, and smiled as she watched him get misty-eyed as he always did when his children left for school.

"Come on, Lily, let's take Daddy out for lunch and help cheer him up."

Lily gave him a hug and kiss. "That is a very good idea, Mum." She looked at the other grownups, and grinned. "I think we should take them with us too," she told her mother seriously, pointing at her Aunts, Uncles, Lisa, and Marcus. "Aunt Hermione and Aunt Penelope look like they might also need a little shopping too if lunch isn't enough to cheer them up."

The three women laughed at her. "It's funny how shopping seems to be your cure for almost everything, sweetie," Hermione told her niece.

Lily grinned at her. "When I find something that works better, I'll let you know."

Draco Malfoy watched as Harry, Ginny, and the others left the platform. He had hidden using and invisibility charm, and had watched his son arrive with Percy, Penelope, and their son. His father had no idea that he was here, and Draco had no intention of telling him.

When he'd found out from the Avery's that his son was living with Percy and his family, he had been surprised. After his father had disowned Scorpius, he'd been sure that the great Harry Potter would ride to the rescue.

His father had sneered at the news from his old friends. He was probably happy, believing that living with anyone in the Weasley family was a poor and pathetic existence.

Scorpius, however, looked happier than Draco had ever seen him. The hugs and kisses he exchanged with everyone, including Harry and Ginny had been genuine on both sides, and Draco again felt that familiar pang of jealousy. At least Scorpius was happy, and looked well taken care of. That's all he'd really come here to see.

He was about to leave the platform too, when he saw Harry suddenly stop. His eyes opened wide as he watched the man turn directly toward him, smile, and nod slightly before continuing on. Draco felt a mixture of fear, awe, and relief sweep through him all at once.

In that look and nod, Harry was just communicating that Scorpius was fine, and they'd take care of him. That he had been able to detect and see through Draco's invisibility charm was the part that scared and awed him. Until that moment, he'd have thought doing that was impossible. He quickly left the station after that, heading for Malfoy Mansion.

"Something wrong?" Ginny asked him quietly, noticing that he'd stopped for a few seconds.

"No," he answered just as softly. "Draco is here."

When she went to look around, he took her hand to keep them going. "He's using an invisibility charm. He's just checking to make sure Scorpius is alright."

"Too bad he wasn't doing that a month ago when his son needed him."

Harry smiled at her. "How do you know he wasn't?"

She stared at him, and he laughed.

"Let's suppose that he really loves his son for a moment, and then, if we consider Scorpius' personality, would he be better off living the rest of his childhood with Lucius and Narcissa, or with Percy and Penelope?"

"He couldn't have known that Scorpius would end up there," Ginny told him.

"That's true, but he probably believed that you and I would take him before we'd let one of Al's friends become a ward of the Ministry."

She nodded. "You're suggesting that he let his own son be disowned to give him a chance at a better life?"

Harry gave her a hug and kiss. "Give that girl an 'O'!"

"Will you two cut that out!" Lily called over to them.

Hermione laughed and took Lily's hand. "Oh, let them be, honey. They can always catch up later."

"We're coming," Ginny said, laughing too, and took Harry's hand again as they hurried to catch up with everyone else.

Draco and Astoria were out for a walk on the grounds of Malfoy Mansion later that morning.

"How is he?" she asked him in a whisper.

"He looks better than I've ever seen him, Astoria."

She squeezed his hand. "He may not have money, but at least someone is making sure he's got a place to live and that he gets fed," she said with a sigh.

What had started back on September first between them had continued to develop over the months – especially since that day that Lucius had called them in and informed them that Scorpius would be disinherited and disowned. They were ordered to never talk to, or aid their son ever again, and as Draco had told his son, he did not attempt to dispute the decision.

"We may not be able to talk to him or help him, but we can at least keep an eye on how he does," Draco told her. "We'll just have to be very careful, and not let anything slip."

Astoria nodded. "We will be." She stopped and looked around them. They were out of sight of the mansion, and she turned and put her arms around Draco's neck.

"I have a feeling that our son is going to be just fine, Draco. As for you and me," she said, giving him a kiss and smiling, "I think we need a lot of work."

Draco smiled too. "Then we shouldn't waste any more time, and get working on that."

The last thing he thought before she kissed him again, was that it was really too bad he'd spent so many years dwelling on what he didn't have, instead of finding out how good what he did have could have been, and was now becoming. He was glad that his son apparently had already learned that lesson.

Back at Malfoy Mansion, Lucius Malfoy was in his private library with a few of his old cronies.

"This situation presents us with some possibilities," he told the other men and women. "Having that blood-traitor on the inside of Harry Potter's family could be just the opportunity we've been waiting for all of these long years."

"You've rightfully disowned the boy," Avery said, "rightfully so. What could, or would the child do for us?"

Lucius smiled – a bone-chilling, blood-curdling, grim slash of teeth across a deeply lined, hardened face.

"He can gather information. When the time is right, we'll simply take that information from him."

The others in the room looked at each other, and it was again Avery who spoke. "You would do that to your own grandson?" he asked Lucius.

Lucius' eyes blazed. "He is no longer my grandson – and even more the disappointment than his weakling father has been to me. I won't be bothered by wringing every scrap of information out of that pathetic waste of pure blood any more than I'd be bothered by stepping on a bug."

"When will you do it?" Avery again asked. After what had happened to his own boy at the hands of Scorpius Malfoy, he was eager to see the kid be repayed, and this was going to more than do that.

"We will be patient, as we have been for over twenty years now," Lucius answered. "I would expect that it will take some time before he is entrusted with many of the family secrets."

He looked around at the group. "In the meantime, we will watch, and wait. When it is again our time, we will _strike,_ and put an end to all of this nonsense once and for all!"


	31. More Lessons Needed

Chapter Thirty-One – More Lessons Needed

They hadn't been back at Hogwarts for very long – had all just sat down for dinner, when there was a loud chorus of laughter from the Slytherin table, that quickly swept through the Hall as other students either saw or heard about Dirk's humongous nose, and the message on his forehead – 'I MUST STOP SAYING BAD WORDS'.

"Sounds like the healers at St. Mungo's didn't quite fix him either," Rose commented conversationally. "That must have been the seventh time too, since he must have enough sense by now not to use a lot of those words one right after another."

They watched as Dirk left the hall with his ten inch long nose leading the way.

"That'll be the last one, though. I never would have guessed that he'd be that stubborn," she added with a grin.

"I wonder why the mediwizards and witches at St. Mungo's didn't figure it out," Scorpius said.

Rose grinned. "Because it probably never occurred to them to consider the use of his sinus cavity as a reservoir, or what Dirk would be doing to keep restoring the charm."

The boys all laughed, but Brianna and Carolyn looked confused, since they hadn't been in on the making of the charms.

Rose could hardly keep from laughing as she explained it to them, being careful to not be overheard by any of the other students.

"I'm sure that the healers at St. Mungos found out that it was caused by something that he ate that was charmed, and cleaned that up. What they didn't find was that the original charm was put into the fluid in his sinuses, so every time he…" she couldn't help but laugh, and could only motion with her finger next to her nose, and watched as Carolyn and Brianna both opened their eyes wide. "_He picked his nose?"_ Brianna choked out before starting to laugh too.

Rose had tears in her eyes as she continued to laugh. Carolyn looked from one girl to the other.

"But you said it was something he _ate!" _When what she'd said hit home, she shuddered.

Now everyone else was laughing as Rose again nodded.

"That's really, really gross," Carolyn said. "And bloody brilliant too."

They settled back in to classes, homework, and Quidditch practices right away. Dirk glowered at Scorpius and Nick during the classes they had together, but it was a week before he realized that his little problem was fixed.

Once he found that out, he got right back to teasing and harassing Scorpius every chance he got. Al, Nick, Scorpius, and Rose started keeping an eye on the Marauders Map again, this time watching out for Dirk and his bunch of thugs.

The Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch match was on the second Saturday after they got back to school, and the stands were packed. Al, Carolyn, and Brianna were all there, shivering with the rest of the crowd in the cold weather.

Nick, Rose, and Scorpius had gone to Trinity and asked her to have Christina hold off on catching the snitch while they provided a lesson for the Slytherin students. She had happily agreed, and so when the game began, the Slytherin players had no idea what was coming.

The Ravenclaw team proceeded to give Slytherin a four hour lesson in Quidditch. They scored eighty-seven goals before allowing Christina to catch the snitch. Scorpius didn't allow a single Slytherin score.

When Christina caught the snitch, Andy, who was hoarse from shouting 'GOAL', or 'SCORE!' was handed a note.

"This just in,' he announced to the crowd. "The Ravenclaw Quidditch team would like to dedicate this game to Dirk Avery, and express their appreciation to him for providing the motivation for them while preparing for this game." Andy looked around and smiled toward the Slytherin section of the stands.

"Well, Dirk, I'm sure your fellow Slytherins appreciate your efforts. It is a true mark of sportsmanship to encourage your opponent to play their best, and shows just how much confidence you have in your own team!" he said cheerfully. 'Nicely done!"

The grumbling that had been a murmur through most of the game in that section became an angry buzz now. Al watched as Dirk slunk away from the stands, and headed for the school.

Al, Carolyn, and Brianna had been back in the Common room for a while when the rest of the team, except for Scorpius had returned to a roaring welcome and celebration.

"Where's Scorpius?" Brianna asked Nick.

"He left his robe in the locker room, and went back to get it. He'll be here in a minute.

When Al heard Nick say that, he had a bad feeling, and went to his dorm for a minute. He quickly pulled out the Marauders Map, and searched for Scorpius. He found him in a classroom down the hall – and Dirk Avery was there too!

He left quickly, trying not to attract any attention, and when he was in the hall, jumped into a dead run, sliding to a stop in front of that classroom door.

He opened the door, and saw Dirk and Scorpius facing each other, wands drawn. Scorpius had a shield in place, and was obviously defending himself.

Dirk fired a curse at him, and Al had his wand out, and shield up long before the curse got to him.

"Two against one," Dirk snarled. "The least I should expect from half-bloods and blood-traitors."

Al smiled at him. "No problem, Dirk. You're right. That wouldn't be fair at all."

Dirk faltered for a moment in his surprise. "You're going to leave and let us finish this?" he asked incredulously.

Al smiled even more. "No, Dirk. Scorpius is the one leaving. I think that you'll find me a better opponent anyway."

Dirk got an evil grin on his face. "Fine. Run along, Homeless. I'll take care of you another day after I've taught this freak why he and his family are such a bunch of losers."

Al nodded to Scorpius, who kept his shield up as he walked toward the door. "Don't send anyone here," Al told him as he passed. "I'll see you in a while." Scorpius nodded and grinned before leaving and closing the door.

Dirk walked across to the other side of the classroom, and turned to face Al.

"Are you ready, half-blood?" Dirk sneered.

Al turned to face him, and let the power that he kept in check at all times loose. His eyes blazed, and Dirk took a step back in shock, suddenly afraid.

"I'm ready, Dirk. Are you?"

Dirk's wand suddenly flew through the air, landing in Al's outstretched hand. The other boy gaped as he was suddenly immobilized, and slammed against the wall behind him.

"What are you doing?" Dirk shouted. "Help!" he screamed.

"Nobody can hear you, Dirk," Al said in a deadly quiet voice.

"How are you doing this?" he demanded. "Someone else is helping somehow."

Al walked up and stood just a few inches in front of Dirk.

"You want to duel with me, and you can't do non-verbal spells?" he asked the pinned boy conversationally.

Dirk gaped at him. "Nobody in second year can do that!" he snarled. "That's not even taught until sixth year!"

"I can." To prove it, every desk and chair in the room started to levitate.

Dirk looked around with wild eyes.

"I've been patient with you, Dirk," Al continued. "I've allowed my friends to try and teach you a gentler lesson, but you're being very stubborn."

Dirk sneered at him. "You think you're going to teach me a lesson? _You!_ You're nothing but a half-blood freak. There's nothing you can teach me."

Al smiled. "Your'e wrong there, Dirk," he said quietly. "This is a lesson I'm sure even you will understand."

He locked eyes with Dirk, and pushed out with his mind. He sifted through Dirk's memories until he found what he needed, then quickly Transfigured a chair into the boy's worst nightmare.

"Now, Dirk," he said, smiling. "I'm not even trying hard right now, and I'd say by your physical reaction to this little lesson that you're probably not interested in finding out what happens when I do."

Dirk stared at him, seeing clearly that Al was not even slightly kidding, and nodded.

"This little conversation doesn't have to leave this room, Dirk."

When the other boy looked up at him, Al smiled. "I'm not looking to hurt you, Dirk. I just want you to stay away from me, from my family, and my friends and leave us alone.

Dirk looked down at himself. "Everyone will know as soon as I go back to my Common room," he said, defeated now, and trying to deal with that fact, and the prospect that every student in the school would soon know it.

"Are you going to leave us alone now, Dirk?" Al persisted, "or will we need to have another one of these talks?"

Dirk started to shake. "I won't bother you again," he told Al.

He almost fell when he was suddenly relesed from the binding spell, and looked down in amazement to see that he'd also been cleaned up. Al still hadn't spoken a single spell during the whole confrontation.

Al held Dirk's wand out to him, still smiling. "The only thing I'll be telling my friends is that you won't be bothering them anymore. The rest of this stays between you and me."

Dirk took his wand, and stared at Al. "Why are you doing that for me?"

"Just because our parents fought on opposite sides of the war doesn't mean that we have to be enemies, Dirk. If you hadn't started all of this with Scorpius, none of what's come since then needed to happen."

Dirk nodded. "You know if I'd have won, I wouldn't have done the same for you."

Al smiled again. "You've been taught your whole life that loving and caring makes you weak, Dirk. That isn't the case. There is one trick though – you have to care about everyone – even the people who hate you."

The other boy looked at him dumbly. "You are probably the strangest kid in this school, Al." He walked toward the door, and then turned back. "I'll keep my word, though. He shuddered as he looked back to where the chair that Al had Transfigured stood, then walked out of the classroom.

Al quickly restored the classroom, put his wand away, and went back to the Ravenclaw Common room to again join the party. When he walked into the room, his cousins and friends had immediately gathered around him. Carolyn threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Are you alright, Al?" she whispered.

He smiled and hugged her back. "I'm fine, Carolyn."

"What happened?" Scorpius asked him, while all of the small group crowded around to hear.

"We had a little talk, and he agreed not to bother any of us again," Al told them with a smile.

"You had a talk," Rose said skeptically.

"I was very persuasive," Al said, grinning. When he saw the looks on their faces, he held up his hand. "I'm sorry, guys, but that's going to be it. He's going to leave us alone, and the rest of it is going to stay between him and me."

They all looked terribly disappointed with him, except Carolyn, who gave him another hug. "I think thatt's very kind of you, Al," she told him so that the others could hear. "Is Dirk ok too?"

Al nodded, hugging her back. "He's not hurt. I imagine he's back in his Common room by now."

He looked around the room. "Isn't there a party or something we're supposed to be enjoying?"

They all laughed, and went back to rejoin the rest of their friends and fellow Ravenclaws in celebrating their incredible Quidditch victory.


	32. Love is in the Air

Chapter Thirty-Two – Love is in the Air

Aaron was sitting in the Great Hall with Arianna, Tracey, James, Andy, Jon, and Therese. He was feeling nervous. It was his first Valentine's Day where he actually had a Valentine, and the gift he'd asked Harry to help him get would be arriving with the Owl Post soon.

When they'd gotten back to school, he and Tracey began to develop the friendship that they'd started the night of the Yule Ball. She joined their study group, and when they had time to spend together that didn't include studying, he would go for walks with her, or sit in the Common room, and talk.

He'd told her things he'd never told anyone before, and she comforted him, and poured out her heart to him in return. They'd had two Hogsmeade weekend days together, where they'd both discovered how much more fun those trips could be when you had someone special to share them with.

The arrival of hundreds of Owls brought him back to the present, and he smiled as packages were delivered to Arianna, Tracey, and Therese, along with hundreds of the other girls in the hall.

He watched nervously as Tracey opened her present, then laughed when she hugged and kissed him.

"I take it that you like your present," he said quietly, not wanting to interrupt the others around them.

"I love it, Aaron. It's beautiful. Will you help me put it on?"

He nodded, and took the necklace from her. "I know that these heart necklaces are popular," he told her as he worked with the clasp, and put it around her neck. When he had it on and she'd turned around again, he looked into her eyes.

"I do want you to be my Valentine, Tracey, but I got this for you to thank-you, and so that you'd know that I think my heart is finally whole again, and that is because of you."

She smiled and hugged him again. "I'm glad," she whispered back. "I love you, Aaron."

He smiled too, and took a deep breath. "I love you too," he managed to say. He thought it came out pretty good for a first time saying those words to someone other than his sister. He loved Harry and Ginny, but he was pretty sure he'd never actually told them before.

Tracey watched his face as he took that big step, and there were tears in her eyes. "You did fine. It gets easier the more you say it to people."

Arianna put her arms around Tracey from behind. "So, what did my brother get his Valentine?" she asked her friend.

Tracey turned around and showed her the beautiful little gold heart necklace with the diamond solitaire that dangled from a little chain in the middle of the heart.

"Nicely done, Aaron," she complimented her brother.

James laughed. "I'd say so. And all you got in the Owl Post was a few crummy flowers."

Arianna laughed. "They are not crummy, James, they're beautiful, and I love them."

He sighed theatrically, "Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but I know when I've been shown up." His sparkling eyes betrayed his act. "It's a good thing I have this little thing as a backup."

Arianna smiled as he handed her a small gift. She opened it up, and inside there was a very delicate diamond bracelet. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Thank-you," she told him after letting him go. "Your Dad must be a very busy guy in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day," she whispered.

James grinned. "I'd say so. Especially since there's getting to be a lot of guys that he helps."

She noticed that Jon was getting a hug too. "Hey, Therese! What did our shy young friend send you?"

Therese showed her the gold locket she was now wearing. "And might there be a couple of pictures in that locket?" Arianna asked, smiling.

Therese grinned and nodded, opening the delicate locket and showing her. Once the gifts had been opened, the couples settled down to finish breakfast before they'd have to head off to their classes.

"Andy," Therese asked, "did you send a Valentine to anyone?"

He grinned at her. "Nope, I sent seven."

The others laughed. "Won't that get a bit crowded?" Aaron asked him.

"None of them have boyfriends, and they all know I'm not looking to be one. If some cards and boxes of chocolates make a few girls happy, I'm glad to do it."

"You're probably not complaining about the hugs and kisses from those girls either," Arianna suggested.

Andy laughed. "No, I definitely don't have a problem with that either."

There was a lot of other Valentine stories going on elsewhere too.

Carolyn, Brianna, Rose, and Allie all got Owl Posts too. Allie was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, but ran over to give Nick a hug after getting her diamond earrings. Brianna loved her ruby necklace, and Carolyn's present was an emerald bracelet to go with last year's emerald heart necklace. Matt got Rose flowers, chocolates, and a gold bracelet.

The New Marauders had not slowed down with their mission either, and sixty-one of the Owl Posts were Valentine's Day gifts courtesy of TNM. The Hogwarts Marauders had spent hours finding out what the kids needed, or picked gifts that they thought would bring them a little happiness, and Lily spent three days shopping to get it all done, and another day wrapping presents and writing the notes.

All of the effort was worth it. They saw one student after another get their gifts and start smiling. Everyone in the school had heard of TNM by now, and it had almost become a game trying to figure out who or what it was. That they did things like stopping bullies, helping kids with school supplies or other necessities, or giving gifts just to cheer someone up was thought to be pretty awesome by most of the students, and only derided by the smaller, but still vocal group of mostly Slytherin pure-bloods that put down everything that TNM did.

As Al watched some of those kids opening the gifts, he noticed that there were suddenly some kids dressed as cupid, or that had big, puffy red hearts for heads with an arrow through the middle. There were a few other Chocolate Valentine Wheezes that were being tried out, and there was a lot of laughter – especially when Professor Longbottom tried a Chocolate Rose, and grew petals and thorns. Valentine's Day was off to a great start at Hogwarts!

The day was starting off pretty good with the rest of the family too. Ginny and Lily started their morning out with flowers for each of them from Harry. They had plans for a shopping trip to Paris for the morning, and an afternoon at the spa. That was followed by dinner at Lily's favourite restaurant, and a quiet evening at home with just the three of them, and Hugo, Frederica, Lance, and Natalie and Owen's daughter Kira.

Teddy and Stewart both had made breakfast in bed for their wives, complete with flowers and sparkly gifts, and would be taking them to dinner and the Marauders Institute dance after work.

Molly and Arthur were on vacation, and were spending the day in New York, and had tickets to a broadway show that night. Percy and Penelope were going to be stuck attending one of the endless political parties.

Megan and Devon got engaged just after midnight, and so had the whole day to celebrate. They were going to get married at the end of March, before they both moved to the new resort island that she was going to be managing in Indonesia. Marauders Escape was opening at the end of June, but she needed to be there by the first week of April. Devon was going to have his own diving shop and boats on the island, and would start working on getting that ready to open too.

Back at Hogwarts, classes continued as usual. There were a lot of happy faces throughout the day, and the Valentine's dinner was another special meal. The Chocolate Wheezes had been one of the biggest hits of the day, but there had been no major pranks at all. Since last year's Easter prank, and the one at Hallowe'en, students seemed to almost expect something to happen, and were a bit disappointed that nothing had.

Al was sitting at the Ravenclaw table with his friends. They were just starting the dessert course, and he was grinning.

"What are you smiling about?" Carolyn asked. She was sitting next to him, like they almost always did now, holding his hand.

"Just really happy," he told her, his eyes sparkling in the candlelight.

She looked at him carefully, but didn't say anything else. There was something going on though. She just knew it!

Carolyn, and everyone else in the hall, didn't have long to wait before finding out what that something was. The doors to the hall opened, and they all heard loud clanking as two dozen suits of armor marched into the hall. They all had pink tutus, wings, and carried little cupid's bows. The went to the front of the Hall and lined up, facing the students.

There was already a lot of laughing going on, but when they started to sing a love song, they all quieted down to listen. It was one of the latest hit ballads, and while it was incredibly weird to watch it being sung by a bunch of suits of armor, they actually sang it beautifully! There were even a few girls that cried.

When they finished their performance, they bowed, creaking loudly, then marched back out of the hall to the applause and laughter of both the students and the Professors.

Al didn't need to look at James to know that he was grinning too, and Carolyn nudged him.

"That was a pretty cool trick. I'm surprised the singing was so good, though."

He smiled, and leaned close to whisper in her ear. "We based the voices on a recording of my Dad's singing. We were going to make up new lyrics too, but decided that it'd be more surprising if they were just actually good instead."

Carolyn nodded. "it was certainly that – really odd, but good."

James was at the Gryffindor table grinning as the suits of armor left the Hall. "That was entertaining," Arianna told him quietly. "I wonder who could have done it?"

"I don't know," he answered, grinning even more.

"I'm sure you don't." She stood up. "I guess the show's over. We've got a lot of homework to do, so let's get going."

James groaned. "That does not sound like fun, Arianna," he complained.

She kissed his cheek. "If you're a good boy, and get all of your work done, maybe I'll give you a goodnight's kiss."

James grinned again. "Suddenly, I feel the urge to study, study, study!"

The Great Hall quickly emptied out, and the students left for Common rooms and the library to do their homework assignments. The New Marauders did all get that work done, and most of them still managed to find a little time left over to spend with their special Valentines before goodnight kisses at bedtime.


	33. Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff

Chapter Thirty-Three – Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff

Gryffindor didn't normally practice the day before a game, but since Valentine's Day had been on Thursday, they'd skipped that practice, and decided to have a light practice and final strategy meeting on Friday.

They'd seen Hufflepuff play Ravenclaw already, and they'd been defeated pretty soundly by Trinity's team. They had a good game plan, and so after going over it one more time, went back to the school for dinner, then a relaxing evening and early bedtime.

The stands were full for the game. Two of the Houses were hoping for a Gryffindor win, wanting another showdown of undefeated teams in May. Hufflepuff and Slytherin were hoping for a win for Hufflepuff.

Madame Hooch threw the Quaffle in the air to start the match, and the teams took off. Arianna scored a quick goal, but then the Hufflepuff players settled down, and played a tough, defensive game, very much like Ravenclaw had played last year.

The Gryffindor Chasers were able to score some goals anyway, and Hufflepuff scored some of their own, but by the time the game was getting close to starting the fourth hour, the score was only one hundred and seventy to eighty, with Gryffindor in the lead.

The crowd started to cheer as they watched both team Seekers streaking toward the snitch. They were side-by-side, flying all out! They were almost there when the Gryffindor Seeker had to peel away, dodging a well-aimed bludger sent his way by one of the Hufflepuff Beaters, and then the Hufflepuff seeker caught the snitch!

"Hufflepuff wins the game!" Andy announced to the spectators. "Final score – two hundred and thirty to one hundred and seventy! Congratulations to Hufflepuff on the win, and to both teams for an excellent game!"

Al, Carolyn, and Brianna met James, Aaron, and Arianna on the pitch after the game.

"You guys played a really good game," Al told them. "Their team got a lot better since we played them. They must've been working really hard. If that bludger hadn't been so well hit, Jeremy would've caught the snitch first for sure – he was at least a foot ahead."

James smiled. "Thanks, Al. That's not helping all that much right now, but thanks."

Al grinned at him. "Sure, Sure. It's probably just all part of your plan – to confuse the whole Quidditch Cup race. If Hufflepuff beats Slytherin, then the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game will be very interesting to at least three of the houses. You'll have all the Arithmancy students in statistics heaven."

James, Aaron, and Arianna all laughed. "Yeah, that was the plan – you caught us," James told him. "That did help, though, so thanks again."

The two Quidditch teams left the pitch, and Al and the two girls walked back to their Common room, where a minor celebration seemed to have broken out.

"A little premature to be celebrating the Quidditch Cup," Carolyn said. Al and Brianna both nodded.

"Way too early," Al agreed. "Rose, Nick, and Scorpius are all going to be in their meeting for a while. Why don't we get our books and get a jump on our studying – then maybe we'll have a little extra free time tomorrow to just hang out."

There was no celebration over in the Gryffindor common room today – something that they just were not very used to over the past few years. James, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey all got their books and headed for the library. Jon, Therese, and Andy saw them leave, and got their books too, and met them there. If they weren't in the mood to celebrate, at least they could get some work done instead of sitting around brooding about the game.

When Al, Carolyn, and Brianna got to the library, they sat at a table near to where James and the other Gryffindors were, and got down to work. Scorpius, Nick, Allie, Rose, and Matt joined them about an hour later, and they worked until dinnertime, and then took the rest of the night off to just hang out together.

Arianna was sitting on one of the sofas in the Gryffindor common room, cuddled up with James' arms wrapped around her. Aaron and Tracey were on another sofa next to them, and they were talking quietly, tired out from the long Quidditch game, and working on their assignments.

"Well, at least we won't have much homework for tomorrow," Aaron said, trying to sound cheerful.

Tracey grinned at him. "I guess we'll just have to come up with something more interesting to do, then," she told Aaron, her eyes alight with mischief.

He smiled back, and gave her a kiss. "I'm sure if we all put our heads together, we can come up with a plan."

They talked about ideas for what they could do the next day, then the talking slowly dwindled as they just enjoyed cuddling with their respective partners.

The next thing Aaron knew, he was being woken with a tender kiss. He opened his eyes to see Tracey's smiling face.

"Hi, sleepy."

He looked around and saw that they were alone in the Common room. "What time is it?"

She laughed. "After one. Apparently we both fell asleep, and your sister and James decided to leave us here."

She was still wrapped in his arms, and Aaron squeezed gently. "Remind me to thank them in the morning."

Tracey laughed, and moved to extricate herself from his embrace. "Come on, we should get to bed."

He held on to her, and smiled. "How about you let me kiss you goodnight first?"

She relaxed and turned her face to his. "Kiss away, I'm all yours."

He let go of her waist, and put a gentle hand on each side of her face, his fingers just lightly brushing her hair, and his soft kiss built slowly into a passionate embrace that left them both a little dazed.

"That was really something," she breathed, smiling at him.

When he went to pull her into another kiss, though, she put her hands firmly on his chest. "If I let you keep kissing me like that, we'll never get any sleep," she told him. She laughed at the look on his face, and stood up. "Come on, Aaron. It's way past our bedtime. There will be lots of other chances for more kisses like that."

Aaron stood up too, walked her to the entrance to the girls dorms, where she kissed him one last time before disappearing into the stairway. He turned and went to his own room and bed, quickly falling asleep, morning only a few hours away.


	34. Winter and Spring

Chapter Thirty-Four – Winter and Spring

With Valentine's Day over, and Quidditch matches done until May, the students at Hogwarts were loaded down with their studies. Between their classes, never-ending assignments, and Quidditch practices, James, Al, and the others seemed to be on the go all of the time.

The New Marauders continued to help their fellow students too, and Lily was a big part of what they did. Arianna now had forty-six mentor volunteers helping students with homework, or with personal issues.

For the rest of February, March, and April, other than Hogsmeade weekends, there wasn't much excitement happening at the school at all.

Outside of the school, though, things were hopping! Harry and Lily were making day trips to Marauders Paradise to help organize the wedding that was being put together on such short notice.

On the second weekend of March, the Marauders Institute began advertising their newest product, and created a storm of media attention. When they went on sale at the end of June, Ginny's now long-time pet project, the VirtualMall was going to certainly be a huge hit.

The difficulties in overcoming the creation of an entirely new way of securely exchanging money had taken years to create, and to negotiate with Gringotts. Where other games were complete when sold, this one linked to the game systems from the Institute, where the virtual store owners could continually modify their store or inventory to match the actual stores, or even just do something completely different that maybe wasn't even possible in real stores.

There were eight VirtualMalls that would be going on sale, and eventually customers would be able to buy the program for every magical mall in the wizarding world. VirtualMoney could be purchased at any real store that had a Virtual counterpart, or a VirtualAccount could be setup at a Wizard or Witch's local Gringotts bank. Delivery of purchased products could be nearly immediate, using Translocators, or sent to the customer by any means the customer requested and paid for.

The financial implications for the Institute, and for Gringotts were the most astonishing projections that any of the senior PBP managers had seen in their more than twenty years. A whole new demographic of customers would be buying Virtual GameWizards. PBP would have income from the purchase of the VirtualMall programs, from transactions, and from the purchase and use of more Translocators.

Since between PBP Investments and Witch Investments they also owned quite a few of the retail stores that would have VirtualStores too, they were positioned to make significant profits in every segment of the retail, banking, and manufacturing sectors that surrounded the new product and the business that would be created.

Most of the Weasley family, along with Lisa and Marcus went to Marauders Paradise on the Friday before Megan's wedding. Devon was muggle-born, and so only his parents would be attending from his family. Lisa was Megan's maid of honour, and Kevin was Devon's best man.

There was a reception to welcome everyone on Friday night, and they had dinner together at the hotel, then went to Gabrielle and Kevin's house, where they spent the evening outdoors before returning to their hotel suites. With the time change, most of them were very tired after a long, long day.

They had a beautiful day for the wedding. They were having another beach ceremony, this one on the beach near Megan's apartment.

There wouldn't be a very long 'aisle' for Harry to walk Megan down, but she and the other women were getting ready in her apartment, and when it was time to go to the beach, Harry walked with her from there.

"Do you have everything?" Lisa asked Megan.

Megan looked down at herself. "I think so," she said, smiling.

"You've got blue in your flowers, and Ginny's diamond necklace is borrowed, and your dress is new," Lisa said. "We forgot something old!"

Harry laughed, and took Megan's arm. "She's got me for that one," he told the girls, who both laughed along with him.

"You look amazing," he told her as they followed Lisa, and started their walk toward the waiting guests. "You're happy?"

She smiled at him. "Yes. Happier than I could have ever dreamed."

"Devon's a good man," he commented. "A really lucky one too."

"I think so – on both counts," she said, laughing.

Harry stopped for a minute and turned to look at her. "I want you to know that I'm really proud of you, Megan, and I love you very much," he said. Kissing her cheek softly, he smiled again. Lisa was waiting for them now, already at the back of their little gathering of friends and family. "We better get going, or they'll wonder what's going on."

Megan held him back for another moment. "Thank-you. I love you too."

They made it to the beach, and Harry kissed her cheek again as he placed her hand in Devon's, then stepped back to stand with Ginny. She smiled as she took his hand, and they watched as the old Wizard began the ceremony.

Harry felt a small hand take his other hand, and he smiled at Lily. The service was pretty short, and they were quickly exchanging rings and vows. When they were pronounce husband and wife, Harry had already used up a significant part of his tissue reserve, handing them to his left and right as mother and daughter both cried happy tears.

There was another private dinner, and then they all went dancing, including Lily, Hugo, and Frederica. They all gathered outside shortly after eleven to wish the newlyweds well, and see them off. They were staying on the island tonight, and would be leaving in the morning for their honeymoon.

Harry and Ginny took the three kids back to their suite, and were in the group that had decided it had been a long enough day, and went to bed.

Easter at Hogwarts was another adventure in hilarity. When the Chocolate Easter Wheezes went on sale, pink bunnies, easter egg and lily headed kids started popping up all over school. At breakfast on Easter day, there were several hundred temporarily Transformed students.

The school wasn't turned into anything, and there wasn't a mass case of bunny-mania that morning, but the students kept watching for whatever prank was coming. James and Al did not disappoint them.

It was a warm, sunny spring morning outside, and so a lot fo the students were outside enjoying the day when the bunnies started to appear. They kept on coming, more and more of them, and there were soon hundreds of bunnies hopping around the school grounds. Then they were in the school too – in the Great Hall, the Library, Common rooms, and nearly everywhere you walked.

"Well, aren't they just the cutest?" Carolyn told Al as they were walking together outside. "I wonder if they'd let you pick them up?"

Al smiled. "They look tame, why don't you try?"

She bent down, and one practically hopped into her arms. When she'd stroked it for the seventh time, though, it suddenly turned into a chocolate bunny! Al started laughing quietly at her surprise, and she turned to stare at him.

"This was you two again?" She looked at all of the bunnies all over the grounds and absently took a bite out of her bunny. It was very good chocolate!

Al just continued grinning and watching all of the other students as they began discovering what happened when you picked the bunnies up and pet them. Soon, everyone was smiling and having a great time. Some of the bunnies would hop right into a kid's arms, while others seemed to want to be chased around first.

James and Arianna walked up to them, both grinning. "I'd say this practical joke is a hit," Arianna told them.

Carolyn nodded. "And pretty tasty too," she told them as she popped the last piece of her bunny in her mouth.

The bunnies were fun, but year-end exams, OWL's and NEWT's were only a bit more than a month away, and none of the students could take a whole day off from studying. The New Marauders each caught themselves a bunny, then took their chocolate snacks with them, and went to work. It took until after dinner that evening for most of the bunnies to be caught and eaten, but the students would find a stray bunny here and there all over the school for the next several days.

The first Saturday in May was the day of the game between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. The Slytherin team desperately wanted a win. They were facing the prospect of having the worst losing streak in the history of their team. Hufflepuff wanted the win to stay in the race for the Quidditch Cup.

The Slytherin team had started out the year with a bad loss to a good Gryffindor team, a horrendous match where they were destroyed by a vengeful Ravenclaw team, and now they were facing a Hufflepuff team that had gone from a poor game against Ravenclaw to a great win over Gryffindor, and were on a roll.

Now the Hufflepuff team had it all together, and they showed it as they overpowered the Slytherin team. The Hufflepuff team only made one mistake in their game plan. Since points difference could play a part in the Quidditch Cup race, and their team was actually in a negative net points, thanks to the big loss to Ravenclaw, they wanted to score as many points as they could.

They underestimated the Slytherin Seeker, though, and didn't defend him well enough. Slytherin still lost the game, but by only one hundred and twenty points. Hufflepuff was now tied with Ravenclaw with two wins, but were still behind on points. It would take a huge blowout win for Gryffindor to hand the championship to Hufflepuff.

The following Friday, May tenth, was Lily's eleventh birthday. She woke up to the smell of her favourite breakfast cooking, and hurriedly got dressed and went downstairs.

"Happy Birthday!" her Dad told her, gving her a big hug and kiss. "Are you ready for your best day ever so far?"

She smiled up at him and nodded. "Sure. What are we doing today?"

He grinned at her. "I can't tell you – yet."

Ginny joined them a few minutes later, giving her daughter hugs and kisses too. Owl Posts arrived while they ate breakfast, and Lily opened the three packages that had come for her. James, Al, and the other kids sent her a box of Chocolate Birthday Wheezes, which included the Chocolate Cakes, Chocolate Presents, and an assortment of other themed treats. Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle sent her a beautiful musical jewellery box, and Grandma and Grandpa gave her a certificate for a Spa day – her second favourite thing to do next to shopping.

When breakfast was over, and her parents were cleaning up, Lily was starting to wonder what was going on. They hadn't given her any gifts, and other than wishing her a happy birthday, and making her favourite breakfast, hadn't really done anything special yet.

"Looks like we're all done here," Ginny told Harry. "I guess we can get going now." He grinned at her.

"Do you think Lily will want to come too, or should we drop her off to hang out with Hugo or Frederica?" he asked.

"Why don't we ask her?" Ginny suggested, smiling too.

"OK. Lily, we're going to the mall in Paris this morning. Do you think you'd like to go there and maybe try out all of the rides that the eleven year olds and older can ride? Then maybe do a little shopping? Pick out your own birthday presents?"

Lily threw her arms around him, then hugged her mother too.

"I think that's a 'yes', Harry," Ginny said, laughing.

They spent the morning at the mall, then had lunch there, and shopped for a couple of hours after that before getting ready to leave. Lily was expecting to appear back at the cottage when they took the TransPortal, and so was surprised when she found herself standing in front of the Marauders Paradise hotel.

"Why are we here?" she asked her parents excitedly.

"We thought maybe you'd rather not have to wait until summer to go on all the cool rides you've been missing out on. We'll have the whole weekend to play and go on those rides together."

When she'd finished hugging and kissing them again, they went into the hotel, and were shown to their suite. They all got changed and went out to enjoy their day.

"The rollercoasters are definitely the best," Lily was telling them excitedly over dinner. "That tower one is pretty awesome too," she continued.

"The man there told me that muggles do something like it with something called a 'bungee cord', whatever that is, instead of just jumping and getting caught by the suspensor spell. He said that hardly any kids have actually ended up smucked on the ground. I think he's just making that part up, though."

Harry and Ginny listened as Lily, fully wound up now, entertained them throughout dinner. Their little girl had a gift for communication. It was fascinating to watch her mind work. Someone who wasn't paying attention might think she was just spouting off, but she took in everything around her, and her commentary was laced with insights and understanding of her world that was far beyond what most young children would have – more than even a lot of adults.

The three of them had an amazing birthday weekend together, including an extra special Saturday. That day started with Aunt Hermione and Aunt Marietta bringing Hugo and Frederica to spend the morning at the Water Park with Lily, and an afternoon and evening with Gabrielle and Kevin. Lily even got to go to the WizardKaraoke club, where her Daddy got up and did a song just especially for her.

When they went home on Sunday, she assured Harry and Ginny that this birthday had definitely been the best one ever so far.

There had been three weeks between the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game and the final match of the season between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Between studying for exams, and Quidditch practice, all of the students on both teams – and their practice teams, were working harder than they'd ever worked before.

On gameday, while Al might wish that he could be out there playing for his house, he did get the consolation of getting to sit in the stands with his parents, sister, girlfriend, and other members of the family to watch the game. That was definitely a lot better than just having a few minutes with them after the game.

He had been joking with James when he'd suggested back in February that the Arithmancy people would be having fun with the possible outcomes of this game. What they'd decided, was, that if Gryffindor won by more than six hundred and ten points, then Madame Hooch could declare a tie for the Cup between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, but that a win by Ravenclaw, a tie, or a loss by less than that six hundred and ten points would keep the Cup with Ravenclaw House for another year. If by some statistical miracle, Gryffindor won by exactly six hundred and ten points, then it should probably be a three way tie for the Cup.

The game got underway, and Al followed the action closely. He knew what their team game strategy was, and watched to see if it would be effective. They did want to win the game if possible, but Trinity had drilled every member of the team hard that they were not going to try to win at the expense of possibly losing the Cup.

"Your team is playing for the close win or loss," his father leaned over and told him. Al nodded as he kept his eyes on the action. "It's a good strategy," Harry added.

The lead swung back and forth between the two teams as they each put everything into the game. Gryffindor had only managed to pull into a thirty-point lead when Christina, making a bold run for the snitch left Jeremy with the choice to either catch the snitch himself, and win the game but fall short of winning the Cup, or lose both the game and the Cup. He didn't have the angle to block her to keep the game going. He only had a split second to make that decision before it'd be too late.

"Jeremy catches the snitch for Gryffindor! Gryffindor wins the game three hundred and seventy to one hundred and ninety!" Andy shouted in excitement. "Ravenclaw wins the Quidditch Cup on points! Well done, both teams!"

The Slytherin fans hadn't been cheering for either team, since they'd been beaten by all three of the Houses still contending for the Cup, and the Hufflepuff fans were disappointed, but could look forward to next year, coming off of a great two win season.

The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fans were going crazy, and there was sure to be big celebrations in both Common rooms after the game.

James, Aaron, and Arianna were with their team as they met the Ravenclaw team on the pitch, and they exchanged congratulations for their respective wins of game and Cup.

He gave his Mum, Dad, and sister hugs when they got to the field from the stands. Percy and Penelope went to hug and talk with Nick and Scorpius, while Hermione and Hugo met with Rose and Matt, who was finally meeting Rose's mother for the first time.

"You all played a wonderful game today," Ginny told their kids on both teams. "I can hardly wait to see what happens in the next game of this series. It's just too bad it'll be a whole year before the next chapter is out!"

Lily smiled at her mom. "That chapter's going to get started in September when Hugo and I find out what House we get sorted into. One of the Houses are going to get a really good Keeper and Seeker next year."

James laughed at his sister. "You're pretty confident, what if you end up in Slytherin?"

Lily grinned at him. "Then I'll feel really, really bad for your team when my team beats yours. It might take me several seconds to get over it, but I would feel bad."

They didn't have much time together before Harry, Ginny, and the others had to leave. Christina again thanked Harry and Penelope for her broom, since she was graduating this year, and might not see them after today. Ginny had smiled at that, because she knew that Victoire had been keeping an eye on the girl for a job in one of the Witch Investment divisions, and would probably be recruiting her at the end of June.

There was one last round of hugs and kisses, then the students watched for a few moments as their family left for home before they all headed for either the locker room or their respective Common rooms to join the parties that would be the last moments of relaxation they'd have until after exams were over.


	35. School Daze

Chapter Thirty-Five – School Daze

The day after the big game, most of the students got down to work. There was just over a week until final exams, OWL's, and NEWT's started.

Aaron and Arianna each had nine OWL exams to study for, while James had his ten third year exams. The rest of the third years in their two groups would have nine exams, and the first and second years each had seven.

The study pattern that Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius had used last year was pretty much what they did again this year, with the exception that Allie joined them for most of those sessions. Rose didn't see very much of Matt during the last month, since he needed to study with the other third year students.

Carolyn and Brianna were usually close by, and their second year friends would help them out if they had questions or problems with their own studies. The two girls had their own little study group too, but having four of the smartest students in the school right there to help them out was a big advantage for them.

James was working with Jon, Andy, and Therese late on the first Sunday night in June. Their first exam was in the morning, and it was already after eleven o'clock at night. He sat back in his chair and put his arms around his head.

"I think I broke my brain," he told the others, who laughed at him. "I've officially hit information overload."

Jon snorted. "Come on, James, it isn't that bad."

James shook his head. "For you, maybe. I'm to the point where I'm starting to get all of those potions mixed up with each other."

Andy closed his books, and stood up. "I'm with James. At this point, a good night sleep is going to help me more than staring at books for another couple of hours."

Jon looked at Therese. "What do you want to do?"

She smiled at him. "I'm going to keep going for a while – at least until I get too tired."

Jon smiled back at her. "You guys go ahead," he told James and Andy. "We're going to keep studying. I'll see you in the dorm later if you're still awake"

James went over to the table that Arianna was working at with a bunch of fifth years, and leaned in to give her a kiss.

"Goodnight, Arianna," he told her quietly. "I'm heading to bed and taking the chance that all of that potions information doesn't dribble out overnight."

She stopped studying long enough to give him a hug and another kiss, then was lost again in her work.

The next day at lunch, James and the other third year Gryffindors were comparing notes on how they did with the written part of their Potions exam. They had the practical exam after lunch – the part that always worried James.

"Stop worrying, mate," Andy told him. "You only blew up the potions lab three times this whole year."

James nodded. "It could be four by the end of today, but at least I did ok on the written."

Arianna laughed as she heard his comment when she came and sat next to him. "At least you aren't testing for your OWL's," she told them. "I don't think I'll have to worry about taking Herbology next year – I don't think you get an 'E' or above when you lose control of your test plant and it bites your examiner."

Therese gasped. "It didn't!"

Arianna nodded, but she was smiling. "She was very understanding about it, though. It's alright, I guess, Professor Longbottom is great, but I don't like the subject at all anyway. I certainly won't miss it next year, and can tentatively stroke 'Herbologist' off of my career list."

They had lunch together, and then James and the other third year students headed to the Potions lab again. James did not blow up the lab, but his potion exam also ended up looking more like jelly and smelled horrible. Since he did see Jon and Therese's finished potions, he knew that his had gone wrong, but had no idea what his mistake had been.

When that exam was over, it was nearly time for dinner, so they took their books back to their dorm, met up with Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey, and went down to the Great Hall.

Al saw James and the other Gryffindor New Marauders come in to the Hall for dinner, and could see by the look on his brother's face that his potions exam hadn't gone all that well, but since he didn't look singed at all, it probably wasn't as bad as James probably thought it had been.

His Charms exams had gone perfectly today, and he, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius were all sure they would earn 'O's' again this year. Carolyn sat next to him at the table, and told him all about her DADA practical exam. She and Brianna were paired together for their exam, and she thought they'd both done pretty well. Their shields and offensive charms weren't very powerful, but they did both correctly perform everything, and Professor Williamson had seemed pleased with their work.

Tuesday night, the second years were going to have their Astronomy exam, so Al and the others went to have naps after dinner before going to the astronomy tower after dark to study for that exam. Al kept his friends working for three hours before deciding that they'd all hit their limit for the night and letting them all go back to bed.

James was not napping Monday evening. He and Therese were studying for Arithmancy – the only two members of their little group who were taking that subject. Andy and Jon were working at the table too, but they were working on the DADA exams they'd be having on Wednesday.

He might be fairly indifferent to the subject, but James did have an aptitude for arithmancy, and was one of the top students in the subject. Tonight it was Arianna kissing him goodnight and going to bed, while he stayed up to study until nearly two, mostly helping Therese with her studies until she felt more confident that she was ready.

Arianna and James were both much happier by lunchtime on Tuesday. History of Magic was one of her best subjects, and she knew she'd done very well on her OWL. James felt the same about his Arithmancy exam. They decided as a group to take a couple of hours off to relax before jumping back into their studies.

While James and his friends were taking a break, Al was learning a lesson in how to juggle priorities – studying for his exam tonight, and helping his friends do the same, and comforting his upset girlfriend, who was sure she'd bombed her written exam for Charms. He knew she must have done great on the practical, since he'd worked with her, and with Brianna to come up with a pretty creative pineapple display for them to do.

He did somehow manage to do both during the rest of the day, but he was already tired out by the time the second year Astronomy exam started. Rose actually finished her exam before Al, if not by much, but he'd worked a little more slowly to make sure that he didn't make any dumb mistakes just because he was tired and bleary eyed. They were both sure they'd done great, though. He didn't wait up for Nick or Scorpius this time, and instead went straight to bed.

James was paired up with Jon for their DADA practical exam. They were one of the first pairs being tested that morning, and they were both ready. He knew he wasn't the powerhouse that his little brother was, but he was still the best in his year, and the exam was a breeze for him. Jon might be the quiet one of their group, but he was a pretty strong wizard himself, and made a good partner. When they were finished, they were both sure they'd receive high marks for their work.

This was a study day for Arianna and the other OWL students, and she, Aaron, and Tracey studied all day and late into the night for their Charms OWL's on Thursday. The first and second year students all had a study day too. Al and his second year study group spent the day getting ready for their Transfiguration exam, while Carolyn and Brianna had an easier day preparing for History of Magic.

James was in the common room, studying for his own Charms exam on Friday when Arianna came in, just back from the written part of her Charms OWL.

"How'd it go?" he asked her, getting up to give her a hug.

"Pretty good," she told him. "I messed up a couple of questions, but I'm happy with it."

"That's good. Ready to go get some lunch, and take a break before the practical this afternoon?"

She smiled and nodded. He closed up his books, threw them in his bag, and they headed down to the Great Hall. They checked in with Al and the others at the Ravenclaw table before going to sit down. His brother and cousins (he now included Scorpius in that designation) had all told them that they'd aced both parts of their Transfiguration exam. Carolyn and Brianna had both breezed through their History exam too. Now they all got a three day weekend to study for their next exams.

"I wish I had a three day weekend to study for Transfiguration," Arianna told James as they walked over to their table.

"I've got Care of Magical Creatures on Monday, so that won't be too bad to get ready for. It's Herbology and Divination that are going to be my tough ones next week."

She nodded. "I've got Divination on Tuesday. I don't imagine I'll do much better on it that with Herbology, though. It's not a prediction, just reality."

James laughed. "I think I can at least pass, but I haven't made a prediction all year that came true."

"Has anyone done it this year that you've heard?" she asked him.

James laughed. "No, but Professor Stimpson is still hopeful."

"Shouldn't she be able to use her own powers to see that none of us has a scrap of ability?"

"She probably can," James answered. "I guess it doesn't hurt to learn how it's all supposed to work, though. In a way, it's kind of like the History of Magic – even if you can't really do anything with it, it's probably still good to know about."

She smiled at him. "That almost sounded like you don't think it's a total waste of time anymore, James."

He grinned. "It does, doesn't it? Don't tell anyone, though. I've got a reputation to keep."

James had asked them if they'd doused all of the first and second year students with Felix Felicis to manage to score a three day weekend during exams. Al and the others had laughed at his brother as he and Arianna had left them to go over to their table for lunch.

That didn't mean that they could take it easy – on the contrary, they continued to study all day, and late into each night. Rose had her four friends ready for their Herbology exams by Monday, and Al and Scorpius had helped Carolyn and Brianna to be ready for their Potions exams too, and when they all went to bed on Sunday night, they were each confident that they were ready for their tests.

James felt burned out by the end of the second week of exams. He'd barely even paid attention to the passing of his fourteenth birthday. He vaguely remembered opening some presents, and a particularly great birthday kiss from Arianna, but other than that, they didn't have time to celebrate it – there was just too much work to do.

He'd done great on his Care of Magical Creatures exams, and pretty good on Herbology and History. When he'd finished his Divination, though, he was pretty sure that he'd be dropping that course for next year. If he passed, it'd barely be with an A, and he wouldn't be surprised to see a 'P' on his Hogwarts letter this August.

Arianna and Aaron were both sure they'd probably passed their Transfiguration, Divination, DADA, and Astronomy exams, but they didn't think they'd have the 'E's' or 'O's' they'd need on their OWL's to continue with either Divination or Astronomy next year.

Al had a busy week too. He, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, and Allie had all worked hard all week. The extra day to study Herbology had helped, and they all felt pretty good about both the written and practical exams. They were all strong in History and Potions, and those exams were easy compared with the grillings they gave each other as they studied.

Tuesday night, Al stayed up late with Carolyn, Brianna, and a few of their classmates, and did an Astronomy tutorial to help them prepare for their exam on Wednesday. The girls had been happy with how they did on their Potions exams, although neither of them fully completed the practical exam. They were both pretty good in Transfiguration, and were sure they'd done very well on both the written and practical parts of that exam.

The third years had two exams left for the last week of school, but the rest of the New Marauders only had an exam on Monday. Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey weren't taking Arithmancy or Ancient Runes, so when they finished their Potions OWL on Monday, they'd be done. James, Andy, Jon, and Therese had Transfiguration on Monday, and Astronomy on Tuesday, then were done for the year too.

Al and Nick were waiting outside of the DADA classroom. Rose and Scorpius were in there taking their exam now, and they were scheduled immediately after them. When their friends came out of the room, they both looked happy, but they didn't have time to discuss how it went.

Professor Williamson welcomed them, and told them to get into position.

"Mr. Weasley, please set the block of wood in the middle between you on fire. Mr. Potter, when he has succeeded, you will put it out."

The boys grinned at each other. This one was easy.

"_Incendio!"_ Nick said confidently, and the block of wood caught fire immediately.

"Aguamenti!" Al answered, and watched as his fountain of water quickly put the fire out.

"Very good. Next, Mr. Weasley, shield. Mr. Potter, attempt to retrieve your opponent's wand."

Nick put his shield up, but he knew what was coming, and braced himself.

"Expelliarmus!" Al shouted, and Nick's shield blew apart, and his wand flew into Al's outstretched hand.

"Exellent!" Professor Williamson told them. Al sent Nick's wand back to him. "Now, since we all know that Mr. Weasley will not defeat your shield, please leave your shield down, Mr. Potter, so that I may see that your cousin can perform the disarming spell.

Nick performed the expelliarmus spell, but as the wand was about to reach him, Al shouted – "Accio wand!", and it turned around and shot back to his hand. Nick and Professor Williamson both stared at him, then grinned when he looked embarrassed.

"Sorry," Al mumbled, turning red.

"That's quite all right, Mr. Potter. I'm impressed. I wouldn't have expected that you could overpower a disarming spell with a summoning charm. Shall we continue?"

Both boys nodded, and the rest of their exam proceeded without any problems, and then they were finished, and done their exams for the year.

They had lunch with their Ravenclaw friends, and then Scorpius and Al gave Brianna and Carolyn kisses and hugs, wishing them luck on their practical exam for Herbology, then went outside to relax all afternoon.

Nick and Allie went off for a walk by themselves, and Rose was spending the afternoon with Matt, while he studied for his Astronomy exam.

That left Al and Scorpius to hang out together for most of the afternoon. They went outside and found a shady tree to sit under.

"Any idea what we'll be doing all summer?" Scorpius asked him.

"Not really," Al answered. "We're planning on getting together with the team at least once a week again this summer, and we'll probably have a workout in the mornings when we can." He thought about what else he knew about already.

"Rose's parents, and mine are going away for the first week of July to celebrate their twentieth anniversaries. They're going to the new resort that Megan's running – Marauders Escape. We'll have Aaron and Arianna staying with us that week, but they'll still be working during the day at the Institute."

"I didn't spend all that many days at Nick's house over Christmas, since we were on the island too. I hope everything will work out for all of us."

Al smiled at his friend. "Don't worry about that at all, Scorpius. Aunt Penelope and Uncle Percy really like you. If you thought the Christmas holiday was great, wait until you've spent a whole summer with our family."

Scorpius grinned too. "At least I'll get to see Brianna a lot more than last year. That's a definite plus."

"You're going to love Marauders Paradise too," Al told him. "I forgot to include that with what we'll be doing."

"Yeah, that's going to be pretty awesome too, from what I've heard," Scorpius agreed.

They talked quietly together for another couple of hours, enjoying the afternoon, then went to the Common room to wait for the girls to get back from their exam. When they came in, both girls looked happy.

"Are you happy because exams are over, or because you did well on your exam?" Scorpius asked Brianna.

"Both," she told him as she hugged and kissed him. "Especially since now we get three whole days to just hang out with our friends before going home."

The girls put their books away in their dorm, then they all headed for dinner in the Great Hall. Matt was the only one left in their little group that still had an exam left to take. The first and second year students were all done, but there were other exams for the third to seventh years on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Ravenclaw New Marauders made an early night of it on Monday. After staying up late every night for over two weeks, they were all more interested in catching up on sleep that sitting in the Common room and watching the older students study.

Tuesday was definitely a play day. They went down to the Quidditch pitch and goofed around on their brooms for a a couple of hours in the morning, then wandered around outside until lunch. They played GameWizard in the Common room for a while in the afternoon before again going outside to hang out. After dinner, they watched a little WWVN together, and enjoyed a little quality snuggling time.

James, along with the rest of the third years, joined the growing ranks of students that were finished their exams on Wednesday. The school grounds had students everywhere you looked.

He was out among them, taking a walk with Arianna in the morning. "It's hard to believe that we'll be going home on Friday, and starting work on Monday," he said quietly.

"Right now, I'm just glad exams are over, and we get a couple of days together," she answered. "Don't make too many plans with the rest of your friends. You owe me some serious 'us' time, Mr. Potter."

James grinned. "That definitely sounds like something we should go find someplace quiet to sit and talk about."

Arianna returned his smile. "The finding someplace quiet works for me. Talking is optional."

By the end of the afternoon, exams were over. The Common rooms that night were filled with students celebrating, playing, and relaxing. More than a few were finding quiet places to spend with boyfriends or girlfriends that, once summer holidays started, they wouldn't see as much, or might not see at all until school started again in September.

The end of year feast began with the announcement from Professor McGonagall that Hufflepuff had won the House Cup this year, and the Great Hall was sheathed in the Hufflepuff blazon for the evening, in honour of their achievement.

"Did you get packed up this afternoon?" Carolyn asked Al as the dinner started.

He nodded. "Yes. I'll just have a couple of things left to pack in the morning. You?"

"I'm done too. I don't know how most of the kids can leave it until morning and still make the train on time."

Al laughed. "Then get James to let you take a look in his trunk tomorrow night when we're back home. I doubt he even has it straightened out before it's time to start packing again for school in September."

Carolyn smiled. "This feels strange tonight. I'm looking forward to the holidays, but I'm also going to miss being here."

"There probably aren't that many of the other students that feel like that, but then, we probably have more fun here than they do."

"We definitely do," she agreed.

They talked with Rose, Matt, Scorpius, Brianna, and Nick during dinner. The first thing they did after the meal was to all go and congratulate Allie on the Hufflepuff House Cup win before leaving Nick in her capable care, and going back to the Common room. The three couples found seats in the crowded room, and spent the rest of the evening talking about the best parts of the past year, and the upcoming summer. Rose and Matt were the only ones still up when a smiling Nick returned.

"Good night, Nick?" Rose asked him when he came over to them.

"More like great, I'd say," he answered. "How 'bout you guys?"

Rose and Matt both grinned. "That answers my question," Nick said. "I've got to go pack yet, though, so I'll see you in the morning. Carry on with whatever you were doing, mates."

He heard his cousin and friend both laughing as he walked away, but he didn't look back.

The next morning, all of the students made the trek to Hogsmeade Station, and boarded the Hogwarts Express. There were tears from some of the older students who were leaving school for the last time, and a lot of excitement from all of the children that were looking forward to the summer holidays.

For some, the train leaving the station marked a beginning, for others, and ending. To the New Marauders, it wasn't a metaphor for anything like that – it was just a way to move along from one adventure to the next.


	36. Welcome Home

Chapter Thirty-Six – Welcome Home!

Harry looked around the platform as he, Lily, and Hugo waited for the Hogwarts Express to bring the kids home for the summer. He didn't detect Draco anywhere, so his old nemesis must not have decided to come and observe his son's return from school, or hadn't been able to get away without raising suspicion.

He did see Dirk Avery's parents, presumably waiting for their son to arrive. He noticed that they were making a poor attempt at covertly watching him, and his mental alarm was telling him that they were studying him for some reason that was more than casual interest.

The train pulled in, and students quickly began disembarking. Their kids came in two waves, with Al and the Ravenclaw group reaching their welcoming party first, and James, Aaron, and Arianna a few minutes behind.

As Harry welcomed each of the kids, he was staying alert to what the Avery adults were doing. They were definitely watching Scorpius now, and how he was interacting with Harry and the other kids. He didn't need to stop what he was doing as he probed both of them. He'd refined his abilities over the years, and the Averys didn't feel a thing. He could clearly see what was in their minds as they focused on the boy, and what he saw wasn't good.

'Some people just never learn', he thought to himself. It was hard to believe that with all the progress that had been made over the past twenty years that Lucius and his little band of dissenters could still hold on to their stupid bigotry and hate. Their pathetic scheming was almost laughable to him if it wasn't for the fact that that they were now looking to use Scorpius. That they didn't care how much they had to hurt him in the process said a lot about how little they'd changed – Azkaban had done nothing to convince them to give up their old ways.

He put those thoughts aside for now, though, and continued to welcome the kids. He'd figure out what to do with the problem later. When they were all ready to head for the mall, he sent their luggage to the cottage, Rose's house, and Nick and Scorpius' townhouse.

The 'Welcome Home' lunch had been going on every year since Teddy started going to Hogwarts, but now it had become a pretty large family gathering. This year, nearly everyone in the family had come to the banquet room that Harry had reserved, except for the family that was in other countries.

There was an extended round of hugs and kisses, as the kids were embraced by their parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna all knew that they were as much a part of this as the other boys and girls.

When they all sat down to eat, the kids told the adults all about their exams, and the last few weeks of school. The adults told the kids all about what had been going on in the 'real world'.

Rose, Nick, and Scorpius were getting the play-by-play of the Canons' Championship Finals loss to the Harpies. The kids had watched it on WWVN while they'd studied for their exams, but Ron gave them the 'insiders' view of the game.

"Wait until next season," Ron was telling them. "Dennis and Demelza are retiring after next season, and they're going to want to go out with another Championship. I'll bet with their motivation, we'll have a great year!"

Rose smiled at her Dad. "I bet that makes you think about coming out of retirement for one more season," she told him.

Hermione turned to face Ron. "No."

Father and daughter both grinned at her.

"Definitely not. You are not coming out of retirement. Just forget about it." She turned to look at Rose next. "Stop putting ideas like that out there for your father – he's enough trouble all by himself without your help, young lady." She stared the two of them down until she heard simultaneous 'Yes, Dear' and 'Yes, Mum' responses from the pair, then turned back to the conversation she'd been having with Ginny and Isabelle.

In each of the past three years, there had been at least one of their kids graduating Hogwarts. Since they didn't have that happening this time, there were no extra meetings or trips needed this year. The kids were given the choice of what they wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon, and the majority voted to go play on the island together.

While most of the adults had to go back to work after lunch, Percy surprised his two boys by taking the afternoon off to join them, and Ron was also free to go. The three men and twelve kids, including Frederica, took the TransPortal to the island, and were all quickly changed and out playing on the lagoon, and enjoying a few hours of sun and fun.

"This is a pretty awesome way to start the holidays," Brianna told Scorpius as they were taking a break, sitting in the sand together and having a drink and snack.

"I'm still amazed at this place," he said, grinning at her. "It hardly even seems real that this morning we woke up in our dorms at school, and now we're sitting in the sand on a sunny beach, spending the afternoon playing with our friends and their fathers."

Brianna gave him a hug. "Just enjoy it, Scorpius. Sometimes I don't even really feel like I have a home, since Carolyn and I spend as much time at the cottage, or with Lisa and Marcus, or here than we do at the residence. I wouldn't have it any other way, though. She and I both kinda think that home is wherever we are with the people we love, not where we're sleeping at night."

Scorpius thought about that as they watched their friends playing on the jet-skis, AquaBikes, or just playing in the sand or swimming in the water.

"That's a pretty great way to look at it," he told her.

She flashed him a smile and stood up. "I think so." Holding out her hand to him, she pulled him to his feet. "Come on! We can talk about serious stuff on rainy days – let's get back out on the water again for a while before it's time to go back home."

Harry left for the cottage about an hour ahead of the kids, Ron, and Percy, so that they could play a little longer while he started getting dinner ready for the twelve kids and ten adults that would be coming for the evening.

While he worked, he had time to think about what he'd learned from looking into the minds of Dirk Avery's parents. The Ministry of Magic kept watch over every former Death Eater. Harry had enough connections to know what was going on at any time with them. He knew that they got together and mostly whined and complained, but there hadn't been any real plotting and scheming reported. What they were planning now, though, was obviously the beginning of a new plan to regain power..

The question was, what he should do about it. He could tip off the Aurors, but he really had no proof, and while they tried to gather that evidence, Scorpius could be at risk, not to mention the danger to the Aurors themselves.

He continued to consider all of his options, and by the time the kids, Ron, and Percy got back to the cottage, he'd decided what he was going to do. With that worked out, he put the matter aside again, and went back to enjoying the time with his family.

They had dinner outdoors, and afterward, played a couple of Quidditch matches, and then a game of LaserBroom at dusk. The kids were all playing LaserBroom when Harry asked for all of the adults to go with him into the cottage.

When they'd all taken seats in the sitting room, he told them about what he'd found out at King's Cross Station. Percy was the first one to respond to his news.

"We need to get the Aurors involved," he told the others. "I'm not going to let anything happen to that boy as long as he's in our care!"

Harry smiled at his brother-in-law. "I've considered that option, Percy, but I don't want to put anyone else in danger, and I doubt we could keep Scorpius safe while the Ministry tries to put together a case against Lucius and the others. We are – or more specifically - I am going to do something else instead, and put an end to this foolishness before it goes any farther."

"What do you have in mind, Harry," Percy asked him, not sure if this was going to be something he wanted to hear.

"I'm going to go over there tonight, and crash the little meeting they're going to be having shortly," he told Percy. He watched as everyone else looked at him with concern and worry. "Then I'm going to convince them to stop."

"That's your plan?" Penelope said incredulously. "Did you hit your head today, or do you need one of us to do it for you and knock some sense into it?"

Harry laughed. "No, I'm fine, but thanks for the offer." He looked around at everyone. "This isn't anything that you need to worry about. I can handle this. I just wanted to let you know where I'll be for a while, and I also want you all to stay here just in case there's anything I haven't found out about yet."

Ginny nodded, while the rest of them still looked unconvinced.

Harry stood up. "Look, I'm sure there's probably nothing to worry about here, but I just want to make sure that Scorpius is well protected while I'm away. It shouldn't take me more than an hour or two to explain things to them."

"I don't like this at all," Hermione told him flatly. "If you insist on dealing with them directly, we should all go."

There were several nods of agreement.

"I don't want to start a war, Hermione, and you know I can protect myself, but even I'd be pressed to keep all of us safe. I'm sure this can be ended without anyone getting hurt. If it turns out I'm wrong, then we'll end this the hard way – for them, that is." He looked around at them one last time. "One way or the other, though, Percy is right. We're not going to let anything happen to Scorpius. I'm sure that the best and safest way to keep him safe is for me to do this tonight."

Ginny stood up too. "Come on," she told her brothers, sisters-in-law, Lisa, and Marcus. "Let's go play with the kids while Harry deals with this little irritation. We don't have to like it much, but he is right."

The others all got up too.

"I'll be out in a minute," she added as they all started leaving for the back yard.

She and Harry both went upstairs, and he went into James' room, where he retrieved his cloak from his son's trunk.

Ginny smiled at him. "How did he get that?"

"Al gave it to him. He uses it when he's stopping the bullies at school."

She nodded. "They're going to worry about you the whole time, you know - and so will I."

"Yeah, but this will be easier and safer for everyone if I do it alone."

She nodded and hugged him tight. "I know. You be careful."

Harry looked into her eyes, and then kissed her tenderly. "I will be. I love you, Ginny Potter."

"I love you too, Harry," she told him, squeezing him tight one last time before letting him go.

To avoid having the kids see him leave, he kissed Ginny once more, put his cloak on, and was gone. Ginny hugged herself for a moment, then pasted a smile on her face, and went outside to pretend, along with the other adults, that everything was fine, and that Harry was not going into the dragon's lair to deal with the stubborn remnants of the Death Eaters. That he was going to do that to defend the son of another former Death Eater from the hands of the boy's own grandfather was a very strange twist of fate.


	37. Power Play

Chapter Thirty-Seven – Power Play

Harry apparated to a spot outside of the gates of Malfoy Mansion and looked around cautiously. He studied the grounds, and found that they did not use any wards on the property. Under the cover of his cloak, he apparated again, this time directly into Lucius' private library. He'd never been in that room before, but had pulled that information from the Averys too. He hadn't known why at the time, but now that he thought about it, this idea had probably been in his subconscious right from the moment he'd seen what was being plotted.

He wandered around the office, looking at the books and other artifacts that were displayed on mantles, shelves, and tables all around the room. That many of these things related to the Dark Arts was a disappointment. He thought that the Aurors probably should have confiscated them, but then again, maybe they hadn't been here before, or had been hidden.

It was almost time for the meeting he knew they were having, and Harry had only a short wait until Lucius led his guests into the office, and they took chairs around his large, polished wood desk. He watched Lucius put up privacy wards, but of course they'd be useless, since he was already in the room.

Harry looked around at each man in the group. Yaxley, Nott, the Lestrange brothers, both father and son Avery, Crabbe, and Goyle – the fathers of Draco's old sidekicks. Each of these men had been shown mercy by the Wizengamot and had not been left to spend the rest of their lives in Azkaban. Most of them had only been out of prison for just over a year.

"What did you find out today, Avery?" Lucius began.

Avery sneered as he answered. "The boy was being treated as if he was one of Potter's own – all hugs and kisses. It was disgusting to watch."

Lucius nodded. "Yes, but it also means that he's getting close to the family. The information he'll have learned over the past six months could be very valuable to our cause."

"And information is what we need if we're going to avenge my son's death," Crabbe growled.

Lucius smiled his serpentine grin at his long-time associate. "Patience, Crabbe. There are a lot of deaths that require Potter's blood for repayment."

Dirk's grandfather Avery nodded. "His, and every Potter and Weasley we can take with him."

"What's our next move?" Yaxley asked Lucius.

"Potter's having his twentieth anniversary the first week of July," Malfoy told the other men.

"Isn't that sweet," Lestrange said. "What does that have to do with this? You want to send them a present?"

Lucius and the others laughed.

"No, Rodolphus, I was thinking more along the lines of getting our hands on my little blood-traitor grandson while they're gone and he's vulnerable, rip the information he has out of him, and if that doesn't kill him, we'll put the imperius curse on him, and send him back to be our little spy until we're done with him."

Lucius was about to continue when he looked to the side of his office, and saw a ripple in the air. He jumped to his feet, drawing his wand as Harry appeared from under his cloak, having tired of listening to the juvenile plotting of the men.

"_You!"_ Lucius exclaimed. "You dare invade my home? My privacy?"

The other men had jumped to their feet too, and were spreading out across the room.

"Good evening, Lucius," Harry said conversationally. He was holding his wand negligently at his side, and watched as the other men took up positions around the room.

"I thought tonight might be a good time to come and have a little talk with you and the boys," he continued.

Lucius smiled that oily, evil grin that had once sent shockwaves of fear through the boy Harry had once been.

"And you knew that we'd all be here how?"

Harry laughed. "The same way that I know that every one of you are wondering if I'm here alone. How I know that Goyle is the only one of you that has enough sense to be afraid right now."

He looked at each of them. "Let me put your minds at ease. I am here alone. This is just a courtesy visit so that I can explain a few things to you that apparently you didn't learn back when I defeated Tom Riddle."

Lucius, and most of the other men were smiling now.

"So you thought you'd come here alone, and give us a lesson?" Yaxley growled at him. "You're even dumber than we thought." He raised his wand, but Lucius held up a hand.

"Now Yaxley, let's not be impolite. Why don't we let Potter tell us what he's so bravely come to say – then we can kill him," Lucius told the other men, who all laughed.

"That's very generous of you, Lucius," Harry told him, still smiling. "I came here to tell all of you that you will not be permitted to harm the boy – or anyone else."

Lucius was nearly crowing as he laughed. "Will not be permitted? We are purebloods. We do what we want. There is no one who can stop us."

"I can," Harry told him quietly but firmly.

Lucius laughed again. "You? You're not even going to survive the night, Potter. I should thank you for making our return to power so much simpler."

Harry looked at each of the men again calmly, then turned his attention back to Lucius.

"You've only got nine against one. Are you sure you don't want to get more help? I don't mind waiting if you want to call for extra help."

Rabastus Lestrange barked a laugh, raised his wand, and looked to Lucius. "Have you heard enough yet?" he asked.

Lucius nodded, and all nine men had their wands raised and ready to strike.

"Good-bye, Potter. We'll make sure to tell your family how you died when we go to kill them," Lucius said, smirking in his triumph.

Harry just stood there as nine 'Avada Kedavra' curses were shouted. He smiled as the glee the men showed on their faces turned to shock when their curses were absorbed by the impervious totalis shield that he had erected.

"Is that the best that you can manage?" Harry taunted them. He stepped forward, his shield shimmering all around him. As he moved into the centre of the room, the other men fanned out all around him, so that he was now encircled.

Lucius regained the smile that he'd briefly lost. "So you've learned to shield from the killng curse, have you?" he snarled. "Fortunately for us, it's not our only weapon."

They all began firing curses and hexes at Harry, who merely stood there, and waited as they threw everything they had at him. Nothing got past his impenetrable shielding. The explosions and noise had brought Narcissa, Draco, and Astoria running. When they had opened the door, and seen what was going on, they stood there and stared in open-mouted astonishment, watching the attack on Harry rage on and on.

Harry waited unil there was a pause in the action after nearly an hour of continual bombardment.

"Have you had enough yet?" he asked them in a deadly quiet voice.

Lucius was drenched in sweat, and breathing hard.

"You stand there behind your shield like a coward, and don't fight like a true wizard."

Harry smiled. "That's only because I'd prefer not to hurt all of you, Lucius. If you would all just agree to stop this foolish scheming, and leave the rest of the wizarding world alone, instead of trying to resurrect a past that will never be allowed to return, I'd be happy to leave you all alone."

Lucius snorted. "Oh, well, if that's all it takes, then – I promise!" The rest of the men all laughed at his obvious sarcasm.

Harry was still smiling, his shield still solid. "Not that I doubt you Lucius, but I'll require something a little more heart-felt than that. I can read each of your minds more easily than reading a book. I'll know when you've decided to agree."

Lucius stood up straight, and again pointed his wand at Harry.

"You'll be dead, Potter. That's how this little meeting will end."

Harry sighed, and suddenly all nine wands flew out of the hands of each man, and soared toward Harry. He did not catch them, but instead, one by one, each wand exploded into millions of pieces as they crashed against his shield.

"You've had your chances, Lucius," he told the now stunned-looking man. "Don't say that I didn't warn you."

He turned his head toward the doorway, where Narcissa was now drawing her own wand. A shield suddenly shimmered in the doorway, blocking the three spectators. "You really want to stay out of this Narcissa. I've repaid my debt to you back when I saved your son, and during the trials, when I requested mercy for you and your family. Don't test your power against mine now – you would lose."

Looking back at Lucius, he continued. "Lucius, this is over."

"It will never be over!" the other man spat.

Harry flicked his hand, and all of the men flew backward, and were slammed hard against the walls, pinned against them in places all around the office. Goyle wasn't the only one who looked afraid anymore. Wandless and defenseless, they were held fast where they'd been thrown.

"I had really hoped that you wouldn't all be so stubborn about this," he said conversationally.

"Do you think that sending us back to Azkaban will stop us?" Nott snarled at him.

Harry looked over at the man. "If I were planning on having you go there, I'd have just sent the Aurors to round you up, instead of coming here myself. We all know what a waste of effort putting you all back there would be."

Lucius looked at Harry, his hatred burning in his eyes. "Then you plan to do nothing. There isn't one thing that your precious morals will let you do to us that will convince us to give up our beliefs."

"I'm not asking you to give up your beliefs, Lucius. I'm just telling you to keep them to yourselves. You are going to give up all of the plotting and scheming – I'm just offering you a choice on how you will do that."

"And what could those choices possibly be, Potter?" Lucius shot back. "Will you make us say 'pretty please with sugar on top?"

Harry smiled again. "Um, No. I have a better idea. You can all give me unbreakable vows that you won't ever plot against, or ever bring harm to any Witch, Wizard, Muggle, or any other Magical or Non-Magical Creature, and you will do it voluntarily."

Lucius again barked a laugh. "You have got to be kidding," he growled.

"I'm very serious. The other option is that I wipe your minds blank."

The men all stared at him.

"You won't remember Tom Riddle, each other, your family, or friends. I'll make it so you don't even remember that you can do magic. Then I'll make it so that you can never relearn anything, and let you live out your lives in blissful, childlike ignorance. If I decide to be nice about it, I might decide to let you remember how to feed yourselves, and a few other basic skills. It probably would just be too cruel to your families if they had to take care of those basic biological necessities becaue you didn't know how anymore."

"That's impossible!" Lucius shouted at him. "You make threats that no wizard could do – not even the Dark Lord!"

Harry smiled at him. "I see we have a skeptic in the room." He looked over at Crabbe.

"You must miss your son," he told the big man. "You would probably be much more at peace without those memories of him driving your hatred." He barely moved his wand, and Crabbe stiffened momentarily, then relaxed, a blank look on his face.

"What did you do to him?" Lucius demanded.

"Helped him to forget about Vincent," Harry told him.

Lucius stared hard at him. "You're lying."

Crabbe was suddenly free of the wall, and was moving mechanically toward the open door. The shield that was still there flickered out for a moment as he walked out to stand next to Narcissa. When the shield was again in place, Harry spoke to her.

"Use your Legilimency on him, Narcissa. Try to find any memory of his son anywhere in his mind. He will not be able to keep you out, so try not to hurt him."

She pointed her wand at him. "Legilimens!" she said sharply. It only took her a few moments before she released the spell.

"He hasn't got a single memory of his son at all," she reported to Lucius and the others. "To him, Vincent never existed."

Narcissa watched as Crabbe again walked back into the room, which was then resealed again. When he'd been returned to the exact spot he'd been thrown into earlier, he suddenly shook his head, like he was clearing it. He looked around at the others, who were staring at him.

"What's going on?" he growled. "What are you all staring at?"

Lucius studied him for a long moment. "Don't you remember, Crabbe? We were just talking about your son."

Crabbe looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "What are you talking about, Lucius? You know I don't have any sons."

Harry smiled at him. "Are you sure about that, Crabbe?" He waved his wand again, and not only restored the man's memory of his son, but the memories of the past few minutes. The big man stared at him, and started to shake.

"What's it going to be, gentlemen?" he asked them, looking from face to face. "I restored Crabbe's memories. I won't do that to any of you the next time."

Narcissa was looking on in horror. "Lucius!" she called out to her husband. "This is no choice at all! Make the vow! You'll at least still have your life! I saw what he did – if he takes all of your mind, you will live the rest of your life like a child. You won't even remember me!" She looked at Harry with a mixture of fear and hate.

"We won't be able to continue our fight, Lucius, but be sure that someday, someone else will take up our cause, just as we took up the fight from those that came before us."

Lucius had watched her, and listened. When he turned his gaze back to Harry, the hate burned even deeper than before.

"We agree," he said fiercely. "You have won this time," he told Harry. "The war will never be over, though. My wife is right. Someday, another will come, and we will again rise and retake what is rightfully ours!"

Harry smiled at him. "And when they try, my family will stand against them, just as we always have."

The nine men were released from their invisible bindings.

"Join hands," Harry instructed them. "This unbreakable vow is going to be a little different than anything you've heard of before."

They all looked at him with identical stares filled with hatred, but said nothing.

"If it's broken, you will not die. Instead the mind-wipe that was your second option will be your fate."

The men looked at each other, then returned to glowering at Harry.

Harry began leading them through their unbreakable vow, ensuring that he'd left no loopholes that they could sneak through. As each layer of the vow was laid down, a tongue of brilliant red flame wrapped around each set of joined hands, even though Harry, as bonder, was only touching his wand to the hands of Lucius and Yaxley.

The men all watched the flames surrounding their hands. When the final clause was completed, the rings of flame began to fade. They all knew that the vow had indeed been completed, and that none of them would ever again be able to take the fight to any other being or creature in the world.

Harry let the shields drop, and looked at everyone both in and out of the room.

"It did not have to come to this," he told them with genuine regret in his voice. He looked again at Lucius. "If you hadn't all decided to go after Scorpius, we wouldn't be here tonight."

Lucius continued to look at him with hate radiating from every part of him. Narcissa, Draco, and Astoria, however, had turned to stare at him in stunned disbelief. Harry saw their looks and turned to them.

"They hadn't done anything to him, but they were going to very soon. Scorpius doesn't even know about it yet," he told them. "They'd planned on wringing every scrap of information he knew about my family and I, then send him back to us as an imperiused spy."

Harry stared down Narcissa as she tried to see if he was telling the truth.

"Your grandson is being well cared for by Percy and Penelope," he told her, "but he is under _my _protection, and he will not be harmed by anyone – not by his own grandfather, and not by anyone else."

He turned back to Lucius and the other eight men one last time.

"There's just one final thing I want to tell all of you," he said. "This whole thing was a childish waste of time. Did you actually think that I wouldn't keep tabs on every former Death Eater? Were all of you so misguided that you actually believed that it wasn't something more than just dumb luck that allowed me to defeat your former master?"

There was no change in the hateful stares from any of them. He briefly let go of the cover he normally kept tightly sealed over his true aura, and all of them stepped back from him involuntarily. The flash was gone as quickly as it had come.

"Go back to your petty, selfish lives. You know what will happen if any of you break your vow."

He started walking toward the door, and when he reached it, he turned around and smiled at the angry men.

"At least the one good thing that came out of tonight is that you'll never be able to abuse a single house elf, servant, or any other person or creature. That should make your families, and everyone around you very happy."

He turned to Narcissa, Draco, and Astoria, and walked out of the room, not looking back as the impact of his words began to settle in on Lucius and the others.

"Draco, Astoria, please come with me." When Narcissa looked at them sharply, the couple hesitated.

"Narcissa, I won't harm them. They will escort me to the gates of your property. I'd rather they do it voluntarily, but one way or the other, they will do it."

She nodded to her son, and the couple left, walking just ahead of Harry, leading him outside. When they were out on the grounds, Harry put up a Muffliato spell so that they could talk in private.

"I'm sorry about tonight, Draco," he began. "Your father and the other men should have left the war where it belonged – in the past." When Draco didn't say anything, he continued.

"Scorpius is going to be fine with Percy, Penelope, and Nick. He's a great kid, Draco. You two should be proud of him, even if you can't admit it around your family and friends."

Astoria had tears in her eyes, and Harry was a bit surprised to see Draco put his arm around her.

"I was sure that you'd ride to his rescue when father disowned him," Draco finally said.

Harry smiled. "It had been an option. Nick's his best mate, though, and we thought he'd be happiest living with him."

He looked around. "We don't have much time. I really just wanted you both to know your son is going to be fine. Probably a lot more than fine, since I see a great deal of potential with him that we'll make sure he has the opportunities to realize." He smiled faintly.

"He also tells me that rumor has it that I'm broke and living off of Ginny's income. Let's just say that those stories are inaccurate, and that he won't have to worry about money any more than you do."

Astoria was crying into Draco's shoulder now, and Harry handed him a package of tissues, then laughed as Draco looked at the strange package.

"Sorry," Harry said, grinning. He reached over again, and pulled one of the tissues out of the package. "It's a Muggle invention that every Witch shouldn't leave home without."

He took the tissue, and gently wiped a tear from Astoria's cheek to demonstrate.

"Scorpius loves you both," he said to Astoria. "Maybe some day all of this can be put behind you, and the three of you can be reunited."

There wasn't anything else to say, so he left the two of them by the gate, and apparated back to the cottage.

When he walked in the door, he realized that he'd been gone a bit longer than he'd expected, judging by the way that Ginny threw herself into his arms.

"Um, Hi, honey, I'm home," he teased. "Miss me?"

She punched him on the arm. "That is so not funny."

They walked into the sitting room to find not only the adults, but all of the kids waiting too. He looked at Ginny, who shrugged.

"Did you think that you could just disappear for nearly three hours, and not have our kids figure out that something was up?"

Harry laughed, and they both sat down.

"So what happened, mate?" Ron asked him bluntly.

"What have you told the kids so far?" he asked them.

"Pretty much everything you told us," Penelope told him. "You can pick up the story from when you left."

He smiled, got up again to pour himself a drink, and two others that were requested when he'd offered to pour more, and then he sat down next to Ginny again, and put his arm around her.

When he was done telling them the whole story a half hour later, he was beginning to think that the confrontation at Malfoy Mansion had been easier than the grilling he was getting back home.

Ron was grinning at his best friend. "So none of them can harm any Witch, Wizard, Muggle, or Magical Creature?"

Harry nodded, and Ron laughed.

"That's bloody brilliant!"

"Thank-you," Harry answered modestly. He looked over to where Scorpius was sitting with Brianna.

"How are you doing, Scorpius?" he asked the boy.

"I don't know yet," he answered truthfully. "The funny thing about it is that I'm not surprised at all that he'd be willing to do something like this. Mostly I think it just makes me sad. Scared will probably come later after it's sunk in."

Harry nodded. "Well, I'm sorry it had to happen like this, but I wasn't going to give him the chance to hurt you or worse." At that, Brianna put her arms around Scorpius, and hugged him tightly, tears shimmering in her eyes.

Percy stood up. "Well, it's getting late, and we should get going." He looked at Lily and grinned. "We can't let something like this get in the way of the annual shopping trip, can we, Lily."

She smiled up at her uncle, her eyes filled with excitement. "No, we cannot!" she agreed.

Lisa and Marcus took Carolyn and Brianna home with them. Nick and Scorpius went with Percy and Penelope, and George and Marietta went home without Frederica, who was staying overnight with Lily.

It had been a long day, and once everyone that was leaving had gone, the rest of them all headed upstairs for their beds. When Harry and Ginny were snuggled close, she kissed him and held him tightly for a long time.

"Everything is ok, Ginny," he whispered. "I'm sorry I worried you."

She looked into his eyes and smiled. "I'll think of a way for you to make it up to me."

He smiled too. "I think I'm going to like making it up to you."

She pulled him toward her for another kiss. "You're going to love it," she assured him.


	38. Record Breaking Weekend

Chapter Thirty-Eight – Record Breaking Weekend

It wasn't even dawn yet, and Harry and Ginny hadn't gotten much sleep when her WiComm started chiming with incoming messages. With the excitement last night, she'd forgotten for a while that the VirtualMall programs, and all of the associated products and services that went with them went on sale today. The WiComm messages were the first results being sent to her from sales of the products in time zones where stores were already open.

The chiming had woken them both up, and she'd hugged and kissed him when those first reports had let her know that the sales figures were even beating Luna's lofty estimates.

They both got up and ready for the day, and then went downstairs to the kitchen, where Harry started to work on cooking breakfast, while Ginny busily kept track of the information pouring in to her by QuillMessage on her WiComm.

"This is incredible!" she would say every few minutes. "The stores in the VirtualMalls for Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico City are already seeing significant VirtualSales." She flipped to the next message.

"This one's from Marietta. The Wheezes VirtualStores have already sold more product today than in a normal day in all stores. Their new distribution centre is shipping as fast as they can."

Harry smiled. "I bet they're glad that they listened to Luna and had the place built."

Ginny nodded, but was already on to the next message. "Owen's reporting that the GamePortal stores that are open already are seeing huge new sales of not just the VirtualMalls, but the Virtual GameWizards and GameWitches too. Most other programs and games sales are up too."

Her next message was about VirtualMoney and VirtualAccounts.

"Average VirtualMoney purchase from stores is two hundred galleons," she told Harry. "VirtualAccounts at banks range from one thousand to ten thousand galleons."

Lily and Frederica came into the kitchen and sat at the table with Ginny.

"What's all the excitement about?" Lily asked her mother.

Ginny smiled. "The VirtualMall programs are selling better than we'd hoped is what's so exciting."

"You know you lost Daddy a job with those programs, don't you?" Lily told her Mum.

Harry and Ginny both looked at her. "What job did I lose?" he asked his daughter as he turned back to his work.

"The job taking over helping Al and the others when I start school in September. I'll be able to still do my part when we go back – I can just go to any of those VirtualMalls and take care of everything myself!"

She watched as her parents both laughed.

"Darn," Harry said. "Lost another opportunity to the advances of technology. Next thing you know, they'll have VirtualVolunteers for the foundation, and they won't need me there either!"

All three girls laughed. "Don't worry, Daddy," Lily told him. "There will always be kids at the residence that will want you to come play dolls and DragonRider with them."

The rest of the kids were starting to come downstairs. James and Aaron must have smelled the food, since they were there by the time the platters started hitting the table. Arianna and Al came into the kitchen last, and quickly joined the others, trying to get a little food from the already almost empty platters and bowls.

"There's more on the way, guys," Harry told James and Aaron. "Just give me a few more minutes – unless you want to just come over here and eat right from the pans."

While they ate, Ginny continued to pass on all of the updates she was receiving. Victoire was tracking all of the Witch Investments stores, and they were all exceeding projections. She'd worked with her grandmother to have four regional distribution centres built that would handle products from all of their different retail stores.

Since so much of Witch Investments' business was clothing, it had been through working with some of their store managers, like Diane, that they'd developed the new scanning process to create the new VirtualAvatars for their customers. Any Witch or Wizard could, in just a few seconds, have a Virtual version of themselves that could be used in all of the Virtual games and programs. The great thing about them was that these Virtual shoppers were able to try on clothes, see how they looked on them, and even have them custom tailored before shipping – and the sizing would be perfect every time.

The kids all got ready to go shopping after they'd finished breakfast, and they were at the mall shortly after it opened. They were there to do their annual shopping for summer and work clothes for each of the children, but the mall was filling up with a lot of new faces this morning.

When Luna had made her sales projections, part of her estimates were based on her convictions that the VirtualMalls would attract customers that didn't normally frequent them. Despite the widespread availability of the TransPortal system now, there were still lots of small communities and remote areas of the world where Witches and Wizards just chose not to go into the big cities where the actual malls were located.

Thanks to Ginny's invention, they could stay at home, and still have access to most of the products offered in those malls. The Paris VirtualMall even had Virtual versions of all of their rides that the users could at least partially experience. Those customers were making a rare trip to the malls to purchase the Virtual game systems, VirtualMall programs, and either buying VirtualMoney, or setting up VirtualAccounts.

The girls had all gone off together, all set for a full day of trying on and picking out new wardrobes. Harry, Percy, Ron, and Marcus managed to keep the boys focused all morning on getting clothes for them too. They all stayed away from the GamePortal store, which was packed with customers, but nearly every other store was busy with customers buying VirtualMoney or in the case of the clothing stores, getting scanned to make their VirtualAvatars.

"Maybe we should have waited until next weekend to do this," Ron suggested to Harry as they waited in yet another lineup to pay for their purchases.

"They're doing pretty good, considering how many more people are here today. Besides, did you forget we're going to be gone next weekend for a whole week of sun, fun, and no kids?"

Ron grinned at him. "That'll be hard to take. A week of beautiful girls in bikinis, sitting by the pool or on the beaches."

Harry laughed. "Considering that it's our twentieth anniversaries, I'm thinking there better only be one beautiful girl in a bikini that you're watching."

Ron laughed too. "I'll try and remember that, mate. Just remember that I'm married, not dead, and there's a lot of very pretty girls out there in the world. It's not like Hermione never looks at any other guy."

"That's certainly true. It's pretty funny when a few of the girls get together on the beach at Marauders Paradise and start rating the guys as they go by," Harry agreed.

They reached the front of the line, and paid for the clothes that the boys had picked out, then went to catch up with them at the next store they'd gone to shop at with Percy and Marcus. Their morning pretty much went like that. The boys would continue shopping while Ron and Harry waited in lines to pay for everything they picked out. Both men were fairly sure that the other two men got the worst of the deal, having to keep track of all of the boys.

The girls were about ten minutes late meeting them for lunch, and were already loaded down with bags of clothes. Since the boys were done their shopping, after lunch they took all of the bags from the morning shopping with them, and went to spend the afternoon at the cottage. The girls, now empty-handed, headed back out to battle the other shoppers in their quest to find all of the perfect outfits, swimsuits, and accessories that were available.

Percy, Ron, and Marcus had all left for home - Percy and Ron with their boys, by the time that Ginny got back to the cottage with Lily, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna. The girls took their afternoon purchases up to their rooms, while Ginny went into the kitchen and plopped down onto a chair. Harry had already been cooking for close to half an hour, and had everything under control. He poured them each a glass of wine, and sat down next to her.

"Tough afternoon?" he asked after kissing her.

"Unbelieveable," she told him, leaning over and putting her head on his shoulder. "I love shopping as much as the next girl, but if Lily could, she'd probably want to start in one time zone, and just keeping going from mall to mall twenty-four hours a day."

"Could we?" Lily said excitedly as she walked into the kitchen with the other girls. Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna all laughed, but Ginny just groaned.

"I think that's a 'no'," Arianna told Lily. "What do you think?"

Lily smiled at her brightly. "I think we can find something else to do instead if we have to. Let's go outside and see what James, Aaron, and Al are up to. Maybe they'd like to lose a quick game Quidditch to us before dinner."

When the girls had left again, Harry asked Ginny how the rest of the day had been going for her VirtualMall sales.

"We're setting company records in every area," she told him. "Best selling game or program ever, best sales day for pretty much every company that has bought a VirtualStore, which of course includes every single retail store that both PBP and Witch Investments own." She took another drink of her wine before continuing.

"Owen has sold more Virtual GameWizards today than on any day since they were originally launched, and the day is just getting started on the west coast of the Americas."

Even though she was tired out from a long day, he could see that Ginny was still excited and thrilled that the project she'd been working on for years was finally being received so well by the public.

"You should be proud of what you've accomplished with this, Ginny," he told her. "In it's way, this will make just as big a change in everyone's lives as your Translocators, and the TransPortal have."

He'd gone back to cooking, and she got up from the table, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. "Thank-you," she told him before kissing him again.

"Oi, not again!"

They both turned to see James sticking his head in the doorway, and laughed.

"How long until dinner?" he asked them. "Lily's asked Aaron, Al, and me to beat them at a game of Quidditch."

"You've got half an hour," Harry told him. "Have fun."

"Thanks. Carry on," he told them. When Ginny laughed and moved toward another kiss, James groaned. "What was I thinking when I said _that_," he muttered as he left.

"I thought it was a good idea," Ginny told Harry. "Why don't we?"

Harry, Ginny, and the kids spent the rest of the evening, and all day Sunday relaxing, everyone happy to be back together, and have some time to be together before Ginny, Aaron, Arianna, and James all started work on Monday.

Sunday night, Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna all went back to the residence, and by Monday morning, what always felt like the real start of summer holidays began for everyone. While James would be creating new Wheezes, and Aaron and Arianna would be testing and playing games at the Institute, Al, Lily, their cousins, and Scorpius would be free to have their own fun every day. Going back to school was a long way away, and they were each excited about the days and weeks ahead. None of them were more excited about this summer than Scorpius Malfoy.


	39. Where No Malfoy Has Gone Before

Chapter Thirty-Nine – Where No Malfoy has Gone Before

Scorpius woke up in his bed on Sunday morning to what was certainly one of his new, most favourite smells: breakfast cooking in the kitchen. When he'd lived at Malfoy Mansion, he'd had a room and a bed there too. He'd never really once felt like it was 'his' even once in the years he lived there.

This bed and room had been his for about six months now, but he'd only stayed in it for just over a week of those months, and it still felt like it was his, and that he belonged here.

Thinking about Malfoy Mansion, though, brought back what had happened on Friday night. He'd woken up sometime in the middle of the night to find himself being gently held by Penelope, with Percy sitting on the bed next to him. Memories of his nightmare were still fresh, and he'd cried, and they'd comforted him until he again fell asleep. How sad was it that he had no memory of his own mother ever doing that for him – there'd been a long line of nannies for things like that. There had been a lot of them, not because of him, but because none of them had any hope of meeting the standards his Grandparents had set out for their servants.

He was still trying to come to terms with the fact that his own Grandfather would have tortured him, and then placed an Imperius curse on him. If Harry hadn't intervened, he'd only been a week or so away from those things happening, and his life being torn apart again.

The man that he now called Uncle Harry really didn't even know him at all when you thought about it, yet he went to Malfoy Mansion and faced down nine former Death Eaters, defeated them, and eliminated them from ever being a threat to the Wizarding World. He did that without any loss of life, and he did it to keep Scorpius safe. All of that happened in one evening, and nobody else would likely ever know about it.

He reluctantly got out of bed, and started getting ready when he heard Nick start moving around in his room. They met in the hallway, and went downstairs together.

"Good morning, boys," Penelope greeted them cheerfully. "Did you both sleep well?" She'd directed the question at both of them, but had been watching Scorpius, looking for signs that he had again been plagued by the nightmares that had given him such a restless night on Friday.

"I had a really good night's sleep, Aunt Penelope," he told her, giving her a hug before sitting at the table. Nick had nodded that he'd had a good night too, but he'd known that his mother had really meant the question for his friend anyway, and didn't really need to comment.

Uncle Percy was putting food on the table when they'd come in to the room, and they all sat down to eat.

"We've got the whole day to ourselves," he told the boys. "Anything special you want to do today?"

Nick looked at Scorpius. "Ever been to the mall that Mum's company built in Paris? The one with all of the rides?"

Scorpius' eyes lit up. "No! I've always wanted to go, but nobody would take me."

Penelope laughed. "Well, this is your lucky day, young man. You happen to be living with three very enthusiastic rollercoaster and extreme ride fans."

Percy laughed too. "I know, we look like a stuffy Ministry official and a business executive, but that's just our disguises."

Nick and Scorpius both laughed with Percy and Penelope.

"The other cool thing," Nick told him, "is that it'll give you a small taste of some of the rides that we'll get to go on when we're at Marauders Paradise."

Scorpius mostly listened through the rest of breakfast as the others told him, in great detail, about all of the rides that were at the mall. When they had finished eating, Percy and Penelope made short work of the cleanup, and then they took the TransPortal to Paris.

By lunchtime, Scorpius had become a rollercoaster addict, and there were quite a few other rides that he loved too. The one exception was spinning rides. Thankfully, the one ride like that that he did try had only lasted for a couple of minutes. If it had gone three minutes, he was fairly sure that his breakfast would have gone a lot faster than that extra minute would have.

They had lunch, then wandered the mall for a while before going back to the Atrium for one more round of rides.

"Just because these rides are based on Muggle inventions, my parents and grandparents won't even consider trying them out," Scorpius told Nick. "They miss out on so much fun because of a prejudice they don't even understand is totally based on bogus perceptions."

Nick nodded. "Do they think that Witches and Wizards invented brooms?"

Scorpius opened his eyes wide. "You're not suggesting that Muggles did, are you? That's practically heresy, you know."

Nick slapped his mate's arm lightly. "Very funny. Maybe you should grow up to be a comedian."

They were back home by mid-afternoon, so they all spent the rest of the afternoon in their small back yard. There was no way to play Quidditch right in the middle of the city, and the yard wasn't big enough to do that even if you could. All four of them loved reading, though, and having a couple of hours to sit in the sunshine and read, yet still be together and be able to talk and have fun was to each of them a perfect way to spend their time.

Percy and Penelope would both be back at work on Monday. Nick and Scorpius were going to be having their first daily Quidditch practice at the cottage. Since it was going to be a busy day on Monday, they had all gone to bed fairly early Sunday night.

Scorpius was lying in his bed, and was tired, but his mind was still running full speed. His thoughts were jumping from topic to topic, seemingly at random. He was certainly still trying to work out what had happened on Friday, but he was also thinking about his new surrogate family, trying to organize what he was learning about each of them, and sort out his feelings.

Some of those thoughts weren't very much fun to deal with, but most were actually quite happy – especially those about Nick, Percy, and Penelope. Before he drifted off to sleep, he decided that, for as long as he could, he was going to push his own family, and all of the issues that went with them, off to the side. He wanted to stop wasting his time worrying about things that at thirteen he couldn't control anyway, and just be a kid and have fun.

"Hey Nick, Scorpius," Al greeted them when the two boys got to the cottage in the morning. "Rose and Hugo will be here any mnute too."

While they waited, Nick and Scorpius told Al and Lily about their trip to the Paris Mall, and they told him about their day at home. When Rose and Hugo got there, they went out to the Quidditch pitch and started their warm-ups.

"Uncle Harry isn't practicing today?" Rose asked Al and Lily.

"He's already gone to the residence," Al told them. "Since he and Mum are going to be gone next week, he wants to put in some extra time now with getting things ready for the trip at the end of July."

"How do you want to do practice today?" Nick asked.

Al shrugged. "Why don't Scorpius and Hugo be our Keepers, you and Rose can play one-on-one Chaser, and I'll fly around and pretend that I can compete against Lily as Seeker."

They practiced for nearly two hours, and then went inside to get drinks, and talk about what they wanted to do during the next few weeks.

"Scorpius, how much sightseeing and traveling have you done?" Rose asked her friend.

He smiled. "Not much," he admitted. "When you grow up in a place where everything that's even slightly tainted by anything Muggle is taboo, you don't have all that many places to go."

Rose beamed at him. "Then I think a little sightseeing is in order, don't you?" she said, addressing all of them.

Once Rose got an idea, she ran with it. Within an hour, she had the next two weeks planned out for all of them. They would do a tour of Muggle London, take Scorpius to one of the Muggle malls, and visit the Museum of Quiddditch. He'd been to the cottage quite a few times now, but Scorpius had never been into Godric's Hollow, or to Chudley, so they decided to go to both towns that afternoon.

They'd gone to Chudley for lunch, toured the town, and then gone out to the stadium, where Ron gave them a short tour. From there they TransPortaled back to the cottage, then walked into Godric's Hollow.

During their first two years at Hogwarts, Scorpius and the others had completed a fairly broad review of Wizarding History, but coming here, and seeing some of the sights brought those lessons into stark relief.

The statue of James, Lily, and baby Harry Potter in the square was particularly moving for him, as was visiting the graveyard where Al and Lily's grandparents were buried. The cemetery was a who's who of history and fable – Ignotus Peverell, of the Deathly Hallows legend; Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore and their tragic tale, and many other names that he'd seen in history books, or heard about as a child.

On their way back to the cottage, Scorpius was shown where Bathilda Bagshot had lived – where Harry and Hermione had once battled Lord Voldemort. They'd stopped for ice creams on their way back to the cottage, and he felt a bit strange that they were having a snack while they toured places where life and death struggles had happened at different times in history.

When they were approaching the cottage, Scropius had suddenly stopped in his tracks, and stared at the place. His afternoon in town had brought a fact that he'd known for a long time into a real-life comprehension that he hadn't connected until that moment.

His friends had all stopped now too.

"What's wrong, mate?" Nick asked him, concerned.

Scorpius just stared at them for a minute. They didn't even think anything about it, he realized.

"I'm fine. It just finally dawned on me that your cottage was _that cottage._"

The others laughed, and he smiled faintly at them.

"We never even think about it that way," Lily told him. "For us, it's just home."

He nodded, and they started walking again. "I guess it isn't any different than Hogwarts," he said. "A lot of really terrible things happened there too, and we never think about living there most of the year."

Harry was already back home, and cooking, when they got back.

"How was your day?" he asked them. "Do anything exciting?"

Looking at Scorpius and smiling, Al answered for them. "Educational, I'd say." Between the six of them, they went on to tell Harry what they'd been doing, and where they'd gone.

Ginny and James both got home from work while they were doing that, and joined in – James to tell them about his first day back at his summer job, and Ginny to tell them about her day at the lab. Since it was getting close to dinnertime, Nick, Scorpius, Rose, and Hugo left for their respective homes in London and Chudley.

Scorpius and Nick were again encouraged to tell Percy and Penelope about their day over dinner, and in turn heard about what they'd done at work. Both of Nick's parents had laughed when Nick told them about Scorpius' reaction to the cottage after his first tour of Godric's Hollow – pretty much the same reaction that Harry, Ginny, and James had displayed earlier.

He hadn't been offended at all, since in hind-sight, it was pretty funny that he'd been to the cottage two dozen times before, yet hadn't made the connection to one of the most famous events in modern history.

Not one single exciting, or even really interesting thing happened that evening. To Scorpius, though, it was another amazing night. He and Nick played some GameWizard, and they watched a bit of WWVN with Percy and Penelope, and he read a book in bed for a while before going to sleep. Nothing that wasn't mirrored in Wizarding homes all over the world where teenaged Witches and Wizards lived.

The simple acts of daily living that Scorpius was now experiencing might be commonplace to most other kids, but to him, they were brand new and exciting. He hadn't had any brothers or sisters, and rarely saw the few cousins he'd had on his mother's side of the family, since they were all poor, and so not encouraged to associate with the wealthy purebloods.

Spending an evening playing games, and having fun with adults just never happened to him before coming to live with Nick and his parents. They seemed to almost always have something on the go too, with either family commitments, or Ministry of Magic obligations. When he thought back to the short amount of time he'd actually spent with them, this was one of the few nights that they hadn't been doing something, or going somewhere.

"I didn't have a brother or sister either," Nick had told him when Scorpius had told him what he'd been thinking.

"You've got lots of close cousins that make up for it," Scorpius had suggested.

Nick had smiled. "True, but Al and Rose are a lot closer to me since we all started school than we were before that."

"Then this should all be just about as cool for you as it is for me," he'd told Nick, who had nodded his agreement.

"It is," he'd assured Scorpius. "So just because you will have the option to change your living arrangements, don't plan on it – I'm getting to really love having a brother around to do stuff with, and I'm not going to want to give it up someday."

Scorpius was getting to like his new life quite a lot too, and was sure that Nick wouldn't have to worry about that.

This summer, the Ravenclaw team had agreed to practice on Tuesday mornings, so the whole team was at the cottage by nine. Harry joined them for the practice. Since Christina had graduated, she was the only member of their old team that hadn't returned. When they had their practice match, they put one beater and two Chasers on each team. Hugo and Scorpius were the Keepers, and Harry and Lily were the Seekers.

Carolyn and Brianna had come over to spend the day with their friends. They watched the flying and bludger practice, then each cheered for their respective boyfriend's team during game practice.

After practice, Scorpius and Nick had gone back home to shower and change, as had Rose, Hugo, and Matt. They were going to be meeting at the Marauders Mall for lunch, then going to the Museum of Quidditch for the afternoon.

"Relax, mate," Scorpius told Nick. "She'll be here."

They were sitting at a table in the food court, waiting for the other kids to get there. Allie was going with them today, and Nick was pretty excited about seeing her again.

"Easy for you to say. You spent most of Friday and Saturday with your girlfriend, and she was at practice this morning. I haven't seen Allie since we got back."

"Does that mean you missed me?"

Nick turned around to see Allie smiling at him, and he got up and gave her a long hug, and then they both sat down.

"I missed you a lot," Nick told her. "I'm glad you could come with us today."

"Me too. How are you, Scorpius?" she asked him.

"I'm good," he answered. When he saw Brianna and the others coming, he smiled, and added – "Actually, move that up to doing great." Brianna sat next to him, and gave him a hug, and Al, Carolyn, Rose, Matt, Lily, and Hugo all came and found seats at the two tables next to the one that Nick and Scorpius were sitting at.

During lunch, they talked about what everyone had been doing since getting back from Hogwarts. This was a first time for both Allie and Matt to hang out with their friends outside of school, except for when Matt had been over to the cottage to play Quidditch.

The Museum of Quidditch was set up so that visitors could travel from the early history of the sport, through to the modern era. Everyone except Scorpius had been there before, but most of them hadn't been there in a few years.

"Can you believe that thing was even ridden?" Scorpius had asked Brianna as they looked at one of the first brooms from back in the 1200's.

She shook her head. "No way. You'd probably have a seriously sore butt when you finished flying."

They walked along past the displays that taught them about Queerditch Marsh, and the origin and progression of the game. The story about the Golden Snidgets becoming an endangered species because of their use in the sport had bothered all of them. There was one of the early snitches that had been made by Bowman Wright on display, as well as examples of the many different kinds of equipment, Quaffles, and Bludgers that were used over the centuries. They thought the display of basket goals that were used before the standardized hoops were introduced, and the reason why it had been thought necessary to make the change was pretty funny. That some teams would put up giant baskets at one end of their field, and little tiny ones at the other – the ones that their opponents would have to try to score into must have been very strange to see, and showed that those teams of old didn't exactly care about fairness.

There was one room dedicated to the Quidditch World Cup, with a display for each World Cup final match. Rose, her brother, and cousins found it particularly strange to see her father's name, and even some pictures of him on display for the years that England won the World Cup when he was a player or coach. You could even watch highlights of the games that had happened after WWVN had been invented.

The last two display rooms in the museum were the International teams room, and the British and Irish League room. They didn't spend much time in the first room. The second room took quite a while to go through, since it was by far the room with the most displays and detail.

There was a general display of information about the league itself, and information about milestones and innovations to the sport of Quidditch, and the league since it's formation in 1674.

Each of the thirteen teams had a large display that documented their individual history, accomplishments, and some of the more interesting facts about them.

"It's not until you see it all here that what your Dad has done as a player and coach really stand out," Scorpius told Rose.

"He only played ten years, and helped his team win five championships – for a team that hadn't won in the previous one hundred and ten years! If you include his years coaching, his teams have won nearly half as many championships in twenty years as the Canons won in the first two hundred and twenty-five years."

Rose smiled, and it was obvious that she was very proud of her father. "He's got all of these trophies and plaques and stuff at home, but it's way different seeing everything that's here in the Museum."

They finished up their tour, and after a little boyfriend-girlfriend goodbye time, it was time for everyone to leave for their homes. Scorpius and Nick got back to the townhouse before either Percy or Penelope, so they played GameWizard until they got home. Dinner was again followed by a quiet evening together. The 'being together' part was what Scorpius liked the best.

For the rest of that first week of summer holidays, Scorpius and Nick went to the cottage each morning for a Quidditch workout, then the cousins took him to a Muggle mall on Wednesday, and a tour of Muggle London on Thursday. He learned more about Muggles in that short time than he'd been taught in the rest of his life so far.

On Friday, after their morning practice, they helped Harry around the cottage, getting all of the work done before he and Ginny left for their anniversary vacation. All of the kids, and their parents were at the cottage for dinner that night, and after they'd eaten, they all sat in the sitting room to go over the rules for the coming week.

"Aaron and Arianna are in charge while we're gone," Ginny was reminding the kids again. "If you have any problems, Percy and Penelope are just a call away."

Harry looked at James, and smiled. "Before you have your party tomorrow night, we'd like to strongly suggest that you get some adult chaperones for the evening – I think if you make the call, you'll find out that Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle would be available to help you out with that."

Ron, Hermione, Percy, and Penelope all laughed at the look on their nephew's face.

"Did you really think that with that many kids invited that not one parent would check in with us?" Ginny asked him. "You'll be happy to know that we asked Kreacher and Winky to make the food for you and your friends, though. I really doubt that your party would have been much of a hit if you'd been doing the cooking, James."

Arianna laughed and gave James a hug. "Thanks, Aunt Ginny," she said. "We'll call Teddy when you're finished going over everything with us."

Ginny smiled. "You're welcome. Just one more thing – the party is over by one in the morning, and you're responsible to make sure your guests all get home safely, and do the cleanup. Can you think of anything else, Hermione?"

Rose's Mum shook her head. "I think that's everything." She stood up. "We should get going, though – we'll be leaving early in the morning, and I have some packing to finish up."

Ron stood too, and they waited while Rose and Hugo went and picked up the bags they'd brought with them that morning, then they left for home. Percy and Penelope weren't far behind them, staying just long enough to wish Harry and Ginny a happy anniversary, and that they would have a great vacation. Nick and Scorpius left with them, but would be back in the morning to help get everything ready for the party that James had suggested back when they'd first found out that they'd be parent-free for a week.

Rose and Hugo were staying with their cousins at the cottage for the week, so Ron and Hermione took them there just after dawn, and then the two couples left for Marauders Escape together.

Including cousins, teammates, and friends, there was going to be nearly sixty kids at the party. Their guests would start coming after lunch, so they had lots of work to do in the morning to be ready, setting up tables and chairs outside, and getting everything else done for the party and dance.

Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle got to the cottage in time to join the kids for lunch.

"So what all do you have planned to entertain your guests?" Victoire had asked James and Arianna while they ate.

"Most of the kids that play Quidditch are bringing their brooms, so we'll definitely have some matches this afternoon," Arianna told her. "We'll be doing some other games in the yard too, but mostly the afternoon will be casual. It'll mostly be the Quidditch players that will get here much before dinnertime."

James nodded. "Then we'll do dinner, and have the dance start near dark. If anyone wants to play LaserBroom after dark, they can do that too."

"Well," Teddy told them, smiling, "we'll try not to put too much of a damper on your day."

Lily came over an gave him a hug. "No way that could happen. You guys are the coolest chaperones ever. This is going to be a great day!"

Scorpius had agreed with Lily's prediction at lunch, and she had been right. He'd played some Quidditch with their friends, and when he wasn't doing that, was never far from Brianna, as they hung out with the other guests, and played some of the other games that were going on.

The dinner that Kreacher and Winky put on for them was way beyond anything they'd originally planned on being able to pull off by themselves, and was a hit with all of their friends. Lily had surprised more than one kid there when she'd given both house elves hugs to thank them right in front of everyone. She didn't even notice the looks, and eventually those kids realized that she was like that with everyone.

During dinner, and the dance, Scorpius and Brianna sat at a table with Nick, Allie, Rose, and Matt. They were taking a break from dancing, and at the moment, it was just the two of them at their table.

"This has been a really fun day," Brianna told him happily. "I bet the Gryffindor Quidditch players are really glad that Teddy and Stewart never played for Ravenclaw. You guys made a great team with Lily, Rose, Matt, and Nick."

Scorpius laughed. "That was definitely pretty awesome. Everyone was mostly just goofing around, though." He looked around at the other kids and their chaperones, most of whom were out dancing. "This is what's really great about today," he told her, waving his arm at everyone.

"What is? The dance?"

"Dancing with you all night is really great," he said, taking her hand, "but I meant being part of a day when all of our friends are happy and having a wonderful time. I doubt there's ever been a single Malfoy who's ever even had a day like this – and my whole week has been one brilliant experience after another."

Brianna leaned over and kissed him. "Well, we still have another couple of hours left. Let's get back out there and join our friends."

Teddy and Stewart put on a short fireworks display just after midnight for everyone, that was both a terrific ending for the party, and the signal that it was time to start wrapping things up and seeing all of their guests got home safely. The four chaperones, along with Trinity, her date, and a few other over-age friends stayed to add a little magical help to the cleanup, and by shortly after one, everything was done, and everyone was gone except Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle.

"Thanks for chaperoning and everything else," James told them. "For a first party with no parents, I'd say this went rather well."

Victoire gave him a hug and kiss. "You're welcome, James. We all had fun too." She took Teddy's hand. "Come on, Teddy. It's been a long day and I'm tired. Why don't you take me home and tuck me in to bed?"

Isabelle and Stewart laughed, and Teddy just grinned.

"It's been fun, guys," Teddy told them. "We have to go now, though. Have a good night."

There were a few more hugs and kisses, then the kids were finally on their own again.

"I'm beat too," Lily told them. "I'm heading for bed."

Rose, Al, Hugo, and Aaron all quickly decided to go upstairs too, and James and Arianna had the sitting room to themselves. She was snuggled in his arms and they talked about the day for a while until they were both starting to drift off to sleep.

"Why don't you take me upstairs and tuck me in to bed?" she suggested. He grinned and hugged her tighter.

"Why don't we just stay cuddled up right here?"

She smiled and relaxed. "That's not a bad plan either," she conceded, closing her eyes again.

"I wonder how your Mum and Dad are enjoying their trip so far?" she said sleepily. "It's morning there now."

James gently ran a hand through her hair as he was falling asleep too. "I hope they're having a great time, Arianna. There's definitely a good chance that I won't want most of the details."

She opened her eyes again for a moment, reached up and pulled his head to hers for a kiss, then closed her eyes again, happy, warm, and content. She fell asleep thinking about Harry and Ginny, but was soon dreaming of walks on the beach with her own dark-haired prince.


	40. Marauders Escape

Chapter Forty – Marauders Escape

"The party's over," Ginny reported as she put her WiComm away. "Victoire said that the kids all got home, and there were no problems."

"You mean our kids aren't devastated and lost while we're gone?" Hermione joked.

Ginny smiled. "Apparently not too devastated, no. If I didn't know how much fun we've had here, I'd say we missed out on a really great day back home."

Harry squeezed her hand. "Good thing we had a really great day ourselves. Speaking of – what's on the agenda for today?"

They'd arrived at Marauders Escape in time for a late lunch local time. They had been met by Megan and shown to their suites, and then, after having lunch together, she took them on a tour of her resort. They then spent the afternoon at the beach, then had dinner, and went dancing, with Megan and Devon, who introduced them to a little of the night life on the island.

"Today, Devon is taking us on a tour of the island, and will be taking us diving," Ginny advised him. "Then we have dinner at that restaurant down by the beach, and nothing specific planned for the night."

"What time do we meet Devon?" Ron asked.

Ginny looked at her watch. "We've got a little less than an hour. I guess we should go get a few things together," she told Hermione, who nodded.

"Why don't you two wait here," Hermione suggested, looking over at Ron's full second plate of food. "Ginny and I can go get the things we need, and meet you in the lobby in a half hour."

Ron had his mouth full, and could only nod, and Harry laughed and gave Ginny a kiss goodbye. "Have fun," he told the girls.

When they'd left, he turned back to Ron. "Let's see – a whole day on a boat and going diving with two beautiful girls in swimsuits. I'm thinking that's a pretty brilliant way to spend the day."

Ron laughed. "I'd say so. This whole place is brilliant."

The first difference you noticed between here and Marauders Paradise when you arrived was that there weren't any kids. This was an adults-only, private resort. They all loved their children, and being around them, but they soon realized that having this kind of a break from kids was something they really needed.

"I wonder if the kids will have as much fun this week while we're gone as we'll be having here," Ron asked.

Harry grinned. "I'm sure they'll have fun." He looked around at the view of the ocean, and the incredibly lush gardens around them. "Not this much fun, though."

Harry had another coffee while Ron finished breakfast, then they met the girls and walked down to the pier where Devon had his business and boats. PBP Investments had helped to set him up here, and he had twenty boats and sixty employees. They were going out on one of the two smaller, private cruisers he had in his little fleet, and he would be their crew and guide of one.

"Good morning!" he welcomed them cheerfully. "Ready for a great day?"

Ginny and Hermione both gave him hugs after he helped them aboard the boat. "Sure are," Ron told him. "Nice boat," he added, as he looked the opulently appointed craft over. "Looks like this baby has everything."

Devon smiled and nodded. He was very proud of this boat. "It does, and you're going to love it," he assured them.

Megan stepped out of the galley, smiling at them. "Surprise!"

Ginny walked over and hugged her. "You took the day off!"

"Devon thought it'd be a lot more fun if he wasn't the fifth wheel for the day, and it doesn't take much prodding for me to be talked into spending a day diving with him."

"If I lived here," Ron told them, "I'd never get any work done."

Devon laughed. "Maybe, but if you moved the Canons here, you'd be the most popular coach in the league."

"Most popular would be great, but worst record in the history of the sport wouldn't be quite so hot."

Devon and Megan started their morning with a tour around their island, and around some nearby islands. Marauders Escape was protected by Muggle repelling charms, as was Marauders Paradise, and their own private island, so there was very little water traffic around them other than Devon's other boats, and those of the other water sport companies on the island.

Devon eventually dropped anchor near to a shallow reef, and they got ready for their first dive. For anyone who hasn't experienced the underwater world for themselves, it is difficult to describe the beauty to be found there, and utterly impossible to describe the deep feelings of joy and wonder that is evoked each time you enter that world.

The three couples stayed fairly close together as Devon and Megan gave them an underwater tour of one of their favourite diving spots. They pointed out different corals, all beautiful in their own way, and directed their attention to a wide variety of the aquatic life that resided around an within the reef.

"That was amazing," Ron told Devon and Megan when they'd returned to the boat. "No wonder you two love living on an island like this."

Hermione laughed. "Technically, we live on an island too, Ron."

"Yeah, but it's nothing like this," he said, gesturing around them.

Devon was already out of his gear, pulled the anchor, and started the boat moving again while the others were getting their gear off.

"Where are we off to next?" Ginny asked Megan.

"To a little cove we know of nearby," she told them. "We can have some lunch, relax on deck, and do a little swimming if anyone wants to."

"That sounds brilliant," Ron said. "Especially the lunch part – I'm starved!"

The three women all stretched out on the chairs and loungers on the deck to soak up some sun while Devon took them to the secluded cove where they'd be spending the afternoon. Harry and Ron joined Devon on the upper deck.

"You joked about me moving the Canons here," Ron told him as he watched his bikini clad wife appreciatively. "I'm beginning to think I should quit coaching, and get a job as one of your deckhands."

Devon laughed. "It's not all fun doing this job either," he assured Ron, who looked at him skeptically.

"With the possible exception of Demelza, I guarantee that nobody on my team would look like that," Ron said, pointing at the girls. "And I highly doubt that even if they did, that the league would let them play matches dressed like that – especially in winter."

Harry and Devon both laughed.

"I bet the WWVN ratings would go way up if they did," Devon said. "Espcecially for the Harpies!"

"Do either of you guys want a drink?" Harry asked them. "I'm going to get drinks for the girls, then I can bring something back for you."

Ron grinned at his friend. "I'll give you a hand. Why should you be the only one getting hugs and kisses for being so thoughtful?"

Harry laughed. "Darn – my secret is out!"

By the time they'd served the girls, and returned with drinks for themselves and Devon, he was approaching a small island, circling around to the western side. Harry and Ron didn't even see the opening to the cove until the last moment, as Devon expertly steered them into a narrow channel that led to their destination.

The girls were all sitting up and watching as they entered the cove. The water was crystal clear, and you could see all the way to the bottom. Devon dropped the anchor again. The boat was nearly motionless as the water again calmed when the ripples caused by their intrusion subsided.

"Nice spot," Ron commented, ridiculously understating the tranquil beauty of the place.

"Megan and I found this place a couple of weeks after we moved to Marauders Escape," Devon told them. "It's one of our favourite places to come and hide when we want to get away for a few hours."

Devon and Harry served lunch on the deck for everyone, and then they spent a wonderful, quiet afternoon on the boat, and swimming in the water. When it was time to go back to Marauders Escape, Devon started them off again, moving out slowly so as not to disturb the place any more than necessary.

The three couples had dinner together at one of the beachfront restaurants. Megan and Marcus were both working early the next morning, and after the meal, left their friends to entertain themselves for the rest of the night.

Marauders Paradise was alive each night with the flashing lights from the games and rides on that island. Here at Marauders Escape, there was a vibrant nightlife too, but in a much different way. Megan and Devon had taken them to several clubs on Saturday night, and there were quite a few of them on the island, with widely varying themes that offered something for everyone's taste in music.

There were four theatres where twice-nightly performances offered what was described in the brochures as 'extraordinary, lavish productions of both classic and modern stage shows from the finest theatre companies in the Wizarding World'.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermoine had tickets for each of those shows from Monday to Thursday night. With a free night tonight, though, they decided to wander the little island village. There were musicians scattered at different spots along the streets, playing for the guests as they wandered around. Small groups of Witches and Wizards would gather around each of the places to listen to the music.

There were a few parties spaced out along the beach, and they ended up joining one of those for a couple of hours of dancing, then went back to their suites.

"It was so great that Megan could come spend the day with us," Ginny told Harry as they snuggled on a sofa in the sitting room of their suite.

He nodded. "It's hard not getting to see her as much as we get to see Lisa. She's really loves the island life, though, and it looks like she and Devon are happy with the move here."

"Who wouldn't be?" Ginny said, smiling. "This is an incredible place."

Harry had been running his hand through her soft, fiery hair, and then along her neck, bare shoulder, and down her arm. As he began nibbling on her neck, Ginny's thoughts scattered, and she melted against him as his hands continued to wander, and his gentle kisses sent shivers of delight pulsing through her body.

When he shifted her slightly so that his mouth could claim hers, she wasn't' sure if the moan of pleasure had come from him, or from her own throat. He was still kissing her as he lifted her in his arms and carried her into their bedroom. He laid her gently on the bed, and she looked into his dazzling green eyes as he knelt next to the bed. Her sundress had shifted in some interesting ways, and she smiled, watching him smile as he appreciated the view.

"Why Mr. Potter, what do you have going on in that mind of yours?" She gasped as he ran a hand along the inside of her leg, and she reached out and grabbed him by his shirt, and pulled him toward her.

"Never mind telling me," she whispered in his ear. "Why don't you just show me instead?"

On Monday, they spent the day at the beach, swimming, relaxing in the sand, and occasionally joining in on one of the many activities that were offered to entertain the guests. They had a casual dinner, then went to see a hilarious comedy play about the relationship between a Wizarding family and their Muggle family neighbours.

They went on an official guided boat tour on Tuesday, along with about fifty other guests, spending the day learning about just a few of the thousands of islands that made up Indonesia, and the history of Wizards and Witches in the area.

They followed that up with going to the murder-mystery dinner theatre, where they, along with the other guests, became participants in the entertainment. The storyline ended when undercover agent Ron Red handcuffed and arrested the beautiful and unlikely murderess Hermione to the applause and laughter of the other guests.

Ron and Hermione had exited stage left during the final scene. Harry and Ginny couldn't find their friends after the show and suspected that Hermione had been taken away by her arresting officer for a little one-on-one interrogation. They had both laughed, and Ginny had taken Harry's hand.

"Looks like we've been left on our own," she told him with a smile. "Why don't we go back to our suite, and maybe you can play policeman too, and frisk me."

Ginny woke up Wednesday morning to gentle kisses caressing her neck, and the smell of a rose as it lightly brushed her cheek.

"Happy Anniversary," Harry whispered into her ear, laying the rose on the bed next to her, then handing her a present.

She sat up quickly, and started tearing at the wrapping paper. When she saw the pendant inside, she carefully lifted it out of the velvet box and marveled at it's beauty. She gave Harry a hug and long kiss, then he helped her put on the stunning, five carat emerald that had been cut into a heart-shaped pendant.

"Thank-you," she told him. "It's so beautiful – I've never seen anything like it before."

Harry grinned and kissed her again. "There aren't very many made like this. It didn't look beautiful until you started wearing it. Now it's perfect."

"What took you so long?" Ron asked them when Harry and Ginny finally joined them for breakfast. They still had lots of time to eat, since he was just starting his second plate.

Hermione laughed. "I'll take a wild guess, Ron, and suggest that it had something to do with a thank-you for that necklace your sister is wearing this morning."

Ginny gave Hermione a hug before sitting down next to her. "I'd hardly call that a wild guess, and judging by your own smile, you two had a pretty good night too. My brother did happen to remember it's your anniversary today, didn't he?"

Hermione nodded, and brushed her hair back from her ears to show Ginny the new earrings she was wearing.

"Nicely done, Ron," Ginny complimented him.

Ron shrugged and pointed his fork at Harry. "Hang around with him long enough, and something is bound to rub off eventually. I just hope for your sakes that I never spontaneously break out in song some day. That'd be painful for anyone within range of my voice."

Harry and the girls laughed.

"Are you guys going to let us know what's up for the day?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron.

Ron grinned at her. "You ladies will be spending the day being pampered at the hotel spa, then your devoted husbands will take you out to dinner at the finest restaurant on the island, and then escort you to the Grand Theatre, where we will experience one of the Wizarding World's best casts perform the musical extravaganza 'Kneazle Cats'."

Hermione and Ginny each hugged their husbands.

"I'm told that the production is based on an old Muggle musical from back in the last century sometime," Ron continued. "That one we sent Mum and Dad to back in the 90's in New York."

Ginny nodded. "It's supposed to be fantastic. I can hardly wait!"

Since she and Hermione were going to the Spa, Ginny had a light, quick breakfast, kissed Harry goodbye, and the two women left the boys to finish breakfast on their own.

"Now that the girls are going to be busy all day, what are we supposed to do?" Ron asked Harry.

"Except for getting ready in time for dinner, we've got nothing planned. Do you have anything you've seen that you want to try out today?"

"Sure, but Hermione might get mad if I spent the day with those twins we saw the other day," Ron joked.

Harry laughed. "I hope you checked to make sure that Ginny didn't leave one of her wireless extendable ears when they left."

Ron looked worried for a minute, but then laughed too when he saw the look on Harry's face.

"Why don't we just wander around and see what's going on today?" he suggested. "They've got that watershow too – I wonder if we can try that wake boarding they do."

Harry grinned. "I'm thinking we could probably pull a few strings to try it even if they don't. We do know the manager pretty well."

They spent the day at the beach and on the water. A group of the watershow performers were more than happy to spend an hour teaching Ron and Harry how to use wakeboards, which was a blast. They played some beach volleyball, which the taller Ron was better at than Harry.

They had lunch at a beach café, watched one of the early afternoon watershows, then went back to their suites to get ready for their evening with the girls.

Megan and Devon were joining them for dinner and the show, meeting Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione at the restaurant. Dinner was a two hour event that was as much about entertainment as food. The chefs at this restaurant cooked each of the courses right in front of the guests, and each chef had his or her own specialties.

While they cooked, they entertained the three couples with often funny stories about the food itself, their cooking, and about themselves. Since Megan was with them, they probably had each chef putting on their best show for the boss and her guests. Ron loved the stories and joking the best, and Harry was fascinated with the incredible knife-work.

"If I tried anything like that at home," he told the others, "I'd be missing fingers by the time I was done."

They had an hour until the start of Kneazle Cats when they were finished dinner, so they stopped in at one of the lounges for drinks, and listened to a pair of musicians who were having a 'duel' on two baby grand pianos.

"This is pretty cool," Harry told Megan, who nodded.

"It's already becoming one of the most popular places on the island. The dueling is great, but it's when they do their duets that it's really amazing to hear."

The musical was spectacular, and even Ron was humming tunes from the show after it was over. Megan suggested that they go back to the piano bar before calling it a night, and everyone had agreed. They'd just settled in to chairs when the Witch that was playing one of the pianos got the guest's attention by inviting Harry to come up and sing for them.

He looked over at Megan, who laughed at him. "Did you think I'd let you get away without singing a certain song for Ginny on your twentieth anniversary?" she asked him, trying and totally failing to look innocent.

Harry gave her a hug. "I should have guessed you were up to something," he told her. "Gabrielle must've told you about it, though. I'll have to talk with her later." Megan only smiled, not needing to confirm what he already knew for sure.

When he got up to the two pianos, he was invited to sit on the bench next to the Witch, who introduced him, the song he'd be singing, and then congratulated him, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione on their twentieth anniversaries before she and her husband, who was the Wizard playing the other piano, began to play the song Harry had written for Ginny on their tenth anniversary. He was able to watch Ginny as he began to sing. She was smiling, and soon had tears in her eyes as she kept her eyes focused on him, and listened.

You, Loved me from the start

You gave me your heart

Though I didn't even know it

You, stood beside me through the rain

Said we'd make it through the pain

But I didn't believe we would

Then the sun came out from behind the clouds

A rainbow shone across a clear blue sky

And all the dreams I'd ever hoped for finally came true

Then I gave you my heart

Promised forever

Told you I'd spend every day

Showing you how much I care

And tonight

When I look in your eyes

I know that forever won't be long enough

You, made me want to live

And with the love we have to give

We will cherish every moment

You - are more beautiful tonight

And now with all of my heart

I want to tell you again

That I give you my heart

Promise forever

I'm still gonna spend every day

Showing you how much I care

And tonight

When I look in your eyes

I know that forever won't be long enough

I give you my heart

Promise forever

I'm still gonna spend every day

Showing you how much I care

And tonight

When I look in your eyes

I know that forever won't be long enough

No, forever won't be long enough

Forever just could never be long enough

The two pianists had created a beautiful arrangement of the song, and had also added in vocal harmonies that made the song even better. When they'd finished, Harry gave them both hugs to thank them before going back to his table, where Ginny was waiting to give him a hug and kiss.

Ron and Hermione had heard the song before, but Megan and Devon hadn't. She had tears in her eyes too when she gave him a hug, and Harry laughed when he saw Ron roll his eyes and hand her a few tissues from the pack he had out already for Hermione and Ginny.

"You need to warn me about these little surprises, mate," he told Harry. "I didn't bring enough tissues for all of the girls here." Harry looked around the room, and there were a lot of tears still being wiped away.

"I would if I knew about it myself," he answered.

They stayed long enough to hear one of the duets that Megan had told them about earlier, and it had been worth the wait. After that, they took Ron to a café for some late night dessert, then said goodnight to Megan and Devon, who went home to their beach house, while they went back to their suites.

"Thank-you for another amazing day," Ginny whispered to Harry as they held each other close in bed.

"You're welcome," he whispered back. "It's been a pretty incredible twenty years – even though it doesn't seem like anywhere near that long."

She kissed him, and smiled. "It's after midnight," she told him. "Why don't we get the next twenty years off to a really great start," she suggested, kissing him again. Harry laughed softly, his breath warm and sweet against her skin.

"That is a really brilliant idea," he said between kisses.

They spent two more fabulous days enjoying the sun and fun at Marauders Escape before leaving for home late on Friday. The time change was similar to when they went from home to their own island, or to Marauders Paradise, and so it was early afternoon local time at the cottage when they got there using the TransPortal.


	41. My Best Summer Ever

Chapter Forty-One – My Best Summer Ever

The party on Saturday had been great. Scorpius and Nick had spent all day Sunday with Percy and Penelope, hanging around the townhouse in the morning, having lunch with Grandma and Grandpa at the Burrow, then spending the afternoon playing at the island, getting home after dark local time.

They spent every weekday with Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo, practicing Quidditch in the morning, and doing day trips afterward. Matt, Carolyn, Brianna, and Allie all came over to the cottage on Tuesday morning. After the weekly team Quidditch practice, they all went out for lunch, then spent the afternoon together.

Wednesday and Thursday began with the morning practice, and then they split up into different groups on each day. Scorpius and Al took Carolyn and Brianna out on Wednesday, while the others did other things, and on Thursday, Nick, Scorpius, Al, and Hugo spent the afternoon together while the girls went to a spa afternoon.

On Friday, they all worked with Kreacher and Winky on a welcome home, happy anniversary party for Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. Most of the family would be there for it after work, and they kept busy nearly repeating the setup from the previous weekend.

When the two couples got back home in the early afternoon, after welcoming them, the ten kids, including Allie and Matt, sent them off to have an afternoon rest, since their day had started much earlier than their own. Ron and Hermione took their luggage home, and would come back before dinner, while Harry and Ginny went upstairs to have a nap before getting ready for the party.

Scorpius was having fun at the party. Dinner had been great, especially hearing everyone together again, talking about what they'd been doing for the past week. He was still mostly an outsider to his new surrogate family, and observed more than participated in those conversations.

He smiled to himself when he thought about that. He hadn't ever really been part of the conversations in his own home, but furthermore, hadn't been all that interested in observing them either. He'd often felt that the less he knew about what his family was talking about, the better off he was.

A few gifts had been brought for each of the couples, which they opened after dinner, then the kids had set up music, and there was a little dancing, and a lot of smiling, talk, and laughter.

Scorpius and Brianna were sitting with Al and Carolyn, talking at the moment about what they'd be doing for the next few weeks.

"There's only two more weeks until we'll be heading to Marauders Paradise with the kids from the residence," Al told them. "We've got our morning workouts, and the Tuesday team practices both weeks, but not much else going on."

Brianna watched Nick and Allie where they were dancing near Rose and Matt. "It's going to be more fun having Rose and Nick both coming this year too. I wonder how the parents would feel about asking Matt and Allie to come?"

Al gave her a hug. "That's a brilliant idea, Bree. He could stay with us, or with Nick and Scorpius, and maybe Lisa and Marcus would let Allie come with you and Carolyn. Let's ask Mum and Dad in the morning."

Scorpius and Nick went home with their parents shortly after that conversation, and spent most of the weekend together. Brianna and Allie spent Sunday afternoon with them – and with Allie's parents, Lisa, and Marcus. The kids found out then that Harry and Ginny had asked her parents if she could join them for the week at Marauders Paradise. The afternoon together was so that they could get to know Lisa and Marcus before giving their permission to a very happy daughter.

When Nick and Scorpius were sitting on Nick's bed later that night, they were both pretty happy too.

"We're going to have a great week at Maruaders Paradise," Nick told Scorpius. "We'll probably find out tomorrow if Matt's going to come too."

Scorpius nodded. "I'm sure his parents will let him come. We've done so much in the first two weeks of holidays, having this trip still two weeks away seems like a long time still."

"This will go a lot faster," Nick answered. "We'll probably have two or three shopping trips alone, knowing Lily and the other girls. We're going to have a couple of teens with us this year that are going in to seventh year at Hogwarts this year that Mum and Dad are chaperones for the week, and we'll go out with them a couple of times to get clothes for the trip."

"Do we know them?" Scorpius asked.

"I'm sure we've seen them around, but I don't know them. Katie and Denise are both in Hufflepuff. The couple that have been their volunteers couldn't go to the island this year for some reason."

"We're going to be spending a week with two girls in our hotel room?" Scorpius said, looking surprised. Nick laughed.

They're both seventeen, mate. I really doubt we'll see them much. Mum loves it. She's got two other girls to hang out with, instead of being outnumbered three to one like she normally is."

Nick was right that the next two weeks went by quickly. Every day was packed full, with Quidditch, shopping, and helping out at the residence. Percy and Penelope took the boys to the residence one night each week to spend some time with Katie and Denise, and Penelope took the girls shopping on Saturday, happy to let the three boys find something else to do for the day.

The two girls both seemed nice, and immediately took a liking to Penelope. They both knew Brianna from the residence, and Allie from being in their house at school. Katie had been brought to the residence when she was five, and it was the only home she knew. Denise's Muggle parents had died when she was nine, and she'd been brought to the residence soon after. They'd become best friends even before both getting sorted into Hufflepuff when they started Hogwarts.

Brianna's idea for getting Allie and Matt to come had been extended to include Aaron's girlfriend Tracey, who'd be staying with her best friend Arianna.

The last two days before the trip, the kids all spent the afternoons at the residence, helping the youngest kids to pack and to entertain them so the adults could concentrate on last minute trip details.

Katie and Denise came and spent the night before they'd leave for the island at the townhouse. They'd drawn an early departure time. Scorpius found out that was a relative term because of the time change. They wouldn't actually be leaving until late morning, but would arrive just after dawn, island time. He was exhausted when they finally went to bed, but Nick assured him that staying up really late the night before going would help them be ready for what was going to feel like a really long day tomorrow.

When Scorpius got his first look at Marauders Paradise, he quickly saw that his friend's descriptions of the place weren't even slightly exaggerated. The hotel was magnificent, and what little else he could see so far just around the hotel practically shouted 'FUN!'.

They were shown to their suite, which had four bedrooms and two baths. Nick and Scorpius would be in the same room for the week, since they'd made a few shuffles to accommodate the extra members of their extended group.

When Scorpius and Nick were finished unpacking, they waited in the sitting room for Percy, Penelope, and the two girls. They went to the atrium for breakfast together, and then Penelope and the girls went to spend the morning together, and Percy went with the boys to try out a few of the rides, and to show Scorpius around the place.

The rest of their family and friends were arriving at different times through the morning, so they'd decided to do their own things all morning, and meet for lunch. Scorpius was watching Nick and Percy as they took a ride on one of those wildly spinning rides that he knew would never be something he'd get to like when he felt an arm wrapping around his waist.

"Hey, cutie," he heard Brianna say as she came to stand next to him. "How come you're skipping this ride? It looks like Nick and his Dad are having fun."

He gave her a welcoming hug, and waved to the others who were lining up for the same ride.

"I found out at that mall in Paris that spinning rides are not for me," he answered.

"No wonder we make such a good pair – I can't do those rides either," she told him.

Percy and Nick both got right back in line when they saw Harry and the others waiting, and were able to get in on the same ride with them. Scorpius turned his back on that ride, and looked around at some of the other nearby attractions.

"I don't know how they can get through one of those rides, let alone doing it twice in a row," he told Brianna, shuddering. "It makes me a little queasy just watching them."

When they got off of that ride, they all went on two of the rollercoasters next, tnen it was time to start walking to the restaurant they'd be having lunch at. They needed four large tables for everyone, and the younger kids took up two of the tables, while the older teens sat with the parents.

Hugo and Lily were at the table with Scorpius and Brianna, and the younger boy was talking about being the only one who wasn't old enough for the bigger rides.

"You could still hang around with us," Brianna told him sympathetically.

Hugo shrugged. "I guess, but it won't be much fun sitting around watching while you all do the cool rides."

Brianna laughed. "Well, that'll be a problem when we're doing the coasters, but there are also a lot of those spinning rides that Scorpius and I don't like, so we can do some other things with you when everyone else is spinning their heads off."

Lily gave Hugo a hug and smiled, which couldn't help but cheer him up. "We'll be doing lots of other stuff that we can all do, and you and I can do some other stuff when they're doing the rollercoasters."

"You don't mind missing out on those rides?" he asked.

"I'll get lots of chances to ride them too – we've got a whole week here," she assured him.

That wasn't a problem for the rest of the day anyway, since they all spent the afternoon at the waterpark. Brianna showed Scorpius all of the great slides and pools there, and he was amazed at the gravity-defying fun. Nick and Allie were with them for most of the time there, and it seemed like they'd barely gotten through trying everything when it was time to go back to their suites to get ready for the banquet.

They were seated at tables of twelve for the banquet, so Scorpius and Brianna were sitting with Nick, Allie, Lily, Hugo, Rose, Matt, Al, Carolyn, and the two younger boys that were here with Teddy and Stewart. The older teens were at a table together, and the adults were split up at two other tables that included Gabrielle, Kevin, Uncle Charlie, and Aunt Nathalie.

There hadn't been anything that Scorpius had seen and done here so far that hadn't impressed him, and the banquet and talent show after were no exceptions. He'd never attended a dinner with so many thousands of guests. Al told him that there were over eleven thousand in the ballroom. That the hotel staff could so smoothly feed so many was a marvel in itself, and the food was just incredible!

Before seeing all of this, the numbers of orphans that the Foundation helped had been just that to Scorpius – numbers. Seeing everyone here, and knowing that this would be duplicated for three more weeks here brought the true scope of what the whole project was all about. That in the next six years they'd almost double in total residences was nearly unbelieveable.

When the talent show was over, Scorpius went with most of the students to the teen nightclub, where he and Brianna danced until about an hour before their eleven o'clock curfew. She then took him for a moonlight walk on the beach.

"I've been looking forward to this," she told him as they walked. "Carolyn and Al went for walks like this nearly every night when we were here last year, while Lily and I usually just went back to our suite and went to bed early."

Scorpius stopped and gave her a hug. "This has been such a great day, and there can't possibly be a better way to end the day here than doing this."

They sat on the beach for a little while, and shared a couple of very tender kisses before it was time to hurry back to the hotel. They were all laughing when Nick and Allie met them at the lifts, obviously having needed to hurry too.

The two boys walked the girls to their door, then went on down the hallway to their own suite. They waved to Al and Carolyn just as they opened the door and went inside, their two friends having skidded to a stop in front of the door that Allie and Brianna had just entered with less than a minute to spare.

Percy and Penelope were up waiting up for them, and they talked together for a few minutes. Katie and Denise didn't have to be back this early, but they came in just as the boys were getting ready to go to their room. Both girls looked excited, and the boys stayed in the sitting room to hear them talk about what they'd been doing.

"We went to the WizardKaraoke lounge," Katie told them. "Harry and Ginny were there with Ron, Hermione, and some other couples."

Denise took over from her friend. "Did you know that Harry is an amazing singer?" she asked them.

Penelope and Percy had smiled and nodded. "You're pretty lucky to have heard him," Penelope said. "He doesn't really do that very often in public. Gabrielle must've asked him to do it."

Katie nodded. "That's her name – the lady that manages the hotel. Victoire called her 'Aunt Gabrielle'." Denise nodded too.

Percy laughed. "I hope Ron brought lots of tissues with him if Harry did one of those ballads he likes to sing to Ginny. He always leaves a room full of crying women when he's done."

Denise and Katie both laughed. "Including both of us," Denise said. She yawned and stood up from where she and Katie had sat down.

"This has been a really long day, though. Come on, Katie, let's go get some sleep."

All six of them went to bed then, and when Nick and Scorpius were both changed and had climbed into their beds, they tried to talk about their day for a while, but were soon falling asleep. Scorpius didn't know if he dropped off first, or Nick had. Whichever it was, he slept right through until morning.

Every day that Scorpius was at Marauders Paradise was filled with a continuing parade of exciting sensory experiences. The rides and Waterpark were way beyond the most creative descriptions his friends had given him.

His first introduction into diving was an afternoon he'd never forget – especially getting to share the experience with Brianna. The underwater world of coral reefs, and the amazing aquatic life that lived there had touched him in a way that he couldn't quite explain.

Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Carolyn, and Al went on the Haunted Island Adventure with Percy, Penelope, Lisa, and Marcus. He and Allie were the only two who hadn't seen the – he didn't know what to call it – ride or show. Whatever it was called, he'd thought it was brilliant, and he was also sure that sharing it with Brianna made the nearly hour-long adventure even better.

Having fun wasn't the only experience Scorpius had that week. He, and everyone else, certainly did have fun, but there were constant reminders that this week was all about the kids from the residences all over the world. Every volunteer and every member of the staff on the island went to incredible lengths to make every one of the children feel special, and loved. Whenever he could, Scorpius tried to help out and be a part of that.

Every morning was spent doing things with and especially for the kids that were being chaperoned. They'd do activities that everyone in their extended group could all do – from the younger boys with Teddy and Stewart, to Katie and Denise.

Penelope and the other women took all of the girls for a morning at the Spa one day, while the men took the boys around to play games like LaserBroom. Scorpius had played that at the cottage before, and he found out that the home game wasn't as exciting as the original on which it had been based.

During those mornings, Scorpius got to watch the group of men that were now part of his life, and while not really even realizing it, continued the subtle education they'd been giving him since the first day he'd come to live with Nick.

Each of the men shared a common love for all of the kids around them. Scorpius could easily see the influence that Harry and his brothers-in-law had on Teddy, Stewart, and Marcus. That's not to say that there weren't differences, because there certainly were. Those differences were in personalities, though, not in beliefs.

The teens had most of the afternoons to themselves, and the Ravenclaw Marauders were usually together, with Lily and Hugo joining them. Scorpius, Brianna, and Lily made sure that one or more of them were able to do other rides or games with Hugo when the others were going on rides that he couldn't go on yet, just as they'd promised him.

Dinner was always with most, or all, of the family, and then the evenings were again left open for the kids to do what they wanted until their various curfews.

Since Hugo couldn't go to the teen club, he and Lily spent the evenings together, except for one night when he conveniently 'made other plans' so that his cousin could go dancing with the other kids. Scorpius, Nick, Al, and the girls also spent two of the nights with Lily and Hugo, going on rides one night, and going swimming the second night.

The hours that Scorpius and Brianna spent together dancing were some of his favourite memories of the week. He'd even gotten used to the good-natured teasing that they'd get from James and Aaron when they'd leave early to find a quiet spot on the beach where they could be alone for the last hour or so of their day, talk, and admire the incredible night sky.

Their last full day on the island was spent together – something that Brianna told him they did every year. It was certainly the most relaxing day they'd had during the entire week, and the ending banquet and the talent show put on by the kids from the residences was just as wonderful as the opening banquet and staff talent show had been.

The kids were all given an extra two hours on their curfews for the last night. Percy and Penelope were going out with most of the other parents and adults that were part of their group, and had invited Katie and Denise to join them, which they'd both happily accepted.

Scorpius and Brianna had decided to spend their evening with Lily and Hugo, while the other teens all went to the dance club.

"It doesn't seem possible that the week is already over," Scorpius told the other three kids as they walked toward the next ride they wanted to go on.

Lily smiled at him. "It always feels like that. I'm pretty sure that Michael, and the other kids that live on the island with their parents, have the coolest home in the whole world."

Hugo laughed. "I'm not sure he'd agree, Lily. Aunt Gabrielle and Uncle Kevin don't get away all that much from here. He probably thinks we all have it pretty good."

"I'd say he'd be right," Brianna said quietly. "It's like we get the pick of the best of everything. We get to go to Hogwarts for school, and your – our – family is mostly close together. Your homes, the residence, trips to the island, and everything else is all just so amazing I couldn't imagine anything better if I tried."

Lily gave her a big hug. "Are you absolutely sure that Lisa and Marcus won't trade you and Carolyn for James? I think having two sisters would be way better, and I'm fairly certain that Al wouldn't mind at all."

Brianna and the two boys laughed. "You'll be trying to trade him off when you're a hundred years old, I'll bet," Hugo told his favourite cousin.

She grinned at him. "Probably, if nobody has given me a fair trade for him before then."

The four kids were having so much fun that Scorpius and Brianna ran out of time, and had to skip their nightly walk on the beach. They instead walked back to their suites with Lily and Hugo, getting there with a full fifteen minutes to spare.

Scorpius found that he was the first one back, and he was grinning when Nick came in at two minutes after one, breathless either from running or from kissing Allie.

"You're late, young man," he told Nick, who laughed.

"Would you believe my watch is slow, Dad?" Nick asked his friend.

"No. Would I believe that you were snogging with Allie on the beach and lost track of time? Yes."

Nick laughed again. "Look who's talking."

Scorpius smiled. "I'll have you know I wasn't doing any snogging this evening."

"Too bad for you, mate," Nick answered.

"Not really. We had a blast with Lily and Hugo tonight. I'm sure all of those smaller rides are boring for you and the other kids, but they're all still new to me."

They had an early departure time in the morning, so the two boys went to pack most of their things, and it was after two when they finally went to sleep. Percy and Penelope checked in on them when they got back with Katie and Denise just after three, and she kissed each boy before quietly closing the door without waking either of them.

Their departure time put them back home at lunchtime, so Percy and Penelope took the four kids out for lunch before taking the girls back to the residence. They then went to pick up some groceries before going back to the townhouse, where unpacking, a little housework, and cleaning laundry from their trip filled the rest of their afternoon and evening. They all went to bed early, having stayed up late the night before, and needing the extra sleep to help get used to the time change.

The day they got back from Marauders Paradise was the halfway point of their summer holidays. There were now five weeks left until they'd be going back to school.

Nick and Scorpius started morning Quidditch workouts again on Monday morning, and the Tuesday team practices resumed too. They didn't do as many outings each week as they'd done during the first few weeks of summer, but they did go out at least twice a week, and spent at least one afternoon each week helping at the residence.

There was a birthday party on that first Wednesday back for Harry's thirty-ninth birthday, and there were other parties and family gatherings during August. Al's birthday party was similar to the dance they'd gone to for Rose's birthday. Ginny's party had been an adult's only party, so Nick and Scorpius had hosted a kid's night at the townhouse while the parents were all at the cottage.

Scorpius and Nick spent one weekend with Teddy and Victoire, where Scorpius got his first real introduction into the joys of Muggle sports cars. He was really just starting to get to know his cousin, and their weekend together was another step in that process.

The best party in August was Hugo's eleventh birthday party. Since he hadn't been able to go on the rides at Marauders Paradise when they'd been there, Ron and Hermione took all of the kids back to the island for the day.

Harry was the only other adult to go along, since it was a workday, but Percy, Penelope, and Ginny all joined them on the island after work, which gave them the afternoon island time to join in the fun. Hugo and the rest of the kids had a great day together, and it was after midnight local time when they finally returned to their homes.

The Hogwarts letters came out in August too. Scorpius and Nick both had five 'O's' and two 'E's' for their second year classes. The most exciting addition to their packages this summer was the permission forms for Hogsmeade weekends. Scorpius had been worried when Teddy had teased him that he probably shouldn't sign the permission form, but had laughed when he realized that he had only been joking, and had in fact, already signed it. For their extra third year classes, they'd both picked Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy. Neither boy had been interested in the Divination or Ancient Runes classes that Al and Allie were both taking along with Arithmancy.

Percy and Penelope took the boys to the Marauders Mall for the back to school shopping trip on the weekend before the September first weekend. The rest of the kids were there for the day with their parents or volunteers too. Nick and Scorpius went with the guys to get all of the school books and supplies for all of the students. The six boys also were fitted for their school robes before meeting up with the girls for lunch.

Harry and Ron took Hugo and Lily to Olivanders after lunch to get their wands, then Lily caught up with the girls again, while Hugo, Ron, and Harry met up with the guys, who were shopping for the rest of their clothes, and making stops at the GamePortal, BroomCloset, and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

The last week of holidays blasted by far too quickly, and then suddenly, it was Saturday night. There was a family dinner at the cottage, where Scorpius and the other kids got a chance to see everyone for a while before going back to school in the morning.

Nick and Scorpius stayed up until nearly midnight with Percy and Penelope, wanting to squeeze every last minute out of their holiday. The boys couldn't help but be excited about starting school, but for the night, it was tempered by the sadness caused by knowing they'd be away from home again until Christmas.

When Scorpius was finally in bed, he thought a lot about the incredible summer he'd had – far better than any he'd ever had before. There would probably be even greater things still to come in his life, but he was sure he'd always remember this first summer with the family he was growing to love so much.


	42. Home Sweet Hogwarts

Chapter Forty-Two – Home Sweet Hogwarts

Lily was up with the sun, and she was the first one in the house that was showered, dressed, and downstairs – except for her Dad. He was having his first coffee of the morning, and starting to cook breakfast for everyone when she came into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Daddy," she told him happily, giving him a hug and kiss.

"You're way too happy this morning," he told her with a smile. "Are you sure you won't consider home schooling so I can keep you?"

She smiled and gave him another hug before sitting at the table. "I've been ready for this day for a long time," she told him.

"I know," he said, sighing dramatically. "Is Hogwarts ready for you, though?"

"Probably not," she answered impishly.

They talked quietly as he cooked, and when the smells of his work began to waft up the stairs, they started to hear the others starting to move around. Ginny and Arianna were the next downstairs, with the three boys close behind them.

Breakfast was over fairly quickly, and then Harry was kept busy moving and loading luggage into the sedan, then loading the kids up for the drive to the station. James, as usual was the last one packed, the last trunk loaded, and the last kid in the car.

When they reached Kings Cross Station, the kids each loaded a trolley with their things, and they went straight to platform nine and three quarters, where the Hogwarts Express waited. There were a lot of people there, and the train was already well on the way to being loaded.

Rose, Hugo, Nick, and Scorpius were already there with their parents, so they were just waiting for Carolyn and Brianna, who would again be coming with Lisa and Marcus. James, Aaron, and Arianna quickly said their goodbyes and loaded their luggage on the train and disappeared to find a compartment, and meet up with Tracey and their other friends.

The rest of the kids took a little longer with their goodbyes as they waited for Carolyn and Brianna to get there. Lily gave both of her parents extra hugs and kisses, and promised to write all the time to them. They had decided to start loading their things when the two girls joined them, and after some more hugs and kisses, the eight kids loaded their luggage, and started looking for compartments.

Rose and Nick joined Matt and Allie in one compartment, while the others took the compartment across the aisle from them. Al and Scorpius helped Hugo and the girls stow their luggage. They were all sitting down when the train pulled out of the station and began picking up speed.

Lily and Hugo sat in the seats next to the window, and watched excitedly as they moved away from the city and into the countryside.

"Finally!" Lily had exclaimed as they'd begun to move. "I think this is going to be my best day ever so far!"

"This should be fun," Al whispered to Carolyn.

"What'll be fun?" Lily asked, overhearing him.

Al laughed. "Watching you, Lily. When you're wound up like this it's always fun."

She turned and flashed her best smile at him before turning back to the window.

"I resemble that comment," she said before continuing on.

"This train is really fascinating when you think about it," she said. "I never hear anybody wonder why it is that once you get on platform nine and three quarters that you no longer see other trains or the rest of the station any more, yet when we're traveling, we still see the city and country around us as we go."

The other five kids listened to her running monlogue with interest. None of them had ever really thought about that.

"You still see other traffic, and Muggles and everything on the Knight Bus, even if Muggles don't see it, but this train is way cooler than that."

She looked around the compartment at the others, smiling.

"The train, and the platform at King's Cross station is – I'm not sure what to call it – shifted onto a different plane of existence."

Al stared at her. "What do you mean? I've never heard or read anything like that."

"Neither have I specifically, but I'm sure that it's right. The only explanation for never passing other trains, or seeing Muggle cars at crossings – or even seeing crossings at all – suggest that from the time we go through the wall at Kings Cross Station until we leave the platform at Hogsmeade Station, we're in a different _place_, for lack of a better term."

"When did you come up with this theory?" Scorpius asked her.

"Oh, I've been pretty sure about it for quite a few years, but I wanted to see for myself before saying anything, since it was based on what other people who'd been on the train had said." Scorpius and Al exchanged glances but didn't say anything.

"There doesn't seem to be more cars from when our parents went to school either," she was musing, possibly not even aware she was still talking to all of them.

"Yet there's probably close to twice as many students now, since the post-war baby-boom. It's like the train just creates as many compartments and cars on the inside as it needs, but it doesn't look any bigger on the outside."

"Are you sure the train isn't just bigger?" Carolyn asked.

Lily nodded. "Mum and Dad, and all of the other grownups say the platform's exactly the same as when they were kids, and a lot more crowded. If the train was twice as big, the platform would be too."

"That's pretty cool," Al complimented her. "I wonder why nobody has come up with that before."

"I think it's like other everyday kind of magic – you don't really think about the why or how at all – you just kind of take it for granted," she suggested. "I like knowing the why and how more than most people."

They all settled in for the ride, and Lily continued to entertain them straight through until the Witch came by with her cart, and they bought drinks, pasties, and other candy. The sugar rush gave Lily another head of steam, and she was again off and running.

"Will we start working right away on New Marauders stuff when we get to school?" she asked Al. "I can hardly wait to actually get to be there when we help all of the other kids. Is Arianna going to keep organizing the foundation volunteers to do mentoring? I want to help with that too. Now that Mum's VirtualMall is going, I can still do the shopping for everything too – Dad set up a VirtualAccount for me to use for that stuff." She took a breath and kept rolling.

"I wonder if we could get the mentoring thing started at other schools. There must be foundation volunteers at every school in the Wizarding World by now. Maybe I'll ask Daddy about that – or Professor McGonagall."

Lily continued talking almost non-stop all afternoon, and the great thing about that for the others was that the trip seemed to go by very fast. When the train came to a stop, Al gave his sister a hug and told her to have fun before they all got off the train, and she and Hugo had to leave them to join the other first year students.

"A'right, first years, follow me," they heard Hagrid boom gruffly.

Al grinned when he saw Lily run up to the big man and throw her arms around him.

"Hi, Professor Hagrid," he heard her say as he and the other older students walked toward the waiting carriages.

He hadn't really noticed last year, but this time he saw that James went in a carriage with Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey, getting to have a much earlier ride to the school than the other fourth year students. Rose went with Matt and the other fourth years, and Al, Scorpius, and Nick waited with the girls until the third year students finally had their turn to get carriages.

They all liked that they weren't the very last to get into the Great Hall, and had a little time to talk with some of the kids they hadn't seen since June. When it was finally time for the first year students to come in, the noise in the hall died down as Professor Longbottom led the nervous children into the room, carrying the stool and sorting hat.

Lily was smiling as she walked into the Great Hall. Hugo was walking next to her, looking everywhere. They listened as the sorting hat sang it's annual song, then watched and waited as the sorting began.

When Lily's name was called, she squeezed Hugo's hand before stepping forward and sitting on the stool. She wasn't nervous at all as Neville placed the hat on her head.

"Hmmm," the hat said. "We have another Potter this year." It paused for a moment, apparently assessing her. "In all of my years I have never seen a mind like yours," it said quietly enough that only she could hear, then exclaimed – "RAVENCLAW" for everyone in the hall to hear.

She hopped down happily, having already been sure that she'd be joining her younger brother and cousins. They were all there to hug and greet her when she walked to the Ravenclaw table. When they'd all sat down again, the others were obviously waiting for Hugo to be sorted, and Lily leaned over and whispered in Al's ear.

"He's going to be sorted into Gryffindor."

He looked at her in surprise. "How do you know that?"

Lily shrugged. "It's what he wants more than anything, and it's the right house for him too."

Al nodded. "You're probably right about that."

It wasn't much longer before she was proven right, and they watched an absolutely thrilled Hugo go and be welcomed into Gryffindor by James, Aaron, and Arianna. This year, 'Weasley' wasn't the last name in the alphabet, and so when the last two children were sorted, Neville took the stool and Sorting Hat with him when he went to sit at the Professor's table, and Professor McGonagall stepped forward to give her annual welcome speech.

Lily continued looking around the hall as she listened to the Headmistresses words of welcome, and the few reminders of rules for the students. She knew quite a few of the professors – Hagrid and Neville, of course, and she'd met Professor Slughorn several times. Both Professor Macmillans had visited the cottage before, and she had especially liked Professor McGonagall on the few occasions she'd seen her at the cottage or the times she'd come to the residence at Christmas with the student volunteers.

The speech was suddenly over, and the table filled up with platters and bowls full of the most delicious looking and smelling foods. Lily joined in with her brother, cousins, and friends as they all filled plates and began to eat.

"You didn't seem surprised at all when you were sorted," Carolyn told Lily, who smiled at her.

"I knew this is where I would be sorted."

Carolyn laughed. "Brianna and I are both glad – we get one more really great tutor to help us this year."

Lily laughed too. "That'll be fun to do – the first year stuff is going to be pretty boring. Maybe Al will let me help with Ancient Runes and Arithmancy too. Those two textbooks were pretty good, although I'd already read the Arithmancy one last year when James took it."

Al gave her a hug. "Help all you want, sis. Allie and I will probably both be glad to have you explain Ancient Runes to us, and you can help all of us in Arithmancy."

After dinner, they all went to the Common Room in Ravenclaw Tower, and spent some time there with some of their friends before Rose, Carolyn, and Brianna took Lily to the girls dorm, and helped her to settle in to her room, and meet some of the other first year girls.

Lily unpacked, wrote a letter to her parents, talked happily with her roommates, and finally climbed into bed. She wasn't quite ready to fall asleep yet, so she put on her Virtual GameWitch, went into the VirtualLibrary, and read the rest of the fourth year Arithmancy textbook that she hadn't had time to finish when she'd been reading James' textbooks during the past week. She went to sleep shortly after finishing the book, happy, and looking forward to her first day of classes.

Hugo had watched his cousin get sorted into Ravenclaw, and hadn't been surprised. She was by far the smartest kid he knew. He had a while to wait until it was his turn to be sorted, and he hoped that Lily had been right when she assured him that he'd be sorted into Gryffindor. He really hoped she hadn't just been saying that to make him feel better and stop worrying about it so much.

There were only three first year students left when his name was finally called, and he nervously stepped forward.

"Ah, a Weasley!" the Sorting hat said as soon as it was placed on his head. "And definitely your father's son! Only one place for you, my boy – GRYFFINDOR!"

Hugo had jumped down from the stool and quickly walked to the Gryffindor table where James and the others greeted him before they all sat down again. He probably wouldn't spend too many other meals sitting with fourth and sixth year students, and he was glad to get to sit with them tonight. There'd be lots of time to make friends with other first years later, but it felt good to sit with his cousin and friends for this first dinner at school.

James, Andy, and Jon took care of Hugo after dinner, showing him around the Common Room, introducing him to some of the other kids, and helping him settle into his dorm room. He met his roommates, wrote a letter to his parents, then went to sleep. That he was in Gryffindor was enough for now, and he'd worry about his first day of classes in the morning.

Arianna, Aaron, James, and Tracey were sitting in the common room after James had returned from helping Hugo.'

"How's he doing?" she asked him as he sat down beside her.

"Good. I think he's so glad to be sorted into our house that pretty much nothing else could bother him."

Aaron smiled. "If he's as good a Keeper as we've heard, we're going to be really glad to have him. Especially since he spent the last two summers working out with the Ravenclaw team!"

Tracey rolled her eyes. "Maybe I should try out for the team – it might be the only way I get to see you this year, now that you're captain."

Arianna laughed. "We love you Tracey," she told her friend, "but Quidditch is not your thing."

Aaron gave her a hug. "We won't find out until tomorrow, but I know from my Hogwarts letter that I'll only be taking four classes this year, so I'll have time to spend with you – even if it's watching you do homework."

"I'm only going to have six classes," she answered. "That's not going to be too bad. How many will you have, Arianna?"

"Just four for me too. I could take History too, but there's no career I want to do with that, so I won't bother continuing with it."

"I thought I was taking it easy going back to nine classes after dropping Divination," James said. "If I didn't already know how hard the sixth and seventh year classes are, I'd be jealous."

They talked together for a while longer before deciding to go get settled in to their rooms. Arianna and Tracey both wrote letters before going to bed, while James spent his time catching up with Andy and Jon, who he had only seen a couple of times during the summer.

Lily was excited right from the first moment she woke up. When she went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, she hadn't hesitated at all, joining Al and their group at the table. Some of the other first years seemed a little surprised, but she didn't even notice.

The first years got their schedules first after breakfast, and Lily gave Al a hug, wished them all well, then happily left to get her books from her room, and go to her first Potions class.

She was walking to the Potions dungeon by herself, and was suddenly confronted by three big boys.

"Oh look," the obvious leader of the group said. "A new firstie – all alone."

Lily didn't hesitate, and whipped out her wand, pointing it directly at the boy who had spoken.

All three boys laughed at her, drawing their own wands. "Pretty stupid move for someone who's never taken a single class yet," the same boy said, sneering. "Why don't you just hand over your bag before you get hurt, Weasley."

Lily smiled at him. "I don't think so, and it's not Weasley, it's _Potter_ – Lily Potter. If you all just leave now, I won't have to hurt you."

The three boys weren't smiling anymore, but they weren't backing down either.

"Your big brother and his mates aren't around to protect you," one of the other boys said. "And we're not afraid of a little firstie girl – Potter or not."

Lily was still smiling, as she flicked her wand slightly. The three boys slammed into the hallway walls, and were pinned there.

"You should be," she told them cheerfully. "I may look like my mother, but I'm definitely my Daddy's little girl."

She looked into the fearful eyes of each boy. "Don't try bullying me again, boys. Next time, I'll have to introduce you to my Mom's famous bat-bogey hex." She walked past them, and was halfway to class before she decided to release them.

When Professor Slughorn opened the door to the Potions classroom and invited the children in, Lily quickly moved to the front of the class and sat down. It was a while before one of the last kids to enter the classroom finally sat next to her when the rest of the seats farther back were filled.

She listened as the Professor went through the class list, occasionally commenting on parents and family members of kids as he checked them off. He smiled at Lily when he called her name.

"You look just like your mother," he commented. "Will you be like your parents and brother Al, or blow up my classroom like your brother James?" he mused.

Lily laughed with the other kids who'd heard his comments, her eyes sparkling.

When Professor Slughorn finished the class list, he told them to get out their textbooks and turn to Chapter One. He returned to the front of the class, and stood waiting for everyone to do that. He saw that Lily was making no effort to get her textbook out, but was just sitting there smiling at him, waiting excitedly.

"Ms. Potter," he said, smiling too. "Would you like to get your textbook out too?"

"I didn't bring it with me, sir," she answered, still smiling.

"We have school copies available in that cabinet," he said, pointing to one of the cabinets along one wall. "You may borrow one from there for today." When she didn't make a move to walk over and get one, he added – "Come, Come, hurry up and get one so we can begin."

"Sir, I don't actually need one," she answered him. "I've read the book already."

She smiled as the Professor laughed jovially. "You have, have you? And you will be able to remember how to make all of the potions in the textbook, I suppose?"

She nodded eagerly. "Yes, sir."

He laughed again. "Well, then, my young lady, I'm sure we'd all be fascinated if you could tell us how to make the potion we'll be covering in Chapter One today."

Her classmates watched in amazement as she proceeded to not only tell Professor Slughorn each step of the potion, but to also explain three things she'd done to improve the potency of the mixture. For his part, the Professor had gone from being amused to practically dancing with excitement.

"Ms. Potter, that was truly astonishing! Twenty-five points for Ravenclaw!" he said happily.

"Since your classmate has just so brilliantly covered our lesson, why don't we move straight to making this potion. While I'm reasonably certain that her suggested improvements will work, I would like everyone else to please only use the textbook instructions to make your potions."

For the rest of the class, he walked around, watching each student. He did spend more time watching Lily work as she flawlessly created her improved potion completely from memory. She earned ten more points for the completed potion at the end of class, and happily left with the other students to go on to her first Transfiguration class.

She again sat at the front of the class, and this time, several of the kids that had been in the Potions class sat closer to her so they'd get a better view if she did anything interesting here. When the textbook scene started repeating itself in this class too, she tried to shorten it right away by telling him that she'd memorized the textbook, but had again needed to prove it to Professor Macmillan. He asked her to summarize several passages, and she instead could recite them without missing a single word.

That had earned Ravenclaw another ten points, and had started a bit of grumbling among the rest of the class – or at least with the kids that weren't in her house. Lily had started studying Hogwarts textbooks over three years ago, and while she hadn't had a wand, or actually done the magic, she had learned. When it came time to change a match into a needle, even she'd been a little surprised that it had happened on her very first try, and had been perfect.

Professor Macmillan had awarded her another ten points for that. She'd still had a lot of time left in class, so while the other students tried to transfigure their matches, she idly played with her needle. First she changed it back into a match, then into a few other inanimate objects, and finally into a butterfly. That last change earned twenty more points for Ravenclaw.

There was a buzz during lunch at their table about the points that were piling up for their house. Al and the others had to find out from the rumour mill that Lily had been largely responsible for that happening. The Ravenclaw students weren't the only ones talking – the Professors were talking about her too, and she'd received a wink from Hagrid, and smiles from several other Professors..

"Nicely done, Lily," Rose congratulated her. "Keep it up, and we'll have the House Cup wrapped up by the end of the day!"

The others all laughed, and Lily felt so happy she could burst. Before going to her afternoon classes, she met up with Hugo, and compared schedules. They were both disappointed to find out that the only class they'd have together was Herbology on Tuesday and Friday.

She had History of Magic after lunch. Professor Binns went through the class list, and then immediately just turned to the first page and began to read their textbook.

Lily wasn't one to sit idly and listen to a droning recitation of the textbook, though, and even her classmates soon realized that she helped to make the class at least moderately interesting as she continually raised her hand and asked the Professor to expand on what he was talking about, or to challenge some of the things he stated as fact.

Professor Binns at first seemed annoyed, but soon even he was engaged as he became intrigued by her questions. She didn't use the textbook, yet could back her arguments up from not only the text, but from dozens of other sources.

He was so impressed, in fact, that for the first time that he could remember in he didn't know how long, he awarded twenty points to Ravenclaw. When the students left at the end of class, he was actually smiling as he drifted through the blackboard on his way to the staff room.

Lily's last class of the day was DADA. She'd been amused when some of the other first year girls started whispering around her about how cute Professor Williamson was. He quickly went through the class list, and got right down to teaching.

He'd heard about Lily at lunchtime from Ernie and Horace, and had been looking forward to having her in his class. She put her hand up, ready to answer every question, and he'd awarded her five points for each of three answers she'd given that none of the other students had been able to answer. She'd also obviously memorized the textbook for his class too, and he was as impressed as the other Professors had been.

He singled her out to help him demonstrate the shield charm they'd be learning over the next few weeks, expecting her to be able to show the other students the correct way to do the spell that he'd been teaching them.

"Now, Ms. Potter, if you would be so kind as to demonstrate the shield charm, I will test it with a very mild charm."

Her shield came up, and it was nearly as strong as Al was able to do, but what had left the Professor speechless for a moment was that she'd performed it non-verbally!

"Twenty-five points for Ravenclaw!" he said as he admired her shield. "That was truly amazing," he told her. "It's obvious that testing your shield is unnecessary."

Lily was smiling when she dropped her shield.

"Where did you learn to do non-verbal spells?" Professor Williamson asked.

She looked surprised for a minute, not really having thought about the fact that she hadn't spoken the word 'Protego'.

"I read about how to do that in the sixth year textbook, sir," she answered.

He smiled at her, then turned back to the class. "Pair up, and try to make your shields. Don't get discouraged – despite Ms. Potter's success, this is a difficult first step in learning defense, and we will be working on this together for the next several weeks."

While the other students started pairing up, he took Lily aside.

"Why don't you take the rest of the class off," he said. "By the time you have your next class with me, we'll get something worked out so that you won't end up bored."

She smiled, and gave him a hug. "Thank-you," she told him. Lily didn't hear the sighs of relief from many of the students when she left the classroom, but Professor Williamson had, and when class ended, he headed straight for the staff room, gathered up Ernie and Horace, and went to see the Headmistress.

When they were all seated in her office, he started the meeting.

"You must all be aware by now that this young girl cannot be left in first year classes. We need to do whatever we can to stimulate that incredible mind, and wasting her time with first year studies that she is already far beyond in her skill level is pointless."

Professor McGonagall looked at the other men. "What do you think? We have never done this before in the history of the school, and I hesitate to consider making special arrangements for any student."

"She turned her match into a butterfly this morning," Ernie said quietly, and Professor McGonagall looked impressed. "This is just her first day using her wand, and she's doing things like that without even really trying – I was watching – she was just playing around!"

Professor Slughorn was nodding. "And her potion work! Completely from memory, and not only perfect, but better than the original potion! I'm not even sure how she came up with the ideas for what she did, but they were brilliant! It would be a waste to have her wallow around with the other first year students."

They heard a polite cough from behind McGonagall's desk.

"You wish to offer an opinion, Albus?" she asked, turning around to look up at his portrait.

"If I may, could I suggest that you move the young Ms. Potter into second year, and then also have her start taking one or two of the optional third year classes too? In a year or two you may need to move her up again, but I'd caution that she not be put too far ahead of children her own age, even if it means having her take classes with them but working at her own pace."

"Thank-you, Albus," Minverva told him. "We would, of course, need Harry and Ginny to agree to this."

"We've had other bright students before," Phineas scoffed. "What's so special about this girl?"

Albus answered his fellow former Headmaster. "From the sounds of it, I'd say quite a lot, Phineas. How many first year students did you teach that could do non-verbal spells? She's only the second one that I'm aware of."

Phineas grumbled, but didn't say anything more, since he hadn't even known there'd been one. Professor Williamson was interested in what Albus had said.

"Who was the other?" he asked the portrait of Albus Dumbledore, who smiled down at him.

"That would be her brother, Albus," he answered. "Although he never told anyone else he could do it."

Professor Williamson nodded. "I should have guessed."

"Are we in agreement then?" Minerva asked the men, who each nodded. "Good, then if you'll all excuse me, I'll put a call in to Harry and ask them to come to the school this evening to discuss the matter."

When she'd seen the three men to the door, and they'd left, she turned to face Albus again. "You're certain this is a good idea?" she asked him.

"Yes, Minerva. Professor Williamson is correct – we must do everything we can to stimulate her growth. She is truly going to grow up to be very special." She nodded once more, and made the call.

Lily got the message to go to the Headmistress' office after dinner when they'd first gone into the Great Hall that evening. Al and the other boys had teased her about probably getting in trouble for hugging the Professors or something equally silly. She'd put up with their teasing gracefully, knowing that there was no way she was being called into the office for anything bad.

Professor McGonagall had not been there for dinner, though, so she'd had no clues as to the reason for the invitation. When she saw her smiling parents in the office after being invited in, Lily had rushed over to hug them both before sitting down next to them.

Professor McGonagall was actually smiling when she started talking to Lily.

"You've made quite an impression for your first day," she told the young girl. "I've asked you – and your parents – here to discuss the recommendations that have been made regarding your education here at Hogwarts."

Lily couldn't help but grin, as she could see that her parents were obviously very proud of her, so whatever it was, they knew about it already and it was something good.

"Your Mum and Dad have been informed of those recommendations, and have agreed with them." She handed Lily a sheet of parchment.

"This is your new schedule. Effective tomorrow, you will be moved to second year for the seven core subjects. In addition to those classes, we will be allowing you to take two third year classes – Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy, since those were the only two third year optionals that would fit into your second year schedule."

Lily was practically bouncing with excitement now.

"I'm sure that your brother and friends can let you know what homework you need to catch up on this evening for the classes from today," the professor continued. "I have also had you moved into one of the second year girl's dorm rooms with Carolyn and Brianna."

Lily couldn't help herself, and went around the desk to give the Professor a hug. "Thank-you!"

Harry and Ginny both laughed at their daughter's exuberance.

"Do you think she's happy with the new arrangement?" Ginny asked him.

"I'm thinking that's a yes." He laughed again when Lily threw herself into his arms.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, and Lily sat down again.

"Your Professors are all going to allow you some latitude in your education, Ms. Potter, since it is obvious that you will be more than capable of learning your lessons at a much faster rate than your fellow students. Your parents and I will monitor your progress, and will do everything we can to make sure that you have enough to challenge you."

Lily nodded, and waited, sure there was still something more.

"The one thing we want to be cautious with, is to make sure that you don't become socially alienated from your peers," the Professor continued.

"Your brothers and cousins are all very bright, yet you may – probably have – found your abilities passing them by. Try not to let that part of you get in the way of being able to relate to the other children your own age. We will monitor this aspect of your life too. If it's something you need help with, please don't hesitate to let me know."

Lily nodded again, but didn't say anything about it. She, and her Mum and Dad all knew that this concern was not necessary for her. She got along with everybody.

"Very well, then," Professor McGonagall said. "Why don't you take a moment to say goodnight to your parents, then return to Ravenclaw Tower."

She gave both of her parents hugs and kisses, then quietly left the office, silently exulting that she was being allowed to speed up her education.

"She doesn't look like someone who just got a month's detention polishing armor," Nick said when she came up to them.

Lily gave him a hug. "Nope. Professor McGonagal – and Mum and Dad – wanted to let me know that I'd be starting second year tomorrow." She looked at her schedule as if looking at it again would reassure her that it wasn't a dream, and smiled even brighter.

"Actually, I see that we'll be having Arithmancy together tomorrow too." She turned to Carolyn and Brianna. "Do you think you could show me our room, and then let me know what we have for homework from the classes I missed today?"

Both girls jumped up and gave her hugs. "Really?" Brianna said happily. "You're in our room now?"

Lily nodded. "Professor McGonagall said my things, and Fluffy, should already be there."

The three girls ran off to the dorm together, coming back with their books a little while later and sitting down to go over with Lily what they'd done in their classes that day. Two hours later, all three of them were laughing.

"I'm not sure why I'm laughing," Carolyn said. "We start out telling you what went on in class today, and by the end of studying, you're teaching us how to do the stuff!"

Brianna gave Lily a hug. "I think it's brilliant, and I'm really glad she's going to be in all of our classes."

Al had been sitting next to Carolyn, doing his own homework, and he looked up from what he was working on.

"And I get her for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Hopefully she'll agree to help her brother and cousins with those subjects."

Rose laughed. "You and Allie are the only ones that took Runes, but the rest of us will take all the help we can get."

Lily knew they were both teasing her and complimenting her at the same time, and she loved them for making this so easy for her. She'd missed the first day of Transfiguration, DADA, and a double Charms class, but had no problems doing the three assignments.

The other girls in Carolyn and Brianna's dorm room had been surprised to find out that they had an extra roommate, let alone a first year that had been moved up to second year. Lily's warmth, her ready smile, and hugs for greetings won them over quickly.

By breakfast time, the rumour mill had sent the news most of the way around the Great Hall, and Lily was a minor celebrity for most of the day. The first year class had collectively sighed in relief, while the second year students waited to find out what was so special about her to warrant the Professors doing something so unprecedented.

The students that had Herbology with her didn't have long to wait to find out. Lily's professors had all been impressed yesterday when they had found out she'd memorized every textbook. Professor Longbottom had been even more impressed that she'd done the same for the second year textbooks.

Carolyn and Brianna had smiled happily as their young friend earned another twenty points for Ravenclaw in that first class of the day. The rest of the class was just as astounded with her abilities as the first years had been the previous day.

Professor Binns had been animated and excited when he'd welcomed the second years to their first History class of the year, which had certainly surprised the other students who'd expected to be having nap time until lunch.

They watched incredulously as their Professor and Lily practically debated the lesson he was teaching. Slowly, some of the other kids engaged in the conversation, and for the first time in ages, both Professor Binns, and the students actually enjoyed the class.

After lunch, Lily had found second year potions to be just as much fun as the first year class had been. By now, only the classmates that hadn't seen her in action yet had been surprised when she earned twenty more points for her house, answering every question, and creating a perfect potion completely from memory.

Professor Macmillan had enjoyed having James in her class last year, and he'd be taking her fourth year class this year. She knew that there weren't very many students that actually liked Arithmancy, let alone excelled at it. Having a student like James had been a nice change.

When Ernie had told her about how exceptional Lily was, and then found out this morning that her class was one of the two third year subjects she'd be taking, Parvati had been interested to see how she'd do in a class with students two years older than she was.

Lily came into class with her brother, cousins, Scorpius and Allie. She and Rose sat together, as did Al and Scorpius, and Nick and Allie. Lily was definitely getting some extra attention from the other third years, and she couldn't keep a smile from her face.

Professor Macmillan checked off the class list, and began her lesson. Her husband had told her that Lily had been able to memorize her textbooks, but she had not been expecting that she had been able to do the same for a third year class that she'd have no expectation of taking this year.

Still, she had done just that, and her understanding of the material was incredible. What was even more exciting for Parvati was that while Lily was certainly the best student in the class, Al and Rose were nearly as good, and Nick, Scorpius, and Allie all showed strong abilities. All six of them seemed equally enthusiastic about the subject.

Some of the students from other houses were a bit disgruntled by the end of the class, but couldn't argue that the group of Ravenclaws had earned every point that Professor Macmillan awarded Lily and the others.

Lily was a very happy camper by the time they went to the Great Hall for dinner. She, Carolyn, and Brianna had already finished their Herbology and History homework. She'd also done her Arithmancy homework, so all they had left after dinner was a Potions assignment.

James and Arianna stopped at their table to congratulate her, and he took the opportunity to tease her, but Lily could tell that he was proud of her too. They set up a meeting of the New Marauders for after dinner. Arianna promised to pass the message along to the other Gryffindor Marauders.

Lily and Hugo weren't the only new members of their little covert group. Allie, Matt, Jon's girlfriend Therese, and Tracey had all been invited to join this year, and were there for the first meeting.

Arianna and Tracey agreed to continue with the mentoring that was the only transparent activity that the group co-ordinated. They'd all be watching out for new kids to help over the first few weeks of school, and the two girls would put the student volunteers together with those kids.

Thanks to the VirtualMall, Lily would continue to take care of the shopping for the group. They reviewed the needs of more than twenty kids, and she quickly had her first shopping list.

They had reports of seven groups or individual bullies trying to cause problems for some of the kids, including the three boys who had confronted Lily. James, Aaron, Andy, and Jon were all smiling, and looking forward to taking care of once again stopping all of them from bullying. Hugo asked to join them, suggesting that if he started learning how to help with the bullies now, that there'd still be someone to help do that in a few years after the older boys graduated.

Lily was a fairly hyper kid – something she readily admitted to. After they finished the meeting, she went back to the Common Room, and did her Potions homework with Carolyn and Brianna. They went to their room to have a nap before having to go to their Astronomy class, but Lily didn't need to rest. Instead, she put on her Virtual GameWitch, and spent most of that time getting every item on the list they'd made up during the meeting. The Owl Post would be delivering each of her orders at breakfast in the morning.

Professor Sinistra had been interested in meeting Lily, and she was as impressed with her as the other Professors were. She did note that there was one big difference between Lily and Al. Lily might be able to flawlessly repeat the textbook facts, or draw any celestial body or chart, and do it better than her brother, but he actually loved Astronomy.

Because he did truly love the subject, while she was an enthusiastic learner, he was passionate about Astronomy, just as the Professor was. That difference didn't keep her from awarding ten more points to Ravenclaw during the class when Lily was able to answer the most difficult questions she could put to a second year class, but it did mean that Al remained her favourite student.

The rest of the first week of classes just seemed to fly past. Lily loved finally being able to actually do the magic that she'd only been able to read about before. She continued earning points for Ravenclaw, and impressing her Professors.

In her first Ancient Runes class, Professor Doge had presented the class with a rune that he'd promised to award fifty points to the first student to decipher it before the end of the year. When she'd put her hand up and then proceeded to do just that, even Al had been unable to keep from groaning with the rest of the class. Professor Doge had laughed, delighted by the precocious youngster, confirmed she'd been correct, awarded her the points, then continued with the lesson.

When Lily went to bed on Friday night, she was sure that of all the best weeks ever of her life so far, that this one had been the best. 'There's still one more very big day left', she reminded herself happily. Saturday morning she wanted to finish off her amazing week by hopefully making the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

She wished Carolyn and Brianna a good night, then turned out her light and closed her eyes. That was the last thing she remembered, and the next thing she knew, it was Quidditch Tryout morning. Whatever eventually happened, she knew it was going to be another exciting day, and she happily got up to get it started.


	43. Meanwhile, Elsewhere

Chapter Forty-Three – Meanwhile, Elsewhere

Harry had watched the train pull out of the station, taking all three of his children with it, and felt the familiar sadness at their leaving for another term at school. It was deeper this time, because they were now all gone – even his baby girl. Ginny had put her arm around him, and once the train had moved on out of sight, took his hand and walked beside him as they left the platform.

The four couples went out to lunch together, then Harry and Ginny went home to what felt like a very empty cottage.

"I guess I better find something to do with my time now," Harry said as they cuddled on a sofa later.

Ginny smiled and kissed him. "Don't worry," she told him suggestively, "I'm sure we can come up with lots of things for you to do."

He laughed and kissed her. "Unless you're going to start both a whole new area of research, and cause a scandal at the lab, I'm mostly referring to the hours of the day when you're gone."

Ginny laughed too, then got more serious, and thought about that. "You know there's lots of things you could do with the foundation. I'm sure Teddy and Stewart could use the help."

Harry nodded. "True, and I'll keep spending time with the kids at the residence, but I'm not sure that I want to get tied down with specific projects – especially since they're all doing a great job without me interfering."

"You could come work at the lab. You did come up with the idea for the TransPortal after all," she suggested.

"Came up with the idea – it was you and the other girls that made it work and developed all of the Arithmancy and the spells. I'd just slow all of you down when you had to stop to explain stuff to me, and then you'd still have to hire someone to explain your explanations to me after you were done."

Ginny laughed again, and hugged him. "Well, don't worry about it. Something will come up – it always does."

Harry made breakfast for Ginny on Monday, and after seeing her off to work, spent most of the day at the residence, mostly helping out with the kids there that were dealing with the same kind of seperation anxiety that he himself was going through.

He'd been surprised when Minerva McGonagall had called him that afternoon, asking him, and Ginny, to come to the school to discuss Lily during a private dinner at the school. Harry had gone to the Institute, and after telling Ginny about the call, had gone with her to Professor McGonagall's office.

They'd had dinner, and she had told them about Lily's incredible day, and what she and the other Professors wanted to do for Lily. When their daughter had joined them, Professor McGonagall had done almost all of the talking, and Harry had wished for more time to spend with Lily, but knew that they wouldn't be able to do that. When she'd hugged them goodbye, and happily left the office, excited to go tell her brother, cousins, and friends about the news, he'd smiled sadly as the door closed behind her.

"She's a remarkable young girl," Harry heard from behind him. He turned and looked up at the portrait of Professor Dumbledore.

"Thank-you. We think all three of the kids are pretty amazing," Harry answered.

"Candy?" Albus offered, smiling and holding up his painted jar of lemon drops.

Harry and Ginny both laughed. "No, Thank-you."

Professor McGonagall was smiling too. "You know, Albus, you just confuse people when you do that."

"My apologies, Minerva, it is an old joke between Harry and I."

She nodded her understanding and turned back to Harry and Ginny. "I hope we're doing the right thing for Lily," she told them. "Since it's never been done before, we'll be sort of making it up as we go along."

Ginny smiled. "I'm sure everything will be fine. She's very adaptable, and has the best teachers here to help her along."

"From what Horace said, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find her teaching us soon."

They'd talked together for a while longer, then Professor McGonagall had seen them off, and they'd gone back to the cottage.

Harry took Frederica out for lunch and an afternoon of shopping on Tuesday, the last of his nieces and nephews not in school, and they'd had fun together. He expected that, like with Nicolas, that once she started at Hogwarts, he would see more of her than he had up until now.

He spent a day in Romania at the residence there with Nathalie on Wednesday, and most of Thursday at 'his' residence. Ginny was surprised after work on Friday when he had everything ready for 'date night', and while he still hadn't found something specific to work on while the kids were gone, that first week had somehow still been full, and he'd certainly been busy enough to keep from getting bored.

Ginny's week at the lab had been busy too. With her VirtualMall out in the marketplace, and the only continuing work on the project passed on to other researchers, she was able to move on to other projects that interested her.

She always had a few pet projects on the go, and in these periods where she was transitioning from one major project to the next, she'd usually pull them out and play with them for a while. Sometimes it took years for problems to get worked out before ideas moved from concept to reality.

Ginny had occasionally been working on the significant issues surrounding the possibility of developing magical heating and cooling. When she'd pulled that project out and dusted it off, some new ideas had come to her on how to make it work. This kind of leap had happened to her many times before, and she knew just by how it felt that this was going to be both her next big project, and one of the next big things for the Institute.

Ron was hard at work all week too. His Canon's were playing their first game on Saturday, and the whole team was really fired up. Demelza and Dennis were going to retire from being players at the end of this season – their twentieth year. They wanted another championship, and everyone wanted to help them get that.

The coaches worked the players hard in practices, and Ron worked late into each night watching game film, and developing his game plans. This wasn't the strongest team they'd ever had, but he was going to make sure that for every game his team had the best strategy to get a win – and nobody doubted that he was the best in the league at making those game plans.

By Friday night, he knew the team was as ready as they could be for the game, and so he confidently took the evening off, and took his beautiful wife out for a dinner date before going home for a quiet evening together. He never stayed out, or up, late on the night before a game. Hermione never complained about that kind of thing, accepting that it was just part of his job, just like he had long since stopped grumbling when she got so deeply into a research project that it was all she'd think about night and day – sometimes for weeks at a time.

Percy and Penelope were both right back to work on Monday. Now that Marauders Escape was completed, she was busy with several new housing and business developments, and she spent each day of the week in a different part of the world checking up on the progress of each project, being able to come home each evening, thanks to the TransPortal system.

During the past eight or nine months, Percy had been reassessing his career, and he'd decided early in that process that he really did want to stay in politics. He also knew that to do that, he was going to have to start changing how he worked so that the job would start being fun.

One of the first things he'd done was to go spend more time with his father, observing him, and how the people that worked for him interacted with their boss. Arthur Weasley's team really liked him, and they certainly had fun. The other main observation he had was that they also got more done than they did in his own department. His Dad was a big help in teaching him why that was, and what to do to change himself, and get his own team of Witches and Wizards to be more like that.

Making those changes had not been easy. He'd done it slowly, and he'd had to move quite a few people in and out of his department, but that process was nearly done now, and those tough changes were now finally paying off. The best part of it was that he now looked forward to going to work every day, and he felt like they were really making a difference now.

A good example of that was the new program that was starting this week through his department. There had, up until now, not really been any sports programs for under eleven year old kids. That was changing with the start of local programs in ten communities where kids were now going to have a chance to play games with other little Witches and Wizards. They would be taught games like Quidditch and LaserBroom, and learn how to fly on brooms, and lots of other activities.

On Monday, he'd even taken Frederica with him, and gone to see the first morning's activities at the Hogsmeade centre. That had been a big success, and he'd been advised that there was a lot of excitement and good participation at all ten locations. He'd taken the Witches and Wizards that had come up with the idea, and then led the implementation of it out to lunch on Friday to thank them. It was truly amazing what they could all do when they stopped wasting time on politics and just got to work!

Teddy and Victoire were both busy with their jobs, and while they'd just celebrated their first anniversary, still felt like newlyweds. They both had to travel with their work, and tried to coordinate those trips so that they could go together, or be at home each evening. While the TransPortal made it possible to be home each night if they wanted to, dealing with the global time change was something else, and it was when they needed to be in regions that were more than six hours different in time zone that they would be gone for two or three days.

Their best friends, neighbours, and sister and brother-in-law, Isabelle and Stewart were a big part of their lives too, and it sometimes seemed like they were one family, since they did som many things together. Whether it was shopping, or going out on dates, or just hanging around their houses, the two couples weren't usually very far apart, and they all loved every minute of it.

Isabelle loved her job at the Institute, and after her success with the treatment to heal dark arts curse injuries, she was considered one of the top researchers there. Stewart was always busy with the residences, and traveled at least two days of every week – with Teddy and Victoire if he could, and alone if he couldn't.

Victoire still received a lot of support from the Witch Investments partners, but she was starting to really assert herself, and the company continued to grow, and the company was well on it's way to another great year. There was no doubt that her leadership, and her fresh, new ideas were a big part of that success.

Draco and Astoria had been having an interesting summer. Since Harry's visit at the end of June, there had been a lot of adjustments required – particularly by Lucius Malfoy. Draco had watched in fascination as his father time and time again had to back down from the precipice of breaking his vow not to harm anything.

When he and Astoria had returned from walking Harry to the gates of their property, Lucius and the other men were practically in a rage as the impact of their unbreakable vow had settled in, and they realized what it meant.

He had smiled to himself, and Astoria had squeezed his hand in understanding as they'd listened to the impotent rants. That the men could no longer hurt their son was one very important thing, but the vow also meant that his father, and all of the other men could also never even hurt an owl, or kneazle cat, or _anything!_

Draco found that he could live with that very easily. That's not to say that there wasn't still problems at Malfoy Mansion. To the contrary, his mother, Narcissa, seemed to feel that it was her personal duty to make life even harder on everyone around her husband, to make up for what he could no longer do when displeased. Every time he got angry, yet couldn't do anything about it, she'd step in and deal quite harsly with the offending person or creature.

Lucius might no longer be able to hurt anyone, but he and the others still insisted on getting information from kids like Dirk Avery. The first week back to school had not been a good week at Malfoy Mansion. All of the news had been bad.

Narcissa and a couple of the other women had suggested to some of the boys to bully Lily Potter. That had been a complete disaster. Neither grandparent had been at all pleased to find out that their blood-traitor grandson looked healthier than ever, was certainly among the best dressed and most popular third year students, and was obviously very happy. That the same Potter girl had become the first student ever to be moved a year ahead, and also would be taking third year classes had been one more irritant that had driven Lucius into impotent rages.

While Draco and Astoria had secretly delighted in that unintended torment, life around the mansion had certainly deteriorated as the week went on, and by Friday, they decided to pack up and go on an extended vacation, leaving his parents to fume and complain about imaginary injustices while they instead enjoyed themselves touring the Middle East.

Back at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor House, James and his cousin and friends hadn't been having the kind of week that Lily had enjoyed, but it had been a good week for them too.

Monday morning they'd gotten their schedules. James was taking all the same classes as his third year, except he'd dropped divination, which he'd been worse than bad at. Yes, he'd passed, but he also couldn't actually do any real divination, so he hadn't seen any point in continuing.

Arianna and Aaron would be taking DADA, Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration – the only classes they'd gotten an 'E' or better on their OWL's. Tracey had those, and also would be continuing with Herbology and Arithmancy. Having four and six subjects this year hadn't seemed to appreciably reduce their homework over last year, but they at least had more spare periods each day to do the work.

Hugo had been hoping to have at least some of his classes with Lily, and had been disappointed when they'd compared schedules and they didn't. When he found out on Tuesday morning that she'd been moved to second year, he'd been even more disappointed, and probably a little bit jealous.

He knew that he was reasonably smart, but he also understood that he wasn't anywhere in the same league with his Mum or sister, and had known for a long time that he was way out of his cousin Lily's league when it came to brain wattage.

They'd all taken a night off of studying on Friday, and Hugo was sitting with James and the others in the Common room.

"I don't know about the rest of you," he said, "but I'm pretty much tired of hearing about Lily this week." He looked over at James and grinned. "No offence, cuz. You know I love her, but I'm really sick of the whole thing."

James laughed. "None taken, mate. I'm pretty much tired of the whole thing too. This is the first time since I've been here that I've actually felt like I'm not really all that bright."

Aaron had laughed too. "Just imagine how the rest of us average Witches and Wizards feel, mate."

Tracey patted his arm. "None of us should feel that way. From what I hear, she might just be the most exceptional kid ever. We need to make sure we support her too. She's probably going to have to deal with some kids giving her a hard time because they're jealous of her."

She'd laughed when she'd seen Hugo's guilty look. "Hugo, there's a big difference between feeling a bit jealous and trying to be mean to her because of that jealousy. I bet everyone here, including me, is a bit jealous of her. Who wouldn't want to be that smart?"

James had shook his head. "I wouldn't," he told the others. "Could you imagine how insufferable I'd be if I was smarter than everyone? I think I'm very happy just the way I am."

"I'm pretty happy with the way you are too," Arianna had said, giving him a hug. "Is everyone ready for tryouts tomorrow? What time did you get booked, Aaron?"

"Trinity beat us again – big surprise. We've got the second slot though, so we're not stuck with one of the afternoon times. Are you ready for it, Hugo? You're probably going to have lots of competition."

The younger boy nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I'm ready. I'm pretty happy that it won't be like when my Dad was here either. There's not much chance to make the team as Keeper when the captain has that job like when Oliver Wood was here."

"Just think how all of the kids that want to play Chaser feel in our house – Arianna and I have had two spots locked up for six years now, and James has had the third one for what will be four years."

Hugo laughed. "You mean Arianna and James have their spots guaranteed this year?"

James and Arianna both pretended to be shocked at Aaron's answer. "Of course not. Every spot – except mine – is always open at tryout. I will be really surprised if there are two players that are better, though."

Hugo had left them after that, and gone to his dorm, where he stayed up for a while talking with the other boys who were there. He hadn't really made any close friendships yet. He walked to classes, and sat with one or two of the boys in this room, but they were still getting to know each other, and he was usually careful about making friends. There was only one other boy in their room that planned on trying out for the team tomorrow, and so they'd decided to go there together in the morning. The other boys didn't seem to give either of them much of a chance to make the team. Hugo went to sleep knowing that he was probably as good, and maybe better than Scorpius, and he was actually pretty confident of his chances.

The third year Ravenclaw New Marauders had sort of felt like they were watching the main event of the week from the sidelines. Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius had pretty much been considered the top four students in the school – at least until Monday.

It felt a bit strange for that to no longer be the case. When Lily joined their Arithmancy class, and the Ancient Runes that Al and Allie were taking, the real difference was obvious. When she'd helped them out at home, it had never been in a competitive environment. Now, she was able to easily beat all of them to the answers in class, and they now got to feel exactly what their fellow students had long been used to – having someone smarter than them in their class.

Their sorting into Ravenclaw hadn't just been because of how smart they were. The students in Ravenclaw usually joked that egos were sorted into Gryffindor. Al and the others didn't waste time on jealousy or pride – they were genuinely glad to have a member of their little group that could help them all get better and learn more.

When Lily had been wishing Carolyn and Brianna a good night, Al, Nick, and Scorpius had been in their dorm room talking too.

"There are a lot of kids signed up again this year for tryouts," Scorpius was saying. "Good thing we practiced hard all summer."

Nick had nodded. "I think it's brilliant that there's so much interest in being part of the team. Do you realize that with you basically being part of the family, Scorpius that it's possible we could have five out of seven places on the team this year?"

Scorpius had laughed and nodded. "Yeah, but that thought must be really conflicting for Rose, since that'd be a choice between having her cousin or her boyfriend on her team."

Al hadn't commented on that while they continued to talk, and as he drifted off to sleep, but it had been something he'd worried about himself, and he knew what he was going to do about it tomorrow.

Rose was in her room, in bed, reading quietly, and they probably would have all laughed if they'd known that what the boys were talking about was exactly what she'd been thinking about – worrying about would be more accurate.

Her problem was this: Al was a better Chaser now. She knew this for sure after seeing how much better he'd gotten over the summer. She liked playing Quidditch with her boyfriend Matt more, which made her a better Chaser than she was without him. It really sucked to know that by the end of tryouts tomorrow that either her cousin or boyfriend would be disappointed.

What was really too bad, especially since she really loved Trinity, was that all three of them together would be the best Chaser team than any combination of two playing with Trinity. Before she went to sleep, she made a point of putting those worries out of her mind. There were a lot of other students trying out for the team, and she would have to earn her own spot on the team. Letting anything else distract her from doing that was not going to happen.

A large number of the school students were in bed early that night – nearly every single kid that planned on trying out for one of the teams on Saturday. Every team was expecting big turnouts, either because their team hadn't done well, and there were kids that hoped for a chance to make their team better, or because they'd really been successful, and there were lots of kids that wanted to be part of that. Excitement about getting back to school might be starting to wear off, but with Quidditch season just beginning, there were a lot of students dreaming of playing for their teams and the glory of winning for their Houses.


	44. Golden Days of Autumn

Chapter Forty-Four – Golden Days of Autumn

Al had asked Charity to meet him at the Quiditch pitch before everyone got there for tryouts. He was already there when she came into the stadium, and he nodded in greeting.

"Thanks, Trinity. I wanted to talk to you before tryouts."

She smiled and nodded. "No problem. What's up, Al?"

"I wanted to let you know I don't plan on trying out today."

She stared at him. He had his broom with him, and this was the last thing she'd expected to hear.

"Why not? I've watched you all summer, and you and I both know you're better than Matt now. I was expecting to have you back on the team."

He smiled. "True, but that wouldn't be the best thing for the team, Trinity. Rose and Matt make a better team together than Rose and I do. I don't want to make the team at the expense of us not being as good as we could be."

"Why'd you bring your broom then?"

"Partly so that the others wouldn't wonder. I do still want to play, though, so I was thinking you could just announce that I would be practice team captain, and exempt me from tryouts. It's either that, or I'll leave after everyone gets here, 'cause I won't be competing against Matt this year. I can always tryout next year for your spot after you've won another Quidditch Cup and graduate."

Trinity gave him a long hug. "Thanks, Al."

"Hey! What's going on here?"

They both turned to see a smiling Carolyn walking up to them.

"There better be a really good reason why you're hugging other Witches," she added when she reached them.

Al and Trinity both laughed. "He deserved one," Trinity told Carolyn. Why don't you give our new practice team captain a hug too?"

The younger girl caught on to what that meant right away, and did hug her boyfriend. "Good," she told him. "I really liked having someone warm to cuddle with during those winter games."

Trinity grinned at them. "Gee, and I thought he was just taking one for the team."

Carolyn smiled too. "Oh he is, but that doesn't mean it has to all be bad."

The other kids began to arrive, and there were close to a hundred kids wanting to try out, and probably fifty or so specatators interested in finding out who was going to make the team. Trinity started with the flying practice, which as always eliminated about half of the kids. Before beginning position tryouts, she announced that Al had agreed to be practice team captain, and would be choosing his own team members after Trinity had picked the House team. That had caused a minor commotion, and Rose and Matt in particular had looked a bit shocked.

They only had ten kids trying for the two Beater spots, and Nicolas and Rick kept their spots, while Al picked out the next best two players for his team. There were twenty-two students competing for Chaser, and to nobody's surprise, Matt and Rose both kept their positions. There were five or six other pretty good Chasers, and Al picked the two that he thought would be able to play the best with him and each other from that group.

Scorpius only had two other boys, and one girl competing with him, and he was the only one to shutout the Chasers. The next closest to him was the fifth year Witch, who saved four out of six shots, and Al happily picked her for the practice team.

Finally, there was a surprisingly high fourteen kids remaining to try for the lone remaining Seeker spot. There were several older boys who actually laughed when Lily had stepped forward with them. There probably wasn't a student in the school that she hadn't been pointed out to, and they were sure that there was no way that a brainiac like that could possibly be any good at Quidditch.

Trinity had decided that with so many kids competing that she'd put them into pairs, and that the one who caught the snitch in the fastest time would either win, or she might put the best two or three against each other in a final tryout, depending on how this first round went.

Lily was in the fourth of those seven pairings, and had shocked the other students by catching the snitch in eleven seconds. The next closest so far had been over ten minutes! The last six students didn't do any better than that second-best time, and there wasn't really much complaining when Trinity had named Lily as their Seeker. Al took the sixth year Wizard who had been second. The boy didn't look very happy, but had agreed to join the practice team.

When Trinity excused the rest of the students before talking with her team, Rose had given Al a big hug, and he'd taken a moment to give Lily a hug too, and congratulate her before meeting up with Carolyn and Brianna, and going back to their Common room so they could start studying.

They met James, Aaron, and Arianna in one of the hallways on the way to Ravenclaw Tower, and stopped to talk for a minute.

"You didn't make the team?" James asked him, seeing that he wasn't with Rose and the others. "What happened?"

Al smiled. "Rose and Matt make a better Chaser team, so I asked Trinity to make me practice team captain. Don't worry, we'll still get a few chances for you to lose to me before you're finished school. This is Trinity's last year, so I expect to be on the team next year for sure."

Arianna had given him a hug. "You better – next year will be the last chance Aaron and I have to try and win a game against you!"

Carolyn took Al's hand. "Come on," she told him. "I want to get you back to the Common room – there are way too many girls hugging you this morning that are not me."

Al grinned as the others laughed, and he allowed himself to be led away, waving goodbye to his brother and friends as they continued on their way to the Gryffindor tryouts.

The three Gryffindors got a further update from Rose, Matt, Nick, and Scorpius when they talked with them just outside of the stadium. They didn't have much time left before practice, so the three of them had given Lily hugs and congratulated her, then hurried along.

"Al is probably right," Aaron told them. "I'm not sure I could've made the same choice. That's pretty tough to keep yourself off of the team to help it."

James and Arianna had agreed, but then it was time to get down to work. Aaron, as new team captain, had to get things organized. They had a good turnout again this year, but not as many as last year. The win over Ravenclaw, even though they hadn't won the Cup had been enough to convince most of the kids that their three Chasers wouldn't likely be replaced this year.

The flying practice was uneventful. The Beater tryout was lively, and last year's pair won their spots back again, although it was much closer than Aaron had expected, and he was glad to pick two more very good Beaters for the practice team. At least if there were any injuries at that position, there were two really good replacements available this year.

James and Arianna defended their places without any problems, and Aaron selected three other students for the practice squad. With the Keeper job finally open after so many years, there were a lot of hopefuls for that spot. Hugo was among those kids stepping forward when Aaron called for Keeper tryouts.

With eleven candidates, it took a while, and Aaron wasn't the only one surprised when Hugo won the spot by keeping James, Arianna, and one of the newly named practice squad Chasers scoreless on the six three-on-one situations he faced.

Aaron had thought that by having the Chasers play three-on-one instead of one-on-one shooting that he'd made the task nearly impossible. The next best student only saved two, but Hugo had guessed what the Chasers would do every time, and had been ready. The Keeper that had saved two shots accepted the position on the practice squad.

Only two other students chose to try out against Jeremy for Seeker, and he beat them both to the snitch after about fifteen minutes, ending the tryouts for another year.

Aaron added something new this year, and included the practice squad at their first meeting, and planned to include them in future meetings too.

"Congratulations to everyone who've made both teams," he began. "This year we're going to work as one team. I think we need everyone to help out with every part of what we do."

He handed out the practice schedules to everyone before continuing.

"The two things that we need to really get better at this year is figuring out what we're doing wrong, and getting better at our game plans and preparing for the other teams. Your homework for the next meeting is to think about things we can to do fix those problems."

There was some good-natured groaning at this, but everyone was smiling, and Aaron had definitely scored some points by including the practice squad in team meetings and all parts of the practices this year.

"Nice job, Aaron," Arianna complimented him. "That was a really good idea. No wonder you're our playmaker."

James nodded. "It won't hurt having all of them ready at any time if one of us gets hurt or sick either."

It was time to get to the Great Hall for lunch, so they hurried up to get there in time, and joined Tracey, Jon, Therese, and Andy at the Gryffindor table.

"You all seem pretty happy," Andy said. "Are you going to give me some good games to announce this year?"

James punched him on the arm. "Like we didn't last year."

It might have only been the first weekend of the year, but they all had homework, and went to get their books after lunch and went outside. One reason was to enjoy the nice afternoon while they worked, and the other was to strategically put themselves in the path between the school and the Qudditch pitch. Hopefully they'd find out who made the Slytherin and Hufflepuff teams by the end of the afternoon.

Rose and Matt had the same idea, and they were already out there, working with the rest of their study group. Lily worked with Carolyn and Brianna on their homework first, and then later switched and worked with the other third years on Arithmancy. When she, Al, and Allie did their Ancient Runes, the others did their Care of Magical Creatures assignment.

When it was finally time to go to dinner, they'd finished all of their homework, were pretty sure they'd seen all of the members of each of the other two teams, and had even listened, and watched a bit of the Canons decisive win over the defending Champion Harpies on Rose's portable WWVN. With all of their work finished, they were looking forward to getting to relax all day on Sunday.

This was the start of the third year for the New Marauders. They were the best known secret in the school that nobody really knew anything about. There was a lot of speculation and interest, though, and it meant that James and the other boys had to be more careful dealing with bullies to not get caught. The invisibility cloak helped make that possible, and they would take turns using it to make sure that no single one of them were ever gone every time that they put one of their plans into effect so that none of them could be suspected.

On Sunday morning, it was James' turn, and he was dealing with the same three bullies that had tried to pick on Lily. They'd found a first year Hufflepuff to terrorize, and had been making the boy's life miserable most of the week. Al and the others had given him detailed information to use, and while he'd be the one under the cloak today, this was going to be a joint project that all five boys were in on.

All three of these boys had been dealt with last year, but hadn't worked as a team then. They obviously felt that there was strength in numbers. James had no way of knowing that it had actually been the adults in their lives that had put them together – not that it would have mattered.

He was already in place when the Hufflepuff boy came into view. The kid looked like his head was on a swivel, and he walked down the hallway tentatively. For a moment, James thought that maybe the older boys were going to take the day off from picking on this poor kid, but at the last minute, two of them came at the boy from one end of the hallway, and when the boy turned to flee, the third boy came up from behind him, blocking his way back down the hall.

"This is almost too easy," one of the boys said, and they all laughed. "You'd think after a week that you'd have made some friends by now to share your pain."

James made a note to have Arianna and Tracey find this kid a mentor.

"You know the drill. Hand over your bag, and let's see what you've got for us today."

While they'd surrounded the boy, James had gotten ready to act, and now it was time.

"LEAVE THE BOY ALONE!"

All four of the boys jumped and looked around. Seeing nothing the three boys waited, but when nothing happened, turned back to their victim and one of them reached out for the bag.

"LEAVE THE BOY ALONE! THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!"

The boys pulled out their wands, and one of them pointed it at the boy while the other two faced each end of the hallway.

"Whoever you are, come out, or the kid's going to get it!" The boy pointing his wand at the boy shouted. "We've had enough of your crap, and we're putting an end to it."

James had been surprised, but reacted immediately. The wand that was pointed at the Hufflepuff boy flew out of his hand, as did the wands of the other two boys. The three wands floated down the hallway, and around the nearest corner, and the boys chased after them, forgetting all about the younger boy, who was now smiling. James grinned too, as the boys turned the corner, and yelled as they stumbled straight into the portable swamp that was waiting for them.

"Thank-you," the boy whispered, then quickly turned and went the other way down the hallway.

Still under his cloak, James smiled as he walked to where he knew the three boys would be stuck in the mire and muck of the swamp. This year they'd made a few tweaks to it, and what the boys were now breathing in was having the desired effect on them, and James had to work hard to keep from laughing.

Since they'd been struggling to get out of the swamp, it wasn't until they were free of it that they had begun to sprout chicken feathers. As they looked at themselves and each other incredulously, the taunting voice rang out again.

"YOU WERE WARNED! TNM WILL NOT PERMIT BULLYING AT HOGWARTS!"

Their wands flew at each boy from where they'd stopped and floated in the air, hitting each boy in the head before falling to the ground. While they stooped to pick them up with slick, feathered fingers, the swamp suddenly disappeared, and the three boys, seeing no opponent to fight, turned to leave, walking away from where the swamp had been.

There had been one more part to their plan, and the boys hoped to possibly, in one big move, convince all of the bullies to stop. While James had been under the cloak and had been responsible for getting the three boys into the swamp by whatever means necessary, Aaron and Hugo had been in charge of the swamp setup. Andy and Jon were taking care of part three – broadcasting the entire scene on every WWVN in the school.

By the time the three boys had gotten even halfway back to their Common room, there were lines of kids in the hallways jeering them, and most of the kids in the school had seen the whole thing, including the warning from TNM.

There were more than a few students who tried to figure out where the cameras were that were still following the boys, but Al had been the one to put the invisibility charm on them, and Andy and Jon took turns moving them, as did James, Aaron, and Hugo so that they weren't detected.

When they'd seen the boys safely to the entrance to the Slythering common room, their little broadcast ended with a simple graphic that said 'BULLYING IS FOR THE BIRDS!', accompanied by a recording of a cuckoo.

Quite a few of the kids had brought their portable WWVN's with them when they'd gone into the halls, and James could hear a lot of laughter – except from the Slytherin Common room, where there was a lot of angry voices that could be heard before the door closed again.

The five enforcers for the New Marauders met up in an empty classroom, and congratulated each other before going back to their own Common room, where they spent the rest of the morning joining with the other Gryffindors as they talked about what they'd seen, and speculated on who was doing it.

Before he forgot, James told Arianna about thinking that the same boy could really use one of her mentors, and at lunchtime she gave the information to one of her Hufflepuff volunteers – a fifth year boy who had volunteered for the foundation for his first time last Christmas, and had signed up with Arianna earlier in the week when he'd heard about what some of the kids that volunteered for the foundation were doing. She saw by the end of lunch that he'd already introduced himself to the young boy, and they left together after lunch was finished.

"The kids will be talking about that WWVN stunt all day," Arianna whispered quietly to James, pointing at the two boys. "That's the kind of things we're all doing that really makes the difference."

James nodded. "And all the stuff that Lily and the others are dealing with too."

Arianna smiled. "Having an expert shopper on the team is a definite asset."

"Did someone say shopping?" Lily asked as she wrapped her arms around her brother and gave him a hug from behind. "Nicely done this morning," she whispered in his ear.

He grinned and turned his head so he could give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks. What are you doing this afternoon?"

Lily smiled too. "Well, all of those Ravenclaw couples are hanging out together, so I thought I'd see what you guys and Hugo were doing in case it was going to be more fun than going back to the Common room and starting on next week's homework."

Arianna laughed. "We've got some of our own to do, but we could probably find an hour or two to go hang around outside with you and Hugo."

He'd seen his cousin come over, and had left where he'd been sitting with some of the other first years. Catching the last part of that, he was nodding when he got next to Lily.

"That works for me, although if we all bring our homework with us, Lily could spend the afternoon explaining it all to us."

She hugged him too. "Have I told you I love you yet today?"

He laughed. "Actually, yes – you sent a qm to my WiComm at breakfast, remember?"

They went outside for a walk along the lake, made a sidetrip to say 'Hi' to Hagrid, then Lily went back to her Common room when the other three needed to get back to their homework. The others were all still out, so she went to her room and wrote home.

Dear Mum and Dad,

This has been an amazing first week, and this letter is being sent to you by the new Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. There were a lot of kids trying out for the spot, and Trinity put us in pairs, and I had to make the fastest catch to get on the team. Eleven seconds isn't as good as your seven second school record, Dad, but it's not bad, and I didn't have a neon purple glove to help me.

I was very proud of Al too. He asked Trinity to make him practice team captain so that he wouldn't split up Matt and Rose. You two have done a pretty good job raising my brothers.

There was some excitement here this morning – some group called TNM made an example of three Slytherin bullies, and somehow managed to broadcast the whole thing over every WWVN receiver in the school. I'm guessing that should effectively end bullying here for another year. They're all pretty big boys – I wonder how long it takes to pluck three six-foot tall chickens? :^)

I love being in the same room with Carolyn and Brianna. I'm getting to know lots of the other kids, though it's occasionally a bit awkward – especially with some of the first year kids. Good thing I'm so darned cute and loveable.

Well, I want to get this in the Owl Post in time to get to you in the morning, so I'll wrap it up.

I'm having a great time. Thank-you for letting me move up a grade and take the third year classes too. I love you very much, and even while this is all so wonderful, miss you both a lot. I'll write again soon.

Love, Lily

She read it over quickly, then put it in an envelope and left the dorm for the Owlry. When she'd posted it, she went back to the Common room and joined Trinity, who was sitting at one of the tables doing homework.

"What are you working on?" she asked curiously.

Trinity looked up and smiled, but she looked frustrated.

"I'm working on Potions, and it's not working out. Maybe I shouldn't have taken it, if the whole year is going to be like this."

"Which one is giving you problems?" Lily asked. Trinity told her and Lily smiled.

"Got your GameWitch with you? I can show you a trick for that one, but it won't make much sense unless I show you."

Trinity stared at her for a moment, then grinned and pulled them out of her bag. "This I gotta see!"

Half an hour later, they both pulled their glasses off, and Trinity gave her a hug. "How did you know that?"

"I've had lots of time the last couple of years to play with this stuff while James and Al have been at school. Mum and Dad might have thought I was just playing games, but most of the time I was in PotionsMaster, or the other study programs. PotionsMaster is my favourite one."

Trinity laughed. "And you've done all of the NEWT potions too?" Lily nodded.

"How would you like to be my Potions study partner?"

Lily was grinning now too. "I'd love it!" she told Trinity, giving her a hug too.

"How are you going to keep from getting bored with second year classes?"

Lily turned and put her GameWitch back in her bag. "There's always something new that I learn, even when I'm doing that stuff, and reading about magic, and experimenting with it in Virtual programs isn't the same as doing it for real. I might even need to be more careful than other kids – I can probably do more than a lot of them can, and I wouldn't want to make a mistake and really get hurt because I hadn't learned something important first.

Trinity stood up and picked up her bag and books. "That's probably a good way to do it, but I kinda doubt that's going to be a problem for you."

She looked at her watch. "It's almost dinnertime, and you just saved me about two hours of work. Why don't we get rid of the books, and I'll buy tonight."

Lily laughed and stood up too. "Thanks, Trinity, that sounds great. Did you want me to come sit with the NEWT students, or did you want to come join the first years – um, make that the second years."

Trinity smiled. "The rest of the team, except Rick sit with you, so why don't we get him to join us, and we can talk Quidditch while we eat."

"Works for me," Lily said as they went into the girl's dormitory.

Over the next two weeks, they settled into a routine that was familiar to everyone in their group except for Lily, and she was able to not only easily join them, but seemed to be able to do everything that her brother, cousins, and friends did, and much more.

Part of the reason for that, as the others discovered, was that because she had everything she'd ever read memorized, she could use her VirtualQuill and write essays and reports far faster than they could, because they had to actually look up the information first, and she rarely had to read new books, since she'd read nearly everything on every subject that was taught at Hogwarts. It was amazing how much you could learn when your idea of fun was to use your GameWitch to blast through book after book in the VirtualLibrary instead of virtually dueling evil Wizards or fighting dragons.

She was now the official tutor for Trinity and two of her seventh year friends in Potions, Carolyn and Brianna in all seven of their second year classes, and the third year Marauders for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Al and Allie were both doing pretty well in Ancient Runes, and they were all at the top of the class in Arithmancy.

By the end of that second week, the New Marauders had managed to meet all of the back to school needs of the children that needed help, and now Lily would only need to do shopping for birthdays and when they occasionally would get 'cheer up' gifts for kids.

James and the boys had been right that their WWVN broadcast, combined with three boys spending the rest of that day wearing feathers convinced every bully in the school to stop doing it before TNM came and stopped them.

Quidditch practice was one of Lily's favourite parts of the day, and Trinity gave her Christina's old job of making up the flying exercises – something that the captain came to both be thankful for, and hate, since her workouts were even harder than anything they'd done before.

The first Hogsmeade weekend came up on the third Saturday they were at school. Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily gave the boys a list of the few things they'd like picked up, and the money to get them. After they'd left for town, the three girls went back to the Common room, and got out their books.

"We might as well get our homework over with," Lily had said. "Then you two can spend the afternoon entertaining yourselves by distracting the boys while they try to do their homework."

Carolyn and Brianna had laughed, and by lunchtime, with a little effort, they had all of their weekend homework finished.

Al and Scorpius were on their own in Hogsmeade. They'd walked there with Rose, Matt, Nick, and Allie, but the two couples had gone off on their own once they got to town.

"This will be a lot more fun when the girls can come with us next year," Scorpius told Al, who nodded.

"Let's get their shopping done first," he suggested. "I'd like to pick up some of Carolyn and Lily's favourite candy too as a surprise."

Scorpius agreed. The list wasn't very big, and it didn't take long. He picked up some sweets for Brianna and himself when Al stopped at Honeydukes to get the treats for Carolyn and Lily.

They stopped at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes to look around too, and saw some new items on display. They were both sure that 'foot long nose nougats' had to be one of James' summer inventions. He'd probably worked on the other new products too, since they were out so close to the end of summer. Scorpius couldn't resist picking up a small package of the nose nougats, and having them sent by Owl Post to Dirk Avery, and Al bought one of the new Headless Hats for the Kneazle Cat to give to Lily for Fluffy.

The two boys had lunch, and then went back to the school early so they could spend the afternoon with the girls. Lily gave Al a big hug when he gave her the things she'd ordered, her candy, and the hat for Fluffy, then ran to her dorm to wake the cat, and drag her out to the Common room so that they could see the Headless Hat in action.

There weren't a lot of kids in the room, but the ones that were there had thought it was really funny, and even Fluffy seemed to find all the attention interesting.

"That's the most I've seen her move around in ages," Al told his sister. "The only time I ever saw her not sleeping at home was when she was busy trying to mooch some food from Dad when he was cooking."

Lily laughed and ran a hand along Fluffy's back. "Sleeping's just how she stays so beautiful, right Fluffy?" The cat meowed to that, hopped down, and still headless, padded to the stairway to the girl's dorm and disappeared.

"Apparently she thought that was a good suggestion," Carolyn said. While Lily had been gone, she'd thanked Al for the candy he'd gotten her too, and for picking up the things she'd needed.

"Well, since she's decided that playtime is over, I guess we better get our books and get to work," Scorpius said.

Brianna smiled at him sweetly. "Why don't you do that, and Carolyn and I will keep you company – Lily helped us finish ours this morning. She saved her Arithmancy and Runes homework until you were all ready to do it too, but I guess she'll have to wait until the others get here to do that stuff."

Scorpius and Al had gone to get their books, and Lily had been right – the girls were very entertained, and very distracting. It definitely took them longer to do their homework, but they did have fun. Lily joined them to do Arithmancy and Ancient Runes when Rose, Nick, and Allie got back, although they moved to an empty classroom where they could work with Allie.

That was one definite difference this year, and nearly totally thanks to Lily. With her help, they all got faster and better at doing homework, and except for studying for tests, so far they'd been able to take Sunday off each week.

Through the rest of September and October, their routine of classes, homework, and Quidditch kept them all busy. While Lily did spend most of her time with Carolyn, Brianna, and the others, she did make some other friends that she could hang out with so that she didn't always feel like the odd one out when the others were spending time together.

There was only one other particularly fun thing that Lily worked on with the New Marauders, and it was a special treat for their fellow students to enjoy at Hallowe'en.

Since James, Al, and the others had now perpetrated some of the best pranks in school history, they had to first of all figure out something that would be just as awesome. Once they'd decided on that, there was a lot of work involved in getting it ready to go. Lily and her brothers turned out to be a scary combination: James with the ideas, Lily with the how to do it, and Al with the magical power to help make it all happen.

Hallowe'en morning at breakfast, the anticipatory buzz from all of the kids in the Great Hall was soon turned to laughter and joviality as students began to not turn invisible, but ghostly translucent, and started to levitate.

It didn't take long for them to figure out which food it was that caused the change, and soon the hall was filled with ghostly, floating students.

"Well, I'd say it's a hit," Carolyn said quietly as she floated next to Al and Lily.

"They seem to be having fun," Al agreed. He laughed as he watched one kid bounce off of a wall.

"Did he really think that just because he looks like a ghost that he could pass through walls?" Lily asked curiously.

"Apparently," Nick answered. "Found out he was wrong, too."

"Well, I guess breakfast is over," Rose said cheerfully. "Why don't we all float to our first classes?"

The ghostly transformations lasted for most of the students until nearly lunchtime, by which time there were only a very few who hadn't returned to normal. Lily had been fluffing her hair quite a bit since returning to normal, and Al finally asked her why she was doing it.

"I've never not had the bright red around me before, and it really felt weird all morning. I'm very glad to have it back again."

The rest of them had laughed. With the big prank over with, there were lots of students that moved on to the Hallowe'en Wheezes they'd picked up on the last Hogsmeade weekend. In addition to last year's favourites like the chocolate pumpkin heads and Muggles, there were now also chocolate ghouls, goblins, and zombies, among others.

Lily thought that the Hallowe'en feast was wonderful, and they had all enjoyed a really brilliant day. After dinner they had to get serious for a few hours and do their homework. When they were done, Lily went to work on Potions with Trinity while the four couples wandered off for a little alone time either in the Common room, or in Nick and Allie's case, for a slow walk back to her Common room before it was time for all of the kids to be back in their own Houses.

Lily was in bed before midnight marked the end of All Hallow's Eve. It also marked the end of her first two months at Hogwarts, and they were now more than halfway to the Christmas Holiday.

The first match of the school Quiditch season was on Saturday, and Lily could feel the excitement starting to build as her first game as Seeker was now only four weeks away. Everything so far had been even better than she had hoped, and if her dreams that night were any indication, things were just going to get better!


	45. Quidditch Season Begins

Chapter Forty-Five – Quidditch Season Begins

On Friday, most of the school was either still talking about Thursday's Hallowe'en prank, or about Saturday's big game between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Slytherin hadn't won very many games over the past few years, and with the Gryffindor team practically the same as last season, with the exception of a new, untried, first year Keeper, nobody was giving them much of a chance.

On Saturday, the Ravenclaw team was together in the stands to study and take notes on the game as they had done for the last two years. Al, Carolyn, and Brianna were together in the Ravenclaw section of the stands. They watched as the two teams flew around, then met Madame Hooch at the centre of the Quidditch pitch.

Andy had once again won the job of game announcer for this season, and when the game began, he started in with his play-by-play, and the running commentary that he was so good at delivering.

"They're off!" he shouted, as the two teams took to the air. "The Slytherin Chaser reaches the Quaffle first, and passes off to one of his teammates. Nice pass! Slytherin's Chasers regroup around their goals, and start on the attack. They pass, and pass again, and shoot! OH! What a save by Gryffindor's new first year Keeper, Hugo Weasley!"

Al smiled, and looked over into the Gryffindor section, where his Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron were watching their son's first game. Uncle Ron was on his feet and cheering along with every other Gryffindor.

"Aaron takes the Quaffle, and passes to James, who throws it behind him to Arianna – nice pass!" Andy continued, seemingly without taking a breath.

"Arianna passes back to James, over to Aaron, passes to – NO, he takes the shot, and SCORES! Gryffindor leads ten to nothing. Now that was unexpected! The Slytherin Chasers regroup, and begin to move out again. What's this? A wedge formation? Nice move! The two Slytherin Chasers split the Gryffindor defence, leaving Weasley one-on-one with the third Chaser. He weaves, dodges, and shoots – AND WEASLEY SAVES IT AGAIN!"

There were more cheers from the Gryffindor section, and the game now settled down as both teams fought hard. Aaron, Arianna, and James seemed to be fairly evenly matched this year with this group of Slytherin Chasers. All of the players did a good job dodging bludgers, and the Slytherin Seeker was practically glued to Jeremy as they fought for position, and occasionally chased the snitch when one or the other of them spotted it.

The only real advantage that was showing up as the game went on was that Hugo was not letting anything get past him. He had made fourty-three saves in just over two hours of play. Gryffindor had scored thirteen times so far on the Slytherin Keeper.

Suddenly, the crowd gasped as the two Seekers flew toward one end of the stadium. The Slytherin player was in the lead, and was doing a good job blocking Jeremy from catching up. Al and the girls couldn't see the snitch from where they were sitting, since the two boys were between them, and what they were flying toward, but suddenly there was a roar of approval from the Slytherin section of the stands.

"The Slytherin Seeker caught the snitch! Excellently played!" Andy was still sounding excited, but he was no longer shouting with the same enthusiasm he'd used when Gryffindor had scored, or Hugo had made his many saves.

"Slytherin wins one hundred and fifty to one hundred and thirty!" he continued. "Congratulations and well done!"

The two teams met back on the ground. Aaron went up to congratulate the Slytherin captain, and had been smiling until he heard what the other captain told him, loudly enough that quite a few people could hear.

"Don't offer your useless and unwanted congratulations to us, orphan boy. It's been way overdue for Slytherin to put Gryffindor in their place." He laughed at the look on Aaron's face, and sneered. "Oh, I do hope the brave Gryffindor captain isn't going to cry – that's what I'll expect out of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs when we beat them!"

Every player on the Slytherin team turned then, and left the pitch. Aaron had a grim look on his face as he watched them leave.

"That was very magnanimous of him," Arianna said, putting her arm around him. "Maybe we should petition the Ministry to put his name next to 'Good Sport' in the dictionary."

James laughed. "We'll remember this next year." He looked over at a stricken Jeremy, and walked over to him. "Don't worry about it, mate. It's only a game, and you played really well. We haven't, and aren't going to win every one of them."

Jeremy nodded, and his team surrounded him to offer their support. Al and the girls reached the pitch at nearly the same time as Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione.

"Tough break," Uncle Ron told them, while Aunt Hermione gave Hugo a hug. "You all played a really good game. I'd say you've got yourselves a pretty good Keeper too."

Rose had joined them, along with Lily, Nick, and Scorpius. "Not that you're biased," she told her father as she hugged him. "He did play a pretty great game, though." Rose went on to hug her brother and Mum.

"I see that Slytherins haven't gotten any better at sportsmanship," Ron continued. "Considering the pastings they took last year, you'd think they wouldn't be so full of themselves."

"Well," Rose told him, "they might be in for a surprise for the rest of this season. I doubt the Hufflepuff team liked those comments any more than we did. They could be in for a surprise."

The rest of them gave Rose and Hugo a few minutes to spend with their parents before they would have to leave, and talked about the game. Al gave his aunt and uncle hugs, then went with Carolyn and Brianna back to the school to start on their homework while the other Ravenclaws in their group were at their post-game meeting.

Lily was sitting next to Trinity at that meeting. Trinity had started with Scorpius, who had been in charge of watching Hugo and the Slytherin Keeper.

"The Slytherin Keeper makes a lot of mistakes, and got caught a lot of times guessing wrong. He let in about one of every three shots. The move that James and Arianna used on him, with the backward pass from one to the other fooled him nearly every time. He'll probably correct that, but we can make up formations that make him think we're using that and do something else when he commits."

He took a moment to breathe as he scanned the notes he'd made. "Watch his eyes – he looks where he's going to go. He's also fixated on defending the other goals, even though he hovers at the centre goal. Half of the scores were on the centre ring today. Fake to the outside, and he'll probably fall for it a lot."

Trinity, Matt, and Rose were taking notes. "And Hugo?" she asked.

Scorpius smiled. "I'd say too bad he isn't on our team, but then I'd be out of a job." He winked at Rose. "Your brother's really good. It's going to be a problem for us, especially since he's worked out with us so much over the last two summers."

Trinity frowned. "You don't think he'd tell the rest of the Gryffindors about the game strategy stuff we practiced, do you?"

Rose answered before Scorpius could. "No way. He knows that wouldn't be fair."

Scorpius nodded his agreement. "I agree. What I mean, though, is he has played against us a lot, and he does know those strategies himself, and knows how all three of you play very well."

The others all nodded, and Lily spoke up for the first time. "After we've played Hufflepuff and Slytherin, the three of you need to completely change the way you play," she told Trinity, Rose, and Matt.

"We'll break down everything you do, and change it."

"That's a good idea, Lily," Scorpius told her. "As for beating Gryffindor this year, I think that's going to be up to you this year. I can probably at least keep the game close with Hugo, but if the game goes too long and we all get tired, anything can happen."

Nick and Rick gave their analysis of the Beaters for both teams, then Trinity, Rose, and Matt did the same for the Chasers. There wasn't much new for them to add to what they'd already gathered over the past two years on Aaron, Arianna, and James – other than that they'd pretty much corrected all of the mistakes they'd made the first year they'd started doing their game analysis.

"The Slytherin Chasers weren't scoring goals because all three of them were way to obvious with what they were going to do," Matt told them.

"I don't mean that they're telegraphing their moves or anything. What they are doing, though, is exactly duplicating plays straight out of the playbook of the Arrows. Hugo must spend some time on game film with his Dad, since he obviously recognized every single play."

Trinity nodded. "So Scorpius can study up on that, and we'll be all set."

Rose smiled, and Trinity laughed. "OK, what did I miss?"

"We all need to study those Arrow games. It will help Scorpius in goal, but it will also give us a chance to intercept their passes if we know when they're going to happen. If Rick and Nicolas can recognize the plays early enough, they'll know where the Chasers and Beaters are _going_ to be through the whole game. That could make things very unpleasant for them if bludgers keep meeting them at certain critical moments of their game plays."

Trinity smiled. "You have no idea how glad I am that you're not on another house team," she told Rose sincerely.

Finally, it was Lily's turn to give her analysis of the Seekers. Rose had spent some time before the game going over with her what to look for, and how she and Matt broke down a player's abilities and weaknesses. When Trinity indicated that she should begin, Lily smiled at them.

"We're going to have fun with Slytherin in January," she began. "I don't think their Seeker sees on his right side peripheral – or he just doesn't notice things there."

The others all looked surprised.

"If Jeremy had concentrated on the boy's left side and front, he probably would have never seen the snitch. Where he is able to see, he's got a good eye for finding the snitch, and he's fairly fast for a big guy." She grinned, then added – "but I'm faster."

"You'll have to worry about him pushing you around, since he's so much bigger," Rick told her.

She nodded. "True, but I've got you and Nick to protect me, and if he can't see a bludger coming at him from the right side, I sure hope he can hear them, or he'll be in for a really bad day."

Nicolas and Rick exchanged excited looks as they caught on that she hadn't just been talking about her own strategy against the other Seeker.

"Jeremy is better than that pompous jerk they had a couple of years ago when you guys beat Gryffindor," Lily continued. "I got to watch him beat Christina last year too, so I've had two chances to watch him, and I went over the notes from the other two games last year too." She nodded to Rose, who had given her Christina's notes.

"I'm not sure that he is very good at spotting the snitch. I think his advantage is in his speed and reaction time. In both games I watched, he spent more time watching Christina or the Slytherin Seeker than in looking for the snitch. He watches their eyes, then reacts immediately to what they're doing."

"Can you use that?" Nick asked her.

Lily nodded. "Sure. I'll just need to make sure that I hide it from him when I do see the snitch. If Scorpius is right, and he or I will end up winning the game for our team, I'll need you guys to help me get really good at that. It might be one of the hardest things to do, since it's natural to get excited when you see it."

The others had nodded, and they moved on from game analysis to their continuing plans for their first game against Hufflepuff. That team was mostly the same as last year, and so they had those three games to help them with their game plan. They'd been working on them for a while, and so this was more along the lines of preparing for the next week of practice, and when that was done, they headed for the Common room and the homework that waited for them there.

When Professor McGonagall and the other teachers had moved Lily into second year, and let her take third year Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, they'd also understood that she'd be able to learn those lessons more quickly than the rest of her classes.

The 'how' of what they could do to accommodate her extraordinary needs had to be worked out as they went along. In most classes, she was allowed to work ahead of the other students, and by that first week of November, she was already working on material that the rest of the class wouldn't be doing until next February or March.

She continued to work on the current studies with Carolyn, Brianna, and the others – helping them whenever they needed it, while still being able to keep getting further ahead with her own studies and assignments.

"How do you do it?" Carolyn asked her one evening after watching her friend skip from second year Charms to third year Arithmancy, to seventh year Potions in the span of twenty minutes, helping each of the students studying those subjects while still working on her own homework.

"That's a really good question," Lily had answered with a smile. "Maybe I'll take some time and study it to figure out why I can do it, since I don't really know."

Carolyn rolled her eyes. "Look up rhetorical in your photographic memory. That memory, along with probably having every single intelligence gene in your body turned on is the 'why'.

Lily smiled and gave her a hug. "I guess. Now if only I'd gotten those green eyes like Al too. With this hair, it would have been a devastating combination."

Carolyn looked over at her boyfriend and grinned. "They are pretty great, aren't they?"

"I was pretty sure you'd noticed that," Lily commented dryly.

Looking back at Lily, Carolyn laughed. "Like you're not already beautiful enough without them. When the rest of the boys in the school find out that your not only the smartest and prettiest girl in the school, but the best Seeker too, they'll be falling all over themselves to get your attention."

"We'll see," Lily said. "I don't really see much boyfriend activity in my immediate future. I'm having too much fun with everything else right now."

There was a Hogsmeade weekend the week after the Gryffindor-Slytherin game, and while most of the kids stayed in town well into the afternoon, Al and Scorpius had made their trip quickly, picked up the things that they, and the girls, wanted, along with a couple of surprises, then went back to school before lunch os they could hang out with the girls.

That afternoon, Al was working on his Divination homework, while Scorpius was doing his Care of Magical Creatures, and Carolyn and Brianna were doing some assignment with Lily's help.

He didn't really talk with the others about this class, and was really careful when he was actually in the lessons not to show too much of his real talents. He thought that Professor Stimpson suspected that he had some true ability, but he'd deflected her tentative inquiries, and she'd backed off.

Al knew that his father had abilities that went far beyond normal insight, and he had certainly inherited that from him. The more that he learned in class, the more he realized that his talents in Divination were unique enough that he needed to be very careful.

He'd heard all of the stories about Professor Trelawney and her prophecies, and over the past couple of months, he'd been doing a lot more reading on the subject to try and understand what was happening to him as he progressed in these studies.

The thing he was hiding from everyone was that he could actually do everything they learned in class. Beyond that, he'd begun to be able to perceive things about other people around him that went way beyond what was described in any books he'd read. His 'seeing' didn't require trances, and where the prophet for every prophecy he'd read about never remembered themselves what they'd said, he was both aware of what was happening, and remembered everything.

When he worked with the cards, tea leaves, crystal balls and other tools that they were taught how to use, he didn't actually tell his Professor or classmates very much of what he actually saw. He had no problem admitting to seeing simple things – like what the weather would be like for the next week, or making very general predictions. He did not reveal the much more detailed things that he actually saw regarding whatever or whomever they were asked to concentrate on in each practical experiment they were asked to do.

What he did show still made him the best student in his class, and probably the school. The rest of what he was doing and learning to do he kept to himself, just as he kept the true extent of his magical power quiet to everyone except James, Lily, and Carolyn – even the rest of the New Marauders didn't really know that his real strength was much more than they knew about.

Al had been sure that he'd been careful enough when he'd worked on his Divination studies, but he should have known that his little sister wouldn't miss a thing, and there was one evening during November that she asked him about it when they'd been alone together.

"You can do a lot more with seeing than you're letting on, Al," she told him quietly. "What's it like?"

He'd looked at her in surprise, then smiled and shrugged.

"Mostly right now I'm still trying to figure it all out. It seems to work differently for me than for anyone else I've heard or read about."

Lily nodded. "You should talk with Daddy about it. He doesn't talk about it either, but he can probably help you."

Al laughed. "When you brought it up, I thought you were going to offer to help me."

"I don't have that talent," she told him, again surprising him.

"How do you know?" he asked curiously.

"You're the only one of the three of us that got any of the ability to see, Al. That's why James dropped it after one year. I'll be good at the theory of it, but I won't be very good at the practical work. I'll have to rely on you to tell my future for me."

Al laughed. "I don't need to see anything to know that it's going to be very bright."

"You're right to protect yourself about this, Al," she continued more seriously.

"There's going to be times when you aren't going to like knowing what's going to happen. Carolyn will be there to support you, but if you need to talk with someone else, I'll be here for you too."

He gave her a hug. "Thanks, Lily. Same goes for me if you need me."

The rest of the month went by quickly. Lily orchestrated their homework schedules, and thanks to her, they all continued to have nearly all of every Sunday off to relax and play. Quidditch practices were going great. Lily kept up with the birthdays and other gifts they did for the nearly one hundred students that TNM watched over this year.

November thirtieth was game day for the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff match. Harry and Ginny had come to see Lily's first game, and Hermione, Percy, and Penelope had come to cheer on Rose, Nick, and Scorpius. The Canons were playing today, so Ron hadn't been able to come.

The kids had gotten together before the game, and agreed to sit in the stands where the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections met so that they could all spend time with their parents. Hugo, James, Aaron, and Arianna all had notebooks out, and when the game started, were all busily jotting down notes and carefully watching the game.

That left Harry and Ginny free to talk with Al, Carolyn, and Brianna as the game started, and they got caught up on everything that was happening with the kids, and told them what they'd been up to as they watched the game.

Al watched with pride as Rose, Matt, and Trinity worked hard. They were just over an hour into the game. Hufflepuff's Keeper was pretty good, and while Scorpius had only allowed two goals, Ravenclaw had only scored eleven goals of their own, and it was a close, hard fought game.

He knew that part of their game plan had been to try to get up by more than one hundred and fifty points over Hufflepuff to make sure that even if Lily didn't catch the snitch that they would at least still win the game and not have the same thing happen to them as had happened to Gryffindor.

Suddenly, though, everyone in the stands had their attention grabbed as Lily and the Hufflepuff Seeker took off. They'd been maybe a hundred feet apart when they both dove toward the same area of the pitch, and it looked to everyone like the Hufflepuff player had the advantage when they all finally spotted the snitch too.

There was cheering from the Hufflepuff section, and a loud murmur of concern from the Ravenclaws. Al took his eyes off of the scene long enough to glimpse his father smiling as he watched, and he looked back in lots of time to see his sister, having taken a much different angle of attack, roll upside down above the Ravenclaw Seeker, and catch the snitch, actually brushing her hand against his fingers as he was stretched out trying to catch it himself.

"Yes!" Harry had shouted excitedly, his voice drowned out by the cheers and by Andy's amplified "AND POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH! WHAT AN INCREDIBLE MOVE! Ravenclaw wins the game two hundred and sixty to twenty."

They all went down to the Quidditch pitch to congratulate the team, and Lily had thrown herself into Harry's arms, then hugged and kissed her Mother too before moving on to Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and her aunts and uncle, who'd been doing the same with Rose, Nick, and Scorpius.

"How'd you like that move, Daddy?" Lily asked him. "Did you recognize it?"

He nodded and laughed. "It was a little different, but you did it perfectly, and took a great angle on it."

She nodded and smiled. "Thanks, Daddy."

Since Al and the others had gotten to spend over an hour with their parents, aunts and uncles, they let Lily, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius have most of the remaining bit of time with them before it was time for them to head for home.

Al had walked back to their Common room with Carolyn and Brianna to find the celebration already starting.

"I guess this will be the exception to our regular homework schedule," Brianna said as they walked in. "There's no way we'll be getting any studying done with this going on."

Carolyn nodded. "We've all been working hard, and the team deserves the party. If that means having to do homework tomorrow, that's alright with me."

Al smiled, and nodded his agreement as they joined in while waiting for their victorious team to arrive. They'd certainly have fun for the rest of the day, and he was sure that none of them would mind trading their Sunday off for the party.

'Tomorrow's Bonus Day', he thought to himself. 'I wonder if they'll have the party at the Institute or not this year?' If he'd thought about that earlier, he could have asked his mother or Aunt Hermione. Those thoughts were left behind as Trinity led her team into the Common room to the loud cheers of their friends and fellow Ravenclaws. Bonus Day might be one of his parent's favourite days of the year, but for the kids, a Quidditch win and the party that always followed was definitely up there with all of the other best days of the year.


	46. From Bonus Day to Holidays

Chapter Forty-Six – From Bonus Day to Holidays

Ginny and Harry had gone with Hermione from Hogwarts to her home, where they caught the end of the Canons win over the Wasps, then stayed for dinner and a visit with their best friends once Ron had gotten back home.

The Canons were five and one after the win today, and Ron was excited when he got back home.

"Did you catch much of the game?" he asked them. "How'd Rose do today?"

They'd told him about the game at Hogwarts. Rose had scored seven of their eleven goals, and had played some really great defense too, intercepting four passes, and blocking eight shots before they even got to Scorpius.

"Demelza and Dennis are both playing like they're on a mission," Ginny said, referring to the Canons game again. "They keep playing like that, and they're going to get that Championship for sure."

The girls talked about work, and of course about how Mandy's pregnancy was coming along. She and Terry had finally decided that they were ready to start their family, and she was due in February. Mandy had been the first one of their friends to get pregnant this year, but apparently it was going around, since Natalie and Owen had found out that she was pregnant with their second child, and when Harry and Ginny had spent their week at Marauders Paradise, they'd found out that Gabrielle was pregnant.

While the girls talked about work and babies, Ron and Harry mostly talked Quidditch.

"Too bad you won't have some of the kids to hire for the Canons next season after Demelza and Dennis retire," Harry told Ron. "I think they're better than we were when we played for Gryffindor."

Ron nodded glumly. "That'd be nice. This season is going great, but I have a bad feeling about next year – when those two retire, we may find that some of the other players will jump ship. Most of them aren't here because they love the team, they're here because we win. If they don't think we can after this year, they'll take the first train out of town and not look back."

Harry had agreed, knowing that Ron was right. As a minority owner, it was something he kept up with, and the majority owners were worried about it – enough so that they were considering selling their stake in the team to him after the season was over. He had every intention of taking them up on that offer.

When Ginny and Harry got back to the cottage that night, they went to bed early. They had a busy day ahead, and it would be starting early with the Owl Post.

He was up first, dressed, and downstairs making coffee and breakfast when the owls arrived, and he untied both packages, got Fleur's incentive letter out, signed it, then put it in the return envelope, tied it to one of the owls, and sent them both on their way so they didn't have to wait for him to read through the reports.

There still wasn't any sound of movement upstairs, so he filled his cup and sat down to begin reading his reports.

Dear Harry,

Give your wife a hug and kiss – she is a genius! You will find from reading your financials that the VirtualMall project has created incredible new income for PBP and the Institute. Every division has enjoyed strong growth this year, and this has helped to significantly increase our profits for the year.

The Phoenix Foundation continues to do incredible work, and the new profits will allow them the financial freedom to do even more in the coming year.

Our organization can now certainly maintain our growth levels without the need for new investment, and so the Investment Partnership has voted to extend the agreement to equally split those profits between PBP Investments, the Investment Partnership, and the Phoenix Foundation for an additional ten years.

As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. The incentive authorization letter is included in this package, and the owl will wait for your return post.

Fleur Weasley

CEO PBP Investments

He turned to the financial report and continued reading.

**Annual Financial Report - PBP Investments**

**Year Ending November 30, 2019**

**Beginning Balance PBPI: 38,599 million galleons**

**Beginning Balance PF: 4,200 million galleons**

**Beginning Balance - IP: 32,487.5 million galleons**

**Total Beginning Balance: 75,286.5 million galleons**

**Profits:**

**Marauders Institute 16,100 million galleons**

**Property Division 4,400 million galleons**

**Goblin Ventures 1,200 million galleons**

**Witch Investment 1,800 million galleons**

**Other Investments 600 million galleons**

**Total Profit 24,100 million galleons**

**Less incentive (40%) 9,640 million galleons**

***Pending approval of projected incentives.**

**Profit after incentives 14,460 million galleons**

**PBP Profit 4,820 million galleons**

**PF Profit 4,820 million galleons**

**IP Profit 4,820 million galleons**

**Ending Balance PBPI: 43,419 million galleons**

**Phoenix Foundation: 9,020 million galleons**

**Less Expenses: 4,170 million galleons**

**Ending Balance - PF: 4,850 million galleons**

**Ending Balance - IP: 37,307.5 million galleons**

**Total Ending Balance: 85,576.5 million galleons**

Harry got up, checked on his cooking, filled his cup, and moved on to the Phoenix Foundation report. He heard Ginny turn the shower on, and so he quickly read through the two pages of parchment.

**Annual Phoenix Foundation Report**

**Year Ending November 30, 2019**

**Financial Report:**

**Beginning Balance: 4,200.00 million galleons**

**New Revenue: 4,820.00 million galleons**

**Total Expenses: 4,170.00 million galleons**

**Ending Balance: 4,850.00 million galleons**

**Phoenix Foundation Program Expenses:**

**Residences: 1,260 million galleons**

**Vaccine Program: 5 million galleons**

**Goblin Programs: 225 million galleons**

**Food Program: 1,015 million galleons**

**Housing Program: 700 million galleons**

**Work Program: 900 million galleons**

**DREAM Christmas: 65 million galleons**

**Total Expenses: 4,170 million galleons**

**Phoenix Foundation Program Statistics:**

**Program Persons Aided Cost Per Person**

**Residences: 26,000 19,000 galleons****

**Vaccine Program: 1 million 5 galleons**

**Goblin Programs: 102,000 2,200 galleons**

**Food Program: 4.38 million 230 galleons**

**Housing Program: 70,000 10,000 galleons***

**Work Program: 360,000 2,500 galleons***

**DREAM Christmas: 650,000 100 galleons***

Deary Mr. Potter,

The Phoenix Foundation has completed another exceptional year. We have been able to increase our aid in every area except housing, where we made a decision to maintain the same funding for that part of our operations.

We now operate one hundred and twenty-five residences around the world, aiding twenty-six thousand children, including the more than one thousand graduates each year.

The food and work programs continue to be effective in reducing hunger in our world, and to help encourage employers to hire and train workers in regions where there is need for good jobs. We did not increase the number of persons aided with the food program this year, instead choosing to modestly increase the per person allowance for the program to adjust for inflationary costs.

This has been another rewarding year, and we look forward to even better things for the future.

Sincerely,

David Matthews

Senior Account Manager – Phoenix Foundtion

Harry got up again, needing to concentrate on his cooking. Ginny came into the kitchen, and he gave her the hug and kiss that Fleur had suggested, poured her a coffee as she sat down to go through the reports, and went back to work.

She read through his reports, then opened her own package.

Dear Ginny,

Congratulations on another wonderful year! A tranfer of one hundred and sixty-one million galleons has been made to your account – your well-deserved Marauders Institute incentive.

You will find the Witch Investment letter and report included in this package, and we have again enjoyed an extraordinary year with that business too. Our confidence in Victoire is certainly proving well placed!

See you at the party this afternoon!

Molly Weasley

Senior Account Manager – PBP Investments

The next parchment in the package was the letter from Victoire, and Ginny took a sip of her drink as she flipped to that page.

Dear Mrs. Potter,

During the past year, Witch Investments companies have continued to grow and maintain strong returns on our investments.

Key expansions into senior and teen Witch markets have begun to show that choosing to move into these areas was a good decision. Our VirtualStores have also provided new, and exceptional sales results for our company, and will be an important part of our operations in the future.

In the coming year, we are also going to move into the travel industry, and continue to increase new investment as we work to expand our market share in all aspects of our business.

This year has been very exciting, and we are confident that our strong growth will continue.

Victoire Lupin

CEO – Witch Investments

Ginny flipped to the financial report, smiling as she continued reading.

**Annual Financial Report - Witch Investments**

**Year Ending November 30, 2019**

**Beginning Balance WI: 10,560 million galleons**

**New Investment: 900 million galleons**

**Beginning Balance PBPI: 7,240 million galleons**

**New Investment: 600 million galleons**

**Total Beginning Balance: 19,300 million galleons**

**Profits:**

**Manufacturing: 1,980 million galleons**

**Retail: 4,102 million galleons**

**Total Profit: 6,082 million galleons**

**Less Incentive (26%) 1,582 million galleons**

**Profit: 4,500 million galleons**

**WI Profit: 2,700 million galleons**

**PBPI Profit: 1,800 million galleons**

**Ending Balance WI: 14,160 million galleons**

**Ending Balance PBPI: 9,640 million galleons**

**Total Ending Balance: 23,800 million galleons**

Harry placed a plate of food in front of Ginny as she finished reading, and she smiled up at him.

"Thank-you. How great were those reports? I can hardly wait to see what the Foundation will accomplish with that extra six hundred million galleons next year."

Harry joined her at the table, and read over her letters and report while they ate and talked.

"That's going to be great," he agreed. "Victoire's doing good with Witch Investments too, I see."

"She sure is. We weren't surprised at her ideas for teens and young girls, but the things she's done to get into the market for senior Witches was definitely unexpected."

Harry nodded. "Victoire's right, though. With what Revive does for us too, it's going to become a huge market. If the lifespan for Witches and Wizards increases even fifty percent, that's going to mean a lot more seniors in the coming decades. That she's already thinking in those terms says a lot about her."

He finished reading Ginny's reports, and they moved on to talk about the party that would be starting at noon.

"This is the first time you've included family," he noted.

Ginny smiled. "We'd thought this would be fun to try." She looked outside. "Hopefully the weather will hold all day – it's supposed to be chilly but sunny."

"How is Mandy going to entertain that many kids?"

"She has a big tent set up where they'll be able to play, and lots of help to watch them. It's going to be crowded if everyone needs to be in the tents at the same time, though."

They finished breakfast, and then spent the morning visiting at the Burrow before they all went on to the Institute for the Bonus Day party. Because there were now so many people that worked for Marauders Institute, they didn't do any big announcements or anything, but instead had a reception table where the Witches and Wizards could pick up their incentive letters, and nametags for themselves and their family members.

Lunch was set out on long buffet tables, and the guests could eat whenever they wanted to. Harry and Ginny sat down to eat soon after arriving, joining Mum, Dad, and most of the senior managers and researchers who had gathered around several tables.

During the afternoon, Harry was able to catch up with quite a few people that he didn't see as often as Ginny did, and was introduced to several new members of the research team that he hadn't yet met.

Mandy, Terry, Natalie, and Owen were all excited about their respective pregnancies. Harry was happy for them. Mandy and Terry would make terrific parents, and Natalie and Owen already were wonderful parents for Kira and would be for their second child too.

One of the many topics that came up was the DREAM Christmas. They'd be doing the program on the weekends of the fourteenth and twenty-first this year. Harry and Ginny were doing both Saturdays, the second one with the kids helping too. Lisa and Marcus planned to join them for that day, and Natalie and Owen were going to be helping too, but they'd be volunteering at the new Marauders Mall – Toronto on the second weekend, then staying in Canada until Christmas with her parents and family.

Harry and Ginny were snuggled close in their bed later that night, and talking quietly together before going to sleep.

"Less that three more weeks and the kids will be home," Ginny said happily.

Harry squeezed her and kissed her neck. "It's seemed longer this time with all of them gone, even with seeing them yesterday."

"Well, it'll go by fast. With Christmas shopping, helping out at the residence, and the DREAM Christmas weekend, next thing we know it'll be time to pick them up at the station."

"They'll be surprised when they find out you're taking the whole holiday off again," Harry said.

"They won't be kids much longer," she answered. "I better take some extra time to be with them before they go and finish growing up on us."

"We could always have more," he suggested, his eyes sparkling as he grinned at her.

She rolled over so she could look at him and laughed.

"You have got to be kidding. If you think we've been busy with three kids of our own, Teddy, and all of the other nieces, nephews, and kids from the residence, what do you think it's going to be like when they all start having kids too?"

Harry kissed her tenderly.

"Stop that," she said, laughing again. "That's what led to having three kids in the first place."

"Yes, dear," he said, kissing her again. They both knew that they weren't going to have any more additions to their family, but the kissing did continue, and it was quite some time before they actually went to sleep.

Back at Hogwarts, the Ravenclaws spent the day Sunday catching up on the homework they didn't get done on Saturday. Lily could have still been basking in the glow of the praise from the other students in her house, but she didn't, and as usual, got everyone down to work shortly after breakfast.

Scorpius was sitting in the Common room with Brianna after dinner that night, and they were talking with Al and Carolyn. Nick was off somewhere with Allie, and Rose and Matt were watching something on WWVN with some of the other kids. Lily was working with Trinity and the other seventh years who had joined the regular Potions study group that she led.

"I wonder how Bonus Day went at the Institute," Al commented to the others.

"What's Bonus Day?" Scorpius asked.

Al had forgotten that his friend probably hadn't heard about Bonus Day before – after all, he'd really only been part of the family since last Christmas.

"I'll try not to bore you with the long version," he began. "You know Mum, Aunt Hermione, and Lisa all work for Marauders Institute." Scorpius nodded his agreement.

"Aunt Penelope, Aunt Fleur, and Grandma all work for a company called PBP Investments. That company also owns Marauders Institute." Scorpius nodded again.

"PBP Investments has an incentive plan for all of their employees, and that bonus is paid out on December first each year. I don't know how the other divisions of the company take care of that, but at the Institute, they have a party every year where the Gringott's letters are handed out."

"Is it that big a deal?" Scorpius asked.

Al bobbed his head. "I understand that those incentives are always significant. That's the main reason that hardly anyone ever chooses to leave the company."

Brianna laughed. "I know Carolyn and I miss Bonus Day – Uncle Harry always took us out shopping and for lunch on Bonus Day."

Scorpius and Al both laughed. "He takes you out shopping a lot," Scorpius said.

"That's true," Carolyn answered, "but Bonus Day must be pretty awesome, since he always says it's one of his favourite days of the year."

Scorpius thought about that for a while as the others moved on to talk about other things. He was working out why it would be such an important day to Harry, and was about to ask about that when the only possible answer hit him, and he kept what he was suddenly sure of to himself. That was obviously one of those family secrets – probably the biggest one of all, and he knew that it wasn't going to be something that any of his friends would discuss with so many other people around.

"What are you smiling about?" Brianna asked him, after nudging him gently.

He laughed and gave her a hug. "Just putting a few more pieces of the family jigsaw puzzle together."

Al studied him carefully, then nodded. "I'm not surprised you've figured it out."

Scorpius appreciated that his friend didn't find it necessary to suggest that he keep this secret too, both boys knowing that he would.

Brianna and Carolyn exchanged glances and smiled. "Welcome to the club," Carolyn told Scorpius.

It was Al's turn to be surprised, and both girls laughed. Carolyn hugged him as she laughed.

"I've been hanging out with you and your family since I was two, Al. Did you really think that we could spend that much time with all of you and never pay attention to those kind of things? It's really ok – we love you anyway."

The next Yule Ball at Hogwarts wouldn't be until 2024, so there wasn't the excitement at school that a dance would have generated. All of the students were still very happy, especially as the holiday decorations appeared around the school.

During the last two weeks before the holidays, there was one thing that happened quietly behind the scenes. All of the New Marauders were allowed to know about it, but the rest of the students were not told as Lily quietly completed her written and practical exams for all of her second and third year classes, not only passing them, but earning perfect marks for all of them.

She would remain in the same classes when she came back in January, and just continue to work at her own speed in each subject. Lily liked the arrangements they'd made, and everything she was doing kept her interested, challenged, and most importantly – happy.

Finally, it was the night of the end-of-term Christmas feast. The Ravenclaw Marauders were seated together, and laughing at some of the other kids at the table who were happily playing with eating some of the different Christmas Chocolate Wheezes that had been the biggest selling item at the last Hogsmeade weekend.

There were Chocolate Mistletoe, Trees, Bells, and a few of every one of the two dozen different transformation candies. Someone had let a couple MagicMistletoe loose in the Hall, and the familiar 'snogging alert', followed by the sound of the silly giggling toys as they flew off to find new victims, could be heard intermittently above the chatter and laughter of the students.

Lily had only just finished her tests on Wednesday, and was enjoying the chance to spend some time with Al and the others where they weren't studying or practicing Quidditch. She hadn't had any time to really just take it easy in a couple of weeks.

"You must be glad the holidays are here," Carolyn told her.

Lily smiled and nodded. "Yes, but it's been fun too."

Carolyn laughed. "Only you'd think two weeks of exams was fun," she said quietly so nobody else would hear.

The goofing around stopped for a while when the food was served, and everyone started filling plates and enjoying the meal. Lily and the others were talking about what they knew about what would be going on over the holidays while they were eating.

"We've got the DREAM Christmas on Saturday," Brianna said.

Al had nodded. "And the family Christmas is on Sunday this year. We've got two practices on both Thursdays with the team ok'd with Mum and Dad, and that's about all we've been told about so far."

Scorpius smiled. "After last year, I'm just glad to be going home with you guys instead of to Malfoy Mansion. Whatever we do over the holidays is going to be way better than being there ever was."

Brianna gave him a hug. "I'm pretty glad you come home with us too," she told him, grinning.

The rest of them laughed as Scorpius blushed. When dinner was over, Nick went off with Allie to be alone for a while, and the rest of them went back to the Common room to hang out before going to their rooms to pack for the trip home.

Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna were doing that, and Fluffy was hopping from bed to bed, showing more excitement that any of the girls had seen out of the cat in a while.

"I think Fluffy knows we're going home tomorrow," Carolyn suggested as she ran her hand through Fluffy's soft white fur.

"Looks like it," Lily agreed. "She probably misses mooching from Daddy when he cooks.

It didn't take all that long to pack, and the girls were in bed and off to sleep early enough to get a good night of sleep before having to get up for the early train ride. Al and the boys turned in early too.

While the Ravenclaw Marauders were off to bed early, in Gryffindor House, James, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey were up quite a bit later. They were going to see Tracey over the holidays, but not until after Christmas, so they'd stayed up to spend some extra time together. James and Arianna had a present for her, and Tracey gave Arianna a gift too. When it was nearing midnight, Aaron and Tracey were left alone so they could say goodnight in private, while James and Arianna both went to their rooms to pack.

"I wish we'd be able to get together again before Christmas," Aaron told her.

She snuggled closer as they cuddled on a sofa next to one of the fires. "Me too, but I'll be away until next Thursday."

He pulled her present out of his robe pocket and handed it to her. "I guess I better give you this now then."

She was comfortable with Aaron's arms around her, so she opened the gift. Tracey hadn't had any other boyfriends other than Aaron, and she'd been waiting for him to come around since they'd been in first year. He'd given her the necklace she wore all the time for Valentine's Day, and had given her earrings for her birthday, but this was her first boyfriend Christmas present.

He smiled, anticipating her reaction, and he wasn't disappointed.

"Aaron, it's wonderful," she told him, lifting out the diamond tennis bracelet, and holding it up so that the firelight danced across the glittering stones.

"It doesn't seem like a year tonight since that first dance," he whispered. "This has been my best year ever, thanks to you."

She turned in his arms, and wrapped hers around his neck, pulling him into a really brilliant, incredible kiss. "Thank-you," she told him after letting him go. "I love you, Aaron."

He smiled, still a little dazed from their kiss. "You're welcome, Tracey. I love you too."

He helped her put the bracelet on, and they cuddled for a while longer before exchanging a few more kisses and going to their rooms to pack and go to bed. They might not get as much sleep as their friends, but the extra time alone had been worth it.

When the Hogwarts Express pulled away from Hogsmeade Station in the early morning light, the Hogwarts students on board were as excited about going home as they were each year on September first when they were coming to the school. The train picked up speed, taking it's passengers toward home, family, and for most of them, a well-deserved holiday.


	47. Holiday Magic

Chapter Forty-Seven – Holiday Magic

Harry had picked up Frederica this morning and brought her with him to greet her cousins and the other kids at Kings Cross Station. He had tried to make sure that his own children got to spend some time with each of their cousins on a regular basis, but it was also true that Frederica, Nicolas, and Art were the cousins that they hadn't seen as often as Victoire, Teddy, Rose, and Hugo.

Since September, Harry had spent more time with the quiet, gentle young girl, and gotten to know her much better than had been possible before, since he'd almost always been around her only when there were larger groups of kids too.

"I think I hear it coming," she told him quietly, and he listened and nodded.

"Are you ready for the noise level to go up a few hundred notches for the next two weeks?" he asked her as he smiled in anticipation of seeing all of the kids again.

He watched as she shrugged and smiled too. "I can always pop back home where it's quiet if it gets too crazy. You're stuck with it, though if you ask Mum, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you came over to hide for a while if you need to."

He laughed and hugged her. They could soon see the train as it came closer to the station, finally slowing to a smooth stop. Doors opened, and students started piling out of the cars. Harry was looking around for a sign of the kids when he saw the flicker out of the corner of his eye that told him that Draco was here under his invisibility charm. He didn't try to make eye contact, but as he scanned past the area, he amended that - both of Scorpius' parents were there, watching.

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey got off the train first – or at least from a car closest to Harry and Frederica. They exchanged hugs and kisses, and Harry had smiled when he saw Tracey wearing the bracelet that he'd helped Aaron with via a VirtualMall trip together, and a little financial assistance.

Hugo, and all of their Ravenclaw kids caught up with them, and he greeted all of them, and then Translocated all of their luggage to respective homes and rooms. When that was done, he asked Aaron and Arianna to get everyone except Scorpius over to the Marauders Mall and hang out there, and that he and Scorpius would meet them at the restaurant in time for lunch. The kids looked surprised – none more than Scorpius, but they agreed, and left the platform together.

Harry led Scorpius over to a spot right next to where the invisible Draco and Astoria were standing. He didn't look at them, but instead put a hand on Scorpius' shoulder, and leaned close to talk to him so that only the four of them would hear.

"Try not to react to what I'm talking about," he told the boy. "Your parents are here right next to us. I'm sure they've come to see you."

Scorpius' eyes widened in surprise, but was able to keep from making any other overt reactions.

"You and I are going to Apparate to the cottage," Harry continued quietly. "If they'd like to come to, I'll be able to tell, and I can protect all of you there so that nobody has to know about this, and you could have a short visit with them."

Scorpius hugged him, and he perceived Draco's nod, so he put his arm around the boy, and the next moment they were standing outside the cottage. A moment later, the same flicker told him that Draco and Astoria had joined them, and without talking, he led them inside, and into the sitting room.

Harry then took a moment to throw up his shields around the entire house before speaking again.

"It's safe to drop your invisibility charm," he told Draco, who suddenly appeared, holding hands with his wife, who had tears in her eyes.

Harry asked them to all sit, and got each of them a drink.

"Why don't I leave the three of you alone here." He said, and not seeing any disagreement from either parents or boy, he left the room.

"You look really good," Astoria told Scorpius. There were still tears in her eyes. "Did you have a good term at school?"

Scorpius had been watching them since they had appeared, and hadn't missed that they held hands, and that they both seemed different than he'd ever seen them before.

"School is going great, Mum," he told her. His parents had been sitting on one sofa, and he'd been sitting in one of the chairs. He stood up and walked over to her, leaned over and gave her a hug.

Astoria wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. Scorpius allowed her to hold him tight for a few minutes, then gently pulled away. It was the longest hug he ever remembered getting from her.

He handed her some tissues, and smiled as he saw his father doing the same thing.

"How are things at the Mansion?" he asked them.

Draco answered. "They've been better. Your grandfather isn't dealing with the new restrictions on his life very well, and your grandmother is making life miserable for everyone that works there trying to make up for what he can't do anymore."

Scorpius shook his head. "That doesn't surprise me." Looking at each of his parents, he smiled. "Seeing the two of you like this is a surprise, though."

Astoria and Draco exchanged a glance, and smiled too. "It's been getting better between us since you left for your second year," his mother told him. "If we had been more like this a long time ago, maybe we would have made better parents."

"There's always time to change that," Scorpius told her. "This is a good way to start."

His father looked uncertain, and he smiled at him encouragingly.

"Just because we don't do things the same way, doesn't mean that I don't love you, Dad. We both know that if I'd stayed at the Mansion with grandpa that I wouldn't have been allowed to be who I am. He did me a favour by disowning me, and now I realize that you did the best thing for me by letting him."

Draco watched his son with something very much like pride. "It might not have worked out like this, Scorpius," he said quietly.

His son shook his head. "That's not true, and we both know it. You were sure that if grandpa threw me out that Harry would help me. That I'm living with Percy, Penelope, and Nick, and that my cousin Teddy is my guardian is just the way things worked out."

He saw that both of his parents were surprised, and it took him a moment to realize what it was that he'd said that had caused the reaction.

"You didn't know that Teddy was my guardian?" They both shook their heads. "When grandpa disinherited me, I became a ward of the state. Teddy is a blood relative, so he petitioned to become my guardian. He and Harry are the ones paying for my education and expenses now."

Scorpius looked at his father. "I didn't even know I had a cousin on your side of the family until two years ago. It's too bad you've never had the chance to get to know him – he's a pretty special young man."

Draco looked intently at Scorpius. "You know why he was never mentioned at home. There have been lots of things I've missed out on, Scorpius. Those things aren't going to change, and I'm not going to waste any more time dwelling on regrets – I've had too many to count."

"I wouldn't want you to, Dad," Scorpius answered him. "Don't regret what happened with me either. This is where I'm meant to be right now, and I'm sure that someday it won't have to be like this between us any more."

Astoria was crying again, and Draco put his arm around her.

"We're going to have to get going soon," Draco told his son.

Scorpius nodded. "Will I be able to see you again sometime?"

He watched as his father shrugged. "I don't know, Scorpius. I hope so, but I just don't know."

Draco stood up, and helped Astoria to stand. Scorpius stood up too, and gave his mother another long hug, and after a moment of hesitation, very briefly hugged his father.

Harry came back into the room, sensing that the meeting was over. Making sure that his movement wasn't noticed by Draco or Astoria, he placed a gift wrapped box and a note into Scorpius' hand.

"Thank-you for coming to see Scorpius," Harry told Draco and Astoria, giving the boy enough time to see what he'd been given, and read the note. "I know it's risky for you, but if you can do this again sometime, I'll be happy to help any way I can."

Draco nodded, and he and Astoria got ready to leave. Scorpius put a hand on his mother's arm to stop her.

"Merry Christmas, Mum," he told her as he handed her the present.

Astoria looked surprised. "Thank-you," she told him.

"Can you open it before you go?" he asked her tentatively.

She smiled, and began to unwrap the present. She opened the box, and stared at the small golden locket with the ruby inlaid on the front of its intricately carved surface. She lifted it out of the box, and opened the locket.

"Think about someone you love," Scorpius told her gently, and watched as her eyes widened in amazement. She showed the locket to Draco, who looked just as surprised.

"This is wonderful, Scorpius," she told him. "I've never heard of anything like this before. Thank-you."

"I'm told that they're pretty rare. We may not be able to be together right now, but you can at least have a bit of me with you every time you open that locket."

His mother was teary-eyed again, and she gave him another hug before Draco gently led her to the door. They invoked the invisibility charm again before leaving the protection of the cottage, and then, according to Harry, apparated away.

"Thank-you, Uncle Harry," Scorpius said, giving him a long hug. "For the present, and for helping me get to see them again."

Harry hugged him back. "You're welcome, Scorpius. Do you feel up to going to lunch now, or would you like a few minutes?"

"I'm ready to go whenever you are," he answered. "That was a pretty awesome way to start the holidays, but I'm also looking forward to seeing everyone at the lunch too."

When they arrived at the restaurant, everyone else was already there, and the welcoming hugs and kisses had been well underway. They joined in, and it was another fifteen minutes before they sat down and ordered their meals.

Everyone had been curious about where Harry had taken Scorpius, so after the orders had been taken, and they were alone, Harry sealed the room for a minute so that he could explain what had happened, without going into any of the details about the meeting with Scorpius' parents. He'd had to go through it quickly, and there wasn't time for any questions before the servers had begun bringing the drink orders into the room.

Brianna had given Scorpius a hug, happy for him, and he'd smiled and hugged her back. "Thanks," he whispered in her ear. "I'll tell you all about it later."

Teddy and Victoire were sitting next to Scorpius, and over lunch, they told him, and Brianna, about some of the traveling they'd been doing, and topics ranging from what they were doing at work to shopping and the latest fashion in different countries.

Scorpius could hear Uncle Ron talking about Quidditch, and his six and one Canons team with Rose and Hugo. Lily was sitting next to her parents on one side, and Frederica on the other. They were talking about school, and Frederica was telling her about some of the things that she'd been doing since September, which apparently included spending lots of time with Uncle Harry.

He picked out bits of conversations between Nick and his parents, James and Uncle George, and others, but mostly what Scorpius loved best was having that sense of love and happiness surrounding him that happened every time they all got together.

Brianna leaned close to him and whispered in his ear – "By the way, Happy Anniversary."

She was right, he realized. It wasn't technically the exact one year date, but it had been the same first day of holidays last year when he'd come to be part of this family.

"Thank-you. It's hard to believe it's already been a year."

With the family Christmas on Sunday this year, and most of them doing the DREAM Christmas on Saturday, after lunch the kids were let loose in the mall to work on their Christmas shopping while all of the parents except for Harry went back to work.

Scorpius and Brianna had gone off on their own. They'd been told that he'd drawn Carolyn's name for Christmas, and she'd drawn Frederica's name. They picked out presents for each girl, and then also shopped for Harry and Ginny, Nick, Percy and Penelope, and Grandma and Grandpa. Brianna picked out presents for Lisa and Marcus, and her own gift for Carolyn before they'd run out of time, and needed to meet back up with everyone else.

Nick and Scorpius were going home to the townhouse after shopping, and got there before either Percy or Penelope got home from work, so they went to their rooms to unpack,and put their purchases away.

"How'd it go with your parents," Nick asked him after they were done, and had gone into the kitchen to get a drink and snack while they waited for Nick's parents to come home.

"I was really glad to see them, but it was weird," Scorpius answered. "They seem happier than I've ever seen them before, and I'm glad for them, but I'm different too now."

Nick nodded, and waited for his friend to work his way through it.

"I used to wish that they'd hug and kiss me, and today Mum hugged me three times, but now that I know what really being loved is like, it was just kinda pale in comparison."

"It meant a lot to her, though, didn't it?" Nick asked, reading between the lines.

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, it did. They've made some progress. Maybe someday it'll be different. I loved getting to see them, Nick, but it also hurts a bit to know that I've passed my parents by. I want more for my life than they've been willing to settle for."

Nick smiled. "Would it be inappropriate to suggest that it wouldn't be hard to do that? I'm pretty sure that your goals are way, way higher."

Scorpius laughed. "The answer to the first part is 'probably, yes', and you're right about the second part."

Penelope got home then, and the two boys helped her with dinner and talked about their afternoon, and told her more about what had happened at school.

While Nick and Scorpius were having a quiet evening at home with Percy and Penelope, Lily, Al, and James were settling in at home too. Arianna and Aaron would be staying for the weekend, while Brianna and Carolyn would be staying overnight at the cottage tonight, then spending the rest of the weekend with Lisa and Marcus.

The Marauders Institute Christmas party was being held tonight, and this year, Harry and Ginny would be going. When they'd returned to the cottage, Harry had begun cooking dinner for the kids while they went to unpack and relax.

He had dinner ready by the time Ginny got home, so the kids sat down to eat while Harry and Ginny got ready to go out. When they came back downstairs, Ginny laughed as the boys whistled at her. Aaron and her sons might be teasing her, but she also knew that she looked pretty amazing in the sleek black dinner dress, and the emerald and diamond jewellery set she was wearing.

"Why do I get the feeling those whistles aren't for me?" Harry asked, laughing too.

Lily walked over and gave him a hug. "You look very handsome, daddy," she assured him. "I'm fairly certain, considering how long it took you two to get ready, that you've noticed that mommy looks spectacular."

Ginny laughed again, and hugged her daughter. "Thanks, sweetie." To everyone she added – "Do you have everything you need?"

James answered for them. "Yeah, we're good. You kids go have fun."

That evening, and the entire weekend, was a whirlwind of activity for everyone in the family. While most of the Hogwarts students spent quiet evenings on Friday, Saturday was busy as they were volunteering for the DREAM Christmas. They collectively made over one hundred and thirty dreams come true, working in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and Chudley.

Since they had been split up into groups, and in different towns and cities, they all had a late dinner together at the cottage, and spent a boisterous evening together before going back to their respective homes.

The family Christmas party was at the Burrow, and they had another incredible day together. Gabrielle's pregnancy was barely showing, but she was certainly getting a lot of attention, especially from the members of the family who hadn't seen her since finding out she was expecting.

An afternoon of fun and games was followed by another incredible dinner, and the day ended with the always-entertaining gift exchange. There were only three more sleeps until Christmas when they all went home that night, and while the first weekend of their holiday had been pretty awesome, the fun was really just beginning.

Scorpius and Nick went over to the cottage on Monday morning for a planned Quidditch practice. Rose and Hugo came over for the practice too, and Brianna and Carolyn came from Lisa and Marcus' house to spend the day with them before going back to the residence for the night.

Harry and Ginny joined all of the kids for their workout, and they all had a blast as the family Ravenclaws went up against the Gryffindors while Carolyn and Brianna cheered everyone on. It was pretty cold out, though, so they only played for about an hour before going inside to warm up with hot drinks.

"Dad was taking it easy on you," James told Lily as they argued good-naturedly about the game that Lily had won for her side by catching the snitch.

"You know he wasn't," she shot back, laughing. "But I guess you could say I wasn't playing completely fair, since I had seen the snitch before giving him that hug to distract him."

Harry laughed. "And I thought it was just because you were so happy to be out playing together again." He didn't bother to mention that he'd seen the snitch too, and had been happy to let her distract him so that she could get the advantage.

Once they'd warmed up, they all went to the mall to finish the Christmas shopping that the kids had left to do. Harry helped James, Al, Hugo, Nick and Scorpius with girlfriend and mother or parent presents. Ginny went shopping with the girls. They had lunch together, then went back to shopping.

Harry, Scorpius, and Nick helped out one young boy with a DREAM Christmas in the afternoon, and they found out later that Ginny and the girls had helped an older couple, and one of the teens that the New Marauders helped out at school – although that kid didn't know that they were the ones who helped her.

When it was time to go home, Rose and Hugo left for Chudley, Nick and Scorpius went to their townhouse, and after making a change of plans, Harry and Ginny took all of the other kids back to the cottage.

Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna were going to go back to the residence, but it hadn't taken very much to convince Harry to have them stay at the cottage instead. Al and James were pretty happy campers about the decision, and it was pretty lively around the cottage while Harry and Ginny started cooking dinner.

Ginny called Penelope up, and when she found out that they didn't have any plans for the evening, had invited her to bring the boys over after work, and join them for dinner. That news added Brianna, and probably Scorpius, to the happy camper list – or at least it would when he found out about it.

Penelope had been glad to not have to go home and cook a meal, but had insisted on bringing wine and dessert before agreeing to come for dinner, so she'd picked up dessert, and Percy had picked out a couple of bottles of wine before going home to gather up the boys.

"Are we skipping dinner and going to just eat all of these desserts instead?" Nick had asked hopefully.

Penelope laughed. "You wish. No, we've been invited to the cottage for dinner, and I was more than happy to trade picking up dessert instead of coming home to an hour or so of cooking and cleaning."

Scorpius' eyes had lit up at that, and she'd laughed. "I see you approve of the plan," she told him, and he had nodded happily.

Nick rolled his eyes. "You only saw her like all day, mate."

Scorpius smiled. "True, but this just makes the day even better than it already has been."

An evening at the cottage did make the day better for all four of them. During dinner, they enjoyed talking about everything from Lily's amazing academic acrobatics to Percy's successful youth sport programs that were already gaining attention from other countries around the world.

Later, they played GameWizard for a while, then watched the original WWVN version of A Christmas Carol together. Scorpius thought that having someone to cuddle up with while watching it made the show a lot better than any other time he'd seen it.

When they went back home after the show, Percy and Penelope went to bed almost right away, both of them going to work for the morning, and having Christmas lunches with their co-workers before being off for a couple of days for the holiday. Nick and Scorpius sat up talking in Nick's room until late before going to sleep themselves.

Nick and Scorpius joined Rose and Hugo at the cottage for another morning Quidditch workout on Tuesday, and then, at Lily's urging, did homework there until noon with the others. They'd actually planned on having their first study day after the team Qudditch practice on Thursday, but the boys didn't really have anything going on, and didn't mind getting a head start on the work.

Lily had asked for, and been given the first two months of the third year mandatory subjects, and fourth year optional subjects she was taking, and from what the others had seen, was already making a fair bit of progress on those stacks of assignments.

They wrapped up their studying for the day at lunch, and when the others found out that Nick and Scorpius had planned on going to the Marauders Mall for lunch before going back to the townhouse, Harry and Ginny found themselves with the choice of being deserted, or tagging along with their kids.

Nick and Scorpius were meeting Percy and Penelope back home after lunch, and left the others, who had decided to brave the last minute shopping rush to wander the mall for a while. When it took Scorpius several minutes to say goodbye to Brianna, Nick teased them by asking if they were sure they didn't need more time – after all they weren't going to see each other for nearly twenty-four whole hours!

The two boys were the first to get back home, so they took turns having showers and cleaning up. It was too early to get dressed for the planned dinner out and the Minister's Christmas party, so they went into the sitting room and played GameWizard for a while.

Last year, they'd had dinner at home before the Christmas party, and this year Penelope had told the boys that if they wanted to eat, they'd either be cooking, or taking her out for dinner so that she'd have enough time to get ready for their evening out, whichever way they did it.

That was a no-brainer of a choice. Harry may have become a fairly accomplished cook over the years, but Percy, Nick, and Scorpius knew that their collective cooking abilities did not come close to satisfying their well-trained palettes.

Scorpius' experience in Muggle London – or the Muggle world in general had been limited mostly to last summer's touring with his friends. He'd been to a few fast food places with them, but this was his first time going to a relatively upscale Muggle Bistro, and the experience left him very impressed.

"I never knew that Muggles could make food like that," he told Nick as they were going from the restaurant to the Minister's Mansion. "How they can do that without any magic is pretty amazing."

"We're going to have to get you out more, mate. There are so many different kinds of Muggle foods and restaurants to try, if you liked it tonight, you're going to love trying different restaurants." Nick was smiling as he talked with his friend. Watching Scorpius discover so many things he'd never been allowed to do or try before was becoming one of his favourite things to do – it was almost like getting to experience those things for the first time himself again.

The Minister's party was probably more boring for Percy and Penelope than for the boys, who could at least play GameWizard with some of the other kids, or watch WWVN. Dirk Avery had come to the party with his parents, but didn't even look at Nick or Scorpius, let alone talk to them. Scorpius hadn't really taken any notice of the boy since the morning that the foot-long nose nougats he'd sent had arrived in the Owl Post for the boy, who'd stormed out of the Hall to the derisive laughter of some of his so-called mates.

Percy and Penelope were the only adults attending the party who knew about what Harry had done last June, and when they saw Dirk's father, it was obvious that what had happened to him had since caused an incredible strain on him. He obviously wasn't taking the restrictions that his vow had placed on him very well at all. Considering what they'd planned to do to Scorpius, Percy found that he could bear the man's discomfort with amazing fortitude.

They didn't get home until after midnight – the earliest that Percy could politically get away, since senior officials were expected to be the last to leave. They were all tired after a long day, and the two boys went straight to bed while Percy and Penelope stayed up long enough to make sure they were asleep before putting out presents and going to sleep themselves, the start of an exciting Christmas day just hours away.

Harry, Ginny, and the kids spent the afternoon together, then went to the residence after dinner to spend Christmas Eve with the kids there, like they'd done every year since it had opened back in 2007.

Lisa and Marcus were spending the evening there too, and Carolyn and Brianna would be going back home with them to spend the night and Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve at the residence was a fun, casual gathering. There were really very few volunteers that came, and it was more like a really great playtime for everyone. The kids were used to Harry and Wayne playing with the kids of all ages, and while they took some good-natured teasing – mostly from the teens, the kids all really loved both men.

Since Al and Carolyn wouldn't be together Christmas morning, they'd found a quiet spot in one of the libraries, and exchanged their gifts tonight instead of waiting until the party tomorrow afternoon. They'd both loved their presents, and a little snogging had definitely followed, then it was getting close to the time that they'd be going home, so they left the library, holding hands, and both of them smiling and happy.

"There you are!" Brianna said when she saw them. "Where have you been hiding?" When she saw their smiles broaden, and noticed that her friend was wearing some new sparklies, she laughed.

"Never mind. I get it. Everyone's getting ready to go, so if you're finished with the thank-you's we should go meet them in the front hall."

Brianna wasn't the only one smiling when Al and Carolyn finally arrived, and both kids were blushing by the time James and Aaron were done teasing them. Lily had been more interested in checking out Carolyn's new jewellery, and she, Harry, and Ginny all given both Carolyn and Brianna hugs before they left with Lisa and Marcus, and Harry and Ginny took their own kids, Aaron, and Arianna home to the cottage.

Christmas morning, the tradition of opening presents was repeated at the homes of everyone in the family. George, Marietta, and Frederica had Grandma and Grandpa join them for breakfast and to open presents with their granddaughter. Percy, Penelope, and the boys slept in later than most, and opened their presents closer to noon that dawn. Charlie, Nathalie, and Art had a quiet early morning gift exchange before they went to the Dragon's Lair residence to be with the kids there.

Fleur and Bill were in France with her parents, Victoire, Isabelle, Teddy, and Stewart. Gabrielle, Kevin, and Michael were on the island this year, since they were working Christmas Day so that they'd get New Year's off this year. Ron, Hermione, and the kids spent a quiet Christmas morning with her parents, who were visiting for a couple of days with them in Chudley.

Christmas morning at the cottage started bright and early, just after dawn, when James woke everyone up to get them to go down to the sitting room to open presents. They spent an hour or so doing that, then the kids played and hung out while Harry and Ginny went to work getting breakfast cooked and served. Since they'd been up so early, even after breakfast they still had lots of time to play new games, or watch a little WWVN, or anything else they wanted to do until it was time to get ready for the party at the residence.

Lily had always been well-liked by most of the kids at the residence, and the younger ones had been very glad to see her the previous night and this afternoon. The only difference for her from before she'd started school was that, especially today, she had become something of a hero to quite a few kids.

Word about Lily's becoming the Ravenclaw team Seeker and her unprecedented promotion to second year hadn't really made the rounds at the residence until last night. By this afternoon, she was being inundated with questions about both her second and third year classes, and what it was like being the team Seeker and winning her first game for the team. She fielded all questions patiently, and adjusted to the burgeoning hero-worship with modesty and grace.

The afternoon was filled with fun and games, with volunteers and kids all having a wonderful afternoon together. The gift exchange, and following Christmas feast were as special for everyone involved as it was every year. The talent show in the evening was a perfect end to another incredible Christmas day.

Unlike recent years, Harry and Ginny, and the other parents were not going to be leaving from the party to take the kids on a vacation at the island. Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna would be staying at the residence when everyone else went back home.

When it was time for those departures, the four kids had been busy with goodbyes as they said goodnight to Lisa and Marcus first, then Percy, Penelope, Nick, and Scorpius, and finally Harry, Ginny, and the kids.

Before they went to bed, Brianna and Carolyn were sitting on Brianna's bed, talking quietly.

"It seems weird being back in this room again," Brianna said.

Carolyn had nodded. "Yes, but there are some good parts of it – like the private bathrooms."

Brianna smiled. "That's true. I guess it's just that this really doesn't feel like home anymore since we started going to Hogwarts. Even the kids that don't go spend a lot of time with their volunteers like we do are only here for less than three months of the year."

"Well, it will be interesting to see how much time we actually spend here. Tomorrow we'll be spending the day at the cottage for the study day. We don't have to rush over in the morning, unless you want to go outside and freeze while the Ravenclaw team practice is going on."

Brianna thought about that. "We can decide in the morning when we see what it's like outside. The boys would understand if we didn't go to the practice."

"Any idea what's up for the rest of the holidays – other than the second practice next Thursday too?" Carolyn asked.

"I haven't heard a thing, but I get the feeling there's something going on this weekend."

"Maybe they're all going to the Canons game on Saturday," Carolyn suggested. "That'd be ok as long as we have Al and Scorpius to cuddle with and stay warm."

Both of the girls laughed. "I'd rather skip the game and go straight to the cuddling – preferably someplace warm," Brianna said.

They talked for a while longer, then Carolyn hugged her friend and went to her own room to get some sleep. Knowing Lily, by the end of their study day tomorrow, they'd both be tired out from the hard work. Carolyn and Brianna never really complained about that, because thanks to her, they were both doing much better this year than they had in their first year.

Carolyn and Brianna hadn't been able to bring themselves to skip the morning practice, and ended up being glad that they had gone early. They hadn't known it last night, but Allie had come to watch the practice too. She had been planning on coming to the study day, and so instead of coming over later by herself, she'd met up with Nick at the townhouse, and come with him, and Scorpius, when they'd come for the practice.

Harry and Ginny had both gone with James and Hugo to the residence, where they were going to have a Quidditch practice with most of the Gryffindor team.

Trinity put her team through their paces for over two hours, then they had a short meeting in the kitchen of the cottage as they warmed up with hot chocolate and snacks.

Everyone except Rick was staying to study – although Trinity was only staying to work with Lily until lunchtime. They still had just over an hour until then, so the table was cleared off, and books and parchment replaced plates and cups as they all got down to work.

Harry and Ginny came back to the cottage with Hugo, while James stayed to study at the residence with Arianna and Aaron. Harry made lunch for everyone, then he and Ginny went out for the afternoon, leaving the kids to work in peace, while they went visiting some friends.

With the added studying they'd done earlier in the week, they were all able to finish all of their holiday homework assignments by the end of the afternoon. Allie and Brianna went back to the townhouse with Nick and Scorpius, where they had been invited for dinner. Rose, Matt, and Hugo went home together, and Carolyn stayed with Al and Lily for dinner and into the evening before going back to the residence.

Harry and Ginny had the first quiet day of the holidays with just their own three kids on Friday. They had all decided to just take a break and hang around the cottage together. There was still a short morning Quidditch workout that they did together, and then the rest of the day was open to do whatever they wanted.

Ginny and James were playing GameWizard in the sitting room later that morning, and Lily and Al were in the kitchen with Harry. Lily was working on some of her assignments, continuing to get farther ahead in every subject. Watching her work had reminded Al about her suggestion to talk to their father about his Divination.

"Dad, can we talk about my Divination class for a while?"

Harry had been puttering around the room, and he came to the table and sat down with the kids. "Sure, Al. What's up?"

"I'm not exactly being open with Professor Stimpson about what I can do. Lily has figured that out, and agrees that I probably shouldn't exactly advertise my abilities."

Harry nodded, and waited.

"I could use some help understanding all of it, though, and with learning to deal with what I can see. I've read a lot about Divination, but I can't find anything that covers some of the things I seem to be able to do."

Lily was still working away, but Al was sure she wasn't missing anything. "Lily suggested that I talk to you, and that you could help."

Harry and Lily both smiled, although she didn't stop working.

"How far do your abilities go?" he asked his son quietly.

Al gave him a succinct evaluation of his abilities in each of the areas of class study, then went on to describe how his 'seeing' seemed to function, and why he was sure it was different from anything to do with prophecies that he'd read about so far. When he was done, Harry was quiet for a minute before responding.

"How strong are you, Al?"

He didn't need Harry to tell him that he meant magically, and Al answered truthfully.

"I don't know for sure, Dad. I'm stronger than anyone else at school. I think Lily is close, and James is a little farther back. Is there a way to measure it?"

Harry nodded. "I could probably measure it. I'll need to look into your mind. Can we try?"

Al nodded, and after Harry explained what he was going to do, he waited as his father closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated. He could feel what was happening, but he didn't try to stop it – he knew that he could have, but he instead paid close attention, learning as his father worked in his mind.

"It's a good thing you're not showing how strong you are magically either," Harry told him when he was done. "That's still going to grow some more, and I'd say you'll either be very close to my own, or possibly be a little stronger. We won't know that for a few more years."

He looked over at Lily. "And you're close to the same strength?" he asked his daughter.

"I'd say within ten percent, daddy," she answered, still continuing to work.

Harry nodded. "I didn't know that it would be necessary to go over some of my own abilities in helping any of you kids, but it looks like we'll need to do that." Concentrating on Al's current issue with Divination, he continued.

"Everything you've described, I can do as well, Al," he began. "Part of it has to do with having the talent, certainly, but a bigger part is caused by how strong we are. You're right that about the fact that the known prophecies were never remembered by the prophets who spoke them. Because you and I are both so much stronger than other Witches and Wizards, that's why we are aware of what we see."

Al nodded, and Harry also saw out of the corner of his eye that Lily did too."

"There's one other part of it, though, and you seem to be doing it at some level without being aware of it. Have you done anything with Occlumency or Legilimency on your own? I know you wouldn't be taking it in class yet."

Al shook his head, and this time, Lily actually stopped working and watched her father and brother.

"On some level, Al, from what you've described, you're getting at least some of your information from the minds of those around you. Our 'seeing' talent can extrapolate that knowledge. Sometimes what we see is a true peek into the future, and other times it's a combination of insight and calculating the probabilities."

"What does Legilimency have to do with it, Daddy?" Lily asked.

He smiled at her. "Your brother is performing it at a subconscious level on people around him."

"Wouldn't we recognize that it was happening?" she asked with interest.

"You probably would feel it, Lily, so you probably haven't been around when he was actually seeing anything, or he hasn't tried to see anything about you."

Al nodded. "I haven't tried to see anything about any of my family or friends, he confirmed."

Harry nodded approvingly. "That's probably a really good idea, Al – especially as your powers grow. There are things that we don't need to know about, and the futures of our loved ones is one of those things."

"Is there a way to get more control over it?" Al asked him.

Harry nodded. "Practicing will help you gain control. For right now, learing Occlumency and Legilimency will help, so that you'll be able to consciously control that part of it."

"Doesn't that take a long time to learn?" Lily asked.

Harry smiled. "I've learned a few tricks over the years. Would you two like to see one of them?"

Lily smiled and nodded eagerly, and Al nodded too. Harry got up from where he was sitting and walked around the table to where they were sitting next to each other. He put a hand on each of their heads, and both kids stiffened momentarily. When he lifted his hands, and they had relaxed again, it was a moment before either moved, and then Lily jumped up and threw her arms around her father and kissed him.

"That was incredible, Daddy! How did you do that? Do you know how much time that could save in teaching? Can you do that for other subjects?" Harry held up his hands in surrender as she wound up, and Lily paused, then laughed.

"I think you'll figure out the how soon enough, Lily," he told her patiently. "Someday you and Al will probably be able to do it, but I seriously doubt that anyone else can. Yes I have done it before, it's just that I haven't let any of you know that I'd done it. If you think about that, I'm sure you'll figure that out too."

Al was nodding as his father spoke. "You used this to teach us to read, and math, and a bunch of other stuff. That's why none of us ever went to school when we were younger."

Harry laughed. "I didn't like Muggle school much. Once you knew the basics, continuing your education was as easy as putting books in your hands, and adding whatever else you needed as we went along."

Lily stared at her father. "But that means you did this for all of our cousins, and Teddy. Anyone else?"

Harry smiled at her. "A nudge her or there with some of the kids at the residence."

"How come we don't remember any of the other times?" she continued.

"This is the only time so far that I've left the memory with anyone I've done this with. If I hadn't done that, you wouldn't have known it happened – you'd both just suddenly be accomplished Occlumens and Legilimens. I included you, Lily, because I think you'll be able to help your brother, but to do that, you need to know how it works. Considering your abilities, it also doesn't hurt for you to be able to defend yourself either."

Lily's eyes were bright. "How cool would it be if I could help the other kids like this?" she said excitedly.

"You'd burn yourself out trying, Lily," Harry told her seriously. "That's something else we need to discuss. Just because you have a lot of power doesn't mean that you can do everything for everyone. That's impossible. You're both going to need to keep a reign on what you show others for the same reason I do. Before we get into to big of a discussion on that, though, I'd like you both to just think about that for a long time. I'm sure you'll both come to understand why we have to do that, but you're both really still too young to need to worry about it very much."

Al and Lily both agreed, and Harry went over to the kitchen counters.

"Now, on to more important matters!" he said to them. "What are we going to make for lunch?"

Harry and Ginny told the kids on Saturday morning that they'd be going to the island until New Year's Day after they went to see the Canons game today. They packed bags and Translocated them to the island, then went to the residence to let Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna know about the plans, and pick them up to go to the game. Harry and Ginny visited with the kids, and with Susan and Wayne, while the four kids also packed bags, then had them sent to the island too.

They all went to lunch in Chudley after one last stop to add Frederica to their group, where Hermione, Percy, Penelope, and the kids all joined them at the restaurant, before they would be going on to the game together. Allie had come with Nick, and Matt was with Rose, and the rest of the kids found out that both Allie and Matt would be coming with them to the island too.

The Canons thankfully made short work of the Arrows. Dennis caught the snitch in under an hour to help the Canons win their seventh game of the season. It was cold enough out that even the Arrows were probably just glad the game was over and they could go get warm.

Getting warm on a sunny beach was what all of the New Marauders were thinking about. They'd been glad to go and see Demelza and Dennis play, since it'd be their last chance to see them in a live game, since the season would be over before school was out. Now that the game was over, though, getting warm again was number one on the list.

"Are we going straight there now, Mum?" Lily asked Ginny.

"We are," she told Lily, smiling. "We're just waiting for the final member of our group to meet up with us."

Who are we waiting for? I thought we were all here," Lily asked.

"We are now," a girl's voice said from behind Lily. She turned, and then threw her arms around Tracey and hugged her.

"You're coming too? That's awesome!" Lily looked over at the equally surprised faces of Aaron and Arianna. "From the looks of them, I'd say that my mother has been keeping secrets again, but we can talk about it when we're there where it's warm."


	48. Growing Up and Facing the Past

Chapter Forty-Eight – Growing Up and Facing the Past

They didn't need much time to get everyone to the island, and settled in. They had Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey staying in one of the guesthouses. Matt was staying with Nick and Scorpius, while Allie would stay with Rose and her family. Carolyn and Brianna stayed with Lily. Frederica's parents weren't coming to the island until Monday after work, so she was going to bunk with Rose and Allie until then.

It was late morning when they got to the island. Harry and Ginny started working on lunch to feed the large group while the kids settled in, got changed, and headed for the beach. The sound of jet-skis could soon be heard out on the lagoon as the other kids and adults arrived.

This year, when the question of inviting Matt, Tracey, and Allie to the island had come up, they'd talked the matter over at length. They'd all had close friends come to the island before, but other than kids from the residence, and Scorpius, there hadn't been any children come here where their parents had not been close friends of the family.

As their family grew, though, that was going to, by necessity, begin to happen, so despite the risk to their privacy, they'd all agreed to begin allowing the kids to have their own close friends come to the island with them. In addition to the three kids that came with them, over the next few days, Art would be bringing his girlfriend when they came to stay, and Michael's girlfriend was coming when Gabrielle and Kevin could bring them to the island on Monday.

Allie and Rose met up with Nick and Matt, and started with a tour of the island. They walked the pathway, and Rose pointed out the different houses, along with some of the features of the landscaping, and they had wonderful views of all sides of the island.

The lagoon and surrounding beach was where virtually all of the play activity happened, and so that was their last stop on the tour. As Matt and Allie both saw the jet-skis and AquaBikes out on the water, or pulled up on shore, they couldn't help but stare at the sight.

"Everyone has that same reaction when they see this for the first time," Rose told Matt and Allie. "Pretty awesome, isn't it!"

"And you're both gonna love the jet-skis and AquaBikes," Nick assured them. "Why don't we go out on the bikes first?" he suggested to Rose. "We have to wait for someone to give Allie and Matt the training on the jet-skis before they can use them too."

They were all out pedaling on the water, each couple heading off in different directions as they went.

"This place is breathtaking, Nick," Allie told him as she looked around. "When you guys keep a secret, you go all the way. The few times I've even heard any of you talk about going to an island, you never mentioned that it was your own private island – or that it was so incredible."

Nick squeezed her hand and smiled. "That's mostly for Uncle Harry's benefit, Allie. I'm sure you understand that in his position, privacy is important to him. Sometimes you just want to burst to want to tell people about some of the things like this, but considering how much he's done for my family – and really for the whole Wizarding World, we don't think that keeping a few secrets like this is too much to ask."

Allie leaned over and hugged him. "Thanks for trusting me to share this with."

"You're welcome. This is just as great for me, Rose, and Aaron. The other kids that have girlfriends and boyfriends have gotten to have them here with them before, and it's going to be nice to have someone to take out for moonlight walks on the beach or swims, and everything else here that's just more fun to share as a couple."

"Like riding around on these things?" she suggested.

Nick nodded. "These can be fun to ride with anyone, but I'm pretty sure I haven't done any hand holding with Al or Scorpius when we've been out on them, and that was certainly my first AquaBike hug."

Allie laughed, delighted. "Good. We'll have to make sure we find lots of firsts for you over the next few days."

James had gone with Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey to the guesthouse they'd be using while they were on the island. This particular house had three bedrooms, and a small kitchen and sitting room – one of the smallest ones on the island, but they were all excited about being basically given their own place to hang out unsupervised.

"Mum and Dad must've decided that since you're going to be seventeen soon that you should just have your own place now," James had told Arianna while they waited for Aaron and Tracey to finish getting changed.

Arianna gave him a hug and kiss. "How do you think she'd feel about you coming to stay overnight here once or twice?"

James laughed. "I'd hope that she would trust us. I'm not sure whether I want to test that theory, though."

She still had her arms around his neck, and was smiling at him. "I'm sure she could trust you just fine," she whispered. "The question is – if I had you all to myself all night, could she trust me?"

James grinned at her, his eyes sparkling. "You and I both know that she could – no matter how much fun it might be to think about. Besides, I love you, Arianna, and some things are just worth waiting for."

Arianna kissed him again. "I love you too, James. I'm really gald that those morals your parents went and taught us don't extend to include a ban on snogging."

"Did I hear there's a ban on snogging? You're both under arrest then."

James smiled as Tracey and Aaron joined them. Tracey had been the one speaking, and Arianna laughed.

"As long as you lock us up together, I'm ok with that," she told her best friend. "Ready for your tour?"

Tracey nodded. "Sure. How much better does it get than having our own place in paradise, though?"

Aaron took her hand, and they all walked outside into the warm sunshine. When they'd finished showing her the sandy beaches that surrounded the island, and the beautifully landscaped pathways that meandered through the centre of the island, past one beautiful home after another, and finished up with the incredible, panoramic view of the lagoon, Tracey knew the answer to her question.

"Here I thought that TNM was the best kept secret at Hogwarts," she told them. "I've heard Lily joke about her Dad wanting to home school her instead of going to Hogwarts. If he wants to hold classes here, I'd be more than happy to sign up!"

They'd taken longer than everyone else getting changed and doing their tour, so Harry, Ginny, and Hermione were setting out lunch for everyone by the time they had reached the lagoon. Percy and Penelope weren't far behind, bringing drinks and platters of fruit for dessert.

Uncle Ron would be getting there when he was finished with the team business, but that was everyone that would be on the island until Monday and Tuesday, when most of the family, and a few extra guests would be coming to spend New Year's Eve on the island.

The two couples decided to have lunch before going to play, and as they began filling up plates and getting drinks, the other kids out on the water saw that food had arrived, and began coming in to shore to join the others. After lunch, Percy and Harry taught Tracey, Allie, and Matt how to use jet-skis, spending about an hour with them until they were confident that they could safely operate them.

Since they were all still on 'home' time, for them, the lunch on the island had felt like dinnertime. They'd all been hard at play, though, and even though it felt like it had been a really long day already, they were all ready to have another light meal when it was getting on toward early evening on the island. Harry, Ginny, Percy, and Penelope went and threw a light meal together for everyone, and they again met down by the beach to eat.

Afterward, Lily, Hugo, and Frederica all went to Hugo's house to hang out for a while before going to bed, while both the adult and teen couples wandered off in different directions to enjoy quiet walks and private moments enjoying the beautiful evening.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had gone over to Harry and Ginny's house, where they sat out on the lanai and talked.

"Do you think bringing the extra kids was a success?" Hermione asked the others.

Ron grunted. "Depends on your perspective. If by successful you mean that my baby girl doesn't date until she's fifty, then no, it's not going so well."

Harry and the girls laughed. "At least you had until she was in second year at Hogwarts," Ginny told him. "Carolyn gave Al his first kiss when he was two, and James obviously has a liking for older women."

Hermione smiled fondly at her husband. "I seem to remember someone else liking older women too, so maybe it just runs in the family."

Ron grinned. "I don't know what you're talking about, honey – unless you're referring to yourself, of course."

"I don't think less than six months really counts, Ron," she told him loftily. "I was referring to your former infatuation with your beautiful sister-in-law, Fleur."

Ron shrugged. "At least I can't be accused of not having pretty great taste in women."

Harry and Ginny both laughed. "No doubt there, mate," Harry told him.

They'd watched as different couples had walked by along the pathway, and when Percy and Penelope had approached, they'd invited them over, and Harry had gotten them drinks.

"I don't think I've ever been here when there wasn't a beautiful sunset and evening," Penelope told them quietly.

Percy smiled. "Funny that I've been here most of those same nights as you, and I'm just finally noticing things like that," he told her.

They talked together for an hour or so before kids started showing up, tired out and ready to call it a night. When Nick, Scorpius, Matt, and the girls had joined them, Percy and Penelope went back to their house with the boys, while Ron and Hermione went home with Rose and Allie. Lily was already on her way back home when she met them on the pathway between their two houses, and only stopped long enough to hug each of them and wish them a good night before continuing on home, where she repeated the process with her parents, then went straight to bed.

Harry and Ginny stayed up until Carolyn and Al got back, which hadn't been much longer, then turned in – not waiting up for James, who they were sure would probably end up staying up quite a bit later than the rest of them would.

He, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were in the sitting room of the guesthouse, having drinks and talking together.

"This is way up there on my best day ever list," Tracey told them. "You guys might have to take me away from here by force on Wednesday morning."

She was cuddled up on one sofa with Aaron's arms wrapped around her, and he squeezed her tightly, and kissed her cheek.

"We'll have other chances to come back again now," he assured her.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" she asked them.

Arianna answered her. "We don't really have any plans, but I was wondering what you guys thought about maybe taking a picnic lunch and a couple of AquaBikes and just going off for the day with just the four of us."

It was James' turn to squeeze his girl and kiss her. "I think that's a brilliant idea," he told her, and they'd all quickly agreed that it was what they'd do for the day. They stayed up for a while longer, but finally James decided it was time for him to go home and get some sleep, and so Arianna walked outside with him for a private goodnight kiss. When she came back in, Tracey and Aaron were both standing up, and they walked to their respective bedrooms.

Arianna had washed up, changed, and climbed into bed, and was listening to the sounds of her brother and Tracey as they both settled in for the night too. She was drifting off to sleep when she heard first one door open and close, then another one, each time so softly that she had barely been able to hear it.

She grinned in the dark, trying not to giggle out loud. There was a surprised whisper that could only have been her brother's lovely baritone, and she covered her face with her pillow, trying not to make a sound.

Arianna knew that both Tracey and her brother would never do anything they shouldn't, but she thought it was sweet that her friend wanted to sleep in the same room with Aaron – probably snuggled up in his arms. She heard a few more whispers, and a couple of giggles, then as the noises in her brother's room subsided, she drifted off to sleep.

"Tracey!," Aaron whispered in shock as the door closed behind his girlfriend. "What are you doing?"

She tiptoed across the moonlit room, pulled the covers back, and slipped into bed beside Aaron.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she challenged him, smiling. "I'm taking advantage of having you here all alone."

Aaron stared into her eyes, and watched her smiling. "We're not alone!" he whispered back.

She pretended to look around the room. "I don't see anyone else," she said as she looked back at him.

"Arianna's right next door," he said.

Tracey giggled softly. "True, and it's probably taking every ounce of control she has to not be laughing right now. She won't care if I sleep in here with you, and she knows she can trust us."

Aaron looked into her eyes for a long minute, then finally reached out and gently pulled her close to him and kissed her before she snuggled under his arm, and laid her head on the pillow next to his.

"This is much nicer – like that night we fell asleep in the Common room."

Aaron hadn't answered her yet, when he heard her breathing even out, and he knew she was falling asleep. He had a lot of emotions and sensations running through him at the moment, not the least of which was the feel of her body fitted so perfectly against his own. Before he went to sleep too, he could practically hear those last few walls he'd built around his heart come crashing down as this simple act of complete trust and love on her part swept away that final defense he'd been holding back. Whatever did happen with them from now on, he had no doubt that his whole heart was now on the line.

The sun was streaming in the window when he woke up again, and he smiled as he felt Tracey still curled up next to him. That was certainly something that he could get used to way too easily. He shifted his weight, and leaned forward to kiss her, then moved back so he could watch her eyes open, and see the smile that spread across her face.

"Good morning," he told her. "I love you."

"That's a pretty nice way to wake up," she told him. "Maybe you should try that again just in case I was dreaming."

Aaron laughed and kissed her again. It was just after that second kiss that they both became aware of the smell of food cooking in the kitchen.

"I guess I better go back to my room and get showered and dressed," Tracey said a bit regretfully. She hopped out of bed and after leaning over to kiss him one more time, left the room.

Aaron had watched her go, then got out of bed himself, went to take a shower, dress, and meet Arianna in the kitchen.

"Sleep well?" she asked, grinning at him impishly.

"Yes," he answered simply, deciding that it would be more fun if she had to drag it out. "How about you?"

Arianna smiled, and played along. "Pretty good. I forgot my teddy bear, though, so I didn't have anyone to cuddle with last night."

"It is way better when you have someone to cuddle with," Aaron agreed. "I could send Susan a qm and ask her to Tranlocate one of your teddy bears over so you have it for tonight."

"That'd be nice of you, Aaron – maybe you should ask her to send three of them so that I'm not the only one in the house that has someone to cuddle with while I sleep."

Tracey heard the last part of the conversation when she joined them, and put her arms around Aaron.

"That's alright, Arianna, I don't think he'll need one – although he might want to borrow one when we go back home and to school."

"Why not?" Arianna asked innocently, making Aaron and Tracey both laugh.

"Like you don't know," Tracey answered.

They ate quickly, cleaned up, then left to meet James at his house. Harry and Ginny had been happy to help them put together a picnic to take with them for their outing, and told them to have fun as they left for the lagoon.

It was still quiet at the beach, so everyone else must still be having breakfast or sleeping in a bit after the long day yesterday. The water was dazzling in the morning sunlight, and they were loaded up on two of the aquabikes, and pedaling their way out of the lagoon before the first group of kids and adults reached the beach and began starting up jet-skis and going out to play.

They stayed fairly close to shore – just out far enough that they weren't bothered by the waves, and went around to one of the most secluded beaches on the island, where they went into shore, and Aaron and James pushed the two bikes high up onto the beach. They set out blankets on the beach, and played in the waves, going swimming regularly, and exploring the beach and the nearby gardens and pathways.

There weren't any houses within close to a kilometer of this spot, and nobody else in the family came near the whole time they were there.

After they finished lunch, they spent most of the afternoon laying in the sand and talking together before packing up, pushing the bikes back out into the surf, and pedaling back to the lagoon, where they found everyone still out playing and having fun.

"Have a nice day?" Ginny asked them from the chair she was relaxing in on the beach.

"Yeah," James told her. "It's been a really great day. How 'bout you?"

She smiled up at them, squinting in the sunlight.

"We've been having fun too. The girls beat the guys at both jet-skis and Aquabike races, and your father and some of the other little boys and girls took a quaffle out and tried making up some game that involved throwing it around while they were on the jet-skis, but other than laughing a lot, I don't know how well that worked out."

"Probably not very well, since those things don't do very well when you try it one-handed," Arianna suggested.

Ginny agreed, and then held out her hand for James to help her up. "Since you're back, I guess I should go help out with getting dinner started. Arianna and Tracey went with her, leaving Aaron and James at the beach. James went and hopped onto a jet-ski, and Aaron sat down in the chair that Ginny had just vacated.

Aaron had been thinking a lot today. He'd had fun, and enjoyed the day, but his mind had been in overdrive all day too. When those last barriers had been dropped last night, it had also released a flood of memories that he'd kept bottled up since he and Arianna had gone to the residence. Dealing with them had been nearly overwhelming, yet he'd somehow managed to keep the conflicting emotions hidden from the others while the memories had played over and over in his mind.

"Problems, Aaron?"

He looked up from where he'd been staring off into nowhere to see Harry sit down in the chair next to him.

"Not really problems, more like bad memories." He looked closely at Harry. "You've guessed that already."

Harry nodded. "Want to talk about it?"

Aaron looked out over the lagoon where James and the others wre playing as he thought about that.

"I think I am, but it's going to take some time to go through it all. Do you think that you and Aunt Ginny would come over tonight, and we could talk about it?"

Harry nodded. "Sure, Aaron. Did you want to talk about it alone?"

Aaron didn't have to think about that. "No, I want to have Tracey there too, and Arianna and James if they want to."

Harry stood up. "I'll go talk with Ginny, and we'll make sure the other kids know we'll be busy tonight so we won't be disturbed."

Aaron looked up at the man he thought of as his father. "Thank-you."

They all had dinner at the beach again, and after eating, Aaron, Arianna, James, and Tracey walked to their guesthouse. Aaron got drinks out for them, and put a bottle of wine he'd found on ice for when Harry and Ginny came over when they were done with cleaning up from dinner.

"What's up, Aaron?" James asked him when they were all sitting down.

Aaron was holding Tracey's hand tightly, and she could sense the tension in that contact. He took a deep breath.

"Your Mum and Dad are coming over, and I need to talk with them about the things that happened to me – and to Arianna before we went to the residence."

Arianna looked at him carefully. "Are you sure you're ready, Aaron?"

He nodded. "I'd like you all to stay if you would, but I should warn you that parts of it are going to be pretty unpleasant to hear about, so if you don't want to stay, I'll understand."

Arianna smiled faintly. "I'm staying, Aaron. It's time to talk about all of it, and for you an dme to start really moving on." She looked at Tracey, then James. "I lived through it too, so I know what's coming. Aaron's right – you don't have to stay if you don't want to."

James and Tracey looked at each other and nodded. "We're staying," Tracey said. "Whatever it is, we'll be here for you too."

Arianna gave James a hug, and Tracey just squeezed Aaron's hand. Harry and Ginny got there about fifteen minutes later, and he poured wine for both of them, then they sat down on the remaining sofa.

"You can start whenever you're ready, Aaron," Harry told him gently. "Take your time."

Aaron took a sip of his drink, looked at Tracey, who gave him a reassuring smile, and began.

"You read our files," he began, looking at Harry and Ginny. When they nodded, he continued.

"Susan, and the Phoenix Foundation rescued us after I'd been treated for a broken arm at St. Mungos – the fifth time I'd been there because of broken bones in three months, and Arianna had been treated three times in that same period."

Tracey had paled a little as she listened to him talk about the whole thing for the first time. He'd opened up to her more than he had with anyone else, but he was now going to tell her, and the others, about everything.

"We were ten years old then. We'd been living with an Aunt and Uncle and their kids since our parents had died when we were six - or was it seven?"

"We were six," Arianna supplied, and he nodded. Her voice was so soft it was nearly a whisper.

"Sometimes I hardly remember our parents any more, but I remember that they loved us, and we were happy. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor either. We must have had a nicer house than our Aunt and Uncle had, because they moved into our house when they were made our guardians."

He stopped and took another drink to whet his throat, which seemed unusually parched.

"I wouldn't say that things were fine at first, because they weren't. We were both trying to deal with losing our parents, and we didn't understand what was happening – or at least I didn't."

Arianna nodded her agreement. "I didn't either."

"It wasn't until a couple of weeks after the funeral that things started to change. The first thing I remember was that we were moved out of our rooms, and into the attic. I don't really remember why, do you Arianna?"

"Our cousins needed the rooms more than we did," she told them. Aaron shrugged.

"Probably. The attic was dirty, and cold in the winter, and broiling hot in the summer. They threw a ratty old mattress on the floor for us – one small mattress for both of us, and a couple of scratchy old blankets."

He smiled slightly at Arianna. "That ended up being a blessing to a certain extent, didn't it?" he told her. She looked at him sadly and nodded again.

"Like I'd said, we hadn't been rich, and we didn't have house elves, and neither had they – until we became their house keepers. We had to take care of all of the cleaning, and our aunt was a very picky and demanding master. If either of us did even the slightest thing imperfectly, she, or our uncle would 'teach us a lesson'."

He stopped again, and Arianna had been watching him closely. She took the opportunity to give him a break and she took up the story while he composed himself again.

"Those lessons always felt very harsh to us, since our parents had never done anything like that to us before," Arianna said, continuing their story.

"Compared to what came later, those first lessons were mild. They used things like stinging hexes, or a few dozen other equally unpleasant hexes or jinxes that to a six year old was unbelievably painful, but didn't do any real physical damage to us."

Aaron laughed bitterly. "No, that came later, didn't it, sis?"

She nodded, and allowed him to take over again.

"By the time we were eight, we were doing everything except the cooking. No matter how hard we tried, nothing we ever did was good enough for them. That was the year we started to be taught our lessons by using a switching spell of some kind." Arianna nodded, but he saw that the others didn't understand.

"Switching was something Muggles used to do – they'd hit their kids with a springy, hard branch from a tree, or a thin piece of leather. Whatever they used, the results were the same. A good switch would tear into the skin, and we both still have nightmares about those sessions – and they happened nearly every day for more than two years."

Tracey looked almost sick now, but she stayed next to Aaron, and still held his hand.

"Arianna always buys one-piece swimsuits, and I've always told everyone that I wear a shirt so I don't get sunburned." He smiled at Harry and Ginny. "I'm sure you both understand how stupid that is for a Witch or Wizard, since nearly all of us can regulate our exposure to the sun."

Harry nodded, and Aaron let go of Tracey's hand and stood up. "This is the real reason why," he told them, pulling his shirt up over his head.

Tracey put her hand over her mouth to stifle the gasp as she stared at the rows and rows of long scars that cut deeply across his back, and even reached around to the sides of his ribs. Next she looked at Arianna incredulously, and watched as her best friend simply nodded.

She reached out and laid her cool hand on his back, feeling the grooves that were there under her hand. Aaron smiled at her, grateful that these horrible scars hadn't sent her running from him forever. For both Tracey and James, seeing those scars on Aaron's back had explained the reason for many little things that had happened over the past year for her, and years for James. What they'd both just passed off as slightly odd behaviour in their friends now made perfect sense.

Ginny stood up, and she had tears in her eyes, just like Aaron remembered from the day that he and Arianna had met them for the first time, and Harry had told them his story. She gave him a big hug, and then went over to hug Arianna too.

While Aaron put his shirt back on and sat down again, Harry got up and this time poured six glasses of wine that he floated over to all of them.

"Let's just say I think if there's ever a good time to make an exception, this is it," he told the kids when he saw the looks of surprise.

"It was probably this daily punishment that eventually led to them sometimes going too far and doing something like when they used a breaking curse on us. I think we both eventually just became numb to the switchings, and it didn't have any effect on us anymore."

Arianna nodded her agreement. Just thinking about all of those beatings made her back hurt. "Until then, they'd been careful to make sure that what they did to us didn't show up where people could see the marks," she told them.

"That was the only good thing about holidays," Aaron added. "It wasn't the holidays that we liked – it was the week or so before the holidays when they'd stop hitting us so that we weren't crippled with pain like we normally were. The down side was that we'd get it even worse for the first while after the holiday. They probably did that because they missed getting to hit us and take their anger out on us. They were always angry."

While he sipped his wine, Arianna spoke.

"They were probably afraid the first time they broke Aaron's hand. They hadn't fed us in a couple of days, and Aaron was caught trying to get some food for us – for me, she amended. Our uncle broke his hand in three places, and neither of them could even do a tiny bit of healing, so they'd had to take him to St. Mungo's."

Aaron nodded. "They made up some stupid story of how I'd smashed in somehow, and told me to tell the healer that's how it happened, or they'd switch every inch of skin off of Arianna's back when we got home. You can guess what choice I made."

Arianna smiled grimly. "Not that it mattered, since they still switched both of us that night to punish us for making them have to pay out good money for the medical bill."

Aaron's eyes hardened at her words. "Things got really bad during those last few months. They'd gotten away with that first 'accident', and for me that was followed by two broken ribs, a broken forearm, my left leg, and my second broken arm was the one that finally brought us to the attention of the foundation."

He looked over at Arianna. "You had the broken arm twice – when they told the healers that you rebroke it in the same place so they must've fixed it wrong. What was your third one?"

"Our dear, sweet aunt broke my leg in three places because one of our cousins tripped me, and I knocked something over. I don't remember which cousin, or what I'd knocked over anymore. I do remember that they were so rough with me taking me to St. Mungo's that I passed out from the pain, and that it took the healers a lot longer to fix my leg because the two pieces of bone had been moved around too much."

Tracey was watching them, and listening as they almost calmly recited horrors that she couldn't ever imagine, and she wondered at how they hadn't grown up to be angry and bitter.

"When Susan and some of her staff came that day to take us away from our family, we were terrified. Our aunt and uncle started to threaten her, but she stood her ground, and threatened to have them arrested for child abuse if they didn't agree to let the foundation become our legal guardians."

Aaron had choked up as he thought about what Susan had done for them. Tracey put her arms around him, and he put his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. Arianna had tears in her eyes too.

"Aaron couldn't talk by then," she said, and looked at James, who nodded. "When you met him that Christmas Eve, he didn't say anything to you, did he?" James shook his head.

"He whispered a couple of things to Dad, but I didn't hear him talk to anyone else."

"We'd already been at the residence for about a month or so," she told him. "Your dad was the_ only_ person besides me that he'd talked to that whole time." James looked truly surprised at that.

"Susan probably thought that had been because of the shock of being moved to the residence, but other than the times that our aunt and uncle forced him, he hadn't talked to anyone except me since shortly after the switching had started."

Harry and Ginny hadn't known this either, and Arianna smiled at them. "All of this isn't any different for us than it was for you, Uncle Harry. The four of you know us better than anyone else – just like Aunt Ginny knows you, but didn't know about everything that happened when you were little."

James turned to stare at his father, who shrugged. "That's a story for another day, James." It was Arianna's turn to be surprised.

"I'm sorry," she told him hurriedly. "I wasn't thinking."

He smiled at her reassuringly. "It's alright, Arianna. If he's ready to hear your story, he's ready to hear mine." He smiled at Tracey, who was staring at him incredulously.

"The Dark Lord probably would've loved my Aunt and Uncle on his side – if it wasn't for the fact that they're Muggles," he told her. "Now there's two more people that know the real reason why the residence is so important to me."

Aaron was back in control again, and he continued.

"When you came and talked to us on Christmas Eve…" he paused and looked right at Tracey. "He sat on the floor of our Common room at the residence, right in front of us, and told us his whole story, just like we're doing with all of you now." Tracey squeezed his hand encouragingly.

"I'd never have believed that what had been done to us could have been done to anyone else, but he looked into my eyes, and I knew that he was telling the truth." He looked back over at Harry before returning his gaze to Tracey's face.

"Susan saved us from getting hurt anymore, then Harry showed us that it was possible to survive what happened, and still have a wonderful life – if you choose that for yourself instead of just being angry and bitter about what was done to you." He took both of her hands in his and smiled at her.

"I'm finally ready to talk about it now because you've taught me how to truly love and trust again. For a long time, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to do that."

Harry started handing out tissues at that point, and Ginny, Tracey, and Arianna all took several each before he sat down again and put his arm around Ginny.

"There was a lot of other things that we skipped over – that'd take too long to do even if we sat up all night," Aaron said after Tracey had hugged him tightly as she'd finally been unable to hold back the tears.

"I don't know about Arianna, but for me, now that this is all finally out, I may need to talk about it sometimes. I'm even a bit surprised to find that as we've been talking tonight that I still have a lot of anger about all of it."

Arianna smiled. "Like we don't have more than enough reason to be mad. You know you can talk with me anytime, and I feel the same way. I feel better about all of that than I have in a long time."

Ginny smiled at the four teens. "You know we're all going to be here for both of you," she told them. "I am so proud you, and how great you've turned out."

Harry was sure that Aaron and Arianna had talked themselves out, and he stood up.

"Tracey, James, would you two please give us an hour or so and go check on the other kids for us?"

They both looked surprised, but gave Aaron and Arianna hugs, and then left the house to go to James' home for a while.

"Ginny, could you pop over and get Hermione? You know what else we need, right?" Ginny nodded, stood, and apparated away. Harry went and sat down next to Arianna.

"While James and Tracey are gone, we're going to fix both of you up. I understand why you've never wqnted to tell anyone, but you don't have to live with those scars anymore."

Arianna had started crying, and Harry put his arms around her and cradled her as she wept until Ginny and Hermione walked into the room.

"Are you up for a couple of really tough cases?" he asked Hermione. She nodded.

"Will we be able to handle it ourselves?" she asked in return.

"I'm not sure. Why don't you and Ginny take Arianna in and get her ready, then covered up, and you can let me know what you think before we take Aaron in and do the same."

The three girls went into the bedroom that had the King size bed in it, and were in there for about ten minutes before Hermione came back out, while Ginny stayed in the room with Arianna. She had tears in her eyes, and she walked up to Aaron.

"Can you show me your back too, please?" he stood up and lifted his shirt, and as she looked at his scars, the tears that had been shining in her eyes began to fall.

"Thank-you, Aaron." She turned to Harry. "We're going to need quite a bit more help, Harry. These are as bad as anything I've ever seen, and you know how hard it was just doing Bill's face."

Harry stood up. "Take Aaron in and get him ready. I'll go get the help we need, and be right back."

Hermione looked surprised, but Harry just apparated away, and she and Aaron exchanged smiles, and went to join his sister in the bedroom, where she and Ginny carefully applied the paste to all of his scars.

When Harry came back with Al and Lily in tow, Hermione looked at him in alarm.

"You can't be serious! They're underage – they can't use magic outside of school."

Harry smiled. "I think I've mentioned once or twice that it doesn't always suck to be famous. They've got a dispensation from the Minister of Magic for tonight."

"They don't know what to do, and we'd still need a lot more that two extra people for it to work."

Harry smiled at his friend. "Oh ye of little faith. I've already taught them what they need to know, and they're both considerably stronger than we've let on to anyone. If you're ready, I'm sure we have what we need now."

Lily had walked over to the bed while her father had been talking with Hermione, and even with the paste covering them, she could see the horrible scars on both of her friends. Arianna turned her head from where she was laying, and looked into Lily's tear-filled eyes.

"When we're finished with this," she told Arianna quietly, "we are going to take the TransPortal to the mall in Los Angeles and buy you a stupendous two-piece."

Arianna laughed, and Lily turned to her aunt Hermione.

"Daddy's right. We can do this."

Hemione looked at each of them, then nodded. "You both are sure that you can do the power transfer spell?" Al and Lily both nodded. "Let's gather around the bed then," she instructed.

The five of them got their wands out, and when they began, Hermione was again shocked to see that neither her niece or nephew needed to verbally say the spell. The next thing that she could sense was that the magic flowing from both of them was far stronger than what she and Ginny were producing. Al's was marginally stronger than his sister's, but not by all that much.

Harry felt the magic pour into him, and he channeled it, added his own, and released the amazing spell that Hermione had developed so many years ago to help heal their brother-in-law Bill, and so many other Witches and Wizards who'd been left with scars because of injury or disease.

Aaron and Arianna had both relaxed facedown on the bed. They were holding hands, and had closed their eyes. They could both see the glow that began to surround them through their closed eyelids, and felt the strange tingling all over their backs and sides. The light, and the sensation lasted for several minutes, and then both slowly faded.

Ginny took a step back, and Al was there to steady his mother.

"Are you all right, Ginny?" Harry asked with concern.

She smiled faintly. "I'm fine – I've got Al here to keep me from falling over." Hemione didn't look any better, and Harry instructed Al to help both women out to sofas in the sitting room, while he and Lily stayed to help Aaron and Arianna.

"You're ok, right?" he asked Lily quietly. She nodded, and went over to sit on the bed next to Arianna, who again turned her head to look at Lily.

"Did it work?" she asked, not wanting to dare to hope.

Lily smiled and picked up a towel. "Let's find out." She gently rubbed the paste off of an area of her lower back, revealing smooth, creamy skin beneath. She set the towel aside, and gently ran her hand along the smooth skin. Arianna's eyes widened as she felt Lily's hand, and realized that she wasn't feeling a hand touching rough, scarred flesh, but the touch of a soft hand against smooth, unblemished skin.

"It worked!" she whispered. "Aaron, it worked!" She was crying, and Lily put her arms around her.

"Why don't you take Aaron to his room, Daddy, and I'll help Arianna get the rest of this gunk off."

Harry nodded, and went to help Aaron get up. They went into his room, and Harry had him cleaned up in just a few minutes. He then helped Aaron see his now healed back, then held him as he cried tears of happiness at having what had been a constant physical reminder to him of the horrors of his childhood swept away forever.

They went out into the sitting room, and joined Al, Ginny, and Hermione. Harry poured himself another glass of wine, and sat down next to Ginny, who leaned heavily against him.

"Did it work completely?" Hermione asked.

Harry smiled, and nodded to Aaron, who stood up again, and lifted his shirt so that Ginny and Hermione could see.

"Thank-you," he told them. "It means a lot more to me that you could heal Arianna, but this is more than I could have ever hoped for."

Lily led a brilliantly smiling Arianna into the sitting room, and she hugged Aaron, then everyone else. Lily's eyes were sparkling.

"Now, why don't we pop over to L.A., and pick up that new swimsuit to celebrate!"

Ginny smiled at her daughter. I don't think that your aunt Hermione or I are going to be in any shape to do that tonight, sweetie – maybe not even tomorrow."

Arianna looked at her with concern. "Are you going to be alright? I didn't know this could hurt you, or I'd have never wanted you to do it!"

Hermione smiled at her reassuringly. "We're just fine, Arianna. It was just a very hard thing to do, and we're both very tired."

Arianna looked from the two women to the bouncing Lily, and Al, who didn't look even a little tired.

"How tired you are after something like this is affected by how strong you are magically to begin with," Hermione explained, having seen her reaction.

"Since we won't be able to go, Lily, I think your little shopping trip is the perfect job for your Aunt Penelope," Ginny suggested. "Why don't you and Arianna go and ask her if she'd be willing to make the little side trip. It'd be a shame to miss any of the day tomorrow going shopping – especially when so many others will be getting here starting around lunchtime."

Lily took Arianna in tow, and happily led her out of the house. "We can pick up Tracey after we talk to Aunt Penelope," she told Arianna as they left.

Harry smiled as the girls left, then turned his attention back to Ginny and Hermione.

"How bad is it?" he asked them.

Ginny smiled, and exchanged a look with Hermione before answering. "A little worse than you probably felt the day we put 3D WWVN on the air."

He nodded, stood, and helped Ginny up. "Aaron, Al, you help Hermione home, and tell uncle Ron to get her right to bed. She'll probably need to be asleep very soon, so don't let him give you – or her – a hard time. I can explain things to him later if needed."

The two boys nodded and helped Hermione to stand, then Aaron put his arm around her waist and helped her outside, following Harry and Ginny. Al closed the door behind him, and then walked next to his aunt as Aaron helped her home. Al told his uncle Ron what his father had said, and Ron picked Hermione up, and carried her to bed, tucked her in, and when she fell asleep right away, went into the sitting room, where he found an anxious son and daughter sitting with Nick, Allie, Aaron, Frederica, and Al.

"Uncle Harry says that she's fine, guys," he told Rose and Hugo. "She's just very tired from whatever they just did."

He looked at Al and Aaron, then turned back to the others. "I want you to stay here, and if she wakes up and needs anything, help her, or send me a WiComm message, and I'll come right back. I'm just going to run over and see if I need to pound your uncle or not. I shouldn't be long."

Al smiled as he and Aaron went with Ron over to his house, where they found Harry in the sitting room there calming Carolyn and Brianna.

"what'd you get the girls into this time, mate?" Ron demanded.

Harry smiled at his friend, and motioned for them to go outside. "We'll be back in a few minutes," he told the kids.

Harry walked Ron back to his house, quickly explaining what they'd done, and that Hermione and Ginny would both be fine by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

"Have the girls make her breakfast in bed tomorrow, and then have her just relax in a beach chair or something all morning, and she'll be fine."

"I remember how tired she was after you fixed Bill, and it wasn't even close to this. Just how bad were those kids hurt, Harry?"

"From what I saw, mate, a week under the cruciatus would have probably been kinder that what their aunt and uncle did to them. I hope they get what's coming to them someday."

Ron nodded, and slapped Harry on the arm. "I guess it was a good enough reason. You've somehow managed to dodge another beating." He thought about what he'd just said. "On second thought, I don't think I'll use that particular term any more. This has given me a whole different perspective on the word."

When Harry got back home, James, Al, and Aaron were sitting out on the lanai with Carolyn, Brianna, and Scorpius.

"Since the girls aren't here, I take it that Penelope took them on that little shopping trip." Harry stated.

Carolyn nodded. "They said they wouldn't be long.

Harry smiled. "We'll see. I want to talk with James and Aaron for a few minutes. Could the rest of you excuse us, please?"

He waited as the rest of the kids went inside and turned on the WWVN in the sitting room. He sat down in one of the chairs and looked at the two boys.

"This is actually really just for James, Aaron, but I wanted you to stay." He looked at James seriously.

"I want you to pack a few things and go and stay with Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey at least for tonight, and maybe for the rest of the time here."

James exchanged a look of surprise with Aaron, and then looked back at Harry.

"I've been through what Aaron and Arianna have started to deal with tonight. They're both going to need support. Tracey's there for Aaron. I want you to be there in case Arianna needs you. With something like this, the nights are the hardest - when you have lots of time to think about everything."

He looked at Aaron. "I want you to promise to let me know how you're really doing when we go back. If either of you are still having a tough time, I want you to stay the rest of the holiday with us."

Aaron nodded. "I promise."

Harry nodded. "Good. Why don't you go pack, James, and maybe you two could put a snack or something together for the girls for when they get back."

James gave his father a hug. "Thank-you for everything, Dad. Before I forget, I really do want to hear your story someday, but would it bother you if we save it up for another school holiday? I don't know about the rest of you, but this was enough for one vacation."

Aaron and Harry both laughed. "That's just fine with me too, James," Harry assured him.

James quickly packed a bag, and then he and Aaron left for the guesthouse. Harry went inside and sat down with the other kids for a while before going to bed himself. He knew that Penelope would make sure Lily got back, and the other kids would get to where they needed to be without his supervision. He changed, and climbed into bed with Ginny, wrapped an arm around her waist, and let his own exhaustion overtake him.

Al had understood that his father must have been more tired than he'd admitted, since he and Lily both knew that as focus Wizard, he'd had the most difficult job. He was now sitting on one of the sofas with Carolyn wrapped comfortably in his arms. Scorpius and Brianna were on one of the other sofas, also cuddled close together.

"What happened tonight, Al?" Brianna asked him quietly. "It must've been something pretty big."

Al thought about what he should say, not wanting to invade Aaron and Arianna's privacy, but also not wanting his friends to have their imaginations going crazy either.

"I don't know much of what went on earlier tonight," he told them. "I wasn't there for any of that. What Mum, Dad, Aunt Hermione, Lily, and I did, though was to heal some very bad scars that Aaron and Arianna both had. I'm pretty sure that this was the first time that they must have told anyone about it, or Mum and Dad would've made sure they'd been healed a long time ago."

Carolyn nodded. "That can only mean that it's something that happened before they came to the residence," she said confidently. "If it had been after that, your parents would know about it."

Al squeezed her, and smiled. "You've been hanging out with Lily I see."

"Why was your Mum and Aunt so much more tired than you, Lily, and your Dad?" Scorpius asked.

Al smiled. "I think Dad is just as tired. He's probably asleep by now. Lily and I didn't have as big a job as he did, so we weren't as affected as they were." It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth either, he thought.

"I'm glad you could help them," Brianna said. "Whatever it was that happened to them, though, I don't think we should talk about it, unless it's something they want to talk about with us first," she suggested.

Carolyn smiled across at her friend. "I think that's a good idea, Bree." Al sighed quietly in relief, and she looked up at him, but didn't say anything more.

They watched WWVN until Penelope came back with Lily, and waited discreetly while Scorpius and Brianna said goodnight before walking to their house with her arm around his shoulders. Lily told them about their short shopping trip, then she and Brianna both went off to bed, leaving Al and Carolyn where they'd been on the sofa together.

"There's a lot more that you didn't tell us," she told Al in a whisper when they were alone.

"Yes, but while I could make some guesses from what I did see, it's really up to Aaron and Arianna to tell anyone else they want to know about it themselves."

Carolyn stood up for a moment and motioned Al to stretch his legs out on the sofa before she laid down next to him, both of their heads resting on the arm of the sofa, and his arms again wrapped around her.

"That's better," she said, sighing happily. "You didn't tell the whole truth about why you and Lily weren't tired either," she said, continuing their conversation. "The part about your Dad sounded true, but the rest wasn't."

Al smiled, and kissed her forehead. "Busted."

She smiled and squeezed his arms with her own. "It's ok. I know why you didn't really want Scorpius, or even Brianna to know. I bet your Aunt Hermione was surprised, though."

Al laughed quietly. "That'd be an understatement."

They lay there, comfortable and content to just be together. Carolyn let her thoughts drift to the events of the day, and she eventually noticed that Al had fallen asleep. She thought about getting up, and waking him, but this was very nice, and so she instead closed her eyes and was soon asleep too.

Lily had talked with Brianna for a while before her friend had gone to sleep, and then she'd put on her GameWitch glasses and worked on some of her Potions assignments. She'd been at that for more than an hour, and when she was done, she saw that Carolyn hadn't come to bed yet.

She quietly left the room, and went into the sitting room to find her cuddled up adorably with her brother. She went and got a blanket out of Al's room, and carefully covered them up before going back to her bed, finally ready to get some sleep herself.

Arianna and Tracey had hugged Lily and Penelope when they'd returned to the island, and then left to go back to their guesthouse. They'd expected to only find Aaron there, so it had been a pleasant surprise for Arianna to find out that Harry had told James to come stay with them.

The girls told James and Arianna about the shopping trip, and then they'd settled onto the sofas and relaxed. It had been a pretty extraordinary evening, and they were all pretty tired.

Finally, Aaron stood up, and helped Tracey to stand. "We're going to bed now, he told James and Arianna. "We'll see you in the morning."

When they'd gone, James and Arianna both stretched out on the sofa. "I guess I'll sleep out here tonight," he said quietly.

Arianna laughed. "What's so funny?" he asked her, looking at her smiling face.

"I don't think that'll be necessary," she told him, and James felt a lump form in his throat.

"Your brother and best friend are here, Arianna. I doubt he'd like it much if you and I slept in the same bed."

He'd just said that when he heard more doors opening and closing. He looked at her incredulously as she nodded.

"They're not doing anything they shouldn't, James, and neither will we. Why don't you go change in the bathroom, and I'll meet you in the bedroom when you're done."

She stood up, and held out her hand to him. He took a deep breath and stood too. Arianna smiled at him encouragingly. We could stay out here if you really want to, but the bed would be way more comfortable."

He picked up his bag, and followed her out of the room, turning toward one of the bathrooms, while she went into her bedroom. He looked in the mirror, and it wasn't a stupidly grinning expression on his face, but more like baffled-scared. He washed his face, brushed his teeth, and changed into the thin medi-wizard pants and t-shirt that he normally wore to bed. He looked in the mirror one last time, took another deep breath, then left the washroom.

Putting his bag in a corner of the sitting room, by the time he walked back to the bedroom door, Arianna had opened it, and stood there in a nightgown that made his jaw drop open. He'd seen her in other outfits that had less material than this, but none of them fit quite the same way, and he felt his mouth going dry, but he went into the bedroom when she motioned him to come in, and watched as she quietly closed the door behind him, and then took his hand and led him to the bed.

They both got in under the covers, and she confidently helped him put his arms around her, and she snuggled close to him, her back next to his chest.

"Would you touch my back, James?" she asked him in a hoarse whisper. He didn't need to be told why, after having seen Aaron's back earlier, and Tracey's tender, caressing hand over the terrible scars.

He laid his hand on her bare back, just above the material of her nightgown, and gently caressed her now smooth skin. As his hand moved slowly up and down her back, he felt her relax. When she started to cry, he again wrapped his arm around her and drew her close to him, and held on as she wept. She cried for a long time, and he held her, whispered comfort into her ear, and kissed her cheek or hair.

While he did that, he had lots of time to think about what she and Aaron had told them tonight. It had been his very first exposure to child abuse, and he knew that it had changed him forever. Arianna's crying had subsided, and she rolled over so that she could look into his eyes.

"Thank-you for staying here with me, James," she whispered. "I love you so much." She ran her hand along his cheek and kissed him so tenderly that it made his heart ache.

"You're welcome, Arianna. I love you too." He looked at her, his eyes and expression more serious than she'd ever seen it.

"I hope you'll wait for me when you're done school," he said, touching her face, just as she was still caressing his. "I plan on marrying you and making sure that nothing bad ever happens to you again. You deserve to be happy, and I'm going to make it my mission in life to make you happy."

Arianna looked into his eyes, seeing the deep sincerity there, and tears again blurred her vision. "Then I guess my mission will have to be to make you just as happy right back, because you're doing a really great job so far."

James smiled, and after another sweet kiss, they snuggled close again. He waited until he was sure that she'd fallen asleep before allowing himself to go to sleep too.

Aaron and Tracey were already cuddling when they heard Arianna and eventually James, go into her bedroom. Tracey had laughed quietly, happy that her friend would have James there to hold her close. She couldn't imagine what it had been like for them to decide to talk about all of the things that had been done to them for more than four years of their childhood.

She had her arm around Aaron's waist, and was gently stroking his now smooth back. He had shivered slightly at her first touch, but had gotten used to her touch, and that the thought of her touching his back no longer filled him with fear and shame.

"It's like some kind of miracle what they were able to do for both of you," Tracey whispered in his ear.

Aaron nodded, and held on to her tightly. "I'm still trying to convince myself that this isn't all a dream."

Tracey kissed him, and when she finally let him go, looked into his eyes. "Still think you're dreaming?" she asked with a grin.

He hugged her tightly. "I really hope not, but if it is, don't wake me up."

They lay there together, each lost in thought. When the impact of everything that had happened finally crashed in on him, Tracey was ready. Just as James was doing in the other room for Arianna, she held Aaron in her arms, and brushed her hand through his hair, and spoke softly to him as the grief, pain, and hurt washed over him, one emotional wave after another

Tracey had always thought it was stupid that it was supposed to be ok for Witches to cry, but not for Wizards. As she comforted this battered, gentle young man through the early hours of the morning, she knew deep in her soul that he was that once in a lifetime love of her life, and she'd never want to let him go.

She cried with him, and held him, stroked his hair, and kissed him tenderly until finally, this round of raw emotion had passed and he was able to fall asleep. Tracey closed her eyes and let herself sink into a very restless sleep of her own.

When the four of them finally got up around mid-morning on Monday, they all knew that what had happened the night before had made their relationships both as couples and as a group stronger than ever. Aaron and Arianna would have more bad days as they faced their past, and Tracey and James would be there for their friends when they did. They were having a quick breakfast together when Lily came to find them.

"Good morning!" she told them cheerfully, making a round of the table to give them each a hug. "I thought maybe you'd decided to stay in bed all day."

She watched as both Aaron and James blushed slightly, and grinned, her eyes shining.

"Why James, why ever would you be blushing?" she teased him, and watched him blush more deeply. Arianna and Tracey both laughed.

"She's just teasing you James, and you have no reason to be embarrassed. Last night was just as hard for me as your Dad predicted, and it would have been a lot worse if you hadn't been there to hold me and comfort me, and I don't care who knows that."

Lily gave her another hug. "He'll be fine, Arianna. Besides, after Dad found Al and Carolyn still cuddled up on the sofa this morning when he got up to make breakfast, I really doubt that this would bother him at all. I don't think I ended up helping when I went to check on Carolyn and put a blanket over them, but I guess I can see what daddy might have thought. They'd looked so darn cute, and happy, I just hadn't been able to bring myself to waking them up and spoiling it."

James held up his hands to get her to stop and take a breath. They were all laughing at both her story and her ability to fit three times more conversation into a minute than anyone else could. Arianna asked her to join them, and she sat down, but had eaten 'hours ago'. She kept chatting, continuing her story through to just before coming here when she'd offered to see if we were planning on coming out to play sometime today.

Aaron and James took cleanup while the girls went and got ready to go, then they walked with Lily to the lagoon, where they were greeted with hugs and kisses from Harry, Ginny, and Hermione before going to find a spot on the beach to lay out their towels and put their things before going to play on the jet-skis.

Ginny and Hermione were doing as they were told, and enjoying every minute of pampering they were receiving from Ron and Harry.

"If this is how we'd be treated the day after doing something like we did last night, we should do it every day," Ginny told Hermione as they watched James and Arianna lay their big towels out on the beach.

Hermione laughed. "I doubt that either of us could pull that off every day – or would want to." She smiled as Arianna took off the wrap she'd been wearing over her swimsuit, and showed off the first two-piece she'd ever been able to wear. She noticed that she wasn't the only one who had tears in their eyes at the sight of the girl's smooth, unblemished back and her radiant smile.

"I'd have been happy to spend a week recovering just to see that smile today," she said, reaching for her bag to get some tissues.

Harry handed one to her before she'd even laid her hand on the bag, and she smiled up at him. "Thank-you."

He grinned and handed a few to Ginny too. "It looks like James is quite appreciative of our efforts too," he noted, grinning as he watched his son.

Ron and the girls laughed at Harry. "I doubt there's a teenage boy in the world that wouldn't, mate," Ron told his friend. "I'd say Tracey and Aaron are both pretty happy too, by the looks of them."

He looked at his best friend and smiled. "I'm surprised you had James stay overnight with Arianna last night. Letting them have their own place while we're here leaves them lots of opportunities."

Harry smiled. "I've always found it funny that parents are more worried about what could happen between teenage kids between midnight and morning, but seem to ignore the fact that those things could happen just as easily during the other sixteen or eighteen hours of the day. We know they can be trusted whether they're alone someplace at noon or at four in the morning."

Ron laughed. "Gee, thanks, mate. Now I'll worry about Rose all day." They all knew he was just as trusting of her as they were of their kids, and laughed with him.

Harry left the box of tissues between Ginny and Hermione. "I better go start on lunch. We'll have extra mouths to feed getting here any time now. Can you take care of the girls while I'm gone, Ron?"

"Sure. I'll make sure they don't get into any trouble."

By the time Harry started delivering food to the beach, Nathalie, Charlie, Art, and his girlfriend Serena had arrived, and Nathalie went back to help with with the next load since Charlie had already been out on the lagoon giving Serena her first jet-ski lesson.

"I hear you had an eventful night last night," she told him as they walked back to his house, holding hands.

"It won't be one I'll foget anytime soon," he agreed. "Not all of it for good reasons."

She nodded and squeezed his hand. "I've got a few kids at my residence who've been abused too, but nothing like what it sounds like happened to those two."

Harry nodded. "This is the worst case I've heard of through our residences," he said. "But there's a lot more child abuse going on than we ever hear about."

Nathalie let go of his hand and put her arm around him. "Like your own?" she said gently. He nodded. "Yes. Even the great Harry Potter isn't immune to being ashamed of what my own family did to me."

He hadn't been surprised by her perceptiveness, since it was just like that between them. This was the first time they'd ever mentioned it openly, but he was sure that she'd known about it for a long time. They reached the house and took another load back toward the beach. Nathalie steered the conversation away from those unpleasant memories, and they quickly had everything set out, and watched as the kids all seemed to be able to sense the presence of food, and gravitated toward where the buffet had been laid out.

George and Marietta made it there just as the last trays had been set out. The rest of the family arrived during lunch, or shortly after, giving them all the whole afternoon and evening to spend together.

Al and Carolyn were lying on the beach later that afternoon, taking a break for a while and just enjoying the warm sunshine.

"I'm not sure who was more surprised this morning," Carolyn finally said, bringing up the subject they'd both avoided up until now. "Your Dad was surprised for sure, but I think we were the ones that got the real shock."

Al rolled onto his side so he could look at her, and he was smiling, those incredible green eyes of his seeming to glow in the bright afternoon light.

"I wouldn't change a thing even if we had last night to do over – except I might have kissed you a few more times before falling asleep."

Carolyn laughed. "Next time I'll make sure you do."

Al grinned. "Next time?"

She moved closer and kissed him. "Oh yeah, there's definitely going to be a next time."

"Hey, if you're going to start all that kissing and cuddling, go get a sofa," Scorpius teased as he and Brianna came over and sat down on their blankets.

Carolyn smiled at him. "Ha Ha, very funny. I wonder how long those jokes will be going on until everyone lets the whole thing drop?"

Brianna laughed at her best friend. "If you're lucky, after we go back home. If not, it could go on for years."

Carolyn groaned. "Considering some of the old jokes that still get dusted off every now and then in this family, it'll probably be the years. I still get teased about that Valentine's kiss I gave Al when we were two."

"There is a good side of that, Carolyn," she said. "They only do that with the people they love the most."

They had dinner on the beach again, and everyone split up into smaller groups for the evening. On New Year's Eve day, there was more play, and they all had a lot of fun, ending the day with another dinner and beach party to celebrate the New Year together. The night ended with a fireworks display, and then nearly everyone went to bed soon after.

Because of the time change, and the need to get Allie, Matt, and Tracey home to their families in good time, Harry and Ginny gathered everyone up after breakfast, and they headed for home after saying goodbye to everyone else.

The Ravenclaw team had their practice on Thursday as planned. Aaron and Arianna ended up staying at the cottage for the last few days of their holiday, and Carolyn and Brianna spent most of their holidays with Lisa and Marcus.

Scorpius and Nick stayed with Teddy and Victoire on Friday night, and they all got together for a shopping day on Saturday to pick up any needed school supplies for the next term. Sunday morning, they all met at Kings Cross Station, and Harry and the other parents once again saw their kids off for the return trip to Hogwarts.

"Come on," Ginny told her husband. He'd become lost in thought as the train had moved on out of sight, and it had taken two attempts to get his attention.

"Let's go over to the residence. Spending some time cheering up the kids that will be missing their older friends, sisters, and brothers will help cheer you up too."

Harry smiled, and let her lead him away. He thought back to the first time Teddy had gotten on the Hogwarts Express, and he'd wondered if it would ever get easier for him to see the kids go. The answer to that question was definitely 'No'.


	49. Winter Adventures at Hogwarts

Chapter Forty-Nine – Winter Adventures at Hogwarts

The train ride back to school had been uneventful, and dinner had been followed by an evening settling back in to their dorms and getting reacquainted with friends that they hadn't seen over the holidays.

Classes began on Monday, and the Professors wasted no time loading the homework on the students. Lily was back in her element, and she ruled her little Ravenclaw study group like her own private fiefdom. The other kids didn't mind, because she was a kind and loving ruler, and dispensed her wisdom, hugs, and kisses in generous doses along with the demanding study schedule she kept them to.

Trinity might concede Lily's authority when it came to studying, but she was just as demanding a taskmaster for Quidditch, and they only had two weeks until the game against Slytherin. They worked hard, and they were ready when game day arrived.

The January and February games were always cold, but at least they weren't going to have to deal with rain, snow, or extreme wind during the game. Al, Carolyn, and Brianna were in the stands watching the game, and listened as Andy began his play-by-play as the game got underway.

"And they're off!" he shouted when the two teams took to the air. "Slytherin gets the Quaffle and forms up to attack. They pass once, and again – OH! – intercepted by Ravenclaw! Trinity passes over to Rose, who passes to Matt. He sweeps outside, but it's a fake! He swings back to the centre ring and SCORES!" The Ravenclaw section of the stands erupted in cheers.

"Ravenclaw leads ten – naught," Andy continued. "Slytherin takes the Quaffle again, and – Rose intercepts! She Shoots! She SCORES!"

The students watched in something close to awe as the Ravenclaw team literally dismantled their Slytherin opponents, giving them a thrashing that was just as thorough as they'd done last year as part of their plan to deal with Dirk Avery.

Their complete study of game film had worked even better at anticipating what the Slytherin Chasers and Beaters were going to do than they'd even hoped for, and their opponent seemed unable to try anything different than what they'd practiced, so they kept coming back with the same plays over and over again.

Lily's assessment of the Slytherin Seeker had also proved true, and she was able to easily keep him from even seeing the snitch, let alone chase it. Nick managed to wing him twice with the bludger from his right side, and Rick had gotten him fairly solidly one other time.

They were up three hundred and sixty to nothing when Trinity decided they'd taught enough of a lesson, and signaled Lily to catch the snitch.

"Potter's spotted the snitch!" Andy shouted after giving her time to get a big head start on the Slytherin Seeker. "Here comes Slytherin's Seeker! OH! That must have really hurt! And Potter catches the snitch! Ravenclaw wins five hundred and ten to naught." They heard a loud thump as the Slythering Seeker crashed to the ground. The medi-witch on duty rushed out onto the field, and quickly levitated the boy and hurried off toward the school.

Andy began to do something that he'd started this season – his post-game report.

"Ravenclaw goals – thirty-six, shots on goal, eighty-eight. Thirty-four interceptions, Nine Bludger hits with one disabled opponent. Ravenclaw Seeker caught the snitch to end game."

He looked at his notes, and double checked before continuing.

"Slytherin goals – naught, shots on goal, naught. Interceptions – naught. Bludger hits – naught. Slytherin Seeker – did not finish the game."

There was a fair bit of laughter in the stands now – except from the Slytherin section.

"Game time – One hour, thirty-two minutes," Andy continued. "Current Quidditch Cup standings – Ravenclaw in first place with two wins, Slytherin in second place with one win, Gryffindor in third with no wins, but ahead of fourth place Hufflepuff on points."

While Andy was continuing with his game summary, the two teams had landed. Trinity and the Ravenclaw team had gone to the centre of the pitch to shake hands with the Slytherin team, but when they got there, the Slyterin Captain wasn't interested in congratulating them on their win, or shaking hands.

"Don't even think about it, Chambers," the captain snarled at Trinity. "I don't know how you managed to spy on us, but you obviously did."

Trinity smiled sweetly at him. "Go ahead and think that if it makes you feel better. It isn't true, though. You gave us all the motivation we needed for this game yourself." She looked at Lily. "What was it he told everyone after their game against Gryffindor, Lily?"

Lily smiled and repeated it word for word.

"He said – 'Don't offer your useless and unwanted congratulations to us, orphan boy. It's been way overdue for Slytherin to put Gryffindor in their place.' He then went on to add – 'Oh, I do hope the brave Gryffindor captain isn't going to cry – that's what I'll expect out of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs when we beat them!'"

Trinity grinned at her and turned back to the Slytherin captain. "Does that refresh your memory?" she asked the now glowering boy. "Next time you might want to make sure you can back up what you say before shooting your mouth off."

The six remaining Slytherins turned away and stormed off of the pitch, while Trinity exchanged a high five with Lily. "That photographic memory of yours really comes in handy," she told Lily.

Al, Carolyn, and Brianna had joined them while the little confrontation had been going on, and they were laughing with the others as James, Aaron, and Arianna joined them too.

"Congratulations," James told them. "You guys certainly had their number again this year. Any chance you want to share so we can get a little revenge of our own next year?"

Trinity laughed. "Sure, why not? This is my last year, and I'm sure that Rose won't mind helping out her cousin and brother."

Rose laughed and nodded. Hugo had come over too and given her a hug. "If they keep it the same next year, they use the Arrows playbook," Rose told them. "The biggest part of getting ready for them was studying game film."

James looked surprised. "That's it?" he said incredulously.

Trinity smiled. "There was a bit more to it than that – their Seeker has a blind spot on his right side peripheral vision – which is why he didn't see any of those Bludgers – especially that last one that took him out, and all Lily had to to was get in the way of where he could see so that he wouldn't see the snitch either."

Rose nodded, and continued, talking to Hugo. "You guys were getting to their Keeper too, but if you didn't notice, he looks to where he's going before he moves, and he defends the outer rings first, which is why we scored twenty of our goals on the centre ring."

Arianna laughed. "You guys are truly scary," she told them. "Are you going to help out Hufflepuff too?"

Trinity laughed in delight. "Now that is a really brilliant idea! Nick, do you think Allie would be interested in sharing a little information with her House team?"

Allie laughed, since she'd been standing right there the whole time. "I think I could do that – and just in case they didn't hear about that jerk's comments about Hufflepuffs crying after Slytherin beats them, I'll be happy to pass that on too."

Nick gave her a hug. "That's my girl!" he said proudly.

Aaron laughed. "I'm thinking that our Slytherin friends are going to be running into another very bad stretch of games for the next couple of years. I wonder if they'll figure out how we're doing it?"

Lily answered him. "Not unless they change captains. He's about as incapable of creative thinking as I've ever seen."

Trinity led her team off of the field, and the others walked back to the school together before splitting up to go to their respective Common rooms. The party was already going in Ravenclaw Tower, and Al, Carolyn, and Brianna joined in while they waited for their team. This would be only the second weekend that Lily's study schedule was messed up, but once again, it was more than worth having to work harder on Sunday to catch up on their work.

There was a Hogsmeade weekend on the last weekend of January, and then another one on the second weekend in February – just ahead of Valentine's Day.

The first weekend, Al and Scorpius made their visit to town short – just going to pick up the few things that they needed to get, and what Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily wanted.

When the next weekend had come up, they were in town longer, picking out Valentine gifts, and making sure that Valentine's Day would be special for their girlfriends. They had lunch in town too, since it would have been after lunch at school by the time they'd returned.

Sure, they were busy with studies and Quidditch, but the New Marauders had also come to all enjoy the holiday pranks, and so they all worked together on something special for Valentine's Day.

Lily had also done all of the VirtualMall shopping for the small Valentine gifts that TNM would be having delivered in the Owl Post, and Arianna's mentors found that this was another one of the times of year when the students they helped needed just a little extra attention and support.

During the days between the Hogsmeade weekend, and Valentine's Day, there were often kids walking around munching on Chocolate Valentine Wheezes, and changing forms. James never really thought about it very much, but if he had, he'd have realized that every kid that ate one of those chocolates was putting money in his Gringotts account. Like everyone else, though, he just enjoyed the fun that they created with everyone.

Breakfast in the Great Hall on Valentine's Day was always special, as hundreds of Owl Posts arrived with the cards and gifts for the students, and even a few of the Professors.

When the Owls began arriving, Al was able to watch some of the kids that TNM had sent gifts to, and he'd loved watching their reactions almost as much as he'd liked watching Carolyn and the other Ravenclaw Marauders open theirs.

He'd sent a box of chocolates for both Lily and Carolyn, and a new necklace for Lily. With Carolyn, he'd decided against doing jewellery again this year, and had instead sent her the Spa in a bag that he'd picked up on the weekend at SpaMagic, and a new portrait of the two of them that Uncle Kevin had agreed to paint for him when he'd asked him when they'd all been on the island over the holidays. Kevin had even given him a special discount.

Lily had hugged him, and when Carolyn had seen the small, beautiful picture, she'd cried and given him a hug and kiss. The other girls were equally thrilled with their gifts, and they were all having a wonderful start to their morning.

Lily had gotten Al's attention after the gifts seemed to have mostly been opened around the Hall, and had nodded to him that it was time to put their Valentine prank into motion. He closed his eyes, put his hand in his pocket to hold his wand, and silently released a spell he'd seen his father do many times at the residence Christmas Party, and that Lily had taught him how to do.

The doors to the Great Hall were open, and hundreds of foil wrapped chocolates flew threw the doorway into the Hall. As the students began to notice, the candies swirled through the air in a blur of blue and pink foil for a few minutes before they began to descend, a blue one coming to rest in front of every boy, and a pink one in front of every girl, including one for every Professor.

It was no surprise that it was the brave Gryffindors who first opened and ate the treats, and as boys began transforming into knights in shining armor, and the girls were changed into fairy princesses, the sound of laughter and excitement was mixed with the sound of clanking armor and the rustle of hundreds of ballgowns.

The New Marauders certainly couldn't let themselves be caught by not eating the chocolates, so Al, Nick, Scorpius, and Matt joined the ranks of the Knights, while the girls all were soon outfitted in flowing gowns, and wore tiaras on their heads.

There was the occasional goofy kids that switched their candy, and so mixed in with the others, there were a few boys in dresses and girls in armor, which added even more to the hilarity of the situation.

The Professors had all watched this happen with tolerant smiles. Al happened to be watching the front, and saw Professor Williamson whisper something to Professor McGonagall, and she'd looked at him for a long moment before nodding. He'd grinned at her, then popped his own chocolate in his mouth. The kids closest to the front had seen his transformation first, and had begun pointing, laughing, and passing the information along to the other kids.

Both Professor Macmillans joined in the fun, as did Professor Longbottom. The students had applauded their teachers for joining in the fun. Professor McGonagall stood, and waited for the students to quiet.

"I received an anonymous letter in this morning's Owl Post," she announced, holding up a parchment. "It advises me that this little adventure will last for approximately one hour." She looked around at all of the gleaming knights and gowned princesses in the hall and couldn't help but smile.

"I believe that getting any work done in class, particularly for our young knights, is unlikely until the effects of these ingenious little chocolates wear off. Therefore I hereby cancel all first period classes." She had to wait until the loud cheering subsided again before finishing.

"Please be on time for your second period subject." She looked around the Hall, and then, surprising all of them, ate her chocolate too, and after her own transformation, swept grandly out of the Hall to the cheers of both the students and the Profesors.

"Who'd have ever guessed? Professor McGonagall has a sense of humour!" Carolyn said in amazement. "That has to be a first!"

Al's laughter sounded hollow coming from inside his steel casing. He clanked ponderously to his feet and held out his arm.

"May I escort you to our Common room, my lady?" he asked Carolyn, creaking as he bowed slightly. "We appear to have been given a reprieve from the daily drudgery of our studies."

She laughed, and standing too, placed her hand lightly on his gauntleted forearm.

"Why thank-you, Sir knight. I'd be delighted!"

The knights and princesses began to disappear an hour later, and the only drawback that the New Marauders hadn't anticipated had been that since they hadn't expected to get the first class off, they weren't exactly able to take advantage of the extra time to cuddle with their respective Valentines. Armor might be fine for fighting dragons, but it was not conducive to snogging.

Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff on Saturday, so even though it was Valentine's Day, Aaron made his team have a full practice. Lily had been equally unsympathetic to her study group's grumblings, and she made them all do their assignments before letting them move on to some Valentine one-on-one time.

For most Hogwarts students, Friday was just the day after Valentine's Day, and the day before the big Quidditch game. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams prepared to play, and the rest of the school prepared to cheer them on – or boo them, depending on which house you were in.

Trinity must have been weakened by this game being so close to Valentine's Day, because she let her team sit with their respective boyfriends or girlfriends if they wanted to – as long as they still took notes on the players they were responsible for watching.

Lily, Rose, and Matt all sat with her, while Nick watched the game with Allie from the Hufflepuff section. Scorpius sat with Brianna, Carolyn, and Al, and Rick sat with his girlfriend and their friends.

When the game started, Al was riveted to the action like everyone else. He could feel Carolyn next to him, her warmth helping to drive away the chill of the air. Andy was busy with his play-by-play and game commentary.

Gryffindor jumped out to a forty-point lead, and then both teams settled in for what became a tough fight. That toughness didn't show up on the scoreboard, because Hugo was stopping nearly everything they threw at him, and Gryffindor slowly but surely built up their own score.

Most school matches didn't go more than two or three hours, but this one was into the fourth hour when it finally came to an end with Jeremy catching the snitch to give Gryffindor a three hundred and twenty to thirty victory.

Al and the others hurried down to the field to congratulate James and the others. The two teams were congratulating each other, and before he left, the Hufflepuff captain came over to speak with Trinity.

"Allie Summers gave me your message," he told her. "I wanted to thank you, but I was curious about why'd you'd help us out."

Trinity smiled at him. "Let's just say that big-mouthed braggarts are high on my pet peeves list, and I don't imagine that Hufflepuffs are any more impressed when someone suggests that they're going to have them in tears from beating them so bad at Quidditch." She laughed. "It's probably some kind of character flaw that I take things like that personally. I'll have to work on that some day."

They both laughed. "Well, we're going to do what we can to continue the lesson in humility you've started to teach them," he assured Trinity.

She turned to Aaron after the Hufflepuffs left. "Congratulations, Aaron. You guys played a great game today. It's going to be a really great game in May. I can hardly wait."

Aaron smiled. "Thanks, Trinity. And you're not going to hear any boasting out of us – you taught us that lesson just fine two years ago."

Lily laughed and gave him a hug. "Are you absolutely sure you can't give us something to use as motivation?" she asked him winsomely. "Please?"

Arianna laughed. "No way, Lily. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that what you're trying on him right now is part of your game plan for us."

Lily beamed and turned to Rose, feigning deep regret, and sighing loudly. "Sorry, Rose. It didn't work. You can see I did try my very best. I really did."

She grinned as everyone else laughed, and Arianna gave her a hug. "If you don't become genius of the world, you've got a bright future in acting, kid," she told Lily.

Aaron and the rest of the Gryffindor team left for the change rooms, and the Ravenclaws left to walk back to the school, looking forward to getting to the Common room and warming up before starting in on their homework.

The Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch game, along with Valentine's Day were the highlights of the month, but the game also seemed to mark the beginning of that long period between that game and Easter, when there didn't seem to be anything going on at school besides classes and studying.

Sure, there were a couple of Hogsmeade weekends for the older kids to enjoy, and there was always some free time to play games or watch WWVN, but that was the better part of two months when there were no Quidditch matches, and no holidays to look forward to.

The things that Lily was accomplishing in those months continued to astonish her Professors, but hardly anybody knew how much she was actually getting done. By April, she had caught up to the third and fourth year students in all of her subjects, and would certainly be ready to take the third year exams for her core classes, and the fourth year exams for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.

Everyone in their study group was doing better than ever before too. Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius had been top students already, and even their marks went up – at least the little bit they could still go up, and they were now all looking at having straight 'O's' if they kept it up. Carolyn and Brianna had been 'A' and 'E' students in their first year, and were now solid 'E' students with a couple of 'O's' to go with them.

Spring finally decided to arrive the first week of April, and when the temperature finally rose, and the sun and flowers both decided to come out more often, the winter-weary students flocked outside every chance they got so that they could enjoy the fresh air and open space.

With that transition from Winter to Spring came new excitement as anticipation of Easter, and the Quidditch matches of May drew closer. If the past few years had been any indication, whatever was going to happen would be fun and exciting for everyone.


	50. In AprilMay Hogwarts Students Will Play

Chapter Fifty – In April and May Hogwarts Students will Play

Easter fell on the second weekend of April this year, and the buzz around school all week had surrounded trying to guess what the big prank might be. There were those who hoped for something edible like the chocolate bunnies had been, and others who hoped for anything that involved the transfiguration of the students themselves, like the year they all had grown bunny ears.

The New Marauders had lots of time during the last weeks of winter to work on what they could do that would be at least as good as past pranks. This time, Rose was the member of their group that came up with the winning idea. No wonder her Daddy was so proud of her!

The Easter weekend had started out with a Hogsmeade day on Saturday. Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes had been the hot spot in town, with kids flocking there to get their hands on the Easter Chocolate Wheezes.

Al and Scorpius had made their trip a short one again, preferring to instead spend most of the day with the girls at school. While the other Marauders were gone, the two couples, and Lily finished up the last few details on their Easter plans, then went to work on their homework assignments so that they could take the whole day off on Sunday.

The students and Professors of Hogwarts woke up Easter morning to a world filled with pink. It was neon, plush pink to be specific in describing it accurately. The walls and ceilings everywhere were pink, fuzzy, and soft.

Al sat up in bed and looked around at their handiwork as the other boys woke up and started to laugh, check out the feel of the walls, and talk about this latest prank.

Nick and Scorpius joined Al as they also tested the softness of the walls, and laughed and joked with their other roommates.

Many of the students that had been at school for the great pumpkin prank got dressed quickly and went outside to see what the school looked like, and they weren't disappointed when they found out that they were living inside of a giant stuffed pink bunny.

When the kids started arriving in the Great Hall for breakfast, they found chocolate Easter eggs in front of each place setting. By the time that Al and the others reached the Hall after going outside, there was already a commotion in the room as kids had been taking the foil off of their eggs.

"EAT ME!" the chocolates would tell the kid that unwrapped them, egging them on. "WHAT ARE YOU, CHICKEN? EAT ME!" There was a lot of laughing going on all over the room, as more and more kids unwrapped their eggs, and the eggs taunted them.

That taunting didn't stop when you popped the egg in your mouth either. Al hadn't unwrapped his egg yet, but he watched Carolyn as she put hers in her mouth, and listened to the now muffled voice continue to egg her on.

"YOU THINK CHEWING ME UP WILL STOP ME?" the egg said as Carolyn ate it and swallowed.

"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?" it said from her stomach. "CHEW ME UP AND SWALLOW ME? NICE TRY – NOW IT'S MY TURN! TAKE THAT!"

Carolyn suddenly turned into a fluffy pink bunny, just like her school, and Al laughed and gave her a hug before opening his own egg and quickly joining the ranks of the pink plush bunnies.

Carolyn rubbed a furry paw over Al's arm and grinned. "You're nice and cuddly, Al. Can I keep you like this?"

Bunny Brianna laughed at her friend. "I'm not sure pink is Al's colour, Carolyn. I think it clashes with the eyes."

Like with their previous pranks, their stuffed Easter bunny fun could only last so long before wearing off. In this case the average time seemed to be a few hours, depending on how quickly the egg was digested. Some of the kids had waited to eat their eggs until later, so there were a few bunnies around the school for most of the day, and everyone certainly had fun with it. The school transformation would keep everything pink, soft and fuzzy until midnight.

After having breakfast, Al and the other Ravenclaw bunnies went outside to enjoy the morning, watch their fellow students play, and if they could, find a quiet place to cuddle for a while with their favourite bunny partner.

"We're going to have a tough time topping this one," Al told Rose. "I'd say your idea was a big hit."

"We're a pretty creative bunch of bunnies. I'm sure we'll still find something good for our next prank," she answered her cousin.

They took the whole day off, and even after they changed back from bunnies to young Witches and Wizards, there was still a lot of snuggling and hugging going on as they all enjoyed a break from their studies.

There were three weeks between Easter and the Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. There were probably more warm sunny days than normal, and whenever possible, the school grounds were dotted with groups of kids who took advantage of the nice weather to take their studies outside.

Aaron and Arianna had found that having only four subjects this year had allowed them to do much better in those subjects, now that they could concentrate their efforts on the areas of study that they'd been fairly good at without needing to spend the long hours struggling with the subjects that hadn't been easy for either of them. They might not be tops in their year, but they were definitely doing well enough that they'd be able to continue with their seventh year studies.

Since they'd finally opened up to Harry, Ginny, Tracey, and James about their childhood during the Christmas Holidays, they'd been learning to deal with the emotional damage that those years had caused them. They had each had good days and bad days over the past few months, and Tracey and James had been there every step of the way for them. Harry and Ginny had only been a WiComm call or Owl Post away too, and there had been several long letters exchanged between them.

The other New Marauders couples were enjoying the spring weather as much as their fellow students all seemed to be. Finding any privacy inside the school was nearly impossible, but there was lots of space on the school grounds that allowed them to find secluded spots where they could be alone for a while.

Quidditch season resumed the first weekend in May, when Hufflepuff met Slytherin. The captain of the Slytherin team had apparently not learned anything from their loss to Ravenclaw, and had been going around school telling anyone who would listen that his team was not only going to win, but they were going to embarrass the winless Hufflepuff team.

For their part, the Hufflepuff players took a page out of the Ravenclaw playbook and pretended that they too expected to lose big to the mighty Slytherin team.

On gameday, Andy played right into the Hufflepuff strategy as he warmed up the crowd before the game.

"Well, boys and girls," he began, "it's finally game day again, and we have beautiful weather for the match between the overwhelming favourites to win, Slytherin, and the underdog, 0 and 2 Hufflepuff squad." This announcement brought cheers from the Slytherin section, but the students in the Hufflepuff section remained quiet. Their team captain had instructed his fellow students not to react to anything that Andy announced, to help keep building the Slytherin overconfidence.

"While the outcome of this game may not be in doubt, I would encourage all of you to stay, enjoy the game, and support all of our Quidditch players," Andy continued.

When the teams flew out into the stadium, the Slytherin section cheered the loudest, and the Slytherin captain smiled and waved, puffed up with confidence and bravado. He even bumped the Hufflepuff captain in mid-air, nearly knocking the other boy off of his broom in the process, and smiled even more broadly as the Slytherin students laughed and jeered the Hufflepuff captain's obvious ineptness.

Al was chuckling quietly too as he sat with Carolyn and Brianna in the Ravenclaw section.

"Please tell me you're not laughing at what that jerk just did," Carolyn said to him.

Al smiled and shook his head. "No," he said quietly. "I'm laughing because the Hufflepuff captain is doing such a great acting job – just like the entire Hufflepuff student section is doing."

Carolyn looked over to where all of the Hufflepuff students were sitting quietly, looking all the world as if they'd rather not be there to witness what was about to happen, but stoically willing to stand by their poor, hapless team – no matter how badly they were beaten again this season.

"It's a wonder that the Slytherin team doesn't suspect anything," she said. "Hufflepuff's two losses were mostly because they didn't catch the snitch, not becaue they didn't play well against us, or against Gryffindor."

"That's what's going to make this so much fun if Hufflepuff can pull it off," Al told the girls.

Right up until the Quaffle was thrown into the air, the Hufflepuff team maintained the façade that they themselves didn't believe they could win the game, and were just going through the formality of playing the game – already conceding the victory to the puffed up Slytherins.

"And they're off!" Andy announced as the teams took to the air. "Hufflepuff reaches the Quaffle first, and head straight for the Slytherin goal. He's going for the left goal – NO!, it's a fake, and he SCORES! Hufflepuff takes the early ten to naught lead! That's the spirit! Even the underdogs can have something to cheer about!"

The Hufflepuff section of the stadium erupted in cheers, while the Slytherin fans continued to just jeer, believing that it had just been a lucky shot.

"Slytherin's captain takes the quaffle and moves out toward the Hufflepuff goals. He passes – AND HUFFLEPUFF INTERCEPTS! They pass, and another quick pass, and THEY SCORE!" Andy was on his feet now as he shouted.

"What a goal! Don't look now, Quidditch fans, but we might just have a game after all!"

The match went downhill from there for Slytherin. Their Seeker was hit by a bludger six times during the game, and he became so obsessed with watching out for them that he completely abandoned any thought of looking for the snitch, no matter how much his captain screamed at him to do it.

By that time they were down by three hundred points anyway, so catching the snitch would have only helped them lose the match faster. The Hufflepuff players weren't interested in getting the game over with. They were having fun, and they kept pouring it on until they were up four hundred and seventy to seventy, at which point the captain gave their Seeker the signal to catch the snitch.

They scored one more time before that happened, and finished with a final score of 630 to 70. It was all Andy could do to control his enthusiasm as he announced the end of the game, and did his post-game summary. The Slytherin section of the stands emptied out quickly, and the team didn't even meet the Hufflepuff team on the pitch, instead flying straight to the entrance to the locker rooms.

"They're consistent," Al commented. "Bad winners are usually worse losers."

Carolyn took his hand, and stood up. "Let's get out of here, and get started on our homework. Maybe if we get enough done before Lily and the others get done their post-game analysis meeting, she'll take it easy on us later and let us go out to play."

Brianna laughed. "You wish. We've only got four weeks to exams. She's going to keep pushing us until we're ready to scream."

"You'll be happy to be screaming – with happiness when you see all of those 'E's' and 'O's' when we get our letters for next year," Carolyn told her.

Brianna wasn't far off of the truth as Lily prepared her brother, cousins, and friends for their exams, and helped them with year-end assignments and projects. The Quidditch practices also became more intense as the last game of the season approached.

Slytherin and Hufflepuff were both out of the running for the Quidditch Cup this year, and even Gryffindor would not only need to win, but win big to overcome the point advantage that Ravenclaw had again this year. They were hoping for a narrow win, and that Madame Hooch would declare the Cup a tie – counting a win over Ravenclaw and the Ravenclaw points lead as being equal. Nobody was predicting that either team could pull out a blowout win – the two Keepers were just too good.

That was certainly proven true during the game on the third Saturday in May. For those fans of the game that loved defense, the game was the best they'd seen in years as Scorpius and Hugo dueled against the opposing Chasers. After two and a half hours, they had each only allowed three scores.

There might not have been many actual goals, but even fans that would prefer to see high scoring games weren't disappointed, because there were lots of scoring attempts by both sides.

Scorpius had predicted that the game would come down to the Seekers, and he was right. Lily and Jeremy had both been playing hard. Lily had stuck with her plan, and had done such a great acting job with sending Jeremy off on one wild chase after another, just with a look or sudden flying move that he wasn't ready when she finally was able to pounce on her best opportunity of the game to go after the snitch.

When he realized what was happening, Jeremy vainly tried to catch her, but it was far too late, and he watched in dismay as she reached out, seemingly in slow motion, and pulled the snitch out of the air and held it above her head victoriously.

"Potter catches the snitch!" Andy announced. "Ravenclaw wins the game 180 to 30, and wins the Quidditch Cup with their second undefeated season in three years! Well done, and Congratulations to both teams for another exellent match and to all of our teams for a terrific season!"

Both teams had landed on the pitch by the time that Andy had moved on to his game summary, and the Gryffindor players were congratulating the Hufflepuff team when Al, Carolyn, and Brianna joined them at nearly the same time that Allie and Tracey reached the spot where the two teams had met.

"That," said James, "was a lot of fun – even if we did lose."

Aaron gave Trinity a hug. "I'm just glad that Ravenclaw will have a new captain in town next year. We haven't done so great with this one in charge."

Trinity beamed at his praise. "Thank-you, Aaron, but you're still going to have to deal with the rest of the team next season, so I don't think it's going to get any easier for you."

Arianna gave Trinity a hug too. "At least we know that we're competitive – now we just have to figure out how to stop SuperSeeker there," she said, grinning and winking at Lily.

James laughed. "Oh, is that all? Why don't you just go ahead and hand her the next five or six Quidditch Cups now then."

Lily gave her brother a hug, and smiled. "Thanks, James, but if it's alright with you, I think we'd like to go out and try to earn them one at a time. Besides, this is Quidditch – anything can happen!"

The party in the Ravenclaw Common Room was even bigger and better than usual. They found out on Sunday that Gryffindor had a party too, despite losing the game and the Cup. They did still manage to come in second in the standings despite only having the one win, and with Hugo to anchor their next six seasons, they were all excited about their chances for some really great years to come.

Party time was over by Sunday morning. They had one week left before exams started, and they all got down to work. For the Ravenclaw Marauders, that meant doing everything that Lily told them to do. The Gryffindors worked hard too, but their efforts were done more by group consensus.

Just before dinner on the last Saturday of May, Lily was sitting at a table with the rest of her study group. She closed her books, and got everyone's attention.

"Congratulations," she told them. "I think you all deserve to take the rest of the night off."

This was greeted with cheers from everyone, and Carolyn and Brianna even gave her hugs.

"You kids go have fun now, and I'll see you in class again tomorrow," Lily teased.

Al and Carolyn, and all of the others, took advantage of the break, and enjoyed one last night to relax before they entered nearly three weeks of intense pressure and work while exams were under way.

"It's hard to believe that in three weeks we'll be going home," Carolyn told Al as they cuddled on one of the sofas in the Common room later that night.

Al nodded. "By the time exams are done, we'll be ready to get out of here too."

She gave him a kiss and smiled. "You're going to be busy when we get home too," she told him. "You've got a lot of cuddling, hugging, and kissing to make up to me after all of this time that we've done almost nothing except study."

He laughed and hugged her close. "I'm all yours."

Carolyn hugged him back. "And don't you ever forget it!"

Sunday was another intense day of studying, and Lily had them all go to bed early so that they'd all be well rested for the exams they were writing on Monday. That last day of May transitioned into the first day of June unnoticed by the sleeping Ravenclaws.

In the Gryffindor Common room, James, Andy, Jon, Therese, and Tracey were all still up to welcome the start of a new month as they continued to study for their exams. Aaron and Arianna didn't have an exam until Wednesday, so they'd kissed their respective girlfriend and boyfriend goodnight, and left them to study without distraction.

It was after one before James finally closed his books.

"That's it for me, guys," he said tiredly. "Nothing else is going to sink in at this point."

Tracey looked up at him, then at her watch, and nodded. "You're probably right, James," she said, standing up. "Have a good night's sleep. I'll see you in the moring." Therese had agreed, gotten up, kissed Jon, and left with Tracey for the girl's dorms.

The three boys watched the two girls disappear into the girl's dormitory stairway, and then gathered up their own books and went to bed. There might only be three short weeks until summer holidays, but they were going to be three very busy and challenging weeks.


	51. Three Weeks to Make the Grade

Chapter Fifty-One – Three Weeks to Make the Grade

While the Hogwarts students started exams, in the outside world, as the kids thought of things, the big story was the Chudley Canons drive to get one last championship for Dennis and Demelza before they retired.

They'd finished their season at eighteen and two, and won their first playoff game against the Arrows on the last weekend of May. They would next be facing the Harpies in the semi-finals, and either Puddlemere United or the Wasps in the finals if they got past the defending champion Harpies.

When exams started, Lily did her exams on the schedule she'd started at the first of the year, even though she would actually be taking the third and fourth year tests in her nine subjects.

She, Carolyn, and Brianna started out on Monday with their Charms exam, and all three girls were ready. Lily finished her third year written exam quickly, then impressed Professor Flitwick with her non-verbal Cheering Charms. Carolyn and Brianna were both sure they did well on their written exam, and aced their practical.

"Who said exams can't be fun?" Brianna said, giving Lily a hug when they met back up in the Common room. "When you have the best tutor in the world getting you ready, they're not that bad at all!"

The three girls were able to start studying for their next exam after lunch. Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius were taking their DADA today, though, and they had their appointments for the practical portion of their exam in the afternoon, so they all went off to find an empty classroom to do some last minute practicing first.

"Next exam: Herbology," Lily said cheerfully as the three of them sat down to start. Their schedule this week was the Charms exam they'd just finished, with Herbology on Tuesday, and Transfiguration on Thursday. Lily also had Arithmancy with the third year class on Friday.

They were soon so involved in their studies that Al and Scorpius had both joined them after their practical DADA, the afternoon had slipped by, and it was time to get ready for dinner.

"How'd the exam go?" Carolyn asked Al as they walked down to the Great Hall.

He smiled. "It was pretty easy for me. Boggarts and Hinkypunks aren't all that hard to deal with."

Scorpius laughed. "Speak for yourself – my boggart looks suspiciously like my grandfather – although I think even Professor Williamson thought that he looked good in that pink ballet tutu."

Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily laughed, and Brianna gave him a big hug. They joined Rose, Matt, and Nick at their table in the Great Hall. They were all having a great day so far, but it was obvious just by looking around that there were lots of students that were not. There were even quite a few kids studying all through dinner – usually the same kids that slacked off for most of the rest of the year, and were now scrambling to cram all of the lessons that they hadn't paid attention to all year into a few hours of intense, and for most of them, useless study.

After dinner, Lily again only allowed them to study for so long before she had them stop, relax for a while, then again go to bed early. This was a lot different than the late night cramming sessions they'd done last year, but if the first day of exams had been an indication, she must know what she was doing, so they all did what they were told.

While the second years were taking their Herbology exams on Tuesday, the third years were writing their History of Magic exam in the morning, and had the afternoon off to work on studying for their Thursday Charms exam.

"I'd say that was a solid 'O'," Scorpius said as they walked into the Common room. "Two for two so far!"

Rose smiled and nodded. "For me, the best part of this year's exams so far is that we're all so well prepared that I'm not even stressing about the results."

The three boys laughed. "And for you, that's a major breakthrough!" Nick told her.

They dropped their books off in their rooms, then went to the Great Hall for lunch. Since the girls were writing Herbology, they'd be meeting them there instead of going all the way to Ravenclaw Tower just to have to turn around and go back downstairs.

"You look happy," Al told Carolyn as he greeted her with a hug. "The written part went ok?"

Carolyn smiled and hugged him back. "It went great, so at least if I have problems with the practical this afternoon, I should still get a good mark."

"You'll be fine with that too," Lily told her. "You're good working with the plants, and you know it."

"Are you guys taking the afternoon off?" Brianna asked Scorpius.

He looked over at Lily, smiled, and shook his head. "Not if we know what's good for us," he said. "And even though we have tomorrow off, we can use some of the time to get ready for Arithmancy on Friday too."

The rest of the week continued pretty much the same way for the Ravenclaw Marauders. Great results on their exams, studying hard, and early nights in bed so they'd be fresh and ready to go each morning. Lily, Carolyn and Brianna were all happy with how they did on Transfiguration, and Al, Nick, Rose, and Scorpius all aced both parts of their Charms exam, and had perfect, or near perfect Arithmancy exams. Lily wrote the fourth year Arithmancy exam, and continued her perfect exam record. If there'd been any marks past 'O', she would have been given them.

Aaron and Arianna had their Potions exam on Wednesday, and they were both satisfied that they'd done well on it, as had Tracey. She'd taken her Herbology on Monday, and they had their DADA coming on Friday, which they were all confident about. During the first week, James, Andy, Jon, and Therese had their Potions, Herbology, and History exams, and James and Therese wrote their Arithmancy exam. They might not have gotten the straight 'O's' that Lily and the others in Ravenclaw were getting, but they were all happy with how they did, and had tried their best, and that should be good enough for anyone.

The one break that they all took in their studying was on Saturday afternoon, when most of the Quidditch loving students and Professors in the school could be found in front of the WWVN to watch the Canons and Harpies battle it out for one of the spots in the league finals.

In the Ravenclaw Common room, a table was set up with drinks and snacks for everyone, and having the daughter of one of the Canons coaches in their own house didn't stop the die-hard Harpies fans from cheering their own team on, and booing the Canons.

Those Harpies fans were in for a disappointing afternoon, though. Demelza and the other Canon Chasers dismantled the Harpies Keeper, and after more than two hours of play where the score was just piling up against the Harpies, Dennis ended their season with a spectacular catch that gave the Canons the win and a date in next weekend's final against the United or Wasp team.

That game started shortly after the Canons game had ended. James and the Gryffindors did watch that game too, but Lily made her study group go back to work for the rest of the afternoon, so it wasn't until later that they found out that it would in fact be Puddlemere United against the Canons in the finals.

In the second week of exams, the fourth year Gryffindors had their toughest exams of the week – Transfiguration and Charms on Monday and Wednesday, then finished the week with Astronomy and History, which for all of them were much easier subjects.

Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna had DADA on Monday, Astronomy on Wednesday, and History on Friday. These were three of Carolyn and Brianna's best subjects anyway, and they were all confident they'd done well. Lily wrote her fourth year Ancient Runes with her third year class, and by the end of the week was sure she was eight for eight in earning 'O's', with only Potions left to go on Monday. Since she'd been tutoring NEWT Potions, she wasn't worried at all about taking the third year exams.

The third years had Potions and Herbology on Monday and Friday for their toughest exams, Astronomy on Tuesday night, and Ancient Runes, for Al and Allie, on Thursday. Except for the Astronomy exam, which Rose, Nick, and Scorpius hadn't been sure if they'd quite done well enough to keep their 'O's' in the subject, they were again confident about the rest of their exams.

On Saturday, Lily got her group to study all morning, then they took the rest of the day off to watch the Canons-United Championship game. They had another table loaded with snacks, and the Canons and United fans in the room jostled good naturedly for position on the chairs and sofas around the WWVN, and made predictions for the game.

"I wonder if any of these United fans really believe the crap their talking?" Rose whispered to her cousins. "I think Demelza is going to get her Championship even if she has to score every goal, and block every shot herself to do it."

Demelza did come out playing her best, and she had the Canons in the lead early, and kept them there, but it was a shockingly early and amazing, daring grab of the snitch by Dennis that won the Championship for the Canons, just twenty-six minutes into the game.

The Ravenclaw students watched the replays of Dennis' catch over and over as it was played again and again on the WWVN as the sports commentators couldn't get over how great a play it had been. He'd spotted the snitch right next to his own Keeper, and had steaked all the way from the opposite end of the pitch to reach it, but he'd had to swerve wildly to miss his teammate, had caught the snitch, then crashed into the centre goal and tumbled to the ground. He'd broken his arm when he hit the goal, and fractured an ankle when he'd hit the ground, but had triumphantly held on to the snitch.

"I'm pretty sure that's the kind of play they're talking about when they say 'take one for the team'," Lily said as she watched the play being shown again.

Rose laughed. "The medi-wizards will have him fixed up in no time and the pain will be gone - the Championship ring lasts forever."

Even the United fans couldn't really be disappointed after seeing a play that incredible, and since the game had been so short, they had lots of time for an impromptu party. Rose sent her Dad a WiComm quill message from all of them congratulating him and the team. She knew it'd be much later before he'd get the qm, since she saw that he was now at the press conference with the team, watching as Demelza and Dennis basked in the limelight of their last game as professional players.

Aaron and Arianna were done their last exam on Friday, and so they had the entire last week of school to relax and just have fun. James had his DADA exam on Monday to finish his own exams, and Tracey wrote her Arithmancy to finish up her six exams, and then they were able to join their best friends, knowing they'd had a great set of finals this year.

The third year Ravenclaws had Transfiguration on Monday, and depending on which optional they took, had Divination on Tuesday or Care of Magical Creatures on Wednesday.

Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna did the written Potions exam in the morning on Monday, and the practical after lunch. Lily aced the third year exam, and Carolyn and Brianna were pretty confident that they'd get a solid 'E' for their efforts. They too had the rest of the week off.

The three girls were outside on Tuesday, sitting under a tree and taking it easy – or at least two of them were. Lily was chattering away and pacing around restlessly.

"Lily, relax," Brianna told her friend. "I think you're actually winding up more, not winding down now that exams are done."

She laughed and sat down with them. "We've been so busy the last month or so, it's like I don't know what to do with all of the extra energy now that we don't have anything to really do at all."

"And that's a bad thing?" Carolyn asked. "Which part?"

Lily grinned at her. "I'm sure that once Al's finished his exam today, the two of you will find something to occupy your time for the last couple of days," she said. "Some of us don't have that option, and Brianna's still got to wait until after tomorrow for Scorpius to get finished his exams."

Carolyn brightened up. "We could go boyfriend shopping for you, Lily," she suggested enthusiastically.

Brianna laughed. "There's an idea." She looked around, and pointed a boy out that was walking down by the lake. "How about that one?"

Lily and Carolyn looked to where she was pointing, and laughed. "Bree, we need to get your eyes checked – that's Professor Macmillan, and I'm thinking his wife might have a problem with you fixing him up with Lily."

Brianna laughed. "Not him – _that _one."

The two girls looked again, and saw the cute blond-haired boy just past the Professor, walking by himself and looking out over the lake.

Lily smiled at Brianna. "You've got good taste in picking them out," she conceded, "but I'm not interested in having a boyfriend yet."

That statement didn't stop Carolyn and Brianna from having fun with the idea, and they spent the rest of the morning scoping out the boys that walked by, ranking them on looks, intelligence, and athletic ability for their friend.

"Having fun?" Al asked as he walked up to find the girls laughing.

Carolyn got up so she could give him a hug. "You bet. We've been busy trying to find a boyfriend for your sister, but no matter how highly Brianna and I rank the boys going by, she's just not interested. I think her standards are just too high or something."

Al laughed, and winked at Lily. "And I'm supposed to have a problem with that? If you're ranking the guys walking by, how'd I do?"

Brianna laughed. "You scored a zero out of ten, Al."

"Zero! I would have thought I'd rank a little higher than that!"

Carolyn laughed. "We're ranking them based on being boyfriend material for Lily, Al. The whole brother thing is what dropped your rating so low. If we'd been ranking for a boyfriend for me, you'd definitely be an eleven or twelve out of ten."

Lily stood up. "Why don't we leave these two alone, Bree. I get the feeling that they might enjoy a little time on their own, and we can go tell your boyfriend and the others to take a break for a while."

Brianna stood up, and laughed. "That was very smooth," she complimented Lily.

"Why thank-you," Lily answered impishly. "I thought it was rather good myself."

Wednesday was the last day of exams, and all of the students had Thursday off – their last day at school, to take it easy, start packing up, and then end the year enjoying the end of year feast.

That night, when everyone was seated, Professor McGonagall stood to make her annual speech, and to announce the winner of the House Cup.

"This has been an exceptional year at Hogwarts," she began, smiling faintly at the students. "Your academic achievements this year were very admirable, and you are to be commended for working so hard. We also had an exemplary record with regards to disciplinary and social matters, and your Professors, staff, and I all wish to thank-you for behaving so well, and doing so much to help each other."

"As we all know, the Quidditch Cup was won this year by Ravenclaw, and I am pleased to announce that this year's House Cup will also be awarded to Raveclaw House. Please join me in congratulating them on an exceptional year!"

The Ravenclaw students cheered as their House colours were displayed in the Hall, and the students in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff clapped enthusiastically, while the Slytherin students only managed a half-hearted attempt at applause.

"Finally," Professor McGonagal said, "we all wish you a safe and happy summer holiday, and look forward to seeing those of you who will be returning in September. For everyone who is graduating, congratulations, and best wishes for you in whatever your futures will bring."

She waved her arm grandly – "Let the feast begin!"

All of the students enjoyed their last dinner of the year. This was Lily's first, and she was thrilled to see the Ravenclaw colours decorating the Hall in honour of their House Cup win. After dinner, the Ravenclaw Marauders decided to first get their packing out of the way, and then gather in the Common room again – or in Nick's case, meet up with Allie for a little alone time before turning in for the night.

The Gryffindor group pretty much did the opposite, staying up late to talk and hang out with their friends, and either doing their packing late that night, or in James' case, waiting until the very last minute on Friday morning, and just throwing everything into his trunk and not worrying about sorting it out until later.

When they boarded the train early on Friday morning, and found compartments, the anticipation and excitement that came with knowing that their homecoming, and the start of their holiday, was just hours away now began to build.

Al, Carolyn, Brianna, Scorpius, Lily and Hugo sat in one car, while Rose, Matt, Nick, and Allie sat in another. The girls discussed the shopping trip they knew would be happening on Saturday, and speculated whether Ginny might have set up a Spa afternoon for later, or whether they'd all be doing something else like a trip to the island like last year.

Once they were moving and up to speed, Hugo left them and went to visit with some of his Gryffindor friends, and Lily visited the car that Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, and James were staying in for a while, then visited with Rose and their group before returning to again sit with Al and the others, where she happily entertained them with running commentary that ranged from the last few weeks at school, to expectations for the summer, to current events around the Wizarding World.

The good thing about that was how quickly the ride went by when they had Lily to give them something to do besides sit and watch the time tick past. It wasn't until they felt and heard the train begin it's long process of slowing down as it came into London, and moved toward Kings Cross Station that they realized that the ride was almost finished, and that their summer holiday was truly here.

Al and Carolyn exchanged glances as Lily started looking out the window, trying to see the station when it came into view, and wondering aloud who all would be there to greet them, and about how great it was going to be to see Mum and Dad, and everybody again.

"I have a really good feeling about the holidays," Carolyn told him quietly. "What do you think?"

He hugged her and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I predict it's going to be one of our best ever."


	52. Homecoming and Coming of Age

Chapter Fifty-Two – Homecoming, and Coming of Age

Harry and Frederica were again the welcoming party of two that met the Hogwarts Express. Lily was the first one that they saw get off of the train, and she ran and jumped into her father's arms while her brother and Scorpius pulled their luggage off of the train behind her.

"I've missed you so much," she told Harry, kissing him, and then hugging him tightly again.

"I've missed you too, sweetie," he told her as he hugged her tightly right back.

When he set her down again, she hugged Frederica. "How much do I owe you for babysitting daddy while I was gone?" she asked her cousin, and grinning at Harry.

Frederica laughed and smiled up at her uncle. "No charge, Lily. It just wouldn't be right getting paid for having as much fun as we've had while you were at school."

The rest of the Ravenclaw group caught up with Lily, and Harry and Frederica greeted them all with hugs and kisses, and then waited as their Gryffindor students arrived. Aaron was the last to get there, after an extended goodbye with Tracey.

Harry Tranlocated all of their luggage to the three houses they were going to – the cottage, townhouse, and Rose and Hugo's home before telling the kids what they'd all be doing next.

"I've booked appointments before lunch for Aaron and Arianna to take their Apparition tests, so the rest of you can go on ahead to the Mall and hang out, and we'll meet you at the same restaurant that we went to at Christmas break for lunch."

Aaron and Arianna both grinned. Finally! In just a little while, they'd be allowed to apparate. Besides being able to now do magic outside of school, that was one of the coolest parts of turning seventeen.

"Hey," Aaron said, grinning at Arianna and Harry, "we can do magic outside of school too!" He thought about trying something just because he could, then decided that just knowing he could if he wanted to was enough.

Arianna and Harry both laughed. "Pretty awesome, isn't it," she agreed.

They took the TransPortal to the Ministry of Magic, and were quickly moved through the system to the Apparition testing centre.

"Aaron Ryan," the receptionist said, "and Arianna Ryan." She looked up at them inquiringly, and as they nodded, she finally noticed who they were with. "Please, come right in," she said hurriedly, smiling brightly. "Your examiners are ready to take you right away."

"Ah, the perks of being escorted by a legend," Arianna whispered as they went into the examination room. Harry and Aaron laughed.

It only took about ten minutes for them to both pass their tests and get their licenses, and then they were able to all apparate to the Marauders Mall just to say they did it, even though the TransPortal would have been just as fast.

"Let's go sit down for a minute," Harry suggested. "I've got one more thing to go over with you before we meet the others for lunch."

Aaron and Arianna exchanged glances as they followed him to a table in the food court and sat down.

"One thing that can happen when you turn seventeen in the Wizarding World, is that should an underage Witch or Wizard be left an inheritance, it is normally put in trust for them, and when they do come of age, it is then released to them."

They both nodded, and waited for Harry to continue.

"When you turned seventeen, or in this case, just recently - Susan was advised by Gringotts that such a trust had been created for you when your parents died," Harry told them. "When we're finished lunch, you have a meeting at Gringotts where they will explain everything about that trust, and your inheritance to you."

"Why didn't we know about this before now?" Arianna asked. "We turned seventeen months ago."

"The notification of your transfer of guardianship from your aunt and uncle to the Foundation didn't get forwarded to Gringotts for some reason – probably because your relatives somehow managed to keep that from happening. It wasn't until Gringotts approached them, wanting to meet with you when school was out, that they had to admit that you no longer lived with them, and the bank Account Manager then tracked you down to the residence. When Susan was advised, she let me know, and I offered to sit down with you and let you know about it."

Aaron and Arianna both sighed. "If our family has had their hands on the money, then they've probably spent everything that was there anyway," Aaron said.

"You won't know until you go there," Harry said. "There is one more thing, though. Your aunt and uncle will be there for this meeting."

They both stared at him open-mouthed, their faces paling dramatically. "Why?" Arianna could only choke out in a whisper.

"I don't know, sweetie," he told her, putting his hand comfortingly on her arm. "Susan just said they'd been asked to be there as per your parent's instructions."

"Do we have to go alone?" Aaron asked, his voice shaking, and his throat now dry at the thought of facing his aunt and uncle within the next couple of hours.

"There aren't any restrictions on who you can bring with you, and you know that Ginny and I will go with you if you want us to."

Arianna smiled at him. "Thank-you, we'd like you both to come. I'd like James to come too, if it's alright, and I'm sure if she can come, Aaron would like Tracey there to help him through this."

Harry smiled at them. "I thought you might," he told Aaron. "So I invited Tracey and her parents to join us for lunch so that you'd be able to ask her if you wanted to."

Aaron got up and gave Harry a hug, and Arianna copied him a moment later, although she added a kiss on Harry's cheek.

"I guess we can go meet up with everyone for lunch now," Harry said, standing too. "I'm sure that you want to see them as much as they want to all see you again."

They walked to the restaurant, and the rest of the kids had already arrived and been shown to the banquet room they'd be using. It was still just before noon, so none of the rest of the family had gotten there. James took one look at Arianna, and led her over to a pair of chairs in one corner of the room.

"Are you alright," he asked when they'd sat down. He was holding her hands and looking into her eyes in concern. "You look really pale."

"We'll see how I am later, James. Right now, I don't know how I feel. Your Dad just let us know that we have to go to a meeting at Gringotts, and that our aunt and uncle will be there for it. It's not something I'm looking forward too."

James looked stunned, then his expression first turned grim, then softened again. "It'll be fine, Arianna. We're not going to let anything bad happen there – remember, I promised - and we Potters keep our promises."

She reached forward, and pulled him into a hug. "Thank-you. Will you come with us?"

James smiled. "You bet. I take it Mum and Dad will be there for you guys too." It wasn't a question, since he knew that Aaron and Arianna would both want his parents to go with them.

Arianna nodded, and smiled too. "Let's go back and join the others before this turns in to some kind of pity party when we don't even know if we even have anything to worry about."

James stood with her, and they went back to where the others were just starting to greet their family as they entered the room. They joined in, and over the next fifteen minutes, enjoyed the chance to get back together with all of their aunts and uncles, grandparents, and the rest of their extended family.

Tracey introduced them to her parents, who had met Aaron, but hadn't met Arianna yet – although they'd heard a lot about her. James was glad to see that they didn't at all seem overwhelmed by meeting Harry and their large family – in fact they seemed to really be enjoying themselves immensely.

They sat down for lunch shortly after noon, and the lively conversation and the loud, enthusiastic, and happy sounds filling the room were a perfect distraction for Aaron and Arianna. They stayed there until just after one-thirty, and as dinner wrapped up, Harry and Ginny set the other kids free to go roam the Mall while they were busy at Gringotts, and then joined the four teens where they were talking quietly with Tracey's parents.

"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked Aaron and Arianna.

"If that's even possible, I guess we are," Arianna answered.

Tracey's mother gave Ginny a hug. "Thanks for inviting us to join you. It was nice to meet Aaron's family."

Mr. Rivers shook Harry's hand, and smoothly made the adjustment when Ginny, instead of shaking his outstretched hand, reached out to hug him instead.

"No wonder Tracey likes you all so much," he said. "You're a very huggy and fun group." He then added his thanks to those of his wife.

"You're welcome," Ginny told them. "Thanks for coming, and for letting Tracey come with us this afternoon."

Tracey gave her parents hugs. "I'll see you back home after work," she promised them. She smiled at Aaron. "Depending on how things go, we may have company for dinner, if that's ok with you."

Her Mum and Dad laughed. "Why don't you bring Aaron back with you no matter what happens?" Her mother suggested, earning another hug from her daughter. "Would you like to, Aaron?" Tracey asked. He nodded and she then hugged him too. "Then I guess you'll see us both later," she told her parents happily.

When Tracey's parents had left, Harry and Ginny walked with the two couples to Gringotts, since it really wasn't that far of a walk, and their meeting wouldn't start until two.

The guards opened the doors to let them in, and Harry and Ginny both bowed to them.

"Good afternoon Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter," the senior guard said. "Welcome to Gringotts."

Tracey watched the scene, impressed. "You don't see that every time you come to Gringotts," she said quietly, and blushed when Harry answered her.

"Actually, we do," he told her, laughing softly.

Ginny laughed too, and put her hand on Tracey's shoulder. "He's just teasing, and there's no big secret to it, Tracey. The Goblins are very formal, and they are more than happy to return respect when it's given to them."

Tracey thought to herself that it probably didn't hurt to have been the sponsor of the Goblin Bill of Rights either, but didn't say so out loud.

Harry led them all to Griphook's office, and Tracey had watched in amazement as they moved through the different parts of the bank – sections that your average Witch or Wizard never saw. She didn't say anything, but began to look at Harry and Ginny speculatively.

Griphook met them at his office door, word obviously having been sent ahead of them.

"Good afternoon, Harry, Ginny," he said, bowing to them. "Welcome. We'll be holding the meeting in one of the conference rooms. The others have already arrived, so if you would please follow me?"

Harry and Ginny had both bowed to Griphook, and Tracey had again been surprised to hear a Goblin greet a Witch and Wizard by first name – another thing she'd never seen happen before.

They followed Griphook down a long hallway, and he led them into a fairly small conference room. The table looked like it could comfortably seat fourteen or fifteen people, and there was another Goblin and a Witch and Wizard already sitting there.

Aaron had led the way through the door to the conference room, and Tracey nearly bumped into him, and Arianna, when they'd both stopped in their tracks just inside the doorway. Aaron squeezed her hand tightly as he saw the couple sitting at the table, a mixture of recognition, old fear, and new anger warring within him to reach the surface of his face.

She turned to look at them – a balding, slightly dumpy looking, short little man, and the equally short, frumpy looking woman. When they turned to look at the newcomers, they'd both pasted sickly-sweet smiles on their faces and jumped to their feet.

"Oh, look, Patrick," the woman said in a voice that was as slimy sounding as her smile looked. "It's our dear niece and nephew Trina and Arnie! Look how tall they've gotten – and so handsome and beautiful!"

Both Aaron and Arianna just stared at her in shock for a moment.

"Oh my, yes, Sarah. Our little babies are all grown up! Come, children, give your auntie and uncle a hug – we've both missed you so."

Aaron and Arianna stood where they were, and didn't make a move toward the couple at the table. They dkd recover from that initial shock quickly, and both of them just glared back at their aunt and uncle. Surrounded by Harry, Ginny, James, and Tracey, they weren't afraid, and they were certainly unmoved by the couple's miserable attempt at being nice.

"It's _Aaron and Arianna,_" Aaron told them coldly. "And if you think we'll be giving either of you hugs and making nice, I'd like to suggest that you both consider seeking mental health counseling."

Tracey watched as the couple's smiles faltered momentarily before they pasted them back on.

"Of course, my dear," their aunt answered. "You haven't seen us in almost seven years – we're practically strangers to you now. Come, sit down, and we can find out what this is all about," she told them in that same sugary voice that she probably believed sounded sweet, but came out sounding as forced and fake as it surely was.

Griphook motioned for them all to be seated, and before Harry or Ginny sat down, they both bowed to the other Goblin account manager, who had politely stood and returned their bows to the surprise of the other couple in the room. Griphook began the meeting when everyone was seated.

"This meeting has been arranged to review the estate and trust account that was set up for Aaron and Arianna Ryan upon the passing of their parents approximately eleven years ago." He looked around the table at each Witch and Wizard.

"Before we begin, I believe that introductions would be appropriate." He motioned to Aaron and Arianna's aunt and uncle to go first.

"I am Patrick Pucey, and this is my wife Sarah, Eilena and Errol's dear aunt and uncle."

Harry looked at Aaron who nodded that he could go ahead and do the introductions for all of them.

"This is _Aaron, _and _Arianna_ Ryan," he said, stressing their names as he looked directly at the couple across the table from him.

"They've asked their friends Tracey Rivers and James Potter to join them. I am Harry Potter, and this is my wife Ginny."

The couple stared at him, their mouths hanging open. Aaron actually laughed.

"I think they've heard of him, sis," he said conversationally. "What do you think?"

Arianna smiled at her brother. "You seem to be right, Aaron."

Griphook ignored their comments and continued. "My name is Griphook, and I'm a Senior Account Manager here at Gringotts," he told them. "This is Turvog, and he has been the Account Manager for both the trust fund and for Mr. and Mrs. Pucey. Since he manages both accounts, I am joining this meeting in the event that any conflict of interest arises between the two parties that would require independant mediation." He motioned for Turvog to take over.

Tracey thought that the other Goblin looked younger, but wasn't sure exactly how you could tell, or why she thought that – other than he was deferential to Griphook, and the other Goblin looked older and wiser.

Mr and Ms Ryan, I have been managing your trust fund since your parent's death. Now that you have both reached the age of seventeen, it is time for that trust fund to be released to you." He looked at the Puceys, and he looked distinctly uncomfortable – and could that be anger?

"Until quite recently, we at Gringotts had been under the impression that you were both living under the care of your original legal guardians – Patrick and Sarah Pucey. It came as something of a surprise to us to learn that your care had been transferred to the Phoenix Foundation, and that you have been residing at," he checked his notes, "the Lily Evans Memorial Residence."

He looked at the two youngsters for a moment before continuing. "Your aunt and uncle have been invited to this meeting in accordance with the written instructions from your parent's estate."

The couple now had matching greedy gleams in their eyes, and they were hanging on every word that their account manager was saying.

"While you were underage, your parents had instructed us to transfer one thousand galleons per month to your guardians to provide for your care and comfort. Your aunt and uncle also had the option of caring for you in your own house, or take you in to their own home." He looked at the couple again, and they smiled encouragingly to him.

"At that time, they chose to move their family into your house. While you are now seventeen, you are also students at Hogwarts, and prior to this meeting, the monthly payments have continued until today."

Arianna raised her hand slightly, and Turvog acknowledged her and paused.

"These payments have continued to go to our aunt and uncle even after we moved to the residence?" she asked in a quiet voice. "Why?"

Turvog looked directly at her. "Gringotts was not made aware of the change in your status. We are investigating why that occurred, but for now we have no other explanation than that we have continued to follow the original instructions set out in your parent's will. Had we known that your guardianship had changed hands, other arrangements would have been made."

Arianna nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"Over the past eleven years, a total of one hundred and eighty-six thousand galleons have been paid out of your trust fund to your aunt and uncle, including the thousand galleons a month, and an additional fifty thousand galleons that were available for extraordinary expenses that had been allowed for by your parents."

Arianna and Aaron both stared at their aunt and uncle, who were ignoring them and watching Turvog. Tracey was still holding Aaron's hand and he had a very tight hold on her. She ran a hand gently along his forearm, and he looked at her, smiled, and loosened his grip, easing the pressure, but not letting go.

"I will now go over how your parents wanted their estate distributed," Turvog told all of them. He pulled a parchment out of the file in front of him, and began to read.

"As of the end of business yesterday, your account balance in your vault was valued at four million, eight hundred and thirty-nine thousand galleons, not including a small accounting of family treasures and other personal items that are being stored there."

The Puceys were smiling broadly now, and waiting, practically shaking with excitement – and poorly veiled greed.

"Your family home, and several other properties have an estimated value of an additional one million, six hundred thousand galleons." Turvog looked around the table again before pulling another parchment from the file.

"Your parents," he continued, looking at Aaron and Arianna, "and your brother and sister-in-law," he added, looking at Mrs Pucey, "left very simple instructions on what we were to do to distribute their estate when their children came of age." He looked down at the parchment in his hand, and again read out loud.

"On the age of majority of our beloved twins Aaron and Arianna, we instruct Gringotts bank, and our faithful and deeply respected Account Manager, Turvog, to place our family accounts, properties, and assets into an account to be held jointly by Aaron and Arianna. Prior to the completion of that transaction, to thank Turvog for his faithful service to our family, and in caring for our children's trust, we authorize the transfer of ten thousand galleons for every year of service that he has provided while caring for this trust fund for us. You have been much more than our account manager – you have been our friend, and we thank-you." Turvog paused for a moment, and Aaron and Arianna could see that he was genuinely moved by the words their parents had written about him.

"Finally, for my sister, Sarah, and her husband, Patrick, who had, as the children's only surviving aunt and uncle, offered to become their guardians if it was ever needed, we have chosen to leave the decision on any bequeath for you in the hands of Aaron and Arianna." Turvog looked up in surprise, but that was nothing compared to the shock on the faces of the Puceys.

"My dear sister," Turvog continued. "I love you dearly, but we have deep reservations over how well you will care for your niece and nephew. As this is being read, they are of age, and will certainly be able to decide on an appropriate value for your treatment of them as they grew up. If you have loved them as we hope you would – and you'd promised us, then we are sure they will wish to return the favour and help care for you now. If you have treated them unkindly, then I would hope that they would also repay you likewise." Turvog placed the parchment back in the folder, but before he could continue, he was interrupted.

"That's it?" Patrick Pucey demanded angrily. "We agree to be the guardians for their children, give up our lives for them, and they leave us nothing!"

Turvog looked at him passively. "I beg to differ, Mr Pucey. Your brother-in-law was very clear that any bequeath to be given to you would be at the discretion of your niece and nephew."

Patrick turned toward Aaron and Arianna, but it was his wife who appealed to them.

"Of course, Turvog, we completely understand, she said, her serpentine smile pasted back on as she regarded her brother's children.

"Would you like some time to consider how you would like to take care of your father's only sister and your only living relatives?" she asked them as sweetly as she could.

Aaron and Arianna exchanged glances, communicating in a flash like twins could, and he silently gave her the nod to deal with them – he thought she deserved getting to do this.

"That won't be necessary," Arianna told her aunt, who now beamed at her as if looking at a prized pupil.

"That's wonderful!" she gushed. "I'm sure that Turvog will be happy to make whatever property and financial transfers you'll want to make to our account."

Arianna smiled even more broadly. "That won't be necessary either, Aunt Pucey," she told the woman, and watched in private delight as the smile faded from the faces of the two people who had inflicted such torment and pain on her and Aaron.

"The first thing that we'd like to give you is an eviction notice," she continued. "We'd like you out of our house by the end of the day." She looked at her watch. "I think by eight o'clock should be sufficient."

Her aunt and uncle stared at her in horror. "You can't do that!" her uncle shouted at her. It's been our home for eleven years!"

Arianna looked at Turvog. "Do we have any legal reason that we can't evict them immediately, Turvog?" she asked him politely.

He looked to Griphook for an answer to her question. "They are not renters, and do not have any legal status or claim to the property," Griphook told Arianna. "No, there is nothing restricting you from having them removed at any time."

"Thank-you, Griphook," she said, bowing from where she sat. She turned back to her aunt and uncle.

"I'm certain that an inventory of the property was made when our parents died. When you leave, do not take anything that was on that report, or we will have you charged with theft."

"Why you ungrateful little brat!" her uncle jumped to his feet and drew his wand and pointed it at her. He had time to see the brief flash of fear in her eyes, and had started to smile in satisfaction just before he suddenly found himself sailing backwards through the air and slamming hard against the wall, while his wand flashed across the table to land in Harry's outstretched hand.

Harry stood up, his eyes blazing.

"If you're looking for a duel, Mr Pucey, I'll be more than happy to stand as champion for Arianna – or are you only willing to terrorize and abuse defenseless children?" He looked at Ginny and smiled.

"I haven't had a really good duel in what – about twenty-two years or so, isn't it?" Ginny smiled back at him.

"About that, yes," she answered.

Sarah Pucey began to shake, and Patrick Pucey looked positively white as they realized what duel he was referring to.

"That won't be necessary," the man choked out. "I had no intention of harming my dear niece – I was merely excited. If you would be so kind as to release me, we can continue."

Harry released his binding spell, and the man dropped several inches to the floor, and took a step to keep from falling. He returned to his seat, and Harry also sat down, placing the wand meaningfully on the table in front of him.

Arianna cleared her throat before continuing. "Finally," she told her aunt and uncle, "to avoid any further unpleasantness between us, Aaron and I will not seek reimbursement for the money that was disbursed to you in error during the past seven years while we were under the care and protection of the Phoenix Foundation." She turned back to Turvog. "Would you happen to know how much that was, Turvog?"

The Goblin looked in the file and quickly calculated.

"Roughly just over one hundred and fifteen thousand galleons, Ms Ryan," he supplied. Arianna bowed again.

"But that money is gone!" Mrs. Pucey wailed. "That barely covered our expenses!"

Arianna gave her a flinty look. "Then you should be grateful that we're not asking for it to be returned, since it wasn't rightfully yours to begin with, and you had no legitimate expenses, since you weren't taking care of us at all."

Arianna turned back once again to Turvog. "Aaron and I would like to discuss our account with you now. We do not have any additional instructions pertaining to any of our relatives, so if you don't have any other issues to discuss with them, we would appreciate it if you could excuse them now – they have some packing to do, and not much time to get it done."

Ginny leaned in and whispered something in her ear, and Arianna smiled.

"Mrs. Potter has just advised me that Gringotts offers personal security services," she said to Turvog, who nodded.

"Wonderful! Would you arrange for an appropriate number of security experts to oversee the timely departure of our aunt, uncle, and any other occupants from our house, please?" Turvog nodded again, and made a note.

"Would it be, by chance possible to also have someone from Gringotts there to check that inventory list against the current contents of the house as well? We will be more than happy to pay a little extra for the inconvenience – especially on a Friday."

"I will make the arrangements, Ms Ryan," he promised.

She smiled at him, and bowed again. "Thank-you, Turvog, Aaron and I appreciate that very much." 

Griphook stood up, getting everyone's attention.

"Mr and Mrs Pucey, I will escort you out of the bank now, but first I would like to advise you that while Aaron and Arianna have chosen not to consider seeking what I would believe to be a valid claim for reimbursement of a significant amount of money, Gringotts is very disturbed about what has happened here, and we will be forwarding all of our records to the Ministry of Magic, where I am certain they will be taking a serious look at what, at least on the surface, appears to be bank fraud and trust fund embezzlement."

The Puceys looked at Griphook's stern face, and Mrs. Pucey, having failed in all of her previous guises, once more turned to Arianna and Aaron.

"Please don't do this to us," she begged with crocodile tears in her eyes. How can you just turn your backs on us? We're all the family you have!"

Aaron straightened in his chair and smiled at her.

"You're wrong about that, auntie dear. We have a family and friends that love us, and we love them. We're better now, and you can't hurt us with those false tears anymore than you can hurt us by slicing our backs open or breaking our bones with your twisted use of magic."

He looked at her pitilessly. "When you walk out that door, we won't spend another moment thinking about you, and we certainly never want to see either of you, or our cousins ever again."

Aaron stared his uncle down, who looked like he was ready to blow up, but then Harry was standing next to Aaron, his hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

"Griphook, I think that maybe this is a good time for Mr and Mrs Pucey to leave."

He reached for the wand on the table, and tossed it easily across the table to the man, who fumbled with it before getting hold of it. After a moment's irrational hesitation, he jammed it into his pocket roughly, still staring daggers at Aaron. Griphook then escorted them out of the room, closing the door again behind him.

Harry sat down again once they were gone, smiling warmly at Aaron and Arianna. Turvog looked at them expectantly, waiting to find out what they wanted to do next.

Arianna nodded that Aaron could deal with what they needed to do now.

"Turvog, when the house is vacated, we'd like to have any photographs, or anything that was of a personal nature such as journals or books to be moved to our vault, and then we'd like the house, and any remaining contents of value sold. Arianna and I have no interest in ever returning to that place again."

The Goblin wrote down the notes, and again waited. Aaron then turned to Ginny and Harry.

"Arianna and I are going to move out of the residence," he told them. "Would you help us to find a house to buy in Chudley or somewhere in that area? What do you think, sis – four or five bedrooms?"

Arianna laughed. "I'd say five, since I think it'll eventually be the house that you and Tracey live in, and you'll want room to put those nieces and nephews of mine someday."

Aaron laughed too. "Alright – can you help us find a five bedroom house? I think we'd like to free up our rooms at the residence for other kids as soon as we can."

Ginny smiled and nodded. "I think we know a few people in the properties business, and they should be able to find something suitable."

Aaron turned back to Turvog. "We'd like to visit our vault before we go, but other than that, I don't think we have anything immediate to take care of, unless you have anything else for us."

Turvog nodded. "There is one thing you should deal with now, and then I will be pleased to take you to your vault. Until you change it, your aunt and uncle are currently the beneficiaries of your estate, should anything happen to you."

Arianna smiled. "We wouldn't want that now, would we Aaron."

He laughed. "No, I don't think so." He looked at Tracey speculatively, and she shook her head. "Don't even think about it," she told him firmly. "My family and I don't need it."

Aaron gave her a hug, then turned back to the Goblin, knowing what Arianna would want to do too.

"For now, or at least until we have families of our own, we'd like the sole beneficiary of our estate to be the Phoenix Foundation, specifically for the division of their organization that operates the residences for orphans."

Arianna nodded in agreement, and Turvog actually smiled. "As you wish, Mr Ryan. If you will excuse me for a few moments, I will see to those – other arrangements – before taking you to your vault."

Aaron bowed. "Of course. Thank-you."

Turvog left the room, and Harry and Ginny both suddenly found themselves being hugged by the kids.

"That," Arianna said, "was _so_ satisfying!"

Everyone laughed, and James hugged her. "How does it feel to be a millionaire?" he asked her.

Arianna laughed. "It feels like we're going to need to hurry up and get ourselves some expert advice. How much do you think your Grandmother or Aunt Penelope will charge to look everything over and advise us?"

Ginny smiled at her. "We'll just get Lily to go over and use those dimples of hers on my mother, and she'll do it for free."

Harry laughed. "And I'm sure that Penelope will be happy to take you house shopping, and then Ginny and your aunts can start helping you decorate and furnish it. I see a lot of shopping in your immediate futures."

He looked at his watch. "Why don't the four of you go check out your vault, and Ginny and I will go get the rest of the kids back to the cottage." He looked at Ginny in silent communication, and she nodded.

"Then I'll go over to the residence, break the news to Susan and Wayne, and get your things and move them to the cottage. You can stay there until you get set up in your house."

That earned him more hugs and kisses, and had them all laughing. Ginny smiled at Tracey and Aaron.

"You two make sure you don't keep your parents waiting by puttering around the vault all afternoon," she told them, "and you –" she said, pointing at James and Arianna, "be home by six for dinner." Both couples confirmed their orders, and when Turvog came back for them, Harry and Ginny bowed once more to him, and left him with the young couples.

"Shall we go?" he asked them.

Aaron was about to follow when something occurred to him.

"Turvog, those parchments you read suggested that our parents considered you their friend." He watched as the Goblin nodded.

"How long did you know them?" Arianna asked.

"They were two of my very first customers when I started here as an Account Manager," he told them. "So until they died, I'd known them about fifteen years."

"We don't remember very much about them," Aaron told the Goblin. "When we get settled down, would you consider coming to our house for dinner sometime and telling us a little about what you remember of them?"

Turvog bowed to them. "I would like that, Mr Ryan."

Aaron smiled. "Thank-you, and if you don't mind, I'm sure my sister would agree that we'd prefer it if you called us Aaron and Arianna. We may not know each other yet, but in a way, you've been watching over us all of our lives – which is a lot more than we can say for our aunt and uncle."

Turvog bowed again. "As you wish, Aaron. Now if you will all follow me, I will take you to your vault."

Tracey and James had both been on the wild ride to their family vaults before, but it was new for Aaron and Arianna, and they both loved it. Turvog took them to the vault, unlocked it, and opened the door.

They were in a vault that was fairly modest in size, and there were neat stacks of money, and a few boxes and crates.

"Turvog, is there anything specifically in here that you think might be something we need to see now?"

They watched as the Goblin considered the question, and reviewed a list of the contents of the vault that he had in the file he still carried.

"There is a few pieces of family jewellery, and two fairly rare paintings."

He stopped and looked around the vault, then strode over to a table and picked up a box and carried it back to them.

"This box contains several photo albums, and from the description listed in the file, they should cover the years from when your parents got married until just before their deaths."

Arianna gave him a hug after Aaron took the box from him.

"Thank-you," she told the Goblin sincerely, "We'll take that with us. Do you need any money, Aaron?" she asked her brother.

"We've got the shopping trip tomorrow – why don't we take out five hundred galleons each?" he suggested. "That'll probably last us for a while."

Turvog nodded, and gathered the modest sums, then ushered them out of the vault and back to the lobby.

"Thank-you for everything, Turvog," Arianna told him, giving him another hug, which drew a fair bit of attention from the other Witches, Wizards, and Goblins that were all around them. She didn't pay any attention to the stares, and Turvog seemed quite pleased that she was willing to hug a Goblin as easily as she would hug a Witch or Wizard.

Aaron bowed deeply. "Should you need to reach either of us regarding the sale of the house, or other issues, we'll be staying with Harry and Ginny Potter until we purchase the house we discussed previously. We'll also be asking Molly Weasley to review the account and offer her advice. I guess we didn't specifically discuss this, but will you continue to be our Account Manager?"

Turvog nodded, bowing as well. "I would be honoured to continue to serve your family," he assured them.

Arianna and Aaron returned his bow, and then they left the bank with Tracey and James.

"We've still got an hour or so before we have to get to my house," Tracey told him. "Do you want to walk to the mall and wander around for a while before we go?"

Arianna laughed. "Let's see – do we want to go shopping? Yes!"

Harry and Ginny had left Gringotts and went to the mall to pick up the kids and go back to the cottage. When they got there, he left Ginny to help the kids settle in, and explain to them what had been going on during the afternoon so far while he apparated over to the residence.

"Hi, Susan," he said, walking into her office after knocking on the open door.

"Hi," she said, looking up from what she was working on. "What brings you here? Are you dropping the kids off? I thought they were staying with you until Sunday afternoon."

She suddenly remembered what else was supposed to happen today. "It's because of the meeting today, isn't it? They're not going to have to go back there, are they?"

Harry smiled. "No, Susan. But it's because of what happened in the meeting that I'm here. There's been a rather significant change in plans for Aaron and Arianna. I'm stopping by to get their things – they're moving out."

"Have you and Ginny decided to keep them?" she said, grinning at him.

He laughed. "Oh, I think we'll keep them, but no – during that meeting they found out that an inheritance was being transferred into their control – a multi-million galleon inheritance."

Susan whistled. "I had no idea, Harry – Their aunt and uncle didn't say a thing about the children having any money left to them. In fact, they implied that they were taking care of the kids solely out of the goodness of their black little hearts."

"Then it's no wonder Gringotts didn't find out – we didn't know to look, and the uncle and aunt didn't want to lose their monthly income for supposedly taking care of the kids, or lose the house they were living in free of charge." He grinned at Susan. "'Were' being the operative word – they're moving today."

Susan grinned at him. "The house belongs to the kids? Is that where they're going?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Too many bad things happened to them there. They've instructed their Account Manager to sell it, and they've asked Ginny to help them find a house. They're going to stay with us until they get that done. They didn't think that it was right for them to take up two spots that other kids could be having instead now that they know they can afford to take care of themselves."

"We do still have some on the waiting list."

Harry was surprised – last time he'd checked they had all of the kids taken care of. Susan saw his look and shrugged.

"We have a few new ones that have come to our attention – we're keeping an eye on them, but both our place, and Dumbledore House are full right now, and we'd already filled the spots for the graduates as they leave over the summer. They're right – at least we can bring two of the kids here right away."

He nodded. "I'll tell them that," he promised. "And we'll stop in on Sunday so they can say goodbye, although I'm sure they'll still come visit – almost all of them do."

Susan went with Harry and helped him pack up the few belongings that Aaron and Arianna hadn't already had with them at Hogwarts – like last summer's clothes, and a few older toys and games. They put them in boxes, and Harry Translocated them to their rooms in the cottage.

"Thanks, Susan. We'll see you on Sunday," he said, giving her a hug. "Say 'Hi' to Wayne for me."

"I will. Don't forget your TeenWizard doll this time when you come. You don't want to end up having to be the Teen Princess again, do you?" Harry laughed, and agreed to remember to bring his doll, then left the residence, and apparated back to the cottage.

"Did you get everything?" Ginny asked him when he walked into the kitchen.

"Yes, Susan gave me a hand. She's got kids on the waiting list for a room too, so it'll at least work out great for two more children."

"There's more than two?" Ginny asked him. "Was there an accident or something?"

"I didn't think to ask," Harry said. "There are always new kids, though, and right now they didn't have the room for any of them – not for another year."

"I wish we could do something about that," Ginny said. "There always seems to be that one or two more that we can't help fast enough."

"We could help a couple more," Harry said quietly.

Ginny stopped what she was working on and turned to look at him critically. "How?"

"We could keep the girls."

Ginny came and sat down next to him. "You want to keep Carolyn and Brianna?" she said softly, looking into his eyes.

He nodded, and smiled as he met her gaze. "We love them; Susan needs the spaces, and they're really not there all that much anyway when you think about how much time they spend with us, and at Hogwarts."

"We'd be responsible for them for five more years, Harry," she pointed out. "And we've always agreed that no matter how much we want to, there'd be no way for us to keep any of the kids we help at the residence here."

"I know, but it seems like such a waste when their rooms there sit empty for probably eleven out of twelve months, and there are other kids out there still living in really lousy conditions."

"We'd have seven people sharing two and a half bathrooms," she pointed out.

"The girls would outnumber the boys four to three," he countered, grinning at her.

Ginny laughed. "There is that," she conceded. "You'd have to clean up after them. And take them out for walks. And play with them. Can you handle that?"

Harry put his arms around her and hugged her, then kissed her. "I promise I'll take extra good care of them. I'd feed them every day and everything."

Ginny pretended to be weighing her decision. "Well, if you're really, really sure, I guess you can keep them."

They both laughed, and got up from the table to get back to work on dinner. The kids would all be here to eat – except for Aaron, and Percy, Penelope, Ron, and Hermione would be coming too. Frederica was staying with them overnight so that George and Marietta could have a date night with Lee and Cho Jordan.

James and Arianna got back to the cottage, and came and talked with Harry and Ginny, telling them about their visit to the vault, and what they'd done afterward at the Mall. When the rest of the parents arrived, Ginny poured wine for all of them, and then remembering that Arianna had officially joined the ranks of the adult Wizarding population, offered her a glass too, which she'd been happy to accept, even though it did seem a bit strange to both of them that first time.

During dinner, the news about Aaron and Arianna had been one of the main topics of conversation, along with the usual Canons-Quidditch talk that was expected anywhere that Ron was. They caught up with each other on the news from home and school that hadn't been covered during lunch, and when dinner finished up, they all went into the sitting room, where the three sets of parents talked with the kids about summer jobs and the other activities they had planned so far.

"Nick, Scorpius," Percy said, "if you'd like to do it, there are two jobs waiting for you starting on Monday working as pages for the Ministry of Magic – one in my department, and one working for your Grandfather." The two boys exchanged looks, and laughed.

"Well, it's not game testing," Nick said, "but it's a job."

Percy laughed. "Oh, I think you'll find it more interesting than you expect," he assured the two boys.

Hermione was next, and she started out with the game tester jobs for Aaron and Arianna. Aaron hadn't gotten back yet, but Arianna was confident in speaking for both of them.

"Aaron and I are going to have to decide what we want to do this summer," she told Hermione, "and we've loved doing the game testing, but we wouldn't feel right anymore doing those jobs when there are other kids that need the money more than we do now." She looked worriedly at Hermione and Ginny. "You don't mind, do you?" She relaxed when both women smiled at her.

"It's alright," Ginny assured her. "The news the two of you had today certainly changes things for both of you, and you're right that there are other kids that need the jobs more than you or Aaron. When you two decide what you'd like to do, if we can help, let us know."

Arianna nodded her thanks. James already knew that his job with Uncle George was set up, and so Hermione moved on to Rose and Al.

"Rose, Isabelle and I would like you to come and work with us in the lab. It'll be our first time having a student assistant, so we'll just figure out what you'll be doing as we go along, ok?" Rose nodded excitedly, and Hermione looked at Al and smiled.

"Your suggestion for that VirtualAstronomer has come a long way. There's a job waiting for you on that project team if you want it – we're hoping to have it ready for stores at the end of the summer, so if you take the job, you'll probably have some long days, but we think you'd be able to help get it done on time."

Al went over and gave his aunt, and then his mother a hug. "Thank-you!" he told them, and turned when he heard James laugh. "What's so funny?"

James grinned at him. "Nothing really – I was just thinking that you might just be the one kid in the Wizarding World that would find a whole summer immersed in Astronomy to be the perfect job."

Ginny was watching Lily, who was watching the older kids once again get to do things that she wasn't yet old enough for, and smiled.

"Lily," she said, getting her daughter's attention. "we have a job for you this summer too." When Lily's eyes lit up, Ginny laughed.

"How'd you like to come to work at the Institute, and be my personal lab assistant?" She laughed when Lily practically knocked her over when she tackle-hugged her mother.

"I think that might be a yes," Hermione quipped.

Jobs for Carolyn, Brianna, and Frederica hadn't been talked about, and the girls actually didn't expect them to, since they were all under fourteen. None of them had been surprised that an exception was being made for Lily, since their friend and cousin could probably already run circles around some of the researchers at the Institute – even if she was only twelve.

Harry smiled at Carolyn and Brianna. "The residence policy is that kids there have to be fourteen before they're offered the chance to get jobs," he told them, and they both nodded their understanding.

"I guess the only way around that is if that wasn't your home anymore."

Both girls stared at him, not quite sure where he was going with this.

"I found out today when I went to get Aaron and Arianna's things that there were still kids that had come up on the waiting list for places at one of the residences." He looked at Arianna and smiled.

"With Aaron and Arianna deciding to move out, that allows Susan to bring two of the kids in right away." He watched as Carolyn and Brianna nodded.

"I was thinking it'd be nice if more of the kids wouldn't have to wait another whole year in some orphanage until the next spots opened up for them after next year's group of graduates move out, so instead of letting that happen, I was hoping that maybe you could both come live here instead when you're not at school."

He looked over at Ginny, who was smiling at him before he turned back to the two girls. "Ginny said I could keep you as long as I promised to take good care of you – I guess now it's up to you. What do you think?"

He waited, and the two girls looked from him to Ginny, and back again. Brianna answered for both of them.

"Have we told you that we really love you yet today?" she asked Harry as she hugged Scorpius first, then got up and went to give both Harry and Ginny long hugs. She and Carolyn had tears in their eyes, and Carolyn had hugged Al, before joining Brianna in hugging Harry and Ginny too.

"It'll be a bit crowded around here the first few weeks," Ginny said, "but once we find a nice house for Aaron and Arianna, you'll each have your own room." Carolyn and Brianna nodded, and Ginny looked at Frederica and smiled.

"Besides taking care of Harry while the rest of us are gone to work," she told the three girls, "if you're interested, we have some babysitting jobs lined up for all three of you. Natalie and Mandy would like you to take care of Kira and Timothy all summer, and you'd also have Natalie's new baby, James part-time when Natalie starts coming back to work in July, and probably full time by August."

Carolyn and Brianna exchanged hi-fives, and Frederica was the next girl to nearly knock Ginny over with a running hug.

"Did we miss anyone?" Penelope asked.

"Just Fluffy," Lily said. "She wants her taste-tester job back for the summer."

They talked together for another hour or so, then Percy, Penelope, Ron, and Hermione gathered up their kids and headed for home. Lily, Frederica, and Brianna decided to head for bed shortly after Scorpius and Nick left, so Al, Carolyn, James, and Arianna had Harry and Ginny to themselves until Aaron got back to the cottage around ten.

"Did I miss anything while I was gone?" he asked when he sat down next to Arianna and James.

"Well, I turned down the game testing jobs for this summer," Arianna told him. "So we'll have to spend some time deciding what we want to do this summer." Aaron nodded.

"Nick and Scorpius have summer jobs working at the Ministry of Magic," she continued. "Rose and Lily are going to be research assistants at the Institute, and Al is going to be working on an Astronomy game in the gaming division there too." She paused as if thinking over the events of the night.

"Carolyn, Brianna, and Frederica have babysitting jobs, and Fluffy got re-hired as a taste-tester for all meals that are made here at the cottage. Was there anything else?" she snapped her fingers.

"Oh, and Harry and Ginny have asked Carolyn and Brianna to come live here permanently. There were some kids that there weren't enough spots for at the residences this year, and so two of them were going to get our spots, and now Susan can bring two more kids to the residence too."

"Does that mean that we'll all be skipping the trip to Marauders Paradise this year?" Aaron asked.

Ginny laughed. "I didn't actually think of that, but I guess that does mean that we won't have any kids to chaperone this year, won't it?"

"I'm going to miss going there this year," Carolyn said. "This is way better, though."

Harry smiled at her. "I think we'll be able to come up with some other things to do this summer to make up for missing out on that trip this year."

They talked together until nearly midnight, then they all went upstairs to bed. With Frederica here overnight too, Aaron and James were bunking together so that the girls could have both guest rooms for the night while Frederica stayed in Lily's room.

A lot had happened already, and the first full day of summer holidays hadn't even started yet. Al lay in his bed, thinking about everything that had gone on. He'd told Carolyn on the train that he was predicting a great summer for them, and he had been sure that it was true. If today's events were an indication of the things to come, this summer was going to be a lot better than great!


	53. Having Fun Yet

Chapter Fifty-Three – Having Fun Yet?

Harry was cooking breakfast on Saturday morning for ten – eleven if you counted Fluffy's mooching. An Owl Post arrived, and when he untied it, he saw that it was for Aaron and Arianna. He let the Owl leave, and went back to his work, leaving the envelope on the table where the kids would see it when they got downstairs.

Aaron and Arianna were two of the last people to get to the kitchen, and so by then, the curiosity of the other kids had been sharpened, since none of them remembered an Owl Post arriving for either of their friends, except for their Hogwarts letters.

Aaron motioned that Arianna could go ahead and open the letter when they'd sat down, and she'd done that and read it aloud to everyone.

Dear Mr. and Ms. Ryan,

I am writing to confirm to you that your instructions from our meeting today have been carried out. Your property has been vacated by it's former occupants, and the inventory verified, with the exceptions of a few minor pieces that had apparently been sold or thrown away over the years which I took the liberty to be flexible about instead of making an issue over the matter.

Our security team has secured the building and grounds, and the type of items you had requested be moved to the vault have been delivered there. You may go through those items whenever you wish, and I have included a listing of them with this letter.

The property will be listed for sale at the beginning of next week. I do not expect it to take long to sell.

Should you need any other services, please let me know and I will be happy to assist you in any way that I can.

Turvog

Gringotts Accouunt Manager

"Too bad we didn't ask to have their move recorded so we could watch it later," Aaron said when she was done. "That was probably very entertaining."

Harry laughed. "Well, if they ever get charged with embezzlement, there's a WWVN channel that shows all court cases – I'm sure they'd be happy to make a copy of that session."

They ate breakfast, got ready to go, and then left for the Mall and their annual shopping trip. George and Marietta met them there, and the two women took the girls in tow and went one way, while Harry and George wandered around with Al, James, and Aaron.

James talked excitedly with his uncle about what they'd be working on starting on Monday. George had wanted the details of the pranks they'd pulled during the year, and had, as always, been impressed with Jame's ingenuity.

"We've got to get you moving on to other things besides food transforation, though," he told James. "You've got way to much talent to not start branching out. When we were at school, we did everything from nose-bleed nougats to the first portable swamp."

James had nodded, and they'd continued to talk shop together as they went from store to store picking up both work and summer clothing.

Al had found it strange to be needing to think about work clothes at all, but had just followed his father's lead, and had quickly put together his very first business-type wardrobe.

Aaron had been happy to wander around with them, and picked up a few things, but since he didn't have to worry about a job right away, he mostly just talked with Harry and had fun.

They met the girls for lunch, and were also joined by Rose, Hugo, and their parents, along with Percy, Penelope, Nick and Scorpius. They'd all been at the Mall for most of the morning too, but had been going around on their own.

After lunch, George and Marietta took Frederica with them, having other plans for their afternoon, while Ron and Percy joined Harry in continuing their shopping with the boys. Penelope and Hermione went with Ginny and all of their girls, who after recharging their batteries at lunch were all ready to get back to one of their favourite activities.

At the end of the day, Harry and Ginny took five kids home with them, while Brianna went with Percy and Penelope to have dinner at their house before coming home later, and Lily went with Rose and Hugo for an overnight stay with Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron.

Harry got started on dinner when they got home, while the kids talked Ginny into going outside to play Quidditch with them for a while.

"Meow," Fluffy said, coming into the kitchen.

"Welcome to the land of the living," Harry told the kneazle cat without looking around. "Do you think it's time for you to go to work already?"

The cat sat on the floor near Harry and looked up at him, unblinking and waiting. Harry laughed and threw her a piece of meat, which she quickly snatched out of the air, and padded away with.

"You're pretty fast when you want to be," Harry told Fluffy as she left the room, ignoring him again now that she had what she'd come for.

During dinner, and into the evening, they talked about work, houses, and everything that they wanted to do in the coming weeks. Arianna and Aaron got Harry to agree to start seriously teaching them cooking so that they wouldn't starve on the days that they actually had to cook for themselves when they wouldn't be here like they expected to be a lot anyway.

They were going to spend Sunday morning at the residence, so Harry and Ginny went to bed early – soon after Brianna got back. The rest of the kids had followed not very long after that, and soon the cottage was quiet for another night.

Susan had cried when Aaron and Arianna had come over to the residence with Harry, Ginny, and the other kids, then had cried some more when she found out that Harry and Ginny wanted to take Carolyn and Brianna away too.

"I know this will really help," she'd told Ginny, who'd hugged her, "but I've cried with every kid that's left so far, and I'll probably always cry like this for every future kid when they leave us."

Ginny nodded sympathetically. "That's why you're so perfect for this job, Susan. You really love all of these kids – just like we do."

Carolyn and Brianna went to their rooms with Lily and Al to help them pack up their things for the move. Both girls were thrilled to be going to live with Harry and Ginny, but this had also been the only home either of them remembered, and there were still some tears over leaving it.

After they'd packed, and the boxes had been sent to the cottage, they joined the others, and spent the rest of the morning playing. Harry got reacquainted with all of the students that were back for the summer, and made time to play TeenWitch with some of the little girls – and with Wayne before they went back home.

They took it easy for the rest of the day, with Monday being a work day for most of them. The only exception was a short trip for Ginny, Carolyn, and Brianna, who went to meet with Natalie, Mandy, and their kids before they'd be starting to take care of them on Monday.

Kira had fallen in love with both girls immediately, and both babies seemed to be more than happy with their chosen summer caregivers. They'd be having their daycare at the cottage, so that Harry, Kreacher, or Winky would always be available to help the girls if they needed it.

Lily got home before dinner, and after another quiet evening, they all went to bed early. With so many people that would be going to work in the morning, it was bound to not only be a circus, but also meant that at least some of them had to get up early so that everyone would have time to get ready.

Harry was sitting at the table Monday morning with Aaron and Arianna. Ginny and the kids that were off to work were gone already. Carolyn, Brianna, and Frederica were in the sitting room with Kira and Timothy.

"What are you two going to do today?" he asked them.

"Ginny set up a meeting for us with Grandma and Turvog to go over our accounts so we can understand them better, and then Aunt Penelope is going to show us a few houses after lunch," Arianna told him.

Aaron smiled. "Will you be staying here today?"

Harry nodded. "I'll probably hang around most of the week until the girls get used to their new job. I'm going to do a little work around here too."

When they'd both left for their meeting, Harry checked in on the kids, who were doing fine, then went upstairs. He looked around at the chaos that had been caused by having nine people sharing the two full upstairs bathrooms to get ready that morning – not to mention all of the laundry that had been created from all of the showers and changes of clothes.

"I'm thinking a little remodeling is in order," he said aloud to himself. "Let's see how good I am at it."

He started by cleaning everything first. He then pictured what he wanted, and really got down to work. Nearly an hour later, he heard a gasp from the top of the stairs as he surveyed his handiwork from where he stood in the hall.

"This is incredible!" Carolyn said as she stood there, holding Timothy in her arms.

Harry grinned at her. "Not bad for my first try if I do say so myself."

Carolyn walked toward him, looking in on the now eight-bedroom, eight-bath upper floor. What had once been two hall closets between rooms were now full-sized bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms. The two bathrooms that had previously had doorways to the hall were now part of Ginny and Harry's room for one, and of Lily's for the other. Harry had created brand new bathrooms for the other four bedrooms too.

"I'd say that it's way better than pretty good," she breathed. She was looking into one of the two new rooms that were empty of furniture, and noticed her own trunk and some boxes along one wall.

"Do you like it?" Harry asked her, smiling. "I was thinking that after you're done work today that Ginny and I could take you shopping for some furniture – and I'm positive that she'll be more than thrilled to help you decorate.

Carolyn walked into the room and looked at everything there, including her own bathroom with a tub that looked like it was perfect for long, hot bubble baths.

"I love it," she told him, coming back out into the hall to give him a big hug. "Thank-you!"

Brianna and Frederica came upstairs then with Kira. "What's taking you so long?" Brianna began, then she too stopped and her mouth fell open.

Harry laughed. "This is just as much fun to watch as it was to do it," he told them. The three girls joined Carolyn, Timothy, and Harry, and then went exploring, spending the most time in what would be Brianna's room.

"We're never going to want to leave," Brianna told Harry after coming out of her room to give him a big hug. "Thank-you!"

"Well, I wouldn't place any large bets on that, and I certainly don't want any of you to ever leave – even though you will some day, but I think this will be much nicer for the next few years. After that, it will let us have lots of room for grandkids and guests later on when Ginny and I are old and gray."

The girls laughed and hugged him once more, and then went back to work taking care of the kids while Harry moved on to doing a little work in his office.

While Harry was busy playing mighty magical re-modeling man, the kids were starting their first day at work. Nick and Scorpius went with Percy to the Ministry of Magic. Percy took the boys to meet with his father first, and dropped Nick off with him, and then he and Scorpius continued on to the Department for Magical Sports and Games.

He introduced Scorpius to some of his staff, and then took him into his own office to talk about what the boy would be doing all summer.

"I'm sure you know how messages are sent here at the Ministry," Percy began. Scorpius nodded.

"There is still a lot of other running around that needs to be done, and as a page, that's what you'll be doing. You may just be running packages or boxes of documents around between our department and other ones, or between here and archives, along with any other errands that are assigned to you." Scorpius nodded again, and Percy continued.

"While you're doing that, keep your eyes and ears open – this is a perfect chance for you to learn a lot about our government, and how it all works – or in some cases doesn't," he said, grinning suddenly.

"You and I will also be doing field trips to check in on the children's sports programs around the country at least once or twice a week, and maybe even work with the kids sometimes."

"That sounds like fun," Scorpius said. He and Nick had talked about their new jobs, and what to expect over the weekend, and while Nick hadn't seemed all that thrilled, Scorpius had thought that this was going to be a great job.

"Anyway," Percy continued, handing a special WiComm to Scorpius, "When someone in the department has a job for you, the request will be sent to you on this. Don't be surprised if you have multiple requests on the go pretty much all day."

Scorpius opened it up and smiled. "Apparently some people have already submitted requests," he told Percy.

"Then I guess I better let you get to it. If you need anything, let me know."

Scorpius left the office, and got to work. He saw Nick a few times during the morning, and they had lunch together, but then they didn't run into each other for the rest of the day. When they had a chance to talk about their first day at work later that night, Nick was more optimistic about his job not being a total bore, and Scorpius had thought it had been just as great as he thought it would be. The only thing that they both missed from previous summers so far was the daily Quidditch practices with their Ravenclaw teammates.

Mandy was meeting with Rose, Al, and Lily in her office, along with Hermione and Ginny before the trio started in the lab.

"Before you each start working," she told the three kids, "You and your parents need to read over the confidentiality agreements that we have all of our employees sign." She handed two parchments to Ginny, and one to Hermione.

They signed off on parental authorization, and then handed them to the kids to read and sign. When the three pages had been passed back to Mandy, she continued.

"The first thing that you need to know, and that is confidential, is that all three of you have been given special exemption from the Ministry on the use of under-age magic anytime that you are working here at the lab."

Al, Rose, and Lily exchanged excited glances, and Ginny and Hermione both smiled.

"That has never been necessary for students working here testing games or doing other jobs, but you will all be working on projects that will necessitate your use of magic. The Ministry has been nice enough to allow this exception on a trial basis, and because here in the lab your work will be supervised by experts in each field."

The three kids nodded, three bright smiles directed at Mandy, who laughed.

"I have a feeling that this is going to be an interesting experiment." She looked at Al. "You can report to Lisa, who will introduce you to the team working on the Astronomy project."

Moving on to Lily and Rose, she added – "And you can go with your respective team leaders," she told the girls. "It would be appropriate for you all to refer to them as Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Potter when you're not alone with them." Mandy laughed. "We wouldn't want other researchers to start referring to Hermione and Ginny as Mommy or Mum, would we?"

They all laughed, and Mandy indicated that they could all go and head for their labs. Ginny and Lily walked over to the Gaming section of the labs and left Al with Lisa, then moved on to where Ginny's lab was located. Hermione and Rose had gone over to another section where medical and defensive magic research was conducted.

Lily didn't see either her brother or cousin all day, but once she and her mother had gotten to work, they'd both become lost in the fascinating world, and in the project that she and Ginny would now both be working on all summer.

Lisa introduced Al to the small group of game designers and astronomers that he would be working with, and the two men and three women showed him what they were doing, and allowed him to study all of the data. He looked at the prototype that was a work in progress, and discussed with him the challenges that they were still having with the project.

For the entire first day, Al just read reports, listened to what he was taught, and happily immersed himself into the virtual astronomy world that he was going to get to help create. The men and women on the team had been fairly skeptical when they'd heard that a not-yet fourteen year old was joining their team, but as they watched Al learn everything about their project at an astonishing speed, they soon became as enthusiastic about him being on their team as he was.

Rose was working with her mother – Mrs. Weasley, she reminded herself with a smile, and with Isabelle. She wasn't sure what she'd be doing, and for their part, Hermione and Isabelle weren't positive either.

They showed her around their lab, and showed her some of the projects that were going on in their department, then got down to work, basically just having Rose hang out with them for the day, and learn everything she could about their own projects. Parts of what they talked about baffled her – she wasn't advanced enough in Arithmancy, or most of her other studies yet to understand half of what they were saying – and in Isabelle's case, sometimes even Hermione didn't fully understand either.

Rose loved spending the day with her mother, but that night when she went to bed, she still had no idea how she could possibly help the two brilliant women – she just didn't think that she had learned enough at school yet to have anything useful to offer. She didn't express her concerns to Hermione, but she did privately worry about it.

Aaron and Arianna went to Molly Weasley's office, and then went with her to Gringotts for their second meeting with Turvog. They watched and listened as she not only looked over their current records, but also reviewed the trust's financial history. When she was done, she looked up from the files and smiled at them. She spoke first to Turvog.

"You've done a very good job taking care of their trust fund," she complimented him, bowing slightly from where she sat. "You've actually significantly improved their portfolio over the past eleven years."

Turvog bowed in return. "Thank-you. I have tried to learn from the example that Griphook and some of the other senior managers have made working with you and PBP Investments."

Molly nodded. "And you have learned well." She turned next to the twins.

"Your finances are in good order, and Turvog has nearly doubled your net worth over the last eleven years."

Aaron and Arianna both smiled at Turvog and bowed.

"Your properties are primarily commercial rentals that seem to all be well maintained and profitable. The only exception to that is your house, which is being listed for sale at one hundred and sixty thousand galleons, and should have no problem selling at that price."

"Is there anything that we should be doing differently?" Arianna asked her.

"Your Mum and Dad must've been pretty special when you think about them leaving one hundred and ten thousand galleons for Turvog in addition to his Account Manager pay, and doing it that many years ago. I'd recommend you build in an incentive for him going forward from today. Maybe two percent of the profits he generates for you from now on."

Arianna and Aaron both nodded. "Please go ahead and set that up, Turvog," Arianna said. "Why don't we do it for the same time period that PBP uses – year ending November thirtieth, paid out December first."

Turvog nodded, and then bowed. "Thank-you."

"The only other suggestion I have is that once you buy and furnish your house, that you keep your combined annual expenses below one hundred thousand galleons. That way Turvog will continue to have additional funds to reinvest for you, and keep your money growing for you."

Aaron and Arianna just stared at her, and then they both started laughing.

"I doubt that will be a problem, Grandma," Aaron told her. "Last year we spent about – oh – six hundred galleons or so each."

Arianna nodded. "And that doesn't take into consideration whatever income we'll have when we go to work. It's nice to know that we have some security – thanks to you, Turvog."

"You're welcome," he told her. "I don't mean to speak ill of anyone, but I'm going to enjoy working with both of you more than I have working with your aunt and uncle over the past eleven years."

Aaron and Arianna laughed. "That does not surprise us," Aaron said, "but aren't they still your clients?"

Turvog shook his head. "I asked to have their account assigned to another manager. I did not feel that, considering what had happened with them deceiving me about your whereabouts and condition, that I could remain unbiased toward them."

"Thank-you," Aaron said simply. "If we're done here, we'd like to take you both out for lunch, and maybe Aunt Penelope can join us to talk about houses."

They did that, and then went with Penelope to look at houses. When they saw the third one, Aaron and Arianna both knew that it was the one. It was on the outskirts of Chudley, on the other side of the town from the Institute, and they thought it was perfect.

There was a modestly sized yard, and it was a very modern-looking design. Three of the five bedrooms had their own baths, and they were spread out, with three bedrooms in one section, and the other two in what was sort of a guest wing, with the kitchen and sitting room separating the two sections.

"How much is this one?" Arianna asked Penelope, who gave them the number. Since it was one that PBP had built, she'd priced it to them at cost, just as Harry had requested.

"We'll take it," she said, hugging Penelope. "When can we close the deal and get the keys so we can go shopping for furniture?"

Penelope laughed, and tossed her the keys. "Fast enough for you? I'll get the paperwork done with Turvog after I get back to the office. Is there anything else you need?"

Aaron and Arianna shook their heads, hugged her, and then Penelope left them to go explore their house further before they went back to the cottage.

"You'll take the master bedroom," Arianna told her brother, "and I'll take one of the rooms on the guest room side while I live here with you."

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

Arianna nodded. "I'll only be here for a few years, then James and I will get our own place."

"As long as it's not too far away," Aaron told her. "It's been you and me for a long time now. It might take me a while to get used to being separated from you."

"Don't worry, we won't ever be completely separated – you know that."

When they got back to the cottage, they were the first ones, other than Carolyn, Brianna, and Frederica, to see Harry's handiwork.

"This is so cool!" Arianna had said after seeing the remodeled room that she'd been staying in now boasted it's own bath.

"If I'd known that this was going to happen, maybe we'd have waited to buy that house."

Harry laughed and hugged her. "No you wouldn't have, but at least you have a room waiting here for you anytime you want to come and stay over."

They went downstairs, and began their first real cooking lesson. To Aaron's surprise, he actually really liked cooking. That he could now do it with magic definitely had a lot to do with it being more fun than it had been when he had occasionally helped out doing things by hand.

Ginny got home with Al and Lily around five, and they'd all been just as impressed with the new second floor as the kids all had been.

"My, haven't you been busy today?" Ginny had told Harry when she'd returned to the kitchen. "When you promise to take care of the girls, you go all out."

Harry grinned at her. "We couldn't keep having mornings like we had today," he told her. "Nine people getting ready using two bathrooms did not work very well."

Ginny gave him a hug and laughed. "Oh, I'm not complaining. I think it was a brilliant idea. I guess we'll have to go buy some furniture tonight – we don't want the girls to have to sleep on the floor."

"And maybe you can get a start on helping Aaron and Arianna furnish their new house," Harry suggested.

"You found one already?" she asked Arianna, who'd been working next to Harry at the counter.

"Third one Aunt Penelope showed us was the perfect one for us," she said happily. "We both knew it the moment we saw it."

"The perfect what?" James asked when he walked into the kitchen.

"The perfect house for Aaron and I," Arianna told him. "We already found it."

James laughed. "You two don't mess around. Can we go see it?"

Arianna looked at Harry who grinned at her. "Why don't you two take James and Ginny over. I can finish this up. It'll be ready in about a half hour, though, so don't be gone too long."

So Aaron and Arianna took Ginny and James over to the house. The girls talked decorations and furniture for the place, while the boys went exploring both inside and outside.

"This is really great looking," James told Aaron when they wer outside walking around the house. "It's way different that the cottage or the Burrow – more modern and clean, but it still feels like it's really homey too – know what I mean?"

Aaron nodded. "As soon as we saw it, we both knew this place was going to be perfect for us, and for me and Tracey after that."

James grinned at his friend. "Did you get engaged and not tell me?" he joked.

"No," Aaron said, laughing. "That'll come, though. I don't have any doubts about that."

"Neither do I," James told him seriously. "You guys are meant to be together."

They went back inside, and had to nearly drag Ginny and Arianna out of the house before they risked being late for dinner back at the cottage. After dinner, they all went shopping, picking out beds, dressers, and desks for Carolyn and Brianna, and Translocating their purchases directly into the girl's rooms, and then also looking around at furnishings for Aaron and Arianna's new house, although they only actually bought a few pieces, not having yet really even made a list of what all they would need to get for the place.

For the rest of that last week of June, Aaron and Arianna kept busy with cooking lessons with Harry, and a little bit of Quidditch practicing with him each morning. During the day, they'd do a little shopping, and do a little work at their house, which mostly consisted of puttering around, deciding what they wanted to do to furnish and decorate the place.

Al, Lily, and Rose continued working at the Institute, and Nick and Scorpius settled into their page jobs. The one thing that the five of them put together was a twice-weekly evening Quidditch practice for the Ravenclaw team. Matt was able to join them, but Rick told them that he wouldn't be able to work out with them this summer, and Trinity had graduated, so she wouldn't be practicing anymore either..

Friday night, Ron, Hermione, and the kids had come over for dinner at the cottage. While they ate, Ron had been venting to Harry and the others about the problems he was having with the Canons.

"They've all jumped ship," he'd begun. "Every last stinking one of them quit the team this week and took jobs with other teams."

"None of them stayed?" Harry asked him. That was worse that he and the other owners had expected. Ron shook his head.

"The Arrows got our Keeper, our Chasers went to the Wasps and United teams, and our Beaters duo went to play for the Falcons. Our other assistant coach even left to go coach for the Magpies if you can believe that! The Magpies! What was he thinking?"

"So what are you and coach going to do?" Harry asked him.

Ron shrugged. "I'll be off on a recruiting drive for the two weeks we have before training camp opens, but I'll be lucky if I can get anybody worth anything to come to a team with no returning players at all, let alone any all-stars. Most of the back-ups are staying, probably figuring it'll be their only chance to actually play in the show. They're probably right about that."

"Would you consider hiring Arianna and me for your practice squad – for the summer training?" Aaron asked Ron.

Ron looked over at him, surprised, then thought about it for a moment, taking the break in the conversation to have a few bites of food. You knew Ron was upset when his appetite was affected.

"It'd give me the rest of the summer to keep looking while we kept working out with who we have," he mused.

"And it'd help make Gryffindor a better team this coming year – at least two of their Chasers – and their captain would be in top shape right from the start of the season," Arianna suggested.

Ron grinned at them. "Better enough to pay Slytherin back for your last game with them?"

Aaron laughed. "Oh, we'll be dealing with them whether we come work with the Canons or not," he told Ron.

"It only pays four hundred a week," he warned them. "And I'll work you 'til you drop."

Aaron and Arianna traded looks, and were both smiling. "You're making it sound so great, how could we resist," she told Ron. "We'll take the jobs."

Ron, and everyone else at the table had laughed, and Ron had gone on to continue to discuss the whole issue of what to do to put a whole team together basically from scratch, let alone one that would be competitive.

During those next two weeks between that dinner and opening day of the Canons training camp, Aaron and Arianna, with a lot of help from their family and friends, got their new home decorated and furnished. They learned how to cook well enough that they wouldn't starve when they did move in to their house on that second weekend of July.

There was an anniversary party for Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione on the third, which had fallen on a Friday this year. They did a dinner at one of the small banquet rooms at the Emerald City Centre, and everyone in the family had been there, along with a lot of the two couple's friends. Luna had even managed to get almost all of the old DA members and their families to come, and there were more than a hundred people there for the dinner and dance.

The kids were all busy with their jobs. Scorpius was loving his, Nick liked the pay, and loved spending lots of time with his grandfather. Lily was making her mother very proud as the two girls were taking what had been a roughly-working prototype heating and cooling module, and were now very close to having a highly efficient, production ready model.

Al was making some waves of his own. His first tentative suggestions had been well received, and encouraged by the other members of the Astronomy team, and it wasn't long before he was not only making suggestions, but was actually helping create and improve the program. It had been two years in the making already, but with the whole team now excited, and Al's suggestions and help taking the whole thing in new and amazing directions, they all put in a lot of extra hours. It wasn't unusual for Al to get home well after dinner, and be off to work early in the mornings.

Carolyn, Brianna, and Frederica were having a great time with their two little full time charges, and one part-timer. They had Natalie's baby, James, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings starting the first week of July, and the girls doted on the three kids.

Harry would do breakfast, a Quidditch workout with Aaron and Arianna, and then either spend the morning at the residence, or working around the cottage. He took the three girls, Kira, and Timothy on at least two afternoon outings each week, and with all of that, and his cooking lessons, he'd been kept busy and was loving every minute of having all of the kids around him again.

The only one of the kids that hadn't really been having fun yet was Rose. That wasn't exactly it. She was having fun with the two night a week Quidditch practices, and besides those two nights, she'd also spend at least one day on the weekends with Matt that was really great. It was the work thing that wasn't going well.

She was trying her best, but she knew that, if anything, she was holding her Mum and Isabelle back as they had to stop to try and explain things to her – often things that she didn't end up really understanding when they were done.

It was near the middle of the second week, and Hermione and Isabelle were in a meeting for the afternoon, so she'd been left to wander the lab, and see what else was going on. She'd wandered over into the practical magic section of the facility, and had been looking at the different things that were going on in the different glassed in labs that lined the hallway.

Most of the doors were open, and nobody seemed to mind if she came in to look around and ask questions. She walked into one lab that had a pleasant-faced older Witch working at a well-organized table. She looked up and smiled at Rose.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Weasley," she said cordially. "How are you doing today?"

For some reason that Rose didn't really understand, she decided she wanted to talk with this woman about what was bothering her.

"I'm not doing all that good," she'd answered.

The Witch stopped what she was doing and gave Rose her full attention. "Would you like to talk about it? I find that when I'm having problems here that it helps."

Rose nodded gratefully. "Basically, I don't know what I'm doing here," she told the woman. "I know my mother was hoping that I might be able to learn, and maybe even be able to help with her research, but they're dealing with things I haven't learned about yet. I'm not even sure their talking the same language as regular people half the time."

The Witch laughed. "That's about how most us feel around those two," she told Rose. "Your aunt Ginny, and Lisa are about the only other two that even understand half of what they talk about."

Rose nodded glumly. "But if that's the case, then I'm really just wasting their time having them always stopping to explain things to me."

"You're probably right about that," the woman agreed.

Rose sighed. "Then I guess I should talk with Mum. There's not much point to me keeping on working here if I'm not ready yet."

"Why would you say that, dear? If that was true just because you aren't able to keep up with them – yet – then that'd mean that none of the rest of us would be here either."

Rose looked up at her from where she'd been glumly staring at the spotless white floor.

"For instance," the Witch continued, "I'm working on this little project." She pointed at what she was working on at the table. "It's probably nothing that's going to be a major find for the company, and wouldn't be challenging enough for your mother or for Isabelle, but Mrs. Boot – Mandy – thinks that it is at least worth spending a little time and money on, so I get to work on it, and maybe someday, it'll be something that will be of value to other Witches and Wizards."

Rose looked on in interest. "What are you trying to do?" she asked, and the woman laughed.

"I'm trying to develop a kind of glass that's much stronger that normal – like steel, and unbreakable," she told Rose. "Probably not all that practical, but I think it'd be pretty neat to do, since it'd mean that maybe someday we wouldn't have to keep digging up metal ore – even if it is the Goblins that do most of that."

Rose grinned. "How's it going?" she asked the woman.

"Let's just say that my experimentation has had mixed results so far," she told Rose. "I'm making some progress though."

"Would you mind showing me?" Rose asked her.

"Sure – before we start, though, I'm Karen. Nice to meet you, Rose."

Rose shook the offered hand, and then listened for the next hour as Karen explained what she was doing, and what problems she was facing.

"You're trying all of this strictly with Transfiguration," Rose said quietly. "Is there any reason why you haven't considered alchemy?"

The Witch nodded. "That's been something that's been tried for centuries, without any success by anyone."

Rose nodded. "True, but what if the two were combined? For example I might happen to know a few things about changing cloth to steel or stone to material that while it's only been created for temporary purposes, could probably eventually be developed into a permanent change. I don't see any reason why it couldn't just as easily be glass to steel."

Karen smiled at her. "That certainly sounds fascinating," she told her. "I'd like it if you'd show it to me sometime."

"Show you what, Karen?"

They both turned to see Hermione walk into the lab.

Karen smiled. "Hi, Hermione," she said. "Your daughter and I are just discussing my project, and she was offering some suggestions about how to do it. From what she's been saying, I'd guess that she was one of the ingenious students that my granddaughter told me about that's been playing some of the more creative pranks at Hogwarts over the past few years."

Hermione laughed, and Rose blushed.

"You look happier than I've seen you around here since you started," Hermione told Rose. "Are you interested in Karen's work?"

Rose smiled and nodded. "It's one of the first things that I've seen around here that I actually understand. I think it might be more valuable than Karen thinks, though. Sand is practically free, and just imagine what that'd do to the cost of building materials, even after whatever the costs would end up being for the conversion process."

Hermione looked at her daughter and at Karen speculatively. Karen was one of the older people in the research division, and was a junior researcher. Her current project had been considered of minor importance, and would have little chance of success, but you never knew if you didn't try, so Mandy had approved her project budget for two years. It'd be up for review again at the end of this year.

"How would you like an assistant for the summer, Karen?" she finally asked the other woman. "Maybe what Rose and her creative little friends have been playing with at school might be just what you've been looking for."

Karen looked at Rose and smiled. "If you'd like to try, I'd love to have you join me," she told Rose.

Rose gave her mother a hug. "Thank-you!" she told her happily, finally feeling hopeful about the rest of her summer working here at the Institute for the first time since she started.

"You're welcome, sweetie," Hermione told her. "We should have tried getting you looking at all of the other projects when you first started. I forgot that just because I love the project I'm working on doesn't mean that anyone else finds it as interesting. The first rule of research is to work on something that's exciting for you. That's the only way this job can be fun."

Karen nodded her agreement. "Well, I have a feeling that the two of us are going to have a lot of fun," she told Rose.

She looked at her watch and stood up. "We can get started tomorrow if you want. I get here around six-thirty most mornings so that I can be home earlier in the afternoons, but you can come in at whatever time works for you and your mother."

"Thank-you," Rose said. "I'll be here."

Karen left mother and daughter in the lab and left for home. Hermione gave Rose a hug, then sat down on the stool Karen had just vacated.

"I'm sorry, Rose," she told her daughter. "I should have let you find a job that was right for you. I was so glad that you'd be working here with me that I didn't bother to make sure you'd be happy doing that."

Rose went and hugged her. "It's alright, Mrs. Weasley," she told her. "I just need a few more years of school before I'll know enough to help you. Karen seems really nice, and I like what she's trying to do."

Hermione smiled and stood up. "Then I'm sure you will have fun working with her. Let's go tell Isabelle you've been transferred, and that we're going home early. Then we can go hang out with your brother for the rest of the afternoon," she suggested.

With her summer job suddenly looking much more promising, Rose found that the rest of her week, and the summer was going to turn out great after all. She threw herself into her new work, and having fun with that made everything else she was doing seem that much better too, now that when she was playing Qudditch, or hanging out with Matt and the other kids she was no longer stressed about work.

The kids were settling in to their jobs, taking their next steps in the process of growing up, and finding out that you could still have fun doing that.

Aaron and Arianna moved into their new house, and had a small party on the Saturday night to celebrate. They'd be starting Canons training camp on Monday, and were excited about getting paid to do something they loved to do anyway and had been doing for years for free! Even without having their annual trip to Marauders Paradise to look forward to, the fun just seemed to be getting started for all of them.


	54. A Hot, Hot Summer

Chapter Fifty-Four – A Hot, Hot Summer

Arianna was having a long, hot soak in her bathtub, in her bathroom, in her house – well, hers and Aaron's anyway. It was Monday afternoon, and she'd just finished her first day at Canons training camp, and it had been both the most fun she'd ever had, and the hardest she'd ever worked at Quidditch in her life. The bath was to help ease the soreness in what felt like every muscle in her body.

When she finally got out of the tub, got dressed and went into the kitchen, Aaron was already there, and had started the cooking.

"You seem to be moving around better than I am," she told him, coming to the counter to start helping out.

"I'm faking it," he told her with a smile. "If I stop moving, I probably won't get going again for a day or two."

They made themselves a light meal, and then, after eating, cleaned up before James and Tracey arrived. Their friends were coming to spend the evening with them, and hear all about their first day at work.

Tracey got to the house first, and found both Aaron and Arianna sitting, unmoving, on the sofas in the sitting room.

"Tough day?" she asked Aaron, coming over to kiss him.

He winced slightly when she hugged him too. "Yeah. And if those guys and girl are the 'B' team, Arianna and I are definitely not ready to compete with the 'A' team yet.

Arianna smiled at her brother. "We did pretty well, if you ask me. Once we get in better shape, I think we'll be at least as good as anyone else there."

James came in then, carrying a small bag, which he handed to Arianna.

"Dad sent this along. He said it'll help, and that you should use it just before going to bed."

Arianna opened the bag and found two jars of some kind of cream. "What is it?" she asked James.

He shrugged. "I have no idea, but he said it'll help you with the sore muscles.

Aaron laughed. "Toss one over, sis," he said. "If I can't use it until bedtime, I'm thinking it's bedtime right now."

Tracey, James, and Arianna all laughed with him. "We'll let you go to bed early," Tracey promised him, "but not quite yet. I want to hear all about your day, and have a little quality cuddling time with you."

Aaron grinned at her. "I'm feeling better already!"

Tracey and James spent the next couple of hours hearing about what it was like going through a day in training camp for a professional Quidditch team, and James told them all about some of the things that he was working on with George and Lee for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Tracey had been working the last couple of summers at a store in the Mall, and was back there again. It wasn't as exciting a job as playing Quidditch, or being a junior joke inventor, but she got to spend her day playing dressup with her customers, and got an employee discount on her own clothes, so what more could a girl want?

Around nine o'clock, Tracey helped Aaron to his feet and led him to his bedroom, planning on helping him with applying the cream that Harry had sent before going home. When they were gone, Arianna looked at James expectantly.

"Aren't you going to help me do the same?" she asked him. "You could rub that cream into my back for me before you head home."

James stared at her. "I can't do that!" he said. "You'd have to take your shirt off!"

Arianna laughed, and slowly stood up, her muscles now really getting stiff. "Seeing me in my bra isn't any different than seeing me in a two piece swimsuit. I think you can learn to deal with it." She grinned at him. "Just tell yourself you're taking one for the team – working with the Canons all summer is going to make our team better at school, but not if I'm too sore to play."

James stood up and grinned too. "Well, if it's for the team, how could I possibly refuse?"

Arianna was soon laying on her stomach, on her king size bed, and James was gently rubbing the amazing cream onto her back and shoulders.

"That feels so wonderful," she told him in a husky, dreamy sounding voice. "If that joke inventor thing doesn't work out, you could do great as a massage therapist."

James smiled, though she wouldn't see him doing it. "I don't think it'd be quite the same with anyone else," he told her quietly. "I could get used to doing this for you, though."

She murmured something that he didn't catch, but it hadn't seemed like much more than a contented purr, so he continued to slowly knead the cream into her sore muscles. He was almost done her back before she spoke again.

"James? Can you rub that stuff into my legs too, please?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat. She might think there wasn't any difference between a swimsuit, and shorts and a bra, but he had some fairly, um, hard, empirical evidence that she was wrong about that.

"Sure," he managed to whisper.

Scooping up some more of the cream, he rubbed it into her legs, feeling the tense muscles relax under his gentle caress. When he was done, he returned to her back, and after only a few more minutes, heard her even, soft breathing, and knew that she'd fallen asleep. He put the lid back on the jar, went intot he bathroom to wash his hands, then tucked her covers around her shoulders, kissed her cheek, and left the room, closing the door soundlessly behind him.

He went into the siiting room, and picked up the glasses they'd used, and took them into the kitchen, where he washed them and put them away. Tracey must have heard him, because she came out of Aaron's room and joined him in the kitchen.

"Is she asleep now?" Tracey asked him. James nodded.

"So is Aaron. What are you going to do now?"

James laughed. "Probably go home and take a very cold shower."

Tracey laughed. "At least I won't be the only one," she told him. "They'll probably both be out all night now, so why don't we get out of here and let them sleep."

James agreed, and they both left, then took the TransPortal to their respective homes.

"How are they doing?" Harry asked James when he walked into the sitting room.

"They're asleep," he told his Mum and Dad, who were snuggled on the sofa together. He definitely didn't want to think about snuggling at the moment.

"Did you give them the jars of cream?" Ginny asked.

He nodded. "Yes, and Tracey and I were recruited to assist with application." He looked at his father and smiled. "You should have warned me of the potential effects that applying that stuff would have on the masseuse," he told Harry.

Giving his mother a kiss, James turned to leave and go up to his room. "Goodnight," he said over his shoulder as he left. "I'm going to go have a cold shower, then go to bed and lay awake all night staring at the ceiling."

Harry and Ginny laughed. "Good night, James," Ginny called to his retreating back. "I love you."

He waved back to her as he left, and they could hear him climb the stairs, and then a few minutes later, hear his shower turn on.

"I guess we're doing alright with them so far," Harry told her as she snuggled back down in his arms.

Ginny nodded. "That massage idea sounds really great, though." She looked up at him impishly. "And if you give me that massage, I promise that your night will definitely _not_ end with a cold shower,"

Harry laughed, and scooped her up off of the couch, and carried her upstairs. Fortunately, James was in the shower already, and didn't hear his mother's laughter as Harry nibbled her neck while he carried her. Years later, Ginny would find out from Arianna that James had inherited Harry's magic hands when it came to massages. Tonight, though, she just enjoyed an amazing massage of her own, and then happily for both of them, kept her promise.

During the rest of July, massages weren't the only thing heating things up. The temperature was hitting record highs almost every day. Nearly every part of daily life was affected – even for Witches and Wizards. Keeping things cool at the Institute, at the Ministry of Magic, and everywhere else took enormous effort. Nobody wanted to spend much time outside during the hottest parts of the day.

It was under those extreme conditions that Ginny and Lily put their prototype heating and cooling system to the test – first at the Institute, and then at the cottage and a few dozen other homes of friends and family. They worked perfectly, and Mandy ordered them directly into production. The Phoenix Foundation got the first large-purpose units off of the line, for their residences in areas of the world that were dealing with the above average hot spell. When the first retail models hit the stores, they sold as fast as the Institute could make them. Luna didn't have a marketing plan this time – they just put them in stores, and watched them go right back out again.

While Lily had been helping her mother to revolutionize the way that the Wizarding World would heat and cool their buildings from now on, Rose and Karen were playing – experimenting – with glass. Karen was probably just a little older than Rose's own grandparents, and despite their age difference, they seemed to make a pretty good team.

By the end of July, in just a few short weeks, they'd managed to create a small amount of glass with the tensile strength of hardened steel, but it had taken more magical power to accomplish than would be possible for large-scale production.

"Well, the good news is we've shown that it _can _be done," Karen had told Rose. "But taking that much magic to make the stuff won't work."

Rose had agreed, but she still wasn't convinced that they had quite found the best way to do it yet.

"I get the feeling we need to be thinking smaller, not bigger," Rose suggested.

Karen smiled. "You want to use this to make jewellery or to create glass money?"

Rose laughed. "Anything is possible, I guess, but no not that. I was thinking that instead of changing the full piece of glass after it's already been made, that we need to be instead making something that's smaller that can change the glass while it's made."

Karen thought about that as Rose continued.

"It's like some of my Uncle George's candy Wheezes. It only takes a few grams of the material in his candies to affect upwards of one hundred or more kilograms of matter – in his case, usually people. They do have other examples though – like their portable swamps."

Karen was nodding now. "Then we could bond that to the glass somehow during the manufacturing process itself."

"Or even a gas, instead of a liquid or solid catalyst," Rose suggested. "That way it'd permeate the glass completely as it's being made. Then it could also work not just with things like glass windows or making a glass version of steel beams, but could also be used in the glass blowing process. How cool would it be to have unbreakable bottles or if some of the amazing art those glassmakers can create could never get damaged?"

Karen gave Rose a big hug. "That's brilliant, Rose!"

They sat down together right then, and got to work right away. During those last days of July, the two Witches continued having fun, and somehow while doing that, also managed to close in on a solution for Karen's project.

While Rose had been happily up to her ears in glass, Al was over in the gaming division working away on the VirtualAstronomer. By the last week of July, he'd been a big part of the reason that the program got completed, and was now in final testing by the student game testers.

He'd been putting in a lot of hours during those weeks, and it was usually before or after the rest of the team was at the lab that certain leaps in development had happened. It had even become a bit of a joke that elves must be coming in at night and doing their work for them.

Al knew it was no such thing – he could just work faster when the others weren't there. When they were, he was forced to hold back from putting his full abilities to use. Now, they were done, and the VirtualAstronomer would be able to help students learn Astronomy all the way from first year classes through to their NEWT level classes.

On the last Friday of July, Al wandered over to the lab that Rose and Karen worked in, thinking that he and Rose could go for lunch together. When he got there, she was in an animated discussion with Karen, and when he walked in they both stopped and welcomed him.

"What's got the two of you so excited?" he asked.

"We're working on creating a gas that we can use to make the glass," Rose told him. "We think we have the formula right, but it's not working. We're trying to figure out why."

Al nodded. "Can I see it?" he asked.

Rose handed him a few sheets of parchment, and he read them over carefully. He and Rose were nearly even when it came to Potions, and what they'd developed was basically a potion, even if it would be a gas instead of a liquid. He was pretty sure that he saw what their problem was, though.

"Do you think your Mum could come over here?" he asked Rose. "I'd like her, and maybe Isabelle to check this over before I say something and find out I'm wrong."

"I'll go ask her," Rose told him, and left the lab.

While she was gone, Al talked with Karen.

"What's your security level here?" he asked her. There were five clearance levels at the Institute now, ranging from employees working in production, through to the level five clearances that the senior managers and researchers had.

"Level three," she told him. "Why?"

He smiled. "If I'm right, you're going to need a promotion."

Karen laughed. "I'm a little long in the tooth for career advancement," she told him with a grin.

Rose came back with both Hermione and Isabelle in tow. Both women looked at Al inquiringly.

"What's up, Al? Got bored with Astromony, and decided to branch out?" Isabelle teased.

"We're finished with that, and I'd actually stopped by to ask Rose if she wanted to go out for lunch, but then she let me take a look at this," he said, indicating the parchments in his hand. "Could you look at it and see if the problem is what I think it is? It looks exactly the same as something else I believe you've dealt with before."

Hermione smiled, and Al handed her the parchments, which she and Isabelle quickly read over. When they looked up, Hermione's eyes were alight.

"You are right," she told him. "How'd you know?"

He laughed. "I have a unique point of view to look at it from, so I was pretty sure what was happening."

Hermione laughed, but the other two women, and Rose, looked at him blankly.

"I'm all done with the Astronomy, Mrs. Weasley," Al told her. "This looks like something that would be fun, and I'd get to work with Rose for the rest of the summer." He looked over at Karen and smiled.

"If you let me come and play with Rose and Karen, though," he continued, "our project manager is going to find out a few things that she should probably have a higher security clearance for."

Hermione nodded. "Why don't you and Rose go ahead and have that lunch, and by the time you get back, I'll have taken care of that issue. Anything else?"

Al laughed. "Tell Mandy – sorry, Mrs. Boot - to put some money aside for next year's budget. When this works, Karen is going to need a really big bonus."

Rose and Al took the TransPortal into Chudley and went to the diner that was their favourite place to go for lunch when they went out instead of just eating at the cafeteria at the Institute.

"So what did you find in the formula?" Rose asked him.

"You created it, didn't you?" he questioned in return, instead of answering her question.

She smiled and nodded. "Most of it. Was it that obvious?"

He grinned back at her. "Yeah, and it's really brilliant, too. The only thing that wasn't quite right was the magic power application was off by a factor of one hundred."

She stared at him in astonishment. "Are you sure? Never mind – that's what you'd wanted Mum and Isabelle to check."

Al nodded, and they paused while their orders were taken and drinks were delivered.

"But that means it's not going to work," she said, looking crushed. "I thought we finally had the answer."

"You do," he told her. "That's where I'll be able to come in handy as part of your little team."

Rose smiled at him. "How will you do that?"

He laughed. "That, my dear cousin, will have to wait until we get back to the lab."

Rose tried to grumble about it, but when that didn't work, she gave up and they had a pleasant lunch together, then hurried back to the lab. Karen was waiting there for them, and she smiled when they came in.

"So can you explain to me how I managed to not only move up a couple of security levels, but also got a nice raise out of the deal without having a clue what I did to deserve it?"

Rose laughed. "Apparently Al's going to have to tell both of us, since I couldn't get much out of him at lunch."

Al grinned at them. "What the two of you did was create a really awesome process. All you need now is the magical power to make it happen."

He looked at Rose. "We already talked about your formula needing one hundred times more magical power to make it work." Rose nodded, and Karen stared at him open-mouthed.

"That's what you were having Hermione check? How'd we miss that?"

"It's something that's been run in to here at the lab before," he told her. "There can be a multiplying effect with some magic – basically the stronger something gets, the exponentially greater the power requirement is to make that happen."

"How would you know about that?" Rose asked him.

He smiled at his cousin, but then looked at Karen. "Are you familiar with the Impervious Totalis spell?" he asked her.

Karen nodded. "It's a legend around here - one of Hermione's first big inventions.

Al nodded. "Did you know that when it was first developed that only one person could actually perform it?"

Karen shook her head. "I was under the impression that it took a team of Witches and Wizards to actually make that spell work."

Shaking his head 'no', Al laughed. "Here's where we get into the reason for that promotion," he said with a smile.

"Aunt Hermione had problems with that spell at first because of this exponential power factor. She was sure it had been designed correctly, but it wasn't until she had my father try to perform it that she'd found out that it hadn't worked simply because none of the Witches or Wizards in the lab had the magical power to make it work."

Karen smiled at him encouragingly, and nodded that he should continue.

"This is basically the same thing, except that instead of making the strongest magical shield ever created, you're significantly increasing the strength of glass."

"And you think that the process can still work and be cost effective too?" Karen suggested, not really making it a question, but more of a statement.

Al nodded. "I can help you with it at first, then when we have it all worked out, Aunt Hermione and Isabelle can help you adapt the process to work using a team and a focus wizard."

Karen and Rose both were staring at him now.

"Have you been holding out on me cousin?" Rose asked him.

He laughed. "Definitely." His green eyes sparkled as he watched her face. "Don't be mad at me. I have to be very careful about letting people know exactly what I'm able to do. We can talk about that some other time, though. Why don't we get to work, and I think we could probably have at least a small sample of your formula ready before we go home for the weekend – and maybe even a sample piece of glass."

Ginny finally tracked Al down after finding that he wasn't over in the gaming division when she was getting ready to go home for the day, and went to pick him up. He, Rose, and Karen didn't even notice when she walked into the lab. They had their heads stuck together, and were looking over something on the worktable.

"Here you are!" she said to Al, startling all three of them. "It wasn't until I asked your Aunt if she'd seen you that I found out where you were."

Al smiled up at her. "I'm sorry. I should've sent you a message. I've been reassigned."

"So I've heard. And it looks like you're having fun, too."

Al nodded, and held out a piece of glass to her. "What do you think?"

Ginny looked at it, then back at him. "It's very nice, dear, but I've seen glass before."

Karen laughed and handed her a hammer. "Not like this piece. Try to break it."

Ginny smiled at the woman, took the hammer, and proceeded to hit the piece of glass with it. Nothing happened. She picked the glass up again and looked at it more carefully. There wasn't even a scratch on the surface where she'd struck it with the hammer.

"You did it?" she breathed, impressed.

Karen nodded. "Thanks to these two. We've still got a lot of work to do, but with their help the rest of the summer, and then some design help in the fall making it so that a team can handle what Al here was able to pull off by himself, we're going to have a really awesome new product for the Institute."

Ginny put the glass down on the table again, and gave Al and Rose hugs.

"Sounds like you've all had a great afternoon. If you're done, though, did you too happen to remember that today is Harry's fortieth birthday? That there's a surprise dinner and dance for him at your house, Rose?" She looked at her watch. "In about an hour?"

Rose jumped off of the stool she was on and gave Karen a hug. "I gotta run! I was supposed to be home an hour ago! I'll see you on Monday, Karen."

She practically ran out of the door, and Karen laughed as she too stood up.

"You and Hermione have a couple of amazing kids," she told Ginny. "Even an old gal like me can't help getting excited working around them – even if they are running circles around me."

Al smiled and gave her a hug. "I think you're brilliant," he told her. "I'm just here for the magical muscle, and while it's true that Rose has probably taken your research to a new level, you're the one that came up with the concept, and did all the really hard work."

Karen smiled. "You think so?"

He nodded. "I know it. Mum would agree too. What was harder to do? Invent the Translocator from scratch when there'd never been anything like it before, or making the 3D GameWizard after the original game system had already existed."

Ginny nodded. "He's right, Karen. What you've done here is really special."

Karen laughed. "Then I'll take that raise, go home, and celebrate by letting my husband take me out on a date."

Ginny laughed. "That sounds like a great idea." She looked at Al. "And we have to get going too, or we'll be late getting your father to his party on time."

The party at Ron and Hermione's for Harry was a great way to continue what had been a pretty good day for him. His morning had started with finding forty small pink hippogriffs scattered around his front yard with a Happy 40th Birthday sign announcing his age to the world. (Muggles saw pink flamingos)

Ginny and the kids had gotten him a beautiful rocking chair which they'd certainly meant as a joke, but that he'd found out was comfortable and worked very well to rock Natalie's baby James to sleep in.

He'd taken Carolyn, Brianna, Frederica, and their three charges out for lunch, and then wandered the mall for an hour or so until it was nap time for Kira, Timothy, and James.

While they'd been at the Mall, they'd stopped in to the BroomCloset, where they took a look at the brand new Lightningbolt, the broom that was finally replacing the now more than twenty-five year old Firebolt. He made the store manager's year when he ordered an even dozen of them as a birthday present to himself, and told the happy Wizard that he'd probably be ordering a few more later in the summer or early in the fall.

The man had only had six in stock, so Harry took four of them with him, and was promised that the other eight would be delivered within a week.

Those brooms were the talk of the party, when he'd brought two of them with him to give to Aaron and Arianna so they'd have them for work on Monday.

Ron, of course, had read all about them.

"These things can go naught to one-sixty in eight seconds," he told them as he sat at a table admiring one of them. Top speed is at least two-twenty."

He looked up from the broom to Harry. "Did you order one for me too?" he joked.

Harry laughed. "No, but the ones for Rose and Hugo will arrive next week. Call it a late birthday present for her, and and early birthday present for him."

"Well, even if you'll be helping Ravenclaw, at least Gryffindor will have the same advantage," Ron told him. "So assuming you kept one of them for your own birthday present, why pick up the fourth one today?"

Harry smiled. "Just in case there's a delay in getting the rest of them, I want to make sure that I have one for Ginny's birthday."

"So much for birthday surprises," she said, walking up and leaning over to give Harry a kiss.

He laughed and hugged her. "Oh, that isn't the surprise – I set the surprise up ages ago."

Ginny grinned at him. "I'll see what I can do later to get you to tell me," she told him, kissing him again.

"I'm sure it'll be fun letting you try."

Ron groaned. "Oi, cut it out, you two, I'm losing my appetite."

"You just ate," Ginny pointed out.

"That was over an hour ago."

Ginny laughed. "Hermione ought to make you her next project at the Institute. If she and Isabelle could figure out how to bottle your metabolism, they'd make another fortune from all of the Witches and Wizards that would jump at the chance to be able to eat like you can without gaining an ounce."

Harry and Ron laughed.

"You don't want that, Ginny," Harry told her. "Think of the food shortage that would cause, if everyone could suddenly eat four times as much as they do now!"

Harry's birthday party had given the kids a chance to get together for a rare night of just hanging out together. Al and Lily still were having the Ravenclaw cousins, and Matt over to practice twice a week, but between work and everything else they were all doing, they hadn't had that many chances to spend a fun night together.

Brianna would go over to spend a night or weekend day with Scorpius, Nick, and Allie, and Scorpius came over to the cottage sometimes to do something with Brianna, Al, and Carolyn, but they'd hardly all gotten together at the same time since just after the end of school.

"We hear that all three of you are the talk of the Institute this summer," Nick was telling Rose, Al, and Lily. "How are you liking being research superstars?"

Rose answered him. "It's highly over-rated, and it doesn't pay any better than your job."

Scorpius laughed. "That's true, but that's only because we can't convince Nick's Dad to pay us by the mile, or we'd make way more."

"You do that much running around?" Al asked him.

"What would you say, Nick? Fifteen miles a day, not including TransPortal trips?"

Nick nodded. "I'm on my second pair of shoes already."

"You don't seem to like it as much as Scorpius does," Lily told Nick, who nodded his agreement, smiling at his best mate.

"He seems to find the whole government thing fascinating, while I'm just in it for the money."

"Politics isn't all bad," Lily said, laughing.

"No," he agreed, "sometimes it goes from 'bad' to 'worse'."

The party went on well into the early hours of Saturday morning, and July's ending, and the beginning hours of August were spent in happy conversation, some dancing, and enjoying a wonderful time with their friends and family.

When Harry had told Ginny that he'd taken care of her birthday surprise ages ago, he'd actually been working on it for several months. He was making breakfast for them on the morning of her birthday, and she came downstairs looking like she'd taken a little extra effort to look even more beautiful than he thought she always did. The kids were already either in the kitchen eating, or had come and gone on their way to work.

He gave her a kiss and hug, and wished her a happy birthday, then sat her down for breakfast. When he didn't give her a present, but saw the kids were all grinning, she smiled back at them.

"Alright, what's up?" she asked them. Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily all giggled, but didn't say anything. "What? Is it a big secret?" she pressed them.

Lily answered. "Only for a little while longer, Mum."

Ginny gave up, and quickly ate her breakfast. "Well, since it looks like Al must've gone in early again, I guess it's just you and me left to get to the Institute," she told Lily. "Are you ready to go?"

Lily nodded. "Can we drive today?" she asked her mother. "It's an awfully nice day for it."

Ginny smiled at her daughter. She loved driving just as much as Lily did. "Sure sweetie. We're not in any real hurry."

Lily gave her a hug, and they went outside, where Ginny stopped abruptly when she was the sleekest, fastest-looking car she'd ever laid eyes on before.

"Happy Birthday, Mommy!" Lily shouted, hugging her mother before handing her a set of keys. "Are you having fun yet?"

Ginny grinned and hugged her back. "I think so, but what exactly is that?"

"It's a 2020 Lamborghini Gallardo Coupe," Harry told her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "And I'm guessing that when you're driving it you'll be needing to confound the Muggle police on a regular basis – not that they'd likely be able to catch you in it even if they tried."

Ginny turned her head so that she could kiss him. "It's the most amazing car I've ever seen."

"And it's supposed to be faster than your old car," Lily told her. "We should go find out on the way to work," she added suggestively. "Maybe Daddy could race us, and we could find out which is faster – a Lightningbolt, or your new car."

Harry and Ginny laughed. "I don't think we'll do that," Harry told her. "You two go have fun driving to work, though."

Ginny gave him a hug and another kiss, then he, Carolyn, and Brianna watched as the two girls pulled out of the driveway and took off down the road. They were out of sight in only a few seconds, and Harry turned to go back inside.

"I'm thinking she liked her present," Carolyn told Brianna conversationally as they went to follow him. "What do you think?"

Brianna grinned back at her friend as they walked with Harry. "I think Uncle Harry is going to start getting another round of complaints from all of the other husbands at the Institute when they find out about that present," she suggested.

Harry laughed at the two girl's banter. "Well, I think she deserves it, and I have a promise to keep, so too bad for them."

"What promise is that?" Carolyn asked curiously.

"I promised to make her happy for the rest of her life back on the day after the war ended."

Both girls grinned at him. "I'd say you're doing pretty good so far," Brianna told him.

After Ginny's birthday, the kids had another week and a half at work, then were taking the last week and a half of the summer off before they'd be leaving for school again on September first.

The Hogwarts letters came in, and the kids had all done very well. Lily of course, had a two-page letter to have enough room for the eighteen 'O's' for her second, third, and fourth year marks. She would continue to stay with the now third year class, and continuing to work at her own pace. Since she had already completed third and fourth year Arithmancy and Ancient Runes last year, she would be taking third year optional Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies.

Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius all had straight 'O's' too for their third year – even the Astronomy mark that only Al had been confident about. They were each continuing with their same classes for their fourth year.

Carolyn and Brianna had improved their marks from 'A's' and 'E's' to 'E's' and two 'O's' each, and for third year were both taking Care of Magical Creatures and Divination as their two optionals. They were also both thrilled to get their permission forms for Hogsmeade weekends – as was a surprised Lily, who hadn't known whether she'd have to wait until next year. Hugo was at first not all that happy with his 'A', four 'E's', and two 'O's' until James told him that his marks were almost exactly the same as his own had been in first year, and not to worry about it.

"We can't all be brainiacs," James had told him. "Some of us just have to be great Quidditch players, and good-looking instead."

James had continued to earn his usual 'E's' and three 'O's', and this year found a prefect's badge in his Hogwarts package. He tried to play it cool, but the rest of the family knew that he was really pleased to have made prefect, no matter how much he pretended to complain about all the extra work he'd have this year.

Aaron and Arianna had 'E's' and one 'O' each for their four subjects, and Tracey would be able to continue into her last year with all six of her classes, earning three 'E's', and three 'O's' in her sixth year classes. Aaron was once again team captain for the Gryffindor team.

Hermione, Isabelle, Ginny, and Karen had an end of summer lunch for their three summer lab assistants on the last Friday that they were working. Al and Rose had helped Karen have what Luna was already calling Glassalloy perfected, and Hermione and Isabelle were sure that with a few more months of work that they'd have everything ready so that a team of Witches and Wizards would be able to provide the magical power needed for the process. Ginny and Lily hadn't worked on anything specific after their big project had been completed in July and delivered to manufacturing, but they'd both had fun, and had gotten a few good ideas started.

There were similar lunches being held for Aaron and Arianna with the Canons, and for Nick and Scorpius with Percy, Arthur, and a few other employees from the Ministry. George and Lee took James out to celebrate a very productive summer, and lastly, Harry took the three girls, Kira, Timothy, and James to meet with Natalie and Mandy for lunch so that the two women could thank the girls for babysitting all summer.

Saturday was back to school shopping day. Since the kids were all getting older now, Harry took the books and supplies lists for all of them, and taking care of getting all of those supplies became his mission for the day, while everyone else worked getting fitted for robes, shopping for clothes, and anything else they would need for when they were back at Hogwarts.

During the last full week of August, James and Tracey spent almost all of their time with Aaron and Arianna – even staying over a couple of nights at their house. The Ravenclaw kids, as they seemed to be now referred to by most of the family, along with Allie, Matt, and Hugo all hung out together every day too. They'd have Quidditch practices every morning, and then go on daytrips together. In the evenings, they could be found, together, or in smaller groups, at the cottage, or at Nick and Scorpius' townhouse, or at Rose and Hugo's house.

On Friday, after lunch, they all went to spend the last weekend of the summer on the island. Nearly everyone in the family came for the weekend, and it was a last, great few days to spend together having fun and relaxing before the kids all went back to school the following Tuesday. They stayed until Monday morning island time, then left for home, and a last busy afternoon and evening of packing, and for some of the kids, saying goodbye to the people that wouldn't be seeing them off to the train in the morning.

Tuesday morning, Ginny said goodbye to James, Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna before going to work. Frederica had stayed overnight, and she was going with Harry to the station to see the kids off. They'd packed the car, and headed out on time, and reached the station with about twenty minutes to spare.

"You'll take him shopping and play with him when you have time, won't you?" Lily asked Frederica, who'd laughed.

"Of course. I don't know what he'll do next year when I start at Hogwarts too, though."

Lily grinned at her. "We'll have to figure out something then."

There were the usual hugs and kisses. Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey had gotten to the station before Harry and the kids had, and James quickly went with them, wanting a few minutes to get his things put away before he would have to go to the prefects car, and find out whatever it was the prefects did.

Grandma Weasley brought Rose and Hugo to the station, while Nick and Scorpius came with Penelope. With everyone there, a final round of goodbyes was all they had time for before the kids loaded up their luggage, and hopped onto the train.

Frederica was holding her Uncle Harry's hand as they watched the Hogwarts Express pull away from platform nine and three-quarters. She was sad to see her cousins and friends go, and excited about the fact that she'd be starting there herself next September.

The train was nearly out of sight when she squeezed Harry's hand and he looked down at her, a wistful smile on his face.

"Time to go?" he asked quietly.

She nodded and smiled back at him. "Come on, Uncle Harry. We can go do lunch, and then maybe spend the afternoon at the residence. There's always kids there that need cheering up on September first."

"There's one kid right here that needs cheering up," he told her, starting to walk with her. "Good thing that you're so good at doing that."

Molly and Penelope had been listening too, and had laughed. "Come on, Harry. We'll go have lunch with you, since there isn't much we'll get done at work before it's time to go eat anyway," Penelope told him. "Then we'll have to get back to work, and leave you in Frederica's capable care."

They did that, and by the end of the day, Harry was feeling better. Now he just needed to again figure out what to do with his time now that the kids were gone again for another school year. Ginny didn't bother to remind him that he'd said the same thing last year, and had ended up still being so busy that he hadn't needed to look for any extra things to do to stay busy.


	55. No Longer in the Game

Chapter Fifty-Five – No Longer in the Game

The trip on the Hogwarts Express had been uneventful, and there weren't any family members being sorted this year, so the sorting and feast had seemed a bit less exciting than in the past few years.

The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Marauders were all certainly having fun, there just wasn't anything extraordinary happening.

There was one thing that was going on that was puzzling for Al and the others, and that was the fact that it seemed like Rick Davies had been dodging them. He hadn't stopped in to see them on the train, and he'd sat down at the other end of the table from them at the feast. They hadn't seen him in the Common room either.

They were all sure that he was the captain of the Quidditch team this year, since Matt was the only other student from last year's team that would be fifth year or higher this year – and he hadn't gotten the job.

On Wednesday morning, they found out why. There was a crowd around the notice board in the Common room when they met to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast, and whatever they were all looking at was causing a huge commotion.

"What's going on? Nick asked one of kids that had been worming his way back out from the board.

"They've posted the Quidditch tryout notice – and it's only open to sixth and seventh year students this year!" The second year boy suddenly realized who he was talking to, and his eyes opened wide.

"That means that none of you will be on the team! What is our new captain thinking?"

Nick, Rose, Al, Scorpius, and Matt were all shocked. They'd played Quidditch with Rick for three years. Lily had been the best Seeker their house had ever had, and now that he was captain, Rick wasn't even going to give them a chance to make the team!

They didn't bother to wait to read the note, and instead went to the Great Hall where they walked right up to a nervous looking Rick.

"What are you doing, Rick?" Rose demanded. "Why are you restricting the tryouts to sixth and seventh year students, and not letting the rest of the Ravenclaws tryout?"

Rick looked uncomfortable, but he did at least face the angry Rose.

"There have been a lot of sixth and seventh year students that came to talk with me this summer," he told her. "They don't think it's fair that they haven't had the chance to play for the team – and I agreed. Now at least some of the senior students will get that chance to play before graduating."

Rose snorted. "They've always had the _chance _every year, Rick. It's not our fault if they aren't better players than we are. I didn't hear you complaining when you made the team in your third year."

"Well, maybe I shouldn't have," he told her. "I checked with Madame Hooch, and as captain, I can do this, and it's the way it's going to be. You'll all have the chance to play again in a couple of years after I graduate – and Matt can tryout next year again when he's a sixth year too."

Nick looked at Rick with something very close to contempt.

"I thought you were our friend – our teammate. No wonder you didn't want to train with us all summer." He turned and walked away without another word. He felt betrayed by the boy who had been his fellow Beater, but Rick had made his choices, and Nick knew that there was no point in making a scene.

"You're about to find out that some choices aren't worth the cost, Rick," Al told him seriously, then he, and the rest of their group left Rick with the smug looking group of his new friends who didn't even wait until they were out of earshot before they started talking trash about the students that until just over two months ago had been the same teammates that he'd celebrated a third straight Quidditch Cup win with.

"Well," Brianna said, trying to sound cheerful. "The good news is that Carolyn, Allie, and I get to have someone to cuddle with during those cold winter Quidditch matches."

Scorpius grinned at her, appreciating her attempt to cheer them up.

"Yeah," he said, "And we'll have loads of spare time now for hanging out with the girls," he told Nick.

The rest of them joined in, and soon they were all laughing at the increasingly outrageous suggestions about what they could do now that they didn't have all of the Quidditch practices and games this year.

Nick finally held up his hands in surrender.

"Enough already," he laughed. "I was good with the suggestions about extra snogging time, but when Lily starts suggesting learning new languages, or taking an extra optional subject, I've gotta draw the line! Besides, we're still going to practice Quidditch, folks. It may not be on a team, but I'm not going a whole year without playing at all."

Rose nodded. "Let's ask around later – we could probably find some more fifth year and lower students that'd be interested in just playing for fun a couple of days a week."

James was sitting with the rest of the Gryffindor Marauders at breakfast, and were discussing the big news story going around the school that was causing wildly varying reactions in the different houses. The Slytherins were gleeful, seeing a chance to play against a Ravenclaw team that didn't have it's best players. Hufflepuff students couldn't understand why anyone would put a certain group of students ahead of what was best for their house or team.

The sixth and seventh year Ravenclaws were all excited, but there was also some discomfort that went with getting a chance to play at the expense of their younger – and admittedly better – fellow Ravenclaws. In Gryffindor, they were mostly feeling ripped off that they weren't going to get a chance at a rematch against the members of the team that beat them last year.

"I can't believe that Davies is that stupid," Tracey told the others. "Why would any captain choose to make it so that the best players in their house can't play on the team?"

"His so-called buddies talked him into it would be my guess," Aaron told her. "Too bad that he just screwed the only real friends he had. If those guys really cared about him – and about their own house, they wouldn't be so selfish."

James nodded. "This really sucks, too – I really wanted to get a win against Al and the others before you guys graduated, and now we're not getting the chance."

Arianna gave him a hug. "Then we'll just have to work really hard and let them know just how mad we are about that when we play Rick and his new team, won't we?"

James grinned. "Funny, I'm suddenly feeling much better about the whole situation now!"

"When Arianna and I put in our new training program, you won't," Aaron promised with a grin. "We learned a lot from Uncle Ron this summer, and we're going to put what we learned to good use."

James grinned right back. "We haven't won the Cup since my first year. I'll do whatever it takes, mate."

After breakfast, the schedules were handed out, and the students filed out, starting with the first years, and ending with the seventh year students.

The first day of classes was always exciting, getting back to learning new things about magic. Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily were all excited about the coming year, and the optional classes they were going to be taking.

Their very first class of the year was Care of Magical Creatures, with Professor Hagrid, and so when they left the Great Hall, they went with the other third year students that were taking the class.

Hagrid had greeted them, checked the class list, and gotten straight to work. Lily, to none of the students surprise, earned twenty-five points for Ravenclaw in that first class of the year, and made Hagrid very happy. He'd been disappointed that Al hadn't taken his class. James was one of his best students, but seeing Lily was just like going back to the good old days with Harry, Ginny, and the others. It wasn't the same, because these kids weren't his friends like their parents had been, but he supposed if it hadn't been for the war, things probably would have been a lot different back then too.

While Lily was taking Care of Magical Creatures for the first time, and so had earned points for her house in that first class, when they got to Potions, and then Herbology, she started working at the start of fourth year curriculum while her fellow third years were taught their first third year lesson by Professors Slughorn and Longbottom. She'd gotten used to working like this, and so she just did the same as she'd done for most of last year – sit at one of the tables at the back of the classroom – or greenhouse, and work. That meant that in the seven core classes she no longer earned lots of points for her house, but it was at least a compromise that worked for everyone.

That night, the first official meeting of the New Marauders was held. They'd already found out that there were several bullies out working the halls – probably testing to see if TNM might possibly have finally graduated. Those bullies had been thinking that considering how many years TNM had been around now, that whoever it had been almost certainly must have graduated – even at that, it had meant that TNM had started out as a fifth year student or students.

With Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey all in their last year, they made some changes this year. Carolyn and Brianna would work with Arianna and Tracey this year with the mentoring volunteers so that they could be ready to take that over next year. Matt joined James' group of enforcers to be Aaron's replacement. They'd all continue to search for kids that needed help, and Rose, Al, Nick, and Scorpius would continue to coordinate all of the information for the group.

"I guess that covers everything," James told everyone. "The only other thing I want to do is convey my condolences to the Ravenclaw Quidditch team for what Gryffindor is going to do to them for not giving our friends and family a chance to play this year."

Nick laughed. "I know I'm supposed to support my House team to the end, but as long as this doesn't go any farther than this room, I have to admit that I wouldn't be all that upset if that happened."

They all laughed. "Give it a while," Allie suggested to him gently. "You won't be mad at him forever, and he might really think he's doing the right thing."

Nick gave her a hug. "I could live with this a lot easier if I thought that was true – except he looked so embarrassed about telling us that it was obvious he was just doing it to look cool around his new mates."

"Ravenclaw's loss is our gain," Aaron told them with a grin. "I even got the first tryout time slot this year. Rick must've forgotten all about having to book it with Madame Hooch – he got the last spot on Saturday – three-thirty in the afternoon."

"We saw," Rose said. "We're going to go to it and spectate. We're thinking it might be a lot of fun to watch."

"Can we come?" James asked, grinning. "I wouldn't mind seeing that."

Al grinned at his brother. "Sorry, bro, tryouts are closed – the only way you'd get to watch would be if you were _invisible_," he said, stressing the word carefully.

James laughed. "Oh well, then I guess I'm out of luck."

They exchanged hugs, then left for their respective Common rooms to get started on their homework. Through Thursday and Friday, they all had at least one class in each of their subjects. For James and the other Gryffindor Quidditch players, all of the excitement surrounded the upcoming tryouts. The Ravenclaw Marauders, on the other hand, were all still definitely down because they wouldn't be playing this year.

Some of the Hogwarts students, maybe a lot of them might have thought that the things that Al and the others were saying sounded like a bunch of spoiled brats who weren't getting to play and were having a temper tantrum about it.

They might think that, except that none of them ever said a word about what Rick was doing to anyone outside of their close-knit little group. To everyone else, they basically ignored the whole thing. They wouldn't talk about it, never said a bad word about Rick in public, and certainly never showed anything but support for their House with the students from the other Houses.

Saturday morning, Al and Carolyn stopped by the Gryffindor table to wish James and the others good luck at tryouts before going to have breakfast.

"Try not to embarrass all of the other players with those new brooms of yours," Al told them with a smile.

"We won't be trying to," James told him. "That doesn't mean that we won't, though."

Carolyn smiled at him. "You're a prefect, now, James. You're supposed to lead by example."

He laughed. "I will – the 'always do your very best in everything you do' example."

Aaron, Arianna, James, and Hugo were all on the Quidditch pitch fifteen minutes before tryouts were to start.

"Why don't you all do me a favour, and go fly around on your Lightningbolts until just before practice – and really push them," Aaron suggested.

"Are you looking to save some time by discouraging the wannabes?" Arianna asked him with a grin.

James laughed. "Then let's do it. It's really rather irritating to deal with the kids that always come out to tryouts even when they don't know how to fly. You never know, it might actually work."

Arianna led them on a ten minute long flying warmup that would have made more than half of the kids that had come to tryout crash on the first hard turn, and probably have quite a few of them sick from the vertigo. They were all smiling when they landed again, and noticed that more than twenty kids that had come with brooms and decided to go sit in the stands with the other Gryffindor spectators who'd come to watch the tryouts.

Aaron brought the remaining seventy-five or eighty kids together, and had them do the flying test, which weeded out forty-seven of them, and left Aaron with a manageable thirty students, including last year's team, plus himself.

Aaron was always open to the possibility of getting better players for the team, but this year there wasn't any players that were better than the members of last year's team. If anything, they'd all increased the gap over the summer. He wasn't surprised that Arianna was so much better after a summer working with the Canons, but it was nice to see that Jeremy, and their two Beaters had also improved.

So his hardest job ended up being putting together the practice team. Since there was such a big difference in the abilities of the two groups of players, he thought this might end up being their weakest link – having a practice team that was a lot less talented than the house team might just make it harder to keep themselves challenged all year.

They were talking about that on the way back to the school.

"What do you think Al and the others would say if we suggested to them that we play against them once a week?" Arianna asked James, Aaron, and Hugo. "Do you think they'd want to, or would it be like helping the enemy?"

Hugo thought about that. "We could just tell them that our team is going to have a play night for one of our practices so that we keep it fun," he suggested.

Arianna gave him a hug. "You should think about a career in politics," she suggested.

Hugo laughed. "What do you think coaching is? Keep the players happy, keep the bosses and owners happy, keep the media happy, and mostly, keep the fans happy."

"Then we're going to have some very happy fans this year," Aaron predicted.

They left it up to Hugo to ask Rose and the others at lunch if they'd be interested in a play game with the Gryffindor team once a week, and it only took them a minute to decide that they'd love to, and set it up for the after-school Thursday afternoon practice time that Aaron had already reserved for the year.

When the Ravenclaw Marauders were studying in a classroom after lunch, they talked about why Hugo had asked them to do that.

"My first thought was that they were doing it because they felt sorry for us," Rose told them. "Then it occurred to me that with their Lightningbolts, it's possible that they're worried that their practice team won't give them enough competition."

Al nodded that he agreed with her assessment.

"We probably will help them some," he told them. "If it's the only way we can play and have fun, though, then I still want to do it – and when we do get the chance to play for our team again, it'll make us that much better a group of players."

They left it at that, and got to work on their studies, wrapping up in time to walk out to the Quidditch pitch so they could sit and watch the tryouts.

There was a big turnout of sixth and seventh year students, all of them hopeful that without the younger team players from the last few years that they'd have a chance to finally play for their House. There was an even bigger turnout of the younger students who wanted to watch.

Rick called the students together, and began the tryouts.

"Thank-you all for coming," he told everyone. "Since we only have sixth and seventh year students, I think we can skip the normal flying test, since I'm sure that at our ages we can all fly competently."

He looked around at his fellow senior students and smiled. "I'd like to start with Keeper tryouts, then we'll do Seeker, Chasers, and finally, my personal favourite – Beaters."

There was a scattering of laughter at that, and then he got things under way.

"What the heck is he doing?" Rose whispered to Al. "He's choosing a Keeper before he even has his best Chasers to test them against!"

Al nodded. "Or any Beaters to test the Chasers for their ability to dodge bludgers. The only way doing any of that would make sense would be if you had last year's players testing your prospects."

They watched as Rick picked out three of his buddies to be the Chasers that would test the Keepers. Six students stepped forward to try out for the spot. The Witch who had been the Keeper on Al's practice team last season stopped all six of her shots, and stood confidently on the pitch as the next four boys stopped one, three, four, and zero shots. They all saw the last boy wink at Rick, who'd nodded, and they watched as he 'stopped' all of the shots against him. What most students probably didn't know, but Rose and the others saw clearly was that not a single shot put to him would have gone in even if he'd missed them.

"They're cheating!" Scorpius said, shocked.

When the boy returned to the ground, Rick made a show of trying to decide which player to pick, then picked his friend.

When he then offered the Witch the practice team spot she laughed right in his face.

"Forget it, Davies. At least last year when I didn't make the team I knew it was because Malfoy was the better Keeper. If I'd known this tryout was just a farce and you did this so you could have your buddies on the team with you, I wouldn't have wasted my time. I expected a fellow Ravenclaw to have more honour than that. Everyone here knows that your buddy didn't face a single real scoring attempt." She turned around angrily and stormed away, muttering some very unflattering things about Rick as she left.

"I think she was holding back, what do you think?" Nick suggested in a whisper, getting a chorus of grins back in response.

Rick shrugged her little tirade off, and had no problems getting the Keeper that hadn't stopped a shot to agree to be the practice team Keeper after the three boys that had been next best refused the backup position too, and had left the pitch together.

There were four students trying out for Seeker, and after forty-five minutes, none of them had caught the snitch, so Rick again picked his buddy from among the group.

"Do you think he knows that he has to return that snitch with the set when he's done?" Lily asked sweetly, as she easily followed it's path all over the pitch.

The others couldn't help laughing softly at that, which had earned them a suspicious look from Rick, but since they didn't appear to be laughing at him, he went back to the tryouts.

"I bet he didn't think that the reason the Seeker spot is normally done last is so that you don't keep everyone else waiting like this," Matt told them.

"If he's filling the whole team with his mates, they won't care," Rose answered him. "We'll know for sure now that he's doing the Chaser tryout. There are at least two boys waiting to try out that are at least fairly decent, even if they're not as good as we are."

While they'd been talking, two of the four Seekers that had tried out had stormed off of the field, and the remaining one, who'd barely been able to keep from falling off of his broom had become the practice team Seeker.

"Nice choice, that," Lily had said, giggling.

There were eighteen students trying for the three Chaser positions. This is where the whole thing really got ugly for Rick. With their new Keeper in goal, he first returned the favour to Rick's, and his, three buddies, by giving them each three easy goals – basically not even attempting defend anything besides the centre hoop.

He might have managed to get away with that, and say that he'd just been faked out, but then six of the remaining fifteen contenders also scored on all three shots, and the other nine scored on two out of three.

"That certainly proved what a great Keeper they've got this year," Scorpius had told the others with a satisfied grin.

There was nearly a riot when Rick picked his three buddies, and then, everyone that was still there knew that the fix had been in all along. Even a novice Quidditch fan couldn't have missed what had just happened, and the kids that had come to watch started to get up and leave, most of them looking very angry.

Rick shouted down his fellow Ravenclaws. "The captain's decision is final! Part of choosing a team is getting players together that can work as a team. All of you are just showing me that you wouldn't fit in on my team."

"Of course not," one of the other boys shot back. "We actually care about our fellow Ravenclaws, and wouldn't cheat them like you're doing. All of your platitudes about wanting to give the sixth and seventh years a fair chance was as much a load of Hippogriff dung as the load you gave to the younger students. This was never about giving the sixth and seventh years a chance to play – it was about you getting your mates on the team, no matter how lousy they play! You sold your House out, you selfish bunch of gits!"

The rest of the students all left the field, with Rick shouting after them. "Any three of you that want to be on the practice team, stay here until after Beater tryouts!" Not one of them did.

"I'd say that went rather badly for him," Nick said. They watched as the few remaining students that had come to watch the tryout get up and leave too, except for the Marauders, and a couple of the new team's girlfriends, who looked like they wished they could figure out a way to leave without offending their boyfriends.

When Rick turned back around from shouting at the retreating backs of the Chaser candidates, he went to call for the Beater tryouts, and realized that nobody else had stayed.

"I guess he only has five friends now," Matt suggested slyly.

Rick looked at the only two practice team players that he had. "Either one of you want to tryout for Beater?" he asked the two boys. The Keeper that hadn't saved anything raised his hand, and the backup Seeker did not, looking relieved.

"I guess that decides that, then. Welcome to the team." He looked at the other boy. "Since we seem to have a practice team of one, I guess we just won't be having one at all this season. You can go too, but thanks for coming and trying out." The boy didn't seem too disappointed, especially after what he'd seen happen with the other Ravenclaws, and left the pitch actually looking happy that he wasn't going to be a part of this new team.

"Fun's over," Al said. "Let's get out of here."

Lily grinned at him. "Do we have too? I'd still like to see him try to catch the snitch."

The others all laughed again, and Rick scowled at them. "Tryoout is over," he told them gruffly. "This is a closed team meeting."

Lily smiled at him. "We were on our way out."

Suddenly, she jumped up into the air, reached out with her hand, and grabbed something out of mid-air so fast that nobody else saw what she'd jumped at. When she came back down from that impressive leap, she was holding the Golden Snitch.

"Why there you are!" she told the snitch, pretending to scold it. "Are you having fun? It certainly seems so, but I imagine that our new team Seeker is interested in getting to know you."

She smiled brightly and tossed the snitch directly at the boy that now had her old position as they walked past, just a few feet away.

"Here you go, mate. Have a good meeting, and good luck this season!" she told him.

They couldn't accuse her of throwing the snitch where the kid couldn't have gotten it, because she threw it right to him. It wasn't her fault that he couldn't manage to close his fingers around the speedy little thing when it hit the palm of his hand, and it then bounced off and shot away. She wasn't looking back though, having kept right on walking, but she was still grinning.

"I take it back," she said after they were outside of the stadium. "That was way more fun that staying and watching them try to catch it would have been."

James was sitting in an empty classroom with Aaron, Arianna, Hugo, and Tracey.

"How'd it go?" Aaron asked.

"It was an absolute hoot," James said. "Rick stacked their team with his buddies, and the Ravenclaws that weren't already mad at him before are mad at him now."

"So tell us about their players," Arianna said.

"They may be his buddies, but not one of them can play. Their Keeper is pathetic, and probably couldn't stop the Quaffle if it was bigger than the goals. Their Chasers are worse, and Rick's new Beater partner had tried out as a Keeper and hadn't saved a single shot from three really bad Chasers. Their Seeker didn't catch the snitch – they just gave up after forty-five minutes, and Rick gave his buddy the spot."

"The snitch is still out there flying around?" Hugo said, laughing.

"For the second time. That was the best part of the whole tryout. Lily had made a joke, and the others had laughed, which bugged Rick, and he fairly rudely told them to leave. When they did, Lily jumped up from the ground, caught the snitch, then tossed it over to their new Seeker as she walked by – basically throwing it right into his hand – and he missed it." He looked around at their grinning faces.

"It was ll I could do to keep from giving myself away by laughing my head off. And Lily and the others just kept walking like nothing had happened."

"That's too bad. I hope they don't miss dinner trying to catch it again," Tracey said with heart-felt insincerity.

They went from their little meeting to the Great Hall, where they made a side trip to offer some hugs and kisses to certain Ravenclaws. That also gave them the chance to overhear some of the angry buzz that traveled from one end of the Ravenclaw table to the other. Ravenclaws almost never talked badly about other Ravenclaws out in the open, so they must be really angry to be doing that now..

Just before dinner started, five of the seven new Quidditch team members stomped into the hall and took seats at the table. They actually had the gall to come to dinner wearing the team robes they'd just received from their captain, and after some dark looks and angry mutterings from some of the students sitting nearby, they were ignored for the rest of the night.

"It seems that Rick's new team didn't want to stay and help catch the snitch if it meant missing a meal," Rose said smugly. "That's a shame – it's a very good team-building exercise."

Al laughed. "It is if you have a Seeker that doesn't even need a broom to catch it," he said, grinning at Lily. "I'm thinking that for them, it's not so much fun. I wonder how long Madame Hooch will let them squirm over it before she goes and catches it for them?"

Rick didn't make it back in time for dinner at all. The next time that anyone saw him was around ten o'clock, when he stormed through the Common room. Lily was working at a table with Carolyn and Brianna, and Rick gave her a dirty look when he went by, but didn't say a word to any of them before disappearing into the stairway for the boys dorms.

"He seems a bit angry," Carolyn murmured to the others.

"Well, if that happens at every practice, he's in for a really bad year," Scorpius suggested. "If I was him, I'd start thinking about leaving the snitch in the box."

"I just feel sorry for our House," Brianna said quietly. "They deserve to have a better team than they're going to get this year."

When Rick had gone past, they weren't the only ones in the room whispering, but what they were saying was certainly the most polite. Al didn't need his Divination skills to know that Rick had set himself up for a very big fall this year. He reminded himself that the game was Quidditch, and anything could happen, but he'd been there today, and he didn't think that old adage was going to be anything more than words for their new team.

They went back to their homework, all of them wanting to finish up so they could have Sunday off. When the students of Ravenclaw went to bed that night, the one thing that was missing compared to the last few years was a pride, and sense of hope for their House, and their Quidditch team.

The fact of that truth wasn't very good, but it was probably worse to realize how easy it was for a very few students in their House to take that pride and hope away from their fellow students.


	56. The Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall

Chapter Fifty-Six – The Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall

Harry and Ginny were with Ron and Hermione in the sitting room of their house in Chudley, listening to Ron vent over what had happened at the game today. In the background, they could hear the WWVN sportscasters talking about the game, and the background behind the two Wizards and one Witch had a graphic that boldly stated – 'FROM CHAMPIONS TO CHUMPS – THE FALL OF THE CHUDLEY CANONS'.

"Why don't you just turn that thing off," Hermione suggested. "It's only going to agitate you more if you keep looking over at it." Ron grunted, but did as she suggested.

"They're right, though. We go from beating Puddlemere United in the finals in June to having them absolutely destroy us in front of our own fans, in our house! It's crap."

"It's not your fault, Ron. You've done as much as you can with the players you've got," Harry told him.

"What I've got is a bunch of has beens and wannabes. We couldn't get one single top-level player to come here – and it's not even like we weren't throwing money around to do it. By the next game, we'll be lucky if even that old guy that was the only living Canons fan to see the last Championshiop before I started playing will come – and his tickets are free for life!"

Harry knew Ron was exaggerating, but he was right that they'd take a big hit on attendance. Quidditch fans want winners, and if today's game was any indication, they were in trouble this year. The Canons bandwagon was sinking, and it was apparently every fan for him or her self.

"I still don't know why we had such a problem recruiting, either," Ron continued to muse.

Ginny laughed. "You can't get anyone for your team at all, and then you've got Ravenclaw's captain over there at Hogwarts who has more talent than he knows what to do with available, and doesn't even let them tryout this year."

Ron snorted. "I should've sent a complaint."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm sure the kids don't like it, Ron, but stuff like that is part of life. I think they're going to learn some important things from this – even if it's just learning to be careful whom to trust. At least Rick wasn't part of their inner circle of friends, or it could have been a lot harder on all of them."

When she saw the look on Ron's face she laughed. "Mum and Dad can't ride to the rescue of their kids every time something bad happens, honey," she told him seriously. "This isn't going to permanently damage them."

"I agree," Ginny told them. "I wouldn't want them to have to deal with anything like we did, but it doesn't hurt to find out that life isn't always fair, and sometimes doesn't make any sense at all."

"Well, that explains my problems with the Canons perfectly, then," Ron said grumpily. "Can I use that line for my next press conference? - 'Well, if you want my opinion, sometimes life makes no sense at all, and that's why our team sucks this season'."

Harry laughed. "Just keep doing your best, Ron. They will get better as the season goes along. And while you're doing that, send your scouts out, and start checking out the senior classes around the schools. Maybe if we get a decent recruiting class, we'll be able to attract some marquee players, although when you think about it, that's never been our strength – we've done better discovering talent – like you and Demelza, and Dennis. It's not like you were already stars when you started with the team."

"Great, so we sit around for another hundred and ten years for the next hidden Quidditch superstar."

"You know it won't take that long," Hermione told him. "At worst you'll have to wait for your son to graduate, since it's the only thing that boy wants to do, and he's probably going to be better than you when he grows up."

Ron grinned. "That's true, and if we let him leave a year early…"

"No," Hermione said firmly. "He is going to graduate Hogwarts, just like we did."

Ron didn't bother to argue the point, because he knew she was right, and Hugo was a good enough student that he should and would graduate. Instead he got back to discussing this season's issues.

"So which schools should I send my scouts to?" he asked Harry. "I've only got two of them, and there are a lot of schools."

"Why don't you send a letter out to all of the residence managers and see if their kids can help – send you reports about the best Quidditch players at their schools. Sort through them, and go check out the best of them."

"That's a brilliant idea!" Ron complimented Harry.

"Thank-you. We don't have kids in every Wizarding school in the world yet, but we are getting close. The worst thing that'll happen is that you'll waste a few hours reading those reports and get nothing. At best you'll find some really good players that'll be ready in the next few years."

"Well, at least it's someplace to start," Ron said, looking slightly happier than he'd been since getting home from the game.

While Harry and Ginny were over at Ron and Hermione's, Teddy and Stewart were in the sitting room of Stewart and Isabelle's house, where they'd watched the game on WWVN with the girls. Well, they'd watched the first ten minutes of the game before turning the volume down so that they could talk without being distracted by hearing the commentators describe just how badly the Canons were playing.

"Aren't you glad that we didn't buy those season's tickets?" Stewart told Teddy when they'd first turned the volume down. "It's going to be lonely in those stands after the way they're playing today."

"If it wasn't for all of the traveling, I'd still have thought about it," Teddy answered. "I just don't want to be gone all day on a Saturday at a game when I'd rather be with Victoire and you guys – and they'd rather do just about anything other than sit in the stands watching Quidditch. It probably has something to do with those years at school putting up with watching us play."

Stewart laughed. "Well, compared to some of those guys Uncle Ron has to work with this year, we'd probably be an improvement if he had us on the team. Speaking of Hogwarts, any word from Scorpius or the other kids?"

Teddy nodded. "Scorpius sent a letter. The big news is that the Ravenclaw captain is only allowing sixth and seventh year students to try out for the team." He looked at his watch. "Scorpius and our other Ravenclaws are probably on the way to watch the tryouts now. He wrote that they were all pretty upset about it, but that they were also coming to see that there were some good things to look forward to with not being on the team this year – like more time for their girlfriends or boyfriends."

Isabelle laughed, having heard the last part when she and Victoire came into the room with snacks. They'd been in the kitchen, and when they'd left, the volume on the game had still been turned up.

"Maybe you guys should have tried that for a year or two," she suggested, going over to sit next to Stewart. She pointed to the WWVN. "Is it that bad that you have to turn the volume down?"

Stewart nodded. "Worse than bad. And fortunately for us, we didn't ever have an idiot for a Gryffindor team captain when we played at Hogwarts. To keep six of the best players in the history of the school off of your team on purpose is about as idiotic as it gets. I really feel bad for Al though, since he didn't play the last two years either."

"Well, you've tuned the game out," Victoire said, "why don't we find something other than Quidditch to talk about? Like where you boys are taking us for dinner tonight."

Isabelle laughed. "Don't feel like cooking tonight, sis?"

Victoire laughed too. "I don't feel like doing that most nights, but I was thinking a nice restaurant in London or Paris would be more fun that cooking."

"You think that fries and a dog off of a chip wagon is more fun than cooking," Isabelle suggested.

"French fries cover the vegetable food group," she said, defending herself, "and hot dogs probably have at least a little of every other food group in them – nobody really knows for sure."

Stewart laughed. "That's only because we don't want to know. Hot dogs definitely fall into the 'ignorance is bliss' category."

Isabelle laughed at him. "Especially for you, Mr. I love chilidogs," she told him fondly.

"So, now that the kids are back to school, are you all heading out on the road again?" she asked them. It had been nice having them all closer to home for the past couple of weeks while they tried to spend a little extra time with Scorpius and their cousins.

"We're going to do two days in Asia this week," Victoire confirmed, "and then three days in the Americas the week after that. We should be able to be home every night after that at least through October, since we'll mostly be here, in Europe, and Africa."

"Good," Isabelle said happily. "It's lonely around here when you guys are gone."

Stewart grinned at her. "It must be, since when we're traveling, every time I send you a WiComm you're at the Institute."

"I might as well be doing something when you're away," she answered. "You should prefer me doing that to going out on one of the girl's night out parties."

Victoire smiled at her sister. "That actually sounds like it'd be fun, Isabelle. Maybe I should stay here for one of the trips, and we could go check that out."

The two couples moved on to talk about work, and plans for a fall vacation to Marauders Escape that they were going on with Lisa and Marcus. If some older Witch or Wizard had listened in on them, they might have smiled in fond remembrance of the idealistic enthusiasm of youth. These four were some of the first kids that had grown up in a new world where the idealistic was not only possible, but that thanks to growing up around their special family, was probable.

Aaron had not only gotten the first tryout time slot for his team, but had also scored the first afternoon practice times for every day of the week.

Those first practices had been grueling for the players on both the House and practice teams. Aaron used everything he and Arianna had learned over the summer to put a training regime together that would first get his team in the best shape they'd ever been in, and then hopefully make them the best team in the school.

They were also busy with classes and homework, as seemed to always be the case at the first of the year as they all got used to the workload again after a summer away from any major studying, except for any assignments they'd been given. The first full week of school seemed to go by very fast, and it was Thursday afternoon, and time for their first 'play day' with the Ravenclaw Marauders.

"Ready to go?" Aaron asked Matt when they'd all gathered on the pitch.

"You bet," he answered. "We've been waiting to get out here and play all week."

The Ravenclaw side was playing one person short, since they had decided not to look for a second Beater. Once they'd started to play, the Gryffindors soon realized that Nick was more than a match for both of their beaters, and the two teams were more evenly matched than ever.

With Al now completing their Chaser trio, they were a lot better than they'd been when Trinity had been the third Chaser. Even with the improvement in Aaron and Arianna's play, both sides had great opportunities. The goaltending dual between Scorpius and Hugo was a blast to watch too, and so the only weak link for either team was the Seeker position, where Lily was soundly beating Jeremy to the snitch. Because she was catching it so fast, they'd even decided to keep their little mini games going until she'd caught it five times.

After that first practice, Jeremy had complained a bit about the whole thing with Aaron, who had suggested to his Seeker that instead of complaining about it, that maybe he, and the rest of them, should study what both Jeremy and Lily were doing at these Thursday practices, and try and help him get better. Lily was a really good Seeker, but there must also be something that she knew about Jeremy that she was able to use against him. They needed to figure out what that was so that it couldn't hurt them in a real game.

"That was fun," Rose was saying to the others as they walked back toward the school. "After that, I think it's really too bad we won't get to play them for real this year. Thanks to Scorpius and Lily, we could have really had a good shot at winning – and look at what Nick was doing, and he was playing two against one!"

"We did alright too," Matt said defensively. "Considering that two of their Chasers spent the summer training with the Canons, we should be pretty happy with being able to hold our own against them."

"I wonder how things are going for Rick and company?" Scorpius wondered aloud. "Haven't seen him at dinner all week."

Lily grinned at him. "We're hearing a bit about that in the girl's dorms from two of their girlfriends," she said. "It seems that he's having some problems with catching the snitch, and then there was the broken arm he had to deal with that his Keeper got when their other Beater hit him."

"Well, maybe he'll learn to dodge the bludger faster," Nick suggested.

Lily laughed. "He didn't hit him with the bludger, Nick – the beater missed the bludger all together, and broke his Keeper's arm by hitting him accidentally with his bat."

They all laughed. "That's definitely not a good thing," Nick told her when he'd stopped laughing. "It'd be a foul if you did that to an opponent, but to do it to your own player – that's just not supposed to happen."

There was one more week of classes, and another really great Thursday afternoon play day before the first Hogsmeade weekend. This year, they were all excited about spending the day in town, since now Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily were all able to go too.

Lily, and a few other third year girls walked into Hogsmeade with her brother, cousins, and friends, but then she left with the other girls to wander around the town, leaving the four couples to do their own thing.

"We've been here lots of times," Brianna said as they walked, "but this is really cool being here with so many kids in town all at once."

"Where would you like to start?" Al asked the girls. "FashionKnut? SpaMagic? Honeydukes?"

"We've got a few supplies to get," Rose said, "and I want to get something for Hugo – he's feeling a bit left out today with Lily getting to come because she's officially in third year, and he has to wait until next year."

They picked up their supplies first – parchment, inks, quills – then went on to pick up some new Wheezes for Hugo, sweets for all of them, and then spend an hour shopping for clothes with the girls. Lunch was at the Three Broomsticks. When they'd finished eating, they decided that there really wasn't anything else they wanted to do in town, so they went back to school, got their books out, and were hard at work studying an hour before Lily got back to join them.

"Hey, slacker," Carolyn teased her friend. "Where've you been? We've been back here for hours and hours."

Lily laughed. "That's funny, since I saw you when you left the Three Broomsticks, so I know I'm only maybe an hour or so behind you. What I've been doing is looking after all of you girls. While you were busy getting supplies, I made my first stop of the morning SpaMagic, where I booked all of us, including Arianna, Tracey, and Therese for a morning treatment for the last Hogsmeade weekend before Hallowe'en."

"So that's why they were already booked when we tried just before lunch," Rose said. "They'd told us the spots always fill up early. Thanks, Lily."

She gave Rose a hug. "You're welcome." She handed Rose a large bag. "Can you give these to Hugo for me? I picked them up for him at Honeydukes. I thought it'd help, since he seemed so down this morning."

Rose laughed, and held up the equally large bag she'd gotten her brother. "Good thing he inherited Dad's metabolism – he's going to need it with all of these."

Hugo had definitely felt left out for most of the day, with all of the other Marauders getting to go to Hogsmeade – even Lily, who was only a few months older that he was.

By dinnertime, he was feeling much better about the whole thing. James and Arianna had brought him back some candy and a box of Wheezes when they'd returned in the afternoon, and then Rose had dropped off more Wheezes, and two more bags of candy – one from her, and one from Lily.

When Rose had left for the Ravenclaw table, Aaron gave him a high five.

"If I'd known you could score that much great loot just by being stuck here at school, I'd have stayed behind too," he joked.

When Rose had dropped of the goodies for Hugo, she'd also given James the information for what they all hoped would be their last group of bullies for the year. They'd already dealt with two other bullies since their first Marauders meeting, and had no real difficulty in convincing either one of them to stop, since they'd both had previous encounters with TNM, and weren't interested in any repeat embarrassment.

While Aaron and Hugo had been talking, James had read over the parchment that Rose had given him.

"Two guys, two girls in this group," he said quietly to Aaron and the others. They're waiting for the kids in the washrooms – sometimes even chasing them into the washrooms where the other two are waiting."

"Sounds like we're going to need some girl-power on this one," Hugo suggested.

Arianna and Tracey exchanged glances, then looked at Therese too. "We've never gotten to help with this part of things," Tracey said. "It might be fun!"

Therese smiled and squeezed Jon's hand. "I guess if my mild-mannered boyfriend can do stuff like this, I'm willing to give it a try."

They couldn't talk about what to do to stop this group of bullies right in front of everyone, so they waited until they had some time later that night, and again on Sunday to work out their plan.

Al had tracked the four students with the map all week, and knew their routine. The general lack of imagination seemed to be a universal fault with bullies. They picked their territory, and stuck to it, doing the same thing over an over again.

That made it easy for James and his enforcers to know where they'd be, and what they were going to do. Every day after second period, the two boys would wait for one or two first year girls, then badger and chase them into the closest girl's bathroom, where their two girlfriends would 'take care of' their victims while the boys would stand guard outside. They did a reverse of that same process after last class, when it would be the boy's turn to wait in the boy's washroom while the girls chased a couple of the younger boys.

Arianna and Tracey had learned, and become good at, invisibility charms, and they would deal with the girls in the bathroom. Hugo would be using the cloak, and be the first line of attack against the boys. Everyone else was at their stations and ready when Hugo heard the running feet, then saw two first year girls being taunted and chased by two big Slytherin boys who were rumbling along behind them.

Hugo was right next to the bathroom door, and as the girls passed him, his simple job had been to make it appear like a bag of candy dropped out of one of their bags. He timed it perfectly, and watched as the bag skidded to a stop against the wall just as the girls ran into the washroom, and the trap that had been set for them closed on them just as surely as the door had.

The boys slowed to a walk, and approached the door, where they were to stand guard. One of the boys picked up the bag and looked inside.

"Score!" he told his mate, reaching in and pulling out the two chocolate bars. He handed one to his buddy, and unwrapped the other one, starting to eat it. The other boy did the same. It only took a few moments – a delay that had been built in on purpose in case they didn't start eating at the exact same time - and the two boys suddenly started changing. They seemed to get shorter, and their hair grew, and their robes became frilly dresses. They stared at each other in horror.

"IF YOU'RE GOING TO PICK ON SOMEONE – PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE! THIS LESSON IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY TNM!"

The two boys looked around the hall wildly, and not seeing anyone around them, went running down the hall, abandoning their partners in crime.

Inside the bathroom, the two little girls had found themselves confronted by the two Slytherin girls, who wore identical sneers on their faces.

"Look what the boys were nice enough to bring us," the bigger of the two girls croaked in a raspy voice. "Brand new firsties."

The other girl laughed – a cackling, high-pitched giggle that sounded slightly mad. "They're such considerate boyfriends," she said in a high-pitched, nasal voice. "They're always bringing us such nice presents and everything."

Arianna and Tracey watched as the two frightened little girls stood transfixed, wanting to run, but having noplace to go.

"Hand over your bags," the raspy-voiced girl demanded. "If you have something good for us, maybe we'll decide not to hurt you – too much."

"LEAVE THE GIRLS ALONE!" the two bullies and their victims all heard. "TNM DOES NOT ALLOW BULLYING AT HOGWARTS!"

The two Slytherin girls looked around frantically. "Check out the stalls," the bigger girl ordered her friend. "Someone must be in here doing that."

The other girl opened the door to the stall right next to where they were standing, and a gush of liquid shot out of the toilet, soaking both of them. They both started spluttering, trying to spit the fluid out of their mouths, but it was already too late, and their transformations began.

A few moments later, two horrified looking, pimply-faced, glasses wearing little boys ran screaming from the bathroom, running in the same direction as their boyfriends had run just moments before.

Hugo had already left, his assignment done, and Arianna and Tracey had needed to hurry, but had also had to avoid the two little girls they'd just rescued from the group of bullies. The rest of the group all had their own responsibilities, but they had to all work fast so that most of them reached the Great Hall before the four Slytherins did.

They didn't know that's where they were going, any more than they knew that TNM had again been broadcasting their attempted bullying of the two little girls on the big screen WWVN in the Great Hall, and on every portable receiver within the school. The other thing that was happening, was that they were being methodically herded, and even confounded into heading toward the big finale in the Great Hall.

The boys (or little girls as they now appeared) were slowed down enough that their girlfriends (or two pimply-faced little boys) caught up with them. When they saw each other, they redoubled their efforts to reach their Common room, and so were running full speed when they entered the Great Hall, which was now nearly filled with students who had been avidly watching the entire scene that had begun with watching the two boys chasing the poor little girls down the hall..

The entrance of the group of bullies into the Hall was greeted by a roar of laughter from all of the other students, and the four kids slid to a stop, and stared around them in horror – especially when they saw their own temporary faces splashed across the big screen WWVN.

"STOP THE BULLYING AT HOGWARTS – OR TNM WILL!"

Everyone was looking around, trying to see where the pronouncement had come from, but nobody could see anything, and when the last echoes of those words faded, so did the WWVN broadcast.

The four Slytherins immediately turned to leave as most of the students laughed and jeered them. They made it as far as the entrance to the hall before Professor Slughorn stepped into their escape route, and sternly took charge of them, leading them off to a meeting with the Headmistress.

Nobody had noticed that Andy, Jon, and Therese had been the last three students to enter the hall, and they were grinning when they sat down with the other Gryffindor Marauders.

"Now that's what I call entertainment," Andy told them quietly.

Therese was grinning, and her blue eyes were dancing. "That was fun," she said excitedly. "I should've gotten you guys to let me help a long time ago!"

James laughed. "We've created a monster! Hopefully we won't have to do this again for the rest of the year."

Therese actually looked disappointed. "That's too bad," she said. "I mean that's really good if it stops bullying."

The others laughed at her, and she grinned sheepishly.

James was right, though, and that was the end of bullying for another year. It wasn't the end of the activities for the Marauders, though. They'd been feeding Lily a steady stream of back to school needs for the kids that they helped, and during the first few weeks, she'd been busy getting those things for them. Arianna, Tracey, Carolyn, and Brianna put seventy mentors together with younger students during September, and had another twenty mentors ready to go when they were needed. (It wasn't unusual for kids to not start needing help until their studies got more difficult, or they started dealing with emotional things like breakups with boyfriends or girlfriends.

The commotion from TNM's demonstration that Monday had subsided, and everything got back to normal. The weekly Thursday Quidditch play day between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor had once again been the highlight of the week for all of the Marauders. Ravenclaw again technically won, even though they weren't actually playing to win or lose, and both groups were happy with what playing these games did for them.

Rose and the others were all sitting at a table in the Common room after dinner that night, and for the first time since they'd been told to leave the Quidditch pitch on tryout day, Rick came up to their table and confronted them.

"So, are you traitors to your House now?" he demanded in a voice loud enough to be heard by every student in the room.

Rose looked up at him and smiled. "What are you talking about, Rick?"

"Don't play stupid, Weasley – I saw you out there training with the Gryffindor team," he practically shouted in her face. They might be trying not to look like it, but every student was now hanging on every word of the conversation between their Quidditch team captain, and Rose.

"Oh, that," Rose said, shrugging her shoulders. "We're not training with them, Rick," she told him sweetly. "We're just out playing around with my brother, cousin, and friends once a week to have a little fun. We do it all the time at home. It helps us stay practiced up since we aren't playing on the House team this year, and my brother and cousin were happy to help us."

Rick stared at her. "If you just wanted to practice, you could have come and worked out against my team instead of helping the enemy," he accused her.

"First of all, they're not the enemy, Rick, most of them are our family. Secondly, we'd be happy to practice with our House team," she told a now surprised Rick. "Except that none of us are in sixth or seventh year, so we can't. That'd be against the team rules this year."

There was some laughter that accompanied her last statement, and Rick stared at her hard, but had nothing he could say back to that, since he'd made the rules himself. He turned on his heel and stomped off in disgust toward the boy's dorms, a quiet wave of laughter following after him.

"Nicely handled, cuz," Nick whispered to her after Rick had left the room. She grinned at him and winked.

September drew to a close, and as October started, the excitement about Hallowe'en began to grow. It was on a Saturday this year, and the students were going to get to have a Hallowe'en party and dance in the Great Hall.

The schoolwork kept piling up too – the OWL and NEWT year students feeling the heat the most. The Gryffindor Quidditch team was working harder too, with their game against Slytherin only a month away.

All of the Ravenclaw Marauders were doing well in their classes. Carolyn and Brianna continued to improve – even with their added Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. Like Lily, neither girl had any real talent for Divination, but they all found the subject interesting, and Carolyn thought that at least understanding a bit about what Al could do would be important for her.

Lily had been told that this year she could work at her own pace, but that she'd only be able to write the exams for third or fourth year classes. That meant that she could write the third and fourth year exams for Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Muggle Studies that she was taking this year. She had started the school year with the fourth year curriculum for the seven mandatory subjects, and would only be writing the fourth year exams at the end of the year. Professor McGonagall had explained that they did not want her attempting her OWL exams in what was actually only her second year at Hogwarts.

The bad part of that was that, from her perspective, it slowed down the rapid advancement in her education. The good part of it was that since it wouldn't matter if she pushed herself harder or not, Lily started to take a little more time to have a little more fun with her friends – something that her Professors had hoped would happen.

During the second week of October, Aaron and Arianna received an Owl Post from Harry and Ginny. Arianna opened the envelope, and pulled out a parchment and a newspaper clipping from the Daily Prophet. She read the parchment out loud to Aaron, James, and the others.

Dear Aaron and Arianna,

Hope you're having a great week!

I thought you might not have seen this in the paper, since it was buried in the 'Law and Politics' section.

Hope it makes your day!

Love, Harry and Ginny

Arianna unfolded the news clipping and started to laugh.

"What is it?" Aaron asked her. She took a moment to get control, then read it aloud too.

'Couple gets five years community service', the headline read.

'Today, in Wizengamut Criminal Court, Mr. Patrick Pucey, and his wife Mrs. Sarah Pucey plead guilty to embezzlement of nearly two hundred thousand galleons from a trust fund that had been set up for the children of Mrs. Pucey's deceased brother and wife.

In a plea agreement, the couple avoided prison time in Azkaban, and will instead be required to work twenty hours a week of community service for the next five years.

This reporter has learned from a reliable source that the community service will be in the janitorial services department at the Ministry of Magic.'

Aaron was laughing now too. "That's just beautiful," he told Arianna.

James nodded, laughing too. "And I'd say a bit of poetic justice having them work as cleaners. I bet those public washrooms get pretty messy too."

"Well, your parents were right," Arianna told James, hugging him tightly. "That definitely made our day!"

Lily and the rest of the Marauder girls went to Hogsmeade together on the Saturday moring a week before the Hallowe'en party for the Spa treatment that Lily had reserved for all of them. While they were busy doing that, the boys picked up all of the supplies and treats that had been written down for them to get, including more sweets and a box of Hallowe'en Wheezes for Hugo.

The girls were done their treatments just before noon, and were taken to the Three Broomsticks for lunch by a very appreciative group of boyfriends – or in Lily's case, brothers, cousins, and friends. They finished off the day with stops at FashionKnut and WitchWear, where the girls all picked out new dresses and shoes for the party before going back to school and start in on their long list of weekend homework assignments.

With the Hallowe'en party a week away, and the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match the Saturday after that, James and the rest of the Gryffindor Marauders were very busy.

They weren't too busy to not find time to tease Hugo on Monday night when they found out through the grapevine that the youngest member of their group had a date for the dance on Saturday – a cute, quiet little blonde-haired, blue-eyed second year sweetheart who had probably taken the biggest risk of her young life by asking out the star Keeper of the Quidditch team, when it had been seemingly obvious to all of the girls that he had no intention to ask anyone to the dance himself.

Hugo had been so surprised and flattered that the normally smooth-talking, self-assured boy had actually stuttered slightly when he'd told her he'd love to escort her to the dance.

"It's always the shy ones," Arianna had teased. "I think it's because the bolder ones are too busy making sure their hair is perfect, and their clothes are just so."

"She's definitely brave enough to be a Gryffindor, though," Therese had said. "If you're going to take a risk, you might as well go all the way, and shoot for the most eligible second-year bachelor in school."

"Brave, and very pretty," Tracey added, "although I have a feeling our young friend had already noticed that."

Hugo was blushing by then, but he didn't mind the teasing. When it had come to girls so far, he was probably the shyest boy in school, and he'd liked Emily Donahue since they'd met the first week of school last year. The only thing that had surprised him was that she'd felt the same way about him.

He would never find out that Tracey had talked to a teary-eyed Emily on Sunday night after he'd gone to bed, and had convinced her that, just as she had done, sometimes a girl just had to take matters into her own hands instead of waiting around for a thick-headed boy to get the hint and make the first move.

On Thursday, after a great play game with their Ravenclaw friends, Aaron had a team meeting before they went for dinner. They were now down to just over a week before their first big game.

"We've got one week left to be ready for Slytherin," he began. "We know their team is basically the same as last season, and we can hope that they're still doing the same things, and that their players are all still making the same mistakes, but we also need to be ready to adapt if we have to."

He turned to Jeremy. "I know Lily's still catching the snitch ahead of you all the time, but are you making any progress while you're watching her?"

Jeremy shook his head. "No, and I don't mind admitting that she's driving me crazy. I thought I was at least a decent Seeker, but flying against her has been a bit demoralizing for me."

Hugo had been concentrating on the conversation, and thinking about their gameplan, and it had taken a second before what Aaron had said clicked in, and he suddenly knew what part of Jeremy's problem was.

"I've got it!," he practically shouted in his excitement.

"Is it catching?" Arianna asked, trying to sound equally excited.

Hugo laughed. "Sorry, got carried away there." He looked at Jeremy, a big smile on his face.

"You're watching Lily," he said.

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, that was the idea."

Hugo laughed again. "No, I mean, that's how you play Seeker – You watch what your opponent does, and when you see them react to the snitch, you do too. For most other Seekers, you do that faster than they do."

Jeremy thought about that for a minute, and realized that Hugo was right. He almost never saw the snitch first.

"So why doesn't it work with Lily?" he asked.

"For one thing, she's probably faster than you are," Hugo said. "Sorry, but it's true."

Jeremy nodded. "Anything else?"

"My sister is a Quidditch genius. I'd guess that they'd figured this out last year. If I'd been them, I would have worked on teaching Lily to never physically react when she sees the snitch, so that you wouldn't have that split-second warning before she goes after it."

Jeremy frowned. "But she reacts all the time to seeing the snitch," he protested. "I run myself ragged trying to keep up!"

Hugo smiled. "Do you? How many of those times did you actually see the snitch?"

The other boy stared at him. "It's all a big act?"

"That'd be my guess," Hugo agreed. "Now that we know, though, we need to work on that part of your game. If they've figured it out, so could Hufflepuff – or even Slytherin, though with them I kinda doubt it."

The talked until it was time to go to the Great Hall for dinner, and to move on to homework again after that. For nearly every student at Hogwarts, by the time Friday got there, it was little more than the last day standing in the way between them and what they all hoped would be a spectacular Hallowe'en party.

The New Marauders had decided that they were not going to be doing any Hallowe'en pranks this year. They were all busy, for one thing, and with the party that night, didn't want to take the spotlight away from the students that had worked so hard on the event, and deserved for it to be a special day for them.

The Ravenclaw Marauders did homework in the morning, wrapping it up at lunchtime. After lunch, they watched the Chudley Canons lose their fourth game of the season in another blowout against a Harpies team that was out for payback for last season's defeat in the semi-finals.

"When Dad gets another good team again," Rose told them, "he's going to want to spend a few seasons thanking these other teams for kicking them when they're down."

"They should be worried about doing that to the Wizard with the best win-loss record in the last fifty years," Scorpius said.

Rose grinned at him. "How'd you know that?"

He laughed. "It was one of those factoids at the Quidditch Museum."

They watched the game to it's lopsided, bitter end, and then it was time to go get ready for the dinner and party. This wasn't going to be one of the big ball gown type of dances, but still every boy and girl that had a date for the night, and most of those who didn't all wanted to look their best.

In Gryffindor House, it was about fifteen minutes before dinner was supposed to start, and Hugo was pacing the Common room, while James, Aaron, and Jon watched on, amused.

"Relax, cuz," James told him. "Just because it's your first date, first dance, and if you're really lucky, your first kiss tonight, there's no pressure."

Hugo looked over at him and couldn't help but laugh. That laugh caught in his throat, though, when he saw Emily step into the room. Her blonde hair was done in cascading curls that set off her blue eyes and lovely face in a way that made Hugo's mouth go dry. Her dress was stunning, and the whole package left her date for the night speechless.

When Arianna, Tracey, and Therese followed her into the room, Arianna took one look at Hugo and put a hand on Emily's shoulder.

"Congratulations," she told the younger girl. "I'd say you just scored an eleven on the date reaction scale."

Emily laughed, and Hugo managed to grin as he blushed furiously.

"When I figure out how to talk again, I'll make sure to tell you how amazing you look," he told her as he gave her the corsage he'd asked his mother to help pick out and send.

James, Aaron, and Jon had all stood, and were delivering flowers to their girlfriends too. All of the girls looked incredible, and they had four very happy, and handsome looking escorts for the evening.

"We better get going," Tracey suggested. "We took a little longer than we should have, but by the looks of you boys, it was definitely worth it!"

There were no arguments there, and they left to walk to the Great Hall. During dinner, the students in each House mostly stayed together, except where couples were from different Houses, but it all worked out fairly smoothly. At the Gryffindor table, Andy was the only member of their group that hadn't asked anyone to the party. He had dinner with them, then left his friends to hang out with some of the other guys that had 'gone stag' to the party. Being the witty and charming announcer of the school Quidditch matches helped make Andy very popular. The only reason he never took a date to any of the school functions was that he liked dancing – and occasionally snogging – with lots of girls. Now that they were in fifth year, there were now more than a few of those girls who considered trying to make boyfriend material out of him a personal challenge and worthwhile goal.

Lily was the odd one out again at the Ravenclaw table. They all had fun during dinner, and her brother and cousins had complimented her on looking so beautiful, but after dinner, she'd drifted off from the couples, and wandered around the room, talking with some friends and even spending a few minutes with James, Hugo, and the others.

When the dance started, and the lights were turned down, she found a secluded corner of the hall where she could sit and watch the others dance the night away, yet not get in the way of their fun. That's how she felt, too. Like she was in the way. She knew that she joked about not expecting there to be a boyfriend in her future any time soon, and she thought there was a good chance that was true, but the reason she didn't have a date tonight was simple: no boy had asked her.

She didn't need to waste her time in pity over that fact, or sinking her self into melancholy because of it. Lily understood perfectly well why. Most boys were intimidated by a girl that could do everything better than they could. There certainly wasn't a boy in her school that didn't know that she was smarter, and better at sports. Some – maybe many – of her fellow students would probably say that she was arrogant to think that, but this wasn't arrogance at all – it was the truth. Sometimes, like tonight, she wished it wasn't.

So Lily sat in her quiet little spot for the next couple of hours, one of the sweetest, most beautiful girls in school, and watched the kids she loved the most dance and have fun together with their respective partners. She knew that sometimes Hugo was a little jealous of her, even though he loved her as much as she loved him. Tonight, it was the other way around as she saw him dancing with his date – Emily, her cursed photographic memory supplied for her – Emily Donahue. They made a cute couple. She wondered if there'd ever come a day when someone would say that about her and some boy.

She sighed once, stood, and quietly left the hall, her departure unnoticed by even her brothers, cousins, or friends. Going straight to Ravenclaw House, she went to her room, changed out of her beautiful dress, and climbed into bed – the only kid in her House that had returned to the dorms.

For a few moments, she considered putting on her GameWizard glasses and doing some homework, but then discarded the idea. She may be too smart to mope around about things like this, but even the smartest Witch in the world was allowed to be sad, so instead of sinking herself into books or study, she instead pulled a seemingly understanding Fluffy into her arms, curled up around the soft, white kneazle cat, and had herself a good old-fashioned cry-yourself-to-sleep.

The Hallowe'en party continued on in Lily's absence without missing a beat. The rest of the Marauders had a truly wonderful night. Many of the older students stayed up late with their boyfriends or girlfriends, cuddling in chairs and sofas in each of the Common rooms. Hugo did get his first kiss, and it was awkward, tentative, tender, and breathlessly sweet all at the same time.

There'd been no mojor tricks as Hallowe'en ended at midnight, and there had been a lot of pretty great treats for most of the kids. Sunday morning, the students of Howarts woke to a new month. The countdown to the start of Quidditch season began, and what would happen this year became the major topic of discussion at meals in the Great Hall, and in the corridors, dormitories, and Common rooms of the school.


	57. The Best and Worst Quidditch Can Be

Chapter Fifty-Seven – The Best and Worst Quidditch Can Be

The stands were packed on Saturday for the Gryffindor-Slytherin game. Andy was doing his pregame warmup, and he'd obviously prepared himself carefully.

"Welcome to the start of another Hogwarts Quidditch season, sports fans!" he told the excited spectators. "Today the chase for the elusive Quidditch Cup begins!" There was a loud cheer, and he had to wait until it died down.

"We have last year's winner of this matchup, Slytherin, coming off of two bad losses to end their season, looking to get back on a winning track today," Andy continued.

"Gryffindor started and ended their season last year with losses – their only win sandwiched between them. Your humble announcer has heard that some animosity may remain among the Gryffindor players over some unflattering comments made by the Slytherin captain after last year's game. I guess we'll soon find out if that's the case."

The two teams flew out into the stadium, and circled before meeting in the centre of the pitch. Aaron put his hand out.

"Good luck," he told his fellow captain, smiling brightly at him.

"You're gonna need it," he was told, and his outstretched hand was ignored.

Madame Hooch went over the rules like she did at the start of every game, then threw the Quaffle into the air. The Gryffindor Chasers were all on the new Lightningbolts, as was their Keeper. James, Arianna, and Aaron had lent the other three boys their old Firebolts for the season. The difference in team speed showed up immediately.

"Arianna reaches the Quaffle first, she passes to James, who blasts straight for the Slytherin goals. He dodges, fakes, and SCORES!" Gryffindor leads ten to naught."

The crowd was watching in astonishment as the Gryffindor Chasers blazed circles around their opponents.

"Slytherin takes the Quaffle – and it's stolen right out of his hand by Aaron! He passes to James, over to Arianna, back to Aaron – he SCORES!" Andy laughed, and took a breath.

"Come on people! We all know those Lightningbolts are supposed to be fast, but please! Slow down enough so that your poor, humble announcer can keep up with the play-by-play will you?" The crowd was cheering, and laughing at Andy's comments. Well, the Slytherin section wasn't laughing – they looked decidedly unhappy right now.

The player analysis that had been courtesy of last year's Ravenclaw team was just as accurate today as it had been last year. Lily had been right, and the Slytherin captain had been unable to change. Better still, they'd kept all of the same players except for one Beater.

That became very clear about twenty minutes into the game, when the Slytherin Seeker was hit in the arm with a Bludger, obviously still unable to see things on his right side. The Gryffindors couldn't be sure if the blow had broken the boy's arm, but he definitely wasn't able to move it anymore. He was down to holding on left-handed to his broom, and he tried to keep as far away from the Gryffindor Beaters as possible for the rest of the game. He didn't even try to look for the snitch as he flew, to the chagrin of his captain.

James, Aaron, and Arianna totally destroyed the Slytherin team. The Slytherin Chasers only managed ten shots on the Gryffindor goal, and Hugo saved them all easily. Gryffindor, on the other hand, scored sixty-eight goals in two and a half hours before allowing Jeremy to catch the snitch and end the game.

"Gryffindor wins the game eight hundred and thirty to naught!" Andy announced after Jeremy's catch. "Congratulations Gryffindor on an impressive victory!"

Aaron and the Gryffindor team flew to the ground and then watched in amusement as the Slytherin team, for the third time in their last three games, flew straight to the locker room, ignoring the victorious team completely. They did listen proudly as Andy did his game summary.

"Slytherin House goals, naught, Shots on goal, ten, Interceptions, naught, Bludger hits, naught, Seeker probably disabled." Andy took a quick drink, since his voice was getting hoarse after calling out sixty-eight 'SCORES!'.

"Gryffindor House goals, sixty-eight, Shots on goal, ninety-three, Interceptions or takeaways, forty-three, Bludger hits, twelve, Seeker caught the snitch to win game at two hours, thirty-two minutes."

By the time that Andy was done, the Ravenclaw Marauders were all there, as was a shyly smiling Emily.

"I better make this hug fast, Lily teased Hugo. You seem to have someone else waiting to give you a congratulatory hug, and by the looks on your face, it's one you really would like to have!"

Hugo and Emily both laughed, and she did hug Hugo too. "You guys played amazing," she told him.

"You sure did," Rose told them. "And I'd say that the Slytherin captain is about as popular with his House as Rick is for Ravenclaw right about now. There can't possibly be a single Slytherin that doesn't know that this was all about what he'd said last year."

Scorpius laughed. "Not only didn't they learn to play any better, they also don't seem to be any more gracious in defeat either."

"I wasn't expecting an apology," Aaron said. He was smiling just as much as the rest of his team. Their season couldn't have possibly gotten off to a better start than this! Now they'd have until February to get ready for Hufflepuff, and would get to see them play Ravenclaw in a few weeks first.

There was a big celebration in the Gryffindor common room, and when their team returned, they were greeted to loud cheers and joined a party where the students were all hopeful that maybe this could be their year to bring the Cup back to Gryffindor.

Ron was in his office at the stadium early Monday morning, meeting with his scouts. The younger scout had been in North America, scouting one of the school games on Saturday. Their senior scout had attended the Hogwarts game. He gave his report to Ron first.

"There weren't any players on the Slytherin team worth mentioning," he told Ron frankly. This old guy did everything frankly.

"If we had the entire Gryffindor team playing for us right now, we'd probably have a better record."

Ron laughed, a bit bitterly. "Probably so," he admitted.

"Aaron and Arianna are even better than they were at the end of August. Including James Potter's goals, they scored sixty-eight times. Considering that the Slytherin Keeper was probably their team's best player, that's not insignificant." He looked down at his notes for a moment.

"The Gryffindor Seeker is competent, but not great, and isn't good enough to ever be a pro. Your boy only faced ten shots and saved all of them. He's definitely got skills. We'll watch his progress, but since we can't have him for six more seasons, including this one, he's a long-term prospect."

"Any talent with their Beaters?"

"Not really. They had some good hits, but their competition was lousy."

Ron nodded, and turned to his younger scout. "Did you have anything?"

The man nodded. "They had a pretty good raw-talent Seeker on one of the teams. She's in seventh year, and would probably need a year or so as backup with us before she'd be ready."

"How much raw talent?" Ron asked.

"I'd say as much as Dennis had when he was that age. She just doesn't have the advantage of decent training with her team. The rest of her teammates just goof around an rely on her to win the game for them – which she did."

Ron nodded again. "Keep an eye on her then – it's the best we've heard of so far. Good thing for us that the American teams rarely recruit Witches. We'll wait until we've seen her play a couple more times before we make any decisions."

He ended the meeting by assigning the next scouting trips. They all knew what they needed: Every position. He stayed at his desk for another fifteen minutes, going over some reports that needed his attention, then stood up, steeled himself for another day of disappointment in a team that didn't have a single player that should be playing in this league, and lowered his expectations another notch.

In August, he'd hoped for a miracle ten and ten season. By the end of September, he optimistically hoped for a five and fifteen record. After Saturday's debacle, now he was praying that they win a game this season.

Ginny was working in the lab early that same Monday morning. She'd been working for the past few weeks with Karen on her Glassalloy project. She'd had the time available, and was nearly as good as Hermione now at developing the team configurations they needed for some of these bigger magic projects.

It was about an hour until noon, and they were ready for their full-scale test. They were using a team of Witches and Wizards from manufacturing, so that they could be sure that they could handle the process, and the thirteen men and women were excited about the test.

"Whenever you're ready," Karen told them. She and Ginny watched as the small group took their top secret formula, and in moments transformed it into one hundred cubic metres of the final compressed gas product.

Next, they sampled it to make sure it had been made correctly, then finally, used a small amount of it in making a ten kilogram bar of the finished Glassalloy that was perfectly transparent, and as hard as the hardest steel.

When Ginny and Karen both confirmed that it had worked, the thirteen Witches and Wizards had cheered, and Ginny had bought them all lunch to celebrate. The two women then had an afternoon meeting with Mandy and Luna to present their final results.

"This is exceptional," Luna said after reading the report. "Translocator or TransPortal kind of exceptional. Congratulations, Karen."

The older woman who had first befriended Rose, then watched as she and her cousin helped her to make this dream of hers a reality smiled at the three women.

"Thank-you. This wouldn't have happened without Rose, Al, and Ginny though."

Mandy smiled. "Oh, I think we'll find a way to thank each of them appropriately." She handed Karen an envelope. "You we can thank right now," she said with a big smile.

Karen almost fainted when she read the Gringott's letter. "Oh, my gosh!" she exclaimed, tears coming to her eyes.

"You deserve it, Karen. We don't think it's too much to thank you for the two years you've put into this."

Luna grinned at Karen. "And if you can get to work and design me some coloured glass versions of this amazing product of yours, I'll bet I could double the sales we'll get with the clear version – although I guess we could always see how it looks painted."

Karen looked like she was ready to run back to her lab and start working on it right away, and Mandy laughed at her.

"Don't even think about it," she told Karen. "You go straight home and celebrate with that sweet husband of yours. That's an order!"

"Yes, ma'am," Karen said, standing and saluting. She gave Ginny a hug, and then hurriedly left the office.

"Do I get the rest of the day off too?" Ginny asked.

"Maybe Luna and I will take you out for a drink in a bit. Since Karen brought it up, though, we might as well discuss the kids."

Ginny nodded, smiling easily. "Why not? I seem to be all out of projects this afternoon."

Mandy laughed. "Alright. Let's start with Rose. It was basically her formula for Glassalloy, right?"

Ginny nodded. "That's what Karen and Al both told me. Karen's early work got them there, but Rose took it the next step."

"I'd say that's worth about five million, then. Does that work for both of you?"

Luna laughed. "Yes, and where do I sign up for a job that paid about four hundred galleons in salary and had a five million galleon bonus?"

Ginny and Mandy both smiled. It wasn't like their bonuses exactly sucked.

"Then we have Al, who basically pulled the VirtualAstronomer program out of the fire and put it on the shelves, then did to Glassalloy what Harry did to the Impervious Totalis, WWVN, and every other major project we've done here before."

Luna raised her hand. "Mandy, we could debate numbers and which kid did how much, including Lily's work on the heating and cooling systems, but why don't we just give them each five million and call it a day?"

Mandy nodded. "Sounds fair to me – although their work on those three products was probably worth more than that, I guess being twelve and fourteen year old multi-millionaires isn't all that bad. Do you have anything else?"

"Just one more thing," Luna said. "I don't think you should hire them this coming summer, unless it's for something other than research."

Ginny looked surprised. "Why?"

Luna smiled. "It's going to take us two to three years to phase in what they've helped with this past summer. Let them be kids for another year or three while they can. They're all going to be able to do a lot of good things in their lives – that's obvious to all of us, but they're working hard all school year, and they worked hard all through this past summer. I'm not sure it's the best thing for them."

Ginny smiled at Luna. "That's fine with me. This was an experiment anyway, and while we had some pretty good results, I'm not sure that it's the kind of thing we want to have be a permanent program here."

Mandy nodded her agreement too. "Alright, meeting adjourned – let's go buy you that drink now," she told Ginny.

Harry was in a meeting on Monday too. He was sitting down with the majority owners of the Canons. They'd all been there to watch the Harpies destroy their team on Saturday, and now Harry thought it was crunch time.

"We know it's not coach's fault," one of the men said. "But we also can't afford to sit here and lose money like we did back in the decades before Ron, Demelza, and Dennis came to play for us. We're not getting any marquee players willing ot come, even though we've even offered more than other teams. Players would rather take a little less and have a chance to win. They don't think we can anymore."

"I'd say they're right, based on these first four games," another man said.

"Harry," said the first man, "you told us last June that you'd consider buying us out. Are you still interested?"

"Yes. How much?"

"We currently own sixty percent of the team and stadium," the second man said. "We'd like thirty-five million for our stake."

Harry had done his research, knew how much they'd paid, and how much they could afford to keep losing, but he also couldn't help his best mate without being the sole owner of the team.

"If I buy now, I'll be on the hook for all of the financial losses for the rest of the season, and until the team turns around, instead of the forty percent stake I have now," Harry said, and watched as the other two men nodded.

"How about Thirty-two million, five hundred thousand, and I'll take the losses instead of working out some fancy loss-sharing formula?"

The other men in the room looked at each other for a moment, then nodded. He had a deal, and more importantly, had full ownership of the Canons.

"Thank-you, gentlemen," Harry told them. "I'll have my investors transfer the funds to your account as soon as I receive the paperwork from your Account Managers." They didn't need to know that he was the only investor.

In Ravenclaw Tower, there seemed to be some trouble in Quidditch paradise – if paradise is what you'd call the world that Rick and his mates had made for themselves. There were less than three weeks left until their first game, and Rick and his team had apparently decided that working out every day wasn't really necessary. Now they were only going to work out two times a week. There had already been a nasty – and probably true – rumour going around the Common room that after the first couple of practices they'd attached a thick, long rope to the snitch so that if their Seeker couldn't catch it even tied down, that they could at least just pull it back in at the end of practice.

Nick especially found these stories entertaining – more than the other Ravenclaw Marauders did. He'd been the closest of them to Rick, and he'd taken what had happened this year a lot more personally – true, he hadn't been a best mate like Scorpius was, but you didn't work as a Beater tandem for three years without forming a friendship. It had been a hard pill to swallow when he found out that his friendship toward the older boy hadn't been returned after all.

He was over being mad about all of that, but he was your basic, red-blooded Wizard, and wasn't beyond deriving some satisfaction over seeing his former friend continuing to reap the rewards of his actions.

Nick and his cousins and friends concentrating on their studies, with their only real breaks from the endless reports and assignments being their Thursday night Quidditch play game with James and the other Gryffindors, and the Hogsmead weekend that was on the second weekend after the Gryffindor-Slytherin match.

In each of the first three years that Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius had been at Hogwarts, the week before a Ravenclaw team game had meant that the team players waded through a sea of upbeat, 'you can do it!' type platitudes and encouragement from their fellow Ravenclaws.

Since they weren't on the team, they hadn't expected to be experiencing that this year – and they of course didn't. What was really different this year was that Rick and his team didn't experience it either. Sure, they seemed excited about playing on Saturday, and could be heard talking themselves up, but not one other student in Ravenclaw was cheering their team on, and nobody seemed excited about the game at all.

On Saturday, the Ravenclaw stands were just as full as they always were. Whatever happened, in front of the whole school, they would at least be there to watch their team play. The rest of the students knew that something was different. This was the least animated bunch of Ravenclaw fans that any of them had seen in years.

Al was sitting beside Carolyn, and the rest of the Ravenclaw Marauders were sitting around them as they waited for the game. Lily saw a smiling Trinity walking toward them first, and she'd jumped up to run over and hug their former team captain. She wasn't alone – Christina had come with her, and the two girls came and sat with them.

"Why didn't you send an Owl and let us know you were coming?" Lily was asking when they sat down. "What have you been doing since graduating?"

Lily was getting wound up, and Brianna put a hand on her shoulder. "Take a deep breath, Lily, and relax. We'll have lots of time to talk during the game."

Lily grinned at her friend, and stopped so Trinity could at least answer her first questions.

"I didn't send and Owl because we wanted to surprise you – except it seems the surprise is on us," Trinity told them. "We thought we'd be here to see you play. What happened?"

"Our new team captain restricted tryouts to sixth and seventh years, and then stacked the team with his buddies," Scorpius supplied.

Trinity stared at him in amazement. "So Rick was made captain?" She looked around in the stands, and nodded. "Daddy must've put in his two cents," she added, motioning toward where Roger Davies sat with his wife. "I had recommended Matt to replace me when I left. I guess that proves that the son of a former team captain trumps the outgoing captain's pick – even if I did win more games and Quidditch Cups than Roger did."

Matt and Rose had both seemed pleased to find out that he'd actually been Trinity's choice to replace her, and the rest of them had at least that question answered for them.

"And so what have you been doing since June?" Lily asked again.

Trinity smiled. "Well, thanks to your help on Potions, I've got a job working for a cosmetics company. Your cousin, Victoire, was looking for a few good Witches. Christina works for her too at another company."

"Any boyfriends?" Lily continued with her questioning.

"Several," Trinity said, laughing. "None serious, though. I think that's your fault too. If I hadn't spent so much time seeing what it was like with couples like your parents, maybe my standards would be a little lower. I'm still hoping to find Mr. Right, but for now I seem to be stuck with a few Mr. Right-Nows."

Christina laughed at her friend. "That isn't all bad – those kind of guys can be a lot of fun – for a while."

The two teams flew out into the stadium then, and they all watched as Rick led their Ravenclaw team around in a wide circle, once around before they landed on the pitch along with the Hufflepuff team. The captains shook hands, listened to Madame Hooch's usual pregame spiel, and then took to the air again when she threw the Quaffle into the air.

Trinity, Christina, and every other Ravenclaw past and present watched as the Hufflepuff team ran circles around Rick and his buddies.

"I can't understand how Rick could have thought that this was a good idea," Trinity said as they watched the disaster. "Did he actually think that that bunch could even compete against the other House teams? Half of them can barely fly!"

"I would have liked to find out what would have happened if we'd had a chance against Hufflepuff on our Lightningbolts," Rose said wistfully.

Trinity turned and stared at her. "You guys have Lightningbolts now?" she asked.

Nick nodded. "And they are even better than advertised," he assured her.

Al had been watching the game, but had also been able to glance over to where Rick's dad Roger was sitting. He'd only made it to a couple of Rick's other games, but must have made a point of coming to his son's first game as team captain. He looked a lot like he wished he hadn't as Al watched him.

Hufflepuff was ahead two hundred and forty to ten when their Seeker ended the game, catching the snitch just over an hour into the game.

"Well," Rose said, "at least they didn't run it up on us. They could have if they'd wanted to."

"Rick ought to go thank them," Trinity said, standing up. "We're going to get out of here. It was great seeing all of you, but if we'd known you weren't playing, we probably wouldn't have bothered to come and watch this train wreck."

She and Christina exchanged hugs with all of them, then headed for the exit. Al and the rest of the Ravenclaw Marauders started back for the school, with a bunch of very downcast looking fellow Ravenclaws.

When they got back to the Common room, they went and got their books, and sat at one of the study tables. They knew that there'd be no party today, but even when Trinity's teams had lost games, their fellow Ravenclaws had been there for them when they got here to the Common room, offering their condolences, and telling them they were proud of how hard they'd tried.

That didn't happen when Rick and the rest of the team came into the room. They even stood near the entrance for a few moments, waiting to be noticed, but everyone in the crowded Common room almost totally ignored them, with the exception of a few scornful glances directed mostly at Rick.

When they finally realized that there was not going to be any support, condolences, or any 'better luck next times' for them, the seven boys made the walk through the room, and into the stairway to the boys dormitory without hearing a single comment from any of their fellow Ravenclaws.

"I'd say that didn't go at all like he expected," Scorpius said quietly to his friends.

"He must have been watching a different game that the rest of us if he did expect anything other than what they got," Brianna suggested.

The others had nodded, and they went back to work. The one good thing about having nothing to celebrate, was that they could get their homework done, and still get to have Sunday off like they normally did.

They had just three weeks left before Christmas holidays would start. There would be a lot of homework for the next two weeks, and Lily had to get ready to write her third year exams in Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination, but then the last week of school would be mostly getting their holiday assignments from the Professors mixed in with a good dollop of Christmas cheer.

With December first just days away, the New Marauders got ready to work through those last few weeks, and try to concentrate on the work at hand instead of looking forward to the coming holidays.


	58. Bonus Day Comes to Hogwarts

Chapter Fifty-Eight – Bonus Day comes to Hogwarts

It was December first, and the students of Hogwarts were at breakfast. The talk around school about last Saturday's Quidditch game was pretty much finished – except for among the Slytherins, who were practically drooling over what they saw as their big chance at revenge against Ravenclaw for the drubbings they'd taken over the past few years.

Aaron and Arianna were sitting at the Gryffindor table with James and Tracey when the Owl Post arrived, and there was a small package addressed to them.

Arianna opened the envelope, and read the letter to the rest of them quietly enough so that they wouldn't be overheard.

Dear Mr. And Ms. Ryan,

Please find your statement of account for the year ending November thirtieth, two thousand and twenty. My incentive authorization letter has also been included, as per your instructions this past June.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know, and I will be pleased to advise.

Turvog

Account Manager, Gringotts Bank

Arianna then read their account summary to herself before passing that on to Aaron, James, and Tracey.

Summary of Gringotts Account for Aaron and Arianna Ryan

November 30, 2020

Beginning Balance: 6.439 million galleons (see note 1)

Investment Profit: 0.511 million galleons (see note 2)

Ending Balance: 6.95 million galleons

NOTES:

Beginning balance at date of trust fund transfer.

Investment profit after account withdrawls and incentive payout.

Finally, Arianna wrote her signature on Turvog's incentive authorization, and handed it to Aaron to do the same, before sending it back to Turvog with the waiting Owl.

"That's pretty cool," Aaron commented. "It's a bit more than Mum and Dad gave him per year, and this is for just over five months. Apparently he's doing even better with the investments this year than he'd done before."

Arianna grinned. "Probably has something to do with not having our auntie and uncle to deal with."

"Probably, and we certainly spent less than they'd been doing – even the new house was a lot less than the one we sold," Aaron said.

"I'm just glad that Tracey and I knew you before you were millionaires," James teased them. "That way you know we're not after you for your money."

Tracey grinned across the table at Arianna and James. "You've got that right, James. I'm strictly in it for the snogging!"

Over at the Ravenclaw table, Owl Posts arrived for Rose, Al, and Lily. They were in envelopes that stated that they'd each been sent by Mandy Boot, Executive Manager, Marauders Institute.

"Why would she be sending letters to us?" Rose wondered to the others as she opened her envelope and pulled out the parchment inside. Her mouth fell open as she read the letter to herself.

Dear Ms. Weasley,

Gringotts is pleased to advise you that an incentive payout in the amount of five million galleons has been transferred to your account this morning in recognition of your outstanding performance working at the Marauders Institute this past summer.

The Glassalloy product that has been developed with your help will be an exciting new addtion to the Institute's assets that will certainly pay dividends for years to come.

Congratulations on a job well done!

Molly (Grandma) Weasley

Senior Account Manager – PBP Investments

At the bottom of the letter, she saw a handwritten note.

'Are you having fun yet? Great job, Rose! Mandy.'

When Rose finally looked up from her letter, she saw that Al and Lily had the same stunned looks on their faces.

"How cool is that?" Lily asked them.

"How cool is what?" Nick asked curiously as he watched his cousins.

Rose grinned at him and handed the letter over so he could read it. She watched as his eyes got really big and round.

"Have I told you that you're my favourite cousin in the whole world?" he said, grinning at her outrageously. "Or how much I love you?"

Rose laughed and pointed to Al and Lily. "What about them? I'm guessing by the looks on their faces that their letters were similar."

Nick grinned at them. "Oh, I have a lot of love I can share," he assured them. "I take it you all must've made Marauders Institute a whack of money from those projects of yours."

"Probably," Al agreed with a smile. "No wonder Mum and Dad have so much fun on Bonus Day."

Lily grinned at him, but didn't mention that their parents loved bonus day because of the money they gave away, not the money they got – although she did think that getting it was pretty cool too.

Nick looked at Scorpius, and sighed theatrically, making a point of looking around the Hall.

"I don't seem to see any Owl Posts for us, mate," he told his best friend. "I seem to remember someone telling us that their job at the Institute pays exactly the same as ours did working as pages."

Scorpius laughed. "Nice try, mate, but Rose obviously didn't know this was coming, and you and I both know from what we've heard that they deserved it. I can tell you that when it comes to Al's VirtualAstronomer, it's made that class a lot better for everyone here, and if you remember, Lily's little heating and cooling system made our jobs a lot easier when the Ministry got their unit installed in August."

Now Bonus Day had returned the Hallowed halls of Hogwarts for the first time since Harry, Ginny, and the others had gone back for their seventh year together after the war, and Harry had signed off on those first six bonuses for his four Goblin and two Witch Account Managers.

They'd come a long way since then, and by comparison to November thirtieth, for Fleur, Bonus Day was practically a day off. She, and the other Account Managers, worked late every year on the last day of their business year, and had been doing that since back in 1998.

They always had current employee records for the hundreds of thousands of Witches and Wizards that worked for PBP Investments, and so their work was mostly in compiling the final financial data, calculating the incentives for all of those employees, and preparing incentive reports for the senior operations managers to review and approve.

There were also the incentives for the senior managers themselves. Molly was responsible for all senior Institute managers, while Penelope took care of their properties division team. Griphook handled senior Goblin managers.

Fleur approved the incentives for all Senior and Junior Account Managers, for Gabrielle, and since last year, for Megan. Her last job each year was preparing and sending Harry's reports to him. He got the full, book-thick complete report later in December every year that detailed all of the important information of their wide-spread operations, but it was still the financial statement that he received on Bonus Day that was always the most dramatic.

Most people didn't care how many billions of dollars of sales there'd been, or how many billions had been saved in cost improvements, or the thousands of other things that went into the day-to-day operations of a global business. They wanted to see that there was more money at the end of the year than there'd been at the beginning. Fleur was glad that PBP Investments could deliver that – even in years when Harry did things like buy full ownership of a Quidditch team in a year that they were going to lose money.

She'd been thinking about that while she'd sat at the kitchen table on the morning of December first, having a cup of tea and waiting for her own Owl Posts to arrive. Harry's decision to buy the Canons – a deal that officially closed yesterday – even though he also ate the November losses – seemed on the surface like a bad business plan. Fleur was going to wait and see. He had a long enough record of making business decisions that turned out to be way better than anyone would have predicted when originally set up.

Of course, there was also the fact that risking thirty or forty million galleons when you'd just added more than five billion galleons to your bottom line, and were worth close to fifty billion galleons made the whole risk relatively minor.

Fleur had to laugh to herself in delight at the thought that she was the CEO of the investment company that had earned that more than five billion for Harry. He was still earning more than ten percent net return on his money, and he gave away three times more than that every year in incentives and charity – including her own five hundred and ten million galleon incentive.

Her Owl Posts on Bonus Day usually came about an hour apart. Her first Owl came in, and it waited even after she'd untied the envelope. She opened it, and pulled out the three sheets of parchment. Flipping to the third sheet, she quickly read it over, and signed Victoire's incentive authorization letter for Witch Investments. Her partners had agreed that she would be the one to get to do it, and Fleur had found it one of the best things about Bonus Day.

After sending the Owl off with her return post for Victoire, she read the other two pages of parchment next.

Dear Mrs. Weasley,

I am pleased to report that Witch Investiments has enjoyed another exceptional year of growth and return on your investment.

Continued incredible growth in VirtualStore sales, and strong performance in our newest seniors and youth product and store focus have led the way in the expansion of our operations. The new travel business, focused on Witches, is also doing well, and the potential analysis shows that moving into that industry is going to be a great long-term decision.

My incentive authorization letter, and your financial report are included with this package. The Owl will wait for your return post.

Victoire Lupin

CEO – Witch Investments

Fleur smiled, then turned to the short report to read it.

**Annual Financial Report - Witch Investments**

**Year Ending November 30, 2020**

**Beginning Balance WI: 14,160 million galleons**

**New Investment: 900 million galleons**

**Beginning Balance PBPI: 9,640 million galleons**

**New Investment: 600 million galleons**

**Total Beginning Balance: 25,300 million galleons**

**Profits:**

**Manufacturing: 2,646 million galleons**

**Retail: 5,460 million galleons**

**Total Profit: 8,106 million galleons**

**Less Incentive (26%) 2,106 million galleons**

**Profit: 6,000 million galleons**

**WI Profit: 3,600 million galleons**

**PBPI Profit: 2,400 million galleons**

**Ending Balance WI: 18,660 million galleons**

**Ending Balance PBPI: 12,640 million galleons**

**Total Ending Balance: 31,300 million galleons**

Fleur had finished reading when Bill came into the kitchen and saw her smiling.

"I take it that smile means our baby is making you proud," he said, kissing her before getting himself a coffee.

"She always has, but there aren't too many moms out there that can say their daughter is the CEO of a company worth more than thirty billion galleons."

Bill laughed. "I'd say there weren't any, but there is one other – yours."

Fleur laughed, a musical sound that still made her husband's heart do a flip to hear.

"So how much was her bonus this year?" he asked, sitting down and taking a muffin off of a plate on the table.

"Eighty-one million," Fleur answered.

Bill laughed. "Remember when we thought that first million was way beyond our wildest dreams? We were older than she is now."

"I know. I'm not sure that much has changed when it comes to that. I certainly don't have any dreams bigger than this any more than I did back then."

They talked while they had breakfast – which for them during the workweek consisted of coffee, tea, muffins and bagels. When Harry's return Owl arrived with Fleur's signed incentive authorization, they were both ready to go into work – Fleur to mostly visit with a few of the PBP Investments senior managers, and this year to attend the Marauders Institute Bonus Day party. Bill kissed her good-bye, then took the TransPortal to where he was working today handling an entire room full of cursed objects that had been found a couple of months ago, while she left for Gringotts and her first meeting.

Harry and Ginny were having breakfast together too, and had reviewed their annual reports already. She was getting ready to go into work, and Harry was going to a meeting of his own, then planned on picking Frederica up and taking her out to lunch and for an afternoon of shopping. They both ended up being a little late for her work and his meeting because they both got a little too involved in the goodbye kiss part of their goodbye.

Ron was sitting in coach's office, looking at his watch, and grumbling.

"Like it's not bad enough that even our owners have bailed on us, but apparently our new ownership isn't even interested enough in their new investment to even show up for their first meeting on time."

"Oh, I'd say I'm interested in my new team, and the only reason I was late is because I was busy snogging your sister."

Ron swung his chair around to stare at Harry. "You bought the Canons? The girls always tell me you never make a bad financial decision – guess there's a first time for everything."

Harry laughed, and shook Ron's hand, then coach's.

"We'll see whether it's a bad decision or not eventually." He sat in the chair next to Ron, and both coaches looked at him expectantly. He pulled two envelopes out of his pocket, and handed one to each of them.

"Why don't we get you two signed to new contracts first, and go from there?" Harry suggested. He smiled as he watched them read over their offers.

"I had the signing bonus put in since it's pretty obvious that the winning incentive won't be worth anything for either of you this season," Harry said as they both continued reading.

"You want us to commit to ten year?" Coach asked with surprise. "I'd have thought you wouldn't be very happy with your coaches right now. In fact, I expected to be going home today."

Harry laughed. "The problem we've got isn't coaching – I thnk we happen to have the best coaches in the league – that's why I want to make sure that you won't be going anywhere else for a long time."

"Are you going to be one of those pain in the butt, hands-on owners then?" Coach asked.

"Absolutely!" Harry promised. "This year is basically a write off. We'll spend the rest of it concentrating on putting a better team together for next season."

Coach groaned, but he was smiling despite himself.

"As long as Ron's staying, I'm in," he told Harry.

Ron took a quill off of the desk, and signed his contract. "This is the only place I plan on working until the day I retire." Coach signed his contract too, and then looked at Harry again.

"So have you got a plan to get us out of this hole?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah, we're going to get some better players."

Coach laughed at that. "Have you got a way to do that?"

"Nope, but we will," Harry answered confidently. "And when we do, one of the first jobs on our list is going to be to give some of these teams that are running it up on us this season a little payback."

Coach and Ron both laughed. "I'd settle for them not being able to keep doing that to us next year," Coach told Harry and Ron.

Ron looked at his watch. "Gotta get to practice, mate. We wouldn't want to keep our players waiting."

Harry grinned at him. "Just let them have fun this season, Ron," he said, pulling two more envelopes out and handing them to the men. "We might not like losing all of these games, but for them, it's their dreams coming true."

"What's this for?" Ron asked.

"Those are your signing bonuses," Harry said, grinning. "I was pretty sure you'd say 'yes'."

They all stood, shook hands, and headed out to the Qudditch pitch where Harry was introduced to the team as their new owner before he left for his lunch and shopping date with Frederica.

Today was going to be Frederica's second – and last – Bonus Day where she pretty much got to have her Uncle Harry to herself. Next year she'd be at shool, and she'd be a grown up before the next time she'd actually be home on a December first.

She'd spent way more time with him last year, and by working with Carolyn and Brianna last summer at the cottage, she'd seen him every weekday all summer too. This fall, they'd gone out at least two days a week.

The best day had been her eleventh birthday. He took her to spend the day at Marauders Paradise. They'd ridden all the rides she was now old enough to go on, and then when her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were done work, they all came to the island too – which was just after lunch island time, and played with her for the afternoon. It had been after midnight home time when they'd gotten back, and it had definitely been her best birthday ever. She even went to sleep with her favourite present – a shiny, new Lightningbolt!

Uncle Harry picked her up at her house, and they went to the Marauders Mall for lunch, then wandered around for the afternoon. He didn't have any trouble talking her into letting him buy her two tops, a pair of pants, and a new dress that'd be perfect for the holidays.

When it had been time for them to go home, he'd dropped her back off at home, and she'd hugged and kissed him.

"I love you, Uncle Harry," she told him seriously. "Thanks for another great day."

His eyes had sparkled, and he'd smiled at her fondly. "You're welcome, Frederica. I had a great day too."

Except for the letters that had come in the Owl Post, the rest of Bonus Day at Hogwarts had just been more of the usual - Classes, lunch, more classes, study, dinner, and more studying.

The first week and a half of December was crunch time for the students. With Christmas almost here, they all had a lot of reports and projects due to be handed in before that last week of school going into the holidays. James, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey had the heaviest workloads of the Marauders with their OWL and NEWT level assignments.

Lily's schedule wasn't much lighter, with taking three third year exams, but then, compared to the nine second and third year exams she'd written last December, it had seemed easy to her.

During their last week of classes, they'd pretty much only needed to show up for class, had been given their holiday assignments, and then been allowed to just goof around with fun things to do during the rest of the class.

Finally, it was Thursday, and they'd be having their Christmas feast, would pack up, and in the morning, be taking the train home. The dinner was as exceptional as every one of the special dinners that were put on at the school always seemed to be. The Hall was filled with happy conversation, and laughter – usually when one kid or another was trying out some Christmas Wheezes.

The boxes of those holiday Chocolate Wheezes had again been the number one selling item in all of the Wheezes stores for the second year in a row. Most of the Marauders joined in the fun, and tried out one or more of the chocolates. Hugo was the only one who entertained them with a long line of transformations that kept the Gryffindors around him laughing all evening.

James, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey had gone to pack for the trip home after dinner, so that they could get it out of the way and spend some quality time together, cuddled up on two of the sofas in the Common room.

They'd watched a Christmas show on the big screen WWVN with some of the other kids, and then sat and talked quietly. The Common room had pretty much emptied out by midnight, and soon only the four of them were left.

Arianna had been keeping an eye on her brother off and on all evening, and as it got later, he seemed to get more nervous. She smiled to herself, thinking she might know why her brother was getting less and less talkative.

"Come on, James," She told her boyfriend. "Let's go get some sleep, and let these two have the place to themselves."

The grateful look she got from Aaron confirmed her suspicion, and she stood up, and pulled James to his feet.

"Walk me to the stairway, and maybe I'll let you kiss me goodnight first," she told him with a silvery laugh.

James grinned and followed her across the room.

"What's the hurry?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her, getting ready for that good night kiss.

"I think Aaron has something he wants to discuss with Tracey before bedtime," she whispered.

James grinned at her. "Then I guess we better leave them alone so he can." He kissed her tenderly, hugged her tight, and then watched her disappear into the stairway before heading for his own room.

"That was nice of them," Tracey said, smiling up at him from where she was snuggled warmly in Aaron's arms.

He smiled back at her, his heart starting to pound in his chest.

"You know it was two years ago tonight that you asked me to dance at the Yule Ball," he said softly.

Tracey nodded happily. "One of the best and scariest moments of my life all at the same time."

He looked into her eyes, and nearly forgot what he was wanting to do. "You changed my whole life that night," he told her, still talking in that soft, lyrical voice that she loved to listen to – even if he didn't always talk all that much.

"I don't know what I'll be doing after we graduate in June," he continued, "but whatever it is, I can't imagine doing it without you."

She stared at him as he pulled a ring box out of his robe pocket.

"Tracey, I love you with all of my heart. Will you marry me, and let me share the rest of my life with you?"

He opened the lid, and she first stared at the beautiful diamond solitaire, then looked into those eyes that clearly shone with his love for her. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep, sweet kiss.

"Yes, Aaron – I will marry you," she breathed, their lips still brushing together. "I love you, and want more than anything to share the rest of my life with you too."

She kissed him again, and when she finally let him go, he took the ring out of the box, and she watched as he slipped it onto her finger.

They stayed together on the sofa, wrapped in each others arms for most of the next hour before finally deciding that they needed to get some sleep before morning. There was another long goodnight kiss, and then Aaron went to his room, and off to sleep, while Tracey went to her room, and spent another half hour giving Arianna and the other girls a play-by-play of the proposal, while the girls talked about how great her ring was, and what a perfect couple they were.

The girls finally also went to sleep at nearly two in the morning. They'd have to get up in just a few hours, and by lunchtime today would be back home for the holidays. Arianna went to sleep thinking that getting a future sister-in-law was a great start to those holidays.


	59. Christmastime

Chapter Fifty-Nine – Christmastime

"Are we excited about the kids coming home for the holidays?"

Harry looked around from where he was cooking breakfast and smiled at Ginny. "That obvious?"

She stepped up next to him and kissed him. "You were up and had your shower before dawn, and you've been puttering around the house ever since. I'd say that was obvious."

He laughed, and took their plates to the table, then returned to pour cups of coffee for each of them before joining her at the table.

"You've missed them just as much as I have," he told Ginny.

"True, but I would have missed that extra two hours of sleep too. What time are you picking Frederica up?"

"I'm not – Marietta's going to drop her off later this morning, and we'll go to the station from here."

"Any plans for them after lunch?"

Harry shrugged. "Not really. Christmas isn't until next Friday, and we're not doing the family Christmas until after that, so there's no shopping pressure this year. I'll see what they want to do."

Ginny nodded. "Did you hear whether she said yes last night?"

Harry grinned at her. "No, but I don't have any doubts."

"I wouldn't count on them hanging around with you guys all afternoon, then. They might want some alone time. There isn't much of that at Hogwarts. I guess I'll have to talk with her mother at lunch too – they'll want to pick a date and all that."

"You don't think they'll want to wait a few years?" Harry joked, feigning surprise.

Ginny laughed. "If there were couples apartments at Hogwarts, they'd probably elope over the holidays."

Harry grinned at her. "That's a brilliant idea! Why didn't we think of doing that?"

"Because my brothers probably would have lynched you, that's why," she told him fondly. "And the last thing you would have done back then is try and get a Dragon Handler and a Curse Breaker mad at you."

"What do you mean 'back then'? I wouldn't want that now!"

"Like you have to worry about it – you've got Nathalie and Fleur to protect you now."

Ginny had finished eating, and stood up. "I'd better get going. There's a lot I want to get done before meeting all of you for lunch."

She leaned over and kissed him again. When he tried to entangle her in his arms, she deftly dodged away, laughing.

"Not today, Harry – I've been late for work twice this week because of you."

He grinned up at her. "I know – those were my favourite two mornings!"

Ginny laughed at his boyish grin and flashing green eyes. "Mine too, but that's besides the point. I have to get to work, and you have to get ready for when Frederica gets here."

Harry stood up and walked her to the door. "Have a good morning," he said, kissing her goodbye. "I'll see you at lunch."

The Hogwarts students were all onboard the Hogwarts Express, and it pulled out of Hogsmeade station. As it picked up speed, the kids all settled in for the ride home.

Al and Carolyn were in a compartment with Rose, Matt, and Lily. Nick and Allie were sitting with Scorpius and Brianna for this trip. When Hugo had told them that he'd be sitting with Emily and some of their friends, they'd laughed and told him to have a good trip.

"They grow up so fast," Rose had told them after her brother had left. "One day they're playing DragonRider on the sitting room floor, and the next thing you know, they're dating and practically all grown up."

"That sounds almost exactly like something your Dad said about you," Al told her, 'except I think he said TeenWitch instead of DragonRider."

Rose grinned at him. "That must be where I heard it before," she said, snapping her fingers.

The two couples pretty much stayed in the compartment for the trip, but Lily went visiting, so it was through her that they learned that Aaron and Tracey had gotten engaged last night – or much earlier this morning. When she was sitting with them, Lily kept a continual conversation going, and the others sat back and enjoyed the distraction.

It wasn't uncommon for Lily to chatter like this, but it was almost always when she was excited – and going home for the holidays certainly qualified as a good reason for her to get wound up.

When the train finally arrived in London, and came to a stop, Al laughed at his sister, who was practically bouncing in her seat.

"Why don't you go tackle Dad, and I'll get your things," he told her.

She almost knocked him over with a hug, then dashed out of the compartment. Matt, Rose, and Carolyn all laughed, and Matt put out a steadying hand to help Al regain his balance.

"If we could bottle that energy, we'd make a fortune," Matt told them.

Rose laughed, and started gathering her things. "It'd never work," she told him. "If it won't stay bottled up in her, what makes you think you could keep it in a mere glass bottle?"

Matt grinned at her. "I've got that all worked out – we can make the bottles out of your Glassalloy."

Al grinned at him. "I'm not sure even that'd be enough."

Even with getting Lily's things too, the four of them still beat their Gryffindors to where Harry and Frederica were waiting for them. Harry had long hugs for each of them – except Matt, who still got a hug – just not one of the long, 'have I ever missed you' kind.

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were next, and while they got their hugs, and Tracey showed them her new ring, and was getting congratulated, they waited for Hugo. They finally spotted him a couple of cars down, saying goodby to Emily.

"Oi, Weasley!" James shouted out to him. "Hurry up and kiss her goodbye, and let's get going!"

They watched as both Hugo and Emily turned beet red as the kids that had heard James started laughing. They proved they were Gryffindors, though, by bravely going ahead and doing as James had told them, which earned them a few whistles and cheers to go along with the laughter.

Hugo was grinning when he joined them.

"Daddy would be so proud!" Rose teased him. He laughed, because they both knew that he would have been, had he been here.

Harry and Frederica had hugs for him too, then he quickly sent their bags to the six homes they were destined for, including Matt's and Tracey's. When that was done, they all headed to the mall, and an hour or so of shopping before their lunch date.

Tracey's parents were there for their second family welcome home lunch, and Matt's parents had been invited to their first one. Mrs. Rivers had cried when she'd learned that her baby was now engaged, and Mr. Rivers had smiled and given Aaron a big hug while waiting for his turn to congratulate his daughter. They'd both grown to love Tracey's boyfriend over the last two summers and last Christmas holiday. Mr. Rivers had told his wife more than once that he didn't think they could have picked out a nicer, gentler man for their daughter if they'd picked one for her themselves.

Aaron and Tracey had told Ginny and her Mum that they wanted to get married next summer, but that they'd leave it up to them to find a date that would work best for everyone in both families.

Rose and Matt greeted her parents, and introduced them around. The Goldsteins had both met Ron and Hermione before. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny had all known Matt's father, Tony from their Hogwarts days, although they hadn't remained in touch since graduating. Even though Tony was a diehard United fan, the two men got along well, since they both loved talking Quidditch. That was their first topic of conversation while the men waited for the girls to finish fussing over Tracey, and the extra hugs, kisses, and crying that went with it.

"I'm sorry about your game against United," Tony had told Ron. "I love my team, but what they did playing against you guys was crap. Your team never ran it up on us any of the years when you were way better than we were."

Ron nodded his thanks. "I appreciate that, mate. It's apparently beat up on the Canons year, though, and Puddlemere's not the only team to do that to us."

Tony laughed. "Well, when you guys are done rebuilding in a few years, try not to take it out too much on my poor misguided team. They may have thought it was a good idea, but the local media, and the fans really slammed them for it. We expect better sportsmanship from our team."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ron said. "I hope it won't be years until we're able to contend again, though."

"Are you having any luck recruiting?"

Ron laughed. "I don't know – are you any good?"

Tony laughed so hard it took him a full minute to recover. "You can't possibly be that desperate," he told Ron. "I may be a huge fan, but there are five year old Witches and Wizards out there that play better than I do."

Ron laughed too. "Where? I may want to talk to them."

During lunch, Ginny and Tracey's mother had begun comparing dates for a summer wedding. This year happened to be a day and date match to the year Harry and Ginny had gotten married, and so July third, and July thirty-first were excluded. They agreed that the kids needed their own day, and sharing an anniversary with Harry and Ginny, or the day with Harry's birthday wouldn't work.

The second weekend in July was out for the Rivers, as was the twenty-fourth for Harry and Ginny. After going through every possible weekend, they all agreed that the last Saturday in June was actually the best weekend for all of them.

The two women didn't mind that it meant they would have to do most of the work, since the kids would only be out of school for a week before the wedding. With that settled, and the kids very happy with the earlier date, instead of the middle of July or middle of August dates that had been the other two open dates for both families, they moved on to actual wedding talk.

When they were finished lunch, Aaron, Arianna, Tracey, and James opted to do their own thing for the afternoon, and after a lost round of hugs and kisses, left the others, planning to spend the afternoon at Aaron and Arianna's house.

The rest of the kids, including Matt, opted to just go over to the cottage, hang out, and maybe even play a little Quidditch.

"It's too bad Allie couldn't come too," Scorpius told Nick when they were in the sitting room later on.

"Her Mum had already had plans for her before she was invited to the lunch," Nick said. "She's going to meet us at the Mall tomorrow, though, and go to the Minister's party Christmas Eve as my date."

Scorpius grinned at that. "We can have dates? I better hurry up and ask Brianna, although I hear that Christmas Eve at the residence is way better."

Nick laughed. "Probably, but I'm guessing if her choice was Christmas Eve anywhere with you, or at the residence without you, she's going to pick the 'with you' option."

"I sure hope that the only 'she' you're talking about being with him is me," Brianna said as she came and sat down next to Scorpius and grinning at Nick.

The two boys laughed. "Don't worry, Bree, it was," Nick assured her. "I'll go somewhere else so you can ask her."

When he'd left the room to go see what was happening in the kitchen, Brianna turned to Scorpius. "Ask me what?"

He smiled and took her hand. "Apparently we can take dates to the Minister's Christmas party this year," he told her. "Allie's going with Nick, and I was hoping you'd go with me."

Brianna smiled, and hugged him. "I'd love to!" she told him.

"You don't mind missing out on being at the residence that night?"

She shook her head. "We'll still be there for the big party on Christmas Day, and I'd rather be with you."

He grinned at her. "That's exactly what Nick said."

"You had any doubts?" she asked, putting her arms around his neck. "I could spend a little time right now convincing you."

Scorpius' smile grew wider, and she pulled him close for a tender kiss.

"SNOGGING ALERT! WARNING! COUPLE SNOGGING HERE!"

Brianna and Scorpius both jumped as they heard the silly MagicMistletoe dash off, giggling madly, and listened to the laughter coming from the kitchen. They got up and joined everyone else, where they all sat around the table talking.

"Does that mean she said yes?" Nick asked him with a grin.

Scorpius nodded.

"Yes to what?" Lily asked them, still laughing.

"You set that thing on us, didn't you?" Brianna accused.

Lily smiled and nodded. "I just couldn't resist – now answer the question."

"Yes, Mum," Brianna answered. "I said 'yes' to being his date for the Minister's Christmas Eve party."

Carolyn smiled at her best friend. "My condolences. The residence party will be way better."

Brianna laughed. "For you – your boyfriend will be there."

"We'll have to get that worked out," Harry told them. "That party ends way after my bedtime."

Lily patted his arm. "It's not your fault, Daddy. Nick and Scorpius don't get their Mum and Dad up before dawn like James does, so they can stay up later on Christmas Eve than you can." She saw the look that came over Scorpius' face and smiled at him.

"I just call them like I see them, Scorpius. They love you like a son, and you two," she said, pointing at him and Nick, "act exactly like real brothers. Besides, it just messes me up to refer to them as Nick's Mum and Dad, and not have something to call them in your case. What would that be, anyway? Parental Rentals?"

They weren't going to do another big family dinner tonight. Rose, Matt, and Hugo went to their house, where Ron and Hermione were having Matt's parents over. Nick and Scorpius went home for a quiet dinner with Percy and Penelope. That left Harry with Al, Lily, Carolyn, Brianna, and Frederica who was going to stay overnight with Lily again. The only other people that would be there for dinner would be Arianna, James, and Ginny. Aaron and Tracey would be going to her home tonight.

Only members of the Weasley clan could think of dinner for nine as being a small, quiet meal. Arianna and James got to the cottage just ahead of Ginny, and Harry was already cooking up a storm.

They had a half hour or so to talk together while he worked. The two kids were going to spend most of the evening here, but then were going to go spend the night at Arianna's house. Since she and Aaron now lived near Chudley, the four of them were going to do the DREAM Christmas there on Saturday, while Harry, Ginny, and the other kids would be working Diagon Alley and the Marauders Mall.

While they waited for dinner, James started talking about Aaron and Tracey's wedding next June.

"I guess that we'll have to think about wedding presents, and parties and all of that for them," he told Arianna and his Mum and Dad. "I might need a loan," he teased Arianna.

Ginny looked at him in surprise. "Why would you say that?" she asked him.

"Well, we can't all be millionaires. I'm sure I'll be able to pay her back over time or something."

Ginny and Harry both laughed, and James looked at them suspiciously.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

Harry was still laughing, and motioned for Ginny to go ahead and answer.

"When was the last time you checked your account balance, James?" Ginny asked him.

He shrugged. "Never. I know there's money in there when I ask Griphook to send me some. Why?"

"Do you vaguely remember Uncle George telling you that he'd worked out a contract with us for profit sharing on any products you either developed, or helped develop while working for them?"

James nodded. "So?"

"So why don't you take a guess as to how much that's earned you since you started."

"I don't know – a few thousand, if I'm lucky."

That sent Ginny and Harry into gales of laughter again.

"Whatever you do, James, do not go into business," Harry finally managed to wheeze out between laughs.

"I still don't see what's so darned funny," James complained.

"Would you understand better if I told you that your personal current account stands at somewhere around twelve million?"

Arianna joined Harry and Ginny in laughing at the stunned expression on James' face.

"Twelve million _galleons!"_ he exclaimed. "Are you serious?"

Ginny smiled fondly at her son. "You really had no idea," she said. "Didn't you happen to notice that all of those different kinds of Chocolate Wheezes were selling by the millions all over the world? You earn a little piece of the action with every one of them."

"For how long?" he asked.

"Forever, James. I do know a thing or two about business. I made sure you had a good contract."

"I seem to remember Uncle George saying something about taking it easy on you because you were his one and only baby sister."

He watched as his mother laughed. "He wishes. My brother is a brilliant inventor, but he's no match for me when it comes to business. That's why they leave it up to Marietta and Cho to handle the business for them while they play with their inventions."

"So, what's it feel like to be a millionaire," Arianna asked James – repeated the same thing he'd asked her back in June.

"Actually, it feels a lot better. I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with being the poor half of you and me. Now at least we're on the same playing field."

Arianna laughed again, exchanging a knowing glance with Harry and Ginny. It was just so sweet that he had no idea that his parents were the richest Witch and Wizard in the world.

After dinner, they all went into the sitting room and watched yet another new version of A Christmas Carol. None of them ever tired of the story, and this telling of it was fairly decent, but Harry couldn't help but think that maybe someone should get into the business that occasionally created something that was actually original, instead of the continual lineup of Muggle story knock-offs that the industry seemed fixated on delivering to their Wizarding World audience.

Arianna and James left for Chudley around eleven, and Lily, Frederica, and Brianna all went to bed so they'd be ready for the big day on Saturday. Harry and Ginny sat up and talked with Al and Carolyn for another half hour or so, and then left for bed themselves.

"It's so great to be home," Carolyn said quietly as she cuddled with Al.

He squeezed her gently, and leaned over to kiss her. She looked around quickly, expecting Lily's MagicMistletoe to go off.

"I put a silencing charm on it," he told her. "We won't be interrupted this year."

Carolyn smiled up at him. "Good. It's about time we concentrate on you and me for a while."

Saturday morning, they had an early breakfast, and then left for the Mall. Penelope, Percy, and the boys were volunteering for the DREAM Christmas too, and after meeting up with everyone else that would be volunteering for the day, split up into groups, and wandered around, doing a little shopping, and watching and listening for people to help.

Nick, Scorpius, Brianna, and Allie were paired with Percy and Penelope, and they'd agreed to cover Diagon Alley. Harry and Ginny took Al and Carolyn with them, while Lily and Frederica went with George and Marietta, who were able to come and help just for the morning, and then after lunch would be taking the girls with them for the rest of the day.

There were still lots of examples in other parts of the world where DREAM Christmas wishes were of the life-altering variety, but here at home, it was rare to find anyone living with that kind of desperate need. It did still happen, when someone fell through the cracks, or didn't know about the help that was available to them, but most DREAM wishes that were granted were for fairly modest things.

Percy, Penelope, and their group worked the stores in Diagon Alley, helping to buy gifts that included a new broom, school robes, a deluxe Joke Inventor kit at the original Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes store, and nearly two dozen other gifts. Out of those gifts, eight were gifts for parents that Nick, Scorpius, and the girls helped some younger kids get.

George and Marietta, working with Lily and Frederica, wandered around the Mall, conveniently shopping for clothes. Lily was now a veteran of DREAM Christmases, and she led the way to helping fourteen families during their morning of work.

Harry and Ginny's group probably had the most fun of the three teams. They helped get some of the cooler gifts of the day. There were Virtual GameWizards and GameWitches, two Cleansweep brooms, several portable WWVN's, six 3D-MVP's, and one really nice, moderate-sized WWVN that would be delivered Christmas Eve day to the house of three adorable little kids that had wanted to get a small WWVN for their parents, because they didn't have one.

By the end of the day, when everything was added up, the Foundation volunteers managed to help make one hundred and seventy-two DREAMs come true here at home. Harry knew that worldwide they'd help tens of thousands.

When they'd finished for the day, Harry, Ginny, Percy, and Penelope took all of the kids, including James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey out for dinner to thank them for helping out all day. After that, they went back to their homes. James and Tracey going to spend the evening with Aaron and Arianna before they would each go to their own homes later that night. Percy and Penelope went home with the boys, and had made sure that Allie got home.

Harry and Ginny then picked up Lily from George and Marietta, and went back to the cottage with Al, Carolyn, and Brianna. By then it was after nine, and they'd had two long days, so Harry and Ginny both went up to bed, leaving the kids to do their own thing for the rest of the night.

They ended up deciding to watch a movie, which Lily and Brianna didn't end up staying around until the end of, and Al and Carolyn both fell asleep while they'd watched it. They both woke up when James got in, and the three of them went up to bed for the night.

Sunday morning, they went to play at the residence, and so Harry and Ginny could visit with the Hogwarts students that were home for Christmas, and catch up on what they'd been doing. Their afternoon was spent at the cottage, and to end the weekend, Grandma and Grandpa, and Aaron and Arianna were their dinner guests, and company for the evening.

Ginny was going to be working until Wednesday, so the kids had decided to get as much of their homework out of the way during those three days as possible.

James and Tracey spent each day at Aaron and Arianna's house. They worked all morning on their NEWT and OWL assignments, then would go out for lunch, and spend the afternoons doing their Christmas shopping before going back to the house for a quiet evening together.

The cottage was study central for the Ravenclaws. Hugo and Allie joined them for the Monday morning session, and they too went Christmas shopping in the afternoon on both Monday and Tuesday, then kept working all day Wednesday to finish up their homework. It had been a lot of work to fit into the first few days, but they all knew that it was worth it to have it done, and not need to worry about school for the rest of the holidays.

Wednesday night was the Marauders Institute Christmas party, and so while the parents were out, the kids gathered at the cottage for a night of hanging out together. James was over at Arianna's, spending the evening with Aaron and Tracey again. Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna hosted their cousins, Matt, and Allie.

They played GameWizard, watched WWVN, and enjoyed having the place to themselves for the evening, and finally being old enough to do that unsupervised. Allie, Matt, Scorpius, and Nick all had to take the TransPortal home by midnight. Rose, Hugo, and Frederica were spending the night at the cottage.

Christmas Eve day was always a busy one, and so after the rest of their cousins and friends left for home, everyone except Al and Carolyn went up to bed. They were in the sitting room, and had, while watching a late movie, fallen asleep again.

When Harry and Ginny got home from their Christmas party around two, that's where they found Al and Carolyn, cuddled together, and still fast asleep. Ginny had laughed softly at the adorable sight, gently put a soft blanket over them, and quietly left them where they were.

"Now we know why Lily didn't want to wake them that night she found them asleep on the sofa last year," she told Harry when they too were snuggled close in their bed.

"They are a cute couple, that's for sure," he agreed. "Did James come home, or was he staying there tonight?"

"He was staying there," she told him. "And if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say that he's probably cuddled up with his girlfriend right now too."

Harry squeezed her gently. "Who can blame them? It's one of our favourite things to do too."

They both drifted off to sleep then, knowing that they'd need to be getting up in a few hours when their kids started to get up for what was shaping up to be a very busy Christmas Eve day.

Breakfast was cooking, Harry had already popped his daily ReVive, and was starting his second cup of coffee. He was excited about the day ahead, and that there was only one more sleep 'til Christmas. For him, though, it wasn't excitement about what he'd get for Christmas. What he loved was watching his family – and even better, the kids at the residence – opening their presents.

Since Ginny had been working the rest of the week, this morning they were going to hit the mall with the kids. She was going to be helping Brianna find a new dress for the party she was going to tonight, and they also had an appointment booked for just after lunch to have Brianna's hair done. Harry was sure that when Ginny and the experts were done, that Brianna was going to make Scopius the envy of every teenage boy that would be there tonight.

Ginny and the kids trickled into the kitchen in ones and twos, and Harry kept the food coming until they'd all eaten, then he cleaned everything up, and they all left for the Mall.

Ron and Hermione were meeting them there to pick up the kids, and they'd be dropping Frederica off on their way home. Hermione and Rose went with the girls for their morning dress hunt, and Ron and Hugo stayed with the boys and made stops at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, the GamePortal, and the BroomCloset while the girls were busy. They all had lunch together, then Harry took any kids that didn't have appointments with the Hairstylists of SpaMagic back to the cottage.

Ginny and the girls got back to the cottage around three-thirty, and then went almost immediately upstairs to start working on Brianna. Harry had laughed at that statement. If they were just going to be starting to work on her now, what did they think the morning shopping, and two hours in SpaMagic had been?

He found out a little over an hour later when they came downstairs. Brianna's hair was an intricate cascade of curls that fell across her shoulders and caressed her back down to where the material of her stylish and beautiful evening dress scooped to a point just below her shoulderblades.

Al and Harry were both in the kitchen when the girls came downstairs, and they both whistled at Brianna, who smiled brightly at them.

"Wow," Al said. "You're going to knock 'em dead at that party tonight."

Carolyn laughed. "That's my best friend you're ogling," she told Al, who grinned at her.

"I would think that with all the work you did getting ready for tonight that you'd want her to know how beautiful she looks," he told Carolyn.

Brianna was beaming at the compliments, and Carolyn was thrilled at how great the dress and hair and everything had come out for her friend.

"Come on, Bree, We better get going. I think Penelope said your dinner reservations were for five-thirty." Ginny told her. "I'll go with you over to the townhouse, just in case Percy and Penelope need help reviving Scorpius after he sees you."

While Ginny was taking Brianna into London, Harry got started with cooking their dinner. Al, Carolyn, and Lily sat in the kitchen talking with him as he worked.

"Are James and the others coming to the residence tonight?" Lily asked her father.

"They're going to meet us there, but they're going to stay overnight at their house, and come over here in the morning to open presents."

Lily grinned. "We get to sleep in? On Christmas Day?"

Harrly laughed. "If you all want to, yes."

"I vote 'yes'," Lily answered, and she laughed when Al and Carolyn both raised their hands to vote for the same option.

"Then I guess even if Brianna voted no, the majority carries the vote," she said happily. "It's not like I don't think sunrises aren't beautiful – they are – but I'm pretty sure they'd still be beautiful even if I wasn't' awake for them. If they came around lunchtime, then I'd really love them."

When Ginny got back from dropping Brianna off, they had dinner, then Harry went and got his TeenWizard doll, and his DragonRider action figures (they were NOT dolls!), and they left for their annual Christmas Eve at the residence.

This was Carolyn's first Christmas where she was a visitor here, and not one of the residents. It seemed a bit odd at first, but she had lots of friends here, and it didn't seem to make a difference to them that she lived with Harry and Ginny – except maybe for a small twinge of envy. She, Al, and Lily hung out mostly with the other younger teens, and spent time playing with some of the younger kids too.

Harry and Wayne played with the younger kids in the early evening, and then with the older teens when the youngsters went off to bed and dreams of Christmas parties and the presents they knew they'd receive.

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey got there about an hour after they had, and they all spent their time mostly with the older teens, playing GameWizard, watching Christmas shows on WWVN, and munching on the snacks and drinks that were available all evening.

"This seems so strange," Arianna told James as they were wandering around. "It's all the same things going on, but at the same time, everything's different now too."

James nodded. "A lot's happened for you since June," he agreed. "For you and Aaron, this is sort of like coming back home for Christmas after moving away for the first time."

"It is," she agreed. "Except someone's moved into our rooms, and our parents live in a different house."

James laughed. "Well, there's always a room for you at the cottage."

Arianna laughed too. "I know," she told him. "I have to admit that I like it better when you stay over at our house, though."

"Me too," he said, grinning back at her. "I may even think about sleeping in Christmas morning, if it means cuddling with you a little longer."

"If you want to cuddle a little longer, we could always just get out of here early," she suggested.

"That's a good idea too," he agreed. "We'll see how things go."

While everyone at the residence was having a fun Christmas Eve together, Percy, Penelope, and the kids had enjoyed dinner in London, and then gone on to the party at the Minister of Magic's mansion.

When Ginny and Brianna had come over to the townhouse, and Scorpius had first seen his girlfriend, he'd stood there and stared until Nick finally waved his hand in front of his best mate's eyes, breaking the spell that had transfixed him at the sight of his amazing girlfriend.

"You look incredible," he told her when he could get his tongue working again.

Nick grinned at them. "I do so hope Dirk comes with his parents tonight," he told them. "I'd really find it entertaining to watch him gnaw on his tongue all night long."

Allie had laughed at him. "That would be fun," she agreed. "And I'm jealous," she told Brianna. "You achieved the full stupefied, and all I managed with Nick was the mouth-hanging-open look."

Ginny and Penelope had laughed at that. "You both look great," Ginny told Allie. "When you do leave that long line of devastated teenage boys in your wake, make sure you take pictures and write down names."

This was Scorpius' third party, and they were getting more interesting the older he got. He and Nick weren't the skinny, short, twelve-year old boys who'd been confronted by Dirk Avery at that first party, but were becoming handsome young men. Percy and Penelope presented the four teens to each of the Witches and Wizards in the reception line before joining the line of Ministry officials, as they had to do every year.

Nick and Scorpius had spent their time at the last two parties hanging out with the younger kids and playing games. This year, being older, and having dates, they were able to stay with the adults in the Ballroom. The reception of the guests had taken about an hour, and then the real socializing began. The dancing would come later, but Ministry parties seemed to mostly be about politics.

"There seems to be a lot of sucking up going on around here," Allie told the others in a whisper as they sat in some chairs that were placed around the room.

"It's like this at all of these parties," Nick assured her. "I don't know how Dad can put up with it."

Scorpius laughed. "This seems like a harmless little game to me," he told Nick. "I doubt very many people here have seen the way that my grandfather and his buddies play politics – or at least the way they used to play," he said with a grin.

Brianna laughed. "I think it's all fascinating," she told them seriously. "There are some really good things being talked about tonight. If they all just got rid of all the garbage that's always seemed to go on with politics, they could get a lot done."

"They're starting to," Scorpius told her. "The Ministry has a lot of really good people too, despite the reputation that politicians have."

"And what reputation do we have?"

The two couples looked around to see the Minster of Magic standing next to them, smiling.

"The reputation that the only thing standing between a good idea and getting something done is the government, sir," Scorpius said with a smile.

The Minister laughed. "Oh, for a minute there I thought there might be some untruths being spread around."

Nick had looked shocked at Scorpius' way too honest answer, but the Minister didn't seem to mind at all.

"So, Mr. Malfoy, if you were Minister, what would your solution be to the problem?" the Minister asked Scorpius, obviously enjoying himself. Nick wanted to put a silencio spell on his best mate, but Scorpius went right ahead and answered the question.

"Inside the Ministry right now, I'd keep the changes coming slowly like you are doing – like in Nick's father's department," Scorpius began. "Longer term, I'd start teaching civics at school. We have a whole subject devoted to Muggle studies, but except for History, we don't teach the kids about our own government and society."

The Minister smiled at Scorpius encouragingly. "And why do you think that's a problem – and a solution to what's wrong with the Ministry?"

"It's a problem because kids grow up with a wide range of misconceptions and misinformation about the Ministry of Magic simply because their knowledge of it comes from their own families. Most of what they learn is probably wrong, and so the Ministry loses out on getting some of the brightest and best young Witches and Wizards."

"So you think we should teach them the truth about the Ministry? Wouldn't that just keep more of them away?" the Minister quipped. Even Nick couldn't keep from laughing at that comment along with the Minister and the girls.

"The Ministry has done lots of things wrong," Scorpius agreed, "and that should be taught too, but we should also teach them what the Ministry of Magic _could_ be, and what it will be someday."

"Have we been dabbling in Divintation, Mr. Malfoy?" the Minister asked with a smile. "You're predicting a brave new Ministry for the future?"

Scorpius nodded seriously. "There will be, sir. It's just a matter of when, not if."

"I hope you're right, young man. I wish there were more young people who shared your confidence and optimism."

When the Minister had left, Nick let out a huge sigh. "Oi, mate. Try not to give me a heart attack! How could you stand there and talk to the most powerful politician in the country like that?"

Scorpius laughed. "He's a good man, Nick. Changing hundreds of years of ingrained culture will take years – probably decades."

"Well, if they do start teaching politics at Hogwarts before we graduate, remind me that you'd suggested it here tonight, and I'll remember to smack you for doing it."

Allie and Brianna laughed. "I think it'd be a good idea," Brianna told Nick. "You know a lot about government because your Dad works for the Ministry. I don't really know anything about it at all."

"You've heard the expression 'ignorance is bliss'?" Nick said with a smile.

"Yes, and I've also heard the one that says that knowledge is power too," she shot back. "I find all of this fascinating."

Nick rolled his eyes, stood up, and took Allie's hand. "Quick, let me get you away from these two before you catch the dreaded political junkie bug." Allie laughed, winked at Brianna, and allowed Nick to lead her out onto the dance floor.

"I wonder if he just doesn't like all of this because he grew up with it," Scorpius asked.

Brianna smiled. "I think that's only part of it – up until a couple of years ago, politics was pretty much Uncle Percy's obsession, not just his job. I could see that turning a little boy off of the whole thing when his father's job always came first."

"He's nothing like that now," Scorpius pointed out.

"True, but now that Uncle Percy is there for him, Nick's gone nine months of the year at school. He might not even know that's the reason he dislikes everything to do with politics."

"That's too bad," Scorpius said with a smile. "He had one of the best ideas of the night so far."

"What idea was that?" Brianna asked, smiling too.

"That getting up and going dancing with his beautiful girlfriend was way better than sitting around talking about politics." He stood up and held out his hand. "Would you care to dance, milady?"

Brianna laughed in delight. "I'd be honoured, Scorpius."

They joined the other couples, young and not so young, and danced and mingled until the early hours of Christmas morning. When they were finally able to leave, Nick went with Allie to see her home, and Scorpius did the same with Brianna – each couple taking the TransPortal to Allie's house, and to the cottage. There was probably some good night kissing going on at both destinations, and then the boys hurried home, hugged Percy and Penelope, and went up to bed.

James woke up Christmas morning to the smell of flowers and the faint smell of his favourite perfume. He opened his eyes to see Arianna smiling at him.

"Merry Christmas," she told him.

He moved closer to her, and kissed her tenderly. "Merry Christmas," he said, enjoying the feel of his arm around her waist, and everything about this moment.

"We have to get up," she told him. "If we don't hurry, we'll be late for breakfast at the cottage."

"What about Tracey and Aaron?" he asked her.

"I hear them up and around. They'll be ready soon too."

They got out of bed, and James went into the other guest room, where he showered quickly, dressed, then went out to the kitchen to wait for Arianna. Aaron was already there, and he told James that Tracey would be out in a minute.

"You two are going to be busy," James told Aaron while they waited. "Breakfast and presents at the cottage, followed by lunch and presents with Tracey's parents, followed by the Christmas party, Christmas dinner, and Christmas talent show at the residence."

"And don't forget that we're leaving for Marauders Paradise after that," Tracey said as she joined them. Two days of sun and fun for the family Christmas. My parents are going to freak when they see that place for the first time."

They'd found out after getting home from school that the Weasley family Christmas was going to be a weekend at Marauders Paradise. It was Gabrielle and Kevin's new baby's first Christmas, and they'd all agreed to go there to celebrate with them. Baby Patricia had been born in early July, and she was as blonde-haired, blued-eyed, and beautiful as her mother, aunt, and cousin were.

Arianna joined them a few minutes later, and they all left for the cottage. Harry was already cooking when they got there, and greeted them with hugs, kisses, and Merry Christmas wishes.

"This smells so great," James said as they sat at the table. Lily, Al, and Carolyn were already there, and Ginny and Brianna came in just as Harry was putting the last platters on the table.

There was another quick round of Merry Christmas hugs and kisses, and then they sat down to eat.

"How was the party last night?" Carolyn asked Brianna. She'd been asleep long before her friend had gotten home.

"Scorpius and I loved it," she said. "I think if Nick and Allie could've escaped and gone back to the townhouse they would have in a second."

"You liked it?" James asked incredulously. "You two have a weird sense of fun. I'd rather be sat on by a hippogriff than spend a night listening to all that political blather. It's not like they get anything done."

Brianna smiled at him sweetly. "You know, James, if you don't like the way the Ministry works, I think you should work there and help change things so that is does run the way you think it should."

James actually choked on the mouthful of food he'd just started to chew, and looked at her in horror.

"Brianna, don't even think it! I'd make a lousy politician."

She laughed at him. "I don't know about that, James. Maybe if you turned them all into pink bunnies for a couple of days they'd stop taking themselves so seriously."

They all laughed, and the conversation moved on to the upcoming Christmas party, and the weekend at Marauders Paradise. Allie and Matt wouldn't be able to go this time, since they were doing things with their own families, but they'd all still have lots of things to do to keep entertained for the not quite two days they'd be there.

When breakfast was done, they opened presents. That was always fun and entertaining for everyone, and an hour later, they'd finished opening gifts, and had all been happy with their gifts. When they were done, it was time for Tracey and Aaron to leave for her house, so the couple said their goodbyes, had a round of hugs and kisses, and left the cottage for their next family gathering.

Christmas mornings were pretty much always dedicated to just taking it easy around the cottage, and maybe playing with new games or toys. Later in the morning, they all packed their bags for the trip, except Arianna, who had brought hers when she and James had come over, then had lunch, and left for the residence.

Mr. And Mrs. Rivers had come along with Aaron and Tracey to see for themselves why the kids talked so highly of the residence, and also so they could see how Aaron had lived since he'd been ten.

They hadn't really known what to expect, but what they did see and experience was way beyond anything that had been imagined. This place didn't just give orphans a place to live - it gave them a life. There might not be parents in their lives, but they were surrounded by people that loved them, and they were given more opportunities than what a lot of kids who did have parents had.

"This place is wonderful," Tracey's mother had told Ginny as she was shown around. "And there are how many of these homes?"

"There are one hundred and forty open now, and fifteen more will open in June – then we'll have over thirty-one thousand kids around the world."

"That's amazing! And this Phoenix Foundation that Tracey talks about runs all of them?"

Ginny nodded and smiled. "Among other things that they do."

"So Tracey tells me we're volunteering today. What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, today we mostly play with the kids, eat a lot of food, and get to watch a pretty good talent show. How are you at GameWizard, Katie?"

"I've been known to win a game or two," she answered.

Ginny laughed. "Why don't we get some of the teenage girls together and challenge the boys to a few matches? That always gets them going."

They did that, and while they played with the teens, Harry introduced Tracey's father to the world of TeenWitch dolls, and the joys of entertaining the dozen or so little girls that wanted Harry and Wayne to play with them. He at first only watched as the two men played with the giggling little girls, and he laughed with them when the occasional Dragon would swoop in and carry off one of the TeenWitches.

He'd sat down on the floor with them, and had soon been invited to play too, and lent a little brunette TeenWitch so that he could join in.

"I should have thought to bring another TeenWizard for you, Trent," Harry told him. "Not that it always makes much of a difference," he added, pointing to his own TeenWizard that the girls had put a dress on.

Trent and Katie Rivers had what they both thought was one of their most rewarding Christmases ever, and they now understood why Harry and Ginny had been coming here every Christmas since 2007. They watched the gifts being delivered in that amazing technicolour storm of gift-wrapped packages, and sat with two of the little girls that Trent, Harry, and Wayne had been playing with, and watched as their eyes lit up when they opened their presents to find their Christmas wishes come true, as they did for every one of the two hundred children here.

Katie had tears in her eyes from watching them, and when she'd opened her own little gift to find her Phoenix pin with the sparkling little emerald, she knew that this was something she and Trent were going to get involved with from now on.

The dinner had been as incredible as any either of Tracey's parents had been to, and they'd laughed at funny skits, cried listening to beautiful songs, and joined in singing Christmas carols with all of the kids and volunteers during the amazing talent show.

It was around eight thirty when that was over, and they joined Tracey, Aaron, and this amazing family they were becoming a part of in the entrance hall. There was a lengthy goodbye with Susan, Wayne, and some of the kids, and then they all took the TransPortal to Marauders Paradise.


	60. Marauders Family Christmas

Chapter Sixty – Marauders Family Christmas

Tracey and Aaron were both grinning at her parents when they got to the island. They'd looked at the magnificent hotel in front of them, and at the beautiful landscape around them, both absolutely astonished.

It was mid-afternoon here, and the sun was warm and inviting – and they were definitely overdressed. Trent and Katie Rivers watched as a beautiful young woman welcomed them all, then led them into the hotel to the suites that had been set up for them, and where their luggage had already arrived.

"We're always packed over Christmas, Gabrielle was telling them, so I hope you don't mind, but we put Aaron in the suite with Tracey and her parents." She flashed Trent and Katie a dazzling smile and laughed. "Don't worry, it's a three bedroom suite."

They all laughed, and she continued. "Arianna is with Harry, Ginny, and their family." She looked at Ginny. "I'm keeping Mum and Dad with me, and put your Mum and Dad, Bill, and Fleur in one suite together, and Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle have one suite too. That freed up four extra suites for other guests to come here for the holidays."

"You must be full if you need to do that this year," Ginny said.

Gabrielle smiled again, and nodded. "We had to turn down over two hundred requests for this week."

Aaron, Tracey, and her parents were shown their suite too, and her Mum and Dad continued to be impressed with the place as they looked around the spacious, beautiful rooms. They got changed into summer clothes, and then met up with Harry, Ginny, James, and Arianna to go on a tour of the island together while the rest of the kids all took off to 'hit the rides' until they were all going to meet for dinner around seven – or what would seem like a late night snack to them.

"How many guests can this place accommodate?" Trent was asking Harry and Ginny as they walked around the town.

"Around fifteen thousand a week," Harry answered. "It can vary a little depending on how full each suite is."

Trent quickly did the math. "So around three quarters of a million guests a year?" Harry nodded.

Trent was looking around at the other Witches and Wizards nearby. There seemed to be a lot of what he'd guess were average working people here.

"I'm surprised that a lot of the people here can afford to come here. Tracey said this is a private resort."

Ginny laughed. "Oh, it is, and they can afford it because it's a free company perk."

Katie stared at her in shock. "It's free? A whole week here?"

"Two weeks, every year," Ginny confirmed. "Hotel suites and breakfast supplied, they pay for the other meals, and if they want to do any of the entertainment that isn't free anyway. How much they spend of their own money is up to them."

Trent and Katie were both amazed. "This is a pretty awesome incentive," Trent said. "I didn't think that Marauders Institute would have had this many employees to fill this place all year, though."

Harry nodded. "They don't. The company that owns Marauders Institute runs this resort, and it's open to all of the employees that work for all of their companies. This island, and Marauders Escape too."

"There's another island like this?" Katie asked.

"The Escape island is geared toward adults – no kids, but yes, about the same size. It's in the Indonesian islands," Ginny told her. "It opened up last summer. Maybe when the kids are a little older we'll all go spend a week there. We really do love our kids, but when you spend a week there, you don't miss them."

Trent laughed. "When was the last time we went away for a week, just the two of us?"

Katie smiled at him. "I think it might have been about nine months before Tracey was born, wasn't it? When I was in labour with her, I vaguely remember telling you something about never taking me on another 'romantic holiday' again because if you hadn't, then I wouldn't be in that position."

The others all laughed, and Tracey was blushing. "You never told me that story before, Mum!" she exclaimed.

Katie laughed. "I've got lots of stories I've been saving up for when you had a fiancée or husband," she teased her daughter. "And after eleven hours of labour, I don't think I should be held responsible for what I was saying by then – and believe me, that was probably one of the kinder things I was saying to your daddy."

Trent laughed. 'I was just glad you distracted her enough that she couldn't focus her magic," he told Tracey. "The things she wanted to do to me would not have been very nice. I'm not even sure a man can have some of them happen to them and live."

One of their first stops was Kevin's shop. Harry and Ginny introduced him to Trent and Katie. Michael was in the shop too, and he waved a brush at them in greeting from where he was working. Ginny walked over and stood behind him to see what he was working on. She put her arms around his waist and gave him a hug.

"That's beautiful, Michael. You've definitely got the talent."

Kevin laughed. "He sure does. For some reason, though, he seems to prefer painting pretty teenage girls to just about anything else."

James had walked over to look at his cousin's painting too. "What guy wouldn't if they all look like that," he said, whistling.

Kevin laughed again. "Oh, they don't all look like that, James. Our young Casanova paints these portraits as he sees them, not necessarily as they actually are. It makes him very popular among the girls."

"What about your girlfriend?" James asked Michael.

"Oh, she knows I love her, and this is just because I love painting. I am a teenager after all. She should probably worry about what was wrong with me if I'd rather paint a tree or flower."

Katie had been looking at one of Kevin's beautiful landscapes, and turned to stare at him. Ginny had introduced him as Gabrielle's husband Kevin and son Michael.

"Trent," she said to her husband, "This is Kevin _Whitby_" She smiled at him. "We have one of your landscapes at home," she told him. "I love your work."

Kevin smiled. "Thank-you."

"You're getting quite a reputation on the gallery circuit," Trent commented. "Now we know why you don't come do the tours – who'd ever want to leave this place?"

When they left Kevin's shop, they toured the rest of the little village, walked along one of the more popular beaches, then took Trent and Katie on their first ever roller-coaster rides before going back to the hotel to meet the rest of the family for the light dinner that Gabrielle had set up for them in a small banquet room.

Trent and Katie had thought that they'd seen most of the family at the luncheon last Friday, but there were more than forty people here for the family Christmas. The first thing they had to get used to was the level of noise. This was a happy, vociferous group, and having always been part of a small family, that took some getting used to.

They also noticed that all of the adults in the family seemed to be very successful in their own fields, whether that was doing research, or working with Dragons, or in business. Harry seemed to be the only one without some amazing, successful career, but hey, once you've saved the world from the greatest Dark Wizard in history, you should be able to do whatever you want after that.

It had already been a long day for everyone, but after their dinner, the kids all went out to either do rides, or to go dancing at the underage danceclub. The adults took Trent and Katie to a few of the clubs in the Hotel. They were sitting beside Ron and Hermione in the WizardKaraoke club at around ten o'clock local time, and were thinking about heading back to their suite for the night.

"Oh, no," they heard Ron groan.

"What's wrong?" Katie asked him.

He smiled at her and handed her a package of tissues. "You'll see," he said mysteriously.

Ron had groaned, because he'd seen Gabrielle badger Harry into getting up and singing for them. When he turned his attention to where his best mate was just stepping up to the stage, Katie followed his gaze and laughed when she saw Harry up there.

"Is he that bad?" she asked Ron. "Is that why you were groaning?"

Ron just smiled, and she saw that Hermione was tucking her arm in his, and had moved close to him, her eyes focused on the stage. She turned back to watch as the music started.

When Harry started singing, her eyes filled with teqrs almost immediately, and for the next three or four minutes, she pulled a steady stream of tissues from the package that Ron had given her. It wasn't just that he had a beautiful, clear baritone voice, which he did, it was also how he sang it. He looked only at Ginny the whole time, and every woman there could tell he was pouring his whole heart into it for the woman he loved. By the time the song ended, Trent had his arm around her, and she was leaning her head against his shoulder and wiping tears from her eyes.

"That was – unexpected," Trent said quietly to Ron.

Ron laughed. "I at least remembered to come prepared this time," he joked, waving at the half dozen small packages of tissues he'd handed out already. "He doesn't sing in public like this more than maybe once or twice every year or two – and usually when Gabrielle twists his arm when they're here. For some reason he can't say 'no' to those baby blue eyes of hers."

"Could you?" Katie asked him with a smile.

"Probably not, but she knows better than to ask me to sing. I could make the girls cry too, but it wouldn't be because it was good."

Trent and Katie both laughed, and after talking for a while longer, wished everyone goodnight, and went up to their suite. Aaron and Tracey went with them, and by the looks of the others, the party – at least for tonight – was just about over.

Saturday was really going to be their only full day on the island. Most of the family had gathered together for breakfast in the Atrium, and then gone out to spend the morning playing on rides and doing the games like LaserBroom. They had lunch together, and then all spent a wonderful afternoon playing together at the Water Park. Trent and Katie had enjoyed themselves just as much as the kids did playing on all of the slides and splashing around in the pools.

They were back in the banquet room for dinner, and then they also opened presents there after the meal. The kids had gotten the usual kinds of gifts that teenagers got for each other, and that granparents or aunts and uncles got for them too. The adults, more often than not, exchanged gag gifts.

Trent and Katie were happy to see that Tracey had been included in the gift exchange, and had been surprised when Lily handed a present to them too. Trent watched his wife open it, and then smiled as he saw the beautiful portrait of his daughter and her fiancée. Ron was nearby, and tossed him another package of tissues.

"Kevin's portraits have the same effect as Harry's singing does on girls," he said with a grin. Hermione slapped his arm lightly.

"Just because you're not an artist, doesn't mean you have to tease Kevin and Harry."

Ron grinned at her. "Oh, I think I'm an artist too, it's just that girls never cried when I put on one of my virtuoso Quidditch performances."

Trent laughed at Ron. "I've seen some of your games, Ron, and there's no denying you took the game to a whole new level, but compared to something like this," he said, pointing at the portrait, "art it wasn't."

Hermione, and several of the other women close by had laughed. Katie handed the portrait to Trent, and went over to give Kevin a hug.

"Thank-you. It's beautiful, and you captured them so perfectly."

"You're very welcome," Kevin told her, hugging her back.

When the gift exchange was done, they again split up, with the kids going to do their own thing, and the adults doing the same.

They'd been out dancing for a couple of hours when Tracey looked at her watch and saw that it was about twenty minutes to eleven. She and Aaron were taking a break at a table with her parents.

"We've got to get Arianna, James, Harry, and Ginny rounded up," she told them. "We've only got twenty minutes to make it on time for our Haunted Island Adventure."

While she went to get the other two couples, Aaron told his future parent-in-laws why she was so excited.

"It's like a series of small plays that re-enact the ghostly legends of the island," he told them. "The special effects are like nothing you've ever seen before outside of a WWVN movie."

When they got to the place on the beach where the adventure started from, they were met by Al, Carolyn, Brianna, Lily, and Hugo, who were all booked for the same time. The rest of the family that were going to be seeing it had different times, while others had opted to instead see the Christmas musical that was playing in the Grand Theatre.

The Haunted Island Adventure that was done around Christmas was slightly different than the rest of the year, with a definite Christmas flavour to the ghost stories that the actors brought to life for their guests. It was as amazing as always, and they'd all loved every minute of it.

Staying out for the Haunted Island Adventure was past the nightly curfew for the younger kids, but they were all still on home time, and so after they'd finished their adventure, they all went back to their suites and off to bed.

Sunday morning was spent doing whatever they wanted, which in Trent, Katie, Tracey, and Aaron's case was a morning at the beach, catching one of the water shows, and a half hour trying out AquaBikes.

The family got together for lunch, and then most of them started leaving the island for home, getting there in the early evening. Most of the adults had work on Monday, and the kids all had plans for the week that included everything from more OWL and NEWT studying for the fifth and seventh year students, a couple of Gryffindor team Quidditch practices at the cottage, and for the younger kids, some outings and play time with their friends.

James was over at Arianna's house every day to study, except for the two mornings where their day started with Quidditch at the cottage. The Ravenclaw kids, including Matt, practiced against them both days, and they'd all had fun despite the cold.

The same group of Ravenclaws, with the additions of Hugo and Allie, had a couple of shopping days together, and one evening hanging out at Nick and Scorpius' townhouse together.

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey spent New Year's Eve with Tracey's parents. Brianna and Allie went to another Ministry party with Percy, Penelope, and their boyfriends, this time at the Emerald City Centre in London, and would be staying overnight with them instead of doing the early morning trips home like they'd done Christmas Eve.

Harry, Ginny, and the remaining kids went over to Ron and Hermione's house to celebrate the start of the New Year together. Grandma and Grandpa Weasley joined them too, and the six adults alternately played with the kids, and sat around talking quietly and watching a WWVN New Year's Eve live broadcast live from downtown London – including watching some of the musical guests that were performing at that same Ministry of Magic party that Percy and Penelope were attending.

"That actually looks like fun this year," Molly told the others as they sat on the sofas in her youngest son's sitting room.

"I'm glad to just relax and be here watching it instead," Arthur said. "The party is fun enough, it's the politicking that's a pain."

"That's why you and Percy are the only ones in our family working there," Ron told his father. "The rest of us wouldn't be able to keep our mouths shut when we should."

"That might be a refreshing change," Arthur told his son. "The Minister was telling me this week that he was impressed with the candor our young Scorpius had for him at the Christmas party last Thursday."

"He does seem to enjoy talking politics," Ginny noted. "And he's pretty sharp too. He might do alright at the Ministry some day."

While the parents and grandparents were sitting around talking politics and other boring stuff, Al and Carolyn were hanging out with their cousins and friends, playing GameWizard, and talking about only having a few days until they'd be back at school.

Matt and Emily were both here too, which had worked out for both of their parents, who were then free to go to their own New Year's Eve parties, and wouldn't have to pick up their kids until morning.

The girls had thrashed the boys three games out of four in World Cup Quidditch, and now Al and Carolyn were cuddled together on a sofa in the game room that Ron had set up for the kids for the night, watching Matt and Hugo battling Dragons, while Rose, Emily, and Lily sat on another sofa and talked together while the boys played.

"When was the last time we were actually home for New Year's Eve?" Carolyn asked Al quietly.

He shrugged. "I forget exactly – two or three years ago for sure, maybe even four."

"It's pretty awesome with the fireworks and everything on the island, but there's a lot to be said for cuddling on a sofa next to a cosy fire too."

Al smiled and brushed his cheek against her soft, sweet smelling hair. "This _is_ really nice," he agreed.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" she asked.

"Nothing in the morning, but after lunch we're going to the residence so that Mum and Dad can spend some time with the kids before we all go back to school on Sunday."

"Sounds good. I'm glad we got all of our homework done last week. We wouldn't have had much time this week to do it with everything else that's been going on."

"Not to mention that it would have seriously cut into our snuggling time," Al said, grinning at her.

The seven kids played together until just before midnight, then joined their parents to welcome the New Year. Their little party wrapped up soon after that, and Harry and Ginny took their three kids back home for the night.

Brianna had returned to the cottage in time to join Harry, Ginny, Al, Carolyn, and Lily for their visit to the residence, and they'd spent the entire afternoon there. They had a quiet dinner and night at home, and then went to bed early so that they'd be ready for what was sure to be a busy day on Saturday.

That moring started out with breakfast at the cottage. James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey all joined them for that, and then they went to the Marauders Mall to shop for their back to school supplies. Including the girls picking up a few new outfits, that took most of the morning, and then they were off to Chudley for lunch.

They were going to watch the Chudley Canons play the Pride of Portree, but the kids were in for a surprise when instead of going to where their usual season's seats were, they were instead lead to the private team owner's box.

"Are the owners away this week?" James asked Harry when they walked into the spacious, comfortable, and warm room.

"No, they're here," Harry told him with a smile. "Or more specifically, I am."

James grinned at him. "And you told me I was lousy at business. Why on earth would you buy a team when they're having their worst season in over twenty years?"

Ginny laughed at her eldest son, and ruffled his hair. "You can bet that your father has a plan, James. He doesn't look like it, but he's quite possibly the shrewdest businessman around."

James looked at her skeptically. "And you're basing that on what, exactly? His prowess at GameWizard, or his expertise at playing with TeenWitch dolls?"

Harry, Ginny, and several of the other older kids laughed at him. That it never occurred to James that it would have taken tens of millions of galleons to buy a Quidditch team was the same reason that he didn't know that his father had a lot more to do with business than he ever let on.

"At least we'll be warm for the game," Brianna said, looking around at the glassed in executive box they'd get to watch the games in from now on.

They all got comfortable, and it wasn't very long before the teams came out onto the field, and the game got underway. The stands were only about half full, and the so-far still faithful fans didn't get anything to cheer about. The Pride started out strongly, and they didn't stop until they'd thoroughly trounced the Canons – one more opponent who had decided that running the score up on the hapless Canons would somehow make up for the past couple of decades of losses to the team, and also help the players pad their personal statistics.

"This is really getting ugly," Arianna said in dismay as they watched the players they'd trained with last summer get beat up on. "Portree's up over a thousand points – it isn't right to keep dragging it out like this. I could understand if the Canons had been doing stuff like this to other teams, or pulling other crap, but they've always played fair."

Harry nodded. "I think our league could use a little reality check. Fans don't want to see teams do stuff like this – or at least most fans don't."

The game finally ended when the Pride Seeker caught the snitch in a showy, in-your-face display of flying that shouted 'I could have caught it whenever I'd wanted to, but we decided to stick it to you instead'. Regardless of the score, the bottom line was that the Canons were now naught for eight so far this season, and it wasn't looking any better for them for the rest of the year.

"Maybe you should try and get a refund, Dad," James told him after the game.

Harry smiled at him. "Have a little faith, James."

"Oh, I do. I have faith that the Canons are looking at a no-win season this year."

They had dinner at the cottage that night, and James packed his trunk up after they'd eaten so that it was ready for the trip back to Hogwarts in the morning. He was going to spend their last night of the holiday at Aaron and Arianna's, and Harry and Ginny would make sure that his trunk got to the station in the morning, and James, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey would meet them there.

Harry was up early on Sunday morning, and cooked up an extra special breakfast for the kids, including all of their personal favourites. They had to eat fairly quickly on back-to-school mornings, and then they loaded up the car and got on their way to King's Cross Station.

Percy and Penelope were there already with the boys when Harry and Ginny got to platform nine and three-quarters with their kids. Ron and Hermione weren't far behind them with Rose and Hugo, and to nobody's surprise, James, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey were the last to arrive, with James having slowed them down on getting going this morning.

There were lots of hugs and kisses, and then it was time for the kids to load up onto the train. Ginny held Harry's hand like she always did when they both saw the kids off to school, and waited while he watched the train pull out of the station and slowly disappear from sight.

"Come on, Harry," she told him gently. "Let's go home."

He turned and gave her a hug, then they went back out to the car, and drove back to the cottage, where they spent the first truly quiet afternoon they'd had in two weeks. There were definitely good things about having some alone time with Ginny, but when the kids went to Hogwarts each time, he always seemed to wish that he had just a little more time with them before they had to leave him.

The one thing he had to look forward to with this new year of 2021 was that he was now the owner of his best friend's Quidditch team, and he had every intention of helping that team to get back to the top of the league. Considering what he was starting with, even for Harry Potter that was going to be a challenge. The good news, at least for the Canons, was that he had a pretty good record when it came to facing challenges.


	61. All's Fair in Love and Quidditch

Chapter Sixty-One – All's Fair in Love and Quidditch

Monday morning, Harry was up, had made breakfast for himself and Ginny, and was reading the Daily Prophet when Ginny came into the kitchen. She gave him a hug and kiss, and then sat down at the table.

"Anything interesting going on?" she asked him.

"The Canons are taking a beating in the sports section, but then at least so is the Pride for what they did on Saturday. There's some coverage about the New Year's Eve party, and not much else going on."

"What are you doing today?"

Harry smiled at her. "I'm going to spend the day at the stadium in meetings with Coach, Ron, and the rest of the staff."

"Why? Have you come up with a plan for your team?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I have. Want to hear it?"

Ginny laughed. "Sure, let 'er rip."

Ginny was still eating breakfast, but as Harry outlined his plan, she soon forgot about breakfast all together, and gave him her full attention. It only took him about twenty minutes to outline his plan, and by then her food was cold. She threw her arms around him, hugged him, and kissed him exuberantly.

"So you like my plan?" he asked, his eyes sparkling and his smile bright.

He watched as she nodded, just as excited as he was. "I think you're brilliant," she told him.

He reached into his pocket and handed her an envelope. Ginny read the handwriting on the front. 'Do not open until September First, 2022'.

"Why don't you hang on to that for me," he said, still smiling.

"What is it?" she asked, holding it up to the light to see if she could get a clue.

"It's just a list," he answered. "I thought it might be interesting to take a look at it and see if anything on the list happened."

She smiled and hugged him again. Looking at her watch, she stood up. "So much for breakfast," she said, "but I'll be late if I don't get a move on it."

Harry stood up too. "And for the first time in years, I can say that too," he said, grinning. "I guess it's still not technically a job being a team owner, but it's a start."

Ginny laughed. "I think you're going to make a great team owner. Are you going to tell Ron and the others your plan today?"

Harry shook his head. "Not yet. I want a few other things in place before I do that. For now, it'll just be you and me in the know about this."

She hugged and kissed him again before leaving for work. "I love you, Harry Potter," she told him. "This is going to be a really great year!"

"I love you too, Ginny Potter," he told her, hugging her too. "Have a good day at work, and I'll see you tonight."

While Harry and Ginny had been having breakfast – or at least talking while their food went cold, the students of Hogwarts were at breakfast in the Great Hall, talking with each other excitedly about their holidays, and getting ready for their first day back at school.

The train ride back on Sunday had been the normal, back from holidays trip that was a mixture of sadness about the holiday being over and excitement about getting back to studying magic. Dinner in the Great Hall had been followed by a quiet evening getting settled back into their dorm rooms and hanging out with their friends in the Common rooms of the four school Houses.

Normally, at least at the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables, there would be talk about the upcoming Quidditch match between the two teams that was coming up in less that two weeks now. There wasn't any talk about it at all at the Ravenclaw table, except by the seven members of the team themselves, and nobody else really wanted to hear about it from them. They'd certainly seen nothing from their team that gave them any reason to believe the lofty predictions of a win over Slytherin that Rick and 'the boys' continued to yap about to anyone nearby.

"Something seems to be missing since we got back here," Nick said with a grin. "Could it possibly be excitement?"

Scorpius smiled at his best mate. "Oh, there's lots of that around, mate. It's just all over there at the Slytherin table."

Despite their loss to Gryffindor, the Slytherin team had decided that after watching Ravenclaw's game against Hufflepuff that they could expect to have their first big chance to lay a serious beating on the Ravenclaw team in years. They'd been predicting that all during December, and they had started talking trash, even on the Hogwarts Express.

The Gryffindor Marauders got right back to work both with their classes and studies, and with Quidditch practices. The Ravenclaw Marauders only had their Thursday afternoon play day of Quidditch with the Gryffindor team, but were still also busy with their own classes and assignments.

By Saturday, everyone was back into their routines, and Lily had kept her study group working hard all day so that they could have their usual Sunday off to relax and play. They had everything done by dinnertime, so she was also able to let them have the evening to themselves.

That was where she felt out of place – when her brother, cousins, and friends paired up and wanted to spend some couples time together. Since the Hallowe'en dance last October, whenever she saw that they needed some time where she wasn't in the way, Lily had started going on long walks, exploring the school hallways, or visiting the Owlry or the Astronomy Tower.

That first Saturday night back, she again found herself on one of those walks. She was exploring the sixth floor, really just wandering around and thinking. She didn't even realize that she was hearing something beside the wind outside for several moments, until she came closer to the sound. It was music she was hearing!

When she got to the room from where the music was coming, she saw that the door was slightly open. As quietly as she could, she opened the door a little more, and peeked around the edge of the door. There was a boy sitting at a big old piano, playing so beautifully that it took her breath away.

While she listened there at the door, he began to sing to the music. His voice was a soft, pure tenor, and the melody he sang soared above the intricate harmonies he was playing.

Lily quietly stepped into the room, still not having disturbed him, and watched him sing and play that song, and then another. He'd started a third one when she'd shuffled her feet slightly from the discomfort of standing in one place for so long. He immediately stopped and spun around on the piano bench to stare at her in surprise.

"Don't stop," she asked him earnestly. "You play and sing beautifully." She couldn't decipher his expression, so not knowing how he'd react, she carefully approached him, coming to stand next to the piano so that he had needed to again swing back around on the bench so that he was able to face her.

"Where did you learn to play like that?" Lily asked him in a hushed, quiet tone of voice.

"My Dad taught me," he answered her. "I don't usually like to have anyone around when I'm practicing, though. It makes it harder for me to concentrate."

Lily laughed, and he smiled shyly at her. "That's too bad, because I bet a lot of people would love to be able to hear you practicing if it's always this great."

She looked into his soft, light brown eyes, and felt herself drawn to him, without really knowing why. He had curly, sandy-brown, shoulder-length hair, and a kind, handsome face. She didn't remember specifically seeing him around school, but then there were lots of kids she didn't know in the other three houses.

"Will you play some more for me?" she asked him. "Please?"

He smiled that same shy smile, and nodded. There was a music book that he'd been playing songs from, and he flipped through a few pages, and then began to play again. This was a song that Lily knew – a recently popular ballad. After a moment of hesitation, she went around behind him and sat down on the bench next to him so she could read the lyrics.

When he began to sing, she joined in. He looked at her in surprise for a moment, and his voice faltered, but then he smiled, and he continued to play as the two of them sang. Their voices weaved and danced through melody and harmony without effort, and the experience left them both a little breathless when they'd finished singing the song.

"That," the boy said when the song was over, "Was really something."

Lily turned and looked into his eyes again, and was smiling.

"Hi," she said, putting her hand out. "I'm Lily Potter."

The boy laughed and took her hand. "I know," he told her. "You're fairly well known around here. Kieran McCormack, second year, Hufflepuff. Nice to meet you, Lily Potter."

"Nice to meet you too," she said. "I've never done anything like that before," she told him, waving at the piano and music book. "It felt so amazing!"

"Me either," he said, then smiled at the look she gave him. "Oh I've been playing and singing as long as I can remember, but it's never felt quite like this before – never so perfect."

Lily looked at the battered-looking old piano. "I didn't even know whe had one of these in the school," she said. "How hard is it to learn how to play?" She tentatively pressed a couple of the keys, and listened to the two discordant notes.

"That depends on the person learning how to play, and in part to how much natural talent they have to start with," he said, answering her question.

"Could we try another song?" Lily asked.

Kieran looked at his watch. "We can probably do one more before it'll be time for everyone to be back in their Common rooms for the night," he said, flipping through the book and looking for another song.

They sat there at the piano, and sang another pop song together. Lily didn't know much about reading music, but her photographic memory extended to being able to memorize songs that she'd heard, and that, with her own natural ability, made it easy for her to match Kieran note for note. Both of them could feel that there was something special about what they created together as they sang their hearts out.

When the song was over, Lily threw her arms around Kieran, and hugged him tightly.

"Thank-you, Kieran," she told him, kissing his cheek. "This was exactly what I needed tonight."

Kieran was a bit flustered from the hug and kiss, and he was sure that his smile must look goofy right now, but he was very happy too.

"Can we do this again, Kieran?" Lily asked him.

Kieran smiled. "I'd like that a lot, Lily."

They got up, and he grabbed his music book, and then they left the room and started walking toward the Ravenclaw Common room. He walked her all the way there, and they made plans to get together on Sunday after lunch.

When they were standing in front of the entrance to her Common room, they stood facing each other awkwardly for a long minute, and finally Lily put her arms around his neck, and smiled at him as she looked into his eyes.

"Kieran McCormack," she said in a near whisper to him. "I am very glad that I met you tonight." She kissed him right on the lips, and then turned and walked into the Ravenclaw Common room, leaving a stunned thirteen-year old boy in her wake. When his brain started functioning again, Kieran was pretty sure that his life had just taken a very interesting turn, and one that was definitely for the better. When he turned around to go to his own Common room, he was humming one of the songs they'd sung together, and smiling.

Carolyn was cuddled with Al on a sofa, and she took one look at Lily when she saw her walk into the Common room, and sat up quickly.

"What have you been doing that has you smiling like that, Ms. Potter?" she asked her friend as she walked up and sat down in a chair next to them.

"Most recently, kissing boys," she told Carolyn, her grin getting even bigger. "Well, only one boy," she amended. "I liked it quite a lot, though, so I may decide to do it more often."

Al and Carolyn laughed. "So, what's his name?" Al asked.

"Kieran McCormack. I met him a little while ago when I heard him singing and playing the piano in a room on the sixth floor."

"You just met him, and you're already kissing him?" Carolyn asked her, and watched as Lily grinned and nodded. "Way to go!"

Al laughed, smiling at the girls. "So you hear this complete stranger singing and playing the piano, and the next thing you know, you're kissing him?" he asked his sister.

"Well, we sang a couple of very amazing duets together, and I introduced myself first before we got to the hugging and kissing part."

"Who kissed whom?" Carolyn asked her.

"Oh I definitely kissed him," Lily said happily – twice, if once on the cheek counts."

She stood up again, and gave Al and Carolyn each a hug. "I feel the need to write a letter to Mum. I'll see you later Carolyn."

With that, she practically skipped out of the room, and disappeared into the girl's dormitory stairway.

"She's so happy, and she has no idea who she was just kissing," Carolyn said as she settled back down in Al's arms.

"Oh? And who was she kissing?" he asked.

"There's only one McCormack that I've heard the girls talking about around school, and that'd be the only son of Kirley McCormack Duke – former lead guitarist for the Weird Sisters."

"They used to be my Mum's favourite band when she went to school. Why didn't you tell her?"

Carolyn smiled up at him. "Because it will be way more fun later when she finds out herself. If we're lucky, we'll be there to see it."

Al laughed at her. "Is it that big a deal that his father was in a band?" he asked her.

"He wasn't in 'a' band, Al, he was the lead guitar player for 'the' band back then. Not to mention that his Grandmother and Aunt were both professional Quidditch players for the Pride."

"How do you know all of that?"

Carolyn laughed. "It's called girl talk, and when there's an extremely cute son of a famous musician who's unencumbered by a girlfriend, his entire life history is open for discussion."

"So how is it that Lily hasn't heard anything about him?"

"Girl talk bores her – she usually goes and finds something else to do." She grinned at Al again. "By Monday, she's going to be one of the top topics, I expect, if he liked her as much as she obviously likes him."

Lily was in her bed, wrote the letter to her Mum, and then put on her Virtual GameWitch glasses and went into the library. When she was done an hour later, she'd read four books – three on how to play piano, and one on musical theory. She put her glasses away, snuggled under her covers with Fluffy, and quickly fell asleep, happier than she'd felt in months.

On Sunday morning, as breakfast was ending, Allie had come over to join Nick at the Ravenclaw table, and they were all deciding what to do with their morning before leaving the Great Hall. Lily was concentrating on the conversation, and didn't see Kieran come up behind her. He gently touched her shoulder, and when she turned around and saw him there, her face lit up with surprise and pleasure.

"Good morning, Kieran," she told him happily. "I'm so glad to see you this morning."

He smiled at her, his expression a sweet mixture of shyness and happiness at seeing her reaction to his coming over.

"I thought I'd see if maybe you'd want to hang out together this morning too. After lunch seems like an awfully long time from now." He wasn't sure what to expect, but the hug she gave him seemed to be a positive response.

"We're just talking about what we're going to do this morning now," she told him, moving to the side and making room for him next to her. When he sat down and she turned back to the others who were now all watching them, she smiled at them.

"Everyone, this is Kieran McCormack. Kieran, this is everyone," she said with a laugh.

Pointing each one out to him, she continued. "This is my brother Al and his girlfriend Carolyn. My cousin Rose Weasley and her boyfriend Matt are next to them. That's Scorpius Malfoy and his girlfriend Brianna," she said, pointing across the table. 'And finally, my other cousin Nick Weasley, and you may know his girlfriend, Allie, since she's in your House."

Kieran had been nodding to each of them, and when Allie had been introduced, she'd nodded too.

"Could it be that our House's most famous and eligible bachelor has bit the dust?" she asked, laughing as she teased her fellow Hufflepuff.

Lily looked at her in surprise. "Most famous and eligible?" she asked, looking from Allie to Kieran.

Allie laughed in delight. "You don't know who Kieran is? That's absolutely adorable!"

Rose, Carolyn, and Brianna were all laughing, and Kieran was blushing furiously, but he was grinning too.

"Alright, so what am I missing?" Lily said as she watched her cousin and friends having their fun.

"Would you happen to recognize the name Kirley McCormack?" Allie asked.

Lily looked at her blankly. "No, should I?"

Allie just grinned at her. "How about Kirley Duke?"

Lily turned to stare open-mouthed at Kieran. "When you told me your Dad taught you to play, you were taught by Kirley Duke?"

He nodded. "I think he was a pretty decent teacher, but I don't have much to compare it against, except for a few of the other guys from the old band that taught me a few other instruments."

That earned him another one of Lily's famous hugs, and he laughed. "And it's a little early to say, Allie, but it's looking like the answer is probably 'yes'."

Allie looked confused for a moment, and then, remembering her actual question, laughed again. "There are going to be little hearts breaking all over school, and it'll be all your fault, Lily."

Lily beamed at her. "I may have to give Kieran an extra hug or two, but I think I can get over that," she assured Allie. "So, what are we going to do this morning?"

Al turned to Kieran. "Do you like playing Quidditch?" he asked the boy that he could see was going to soon be Lily's boyfriend.

Kieran nodded. "I'm a fair Chaser – or at least that's what my Grandma Catriona tells me."

Now it was Nick, Scorpius, and Matt who were staring at him.

"Your Grandmother is Catriona McCormack? The most famous Chaser in the history of the Pride of Portree?" Nick asked him.

Kieran nodded. "Kinda like your uncle is for the Canons."

Nick laughed. "I never think of him like that. He's just Uncle Ron – no offense, Rose."

Rose grinned at him. "None taken, Nick. This could be just as much of a shock for Kieran though – how many boys can say they've been hugged by Harry Potter's one and only baby girl?" She laughed when her cousins and boyfriend all raised their hands, and added – "Not including family or boyfriends of family".

"Well, if you'd like to join us, why don't we go out and play Quidditch for a while, and then we'll see what we want to do after that," Al suggested to Kieran and the others.

They all agreed, and over the next hour and a half, had fun just throwing the Quaffle around, and testing Scorpius' skill in goal.

"I'd say you're a lot better than a 'fair' Chaser, Rose told Kieran as they walked back to the school. "How come you don't play for your House team?"

Kieran laughed. "I love playing Quidditch for fun, but it's a lot of work to be on a team, and music is more important to me. I don't have enough time to practice both."

"Too bad for our team," Allie said, grinning at him. "I bet they'd love to have you on the team."

"What our captain doesn't know won't hurt me," Kieran said, looking at her hopefully.

Allie smiled at him. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me, Kieran. There's enough pressure with being a teenager without getting more of it dumped on you that you don't want and aren't asking for."

When they got back inside, they all just went to their own Houses to drop of brooms and cloaks, then met back up again in the Great Hall. Lunch wasn't for another hour or so, but they were able to go to the kitchens and get cups of hot chocolate, which they took into the Hall. They sat together at the Ravenclaw table until the place started to fill up with students coming in for lunch, talking quietly and getting to know a bit about Kieran, just as he got to know a bit about each of them too.

Allie and Kieran left them for the Hufflepuff table, and quite a few of their fellow students seemed to notice when Lily gave Kieran a hug before he left.

"I'd say that'll get the rumours going," Brianna told Lily with a smile as she saw several girls sticking their heads together and whispering, peeking every now and then at Lily or across to the Hufflepuff table at Kieran.

Scorpius laughed and pointed to where Kieran had sat down. "And I'd say our new young friend is being grilled by his mates right now."

Nick nodded. "Those boys will be just as disappointed over Lily being off the market as the girls will be about Kieran," he predicted.

Lily snorted at that. "What makes you say that?" she said, not believing him.

Nick stopped and looked at his cousin seriously. "Lily, you're the smartest, nicest, most beautiful girl in your year, which was second year, even if you are doing all fourth year work now. Just because they're all too shy to ask you to dance, or to go out, doesn't mean that they don't desperately wish they could."

Lily saw that her cousin was being totally serious, and she smiled at him. "Well, at least Kieran wasn't shy," she told him.

"Oh, really?" Nick asked her. "From what you two said about how you met, it was you that initiated meeting him, introduced yourself, and hugged and kissed him. He told us guys that he wasn't even sure he was going to be able to talk when he first saw you standing near the door."

Nick looked her up and down. "Are you sure you're not part Veela?"

Lily laughed at her adorable cousin. "Have I told you that I love you yet today? Thank-you, Nick."

He grinned back at her. "You're welcome, Lily."

Lily was teased a bit more during lunch, and she was happy to let them have their fun, since she could tell that they'd all liked Kieran, and he was already being welcomed into their group of friends.

After lunch, she and Kieran went back up to that sixth floor room with the piano, and besides playing and singing together, he also started teaching her how to play.

"This isn't quite the same as reading about it," she said, as she slowly read the music and played.

"You're doing amazing, Lily. Most people wouldn't be able to do what you're playing now for months or even years."

"I expect that has to do with being able to memorize everything," she told him seriously as she concentrated. "This piano isn't very good, though, is it?"

He shook his head. "No, it's old, and even with the magic I did on it after finding it, it still won't stay in tune. What's it like being able to memorize everything?"

She laughed. "Sometimes I think it's a curse, but then there are other times when it really comes in handy – like being able to perfectly remember that hug and kiss last night."

Kieran laughed. "If I tell you I have a really bad memory, would you kiss me again to remind me?"

Lily stopped playing, turned toward him on the bench, and put her arms around his neck.

"You don't need to find an excuse for that," she told him, looking into his eyes, and capturing his heart. "I think that you and I are going to be doing a lot of kissing in the future, so even with a bad memory, you're bound to remember some of them."

With that said, she pulled him closer, and shared a very sweet, tender kiss that she was sure that they'd both remember for a long time.

During the next week, Lily and Kieran played piano and sang together whenever they had time. He would come and study with them sometimes when Allie was studying with them too. He even came with them for their Thursday afternoon play game against Gryffindor, where he was introduced to James, Aaron, Arianna, and Hugo – although he'd already been in some of the same classes with Hugo both last year and this year. He didn't play with them, but instead watched them having fun, sitting in the stands with Carolyn, Brianna, Tracey, and Allie.

By the end of the week, there was no doubt that they were officially a couple, and on Saturday, she sat with him in the Hufflepuff section to watch the Ravenclaw-Slytherin game, causing a minor commotion when they were first seen holding hands, and then later, cuddling together to stay warm.

That part of the game experience was amazing. The game itself wasn't. Lily hadn't really paid any attention to what was going on around Ravenclaw Tower regarding their Quidditch team. She'd been happily occupied elsewhere.

If she had paid attention, she would've found out that the buzz in the Common room was that their team only practiced two times since getting back to school, and had been talking it up around school on how easy it was going to be to beat a Slytherin team that the Ravenclaws had absolutely destroyed the past two years. Too bad for Rick and his buddies that they forgot that those wins had come with a totally different team – a team that worked their butts off to earn those wins.

When the game got underway, Andy was at his usual entertaining best.

"And they're off!" he shouted. "Slytherin reaches the Quaffle first, and they pass right away. They swing around behind their goal, and go on the attack. They pass, and split the Ravenclaw Chaser defense; they shoot, they SCORE!"

That became the theme of the game as Lily and her fellow Ravenclaws watched as Slytherin scored on their Ravenclaw team over and over again. If they were being honest, they would all have to admit that there was a small amount of satisfaction that went with watching Rick learn another lesson about what a stupid thing he'd done this year. The downside of the whole thing, though, was that it was being done to their team by Slytherin – the only team that deserved to lose more than Rick and his team did.

The Slytherin team wasn't keeping quiet either as they trounced the Ravenclaw team.

"Hey, Rick!" their captain shouted to his counterpart. "Maybe you should have let the baby Ravenclaws come out to play after all, 'cause you guys SUCK!"

Rick barely dodged the bludger that was hit his way as he fumed uselessly at the other boy.

"Watch out Ricky!" one of the Slytherin beaters shouted. "you don't want to get hit by the big, bad bludger, or you might cry!"

Kieran leaned close to Lily and whispered in her ear. "No offense to your team, Lily, but my grandmother still plays better than any of those guys."

Lily grinned at him, and was about to respond when they both heard another Slytherin taunt.

"Hey, Ricky!" their captain shouted again. "Why don't you let those little girls of yours from last year's team come out and we'll show them how to play with real men."

Lily's eyes went flat with anger. "When we get back on the team, Rose and I are going to make those morons pay for that one," she told Kieran.

He already had his arms around her, so he just pulled her closer. "Don't let those idiots bug you, Lily. The captain knows he can get away with saying what he wants because this is his last year. He doesn't care if it hurts his team later on."

"Maybe I'll get lucky, and he'll have to repeat a year."

Kieran laughed. "That'd be really funny, wouldn't it? Maybe you should find out who TNM is, and see if they could get you one of those candies that made the girls into fairy princesses, and slip one to that jerk. That'd be pretty funny too."

Lily laughed and leaned back to kiss his cheek. "I doubt either will happen, so I guess I'll just have to settle for a rematch, whenever that ends up happening."

The Slytherin team toyed with the Ravenclaws until they'd scored forty-one times before they decided that they'd had enough fun for one day, and their Seeker caught the snitch to end the game.

"Slytherin wins five hundred and sixty to thirty," Andy said wearily. Some games just weren't any fun to announce, and he was glad this one was finally over.

Kieran, Lily, Nick, and Allie met up with the rest of their Ravenclaws, and started back for the school. As they walked near to where the two teams had met at the centre of the pitch, they overheard the Slytherin team continuing to taunt Rick and his team.

"At least he's standing there and tried to congratulate them, which is more than the Slytherins ever do when they lose," Nick said to the others.

"We'll get our chance again," Rose promised, "and when we do, they're going to regret doing this today. The only problem is that they don't seem to have enough sense to learn their lesson, since we have to teach it over and over again."

The others laughed, and then they put the game behind them, went to get their books, and found an empty classroom where they could all study. There wasn't going to be a party in Ravenclaw Tower for the second gameday in a row, and they didn't want to hang around the Common room to witness the cold shoulder that their team was likely to be getting when they returned.

While they worked, Rose had turned on her portable WWVN so that they could watch – or for most of them, listen to the Canons-Arrows game. It was another blowout, and eventually Rose just turned it off.

"At least I hear your Dad's team has a new owner now," Kieran told Rose. "Maybe they'll be able to start turning it around next year. They definitely won't get anybody to come play for them the rest of this season for sure."

She just nodded. "I hope so."

Word hadn't gotten around outside of the team and family yet that Harry Potter was the new owner, so they didn't tell Kieran that his new girlfriend's father was the person he was talking about.

Lily ran into her first potential boyfriend-girlfriend problem the following weekend when she realized that although Kieran was actually about six months older than she was, since he was in second year, he couldn't go to Hogsmeade with them on Saturday.

"I could just stay here and spend the day with you," she'd told him earlier in the week. "There isn't anything I really need to get in town."

Kieran had laughed. "You can't do that, Lily, Now that I have a friend that can go into town, I can make up a list of things I need, and you can pick them up for me. The only down side that I see is that I won't be able to surprise you with the sweets I want to get for you, since you'll be the one picking them up for me."

Lily had hugged and kissed him for keeping the Hogsmeade weekend thing from being awkward, but had also told him that she'd only go for the mornings, and be back in time for lunch at school, and to spend the afternoon with him.

That first Hogsmeade weekend, she'd picked him up some ink, parchment, and sweets for both of them. The next one was going to be on the day before Valentine's Day, so instead of waiting until then, she also picked him up a box of the Chocolate Valentine Wheezes too.

There were three weeks between that Hogsmeade weekend, and the Valentine's Day weekend. During those weeks, they all were busy with loads of homework, and the Gryffindors continued to work hard in preparing for the game they had coming up the weekend after Valentine's Day against Hufflepuff. Lily and the Marauders also had work to do preparing for their Valentine campaign for all of the kids they continued to help and send gifts to.

The Thursday afternoon Quidditch play day continued to be the sporting highlight of the week for both the Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors, and whether any of them wanted to admit it or not, it really helped Gryffindor get better to play some of the best players in the school once a week.

Now that Lily had a boyfriend, she spent some serious time thinking about what she could get him for Valentine's Day. Sure, she knew that it was mostly about the girls and all that, but she had something really special she wanted to do for him, so during those three weeks she recruited some help from home, and when Valentine's day arrived, she sat at the Ravenclaw table, watching expectantly for the Owl Post to arrive.

In her excitement over what she hoped would be a hit present for Kieran, she hadn't even really thought about anything coming for her, since she hadn't gotten a Valentine's present from a boyfriend before either. When the Owl stopped in front of her, having carried a gift wrapped present to her, she'd excitedly started tearing the wrapping paper off of the box, and opened it to find a beautiful musical jewellery box. When she opened the lid, she had tears in her eyes when she realized that it was Kieran playing the music she was hearing.

"That's beautiful," Carolyn leaned over and whispered to her. "Is that him playing?" Lily nodded, and Carolyn gave her a hug. "I'd say that's a pretty good indication that he's rather fond of you," she told her friend.

"That's good, because I'm rather fond of him too."

She'd forgotten all about watching for him opening the gift she'd sent him, and all of a sudden she found herself getting hugged from behind, and she laughed. Turning around, she hugged Kieran back.

"You like it?" she asked him, her eyes searching his for the answer she was sure would be there.

"I love it!" he told her. "It's the coolest thing I've ever seen. How'd you get the case to do that?"

Lily grinned at him. "I happen to have a genius Aunt who made that possible, and Daddy helped me to find the keyboard. Now we can practice and play anywhere!"

"It's brilliant," he told her, hugging her again.

He saw that she'd opened her present, and smiled. "Do you like your present too?" he asked her.

Lily nodded. "I love it. I didn't recognize the song. It's beautiful."

"Thank-you," he said modestly.

"You wrote it?" she said excitedly. "Just for me?"

"He nodded, and couldn't keep from grinning. "Let's just say I had some really great inspiration."

Lily put her arms around his neck, and pulled him into a kiss.

"I better get back to my table and eat breakfast before it's over. Meet me after we're done?"

Lily nodded, and after hugging him one more time turned back around to find everyone else grinning at her.

"What was he talking about his present?" Carolyn asked curiously.

"I got him a keyboard, and Aunt Hermoine made the case for it – one of her undetectable expansion bags, so it's basically a full sized piano that fits into a case about the size of a 3D-VMP."

"No wonder he loves it," Carolyn told her. "Something like that has got to be high up on the coolest present list for a musician."

"I thought it would be too," Lily said modestly. "Since I'm learning how to play, Dad and Aunt Hermione actually made up two of them so I could practice anywhere too."

"The getting his and her pianos is cute and all that, Lily, but don't you think that taking ten fourth year subjects is enough of a challenge for anyone?" Carolyn said, rolling her eyes dramatically. "No, I guess not," she said, answering her own question, "she's going to also pack ten years of piano lessons into half of a school year."

"I'm going to try," Lily told her. "Now to more important things – what did your Valentine's get you today?"

They'd all worked extra hard to get their weekend homework out of the way on Saturday so that they could all spend Valentine's Day with their Valentines. Kieran and Lily went off and found an empty room where they could play their new keyboards, and sing to their little hearts content.

The others mostly found comfortable spots in their Common rooms where they could cuddle up together. There was a special Valentine's Day feast at dinnertime, and after that, most couples went looking for quiet places where they could have some private time together and to, with luck, maybe share a Valentine kiss or two.

Lily had only had a boyfriend for about five weeks, and this had been her first Valentine's Day with one, but when she went to bed that night, she was absolutely certain that she would always remember this one as one of the best she would ever have.

By Monday, Valentine's Day was practically forgotten as the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff showdown of the undefeated teams became the topic around school. Both houses had earned big wins over their opponents in their first games, and there was a lot of hope that there would finally be a game this season worth watching, since the first three hadn't been anything to write home about.

All of the New Marauders did keep up with their homework, but even the Ravenclaw Marauders did a little extra game preperation by having two play days with the Gryffindor team during that week to help tune them up for their Saturday game.

Since Nick and Lily had sat with the Hufflepuff students at the last game, this time Kieran and Allie sat in the Raveclaw section with them, and the rest of their friends. Al was looking around the stands before the game started, and saw Rick and his buddies laughing it up together in the highest seats. He didn't see any parchment or quills, so apparently they had no intention of actually taking notes to help them get ready for their own Gryffindor match at the end of May.

"All fun and games with that bunch," Rose leaned forward and said to Al, having seen the direction he was looking in.

Al nodded. "I don't know why I should be surprised – they're down to one practice a week now, and they're only gone a half hour. His buddies must've decided that it's just too cold out in the winter to practice."

While they waited for the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams to come out onto the pitch, they listened as Andy warmed up the crowd.

"Today's Quidditch match is between two undefeated teams – Gryffindor, who won a decisive victory over Slytherin, and Hufflepuff with their well-earned victory over last season's undefeated Quidditch Cup Champions, Ravenclaw, who is unfortunately having a tough season this year with two losses so far."

"Ricky and the boys aren't smiling now," Scorpius told them, grinning at them. "They're looking just a bit ticked off at the moment. I wonder if Andy can see them glaring at him?"

"So today we''ll find out if it will be Gryffindor or Hufflepuff that will be continuing their undefeated season," Andy continued. "One of them will go into May as favourites to win the Cup this year, and the other will be hoping for the winner of this game to lose their last game of the year."

Both teams flew out into the stadium as Andy had finished his last comment, and they flew once around, then settled to the ground, where the two captains shook hands, and they all listened as Madame Hooch gave them their pregame instructions. When she had both teams ready, she threw the Quaffle into the air.

"They're off!" Andy shouted out, starting his play-by-play. "And James reaches the Quaffle first, and passes to Aaron – NO! it's a fake, and the pass is actually behind his back and across to Arianna, who weaves once, shoots, and SHE SCORES! Wow! Gryffindor is on the board in eight point three seconds!"

Hufflepuff started out on their heels for a moment, but they regrouped quickly, and the game really got going. Gryffindor had the edge in speed and maneuverability, but Hufflepuff's players were fighting hard, and throwing everything they had at Hugo and the Gryffindor team.

The Keeper position was the difference in the game. Both teams were nearly equal in shots on goal, but Hugo only let six goals in on ninety-seven shots over the three hours and eleven minutes that the game lasted. Gryffindor scored thirty-six times on ninety-one shots. Scoring more than one out of three on a pretty good Keeper said a lot about just how good the Gryffindor Chasers had become this year.

Jeremy finally was able to out-duel the Hufflepuff Seeker to catch the snitch, and the game ended with a score of five hundred and ten to sixty.

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams were meeting at the centre of the Quidditch pitch when the Ravenclaw Marauders, with Allie and Kieran, came up to them to congratulate their brothers and friends.

"I'd say I'm glad this is your last year playing against us," the Hufflepuff captain was saying to Aaron," but we've still got him to deal with for five more years," he added, pointing to Hugo. "Any chance you'd consider transferring over to our House next year?" he asked Hugo.

Hugo laughed. "Sorry, mate. You know how it is, Mum and Dad were in Gryffindor,and all that."

The other boy laughed. "That didn't stop your sister or cousins from being in Ravenclaw," he pointed out. "At least their captain this season pulled one of the all-time bone-headed mistakes in the history of Hogwarts Quidditch, and gave us a team we could beat this year."

Rose laughed. "That's so sweet of you to say," she beamed at him, and they all laughed.

"Anyway, it's cold out and we want to hit the showers. Good game, Aaron. Do me a favour and pick a really lousy replacement for yourself for next year."

Aaron laughed. "Thanks, mate. You guys played a great game too. At least we gave the fans one game worth watching this season."

When the Hufflepuff team had left, the rest of them quickly got through the congratulations and hugs and kisses so that the team could go shower too, and the rest of them could get back to the castle, get warmed up, and start in on their homework assignments.

With the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game now over, there weren't any more Hogwarts Quidditch games until May, and there were six long weeks until Easter. It was this stetch of every year that seemed the toughest, and the New Marauders all got ready to work their way through them, as always, trying their very best, and when they could, fitting a little fun in along the way.


	62. March Madness

Chapter Sixty-Two – March Madness?

Harry was sitting in Coach's office on the Monday morning after Gryffindor's win over Hufflepuff, and they were starting a meeting that included Ron and the two team scouts, who were both back from their weekend scouting trips.

"The game at Hogwarts this weekend was pretty good, even if the score was lopsided," the older scout was reporting. Hugo's Keeper performance was the difference, since he only allowed six goals on ninety-seven shots."

Ron looked very pleased to hear that. Not getting to watch his kids play most of their games at Hogwarts was one of the things he liked least about being in pro Quidditch, and it seemed worse this season with their team doing so badly.

"Aaron and Arianna continue to impress, and they scored twenty-five of their thirty-six goals between them," their senior scout continued. "I have no doubt they could play at this level next season."

Coach nodded. "Anybody else worth looking at?" he asked gruffly.

"Unless you can talk Hermione into letting us home school Hugo and have him play next season, No. Hufflepuff's got some good players, but nobody that's pro caliber – they're strength is in their teamwork. Whoever it is on their team doing that might make a good trainer, though."

Ron made a note. "I'll get the kids to ask around, and maybe they can find out," he told the other men.

"How about your swing through Europe? Any luck there?" Ron asked.

"I saw some talent, but the only two that might have been good enough had egos that exceeded their abilities. Sorry, coach, but that trip was a dud."

Coach turned to their junior scout, and motioned for him to go ahead.

"I went and saw that Seeker we wanted to keep an eye on in America," he began. "Liselle Donovan. She's definitely got the skills if we can train her properly. I'd say one to two years to be ready to play."

"Is she being scouted by anyone else?" Coach asked.

"Not that I've heard, but that's something that's hard to check on with a one or two day visit."

"And how about your stops in South America, Mexico, and Canada?" Coach continued.

"There was a young Chaser prospect in Peru, but he's only in third year at school, so we can keep an eye on him, but he's still years away in development. There's some other possible future talent in Brazil and Mexico too, but nobody in the graduating class." He then smiled at them, having kept his real find to the last.

"I caught a game at the Wizarding School in British Columbia, Canada – their school for the Western part of their country, and I think if we can get them, that I've found our future Beaters."

Ron and Coach both looked at him excitedly. "What've you got?" Ron asked.

"Sebastian and Tristan Connors, seventh year students. They're cousins. I know I haven't been around as long as the rest of you have, but they're the best Beater duo I've ever seen – amateur or pro."

Harry took a quick peek at the younger scout's memory of the three players he was high on, and smiled to himself. This would be perfect for what he needed.

"Good job," Coach told both men. "Plan on another round of scouting for the end of season games," he told the two men. "Let's concentrate on those schools with the talent you've already singled out, and not bother with the others for the rest of this season. We'll take a look at all of the schools again next fall."

The scouts both nodded, and stood, knowing from experience that Coach was dismissing them. When they were gone, Coach and Ron turned to Harry, who was smiling at them.

"So, why'd you want to sit in on our scouting report?" Coach asked him.

"I needed to know if they'd found what I was going to need," Harry answered, still smiling.

"And did they?" Ron asked him.

"Harry nodded. "Yes. Practice would be starting soon," he said. "Why don't you get the team working on something they don't need either of you for, and I'll tell you what I have planned for the team."

"How long will that take?" Coach asked.

"I wouldn't make any plans for the rest of the morning," Harry said cryptically.

Ron went out and set the team up to do workouts all morning with the trainers, then joined Harry and Coach in the office.

"So what's your big plan?" Ron asked his best mate and boss.

"First thing is, you and I are going to personally recruit Aaron, Arianna, Liselle, Sebastian, and Tristan," he told Ron. "It's not that I don't have confidence in your scouts, but I'm sure that I'll get all of them to come, and they probably wouldn't."

Coach nodded. "I'm good with that so far," he told Harry, who grinned at him.

"If you like that, you're going to really love the rest of it," Harry told him.

For the next two hours, Harry first told them what he had planned, and how he was going to make it happen, then talked every detail out with them until he'd won both men over.

When it was nearly lunch, Coach finally put his hands up. "Anyone else looking at this whole nutty plan would probably think that you've gone mad," he told Harry. "If you have, though, the madness must be contagious, 'cause you've sold me on it."

Ron nodded. "Me too. Now why don't you take us out for lunch, boss? I'm starving!"

It took about a week to set up three meetings at three different Wizarding Schools, but when everything was set up, Harry and Ron headed for North America. Their first stop was to meet with Liselle Donovan and her parents.

When Harry and Ron walked into the room that the Headmaster of Liselle's school had been kind enough to let them use, Liselle and her parents were already there waiting for them. Harry had seen what she looked like from the young scout's memories of the game, and he walked up to them, and shook their hands before sitting down, putting the briefcase he'd brought with him on the floor next to the table.

"I'd like to thank you for meeting with us," Harry began. "This is Ron Weasley, Assistnant Coach for the Chudley Canons," he continued. Ron shook their hands too, and joined Harry at the table.

"Your letter said that you wanted to talk about recruiting me to play for the Canons," Liselle said in a quiet voice. "I'm curious as to why you'd come all the way over here. It's not like I'm even being recruited by the professional teams in my own country."

Harry smiled at her. "We think you've got the potential to be one of the best Seekers, Liselle," he told her sincerely.

Her parents looked surprised. They were already in a state of shock from first finding out that Harry Potter wanted to meet their daughter, and now from actually meeting him.

"Do you really think she's that good?" her father asked Harry, his pride in her obvious.

"Yes," Harry answered. "We think you'd need a year of training before you'll be ready to play at the league level, but you definitely have the talent."

Liselle smiled at Harry and Ron. "Thank-you," she told them. "That means a lot to me that you think so."

Harry smiled in return, and handed her a few pages of parchment before continuing.

"Those pages detail our contract offer to you," he told Liselle. "We'd want you to commit to five years with us. The first year would be exclusively training with our team, and then we are sure that by the start of the 2022-23 season, that you will be ready to be our starting Seeker."

Liselle's eyes widened as she read the offer, and she stopped to point out several things to her parents that were in the contract. Her mother and father were both surprised at what they read too.

"It says in here that for the next year I'd have a personal trainer. Is that a Seeker trainer or like a conditioning trainer?" she asked, looking up from the contract.

"A Seeker trainer," Ron answered, "Possibly the best one there is."

Liselle looked interested at that. "Is it someone I've heard about?"

Harry laughed. "I'd say it's someone you've met," he told her, his eyes sparkling as she realized what he meant.

"You'd train me yourself?" she practically whispered. Harry watched as Liselle and her parents stared at him in amazement.

"I've only been majority ownder of the team for a few months," he told Liselle. "I'm sure you've seen we're having about as bad a season as is possible, but we're going to turn that around. Part of doing that is having a great Seeker, and I'll be training that Seeker myself."

He grinned at her. "I really hope it'll be you, because we think you'll be at least as good as our last Seeker."

Liselle looked at her parents, and seeing that they were leaving the decision up to her, she turned back to Harry and Ron.

"This is a dream come true for me," she told them. "Playing Quidditch is the only thing I've ever wanted to do, so the answer is 'yes'."

Harry and Ron were both smiling, and Harry handed her an envelope.

"What's this?" she asked him curiously.

"Well, if you'll be so kind as to sign that contract offer, it's your signing bonus," he told her.

"It didn't say anything in the contract about a signing bonus," she told him.

Harry laughed. "Oh, that's because the bonus is from me personally, not the team," he told her as she signed the contract and handed it to him.

When she opened the envelope and saw the amount that had been transferred to her new Gringotts Account, she looked up again at Harry in shock, and he just grinned at her.

"Welcome to the Canons," he told her. "You're going to love your new job."

Liselle stood up from the table and smiled. "Thank-you. Permission to hug the boss?"

Harry, Ron, and her parents all laughed, and stood too. "Permission granted. Ron will have to be Coach Ron, or Coach Weasley, but since I'll just be your trainer, call me Harry."

Liselle walked over to him, and gave him a hug, which he returned. "Thank-you, Harry."

Ron smiled at her. "Ms. Donovan, we'll send you the details of when training camp opens, and will be happy to give you whatever assistance you'll need to find living accommodations and anything else you'll need."

"Thank-you, Coach Weasley," she told him. "Is there anything else I should be doing until then?" she asked him.

"If you're not taking ReVive yet, start taking it daily. It's a mandatory vitamin supplement for our team."

Liselle nodded. "I've been taking it since I turned seventeen," she told him.

"Good," Ron said approvingly. "Then just keep working hard, and the next time we see you will be when you come over to our side of the pond."

Harry and Ron started saying their goodbyes, and Harry picked up his briefcase before he remembered one last thing to talk with Liselle about.

"I almost forgot one other thing," he told Liselle with a smile. "Our scout didn't tell me what kind of broom you use playing for your team. What do you fly?"

"A Nimbus – 2000," she said, coughing out the 2000 in embarrassment.

He smiled at her. "It was a good broom," he told her, "back when I flew one in the nineties."

Opening the top of his briefcase, he reached in and pulled out a broom and handed it to her.

"You should start practicing with this," he said, grinning as he watched her eyes again grow wide. "Starting with next season, this is the only broom the Chudley Canons will be using."

"A Lightningbolt!" she said, still staring at it. "For me?" She had tears in her eyes when she finally looked up at Harry. "Thank-you," she said, giving him another hug.

She looked at his briefcase and laughed. "Some day you'll have to tell me how you fit a broom into that little thing."

Harry, Ron, and her parents all laughed, and then, after another hug, the two men left the room, leaving Liselle to celebrate with her parents. They thanked the Headmaster for making the exception for them to come here, and then moved on to their afternoon appointment at the school in British Columbia – after feeding Ron first, since he was starving again.

Sebastian and Tristan Connor were big, strong young men, about as tall as Ron, but much more muscular. The two boys, and their parents had been just as impressed as Liselle and her parents had been that Harry Potter would personally come to recruit them, but in this case, his approach was much simpler.

With Liselle he had been sure that the deal closer would be his own commitment to personally train her. With these boys, it would be money, and the chance to play in the premier Quidditch league in the world. He offered them double what a Professional Beater would make in the Canadian Quidditch League, promised them that he was putting together a team that would be competitive starting with this coming season, and closed the deal with two more signing bonuses, and a pair of Lightningbolts, before heading for their hotel for the rest of the day.

"Marketing is going to love the looks of those two boys," Ron told Harry as they talked about the meeting during dinner.

Harry nodded. "That's just a bonus. They'll be able to play next season, and be able to compete right away. Imagine how good they'll be after we've trained them for a few years."

Ron grinned at him. "I am, and I can hardly wait."

They stayed overnight, actually only getting a few hours sleep before leaving before dawn local time to get back home for their after school meeting with Aaron and Arianna Ryan.

These two prospects had invited their fiancée and boyfriend respectively to attend their meeting. Harry and Ron had hugged all four of them before sitting down together.

"Thank-you for meeting with us," Harry told them, not able to keep from grinning.

"What's up with all of this, Dad?" James asked him.

Harry laughed. "I'm not here in my Dad capacity," he told James. "I'm here as owner of the Canons." He looked at Aaron and Arianna fondly.

"Now, if you'd like, we can go through the whole spiel, or instead you can just both agree to sign up with the Canons to be two of our Chasers for at least the next five years. Then you can sign your contract offers, I'll give you each a nice bonus, and we can move on to the congratulatory hugs and kisses."

Arianna laughed. "Why do this now instead of after we get home at the end of the school year?"

Ron grinned at them – "Because you two are the hottest prospects of the last five years, and we didn't want some other team snapping you up."

She smiled at Ron. "Well, if that's the case, maybe we should see what other offers come in," she teased him.

Ron pretended to look hurt and shocked, but it was Harry that answered her.

"We'll amend the offers. I doubt anyone will be able to offer more anyway, but if they do, I'll pay it plus ten percent more."

Aaron laughed and patted his sister on the back. "Way to negotiate, sis!"

Harry laughed too. "If you think that was good," he said, handing them the two contract offers, "you should have seen how Ginny negotiated to get what's in those contracts for you. It makes the one she did for James with George and Lee look like they took advantage of her compared to this."

Arianna flipped to the page where she was supposed to sign, and did that. "If she worked these out with you, that's good enough for me," she told Harry.

He watched as Aaron did the same, then handed them their signing bonus envelopes.

"See, Ron," Harry said. "I told you this would be the easiest meeting."

Ron laughed, and the four teens looked at Harry in surprise.

"How many meetings have there been?" Aaron asked.

"We landed the two best Beaters we've ever seen yesterday afternoon, and yesterday morning we signed our future Seeker, although we'll be developing her for the first year she's with the team."

"What about the other positions?" Arianna asked.

Ron smiled. "We're working on that. We'll have a full team by training camp. I'm sure about that."

Harry stood up from the table. "Professor McGonagall only gave us a half hour," he told them. "I definitely need some hugs to hold me over until June, so we better hurry before Ron and I have to leave."

Aaron, Arianna, James, and Tracey were sitting with their friends at dinner that night, and they were talking excitedly about their new jobs.

"How much were those signing bonuses?" James asked. "Did you even look at them?"

Aaron and Arianna exchanged looks and laughed. "We forgot to check," Arianna told him. She pulled her envelope out at opened it. When she read the short paragraph that advised her that a cool million galleons had been added to her account, she grinned and handed the letter to James, who whistled appreciatively.

"Now that's what I call a bonus!" He turned and smiled at Hugo. "Want to do us a favour, cuz?" he asked the boy.

Hugo nodded. "Sure, what d'ya need?"

"I was thinking that if you started spreading the word with the first and second year Gryffindors that Aaron and Arianna had been signed to contracts to play Professional Quidditch, and got huge signing bonuses too, that it might be fun to watch the word as it spread – especially when it reaches the Slytherin Quidditch team."

Hugo and the others all laughed. "They'll believe you, Hugo, your Dad's a coach and everything," James added.

They watched as Hugo got up and went down to where most of the first and second years sat, and spoke animatedly with some of his friends there for five minutes or so before coming back to sit down again.

"That should do it," he told them. "I give it fifteen minutes before the whole hall is buzzing with the news.

James laughed. "Now the only other thing you need to to," he told Aaron and Arianna, is to just smile a lot, and don't comment on it at all, other than to say you can't comment one way or the other. That'll drive those guys nuts."

Tracey grinned at him. "Are you sure you shouldn't go into politics?"

Hugo was off by a few minutes, and it actually only took ten or twelve minutes before Aaron and Arianna were starting to get questions about the rumour. While they didn't admit to having signed contracts, their smiles clearly told everyone that they did and probably couldn't talk about it.

"Don't look over there, but I think the Slytherin team just got the news," Jon told them quietly. "And they look really ticked off."

James grinned at his friend. "That's a shame. I thought maybe they'd be happy to hear that a couple of fellow Hogwarts students had such bright futures ahead of them."

The others laughed, and they finished their dinners and happily listened and watched as Aaron and Arianna became the only topic of conversation all over the hall.

The met up with the Ravenclaw Marauders, who were also with Allie and Kieran, on the way out of the Hall after dinner, and they all congratulated Aaron and Arianna.

When the Slytherin team walked past while they were doing that, they couldn't help but laugh as the boys realized that the rumours must be true when they saw Aaron and Arianna being congratulated so effusively.

"And we've always thought of March as being boring, with nothing to do but school work. Here we are still in the first week, and I'd say this month is shaping up to be pretty amazing after all!" Arianna said happily.

Lily grinned at her as she held Kieran's hand. "I know what you mean," she told Arianna. "I seem to find myself liking school more every single day."

"Gee, I wonder why?" James asked, grinning at Kieran.

"Maybe a new book on advanced Arithmancy came out," Aaron suggested.

"She would think that was great, but I don't think that's it," James answered.

"You two can just sod off," she told them with a grin. "Congratulations, Arianna. You deserve it, and it's awfully nice of them to let Aaron go along with you," she said sweetly. Arianna laughed, and gave her a hug.

"Would you like to play some more, Aaron?" Lily asked him impishly.

Aaron looked sheepish. "No, Lily, I concede defeat to your linguistic mastery."

She gave him a hug too. "Good, and I'm just teasing. Congratulations to you too. You guys are gonna do great in the show!"

"Did you hear that! I told you so!" Lily turned to see two girls walking past, staring at Aaron and Arianna. The one girl probably didn't realize she'd been talking loud enough for them to hear, but when they were suddenly the focus of attention for the people they were gossiping about, she turned red. Lily smiled at her and winked.

"It's alright,' she told them, "Just 'cause they can't talk about it doesn't mean we can't," she whispered to them conspiratorially.

The two girls giggled and hurried off, and Aaron and Arianna laughed. "Way to keep it going," Aaron told Lily.

While the kids had been at dinner, and having their fun, Harry had gone back to the cottage, made dinner for Ginny, and then the two of them had sat down to eat, and discuss the trip that he and Ron had just finished.

"So you got them all signed?" she asked him once they were both sitting down.

"Yes. It pretty much went exactly like I expected."

"So far so good," Ginny said approvingly. "Are you going to start working on the deals for the next part now?"

He nodded. "That'll take most of the next couple of months. If I get everything in place by early May I'll still be on time."

"Did you ask Luna for help?"

He smiled. "She reviewed everything, and had a few suggestions that I added in. I've watched her work her magic for years, though, so a lot of it was already just the way she would have done it."

Ginny nodded. "And how were Aaron and Arianna?"

"They seemed to be pretty happy when I left them. James and Tracey were there for the meeting too." He laughed. "They didn't even look at their signing bonus letters while I was there, they were so excited. I wonder when they finally got around to remembering to look at them."

Ginny laughed too. "I'd give a lot to see the look on the faces of those Slytherin Quidditch players when they find out that those two are going pro after they graduate."

Harry grinned at her. "Maybe I'll send them tickets to their first home game anonymously," he suggested. "Or at least to any of the team members that are graduating this year too."

"That would be so thoughtful," she told him, grinning.

During the next few weeks, Harry was busy going to meetings, making deals, signing contracts, and starting to get everything on the business side of his plans for the Canons in place and ready for the upcoming seasons.

At Hogwarts, the commotion over the news about Aaron and Arianna's professional Quidditch contracts died out over the next couple of days, and things mostly settled down to the normal daily routine. Lily's musical skills continued to grow, as did her friendship with Kieran.

Their Professors would probably say that Kieran was maybe a slightly above average student, but then, music wasn't something that was taught at Hogwarts. When it came to music, he was as much of a phenom as Lily was when it came to magic and academics.

Some students certainly got distracted from their school work when having boyfriends or girlfriends became part of their lives. For Lily and Kieran, though, she had no problem keeping herself, and everyone that she studied with, focused on their classes and ssignments first, and always keeping play time second. Kieran even saw his marks improving since joining their study group.

"I feel like I actually have more spare time since beginning to study with all of you," he'd told Lily one night. She'd smiled and hugged him. He really liked those hugs a lot.

"You do," she'd said. "Once you get organized, and get rid of all of the wasted time that most kids have when they study, it gets done faster."

He laughed. "I probably save a couple hours a week just with the tricks you taught me for my VirtualQuill."

"Your music training helped you with learning that. I'll never understand why it is that kids write so slowly with them, when they're capable of working at the speed of thought."

Kieran smiled. "Probably because your thoughts travel a lot faster than they do for most of the rest of us – at least when it comes to writing an organized report. I should show you one of the first ones I tried with the way you showed me how to do it. That one ended up sort of like this: 'The cheering charm was developed to – gosh, Lily looks cute tonight – combat depression in the middle ages – I wonder if I'll get to kiss her goodnight later'. It takes a while to learn how to focus your thoughts so that kind of thing doesn't happen."

Lily had laughed, and hugged him again. "So did you?"

Kieran looked at her blankly. "Did I what?"

"Get to kiss me goodnight later?"

He grinned back at her. "If I say no, will you make it up to me?"

"That depends – would you be lying?"

"Yes, but if it'd work, I'd try it."

"Well, then you deserve one just for being honest about that," she said, kissing him.

There was one Hogsmeade weekend the third weekend of March, and Lily spent more of her day there on this trip because she and the other girls had again booked morning treatments at SpaMagic. They stayed there in town for lunch at the Three Broomsticks after they'd finished at the Spa, then she'd picked up the few things that she and Kieran wanted – mostly just supplies, sweets, and two boxes of Easter Chocolate Wheezes.

He'd missed her while she was gone most of the day, but when he saw how awesome she looked after a SpaMagic makeover, he understood why James, Al, and the other boys had told him that the Spa trips the girls took were as much for them as it was for the girls.

Easter was at the beginning of April this year, and as it drew closer, speculation began as to whether TNM would be doing anything special for the holiday. They hadn't pulled a single prank all year so far, and even though there'd been lots of evidence that TNM was still working around the school – having stopped the bullies at the beginning of the year, and the continuing assistance and gifts that came periodically to lots of students in all four houses, everyone wondered if there weren't going to be any more of the amazing stunts.

When the last days of March came to a close, and the promise of April, and spring, approached, there was one small group of students a the school that new the answer to that question.


	63. The Fun's Just Beginning With Easter

Chapter Sixty-Three – The Fun's Just Beginning with Easter

Like every other student and Professor that lived at Hogwarts, Kieran woke up Easter morning to find giant bunny footprints leading away from his bed. Some of the other boys in his room had already left, probably already following the footprints to wherever they were leading.

He got up and dressed quickly, smiling as he began following those footprints out of his dorm room. By the time he reached the Hufflepuff Common room, there were other kids around him that were also following footprints, but somehow he could tell the difference between the ones he was following, and the ones that were left for everyone else.

It was soon obvious that they were all being sent off in different directions, and Kieran would pass other students who'd be following their footprints in the opposite direction from him, or walk along with another group of kids until their paths again diverged into different directions. Everyone that was out roaming the halls and following the footprints were smiling, and there was a lot of laughter and speculation as to what they'd all find when they got to wherever they were being led.

His trail ended in the Great Hall, and when he walked through the entrance, he looked up to see a room full of giant pink Easter bunnies, each carrying baskets of treats. He contined to follow 'his' footprints until he reached his normal seat at his table, where just as he was arriving there, one of the pink bunnies had placed his (or her) basket on the table in front of his seat, waved at him, then disappeared, it's work apparently finished.

By the time he sat down to look into the basket that had been left for him, several of his friends were already there, and they were talking excitedly about what a cool start to the day this had been.

The first thing he noticed was that the tag on the basket said – 'Happy Easter, from TNM'. The next thing that he noticed was that maybe the pink Easter bunny hadn't just disappeared at all, since there was a fairly large chocolate Easter bunny inside the basket that looked suspiciously like it's larger, pink delivery bunny had looked.

There were also other candies in the basket – coloured Easter eggs, and other sweets. One of the other boys was the first one close to Kieran to try eating any of the candies, and Kieran and the other boys watched as he turned pink after eating a pink egg. That got them all trying the different coloured eggs first, and they soon found out that eating multiple eggs would make them multi-coloured, with a different pattern every time.

The Great Hall had been about half full when Kieran got there, and it didn't take much longer for most of the students to arrive. His suspicion about what happened to the pink Easter bunnies after they delivered their baskets was confirmed when he had a chance to watch it happen to a bunny nearby as another friend of his came up to the table.

He looked over to the Ravenclaw table to where Lily normally sat, and she was already there with her brother, cousins, and friends, and they were all laughing and having fun. He caught her eye, and they exchanged grins before he was nudged by one of his mates, who had taken a bite out of his bunny, and was now pink, blue, and green, and was sprouting pink, blue, and green bunny ears. Kieran laughed, and looked behind his friend, then pointed out to his mate that he was also growing a multi-coloured bunny cottontail, which had them all laughing, and trying out their chocolate bunnies too.

There were colourful students sporting bunny ears and tails for most of the day, since each basket had lots of little eggs, and the bunny ears and tails would appear with just a single bite from the chocolate bunnies, and last for ten or fifteen minutes before another bite would be needed to once again become floppy-eared, and fairly goofy looking.

After breakfast, Kieran joined Lily and the others to spend the moring together. He thought that she made a much cuter bunny than anyone else, and she was definitely cute and cuddly as they went outside to enjoy one of the first warmer days of spring together, even though it was only the fourth of April.

"TNM does it again," he said to Lily as they walked by the lake hand-in-hand, and watched their fellow students out playing and goofing around.

"It's a nice break from all the work we've been doing," she said, smiling at him. "At least things will be starting to pick up now, and we'll be able to get outside more with it warming up."

"Why do you say things will be picking up?"

"Well, the last two Quidditch matches are in May, so we've got that, and then Aaron and Tracey's wedding is less than three months away, and even though we're here at school, we'll be working on that. Then there's the starting to study for finals, which is only two months away, and all the assignments that are piling up."

When she took a breath, Kieran took the opportunity to stop her by giving her a kiss. When he stepped back again, she laughed.

"Of all the ways that anyone's tried to get me to stop from rambling on, I'm pretty sure I like that way the best."

"Pretty sure? I better kiss you again until you're absolutely sure that it's the best way," he said softly before kissing her again – this time a little more seriously.

Lily closed her eyes, and wrapped her arms around his neck, melting into that kiss.

"I'm convinced," she finally breathed when they parted again.

"Oi, mate! That's my sister you're snogging right out here in front of everyone."

Lily and Kieran turned and smiled at James and Arianna as they came up to them.

"He's just trying out a new method to get me to stop talking when I get wound up, James."

"So you're saying that was in the nature of an experiment?" James asked, grinning. "Was it successful?"

Arianna laughed. "It looked very successful to me," she told James.

"I got a message from your Mum," she told Lily. "Everything is set up for the next Hogsmeade weekend for Tracey's dress fitting, and she, Tracey's Mum, Aunt Fleur, and Aunt Penelope are going to have some dresses at Gladrags for us to take a look at and try on too, so expect to be busy all morning."

Lily's eyes lit up. "That'll be fun," she told Arianna. "Anything else we're supposed to work on right now?"

"Have you got your date lined up?" Arianna asked her.

Lily grinned and turned to Kieran. "Do I?"

Kieran laughed. "Do you what?" he said, playing along with them.

"Have a date for Aaron and Tracey's wedding."

"I don't know. Have you asked anyone?" he said, still grinning at her impishly.

Lily sighed dramatically, and looked at her brother. "You are a bad influence, James. The other boys see you, and suddenly they all think that they can be comedians too."

Turning back to Kieran, she said – "Consider yourself asked. Will you be my date for the wedding?"

"I would love to, Lily," he told her, still grinning. "And I don't see anything wrong with wanting to be like James – except for maybe his musical abilities if the rumours from the Gryffindor boys are even half true."

James had been laughing, but now looked offended. "What rumours?" he demanded.

Kieran laughed. "The rumours that your singing in the shower is nearly as painful as listening to mandrakes."

Even James couldn't help laughing at that. "I'd be offended if it wasn't so accurate," he said. "But I haven't been doing that in a long time, either."

They walked together for a while, the girls mostly talking wedding stuff, while James and Kieran were happy to just be out with their girls. When they met up with Aaron and Tracey, Lily and Kieran left the two older couples, and headed back toward the school, planning on spending the rest of their morning playing music.

"You're really getting good," Kieran told Lily as he listened to her play. "Do you want to try something different today?"

Lily smiled at him. "Sure. What do you have in mind."

He grinned at her. "Not music, when you ask it like that," he said, making her laugh.

"Seriously, though, when you play now, your music is very close to technically perfect," he told her. "What I'd like you to try is to just close you eyes – and your mind, and try feeling what you're playing."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Here, let me show you." He played a few short bars of music, and every note was correct – the perfect length, the right notes, and sounded very nice.

"That's playing it technically pefect," he told her. "It sounds nice, but there's no passion in it. When the really great musicians play, and put their heart and soul into it, the listener _feels _it."

He closed his eyes, and proceeded to play the exact same piece, but this time Lily could hear the differences. It wasn't played so perfectly, and he added things to it that were all his own, and she suddenly understood what he'd meant.

Kieran watched as she closed her eyes, and for the first time with her music, interpreted a song, putting her own self into it, instead of just playing notes that she'd memorized or read from a music book. It was a song he knew, and he began to sing along. After the first verse, she joined her voice to his, adding a beautiful harmony to the melody he was singing. He'd closed his eyes too, and as the song ended, and she played the last few bars after the vocals trailed away, he opened his eyes and stared at his amazing girlfriend.

"That's exactly it," he whispered to her.

She opened those glorious eyes, and looked at him in surprise at what she'd just played, and amazed by the music they'd just made together. "That was – I don't know how to describe it."

"Yes," he agreed. "When it feels like that you know you've done it right – or what's right for you, since that will be different for everyone."

She rooted through her bag, and pulled out her 3D-VMP and handed it to him.

"I want to show you something," she said. "It's one of my favourite songs, and I didn't really understand why until now."

He put the headphones on, and she called for the recording her mother had given her of the tenth anniversary song that her father had written and performed for her mother more than ten years ago. She watched as Kieran listened and watched the little holographic image. When the song ended, he had tears shimmering in his eyes.

"So now I know where your talent came from," he told Lily. "And yes, that's what music is all about – conveying emotion, telling a story - whatever kind of music it is, that's what makes it special."

They went to lunch then, and then spent the rest of the day with Al, Carolyn, and most of the others. With the return of warmer weather, they spent more time over the next few weeks outdoors, either studying or playing.

The Gryffindor Marauders picked up the pace of their Quidditch practices, and the Thursday afternoon play games with the Ravenclaws got more intense too. They were talking together after the second Thursday game after Easter, and Lily was complimenting Jeremy.

"You're really improving," she told him. "I only just squeaked out a best three of five this time."

Jeremy laughed. "Probably the only thing I do here at school where I'm happy about getting two out of five – if only because a month ago I was lucky to get one out of five, and two months before that it was zero for five."

Aaron laughed. "Buck up, mate. What that means is that you're the number one Seeker _playing _this season."

"Remind me to send Rick a thank-you card, 'cause if she was playing, we wouldn't be in first place right now."

"Oh, I think we'll deliver that message personally – when we play them."

Lily gave Aaron a hug. "We're looking forward to you doing that," she said, grinning up at him.

The boys were on their own all day in Hogsmeade on Saturday. The girls were busy with trying on dresses for the wedding, and so Aaron and James were off wandering around town, while Al, Nick, Scorpius, and Matt were doing the same. Each group of boys were also responsible for getting the lists of school supplies and sweets that the girls wanted picked up today, but wouldn't have time to do themselves.

"How in the world did I end up with a list of things to get for my sister's boyfriend?" Al asked the other boys.

Matt laughed at him, and held up his own list. "At least with Kieran it's a safe bet you don't have a stop at the apothecary like I do on my list. Face it, boys, they've got us completely wrapped around their little fingers."

Scorpius grinned at them. "And we love every second of it," he stated confidently.

Matt grinned back at him. "True, but we don't have to make it seem too easy for them. A little dramatic suffering goes a long way toward getting a few extra hugs and kisses."

While the boys were busy picking up everything on those lists, Tracey was the centre of attention over at Gladrags.

"You look amazing," Arianna told her best friend, and soon to be sister-in-law. "Aunt Fleur was right that it'd be perfect for you. If she ever decides to give up the high-powered world of executive finance, she'd make a pretty decent fashion consultant."

Tracey turned slightly from side to side as she looked at herself in the mirrors. "It is beautiful," she agreed.

This was the fourth dress she'd tried on, and both girls knew that this was the one, and let the Witch that had been brought in to help them for the morning know that this would be the dress that they would be getting.

"That's a wonderful choice for you," the woman told Tracey. "Leave it on, and I'll get what I need to measure and mark it for alterations."

While Tracey was busy with that, Arianna went to check on how Lily, Carolyn, Brianna, Rose, and Allie were doing with the dresses that they were trying on. They were in the main part of the store, and when she got out there, she smiled, and walked up to the girls.

"You all look great!" she told them. "No problems finding the perfect dresses, I see."

Lily answered for all of the girls. "No problems at all – except for deciding which one, since they were all spectacular."

Arianna laughed. "With all of these great fashions, Tracey's going to wish she didn't have to wear the wedding dress."

"Oh, I think we'll be able to help her pick up a few little numbers for dressing up while she's on her honeymoon to make up for it," Rose suggested.

"With an emphasis on the little," Lily said, laughing.

Tracey and Arianna picked out a dress for Arianna when the fitting for Tracey's dress was done, and when the girls were all finished, they met the boys for a late lunch before heading back to Hogwarts.

There were two weeks left in April, and until the May first matchup between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. With Gryffindor undefeated so far, and the fact that nobody believed that there was any chance that they'd lose to the terrible Ravenclaw team, that game was going to be the battle for second place this season.

Even though Hufflepuff had beaten them soundly last season, the Slytherin captain and his team continued to talk trash, predicting that they'd be putting the same beating on Hufflepuff that they'd put on Ravenclaw in January.

While the students at Hogwarts continued their studies, and started getting excited about Quidditch again, Harry was keeping busy with everything he was doing for the Canons. They were still losing, and after the last game of April, they were still winless through seventeen games, with only three chances left in May, and certainly no hope to be around for the playoffs in June.

Harry was having a meeting with Coach and Ron on the Monday after that last loss. Those Monday meetings were becoming a regular occurance, but now it was mostly Harry updating them on what was going on.

"I've got everything finalized on the business side of things, about a week ahead of what I'd hoped for, so we're good there," he told them.

"We've only got about a month left in the season," Coach told Harry. "What's your plan for handling the media?"

"I don't want to take any of the excitement away from the playoffs for the league, and you can go ahead and tell them that. Right now, I'm tentatively thinking about introducing our new team on opening day of training camp – and then after that first day, closing training to the public for the whole coming season."

Ron grinned at him. "No daily press crap to deal with? For a whole year?" He exchanged looks with Coach. "I'm going to love this!"

"The press is going to scream about it if you do that, Harry,' Coach said seriously.

"I know, but I don't want these kids distracted by all the hype. We need them to concentrate on the game. After a year or two as pros, they'll be able to deal with both the game and the press – we'll teach them how."

"Anything else for us to go over?" Coach asked Harry.

"How are the current players holding up?" Harry asked him. "Do you think they'll stick it out these last few weeks?"

Ron answered Harry. "We might lose one or two – you know how the rumours go around a locker room. We'll get through these last games somehow, but it could get interesting."

"Offer them all an extra month's pay to anyone that stays until the end of the season," Harry told them. "Considering how tough it's been on them this season, they deserve it for what they've all had to put up with."

Coach nodded, and smiled. "We'll tell them this morning. I'm sure they'll appreciate it, and that should keep them to the end – or at least to the end for the players that won't have jobs with us come training camp."

Harry left them to get to their team practice, and went on to spend the rest of the morning at the residence, which he still continued to do twice a week. He then picked Frederica up for a lunch date, and then did a little shopping, and finished the afternoon up with an hour playing Quidditch with her at the cottage.

That was something they'd started to do after she got her Lightningbolt, although they didn't go out as much in the winter as they were starting to do now that it was getting warmer.

She and George would come over at least once a week, or on the weekend, and play with Harry and Ginny both. The young girl showed a lot of promise, and she told them that she was going to be a Beater someday for a Hogwarts team, just like her Daddy was – something that George smiled at every time he heard her say it.

Now that Harry had nearly everything worked out for the plans he had for the Canons, he had a few weeks where he could more or less take it easy. He played a little extra Quiddtich with Frederica, spent an extra day here and there at the residence, and even went on a couple of dates with Ginny.

The New Marauders at Hogwarts, and the other students weren't that lucky. The assignments kept piling up, and they all needed to work hard. When May first finally arrived, and it was once again game day at Hogwarts, the students were all happy to take a day off from all of that hard work, and go enjoy watching their favourite sport.


	64. Quidditch Lessons

Chapter Sixty-Four – Quidditch Lessons

"Welcome, Quidditch fans!" Andy shouted to the fans in the stadium. "We have a beautiful, sunny day, and a great matchup between Slytherin and Hufflepuff!"

The Slytherin, then the Hufflepuff students cheered as their teams were mentioned, and booed when the other team was announced.

"Slytherin comes in to today's game off of a convincing win over Ravenclaw, while Hufflepuff is looking to rebound from a loss to Quidditch Cup frontrunners, Gryffindor."

These announcements were greeted with cheers, then boos, from the Slytherin section, and by a steady chorus of boos from the Hufflepuff side.

"I've been asked to remind everyone that the final game of the season is three weeks from today this year, instead of the usual four." This brought on cheers from everyone.

"Due to the early start of exams this year," he continued, and was rewarded with loud boos for that.

"Now, Now," Andy chided his fellow students. "Just remember that the early start to exams means we get to go home June nineteenth!" Now the students were back to cheering him.

"Fickle, aren't we?" Lily whispered to Kieran as she sat with him in the Hufflepuff section, so that he could cheer his team on.

He laughed and squeezed her hand. "He's doing that just to get those responses."

Sure enough, Andy kept getting the spectators riled up.

"Last year's matchup between these two teams resulted in one of the most lopsided victories ever in the illustrious history of matches between these two Houses. Hufflepuff will surely want to add another win, while Slytherin will want to avenge that loss of a year ago." There were more cheers and boos in all the right places.

"The only comparison we have for this season is how each team stacked up against their two previous opponents," Andy continued.

"Hufflepuff's loss to Gryffindor wasn't by as much as Slytherin's was, but Slytherin won over Ravenclaw by a much wider margin than Hufflepuff did in their victory back in November."

Andy waited for the cheers and boos to subside. "So I think all we can conclude from all of those statistics, is that we should be in for an interesting game today, sports fans! And now, please welcome your House teams – SLYTHERIN AND HUFFLEPUFF!"

The two teams flew out into the stadium, circling around, and then landing next to Madame Hooch. Since Andy had the crowd already fired up, she gave her pre-game instructions quickly, and got the game underway.

One of Hufflepuff's Chasers won the race for the Quaffle, and quickly turned back toward his own goals, the other two Hufflepuff Chasers getting ready to move out on the offense.

"And Hufflepuff catches the Quaffle," Andy told the crowd as he began the play-by-play. "They set their formation and streak toward the Sltherin goals. They pass left, below, back right, and they shoot – and it's SAVED! The Slytherin Keeper makes a nice stop there!"

The Slytherin students cheered, and the game continued as Slytherin's Chasers grabbed the Quaffle and began their own play.

Nick was in the Hufflepuff section today too, and Allie was squeezing his hand tightly as she watched the game start. She might not really be in to playing Quidditch, but she was definitely a fan of the game, and he smiled as she cheered and jeered right along with the rest of her fellow Hufflepuffs.

"They should've tried the fake!" she said as she watched the Slytherin Keeper make that first save. "He always falls for that."

He grinned at her affectionately. She could be a fiery little thing when she wanted to be.

"Oh come on!" she said to her own Keeper. "I could've saved that one!" She was making her comments in a fierce whisper that only Nick could hear, and even he had to listen carefully to catch everything over the shouting of the crowd.

"And Slytherin SCORES!" Andy shouted, confirming what everyone had already seen, while the Slytherin fans cheered their team on. "Slytherin leads ten to naught!" Andy added, like anyone needed to be reminded of the score after only one goal.

"Shut up, Andy!" Allie whispered. "We know the darned score already!"

Nick had found out a lot about his girlfriend by getting to watch these games with her this season. Last year he'd only gotten to sit with her for the one game after Valentine's Day, and the novelty of it must have put her on her best behaviour.

This year he found out that she ran her own commentary during every game, cheering and berating players on both teams in that under her breath whisper that you had to be right next to her to hear. It was fascinating to watch her during the games. She was normally so mild mannered, but once the game was on, it was as if she was in a whole different world.

"And Hufflepuff shoots – they SCORE!" Andy shouted. Allie cheered, and Nick laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked him, not taking her eyes off of the game.

"That was a happy laugh," he told her.

"And why are you so happy?"

"Because I'm enjoying being right here watching the girl I love having so much fun," he told her, still smiling at her complete focus on the game, even as they talked.

Well, she had been focused on the game. The change was so quick he had to blink once before he realized that those beautiful eyes were now focused entirely on him, and she was smiling at him too, the game forgotten.

"I love you too, Nicolas Weasley," she told him, putting her arms around his neck. Neither of them saw the next Hufflepuff goal, as Allie was busy kissing Nick rather seriously.

"She shoots, SHE SCORES!" Andy shouted.

"Yes, she does," Allie said, grinning at Nick after they'd kissed. They both laughed, the sound drowned out by the cheers of the Hufflepuff faithful all around them.

They happily went back to watching the game, holding hands and cheering on the Hufflepuff team. That ten to naught lead that Slytherin had opened with was the only lead they'd have in the game. Both teams were fighting hard, but Hufflepuff started to pull away as the game went on, their teamwork and discipline a better combination thn the brute force that the Slytherin team favoured.

They were just past three hours into the game, and Hufflepuff was up four hundred and seventy to one hundred and ten when both Seekers went chasing after the snitch. The Slytherin captain shouted at his Seeker angrily, but he obviously didn't understand what had been yelled at him, because instead of trying to stop the Hufflepuff Seeker from catching the snitch, he simply peeled away from the chase, giving his opponent an easy catch to end the game.

"Hufflepuff catches the snitch to win the game!" Andy shouted. "Final score, six hundred and twenty to one hundred and ten! Congratulations to both teams for a well-played game!"

The Hufflepuff students were cheering wildly, and Allie was cheering with them as they watched their team land, and the Slytherin team buzzed them on their way to the locker room.

"I can't believe that Madame Hooch keeps letting them get away with doing that every time they lose," Allie said.

"She doesn't," Nick told her. "The teams all got warnings at the beginning of last season. They lose fifty points for their house when they do that."

Allie stared at him in amazement. "Fifty points! Why would they do it then?"

He shrugged. "I guess they don't care. They haven't come close to winning the House Cup in years, though, so what's the difference?"

The Hufflepuffs started moving out of the stadium, heading for the school and the party that would be going on for the rest of the day. Nick held his hand out to Alllie to help her to stand.

"I'll walk you back," he told her. "I guess I won't see you again until tomorrow after breakfast."

"That's the only thing about these stupid House parties – you don't get to bring dates – unless they're members of your House. Stupid rule."

Nick laughed. "I don't know that it's all that stupid," he said. "Things might get interesting if some Slytherin boyfriends and girlfriends were at your party today."

Allie laughed. "Like that could happen anyway. Slytherins only date purebloods – or Witches and Wizards that pretend to be purebloods. Since most, if not all, Hufflepuffs aren't, that just doesn't happen."

"I suppose," Nick conceded. "I wonder how long it will take before that finally starts to change."

"I don't know Nick. Bigotry's been around a long time. There's a lot of good kids in Slytherin, but the elitists are still the ones in control, so the more moderate ones stay quiet, and don't rock the boat."

"Too bad – if they did, maybe a few would fall out and float away."

Allie laughed, and squeezed his hand. "Why don't you and I take a detour along the lake," she suggested. "I doubt anyone will miss me if I'm a little late for the party, and it is a really nice day out."

"Did I tell you that I love you yet today?" he asked, smiling at her.

"Why yes, I believe you did," she said, smiling back. "Let's go find someplace quiet, and you can prove it to me."

They both turned off toward the lake, holding hands, and laughing. Kieran and Lily watched them make their detour, and Lily laughed.

"I'm thinking that Allie is going to be late for the party," she told Kieran.

He looked at her suggestively, and she laughed again. "No, Kieran," she said firmly as she smiled at him. "I have a study group to lead, even if one of members of that group is apparently going to be delayed."

"That's too bad," he said, heaving a sigh that spoke volumes. "I think a little you and me time would have been a lot more fun."

Lily squeezed his hand. "Definitely, but if I get my work done, then tomorrow you and I can have some private tutoring time while you get your homework done." She laughed as he perked up at that suggestion, and was grinning at her again.

"That's much better," she told him. "Come on, and I'll walk you to your door, and kiss you goodbye before I have to go start studying."

That was her plan, anyway. Quite a few members of the study group had decided that a little rebellion was in order, and so Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna were the only four to arrive in their Common room on time.

"It's a mutiny!" Lily joked when she saw that only half of them were there.

Carolyn laughed. "Let's give them a break, captain," she told Lily. "It's a fair day out there on the waters, and they've just sailed off course a ways. They'll catch up soon enough."

Al nodded. "We can get started without them, and let them catch up when they get here. Besides, you've got all of your assignments done for the rest of the year for your seven mandatories, so why don't you work with Carolyn and Brianna, and Scorpius and I can work on our Potions or Charms. We can do our optionals later after the others get back."

"That works for me," Brianna said. "I'm going to need that last Potions class taught to me again – in English this time, and not whatever language it was that Professor Slughorn was using in class."

Lily and Carolyn both laughed, and they got down to work. Rose, Matt, and finally Nick joined them over the next hour, and they worked through until dinner, and then got back at it for most of the evening.

Matt was in fifth year, but he'd learned last year that studying with Rose – and especially with Lily – helped him to be a much better student. His fifth year mates didn't always understand, but even they would sometimes give in and join him for one of Lily's tutoring sessions when they were working through particularly tough sections in their hardest subjects.

That evening, she was helping him, and three of his mates, understand how to do a very difficult Transfiguration. What she was able to do so well was to cut through all of the garbage, teach them the how to do something, and have it all make sense so they could then do it on their own, if not as well as she could.

"I don't know how you do that, Lily," Matt told her after they were done the lesson. "But I really appreciate it. I think I'd be in big trouble with the upcoming OWL's if it wasn't for your help."

Lily smiled at him, and gave him a hug. "You're welcome, Matt, and I love being able to help."

"Hey, what's up with hugging my boyfriend, cuz?" Rose asked, coming up next to Matt and grinning at Lily.

"I just needed to hug somebody, and he was closest," Lily told Rose. "You know how it goes."

"Yes I do," Rose said, hugging Matt, who laughed.

"I love your family," he told the two girls, who both laughed with him.

There might still be one last Quidditch match of the season to go, and the Gryffindor team, at least, was practicing hard for the game, but studying for OWL's, NEWT's, and final exams was the priority for most of the students in the school.

Unfortunately for the Ravenclaw faithful, their team did not seem to feel the need to practice – at all. They were seen out lounging under trees out on the grounds during their practice time, and none of them seemed worried in the slightest that they were going up against a team with two soon to be professional Chasers playing for them.

Most of the students were outside studying on the Sunday before the big final Quidditch game of the season. The entire Ravenclaw team was out there too, but none of them were studying – they were just goofing around, and mostly pestering their friends that were trying to study hard.

"I thought that nothing those boys did could still surprise me," Lily said as she and the other Ravenclaw Marauders, Allie, and Kieran sat under a tree studying. "How they could not even care enough to try is just so stupid, and I'm not just talking about Quidditch – they're not even studying for their NEWT's or sixth year finals, and they're only two weeks away."

Rose sat up suddenly, a grin coming over her face. "I've got a really great idea," she told them, and waited until someone finally asked.

"Alright, I'll bite," Scorpius said, grinning at her. "What's the great idea?"

"Let's open up our last play day game to all of the students to watch."

Everyone else stared at her, and she laughed as she saw the big smiles grow on their faces, and they all started to laugh.

"I really love you," Matt told her, giving her a kiss. "You are brilliant!"

Lily was already on her WiComm, writing a quick QuillMessage to Arianna, telling her Rose's idea.

"We'll see what they say," Lily said as she wrote. "They might not want to give anything away to Rick and the boys so close to playing them."

It was only a minute before she got the qm reply – 'Tell Rose she's a genius. We'll pass the word in Gryffindor, if you guys can do the same for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. If any Slytherins find out and want to come, they can.'

Lily had read that out loud to everyone, and by the time she was done, another message had popped up. She read it, then laughed before reading it out loud.

'P.S. Andy just offered to announce the game. Now this will be fun!"

The semi-reliable school gossip channel was working just fine over the next few days, and by Thursday the Great Hall was buzzing at both breakfast and lunch about what was being dubbed the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Family Feud.

When the last class of the day was over, and by the time that the two groups of Marauders had gone to their dorms to drop off books, get their equipment, and walk out to the Quidditch pitch, they walked into a stadium filled with what looked like every student in the school, and a fair number of Professors too. Andy had been already warming the crowd up by explaining what they were about to see.

"Witches and Wizards, young and old, this afternoon you will be witnessing the final Family Feud match of the year between the Gryffindor Weasley-Potter family and friends team,and their Ravenclaw cousins and siblings!"

The crowd cheered at this announcement, and Andy continued.

"In the Gryffindor corner, we have Hugo Weasley, James Potter, Aaron and Arianna Ryan representing the family, along with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team." The Gryffindor section was cheering the announcement of their team.

"For Ravenclaw, we have family members Rose and Nick Weasley, Albus and Lily Potter, and Scorpius Malfoy, along with Matt Goldstein."

The Ravenclaw students cheered their students, to the chagrin of Rick and the House team.

"Now some of you may have noticed that the Ravenclaw side of the family is short a player," Andy continued, "but let me assure you that these two sides of the family are very evenly matched, despite the Ravenclaw side playing with only one Beater!"

This announcement caused a bit of a stir all over the stadium.

"These matches have been held on Thursday afternoons all through the school year," Andy continued. "They have, however, practiced together like this for years, so you are all in for a treat to have an inside look at how some of our school's finest Quidditch players workout together."

Andy looked around the stadium, and saw that everyone was pretty much ready to get going.

"Finally, while the rules of Quidditch are followed in these play games, there is one difference. Both team Seekers are very talented, and so Jeremy and Lily play best three out of five catches of the snitch, or until five catches of the snitch, in the event that one or the other catch more than three."

This caused a loud murmur of excitement among the students, and Andy actually laughed.

"Trust your humble announcer, you'll understand why that's necessary soon enough, sports fans! It looks like both teams are here and ready to go, so with no further ado, let's start the QUIDDITCH FAMILY FEUD!"

Allie was in the centre pitch with all of her friends, and she'd been given the job of releasing the Quaffle, so with a big smile, she threw it into the air, and the game was on.

The first thing that everyone watching the game noticed was that the players were all having fun, smiling, and laughing, even as they played hard.

"Arianna reaches the Quaffle first, and passes to Aaron, who immediately passes to James, who throws back to Arianna, who shoots – and OH! What a save by Scorpius! Matt grabs the Quaffle, tosses to Al, back to Matt, over to Rose, she shoots! AND HUGO MAKES A SPECATACULAR SAVE!"

Allie and Kieran sat together in the Hufflepuff section, and watched as their friends played, and the kids and Professors in the stands watched in fascination as they battled back and forth.

"Hang on fans, Lily's diving for the snitch, and YES! She's got it! That's one for the Ravenclaw side of the family! Nice job Lily!"

Andy waited as the Ravenclaw students cheered before continuing his announcing.

"Normally, catching the snitch is one hundred and fifty points," Andy told the crowd. "Since we play best of five, we only score a catch as ten points, so that puts the score right now at Ravenclaw family ten, Gryffindor family naught."

This brought on more cheers, and Andy continued his play-by-play. While Lily had caught and then released the snitch, Scorpius had made another save, and Hugo had made two.

"Arianna has the Quaffle, and she's flying in hard toward Scorpius. She passes – NO! it's a fake, and she shoots, SHE SCORES! There you have it, sports fans, we have a tie game!"

The Gryffindor students were cheering now, and everyone in the stands was watching avidly as they battled back and forth. Lily caught the snitch again, now only one catch away from her third catch, which nobody watching the game wanted to see happen so soon.

Al finally put a goal past Hugo a half hour into the game to put the Ravenclaw side up thirty to ten, but then Jeremy caught the snitch to close the gap to thirty to twenty.

"We've got a nail-biter going on, folks!" Andy shouted out. "Anything can happen at one of these Family Feuds!"

They exchanged another goal each, with Rose scoring one, and Aaron scoring for Gryffindor, and then Jeremy outraced Lily for his second catch.

"Sorry, about that, boys and girls, I've only got one mouth, and these two teams are faster than it is!" A ripple of laughter swept the stands. "I know what you're thinking sports fans – that can't possibly be true, but it is!" Andy added to the sound of more laughter.

"That was Jeremy making his second catch of the snitch, and before that Aaron scoring for Gryffindor, while I was announcing Matt's goal before both of those – and now we've got Rose taking on her little brother again, and she goes for the left goal, NO! it's a fake! NO! it's a double fake, and SHE SCORES! Ravenclaw family pulls back into the lead, and the score is now Ravenclaw fifty, Gryffindor forty! Of course that's still seven saves for little brother to one goal for big sister! Too bad our two valiant Keepers don't get points for saves, 'cause they've made a lot of them!"

The score stayed the same for another ten minutes, before James finally got a shot past Scorpius to once again tie the game.

"And there you have it, sports fans, we're just over an hour into the game, and the score is once again tied, fifty-fifty," Andy shouted out after announcing James' goal.

Suddenly, Lily flew right up next to where Andy was sitting announcing the game, and floated there, smiling at him. He laughed and smiled back.

"Um, Lily, it's really nice to see you and all, but I do have a game I'm in the middle of announcing." Everyone in the stands was laughing now, and Lily just grinned at him.

"You're doing a very nice job too, Andy," she told him loudly enough that her voice was picked up by the wireless. "But while you were busy telling everyone about my big brother's really great goal, I went out and got you a present."

Andy laughed. "A present? For little old me? What is it?"

Lily pulled the snitch out from where she'd been hiding it, and handed it over to an amazed Andy. "Here you go, Andy. I hope you like it!"

Andy, and everyone in the stands, and in the air started laughing at her audacious play.

"It seems that we all missed that final play of the game," Andy announced. "Since I have the evidence in my hand, though, it seems that Ravenclaw has won today's Family Feud with a score of Sixty to Fifty! Congratulations to both sides! Let's give them all a round of applause for giving us such an entertaining break from our studies!"

The stands erupted in cheers as both teams landed and exchanged hugs and kisses.

"Now that's something you won't see the House teams doing after a game," Andy said loudly, then added – "Oh, darn, is this stupid thing still on?"

The students were all starting to leave, and there was a roar of laughter at Andy's last comments before he turned the sound system off, really not actually embarrassed at all.

"Nice one, sis," James told her. He looked over to where he knew Rick and the Ravenclaw house team had been sitting. They were still sitting there, staring down at James and the others, and not looking at all happy at what they'd seen.

"If they think this wasn't fun for them, wait until Saturday," he said quietly to the others. "When we're done that game, there isn't going to be any doubt about who the best Ravenclaw players in the school are."

"Or who the Quidditch Cup Champions are either," Lily told him with a grin. "You guys have worked your butts off, and you deserve it."

It was time to head back to the school for dinner, and after that to get back to the never-ending studying. The Ravenclaw Marauders continued to get dirty looks from the members of their House team all through dinner, and whenever they saw them that evening, but they all just ignored them.

They had another beautiful, sunny day on Saturday for the official Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game, and the stands were again filled to near capacity. Harry, Ginny, and Hermione were there to see Aaron and Arianna's last game, while Ron was with his team, probably overseeing their twentieth loss of the season, and wishing he was watching his son play instead.

Since the rest of the Gryffindor family was playing today, Tracey sat in the Ravenclaw section so that she could talk mostly with Ginny about wedding plans, but also with Harry, Hermione, and the rest of their group.

Kieran had been nervous about meeting Harry and Ginny for the first time, but they both greeted him with warm smiles and hugs, and Ginny had kissed his cheek.

When Ginny hugged Lily she whispered in her ear – "Way to go, Lily, he's even cuter than you described him."

Lily had laughed and hugged her mother tighter.

"So I hear you all had some fun on Thursday," Hermione told Rose as they waited for the teams to come out, and the game to start.

Rose laughed and nodded. "A lot of fun, Mum. We invited anyone who wanted to come watch our last little Thursday afternoon play game."

"And how did that go?" Harry asked his niece.

"We're pretty sure that every student showed up, and just over half of the Professors. Our side won the Family Feud sixty to fifty."

"The Family Feud?" Ginny asked, smiling.

"That was Andy's idea – the Gryffindor family and friends against the Ravenclaw family and friends. We played until Lily or Jeremy caught the snitch three out of five times. Lily did that to win it for us, but mostly it was just a lot of fun to get to play against them in front of everyone again."

"It's really too bad you're not playing today," Ginny told them. "That would have been a fun game to watch."

"Won't this be anyway?" Hermione asked.

Rose laughed. "For you, maybe, Mum. Your son is probably going to have a very good day. For Ravenclaw fans? Probably not so good."

"Is you team that bad?"

"Mum," Rose said, "even you're going to be able to answer that one for yourself soon enough."

Harry, Ginny, and the others all laughed. Hermione knew quite a bit more about Quidditch than she had back when they were all at school, but she certainly wasn't any kind of expert compared to her husband and kids, who were all nuts about the game. She secretly thought that 'nuts' was a very appropriate term too, when it came to describing all Quidditch fanatics, but fortunately, she loved nuts.

While they talked, Andy started warming up his crowd.

"Welcome to today's final match of the Hogwarts Quidditch season! Our two teams come into the game with very different records. Ravenclaw is facing a three loss season this year, just one year after winning the Quidditch Cup with a perfect three and oh season." This was met with quiet boos from the Raveclaw section, and jeers from the Slytherin students.

"Gryffindor brings a two game winning streak with them, looking to win the Cup this year with what would be the first back-to-back three win seasons in school history by _two different Houses!" _ This statement brought out cheers from the Gryffindor fans, and more jeers from the Slytherins.

"We were all treated to an exceptional Quidditch exhibition here on Thursday afternoon," Andy continued, to loud cheers from both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor fans. "I was asked by the graduating students of the Gryffindor team to thank all Ravenclaws for the years of great matches they've played against each other, and to let you know that in appreciation of your House, and all the teams they've played against over the past seven years, that they will play their very hardest for both Gryffindor and for the Ravenclaw students and fans of the game who have helped make playing Quidditch at Hogwarts so much fun for them."

There were cheers from the Gryffindor section, and after a short pause while what Andy said registered on the Ravenclaw fans, a roar of approval from them as well.

"What was that all about?" Allie asked Nick.

He laughed and hugged her. "Andy basically just announced that Gryffindor is going to trounce my House team, and dedicate the win to the Ravenclaw students. That is just beautiful. Remind me to find out who came up with that idea, and give them a hug."

Allie, and everyone else joined in with Nick as he continued to chuckle, as Andy continued his pre-game announcements.

"And now, Quidditch fans of all ages, please join me in welcoming our two teams to the field – Ravenclaw – and Gryffindor!"

The stadium rocked with the cheering and clapping as both teams flew around the stands, then landed at the centre of the pitch. They watched as Aaron and Rick shook hands, Madame Hooch did her rules speech, and then threw the Quaffle into the air to start the match.

"And They're off!" Andy shouted. "James catches the Quaffle, and turns straight for the Ravenclaw goal while Aaron and Arianna block for him. He dodges once, shoots, and SCORES! Sports fans that might be a new school record! We'll check on that and get back to you! Gryffindor leads ten to – Arianna steals, she turns and fires, and SHE SCORES! Make that twenty to naught for Gryffindor!"

Harry was grinning as he listened to Andy continue his announcing.

"He's really very good at that," he told the others. "Maybe the Canons should hire him when he graduates."

Ginny laughed. "I know the owner, I'll put a good word in for him."

"Ravenclaw takes the Quaffle, and they come out from behind their goal, and they pass – and it's intercepted! James takes the Quaffle and throws it over to Aaron who shoots, and SCORES!" Andy looked over toward the Ravenclaw section, where there was loud cheering going on.

"That's the spirit, Ravenclaw! Cheer your team on! Buck up, boys! Your House is standing up for you!"

The Ravenclaw players might not be able to tell, but the Ravenclaw students in the stands could hear nearly as much laughter at Andy's comments as cheers that were actually for Gryffindor's team.

"That's it, mates! Ravenclaw moves out again from behind their goal, and move toward the Gryffindor goals – OH DID YOU SEE THAT, SPORTS FANS? The Gryffindor Beater just knocked the Quaffle clean out of the Ravenclaw Chaser's hand WITH THE BLUDGER! And look, the Quaffle flies straight in Arianna's hands, and she shoots, SHE SCORES! I hope you got a picture of that play, folks, 'cause you won't see that very often!"

Harry laughed. "That was a very cool play."

Rose laughed too. "Dumb thing is that they tried that on us three times on Thursday, and Rick and the Ravenclaw team saw them do it, and still didn't try to figure out how we defended it."

Harry smiled at her. "How did you?"

She grinned back at him. "I can't tell you. We might need it again some day when we get back on our team."

Ginny, Hermione, and the others all laughed, and Harry pretended to be hurt until Rose hugged him. "We do really love you Uncle Harry, but you are a Gryffindor to the core."

"Aaron shoots – HE SCORES!" Andy shouted again. "Oh, bad luck! It bounces off of a Ravenclaw Chaser right to Arianna, who passes right back to Aaron, who shoots – AND SCORES!"

The game continued on like that, and Ginny, Tracey, and Hermione put their heads together and talked quietly while everyone else continued to watch the Gryffindor onslaught continue, and cheer along with the other Ravenclaws.

"Come on Ravenclaw, keep trying," Andy shouted encouragingly to Rick and his team. "Listen to your House cheering you on! Now that's what being a member of a Hogwarts House is all about, sports fans!"

"It's a wonder he can keep doing that with a straight face," Allie said, laughing.

"What do we have here?" Andy exclaimed excitedly. "The Gryffindor Keeper has left the goals, and is moving up behind the play! Arianna has the Quaffle, and she passes to James, who throws it back to Hugo, who shoots AND SCORES! Witches and Wizards, now we've seen everything!"

Everyone's attention was drawn to Rick who'd gone to complain to Madame Hooch, but Andy was more than happy to settle what Rick was likely complaining about.

"Yes, sports fans, the Keeper is allowed to join the play, and can score goals – it's just almost never done anymore. Ravenclaw players – watch your goals! Aaron has the Quaffle – he shoots, HE SCORES!"

Rick turned around from where he'd been arguing with Madame Hooch to watch as his Keeper had just floated there and let Aaron take a free shot.

"Captain Davies," Andy continued, "In the future, if you wish to argue a play, you might want to consider calling a time out first."

This brought on a roar of laughter from the crowd, and Rick turned and glared at him. Andy was handed a piece of parchment that he glanced at briefly, then went back to watching and announcing the game.

"I was just advised that the last time a Keeper scored a goal in any Hogwarts match was one hundred and thirty-six years ago! Nicely done, Mr. Weasley!" The Gryffindors cheered their Keeper – the only chance they'd had so far to do that, since he was yet to face a shot.

"Ravenclaw takes the Quaffle and moves out. He passes wide, and straight to James, who passes to Arianna, who shoots – AND SCORES!"

The students, Professors, and guests watched on as Gryffindor continued to pile on goal after goal. The game was barely starting the second hour when they scored goal number one hundred.

That's what Jeremy had been told to wait for, and so he began to chase after the snitch in earnest.

"Look out," Andy shouted, "it looks like Jeremy has caught sight of the snitch. Yes! He definitely sees it – And Aaron has just stolen the Quaffle too, he passes to James who shoots – AND SCORES! Jeremy's still diving – there's the snitch just above the ground, and YES! HE CATCHES THE SNITCH! Gryffindor wins the match eleven hundred and sixty to naught, and wins the Quidditch Cup for their first time in four years! Congratulations and well done, Gryffindor!"

The crowd all cheered, and Andy was grinning as he continued. "That's right, fans! Give it up for both teams, and for both Houses too for their amazing support for their teams!"

The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams met on the field, and Rick and his team only stayed long enough to shake hands with Aaron before leaving the pitch. While Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and the rest of the kids started walking toward the pitch from the stands, they listened to Andy's game summary.

"Gryffindor goals, one hundred and one. Shots on goal, one hundred a seven. Interceptions, sixty-four. bludger hits, fourteen. Gryffindor Seeker caught the snitch to end the game at sixty-three minutes, twenty-two seconds."

The Gryffindor statistics brought cheers from the Gryffindor fans, and the Ravenclaw fans too.

"Ravenclaw fans!" Andy shouted. "Nicely done, cheering your opponents on like that even in your sorrow over the tough loss! Would one of our prefects please award some House points to Ravenclaw for such amazing sportsmanship?"

There was more laughter from all over the stadium at that.

"Ravenclaw goals," Andy continued, "naught. Shots on goal, naught. Interceptions, naught. Bludger hits, naught. Ravenclaw Seeker did not catch the snitch."

There was more cheering, and Andy once again took a moment to Congratulate the Ravenclaw students.

"Come on, everyone, let's have a cheer for our Ravenclaw brothers and sisters! I am sure that you are all as moved as I am by that last round of cheers for their team, and their support for them even though it was the worst defeat in Ravenclaw House team history. Once again, well done, Ravenclaw House!"

Andy got his requested cheer, and the Ravenclaw students who were still in the stands stood up and bowed.

"Finally, sports fans, we have a few records set today," Andy said, starting to wrap things up. "Fastest openeing goal at four point six seconds – Gryffindor. Best goals scored to shots taken – Gryffindor. First Keeper scored goal in one hundred thirty-six years – Gryffindor. First game in school history without having a single shot on goal - Ravenclaw. And sports fans, that's a wrap for another season of Quidditch! See you all again next year!"

Andy was finished talking when the Gryffindor team met up with their family and friends to be congratulated, and have a few minutes with their parents before they would have to leave for home.

"That was fun," Harry told James as he gave him a hug.

"No 'Good game', Dad?" James asked with a grin.

"Like I said, it was fun. Congratulations on winning the Quidditch Cup."

James laughed and went on to hug his mother, and when she had time, to hug Hermione.

"Are you ready for your OWL's?" Ginny asked James.

"I will be," he promised. "We've been working hard to get ready."

Al, Lily, and the others had stepped back to let James, Hugo, Aaron, and Arianna have some time with their parents. Lily and Kieran were talking quietly together with Rose and Matt.

"I wonder what's going to happen back in the Common room when the team gets back there?" Matt was wondering.

"I have no idea," Rose said. "How do you cheer something like what just happened out there?"

Lily grinned at her cousin. "I had no problems cheering," she said honestly.

They spent another ten minutes with Harry, Ginny, and Hermione, then hugged and kissed them goodbye before Aaron took his team to hit the showers, and the Ravenclaw Marauders left to go back to the school.

Lily was walking with Kieran, and they were a little bit ahead of most of their group.

"So, what did you think of my parents?" she asked him quietly.

"Truth?" he asked, and she nodded.

He grinned at her. "The first thing I thought was – 'Lily is going to grow up to be _that beautiful?_ I am never going to let her go'. The second thing I thought was – 'Her dad is the most powerful wizard in the world, I hope he wasn't reading my last thought'."

Lily laughed, threw her arms around him, and kissed him. "Let's see – Yes, I will, No, you won't, and No, Dad wouldn't do that to you – although yes, he probably could."

Kieran hugged her back, and by the time he let her go, the others had caught up again.

"Whatever you said," Al told Kieran, "It must've been the right thing to earn that hug and kiss."

Lily grinned at her brother. "It was," she assured him.

"What are we doing for the rest of the day?" Nick asked them.

Lily answered. "Studying, Nick." She grinned at him when he groaned. "Look at the bright side, cuz, we get enough done today, you'll get to have tomorrow off still – even with exams only a week away."

When they got back to school, Kieran and Allie went to their dorms to get books, and would meet Lily and the others in their usual study spot, while the Ravenclaws headed for their rooms to do the same.

The Common room was in full party mode when they got there, and they'd stopped for a moment in stunned disbelief.

"What are they doing?" Nick whispered to the others.

"I don't know," Matt answered. "Whatever it is, I don't think I want to be a part of it."

The others all agreed, and quickly went to get their bookbags, and leave their fellow Ravenclaws to whatever it was they were doing. Watching Rick and the rest of the team get taken to school by the far better Gryffindor team was one thing. Having a celebration over a loss – and season – like that was something else altogether. They might all understand why a lot of their fellow Ravenclaws might want to celebrate their own team's spectacular defeat, but that wasn't something they agreed with doing themselves. They met back up with Allie and Kieran, sat down, and got to work, now glad to be doing anything else except hanging out in their Common room.

Over in Gryffindor House, the party was in full swing when their team returned to the thunderous cheers of their Housemates. The whole team had worked hard all year, and while they would all buckle down to studying again on Sunday, for the rest of this day, nobody worried about exams or anything else other than having fun.

Harry and Ginny had dinner with Ron and Hermione that night. He told them about the Canons final loss – this time to the hapless Wanderers, a team that was now happy to not end their season in last place.

"How'd the kids do?" he asked Harry while they had drinks before dinner.

"It was a disaster – for Rick and his new Ravenclaw team. They didn't even get a single shot on goal against Hugo."

"That probably bugged Hugo," Ron said.

Harry laughed. "His team made it up for him with an offensive play made just for him. Your son is the first Keeper in one hundred and thirty-six years to score a goal."

Ron grinned at him. "That's my boy!" he said with pride.

"Including his goal, Gryffindor scored one hundred and one goals," Harry continued. "The first one was in under five seconds, and since the game was just over an hour, they weren't very far off of two goals a minute."

"I'd say that Rick had it coming to him for messing over his House and his former teammates."

Harry nodded. "He probably did, and that's really too bad, because he seemed like a pretty decent kid when he'd come over with Trinity and the other kids. He must've just gotten in with the wrong crowd. I don't remember his dad as being like that. I'm pretty sure he was very popular around school."

"How are Rose, and everyone else doing?" Ron asked next.

Hermione answered. "She's doing great, and they all looked happy. Lily's keeping them hitting the books, and they're ready for their exams."

"I always thought it'd be Rose directing the study traffic," Ron mused. "She's so much like you."

"She did their first two years – or it was more a team effort with Nick, Scorpius, and Al. I don't think any of them minded Lily taking over, though. They probably like having someone else get to be the bad guy all the time." She laughed at that. "I know I would have liked to let someone else do it sometimes – my study partners seemed to keep getting distracted with saving the world and other things that they seemed to think were more important that getting good grades."

They spent the rest of the evening talking, with Canons Quidditch, Institute shoptalk, and weddings topping the list of conversation topics.

While their Hogwarts students were either having a celebration, or studying for exams, depending on which House they were in, the two couples relaxed for one night, enjoying being with their best friends. The next month was going to be very busy, with work, the hundreds of wedding details, and getting ready for the kids return home. Just four more weeks, Harry thought, and they'll be back home for the whole summer!


	65. NEWTs and OWLs and Finals

Chapter Sixty-Five – NEWT's and OWL's and Finals

Arianna was sitting at a table in the Gryffindor Common room, studying for her NEWT exams. She was pretty sure now why NEWT was a four-letter word. Aaron and Tracey were both working with her, while James, Andy, Jon, and Jon's girlfriend, Therese, were studying for their OWL's at the table next to theirs.

It was Sunday afternoon, the day after they clinched the Quidditch Cup with the win over Ravenclaw. They had a week until exams started, and all three of the NEWT students of the Marauders were having difficulty with some of their subjects.

Sitting back in her chair, and rubbing her neck, Arianna took a break.

"This Potions stuff is not getting through to me," she told Aaron and Arianna. "We've got less than three weeks until that exam to get ready, and I don't think it'll be enough."

Therese looked up from what she was studying. "Why don't you get a tutor to help you?" she asked.

Arianna laughed. "I'd love to, Therese, but the rest of our class is just about as lost as we are."

"So ask Lily," Therese said, shrugging. "She basically taught the whole NEWT year to Trinity last year."

Aaron and Tracey joined Arianna in staring at Therese, until she finally noticed them looking at her, and she smiled.

"You didn't know that?" she said mildly. "I've been getting her help now and then all year when I've had something I couldn't work out. She's very good at every subject, but I think Potions might be her very best."

Arianna laughed, and closed up her books. "It's almost time for dinner anyway, and now at least I know where to get help. I just hope she can fit in a few extra sessions for me."

"Make that 'for us'," Tracey said, closing up her boods too, and starting to put them in her bag. "It really shouldn't take all that long – we're really only having the most trouble with a couple of things. If she can get us past that, we should be fine."

Aaron nodded, and joined the girls in packing up. "I could use a little help with Transfiguration too, but I'm pretty confident about Charms and DADA."

They went to see Lily before dinner started, and judging by the hugs she gave each of them, they were pretty sure her answer had been 'yes' to helping them – starting with an hour after dinner tonight, and at least an hour a day for the rest of the time they had between now, and the NEWT Potions exams, which were near the end of the second week of exams.

With Quidditch being done, they put every waking moment of their time into getting ready for their exams. Aaron and Arianna might already have jobs, but they still wanted to pass all four of their NEWT's, and Tracey wanted to do well too, not even really having worried much about what she'd work at after graduating.

It was a big year for James and the OWL students too, since what they'd be able to take in sixth and seventh year – and what careers they could eventually have, depended entirely on doing well enough in their fifth year examinations.

James knew that he, Andy, Jon, and Therese made a good study team, each one of them complimenting the others, and he was sure they'd all do pretty well on their OWL's. He and Arianna were never all that far apart when they were both studying, but during that last week, they did mostly work at separate tables so that they wouldn't become a distraction to each other while they worked.

With Lily's help, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were feeling much better about their progress with getting ready for the upcoming Potions and Transfiguration exams. Both the NEWT and OWL Gryffindors went into that last weekend of May feeling very confident that they were going to be ready for all of their exams.

Over in Ravenclaw, they were studying hard too. The fourth year Marauders each had nine exams this year, except Al and Allie, who both had ten exams. Matt was going to be writing nine OWL's, while Carolyn and Brianna had nine third year exams each.

Lily would be writing ten fourth year exams, but would take her exams along with her third year classmates – at least whenever that was possible. She had been personally ready for her exams for several weeks now, but she probably worked harder than any of the other kids as last minute requests for her help kept coming in as that last week before exams moved along, and some of her fellow students became more agitated and desperate about studying.

After working her study groups hard all week – and there were several groups for that last week, at lunchtime on Sunday she told them all that she was taking the rest of the day off, and suggested that if they felt ready, that they should do the same.

Kieran was more than happy to comply, because she wanted to take the rest of the day off to spend with him. They went outside for a walk, and then found an empty room, and spent a couple of hours playing and singing together – something that both of them would rather do that just about anything else, but hadn't had the time to do that much while studying for their finals.

Lily would play her keyboard most of the time now, and Kieran would either play his, or bring his guitar and play that instead. For this afternoon, they were doing the keyboard/guitar mix, and having a great time.

"Now that I've done this with you since January," Lily said to Kieran as they were packing up to go to dinner, "I'm really not looking forward to not being able to play and sing with you all summer."

Kieran smiled at her as he put his guitar in it's case.

"Me either – and I don't want to let that happen. We'll just have to put our heads together and figure out a way to get together a lot over the holidays."

"I hope we can," Lily said. "Al and the others are going to want to practice Quidditch at least a couple of nights a week, and if I spend as much time working at the Institute as last summer, I won't have much time left at all."

"Do you like working there?" he asked her.

Lily nodded. "I do – or did, but right now, I'd say if I could have the choice, I'd rather do music with you instead."

"Tell your parents that," he suggested. "They both seem really great, and I think they'd just want you to be doing what makes you happy."

"I know, but I don't want to disappoint them," she said.

Kieran laughed. "That could never happen," he said confidently.

Lily laughed too. "Well, you know what I mean, even if I didn't put it into words quite right."

He stood up and picked up his guitar as Lily popped her amazing little keyboard case into her bookbag and walked over to take his hand.

"I know, but with everything that you can do with school, and Quidditch, and everything, I think what you and I have right here with our music could really be the most special thing that either of us do."

She hugged Kieran, and smiled. "I don't think that, I know it's true," she told him quietly. She kissed him softly, and then grinned at him. "Not that I think that music is the only thing that we have that's special."

Leaving what had now become their defacto music room on the sixth floor where they'd met, they both were laughing as they went to put their things away before going to dinner, having taken what would probably be their last afternoon off until they finished exams in two and a half weeks.

On Monday, the Ministry examiners arrived for the NEWT and OWL exams. For NEWT students their first exam was Charms, while for James and the other fifth years, it was Potions. For each group of students, they completed the written exam, and then had their appointments for their practical exams.

James was talking over the written part of the Potions exam with Andy and Jon while they waited their turn for their practical exams. Therese was already inside the exam room being tested.

"That went a lot easier than I thought it would," James was telling his friends.

"I'm pretty sure I messed up the section on antidotes, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with it too," Jon said.

They heard a loud explosion from the testing room, and Jon winced. "I hope that wasn't Therese's potion," he said.

They were to be in the next group of students being tested, and were all relieved when it was another boy that came out of the room looking a bit burned around the edges, while Therese was smiling, and gave Jon a hug for luck before the boys had to go in and move to where an examiner waited for each of them.

"Mr. Potter," James' examiner greeted him, "Please create the Draught of Peace potion for your practical exam. You have one hour, and may begin now."

James put out his cauldron and supplies, and got right to work. Now he knew why there had been an explosion in the last group of testing – the syrup of hellebore used in the draught was fairly trickly to work with, and if done wrong had a tendency to explode.

This was one potion, though, that he had done very well creating before, and so he worked quickly, and confidently mixed in the powdered moonstone, and the other ingredients, carefully measuring and preparing the mixture. He was done with lots of time to spare, and after handing in his bottled potion, packed up, and was told he could leave the room.

He saw Andy and Jon both working furiously, and hoped for the best for his friends as he left the room. Therese had waited outside for Jon, so he stopped to talk with her, and wait the last ten or fifteen minutes that this group of students had left to finish their draughts.

"How'd it go?" she asked James.

"Mine went perfect," he told Therese. "Andy and Jon seemed a bit frazzled when I left, though, so I hope they can pull it together before the end."

They heard another explosion, and they both winced.

"It's a wonder the examiners can even hear after a day of that happening every hour or so," Therese told him. James nodded.

"Do you want to get back to studying for Arithmancy before or after dinner?" James asked.

"Before, if you don't mind. It's in the morning, and I want to go over everything one last time, and then get a good night of sleep. It didn't work out so well for me last year staying up late – all of the numbers just started blurring together during the exam."

James laughed. "I know what you mean – I managed to keep my 'O' in it, but probably not by much after the exam. You're going to do great, though. We've both gotten much better at it this year."

Therese laughed. "That's only because there are only a few of us left still taking it at this level. We get more personal attention from the Professor now."

The doors opened, and the students all filed out. Andy and Jon were nearly last, but at least neither of them looked like it had been their potion that had exploded. Therese hugged Jon again when the two boys reached where they were waiting.

"How'd it go?" she asked. Potions class was one of Jon's hardest subjects, and she knew he'd been worried about it.

Jon laughed. "I think I ended up with the Draught of mild annoyance, or maybe even confusion, instead of peace, but at least I didn't blow it up this time, so that was good."

Therese hugged him again, and James asked Andy how his went.

"Oh, mine worked, but it probably wasn't strong enough to soothe the savage housefly," Andy told them. "It'd be nice to get an 'E', and get the OWL, but I don't plan on taking Potions next year anyway. It's not required to go into journalism or WWVN media."

"Do you need any of the subjects we take for that?" Therese asked him curiously.

"Nothing specifically, but they won't look at you without at least four NEWT's to your credit. I guess so they know you've at least got some brains, and with all the reports we do by then, some language skills."

"Must be nice," she told him. "I need Potions if I ever hope to be a Medi-Witch some day."

They all headed back to their Common room, and Therese and James got to work on their Arithmancy studying, while Jon and Andy started on History, which was their exam on Wednesday.

Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey didn't get back from their Charms exam until nearly dinnertime, and they all looked tired.

"Tough exams?" James asked Arianna, giving her a hug, and kissing her tenderly. "You look beat."

She nodded. "NEWT isn't just a four letter word, it's a really bad four letter word. We all think we did good, but it was by far the hardest exam I've ever done."

James sat her down at the table and stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders. He grinned as she practically purred in pleasure. Aaron laughed when he saw Tracey's hopeful look.

"You better get in line behind Arianna," he told her apologetically. "I'm not sure I can even lift my arms that high right now."

Tracey and Aaron both sat down in chairs at the table, and she leaned her head on his shoulder and looked up at James, smiling.

"That's ok, Aaron. The last time I saw James after doing one of those backrubs, he was on his way home to have a cold shower after putting Arianna to sleep. I wouldn't want to be responsible for having that happen to my best mate's boyfriend."

Everyone at the table laughed at Tracey's comments, and then, after talking for a few more minutes, got up and trudged wearily to the Great Hall for dinner. Tracey would be taking her Herbology NEWT on Wednesday, and then all three of them had DADA on Friday, so at least the NEWT students had a little time to study and recover from their first Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. James and Therese were the only fifth years in their group writing the Arithmancy OWL, and they'd all be taking the History and Herbology OWL's on Wednesday and Friday.

The only Ravenclaw Marauder dealing with OWL's was Matt, and he'd been in the group before Therese's for his exam. Lily had coached him all year, though, and he knew that he'd aced both the written and practical parts.

For Rose and the other fourth years, it had been DADA today. They were all tops in their class, and had all done well. Al was certainly the best in their year, and probably in their school, and he'd impressed Professor Williamson by producing a Patronus for his exam.

Al had to be careful about how much of his abilities he showed, but he'd decided that since his father had been able to produce his stag Patronus in his third year, that Al being able to do it now wouldn't be that surprising to the Professors. He'd actually been able to produce one since second year, though.

The only real surprise had come when Professor Williamson saw _what _his Patronus was – a Golden Phoenix, just like his namesake once had for his Patronus.

"Mr. Potter, you continue to find a way to impress me every year," the Professor had told him. "Nicely done!"

He had, of course, still needed to demonstrate the other spells, jinxes, and counter-jinxes and spells they'd learned over the year, but none of those were a problem for him, or for any of his cousins or friends.

Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna all had Charms first, and they were all very happy with their fourth year, and third year exams respectively. They didn't have any time to relax, though, since they still had Herbology on Tuesday, Transfiguration on Thursday, and Care of Magical Creatures on Friday.

The rest of that first week of exams was about as close to zero boyfriend-girlfriend time as possible, except for being together while studying, which none of the students at Hogwarts counted. None of the New Marauders had any exam surprises or meltdowns, and had survived the week reasonably happy with how they were doing so far.

Most of them had four out of nine or ten exams out of the way now, and Tracey, Aaron, and Arianna were all halfway done. They all took Friday night off to relax and spend some time away from the books before they'd all be back hard at work for the rest of the weekend to continue preparing for next week's exams.

For Aaron and Tracey, that evening off started out with a walk by the lake before dark. They weren't quite waxing nostalgic yet about the fact that they'd be leaving this school for the last time two weeks from today, but it was something that was in the backs of their minds.

"This is nice, just being out here together," Tracey told him as they wqlked arm-in-arm. "I'm surprised that more students aren't out enjoying the evening."

There weren't very many people out on the grounds, but Aaron liked having a little more privacy than they normally had around school, so he certainly wasn't complaining.

"I was thinking it'd be nicer if there were even a few less people out here – then maybe we could be alone for a while, and could catch up on some kissing that we've been missing out on the last few weeks," Aaron said almost wistfully.

Tracey laughed, stopped him, and put her arms around his neck. "I don't mind if a few other kids see you kissing me if you don't," she told him encouragingly. "What are they going to do? Not let us come back next year?"

Aaron smiled at her, and then forgot all about anything else as she kissed him, and drew him once again into that temporary world of bliss to which those kisses sometimes transported them both. They were brought back to this world again by the passing giggles of two girls that were probably third or fourth year, and they both grinned at Aaron and Tracey when they both turned to look over to see where the giggling had come from.

"That sounded like our kiss only rated about a six on the giggle meter," Tracey told Aaron loudly enough so the two girls could hear. "I think we better try again, and shoot for a higher score."

The girls laughed loudly at Tracey's comment, but by then, she was already kissing Aaron again, and the two girls moved on, still grinning and laughing.

"The giggle meter?" Aaron asked when they came up for air.

Tracey grinned at him. "The universal standard measurement of kisses by little girls all over the Wizarding – and Muggle – World," she explained. "You know that it's an off the charts great kiss if you see them not just giggling, but covering their eyes and peeking around fingers or over the top of pillows to get another look."

Aaron smiled back at her. "You sound like a girl who's had some experience with that."

"Oh, I've done my fair share of giggling about kisses on occasion, yes – So has your sister. Didn't you ever notice that she giggled a lot around Harry and Ginny?"

"I thought that was just because she was as happy as I was to have them as our volunteers, and basically our family."

"That's a whole different kind of giggling. I'll explain it all to you someday so you'll know the difference when you have daughters of your own. It's one of those things fathers need to learn all about."

"Daughters sound good someday – especially if they look like you or Arianna," Aaron said, hugging her closely. "I hope there's no hurry, though. It'd be nice to have you all to myself for a few years."

Tracey smiled up at him. "Definitely," she agreed.

They moved on from their walk to an evening hanging out mostly with James, Arianna, Jon, and Therese. The DADA NEWT had been just as tough as Charms had been, though, and so they all turned in early, needing the sleep before starting in on the hours of Transfiguration and Potions studying they were going to be doing for the rest of the weekend.

Lily had four more of her own exams during the second week, but she still found time on the weekend for two hours each day on Potions and Transfiguration with Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey. They did an hour before lunch, and another hour after dinner.

The fourth year Ravenclaws didn't need any help from her with any of their second week exams, so the rest of her time was split between helping Carolyn and Brianna, Matt, and quick reviews for her own exams.

She helped Carolyn and Brianna with DADA and History, and let Al help them with Divination and Astronomy while she worked with Matt on Transfiguration and Charms. He also had Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures, but those were subjects that he was good at, and was more likely to work with Rose on than ask for help from Lily. Why Matt thought that an hour or two studying Astronomy atop a darkened tower with Rose was preferable to the same time at a desk with Lily was totally beyond her understanding – NOT!

During that second week of testing, the only real highlights were Lily's DADA exam, where Professor Williamson asked her if she too could create a Patronus like Al could, and she'd grinned at him, and promptly sent her fiery, red hair coated doe prancing around the room to the delight of her Professor.

James impressed his OWL examiner in Transfiguration by not only vanishing his iguana, which he'd been told was the same test his father had been given, but could also make the table vanish too, and then could make them both reappear.

Thanks to Lily's help, and some creative suggestions on ways for Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey to impress when it came time to do their conjuring spells for their practical, all three of her NEWT pupils had been sure they'd earned top marks for their practical, and had done well on their written exams.

Aaron and Arianna were finished their exams after completing what they hoped would be 'E' worthy marks in Potions on Thursday. Tracey still had to write Arithmancy on Monday, but then she'd be done too. They were sitting around after dinner on Thursday in an empty classroom they'd found where James and the other fifth years could study for their Care of Magical Creatures OWL. Matt and Rose had joined them too, so that Matt could study with them, and compare notes one last time before they'd be taking their OWLs in the morning.

"So, what are you going to do with a whole week off before we go home?" Rose asked Arianna and Aaron.

"Probably nothing except relax," Arianna told her. "Until the rest of you get finished, there won't be much to do."

Rose was studying for Herbology, although she knew she was ready for it anyway, and didn't look up as she talked with Arianna.

"Maybe you two should put together a special TNM going home, we're never coming back present for the rest of the school. You could spend the week setting it up, and then spring it on Feast day when everybody's done exams."

Aaron sat up in his chair and grinned at Rose. "That's a brilliant idea, Rose!" he complimented her.

That certainly distracted the others from their studies as they would put in their own ideas while Aaron and Arianna discussed what they could do. In about an hour, they had what they thought was a great idea, and something that would keep them occupied while the others wrote their last exams of the year.

The last week of the school year was finally here. On Monday, most OWL students finished up their testing with their DADA exams. The few students taking their OWL in Ancient Runes still had that on Tuesday, but James, Matt, Andy, Jon, and Therese were finished by the end of the day on Monday, and could join Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey in having a few days off before they'd be going home for the year.

The third and fourth year students weren't so lucky, since their exams went either to Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on which optionals they were taking. Carolyn and Brianna were done on Monday after their Potions exam, since they'd already written their two optional exams. Lily also had her fourth year Muggle Studies exam on Tuesday, and any third years that had taken Arithmancy had their last exam on Wednesday.

The fourth year Marauders had Transfiguration exams on Monday. Al and Allie had Divination on Tuesday, and Rose, Nick, and Scorpius had Care of Magical Creatures on Wednesday before they were finished for the year.

As each of the Marauders became available after their last exam, they joined in to help Aaron and Arianna get everything together for their end of school event. By Wednesday night, they had everything ready.

The sunshine streaming through the windows of the Great Hall on Thursday morning held the promise of a beautiful day, which was going to be perfect for what would be happening. After breakfast, the New Marauders strolled around the grounds, not looking like they were doing anything more than going for walks, and hanging out with their friends like everyone else in the school was. What they were doing, though was getting everything ready for the afternoon they had planned so carefully for their fellow students.

They found out what that was going to be when, near the end of lunch, the big screen WWVN suddenly came on, and they heard a voice booming out over the normal chatter from the students all talking as they ate their meal.

"WITCHES AND WIZARDS OF HOGWARTS! YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO A POOL PARTY!"

The scene being splashed across the WWVN screen was a panoramic view of the Hogwarts grounds, and the twenty large pools that were now scattered around the school. There were lounge chairs by the pools, and tables filled with snacks and drinks. There were beach volleyball courts, and areas that seemed to be set up for other games.

"YOUR GRADUATING STUDENTS OF TNM WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR MAKING OUR YEARS AT HOGWARTS SO AMAZING! WE HOPE YOU WILL ALL ENJOY YOURSELVES AND HAVE A GREAT AFTERNOON OF FUN AND SUN!"

The screen went blank again, but the Great Hall was filled with cheers as most students hurriedly finished their lunches, and poured out onto the school grounds. Some kids actually went to their rooms to get swimsuits, while others either transfigured their robes, or even just jumped into pools robes and all.

Al and Carolyn were walking around together, watching everyone laughing and playing. They saw Andy sitting in a tall chair he'd made, 'announcing' a beach volleyball game that seemed to be a lot more about having fun than actually playing the game. The saw most of the other Gryffindor Marauders sitting by one of the pools, having drinks, and relaxing in pool chairs. Their hair was still wet looking, so they must've been in the pool too, and not that long ago.

Eventually, they met up with the other Ravenclaw Marauders – at another pool. They got drinks for themselves, and joined their friends.

"This is definitely a great way to spend our last day here," Brianna told them as she lay back and soaked up the sun.

She was wearing a very nice two-piece swimsuit that Scorpius was having a difficult time not staring at, and he was definitely grinning a lot. "It sure is," he told her, his smile getting even bigger.

Brianna looked up at him and laughed. "Down, boy. It's just that we've all been wearing school robes for nearly six months straight. You have seen me in a swimsuit before."

Scorpius nodded, still grinning. "I know, and after seeing you in one again, I'm thinking about starting a petition to change the school uniform to swimsuits instead of robes."

Rose laughed at him. "That'll never happen – the average marks for every boy in the school would drop twenty points."

"Or more," Matt agreed. He thought Rose looked pretty great in her swimwear too.

"Besides," Carolyn told Scorpius, "do you really want to see some of those Slytherin girls walking around in swimsuits all day?"

The other girls laughed, and Carolyn's argument was enough to convince Scorpius to reconsider his proposal.

Lily and Kieran were hanging out with Al, Carolyn, and the others, but they were currently swimming in the pool together. Al was watching them laugh and have fun together.

"We're losing three of our group this year," he said quietly to the others. "I think our newest young friend would make a good replacement for one of them. What do you guys think?"

Carolyn grinned as she watched them splashing around. "If they're still an item when we come back, I think we should invite him to join," she agreed.

Al saw the other couples nodding too. "If Andy ever gets a steady girl, we'll be a real couples club," Brianna said with a grin.

Nick laughed. "He's got a steady girl – several of them."

"One of them will get him eventually," Allie predicted.

They all enjoyed an afternoon where play and fun ruled, in stark contrast to the past few weeks of hard work. When it was time to go to the Great Hall for dinner, despite the efforts of some students to find out who TNM was, the tables, chairs, games, and pools all vanished without a trace or hint about who had been behind the best last day of school ever.

At Dinner, Matt was given a note from one of the first year students. When he opened it, he quietly told the others that he, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, Al, and Lily were to go to see Professor Flitwick after dinner in his office.

"What do you think he wants?" Brianna asked.

"Beats me," Nick told her. "Maybe we're in the doghouse for having that game against James and the others, and he just wanted to wait until exams were done to talk to us. Detentions do so cut into studying time."

The others laughed, and none of them really thought it would be about that. When they were done eating, though, they did leave the Hall and head for the Professor's office.

He invited them in as soon as they knocked, and he motioned for them to take the seats that were already around his cozy looking desk.

"Thank-you for coming," he told them. "I won't keep you, since I'm certain you're all excited about going home for the summer, and want to pack this evening." He waited while the kids all nodded before continuing.

"I've asked you all to come here to discuss our House Quidditch team for next year."

Matt and the others all exchanged looks, and Professor Flitwick laughed at their expressions.

"I'm sure this has been a difficult year for you," he told them sympathetically. "The decision on naming a team Captain each year is ultimately mine." He now had their full attention again, and he smiled sadly.

"When I named Mr. Davies as captain this year, I had hopes that the young man would take the opportunity to grow and avoid some, shall we say, difficulties he was facing."

The Professor sighed. "Unfortunately, he made some very poor choices, which unfortunately hurt other members of his house. Try to remember that ultimately, he hurt himself most of all."

Each of the students in front of him nodded their understanding, and he continued.

"Normally, we do not advise students about such things as naming team captains or prefects until they receive their Hogwarts letters. Because of what transpired this year, and because I know that you all work very hard on your Quidditch during your holidays, I've decided to make an exception this year only. I do expect you all to keep this information to yourselves until it would be normally appropriate for you to talk about it with your fellow students – with the obvious exception of your own family members, of course."

They all looked at him expectantly, and waited for him to continue.

"Matt Goldstein, you will be Captain of the team next year. I know that doesn't normally happen when there is a returning captain, but it is not unheard of. Mr. Davies will be notified of this decision later this evening. Your former captain had high praise for you, and I'm certain that you will do an excellent job for your House and team."

He waited, smiling, while Rose hugged her boyfriend, and Al, Nick, Scorpius, and Lily congratulated him. When they'd all sat down again, the Professor looked first at Rose.

Ms. Weasley, you will be named the fifth year Witch prefect for Ravenclaw, and I am also certain that you will do very well for you House." He had to wait for another round of hugs, and then looked at the remaining three boys, and smiled.

"You are aware that only one boy and one girl from each House can be named prefects starting with fifth year students," he told them. "You are all exceptional students, and would make excellent prefects, as will your cousin, Rose. Since she is going to be a prefect, though, I have decided that since you are all so close in abilities, that instead of selecting another family member, that Mr. Malfoy will be our other House prefect this year. Congratulations to each of you," he finished, nodding to Matt, Rose, and Scorpius.

"Thank-you, sir," Matt said for all of them. "We'll all do our best next year."

Professor Flitwick laughed. "I'm sure you will, I'm sure you will!" he said. "Thank-you for coming, and I hope you all have a wonderful summer holiday."

"Thank-you, Professor," Rose told him for them as they stood to leave. "We hope you have a wonderful summer too."

Their meeting was followed by an evening spent packing for the trip home in the morning. They were all sitting in their Common room later, and talking quietly when they saw Rick walk by. He didn't look at them, or talk to anyone, but quietly went into the boys dorms, and they didn't see him the rest of the night, or even the next day.

The Ravenclaw Marauders all went to bed early, after a short visit with Lily and Nick after they'd returned from last night alone time with Kieran and Allie before coming back to the Common room. Rose and Matt were the last two to leave, and they were in bed before ten.

Later in the evening, after the packing was done, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey were relaxing in the Common room – the last night they'd ever spend doing that at Hogwarts. They were not the only seventh year students in the school who stayed up late talking about their years here, and coming to terms with the realization that this would be their last night here. James, Jon, and Therese were hanging out with them, while Andy was busy working on goodbyes with several of the Gryffindor girls.

"I can't wait to get home, and everything that's coming up for us," Tracey told them, hugging Aaron, "but I can't help but feel sad about leaving Hogwarts for good."

Arianna nodded. "I'm feeling the same way, but I am looking forward to my King size bed, and my own private bath."

"Me too," James said, then laughed at the looks from his friends. "Stop that. You know what I meant."

In the morning, they all said their goodbyes to Hogwarts, and boarded the train for the ride home. The first big event of the summer would be Aaron and Tracey's wedding, and even as the Hogwarts Express pulled away from Hogsmeade, that became the main topic of conversation during the ride home.

What would happen for the rest of the summer could wait until after the wedding, and not a single student on the train gave a moment's thought to what the next school year would bring either. This was just the start of summer holidays – they all had better things to do than think about school!


	66. The First Marauders Wedding

Chapter Sixty-Six – The First Marauders Wedding

Frederica was excited! This was going to be the last time that she was going to be on this side of the Hogwarts Express experience. In just over ten weeks, she was going to be getting on that train with her cousins and friends and going to Hogwarts too.

She looked up at her Uncle Harry, and smiled at him. He was just like an excited little boy on the days that everyone was coming home from school, and today was no exception. He was holding Aunt Ginny's hand, and watching down the tracks for any sign of the train's approach.

"It'll only be another minute or two," Aunt Ginny told him soothlingly as she winked at Frederica. "If you're a good boy, and wait patiently, maybe we'll take you out for lunch when we're done here."

Frederica and Harry both laughed, and then they all heard the tell-tale sounds of the approaching train, and watched as a moment later, it came into sight, gliding smoothly to the platform in a long, slow, majestic approach that was a complete counter-point to the chaos that erupted moments after it came to a full stop.

The moment that happened, doors flew open, and the Hogwarts students flooded out onto the platform, dragging their luggage, and searching for their welcoming parties. Frederica wasn't the tiniest bit surprised to see Lily come running toward them, or that she nearly knocked her father over in the process of throwing her arms around him to hug him tightly before letting him go so she could hug her mother and then finally hug Frederica herself.

"I take it you're excited to be home," she told her cousin when she was let go. "And it's really good to see you, but where is he?"

"Where's who?" Lily asked her with a grin.

Frederica looked around, then smiled. "Never mind, it has to be _him_," she said, pointing Kieran out from among where the rest of her Ravenclaw cousins and friends were unloading their luggage from the train.

"The only thing I have to say to you about your boyfriend, Lily, is does he have a younger brother? Whoa!"

Lily laughed, and hugged her again. "Sorry, he doesn't, but I haven't checked on whether he has cousins or not."

She watched while Frederica looked her boyfriend up and down appreciatively. "Do that, will you?" she finally said, smiling at Lily brightly.

Another couple approached the group still unloading by the train, and Lily grinned at Frederica again. "Looks like it's time to meet the parents," she said quietly. "Wish me luck."

With that, she walked back over to where Kieran was busy hugging his parents. As soon as he saw her approaching, he smiled, and held out his hand to her. Frederica watched as his parents both smiled and greeted Lily with hugs too.

"That seems to be going well," Aunt Ginny said quietly to her Uncle. "Kieran's Dad still looks pretty good too," she added with a grin. "Although I'm pretty much over my little girl crushes on him and the other guys in his old band."

Harry laughed. "I'm glad to hear that, since I'm guessing we'll be getting to know them – starting in about ten seconds."

They watched as Lily, holding Kieran's hand, led him and his parents over to meet her family. When they reached them, Lily began the introductions.

"Mr. and Mrs. McCormack, I'd like you to meet my Mum and Dad – Harry and Ginny Potter, and my cousin Frederica Weasley."

Lily watched as the two sets of parents exchanged handshakes, and Kieran's parents personalized their introduction by asking Harry and Ginny to call them Kirley and Anastasia – or Ana, in Kieran's Mum's case.

"So which part of the Weasley clan are you from?" Ana asked Frederica as she shook her hand.

"That'd be the Wizarding Wheezes section, ma'am," Frederica answered with a grin."

Ana had laughed. "Then Kieran and Kirley are really going to like you, my dear, since that's one of their very favourite places to shop – and please, call me Ana. Kirley and I aren't big on all of those old folk's formalities."

Frederica laughed too. "Then you're going to like our family a lot, Ana," she promised the woman.

In between the long line of incoming hugs and kisses, Harry and Ginny talked with Kieran's parents, exchanging pleasantries, and talking about the wedding that was a week away that Kieran would be attending, and also letting Lily and Kieran set up a couple of days next week where they could get together at the cottage or at Kieran's home.

Frederica watched all of them, and was smiling. She knew that when her Mum had been a teen that she'd had her own crush on Kieran's Dad, and some of the other members of the Weird Sisters, and she was going to want details when Frederica got home tonight.

Kirley McCormack was probably around fifty, and he still had the big hair from his band days. He had a handsome, kind face, and he looked like he was in very good shape – probably from years of playing guitar, and the grueling pace of the life of a World famous musician. Ana was nearly as tall as her husband, and she had shoulder length, golden hair, and what Frederica thought of as aquamarine eyes – not really green, or blue, but somewhere in between. She was as beautiful as he was handsome, and they made a really great looking couple. No wonder their son was such a hottie!

When the last of their group were finally all there, Ana smiled at Ginny. "Are they all yours?"

Ginny laughed. "We're a family that likes to share, so in a way, yes, I guess they are. We're just the platform welcoming committee, though. Some officially belong to us, some to my brothers, and the rest are friends."

Ana and Kirley both laughed. "And we thought keeping up with Kieran and my sister's three kids was tough," Kirley said.

Ginny laughed too. "I grew up with six brothers," she told them. "This is easy compared to that."

With everyone accounted for, it was time to leave. Kieran's parents said goodbye to Harry and Ginny as the two couples allowed their kids a moment to say their own goodbye.

"I'll see you Monday," Lily told Kieran, hugging him tightly. "I'm going to miss you."

Kieran hugged her back. "Hard to believe this will be the first time that we won't see each other every day since we met in January."

"Then I guess I better give you something to remember me by," Lily said, kissing him tenderly.

"SNOGGING ALERT!"

They both jumped, and turned to see James grinning at them, a MagicMistletoe flying back into his hand, doing it's mad little giggle.

"I seem to remember promising that there'd be payback someday for a little joke you played on Arianna and me," he told Lily. "Consider yourself paid in full."

Kieran and Lily both blushed as the others all laughed, but they were grinning too.

When Kieran and his parents left, Harry made short work of sending their luggage to each house, and then they left for the Mall, and their Welcome Home luncheon.

They had taken a little more time at the station than normal with the introductions to Kieran's parents, and with Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey saying some final goodbyes to other students, so they went straight to the restaurant where they'd soon be met by the rest of the family and guests.

In addition to Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, and cousins, Tracey's parents would be there, as would Matt's Mum and Dad. Kieran, Emily, and Allie all had other plans with their families, and wouldn't be there.

When they were escorted to the banquet room they were using, they were the first ones there. Frederica and Lily talked together. Well, mostly Lily talked about school, Quidditch, and Kieran while Frederica hung on every detail.

Since they were a bit early, Harry had drinks brought in that they could have while they waited, and by shortly after noon, everyone else started to arrive, mostly coming from wherever they worked to be here.

Frederica's own Mum and Dad were among the first grownups there, so she didn't have to wait to give her mother the details about getting to meet Kirley and Ana. The rest of the family quickly followed. The hugs and kisses took longer, but by half past twelve, they'd ordered their meals and the food had begun arriving.

Aaron and Tracey were surrounded at the table by her parents, Harry, Ginny, James, and Arianna, and they were being given the latest wedding planning updates. They would all be having a busy week, and both Ginny and Tracey's Mum Katie were taking next week off of work to help the kids with everything they'd be doing.

Frederica knew from hanging around with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny for the past few weeks that for most of the kids, that meant 'free time', since the best thing that they could do would be to stay out of the way, and let the adults concentrate on the happy couple for the next eight days.

"So what have you and Daddy been doing since we left in January?" Lily asked her, finally having reached the end of her monologue with yesterday's events at Hogwarts.

"We did a lot of lunches, trips to the residence, shopping, and a little Quidditch here and there," she told Lily.

"He's been doing a lot with the Canons, too, and they all seem pretty excited about next season, even if this year was a total wreck."

"What postion are you playing?" Lily asked her.

Frederica smiled. "Beater. Daddy says I'm getting a lot better this year too."

Lily looked at her cousin's grinning face, and laughed. "I think you'll make a great Beater. The boys will be so busy checking you out they won't know what hit 'em when the bludger does."

"Well, I don't know about that, Lily," she said, laughing. "I just find it a lot more fun getting to hit things in Quidditch instead of throwing or catching. It's probably something that runs in the family. Speaking of catching things, though, don't forget to find out about those three cousins Kieran's Dad mentioned. Maybe I'll get lucky and he's got an identical cousin a couple of years younger than him."

During lunch, the kids did all find out that nobody would be starting any jobs over the next week, and that they'd deal with stuff like that after the wedding. That was greeted with some smiles and high fives from kids that were ready for some serious down time.

After lunch, Tracey and Arianna were whisked away by Ginny and Katie for a dress fitting session, and to other appointments to go over things like flowers and decorations. Harry needed to take Aaron and James to be fitted for tuxes, while most of the other parents had to get back to work. The rest of the kids had the afternoon to do whatever they wanted.

Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna opted for shopping. Rose and Matt decided to go to her house for the afternoon, and conveniently forgot to invite any of the others. That left Nick, Lily, Hugo, and Frederica to make their own plans. Since Frederica went shopping on a regular basis, and the boys weren't interested in doing that at all, they just went to the cottage together to hang out and wait for the others to come back there.

They went out and played some Quidditch for a while, and the older cousins found out that Frederica was quite a bit better than 'quite a bit better.'

"That's what your Dad calls pretty good?" Nick said with a smile. "You're already better than half of the Beaters on the school teams."

Frederica laughed, and rubbed the bruise on her arm where a bludger had glanced off. "Maybe, but that means that you're definitely not in the bottom half."

Nick grinned at her. "I've played two on one Beater every Thursday all year – it was either get better, or get my head knocked off."

When they'd finished playing, they all walked into town for ice creams, and by the time they got back to the cottage, Harry, Aaron, and James were back from their tux fittings, and hanging out in the kitchen talking.

"I'd ask what you've been doing," Harry said, laughing, "but there's still some evidence left of a couple of you," he said, wiping some chocolate from the corner of Lily's mouth.

"How'd the shopping go?" Lily asked them as they all sat down at the table with the boys.

James grinned. "We look like a bunch of penguins, but I guess we can put up with it for one day if it makes the girls happy."

"You're such a fake," she accused him. "You probably look great in a tux, and you know it."

Aaron laughed. "Good enough that a few girls from school stopped into the store to shop, and I don't think they were looking for suits or ties."

Lily grinned at her brother. "Maybe they think with Arianna graduating, and you still having two more years that they've got a shot."

The others all laughed, but James just shrugged. "Let 'em think whatever they want. I'm taken, and nothing's going to change that."

"It better not," Arianna said as she and Ginny came into the kitchen. She went over and hugged James before sitting down beside him.

"Tracey told me to let you know that dinner's at six, and she'll see you at her house at five-thirty," she told her brother. "Wear those nice khaki dress pants and that dress shirt you like with it – you're meeting family tonight, so I don't want you embarrassing me."

Aaron laughed and stood up. "Yes, Mum. I promise to behave and eat all my veggies and everything."

Arianna grinned at him. "You'll do just fine. Will you be late?"

"Probably, but I'm not sure. I'll send you a qm when I know so you won't worry." He looked at his watch. "I better run, though – I've got less than an hour to grab a shower and get dressed."

He kissed Arianna on the cheek, gave Ginny a hug, waved to the others, and headed for the door. When he was gone, Ginny sat down with the rest of them.

"So what's up for the rest of the day?" she asked them.

"We've got Percy, Penelope, Ron, and Hermione coming, and the corresponding kids," Harry told her. "Frederica is expected home, but I think you should just call your sister-in-law and tell her that she can't have her back until tomorrow, and to go take her husband out on a date instead."

Frederica jumped up and gave him a hug for that, and Ginny laughed and pulled out her WiComm to send the qm to Marietta. While she wrote the QuillMessage, and waited for a reply, Harry continued.

"The rest of the evening we can just wing it. If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to hear them."

Lily's hand shot up, and Harry and the others laughed.

"I vote for a couple of hours at the Marauders Mall – Paris doing the rides, or shopping for anyone not wanting to go on the rides."

That idea got a favourable response, so they decided to wait until everyone was there to see how many would want to do that.

Frederica's mother sent a reply back letting her daughter stay with them overnight, and setting up having her dropped of after breakfast in the morning. Harry and Ginny started in on getting dinner ready. Arianna and James stayed in the kitchen with them while they worked, but the rest of the kids went outside to hang out, talk, and stay out of the way.

Al, Scorpius, Carolyn, and Brianna got back to the cottage and joined them outside after checking in with Harry and Ginny, and the girls put a few shopping bags away in their rooms.

"Have fun?" Nick asked them.

Scorpius answered. "Sure. For some reason, Al and I don't mind watching a couple of beautiful girls trying on clothes all afternoon."

Al grinned. "I'm pretty sure there were several reasons, mate. The smiles, the hugs and kisses, and seeing them in some really great outfits to name a few."

Carolyn laughed and hugged him. "See what I mean," Al told them, still smiling.

"So," Scorpius asked, "what'd we miss around here?"

Nick grinned at him. "We played Quidditch for a while, and found out that Frederica here is turning out to be a pretty fair Beater. Then we went into town for ice creams, and have been pretty much just sitting around talking ever since then."

"So we have a second Beater for our summer practice sessions this year?" Scorpius asked Frederica.

She grinned at him. "I'd like that if we could," she told him. "Depends on when you'll be able to practice."

"We're going to do some morning practices next week," Nick said, "but we haven't been told what we're doing this summer after that."

Frederica looked at them conspiratorially. "They've definitely got something up their collective sleeves on that," she told them. "I couldn't get any of them to crack, though. So I guess we'll all have to wait to see what's going on."

Lily grinned at her. "Is that the first time ever that your Dad's been able to keep from caving? Usually a hug and kiss from you and he's a puddle of mush, and spilling his guts."

Frederica laughed. "No, and you're exaggerating."

"Not by very much," Lily countered. "I thought I was pretty good at that sort of thing until the first time I really saw you work your magic on your father. After that, I took notes and watched in awe."

Rose and Matt came with Ron and Hermione, and while the parents went inside, they stayed outside with their cousins and friends. Percy and Penelope weren't far behind, and then they were called inside to eat.

The wedding talk was, of course, the main topic at dinner again – specifically the upcoming party on Saturday night for the couple. The old custom of having a boy's night and a girl's night out before the wedding had given way, at least in their family, to a single party for the couple instead.

That party was going to be here at the cottage, and part of the talk was about what the underage kids were going to do tomorrow night, with the sole exception of James, who would be accompanying his date for the evening.

"Well, we don't' have room in our little backyard," Nick said, "but what if we took a couple of the tents and had a campout in Rose and Hugo's backyard? That way you could even use the extra bedrooms here for overnight guests if you needed to – like for Uncle Charlie, Aunt Nathalie, Art, and Serena, since they'll be over from Romania."

Both the adults and the kids thought his idea was a good one, and so while the adults kept talking wedding, the kids talked about what they'd do at their impromptu little campout.

"The first thing we need to do," Rose said, "is find out haw many can come on such short notice. When we're done eating, send out some qm's and ask Allie, Kieran, and Emily if they could come over for the evening, or even overnight for the campout. We've got lots of room for extra tents, and lots of tents from those World Cup trips."

Lily grinned at her. "I like the way you think, Rose! If Kieran can come, he could bring his guitar, and we could do the whole campfire thing."

Hugo laughed. "Maybe you guys could, but if I did, Emily'd probably dump me on the spot. Singing is definitely not one of my gifts."

James overheard that comment and laughed. "Don't feel bad about that, mate. You, me, and your Dad can stick together, and we'll get along just fine without it."

While Harry and Ginny were cleaning up from dinner, Nick, Lily, and Hugo sent QuillMessages to their significant others, and then they all went to spend an evening playing on the rollercoasters and other rides in the amazing atrium at the Paris Marauders Mall for a few hours.

Nick received a 'yes' qm back from Allie for the overnight campout. Emily and Kieran already had other plans, so Hugo and Lily wouldn't be cuddling around a campfire on Saturday night with their girlfriend or boyfriend.

Arianna and James went back to her house after they'd finished playing at the Mall, and would be meeting up with Aaron and Tracey later. The rest of the group went home to their respective homes for the night.

Al and Carolyn once again found themselves the only ones in the sitting room later – and it was not really all that late, either. It was only around eleven, and everyone else had headed for bed. Sure, there was going to be a busy day for Harry and Ginny, but the kids didn't really have much going on at all.

"I wonder if Bree, Lily, and Frederica just went up to bed to give us the room to ourselves," Carolyn mused, snuggling into Al's arms and leaning her head back against the arm of the sofa so she could look into those sparkling green eyes of his.

"Probably," he agreed amiably. "I'm not complaining."

He bent his head towards hers, and gently kissed her lips, a feather-light, teasing brush that slowly deepened into something much warmer. Carolyn closed her eyes, and placed a hand lightly across the nape of his neck, just as he had moved a hand first to touch her cheek, and then run his fingers through her soft, lustrous hair.

"Me either," she breathed quietly when their lips had finally parted and she'd remembered how to talk again.

Looking in his eyes again, she saw that they gazed back at her - soft, tender, and full of love. That look melted her heart every time, and she could get lost in those moments forever. Those eyes were so expressive. Besides moments like this, they would also flash brilliantly with excitement, or joy, or happiness that Al was never shy about sharing with his family and friends. Very rarely, they could also shimmer with the incredible, pure power that he was almost always able to hide from everyone, and only a very few people knew about or suspected.

They cuddled together and watched a late movie, enjoying a couple of hours of alone time before going up to their bedrooms too. James was the last of their gang to get home and head for bed after two, and what was probably the least eventful first day home for summer holidays in years came to an end.

They weren't having their usual Saturday shopping trip today – or not exactly like they always had done in the past, anyway. Harry and Ginny would be tied up all day with getting ready for the big party they were having tonight. Even Kreacher and Winky had been recruited to help, since there were going to be over a hundred guests for the dinner and dance they had planned.

James and Arianna would be helping by keeping Aaron and Tracey occupied for the day. Frederica was back with her parents shortly after breakfast, and so it was decided that the best thing that Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna could do would be to stay out of the way. The simple solution for that was that Al would follow the girls around while they shopped, take them out for lunch, and then do some more shopping before going over to spend the night at Rose and Hugo's.

A WiComm call got Al some moral support from a very willing Scorpius. Nick decided that watching the girls shop all day wasn't going to be as much fun as spending most of the day with his parents would be, before he'd be picking Allie up for the campout.

The three girls had fun picking out summer dresses, pants, shorts, and tops, while Al and Scorpius followed them around, carrying bags, and loving every minute of watching the girls play dress-up together.

Lily's day was made when they ran in to Kieran and his parents, and they agreed to join them for lunch. That gave her nearly an hour to spend with her boyfriend, and he didn't seem to mind the hugs and kisses he received when she met him. He was also happy to get the ones he received regularly while they were together, and had no problems with the goodbye hugs and kisses when it was time to go, which she bestowed on him liberally while his parents, and her brother and friends watched and grinned.

"She's very demonstrative with her affection, isn't she," Ana had commented to Al and the others as they watched.

Carolyn laughed and hugged her own boyfriend. "The whole family is like that, although she is probably one of the best at it."

When she suddenly found herself being hugged by Lily too, Ana laughed and hugged her back. "Thank-you for having lunch with us," Lily told her, smiling up at Kieran's beautiful mother.

"You're welcome, sweetie," Ana answered, with a smile of her own. "I guess you'll see Kieran on Monday, but Kirley and I are looking forwared to getting to know you when you're at our place on Wednesday."

Lily bobbed her head. "Me too." She gave Kieran's Dad a quick hug too, then had one more for Kieran before they left, and then she happily led the way for another couple of hours of shopping before they Translocated everything back to the cottage, and headed off for Rose and Hugo's house in Chudley.

Rose, Matt, and Hugo were all there, and Hugo and Uncle Ron had already set up the two tents that they'd be using for the night. Rose had also set up one of their portable pools, which would probably be one of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes next big things when James took their little prototypes to work with him this summer, if he hadn't already given one to Uncle George yesterday at the luncheon to experiment on next week while he was busy with the wedding.

"That was a really great idea," Lily complimented Rose, pointing to the pool. Did you remember to ask your Mum or Dad to put a warming spell on it? We can't use magic here like we could at school with them."

Rose grinned. "Thanks for reminding me. I'll get Mum to do it before they leave – she's getting ready for their party now."

"Did Dad Translocate our bags here earlier?" Al asked Rose.

She nodded. "Yeah, they're already in the tents if you want to get changed into swimsuits and tees. Boy's tent on the right, Girl's on the left."

The five new arrivals went and changed quickly, and by the time they got back out, Nick and Allie had gotten there, and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron were coming outside to say goodbye to them on their way out. Hermione was greeted by a chorus of whistles from her son, nephew, and her daughter's boyfriend, and she and Ron were both smiling brightly when they got to where the pool and tents were set up.

"Wow," Hugo said, grinning at his mother. "If you weren't my Mum, I'd have to say something else, but since you are, you'll have to settle for 'you look beautiful, Mum'."

Hermione hugged him. "Thanks, Hugo. Are you guys all set for tonight?"

"Lily reminded me that we need a warming spell on the pool so the water doesn't go cold on us," Rose told her mother. "We can't do the magic for it here. Could you before you go?"

Hermione smiled at her daughter. "Sure, honey. Who was the brains behind these things? It's a really awesome idea."

"James invented them, and we helped with making the prototypes we used at school. I'm sure Uncle George will have them out in stores by Christmas – next year at the latest."

"Too bad, the Institute might have liked making an offer."

Rose laughed. "I'm sure James thought about that, but since it was designed based on the portable swamps, he probably didn't think that'd be fair."

Hermione put the warming spell on the pool, then she and Ron both hugged the kids goodbye, and left for the party at the cottage.

"They may have a better party to go to," Hugo told the others after his parents were gone, "but this is going to be fun too. No parents, lots of food, a pool to swim in, camping overnight, lots of food – did I mention that already?"

The others laughed at him, and he grinned back. "By the way, sis, you're not serious about that boy-girl tent thing are you? Lily and I may not have our significant others here today, but please – are you seriously telling me you guys don't all want to take advantage of a no-parent night to pull an Al-Carolyn fall asleep on the sofa thing?"

Rose laughed at him, and Al and Carolyn both blushed. "Why don't we just play it by ear," Rose told him. "You wouldn't mind though?"

Hugo shook his head. "Of course not. In fact it helps me out if it ever happens to me and Emily someday."

"Ditto that," Lily said with a grin – "Except hopefully not with Emily in my case."

Over at the cottage, Ron and Hermione were among the first guests to arrive, and they went into the kitchen, where they found Harry and Ginny with Kreacher and Winky.

"You look way too great to be hanging out with this old guy," Harry told Hermione, giving her a kiss while teasing his best mate.

Ron punched him on the arm. "I'd tell you not to quit your dayjob, but then you'd have to be employed somewhere for me to do that," he said, grinning.

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione laughed, and they all turned when they heard even Winky giggle at what the two men were saying. She still did that so rarely that it was always a pleasant surprise.

Ginny smiled at her and at Kreacher. "I guess the guests are arriving," she told them. "In case I forget later, I want to thank you both for everything you've done today and tonight to help out here."

"Winky and Kreacher are very happy to be able to help with the party for Master Aaron," Winky told her. "It is a very happy time for our family, and we are glad we can do this for you."

Ginny and Harry both gave the two elves hugs, and then went outside with Ron and Hermione.

"I sometimes forget that you guys have two elves," Ron told Harry and Ginny. "You've got to be the only Wizarding family that does have them and don't make them do every little thing for you."

Ginny laughed at her brother. "They do a lot for all of us – you just never see it."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked her. "I almost never see them over here at all."

"Who do you think keeps all of those houses on the island so spotless? They have Grimmauld Place looking like a showroom now – even though they're still finding rooms to work on there. There are other properties that they deal with as well. They'd take care of all of our stuff here too if we'd let them, but we didn't want the kids growing up that way, and Harry and I like taking care of things around here ourselves."

Hermione grinned at her friend. "Having the help for something like this is pretty nice, though."

"Absolutely," Ginny agreed. "Let's go play host for a while until everyone is here, and then we can join the party too."

Most of the guests had arrived when James and Arianna brought Aaron and Tracey to the cottage. They'd both been sure that something was up because of the way that James and Arianna had kept dodging them on what they were doing tonight, but if not surprised, they were definitely pleased to see everyone there from both of their families, and so many of their friends from school, the residence, and from work at the Institute.

Their evening started with a social hour, and then they all sat down to a feast that even for Winky and Kreacher was way over the top fabulous. The nine courses took almost two hours to work through, and the two happy house elves earned an ovation from their guests for their efforts, and more hugs from Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Tracey.

While Kreacher and Winky quickly had all evidence that a dinner for over a hundred had just happened, and were already cleaning everything back inside the cottage, the music started out in the yard, and couples were already getting up to dance.

"This has been so wonderful," Tracey told Aaron as they danced together. "Even with Kreacher and Winky helping, this must have taken all day."

Aaron nodded. "Longer. I heard that work on those desserts, and the main course started yesterday. I don't know how Winky does those desserts, but if she went into business selling them, or wrote a cookbook for desserts, she'd make a fortune."

"That's a very good idea," Tracey told him. "You should suggest that to Ginny or Harry. I'd like to do something for them to thank them for this, though."

"Got any ideas?"

She nodded. "I was thinking that they really like those AquaBikes, but they're not really built for their size. What if we asked Harry where he got them from, and see if they could make a custom model for them? I know it's a muggle company and all that, but they'd probably just think we were having it made for little kids."

Aaron gave her a hug. "That sounds brilliant," he told her. "And they're both over there at least once or twice a week cleaning the houses, so they'd get a lot of use out of it."

"Do you realize that by this time next week, we're going to be Mr. and Mrs. Ryan?" she asked him, looking into his eyes.

He smiled and nodded. "And then we'll be at Marauders Escape for a week."

Tracey had a decidedly devilish gleam in her eyes now. "Yes we will. Mabye I'll even let you out of our hotel suite a few times to go take a look around the place too."

Aaron laughed, and hugged her. "I love you, Tracey Rivers."

"I love you too, Aaron Ryan."

"I'm glad to hear that," Arianna told them as she and James danced by. "If you weren't sure about that a week before your wedding, we'd have had a problem."

Tracey laughed. "Like you had to worry about that. You've had to listen to me talk about your brother in our dorm room for years."

"So what are you two going to do for a whole week while your best friends are gone?" Aaron asked the other couple.

"I expect to be working with Uncle George and Lee starting on that Monday," James said. "And then I guess I'll have to keep Arianna company after work so she doesn't get too lonely while her brother is gone away."

Aaron laughed at him. "And Tracey and I really appreciate your sacrifice."

Harry and Ginny were sitting at a table with Ron, Hermione, Charlie, and Nathalie, and at the moment, they were having drinks and watching the kids out on the dancefloor.

"So, what's Art going to do now that he's graduated," Harry asked Charlie and Nathalie.

Charlie grinned at Harry. "He's going into training to be a medi-wizard," he told them proudly. "So's Serena," he added, watching the young couple out on the dance floor. "She's a really special girl. He's as lucky as his father was in finding someone that wonderful."

Nathalie smiled at him fondly. "She and I think we did alright too, you know."

"We read your new book," Ginny told her brother. "It's really good. Now that you're becoming a famous writer, are you going to retire from the Dragon Reserve?"

"That day's getting closer," he told her with a smile, "but I'm still having fun, so probably not for a few more years."

"You ought to sell those books to Muggles," Ron told Charlie. "Just sell them as fantasy fiction – they'd never believe they were true life stories, but I bet they'd sell millions of copies."

Charlie laughed. "My publisher thought that was a good idea too," he told Ron. "The first one goes on sale this fall, and they'll put the others out one or two a year after that."

"Darn," Ron joked. "If I was just a little faster with these brilliant ideas, maybe I could make a few commissions or something."

"Maybe you should try writing too," Nathalie suggested. "Except about Quidditch. That'd be just as fantastic a story for Muggles as a Dragon Handler would be. None of them would ever believe that Witches and Wizards flew around on brooms playing a sport like ours, or that it was played all over the world, right under their noses."

She grinned. "Or would that be over their heads?"

They all laughed at her little double entendre.

"That's really not a bad idea, you know," Ron said. "Maybe I'll give that a try sometime."

Nathalie laughed. "Well, if that doesn't work out, you could try a 'how to lose to your sister-in-law at chess' book."

"I am not losing to you in chess," he stated flatly.

Nathalie looked over at Ginny, and grinned. "How do Ron and I stand in the wins and losses for our matches?" she asked.

"Never mind, Ginny. What I don't know won't tick me off for the rest of the night," he grumbled.

The girls all laughed, and Hermione put her arm around him and hugged him. "You love those matches, whatever the score, and you know it. Nathalie's the only person that actually gives you any real competition."

"I know," he agreed. "The only problem is that she likes to win just as much as I do."

"That's why you guys never see me out playing Quidditch against any of you," Nathalie told them.

Ginny stood up and put her hand out to Harry. "Come on. We should go do some visiting, and make sure everyone is having fun – and spend some time with Trent and Katie and their family."

Harry and Ginny wandered around to as many of the tables as they could get to and still actually have some time to spend with each group they talked with.

Trent and Katie assured them that they were having fun, and the kids were stopping in regularly in between dances to visit. Some of Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey's friends from school were a bit on the shy side when Harry first talked with them, but he and Ginny were always able to get them talking, once they saw that James' parents were just fun, nice people, despite his towering reputation.

While the party for Aaron and Arianna went into the wee hours of the morning, back in Chudley, the kids had been having fun too. They'd spent the evening playing, swimming, and just hanging around in chairs by the pool.

They'd eaten a late dinner, which Hermione and Rose had made up earlier in the day while Ron and Hugo were putting up the tents. After dark, they had a small campfire, where they told scary Muggle stories to each other.

Midnight rolled around, and by then they were starting to get tired. The four couples began looking at each other speculatively, and finally Carolyn stood up and took Al's hand to help him to his feet.

"We're all thinking the same thing," she told her friends. "And I'm not the slightest bit embarrassed to admit that I'd rather be snuggling with Al when I go to sleep than curled up in a sleeping bag by myself."

She grinned at Al. "The rest of you can do what you want, but he's coming with me. We'll see you all in the morning."

Lily and Hugo had laughed, and watched as over the next fifteen or twenty minutes, Rose, Matt, Nick, Allie, and finally Scorpius and Brianna left together, each picking a room in one of the tents.

"Wasn't that cute?" Lily told her cousin as they watched the fire burn lower.

He chuckled, and nodded. "Yeah. Too bad Emily and Kieran couldn't come too," he said a bit wistfully.

"What are you guys doing tomorrow?" she asked Hugo.

"Since Mum and Dad will be out late, probably not much for any of us in the morning," he answered. "After that, I'm not sure – we were talking about maybe spending the afternoon on the island. You?"

"Probably the afternoon at the residence. It's likely going to be the only chance Dad has to get over there until after the wedding."

"Now that's something that's going to be fun – the wedding, that is."

Lily nodded. "Now that we're older it will be. We were a bit too young to really enjoy the last one at the Emerald City Centre resort."

"And we'll have dates," he added, grinning.

"Have you got a suit yet?" she asked him.

Hugo shook his head. "Not yet – apparently that's on the list for next week. At least you and the other girls got that done already."

"We'll still have enough to do. Saturday morning alone will be four hours at the hotel SpaMagic, and they had to bring in extra help from other stores to take care of all of the bookings."

"Shoot," Hugo said. "I should have thought to ask Mum to include Emily with you and the other girls."

Lily grinned at him. "Taken care of. You're welcome."

"Thanks, Lily. If you weren't my cousin, I'd be really jealous of Kieran."

"If you weren't my cousin, you'd still be Emily's boyfriend, because we both would have been too shy to ask the other out."

Hugo laughed. "You weren't too shy to talk to Kieran," he reminded her.

"True, but that was before I knew who he was. I would have known that you were the best Keeper in the school."

Lily watched as her cousin practically fell over laughing.

"What's so funny?" she asked him.

"You are," he managed to say. "You've just admitted that the only reason Kieran is your boyfriend is because you didn't know something."

"So?" she asked, grinning at him.

"We all thought you knew everything!"

"Not yet, I don't," she told Hugo, still smiling at him. "Even as fast as I can learn stuff, that's still a long way off – if it's even possible, since every day there's lots of new things happening to learn about."

Hugo held up his hands. "Hold it, Lily. You're getting dangerously close to having me learn something, and we wouldn't want that – not right here at the beginning of the summer holidays."

"Sorry about that," she teased back. "I need to get out of tutor mode from all those weeks getting ready for exams."

"Don't remind me about exams," he said, shuddering. "I'm really hoping I passed everything this year."

"You and Emily should join our study group next year," she told him seriously. "Kieran's working on the same stuff as you guys are, except for whatever optionals you're taking next year."

"You wouldn't mind helping us too? You've got so many people asking for your help, I hate to add to your load."

"I'll already be working with Kieran, so it won't be any more work," she assured him. "Besides, Al and the others help out to. He's way better at teaching Astronomy than I am. Probably because he really likes it."

"That VirtualAstronomer program he helped with made a big difference for us last year. My problem seems to be that someone other than me in this family got all of the memorization ability."

Lily laughed at him. "What a load of you-know-what," she told him. "You've probably memorized everything there is to know about Quidditch."

Hugo grinned sheepishly. "Alright," he amended, "selective memorization is more truthful, but the problem is still that I'm not nearly as good as the rest of you at school."

"Don't let that bother you so much, Hugo," she told him seriously. "You're going to grow up to be a good man, and a great Quidditch Keeper, just like your Dad. I'd say that just about anybody would be happy with that. And we'll see how good you really can be at school once you've got a year of my tutoring behind you – I think you'll do a lot better than you think you can."

"Are those predictions?"

"No, but I was right about you being in Gryffindor, wasn't I? Some things you can know without seeing into the future."

"Thanks, Lily." Hugo stood up and stretched. "Let's put the fire out and go get some sleep," he suggested. "We've got a busy week ahead of us."

Ron and Hermione got back home around three, and all was quiet in the yard.

"Do you want to check on them before we go to bed?" he asked Hermione.

She smiled at him. "No, I'm thinking there's probably some information I don't need to confirm, and if I don't go in and check, then I can pretend it isn't something I know for sure."

"Could you translate that into English for me?" Ron asked.

"If I don't check in on them, then I won't find out that the four couples sleeping in those tents are not in eight rooms."

Ron stared at her, and then went to move toward the tents. Hermione didn't let go of his hand, and wouldn't let him leave.

"Don't even think about it, Ron," she told him. "They're just cuddled together – nothing more, and certainly nothing you need to get flummoxed about."

"And you don't have a problem with that?" he demanded, trying to keep his voice low.

"Of course not." When she saw the look on his face, she laughed. "Ron, your little girl will be fifteen in a few weeks. If she and Matt really wanted to do anything like you're thinking, there is no way you could stop her."

"So you're ok with her taking a boy into bed with her."

"We did a good job raising her. I trust her. You should too. Would we even be having this discussion if it was Hugo and Emily snuggled up in there, or would you be sending QuillMessages to your buddies and giving them Virtual high-fives?"

Ron stared at her, then had the good grace to look sheepish, knowing she was probably right. "You're right," he conceded. "Why do they have to go and grow up on us, though?"

Hermione laughed. "Is that all bad? Just think that in not so many years we could have fifty-two weeks a year around here like that week at Marauders Escape."

Ron was grinning now. "Why don't we go to bed and talk about that? I'm sure that if we both try, you'll have no problem convincing me that you're right about that too."

They woke up at what felt like only a few hours later to the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen, and Hermione smiled as she watched Ron open his eyes.

"Good morning," she said, kissing him softly. "Our kids are giving us another reason why having them grow up isn't so bad. They're cooking for us this morning."

Ron smiled back at her. "Oh, their mother more than convinced me she was right earlier this morning. Heck, if you want, I'll ask George to make them up a batch of that aging potion he and Fred used back in the year of the Tri-Wizard tourney for them."

"Oh, I don't think we have to rush them out the door. Neither of us are ready for that."

"Well, I guess we better get up, or they'll wonder what we've been doing."

"Translation: You're starving," Hermione said, laughing.

Rose and Al were the breakfast chefs, and they were already well on the way to having the ten kids started on round one of food when Ron and Hermione came in.

"This looks great, sweetheart," Hermione told Rose, hugging her, then Al. "Thank-you."

Ron sat at the table with the other kids and smiled at them.

"So, how'd everybody sleep?" he asked innocently, and watched as eight faces started to blush, and Lily and Hugo laughed.

"Did I say something funny?" Ron asked the two youngest kids, playing them along.

"Yes, Uncle Ron," Lily told him with a big smile on her face. "But then I can tell that you're messing with us, so they don't all need to be blushing like that, since you already know."

Ron tried to look innocent. "Know what, Lily?"

She got up and went over to give him a hug. "That my brothers and cousins were cuddling with their respective boyfriend and girlfriends last night. We appreciate that you trust us."

Rose looked from Lily, to her Dad, to her mother, who winked at her so Ron couldn't see. She went over and hugged her father too. "Thank-you, daddy."

Matt was looking decidedly uncomfortable, and Rose grinned at him, and hugged him too before going back to cooking with Al. Ron smiled at Matt.

"Relax, Matt. We trust you too." Then he grinned at the young man. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that Aunt Ginny taught Rose her Bat-Bogey hex, so if you did get out of line, you'd be in for a really nasty surprise. You can trust me on that one, since I know from experience."

They all had breakfast together, then Nick, Scorpius, and Allie left for the townhouse, and Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna all went home to the cottage. The rest of the day Sunday, as Lily had expected, included an afternoon at the residence, and then a quieter evening at home.

Monday morning, Harry was cooking breakfast, and smiling as he watched Lily bouncing around the room.

"Are we excited this morning?" he asked her.

"Yes!" she said happily, stopping by long enough to give him a hug. "I can hardly wait until he gets here."

Harry laughed. 'Ya think?"

Lily sat at the table for a minute or less, and then she was back up again, looking out windows, and pacing around the room impatiently.

"Come and sit down, sweetie," Harry told her. "I've got enough ready that you can go ahead and start eating."

She came back to the table and sat again, while he put a plate in front of her.

"So what are you going to do today?"

"We're going to play a little Quidditch this morning when everyone gets here – except Matt, who's working. Kieran's going to play Chaser with Al and Rose. Then we're going to do lunch at the Mall. We haven't decided yet about the afternoon, and then we'll be here for dinner and the evening."

"How many for dinner?" he asked absently as he kept working.

"Rose, Frederica, and Hugo won't be for sure, and Nick's probably going to have dinner at home with Allie and his parents. If you're ok with having both Kieran and Scorpius, that'd probably be it."

"That's fine, Lily. James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey have other plans, so that'll only be eight for dinner."

The rest of their family began arriving in the kitchen, and it got a lot noisier as James, Al, Carolyn, and Brianna started talking with Harry, and then with Ginny too, about their upcoming day. When they'd finished eating, James and Ginny left for Aaron and Arianna's house, where they'd be meeting Tracey and Katie before starting out on their long list of appointments for the day.

Harry had his own running around to do, and so after cleanup, he headed out too. Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna all got their brooms and went outside, where they all did flying practice while they waited for the rest of their gang to get there.

Nick, Scorpius, and Allie got there first, followed by Rose, Hugo, and Frederica, who looked just as excited as Lily to be joining them this year for practice. When Kieran came into the yard a few minutes later, he smiled and had to react fast not to drop broom or guitar when Lily threw her arms around his neck and hugged him breathless.

"Miss me?" he teased.

"A lot," Lily told him, bobbing her head. "I'm so glad you're here."

They took his guitar inside so it wouldn't sit out in the sun while they practiced, and then joined the others.

"Nice setup," Kieran said, admiring the Quidditch pitch, stands, and scoreboard.

"This is what James wanted for his eleventh birthday," Al told him. "It gets a lot of use around here."

"That's not a surprise, with all of the Quidditch players in your family."

They got back in the air and did another half hour of flying practice, then Carolyn, Brianna, and Allie sat on the bleachers and watched the rest of them continue their normal practice routine. Kieran had been shocked to find out they did a bludger practice with four of them, but he was able to keep up with everyone – even with both Nick and Frederica continually hitting them at everyone else.

From there, they made up two teams, with a Keeper and one Beater each, and two Chasers, with Lily and Kieran up against Rose and Al. It worked out fairly even, with Lily and Kieran playing with Nick and Hugo, while Rose and Al had Scorpius and Frederica on their side.

They played for about an hour, and Rose and Al's team won by twenty points. They went inside the cottage for drinks, and Lily took Kieran on the short tour of their home, while the others waited in the kitchen for them.

She was showing Kieran her room, and he was smiling as she talked about the upstairs getting a remodel courtesy of her father last summer.

"I love your house," he told her. "It's a lot different than mine, but it's like you can feel all the love in here just by walking around."

"What's your house like?" she asked.

"You'll see it on Wednesday. It's quite a bit bigger, but it's not like a mansion or anything. Dad has his recording studio in the house, and Mum and Dad both work from home, so there are a couple of offices. We have a pretty big property, 'cause back in the day, Dad needed the space to get away from the more determined fans of the band."

"Do you like it there?"

"I love it. I've always been happy there, and there's always music going on." He waved his hand around her room. "Both of our houses are different, but they both feel like homes. I think you'll like my house as much as I like yours."

They went back downstairs, and then they all headed for the Mall for a little shopping, and lunch. Scorpius had suggested a return trip to the Quidditch Museum, since they really hadn't had time to see everything there when they'd gone two summer's ago, and the others had agreed to go with him, and Brianna, instead of splitting up and doing other things.

They spent a couple of hours there, and then went back to the cottage so that everyone could pick up their brooms and equipment before heading home.

"Dad's going to hate that new addition to the Canon's section when he sees it," Rose predicted as they were getting their things together. "Only first to worst seasons in league history."

Hugo snorted. "They still have the best winning percentage of all teams in the league for the past twenty years, and if you put the two years together they were twenty-one wins to twenty-two losses, which is better than more than half the teams in the league."

"Question is, will they be able to say that after next year?" Rose asked.

Hugo shrugged. "Whatever happens, it won't be as bad as this season was, and you have to admit that Dad seems pretty excited about this year. Knowing him, that's a good thing."

"After this year, he's got nothing but upside, Hugo, unless they find a way to lose games they didn't even play."

When everyone else had left, the three remaining couples still had nearly two hours before Harry and Ginny would be expecting them for dinner, so they walked into Godric's Hollow, and showed Kieran around, picked up ice creams, and walked back to the cottage. By then, Harry was back, and starting to cook dinner.

"Have a good day?" he asked them when they came in and sat down.

"So far, so great," Lily told him.

They told him about everything they'd done during the day, and he told them what he'd been running around taking care of for the wedding.

Ginny got home just in time for dinner, and they all enjoyed having a quiet meal together. Afterward, they all went into the sitting room to visit and relax. When they'd been there for a half hour or so, Lily got everyone's attention.

"Al, Scorpius, would you guys mind going for a walk with Carolyn and Brianna for maybe a half hour? Kieran and I have something we want to talk about with Mum and Dad."

"You're not getting engaged or anything, are you?" Carolyn teased her, and Lily laughed.

"No, just something I'd like to talk about with Mum and Dad alone before anyone else knows. Do you mind?"

"No problem, Lily," Al told her, getting to his feet. "It's a nice evening, and it wouldn't hurt me to walk off a little of that dinner."

Scorpius, Carolyn, and Brianna joined him, and they all headed outside to give Lily and Kieran the privacy they'd asked for.

"What's up?" Ginny asked Lily curiously.

Lily looked a Kieran, who smiled and nodded encouragingly.

"Kieran and I have been working on a wedding present for Aaron and Tracey. We want to show it to you, and then we can talk after about what we'd like to do."

Ginny and Harry both smiled at her. "Sure honey," Ginny told her. "Show away."

Lily and Kieran both got up, and he got his guitar, while she set up her keyboard. When they were both ready, they started playing, and singing for Harry and Ginny. When the last notes came to an end, Lily looked over at her Mum and Dad, and saw they both had tears in their eyes. She'd been so focused on Kieran, and what they were doing, that she hadn't noticed a thing the whole time.

"Do you like it?" she asked tentatively. She saw that Kieran was smiling, and watched as Ginny got up from the sofa and came to give her a very long, warm hug.

"That was beautiful, Lily. You two have a really amazing gift."

Harry came and gave her a hug too, while Ginny went and hugged Kieran, then they both sat down again while the two kids put their instruments away again.

"You'd like to play it for them at the dance?" Harry asked them.

Lily and Kieran both nodded.

"I'd say it's pefect for their first dance, wouldn't you, Ginny?"

She nodded, still wiping tears from her eyes. "Yes, and you better add boxes of tissues to the list of things to be on the tables for the dance, and maybe order flood insurance too," she told Harry, who laughed.

"Thanks," Lily told them. "I have another question for you." She looked at Ginny and smiled.

"Would you be terribly disappointed if I told you that I don't want to work at the Institute this summer?"

Ginny smiled back at her. "After hearing that, I don't even have to guess what you'd rather be doing," she told Lily. "Of course not. I don't think I would have guessed that music would be your true passion, but it's obvious that it is, and you should go for it, sweetie."

Lily gave Kieran a hug, and Harry and Ginny both laughed. "Was that so bad?" Harry asked her.

Lily looked at them sheepishly. "Let's just say the last thing I'd ever want to do is disappoint either of you, so I was a little worried, yeah."

"We'd only ever be disappointed if you didn't follow your own dreams," Harry assured her. "If you're happy, then we're happy for you."

Kieran laughed. "Can you talk to my Grandma Catriona for me?" he asked Harry. "She still thinks I should pursue a career in Quidditch."

Harry laughed too. "Well, I don't personally see any reason why you couldn't do both, but if you two play her that song, I think you'd at least convince her that you'll be pretty great at music too."

When the other two couples got back, they went with telling them about the second part of their conversation only, and keeping the addition to the wedding plans a secret.

Scorpius and Kieran both left for home around nine, each receiving lengthy hugs and kisses from their girlfriends. Scorpius would be back on Tuesday evening for a team Quidditch practice that would include Matt, and Lily would see Kieran again on Wednesday when she went to spend the day at his home.

After the two boys were gone, Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Brianna didn't stay up much longer, again leaving Al and Carolyn to snuggle on the sofa and watch WWVN.

"Another pretty great day nearly over," Carolyn sighed. "What do you think about Lily not wanting to work at the Institute, and do music instead?"

"I'm glad she told them," he answered. "She's always been really happy, but since she started playing and singing with Kieran, it's like she's taken it to a whole new level."

Carolyn nodded. "I know what you mean. I hope when I decide what I want to do when I grow up that I find something I'm that passionate about to do."

"Me too," Al told her.

They settled down to watch the show, and were both sound asleep within a half hour. When Ginny didn't hear them come upstairs, she quietly went down to the sitting room, and put a blanket around them, then went back upstairs, and again snuggled with Harry.

"They fell asleep on the sofa again?" he whispered, a smile in the tone of his voice.

"Yes. I really don't think they're doing it on purpose, but it'll probably be another year or two before Al's big enough to carry her upstairs like you used to carry me when I fell asleep."

Harry chuckled softly. "If I'd thought your Mum would just throw a blanket around us, I might not have."

"Now you tell me!" she teased him back.

He pulled her closer, and nuzzled her neck before they both settled back down again and went back to sleep. Neither of them heard James returning home for the night, but he was young, and could handle not getting much sleep at night. Harry and Ginny still had a lot to do over the next five days, including the wedding, and knew that the closer they got to Saturday, the less sleep they'd be getting, so they didn't mind having at least one good night's sleep.

As far as Lily was concerned, Tuesday was just a way to get from Monday to Wednesday for her. Sure there was some shopping that went on Tuesday morning, and they helped her Dad out around the house while he was off running the endless errands that were occupying his days this week.

They'd pitched in to help cook dinner for ten, including Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey, and then through the evening, they'd had their Quidditch practice with their as yet unannounced new team captain, Matt. That was going to be the only team practice this week, but starting next week, they were planning on working out on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and on a Saturday or Sunday on the weekends that they could fit one in.

Wednesday morning, it was Kieran's turn to pace the kitchen, as his mother and father watched on in amusement. Their son had always been pretty quiet and introspective, so watching him like this was a lot of fun for them.

He nearly ran for the door when he heard the knock, and had a warm hug ready for Lily when he opened the door to let her in, which she returned just as exuberantly. He led her into the kitchen, and they sat down at the small table with her parents, after she'd hugged both of them too.

"What are you two going to do today?" Kirley asked them. Lily turned to Kieran, because she had no idea either.

"I was going to take Lily on a tour, then was hoping the studio was free this morning. We need to practice for Saturday anyway, and I thought that Lily would like to see what it's like – and maybe even hear what we sound like to other people."

His Dad smiled at them. "I don't have a session until two, so go have fun. We could go out for lunch too, if you'd like, as long as I'm back by one thirty or so to get ready."

"That sounds great, Dad. Thanks." He got up and took Lily's hand. "Come on, and I'll show you around."

When they'd gone, Ana had smiled at her husband. "I wouldn't mind hearing that session, you know. Maybe we should conveniently stop by and offer to record them – Kieran knows it's a lot harder to do it yourself and play, so it wouldn't look too suspicious."

Kirley nodded. "Works for me. I haven't got anything that can't wait. He seems to think she's pretty good, even if she has only been playing for six months, and didn't have any music training before that."

"I guess we'll have to wait and find out." She looked toward where the kids had left the kitchen, smiling to herself.

"What are you thinking?" Kirley asked her.

"I was always worried that he'd have a tough time finding a girl that wouldn't be looking at him just because of him having a famous father – or grandmother and aunt." She grinned at him. "I guess he found a solution to that."

Kirley laughed. "Yeah, find a girlfriend with even more famous parents."

Lily held Kieran's hand as they walked through the hallways that connected the different sections of his house. He'd been right when he predicted that she'd love it. The place was awfully big for only three people, but it was tastefully decorated, and had a comfortable, lived in feel to most of the rooms – except maybe the guest bedrooms that were located down one wing of the sprawling, one level building. It was basically a big 'Y' with the kitchen, sitting room, and a big dining room in the centre of the three wings.

Kieran showed her the grounds too, which spread out for acres in every direction, without another house anywhere in sight.

"This is beautiful out here," she told him as they walked. "No wonder you loved growing up here with all of this space to run and play."

He smiled and squeezed her hand. "I did do a fair bit of that when I was younger, but once I really got into music, Mum and Dad practically had to kick me out of the house to get some fresh air. Even then, I took my guitar with me more often than not."

They went back inside, and their last stop was his father's recording studio, which was a spotless group of several rooms that included a reception area, an office, a large control room with all kinds of fascinating devices, and the soundproofed studio itself.

"This is where Dad does all of his magic," He told Lily, showing her around, and describing a few of the major pieces of equipment.

"Come on, and we'll set up your keyboard, my guitar, and a couple of microphones."

Lily mostly watched, fascinated, as Kieran plugged cables into her keyboard and his guitar, set up a couple of funny looking microphones, that didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before, and then also put two sets of headphones on the stools they'd each be sitting on. They'd both been so focused on what he was doing that they were both startled when they heard his father's voice being piped into the room over a wireless speaker.

"Ready to play, Kieran?"

They both looked up and into the control room to see both of Kieran's parents smiling at them. Kieran smiled back.

"You don't mind running the booth for us, Dad?"

Kirley laughed. "Let me see – do paperwork – play in the recording studio. Nope, don't mind at all. Why don't you show Lily how to do a sound check, and we'll give it a try."

Kieran led her through what to do to set up her keyboard, check the microphone levels that worked best for her voice, and what to expect to hear out of her headphones. When he looked up from doing that, he could see that both of his parents were much more interested after hearing her sing even the few bars they'd needed to set those levels.

When Lily was set up, he quickly did the same for his own mic and for his guitar. They both put their headphones on then, and he looked up into the control room again.

"I think we're ready, Dad." He smiled at Lily, and she grinned at him. Kieran had set them up so they were facing each other.

"Just concentrate on us and the song," he told her quietly. "If you think it will help, close your eyes."

"All right, then," Kirley told them through their headphones. "In five, four, three." His voice stopped after that, and Lily saw Kieran's mouthed 'two, one'. He then tapped out their beat silently, as he'd taught her, and they began to play together.

Ana had her arm around Kirley's shoulders as they listened to their son and his girlfriend play and sing a song that they'd written together.

"Oh, my gosh!" she whispered in his ear, and he could only nod as they continued to watch and listen. The kids didn't pay any attention to them at all, just singing and playing their hearts out so incredibly that it brought tears to the eyes of two long-time verterans of the business that had thought they'd seen everything – Kirley as a musician and then one of the top producers and engineers in the business, and Ana, who'd been working on the talent agency side of the business as long as her husband had been on the music end of it.

Kirley almost forgot to stop the recording when the kids were finished, and he was smiling even as he cleared the mist from his eyes.

"How'd that come out, Dad?" Kieran asked him.

"Why don't you both come in here and decide for yourselves." He told them.

Kieran set his guitar in it's stand, and led Lily into the other room, where his mother hugged each of them before they all sat down, and Kirley cued up the recording and played it back to them. Lily and Kieran both listened in amazement to their very first ever recording. When it was done, Kieran gave his father a big hug.

"I don't know how you managed to mix that so perfectly in one try, but it came out amazing."

Ana and Kirley both started laughing. Lily looked at all three of them blankly.

"What are you talking about mixing and it coming out perfectly in one try, Kieran? And why is it so funny?"

Kieran came back over and sat down next to Lily. "When we do a recording, usually a song needs to be recorded several times, and then the different parts all mixed together before you have a good finished recording. Dad did this one basically perfectly in one shot."

He looked at him Mum and Dad and smiled. "As to why they're laughing about it, I have no idea."

Kirley smiled back at his amazing son. "We're laughing, Kieran, because I didn't mix it at all."

Now it was his turn to stare at his father in shock. "You didn't?"

Ana laughed. "Nope. What you heard is exactly how you two played it."

"When you two play and sing together, how often do you get that feeling?"

Neither Lily or Kieran needed Kirley to explain what he meant by 'that feeling'.

Kieran answered for them. "I'd say pretty much every time."

Lily nodded, smiling at him. "Right from that first day we met," she agreed.

"And you didn't find that interesting," Kirley asked Kieran.

"I guess," he answered, not sure where his Dad was going with his questions.

Kirley laughed again. "How many times would you say you'd felt like that before singing with Lily - one time in a thousand? Five thousand? You've played music your whole life, son. Think about it. And you're saying you feel like that basically _every time!"_

Kieran grinned at his parents. "Pretty cool, isn't it."

"Is it so strange for that to happen?" Lily asked the other three.

"Lily, for even the very best of us, it's never an every time feeling where everything just seems to have come out perfectly. Some of us might only feel that a comparatively few times. Some musicians will tell you they never feel it like that. What you two have is way beyond special."

Ana and Kirley laughed as Lily proceeded to hug all three of them again.

"Do you think we could get a copy of that to give to Aaron and Arianna after the wedding?"

Kirley laughed again. "Absolutely. Did you two want to try recording any other songs this morning?"

Lily grinned at him. "Can we? This is a lot of fun!"

"Sure. Why don't you both go back in there, and let me know when you want to start."

Kieran smiled, and took Lily's hand as they went back into the studio. During the next hour, they continued to amaze Ana and Kirley by recording five other songs just as flawlessly as the first one, including one other song that they'd written, and four pop songs that Lily had learned to play.

When they were finished, they went out for lunch, then Kirley and Ana went back home, while Lily and Kieran went to the Mall for the afternoon to wander around before going back to his house for dinner with his parents.

After they'd eaten and cleaned up, Ana was treated to an impromptu jam session with father and son on the guitar, and Lily on her keyboard, pounding out some old classic Weird Sisters tunes, and some more recent pop songs, with equally entertaining results.

Kieran saw Lily home around ten, and after a long hug and several kisses, left her as she went inside and began to excitedly tell her parents about her incredible day while he hurried back home to just as excitedly talk about their day with them.

Thursday and Friday were a couple of whirlwind days, filled with final dress fitting sessions, trips back and forth to stores and to the Emerald City Centre to deal with last minute problems, or work that needed to be done there.

Lily went over to Kieran's on Friday morning for one last practice session, and Friday evening, Harry, Ginny and James took Aaron, Arianna, Tracey, and her parents out for a special dinner together.

Harry now had a fair bit of experience with wedding days, and he was up before dawn and cooking breakfast for the full house of girls and boys that had been here overnight. Arianna and Tracey had stayed with Trent and Katie overnight, making sure that Aaron didn't see his bride-to-be after midnight.

Harry and Ginny had Allie, Emily, Rose, and Frederica here for the night. James had stayed overnight with Aaron, but would be here by seven to join them for breakfast. so he was cooking for thirteen, if he included the voracious appetite of Fluffy. Now that was a good number!

He could tell that a lot of people were upstairs showering and getting ready to come downstairs. The girls all needed to be at the Emerald City Centre SpaMagic for eight, and they started getting to the kitchen just before seven.

James and Aaron made it there shortly after seven, which for James was pretty good. The girls talked about what they'd be doing all morning, and went over their lists of things they needed to make sure went with them to the hotel when they left. There were two large suites that the girls would be using for getting dressed after they were done at the spa. When they'd finished eating, and made one last double-check that they had everything, they took their bags, dresses, and assorted other belongings and left for the resort hotel.

Once the girls had all left, it seemed almost too quiet with just Al, James, Aaron, and Harry in the kitchen.

"How are you feeling, Aaron?" Harry asked him with a smile.

"I'm doing fine so far," he reported, smiling. "I'll know better by around two whether I can hold it together."

"We'll keep you occupied as long as we can this morning." Harry told him before turning to look at Al.

"Are you and the other guys set for what you'll be doing as ushers?"

Al nodded. "Mum went over all of that with us a couple of times. We're good to go." He, Nick, Scorpius, and Hugo had been recruited as ushers for seating the wedding guests. The ceremony was going to be outdoors, and although Teddy and Stewart were going to stay with them in case they needed a little extra support, they were sure that the four ushers would be able to keep up with seating the five hundred or so guests.

Harry continued to go over the wedding ceremony and reception duties that they each had while he cleaned up the kitchen from breakfast. When they were done with that, he sent James and Aaron on a series of what Al was sure were make-work errands to keep Aaron occupied so that he didn't have time to think too much.

By eleven, they were all back at the cottage, had a light lunch, and then started getting showered and dressed for the wedding. When they were all ready, they took the TransPortal to the Emerald City Centre, getting there just before one.

Al spent the next hour with Nick, Scorpius, and Hugo, seating guests, including a memorable walk with his own stunningly beautiful girlfriend, who he'd be joining before the start of the ceremony, his mother, grandmother, sister, and two of his aunts.

Everything so far had gone smoothly, and by five minutes to two, it appeared that all of the guests were there, so the young group of ushers, Teddy, and Stewart went to join their girlfriends and wives to wait for the bridal procession to begin. Lily and Kieran were sitting next to Carolyn when Al joined them, and he smiled at Kieran.

"I didn't know your parents were going to be here today," he told Kieran, who smiled.

"Neither did I until earlier this week."

They only had a couple of minutes to talk quietly together before the stir from the back of the crowd told them that Arianna, Tracey, and Trent had arrived at the back of the rows of chairs. Al looked forward to see James and Aaron standing at the front with the Wizard who would be performing the ceremony today. Both of them were facing the wedding guests, and watching as Arianna led off the little procession, walking slowly, and smiling brightly.

She looked beautiful in her maid of honour gown, and what Al was pretty sure was a necklace, earrings, and bracelet set that was one of his Mum's favourites. Looking again at James, he was pretty sure that she was having the same effect on his brother as Carolyn was having on him.

Arianna had moved forward past several rows when Tracey and her father began their walk. They were both smiling as they walked, her hand resting lightly on Trent's arm. She was simply stunning, and while Al would never consider himself a fashion expert, her flowing white gown seemed to have been designed just for her.

The procession only took a couple of minutes, and then Arianna had moved to the left at the front, and Trent had solemnly placed his daughter's hand in Aaron's before stepping back to the left as well, and to the front row, where Katie was there to hug him before they were all invited to sit, and the old Wizard began the nuptials.

Al had been through a few weddings now, and he was prepared today. He had several packages of tissues, and passed some along to Kieran and Matt so they could keep Lily and Rose supplied, while he put his arm around Carolyn's shoulders, and had tissues ready for her whenever she needed them.

That happened during the 'I do's', and the ring exchange, where Aaron and Tracey exchanged the vows they'd each written and probably rehearsed countless times over the past week or more. When they were pronounced husband and wife, everyone cheered, and stood while the newlywed couple recessed back down the aisle, followed by a smiling and happy Maid of Honour and Best Man.

There were pictures taken of the happy couple, their families, and friends, while the majority of the guests had time during the afternoon to socialize in an area outside of the ballroom where the dinner and dance would be held.

Lily and Kieran were talking with his parents, and watching the different groups being pulled together and arranged by the photographer. When it was time for pictures with all of Aaron's 'cousins', Lily pulled Kieran with her, while his Mum and Dad laughed at his futile protests.

"Don't be shy," she told him with a smile – see? Matt, Allie, and Emily are all going to be in it too."

Kieran gave in, smiling, and followed her. The Wizard taking the pictures must have done his homework, because he knew which groups each of the cousins belonged in, and arranged them accordingly around the happy couple in some specific configuration that only he could see. Kieran knew that he must be good, though, because his father had just told Lily and him that he'd worked with the man before, and his father only worked with the best.

When photo time was over, Aaron and Tracey had about a half hour break to 'freshen up', and then they were put at the end of a reception line that included parents, grandparents, James and Arianna.

Kieran and Lily had stayed with his parents, and after quickly making their way through the reception line, were escorted to their table by one of the hotel banquet staff. Lily had expected that she and Kieran would be sitting at 'kids' tables again, like at most of the other weddings she'd been to, but apparently they were all growing up, since she and Kieran were sitting with his parents, Uncle George, Aunt Marietta, and Frederica, who were already at the table.

Frederica made the introductions, and she loved watching the reaction from her mother over finding out that Kirley McCormack was going to be spending most of the evening with them, and from Kirley over getting to spend the night talking with the mastermind behind the Wheezes that he and Kieran loved so much. They had a good starting point for that topic too, as each place setting at the wedding came complete with a selection of George's famous Wedding Wheezes. They found out ten minutes later that Uncle Charlie, Aunt Nathalie, Art and Serena would round out the group at their table.

They'd only been about fifteen minutes into a reception line that took just over an hour to greet all of their guests, so they had lots of time to talk before dinner, play with the Wheezes, and to check out what was going on around them, besides the laughter from all over the ballroom as the other guests were also happily entertained with the Wheezes while they waited for dinner..

Lily saw that Al and Carolyn had been seated with Percy, Penelope, the two boys and their dates, along with Mandy and Terry Boot, and Natalie and Owen Cauldwell. Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Emily were with Ron and Hermione. They got to sit with Fleur, Bill, Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle. Now that should be a fun group tonight, she thought.

Since Aaron and Tracey had opted to only have Arianna and James stand up with them instead of having a big wedding party, the head table, when they were finally able to sit down, had the two couples, their parents and the six grandparents.

When dinner started, Lily, Kieran, and Frederica mostly found themselves listening as the adults at their table got to know one another. Ana and Marietta hit it off right away, probably feeling an affinity in that they both were the business minds behind each of their husband's careers. Kirley got along great with both George and Charlie, and the three men took turns trading stories about their Wheezes, Dragons, and music respectively.

Kieran and his parents hadn't yet been introduced to the world of the Phoenix Foundation, or Lily's family's involvement in it yet, and had both been extremely interested in hearing about the Dragon's Lair residence that Nathalie managed in Romania.

Art and Serena talked quietly together, like Lily, Kieran, and Frederica did on the other side of the table, and listened to the other adults too. Ana had gotten them both talking about their plans to become a Medi-Wizard and Witch respectively, just like Art's mother, and they'd told her all about growing up in Romania, and going to school there, and where they'd be training starting early in July for their chosen profession.

"If I haven't told you a few dozen times yet today, you look absolutely incredible today," Kieran whispered in Lily's ear, eliciting a bright, sunny smile from her.

"You probably have," she said quietly, "but a girl never gets tired of hearing things like that – at least as long as it's coming from the guy she wants to hear it from."

"Well, then," he said, grinning too. "I really hope that I'm your guy."

"Oh, you are definitely _my_ guy," she whispered in a silky voice that sent a shiver of delight through him, and set off butterflies in his stomach.

The usual clinking of glasses to get the happy couple, or other members of the head table up and kissing continued through the meal. Lily was sure that there were fewer of those interruptions this year, and that James was not finding it nearly so much fun being on the receiving end of those requests now that he was finally experiencing it for the first time from the head table point of view.

Dinner was wrapping up by about eight, and they would have an hour or so before the dance began, so Lily and Kieran took his parents in tow, and went on a tour where they introduced Kirley and Ana to the rest of Lily's family, and their closest friends like Mandy, Natalie, Luna, Lisa, and their husbands.

Lily had found those introductions, especially with the girls that had been at Hogwarts one or both times that Kirley and the Weird Sisters had played at Yule Balls there, extremely entertaining. To watch these women, whom she thought so much of, get to meet someone that they'd either had crushes on, or had loved the band – or both, had shown her a side of them that she'd never seen before.

Kirley was certainly used to getting those reactions, and he was polished, friendly, and fun as he bantered with the women and their husbands. He also proved that he was very well read, since although he hadn't met any of them, he knew a fair bit about many of the people she was introducing him to.

Hermione and Neville were both greeted warmly, and he knew they were both Order of Merlin recipients, and two of the youngest to achieve that honour in history. Luna got hugs from both Kirley and Ana, who explained to the other surprised people at the table that while they'd never met, it had been Luna who basically changed the entire music industry for the better, as had Fleur with the original deal she'd set up with the music industry back when the original 3MP music player was introduced.

Kirley hadn't officially met Fleur, but he had remembered her from the '94 Yule Ball, since she'd been one of the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions along with Harry, Cedric, and Viktor Krum.

When it was close to nine, Harry came and got Lily and Kieran, and led them away, while Kirley and Ana made their way back to their table to rejoin the other three couples and Frederica.

"Did you lose Kieran and Lily, Ana?" Frederica asked with a smile.

Ana laughed. "No, Harry wanted them for something, and borrowed them."

When they'd sat back down again, Ana had sat beside Frederica so that they could talk for a while, since she'd thought that the youngest member of their group was probably feeling the most out of place with the mostly older group at the table.

"Lily told Kirley and I that you'd be starting at Hogwarts in September."

Frederica grinned and nodded. "Finally. I'm the last of the cousins to go, and I can hardly wait!"

"Kieran's oldest cousin will be starting then too," she told Frederica, watching the sweet girl start to smile. "Liam's probably just as excited as you are to be going."

"Does he play Quidditch? Maybe Kieran could bring him to one of our practices this summer."

"Do you practice with Lily and the others?"

Frederica nodded enthusiastically. "I will be this summer, now that I'm old enough. We did a few workouts last week, and we're going to have at least two practices a week all summer on Tuesday and Thursday nights."

Ana laughed again. "Then I imagine Liam will definitely want to come sometime with Kieran, since he pretty much breathes Quidditch."

Their conversation was interrupted when the evening's master of ceremonies called everyone's attention to the stage at the end of the hall closest to where the head table. It was also near to the table that Frederica and the others were sitting at, right next to the large dance floor.

The Wizard welcomed everyone, and made a few announcements, then invited Aaron and Tracey to come out onto the dance floor, close to the stage.

"Aaron, Tracey," he told them, "two of your friends have a special wedding present for you this evening. For your first dance together as newlyweds, On stage for their first time together anywhere, and performing a special song they wrote just for you, I am pleased to introduce Kieran McCormack and Lily Potter."

Kieran and Lily walked out onto the stage, and sat on stools – she at her keyboard, he with his guitar. They were on an angle so that they could face each other, and he counted them in silently, and they began to play as the lights were lowered, and spotlights shone only on them and on Aaron and Tracey.

The couple began to dance to the beautiful intro to the song, smiling at each other as they listened. When Kieran began singing the first verse, while Lily provided light touches of vocal harmony, the entire room fell completely silent except for the sound of the couple dancing, and the music, as they listened to the words Kieran was singing.

Put your arms around me, and I'll hold you close

And with the music softly playing, all around us disappears

For one moment in time, there is only you and me

Two hearts truly joined together, like it was always meant to be

(Lily fully joined in on the first chorus, her harmony so perfectly matching Kieran's melody that it touched the hearts of every Witch and Wizard there.)

I want you to dance with me, for the rest of our lives

I promise to share my love, until the end of time

You and me together

Are so much more than we could ever be apart

From this moment all I ever want to do

Is dance forever with you

(Now it was Lily's turn to take up the melody for the second verse, while Kieran switched to harmony for the rest of their song.)

I look in your eyes, and all that I can see

Is that the love you are giving me, is the only thing I need

For this moment in time, there is only me and you

And I pledge my love forever, like I know it was meant to be

I want you to dance with me, for the rest of our lives

I promise to share my love, until the end of time

You and me together

Are so much more than we could ever be apart

From this moment all I ever want to do

Is dance forever with you

(The second chorus transitioned to the third with a key change that Kieran and Lily performed acapella, before they again started playing while they sang.)

I want you to dance with me, for the rest of our lives

I promise to share my love, until the end of time

You and me together

Are so much more than we could ever be apart

From this moment all I ever want to do

Is dance forever with you

From this moment all I ever want to do

Is dance forever… with you

The silence in the room continued for several moments after they finished the song, and then a quiet applause began. Aaron and Tracey walked hand-in-hand up to the stage, and they hugged Lily and Kieran.

"Thank-you," Tracey told them. "That was so beautiful. We'll never forget this moment."

Lily smiled. "You're welcome," she told Tracey, hugging her again.

They didn't have time to talk anymore, since they needed to get their things off the stage so that the band could get the real dance going, so after another quick hug for each of them, the hurriedly got the keyboard and guitar packed up while the band came out, and the master of ceremonies introduced them, and called for the wedding party, parents, and grandparents to come out for the second song of the night before everyone else would begin dancing too.

"Whoa," Frederica whispered as the song that Lily and Kieran were playing ended. "When did she learn to do that?"

Ana laughed softly, as they too clapped with everyone else.

"Kieran tells me she's learned how to play since she met him in January. The voice is a gift."

Frederica laughed softly too. "Some girls get all the luck," she whispered back.

Ana put her hand on Frederica's arm. "True, but I've only talked to you a couple of times, and I can tell that you're pretty special yourself."

When Kieran and Lily returned to their table, it was to a round of hugs and kisses, and then the second song had ended, and most of them went out on to the dance floor, except Kieran, Lily, and Frederica.

When Hermione and Ron walked past them to go dancing too, they stopped long enough so that Hermione could hug them.

"Way to go, you two," Ron told them. "Nobody told me about that, and I didn't bring near enough tissues for all the girls at our table."

Lily hugged him too, and then they moved on, giving Kieran and Lily both a chance to catch their breath, have a drink, and calm down from the excitement of singing in front of so many people for the first time. Considering that their previous two public engagements had been for audiences of two, it had been pretty big for both of them.

"Lily," Frederica said, pretending to be upset, "you have been holding out on your dearest cousin in the whole world."

Lily grinned at her. "We wanted it to be a surprise.

Frederica laughed. "You think I'm talking about that?" she said, waving toward the stage. "I was referring to a conversation we had last week about whether Kieran had any cousins. Ring a bell?"

"You've been talking with Ana, I see," Lily said with a smile. Frederica smiled too and nodded.

"And she told me that Kieran has a Quidditch playing cousin of suitable age that you two better be planning on introducing me to sometime soon."

"Does Tuesday work for you?" Lily asked her.

That stopped Frederica in her tracks. "Tuesday?" She looked at Lily suspiciously. "Why do I feel like I've just been had?" she asked them.

"Um, I don't know," Lily said, trying and totally failing to look innocent. "Because you're incredibly perceptive?"

Frederica hugged her, and couldn't help laughing. "It was fun learning like this, I guess." She looked at Kieran. "Your Mum is really great, by the way. She's one of the few adults I know outside of our own family and friends that doesn't treat me like a little kid."

"Thanks," he told her. "Your own parents are pretty awesome too. How cool must it be having the world's greatest prankster around all the time."

She smiled at Kieran. "Most of the time, great. But just remember – you only see the jokes that work. It's not always that great to be nearby to the ones that don't."

Lily and Kieran both laughed. One of the braver young men at the reception had apparently gotten up the nerve to ask Frederica to dance, having noticed that she didn't seem to be there with a date, and she'd happily agreed to go dancing with him.

"Well, I guess we can join the others out there now," Kieran suggested. He stood up and smiled at Lily. "Would you care to dance with me, Ms. Potter?"

"I'd be delighted, Mr. McCormack," she told him, taking his hand and standing too.

"Thanks, Trent," Harry told Tracey's Dad, as they watched the two young couples go dancing. The long head table had been replaced by a round table like the others in the room so that they would be able to talk with each other more comfortably.

"You're welcome, and I'm sure the young man won't mind dancing with the lovely young lady at all."

"That's good. I know Lily would have stayed at the table there all night instead of leaving her cousin on her own, so I'm glad there was at least one other boy here that didn't have a date that was around Frederica's age."

Ginny put her arm around him. "You think of everything," she told him, kissing his cheek.

"Apparently not. Ron's already given it to me for not telling him to bring more tissues, and that was when I remembered that I didn't order boxes of them for the tables like you'd suggested."

"Just a second," she teased. "I better send in a news flash on that to the Daily Prophet."

Katie and Trent both laughed. "This all turned out pretty great," Katie said to Ginny. "I think I'm going to miss spending so much time with you now that it's all over with."

Ginny smiled at her. "Oh, you'll still see us a lot," she promised. "Once you become part of our extended little family, there's no escape."

"Who in their right mind would want to?" Katie answered, smiling too.

Scorpius and Brianna were out on the dance floor, her arms wrapped lightly around his neck, and his arms encircling her slender waist.

"I've never been to a wedding that was anything like this," Scorpius told her. "Not that I went to very many at all."

"I think this is just like the other weddings I've gotten to go to – except maybe a bit bigger than most. Lisa's was close to this size, I guess."

"Well, in my experience of two previous weddings, the one couple didn't even seem to like each other, and neither did our families, and in the second one, while the couple actually seemed quite happy, the families were miserable because they were, instead of hating their little arranged marriage like they were supposed to."

He thought about that for a minute. "I'm pretty sure I heard that they told the family to sod off and moved to South America or something."

Brianna laughed softly, and he smiled at her. "Sounds like you might have more family than just Teddy worth looking up some day."

He looked around, and saw his cousin dancing with Victoire, and smiled. "Maybe, but I'm pretty happy even if he ends up being the only family I can talk to."

"Maybe the only blood-related family, but you've got a pretty big family that does really love you that will be more than happy to pick up the slack."

Scorpius smiled and nodded. "Yeah, and this has just been one more incredible day with them. Speaking of, did you have any idea that Kieran and Lily could play and sing like that?"

Brianna shook her head. "Didn't hear a peep from either of them. No wonder they wanted to go and play music together more than just about anything, though. Did you see the way they looked at each other while they sang?"

He nodded. "They probably feel the same way I do when I look at you," he said, smiling as she looked into his eyes, and that familiar jolt passed between them. "Just like that," he whispered before kissing her softly.

"Oi, mate! We're in a big hotel, get a room, will ya?"

Scorpius and Brianna turned to see Nick and Allie dancing close by.

"Was that an option?" Scorpius asked. "Nobody told me that. The bloody place is probably full by now too."

Nick and Allie both laughed. "Then you'll have to settle for cuddling on the sofa back home later, since Allie and Bree will be staying overnight in the guest rooms whenever we do eventually get home."

"That'll work too," Scorpius said amiably.

Aaron, Tracey, James, and Arianna were finally taking a break from the dancing, and were sitting down, having drinks.

"We should have fit in a naptime somewhere today," Aaron said wearily. "We may be able to escape out of here soon, but we'll be getting the island, and it'll be morning already island time. I don't do very well sleeping during the day."

Tracey laughed. "All evidence in History class to the contrary," she teased him. "What makes you think I'll be letting you sleep any time soon?"

James and Arianna laughed, and Aaron grinned at his adorable new bride. "Hold that thought for another hour or two."

"Speaking of," Arianna said, looking at her watch, "we need to get you changed into your going away outfit before the final father-daughter, mother-son dances and all of that, so you will be able to get out of here."

"We've still got nearly an hour until then," Aaron told his sister.

She smiled at him. "Do you have any idea how much work it is to change in or out of a wedding dress?"

He grinned at her. "No, but I'm willing to come and find out, if you want to stay and dance with James."

James and the girls all laughed at him. "If we let you two do that, it'd be the last we saw of you tonight," Arianna told him. "Nice try, though." She stood up, gave James a kiss, then led Tracey away, gathering Katie and Ginny up along the way to help out.

The celebration would last until after two, but Aaron and Tracey had their final rounds on dances shortly after midnight. Tracey danced with her father, and then with Harry, while Aaron danced with Ginny, then Katie, before the newlyweds shared one last couples dance together.

That was followed by nearly a half hour of goodbyes, and then by just before one, they kissed and hugged James and Arianna goodbye, and left for their honeymoon at Marauders Escape.

The party began to wind down after that, as tired family and friends all began stopping by to thank Trent, Katie, Harry, and Ginny before either going home, or in some cases, to the hotel suites they'd booked for the night.

Kieran and his parents left around one-thirty, after giving Lily enough time to say goodnight to Kieran, while they talked with Harry and Ginny and grinned at the cute young couple. Most of the aunts and uncles were leaving by then with the kids that were going with them for the rest of the night.

For Ron and Hermione, that included Matt and Emily, and Charlie and Nathalie were actually staying at the hotel with Art and Serena for the night in one of the suites the girls had reserved for the night anyway. Lily, Al, and Carolyn went back to the cottage at the same time that Kieran left instead of waiting for Harry and Ginny.

Finally, with just a few stragglers on their way out, James and Arianna hugged both sets of parents, and the last six tired Witches and Wizards in the ballroom were able to go to their homes.

When Harry and Ginny got home, they were not at all surprised to see that, while Al and Carolyn had changed, that they'd snuggled up on the sofa and fallen asleep, even in the short time between when they'd left for home, and when Harry and Ginny had. She put a blanket over them, and then gone upstairs with Harry, thinking that changing, climbing into bed with Harry, snuggling up close to him, and falling asleep was a very good plan.

Aaron and Tracey were the first of the New Marauders taking the big step from Hogwarts students to grown-up, married couple. As they began their new life together, neither they, or the rest of the New Marauders who were all sleeping back home were ready for just how much things would soon be changing for them over the next year.


	67. News Canonball

Chapter Sixty-Seven – News Canon-Ball

Sunday morning, at the cottage, Harry was in the kitchen, as usual. Instead of the normal major breakfast, though, he was just putting out a platter with croissants, bagels, and muffins; a bowl of mixed fresh fruit, and several juice options along with a small stack of plates so that their comparatively small group could just grab one and serve themselves.

They were going with the light breakfast today because it was after nine-thirty already, and they had a one o'clock family lunch at the Burrow with everyone in the family, since they were mostly all in town for yesterday's wedding.

"Good morning, Daddy," Lily told him as she and Fluffy came into the kitchen together, both yawning.

"I take it since I just passed Al and Carolyn going the other way on the stairs that they fell asleep on the sofa again," she said with a grin. "I wonder if they'd get away with it so much if they didn't look so darn cute when they're sleeping like that."

"I don't know," Harry told her. "We could ask them to try to look less cute next time and find out."

Fluffy was looking at him expectantly, and he laughed at her.

"You're not going to be interested in breakfast today, mooch. It's all fruits and grains," Harry told the kneazle cat.

She just gave him 'the look', and Harry laughed again, got the leftover piece of sausage that he'd saved for her, and tossed it into her waiting maw.

"Can't fool you at all, can I?" he told the cat, who was already leaving the room. She'd come, conquered, and earned her reward, so she could now leave and enjoy her breakfast in peace.

Lily grabbed a plate, scooped out a few slices of fruit and a croissant, poured some o.j., and sat down at the table. They could both hear Ginny on the stairs, and she joined them a moment later, smiling and looking very cute too – at least Harry definitely thought so.

"Good morning," he said as she came over and kissed him. "Tea or coffee?"

"Let's go with tea today, please."

Harry poured her a cup while she made up her own breakfast plate and sat down next to Lily.

Having finished his work, he took her tea and his coffee to the table, filled a plate, and sat across from the girls.

"So, now that the big event is over, what'll we do for the rest of the summer?" Lily asked her parents.

Harry and Ginny grinned at her. "I'm sure something will come up," Ginny said. "The question might be 'what do you want to do for the rest of the summer'."

"Music, Quidditch, Music, go on a date or two, repeat as needed," she told them.

"No surprise there," Ginny said, smiling. "I'm sure we can work something out with Kirley and Ana."

Al and Carolyn joined them after they'd finished getting ready, and they talked about the wedding and reception, and what was going on for the afternoon at the Burrow. When they were done breakfast, they went for a visit at the residence until lunchtime, and then went over to the Burrow to help Molly and Arthur before everyone else got there.

The luncheon was held outdoors, and they set up a buffet table, and then smaller groups of tables around the yard. That didn't seem to in any way dissipate the noise level of the group, and it was still a very noisy, boisterous meal together.

Harry and Ginny had an ulterior motive for seeing everyone get together today, and as lunch finished up, he stood and got everyone's attention.

"I'm sure that you all know that at the end of last year I became the sole owner of the Chudley Canons," Harry began when they had all quieted down to listen.

"Two weeks from tomorrow, training camp is going to be opening up, and we expect there to be a pretty big news circus surrounding it, so we wanted to let you all know in advance what was going to be happening, so you can be prepared in case any of it spills over to you."

James grinned at his father. "We already know that Aaron and Arianna are going to be big news stories, and about your hot new recruits."

Harry grinned at his son. "Oh, we have a few more surprises than that, James. How would you like to meet the rest of the new Canons team today, before anyone else gets to?"

That got everyone's interest, and he saw heads bobbing at all of the tables.

"For the 2021-22 season," he said dramatically, "May I present the Canon's third starting Chaser, Ginny Potter."

As he motioned to her, Ginny stood up and smiled at the shocked looks on her family's faces.

"At Keeper, coming out of retirement, we have five time League Champion and two time Quidditch World Cup Champion, Ron Weasley."

Ron stood up too, to face his now grinning kids, and more stares from the rest of the group.

"And finally, the Canon's star Seeker, Harry Potter," he said, pointing to himself.

Lily had jumped out of her chair and had already been hugging Ginny before Harry had even announced the news about Ron, and now threw her arms around his neck and hugged and kissed him too.

"The media is going to freak out," James told Harry. "Are you guys having some kind of mid-life crisis or something? You're going to play pro Quidditch at forty?"

Ginny laughed. "Hey, I'm not quite forty yet, and I'm still seriously considering staying at thirty-nine this year."

That got everyone else laughing, and Harry smiled.

"You think Aaron and Arianna can play pro, don't you?" he asked James.

"Of course they can. They're probably the best pair of Chasers out of Hogwarts in twenty years."

"And with all of those practices we've had over the years, you don't think your mother is just as good a player?"

"Dad, she's my _mother!_ Moms do not play professional Quidditch – or Dad's for that matter."

"Funny, I was pretty sure we had kids when I played pro before," Ron said conversationally to Hermione, who laughed along with Rose and Hugo. James just stared at his two cousins.

"Do you have any idea how much heat we'll take when we get back to school?" he asked them.

Rose smiled at him. "Only until they start kicking some serious league butt, James."

"You think this is a good idea?" he asked incredulously.

"Nope, I think it's brilliant, and I don't think the other teams are going to know what hit them." She looked over at her Uncle Harry.

"I am curious why you decided to do it, though, Uncle Harry. You'll definitely be in the media spotlight all year, and you've always told us you'd had enough of that in the years before the war."

Turning to her mother, she added – "And you told Dad he couldn't come out of retirement – ever."

Hermione gave her a hug. "Your Uncle is very convincing. I couldn't turn him down when he flashed me those green eyes and grin, and asked if your father could go out and play with him this season."

Harry laughed. "And I decided that even though I played that one game back when Dennis had been off hurt, that I'd really like to play for a whole year, and your mother felt the same way." He looked at James again, still smiling. "We actually think we'll be pretty good, James. We wouldn't do it if we didn't." He watched the conflicting emotions on his son's face.

"I'm sorry if you'll be stuck taking some garbage from kids at school, but I think that we'll surprise you, son, and it's something we all really want to do."

James looked at him, then finally smiled too. "No wonder you caved, Aunt Hermione," he told her. "Alright, Dad. At least coming off of a winless season, anything you guys do will be an improvement."

He put his arm around Arianna. "And at least you do have the two best new Chasers in the league to try and cover your butts. Maybe that'll be enough."

Arianna laughed at him. "Aaron and I will be lucky if we can keep up with your Mum and Dad, James. I agree with Rose. The league isn't going to know what hit 'em."

"We're counting on that," Ginny told her. "With luck, the media pundits will help that impression along all summer. Best case would be if the other teams can convince themselves that they're only going to be playing a bunch of rookies, has-beens, and never-beens when they play the Canons. Then we'll be right where we want to be." She looked at James and the other kids, grinning like a kid herself.

"You guys could even play that up with your friends. A little constructive complaining about your parents messing up your lives by trying to relive their long-past youths would probably hit the rumour mill in the media within a week."

James was laughing now. "You guys want to try pulling a Ravenclaw! I hope you have the goods to back up that plan."

Ginny grinned at him. "Want to try a little one-on-one right now and see who wins?" she asked.

James looked around at where his entire family was now grinning at him.

"No, I don't think so, Mum. If you actually did beat me, I'd never live it down in this family. Let's just say I'm willing to concede that you've still got game, and let the whole thing drop."

"So you'll be announcing it two weeks from tomorrow?" Nathalie asked. "Do you expect the media will try to hound us or the kids much?"

Ginny smiled at her. "We hope they won't at all. We just wanted you to know ahead of time in case they do. After opening day, training camp will be closed to them, so with luck the storm will only last a week or so."

There was more talk about the news for a while longer before the conversation moved on. They spent the afternoon together, just hanging around the yard, and then everyone left for their homes, most of them needing to be back at work on Monday.

That evening, Harry and Ginny were in the sitting room with the kids, and talking about work and other things that were going on for the summer.

"Brianna," Ginny said, smiling at her, "You can all decide whether you want to work at all this summer or not, but Percy has a page spot for you at he Ministry if you think you'd like to do that this summer – Nick's spot, to be specific."

"I'd love it!" she told Ginny, getting up to give her a hug. "Nick doesn't want to work there this year?"

Ginny shook her head. "He's going to try a summer or two interning with Penelope and Grandma, and see if he likes that better. Since you and Scorpius are the only two kids showing any real interest in politics, those page jobs are probably best for you."

Looking at Al and Carolyn, she grinned. "We had a harder time with the two of you," she told them.

"Aren't Al and Rose working at the lab again?" Carolyn asked in surprise.

Ginny shook her head. "Nope. We were told that the Institute can't keep up with how fast they were inventing things, and they were all supposed to take the summer off." She smiled at Lily. "That seemed to have worked out rather well for Lily."

"So what did you come up with for us?" Carolyn asked.

"Well, you know that in two weeks Harry and I will be training full-time with the Canons, as will Ron, Aaron, and Arianna."

Carolyn and Al both nodded.

"Harry's always pretty much been the 'fun' coordinator in the family,' Ginny continued, and received two more nods.

"How would you and Al like to work with Rose and Matt and take over that job for the summer?"

Carolyn and Al both started laughing. "You want to hire all four of us to do exactly what? Make everyone's summer fun?"

Ginny and Harry both nodded. "Yep. Same pay as our two pages, and money available if you need it to facilitate anything you plan for us."

Carolyn looked at Al to see what he thought. "If it means spending all summer with you, Rose, and Matt, I'm all for it," he told her with a grin.

"I'll take that as a 'yes' then. Since James is already committed to working with George and Lee again, and Lily's going to spend her summer making music, I think we're done."

"Did you guys have anything for Frederica or Hugo?" Lily asked. "You didn't mention them."

"No, they're not going to be working this summer, but our new fun coordinators will be in charge of including them in their entertainment plans, and any significant others that may need to be included in those plans."

Harry laughed. "Regular shopping and Quidditch work for Frederica," he suggested to Al and Carolyn. "The Quidditch will work for Hugo too." He smiled at Lily.

"I hear that Kieran has a certain eligible cousin that might be comig to visit in a couple of days, so planning trips for four couples might work out as well while everyone else is away during the weekdays."

"I think we can handle that too," Carolyn confirmed.

Ginny was finished working at the lab for the next year or so, and so while James and Brianna went off to work on Monday morning, everyone else had the next two weeks pretty much open before them.

Ron, Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Frederica had all come over to practice Quidditch. Matt had not been at all upset to quit his old job and get to spend the summer with Rose and his other friends. They worked out for two hours, with Ron playing Keeper against Hugo, while Rose and Matt played Chaser against Ginny and Al. Lily and Harry were their Seekers, and with only one Beater available, Frederica tested them all by playing against both teams.

When they were done, Ron went off to Chudley to do Canons work, and Harry and Ginny took Lily with them for a lunch they'd set up with Kieran and his parents on the weekend, leaving the rest of the kids to entertain themselves, and start discussing how they were going to do their new jobs, since even that had pretty much been left up to their creative little minds to decide.

"So," Carolyn began as they sat in the kitchen at the cottage. "Do any of you have any idea what we're going to do as 'fun coordinators'?"

The others all laughed. "Gee," Rose said, "I just always thought these things just happened. I didn't know there was actually work involved."

"Why don't you start by getting everyone to send you their schedules, and then keep you updated as things are added," Frederica suggested. "You can't plan much until you at least know who's available when, and then can get them to commit to doing any of the activities you do plan."

"Good idea," Al told her. "We know where most of the family will be during the weekdays, but knowing what other commitments everyone has will be really important."

Rose had a parchment and quill out, and was making notes.

"We also don't want to get so much going on that everyone just gets worn out, either," Matt told them. "Maybe only one or two things a week, and like maybe two big weekends or events for the whole summer – Like going to the island or something."

"I liked those family dinners we did a couple of summers ago here, where we just had like Grandma and Grandpa over so we could have a night just with them, or just one set of your aunts and uncles," Carolyn suggested. "It was nice to get to talk with them for more than the few minutes you seem to get whenever the whole family is together."

Rose nodded and wrote that down. "We could even do one at each house once every couple of weeks – like a date night, except you get different family over – maybe even have the guests draw names to find out where they're going at the last minute."

"That's a good idea too," Al agreed.

They talked about ideas until lunchtime, and then went to the Mall for lunch, and took Frederica on her first shopping trip of the summer.

Lily had been hugging Kieran practically before the door had opened, and Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Ana had all smiled at them.

"You're a very talented and experienced hugger," Ana told Lily with a laugh as she was hugged next. "Nice to see you too."

They went into the kitchen together, where Lily noticed that the small table for four that was there last time was slightly larger now, and could accommodate the six of them comfortably.

Harry was looking out the row of windows that looked out over the southern side of the large estate property.

"This is a really great place," he told Kirley and Ana. "I doubt we'd ever want to move from the cottage, but if we ever did, something like this would be just the kind of thing we'd love too."

Ginny nodded. "Your house is wonderful too. No wonder you wanted to both be able to work from here instead of having offices somewhere in the city."

"We don't have any clients that can't come to us," Ana told her. "The artists that come and record here find it conducive to working, and getting rid of the usual distractions and hassles they face for a while is worth the inconvenience of coming out here. The TransPortal has made that a lot easier than it used to be."

Ginny grinned at her. "You're welcome."

Ana laughed. "Of course, it's another one of the Marauders Institute's amazing products. You invented it?"

"Well, a group of us did. It was definitely one of our favourites."

Kirley grinned at her. "Ours were the 3MP's and 3D-VMP's, along with the WWVN, of course. Even the Weird Sisters were able to catch the wave of that, even though we were sort of at the end of our run by then."

Harry laughed. "I don't know. Maybe you guys should think about a comeback. Retro seems to be in right now."

"All of that touring doesn't have any appeal to me anymore," Kirley told Harry seriously. "I seem to have found what I like doing the most, so I'll stick with it."

When they sat down to eat a while later, Kirley got to the point of why he'd asked Harry and Ginny to come over.

"Ana and I think that Keiran and Lily have a lot of promise as artists," he began. "We'd like to see how you, and Lily, feel about pursuing their music professionally."

Harry and Ginny watched as Lily's eyes lit up. "Do you think Kieran and I could be that good someday?" she asked excitedly.

Ana smiled and patted her hand. "No, sweetie," she told Lily gently. "We think you're that good already."

Lily's facial expressions had flashed from momentary sadness at the first remark to joy again at the second. Everyone at the table laughed happily as they watched her.

"I'd say that's a 'yes' vote from Lily," Ginny said, and Lily nodded emphatically. She looked at Harry, who nodded.

"We're open to the idea, as long as it doesn't get in the way of school, and she's protected as much as she can be from the worst that the media can be," Ginny told Kirley and Ana.

"We've both dealt with all of that for a long time, and we'll make sure that isn't a problem for either of our kids," Ana promised. "Even working all summer, we probably wouldn't have anything ready to hit the airwaves and stores until the back-to-school week anyway, and the media hounds can't touch them there."

Ginny laughed. "Well, I'm not sure about that, since they always seemed to have no problems when Harry and I were there, but I think the kids can probably deal with that themselves."

"So we can, Mum?" Lily asked her.

"We'd still have to talk about a contract, Lily," Ana told her.

Harry laughed. "Kirley, have you got somewhere for us to hide? Ana just said one of Ginny's favourite words, and it can be a scary thing to watch her work."

They'd pretty much finished with lunch anyway, so Kirley took Harry and the kids to the recording studio, and left Ana and Ginny to talk business. He showed Harry how everything worked, and played some of the songs that the kids had recorded last Wednesday while Kieran and Lily set up in the studio to play around for a while.

The two men were sitting in the control room when the kids were ready.

"What would you like to do today?" Kirley asked them.

"Kieran grinned through the glass. "We were thinking that maybe Lily's Dad would like to try recording something with us."

Kirley looked at Harry, who shrugged. "I take it you have a certain song in mind, Lily?" he watched as his daughter nodded hopefully.

"We've been practicing it, and I think it'd be fun. Come on, Daddy. It's just us here."

Harry went to join them in the studio, and Kieran set him up with a microphone so that the three of them faced each other. That put Harry's back to the windows into the control room, but he'd been concentrating on following Kieran's instructions that he didn't really pay any attention to it, and certainly didn't see Ana and Ginny join Kirley in the booth. When he was set up and they were ready, he heard Kirley begin to count down, and watched as Kieran silently set the beat for himself and Lily to start playing.

He'd never sung with her before, and other than hearing the few songs today, and the wedding song, he hadn't heard her play very much either, and he was moved to hear her playing his own compostition, and smiling encouragingly at him.

When it was time for him to start singing, he closed his eyes and pictured Ginny in his mind, and began to sing. It was even more perfect feeling that any other time he'd sang, and when Lily and Kieran began singing the harmonies they'd added to the song, he just let the magic carry him along, and was so involved that when the last notes from Kieran's guitar and Lily's keyboard faded away, several moments went by before he opened his eyes to see both kids grinning at him.

"Thank-you," he told them. "That was really something."

"You're welcome, Daddy, but you better go into the other room, 'cause you made Mum cry."

He turned on his stool to see Ginny smiling at him, tears running down her cheeks from hearing Harry and Lily – and Kieran – singing together. Harry stood up and quckly went into the control room to hug her.

"Do you sing too, Ginny?" Ana asked her.

Ginny laughed. "Not a chance. I play a mean 3D-VMP, though."

"That's alright," Ana said. "I can't either. I was just wondering if there were going to be any other surprises today, since with everything I've heard about Harry Potter, I don't remember hearing anything about that voice before."

Kirley laughed. "Well, if you ever wanted to get known for that, let us know," he told Harry.

Ginny put her arm around her husband. "He'll have to pass – he's got way too much on the go right now to even consider a career in music. Speaking of, Harry, we should get going. We have a certain young lady we're supposed to show around this afternoon when she gets here from America."

Lily looked at Kieran, who smiled at her hopefully. "Can I stay here and meet you back at home for dinner, Mum?"

"If it's ok with Ana and Kirley, it's fine with me, but don't be late – Liselle will be joining us tonight."

Kieran's parents were happy to have Lily stay with them for the rest of the afternoon, and so Harry and Ginny left for the Canons stadium next, where Liselle Donovan was going to be meeting them, along with James and Arianna.

Liselle must have been excited about coming, since she was already in Ron's office when Harry and Ginny got there.

"You made it!" Harry said, coming into the room and giving her a hug. "Have we kept you waiting long?"

Liselle shook her head. "Coach Ron has been showing me around while we waited. I wasn't sleeping much last night anyway, though, so I came early."

"This is my wife, Ginny," Harry told her. "Ginny, this is Liselle Donovan, the Canons' future star Seeker."

Ginny hugged Liselle too, and smiled at her. "Welcome to the family," she told the brightly smiling young woman.

"Our son James, and his girlfriend, Arianna Ryan should be here soon, and then we'll take you on a tour of Chudley, get you settled in, and then take you home with us for dinner so you can meet a few other members of the family," Harry told her.

They didn't have long to wait for them, and after the introductions, Ginny confirmed with her brother that he and Hermione would be there for dinner too, and then they took Liselle in tow, and started their tour.

"So you're a new recruit for the Canons too?" Liselle was asking Arianna as they walked around Chudley, checking out the town centre.

"Yes, my brother Aaron and I will be two of the Chasers this season."

"You'll be starting?" Liselle seemed surprised.

Harry answered that question. "Aaron and Arianna trained with the Canons all last summer, Liselle, but they've also come from a school House team where their training program is quite a bit more advanced than the one you were a part of. You'll understand what I mean about that after your first couple of days in training camp."

Arianna laughed. "More like after the first hour," she told Liselle. The two girls seemed to be hitting it off, and she was pretty sure that she was starting to get to know someone who was going to be a new friend.

"That bad?" Liselle asked.

"Ever practiced with eight bludgers at once?"

"You're kidding, right?" When she saw that Arianna wasn't kidding at all, she grinned. "Well, there's no doubt that will encourage me to get faster."

They went from Chudley to the Marauders Mall, and a tour of it and of Diagon Alley for an hour or so, and then went back to Chudley, and the same housing project where Aaron and Arianna had their house. Since there wasn't a TransPortal site right at the house they were going to, they walked along the streets until reaching a split-level brick house.

"Where are we?" Liselle asked Harry, who grinned at her.

"We're at your new home," he told her, handing over a set of keys to the modest three-bedroom house. "Your luggage has already been moved here."

Liselle laughed and cried and gave all four of them hugs. They went inside to look around, and Liselle went from room to room like an excited kid opening presents at Christmas.

"I only picked out a bed and dresser for one of your guest rooms so you'd have somewhere to sleep until you could pick out your own things," Ginny told her when she saw that there was only one room that had any furniture. "If you want, though, Arianna and I would be more than happy to go shopping with you for furniture and help decorate over the next couple of weeks."

"I'd like that a lot," Liselle told Ginny, giving her yet another hug. "This is incredible," she told them. "Can I afford a place like this?"

Harry grinned at her. "I'm pretty sure you can, since it's the last part of your signing bonus. After this, though, you're on your own," he teased.

Ginny laughed at him. "Don't believe that for a second, Liselle. There's no such thing as being on your own in our family. Help is only a Wicomm call away."

"Especially if shopping is involved," Arianna told her. "Which reminds me – until we can get your kitchen stocked, you can come for meals with me. Our house is only a few blocks away from here."

Harry looked at his watch. "Why don't you four do your own thing for an hour or so, and I'll get back home and start dinner."

Ginny gave him a hug and kiss, and he left them to talk decorating and furniture while he went to the cottage and started cooking for fifteen or sixteen, depending on whether Brianna brought Scorpius with her or not tonight.

There were already seven kids there when he walked into the kitchen, and he got right to work as they told him about their day, and he talked about his. They'd known that Liselle would be their guest tonight, and Harry had previously recruited Winky to do one of her famous desserts for after the meal, and she dropped it off shortly after he had their dinner cooking.

"Don't even think about testing that out," he warned the kids with a grin. "Why don't you get away from the temptation and go hang around outside while I'm working around here."

The kids knew that was his way of telling them to get out of his way for a while, so they went outside to wait for everyone else to get there.

Harry smiled as they all left the kitchen, and then really got to work. The only real reason he wanted the kids out of the way is so that he could put his magic into fast forward, and speed up the whole cooking process, and not all of the kids needed to see him do that, or know that he could.

When Ginny brought Liselle, James, and Arianna in with her, he had wine ready to go, dinner almost ready, and the table set for everyone. Ron, Hermione, Lily, Brianna, and Scorpius all came shortly after, and they all sat down to eat.

Liselle was sitting next to the small carbon copy of Ginny during dinner, and was absolutely charmed by Lily's hyper-active and contagious excitement. The girl could talk a mile a minute, and wanted to know everything about Liselle, her school, her family, home, country, and a dozen other questions that would pop up mid-stream as she talked excitedly about her own day, told Liselle stories about her family, and anything else that happened to come to mind.

"Maybe we can all go out and play Quidditch for a while after dinner," Lily had suggested when they'd been at the dessert stage.

"I didn't bring my broom over with me," Liselle told her.

"If you don't mind using a Firebolt, we have a few extra for when company comes," Lily assured her.

Liselle laughed. "Until a few months ago, I couldn't have dreamed of flying one of those, Lily. I think I can handle flying a Firebolt for one night instead of my Lightningbolt."

With the extra people available to play tonight, they had Arianna, Ginny, and Rose playing Chaser on one team, and had James, Al, and Matt on the other. Ron and Hugo were of course in goal, and Harry and Liselle played Seeker, while Lily and Frederica played Beater, although not all that seriously. Lily ended up using a Firebolt, and had Liselle use her broom so they could really see how well she flew against Harry.

Liselle smiled the whole time they played, as for her first time ever, she was finally getting to play against some seriously skilled players. It didn't take her long to realize that getting to learn the game under Harry's training was going to be amazing. At her school she'd been the very best Seeker, and probably the best player period. Here she was pretty sure she could learn to play at this level, but for right now, she wouldn't have been surprised to find out that she was eleven or twelve out of twelve of this group.

Harry had a different perspective, and after they'd played for a hour, he knew for sure that they'd picked the right Witch for the job. That she could even keep up with everyone just on raw talent, having basically never done any real training before proved to him that she could be a really great Seeker.

When they'd decided to bring Liselle over two weeks before the start of training camp, it had been done so that Harry and Ginny would be able to spend extra time with their new recruit all that week, and then bring in the Connors, and do the same with them during the second week.

The other reason that worked out was that because Aaron and Tracey were on holidays, Arianna was able to help Ginny out during the day while James was at work. For the rest of the week, their day consisted of Quidditch practice in the morning, followed by shopping, shopping, and more shopping.

The kids were busy too. They practiced each morning with Harry, Ginny, Ron, Arianna, and Liselle, and had their team practices Tuesday and Thursday night when Nick and Scorpius could both come too.

Lily and Kieran had worked it out with Ana and Kirley that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, they'd spend their days at their house, working on Music, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they'd play Quidditch and hang out with their friends. When Kieran came over after breakfast on Tuesday, his cousin Liam was with him, and they found themselves invited to join the morning practice.

That pitted Matt, Rose, and Al against Ginny, Arianna, and Liam. Harry and Liselle were the Seekers again, so Lily and Kieran played Beater against Frederica, who was easily better at that position that they were combined, but they did have fun, even if neither of them would ever be good at hitting the bludger.

Frederica had been interested in meeting Kieran's cousin, but they had definitely not said anything to him about that, and it was fun to watch the two of them meet.

The cousins were quite a bit different in looks, and Liam was younger, but he was a good looking boy, and Frederica didn't look at all disappointed that he wasn't just like Kieran. Where Kieran's hair was shoulder length and sandy brown, Liam's was cut short, and was a dark chestnut brown. Kieran's eyes were a light brown, and Liam's eyes were just as deep a brown as his hair.

Those eyes lit up when he met Frederica, and found out that not only was she going to be a first year at Hogwarts too, but was into Quidditch just as much as he was. It was pretty obvious that Frederica liked what she was seeing so far too. When they'd finished their little hour-long morning workout, the kids sat in the bleachers and talked together so they could be out of the way while their parents, Arianna, and Liselle could have the kitchen to themselves.

"Do you guys practice like this every morning?" Liam asked Frederica.

"Not really. We do try to practice every day, but we won't get to have everyone here once Canons training camp opens up again a week after Monday. You'll be here for our actual team workout tonight, won't you?"

Liam smiled at her. "Kieran told me I'd be stuck with him all day. Being stuck is looking better every minute, so I'll definitely still be here."

Frederica smiled back at him, and then turned to Al. "Hey, you guys know that new job of yours?"

Al, Rose, Matt, and Carolyn all nodded.

"Keep up the good work!" she told them. When they laughed, Liam looked confused.

"What's so funny?" he asked them.

Carolyn answered for them. "It'll probably sound a little strange, Liam, but this summer, we're basically going to be the activity coordinators for our fairly large family. That includes Frederica. I'm not exactly sure why she's thanking us, since it was Kieran that invited you over today, but hey, I guess if she is having fun, then our work is done."

"Are you having fun?" Liam asked Frederica.

"Oh yeah," she told him. "This summer is starting to look like it's going to be one of those 'best ever' kind of summers."

After the parents had left for the day, Kieran and Lily went up to her room to play music, and Hugo, Frederica, and Liam went into the sitting room to play GameWizard, leaving the fun coordinators free to spend the morning working.

They'd sent out requests for family schedules yesterday, and had gotten a lot of replies already. The first thing they noticed was that with all of the work happening for the wedding, that nothing had been set up at all to celebrate Harry and Ginny's – and Ron and Hermione's – anniversary this Saturday.

That's what they decided would be their first activity of the summer, and so they first sent out invitations to everyone via QuillMessage, then recruited an eager Kreacher and Winky to help with food, and 'hired' Kieran and Lily to do the musical entertainment. With that done before lunch, they took everyone on a road trip for lunch and play at Marauders Mall – Paris, after picking up Emily on their way, getting back to the cottage about an hour before dinner.

"Frederica's right," Liam told Al and the others while they hung around outside while Harry was cooking. "You guys are doing a great job."

"Then we should probably try to schedule you in for our Tuesdays and Thursdays all summer," Rose suggested, grinning at Frederica. Judging by how her eyes lit up at that suggestion, she thought that was a very good idea.

"I'll check with my parents, but I don't think that'll be a problem," he told Rose. "They're at work all week anyway, and it'll give our nanny a break to have one less kid around."

"And you won't mind the break from your little brother and sister either," Kieran suggested to his cousin.

Liam smiled and nodded. "That is a bonus," he agreed.

They weren't all going to be at the cottage for dinner every day of the week, even though they knew Uncle Harry probably wouldn't mind if they were, but tonight they were staying – although Brianna and Scorpius were having dinner with Percy, Penelope, Nick, and Allie before coming over for their team practice.

That proved to be a very educational experience for Liselle, who sat in the bleachers with Carolyn, Brianna, and Allie to watch how a Hogwarts House team – or at least the better ones, worked out.

Matt, Rose, and Al were again paired up, this time against Ginny, Arianna, and James, with Hugo playing Keeper for his soon to be team captain, and Scorpius holding the goals for his Ravenclaws. Nick had Kieran join his side as a Beater, and Frederica and Liam played Beater for what they were calling the Gryffindor team. Father and daughter were the opposing Seekers.

Liselle watched as the half hour, intense flying exercises were followed up with a bludger practice using four bludgers, then a very intense game where Harry and Lily fought to a best of five snitch catches – which Harry managed to win three to two, while the Chasers and Keepers put on a display in which only fourteen goals were scored on over one hundred and thirty shots between the six Chasers.

"Now I understand what you meant about me not being on a team that really knew how to train," she told Harry after the practice. "I can hardly wait until we start training camp!"

Arianna grinned at her. "I'll remind you about that two weeks from tonight."

"Not after the first day?" Liselle said, grinning.

"No. Monday is basically going to be a press day. We won't actually get any work done. The real training starts on Tuesday."

During the next few days, things settled down a bit, and at the cottage, at least, the dinnertime guest list dropped off significantly as James and Arianna either did their own thing, or did something with Liselle that didn't include younger kids or older adults.

Frederica, Matt, Rose, and Hugo would leave for home in the afternoons after hanging out with Al and Carolyn. They'd work on the party on Saturday in the mornings, then do something together in the afternoons.

When Kieran, Lily, and Liam were with them on Thursday, they went shopping for anniversary presents, picked up the anniversary party Wheezes for Saturday night, and took care of a few other things for the party.

On Saturday morning, all of the kids were at the cottage working hard to get the yard set up for the party that would be starting in the afternoon, and would probably go late into the night. Two of the portable pools were set up out near the Quiddtich pitch, and the tables, chairs, and dance area were set up too.

There was going to be seventy to seventy-five guests, and thanks to some overaged magical help from Arianna, Stewart, and Teddy, they had everything ready by lunchtime, and could relax until everyone started to arrive.

The afternoon was spent playing games, swimming, and just having a fun day with their family and friends. All of the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins were there, along with some of the two couple's oldest and closest friends. Aaron and Tracey came back from Marauders Escape in time for the party, even though it was going to end up being a very long day for them, since it had already been after dinner local time on the island when they'd left, and they arrived at the start of an early afternoon party.

Kreacher and Winky put on an incredible dinner, and after that, the two couples opened up the few presents that had been brought for them, mostly from the kids, and a one weekend away at a resort in Egypt gift from the grandparents, uncles and aunts.

When it started getting dark, Kieran and Lily got set up to entertain everyone. They'd had canned music going all afternoon, and through dinner, but they'd be playing live for the whole dance.

The highlight of the night, however, was when Kirley went up with them, and the three of them did an hour or so of Weird Sister's classics that wowed everyone, and thrilled the women.

"This is so great," Ginny whispered to Ana as they watched their kids, and Ana's husband up there looking like they were having a lot of fun. "I never imagined a day like this when I used to sit in my room and look at my Weird Sisters posters and listen to them on the WWN."

Ana laughed. "We could say the same thing about spending the day hanging out with Harry and Ginny Potter, or that Kirley and our son would someday be playing music with their daughter."

"I'm really glad the kids met," Ginny said. "Getting to know the three of you has been one of the best parts of summer so far."

"For us too," Ana assured her.

The party had been a great chance for Liselle to get to meet Harry and Ginny's family. She spent most of the day with Arianna and James, and also getting to know Aaron and Tracey.

"You've got such a great family," she told Arianna while they were sitting down for a break. "Not to mention that this yard is filled with some of the Wizarding World's best and brightest. My History Professor would have loved to be here."

Arianna smiled at her new friend. "Why? To look at all these old fossils?"

Liselle laughed. "She's a big Contemporary History buff – especially when it comes to successful Witches. Most kids probably don't learn about that much, but we learned all about Order of Merlin First Class recipient Hermione Weasley, and the Witch in charge of one of the world's biggest companies, and the maketing genius, Luna Longbottom. I'd say your 'old fossils' look pretty amazing too."

"Oh they are," Arianna assured her. "They're really great role models for your Professor to give her students too. How come she left Ginny out of the list?"

Liselle smiled. "Oh she didn't, I just didn't include her because I figured that everybody was taught about her."

"Taught what about me?" Ginny asked, coming up to give Arianna and Liselle a pair of hugs.

"That you're one of the most amazing Witches in the entire world," Liselle told her seriously. "Youngest head of a major corporation, not to mention one of the first Witches. The inventor or co-inventor of nearly every major piece of magical technology in the past twenty years, and that's not even getting into what you did during the war, or the fact that you snagged the cutest and most famous and eligible bachelor of the last hundred years or so."

Ginny laughed. "You are well informed, aren't you?" She turned to Arianna. "I think now might be a good time for you to talk your brother and sister-in-law into making an exit," she suggested. "They've been awake for more than twenty-four hours now, and he looks like it."

Arianna laughed. "James and I will get them home, and then come back. I wouln'd want them splinching themselves 'cause they're too tired to pay attention."

"Thanks, honey," Ginny said, giving her another hug before moving on.

"How cool is that going to be for you?" Liselle asked Arianna.

"How cool is what going to be?" Arianna answered back.

"Having Ginny Potter for a mother-in-law."

Arianna grinned as the two girls watched Ginny walk away. "That's going to definitely be one of the best parts of marrying James some day," she agreed.

Liselle decided to call it a night too, and after saying goodnight to Harry and Ginny, took the TransPortal along with Aaron, Tracey, Arianna, and James, and then walked the few blocks to her house – a thought that was still sending a thrill through her every time she thought about it.

The party lasted until nearly one, and then as the guests left, Teddy, Stewart, Isabelle, Victoire, and Arianna offered their magical talents to help the younger kids have the whole place cleaned up before hugging Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny, and heading for home, except Arianna, who'd was still planning on spending the week at the cottage.

"Thanks, guys," Ron told their fun coordinators before he and Hermione took their kids home. "You're off to a brilliant start with your new jobs!"

Sunday was a quiet day at the cottage, with the only trip being to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon at the residence. Arianna and James went with them, planning to give Aaron and Tracey lots of space this week as they settled in to their new life together.

"That's probably going to feel a little weird at first," she'd told Harry, Ginny, and James on Sunday morning as they sat around the kitchen table after breakfast.

"We could always find you another place, or you could stay here if you don't think it'll work out there after you've all tried it for a while," Ginny told her.

Arianna had laughed. "I think we'll be fine. Tracey is my best friend, and I don't think Aaron and I are quite ready for the permanent separation to happen yet. I'm sure she understands."

Aaron and Tracey had spent most of the day resting, and adjusting back to local time again, but came over for dinner at the cottage, and to spend a couple of quiet hours with Harry, Ginny, James, and Arianna.

"Now that we're back," Tracey said, "I guess I better start looking for work. I don't plan on sitting around all day while Aaron and Arianna are off playing Quidditch."

Harry smiled at her, got up without saying anything, and went into his office. When he came back out, he had two envelopes, and handed one to her.

"I was going to talk with you tomorrow, but since you're here and the subject's come up, I want you to come work for me."

Tracey looked surprised. "Doing what?"

Harry laughed. "While you two were honeymooning, the rest of the family found out that Ginny, Ron, and I will be playing for the Canons this season."

Aaron sat straight up where he was sitting, and stared at Harry. "You are?" He looked at Arianna. "And you didn't tell us yesterday when we got back?"

"Sorry, Aaron, but only the family knows about this, and there were way too many people here yesterday that aren't in the loop. It won't become public until training camp opens," she told her brother apologetically.

"Anyway," Harry continued, "since I'm going to be concentrating on playing Quidditch, I'm going to need an Executive Assistant to the team owner to keep up with all of the business end of owning a team – working with the team front office, all the marketing, and everything else that from now on, I'll be keeping full control over – or more specifically, you will be."

Tracey opened up the envelope, and read through the job offer, not even a little surprised at what she read.

"That'd be a 'yes'," she told Harry, getting up to hug both him and Ginny before sitting down again beside Aaron.

"Good," Harry told her. "You and I will spend the next week going over my business plan for the team, and everything I've got set up. Once training camp starts a week from Monday, we'll either have to meet before or after practice for an hour or so each day, and we can always go over any issues you have during team lunches too."

"So, when do we start?" she asked him.

Harry sent the second envelope floating over to her. "Right now." He watched as she opened it up and started reading her Gringotts letter. "How do you like your new job so far?"

"It's looking pretty great," she told him, getting up again to give them another set of hugs.

That's how it turned out that Aaron found himself kissing his bride goodbye on Monday morning as she went to work, and he went to the cottage for a Quidditch practice. Harry was skipping this one so that he could spend the morning working with Tracey before his Beater recruits arrived after lunch.

The first thing that Harry decided about Sebastian and Tristan Connors was that the pair reminded him a lot of Fred and George. When Liselle was playing Quidditch, she could get as fired up as anyone, but off the pitch, she was one of the sweetest, gentlest Witches he'd ever met.

The Connors boys were fired up all the time. He could tell that confidence was not going to be a problem for them either. Judging by the reaction of the Witches working in the office, they were going to be very popular too.

Harry and Ginny took them on a similar tour to the one they'd done a week ago with Liselle, and showed them their house too, which was already furnished and decorated. It was a block away from Liselle's, and instead of a split level, was a two-storey, four bedroom house.

"I talked with your Mums," Ginny told them. "They told me that neither of you would have a clue how to decorate and furnish a house, so my sister-in-law and I took the liberty of doing that for you." She grinned at the two boys. "We did resist the urge to do everything in frilly pink, even though it would have been a lot of fun to see your reactions."

"Everything looks great," Tristan told her, giving her a hug. "Thank-you."

They had dinner at the cottage, and then Sebastian and Tristan went back to their new home, taking Harry's advice to try and get to sleep early, since the time change they were dealing with was going to be a pain for the next couple of days, since it was an extra three hours more than Liselle had dealt with.

They did make it back to the cottage in the morning so that they could practice with everyone. When they saw who all would be playing, they both started to laugh.

"Harry," Sebastian told him, "you're not seriously going to put you old guys, and these kids up against us, and want us to play our best, are you?"

"Well," Harry said with a smile, "if you boys don't think you're quite ready yet, you can watch this practice."

When Lily had laughed at that, both boys had grinned at the little dynamo. "Don't say we didn't warn you," Tristan told her.

An hour later, the boys were both still smiling, and still a confident pair of beaters, but they weren't thinking that any of their new friends couldn't play with them, regardless of how young or old they were.

"When was the last time we didn't hit anyone with a bludger in practice, Sebastian?" Tristan asked his cousin.

"Um, let me think. Oh yeah, never," Sebastian answered. "And I'm liking the experience a whole lot, too. School games would have been way more fun if we'd had players this good to compete against."

"Speak for yourself," Tristan said. He pointed to a grinning Frederica. "She's not even in first year yet, and I'll admit I underestimated her, but she darn near took my head off with that one bludger she sent my way. If we were still on our old Cleansweeps, I doubt she'd have missed."

Sebastian laughed. "Well, if I wasn't totally convinced we'd made the right decision to move this far from home, I am now."

Tracey had come with Aaron for the workout, so when it was over, she and Harry went to the stadium to get back to work. Aaron, Arianna, and Ginny took the two boys, and Liselle on a Muggle tour of London, and spent the day with them.

Since it was Tuesday, Kieran, Lily, Liam, and Emily were all at the cottage, and they made their own plans for the day, which included an afternoon of swimming in a portable pool and laying around in the sun after they'd gone into Chudley for lunch at the diner.

Sebastian and Tristan were more than happy to join Aaron, Arianna, James, and Liselle on the Gryffindor team for the Tuesday evening Ravenclaw workout, and it turned out to be one of the best workouts they'd had.

Even with four bludgers to work with, and four actual Beaters for the first time, other than a couple of glancing blows, nobody was hit during bludger practice. Nick and Frederica both loved having really top-notch Beaters to compete against. For Nick, it was the first time he'd played Beaters that were better than he was in a couple of years.

The scoring wasn't any higher than it had been in the other games, and there will still a lot of shots on goal, so the only real difference in their practice game was that Ravenclaw won the Seeker matchup this time, with Lily catching three of five snitches playing against Liselle instead of her father.

"If you weren't such a sweetheart, you could really start to bug me," Liselle told Lily, grinning at her.

Lily gave her a hug. "I've been watching my Dad play all my life, and practicing against him since I was nine. You're going to be a great Seeker after you've trained with him for a while."

By the end of that week, Liselle had her house fully decorated and furnished. Harry had Tracey ready to handle her duties, and Sebastian and Tristan were settling in just fine, and were having a blast.

For that last weekend before training camp opened, the fun coordinators cleared Harry and Ginny's schedule, and told them to relax all weekend. No parties, no big family gatherings – just take it easy.

They made a trip on Saturday to the residence, and spent a couple of hours in the afternoon with Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle, and then had a quiet evening alone, cuddling on the sofa, while the kids were all farmed out to other houses for the whole night, and wouldn't be back until after lunch on Sunday.

James and Arianna were at her house, Al and Carolyn went with Scorpius and Brianna for an overnighter with Teddy and Victoire, and Lily went to spend the night with Kieran, Ana, and Kirley.

"Are you ready for the feeding frenzy we're going to have on Monday?" Harry asked Ginny as they sipped wine and snuggled close.

"You bet," she assured him. "I've loved everything I've done at the Institute, but I've always wondered just as much as you have what would have happened if I'd tried to go professional at Quidditch like Ron did. Now we finally get to find out."

"And so will the rest of the league," he promised.

"Is everything ready for Monday?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. The marketing blitz will be hitting the minute the press conference starts. Even Luna was impressed."

Ginny laughed. "Hey, I want some of those toys for myself."

"We probably won't know for a couple of days how the tickets sell for the home games, but just in case, I reserved two hundred season's tickets. I wanted to make sure that we could take all of the kids at both residences to at least a couple of games each this year, plus any family and friends that want to catch a game."

Ginny hugged him. "That's a great idea, especially if the staff get to go too."

"Definitely. There should be more than enough space. Since we probably won't bring any of the kids that are under three or four, they'll probably have to rotate a bit, though. There's only one home game that the Hogwarts students will be able to go to, so they'll all get the tickets for that one. I think there's about one hundred and fifty students between the two residences this year."

"We could get volunteers to watch the younger kids on the rest of the game days," she suggested. "That'd let more of the staff go to more games."

"That'd work too," he agreed.

They talked quietly for a while about their plans for the team, and the kids, and other things. It really wasn't all that late, but after a while, the conversation died away as the snuggling moved on to a little kissing, and before long, Harry was picking Ginny up, and carrying her up to their bed.

"You do remember that no-sex rule the team has for the day before gameday, don't you?" Harry asked Ginny as he nibbled her neck. "You didn't like it much that week I played for the Canons before."

Ginny smiled at him. "I remember. Stupid rule," she said.

"I have two suggestions, though. The first is that you're the owner of the team – you could change the rule. If you don't want to do that, though, I'd say that you'll just have to get used to being a bit busier the other six days of the weeks we have games."

Harry laughed. "There's no way I'm going to tell Coach how to work with his players – which includes us, besides the fact that Hermione says there's actually some scientific evidence to suggest that Coach is right."

He began undoing buttons on her blouse, and continued nibbling. "As to the second of your suggestions, I have no problem with that at all."

When the last button was unfastened, he slid his hand under the silky soft material to caress the even softer skin beneath, and smiled as Ginny practically purred.

"I definitely think that we should start practicing regularly for that too," he murmured, as his kissed moved south from the line of her jaw and neck.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed - a low, throaty sound that had him grinning even as he continued his tender caress with lips and hands. "Definitely," she managed to say before they were both lost to the moment, sharing a passion that was just as strong today as when they'd first married.

James had taken the day off so that he could be there for the Training Camp press conference, and see his girlfriend officially become a member of the Chudley Canons.

Al and Lily were there, as were Rose, Hugo, and Frederica. Liselle was sitting with them, along with Aunt Hermione, Grandma, and Grandpa.

The press conference was starting at ten, and the press gallery was full, since they'd been told that there'd be big news coming out today.

Backstage, Aaron, Arianna, Sebastian, and Tristan were dressed in their team robes, waiting to be announced.

"Where's the rest of the team?" Tristan asked. "Please tell me there is a rest of the team, and that we're not going into training camp three members short."

"There definitely is," Arianna assured him. They're in the building, but since they are the big news story today, the team has been keeping them under wraps. You won't be disappointed, though."

They heard Coach begin the press conference, welcome everyone, and deliver a carefully prepared speech. Finally he got around to the team introductions. When they were each announced, they were to fly out, swing once around the stadium, and land on the stage next to Coach.

"Starting at Beater this year, we have Sebastian Connors from British Columbia, Canada!" Coach shouted out. Sebastian flew out into the stadium, made the circuit, then landed smoothly on the stage to the flashing of cameras and some very excited murmurs of approval from the Witches in the press corp who immediately liked his rugged good looks and flashy smile.

"Also from British Columbia, Canada, completing the league's best new pair of Beaters, we have Tristan Connors!" Tristan's lap of the stadium was just as smooth as his cousin's, and his landing just as flawless. He was greeted with just as many flashes and there were now a lot of happy Witches attending the press conference.

"Next, at Chaser," Coach continued, "We have Aaron Ryan, most recently captain of the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup winning Gryffindor House team!" Aaron did his loop of the stadium, and joined the two Beaters.

"And joining Aaron at Chaser position is his twin sister, the beautiful and talented Arianna Ryan!" She made her trip around the stadium quickly, landed next to Aaron, and hugged all three young men.

"How come she gets 'beautiful and talented'?" Sebastian asked Aaron and Tristan, and grinning at Arianna. "What do we look like?"

"Rounding out our Chaser trio," Coach continued, ignoring Sebastian's quiet comments, "please welcome Ginny Potter!"

The press corp that had just been buzzing with excitement went absolutely silent at the announcement, and watched in stunned amazement as Ginny flew her lap around the stadium, her red hair flying behind her, and then landed on the stage, where she was hugged by Aaron and Arianna. It took Sebastian and Tristan a moment longer to get over the shock, but then they both hugged her too, each of them grinning broadly.

"Man, am I ever regretting that old folks comment from last week now," Sebastian told Ginny.

By then the press corp, and everyone else there at the press conference were past the shock too, and the buzz got even louder, as they were all now dying to start asking questions – at least until the next announcement again stunned them into silence momentarily.

"Next, playing Keeper for this year's Canons team, we have seven time League Keeper of the year, four time League MVP, Five time League Champion, and two time Quidditch World Cup Champion Ron Weasley!" As Ron did his lap, Coach continued. "Ron will be a player-coach for the Canons this year, as we rebuild our team and train our rookies."

When Ron had landed, and the hugs and handshakes were done, the press corp was practically jumping up and down with their desire to start shouting questions.

Coach smiled at them. "Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured to present to you our star Seeker – and team owner – HARRY POTTER!"

If the press and guests hadn't been shocked with the announcements of Ginny and Ron being introduced, they all were now. Harry made his flight a short one, and landed on stage where he went down the line of teammates and hugged each of them before standing next to Ginny.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2021-22 Canons team!"

It took several minutes of pandemonium before there was any semblance of order in the press corp. James had watched Liselle's amazement as she found out that her trainer was also going to be the starting Seeker for the team.

"Surprise," he whispered to her with a grin on his face.

"You know the press is going to think this is all some big gimmick, right?" she asked James quietly.

James nodded. "We certainly hope so."

"You do?" He watched as she began to put the pieces together. "That's absolutely brilliant!" she whispered back to him.

They watched as the press corp jumped right in with both feet too. One reckless Wizard even asked Harry if he'd bought the team just because it was the only way he could get to play professional Quidditch. Harry got most of the questions over the next two hours, and stuck to his own plans by giving mostly vague answers and offering platitudes about this being a 'rebuilding season'.

There was another uproar from the press when they found out that training camp, and then all practices during the season would be closed to both the media and the public. When the press conference was over around twelve thirty, Harry had exactly what he wanted. He had an angry press corp that would probably spend the rest of the summer bashing his team, and giving them no chance at all.

He had a catered lunch ready for everyone in the Canons organization and their own family. There was a fair bit of unrest within their own ranks, and before they ate, Harry addressed that. Coach got everyone seated, and then gave the floor to Harry.

"I know some of you are thinking that your new owner and coach have lost their minds," he began, and smiled at Coach. "There have been days over the last few months when he's wondered the same thing." That got him an uneasy chuckle, but no more.

"Many of you have been here a long time, and you stay here because you love the Canons. I'm here to tell you that we do too, and we need you to trust Coach, Ron, and the rest of us." He looked around at everyone, making as much eye contact at he could.

"What we've started here with the media is being done on purpose," he assured them. "We want the other teams to underestimate us. When we're done lunch, though, we want all of you to attend an afternoon practice. When you see us in action, I'm certain that you'll believe in us too."

That calmed his staff for the moment, and they enjoyed lunch together before heading back out into the stadium. Almost nobody inside the stadium noticed that Harry shielded the whole facility during the entire time they practiced, but that wasn't what most of the staff were concerned with. What they did see, though, convinced every last one of them that they were going to be a part of something really good this year.

The WWVN news on every channel was filled with stories about only one thing that night – the bombshell that had been dropped at the Canons press conference.

Harry and Ginny watched some of the coverage at home with the kids, and had a lot of fun with it.

"This couldn't be any better than if I'd had Luna script it for them," Harry said, not able to keep from laughing at the stories and commentary.

"Well, Canons fans," one commentator was saying, "no matter what a disaster this is for the Canons, the good news is that they can't suck any worse than last season!"

On another channel, the business reporters were weighing in. "Whoever Mr. Potter got to invest so he could buy the team better prepare for the big write-offs for the next couple of years," one of the pompous business experts predicted, which sent Harry practically into tears as he laughed.

"Too bad the front office isn't giving out details of ticket sales, or they'd find out that we're already at sixty-five percent sold out just since the news conference," he said, hugging Ginny tightly.

They'd been flipping through the channels, and the next one that they stopped at had them all laughing. This was a sports show with four so-called Quidditch 'experts'. It was the banner behind the four Wizards that had caught their attention.

'CHUDLEY CANONS: THE HAS-BEEN, NEVER-BEENS, WANNA-BE TEAM!'

There was a group picture of the team underneath that headline, and the analysis going on played on that theme.

"Are you sure they didn't get a copy of your gameplan?" Ginny asked Harry. "That's basically word for word what you wanted them to all think."

"The press is nothing if not predictable," Harry said as he flipped to the next channel.

Here was news about the rushes going on at toy stores, GamePortals, and BroomClosets everywhere as the brand new Canons products hit the shelves. The new real flying Canons Quidditch action figures were flying off the shelves, as was the new League Championship Quidditch GameWizard game. The BroomCloset had a whole new lineup of official Canons merchandise.

It didn't seem to occur to anyone to ask how Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes would have known in advance, but George's stores had boxes of Chudley Canons Chocolate Wheezes that either turned you into a forty-something Quidditch player, or a little baby Quidditch player. In either case, everything, including your skin, was turned Canon orange.

"That was pretty amazing that you were able to keep the whole toy thing a secret," Ginny commented.

"We had them all made at the Institute, and they were shipped by Translocator to all of the stores after the press conference started, so nobody outside of the Institute knew anything," Harry explained, mostly for the benefit of the kids, since Ginny had known about everything, and her question had been rhetorical.

They continued watching the fallout from the day's events until around nine, but then went to bed to get a good night's sleep. This had been a very entertaining day for everyone, but starting on Tuesday, the real work would start, and team owner or not, Coach would not be going easy on Harry or anyone else on the team.


	68. Work Hard, Play Harder

Chapter Sixty-Eight – Work Hard, Play Harder

Tuesday morning, Harry and Ginny reported to the first full day of training camp. They were there early, as was the rest of the team. Coach came out right on time and called the practice to order.

"Alright, ladies," he shouted at them. "Welcome to the real world of Professional Quidditch, instead of that fantasy land you all got to witness yesterday." He looked around at the smiling faces, and his answering grin was not one of amusement.

"Starting right now, you aren't team owners, or school team hotshots, or even ex-Canons star Keepers. Today you begin the real work that'll hopefully make you a team that won't suck as badly as the media experts are predicting."

Ron and Harry had been nice enough to warn their new teammates not to do anything to invite the wrath of the Coach – one of those things being laughing, so they were all able to keep from doing that, which seemed to disappoint Coach immensely that he hadn't gotten to have anyone do fifty pushups yet when they were already a couple of minutes into practice.

"I'm going to give you everything I have," Coach told them, "and I expect the same back from each of you. Now, let's get to work!"

What followed was an intense flying workout, followed by an hour of bludger practice, where coach took it easy on them for their first practice and only sent up six bludgers instead of the normal eight that he'd start using next week. Then there was a two hour scrimmage in which Coach ran everyone ragged before stopping for lunch.

"Alright, kiddies," he bellowed from the ground. "One hour for lunch. Be back out here in exactly sixty minutes!"

"How bad were we that we didn't even rank as ladies anymore?" Sebastian asked as they hit the ground.

Ron smiled at him. "When it comes to Coach, mate, the worse the name-calling, the better he likes you. I'd say right now he's about as happy as I've seen him in over twenty years."

Harry worked through lunch with Tracey, and was the only member of the team that got to do fifty pushups when he missed getting back from lunch on time by about five seconds. He was fired up today, though, and even Coach was impressed when after a full morning workout Harry was able to throw down those fifty pushups in under a minute.

They spent the afternoon doing conditioning training, and when practice was over at four-thirty, everyone on the team was exhausted as they went to hit the showers.

There was only one other Witch on the team besides Ginny and Liselle. Kimberly was one of the practice team Chasers, and was in her mid-twenties.

"There were other guys on the team last year that said Coach was taking it easy on us, but since it had been my first year, I didn't' believe them," she told Ginny and Liselle. She grinned at the other two women wearily. "I do now."

Liselle and Ginny were both smiling too. "This was harder than anything I've ever done in Quidditch," Liselle agreed. "It makes me wonder if I need to seek counselliing, though, because I really loved every minute of it."

Ginny laughed. "If you do, book me a spot too, because so did I."

They all met up outside of the locker rooms after showering and changing. Harry handed out bags to his thirteen fellow teammates.

"What's this?" Sebastian asked him curiously.

"Put this stuff on the sore muscles you either already have, or will have, just before you go to bed. By morning, you won't be sore at all."

Tristan looked into his bag skeptically, but Arianna was nodding enthusiastically. "Trust me, guys, this stuff works miracles. When Aaron and I finished our first day of practice last year we could barely walk by bedtime, and in the morning we were both fine again." Aaron nodded his agreement.

"Have a good night," Harry told them. "I'm going to get home while I can still do it under my own steam. See you all in the morning."

Harry and Ginny arrived at the cottage to find dinner ready and waiting for them, with Winky and Kreacher happily working around the kitchen.

"Welcome home, Harry and Ginny Potter," Kreacher said, leading them to chairs at the table.

"Thank-you, Kreacher," Ginny said as she sat down. "Where are the kids?"

Winky smiled at her. "The young masters have gone out to dinner tonight, and then will be entertaining the kids at the residence by holding their Quidditch practice there this evening, so you won't be bothered here. They asked Winky and Kreacher to help you with dinner tonight so that you didn't have to do that after your first day at training camp."

"This is wonderful," Ginny told her, giving Winky a hug. "Will you and Kreacher join us? You've made more than enough for all of us."

"Winky and Kreacher would like that very much," Winky told her happily.

So Harry and Ginny ended their first workout day with a quiet dinner with their faithful house elves, and then going upstairs where they helped each other with applying the amazing cream on their sore muscles. Ginny had fallen asleep as Harry had rubbed her sore back and shoulders, and so when he'd finished, he gently wrapped her in his arms, and went off to sleep too.

The kids had enjoyed their own adventures during the day. The first order of business for the day was fielding the rapid-fire questions about the Canons news from Kieran, Liam, and Emily.

"Your parents have got my Mum thinking that coming out of retirement would be a good idea," Liam told Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo. "Even Grandma joked about making a comeback – or at least I really hope she was joking."

Kieran had laughed at his cousin. "You've seen them play a couple of times, Liam. If I were you, I wouldn't believe all that media crap for a second. The Canons are going to be way better than those pundits are predicting."

Liam nodded. "Yeah, and that's why I'm afraid. Mum will want to get back in the game for sure if they really play well."

"I think Aunt Meghan could still play, mate," Kieran told him, which earned him a hard look from his cousin.

"You think way too much then," Liam suggested bluntly.

Lily had been laughing. "You sound like James when he found out about it," she told Liam.

Liam laughed too. "I'm glad to hear there was at least one lonely voice of reason."

She smiled at him sweetly. "Just remember that you want to be in the show someday. If you don't think Witches and Wizards can compete into their forties or even fifties, then what do you plan on doing with the other two hundred and seventy or so years of your life?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked Lily, now confused.

"Well, Witches and Wizards that take ReVive every day can expect to live for somewhere around three hundred years now – especially for us younger generations. I don't see any reason why we won't all start being healthy and strong enough to do things like professional Quidditch a lot later into our lives than we have been able to."

"I never really thought about it like that," Liam admitted.

After finishing dealing with all the questions, they had their own morning Quidditch workout. They only had a little work setting up the private dinner for Harry and Ginny, before they left the cottage in Kreacher and Winky's hands, and spent the day out sightseeing.

They did lunch in London with Scorpius, Brianna, and Nick, who told them all about how their jobs were going so far that week. Nick liked working with his mother and grandmother a lot better this summer so far, and Scorpius and Brianna loved being around the Ministry all day.

The Mall food court had been buzzing with the news about the Canons, and they'd all enjoyed hearing the spin that other Witches and Wizards were putting on it. They heard a few supporters, but mostly there seemed to be an overwhelming sentiment that the Canons were about to have another really bad year. The good news was that everyone wanted front row tickets for the train wreck they were predicting.

They all got together for dinner after everyone was done work, including Allie, and then had their practice at the residence so that they wouldn't bother Harry and Ginny. More than a hundred of the kids came out to watch, and they had a lot of fun during the practice, even if it wasn't maybe quite one of their best.

Every member of the Canons team was in about the same condition as Harry and Ginny had been, and were all sleeping in their beds early in the evening. That was certainly true for Aaron and Arianna, who were both out cold after Tracey and James had helped to put them in that state while massaging the cream into their sore bodies.

"The good news is that they'll be better by morning," Tracey was saying with a smile. "The bad news is that we're on our own for the evening. Any ideas?"

James grinned at her. "How about banana splits at the Diner? Then if we're still bored after that, we can always laugh at the sports shows. I really thought at first that all of the crap would really bug me, but it's actually been really funny for the most part."

Tracey smiled back. "I'm right there with you for the ice cream. You might be on your own for watching the news. Half the time with that all I want to do is hex those jerks for the things they're saying about Aaron and the others."

"Alright, I'll trade you the news for popcorn and a movie, but you'll have to throw in a glass of wine if it's a chick flick."

"Deal!" she told him, laughing. "Let's get out of here. They'll never even know we're gone."

Scorpius and Nick were sitting in Nick's room after getting home. They did this a lot both here and at Hogwarts – this kind of end-of-day wrap-up. At school, a lot of times that didn't take long, since they did so many things together. Now that Nick was working with his Mum, and Scorpius was over at the Ministry, they had more to talk about.

"So you got to just pop over to New York City after lunch to check out one of your mother's projects there?" Scorpius was asking from where he sat at Nick's desk.

"Yeah. That's the part of this job I like the best – the actual operations part of everything. When Mum and Grandma start talking galleons, it's a total snooze, but helping to keep all of the projects on track, and making all the decisions about that stuff is really brilliant."

"I'm really glad you're having fun this year," Scorpius told him with a smile.

"Like you're not," Nick told him with a smile. "Not only are you happy to be wallowing in the political mire, you have a beautiful, intelligent girlfriend that for some reason likes to do that with you."

"You could see if your Mum's looking for another assistant, and get her to hire Allie," Scorpius suggested.

Nick laughed. "I would, except I'm not sure I'd get any work done after that."

"You mean you're actually getting something done while you're out traveling the world with you Mum and Grandmother?"

"Hey, I'm not just a pretty face around there. I'll have you know that Grandma says I saved them ten million galleons when I pointed out that one of their projects that had been designed before Aunt Ginny's heating and cooling system had gone on the market hadn't been redesigned to fit one of the systems in, and they were already beginning to build it."

"How did that save that much money?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Well, they found out that they had a whole bunch of projects like that, and retro-fitting all of those buildings after they'd been completed would have cost that much extra. I like that whole architecture thing too. It's kinda neat how those Witches and Wizards basically design something from scratch in their heads, and then get to watch it become something real when it's built."

"Look out Wizarding World," Scorpius said. "The next great property developer is in the house!"

On Wednesday, Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt found themselves on their own for the day. Frederica had apparently decided that she didn't need fun coordinators to do everything for her, and was spending the day at Liam's house, while Hugo was doing the same with Emily.

"It didn't occur to me to get my brother's schedule – or Frederica's," Rose told the other three. "When did he go out and get his own life, and why didn't he at least send me a QuillMessage to let me know about it?"

Carolyn laughed. "I think it's great." She looked at Rose and Matt speculatively. "We need to get a little planning work done this morning, but would either of you be offended if one of your co-fun coordinators recommended some couples alone time for the rest of the day after we're finished with that? I love you and all, really I do, but Al and I don't get very much time with just the two of us."

Matt, Rose, and Al all laughed. "All in favour of the motion?" Matt said, raising his hand. "Motion carried unanimously, and the committee thanks the member for submitting such a brilliant suggestion."

"So what do we want to plan for the next few weeks?" Al asked them. "I think we shouldn't do anything for the rest of this week, but pretty much everyone had this weekend open."

Rose smiled. "How about if we get everyone to do that rotating dinner thing? We get four or five host houses, provide them with the food, and let the guests draw names to find out where they'll be going."

"Works for me," Carolyn told Rose. "Let's get to work on it."

Matt grinned at her. "In a hurry to get rid of us?" he teased her.

"No. Yes. Maybe," she told him.

They actually worked for close to two hours, starting with setting up host families, then confirming enough guest families to match with all of the hosts – even though they wouldn't know until Saturday where they were going, or in the case of the hosts, who was coming to dinner. When they were finished, Rose and Matt were more than happy to go and entertain themselves for the rest of the day, and left Al and Carolyn to do the same.

"So," she told him, wrapping her arms around his neck and looking into his adorable emerald eyes. "Now what?"

Al put his arms around her waist and held her close. "How about we make a picnic lunch, set up a portable pool, and swim and lay around all day?"

Carolyn pulled him close for a kiss. "That, Mr. Potter, is a very good plan. Why don't you set up the pool and a couple of lounge chairs, and I'll go get started on the lunch."

Over at the McCormack house, Kieran and Lily had spent the morning playing music and learning new songs. Kirley and Ana would usually start their mornings here by having them listen to songwriter demos, and have them pick out ones that they all liked. They'd practice them during the mornings, and then they had the studio to themselves each afternoon to record any songs they felt they had ready, and any others that they'd written themselves and wanted to record.

So far, they'd had a pretty good mix of ballad type songs and up-tempo pop songs. Today they were going to record two of those upbeat songs, and Ana had joined Kirley in the control room to watch.

"Look at those two," Ana told her husband quietly as the kids recorded the first song. "Every time I see them do this, it's like getting put under a spell or something. Whether they're making you cry with one of those ballads, or firing you up with happiness with a song like this, it's like being spellbound."

Kirley looked up at her, startled, then grinned at her.

"What?" she asked, catching his grin from the corner of her eye as she watched Kieran and Lily.

"SpellBound," he told her quietly, still grinning.

Ana turned her attention on him as what he'd meant registered, and she suddenly returned his grin. "That's brilliant!"

"Your idea," he countered, "or at least your word." She leaned over and kissed him rather seriously.

Kieran and Lily finished the song, and after pausing to make sure he wouldn't affect the recording, Kieran spoke to the couple in the control room.

"You're lucky we're professionals in here. It's very difficult to concentrate on the music when your parents are snogging in the control room," Kieran said, grinning at them. "We finished the song while you were busy, though, so you can stop recording any time now."

Ana and Kirley laughed, and he got to work on the controls – including completely and permanently deleting that last section of the recording. There was no way that was ever going to make a blooper reel someday.

Kieran and Lily came into the control room to hear the song played back.

"So what was all the hugging and kissing about?" Kieran asked his parents.

"You mean besides because it's a lot of fun?" Lily asked him, earning a laugh from all three of the McCormacks.

"Actually, it was because your mother came up with a name for your little duo. What do you think about 'SpellBound'?"

Kieran and Lily looked at each other and smiled. "I think it's perfect," Lily told Ana, giving her a hug.

"It certainly covers how we feel when we're playing together," Kieran added.

They talked about that while listening to the song playback, and then Kieran and Lily recorded the second song – one that had Ana dancing in the control room. After listening to it, and knowing they had another clean recording, Kirley set them free for the rest of the afternoon, while he played in the control room, and Ana got back to her own work.

"Can you believe that people actually get paid to do this?" Lily asked Kieran as they went for a walk outside.

Kieran laughed. "Well, yes, Lily, I can, since 'doing this' is what pays the bills in our family."

Lily stopped him and gave him a big hug. "I keep forgetting that your Mum and Dad don't do this just for fun."

"No, that's just a really great job perk," he said, hugging her back.

Kieran spent the rest of their afternoon showing Lily his favourite places on the estate grounds. When they finally got back to the house, it was nearly dinnertime, so after saying goodbye to Kirley and Ana, Lily kissed Kieran goodbye, and took the TransPortal back to the cottage.

The rest of that first week of training camp settled down as everyone's summer routine began to take shape. When Saturday finally arrived, everyone was ready for a break. Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt had everything ready for the gatherings at the four host houses, all that remained was to find out who was going where. The hosts were Teddy and Victoire, George and Marietta, Ron and Hermione, and Bill and Fleur.

The guest names were drawn at the cottage, and Harry, Ginny and the gang drew George and Marietta's, Grandma and Grandpa got Teddy and Victoire's, Percy, Penelope and the boys were at Ron and Hermione's, and Stewart and Isabelle would be at Bill and Fleur's.

With that done, the four coordinators had to put their food distribution plan into gear, which was really fairly simple, since they'd just ordered everything catered. They'd known the total number of guests, so they only had to tell the caterer how many at each of the four houses.

The four dinners were quite different, ranging from the two smaller dinner for fours that Bill and Fleur, and Teddy and Victoire hosted to the much busier, and louder dinners for twelve at Ron and Hermione's, and ten at George and Marietta's.

There could have been more at that last dinner, but James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were having their own party, mostly to introduce Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle to some other young adults their own age.

Al, Rose, Carolyn, and Matt had helped them with that too, and had managed to round up twenty available – in both senses of the word – Witches and Wizards, which hadn't really taken much effort to convince anyone when they found out who the guests of honour would be. When Rose had called Trinity to see if she and Christina could come, she'd even offered to name her firstborn child after Rose to thank her. Rose had fervently hoped that if she made good on that someday that the poor baby wasn't a boy.

"How do you think the other dinners are going?" Carolyn asked Al as they sat in George and Marietta's back yard after their own dinner had ended.

"Hopefully pretty good. I think Teddy and Victoire sounded a bit disappointed that they weren't getting a big group over, but once they get the chance to actually spend a quiet evening with Grandma nad Grandpa, they're going to find out it's pretty great to get them to yourselves for a few hours. With all the kids and grandkids they've got, that just almost never happens."

"This is pretty great too," she told him. "I don't even remember the last time we had dinner with just Frederica and her parents. There always seems to be at least one, and usually more family whenever we see them."

"Yeah, James gets to spend lots of time with Uncle George, but the rest of us haven't."

"That's probably because they're so much alike," Carolyn suggested.

"They are that – although James isn't nearly as nuts about practical jokes as he used to be. Since I was on the receiving end a lot, I don't think that's a bad thing."

On Sunday, Al and Rose both received qm's assuring them that the four dinners had been a big success, and that they should do it again sometime before the end of summer. Harry and Ginny spent Sunday afternoon at the residence – the first time getting there since training camp and the news conference. The kids swarmed them, asking questions and wanting to hang out with them, even if only for a few minutes, and they tried to do that for everyone.

They had a lot of fun with the kids, but there were two very funny moments while they were there. The first came when Harry and Ginny were talked into a game of League Championship Quidditch, and while Harry played himself in the game, his team lost. The second was when a small group of budding comedians buzzed them with their own real flying action figures, which the kids all thought was rolling on the floor hilarious.

So they all had a fun weekend, but on Monday, it was back to work – if that's what you could actually call it in their family. The members of their family that had 'real' jobs really loved what they did.

Playing Quidditch, singing and playing music, inventing jokes, or being in charge of fun probably wouldn't be considered real jobs in any other family in the world – they'd call all of those things 'recreation'.

If that was true, then during the last couple of weeks of July, there were a lot of recreational activities going on. Not including the daily activities that were part of everyone's jobs, the fun coordinators started what was going to be a summer-long campaign to give the parents special nights out that included no kids for the night, dinners, shows and other date night type entertainment, while the kids would be sent to other family members or to friend's houses for the night. Before July ended, every set of parents got one of those nights off.

The last Saturday in July was Harry's birthday. The kids had thought about sending Harry and Ginny on a trip for the weekend, but with Quidditch being so much work, they decided that a major time change for only two days wasn't worth it. Instead, they got together with Ginny and a few other family members and put something else together for the big day.

Harry woke up that morning to the smell of breakfast cooking, and he smiled to himself. He didn't really have any choice in that, since he was alone in bed. He got up, had a quick shower, and went downstairs to find a group of smiling kids already at the table. Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey had all come over too, and they all shouted 'Happy Birthday' to him when he came into the kitchen.

Ginny came over from where she was cooking, hugged and kissed him, and then sat him down at the table while she finished getting the last couple of platters of food to the table before sitting down next to him.

When they were finished eating, she handed him a small present, and he smiled as he opened it. Ginny and the kids looked more excited than he was. There was a shiny set of keys inside, and he looked into Ginny's smiling face.

"Time for a new sedan?" he asked her, grinning back.

Ginny laughed. "No, not this time. We decided that you were way overdue for something a little more fun. Why don't you go outside and take a look?"

Harry and Ginny both got up, and she led him outside, where he saw a shiny red sports car parked next to Ginny's Lamborghini. He turned and gave her a long hug and a kiss.

"It's incredible," he told her, walking around the car, which was just as amazing as Ginny's car.

"It's a 2021 Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo," James told his father. "And it'll go faster than our Lightningbolts."

Harry grinned at him. "I'm not sure I'd want to test that out the first time driving it, but why don't you and I take it for a spin?" James was all for that idea, and so, for the first time, it was the men that went roaring off in a fancy sports car while the girls watched them drive away.

"They'll be gone a while," Ginny told the rest of the group. "Let's get the kitchen cleaned up, and those of you who need to go help over at Teddy and Victoire's can go do that. The rest of us will keep him busy until it's time to take him there."

That wasn't too hard to do, since the boys were out playing for over an hour, then Harry let a very excited Arianna and Aaron both take it out for a spin. When they'd both gotten back, Aaron was grinning at Arianna.

"No," she told him flatly. "One of those is definitely not in the budget that Grandma Weasley has suggested we stick to. Our little cars will just have to do us, but maybe Uncle Harry will let you come over again sometime to play with his toys."

Harry had laughed at them. "Absolutely," he told Aaron. "Anytime."

When they were all finished taking a turn in the new car, including one trip with Ginny behind the wheel, and Harry hanging on for dear life, it was lunchtime, so they took Harry to a restaurant in London, and then finally took him to Teddy and Victoire's place for the afternoon surprise pool party they'd set up for him.

They actually used both Teddy's and Stewart's backyards, and there was a good turnout for the party. The kids had set up three of the portable pools, and there were some different games set up, including an area in the field behind their properties to play Quidditch.

Scorpius and Brianna were sitting in chairs beside one of the pools, taking a break from playing in the water so they could get a drink and relax. They both smiled when Teddy came and sat down with them.

"Having fun?" he asked them, and they both nodded.

"These parties are always fun," Brianna told him. "I think the addition of the pools this year is really great too."

Teddy nodded. "Uncle George told me they'll be hitting the stores next week, and I'm sure he'll have another big seller with them, even though they're not a gag product."

"They'll probably put them in the GamePortals to go with the LaserBroom games, and other outdoor games they carry there," Scorpius said. "They must've really pushed to get them ready for stores this fast, though."

"Probably," Teddy agreed. "How's things going with you?" he asked Scorpius. "I haven't had much of a chance to see you much so far this summer, except for the overnighter."

"Brianna and I are having fun at the Ministry during the week, and I've got team practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The rest of the time, stuff just seems to always come up to keep us busy. You and Victoire are just as busy, I'm sure."

Teddy nodded. "Yeah. Summer's always busy for her now with her stores all gearing up for back-to-school sales in August, and summer vacations with the new Travel division. I'm busiest with the housing end of things while the weather's nice. Winter and spring is busiest for the food program."

"Speaking of food programs," Scorpius said, sitting up, "I wanted to ask you about something." Teddy nodded that he should go ahead.

"You know about the kid's sports programs that Uncle Percy started?" Teddy nodded again.

"I've gone to help out at those places both last summer and this summer with him. A lot of the kids that go there are from pretty poor families, and quite a few of them don't look all that well-fed." He looked at Teddy and smiled.

"The Ministry probably wouldn't consider something like I have in mind – at least not when it came to the funding part of it – and I was thinking that if the Foundation might, that the Ministry would at least allow a partnership with them."

"What do you have in mind?" Teddy asked him.

"A breakfast or lunch program for the kids while they're there at the sports centres. That way we could be sure that they got at least one good meal every day."

Teddy thought about that. "You know that many of those families might already be getting food assistance from us," he pointed out.

Scorpius pointed over to where Aaron and Arianna were sitting. "Do you check to make sure the kids are actually fed? I bet Aaron and Arianna wished someone had when they were living with their aunt and uncle."

Teddy looked over at them too, a sad look on his face. "That's for sure," he agreed.

"I'm not suggesting that's something we can do," Scorpius went on to say. "I'm just saying that this is a way that we'd know for sure that they were getting fed without getting bogged down dealing with any of those pesky rights to privacy issues."

"I do like the idea," Teddy told him. "Why don't you and Brianna put something together, and submit it to your Dad and if the Ministry's interested, I'm willing to try it out in a few test locations and see how it goes."

"Thanks, Teddy," Scorpius said, smiling up at him as Teddy stood again to move on.

"You're welcome, Scorpius. Something like that might even be a start to having the Ministry work with the Foundation instead of trying to get in our way half the time."

Brianna smiled brightly at Scorpius after Teddy had left them. "That went well," she told him. "Now you just have to sell it to Uncle Percy, and maybe the Minister of Magic, and you'll have your very first political victory."

Scorpius laughed. "If the kids are lucky, that is. They'd be the real winners."

The afternoon playing made way for an outdoor dinner that was just a casual, buffet-style setup where everyone filled up plates and then mostly sat in the chairs that were scattered into small clusters all over the two yards.

Harry and Ginny sat with Kirley and Ana during dinner, and they mostly listened as Ana told them about what she had in mind for marketing the kid's quickly developing music. They'd established how much information Lily had passed on to her parents first, and then Ana had outlined her plan.

"The kids may have close to two albums ready by the end of the summer," Ana told them.

"What I'm thinking of doing is releasing the first album the week before school starts. I'd like to do something really different, though. I want to keep who they are a secret."

Ginny and Harry both grinned at her. "We certainly don't have a problem with that," Ginny told her, "but why?"

"It hasn't been done before, and it would cause a huge media stir. We wouldn't use them at all in the first videos, so the only people that might recognize them will be the ones that heard them at the wedding or at your anniversary party." She took a break for a moment to eat, so Kirley took over.

"We're sure their music will be a hit whether anyone knows who SpellBound is or not, and that unknown might even help make them an even bigger hit."

Ginny nodded. "You're probably right. How long would you keep their identities hidden?"

Ana answered her. "We're thinking we'd reveal them New Year's Eve by having them perform at the Ministry of Magic party at the Emerald City Centre."

Harry grinned at her. "That's a great plan, Ana. Have you thought about merchandising too?"

"I'm just starting on that part of it. Why? Any ideas?"

"Several, actually," he said with a laugh. "Talk to Luna, and I bet she'd be interested in putting together a deal for a Virtual GameWizard game. If you can be a DragonRider, why couldn't you be a rock star? You're not going to have them revealed until New Year's Eve, so maybe TeenWitch dolls that will transform into Lily and Kieran dolls at the stroke of midnight, or are activated by something that happens during their concert, so that the kids that get them for Christmas all want to watch the show. Then there could be signature SpellBound instruments…" Ginny put her hand on his arm.

"Alright, Lily, take a breath," she told him, while Ana and Kirley laughed. She turned to Ana.

"What he's trying to say is that Luna would be more than happy to work with you on merchandising.

"I'll get in touch with her next week," Ana said.

"Or we could talk later and set up a meeting," Luna said as she came up next to them.

"Sorry we're late," she said, giving Harry a hug and kiss. "We're juggling family stuff today." Neville shook Harry's hand and hugged Ginny, then they joined the other two couples. Lance had already gone to hang out with the kids.

"I take it you're talking about plans for your little musical phenoms," she told Ana, who nodded. "I've actually put some thought into that since hearing them at the anniversary party. When we get together, I'll show you some of the ideas I came up with."

"That'd be great, Luna. Thank-you," Ana told her.

Luna smiled at her. "Oh, I have an ulterior motive," she confessed. "If I'm guessing right, and they go multi-platinum, then I'm sure I can bring in at least ten times that in merchandising, maybe twenty."

"This is sounding like more and more fun all the time," Kirley said. "But since this is supposed to be a party, why don't we drop the business for the rest of the night?"

After dinner, they had a quiet evening where everyone relaxed and enjoyed spending time together, instead of doing a big dance or games. Harry, Ginny, and the kids left for the cottage at around eleven, at the same time that most of the other guests were heading home. They were all soon in their beds, happy, but tired, from another really great day brought to the family by their friendly neighbourhood fun coordinators.

The summer holidays were now just over the halfway point, and the Hogwarts students had the four and a half weeks of August left before September first rolled around again. With so much still going on during those last weeks, though, none of the kids were really thinking about going back to school at all.


	69. The Summer of Misdirection

Chapter Sixty-Nine – The Summer of Misdirection

The furor over the mid-July Canons press conference had long since died down by the first of August. With the near-total media blackout at training camp, though, the sports pundits continued to create their own fodder for the WWVN shows that they hosted or participated on.

Harry loved everything they were doing, since it was even better than he'd hoped for. He and Ginny were both having a lot of fun practicing with the Canons, and for him, getting to spend his days playing with Ginny and training Liselle was the best part of the summer. The fact that he was watching his business plan come alive and succeed was an added bonus.

He was having his Monday morning meeting with Coach and Ron, just like they had been doing for months, except since training camp started, they just had it a little earlier in the morning.

"How's the team coming along, Coach?" Harry asked him with a smile.

"Are you asking as owner or player?" Coach asked in return.

Harry laughed. "This is strictly and owner-coaches meeting," he told the two men.

"Well, in that case, I'd say their on the way to being one of the best teams I've ever worked with – but if you tell any of the players I said that, I'll deny it."

"Then everything is pretty much ready to go for season opening," Harry told them. "Tickets are sold out already, including the ones we have to reserve for the opponent teams. The new merchandising is way ahead of plan, and we've sold all of the advertising slots for all of our games – home and away matches."

"I didn't know the team owned that," Ron said.

"They didn't before," Harry said with a grin. "The networks were more than willing to give me a big discount to buy them all because of the way last season had been going – and because I bought everything for the next ten years."

Ron grinned back at him. "I vaguely remember seeing something in our coaching contracts about an incentive that involved WWVN ratings."

Harry nodded. "There is. If we get the viewers, that part of your incentive might be one of the better parts of your contracts."

Even Coach smiled at that. "I'm feeling the urge to work even harder," he told Harry and Ron.

"Me and my big mouth," Harry said, pretending to groan.

"Is there anything else we have to get done on the business side of things?" Coach asked Harry.

"No. Let's let Tracey and the front office handle everything with that. We can concentrate on working with the team right through to opening day. You know I'll leave that, and game planning up to you guys, but I'd like to suggest that while it might be fun to see how long we could string the other teams along with just scraping out wins for a while, a little power payback this season might be even more effective for the long term. This isn't Hogwarts Quidditch, and doing it that other way is pretty risky against professional teams."

Ron and Coach both nodded.

"That's everything, then," Harry said, standing up. "Come on, Ron, we've got to hurry up or we'll be late for practice, and I'm not so fond of pushups that I want to start doing them first thing Monday morning."

During August, Harry directed a carefully orchestrated campaign to take advantage of, and heighten the media buzz. While the strict ban on the media and public continued at practices, he coached the young players on media relations, and then allowed them to start doing interviews. Catch phrases from the players and coaches such as 'trying our best', and 'better than last year' were repeated and passed along the sporting news circuit. Nearly every one of those comments were interpreted by the experts to mean 'the Canons are going to suck this year too'.

Things were busy over at the McCormack's too. The kids had recorded thirteen songs in July, all of which Kirley and Ana were sure would be hits. In August, not only did they record fifteen more, but just for fun, they did up eleven Christmas songs that they could release for the holiday season.

While the kids were busy writing, practicing and recording new songs, Ana and Luna were busy with marketing plans, making merchandising decisions, and dealing with the business end of putting a new group out there. Kirley worked on the music, and to start, put together some very creative videos to go with the kid's songs. He shot some videos with the kids too, but none of them would be released until the New Year.

After Ana and Luna had their first couple of meetings during the first week of August, that weekend, they got together with Harry, Ginny, and the kids to talk about the business end of everything, and what they were going to need.

Ana and Kirley served everyone drinks in their sitting room, and when they were all settled, got down to work. Ana handed out sheets of parchment to everyone, then started with her part of the discussion.

"Luna and I have worked up a business plan, including projections for costs, sales, and profit expectations. The only issue we have is that our normal investors won't touch it without seeing the kids and putting them out there first and seeing how they do in local test markets."

Luna smiled. "And I like Ana's idea better. It'll protect the kids for a while, and the way we'll market them is genius."

"You'll see the cost estimates there in the plan," Ana continued. "Luna suggested that you'd know investors that would be willing to back something like this. We don't think it's a risk, but I do understand why investors that don't get to see the kids first would."

Harry smiled at Ana and Kirley. "I'm sure I can get the investors," he told them. "Luna, why don't you and Ana meet with Fleur and set up an investment company – maybe SpellBound Investments? Make Ana the account manager, and when you're ready, let me know, and I'll get the investment capital, and have it moved there. What does the industry normally want as a percentage?" he asked Ana.

"They usually want fifty-five to sixty," she told Harry. "We've never allowed more than forty-nine for our clients so that we keep controlling interest, and usually get forty-five. Mostly it's that high because of the high rate of failure. We get the better rates because our artists rarely fail."

Harry smiled at her. "I'll assure your new investors that this won't fail, and they'll be willing to take thirty-five."

Kirley and Ana were both smiling now. "You must be very convincing," Kirley told Harry.

"Let's just say I have a pretty good record for being able to pick 'em," Harry told him, smiling too.

With the business settled that quickly, Kirley went on to tell them what he was doing, and even to show them the first couple of videos he had ready.

"Those are really great," Ginny told him. "They go with the songs, and even though the kids aren't in them at all, it still really works. Is that how you're going to do all of them?"

Kirley nodded. "We're doing some of them with the kids already, but we'll hold them back until after they've gone public. Until then, it's going to be all about the music, and we don't see how anybody who loves music won't love at least some of their songs."

"Will everything be ready for that back to school week?" Ginny asked.

Ana answered. "It'll be tight, depending on how long it takes to work out the investment end of things, but yes, we should be ready."

Kirley nodded. "We'll blitz the WWVN music channels, the WWN, and even the print media with advertising the week before that, and launch the first songs and videos the weekend we put the album on sale. Luna and Ana have maybe the best projections I've ever seen for that first week – and I've been around a while."

Lily and Kieran had just been sitting back and letting the grownups deal with the boring stuff while they watched them play. Kirley was probably the only one of the five of them that was like the kids, and would rather be doing music than talking business, so for Harry, Ginny, Luna, and Ana, this was their idea of fun.

"Do you have any questions?" Ana asked Kieran and Lily.

"We're good with you taking care of all of the business," Lily told Ana. "The games and dolls are cool. Who's designing or picking out the clothing line? I don't know about Kieran, but assuming I have to wear the stuff, I don't want to look like a total git."

Luna grinned at Lily. "I've recruited Fleur to pick them, but you two will get final say first. That won't come out until next year, though."

"That works for me," Lily agreed. "Can I have my own jewellery and perfume lines too?"

The women all laughed. "Why don't we get all of this going first, and we can talk about that for the future," Luna suggested. "Those are really great ideas, though."

With everything that was going on in August, trying to fit in parties for all of the birthdays during the month was looking a bit unlikely. The fun coordinators had looked at that in the first week of August, and had come up with the solution of just having one big party at the Burrow on the second weekend of August for Ginny, Al, and Hugo.

They did also plan dinners or some other entertainment on their actual birthdays too, but having the one party fit better into everyone's schedules, and was unanimously approved by the family.

For Ginny's fortieth birthday, the kids set up dinner for two at the restaurant that Harry had taken her back on her seventeenth birthday, and then he took her dancing after that before coming back home to a cottage that was empty except for a bottle of champagne on ice, and a note that told them they'd get their kids back after work the next day.

Al celebrated his fifteenth birthday with a dinner for two of his own with Carolyn, while for Hugo's thirteenth, the kids all went to Marauders Paradise to spend the day doing rides and playing at the Water Park. That had been Emily's first trip there, and Hugo had loved getting to show her all the great things there were to do on the island.

The Hogwarts letters came out in August. James was Gryffindor's new Quidditch captain as well as a prefect. The Raveclaw's already knew what would be in their letters, but now they could talk about it with their friends when the WiComm calls and qm's started coming in to them, asking how they'd done, or whether they'd had anything extra in their packages.

With Rose and Scorpius being named their fifth year prefects, and Matt their Quidditch captain, they were all pretty happy. Hugo and Kieran were going into third year, so they were both glad to finally get their Hogsmeade permission forms so they could join the rest of the New Marauders in town this year.

Lily had thirteen 'O's' for last year, and completed all classes through fourth year. This year, she was moved into fifth year with her brother and cousins. The plan was that she'd take three optionals for the first half of the year, the other two optionals for the second half, and then write all twelve OWL's at the end of the year.

The rest of the now fifth year Ravenclaw Marauders had earned straight 'O's' for their fourth year classes. James had earned six 'O's', and three 'E's' in his OWL's, but had decided that he was only going to take seven sixth year classes, dropping Care of Magical Creatures, and History.

Carolyn and Brianna had three 'O's', and six 'E's' each from their third year, and Hugo had earned one 'O', three 'E's', and three 'A's'. The rest of their group – Allie, Kieran, Emily, and the others - had all done as well or better than they'd hoped, and as the last weeks of summer wound down, they all started getting excited about going back to school again.

While Lily and Kieran might have the coolest job of the summer, and being fun coordinators was certainly great too, over at the Ministry of Magic, Scorpius and Brianna had been having a pretty great summer of their own.

After talking with Teddy at Harry's birthday party, they'd put their proposal together and submitted it to Percy. They got to watch as it moved up the chain, ultimately landing on the Minister of Magic's desk. They were invited to come an present the proposal to him personally, and then had to wait for a decision to come down.

Friday, August twentieth was their last day to work for the summer, so Percy and Arthur took them out for lunch to thank them. The kids were surprised when Teddy and Victoire joined them for lunch too, and thrilled when they found out why.

"We thought you'd like to know before you finished working for the summer that your proposal has been approved by the Minister," Teddy told them.

"We went with the lunch program," Percy told them, "and we'll be starting it in September, at six of the program sites. If it works well, we'll expand it throughout the program next year."

"That's great!" Brianna told them, giving Scorpius a hug. "I knew you could do it!"

"I can tell you that the Minister was impressed," Arthur told them. "I heard a rumour that your grandfather wasn't taking the news all that well, though. He's apparently very disappointed that you're doing so well, and getting talked of so highly at the Ministry."

"That's a real shame," Scorpius said, grinning. "It must be hard for him, since the disinherited members of the family are supposed to live out their lives in misery and squalor. If I'm a disappointment, then he'd be chewing on the furniture if he knew how well Teddy's doing."

Brianna, and the adults all laughed, and Teddy handed both Scorpius and Brianna an envelope.

"Well, we can't have you two living in squalor now, can we," he told them. "That's just a little something from the four of us to say thank-you for working so hard this summer, and for coming up with such a great plan for helping those kids. The Ministry can't do bonuses, but there's nothing that says we can't."

The 'little something' was ten thousand galleons each, and Brianna was out of her chair and hugging everyone in a flash. Scorpius had to wait his turn, but followed behind her.

"Thank-you," she told all of them. "I know Harry and Ginny would help me out with anything I wanted, but this is going to be really great being able to do some things on my own now."

"You're welcome," Victoire told her. "Some of the other kids might be doing all the flashy jobs, but we think that what you two are doing is really important. I hope you'll keep working at the Ministry during your summer holidays."

Scorpius and Brianna were both smiling. "As long as they'll let us, there isn't anything else we'd rather be doing."

There was another luncheon going on at a different restaurant with Nick, Penelope, and Molly. They'd ordered their food, and the drinks had already been delivered.

"How'd you like working with us this summer, instead of being at the Ministry?" Molly asked him.

"I loved it, Grandma," he told her with a big smile. "Not so much the financial part of it, but the operations, and the construction was great."

The two women both laughed. "We liked you better on that side of things too," Penelope told him. "You did show us enough of your business skills for us to know why you didn't take Arithmancy."

Nick laughed too. "I'm sorry I didn't inherit that from either of you, but I can live with what I did get."

"So can we, Nick," his grandmother told him. "You've done a great job this summer, and we'd like you to do this again next summer, except we think you should try a whole summer working just for our architectural company, since you seem to have liked that the best. Let's find out how good you could be at it."

"I'd like that a lot," he told her.

He watched as his mother grinned at him, then handed him an envelope. "Then you're going to love this," she told him.

Nick did, and showed them by giving them both big hugs before sitting down again. The rest of their lunch time was pretty much just talking about back to school and about some of the work that was currently on the go, and then Molly and Penelope earned more hugs when they told him to take the rest of the day off to go hang out with Allie.

Saturday, August twenty-first was back-to-school shopping day. It was also the day that SpellBound hit the stores and airwaves. The WWN and WWVN had been hyping the new releases all week, and the stores that carried 3D-VMP's and music were advertising that they'd have the debut album, or any of the album singles available for sale when stores opened Saturday morning.

They were sitting down for breakfast when Ginny got a WiComm call from Ana, who started talking excitedly as soon as she saw Ginny's face.

"Have you got your WWVN on?" she asked Ginny.

"No," Ginny answered her. "Why?"

"Just turn it on to any news channel or to one of the music stations."

Ginny turned on the smaller set they had in the kitchen. They didn't use that one much, but every once in a while it came in handy. They all watched in fascination at what was being shown on the news.

"It started happening within an hour of their music going on WWN and WWVN," Ana was telling Ginny. "In every time zone, as stores open, they're being flooded with teens. The music industry can track those sales, and it's over a quarter of a million, and stores haven't even opened yet here, or in western Europe, and won't open in the Americas for hours!"

Lily was bouncing in her chair with excitement. "So they like us?" she asked loudly enough so Ana could hear.

Ana laughed. "I'd say off the charts love you, sweetie," she told her. "We're talking biggest selling album in Wizarding World history kind of love you."

Ginny switched the channel to WMVN (Wizarding Music Video Network), and they got to watch one of the new videos, and then listen to the VJ's talk up how great it was. Lily had been dancing in the kitchen by now, and James laughed as he watched her.

"Mum, before you let her go on stage, I hope that you guys are going to seriously consider giving her dance lessons."

"What's wrong with my dancing?" Lily asked him, still twirling and dancing around.

"Um, everything?" he suggested. "I'm sure you can learn to dance, sis, but if you danced like that on stage in front of everyone, I'd have to pretend I didn't know you."

"That's alright," she told him. "I'm sure Ana can teach me, or find someone who can," she told him, still dancing around.

"Thanks for the call, Ana," Ginny told her. "You're still on for shopping today?"

Ana nodded. "We'll meet you at the Mall for nine. See you then. Congratulations, Lily!"

"Too bad you won't be able to tell anyone about it," James told Lily.

"Not really," she told him. "If all the kids at school found out now, it'd be crazy at Hogwarts. This way we can settle in, and hope that when we come back in January that it's not quite as bad."

While they ate breakfast, they watched the second video release as it was played on the WMVN. Then they watched more positive commentary, and then a repeat of the first video again. It had only been eight when Ana called, so they could take their time eating, clean up, and still be at the Mall before nine.

They were meeting everyone at the food court this morning, and the first thing they noticed was that there was almost nobody there having a morning coffee or breakfast, with the exception of a few older Witches and Wizards.

It was easy to tell where everyone was – there were literally hundreds of teens and their parents lined up in front of the GamePortal, and the two other stores in the mall that sold 3D-VMP music.

"Let's stay away from those stores," Ginny suggested as they waited for everyone else to get there.

Arianna walked over to them first, and had a big hug for James, and an extra special one for Lily. "You guys are awesome!" she whispered to Lily. "No wonder everyone is going so nuts today."

There were more hugs for her as the others joined their group. When all of the cousins, corresponding aunts and uncles, boyfriends, girlfriends, and their parents had all arrived, they split up the jobs, and then broke out into mostly girl and guy shopping groups, with plans to meet for lunch in the private banquet room that the fun coordinators had booked for everyone.

The only new introductions for most of the family were Emily's and Liam's parents, although everyone had known who Meghan McCormack – now Meghan Murray was, even if they hadn't met her before.

Harry and Kirley took on the daunting task of getting school books and supplies for fifteen Hogwarts students. Armed with all of the lists, and a bag of Translocators, they went out into the fray to pick up textbooks, reams of parchment, quills, inks, and everything else they needed.

"You go through this every year?" Kirley was asking Harry as they went through Flourish and Blotts, picking up the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth year textbooks.

"Pretty much," Harry told him. "I haven't always been the only one doing the supplies, though. If you think this is incredible, try going with the girls all afternoon while they do their thing – then you'll know why I volunteer for this."

Kirley laughed. "I'll take your word for it, and let Ana give me the details of that tonight."

Harry had gotten to the bottom of the first year list, to where the 'additional supplies' were listed, and said a bad word under his breath, but Kirley was a musician with a finely tuned ear, and overheard him.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Besides that the sky has fallen in because the World's greatest and noblest Wizard just swore."

"The older kids have the program already, but Frederica and Liam need the VirtualAstronomer to go with their textbooks."

"And?" Kirley asked.

"They're exclusive to the GamePortal stores," Harry supplied. "The one with the thousand or so kids lined up out front, and packed into it." Suddenly he snapped his fingers and pulled out his WiComm. When he saw Natalie's smiling face he grinned back.

"How would you or Owen like to take a break from the nuthouse you must be in right now, and I'll buy you a drink in the food court," he asked her.

"I'd love to, Harry," she told him. "And since I can see where you are too, how many do you need?"

Harry and Kirley both laughed. "Two," Harry told her. "Thanks, Natalie. We'll be about twenty minutes getting out of here. How long will you need?"

Harry watched as Natalie looked around. "Better make it a half hour. This place is crazier than for anything else we've ever had here."

"We appreciate it, Natalie. I'll throw in one of those cinnamon sticky buns you like. See you in a half."

"Sure, but make it two, with one to go, and I'll bring it back for Owen. It doesn't look like he'll be getting out of here any time soon. I don't want to say it out loud, but do you need any of _those_ too?"

"No, thanks, Natalie. Kirley's got connections in the business and hooked us up already."

They ended the call, and Kirley and Harry added the last few books they needed to their stacks, checked them out, and Translocated them all to fifteen different bedrooms. When that was done, they went to the food court, ordered the food and drinks, then found a table and sat down to wait for Natalie.

"Hey, stranger," Natalie said as she came up to them and sat down next to Harry. She gave him a big hug, and then smiled at Kirley too. "Hey, Kirley. Nice to see you again."

She handed Harry the two VirtualAstronomers. "I'm surprised you didn't think about getting those earlier in the week, with all the hype about you-know-who."

"I've been a bit busy at work," Harry told her. "You can't even say it out loud?" he asked.

"I don't want to take any chances. If you want to hear teenage Witches scream in excitement, go ahead and try. Since I've been listening to that for," she looked at her watch, "over two hours, I'm pretty much over the novelty of the whole experience. Whoever they are, though, I do love the music," she said, winking at the two men.

Harry and Kirley laughed. They talked for about fifteen minutes before Natalie decided she should go back and help Owen again. He didn't actually manage the store anymore, since he was far too busy as CEO of GamePortal, but he did still like to help out on days like this. Some people had a very strange sense of what fun was.

The had less than an hour until lunch, so they went to Scribbulus Everchanging Inks to get the Quills and inks, then moved on to the restaurant. They were the first two there, but the others all came in quickly enough, and soon they were able to sit down and place their orders.

"How's the supply shopping coming?" Ana asked Kirley and Harry. The two couples were sitting at a corner so they could easily talk together.

"Getting books for fifteen was an adventure," Kirley told her. "Thanks to Harry's connections with Natalie and Owen, though, we probably saved two hours waiting in line for the VirtualAstronomers for Liam and Frederica, and we've gotten the quills and inks."

"What's left on the list?" Ginny asked them.

"Parchment at the stationary store, two cauldrons, and the various potions kits and supplies," Harry answered. "Is your sister and brother-in-law doing Liam's wand?" he asked Kirley.

"Yes, Marietta and Meghan are taking both kids after lunch."

"You'll be done in a couple of hours, then," Ana said. "Any chance you want to trade? The girls aren't even halfway through yet."

Harry grinned at her. "Not a chance. When we're done, though, we'll come and give you some moral support."

"What does that mean?" she asked suspiciously.

Ginny answered for him. 'Usually it means they carry the bags for us. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's actually very helpful to not be loaded down with them while the girls are asking you to check out what they're trying on."

"Do the guys had the boy's shopping under control too?" Ana asked Ginny.

"They'll get the school robes for sure, and some clothes," she assured Ana. "Plan on needing to make one more trip for Kieran and Liam, though. The guys aren't so good at taking care of the boring things – like underwear, or more than two outfits. How anyone can be happy with a two option wardrobe is beyond me."

Harry and Kirley laughed. "Two outfits is a four option wardrobe, Ginny," Kirley told her. "You just need to make sure that both shirts can go with either pair of pants."

Ana rolled her eyes and smiled patiently. "Yes, Ginny, I do dress him."

Ginny grinned at Ana. "_Really?"_ She pretended to look Kirley up and down. "I would have thought you'd be more interested in _undressing_ him – on a regular basis."

The two women laughed as Kirley actually blushed a little. "That is so cute!" Ginny gushed. "Who'd have ever thought that Kirley Duke would blush over something like that?"

"He's blushing because he knows you're right. I guess I should have been more precise and say that I pick out his clothes."

Ginny was still smiling. "Maybe, but it wouldn't have been as much fun."

While they had lunch, Ana got regular updates on how sales were going for the album. By the time they'd finished eating the first day sales had climbed past a million, and the stores in North and South America still hadn't opened.

When Ginny and Ana went to gather up the girls again, Harry took a moment to talk to George, Percy, and Ron.

"Ginny and the girls don't think you guys will get everything the boys need for school today," he told them with a smile. "Why don't you surprise them and try and keep them focused long enough to do that?"

"We always get them everything," Ron protested.

Harry grinned at him. "Really? If you haven't shopped for underwear and socks, a couple of extra pairs of shoes, and somewhere between five and preferably ten complete outfits, then you're not even close to their expectations, mate."

Ron groaned. "Why do they think the boys need a trunk full of clothes like that? They're going to have a couple of favourites, and the rest of them will just sit in there anyway. And what's wrong with the underwear and socks they've got? I've still got underwear from when we went to Hogwarts."

The other men all laughed. "First of all, that last part was way too much information – even for a best mate. You're probably right about what they'll wear, but see what you can do, Ron. You might find out that you have a very appreciative wife if she finds out she doesn't have to come back out here next week to do more shopping for Hugo."

Kirley and Harry actually only took just over an hour to finish the supplies shopping. They put Translocators on those purchases and sent them to join the textbooks and other school necessities. Then they went back into the fray and caught up with the girls, who already had an impressive load of bags for them to take over. What eight mothers and seven daughters could accomplish in an hour was truly astounding, and Penelope and Meghan even managed to fit in getting two wands as well!

The two men watched in awe as the girls proceeded to play dress up, and put together what looked like enough clothes that the girls wouldn't have to wear the same thing twice between now and Christmas, when Harry knew they'd do this all again.

The fun coordinators hadn't specifically set up anything special for dinner tonight, but they had nudged things along a bit, so when the shopping was done, they split up into smaller groups that were doing their own thing for the rest of the evening.

George, Marietta, and Frederica were having Liam and his parents, brother and sister over for dinner. Percy and Penelope were taking Brianna, Allie, and Allie's Mum and Dad out for dinner. Ron and Hermione were hosting Matt's and Emily's families for the evening, and Harry, Ginny, and the kids were having Kirley, Ana, and Kieran at the cottage. James and Arianna had their own plans. They'd done their own thing all day anyway – except for joining everyone else at lunchtime.

With only eight people at the cottage for dinner, it was a nice change to the normally frenetic pace of things there. The big topic continued to be about how well SpellBound's album and singles were selling. Once the stores in the Americas opened, those sales figures kept rising. When Kirley, Ana, and Kieran left for the night at around nine, sales were over two million worldwide, and there was still most of the day left to go in the big city markets of the west coast of that continent.

When their guests had left, Harry and Ginny sat up with the kids for a while and watched WMVN with the kids. There was certainly a lot of speculation about who the members of SpellBound were, but mostly the guests and call-in viewers just wanted to talk about how great their music was. There were some that suggested that they weren't being revealed because they were probably a really ugly old hag and wizard.

Those comments had really tickled Lily, and she'd had fun watching the coverage, but she was actually tired out from their day of shopping, and all of the excitement about Spellbound. She got up, hugged her parents, and headed upstairs to bed.

Harry and Ginny weren't far behind her, and then Al and Carolyn were again on their own in the sitting room. Brianna was staying overnight at Percy and Penelope's, and James was staying with Aaron, Tracey, and Arianna. Before they snuggled together to watch a movie, Carolyn went and got one of the blankets that were kept just for such cuddling emergencies, and then lay back down on the sofa, wrapped in Al's gentle embrace, and settled down to watch a movie that neither of them would be likely to see through to the end.

"Finally, we're alone," Carolyn told him quietly. "It was a great day, but your sister has way more shopping in her than I do. I was ready to come home two hours before we did."

Al kissed her cheek. "Tell me about it. Uncle Ron was on a mission to make sure that Mum and Hermione couldn't complain that he didn't get us to buy enough of everything. Unfortunately, he was having issues. None of us really mind the idea of a few extra outfits, but don't try and dress us up loke a bunch of total dorks just so you can say we all have lots of clothes."

"That bad?" Carolyn asked him.

"Let's just say that we can all be sure that Aunt Hermione and Rose probably don't let him pick out his own clothes. Maybe all of these years surrounded by Canons orange has warped his ability to see other colours, or coordinate them."

Carolyn laughed and smiled at him. "Talking about your Uncle Ron's fashion sense – or lack of it is fascinating, Al, really – but can't you think of anything better to do?" she asked suggestively.

Al reached a hand up from where he'd had it wrapped around her waist, and brushed her cheek and hair as he looked into her smiling eyes. "Yes, I can," he told her before kissing her.

The movie played on, unnoticed by them, and even when they'd again snuggled together after a rather serious snogging session, the only effect the WWVN had on them was to lull them both to sleep.

Sunday during the summer had, by necessity, become one of Harry's days at the residence. Even with full-time Quidditch filling his weekdays, he wanted to make sure that he was at the residence at least once a week, and most weeks managed to fit in one evening there too.

The Sunday after their big shopping trip, Harry and Ginny got Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and isabelle to all go with them to the residence with their different sports cars. They then spent the next three hours in the morning taking every single kid that wanted to go for a five minute or so trip out for a ride so that they could experience what it was like to ride in some of the coolest cars in the world. Teddy's, Harry's, and Ginny's cars were the favourites, but there were enough teenaged girls and boys willing to go for rides with Victoire, Isabelle, and Stewart, that there weren't any real problems making all of the kids happy.

They raced back to the cottage for lunch together, then the rest of the day was spent relaxing before Harry and Ginny would be back in training camp for the last week of the summer.

The kids that had those 'real' jobs were done work. James basically moved in to Aaron and Arianna's house for the last nine days they'd be home, wanting to spend as much time with Arianna as he could – even though she was gone to work during the day. Kieran and Lily stuck with their summer schedule, since there were still lots of things that Kirley and Ana wanted them to do before they went back to school, and wouldn't be able to actually do any recording sessions.

That left the fun coordinators with the job of planning entertainment for Nick, Scorpius, Brianna, and Allie, along with Hugo, Frederica, Emily, and Liam.

They did two day trips that week to Marauders Paradise – one with Lily and Kieran, and one without them. The Tuesday and Thursday Quidditch practices were done in the mornings instead of the evenings. There was an afternoon at the Mall that was mostly for the girls, and one 'date' night on Thursday, where they all went out to dinner together in Chudley, then popped over to their island to play for a couple of hours that were supervised by Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle.

The last family function of the summer was a back-to-school party at the Burrow. Over this summer in particular, these family gatherings had grown quite a bit to include the boyfriend and girlfriend families that were being collected along the way. Tracey's parents were there, as were the rest of the parents for Allie, Matt, Emily, Kieran, and Liam.

Everyone enjoyed the afternoon pool party, and what seemed to be an endless line of Quidditch matches, before being treated to a Kreacher-Winky dinner extravaganza. They ended the day with an evening of dancing to the sweet acoustic sounds of SpellBound, with special guest Kirley McCormack.

On Sunday, Harry and Ginny had James, Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna to themselves, with Arianna being the only exception. September first was on a Wednesday this year, and for the first time since Teddy had started his first year at Hogwarts, Harry would not be able to see the kids off, since he'd be at work. Since he wasn't going to be able to do that, he wanted to spend as much time with them as he could until they all left.

They went to the residence for a couple of hours to visit with the kids there that would be going back to Hogwarts – or starting there for the first time, then set up a portable pool in the yard, and did basically nothing but hang out together for the rest of the day.

On Monday, while Harry, Ginny, and Arianna were at work, Lily spent one last day at Kieran's house working on the third 'one more last song' that the two kids had wanted to get done before going off to school.

Monday night was again with the parents, and Tuesday was packing day so that they could again spend the evening with Harry and Ginny.

James was spending Tuesday night with Arianna, and neither of them were looking forward to the nearly four months they'd be apart. They were holding each other close in her bed, not wanting to fall asleep and waste those precious last few hours together.

"If any of your Hogsmeade weekends aren't on gamedays," Arianna told him, "I could meet you there for the day."

"That'd be great if you could," he whispered, trying hard to keep control of his emotions, and not having much success.

"And we know for sure the Canons aren't playing the day of the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff game, so I'll come to that one, and we're off for your game against Hufflepuff in February, so I can come to that one, and we're off on both games in May, so I'll come and watch Hufflepuff-Slytherin with you, and come watch you play Ravenclaw."

James looked into her eyes, trying to fix the moment in his memory. "This is going to be way harder than it was leaving Mum and Dad to go there for the first time," he told her, now losing his battle with holding back the flood of tears that were pushing hard to escape.

Arianna was feeling exactly the same way, and they held on tight, cried some tears, and comforted each other until finally giving in to sleep for the last few hours until the morning sun beamed through the windows to let them know that it was time to say goodbye - for Arianna to get ready for another day of work, and for James to get back to the cottage to say goodbye to his parents, and join the rest of the Hogwarts students on their trsek to King's Cross Station, and the start of what he was sure would be the toughest two years of his life."

Harry already had breakfast on the table when James got there, and he gave his son a big hug when he saw the look in his eyes.

"It'll be alright," he told James gently. "Just get right into your school work and Quidditch, and the next thing you know, you'll be home for Christmas."

Ginny hugged him next. "Use your WiComm and VirtualChat with Arianna a lot too," she advised him. "And don't forget to still do things for her. Just because you're not together every day doesn't mean that you can't still send her little 'I love you' reminders."

"Thanks, Mum, Dad," James told them.

He had time to sit down and eat with everyone before Harry and Ginny had to leave for work, and the chauffered car arrived to load the five kids up and take them to the station. They had a last long round of hugs, and then Harry and Ginny watched as the kids were driven off.

When they could no longer see the car, they went back inside, grabbed their gear, and took the TransPortal to Chudley stadium. For them, summer was now officially over. Quidditch season opening day for the Canons was a week from Saturday (only the eight playoff teams had games on the first weekend of September), and they focused their attention completely on that.

This new school year, and Quidditch season was brand new, and there were a lot of unknowns and even more uncertainties. With emotions ranging from Arianna and James' sadness to Frederica's jubilation at finally getting to go to Hogwarts, and with so many different events that were converging at the same time, there was one thing that they all knew for sure – this was going to be a very interesting year for everyone.


	70. Happy New School Year

Chapter Seventy – Happy New School Year!

Their chauffeur helped James, Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna load their luggage onto trolleys, and then wished them a good year at school before driving away to his next assignment.

The five kids pushed their trolleys through the station, and onto Platform nine and three-quarters, where the Hogwarts Express waited, and the platform was already teeming with excited students and the Witches and Wizards that were seeing them off.

They met up with Rose and Hugo, who were getting dropped off by Aunt Hermione, and Nick and Scorpius, who were there with both Penelope and Percy. Frederica was right behind them with George and Marietta both coming to see her off to her first year at Hogwarts.

Their three aunts and two uncles gave them each hugs, and then it was time to load everything on the train and find compartments. It took a little organizing, and finding everyone, but by the time the train started to roll out of the station, they'd all met up with their friends and settled in for the long trip.

Lily and Kieran were in a compartment with Frederica, Liam, Hugo, and Emily. Al and Carolyn were with Scorpius and Brianna, while Nick, Rose, Matt, and Allie had a third compartment.

Rose and Scorpius had to join James in the Prefects car for their meeting, and would only be hanging out with them for a while later in the trip. James had stowed his gear in the compartment with Andy, Jon, and Therese before he left for the prefect meeting too.

The first thing that was different on this trip for the New Marauders was that an unusually large number of kids stopped by to see them. Most of them wanted to try and get some scrap of information about what their parents were doing thinking they could play professional Quidditch at their ages. Some thought it was cool, most made really bad jokes about it. Everyone had an opinion they wanted to share – mostly with James, Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo.

The other thing happening, and this was much more fun for them, was the nearly incessant talk about SpellBound. By now, everyone had figured out that SpellBound was at least fronted by one Witch and one Wizard, since it was always the same two doing the lead vocals. The girls were widely speculative on what the young Wizard must look like, and the boys were sure that with a voice like that the Witch must be a total hottie too.

Depending on how old the Witch or Wizard making the guess was, the age of the SpellBound duo ranged from pre-teen to mid-twenties. The pre-teen guesses were a bit silly, since you would probably never find a ten or eleven year old tenor, but Lily, Kieran, and the others found all of the speculation highly entertaining.

Hugo, Emily, Lily, and Kieran also had fun watching Frederica and Liam's excitement about everything they saw on the trip. They loved the scenery, seeing all the student on the train, the famous trolley with all the great sweets on it, and the hundreds of other little details that caught their attention, and that the older kids now didn't think twice about.

When they finally got to Hogsmeade station, the students hurried off of the train. Hagrid's familiar call to the first year students rang out, and Frederica and Liam joined with the other first years in lining up to follow Hagrid down to the lake for the boatride across the lake.

Since Lily was technically now a fifth year student, she and Kieran were able to get a much earlier carriage to the school than Hugo and Emily could, but since they'd have to sit at their own house tables, instead decided to wait with them and go with the third years so that they'd have a little more time together before the feast, and afterward when they'd be going with the rest of the kids in their Houses to settle into their dorm rooms.

While the older kids were riding the Thestral-drawn carriages, Frederica was holding Liam's hand as they sat in one of the boats that were making their way across the lake. The view of Hogwarts from the lake was spectacular, and most of the kids were just staring at it in wonder.

When they reached shore, Hagrid led them to the entrance hall, and left them in the care of Professor Parvati Macmillan, who would be leading them into the Great Hall to be sorted this year.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she told them all with a smile. "In a moment, we will be entering the Great Hall, and you will be sorted into one of the four Hogwarts Houses. While you attend Hogwarts, your House will be your home here, and your fellow House students will be your family." The wide-eyed kids all hung on her every word.

"The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, named after the four founders of our school," she continued.

"Please wait here, and I will return for you shortly."

When she'd left, Frederica started looking around to see if she knew any of the other kids. There was only one, other than Liam, that she did know.

"Hi, Colin," she said to Colin Creevey. He was certainly the smallest first year in their group – boy or girl. She'd seen him lots of times over the years when Dennis and Demelza were doing things with Harry and Ginny, or Ron and Hermione. They weren't friends or anything, but they'd always gotten along fine.

"Hey, Frederica," Colin said, a bit quickly, like he was slightly out of breath from rushing around. That's how she always saw him doing things – like he was in a hurry to get it done and move on to whatever exciting thing was going to happen next.

"Isn't that cute?" one of the other boys sneered. "Hey, sweetheart, why don't you come over here, and I'll introduce you to a real boy instead of that little TeenWitch doll you're talking to."

Frederica turned to look at a stocky, dark-haired boy who had a sneering smile to go with his tone of voice.

She smiled at him sweetly. "Thanks, all the same, but in the first place, I personally think that the son of Dennis and Demelza Creevey is a 'real boy', and probably more of one than you are, and secondly, I already have a boyfriend, so I couldn't possibly be your sweetheart," she said, motioning with the hand that she had entwined in Liam's.

The other boy took another look at Colin, but decided to leave that alone for the moment, since even he was bright enough to know who Colin's parents were. He instead turned his attention to Liam, sizing him up.

"Maybe you should consider an upgrade," he told Frederica. "I doubt he's got anything I can't give you more of."

"You tell 'er, Malcolm," another boy told the first one as several of the boys around Malcolm laughed.

Liam laughed too. "Well, _sport,_ he told the other boy, "I can give her the son of Meghan McCormack, grandson of Catriona McCormack, and nephew of Kirley McCormack Duke. If you can one-up that, she might decide to think about it."

Frederica laughed right along with him. "Probably not, Liam. You forgot that you're smart, are a really good Chaser like your grandma, and pretty darn cute too."

Some of the other kids laughed nervously, and Frederica and Liam were sure they hadn't just made a best friend. Before the other boy could answer, Professor Macmillan returned to take them into the Great Hall to be sorted.

All of the first years were looking around and staring as they came into the Great Hall, and were lined up at the front of the hall. Professor Macmillan set a stool in front of them, and placed the sorting hat on it.

Frederica, Liam, and the other kids watched and listened as the sorting hat sang it's annual song, and then the sorting began.

They found out as the sorting started that Malcolm was Malcolm Bletchley, and when he was sorted into Slytherin, the students of Slytherin House cheered, and he had another sneer for Frederica and Liam on his way by to join his new House.

Frederica watched as Colin was sorted into Gryffindor – no surprise there, since his parents and uncle all were. Liam had been sure that he'd be in Hufflepuff with Kieran, so when he was called up, and the hat shouted 'GRYFFINDOR!', Frederica's heart had begun to pump faster, and they'd smiled at each other as he walked past, on his way to be greeted by James, Hugo, and Emily.

There were a lot of good things about being a member of the Weasley family, but alphabetical order was not one of them. By the end of the long line of first years, Frederica was the last one standing at the front of the Great Hall.

She was finally called, and stepped forward to sit on the stool. Some of her cousins had talked about how the sorting hat talked over the decision on where they'd be sorted with them, but that didn't happen with her. The hat barely touched her head when it shouted 'GRYFFINDOR!'. She hopped down from the stool and hurried to where James, Hugo, and most importantly, Liam were waiting to welcome her as the other Gryffindors clapped and cheered.

James was smiling after he hugged her. "At least Ravenclaw didn't get all of you future Quidditch stars this year," he said, referring to Frederica, Liam, and Colin. The boy was watching James like he was looking at the greatest thing since the invention of polished broom handles. Frederica smiled when she saw that James had no idea that he was about to become the target of some serious hero worshipping.

Lily was sitting next to Nick as they'd watched the sorting. When Frederica had been sorted to Gryffindor, she leaned over to him. "Some people get all the luck, getting sorted into the same house as their girlfriend or boyfriend."

She'd said it loud enough for the others to hear, and they'd all laughed with her and Nick.

"Hold the presses," Matt teased her. "Something in our resident genius' life isn't absolutely perfect! Let's go back to the sorting hat and ask it to check and see if it made a mistake!"

Lily grinned at him. "Then we should check about you too, since Ravenclaws are not supposed to have a sense of humour – you're probably a closet Gryffindor."

"Have any of you seen Rick around?" Al asked them. He'd been looking around the table, and hadn't seen him at all.

"He's not here," Lily told him. "I was talking to some of the girls on the train when I was out wandering around for a while, and they told me that none of last year's team are back this year. Rumour has it that they didn't pass any of their sixth year classes – or at least not by enough to go into NEWT year."

The rest of her group stared at her. "Really?" Rose whispered. "I thought he'd done alright in his OWL year, but since we weren't on the team, I guess we never really knew how many classes he was taking."

Lily shook her head. "I did – he was taking six, so you're right – he must have done good enough for that. It's too bad, but maybe he can get straightened out, study from home, and take his NEWT's sometime at the Ministry."

"That's the really hard way to do it," Rose said. "No teachers, and a lot of distractions."

Nick laughed. "Like having to stop your studying to ask people if they'd like fries with their order," he said.

The others looked at him in shock – this coming from Nick?

"Yeah, I know, I'll feel bad about using that line – but not today," he said, still grinning at them.

Lily gave him a hug. "I love you, Nicolas Weasley," she told him.

Professor McGonagall stood up and began her speech, so they all stopped talking to listen. She gave them the usual opening welcome, the rules, and a few other comments, and then finally the feast appeared on the tables, and they could all start filling plates while the House ghosts entered the Hall and welcomed their new and returning students to the school.

The feast, and house ghosts like nearly headless Nick might be just everyday things for all of the returning students, but for Frederica and Liam, it was all wondrous and new. For tonight, they were sitting with James, Hugo, Emily, and their friends, Andy, Jon, and Therese. By breakfast, they'd likely be where they belonged with the rest of the firsties.

Students were getting reacquainted with friends during dinner, and having fun. James and Hugo were taking some fairly constant ribbing about their parents, which Frederica thought was stupid. What was it about her Uncle Harry that made other Witches and Wizards always underestimate him? Almost nobody except her own family and their closest friends gave him a chance when he defeated the Dark Lord when he was seventeen, and the same thing was going on right now with this just because he was over forty.

With so many students getting back together with friends that they might not have seen much over the summer, there was also a lot of talk about SpellBound. The Great Hall gossip line took every scrap of news, real or fabricated, and relayed and manipulated it until there were widely varying stories going around about the hot new group. Frederica, Liam, and the others played along with everything. It wasn't always easy keeping quiet about what they knew, but at least for now, the whole thing was still fun.

When the feast was over, James and the other Gryffindor prefects led their first year students to the Common room, and then helped them get settled in. Hugo helped both Colin and Liam, who were in the same dorm room, while Emily helped Frederica. The two girls checked out Frederica's room, and met her roommates. Emily stayed with her for a half hour or so, then went to her own room to unpack before going to bed herself, knowing that the first day of school would be both exciting, and tiring.

Over in Ravenclaw, Lily found out that although she'd be in classes with the fifth year students, she was being allowed to stay with her fourth year roommates again this year, instead of having to move in with one of the groups of fifth years that were all now starting their fifth year together.

Rose and Scorpius were busy with prefect duties, helping out the first year students as they settled in. Word got around that Matt was the new captain of the Quidditch team, and he was kept busy answering questions from excited kids either looking to find out when tryouts were, to congratulate him, or to offer their fan support to him.

The night that Kieran and Allie were having in Hufflepuff was probably the most interesting of any in their group. Since they were the only two direct contacts that the Hufflepuff students had to the Potter and Weasley families, they were being pumped for any inside information that they might have about what was going on with the Canons, and whether things would be as bad – or worse – that the sports pundits were predicting.

Both kids played right along with what they both knew Harry wanted everyone to do, basically telling all of the students that Lily, Nick, and the other kids all supported their parents, or uncles and aunt, and that they thought as long as they were having fun, it didn't matter how good or bad the team did this year.

Kieran was also getting a lot of questions about SpellBound. The kids all knew that his father was 'in the business', and were hoping that maybe he might have some inside information on the group. This was a lot harder for him to deal with and still keep a straight face, and he saw Allie frequently trying to hide a smile, or cover a laugh, as he basically had to try and lie without actually lying to his friends and fellow Hufflepuffs.

His answers had actually been carefully prepared ahead of time, since his parents had expected that Kieran would be asked these kinds of questions. 'I'm pretty sure that Dad does know something,' he'd tell the kids, 'but he's sworn to secrecy'. Allie had needed to have a coughing fit to hide her laugh at that comment.

The last member of the New Marauders to be awake that night was James. He'd kept busy pretty much ever since they'd pulled out of King's Cross Station, and now he was exhausted, but he had one last thing to do. He was already in bed, and he tapped out a Wicom qm to Arianna that simply said 'ready', put on his Virtual GameWizard glasses, and went into the VirtualChat program.

They could have talked by WiComm, but that could be overheard by his roommates, and the VirtualChat was faster that sending QuillMessages back and forth. Arianna was there moments later, and their little avatars both smiled.

"How's your day been?" she asked him.

"Busy, thankfully. How was team practice today?"

Arianna's virtual self laughed. "I think your Dad was a bit off today – he had to do fifty pushups twice. I'm pretty sure that he and your Mum were going to the residence tonight so he could hang out with some kids for a while. This is my first time seeing how hard it is for him when you're all gone to school – at least for the first few days. Ginny told me that having a job this year actually made it easier for him than usual."

"I'm feeling quite a bit of that separation anxiety myself tonight," he told her seriously. "It wasn't bad until I got all my work done."

"Me too," Arianna told him. "When we were working, and then keeping busy around the house, I was fine. Once everything was done, I had way too much time on my hands, and way too little of you."

"With being Quidditch captain, prefect, and seven sixth year classes, I'm hoping I can keep busy enough. Speaking of Quidditch, Frederica, Liam, and Dennis and Demelza's son Colin all got sorted into our house. We'll see if any of them can help out this year or not, but that could be big for our House teams over the next seven years that they're all here."

"That's good. I hope you guys have a good year, but I've seen that Ravenclaw team practice quite a bit this summer, and all I can say is that I've decided that not having to play them last year for the Championship might have been alright after all, because I'm not sure that we would have been able to win that game."

"We still had two other teams to beat to win the Quidditch Cup, and I'm glad we could win one more for you and Aaron, but I still would have liked to find out – even if we did lose."

Arianna's avatar looked at her little avatar watch. "You've got a busy day tomorrow, so you should get some sleep, James," she told him.

"You can get watches for your avatars?" James asked her.

She laughed. "I had some time to waste earlier. There's a store in the VirtualMall now where you can buy accessories for your avatar. The watches actually work so you don't have to pull up the system screen to check the time."

"If I forget, remind me to go get one," he told her, and listened as she laughed again, and handed his little avatar a present.

"Happy first day back to Hogwarts," she told him, kissing his little virtual cheek.

James grinned as he opened his virtual present, and found a gold watch inside.

"Just lay it against your wrist, and it will attach automatically," Arianna instructed him. He did that, and his avatar now had a watch on it's arm too.

"Thank-you," he told her, looking up. "I love you, Arianna, and I really miss you."

"I love you too, James. Get some sleep, and we can do this again tomorrow. Send me a qm when you find out what Saturdays the Hogmeade weekends will be. You already know what weekends the Canons are playing all season."

"I will. We'll get that information in the morning. Good night, Arianna."

"Good night, James."

He took his glasses off, and put them away. Closing his eyes, James let the exhaustion take him away into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

Thursday morning, when James entered the Common room, he was glad to see that quite a few of his fellow Gryffindors seemed excited about his team tryouts posting. There probably wasn't anyone there that thought Hugo's spot was in danger, but with two Chaser positions open, and knowing that last year's only real weak spots were at Beater and Seeker, there was a lot of high expectations. James hoped that some of the kids had ability to back up those expectations.

Since Matt hadn't been tied up with prefect duties, he'd beaten James to the first tryout slot on Saturday, but Gryffindor had the second spot.

Before he reached the portrait hole, Colin caught up with him.

"Good morning, James," Colin said breathlessly. "How are you today? Are you going down to the Great Hall for breakfast now? Can I walk with you? What's going to happen after breakfast? Will we get our schedules right away and start classes? I see team tryouts are already posted. Can first years tryout too? I know I'm little, but Mum and Dad say I'm pretty fast."

James laughed. "Whoa, Colin. Slow down before we have to give you oxygen. The answers so far are Good, yes, yes, you'll get your schedule, and then go to whatever class you have first, yes, and if you fly half as fast as you talk, you'll be the fastest kid at tryouts."

Colin smiled up at him, and then laughed as he realized that James had actually answered every one of his questions, but that mostly, it had been a 'yes' to walking to the Great Hall with him.

"Thanks, James." Colin looked like he was about to wind up again, so James quickly jumped into the gap.

"Colin, you can slow down a notch. We've got lots of time, and you're like my sister Lily when you get wound up."

He watched as the younger boy took a deep breath and grinned.

"Sorry. It's when I get excited that happens. There's just so much I want to know about, and not enough hours in the day to learn about everything."

James laughed. "Now you definitely sound like Lily. You've got seven years here, Colin. I'm sure you'll get a chance to ask all of your questions eventually."

"I'll try to spread them out," Colin told him with a grin. "Is there anything I should know for today, though?"

James looked at his diminutive size. "You know because you're small that you could be a target for bullies, right?"

Colin nodded, now looking a bit worried.

"Well, if you know many older kids that have been going here, then you know about TNM." When Colin nodded, James continued.

"They're usually pretty good at stopping bullying fairly early in the year, but there are always some who try every year. Just make sure that you travel in packs with your other first years, like Frederica and Liam. Bullies pretty much only go after kids when they're alone, or maybe in twos. They never go after bigger groups."

Colin nodded. "I will, James. Thanks."

When they got to the entrance of the Great Hall, they found Lily and Kieran waiting there. Lily looked up at her big brother, smiled, and gave him a long hug.

"Hey, Colin," she said, smiling at him too. "How'd Gryffindor ace out by getting you in their House?"

James, Kierand, and Lily all pretended not to notice Colin blush, and James saved his suddenly inarticulate fellow Gryffindor.

"That's easy, sis, Gryffindor gets the best and bravest. What was the big hug for?"

Lily smiled at him. "I thought you might be ready for one by now, so we waited for you." She looked back at Colin and smiled again.

"Kieran, this is Colin Creevey, Dennis and Demelza's son. Colin, I'd like you to meet Kieran McCormack."

Kieran held out his hand, and Colin shook it. "Nice to meet you, Colin. It'll be nice to have another kid from a famous Quidditch family around here besides Liam and me. It remains to be seen whether these Potters will be kids of famous, or infamous Quidditch parents."

Colin laughed. "It'll be the 'famous'," he predicted confidently.

"Well, I guess we better get to our tables," Lily said. She gave Kieran a hug and kiss. "I'll see you at lunch," she told her boyfriend. "You two have a good day too," she told James and Colin, giving them each a hug.

James put his hand on Colin's shoulder and grinned at him. "Let's go get some food, Colin. It's going to be a busy morning." He led the still slightly dazed boy over to the Gryffindor table, and left him if the capable hands of Frederica and Liam before going to sit with Andy, Jon, and Therese.

"You have a new sidekick," Andy told him with a grin. "Do you want us to run interference for you until he gets the hint?"

James smiled. "Thanks, but no. Mr. Creevey there is going to get anything he needs from me, anytime he needs it."

"Any particular reason why?" Therese asked him, a bit surprised that James would be taking an interest in one particular first year student.

He nodded. "Next time you're down by the Memorial Stone, look for the name Colin Creevey. That's his uncle, and who he was named after. His uncle was sixteen when he was killed in that battle, and he was one of my Mum and Dad's best friends. He wasn't even supposed to be there, but he stayed and fought anyway, just like my Mum and some of the other kids in their year did."

Therese had tears welling in her eyes. "That's a really good reason, James. Let us know if we can help."

"Thanks, guys. I appreciate that. Right now, I think the only thing we need to watch out for is the bullies. It's always the smallest ones they go after. If anybody does pick on him, they're really going to regret it."

Andy, Jon, and Therese all laughed. "We'll help with that too if you need us to, mate," Jon told James.

Down at the end of the table with the first years, Colin was sitting across from Frederica and Liam, and was pulling himself together.

"You look a bit out of it, Colin," Frederica told him. "Is everything alright?"

He glanced over to where Lily was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, and blushed. Frederica followed his gaze, and grinned at him.

"Now I get it. You've been an early morning casualty of a Lily-hug, haven't you?" Colin blushed even more, and nodded.

"She probably does a hundred hugs a day, mate," Frederica told him. "If you're going to hang around with us, you'll just have to get used to them."

They spent the rest of their time at breakfast talking about last night's feast, and the Quidditch tryouts coming up on Saturday. When the schedules were handed out, they grabbed their bags and headed off to their first class, with a side trip to their rooms to get the books they'd need for the morning.

Hugo and Emily got their schedules with the other third years. For their optionals, they were both taking Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy. It hadn't been hard for Hugo to convince his parents that he didn't need to take Divination, and with Muggle grandparents, taking Muggle Studies would have been a waste of time. His Mum had wanted him to take Ancient Runes, but he'd talked her out of that. He was sure that nine subjects would be more than enough for him to tackle.

They wouldn't find out about it until later, but Hugo and Emily would be taking Arithmancy with Kieran, who'd opted for that and Ancient Runes as his two optionals. For some reason, as a Wizard who planned on spending his life playing music, he didn't want to endanger that career by putting fingers and hands anywhere near sharp beaks, fangs, or claws as would be the case in Care of Magical Creatures.

Those worries didn't stop Lily from taking that OWL level class. For the first half of the year, she'd be taking that class, Divination, and Muggle Studies, along with the seven core OWL's. After the Christmas Holidays, she'd be taking Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes.

The rest of the Ravenclaw Marauders, and Allie were staying with their same classes for their fourth and OWL years. Matt was able to take six classes for his sixth year – the same subjects as James, except for Arithmancy.

James and Therese had identical schedules, while Andy and Jon were going to make Hagrid's decade by both taking sixth year Care of Magical Creatures to go with their other five classes. Both boys wouldn't be taking Herbology or Potions, but would be taking the advanced History.

"I get why you'd want the History," James told Andy. "You'll want all of that Historical mumbo-jumbo for your career. Why are you taking it, Jon?"

"Because it isn't Potions or Herbology? Call me crazy, but I've kinda gotten to like it. Kind of like I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures 'cause I'm thinking about it as a career, while Andy's just doing it because he's crazy."

"I think you both are," James told them. "You're going to get into things like Dragons and who knows what else?"

"That's why I'm dating a future healer, mate," Jon told him with a grin. "We'll make a great team!"

James smiled at them. "Well, it works for my Uncle Charlie and Aunt Nathalie. If you want, I can always see if he'd have a summer job for you next year at the Dragon Reserve."

Classes got underway, and most of the students were happy to get back to doing and learing about magic after a summer off where most of them weren't allowed to do any. Now that Lily was with the fifth year classes, she piled up a bunch of points for her House during the three classes she had for her first day. Carolyn and Brianna both found it a bit weird not having Lily in their classes this year, while Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius found it just as strange to have her with them.

That night, after dinner, they gathered for the first meeting of the year for the New Marauders. The first order of business was to invite their new members to join.

Kieran, Emily, Frederica, Liam and, after coming to an agreement among the current members, Colin had been asked to come to this meeting. James, as usual, led things off.

"Thanks for coming," he began. "Before we get going with this little meeting, I guess there are a few additions this year who are probably wondering why they're here, or what we're doing." He looked at each of the about to be new members and smiled.

"You've been asked here to become members of a little group we call The New Marauders." He paused for effect. "Some of you might know us better as TNM."

Even all of the first years had heard about TNM, and James and the others were getting stares that made them all start laughing.

"The good news is that we want each of you to join. The bad news is, you can't really say 'no' at this point."

Kieran laughed. "Who would want to?" The other four kids nodded their agreement.

"You're replacing some outgoing members, and we're actually adding a couple of extra spots this year to get ready for when some of us senior students graduate in a couple of years," James continued.

"You probably all know about our activities regarding bullying and our occasional large-scale pranks. We also take care of kids in the school who need help with getting them school supplies or other things that they need. Most of these kids come from poorer families. As part of that, we also do special gifts for them too – birthdays, holidays – that sort of thing."

Everyone was nodding and watching him.

"The last thing we do is to provide information for the Phoenix Foundation volunteers who do the mentoring that we openly do around school, even though nobody else knows that it was started or is still coordinated by our group."

"So what do you want us to do?" Frederica asked James.

"The first thing that we all do at the beginning of each year is keep an eye out for two things: kids that need help – like maybe have really old robes and clothes, or crummy books and supplies, or even are just having problems in class, and finding out who the bullies are."

He watched as Frederica and the others exchanged excited looks.

"We each have our own special areas that we handle too," he went on to tell them.

"Andy, Jon, Hugo, and I are basically the enforcers. We stop the bullies, although other members of the group occasionally help with that."

"That sounds like fun," Frederica said, grinning at him.

"We'll keep that in mind, Frederica, but we actually were thinking that you could help Lily with the shopping, since so far, she's done all of it, and at the rate she's tearing through her classes, certainly won't be here more than three more years, and then you'd be doing that on your own."

"Shopping's good too," she told him.

"Kieran, Colin, and Liam, we're looking at the three of you to work with us, then eventually be our replacements when Andy, Jon, and I graduate." He got three nods of agreement.

"All information we gather goes through Rose, Al, Nick, and Scorpius. Since they're all fifth years, we'd like Emily to start working with them." He looked at her. "I know you're only two years behind them, but they're the brains of our operation, and we need to start getting people ready to replace them, because we're hoping that even after all of us original members are gone, that TNM keeps going."

Emily agreed, and James wrapped up the meeting so that they could all get to work on their studies.

"For right now, keep your eyes open, and send the information about kids that need help or about bullies to Rose and the others. When we need help with anything we have going on, they'll let you know. I don't think it needs to be said, but please remember that unless you're alone with other members of TNM, don't talk about the group, or anything we're doing."

He got nods from everyone, and there was some of the usual hugs and kisses as they all went their separate ways to get going on their homework.

Through Thursday evening, and all day Friday, the talk around school was about team Quidditch tryouts. For the Ravenclaw Marauders, and particularly Rose and Lily, they found out that a certain loudmouthed Slytherin captain was actually back for a repeat NEWT year, probably thanks to a little family intervention.

Rose had grinned when she heard that. "That's so nice that he could come back so that he'd have the opportunity to let us come and – what did he tell us, Lily?"

"He said that they'd 'show us how to play with real men," Lily supplied.

"That was it," Rose agreed. "I can really hardly wait. How about you?"

"Oh, I think that waiting until January is fine. It'll give us something to look forward to starting the New Year with," Lily told her.

They had another good day of classes, and Lily put up a bunch more points for Ravenclaw, and then they all worked hard on homework that evening, knowing that at least part of Saturday would be shot due to tryouts.

When breakfast was over on Saturday, Kieran and Allie had wished Lily and Nick luck before they left for their tryouts, and then watched as their friends left for the Quidditch pitch.

There were only about fifty students there for tryouts, but nearly a hundred more came to watch. Matt called everyone to gather around him.

"Welcome to this year's tryouts, everyone. We'll start in a moment, but I want everyone to know that every position on this team will go to the best player for each position." That announcement was met with cheers from the spectators.

"All positions, except my own Chaser spot are open, and there are seven spots available on the practice team." There were nods of understanding from everyone.

"Now I know that some people aren't all that motivated to join the practice team, but I want to assure you that our practice team will be an important part of whether our House team succeeds this year or not. To help make that more interesting, at the end of this year, your House team members are going to award a prize to the member of our practice team that we think has been the best player on that team all year - a brand new Lightningbolt."

Now that fired up all of the kids, and everyone trying out suddenly got a lot happier.

"Now, if you all would, please," Matt continued, "Let's start with flying tryouts."

With the smaller group that they started with, they ended up with thirty-two remaining after the flying test. He called for Beater tryouts next, and Nick, seven other boys, and two girls stepped forward. Nick, and a seventh year girl won the two team spots, while two other boys won the practice team spots.

Matt called for the Chasers next, and put them up against Scorpius. Twelve students, plus Rose and Al tried for the two team, and three practice squad spots.

Each prospective Chaser had three free shots at Scorpius, and also had to dodge bludgers from their Beaters. Al and Rose earned the two team spots because they were the only two that scored a goal – one each.

That was a bit of a problem for Matt, since that meant that he currently had a twelve-way tie for the three remaining spots.

"How many do we have trying out for Keeper, besides Scorpius?" Matt asked the remaining students. Five Ravenclaws, including the now seventh year girl who had been Scorpius' backup two years ago stepped forward.

"If you all agree, why don't we have each of the twelve remaining Chasers take one shot against each of you, and the one that saves the best out of twelve shots will tryout against Scorpius for which one of you will be on the House team, and which one will be on the practice team."

Everyone was agreeable to that, and Matt was not at all surprised when sixty shots later the seventh year Witch had been the best of the five, with seven saves out of ten. That also coincided with the fact that the three Chasers who did beat her also scored the most goals of the twelve Chasers to be the three Chasers on the practice team.

When they all reached the ground, before Matt could get ready to send her, Scorpius, and their team Chasers back up again, she raised her hand.

"Matt, instead of wasting time with doing more tryouts, I'm more than willing to concede that Scorpius is the better Keeper, and join the practice team. It'd be a waste of time to go up there and make him prove it again – not to mention hard on my ego," she said, grinning at Scorpius.

Matt, and most of the other kids there all laughed. "Thanks, Karen," Matt told her. "I appreciate that."

The Seeker job was the last tryout of the morning, and the remaining four students, including Lily stepped forward. Nick tossed the snitch in the air, and Lily had soared off of the ground and caught it before two of the boys had gotten off the ground. With her position secured, Matt again released the snitch, and they watched the three boys chase it until a third year boy caught it about ten minutes into the test to win the last spot on the practice team.

"Thank-you, everyone!" Matt told everyone who was still there. "We appreciate all of you who tried out, and also everyone who came to support the team. We're going to do our very best to bring the Quidditch Cup home to Ravenclaw this year!"

He waited while everyone else left, then had a quick team meeting.

"Congratulations for making the team," he told them. "Technically, I guess we're all new members, since we don't have any returning members from last year's team, but even though we all know her, I'd like to especially welcome Melanie Smethwyk, Nick's new partner in crime at Beater."

Matt went on to set up practice times, and then adjourned the meeting so that they'd all be out of the way before the Gryffindor tryouts were to begin.

While they were walking back to the school, they met up with James, Hugo, Frederica, Liam, and Colin.

"Good looking team, Matt," James complimented his fellow captain. "Hey, Melanie," he added, greeting the seventh year Ravenclaw prefect. "Congratulations. You must be pretty good to make it on this team."

"Thanks, James," she told him. "Good luck with your tryouts."

Lily gave all of the Gryffindors good luck hugs, and then they had to get going so they'd make it on time. Allie, Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran were all waiting for them in the entrance hall, and after receiving more congratulations, Melanie left the rest of her knew team to go celebrate with her friends. The rest of them went and dropped off brooms and picked up books, then found an empty classroom and got down to studying.

Back on the Quidditch pitch, James was faced with over one hundred prospective players. The flying test narrowed that to sixty-one, and then it was time to get to work.

Eighteen kids, including Frederica, stepped up for Beater tryouts. He sent them up in three groups of four, and then two groups of three, and then put the best of each group up against each other for a final test. James wasn't the only one surprised when Frederica was clearly the best, and that another Witch – a fifth year who'd played on last year's practice team, was next best, replacing both of last year's Beaters. The boys might want to grumble, but they were all doing it with bruises where the two girls had marked them with glancing blows of the bludger.

Frederica, and the other girl, Tamara, were then put to work, along with Hugo, for what would end up being a lengthy Chaser tryout. Having thirty students trying out for two Chaser spots was probably the most ever, and it took a while to get through all of them.

They each had five shots on Hugo, which meant that he faced one hundred and fifty shots. He only let three in, and two of those were by Liam. A fourth year boy named Darryl scored the third goal to earn the last Chaser spot.

With the two Chaser spots locked up, James was left with the same problem that Matt had encountered earlier – a Keeper that was better than all of the Chasers.

"Before we figure out what to do about filling the three practice team Chaser spots," he said to the twenty-eight remaining kids, "Is there any of you who are not interested in being on the practice team?" He laughed when nobody raised their hand, as did most of the prospective Chasers themselves.

Without knowing it, he basically repeated what Matt had done, and he had four Keepers to do it with. One hundred and twelve shots later, he had his three Chasers, and a Keeper for the practice team.

Last up was Jeremy, and his seven Seeker position competitors, including the small, but Lightningbolt carrying Colin Creevey. James sent them up in two groups of four, and Jeremy caught the snitch in his group, while Colin surprised his older and bigger competition by catching the snitch to win his group.

James gave Jeremy and Colin a few minutes to catch their breath before sending them back up to find out who'd be the team's Seeker this year. Colin had a bit of an edge with speed, flying a Lightningbolt against Jeremy's Firebolt, but Jeremy had experience, including the last year when he trained against Lily. It took them twenty minutes of hard fighting, but finally, Jeremy caught the snitch to win his job back. The Gryffindors that had stayed to watch all cheered both their senior Seeker, and what looked like their future Seeker.

It was already close to lunch time, since the Chaser tryout had gone so much longer than usual, so James thanked everyone for coming out, and actually had his team meeting on the walk back, handing out schedules to each member, and doing the introductions, since four members of their team were new this year.

While the Gryffindors had been picking their team, the Ravenclaw Marauders, with Kieran and Allie, had been studying, but also having some fun.

"You're new Beater partner is a Witch," Allie had told Nick when they'd first sat down to study, and Nick had grinned.

"I noticed that almost immediately," Nick told her.

"A very pretty Witch," Allie continued.

"Not as pretty as you are," he countered.

"Good one, mate," Scorpius told Nick.

"He's fast on his feet, I'll give him that," Allie told Scorpius.

Turning back to Nick, she smiled at him. "I hadn't thought about the possibility of a Witch winning the other job, so I'd like you to know in advance that I'm definitely the jealous type. Since you happen to be the object of my affection, you should probably keep that fact firmly in mind for the rest of this particular Quidditch season."

Nick put his arms around her and hugged her close. "I will, but you don't have to worry, Alexandria, because I love you very much, and you can trust me."

"You've been taking lessons from Uncle Harry, haven't you," Scorpius stated, grining at them.

"Shut-up, Scorpius," both Allie and Nick told their friend just before they kissed.

The rest of their group had been laughing, and Scorpius joined them.

"What'd I say?" Scorpius asked the others, trying to look innocent and failing.

Lily grinned at him. "If Nick's been taking lessons from Dad, then you must be taking them from Uncle George, Scorpius. We hardly ever see the comedic side of you."

They worked until lunch, and then packed up and went to the Great Hall, where they congratulated Frederica, Liam, and Colin on making the team for the first time, and Hugo and Jeremy for making the team again.

When lunch was over, Kieran surprised Lily by telling her that he'd promised to go to the Hufflepuff tryouts with some of the boys in his dorm room, and promised to meet up with her after it was over.

Lily wasn't the only one that was surprised that afternoon. For Hufflepuff's students and captain, it was a happy surprise when Kieran tried out for Chaser, and was by far the best they had. He easily made the team as their top Chaser, and probably was their best player.

Kieran hadn't noticed that some of Allie's friends had come to cheer their team, and it had only taken a single qm for Allie, and then Lily and the others to find out that Kieran had made the team.

When tryouts were over, and the team meeting had ended, Kieran found himself bowled over by a hug from Lily when he walked into the entrance hall on his way back from the Quidditch pitch.

"What was that for?" he asked, smiling at her. "I just wanted to know, so that whatever it was, I could go back out and do it again."

"Can you try out for Chaser on Hufflepuff and make the team more than once a year? If not, then I guess you can't do it again until next year," Lily told him, hugging him again.

"How'd you find out?" he asked.

"One of Allie's friends were there and sent her a qm. She said you were the best one there. Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Lily."

"I didn't think you wanted Quidditch to get in the way of your music," Lily added, still keeping her arms around his neck.

"Something your Dad said in the summer kept nagging at me. He said he didn't see why I couldn't do both when we were talking about my grandmother wanting me to play Quidditch. I decided that he was right. If you can do everything you've got on the go, I should be able to do this and still do music too."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I could tell you it's because I wanted to surprise you, but that'd only be partly true. If it turned out I sucked, maybe nobody'd have to find out."

Lily hugged him tight again. "Fat chance of that happening around here. You definitely didn't have to worry about that, either, since I've seen you play, and any of the house teams would be glad to have you. How'd you sneak your broom out without us knowing?"

Kieran pulled his keyboard case out and opened it to show her his Firebolt lying alongside his keyboard.

"That amazing little case you gave me can hold all sorts of things."

"Well, why don't we go get our homework finished up, and then maybe we'll have time left over after dinner for a little music time," she suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, Lily. Let's go," he told her after one more hug.

A couple of hours later, the Slytherin team had been chosen too, and by Monday, the four Hogwarts teams would begin training. The British and Irish League season had opened today, with the eight teams from last season's playoffs squaring off. While that was great for the fans of those teams, Quidditch fans all over the world were waiting for the Chudley Canons season opener that was now just seven days away. Whether you were hoping to get to watch a train wreck like most people seemed to be, or were actually Canons fans, that was the game that everyone was planning on watching. Now that tryouts were done at Hogwarts, that game also became the main subject of speculation among the students – even surpassing the continuing gossip about SpellBound.


	71. We're Baack

Chapter Seventy-One – We're Ba-ack!

The New Marauders, and in particular, Lily and Frederica, had been very busy all weekend. With all of the new kids at school, and the more than eighty kids returning that they'd helped last year, there was a lot of need among their fellow students.

Bullying was apparently on the rise too, with over twenty reported cases already caused by fourteen students, ten of them working in four groups, while the other four worked alone. When some students heard last year's pool party announcement, they must have misunderstood 'graduating class of TNM' for 'no more TNM'.

James and his band of enforcers started working on re-educating those kids in a fairly direct manner. On Sunday, the reintroduction of the bully-bat convinced two of the loner bullies to give up the life of crime, and an encounter with scared little firstie Colin with giant troll guardian made one of the four groups of bullies not only agree to stop, but also left them quivering on the floor in three warm, wet, odorous puddles.

"That was fun," Colin told James and the other boys when they met back up in their designated classroom. "Did you get that all with the cameras?"

Andy nodded. "You bet – including the soggy bottom boys walk back to their House. They were still so scared it never even occurred to them to use magic to clean themselves up first."

The other boys all laughed. "Will that be our dinner entertainment in the Great Hall?" Kieran asked them.

James grinned. "Yes. Maybe it'll convince the rest of those gits to stop before we come for them."

Andy laughed, and grinned. "That's perfect, James. I'll edit that in."

"What'd I say?" James asked him.

"Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?" Andy said, still grinning. "Big, bold graphics at the end after our usual 'stop the bullying' thing."

"Works for me," James told him.

Jon and Therese had been elected to keep an eye on their three bullies at dinner so that it wasn't too obvious that they were being watched. They seemed to have gotten over their afternoon scrape with TNM, and were even joking and laughing with their mates.

"I'd say anytime now," Jon said quietly as most of the students were starting in on dessert. Andy worked his video magic, and the big screen WWVN came to life. The sound was up pretty loud, and it didn't take long to attract the attention of their intended viewing public.

The students all watched as Colin became the target for the three boys as he walked into their little trap. They listened to the boys berate and threaten him, then watched the troll scare them senseless, while a loud voice reminded them that TNM did not permit bullying at Hogwarts.

When the kids heard the three boys babbling promises not to ever bully again, and saw the dark tell-tale stains on their clothes, they began to laugh. When the three boys started their uncomfortable walk back to their Common room, the ripple of laughter turned into a roar.

Andy had changed his mind, and reversed the two ending shots he wanted to display, starting with 'WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU?' and ending his little show with 'STOP THE BULLYING, OR TNM WILL STOP YOU!'.

When the WWVN turned itself off, most of the students applauded and cheered the show. Jon and Therese gave them a play-by-play of events where the three boys were sitting, now flame-faced, and trying to do their very best to hide.

"How's that working for them?" Andy asked in a whisper.

"Not so good," Therese told him, "since there are kids all over the hall pointing them out to their friends."

"Do you see Colin getting those pats on the back?" James said, pointing him out down at the other end of the table.

"Probably because he didn't look even slightly scared standing right there with a troll in the hall," Jon suggested. "That squirt's not afraid of anything. Standing there in front of three bullies and a troll, and mostly he just looked annoyed."

"Good acting?" Therese suggested, smiling.

"Maybe a bit," James agreed, "but Jon's right about him being a brave little kid."

The three boys finally gave up their attempts to not be noticed, and left the Great Hall to a chorus of jeers and boos from other students as they left. James noticed that Professor McGonagall was watching them leave, a stern look on her face. He couldn't tell if the look was for the boys, or for the way in which TNM was trying to once again put a stop to bullying around the school.

Their eyes happened to meet as she looked over the room, and she nodded almost imperceptibly, and James did not react to it at all, but in that instant, he knew for certain that their Headmistress was absolutely aware of everything that the New Marauders were doing. Somehow, that fact made him feel much better. He also decided that it wasn't something the rest of the group needed to know.

After dinner, Frederica and Liam had decided to go for a walk to have a little time alone – something they hadn't had any of since getting to Hogwarts. They were going down a seemingly deserted hallway when Malcolm Bletchley and some of his buddies came around a corner, stopping when they saw the pair approaching.

They looked around, but not seeing anyone, got big, ugly-looking smiles on their faces, and confronted the pair.

"Well, well," Malcolm said. "What do we find out here? A couple of brave Gryffindors all by themselves. How've you been, _sweetheart?"_ he asked Frederica.

"Better than you, I hear," she told him. "At least I made my House team, while rumour has it you fell off your broom at Slytherin tryouts."

Liam laughed, and Malcolm got a stormy, dangerous look on his face, and stepped closer to her.

"You've got quite a mouth on you, sweetheart," he snarled at her. "But I think it's time for someone to teach you when to open it, and when to keep it shut."

"That sounds like a threat, Liam," Frederica said conversationally. "What do you think?"

Liam grinned at her. "Definitely a threat."

"I sure hope TNM isn't watching this hallway," she continued. "'Cause that'd be really bad for these boys," she continued, watching as the group of Slytherins looked around again.

"There's nobody here but us," Malcolm sneered. "You think we'll scare off just at the mention of TNM?"

"It'd be better for you if you did, mate," Frederica told him. "'Cause in case you didn't know, my Dad owns Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and I certainly don't need TNM to protect me – he sent me well prepared to deal with gits like you."

Malcolm laughed, but his buddies looked a bit less sure of the situation now. "I'm so scared," he told her in mock fear. "What are you going to do? Beat us with Pygmy Puffs?"

Frederica laughed. "That's pretty funny, Malcolm," she told him. "I like it, but no, he designed my little anti-bully kit specially for me. Would you like your choices? I don't mind letting you pick one, since they're all the same to me."

Malcolm laughed too. "Sure, why not. It'll be something to amuse us before we have our real fun."

"Great!" Frederica said enthusiastically, opening the little shoulder bag she had with her.

"First up, we have the everlasting Hippogriff dung perfume," she told Malcolm happily. "Dad tells me it actually does wear off in a month or so, but it can't be washed off by any means. Any takers? No?"

Liam grinned as she handed him the small bottle, and reached in for the next item in her kit.

"Then we have my personal love potion. One shot of this, and you'll be following me around like docile little puppy dogs for about a week. Those books are heavy, so Liam and I wouldn't mind the help carrying them if you really want to."

She looked up inquiringly at Malcolm and the other boys. "No? Then the only other thing I brought with me tonight are these Chocolate Wheezes," she said, pulling out the candies. He didn't tell me what they did, though. Would you like to try them and find out?" she asked Malcolm sweetly.

"There seems to be something your Dad forgot to give you," Malcolm told her with a smirk.

"What's that?" she asked him pleasantly.

"Enough sense to have your wand ready," he told her. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted.

Now his plan had surely been to relieve Frederica and Liam of their anti-bully gear, but what happened was that he was lifted into the air himself, and hung up there near the ceiling.

Liam, Frederica and his friends all looked up at the stunned boy.

"I'd say this is the point where you should have asked whether I was given any _defensive _help in my anti-bully kit," she told him with a big, bright smile. "The answer would have been yes – a nice little spell-repelling charm that appears to be very effective." She smiled at Liam.

"Shall we go?" she asked him. "I really have no idea how long it will take for Malcolm to get back down from up there, and we wouldn't want to get caught out in the hallways late."

Liam took her hand, and they walked past the other boys, who had no idea what to do now that their leader was hanging high in the air.

"Get me down from here!" he shouted at his friends after Frederica and Liam had left.

"Having problems, boys?"

Malcolm turned his head to see an older boy approaching from the shadows down the hall.

"Yes," Malcolm said. "A couple of Gryffindors attacked me, and now I'm stuck here in the air."

"That's funny," Al said as he stepped forward. "It looked a lot like you attacked them from where I was standing."

He waved his wand, and Malcolm floated to the ground. When he feet were on the floor, he faced Al.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We were minding our own business, and they threatened us with all sorts of things. I was just trying to defend myself."

Al smiled at him, his emerald eyes flashing.

"Well, Malcolm, I happen to know what a load that is, so let's not waste time. I was back there watching the whole time. I just thought I'd come and help you down, and offer you a little advice."

Malcolm sneered at Al. "What advice could I possibly want from you?" he spat, giving up on his pretense of being a victim.

Al didn't move, but all of the boys suddenly found themselves flattened against the walls of the hallway – having hit them rather hard too. He stepped up in front of a now wild-eyed looking Malcolm.

"My advice is that if you've got any smarts at all, you'll leave my cousin Frederica, Liam, and all of their friends alone. I'm very fond of her, and if you do anything to try and hurt her again, you aren't going to like my next visit to you. Understood?"

Malcolm looked into the now angry eyes of Albus Potter, and knew without a doubt that the boy was deadly serious. He swallowed hard, and nodded once. Al dropped his binding spells and the boys all fell to the floor.

"I'll never understand why some kids feel the need to bully other kids around," he told Malcolm conversationally, helping him to his feet. "It's such a waste of time."

Malcolm looked at him, trying to figure out why the boy who'd just slammed him against a wall was now helping him stand back up again.

"Are you TNM?" he asked Al suspisciously.

Al laughed. "No. If TNM had been here tonight, you boys would probably be on a morning WWVN Great Hall broadcast. There's lots of kids in the school that agree with them, though."

"How do you know it's a them?" Malcolm asked him.

"Easy, because last year they had a graduating class. That means there has to be more than one." He looked at Malcolm once more.

"Malcolm, you and probably a lot of your friends get told a lot of things growing up that come from a really narrow view of the world. If you open yourself up a little, you'll find that some of the stuff you've been taught to believe isn't really true at all. This school is a great place to find that out. You guys can have a lot of fun here without doing any of this," he finished, referring to their little confrontation.

Al walked away then, and Malcolm and the other boys stared after him.

"Why can't I shake the feeling we just got let off of a very sharp hook?" one of the boys told Malcolm and his other friends.

Malcolm laughed. "Probably because we were. Everyone in favour of doing what he says and leaving the girl alone?" He got a unanimous show of hands, and then they hurried back to the safety of their Common room.

"Any problems?" Carolyn asked Al when he sat down next to her in the Common room. "You left in a hurry."

Al gave her a brief kiss and hug. "Just making sure Frederica was safe," he whispered in her ear. "I was checking the map to see if the other bullies that worked the halls at night had gotten the hint, and saw that she and Liam were being confronted by a group of Slytherins."

"Are they alright?" she asked him.

"Oh yeah, Uncle George had her well prepared. She has her own custom ant-bully kit. I did have a little chat with the boys after she and Liam had left though. I'm fairly sure that I made my point."

Carolyn grinned at him. "I love you," she told him, giving him another hug and kiss.

On Monday morning at breakfast, Lily and Frederica were excited, and looking forward to the dozens of deliveries that would be coming by Owl Post this morning for the first wave of kids they were helping.

When the Owls flew into the Great Hall, they watched from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables as many of those students were opening their mail to find new robes, or books, or even a few Virtual GameWizards and GameWitches, loaded with all of the educational programs and a few games too.

There was one other package that Lily was watching for, and it wasn't TNM-related. When she saw it finally being delivered, she watched as the boy opened it up, and could even hear the gasp from the friends he was sitting with, and the excited buzz that traveled up and down the table he was sitting at. She watched as he exchanged high-fives with his mates and listened to their excited chatter.

When he'd finished staring at what had been sent for him, she was thrilled when he looked unerringly right at her, and she smiled just a little bit, but her eyes were sparkling. She turned her attention back to breakfast, and the conversation going on around her, and he didn't let on to his mates that anything had just happened, but Kieran McCormack knew who the anonymous sender of his very own Lightningbolt was, and he'd make sure to thank her personally later.

Planning on doing that, and getting it done were two very different things. With classes all day, then a Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Quidditch practice, and several hours of studying later, Kieran only ended up having a few minutes while he walked her back to Ravenclaw Tower to talk privately.

"I don't think that 'thanks' even comes close to what getting a present like that deserves," he told her as they walked slowly from the classroom they'd been all studying in. "You seem to have a talent for giving way over the top kind of presents."

Lily smiled at him. "I think you kind of way over the top deserve them," she said, squeezing his hand. "The others might want to smack me for helping out Hufflepuff like that, but that's too bad for them."

Kieran laughed. "We'll need all the help we can get playing your team. Our captain would be happy with a two win season, and that still means pulling out a win against you, or against James and that machine of a Keeper Gryffindor has."

They were only a turn in the hallway away from their destination, and Lily stopped him and put her arms around his neck, while he wrapped his around her waist.

"Let's say goodnight here in case there are any other kids loitering around the entrance," she suggested.

"Works for me," he answered as she pulled him close and kissed him.

"Thank-you for that incredible broom," he whispered, looking in her dazzling eyes.

"You're welcome, Kieran," she said just as softly, and kissed him again.

The New Marauders had allowed a couple of days for the remaining bullies of the school to stop on their own, and the public lesson on Sunday had been enough to convince them, since there weren't any more incidents.

During their first full week of classes, the focus of their activities shifted over to the mentor program. Carolyn, Brianna, and Emily all worked together to put the first thirty-one kids together with foundation volunteer mentors, and to continue signing up new volunteers to help with the future kids they'd need to help as the year went along.

All of the students of Hogwarts started settling in to their schedules. For James, that was classes, prefect duties, Quidditch, homework, and a nightly VirtualChat with Arianna before going off to sleep.

They were having that chat on Friday night a bit earlier that usual, since she had her first professional game on Saturday, and needed to get to sleep early.

"I wish I could go see you play live," James said wistfully, if conveying wistfulness was even possible for an avatar to accomplish.

"Me too. I'll know you're watching in the Common room, though, so watch carefully."

"Why?" James asked

"If you don't catch it, I'll tell you tomorrow night," she promised evasively.

"You guys are going to be great," he told her. "I can hardly wait, too. I'm looking forward to seeing all of these idiots who've been cracking jokes since we got back here choke on their words."

"Your Dad's kept the media off of us, so you're taking a lot more of that than we are," she told him.

"It's alright, Arianna. We're all handling it fine, and if everything goes as planned tomorrow, nobody will be thinking the Canons are a joke anymore."

"How's your team looking so far?" she asked.

"I think we'll do well enough against Slytherin, but we're in trouble for the other games. I'm looking more toward training for next year, and maybe we'll get lucky and win two this year."

"Any chance Lily could finish all three years and graduate this year?" she suggested.

James laughed. "She probably could, but they're not going to let her. I think this last jump was her last, and they'll have her do fifth, sixth, and seventh one year at a time."

"What'll she do with all of her extra time?" Arianna teased.

"Probably Quidditch, music, and if Kieran's lucky, a little snogging time too."

"Speaking of that, I can't wait to see you in Hogsmeade next Saturday. I'm tempted to rent a room there and just snog you silly all day."

"I'd love that, but I wouldn't want to lose my weekend privileges, so we better just stick to wandering around town shopping, and having lunch together."

"As long as we're spending the day together, that's fine with me," she told James. "I've got to get some sleep now. I love you, James Potter. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you again tomorrow night."

"I love you too, Arianna Ryan. Good luck tomorrow."

On Saturday morning, all of the New Marauders gathered in one classroom where they could study together right from after breakfast until it was time to go for lunch. Lily went from group to group helping everyone and doing her own work too.

After lunch, they all went to their respective Common rooms to watch the Canons-Wanderers game. They were all back and settled in with time to spare and got to listen to the pre-game predictions of a blowout win for the Wanderers.

The Canons team was in the visitor's locker room in Wigtown at that moment, getting their pep talk from Coach.

"I'm proud of all of you," he told his team. "You're going to go out there today and start what's going to be a great season for us. The Wanderers, like every other team last year, ran it up on us. Payback isn't coming to them in a few years. It's here today! Let's get out there and get the job done!"

Ron, as team captain, player, and assistant coach would lead them out onto the field today, and he was a very happy Wizard as they walked from the locker room to the stadium entrance that they'd be flying out of. When they were gathered around him, he looked at each of his six teammates.

"This is what it's all about," he told them quietly. "Don't let the nerves get to you. This is just like practice, except with six less bludgers."

The announcer called for them, and the hometown Wanderer's fans started booing. Ron took off, and they all followed after him, flashing around the stadium in formation, and at top speed, which caused even the hostile crowd to quiet down and watch in something close to awe.

This was the 'has-been, never-been, wannabe team? The announcer recovered quickly enough, suggesting that maybe precision flying had been what they spent the summer practicing instead of learning to play professional Quidditch. That had earned some laughs, but not very many.

The Canons landed at centre pitch, and the announcer called out the hometown Wanderers, who flew around the stadium to the cheers of their fans, but definitely not in any semblance of order or formation. They'd instead split up so that everyone in the stadium would be able to see at least one of their players at all times while they flew around.

When they landed on the pitch too, Ron met with their captain and their referee for the match, while each team faced off.

"Ron," the Wanderers captain said when they shook hands, "I just want to apologize now for what's about to happen to you. It's just too bad that you didn't stay retired. The game is way too fast for an old geezer like you."

"Well, I appreciate that, mate," Ron said with a laugh. "Good luck."

The referee got the game going right away, and the two teams took to the air. Back at Hogwarts, James was watching the game with all of the Gryffindor Marauders, and the Common room was packed with nearly every member of their House.

James and Hugo were still taking a fair bit of ribbing until the Canons had flown out, even though five of the members of the Canons team were Gryffindor alumni. The flying demonstration put at least a temporary end to the joking, since none of those kids were at all sure anymore about their convictions that the Canons weren't any good. The WWVN announcers repeated what they'd heard the stadium announcer tell the hometown crowd, but none of the Gryffindors laughed. Those commentators could joke all they wanted, but the kids knew that the flying had been flat out great.

"And they're off!" the WWVN announcer began.

"Stole it from me," Andy told everyone.

"And number eleven of the Canons reaches the Quaffle first – that'd be Ginny Potter, folks, and she passes to number twenty-one, Aaron Ryan, who passes behind the back to number twelve, Arianna Ryan, who passes – no, she takes the shot, and SCORES!"

Everyone else in the Gryffindor Common room had watched Arianna's first professional goal. What James saw was his girlfriend wink at him before scoring that first goal of her career – just like he used to do when he was taking a shot instead of passing - and she did it just for him!

That opening play for the Canons was the start of Quidditch lessons for the Wanderers, and for the other teams in the league too. Ginny, Aaron, and Arianna flew circles around their opponents, and Sebastian and Tristan put one of the Wanderer's Chasers and one of their Beaters out of the game, as they dismantled the team over the next three hours.

Harry spent that time defending the snitch against the Wanderers' Seeker, and allowed his Chasers to put up one hundred and eighteen goals before he used a little misdirection to send his opponent on a wild goose chase, then blasted off in the other direction to easily catch the snitch unopposed.

By then, the WWVN announcer's voice was hoarse from the strain. "And number thirty-one, Harry Potter, catches the snitch for the Canons," he managed to croak out.

"Final score, Chudley Canons, thirteen hundred and thirty, Wigtown Wanderers, forty."

"Well," Andy said loud enough that everyone in the room could hear. "How many of us owe apologies to our Gryffindor alumni for doubting them? I'd say that they pretty much showed they can play in the show just fine."

There was a fair bit of laughter that greeted his comments, and most of them got up to stretch, since nobody had left the room for the entire game. James, Hugo, and the others were all smiles, but there were more than a few of their fellow students that didn't look them in the eye for the rest of the day.

Things were pretty much the same in Ravenclaw tower too. Lily and Rose had taken most of the teasing over their parents thinking they could play professional sports. The one difference from Gryffindor was that the kids that had teased them weren't too embarrassed to come over to them and apologize after watching Harry, Ginny, and Ron prove that not only could they play, but that they were great players.

Kieran and Allie had sat together in Hufflepuff's Common room, and had watched the game with what had started out as a small group of Quidditch fans, but had quickly grown to most of the Hufflepuff students.

"That was something," Kieran told Allie quietly when it was over. "Could you imagine how many championships the Canons would have had if Harry, Ginny, and Ron had all played since they'd graduated Hogwarts?"

"Probably all of them – not like they didn't win enough of them anyway," Allie answered. She looked at her watch. "I'm going to get ready for dinner, since that little lesson in Quidditch has taken us almost to dinnertime. I'll see you down there."

Kieran stood up too. "Alright. I wonder if any of our friends are getting apologies yet?"

Allie shrugged. "For as much crap as they've put up with, they should be getting a lot of them."

One of Ron's favourite parts of the day had been immediately after the game, when he'd shaken hands again with the Wanderers' captain.

"We better make this fast," Ron told the other man, "There's a rocking chair waiting for this decrepit old geezer somewhere."

"Very funny. I'd say that we were too busy listening to the pundits about your team, but we were planning on this being a tune-up for our game against United, so it's not like we weren't ready to play. That makes this feel even worse."

"Look at the bright side, mate," Ron told him. "We're coming off of a season where we got beat up like this in every single game."

"For some reason, I'm really wishing right now that we hadn't been one of the teams doing that last year."

Ron laughed. "That definitely might have made a difference today," he said, confirming the Wanderers' captain's suspicion.

Ron led his team back into the locker room, and they all showered and changed before being brought into a packed pressroom, where they spent nearly an hour answering questions.

Harry and Ginny sat beside each other at the table, holding hands under it, and smiling as brightly as the rest of their teammates were. For them this had been nearly nine months in the making, and having their first team win together was really special.

They were happy for Aaron, Arianna, Sebastian, and Tristan too, but mostly for Coach and Ron, who'd been the only two of them to actually have to put up with the disappointment of coaching every one of those losses last season.

The sports reporters were scrambling around during the press conference, and afterward on their WWVN shows to explain away how every one of them got their predictions so wrong, and how it was possible that three forty year olds, and a bunch of kids right out of school could come out of nowhere to play a game like that.

Some of them suggested that the Wanderers had just been over-rated. They asked if Ginny, Ron, and Harry were 'on something'. One or two thought that maybe the old folks had been able to pull one game of a lifetime off, but that they'd never be able to play like that all season. There were even suggestions that they wouldn't really find out if the Canons were any good until they played a team like United or the Harpies.

Ron, Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the team were happy to let them run with any and all of those ideas. The more they kept the other teams wondering, the better.

Later that night, after a quiet team dinner celebration for the Canons, and a study night for James and the other Marauders, he and Arianna were again in VirtualChat for their nightly talk.

"You were amazing today," he told her, his virtual self smiling. "And yes, I saw the wink. Thanks, Arianna. That was really great."

"You're welcome, and thanks right back," she told him. "I can't even describe what it felt like flying out into the stadium like that – especially getting to do it with your Mum and Dad. The game was even better than I thought it would be to play professionally. I can hardly wait to find out what it's like to play a home game."

"Your Chudley Canons bandwagon is probably groaning with all of the Witches and Wizards who just jumped on it this afternoon," James said.

Arianna laughed. "Ginny got a qm from Owen saying that the GamePortals had a run on the League Championship Quidditch GameWizard games after the match."

"That's interesting, I guess, but what was the big deal?"

"The big deal was that it was happening in stores all over the world, and especially in the GamePortal in the VirtualMalls, and it was in the nature of tens of thousands of games sold."

James grinned. "That probably means that the real flying Canons action figures and everything else probably did the same thing."

"Probably," Arianna agreed. "Did you watch any of the post-game analysis? Aaron, Tracey, and I watched a bit after we got home."

"Only until dinner. We studied after dinner. The Gryffindor Marauders have been indoctrinated into the Lily Potter study philosophy, which seems to mean that we work our tails off for six days a week, and then if we're all done, we get Sunday off to do what we want, except for if we have a test on Monday."

"So what will you do with your day off?" she asked him.

James laughed. "Well, believe it or not, I'm actually considering working ahead. I may hang out with Andy, Jon, and Therese for a bit too, but I don't want to leave myself with too much time to just think. That's when it gets hardest to be away from you."

"If you do that all year, you might even give your brilliant little sibs and cousins a run for their money on best grades," Arianna said.

"They're definitely brilliant," he agreed, "but we're finding out this year just how much work they all put into getting that way."

"Even Lily?" she teased.

James laughed. "She works harder than anyone, but no, she'd be brilliant and probably still get straight 'O's' even if she didn't work like that. At least she seems to truly like helping the rest of us do better."

"I'm getting pretty tired," Arianna told James. "I was wondering something, though."

"What's that?" he asked.

"If our avatars snuggled up on the sofa here in this little virtual sitting room, and fell asleep, what would happen when our real selves fell asleep?"

James grinned at her. "The systems would probably shut down when we really fall asleep, and we'd wake up in the morning with our glasses still on."

"Well, these things only affect our sight and sound senses, but why don't you come over here and hold me, and we'll find out if your theory is right or not."

He did that, and it wasn't anything even close to actually being together, but it was a little better than not being with her at all, and they both fell asleep, dreaming of a Hogsmeade weekend together that was now less that seven days away.

James was completely focused throughout the whole week, too. He worked hard in class, at Quidditch practices, and on his homework with a single mindedness that none of his friends had seen in him before. That's not to say that he wasn't still his normal fun self, because he was. The extra drive he had toward everything he was doing was more in the nature of an added bonus for everyone around him.

Carolyn and Al were walking back to their Common room after their evening study group on Thursday that week. They'd been the last to go, and were taking their time.

"When you think about our first years here, who would have ever guessed that our family prankster would become the most responsible one of us?" Carolyn asked.

"I wouldn't have, and I have a lot more experience being pranked by James. I know this is all how he's dealing with not getting to see Arianna, but in a way, this is turning out to be something really good for him."

Carolyn nodded. "And for a lot of kids around here. Frederica tells me he's not just practicing Quidditch, he's really working hard to teach it to everyone – especially the younger kids and the practice team. I can't even count the number of kids that say he's a way better prefect this year than he was last year."

"Well, at least he's going to get to spend most of Saturday with Arianna. Hopefully that will help him a bit," Al said.

"That's probably why he's working even harder this week – so he has all of his work done by Saturday."

"He's not the only one who thinks that's a good idea. Speaking of Saturday, though, remind me to make sure that somebody has asked Frederica, Liam, and Colin if they need anything in town."

Carolyn smiled. "Already done, and you and I are taking care of it for this weekend. We'll take turns during the year with the others."

Saturday morning, all of James' family and friends watched as he hurried through breakfast, then waited impatiently with them until they could leave for Hogsmeade. He might not be bouncing around like Lily tended to do, but there was no doubt that he was excited.

All of the New Marauders that could go to Hogsmeade left together, and James resisted the urge to run all the way to town, and walked with them. Well, he did that until they reached the gates, and he saw Arianna walking up to meet them, then he walked quickly ahead of them, put his arms around her, and kissed her right there in front of everyone.

There were lots of other students around them too, and the reaction ranged from the mouth-covered giggles from some of the younger girls, to catcalls and whistles from some of the older boys and girls. James and Arianna ignored all of them.

"All right, James," Andy said loudly. "Um, well, you seem to be busy, so we'll just all carry on, and see you back at school this afternoon."

That earned some more laughs from the students passing around them. "Nice to see you too, Arianna," Andy continued. "You look great. Maybe I can get my hug and kiss later."

Jon and Therese took Andy by both arms and started leading him away. "I saw your game last Saturday," Andy called over his shoulder. "You were great! Maybe we can get together later and you can tell me all about it!"

By then he'd been dragged quite a distance from where James and Arianna still stood, and finally stopped his goofing around when he received a chorus of 'shut-up, Andy's' from the rest of his group.

"If you're going to kiss me like that every time we're apart for a few weeks, I'll have to travel a lot from now on," Arianna teased when they'd finally started walking to Hogsmeade.

"How about I promise to kiss you like that every day if you don't?" James countered.

Arianna laughed. "Deal. So, what do you want to do today?"

"I've got a few supplies to pick up, but other than that, we can wander the stores, or take a walk by the lake, or anything you'd like to do."

"It's pretty nice today, so why don't we get your things, get some food to go, and go find someplace quiet by the lake where we can just be alone as long as we can?" she suggested.

"That definitely sounds like a great idea," James told her.

Lily and Kieran were enjoying their first Hogsmeade weekend together. Their first stop was SpaMagic. She'd been elected to book the Hallowe'en makeover morning for all of the girls. That only took her a few minutes, and then they were able to move on to check out most of the other stores in town.

They took care of the supplies first, and during their stop to get quills and inks, they met up with James and Arianna long enough for Lily to give her a big hug, congratulate her on the big win, and one more hug to pass on to her parents.

By the time that Kieran and Lily picked up everything they'd wanted to get, and an extra gift or two for Frederica and Liam, it was time for lunch. They ended up eating with Hugo and Emily, who had just been getting to the Three Broomsticks too, and then the two couples wandered around for another hour or so before going back to school.

James and Arianna had spent less than an hour getting the few supplies and sweets that he wanted to stock up on, bought a picnic lunch, and walked hand-in-hand to the lake, where they found a nice grassy spot near the water to sit and spend the rest of their time together just talking and being near to each other.

They didn't think that they'd had nearly enough time together before it was time for him to go back to school.

"We better say goodbye here," he told her with a sad smile.

"Why? I could walk you back to the gates," she offered. "I don't mind."

"I know, but if we say goodbye there, I'll still be a blubbering idiot when I get into school. This way, I'll have time to pull it together – you know, I got a rep to keep and all that."

Arianna laughed, and hugged him fiercely. "Your so-called rep is a big fat lie, James Potter, and I love you."

He hugged her back, once again fighting tears. "Tell anyone, and I'll deny it," he told her softly. "I love you too. I guess I won't see you until Hallowe'en weekend, since you have a game on the next Hogsmeade weekend. This is going to be a really long six weeks."

"Yeah, it will," Arianna agreed. They both stood up, and embraced one more time before picking up their things and walking back into town.

"I'll talk to you tonight," James told her as they stood looking into each other's eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too," Arianna told him, the tears once again brimming in her eyes too.

He stepped closer, and she closed her eyes as he kissed her so tenderly that she didn't want it to ever stop, but then suddenly it was over, and when she opened her eyes, he'd already turned to make the lonely walk back to school.

She watched him go, his shoulders slumped over. She could see him wiping a hand over his eyes, and at that moment, she was pretty sure she knew exactly how Harry felt every time he watched the Hogwarts Express pull out of the station. When he was out of sight, she apparated straight to her room at home, curled up in her big, empty bed, and cried into her pillow until she fell asleep.

Arianna didn't hear Tracey come into her room, tuck her in, and kiss her cheek, and didn't wake up until the smell of her favourite foods cooking for dinner brought her back around from her nap. She got up, washed her face, and went out to join Tracey and Aaron.

"Hey, guys," she said, sitting down at the table.

"Did you and James have a good day?" Tracey asked her gently.

"Right up until the having to say goodbye part, it was great," she told her best friend and sister-in-law. "I'm guessing you already figured that out, though, considering what you're cooking tonight."

"And after dinner, we'll go visit Harry and Ginny so you can tell them how their kids are doing," Aaron told his sister.

"That'll work. Lily gave me a hug to pass on to them."

"And James didn't?" Tracey teased.

"He might have, but I'm going to keep them all to myself," Arianna told her, laughing just a little.

Tracey poured three glasses of wine and handed one each to Arianna and Aaron.

"Well, I know this is hard on both of you, Arianna, but we're all going to be here at this end for you, and James will have everyone there helping him. Until he's done school, we'll just have to channel all of that extra enery of yours somewhere else."

Aaron laughed. "Like out on the other teams in the league."

Arianna grinned at him. "That sounds like a really good idea," she said, lifting her glass to him before taking a sip. "Why don't we do that?"

James had been able to get his emotions under control during the walk back. When he got to the entrance hall, he wasn't surprised to see that Lily and Kieran just happened to be there, or that she had a big hug waiting for him.

"Don't go all mushy on me," Lily told him with a grin. "I'm just here to make sure you don't dodge me for Arithmancy study after dinner by finding anything else better to do."

Kieran grinned at them. "Doesn't everything else fall into that category?" he asked them. "I'm pretty sure that I heard Jon say that he'd rather brush the fangs of giant venomous spiders than do Arithmancy."

James and Lily both laughed. "Thanks, guys," James told them. "And you know we finished Arithmancy last night, sis. Don't worry. I've got other stuff to keep me busy the rest of the weekend. I'll be alright."

Lily looked at him critically. "I know you will, James. Just don't forget that we're all here for you if you need us."

"I won't Lily, and I appreciate it a lot."

Sunday, for Kieran and Lily, was the one real day that they could play and write music together. They did find a half hour or an hour here and there during the week too, but Sunday was the group's 'day off', and they'd usually be in their sixth floor music classroom from breakfast until lunch, and after lunch until dinner. They'd practice some of the songs they recorded, and they'd learn new ones that Kirley and Ana would send them by Owl Post, and they'd write new ones.

They were setting up for their morning session after breakfast, and Lily was maybe even more excited than usual.

"What's up?" Kieran asked her. "You're bouncing."

Lily laughed. "Before we get into our usual practice, I want to play something that's been running through my head since seeing Arianna yesterday. I've only got a verse and chorus so far, but I want to hear what you think." Kieran was happy to agree.

"This is a pretty heavy topic, so I don't know if it's anything we'd want to do as SpellBound or not," she said by way of introduction, and then began to play what she had so far:

(first verse)

When you see us we pretend everything is fine

Always say and do the things we know we must

You will never see the pain we hide inside

Or hear our silenced cries

(chorus)

But when we're behind closed doors,

Where nobody will ever see

The things that happen in the dark,

Would bring you to tears

If there was just one person who would try

To shine a ray of hope into our lives

Then maybe we won't always have to be

The silent minority

Kieran had closed his eyes to listen, and when she'd finished her half-done song, he opened them and stared at her.

"You don't like it?" she asked, seeing his serious expression.

"No, it's not that, Lily. You said you wrote this after seeing Arianna. She was abused when she was a kid?"

Lily nodded. "And Aaron too, but not even everyone in our family knows that, and I should have been thinking before I opened my big mouth."

"It's alright, Lily, I won't say anything. You're wrong about one thing, though. SpellBound's a big hit, and maybe a song like this could be that ray of hope you're writing about for someone, or even lots of someones."

"You think so?" Lily asked him hopefully.

"Arianna and Aaron got through it, and I'd say they're doing pretty good. We could write a hopeful second verse or maybe a bridge…"

They went on to talk about that, and write the rest of her song together right then. It was nearly lunchtime when they were done and had to pack up again for lunch, but they had what they thought was maybe the best song they'd written together so far. Most people would probably say 'so what' about that being the case for a couple of thirteen year olds, but these two teens had four multi-platinum selling songs to their writing credits already, so they might just know what they were talking about.

The week after that first Hogsmeade weekend, the Canons again started to be one of the most popular topics at school. The girls thought that Sebastian and Tristan were hot, and orange became cool again. Some of the thngs that happened to the Marauders was really funny.

Like on Tuesday after studying with their group all evening, James went into his dorm room to find posters of his Mum and girlfriend plastered on the wall above Andy's bed. His roommates howled with laughter at the look on his face.

"Andy, having a picture of my girlfriend up on your wall is bad enough, but that's my _Mom!"_

Andy grinned at him. "I noticed that, mate. If my mom looked like that, I'd be home-schooling."

That had earned more roars of laughter, and a pillow thrown at his head by James.

"Laugh it up, funny boy," James said. "When I tell Dad about this, we'll see who's still laughing."

Andy just smirked at him. "Your Dad will think it's hilarious, and you know it. The question is, though, what will your Mom and Tracey think when the see the pictures I sent them that Therese took for me of all the posters of Aaron and your Dad in the girls dorm rooms?"

James groaned. "Thanks for at least waiting a few hours so my food could digest before telling me about that, mate. Do you have anything else to share with me?"

"Nope, that's all the fun I had planned for tonight," Andy told him. "I've got to spread it out over the whole year after all."

"You are a seriously disturbed young Wizard," James told his friend.

There were certainly kids all over Hogwarts that were jumping on the Canons bandwagon, but there were also a lot of comedian wannabes. Rose and Hugo were regularly pestered with the flying Ron Weasley action figure. Ginny or Harry would buzz Lily, Al, and James at any time of the day, almost anywhere.

James then also had the added bonus of the Arianna Ryan action figure trying to fly up for a kiss at least a dozen times a day. If he saw that it was the little eleven or twelve-year old girls doing it, he'd usually oblige them by giving the little doll a quick peck, which always left them giggling as he moved on.

On Saturday, the Common rooms were mostly filled after lunch with students settling in to watch the Canons' home opener, and find out whether the last game was a fluke like some of the sports pundits were still predicting, or whether the Canons were as good this week as they looked in their first game against the Wanderers.

The Ravenclaw Marauders were right there with everyone else in their Common room, and were ready with drinks and snacks when the game started.

They were all thrilled to watch as their parents and friends took to the field in a different, but just as dramatic flying formation that had their home-town fans roaring their approval.

"Mum told me that most of the family is there for this game," Rose said to the others. "They're all up in the Owner's box."

"I wish we could be too," Carolyn told them. "That's the only bad part about all of this is that we can't be there to share it with them."

The game started, and they all cheered on their team, with the exception of the small contingent of Catapults fans in the room. They were in for a very bad afternoon.

Ginny scored the first goal of this game, and they just poured it on from there – both on offense and defense. In the three hours and sixteen minutes the game lasted, only thirty shots got through to Ron, and only one got past him.

Sebastian and Tristan had the Catapults' Chasers flying with their heads on swivels, and all of them bruised and battered while they also kept the bludgers away from their own teammates.

Harry again spent his time defending the snitch from his opponent all game until they'd significantly passed the score that the Catapults had put up on them last season, then he again effortlessly caught the snitch to end the game.

"They didn't have to go and run it up like that," one of the Catapults fans in the room grumbled loudly enough to be heard by Rose and the others.

"You mean like they did to the Canons last year?" Rose countered. "Twice, if I remember correctly. Maybe the other teams in the league should have thought about the consequences before doing that. You should be happy about two things, mate. First, you only play us once this year and that game's over now, and second, you won't have every other team sticking it to you all season like they did to my Canons."

That pretty much ended at least the audible complaints from the Catapults fans. Some of the kids sat around and watched some of the post-game show, but the Marauders all left to do other things until dinner.

Al and Carolyn took a walk by the lake. It was already starting to get cooler in the mornings and evenings, but this afternoon was comfortably warm, and they weren't the only students out enjoying a stroll in the late afternoon sunshine.

"For some reason, I'm liking watching professional Quidditch a lot more this year," Carolyn told Al with a smile. "Maybe I just wasn't giving it enough of a chance before now."

"That could be it," he agreed. "Or maybe it's just because this is Sebastian and Tristan's first year in the league."

"That is a definite possibility," she told him. "They are pretty easy to look at."

He grinned at her as they walked, but didn't say anything.

"What? No jealousy or anything?" she asked, feigning indignation.

"Nope. I'd only be worried if you didn't think they were good looking, 'cause then we'd need to go get your eyes checked."

Carolyn laughed. "This game isn't much fun if you won't at least pretend to be jealous," she accused.

Al stopped, put his arms around her waist, and dazzled her as he looked at her with those emerald eyes.

"Some games aren't worth playing, Carolyn. And when it comes to your heart and mine, this is the only game I'll ever play with you."

He pulled her close, and kissed her – a long, breath-taking, ground-tilting kind of kiss. When the kiss ended, Carolyn grinned at him.

"I like that game a lot, Al. And I can see that it's definitely one of those games that will never get boring no matter how many times we play it."

The weekend of the Canons' home-opening victory was the last weekend of September. The New Marauders went back to their studies, Quidditch, music, and everything else they had on the go. The following week, their first month of school cruised to a close, and October – one of the Wizarding World's favourite months began an unofficial countdown to Hallowe'en.


	72. Trick or Treat

Chapter Seventy-Two – Trick or Treat

The first weekend in October was the first weekend of the year that didn't have some big event happening at Hogwarts. The first four weekends had included Quidditch tryouts, and a Hogsmeade weekend sandwiched in between two big Canons Quidditch games.

While the Marauders were all busy doing homework assignments on Saturday, they also talked a bit about what would be happening on the weekend of Hallowe'en. There was going to be a dance on Saturday night, but Hallowe'en was actually on Sunday this year.

"We decided not to do anything last year since the dance was on Hallowe'en," Nick said, "but we could still do something on Sunday without getting in the way of the dance this year."

"Got any ideas?" James asked. Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius might have technically started the New Marauders, but just as everyone knew that Lily was the leader of their study group, they all knew that James had been the leader of the Marauders pretty much since their second year.

"Actually, yes," Nick told James. He went on to explain what he had in mind, and his idea was given a unanimous vote of approval from the members.

That decision gave them all one more thing to do along with everything else they had on their busy schedules, but since it was one of the most fun things they had going on, nobody minded at all.

The next weekend was both a Hogsmeade weekend, and a Canons road game against the Falmouth Falcons. The Hogwarts students spent the morning in town, as did all of the all of the Marauders except for Frederica, Liam, and Colin, but while most of their fellow students stayed in town, the New Marauders were all back at school for lunch, and in their Common rooms for the game.

For the other students who did come back, most of them weren't fans of either team, but watching the first two Canons games had created a lot of interest all over the Wizarding World about what would happen during the rest of the Canons season. Those kids were like millions of other fascinated observers who couldn't help themselves, wanting to watch the wreckage that the Canons left behind them with every game.

One thing that was new for this week was an advertisement for SpellBound's album, and the two new videos that were being released that day. The advertisement had clips from both videos and had caused another stir among the Hogwarts students. There was a good chance that the VirtualMalls were going to be busy after the game.

When the game got started, the Falcon's game plan was soon obvious to everyone watching. They were purposely going after Arianna and Ginny, and trying to take them out, and do it permanently, not just the regular game play that was normal for the sport.

The Canons had expected this to be tried eventually though, and they were ready for the tactic. If the other league teams had been considering the same kind of tactic for their own upcoming games, they were all brutally taught that maybe ticking off the most powerful Wizard in the world, and two of the biggest Beaters in the league might be one of the stupidest ideas in the history of the game.

First, Aaron and Harry not only kept playing their own postitions, but they also helped protect the girls. Then they flew patterns they'd developed that would single out an opponent, and lead them right into a bludger attack from Sebastian or Tristan.

Finally, as the Falcons started to lose players to injury, and they couldn't try to attack the girls anymore, Coach let the Canons Chasers loose to pound the message home. One hundred and twenty-seven goals later, Harry caught the snitch to end the debacle. He'd just been flying around for the past couple of hours, since Sebastian had long since put the Falcons Seeker out of commission and into his bed at St. Mungos.

Andy and Jon had practically needed to hold James down when the game had first started, since he looked ready to go straight to Falmouth and tear the stadium to the ground, but as they watched the other members of the Canons guard the girls and then tear the Falcons to shreds, he'd calmed down.

"Relax mate, they didn't hurt Arianna or your Mum, and I'd guess that nobody else will try that again," Jon told James after the game. He was calmer, but still pretty heated about the whole thing.

"Those guys must not have put much thought into that," Andy mused. "Could you imagine what would have happened if they had hurt your Mum – or Arianna? Your Dad might have waited until after the game, but then it would have been really bad."

Therese was watching the post-game, where the four remaining Falcons were meeting the Canons on the field.

"I wouldn't be so sure it still won't be," she told them. "Look at your Dad, James."

They all watched as Harry, his eyes blazing emerald green flames met with the Falcons. Ginny had her hand on his arm, and was talking fast. James watched in fascination. He didn't remember ever seeing his father mad before.

It looked like the Falcons were apprehensive about seeing him mad now. Arianna joined Ginny in talking with Harry, and James and the others could all see him visibly relax, and even smile as Arianna hugged him.

"What a shame," Andy said. "That might have been fun to see what happened."

Therese slapped him on the arm. "I have a feeling that we should all be really glad that we didn't, Andy," she said seriously.

James hadn't really even been paying attention to his friends, since he'd been focused on the scene playing out on the WWVN. There was no doubt that his mother and Arianna had talked his father down from that moment of towering anger, and in a way it was even more fascinating to watch him as he then shook hands with a very nervous group of Falcons. In those few minutes, his parents and girlfriend taught him a very important lesson about anger, and about forgiveness.

He'd felt his own anger flowing out of him as he'd watched, feeling much better as it did.

"You alright, mate?" Jon asked him quietly.

"Yeah, Jon. Thanks. I'd just never seen that before."

"Seen what?" Therese asked him.

"Seen my Dad mad," James told her.

"You've never seen him mad?" Andy asked incredulously. "Ever?"

"Nope. He might get frustrated with us sometimes, but never mad."

Therese smiled at James. "If that's his mad, guys, I'm thinking that it's a good thing it doesn't happen very often."

The three boys laughed, and then they all got up and went for their books. Lily had told everyone that if they had more than an hour until dinner, they were all to meet in their usual study classroom and get started on the homework, since they'd been in Hogsmeade all morning, and watched the game this afternoon. Doing all of that would mean spending at least part of Sunday catching up, but both the trip, and watching the game was worth not having all day Sunday off.

There was another road game for the Canons two weeks later, and during those two weeks, James and the others kept busy with school, getting ready for the start of Quidditch season, and working on their Hallowe'en plans.

The highlight for each day for James was his nightly bedtime chats with Arianna. They were having an early chat on the Friday night before her game against the Harpies.

"Are you guys ready for your game tomorrow?" James asked when they'd both gotten to the VirtualChat room.

"Yes. We had to make a few adjustments for this game, since Seabastian and Tristan both told Coach there was no way they could purposely try and hit girls with the bludgers. Coach was pretty disgusted about it, since the Harpies Beaters won't think twice about trying to hit us, but we've got it worked out."

"What are you going to do? Have you and Mum play Beater instead?"

Arianna laughed. "No, the boys just spent the last two weeks practicing for making near-miss bludger attacks. If any of the Harpies gets hit, it'll be by accident."

Since they kept up with what they were both doing every day, it didn't take long to talk about the day's events, and then they ended their chat with the now usual 'I love you's' and 'Sweet dreams' and other mushiness.

The New Marauders spent Saturday morning studying together, and then watched the Canons-Harpies game in the afternoon. Sebastian and Tristan might not be willing to play their toughest against the all-girl Harpies, but the rest of the team didn't have a problem with that at all.

When the Harpies had played the Canons last season, they'd been as bad as all of the other teams when it came to running up the score and padding their personal statistics. Canons Lesson Number Four of the season was just as decisive as the first three games had been: Final score – eleven hundred and ten to twenty.

By the end of that fourth game, Ginny and Arianna were one and two in the league scoring leader race, way out in front of everyone else. Their playmaker, Aaron, was a distant third, and everyone else far behind him. At the rate they were going, team and league records were going to be falling this season.

The end of that fairly quiet two weeks between the Canons' games against the Falcons and Harpies marked the beginning of a couple of very busy weeks – the last week of October, leading into Hallowe'en, and the following week, which would end with the first game of the Hogwarts Quidditch season.

The Hallowe'en weekend started with the Hogsmeade trip for all of the third to seventh year students. Since Frederica hadn't been able to go with the other girls to SpaMagic, that morning at breakfast, she'd been sent a Spa in a Bag from Lily that she'd be able to use to get ready for the dance that night.

Arianna met James in town this time, and the two of them went off to spend the day together. Since none of the rest of the group saw them all day, and it was a cool, damp day, they suspected that James had caved in and that they'd rented a private guest room at the Hog's Head Tavern.

The girls spent the morning at SpaMagic, then had lunch with the boys, then went shopping, where they picked out new dresses for the dance before they all went back to school.

James and Arianna had, in fact, spent the day at the Hog's Head, and a little snogging had certainly gone on, but they'd actually spent most of the time in the big sitting room, rather than in the less than ideal guest room they'd rented, talking quietly and watching a couple of shows on the small WWVN set that was in one corner.

"I should suggest to Grandma and Aunt Penelope that maybe a small, clean hotel might do very well in Hogsmeade," Arianna had told James when she first saw the guest room.

James had smiled and put his arms around her waist. "I'd have been willing to rent a cardboard box if it still meant we could have some time alone together."

Arianna put her arms around his neck, and kissed him. "Well, I guess this is slightly better than that – if not by very much."

They'd had another tearful goodbye when it was time for James to go back to school, and then he'd walked back, and she apparated over to the cottage where she spent the rest of the day with Harry and Ginny.

Even after getting back to Hogwarts, most of the girls had still spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for the dinner and dance. The boys hadn't started as early as the girls had, but they'd eventually gotten cleaned and dressed up too.

Al, Scorpius, and Matt were in the Ravenclaw Common room, waiting for the girls, and Nick had gone to pick up Allie over at Hufflepuff.

When Rose, Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily all came into the room, the boys were suitably impressed, and the girls were all happy with their respective boyfriend's reactions. Lily went straight out to meet Kieran – sure that he'd be out there waiting, while the others paired up, and spent a quiet moment together before they all went out and walked to the Great Hall.

This year's dance, for Lily, was the complete opposite of the one last year. What she had learned last year, though, hadn't been forgotten. She did dance most of the night with Kieran, but she also made a point of either dancing with, or helping to pair up other kids that didn't seem to be getting involved.

For example, after she, Frederica, Carolyn, and Brianna had all danced with Colin Creevey, he suddenly found himself being asked to dance by some of the other first year girls. James didn't really feel much like dancing, but even he couldn't help but smile as his little sister systematically ensured that he had a new dance partner at least three or four times an hour, depending on how many songs he danced with each girl.

"Arianna's going to be mad when she finds out that you've been setting me up all night," he told a smiling Lily as she danced with him.

"No she won't, since I sent her a qm to tell her I would be, and I've been very careful to make sure you're only dancing with girls that are either related to you, or are already taken too, like Therese."

James hugged her tightly. "Thanks, Lily. I've actually had some fun tonight."

"You're welcome," she told him.

Later, when she was again dancing with Kieran, one of SpellBound's ballads began to play. That had been a pretty weird part of the night – dancing to their own songs and this was the fourth or fifth one played so far.

"You're being quite the matchmaker tonight," Kieran told her as they danced.

Lily grinned. "Let's just say that at the dance last year, I gained an appreciation for the lonely hearts club, and wanted to do something about that this year."

"You didn't stay very long last year," he told her. "You sat in that corner," he added, pointing to exactly where she'd sat last year, "and didn't even really talk with anyone, then you just got up and left."

"How'd you know that?" she asked in surprise.

Kieran grinned sheepishly. "Because I sat over there," he said, indicating another corner, "and watched you, since I thought you were the most beautiful girl at the dance."

"Why didn't you come over and ask me to dance then?" she asked him.

He laughed softly and kissed her cheek before whispering – "Why didn't you come and ask me?"

"Because I was busy feeling sorry for myself," she told him. "I'm all better now, though."

"Colin seems better now too," he said, and Lily watched their little friend dancing nearby. "She's only a little taller than he is too."

"That one was easy. There isn't a girl around who won't want to know why a boy's getting so many offers to dance, and go find out for themselves. Once they give him a chance, they'll find out what a sweetheart he is."

The Hippogriff in the Great Hall that night that none of the Marauders could talk about openly was the regular playing of SpellBound songs. Watching their friends and fellow students dancing to those songs, whether it was one of the slow ballads, or the upbeat pop songs, it was hard not being able to shout out 'That's my sister!', or 'That's my cousin!'.

Scorpius and Brianna were dancing together to another one of those songs, and talking quietly as they danced.

"I love this one," Brianna told him softly. "It's like they're writing stuff right out of our lives.

Scorpius laughed softly and whispered in her ear so nobody else could hear him. "What makes you think they aren't?"

Brianna smiled at him. "I guess inspiration has to come from somewhere. They're just absolutely fantastic at expressing what it's like being teenagers."

He hugged her tight as they danced, and kissed her tenderly. "I think we do just fine expressing ourselves too – at least to each other," he suggested, making Brianna laugh.

"Oh, yeah, we're definitely pretty good at that," she agreed.

Rose and Matt had been dancing a lot, but at that moment, they were sitting down and having drinks together.

"Do you think we'd cause a scandal if one of the House prefects and the captain of the Quidditch team sneak off early and go spend a little time alone in the Common room?" Rose asked him. "It's probably empty right now."

"Only if the prefect was Scorpius instead of you," Matt told her with a big grin. "If it's just you and me, I'm all for it."

Carolyn and Al were out on the dancefloor, and watched as Rose and Matt left the Hall together.

"Darn," Carolyn said. "I should have thought of that first."

"Thought of what?" Al asked her.

"I'll bet their going to the Common room for a little private time while everyone else is here at the dance."

"And if we'd been faster, that could have been us?" he suggested.

"Yes, but now we'd just be in each other's way, so that won't work."

"That's alright," he told her. "Dancing here with you all night is a pretty great second option."

Jon and Therese were thinking that dancing together was a pretty good option too, since it was at the Yule Ball that Aaron so smoothly introduced them by asking her to dance with the too shy Jon. Since then, every school dance had been special for them. It was certain that none of them had expected that a one or two song dance would turn into the forever kind of love that they both knew they had now.

Frederica and Liam weren't thinking anything about that kind of love. They were eleven, they each thought that the other was cute, and they liked all the same things. You didn't grow up in the Weasley family without hugs and kisses being a big part of your life, and there were certainly hugs, and some kisses that went on between the young pair, but it was definitely the little boy – little girl kind of kisses, more like imitate than passionate.

They might be dancing to a beautiful SpellBound love song, in a darkened Great Hall, but it was Quidditch, not romance that was their topic of conversation.

"Do you think we'll be ready for the game next Saturday?" Frederica asked him as they danced, his arms around her waist, and hers around his neck like they'd watched their parents and older couples do all of their lives.

"I think so," Liam answered. "Those Slytherin guys are big and are probably way stronger than we are, but James has done a good job teaching us how to deal with that."

He grinned at her. "And if they come after me, I have my favourite Beater there to protect me. Those guys won't know what hit them."

Frederica's eyes sparkled, and she laughed. "They do _not _want to try going after my boyfriend," she told him. "Those Falcons have paid beds at St. Mungo's – they don't, and fortunately for us, I got to spend a little time this summer practicing with Sebastion and Tristan."

Liam laughed too. "I hope they don't, then," he told his fiery little girlfriend. "The worst of it wouldn't be the pain from the bludger hits for those big, strong boys, it'd be having to admit that it had been done to them by a sweet, beautiful little firstie."

Frederica laughed again. "I never thought about it that way," she admitted. "That would be pretty hard for them to take. Do you think they'd feel better about it if we told them that I come by it honestly, since my Dad and Uncle were two of the best Beaters Gryffindor ever had?"

Liam grinned at her. "Probably, so let's not."

The first and second years had to go back to their dorms at eleven, while the older students could stay and dance until one. James used the departure of the younger kids as his excuse to head back to Gryffindor House, offering to be the prefect that made sure that all of those kids got back like they were supposed to.

When he'd made sure that they were, he grinned at the group of younger kids that included Frederica, Liam, and Colin.

"Now the bad news is that you had to come back here," he told them. "The good news is that your prefect in charge knows that most of the older kids won't be back until right near the very end of the dance, so you have about an hour and forty-five minutes to hang out here in the Common room if you want."

"I thought we had to go straight to bed," one of the kids said.

James laughed, and most of the other kids were grinning. "Well, if you want to, I wouldn't dream of stopping you," he told the boy. "But the rule said that you had to be back in your Houses by eleven, and last time I checked, the Common room was definitely part of Gryffindor House. Now, I have some things to do in my room, so if you need me, one of the boys can come and get me, but if I was part of your group, I'd seriously consider breaking out some contraband treats and drinks, turning on the WWVN to one of the music video channels, and having a little dance right here."

That idea was greeted with some giggles and a lot of grins.

"Just don't forget to be vapour by twelve forty-five so that I don't have to find out from Professor McGonagall that my interpretation of that rule was incorrect."

James received a chorus of nods, and he knew that Frederica, Liam, and Colin would back him up, so he left for his own room and a VirtualChat room date of his own.

"So your plan worked?" Arianna asked him when they both got to the chat program.

"Like a charm. Dangle the prospect of staying up a bit later with the added intrigue and perception of danger in front of any little Gryffindor, and it's a challenge they just cannot refuse to get excited about."

"Why go through all of that?"

James laughed. "Because I'm selfish, and wanted to be able to spend the time with you instead of spending the next two hours in the Common room, fielding 'I can't sleeps', and 'It's not fair that we couldn't stay at the dance' comments for the next two hours."

Arianna's avatar laughed. "If it worked, it doesn't matter to me what motivated you. I'm just glad to have some time together, such that this is, anyway."

They talked together for over an hour, and then James regretfully put his GameWizard glasses away and went downstairs to check up on the impromptu little party. It was almost twelve thirty, and the group of kids that remained were busy cleaning up, and had already turned the WWVN off.

"Thanks, everyone," he told them when he saw what they were doing. "Nobody will ever be able to tell there was a party going on here."

"Except for us," Andy said from a sofa by one of the fires.

James turned to see his friend, Jon, and Therese all sitting there and grinned.

"Don't worry though, mate," Andy continued, "We've been bribed to keep quiet," he added, waving a just recently opened bludger bar in his hand.

"Who bribed you?" James asked.

Andy looked around and pointed out a little dark-haired boy, who grinned back at him. James laughed.

"How much did it cost you?" he asked the boy, who told him that Jon and Therese hadn't charged anything, and it had only taken two bludger bars and three foot-long nose nougats to get Andy's silence.

James turned to Frederica, who was smiling. "Could you remind me to bring our young hero here a box of bludger bars back with me when we have the next Hogsmeade weekend?"

Frederica had nodded, and the little boy had been thrilled. The young Gryffindors quickly wrapped things up, and were in their own rooms by just before twelve forty-five as agreed, and James sat down with his friends.

"You got the kids to bribe you?" James said, not sure whether to laugh or scold his grinning friend.

"I didn't actually think it'd work, but by the time the kid started negotiating, it was too late. When I go into sportscasting, I'm getting that little dynamo to work out my contract with whoever I end up working for."

"How was the rest of the dance?" James asked.

Andy stopped grinning. "Had better ones, mate."

"What happened?"

It was Jon's turn to grin. "Girl trouble. Our best friend is finding that the field he so likes to play in is getting smaller, and the opposing team less interested in multi-player gaming."

"That was quite a brilliantly crafted metaphor," Therese complimented him.

"Ha Ha," Andy said, grinning despite himself. "The only problem with that statement is that it's painfully true."

"So your problem is that the girls want you to get off the fence and pick one of them?" James summarized.

Andy groaned. "No, the problem is that the one I like the most told me to sod off, and that she never wanted to see me again."

James, Jon, and Therese all laughed, and he glared at them.

"Friends aren't supposed to laugh at your misfortune," he accused.

" A misfortune of your own making, mate. We'll stop laughing if you'll be honest with us for once," James promised him. "Do you just like her, or is it anything more than that?"

Andy slumped in his seat. "It's way more than like, mate. That's why I'm so miserable about it, even if I do goof around a lot to hide it."

"Is she still at the dance?" James asked him.

Andy nodded. "But they'll be back any minute."

"Then we'll talk fast. Don't let her go to bed without hearing you out, and _tell her!_ Beg if you have to, and then when you get back to our room, let Jon and I know how it went."

James got up, and so did Therese and Jon, leaving their unsettled and nervous friend to wait.

"I'll see you in the morning," Therese told Jon and James. "I'm pretty sure I know who he means, so I'll see if I can get some details from her later too."

"Thanks," Jon told her, kissing her goodnight. "I love you, Therese. Sleep well."

"I love you too," she told him with a smile before turning to go to the girl's dorms.

James had been starting to regret telling Andy to talk to the girl tonight, since it was getting close to two before Andy finally showed up in their room. Jon hadn't been able to stay awake, and instead of waking him up, Andy and James just let him sleep.

"So, how did it go?" James asked.

"She at least agreed to hear me out," Andy said quietly.

"I gathered that, since you've been over an hour since we left."

Andy nodded. "Bottom line is that she's been waiting around for me to make up my mind – or in her words, stop being a royal git – and she's not sure whether to believe me or not. She's worried that I'm just trying to string her along."

James smiled. "Is she going to give you a chance to prove you're not?"

"Yes, but I have no idea how I'm going to do that," he confessed.

"That's where your friends come in, mate. We'll help you put together a campaign that will convince her. By the way, which her is it?"

Andy laughed. "It's Laura Kirke," he told James. "She's in the same room with Therese."

James grinned at him. "She's a sweetheart, Andy. No wonder she's being careful."

"Yeah, well, maybe I should have realized that a long time ago, but I can't do anything about the past."

"That's true," James agreed more seriously. "I gotta tell you something, though, Andy."

"What's that?"

"Like I said, she's a sweetheart, and best mate or not, if I find out you are stringing her along, you and I are going to go find somewhere quiet to have a little private discussion of our own."

Andy looked at him to see if he was joking, but James definitely wasn't, and he was sure that he really wouldn't like to have a discussion like that with his friend.

"You don't have to worry about that, James. So, what do I do first?"

James grinned at him again. "Tomorrow, after all of the fun dies down, you recruit Lily to help you with getting little gifts to send her by Owl Post. Daily for the next month or so should work to start. Then you start asking her out – or at least the closest you can get to that while we're all here."

"To do what?" Andy asked.

"Well, is there any reason why she couldn't sit at the announcer's table at the game? Then there's the next Hogsmeade weekend, and you could maybe try that out as a double date with Jon and Therese to start, in case you run into any troubles keeping the conversation going for five or six straight hours with only one girl."

Andy laughed. "That's fairly blunt," he told James. "Possibly true, but blunt." He looked at his watch. "We can talk about anything else another time, though, since breakfast is only a handful of hours away."

He got up to go over to his own bed. "Thanks, James. I feel a lot better about things tonight than I have in quite a while now."

"You're welcome, Andy. Have a good sleep."

The next morning, the students and Professors of Hogwarts woke up to find the school overrun with black kneazle cats. Lily woke up to find one in her bed, and she grinned.

"Good morning, Fluffy," she told her now black cat. "Don't worry," she whispered in her ear, "you'll be back to your beautiful white self after midnight."

Fluffy didn't seem to mind, being more interested in watching all of the other black cats in the room that were now jumping on and off the beds, and interacting with the other girls in the room.

There was no way to tell them apart, but the girls started to find out that some of the cats turned into dark chocolate cats after being stroked what seemed to be a random number of times, while other cats were actually cats.

The trick part of their little Hallowe'en treat was that since the kneazle cats that turned into chocolate cats didn't change after a certain number of strokes of their back, some kids might give up on one after dozens of pets, only to see someone else pick up the cat they'd discarded, pet it once or twice, and be rewarded with a chocolate cat to eat.

Then there were the others, who stubbornly refused to give up, only to eventurally find out that there actually were dozens of real black kneazle cats mixed in with the more than two thousand chocolate cats that were running around the place.

That might be a mixed blessing, though. Eating the chocolate cats did have the effect of turning the chocolate treat back into a trick as the chocolate eating kid then spent the next hour or so as a soft, furry black kneazle cat faced and pawed Witch or Wizard.

The Great Hall was filled with students and cats for breakfast, since it sometimes took hours before the magic number of strokes were applied to a majority of the cats. There was also a growing number of feline-faced students too.

"I'd say we have another hit," Allie told Nick after breakfast when they'd gotten together to start studying.

They all had to work today, even though it was Hallowe'en, because they'd spent the whole day yesterday in town and then at the dance.

"I'd say so," Carolyn agreed as she held paws with her furry boyfriend. "In fact, Al's so extra cuddly today, I'm thinking about saving a few of those chocolates for future cuddling sessions."

Everyone had laughed, and even while they'd worked all morning, had interspersed that work with stories about some of the things that had happened in their dorms and Common rooms earlier. There was no doubt that all of the kids were having fun with the cats, and even the real kneazle cats were enjoying the hours of nonstop attention they were receiving from kids who had yet to find out that their Hallowe'en trick had been in selecting a real cat to pet all day.

By lunch, the school was down to hundreds of cats running around from the initial thousands. The New Marauders finished all of their weekend homework by just before dinner time. When they got to the Great Hall, there were only a very few cats left, and most of them were probably the real ones. There were still a few fuzzy-faced students around too, but most had returned to normal.

After dinner, while most of the Marauders couples paired up and went off for some alone time, James and most of his Gryffindor team went off to talk game plan for next week's match against Slytherin, and Lily and Kieran went to their usual music room to play for a couple of hours.

When Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily went to bed, Carolyn and Lily found out that they both had black cats on their beds.

"Looks like one of the real cats have decided to stay with you tonight," Lily told Carolyn.

The three girls got changed and climbed into their beds.

"Maybe she'll decide to stay with me," Carolyn said as she stroked the soft black fur.

"Fluffy'd probably like that," Lily said, doing the same to her cat as they talked.

When her cat suddenly turned into one of the dark chocolate cats, all three girls started to laugh.

"Apparently the last trick of the day is on you," Brianna told Lily.

"Then where's Fluffy?" Lily asked as she set the chocolate cat on her night table.

"Meow," the cat that Carolyn was petting said.

"Is that you, Fluffy?" Carolyn asked, still petting her gently.

"Meow," Fluffy confirmed, making no move to leave from her comfortable snuggle with Carolyn.

Lily laughed. "I'd say she's planning on sticking with you tonight," she told Carolyn. "I'm beat, though, so you two have fun, and I'll see you next month."


	73. Quidditch Friends and Foes

Chapter Seventy-Three – Quidditch Friends and Foes

It was finally November, and not even the Hallowe'en day release of a new SpellBound video could distract the students of Hogwarts from the impending start of their Quidditch season. The Canons game against the Kestrals would be on Saturday too, which had the makings of what could be considered a perfect day for the die-hard Quidditch fans of the school.

James and his team had been working hard all year, and their first practice of the week on Monday had been no exception. Jeremy and James were on the pitch talking together after their workout when Colin came up to them.

"James, can I ask you a question?" Colin asked after waiting for a break in the other boy's conversation.

"Well, technically you just did," James said with a grin, "but of course you can."

"Is there any reason why I couldn't lend Jeremy my Lightningbolt for the games this season? I think it could make a difference if we could do that."

James and Jeremy both smiled at Colin. "There's no reason at all, Colin," James told him. "And it would be a big help for us – especially on Saturday, since Slytherin wouldn't know it was coming."

Colin beamed at them, and then handed his broom over to Jeremy. "Then we should switch for the rest of the week, so that you have some time to get used to the extra speed," he told Jeremy, taking the other boy's Firebolt in return. "You'll see that it maneuvers about the same as the Firebolt, it can just do it a lot faster."

"Thanks, Colin," Jeremy told him. "I'll take good care of it while I'm borrowing it."

By then, the rest of the team had gathered around the three boys and were all giving Colin the thumbs up for offering to do that for the team.

"Let's make sure that nobody else finds out about this," James told them all. "What Slytherin doesn't know will really suck for them on game day."

Now that the New Marauders Hallowe'en prank had successfully concluded, they'd had one less thing to do now, but Lily and Frederica both had been happy to turn their attention to Andy's campaign to win the heart of Laura Kirke. Before they'd finished with him on Sunday, they'd had his entire first week of courtship planned out, and in the case of the little gifts, had them ordered through the VirtualMall and scheduled for daily Owl Post deliveries.

The Roses that had arrived on Monday morning had been a big success, and by Tuesday morning, she'd started at least having breakfast with Andy and his group, which worked out even better when the Owl Posts kept coming.

On Thursday, she agreed to sit with him during the game on Saturday, and by Friday after classes, she'd even let him hold her hand when they went to dinner, where they both sat down to eat with her friends.

The Quidditch stadium was packed with students, Professors, and guests on Saturday, everyone ready for the season to get underway.

"Welcome to the opening day of Hogwarts Quidditch!" Andy told the crowd as he began another season as game announcer.

"Today we should be in for a great game! In one corner, we have Slytherin House, led by their four-time team captain. They're coming off of another one win, two loss season, and as captain, he's looking to even up the series against their opponent today, having won one game, and lost two in the previous three seasons."

Andy's announcements about Slytherin were met with widely varying reactions around the stadium, but even the Slytherin section wasn't quite sure whether to cheer or boo the mixed bag of comments.

"And in the other corner, we have Gryffindor, last year's Quidditch Cup champions." Andy had to wait while the Gryffindor fans roared their approval.

"This season, they have four brand new players, with two first year additions. We'll have to wait and see how well their new team captain was able to get this group playing together after having nearly the same team for the past several years, and after losing Aaron and Arianna Ryan to graduation and what's looking so far like highly successful Professional Quidditch careers."

That pronouncement caused another roar of approval, this time from three out of four House sections.

"And now, Witches and Wizards, please welcome our two teams to the pitch – GRYFFINDOR – and SLYTHERIN!"

The stands shook with the cheering as the two teams flew out into the stadium and flew around. The Slytherin Beaters tried buzzing Tamara and Frederica, while their captain seemed to think that doing the same to James might be an effective intimidation tactic. It didn't seem to have an effect on any of the Gryffindors, though.

When the two teams met in the centre of the pitch, and James offered his hand to wish the other captain good luck, he looked about to refuse.

James smiled at him. "Look, mate, it's just a handshake – is it really worth losing fifty points for your House over? We all got the same warning from the Headmistress this year."

The other boy hesitated another moment, then took James' hand for the briefest of moments before letting go.

Madame Hooch gave them the pre-game speech, then threw the Quaffle in the air, and the game started.

"We have lift-off!" Andy shouted to the fans. He'd decided that since the WWVN sportscasters had stolen his old line, he needed a new one.

"Gryffindor captain James reaches the Quaffle first, and passes to new first year Chaser Liam, who passes to new fourth year Chaser Darryl, who passes back to James, who shoots – NICE SAVE SLYTHERIN!"

The Ravenclaw team were sitting together in their section of the stands, watching the game and taking notes. Matt had insisted that they sit together during the game, but he'd also allowed girlfriends and boyfriends to sit with them, so there were six additional students in their little group, including Kieran and Allie.

That had been something that had been discussed – having members of Hufflepuff house watching what they did during games they weren't playing in, but they'd all agreed that since they always played Hufflepuff first every year that it didn't really make a big difference if the other team did know, since they weren't studying their team.

Kieran was amazed with how organized they were, with each team member having certain responsibilities during the game. He knew that his own team didn't do anything on this level when watching the other teams play – proven by the fact that he was sitting here with Lily.

"That was a pretty good save," Scorpius commented to the others. "He's definitely better this year – and he was their best player last year."

The Slytherin game plan was to go after the girls and the two new Chasers – especially Liam. They found out pretty early on in the game that the girls could more than handle themselves against the bigger boys, and that Liam and Darryl might be new this year, but they were both decent Chasers, even if they weren't yet as skilled as Aaron and Arianna had been.

"They look pretty good," Carolyn told Al as they watched. "Liam and Darryl are still learning to play as a team with James, but they're better than I would have expected for this early in the year."

Al nodded. "They're matching up pretty well with the Slytherin team. I think that one of the Slytherin Beaters even smiled once like he was having fun, but it could have been a trick of light."

Carolyn laughed. "No, I've seen a couple of smiles. They'll probably never admit it, but I'd say that several of the Slytherins look like they're having fun today."

The two teams were fighting hard, and this was definitely a mostly defensive battle, with Slytherin's stronger players being countered by a smaller, but more agile opponent. Two out of the past three meetings between them had been high scoring wins for Gryffindor. Since the one loss had been by only twenty points, the Slytherin fans were hoping for another win like that one.

There were two things that weren't working in their favour, though. The first was that Hugo was still Gryffindor's Keeper, and as the game rolled into it's second hour, he'd only allowed one goal on over sixty shots. The second was that Jeremy was a better Seeker than his Slytherin counterpart, and was flying a Lightningbolt this year.

That's what ended up being the deciding factor, when at the two hours and forty-nine minute mark, with the score a close sixty to ten for Gryffindor, Jeremy caught the snitch to get the win for Gryffindor.

When the two teams met on the ground, even the normally un-sportsman-like Slytherin captain didn't refuse the post-game handshake and congratulations from James.

"That was a really fun game, mate," James told him with a smile. "You guys really played great today."

The other captain had nodded, still not willing to reciprocate, but there were a few of his teammates that had smiled and even shaken hands with their counterparts on the Gryffindor team. Hey, maybe miracles could happen!

The Ravenclaw Marauders all went down to the field to congratulate James, Hugo, Frederica, Liam, and the others.

"That turned out to be a really good game this year," Al told his brother. "And you're doing a great job with so many new players starting this year."

James saw Colin come up to join them, and smiled. "I'd say we have to give a big thanks to young Mr. Creevey here for lending his Lightningbolt to Jeremy. Since it took catching the snitch to win the game, I'd say he was our eighth man out there today."

"That'd be eighth person," Frederica said from where she and Tamara were being congratulated by Lily and the other girls.

"I stand corrected," James said, laughing.

The on-field congratulations were done quickly because they all wanted to get back to the school, get some food, and be ready to watch the Canons' game, which if they didn't hurry, would already be started.

When James and his team got to their Common room, the party was going on, and they were still being congratulated, and trying to get some food when the Canons-Kestrels game started.

The Canons were already up forty to naught by the time they were able to sit down and watch, and with the party still going on around them, it was much harder to concentrate on the game.

"Number twelve for the Canons passes to number twenty-one, who passes back to number twelve, who passes on to number eleven, who shoots – AND SCORES!"

"I'm surprised that those guys don't need oxygen tanks next to them for these games," Andy said as James, Hugo, Frederica, and Liam joined them to watch the game. "This is like when I was trying to keep up with your exhibition game last May."

James was already in to the game, and specifically in to watching every second whenever Arianna was on the screen. He caught the replay of the goal his mother had just scored, and watched her excited smile. If anyone saw her like that, and didn't know she was a mother of three teenagers, they'd never believe she was forty years old – she didn't even look thirty. No wonder her posters had popped up in dorm rooms all over the school, and from what James heard, was mostly in the boy's dorms.

"Dad's playing great today," Hugo said as he watched his father stop a really great scoring chance by the Kestrels. "And Aunt Ginny is just tearing it up too," he added as they watched her dodge all three of the Kestrel Chasers, fake out their Keeper, and score again.

"She's getting even better every week," Frederica said. "Could you imagine what a team she and Demelza would have made?"

James laughed as he watched his Arianna intercept the Quaffle, pass to his Mum again, and saw her score her third goal in a row.

"I'm thinking she's part of a pretty great team of Chasers right now," he told Frederica. "I'm not sure Demelza could have done any better than Aaron and Arianna are doing."

Frederica nodded. "I'm not complaining, James. If she'd played Quidditch all of these years, instead of working at the Institute, just think of all of the things we might not have today – like WiComms, GameWizards, Translocators, and everything else she helped develop or completely invented herself."

"I'm sure the other teams are probably all appreciating that she'd been doing something else all of these years too," James agreed.

Andy, Jon, and Therese had all stopped watching the game when Frederica had talked about Ginny's accomplishments at Marauders Institute, and it was Therese that asked the question they were all thinking.

"James, your mother _invented_ all of those things?" she asked him.

He shrugged, still watching the game. "She's helped with a lot of inventions there," he told them. "Those are just some of them."

"You've never said anything about that to us," she told him. "We knew she worked there, but you never told us she was like a genius or anything."

James shrugged again. "I don't really think about it. She used to be the head of Marauders Institute, but she stopped doing that a long time ago because she had more fun in the lab. By the way, Frederica, it was Aunt Hermione who invented the WiComm – Mum just helped out when they added pictures and video to them."

Frederica laughed. "How silly of me to forget. So it was just basically every other magic technology that she worked on."

"Pretty much," James agreed amiably as he continued to concentrate on the game.

Uncle Ron made another spectacular save that earned a roar of approval from his hometown fans, and even a couple of cheers right there in the Common room.

"Definitely having a great game," Frederica told Hugo, referring to her uncle's play. "It's really cool watching him play this year instead of just hearing about his glory days as a player. Even James probably doesn't really remember any of those games."

"Just really vaguely," James answered absently. "I think I'd just turned four the year he retired. They won the league championship that year – I remember quite a bit of that game."

"Getting back to your Mum, mate," Andy said, "if she invented all of those things, isn't she like rich?"

"She works for the Institute, Andy. They probably get any money they make on those things. Do the employees ever get to see any real money from the work they do?"

"Beats me," Andy said. "If she isn't getting anything for all of those things, she needs to renegotiate her contract."

Arianna had just scored a goal, and James was busy watching her, and didn't respond to Andy's statement as the camera followed her flight, and he watched her smiling face and sparkling eyes on the screen.

"You are one lucky Wizard," Jon told James with a grin. "Even if this year and next year are kind of a pain for both of you."

James nodded, still watching her as Aaron was now passing her the Quaffle as they transitioned back onto the attack. "I know it, mate."

The game continued for three hours and eight minutes, and then they all watched Harry catch the snitch just ahead of the Kestrel Seeker with a mind-blowing barrel-roll move that had happened so fast that it wasn't until the WWVN slow-motion replay that everyone saw just how spectacular a catch it had really been. That he'd done it at over two hundred miles an hour had made the feat even more impressive.

With the Canons game over, all of the students in Gryffindor got back into party mode, and stayed up late celebrating. For the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, though, the end of the game meant meeting time for them, and they went to find an empty classroom, where they spent the rest of their afternoon until dinner going over their notes from the day's Gryffindor-Slytherin game.

Since the Gryffindor side of their study group wouldn't be available for the rest of the day, the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Marauders decided to take the evening off too, and after dinner, Lily and Kieran went off to do their music thing, while the other couples either went off to watch WWVN or spend some quiet time together somewhere.

The Gryffindor team wouldn't have another match until after Valentine's day now. Ravenclaw had their game against Hufflepuff coming up in just three weeks, though, and Kieran was just as busy training with the Hufflepuff team.

That addition to the game dynamics this year was going to make this game, and the one between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor much more interesting. For the first game, having the boyfriend-girlfriend competition was going to be fun. The second game would be tough for Lily and the other Marauders as they'd be choosing between cheering for family or friends, not to mention that the Hufflepuff team had instantly gotten a lot better by having Kieran on their team.

There were other things going on in November other than Quidditch practices. Frederica had her twelfth birthday, and the New Marauders all had a party for her. Another SpellBound video was released, keeping the hype going for them. The study load got heavier – especially for the OWL year Marauders.

On the off weekend between the Canons' games against the Kestrels, and the game they had coming up against Puddlemere United, the New Marauders spent both Saturday and Sunday almost entirely on their homework assignments, and trying to work ahead on the bigger projects that would be coming due before the Christmas holidays.

The weekend of the home game against United was also a Hogsmeade weekend. The Hogwarts students trudged to town on a fairly cold, drizzly day. Since the Canons were playing, James and Arianna weren't going to be able to get together, and most of the Marauders also wanted to be back to the school in time for the game, so they mostly just stayed in town long enough to get what they wanted to pick up, and head back to the school.

Andy, Laura, Jon, and Therese were the lone exceptions, since they were on the double date that had been suggested, and would be having lunch in town before returning to the school.

When it was almost game time, the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff Common rooms were mostly full of students ready to find out what would happen in the game against two of the best teams in the league.

There were quite a few guests in the owner's box at Chudley Stadium too. Molly, Arthur, and Hermione were all there, and were hosting Matt's parents, Kirley and Ana McCormack, and for their first trips to see their kids play in person, Sebastian and Tristan's parents. Tracey and her parents were here for the game too.

"This place is so much bigger than the stadiums back home," Sebastian's father told them. "With all of these fans, no wonder the boys wanted to come here and play."

Arthur had nodded. "The Canons are getting huge numbers of viewers all over the world this season too. What were the numbers for the last game, Tracey?"

"Sixteen million WWVN viewers – not quite as good as the twenty-four million for the opening game, but better than the rest of the games so far, and way more than any other teams are getting. The stadium here is sold out for the entire season, and the WWVN projections are for the games to draw in that sixteen to twenty million viewer range for the rest of the year."

"No wonder," Tony Goldstein said. "I'm a United fan, but how can you not get excited with the power scoring the Canons have going on this year."

He grinned at the four Connors in the room. "And what Sebastian and Tristan did to the Falcons in that game was a clinic on how to play Beater."

Tristan's mother laughed. "We made the boys go to the hospital and see those three men, but apparently none of them could remember anything that happened before the start of the game, so they didn't even know why the boys had come to see them."

The conversation died away as the Puddlemere United team flew out and around the stadium, followed by a Canons team that had yet another new flying demonstration that left their fans standing and cheering for their team.

"I wonder who's making up those moves?" Kirley mused aloud.

Tracey answered. "Uncle Harry is putting them together personally. What's really scary is that he has to hold back on what he can do, since the rest of the team can't keep up with him. Believe it or not, he was trying to teach everyone to do that two hundred mile an hour barrel roll thing in formation. Coach put a stop to it after a couple of near misses."

"What do you mean, near misses?" Sebastian's mother asked.

Tracey laughed. "They were trying to do those high speed rolls head-to-head," she explained. "If you think that move to catch the snitch last game was cool, you should have seen a four on three attempt that had a combined closing speed of over four hundred miles an hour. It was over before you could blink."

"No wonder Coach stopped it," Hermione said. "One mistake and he could lose half of his team."

The two teams were on the field, and ready to start. They watched the referee throw the Quaffle into the air, and then the two teams took to the air.

Hermione watched her little boy, his best friend, and her own best friend as they started playing together. When she'd told Rose that Harry had been very convincing when talking her into letting Ron come back out of retirement for this crazy plan of his, she hadn't been exaggerating much.

He'd started with bribery – getting to watch the games from the owner's box instead of in the often freezing cold stands had been a big carrot, although they both knew that he'd let her do that anyway even if she'd said 'no' to Ron playing again.

What had really sold her was the chance for her husband to play with Harry and Ginny. She'd known Ginny for thirty years now, and been friends for most of that time, yet she hadn't known until they'd come and talked to her just how much she'd always wanted to try playing professional Quidditch. Since Harry and Ginny were both going to play for sure, she just couldn't veto Ron playing with them, regardless of how nuts she thought the idea was.

Now she smiled while watching them play. Harry had once again surprised her. He'd modestly promised her that he, Ron, and Ginny would be good enough that they wouldn't embarrass her by trying to play the game at their age. Hermione had hoped for that, and had been nearly as stunned as everyone else to find out that they weren't just as good as other professional players – they were all elite players.

"Number eleven reaches the Quaffle first and spins away from a United Chaser," the stadium announcer was telling the sold-out crowd.

"Ginny passes to number twenty-one, and Aaron passed to number twelve without even looking! Arianna fakes the pass, gets past the last defender, shoots, and SCORES!"

Everyone in the booth, except for one person, cheered Arianna's goal along with all of the other Canons fans in the stadium. Matt's mother was too busy laughing.

"Tony," she told him, "you're cheering for the enemy, dear."

He sat back down next to her and grinned. "Maybe, but I don't expect we're going to have much to cheer about as United fans today, and that was a great goal."

His words were prophetic as the Canons again piled up goal after goal. When they reached fifty goals after only an hour and twenty-two minutes, Harry put an end to the game by catching the snitch to end the game six hundred and fifty to thirty.

"That must be what Ron meant when he told me last Christmas that he'd take the United fans' reaction to the blowout games we played against you last year into consideration," Tony told the others. "Compared to their other games so far, they took it easy on my team."

Tracey smiled at him. "Coach Ron asked me to tell you that 'You're Welcome' in case he didn't see you later. They wouldn't have let it go on this long if it wasn't for wanting to give the hometown crowd their money's worth."

Tony laughed. "I'd say with as many goals as their team is scoring this season that they're getting that for sure."

With the game over, and since the team would be busy for at least the next hour, Tracey had to go to work, and Hermione invited everyone to go home with her and have drinks while they waited for Ron and the others to get there after the press conference.

Back in the Gryffindor Common room, James and the others had watched the short, decisive game together, and were talking while the post-game show went on, largely ignored by most of the students in the room.

"What's up with that?" Andy had asked. "Why'd they let up on the United team?"

Laura smiled at him. "That's my team, Andy, and I'm not complaining."

Hugo laughed. "Not to mention that they're also Matt's team, and his Dad's team," he told the others. "But I do know why – it's because the United team fans were the only ones to really rip their own team for running up the score on our team last year, so I'm sure that Dad let up on them because of that."

Laura nodded. "I remember. It's the only time I've ever seen the Coaches and players apologize to the fans for winning."

"Well," James told them, "You know what this means, don't you?"

Hugo groaned. "It means that study commander Lily's order to meet in the classroom to start on homework starts in fifteen minutes, and we just used up five talking."

James stood up, and laughed. "Come on, cuz, you and I are both doing better this year thanks to her."

The rest of them got up too. Andy held out his hand to Laura. "Would you like to join us for our afternoon session with our resident genius?"

Laura grinned and took his hand. "I'd love to, Andy."

The morning in Hogsmeade, and watching the short afternoon Canons game meant that even though they all studied for the rest of the afternoon, and had another session after dinner, that they also had to work most of Sunday morning before they had their work caught up and could take the afternoon off for some fun time.

For the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Quidditch team members, that was the last of the fun time for the rest of the week. Their game was on Saturday, and both teams were doing everything they could to get ready for the game.

That meant spending extra time practicing, later study nights, and a little less sleep. The season had started out surprisingly well, and the students of Hogwarts were all hoping for another good game when they began to file into the stadium on Saturday.

The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams and fans might be excited about the game, but James was probably the most fired up Wizard or Witch – Arianna was going to be there for the game, and he was hoping that the game would last all weekend.

Arianna wasn't the only one there for the game. Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Tracey had all come to watch, as had Ron and Hermione. Kirley and Ana were there to watch Kieran's first House team game, and Matt's parents were there too. The last three members of the visiting group were Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle, who'd all been interested in seeing the kind of school-level Quidditch that produced players like the other five members of their Canons team.

They'd all decided to sit on the border of the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff sections of the stands, and while that meant that Carolyn and Brianna weren't with their House to cheer their team on, it was the best compromise they could come up with and still all sit together.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Andy shouted out when the stands were nearly filled. "Welcome to today's match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff." He looked over to where Harry, Ginny, and the others were sitting, and smiled.

"Before I begin our pre-game review, would you all please join me in welcoming some very special guests today." Most of the crowd quieted down to hear who the special guests might be.

"Hogwarts is honoured to have Kirley McCormack Duke of the Weird Sisters in the house today for the first time since the 1998 Yule Ball!" Andy began, and Kirley received a loud round of cheers from all over the stadium.

"And today we also have all seven members of the currently undefeated, six and oh Chudley Canons – including five, count 'em, five Hogwarts Alumni!"

This earned an even louder round of applause, and when the team stood up so that everyone could see where they were, the students closest to them started getting really excited. Sebastian and Tristan especially became the objects of attention from autograph seeking, star-struck, young Witches and Wizards.

"We should be in for a great match today," Andy continued. "Ravenclaw's team this season hasn't any returning players from last season, but boasts six members from previous, Quidditch Cup Championship teams." Andy had to wait until the cheers from the Ravenclaw section died down.

"Our inside reports on Hufflepuff tell us that this is their strongest team in years, with new star Chaser Kieran McCormack leading the way for the Hufflepuff faithful." Now it was the Hufflepuff student's turn to cheer their team on.

"Hufflepuff is coming into this season off of a two win season last year, placing second in the Quidditch Cup race. Ravenclaw is starting the year wanting to rebound from a difficult no-win season last year, and hoping to return to the winning form that had made them three time Quidditch Cup Champions in the three seasons before last year's letdown."

There were more cheers, and a few boos in the right places, and then Andy was ready to bring the teams out into the stadium.

"And now, please welcome – HUFFLEPUFF, and RAVENCLAW!"

The stadium crowd cheered as the two teams flew out, circled the Quidditch pitch, and then landed next to Madame Hooch. Matt and the Hufflepuff captain shook hands and wished each other good luck. They were given the pre-game instructions, and then the Quaffle was soaring into the air, and the two teams again roared into the air.

"We have lift-off!" Andy shouted. "And Al reached the Quaffle first for Ravenclaw. He passes to Rose, who tosses it right over to team captain Matt Goldstein, who passes back to Al, who shoots – AND SCORES! What a way to start a first game back on the House team since your first year, mate!" Andy told Al, who was grinning broadly.

"And Hufflepuff takes the Quaffle, and there's a pass to Kieran, who fakes the pass and goes in on goal – he shoots – HE SCORES! Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we've got a game here!"

That pronouncement proved to be a little premature on Andy's part as the game really got going. It was true that both teams had a lot of scoring chances, but the differences in the two teams began to show up. Kieran had beaten Scorpius on that first shot, but then Scorpius only let in two more goals on a total of forty-one shots during the next hour and a half, while Al, Rose, and Matt were able to score twenty-three goals on fifty-six shots.

When they had the lead secured, the Ravenclaw team then went on defense, and while the Hufflepuff team put up one more goal on nineteen more shots, Lily finally was able to outmaneuver her Hufflepuff counterpart, and catch the snitch to give Ravenclaw the victory by a score of three hundred and eighty to forty. Kieran had scored all four of Hufflepuff's goals, and had taken more than half of the shots on goal.

When the two teams met on the ground the Hufflepuff captain shook hands with Matt.

"We can't get a break," he complained good-naturedly. "We keep putting together pretty good teams, but then it's either you or Gryffindor, or both that keep coming up with better teams."

Matt grinned at him. "We've just lucked out at Keeper and Seeker, mate."

"And three out of three Chasers, and both Beaters," the other boy countered, also grinning. "It was fun anyway though, and at least Kieran managed to put a few past Scorpius for our side."

They both looked over at Kieran and started to laugh. "Kieran, I'm pretty sure there's a rule somewhere against snogging the opposing players after they beat you," the Hufflepuff captain told his star Chaser.

Lily grinned at the two older boys. "That's a stupid rule," she told them, not letting go of Kieran. "And he's only snogging one player, not players."

"And Scorpius, Matt, Al, and I appreciate that a lot," Nick told her.

By then, Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the visiting gang had arrived. Normally, the Hufflepuff team would have left the field, but today, they were staying, and being introduced to Kieran's parents, and to the members of the Canons, who were all upbeat in their praise of both teams, and also happy to sign autographs while the parents talked with their kids.

James and Arianna had come onto the field with everyone else, and she'd taken time to congratulate all of the kids, but then she and James had stepped away so that they could spend the last few minutes they'd have together talking with each other.

"I'll see you in Hogsmeade in two weeks," Arianna told James.

"Then we'll be home the week after that for the holidays," he added. "I can hardly wait."

"Me either. Do you think your parents would mind if I just kept you all to myself the whole time you were home?"

"Probably. We'll work something out. It's just too bad you're going to still have so many team practices while we're home."

"And two games to play, but at least you guys will be able to come and see us play. It'll be the only two live games you can see your parents play all year."

James nodded. "That'll be great too."

They were running out of time, and out of words too, and finally they just stood there, holding each other until Ginny put a gentle hand on Arianna's shoulder.

"It's time to go, honey," she told them quietly, and watched as Arianna kissed James one last time before giving him up so that his parents could say goodbye.

"We'll see you in three weeks," Ginny told James as she hugged him. "You take care of yourself. I love you."

James hugged her back. "I love you too, Mum. I'm really proud of all of you guys too. You've got a really great team this year."

Ginny laughed. "Wait for the next couple of games," she told him. "The Arrows and Bats were two of the worst teams last year for running it up on the Canons."

"We'll watch the one next week here. Do you have tickets for everyone for the Bats game?"

Harry answered. "Yeah, it's one of the perks of being a team owner, and they're pretty good seats too."

This time it was James' turn to watch Arianna leave before he heaved a big sigh, and turned to head back to the school. When he stepped outside of the stadium, he was met by Andy, Jon, Laura, and Therese.

"What's up?" he asked them.

"We're on a mission," Therese told him conspiratorially.

"What's the mission?" he asked, returning her grin.

"To cheer up our Quidditch team captain," she told him, handing him a piece of chocolate. "Try this first. It's supposed to cure just about everything."

James laughed and popped the chocolate in his mouth as they started walking again.

"Next we're going to go and get our books, and entertain you with our feeble attempts to do homework without the help of our study leader, since our Ravenclaw group members will be tied up with their victory party for the rest of the day," Therese continued.

"Sounds great so far," James told her after finishing the chocolate.

"After dinner," Jon told him, "we'll wrap up your day by taking on a select team of Gryffindor firsties in a best of three game of League Championship Quidditch – although we had to let them be the Canons before they'd agree."

"And they get Frederica, Liam, and Colin? We're gonna get pounded," James predicted.

Andy laughed. "Probably, but it'll be fun watching them do it to us."

James stopped and gave Therese and Laura hugs. "Thanks, guys. I really appreciate this."

"You're welcome," Therese told him.

While the Gryffindor Marauders studied, and the Ravenclaw team returned to the first real party in their House in a year, the last few days of November continued to tick away. Quidditch was done until the New Year, at least for the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup race, and with the Christmas holidays just three weeks away, by Sunday morning the celebrations were put behind them, and all of the New Marauders focused once again on their studies.

Those last three weeks were going to go by fast, but even with all of the schoolwork, there was still time for quite a bit more fun for everyone.


	74. A December to Remember

Chapter Seventy-Four – A December to Remember

Laura's induction into the New Marauders came quite by accident on Sunday morning. It was probably that she'd just fit so perfectly into their group that Brianna hadn't thought twice about what she was doing when she'd inadvertently tipped the other girl off to the fact that not only had she gained a boyfriend and a large new group of friends, but that those same people were TNM!

They'd been studying for a while, and Brianna and Carolyn had just switched subjects when Brianna ran across the note she'd tucked into her potions textbook.

"Hey, Lily," she'd said, "Here's another kid for you to help. I noticed her on the way into class when the first year class was leaving ahead of us. Professor Slughorn was telling her that she was having problems with her potions because her scales weren't accurate. She has a really bad and battered set, and I thought we could send her a new set."

Lily had taken the note from Brianna, and agreed to order the scales later. It had been several minutes before anyone noticed that Laura had stopped working and was sitting there staring at them.

"What's wrong, Laura?" Andy asked when he finally noticed.

"You're TNM!" she exclaimed. "Since none of you even batted an eye at Brianna's request, that must mean you're ALL part of TNM too!"

James grinned at her. "Disappointed?"

Rose looked worried. "Guys, this isn't good. It's the first time in five years that anyone's found out that we didn't decide to tell first."

Al had stopped working and looked steadily at Laura for several moments.

"We can trust her," he told the others in that assured, confident voice he used sometimes that his friends knew meant he was absolutely sure about what he was saying.

Laura nodded, and had returned James' smile. "No, not disappointed, James. It was just really unexpected."

Andy grinned and gave her a hug. "Welcome to the club, Laura. I'll tell you about everything we do later on when we have some time, and nobody around, and then you'll be able to help out too."

When they'd wrapped up their session for lunch, Rose had asked the Ravenclaw Marauders to stay back for a 'team meeting'.

"Are you sure, Al?" she asked when the others were gone. "About Laura?"

Al nodded. "I'm sure, Rose. Don't worry. If I hadn't been, it wouldn't have been a problem."

"How can you say that," she demanded.

Al smiled at her. "Because if she wasn't right for our group, I would have just made sure that she didn't remember what happened between Bree and Lily, Rose. Problem solved."

His fellow Ravenclaws stared at him – except for Lily, who'd merely nodded her agreement.

Rose took a deep breath and calmed herself. "All right, Al. I'm convinced. I only have one question left. Have you ever made me forget anything?"

"Do you still remember that time your Mum threw us in the bath together after we tried baking when we were two and got covered in flour and everything else?"

Rose nodded, blushing furiously while everyone else laughed.

"If I was going to have you forget something, don't you think that'd be it?" he told her.

Matt had the biggest grin on his face. "If we try that at Christmas Holidays, do you think your Mum would throw us in the tub together?" he asked Rose. She blushed even brighter and punched him in the arm.

"You just never mind, Mr. Goldstein. And if I ever hear any of you repeating that story, you're going to find out what it's like to spend a couple of months as a worm," she told them, daring anyone to argue.

Lily gave her a hug. "You know we wouldn't do that to you, Rose."

That was how the New Marauders went into December one member stronger. December first was, of course, Bonus Day in the world of PBP Investments. Aaron and Arianna had graduated, and Rose, Al, and Lily hadn't really worked at all, so none of them had expected Bonus Day to affect them at all, and they'd come to breakfast expecting another regular day of classes. They were so wrong!

The first tip-off came when Owl Posts arrived for Kieran and Lily. That wasn't unusual, since lots of kids received Owl Posts that morning too. Lily had opened up her envelope, and began to read the two parchments that were included.

Dear Lily,

I am pleased to send you the first annual report for SpellBound Investments. (Don't worry - anyone else reading this will not see the word 'SpellBound')

You will certainly be as excited about how well everything has gone so far, and these results are only for just over three months where there were products for sale.

Kirley and I want you to know how proud we are of the work that you and Kieran have done, and hope this starts your day off as great as it has ours.

Anastasia McCormack

CEO – SpellBound Investments

P.S. heads up! The Christmas album and music videos were released this morning at six a.m. for each local time zone, as were the new TeenWitch dolls, and the SpellBound Virtual GameWizard game. Warn your family and friends, 'cause Luna's predictions are really unbelievable! Today also marks the thirty-one day countdown to your big reveal at the New Year's Eve party!

Lily turned to the next page and read the financial report.

Annual Financial Report for SpellBound Investments

Year Ending November 30, 2021

Beginning Balance – PBP Investments" 35 million galleons

Beginning Balance – Kieran McCormack" 0 million galleons

Beginning Balance – Lily Potter: 0 million galleons

Total Beginning Balance: 35 million galleons

Profits:

Music Sales: 1.25 million galleons

Media Play: 1.75 million galleons ** See Note 1 **

Merchandising: 1.0 million galleons

Total Profit: 4.0 million galleons ** See Note 2 **

PBP Investments Profit Share: 1.4 million galleons

Kieran McCormack Profit Share: 1.3 million galleons

Lily Potter Profit Share: 1.3 million galleons

** See Note 3 **

Ending Balance – PBP Investments: 36.4 million galleons

Ending Balance – Kieran McCormack: 1.3 million galleons

Ending Balance – Lily Potter: 1.3 million galleons

Total Ending Balance: 39 million galleons

Note 1. Includes profits from all usage of SpellBound songs and videos on WWVN and WWN, along with several other media income sources

Note 2. All profits are net profit after all expenses, management fees, incentives, and taxes.

Note 3. PBP Investments receives thirty-five percent of profits. The remaining sixty-five percent is split equally between the members of SpellBound.

Lily's surprised sound of excitement had gotten the attention of everyone in her group when she'd finished reading her mail.

"What is it, Lily?" Carolyn asked, since she was closest.

"I'll have to tell you all after breakfast," she told them, a big smile on her face, and her eyes sparkling in the morning sunlight.

She turned in her seat and looked over at a grinning Kieran, and he nodded slightly. He'd see her after breakfast too. They all ate quickly, and then met up with Kieran in an empty classroom before they were going to have to get to their own first period classes.

"So what's got you so fired up, Lily?" Carolyn again asked her when they were together, and Lily had finished hugging Kieran senseless.

"Kieran and I got reports sent to us about how SpellBound is doing so far, and that amounts to really great," she told all of them.

"What's really cool is that the Christmas album, the GameWizard Game, and the TeenWitch dolls are out right now!"

Rose pulled out her portable WWVN receiver, and turned it on to one of the music channels. Sure enough, SpellBound's new Twelve Gifts at Christmas was playing, and the animation that Kirley had put it together with had them all laughing.

When Rose had turned it on, the ninth day countdown had just started, and they watched the rest of the song to it's lengthy, hilarious end as the animated hippogriff sat grinning in the middle of the wildly flailing Whomping Willow Tree.

"That is the coolest Christmas video I've ever seen!" Brianna told them.

Rose nodded, and turned the WWVN off and put it away again. "We've all got to get to class, though, or we're going to be late. Congratulations, guys. You should be in for an interesting day!"

While the kids were scrambling to get to class on time, Harry and Ginny were already at the stadium, and the start of practice was only about fifteen minutes away, but it was enough time for a quiet chat with Aaron, Tracey, and Arianna, who'd all had a pretty good start to their bonus day. Harry and Ginny had enjoyed their morning Owl Posts, including the one that Fleur had passed on to them from Ana for SpellBound Investments.

"How was your Bonus Day?" Arianna asked them. "Our miracle worker, Turvog, tripled his results from last year. Even with both of us investing all of our signing bonuses, that was still pretty amazing."

"Ours was pretty good, too," Ginny told Arianna, a big smile on her face.

That was a pretty big understatement. By the end of the day today, PBP Investments will have handed out about eleven billion galleons in incentives, plus another five and a half billion galleons for the Phoenix Foundation, while still adding the same five and a half billion galleons to their own bottom line, and that much again to the bottom line of the Investment Partnership.

Those two investment funds were now valued at over one hundred billion galleons, and continued to grow strongly each year. With new products like Glassalloy and their other new products, that growth wouldn't be slowing down any time soon.

While the 'family' investments were continuing to grow, Ginny's own personal finances were pretty great too. She didn't miss her nominal base salary from the Marauders Institute, since it was more than covered with what she was making as a Professional Quidditch player this year, but she did also still receive her company incentive, and always would.

When she combined that with her percentage of profit from Witch Investments, she'd added more than a half billion galleons to her own personal account over the past year.

Those things were great, but just like with PBP Investments, her favourite part of Bonus Day for Witch Investments was the over two billion galleons they paid out to their own employees.

"This will be the first Bonus Day party you've missed at Marauders Institute, won't it?" Arianna asked Ginny, bringing her out of her momentary reverie.

"Yes. It feels a little strange, but if we get done early enough, Harry and I might stop by to catch the end of it."

"That sounds like fun. I'll be going to the mall after work. I want to pick up the SpellBound Christmas album and the videos for my 3D-VMP. I saw the Twelve Gifts at Christmas while we were having breakfast, and it's just the cutest thing."

Ginny laughed. "I ordered mine before I left from the VirtualMall, but you'll get yours first, since mine will come with the Owl Post tomorrow."

"Come on, girls," Kimberly told them as she walked by. "Six minutes left until Caoch starts handing out pushups!"

"What about us?" Aaron asked her.

"You can come too, but if you're late, that's ok. We like watching you boys doing pushups – all those rippling muscles and all."

Tracey laughed, and kissed Aaron goodbye and went off to the front office to get to work, while Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Arianna all followed Kimberly out to the Quidditch pitch.

The rest of Bonus Day at Hogwarts had seemed to change the whole vibe around school from Quidditch and school work to a real Christmas atmosphere. If there weren't kids listening to the SpellBound Christmas songs, they were watching the new Christmas videos on WWVN, or just singing or hummng them as they walked around the halls.

Some of the WWVN music channels had also started to keep a countdown clock going on the screen that counted down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the members of SpellBound would be revealed to the Wizarding World.

The TeenWitch SpellBound dolls had a plain boy's face on one, and a plain girl's face on the other, and each had dark hair. There were several Witches and Wizards who had attempted, live on WWVN, to circumvent the magic in the dolls that would transform the dolls to look like Kieran and Lily at the same moment that they came out on stage at the New Year's Eve party.

Results of those attempts were fairly comical, and the New Marauders suspected that joke masters George and Lee must have had a hand in that, since the rebound spell that prevented tampering transformed the Witch or Wizard's face into an exact copy of whichever one of the non-descript dolls they'd attempted to alter.

Careful reading of the fine print on the packaging that the dolls came in advised them that the rebound spell would wear off after a few days, depending on how strong a spell had been used on the doll – the stronger the spell, the stronger the rebound magic, and the longer the transformation would last.

"I'm glad that you didn't try that," Carolyn had told Al when they'd been laughing at those reports on the WWVN after dinner. "I'd probably be calling you 'doll-face' for the next ten years."

Al laughed. "I don't imagine many more people will try that – especially after seeing that big-mouthed Wizard end up with the girl doll's face and hair. Besides, there are only small holes for the nose and mouth, and they don't move. He'll be eating through a straw until it wears off."

Carolyn laughed again too. "I'm sure it will do loads for his career as an 'expert' in Transfiguration magic, though."

"I'm sure of it," Al agreed.

The rest of the week pretty much passed by the same way, with Christmas songs filling the air around school, and the kids all working just a little more happily at their classes and homework.

Starting on Thursday, the Professors even got into the Christmas spirit, and each day, in one class for each year, the students would play with one of the twelve gifts at Christmas.

In Transfiguration, for instance, they might try and Transfigure a piece of branch and a mouse into a Hippogriff in a Whomping Willow Tree – although not full-sized, of course. In Potions they'd attempt to make Two Puking Pastilles. Professor Williamson taught the kids the bat bogey hexes from the song, and Professor Hagrid showed them a Norwegian Ridgeback, thanks to a little help from Charlie Weasley.

It was harder for some of the other Professors to try and come up with something to go along with the song, but Professor Flitwick eventually settled on having his classes Charm toy Thestrals into flying, and Professor Macmillan put together an Arithmancy lesson on the seasonal and historical significance of the number twelve.

The first Saturday in December was the day of the Canons-Arrows game, and the Canons were on the road. The New Marauders spent the morning studying, had lunch, then were off to their common rooms to watch the game.

Nick, Allie, Kieran, and Lily were the exceptions this time. They'd decided to find an empty classroom, transfigure two chairs into nice soft and comfortable sofas, and watch the game on two portable WWVN's. It wasn't the same as watching the game on the Common Room big screen sets, but the extra snuggling time more than compensated for that.

"This was a brilliant idea, Allie," Lily told her friend. "We should have tried this months ago."

Allie laughed. "This is only the first part of my plan. Next I need to talk someone in your family into getting a big screen WWVN for us to use when we do this – then maybe the whole gang would want to come."

Kieran laughed. "Wouldn't that be a bit of a pain to haul around?"

"Not if you had a case for it like you two have for your keyboards," she told him, and then watched as he smacked his own forehead.

"Don't I feel dumb now," he told them before laughing at his own denseness.

"We could probably get that done over Christmas, couldn't we, Lily?"

She squeezed the arms he had wrapped around her. "Absolutely. I'll send Aunt Hermione a qm later, and she can probably have the case ready by the time we get home, and then all we'll have to do is go buy one of the big WWVN's and we'll be all set for next year."

They'd brought drinks and snacks with them, and so they were all set when the game broadcast started. The Canons had another cool flying demonstration for the fans when they were introduced, something that was becoming a fan favourite, even at the away games.

This time, they flew to the centre of the stadium, then rocketed straight up until they could barely be seen. At the apex of their flight, they then fanned out in a seven-way fountain, falling out from the centre, then straight down, hurtling back toward the fans. They waited until the last second before turning out of their dives with what looked like maybe ten or fifteen feet to spare before gliding to seven perfectly timed, smooth landings where they stopped facing each other in an exact circle around the centre pitch.

"How cool was that?" Kieran whispered to Lily. "They're just getting better at that every game."

Lily nodded. "I think it'd be cool if every team did something like that – they could make it like a mini-competition before the game to see who could come up with the best routine."

By comparison, the entrance into their own stadium by the Appleby Arrows was like flying a Lightningbolt, and then hopping on an old school Cleansweep – Boring!

Uncle Ron had a good memory when it came to anything Quidditch, and what he remembered about the Arrows and their fans from last year was that the fans had egged their team on to run up the score on his Canons, unlike the United fans, who had not been happy with their team.

This year's Canons wasted no time in beginning Canons Lesson number seven. The other teams were all scrambling to find an answer to the Canons' game plans, but none of them had yet found one.

Part of the reason was eertainly that the Canons were way more motivated, and had the best players for sure, but there were other reasons too.

One of the biggest was that when Ron played Quidditch before, someone else did the game planning – somebody that hadn't been nearly as good at it as Ron was. Now that he was doing both this year, their opponents were finding out that it was an unbeatable combination. He taught his team everything they needed to know about every opponent's weaknesses, and how to exploit them. A Ron Weasley game plan was far superior to anything the opposing coaches came up with.

If you liked a long, one-sided, five hour scoring fest, then this game was definitely for you. Ten minutes into the game, the announcer suggested to the viewers that if they weren't into that kind of a game, that maybe it was time to check out the Harpies-Bats game on QSPN2.

"Like anyone would turn this off," Nick snorted. "Even if you're not a Canons fan, how could you not like every one of those great goals."

Kieran nodded. "Your Mum, Aaron, and Arianna sure have the Arrows Keeper's number," he told Lily.

"The guy keeps underestimating Mum's speed. Isn't there one coach in the whole league that checked to find out that she played both Chaser and Seeker for Gryffindor when she was here? If she's at all slower than my Dad, it isn't by very much, and I'd guess he's the fastest Seeker to every play the game."

Nick laughed. "I've seen you beat him, Lily."

"He lets me win, Nick. I've never beaten him when he's tried his best. Just like in GameWizard."

Nick stopped watching the game to stare at her. "What are you talking about, Lily, he's probably the worst ever GameWizard player!"

Lily smiled at him. "He's faking it, Nick. I thought you'd have figured that out by now. His fun is in watching the kids all have fun beating him at all of the games. Haven't you ever noticed that he doesn't even pay attention when he plays? He watches the kids, and everything else going on. He doesn't even have to look at the screen to play."

Nick thought about that, and finally nodded. "Yeah, he seems to be able to do other stuff while he plays without any problem. That's weird, though, Lily."

"I think it's cool," she told him. "The kids at the residence love him for it, and if he did play his best, how boring would that be to never lose?"

Nick laughed again. "Do you think he's that good?" he asked her, and watched as she nodded.

"I once picked up his old 3D portable GameWizard, and found a match where he'd caught the snitch in a fraction of one second," she told him. "I'd say that's a pretty good indication of just how well he can play if he wanted to."

"Those games just won't be the same for me anymore," Nick told her.

"I've talked to a few others that know, and we all think it's even more fun – especially since for most of us, Dad doesn't know that we know, you know?"

Nick, Allie, and Kieran all laughed. While they'd been discussing that, the Canons had scored four more goals that they'd all pretty much missed, and so they went back to watching the game.

Canons lesson number seven came to an end just in time for the two couples to return the room to normal, pack up, and go down to the Great Hall for dinner. Final score: one thousand, seven hundred and seventy to ten. Ginny scored a new team record seventy goals, while Arianna also beat the old record, and Aaron's thirty goals would have made any team happy coming from their playmaker.

The New Marauders were back studying after dinner, and that was the theme of the next week. There were now less than two weeks until they were going home, and this week was the one when all of this term's assignments were due in, while next week would pretty much just be for getting the holiday assignments, and a fun wind-down to the Thursday night Christmas feast and the Friday morning trip home.

There was a Hogsmeade day on that remaining Saturday before the holidays, and it was an off weekend for the Canons. James had been working hard all week so that he could spend as much of the day as he could with Arianna, and so he was fired up and ready to go the moment the students were allowed to head into town after breakfast.

They'd agreed to meet at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and so James had hurried into town, and had hugged Arianna the second he saw her.

"Ready for a surprise?" she asked him, her face lighting up with excitement.

"Sure, what is it?" James asked.

"Follow me," she told him mysteriously.

She didn't lead him out of the store, but instead lead him into the back where the storage rooms and offices were.

"Close your eyes," Arianna told him, and waited until he did before leading him through the doorway they just been standing in front of.

"What do you think?" she asked him.

James opened his eyes to see a sitting room with a couple of sofas, some chairs, and a WWVN, and along one wall was a compact little kitchen and a table that could seat eight. He pulled her into a big hug, and then kissed her warmly.

"I didn't know this was here," he said. "If I had, I'd have suggested it."

Arianna laughed. "It wasn't here. After our last weekend in town, I was over at the cottage, and when I was telling your Mum and Dad about what a dump the Hog's Head rooms were, and about spending the day in that tacky sitting room, they came up with this idea."

"All this just for us to have a few Saturdays together?" he said in surprise.

"Not just for us, James. The staff here will use this for their lunch and break room. Your Mum and Dad paid for it, and the deal is that for the rest of the time you're at school, when we can use it, all we have to do is buy the staff lunch out while we're using their lunch room."

"That works for me," he told Arianna, kissing her again. "This is going to be a great day, and then it's only six more sleeps until we come home."

"I talked with your parents about that too," she told him. "You're coming home with me for the holidays."

James laughed. "This day just keeps getting better and better. Is there a catch?"

Arianna nodded. "We've got certain days we have to be there, and they'll be coming over for one or two dinners with us. We're still working it all out. Since we don't have our fun coordinators anymore, it takes longer to get everything figured out with the whole family."

"So, what are we going to do today? He asked her as they stood in the room, still wrapped in each other's arms.

"We're going to go out and make your supplies run, then we'll come back here and probably do a little snogging and snuggling, cook ourselves some lunch, repeat step two for a while, and then head back to school and home."

"Like I said, this day just keeps getting better and better," James told her. He kissed her one more time – a long, tender, time-stopping kiss that would hold them both over until they got back after doing their running around.

Since there was only a week until the holidays, there wasn't much that James needed to get, but it was his week to get the supplies for Frederica, Liam, and Colin, so they did have several stops to make. They met up with Al and Carolyn in Honeydukes, and stopped for hugs and a quick chat, and then met Lily and Kieran when they were picking up parchment, and lastly talked with Nick, Scorpius, Allie, and Brianna at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes while they waited in line to pay for the four boxes of Chocolate Christmas Wheezes, and the MagicMistletoe that Colin had requested.

With the extra chat time, they'd been just over an hour making the rounds, and were both happy to finally be able to snuggle together on a sofa and relax.

"This is so much better than that sitting room at the Hog's Head," James said as he stroked Arianna's hair with the hand that wasn't busy holding her close to him.

"Um-hmm," Arianna agreed. "We'll have three Hogsmeade weekends that the Canons don't play on, and I can come to three out of four of the remaining Quidditch games too. The only downside of that is your team's playing for two of those three games, and it'd be more fun sitting in the stands with you instead of watching you out there playing."

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing about your two Canons games over the holidays," James told her. "Speaking of that, your little flying display last Saturday was really cool. Is that a permanent addition to the Canons game? It seems to be really popular with the fans."

"Yes, and we love doing them too." She laughed softly. "The insiders gossip network has it that there have been a few practice injuries from other teams that are trying to emulate us with their own displays – a couple of big crash and burn cases too."

"I wonder why. Most flyers would chicken out before even trying half of those moves."

"Have you done any Christmas shopping yet?" he asked, now having moved on from stroking her hair to placing soft kisses on her face and neck.

"Some. I thought you and I could do some shopping together when you're home."

"We can do that," he agreed amiably as he nibbled on an earlobe.

"We drew names last week, and you've got Nick and I've got isabelle."

"That's nice," he said, before claiming her lips for a long, deep kiss.

"What were we talking about?" she whispered breathlessly after the kiss.

"Drawing names and shopping," he supplied helpfully.

"We do know that we're having Christmas at the Burrow on the Sunday after Christmas – the twenty-sixth," she continued, "so we have most of the week to get the shopping done, even if it means doing it after I'm done work."

"Or you could give me a list every morning, I'll go get everything, and we'll stay and home snogging every night," he suggested.

"There's a thought," she agreed. "Maybe you should practice a little right now just in case it works out that way," she told him with a smile.

"I thought that's what I was doing," he said, smiling too.

"Try a little less talk, and a little more practicing," she instructed, and he happily obeyed.

They made lunch together, and after eating, had a little more time together before James had to leave for school, while Arianna went to the cottage again – this time to thank Harry and Ginny for everything they'd done to make this Hogmeade day the best so far for both James and for her.

James was the last of the New Marauders to get back to the school, and he joined the rest of them in their usual study classroom. Lily came over and gave him a big hug, and smiled up at him.

"You look alright this time," she told him. "Must be that we only have six more days until you see her for the holidays."

"Must be," he agreed happily. "What'd I miss?"

"You'll be playing catch-up on Transfiguration and DADA, but we saved the others until you got back, since you don't need help with those two," Lily told him. "We've got time to get the Arithmancy out of the way before dinner if we get at it."

"Yes, ma'am," James said, saluting and sitting next to Therese to start working.

They worked together for the rest of the day Saturday, and most of Sunday. Anything else they got for the last four days would be for work over the holidays, although they'd all agreed to keep working every day during this week to try and get some of it out of the way so they had less to do while they were home.

Those last few days before the holidays went by fast, and it was finally Thursday night, and they were all in the Great Hall for the feast.

There was the now usual widespread use of Chocolate Christmas Wheezes, and there were several of the giggling MagicMistletoe floating around the Hall too. They had a great time during the feast, and this was one of the nights when the students could go and sit with boyfriends or girlfriends at other House tables, so Allie and Kieran had joined Lily and Nick at the Ravenclaw table.

Some of the students had put together a Christmas show that they put on after the feast, and most of their fellow students had stayed to enjoy the songs and skits that they put on. They ended the show with a sing-a-long of the Twelve Gifts at Christmas.

"All right, everyone," the students were told, "All together now! They had the background music start, and then led all of the students into the start of the popular Christmas song.

**For my first gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, A hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree**

**(A Hippogriff in a Whomping Willow Tree appeared at the front of the Great Hall)**

**For my second gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree.**

**(This second part was kind of gross as their leaders ate puking pastilles, with the predictable results.)**

**For my third gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree**

**(Now there were Pygmy Puffs floating around the Hall, another round of puking pastilles, and the Hippogriff continued it's residence in the Whomping Willow Tree)**

**For my fourth gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow Tree**

**(The scaled down, harmless Norwegian Ridgebacks joined the Pygmy Puffs, and the puking pastille step was repeated once again, as it was done for each round of the song.)**

**For my fifth gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Five Golden Phoenixes**

**Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow Tree**

**(Five golden phoenixes joined the simulated Dragons and Pygmy Puffs in the air above the students, and the kids all seemed to be loving the visual effects that were going along with the song as they all sang together)**

**For my sixth gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Six bat-bogey hexes, Five Golden Phoenixes**

**Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree**

**(yes, their sing-a-long leaders actually sent out six bat-bogey hexes, to the certain discomfort of six ramdomly hit students, for this and every subsequent round of the song)**

**For my seventh gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Seven quidditch players, six bat-bogey hexes, Five Golden Phoenixes**

**Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree**

**(Seven students flew into the Great Hall, dressed as Chudley Canons, and flew around with the Dragons, Phoenixes, and floating Pygmy Puffs)**

**For my eighth gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Eight skiving snackboxes, Seven quidditch players, Six bat-bogey hexes, Five Golden Phoenixes**

**Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree**

**(Eight snackboxes were delivered to eight lucky and happy students around the Hall, again with this and every remaining round, for forty total snackboxes)**

**For my ninth gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Nine Owls hooting, Eight Skiving snackboxes, Seven Quidditch players, Six bat-bogey hexes, Five Golden Phoenixes**

**Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree**

**(Nine Owls joined the flying menagerie in the increasingly crowded airspace in the Hall)**

**For my tenth gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Ten flying Thestrals, Nine Owls hooting, Eight Skiving snackboxes, Seven Quidditch players, Six bat-bogey hexes, Five Golden Phoenixes**

**Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree**

**(There may or may not have been ten Thestrals flying around, but some of the Professors, and one of their song leaders at least pretended that they saw them in the Hall)**

**For my eleventh gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Eleven Kneazel kittens, Ten flying Thestrals, Nine Owls hooting, Eight Skiving snackboxes, Seven Quidditch players, Six bat-bogey hexes, Five Golden Phoenixes**

**Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, and a hippogriff in a Whomping Willow tree**

**(Eleven cats started running up and down the tables in front of the kids, adding to the continuing, hilarious chaos that the song was creating in the Great Hall)**

**For my twelfth gift at Christmas, my true love gave to me, Twelve Weasley's Wheezes, Eleven Kneazel kittens, Ten flying Thestrals, Nine Owls hooting, Eight Skiving snackboxes, Seven Quidditch players, Six bat-bogey hexes, Five Golden Phoenixes**

**Four Norwegian Ridgebacks, Three Pygmy Puffs, Two puking pastilles, AND A HIPPOGRIFF IN A WHOMPING WILLOW TREE!**

Twelve Weasley's Wheezes shot out into the Great Hall, and eventually landed in front of three Hogwarts students at each House table before the end of the song. When the last notes died away, so did the special effects, and the students all cheered and gave the group that had put on such a fun Christmas show for everyone a standing ovation.

After the show, everyone headed for their rooms to pack for the trip home, and to hang out in the Common room with friends they wouldn't be seeing until after the Holidays.

James had actually packed – a first for him, and had gone back down to the Common room to visit with Andy, Jon, Laura, and Therese. He wouldn't be seeing any of them while they were gone, so he wanted to give them their presents tonight, and spend some time with them, since as a prefect, he wouldn't have much time on the train to do that.

"What are you guys doing over the break?" he asked them.

"I'll be on holidays the week from Christmas to New Year's," Andy told them. He grinned at Laura. "And I'm hoping I'll get to spend a couple of days with Laura next week."

"Therese and I will both be around home. The only really cool thing for us is that we're going to get to be at the Ministry New Year's Eve party to find out who SpellBound is in person." Therese had nodded excitedly at that.

James grinned at them. "Wave to the cameras then, maybe the rest of us will see you there."

"I would have thought you'd be there," Therese said.

"We've got a really big family. If we all went, that'd pretty much fill the place," he joked.

"Seriously, though, Nick and Scorpius will probably be going with the girls and my Aunt and Uncle, and some of the rest of our family will be there, but most of us will be watching from the comfort of our nice warm sitting rooms."

"Not to mention that the Canons coach would freak if the team partied all night before a game," Andy suggested.

"There's that too. Thanks for the idea, though," James said. "They should send the players on the Pride two tickets each to the party, and it's free drinks all night too."

Laura laughed. "That's a brilliant idea, James. I bet it'd work too."

With the feast and the little Christmas show, it was already close to eleven, so James handed out the presents he'd picked out for each of them in the VirtualMall, and after hugging the girls, went to go off for his nightly VirtualChat with Arianna. Colin met him on his way to the dorm, and smiled up at him.

"In case I don't see you tomorrow, I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, James," Colin told him.

James grinned back at him. "I'm glad you did, Colin. I wouldn't want to miss giving you this," he said, pulling a small gift out of his pocket. "Merry Christmas, mate."

Colin gave him a hug, and James left the Common room, not wanting to be late for his chat with Arianna.

"Are you all packed?" she asked him as soon as they got to the chat room.

"Yes, believe it or not, I got done an hour or so ago, handed out the gifts to Jon, Andy, the girls, and Colin, and just made it back here in time."

"Wow, you must be excited about coming home."

"I am. Is anyone coming to meet us, or are we on our own when we get back?"

"Percy and Penelope volunteered to take most of the day off, so they'll meet you at the station, and everyone that can come for lunch will be there, but that won't include us. We're having a working lunch to get ready for the game on Saturday."

"I guess I can live without having you all to myself for the few extra hours if I must," he said theatrically.

Arianna laughed. "More than a few, since we'll be at the cottage for dinner and for the evening. I probably won't get you alone until late, and then we'll have to get some sleep, since the team will need to be in Ballycastle well ahead of game time."

"Is there any good news there?" he asked.

"Maybe. Coach said if we win by more than fifteen hundred points against the Bats, he'll give us Monday off."

"Go Canons!" James said fervently.

Over in Ravenclaw Tower, there wasn't as much need for the last night Christmas wishes or gift exchanges, since their group of friends would be seeing each other a lot over the holidays.

After the feast and show, Kieran had walked Lily to her Common room, while Nick had done the same with Allie. Both couples had gone and found a quiet place to say goodnight, and then they'd each headed to their own dorm rooms to pack, and to get to sleep early so they'd be ready for the long day on Friday.

All of the New Marauders were hoping for another great Christmas Holiday. With everything that was going to be happening, it certainly had all of the potential for being yet another best Christmas ever.


	75. A Very Quidditch Christmas

Chapter Seventy-Five – A Very Quidditch Christmas

Percy and Penelope were at King's Cross Station to welcome the kids home. They'd seen Dennis and Demelza Creevey there waiting for Colin, so they'd talked together while they waited for the Hogwarts Express to arrive.

"What do you guys think about the Canons season this year?" Percy asked them.

They both laughed. "We're wishing we hadn't retired." Demelza told him. "But then again, we'd been playing for twenty years ourselves, and it's a tough job to do for that long."

Penelope nodded. "Ron told us you were taking last year off to spend with Colin before he started school. Have you decided what you're going to do next?"

Dennis nodded. "Demelza's getting some offers to do Quidditch broadcasts, or something to do with sportscasting, and I'm looking at maybe still doing something with the Canons starting next year. It's been nice having the time off, though. We've even been on a few vacations."

"That's definitely a downside of the Quidditch business – not much of an off season," Percy said. "Other than at the end of June or early July, I'm not sure if Ron and Hermione have ever taken a whole week or two of vacation together during the rest of the year since they got married."

Demelza laughed. "I'm not sure that would have mattered even if Ron wasn't in the business, unless they went on vacation in Hermione's lab, or took her research team with them when they went."

They heard the train coming as they'd all laughed at that, and could soon see it's approach too. When it finally came to a stop, and the students started getting off of the train, the two sets of parents watched for the kids to appear.

Harry had told them to expect Lily to find them first, but had neglected to mention that they'd be nearly knocked over by the force of her hugs – not that they minded at all, since those hugs were definitely a lot of fun.

"Welcome home, Lily," Penelope told her niece when it was her turn for a hug. "I take it you're glad to be back."

Colin was right behind Lily, and while quite a bit smaller that Lily, apparently packed nearly as big a punch as he launched himself into his parent's arms before the three of them waved goodbye to Percy, Penelope, and Lily, and left the platform together with Colin talking a mile a minute in his breathless, most animated voice as he tried to tell his parents about everything that had happened all year so far in under sixty seconds.

It took another ten minutes before they'd collected eight Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs, and five Gryffindors. There wasn't a Higgpogriff in a Whomping Willow Tree, but it was noisy enough that there could have been one hiding there somewhere in the crowd. Then there was another five or ten minutes while the inexperienced welcoming committee worked out getting Translocators on each piece of luggage, and delivering them to the correct destinations, which were at ten homes and in fourteen different bedrooms.

Then they went to the Mall, and after wandering around for a while, went to their lunchtime date with two grandparents, fifteen parents, Bill, Fleur, Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, Isabelle, and Tracey.

Even with such a large group, without Ron, Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Arianna, it seemed quieter than normal, even though that was probably more about perception and less about actual noise reduction.

James was feeling that absence the most, which was probably why Tracey had been sent along instead of staying at the stadium. She sat next to him during lunch and they talked quietly together and let the other kids entertain the parents.

"Since they have the game tomorrow," Tracey was telling him, "Coach will have them out of there by three-thirty at the latest, and then we'll be over at the cottage for dinner – Arianna told you that last night?" she asked.

James nodded. "Yeah. Not exactly the first or second thing I'd put on my to-do list for when I got home, but I'll adjust."

Tracey grinned at him. "Well, that's not really a surprise, since number one was probably 'hug Arianna', and number two was 'kiss Arianna'. You're talented though, so maybe you can come up with a creative way to multi-task."

"Could be. How are things working out at home and work with you and Aaron?"

"I guess you see how work is going for him with every game you get to see, and he and I are doing great. For me, now that I pretty much know what I'm doing, my job is perfect. The old majority team owners would have been way smarter to keep their shares, but give Harry total control of the team instead."

"That good?" James asked her.

Tracey nodded. "Like already recovered all of last season's losses, and into the black for this year."

"How'd you manage that?"

"Mostly all of the deals your father made all spring. When you start getting fifteen or twenty million WWVN viewers, and you make a tiny bit of advertising money from each one of them, that all adds up. Then, while most teams don't have much in the way of toys or games, the Conons now have a huge merchandising income. The sold-out stadium for each game is actually one of the smallest parts of our team income."

"Look at you all grown up and talking business," James told her with a grin.

"Look who's talking? I hear you've become quite the leader around school with everything you're doing. Who'd have ever guessed that back when you started in first year?"

"Not me, that's for sure," he told Tracey.

While Tracey and Ginny talked, Scorpius and Brianna talked with Teddy, Victoire, while Nick and Allie were talking wth both sets of their parents.

"We heard you had a good game against Hufflepuff," Teddy told Scorpius. "Does that mean you and Hugo will be battling it out again this year for best Keeper like you did a couple of years ago?"

Scorpius looked over at where Hugo ana Emily were sitting with Hermione, and Emily's parents.

"I like out team chances this year," he told Teddy, "but he's the better Keeper. I've just got a better group of Chasers to help me defend this year than he does."

"Your lunch program has been a big success," Teddy said, changing topics. "We'll definitely be expanding it next year."

"That's great!" Brianna said, giving Scorpius a hug. "Congratulations!"

Scorpius grinned, and Teddy and Victoire chuckled.

"Do you guys get much time off over the holidays?" Brianna asked Victoire.

"Just a few days here and there," Victoire told her. "It's no surprise why I'm busy at this time of year, and Teddy's got the DREAM Christmas, and the food program is always busy around this time of year too."

"You're getting a lot closer to taking care of everyone, though," Brianna told Teddy. "What will the Foundation do when they have reached everyone?"

Teddy laughed. "Bree, so far we're still mostly only doing the Wizarding World. Someday we want to help all of the Muggles too."

She stared at him in amazement. "But that's _billions_ of Muggles that need help," she said. "How will even the Foundation be able to do that?"

"That's probably what people said about Uncle Harry's idea to help every orphan in the Wizarding World, and we're only a few more years away from pretty much doing just that," he said. "When we can, we'll do it the same way in the Muggle World – one step at a time."

Percy and Penelope were the only two parents that were taking the afternoon off to spend with the kids, but Kieran and Lily were going back home with Kirley and Ana to do some work. Matt and Rose decided to go do their own thing for the afternoon, and Frederica and Liam went to spend the day with his younger sister and brother.

That left four young couples with Percy and Penelope – and James. They were all going to spend the afternoon doing Christmas shopping, but after saying goodbye to Tracey when she went off to work, James left the others to do go shopping on his own.

He'd have time next week to do the family Christmas shopping, and maybe even do some of it with Arianna, but this afternoon he wanted to shop for her present. That meant that his first stop was his favourite neighbourhood jewellery store.

It took him an hour to decide on the gift, and then, after waiting for it to be wrapped, happily wandered around the mall for the rest of the afternoon.

He bought the SpellBound Christmas songs and videos, and had them put onto his 3D-VMP at GamePortal, but did not buy the SpellBound video game. There was no point in getting a game that would require musical talent to be any good at playing – even if the adverts suggested you could 'be as good as your imagination can make you'. When it came to music, even his imagination told him he sucked.

When he got to one of the toy stores, he did pick up a pair of the SpellBouond TeenWitch dolls, just because he was interested in the magic that went into them, and wanted to have them for New Year's Eve to watch it work.

His last stop was to pick up flowers for Arianna, and then he took the TransPortal to go home. He was the first one to get there, but he wasn't alone – Kreacher and Winky were both there, cooking up a storm.

"Welcome home, Master James!" Kreacher told him cheerfully, and he smiled as he gave each of them hugs. "Merry Christmas!"

"Thank-you, Kreacher, and Merry Christmas to both of you too. It's really great to be home. If I'd known that you were cooking dinner today, though, I would have come right after lunch and offered to be the taste-tester."

Kreacher and Winky both laughed. "Kreacher and Winky have had Fluffy here doing that for us all afternoon," Kreacher told him, pointing out Fluffy where she was currently testing out a piece of chicken, and apparently giving the dish a two paws up.

"You are one lucky kitty," he told Fluffy. "Is there anything I can help with?" he asked Kreacher.

"Kreacher and Winky have everything taken care of, Master James," Kreacher assured him.

Winky put something on a plate and brought it over to James.

"Master James could test out the dessert for Winky," she told him, as she handed him the plate. "Fluffy should probably not eat any of it, and she likes the meat and fish dishes best anyway."

James grinned, and sat down at the table to enjoy one of Winky's amazing confections. That's where he was when Harry, Ginny, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey came into the kitchen – caught chocolate-handed.

"The truth comes out," Arianna teased, coming over to give him a hug. "It's Winky's incredible desserts that James was missing while he was away at Hogwarts, not his family, or me."

James laughed and hugged her close. "This was an added bonus," he told her, handing her the roses he'd bought her. He pulled one out of the dozen, and grinned at her.

"The dessert was really great, though, and I'm going to have to give one of your roses to Winky to thank her for letting me try a piece of it early," he told Arianna as he handed the rose to a smiling Winky. The little house elf gave James a hug, and happily went back to work.

Harry and Ginny had hugged James next, and Aaron and Tracey followed them before everyone sat down at the table to talk.

"How was practice?" James asked them. "Ready for tomorrow?"

They all nodded, and Ginny answered him. "The Bats are going to be in for a bad day. We all really want that Monday off that Coach has promised us, and we're going to get it."

"Will that mean that Monday will be the big shopping day this year?" he asked Ginny.

"Probably, since we can't do it tomorrow, and Sunday we'll still do our morning or afternoon at the residence – especially since the kids are home from school."

"Sounds like the next few days are going to be busy," James told them.

Busy is what the kitchen got as everyone else started arriving. Frederica and Liam were doing dinner out with their parents, but the rest of the kids, and all of their parents were going to be at the cottage for dinner.

James hadn't really even paid attention to the magically re-sized kitchen, since it wasn't even slightly unusual to come home to that – especially on a first day home from school. The kitchen here was always just big enough for everyone to be comfortable, and yet still feel cozy and at home together.

Ron, Hermione, and the kids came first, and Percy, Penelope, and their eight little shoppers weren't far behind them. The Golstein, Rivers, Summers, McCormack, and Donahue parents, along with Lily and Kieran all joined them over the next half hour. They had nearly another half hour after that to have drinks and chat before Kreacher and Winky had them all sit down for dinner.

They enjoyed a typical, big Weasley family dinner that was loud and fun. Ron and Tony Goldstein were at one corner talking Quidditch, and even though Tony's United team lost big to the Canons, they were still among the 'best of the rest' of the league teams, and were currently in third place overall.

Ginny, Ana, and some of the other Moms were around the other end of the table, talking about everything else except Quidditch. James and Arianna were sitting with Aaron and Tracey on the other corner of the table next to where Ron and Tony were sitting.

"How are you two going to work out the family holiday juggling act this year?" James asked Aaron.

"We're going to do Christmas Eve with Tracey's family, and Christmas morning here. Mum and Dad are volunteering at the residence for the party Christmas Day afternoon, so we'll see them there too, and then we'll be at the Weasley Christmas on Sunday afternoon."

"So you're just going to take it slow," James joked.

Tracey and Aaron laughed. "Compared to all the work and everything else going on over the next two weeks, that three days is going to feel like taking it easy," Tracey told him.

"At least we get the Friday off," Aaron said. "But then we have to work the whole week between Christmas and New Years to get ready for the home game against the Pride of Portree."

"Are you going to take it easy on them?" James asked. "After all, we're going to have future family ties with that team eventually."

Aaron looked over at Kieran and Lily, and grinned.

"They're not family yet, and the Pride were just as bad as the other teams last year, so I doubt Uncle Ron is going to be very sympathetic to that idea."

James laughed. "Maybe Frederica will try to change his mind."

Arianna laughed. "I forgot about that connection," she admitted. "Liam's Mum probably wouldn't be too happy about watching a big Pride loss, would she?"

"Probably not," Tracey agreed. "At least Frederica can say that it's her Uncles and Aunt doing it, and not one of her parents."

They took their time over dinner, and then most of the dinner guests headed for home, leaving Harry and Ginny with their eight kids – if you included Aaron, Tracey, and Arianna, so that they could spend the hour or two they had left before the four members of the Canons' team would need to get to sleep so that they'd be ready for the game on Saturday.

For both Harry and Ginny, and for the kids, catching up on what they'd each been doing revolved a lot around Quidditch. The kids were also able to talk about their classes, and how they were doing so far, and about the things that the New Maruaders had been doing. Harry and Ginny had pretty much focused on playing for the Canons, and their Sunday, and one weeknight, visits to the residence to the exclusion of everything else, so that was really the only things they had news to talk about.

The dynamics of their group were different this year – Aaron and Arianna weren't part ot the 'kids' anymore – they were teammates and equals with Harry and Ginny. Tracey wasn't one of the kids either, and her new business relationship with Harry changed the way that they interacted too.

James was in between – nearly an adult too, yet still one of the Hogwarts students. Working out that changing relationship with his parents and friends was an ongoing process. With Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily, not much was really different with their parents, and since they'd all been through this same transition where childhood friends were becoming adults with quite a few other older kids now, the change in how they interacted with Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey wasn't a problem for them.

When it was nearly nine, Aaron, Tracey, Arianna, and James all traded goodnight hugs and kisses with the rest of their family, and then left for their house. Harry and Ginny went up to bed, leaving Al and the three girls on their own in the sitting room.

They talked together for a while, and flipped through WWVN channels looking for a Christmas show to watch. They found the original version of A Christmas Carol, and settled down to watch it.

"What did you and Kieran do all afternoon?" Brianna asked Lily. They were both stretched out on one sofa, one at each end, and sharing a soft, warm blanket, while Al and Carolyn were on the other sofa, snuggling together under another blanket (they were not at opposite ends).

"Kirley and Ana went over a bunch of business stuff with us, and then we spent a couple of hours in the studio recording some songs we've been working on this fall."

"I wonder how crazy it'll be for the two of you when we go back to school after everyone finds out that you're SpellBound," Carolyn said.

Lily smiled. "It'll be nuts for the first couple of days, but then it'll blow over like everything else. The Quidditch game on the second weekend will help too."

"Should we get your autograph now before the lineups start?" Brianna asked her.

"Oh, I think Kieran and I will always have time for autographs for all of you," Lily told her, using a lofty, diva kind of voice that made Carolyn, Brianna, and Al laugh.

"We appreciate that, sis," Al told her. "The rest of us might enjoy the obscurity that will come with having famous Quidditch stars for parents, and a sister in the greatest pop band of the decade."

"Keep telling yourself that a lot, and maybe you'll start believing it," Lily told him.

They watched the rest of the show, and then Lily and Brianna got up to go to bed.

"Try and remember to turn off the WWVN before you fall asleep, Al," she told him as they left, and Brianna laughed.

"Maybe they'll surprise you and make it up to their rooms tonight," she suggested to Lily.

Now it was Lily's turn to laugh. "Look at them," she told her friend. "Would you want to move if that was you and Scorpius right now?"

"Point taken," Brianna said. "We'll see you in the morning, guys," she told Al and Carolyn. "Have a good night."

While Lily and Brianna were going up to bed, and Al and Carolyn were not, James was comfortably snuggled in bed with Arianna. She was already asleep, and he was happy to just quietly hold her close to him, as he lay next to her in a kind of sweet half-sleep.

He was so glad to be home with her again, and be able to hold her like this all night. They both would be doing a lot during the next two weeks, but if each night was going to be like this, then he knew for sure that every day was going to start and end perfectly.

When they'd gotten back here, the two couples hadn't stayed up very long, and that had suited James just fine, since he and Arianna hadn't even had a moment alone to share a real kiss so far.

They'd made up for that before Arianna had drifted off to sleep. Now, as the last hour of the day began, James too fell asleep, truly happy and content for the first time in months.

Ballycastle is in Northern Ireland, and they had a pretty cold day for the game. James was at the stadium with Al, Carolyn, Brianna, Scorpius, Lily, and Kieran all in the same row with him. Not all of the family was here for this game, but in the row behind them, Aunt Hermione was there with Rose, Hugo, Matt, and Emily. Tracey was sitting in that row, directly behind James so that they could talk during the game.

That morning, James and Aaron had cooked a big breakfast, and then Aaron and Arianna had gone to the Canons' stadium for their light morning warmup and team meeting before heading up here. James and Tracey had cleaned up from breakfast, and then gone to the cottage, where they picked up the three younger couples, and come to Ballycastle. They'd wandered around the shops in town for the rest of the morning, had lunch at one of the diners, and then come here to the stadium.

They did have great seats, near centre field, and goal-high. They could see right into the side of the Bat's team owner's box. The VIP's in there were all smiling – probably because their stadium was sold out for this game.

"You don't think that they're smiling like that because they think they're going to be the team to end the Canons' run do you?" Tracey leaned forward and asked James.

"It'd be that much better if they did. If they do, though, then they must be a bit deluded, since they've played both the Harpies and United teams, and lost both of those games."

"Maybe they're bad at Arithmancy," Tracey suggested.

"I suppose, but I thought that everybody knew how to count to zero," James told her, and Tracey, Lily, and his Aunt Hermione all laughed.

They'd dressed warmly for the game, and brought blankets too. Hermione had been watching them talk, and smiled at them.

"If you don't think Aaron and Arianna would mind, why don't you and I switch places James, and you can get under one of these blankets with Tracey, and that way it'll be a whole lot easier for you to talk together."

Lily was sitting next to James and leaned her head back so she could look up at her aunt. "You can share our blanket, Aunt Hermione," she offered.

They made the quick switch, and had just sat down again when the Canons were introduced. Watching their flying displays on WWVN had been impressive, but seeing them in person was unbelievable.

Today's precision flying had everyone except Harry flying in a close circle formation in one direction around the stadium, while Harry flew in the other direction. When they met, he'd fly through the centre of their circle, and the effect was like watching a cannonball being shot out of a canon. They made five loops of the stadium, picking up speed each time, until the last time that Harry passed through that gauntlet, they were all flying at top speed, and the crowd gasped as they successfully completed the maneuver unscathed before landing to await the entrance of their opponents.

"I don't think I'd want to be the bottom person in that circle," James told Tracey. "If Dad missed and hit any of the rest of them, they might get a broken arm or leg. If he hit the bottom guy, he might find himself joining the headless hunt at Hogwarts."

Tracey laughed. "Sebastian volunteered for that spot," she told him. "The rest of them are still trying to figure out if he's just really brave or crazy, but he told us he trusts your Dad, and that if you really love riding rollercoasters, you're always going to want to sit in the front row."

"So he's confirming he brave and crazy, since the only way that metaphor works is if you're sticking your head up through the tracks of the rollercoaster, and it's coming at you going four hundred miles an hour," James said as they watched the Ballycastle Bats fly out into the stadium to the cheers of their hometown fans. They flew around the stadium a few times too, and then landed next to the Canons' team.

Tracey had laughed at his comments about Sebastian while they'd watched the Bats, and he'd seen his Aunt Hermione nodding in agreement with his assessment.

"I wonder if any of the other teams will try a flying routine like the Canons are doing before the end of the season?" James asked.

"Not likely, unless they can do something that at least looks respectable by comparison," Tracey said.

It didn't take much longer for the game to get started, and James watched excitedly as his parents, girlfriend, best friend, and uncle began teaching Canons Lesson number eight to the Bats.

One of the first things he noticed that didn't show up as well on WWVN was just how much fun the team was having while they played. They were all working really hard, but there was a smile on every face as they played.

The WWVN cameras, for instance, never picked up the way his Dad's eyes flashed in triumph with every goal that his mother scored, or how Uncle Ron directed his team in play after play that left the Bats disoriented and unable to counter the continually attacking offense. The Canons always seemed to be on offense too – even when they played defense, they were setting up a steal or an interception opportunity.

"This is way more fun to watch in person," James told Tracey as he watched his mother score yet another goal. "Mum obviously held back when she played with us at home."

"Maybe a little," Tracey agreed. "A lot of it's from putting in so many hours a week working on her game."

Suddenly, Uncle Ron pulled away from the goals he was defending and followed Aaron, Arianna, and Ginny on the offense.

"He's going to try pulling that against a professional team?" James whispered incredulously as he watched Aaron pass to Ginny, and then see her pass the Quaffle back to her brother, who came shooting past all three of them to shoot and score a goal before tearing back to his own goals as fast as he could.

Hugo had jumped up and cheered, and the rest of them were laughing.

"I can't believe he got away with that!" James told Tracey, grinning at her. "It was pretty audacious of us to even try it at our level."

Tracey pointed to the Canons' goals. "Your Dad was backing up Uncle Ron," she told him. "And when a play like that is never done anymore, other teams stop being ready to defend it. One thing I have learned over the last few months is that your Uncle Ron might be the most brilliant Quidditch strategist in the history of the game."

Hermione laughed. "Don't tell him that," she asked Tracey. "His head is lots big enough already." That comment earned laughs from all of the kids.

The stadium vendors came around every half hour or so, and James and the others would order hot drinks and food as they watched the game. The Bats fans couldn't be happy with how the game was going, since Ron was stopping anything that came his way, while his Chasers were scoring practically at will. Getting to witness such a virtuoso performance, even when it was coming from an opponent should have been considered some compensation for them, though.

It took the Canons three hours and fifty-one minutes to score the one hundred and thirty-five goals they needed to reach, and get the additional one hundred and fifty points for catching the snitch to reach the fifteen hundred points they needed to get Monday off, and end 'lesson eight'. They might have needed more goals, since they had to win by fifteen hundred points, but Ron was nice enough to give them a shutout to work with, so they were all set.

"That was fun," Hermione told them. "Who's up for getting out of here, going to our house, and getting warm while we wait for our resident heroes to get done their press conference and join us?"

Her proposal was unanimously approved, and they hurried out of the stadium, and took the TransPortal to her house. Kieran, Matt, and Emily stayed long enough to have a drink and warm up before heading home. Scorpius was spending the night at the cottage, so he was staying. James and Tracey helped Hermione in the kitchen, and they were cooking for all seven of the Canons team, plus Liselle, and the ten of them that were already there.

"This seems like a lot of food, Aunt Hermione," James told her, "even with Uncle Ron at the table."

Hermione laughed. "You haven't seen what happens when you put him together at the table with Sebastian and Tristan," she said. "I haven't had leftovers even once anytime they've all been here to eat."

They had dinner ready and just set out on the table when Ron led everyone into the house. Hugo had been there to exchange a high five with his Dad.

"Nice goal, Dad!" he said, and father and son were grinning at each other. "Where'd you come up with a crazy idea like that?"

"I don't know – maybe from your last team captain?" Ron suggested. "It worked, and we still got the shutout too."

"What'd the sports reporters have to say about it during the press conference?" Hugo asked him.

"Not much. They wanted to talk to the pretty girls, and handsome young men, not the old guys."

"You'd rather talk to pretty girls than old guys too, Dad," Hugo told him with a laugh.

They sat down to eat, and to spend an hour recapping the highlights of the afternoon. James found out that Aunt Hermione had not been exaggerating the food consuming abilities of the two Canons Beaters and his uncle.

Sebastian and Tristan both looked like they were really doing great. The life of the professional Quidditch player was definitely agreeing with them. Liselle was sitting next to James at the table, and she told him that she was loving every minute of the season so far too. Harry told him that Liselle was already getting so good, that he was worried about keeping his own job for the rest of the season.

After dinner, Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle excused themselves so they could head home to get ready for whatever Saturday night entertainments they were going to be doing.

"Word on the street says that Trinity thinks she's found Mr. Right in Sebastian," Tracey told the others after they'd left. "And I'm pretty sure that Tristan and Liselle aren't just two singles tagging along with Sebastian and Trinity anymore."

Ginny laughed. "The marketing department will hate that. They like their hot young players single and available."

Tracey laughed too. "They made it work for Dennis and Demezla, I'm sure they can do the same for Tristan and Liselle."

Aaron, Tracey, James, and Arianna were next to leave, planning on spending a quiet evening together at home. They made plans to meet Harry, Ginny, and the kids at the residence on Sunday morning, exchanged hugs, and left for home.

While Harry, Ginny, and the kids spent the evening with Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo, the two young couples put some snacks and drinks together, and curled up on the sofas to watch Christmas shows and talk.

"You two looked way too cosy in the stands this afternoon," Aaron teased Tracey and James.

"Not all of us could stay warm playing Quidditch," Tracey told him, "and it was cold out there just sitting in the stands."

"It was cold enough out there flying too," Arianna assured her sister-in-law. That's probably why coach gave us that incentive about getting Monday off. If it hadn't been for that, we would have gotten Uncle Harry to just catch the snitch and let us all go home and get warm."

"At least we'll be nice and warm in the owner's box for the next game," Tracey told them.

"Have you got any plans with your team over the holidays, James?" Aaron asked.

James shook his head. "No, we don't play until after Valentine's day, so we'll have lots of time to get ready for Hufflepuff. Even with Hugo backing us, that's going to be a tough game. With Kieran playing for them, they're probably a bit better than we are this year. He managed to score four goals against Ravenclaw, and their Chaser defense was way better than ours will be."

"Should be a good defensive battle then. Maybe Jeremy will get the win for you," Arianna told him.

"That's my hope," James said.

"Do you have a lot of homework to do over the holiday?" Tracey asked him.

"Lily kept us working all last week, so we're actually in pretty good shape. I'll be able to get mine done while you guys are at work next week."

"Good," Arianna told him with a smile. "I have better things for you to do than sit around studying when I'm not tied up with work."

James grinned at her too. "I like the sounds of that a lot," he said.

They sat and watched a Christmas movie, then the two couples both decided to go to bed, since they did have a morning date at the residence.

Harry and Ginny were already cuddled up, warm in their bed by then, while two couples were watching that same movie in the sitting room at the cottage. Lily had gone to bed too – more to give Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and Scorpius some space than because of being tired.

"Maybe we are getting old," Ginny told Harry as she snuggled in his arms. "It's Saturday night, and we're in bed before ten."

Harry laughed. "We didn't use to have four or five hour Quidditch matches before going out on the town when we were twenty, or I doubt we would have."

"That didn't seem to be stopping Sebastian and Tristan," she pointed out. "And Liselle didn't play today, but she did do warm-ups with us, and worked the sidelines with Coach all game."

"They're Canadian and American," Harry said. "They're probably just thinking that it's only late afternoon over there right now, so it's still early."

Ginny opened one eye and looked at him. "That is a really lame explanation," she told him.

Harry laughed. "I thought it was more polite than suggesting, at least for the boys, that all of those years going to school so high up in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia in the thinner air has affected their good sense."

Ginny laughed too. "You're right – it was more polite."

They fell asleep long before the kids did, and it was after midnight before Al and Carolyn decided it was Brianna's turn to get the sitting room for just her and Scorpius, while they went up to their beds.

"That was nice of them," Brianna said, after the other couple had left. "I wonder if Carolyn will go tuck Al in and kiss him goodnight."

"If he's lucky," Scorpius answered with a grin.

"And I suppose you're hoping to get tucked in later too?" she asked him.

Scorpius laughed quietly. "No, I'm hoping you'll just stay here and fall asleep in my arms, and we'll get to find out why those two seem to like doing that so much."

"That sounds like fun," she told him, looking into his eyes. "But I'm really not sleepy at all."

"You're not?"

"Nope. Any thoughts on what we can do until I am?"

"Definitely," he said before kissing her.

Sunday morning, after a breakfast where it was Scorpius and Brianna's turn to get teased about falling asleep on the sofa together, they all got ready and went over to the residence.

The Hogwarts students that were seeing Harry and Ginny for the first time since Quidditch season had started, all wanted to spend time with them, and congratulate them for having such a great season so far. That was just over seventy kids, so they kept Harry and Ginny busy right through until lunchtime.

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were there too, and Aaron and Arianna were nearly as popular as Harry and Ginny. Sure, there'd been other residence alumni who'd gone on to be successful, but they were the first two to be world-famous, and they'd done that in their first year after graduating from Hogwarts, so nearly all of the kids knew them personally.

Aaron and Arianna had been visiting the residence with Harry and Ginny at least a couple of times a month, so the younger kids had gotten used to them. It was a bit strange having the Hogwarts kids who'd only about a year and a half ago been fellow students and fellow residents here asking them for autographs, but it was also pretty cool too.

"Hey, James, good to see ya, excuse me, could you take a picture of Arianna and me if you don't mind. The kids at school aren't going to believe this!" James mimicked later when they'd gotten back to the cottage.

"I can see it now, my fate in life is to be the guy standing next to Arianna, taking the pictures for her fans."

They were all sitting at the table having lunch, and the others laughed at his comments.

"It was funnier when the little girls wanted to you kiss the Arianna TeenWitch doll," Lily told him.

James grinned back. "Think so? Let's see how funny it is for you after New Year's Eve when you're dealing with that stuff back at school. I've lost track of how many of those little flying action Arianna's the little first and second year girls have gotten me to kiss."

"Why do you keep doing it?" Aaron asked him.

James shrugged. "It makes them happy, and it really doesn't cost me anything to do it, except a little ribbing from some of the guys."

Ginny smiled at him. "I think it's pretty great, James. No wonder the kids at the residence were saying that you were the best prefect at school this year."

"What are we going to do for the rest of the afternoon?" Brianna asked Ginny.

"It's optional today," Ginny told her. "Since Harry and I have tomorrow off, we're going to head for the island after lunch. Anyone that wants to come, is welcome to join us."

"Can we bring friends?" Brianna asked hopefully.

"Well, I guess so, but your boyfriend is already going to be there, since I'm pretty sure that Percy and Penelope had the same plan," Ginny told her with a grin. "I think Ron and Hermione and George and Frederica had the same idea too. Funny how these things work out, isn't it?"

Brianna hopped up and gave her a big hug. "I'm definitely in!"

Everyone else was a yes too, so after lunch and side trips to get clothes and swimsuits, they all took the TransPortal to the island.

Ron and Hermione were there already with the kids, and also with the Goldstein and Donahue families, and the kids quickly changed and joined in on the fun that was already in progress out on the lagoon.

Ginny sent Ana a WiComm message after the kids had left for the beach, and a few minutes later, welcomed her, Kirley, and Kieran to the island.

"If you head down that path to the beach," Ginny told Kieran after he'd changed into a swimsuit and t-shirt, "you'll probably have time to surprise Lily before she knocks you over with a hug. Make sure you're already on the beach – at least the sand is nice and soft to land on."

The two couples watched as Kieran quickly walked down the path and out of sight.

"Would you like a tour before we join them?" Harry asked the other couple.

"We'd love one," Ana told him with a smile. "This place looks amazing." She looked at Kirley and grinned.

"And we thought putting all of those acres around us was private. We should have thought about doing something like this."

Kirley laughed. "If we'd put our studio on an island paradise, we'd never get anything done, because if you walked around looking like you do right now in that swimsuit, I'd be chasing you all day instead."

Harry and Ginny laughed. "That's why this isn't where we live full time," Harry said. "This could be where we'll retire some day, though."

They spent about a half hour doing a quick tour past the homes and guesthouses, and then ended up at the beach, where everyone else had already arrived.

George and Marietta had brought Liam and his parents, brother, and sister, and had also been in charge of setting up drinks and snacks for the afternoon (or morning island time).

Percy and Penelope were there with the boys, Allie, and her parents. They'd be putting on dinner for everyone, with a little help from Kreacher and Winky, so Harry and Ginny were actually free for the rest of the day to just play and have fun with everyone. Harry was finding out that there were a few advantages to having a real job like everyone else did!

Harry and Ginny introduced Kirley and Ana to AquaBikes first, and then when some of the jet-skis became available, taught them how to drive them, before leaving them to play out on the water with Lily and Kieran, while they went to relax in a couple of lounge chairs on the beach.

"This was a really good idea," he said as they watched everyone that was out on the water playing.

"Thank-you," Ginny answered. "I'm sure there's lots of other things we should be doing, but none of them would have been this much fun."

Aaron and Tracey joined them, and sat down in two other chairs.

"We heard that Kreacher and Winky are here helping out with dinner," Tracey said. "We were thinking that since we're all here that we could give them that present early."

Ginny smiled and nodded. "Let's," she said, "that way they can use it this afternoon too."

The two women went and got the gift from where they'd been keeping it hidden until Christmas, and when they had it ready, Harry called Kreacher and Winky.

"What can Kreacher and Winky do for Harry Potter?" Kreacher asked when they'd arrived.

"Today, Kreacher," Harry said, "it's what we can do for you." He motioned for Aaron to tell them about their present.

"Kreacher, Winky, Tracey and I wanted to find a special way to thank you for everything you did for us in June when we were getting married. The four of us," he said, motioning toward Harry, Ginny, Tracey, and himself, "decided to get you a special Christmas present. Since we're all here now, and won't be on the island for Christmas, we want to give it to you a few days early."

He indicated that they should look behind them toward the water. "Merry Christmas, Kreacher, Winky, and thank-you for being such great friends and house elves."

The two elves turned around, and their big eyes got even wider as they saw the custom elf-sized AquaBike, and quite a few other smiling faces who'd been watching what had been going on, and were enjoying seeing the reaction of the two elves.

"Thank-you!" Kreacher told them. "Kreacher and Winky love their present," he added, and Winky nodded vigorously before hugging each of them.

"Why don't you go try it out?" Harry suggested.

"Kreacher and Winky still have work to do to get dinner ready," Kreacher told Harry, who stood up.

"I think you two have done enough work for one day," he told them. "You go have fun, and I'll give Percy and Penelope a hand."

The two elves hesitated for a moment, torn between wanting to finish their work and wanting to try out their new toy.

"Don't make me have to order you," Harry said, grinning at them.

Kreacher and Winky both hugged him again, and went off to play. They were soon happily pedaling around the lagoon together, while some of the kids played with them by making waves around them with the jet-skis that got the elves smiling, and had the kids laughing as they watched the two elves having fun bobbing around on the waves.

They played and enjoyed the sun and fun, and had a casual dinner on the beach at around noon local time. The family members of the Canons team might get to have Monday off, but most of the other adults had work on Monday, so by mid-afternoon island time, everyone packed up and left for home, getting back around ten o'clock at night local time.

After a full day of playing hard, and a busy day of work or shopping ahead for everyone on Monday, it wasn't long before they were all in their beds and fast asleep.

Harry and Ginny had a lot of kids at the Mall with them on Monday. The easy part was that they were mostly all off in small groups to do their shopping, which left them free to get some of their own Christmas shopping done.

"This is different not having everything done already this year," Ginny told him as they walked along to the next store they needed to stop at.

"I had a little more free time before, and we haven't felt much like walking around shopping after working out all day."

Ginny nodded. "And we've had two games this month already, and the DREAM Christmas on the weekend in between."

They'd meet up with one of the groups of kids every so often, and they all seemed to be having fun together. At lunchtime, they gathered together in the food court, and Harry was recruited by some of the boys to help them shop in the afternoon, while Ginny went off with Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna to shop.

By the time they'd all finished the shopping they wanted to get done for the day, it was already late, so Harry and Ginny just took them all out for dinner too before they all returned to their homes for the night.

The Canons were back at practice on Tuesday. Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey had eaten breakfast with James, and then left for work. He cleaned everything up, and then got his books out and started studying.

At the cottage, breakfast with Harry and Ginny was followed by a Ravenclaw team Quidditch practice. Their practice had included Frederica, Liam, and Hugo from the Gryffindor team, and Kieran from the Hufflepuff team.

In the fan section, they had Carolyn, Brianna, Allie, and Emily, who would be joining them for the study day that would follow the practice.

Since Lily didn't have a Seeker to play against, she played Chaser with Liam and Kieran. Hugo played Keeper for them, and Frederica played Beater.

The practice lasted for two hours, and then they all went into the cottage, ready to warm up and get going on the homework. Since Melanie was the only seventh year student, and didn't normally study with their group, she stayed long enough after practice to have a hot drink with everyone and warm up, and then left the others to their studies.

While they were just sitting down to study, James was putting on his cloak and going out for a walk to take a break after putting nearly three hours in on his assignments. He had gone out the front door and turned left onto the sidewalk. He'd only gone about four houses down when he saw a sign across the road that caught his eye.

BUY ME FOR CHRISTMAS!, the sign read. It was in front of a beautiful home that stopped James in his tracks. It hadn't been there during the summer, and he hadn't really been looking around the few times they'd come and gone from the house since Friday night.

He pulled out his WiComm, and called his Aunt Penelope.

"Hi James," she said when she answered his call. "This is a surprise!"

"Hi, Aunt Penelope. Got a minute?"

"For you? Of course I do, James. What's up?"

He pointed his WiComm toward the house. "Is this one of yours?" he asked her, and after showing it to her turned his WiComm back so he could see her smiling.

"Sure is. It just got finished a couple of weeks ago. Why?"

James grinned at her. "Do you have time to show it to me? If it's as perfect inside, I'm thinking about getting it as a Christmas present for a certain young lady of our acquaintance."

Penelope laughed. "Buy me lunch, and I'll pop over right now," she suggested. "It'll give me an excuse to get away from the paperwork for a while."

"Deal. Thank-you."

"You're welcome, James."

When she got there, and showed him the house, he knew that this was it – 'their' house.

"I'll take it," he told his aunt, who laughed.

"Wouldn't you like to know how much first?" she teased him.

"Not really. I'll send Griphook a message. This is beautiful, and it's really close to Aaron and Tracey, so Arianna won't be too far from her twin. It's like it was built especially for us," he told Penelope.

"Arianna is going to love this as much as she loved the house that they picked out for Aaron," she agreed.

Penelope held out the keys to him. "Should I wrap these up, or do you want to do that yourself?"

James took the keys from her. "I've got some extra time this week while they're at work. I guess I can manage to fit in wrapping one more gift."

"Good, then lets get out of here, and into a nice warm restaurant so you can buy me that lunch," she told him, sliding her hand through his arm and apparating them to Diagon Alley and the Marauders Mall.

Harry and Ginny were having lunch with the rest of the team when her WiComm chimed. She took a look at the qm from Penelope, smiled, and showed it to Harry, who grinned at the two words that had been sent: 'Mission Accomplished'.

James went back to his studies after buying his aunt lunch, and then started to cook dinner for Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey. By the time they got home, he had a bottle of wine chilling on ice, but started them out with hot coffee that had a touch of Irish Crème liquor mixed in to help them warm up from hours outdoors in the cold.

"Lock him in the house, Arianna," Tracey teased. "If we're going to get treated like this every night after work, we cannot let him go back to school."

"I wish," Arianna said, going to help James with the cooking. 'How did your day go?" she asked James.

"Great," he told her. "If I keep at it, another day, and I'll have the homework wrapped up. For me that's got to be some kind of record, since usually I've got some left to do on the train ride back."

Aaron laughed. "You're turning into super-student right before our eyes."

"If there's one good thing about this year, it's that I am really finding out just what I can do as a student if I work at it harder."

"Like you weren't already the best student in our group," Aaron told him. "Except maybe for Therese – she was the only one giving you a run for your money, and she's planning on being a medi-witch, so that's saying something."

"Do we have anything booked for tonight?" James asked them.

"Nothing for tonight, or tomorrow night," Arianna reported. "Thursday night we've all got tickets to that musical version of A Christmas Carol. Most of the family will be there too."

"Two whole nights? Whatever should we do?" he asked them.

"We've got long practice days on Wednesday and Thursday," Aaron told his best friend. "You guys can do what you want, but for Tracey and I, it's usually stay-at-home, cuddle, and watch some WWVN during the work week, and go to bed early."

"Gee, let me think about that. Stay here and snuggle with Arianna, or anything else." He pretended to consider the options. "How do you feel about option one?" he asked Arianna.

She hugged him and grinned back. "I'm all for it," she assured him.

Percy and Penelope were home cooking dinner too, and it was dinner for two, since the kids were all with Harry and Ginny for supper, as they were putting on a big push to get all of their homework done by the end of the night so they could be homework-free for the rest of the holidays.

"Let me get this right," Percy said. "Harry and Ginny had you guys build this house a few doors down and across the road from Aaron and Tracey's place, and the sign for it wouldn't appear unless James was walking by it, and then right on cue, he called you and within an hour had bought the place as a Christmas present for his girlfriend."

"Pretty much, yes," Penelope agreed.

"He's not even seventeen yet," Percy pointed out. "Isn't it a bit early for settling down?"

Penelope laughed. "I think it had a lot to do with Aaron and Tracey," she told him. "I'm sure they're getting along, but you have to admit that it probably gets awkward sometimes being newlyweds and having a housemate. I love your sister a lot, but I wouldn't have wanted her to live with us that first few years we were married."

Percy grinned at her. "You're definitely right about that," he agreed. "I suppose it makes sense, since James still has a year and a half at school, and she'll still be close to her brother. I don't think George and Fred were ever very far apart from each other for more than a few hours at a time."

"I don't remember ever seeing them apart at all," Penelope said. "At school, they were always 'Fred and George'. They did everything together."

"I would guess that by necessity it's a bit different for brother-sister twins," Percy said. "They might be even closer than my brothers were, though, considering what they went through together."

"Speaking of that," Penelope said with a grin, "how's the community service going for good old Patrick and Sarah?"

Percy returned her grin. "They're not having much fun, since their coordinator has been giving them the worst cleaning jobs in the building – and there are some really bad jobs."

"I wonder if they watch all of Aaron and Arianna's games? They should be very proud of their niece and nephew."

Penelope watched as Percy laughed. "I hope they watch every minute, and that it drives them crazy to see those two kids so successful," he told her seriously.

While Percy and Penelope enjoyed a quiet dinner for two, Harry and Ginny were happy to be inundated with kids at the cottage. Instead of taking time from studying to cook, the kids had ordered in, and so they'd come home to dinner spread out buffet style in boxes all over the counter, and the table just being temporarily cleared of books and supplies.

"This looks great," Ginny told the kids when she saw all of the food options. "Let me guess – you couldn't decide so you ordered some of everything."

Lily hugged her and nodded. "Pretty much, yes," she agreed. "How was work?"

"We had fun," Ginny told her. "Sometimes it's hard to believe we get paid to do it."

Harry laughed. "You get paid? I have got to talk to my agent!"

Ginny laughed too. "You negotiated your own contract, honey," she told him.

"Remind me to fire myself," he joked back, "because I must be the world's worst agent."

They sat down for dinner together, and then let the kids get back to studying. They were pretty sure they'd get everything done by nine or ten, and so Harry and Ginny took glasses of wine into the sitting room with them, and sat down to watch a Christmas show and relax.

"Two more days at work, and then three more days off," Ginny said with a sigh. "This has been a lot of fun so far, but I don't know if I would have loved doing it year after year like I love working in my lab."

Harry nodded. "I'm sure I wouldn't have, and it wouldn't have been as much fun if we weren't doing this together."

"Or with Ron, Aaron, and Arianna," she agreed.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked Ginny as he flipped through the channels.

She smiled at him and snuggled closer. "The kids are busy studying, and we're all alone in here. Why don't you put whatever show on that you want, and then we'll ignore it and do a little constructive snoggiing instead?"

Harry laughed, and did as he was asked, at least until they heard the kids packing up and they had to come back to reality and be grownups again.

While Wednesday was just another workday for the adults, for the New Marauders, it was sort of a 'do your own thing' day. For Lily, that meant a day at the McCormack's home, playing and recording music with Kieran.

While she was doing that, Al, Scorpius, and Nick took their girlfriends to the Marauders Mall in Paris for a little shopping and a lot of amusement park rides. They were all in the giant Atrium, and while two of the couples were spinning their heads off on one of their favourite rides, Scorpius and Brianna were happy to watch from one of the patio cafés where they were having drinks.

"I'll never understand how anybody can do any of those spinning rides without getting nauseated," Scorpius told Brianna.

"Me either, but the rest of them all seem to like it, so maybe it's us and not them," Brianna suggested.

"Do you have everything you need for the Minister's Christmas party on Friday night?"

Brianna nodded. "Allie and I are doing a SpaMagic morning on Friday, along with some of the other girls that want to get done up for the holiday weekend, and I found a dress on Monday, so I'm all set."

Scorpius grinned. "You could skip all of that, and wear a paper bag, and you'd still be the prettiest girl there,"

"Maybe to you," she said. "That you guys enjoy how we look after all that pampering, and picking out just the right dress and everything is just an added bonus. The whole thing is for us girls, not for you."

Scorpius laughed. "I have no problem being the 'added bonus' part of that deal."

They watched as Al, Carolyn, Nick, and Allie switched from the first wildly spinning ride to another one that sent the passengers into a three-dimensional spin that Scorpius didn't even want to watch let alone think about riding.

"Did you get all of your Christmas shopping finished?" Scorpius asked Brianna.

"Everything except for a present for Carolyn. I'm still looking for something special for her."

"We could let them stay here and play after lunch and look around here," Scorpius suggested. "Maybe one of those fancy jewellery boxes or some pefume?"

"Let's do that," she agreed. "Then come back here and do those coasters again – especially that new one that goes underground – that one was really wild."

James finished up his homework assignments by lunchtime, so he went into town, had lunch at the diner, then picked up some groceries for a special dinner, flowers for both Arianna and Tracey, and went back to the house, where he started cooking, since the dessert and main course he planned to make would both take several hours to put together.

This time, on top of having chilled wine ready, he also had two bubble baths set up for the girls when they got home. While they were doing that, Aaron sat at the kitchen table, and the two friends talked while James worked.

"You know they're going to expect me to start doing stuff like this when you go back to Hogwarts," Aaron told him. "And since when were you able to cook meals like this?"

James laughed. "I guess a few things have rubbed off after watching my Dad all of these years. How'd practice go today?"

Aaron smiled. "I'm amazed every day. It's like we just keep getting better every time we go out there. Uncle Ron probably knows more about Quidditch strategy than anybody, but Coach is a genius when it comes to training and getting you to always be playing as a team. Then there's your Mum and Dad. It's like they make up new ways to play the game as they go along. I doubt Arithmancy has ever been applied to the game the way your Mum is doing it this year."

"I'm not surprised about that, mate. Just be glad you don't have Lisa or Isabelle doing that, or you'd never even understand what they'd come up with."

"Probably not," Aaron agreed. "Now that you have your homework finished, what are you going to do tomorrow?"

"I'm thinking about crashing the Ravenclaw practice in the morning, just to get a workout with them, and then I'll probably do lunch with them, come back here and have an afternoon nap, and finish off the day by making dinner again before we have to get ready for the show tomorrow night."

"You don't think they'll mind?"

James shook his head. "Hugo, Frederica, Liam, and Kieran all played with them yesterday. They've played Hufflepuff, and nothing they're doing now will give away anything about their game plan for Gryffindor next May."

"That's true, and it'll be fun anyway. I'm just looking forward to getting work over with tomorrow and having three whole days off together, even though they're going to be really busy days."

"Me too," James agreed.

The girls joined them again after their baths, and James got another hug and kiss from Arianna.

"No wonder Dad always liked doing this stuff for Mum," James said, grinning at the others. "Now why don't we sit down to eat – everything's ready to go."

While James was serving dinner for four, Harry was doing the same at the cottage for the small group they had for dinner. Lily and Brianna were gone, so it was just Al, Carolyn, and Ginny with him tonight, and the kids were looking forward to having Harry and Ginny to themselves for a few hours.

"It sounds like you guys had fun in Paris today," Ginny told them after the kids told them about their trip.

"We did," Carolyn agreed. "Grandma really knew what she was doing building that place, and putting two of the most fun things in the world to do in one convenient location."

"Have you got plans for tomorrow, other than the team practice?" Harry asked.

"We'll probably just do lunch at the Mall and hang out there for the afternoon before coming back here," Al told his father. "Is there anything you need us to do instead?"

"Not really, but if you could throw something together for dinner, that'd help out, since we'll all have to eat and get ready to go out to the show."

"I think we can handle that," Carolyn promised.

"Thanks, guys," Harry told them. "What do you want to do tonight, since everyone else is away?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" Al asked his Dad. "You might not want to do it, since it'd require hours of snuggling with Mum while watching old Christmas favourites with us."

Harry and Ginny laughed. "You know me, Al," Harry told him. "If it's what you kids really want, and it will make you happy, I'll make the sacrifice and do it."

"We really appreciate that too," Carolyn told him with a grin.

Everywhere that the family Marauders were dispersed that night, there was a quiet evening, in small groups that was a bit like the calm before the Christmas storm of activities would begin.

For the kids, that storm started shortly after breakfast on Thursday. With the surprise addition of James to the morning team practice, the Ravenclaw Chasers were able to work out against a pretty potent trio, with James, Liam, and Kieran giving them a good group to play against. Since their side had three Chasers, Lily joined Frederica as Beater so that, except for having Seekers, they had two full teams for their practice.

They did lunch together, and then James left the others to shop all they wanted, while he did go ahead and have that nap – after another quick stop at a certain house on the way back, just to remind himself that he had, in fact, actually bought a house.

The whole family gathered that night in the ornate, beautiful lobby of the Magick Theatre before the doors would open, and they could go in to their seats.

Since Grandma and Grandpa's private balcony box only had room for eight, just for fun this year, when everyone was there, each couple, including the kids, drew to find out right before they went in who would be joining them for the night.

Brianna drew the first spot for her and Scorpius, and Ron and Hermione got the second set of seats. It was down to just three remaining couples when Victoire drew the last ticket, making both Scorpius and Teddy happy that they'd get to spend the evening watching the show together.

Before they went in, the only change to that plan was when Ron, having seen the bouncing excitement from Emily at getting to go to her very first real live theatre production, switched seats with Hugo and Emily so that the little girl could really get to have an experience she wouldn't forget.

"That was very sweet of you," Ginny told her brother, kissing his cheek. "That probably made Emily's whole Christmas."

Hermione smiled and gave her husband's arm a squeeze. "He does have his moments," she agreed.

While Molly and Arthur introduced their six guests to the advantages and amenities that went along with having a private balcony box, the rest of the large group of family and friends filed into their orchestral seating, and settled in to watch the incredible show. Once the lights went down, and the music started, they were all drawn in to another time and place that, except for the intermission, had them all fully immersed in the wonder of musical theatre for three hours.

When the show was over, and everone had gathered together again in the lobby, Ron, and then Hermione were on the receiving end of two very long hugs from a teary-eyed Emily.

"That was the most wonderful thing I've ever seen," she told them. "Thank-you for bringing me tonight."

"You're welcome, sweetie," Hermione told her, smiling at Ron's own emotional reaction to Emily's hugs. He was such a big softie underneath all of that macho bravado.

They went out for dessert and drinks together before going home for the night – after a long round of goodbye hugs and kisses. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve day, and most of the girls had a date with SpaMagic in the morning, so they were all home and in bed by just after midnight.

Al and Harry had been deserted. The girls had left them right after breakfast, and now they had to decide what they were going to do with their day while the girls were all gone.

"We're only going to have dinner for four again, since Lily's going to the McCormack family Christmas party tonight, while Brianna will be with Scorpius at the Minister's party," Al pointed out. "I'm thinking a little special grocery shopping, flowers, and maybe asking Winky to make one of Mum's and Carolyn's favourite desserts would be fun."

"The eating part of it, and the hugs from the girls, would definitely fall into the fun category," Harry agreed, "but the rest of it sounds a lot like working all day."

Al grinned at his father. "You love cooking, so it's hardly work, and I won't learn to get good at it if I don't start spending time in the kitchen having you teach me."

So while the girls were being pampered, they went shopping, had lunch, did a little cleaning around the house, and then started in on making a fancy dinner for their girls.

Penelope, Allie, and Brianna went home to the townhouse to find their dates for the evening already dressed up and waiting for them, flowers in hand, and big smiles of welcome. Percy, Nick, and Scorpius were three very happy campers when they saw the beautiful girls they'd be lucky enough to accompany to dinner, and then to the Minister's Christmas party.

"Keep close to your girls," Percy told the boys. "Every guy we see is going to want to try and steal them from us."

The three girls laughed, and Penelope gave her husband a hug and kiss before he helped her with the corsage he'd given to her.

"Shall we go?" he asked when they'd finished pinning flowers.

Percy and Penelope did go out to dinner with the kids on a regular basis when they were home, but on Christmas Eve, it was becoming a tradition to go out to one of the upscale London restaurants, and tonight was no exception.

They were taken by chauffeured limousine to Royal Hospital Road, where they were dropped off at the incredible Gordon Ramsay. Their dinner was so way over the top that it wasn't even something that the kids would be able to adequately describe to their friends after – it was something you needed to experience yourself to understand.

The party at the Minister's mansion was pretty much the same as last year. Since Nick had his beautiful girlfriend to dance with all night, it wasn't a complete bore for him. Scorpius and Brianna both loved the party. Now that they'd both spent a summer as pages at the Ministry, they were even fairly well known by a lot of the Witches and Wizards that worked at the Ministry, so this year there were more people that would stop and spend a few minutes talking with the young, good-looking couple.

Harry and Ginny were pretty well known at the party they were at too. Harry was most popular with the little girls and boys at the residence who wanted to play TeenWitch, DragonRider, or with the real flying Quidditch action figures.

Ginny was the teen favourite, with her expertise at playing GameWizard. The fact that this year she was also one of the most famous and talked about Quidditch players in the world, just made her following of adoring teens that much bigger.

Al and Carolyn spent the evening with their friends, and helping out with the younger kids. They stayed until nearly midnight before going back to the cottage with Harry and Ginny, with just this one last sleep until Christmas.

James and Arianna had gone to bed after midnight too, and he'd barely been able to sleep – although he eventually had done so. The girls had been gone for the Spa day, and Aaron and James had done a little last minute shopping, had lunch out, and then had worked around the house, and Aaron had also gotten everything ready that he and Tracey would be taking with them to her family's Christmas dinner and party tonight.

While he was doing that late in the afternoon, James made dinner for two, plus some appetizers that the four of them could have before Tracey and Aaron left for her parent's home.

When they were all alone, Arianna and James had a perfect evening alone together, having dinner, then watching a couple of Christmas shows, and finally going off to bed, where they happily snuggled close; Arianna falling asleep fairly quickly, and James unable to stop thinking about the coming Christmas morning.

Since it had taken himi hours to fall asleep, it was already past dawn when he woke to see Arianna's smiling face looking at him, and then feeling her warm good morning kiss.

"Merry Christmas," she told him softly. "I thought you were going to sleep all morning."

He grinned at her. "I'm glad I didn't. Would you like your Christmas present?" he asked excitedly.

Arianna nodded. "Do we have to get out of bed for it?"

"Not only out of bed," he told her, getting up and heading for the guest room where he kept his things, "but completely out of the house."

Arianna laughed as he hurried out so he could go get dressed, and started getting changed herself.

He was already out by the front door when she got there, and Tracey and Aaron were grinning at him.

"Do you think he's excited?" Tracey asked Arianna.

"I think so. Do you know what's going on?" she asked her sister-in-law and brother.

"Not a clue," Tracey told her. "But if it's outside, it can't be small. He wouldn't let us peek out the windows until after he takes you outside. We didn't see anything out there when we got home, though."

James helped her into her coat, not saying a word, but just smiling.

When they got outside, he led her out to the sidewalk, and turned left.

"Where are we going?" she asked him.

"You'll see in a minute," he promised.

He led her the few houses down, and then across the road until they stood in front of the beautiful house that Arianna had watched being built when she'd left for work in the mornings, and then again at night when she, Aaron, and Tracey had gotten home all during the fall.

"You hid the present in here?" she asked James.

He laughed, delighted at being able to surprise her like this.

"Not exactly, Arianna. This is your present. Merry Christmas!"

He watched her glorious eyes widen, and then fill with tears, and then she was in his arms, and hugging him fiercely.

"I love you, James Potter," she told him before rocking his Christmas morning world with a mind-numbing kiss.

"Wow," he finally was able to breath. "I'm buying you a new house every day for the rest of my life."

Arianna laughed. "I think this one is enough for us," she told him. "I can't believe you bought this for us. I've been admiring it every day the whole time it was being built. It's like it was being made just for us."

"Want to go in and take a look around?" he asked.

"Yes!" she said excitedly, and James handed her the keys, thrilled to see that she was just as excited about the place as he'd been when he had first seen it earlier in the week.

He followed her around as she explored the beautiful house. She checked out every room, and marveled at the same things that James had loved about the place. When they were back in the sitting room, they were both smiling as she put her arms around him, and kissed him again.

"Well, Mr. Potter, you managed to find a way to top every other present I've ever gotten – combined," she told him.

"Well," he told her, "this present was really for us, even though I certainly want you to move in here as soon as you've got it all decorated and furnished however you want it. You, Aaron, and Tracey are getting along fine in the same house, but I think you'll all like this arrangement better."

Arianna nodded. "This is plenty big enough of a present for both of us," she agreed, and James grinned at her, his eyes sparkling. He took a step back, and took her hands in his.

"I suppose, but I do have another present for you," he told her.

"The one thing I've really learned since September, Arianna, is that when I'm finally finished school, I'm never going to want to be apart from you ever again." He watched as she continued to smile, and nodded.

"I feel the same way, James," she said quietly, sensing that he was being more serious now.

"So for Christmas," James continued, "I'm hoping that you'll give me the only present I really want." He knelt on one knee, and pulled the small box out of his cloak pocket, and flipped the lid open.

"I love you, Arianna Ryan, and will love you for all eternity. I want to share my life with you, and spend it making you happy. Will you marry me?"

He watched as she stared into his eyes, and then at the diamond ring, and then back into his eyes. The question seemed to hang there in the air forever as he waited, his heart stopped and waiting for her to start it again.

"James, I love you with all of my heart," she finally whispered. There were tears in her eyes again, and she was smiling. "Yes, I'll marry you, and I promise to make you just as happy as you've always made me."

She pulled him to his feet, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him again. When she let him go, he put the ring on her finger, and then hugged her again.

"I guess we should go back, open presents with Aaron and Tracey, and get ready to go to the cottage for breakfast and gifts there," James said. "And Tracey's going ot want you to bring her over here, too."

Arianna nodded. "And then your Mum and Lily after that," she agreed. "Those silk pajamas that are under the tree for you really pale in comparison to this," she said with a laugh.

James laughed too. "I already got what I wanted for Christmas, Arianna – I got a 'yes'."

They walked hand-in-hand back over to the other house, and Tracey had hugs and kisses for both of them when they came in the door.

"You got a _house_ for Christmas?" Tracey asked incredulously, having watched with Aaron as the other couple had walked across the road, and they'd seen the hug, kiss, and the keys being handed over before they had disappeared inside.

Arianna nodded and smiled. "That, and a fiancée too," she told Tracey happily.

That casually said answer took half a second to sink in, and then Tracey was back to hugging Arianna, and wanting to see the ring.

Aaron gave James a hug while they were waiting for the girls.

"I'm going to like having a brother," Aaron told his best friend, "And having you just a few houses up the street is even better."

Tracey had another hug for James, and then they went into the sitting room to open the few presents they had for each other. Arianna had exaggerated slightly about what she'd gotten James. Omitted would be more accurate, since there really was a set of silk pajamas. There was also a really great portrait of her that Kevin had painted, and a new unbreakable sports watch that could even take a bludger hit and was able to survive the impact.

Aaron had teased James about making every other guy's Christmas present for their wives or girlfriends look like toys by comparison, but Tracey seemed quite happy with her 'toy' ruby and diamond earrings, necklace, and bracelet set from him.

When they were done with the presents, they all went to have showers and get dressed to go spend the morning at the cottage, and the afternoon at the residence.

The two couples walked into the kitchen at the cottage to find everyone just getting ready to sit down for breakfast.

"I was about to call your WiComm and see if you got lost," Ginny told them. "Merry Christmas."

Arianna went over and hugged her. "Merry Christmas, Mom-to-be," she said, and laughed when Ginny hugged her even tighter after hearing the greeting.

"I think that's a bit cumbersome, not to mention that it might make people think I'm expecting, not that you're engaged to my son," Ginny said with a laugh. "I think we'd better just go with Mum and Dad, if you can live with that."

Arianna laughed, and cried, and breakfast was held up for a while as the hugs and kisses and congratulations were exchanged, and the girls all wanted to see her new diamond ring.

"Did he do a good job asking you?" Lily wanted to know. She was pretty excited about the fact that she was going to be gaining a sister.

Tracey laughed. "Not many proposals start with giving the girl a house, so I'd say he gets points for originality."

Lily grinned. "Well, that's the least he could do, since she's going to be stuck with him forever," she said, watching her brother pretend to be offended.

"Careful, Lily," he teased back. "She might agree with you, change her mind, and give me back to you. Since you've spent most of your life trying to trade me to other people, I wouldn't think you'd want that now that you're finally getting rid of me."

Lily gave him a hug. "What can I say – you've managed to grow on me, and maybe I'll miss you after all."

They sat down for breakfast, and then moved on to opening presents before Ginny and Lily got Arianna to take them over to see the new house.

Lily was off exploring, while Ginny and Arianna talked decorating and furniture while standing in the sitting room. Arianna had been a bit puzzled by Ginny's reaction to the house. When her future mother-in-law mentioned something about one of the ensuite bathrooms that Arianna knew they hadn't even gone into, she suddenly realized why.

"You seem to know a lot about this place, considering we didn't go into that bathroom, Mum," Arianna told Ginny, and watched as the other woman smiled, pretty certain that she'd just been caught.

"But James didn't act like he thought you knew about this present at all," she continued.

"Um, Penelope told us he bought it?" Ginny suggested with a grin, now absolutely sure that Arianna was on to her.

"You had this place built, didn't you? For us," Arianna said, knowing she was right.

"It seemed like a good solution to keep you and Aaron close, give the newlyweds a little space, and be a home for you and James when he graduates," Ginny said. "I don't think we necessarily have to tell James about it, though."

Arianna laughed and hugged her tightly. "I love you, Mum," she said, testing out the word again and really liking it a lot.

"I love you too, Arianna," she said, hugging her back. "I'm really glad you decided to wait for him."

"Me too," Arianna answered, both women remembering a conversation that seemed like a lifetime ago, between a little girl and the loving woman who had become the girl's surrogate mother.

"All right, sis," Lily said, coming in to the room. "This place definitely is awesome." She turned to her mother. "Did you design it too, or just pick out the perfect house for them?"

Ginny and Arianna laughed. "How'd you figure it out?" Ginny asked her daughter.

Lily grinned at her, went over to the kitchen counter, and picked up her wireless extendable ear.

"What can I say? It runs in the family," Lily told the two women who'd started laughing at her.

The three girls went back to the cottage to spend the rest of the morning there. Since they knew what to expect for the Christmas dinner at the residence, they had what was really just a snack for lunch, and then went to the residence together for another incredible Christmas Day there.

Kirley, Ana, and Kieran were new volunteers this year, and Tracey's parents had been volunteering for months now, and had two little boys that had been assigned to them. Kieran and Lily went off to play with some of the kids that had surrounded her as soon as she arrived, while Kirley and Harry went off to play TeenWitch with the little girls who had come to get Harry when word had gotten around that he was there, and Ana and Ginny were soon playing GameWizard with the teens.

The afternoon sped by, and before they knew it, time to open the presents had arrived, and everyone gathered in the dining hall, where they first watched the fantastical present delivery event, and then the volunteers had fun seeing the kids open presents, and play with new favourite toys and games.

Harry was watching the kids, and Susan came up to stand next to him.

"Can you believe that this is already our fifteenth Christmas here?" she asked him.

Harry smiled and gave her a hug. "What's really hard to believe is just how many of these parties are going on all over the world today."

Susan nodded. "And it keeps getting better every year."

"How are you handling having your oldest being engaged?"

"It's maybe a few months earlier than I expected, since I thought he might wait until June, but I'm not surprised," Harry answered.

"When you think about where those two started from when they came here, it's a really incredible story."

Harry knew that she meant Aaron and Arianna, and smiled. "They're just getting started, Susan. I have a feeling those two are going to do a lot more than they've done so far."

"Like what they've done so far isn't already pretty spectacular," she said, laughing. "They're heroes to nearly every kid here, and from what I hear, for quite a few kids in every one of the residences."

"They should be, but then so should Lisa, and Megan, and Stewart, and a lot of other graduates who've really been able to succeed thanks to you, and everyone here."

"The other kids would be too, if they were as visible as Aaron and Arianna, but since they're not, most kids don't even know about them, except for the ones that lived here when they did. There aren't that many of them left." Susan told him.

The kids had finished opening presents, and Susan had to move on. Cleaning up from unwrapping hundreds of presents was next on the list of activities for the staff and volunteers at the residence, and then everyone sat down to enjoy another fabulous Christmas feast.

They all ate too much, and then happily sat back and enjoyed the annual Christmas talent show. The most entertaining parts of this year's show, for Lily, Kieran, and the rest of their families, was the three different acts that sang SpellBound songs to their audience.

When the talent show was over, most of the volunteers started heading for home. Harry, Ginny, and the kids all left early too. The Weasley family Christmas was on Sunday, and they all knew what a fun, busy, and absolutely exhausting day it would be.

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey all had Sunday morning to themselves, and could sleep in, and take it easy until it was time to go to the Burrow. Harry, Ginny, and the other four kids didn't have that luxury. They were up early, and went to the Burrow for breakfast, and then all pitched in to help clean, cook, and get everything ready for the impending organized chaos that was about to descend on Molly and Arthur's home.

For the meal this year, Molly was the chief cook, with her little group of helpers, and Winky was doing the desserts and snacks, and would bring all of that with her when she and Kreacher came to spend the day with them.

The rest of the family started arriving at the cottage just after one o'clock. Bill, Fleur, and their 'kids' came straight from where they'd been spending the weekend at the Delacour home in France, along with her parents, Gabrielle, Kevin, Michael, his girlfriend, and now toddling Patricia. Nathalie, Charlie, Art, and Serena came from Romania, and everyone else was either coming from home, or in Ron and Hemione's case, from her parent's home.

Since Monday was going to be a workday for nearly everyone, they did their gift exchange in the afternoon this year – before dinner, so that they wouldn't end up having a really late night. First time additions to the family Christmas, Emily, Kieran, and Liam, were continually amazed as the day went along.

Kieran and Lily were on a sofa in the sitting room for most of the afternoon, and Lily had loved watching his expressions as he watched her family in what seemed to be a perpetual state of surprise.

"Having fun?" she asked him quietly.

Kieran smiled at her brightly. "This is absolutely brilliant," he told her happily. "I thought our family Christmases were loud and fun. You must've felt like you were in the library at Hogwarts on Christmas Eve in comparison to this."

Lily had laughed. "Your family Christmas was fun too, Kieran," she assured him. "And I think your family is brilliant too."

The comedians that had drawn their names for Christmas gifts had given Lily and Kieran their opposite SpellBound doll, which had been high on the list of gifts getting the biggest laughs from the voting family.

The highlight of the day was definitely dinner, and there wasn't anyone that sat down at the table at the start of dinner who didn't feel like they were waddling away when they left for home several hours later.

The Hogwarts kids went to their homes Sunday night with less than one week left to their Christmas holidays. There was still a lot of fun left to be had in those remaining seven days, though, and they were all looking forward to the adventures that were waiting for them during the second half of their Christmas holiday.


	76. And a Spellbound New Year

Chapter Seventy-Six – And a SpellBound New Year

By Monday morning, the media frenzy over SpellBound had kicked into high gear. There were now just five days remaining until New Year's Eve, and the first SpellBound concert at the Ministry of Magic party.

The New Marauders ignored all of the hype. They had other plans for their second week of holidays. With their next Quidditch match only weeks away against Slytherin, the Ravenclaw team practiced every morning from Monday to Thursday. The full team was there for the workouts, and then after Melanie would leave for the day, the others would decide what they were going to do for the rest of the day.

On Monday, that ended up being taking a trip to Marauders Paradise. The group going there included all of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Marauders, Hugo, Emily, Frederica, and Liam. When they got to the island, they spent the morning (island time) riding the rides. They had lunch with Gabrielle, Kevin, Michael, and Patricia. That left them a few hours in the afternoon to play at the waterpark before needing to get back home to what was then going on ten in the evening.

While they'd been away playing, James had been put to work for the day. After he'd kissed Arianna goodbye that morning, he'd taken parchment and quill with him to their new house, and taken measurements for the girls to take with them when they started shopping tonight after dinner.

That meant room measurements, window measurements, and then a whole host of calculations that would be needed when picking out paint and paper and blinds and drapes and whatever all else they wanted the seemingly hundreds of measurements for.

He was happily doing all of it because Arianna and his mother had thrown a carrot to their little work hippogriff: If he helped out all week, they'd have a sitting room and bedroom ready by Saturday night so that he could spend his last night before going back to school in this house with Arianna, even though it'd probably be a couple of months before they'd have enough time to get the whole house finished.

He got back to the other house in time to make dinner for six. With the rest of the kids off playing all day at Marauders Paradise, they'd invited Harry and Ginny to join them for dinner.

James hadn't tried to make up a fancy dessert, instead choosing to just pick up a couple of options at the bakery in town. He had everything on the table and ready when Tracey led their four Quidditch players into the house.

"Hi honey," James said brightly, "How was your day?" he watched as his parents, fiancée, and best friends all laughed.

"Come on and sit down. Everything's ready," he told them as he pulled the bottle of wine out of the ice and started pouring glasses for them.

This was the first night of the holidays that James had his parents to himself, or at least mostly, and it was nice to just have a quiet meal together, and talk about grown-up things like work and house decorating.

When dinner was over, the six of them went on a little shopping trip where they – meaning 'the girls' – picked out furniture for the sitting room, and paint and wallpaper for that room, and for the master bedroom. The girls planned on doing window dressing shopping on Tuesday or Wednesday night.

After shopping, Harry and Ginny hugged and kissed the kids goodnight, and went home to the cottage to wait for their other children to get home from Marauders Paradise, while Aaron, Tracey, Arianna, and James went back to their house. The weeknights for the Canons' team members ended early. They weren't playing so much better than everyone else just because of talent – they worked harder than everyone else too.

Other team's stars might be out on the town every night, partying it up and taking advantage of their celebrity status, but that didn't happen with this team. Coach allowed them three possible late nights – Fridays on weeks when they weren't playing, and Saturdays either after a game, or on off weeks. You did not want to experience one of the Coach's lessons if you weren't ready to play every day for practices.

James didn't really have a problem with early weeknights while he was home, since that meant he got to snuggle with Arianna for about nine hours a night. Sure, they were asleep for a lot of that, but snuggling was snuggling, and he was a big fan of it.

On Tuesday, after Quidditch practice, Lily and Kieran went to spend the rest of the day at his house, practicing for Friday night, and recording a few new songs. Not including the Christmas album, the songs that would make up their second album had already been put together during the summer, so these songs would be for a third album that would be released the weekend that school got out for the summer.

For the New Year's Eve concert practice, they went through their final song order, and Ana worked with them on the performing side of playing live. Their part of the night's entertainment would be about an hour long, and they'd be doing ten of their songs, with two encore songs ready to go if needed.

While the about-to-be famous musicians played at Kieran's house, the rest of the kids decided that for the first time in a long time, they'd go hit a few Muggle malls in London, since they really hadn't been to one since the first summer that Scorpius came to live with Nick.

When it was time to head home for dinner, Nick and Scorpius took Brianna and Allie home with them, and were busy working the three sets of parents via QuillMessages trying to talk them into an overnight stay for the Allie and Brianna. Their primary argument that they'd all be back at the cottage for their morning Quidditch practice, and that this would somehow make getting there easier for everyone was lame at best, but they also had winsome teenage girl charm on their side, and were hopeful of success.

That overnighter hadn't quite been worked out before they'd split up to go to their different homes, but the girls would definitely be at the townhouse for dinner and the evening. Rose and Hugo were taking Matt and Emily home with them, while Frederica and Liam were going to his house for dinner. That once again left Al and Carolyn as the only dinner companions who would be at the cottage with Harry and Ginny.

Having just the two kids worked out perfectly for Harry and Ginny, so the four of them went to the Marauders Mall, grabbed a fast-food dinner in the food court there, and then met Aaron, Arianna, Tracey, and James to do their second night of shopping – this time for blinds, drapes, and the rest of the male-mind-boggling supplies that went into covering windows.

James had spent his second day over at the house, this time to receive furniture deliveries and to oversee the professional painters that had been hired to apply the paints that the girls had chosen.

When he'd suggested that he could do the painting himself, his fiancée and mother pointed out that they'd like the work done right, and that since he couldn't use magic outside of school for another six months that if he'd like to be spending Saturday night in the place, they needed to let the experts do it. The second half of their argument was enough to convince him.

He had also cooked dinner for four, and had it ready when Aaron, Tracey, and Arianna had gotten back from work. They'd already sat down to eat when his Mum had called suggesting that tonight would be better for shopping again, since they only had Al and Carolyn with them, so they declined the invitation for a fast food dinner, and had met them at the Mall after eating and cleaning up.

"Why do they need all of that stuff for the windows?" James asked his father as the four guys watched the girls buying everything they needed for the window coverings they had some mysterious vision of in their pretty little heads.

"Just go with it," Harry told him. "Don't try to understand it, you'll just hurt yourself in the attempt."

Aaron and Al laughed, and James grinned at his Dad. "Is that how you've stayed so happy all of these years? By not trying to understand Witches?"

"You're engaged now, James. The sooner you learn the five magic words that a husband needs to know, the happier your life will be," Harry told him.

James laughed now too. "And what would those words be?"

Harry and Aaron both grinned at him, and answered in unison – "Yes, dear, you're absolutely right!"

Al joined his brother, both of them laughing at the other two men.

"What's so funny?" Arianna asked, joining them and hooking an arm through James' arm.

"Your brother and future father-in-law are just giving me the secret to a happy life with you," James told her, still grinning.

Arianna laughed. "Good for them. We're all done here," she told them. "We can go home and get some sleep – you know Coach is going to be working extra hard the next two days, since Friday's always a light day."

Wednesday morning, James was again kissing Arianna goodbye when she, Aaron, and Tracey left for the stadium. He didn't like the kisses goodbye as much as he liked the welcome home kisses, but since not going to work wasn't an option for her, those morning kisses at least gave him something happy to remember all day while she was gone.

Today he was again at the new house, this time watching the installation experts put up blinds, sheers, drapes, valances, and all of the hardware that those things were attached to the wall with. There were only two large windows in the master bedroom, and a small one in the ensuite bathroom, so they didn't take long. It was the large windows in the sitting room, and the French doors that led to the large back deck that took the most time to install. James didn't want to even think about how long all of that work would have taken to do without magic. Even with magic, he could see that doing it right was as much art as it was skill. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the young man had learned to have a great deal of respect for all of the experts that had been working in the house, and certainly understood why the girls had insisted on having them do the work.

The morning Quidditch practice at the cottage had gone really well. When they'd been in the kitchen having hot chocolate and a snack after the nearly two hour workout, they decided to go to the Mall and take care of getting their back to school supplies, then have lunch there. Melanie even agreed to come with them for this trip – at least until after lunch, and so they finished their little break time, cleaned up, and left for Diagon Alley and the Marauders Mall.

It took them until lunchtime to get all of the parchment, quills, inks, and potions supplies for everyone before they went to the food court to eat. Melanie had to leave after that, and so the rest of the group spent most of the afternoon picking up the non-essential school supplies.

That included stops for Wheezes and sweets for everyone, and a stop at GamePortal for Lily, Kieran, Nick, and Allie, where they picked up the big screen WWVN receiver that would be going back to school with them. Thanks to Aunt Hermione's Christmas present for Lily, when she got back home that afternoon, the WWVN that had been Translocated to her room from the store, and was taking up a lot of space there, was quickly reduced to the size of a sheet of parchment once she'd slipped it's new undetectable expansion case over it, and closed the top.

Wednesday night, Harry and Ginny had Aaron, Arianna, Tracey, and James over for dinner, along with Scorpius and Kieran to make it an even dozen. They had all been going pretty much constantly since last Thursday, so after dinner, they went into the sitting room and enjoyed a quiet evening together before the two older couples went back home, and two boyfriends, with the help of the hugs, kisses, and smiles from their adorable girlfriends, talked the parents into an overnight stay at the cottage for Scorpius and Kieran.

Thursday morning's Quidditch practice was the last one until they got back to school, so they all worked hard, and the practice went almost two and a half hours before Matt called an end to it. They had a half hour long warm up time in the kitchen, and then everyone had hugs for Melanie, and wished her a Happy New Year before she left for home, and the rest of them decided what they were going to do for the rest of the day.

That wasn't a decision that Kieran and Lily needed to make – they had to leave right away for his place and the full day of work they had ahead of them to finish getting ready for the concert that was now only a day away. They would also be spending the next two days in the studio finishing up the recordings for that third album.

The rest of the kids decided to spend the day at Nick and Scorpius' townhouse after another lunch at the Mall, and just hang out, play GameWizard, and take it easy. For a lot of them, the last three days of their holidays were going to be interesting to say the least, and taking a day to basically do nothing seemed like a really great plan.

Percy and Penelope kept all of the kids for dinner that night. Harry and Ginny were having dinner with Kirley, Ana, Kieran, and Lily. The two kids would be staying with Kirley and Ana for the next two nights, and during dinner, and into the evening, they all went over every detail of their plans for dealing with the next several days, and everything the kids, and their families would be facing.

"We won't have any problems right through to showtime," Ana assured Harry and Ginny. "There's no reason for anybody to wonder why our son is with us at the party, or why Lily's with you – of course we'd bring them to see SpellBound! After they perform, we'll have a mob to deal with, but we'll get them out as soon as we can and bring them right back here. Nobody's ever been able to get close to this house when we have the wards up, and we will have them up for the rest of the weekend."

Harry and Ginny nodded their approval. "How do you want to handle the game on Saturday?" Ginny asked them.

"We're going to apparate them directly into the Owner's Box to get there," Kirley told them. "They'll eventually be spotted there, and we'll have to let them leave the normal way, and probably spend an hour or so signing autographs as they go, but we're hoping that your brothers, and a few of the Witches and Wizards that will be there with us for the game will help us keep things from getting out of hand."

"I'm sure that Bill, Percy, and George will all help," Ginny said. "And when you add in Fleur, Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle, that should be more than enough assistance to keep all of the kids safe."

"The only other problem we see will be Sunday morning," Ana said. "Everyone will know that's where they have to be before eleven, and we shouldn't do any special treatment for them, so it's going to be a circus."

That gave Harry an idea, and he grinned at the others. "Then we should make sure they don't get any special treatment," he told them. "In fact, maybe we should just let them go to the station with a bunch of their friends on their own – like maybe the seventy or so friends they have at the residence. I could probably find one or two of those kids willing to bunk up with SpellBound for a night on Saturday, and then they could all go to the station together."

Kirley, Ana, and Ginny all laughed, and Kieran and Lily thought it was a great idea too.

"Come and see me when you get out of Quidditch," Ana told Harry. "You'd do a great job in the talent management business."

Ginny laughed. "You go more than twenty years without a real job, and now that you've started working every day, you've got job offers coming in all the time," she teased Harry.

"We'll have some extra 'volunteers' helping to get the kids from the residence to the train, so if they're seen, we'll still be able to control the situation."

"We need two extra kids, though," Ginny mused. "Some of the media people will think to count heads."

Kirley grinned at her. "Liam might not mind a little hair transfiguration for one morning, and Frederica could sub for Lily," he suggested.

Ginny laughed. "That''ll work. I'll check with George too, since knowing him, he probably has SpellBound Chocolate Wheezes ready to hit the shelves on Saturday morning…" she stopped and stared at the rest of them, and then started to laugh. She pulled out her WiComm and called her brother.

"Hey, sis," he said when he answered her call. 'What's up?"

"We're having a little meeting about handling things on Sunday with Kieran and Lily," she told him. "Did you and Lee by any chance develop a SpellBound Chocolate Wheeze?"

She watched as George grinned at her. "We might have something like that coming out on Saturday – at about a minute after twelve, yes."

Ginny laughed. "If it's two to a pack, put me down for fifty of them, please," she told him happily. "I think that come Sunday, there's going to be a lot of SpellBound sightings at the station."

George started to laugh. "That's bloody brilliant, Ginny," he told her.

"It was Kirley's idea," she answered. "Maybe you should think about hiring him part-time and see what kind of wheezes you'd come up with. I don't think you have any musical wheezes, do you?" Ginny watched as both Kirley and George grinned at her – one through her WiComm, and the other one on the sofa across from her.

"I think that's a pretty good idea too," George told her. "I'll have those Wheezes sent over to the cottage tomorrow. Anything else?"

Ginny thought about that. "Maybe your staff at the local stores could suggest to some of the kids that buy those wheezes on Saturday that it would be really funny if they tried them out just before getting to the platform on Sunday. Everyone will know who SpellBound is by then, so the kids would understand why that'd be so funny, and that way there'd be even more chaos created."

George nodded, still grinning. "We can do that too. We always like to help our customers with learning how to use our Wheezes, and timing is everything for a good practical joke. Have a good night guys," he said before ending the call.

"That'll work perfectly," Ana said. "We can have one or more pairs of Kieran and Lily's with us, throw several in with the kids from the residence, and then have a bunch of other kids doing the same. There won't be anyone in the media that will be able to sort it out."

They talked for another hour, and then Harry and Ginny left for home. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day, and they had practice in the morning, and a big game on Saturday.

In James' world, which this week seemed to be an endless decoration world, his Thursday had been spent shopping for a long list of 'essentials' that Arianna, Tracey, and Ginny had supplied him with.

He picked up big, soft bath towels, hand towels, face towels, and washcloths for the master bathroom, and a whole different set for one of the guest bathrooms. He had to pick up all of the soaps and paper products for two bathrooms.

Once he had the bathrooms shopped for, he had to move on to getting an every day set of dishes, glasses, cups, and cutlery. Then there were the cookware and baking sets, and of course, we mustn't forget the cookng and baking utensils. Add in more towels – dishtowels to be exact, and dishcloths, and potholders and oven mitts, and pretty soon James was on his way to becoming a towel expert himself. When he was finally done, he had Translocated all of his purchases to the house, and either put everything away, or out, depending on which was required. When he was finished, he was ready for a nap.

That was what he wanted to do. He would have, except he didn't have time for a nap, because by then it was time to cook dinner for four. He wearily went over to what he was already starting to think of as 'Aaron and Tracey's' house, took one look at the kitchen, and instead of getting to work, pulled out his WiComm, and was able to get reservations at one of the restaurants in Chudley for six-thirty.

Aaron and the girls usually got home by five, so he had enough time to get two bubble baths going, get a bottle of wine chilling, and then flop on a sofa when he was finished, just as Arianna walked in the door.

"Tough day?" she asked, coming to sit next to him and give him a hug and kiss.

"I wasn't bored," he admitted.

Aaron grinned at him. "I take it we have other plans for dinner tonight," he said, seeing the pristine condition of the kitchen.

James grinned. "I thought I'd let you cook tonight," he told his friend. "Fortunately for us, you're cooking out - our reservations are at six-thirty."

"Works for me," Aaron said agreeably.

"There are two bubble baths waiting for you," he told Tracey and Arianna. Wine should be chilled by now too if you want to take a glass with you. Dinner is casual dress. I didn't bother to even try and get a reservation at anywhere upscale on short notice, since it would have been a waste of time."

When the girls were gone, Aaron poured two glasses of wine, and handed one to James, who grinned at him.

"You look like you've done a double Quidditch practice, mate," Aaron told him. "Actually, now that I think about it, you look like your Dad after a day out shopping with the girls."

"I'd rather do that double Quidditch practice than shop all day," James told him. "It's all done, though. All that's left is to move Arianna's bedroom suite over, and she could live there now, even though she'll still have a lot of work to do with the rest of the place, and she'll need to do meals with you until she has time to shop for food, and stock up on all those little things you never think about."

"Like what?" Aaron asked. "You mean everything in the kitchen doesn't just appear there?"

James laughed. "Weren't you here when your pantry was stocked? That first grocery bill is shocking, and there are literally hundreds of things you need to buy to start with. Once that's done, you're only shopping for what you use every week, and to replace those supplies like spices and flour and stuff when you run out of them."

"You are scaring me, James," Aaron said with a laugh. "I don't think I'll ever tell our friends about this little conversation. It'd ruin your rep at school."

"I appreciate that," James told him, laughing again. "Sometimes I scare myself."

"All I can say, mate, is that if you start feeling the urge to join the bake club at school, seek professional help fast."

"There's a bake club at Hogwarts?" James asked, pretending to be excited, which didn't come off very effectively, since he hadn't felt energetic enough to do more than raise his eyebrows.

"Keep it up, funny boy. Maybe you could be the warm-up act for your sister and Kieran," Aaron told him.

When the girls were ready, they went out to dinner, and then Tracey and Arianna wanted to see the house, and how much was done.

"You know," Tracey told the others, "James is right about everything being ready now. Why don't we just go throw some Translocators on your stuff, Arianna, and you two could stay here for these last three nights before James has to go back to school."

Arianna gave her a hug. "Why don't we just do that?" she said happily.

In under half an hour, Arianna's things were moved into her new house, and the two couples were in the sitting room, talking about the rest of the weekend.

"This could work out really great," Tracey told them. "We've got company tomorrow night for New Year's Eve, and we could use both of the guest rooms for overnight guests."

"There isn't any furniture in one of them right now," Aaron pointed out.

Tracey pulled out her Virtual GameWitch. "There can be in no time at all," she suggested, "Unless you want to go pick out something specific," she added.

Aaron laughed. "As long as the bed's comfortable for them – especially since future guests could include your parents, it doesn't matter to me at all what it looks like."

Tracey grinned at Arianna. "Want to go for a quick VirtualMall shopping trip?"

While the two girls were momentarily occupied, the boys made plans for breakfast in the morning, and for the menu they'd be serving at dinner tomorrow night.

"We've got a king size bed, one dresser, and two night tables on the way," Tracey reported. "You and I will set them up before we go to bed," she told Aaron. "It'll only take us a minute or two."

Aaron nodded, and stood up. "Then we should probably get going. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." He gave his sister a hug and kiss. "Have a good first night in your new home, guys," he told Arianna and James.

"Thanks, Aaron," she told him with a smile. "We'll see you over at your house for breakfast."

He grinned at her. "That's going to take a bit of getting used to – our house and your house not being the same place anymore."

Tracey took his hand. "Come on, and I'll help you start getting used to the idea," she promised him with an impish grin that had all of them laughing.

It was here – New Year's Eve day, and by the end of the night, Lily and Kieran's lives would be changing dramatically. They spent the morning in one final practice session, and then, after lunch, were ordered to go have a nap and completely rest until it was time to get ready for the party.

While Lily and Kieran were being coached and handled by their manager, the Canons were having their last practice before their game on Saturday against the Pride of Portree.

The practice before a game day was always light on the workout, and heavy on team meetings to go over Ron's game plan. Ron went over each of their opponent players in detail one last time, and made sure they all knew exactly what their responsibilities were during the game.

One thing that Ron did that was probably unique in the league was that he designed upwards of fifty brand new offensive and defensive plays for each game. Now that they were going into Canons Lesson Number Nine, they had over four hundred original plays in this year's book alone, not including the thousands of other plays he could pull up from previous years.

When they went home after work on Friday, everyone on the team was excited about the game, and confident they were ready to play.

The New Marauders didn't have Quidditch practice in the morning, but they were keeping busy. In the morning, they were shopping at the Mall. Carolyn and Rose had decided that they needed to take Allie and Brianna shopping for new dresses for the big party, since they just couldn't wear the same beautiful dresses they'd worn to the Christmas party.

That took most of the morning, and then they had lunch with Aunt Penelope before she took the two girls with her for an afternoon at SpaMagic. Nick and Scorpius left them too, so that they could pick up the flowers, and do a few other things before going home to get ready for the dinner and dance party at the Emerald City Centre.

Harry and Ginny would be going to the party with Molly, Arthur, Bill, and Fleur. Al and Carolyn were not going, and would instead be going to spend the night over at Ron and Hermione's house instead. Their parents were the only members of the Canons team that were given an exception for going out the night before the game, and the Coach hadn't been happy about even doing that.

To get ready for their night, though, Al, Carolyn, Rose, Hugo, Matt, and Emily went shopping for snacks and treats for everyone to have while they celebrated the New Year together, and watched the big party on WWVN.

James had pretty much been doing the same thing that morning. In his case, that had included picking up everything he needed for the dinner menu. He was nearly as busy as he'd been every day this week, but he did manage to squeeze in an hour-long nap between shopping and starting to cook dinner that afternoon.

Aaron, Tracey, and Arianna got back just after four – Ron had let them escape early, since Harry and Ginny had a dress-up event to get ready for.

"Good afternoon, my ladies, and gentleman," James said in welcome. "Bubble baths are already waiting for the girls," he told Tracey and Arianna. "Yours is ready at home," he told Arianna. After kissing him, she apparated over to their house, ready to try out the luxuriously appointed bathtub in their master bedroom for the first time.

"Our guests will be here for six," Aaron told James. "What can I do to help?"

James put him to work, and the two of them kept busy in the kitchen until the girls were back. They weren't going out, but they'd both decided to go a little dressier than they usually did when they were just hanging around the house.

"You look amazing," James told Arianna when she came into the kitchen to give him another hug and kiss. "It's a good thing I didn't see what you'd look like earlier, or I'd have been cooking dinner for two, and blowing off this little party."

Arianna laughed. "Thank-you, James. I love you."

"I love you too," he answered, kissing her cheek as he went back to work. "Wine's ready, and we'll have appetizers out when the others get here in a few minutes."

The others were Sebastian, Tristan, Trinity, and Liselle. Since they weren't allowed to go out and celebrate New Year's Eve, the four youngest members of the Canons had decided that this was the next best thing.

Tracey had sent a message to Trinity, and had talked to Liselle, so they were both going to stay overnight instead of going home. Home was only a few blocks away for Liselle, but having a sleepover, and doing breakfast together sounded like more fun. None of them expected that Sebastian and Tristan would be going home either, and while that was never specifically confirmed, they did have fun teasing the two boys about it for most of the evening.

James had appetizers and wine ready for six, and a five-course dinner that started at six-thirty and lasted until after eight. The boys did cleanup while the girls settled into the sitting room.

When the Aaron, James, Sebastian, and Tristan joined their beautiful dates for the evening, they all relaxed with after-dinner drinks, and turned on the WWVN to watch the Wizarding Music Video Network, which would be eventually broadcasting the Ministry of Magic party live from the Emerald City Centre, starting at ten o'clock.

At the moment, they were playing some videos – mostly SpellBound videos, and showing clips of New Year's Eve celebrations from places that had already passed into the New Year.

"Any predictions on where SpellBound is from?" Sebastian asked the others.

"What do you mean? What city?" Trinity asked him.

"Or country," he said. "I've never heard anything that says they're from here. Maybe they're from the Americas, or Europe, or Australia for all we know."

Tristan laughed. "We'll know in less than three hours," he told his cousin. "Did you bring your dollies?"

Sebastian grinned and pulled the two dolls he'd brought with him out of a bag he had with him.

"Of course. I want to see how they work, even if you think we're too old to play with dolls. I think they're brilliant."

James laughed. "Don't worry about that," he told Sebastian. "I brought mine too. The magic that went into them is pretty cool, and I want to see it work too."

While they settled in to enjoy the evening together, and watch the big show when it came on, over at the Emerald City Centre, the party there wouldn't be getting going until nearly ten – or at least the dance part of it.

The doors had opened at six, and there was a social hour that actually lasted until nearly seven-thirty. The Grand Ballroom held ten thousand, and it was sold out. Security was kept busy with several dozen attempts at getting in with forged tickets, by trying to infiltrating the hotel staff, and even a few gatecrashers trying to just walk straight in.

There were twelve to a table, and so Harry and Ginny were at a table with Mum, Dad, Bill, Fleur, Kirley, Ana, Kieran, Lily, and Kirley's parents.

"There seem to be a lot more younger kids here this year," Molly said, looking around. "I wonder why?" she added, grinning at the kids.

She thought that her granddaughter looked stunning tonight. They'd talked while they had waited for dinner to start, and Lily had told her that after 'nap time', she and Ana had come here to the SpaMagic at the hotel to get their hair and everything done for tonight before going back home to get dressed. She was going to need to change again before they went on stage, since her evening gown, and Kieran's tux, wouldn't work for their performance – SpellBound had an image, after all – or they would in a few hours. Luna would also tell them they had a line of clothes coming out in the morning too, so promoting it by wearing some of those fashions was important from a merchandising point of view.

"I'm sure they're all just like us, Grandma – they want to see SpellBound up on stage!"

Molly laughed. Lily didn't seem to be even slightly nervous about playing live in front of ten thousand people, and what Luna was predicting would be twenty-five to thirty million WWVN viewers.

"Well, silly me," she told Lily. "What was I thinking?"

Dinner was a seven course, two and a half hour event that wrapped up at ten. The tables were cleared, and by ten fifteen, the warm-up band had begun playing.

"Time for us to stagger our exits," Ana told the kids quietly.

She and Lily left first, ostensibly heading for the powder room, and Kirley and Kieran followed ten minutes later.

"This is so exciting," Kirley's mother, Catriona, told them. "I haven't felt like this since the first time I saw Meghan play for the Pride."

"I know what you mean," Molly said, grinning at Ginny and Harry. I just had to wait forty years or so until my little girl got around to it."

Catriona laughed. "I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's game," she told Harry and Ginny. "I'd ask for mercy for my poor team, but I'd say they probably have whatever's going to happen coming to them after last year. Our teams back in the day were happy to beat each other senseless, but we never kicked each other when we were down."

Kirley's mother looked as fit and athletic as her pictures showed her to be back in the sixties, and none of them would have been surprised to find out that she was still a pretty fair Chaser even now that she was in her eighties.

"I'd like to help you out with that," Ginny told her, "but if we slack off at all, Coach will have us doing pushups until our arms fall off – and no magic is allowed to do them."

Catriona laughed. "He's one of the few old-school Coaches left out there. It's actually nice to see him proving that even some things that are old still have some worth."

"If you have any doubts, sweetie," her husband said with a grin, "I'll be happy to convince you later after we're home."

There was a really good chance that information was more than everyone else at the table needed or wanted, but it was cute, and Catriona had grinned back at her husband of over fifty years, both of them obviously still very much in love. They talked quietly together until just before eleven, when the warm-up band finished up, and the stage was quickly set up for SpellBound.

The Masters of Ceremony for the night were two of the vj's from WMVN. Since they were already broadcasting live all over the world, and had been dealing with commercials and whatever else was happening at the WMVN studios, before SpellBound was introduced, there was a strange sort of countdown that was almost like watching a preview of the countdown that would be happening in another hour.

When everything was ready, and the broadcast resumed, the crowd first cheered as they were being directed to do as the 'live show' continued, and then everyone quieted down to hear the two video jockeys.

"Good evening, Witches and Wizards!" the Wizard began. "We're coming to you live from the beautiful Emerald City Centre in London, England. It's eleven o'clock local time, just an hour away from the start of the New Year."

The Witch took over from him, both of them smiling. "We're here with the ten thousand lucky guests of the Ministry of Magic tonight who are going to, in just a moment, be the Witches and Wizards who are the fortunate few seeing SpellBound live for the first time ever!"

"That's right, folks," The Wizard vj told them. "And we still don't know who SpellBound is!" He held up an envelope and waved it around.

"Yes, that's right, folks – not even your humble hosts this evening know the answer we've all been waiting to find out. We'll be finding out right along with you and we'll be doing it RIGHT NOW!"

The Witch vj held up two TeenWitch dolls, and the wizard began opening the envelop as they both grinned into the camera.

"If you've got them, get them out now, boys and girls," she shouted out. "Because right now, here and in person, WMVN is pleased to present to you –"

"SpellBound's Kieran McCormack and Lily Potter!" the Wizard and Witch finished together.

"Say what!" Sebastian exclaimed as what the vj's had said registered, and they watched Kieran and Lily walk out on stage to the cheers of the audience, and also saw his two TeenWitch dolls transform into a little red-haired replica of Lily and a sandy-haired version of Kieran.

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey all laughed, and their four stunned guests switched from staring at the screen to the two sets of dolls to their laughing hosts.

Talking about it had to wait as SpellBound took to the stage.

"Happy New Year!" Kieran shouted to the crowd. He would do most of the talking for SpellBound tonight. "It's great to be here at the Emerald City Centre tonight with all of you to help ring in 2022!"

The audience cheered as Kieran talked.

"Lily and I would like to give a shout out to our fellow students tonight and wish them a special Happy New Year too. Hogwarts ROCKS!"

As the crowd cheered again, they started out with the up-tempo 'You Make Me Fly'. The four couples at Aaron and Tracey's house watched with the tens of millions of other viewers as Lily and Kieran wowed their audience, and stole the hearts of under-aged Witches and Wizards all over the world.

Harry and Ginny watched their daughter up on stage, and laughed at the reaction of the crowd around them. It certainly wasn't a letdown to find out that the kids of two of the most famous families in the Wizarding World were SpellBound – if anything, it made the news even bigger.

When it had gotten close to eleven, the kids in the crowd had been encouraged to go out on the dance floor near the stage, while the older guests stayed back a bit to give them room to dance and have fun watching the new teen sensation perform live for the first time. Those kids had gone crazy too – and Nick, Scorpius, Allie, and Brianna were right there among them.

The two young couples had met up with Jon and Therese before they went to stand up by the stage, and had laughed with delight at the shock on their study partner's faces when they found out that they'd been hanging out with SpellBound nearly ever day for the past four months.

"I can't believe none of you told us!" Therese told their four friends. "This is unbelievable!"

Jon laughed. "This is so cool!"

The three couples had fun dancing with the rest of the kids on the dance floor, and clapped as the first song ended, and Kieran and Lily moved on to 'Charm This!', which was not only an upbeat song, but now that they knew that SpellBound were Hogwarts students, the kids all understood the double meaning that had been in the lyrics all along.

"Professor Flitwick must be busting a gut by now," Jon told the others, laughing even as they kept dancing and watching the show.

That was what Hermione was thinking as they sat and watched her niece on the WWVN.

"They look great on stage together," she said as they watched. "You'd never know it was the first time they'd done a whole concert."

"We've known about it all along," Emily said, " And it's still hard to believe even now that the secret's out and we can talk about it. My other friends and roommates at school are going to totally freak out!"

"I'm thinking our trip back, and the first few days at school are going to be very interesting," Matt said as he snuggled with Rose.

Hermione grinned at them. "That reminds me," she said, handing Matt and Rose each a small, packaged chocolate. "You two are supposed to be our SpellBound's on Sunday."

"What?" Rose asked, looking at the chocolate she'd just been given.

"It's part of the plan to disguise Kieran and Lily. We're hoping to end up with maybe a hundred or more kids disguised as Kieran and Lily at the train station on Sunday so that they can hide right out in plain sight."

The kids and Ron all laughed. "That's going to be really confusing – and hilarious," Ron said. "How come I can't be one of the decoys?"

Hermione patted his arm. "You can be if you want, but I doubt that you're going to fool any of the reporters, since Kieran isn't even close to your height."

Once the kids had moved into the second song, Sebastian, Tristan, and Trinity had started asking questions. Liselle hadn't ever talked about it around the others, but she'd known who SpellBound was, since she'd been at Harry and Ginny's anniversary party when the kids had played with Kirley.

"How did you all manage to keep this secret for so long?" Tristan asked them.

James laughed as he watched his sister and her boyfriend perform. "When you have parents like mine, you learn to keep secrets," he told them. "It's the only way to keep the media from constantly hounding us."

"Our families aren't going to believe that we know SpellBound personally," Sebastian said.

Trinity laughed. "At least you don't have to go home and try to explain how it is that one of the members of SpellBound was your Seeker when you were captain of the team, and you had no idea that it was her voice you'd been listening to on WWVN and your 3D-VMP for the past four months."

Trinity wasn't the only person thinking that as they watched the concert. There were even quite a few people right there in the Grand Ballroom that had been thinking the same thing.

Percy, Penelope, and the kids had been sitting with Luna, Neville, Mandy, Terry, Natalie, and Owen – basically the senior Marauders Institute contingent and their spouses.

They'd been having fun watching the show, but were really enjoying hearing the comments from the tables around them.

Luna was smiling most of all. "Are you ready to make room at Gringotts, Penelope?" she asked her friend.

Penelope laughed. "For what?"

"For those truckloads of galleons that will start rolling in starting tomorrow," Luna told her.

"Like they haven't been already?"

Luna shook her head. "Not even close, Penelope. Watch over the next couple of months, and be amazed."

When 'Charm This' ended, the crowd watched as Lily left her keyboard, and she and Kieran came and sat on the edge of the stage.

"This next song we're going to do," Lily told the crowd quietly, "we wrote about the first time that Kieran and I met nearly a year ago. We hear that there are a lot of people who like the song," she added, flashing her brilliant smile.

Kieran began to play the introduction to One Magic Moment - one of their number one hit ballads, and the crowd in the Grand Ballroom clapped briefly before settling down to listen and dance to the beautiful song. Kieran just played his guitar, and he and Lily sang their hearts out as they sat on the edge of the stage, mesmerizing all of the kids that were now right there next to them as they performed. The other kids farther back paired up, and slow-danced to the music, losing themselves to the song, to the moment, and to each other.

"I love this song," Natalie told them. "Kira loves SpellBound, and James goes right to sleep to this one," she said, talking about their three-year old daughter, and one and a half-year old son. "I never told her that Lily and Kieran were SpellBound. She's going to go crazy when she wakes up in the morning and checks out her dolls!"

Crazy is what Susan was dealing with at the residence at their New Year's Eve party. They'd let even the little kids stay up late so they could watch the show, and see their TeenWitch dolls reveal who SpellBound was.

She and Wayne had been at Aaron's wedding, so they'd known. Watching the kids all find out had been a blast, since they'd set up two big screen WWVN's in the dining hall, and were having the dance there. When Kieran and Lily had been introduced, and probably over a hundred TeenWitch dolls suddenly changed to look like the pair of kids that everyone here knew so well, it had been pandemonium for a moment, until the kids started performing, and then the kids were dancing and laughing, and talking excitedly. This was definitely turning into a 'best ever' party.

"Having fun?" Wayne asked her, coming over from where he'd been talking with some of the younger girls who were dancing with their TeenWitch dolls.

"A lot of fun," she told him. She pointed to his Kieran TeenWitch doll. "And it looks like you are too."

Wayne laughed. "I am, but they already dressed poor Kieran in Lily's outfit," he said, pointing out that Kieran was in a very pretty pink sundress.

Susan laughed too and gave him a hug. "I love you, Wayne. Go play dolls with your little friends – they'll all be going off to bed right after we ring in the New Year."

The concert continued to roll along. Lily returned to her keyboard after finishing One Magic Moment, and they did a couple of songs that they'd written especially to entertain younger kids.

"These next two songs," Kieran announced, "go out to some very special little friends of ours, who we know are having a party right now. Happy New Year, Susan and Wayne – we hope you and the kids are having a great night!"

That announcement caused another uproar at the residence that quickly subsided as the kids settled down to listen to the songs that SpellBound were going to do specially for them.

Kieran and Lily launched into 'A Bat-Bogey Hex is a Girl's Best Friend', and followed it up immediately with 'Pop Goes the Kneazle'. Those songs weren't going to be on any of their albums, but they were cute, and it wasn't just the younger kids at the party, and watching at home that loved the two goofy little ditties.

From there they went back to the upbeat 'It's Our Time', and two other pop songs before finishing up their concert with two slow songs for the couples to dance to. 'Never Noticed Me' was a song they had written after the Hallowe'en dance, and would be on their album. They finished up their concert with 'Swept Away', which was another one of their number one songs.

The two Masters of Ceremony then stood with Kieran and Lily, and counted in the New Year together with everyone in the ballroom, and then the crowd cheered both the New Year, and for SpellBound.

The kids especially were exhorting the WMVN vj's to bring Kieran and Lily back for an encore, and they happily obliged with the two extra songs they had ready – both from their second, as yet unreleased album. The first was another ballad, and the second one ended their concert with a hot dance tune that had the kids again cheering, dancing, and leaving them wanting more.

"I guess that's it," James told the others when Lily and Kieran had left the stage after their encore. "it's been fun, but I have to take Arianna home and put her to bed. We're technically past Coach's curfew, and she's got a big game tomorrow."

Aaron grinned. "Well, you're just across the road, so you probably won't get caught, but I don't know if Sebastian and Tristan should take the risk." He looked over at Trinity and Liselle and grinned. "Maybe you two could bunk up in the one guest room so the boys could have the other one?" he suggested.

Trinity laughed, and Liselle blushed.

"Tristan can sleep out here on the sofa if he doesn't have a better offer," Trinity said, standing up, "But Sebastian's coming with me."

The other three couples laughed, and Sebastian grinned as he was pulled to his feet. "Sorry, cuz," he told Tristan. "You're on your own, mate."

Trinity led him off to the room Tracey had pointed out as her room for the night, while James and Arianna gave Aaron and Tracey hugs before leaving.

"We'll see you for breakfast," Arianna told her brother. "Have a good night."

The two remaining couples did a quick cleanup, and then Tristan and Liselle sat back down on the sofa to cuddle and watch a bit of the WWVN show that was now talking to fans and getting their reaction to the news about SpellBound, while another shot followed Kieran and Lily as they made their way through a flock of fans as they left the Emerald City Centre.

"You guys stay up as long as you want," Tracey told them, giving them both hugs before leading Aaron off to their bedroom.

Liselle snuggled in Tristan's arms, and smiled up at him. "Do you mind staying awake a while longer?" she asked softly.

Tristan smiled and hugged her. "Not as long as it's here with you."

"It will be. Tristan?" she asked even more softly - her voice even a bit husky.

"Yeah?" he answered, getting lost as he looked into her eyes.

"You do know you won't be sleeping on the sofa, right?" she asked him, smiling at him shyly.

He leaned down and kissed her soft, sweet lips. "You do know that I love you, don't you, Liselle Donovan?" he asked her in return after the kiss.

She stared at him in wonder. He'd picked New Year's Eve to tell her that for the very first time, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

"I love you too, Tristan Connors." When she let him go, she stood up and held out her hands to him. "I've decided I'm sleepy after all," she told him with that same shy smile. "Why don't you and I go snuggle in that big soft bed, and get some sleep so you're all rested up for the big game."

He stood up, and as he followed this amazing, wonderful girl, he thought to himself – how great was the Wizarding World that a Wizard from small-town, Western Canada, could meet a Witch from the East coast of America, in Chudley, England, and fall in love. On top of that, in a way, they had also been brought together by Harry Potter, the most famous Wizard in history. He'd have never believed that if someone had suggested it even a couple of years ago.

It took Kieran and Lily an hour to get away from the Emerald City Centre, but even with all of the hassle, it had been fun, and the novelty of being asked to sign hundreds of autographs had been an incredible experience.

Harry and Ginny met them back at Kirley and Ana's house for a quick goodnight before leaving for home themselves, needing to get some sleep with their own 'show' coming up on Saturday afternoon and it already well after one in the morning. Kirley and Ana were tired out too, and they left the still fired up young couple to watch WWVN and cuddle on the sofa while they went to bed.

"That was even better than I'd hoped," Lily said happily. "Did you see those kids? It was so amazing! And all of the autographs after were way too cool."

"Did you check your WiComm?" he asked. "I have over two hundred messages waiting right now. It'll take all weekend just to read them."

Lily grinned up at him. "I don't' have that many, but more of my friends knew about us already than yours, so that doesn't surprise me. Susan sent me a message telling me that we're a hit at the residence, and that your doll looks really cute in my doll's pink sundress."

Kieran laughed. "I guess that means that the girls were dressing Wayne's TeenWizard. That should make things interesting tomorrow night."

"I know we're not supposed to stay up late, and get to bed soon, but how do you feel about just getting a blanket and cuddling out here with me all night?"

"I feel pretty good about the idea," he told her with a smile. "Why don't I go get a blanket and we can find out how we both feel about the reality?"

Ron and Hermione had gone to sleep shortly after Lily and Kieran had finished up their encore. The three young couples had then spread out in the sitting room, each pair snuggled together on two sofas and one big recliner chair.

"Who votes for a campout in the sitting room?" Hugo asked Emily and the other two couples. Five hands shot up, and he grinned, reached down beside the chair that he and Emily were sharing, and tossed blankets to Matt and Al before spreading one out over himself and Emily.

"Weren't you the prepared one," Rose told her brother. "If we were at school I think you'd get five points for Gryffindor for that one."

The last members of the family to get home and go to sleep were Percy, Penelope, Nick, Scorpius, Allie, and Brianna. Since it was after three when they rolled in, the two young couples didn't even think about snuggling on sofas, but instead went nearly straight to bed except for goodnight hugs and kisses. With a busy game day ahead, for at least the next few hours, sleeping replaced snogging as their favourite 'S' thing to do.

The first time that the New Marauders were able to get together was when they all got to the Owner's Box, since Lily and Kieran hadn't been allowed away from the protection of the McCormack's house all morning. They were the first ones there, with Kirley and Ana each taking one of them and side-along apparating right into the room.

There were lots of hugs and kisses when everyone else started getting there too. They had time to all get settled in, and then the stadium announcer was welcoming the Pride of Portree onto the field.

"This is a lot more comfortable than it was in the stands last week, and it's even colder out there today," James commented.

Tracey smiled at him. "You didn't have fun cuddling with me?" she asked.

James grinned back. "Oh, that part was great, but I still prefer warm."

The Pride flew once around the stadium, and then landed on the pitch. When the Canons were announced, the crowd roared it's approval as they flew out into the stadium.

During the pre-game, the announcer had been teaching the fans 'the wave', and now they found out why. The flying demonstration today was seven Quidditch players, standing on their brooms, riding that wave around the stadium.

"Talk about audience participation," Ana said, laughing as they sat down from doing the third wave.

They watched the Canons continue to ride their brooms like that all the way to the ground, hopping down smoothly when they reached the centre pitch. They could see that even the Pride had thought that stunt had been fun, since they were all smiling and laughing.

"I can't believe that my Mum and Dad were broom surfing on a wave of Witches and Wizards," James told the others. "Where do they come up with these ideas?"

The game got under way quickly, and the Canons wasted no time getting down to work. Aaron scored the first goal less that two minutes into the game, and once they got started, the scoring continued on a regular basis.

Ron's game analysis of the Pride Chasers was thorough and accurate. Sebastian and Tristan knew that keying in on just one of their Chasers disrupted their whole offense, and so they kept that player dodging bludgers all afternoon. They had a pretty good Seeker, and so Harry had to work hard to keep his opponent from catching the snitch. The need to do that ended after he ducked a bludger aimed at his head, and it instead took out the Pride's Seeker for the rest of the game.

"Hey, Nick," Frederica said, "Isn't one of the basic rules of being a Beater that you don't take out your own players with the bludger?"

Nick grinned at her. "Why yes, Frederica, I do believe that coaches and captains really frown on that."

Frederica nodded. "Thanks. That explains why the Pride's coach is turning purple over there on the sidelines," she said, pointing to where the Pride's coaching staff was trying to get their coach to calm down.

"I'd say that considering the fact that every game they've won this year was by less than one hundred and fifty points, that losing their highest scoring player is a bad thing," Nick added.

Kirley laughed. "you know more about my team than I do," he told the two kids, and they grinned at him.

"Ask Uncle Ron about your team sometime," Frederica suggested. "He can probably tell you what they each had for lunch three months ago on Tuesday."

Hermione laughed. "I don't think it's quite that bad, sweetie," she told her niece.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was right," Kirley told Hermione. "He must know something, since they're making the Pride look like a practice squad, and they've been doing it to everyone this season so far."

They continued to watch the game as the Canons kept scoring, and Ron kept saving everything that came his way. The game had been going for over an hour when Carolyn was first to notice that there was some pointing going on in the stands across from the Owner's Box, and that it was directed at them.

"Looks like you've been spotted," she told Kieran and Lily. "You might as well wave now to your adoring fans."

Most of them had been focused solely on the action, and hadn't noticed that there were quite a few people that were no longer watching the game at all, but had now switched to celebrity gawking.

"It was inevitable," Ana said with a sigh. "We'll be lucky if we manage to get the kids out of here an hour after the game."

By the time the game reached the end of the second hour, the Canons were basically scoring at will, and even Coach had seen enough, and gave Harry the green light to end it. Final score for lesson number nine – eight hundred and eighty to naught.

Since Saturday was also going to be the last day before the kids went back to school, they were having a family dinner after the game. A fairly last minute decision transferred the whole dinner to Kirley and Ana's place. When they left the Owner's Box at the end of the game Kieran and Lily were surrounded by Bill, George, Percy, Teddy, Stewart, and Kirley, while the Witches in their group were ready to help out if needed, but also were there to keep the pressure off of the rest of the kids too.

They made their way through the crowds of fans that were trying to see SpellBound for themselves, and hopefully get an autograph.

The kids closest to them were permitted to hand things to Kieran and Lily for them to sign, but nobody was allowed past the six Wizards, and they kept moving slowly, and it actually only took them about forty minutes to clear the stadium to a location where they could use the TransPortal to get to Kirley and Ana's.

Kreacher and Winky had been there most of the afternoon doing the cooking for the large group they were going to have. Kieran's grandparents, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins were there too (except for Liam, who'd been with them).

The five family members of the Canons were the last to arrive, and then they all sat down to eat. Lily hadn't eaten in the dining room before, and it was a much different feel to it than in the kitchen. It was more formal, but that didn't affect the normal exuberance of her family. Fortunately, Kieran's family was having a lot of fun, and enjoying every minute of the evening.

Kreacher and Winky had put together a wonderful dinner, and they all lingered over each course – especially the fantastic dessert that Winky made.

When the meal was over, it was time to put their back to school plan into action. While most of both families headed home, Frederica and Liam said goodbye to their parents, since they wouldn't see them before going back to school. Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Ana then took the remaining kids, including Frederica and Liam to the residence, where Susan and Wayne were waiting for them.

"Hi Lily, Kieran," she said, giving them each hugs. "Are you ready for the commotion you're about to cause?"

The two teens grinned at her. "We have an idea about that," Kieran told Susan. "How about Lily and I do a little private concert in the dining hall to thank everyone for helping us hide out and get back to school tomorrow?"

Susan and Wayne both smiled at them. "I think that's a brilliant idea, guys. Why don't we get through the crowd that's waiting to see you, and then we can set that up."

It really wasn't that bad at all when they went inside. The kids were all patient and let the kids in front of them take their time talking with Lily and Kieran. Al, Carolyn, and Brianna went with Wayne and set up Lily's keyboard, and Kieran's guitar at the front of the dining hall, and they moved a few tables so that there'd be a little dance area.

When word got around that there was actually going to be a little concert just for them, all of the kids, and most of the staff came into the dining hall to watch. Lily and Kieran eventually made their way to the front, and while they were getting ready, Harry and Kirley stood up there to talk with the kids first.

"Some of you probably already know that Kieran and Lily are going to be hiding out here with all of you tonight," Kirley began. "We're going to need your help tonight, and tomorrow to get them onto the Hogwarts Express safely, and we need some volunteers to help with that."

There was an excited ripple among the Hogwarts students. Harry held up a package of the Chocolate SpellBound Wheezes.

"Tomorrow morning, right as you all get to King's Cross Station, we need eight volunteers that are about the same size as Kieran and Lily to eat one of these chocolate wheezes and be them. The transformation lasts for only about fifteen minutes, and the idea is to have a total of five couples look like SpellBound to confuse the reporters that will certainly be there trying to hound Kieran and Lily."

Kirley took over from Harry. "With so many in your group all looking like them, we're pretty sure the reporters will ignore all of you," he told the kids. "We're also going to have two imposters of our own – a Lily with Harry and Ginny, and a Kieran with Ana and I, and a few others around the station just to really make things confusing. Now, who's willing to help us pull this off?"

Harry and Kirley both laughed as they had no problem getting more than enough volunteers. By then, Kieran and Lily were ready, and they entertained everyone at the residence for more than an hour before Susan had to step in and put an end to the continuing requests for more songs.

"I'm sorry," she told the disappointed kids, "but all of our Hogwarts students need to get packed – including Kieran and Lily, and we still have to get them settled in for the night."

The kids started filing out of the hall, and while Lily and Kieran packed up, Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Ana talked with Susan and Wayne.

"We've got ten volunteers coming in the morning to go with the kids when they leave tomorrow," Ginny told them. "Teddy and Stewart will stick with the smaller group that Lily and Kieran will be with in case they're somehow actually spotted."

"I don't normally go to the station," Susan told them, "but this time Wayne and I are going to have to make an exception, 'cause this is going to be fun."

Ginny laughed and hugged her. "It definitely will be that," she agreed.

The two sets of parents spent another ten minutes saying goodbye to Kieran and Lily before heading home.

"Make sure that you get right onto the train as quickly as you can," Ana told them. "Don't draw attention to yourselves, and don't rush, and nobody will notice you among all of the other Kieran's and Lily's."

"We'll be fine, Mum," Kieran told her. "I just wish we'd be able to sit back and watch the fun!"

Lily grinned at him. "We'll be on the train early, Kieran. We just need to get a platform side compartment, and then watch the action."

Kieran grinned back. "Good idea."

Ana laughed. "Once you're on the train, I don't' have a problem with that, since even if you're seen, the reporters won't be able to do anything about it."

There was a long round of hugs and kisses goodbye, and then Harry and Ginny left with Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and a temporary Lily-Frederica, while Kirley and Ana left with their Kieran-Liam.

"You two are going to make all of the residence kids that are going back to Hogwarts very popular for the next week or two," Susan predicted as they walked toward one of the family dormitories where she and Wayne had set up extra beds for their two guests.

"We're putting you with a brother and sister who're third and fourth year Hufflepuffs, so you both know them," Wayne told them, "and they won't try to keep you up all night talking."

"Thank-you," Lily told him, giving him a hug.

Susan and Wayne only stayed long enough to get them settled in to the two rooms, and then left to do a few more jobs before going home for the night themselves.

Sunday morning, Lily and Kieran had breakfast with all of the other kids, and when Teddy, Stewart, and the rest of their special support group got there, they all loaded up to leave.

Lily hadn't actually come here te experience a back to school morning for the students of the residence, even though she did know what they did. They all loaded up on one of the residence buses, that was able to accomdate all of the students, their luggage, and the volunteers that were coming with them.

They were in groups of twelve, with two volunteers for each group of kids. They got to the station at ten twenty-five, and quickly unloaded, and went to platform nine and three-quarters.

The plan worked flawlessly. Kieran and Lily were the third group out of the six groups of twelve, and one group of four. The last small group had an extra couple of volunteers, and a Lily and Kieran with them so that if any of their groups got attention, it was that one.

Teddy and Stewart got their group to a car that hadn't started filling up yet, hugged each of the twelve kids as if that's what they always did, and helped them all quickly load their trunks and luggage on the train.

The platform was jammed with students, more family members than at any other time that anyone had seen before. There were probably a hundred or more reporters, covering WWN, WWVN, and print media outlets, and maybe a dozen camera operators, all trying to find Kieran and Lily and get that big scoop.

By the time the third group of kids from the residence had arrived on the platform, Lily and Kieran barely rated a glance, since the first two sets of duplicates had already been approached, and as soon as one or the other talked, it was obvious that it wasn't the real SpellBound.

Lily and Kieran were now on the train, though, and they'd already found an empty compartment where they could look out the window and watch the circus. There were definitely at least one hundred of their fellow students that had eaten either a Lily or Kieran chocolate wheeze, and the results were proving hilarious.

Lily pulled out her portable WWVN and turned on the music video channel, WMVN so that they could watch and listen to what was being reported from right outside their window.

The vj's were having a field day with the situation, and the story had moved from being about getting a scoop by being the first to get an interview with Kieran and Lily to being all about there being so many Kierans and Lilys.

When Harry and Ginny arrived with Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and Frederica as their Lily, they were mobbed until Frederica quickly told them that she was definitely not Lily Potter, and the disappointed crowd of reporters moved on, still searching for them.

The same thing happened when Kirley and Ana showed up with Liam, and the whole time Kieran and Lily were having a lot of fun watching it all happen.

"Five minutes left," Lily said as she looked at her watch.

Kieran grinned at her. "Want to have a little more fun?" he asked her, and laughed at her answering grin and sparkling eyes.

He pulled out his WiComm and she laughed as he put in the call to WMVN, told the receptionist who he was, and was immediately put through live on the air with the vj's.

"We have a caller telling us that he's Kieran McCormack," the vj told his viewing audience. "Good morning Kieran. Forgive us for not being convinced about your identity, but there seems to be a lot of you around today."

Kieran laughed. "Well, Lily is here with me, and how about we give you a little proof?"

The vj grinned at him. "That'd be perfect. What do you have in mind?"

Lily and Kieran gave the WMVN audience a fifteen second, acapella duet that definitely convinced the vj.

"I'd say that proves you're the real SpellBound," the vj told them. So why are you calling in to us?"

Kieran laughed again. "Well, we've been watching all of the craziness from the train, and thought that since you guys did such a great job on New Year's Eve that you deserved the scoop."

"We appreciate that, Kieran. You say you're already on the train? How'd you manage that?"

"We were hidden right out in plain sight," Kieran answered. "I see your cameraman on the platform. He's pointing his camera at my Mum, Dad, and cousin Liam. If you have him start panning toward the train, I'll tell you when to stop."

Kieran and Lily both smiled as the camerman started swining the camera from right to left toward them.

"Alright, slow down," Kieran advised. "One more window – that's it. Wave to the nice cameraman Lily."

Lily and Kieran both waved and smiled, as the cameraman focused in on their compartment, and the camera feed was being broadcast live on WMVN.

"You might want to have your reporter keep this scoop to herself," Kieran suggested into his WiComm as he watched the Witch start to react to what she and her cameraman were seeing.

"Well, Kieran, we'd all like to thank you and Lily for making this last half hour so entertaining for us. How'd you put all of this together with nobody finding out?"

Kieran laughed again. This was just too much fun. "Well, mostly we have to thank the geniuses at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes for coming up with the SpellBound Chocolate Wheezes. Most of the kids out there weren't even part of the plan – they're just all having fun. The train is about to leave now, though, so we'll have to say goodbye. When we get done school for the year in June, though, Lily and I promise that you'll get our first interview."

"Thanks, Kieran. We'll look forward to that. Good luck at school guys," the vj told them before Kieran ended the call.

Lily turned the volume up on her WWVN again, and they listened to the excited vj's.

"There you have it, SpellBound fans, exclusive to your number one music video channel, Kieran McCormack and Lily Potter calling in to talk to us live from the Hogwarts Express, just as the train is getting ready to take them back to school. I bet that is going to be one really interesting trip!"


	77. Five Minutes of Fame

Chapter Seventy-Seven – Five Minutes of Fame

Arianna went with James to King's Cross Station, and they both laughed when they stepped onto platform nine and three-quarters and saw all of the Lilys and Kierans everywhere.

They'd left for home after dinner last night, and spent an hour with Aaron and Tracey before the other couple went across the road to their own home. They'd then spent the next several hours just holding each other, and talking quietly before finally letting sleep claim them, knowing that except for a few brief visits on three Hogsmeade weekends, and three of the school Quidditch matches, that they wouldn't be together again until the end of June.

Walking hand-in-hand as James pushed his trolley, they went over to where Harry and Ginny were standing with Kirley, Ana, and Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and their decoy Lily and Kieran that James and Arianna knew were Frederica and Liam.

"Hi James, Arianna," Ginny said, giving her son a warm hug.

"Any problems?" he asked her.

"No, it worked as expected. Tell them we love them when you see them."

"I will," he promised. He gave his father a hug too, then turned back to Arianna.

"I'm going to miss you," he told her. "I'll see you in three weeks."

She hugged him tightly, and kissed him. "I love you, James. You take care of yourself."

"I love you too, Arianna."

James took his luggage, and loaded it on the train, and jumped on board. The younger kids had loaded up while he'd been talking with his mother, and saying goodbye, and they were some of the last kids on board. He waved once more, and disappeared into the train.

Ginny got to put an arm around Harry, and the other around Arianna as a few minutes later, they watched the train pull away from the platform. She let them watch it until it was out of sight, and then gently started to steer them toward the exit.

"Come on," she told them, "Let's go do lunch, and then maybe go look for an outfit that you can wow James with when you see him on that Hogsmeade weekend."

Harry grinned at her. "I'm good with lunch, honey, but I wasn't even planning on being in Hogsmeade that weekend, so I don't really need to get a new outfit."

Arianna and Ginny both laughed at him. "I don't know about you, Arianna," Ginny told her, "but I'm really glad that Harry has a real job to fall back on when that comedy career he's practicing for doesn't work out for him."

Kieran and Lily had watched as their family disappeared behind them when the train started moving. Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Emily had been the first of their group to get to where they were, and had taken the compartment across from them, and the one beside that so that they would have enough seating for everyone in their group. Rose put her things away, and left for the prefects car and the meeting that would be starting there soon.

Frederica and Liam joined Hugo and Emily, while Nick, Scorpius, Brianna, and Allie sat with Kieran and Lily. Scorpius had to leave right away too so he could catch up with Rose. Al and Carolyn ended up in Rose and Matt's compartment, and Colin Creevey joined Frederica and Liam when he finally found them.

"Was that fun, or what?" Brianna asked Kieran and Lily when they'd put their things away and sat down.

Lily handed her the portable WWVN, and Brianna looked at it curiously until she saw and heard what they were playing – a repeat of Kieran's WiComm call. She started laughing, and passed it on to Allie.

"That's even better," she told Kieran. "That'll practically guarantee you extra video play now."

Brianna then went to the other two compartments to tell them to watch the Wizarding Music Video Network, and see the buzz that Kieran had caused by calling in to the show.

Most of the temporary Kierans and Lilys were gone by the time the train had been on the move for fifteen minutes, and that was when other students started finding out where the real couple were located.

A half hour into the ride, there was a steady stream of kids wanting to see them, and even get autographs for themselves or for family members. It didn't take them long to decide to leave the door open, and move Lily and Kieran to the closest seats to the door so that they could speed up the process, which took about two hours before they were mostly left alone again. Even the Witch pushing the food trolley had wanted autographs for her grandchildren.

Jon, Andy, Therese, and Laura stopped by to visit them after the rush.

"It's SPELLBOUND!" Andy said in a girly voice, "Right here on our very own Hogwarts Express! Can I have your autographs? Please, Pretty Please?"

Lily popped up from her seat, and gave them all hugs, and kisses even as she laughed at him.

Andy put his hand to his cheek, still playing with them. "Lily Potter kissed me! I'm never washing this side of my face ever again!"

The rest of them were all laughing at him, and he grinned back at Lily.

"You could have told us," he accused her.

Lily grinned back at him. "I know, but then look at all of the fun you'd have missed out on."

Therese saw a couple of shy first years come up and stand behind them, quills and album covers in hand, and smiled encouragingly at them.

"Come on ahead," she told them. "Lily and Kieran would be happy to sign those for you, girls. Watch out for Lily, though, she likes hugs a lot, so you have to be very careful not to get caught in one."

The two little girls giggled, and came through the space that the older kids made for them so that they could get SpellBound's autographs – and a hug each from Lily, since Therese had made such a big deal about it.

When they'd left, Laura grinned at Kieran. "I do believe those two sweethearts were hoping for hugs from you, Kieran," she told him.

Lily put her arm protectively around him. "I think if he's in need of hugs, I'll be more than capable of taking care of that, thanks anyway, Laura."

"You hug other boys all the time," Laura pointed out, still grinning.

"I never said anything about it being fair or equal," Lily countered. "And if Kieran has any complaints, he can come tell me about it, and then I'll snog him senseless until he sees things my way again."

Kieran laughed. "In that case, I'm filing a complaint right now – when does the snogging start?"

They all laughed again, and after talking for a few more minutes, the two older couples moved on. When it remained calm for most of the rest of the trip to Hogsmeade station, Lily and Kieran began to relax. Rose and Scorpius rejoined them after their meetings and after hearing all about what had happened while they were gone, settled in for the rest of the trip too. Other than that craziness at King's Cross Station, and the early rush of gawkers and autograph hunters, this was turning out to be a pretty normal trip. When they were almost to the end of the ride, James stopped in to see them.

"Before I forget," he told Lily, "I'm supposed to give you this:" James gave her a big hug. "Mum and Dad said to tell you that they love you, and all of that other gooey parent stuff."

Lily hugged him back. "Thanks, James."

"The other reason I'm here is to tell you that the Head Boy and Girl, and the prefects decided that we won't be doing anything special to get you from the train to school. We're going to try and show the other students that your five minutes of fame – at least when it comes to being here at school – are over."

Lily and Kieran nodded. "That'd be great if it was," Kieran said. "There's a lot of other things we'd rather be doing this year that being followed around by a bunch of groupies."

James nodded too. "We are going to put Melanie with you so that you have an extra prefect with your group just to make sure there aren't any problems. It won't be suspicious since she's on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team."

"We'll watch for her when we get off of the train," Lily promised.

James grinned at them. "If we're lucky, one night of hype, and everyone will let you guys just get back to being normal students again – if that's possible to happen for the smartest Witch in the school, and for the Hufflepuff team's star Chaser."

When they got to Hogsmeade station, a grinning Melanie joined them and had hugs for all of them.

"Remind me later that I need to get a few autographs from you two for cousins that have been hounding me since they found out who you guys are," she told them. "I'm getting like twenty qm's a day from them."

Lily smiled up at her. "Kieran's Mum sent some pictures with us to use for special cases. I think we could sign a few of them for your cousins."

Melanie had them go up to the castle with the fifth years, and they didn't have any problems all the way through to sitting down at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Kieran and Lily found out later that their family and closest friends were grilled for information, but other than getting more stares than usual, Lily wasn't bothered much, and Kieran really only had to deal with a small commotion among his dorm roommates and some of his other Hufflepuff friends who wanted to know why he hadn't told them.

After dinner, when Lily and the other Ravenclaw Marauders got back to their Common room, Melanie called for the attention of everyone in the room. Since she was one of their senior prefects, she got what she asked for.

"Thank-you," she told her fellow Ravenclaws. "I know that a lot of us were pretty excited when we found out that one of the members of SpellBound is one of us," she said, and there was a cheer from most of the students.

"However, while I'm sure that Lily will be more than happy to help all of us out with the requests we're probably all getting for autographs and whatever else your families and friends outside of school are asking for, I'd like to suggest that we can work out a way to do that without making things difficult for her, or for Kieran."

Rose raised her hand. "Melanie, why don't you just have those requests handed to me on parchment, or give me what needs to be autographed, and I'll work it out with Lily and Kieran and get them back to everyone as quickly as we can."

Melanie nodded. "Works for me," she told everyone. "The main thing we all need to remember, guys, is that we all have classes and homework, and Ravenclaw also has a big Quidditch game in less that two weeks, and we need our Seeker concentrating on what's important – beating Slytherin! - so let's all make sure she does!"

There were more cheers at the mention of the upcoming Ravenclaw-Slytherin game, and a lot of nods of agreement. Lily was really moved by her fellow Ravenclaws, and she gave Melanie a big hug. "Thanks, Melanie," she whispered.

Melanie grinned at her. "You can thank us all by kicking some Slytherin butt at the game," she told Lily loudly enough so that everyone could hear, which got them some more cheers before the impromptu meeting broke up.

Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna went up to their dorm room, and it was there that their roommates confronted them about being kept out of the loop. You had to love Ravenclaws for not taking their complaints public, and it didn't take Lily too many hugs to mollify their friends.

The biggest change for Lily didn't end up being that everyone knew that she and Kieran were SpellBound, it had been the switch from her completed three fifth year optionals to starting the other two optionals that she was taking for the second half of the year. The good part of that was that now that she'd moved on to OWL Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, she was at least doing the same two optionals that Kieran was taking in third year.

Al and Allie weren't even a little surprised when she jumped right in to the classwork that they were doing at the halfway point of their year and still knew all of the answers and had been able to instantly take over the class lead from them.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted," Aliie sighed dramatically after their first Arithmancy class with Lily.

Al had laughed. "It was," he agreed. "I bet Professor Macmillan was surprised when Lily handed in every assignment from the first half of the year in one big stack like that. I know I was impressed."

Matt got Quidditch practices going on Monday, and the Ravenclaw team practiced every day, including on Saturday and Sunday, as they got ready for their game.

The SpellBound hype did calm down after Sunday night, and Rose's idea for passing autograph requests to her worked out well too. The only difficulty the needed to be handled was the problem with the Owl Post.

On Monday it wasn't too bad – there were maybe only fifty Owls each for Kieran and Lily, but by Tuesday, it had become a problem, not to mention a serious distraction that was resolved when all Owl Posts for the pair were redirected to Ana.

It meant that there was a delay for anything that was coming to them from family or friends, but it was a necessary price to pay. Ana personally took care of all of their fan mail, and only passed on rare, special cases directly to the kids, along with suggestions for what they could do for those kids.

"Maybe mentioning that we were Hogwarts students at the concert was a bad idea," Kieran had suggested after Tuesday morning's problems.

Lily had grinned at him. "It wouldn't have mattered, Kieran. It's in the public records, and wouldn't have taken anyone long to find out. Getting all this fan mail is really brilliant. I can't believe how much of it there is!"

It didn't take everyone at school long to get back into their routines, and those first two weeks between returning to Hogwarts and the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game went by very fast, and it was once again game day at Hogwarts.

It was a bitterly cold and windy day for the game, and while the stands were filled, the students seemed to be concentrating on finding any warmth they could get instead of being all that excited about the game.

"Definitely time for plan B," Matt told his team as they shivered by the entrance to the Quidditch pitch. "Everyone agree?"

He got six emphatic nods, and when Andy called them out, they made one very short flight around the pitch and landed next to the Slytherin team, who all looked just as uncomfortable and cold as they were.

Madame Hooch didn't waste any time getting the game going, since they were all shivering, and the Ravenclaw team was in the air as soon as the Quaffle left her hand.

Even the normally speedy Andy couldn't keep up with what happened after that. Nick and Melanie were on a mission, and kept the Slytherin Chasers busy while Al, Rose, and Matt put on a seventeen minute, twenty goal scoring barrage, barely even giving the Slytherin team a chance to touch the Quaffle.

When they hit twenty goals, Lily knew that was her cue to catch the snitch, which she'd been watching every second of the game, and she then dove for it, and made what was really a pretty spectacular catch to end the game with a score of three hundred and fifty to naught.

The Ravenclaw fans were too cold to cheer, and the Slytherin fans were too cold to boo. Matt and the Slytherin captain met briefly at the centre pitch and shook hands. Well, their whole bodies were shaking.

"This might be the very first time I've wanted to thank someone for beating my team," the Slytherin boy told them. "Congratulations and all that, but we're getting out of here so we can go get warm again."

Matt grinned at him. "Thanks, mate, we're right behind you."

The Ravenclaw team didn't hang around either, and they'd already agreed to do the congratulations thing with their friends and family back at the school, so they went to the locker rooms to shower and change, and then hurry back to school.

Matt and his team were cheered by their fellow Ravenclaws as much for finishing the game quickly as for winning. They stayed at the party long enough to get some food, but then, except for Melanie, they left for another private party they were having in a certain sixth-floor classroom.

The rest of the Marauders were already there, and had transfigured enough furniture to comfortably seat all of them.

"What's this all about?" James asked Lily when she got there. "We've set all of this up for you like you asked, but I want to get back to the Common room to watch Arianna play."

Lily gave him a hug. "That's what all of this is about," she told him. "Nick, Allie, Kieran, and I watched the last game like this, but we only had our portable WWVN's. This time, we have this," she said, holding up the little parchment sized WWVN case.

James laughed. "So we're all going to watch the game on a WWVN that's maybe twice as big as the portables?"

Lily opened the case up, and let him look inside. "Will that be big enough?"

James gave her a hug. "Have I told you that I love you yet today?"

"Not yet, so thanks. Can you give me a hand setting this up? We thought that having our own little place to hang out together to watch the games would be more fun than always being split up in our Common rooms."

James helped her do that. "Not that getting to snuggle with Kieran wasn't an added bonus," he suggested. "This is way better though."

They had the WWVN set up and turned on in time to catch the end of the pre-game show. It was just as cold in Wimbourne as it was at Hogwarts, and the Wasps' faithful fans looked very cold.

"I got a message from Mum," Rose told them. "I guess everyone in the family donated their tickets to charity when they found out how cold it was going to be today. The Food Bank in Wimbourne gave them away to clients."

"I hope they gave them money for hot drinks too," Lily said with a shiver. "I'm cold just watching it."

Kieran grinned and hugged her closer. "Let me warm you back up again then," he offered solicitously.

"My hero," she told him, smiling and snuggling closer.

When the visiting Canons were introduced, at first it looked like they weren't going to do a flying demonstration at all, since they were just flying one behind the other as they entered the stadium.

"Maybe they've decided it's too cold," Brianna suggested.

They watched as the team followed Harry toward the centre of the field, flying low as if to land, but then he continued past the middle, and started to climb into the air again. Higher and Higher he went until finally turning back over, and upside down, so he was at the apex of a huge circle, and was soon heading back toward the pitch, his six teammates following him.

As he came back toward the ground, they started to have a little separation, so as he repeated the circle, the team was soon spaced out equally around the giant, vertical circle. By the end of the second loop, they started speeding it up until by the fifth loop they were nearly a blur, chasing each other at over two hundred miles an hour.

That's when they released the orange smoke, and literally had an orange circle hanging in the air in the middle of the Wasps' stadium. They broke out of the circle on the thirteenth loop, and then landed on the pitch to the cheers of the stadium fans.

"Well, I take that back," Brianna told them. "Definitely not too cold." She smiled at Scorpius. "I don't know about you, but I'm glad I wasn't trying a spinning flying demonstration like that, or it wouldn't have been orange smoke trailing behind me."

Scorpius and the others laughed, and he hugged her. "You and me both," he agreed.

The Wasps barely even flew a whole lap around the stadium when they were announced. It was cold, and they wanted to just get the game going.

"I wonder if our team will take it easy on them because of the cold like we did with Slytherin?" Matt asked conversationally.

Hugo laughed. "Don't count on that, mate," he told Matt. "Those aren't our fans out there freezing their butts off, and Mum and Aunt Ginny have some special gear that the Canons are trying out for the first time today."

Matt looked interested about that. "Like what kind of special gear?"

Rose answered his question. "Like heated suits under their robes, heated boots, gloves, and even hats. They're all being kept at a very toasty twenty-two degrees Celsius."

"And she couldn't have sent us seven sets?" he asked her.

Rose laughed. "Sure she could have. I asked her not to."

"Why would you do that?" Matt demanded.

"Because unless she was able to send one for every Ravenclaw and all of our friends in other houses, if we'd gone out there in this weather and played a four or five hour game, once our fellow Ravenclaws thawed out, they would have hexed us into next year when we got back to the Common room."

Matt laughed. "Good point."

They all turned their attention back to the WWVN when the game started. Today it seemed to be Arianna's turn to be on fire, and she scored seven of the Canons' first ten goals.

The Wasps had been one of the very worst teams for running it up on the Canons last season, and Ron and Coach were happy to take their time today with Canons lesson number ten. Their opponent didn't seem nearly as happy – in fact, they looked more and more miserable as the game went on.

If the fans thought it was cold sitting in their seats, they should try flying at two hundred miles an hour in that cold, against a team that didn't seem to be even slightly bothered by the cold weather. That they were smiling and having fun just made it that much worse for the Wasps team.

After an hour, the Wasps players were all shivering. When the second hour passed, they could barely hold on to their brooms. Coach finally took pity on them when they were closing in on four hours, after two of the Wasps' players were taken off the field with severe frostbite. When Harry caught the snitch to end the game, the remaining five Wasps had to be pried off of their brooms and carried off of the field. Final score: Canons, eighteen hundred and fifty; Wasps, twenty.

"I almost feel sorry for the Wasps," Nick told the others. "That had to really hurt, and probably will for a few more days, too."

"The Canons get them at home in May," Hugo said. "So at least the Wasps can look forward to it being warmer next time."

Rose grinned at her brother. "But not to an easier game."

They cleaned up from their afternoon Canons Quidditch game party, and the Ravenclaws rejoined their House party, while the rest of the Marauders all did their own thing for the rest of the day.

James had a lot on the go in January. His seven sixth year classes were an incredible amount of work. Since he was basically the most popular prefect in the school, a lot of kids came to him with their problems. On top of that, he had five weeks left after the Ravenclaw-Slytherin match before his own team would be playing a tough Hufflepuff team.

With all of that going on, though, he was really only thinking about one thing. The first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year was the Saturday after the Quidditch game, and it was an off-week for Arianna, so he was getting to spend the day with his fiancée!

They did their VirtualChats every night, and there were regular WiComm calls and qm's, but it was these Hogsmeade weekends, and the Quidditch games that Arianna would be able to come to that kept James going from week-to-week.

When the Hogsmeade weekend arrived, he was practically first in line to leave school after breakfast, and since this wasn't his weekend to pick up supplies for Frederica, Liam, and Colin, he and Arianna could just relax and spend the whole day together, since he'd also made sure he didn't need any supplies himself, having instead ordered what he needed straight from the VirtualMall.

Arianna met him at the gates to Hogwarts, and after a long hug, walked together to town, and straight to their little private getaway at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

While they were happily getting reacquainted – i.e. snogging each other senseless – the couple were totally oblivious to the excitement going on around town. The new SpellBound album was released exclusively to Hogsmeade stores only today. They wouldn't go on sale anywhere else until Sunday, and the news had not been announced ahead of time to the media, so it was a complete surprise for the Hogwarts students, who went wild when they found out.

That the students of Hogwarts were getting it a day early once again put Lily and Kieran back up top as the news story of the day. They weren't done with just surprising the kids that were there in Hogsmeade, though. The two of them quickly did their running around – which included setting up another SpaMagic morning for the girls on the next Hogsmeade weekend, getting sweets, and supplies, and then they hurried back to school to be there before lunch.

It was at lunchtime, with mostly just first and second year students there, that they announced that staff from the GamePortal had been brought directly to the school, and that the new album was available for any of the kids that wanted to go to the room that had been set up for them to buy it a day early, and that Lily and Kieran would sign album covers for their fellow students for the first hour or two after lunch.

There were also thirty first and second year kids that TNM helped and Kieran and Lily made sure that those kids received their own, autographed copies of the new album too.

Their second album release was this weekend to be in time for Valentine's Day, which was just over three weeks away. Ana had been promoting it since New Year's Eve, and if what Kieran and Lily were hearing today was any indication, their fans were going to love their sophmore effort.

Kieran and Lily might be busy with the new album, but the rest of the Marauders were enjoying their day away from school. The remaining Ravenclaw Marauders, plus Allie, were having fun shopping together. That included the usual stop for Wheezes, this time including getting Valentine's Wheezes, and to get sweets, and supplies, and then move on to some clothes shopping for the girls.

That had been entertaining for the girls, since FashionKnut had the new line of SpellBound clothing out – or at least the TeenWitch fashion, since the clothes that had been chosen for Kieran's half of the clothing line were being carried in other stores.

"Your Aunt Fleur has such a great sense of fashion," Brianna told Al and Nick. "No wonder Kieran and Lily looked so great at the concert."

Nick laughed. "We should have done this with Lily, it would have been funny to watch her try on her own line of clothes."

They had lunch together, and then split up for the rest of their time in town. Al and Carolyn both picked up a couple of new books to read. She got two TeenWitch romance novels that they both knew that Al secretly read too, even though he'd never admit it, and he picked up the first two books in a series about a boy that was raised in the Wizarding World by his aunt and uncle, who found out that he was not only Muggle-born, but actually a Muggle, and the adventures he had living in the magical world with all of the Wizards and Witches in his family.

"I can't believe how popular that series is becoming," Carolyn told him. "The whole idea of the story is just so unrealistic!"

Al laughed. "I think it's brilliant, and it's really funny too. You should give it a try first – you might just get hooked on it."

The last thing they did before heading back to school, now that the rush was over, was to buy two copies of the new SpellBound album for their 3D-VMP's.

"I can't believe I had to buy my own sister's album," Al told Carolyn. He was grinning when he said it though, so she knew he was joking.

"If it's as good as the kids that have been listening to it have been saying around town, it'll be worth it," she predicted.

James was once again one of the last kids to get back to Hogwarts. He and Arianna had talked about school, and work, and the progress she was making on decorating the house. She, Aaron, and Tracey were all liking having their own space now, even though they still had a lot of meals together instead of Arianna always cooking for one.

He found out that Tristan and Liselle were officially a couple now, and while Sebastian and Trinity told everyone they were not a 'real' couple, nobody believed them. If it walks, talks, and looks like a hippogriff, it probably is one – even in a world filled with magic.

James had made lunch for them, and they'd spent most of the afternoon snuggled on the sofa, watching the Magpies play the Pride. Coach Ron had strongly suggested that his team watch the game, since they were playing the Magpies in February. From what they saw during the game, the Magpies were going to be in deep trouble against the Canons, since the Pride defeated them fairly soundly.

They were both getting used to the goodbyes, so there weren't as many tears when it was time for James to go back to school, but they were still both down by the time he got back to Hogwarts, and she got back home.

James' cheer up committee of one, plus her sidekick Kieran were waiting for him, and she gave her big brother a copy of their new album, knowing that he probably didn't even know it had been available in town.

"I thought this came out tomorrow in stores," he told Lily after she'd hugged him for a long time, and given it to him.

"If you'd come up for air," she teased him, "you'd have seen that Hogsmeade got an exclusive, one day early release just for the Hogwarts students. Kieran and I have spent half the day signing album covers."

"Then I'm guessing that means it's pretty good," he told them. "I'll make sure to listen to it after we're done studying tonight. And in case I forget, thanks for the cheer up."

"You're welcome, James," Lily told him, giving him yet another hug.

James followed Lily and Kieran to their study room, and got to work with everyone else. Work was the key word for that last week of January. Schoolwork, Prefect work, and Quidditch work – at least for the Gryffindor team.

The only break from that unrelenting workload came on Saturday afternoon, when all of the New Marauders gathered to watch the Canons' home game against the Tutshill Tornados – a.k.a. Canons Lesson Number Eleven.

There was still a whole game to play, but for many Quidditch fans, the pre-game Canon's flying demonstration was becoming very popular, and everyone wanted to see what they were going to do next. The Tornados were introduced first, and to the surprise of everyone, they put on their own little flying demonstration.

When they came out into the stadium, four of their players took up stationary positions a few feet above the pitch, while the remaining three players circled them. It wasn't until they took their formation vertical, and the cameras and fans had to look up to see them that you could tell that what they were doing was making a slightly staggered 'T T' in the middle of the now blurringly fast circle. Then they turned their little living logo from horizontal to vertical, and slowly decended back toward the ground.

When they'd finished their display, they'd landed to the cheers of the Canons fans, and were all smiling at the positive reception their first attempt at imitating the Canon's season long displays had garnered them.

"That was pretty cool," Hugo told the others, who only nodded as they continued to watch the QSPN broadcast.

The Canons were announced next, and flew to the centre of the field, then lined up into a seven-pointed star, with broom-tails touching each other, like the Tornados, just a few feet from the ground.

They suddenly blasted away from each other, keeping that same distance from the ground, and shooting up and above the fans, still only feet away, and making many of them duck. When they reached the outer edge of the stadium, the all went vertical, soaring hundreds of feet into the air before going into barrel rolls that sent them shooting right toward each other, and the centre of the stadium, only high in the air this time.

Just as it looked like they were all going to collide, they rolled again, and dove toward the ground, each of them nearly touching the players beside them. When they were only about twenty feet above the ground, they all pulled up into that same seven-pointed star, and broom-tails again touching, landed softly at the same time at the centre of the pitch.

The hometown crowd went wild for their team, and the two teams came together to exchange handshakes and get ready to start the game.

"That just took Hugo's pretty cool and raised it an extremely awesome," Emily said in her soft voice. "It was like a reverse of that fountain thing they did, except this was way scarier. I thought they were going to crash up there for sure, they were so close, and going so fast."

"I was thinking the same thing," Rose told her. "You can't use magic during the game, but you know they could be using it during these demonstrations to make sure they don't have an accident like that."

"Maybe," Emily said dubiously. "I didn't see any wands out, though, and I'm not sure how you could do magic and go that fast at the same time."

The game began, and about five minutes in, the Canons' fans were shocked when the Tornados scored the first goal to take the early lead. Their game strategy looked like it was full-press defense against the high-scoring Canons, and one of their Chasers had gotten a breakaway on Ron, and had managed to score on a shot that Ron only got a piece of.

The QSPN announcers had crowed in delight at the feat – the Tornados were the first team all season to have a lead on the Canons, and the commentators were suddenly sure that today was the day that the Canons were going to lose!

There was a downside to playing constant defense, and that was the fact that it took more effort to play defense that it did to play offense.

During the first hour of the game, the Canons only scored ten goals, and the Tornados scored three. At that point, the commentators had stopped their stupid talk about a Tornados win. By the end of the second hour, it was thirty-five goals to five. The third hour came to an end with the score at seven hundred and forty to sixty, as the exhausted Tornados team nearly totally collapsed, and when Harry was finally allowed to catch the snitch at the three hour, nineteen minute mark, the final score was eleven hundred and ten to seventy, and the Tornados had been completely blown away – kind of like everyone watching the game had been.

With the last Canons' game of January done, the last couple of days of the month were kind of just a way to get to February and another month that looked to be filled with more excitement and adventure for the New Marauders.


	78. My Quidditch Valentine

Chapter Seventy-Eight – My Quidditch Valentine

February! The month of love. Who was the idiot that picked it for Valentine's Day? There were a lot of reasons you could pick on it. It was the shortest of all twelve months, and was the only month of the year that needed to have an extra day tacked on to the end of it every four years – probably just because it was jealous of all of the bigger and better months. It was cold outside, at least in the top part of the world – the part that drove the commercialization of the one and only day dedicated to love.

James had a whole different reason not to like Valentine's Day this year. He wasn't going to get to spend it with his Valentine. Even the Hogsmeade weekend that was two days before Valentine's Day was on a weekend when the Canons were playing, so Arianna wouldn't be able to meet him there.

Since he was not a happy camper about the whole Valentine's thing, James took it out on his homework assignments – or at least worked himself right to the edge of exhaustion every day so that he didn't have to think about being apart from Arianna. He was always nice with everyone, and he worked hard with his Quidditch team to get them ready for their game against Hufflepuff, and he continued to work hard at his prefect duties. Some of the other Marauders were worried that he was just doing too much, and hated to see their friend so down every day, even though he did try to hide it from them. Lily decided to get something done about it, and started making some calls.

Friday night, the night before the Hogsmeade weekend, James was on his usual nightly VirtualChat with Arianna.

"Uncle Ron must really be looking forward to this game," James said.

"He sure is," Arianna agreed. "He'd worked with that assistant coach for a long time, and he took the guy's leaving the team way more personally than he took all of the players leaving."

"So what time will you be heading for Montrose?" he asked her. It was getting toward the end of their chat, and he was dragging his feet, not wanting to get to the inevitable goodnights.

"I have to leave Hogsmeade at nine forty-five," she told him, her little avatar grinning at him.

James stared at her – well, at her Virtual her. "You're coming to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" he asked excitedly, all disappointments he'd been carrying around with him vanishing in a flash of hope.

"Yep, Coach is giving us until ten to report to the stadium. I think your Mum had something to do with it, though. If I meet you right at the gates, we'll have nearly forty-five minutes to spend together."

"You have just made my week, Arianna. I love you so much!"

Arianna's avatar smiled at him. "I love you too, James. I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well."

"I will now," he promised her. "Goodnight."

James was sitting at breakfast already when he realized that he hadn't picked up Arianna's Valentine's present yet. That's what he'd planned on doing in Hogsmeade today. Lily came up to him and gave him a big hug.

"You look very happy this morning, James. It's the first time you've looked happy in weeks. It's really great to see again."

He smiled at her. "Arianna's going to meet me at the gates of the school at nine o'clock," he told his sister. "Coach gave them a little extra time before they have to be in Montrose, so she could come. It won't be long, but it's way better than nothing." He frowned slightly then.

"I only wish I'd known earlier, because I hadn't gotten her Valentine's present yet."

Lily grinned at him, and handed him a jewellery box. "You're welcome, brother dear."

He opened it up to find a gold locket with a diamond in the middle.

"Open it up," Lily told him, and he did as she asked. "Think about someone you love."

He did that too, and watched as Arianna's face appeared in one side, and his in the other.

"This is like Mum's!" he exclaimed, giving her a big hug. "I thought only she and Victoire had one of these." Then he realized something else. "You knew!"

Lily laughed and hugged him again. "Actually, I asked them to do something so you could see her, and for Dad to get one of these for you to give Arianna. And I think it's the fourth locket like this. Scorpius' mother has one too."

"Thank-you," he told her. "This means a whole lot to me."

"You're welcome, James. Now get going so you don't keep her waiting."

James didn't need to be told twice, and he was out to the gates of the school in record time, and hugging and kissing Arianna happily when he got there.

"Since we don't have much time, why don't we just go have hot drinks in the Three Broomsticks, Arianna suggested.

James agreed, and they hurried into town and found a table out of the way to sit at. They ordered hot chocolate and two desserts, and then sat next to each other, holding hands and talking. When their orders arrived, James waited until the serving man had left, and then gave her the gift.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he told her quietly, watching as she opened the box and took out the locket. There were tears in her eyes when she looked back at him.

"Is this what I think it is?" she asked him.

James grinned at her. "Well, that depends. If you think it's a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon in disguise, then the answer is no. If you think it's a locket like my Mum's, then you'd be correct."

Arianna laughed and hugged him. "Thank-you, James. I love it." She opened it up and tested it out, needing to wipe more tears from her eyes to see herself and James on each side of the locket.

"I'm glad you like it," James told her. "I can't take credit for it, though, since apparently Lily, Mum, and Dad put this whole thing together for us. I just get to be the one to have all of the fun."

"I can live with that just fine," she told him. "How about you?"

"No problems with it here. Just wanting to be honest."

Their time was up way too fast, and this time it was James kissing her goodbye as she needed to hurry to get to Montrose on time.

"Give Mum and Dad a hug and kiss, and tell them thanks for me," James said as he kissed her one last time. "I'll see you after the game next weekend."

When Arianna had left, James made his next stop the flower shop. His family may have gotten her a gift, but he still planned on having Valentine's Day be special for Arianna anyway.

He ordered flowers to be delivered to her at the Stadium, and also took a dozen roses with him to give to his adorable little sister, who had managed to completely turn what he'd thought was going to be a lousy weekend around into one of the best with her brilliant surprise. Next, he went to Dervish and Banges, where he bought a table clock he'd been eyeing for her that counted the hours by having a little Quidditch Chaser fly out and score a goal for each hour before flying back inside the stadium-shaped clock.

Then he went on to pick up his supplies, and some sweets, and a box of Chocolate Valentine Wheezes to give to Colin to have fun with.

By the time he was done, it was nearly lunchtime, and he hurried to SpaMagic, just in time to catch up with Lily and most of the Marauders. He gave her the flowers, kissed and hugged her.

"You get an 'O' on that best sister assignment this week," he told her happily. "I'm buying if you all want to go to lunch now."

"Wow," Rose told James, giving him a hug too. "That must have been some visit with Arianna."

James grinned at her. "Since the alternative had been not seeing her at all, I'd say it was great. We need to eat fast though, so we can get back to school in time for the game."

They did that, and they were in the sixth floor classroom, set up with sofas, drinks, and munchies with five minutes to spare before game time.

"This isn't going to be pretty to watch, guys," Hugo warned them all. "The Magpies won last year, but even though they probably tried to run up the score, they were really only barely good enough to beat us last year, and they're not any better this year."

Rose nodded. "Coach and Dad were both really mad at that git of an assistant coach for bailing on the Canons. Unfortunately for the Magpies, Canons Lesson Number Twelve is personal."

Since it was another road game, the Canons were introduced first. Their flying display was going to be the only thing the Magpies fans had to cheer about all day.

They probably shouldn't have cheered, but the display was just too funny not to love. Aaron, Arianna, and Ginny came out first, with a black cloth stretched out between them. While Aaron anchored the centre, the two women flew up and down next to him, mimicking what the spectators all knew was supposed to be a Magpie.

As they flapped comically around the stadium, Ron, Sebastian, and Tristan took up position at one end of the stadium, spread out in a triangle, with orange cloth surrounding them – the Chudley Canon.

That left Harry to zoom around the stadium, picking up speed as he circled. When everthing was set, he shot through the triangular Canon, and 'shot down' the Magpie, which tumbled to the ground, complete with loose feathers that fluttered on the wind after the Canons had landed to the applause, laughter, and cheers of the crowd.

"I can't believe that those fans are actually cheering their own team being sported with like that right in their own house," Carolyn said.

"Funny is funny no matter where you are," Jon told her. "I think it was brilliant."

The Magpies weren't as brave as the Tornados had been, and didn't attempt a flying demonstration of their own, but just met the Canons on the pitch, and waited for the game to start.

The referee threw the Quaffle into the air, and Arianna was first to it, well ahead of the Magpie Chaser who had been assigned to defend against her. A no-look pass to Ginny later, and one well-aimed throw, and the Canons were on the scoreboard.

"I think our team could take them," Matt suggested as they watched the hapless Magpies practically fly around in circles as Ginny, Aaron, and Arianna imposed their superior skill on them and were nearly to the point where they were playing catch and score.

The New Marauders watched as the game went on and on, with no sign that Coach was going to let up on the Magpies.

"If they don't end it soon, we're going to either have to miss the end of the game, or miss dinner," Hugo said, looking at his watch. "As much as I love watching my Dad play, I'm not sure I want to go hungry tonight to do it for a game that's so far out of reach that it doesn't matter who catches the snitch even if they were playing best out of twenty snitch catches."

Emily laughed at him. "You've personally devoured about half of the snacks, Hugo. I don't see starvation being a problem for you tonight."

Hugo sighed dramatically. "Alright, but you remember that when I'm too faint from hunger to even kiss you goodnight."

"Like that'd ever happen," Emily told him, not buying his dramatics for a moment.

Rose grinned at Emily. "Like what would ever happen? He'd be too tired, or you'd kiss him goodnight?"

Everyone laughed, except Hugo. "Hey, which side are you on sis?"

"In this case, the girl's side," she told him.

Hugo's worries about missing dinner weren't necessary, though. His uncle Harry saved him by catching the snitch at the four hour and twenty-seven minute mark to end the game with a ridiculous score of twenty-two hundred and ninety points for the Canons to a big, fat zero for the Magpies.

"If my calculations are correct," Allie told them, "Either Ginny or Arianna could win the league scoring title, but everyone else, including Aaron are now eliminated – and there are still eight games left. Every other player is just too far behind now."

Lily nodded. "You're right," she confirmed. "But Aaron's way out in front in assists, so he'll probably get that this year."

"No surprise there," James said. "Since he's the one doing most of the passes that Arianna and Mum are scoring on."

They packed up quickly, and all went to the Great Hall for dinner, and then went and got their books and spent their evening studying.

Since it was a Hogsmeade weekend, and they'd watched the game all afternoon, that meant that Sunday had to be a study day too. James made one change to that plan, and he told them about it as breakfast was coming to an end.

"Who here wants Valentine's Day off from Quidditch practice?" he asked his team. He got six enthusiastically raised hands, plus a few extra from boyfriends and girlfriends.

"We can do that, but you have to give me a practice this morning. Meet me on the pitch in a half hour."

He worked them hard for two hours, and then the members of the team that were part of his study group all went to meet with the rest of the Marauders, and got down to work for the rest of the day, stopping only for lunch and dinner.

Monday was Valentine's Day, and there was a lot of enthusiasm as breakfast started in the Great Hall. With everything that was going on around the New Marauders so far this year, they might have slacked off from some of the things they did as a group, but they didn't.

Lily and Frederica had taken the information that was sent to them for Valentine's gifts, and had purchased more than one hundred gifts that would be delivered with the Owl Post this morning. Some of those gifts were even for the girlfriends or boyfriends of the kids they helped, while those kids were just sent a note from TNM letting them know what had been sent to their special someone on their behalf.

While Valentine's Day was happy for lots of kids, it was also one of the harder days of the year for other kids too, so Carolyn, Brianna, and Emily had their mentors out in full force too, helping out those kids whenever they could.

When the Owl Posts began arriving with the hundreds of Valentine presents for the students, most of the New Marauders were torn between wanting to watch the happy faces of the kids they were helping today and having fun with their own Valentines and friends.

All of the New Marauders received packages in the Owl Post, and were as excited as any of the other students who were getting Valentine's Day presents this morning.

There were the usual Valentine gifts of jewellery, flowers, and perfume delivered. Arianna sent James a beautiful, soft sweater, along with a note suggesting that he should wear it on his next Hogsmeade weekend, so that she could enjoy snuggling with him.

The Professors weren't giving the students any extra love, though – classes went on as normal, and there was no noticeable change in the amount of homework being assigned.

There was going to be a sort of mini-dance after dinner for the students. The Professors wouldn't agree to a school night dance that would go late, but they did approve a two hour dance from seven until nine.

When the students got to the Great Hall that night, they found out that SpellBound was their band for their little dance, and went crazy as Kieran and Lily started the dance off with two fast songs from their new album, and then went on to do a series of slow-dance songs for all of the young lovebirds in the crowd.

They played a forty-five minute set, then there was canned music for a half hour while they took a break, and then they played the last forty-five minutes before the dance had to be wrapped up for the night.

"This is a nice end to the day," Carolyn told Al as they danced to 'Loved You All My Life'. This was quite literally 'their song', since everything that Kieran and Lily wrote about were things that they experienced or saw around them.

"How do you like being immortalized in song?" he asked her quietly as he held her close.

"There are worse things that can happen to you than having a multi-million selling song that's about you and your boyfriend," she answered. "We're definitely never going to have that first Valentine's kiss ever forgotten, though."

Al laughed, and then kissed her tenderly. "We've gotten quite a bit better at it since we were two," he said, his emerald eyes sparkling in the candlelight that softly lit the Great Hall.

"Oh, yeah," she agreed, kissing him again. "We definitely have."

"And our song is definitely more flattering to us that 'Pop Goes the Kneazle' is for Fluffy," Al added, grinning at his beautiful girlfriend.

"I thought those two songs for the little kids on New Year's Eve was a nice touch," Carolyn told him. "I hear that one, and the Bat-Bogey Hex song, are very popular at the Institute daycare."

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"I get qm's from Natalie – or actually from Kira – every week or so. I think that she wants her old summer babysitters back, and she's softening me up."

"Is it working?" Al asked.

Carolyn laughed. "Yeah, it is. That little girl probably has Owen wrapped around her little finger. I doubt Frederica and I are going to be able to say no to her either."

After Al and Carolyn's song, Kieran and Lily went on to play new album songs like 'Nothing's Impossible' and 'Invisible', before finishing up with 'This is Our Time', and 'One Magic Moment' to end the night.

Kieran walked Lily to the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common room, and they hugged and kissed goodnight.

"I guess if I couldn't be dancing with you, that was the next best thing," he told Lily.

"I think it's even better than dancing with you," she answered. "Not that your dancing is bad or anything," she added quickly, "but that feeling is just so incredible when we're singing and playing together, I sometimes wish we could just do music all day."

Kieran kissed her again, this time more seriously, and she grinned at him.

"Well, maybe not _all _day," she amended as they both laughed.

"I'll see you in the morning," he said after one last kiss. "Happy Valentine's Day, Lily."

James, and the Gryffindor Quidditch team, had four practice days left until their game against Hufflepuff. There was a lot of homework to keep up with too, and so he was working hard all day, and getting to bed late each night. He even had to skip two VirtualChats with Arianna because he'd needed to be up later than she could stay up and still be fresh and ready to practice with the Canons.

On Friday, he gave the team a light workout, and then told them all to take it easy for the night, and get to sleep early so they'd be rested for the big game.

He knew the team was as ready as it could be, but also new from being a six year veteran that this team was not as good as other teams had been.

There was also his own problem with staying focused. Arianna was going to be there, probably with most of his family, Aaron, and Tracey. Liam's family was going to be there too, which might make it harder for his next-best Chaser to concentrate too.

Frederica wasn't a worry – she was a rock. Their remaining Chaser and Beater were the best of the rest that they had this year, but were really just average players, and might be in for a surprise against a team that was as well organized as Hufflepuff always was.

Arianna was in the stands with Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Tracey. They were sitting in the Ravenclaw section of the stands with the Ravenclaw Marauders. Allie and Emily had joined them instead of sitting with their Houses, and there were other parents and family with their group.

Kirley and Ana were sitting with Lily, and she was going to have a tough day split between cheering for her brother and cousins, and cheering for her boyfriend and music partner.

Ron and Hermione were there with George and Marietta, who would definitely be cheering on their kids and their alma mater. Finally, Liam's parents, brother and sister were there to cheer him on.

That section became an autograph seeker's paradise, and there was quite a few kids before the game started who came over to request autographs from the five Canons' stars, from the former Pride of Portree star, and from the former lead guitarist of the Weird Sisters.

"How come nobody's asking for my autograph?" George asked Marietta.

"Maybe word's gotten around that you do it using disappearing ink, and they don't want to waste their time," she suggested.

The two teams were announced then, and came flying out into the stadium to the cheers of the spectators that filled the stands to capacity. James and the Hufflepuff captain shook hands, Madame Hooch gave them the pre-game instructions, and then threw the quaffle into the air.

"We have liftoff, sports fans!" Andy shouted. "And look at that! We have cousins Liam and Kieran going for the quaffle, and Kieran reaches it first, rolls back toward his own goal – NO! – he's kept rolling right underneath his cousin and is racing toward the Gryffindor goal! He fakes left, right, and – I don't even know what you call that, but HE SCORES!"

Ginny laughed. "Write that one down Aaron. That was a really cool move!"

Kirley, Ana, and everyone around Ginny laughed at the same time that they cheered Kieran's spectacular goal.

"And here we go, folks,' Andy shouted, resuming his play-by-play of the game.

"James takes the Quaffle, and passés to Liam, who passes to Darryl – AND KIERAN STEALS IT FOR HUFFLEPUFF! He passes it, and it's dumped right back to him. He's heading straight for Hugo in net – they're going to crash! No! Kieran shoots as Hugo ducks and peels away just in time – AND SCORES! Hufflepuff leads twenty to naught!"

"Kieran's been taking notes during all of those practices," Rose said as she watched Liam take the Quaffle and pass it to James.

Ron nodded at his daughter's comment. "That was another good move, but Hugo won't fall for it again, I'll wager."

"James takes the Quaffle and passes to Darryl, who passes to Liam, who shoots – and it's SAVED by the Hufflepuff Keeper!" Andy announced to the crowd.

With two quick goals for Hufflepuff, the game settled down, and went back and forth at a furious pace. James' concern about where his team weaknesses were proved true as first Darryl, and then Tamara were lost to bludger-related injuries, and taken off to the hospital wing while he was left with just first year Frederica at Beater, and himself and Liam playing two on three against an exceptionally prepared trio of Hufflepuff Chasers being led by Kieran, who was playing a game of a lifetime kind of game today.

They were approaching the second hour of the game, and the score was one hundred and ten for Hufflepuff to sixty for Gryffindor when the Hufflepuff Seeker spotted the Snitch and dove on it.

Jeremy saw it too, but he was busy dodging one bludger just as Frederica was saving him from getting hit in the back of the head by the other bludger as the two Hufflepuff Beaters had attempted to gang up on the Gryffindor Seeker.

When he'd recovered from his desperate dodge, it was to simultaneously watch as his opposing Seeker caught the snitch, and Frederica took the bludger hit that had been meant for him hard on the arm. She hadn't seen it coming as she'd been busy protecting him, and everyone in the stadium could hear the bones crack as it hit her.

Jeremy forgot all about the game and rushed to her side as she turned white as a ghost from pain and shock.

"Just hold it steady," Jeremy told her gently. "We'll take it very slowly to the ground so we don't bump it any more than we have to."

Liam saw what happened, and was about to tear over to help her when James' barked order stopped him in his tracks. "Stay back, Liam. Jeremy's got it under control. Just get on the ground – NOW!"

His captain's firm, confident command cut through his panic, and he quickly did as ordered, and landed on the pitch. He was torn between wanting to go to Frederica, and go after the offending Hufflepuff Beater. That choice too was decided for him – this time by Frederica as Jeremy helped her land while she held her broken arm tightly to her side.

"It's not his fault, Liam," she told him. "He couldn't have even seen me on the other side of Jeremy. It was just bad luck."

George and Marietta were there moments after Frederica landed, and he gently scooped his little girl up and carried her to the Hospital wing, and to Madame Pomfrey.

"Tough game today, I see," she told them as her third patient of the game arrived. "Put her in that bed," she instructed George, pointing out a bed that was beside the one that Tamara was in.

Frederica had been very brave the whole time that her father had carried her in, but she cried in pain when he set her in the bed, and screamed once and passed out when Madame Pomfrey started to look at her shattered upper arm and elbow.

"Oh, dear," the old witch exclaimed. "This is a very nasty break. I believe we'll need to move her to St. Mungo's for treatment."

The rest of the family had arrived by now, and Hermione stepped forward. "That won't be necessary," she told Madame Pomfrey.

The Witch looked up from where she was working in surprise, and smiled. "I believe this is beyond even your considerable talents, Hermione," she told the woman who had once been an occasional guest right here in her little hospital ward. "I'd say this is definitely going to take a team to fix right."

Hermione smiled too. "I happen to have one with me," she assured Madame Pomfrey. "We'd be delighted if you'd join us though."

Madame Pomfrey had heard stories about some of the things that hermione and her 'teams' had accomplished – the most impressive and legendary being healing Neville Longbottom's parents, and she was not going to miss a chance to find out for herself what all the hype was about, so she nodded her agreement. When Harry and Hermione were the only two that stepped forward to help, she was again surprised, but this time just followed along.

It only took a few minutes for Hermione to teach her the power-sharing technique and spells, and then they were ready.

Harry was the focus wizard, and the two Witches were able to not only share their power with him, but essentially see what he saw when he looked into the damage in his niece's arm. Hermione and Madame Pomfrey then quickly passed him the information he needed to heal the half-dozen breaks, the elbow reconstruction being the most difficult, and repair some damaged muscles and tendons.

Madame Pomfrey watched both with her eyes and her mind as the young man – completely untrained in medicine – was able to do in minutes what it would have taken a team of the best healers at St. Mungos the rest of the day to do, assuming there wasn't more damage caused just with moving her there.

The only thing that everyone else in the room saw was a brilliant blue light surrounding Frederica's battered arm, and then it was gone, and the procedure was over.

"You should probably keep her overnight to rest," Hermione suggested. "That much healing will have taken a lot out of her. I'm sure some of your own restoratives will help her recover quickly."

Madame Pomfrey nodded her agreement. "That was an incredible experience," she told Hermione and Harry. "Thank-you for letting me be a part of it."

Harry smiled. "I'm glad you were. If you hadn't pointed out some of those problems, I would have missed them for sure."

She smiled at him. "At least she won't need to use skele-grow like you did," she said with a little laugh. "You were my number one patient when you went to school here – if that's measured by frequency of visits, anyway."

Everyone in the room laughed, and she went off to her office to prepare the restorative for when Frederica woke up.

Liam, and the rest of the Gryffindor team got there next, and when they found out that she was already healed, and would be fine by morning, Liam let out a huge sigh of relief.

"I've never been so scared in my entire life," he told them, hugging his mother and father.

"She's going to be fine, Liam," his mother told him soothingly. "It's always hardest when someone you care about gets hurt."

Once James had found out that Frederica was going to be fine, he and Arianna moved over to the beds that Darryl and Tamara were in so that they could see how they were doing. Tamara had crashed into one of the Hufflepuff goals while dodging a well-hit bludger, and had crashed hard to the ground. She told James that she just had a lot of bumps and bruises, and one severely sprained knee.

Darryl was a bit more of a worry in that he'd gotten a severe concussion from a bludger that he unfortunately had swerved into the path of, and hadn't even been aimed at him. Madame Pomfrey assured James that he'd be fine, but that she would also be recommending that his number three Chaser stop playing Quidditch for the rest of the season, since another concussion that severe could cause permanent damage.

The whole Hufflepuff team came in next, and brought sweets for each of the three patients – they'd been quickly gathered through donations from the supplies of more than two dozen Hufflepuffs who'd offered to help their team put together the quick get-well-soon gifts.

By now, the visitor capacity was way past it's limit, and Madame Pomfrey put her foot down. George, Marietta, and Liam could stay, and after saying goodbye to everyone else, James and Arianna could stay with his teammates for one hour. The rest of the adults and students were summarily evicted from the room.

"Some things never change," Harry said, laughing as they left. He gave James a hug. "Take care of Frederica for us," he told James.

"I will, although I think that Liam's already decided that he'll be taking the lead with that."

Ginny hugged him next, and kissed his cheek. "I know your team didn't win today, James, but I think you played brilliantly considering you played a lot of the game five on seven, and you should be very proud of yourselves."

"Thanks, Mum," he told her, hugging her back. "Good luck with your game next week."

James exchanged hugs with the rest of his family, and with Aaron and Tracey before he and Arianna went back inside to sit with Darryl, Tamara, and Frederica.

She was already awake when they came back in, although she looked exhausted.

"Welcome back," James told her, giving her a very gentle hug. "We've been worried about you."

Frederica smiled at him. "I hear Aunt Hermione and Uncle Harry rode to my rescue."

Arianna nodded after hugging her too. "They seem to be making a habit of that," she told Frederica.

George laughed. "I 'ear that," he quipped, tugging on the ear that Hermione, Harry, and Isabelle had restored for him a few Christmases ago, after spending years trying to find a way to repair the injury that had been caused by a Dark Arts curse.

When Frederica found out that James and Arianna were staying with his three injured teammates for a while, she'd grinned at them.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," she told them. "I have no intention on ever doing this again just so the two of you can get an extra hour or two together after a game."

Madame Pomfrey came back over to Frederica after seeing she was awake, and had her drink the restorative.

"She'll probably be asleep soon, and sleep until after dinner," she told them before moving on the check on her other two patients.

George and Marietta gave Frederica hugs and kisses. "We'll stay until you fall asleep, sweetie, and then we'll leave you in Liam's capable care," Marietta told her daughter. "If you need anything, let us know."

"I will. Thanks, Mum," she said, already getting drowsy. "This feels very nice," she added dreamily. Within another few moments, she was asleep.

George and Marietta hugged Liam, James, and Arianna, and then left the hospital wing for home.

Liam pulled up a chair next to Frederica's bed, and sat there holding her hand, and watching her peaceful-looking, beautiful face. James put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and then he and Arianna sat in chairs between Darryl and Tamara, talking with them quietly until first Darryl's parents, and then Tamara's arrived to see their kids.

James had met both of his teammates parents when they'd come to see their kids play their first game last November, and they'd appreciated that he'd come and stayed with their kids until they'd been notified, and could get here. They talked for a few minutes, and then James and Arianna left them alone with their kids.

"Liam," James said quietly to his young friend, "I'll bring something up for you from dinner, alright?"

Liam nodded his thanks, not taking his eyes from Frederica. Both boys knew there was no point in suggesting he leave her and go eat. If that had been Arianna there, James wouldn't have moved until she was allowed to leave too. Arianna gave Liam a hug and then she and James left.

He walked her to the school gates, and they shared a long hug and kiss goodbye.

"I'll see you next week on QSPN," he told her with a smile.

"And I'll see you in person in Hogsmeade, two weeks from today," she answered. "Don't forget to wear that sweater."

James laughed. "I won't. I love you Arianna. Be careful next week. It's been so long since we've had any major injuries, I sometimes forgot that this game we love to play does have a certain amount of danger to it."

"We should be fine next week. That first game against the Harpies cured Sebastian and Tristan of their aversion about playing their best against the Witches in the league. The Harpies two Beaters nearly took the heads off of both boys several times."

They kissed one more time – or two depending on whether you counted the brief delay to get air as enough of a break to make it two kisses, and then Arianna went out the gates, and Apparated to the cottage to give Harry and Ginny an update on Frederica.

James wasn't surprised to find Lily waiting for him in the entrance hall with a hug.

"How's Frederica?" she asked quietly as they walked toward the Gryffindor Common room.

"Sleeping. Liam is staying with her. I doubt even Madame Pomfrey will have the heart to separate them tonight."

Lily grinned at him. "I never thought about that! What a brilliant idea for getting to spend the whole night with your boyfriend!"

James laughed. "I'm fairly certain that she's not thinking it was that great at all," he told Lily. "We're pretty lucky to have some very talented Witches and Wizards in our family to save our butts when things like this happen."

"I know. After you went back in, Aunt Hermione told Mum just how badly her arm had been hurt. That was a really unfortunate hit, but if she hadn't been there, Jeremy might not have gotten up again at all – the bludger she did stop could have been really serious."

James nodded. "She played amazing going up against two really experienced Beaters alone for most of the game. That pretty much showed everyone why the sorting hat put her in Gryffindor."

They reached the Gryffindor portrait hole, and Lily hugged him again.

"I'll see you at dinner," she told him. "If you need anything from your Ravenclaw relations, just let us know and we'll come running."

"Thanks, Lily. I'll see you later."

Liam was still sitting by Frederica's bed and holding her hand when she woke up. Liam smiled at her, stood up, and leaned over to give her a feather-soft kiss.

"Hi, Frederica," he said quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good. I think I like waking up to kisses from you. Can we try that again sometime?"

Liam smiled at her. "Anytime you want to," he told her.

"What time is it?" she asked, seeing that it was dark outside the windows.

"Dinner's probably wrapping up in the Great Hall," he answered. "You've been out for quite a few hours now."

"Funny, I still feel really tired, but my arm doesn't hardly hurt – just a bit stiff and sore."

"Your aunt Hermione said you'd be really tired for a while 'cause of how much healing your arm took out of you."

"She was right," Frederica agreed, starting to doze again. "Liam? Will you stay here with me?"

"I won't leave until you do, Frederica," he promised her, and watched as she fell asleep again.

Frederica was the centre of attention for the rest of the weekend. James took a plate of food and some dessert up to Liam, and Madame Pomfrey allowed brief visits by her cousins, who came up in pairs. Al and Carolyn had come up before dinner with Rose and Matt, each couple only staying for a minute, more to comfort a still distraught Liam than help their sleeping cousin and friend.

After dinner, it was Nick, Scorpius, Allie, and Brianna taking turns, followed by Lily and Kieran, who'd both given Liam big hugs. They'd all been glad to report to the others that Frederica had been awake, however briefly, and that she'd told Liam that her arm had felt a lot better.

"Remind me when she's better, and out of here, to congratulate you," Liam told Kieran with a faint smile.

"I will," Kieran answered, his voice gentle and understanding.

The last visitor of the night was James. When Madame Pomfrey saw that someone had come in after the students were all supposed to be in bed, she'd come out of her office to meet him.

"Oh, James," she said, "Have you come to take Liam back to Gryffindor House?"

James smiled. "I really doubt I could," he told her. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind if I just move one of the other beds over next to hers and let him sleep here?"

She looked at the still worried-looking Liam. They were such an adorable pair, she just couldn't say no.

"I must be getting soft in my old age," she muttered, and James laughed quietly.

"You're a big fake," he told her, and gave her a hug that surprised both of them. "You're one of the sweetest people I know. The rest is just an act."

She smiled at him. "Tell anyone, and I'll make your next visit here for medical attention very unpleasant," she promised him.

James moved a bed over next to Frederica's, and ordered Liam into it.

"It's that or back to your dormitory room, mate. Your choice," James told him.

"Fine," Liam said,and climbed up onto the bed after kissing Frederica, who seemed to smile at the touch of his lips on hers.

James stood next to her bed. "Take care of her for me," he told Liam. "I'm rather fond of my youngest cousin." He kissed her forehead. "Sleep well, Frederica. I'll see you in the morning."

Liam nodded to him, and lay on his side so he could watch Frederica. James checked in on Darryl and Tamara, who were both sound asleep, and then left to go back to the Gryffindor Common room. He gave updates to the group of kids who'd waited up for him to return, and then went off to bed, too tired to even think anymore.

Frederica and Tamara were both released in time for breakfast on Sunday morning, and Liam spent the rest of the day pampering his girlfriend, and making sure that she didn't overdo it.

While the New Marauders did do all of their homework on Sunday, James, and a few other Gryffindors also stopped in to spend time with Darryl so that he had company most of the day. He slept a lot too, but Madame Pomfrey didn't seem concerned with that, and told the kids that Darryl would be able to go back to their House by Monday – Tuesday at the latest.

James, and most of the older students had always thought of the time between the February Quidditch game and Easter as being the most boring time at school. This year there were eight long weeks until Easter, but the big difference they had this time was the personal interest they all had in the Canons' season, and for James, the two out of three Hogsmeade weekends that he had to look forward to spending with Arianna. It might be a long stretch to end winter, but this year those weeks were going to be anything but boring.


	79. Eight Weeks for the Record Books

Chapter Seventy-Nine – Eight Weeks for the Record Books

When the last Saturday in February arrived, Frederica, Tamara, and Darryl were all healthy again, and back to their normal routines. Darryl had strenuously protested his ban from playing Quidditch for the rest of the school year, but his parents and Headmistress had agreed with Madame Pomfrey's medical recommendation.

"I'm sorry, Darryl," James had told the boy when he'd come to ask James for help. "We're going to miss having you on the team a lot, but playing Quidditch isn't worth permanently scrambling your brains for. If it helps, just remember that technically you're going out undefeated. We'll see what they say about trying out for the team next season."

With the extra time James was spending with his injured teammates, and also because he had three injured teammates, he had given the Gryffindor team the entire week off to recuperate from Saturday's loss.

It had been the Monday after the game before he'd even remembered that he hadn't really officially congratulated the Hufflepuff team and their captain, so he'd made sure to do that at breakfast in the Great Hall that morning.

His fellow Gryffindors hadn't been all that upset about the loss considering how close the game had been, and how hard their team had battled, and stayed in the game, with only five players. Frederica was even something of a hero among her fellow Gryffindors.

Saturday morning, the New Marauders worked on their weekend homework assignments and reports through until lunchtime, and then after lunch, set up for an afternoon of Canons Quidditch. This week's opponent was game two of the season against the Harpies – this one at home.

With the win over the Magpies, the Canons had played each of the other teams in the league once, and the remaining eight games would be rematches. The whole league scheduling thing could get really complicated, but basically you played every team once, and then which teams you played a second time was set up depending on previous season's standings.

"Any guesses on what the flying demonstration will be today?" Emily asked excitedly as they all settled down to watch the game.

"No idea," Hugo told her. "We can't get our Dad to even give us a clue. I think that extending the media ban to your kids is just going too darn far."

They didn't have long to wait as the Harpies were introduced – to the boos of the Canons' hometown crowd, and then the Canons were introduced after the Harpies had landed.

Today's flying feat was an aerial acrobatics display on brooms, and the kids, and everyone watching at the stadium, and everywhere else in the world could only look on in amazement.

"Please tell me that my Mum and Dad are not doing a broom trapeze act a hundred feet in the air," James said, staring as his father caught his mother's arms while hanging upside down from his broom, swinging her in a big circle around his own broom, and then letting her go so she could sail back to her broom, landing safely, and smiling the whole time.

Lily began to laugh. "You do realize that they're spoofing the media circus, don't you, James? I think it's absolutely brilliant!"

"Speak for yourself, Lily," Rose told her cousin. "Your parents aren't circus clowns like our Dad is."

James laughed as he finally noticed his uncle Ron, in an orange clown outfit, flying crazily about and playing with the Canons fans.

"I'd been so busy watching Mum and Dad that I didn't even see him. What's he doing to the crowd?" he asked.

"Throwing them sweets, I think," Al said.

Carolyn nodded. "Looks like it – and isn't that a bunch of the kids from the residence right where he's throwing now?"

That had been one of the things that they'd heard all about on their visits to the residence over the holidays – that the kids got to take turns going to the Canons home games.

The mini-circus only lasted a few minutes, and then they landed, met with the Harpies, and the game quickly got started. The Marauders had laughed as they listened to the Commentators who obviously hadn't gotten that the joke of the flying demonstration had been on them. Memo to QSPN – add 'sense of humour' to commentator job description.

James watched a lot more nervously today than he had in any other game this season. What had happened to Frederica last Saturday had reminded all of them of the dangers of the game. He noticed that the couples around him were snuggled a little closer today too – especially Frederica and Liam.

They didn't have anything real to worry about. The Harpies may have had a game against them already to help them prepare for this match, but that made no difference at all.

When Ginny reached the Quaffle first, and then nearly identically duplicated Kieran's opening scoring play from a week ago, they'd all laughed as the announcer had fumbled over a way to describe the play.

"How cool is that?" Lily asked Kieran. "Maybe they'll name that move after you."

Brianna started to laugh too. "They could call it the 'Mack Attack!" she told the others.

"That's good," Lily complimented her. "I'll send Tracey a qm and suggest it. The media will love it."

Ron must have really liked some of Kieran's plays last week, because they used several of them, and also made up some really cool variations of them that kept the Harpies guessing all day.

During the next three hours, they watched the Canons run the Harpies team ragged trying to keep up with them. The score continued to climb as Ron stopped nearly everything, and Aaron, Arianna, and Ginny put together another Chaser clinic for their fans as lucky lesson number thirteen was taught. When the score hit eleven hundred and fifty to sixty, Harry had the green light to end the game. Final score: thirteen hundred to sixty.

With the game over, and dinner not far away, the New Marauders cleaned up, and went to their dorm rooms to freshen up and get the books that they needed for their evening study session.

They still tried to take Sunday's off, but it was harder to do this year with so many more weekends where they were all busy with watching Canons Quidditch or Hogsmeade weekends.

March was starting out great, with a Hogmeade weekend on the first Saturday of the month. The Canons were off, so when James got to the gates of the school, Arianna was there, with a big hug and kiss ready for him.

"There they go," Al told Carolyn as they walked toward the gates with Scorpius and Brianna. "I guess she doesn't miss us at all," he added, grinning at the others.

"Leave them be," Carolyn told him. "That's going to be us in a few years – at least for the last year Brianna and I will be here." She looked over to where Lily and Kieran were walking with Nick and Allie. "Maybe two years for some of us," she added, indicating Kieran.

"We'll figure something out by then," Al assured her. "Maybe Scorpius and I will come teach here."

Scorpius laughed. "Speak for yourself, mate. I'd make a lousy Professor."

Brianna grinned at him. "I don't know about that," she told him. "You'd definitely be my favourite, although there's a good chance I'd be getting in trouble a lot so I'd get sent to your office on a regular basis."

Al, Carolyn, and Scorpius laughed. The two couples were spending the day together, and they started out their morning shopping for clothes for the girls. The recent breakfast memory of Lily testing out and approving the soft sweater that Arianna had gotten James for Valentine's Day had a lot to do with Al and Scorpius each buying their girlfriends a cashmere sweater, while the girls also picked out new jeans that happened ot be from the new SpellBound line of clothes, two blouses for Brianna, and one blouse that Carolyn had fallen in love with.

They then moved on to getting supplies, sweets, and wheezes for themselves, and for Frederica, Liam, and Colin. The Three Broomsticks looked packed, so they instead squeezed into Puddifoot's Tea Shop.

"Is it just me, or is this place just about the tackiest restaurant you've ever seen?" Brianna asked the others quietly. "No wonder we've never gone here before."

Carolyn grinned at her. "I don't think that most of the couples in here are looking at the décor," she told her best friend. "They all seem to be occupied in other activities."

Al and Scorpius laughed. "There has to be some reason why anybody would come back here a second time. That must be why," Scorpius said.

After lunch, they all decided to just head back to school and get an early start on their studies. Now that they were veterans of Hogsmeade weekends, the thrill had mostly worn off for them, so staying until the last possible minute wasn't that big a deal anymore.

Most of the New Marauders had the same idea, and their usual study room filled up quickly as they all got back from town and settled down to spend the rest of the day working.

Most of them did not include James. He and Arianna had done a little morning shopping, and then gone to their little Hogsmeade hideaway in the back of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

They snuggled on the sofa for the rest of the morning, content to just hold each other, and talk about anything that came to mind. Arianna had most of the house decorating done, and told him all about every detail, from paint to furniture and everything in between.

James talked about his classes, and Quidditch, and his prefect duties, and Arianna talked about the Canons. They made lunch together, and then watched the Falcons-Catapults game o QSPN2. The Canons would be playing both teams again, and watching the game had been Arianna's homework assignment for the weekend.

He hadn't minded at all, since it was an excuse to hold her in his arms while they watched the game, and she took notes. James tried to be good while she worked, but he just couldn't help himself on a few occasions during the game, when nibbling an earlobe, or kissing that long, lovely neck of hers just became too tempting to resist. Arianna would allow herself to be distracted at least until they'd hear words like 'score' or 'save' on the WWVN and she'd turn her attention back to the game in time to at least catch the replays.

When it was time to say goodbye, the hugs and kisses took a bit longer, because it would be six more weeks until they'd see each other in person again at the Hogsmeade day that fell on the Easter weekend this year.

James had to hurry to get back to school on time. Arianna left Hogsmeade for Aaron and Tracey's house, where she knew that her brother and sister-in-law would comfort her just as Lily and Kieran were doing for James when he walked into the entrance hall at Hogwarts.

March started with a Hogsmeade weekend, and it would be ending with one too. The students at Hogwarts were already a quarter of the way to easter, and it had mostly been pretty interesting so far.

James had one more addition to his workload that started after the Hogsmeade weekend – as if he wasn't busy enough. That was Apparition lessons. With so many students at Hogwarts, the class was taught twice a year, and since his birthday was in June, he'd been placed in the second class.

There were probably a lot of factors that went into it, but he was able to apparate right from his first try, and every other attempt after that. Since he could only practice during those training classes, he amused himself, and nearly everyone else in his class by apparating all over the Hall. Nobody knew where he'd pop up next, and even the stern-looking instructor was caught laughing briefly at his antics.

The second Saturday in March, after spending the morning studying, as usual, the New Marauders again setup, then settled in to watch the Canons play a road game at Puddlemere United.

When the Canons were introduced, they all watched expectantly as their team flew out into the stadium and performed another amazing flying demonstration for the United fans. What happened when the game started, though, made everyone completely forget about it.

The United team had been introduced, and flew out to the cheers of their fans, met with the Canons at centre pitch, and got ready to play.

When the Quaffle was thrown into the air, along with the bludgers and snitch, the Canons team didn't fly into the air in chase of the bludgers and Qauffle – they instead all ran interference against the entire United team as Harry tore off faster than any of the kids had ever seen him go before.

"What are they doing?" Rose had time to exclaim before their attention was completely captured by the announcer.

"They're off!" the play-by-play QSPN announcer told his viewing audience. "What's this? The Canons seem to be – HARRY POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH WITCHES AND WIZARDS!" he shouted. Most of the fans hadn't even seen it, and while a camera had captured Harry making the catch, that camera hadn't been the 'live' one, and so the WWVN audience had to wait to see it on replay.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said breathlessly, "For those of you that saw it, you just saw the unbreakable record fall!"

Lily was bouncing around so much that Kieran looked like he was on some kind of amusement park ride instead of sitting next to her on a sofa.

"What's the 'unbreakable record'?" Therese asked the others, having never heard of it before.

Quidditch master Hugo Weasley answered her question immediately.

"The fastest ever catch of the snitch," he told her in a voice that was hushed and awed.

"Roderick Plumpton set it in 1921, one hundred years ago, catching the snitch in three point five seconds. He always claimed it had been intentional right up until the day he died, but pretty much everyone thought it had been just plain dumb luck. It's like the Holy Grail record for Seekers, and my Uncle Harry has it!" He had to wait while they watched the replay, the commentary, and the stop clock that had been inset to show everyone just how fast it had happened.

"That's right, Quidditch fans," the announcer was saying. "You can clearly see that the Canons' Seeker catches the snitch at three point two nine seconds! I've watched it five times now, and I still can't believe it!"

Rose was laughing and cheering. "And they can't even try to say it was lucky. Look at that replay – the whole team was in on the try – it was definitely a designed play to give him a free shot at finding and catching it!"

Lily's Wicomm vibrated, and she opened it up to read the QuillMessage that had been sent to her, then started laughing too.

"Listen to this," she told the others. "It's from Tracey. She says – 'Your Dad asked me to send this if it worked. Tell Matt, You're welcome'."

"What does that mean?" Allie asked as about half of their group started laughing, including Matt.

"This was their answer to my Dad's request not to run it up on our team," Matt told her. "I guess they agreed that our fans deserved something better than that, since they'd so vocally complained about last year's games being really poor sportsmanship our United team. What better way to thank them than by making their stadium 'the place' where the record was shattered?"

He got out his WiComm and forwarded the message to his Dad, who he knew was at the game, while they watched yet another replay of the catch.

"Any Arithmancy experts got the calculations on that?" Nick asked them. "I didn't know that even the Lightningbolt went that fast."

Lily smiled at her cousin. She'd finally calmed down again, and was happily snuggling with Kieran. "It will go faster than claimed," she told Nick. "They just didn't have a tester willing to take it to the real limit."

She only needed an extra few moments to make the calculations. "He just barely topped one hundred miles an hour when he caught the snitch," she announced. "Topped out at one-forty at five seconds when he started decelerating."

"He did naught to one hundred in three point two nine seconds?" Nick said incredulously. "And to one-forty in five seconds?"

Lily nodded. "I'd say that Lightningbolts are going to get a new set of specifications put out on them in the very near future."

They continued to watch the post-game broadcast, which would likely set a new record itself, since at fifteen minutes long was already closing in on three hundred times longer than the game had been.

The on-field interviews that QSPN were doing was being piped live into the stadium, since the fans didn't look like they were ready to leave yet, and everyone was watching the replays on the big scoreboard WWVN's.

When Harry was interviewed, and told the reporter that their record-breaking attempt had been done specifically to thank the United fans, and he'd also mentioned Tony and Matt Goldstein by name as being the fans who'd reminded them about just what a great group of Quidditch fans the United team had, the stadium had erupted in cheers.

"You better hide for the rest of the day, mate," Al suggested to Matt. "There isn't going to be a United fan anywhere in the school that isn't going to be looking for you after that endorsement."

Matt grinned at him. "Why would I hide? That's probably going to be my entire five minutes of fame. I might as well enjoy it."

It took the Quidditch Sports Network experts another twenty minutes to come up with the same answer Lily had given them in seconds about how fast Harry had been going. They talked together for a while longer while they watched the replays and commentary continue, but the whole thing got tedious, and they all agreed to wrap it up and get back to studying instead so that they had a chance to get all of their work done today, and have the day off on Sunday.

The week after that game saw two more records fall – one in Quidditch, and one in music. On March fifteenth, the National team for Britain was announced. The Patonga Proudsticks of Uganda had the World Cup record six team players being named to the Ugandan National Team over twenty-five years ago.

That record ended when the entire Canons team, and their coaches were named to be Britain's team, to the overwhelming support of Wizarding Britain's Quidditch fans. There had been some bickering about having two members of the team that were Canadian, but the Canons had been way ahead of them, and Sebastian and Tristan had already become legal residents and were also home-owners, so they had every right to play for the National team if they chose to.

The music record went to Kieran and Lily. SpellBound became the fastest artists – solo or group – to sell ten million albums in the Wizarding World. They now had three albums, including the Christmas one, all platinum or multi-platinum selling, and it was the first album that had passed ten million to achieve the Diamond award in less than seven months.

Five weekends straight the New Marauders had been busy with extra-curricular activities. There were probably other students that thought they were nuts to actually be happy about having absolutely nothing going on for the third weekend in March.

They were happy about it, though. Since more than half of them were in fifth year or above, the homework load was really heavy, and would stay that way right through exams now. Having a weekend with no interruptions allowed them all to not only get their assignments done, but to also work ahead on some of their bigger project assignments, even though they weren't due to be handed in for a while.

Those announcements about the Canons and about SpellBound had caused some excitement around school, but for the most part, those two weeks went by smoothly, and between classes, homework, and Quidditch practices, the Marauders all got a lot done.

Weather-wise, March definitely went out like a lamb, and the Hogwarts students had a pretty nice, warm day for their trip to Hogsmeade. Arianna and the Canons were at home against the Appleby Arrows today, so she wasn't going to be able to meet James for the day. The good news for both of them was that it at least marked the halfway point until they would see each other at the next Hogsmeade weekend.

James was girlfriend free, so he'd volunteered to pick up the supplies for the first year Marauders, while the 'couples' did their own thing. He picked up everything on his shopping lists, and a few extra treats for Frederica, Liam, and Colin that included this year's Easter Wheezes, and hurried back to school. He wanted to get some more work done before they'd all be sitting down to watch the Canons-Arrows game. If his first year self had seen this sixth year version, he probably would have pranked him, and told the older kid to get a life.

The rest of the group spent the whole morning there, and had lunch before going back to school in time to setup for their sixth private game-watching party of the year.

Fifteen minutes before game time, the whole group was settled in and talking animatedly about their respective mornings while they waited for Canons' Lesson Number Fifteen to start.

The sports commentators were still talking about the entire Canons' team being named to the National team, and about what was now simply known as 'The Catch'.

"My 'Mack Attack' is a cooler name for a play than that," Brianna told everyone. "Maybe I should go into the business – they obviously need some creative help."

The Appleby Arrows were announced, and they flew around the field once to the boos of the Canons fans, and landed along the sidelines to give the Canons the whole field to do whatever they were going to throw at their hometown crowd today.

When the Canons came out, and set up their flying formation, at first, the uneducated flyer might not have realized just how difficult the stunt was that they did.

They were in a four on the bottom, three on the top pyramid setup, and as they began flying around the stadium, the top three flyers – Arianna, Harry, and Ginny rolled, and flew inverted. They were all able to look each other in the eyes had they not been concentrating so hard, and they were all grinning broadly, but they weren't done yet.

The missing element they added first was speed. Keeping the same distance from each other, they sped up with each lap until they were at nearly two hundred miles an hour, and then they turned toward the centre of the stadium, went vertical, and did a loop at about three hundred feet so that when they returned to stadium level for one last circuit, their inverted pyramid was itself inverted, with the three players now upright on the bottom, and Ron, Aaron, Sebastian, and Tristan now above them and inverted, still keeping the exact same tight spacing.

The fans had been cheering wildly, and continued to applaud their team when they landed on the field.

"That was possibly their best one so far," James said quietly. "It didn't look as flashy, but that was really, really hard to do."

The two teams met at the centre pitch, and the referee got the game started quickly. The Arrows fans watching from home were not going to be the benefactors of any Canons' attempts at record breaking snitch catches this week. Lesson fifteen was right back to the normal for this year. Score early, and score often.

Where the Tornados had tried heavy defense, this time around the Arrows tried going full out, go-for-broke offense. That plan was abandoned when they realized that the Canons – meaning Ron – had perfectly guessed their game plan, and literally tore it apart in front of them. After giving up twenty-three straight breakaways to the Canons by coughing up turnovers to their Chasers, they regrouped, and went back to the 'plan B' they'd also put together.

Too bad they didn't know that Ron had that predicted to a tee also, and the Canons just continued to roll, which absolutely infuriated the Arrows coach.

"He doesn't seem to like it much when it's his team taking the beating," Jon commented as he snuggled happily with Therese.

"Then he should have thought about that last year," Rose said, totally unsympathetically.

The Canons entertained their fans for just over two and a half hours before Harry ended the game again with his fifteenth consecutive game ending catch. Final score this week – Canons, nine hundred and seventy, Arrows, ten.

"I wonder why Coach let it end so soon?" Hugo asked.

"He's planning ahead," Rose told her brother. "Now that they'll have both the playoffs, and then be going right into World Cup play, he's going to start pacing the team. I'll wager they won't play another game over two and a half hours the rest of the way – maybe not even two hours."

"That makes sense," Nick agreed. "It's going to be a long year – especially if they make it to the Quidditch World Cup finals."

They had another 'free' weekend between the Arrows game weekend, and the Conons next road game against the Kestrals. They moved out of March and into April with a sense of excitement as the first signs that spring was truly here began to appear.

There were some days that were warm enough to again start going outside for walks, even if the ground was too marshy still to sit out under the trees after classes or on the weekends.

The Kestrals game was so lopsided that it was hardly worth watching, which even Coach must have thought, because he allowed Harry to catch the snitch at the one hour, fifty-two minute mark – and the Canons still won by a score of one thousand and eighty to naught.

That game was noteworthy to the New Marauders for one reason – there was just one more week until Easter. For James that meant that five of his six weeks until he and Arianna would have another day together were over.

That last week leading up to Easter was very busy. For Kieran and his Hufflepuff team, it meant that they were just under four weeks away from their last game of the season, and their workouts started really getting tough again as they prepared to play Slytherin.

They were all busy with their studies, and then there were also TNM's Easter plans. There were gifts to get for the kids they helped, and extra mentoring needed too. Before they knew it, Saturday had arrived.

While most of the Marauders had gathered together at the entrance hall to walk into town together, James had shot out of the Great Hall the moment he knew they could leave for town, and was probably already at the gates meeting with Arianna by the time the others even got outside.

"Would you miss me that much if we were in the same position?" Laura asked Andy.

He grinned at her. "Nope, because I'd kidnap you, and either keep you in my room here if I was here and you were graduated, or home school you if it was the other wqy around."

"That's kind of sweet in a twisted sort of way," Therese told him, and Laura laughed at her.

"I'm glad we're not," Laura said. "If you were homeschooling me, there's only one subject that you'd want to teach, and you can't take a NEWT exam in snogging."

"Maybe not," Andy agreed, "but you'd earn an 'O' from your Professor for sure."

The three sixth year couples, including Matt and Rose toured around town together, while the rest of them split up into two more groups. Lily and Kieran went with Al and Carolyn today, while Nick and Scorpius went around town with Allie and Brianna.

The last group had the first year supply run duties today, so they were a bit busier than the others, but they had a warm, sunny day to wander around, and with no Canons game to hurry back to watch, could spend most of the day in town.

James and Arianna spent most of their morning shopping. They met up with Jon, Andy, Matt, and the girls in FashionKnut, and he had fun with the other guys watching their girlfriends trying on clothes, and then talking them in to buying some of the outfits (or making the purchases themselves).

He bought her a big chocolate Easter bunny at Honeydukes, and after picking up the supplies he needed for school, including restocking his potions kit, they went to their back room getaway at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

They spent the rest of their day snuggling, and having a private lunch together. The other New Marauders were enjoying themselves while they were in town too, even if they weren't having the snogging kind of fun that James and Arianna were having. There were Wheezes to shop for, and clothes to buy, and walks to have along the lake, and lunch at the Three Broomsticks. The afternoon was spent picking up supplies, and then it was time to start back to school.

James and Arianna had another long goodbye snogging session. There were ten weeks left at school, and they were only going to see each other at the two Hogwarts Quidditch games. The first was now three weeks away, and they'd be able to sit together for it, and the second one he'd be playing in. For both games there'd be no private time at all.

The rest of the weekends were either Canons game weekends, Hogsmeade weekends with Canons games too, or exam and league playoff weeks. Two and a half months of non-stop action except for any of the kind of action they'd both like to have a little more of – any of.

"I really better get going now," James said after they came up for air. "I'll practically have to run all the way to get back in time."

Arianna nodded. "I've got something I'd like you to think about for a while and give me an answer to after you've had time to think about it."

"What's that?" he asked, starting to gather his shopping bags together.

"I know how much you like working with your Uncle George all summer," she began, "But I was wondering if you'd think about taking the whole summer off and traveling with us – the team – with me instead."

He looked at her in surprise. "I never really thought about that. Will you be gone that much?"

Arianna nodded. "If we make it all the way, we'll be gone most of the summer, James. None of the games are in Britain this year."

James didn't have to think about it for a while at all.

"Yes," he told her with a grin.

"Just like that?" she said, pulling him into another hug.

"Check with Coach – maybe I can train on your practice team so I'm not totally bored while you're working, but there's no way I'm going to be apart from you all summer too – even if all I'm doing is sitting in a hotel room waiting for you to come home every day."

That earned him one last knee-wobbling kiss from Arianna before he not only had to run, but needed to have Arianna side-along apparate him to the gates so that he could make it back on time.

"Darn," Lily said as she saw him come in. "Thirty seconds to spare." She walked over and gave him a big hug. "You look happy. That's a good sign."

"I am," he said, hugging her back.

"Then let's get up to the study room and get to work. We have an hour until dinner, and all evening, but we have a lot to cover today."

"Yes, ma'am," he agreed, and they went off to join the rest of their group and get to work.

Sunday morning, the students of Hogwarts all woke up to find notices posted around their Dorm rooms and Common room that TNM had set up an Easter Egg hunt for them. There were five thousand eggs hidden around the school, and each egg had different surprises inside.

They were also told that there was just one 'Golden Egg', and that whoever found that should take it to Professor McGonagall to find out what the prize was for finding it. The only other hint that the kids received was that every egg was in plain sight.

The hunt was on, and some kids even skipped breakfast as they searched all over the school for the eggs. Most of the eggs had treats like Chocolates in them. Some of them had Virtual GameWizard games hidden inside or toys or 3D-VMP music. Five of them had instructions on where to find the Virtual GameWizard they'd just 'won', and five more had the same instructions for 3D-VMP players.

The golden egg wasn't found by the end of breakfast, or by the end of lunch. The school had pretty much been torn apart from top to bottom by dinnertime, but nobody had approached Professor McGonagall with the egg – until nearly the end of dinner. That was when a shy, quiet little first year Hufflepuff girl from the residence walked up to stand in front of their Headmistress.

"May I help you, child?" Professor McGonagall asked the sweet little girl, who smiled shyly, nodded, and took the golden egg out of her robe pocket and handed it to the Profesor.

"Ah," Professor McGonagall said with a smile, standing up. "May I have your attenton, everyone? Thank-you. This young lady has just presented me with the golden egg that you have all searched high and low for. Congratulations young lady, well done!"

There was a scattered applause around the room, and everyone was watching to find out what the prize would be. They didn't have to wait, as Professor McGonagall pulled it out from behind the table and presented the brand new Lightningbolt broom to the now stunned young girl, who managed to thank her before walking back toward her table.

The New Marauders were a pretty happy group at the outcome, but what happened next surprised even them. The little girl walked right up to the Hufflepuff Quidditch team captain, whispered something in his ear, and then handed the now equally astonished boy the broom. He whispered something back to her, and watched as she nodded, and then he hugged her before she returned to her seat empty-handed.

After dinner, the New Marauders were together to finish their studying, which had been put behind schedule with the day's events, and Kieran told them that the little girl had told their captain that she didn't like to fly, and that she wanted him to have it because he really deserved it.

"They're really doing something right at the residence," Lily said happily. "You do know we're going to have to do something special for her now, right?"

They'd all nodded. "We'll leave that in your capable hands, Lily," James told her.

With that decided, they got down to work. The day's fun was over, even though the occasional egg would still be discovered now and then for most of the week. Easter was the last special day of the school year. It's ending, for the students of Hogwarts, meant the impending resumption of Quidditch and the final two games that would decide who would win this year's Quidditch Cup. This year's hype over the Canons' amazing season just added to the excitement that was building around school, and the next month and a half were shaping up to be really great for everyone.


	80. Quidditch Rules Hogwarts School

Chapter Eighty – Quidditch Rules Hogwarts School

The Quidditch fans at Hogwarts had lots of excitement to look forward to in the latter half of April. After Easter they had three weeks until the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match, but there were lots of professional Quidditch matches available to watch on WWVN on the two Saturdays between.

The die-hard team fans were certainly watching their teams play – especially any in the race for a playoff spot, but nearly everyone was also watching the two back-to-back Canons road games too as they continued their undefeated season.

Lily managed to keep everyone organized and focused on their school work and was creative enough to juggle the practices of three Quidditch teams and study sessions, while still leaving everyone time to watch the games on Saturday afternoons, and have most of Sunday off for their play days.

First up for the Canons was their road game against the Catapults. The New Marauders were in their sixth floor classroom after lunch, watching the pre-game show, and settling in to comfortable sofas, and for most of them, snuggling with girlfriends or boyfriends.

Lily had come prepared for James this week, and although he knew she was teasing him when she plopped Fluffy into his lap so he'd had someone to cuddle with, he actually didn't mind having the soft, white kneazle cat curl up there, start purring, and fall asleep to his gentle strokes along her back.

"Apparently Fluffy really isn't interested in watching the game like you suggested, Lily," Andy told her with a grin.

"She's just resting up," Lily told him. "She thinks these pre-game shows are boring."

"More like she's waiting for the snacks to get opened up, and then she'll desert James in a second to the first one of us that she can mooch some food from," Hugo said.

"Don't listen to them, Fluffy," Lily told her cat. "They just don't know that you're actually the smartest one in the room."

"How do you figure that?" Jon asked. "We all thought it was you."

Lily laughed. "Not even close. Fluffy gets waited on hand and foot, Can do whatever she wants, and will never have to work a day in her life. What's not to like about that setup? And on top of that, she even has us thinking we're in charge."

Fluffy opened one eye and looked at Lily as if to say 'stop giving away state secrets', then closed it again as James moved on to scratching her ears and face for a while.

The rest of the Marauders were laughing, though, even if Fluffy wasn't amused.

"I never thought about it like that," Carolyn said. "Kneazles really do rule, don't they?"

"I'm sold," Jon said. "Quick, somebody turn me into a kneazle, and then I'll be able to go right into the girl's dorm and sleep at night with Therese."

"Nice try, Jon," Lily told him. "Do you really think that in over a thousand years at school that not one other boy has thought of that? The anti-Wizard spell still works, no matter what form you're in."

Nick nodded. "I heard that Scorpius' cousin Sirius tried to do it as his dog animagus, but that might just be one of the original Marauders legends."

"I guess you'll have to settle for snuggling during Saturday afternoon Quidditch games instead," Therese told her boyfriend.

Their attention was tuned to the WWVN as the Canons were welcomed to the stadium with boos from the hometown Catapult fans. The team roared into the stadium, and over the next few minutes turned the boos into cheers as they put on a mock battle between a catapult and a canon that ended when Arianna was 'shot' from the catapult created by Aaron and Ginny, and 'blew up' the Chudley Canon with a direct hit right back down the barrel that Harry had been getting shot out of during the fight, scattering Ron, Sebastian, and Tristan is a flurry of orange material and whirling brooms and Quidditch players.

"I hope they don't think that their team will do that well against ours," Rose commented as they watched the Canons land on the field to wait for the hometown team to join them.

The Catapults team flew out into the stadium, tried a few fancy flying moves that by comparison to the Canons looked more like flying lessons, and then landed next to the Canons.

"Do you give them points for trying, or take them away for bringing something that bad to the field and thinking it wouldn't look stupid?" Andy asked as they watched the team handshakes before the referee started the game.

"And they're off!" the WWVN announcer shouted as the two teams jumped into the air. The Catapults tried a similar play to what the Canons used in their last game, except aimed at Aaron, Arianna, and Ginny so that their Chasers could get to the Quaffle first. Harry foiled their plan by tail-whipping his broom as he raced past the Quaffle, and sending it sailing right to Ron, who then passed it to Aaron as the Canons Chasers went straight on to offense and caught the now scrambling Catapults off-guard, and their Keeper unassisted. That first goal was easy, and was the start of the Catapults' second lesson of the season.

Rose had been accurate in her assessment that Coach was pulling his team back a bit to start pacing them, but that didn't mean that while they were on the field that they weren't playing their hardest, because they all were.

The only difference was that the games were shorter, and in this case, Canons Lesson Number Seventeen lasted only two hours and six minutes, ending with a still crushing score of seven hundred and seventy to twenty in favour of the Canons.

"That was fun," Lily said, standing up and smiling at everyone. "Now that we have an extra couple of hours, though, let's get packed up and get to work!"

"You look way to happy about the prospect of more homework, Lily," Hugo complained.

"I am," she told him. "And you don't hate it nearly as much as you say – especially when you see those 'O's' and 'E's' on all of your assignments and tests."

Hugo gave up and stood too. "I know, cuz, and I do appreciate it – really, but there were some advantages to not working so hard before, even if maybe the marks weren't as good."

Lily laughed at him. "You think this is a lot of work, and your goal in life is to play Keeper for your father?"

Rose laughed too. "She's got you there, Hugo. Think of this as training for your future career."

The Quidditch pundits and sports experts spent the following week speculating whether the Canons would falter with their game coming up against the Pride, since they were finally having a game on just one week's rest, while the Pride had two weeks to prepare for their home game stand against the Canons.

None of the New Marauders had time to pay any attention to that sort of thing at all. Kieran and his Hufflepuff team had less than two weeks left to get ready for their game, and they were loaded down with more and more homework. Even the normally imperturbable Lily was feeling the pressure as she began studying for all twelve of her OWL exams, while keeping up with all of her assignments, tutoring, Ravenclaw Quidditch practices, and her TNM responsibilities. Occasionally, she and Kieran even managed to find an hour here and there to play music together.

James was the first one in the classroom to start setting up for their second game day party in two weeks. He was fired up for two reasons – he was going to get to see his fiancée playing Quidditch this afternoon, and today meant that he was just seven days away from seeing her in person again at the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game.

"Hey, James," Kieran said as he came into the room. "Ready to watch all of the sports pundits choke on their predictions again today?"

James laughed. "You'd think they'd learn, but I guess they're just looking for any way they can to keep the ratings up."

"Except they don't seem to understand that Witches and Wizards aren't watching to see the Canons lose, they're watching because of the high scoring, and probably in some cases, to watch the hottest looking players in the league."

While the rest of the gang arrived, the two boys worked together, getting sofas transfigured from desk chairs, and arranging the room so they'd all be able to see the WWVN when Lily got here with it and they could set it up too.

Andy, Jon, Laura and Therese were in charge of bringing snacks and drinks this time, and with now well-practiced efficiency, they were all settled in and ready for the game with time to spare.

Al and Carolyn were snuggled comfortably on one of the sofas at the back of the grouping of furniture. There were actually ten sofas for the couples, and two soft, comfortable recliners for James, Colin, and Fluffy, who'd been plopped into Colin's lap this time, since she'd discovered last week that coming for this little outing meant lots of treats to mooch.

"I like watching the Canons play," Al murmured in Carolyn's ear, "but it's the getting to cuddle with you for a couple of uninterrupted hours that I really love."

Carolyn turned her head, and kissed him tenderly. "Me too," she told him with a smile. "Maybe now that we have this going so smoothly, next year we'll add in a movie night now and then too."

"That's a very good suggestion," he told her.

The teams were brought onto the field, and the Canons did yet another amazing pre-game flying show for the Pride fans. Al and Carolyn even mostly watched the whole game – even if he was frequently concentrating more on nibbling her neck than he was on the on-screen action.

There seemed to be a number of other couples in the room similarly distracted. That shouldn't be construed to mean that the game was boring, because it wasn't, and the Canons were putting on just as much of a display of Quidditch power as they had every other game so far this season.

What it meant was that there was a room full of normal, red-blooded teenage Witches and Wizards. James just ignored them all, and Colin would frequently blush when he happened to glance away from the game, and then hurriedly turn back to the WWVN, a shy grin on his face.

The game ended with another lopsided victory – Canons, eight hundred and sixty, Pride of Portree, seventy. James was the first one standing, and he grinned at Colin and the ten couples in the room.

"Come on, guys. Snogging time for everyone except for Colin, Fluffy, and I is over. Time to get to work."

"You've taken over from Lily today?" Jon asked him.

"Somebody had to," he said, pointing at Lily, who looked like she was asleep in Kieran's arms. "Sleeping beauty there might be out for hours if I just let you all stay here cuddled up together while Colin and I got started on our homework."

Lily opened her eyes and smiled at her brother. "I've been awake the whole time," she told him. "I was just listening, and cuddling like this for a few more hours sounds really great."

"I'm sure it does," he told her with a grin. "Too bad you can't. Now move it, Potter!"

With that decision made for the group, they packed up, went to get their books, and then got to work, the only break for the rest of the weekend being meals and sleep.

Sunday night, after the Gryffindor New Marauders had returned to their Common room, Colin came and sat down next to James where he was sitting in a chair near one of the fires.

"Can I ask you a favour, James?" Colin asked hesitantly.

"Sure, Colin. What can I do for you?"

"Tomorrow's the anniversary," he told James. It took the older boy a moment to remember what anniversary Colin was talking about, and then he nodded.

"I'm going down to the Memorial stone at sunrise, and I was hoping that maybe you'd come with me."

James didn't have to ask why, and he suddenly felt a little guilty in that he'd lost an uncle in the war too, but he didn't go visit the stone very often himself.

"I'd like that Colin. How 'bout we meet here fifteen minutes before dawn, and we'll walk down together."

"Thanks James," Colin said, looking both relieved and grateful. He hesitated a moment, and then asked another question. "Do you ever wish that you could have known your uncle?"

James thought about that. "Sure, Colin, but in a way, I kinda do through my Uncle George, since everyone says they were a lot alike."

The small boy nodded. "I really wish I could have known my Uncle Colin. Mum and Dad say I'm a lot like him, but just hearing stories about him just isn't enough. It's like I feel like there's a piece missing, and I don't really know why."

James got up and gave Colin a hug. "There's a lot of Witches and Wizards that feel like that, Colin," he told his young friend. "Let's go get some rest so that we don't sleep in."

Colin had nodded, and they'd gone to their respective dorm rooms, but James didn't go right to bed. Instead he put a WiComm call in to his father.

The next morning – the twenty-fourth anniversary of the end of the war, James met Colin before dawn, and they made the walk out to the Memorial stone down by the lake.

There were already some older Witches and Wizards there, including Grandma and Grandpa Weasley, and Colin's Grandparents, who each hugged their respective grandsons when they joined them.

"It still feels hard to believe he's gone," James heard his grandmother say, "even after all of these years."

He watched as she cried into his grandfather's shoulder, and he held her comfortingly, tears in his own eyes. James realized that he'd never actually come here with his grandparents before, and he was moved to tears of his own at the continuing loss that they felt over their son's death during the Battle of Hogwarts – a loss he hadn't even seen in them before this moment.

The two boys stayed at the Memorial stone until their Grandparents left, and then James put his arm around Colin as they walked back to the school.

They were almost to the Headmistress' office before Colin even realized they weren't going to the Gryffindor Common room again.

"Why are we going this way?" Colin asked James, his face still tear-streaked, and reddened.

"We have a meeting with Professor McGonagall now," James told him as they reached the stairs to her office.

Colin didn't have time to question the why as they were swept up to the door to the office and let into the room. Colin stopped just inside the door when he saw his parents, Harry, Ginny, and Professor Longbottom. When the momentary shock wore off, he ran to his parents, and hugged and kissed them both.

"Why are you all here?" he asked them.

"Your House prefect asked us to come and give you a present," Dennis told his son, smiling sadly. This was the hardest day of the year for him, and he was having a tough time keeping it together. Demelza put a comforting hand on her husband's arm, and he let her continue telling their son why they'd come.

"James called Harry and told him about talking with you last night," she told Colin gently. "We've never thought about it before now, but there's a way that we can let you see for yourself what your Uncle was like."

She pointed to the Pensieve on the table that Colin hadn't noticed before she brought it to his attention, and he could see the swirling, misty contents inside.

"Your father, Harry, Ginny, Professor Longbottom, and I have already placed some of our memories of Colin within the Pensieve, and if you're ready, I'll go with you to take a look."

Colin had tears in his eyes again, and he hugged both of his parents again, and nodded. Demelza showed him what to do, and in a few moments, they had entered the pensieve, and the rest of the adults, and James, were left to talk quietly while they waited. Ginny could see that Dennis was losing his battle with his emotions, and she wrapped him in her arms and held him close.

James gave his father a long hug. "Thanks, Dad. Grandma and Grandpa were at the Memorial stone. I wish I had come with them before now. I don't' think I really understood the cost that the war had on them before being there with them today."

Harry hugged him, and nodded toward where his mother and Dennis were now both crying as she comforted him.

"Maybe we should have brought you kids each year," Harry agreed. "I guess we've always just been so wrapped up in our own sorrow and grief that we didn't think about it."

Dennis had started to pull it together again, and he'd nodded at Harry's comments.

"Same here," he told James. "I'm glad you let us know that this was something that Colin had such strong feelings about."

"If Teddy hadn't told me about Mum, Dad, and Professor McGonagall doing this for Teddy once, I wouldn't have thought about it either," James told them. "That little device is amazing."

Time didn't flow the same way in a pensieve as memories were relived, but time did pass, depending on how long the viewers lingered on the scenes. The five adults had placed quite a few memories into the pensieve, and so it took nearly a half hour before Colin and Demelza re-emerged.

Colin hugged his mother briefly, but then gone to his father, and hugged him for a long time, both of them crying again.

"Thank-you, Dad," was all that Colin could manage to say in a hoarse voice.

"You're welcome, son," Dennis answered, his voice just as choked with emotion.

James hugged his mother, now that Dennis was busy with Colin and Demelza, who had joined her two boys and put her arms around both of them.

"Thanks, Mum," James whispered.

"You and your friends might need to spend some extra time with him," she told him. "Teddy had his grandmother here at school to help him. Colin won't have that."

James nodded. "Don't worry, we'll be here for him," he promised.

"And if he needs me," Neville told Ginny, "I'll be here too."

The two boys stayed with their parents, and the two Professors for another fifteen minutes before they had one last round of hugs that, for Colin, included Professors McGonagall and Longbottom, and then it was time to get back to the Common room, get their books, and go down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

While they were doing that, the group of adults that had been in the office with them retrieved their memories from the pensieve, and then all went to the Memorial stone together. Harry and Ginny found Lily, Kieran, Al, and Carolyn there, just getting ready to go back to the school for breakfast.

Lily had hugs for all six of the grownups, and Kieran, Al, and Carolyn all hugged Ginny and Harry.

"Did you all come down here?" Ginny asked her daughter as they hugged.

"Yes," Lily said. She pointed out where Rose, Hugo, Matt, and Emily were a ways off now with Ron and Hermione, while Frederica and Liam were with George and Marietta, and Nick, Scorpius, Allie, and Brianna were with Percy and Penelope.

"I wish we had more time, but I guess you guys can't stay long either."

Harry nodded. It was his turn for one of her hugs, and he held Lily close. "We'll see you on Saturday for the game," he told her quietly. "We're coming with Arianna, Kirley, and Ana to watch Kieran play."

While he and Lily were talking, Al was holding his mother, and she was crying again as she remembered her brother and friends, and he comforted her. Harry smiled – his younger son was now five inches taller than his mother, and she could rest her head on a shoulder that was just the right height. If Al got much taller in the next year or so, Harry would be looking up to him too – just like he did with all of his Weasley brothers-in-law.

They stayed together for another ten minutes, and then the rest of their family joined them, and after some more hugs and kisses, the fourteen kids left for the Great Hall, and their parents all decided to head for the cottage and an impromptu family breakfast together.

James and the other Marauders made sure that they all spent extra time with Colin, and he opened up – especially to James and Lily - about what he'd been shown in the Pensieve, and they helped him and comforted him.

They were all so focused on everything they were doing, after the Anniversary on Monday, that the rest of the week seemed like a blur of classes, homework, Quiddtich, and helping their friends.

It was game time, Saturday, and James was happily sitting in the Gryffindor section of the stands with an arm wrapped around Arianna. The Gryffindor Marauders were all sitting with them, and James was hoping for a marathon game – All day would work just fine for him!

Kirley, Ana, Harry, and Ginny were sitting in the Hufflepuff section today. Allie and Lily had suggested that they could sit with Kieran's House to support him today, and the others had all readily agreed, so the Ravenclaw Marauders were surrounding Allie and Nick. Since Lily's boyfriend was unavailable for cuddling with during the game, she sat between Ginny and Ana, and chatted away with them until Andy began his pre-game warm-up.

"Welcome to game day at Hogwarts!" he told the happy, noisy crowd. "With just two games left in the season, anything can still happen!" he told the cheering fans.

"Today's game will have a huge impact on the season. We have Ravenclaw in the lead for the Quiditch Cup with two wins, while Gryffindor is in second place on points with one win, and Hufflepuff is in third, also with one win, but slightly behind Gryffindor on points." There were various cheers from the different sections of the stands as Andy talked about each team.

"Slytherin is looking for their first win of the season today, but they played an excellent game against Gryffindor to open the year, and considering how cold it was for the game against Ravenclaw, we're all just glad that game was over fast." He waited while there were cheers and boos, and more than a few laughs before continuing.

"So, Quiddtich fans," Andy said. "Here's what we have to look forward to having decided today: If Slytherin wins today, we'll have three one win teams, and Ravenclaw will have the Quidditch Cup wrapped up with their two wins. If Ravenclaw wins, we'll have two teams with a two win record going in to the final game of the year." He stopped long enough to take a breath before going on.

"I'm sure all you Arithmancy majors out there can have fun with all of the permutations if that should happen, and I'll let you to it. But now, it's time for me to get you all to put your hands together and welcome today's contestants – SLYTHERIN! and HUFFLEPUFF!"

The stands were rocking as the two teams flew out and around the stadium. As they flew, Andy kept his commentary going.

"So of you may notice that Hufflepuff's captain is sporting a new Lightningbolt for this game. For those of you who don't know, that was the generous gift from first year Hufflepuff Vanessa Branch, who won the incredible broom by finding the golden Easter egg at the TNM Easter Egg Hunt just three weeks ago." This announcement brought on cheers from the Hufflepuff section.

"What did you end up doing for Vanessa?" Allie leaned back and asked Lily quietly. "I'd meant to ask you, but keep forgetting."

Lily leaned forward, smiling. "We sent her all of the VirtualMall programs, and gave her a thousand galleons in VirtualMoney."

Allie grinned at her. "That explains it."

"Explains what?" Lily asked her friend.

"Why all of her little friends all have new things showing up in the Owl Post the last couple of weeks – new clothes, toys, that sort of thing."

Lily grinned at Allie. "Isn't she getting anything for herself?"

"I think she was wearing a new blouse the other day," Allie answered, trying to remember.

"Sounds like she'll give away anything you give her, Lily," Nick told her.

"Don't underestimate my abilities, Nick. I should have considered that she would buy things for her friends, though. I'll still find a way to reward her with something she can't give away."

The game got started, and Lily forgot about everything else except watching Kieran play. He had a whole new set of plays for this game, and the Hufflepuff team had obviously studied the Slytherin team thoroughly.

Kieran was once again the Hufflepuff goal scorer. The Slytherin Beaters tried to key in on him, but he had no problem dodging them, and his own Beaters were there backing him up. He opened up the scoring for Hufflepuff, and they slowly built up their lead as the game continued.

Hufflepuff was outscoring Slytherin by two to one, but the goals were also coming slowly for both teams. James was getting his wish, and he was cheering on both teams as the game rolled into it's fourth hour.

The score was two hundred and eighty to one hundred and forty, with Hufflepuff in the lead. There was a flurry of robes flapping from one end of the pitch that grabbed the attention of the spectators.

"They've spotted the snitch!" Andy shouted excitedly. "Yes, there it is," he confirmed, as the two Seekers dove toward a point about fifty feet in the air, in front of the right-side Slytherin goal.

"Who's going to get there first?" Andy asked the breathlessly expectant crowd of onlookers. "They're almost there, and neither are letting up at all – Look out for the Goal!" he warned them, but it was too late. Both Seekers had been so intent on what they were doing that they crashed into the goalpost at the exact same time in a mass of tangled robes and brooms. They both slid down the post to land in a heap on the ground.

"Where's the snitch?" Andy asked. "Was it captured?"

Everyone watched and waited as the two Seekers untangled on the ground, and then finally the Hufflepuff Seeker stood and held up the snitch for everyone to see.

"Hufflepuff wins!" Andy shouted. "Excellent play and try for both Seekers!" he added. "Way to give it your all for your teams!"

That catch gave Hufflepuff a four hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty point win, and now all they could do is wait and see what happened in the final game. The Hufflepuff Seeker held out his hand to the Slytherin Seeker, and they shook hands, both boys smiling. They each knew that the game-winning catch could have gone either way, and they'd just both played a really great game.

"That was another good game," James told Arianna. "I feel sorry that Slytherin didn't get a win this season. This was probably their best season in a few years, but they just caught a couple of bad breaks."

"Look at them down on the field," Arianna said, pointing out the two teams shaking hands, smiling, and laughing. "I'd say they did win this year.

"We'd better go catch up with Mum, Dad, and the others before you all have to leave," James said, standing up, and holding out his hand to Arianna.

"I guess," she agreed. "Unless you want to go try hiding somewhere, and sneak me up to your dorm after dark."

James laughed. "Can we?"

"No, but it's a nice thought," she answered regretfully.

"A really nice thought," he agreed.

The rest of the gang was already at centre field congratulating Kieran – Lily having been the first to get to him as she ran half the way, and launched herself into his arms for a long hug, and a victory kiss for her Quidditch hero.

James shook his hand and congratulated him.

"Any chance you want to put up a big score against your sister, brother, and cousins in the last game, mate?" the Hufflepuff captain asked James when they'd also shook hands.

James laughed. "I'd love to. The seventeen-sickle question is - Can we?"

"Well, you'll have two houses cheering you on, James, whatever happens. Good luck."

Harry and Ginny were talking with Kirley, Ana, Lily and Kieran, and so James turned back to them, and gave his Mum and Dad hugs.

"Will we see you at the last game?" he asked them.

"You bet," Ginny told him. "You're getting the full family treatment for that game. Nathalie and Charlie are even coming from Romania."

Harry smiled at Lily. "So, are you ready to go to your birthday party?" he asked, trying to sound casual, and totally failing.

"What birthday party?" she asked him.

"Oh, the one that Professor McGonagall is letting us give you for the next hour or so down by the lake," he told her, and she was hugging him before he'd finished the sentence.

"Who's going to be there?" she asked him, and he laughed.

"The only fair way to have visitors stay would be to have everyone stay, don't you think?" he suggested, and waved to Andy, who'd been waiting for the sign.

When he saw it, he made the announcement about the party at the lake, and all of the students and family that were there cheered loudly, and the exodus began as the large crowd moved from the stadium to where the hundreds of tables and chairs were already set up. There were buffet tables on two sides, groaning under the weight of the mounds of food needed to feed close to two thousand students, Professors, staff, and guests, and there were already four lines by the time Lily and Kieran led their large group to sit at tables and wait for the lines to slow a bit.

That party actually ended up being closer to two hours by the time everyone was able to eat, and Harry and Ginny gave Lily her birthday present, even though it was a few days early.

"Happy almost your fourteenth birthday, honey," Ginny told her as she opened her present, and pulled out a little black case. When she opened it and looked inside, she bounced up and hugged her parents.

"Thank-you!" she told them exuberantly.

"What is it?" Kieran asked her, smiling at his excitable girlfriend.

"It's the latest, best magical synthesizer out there right now," she told him, handing it to him so he could take a look at it.

"Wow!" he said, whistling. "You've been eyeing that in the VirtualMall all spring."

Lily stopped and looked at him, then suddenly threw her arms around him. "You told!" she accused.

"It might have come up in a passing qm sometime," he admitted, grinning at her impishly.

They had to wrap up the party, and the Hogwarts visitors had to leave, so the hugs and kisses started, and then the students either went into the school or went to play or relax out on the school grounds.

James walked Arianna and his family to the gates, and then hugged and kissed her goodbye.

"Good luck with your last two games," he told her quietly. "I'll see you in three weeks."

"Take care of yourself," she said just as quietly. "I love you, James."

"I love you too, Arianna."

One last hug and kiss, and he watched her walk out the gate, and then apparate home, before making the slow walk back to the school.

"Hey," Lily said, giving him a hug when he came into the entrance hall. "Ready to get to work?"

James smiled, and groaned at the same time. "Now? I thought we had the day off while Hufflepuff celebrated."

She shook her head. "Kieran and Allie get a pass, but we've got exams four weeks from Monday, and you have to do your best to get into NEWT year for everything."

"Some days not doing that sounds like the best plan. Uncle George did alright without getting any NEWT's.

"Uncle George didn't have me to pester him, or he would have stayed in his NEWT year," Lily told him confidently.

James gave in, went to get his books, and met her in their regular study classroom. It might be a total pain, but Lily was right about exams only being four weeks away, and with everything else going on, they were all going to need to use every spare moment to study.

The next week was a perfect example. James was working his Gryffindor team hard every day, but his replacement Chaser for Darryl was a long way behing being able to keep up with Liam and himself. Tamara was still playing, but she'd become much more tentative, and might just prove to be more dangerous to have on the team than not. Frederica was rock-solid, and was playing better every day, but they weren't going up against Slytherin or Hufflepuff – they were going up against one of the best teams ever at Hogwarts, who, if they had any weakness, had it in their seventh year Beater. James had no doubt that she was far better than Tamara, so that wasn't much of a weakness at all.

Tuesday was Lily's actual birthday. Kieran earned big time points to be redeemed later for hugs and kisses by giving her a portable recording studio that they could use to make song demos to send to Kirley and Ana to listen to, and start working on their fourth album. The only other thing that they did for her birthday was to have a cake for her while they studied after dinner.

Saturday was a Hogsmeade day, and the Canons were playing at home to the Falcons. With three weeks left to exams, they couldn't afford to lose a whole day of studying, so they made a quick trip to Hogmeade for supplies, each of them making one or two stops for several of them, and they were all back to school an hour before lunch, and back at their studies. That was the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year, so they'd made sure to stock up on sweets and snacks as well as their school supplies.

After a quick lunch in the Great Hall, they all hurried to their usual game day classroom on the sixth floor. This time, though, they were having a working game day, so there were no comfy sofas or recliners. They instead set up tables and chairs so that they could study and keep an eye on the game.

"This is totally a rip off," Nick told Lily. He was grinning as he tried to sound grumpy about the 'watch the game while we study' plan.

"You can snog all you want after exams," she told him unsympathetically.

Nick laughed. "Can I tell Mum and Dad that? I'd want to snog a whole lot."

Allie grinned at him. "Me too. Can you write a note for my mommy?"

"Sure, Allie, if you think it'll help," Lily said agreeably.

They didn't wait for the game to start before getting going, but they did all stop to watch the Canons' pre-game flying, and then the start of the game, just in case there were any surprises. There weren't and they went back to their work, mostly listening to the announcer as he called the game.

What they heard was a lot of 'She Scores!' as Arianna and Ginny took pass after pass from their playmaker, and 'It's Saved!' when Ron continued to baffle the Falcon's attempts to get the quaffle past him.

They'd stop and watch replays if the commentators started talking about how great this goal or that save was, but mostly they all were able to concentrate on their studies, and get a lot of work done.

The game ended at the two hour, thirty-two minute mark when Harry caught the snitch. One more Saturday at Canons stadium; one more blowout win. Final score: Canons, one thousand and ten, Falcons naught.

The last game of the Canons' regular season the following Saturday was just as big a victory to give the Canons another perfect regular season, and left them three games away from the League Championship.

With watching that game being just about the only break that the New Marauders took during that two weeks, it was with as much a sense of relief as excitement that the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch team players welcomed the arrival of game day. At least after today, they'd be able to use what had been Quidditch practice time to study for their exams that would be starting in just over a week.

Ginny hadn't been exaggerating when she told James that the family would be there today. From Grandma and Grandpa down the line, everyone had come. Kirley and Ana came with Liam's parents, brother, and sister to watch Liam, Lily, and Frederica play.

The family had split up into two groups for the game. Harry, Ginny, and Arianna sat with Carolyn, Brianna, Kieran and Allie in Ravenclaw section. Kirley and Ana joined them, and the rest of the family all sat in the Gryffindor section with Emily, Jon, and Therese to cheer on Gryffindor.

Andy called the teams onto the field after a lengthy rundown on the possible outcomes that could happen with today's game. James led Gryffindor around the stadium, while Matt did the same for his team. On the pitch, they all shook hands, not just the captains, and Lily had a few hugs for her competition too.

Madame Hooch gave her pre-game speech, and then threw the quaffle into the air as the bludgers and snitch soared skyward too.

"Here we go, sports fans," Andy shouted to the crowd. Nearly everyone was watching as James and Al both took off after the quaffle, but Harry and Kieran had been watching Lily, and saw Nick and Matt run interference on Jeremy.

"She's going for it!" Harry said, and the rest of their small group turned to watch Lily flashing after the snitch, having a free shot at it, thanks to Nick and Matt delaying Jeremy for just that few seconds.

"Al reaches the quaffle first," Andy shouted, and then he noticed Lily streaking after the snitch. "And there we have Lily Potter making an early try for the snitch, AND SHE'S GOT IT!" He looked down at his game clock, which stopped automatically when the snitch was caught.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new school record! Ravenclaw wins one hundred and fifty to naught at five point four seconds! For those of you who don't know, the previous record of seven seconds was held by our new record holder's father, Harry Potter. Good thing for him that he has the new league record to fall back on now!"

The Ravenclaw fans had been cheering wildly, and the Gryffindor fans looked shocked that the game was already over.

The two teams had landed already, and James was hugging Lily. Andy watched this, but he had other plans than to let the two teams get off this easily.

"All right, sports fans. It's true that Ravenclaw has won the game and the Quidditch Cup, but I don't know about you, but I CAME HERE TO SEE SOME QUIDDITCH!" he shouted. "How about you?"

The stadium erupted in cheers of support.

"Well then," Andy continued, "I'm thinking we need to convince our two teams there on the field that they owe us!" This was greeted with more cheers.

"For those of you who were here for a certain exhibition game last year, you might remember that we had a family feud match that was pretty exciting," Andy said, on a roll now. "How about we tell our two teams here that we'd like to see a rematch? Best three out of five catches of the snitch! What do you say?"

The crowd roared it's approval, and the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams were smiling as they watched Andy get the place rocking.

Andy could see that the two teams were both good to go with the idea, so he got things going.

"Madame Hooch, would you be so kind as to get us started again?" he asked their referee and flying teacher.

She waited long enough for the two teams to get set again, and then smiling brightly at the fourteen students, she once again threw the quaffle in the air, and the family feud was on!

With the Quidditch Cup won, and this being basically a play game, all of the players could relax and just have fun. They were playing hard, though. The Ravenclaw Chasers had the advantage since one of them were almost always able to spring loose past Gryffindor's third, backup Chaser.

Hugo helped even that disadvantage out to a certain extent, but even as great as he was playing, he wasn't able to stop everything. Scorpius was playing just as strongly, and he had the advantage that not as many shots were even getting to him, as his own Chasers did just as good a job on defense as they did on offense.

They were starting a whole new game. The score was twenty to naught for Ravenclaw when Jeremy caught the first snitch to make it twenty to ten. He made his second catch to make the score fifty to forty, with Ravenclaw still in the lead.

Lily caught the next two snitches, and the scores were eighty to eighty after the first catch, and Ravenclaw had the lead with her second catch, with a score of one hundred and twenty to one hundred.

The crowd, and their families and friends had been loving this wild Quidditch ride, and nobody wanted to see it end, but they were down to the point that whoever caught the snitch next would end the game.

When Jeremy and Lily both saw the snitch on the other side of the pitch from them, they both sped after it. The score was tied at one hundred and forty, and everyone's attention was riveted to the to Seekers – whoever caught it would win the game.

"Here we go fans!" Andy shouted. "Will it be Gryffindor or Ravenclaw who catches the snitch to win the game?" he asked the crowd as they all watched the action.

Ginny poked Harry in the ribs and pointed away from the two Seekers to where Al was the only player actually still playing right now as he flew, unnoticed by the Gryffindor Chasers, toward the Gryffindor goals, Quaffle negligently held in his hand as he seemed to just be floating along, pretending to be watching the action too. Harry grinned at her, and winked.

When the two Seekers were getting close to the snitch, Al acted, blasting past a startled Hugo, and shooting the Quaffle through the goal.

Andy had seen the move out of the corner of his eye and announced the goal. "If you missed it, folks, Al Potter just scored for Ravenclaw! And who's going to get the snitch – JEREMY'S CAUGHT IT FOR GRYFFINDOR! Nice catch, mate! And there you have it sports fans, Jeremy catches the snitch to end the game and give Gryffindor…" he looked at his scoreboard, and laughed. "…the TIE! Final score, one hundred and fifty to one hundred and fifty! Let's hear it for our two teams, and congratulations to all of our House teams this year for making this one of the best seasons ever!"

Both teams landed on the pitch to the cheers of the satisfied spectators. Lily started the hugs and kisses, but they were all soon in on the action.

"I can't believe it!" Jeremy told Lily as she hugged and congratulated him. "It took until my last game to finally get the three out of five advantage on you, even if it was in an exhibition game."

"Well, you better take it and run," she told him with a laugh. "'Cause I'm not liking being on the losing end of that very much at all."

"Don't worry, I plan on it. Quit while you're ahead, that's my new motto."

James gave him a high-five. "Way to go, mate. It's nice to see she's not totally invincible – it gives me hope for next season."

Jeremy laughed. "I'd think that having Colin waiting to take my spot next year would be enough to give you hope all by itself."

Colin had joined them, which is probably why Jeremy said that, and he blushed when Lily turned her high-wattage smile on him. "I can hardly wait to play that game," she told him. "The kids of the two best Seekers in Canons' history going head-to-head. It'll be a classic."

Colin grinned at her. "Not if you catch it in five seconds it won't be."

"Yeah, what's that all about," Harry said coming up behind Lily, "breaking my record like that."

Lily turned and hugged him tightly. "It seemed like a good idea to try."

"Well you guys pulled it off brilliantly," he told her. "And you didn't need a neon purple glove to do it, either, since contrary to popular belief, my seven second catch really was pure dumb luck."

Kieran was next in line for hugs, then Ginny, Kirley, Ana, and everyone else in the family. While Lily was moving along hugging everyone, Harry gave Al and James hugs.

"Nice game, guys," he told his two sons.

James laughed. "And if I hadn't stopped to cheer Jeremy on, maybe my sneaky little brother wouldn't have gotten the ten points that made it a tie."

"It was a pretty good move. Your Mum saw you doing it, though, so be glad she wasn't playing today," he told Al.

"If Mum had been playing, Dad, we wouldn't have been anywhere close to even have a chance to tie,' Al told Harry, which earned him a hug from his mother.

She hugged James too, and then Arianna had made it past Lily and the rest of their cousins and friends, and was hugging James tightly.

"Nice game," she told him. "That was fun to watch."

"Thanks," he answered. "It was pretty fun to play too."

He wasn't sure what to say or do. They were going to have so little time now, and then he wouldn't see her until school was out in just under four weeks.

"Why don't you two go for a walk along the lake?" Ginny suggested. "this crowd will probably take a half hour or more to break up, so you won't be too far behind the other visitors in leaving if you take the long way on your walk to the gates."

James hugged her, took off his team robe, which Colin took for him, and then he and Arianna left the others to talk while they went to spend a little time alone.

"It's less than four weeks," Arianna said quietly. "We're almost through it."

James smiled. "We're almost halfway through it, you mean. We still have one more year after this one."

"And we'll get through it together too," she promised. "Then we'll get married, and I'll never let you go again."

"That's the part I wish we could get to right away."

"How's the exam studying coming along?" Arianna asked, changing the subject.

"Commander Lily is whipping us into game shape. We'll be ready. I really don't know how she does it. I thought that nine OWLs were horrendous, and she's taking all twelve, plus tutoring students in four other years."

"She could probably take NEWT level in everything this year and pass," Arianna observed.

"Probably," James agreed. "She and Kieran will be in the same boat as we are when she finishes two years early."

"How'd you manage to steer us back to that topic after I'd worked so hard to move away from it?" she asked, laughing at James.

He grinned. "Morbid self-indulgence while I have a pity-party?"

Arianna stopped walking and hugged him. "Get over it," she said before kissing him. "We don't have much time today, and I can think of better things to do than feel sorry for ourselves."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, saluting. "What better things?"

"How about like walking over to the lake side of that big tree there, and kissing you senseless before you have to walk me to the gates?"

James grinned. "I like the way you think!" he said, and Arianna laughed as he took her hand and they started walking to the tree that she'd pointed out.

While they were saying their goodbyes, the rest of the family were making their own slow walk to the gates, and talking together.

"We'll be there to meet you at the station," Ginny was telling Lily. "We'll have to work out the plans for the summer pretty fast too, since we'll be on the road almost all summer with the Canons."

"I could go stay with Ana and Kieran – I mean Kirley, when you're away," Lily suggested with a grin.

"You meant what you said the first time," Ana said with a laugh, and you'd be welcome to do that, sweetheart. I'd probably have to talk Kieran into it, but he loves me, and he'd give in eventually."

Kieran and Lily both laughed.

"We'll work on our schedules and let you all know," Ginny promised.

They got to the gates, and with so many family members there, the goodbyes took nearly twenty minutes. James and Arianna caught up to them just as they were finishing up, and then there was an extra five minutes of hugs before the Hogwarts students of the family watched everyone else leave the school grounds and either apparate or take the TransPortal to their homes, or wherever else they might be headed.

James saw the look in Lily's eyes. "Don't say it," he told her. "We know, back to the books."

Lily gave him a hug. "You will thank me for it someday," she predicted.

James grinned at her. "Maybe, but the operative word in that sentence is 'someday'."

They made the walk back to school, and they didn't actually get to studying until after dinner that night, since with the excitement over spending time with their families, they'd all forgotten that there were parties going on in each of their Common rooms. Ravenclaw was celebrating their Quidditch Cup win, Hufflepuff was celebrating their second place finish, and ending their season with two wins, and Gryffindor was celebrating their tie in the exhibition match. Face it, Gryffindor was usually up for a party, and it was a good enough excuse for one!

At the Ravenclaw party, Matt gathered his team and practice team around him, in front of all of their fellow Ravenclaws to award the prize they'd promised to their practice team at the beginning of the season.

"We'd like to thank everyone in Ravenclaw for your support this year," Matt began. "Winning the Quidditch Cup, and bringing it back to Ravenclaw House couldn't have happened without the help of our practice team." He smiled at the seven smiling, expectant faces.

"The member of that team that was unanimously chosen to receive the Lightningbolt prize as best player was selected for their outstanding play, but also because their unselfish dedication to our team and House is an example that we should all aspire to emulate."

He took the new Lightningbolt that Rose handed him, and smiled at their practice team Keeper.

"Karen, congratulations, and well done. We are all very proud to have had you on our team this year," Matt told her, giving her a hug, and handing her the broom.

She had tears in her eyes, and hugged Rose, Lily, Al, Nick, Scorpius, and finally her fellow seventh year student, Melanie.

"Now while we had only promised to hand out one award to the practice team this year," Matt continued, "we also wanted to thank everyone else on the team too."

He waited while Rose handed out envelopes to all seven members of the practice team, and one to Melanie as well.

"Inside the envelopes, you'll find two tickets for each of you to the 2022 Quidditch World Cup final, being held this year in Chile, South America."

This announcement earned Matt a whole bunch more hugs, and cheers from all of the Ravenclaw students, and then the party got back into full swing as the announcements were over, and everyone returned to having fun and celebrating their undefeated season and Quidditch Cup victory.

Quidditch season at Hogwarts was over. Exams were starting a week from Monday, and the Canons would start their playoff bid to become League Champions in just seven days with a quarterfinal match against the Arrows. Four weeks left of school, and the pressure was on.


	81. A League of Their Own

Chapter Eighty-One – A League of Their Own

Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey went over to the cottage on the Sunday morning after the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game. They were going on from there to Kirley and Ana McCormack's home for a luncheon date that they'd been invited to a few weeks ago. When they got to the cottage, Harry and Ginny welcomed them with hugs and kisses, and then they'd all taken the TransPortal together to their lunchtime destination.

Kirley and Ana welcomed them, and they'd had a wonderful lunch before the couple led them into their studio, where Kirley asked them all to sit.

"We asked you to come here for a specific reason today," Kirley said, looking at Arianna and Aaron.

"You know that the kid's third album is coming out the day the kids get home from school, right?" He watched as they all nodded.

"There's a song that's going to be on the album that Lily and Kieran wanted us to let you hear before it's released.

"Why do they want us to hear it first?" Aaron asked.

Ana smiled at him. "I think we should just let you hear it – the song speaks for itself."

When Kirley saw the nods of agreement, he turned to his control board, cued up the song, and started it playing. Their five guests were mesmerized as they listened to the beautiful music, and then Kieran and Lily began to sing.

(verse one)

When you see us we pretend everything is fine

Always say and do the things we know we must

You will never see the pain we hide inside

Or hear our silenced cries

(chorus one)

But when we're behind closed doors,

Where nobody will ever see

The things that happen in the dark,

Would bring you to tears

If there was just one person who would try

To shine a ray of hope into our lives

Then maybe we won't always have to be

The silent minority

(bridge)

What could we do

If you could save us from this nightmare we've been living in

The answer is: We could make our dreams come true

(verse two)

Then when you see us everything would be just fine

And those dreams might now be our reality

We'd no longer need to hide the truth inside

There'd be no more silenced cries

(chorus two)

But until we're not behind closed doors

Where nobody will ever see

Until the things that happen in the dark

No longer happen to kids like me

Would you be that person who would try

To shine a ray of hope into our lives

Then maybe some day there'd no longer be

The silent minority

We hope that someday there'll no longer be

A silent minority

Ana had handed out boxes of tissues before the first verse was over, and Ginny was holding Arianna, while Tracey had her arms around Aaron.

"Lily asked me to give you this letter when we'd finished playing it for you,' Ana told them, handing an envelope to Arianna.

She took it, wiped her eyes, and opened it. She took a calming breath, and began to read the letter aloud.

Dear Arianna and Aaron,

Kieran and I want you to know that if you don't want anyone to know whom this song was written about, we'll respect your privacy.

Before the album comes out, though, we'd like you to think about how much good you could do helping other kids that are still in the situation you were both in.

How great would it be if you two, and my father, and others like Isabelle who've lived through child abuse could work with the Phoenix Foundation and start getting help to these kids? We know this would be really hard for each of you, but if we're not willing to stand up, who will?

If you all do decide this is something you'd be willing to do, then SpellBound will do anything we can to back you up.

Love, Lily and Kieran

"Wow," Aaron said in a rush of air. "That's a really big suggestion."

Arianna and the others all nodded.

"She's right, though," Tracey said quietly. "You guys are famous now, and you could start something like that and it would take off, and people would listen to you."

"Which is great except for the going public part," Arianna countered. "Being victims of child abuse isn't exactly something we're proud of."

"Which is why child abuse stays a deep, dark secret," Harry said quietly. "Because none of us want to come out and talk about it, try to stop it, and then show these kids – kids like us - that you can survive it and still have a decent life – with the right help."

"That's the key, isn't it," Aaron said. "You had the Weasleys, we had you guys and the residence, Isabelle had the residence in Canada and then Victoire, Fleur, and Bill."

"Yes," Arianna agreed, "and how many never get anyone?"

Ginny noticed that Kirley and Ana were staring at Harry, and put a hand on Ana's arm.

"Lily didn't tell you what was in the letter." She wasn't asking a question, but Ana nodded.

"Harry had a pretty bad childhood from the time he was taken to live with his Muggle aunt and uncle when he was just over one year old until he left there when he was about to turn seventeen," she explained. "It isn't something that's made the History books."

Harry laughed. "It's not even something I like making my conscious thoughts most of the time, let alone the History books."

Kirley smiled at Harry. He'd been assessing the reaction from Aaron and Arianna.

"Why don't you all take that discussion home with you, and you can let us know what you decide. Like Lily said, nobody else has to know that they wrote the song about you, and if you don't want to get involved, we're still probably going ot see if we can work with the Phoenix Foundation in some way to start some kind of program that the kids can help with – hotlines, shelters, education – that sort of thing. It's something that Lily feels really strongly about, probably thanks to the three of you, and Kieran, Ana, and I want to support her too."

Ana stepped in when Kirley took a break, and handed them each a copy of the new album. "The kids also asked me to give you advance copies of the album. She handed two extra copies to Harry and Ginny.

"Lily was hoping you could sit down with Isabelle, Victoire, Teddy, and Stewart, play the song, and give them these copies. She seems to think that getting the two junior account managers of the Phoenix Foundation on board would be a good thing.

"We will," Ginny promised, giving Ana a hug. "Aaron's right. The kids are asking for something really big." She smiled at Harry. "I wonder where they get it from?"

Ana and the rest of their little group all laughed. "Why don't we get out of here, and I'll get us all some glasses of wine in the sitting room."

Kirley and Ana entertained their five guests for another couple of hours. When they'd left for home, they sat together in the sitting room to talk about the visit.

"Any idea what they'll decided?" Ana asked Kirley.

"Not a clue, love. I sure don't know whether I'd be able to go public with something like this. Do you think there's as much child abuse going on as Lily suggests?"

Ana looked staight into Kirley's eyes, and answered him in a very serious, and quiet voice. "I know she's right."

Kirley stared back at her as realization of what she meant came to him.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" he asked, wrapping her in his arms.

"For the same reason hardly any of us ever do – we're ashamed, and afraid."

"Would you be able to come out and talk about it?"

Ana lay her head on Kirley's shoulder. "I don't know. I'm not even sure that I'm ready to talk about it here in private with you."

"I wouldn't have thought your parents would ever hurt you," Kirley told her quietly.

Ana looked up to see the compassion shining in her husband's eyes. "It wasn't my parents, Kirley. There's lots of cases where abuse comes from other places – like with Harry it was his aunt and uncle. With me it was my grandparents on my father's side of the family."

She went on to quietly tell him about the horrid summers she'd experienced when she was a child, finally opening up to him for the first time in the more than twenty years they'd been married. Kirley held her close, and silently thanked his son and Lily for writing a song that had changed one life already.

Later that night, when Arianna was on her nightly VirtualChat with James, she was telling him about her afternoon, and what Lily and Kieran were suggesting.

"You don't have to do anything, Arianna," James told her. "You know they'll keep you both out of it if that's what you choose to do."

"I know, James. The question isn't about whether we have to do it. What we need to decide is whether we should do it. Maybe we're where we are now so that we can do something big like this."

"I wish I could be there with you right now to hold you," he told her.

"Me too. Well, I guess we better wrap this up, James. You've got classes, and I've got a big week of practices ahead now that we're starting the playoffs."

"I guess," James agreed. "You know that whatever you and Aaron decide, we'll all be there for you."

"We know," she told him. They exchanged the 'I love you's', and ended their little chat, and James drifted off to sleep quickly, his dreams troubled, and he did not feel very rested when Monday morning arrived.

"You should have been in Gryffindor," James told Lily, who was waiting with Kieran just outside the Great Hall at breakfast.

Lily gave him a big hug. "You wouldn't hurt me," she said, knowing he wasn't talking about what they'd asked of Aaron, arianna, and their father, but about him being angry with her for doing something that was upsetting his fiancée.

"Did you happen to remember that they're in the playoffs?" he asked her quietly.

"She nodded. "And then they have the Worlds after that. There's no good time for something like this, James – except that for the kids that are still getting hurt like they used to be, a good time would be yesterday."

James looked into her serious, conviction-filled eyes, and saw that same fire he saw in his Dad's eyes when he talked about orphans.

"You win," he said with a smile, and then laughed as she hugged him again.

"I love winning!" she told him.

"Now let's go eat," James said. "Exams are in seven days, and Kieran and I will need the energy for all the work you'll be putting us through."

It had been Tuesday night before Harry and Ginny could have Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle over to the cottage, and they were having after-dinner drinks in the sitting room when Harry brought up what Lily and Kieran wanted to do.

"We've got a new SpellBound song to play for you," he told the two couples. "When you've listened to it, we'll talk to you about what the kids are wanting to do with the help of the Phoenix Foundation."

He played the song then, and mostly watched Isabelle as her face paled, and she began to cry. Stewart put his arms around her, and held her. When the song was over, Harry handed them the two copies of the new album, and then sat down next to Ginny.

"It's like they wrote it about me," Isabelle said softly, still crying.

Harry nodded. "They actually wrote it about Aaron and Arianna, but yeah, I felt the same way when I heard it. It's like they captured just what it's like."

"So what do they want to do?" Teddy asked.

"They want Aaron, Arianna – and me, to take the lead in a campaign to stop child abuse," Harry told them. "They want to get it out in the open, and get help to all of the kids, and they'd like the Phoenix Foundation to fund that campaign."

Teddy and Stewart looked at each other.

"We'd need hotlines that kids could call for help," Stewart said. "And shelters to get them somewhere safe."

Teddy nodded. "Educate teachers and healers and other Witches and Wizards on what signs to look for in kids that are being abused."

Ginny laughed. "Did you guys read their playbook or what?"

Teddy smiled. "No, but it's a brilliant idea. Have you guys decided whether you're going to do it?"

Harry shook his head. "We're all considering it." He looked at Isabelle and smiled. "They suggested you too, as well as the three of us," he told her, and she paled even more.

"Me?" she said. "Why me?"

Ginny answered. "Because you're a famous researcher, and a huge success story, Isabelle, and you could be a real role model for other kids that have been abused, and want someone to show them that there's still hope."

"I don't know if I could do that," she told Ginny.

Harry nodded. "That's the problem we're all having with it, Isabelle." He looked at Teddy and Stewart.

"Whether we decide to help or not, the kids want to do this anyway, and they're willing to put SpellBound right at the front, but they'd definitely need your help. I know you'd get David on your side right away, so why don't you guys start working something up. Maybe you could even have a pilot program ready by the time the album gets released in just under four weeks, or maybe by the end of summer."

Teddy nodded. "Probably by end of summer," he agreed. "End of the month isn't possible – we've got fifteen residences opening up, and all three of us are busy with that right now. I could work on this after that, and let Stewart and David handle the Marauders Paradise residence weeks."

"Aaron, Arianna, and I will let the kids know before the end of the month what we decide," Harry told them. "It'll be up to you to decide for yourself what you want to do, Isabelle."

They talked about the things they could do for the new program until nearly nine, and then Harry and Ginny had to send their guests home. Their first playoff game was four days away, and they needed all the rest they could get to make it through the practices Coach was putting them through every day.

Coach would have been proud to have Lily on his staff. If her group had been professional Quidditch players, they'd definitely be able to compete against his Canons.

Instead, she was creating a finely tuned academic machine. Every one of her family and friends were going to be able to do their own personal best on their exams, and by lunchtime on Saturday, when they packed up from their morning studies, Lily looked at them with pride.

"You are all doing so great!" she told them enthusiastically. "So great, that I think we can all take the afternoon off to watch the Quarter-finals game today."

This announcement was greeted with enthusiastic cheers, since they'd all expected to be studying and only listening to the game.

"You rock!" Brianna told Lily, giving her a hug. "We didn't plan on snacks though," she said.

Lily grinned at her. "Got that covered too, Bree. I'll bring them."

That made for a very happy group of Marauders that went for lunch, and the set up for the game party was done in record time. The pre-game show was already going on, and the Quidditch experts were talking about how great it would be if the Arrows upset the Canons in the first round.

"Like that'll happen," Hugo snorted.

"Anything can happen in Quidditch," Matt reminded him.

"Not today," Hugo predicted. "The Arrows are not going to outscore the Canons against my Dad, and their Seeker certainly isn't going to be beating Uncle Harry."

Matt grinned at him. "A guy can dream," he told Hugo. "If my United team wins their game later, they'd have a good shot against the Arrows to make the finals."

"What happened to 'anything can happen in Quidditch'?" Hugo asked with a grin. "Don't you think United could win against the Canons?"

Matt laughed. "Like you said - not today."

The Canons had home-field advantaged for the first two rounds of the playoffs, and the finals, if they made it, would be at the old World Cup Stadium, which was sold out with fans expecting to see the Canons – their World Cup National Team – to be playing in those finals.

Those fans were not disappointed today, as the Canons finished off the Arrows in an hour and twenty-four minutes, and had their second-lowest scoring game of the year. Harry's catch ended the game with a final score of four hundred and ninety to ten.

"Shall we watch the United game?" Matt suggested hopefully. "It'd give us a few more hours of snuggling if we're lucky."

Lily grinned at him from where she was wrapped up in Kieran's arms. "Definitely, as long as we're back to studying after dinner."

They switched to the United game, which had already started, and watched them play for nearly another two hours as Matt's team managed to squeak out a hard-fought win over the Catapults.

When that game ended, they packed up and went to dinner in the Great Hall, before getting back to studying for their exams again. They didn't watch the two late games, but did find out when they got back to their Common rooms that the Harpies and Tornados had won the two late playoff games, beating the Pride and the Falcons respectively.

Lily kept them studying all morning and afternoon on Sunday, but then declared that they were all ready for their first exams, and gave them the night off.

"Take it easy," she told them. "Most of all, get to bed early and get a good sleep, and you'll do great tomorrow," she predicted.

On Monday, Hugo, Emily, and Kieran were happy with their written exams in Charms, and by the looks on their faces, their Cheering Charms practical exams had gone well too. Carolyn and Brianna had DADA, and were also partners for the practical exam. They knew they both aced their written exam, and while they weren't the strongest in magical power, they were both able to produce all of the counter-curses that Professor Williamson required of them, and could shield themselves well enough against each other's spells.

The first OWL test of the year was Potions. Since this was one of the strongest subjects for all of the fifth year Marauders, nobody was surprised when they all came out of both the written and practical exams sure that they'd aced both.

James, and his fellow sixth year Marauders had Transfiguration for their first exam. Lily had them ready for the written, and they all were sure they either passed or aced that section. The sixth year practical was different for each of them, as Professor Macmillan had them do different human Transfigurations. James and Therese were best at that, and both were sure they'd earn an 'O' for this class. Jon, Andy, Laura, and Matt were happy with their results, although none of them had perfect practical exams, and would all be happy to earn the 'E' that would let them continue next year.

The last group of Marauders were first years Frederica, Liam, and Colin. They were all near the tops in their classes, and had no problems with their first Hogwarts exam ever, as each of them earned top marks in Herbology.

On Tuesday, the first and sixth years had a study day, while most of the others had exams. For the fifth years that took Arithmancy, they had a morning filled with number crunching. The fourth years had their easiest exam of the year with History of Magic. The good thing for them was that they were both only morning exams, and they could work all afternoon studying for their next exams.

The third years had Herbology, with the written all morning, and the practical all afternoon. Their practical exam included showing that they could correctly harvest puffapods.

"That was a lot easier than I thought it would be," Kieran told Hugo and Emily when they were walking back to the school from the greenhouses.

"A lot better than my exam last year," Hugo agreed. "My Mum and Dad will probably faint when they see that 'E' beside Herbology when our letters come out in August. They probably thought my 'A' marks the last two years were sympathy marks from Professor Longbottom."

Emily laughed and hugged him as they walked. "And if it's an 'O', you'll probably faint right along beside them."

"Let's not move out of reality into the realm of pure fantasy," he told her.

With two exams down, Wednesday was a day off for the third and fourth years as they studied for Thursday's Transfiguration and Charms exams respectively. The fifth year OWL exam on Wednesday was History of Magic. They all been ready for the exam, and while Lily was certainly the only one of them that wrote the exam without a single mistake, and also earned every bonus mark, the rest of the fifth year Marauders did their best, and none expected to get less than an 'E' on the exam.

The sixth year exam was Herbology. When they were finished at the end of the day, after fighting parchment all morning, and the highly dangerous plants all afternoon, they were exhausted.

"I don't know how you guys can stand taking that subject," he'd told the others at dinnertime. "I'd rather be wrangling Dragons than plants. They only breathe fire, can take your head off in one bite, and have huge, sharp claws."

Therese laughed and hugged him. "My hero. Afraid of being defeated by lowly, venom-spitting, and poison needle shooting plants."

"You forget that I sucked at Potions too. You can at least whip yourself up an antidote – if I get hit, I'm a goner."

They all kept busy studying and writing exams the rest of the week, and were all happy with how things were going. The coolest exam by far, though, was Friday's sixth year DADA practical.

This exam was full-out group dueling! The students were even allowed to put together their exam teams. For James and the others, that was a no-brainer, and so they went into their practical exam with James, Therese, and Laura on one side, and Jon, Andy, and Matt on the other.

Professor Williamson had been looking forward to this group, and he grinned at them when they came in.

"I hope you boys are ready," he told Jon and Andy. "I think your girlfriends can take you."

All six of his students laughed, and then lined up for the duel.

"This exam is very simple," Professor Williamson explained. "You can use any non-lethal spells on offense. It does not need to be said, but unforgivable spells are not permitted. Any defensive spells can be used. When you're ready, begin."

Lily had coached all of them for this exam, spending hours drilling them until they had a really impressive display, and Professor Williamson watched incredulously as the six students did not fight three separate duels, but instead used power-sharing spells and worked as teams. James was the focus wizard for the shield that he, Therese, and Laura erected, and Jon was the focus wizard for his team, with Andy and Matt supporting him. The two shields were remarkably similar in strength, and nothing that was being thrown at the other shield was getting through.

And they were throwing spells! There were hexes and jinxes, and they tried fire and ice. One side would douse the other in water, only to be foiled with an impervius spell that their opponents used to keep waterproofed.

Professor Williamson let them duel for nearly half an hour before calling an end to the impressive display.

"That was exceptional," he complimented them. "I'm not sure what you have next, but now is your chance for the team bonus. Are you going to try anything?"

James nodded, and the six of them stood together, all of them smiling at him. A moment later, he stared in shock at the Impervious Totalis shield that the six of them had erected. He stood up and clapped, grinning back at them.

"Oh, well done!" Professor Williamson said, laughing as he watched their shield wink out. "You're all well ahead on next year already! I'd say that's definitely worth six 'O's'! Congratulations!"

When the six happy students caught up with Lily after the exam, she was group hugged.

"Way to go, sis," James told her. "We really wowed the Professor today."

Lily grinned at them. "It should have. I doubt any other six seventh years could have done that spell, let alone any sixth years."

Saturday was semi-finals day for the League Championship. The New Marauders studied all morning, and then set up to watch the Canons-United game, and then maybe also catch the Harpies and Tornados vie for the other spot in the finals.

This was playoff time now, and the Canons weren't trying to make any big statements anymore. Lesson time was over, and they only had one goal now – to win the Championship. The game against Puddlemere United only lasted fifty-three minutes, and the final score was four hundred to twenty.

"Well, so much for my team this year," Matt told the others with a sigh.

Rose gave him a hug. "You can borrow mine for the rest of the season, which has about a week to go," she told him with a grin.

Since the first game had been so short, they had two hours until the second game would start. They'd all brought some books with them in case they had some time, and so they all got them out, staying comfortable on the sofas and recliners, and did some light studying while they listened to the sports commentators talk about the game, and make predictions about the second game.

Carolyn studied Potions, while Al snuggled with her and studied Transfiguration. The rest of their group was working on those subjects, or History, DADA, or Charms for the first, third, and sixth year students.

"We should study like this all the time," Hugo suggested as he and Emily worked.

Lily grinned at him. "Right," she said. "And how much are either of you remembering while you're interrupting Emily's studying kissing her every minute or so?"

"None of it," he said, kissing Emily's cheek. "Is that a problem?"

"It should explain why you can't study like this all the time."

The Harpies-Tornados game started at four, and they put their books away to watch.

"You'd almost think they were both playing to lose," Brianna said, watching the boring, low scoring match.

"Would you want to be playing the Canons next week?" Scorpius asked her.

"I guess I'd rather say that I lost in the finals that in the semis," she answered. "I'll never have to worry about that, since my future does not include being a professional Quidditch player."

The game was still going when it was time to go for dinner in the Great Hall, so they packed up and left to go eat. There were enough portable WWVNs turned on durning the meal for them to all hear when the Tornados finally won the game by catching the snitch, with a final score of two hundred and ten to eighty.

The news the following week was all about whether the Tornados could take the wind out of the Canons sails and end their amazing run just short of a Championship. The New Marauders ignored all of that and concentrated on exams.

Marauders firsties' second week exams were History, DADA, and Astronomy. Kieran, Hugo, and Emily had DADA, Astronomy, and History, while Kieran also had Ancient Runes. Carolyn and Brianna had Potions, Astronomy, and Herbology.

The OWL students had a tough week. Lily was the only one taking all five OWLs that were scheduled in the second week, but they made for a busy five days. They all started with Transfiguration, then Lily and Al took the Divination OWL. On Wednesday, they all wrote and did the practical for Charms. Charms was another of their best subjects, and they all aced the written exam, and the practical, where they performed colour change charms and summoning charms flawlessly.

The toughest part of the week ended up being the Thursday morning written Astronomy OWL, and then the Thursday night practical OWL, which was followed Friday morning with the Care of Magical Creatures OWL. Al and Allie weren't taking that one, but Lily, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius all were, and by the time they were done with the morning written, and the afternoon practical, even Lily was exhausted from lack of sleep.

The sixth years had Charms and Potions on Monday and Wednesday, and then were split up as James, Therese, and Laura took their Astronomy exams on Wednesday at midnight for the practical, and Thursday morning for the written, while Jon and Andy wrote History of Magic on Friday.

The only other thing that any of the New Marauders took time for during the week was to fit a birthday party into one of their study nights to celebrate James' seventeenth birthday.

That morning, a gift that had been sent by Owl Post turned out to be the keys, and picture of, his new sports car that was waiting for him in the driveway of his house for when he got home, and could go and take his Muggle driver's license. His sister, brother, and friends had also gotten him a few gifts too, and they'd shared a chocolate birthday cake before getting back to their studying.

His birthday had ended with the regular nightly VirtualChat with Arianna. She'd wished him a happy birthday, and he'd thanked her for the car that she, Aaron, Tracey, and her parents had gotten him before they'd ended the night with some virtual hugs and promises that he'd get his real birthday hugs and kisses when he got home.

When the last weekend of the year at Hogwarts for this school year arrived, the New Marauders were ready for an afternoon break on Saturday so that they could watch the League Championship game.

With the game being held at the Quidditch World Cup Stadium, there were one hundred and ten thousand fans in the seats, and the predictions for the WWVN audience was for them to hit thirty million, maybe more.

The pre-game show started an hour before game time, and included highlights from both of the team's seasons, interviews with team members and coaches, and of course the expert analysis and predictions. To the disbelief of probably everyone watching, three out of five experts voted for a Tornados upset victory.

"Those guys have been confounded, haven't they?" Emily asked.

"Those three guys were some of the loudest pundits that said the Canons would suck all year," Hugo told her. "They'll probably never admit that this was a good team, even when they win today."

"When?" Emily said, grinning at him. "Are we suddenly Divining the future?"

Hugo laughed. "No, I just have total confidence with my team this year."

They talked while watching the pre-game, and finally the two teams were introduced, and entered the stadium. Since the Canons had been in first place for the regular season, they were technically the 'home' teom, so the Tutshill Tornados were introduced.

They roared out into the stadium, and flew twice around the Quidditch pitch before landing to the cheers of the huge number of fans in the stadium.

The Canons were then introduced, and they flew out, and put on a nearly five minute long flying display that culminated with the finally perfected four on three head-to-head barrel roll pass that must have been absolutely heart-stopping to the fans that were less than ten feet below where the passes took place on two sides of the stadium when they did their final lap before soaring out to the centre of the pitch and landing to the roar of approval from the one hundred and ten thousand appreciative spectators.

"I thought Coach vetoed that," Rose commented. "Good thing they didn't hit each other, or the Tornados could have been playing seven against zero."

James laughed. "I think it was a brilliant way to end the season," he told her. "They'll be showing that in slow motion for weeks – maybe years."

Coach had been pacing the Canons for the past six or seven weeks, but today he let them loose. If the Tornados had thought that the lower scoring games of the past few weeks had been an indication of weakness, they found out that they were wrong.

"And they're off!" the announcer shouted.

"I should be getting money for that," Andy told the others. "I gotta start copyrighting or something."

"Shhh," Laura told him.

"And Ginny Potter reaches the Quaffle first, and passes to Arianna Ryan, who passes to Aaron Ryan, who passes back to Ginny. She dodges the Tornados defending Chaser, and goes in on goal. She freezes the Keeper with a fake, shoots – AND SCORES!"

"Here we go again," Brianna said happily. "You go, girl!"

Scorpius laughed. "You're saying that to the woman that's for all intents and purposes your mother."

Brianna laughed. "And I'm very proud of her, too. She rocks!"

And Ginny was rocking – rocking the Tornados that is.

"Wow," Carolyn said as they watched her score a fifth goal in the first fifteen minutes. "What's up with her today?"

Al whispered in her ear so that nobody else heard. "She and Dad are only playing for this year," he told her. "They'll have the World Cup games, but this is her last league game. She's motivated."

Carolyn looked into his emerald eyes and saw him smiling. "Then I guess we're in for a really fun afternoon," she told him just as quietly.

That was an understatement. Ron was on fire too, and nothing was getting by him. Harry was playing keep away with the Tornados' Seeker. Sebastian and Tristan had all of the Tornados keeping their heads on swivels as they played one of their best games of the year.

And Coach let them play on. At one hour, the Canons had forty goals. When hour two passed, it was up to eighty-three goals.

"How long do you think they'll keep going?" Matt asked. "This is already a blowout."

"The fans at the stadium seem happy to have them keep going," Emily pointed out. "There's at least one fan in this room that wants them to keep going too," she added with a grin.

Emily, and every other fan watching, got what they wanted. Hour three passed, with the Canons having put one hudred and thirty-six goals past the now despondent Tornados Keeper. Ginny had scored seventy-four of them herself, and didn't look even slightly tired.

"Is there some kind of record they're going for?" Carolyn asked.

"Not that I know of," Hugo said. "Some of the old games lasted days or weeks. I don't see them trying for any of those records."

"One hundred goals?" Rose suggested. "For Aunt Ginny?"

Hugo thought about that. "It could be. I'm not positive how many players have made that in any of those long finals."

"Me either, but I bet it's zero in a one day game," Rose suggested.

Hugo grinned at her. "That's true."

And their guess turned out to be right, too. Ginny scored her one hundredth goal, and the Canons' one hundred and eighty-fifth goal at four hours twenty-one minutes, and then Harry ended the game at four hours twenty-one minutes and eighteen seconds.

"That answers that," Rose said, laughing.

"There you have it, Quidditch fans," the announcer said in a hoarse, cracking voice. Harry Potter catches the snitch to end the game. Final score: Chudley Canons, two thousand, Tutshill Tornados, zero. Now let's take it up to the studio…"

The Hogwarts students had been told that dinner would be held in the Great Hall one half-hour after the game ended, so they had time to watch Ginny be named game MVP, and a bit of the post-game show before packing up and hurrying to the Great Hall.

"I would have liked to listen to those three idiots that predicted the Tornados upset talk their way out of that corner," Hugo said as they walked.

He got to do that, as the Professors had decided to let the big screen WWVN be put on for the post-game show during dinner, since five out of seven of the Canons were school alumni, and because it was a bit less distracting than having hundreds of portables tuned in to different channels.

There were some good-natured catcalls when the cameras caught Harry and Ginny kissing a few times, and more again when Aaron and Tracey were shown kissing too.

"Six days, mate," Therese told James gently. "Almost there."

He smiled and gave her a hug. "Thanks."

The game start time had been three o'clock, and so dinner hadn't started until about eight. Instead of trying to study after that, Lily told them all to get a good sleep and that they'd get to work right after breakfast instead.

She made up for that concession on Saturday by working everyone hard on Sunday, through until dinnertime before once again having them take the evening off to relax and rest up for their morning exams.

On Monday, Frederica, Liam, and Colin finished up their last exam. Hugo, Emily, and Kieran wrote Potions, and then the two Gryffindor third years were finished their exams too, while Kieran still had to write Arithmancy on Wednesday before he would be done.

Carolyn and Brianna took their Transfiguration exams on Monday, and finished up with Divination on Tuesday. The sixth years either had Arithmancy on Monday, or Care of Magical Creatures on Tuesday.

There were two OWLs left for the fifth year Marauders, and Monday was DADA. Al, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, Lily, and Allie were all tops in their year, and all had no problems with the written exam. Then it was time to wait for their practical exams.

The students were sent in alphabetically, so Scorpius was first, and was easily able to impress his examiner, including demonstrating his patronus, which Lily had them all able to do perfectly.

His success was repeated as Albus, and then Lily tested, impressing their examiners as much as the always impressed Professor Williamson. Allie, Nick, and Rose all scored high on their exams too, and they were all certain that they'd scored another round of 'O's' for this OWL too.

Even though Frederica, Liam, Colin, Hugo, and Emily were done exams, they'd joined the rest of their study group after dinner on Monday.

"So, what do we do for the next three days?" Frederica asked the older students.

Lily grinned at her. "Well, starting tomorrow, I was thinking that everyone that's done can start working on Thursday's second annual TNM Pool Party," she told her cousin.

"What can we do?" she asked, and Lily handed her a parchment with a long shopping list.

"There you go," she said. "We at least don't have to invent anything this year, but we'll need all of those supplies ordered, and delivered precisely on time on Thursday. Can you handle it?"

Frederica gave her a hug. "Don't worry, oh great Shopping Master Lily. You have trained your apprentice well."

Hugo and Emily were able to help the younger Marauders too, while Kieran studied for his Wednesday Arithmancy exam, Carolyn and Brianna wrote Divination on Tuesday, and Al, Allie, and Lily wrote Ancient Runes on Tuesday to finish up their OWLs. Jon and Andy had Care of Magical Creatures exams on Tuesday before they were done, and while James was finished his exams on Monday, instead of helping with the party, he instead put his efforts into his prefect duties, and helping other younger kids that still had exams on Tuesday and Wednesday. Therese and Laura helped him with that tutoring on Tuesday as well until Andy and Jon were finished their exams.

When the last exams finally wrapped up on Wednesday, dinner that night was a jovial affair. Regardless of how well or poorly any of the students thought they did on the exams, the fact that they were over was worth celebrating. That party time sentiment spread out into the Common rooms as the students returned to their respective Houses during the evening, and there was a lot of playing around as all of the kids could finally let go of the stress of the past four weeks.

Thursday morning, most kids were outdoors enjoying a sunny day until lunchtime. The New Marauders were out there too, getting everything ready for the afternoon, which they all had a blast doing right under the noses of their completely unsuspecting fellow students.

When near to the end of lunchtime, the WWVN in the Great Hall announced that the second annual TNM Pool Party was waiting for the students and Professors outside, the Great Hall emptied fairly quickly as students either ran outside to play, or to dorm rooms to get swimsuits before going out.

The New Marauders were in smaller groups, and were all having just as much fun as their fellow Hogwarts students. James was spending the afternoon with Jon, Therese, Andy, and Laura. He knew that if he were going to be traveling all summer with Arianna, he probably wouldn't see his friends very much during the summer.

Not that his friends weren't going to be doing things too. Jon was going to spend the summer working with James' Uncle Charlie at the Romanian Dragon Reserve, and Therese was spending the summer working with his Aunt Nathalie at the Dragon's Lair residence.

Andy was interning at a WWVN sports channel, and would be working with one of the crews that would be following the Quidditch World Cup playoffs. Laura wasn't all that happy about that fact, since Andy would be away for a lot of the holidays. She had her own job too, but she worked near home, and wouldn't have much time off during the holidays.

"So I guess once we get home tomorrow, we won't see each other much," Laura told her now best friends.

"Jon and I have a week before we go to Romania," Therese said. "We can spend some time with you guys before we leave."

Andy shook his head. "You can with Laura, but I'll be on the road by Monday."

"Do you know where yet?" James asked him. "Maybe you'll get lucky and get to cover some of our games."

"Maybe," Andy said, "But I doubt it. Those will be the games that everyone wants to go to. I'll probably get the games nobody really cares about."

"I'll probably have some time," James told them. "If I can work it out, maybe we can all get together a few times, even if it's not here at home."

"That'd be great," Laura told him, and the others agreed.

The rest of the New Marauders weren't worried about a big good-bye, since they were all sure they'd see each other regularly all summer. They instead concentrated on playing and having fun, since while they might be seeing each other regularly a lot of them were going to be working this summer. That could mean that plain old hang around and have fun days might be in short supply.

Lily and Kieran would be busy with music, even though they didn't know everything they'd be doing yet. Scorpius and Brianna would be back at the Ministry. Nick would be working at an architecture company, and Allie had been asked back to the clothing store she worked at last year.

Carolyn and Frederica had been hired to babysit Kira and James Cauldwell, and Timothy Boot again this year, after Kira had simultaneously badgered them, and her parents ceaselessly until they'd all caved in and agreed to her winsome request.

Al, Rose, and Matt had been told that they'd been re-hired as fun coordinators, which would be a real challenge this year with everything that everyone had going on this summer with the addition of the Quidditch World Cup competitions added to the scheduling craziness.

The Hogwarts pool party lasted all afternoon, and when it was time to go in for dinner, everything disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. None of the students outside of the Marauders knew how, but it had been a great day, so nobody really worried about it either.

Packing to go home was the number one activity for the Hogwarts students after dinner, and by the time James was to meet Arianna for their final VirtualChat of the school year, he was done, and ready to go home.

"Hey," James' avatar said as he joined Arianna in the chatroom.

"Hi, James," Arianna said. "Just a few more hours," she added happily. "How'd the pool party go?"

"It was a hit just like last year," he told her. "Is the media storm finally dying down?"

Arianna laughed. "Not really, they're just winding up again for the World Cup playoffs. I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear that a lot of the Quidditch experts are predicting that the British National Team will lose – and lose big – in the first or second round."

James laughed. "That's not a surprise at all. Any word on whether we should expect a media frenzy at King's Cross Station tomorrow?"

"For SpellBound? Probably some. I'm sure Ana's got it covered, but I haven't heard much about their plans."

"Speaking of plans, the album's out tomorrow. Did you, Aaron, and Dad decide what you're going to do?"

"Yes," she told him, her avatar nodding. "We're going to do it. So's Isabelle. Don't tell them, though. We'll let them know tomorrow night. Teddy's going to work on a program to have it ready for late this summer or early fall. The foundation will run it, and we're still working out what exactly we'll do."

"You guys are going to help a lot of kids," he told her. "I just know it. Remind me tomorrow that you're due bonus hugs for that."

Arianna laughed. "I will, but you already owe me months of overdue hugs as it is."

"I've got all summer to catch up, and I will," he promised.

"Good. I guess I should let you get to sleep. You'll be leaving early, and I definitely wouldn't want you to be sleeping in and missing your ride."

James nodded. "No chance of that. I can hardly wait to see you tomorrow. I love you, Arianna. Have a good sleep."

"I love you too, James. See you tomorrow."

They ended the VirtualChat, and James took his glasses off and packed them away.

"All set for tomorrow, mate?" Andy asked him quietly.

"Yeah. She'll be at the station when we get there."

"And then you start a summer as a professional Quidditch groupie," Andy told him with a big grin.

James laughed quietly, not wanting to wake anyone that was already asleep. "It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it."

"You just make sure you have fun this summer. You've worked you broomtail off this year, and deserve it."

"I think we all did – and do," James told him.

"Maybe, but most of us are doing what we really want to be doing for work, so it's all good."

James got under his covers, and leaned back into his pillows. "One year left, mate," he told Andy.

"You got that right," Andy said, grinning again. "And NEWT students rule the school!"

James grinned at his friend. "Yes they do," he agreed. "Good night, Andy. See you in the morning."

"'Night, James. Sleep well."

Andy turned the light off between them, and then laid down too. Both young men were quickly off to sleep, each of them looking forward to the summer for very different reasons. Except for the occasional snoring of one or another student or Professor, Hogwarts was silent as everyone slept, a precursor of the silence that would permeate the halls and rooms of he school for most of the coming summer.


	82. World Cup Summer  Part One

Chapter Eighty-Two – World Cup Summer – Part One

Kirley and Ana were at the cottage for breakfast on Friday morning, joining Harry and Ginny, and the other guests so that they could go over final plans for King's Cross Station when their kids – and SpellBound – returned from school later that morning.

Bill and Fleur, all three sets of Weasley parents that had Hogwarts students, and Kirley's sister Meghan and her husband were all there for the morning meal too. Once everyone was sitting down, and had their plates filled from the platters and bowls of food that Harry had set out, Ana started going over their plans one last time.

"We've got an agreement with the major media to not do anything more than take video of the kids when they get back to the station in exchange for setting up a press conference that will be held at the Emerald City Centre," she told everyone.

"That will still leave us to deal with independent reporters and with the SpellBound fans that are certain to be there too. Those reporters will be offered the same opportunity to attend the press conference, but the kids will not be talking with them. We're allowing up to an hour for them to sign autographs and talk with their fans before we'll take them over to the hotel."

"How much help will you need for crowd control?" Percy asked her.

Ana smiled at him. "Bill, Fleur, Harry and Ginny will be doing that with us, along with Sebastian, Tristan, and Aaron. Those boys should also help in that they'll also help keep the fans busy, since there will be at least some of the kids that will want autographs from them too."

"So what will we be doing?" Penelope asked.

Harry answered that question. "We'd like you, Percy, George, and Marietta to take most of the other kids and get them out of there, and off to the family luncheon. We won't be able to attend this time. James and Arianna have other things they need to do as well, but the rest of the kids have a free afternoon."

George grinned. "Sounds like a perfect excuse to take the whole day off and go with them to the island after lunch," he suggested.

Ginny laughed. "Can I come?"

Ana grinned at her. "No you can't. You're busy most of the day. Nice thought, though."

"How many kids will we have?" Marietta asked Ginny.

"If Liam's going to be spending the day with Frederica, you'll have them, Rose, Matt, Hugo, and probably Emily. Then there's Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, Al, and Carolyn. If I didn't miss any, that'd be twelve."

Marietta looked across the table at Meghan. "Feel like spending an afternoon in paradise with us?"

Kirley's little sister grinned at Marietta. "You bet. Before we go to King's Cross, I'll pop back home and pack swimsuits. That'll be two more kids, though, since Liam's brother and sister won't want to miss that trip."

"I think that the eight of us should be able to handle that," Ron told her. "That is if I can talk Hermione into taking the day off too."

Hermione laughed. "I'm all for an afternoon in the sun. It's been a really busy month, and I could use the break."

"I'll ask Kreacher and Winky if they can whip something up for a dinner on the beach for you guys," Harry told them. "They'll probably be happy to do that, and then join the kids to play out on the lagoon."

"So we're all set then? This doesn't sound like it'll be too bad at all," Percy said. "You must've had to talk fast to get the press on-board with the whole thing," he told Ana.

She grinned at him. "It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have one of the industry's biggest advertisers backing you up. They were all happy to agree to the plan at the merest hint that saying no could cost them revenue from lost adverts."

Penelope laughed. "It usually does. A lot of the bias that those reporters have begins with a bias against being poor."

"When it works, I'm all for it," Ginny told the two women. "It's just too bad that usually the media is just a pain in the butt."

With everything pretty much settled for the kid's arrival, they finished breakfast while having a quiet conversation together before splitting up for whatever morning activities they all had planned until they'd be meeting again at King's Cross station in time to greet the kids.

While the breakfast meeting at the cottage was going on, the Hogwarts students were already on the train, and heading for home. The New Marauders had gotten four compartments together, two on each side of the corridor, and they were all excited about now being just hours away from seeing their families, and the start of summer holidays.

Rose and Scorpius were in the prefects car with James, having their last meeting of the year, and saying goodbye to the Head Boy, Head Girl, and the six seventh year prefects like Melanie who were graduating, and taking their last Hogwarts Express trip home.

"We'll see you in August," Rose told Melanie when she'd hugged her at the end of their meeting. "With luck, it'll be to watch our team play in the World Quiditch Cup Final too."

Melanie smiled. "I'm on that bandwagon," she told Rose. "England is going all the way this year."

Lily and Kieran were busy going over the notes that Ana had sent by Owl Post for them to read before the press conference, and then the interview at the WMVN studio that Kieran had promised the video jockeys back in January.

"I should let you answer all the questions," Kieran suggested. "You'll have all of this stuff memorized."

Lily grinned at him. "You'll do fine. Ana thinks they're going to want to know a lot of personal stuff, though. I really don't find that part of the business very much fun, but it goes with the territory, I guess."

"At least we're too young to have any scandals yet," he pointed out.

"Try telling that to my Dad," Lily said with a laugh. "By third year he was already a scandal veteran."

Hugo stuck his head in the door of their compartment to see what they were up to. "You guys did hear that school's out, right?" he asked them, seeing them pouring over the parchments in their hands. "Are you trying to get a start on next year already?"

Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna had left Kieran and Lily so they could work in peace, and so they were alone in the compartment, and they both laughed at Hugo.

"We're just getting ready for the press conference and WMVN interview we have after getting back," Lily told Hugo.

"Well, cuz, I'll think about you when we're doing whatever the parents have planned this afternoon, since just about anything will be more fun than you guys will be having."

"We appreciate that, mate," Kieran told him with a smile. "As long as I'm getting to hang out with your cousin, anything we're doing is fun."

"See?" Hugo told him sadly, "that's why I haven't tried to save you – you're already a lost cause."

"Sure am," Kieran agreed, "and glad to be lost, too."

Hugo laughed, waved, and was gone again, leaving Lily and Kieran to get back to work. By the time the train started to slow down for their arrival at King's Cross Station, they'd already packed up their notes, and were ready to face their adoring public.

Ana had sent Lily a WiComm QuillMessge to find out which car they were in, and to let them know that there were a lot of young fans waiting for them on Platform nine and three-quarters.

"This part of the day should be fun," Kieran said as they waited for the train to stop.

"Have you got your signing hand rested up?" Lily asked him. "I'm guessing we'll have a couple of bad cases of writer's cramp an hour from now."

James and Arianna had been sending qm's back and forth during the trip too, and when the Hogwarts Express came to a stop, he had his trunk ready, had said his goodbyes to Jon, Therese, Andy, and Laura, and hurried off the train into the waiting arms of his fiancée.

The platform was very crowded, but the extra Witches and Wizards there had not come to see James or Arianna, so they were pretty much ignored by the melee around them.

"Let's get out of here," Arianna suggested. "We can go right to your apparition test, and then go have lunch." She placed a Translocator on his trunk and sent it to the guest bedroom in their house. He would be using that room, if only for changing and to use the ensuite bath.

James nodded. "Let's. This place is going to be nuts for a while." As they left the platform, it was to the cheers of fans who had just spotted the target of their mission, and both James and Arianna laughed. "Escaped just in time," he said as they stepped off of the platform.

And they had too. Lily and Kieran had gotten their luggage, and Fluffy, to the door of their car, and from there Al would take care of their things for them while they stepped out of the normal life of Hogwarts students into the strange and mercurial world of pop stars for the next few hours.

Harry, Ginny, Kirley and Ana were right there to greet them, and their fans had given them a few moments to exchange hugs with them and the rest of their party before pressing in with their requests for autographs, wanting to talk with them, touch them, and see them in person.

They signed hundreds of album covers and pictures and autograph books. Lily gave out dozens of hugs to thrilled little girls and boys, and Kieran even hugged and kissed a young Witch that was maybe five who'd been accidentally knocked down in the press and had scraped knees and hands to show for her dedication.

"So, How was the trip back?" Ginny asked them conversationally as they slowly inched their way along the platform.

She and Harry hadn't even been able to welcome the other kids back when everyone pressed in around them after seeing SpellBound get off of the train. They'd waved to them as Percy, Penelope, and the other parents rounded them up, but then they were all whisked away from the chaos, while Harry, Ginny, and the others were left to concentrate on Lily and Kieran.

"It was great," Lily told her after signing another autograph, and hugging another happy, smiling little fan. "Hey, sweetie," she said, smiling at the next little girl, "what's your name?"

Harry smiled as he watched the kids. They were such naturals dealing with the press and their fans. Maybe if he'd had this talent he would have had a lot less troubles when he was a kid.

They were making progress, and he looked around to see how close they were to getting off of the platform and into the Muggle World, where they wouldn't be chased after like this until they got to the Emerald City Centre. They were about three-quarters of the way, and it had taken forty minutes so far. He noticed a young boy and girl that were maybe nine or ten on the edges of the crowd, standing next to two despondent looking parents, craning their necks and trying to see Lily and Kieran.

He put a hand on Sebastian's shoulder. "Cover my area," he said, leaning close so the young man could hear. "I see a couple of kids that look like they deserve a little help getting to see the kids.

He left the group, and waded out to where the two kids and their parents were. "Hi!" he told them, and the two kids looked up at him, their eyes going big and wide in recognition. He laughed, and grinned at them. "How'd you like a little help getting in to see Kieran and Lily?" he asked the pair, who mutely nodded at him.

Harry looked at their parents and smiled. "Do you mind if I borrow them for a few minutes? I promise to bring them right back." They looked as shocked as the kids at seeing Harry Potter come and invite the kids to go see SpellBound, but they both gratefully nodded.

He saw that the little girl was holding an old piece of dirty parchment, and the boy didn't have anything with him. Harry had been prepared and hoping for a special case like this and his emerald eyes sparkled.

"Do either of you have 3D-VMP players?" he asked them, and wasn't surprised to see them both shake their heads in the negative. He pulled two players out of a pocket, and squatting down next to them, handed them over to the two kids, along with the album covers for all four of the SpellBound albums, including the Christmas album.

"Congratulations," he told them. "You two win our most deserving kids award today. The kids and parents all stared at him, and then the little girl threw her arms around his neck, and kissed his cheek.

"Thank-you," she said in a shy, soft voice, and Harry smiled brightly at them.

"Why don't we go get a couple of those album covers signed for you?" he suggested, and the two kids nodded vigorously.

They weaved their way back through the crowd until they reached their group, and then Harry passed the kids along to Ginny with a wink that told her that these were the kids he'd picked out. When she saw the incongruity of worn clothes and shiny new 3D-VMP's she smiled and ushered the kids into the inner circle they'd created around Kieran and Lily. She then watched as their kids earned themselves two liitle fans for life by signing autographs, and bestowing hugs and kisses on the two younger children before Harry again helped them escape the press of SpellBound fans to get back with their parents.

"Thank-you," the young Wizard told Harry when they shook hands. "I think you've just made their whole year."

Harry smiled and handed the man an envelope. 'You're welcome," he told the couple. "As part of their prize, here's a few gift certificates to stores where they can get clothes and merchandise from the SpellBound line – or anything else they'd like to get instead."

"Why are you doing this?" the kid's mother asked him, still coming to grips with the generosity.

Harry laughed. "Mostly because it's a lot of fun," he told her, and watched as she smiled back at him, unable to resist his gentle charm. "The rest of the reason is because your kids were the only ones I saw here that weren't doing the 'me first', and so they really deserved it. I better get back to my own kids, though. Have a great day!"

He left the young family together, and didn't see them again, but he was smiling as he left, knowing that whenever they did get around to opening that envelope that they were definitely going to be four very happy campers.

When they were finally able to get Kieran and Lily away from the crowd, they took the TransPortal to the Emerald City Centre, where they had a private room to have a quick lunch in, before moving on to the press conference, that just the two sets of parents stayed to help with, while Bill, Fleur, and the others all left for work or other destinations now that the rush was over.

James and Arianna weren't at the Ministry of Magic very long. His apparition test was a breeze, and he was issued his license quickly and sent on his way.

The young couple apparated to Chudley, where they ate at the diner. After lunch, they picked up his new 2022 Porsche and she drove him back into Chudley, where he easily passed his second test of the day to get his driver's license. He then took his fiancée for his first drive before they went home, grabbed swimsuits, picked up Aaron and Tracey, and joined the rest of their family on the island for the play day they'd been messaged about, and invited to join.

Al and Carolyn had gone to lunch with the rest of their family, and then taken the TransPortal with them to the island. It had been great to see Grandma, Grandpa, and everyone again while they ate, but being on the island, and out playing on an AquaBike together in the bright, warm sunshine was what really turned this into a great day.

Most of the other kids had opted for jet-skis, but they'd wanted to do something together where they could relax and talk while still playing out on the lagoon.

"This was a great idea Uncle George had for the afternoon," Carolyn said happily. "Maybe we should see if we can stay all weekend."

Al grinned at her. "That'd be great if we could, but I don't think it's in our future, since Mum and Dad will be leaving on Monday for a week in Portugal to get ready for the first playoff round of the Quidditch World Cup series."

"And we'll be starting work," she agreed. "I hope Frederica and I will be able to keep up with three kids."

"You'll have Rose, Matt, Hugo and I to back you up," he promised. "And they're cute kids anyway. They won't be any trouble."

Carolyn laughed. "Right. Keep telling yourself that, Al. Over and Over again."

He laughed too and squeezed her hand. "I'm just waiting to find out how Mum and Dad are going to work out the accommodations for you, me, and Brianna when they're gone. I think we're a bit old for babysitters of our own this year."

"How come you didn't include Lily?" she asked curiously.

"'Cause I think it's a safe bet that she'll be with Ana and Kirley most of the summer, and probably traveling a bit too."

"That'll be a pain not having her and Kieran for your Quidditch practices."

Al nodded. "I think Hugo's looking at having Colin and Liam come a lot, though, so that'll help make up the difference."

"I wonder if Lance is any good," she said, referring to Luna and Neville's son.

"We could ask him," Al said. "He's starting at Hogwarts this September, but I don't know if he's played at all, since neither of his parents do."

They watched as Winky and Kreacher pedaled past them, both house elves grinning as they played on their favourite, customized toy.

"Your Mum says they come here and play just about every week on their day off," Carolyn told Al, who nodded.

"They're probably the two coolest house elves in the Wizarding World."

"Not to mention the richest," she added.

Al laughed. "Since they're just about the only ones getting paid, Carolyn, that's not saying all that much."

"Getting 'gifts' you mean," she corrected. "Slaves can't get paid."

"Silly me," he said, agreeing. "You're right. They just get gifts that come on a regular, monthly basis, along with an extra gift or two at other times of the year."

They spent about an hour on the AquaBikes, then took a break on the beach, followed by some swimming and a turn on the jet-skis before everyone got together for dinner. James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey had thought about doing their own thing back home until they'd found out that this meal was going to be prepared by Kreacher and Winky, and then quickly changed their minds. Even a romantic candlelight dinner wasn't more appealing than getting to enjoy the offerings that the house elves always came up with – especially Winky's desserts.

What Harry, Ginny, Kirley, Ana, and the kids didn't know they were missing wouldn't hurt them. They'd spent over an hour doing the press conference, and then the kids had just under two hours to get ready for their interview with the WMVN vj's, which included performing two or three songs from the new album live.

Ana had been getting updates on how the album was doing all day, and they'd sold over five hundred thousand copies by the time of the press conference at the Emerald City Centre, and WMVN had been giving heavy airplay to the videos that had been released with the album.

When their WMVN interview was finished, they had the rest of the day to themselves, but had a lot of business to discuss, so they went back to the cottage for a working dinner. Ana and Kirley started going over the plans for the summer with them while Harry and Ginny cooked their meal.

"Tomorrow morning, a concert tour is going to be announced for SpellBound," Ana told them. "There won't be a lot of dates – only one or two a week, but you will also have a lot of other things going on too."

"Where are we going to be performing?" Lily asked excitedly.

Ana grinned at her. "Every other week for most of the summer, you're going to be playing in the same area where the National team happens to have one of their World Cup matches, assuming they keep winning," she told the kids.

"You'll have concerts on the Thursday night before the Saturday games for the second, fourth, and sixth rounds, and we'll stay for most of the games," she told them, which earned her hugs from Lily and Kieran both.

"You'll also be surprising the Phoenix Foundation residence kids by doing their opening night banquet concert for each of their five weeks at Marauders Paradise," she continued. "While we're over there, we'll also have two concerts in America, one in Canada, and one in Mexico."

"So twelve concerts?" Kieran asked, adding them up.

Kirley grinned at them. "We wanted to make it a magical thirteen," he told the kids. That's why you'll be doing a pre-game concert for the Quidditch World Cup Final. That one's a closely guarded secret, though, so don't tell anyone."

It was his turn to get hugged as Lily was once again bouncing out of her seat to give all of the parents hugs.

"So what will you be doing with me when you're gone, Mum?" Lily asked Ginny, who smiled at her daughter.

"You'll be stuck with Kieran, I'm afraid, sweetie," she told Lily, and watched as Kieran just about got knocked out of his seat with yet another hugging session.

Ana smiled. "Kirley and I have got a lot of work to do too with everything we've got going on," she told the kids. "We've got to get someone to handle helping you two get around to everything you'll have going on – appointments, interviews, and everything else," she told them.

"So just someone to keep us on schedule, and be the responsible adult?" Lily asked her, and Ana nodded.

"We definitely want an adult that can do magic in case of emergency," she told Lily.

"Can I ask someone we know to do it?" she asked. "Andy's girlfriend Laura is overage now, and I bet she'd be perfect for the job – not to mention a really fun person for me to go shopping with when we're in all of those other countries."

The four parents laughed. "You can ask her and see what she says," Ana told her. "That'd be one less thing for me to worry about if you've got someone who can do it. If it's someone that you both like too, that's a definite bonus."

"The other work you'll be busy with is more recording and making new videos for this last album, and for the next one we want to have out for Christmas," Kirley told them. "You've been working on enough songs already that we'll probably get two more albums worth of songs ready anyway, but we'll try to still make sure that you both get a little actual holiday time here and there. It won't be much of a holiday if you work the whole time."

Harry and Ginny finished cooking, and served dinner. The conversation moved on to Quidditch, and they told the kids about what would be going on for their own summer.

"We'll be pretty much gone for most of the next eight weeks, in seven countries," Harry told them. "After our first round game next week, Coach is giving us Sundays and Mondays each week where we'll be back home, but the rest of the week we'll be in whatever country that round of the competition is being held in."

"And we'll be there for four of those weeks?" Lily asked them.

Ana answered. "Not the whole week. We'll probably go on Wednesdays and stay until after the games on Saturday. Two of the weeks also match up with Phoenix Foundation weekends, so you'll have very long days both times, since you'll be making big time zone jumps to do both, or else you'd have to miss those two games."

"We'll be fine," Lily promised, and Kieran nodded. Neither of them would want to miss any of the games.

"What about Al, Carolyn, and Brianna?" she asked her Mum and Dad. "What will they be doing when you're gone?"

Ginny's eyes sparkled as she answered. "Your brother's almost sixteen, so we're going to leave them here alone. Brianna's going to be asked if she'd rather stay with Percy and Penelope, since she'll be working at the Ministry all summer. We're guessing she's going to say yes to that option. There'll be lots of family around as backup if Al and Carolyn have any problems."

Lily and Kieran both laughed. "What problems could they possibly have with that setup?" Lily asked them. "In fact, we've changed our minds about this whole music business thing. Where do we sign up for that same deal that they've got?"

She watched as the parents all laughed at her, knowing that she wouldn't change a thing about SpellBound and everything else they were doing. That might have something to do with also knowing that Carolyn and Brianna were going to have three young charges during the weekdays, and while she loved little kids, babysitting was not high on her favourite things to do list – she was way too hyper-active for most young children to be able to keep up with her.

Ana's WiComm chimed for the umpteenth time as they were getting close to the end of dinner.

"Over a million copies sold of the new album now," she told them after reading the message. "Merchandising is way up today too, and the first two albums are pulling good numbers again today too."

After dinner, they cleaned up, and they moved into the sitting room. They had been talking quietly together for close to an hour when the kids started showing up from their trip to the island. Al, Carolyn, and Brianna came first, followed by Aaron, Tracey, Arianna, and James.

Now that the returning Hogwarts students could finally greet their parents, they spent ten minutes or so sharing hugs and kisses, and telling each other about their day before settling down into sofas and chairs.

Arianna smiled at Lily and Kieran. "We really love your new album," she told them as a way to get into the topic they'd stopped in to discuss with them before going home for the night.

"James wanted to stop and see Mum and Dad too," she continued, "but Aaron and I wanted to come over and let you know that we've decided that you're right, and we could do a lot of good working with you and the Phoenix Foundation on the Child Abuse program you suggested."

Lily was out of her spot on the sofa like a shot, and was hugging Arianna, and then Aaron.

"Thank-you!" Lily told them. "You're going to do so much good with this, I can hardly wait to see it happen!"

Aaron smiled. "Well, we can hope so," he said. "Especially with your Dad and Isabelle helping too, and anyone else who we might be able to recruit once we get going."

Harry was the next to get power-hugged by Lily, and he laughed. "your mother reminded me that it was my own fault for teaching you all to have big dreams," he told Lily. "And we're pretty proud of you for having them."

"And we're really proud of all of you for agreeing to do this," she told him, kissing his cheek before going back to sit down next to Kieran again. "When will we start the program?"

Harry answered. "Probably this fall after school starts," he answered. "The fifteen new residences opened today, so after Teddy and Victoire take a vacation, he's going to start working on it full time for the rest of the summer. We'll start out with programs that will help kids here at home and grow from there, the same as we did with the residences."

Lily nodded. "Whatever he needs from us, we'll do," she promised.

They spent another hour or so together, and then Aaron, Tracey, Arianna and James left for their homes, and Kirley, Ana, and Kieran got ready to go home too.

"We'll see you at the mall in the morning for shopping?" Lily asked Ana when they were about to leave.

"Wouldn't miss it," Ana said. "You're way more fun to play dress up with than Kieran is."

Lily gave her a hug, then walked outside with Kieran to say goodnight to him while the parents talked for another minute to give them time to do that properly.

When everyone was gone, and it was just Harry, Ginny, Al, and the three girls, they all stayed in the sitting room for a while longer before Al and Carolyn found themselves being deserted as Lily and Brianna left for their bedrooms first, and then Harry and Ginny went upstairs a half hour or so later, wanting to get some sleep before facing another one of the family shopping excursions that were always fun, entertaining, and utterly exhausting.

"And then there were two," Carolyn said, snuggling in closer to Al.

"Starting next week, that's going to be what it'll be like five nights out of seven," he said happily.

Carolyn smiled up at him. "Yes it will. I'm thinking it's definitely looking like another best summer ever – at least for you and me."

Al's eyes were sparkling as he looked into her eyes and smiled. "It's going to be absolutely brilliant," he promised before kissing her.

James and Arianna were doing a little kissing of their own by then too. They'd had drinks with Aaron and Tracey before going to their house, and Arianna had shown him the whole place, since they'd only taken a quick tour earlier before they'd gone to the island.

Now they were snuggled in bed together, and James was starting to make those backpayments of hugs and kisses that he owed her.

"I can hardly believe we're finally back together," James said quietly as he gazed into Arianna's eyes. "It seemed like today would never get here."

Arianna nodded and kissed him again. "And we've got almost ten weeks together. How'd your Uncle George take the news that you wouldn't be working with him all summer?"

"Pretty good. He's thinking about taking quite a bit of it off himself this year and maybe doing a few more things with Aunt Marietta and Frederica."

"They'll like that," Arianna murmured, not really all that interested in talking about family vacation plans anymore.

"We should probably get some sleep," James suggested. "We're supposed to be going on the family shopping trip tomorrow."

When Arianna ignored him, and continued kissing him, she had no problem convincing him that he could sleep later, and settled in to enjoy a snogging session that had been seriously overdue for both of them before they eventually cuddled close and drifted off to sleep, each of them happier and more content than they'd been since the Christmas holidays.

Since the Canons, that is, England's National Team would be leaving for Portugal on Monday, that didn't leave them all very much time to spend together, and a lot to get done.

An after dinner WiComm call to Laura on Friday night had gotten Lily, Kieran, Kirley and Ana a morning meeting at the Mall with Laura and her parents. It had taken Lily all of about five minutes to convince Laura that this new job offer was way better than her now last job, and the pay and benefits were way better.

Then it was straight into shopping mode, and the girls were off and running, while Harry, Kirley, and the other Dads were sent off with the boys. That meant that they pretty much let Al, Nick, Scorpius, Kieran, and Hugo do their own shopping, and only offered advice when it was requested.

James and Arianna wandered around the Mall with Aaron and Tracey. They needed to pick up at least a starting summer wardrobe, but also expected to do lots of shopping while they traveled the world this summer with the National team.

One of the Canons' practice team Chasers was being given a paid summer off so that James could work out with them, and the young man could spend the time with his family – an agreement that worked for everyone involved. James and Arianna got to be together all the time, he wouldn't be bored, and the Gryffindor team would get an even better Chaser back for the next school year.

They all got together for lunch, like they normally did when doing these all day shopping trips, and then in the afternoon, the guys headed for the cottage while the girls went back out into the Mall for another few hours of playing dress-up.

Harry had dinner ready for everyone by the time the girls all returned to the cottage, and they then followed that up with a Quiddtich scrimmage and an evening hanging out in the back yard together.

Al, Rose, and Matt got the schedules from everyone that was there so that they'd be able to start work on their job on Monday after Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the National team hit the road. It certainly looked like most of their work would be with the rest of the family, since their parents, James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey would all be gone for the better part of eight weeks of the summer.

Rose and Hugo would be staying home on their own for parts of the summer too, although how often Aunt Hermione would be gone with Uncle Ron would depend on whether they made it to the finals or not.

On Sunday, Harry, Ginny, and the kids spent most of the day at the residence. They weren't going to be able to come for more than an hour or two on one of their days off this summer, so they wanted to spend time with as many of the kids that were home from Hogwarts as possible.

When they got back to the cottage, Lily packed up her trunk again, and her parents took her over to Kirley and Ana's, spent a little time with them, and then kissed and hugged her goodbye before going back home to get a good night of rest before they be leaving on their quest for a Quidditch World Cup Championship to go with their League Championship in the morning.

Monday morning was a whirlwind at the cottage. Harry and Ginny had to hurry through breakfast, say goodbyes to the kids, and then take their travel bags and head for the stadium where the team would be gathering before leaving for Portugal.

Brianna had to get going for her first day back at the Ministry. She'd be going to stay with Percy and Penelope starting that night, and would pick up her trunk after work.

Then Frederica arrived, ready for the first babysitting day that she and Carolyn would be working, just ahead of the arrival of Kira and James Cauldwell, and Timothy Boot. Kira was an adorable four-year old now, and the boys were typical two-year olds – busy and ready to get into anything.

Finally, Matt, Rose, and Hugo came over. Rose and Matt to work with Al on their first planning session, and Hugo for something better to do that sit around at home. He actually ended up being a big help with James and Timothy, helping to keep them entertained by playing with them, and with the toy Dragons they'd brought along.

While Carolyn, Frederica, and Hugo were busy with the kids, Al, Rose, and Matt sat at the kitchen table to talk about entertainment ideas for the family this summer.

"Win or lose, they're going to be home next Sunday, so we should do something for our parent's anniversary," Rose said, getting nods of agreement from the boys.

"We can't really do a late night party on a Sunday, though," Matt said. "Maybe an afternoon pool party again?"

Al grinned at them. "That always works for me. Anytime you've got water, food, fun, and Carolyn in a swimsuit it just has to be a good plan. Now that I think about that, maybe we should just have a pool party every day."

Rose and Matt laughed at him. "You wish, mate," Matt said, and then after glancing at Rose added – "we wish".

She gave him a hug, and grinned at him. "You two do remember that we're supposed to be putting together fun things for the rest of the family to do, right?"

"That shouldn't preclude us from making sure that we're having fun too," Al pointed out.

"And do you think there's any guys in your family who aren't going to be having fun if all of the girls are in swimsuits?" Matt added.

"I give up," Rose surrendered. "Pool party it is. Now how about things like Quidditch practice and setting up things to do with Hugo, Frederica, Emily, and Liam? And we'll also have to work the younger kids into the mix."

They talked about those things, and then sent out QuillMessage invitations to Sunday's pool party, and planning on what they'd be feeding everyone when they were here, and a bunch of other details. The Tuesday-Thursday Quidditch practices they'd done last summer had worked out pretty well, so they went with that again, including inviting Liam, Colin, and Lance Longbottom to join them for the practices.

Deciding that they'd accomplished enough planning for their first day, Al, Rose, and Matt gathered up the rest of the group, and took them all out for lunch at the Marauders Mall, and then took the younger kids to the park to play for a couple of hours before naptime back at the cottage that even Hugo decided to get in on before James and Timothy were fully recharged and back at it and on a tear again right through until it was time to go home.

While the kids were busy at the cottage, England's National team had met at the stadium, and then left for Aveiro, Portugal. They checked in to the 'Hotel As Americas', a comparatively modern hotel – that is, compared to the Venetian-like charm of most of the buildings in the small, historic city.

Both teams would be staying right in Aveiro, while the media, and followers of the Quidditch World Cup were scattered in towns and cities all over Portugal. Thanks to the TransPortal system, that wasn't really a problem.

This first round game was against Ireland, and was being played in the Braga Broomfleet team stadium. After they'd checked in, that's where the team headed next for a full day of meet and greet as the World Cup organizers kicked off the 2022 competition with a media day in which both teams spent nearly six hours giving interviews to the international media, meeting with the die hard fans – many of whom would be following the winners of each round to the next game and the next round all summer.

The sports reporters all loved this pairing of teams for the first round. It wasn't often that there were two former Quidditch World Cup Champions facing off in the first week of competition. They hyped that part of it up, and totally ignored the fact that the Canons team had played against all of the Ireland National team players at least once this season, and had thoroughly trounced them. That they even thought that an all-star Irish team that had only been playing together for a week or two was going to be able to compete well against a team that had been working out all year, and had such a proven record was almost comical.

Media day ended by around four o'clock, and then Coach released the team so that they could all go exploring their host city for the rest of the day. For Arianna, James, Aaron, and Tracey, that meant checking out the local cuisine with Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their team, and then taking a walk along the main canal in town. After some sightseeing, they finished their day with a sunset walk on one of the beautiful beaches before heading back to the hotel to turn in early. Their first day of practice would be starting early at the Braga stadium, and they were going to need the sleep.

Back at the cottage, Kira, James, and Timothy had been picked up, and Frederica, Rose, Matt, and Hugo had gone home for the night. Brianna and Scorpius had stopped by after work to get her trunk and Translocate it to Percy and Penelope's townhouse, into the guest room she'd be using for most of each week all summer. She would only be coming back here one or two nights a week when Harry and Ginny were home so that she could spend some time with them.

That left Al and Carolyn acutely aware of, and thrilled by, the fact that they were truly on their own tonight for the first time.

They both did a lot of smiling while cooking dinner for themselves, and during dinner, and while cleaning up afterward. A walk into town for ice cream after that filled up a little time, and then they watched a little WWVN and did a fair bit of snogging before Carolyn started getting sleepy after her long day taking care of the three kids. That was the point when they started exchanging speculative glances, each of them suddenly too shy to come out and say what they were both thinking. Finally, as usual, it was Carolyn who broke the silence and took the initiative.

"Why don't we go upstairs, get changed, and then you come climb into bed with me," she told him. The 'why don't we' might have implied a question, but there was no doubt between them that it was what she wanted him to do, and that snuggling together all night was where they both wanted to be.

They held hands as they walked upstairs, and she kissed him before they went into their own rooms to get changed. When Al was changed, he walked back out into the hallway, and tentatively knocked on her door, only entering her room after hearing her invitation to do so.

Carolyn had her bedside light on, and it was the only light in the room. She was already in bed, her hair a halo splashed across the pillow, surrounding her beautiful face in a way that took Al's breath away. He smiled nervously as he walked over to the bed and got in next to her under the covers, and then wrapping his arms around her.

"We've fallen asleep together I don't know how many times on the sofa, and we had the overnight campout last year," he told her softly, "and this is still very different somehow."

"In a really exciting, brilliant sort of way," she agreed before kissing him tenderly.

They both jumped slightly and then laughed at the soft chime of her WiComm going off, letting her know she had a QuillMessage. She lifted it off of the nightstand.

"I better check in case it's something about the kids for morning," she told him.

When she pulled up the message, and they read it together, they both laughed. It was from Ginny, and the message had simply said – 'Good night, Carolyn. We love you. Roll over and say goodnight to Al for us too. Tell him to be good and that we love him too'.

"She didn't ask me to be good too," Carolyn mused as she put her WiComm back on her nightstand. "Does that mean she trusts me, or that she doesn't think I can be?"

Al laughed, and pulled her close to him again. "Oh I know you can be good," he assured her, kissing her softly. "Very, very good."

Carolyn laughed too, and they happily snuggled together, and settled in for their first night at the cottage by themselves.

Lily and Kieran spent her first day at the McCormack estate mostly doing one of the two things they liked to do best together – play music. They did find a little time here and there for their other favourite thing too, but that was later on, after spending a couple of hours in the recording studio in the morning, having lunch with Kirley and Ana, and then taking Kieran's guitar with them, and going outside to enjoy the sunshine and do a little creative songwriting, since they'd had lots of song ideas going on over the past month or so, and no time to work on those ideas.

"This is so great to have a whole day to just play music and have fun," Lily told Kieran as they sat under a tree as he picked out a tune on his guitar. "It seems like we've been busy for months now and hardly had time to play at all."

Kieran smiled at her. "That's because we have been busy for months now. At least we get most of this week to take it easy before things start getting busy again."

"I'm not sure that we can call two busy days at the cottage on Tuesday and Thursday, plus two more mornings in the recording studio on Wednesday and Friday, a video shoot on Friday afternoon, and a trip to watch Quidditch in Portugal on Saturday taking it easy," she said, a happy laugh bubbling up and out. "It is going to be fun, though."

"Compared to three weeks of exams, it's definitely easier," he told Lily.

They spent most of the afternoon writing two new songs, and going for a long walk together before returing to the house for dinner and a quiet evening with Kirley and Ana.

Kieran had his parents smiling when he walked Lily to her room in the guest wing, especially when it took him quite a while to return from the short trip. From the smile on his face, they didn't have to guess why he'd been gone so long.

Tuesday morning, a very happy Al and Carolyn began welcoming their guests for the day shortly after breakfast. Natalie and Mandy dropped off Kira, James, and Timothy, and Frederica was over bright and early too. It was pretty easy to see from her own smile that Liam's impending arrival to spend the day with them probably had a lot to do with her extra happiness this morning.

Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Emily were next to come over, followed shortly after that by Kieran, Lily, and Liam. The Quidditch playing teens were going to have a morning workout to start the day, and while they were doing that, Emily was going to give Carolyn a hand keeping their three young charges entertained.

The start of that practice was delayed slightly while Lily and Kieran had to deal with a fired up Kira, who was getting to see Lily and Kieran for the first time since she'd found out that they were SpellBound. It took Lily nearly fifteen minutes before she was able to disentangle herself from the little girl so that she could join the others on the Quidditch pitch. Carolyn and Emily took all three kids out to watch the practice, but it wasn't long before the two young boys were bored with sitting, and wanted to run around and play with their toys, while Kira sat on the bleachers and watched every move that Kieran and Lily made.

There was a much more strenuous Quidditch workout going on in Portugal. Each team would have the Quidditch pitch for half of each day. England's National team got the morning slot, while Ireland would have the afternoons.

Since they didn't get the whole day to work out, Coach had them on the field by seven, and was going to be working them straight through until noon. After lunch, they would be working on game film and game planning each day back at their hotel.

"Come on, ladies!" Coach shouted at his team. "Move it, Potter! You think you're still at Hogwarts or something? Your mommy flies better than you do!"

James couldn't help himself, even though he'd been warned, and laughed, earning himself fifty pushups, and making his Coach very happy as he flew to the ground and started his punishment. He was young and healthy, though, and just to prove it, he did the last ten with one arm behind his back.

"Get back up there before I decide to give you fifty more for showing off!" Coach yelled at James, and watched as the talented young man flew back into the air.

"Try and keep up this time!" James was told, and he redoubled his efforts to keep pace with his parents, uncle, and friends as Harry led them through their flying practice.

World Cup practices were open to the media, and there was a strong contingent in the stands who were all excited to finally get to see what the Canons had been doing all year during their closed practices. They were all left amazed at the difficulty of the workout.

The team started with an hour of intense flying, followed by a half hour bludger-dodging practice in which they now used fourteen bludgers – one for each player. After seeing that, nobody in the media wondered anymore why none of them had even been grazed by a bludger during a game all season.

When the ninety-minute game practice got started, the spectators were again left in awe of the ferocity of their practice. Aaron, Arianna, and Ginny practiced against Ron, Sebastian, and Tristan, and all six of them were forced by Coach to play their hardest every minute.

There was a lot of interest over Liselle too. She'd been completely protected from the media all year, and so this was the first time that almost anyone outside of the Canons organization had seen her play. Finding out that the team backup Seeker was probably the second best Seeker in the entire league had been one more surprise for the reporters that were watching.

"I bet it's going to really bug them that they can't even report on most of what they've seen this morning," Aaron told the others while they were taking a short break. Reporters were allowed to view the practices, but they all had to agree not to report on any specifics about what either team was doing to prepare for the game.

"That's such a shame," Ron said. "Most of them are such a bunch of gits they probably don't even recognize half of what they're seeing anyway."

Ginny laughed at her brother. "You need to give them a break, Ron. It's not their fault that they were just way more successful at doing exactly what we wanted them to do all season than even we had hoped for. Besides, you may need them again in the future – you should be nice to them."

Ron grinned at her. "Easy for you to say, in eight weeks or so, you'll be done with all of it and back in your nice private lab."

"There's no law that says you have to stay in Quiditch either," she pointed out to him.

"Actually," Harry told her, "he's under a no quit contract, so yes, there is."

"Like I would anyway," Ron told Harry. "There's nothing else I want to be working at."

That's what Scorpius was thinking as he ran some documents down to one of the courtrooms from archives. His friends might all have other things that they loved to do, but he – and Brianna – fit right in here at the Ministry of Magic. Sure there was a lot of things he didn't like about how things worked, but that's why he thought that working here would be so great – he could maybe help make those changes happen!

He was thinking about that as he hurried along, and so was a bit preoccupied and didn't at first notice who was coming down the hallway toward him after he'd stepped off of the lift on the courtroom level – his father and grandfather!

Momentarily startled when he saw them, Scorpius' step had faltered, but then he immediately stiffened his resolve, smiled, and walked straight toward Lucius and Draco, looking right at them, and continuing to smile, but neither man would acknowledge that he was there, and walked right past him.

"How far the Ministry has fallen, Draco," Lucius said in an oily smooth voice. "They're so desperate, they'll hire any lowly blood-traitor."

Scorpius stopped in his tracks and turned to stare at the retreating backs of the two men. 

"You must be very happy to know that you can't hurt me with mere words anymore, grandfather," Scorpius told Lucius clearly. "Considering the consequences that would have for you."

He smiled to himself as he turned and resumed his walk. That smile got even wider when he heard the two men skid to a stop, and he knew without looking back that he'd just won that little confrontation as he heard his own father's fiercely whispered _"Father, you cannot!"_

It was all he could do to keep working all the way through to lunchtime before getting to tell Brianna what had happened to him. She'd hugged him fiercely when he'd told her, so very proud of her boyfriend.

"I wish I could have been there to see it!" she told him as they talked quietly.

"See what?" Percy asked, coming to sit with them. He didn't get to have lunch with them all that often, so it was a nice surprise to see him join them.

Scorpius proceeded to repeat what had happened, and he got another hug from a proud surrogate father.

"Way to go, Scorpius. That man is just as arrogant and misguided as ever. Too bad your Dad stopped him, though."

Scorpius and Brianna laughed. "That depends on whether he would have actually had to hurt me to break that vow, or if the intention alone would have been enough," Scorpius told them. "I should probably have found out the answer to that question before goading him, though."

"I'll remind you to ask Uncle Harry when we see them next," Brianna promised.

They were already back to work that afternoon when Draco and Astoria Malfoy were having an after-lunch walk around the grounds at Malfoy Mansion, where they could have a little privacy, and he could tell her about seeing Scorpius at the Ministry of Magic.

"How does he look?" Astoria asked him.

"He's nearly full grown, now – he is sixteen after all," Draco said. "It's like looking in a mirror for me – or at least what it was like for me twenty-five years ago," he said with a grin.

Astoria gave him a hug and a kiss. "Neither one of us look like we did back then," she pointed out. "And he actually told your Dad that?" she asked, still amazed at their son's bravery. "He should've been Gryffindor, not Ravenclaw."

Draco laughed. "I hear he's a straight 'O' student too, Astoria. Ravenclaw seems to have been perfect for him."

"I'm glad he's doing so well," she said. "I just wish I could see him other than just through this," she added, touching a hand to the locket that Scorpius had given her.

"Me too," Draco told her. "I didn't see her at the Ministry, but I hear that his girlfriend is growing up to be quite the stunner too."

"Brianna," Astoria said. "That doesn't surprise me, she was the cutest little thing when we saw her at the train station."

"Well, even if I couldn't talk to him, I was just glad to see him again," Draco said as they made the turn to head back to the Mansion.

"You didn't say how things went in court," she prompted Draco.

He shrugged. "We lost. That tribunal for Goblin-Wizard disputes seems to think that they should be fair to both parties, and the Goblins were able to prove we'd stolen the artifact – which of course we had. So much for the good old days when we just stole from and cheated our Goblin neighbours with impunity."

"What's the world coming to?" Astoria asked insincerely, and they both laughed.

Back at the cottage, the Quidditch workout had been followed by Al, Rose, and Matt working on the details for the Pool Party planned for Sunday, while the rest of the teens entertained the three little kids. For Kira, that meant getting to sit in on a music practice with Kieran and Lily, and for James and Timothy, it was playing DragonRider with Liam and Hugo.

They had lunch at the Marauders Mall food court, and then took the kids shopping for a couple of hours before naptime. The fun coordinators ordered dinner in, exchanging three younger kids for the six extra guests that were coming for their first Quidditch practice of the summer. Nick, Scorpius, Brianna, and Allie came together, and Colin and Lance each came on their own.

Lance had met everyone at least once last summer at Harry's birthday party, and so while he was the only real newcomer to their group, they didn't need to make long introductions either. They made pretty quick work of dinner, and then all went outside to the Quidditch pitch to practice.

With Hugo, Frederica, Liam, and Colin all there, the Gryffindor team was nearly as well represented as the Ravenclaw team was with Nick, Rose, Matt, Al, Lily and Scorpius.

Kieran and Lance joined Liam on the Gryffindor team, giving each side a full team less one Beater each. Carolyn, Brianna, Allie, and Emily were the cheerleaders for the match, with Emily outnumbered three to one, but enthusiastic as the sole fan cheering on Gryffindor and especially her boyfriend, Hugo.

Over the next two hours, they found out that eleven-year old Lance was a more than adequate Chaser, and he, Liam, and Kieran gave Matt, Rose, and Al a seriously talented trio to train against. Colin and Lily had a blast playing against each other, and while Lily did win the best of five with four catches to one, they'd both been surprised that he'd beaten her to even one catch in the first practice competing against each other.

Hugo and Scorpius were again closely matched, with Hugo getting a slight advantage on points for this practice, and Nick had his hands full working against a very fired up Frederica. He wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that before this year was done that she was a better Beater than he was.

When practice was over, Al and Carolyn had snacks and drinks in the kitchen for everyone, and they spent another hour or so together before it was time for everyone to head for home for the night. Frederica's offer to stay overnight so that she could be with Carolyn in case she was lonely with Brianna and everyone gone was politely declined as the rest of the teens all laughed.

"Thanks anyway, Frederica," Carolyn had told her friend. "I seem to be getting along just fine so far."

"As long as you're sure," Frederica answered theatrically. "I guess I'll see you in the morning then."

Liam left with her so that they could say goodnight in private before he went back to his own house, and the rest of their gang quickly followed, leaving Al and Carolyn alone once again. The young couple was finding out fast that doing everything on your own was pretty tiring, and while there was a little snuggling and snogging when they went to bed, mostly there was just a lot of sleeping.

The rest of that first week of summer pretty much continued along the same as the first couple of days for everyone, with the work and play that happened over the next three days a way to keep busy until the events that everyone was looking forward to on the weekend.

There was no way that every member of the family were going to be able to attend every Quidditch World Cup match all summer. Since the first round match was in Portugal, and it was the first one ever for Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Arianna, most of the family wanted to be there to see it, and so there was a big block of seats taken up on Saturday afternoon at the Braga stadium by Weasleys, McCormacks, and various other families.

"This is just so cool!" Lily said as she sat with Kieran, Kirley, and Ana, waiting for the teams to be called out. "The stadium is pretty nice too. I didn't know that Quidditch was that big in Portugal."

Hugo was sitting with his Mum, Emily, Rose, and Matt in the row in front of Lily, and he looked up and back at her.

"Braga Broomfleet is one of the best teams in the world," he told her. "They've got three players on Portugal's National team this year, but they've got a really tough first round against Bulgaria, so they probably aren't going to still be around after this weekend."

"Sounds like the same boat Ireland's in this year," Matt said. "They'd be pretty good against any other team, but they drew this match in the first round, and it's going to be the end of the road for them today."

Hugo nodded. "Pretty much, yes," he agreed. "We've really got the advantage for this game, but it'll be interesting to see how we stack up against the best players from different countries as we move along, and those teams get more games behind them. It should be a lot of fun by the fifth and sixth rounds."

Their conversation trailed off while the two teams were welcomed into the stadium. There was specific World Cup protocol to follow, so it was a bit disappointing that there wouldn't be any pre-game flying demonstrations, but when the game got started, their team more than made up for that by starting out on a tear, and keeping the pressure on through the entire game.

Hugo's assessment had been accurate – the Irish were at a definite disadvantage. Ron knew all of their star players, and had prepared for each of them. On top of that, they had only been practicing for a couple of weeks as a team, and were no match for a team that had played and practiced together for the whole year.

"This is even more lopsided than I thought it would be," Hugo told the others around him. "It's really hard to believe just how much better our team is against the best players from all of the Irish teams in our league, and the Irish players that came to play from other teams too."

He pointed out their Seeker, who wasn't having any success at all against Harry. "Their Seeker is the star of the Heidelberg Harriers, and Uncle Harry's making him look like a House practice team player."

"Like you Dad's not doing the same?" Nick asked from the row ahead of Hugo. "Ireland's three best Chasers have scored a grand total of two goals on him."

"They're doing pretty good," Hugo countered. "He hasn't been able to score a goal today."

That had become something of a joke since Ron had scored the lone goal of his career – that the Canons' opponent must be doing pretty well, keeping Ron off the scoreboard for the whole game. Maybe it wasn't that funny, but hey, when your Chasers keep most of the shots from even reaching you, a Keeper's got to find some way to amuse himself and keep from being bored, and it had been Ron who'd started the joke in the first place.

"There goes Dad," Lily said excitedly, pointing out to the others that Harry was making a run for the snitch. His opponent had been faked into a different direction, and Harry had an insurmountable lead as he reached for the snitch. A bludger came flying at him from the side, but he deftly dodged above it, went inverted, and grabbed the snitch to end the game at the one hour, thirty-three minute mark.

"Your Dad makes that look way too easy," Kieran murmured to Lily. "Was he holding back just so the fans could get their money's worth?"

Lily gave him a hug and whispered back. "Yes. If he didn't most of these games probably wouldn't last five minutes."

When the game was over, everyone left for home, since the team would be busy for the next couple of hours before coming home too. Lily and Brianna would be home for the next few nights while Harry and Ginny were at the cottage, and so they each stopped and picked up bags before meeting Al and Carolyn at the cottage.

They all got to work, and by the time Harry and Ginny did get back, dinner was ready, and they could sit right down to eat and tell the kids all about their first week on the Quidditch World Cup circuit, and the kids could tell them about the events back home.

Saturday night there was an early bedtime for everyone staying at the cottage, and Sunday morning, Harry and Ginny woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking, and took their time getting ready before going downstairs.

"Happy Anniversary!" their four chefs called out in greeting as they came into the kitchen together. The table was set, there were flowers, and a gift had been placed between two of the place settings.

Two steaming mugs of coffee were brought to them when they sat down, and Ginny happily opened the present before they all sat down to eat.

"Thank-you!" she told the kids excitedly as she found a set of matching his and hers unbreakable sports watches inside the box, and handed one to Harry before trying hers on.

Lily grinned at them. "We thought maybe it'd make it easier for you instead of always looking up at the scoreboard to see if you'd given the fans enough play time so that you could finish your opponents off, and Dad never wears his old watch during games."

Harry laughed. "Your grandparents gave that watch to me for my seventeenth birthday. I don't want anything to happen to it."

"We know," Al told him. "Now let's eat while everything's still hot. You've got a big day ahead of you."

When breakfast was finished, Harry and Ginny were kicked out of the cottage, and told not to come back until one o'clock.

"What are we supposed to do until then?" Ginny asked the kids with a smile.

"Please don't try to tell us you two can't think of anything to do to entertain yourselves for a few hours," Lily told her with a grin.

What they decided to do was take Ginny's car, and take a drive over to the residence to spend the morning with the kids. It wasn't a romantic way to spend the morning, but it was something they both loved to do, and it was entertaining.

As soon as they left, Carolyn and Brianna put out the calls to bring in the work team, and the party setup was done over the next few hours. Kreacher and Winky were invited guests for this party, and the kids were having the evening meal catered. It wouldn't be as incredible as what the two house elves would have come up with, but then if they'd done it, they wouldn't have been able to enjoy the party with the rest of their family.

When the guests of honour arrived promptly at one, most of the guests were there to welcome them, and the party got going right away.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione spent most of the first hour talking with as many of their friends and family as they could. Gabrielle and Kevin had brought now almost two-year old Patricia with them to the party, and Michael had stayed on the island to run the studio shop for the day. They had the big announcement of the day, getting to let Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the family know that they were expecting another child, due sometime next February.

That had been news for Gabrielle's sister Fleur too, and had started a hug-fest that had lasted for more than fifteen minutes. Patricia joined the other younger kids at the party who were being supervised by Carolyn, Brianna, and Frederica. They were already watching Kira, James, and Timothy while their parents got to go play with the other grownups.

There were three portable pools set up, and a beach volleyball court – a game that the tall Weasley brothers had become fairly proficient at playing.

With so much going on this summer, they all knew that there wouldn't be many get-togethers like this, so everyone enjoyed the chance to have a play day and the time to be with each other.

There were several Quidditch matches during the afternoon, but the big game was an entertaining competition indeed. On one team there was James, Al, and Ginny Potter at Chaser, with Harry Potter at Seeker, Frederica and George Weasley at Beater, and Ron Weasley backing up his teammates at Keeper.

On the opposing side, they had Kieran McCormack, along with Liam and Meghan Murray playing Chaser, with Lily Potter at Seeker, Keeper Hugo Weasley, and Beaters Nick Weasley and Sebastian Connors.

Nearly everyone else filled the bleachers, and brought chairs over so they could watch the highly entertaining, and often hilarious hour-long competition.

Lily cheated outrageously; peppering her father with hugs and kisses to distract him from the snitch. Frederica couldn't bring herself to hitting the bludger at either Liam or his mother, but had no problem keeping both Sebastian and Nick occupied while both sets of Chasers were mostly free to concentrate on trying to score, or help defend.

Liam's mother, Meghan, had been a Keeper for the Pride, but she managed to put a few moves of her own on Ron, and scored three goals on him playing Chaser, while Liam and Kieran each managed to get one past the all-star National team Keeper.

"Good thing none of these guys will be playing against us this summer," Ron said after Meghan's third goal sailed past him. "You could have been a Chaser instead of a Keeper. You'd be a pretty good Chaser in the League right now."

"You could say the same thing about your son," Ginny told him while she grinned at Hugo. "We've only scored six goals ourselves, and Lily's out ahead of Harry two catches to one."

"Make that three, and game over Mum," Lily told her, flying up behind her and handing the snitch over. "I do believe that gives us the win too – eighty to seventy."

Ginny gave her a hug. "Way to go, sweetie. Next time you can be on our team, though. I'd like to get in on some of that hugging and kissing of the opponent players that you were doing."

Lily laughed. "Deal, if that means Kieran's on the other team too."

The caterers came about a half hour before dinner was to begin, and quickly set up the buffet tables, and invited everyone to come and fill up plates. Their wasn't any planned seating, so everyone just found tables and chairs wherever they could, having fun with whoever they ended up with for dinner companions.

When dusk began to fall over the party, Kieran and Kirley got their guitars out, and Lily joined them to sing and entertain the party guests for most of the last few hours of the night, wrapping up before eleven, since nearly everyone except the professional Quidditch players had to work on Monday.

Harry and Ginny found themselves alone in the sitting room after their guests had all left, and Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna had all gone to bed.

"This is a switch," Ginny said as they cuddled on a sofa. "Usually we're the ones that are in bed early."

Harry smiled at her. "I'm just glad we still have one more day off before we're on the road again."

"Me too. I know I told Mandy I'd be back by September, but I'm thinking that maybe when we're done this Quidditch thing that we should take the first couple of weeks in September off and go away on our own."

"Why don't we, then," Harry said. "Maybe just go to the island and hide. We'd only have to come back for the home opener the first weekend."

"I'm convinced," Ginny said. "I'll let Mandy know not to expect me back until mid-September instead."

She snuggled comfortably in Harry's arms and closed her eyes as he held her close. The next thing Harry knew, her breathing had evened out, and she'd drifted off to sleep.

"Some things never change," he thought to himself, as he gently picked his sleeping wife up in his arms, carried her upstairs, and tucked her into bed. He got changed himself, and climbed in beside her.

"Good night, Ginny," he whispered. "I love you." She stirred into a half-awake state long enough to kiss him softly before she once again drifted asleep again, happy and comfortable in his warm embrace.

On Monday, Lily was off to Kieran's for a day working on music, and Brianna went to her job at the Ministry right after breakfast. Harry and Ginny soon found themselves on the outside of the activity as Carolyn and Frederica's three charges arrived, along with Matt and Rose. Hugo was spending the day with Emily.

"So what are you all doing today?" Harry asked Al, Rose, and Matt as they sat at the kitchen table.

Rose smiled at him. "Well, your fun coordinators were going to book your whole day for you, but then we found out that you had to go spend the morning at the stadium dealing with a bunch of boring owner stuff. While you're stuck doing that I'm taking Aunt Ginny to SpaMagic for the morning.

Ginny laughed. "So far it's sounding pretty good for us and not so much fun for you," she told Harry.

"Then," Rose continued, "we'll all meet you in Chudley for lunch, followed by an afternoon on the island playing with the kids. When we're done there, if you get tuckered out, you can join the kids for naptime, or do your own thing for the last couple of hours before your chefs for the evening, Al and Carolyn will have your dinner prepared for you."

"Anything else?" Harry asked.

Rose thought about that. "You have two extra dinner guests, Kieran and Scorpius, joining you for the evening, but other than that, no, that's about it. You're evening is open to do whatever you want. Ready to go, Aunt Ginny?"

"Lead the way, Rose." Ginny said. She gave Harry a goodbye kiss, and happily followed her niece out the door, and off to the Marauders Mall and a date with the SpaMagic Wizards and Witches.

"Well, I guess the work Tracey's got for me won't get done by itself," Harry said, standing up too. "Rose didn't say where lunch was," he told the boys. "Where do you want me to meet you, and what time?"

Matt answered. "At the Diner, for twelve, if that'll work for you. We want to have the kids back here after going to the island by three-thirty for their naps."

"That should be more than enough time," Harry agreed. "See you then."

That left Al and Matt to work on other plans they had for the summer. The first problem they'd found was in their Quidditch workout schedule. They hadn't taken into account that Lily and Kieran were going to be gone every other week from Wednesday to Saturday. They made a few calls, and moved this week's Thursday practice to Sunday, and then moved on to other projects they were working up for the rest of the summer.

Arianna started her second day off with breakfast in bed, courtesy of James Potter, who'd gotten out of bed early, without waking her, and whipped up a few of her favourite breakfast foods, bringing them in on a tray that he'd transfigured so that it could sit on the bed over her lap.

"This looks great," she told him, kissing his cheek. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome. What would you like to do today for your day off?"

"Is staying here in bed with you all day an option?" she asked him.

James grinned at her. "Technically, yes. Practically, no, since we're supposed to let Aaron and Tracey know when we want to meet them at their place to figure out what we're all going to do. Since I doubt that they're going to want to join us in bed here, then I guess we'll have to come up with something else."

Arianna sighed. "If we have to. I don't feel much like traveling, though. We'll be doing enough of that all summer."

"How about we just set up a portable pool in one of the yards, get a couple of bottles of wine, a picnic lunch, and do nothing all day by the pool?"

"That sounds perfect," Arianna said. "I'll bet that Aaron and Tracey will be good with the idea too."

They were, and after some shopping in town, a little work in the kitchen, and a little backyard preparation over at Aaron and Tracey's, by late morning, they were outside enjoying the sunshine and laying out in lounge chairs by a sparkling, warm pool.

"We should do this on every day off all summer," Tracey said with a sigh of satisfaction. She'd had to pop in to the stadium long enough to go over everything she'd had ready for Harry to work on, and then joined Aaron, Arianna, and James in town as they finished up their shopping.

"It is pretty nice getting to do nothing for a day," Aaron agreed. "We haven't had much of that in a while."

"And won't until next summer," Tracey said wistfully. "Except maybe for a week at the end of August, unless you guys don't make it to the finals."

"They will," James assured her.

"I thought you dropped Divination," Tracey told him with a smile.

"I did. That wasn't Divination; it was educated deduction. I think they're just too good this year for anybody to beat them."

Arianna smiled at him. "If it wasn't' so hard to win the World Cup, I'd be tempted to lose a game just so we could spend the summer off on some vacation paradise," she told James, Aaron, and Tracey. "Since most players never even get even one chance to play for, let alone win a World Cup, we shouldn't throw away this chance – especially for your Mum and Dad. At least Uncle Ron has two Quidditch World Cup Championships as a player and one as a coach."

"I thought this was a day off," Tracey said. "We should be talking about anything except Quidditch."

"Like what?" Aaron asked her. "It's hard to remember some days that there's something else out there besides Quidditch after Coach's workouts."

"How about like when James and Arianna are going to get married?"

James laughed. "How about at the family lunch when the Hogwarts Express gets back from school next June," he suggested. "Or maybe just have the ceremony right on platform nine and three-quarters."

Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey all laughed at him.

"I'm surprised you didn't suggest having the wedding after the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game," Aaron said, grinning at James.

"Is that an option?" James joked.

"I think you should go with June thirty-first," Tracey said. "The twenty-fourth wouldn't give you any time to get ready, James, and would only be a week after playoffs end for the League. That is nowhere near enough time for us to get everything done for Arianna, but if we have the wedding the week after, that should work out, and then it'd still leave you a couple of weeks before training camp opened again for a honeymoon."

"Are you trying to trick me?" James asked with a smile, and Tracey looked confused.

"What are you talking about, James?" she asked him.

"Last time I checked, there wasn't a June thirty-first," he explained with a laugh, and she joined in, laughing at her mistake.

"Okay, smart guy, July first," she told him. "Keep it up and we'll let you wait until there is one."

"That won't happen. We'll run off and elope first," James told her.

"July first will be good," Arianna told them. "We'll have waited two years by then. One more week isn't a big deal."

"You at least have the advantage of having the same family," Aaron pointed out. "That should be half the work that we had for our wedding."

"That's true," Arianna told him. "We'll have to check it out with Mum and Dad, but I imagine it'll work out for them too."

Talk of wedding dates moved on to other wedding related topics, and Aaron and James mostly listened while the girls talked. They might not be interested in every detail of a chat about all things wedding, but they definitely were having fun watching the girls have that talk while laying out in the sunshine in their bikinis.

When they got warmed up, they'd all go for a swim, and there was food available whenever they got the munchies. They all took it easy on the wine, since they would be having Quidditch practice in the morning, and also have an early departure for Italy.

As the afternoon wore on, James eventually went inside to cook dinner for four, and then brought it out to the others so that they could continue to enjoy the beautiful weather.

That evening, they were all in bed early. James and Arianna were snuggled in bed by nine, and already drifting off to sleep. Harry and Ginny were doing the same over at the cottage. Harry had met them all for lunch, and then he and Ginny had spent a couple of hours with the kids on the island before three tired little toddlers were ready for naps, and they went back to the cottage.

As promised, Al and Carolyn cooked dinner for eight, and then they spent a quiet couple of hours together in the evening before Scorpius and Kieran left for home, and then Harry and Ginny led the charge to go to bed early.

"So Naples, Italy in the morning," Ginny said quietly as she and Harry snuggled in for the night.

"Yes. The stadium is probably closer to Pompeii, but the hotel choices were a bit better in Naples."

"That's good," she said, already drifting off to sleep. "I'm sure that whatever you booked will be fine."

When the team eventually got to their hotel in Naples, Ginny found out that it was quite a bit better than fine. After checking in to the Grand Hotel Parker's, she and Harry were led to a bi-level suite that overlooked the Bay, Capri Island, and Vesuvio Vulcan.

"How'd you manage to get us into a place like this on such short notice?" Ginny asked Harry after they'd been left alone in their suite.

Harry smiled. "I booked it back when we made the National team," he told her. "And I still had to do a little confunding to do it. I was still only able to get four of these suites. Everyone else will be staying in the deluxe rooms, although I think a few of them got private balconies."

Ginny gave him a long kiss. "Well, I'm guessing this is way nicer than wherever the Bulgarian team is staying.

Harry laughed. "I'd say so, since I heard they were having problems getting enough rooms in one hotel, and were pretty much taking whatever they could get."

"So what would you have done with all of these rooms if we'd lost?"

He put his arms around her, and kissed her again. "I'm sure we could have thought of something to do with five days and four nights in a paradise like this," he told her. "And it probably wouldn't have been too difficult to convince some extra friends and family to come and play too."

They'd gotten up early, had breakfast just after dawn, and hugged and kissed the kids goodbye before hurrying to the stadium to meet up with the team, and head for the stadium in Italy where they'd be playing Bulgaria on Saturday.

Coach had once again gotten the mornings for their team workouts, and had gotten them started right away. He'd worked them hard until noon, then taken them right into a working lunch, and a couple of hours of game planning. That had included an hour where their scouts gave them their assessment of the Bulgarian team, based on the game they'd both gone to watch last weekend.

There was a knock on their door, and Harry answered it to find himself getting hugged by Arianna.

"Thank-you!" she told him. "This place is awesome!"

Ginny, Harry, and James all laughed as he followed her into the room.

"You're very welcome," Harry told her. "What are you and the other kids doing tonight?"

'The kids' were the members of the organization that were under thirty, and included four team members, the entire practice team, and Tracey.

"We're going casual tonight, and heading out to explore Naples. We won't be out past your bedtime if you two old folks want to come too," Arianna told them.

Ginny laughed and gave her a hug too. "Thanks, but we'll be stuck here talking Quidditch with Coach and Ron over dinner."

"We saw the restaurant here," James told his mother. "I wouldn't exactly call that 'stuck' anywhere. The Muggle who led us to our suite told us that the Chef there was world-famous. That might even mean that he'd give Kreacher and Winky a little competition – even without having magic."

"We'll let you know tomorrow," Ginny promised. "You two have fun on the town, though."

While England's National team was settling into their luxurious hotel, back at home, Lily and Kieran had spent their morning in the recording studio again, and their afternoon preparing for the upcoming concert on Thursday.

They had sold out this show, just like every other show that had gone on sale on the Saturday after they'd gotten home, and in most cases they'd been sold out by the end of that first day.

Laura had started working with Ana on Monday, and so far seemed to be having fun, although Lily and Kieran hadn't seen her much since they'd been busy with the music end of things most of the time. When they were done their afternoon rehearsal, she joined them for the first time, and smiling, handed them each their first itinerary.

"I'll be hanging out with you two on all of these trips," she told them. "You'll see that tomorrow afternoon, we'll be checking in to the Grand Hotel La Pace in Sorrento, Italy. The three of us have one suite, and Kirley and Ana have another to themselves. They were talking about having girls and boys rooms, but I convinced them that the three of us could get along fine without needing to split them up."

Lily and Kieran both grinned at her. "I am not putting Kieran in the middle between us," Lily told her with a laugh.

Laura laughed too. "Tempting as that is, nice try – there are two beds, and you're with me, so stop grinning like that."

Kieran was looking over their schedule. "So we check in, go visit the stadium after the Bulgarian team practice is over, then do a meet and greet dinner with some VIP's, and then a private party in the evening."

Laura smiled at him. "Welcome to the world of a celebrity. You're day is going to be planned out to the minute while you're gone. You skipped over all of the little things on the list. It's going ot be a busy few days."

"There's something important missing here, Laura," Lily told her. "I don't see one single snogging session booked anywhere for the rest of the week. That just will not do."

"That wouldn't be very romantic if I'd scheduled that for you," Laura told her.

By this time, Kieran was blushing, and he turned bright red when Lily answered Laura.

"I don't know about that. I heard Mum once talking with Aunt Hermione, and she told her that there was a lot to be said for a well-planned seduction. You should look into that for us."

Laura just stared at her for a minute and then started laughing.

"That, my dear Lily," she told her younger friend, "is definitely not in my job description, and would quite probably get me fired."

"I guess I'll just have to take care of that myself then," Lily told her, still smiling brightly. "We'll just have to work a little me and you time around the schedule," she told Kieran, who was still blushing.

Over at the cottage, Kira had been a bit of a handful today. She'd been very disappointed when Kieran and Lily couldn't come and spend the day with her, and had been less than cooperative for Carolyn and Frederica. Her brother, and Timothy, had picked up on her unhappiness, and that had transferred to them as well. It had been bad enough in the sitting room that Liam and Hugo had gone outside to play a little one-on-one Quidditch, and Emily had gone to watch.

By lunchtime, they had three pretty grumpy kids, and a couple of unimpressed babysitters. It was Matt who came to their rescue.

"It's too bad that we've got such a grumpy group here today, Rose," he said as they walked into the sitting room. "I guess we'll have to reschedule the afternoon plans, since the kids wouldn't have any fun there in the mood they're in."

"What plans?" Kira said, perking up immediately.

"Well," Matt told her. "Your fun coordinators wanted to take you all to the Paris Marauders Mall for lunch and an afternoon in the Atrium Amusement Park there, but that's no place to go when you want to have a grumpy day. You'd start having fun almost right away, and it'd ruin the whole mood."

Kira hopped off of the sofa she'd been having her little pity party for one on, and threw her arms around Matt's neck and kissed his cheek.

"Can we go if we promise to stop being grumpy?" she asked him. "Please?"

Matt laughed. "You pretty much get whatever you want from you Mum and Dad, don't you," he told the now sunny-faced little charmer.

"Pretty much, yes," she agreed, hugging him again.

"Then I guess we should get packed up and go," he told them. "You've got a big afternoon of playing ahead of you."

While Carolyn and Frederica started getting the bags together, having the kids do washroom stops before leaving, and doing minor cleanups on the two boys, Rose gave Matt a big hug and a kiss.

"Nicely done," she told him. "You're going to make a very good father some day."

"Thanks, Rose. Why don't we send a couple of messages and see if Colin and Lance would like to join us. They'd have fun there too, and we could just keep them with us until practice after dinner."

They did that, and were soon all in Paris, having lunch, and then going on to play at the amusement park until they had some tired out kids, and Kira, James, and Timothy agreed to take them back home to the cottage for a nap.

Lily, Kieran, Nick, Scorpius, Allie, and Brianna all came over after dinner for their Quidditch practice, and this year's practice group was turning out to be one of the best they'd had for any of the years they'd been doing it.

"Whichever House gets you, Lance," Liam told him, "is going to be very happy."

Lance grinned at him. "Well, Dad's hoping for Gryffindor, and Mum's rooting for me to get in Ravenclaw. I'm leaning toward Gryffindor, since Dad's the Head of that House."

"Then you won't get away with anything," Hugo predicted.

"Do you really think that everything you do doesn't get back to your parents, mate?" Lance asked him.

"Of course, but I make sure I don't get caught," Hugo told him.

"You mean they don't tell you they know you did some things," Lance countered. "Dad cuts most of the Gryffindors a lot of slack. For me, though, it won't matter what House I'm in, Dad'll know everything I do practically before I do it."

"Maybe he's getting next week's report from the Divination Professor," Nick suggested, which had them all laughing.

"I never thought about that," Rose said. "Maybe we could do that to get the answers for tests – we only need to watch the class where we take up the answers in our crystal balls."

"It won't work," Al told her.

"Why not?" Rose asked him.

"Because the future is possibilities, Rose. You'd have to look at all of he possibilities, and that would take longer than just studying for the test."

"You're no fun at all, Al," she accused. "It seemed like such a good idea."

Al laughed. "Look at the bright side, Rose. The same thing applies to why that wouldn't work for what Nick had suggested too, so the Professors aren't getting next week's trouble report in advance either."

After practice was over, Lily and Kieran had to get back to his house, since they had a busy day on Wednesday that would be starting early, while the rest of the gang hung out together for another couple of hours before going home too.

"Finally!" Carolyn said as she and Al had gotten ready to go to sleep and then snuggled close in her bed.

"I liked having your Mum and Dad home, but I definitely like having you back in here with me again."

Al grinned and kissed her. "And I'm very glad to be back here too."

They lay together quietly for a while, content to lay there close together and listen as the gentle night sounds lulled them toward sleep.

"You didn't exactly tell Rose the whole truth about looking into the future tonight, did you?"

"What do you mean?" he questioned her in return.

"Well, that stuff about there being possibilities is certainly true, but it's also true that there are more and less likely probabilities."

"That's true," he agreed.

"A talented Diviner would be able to pick out the most probable possibility and look only at that." She watched as Al nodded his agreement again, and she smiled at him.

"Then you take that another notch to the most powerful and talented Wizard to ever be able to do Divination, and you'd probably get someone who would get the right probability most if not all of the time."

"That's a very interesting hypothesis," Al said, still grinning at her. "But if that hypothetical Wizard did do that for gain, it'd be leading him down a very dark, dangerous road, so he definitely shouldn't do that."

Carolyn smiled too. "I love you, Al," she told him, and then kissed him. "I think we'll all do just fine earning our grades the old-fashioned way – hard work and a little magic."

There was more than a little magic going on during the rest of the week – at least in Italy. Wednesday morning was a final rehearsal for Lily and Kieran. Their part of the concert would be nearly two hours long, and they spent nearly four hours working on the music, and what they'd be doing in between songs for their fans.

Wednesday afternoon, they took the TransPortal to their hotel in Sorrento, and the kids were thrilled with the Grand Hotel La Pace. They didn't have much time to enjoy it, though, since Laura ushered them off to their first appointment – and interview at a local WWVN station, followed by their tour of the stadium they'd be playing in, and then on to their dinner and the private party that had all of the movers and shakers of Wizarding Italy there, along with every one of their kids who'd wanted to meet SpellBound in person.

On Thursday, Laura again kept the kids on time, and got them to every appointment, while Kirley and Ana dealt with the business end of their trip.

The two Quidditch teams were kicked out of the stadium by four o'clock in the afternoon, and the stage and equipment was set up within an hour. When everything was ready, Lily and Kieran went there for a sound check and warm-up before Laura whisked them off again to attend a special dinner that the Phoenix Foundation had arranged for them at one of the residences in Italy, where they joined the kids for the meal, and then performed two songs for them before Laura once again had them heading back to the stadium. There were several people that helped Lily and Kieran to get into costume and do their makeup and hair while the stadium filled with fans of all ages, and the leadoff band took to the stage and performed their hour-long concert.

Finally, it was their turn to be brought out on stage, and the fans went wild as they walked out together, holding hands as they smiled and waved.

Since Lily was the academic genius of the pair, she started talking to their audience.

"CIAO L'ITALIA!" she shouted, to the cheers of everyone in the stadium. "LEI E PRONTO A AVERE DEL DIVERTIMENTO STASERA?"

'I hope she didn't just challenge them all to a duel,' Kieran thought to himself as he pulled his guitar strap over his head and got ready to play. He vaguely remembered that she was supposed to say something about being ready to have some fun tonight, but he had enough troubles with the English language, let alone Italian.

"QUESTO LA PRIMA CANZONE E CHIAMATA 'IT'S OUR TIME'," Lily continued to tell the sold out crowd. "SPERIAMO CHE LEI L'AMA!"

Kieran knew three words of that last part, and they meant 'count us in, Kieran'. He did that, and they started to play to the continuing cheers of their fans.

It's our time, or in this slightly adapted version, e il nostro tempo, Lily and Kieran had the kids jumping and dancing all over the stadium, and they followed that up with Nothing's Impossible, and You Make Me Fly before slowing it down for You Never Noticed Me and First Kiss, both songs new hits from the new album.

In between songs, they'd each take turns talking to, and with the exuberant crowd. Party in the House and No Such Thing as Too Much Fun got the crowd up and dancing again, and they continued to keep the tempo high as they played, sang, and danced on the stage.

Harry and Ginny were sitting with Kirley, Ana, and most of their team, watching the kids having fun.

"We'd thought about putting a band around them," Kirley told them, "but they don't need the extra bodies up there – they're doing just fine filling the stage all by themselves."

"They're wonderful," Ginny agreed. "I'd probably love them even if I wasn't completely biased."

Harry laughed. "I'd say there's about thirty thousand Witches and Wizards here who'd agree with you," he told her. "I didn't expect to see such an age range, though."

Ana nodded. "A lot of parents and grandparents bringing young kids, but our research is telling us they're coming because they like the music too."

The kids had gone on stage at around nine, and by shortly after eleven, they were once again sitting on the edge of the stage, getting ready for their last song. Since One Magic Moment was their own personal favourite, that would be their show closer at the concerts this summer, and they were ready to wind it down after two hours of high-energy performing.

"Questa canzone riguarda," Lily said quietly as she smiled at the fans that were right next to them along the front of the stage.

"Il Kieran di prima volta e ho incontrato, e come in quel momento, ci siamo innamorati."

Kieran had been smiling, and began to play the song.

"I sure hope that what Lily said was that this next song is about the first time that we met, and how in that one magic moment, we fell in love," he told the crowd who'd quieted in anticipation of hearing the beautiful ballad.

Lily, and quite a few of the fans had laughed at his remark, and then they'd begun to sing and create a magic moment right there for everyone lucky enough to be at the stadium to experience it.

The encore had been expected, and just for fun, they'd saved 'Charm This' for the encore, leaving their fans dancing and laughing, and singing SpellBound songs long after the concert was over.

"You were wonderful," Ginny told her daughter, giving her a hug in the dressing room.

She and Ana had joined Laura to help Lily get rid of the stage makeup, get changed, and pack up, which all went a lot faster with some magical assistance.

"Thanks, Mum," Lily said. "That was way too fun to be a job. Are you sure we got paid to do that, Ana?"

The three women all laughed. "You got paid quite a bit tonight," Ana assured her.

Harry and Ginny didn't get much time to spend with the kids before needing to get back to their own hotel, and before the kids needed to go out and spend an hour signing autographs for the dedicated fans who'd stayed in the hopes of seeing them up close and personal.

Friday was a sightseeing day for Lily and Kieran, and they got to visit Pompeii, and do some shopping, and even get to spend an hour by the pool. They only had to sign fifteen autographs all day, and that happened during their one work appointment - a TeenWitch Italiano magazine interview over lunch. They had dinner with Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Ana, while Laura was set free to spend the evening with James, Arianna, and the rest of the 'kids'.

While Lily and Kieran were having fun with their music, and the National team was practicing hard for their second round match against Bulgaria, the last few days at the cottage had been busy for both babysitters and fun coordinators.

Just because some of the family was away traveling didn't mean that the fun had to stop for the rest of them, and Al, Rose, and Matt wanted to make sure that didn't happen. While Carolyn and Frederica took care of the kids each morning, they'd worked this week on having another dinner roulette for Friday night. This time, Grandma and Grandpa, Stewart and Isabelle, Percy and Penelope, and Al and Carolyn were hosting the four dinners.

Instead of waiting until the very last minute to draw the names, this time, the kids had Kira do that, so they knew where each of the guests would be going, and they just wouldn't tell the families until the last minute. That let them make sure that the food and fun could be set up in the right places early this time around, making it easier to organize each of the meals.

Grandma and Grandpa got Hermione, and four kids. Percy and Penelope got Bill and Fleur. George, Marietta, Frederica, and Liam would be with Stewart and Isabelle, which meant that Teddy and Victoire were with Al and Carolyn. To make that a little more fun for the older couple, Scorpius and Brianna were added to the dinner list for the cottage.

Teddy and Victoire were welcomed with hugs, kisses, and glasses of wine when they arrived at the cottage an hour or so after they'd finished work. The four teens were all there, and were really looking forward to an evening where they had their older cousins to themselves.

They were twenty-four and twenty-two now respectively, and with Al, Scorpius, and the girls all being fifteen and sixteen, that age difference was just beginning to start shrinking. A year from now, and the boys would both be adults too.

"How's work at the Ministry going so far?" Teddy asked Scorpius and Brianna as they began having dinner.

"It's been really great," Brianna told him. "We're getting to spend two days a week helping out with the youth sports programs, and the free lunch program the Foundation is doing. The rest of the week is a lot of running around, but you learn a lot that way."

Victoire smiled at her. "Any new proposals for the Ministry this year?"

Brianna bobbed her head while she was waiting to swallow the bite of food she'd taken.

"Scorpius should tell you about it though, since it's his idea," she said after a moment.

She watched as her boyfriend smiled at her before telling the others what he'd like to get started this year.

"So last year it's feed the children, and this year it's a job for everyone who wants one?" Teddy asked Scorpius.

"And a job that doesn't pay so terribly that you can't live on it," Scorpius agreed.

"So you're starting with the minimum pay proposal," Victoire said. "That'll be a big fight with the old money."

"You don't seem worried about it affecting your business, Victoire," Carolyn said.

"That's because we pay way more than anyone else does. There are a lot of companies out there that don't, though, and they'll fight it all the way."

"So if you get that," Teddy continued, how do you propose to get a job for everyone?"

"I think the Ministry should work with you again on that," Scorpius said. "Expand the work program, and start getting more businesses on-board with it. If we had to, we could even put people on as paid volunteers and let them help out at the residences or with the other programs. There are a lot of opportunities, the Ministry just needs to decide to start caring enough about everyone to do something about the problem."

"Are you sure you want to go work at the Ministry?" Teddy asked him. "You could be a big help at the Foundation."

Scorpius laughed. "Working with you would be a blast, Teddy, but I know from growing up in my family that there's a whole section of the population that won't be swayed unless the Ministry says it's so. You and Stewart can take care of your side, and maybe Brianna and I can make a difference from working at the Ministry too."

Victoire smiled at him. "I have a good feeling that you really will," she told Scorpius and Brianna. "How about you guys?" she asked Al and Carolyn. "How's your summer going?"

Carolyn laughed. "Frederica and I are going to change the world one toddler at a time."

"And Rose, Matt, and I are just going to concentrate on making things fun for everyone while you do all the work," Al told her with a grin.

Teddy grinned back at him. "And you're doing a really brilliant job of it too."

Saturday was game day. Lily and Kieran were back at the stadium with Kirley, Ana, and Laura to watch the game, but except for Aunt Hermione, who'd gone to Italy after her dinner at the Burrow, the rest of the family was back home. Al and Carolyn were having a game watching party at the cottage, and all of the kids had elected to join them, except for Colin and Lance.

The game was about to start, and everyone was sitting down with drinks and snacks before the QSPN announcer introduced the teams to the field.

"It's really too bad they aren't allowed to do their little flying shows," Brianna said. "I bet those fans at the stadium would love it."

Emily laughed. "The fans here would love it too." She had been a very happy camper all day, since she and Matt had both stayed overnight at Rose and Hugo's house.

"Is that Viktor Krum?" Rose asked, pointing to where the Bulgarian Coaching staff was being shown on the WWVN.

"Yeah," Hugo answered. "He's like their team mascot or something, I think."

The others laughed. "Seriously, Hugo, I didn't know he was part of the National team this year," Rose told her brother.

"He's their honourary captain," Hugo told her. "They're hoping he'll bring them luck since he got Bulgaria the World Cup in ninety-eight."

"I hear he's still not married," Emily said. When she saw Hugo's look of surprise that she knew anything about the man, she laughed.

"It was on one of those 'where are they now' shows. They were doing TeenWitch heart throbs of the past, and he was one of them."

"Well, he did take Mum to the Yule Ball in ninety-four," Rose said. "Maybe she spoiled him for every other Witch in the world."

Most of the guys in the room were glad that at that moment, the game started, saving them from that particular conversation going any further. None of them wanted to think about their aunt or mother in the way that Rose was suggesting.

Lily wasn't limited by watching only what the cameras were showing on WWVN, and she'd been able to watch Viktor Krum when her little group, including Aunt Hermione, and been wishing their team good luck before coming to find their seats. Viktor had come over to greet them too, and had shook hands with Ron and Harry, and hugged Ginny and Hermione. When he'd met Lily and Kieran for the first time, he'd laughed and asked for their autographs for two of his nieces, which all of the adults had thought was pretty funny. Laura had promptly handed Lily and Kieran two pictures that they each signed and gave to Viktor.

Now the game was just getting under way, and she'd noticed that Viktor was on the sidelines with the Bulgarian team coaches, but he was barely paying any attention to the game at all. Instead, he kept staring toward where they were sitting – except he was only looking at one person in their group. When he looked away again to watch as Ginny scored her second goal against his team, Lily couldn't resist leaning forward toward her Aunt.

"He's still in love with you, Aunt Hermione," she said quietly enough that nobody else could hear her. "He's watching you more than he's watching the game."

Lily wasn't surprised when her aunt nodded. "I saw," she turned slightly and whispered back. "I don't think we need to tell your Uncle Ron about it though. In case you hadn't noticed, he's the jealous type."

Lily grinned at her. "I wouldn't dream of it," she promised. "How do you like being a magnet for the best Quidditch players in the world?"

Hermione glanced at Viktor briefly, looking a bit sad. "In this case, I think it's too bad that he didn't grow up and find himself a real Witch instead of the imaginary one he thinks I would have been. He was nice enough, I suppose, and we were friends, but there was never that spark between us even when we went to the Yule Ball together."

"It's tough being a legend in your own mind," Lily agreed, and Hermione chuckled.

Even Viktor eventually started watching the game instead of Witch watching. If he was supposed to be good luck for his team, though, it wasn't' working. He wasn't very happy about it either, since he'd made some fairly unflattering predictions to QSPN about Harry and Ron during practices this week, and he knew that by now, those same reporters would certainly be airing those comments during the broadcast.

"I was a professional Seeker back when Harry Potter and I were both still in school," Viktor was telling the QSPN reporter who was interviewing him. "And Ron Weasley didn't have much of a reputation back then as a player. Sure, he won a couple World Cups fifteen or twenty years ago, but neither one of them should be trying to still play at this level – they're just too old. I didn't talk with Ron much during the year I spent at Hogwarts, but I always liked Harry. It's too bad that they've decided to do this – the game is just too fast for us old guys now."

"What about the fact that they won their League Championship, and did it undefeated?" the interviewer asked.

Viktor had scoffed. "That just tells you how far that league has fallen in the Quidditch World that a couple of old guys and a bunch of kids can win it all."

"No wonder he's still single," Emily said. "He's an idiot."

The QSPN cameras panned in on Viktor on the sidelines after they'd played the clip from the interview they'd done earlier in the week. He didn't look too happy now. His Bulgarian team was being shut out by that old Keeper, and the kids and Ginny were scoring whenever they felt like it against the team that he'd predicted in an earlier clip they'd shown would win and win big.

"I'd say that if Dad had seen that interview before the game that he'd be really motivated, but since he's got a shutout going, he seems motivated enough," Rose told the others.

"You guys must be really happy," Nick told Rose and Hugo.

"Why's that, Nick?" Rose asked him.

"Because if things had been different, and your Mum had fallen in love at the Yule Ball back then, that could have been your father," Nick told his cousin with a laugh.

Rose stared at him in horror. "That," Nicolas Weasley, "Is so _not_ funny."

Hugo laughed. "I hate to break this to you, sis, but that so was funny – in a horror-film sort of way."

QSPN was more than happy to play every part of their interview with Viktor Krum, and the more lop-sided the game got, the more they wanted to refer back to his lofty predictions, and dismissive, and utterly ridiculous remarks about Ron, Harry, and their entire team.

Harry mercifully ended the game after just over two hours. He didn't know anything about the interview that had been playing over and over on the WWVN, but it was a kind of poetic justice that the snitch had happened to be about a foot above Viktor's head, and maybe two feet behind him when Harry tore past the Bulgarian Coaches at about two hundred and ten miles an hour, and caught the snitch with their own Seeker off flying around playing dodge the bludger with Sebastian and Tristan instead of even trying to find the snitch.

"Yes!" Al shouted as they watched the catch. "And Uncle Ron gets the shutout too!"

"And your Dad practically re-parted Viktor's hair on the way by," Rose said with a grin.

"If he'd had much hair to part, you mean," Hugo added, as they all laughed. "Remind me to feel bad about saying that some day," he told Rose.

"I'd like to see what that blow-hard has to say after the game," Nick said, "but we've got quite a few hours of afternoon left. I vote for a pool party to celebrate!"

Harry, Ginny, and Lily got back to the cottage Saturday evening, while the rest of the team, Kirley, Ana, Kieran, and Laura all returned to their own homes. The next few weeks of the summer continued to be incredibly busy for everyone in the family.

The run that England's National team was having toward winning the Quidditch World Cup continued. Their third round match was held in Germany, and they were playing against the Spanish National Team, under Coach Felino, a former star of past National teams.

Coach and Ron were expecting the competition to stiffen up, and they continued to work their hardest to prepare for the game. That expectation didn't materialize in round three as the Spanish team only managed four goals against Ron, while Ginny put on a show for the fifty thousand Quidditch fans, scoring twenty-one goals herself, while Arianna and Aaron combined for twenty-six more before Harry caught the snitch and ended Spain's World Cup hopes.

During the fourth week of summer, and the fourth round of the Quidditch World Cup, SpellBound was doing a concert at the stadium that was home to the Grodzisk Goblins on the Thursday night, while Harry, Ginny, and the team worked hard to prepare for their weekend game against the Russian National Team.

In the week and a half they'd had at home, Lily and Kieran had done four Quidditch team workouts, recorded six new songs, practiced regularly for their upcoming concerts, shot two new music videos, and did four interviews. Laura kept them on schedule and helped out Ana with other jobs when she didn't need to be running around with them.

On the weekend that their National team was in Germany winning the third round, SpellBound made their first trip to Marauders Paradise, where they became the talk of the week after surprising all of the kids by putting on a concert after the opening night banquet.

That ended up being a very long day for them, since they didn't get home until nearly five in the morning home time after the concert and a long line of autographs, but it had been so worth it for both of them, and Kirley and Ana let them sleep until noon before they had to head to the cottage, and an afternoon with Lily's family.

On their way to Poland on Wednesday, SpellBound had made a stop at the Dragon's Lair in Romania, and visited with the kids there, joining them for lunch, and giving Laura a chance to spend a few hours with Therese, and Lily a chance to see her Aunt Nathalie.

Their concert was another huge success, the second of only three concerts they'd be doing in Europe. Friday had been another sightseeing day for them, and then on Saturday, picking the best place in the world to do it, Lily watched her father go for another record snitch catch.

The reason that Poland was the place to do that was because the Grodzisk Goblins was the team that Josef Wronski played, and he was one of, if not the most innovative Seekers in Quidditch history. Their fans knew and appreciated everything about great Seekers. Harry's attempt at the record would be loved by the fans.

What those fans loved even more was that he succeeded! Harry's team had put together a whole new formation to make the attempt, but the resulting confusion among the Russian players was identical to when they'd done the same thing to Puddlemere United, and he got his free shot at the snitch.

The only difference this time was that the snitch hadn't shot as far away as last time, and Harry made the grab in two point eight-eight seconds, setting both a World Cup, and World record in the process, and sending a stunned Russian team away disappointed, and a lot of Polish Quidditch fans home with a story to tell their grandchildren someday – 'I was there when Harry Potter set the record!'.

Kieran and Lily left for Marauders Paradise again after the game, and had most of the day island time to hang out, have some fun, and have a little naptime before dinner and their second concert. The kids from the Lily Evans residence were on the island for this concert, as were Aunt Nathalie, Uncle Charlie, and the kids from the Dragon's Lair, so this show was extra special for the kids.

Harry and Ginny popped over to see it too, bringing Al and Carolyn with them, even though it had already been a very long day for all of them. When the concert was over, and the long line of autograph seekers were appeased as much as they could be without moving to the island for the week, Lily and Kieran were taken home by their respective families, once again getting back just before dawn, and ready to catch up on some sleep.

While the world-traveling members of the family were off playing games and music during that two weeks, the rest of the family had been keeping busy too. Scorpius and Brianna submitted their minimum pay proposal, Scorpius insisting that they'd both worked on it, and so Brianna deserved equal credit. They continued to work hard at the Ministry and waited as their presentation slowly rolled along from one department level to another.

Teddy was working up the new Child Abuse program, and was hoping to have the pilot program ready to launch by early September. Victoire had Witch Investments business keeping her running as she brought new clothing lines into her stores for the impending back-to-school rush. Isabelle and Hermione were working hard at the lab, and Stewart had been dealing with all things related to the Phoenix Foundation weeks at Marauders Paradise.

Nick had finished designing his first building, a shopping plaza that had been proposed for a small city in Austria. His work had not only been approved for construction, but had been lauded by other architects as being innovative, while still fitting into the style and ambiance of the area it would be built in. Nick loved the approval and praise, and especially liked the bonus that came with having the winning design.

Al, Rose, and Matt spent those two weeks concentrating on making parent 'date nights' happen, and one small birthday party. During the first week, Percy and Penelope, then George and Marietta got their date nights, with the kids staying at the cottoge for each event.

While boyfriend and girlfriend parents weren't strictly covered under the job description for the fun coordinators, on George and Marietta's night, Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt also took Liam and his brother and sister overnight so that their parents could also have a date night. The same was done with Allie on Percy and Penelope's date night, and her parents were more than happy to have a night out too.

The date nights for the couples that didn't have kids at home, or hadn't had kids yet, were easier, and all that required was getting them to pick a night, and setting up reservations for them. During the second week, all of the other couples had one date night set up by the fun coordinators.

Rose's birthday party had been an afternoon pool party at the cottage for anyone that could be there for it during the day, followed by a buffet dinner where family and friends could stop in, get some food, and wish her a happy sweet sixteenth, and was wrapped up by a dance party that lasted until nearly midnight that was mostly attended by their friends from school.

When the last week of July began, things had slowed down a bit for the fun coordinators. Half of the family was at Marauders Paradise for that week with kids from the residence. Bill and Fleur took a week off, as did Grandma, Grandpa, Percy and Penelope. Tracey's parents had gone with their two boys from the residence too.

That left Hermione, George, and Marietta back home, and they were the emergency backup for all of the kids that had stayed to work. Harry, Ginny, and the team only got Sunday off this week, because round five was in India, and Coach wanted them there for the extra day to get ready for what should be their toughest match so far against the National team from Japan. Since they'd lost half of their Sunday catching up on sleep after going to watch Lily and Kieran's concert at Marauders Paradise, it didn't really even feel like a day off at all.

The few hours they did have at home were with a full house. Nick, Scorpius, and Brianna would be staying at the cottage all week while Percy and Penelope were on the island. Harry and Ginny wouldn't have been surprised to find out that there were plans in the works for Aliie to have a few sleepovers with Brianna during the coming week.

There was a Sunday afternoon team Quidditch practice that Harry and Ginny watched with Carolyn, Brianna, and Allie. Lily might have been tired out, but Colin caught two out of five snitches during the hour-long match part of the practice, and Hugo and his team won by twenty points, as he put up one of his best Keeper practices so far, while Liam, Kieran, and Lance managed to score three more goals against Scorpius than Matt, Rose, and Al could get on Hugo.

"It's a good thing that Lance and Kieran aren't both on Gryffindor next year," Ginny told the Ravenclaws, "or you guys could be in a lot of trouble next May when you play."

Al grinned at her. "If they get Lance, and they have him, James, and Liam, we will be in trouble. And look at Colin. At the rate he's going, it'll be a toss up between him and Lily in any game."

Colin beamed at the praise, and Lily gave him a hug. "Too bad I couldn't just try that kissing thing his Dad did that one year to win the game against the Harpies, but that's against the rules now."

Kieran laughed, and Colin blushed. "I'm really glad that is in the rules now," Kieran told her. "I don't think I'd like seeing you snogging your opposing Seekers every game – or practice, for that matter."

Lily gave Kieran a hug next. "No need to worry there, Kieran. There's only one Wizard I'm interested in snogging."

James and Arianna were up early on Monday morning, and having breakfast before meeting up with Aaron and Tracey and leaving for the stadium. It had felt like a short weekend for them too.

"We are half way through the competition," Arianna said as they ate. "If we keep winning, anyway. Two more rounds, then the finals two weeks after that."

James smiled. "I'm loving spending all of this time with you, but some days a little less Quidditch, and a little more me and you would be nice."

"You know we actually see each other more like this than if we hadn't been doing it," she told him. "If we'd been here, you'd have been gone all day, all week working with your Uncle George, and I would have been in training camp. We've also gotten to go to Portugal, Italy, Germany, Poland, and now India, which is very cool."

"That's true. And the hotels Dad's picking are incredible too," James said.

They finished eating, gathered their luggage, and went across the street to Aaron and Tracey's place.

"Ready to go?" Arianna asked Tracey when they got inside.

"Sure am," Tracey told her. Aaron was just coming into the kitchen too, and had their bags with him.

"Hey sis, bro-to-be," he said with a grin. "Sleep well?"

Arianna gave him a hug. "Yeah. Wish we had the extra day off though."

Aaron grinned at her. "Not me. We've got what – a five and a half hour time difference? We need the extra day to get used to it, or we'll be tired out before the game even starts on Saturday 'cause it'll feel a lot later."

"I know you're right," Arianna said. "I just wish we had the day to ourselves."

He grinned at her. "We mostly do, you know. We're going there today, but we don't have any actual work to do. We can go sightseeing and do whatever we want as long as we're in bed by nine o'clock local time."

"Like that'll be easy to do since it'll feel like three-thirty in the afternoon to us," James said.

"We'll try to find something to do between now and then to tire you out, but there is no way I'm going to be doing pushups all day tomorrow because we didn't do what Coach ordered," Aaron told him.

Tracey grinned. "And if you're not completely tired out, I'm sure you two can think of something to do until you are."

Arianna and James both laughed. "Let's get going," she said. "We don't want to be late."

They weren't, and when the team arrived in Mumbai, and were shown to their suites at the Leela Kempinski, they were all once again impressed with Harry's choice to keep their team in first class accommodations. It was already early afternoon there, and so after checking in, they spent the day doing a little sightseeing, some shopping, and then went to dinner. They all had to be in bed far too early to enjoy any nightlife that Mumbai might have to offer, so they settled for a swim in the pool, an evening walk, and then were all back in their rooms and in bed by nine, as ordered.

At three-thirty in the afternoon back home, Lily and Kieran were getting their itinerary for the rest of the week. Laura was pretty excited about this trip too, because she was going to be seeing Andy in a few days.

This week, they were going to be doing two of their four concerts in North America. The first one was going to be on Thursday, at the Quidditch stadium where the Stonewall Stormers played, and where Andy was spending the week covering the fifth round World Cup match between Peru and America that would be held on Saturday.

Their second concert would be at the Fitchburg Finches Stadium in Massachusetts on Friday night. Their itinerary started from Wednesday morning local time, which had them leaving home just after lunch home time.

"This looks like it's going to be a lot busier than the last two trips," Lily pointed out, looking over the long list of appointments.

"Why the GamePortal stop in Toronto?" Kieran asked Laura. Lily answered for her.

"That's Valerie's store," she told him. "Kira and James' grandmother, although I think Natalie's sister is mostly running it now. They're the only Muggle-managed store in the GamePortal chain. I'm sure Dad asked your Mum to have us do an autograph session for her."

"Well, we definitely want to do that for our favourite little fan's grandmother and aunt," Kieran said with a grin. "In fact, maybe we should bring her on the road with us."

Lily gave him a hug. "That's a brilliant idea!" she told him. "She could spend a couple of days with her family, catch our concert, and then we could take her with us to the second show, and on to Marauders Paradise for Saturday."

Laura smiled at her. "Let's check with Ana first, Lily. Taking a four year old with us for the whole trip is a lot of extra work, and you guys are going to be busy."

Lily shrugged. "So we bring Frederica and Liam with us too to watch her. Problem solved."

"Except for the extra hotel rooms, chaperones for two twelve-year olds, and a couple of dozen other issues," Laura said with a laugh.

By Wednesday, what had been worked out was that Kira could go with Lily and Kieran, and stay with her grandparents Wednesday and Thursday night, and go to the concert on Thursday night. On Friday morning, though, Owen would pick her up at Grandma's house, do a few store visits while they were over there, and then take her to the Friday night concert too.

Since that meant at least some time with Lily and Kieran, and two concerts, Kira was happy to take what she could get, and Carolyn and Frederica would have one less charge for a few days while she was gone.

Lily had gone to the cottage to pick Kira up before lunch, and she'd been pounced with a hug and kiss.

"Gee, she does that exactly like you used to," Al said, laughing when he saw Lily getting hugged.

"Then that must be why I love getting them so much from Kira," she told him with a grin, "'cause we're so much alike!"

"You just make sure she has fun while she's gone," Al said, giving Kira a hug goodbye. "For the next few days, it's your job now."

"I'm pretty sure we've got it covered," Lily said. She gave Al a hug, and then hugged Carolyn and Frederica before she and Kira left to go to Kirley and Ana's for lunch before leaving for Toronto, Canada, and their first appointment of their trip at GamePortal.

They got there just before the store opened, and were met by Valerie, who was thrilled to get her granddaughter for a couple of days. She'd welcomed Lily and Kieran with hugs too, and then set them up at a table where they'd be signing autographs and talking to their fans for the next two hours.

Those fans were lined up waiting to get in already, and so Valerie opened the doors early and let the mad rush start. This would be the only chance that most of these kids would get to see SpellBound in person, although a few kids did say they'd be going to the concert on Thursday night. Kira stayed with Lily and Kieran the whole time, and when it was time for them to leave for their next appointment, she'd been torn between wanting to go too, and staying with her grandmother.

"We'll see you tomorrow night, honey," Lily had promised her. "Your Grandma is so cool, I wish I could stay here with you."

Kira had hugged her, and waved as they left, Laura hurrying them to the WMVN – Canada lunchtime show live interview they had next.

The rest of the day continued with radio and magazine interviews. They had a walk-through at the stadium, and then the only free time they had started at dinnertime. Andy joined them after the last Quidditch practice of the afternoon, which had coincided with the start of their visit to the stadium. He, Laura, Kirley, and Ana took the kids to Niagara Falls for dinner, and a few hours where they could walk down by the Horseshoe Falls, and wander through some of the Muggle tourist traps.

"Al would have found that hilarious," Lily told Kieran after leaving the fortune-teller that told them their future.

"It's too bad that your parents weren't very successful," Kieran answered, "but at least our future is bright, if we can pull up our marks a bit a school. How she knew you were in danger of dropping out if you don't is truly astonishing."

"I know," Lily agreed with a smile. "At least your parents were successful enough to afford taking us on this vacation. I can hardly wait until we're doing well enough that we can afford to move out of your parent's little house in our little home town, and rent our first flat in the big city when we get those great jobs."

Kieran laughed. "I'm just glad that she thought we'd still be together by then – she didn't seem sure at first when you asked her if we'd get married when we grew up."

"What's so funny?" Laura asked, since Lily and Kieran had met up with them while Kieran was still laughing.

"We just finished getting told about our futures," Lily told her, and Laura and Andy both laughed.

"We did that a little while ago," Laura told her. "Are you two going to get great jobs and move to the big city too?"

"Pretty much, yes," Lily said, laughing too. "I have to get over my disappointment that my parents didn't amount to anything, and pull up my grades first, though, or I'll end up just like them."

"Sounds like your session was even funnier than ours," Andy said. "Why don't we all go check out that wax museum next," he suggested," and the all started walking toward the garishly signed building.

Back at their Hotel, Laura and Andy were in the two bedroom suite that Laura was sharing with Lily and Kieran for the next two nights before they'd be moving on to Fitchburg on Friday morning. Andy and the QSPN2 crew he was working with were in this hotel too, but he was in an economy room.

"Well," Lily said with a big yawn, "I'm going to go get ready for bed. We have a couple of really long days coming up."

She and Kieran been sitting on one of the sofas together, and he stood with her.

"Me too," he said. "It's what, like three in the morning back home?"

The two of them went into the two bedrooms, and Kieran was changed and in his bed when he heard the other bedroom door open up, and could hear Lily walk softly out into the sitting room, talk quietly with Laura for a minute, and then walk back toward the bedrooms. He practically jumped when he heard his door open instead of the other one, and saw her step into his room and close the door. She seemed to glide across the floor as she walked over to the bed and climbed in next to him.

"What are you doing?" he whispered as the thrill of having her in the bed next to him sent shivers through him.

"I'm emptying a bedroom so that Laura and Andy can have someplace to snuggle up and get reacquainted," she told him just as quietly. "Don't worry, I promised her that I would not try to take advantage of the situation."

Kieran laughed softly. "Too bad," he said, and watched her answering grin. She moved closer, and he put his arms around her. When he kissed her, it was warm, and tender; sweet and lingering.

"Wow," Lily whispered. "Maybe I shouldn't have made that promise."

"Maybe it's a good thing you did," Kieran whispered back.

Lily put her head on the pillow next to Kieran, and they both closed their eyes, and drifted off to sleep. They'd both been asleep for a while when Laura checked in on them, and then, smiling, led Andy into the other bedroom, where they too snuggled together, and went off to sleep too – eventually.

More than an hour before Lily, Kieran, and the rest of their group were going to sleep, Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the National team were having breakfast, and it was already Thursday morning with a ten and a half hour time difference.

"Looks like we're in for another broiler," Ron said, sitting down to join them. "Am I ever glad we have the morning practices again this week."

Harry laughed. "And I was thinking it's too bad we don't have the afternoon session. It might help us prepare better for the heat we're going to have on Saturday afternoon."

Ginny turned her attention to the boys when she heard that. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Harry," she told him. "Did you boys forget we have the environmental suits?"

Ron must have still been half asleep. "So we don't have to worry about the heat because we're going to wear those suits that kept us warm during the winter?" he asked his sister in confusion.

"Ron, the suits control the temperature – they can heat or cool you," she told him with a grin. "Don't forget to kiss your wife and thank her when you see her tomorrow night."

"So why haven't we used them all week?" Ron asked her.

"You're one of the coaches," she answered. "You tell me. I just thought you and Coach were using the heat for conditioning, since you both certainly read the manual that came with the suits."

Ron stared at her, and Harry laughed and kissed his brilliant wife. "I love you, Ginny Potter!" he told her.

Looking at Ron's face starting to cloud over, Harry smiled at him. "Give it a rest, mate. You know she's right, and this is going to be way too hot a day to spend it walking around steamed. Practicing like this really is a good way to improve our conditioning, and at least now you know we're going to have an advantage for the game that you didn't expect."

"Speaking of, what's on for today?" Ginny asked him.

"Morning workout, lunch back here, and then we'll be in the meeting room all afternoon watching game film of Japanese team players from their own league play."

"That sounds boring," she told Ron bluntly. "Too bad the team owner can't cancel it and let us all go out and play today."

Harry laughed again. "I don't own the National Team," he reminded them.

"Then why have you been putting us up in such great places like this?" Ron asked him, waving toward the hotel around them.

"Did you happen to see the budget the Ministry gave us for the team expenses?" Harry asked him.

Ron shrugged. "I'm sure I have a memo somewhere back on my desk. What does that have to do with it?"

"Ron, this is what? Your fourth World Cup run?" Harry asked him. "What kind of places were you staying in before, and how many times did you, Dennis, and Demelza just pay out of your own pockets to upgrade your accommodations?"

"Now I remember," he agreed. "These are still way better upgrades than we ever did."

Ginny laughed. "Which is probably why even with all of the work, this is still a lot of fun."

They finished breakfast, and by the time they completed their grueling morning workout, had lunch, and started their meeting, back at the cottage, Al, Carolyn, and the others were just starting their day.

For Carolyn and Frederica, that meant getting everything ready so they could keep up with two busy little boys. For Al and Liam, it meant being busy as they cooked breakfast for their girls, Nick, Scorpius, Brianna, and Allie.

They had to get the four members of their group with real jobs out on time, and Al wanted to have everything cleaned up by the time Rose and Matt got here to work with him, and James and Timothy were dropped off for their day with Carolyn and Frederica.

"Will you get your plans for the weekend done this morning?" Carolyn asked Al when they'd all sat down to eat.

"We should. Then we'll just need to do some birthday present shopping this afternoon, and we'll be all set."

"It might have been nice to have the time with them," Carolyn said, "but this will definitely be a more relaxing way for your Dad to spend his birthday."

"I think it's a brilliant idea," Frederica said. "In fact, any time the fun cooridinators want to book Liam and I for a couple of private days on the island with nobody else there, we are definitely good to go."

Allie laughed. "Like we all wouldn't be."

Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna all ate quickly and left for work, and breakfast was over for Carolyn, Frederica, and Liam when the boys got there, leaving Al to do cleanup.

'One more year, and I'll be able to do this with magic,' he told himself as he cleared the table, and started washing the dishes.

"Come on and sit down with us," Matt told him, pulling his wand out as he and Rose walked into the kitchen. "And I'll get that last bit finished up for you."

Al grinned at him. "Thanks, mate." He dried his hands as the dishes started to wash themselves.

"What do we have left to work on this morning?" Rose asked him as he joined them at the kitchen table.

"Kreacher and Winky are going to stay on the island too," Al told them. "They'll do the meals and cleanup for Mum and Dad, then probably spend the rest of their time playing on their AquaBike or something."

"I wonder what the Muggle company that made it would think if we ever sent them a picture?" Matt asked.

Rose laughed. "It'd probably make the Muggle tabloids, and be called a hoax."

"Your Mum is going to pick up the bottles of wine and drop them off later today, right?" Al asked Rose, who nodded.

"We're doing the gift shopping this afternoon after we do lunch with James and Timothy. That pretty much covers everything for Mum and Dad's weekend on the island."

Rose smiled. "Good. Then I think we should spend the rest of the morning working on plans for August – especially what we'll be having everyone doing for the week after the World Cup final."

They got down to work, and followed their busy planning morning with a well-deserved lunch at the Diner in Chudley with Nathalie and Mandy so that the two moms could sneak an hour away from work to spend with little James and Timothy.

Kirley and Ana were having breakfast with Kieran and Lily at the same time that Al and the others were sitting down for lunch.

"We could give Laura a couple days off," Lily was suggesting to Ana. "She hasn't really seen Andy all summer, Kieran and I could handle getting around to all of tomorrow's appointments, and Saturday we'll be at Marauders Paradise for the day. She could stay with him until Monday if she wanted to."

Ana smiled at Lily. "I'm sold, sweetie. Kirley and I can pick up the slack too. You better send her a qm though, or she might end up being late while doing a goodbye she doesn't need to have yet. Since we'll be really late tonight, and leaving early tomorrow, it might be a long goodbye that's holding her up this morning."

Lily laughed, pulled out her WiComm, and sent the message. When Laura and Andy joined them twenty minutes later, Laura hugged all of them, and she and Andy both thanked them several times. They both had to eat quickly, since Laura had to get Lily and Kieran to their first appointment, Andy had to get to the morning practice at the stadium, and Kirley and Ana had business meetings set up all morning.

Thursday night, SpellBound fans stormed the Stonewall stadium. There were more than twenty-five thousand screaming, happy Canadian Witches and Wizards there for the concert, with a strong contingent from several of the American states that either shared the border, or were near to Canada.

Kira and her family had backstage passes, and front row seats to the show. She had joined Lily and Kieran for their late afternoon sound check at the stadium, and then they had eaten dinner with Valerie and the rest of their family. Kira had then stayed with Lily through the whole pre-show makeup and wardrobe preparations before Valerie came and took her to their seats.

Kieran and Lily once again wowed their audience with their music and stage presence for over two hours. When they sat on the edge of the stage to sing 'One Magic Moment', they were directly in front of Kira. Her Aunt was taking a turn holding her in her arms so that the little girl could see better, and Kira's eyes went really big when Lily reached out to take her, plopped the little girl on her own lap, and wrapped her arms around her.

"I'd like you all to meet our biggest little fan, Kira," Lily told the audience. "Say 'Hi Kira!'"

The stadium crowd was happy to shout back a resounding 'Hi, Kira!', which had Lily and Kieran both laughing and the little girl beaming up at them with her bright smile.

"For those of you who don't know our young friend," Lily continued, "her mommy happens to be one of the inventors of the GameWizard, so you can understand why we're very fond of her, since Kieran and I are very fond of our Virtual GameWizards."

That elicited another big cheer from the crowd, and Lily smiled at them, looking around the stadium.

"Since Kira is such a big fan, I'm sure she can tell all of you what song we'll be singing next, can't you sweetie."

Kira nodded and spoke into the microphone.

"This next song," she began in her high, excited voice, "is about the first time that Kieran and Lily met, and how in that One Magic Moment, they fell in love."

Kieran began to play, and Lily hugged Kira, and kept her with them as they sang their final concert number of the night. When they had finished, and their fans were momentarily silent, Lily had taken that time to hug a teary-eyed Kira again, and then handed her back to her Aunt, who wrapped her up in a big hug, and returned to their seats next to Grandma Valerie.

They ended up doing two encore songs, and then spent another hour signing autographs before getting back to the hotel and quickly going off to sleep, another whirlwind day just hours away from starting, and a second concert to get ready for.

It was already lunchtime on Friday in Mumbai by the time that Kirley, Ana, Laura, Andy and the kids got to bed. The last team workout had gone really well, and Coach had decided to give them all the afternoon off.

"Any idea why he's cutting us some slack?" Ron asked Harry and Ginny as they ate.

"No idea," Ginny said, but then suddenly jumped up and ran to where she'd seen Hermione walking into the hotel restaurant.

"What are you doing here already?" Ginny asked. "I thought you weren't coming until after dinner!"

Hermione hugged her back, and then they joined the others.

"Coach sent me a qm to let me know he was giving you all the afternoon off, so I took the whole day off and popped over."

Ron stood and gave her a long hug. "I've missed you," he said quietly. "Thanks for coming early!"

Harry grinned at them. "Then this is probably a good time to make an announcement," he told them.

The entire team was at four tables, so Harry just placed a muffliato spell around them so he could talk freely without any Muggles overhearing them.

"Ginny and I have a little offer for all of you," he told the rest of their team.

"If we win tomorrow, any of you who would like to take advantage of it, can go spend Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night at Marauders Escape. With the time change, as long as you left there in the late morning on Tuesday, you'd all be able to get to France in time for our first practice."

Harry's announcement was greeted with almost universal approval, except from Sebastian. Hermione had grinned when she'd seen the look on his face.

"You know, Harry," she said, "I don't think that Sebastian is very excited about the prospect of nearly three days of sun and fun. Do you think he'd get excited if he found out that Trinity could go?" She turned around and waved at Trinity, who'd been waiting outside of the restaurant for Hermione's cue to spring the surprise on Sebastian.

He jumped up, grinning, and ran to sweep her up into his arms and swing her around as she laughed, hugged, and kissed him.

"That seems to have worked," Harry told Hermione. "Nicely done."

"Well, it helps knowing her boss personally," she said modestly. "And it certainly wasn't hard to talk her into coming."

"I didn't hear you include yourselves in that offer," Aaron said to Harry and Ginny. "You're not going?"

Ginny put her arm around Harry. 'No. Harry's birthday is Sunday, and the fun coordinators are sending us off to the island by ourselves for two days."

"That'll be a nice change," Arianna told her. "With the chance to get a few days at Marauders Escape on the line for the rest of us, I'll go out on a limb and predict a win for England tomorrow."

Rose and Hugo had known that their mother was going to be in Mumbai overnight, and when they'd found out Friday morning that she and Ron were going from there to Marauders Escape after that until Tuesday morning, they'd made some plans of their own.

On Saturday morning, Percy and Penelope would be home from their week at Marauders Paradise, so Nick, Scorpius and Brianna would be back at the townhouse that night. There were more bedrooms now at the cottage than at Rose and Hugo's so they decided that both kids would come spend the next few days there – along with Matt and Emily.

Saturday was also going to be a very early fifth-round game party morning. With the time change, the game would be starting at six-thirty in the morning home time. They all decided that they would follow the game with a Pool party for the rest of the day. Sunday would just be a lazy day for everyone that was staying at the cottage, except for the Sunday afternoon team practice that they already had scheduled to make up for the one they had to miss on Thursday while Lily and Kieran were in Canada.

Carolyn and Frederica were busy with James and Timothy while Al, Rose, and Matt took care of the planning for their own weekend, and continued to work on their other 'fun' projects until lunchtime, and then they fed the kids, and took them to the island for a couple of hours of afternoon sun and fun to end the week with their favourite babysitters.

Laura and Andy had breakfast with Kirley, Ana, Lily, and Kieran before she was left behind to spend a few days with Andy, while the others moved on to Fitchburg. There weren't any Quidditch matches going on at this stadium, which was a nice change, since the kids could have the morning to set up for the concert.

What was even better than that was having two hundred kids brought to the sound check from the closest Phoenix Foundation residence so that they could listen to SpellBound do a few songs, and then get to meet them in person in a setting where they weren't surrounded by fifteen thousand other Witches and Wizards like they had been when they'd gotten to see them at the first Marauders Paradise concert.

When that was finished, Kieran and Lily only had to do one afternoon trip to New York City for a live interview with WMVN – America. Since getting their videos played on the Wizarding Music Video Network was probably one of the most important parts of their marketing strategy, and American Witches and Wizards bought a lot of their albums and merchandise, Kirley had made this a special trip for WMVN by giving them a World Premiere video to show during the live interview. That video, for 'You Never Noticed Me', had the live audience in tears as they watched what was practically a re-enactment of the dance scene that Kieran and Lily had written the song about, including Lily crying herself to sleep, while the lonely and unnoticed Kieran was left by himself at the dance.

"Wow!" Lily said to their interviewer after watching it with them, and wiping tears from her own eyes. "Kieran, remind me to give your Dad a hug when we get back to the stadium. I couldn't have done that better even if I'd played the scene back to myself in a pensieve."

Kieran and most of the Witches and Wizards in the studio had laughed, and they'd applauded and lauded the video before continuing the interview.

Their last appointment of the afternoon was an hour-long autograph session at the New York City GamePortal. Owen and Kira met up with them there, and then after they had done the unannounced stop, and had signed autographs for about two hundred surprised and thrilled fans, the four of them went back to Fitchburg, where they had dinner with Kirley and Ana before it was once again time for the kids to get ready for the concert.

Kira stayed with her father this time so that she wouldn't miss the first two bands that would be playing before SpellBound took the stage. For this concert, Kirley and Ana had put together a 'battle of the sexes' night with an all-Wizard teen band leading off, and an all-Witch teen band to follow them.

Since both bands were local favourites, and rising stars, they were perfect to warm up the audience of more than thirty-five thousand Witches and Wizards for Lily and Kieran. By the time they stepped out on stage, everyone there was definitely fired up.

SpellBound did not disappoint either, and put on a repeat of Thursday night's awesome show. When they finally said their third final goodnight after two encores and three extra songs, they hurriedly changed and packed up. Kirley and Ana let the kids sign autographs until exactly one-fifteen, and then whisked them away to their hotel with Owen and an already sleeping Kira.

"Did we make it in time?" Lily asked excitedly, turning on the WWVN to QSPN.

"Looks like," Ana said. "They haven't called the teams out yet."

"What's up?" Owen asked them. He and Kira had been asked to come back with them, but he had thought it was just so that Lily could invite Kira to stay in her room until they all had breakfast together.

"Mum and Dad's game starts at one-thirty our time," Lily told him, and Owen laughed.

"I never even thought about that," he admitted. "I was thinking the game was Saturday afternoon."

Lily grinned at him. 'It is – Mumbai time."

The QSPN announcer brought Lily's attention back to the screen by announcing the team's entry into the packed stadium. It was one of the largest in the region, and there were sixty thousand fans there for the game.

What a game it was, too! Their National team finally ran up against a hot Keeper, and the Japanese team was right in the game as Ron and his opponent exchanged brilliant save after brilliant save.

"This is really great!" Kirley said, everyone in the room except for the still sleeping Kira completely into watching the match.

One hour into the game, the score was England - twenty, Japan - ten. Two hours in, and it was only forty - twenty, with England still in the lead. Harry had his hands full too, with a wily veteran Seeker who was maybe not as fast as Harry, but knew a lot of tricks, and kept their battle at a stalemate.

It was after the third hour in the unrelenting heat of the day that the Japanese team began to falter as heat exhaustion began taking a noticeable toll on their players.

Harry was finally able to outrace a nearly completely gassed Japanese Seeker at the four hour, forty-one minute mark of the game to catch the snitch. By that time, Aaron, Arianna, and Ginny had put the game out of reach for the Japanese team, as their Keeper had not been able to keep pace with the trio as he tired and faltered. By then, the close score had transformed into a two hundred an fifty point lead for England, and the final score was England – four hundred and sixty, Japan – sixty.

"Yes!" Lily said, although her enthusiasm was mostly internal, since her external self was happily cuddled with Kieran, and actually thinking about telling her brain it was closing up shop for the night.

Since shutting down for the night was happening at dawn, though, they weren't going to be getting much sleep at all before it would be time to go to Marauders Paradise. Watching that game had been so worth missing the sleep for, though, so none of them minded.

"Let's make that breakfast a brunch," Owen suggested, picking Kira up from the sofa. "Will ten-thirty work for you? That'll give us a few hours sleep and a little time to get ready."

Kirley and Ana both nodded. "I'll send Gabrielle a message letting her know we'll be coming over at lunchtime instead. I imagine that a lot of them will have been watching the game there too, but with today being a day when they've got one group going home, and the next group coming in, she probably won't get to catch up on her sleep at all."

Lily nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the kids and volunteers from our residence, and the Dragon Lair will all just pack up now and head home to get some sleep, since it'll be late morning at home, and probably near to lunchtime in Romania."

Owen left for his own suite, and Kirley and Ana stood up to go too. The kids didn't have chaperone Laura tonight – or this morning, but they weren't worried about the kids cuddling together for the few hours of sleep they'd be getting, and after hugs and kisses, they tiredly walked next door to their suite and went straight to bed.

Lily and Kieran didn't waste any time getting changed, and climbing into bed together.

"I could really get used to this," Lily said sleepily, already drifting off to sleep in Kieran's arms.

"You better, Lily," he told her in a whisper. "Because I plan on holding you like this for a very long time – like for the rest of our lives."

He didn't know if Lily had heard him at all, since there was no answer, and her breathing had evened out, so he closed his eyes and followed his fiery-haired enchantress into the dreamless sleep that complete exhaustion sometimes brought when claiming it's victims.

While they slept away the morning, England's National team wrapped things up in India, and then everyone except Harry and Ginny took the TransPortal to Marauders Escape for their mini vacation.

Harry and Ginny went straight to their island, where they began their second morning of the day with a celebration breakfast with Kreacher and Winky before they were left to enjoy the rest of their brand new day doing whatever they felt like doing.

After a full day, and a grueling, nearly five-hour long Quidditch match, and another hour with the media, after breakfast, they started with a nap, then followed that up with an afternoon playing together at the lagoon, a light dinner, and then an early bedtime as they started getting used to the time change.

That definitely made for a strange weekend for them, as by midnight local time, they were both wide awake and feeling like they'd slept in.

Over at Marauders Paradise, by that time, the third SpellBound concert was finished, and the kids had gone on the Haunted Island Adventure with Kirley and Ana, taken a moonlight walk on the beach, and then gone to bed in the three bedroom suite they were sharing with Kirley and Ana.

At Marauders Escape, it really was late morning on Sunday, and Ron, Hermione, all of the kids, and even Coach and his wife were all out and about having their own adventures.

The cottage was still dark, and there were six teens all happily sleeping in three bedrooms, their planned lazy day still a couple of hours away.

So it was maybe strange to be wide awake at midnight as Harry and Ginny welcomed in the last day of July, and Harry's forty-second birthday together, but it was not boring.

There was the midnight skinny-dipping in their pool, followed by some more clothing-optional activities, and ending with watching the sun rise snuggled together on the beach before they returned to their beach house for another incredible breakfast with the house elves – this time to celebrate Harry's birthday, complete with the presents that the kids had sent along for him.

By noon, Harry and Ginny would again be having a few hours of naptime as they relaxed on the island. Kirley and Ana had the kids back at home in time for their afternoon Quidditch practice on Sunday. Lily and Kieran would be spending the next two nights at the cottage so that they could give Kieran's parents a little break of their own.

Most of England's National team were out enjoying the nightlife at Marauders Escape, and as the hours ticked off the end of July, it was fitting that everyone who'd been working so hard so far all summer were getting to end the month with a well-deserved rest. With everything that was still to come in the second half of the summer, they were going to need it.


	83. World Cup Summer  Part Two

Chapter Eighty-Three – World Cup Summer – Part Two

For Carolyn and Frederica, August started out with a temporary addition to their group of kids – blond-haired, blue-eyed two-year old charmer Patricia Whitby, who'd come from Marauders Paradise with Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill to spend the next three weeks with them while Gabrielle and Kevin kept busy with the last three Phoenix Foundation residence vacation trips, including the one that had just started. She'd be spending the weekdays at the cottage for the next two weeks while Bill and Fleur were at work.

James and Timothy were interested in her for about two minutes before they went back to playing with their DragonRiders and other favourite toys. Kira was more than happy to have a little female companionship, though, even is she was only two.

Lily and Kieran had Monday totally off, so they stayed around the cottage all day, relaxing and, um, playing music.

"What are you two doing?" Al asked them, walking through the open door to Lily's bedroom where she and Kieran were playing a new song they were writing.

"Isn't that fairly obvious?" Lily asked him with a smile.

Al grinned at her. "Then I'll be more specific. Why, for the love of Merlin, on your day off, are you working? Put your toys away, and go out and play or something – anything else besides music for a few bloody hours."

"We hardly played at all yesterday," Lily protested.

"You didn't get here until after lunch, played Quidditch most of the afternoon, and then sat up here and played for two hours after dinner," Al reminded her. "This is not a request, it's an order from one of your fun-coordinators. Don't make me get Matt up here – I'll have him jinx your instruments so they play out of tune."

"We're going," Kieran told him, getting up and putting his guitar in it's case.

"Just like that?" Lily asked him. "You're just going to let him push us around like that?"

Kieran laughed. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to re-tune a guitar after it's been jinxed out of tune? Of course I'm going to let him push me around." Lily and Al both laughed at him.

"Come on, Lily," he said, "we can get back to writing in the morning, I guess."

Lily got up too, and packed up her keyboard, took Kieran's hand, and walked to the door. Al blocked her way.

"We're doing what you said," she protested. "Or we're trying to."

"Hand it over before you go," Al said, still grinning at her.

Lily sighed and gave up her now pocket-sized keyboard. "You are no fun at all," she complained before walking out of the now cleared doorway.

When she and Kieran got outside, they walked out past the bleachers, the Quidditch pitch, and the scoreboard, finding a shady spot under a tree that was out of sight from the cottage.

"Did you bring yours?" she asked Kieran, who grinned and pulled his own keyboard out of a pocket.

"I love you," she told him, giving him a big hug and kiss. "Now, where were we?"

"Did it work?" Carolyn asked him after she'd seen Lily and Kieran leave the cottage.

Al laughed. "Not a chance, but at least they're outside. I'll wager that Kieran has his keyboard out by now, and if through some lucky chance he didn't have his with him, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Lily has her old one tucked away somewhere on her too."

Carolyn gave him a hug and a kiss that got two little girls giggling at them.

At the Ministry of Magic, Scorpius and Brianna had been called in to the Minister of Magic's office for a meeting, and had found out that their minimum pay proposal was going to be put before the Wizengamot for a vote at the next meeting, which was scheduled for two weeks from this Friday. If it passed, it would be implemented on January first next year. That started their week and month out perfectly, and the two teens went back to work, excited about what might be their second big success in politics.

"This is going to be so cool!" Brianna told him at lunch. "What a great last day of work for the summer will that be if you get minimum pay for everyone!"

Scorpius smiled at her, and it wasn't a happy look. "I'm a little concerned," he told her. "I get the feeling we're being played for fools." Brianna looked at him in surprise.

"Why do you think that?" she asked him.

"Did you happen to remember that two weeks from Friday is the day before the Quidditch World Cup finals? Most of the Wizengamot will probably be there, and not here for the vote."

Brianna stared at him. "And Uncle Harry has two votes and he'll be in Chile," she said. "You think it's a setup, then."

Scorpius nodded. "I'm sure of it. The question is, can we do anything about it?"

"Do you think the Minister is in on it?" she asked.

"He might not be in on it, but he does have to know that the it would likely fail without the moderates like Uncle Harry, Grandpa Weasley, and Professor Slughorn. They'd all planned on being in South America that whole week."

Trying to work that out eventually led to Percy and Penelope taking the kids to the cottage after dinner that night to talk it over with Harry and Ginny. They'd just come back from the island, wanting to get some time with the kids before leaving for France in the morning.

Scorpius told them all about the upcoming vote, and his suspicions, and Harry had agreed that Scorpius was probably right.

"Let's not say anything, though," he counseled the kids. I think we can plan a little surprise of our own by then."

"Like what?" Brianna asked him.

"I'm guessing that the Witches and Wizards that want to defeat this proposal are probably thinking that once we're all in South America, that we'll be out of touch," Harry told her.

"The notice will probably go out after each of us leaves so that we won't find out about it until after the vote."

Brianna nodded. "That makes sense," she agreed.

"But as the authors of the proposal, you have to be notified, and be present, and are only a qm away from us, and we're only a TransPortal away from the Ministry. You let us know when, and let Grandpa and I worry about getting the rest of the Wizengamot there."

Scorpius laughed. "It's so much fun getting to learn politics from the masters," he said, grinning at Percy and Harry, and both men laughed with him.

On Tuesday, Harry and Ginny met their team at Quiberon Stadium after having breakfast with the kids, and Coach had a very happy team to work with as they prepared to face the Ethiopian National Team in round six – one of these two teams was going to earn the first spot in the Quidditch World Cup final. That wasn't to say it was the favourite position, but only referred to the fact that because of the time difference, this game would come first, while the other round six match would happen later in the day, and was looking to be a great match between rivals Peru and Argentina for the second spot in the final.

Lily and Kieran only had one day to work in the studio before they'd also be leaving for France and another round of appointments and interviews before their concert on Thursday night at Quiberon Stadium. They'd recorded three more songs by lunchtime, and while they ate, Kirley talked to them about some videos he wanted to get done before they went back to school.

"I think if we can't get them all done," he told them, "that we should make sure we do one for 'Silent Minority' first, and give that to the Foundation to use."

Lily and Kieran had both nodded. "Works for us," Kieran agreed.

"Those two little kids songs were such a hit at the Marauders Institute Daycare that we're putting them on a compilation album with some other kid's songs from other artists. We'll do a video for that too, if we can, although you two won't have to do much in it, since each song will be more appealing to the little kids with more animation than real action."

"Why not just make up an animated SpellBound?" Lily asked him.

Kirley smiled. "That's not a bad idea. Maybe we'll try that for whichever one we don't' shoot live footage for."

Laura was back from her time off by shortly after lunch, and after spending a couple of hours with Ana while the kids were recording, met up with them for what was normally their Monday itinerary meeting.

"In case I forgot," she began, "thanks for helping me to get to spend that time with Andy."

Lily gave her a hug. "You're welcome, Laura. Now if we can get through this week, you'll get to be with him for most of the rest of the summer."

Laura grinned. "And I can hardly wait, too. I think he missed me even more than I missed him – which was a lot."

Kieran laughed. "That's because he knows you're a way better catch than he is."

Laura grinned at him. "That's really sweet, Kieran, but since you're a guy, we'd have been a bit worried if you'd thought it was the other way around. But I digress, and we have work to get to."

Tuesday night was team Quidditch practice again. Lily must have still been tired on Sunday, or was just extra fired up tonight, because she went five for five on snitch catches against Colin, and since Hugo and Scorpius battled to a six goal each draw, her catches won the game for the Ravenclaw team. She and Kieran were back at his home for the night, and then were off to France for the rest of the week.

They spent their day on Wednesday doing interviews and having a late afternoon look around the Quibberon staidium before having dinner with Harry and Ginny. England's National team had worked hard all day, and while Lily and Kieran had another party to attend that night, Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their team were all in bed long before Lily, Kieran, Kirley, Ana, and Laura were.

Back home at the cottage, and the other family houses, though, with work starting early for everyone, they'd all been up early on Thursday morning, and the Owl Posts from Hogwarts had started arriving. They'd be going back to school four weeks from today, and they'd all been excited to open them.

Hugo had been stunned when he'd opened his package, and the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain badge had fallen out of his package.

Hermione saw his look first. "What's wrong, sweatheart? Is there a problem with your grades?"

Rose had seen the badge before the look on his face and now had just as surprised a look on her face too.

"Mum, that's the Quidditch Captain's badge," she told Hermione. "He's been made Captain instead of James."

Hermione laughed. "Isn't that a good thing? I know your Dad's gonna burst when he finds out."

"But why isn't James still captain?" Hugo asked worriedly. "That hardly ever happens – he should have been captain for one more year."

"I'm sure there's a good reason why it's you, dear," Hermione told him. "Now what I want to know about is those grades."

Hugo glanced at the parchment. "They're alright, I guess, Mum. I got four 'O's' and five 'E's'."

He and Rose both laughed when Hermione hugged him fiercely and kissed him. "Way to go!" she told him happily. "You did brilliant!"

"Remind me to send Lily flowers or something to thank her," he said, squirming out of the hug. "It's all her fault."

Hermione and Rose laughed. "You wrote the tests and did all of the assignments, Hugo," Rose told him. "She's just helped you learn to study smarter."

"And taught half our my lessons back to me in teen English."

Rose had nine 'O's' again, and would be a prefect again too. A WiComm call later, and she found out that Matt would be able to take NEWTs for all of his classes, and was again team Captain for Ravenclaw.

Nick, Scorpius, and Brianna all got their letters. That the boys had all 'O's' wasn't' a surprise, and Brianna had three 'O's', five 'E's', and an 'A' in Divination in her nine classes, which she was more than happy with.

Al and Carolyn were on their own for breakfast when their Owl Posts had arrived, so there wasn't any major excitement when they'd opened their letters to find exactly what they'd expected. Al had straight O's for his OWLs, and could take all ten classes if he wanted to in year six. Carolyn had marks that were slightly better than she'd expected with five 'O's' and four 'E's'. It wasn't long before both of their WiComms started getting qm's from the other Marauders as the other kids wanted to know how they'd done, and tell them about what they'd gotten for grades, and in their packages.

James and Arianna were sitting at breakfast when his package arrived, which had never happened to him before around Muggles, so he'd been surprised when none of them seemed to notice the Owl fly in, deliver the package, and fly out again.

When he opened his letter, it had taken a moment for reality to sink in when he saw the Head Boy's badge slid out with his letters, since he'd been expecting to see the same prefect and Quidditch captain badges as last year instead. There was a note from Professor McGonagall congratulating him, and explaining why there wasn't a team Captain badge in his package too. He'd earned six O's and an E in his classes, and could continue with all of them in his NEWT year. He wasn't sure if he was going to take NEWT Astronomy or not, but would be taking the other six for sure.

"Congratulations," Arianna told him quietly, giving him a big hug. You better go tell your parents. They're going to want to congratulate you too."

They'd taken a table by themselves for the morning, so he kissed her, then got up and walked across the room to where his Mum and Dad were waiting expectantly, having seen the Owl arrive.

"I can take all my NEWTs if I want to," he told them with a smile. "but I didn't make team captain. Instead, Professor McGonagall made me Head Boy."

Ginny jumped up and hugged him, and Harry and Ron sat there grinning at him.

"What'd I miss?" James asked when he saw them looking like that.

"We thought there must be some reason why Hugo had been named Captain," Harry told him. "Now we know why."

Ginny laughed. "Ron, why don't you send him a QuillMessage. I'm sure he'll enjoy his morning a lot more if he knows he's the new team captain because James is to be Head Boy."

Harry had stood up to give James a hug too, once Ginny had let him go. "Congratulations. You deserve it after working so hard last year."

"Thanks, Dad," James said, and then he went back to rejoin Arianna, who'd been furiously sending qm's out.

"Telling everyone?" he asked her, smiling as he sat down again.

"You bet. Not every girl gets to have a Hogwarts Head Boy for a fiancée."

James laughed. "That doesn't sound like much compared to me having a star professional Quidditch Chaser for mine."

Lily, Kieran, and Laura were having breakfast with Kirley and Ana at the hotel they were staying in as well, and had received their letters too.

"That's incredible," Ana said after reading Lily's letter. "Twelve Outstanding OWLs. Has that even been done before?"

"And Kieran may not have grades like that," Kirley said, but three O's and six E's is way, way better than I ever did in school, and Mum's going to go crazy when she finds out he's Hufflepuff's new Quidditch Captain."

When they'd seen that badge slide out of his package, Lily had pounced Kieran, peppering him with kisses as she hugged and congratulated him, and they'd all laughed. They now had three out of four Quidditch House team Captains in the family!

"How'd you do, Laura?" Lily asked.

"Four O's, two E's," she answered absently as she was tapping and writing on her WiComm. "Your brother made Head Boy," she reported to Lily. "Hugo was made Gryffindor team Captain, so I guess that means we still have three out of four Captains in the family."

"You're really connected this morning," Lily complimented her, and both girls smiled.

"Rose is sending me the news from home. She and Scorpius are prefects again. No surprise there – you usually really have to screw up to lose that." She tapped for her next message.

"Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed. "Therese is going to be Head Girl! She and James were best in their year, but they usually don't want to have the Head Boy and Head Girl from the same House. It hasn't happened to Gryffindor House in a long time – way back in the seventies if I remember my House history correctly. I'm glad she got it."

She stopped for a moment and stared at Lily, who grinned at her. "Yep, that'd be grandma and grandpa, she confirmed with a laugh."

"Did I miss something?" Kieran asked.

"That last time that Gryffindor had both the Head Girl and Head Boy was when Lily's grandparents did it in their NEWT year," Laura told him. "Now James and Therese will be doing the same thing – except this time we can be sure they won't end up falling in love and getting married like Lily and James did back then."

"That's true, but I'll wager that Jon gets called into her office a lot," Kieran suggested.

Laura looked at her watch. "Playtime's over," she told Lily and Kieran. "Five minutes to finish up, and we need to get going to you first interview of the morning."

With the Hogwarts letters out, back at home the fun coordinators were looking over their schedules for the rest of the summer.

"We didn't put any time in for a back-to-school shopping day," Rose pointed out.

"Why don't we just skip having one?" Matt suggested. "We could get all of the books and supplies for everyone over the next week, and they can find their own time to get fitted for school robes, which doesn't take long, and can shop for clothes when we're on vacation."

Al nodded. "I like the plan. We don't have any first years this year, so we know all of the subjects for everyone. We could do all of that stuff instead of leaving it for Dad."

"Why don't we adjourn this meeting, take the kids to Diagon Alley, and start on it today?" Rose suggested. "We've got the lists for second, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh year with us, so we can get loads done."

They did that, and while they were off shopping for the day, Lily and Kieran did interviews, visited the Phoenix Foundation residence in France for lunch, and then had one more interview before it was time to go to the stadium for their sound check.

Harry and Ginny joined the five of them for dinner again, and then it was back to the stadium to get ready while the warm up band entertained the crowd of thirty thousand Witches and Wizards.

"Hard to believe this is our last concert over here for the summer," Kieran said as he and Lily waited to go on stage.

"I know," Lily agreed, "and we'll only have five concerts left after this one."

When they were announced, all Kieran recognized from the introduction was 'SpellBound', and then Lily was tugging on his hand, and they walked out on stage to the wild cheers of their fans, and the bright stage lights.

"Bonjour la France!" Lily called out to them, and they roared their welcome for them. That was pretty much all that she said that Kieran understood, so he got his guitar, and did a lot of smiling while she talked to the crowd.

"Nous sommes si passionnes pour etre ici dans Quiberon!" Lily continued.

Ce soir, nous aimerions vous obtenir sur vos pieds et aide nous obtient des choses balancant avec 'c'Est Notre Temps'.

Lily had taught him c'est notre temps, so that he'd know when to start playing, and since the crowd was still cheering, he was pretty sure she hadn't accidentally called them a bunch of gits and told them to sod off, so he counted them in, and they got the concert going.

It's Our Time was followed up with Charm This, and two more pop songs before they did their first ballads of the night. Since it was now a number one hit song and video, they'd moved You Never Noticed Me up to that spot, and as the video ran on the big screens in the stadium, the crowd fell silent and listened to the poignant song as Lily and Kieran had their own little stage drama, where he'd gone off to one side of the stage with his guitar, sitting on the edge next to the fans there, watching Lily wistfully, while she'd played her keyboard, seemingly oblivious of her partner's presence nearby.

They'd moved straight into First Kiss from that song, and then back into the pop songs with You Make Me Fly. The concerts didn't all flow exactly the same way, and this one was going a bit longer than usual, when at nearly eleven-thirty, Lily and Kieran came and sat down on the edge of the stage to sing their closing number.

"Bien, cet a ete des depenses amusantes du soir avec vous tous," Lily said quietly as the crowd had grown silent so they could hear her.

"Kieran et je toujours termine nos spectacles en chantant notre propre chanson preferee," she continued.

'Please don't be starting a war with France', Kieran thought fervently.

"C'est de la premiere fois que nous avons rencontre, et comment dans qu'un moment magique, nous sommes tombes dans l'amour."

Kieran began to play as he'd heard 'One Magic Moment' – or at least the 'magique' part of the translation, and then he and Lily created yet one more magic moment for their fans as they closed their show with the song that probably would always be one of their favourites just because singing it always brought the memory of that evening right back for both of them.

Their encore tonight was 'Nothing's Impossible', and then they were getting changed, packing up, and wading through an hour-long autograph session with the fans who'd waited outside of the stadium for them before Laura got them back to their hotel and they all quickly went off to sleep.

On Friday, Kirley had managed to put together a video shoot for 'The Silent Minority' in the morning – or at least what he wanted shot with the kids, so that's what they did until nearly two in the afternoon.

Then Laura, Lily, and Ana did a little shopping for a couple of hours, while Kirley and Kieran picked up part time work as baggage clerks and professional fashion observers. They got paid in hugs and kisses, so it was a mutually beneficial short-term gig for the pair of musicians.

They had dinner with Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, and then went to the Marauders Mall in Paris to play in the Amusement Park Atrium until Harry, Ginny, and Ron had to get back to their hotel before their game night curfew.

On Saturday, the cottage was home to the last game day party of the summer, since they'd all be attending the Quidditch World Cup Final whether England won today or not. Al, Rose, and Matt had two pools set up outside, and they'd had a lunch buffet for everyone that was there.

While the other gatherings had mostly been just the teens, this weekend they had a lot of the adults in the family agree to come too. Grandma and Grandpa were here, as were all of the Aunts and Uncles except Charlie and Nathalie. Victoire, Isabelle, Teddy, and Stewart were there too, as were Matt's, Allie's, Emily's, and Liam's parents.

The game would be starting at two, so by ten minutes to, everyone was in the sitting room, ready to watch the game.

"What do you know about the Ethiopian team, oh great Quidditch guru?" George asked Hugo.

Hugo laughed. "They're being over-rated by the media – big surprise there, but Dad and Coach won't underestimate them either," he told his uncle. "They've got three players from the Gimbi Giant-Slayers, and they were the All-Africa Cup winner this year."

"Why do you say they're over-rated?" Stewart asked him. "They made it this far, so they must have some skill."

Hugo nodded. "They do, but they're coming out of the weakest region this year, which is too bad, since they usually have really strong contenders. They probably upset Uganda in the first round, and won close matches the rest of the way through against Tanzania, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Australia to get to this game."

"Doesn't sound like you're giving them much of a chance," Teddy said, smiling at Hugo.

"To win? Zero. To not have a blowout loss? That will depend on whether Uncle Harry catches the snitch early or lets Aunt Ginny, Aaron, and Arianna have fun first," Hugo told him.

By then the Ethiopian team was being introduced, and so they all stopped their conversations to watch as they flew into the stadium, and then the British National team was called, and Ron led his team around the stadium. There seemed to be as many jeers as cheers for them while they flew around.

"Sounds like there's lots of spectators there hoping for an upset," Bill suggested with a grin. "I guess you can't please everyone."

England's team certainly didn't please everyone – least of all the Ethiopian team. Their success in the first five rounds had made them a very confident group, and so when six goals were scored on them in the first ten minutes, they were shell-shocked.

Their best player on the team was their Seeker, and Tristan and Sebastian took him out with a double-whammy that the young man didn't even see coming, leaving Harry as the only Seeker in the game.

Ginny, Aaron, and Arianna didn't let up on their opponent, and shell-shocked turned into total collapse. Harry caught the snitch at minute fifty-two, and the game ended with a score of four hundred and eighty to naught.

"That was actually rather disappointing," Hugo said after the game ended. "Not that they won, but that Ethiopia didn't even show up to play. You'd think after all of these games now, that teams would stop underestimating our team."

"Well, hopefully one more team will underestimate them," Fleur said, laughing. "I'd really like to see them win the Cup."

They transitioned from game party to celebration party over the next hour or so, and when Harry, Ginny, and most of the rest of their family got to the cottage, it was a lot like getting to a Hogwarts House party after a game there. Lily and Kieran weren't able to join them, as they had left from the game to go straight to Marauders Paradise to get ready for their upcoming concert, and hopefully fit in a short nap, since their day was going to be around twenty-two or three hours long by the time they got back home from the island.

Harry, Ginny, and the others joined the party at the cottage, and when it was time for the other round six game to come on QSPN, they went into the sitting room and watched it for the two hours it took to find out that Peru would be their opponent in Chile in two weeks.

"They'll definitely have the home town crowd with them," Ron said as the game ended. "I hope all of you kids were taking notes, since there will be a test."

Ginny laughed. "Then you should probably check your history, since Peru and Chile did fight a war a long time ago, so while they might be neighbours, we might have more fans there than you think."

Harry, Ginny, Al, Carolyn and Brianna found themselves on their own about an hour after that game had ended, and they all headed for bed shortly after that. Harry and Ginny had three days off this time, before they'd be going to Chile on Wednesday to start training for the Quidditch World Cup finals. That was going to be a nice little break, but they also had a lot they wanted to fit into that three days, and they were tired from a long day, so sleep came easily and quickly for all of them.

When they were going off to sleep, Lily and Kieran were just having dinner with thousands of kids and volunteers from residences all over the world. They were sitting at a table with Gabrielle, Kevin, Kirley, Ana, and Laura, and would be going on stage in less than an hour for their fourth of five concerts here, with the last one a week from tonight.

"You know that after these concerts, you're all the kids talk about all week, don't you?" Kevin told them.

Lily grinned. "I don't see how we even compare with everything else here on the island."

"Because you guys are this year's new attraction," Gabrielle told her. "Not that I'm expecting that we'll get you back every summer."

Kieran laughed. "Then I guess my plan to talk Lily into moving here and starting up one of those dueling piano bars like the one that her Mum and Dad talk about at Marauders Escape when we're done school is out of the question?"

Gabrielle laughed. "If I thought you were serious, I'd set the space aside now," she told him. "I expect you'll have bigger plans by then."

Lily looked around at all the happy faces. "Maybe, but I don't know that they'd be any better than this, Aunt Gabrielle. We could be very happy doing something like that in a place like this."

"That's true, sweetheart," she agreed, "but then all of those other people would be missing out on all of the happiness you could give them if we hid you away here, instead of letting you go out there and shine."

"Write that down, Kieran," Lily told him with a grin. "We might want to use that in a song sometime."

They finished dinner, enjoying getting to have nearly two hours to spend with Gabrielle and Kevin, and then they put on another two-hour long concert, followed by another hour and a half of autograph signing before they were able to head back home, and crawl into their beds sometime shortly before dawn, home time.

Kirley, Ana, and the kids slept until nearly noon, then threw together a brunch before heading for the cottage for the afternoon. They were going with Harry, Ginny, and the kids to the residence for a visit, and then have dinner together where they could update Lily's parents on what she'd be doing for the next couple of weeks.

Lily and Kieran had a specific reason for wanting to visit the residence today, and so when they could break free of the large group of kids that had surrounded them, they went looking for one specific Hufflepuff.

They found her outside with another cute little girl, and they were sitting by themselves out under a tree in one of the semi-private areas that had been landscaped into the residence grounds.

"Hi, Vanessa," Lily said, walking over and sitting down with the two girls. "Got a minute to talk?"

She and Kieran smiled as the sweet little girl's eyes widened, and she mutely nodded.

"Kieran and I got a note sent to us by TNM," Lily told her. "We already knew about you giving the Lightningbolt you'd won to Kieran's Captain at Easter, but they told us that because you'd done that they had sent you an extra prize, and that you've pretty much given all of that away too."

Vanessa was looking at her hands, but she did shyly nod in agreement.

"So they've asked us to to something for you that you can't just give away," Kieran told her. "How would you like to come on the road with us for our last week of concerts?"

Vanessa looked up at them, and she wasn't able to hide the thrill of being asked to spend a week with SpellBound, and her little friend hugged her and congratulated her.

"Now, we'll be pretty busy some of the time," Lily said, seeing the need to improvise here, "and you might have some times that will be a bit boring if you were with us on your own, so maybe if you have a bff you'd like to have come along with you, that would probably be a lot more fun for you."

Vanessa smiled brightly now, and Lily knew that she'd read the little girl right – she'd been torn between excitement about going, and not getting to share it with her friend. The two girls hugged again, and Lily and Kieran both laughed.

"Hi," Lily said, holding out her hand. "I'm Lily, and this is Kieran. I guess we should get introduced, since we'll be spending next week together," she told the other girl, who was now smiling shyly at her.

"This is my best friend in the whole world, Nadine," Vanessa supplied, since her friend was temporarily speechless.

"Nice to meet you, Nadine. We're going to need to get going soon, but before we do, would you like to know where we're going?"

Both girls nodded excitedly, smiling, and eyes sparkling.

"Your nine day, eight night adventure with SpellBound will begin with a noontime departure from here next Saturday, and we'll be going to our first destination, Marauders Paradise," Lily began.

"We'll get to spend most of the day playing there, and then after the banquet, Kieran and I will be doing the last of the five concerts we've been doing there this summer for each of the Phoenix Foundation weeks." Lily stopped, and let Kieran take over for the next part.

"We'll spend Sunday on the island too, taking it easy and getting adjusted to the time change before we move on to the great American state of Texas for two days, where we'll be having a concert at the Sweetwater All-Stars Stadium on Tuesday night," he told them.

"Then we'll move on to Mexico City for Wednesday and Thursday, where we'll get to play at their old Quidditch World Cup stadium in front of about sixty thousand fans on Thursday night," Lily said, leaving the best, and last, for Kieran.

"Friday morning, we'll pack up and head for Chile, South America, where, yes, that's right, we'll be getting to watch our National team play for the Quidditch World Cup on Saturday, before you'll come back here sometime on Sunday."

Vanessa and Nadine were hugging each other again, and then Vanessa gave Lily a hug too.

"Don't I get one?" Kieran asked with a grin, and the two girls giggled.

"That TeenWitch article said that you're only supposed to get hugs from Lily," Vanessa said, smiling too.

"That's true," he agreed, "but I think we can make the occasional exception to that rule."

After getting hugs from both girls, Kieran stood up, and held out his hand to Lily.

"We better go find our parents, and drag your Dad away from his TeenWitch play," he told her. "We'll see you both on Saturday morning," he told Vanessa and Nadine. "We'll get our itinerary tomorrow afternoon, and then have a copy sent over to you."

Lily laughed as she stood too. "I'll highlight all of the important things – like shopping and sightseeing," she promised the girls, who giggled again.

When they were far enough away, Kieran gave Lily a hug. "Nicely done," he said quietly. "Do you think she might have even said no if her friend Nadine didn't get to come?"

"It was too close to call, and this will work out better anyway, since we will be tied up sometimes when she'd just be bored standing around by herself or with Laura."

"They're both so tiny, it's hard to believe that they're only two years younger that we are. What House is Nadine in? I didn't recognize her at all."

"I'll check, but I don't think she is in a House yet, Kieran. She's probably starting this year. I have seen her around here, but seeing how shy they both are, I'm not surprised that they haven't been out playing with us when we're here visiting. As much as we'd all like it, there isn't enough time in these visits for all two hundred kids. Dad's the only one of us that knows all of them by name."

"Well, they'd both give Colin a run for smallest kids at school, so I sure hope TNM is around to keep them safe this year," Kieran said.

"I'm sure they will be," Lily told him, both of them grinning as they walked back to the residence.

"How'd it go?" Ana asked them when they found her.

"Slight change of plans," Lily reported. "We've got a two for one deal instead, but they're both small, and won't take up much space, so I think we can handle it."

Ana laughed. "I never wanted to go anywhere without my best friend when I was little either," she told Lily.

"Me either," Lily said, grinning at Kieran, who laughed along with his mother.

Kieran and Lily had a make-up team Quidditch practice to get to, so they went on ahead to the cottage with Al, Carolyn, and Brianna, while Ana and Ginny worked on getting Harry and Kirley to finish up playing with their dolls and go home too.

At dinner, they talked about everything that was going on during the next two weeks for everyone. This next week was pretty much normal for Al, Carolyn, and Brianna. For Lily and Kieran, it was music, music, and more music as they tried to wrap up all of their projects this week, since the rest of the summer holidays were going to be filled with other activities. Harry and Ginny would be leaving with the team for Chile on Wednesday, and would be there until the game.

"The only thing we need to fit into Lily and Kieran's schedule this week," Al told them, "Is their robe fittings."

He'd told them that their fun coordinators were going to handle getting all of the school supplies for everyone, so that the grownups didn't have to worry about it this year.

"And it sounds like Lily's going to have a couple of shopping buddies next week who could help her pick out clothes too, so that'll be covered," he added.

"Next week, while SpellBound is off singing, and the National Team is getting ready for the big game, we're taking our daycare and fun coordinator show on the road, and going with a lot of the family to spend next week in Chile," Al told them next. We'll do some sightseeing, and some shopping, and a whole lot of playing. Then if we have time, we'll probably drop by to watch the game too."

Harry, Ginny, and the others laughed.

"Must be nice," Brianna said. "I'll be thinking about all the fun you're having while I'm slaving away at the Ministry next week."

"That's what you and Scorpius get for wanting to change the world at fifteen and sixteen," Carolyn told her best friend, grinning at her.

"With luck, and a little help from our friends," she answered, "we'll actually be able to do that – even if it's only a little bit."

"It's a lot more than a little bit for the people that would start making enough money to actually live on," Harry told them.

There were lots of other details they discussed while they ate, and into the evening, and then Kirley and Ana took Kieran home with them, and Harry and Ginny spent another couple of hours talking with their kids before heading to bed.

During the next two days, they got caught up on work around home, and Harry had some catching up to do with Owner's business for the Canons, while the fun coordinators worked on back to school shopping, and final plans for their own upcoming trip.

The Quidditch World Cup was being held in an old World Cup stadium that was located between Valparaiso and Coquimbo, Chile, and had been modified to hold one hundred and twenty thousand spectators. There was going to be a large campground set up for fans that would be at the game by the Friday before the game, but Harry had booked rooms and suites at the Hyatt Regency in Santiago for the team, and then for the whole family for their stays.

During this part of the year, there was a four hour time difference between home, and Chile, so Harry, Ginny, and the team didn't leave for Chile until after lunch on Wednesday, and went straight to the stadium for their morning – local time – workout before taking the TransPortal to Santiago. There, they had lunch, and then had meetings in a conference room for most of the afternoon before they checked into their rooms and suites. The team and coaches needed thirteen rooms in total, and they were in a mix of Club King rooms or suites, and Executive suites, and they were all exceptional accommodations, most of them with views of the Andes mountains rising in the distance.

"This is way too brilliant," Arianna told James as she hugged him after looking around their suite, which included a beautiful private terrace.

"Maybe we should think about becoming world famous travel critics," James said with a smile. "Going around the world and staying in places like this would be a lot of fun for a few years."

"The traveling would be for sure," she agreed. "But then, maybe we could just do that and skip the being critics work part of it."

"We should get to see Andy soon," James said. "The first press meet and greet is tomorrow, so he's probably getting in to town in the morning."

"I'll send him a qm," Arianna said. "Maybe he can meet us for breakfast here before he gets to work."

"Sounds good," James agreed. "What do you want to do with our night off?"

"Let's do a little exploring with Aaron and Tracey, and then we'll probably want to go to bed fairly early to get used to the time change."

While Harry, Ginny, and their team practiced, and were acclimating to the time change, back at home, Al, Rose, and Matt were busy getting everything they had to do finished before they'd be leaving for Chile on Saturday themselves.

By the time that James and Arianna had been talking about what they were doing for the evening, it was already after eight at home, and Al and Carolyn were snuggled on a sofa in the sitting room, and planning on going to bed soon.

"We finished all of the school supply shopping today," Al told her. Pretty much everyone has done their robes by now too, and we've all still got a few weeks left to shop for our regular clothes before we go back."

"Is tomorrow going to be your last team Quidditch workout of the summer?" Carolyn asked him.

"Probably, although we might still have one more on the Tuesday before we go back. We'll decide that later."

"So what's left to do over the next two days?"

Al smiled. "Right now, I'm thinking that a lot of kissing and hugging you is a good plan," he told her. "What we do have to fit in around that, though, is finalizing our itinerary for what we're going to do next week, and there's still a few details for the week after that to hammer out."

"I can hardly wait," Carolyn said. "We've gotten to hear all about everyone else's adventures, while we've been here most of the summer."

Al laughed. "That's the part I've liked best," he told her, kissing her tenderly. "The you and me, here on our own part."

Carolyn laughed too. "That part has been the best," she agreed. "Next summer, though, we should try and figure out a way to do both – travel, and be together on our own."

"Well," Al said, standing up, then lifting her into his arms, "I think it's time for you and me to travel upstairs and get some sleep. Those four little kids could tire out an army of babysitters."

She put her arms around his neck, kissed him, and then lay her head on his shoulder while he carried her up to bed. Their summer so far had mostly been work, and playing here at home. The holiday adventure would be starting on Saturday, and they were both getting very excited about the trip.

The kids that Carolyn, Frederica, and for last week and this week, Emily were babysitting were also excited about the trip. Bill and Fleur were taking next week off, and would be taking Patricia with them to Chile. Gabrielle and Kevin would be there sometime in the middle of next week too, depending on how much Gabrielle needed to be at Marauders Paradise for the last of the Phoenix Foundation weeks.

Natalie, Owen, Mandy and Terry were all taking the week off, and were bringing Kira, James, and Timothy with them. Frederica and Carolyn would continue to help out with some babysitting, but they'd mostly have the week to themselves, or were doing the same activities as the kids and their parents would be doing.

Lily and Kieran were kept busy with their work, but were able to finish more than enough songs for the next two albums that would be released for the Christmas season, and then again next June. They wrapped up three video shoots that week, although Kirley would be putting them together during the next weeks and months, and their releases would be spread out over most of the next year.

On Thursday evening, Matt had everyone work out for more than two and a half hours, and since he and Hugo were now both team Captains, the two boys did convince everyone that one last practice on the Tuesday morning before they all went back to school on September first would be a good idea after a couple of weeks off, and with tryouts going to be on what was really the second full day back at school this year.

On Friday morning, Ana and Lily took the morning off to go shopping. Susan had called them from the residence on Thursday, and had suggested that maybe Lily could take Vanessa and Nadine shopping. While the girls certainly did have some summer clothes, considering where they'd be going this week, and the kind of places they'd be staying, she thought that an upgrade in wardrobe might be important. Ana and Lily had both agreed, and so they picked up two surprised and excited girls, and headed for Marauders Mall.

"We're going to have several important dinners, and a few parties to attend," Lily told them, "so we should start with finding two or three party and dinner dresses for each of you."

Ana had concurred and they had fun dressing the two girls up all morning. By lunchtime, the girls had four new, and very stylish dinner dresses, and they'd be sure to fit in at any of the parties they attended. They also had several sundresses, pants, shorts, and blouses each.

"We've got to get Lily back to work after lunch," Ana told the girls. "We didn't get swimsuits done, but we can do that while we travel. There's a Marauders Mall in Dallas we can stop in at, or even get a couple at Marauders Paradise.

"We each have two new ones from just before we went to Marauders Paradise with the residence," Vanessa told Ana and Lily. "This is all way too much already."

Lily gave her probably the twentieth hug of the morning. "We're just getting started," she promised. "This is going to be a great week!"

Back at the cottage, Al, Rose, and Matt were busy all day. They had packing to do, and they were dealing with other last minute communications with everyone else in the family.

Percy, as head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports was expected to be at the Games, and so he and Penelope would be leaving with their group on Saturday morning. Nick and Allie were going with them, but Scorpius and Brianna needed to stay for their upcoming Wizengamot vote. That meant that the fun coordinators needed to make sure that Scorpius and Brianna were taken care of while they were home on their own.

At lunch, Scorpius and Brianna were talking about that. "I wish we were going tomorrow," Brianna said. "They're going to have a lot of fun next week that we're going to miss out on."

Scorpius smiled. "True, but we'll be there for most of three days, and we do get the bonus of six nights at home by ourselves."

Brianna grinned at him. "That part of the deal is great. When do you think we'll find out when the meeting is on Friday?"

Scorpius laughed. "Maybe Thursday, possibly Friday morning. Depends on how sneaky they want to try and be."

"Any idea how many members are going to be in Chile?"

"Yes, Eighteen that I know of, which makes up nineteen of the fifty seats. Rumour is that without those votes, our proposal will fail by a vote margin of twenty-one to ten."

"That is really lousy," she said quietly. "Why are there still so many Witches and Wizards that only care about themselves? And why would the Minister let this go like he obviously is planning to do?"

"He's got a lot of different pressures, Bree," Scorpius said. "I'm still not sure why he's allowing this, but I'm still willing to give him the benefit of doubt. A lot of good things have happened under his leadership too."

Brianna smiled. "Well, at least if we do win, the opponents of the minimum pay won't be able to blame him, since he's done what they've wanted."

Scorpius smiled and kissed her. 'You know that could be his plan. He might be counting on us being smarter than those Witches and Wizards think we are."

"Probably because they're listening to the drivel from people like your grandfather," Brianna said. "I bet his staff will be in for a big raise if we get it passed."

"Oh yeah," Scorpius said. "I'd like to be there for that first pay day."

Rose had handled the arrangements for Scorpius and Brianna, which included several dinner reservations, and stocking the pantry for them, since Percy and Penelope had enough to do with work and getting ready to travel.

While she was doing that, Matt was in charge of making sure the non-family travelers were set for Saturday. That included his own parents, along with Allie and Emily's parents. Liam's parents, sister and brother were all coming too, and so he had a total group of ten that he was helping with anything they needed while parents finished up work, and kids packed for the holiday.

That left Al to do the same for family members. That included Grandma, Grandpa, George, Marietta, Nathalie, and Charlie. Teddy and Victoire were coming with Isabelle and Hermione too, but Stewart would be going to Marauders Paradise for the weekend first to help Gabrielle out with getting the last group of kids and volunteers to the island and settled in. That wasn't too much work, and he mostly helped with little errands for them, since his group was all very organized, and mostly ready to go.

Saturday morning, by eleven, everyone started taking the TransPortal from their homes to Santiago, Chile. Harry, Ginny, Ron, Aaron, Arianna, Tracey, and James were all there waiting to help everyone settle in to the hotel, and then get together for a private breakfast.

"What's on the itinerary for today?" Hermione asked Rose. They were sitting with Ron, Hugo, and the Goldstein and Donahue families while they ate, and everyone had started relaxing after the excitement of getting here and checking into the fabulous hotel.

"Today and tomorrow, we'll be doing some sightseeing," Rose told them. "Since the team is getting the weekend off, we're going to do a couple of trips."

"Where are we going?" Ron asked her.

"Today we're going to visit the island of Rapa Nui," Rose said. "Easter Island," she added when her father looked at her blankly. "Even though it's quite a distance from here, it's part of Chile, and I'm sure we're all going to love seeing the Moai, and there's a restored village called Orongo, and everything else to see."

Hermione smiled at her daughter. "That sounds great, honey. And tomorrow?"

"We're going to pop over to Peru to see Machu Picchu, and if we have time, we'll visit the Atacama Desert on the way back.

"So it's a Wonders of the World kind of weekend," Hermione summed up. I bet those Muggles would like to know the truth about the real history of both of those places."

Rose laughed. "They'd never believe it if you did tell them the truth, Mum."

"What truth is that?" Ron asked her, having no idea what his two favourite girls were talking about.

"I keep forgetting that you weren't a big fan of History," Hermione told him. "Rapa Nui used to be where we had a major Astronomy Observatory back when we were first mapping the stars a few thousand years ago. It's was abandoned when the Muggles started exploring and settling this area – I think it was in the seventeen hundreds when it closed down." She stopped and thought about that for a moment.

"Anyway, some centuries before that, some native Muggles arrived there in boats and settled on the island. To distract them from what we were really doing on the island, a few of the Wizards went among them in disguise and taught them how to build the Moai, and the big ahu platforms that they rested on. It kind of got out of hand, and it became practically a religion for them. The funny part of it was that it was really just meant to distract the natives, and now those statues are one of the most amazing ancient wonders of the Muggle world."

Ron laughed. "Why'd they pick teaching them stone carving?"

Rose smiled. "Dad, it was an Observatory there. What better way to make sure the natives slept all night than to be doing a job that was guaranteed to leave them completely exhausted?"

Talking about Moai statues, and about how they came about was one thing. Seeing the actual statues a few hours later was something very different.

"Wow," Al said, looking at one seventy-foot tall statue. "Are you sure that the Witches and Wizards didn't help out, except to teach them how to do this, Rose?"

She smiled at him. "I'm sure. And these really big ones are way bigger than the ones they'd originally been taught how to make. Those ones we saw standing earlier were what they'd been shown how to do."

She and Al were walking around the Rano Paraku quarry with Matt and Carolyn. The island wasn't very big, and there were several TransPortal sites that had been placed on the island, since it was as much a curiosity for Witches and Wizards as it was for Muggles.

They'd all visited the village of Orongo earlier, and gone on a tour of some of the island's standing Moai. Those had been impressive enough, many being around thirteen feet tall and weighing in at around fourteen tons. They'd also stopped to see Moai Paro, which had been the tallest Moai successfully erected at about thirty-three feet tall.

The one that they were looking at now was referred to as El Gigante, and at about seventy-two feet, it was the biggest Moai that had been discovered.

"Do you think they would've ever gotten this one moved or standing up?" Carolyn asked, as impressed as the rest of them were by the sheer size of the carved figure. "This thing is ten or eleven times heavier than the ones they did erect."

"Nobody knows, Carolyn," Rose answered. "Maybe for a practical joke we should come back here when we're all seventeen and put it up on an ahu just to mess with the Muggles."

Carolyn, Al, and Matt all burst out laughing. "There's a little more of your Uncle George in you than your parents suspect," Matt told her, giving her a big hug. "I imagine the Ministry of Magic would really frown on us doing that, so I'll have to pass. It would be funny, though."

They spent most of the day on the island, then left in time to get back to Santiago in time for the private dinner they were having. The rest of the week, everyone was on their own to make meal plans in smaller groups, since getting everyone together once they started doing different things all week was just too inconvenient.

While most of their family was visiting Easter Island, Lily and Kieran had gone with Kirley and Ana to pick up Vanessa and Nadine, and take the TransPortal to Marauders Paradise. They were taken to a five-bedroom suite where they dropped off their luggage, and then went to the Atrium for their second breakfast of the day.

"What would you like to do today?" Lily asked Vanessa and Nadine. "We've got most of the day, except for our orders for a quick nap later this afternoon."

Laura laughed at her. "You'll thank me later when you're not falling asleep during your concert."

She'd been working with them only part of the week, since Andy had been home for a few days before heading for Chile for work. One more week, and they'd be both finished work for the summer!

"We really like the roller coasters," Vanessa told Lily. "Could we maybe do rides for a while, and then cool off at the Water Park?"

Lily and Kieran both laughed. "You've just picked two of our favourite things too," Kieran told her with a grin.

Kirley, Ana, and Laura opted to do their own thing for the morning, but would meet the kids for lunch, so when they'd finished eating, the four younger members of their group left to go play on the amusement rides.

"The week we have here each summer is the only time we get a chance to go on rides like this," Vanessa was telling them. "I've gotten to do the virtual rides that are at the Paris VirtualMall that TNM gave me, but we've never been there before."

"Maybe we'll have to take you sometime then," Lily told her. "It's just as easy to go there by TransPortal as it is to go to our Marauders Mall."

They'd hit all of the coasters once, and were deciding what to do next. Kieran saw Nadine eyeing the LaserBroom.

"Do you guys want to do LaserBroom next?" he asked her.

Nadine looked at Vanessa, who laughed. "I'll watch if you want, Nadine. You know how I feel about brooms."

"Why don't you like flying?" Lily asked curiously. "You loved going fast on the coasters."

"It's not the fast or the high, it's all that nothing around me I don't like – not to mention that while I'm not scared of falling, I'm definitely against hitting the ground part that comes after falling."

Lily and Kieran laughed. "Why don't you two go play LaserBroom," Lily suggested to Kieran and Nadine, "and we'll go ride more coasters while you're playing."

They did that, and when they met back up twenty minutes later, Kieran and Nadine were both grinning.

"What's up?" Lily asked them.

"She beat me." Kieran told her, still grinning.

"Say what?" Lily exclaimed. "You beat the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team at LaserBroom? I sure hope we had them sign that 'What happens with SpellBound stays with SpellBound' form."

They all laughed. "How'd you manage that?" Vanessa asked her best friend.

"They've got Lightningbolts to fly there!" she told Vanessa. "We've got Cleansweeps at the residence that we can use, but those brooms are way, way faster. I didn't know I could fly that fast!"

"I'd like to see how you do Chasing a snitch on one of those brooms," Kieran told her. "You might be a pretty fair Seeker or maybe a Chaser if catching the snitch isn't your thing."

"If I'd known that, I could have given you that Lightningbolt I won," she told Nadine.

"That's alright, Vanessa. Whatever House I end up in, I'm sure there are school brooms to use for tryouts. Maybe I'll even make a practice team or something. It has happened with kids from the residence before."

Lily grinned at her. "Yeah, like my cousin Stewart. I'll introduce you when we see him in Chile next Friday or Saturday if you don't know him already."

"We knew him," Vanessa said, "but I doubt that he'd have remembered us, since we were just little when he moved out."

"I'll make sure you're re-introduced then," Lily promised. "Now, why don't we get some swimsuits on, and head to the Water Park!"

They did that, and followed it with lunch, and then Kirley, Ana, and Laura joined them to watch the first afternoon water show before they all went back to their suite for a nap. It wasn't feeling all that late yet, but Laura had been right in that by eleven or twelve o'clock island time when they finished their concert, they would all be exhausted.

Vanessa and Nadine had been here for the SpellBound concert when they'd been here a few weeks aga, but watching the concert from a table way at the back, and watching it from a front row table where they sat with Kirley, Ana, Gabrielle, Kevin and Laura had been great. They also had found out that they didn't have to wait a week to meet Stewart, since he'd been here on the island all day helping with the arrivals of the kids and volunteers from all over the world. The girls thought he was even more handsome than they remembered from when he lived at the residence, and he had certainly made them both feel welcome.

"This is so amazing!" Nadine whispered to Vanessa. "Don't pinch me even once all week. I'd really hate to wake up."

Vanessa laughed and gave her friend a hug. "I won't. This is way too much fun, and I don't want to wake up from the dream either."

The two girls watched, mesmerized, as SpellBound performed on a stage right next to them for nearly two hours, and then sat on the edge of the low stage after they finished, and signed literally hundreds of autographs before Laura finally called an end to it just before midnight.

They all went to bed soon after getting back to their suite, and Laura had them up at seven in the morning, even though it meant they'd all only gotten about six hours sleep.

"I know, guys, but we still have another time zone jump to do, and you need to be used to it before your concert in Texas, or you'll both be too tired to perform by concert time," Laura told them. "The good news will be that we get a couple of those hours back when we go to Chile, so you'll be ready to party all night while we're there."

They stayed and played on the island all day – or at least Laura and the kids did. Kirley and Ana went on ahead of them to Texas to get a little work done, and get checked in to their hotel before the kids joined them, leaving late in the afternoon from Marauders Paradise.

They would be spending the next three nights at Hotel Indigo in Dallas, in a couple of suites, since most of their appointments were in Dallas. For the rest of Sunday, all they had to do was take it easy, and keep getting used to the time change. Lily, Kieran, Vanessa, and Nadine had no complaints about being told to relax and have fun.

While they were settling in for their stay in Dallas, back home, Scorpius and Brianna were snuggled in his bed, and sharing a goodnight kiss or ten.

"Back to work tomorrow," Brianna said quietly as she lay with her head on Scorpius' chest.

"It probably won't be as much fun without Percy and Grandpa there," he said just as quietly. "At least we'll be spending two days with the kids at the sports programs. That'll help make the time go by faster."

"This weekend has seemed to go by too fast," she said, her eyes closing as she listened to his breathing, and the gentle, measured rhythm of his heartbeat.

"I know. No wonder Teddy and Victoire like having quiet weekends at home alone. They are definitely a lot of fun."

"Um-hmm," Brianna said, half asleep. "We should do more of them."

Scorpius thought about what a good idea that was for a while, and then realized that Brianna had fallen asleep, and he smiled. "I love you, Brianna," he whispered. "Happy dreams." Then he closed his eyes, and quickly fell asleep too.

In Chile, Al and Carolyn were having dinner with Harry and Ginny. They'd had an incredible day touring Machu Picchu – the lost city of the Incas. They'd have to try and fit a visit to the Atacama desert into another day, since one day hadn't been enough to view everything there was to see of the lost city.

"I still don't get why that group of Wizards and Witches taught the Incans and Mayans all of this stuff," Carolyn said. "How to make such fantastic buildings, and all that Astronomy and the Mathematics. There seems to have been a lot they left out of the education – like don't do sacrifices."

Ginny laughed. "The idea was actually pretty noble, Carolyn. Wizards and Witches have a pretty brutal history of our own, and back then we weren't exactly on the moral high ground a lot of the time. It might not have occurred to those Witches and Wizards that there was anything wrong with what the Incas were doing. Too bad that the knowledge didn't continue on, though, since the Muggles spent hundreds more years re-acquiring what the Incas and Mayans had known."

"That's because there were too many Muggles looking at the pretty gold and jewels and completely missing out on the real treasures," Carolyn said. "When you look around the world now, sometimes you have to wonder if much has changed."

Al smiled. "Give them time," he suggested. "There's hope for them. You'll be back at practice all week starting in the morning?" he asked his Mum and Dad.

"Yes. It's all work now," Harry answered. "I'll be away on Friday for a few hours, but that can't be helped."

"What are you doing with everyone while we're working?" Ginny asked Albus.

"Tomorrow we're going to visit some of the coastal cities and towns like Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar," Al told them. "There's still a lot of places we'd like to go see, but a week probably won't be long enough, even being able to take the TransPortal most places."

"Then you'll just have to come back and visit again sometime," Ginny told him. "This is probably one of the most fascinating and diverse countries in the world, and it's practically a secret to most of the rest of the world."

"Make sure you take one of the railways when you're in Valparaiso," Harry told them, "It's really worth taking the time to do it."

Al nodded. "We will be for sure. We just wish you could come too."

"We've been here before when we took that year off before your brother was born," Ginny said. "I think we're due for a return trip, though. I'd almost forgotten just how wonderful it is here."

After dinner, they took a walk along the Rio Mapocho before going back to the hotel for the night, ahead of Harry and Ginny's training curfew. The kids all had rooms close to each other, and the parents pretty much pretended not to notice the alternate sleeping arrangements that were going on.

The original setup had been very simple. Boys paired up, and girls paired up, mostly two to a room, while the adult couples all had their own rooms or suites.

The fact that Al and Nick were supposed to be in one room, while Carolyn and Allie were in another didn't stop them from conveniently getting those pairings mixed up. That seemed to happen with most of the teenagers, and was a topic of amusement with both the parental and youth groups.

On Monday and Tuesday, Lily and Kieran were busy with appearances, like the one they had at the Marauders Mall – Dallas GamePortal, and a visit to the Phoenix Foundation residence for this region of America. They had WWVN interviews, and WWN interviews. There were two magazine reporters to sit down with for an hour each, and then on Tuesday afternoon, they had their sound check and rehersal at the Sweetwater Stadium.

Through most of that, Vanessa and Nadine were with them every step of the way, except for when they were at the GamePortal, when Laura took them shopping for the two hours that they were signing autographs.

On Monday night, the two girls had gotten to go to their first big, upscale party, and they'd looked beautiful in their new dresses, and after the initial shock had worn off, they'd been able to join right in, and had even danced with some boys their own age, who'd flocked to the pretty young girls that were hanging out with SpellBound.

Their third album hadn't been out for two full months yet, but the concert tours, interviews, and new videos out on the music video channels had all helped to push the sales for it over five million copies already, and it was while they were in Texas that they found out about it hitting that mark so quickly.

The concert on Tuesday night was the best experience for Vanessa and Nadine so far. Seeing Lily and Kieran playing to a stadium-sized crowd had been even more amazing that it had been at Marauders Paradise.

Hearing a nearly identical show didn't take anything away from the experience either. They danced and cheered, cried, and laughed with all of the other fans. When Kieran and Lily sat on the edge of the stage to sing their last song, Vanessa and Nadine were front and centre, and watched as their two friends – and they were definitely friends now – sang their signature song, and poured their hearts into it to the point where both girls were again in tears, and Laura and Ana were handing them tissues, at the same time they were clearing the mist from their own eyes.

They were called back out for two more songs, and then Laura, Ana, and Kirley led the two girls backstage so that they could all help them get changed and pack up.

"You two just tear me up every time I hear One Magic Moment," Vanessa told Lily. "The words and music are beautiful, but it's the way you sing it to each other that gets me every time. You don't get that when you just listen to the album."

Nadine laughed. "Speak for yourself," she told Vanessa. "I cry through half the songs on all of the albums when I listen to them on my 3D-VMP."

Lily laughed too. "Don't feel bad about that, Nadine, so do I – and we wrote a lot of them ourselves."

"Come on, girls," Laura told them. "By the time we get past your fans, we'll be lucky to be at the hotel by one, and we have to be in Mexico City for a nine o'clock WMVN – Mexico live show, so we won't be getting much sleep."

On Monday and Tuesday, Al, Rose, and Matt had kept their families all busy with the trips that Al had told Harry and Ginny about on Monday, and then on Tuesday, they'd gone down into the Lake District. They spent most of their day in and around Temuco. The Mercado Municipal market was a favourite for the girls, they visited the Araucana Museum, and the downtown Main Square, and toured Nielol Hill, having lunch in the restaurant at it's summit.

On Wednesday, they spent the day in Santiago itself, seeing the main attractions of the city of six million, and doing some shopping. The younger kids weren't all that excited about some of the museums, cathedrals or the other wonderful historical sites, so after lunch, Al, Carolyn, Frederica, and Liam cut the rest of the family loose, and took the kids back to the hotel where they could play in the pool and have fun while the others kept doing all of that boring stuff, like going to see the Plaza de Armas.

On Thursday, they went on two trips. The first was quickly abandoned, when they took the TransPortal to the Parque National Torres del Paine, and arrived to find the weather wasn't going to cooperate for a pleasant visit to see the natural wonders of the park, and instead headed from there straight to San Pedro de Atacama, where they toured more museums, the fortified village of Pukara de Quitar, and the Atacama desert.

"Hard to believe that Muggles have had to walk across that desert," Nick told them as they looked out over the desolate expanse. "That'd be absolutely unbearable."

"If they didn't know how to survive out there, it was," Rose said quietly.

"Anybody feel the need to go for a swim?" Allie asked. "Let's get out of here. I've seen enough dry to last me a long time."

That feeling was universal, and so they all went back to the hotel, changed, and spent the rest of the afternoon poolside until it was time to get ready for their various dinner plans.

For Al, Carolyn, Frederica, and Liam, that was dinner for eight, with the four of them hosting Kira, James, Timothy, and Patricia for dinner – and for the night – to give their parents a date night. They fed the kids, then took them up to the room that Al and Carolyn had been sharing, and entertained them by watching some Muggle movies until the kids fell asleep, and they could put them to bed – the four boys in that room, and the four girls in the room Frederica was in next door to her parents.

When they were watching movies and getting the kids to go to sleep, Lily and Kieran were going on stage near Mexico City to the cheers of sixty thousand fans.

"And we thought things were bigger in Texas," Vanessa said to Nadine. "What were we thinking? I didn't know you could put this many people in one place."

Nadine smiled. "There were one hundred and ten thousand at the last Quidditch World Cup we had back home," she told Vanessa. "I'm not sure how many will be at this one on Saturday, but it's sure to be more than one hundred thousand, so take this crowed, add in the group from Texas with a dollop of the Marauders Paradise gang we saw last Saturday, and you're about to that number."

"If that's true, then I'll probably be saying the same thing in two more days," Vanessa answered.

During the past two days, Lily and Kieran had needed to do a lot of interviews and there'd been another big party on Wednesday night, but the highlight up until now for Vanessa and Nadine had been Wednesday afternoon's visit to the ancient Mayan city of Teotihuacan, and seeing the ruins of the city, and the incredible pyramids. Going with Lily had been extra special, since she was and encyclopedia of information about the Mayans, and all of the influences that Witches and Wizards of past millennia had on that ancient culture.

All of that was temporarily forgotten as they enjoyed their third concert of the week, this was just as thrilling as the first two had been. Before they knew it, two hours had passed, and the were once again at the point of the concert where their friends sat at the edge of the stage, and wowed the audience into tears and silence with their performance of One Magic Moment.

There were three encore songs tonight for their fans, and another hour of autograph signing before a very tired group returned to their hotel. In the morning, they'd be meeting their family in Santiago, Chile for breakfast, and there was just over a day and a half until the Quidditch World Cup final!

For Scorpius and Brianna, by the time that Lily, Kieran, and he others were getting to sleep, they were up and having breakfast before work. That was when the Owl Post arrived. Scorpius opened the envelope and read the single page of parchment.

Mr. Malfoy,

The Wizengamot will be meeting promptly at eight o'clock this morning to consider your proposal to create a minimum pay standard. Your attendance is expected and required.

"Oh my gosh!" Brianna said. "The vote's in less than an hour and it's only just past three in the morning in Chile!"

Scorpius pulled out his WiComm and called Harry, who surprisingly answered the call on the first chime.

"Hi, Scorpius," he said with a smile. "Having a good week back home?"

"We were until we got the Owl Post a few minutes ago letting us know the vote's at eight – that'll be about four in the morning your time," Scorpius told him seriously.

Harry laughed. "Then it's probably a good thing that we all went to bed early last night, and that I invited a few friends over for an early morning party, isn't it? Say 'Hi' to Scorpius and Brianna, everyone!"

The two teens watched as Harry panned his WiComm around the sitting room of his suite to show them the other seventeen vacationing Wizengamot members. When he pointed it back at himself he was grinning at them.

"When you get to the Ministry, don't give the surprise away by smiling and looking happy like you are right now," Harry told them. "Just try to act like a couple of excited kids hoping to see their proposal get passed in the Wizengamot, and we'll be there right at the last minute."

"We will," Scorpius promised.

"Get seats early if you can," Harry continued. "You're probably going to want to watch the pre-vote show!"

Scorpius and Brianna were laughing, and so were most of the members of the Wizengamot that were with Harry.

"Please thank everyone for us," Scorpius said.

"We love you, Uncle Harry," Brianna said. "Give Aunt Ginny a hug for us."

"I will," Harry promised. "See you in about an hour, kids."

They ended the call, and Scorpius and Brianna quickly finished breakfast and got ready to go to the Ministry. When they got to work, they checked for early morning requests, and had enough time to handle two each before it was time to get down to the meeting.

On their way to the lifts, Scorpius heard a familiar voice coming from an office ahead of them and slowed down, gently taking Brianna's arm.

"Lucius, you have nothing to worry about," another voice he didn't recognize said. "The vote is a lock, and the proposal will be defeated. The last of the moderates arrived in Chile for the World Cup yesterday. We have twenty-one votes to their ten."

"It had better be," Lucius Malfoy snarled at the other man. "My friends and I have paid your lot a great deal of money to make sure that happens. We will not be pleased if you fail. I can't believe that you bunch of weaklings even allowed a sniveling little blood-traitor like that mistake of Draco's and his little orphan wench to even get a proposal like this to a vote at all."

"I have to get to the meeting," the other voice said. "Wait here if you'd like to talk after the vote is over."

"We will," Lucius told the other man. "I want to know for sure that this stupidity is over before Draco and I leave here."

Scorpius pulled Brianna quickly into a storage room just ahead of the sounds of the man who must be one of the members of the Wizengamot stepping out of the office that was next door to where they'd just hidden. He closed the office door firmly behind him, and stepped quickly away down the hall toward the lifts.

The young couple looked at each other in amazement, and grinned. Scorpius hugged her tightly.

"How I wish I could be in that room when that Wizard returns after the vote," he whispered. They waited for a minute, and then stepped back out into the hallway and continued toward the lifts, the other Wizard already in a lift and on his way to the courtroom level.

The members of the Wizengamot, and the Minister himself were gathering at the doors to the dungeon. Scorpius and Brianna walked up to join the group, and the Minister smiled at their excited looks.

"Good, you got the Owl Post, I see," he said. "I apologize for the early vote, but nearly the entire Wizengamot will be leaving for Chile in just a few short hours, and they, and I have a lot of work to get done before we go," he told them.

"That's quite all right, Minister," Scorpius assured him. "We would have been here for work by now anyway. What's going to happen now?"

The Minister smiled at him brightly. "The members have had the proposal, and been able to review it. When the session begins, the matter will be brought before them, and should they wish to speak for or against the bill they may. In this case, since your proposal was so thorough, I expect this will be quickly voted on. That you two included a full impact anaylsis with all of the pros and cons of your proposal made their work much easier."

"Thank-you, Minister," Brianna told him, looking excited. "We can hardly wait to watch – even working here we haven't gotten to see any proposals made into law by the high court."

The Minister laughed, along with several members of the Wizengamot around them.

"My dear, I can assure you that you'll get to see a vote on your proposal, whether you'll get to see it become law or not will have to wait until the vote is tallied."

Brianna actually managed to blush – she should get an award, Scorpius thought.

"Of course, Minister," she laughed, putting a hand to her face in feigned embarrassment. "Scorpius and I both understand that there may be other factors that affect the decision that our learned Wizengamot would know of and understand better than we would at our young age."

The Minister laughed again. "Gentlemen and Ladies, I do believe that was a very sweet way of telling us that we're old!"

Quite a few of the Witches and Wizards around them laughed with him, and Brianna was blushing again.

"Oh, stop teasing the young lady, Minister," one of the Witches said. "Besides the fact compared to them, we are all old, it's nearly eight, and we need to get going, so stop playing and let's get the doors open and get this over with."

They did that, and Scorpius and Brianna went to sit down at the front of the visitor section. They were the only two there, and it was a very odd feeling, since not even the usual reporters that covered the Wizengamot were here for this session. Apparently this was not a vote that the public needed to be made aware of. The last members of the Wizengamot were just getting to their seats, when there was more noise from outside the chamber that got everyone's attention.

Harry and his father-in-law, Elder Weasley, walked through the doorway, leading eight more pairs of men and women into the courtroom, all of them smiling and laughing as they entered the chamber.

"Elder Potter!" the Minister exclaimed. "What a surprise! We did not expect you to be able to join us today, since we were under the impression that you were in Chile, training with our National Team for tomorrow's Quidditch World Cup final."

Harry laughed. "Oh, I am, or was, Minister, and I appreciated the Wizengamot choosing to have the vote so early! It will allow me to do this business, and then be back in time for the team's final practice before the big game tomorrow!"

"That is fortunate. I'm curious about one thing - since that was unfortunately, by necessity, a last minute decision, I'm surprised you received your Owl Post already," the Minister told Harry.

Harry smiled at him. "Oh, I have all my Owl Posts sent to me immediately by Translocator when I'm away," he explained. "It can take weeks to catch up when I return otherwise. Thanks to the conveniences of WiComms and the TransPortal, getting everyone rounded up and over here was easy enough, so everything works out well after all. In days gone by, we would have never even heard about the meeting until long after it was over – you do have to love modern conveniences!"

By then, all eighteen members of the group from Chile were seated, and there was no choice for the Minister but to bring the proposal to the floor, since it was the only piece of business for the session.

Scorpius and Brianna had been watching the other thirty-one members of the Wizengamot as Harry and the other members had come in, and during the conversation between Harry and the Minister. It was easy enough for them to pick out the twenty-one members who'd planned this whole thing, and had been expecting to win. Their smug satisfaction at the expectation of a big political win had been brutally, if benignly crushed, and they were all red-faced and angry now.

The court secretary, a job that had once been Percy's, stood, and read the proposal to implement a minimum pay standard, and then asked to hear from any members wishing to speak in support of the proposal. There were none.

"What are they doing?" Brianna whispered to Scorpius. "They're not going to speak in support of our proposal?"

"No," Scorpius whispered back, "and it's brilliant. I'll tell you later."

This was one more added shock to the opponents of the bill, and created confusion among them. Why wasn't anyone speaking out for the bill? Were they going to vote against it too? That mix of anger and confusion left them all indecisive, and none of them had ever planned on the need to actually speak on the public record against the proposal. When the call went out to speak against the proposal, none of the members opposed to it were prepared to do that, and then, having nobody exercise their right to do so, the secretary called for the vote.

Scorpius and Brianna watched, thrilled, as one by one, the high court was polled, and the votes for their proposal continued to climb.

Nobody in the chamber had to wait for the official results – twenty-nine for, twenty-one opposed, and with that quick session, the lives of tens of thousands had just been changed for the better – or would be in less than half a year.

The meeting was quickly adjourned, and the whole matter had taken less that thirty minutes. The twenty-one members of the court that had just lost a fight that they'd been sure had been won just a short time ago all stormed out of the chamber. The Minister and court secretary left quickly too, and Scorpius and Brianna were left with the remaining group of Wizengamot members.

"That was fun," Harry told them, coming over to give them each a hug. "Hopefully you didn't make any enemies today."

"You sure did, though," Scorpius said quietly. "Those members were really angry."

Harry shrugged. "They already were my enemies, Scorpius, so nothing's changed there, except they've lost one more vote."

Arthur came up and gave them each a hug too. "Are you two packed for your trip?" he asked them.

Brianna nodded. "We'll be coming as soon as we're done work, so we'll see everyone around lunchtime."

She watched as he and Harry both laughed, and Arthur pulled out a couple of envelopes and handed them to the two teens.

"I was supposed to give these to you if your minimum pay proposal was voted into law," he told them. "And to tell you to go get ready to leave. I've got about an hour of work to do here, and I'll let everyone know that they don't have their favourite pages for the rest of the day."

He laughed again as Brianna hugged him once more.

"I've got a few things that I can do too," Harry told them. "Why don't we meet you at the townhouse at ten. It'll put us back in Chile a bit early, but we can get you checked in and you can join all of us for breakfast."

Professor Slughorn came up and joined their little group too.

"Very impressively done, my young politicos. You've done very well indeed!" he told them.

"Permission to hug the Professor?" Brianna said, grinning at him.

Slughorn laughed. "No professors here today, Brianna, and Wizengamot Elders never turn down hugs from pretty girls."

Everyone else laughed, and Brianna gave him a big hug. "Thank-you," she told him. "I know there are going to be some angry Witches and Wizards, but this is going to help make life at least bearable for a lot of poor people in our country."

"And if we're really lucky," Scorpius said, "we'll get other governments who will do the same all over the world once word gets out."

"I should have put you all in the Slug Club," Slughorn told them, "but then I might as well have changed the name to Weasley's Wizarding Whiz's."

When he saw that his remark had totally cracked them up, he laughed jovially. "Well, you all may have other things to do, but if I hurry back to that fabulous hotel, I can get another couple of hours sleep before starting my day again. See you all later," he said, waving goodbye.

The rest of the members of the Wizengamot had all pretty much left the chamber now too, and so Harry and Arthur led the kids out too, and rode with them on the lift. The two kids left the two Wizards, getting off the lift at the Atrium level, while Arthur and Harry continued on to level two.

Scorpius and Brianna didn't open their letters until they got back home, and then it was time for a little congratulatory hugging and kissing – all right, call it what it really was – full on, mid-morning, really brilliant snogging.

"I didn't spend a tenth of last summer's bonus," Brianna told him when they'd come up for air. "And they give us each this? I don't even know how you thank people who give you everything."

Scorpius nodded. "We've both been really lucky to have such great Witches and Wizards to help us out. Things might have been very different for both of us if we hadn't."

"It's later now," Brianna reminded him. "I know we won, but why didn't anyone stand to support our proposal?"

"The members who were expecting to defeat it hadn't planned anything at all for the possibility that they might need to defend their position at all, and were totally unprepared," Scorpius explained. "By not giving them any time before they either had to argue against the minimum wage, and do it on the public record, or not speak against it at all, Uncle Harry made certain they weren't able to re-group and go on the attack. It was a brilliant strategy."

Brianna laughed. "Well, we got a lot of help, but we did it. I guess next summer we'll have to take up that job for everyone who wants one proposal. We're out of time for this year."

They spent quite some time on their little private celebration, so they had to hurry to have their luggage ready to go by the time that Harry and Arthur got to the townhouse.

"Ready to go?" Harry asked them with a smile.

"Yes, but we wanted to let you know something before we go," Scorpius told him. Harry nodded for him to go ahead.

"My grandfather, and probably my Dad were at the Ministry this morning," he told the two men. "When we were walking to the lifts before the meeting, we overheard him in one of the Wizengamot member's office." Harry and Arthur both looked surprised.

"The short version is that the Wizard he was talking to, who we didn't see, told him the vote was a lock and our proposal would be defeated, and my grandfather told him that it better, or he and his friends would be very angry after paying so much money to make sure it did."

"Don't forget the part where he insulted us," Brianna said with a smile. "I've never been referred to as an orphan wench before, but I do know that what he called you was just plain nasty." She grinned at him and her eyes were flashing with triumph.

"I think he's having a very bad day now. I sure hope he doesn't do anything he won't remember enough to regret later," she told the three men, who all laughed.

"Thanks," Harry told them. "It's good to know that our old friends are still out there trying to pull the strings of their puppet Wizengamot members."

Arthur nodded. "The Minister didn't look very happy either," he mused. "He didn't even stop to visit after the vote."

Brianna nodded excitedly. "Scorpius has a theory about that," she said, and the two men looked to him for the explanation.

"I think he had to go along with this whole thing for some reason, and was hoping we'd be able to outsmart them so he could stay above the fight." Scorpius grinned. "If that's what happened, it seems he was right about us, and now he can just tell those other Witches and Wizards that he did what they wanted, and it wasn't his fault they botched it."

Arthur laughed. "You may be right, Scorpius. He's used up a lot of political points with some of the things he's pushed through up until now. This will probably earn him a reprieve from the other side for when he needs his next win."

"We won today," Harry said. "Let's leave the politics behind, and go have some fun for a while."

They left for Santiago right away, and the start of their last nearly two weeks of summer, and the only real holiday time the two teens would have after working so hard for the past eight weeks.

While they were getting ready to move back in time, so to speak, it was four in the morning in Mexico City. Even though they'd only gotten a few hours sleep, Lily was already awake and packing up. She finished her own packing before starting to get everyone else up and started. They needed to leave by five so that they could move into the future a couple of hours and be at the hotel in Santiago at seven in time for the family breakfast.

"Finally!" she told Kieran. "We're going to get nearly the whole rest of summer holidays to relax and have fun with our family!"

"We'll be able to after the game on Saturday, anyway," he agreed.

They were packed and ready to go before five, so they left their hotel, and took the TransPortal to Chile. Ana had called ahead, so Ginny was waiting there for them, and after the hugs and kisses were over, helped them to quickly check in to their rooms before leading them to the private breakfast they were having with everyone.

"How are you enjoying your trip so far?" Ginny asked Vanessa and Nadine. She had known both girls most of their young lives, so they weren't at all shy around her, even if they didn't normally play with her or with Harry when they were visiting the residence.

"It's been the most fun we've ever had in our lives," Vanessa said emphatically, smiling brightly.

"Good," Ginny said with a laugh. "Hopefully your Natioanal team will be able to keep that fun going for you tomorrow."

"They will," Nadine said. "And if you win, the fun will just go on for a few extra hours while we celebrate!"

The two young girls had so far gone shopping with Lily and Aan for the most beautiful clothes either had ever owned, and been to Marauders Paradise for a concert, but even better to spend two whole days playing with Lily and Kieran. They'd then spent two incredible days in Texas, living the life of celebrities along with SpellBound, and then two more fantastic days in Mexico, culminating in last night's amazing concert with sixty thousand fans.

None of that prepared them for a Weasley family meal – even a breakfast meal! They were loud, and very demonstrative of their affection, and they all loved to have fun. Vanessa and Nadine had been welcomed into that group with open arms, or was that closed arms when you were welcomed with dozens of hugs? Whichever it was, they were having a lot of fun too, and loved every moment of it.

"I don't think that pinching would work to wake me up anymore," Nadine told Vanessa, who laughed.

"Me either," Vanessa answered. "Can you believe that they put us in a suite all our own? And with it's own bedroom and balcony and everything!"

"Nope, this whole adventure just keeps getting better, and it's like just when you think it can't get any more brilliant, it does."

When everyone sat down to eat, Vanessa and Nadine ended up sitting with Frederica, Liam, Hugo, and Emily. Kira had claimed sole possession of Lily for the duration of the meal, pouncing on her hero right after she had walked into the room.

"How've you been, Kira," Lily asked her as they filled their plates and began to eat. "We've missed seeing you while we've been gone this past week."

Kira proceeded to tell Lily and Kieran all about her week, and her amazing adventures, entertaining them with the unique perspective of those events that only a four year old can have. Nearly everything she'd gone to see was much bigger and more awesome. That was probably a true perspective for her, since at less than half the size of the adults, everything really was twice as big to her.

During breakfast, everyone found out about the success in the Wizengamot of Scorpius and Brianna's proposal, and that there was now a new minimum pay law that would be going into effect next year. The co-authors of the proposal were the recipient of a lot of congratulations from the family and guests that were there. A lot of Witches and Wizards in the room had at some point in their lives been poor, so they knew just how great an accomplishment it was for the teens.

There were a lot of guests there too. The National team was there, of course, and the members of the Wizengamot who'd been here in Chile joined them, as did all ten of the members who'd still been back home for the vote. There were also a lot of friends that were now here too. Dennis and Demelza were here with Colin, as were the Longbottoms, and some of their other friends, including several of the Professors from Hogwarts.

"What's on the schedule for today?" Lily asked Laura as breakfast wound down.

Laura smiled at her. "You've got one interview at nine with WMVN – South America from their studio here in Santiago. That'll wrap up by eleven, and then you have a free day to go have fun with your family and friends."

Lily exchanged a high five with Kieran. Vanessa and Nadine joined them, and Lily smiled at them.

"We've got an interview this morning for a couple of hours," she told them, "and you're welcome to come if you want, but you can also hang out with our cousins and friends instead if you want. Whatever they're doing will probably be more fun."

Al and Carolyn came and joined them. "It definitely will, and your number one fan is over there hoping you'll take her instead."

Lily laughed and waved Kira over to them. "How'd you like to come spend the morning with us?" she asked Kira. "We'll just be doing a WMVN interview, and probably singing a couple of songs, but you might like it."

They all laughed as she went running back to her Mum and Dad to ask if she could go.

"Well, they couldn't possibly say no to her," Vanessa said, "so if you don't mind a couple more to hang out with you, we'd love to tag along," she told Al and Carolyn.

Carolyn smiled. "Good. We can always use a couple more girls to help with the shopping."

"You guys are going shopping this morning?" Llly asked. "Laura, do we have to go to that interview? Maybe Kieran could do it by himself, or Kira could pretend to be me."

Laura grinned at her. "No such luck, amigo. You have to go, so get over the disappointment."

Lily grinned back at her. "Remind me to get you a bonus for putting up with me all summer," she told Laura, giving her a hug. A happy Kira rejoined them, and they left to go get changed and ready to leave for their interview.

While they'd been discussing that, everyone on the National Team had left for the stadium and their last practice day before the big game. Most of the others began to leave for whatever they each had planned for the day. The new arrivals were mostly going sightseeing.

When it was mostly just family left, Rose got everyone's attention.

"We didn't plan anything special for today," she told everyone. "There's a bunch of us going shopping this morning, and you're all welcome to come too, or do your own thing instead."

Most of the remaining group was interested in shopping, but they split up into much smaller groups to go do that. Al and Carolyn paired up with Scorpius, Brianna, Vanessa and Nadine. The other groups ranged from as few as four to as many as eight, and the only thing that their fun coordinators had done to help them out was give them lists of shopping destinations before sending them on their way.

"Why don't we go to the Mall Panoramico, first," Carolyn suggested. "I'd like to do some markets too, but if we do them after, it'll be warmer outside, and more fun."

The rest of their group had been fine with that, so they'd left the hotel, and then taken a Muggle limousine service to the Mall.

"You guys deserve a lot of credit for getting that law passed," Carolyn told Brianna as they walked through the Mall. "There's going to be a lot of people better off because of it."

"Thanks, Carolyn," Brianna told her. "It could have been way different if Scorpius hadn't suspected that something was up with the opponents of the bill, though, and if Al's Dad hadn't already had the other members of the Wizengamot awake and ready to come on short notice."

"It worked out pretty well," Al said. "And you get most of the day here with us, instead of only half of it."

They spent nearly two hours in that Mall, and then moved on to the Bellavista Street Fair. Lily called Carolyn on her WiComm while they were still there. They were finished with the WMVN interview, and they agreed to meet for lunch at the Parque Arauco Mall.

"How'd the interview go, roomie?" Brianna asked Lily. Since they'd both come into town on the same day, they'd been paired up for a room, while Scorpius and Kieran were sharing another room.

"Pretty well. We did three songs, and the studio audience seemed to love us."

Kira grinned at the two girls. "They definitely loved you, Lily. Especially when you spoke Spanish. I didn't know you could do that."

Kieran laughed. "Well, if she ever decides to go into politics, she's definitely proved that she can learn the other languages."

"So, where are we going to eat?" Lily asked. "This might be one of the strangest collections of different food options I've ever seen. How many places will you find a Starbucks, a Mr. Pretzel, and all of these other choices in one place?"

"We thought we'd try the Emporio La Rosa," Carolyn told her. "And no we don't have a clue what we're getting into, but we can always grab slices of pizza on the way out if we've made a bad decision."

They didn't have to do that, and after lunch, they went to the Aidea de Vitacura outdoor market for another couple of hours. While they were there, Lily bought Kieran a handcrafted charango, picked up a rainstick for herself, and the girls had all picked out some of the beautifully crafted silver jewellery.

"Will we hear future SpellBound songs with charango music and rainstick percussion?" Carolyn asked Kieran and Lily as they were on their way back to the Hyatt Regency.

"Not for a while," Kieran said. "I'll have to learn how to play a ten string first. I've played six and twelve string guitars, though, so it shouldn't be too difficult to learn."

Back at the hotel, they joined most of the other teens who were playing at the pool, and they all swam and played until it was time to get ready for dinner. Harry and Ginny had arranged reservations for twelve that night, while other groups had been put together for everyone else.

They had Al, Carolyn, Lily, Kieran, Scorpius, Brianna, Vanessa, and Nadine with them. The only other adults at their table were Kirley and Ana, and they spent the entire meal catching up with everything each group had been doing for the past week.

Harry had been up since two in the morning, and game day was tomorrow, so after dinner, he and Ginny returned to their suite. Kirley and Ana were invited to join some of the other couples for an evening out. For Scorpius and Brianna, it already felt like midnight, so they went up to bed too, although not to two separate rooms as Kieran and Brianna accidentally got their room keycards mixed up, and Brianna somehow found herself in the same room with Scorpius, but too tired to go back and find out where Kieran and Lily had gone off to. It was also odd that her luggage had somehow also been misdirected too.

The National Team all had a curfew, so none of them were out past nine o'clock. Lily, Kieran, Vanessa, and Nadine had spent the last four days in a time zone that was two hours earlier, or later, than this one. They'd been up late most nights too, so what that meant was that it still felt two hours earlier to them than it actually was local time, and they weren't at all tired.

Al and Carolyn went with Lily, Kieran, Vanessa, and Nadine on a tour of the Hotel and grounds. They'd been there all week, and had pretty much seen it all, but it was still fun showing the others around.

They ended their tour in the Club level Atrium on the sixteenth floor, and spent an hour there relaxing and enjoying the view of the Andes before deciding to all head for their rooms too. The older teens saw Vanessa and Nadine to their suite, and then went off to their own rooms. It was only going on eleven o'clock, but Saturday was going to be a very big day, and they all wanted to be rested and ready for it.

England had not been depopulated of Witches and Wizards, although thousands had made the trip to Chile. While Scorpius, Brianna, and their friends were busy shopping on Friday morning in Chile, it was early afternoon back home, and there was one Wizarding couple that were not going to see the Quidditch World Cup. They were out taking their now normal afternoon walk together instead.

"Lucius still looks livid," Astoria told Draco in a whisper-soft voice as they walked across the mansion grounds, far from the mansion house.

Draco nodded. "He nearly broke his vow when we were told the news after that disaster in the Wizengamot."

"It's not a disaster for all of the Wizards and Witches that the minimum pay law will help," she pointed out.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said. "It was a disaster from a political point of view, and a disaster that my father and his cronies put up a lot of money and got outsmarted by a couple of teenagers."

Astoria smiled. "By our teenager," she said proudly. "So did you have to save him from going over the edge again?" she asked, and Draco nodded.

"Don't ask me why, though, Astoria. I can't explain it to myself why I keep protecting him from himself."

"You said they put up a lot of money," she said, and Draco nodded. "So we're in even worse shape that we were before."

He nodded again. "It's a good thing Scorpius isn't here anymore, honey. Dad won't listen, and won't stop living like we're still obscenely wealthy."

"My parents always told us that's how my family lost their fortune. In my case it was my great-grandparents that blew the money by spending way beyond what they could afford."

"Well, it won't matter that he's been disinherited, since at this rate, my parents should go broke in about twenty-five or thirty years," Draco said. "I don't even know what we'll do, since I don't think that our current positions as bored, idle aristocrats shows very well at job interviews."

"I'm not worried for Scorpius. If he and his sweetheart can manage to make changes at the Ministry like they did today when he's sixteen, there's no limit to what he can accomplish."

Draco nodded. "The only bright spot in our entire lives, and we can't have anything to do with him without destroying our own lives."

"Some days I think doing just that would save them," Astoria said seriously. "Maybe sometime we'll start thinking that every day."

Draco took her hand. "Maybe, but that day isn't today, is it?" he asked gently.

Astoria sighed. "No, it's not. That's probably why of all of our son's gifts, his courage is probably the one I envy the most."

Saturday morning, breakfast was again at seven, and they had a private banquet room to have it in together. Laura seemed to be in an especially cheerful mood as she joined Lily, Kieran, Vanessa, and Nadine.

"You and Andy had a nice reunion last night, I see," Lily told her happy friend.

"Sure did," Laura agreed cheerfully. "Let's get some food. We've got a big day ahead of us."

She turned to Vanessa and Nadine. "You two will be hanging out with the other teens until game time," she told them. "Lily and Kieran have to do some work until then, but you might as well have some fun with everyone else until then."

Carolyn smiled. "We'll see what everyone else is doing, but we could probably take you on a mini-tour if you'd like and catch some of the things we did that you missed out on while you were on the SpellBound tour."

Brianna smiled at her. "Scorpius and I would be up for that too," she told Carolyn. "We were busy working all week while you guys were playing."

By the end of breakfast, that ended up being the plan, and so Al and Carolyn took their impromptu tour group on a four hour whirlwind to Rapa Nui, Machu Picchu, San Pedro de Atacama and the Atacama desert, and ended their morning in Valparaiso, where they had lunch before heading to the Quidditch World Cup Stadium to meet the rest of their family.

When they'd left, Laura took Lily and Kieran straight to the stadium where they were to have a secret sound check and rehersal for the one hour pre-game concert they'd be putting on. Since this stadium would be filled, their stage was going to be magically rotated so that everyone in the stadium would get to see them from the front, since Lily spent so much of each concert at her keyboard.

"This place is incredible," Kieran said as they walked into the stadium that would in just a few hours hold one hundred and twenty thousand Quidditch fans.

"And we thought Mexico City was big," Lily said. "We only used three quarters of that stadium for the show, but here that would have been ninety thousand fans, not sixty."

"You could have sold that many," Laura predicted.

They spent two hours on the sound check and their practice, and then they had two hours to themselves, and to eat lunch before they were to be back here for twelve. With so little time, they decided to take the TransPortal over to the nearby city of Coquimbo, where they did a little shopping, ate an early lunch, and then hurried back to the stadium, where they spent the last hour before their concert getting dressed, and ready to perform.

The Peruvian and British National teams were both in the stadium now too, and at noon the gates opened, and the crowds waiting outside began to come into the stadium. SpellBound would be surprising Quidditch fans all over the World in under an hour, and after the opening ceremonies, game time should be at about two-fifteen.

James would be sitting with his family, and the rest of the practice team, but fifteen minutes before he needed to be in his seat, he was still with Arianna, and he was kissing her, and wishing her good luck.

"You guys are going to do great," he told her quietly. They had a break in the team meeting, and Arianna had led James to an empty area where they could have a bit of privacy.

"I'll see you in a few hours," she told him. "This is going to be a really great afternoon."

He kissed Arianna once more, and gave her another hug, and then they re-joined the others.

"Good luck," James told the rest of the team, who were gathered together. They weren't going to get to watch the concert, needing to instead concentrate on the game ahead of them. "Ready, Tracey?" James asked his friend. "We better hurry or we'll miss the start of the big concert."

There were a few more last quick hugs, and then James and Tracey hurried off, while England's National Team went back into their pre-game meeting.

"You made it!" Therese said happily to James and Tracey, giving them each a hug. "We thought maybe you got held up."

James also shook hands with Jon, and Tracey hugged him. "We were with the team," James told her.

"Are they ready?" Jon asked, just as excitedly. This was his very first World Cup final, or at least getting to see one in person.

"Yes," James told them. "If Peru is going to win this game, they're going to have to earn it."

He looked around at everyone that was sitting in their block of seats, and waved at one group that quite frankly he'd completely forgotten about with everything he'd been doing with the team – all of the kids from school that they'd given tickets to for the game.

"Therese," he said quietly, "I completely forgot! Have they all been taken care of?"

She smiled at him. "Don't worry, James. They're set up in the campgrounds, and have everything they need."

He hugged her again. "Thanks. I'm glad some of us have stayed awake all summer."

Laura was sitting on the other side of Jon and Therese, and she waved at James and Tracey, but they didn't have time to talk, because just then, the stage that had been positioned at the centre of the Quidditch pitch came alive with activity, and a Witch and Wizard came out on stage and welcomed everyone to the 2022 Quidditch World Cup. The crowd cheered, and the sound was deafening. When the pair of announcers had finished with their opening welcome, they got to the pre-game show introduction.

"Quidditch fans here in Chile, and watching on QSPN around the Wizarding World, today the Quidditch World Cup committee, WMVN, and QSPN are pleased to present our pre-game show for you!" the Witch shouted to the thousands of fans in the stadium, and to the estimated forty million around the world.

"Put you hands together, and give a warm welcome to SPELLBOUND!"

The stadium erupted with cheers as Lily and Kieran walked out onto the stage together, while the two announcers quickly left the stage.

"Gracias!" Lily said. "Thank-you!"

"Bienvenido a Chile!" she continued. Since for this concert she had an international audience, she switched to English.

"There's only one way for SpellBound to open a Quidditch World Cup concert, and that's with You Make Me Fly!"

Kieran counted them in, and the spectators were on their feet and cheering as the first notes of the song began to fill the stadium.

Vanessa and Nadine were standing and staring, speechless. They were sitting in some of the best seats in the stadium, watching SpellBound do a pre-game concert at the Quidditch World Cup, hanging out with Lily and Kieran's family and friends.

"Surprised?" Laura asked them. She was on one side of them, and Kirley and Ana were on the other.

Vanessa nodded. "Nadine and I will be lucky if we come down form this by the time we go back to school!"

Laura hugged her. "We're just really glad that TNM asked us to do this for you," she told them.

Since this was a short concert, and they also wanted to keep things upbeat, they didn't do any ballads. When they were getting near the end of the show, though, they did plan to have some fun.

"Thank-you!" Kieran shouted as the cheers died down from singing Charm This!

"Lily and I love our fans all over the world," he said to more cheers, "but we hope you'll forgive us for being a little biased today, since it's not just our team playing today, but also some of our family too. We'd like to dedicate this next song to them."

When they started playing It's Our Time, the crowd certainly cheered, but there was also a fair bit of laughter mixed in too – even from the strong Peruvian fan section. When that song was over, it was a grinning Lily's turn to announce their final song.

"We know there are a lot of fans here, and around the World that are supporting Peru's National Team," she told the crowd, "and it would be very un-sportsmanlike for us to dedicate a song to our own team without making up for that by dedicating our final song to our valiant competition. Good luck, Peru, and this song is for you!"

There were a lot of teenaged Witches and Wizard in the stadium who knew SpellBound songs by heart. When Lily and Kieran began playing Nothing's Impossible, they roared with laughter, and as they began singing the song, and the older spectators heard the words, they too joined in with the merriment, and the stadium was shaking with the clapping and cheering as SpellBound wrapped up their concert, bowed, and quickly left the stage.

"That was way too funny," Vanessa laughed. "I can't believe they did that!"

Al and Carolyn were in the seats ahead of the two girls, and Carolyn looked over her shoulder. "It was absolutely brilliant!" she told them. "How could even the Peruvian team fans not love that?"

"Do you think they'll make it up here by game time?" Nadine asked.

Ana smiled down at her. "They should," she told the little girl. "They didn't need all the makeup for a daytime show, and they don't have to change."

She was right, and the only thing that Lily and Kieran missed was the opening ceremony, which was always a snooze anyway. They didn't have time for more than a quick hug each from Kirley and Ana before they had to sit down to watch the start of the game.

The two teams took off from the ground as the referee threw the quaffle in the air. Arianna was the lead Chaser, and outraced her opponent to the quaffle, and immediately threw it over to Aaron. He flew toward the Peru goals, and at the last minute, peeled away, and threw it to Ginny, who'd circled, and was coming in at a steep, descending angle toward him. If he hadn't turned, they would have hit, but since it was a planned play, what it did do was catch Peru's Keeper out of position, and gave Ginny a pretty easy goal.

"Nice play," Jon complimented, talking to James.

"Uncle Ron's design," James said, not taking his eyes off of the game.

Hopefully sports historians will be fair to Peru. They had a very talented team, and had made it to the finals through some tough competition. What they ran into in the finals was a force of nature. England had so many things going for it that created that perfect Quidditch storm. They had a hot, experienced Keeper. Their Beaters might someday prove to be two of the best ever. They had twin Chasers that seemed to always know exactly where the other was, and finally, they had Harry and Ginny Potter, who were not only elite players, but playing in the one and only Quidditch World Cup they would ever have the chance to win.

Harry knew that he could have ended the game at any time, but he also knew that this should be a special day for his entire team, so he defended the snitch, as he usually did, and let the team play on.

Ron was nearly unbeatable. He faced twenty shots in the first hour, and only allowed one goal. After the second hour it was forty-three shots, and two goals.

While he was doing his job to near-perfection, Aaron, Arianna, and Ginny were having much better success. They'd pulled all of the plays out of the playbook, and they were rocking the poor Peruvian Keeper. In that same first two hours, they scored nineteen goals on seventy shots. By the end of the third hour, they had increased that to thirty-one goals, while Ron had only allowed one more goal against their team.

At the start of the fourth hour, Peru put on a burst of offense, trying one last desperate attempt to get back into the game, but Ron shut them out completely, saving all thirty-six blistering shots.

That last effort took a huge toll on them, and by the time they were getting in to the fifth hour, Ginny and her fellow chasers had scored forty-seven goals to Peru's three. Ginny had thirty of those goals, and had put on what was probably an even more brilliant performace than Ron's.

Coach finally gave Harry the signal. They had all played hard, and certainly given the fans all over the Wizarding World a good show. Now it was Harry's turn to have some fun for his last professional catch.

He started tracking the snitch, making sure his opponent didn't see him doing it, and led him on a wild, imaginary chase as he picked up speed. When he hit two hundred and twenty miles an hour, he broke free of the Peru team Seeker, and dove on the snitch. Halfway there, he went into a wildly rotating barrel roll. Timing it perfectly, he caught the snitch while doing the high-speed maneuver, moving so fast that most of the fans didn't even see the catch until they watched it in slow motion on the QSPN replays that would still be shown on highlight shows even after the League Quiddtich season started in September.

Lily was laughing and hugging Kieran. "Did you see that? If anyone wondered if he was holding back, they can't be wondering it now."

Kieran laughed. "That was definitely the coolest Quidditch move I've ever seen."

"Even better than the Mac Attack?" Brianna asked him.

"Way better. If I figure out how to do that move at over two hundred, and not kill myself in the attempt, then maybe I'll reconsider."

They watched as both teams landed on the Quidditch pitch to the roaring cheer of the crowd. Ron and the Peru team Captain shook hands, and the two teams talked together for a few minutes before the media arrived, and QSPN started doing the post-game show that was piped through the stadium sound system and scoreboard WWVN's as it was also broadcast around the world.

Coach was presented with the Quidditch World Cup, and then, since the voting committee couldn't decide, Ron and Ginny were named co-MVP's of the finals.

"That seems fair," Vanessa told Nadine. "How could anyone have picked which one played better?"

"Not me," Nadine said, "Although I'd have to vote for the girl's team if I had to, since Witches almost never get the MVP award."

"You've got Quiddtich magazines hidden under your mattress back home, don't you," Vanessa accused, and Nadine laughed.

"I might, yes," she admitted. "But I just get them for the pictures of the cute boys – like Sebastian and Tristan."

Vanessa laughed too. "Who could blame you for that?"

The post-game interviews were next, and they all heard from the Coaches, team Captains, and from the match MVP's before the fans started to stream out of the stadium, most heading for the campgrounds nearby, ready to get to the celebration part of the party.

It was nearly eight o'clock when the post-game show ended, and the two teams could hit the showers and start their own celebrations. Most of the family was going to a celebration that Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was hosting at the campgrounds, so only Hermione, James, Tracey, Liselle, and Trinity had gone to wait outside of the locker rooms for their respective significant others. Laura had gone with Jon and Therese to meet up with Andy, who'd be done his work shortly after the end of the QSPN broadcast.

Aaron and Ron were the first out to meet them, and Hermione and Tracey were both scooped up, swung around, and kissed soundly, while James, Liselle, and Trinity laughed. The girls were still laughing when Sebastian and Tristan did the same thing to them.

Harry and Coach were the last Wizards out, and Coach had shook hands with everyone, and then left to meet with his own family for the party they'd be having. Harry had hugs for all of the girls, and for James.

"Well, Liselle, you're officially the Seeker for the Chudley Canons as of this moment. How does it feel?" he asked her after letting her go from a hug.

"I'll worry about that next week," she told him with a laugh. "Right now, seeing you all win the World Cup is enough sensory input for one day."

Arianna and Ginny came out of their locker room a few minutes later, and it was James and Harry's turn for a little exuberant hugging and kissing to celebrate with their significant other.

"The party waits," Ron said, "and I'm starving, so let's get over there before the food's all gone."

Hermione laughed and took his hand. "Come on then, champ. We wouldn't want you to starve."

It was nearly nine when they got to the party. George and Lee were hosting, and there were probably several thousand guests there. It was hard to tell for sure, since there were other parties going on around this one. They weren't in any danger of running out of food on Ron, and even he was able to get more than enough to eat.

James and Arianna made sure they found and spent a half hour or so with the students from Hogwarts. They'd pretty much all stayed together during the party, while Rose and Matt had checked with them several times to make sure they got everything they needed.

At midnight, their official party wrapped up with a massive fireworks display, and then most of the family left for their hotel rooms, still excited, but exhausted too. The work for the summer was done for most of them, and they could spend the rest of August celebrating.

Ron and Hermione were not celebrating when they got back to their suite. He'd run out of time and excuses, and needed to talk seriously with her before morning.

He'd poured two glasses of one of the famed vintages from the Maipo Valley vineyards, handed one to her, and then sat down beside her.

"This can't be good," Hermione told him. "From the look on your face, maybe I should drain this glass, and pour another before you start."

Ron laughed self-consciously. "Would it really help?"

"No, Ron, just go ahead and give me whatever news you're sure I'm going to hate."

He took a deep breath. "I want to keep playing," he said simply.

"I know that," Hermione said, smiling at his surprise. "How long have you been avoiding this conversation?"

"Since 2009?" Ron quipped.

Hemione laughed and hugged him. "Very funny. Did you really think that I wouldn't notice that you hadn't really even looked for a new Keeper all year?"

"I was hoping you'd either think I was too busy, or that you were just too busy to notice."

"You thought wrong," she told him, and he looked at her sheepishly.

"Four more years," she told him. "After that, you can hire your son, and then if you try to come out of retirement again, I'll do something that neither you or your Lightningbolt are going to like."

Ron hugged and kissed her. "Thank-you!" he said, actually getting tears in his eyes. "I love you so much!"

"I love you too, Ron. This pretty much is going to screw up our vacation plans, though."

"We've got until Wednesday," he told her. "You and the kids could stay on vacation the rest of the week."

Hermione smiled at him. "Why don't we go to bed, and you can try and talk me in to that," she suggested.

James and Arianna were snuggled together in their bed before Ron and Hermione had even started their little conversation.

"You were so amazing out there today," James said. "Can you believe that you and Aaron are Quidditch World Cup Champions at nineteen? How cool is that?"

"It hasn't really even sunk in yet," Arianna said quietly. "I wish we had a bit more time to enjoy it before getting back to work. Three days isn't much."

"I'll make sure it's three brilliant days," James promised, and Arianna laughed.

"Besides, with all of this traveling, I didn't do much work to get ready for my NEWT year. I'll do that during the day when you're at work, and then cook you dinners, and cuddle with you in the evenings."

"You're making it sound like more fun than going on vacation would be."

James laughed. "I don't think it'll be that good, but I'll do my best."

"Do you know where the fun coordinators are sending everyone tomorrow?"

"No, but if I had to guess, I'd say the island or Marauders Paradise. Maybe Marauders Escape for some of the couples if they have the whole week off to go there."

"That wouldn't work for us. It'd be Sunday evening when we got there, and we'd be up all night and sleeping all day. Getting adjusted to major time zone shifts two more times in four days would definitely not be my idea fun."

"Not for me either. I'm sure that Al, Rose, and Matt have that all figured out, though," James said confidently.

They found out the next morning that the fun coordinators had worked everything out very thoroughly. Breakfast had been pushed back until nine o'clock to let everyone sleep a bit longer, and pack up. After breakfast, there were some goodbyes as the Witches and Wizards who had to get back to work left for home.

That included Grandma and Grandpa, Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle. Most of the parents of the various family boyfriends and girlfriends also left for home, and after a long, tearful goodbye, Vanessa and Nadine went back to the residenece, leaving with Stewart and Isabelle.

When there was just the family and friends left who would be vacationing for part or all of the next week, Al, Rose, and Matt stepped to the front of the room to let them all know what they were doing.

"I'm sure you're all excited to find out what you'll all be doing over the next week, and we want you all to know that we put a lot of thought into our plans, and hope you'll all have as much fun as we hope you will," Matt told everyone.

"First up," Matt continued, "I was in charge of making plans for most of our Quidditch World Cup Champions. Since they all have to go back to work on Wednesday morning, and have been hanging around with old people all summer, we're sending them to the family island. Kreacher and Winky have agreed to do all of your meals, so you'll be able to just completely relax and play."

This was greeted by some cheers, although not everyone knew for sure who was included.

"Arianna, Aaron, Sebastian, Tristan, and Kimberly, you and your significant others will have the island to yourselves. We recommend that you leave for home by mid-afternoon on Tuesday so you can get ready for work on Wednesday, but that's entirely up to you."

The five couples were all grinning at each other. Kimberly and her boyfriend were a bit older than the others, but since she was replacing Ginny, it was probably a good idea for them to have a little play time to go with all of the hard work.

"I had the no-kid couples that do have the whole week off," Rose said, taking over from Matt. "You'll be heading to Marauders Escape this morning. The good news is, you'll all be ready and wide-awake to sample the nightly entertainment tonight. You're sleeping will be off for a couple of days, but you'll be able to come back home later too if you want." She looked at her notes.

"Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Nathalie, Art, Serena, Andy, Laura, Jon, Therese – you're all going to adults only paradise. Don't do anything we wouldn't do – or at the very least, don't tell us about it if you do."

Everyone laughed at that, and then Rose nodded to Al to finish up.

"That leaves the families with underage Witches and Wizards," he told them, smiling at Kira, who was bouncing excitedly on Lily's lap.

"We're going to spend a week at Marauders Paradise. Our group includes the Creeveys, the Potters, the Wheezes Weasleys, the Ministry of Magic Weasleys, the Canons Weasleys, the Murrays, and the McCormacks." He stopped to take a breath, saw the look on Kira's face, and laughed.

"Kira, I didn't forget you, sweetie, I just ran out of oxygen. "We also have the Cauldwell family and the Boot family. Rounding out our group are Matt, Emily, and Allie. The Whitby's will be on vacation with us too, but since they also live on the island, they're going home to go on vacation."

Most of the family had been laughing at Al, and Lily had hugged Kira tightly as the little girl giggled. With the announcements finished, the only thing left to do was to check out of the hotel, say their goodbyes, and leave for whichever island paradise they'd been assigned to vacation at.

Over the next few days, the name of the game for everyone was to relax and have fun. For James, Arianna, and the Quidditch couples, that meant enjoying the incredible meals that Kreacher and Winky made for them, play all day, and relax at night, sometimes getting together, and other times, going off as separate couples. They'd been well supplied too, as Matt had sent along several cases of the best wines he'd been able to find at La Vinoteca, all from Chile's finest stock.

At Marauders Escape the couples were having just as much fun, and probably more adventure. Since Jon and Therese had worked with Charlie and Nathalie all summer, they'd become close, and then also having younger couples Andy and Laura, and Art and Serena made their vacation even better. Charlie and Nathalie felt the same way about having Bill and Fleur to hang out with too.

The kids ruled at Marauders Paradise. During the first few days of their week, they'd pretty much all spend the mornings doing something together that even the little kids could do. The teens had the afternoons free, and the adults would entertain the youngest kids, or be off doing their own activities, like going diving or just relaxing at the beach or by the pools.

In the evenings, the teens would go to their club, while the parents would all go out to different clubs or to the WizardKaraoke lounge. Kira, James, and Timothy weren't all that happy about it, but in the evenings, they were assigned babysitters from the hotel service, along with Patricia. The fun coordinators had agreed that Carolyn, Frederica, and the rest of the teens needed the week off too.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Quidditch couples on the family island, and Ron all returned home, arriving in the late evening home time. They'd all wished for more time off, and they were going to have a long year with no real break, but having both a League Championship and a Quidditch World Cup Championship made the sacrifices more than worth it.

On Wednesday morning, Megan and Devon joined the five couples vacationing at Marauders Escape for breakfast. They'd all pretty much adjusted to the local time, in part thanks to a restorative that Megan had given them to use before what should be bedtime on Monday and Tuesday night.

"Are you all ready for some diving today?" Megan asked them. She and Devon were going to spend the day with them today, and take them on basically the same trip they'd taken Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione on the first year they'd been open here.

"We sure are," Nathalie told her. "This place is so wonderful! I wonder if the Foundation would let me move the Dragon's Lair here."

Charlie laughed. "They might, but I'll wager that Megan will draw the line at moving the Dragon Reserve here."

"You could retire from that next year, and let Jon take over. Then you could sit on the beach and write full time."

"Like I'd get any writing done with the view around here – especially if you were working in an outfit like that," Charlie told his beautiful wife.

The rest of the couples all laughed. When they finished breakfast, they all headed out to Devon's favourite boat, and headed out to sea for their day of diving, swimming, and relaxing – just one more average, regular day in paradise.

When Wednesday morning arrived in Chudley, the team gathered on the Quidditch pitch for their first practice of a very abbreviated training camp. Everyone was there when Coach came walking onto the field with Dennis Creevey.

"All right, ladies, you can make your introductions later," Coach told them. "Since we've all been away playing all summer, we've lost a lot of time to get ready for our own season, which is just ten days away."

Everyone on the field was watching him, not daring to even crack a smile. Coach looked like he really wanted to give out some pushups.

"Before we get started, though, we do have one introduction to make. I'm sure you all know Dennis Creevey. He is our new assistant coach and Seeker trainer. He will also be our reserve team Seeker."

Dennis smiled, and the players all nodded their welcome to him. Most were surprised, since Ron had been the only one who knew about Dennis' new job except for Coach, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Demelza. Liselle looked like she was ready to faint. Dennis Creevey was going to be her personal trainer and _her backup!_

"Now," Coach continued, "for anyone here with a long memory, our team was in a similar position once before, when we won the League, and then three of our players won the World Cup. We then proceeded to waltz into our first match of the season and get our butts kicked. THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN THIS YEAR!" he shouted at them. "Now, get on your brooms, and get in the air! Thirty minute flying drills. Ms Donovan, you have the lead. Take 'em up!"

While Arianna was busy playing with her little friends, James was at their kitchen table, digging in to his new NEWT textbooks. That he never even thought about the fact that he was doing this without parental intervention, or the badgering of study commander Lily said a lot about just how much Harry and Ginny's eldest child had grown up over the past few years.

James was taking a break, and going for lunch at the Marauders Mall when the Marauders Paradise vacationers were having breakfast together, less Ron and Dennis. That was the highlight of the breakfast conversation too. The kids had found out on Sunday that Uncle Ron (aka Dad for Hugo and Rose) was going to keep playing Quidditch this season, and this new addition to the team's coaches was definitely worth talking about.

"Dad must be really glad to get your father back with the Canons," Rose told Colin. "And talk about having a backup plan at Seeker!"

"I'm just glad he can tell people now," Colin said. "He's been bursting with the news for a while."

"What should we do today?" Brianna asked everyone at their table. "Rides, water, or what?"

"We've mostly done rides and WaterPark so far," Lily said. "How do you all feel about a beach day? Maybe some jet skiing and AquaBiking too, if anyone wants a little more excitement that just swimming and laying around in the sand."

Her suggestion was acceptable to everyone – including the grownups, so after breakfast, they all got ready for a day on the beach, and then met outside the hotel entrance, and off to enjoy another day in the sun.

For the vacationers at Marauders Paradise and Marauders Escape the rest of their holiday was more of the same – sun, fun, and loads of entertainment and relaxation time. At home, there was less fun, and more work.

The Chudley Canons had made their Wednesday practice a closed practice, but on Thursday morning, they had a two hour press meet and greet, and from then on, practices were once again open to the media, Harry's year-long ban at an end.

That media attention was not really a problem, since Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle had been well coached in how to deal with the media effectively. The having the media in the stadium was more like a novelty, since five out of seven of them hadn't dealt with them on a daily basis all last season.

"Just ignore them while we're working out," Ron counseled everyone. "Right now they're just amazed at just how much better our training is now than it was the last time they got to watch us during practices. They'll get used to being back here too, and pretty soon you won't even notice them."

The sports pundits had already been ranking the League teams, since most teams had been training for over a month. With the expectation that Ron, Harry, and Ginny would all be leaving the Canons, and expecting there to be three rookies, they'd once again ranked the Canons low, and prematurely predicted that they'd be out of the top eight teams and miss the playoffs.

They weren't so certain about that after watching their first couple of days of practice with the team. Their Chaser trio might not be quite as strong without Ginny, but they looked as good or better than every other team's Chasers. Sebastian and Tristan were just getting better, and if anyone thought they weren't the best pair of Beaters in the League, then the cousins would just have to go out there and prove it again.

The news that Ron would be continuing as the Canons' Keeper had sent it's own shockwaves through the League, but the biggest surprise for the sports reporters was seeing last year's practice team Seeker. Some of the reporters had seen her during the World Cup practices, but hadn't paid all that much attention to her, focusing instead on Harry. Now that she was getting their full attention, they were finding out from watching her practice that she was an extremely talented Seeker.

The team had the weekend off, but Ron and Dennis did not. They spent their weekend pouring over all of the information they had on the Tutshill Tornados and putting together a game plan that would work with their slightly different team, and hopefully not leave their rookie Seeker under a lot of pressure for her very first professional game.

The vacationers returned from Marauders Paradise and Marauders Escape on Sunday, well rested and happy. Harry, Ginny, and the kids got back by just after noon, and after dropping bags off in their rooms, went over to the residence.

It had been three weeks since Harry and Ginny had been able to get to the residence, and it was the first thing they wanted to do after getting home. Al, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna all came too, and when they walked inside, word got around fast, and Harry, Ginny, and Lily were all quickly surrounded.

"How are you?" Lily asked Vanessa and Nadine when they got together. "Have you had a good week?"

"We're good. It's been a bit boring by comparison," Nadine said with a laugh, but we've had fun. We did our back-to-school shopping yesterday, and we're ready to go to school on Thursday."

"Are you hoping for Hufflepuff?" Lily asked Nadine, and she nodded.

"Kieran's probably hoping for that too," Lily said. "If we get some time, we'll come over and see how well you can play Seeker and Chaser."

"I'd love that if you could," Nadine told her, giving her another hug.

"How was your vacation?" Vanessa asked Lily. "Did you get a few moonlight kisses out of Kieran?" She and Nadine both giggled.

"Absolutely," Lily said, laughing too. "More than a few."

There were still quite a few kids that wanted to talk with Lily, so Vanessa and Nadine let her do that. They both got a chance to talk with Al, Carolyn, and Brianna for a few minutes. Brianna and Carolyn had other friends from when they lived her to catch up with too, though, so they soon moved on.

It was different being back here at the residence with Lily and the others visiting. Here Vanessa and Nadine were two of two hundred children vying for a little time with Harry, Ginny, and their kids, which was really something neither had even done before spending the week with Lily and Kieran. Even though they were now good friends, the two young girls were both so caring about the other kids around them, they were more concerned about them being happy than with selfishly taking time with their friends for themselves.

Lily knew them well enough now to know that, and she eventually was able to spend a half hour with them near the end of the afternoon before she had to go home.

"Kieran and I still have a few things to do working on music before we go back, so I'm not going to have a whole lot of time, but if you need anything from me, I'm just a WiComm qm away," Lily told them before leaving.

Vanessa smiled at her. "We wouldn't dream of bothering you while you're busy."

Lily laughed. "Then make sure you send a few messages, or I will be."

James and Arianna had spent a quiet weekend at home together. Thinking about their inevitable separation wasn't avoidable any longer, since is was now days away, not weeks or months.

They set up a portable pool in the yard, and for two days it was just them – not even Aaron and Tracey came over to disturb their little oasis. Sunday evening, they were cuddled in bed together after enjoying a long, lazy day.

"This has been a really great weekend," Arianna said drowsily. "We should do them more often."

James laughed. "I'd love to, but it'll have to wait until next summer, since we probably won't be able to do this at Christmas holidays."

Arianna laughed softly too. "Especially not that sitting out by the pool in our swimsuits part of it."

"What are you going to do for the next few days?" she asked him.

"I'll spend some time with Mum and Dad, and we should probably have them over for dinner or go there for a meal before I go back. I'll do a little more reading, and cook for you, and then in the evenings, I'm planning on snogging you senseless before I have to go to Hogwarts and not be able to do that for a while."

"I especially like that last part of the plan," Arianna told him. "Why don't you put it into action right now?"

James laughed and kissed her. "I can do that."

On Monday, after kissing Arianna and seeing her off to work, James cleaned up, hopped in his Porsche, and drove over to the cottage. He'd been gone most of the summer, and hadn't been able to play with his birthday present very much, so he wanted to make sure he did a little driving during these last few days.

When he got to the cottage, they were all just finishing breakfast.

"Must be nice sleeping in like this," he told them, scooping a croissant from the plate Ginny was carrying to the counter from the table, and sitting down. "Arianna and I were up hours ago."

"Maybe," Lily told him, getting up from her seat and giving him a hug, "but then how long ago did you get out of bed?"

She gave her Mum and Dad hugs too. "I better get over to Kieran's. We've got a busy day today."

"Good thing you're our study group leader," James told her. "I'd never see you otherwise."

Lily grinned at him. "Look who's talking? I was at least at home every other week this summer, while you were off playing with your fiancée all over the world."

When she'd left, James was left at the table with Al, Carolyn, and Brianna, while his parents were cleaning up from breakfast.

"Any plans for today?" James asked.

"Just a shopping trip for the morning, and lunch out," Ginny told him. "We haven't made any plans for the afternoon."

"Sounds good. I still need to get a few things. Arianna and I were talking about doing dinner with you before I go back. If you don't have plans, why don't you all come over, and I'll cook for you tonight?"

Ginny smiled at him. "We'd like that, James. Are you good with six, so we can have Scorpius join us? Lily's busy all day, so she won't be able to come."

James grinned at Brianna. "I think we can handle that. I'll get Aaron and Tracey to come too."

"Sounds good. Shall we get going?" Ginny asked them. "We've spent so much time shopping in Muggle stores this summer, we haven't even seen what Victoire and her fashion experts have come up with for this year's back-to-school season."

Lily and Kieran really were busy too. Ana was trying to make sure that September first wasn't another media circus, so she'd set up a half dozen interviews with the kids for Monday and Tuesday, and they also had written new songs over the holidays that they wanted to record before going back to school, and then Kirley had just one more video shoot.

On Monday, they spent most of the morning in the studio, did a noontime WMVN live show, then did a luncheon interview with TeenWitch, and two more afternoon interviews before going back home.

After dinner, they went to set up and shoot a nighttime video, which was really cool, but by the time they got home, they were all tired, and were quickly in bed and asleep, one more long day ahead of them.

On Tuesday, they got another hour in the studio, and then a WWN radio call-in show, where they took questions from fans until noon. They had lunch in London, and then had one more afternoon interview before Lily and Kieran were finally free of work, and left for dinner at the cottage.

They were having the last team Quidditch practice on Tuesday night. Since Lily and Kieran had been too busy to get to the residence to work with Nadine, Lily had invited them to dinner and the practice at the cottage instead.

Vanessa was sitting in the bleachers with Allie, Brianna, Carolyn, and Emily, watching the action as the practice got underway. Nadine had been loaned a Firebolt, and was joining the others for at least part of the practice.

"She's a fair flyer," Emily pointed out to the other girls. "She's the only one on a Firebolt, and she's pretty much keeping up with everyone else on their Lightningbolts."

Vanessa smiled as she watched her best friend. "She certainly isn't afraid of going fast, that's for sure. Look how happy she is too."

Nadine did pretty well during bludger practice and seemed to be having a blast. Nick and Frederica had taken it easier on her at first, but eventually they saw that she was nearly as good as everyone else at dodging the bludgers, and they starting trying their best against her too.

"I'd say it's because she's so tiny that they can't touch her," Allie said, "but she's not any smaller than Colin. She's definitely a natural talent."

After bludger practice, the others took a short break, and Lily and Colin took Nadine up in the air to see how she did playing Seeker.

"She's really only played Chaser at the residence,' Vanessa said as they watched. "She must really love this, though, since Colin's Mum is like her favourite all-time player. She practically fainted when she met her in Chile."

The other girls laughed, but then they were all on their feet cheering, as Nadine caught the snitch ahead of both Lily and Colin.

"Did we just see that right?" Emily laughed. "Please tell me that she did _not _just outrace the two fastest Seekers in our school!"

Vanessa was laughing and clapping. "I'm thinking they let up on her a bit, since their brooms are quite a bit faster than a Firebolt, but it does look like she can play the position, since it only took her five minutes to catch it."

"Look at Kieran," Brianna said, pointing him out. "He looks pretty happy right now."

"Hopefully she does get in our House," Allie said. "It'd be a shame to see Colin or Lily on their team's practice squad this year."

That notion had them all laughing, but if they'd been able to read Colin and Lily's minds, the two Seekers were thinking the exact same thing.

"Nice catch," Lily complimented Nadine. "I'd feel a lot better right now if I could say that Colin and I were holding back, but we weren't."

Colin nodded. "You can definitely play the game," he agreed. "Now Lily and I can spend the next couple of days worrying about whether you'll get sorted into our Houses and put us off our teams."

Nadine blushed furiously at the praise, and smiled shyly at them, not knowing what to say to such unexpected compliments.

"Come on, guys," Matt said. "Let's get back to work. "Why don't the three of you play first one to three catches so that you all can play?" he suggested to Lily, Colin, and Nadine.

They did that, and played a nearly ninety minute long match. Lily won that three-way match-up, with three catches to Colin's two, and Nadine's one. She looked a bit disappointed after the match.

"Don't be discouraged about only catching one, Nadine," Kieran told her. "Most good Seekers wouldn't catch any against Lily, and you still managed to catch one against both Colin and Lily in the same game – plus the first one you caught. I'm planning on having a little talk with the sorting hat before the first years are brought in. Lily and Colin might be worried about you taking their spots on the team this year, but they ought to be worried about having to play against you!"

Lily and Colin both grinned at Kieran and a once again blushing Nadine.

"That's the last thing that Hufflepuff needs – another star player," Colin said.

Kieran laughed. "Like Gryffindor or Ravenclaw can complain about that."

They all went into the Kitchen for drinks and snacks, and then while the other teens did their own things, Lily and Kieran took Vanessa and Nadine back to the residence, and met up with Harry and Ginny, who'd gone to spend the evening there, mostly with the kids that were heading back to school on Thursday.

"How'd the practice go?" Ginny asked them.

"Great," Lily told them. "We found out that Nadine here is a fair Seeker – she beat Colin and I to the snitch twice."

Harry laughed. "Then I guess she's a bit better than fair," he told the kids. "You know if you make your House team there'll be a Lightningbolt on the way to you, right?"

Nadine stared at him, her mouth falling open, and mutely shook her head.

"Better put the order in," Kieran told Harry.

This was going to be the last visit before school for Lily, so she went around and saw as many of the younger kids as she could, wishing them the best, and promising to visit over the holidays at Christmas.

On Wednesday, Kieran and Lily each spent the whole day with their respective families. The kids were all packing to go back, and there was a family dinner at the cottage, where everyone gathered for one last big meal together before the kids went back to school.

Arianna and James were back home after that dinner, and the evening visiting with everyone. It was nearly ten o'clock, and they had less than ten hours left together before she'd be off to the stadium, and he'd be heading for King's Cross Station.

"I can't believe it's here already," she told James. "At least we'll both be busy – You with Head Boy duties, and me with a game on Saturday."

"It doesn't feel as hopeless this time as it did last year," James said. "Ten months, and it'll be over, and we'll be married."

"Maybe with our team having a first week game this year, our schedules will work out better too."

"I'll let you know on Friday when we find out," he promised. "It should be a bit better though, since we already know you've only got two of the Hogwarts game days off out of the six matches."

"And one of them you'll be playing in," she added.

James laughed. "If I make the team. I'm not captain anymore, so I'll have to earn my spot."

Arianna laughed too. "The only way you won't earn a spot after training all summer with the National team will be if you close your eyes and play with one arm behind your back – on a Cleansweep."

They held each other close, and talked for an hour, kissed and hugged a while longer, and then drifted off to sleep. Where last year's final night together had been one of quiet despair, this one was more of comfort, both ready to just get on with this last year apart, and get it over with.

Midnight passed, and with that passing came the ending of another month, and another incredible summer holiday adventure. Whether the members of the New Marauders were looking forward to the morning with excitement at the start of a new school year, or with firm resolve to get on with it, they all had high hopes that the next weeks and months would be filled with more exciting adventures.


	84. Back to School at the Speed of Fun

Chapter Eighty-Four – Back to School at the Speed of Fun

James and Arianna got up in the morning, and he made her breakfast. They cleaned up together, and then shared a long kiss and hug goodbye before she left for work, and he loaded his Porsche up with his trunk, and headed for King's Cross Station.

When he pulled into the parking lot, he saw his parents and the other kids just getting the sedan unloaded, and he pulled in beside them, grinning as he turned the engine off, and climbed out of the car. He threw the keys to his mother, who caught them easily.

"Thanks for agreeing to drive it back for me," he told her as he got his trunk out of the car. "It was nice getting to take one last drive in it before leaving."

Harry laughed. "Like she'd turn down the chance to drive a fast car instead of going back with me in the sedan."

Ginny laughed too. "It has it's uses," she told him. "It's not very easy to make out in a Porsche, after all."

James groaned. "That was definitely way too much information, Mum," he told her. "I'll never be able to look at the old sedanthe same way again."

They walked together into the station, and on to platform nine and three-quarters. There were a few camera crews and reporters there, but Ana had successfully convinced them to give Lily and Kieran some space, so they weren't bothered as they made their way to the train, except for some younger fans – kid brothers and sisters of students who asked Lily for her autograph.

"I've got to hurry, James told his parents, giving them each a hug, and his Mum a kiss. "Therese and I are supposed to have everything ready for our first prefect meeting by a quarter-past. See you in December."

With that, he was off toward the prefect car with his trunk, and Lily, Al, Carolyn, and Brianna were left to say goodbye to their parents, and get together with everyone else. Hermione joined them with Rose and Hugo, and Penelope and Marietta dropped off Nick, Scorpius, and Frederica.

They finished all of the hugs and kisses, and then boarded the train. It wasn't until then that they started finding the rest of their group by sending qm's to each other, and getting a block of compartments together.

Al, Carolyn, Nick, Allie, Scorpius and Brianna were together, although Scorpius had to leave for the prefect meeting. Lily and Kieran were with Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Emily, mostly so the three Captains could talk Quidditch, while Rose was gone, and Lily and Emily were off visiting their other friends.

Frederica and Liam had Vanessa, Nadine, Lance, and Colin with them, and the second years were enjoying seeing how Lance and Nadine reacted to everything that had been new to them just a year ago, and now seemed like just another train ride. Jon, Andy, and Laura were in a car on their own, since Therese and James would both be busy for nearly the whole trip.

Ginny held Harry's hand as they watched the train pull away. Hermione and the other parents had all left for work, leaving them to stand with the few other remaining parents to watch for any last glimpse of their kids. When it was out of sight, she gave his hand a gentle tug.

"Come on," she told him. "Race you back to James' house!"

"Like my car would have a chance. What's the hurry?"

Ginny grinned at him. "Two weeks, on the island, completely on our own," she told him. "Ring a bell?"

Harry grinned back. "We could put Translocators on the cars," he suggested, and Ginny laughed.

"We have time to drive them back. No point in getting there too early in the morning."

"You just want to take your son's toy out for a spin," he said. "Not that I blame you," he added.

In the prefect car, James and Therese were welcoming the twenty-two prefects that they would be working with all year. That should prove to be an experience, since six of them were Slytherins. Now that James thought about it, the fact that he didn't have a single friend from Slytherin was actually a pretty sad statement about the continuing reality at Hogwarts – the fact that the other three Houses continued to be mostly divided from Slytherin House.

When the three boys and three girls from Slytherin came in, they didn't look all that happy to have both a Head Girl, and Head Boy from Gryffindor. The four Gryffindor prefects, along with Rose, Scorpius, and the other Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff prefects all seemed pretty happy with the choices this year.

When everyone was seated, Therese started their meeting by going over all of their responsibilities. This was mostly for the benefit of the eight new fifth year prefects. There was a question and answer period, and a few more things to do before James and Therese sent the prefects out to keep an eye on things on the train. Just before ending their meeting, James addressed one last issue.

"Therese and I were sent Owl Posts earlier this week," he told the prefects. "From TNM. They asked us to bring up the matter of bullying at Hogwarts with all of you, and we were given copies of a notice that they'd like posted around the Common rooms."

While he was talking, Therese was handing out some of those notices to each prefect.

"These notices are asking the students of Hogwarts not to do any bullying this year, and warning that if anyone does, that they're going to be there to put a stop to it like they have been in past years."

One of the seventh year Slytherin prefects put up a hand, and James acknowledged him.

"Instead of pandering to them, why don't you put a stop to them," he demanded in a gravelly voice.

"Unless they're caught," James answered him, "how do you propose that we do that?"

"Besides," Scorpius said quietly, "they're putting an end to something that we, as prefects, should all want to see stopped. It's our job to help and take care of our fellow students. If posting a few notices will help that, then I'm for it – even if in this case, it's actually probably only helping the students thinking about becoming bullies."

Most of the other prefects nodded, and even the Slytherin boy who'd asked the question couldn't really argue with what Scorpius was saying.

Therese wrapped up the meeting for them.

"James and I will have our doors open to every student, but as senior students, we're all busy. Don't waste your own time running around looking for us when you need us. Just send a qm, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can and set up meetings if needed, or answer your questions. We'll both be in our offices after dinner each evening for at least an hour too. Any last questions?"

There weren't any, and they ended the meeting, and the prefects left to patrol the train, and help out other kids wherever needed.

Lily and Kieran only had to do a little autograph signing for some of the new first year kids who had gone looking for them, and then had the rest of the long trip to hang out with their friends, and in Lily's case, go visiting too. She checked in with Vanessa and Nadine to see how they were doing, and with her dorm roommates, and a few of the other kids from the residence before settling back in next to Kieran, snuggling close, and reading a book while the boys mostly talked Quidditch.

When they got to Hogsmeade Station, the kids emptied out from the train, and Hagrid's familiar call for the first years rang out. Nadine had looked up at the big man in trepidation, but Lance had taken her hand, and led her over and introduced her to Hagrid after shaking the big man's hand in familiar greeting. Besides his brother Grawp, these days Lance's Dad was probably Hagrid's best friend, since they saw each other at least three times a day at school.

With Nadine and Lance gone for the boat ride across the lake, the other Marauders lined up to get on the Thestral-drawn carriages.

Jon, Andy, and Laura all went with James and Therese on the first carriage. The sixth year Marauders didn't have long to wait either, although Lily, Al, and Kieran waited for the fifth years so that they could go together with Carolyn and Brianna. Some of the prefects were assigned to oversee each of the second, third, and fourth year students, and make sure there were no problems getting everyone to the school.

Rose and Scorpius had the second year students, so when the last of them had gone, they took the last carriage for that year along with Vanessa, who'd stayed with a couple of her second year dorm roommates so that they could ride up to the school with her friends.

The Great Hall was as splendiferous as always, and there was a loud buzz in the room as all of the students talked excitedly. Kieran gave Lily a hug and kiss before he went to join his roommates and friends at the Hufflepuff table, and Lily went to sit with the Ravenclaw Marauders.

Lance and Nadine stayed together in the same boat, and they walked into the entrance hall together, where Lance's father met them, gave them the usual first year speech about being sorted, and when it was time, led them into the Great Hall.

Just like with every other group of first years that had ever stepped into the Great Hall for their first time, this group of new students were all awed by the magical ceiling, the floating candles, and the rows of tables that divided the students into their four houses. Professor Longbottom lined them up across the front of the Hall, set out the stool and sorting hat, and stepped back as they all listened to it's song before beginning to call the students up to sit on the stool and be sorted.

Nadine was called fairly early in the group, and the hat was only on her head for a split second before it called out "HUFFLEPUFF!" and she happily hopped down and went to be welcomed by Vanessa. Lily winked and smiled at Kieran when she saw his grinning face. Lance was near the middle of the first years called, and his time under the hat was a bit longer before it called out "GRYFFINDOR!" and he hurried off to be welcomed by Hugo, Frederica, Liam, and Colin, while his proud papa grinned as he continued sorting the new students.

"I do believe your Dad is very happy right now," Hugo told Lance.

"Definitely," Lance said. "The hat was torn between putting me here and in Ravenclaw. I'm glad I'm here though, since I knew it would make my Dad happy."

"And we're glad to have you," Hugo told him. "You, James, and Liam are going to give Ravenclaw a run for it this year, and Colin should be able to give Lily a good game too."

"If we're not clobbered before then by Kieran and Nadine," Colin said with a grin.

Nadine and Vanessa had their heads together while the sorting was continuing on too.

"This is going to be great being in the same House," Vanessa told Nadine. "We can hang out, and study, and do everything together."

"I know," Nadine said happily. "It won't be quite the same as the residence, but it will be good."

"Wait until you start doing magic tomorrow. You'll see that it will be way better than good."

The sorting came to an end, and Professor McGonagall did her annual speech, and then the feast got underway. Nadine was welcomed by the Fat Friar, which was probably more pleasant that Lance's introduction to Nearly-Headless Nick, since, as seemed to happen every year, some first year had to ask him why he was called Nearly-Headless, and Nick showed them why.

As the feast got underway, James had a chance to talk with his friends, since he'd really only had time to talk with Therese as they had worked on schedules and other Head Boy and Head Girl duties on the train.

"How brilliant is this year going to be?" Andy asked them. "Two of our best mates are the Heads! Private office, room, and bath and everything for each of you."

James hadn't thought much about that. "That part's great," he said, "but the part where we won't be roomies this year is a downer."

Andy nodded. "Yeah, but the upside is way better – especially for Jon and Therese. No worries now about trick staircases for them."

"Gryffindor was overdue," Laura said. "We haven't had a Head Boy or Head Girl since Victoire. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have split most of the last five years, and even the Slytherins have had a Head Boy and a Head Girl."

"I think it's cool that there's now been two James Potter Head Boys," Jon told them with a grin. "I doubt you'll find another case of that anywhere in the History of the school."

"That's probably the last time that the Head Boy and Head Girl were both from Gryffindor in the same year too," Andy said, and Laura smiled, remembering going over that with Lily and Kieran four weeks ago.

They talked throughout dinner, and afterward, since the prefects would be taking care of the first years, they all left for Gryffindor House together to take a look at the private quarters that James and Therese would have to use. The two sets of rooms had doors into the Hallway, and into opposite sides of the Gryffindor Common room that led into a fairly modestly sized office that had a large desk with a reasonably comfortable looking chair behind it and six other chairs in the room – a couple in front of the desk, and four more lining the walls. From there, another door led into a private bedroom that had another door that led into the private bath.

Since they'd all visited Therese's rooms first, then went through the common room to see James' quarters, which were essentially a mirror image of hers.

"Nice setup, but it's a bit boring. Are you allowed to decorate?" Laura asked.

"I think so, Therese said. "They are pretty sparse, aren't they. The beds are the same as in the dorms, though, so that's good."

"Would you guys mind if I go get unpacked?" James asked them. "I want to talk with Arianna before she has to get to bed. Coach has been working them like crazy to get ready for the game on Saturday."

Therese and Laura gave him hugs.

"Sure, mate," Andy said. "And by the way, that's another perk – you don't have to do the VirtualChat anymore – nobody will overhear your WiComm calls now."

James grinned at him. "That's probably a good thing. I think I was starting to develop a thing for her avatar."

His friends laughed, wished him a good night, and left him alone so he could upack and settle in to his office. When he'd finished, he sat at his desk, and pulled out his WiComm and called Arianna. She answered right away.

"Hi, James," she said, brightening his office with her smiling face. "All settled in? How are your private rooms?"

"Hi, Arianna. The quarters are great, and I'm all unpacked. There's some work I need to get done before bed, but everything else has been really good today. How was your day?"

"Exhausting. I hope we have a light day tomorrow, or we all might be too tired to play very well on Saturday," she said. "This is way better than having to do the VirtualChat thing to get some privacy."

"Is Liselle getting excited about her first game?" James asked.

"Excited and nervous. Her parents got here today. They're staying with her, and will be in the Owner's Box with your Mum and Dad for the game."

"They've got to be very proud of her," he said. "The American National Team would have done better with her on their team this summer, instead of going out in the second round."

"Their League teams are going to wonder too after seeing her play for us," Arianna said. "Any sorting surprises?"

James shook his head. "No. Lance is with Gryffindor, and Lily's little friend Nadine went to Hufflepuff."

"If Lance is as good as Liam and Hugo think he is, you'll have a strong team again this year."

"Looks like it," James agreed. "All of the teams seem to be catching up, though."

"That's actually a good thing if it makes the game better for everyone. We'll definitely have to work harder this year. You can bet the other teams will have picked it up a notch this year for sure, and they'll all be more rested than we are after going hard all summer."

James laughed. "I won't predict another no-loss season," he told Arianna, "but I do expect you'll be one of the top teams this year too."

"We should get a good idea of that with the rematch of the finals playing the Tornados again," Arianna said. "They're supposed to have a good team again this season."

"Speaking of, I should let you get to sleep – you'll have a long day tomorrow," James said.

"I suppose," Arianna agreed. "I love you, James. Have a good first day of classes tomorrow."

"Thanks," James answered. "I love you too. Sleep well."

They ended the call, and James got to work on the few Head Boy tasks he needed to get done before morning, and then went to bed. One thing that Victoire and Hermione had told him about being a Head was to get sleep when you could, because there'd be lots of times when you wouldn't.

Lily and Kieran had both signed some autographs for more new first year students when they'd gotten to their Common rooms, which had been amusing to the older students who were now completely used to having a celebrity in each of their Houses.

Kieran helped out Nadine's popularity with the first year students, and raised a few eyebrows among Vanessa's roommates when he gave them both hugs goodnight before he went into the boy's dorms to unpack and settle in. Both girls had been grinning, knowing that he'd done it for just that reason, and thankful that he had.

Carolyn and Brianna stayed in the Common room with Al and Scorpius for a while, but Lily went to their dorm room early to unpack. She answered some questions from two of her other roommates who were unpacking too, and wanted to know about her tour and getting to perform at the Quidditch World Cup. When she was finished unpacking, she hopped into bed with her Virtual GameWitch, and lying back on her pillow, went to the VirtualLibrary, and read for the next hour before going to sleep.

Harry and Ginny were sitting out on the lanai of their island home when she suddenly remembered something that she was supposed to do on September first.

"I forgot to open that letter you gave me back when you told me your plan for the Canons," Ginny told Harry, pulling out her wand and floating her bag out of the house and into her lap.

Harry laughed. "I actually forgot all about giving you that."

Lily opened the envelope, pulled out the parchment inside, unfolded it, and began to read it out loud.

"Goals for Harry and Ginny Potter, and the Chudley Canons for 2021-2022." Her eyes widened, and she was grinning as she continued to read.

"1. Win the League Championship. 2. Have an Undefeated Season. 3. Teach the other League teams about Sportsmanship. 4. Help Ginny to win the Scoring title. 5. Try for the fastest catch of the snitch record. 6. Catch the snitch in every game. 7. Get as many members of the team nominated to the National team for the World Cup as possible. 8. Win the Quidditch World Cup. 9. Help Ginny win Quidditch World Cup MVP. 10. Retire from Professional Quidditch undefeated."

Ginny looked at Harry and started laughing.

"Other than the MVP being shared with Ron, I'd say that we took care of all of your goals," Ginny told him. "You probably wouldn't have convinced many people that they'd all happen back when you gave me this more than a year and a half ago."

Harry grinned at her. "You believed in us, and that's all that's ever mattered to me."

Ginny stood from her chair and held out her hand to him.

"I know the sun's still up, but we've already had a long day. Let's go to bed, and we can spend a little quality time on us."

Since September first had landed on a Thursday this year, the Hogwarts students could all look forward to their first full day of classes on Friday, which was always exciting, and then to a whole weekend hanging out with their friends without very much homework.

In the Great Hall, at breakfast, the students were all still buzzing with excitement. Part of that was about being back at school, and part of it was talking about what classes everyone was taking.

The NEWT Marauders were all taking DADA, Charms, and Transfiguration. James, Therese, Laura, and Matt were taking Potions and Herbology, while Andy and Jon were taking Care of Magical Creatures and History. Laura was taking that last class with them, while James and Therese rounded out their six NEWTs with Arithmancy.

The sixth year members of their exclusive little group were almost all lightening up their schedules this year, except for Lily, who was going to keep up with all twelve classes. Al was only going to drop History, and would be taking nine sixth year classes. Rose, Nick, Scorpius, and Allie were dropping Astronomy, and for those who'd been taking either class, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, they dropped those classes too. Scorpius was the only one of them besides Lily who continued with History.

"This should be a bit easier workload for us this year with the six or seven classes we have," Rose said. "Mum wasn't happy that I was dropping classes that I could have gone on with, but I'm not planning on being a Dragon tamer, Historian, or Astronomer, and Dad backed me up."

"Wow, He's really been pushing his luck, hasn't he?" Brianna said with a laugh. "Taking sides with you on education, and then wanting to keep playing professional Quidditch."

"Mum was ready for that a while ago, and he is a lot happier playing again. I think it really bugged him all of these years coaching a Keeper that he knew he was better than."

Brianna laughed again. "I'm thinking he proved that pretty effectively last year."

"Are you and Carolyn keeping all of your subjects?" Rose asked her.

"Carolyn is," Brianna said. "I'm dropping Divintation. Not only can't I do any of it, but I'm also barely hanging on to understanding a lot of it. Eight OWL's will be more than enough for me to take."

Kieran, Hugo, and Emily were sticking with all nine of their classes into fourth year. Frederica, Liam, Colin, and Vanessa all had their same seven core classes going in to second year, while Nadine and Lance were sent off with the other firsties to begin their first day learning magic.

The first thing that was different at Hogwarts after breakfast was that there wasn't a single incident involving bullying. The notices had been posted in Common rooms, dorms, and various entrances and exits around the school by the prefects as they did their first night of patrol. That the students at school who might be inclined to hurt and steal from the smaller, weaker kids took those notices seriously, strongly indicated how effective nearly five years of TNM's lessons had been.

With classes keeping the New Marauders busy all day, and some of them having extra work to do with Head Boy and Girl, Prefect, and Captain duties, they didn't have their first meeting on Friday. They did plan one for later on Satuday, and they all kept their eyes and ears open for kids needing their help this year.

Al and Carolyn stopped in after dinner to see James' new quarters, and he was happy to take them on the short tour.

"Too bad this office is so small," Carolyn told the boys. We could have our game parties right here."

Al grinned at James, who grinned back as they both thought the same thing.

"Feel like lending me a hand, little brother?" James asked, and Al laughed and nodded.

"Come over next to me, Carolyn," Al told her. "James and I are gonna have a little fun."

Both boys pulled out their wands, and while Al sent the power boost to James, he and Carolyn watched as James first magically expanded the room to four times it's original size, and then Transfigured four of the chairs, leaving the one behind his desk, and the two in front of it, into large, comfortable sofas, creating one whole part of the room into a sitting room, with James' desk and the chairs now taking up one corner of the room.

"You'll need to get some more chairs for your office area," Al said when they were done. "Maybe a couple recliners to go with your sofas, and Lily can give you her big screen to put in your new sitting room, but this looks much better."

Carolyn nodded and hugged Al. "Oh yeah, it does. Add a couple of tables after too, so you have someplace to set drinks and munchies."

Just then, Therese walked in with Lily, Kieran, and Jon,, and she stopped and stared at the completely different room from the one she'd expected to walk into.

"Your place looks a lot nicer than Therese's," Lily told James, grinning as she came over to give him a hug. "I think she got ripped off in this deal," she added, looking around.

Jon laughed. "Nice job with the decorating so far, mate," he complimented James, going to test out one of the sofas. "You should get one of these," he told Therese. "It's a lot more comfortable than those chairs in your office."

"I would if I could," Therese said, laughing too. "I never thought about doing something major like this when we were talking decorating our rooms last night, James. Must be nice to have the ability to do it."

Lily grinned at her. "Why don't we girls go back to your place and discuss that while the boys talk? Carolyn and I might be able to help you out with that."

Therese gave her a hug, grinning too. "That'd be great, Lily. Thank-you!"

The three girls waved goodbye, promising to be back, and left to put a few Witches touches on Therese's quarters, leaving the four boys to talk.

"Way to go, guys," Jon complimented them. "You've got a cool place to hang out every day, James, and with a few extra game day only seats, we can all watch the Canons play right here instead of hauling everything to empty classrooms."

Kieran went and sat down on one of the other sofas. "These are nice and comfortable," he agreed. "This will be way better for your meetings with your prefects and your other Head Boy duties too."

It took the girls a half hour to make whatever changes they made to the Head Girl's office, and they were all smiling when they came back to join the boys again.

"Have fun?" Al asked, giving Carolyn a hug.

"Sure did," she answered. "We didn't go as big, but there's a little more detail to the decorating than here."

Lily handed James her little parchment sized WWVN case, nd went to sit down with Kieran.

"Since you made this so large, the plan must be to move the game watching here," she told him, snuggling into Kieran's arms. "It's not a big deal carrying that thing around, but it'll be nice not having to do the setup and pack up every time. You'll like having it the rest of the time too, I'm sure."

"Thanks, Lily," James said. He had Jon help him set it up in the corner before they all sat down on the sofas.

"So what did you do in your room?" Jon asked Therese.

"We went about twice as big as before, and the one side of the room has two sofas and two recliners, plus some tables and then we decorated the walls and put a few other touches here and there."

"We'll have to test one of the sofas out later," he suggested with a grin, "or both of them, and the recliners, too."

They talked together for another half hour, telling each other about their first day, and talking about plans for the weekend.

"Well, Al said, "As nice as this is, some of us have Quidditch tryouts in the morning, so I need to get back, do a little homework, and get to bed." He stood up and looked back at Carolyn.

"Did you want to hang out here for a while longer?" She shook her head, and held out her hand for his.

"I'd love to, but I have some work to do too, even if I don't have Quidditch or Prefect duties, and the rest. "We're already getting the Mentors paired up, and the faster we can get that done, the better for the kids we're helping."

They both looked over at Lily and Kieran to see if they were coming.

"We'll be along later," Lily told them. "I'm not quite done cuddling yet."

Al and Carolyn wished the others a good night, and left.

"You two are going to come visit me a lot, aren't you?" James said with a grin.

Lily grinned back. "Oh, yeah, we are. For the next ten months, you are my favourite oldest brother in the whole world!"

Therese laughed. "Well, if you ever have a falling out with him, you're welcome to come visit me. I wouldn't have had that cool room without your help."

"We'll remember that – especially whenever Andy and Laura are here competing with us for the privacy."

Andy and Laura eventually joined them, and were impressed with the new setup that James' had now, and certainly as interested in the possibilities the private sitting room provided.

"This is definitely going to be the best year ever," Andy told his friends with a grin.

It was nearly eight-thirty, and Lily and Kieran exchanged a glance, each agreeing it was time to go back to their houses.

"We better get going," Lily told James as she and Kieran both stood. "If I don't see you tomorrow, good luck with your tryouts." She gave him a hug, and then they left the office.

"You know," Therese said, "she did basically all the work on my office. All Carolyn and I did was offer suggestions. Sometimes it's really hard to remember that she's only fourteen."

"Going on a hundred when it comes to knowledge about magic," James said with a grin. "I wouldn't have been able to do all of this without Al lending a hand."

The five friends didn't get much more time together before both James and Therese got pulled away with minor emergencies that they had to deal with, and Jon left Andy and Laura so they could have a little time alone before they too left for their dorm rooms.

Saturday was going to be an exciting day for a lot of New Marauders. Eleven members of their group would be trying out for their House teams. Well, eight would be trying out, and three already had their spots guaranteed as team Captains.

First tryout after breakfast was Ravenclaw, and they had a pretty small turnout, since six of seven members of last year's team were returning, so mostly there were only students coming to try out for the practice team, and for the sole Beater spot.

Matt welcomed them all, and quickly got to the flying test, after which he had just twenty prospects, not including last year's players. Only five of those twenty stepped forward for Chaser tryouts, and Matt wasn't surprised when Rose and Al were the only players to score goals on Scorpius to keep their places on the team. He had to do a similar routine to last year's tryouts, pitting the five Chasers against two prospective Keepers for the three practice team spots.

Once that was accomplished, while last year, Karen had been willing ot concede that Scorpius was the better Keeper, the Keeper that had won the battle of the two prospects wanted his shot against Scorpius, and so each boy went up against three shots each from Matt, Rose, and Al. The boy probably regretted that choice when Scorpius, with his spot on the team on the line, saved all nine shots he faced, while the third year boy was beaten on all nine shots from their House's best Chasers.

Beater tryouts were next, and with one team spot, and two practice team spots open, this was where most of the candidates stepped up, with ten teens going for the three jobs. Matt and Nick were both surprised when a first year boy outdueled the other eleven boys for the House team spot – not just because he beat them, but because he was nearly as good as Nick too. When the Beater tryout ended, Nick went over to congratulate and meet the young boy.

"Nice work up there," Nick said, holding out his hand. "Nick Weasley, your new Beater partner."

The other boy grinned and took his hand. "Joe Jenkins. Nice to meet you, Nick."

Rose was standing near to them, and had overheard the introduction, and turned to look at the boy.

"Are you related to Joey Jenkins?" she asked the boy, who grinned even wider.

"He's my uncle," he said, confirming Rose's suspicions.

"No wonder you're so good already. Has he been training you?"

Joe nodded. "Yes. We worked out together at least a couple of days a week, and I practice every day – it drives my Mum nuts."

Rose laughed. "My Mum would probably like your Mum a lot, then."

Matt called for the Seeker tryouts next. Nobody expected to be beating Lily, and the last three students stepped forward, including last year's practice team Seeker. The results ended up the same as last year, and the tryouts were over. Everyone that had tried out, and had come to cheer them on were thanked, and Matt had a quick meeting, introducing Joe to everyone, and setting their practice schedule before they all left to return to the school.

On the way back, they met up with Kieran, Vanessa, and Nadine, who were on the way to the Hufflepuff tryouts. Nadine had one of the school Cleansweeps in hand, and was smiling excitedly.

"You look fired up and ready," Lily told her smiling little friend.

"I am," she answered. "This is going to be really great!"

Lily looked critically at her old broom. "That thing is a total dog," she said bluntly, and put her hand out for Nadine to pass it to her, which she did.

"Here," she continued, handing her Lightningbolt to Nadine. "You can get it back to me at lunchtime, after tryouts, and if you make the team, you'll have one of your own by Monday."

Nadine and Vanessa both gave her hugs. "Thank-you, Lily," Nadine said happily. "I'll try my best."

"I know you will," Lily said. She gave Kieran a hug and kiss. "You better get going, or you'll be late for your own tryout, Captain Kieran."

He laughed and hugged her back, and then he and the two girls hurried toward the Quidditch pitch. When he called everyone together for the tryouts, he had a big turnout of prospects, and an even bigger group of students wanting to see how their new captain would handle things. That those fans were mostly young Witches wasn't even something that Kieran noticed, but which Vanessa and Nadine thought was very funny.

There was a good turnout this year, partly because Kieran was Captain, and partly because last year's team had been mostly seniors, and there were four vacant positions, and the only two returning players other than Kieran were possibly beatable too.

The flying practice quickly weeded out the bad flyers, including a large group of giggling girls who'd probably only tried for a chance to attract Kieran's eye. Vanessa thought that those girls must be looking into the Mirror of Erised if they thought that what they saw in the mirror could have even the slightest chance of distracting Kieran's eye from Lily Potter.

Kieran started with the Beater tryouts, wanting to have his best to work against the Chaser prospects. He wasn't as lucky as Matt was to have Nick already there to do it. He had ten candidates, and when they were done, he had Tim Wayne returning from last year's team, and Eric Stebbins joining the team as their Beaters, with a second year Witch, and a fifth year Wizard getting the two practice team spots.

There were two Chaser spots open on the team, and three practice squad places. This part of the tryout was going to take the longest, because Kieran also didn't have a returning Keeper to test against. What he did was put the six Keeper prospects he had up against the nineteen Chasers – one shot for each Chaser against each Keeper.

When the dust settled, two Chasers had scored five times, two scored four, and one scored three, while the rest scored two or less goals. One Keeper saved seventeen of nineteen shots, and the new practice team Keeper saved fourteen shots.

He smiled when calling for the Seeker tryouts when tiny Nadine stepped forward, surrounded by nine much taller and older Wizards. It was hard to believe that the shy little sweetheart was a little dynamo on a broom, and the boys all apparently thought so too, because when she caught the snitch after just three minutes, they all looked stunned. It hadn't even been close, and the Witches that were watching had all cheered excitedly. Hufflepuff had a Witch for a Seeker! By the looks of how well she played, they could have one for a long time too.

Kieran sent the boys up again, and a sixth year boy caught the snitch after about twenty minutes of hard flying to earn the practice team spot.

They had a team meeting after that, and Kieran started by getting introductions, since he didn't know everyone either.

"Nadine Deverill, first year," Nadine told the others when Kieran indicated she should go first.

"And new secret weapon for Hufflepuff," Kieran said with a grin. He motioned to his two new fellow Chasers next, and Greg Griffiths introduced himself first, and was in his second year.

"Miranda Jones, first year," said the young girl. Nadine had met her on Thursday night, since she was one of her roommates, but the rest of the team stared at the smiling girl.

"As in Gwenog Jones?" Kieran asked, smiling now too as Miranda nodded. "She prefers it when I call her Mum. I'm terribly hurt that you don't remember me, though," she told Kieran. "We met twice before – when I was two - at your aunt's house."

Kieran laughed. "Back then if you weren't a musical instrument, I wouldn't have noticed you. Make that two secret weapons," he added.

Their two Beaters, Eric and Tim introduced themselves, and then they were down to meeting their new Keeper.

"John Madley, third year, glad to finally have our previous Keeper graduate to get my chance."

Kieran shook his hand. "I'd say that with that many saves, you've gotten quite a bit better than what I remember from tryouts last year," he told the boy. "Did you train a lot during the summer?"

John nodded. "Every day, two hours a day, seven days a week."

"It paid off," Kieran told him. "Looks like we've got ourselves a pretty awesome team this year," he told them. "I hope you're ready to work hard. I've spent most of the last couple of summers training with Lily and members of both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams. They've won most of the championships for the last I don't know how many years now, and I know why – they work harder than our team or Slytherin has worked. We're going to change that now, and win or lose, we're going to know that we tried our absolute best. Get lots of rest this weekend, because come Monday, we're going to all learn how to really train to play this game."

That earned him some cheers, and he handed out the workout schedules, and ended the meeting so they could all get to the Great Hall in time for lunch.

Vanessa had waited outside the stadium to congratulate Nadine and Miranda, who she had met a couple of times now, and they walked with Kieran to the school.

"So what was Kieran like when he was five?" Nadine asked Miranda.

She grinned. "I thought he was the cutest boy in the world. He crushed my little two-year old heart when he didn't even notice my feeble attempts to get his attention. I've been pining away ever since," she said, failing utterly in her attempt to looked crushed.

Vanessa, Nadine, and Kieran all laughed.

"So that boy you were holding hands with last night while you were watching that movie was just comforting you in your despair?" Vanessa asked her.

Miranda laughed. "All right, so maybe I did get over Kieran. It was a long time ago, and besides, if being his girlfriend means you have to get up on stage and sing with him, I'm out of luck anyway – I couldn't carry a tune with a levitation spell."

When they got to the entrance hall, Lily was waiting for Kieran.

"I leave you alone for a couple hours, and then here you are, surrounded by pretty girls, and looking like you're having a blast without me."

Kieran laughed and hugged her. "Well, they are that, and I am having a blast, but since two of the girls are your friends too, and the third one probably will be soon, you don't have any worries," he said with a smile.

"Lily Potter, Miranda Jones, one of our new team Chasers."

Miranda and Lily both smiled, and Lily gave the startled girl a big hug. "Congratulations!" she told Miranda. "Since Kieran is still grinning like my Kneazle Fluffy does after scooping a treat, I'm guessing you're Gwenog's youngest daughter."

When she saw both Miranda and Kieran's surprise she laughed. "Word gets around in this place. The school's practically filled with the kids of famous Quidditch players this year."

Nadine handed Lily her broom back. "Thanks, Lily. Those things are amazing!"

"Yours will be in the post on Monday," Lily promised. "I already sent a message to Dad."

Miranda looked surprised. "Your Dad's going to get her a Lightningbolt?"

Lily nodded. "Well, the Phoenix Foundation is, technically. You know Nadine lives at one of the foundation's residences?"

Miranda nodded. Nadine had told her that when they'd met.

"Any of the students there that make their House team get a new Lightningbolt, or before they were the best, a Firebolt."

Miranda gave Nadine a high-five. "That's brilliant! This is going to be a great year for Quidditch at Hogwarts."

The kids were streaming in to the Great Hall for lunch, so they all hurried to their tables, and Lily updated her fellow Ravenclaw Marauders about Nadine and also about Miranda making the Hufflepuff team.

"So they've got Nadine at Seeker, and two probably really good Chasers. I wonder how good their Keeper and Beaters are?" Matt asked the others. "Sounds like the game just got more challenging. If Slytherin picks it up this year too, any of us could win."

"And we play Hufflepuff first," Nick said. "Kieran knows most of our team, and we don't have much experience or information on anyone on his team, except for Kieran himself." He grinned at Lily. "And some of us have more information about him than we as a team need to have."

Lily grinned at him. "It'll make the season more fun," she predicted. "We'll just have to keep working hard, and do our best."

Hugo was having lunch with Emily, Frederica, Liam, and Colin, and they were talking Quidditch too.

"It's a pain that Matt and Kieran were able to get to school enough ahead of us to get the first spots for tryouts," He was telling them. "Now we'll definitely miss at least part of the Canons' game today. It should be a good one."

"I especially feel bad for James," Emily said. "He really likes being able to watch Arianna, since they can't be together."

Frederica nodded. "We can get the Chaser tryouts done as fast as we can, though, and send him on his way."

Hugo nodded. "It'll be the Chaser and Beater openings that'll bring out the prospects today. That may still take some time, but I'll do my best to get him out of there early. Speaking of," he added, looking at his watch. "I better get there. It wouldn't be a good example for me to show up last."

Emily gave him a hug, and he, Frederica, Liam, and Colin all got up to head for the pitch.

"You're not coming?" Frederica asked Emily.

She smiled. "Nope, I'm going to be helping host the game party with Therese until you all get there. Head Boy's office. Be there as soon as you can!"

After lunch, that was the same information that the rest of the New Marauders were getting from Therese and Jon, and they all headed for James' office while the Gryffindor Quidditch hopefuls all streamed out to the Quidditch pitch.

When one o'clock rolled around, Hugo looked around at the nearly one hundred students standing with him, brooms in hand and groaned. This was going to take hours, and James wasn't going to get to see his fiancée play at all. Then he had an idea.

"Welcome to the tryouts for Gryffindor's 2022-23 Quidditch team!" he said loudly. "We'll get to the flying test in a minute, but it looks like we have a very long day ahead of us, and before we begin, I have a favour to ask of all of the students who want to try out for Chaser if you could all please step forward."

Nearly half of the students stepped up, and he smiled at them.

"I know you're all excited that all three Chaser posititions are open this year, but one of our Chaser candidates is a six year player, last year's team captain, and is our school's Head Boy. For those of you who might not know this, he also trained all summer, and was a reserve Chaser for our Quidditch World Cup winning National team." A lot of the kids apparently didn't know this.

"Since our Head Boy has a lot of duties, I would like to ask all of you to concede that he deserves to keep his spot on out House team, and let him get back to work. It does need to be unanimous, though, since I would definitely not wish to have anyone feel that he wasn't getting placed on the team unfairly. Please raise your hand if you agree that James should keep his Chaser position for his seventh and final year."

He waited as every hand shot into the air, none of the students thinking they could beat their best Chaser out anyway.

"That looks unanimous to me," Hugo said with a smile. "Thank-you."

He smiled at James. "Congratulations, James. Your House has selected you to be on our team this year. Now get out of here and get back to your duties."

James grinned at him, nodded, and left. Hugo turned back to his large group of candidates.

"As for the rest of you," he shouted, "time for your flying test! Everybody in the air!"

When James walked into his office by a quarter past, the game had just gotten going, and the Canons were up thirty to naught.

"Tryouts over already?" Therese asked him in surprise.

"No," James said, coming to sit down next to her and Jon. "Our new captain asked the other Chaser candidates to vote me back on the team so I could get back to my duties as Head Boy. It seems that my training with the National team all summer helped convince them to let me play one last year."

Therese gave him a hug. "Congratulations. I'd say our Captain's off to a good start too. The first Head Boy duty you have to take care of right now is to evaluate the performance of past Hogwarts students in their post-education employment environment."

Jon laughed. "Translation: Watch the game."

Things were going pretty well for Hugo too. The flying test dropped more than half of the kids out of the running, and then he started with the Chaser tryouts.

Since he was Keeper, he was the one in goal to face all of the prospective Chasers. Out of twenty-four prospects, six retired after Frederica marked them pretty hard with the bludger, and they decided they weren't maybe ready for the big times quite yet. That left eighteen Chasers to face him, except Hugo was really fired up. Nobody scored on him.

"Well," Hugo said with a laugh when they all landed, "now what do we do? How many prospects do we have for the practice team Keeper spot?" he asked. Four students stepped forward.

"Excellent. We'll do the same thing James did last year. Each Chaser gets three shots against each Keeper. We should get some winners for our back-up Keeper and our Chasers from that. Do we have any Arithmancy experts in the House to keep score?" he asked.

They got started, and forty-five minutes later, Liam had earned top spot with ten of twelve goals, and Lance had surprised many coming in at nine of twelve scored. Hugo had felt bad for Darryl, who'd come to watch the tryouts, but had been told not to play Quidditch again this year. Each Keeper had faced fifty-four shots, and one had saved forty-six shots to earn the practice team Keeper spot.

Hugo did the Beater tryouts next, and it was no surprise that Frederica kept her place. She had a new partner, though. Tamara had not come to try out, and Frederica had known earlier that she wasn't planning on coming out. She'd lost her nerve, and any interest, in playing the game, deciding that her close call with disaster was one she should listen to.

Kevin Keitch ended up winning her spot, and it was another victory for a first year student making a House team, and another connection to a Quidditch family. That would be the family that was one-half owners of the Comet Trading Company, and producers of the Comet racing brooms.

That just left getting the Seeker tryouts done. Since Jeremy had graduated, there were ten candidates, including Colin. He caught the snitch in about eight minutes, mostly slowed down by the ineptitude of most of the other students. Hugo then sent the remaining students up again and they waited for twenty-five more minutes until they had a winner, and the tryouts were over.

"Thank-you everyone!" Hugo shouted. "For those of you on the team, congratulations! I'll get you your practice schedules by the end of the day, but right now, I hopefully have the end of my Dad's first game of the season to watch, so meeting adjourned!"

Quite a few of the other students laughed, and Hugo hurried off to see if he'd get back before the game was over. Colin, Frederica, and Liam all hurried to catch up with him, while the rest of the Gryffindors still at the pitch made their way back to the school at a slower pace, except for Lance, who hurried back to tell his father about making the team.

While the Gryffindor tryouts had been going on, and the other Marauders had been watching the Canons' game from James' magically renovated office, Harry and Ginny had come back from the island to host Liselle's parents in the Owner's box as they watched their little girl play her first Professional Qidditch match.

Today, Molly and Arthur were here, along with Hermione, Teddy, Stewart, Isabelle, and Victoire. Tracey and Trinity were there, and then the only other guests were Kimberly's boyfriend, and her parents, who were also there to watch her first match.

"They look really good again this year," Stewart said. "Kimberly is fitting in pretty good with Aaron and Arianna, and Liselle's running circles around the Tornado Seeker."

"I'd say," Teddy said. "It's not a blowout or anything, but they are up twenty-one goals to two, even though the Tornados are out-shooting them."

"No wonder our little girl wanted to come here to play," Liselle's father told Harry and the others. "This must be such a thrill for her with so many fans cheering her on. And since our teams don't have many Witches on them, she wouldn't have had much of a chance to make a team back home."

Harry grinned at him. "We're pretty glad that's the case, since if it were different, she might not be here now."

Hugo and the others made it to James' office by about three-thirty.

"Is the game still on?" he asked as soon as they was invited in.

"Yeah," James said, not taking his eyes off of the WWVN. "Two hundred and ten to twenty for us. Grab a seat. Emily's probably tired of cuddling with Fluffy."

"Fluffy's very nice to cuddle with," Emily protested. "Her whiskers tickle when she kisses me, though, but then, so do Hugo's if he forgets to shave."

"All six of them," Rose said with a laugh.

They all had their attention drawn to the screen when the camera moved away from the Chaser action to follow Liselle and her Tornado counterpart as she took off, and he started to chase her. She suddenly did a kind of backflip and then she was flying in the other direction, while her opponent shot past, and made a wide arcing turn, but it was too late for him already, as he was still in his turn when she reached out and grabbed the snitch as it was zipping along near the goalpost to Ron's left of the Canons' goals, and won the game for her team.

"Way to go, Liselle!" Lily said loudly. "That little move rocked!"

"Sure did," Kieran agreed. "Since I've never seen either your Dad or Dennis do it, I'm guessing it's all hers too."

"So what did we miss?" Hugo asked them.

"Dad played awesome," Rose told her brother. "Over eighty saves for sure. It looks like they're planning on making Kimberly more of the playmaker this year. They're still doing pretty good, but they did lose forty percent of their scoring when Aunt Ginny left."

Matt laughed. "Like any other team in the league wouldn't take sixty percent of last year's goals. That would have still likely been enough to win the League."

"Forty-one point four percent would have," Lily supplied, and the rest of the group all laughed.

There was a knock on the Hallway door, and James told whoever it was to come in. The fifth-year Slytherin prefect stepped into the office and stared in surprise at the huge space, and the small party that seemed to be going on.

"We have an injury with one of the Slytherin team candidates at the tryouts," he reported to James. "He's been taken to Madame Pomfrey, and she's looking at him now."

"What happened?" James asked the other boy.

"He's a firstie, and thought that his one flying lesson made him good enough to play on our team. He found out on the flying test that he was wrong. Broke an arm and his collarbone in the crash."

James smiled. "Let's go see him, and find out how we can help, shall we?"

"Want a hand?" Therese asked.

James waved her off. "We can handle it. I'll let you know when I'm done, but you'll need to hang around in case anything else comes up."

Therese nodded and settled back next to Jon. "Will do. We'll clean up when the post-game is over."

The post-game party for the Canons was going on at the cottage. Harry and Ginny were hosting the players, coaches, parents, and significant others.

"I get the feeling we've lost our daughter to more than Quiditch stardom," Liselle's mother told Ginny as she watched her daughter and Tristan across the room.

Ginny nodded. "It probably won't be too much longer before he asks her. He's a good, kind young man. They make a good pair."

"He's so different away from the game," she said. "Such a fierce fighter when he's playing, and so gentle away from the Quidditch pitch."

"Liselle's brought a little more of that side of him out over the last year," Ginny told the other woman.

Harry called everyone to the kitchen to eat, and it was a festive dinner that they enjoyed together. After that, most of their guests left for the night, except for Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, Isabelle, Aaron, Tracey, and Arianna. They were having a little meeting, and Teddy was leading it.

"We've got everything pretty much ready to go for our new Child Abuse program," he told them, handing out parchments to each of them.

"Since you were having your first game of the season this weekend, we didn't want to distract you from it with going over things before now. We want to launch the program in two weeks, which is the same day as your road game against Puddlemere United."

"I guess the sooner we get started, the better for some of these kids," Arianna said.

Teddy nodded. "You're all going to need to do some interviews, and you'll certainly get some questions once the campaign starts, but over the next week, we want you to each do a few adverts for WWVN. They won't take much time, and Kirley and Ana will be doing them, so we can trust that they'll be good, and that they'll be sensitive to what you each need."

"You mean stuff like 'Hi, I'm Aaron Ryan, Chaser for the Chudley Canons' kind of thing?" Aaron asked.

Teddy nodded. "Basically. We definitely won't be going into any details, but you'll need to let people – and especially the kids – know that you were victims of abuse. They'll need to believe you before they'll consider trusting us."

Aaron nodded. "That's what we signed up for. You just make sure you're all around to hold us up if the questions get too hard."

Tracey gave him a hug. "We will be."

"We'll also have the SpellBound music video coming out that day, and I know this part will be a pain in Coach's backside, but the introduction press conference for the program will be on the morning of the game. We'll be doing it from WMVN's London studios at ten for one hour."

"Can we see the video first?" Arianna asked.

Teddy smiled. "Since you brought it up, why don't we do that now? Make sure you have tissues, though. You'll need them."

He played the video for them, and he was right, and they'd all cried through the whole thing. Kirley was definitely a master at the medium, and this was by far the best video they'd seen him make, and he'd made some really good ones.

"Wow," Arianna said quietly as Ginny held her after it had ended. "It's so heartbreaking at the start, but then at the end he's got all those Witches and Wizards with their careers and happy lives. It's wonderful."

"You mean kinda like our lives?" Isabelle asked, smiling through her own tears."

Arianna laughed. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Will the hotlines and everything be starting right when we go public?" Aaron asked Teddy.

"Yes. We'll be using a lot of Foundation volunteers at first, since there's no way to predict the response we'll get, and hire up to what we need."

"Will Kirley let us know when he wants each of us?" Isabelle asked.

Teddy nodded. "He'll be calling each of you tomorrow sometime to set up your appointments. At the WMVN press conference, I'll introduce the program, and then I'll want each of you to talk about why you're supporting the program, and being our spokespersons. Since there will surely be a lot of questions we should probably keep each of those comments to just a few minutes each."

"Sounds like you've done a great job getting it all ready," Harry said. "How many kids can we take on?"

"We've got two hundred rooms, and another thousand volunteers who can take kids short-term if we need to," Teddy told him.

"Sign me up for that too," Harry said. I could help a few at a time if needed."

Teddy laughed. "Ginny already signed you up," he told Harry. "You've been drafted."

They'd pretty much covered everything they needed to, so after chatting about other, more pleasant topics for a while longer, all of Harry and Ginny's guests left for home.

"Hey, Arianna," James said later that night as he answered her WiComm call. "Congratulations on the big win."

"Thanks, James. How was your day?"

James laughed. "Busy. Not much homework for this weekend, but this Head Boy stuff is a lot of work. Aunt Hermione and Victoire weren't kidding about that. I'm dealing with everything from kids missing their Mums and Dads to kids crashing their brooms during tryouts and breaking arms and collarbones, then dealing with their angry parents."

"You mean it's the Head Boy's fault for not knowing that little Johnny had the flying skills of a chicken?" Arianna asked.

"Pretty much, yes," James agreed. "Too bad it never occurred to the Slytherin team Captain to start his flying test out slowly, and weed out his prospects at different difficulty levels, instead of just getting them all to try to fly top speed right away."

"But that'd take all of the fun out of watching them crash and burn, James."

"Some day Witches and Wizards will stop getting their jollies out of inflicting pain on other people," James said seriously.

"Speaking of," Arianna said, getting serious too, "Teddy's got the new program ready to go. We'll go public in two weeks, so you should let the others know."

"I will. Are you ready?"

Arianna nodded. "Yes. It's still scary, but we're ready."

"You said something before about training programs for teachers. Will they be doing that here? Maybe training Therese, me, and the prefects here would be a good idea too."

"I'll give Teddy a call tomorrow and ask him," Arianna answered. "That's a really good idea, though. You'll see the kids from a perspective that the Professors won't."

"Anything else going on?" James asked her.

"No, not realy. Who made what teams today there?"

"Colin and Lance made our team, and we've got a new Beater to work with Frederica. Ravenclaw is the same, except they have a new Beater that's the nephew of a former Canons Beater. Kieran's got some good players too by the sounds of it, including Nadine at Seeker, and Gwenog Jones' youngest daughter Miranda for one of his Chasers."

"So at least three teams will be competitive," Arianna said approvingly. "That should be really fun."

"Probably," James agreed. "I should probably let you go, though. You must be beat after your day."

"I am. Talk to you tomorrow?"

James smiled. "Wouldn't miss it. I'm planning on just working ahead on my reading tomorrow, so if you have extra time to talk, you can give me a call."

Arianna agreed, and after saying their goodnights, ended the call. James went and got ready for bed, and quickly went to sleep. They'd only had one actual day of classes, and with everything that was already happening, it was definitely looking like this would be another adventurous school year!


	85. Learn Your Lessons Well

Chapter Eight-Five – Learn Your Lessons Well

During the first full two weeks of school, James and Therese began to find out just how much work was involved in being the Heads at Hogwarts. They had endless reports to deal with, both coming in to them, and ones that they had to send out to Heads of Houses, or to the Headmistress. Add in six NEWT classes, and Quidditch for James, and it meant early mornings, long days, and a lot of nights with very little sleep.

"Ruling the school is really starting to suck big time," James told Therese with a laugh as they went over their now nightly wrap up in her office. They'd decided that this little daily review was the fastest way for them each to keep up to speed with what the other was doing so that they didn't waste time duplicating things the other was already handling.

"Some of it does," Therese agreed. "Having our own rooms is something I'm really getting to appreciate, though."

"If Arianna was still at school, I probably would too," James said. "Not that I don't appreciate having my own quarters, it's just that you have a different perspective than I do."

"That's true, but for me it's still mostly just having a place to come and be alone. That's one thing you get precious little of living in a dorm room."

They'd already finished the business part of their meeting when this conversation had started, so James stood up and got ready to leave.

"I'm going to get back to my studies," he told Therese. "Want me to send Jon along on my way through the Common room?"

Therese laughed. "Sure. Any chance that the other Gryffindors believe he's getting into trouble every day like this?"

James smiled at her fondly. "Not a chance. If they knew how much work you're doing for them every day, they wouldn't begrudge you a half hour here and there to have alone with Jon, so don't fret over it."

"Thanks, James. I won't. Have a good night, and say 'hi' to Arianna for me."

"I will. You have a good night too," James told her.

He waved Jon the all-clear to go in, and stopped to deal with a few Gryffindors who requested a moment with him as he'd made his way across the Common room, and then finally he was in his office, and could take a few minutes to just sit on one of the sofas and close his eyes and relax.

There was still work to do, though, so after that brief respite, he forced himself to get up, go sit at his desk, and get to work. He'd barely gotten started when his WiComm went off. It was a call, and not a qm, so he quickly answered it.

"Hey, Arianna," he said with a big smile. "This is a nice surprise. I didn't expect to hear from you for another hour."

Arianna smiled too. "It's been a long day, and I'm going to need to get ot bed a bit earlier," she told him. "I did my first video advert for the new program tonight. Kirley's really easy to work with, but it was still really hard to talk about everything in front of the camera, and the few people who were there on the set."

"I wish I could have been there with you," he told her.

"Your Mum and Tracey came with me, so I was alright, James. I'll wrap up my adverts this weekend, and I think this round of them will be done by Monday or Tuesday, although not all of them will come out right away."

"It's going to be worth all of this, Arianna. I just know it."

"Thanks," she told him. "The next few weeks will be the worst of it, since it's kind of like having to relive everything over and over again. Once we get past that, we'll be better again."

"I'll make sure I have extra hugs for you at the first Hogsmeade weekend to help you," James promised, and Arianna grinned at him.

"Good, since I'll probably be ready for them by that time."

"Why don't you go get some sleep," he told her with a gentle smile. "I love you, Arianna Ryan."

"I love you too, James," she told him. "We didn't even get around to talking about your day, though."

"We'll catch up on that tomorrow," James said. "It's all been work today anyway, so nothing too exciting."

They wrapped up the call, and James got back to work, putting in another couple of hours on his studies before he felt that he had enough done that he could finally go get some sleep himself.

Saturday, September seventeenth 2022 was going to be a day that some kids in the Wizarding World would never forget. The Phoenix Foundation, and the Wizarding Music Video Network had been advertising the special morning press conference for the past week, and there were sure to be a lot of viewers for the show.

There were quite a few viewers in James' office, and in every Common Room in the school. The show started right on time, and Teddy started with explaining what the Phoenix Foundation's new program was all about, what services they were offering, and why. He then introduced the celebrity spokespersons, and handed things off to Arianna, who'd offered to go first and tell the room full of reporters, and the entire WWVN viewing audience her story.

"Hi," she began, "my name is Arianna Ryan, Chaser for the Chudley Canons, and I've agreed to lend my support to the Phoenix Foundation for this program because I was a victim of child abuse."

Whatever the reporters had been expecting to hear, that was not it, and a collective gasp went through the room. In James' office, they could hear the same loud collective exclamation from the Gryffindor Common room.

"Our parents died when my brother and I were six years old," Arianna continued, "and for the next four years, we were both severely abused, starved, and forced into what amounted to full-time slave labour by our father's sister and her husband."

She had tears in her eyes, and Aaron held her hand, and he took over their joint story.

"There are a lot of young children in the viewing audience," he said, "so we won't go into the details of what was done to us. The important part of our story is that the Phoenix Foundation rescued us from that situation, and we were placed at the Lily Evans Memorial Residence when we were ten years old. We owe everyone that works there a debt of gratitude for everything they've done for us since then, but we especially owe Harry and Ginny Potter for being our volunteer mentors while we were there." He smiled at the reporters and the camera.

"He'll tell his own story in a moment, but for our part, recovering from child abuse started the day we met them, and Harry told us his own story, and we learned that it was possible to overcome being abused, that we weren't alone, and that with a little help, we could still grow up and have a chance at a happy life."

"That's what we're here today to tell other children that are being abused right now," Arianna said. She looked into the camera, her face filled with conviction and compassion. "You're not alone, you don't have to live with it, and the Phoenix Foundation is here to help you." She looked around the room, and saw expressions that ranged from horror to skepticism.

"Child abuse has always been kept as deep, dark family secrets," she told them. "Witches and Wizards who were abused when they were children are too ashamed to come out and admit it. People who abuse children certainly know better than to talk about it. We're coming forward because it's time to put an end to the silence, and more importantly to help these kids – the kids like Aaron and me."

Isabelle spent the next five minutes telling her story to their audience, and then it was Harry's turn to wrap up the testimonials. Most of the New Marauders in James' office did not know this story, and they, along with everyone else watching, focused entirely on Harry now.

He had a small smile on his face when he began, but his green eyes were very serious.

"My name is Harry Potter, and I'm supporting the Phoenix Foundation's new Child Abuse program because I was a victim of child abuse." He paused as the reporters all scrambled to either take notes, or pictures, and until the buzz that erupted in the room died down again.

"After my parents were killed by Tom Riddle, and I was left with this scar after his attempt to kill me too, I was placed in the care of my Muggle aunt and uncle. They were vehemently hateful of anything to do with our Magical world, and they took that hatred out on me. I spent most of the next ten years of my life living in a dirty, small cupboard under the stairs at their house."

This was all brand new news for the audience, and everyone listened in rapt attention.

"They didn't physically abuse me to the point of leaving permanent marks or damage," Harry said. "There was enough of that, though, and my cousin was allowed to inflict as much pain and humiliation on me as he could – which was a great deal. I was told during my whole childhood that I was worthless. My family hated and despised me, and made sure that for every minute of my life with them that I knew it."

He stopped and took a drink of water, then continued.

"When, at eleven, I found out that I was a Wizard, something that they had kept from me, and I went to Hogwarts, I'd thought that I would be free from the horrors my aunt and uncle imposed on me, only to find out that a psychotic, twisted, and evil Wizard and his Death Eater henchmen still wanted me dead, and spent the next seven years trying to accomplish that goal. Lucky for all of us they failed," he added with that same faint, sardonic smile.

"In the summers, I had my aunt and uncle abusing me, locking me in my room, and starving me half to death, and during the school year, I had Witches and Wizards trying to kill me, while hardly anybody except a few very special friends would even believe me for years."

He held up his scarred hand to the reporters and cameras. It still clearly read – 'I must not tell lies'. Hermione could have healed it for him, and had offered before, but he'd decided to keep it so that he'd never forget.

"I have particularly fond memories of my OWL year, and my detentions with High Inquisitor Delores Umbridge, who's use of her blood quill was not used solely for my benefit, but was used on many students at Hogwarts. How many people knew about this, and still let it happen to a fifteen year old kid, and some others that were even younger that year?"

Harry could feel himself getting angry again, and he pulled it back in harshly.

"For me, surviving those years wouldn't have happened without the help of my friends, or the love of my wife and her family – too many of whom had to die or get their own battle scars to help me, and to help everyone else in the Wizarding world too, I might add." He took a deep breath, ready to finish up his statement.

"If it hadn't been for them – if they hadn't taught me what it meant to love others, who knows what I could have grown up to be. I'm not even certain I would have gotten to grow up at all. We're here today to offer that same chance to other kids like us." Speaking directly to those kids, he added – "Trust us, and trust the Phoenix Foundation. We will help you, but we need you to call and let us know where to find you."

Harry then passed things off to Teddy again.

"The Phoenix Foundation is also pleased to have SpellBound join us as ambassadors. They couldn't be here today, but they have this message for you, and then we will show you the World premiere of their video for 'The Silent Minority'.

There was a big screen WWVN that the reporters could watch, and the WMVN audience saw Lily and Kieran's smiling faces.

"Thanks, Teddy," Kieran said, which was really odd for the Marauders to watch, since he and Lily were sitting right there in James' office.

"Lily and I are proud of the Phoenix Foundation, their ambassadors, and what they want to do for the children of our world who are living with Child Abuse."

"We want these kids to know that they're not alone, and that organized help is finally here for you," Lily said into the camera, her expression earnest and compassionate. "Call the hotline, talk to your Professors or Heads, or Prefects. Tell somebody, and the foundation will help you."

"The video you're about to watch is a song that we wrote about our friends Aaron and Arianna. After today's press conference, it will be available for sale. The price is a bit higher than for normal videos, but we want everyone to know that all profits will go to support the Phoenix Foundation in this new endeavour, so please help us support this program, and help us put and end to Child Abuse."

Kieran ended their little announcement. "Now, for the first time ever, we present 'The Silent Minority."

Lily and Kieran were the only two in the room who'd seen the finished video, yet they were still just as moved to tears by watching it again as were nearly every other Witch and Wizard who were watching it for the first time.

When it was over, Teddy released the information on how to call the hotline, and that information was then kept along the bottom of the screen for the rest of the press conference. He opened the floor to questions, and for the next half hour the reporters in the room bombarded them with questions.

Lily and Kieran were getting hugs and kisses after the video had ended, and they talked while the press conference continued.

"Let's order one of those videos for each of the kids we help," Emily said. "Some of them may even be the kids they're trying to reach."

That was unanimously approved.

"Some of these reporters are practically calling them liars," with their insinuations and innuendo," Therese said as they watched one particularly offensive Wizard ask Harry another question with a definite sneer in his voice and in his expression.

"Maybe they'll have a change of heart when the calls start pouring in," Lily suggested.

The calls did start coming in, too. There'd been over a hundred before the press conference was over. Teddy and the foundation had assessment and extraction teams ready, and they were all kept busy. Each team had a Legilimens, and two powerful Witches and Wizards.

The children that proved to be in severe and ongoing abuse situations were extracted immediately, twice by force. Every call was investigated, and help ranged from counseling families who'd had rare instances of violence, to help for the children who were being abused by someone outside of their immediate family, to those extreme extraction cases.

Lily started getting qm's about what was happening, and those messages would keep coming steadily for the next week or more. The press conference ended, and the New Marauders left James in his office, and Therese went to hers in the event that any kids wanted to talk with them in private.

Kieran and Lily both were swarmed by their fellow Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs when they returned to their Common rooms until lunchtime, and then had more kids from other Houses approach them, wanting to talk, and mostly to thank them, tell them that they supported what they were doing, or how much the new video had moved them.

Harry and Ginny had whisked Aaron and Arianna away from the press conference after it was over to give them some time alone. The whole thing had been draining for all of them, but the kids had to get past it, and get their heads into the game they'd be playing in a couple of hours.

"You were brilliant," Ginny told them. "Absolutely brilliant."

"There seemed to be a lot of skeptics in the crowd," Aaron said. "What reason could they possibly think we have to come out and say something like this and be lying? I really wanted to let that one idiot have a few lashes like we used to get, and see if he still thought that we were just misunderstanding childhood punishment for abuse."

Arianna grinned at him. "We could offer him a private interview if you'd like to reconsider."

Harry and Ginny both laughed. "We better not. He probably would faint from the thought of it, let alone an actual lash," Ginny said. "What's important for you to know about right now is that there's been over a hundred calls already, and ten extractions, and we're just getting started. You guys have already saved ten kids in the first hour of the program."

Arianna had tears in her eyes. "That's incredible. If we didn't do anything more than that, it'd be worth it."

Harry, Ginny, and Aaron all gave her hugs.

"Let's get you some food, and get you ready for the game before we take you to the stadium," Harry said. "I think you two should channel all of that same anger that I'm sure we're all feeling, and take it out on the poor defenseless Puddlemere United players this afternoon."

Aaron laughed. "Oh, yeah. Good thing I'm not a Beater, 'cause everyone of those players would be in for a very bad day."

James and Therese couldn't talk about it, but between them they had three kids come and see them between the press conference and the start of the Canons' game. Two boys had come and talked to James, while an adorable first year girl went to talk to Therese. The boys would only talk to James, since his own father had admitted to being a victim.

They both dealt with the three children extremely gently and with compassion, counseling them, and then getting each of them the help they would need.

"At least they're all safe here at school right now," Therese told James.

"Remember the other day when I said being Head sucked?" James asked her, and she nodded. "I take it back."

They'd both missed lunch as they'd helped the kids, and when Lily and Kieran got to James' office to watch the game, they'd brought plates with them.

"Thanks, Lily," Therese said, giving her a big hug. "We expected that it'd just be some game snacks holding us over until dinner."

"You're welcome. When we didn't see you in the Great Hall, we figured you must be on the front lines, so it's the least we can do."

"Any news from Teddy or Ana?" James asked, and Lily nodded.

"Over two hundred calls now, fifteen extractions, and a lot of other services getting set up too. They're surprised at just how many cases they're getting of abuse going on that the parents don't know about. Those kids and their parents are getting help, and the information in all cases is getting passed on to Law Enforcement."

"How about the video?" Therese asked.

"It makes a little bit for the foundation every time it's played on WWVN or WWN, and it's getting played a lot right now. Ana's last message said it's sold fifty thousand so far. They're selling for one galleon each, with most of that going to the foundation, it'll add up fast."

"Sounds like you guys are on the front lines too," James told them. "Way to go."

James and Therese sat at his desk and ate, and the rest of their group starting joining them to watch the game. When they turned on QSPN, the announcers were talking about the morning press conference too. They were predicting that the Canons would lose, due to the distractions that Aaron and Arianna were dealing with.

"Idiots," James said. "If I know my fiancée, she's going to be ready to do a little constructive venting by now, and Aaron will be too."

That proved to be an understatement of epic proportions. When the game started, Arianna reached the Quaffle, flew right toward the Keeper, and took her first shot. The good news for the United team was that their Keeper made the save. The bad news was that he stopped the Quaffle with his face, and she'd thrown it extremely hard – like breaking his nose kind of hard.

"I don't think I've ever seen the Quaffle used as a bludger like that before," Rose said with a grin. "I'll have to remember that one for when we play Gryffindor."

Hugo laughed. "I'm faster than that guy is. Don't count on it working."

Four quick goals later, and the Puddlemere captain called a timeout to treat their Keeper, who looked like a raccoon with the quickly darkening bruises around his eyes. When the game got going again, things didn't get any better.

Arianna was on a mission, and Aaron was more than happy to keep feeding her the passes and letting her go. She scored thirty-seven goals in the first hour and a quarter, and then Liselle put an end to the game, catching the snitch ahead of the United' Seeker as he pulled out of their side-by-side dive, while she continued on, caught the snitch, and then skidded to a long, probably painful slide across the Quidditch pitch.

"Arianna looks disappointed," Jon said as they watched both teams land.

"She probably is, but those Quidditch lessons were for last year only," Rose said. "The Canons are not going to run it up on the other teams again. Coach probably would have liked the game to be over even sooner."

"You can bet the other teams have learned that lesson," Laura said. "United's the only team they didn't pound, and I'm sure they're glad it didn't happen today either."

They watched the post-game for a while. Most of the questions were about the Child Abuse program, and quite a few of the sports reporters were as obnoxious as some of the reporters at the morning press conference had been. Lily saw James' face getting grim, and the anger building, so she stood up and turned the WWVN off.

"Playtime's over, kids," she told them. "Time to get started on our assignments." She took Kieran's hand and helped him to stand too. "Be in the classroom in fifteen!" she ordered.

There were some groans, but everyone else got up too, helped straighten up, and then trouped off to get their homework and go to their usual study classroom.

"Don't let them get to you," Lily told James quietly before leaving. "You're seeing just a taste of what daddy's been dealing with his whole life. If he can deal with it, so can we, and so will Arianna and Aaron."

"If it was directed at me, that would be easy," he told her. "When it's pointed at my fiancée, I just can't help but see red."

"There's bound to be more of this for the next while," Lily predicted. "You might want to think about keeping your WWVN off the news and gossip channels." She pointed at the WWVN. "That's a big part of why it was such a hard decision for them to make, James. They all knew that there would be this kind of reaction from a lot of Witches and Wizards who are so self-centered that it's like they have blinders on to reality, or just don't like messy to intrude on their pretty, empty little lives."

James gave her a hug. "I suppose. I think I will keep the WWVN off too, but it kills me that I can't be there to comfort Arianna while she's going through this."

"Have a few extra WiComm calls, and send her something every day for a while," Lily suggested. "Try not to let her see how mad all of it's making you, or she'll stop talking about it so she doesn't upset you."

"I can do that too," he agreed.

The next week for the New Marauders was busy as they added helping out some kids at school who, since the weekend press conference, were showing every sign that they might be abused children. James and Therese had eleven more students come see them, each needing various levels of help.

They still had all of their schoolwork and classes to keep up with, and Quidditch for those who had it, and Head Boy, Head Girl, and Prefect duties. James and Therese were even busier than during the first two weeks, but at least for James, a lot of the work had changed from being just things he had to do into a mission, and he threw himself into the work.

The side-benefit of that extra work was that he didn't have time to pay attention to the constant media coverage that the Child Abuse program was getting, especially since it was nearly universally bad coverage.

Aaron and Arianna were feeling the brunt of a pretty nasty media attack, since the press saw them every day. There were families of kids that were being extracted from their homes going to the press and the Ministry of Magic and complaining very vocally. There were a lot of reporters that wanted to shoot the messengers, and the two Canons Chasers were the most accessible.

Harry was having his own battles too. The Ministry of Magic was coming after the Phoenix Foundation, and the faction within the Wizengamot that always looked for an opportunity to attack Harry was having a field day, running their mouths off to the press, and keeping the Wizengamot in session every day with attempt after attempt to put an end to what the Foundation was doing.

The Hogsmeade weekend that wrapped up that week was just a few hours of safe haven for Arianna, where she could curl up in James' arms while he held her as she cried, and he tried to comfort her. That they had extracted over one hundred abused kids so far in the first week wasn't much comfort with all of the added emotional abuse that was being poured out on her, and on Aaron, Harry, and to a lesser extent, to Isabelle.

The whole matter came to a head the following weekend. It was Saturday morning, October first. The papers, the radio, and every WWVN channel started the morning with the stunning news that a press conference had been called by the minority members of the Wizengamot, who were going to refute and disprove the Phoenix Foundation's claims of Child Abuse, by exposing it for the fraud that it was.

Harry and Ginny went to the Canons stadium to be with Aaron and Arianna, who were there getting ready for their home game stand against the Catapults.

"What do they think they're doing?" Aaron demanded as they waited for the press conference to start. They had media from all over the world in the room, and this press conference was probably four times larger than the one they'd had just two weeks ago. The news anchors were smiling and practically drooling with anticipation over what they were all sure was going to be the big story of the year – the taking down of the Phoenix Foundation.

They didn't have to wait to find out, as twenty-one members of the Wizengamot walked into the room with none other that Rita Skeeter, and Aaron and Arianna's aunt and uncle.

"Thank-you for coming," Rita Skeeter said with a smile that Harry remembered far too well.

"For anyone in our viewing audience who doesn't know me, I am Rita Skeeter, independent investigative reporter and best-selling author. Today, thanks to the help of the minority members of the Wizengamot who have valiantly tried to put a stop to the illegal activities of the so-called benevolent Phoenix Foundation, and two brave witnesses, we are going to prove to you that this whole Child Abuse program is a hoax that has been perpetrated on the Wizarding World by the Foundation, by Harry Potter, and by the two patsies that he's brainwashed into believing this nonsense about there being Child Abuse in the Wizarding World."

Harry, Ginny, and everyone else in the room watched her incredulously.

"Anyone who knows me," she continued, "knows that I've spent my whole life trying to tell you the truth. For that I've been victimized, and so I can relate very well to our two guests here today – the kind and giving aunt and uncle that Aaron and Arianna Ryan have so maligned. These two brave and noble souls, who the Ministry of Magic, and those horrid, treacherous Goblins at Gringotts have conspired against, persecuting them without mercy, have come to stand here now and tell you the truth!"

Rita stepped aside, and Sarah and Patrick Pucey stepped to the podium.

"My name is Sarah Pucey, and this is my husband, Patrick. We are the Aunt and Uncle that Aaron and Arianna came to live with after my poor, beloved brother and his wife passed away," she told the greedy reporters who hung on her every word.

"We took those poor, orphaned children in, and cared for them for four years until the horrid people at the Phoenix Foundation invaded our home, accused us of abusing those dear, sweet children, threatened us if we dared to complain, and whisked them away from our tender care." At this point, she broke down in tears, and Patrick had to put a comforting arm around her, and take over their sad story.

"Seven years later," he told the now ecstatic reporters, "We were called into a meeting at Gringotts bank, after the children had reached the age of majority. The children had by then been fully under the control of Harry Potter, and that red-headed demon of a wife, and they completely cut us off from my poor Sarah's rightful inheritance, threw us out of our home, and had a Wizengamot court convict us of embezzlement, where we were sentenced to, and are still serving out five years of community service as cleaning staff for the Ministry of Magic." He looked imploringly into the camera.

"We did nothing wrong, except try to do right by our little niece and nephew, and for our efforts, we have been ostracized, punished, and left destitute – all because of Harry Potter and the Phoenix Foundation."

Harry exploded at that point, and taking Aaron and Arianna by the arms, apparated right into the room where the press conference was taking place.

CRACK!

Ginny watched, stunned, as her husband, his full power shining, and his emerald eyes ablaze appeared next to the Puceys and Rita Skeeter.

"You dare call us liars?" he asked in a deadly calm voice that belied the rage that anyone who knew him clearly saw.

"We call you a liar," Patrick shot back defiantly. "You've brainwashed our kids, and turned them against us – probably to steal their money, and now you want to do it to other kids all over the world. We're here to stop you."

Harry looked directly at Rita and smiled. "You say you're here to tell everyone the truth, Rita. It's been a while since we met. Are you sure you can handle the truth?"

Rita lifted her head high. "We know what the truth is, Mr. Potter, and it is long past the time that you were shown for what you have always been. A cheat, and a liar."

"Funny you should say it quite like that," he told her, raising his scarred hand and showing it to her. "This is your lucky day, though, since we can clear this matter of truth up right now."

"And how do you propose to do that?" she sneered at him. "By telling us a few more lies?"

"No, I was thinking that I would just let you all see what happened to us, and let you decide for yourselves."

"That's impossible," Rita said flatly.

"Really? Ever used a Pensieve, Rita? I can let you all see _exactly_ what we wen't through," Harry said.

"Just another lie," she told him flatly. "You can't do that – no Wizard has that kind of ability."

Harry smiled at her. "Really? Watch and learn, Rita. I think you'll find this quite educational."

He pulled out his wand, and putting a hand on Aaron and Arianna he squeezed reassuringly. "Close you eyes," he whispered.

"You want proof of truth and lies?" he boomed out to everyone in the room, and everyone watching. "Then see, and decide for yourselves."

He stared into the camera, and unleashed his full, immense power, and suddenly every single over-age Witch and Wizard that was watching, and that was millions, suddenly found memories flashing throught their minds.

It wasn't just memories, though. It was a full sensory experience. Sight, sound, smell, taste, and – most importantly – touch.

Harry didn't hold back, either, and it was only the memories of abuse that in his anger he hurled at the adult population of his world. He let them experience every lash, every broken bone, every stinging spell, and every hunger cramp.

He let them have it all – every memory from all three of them. The memories of hours spent with a blood quill. His memories of the scars that used to score the backs of two of the people he loved most in this world. His experiences with the cruciatus curse, and the hundreds of other horrid memories he had.

Within seconds, hundreds of thousands of Witches and Wizards were reduced to quivering, sobbing, curled up balls of humanity, but he kept going until every adult got the full sensory experience of what child abuse was all about.

Every child was excluded from his brutal lesson, although any kids that were around adults knew that something immense was going on.

It took Harry just five minutes to force-feed those years of memories into the minds of the Witches and Wizards around the world. He would later find out that you didn't have to be watching the press conference to have received the powerful mental transmission. It overwhelmed every adult, everywhere.

When he was done, he stood with Aaron and Arianna, and watched the horror-stricken faces of everyone in the room except for Sarah and Patrick Pucey, who were ashen-faced, and trembling.

He looked at the curled up form of Rita Skeeter on the floor with no pity whatsoever.

"You seem to be having problems with finding out the truth after all," he told her, and she stared up at him in horror. "You'll be hearing from Aaron and Arianna's legal team on Monday, Ms. Skeeter. "They will be suing you. You call yourself an independent investigative reporter. Your current investigation isn't quite finished yet, so don't go anywhere."

He then turned his attention to the twenty-one members of the Wizengamot, who looked stunned.

"I have a special, added bonus for you, ladies and gentlemen. I've personally met with every child that the foundation has rescued so far. You will, I'm sure, find these memories illuminating."

This time, he only focused his power, and the images he now fired out at the people in this room who had been so interested in piling more abuse on them, and through that effort, onto these children.

Harry had gleaned every memory of abuse that those children had experienced, and with so many, even with his abilities, it had taken fifteen more minutes to transfer every single one of those memories.

Aaron and Arianna were protected, but everyone else in the room was not, and as horror upon horror flashed through their minds, they sobbed and cringed, and looked vacantly from eyes that weren't seeing anything, as their minds had no choice but to watch every last horrible detail.

The camera operators had long since stopped working, so during that time, the only change in the scene was when the control room at the studio would switch one static camera angle for another one – one showing an angry Harry Potter, still standing next to Aaron and Arianna, and shots of sobbing, despairing members of the Wizengamot and media.

When Harry finally finished transferring those memories, not one person in the room could look him in the eye. Sarah and Patrick Pucey were now both on the floor next to Rita Skeeter, and staring into space in vacant-eyed horror.

"The Phoenix Foundation has done nothing but help tens of millions of Witches and Wizards," he said quietly. "If you, the supposedly unbiased press had done a little homework, instead of rushing to support a scandal that was a complete fabrication, maybe you could actually accomplish something useful for your countries and fellow citizens. All you tried to to here today was push the evil back into the dark. I'm here to make sure that never happens again."

Looking at the members of the Wizengamot, he shook his head.

"You're supposed to be the law of this land," he told them. "You're supposed to be unbiased, and you're supposed to defend the rights of the defenseless. How were you protecting those children with what you've tried to do here today in the name of politics?"

He looked around the room one last time. Most of the Witches and Wizards were recovering, but they all had haunted looks on their faces.

Harry smiled at them, and at the camera. "I've given you all one final gift," he told them. "You'll never be able to forget what you've been shown here today – just as we never can. There will be no way you can erase these memories – no charm or potion will work. Now, is there still anyone here who would like to challenge who is telling the truth here today, and who has been lying?"

Harry waited several moments as comprehension registered on the faces of everyone there, and to see if anyone chose to respond to his question. Nobody did, and he smiled.

"Very well, then," he said, before apparating back to the stadium with Aaron and Arianna. "Class dismissed."

Ginny hugged him tightly when they appeared, and there were tears streaming down her face as she sobbed into his chest. Aaron went to put his arms around Tracey, who was sitting in a chair, arms wrapped around her waist and crying uncontrollably.

Harry looked over at a grim looking Ron. "Call everyone in the family here, please, Ron. I need to help them all, but I don't have time to hop all over the world to do it. Then I'll go to Hogwarts. There are more than two hundred kids there that will have been over seventeen."

Ron nodded, and within ten minutes, he had the whole family there, and most of their friends."

"I'm sorry," Harry told them as he looked at the devastated faces of his family and friends. "This went a little farther than I expected."

He pulled out his wand again, and everyone in the room momentarily went blank-faced. It only took a moment too, and then they all regained their focus.

"Like I said a few minutes ago at the press conference, I can't erase the memories," he apologized, "but they shouldn't cause you the same pain anymore. You'll also find that you have the knowledge of how to do the same for some of our other friends that shouldn't have needed to deal with this," he told them.

Molly came up to him and gave him a hug. "It's alright, Harry. This is something that we all should have learned about a long time ago, hard a lesson as it has been."

Harry hugged her back. "Thanks, Mum. I'm not very proud about losing my temper to teach it, though."

Ron laughed. "And here I was thinking it was a very proud moment to see my best mate finally stand up and lay it on the line, by opening up the worst parts of your life to everyone."

Harry smiled at his friend. "Thanks, mate."

He turned to Aaron and Arianna. "Ginny and the others will help you get ready for the game. I'll take a wild guess and say that the media abuse is over. I might not get back by game time, so I'd appreciate it if you'd get a win for me while I'm busy at the school."

"Count on it," Arianna said, hugging him. "Tell James I love him."

"I will, Arianna," he promised, and then left the room with Ginny so they could talk in private for a moment.

"I love you, Harry Potter," she told him, wrapping her arms around him. "I wish I could do the same thing for your memories that you just did for us."

Harry smiled and kissed her. "You do, Ginny. That's one of the reasons I love you so much too."

"You better get going," she said. "Professor McGonagall, and those older kids need you."

"I'll come to the Owner's box when I'm done," he told her giving her one more kiss. "Check with our other friends, and get them some help, or bring them here to help them if you can. There are other kids at all the other schools too, maybe if you put your heads together, you can come up with a way to help them too. I won't be able to help them all."

"We'll take care of everything else," Ginny promised, "you just worry about the kids at Hogwarts."

What there was at Hogwarts when Harry got there was a Great Hall full of either confused younger children, or despairing seventeen and eighteen year-olds. Professor McGonagall looked haggard, and quite a few of the other Professors were still crying as they sat at their table. Hagrid was bawling in loud, heaving gasps that rumbled throughout the Hall. Harry didn't waste any time.

"May I, Professor?" he asked McGonagall, who grimly nodded.

"Can I have your attention, please?" Harry called out loudly.

Many of the students and Professors hadn't even noticed him enter the Hall, and he immediately had their attention, and the noise in the room fell to near-silence, except for a smattering of sobs.

"I am truly sorry that some of the sixth and seventh year students had to be a party to what I showed the adult Wizards and Witches during that press conference," he told them. "There is, unfortunately, no way for me to erase those memories from you, but I can dull them so they won't cause you pain, so if you'll all just watch me for a moment, please, I'll do that now, and then we can talk."

He pulled out his wand, and casting his spell over the entire school, he banished their memories to the point where they were just dull, distant seeming recollections. When he was finished and put his wand away again, he smiled gently, and looked around at the now relieved faces of the older kids, and the Professors. He returned Neville's grim nod. This was one friend who understood why what had happened today had been necessary. By the looks on their faces, Ernie and Parvati did too, and he appreciated their unvoiced support.

"Since the older students, and your Professors all know what happened," Harry said, his voice calm but clearly heard by everyone, "I think we should start by explaining to the underage students what happened."

There were hundreds of nods that greeted this, and he continued, gently explaining to the teenagers what had happened, and why he'd done it in such a way.

"In a way," he told them, "it's like what your own TNM has done at your school with bullying. It's not very pleasant to find out what Witches and Wizards will do to hurt others, but until everyone gets the message that it's wrong, it just keeps happening over and over again." He looked at the small faces in front of him.

"Just like there shouldn't be bullying here, there shouldn't be any children anywhere getting abused. I didn't see any other way than this to absolutely and forever convince everyone of the truth of that message."

He talked with the kids for another half hour, answering their questions, and then Professor McGonagall called for the lunch, which had been delayed while they had been trying to deal with the aftermath of the press conference. They made a place for Harry next to Neville, and the two friends talked quietly as they ate.

When lunch ended, Harry spent another two hours helping the Professors counsel some of the still distraught students. He visited with several that had been taken to the hospital wing, and then finally, by around three-thirty, he and Professor McGonagall stopped at the Head Boy's quarters where they found the New Marauders just finishing up watching the Canons game.

"Who won?" Harry asked, hugging Lily first, as she'd been the first to cross the room and throw her arms around him.

"We did," Hugo told his uncle. "Three hundred and sixty to fifty. I hope you get a chance to see the start sometime, Uncle Harry. Our fans weren't cheering at all before the game, and when the team came out, everyone stood and clapped for Aaron and Arianna. It was amazing to watch."

"I'm sure the Canons will have it, so I can watch it sometime," Harry told him. "We do have great fans."

There were a lot of hugs, and then Professor McGonagall told them why she'd asked Harry to come here before he left.

"James, she said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "you have something of a family emergency at home that requires your attention. You have my permission to accompany your father home, but you need to be back here in time for breakfast on Monday morning." She looked over at Therese.

"You will need to assume all Head duties for the rest of the weekend. Mr. Malfoy will be your backup until Mr. Potter can return."

"Thank-you," James said, giving her a hug.

"You're welcome. Take your homework with you," she advised. "Your assignments will still be due on-time."

"Yes, Professor," James answered. He looked at the rest of the Marauders, who all nodded.

"Go pack," Lily told him. "We'll clean up and clear out."

While James did that, Harry gave Professor McGonagall a hug too. "Thank-you," he told her quietly. "Arianna could really use him with her when it all catches up to her later. She's had a pretty tough couple of weeks with all of this."

"You're welcome, Harry," she told him, then in a firmer, louder voice, added – "Make sure he isn't late for breakfast. We wouldn't want have to send the Head Boy to see the Head Girl for disciplinary reasons."

Harry smiled. "He'll be there."

When James came out of his bedroom, they said goodbye to everyone, and then Harry led him out of the school, and to the gates, before they apparated to the stadium.

They hurried to the Owner's box, and were met by Ginny and the others with warm hugs and lots of kisses.

"How long are you allowed to stay?" Ginny asked him.

"I have to be back for breakfast on Monday," James told her.

"Remind me to send your Headmistress a thank-you present," she told him, hugging him yet again.

The team was going to be busy with the post-game press conference for a while, so Harry and Ginny brought everyone back to the cottage, and invited them all to stay for dinner. With everything they'd all been dealing with, together was the only place they all wanted to be.

Draco and Astoria Malfoy were taking a long afternoon walk. Actually, they were taking a long afternoon stand far from the house, since once they were far enough away, Astoria had thrown herself into Draco's arms, and begun crying uncontrollably.

"Your Mum and Dad didn't even bat an eye the whole time," she sobbed in despair. "Your father even laughed. He _laughed! _Did you see? The memories that he was part of?"

Draco nodded. "Yes, sweetheart," he answered. "I saw the ones I was part of too."

She looked into his eyes and put her hand on his cheek. "You're not that boy anymore," she told him firmly. "That boy isn't the man that I know and love."

He hugged her close. "Thank-you," he whispered.

They'd both sat stoically through the news conference, from the beginning, when his parents had cheered triumphantly that Harry Potter was finally going to get his, all the way through to their jeering scorn of the weak-minded fools who'd curled up on the floor of the conference room over the mere memories of a little pain.

There was no way that either Draco or Astoria could show any weakness then, but now, alone, she could let go of the tears she'd been fighting to keep back for hours. The one thing he was thankful for was that their son wasn't seventeen yet, and didn't have to experience Harry's latest lesson to the Wizarding World.

Back at Hogwarts, Therese had called a brief meeting of the prefects, and let them know what was going on, and that they were all going to need to pull together and help any of their fellow students that needed the help. Including herself and James, six of them had been over seventeen, and even after Harry's intervention, they were all still feeling the trauma of what had happened in the brief five minute flash of indescribable horror.

"For those of us that experienced what James' father did this morning," she told them, "we should have a much better appreciation, and hopefully compassion, for our fellow students. Let's all do what we can to help them this weekend. Any questions?"

One of the seventh year Slytherins laughed. "A lot of questions, but probably none that any of us are going to know the answers to."

Therese smiled. "That's true," she agreed. "Why don't we give up on trying to figure out the how, and just be glad that he's on the side of the light."

When the meeting ended, all of the prefects left, except for the other Slytherin seventh-year prefect. She asked for a few minutes alone with Therese.

"What would you like, Callie?" Therese asked her. She'd been in some classes with the other girl all through school, and they'd been prefects together for the last two, and she still didn't know her very well. Slytherins and Gryffindors did not hang out together.

The girl smiled faintly. "To talk, but I don't want this to leave the room."

Therese smiled, and put up her best shield around them.

"That should be strong enough," Therese said.

The other girl took a deep breath. "I've been abused," she told Therese quietly and bluntly, and Therese nodded that she should continue.

"All of my life, I've been told that what was done to me was how all children were raised. After today, I know for sure that's not true."

"I'm sorry," Therese told her. "Since you don't want this to leave the room, what can I do to help you?"

"Can the Phoenix Foundation help overage students get started on their own? I'll stay here at Hogwarts over Christmas, but come next June, I'll need help. All I'll have is the contents of my trunk when I leave here."

Therese didn't know the answer to that question, and told her so. "I will find out, though, Callie. What did you want to do after school? Did you plan on a job of some kind?"

The other girl nodded. "I was hoping to get on with the Ministry," she said. "After seeing those members of the Wizengamot this morning, I'm not so certain anymore, but that was my plan."

"Keep in mind that Harry's a member of the Wizengamot, and there are more good ones than bad. I'll find out about your question, though. I should be able to get an answer for you by the end of the weekend," she said.

Both girls stood up then, and Therese gave Callie a long hug. Thank-you for telling me," she said. "There shouldn't be any reason why anybody else but you and me need to know about this," she promised. "Are you going to tell your family soon?"

"Yes. I don't want anything else from them. I'll get through the rest of this year – and my life - without their help. They're not going ot hurt me ever again."

"Hang on a second, then," Therese said, going to her desk and opening a drawer. When she pulled out a modestly sized bag of money, Callie looked surprised.

"TNM sent this to me, and instructed me to use it if needed," she said, handing it over. "I'd say you need it."

When Callie started to cry, Therese hugged her tightly, and held her for a long time.

"Thank-you," she finally said, and Therese handed her some tissues.

"Why don't we go into the bathroom and fix up your face before you go back to your Common room?" Therese suggested, and they both smiled.

"You're making it very hard to dislike you, as we're supposed to if we're being good little Slytherins," she told Therese.

"Maybe it's time that we all started to get over our prejudices," Therese suggested. "You're the closest thing to a friend I've had out of all of the Slytherin students in seven years, which is really too bad, because if I'd taken the time to find out how nice you are, we probably would have been friends a long time ago."

"Better keep that a secret too," Callie suggested with a smile. "We could be kicked out of our Houses for talk like that."

Therese laughed, and hugged her again. "I'm sorry, but I doubt I'll be able to hide that. You've got yourself a new friend for better or worse."

"I'll choose the 'for better' option," Callie said. "Can we do that cleanup now? I should get back and help my fellow Slytherins. I think this whole thing has affected more of them than some of the other Houses. We seem to have a higher number of parents that believe in using the rod on the child, and now that the whole issue has been put under a very bright light, they're not doing so well."

"If you need any help, let James or I know. We'll do what we can."

"Thanks, Therese." She smiled. "You know that's the first time I've used your name in seven years. And my tongue didn't fall out or anything."

Therese laughed, and they went into her bathroom and did a little damage control before Callie hugged her again, and then left for the Slytherin Common room.

Ron led his team into the cottage, and they could hear all of the noise coming from the kitchen, so they went straight there. When Arianna walked in and saw James, she stopped and started to cry, and he got up and hurried to her, wrapping her in a warm embrace.

"Surprise," he whispered.

"Professor McGonagall let you come home," she whispered back. "Can you stay long?" She was holding him tight and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I'm all yours until I have to be back for breakfast," he said, pausing for a moment. "On Monday."

Arianna's head jerked up, and she looked into his eyes. "We have the rest of the weekend together?" James nodded, and she hugged him even tighter, and kissed him.

"I'm thinking that she's glad to see him," Aaron told Tracey, going over to hug his wife. "What do you think?"

She hugged him back and laughed. "I think so, yes."

Arianna hugged Harry next. "When I asked you to give James a message, I didn't expect such a really brilliant reply. Thank-you."

Harry laughed. "I just came along with him," he told her. "This was all Professor McGonagall's choice, and I'm pretty sure it was all for one of her former students."

"Don't you guys dare tell anyone about this," Ron said. "It'd destroy her reputation as a hard-arse."

"We wouldn't dream of it," Ginny told him, laughing and wiping away new tears. "Now why don't we all sit down and eat. With that game today, you all must be ready for a good meal by now."

James was holding Arianna in his arms, safe and warm in her bed later that night. They'd had dinner at the cottage, and then had gone with Aaron and Tracey to their house and talked quietly together for another couple of hours.

Having heard their story, and seeing the scars a few Christmases ago had been one thing. Actually having those memories for your own was something else entirely. Tracey and James were both dealing with those memories, and even with Harry's intervention, for these two, that had been an ineffective remedy, since they each so deeply loved the people from which those experiences had been drawn.

"I'm really glad that Dad did this today," James said softly to Arianna. "Mostly because it will stop more people from trying to hurt you and Aaron, even if they're just doing it with words instead of physically hurting you."

Arianna nodded. "When Lily said she wanted a light shone on the issue, I wonder if she thought that your father would be using a Sun-sized torch to do that?"

James laughed. "She doesn't have that particular talent, but I'm sure she's very proud of him, and of you for doing this today."

"When he side-along apparated us to that press conference, I don't mind admitting I was terrified," she told James. "Not for Aaron or I, but for everyone there. Your Mum and I got the lid back on his anger last year at the one game we played, but I had no doubt that it was going to run it's full course today."

James nodded. "We were watching – well, I was watching, and Lily and Al were keeping me from joining you guys there."

Arianna looked into his eyes, and saw that he wasn't joking, and he nodded again.

"It took both of them to do it. She hugged me, and Al disarmed me." He laughed again. "Then, after Dad's little lesson, Lily kept holding me."

"That was a pretty intense five minutes," Arianna said. "We'd lived a lot of it, but being linked with your Dad like that made it somehow easier, sharing it like that."

"Not for me," James said. "When it was over, I was ready to go get your aunt and uncle and drop them off somewhere where they'd have time to think about what they'd done to you."

"Like where?" she asked.

"I hadn't decided," he admitted. "I'd narrowed it down to the north pole, Antarctica, and the spot in the pacific ocean that was farthest from the nearest land."

"Good choices. I think they have enough things to think about. They were practically comatose when we left."

"You probably didn't see what happened after that," he said. "When they came around, they tried to tell everyone that the whole experience had been more of the same lies. They ran out of the room when some of the Witches and Wizards there at the press conference started calling for their arrest, instead of listening to them."

"I don't want to see them arrested," Arianna said. "All Aaron and I have ever wanted was for them to just leave us alone – back then, and now."

The enormity of the day's events finally did catch up with Arianna, and she started crying again, the wracking, heart-wrenching crying over something she'd hoped would stay in her past, yet had returned once again to tear open old emotional scars, and leave them raw and bleeding once again.

James held her, and kissed her, and did everything he could to comfort her. She finally cried herself to sleep in his arms, and it was then, finally, that he too let go of his tightly held emotions, and wept for the person he loved most in the world, and for what his own memories now showed him had been done to her.

His tears were personal, and there were others that Saturday night who had tears that were for the young Witch and Wizard that they personally loved. Then there were millions more that cried for them knowing them only as famous Quidditch players, and yet millions more that cried for them without even knowing of them at all.

James and Arianna spent the day at the cottage with Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Tracey. James had to spend a good part of the day on his homework assignments, but it was with Arianna at his side, and his parents and best friends around him, which was more than he could have hoped for yesterday morning.

Ginny had been getting qm's from Teddy and Ana off and on during the day. Yesterday's press conference had started a flood of a response from all over the world.

We have offers from Foundation volunteers in every country who want to help – provide shelters, and any other help we need," Teddy reported. "We're going global with the program immediately."

Ana told them that in the first two weeks they'd sold half a million of the videos. They were over ten million by dinnertime on Sunday.

Therese had been talking with Teddy a few times on Sunday too, and she'd sent Callie a qm to meet in her office before they went to dinner in the Great Hall.

"Hi, Callie," Therese said, giving her a hug after closing her office door. "Thanks for coming."

"You got an answer from the Foundation?" she said hopefully, and Therese smiled.

"Yes, and they didn't have anything like you were looking for, but they are going to have one now that they know there's a need for it. When they have it all figured out they'll let me know. Until then, Callie, anything you need, come and see me, and I'll help you get the help – or James can, if you'll trust him too."

Callie thought about that for a minute before nodding. "You can tell him, Therese. He must have known about his Dad and about Arianna and Aaron. I'm willing to take the chance on trusting him too."

"He won't let you down, Callie. Ready to go have dinner? If you don't think it will shock the rest of the school too much, I'll walk with you."

Callie laughed. "Compared to yesterday, it probably won't even be noticed."

Matt had been the only one of the Ravenclaw Marauders who'd received the memories of Harry, Aaron, and Arianna's abuse, and it had devastated him. Rose had been with him, as had the other Marauders, and had held him as the images had played out in his mind, and as the waves of pain had run their terrible course through him during that five minutes of anguish.

She'd been there for him all through the rest of the weekend, including staying up with him most of the night in the Common room, helping him deal with the memories which, if not still painfully raw, were still with him.

The younger Marauders might not have those memories, but they'd all been affected too. They'd seen the press conference, and the results of what had happened – hardened reporters, and the less scrupulous members of the Wizengamot reduced to the breaking point.

Then there was the older students like Matt in their Houses, and the Professors and staff at the school who'd all been so devastated by what they'd been shown. Many of the younger students had watched WMVN in particular, who'd done a particularly good job of talking with younger teens about the events, without going in to graphic details that they didn't need to know.

For Al and Lily, who'd seen those awful scars on Aaron and Arianna, they hadn't needed those memories to understand what had happened.

When they weren't doing homework, they spent the weekend helping their friends. They were there for Andy, Jon, Laura, Therese, and anyone else that they could reach and help out.

Sunday night, James and Arianna were once again snuggled in bed. The worst of the storm was over, and they were both tired from not having much sleep the night before, and having two long days on each side of that. When they drifted off to sleep, it was not the restless, troubled sleep they'd woken from Sunday morning. When they got up on Monday, it was feeling refreshed, like waking from a long illness to feel suddenly well again.

James kissed Arianna goodbye, and he apparated back to Hogwarts with enough time to drop off his bag, get the things he needed for his morning classes, and get to the Great Hall to join his friends for breakfast. Now that James was back at school, he fervently hoped that all of the other lessons this year would be taught in the classroom.

Every other odult Witch and Wizard in the world hoped so too.


	86. A Few New Tricks

Chapter Eighty-Six – A Few New Tricks

When James got back to school on Monday, he'd gotten right back to work, completely ignoring the furor around the Wizarding World that the Saturday morning press conference had caused. He was glad that the outcry was in support of the Phoenix Foundation, and had taken a program that was in it's infancy, and in a matter of days, exploded it into a worldwide effort, but he needed to focus on his classes and responsibilities at school, and not be constantly distracted.

The rest of the New Marauders did the same thing. Carolyn and Brianna were finding the OWL level classes increasingly difficult, and Lily, Al, and the others were helping them out a lot to keep up with the material. All of the sixth year Marauders were continuing to be tops of their year.

There were more kids needing help from the New Marauders, and the mentors were also in higher than ever demand. With the first two Quidditch games of the school year coming up in November too, they all seemed to be on the go somewhere, or doing work of some kind day and night.

Other than Quidditch practices, which were certainly fun, if a lot of work too, you might think that the Marauders weren't having much fun with all of that work. That would be an incorrect conclusion, since most of their studies involved learning new magics, and that was definitely equal parts hard work and fun. Learning the really advanced magic for the sixth and NEWT year Marauders was even better, and that was taken to a whole new level for some of the Marauders beginning on Wednesday night.

There was another knock on James' office door, and he inwardly groaned, but called for whoever it was to come in. He smiled in relief when Al walked in and closed the door.

"Hey, Al," James said. "What's up? Did you lose Carolyn?"

Al laughed and came to sit down. "No, I needed to see you myself, and then we're probably going to need to go see Professor McGonagall."

James could see he was serious, and so kept the first three wisecracks that had come to mind to himself.

"Sounds serious. Let me have it."

Al smiled. "I guess you could say it's serious, but don't worry, it's not a bad thing. I think it'll be easier if I just show you."

With that, he stood up, concentrated hard, and a moment later, instead of Al standing there, James was suddenly looking at an incredibly beautiful Golden Eagle perched on the back of the chair that Al had just vacated. A golden eagle with emerald green eyes that flashed brilliantly with power and intelligence.

"Can I keep you?" James asked, admiring his brother's Animagus.

"No," Al said after changing back, and grinning at him. "I do have to register right away, though, or I could get into a lot of trouble. James stood up from his chair, came around the desk and gave his younger brother a very rare hug.

"Congratulations," James told him. "Your eagle is magnificent too. I'm surprised your Animagus isn't the same as your Phoenix Patronus, though."

"You can't have a magical creature animagus, James, remember?"

James nodded. "Oh, yeah. I just keep forgetting that the Golden Phoenix is one of the magical creatures. Let's go see the Professor. You know that Professor Macmillan is going to want to see this too, right?"

Al grinned at him. "If they want me to fly around, I'll need a bigger room that McGonagall's office."

They were let in to see the Headmistress right away, and James had been right that Al would be demonstrating for Professor Macmillan, but they weren't alone, since the Witch in charge of registering Animagus (which was a stupid full time job, considering that Al was the first one in decades), came to document him, and several other Professors came along too, since the event was so rare.

"Alright, Al," Professor McGonagall told him. "You may proceed."

They were in the Transfiguration classroom, and Al quickly changed forms, flew around the room, and then landed on a desk so that the Witch from the Ministry could photograph him for the registry. When she advised him that she had what she needed, he changed back, and was grinning at the smiling faces of his brother and Professors.

"Nicely done, Mr. Potter," Professor Macmillan told him. You have quite the Animagus form too. Your wingspan must have been six or seven feet."

"It was the eyes that struck me," Professor Parvati Macmillan told her husband Ernie. "That's definitely his Animagus' distinguishing marking."

There were a few more questions for Al, and then he was allowed to leave with James, and they went back to his office.

"You know I'm wondering what mine would be now," James told Al with a laugh. "What's it like?"

"It's brilliant," Al said. "Especially the flying part."

"Is it difficult to do?"

"You could do it," Al assured him. "Interested?"

James laughed. "You bet," he told Al. "Where do I start?"

"How about I give you a little help with a different trick I learned?" Al suggested.

He stood up, walked around behind James' chair, and put his hand on his brother's head.

"What are you doing?" James asked him curiously, but then suddenly he stiffened for a few moments. His eyes lost focus, and then it was over, and he was shaking his head to clear the fog from it.

"Alright, then," James said, what did you do?"

Al sat down across from him again and just smiled and waited. The answer to James' question came to him unaided, and his eyes widened in amazement.

"How did you do that?" he asked. "And if you can, why not teach me all of my seventh year classes that way?"

Al laughed. "I can't really explain the how very adequately, and the reason I can't do the second part is because it's a fairly difficult trick to do, and a whole year of knowledge is a lot of information to try and transfer."

That last word in particular had caught James' attention. "It's similar to what Dad did last weekend to everyone," he said, sure he was right.

"Yes," Al agreed. "Give it some time to settle in, and then you'll also need to figure out what your Animagus is. That might come to you quickly, or you may need to mull it over for a while."

James nodded. "Anything else?"

"No, you have all the information that I have, and you're lots strong enough to do this magic, so you won't have to worry about living your life out as a kneazle cat."

James nodded, grinning at Al's reference to the silly rumours about Mrs Norris. "Whatever my Animagus is, I sure hope it's not anything that Golden Eagles think of as dinner."

Al laughed. "No worries, mate. I have full contol over my Animagus, and I prefer my dinners cooked."

On Thursday and Friday, Al was something of a school celebrity as Professor Macmillan borrowed him at the first of each class so that his students could get a real demonstration of an Animagus Transfiguration. He wasn't looking for celebrity, but didn't really mind a one-time round of demonstrations for his fellow students – as long as he didn't become the Common room party parlour trick. The funniest of those demonstrations was when he showed Carolyn and Brianna's class his eagle. The other kids in the class had thought it was very funny when Carolyn pet his head, and he playfully and gently nipped her finger, making her jump back in surprise.

"We'll have to get Carolyn one of those Falconer armguards," Nick teased Al and Carolyn on Thursday at lunch.

"Too bad he didn't turn into a big cuddly dog," Brianna told her best friend. "Then he could have kept your feet warm at night during the winters."

Al and Carolyn both laughed at those jokes, which kept coming for the rest of the week, happy to give their friends the opportunity to have some fun. That trend continued on Saturday with the second Hogsmeade weekend of the year.

It had only been two weeks since the last one, instead of the normal three. This weekend was putting the Hogsmeade weekends back on schedule. Since the first Saturday of the month had only been two days after school had started, they'd made the first weekend in town a week later than normal.

Kieran and Lily were walking into town with Carolyn and Al after breakfast. James was long gone, and probably already hugging and kissing Arianna in town. It was a warm, sunny fall day, and they were enjoying the walk.

"We'll have to stop at SpaMagic first," Lily told Carolyn and the boys. "We're booking the appointments for the next Hogsmeade weekend. Then, other than getting supplies, we can do whatever we want for the day."

Since they had a pretty large group, they usually split up into smaller groups when they came into town, and Al and Carolyn were looking forward to having a day to just hang out with Kieran and Lily. They hadn't done much of that since before summer.

"We've got the shopping for the younger kids too," Carolyn said. "And now we also have Lance, Nadine, Vanessa, and Miranda."

"We'll see how it goes with that today," Lily said. "We may need to split this up in the future if it's too much for one group to handle."

So when they got to town, they made their stop at SpaMagic, and then started getting their own supplies, and that of their first and second year friends. That took most of the morning, and then they went for lunch before wrapping up their trip with stops at FashionKnut, Wheezes, and finishing up at Honeyduke's for the chocolates and sweets orders for everyone.

Arianna had met James at the gates, and they'd come into town, bought the supplies he needed, picked up the groceries they wanted for lunch, and then went straight to their little Hogsmeade lunchroom getaway at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

"Who'd have guessed we'd get to see each other three weekends in a row?" Arianna said as they snuggled on one of the sofas.

They didn't turn on the WWVN, happy to just stay close together and talk.

"How's finding your inner animagus coming along?" she asked James. He'd told her about Al's latest trick on Wednesday night, and about planning on learning to do it too.

"Haven't had time to really even think about it much yet," James said. "Why, do you have any requests?"

Arianna laughed. "Fluffy and cuddly would be nice, but I'd hate to influence you finding your true self."

"Then I guess I better scratch armadillo off of my short list," he joked.

"I'd appreciate that," she told him. "Ever wonder why your Mum and Dad never became animagi?"

James shrugged. "They probably just never wanted to be, or needed to. I never asked Al why he decided to learn how to do it."

"So why do you want to be an animagus?"

"You mean other than because my little brother did it?" he said with a grin. "When I saw him do it, something inside me just sort of went click," James told her seriously. "It was kind of like you and me – I just knew it was right for me too – just without any of the hugging and kissing."

"Glad to hear that," Arianna told him. "That better stay strictly a you and me thing."

"It will," James promised. "Except for Lily's hugs. There's no controlling a force of nature like that."

"Who'd want to try? I think we can both live with that exception."

They had a good day together, compared to the strain of the last Hogsmeade weekend, and what had occurred last weekend. When it was time for James to go back to Hogwarts, there was another long goodbye. It would be three more weeks before they could spend another day together, and neither one of them wanted to hurry the start of that three weeks apart.

When James apparated to the gates of school, Arianna went to the cottage to visit with Harry and Ginny. It was something she found helped her a lot after these days with James.

"How's he doing?" Ginny asked after hugging her in welcome, sitting her down on a sofa, and then sitting next to her.

"He's doing really good. I guess Al's been the talk of school with his Animagus show and tell the last two days. James says he hasn't had time to work on his own plan to become an animagi too."

"I saw the pictures of Al," Harry said. "He's a pretty great looking eagle."

Ginny smiled. "Don't get any ideas," she told Harry. "I like you just the way you are – featherless."

She turned back to Arianna. "Has he been keeping up with the news?"

"No. He said it was too distracting, so he hasn't been keeping up. It should start dying down though now, shouldn't it?"

"It will," Harry said confidently. "At least for most of us. The people that have been abusing those kids are in for a really bad time, though. For some reason, the Wizengamot, and every other court in the Wizarding World have suddenly taken a very hard line against them, and the Minister of Magic has told the Aurors to make going after them a priority."

"Might have something to do with that little sweetheart of a daughter he has," Ginny suggested. "I'm thinking after Saturday that it would have been very disturbing for him, and he would have been able to picture her face in those memories very easily."

"I'd just hope this is the last time I see or hear from my aunt and uncle again," Arianna said quietly. "I'm not sure how many more times Aaron and I can put up with them coming back to haunt us."

"Me too, sweetie," Ginny said, giving her another hug.

After Arianna left, Harry and Ginny were snuggled on the sofa together, talking quietly about their day.

"You know," Harry told Ginny quietly, "we could make the Puceys disappear for her."

Ginny looked up into his serious eyes and smiled.

"That sounds ominous," she joked, and he returned her smile.

"Seriously, we could make them a deal they couldn't refuse, and move them far away so Aaron and Arianna never saw them, or their cousins, again. Hermione moved her parents to Australia for nearly a year."

"They don't deserve that," Ginny told him flatly.

"Neither did my family, but you helped them anyway. I'm not suggesting doing it for them."

Ginny sighed. "I know, honey. You're right, too. They'll keep popping back into Aaron and Arianna's life anytime they think they can get something out of them. What do you have in mind?"

"Money and relocation in exchange for a complete memory wipe of anything to do with the kids. I'll do it like Hermione did, and give them new memories when I move them, and I'll get the rest of their sentence commuted as well."

"Way more than they deserve," Ginny said. "Make the deal with them honey. They've been fighting over a couple of million galleons, so you can probably get them to agree for half of that."

"I'll take care of it next week," he promised. "They're greedy, and they won't say no, so they'll probably be gone in a week or two."

"I love you," she told him, pulling Harry close for a long, sweet kiss.

"I love you too," he answered, smiling. "Let's talk about anything else other than the Puceys."

"How about we not talk at all?" she suggested, kissing him again. Harry would have answered her question, but it was quite a while before she gave him his lips back, and by then he couldn't remember what they'd been talking about or what the question had been.

At Hogwarts, with their time in town finished, the New Marauders got back to work on the seemingly never-ending homework assignments for the rest of the weekend.

James might not have had time yet to work on becoming an animagus, but Lily apparently had, since on Monday she and Kieran went to see James, and she proceeded to demonstrate her own animagus to her brother and boyfriend.

Kieran had laughed, and laid a hand against the young doe, and she'd quivered at his touch.

"I don't think I've ever felt quite this way about an animal before," he told James, who'd laughed too when Lily had nuzzled Kieran, and then given him a big, extremely wet lick.

When Lily had changed back, she'd given both boys hugs.

"That Witch at the Animagus Registry office is going to earn her pay this month," James said. "Since I eventually want to do that too, though, any thoughts on why your patronus and animagus are the same? They don't have to be, do they?"

Lily shook her head. 'No, they don't. Other than it feels right for me, I'm not sure I can explain it at all. That's the one part of it that you kind of have to figure out for yourself."

So Lily became the second animagus in under a week, and the attention shifted from Al, which he was happy to have happen. Lily and Kieran then had a few days of their own teasing to deal with before that news was old, and the Hogwarts gossip mill moved on to greener stories.

One of the advantages to being League Champions was that you had a little extra pull when it came to your schedule for the next year than you did when you came in last. For the Canons, that meant they could schedule series where they'd play two weeks in a row, and then get two weeks off after that. They'd gotten four of those sets of games for the season, and while it meant extra work those two weeks, it also meant that Coach would give the players three extra days off after the second game before starting to prepare for the next match.

The first of those four series were in between the two October Hogsmeade weekends, so that on the next Saturday, the New Marauders were gathered in James' office after lunch to watch the Canons play a road game against the Falmouth Falcons.

Lily had made the sixth and seventh year members of their group work before this game, by having them practice their conjuring instead of just Transfiguring other objects into the extra sofas and recliners they'd need.

"I hope the game doesn't go too long," Laura said. "I'm not sure how long this sofa of mine is going to last."

"Do they just disappear without warning?" Hugo asked curiously. He was sitting on one of the permanent chairs, so didn't have to worry about ending up on the floor.

"Pretty much, yes," Laura confirmed. "You might get a bit of warning, but probably not enough ahead."

Hugo laughed. "Then I'd suggest you sit on Andy's lap so you at least can use him to cushion your fall if it doesn't last long enough."

"You can do that if you want, Laura," Lily told her, "but you did a good job. It'll last."

Andy grinned. "It might have been more fun if you'd told her she should hang on to me for dear life," he told Lily.

The game got started, and everyone settled in to watch as the Canons quickly jumped out to a thirty to naught lead before the Falcons finally started to play a little defense. While the game went back and forth, the action was furious, but the scoring stayed close. The New Marauders started discussing what they wanted to do for the upcoming Hallowe'en.

It was on a Monday this year, and there was only going to be the annual feast – no dance or late night party on a school night. They all agreed that they should do something special, since this was the last chance that James and the other NEWT Marauders would be able to pull a Hallowe'en prank at the school.

"It's getting hard to come up with something new," Frederica told the others. "You've already done so many cool tricks, how do you keep coming up with new ones?"

James grinned at her. "The good part of that, Frederica, is that in another couple of years, you can start re-using those pranks and they'll be all new for the students that are here that didn't get to see them before. I'm sure if we put our heads together, we'll come up with something great for this year too."

The Canons – Falcons game went on for just over three hours. Aaron, Arianna, and Kimberly had finally worn down their opponents, and the score had been three hundred and sixty to seventy when the snitch was caught – by the Falcons' Seeker, who for some unknown reason had decided that outracing Liselle to catch the snitch to seal the loss for his team was the right thing to do.

"Look at the Falcons' Coach," Hugo said. "That shade of purple cannot be healthy for a Wizard."

"No, but his Seeker probably just saved them from a loss that would have looked a lot worse on paper than it was had Liselle caught it," Rose told her brother. "This way they only lost by one hundred and forty points."

Lily had been watching Liselle from a Seeker's point of view, and she laughed at what Hugo and Rose were saying.

"She let him catch it," she told them, still laughing.

"What?" Hugo said, as Lily changed tracks on him.

"Liselle let him catch in on purpose. They're trying to make her look vulnerable, but I was watching. She held back for sure, and took an angle that was just slightly off."

"How do you know that?" Rose asked. "It looked pretty close to me."

Lily grinned at her. "I've been allowed to win by the master enough times to know when his star pupil has done the same thing. I'd say your Dad and Coach are starting to set up the other teams in a whole new way this year."

Rose and Hugo both grinned too. "Figures. I'm sure Dad's got some obscure strategic reason for it," Hugo said.

"Or it could just to amuse the team," Rose told him. "I wouldn't put that past him either."

After the game, they got back to their homework, but James did remember to ask Arianna during their call that night about Lily's certainty that Liselle had let the other Seeker catch the snitch.

Arianna laughed. "I'm glad she's not working for the competition. It'd ruin all of Coach Ron's plans."

"So it was on purpose? Whatever for?" James asked curiously.

"They've decided that the best way to slow down how fast the other teams get up to our level of play is to make ourselves look vulnerable, and let them run around concentrating on that instead. We'll see if it works."

James laughed. "Have any of Uncle Ron's game plans not worked?"

Arianna grinned at him. "Not too many of them, no. In fact, since Aaron and I joined the team, they've all worked."

This call was later than usual, since Aaron, Tracey, and the rest of the team had dragged Arianna out with them for the evening, so they didn't talk long before they both wanted to get to sleep, and said their goodbyes, I love you's, and ended the call.

The Falcons' game marked the halfway point of October. It was also now just three weeks until the opening game in the Hogwarts Quidditch season, so Hugo was working his team hard every school day to get ready for the game against Slytherin.

The New Marauders had also added getting ready for Hallowe'en to their to-do lists, although that was definitely in the fun column of the list. James and Therese were finally seeing their Head Boy and Head Girl duties ease up, especially as the firsties got used to life away from home, and that gave James some time to spend on his quest to become an animagus.

James had finished up his work and was changed and in bed when Arianna called for their Thursday night talk, and he could see that she was excited.

"Good day?" he asked, and she laughed.

"The best. This morning, Aaron and I both got letters advising us that Rita Skeeter had settled our lawsuit out of court, and she's agreed to make a sizeable donation to the Phoenix Foundation for the Child Abuse program, and pay for legal costs. We were told she was stunned when she found out we weren't even looking for any money for ourselves."

James smiled. "She's obviously smart enough to know that any court would give you guys a huge settlement. That's good for the foundation. It doesn't surprise me. It's probably the only money she's ever spent that wasn't for herself."

Arianna nodded. "That's not the best part, though," she told him. "Your Mum and Dad have relocated my aunt and uncle, and they'll never bother us again. In fact, they don't even remember us anymore, even those memories that they got at the press conference they don't know were caused by them."

"What'd they do? Buy them off?" he asked, and Arianna nodded.

"Before you lose it about that, you should hear the rest," she cautioned. "They agreed to the memory modifications to forget us and have memories for a new life in exchange for a million galleons, but they didn't bother to demand to pick out that new life."

James started to laugh. "So Mum and Dad got to pick it out? What'd they decide?"

"They're the very proud owners of a moderately successful farm somewhere in eastern Europe. I didn't ask, and don't care, where."

"That's beautiful. Are they hard-working farmers?" James was having a hard time talking between the laughs.

"Dawn to dark," she confirmed, laughing too. "The main thing is, we'll definitely never have to worry about them being back in our lives again. Aaron and I will never be able to thank your parents enough for that."

"They'll be paid back just from you being happy," he told her with a smile.

On Saturday, James was ready to give becoming an animagus his first try. On Saturday morning, he had Lily and Al go with him out onto the school grounds, and find an area where they wouldn't be disturbed. They might have been certain about their ability to make their first attempt alone, but he wanted to make sure that he had backup if anything went wrong.

Al and Lily were both grinning at James when they'd found a good spot and stopped. James smiled back at them before he closed his eyes, concentrated hard, and for his first time, felt the flowing, liquid transition from his Wizard form to his Animagus.

"I knew it!" Lily said as she looked at the handsome young stag standing before her, and then walked up and put her arms around his neck to give him a hug. "I bet this is just what Grandpa looked like," she told James, looking into his hazel eyes.

"Why don't you change too," Al suggested. "You two could go for a little run, and it's a pretty nice day for me to go for a fly."

Lily grinned, and stepped away from James, then quickly blurred into her own animagus, then ran off across the school grounds, momentarily startling James, before he leaped away in pursuit.

Al laughed, Transformed into his golden eagle, and hurled himelf into the air to follow his brother and sister from above. They played together for nearly an hour, and had finally stopped when they realized that there was now quite an audience to their playtime.

The two deer cantered to the front of the school, and their eagle companion landed next to them, and then they all changed back, and bowed to the audience who now applauded their show.

"That was absolutely brilliant," Lily said, giving both of her brothers a hug. "We'll have to do that again sometime."

Kieran, Carolyn, and most of the other Marauders had found out about what had been going on outside, and they had all come out to watch the last of the show. Now they joined their friends to congratulate James, and tell them all how cool it had been to watch them out playing together.

"So do we have to come up with nicknames for you now like the Marauders had?" Rose asked them. "What were they? I remember your grandfather was Prongs – that one's easy to remember."

"Sirius was Padfoot, Remus was Moony, and Peter was Wormtail," Lily promptly supplied.

"Well, Prongs would still be appropriate," Rose said, "but we'd have to find all new names for Al and Lily."

"Never mind," James told her. "We're doing just fine with the names we have, thanks. Besides, we've been playing too long as it is – if we don't get some work done, Commander Lily will make us keep working while we watch the game this afternoon."

They did get to work, but that didn't stop the others from making suggestions all morning anyway. Top suggestions for Al were Talon, Bent-Beak, and GoldWing, while for Lily the favourites were Fawny, Red (not much of a stretch there), and Nuzzles.

"How come the boys get cool names like Prongs and Talon, and all you can come up with for me is something like Nuzzles?" Lily wanted to know. "I'll hex anyone that tries calling me that."

"Got any better ideas?" Hugo asked her.

"How about Prancer?" Lily suggested, which had Rose and Hugo laughing.

"Sure Lily, or how about Dasher, Dancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, or Blitzen – although I think some of them were boys," Hugo told her, still laughing.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked him.

"They're the names of the reindeer from a really old Muggle Christmas song we hear every year at Grandma and Grandpa Granger's house," Rose told her. "There were even Muggle movies and shows based on the song. It's about the flying reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh to deliver toys to all the Muggle boys and girls around the world on Christmas Eve."

Lily laughed too. "How silly is that?" she asked him. "Everyone knows that Santa doesn't have reindeer. He's just an eccentric, nice old Wizard. If he wants to live at the North Pole, and have his house elves make toys for the Muggle children of the World, it's no big deal."

"Just really strange," Hugo said. "Even if that's what you wanted to do, why not pick a nice warm tropical island instead of a frozen chunk of water for your base?"

"And why would he need reindeer to deliver those toys? Sure he used to actually pop all over the world, but now I hear he's the single biggest user of Mum's Translocators – at least for one day a year, anyway."

Kieran was grinning at them. "I kind of like Vixen for her name," he told the others, and they all laughed.

"You would," James told him. "In your case, it's very appropriate too."

Whether James, Al, and Lily wanted nicknames or not, by the time they went for lunch, they had them anyway, and Prongs, Talon, and Vixen all went to lunch with the rest of the New Marauders.

They were all back in James' office by game time. The Canons were at home to the Holyhead Harpies, and they were expecting a good game today, and were curious to see what Ron would come up with this week for his game plan.

That plan turned out to be to pump up the Harpies Keeper for the whole game. Aaron, Arianna, and Kimberly only managed to score four goals on one hundred and eighteen shots, while the Harpies scored six goals on Ron. The Canons still won the game, when Liselle, by mere inches, outraced the Harpies Seeker to catch the snitch and actually not only end the game, but also get the points needed to win the game for her team.

"What will they do next time?" Nick asked. "Have Sebastian and Tristan start fighting with each other?"

Rose grinned at him. "That's a brilliant suggestion, Nick! I'll suggest it to Dad in my next Owl Post."

Now that the game was over, it was time to get back to work. There were assignments to do, Quidditch to practice, a Hallowe'en plan to finish getting ready, and an upcoming Hogsmeade weekend where the girls would be spending the morning being pampered at SpaMagic, while the boys did all of the supply shopping.

Nick and Scorpius were in town doing just that on Saturday. They had a third of the list, while Al and Kieran took a second secition, and Matt and Hugo took the third, with help from Andy and Jon, since they got the comparatively heavy lifting part of the list – the Hallowe'en Wheezes, and the sweets.

"How are you liking being out of the limelight?" Nick asked Scorpius. "Compared with our cousins, and all the stuff that's been going on with the Foundation's Child Abuse program, you, me, Allie, and Brianna have been pretty much invisible."

Scorpius grinned at him. "I'm good with it, thanks. Brianna and I got enough attention with the minimum pay law to last us for a while."

Nick grinned at him. "If you two are planning on changing the world, you better get used to the attention."

"While you stay happily in the background and design really cool new buildings to put in that world," Scorpius said, grinning too.

"You know it," Nick confirmed. "I definitely found what I love to do last summer, and not getting all the attention you get is just fine with me."

"What's on the list for Scrivenshaft's?" Scorpius asked as they got to that store.

"Twenty-six bottles of black ink, eight bottles of red, and six quills," Nick said, reading from their list. "Then we have to go get a fair sized order of parchment for everyone. Al and Kieran have the Potions supplies, and the other personal supplies for the younger kids."

"Better them than us," Scorpius told Nick. "I'd say we're the ones that lucked out, but Matt and his group are probably spending the morning getting to test out the candies, since they're buying in such large quantities."

"We'll stop in there when we're done for our own orders," Nick said. "I want to get something extra for Allie too."

"Good idea, but if it's alright with you, I'll get something for Brianna instead of Allie when we go there," Scorpius said with a grin.

While the girls were having fun at SpaMagic, and the boys were doing the supply runs, James and Arianna had picked up his supplies, and then retreated to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and the sitting room in the lunchroom there.

"Where'd we send the staff for their lunches today?" James asked as they sat down on a sofa and snuggled close.

"They have to go in pairs, and they only get a half hour, so they're having lunch at the Marauders Mall, and their orders were place in advance so they'll be ready when they each get there."

"They probably like the change from just coming back here to eat," he suggested.

Arianna nodded. "They do. I saw Uncle George after the last time we were here, and he told me that after this year, they want the company to do lunches like this for them occasionally."

By that point in the conversation, James was doing a little nibbling of his own, and they both quickly forgot all about what they'd been talking about, or even about talking about anything at all. Three weeks apart was a long time, and they had better things to do than to discuss whether Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was going to start a lunch program for it's employees next year.

There was a happy group of boys outside of SpaMagic just before noon, waiting for their girlfriends to emerge from that mysterious place that took beautiful Witches in, and then a few hours later, returned a group of stunningly gorgeous Witches back out again. What secret processes were involved in those transformations wasn't information that was even slightly important to the boys at all.

Al and Kieran had been looking out for their boys, and when the girls did come out, it was to find their boyfriends each holding a rose out for them in greeting.

"Shall we go for lunch?" Matt suggested to everyone. "I can hardly wait to get there and watch the other guys start drooling on the tables, and cry into their mugs of butterbeer."

They did that, and Matt wasn't far wrong about the reaction from some of the other boys at the Three Broomsticks. There were even a few young Wizards who were seen getting smacked by a girlfriend for staring a bit too long.

After lunch, the girls went shopping for clothes for an hour or so, while the boys had fun watching them play dress up, and then they decided to get back to school and get a head start of their homework.

James had needed to apparate to the gates, go animagus, and run full speed back to school to make it in time. He took the stairs in one bound, and changed back as he hit the doorway, skidding to a stop and breathing hard.

"Ten seconds to spare," Lily said loudly. "You couldn't have waited until next week to find your animagus, could you?"

James grinned at her, welcoming her hug and kiss.

"It definitely came in handy this time," he said. "The fun part is just an added bonus."

"Glad you had fun," Lily told him. "Now let's join the others and get to work. We have a lot to get done if we hope to be taking it easier on Monday for Hallowe'en."

"Then I better get to it," James agreed. "We wouldn't want to miss out on the Hallowe'en fun."

There was lots of Hallowe'en fun to have before getting to Monday, as kids really got into using their Chocolate Wheezes and other holiday gags and tricks. There were always vampires, or ghouls, or werewolves wandering around the school, and there were a lot more of the Wheezes pranks going around all weekend too.

On Monday morning, the students woke up and got ready for their day, watching everyone and everywhere to see what the big TNM trick, tricks, or treats would be this year. There was nothing by the time breakfast had started, and there was a buzz in the Great Hall as the kids tried to outguess each other as to what would happen.

They all went off to classes for the morning, and still nothing happened. Nothing happened at all during lunch, or while afternoon classes were going on. When classes finished for the day, still nothing happened. Kids did homework, had Quidditch practices, and whatever else until dinner with no sign at all of a TNM Hallowe'en prank.

When the Hallowe'en feast was ending, and still nothing extraordinary had happened, most of the students decided that nothing would be happening. That's when the New Marauders sprung their prank.

Suddenly, the lights in the Great Hall went out, and utter and complete darkness fell over the Professors and students. After a few moments where they let the shock of the blackness sink in, the WWVN came on – the only illumination in the room. The first thing they all heard was a spine-chilling, drawn-out laugh.

"Good evening," the voice said loudly. Dark images of the school flashed across the screen. "I'd tell you not to be afraid ghouls and gargoyles, but you should be, for tonight, you shall all be experiencing the Haunted Hogwarts Adventure." There was more laughter, and screams in the background.

"Be prepared to be terrified," the voice told them. The doors to the Great Hall opened with a loud creaking noise that they didn't actually have, and outside of the doors, they could all see something that looked like large versions of Gringots carts waiting.

"There is lots of room for everyone," the voice said, "So if we could please have our first victims – I mean guests, we promise that at least some of you will return – if you survive."

The WWVN winked out, and the only light was coming from the hallway outside. It seemed that none of the students took the warning about being terrified seriously, since most of the kids got up and started lining up. As each car was filled, it shot off up the nearest stairway and out of sight.

By the time the third car loaded up, everyone that was waiting could hear screaming, shouts, and laughter coming from students that were in the first cars echoing back toward them.

The New Marauders were all in line too. Kieran and Allie had joined Nick and Lily, and when they got to the front of the fast-moving line, they were joined in the same car with Scorpius, Brianna, Rose, Matt, Vanessa, Nadine, Lance, and Colin. When they were seated, their cart shot off up the stairs, and the wild ride began.

They were flying along through darkened first-floor hallways at heart-stopping speed, and then suddenly one of the school ghosts would pop out with no notice and scream or moan at them. Suits of armour would become animated, swinging swords or spears, and even the portraits and paintings along the walls tried to scare the students.

Another rocket ride up the stairs to the second floor, and then suddenly they came to a near-screeching stop, and were all squeezed through the doorway into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where they faced the sinks, and then suddenly plunged through the dark into the abyss before them.

On their way down, they couldn't see anything, but by the screams coming past them, one of the other cars met them coming back up, and their motion suggested that their cart was turned sideways when they passed so that they faced each other as both groups quite literally went screaming past each other.

When they reached the bottom, they shot along a still darkened corridor until they could finally see a dim light ahead. Getting there, they all wished they'd still been in the dark, as what they saw was a basilisk just before it opened a gaping, fanged mouth and swallowed them whole.

However it was done, the next thing they knew, they were ascending again, and passed another car that was on the way down. They were spit back out into the second floor bathroom, where Moaning Myrtle greeted them with a scream as her toilets spewed water. Then they were squeezed back out into the hallway before once again shooting away, picking up speed for the ride up to the third floor.

Most of them knew what was going to happen, but knowing ahead of time hadn't made the ride through the Chamber of Secrets any less scary, and it made no difference now as they faced a huge three-headed dog, passed through the realistic looking doppelganger, and plunged once again into a dark abyss, this time through the trap door the beast had been guarding.

They landed, cart and all on the bed of Devil's snare, and watched as they slowly sunk down, down, down, and then dropped again to a downward slanting corridor that they again shot down at high speed.

Everyone knew the story, but coming to visit it on Hallowe'en night was something very different than reading a story in the History books. They entered the Chamber of Keys and watched in fascination as the keys swirled around the room on little wings before their ride carried them on to the Enchanted Chess Board, where they watched a re-enactment of the Chess match that Ron had one, except with just the actual life-sized chess pieces.

Next up, they faced a disgusting smelling mountain troll that was happily just as insubstantial as the dog had been, but still terrifying, especially for Vanessa, Nadine, and Lance, who had not been in on preparing the adventure ride. Lance and Colin didn't know how to react, but Nadine was holding on to Colin for dear life, and Vanessa was doing the same to Lance.

When they entered the next chamber, and the fire erupted at each door, sealing them in, they watched and listened as the contents of the roll of parchment was read aloud. There was a long pause to let them ponder the logic problem, and Lily said aloud – "It's the smallest bottle."

They hadn't left it up to the students to figure it out, and Lily's answer had not been a key to their passage past the black flame. Then they were in the Chamber of the Stone, and they all screamed some more as they first sped around the Chamber, and then, before leaving, were attacked by a ghostly mass that was intended to represent Voldemort's spirit as it had fled the Chamber.

When they left that Chamber, they were plunged into darkness again, and sent on a wild ride back up to the third floor, then the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, where they entered the Room of Requirements.

What the New Marauders had required was another scary stop on their adventure, and they got that and more as they screamed their way through one terrifying illusion after another before finally escaping that room, and ending their adventure with another high-speed trip, this time returning them back down to the entrance hall with yet more of the school ghosts popping out at them before they came to a screeching halt and were let off at a spot not far from where they'd started before their cart moved forward to take another load of students.

"That was the scariest ride I've ever been on," Vanessa told the others. Her legs were trembling, and she hadn't let go of Lance, who didn't seem to mind that fact at all.

"Way scarier," Nadine agreed. She didn't have her arms wrapped around Colin anymore, but she was still holding the hand he'd offered her as they'd stepped off of the cart.

"I wonder if we can do that a second time?" Colin wondered.

"I'd guess that's a yes," Al told them. "I see some of the kids getting in line again. "Once was enough for me, though. If anyone else wants to go, have fun."

Colin looked at Nadine, who laughed and nodded. 'Oh yeah, I'm right there with you. Scary or not, it was a blast."

Lance grinned at Vanessa, who grinned back. "We certainly wouldn't want them to go it alone, would we?" Vanessa told him. Anyone else?"

Nick, Allie, Matt, and Rose agreed to go another round, but Scorpius, Brianna, and Carolyn were with Al – once was enough.

The carts kept taking students on the wild adventure until nine-thirty, and then started disappearing as they dropped off their last load. All students were back in their Houses by ten. James was in his office, working on a Potions assignment when Arianna called for their nightly talk.

"Hey," he said when he answered. "How are you tonight?"

Arianna smiled at him through his WiComm. "I'm great, James. How'd the big adventure go?"

James laughed. "It scared all of us, and we put it together, so I'd say it was a big success. A lot of kids rode it two or three times. Even half of the Professors tried it once. I'm told Professor Slughorn screams like a girl." Arianna laughed.

The school ghosts all loved getting to scare the kids for the night too," he added with a smile. "Peeves was maybe a bit too enthusiastic, but it was all good."

"That's good. It must have been a lot of work, though."

"Yeah, but we're getting really good at conjuring with all the practice Lily's giving us with stuff like this. I'm not totally sure how she and Al did the locomotion part of the whole operation – that was really brilliant however they managed it."

He put his WiComm on the desk, and they talked for nearly an hour as he finished his assignment. Then he took her to bed with him, although he turned it to face the wall while he changed, which had made Arianna laugh. When he was in bed and under the covers, he lay back against his pillow and smiled at her.

Arianna had already changed and gone to bed when he'd been doing his homework. She hadn't turned her WiComm around and he'd caught a glimpse or two of lace as she'd walked past her WiComm a couple of times that had been very distracting before he had forced himself to pay attention to his studies.

They talked until nearly midnight before they were both too tired to stay awake any longer, and had said their goodnights and ended the call. James' last Hallowe'en at Hogwarts was over. Starting tomorrow, he, and the other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team would be concentrating on one thing – his last Quidditch game against Slytherin that was now just days away.


	87. November Fun and Games

Chapter Eighty-Seven – November Fun and Games

The Haunted Hogwarts Adventure was the talk of the school for most of the week, even keeping talk of Saturday's Quidditch game from becoming topic number one on the school gossip network until Friday.

On Saturday, when the Ravenclaw Marauders were getting to the stadium, Ginny and Hermione surprised them by coming to the game.

"This is great, Mum," Lily told Ginny when she was hugging her. "Dad went with the team for the Kestrels game?"

Ginny nodded. "We'll catch up after this game. It's Hugo's first as Captian, and one of James' last games, so we wanted to come."

They all exchanged hugs, then sat down together in the Ravenclaw section.

"Where's Kieran?" Ginny asked.

Lily pointed to the Hufflepuff section, where he sat with his team.

"He's teaching his team how to study their opponents during a game today. Nadine, Miranda, and the rest of his team were around him, and he was talking earnestly with them before the game. They all had quills and parchment with them.

"That's good. How's he doing so far as Captain?"

Lily smiled. "If the way his team treats him is any indication, I'd say he's doing great. What's new at the lab? Anything big happening?"

"Always. Anything we can talk about? Nope, sorry." Ginny answered. "I'm really glad to be back, though. I didn't realize how much I'd missed playing there with all of my friends until I got back."

"At the rate you're going," Hermione said, "You'll have that whole year made up for by Christmas. You should take a year off more often if you're going to get this inspired every time you do."

Andy got started with his pre-game introductions, facts and figures. Ginny and Hermione continued to talk with their kids while he did, catching up with what Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Rose, and Matt had been doing.

This was the first time that Ginny had seen the kids since finding out that all three of her children were Animagi.

"You probably all got it from your Grandfather," she told Al and Lily. "Your father was never interested in trying, although he probably has the gift too if he ever decided he wanted to use it."

Lily nodded. "I'm not sure how much I'll ever use it, but it's pretty amazing all the same."

Andy called Gryffindor and Slytherin to the field, and they watched as the two teams flew out.

"Who's the new Beater?" Hermione asked. Hugo might be captain, but his letters home were sporadic at best, and light on detail when they did come.

"Kevin Keitch," Rose told her mother. "Of the Comet Trading Company Keitch family."

Scorpius was watching as Dirk Avery flew out with the Slytherin team. Too bad he was a Beater. Scorpius would have liked facing him in January more if he'd been a Chaser.

"They've got almost a whole new team this year," Matt commented. "We better all take lots of notes on them."

Frederica was looking pretty happy too. Malcolm Bletchley was on the team this year too – a Chaser. She and Liam grinned at each other. This was going to be fun today.

Hugo shook hands with the Slytherin Captain and Keeper, Thomas Harper, and then Madame Hooch gave them her little talk before starting the game.

"We have liftoff!" Andy called out. "And James Potter reaches the Quaffle first, passing to Lance Longbottom, who passes to Liam Murray, who shoots – and SCORES!"

"That's almost identical to a play Kieran had last year against me," Hugo said quietly. "Too bad the Slytherin Keeper didn't seem to realize that."

Frederica was on a mission. She'd already been fired up in that this was her fourth House match, and so far she only had one win and two losses from last season. Adding having Malcolm on the Slytherin team motivated her even more, and she was all over the pitch, keeping the Slytherin Beaters away from her teammates, and sending bludgers flying after the Slytherin players. When Kevin saw how hard she was playing, he picked his game up a notch too – after all, he had family here watching his first game as well, and he wasn't going to look second best if he could help it.

Luna and Neville were sitting in the Gryffindor section watching their son play Chaser with Harry and Ginny's oldest son. They hadn't been into playing Quidditch, but they were very proud parents as they watched their son playing hard. He scored his first goal on a pass from James, and they'd jumped in the air and cheered along with all of the Gryffindors around them.

The Gryffindor team was actually a little younger than the Slytherin team, but they had more experience, and it showed as they started to pull away. Hugo had only allowed one goal, and then the game abruptly came to an end when Colin caught the snitch easily after faking out the Slytherin Seeker to end the game at the forty-six minute mark. The final score was two hundred and thirty to ten.

The teams landed on the pitch, shook hands, and then the Slytherin team left the field, while the families and friends of Hugo and the rest of the Gryffindor team joined them on the pitch to congratulate them.

"Nice catch," Lily told Colin, giving him a hug. "Way to start your Quidditch career!"

Colin grinned. "Thanks, Lily. This was even better than I'd dreamed it would be."

"Just wait, it keeps getting better," she promised.

Lily had gone to hug Colin while her mother was congratulating James, and then it was her turn.

"Way to go, big brother," she told him. "I'm glad you won the only game I can root for you in. You're on your own for your last two games."

James laughed. "I'm definitely not alone, Lily, and we'll see if we can give Ravenclaw a good go this year."

"I'm sure you will," Lily told him. "I think my days as the number one Seeker at Hogwarts are just about over."

Colin grinned. "The question is whether you or I will be number two behind Nadine," he said with a laugh as Nadine and Vanessa joined them.

She grinned at him, and gave him a hug. "I don't think either of you have to worry about that this year," she told them. "Nice game, Colin. That was a really good catch."

"Thanks, Nadine." He'd felt that since Hallowe'en night things had changed between them. He'd never really thought much about girls at all, except maybe for a mild case of infatuation for Lily, but all this week he'd been thinking a lot about this one particular girl.

Lily watched Colin and Nadine, and smiled. It was just a matter of time, she predicted to herself. By the looks that Lance was giving Vanessa, he'd apparently begun to look at her in a whole new way since Hallowe'en too. When Vanessa gave him a hug to congratulate him, the slightly goofy grin on his face pretty much confirmed that.

Luna had seen that look too, so when she and Neville got there, she made certain that Lance introduced them to his young friends.

"Hi, Luna," Lily said, giving her a big hug. "I see you've met Vanessa and Nadine. Actually, you probably saw them in Chile, but I'm not sure you officially met them there."

Luna nodded. "The girls who spent the week on the road with you and Kieran. I remember now. No, we didn't get around to meeting them. Those three days were a bit of a whirlwind."

Ginny and Hermione both had hugs for Neville, which earned the Professor a few whistles from passing students.

"That should earn me a few points on the coolest Professor chart," he joked. "For some reason, Herbology still falls way short of DADA in that category, though, so Williamson isn't in any danger of losing top spot."

They all talked together for a while, and Kevin and his family were introduced to everyone before it was time for the adults to leave.

"Give Arianna a hug and kiss for me," James told his mother, giving her the hug and kiss to send along.

"You'll see her again in two weeks," Ginny reminded him. "That's not too far away."

James laughed. "Want to send Dad off for a couple of weeks and check back with me on that theory?"

Ginny hugged him again. "Nope. I don't even like it when we're apart for a few days."

James joined the rest of the Gryffindors in the Common room for the party, but a half hour before game time, he slipped into his office to let the other Marauders in so they could set up to watch the game. Vanessa and Nadine had been invited to join them to watch the game, as had Lance.

While James returned to the Common room, Lily and the others got to work conjuring furniture, setting up the drinks and snacks, and by the time that James returned with Andy, Laura, Jon, Therese, Hugo, Emily, Frederica, Liam, and Colin, everything was ready, and the pre-game was just coming to an end.

The Kestrels, their little leprechaun mascots, and hometown fans were probably wishing for a win to avenge the first round ousting of their National team in the Quidditch World Cup playoffs. The Canons didn't seem interested in granting wishes today.

The match started with Arianna employing the same direction flip that Liselle had used a few times now, except Arianna used it to completely fool the Kestrels' Keeper, and score an easy first goal.

"She and Liselle make that look so easy," Lily commented, "but that's an incredibly hard move to completely reverse direction that fast."

There were nods around the room from the Quidditch players, most of whom had been practicing that move with little success so far.

Arianna was playing a great game, and she, Aaron, and Kimberly looked like they were having a lot of fun too. She scored twelve of the team's nineteen goals in the first hour of the game, while the Kestrels could only manage one against Ron. In the second hour, they'd scored eight more goals, five of them by Arianna, when Liselle ended the game, this time with a free shot at the snitch after Tristan had sent a bludger at the Kestrels' Seeker that left him no choice but to pull out of the chase to avoid being hit.

With the game over, study commander Lily excused the Gryffindors to go attend their party, and Vanessa and Nadine went back to the Hufflepuff Common room, and they cleaned up from their little game party. Then the rest of their group went to get their books and get going on their homework.

There were two weeks until the next Hogsmeade weekend, and three weeks until the Ravenclaw – Hufflepuff Quidditch match. The coming weekend was the first open one since the second weekend in September. There were no Canons games or anything going on, and the New Marauders were hoping to get their homework done on Saturday, and have the whole day off on Sunday. They hadn't been able to do that very often so far this year.

James had been impressed with the Locomotion Charms that Al and Lily had used to do the haunted adventure at Hallowe'en, and the sixth years had been working on those Charms, and on advanced Hover Charms. James and the other seventh years were doing Muggle-repelling Charms this month. Different repelling Charms had been the main area of study in NEWT Charms so far, but they'd be starting Confundus Charms soon.

Even though Lily was only being allowed to take her sixth year classes this year, and was again taking three optionals for the first half of the year, she was allowed to work at her own pace, and the Professors were willing to let her take her sixth year exams when she was ready.

During the second week of November, she wrote the exams for History and Muggle Studies, and with them out of the way, joined the sixth year Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes early.

"Keep that up," James told her later that week, "and you'll be done your exams long before exams start next June."

Lily grinned at him. "Believe it or not, James, I didn't find doing twelve exams last year all that much fun. If I can get some of them out of the way early, then I'm all for it. I just wish they'd let me do that next year too, but I doubt they'll bring in NEWT examiners just for me."

Nick sat back in his chair and rubbed his neck. It was getting later, and they'd all been studying hard all week, plus the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff members of the group were working hard for the upcoming game.

"We've got enough stress right now, Lily. We should do something to blow a little of that off this weekend," he told her.

"Like what, Nick?" Lily asked him.

He grinned at her. "Pool party?"

"It's November," she reminded him. "It'd be a bit cold for that."

"Who says it has to be outside?" he countered. "If we can put a portable swamp inside, why not portable pools?"

There were quite a few grins around the table now, and Lily laughed at them.

"All right, kids, get all of your homework done on Saturday, and you can have your little party on Sunday after lunch. Who's going to volunteer to help with with getting snacks and drinks for it?"

Carolyn, Al, Scorpius, and Brianna all volunteered, and then they talked about what all they'd need to do for the party as they continued to work on their assignments.

When Andy put out the WWVN announcement for the indoor Pool Party at lunch on Sunday, the kids all cheered, and quickly left the Great Hall in search of the various pool locations that had been pointed out around the school during the announcement.

The New Marauders were all hanging around one of the pools on the seventh floor, where most of the Gryffindors were playing in the water and having fun.

"You were right, Nick," Lily told him. "Looks like everyone was ready to blow off a little steam."

"And it was a really great way to get all the girls into swimsuits," Scorpius said with a grin that Nick returned.

Lily and the other girls laughed, and Brianna poked Scorpius in the arm. "Just make sure you're not enjoying all the girls in swimsuits too much, Mr. Malfoy."

Scorpius gave her a hug. "I'm only interested in enjoying watching one girl in her swimsuit," he promised her.

They spent the afternoon playing and having fun until it was time to get ready for dinner in the Great Hall, and once again, the pools, and everything else from the party disappeared without a trace.

James had been motivated all through the next week for one reason – Saturday in Hogsmeade with Arianna. When the students could start leaving for town, James was out the door quickly, and was soon well ahead of the other students – mostly because he'd gone animagus and taken off at a run for the gates.

The students who'd seen him transform had all laughed. James was a well-liked Head Boy, and his rush to get to Hogsmeade to meet Arianna had become something that they joked about good-naturedly. It was funnier now that he could change into his stag form, and get there much faster than by walking.

"Has Arianna seen him in that form yet?" Therese asked Lily, who shook her head.

"I think she was going to meet him at the gates today, though, so she will any moment now."

Arianna was doing that shortly after Lily had told Therese that, and grinning as the incredible young stag skidded to a stop in front of her. He quivered when she laid her hand on his neck.

"I guess you won't be keeping my feet warm at night with an animagus like this," she told him. "You are definitely magnificent, though." He nuzzled her neck, and she laughed.

"Why don't you change back and give me a real kiss instead?" she suggested.

He did that, and they shared a long, warm embrace before starting to walk into town.

"What stops do we have to make for your part of the supply list for the younger kids?" Arianna asked James.

"Just one – I've got the apothecary stop for potions and personal supplies. It shouldn't take long. I'll need to pick up a few things too – inks, parchment, and a fair number of sweets and chocolates."

"Why all the sweets?" she asked. "Have you got a new girl at school?"

James laughed. "No. It's mostly for bribery. I've found that half the battle with being Head Boy can be won with a wide selection of sweets, and knowing which kid likes what kind."

Arianna laughed too. "You should write all of these tricks down for future Heads."

"Maybe," James agreed. "Let's get the shopping out of the way, so we can get to the you and me time."

Hugo and Emily were spending their Hogsmeade day with Lily and Kieran this time. With Lily taking sixth year classes, even Hugo sometimes forgot that he and his cousin had started at Hogwarts in the same year – even if she was only technically a firstie for just over a day.

Now in their fourth year, he and Kieran were Quidditch Captains, and Christmas break would be about the half-way point in their seven years at Hogwarts. Well, Lily would be done in five years, but that just meant that she had to grow up faster than the rest of them.

"What would you ladies like to do today?" Hugo asked the girls. "Other than supplies and sweets."

Emily and Lily exchanged looks, and Emily answered for them.

"Shop for clothes. What else?" she told Hugo with a smile.

He rolled his eyes, but Emily knew that he didn't really mind going with her to shop – as long as it wasn't an all day kind of trip. Kieran had just grinned. Watching Lily trying on new clothes was a favourite thing for him.

Hugo saw his grin and groaned. "Oi, mate, couldn't you at least pretend not to like going shopping for clothes? You're a Quidditch Captain, and one half of a world famous music duo. If word gets out that you like shopping, your rep is gone."

Lily put her arm around Kieran protectively. "For your information, cousin, that would just help his reputation. It shows that he's athletic, artistic, and sensitive."

"Maybe for the girls," Hugo said. "For guys, I think the term would be 'wus'."

Kieran laughed. "Go ahead and let them try calling me that. I've got Lily here to protect me."

"Like you can't take care of yourself," Lily said. "Come on. Emily and I will keep that part of the trip short so you don't risk your reps with your boys."

Al and Carolyn were wandering around town by themselves for the day. With their game just a week away, Matt was having the team work extra hard, and other than meals and doing homework, they hadn't felt much like there had been any time for just the two of them.

"Do you ever wonder what the people that actually live in town here think about having so many teens in town on these weekend?" Carolyn asked Al as they walked.

"For some of them, it's important for business," Al said. "I hear that lots of other people just leave town for the day and come back home again after we're safely back at school."

"That's probably a good plan," Carolyn said. "Where to first?"

"We don't have to help out with the extra supplies this week, so I guess we can just start hitting the stores we need things from, and then do whatever you'd like."

Carolyn grinned at him. "Whatever I'd like?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Then how 'bout we get what we need here, go back to school, see if we can get a picnic lunch, and then we'll go find a classroom, make ourselves a little sitting room, and after we eat, I'll snog you senseless."

Al laughed and gave her a hug. "That is a brilliant suggestion, and we can even tell Lily I was practicing my conjuring, and you were working on Transfiguration too."

Matt and Rose were picking up supplies too, and had part of the shopping list for their youngest friends.

"Remember when getting to come to town was one of the most exciting things to look forward to?" Matt asked. "Now half the time, all I'm thinking is that I could be getting some of my assignments done instead of having to come and pick up supplies and sweets and whatever else."

Rose laughed. "I know. James has other motivation to be here, but maybe the rest of us should just order from the VirtualMalls and just do our studying instead. We probably will when it gets closer to exam time next April and May."

"I don't like thinking about what James and Arianna are going through, since we'll be doing the same thing next year," Matt said.

"Then let's not," Rose told him. "We'll deal with it when we have to. Since we're not doing studying today, once we get these supplies done, we can spend the rest of today dealing with a little just me and you time."

There seemed to be a lot of that going around – the 'me and you' time, as most of the New Marauders couples paired up, and did their own thing. That their own thing mostly meant they were doing the same thing was not a problem, since that particular activity did not require group participation.

James and Arianna had periodically been involved in that activity together during the day, but it was finally time for him to get back to school.

"I'll see you in three weeks," he told Arianna, kissing her again as he held her close.

"And just five weeks until Christmas holidays," she added.

James nodded. "At least there's something going on every weekend between now and the holidays, so it should go faster. Talk to you tonight?"

Arianna nodded. "I'll call at the usual time."

They walked outside together, and he apparated to the school gates, and she apparated to the cottage to visit with Harry and Ginny before going home to a house that always somehow seemed empty without James there with her.

After their day in Hogsmeade, there was only one event left on the Hogwarts calendar for November, and that was the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff Quidditch match on the last Saturday of the month. There was still a whole week of classes, homework, and practice to go, though, and the New Marauders spent the rest of their weekend doing that.

On Saturday, the Canons had a home game against the Wigtown Wanderers. Harry and Ginny were going to have quite a few guests in the Owners box, and wouldn't be coming to the Hogwarts game. Hermione was going to be there, along with Kirley, Ana, Matt's parents, and Miranda's mother Gwenog Jones was there to see her baby girl's first Quidditch match.

Hermione sat with Hugo and Emily in the Gryffindor section, while Kirley, Ana, and Gwenog sat in the Hufflepuff section with Allie and Vanessa to cheer their kids on. That left just Matt's parents to sit in the Ravenclaw section and help Carolyn and Brianna cheer on their team.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Andy shouted out. "Today we should have an exceptional match for you! In one corner, we have last year's Quidditch Cup winners, Ravenclaw." He waited while the Ravenclaw section cheered.

"And in the other corner, we have Hufflepuff, who placed second last year, but has a nearly new team this year, which reminds me – let's all give a warm Hogwarts welcome to a very special guest in our audience today – Gwenog Jones!"

Miranda's mother stood up and waved. Kirley leaned over when she sat down again.

"Give it a couple of games," he told her. "Once you start coming to see Miranda regularly, you won't have to be a special guest anymore."

Gwenog laughed at his remark. She'd known his family for a long time – his mother had been one of her heroes growing up, and she'd played for the Harpies at the same time that Kirley's sister was playing for the Pride.

"I'm surprised that they even bother anymore. This school's getting to be a who's-who of famous Quidditch family kids. I hear Ravenclaw's loaded with them."

Ana nodded. "They're basically six for seven. It's no wonder they've won so many Quidditch Cups here. We'll see if Kieran and Miranda can change that over the next couple of years."

Gwenog nodded. "And from what Miranda says, they've got a pretty great little Seeker too."

"They'll need one too going up against Lily today, and then in February when she'll have to go up against Dennis and Demelza's son, Colin."

While they'd been talking, Andy continued his pre-game.

"That's right, folks, Hufflepuff has five new players this year, and they're going up against a Ravenclaw team full of senior players, but don't go and count them out, because my inside sources tell me that they have a great new Seeker in Nadine Deverill, and of course we can expect Miranda Jones to make an impact right away too."

That commentary earned him some more Hufflepuff cheers, especially from a very vocal Vanessa.

"Fiery little thing, aren't you?" Gwenog said with a laugh that Ana and Kirley joined in for.

"When we first met her, she was very shy," Ana said, giving Vanessa a hug. "She seems to be getting over that."

"Then we of course have Ravenclaw," Andy told the crowd. "If you know of any weaknesses in their team, please let us know, since the only new member of their team is Joe Jenkins, who's joined Nick at the Beater position, and I'm thinking that his Uncle Joey Jenkins has probably taught him a trick or two over the years."

"The good news for our team is that most of their team will be graduating next year," Kirley told Gwenog.

"And now," Andy shouted, "please welcome our two teams into the stadium – Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw!"

The students and guests all cheered as the two teams flew around the pitch and then landed, where Matt and Kieran shook hands. When Lily then gave him a hug and kiss, nearly everyone in the stands laughed.

"I never tried that with any of the opposing Captains before," Gwenog said as she laughed too. "Maybe I should have tried it."

Madame Hooch gave the teams the speech, and then threw the Quaffle in the air to start the game.

"And here we go, sports fans," Andy said. "Miranda and Rose go after the Quaffle, and Miranda gets it first, she passes to Kieran who circles back behind the Hufflepuff goals, and comes around the other side. He passes to Greg Griffiths, who dodges Matt, and passes back to Kieran, who passes to Miranda, who shoots, and SCORES! Hufflepuff takes the early lead ten to naught!"

"Yes!" Gwenog and Vanessa both shouted, cheering on daughter and friend respectively.

The game was definitely on, and as the action flowed in each direction, the pace was furious. This was not a defensive battle by any stretch of the imagination. Kieran and Miranda were definitely a match for Al and Rose. Kieran's new Keeper, John Madley was playing well, as was Scorpius, but they were both facing very good Chasers. Nick and Joe definitely had the advantage at Beater, but Kieran had also trained his team well, and they were all now very good at avoiding the bludgers coming at them.

The fiercest battle going on in the air was between Lily and Nadine. The younger girl was able to keep up with Lily as they raced around the field, and while she wasn't getting any real chances to catch the snitch herself, Nadine was doing a great job keeping Lily from catching it.

When they passed the first hour mark of the game, the score was just fifty to forty for Hufflepuff, but there had been a lot of shots on both Keepers.

Hugo and the rest of his team were furiously taking notes as they watched the fast-paced action.

"And we have to play both of these teams?" Lance said as he watched the action. "We've got some serious work to do."

Hugo nodded. "Yeah, we do. Hufflepuff is way, way better than last year, and they beat us last year."

The two teams moved into the third hour of the game with the score one hundred and ten to ninety, still for Hufflepuff, and there was constant noise from one section of the stands or another as the two teams battled on.

That third hour marked the turning point in the game as the younger, less experienced Hufflepuff team started to tire out from the frenetic pace of the game. Ravenclaw tied the match at one hundred and thirty points at about two and a half hours into the game, and when that third hour ended, they'd pulled ahead one hundred and sixty to one hundred and fifty.

"Nadine's running out of steam," Vanessa said, watching her friend. "Lily's lost her twice now, but she didn't have the snitch in sight."

Gwenog nodded. "Ravenclaw's better conditioned for sure. It's really starting to show. Miranda's getting slower now too, although she's still trying hard."

They watched as Kieran and Miranda fought on valiantly. They scored three more goals, but Rose and Al each scored two, and the score was now two hundred to one hundred and eighty.

"Lily's slipped her again," Vanessa said, "and she sees the snitch this time."

Sure enough, Lily was making a dash for the snitch, with Nadine desperately trying to catch and block her attempt, but she just couldn't reach her, and Lily made the grab a few seconds before Nadine could reach her.

"And Lily Potter catches the snitch to end the game at three hours, thirty-six minutes," Andy told the spectators. "Ravenclaw wins three hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty! Let's give both teams a cheer for a very well played match today!"

The two teams landed on the field as Andy started rattling off the game statistics. The first thing Lily did was give a very upset Nadine a big hug.

"You played a great game, Nadine," she told her friend. "That's the longest any of the Seekers here at school have been able to hold me off, and it's your first game!"

Kieran came over and hugged her too. "You played brilliantly, Nadine. We'll keep working and getting better. Today, we just all ran out of gas."

Matt laughed. "You're not the only ones. I was ready for a nap after the second hour."

Their friends and family started to join them, and after the hugs and kisses were done, they made the introductions. Andy must have missed seeing him, even though he'd mentioned him in the introductions, but Uncle Joey was there along with Joe's parents, and he of course already knew Kieran and Gwenog.

"You better enjoy these next couple of years, Joe," he told his nephew. "When you lose all of these seniors you're going to have your hands full against this team."

"I plan on it," Joe said.

Lily gave Ana and Kirley hugs and kisses.

"How are you, sweetie?" Ana asked. "You look great."

Lily nodded. "I am. We're having lots of fun this year so far, even though we're working really hard too."

Ana laughed. "So I hear. You and your brothers have made quite a stir with three new animagi in less than a month."

Lily grinned. "That was fun too, but the pool party was better."

"Things have apparently changed some since we went to school here," Kirley said. "Not to mention that I would've thought it was a bit cold out for a swim."

"Oh, that's why we had it indoors," she told him with a grin. "It was just fine inside the school."

"You guys get to have all the fun," he teased Lily. "And unless that's changed too, I'm guessing a party in Ravenclaw starting any time now."

Lily nodded. "We'll stop in, but we're hoping to catch the end of the Canons' game too."

"Too late, Lily," Hugo said when he joined them. "it's over already. The Wanderers may have found their way to Chudley, but they definitely never found their game. Liselle put them out of their misery in just over a half hour, and our side was already up by twenty-three goals to one."

"Then I guess party time it is," Lily said cheerfully.

There were more hugs and kisses before the parents had to leave, and then the two Quidditch teams went to the locker rooms to clean up and change, while the rest of the Marauders went back to the school, either planning to study on their own, attend the Ravenclaw party, or spend the rest of the day taking it easy.

Kieran waited for Lily so they could at least walk back together before she went to her party and he went to the Hufflepuff Common room.

"It's really hard to be disappointed that my team didn't win, and be happy that yours did at the same time," he told her as they walked.

"Reverse that, and ditto here," Lily answered. "It would have been loads easier if we'd been in the same House."

Kieran laughed. "I'm not sure I'd even make the team in your House, and if I did, I'd probably still feel bad, since it would mean that one of our other friends didn't."

"I'll have to hang around the party for a while," Lily said, but why don't we meet after dinner and go play for a while. We've hardly had any time to do any music for ages."

"I'd like that," Kieran told her. "We can work on some of those songs we've got started too."

When they got to the school, they hugged, kissed, and then went their separate ways until dinner. The party was already underway when Lily entered her Common room, which wasn't a surprise, but when Kieran got back to his, he was surprised to see a party going on.

"What's up?" he asked Miranda and Nadine when he found them.

"They're celebrating because they think we deserve it for playing so well," Miranda told him. "Pretty cool, isn't it."

Kieran grinned. "Yeah. Makes it worth all of the work to see we're appreciated."

James, Therese, Jon, Andy, and Laura spent most of the rest of their day working on homework in his office. The broke for dinner in the Great Hall, then got back to work before calling it a night around ten.

Arianna's nightly call came right on time, and James answered it quickly. He'd already changed and climbed into bed for the night, and was glad to finally see her smiling face.

"Congratulations," he told her. "You guys played a good game, if short."

"You saw it? Aunt Hermione said our game was over before you guys got done yours."

"Watched in on a portable while we were in the stands," James answered. "Liselle did them a favour. It was getting ugly fast."

"Too bad I couldn't have come to watch the game you guys had there today. It sounded like it was way better."

James nodded and laughed. "It was, and from the way the Wanderers were playing, you probably could have. Spotting them a Chaser might have made the game competitive." Arianna laughed too.

"When those Hufflepuff players develop a little more stamina," he continued, "they're going to be tough to beat. If the game doesn't last more than two and a half hours, they're right in it already – it'll just be up to who's Seeker makes a mistake first."

"Then be glad this is your last year," Arianna told him. "They're mostly young, and have a lot of upside."

"I'm glad it's my last year, but not for that reason," he said with a grin. "And now we have just a bit less than seven months to go."

"Speaking of," Arianna said. "We'll have to go over some wedding details over the holidays. We're trying to keep it as small as possible, but with our family, that isn't easy."

"We could elope," James suggested. "Problem solved."

Arianna laughed. "We can put up with all the fuss, and you'll really just have a week of it when you get back, so it won't be bad."

"Have you decided where you want to go on the honeymoon?"

"I really liked those few days at Marauders Escape, and I can take my two weeks there that I get working for a PBP Investments company."

"I'm good with that too," James agreed. "Maybe you should see if Aaron and Tracey would like to go too. It's around their second anniversary."

"You wouldn't mind them coming too?" Arianna asked, a bit surprised.

James grinned. "Well, I don't want to be in the same room with them, but it'd be fun to have them to hang around with during the day or to hit the parties at night with."

"I'll ask them, then," she promised.

"Did you go out with the couples to celebrate tonight?"

Arianna nodded. "To dinner, then I came back here while they all went dancing. I'll be glad to have you back for that too. It's not much fun being the odd single out."

"Same thing here. It's Saturday night, and all of the Marauders are probably cuddling in pairs someplace – or at least the ones in the same Houses."

"We'll make up for lost time on the next Hogsmeade weekend, and over Christmas," Arianna promised. "We're getting two short practice weeks too, so we'll have a bit more time than last Christmas."

They talked for another half hour or so, before they ended the call. James closed his eyes, fighting off a sudden wave of loneliness. 'Two more weeks to the next Hogsmeade, four weeks to Christmas', he told himself. Take it a day at a time and keep it together.

Commander Lily got everyone back to studying on Sunday, and the last four days of November wound down without much going on other than classes and studying. Quidditch was over until January, and until December officially started, it wouldn't yet start feeling like the Christmas season was really here.


	88. Countdown to Christmas

Chapter Eighty-Eight – Countdown to Christmas

Lily was excited! It was Thursday morning, December first. Bonus Day. She was sitting at breakfast with her brother, cousins and friends, waiting for her Owl Post to arrive with her report for SpellBound Investments.

When the Owls finally started to fly into the Great Hall, and one settled in front of her, she quickly untied her envelope, releasing the Owl, and opening it to pull out the two sheets of parchment inside. The first was a letter from Ana.

Dear Lily,

The first complete, full year for SpellBound Investments has ended, and the results are unprecedented for the music industry.

You will see on your summary what I mean, but while the financial results were great, what really impressed us was that since the video release for The Silent Minority, we have been able to send twenty-one million galleons to the Phoenix Foundation for the Child Abuse program with the proceeds from sales and airplay revenue. Way to go!

Hope you have a great bonus day – and don't forget, the new album comes out today. I'll keep you posted on how it's doing.

Anastasia McCormack

CEO – SpellBound Investments

Lily smiled, and flipped to the second page, and quickly read it over.

Annual Financial Report for SpellBound Investments

Year Ending November 30, 2022

Beginning Balance – PBP Investments" 36.4 million galleons

Beginning Balance – Kieran McCormack" 1.3 million galleons

Beginning Balance – Lily Potter: 1.3 million galleons

Total Beginning Balance: 39 million galleons

Profits:

Music Sales: 10.0 million galleons

Media Play: 2.0 million galleons ** See Note 1 **

Merchandising: 18.0 million galleons

Total Profit: 30.0 million galleons ** See Note 2 **

PBP Investments Profit Share: 10.5 million galleons

Kieran McCormack Profit Share: 9.75 million galleons

Lily Potter Profit Share: 9.75 million galleons

** See Note 3 **

Ending Balance – PBP Investments: 46.9 million galleons

Ending Balance – Kieran McCormack: 11.05 million galleons

Ending Balance – Lily Potter: 11.05 million galleons

Total Ending Balance: 69.0 million galleons

Note 1. Includes profits from all usage of SpellBound songs and videos on WWVN and WWN, along with several other media income sources

Note 2. All profits are net profit after all expenses, management fees, incentives, and taxes.

Note 3. PBP Investments receives thirty-five percent of profits. The remaining sixty-five percent is split equally between the members of SpellBound.

Lily turned around in her seat and looked over at Kieran, who grinned at her, and she smiled back. It was still hard to believe they got paid to play and sing together, let alone get paid a whole lot.

"I take it that SpellBound had a pretty good year," Carolyn told Lily, seeing that she and Kieran had been exchanging those grins after reading their Owl Posts.

"An awesome year," Lily said happily. "Plus a whack of money for the Foundation too."

Carolyn gave her a hug. "That's great, Lily. Congratulations."

"Thanks, Carolyn. Did you happen to remember that the new album came out today? I'd completely forgotten that until Ana reminded me in her letter."

Carolyn nodded. "Sure did. I ordered my copy already. It'll get here tomorrow. Don't forget that you and Frederica are supposed to order copies for some of our kids today."

Lily smiled and hugged her again. "Thanks, I won't, and we will."

After breakfast, Lily had time to meet up with Kieran for a quick hug and kiss to celebrate, and then they had to get off to their classes.

Ana sent Lily a new QuillMessage with an update every couple of hours, and not only was their fourth album doing well, but the Christmas album was back in stores for the holidays and selling strong too.

By lunch, they'd sold a quarter million, and by dinner it was nearing a million of the new albums sold. Since most teens were in school, there were a lot of sales coming through the VirtualMall stores.

The rest of the family was having a pretty good bonus day too. Ginny, Hermione, and their friends had the party at Marauders Institute. Harry spent most of the morning at the residence, and then, since he didn't have any of his own kids at home, borrowed Kira and James from Natalie, and took them out for lunch and to play at the Marauders Mall in Paris for the afternoon.

The CEO's and Account Managers for PBP Investments, Witch Investments, the Phoenix Foundation, and the latest addition, SpellBound Investments all had more fun with getting to give money away as they did with making money – although that wasn't exactly hard to take either.

It wasn't bonus day for the Canons, since theirs was done at the end of each season, but Aaron, Tracey, and Arianna still had reason to celebrate, since their account manager, Turvog, had continued his excellent work in managing their money, adding another three million galleons to their estate during the past year. With that, and their own income and bonuses from work, their account was now valued at sixteen and a half million galleons.

Aaron and Tracey went out for dinner to celebrate after work, while Arianna went to join Harry and Ginny for dinner at the cottage.

"How was work today?" Harry asked her when she came into the kitchen. She gave him a hug, and he handed her a glass of wine.

"Really good," she told him. "We'll be ready for the Arrows on Saturday. How was your day?"

Harry laughed. "I played dolls all morning, then took Kira and James for lunch, and then we played on the young kids rides at the Marauders Mall in Paris. It was great."

"I appreciate the invitation tonight, but how come you're not taking Ginny out somewhere and having your own private, romantic celebration?"

"I'm not allowed to do that on Bonus Day since 2005," Harry answered.

"Why aren't you allowed to?" she asked, confused.

"Because that particular Bonus Day ended up with an added bonus that didn't arrive until the following August."

Arianna laughed. "Al's a Bonus Day baby? I've heard that August and September are the busiest months for babies being born, but I was thinking it was the Christmas Spirit, not Bonus Day that was the cause."

They talked for a half hour or so before Ginny got back from the lab – or from the party at the Institute. She had hugs and kisses for both Harry and Arianna, and sat down next to Arianna at the table after getting a glass of wine handed to her too.

"Dinner will be ready soon," Harry advised them. "How was the party?"

Ginny smiled. "Everyone seemed happy. Bonuses were almost identical to last year, since the return on some of the investments of the last two years are just starting to show up now, and will really start taking off during the next couple of years."

"Speaking of money," Arianna said to them, "I wanted to talk to you about James."

Ginny grinned at her. "That's two words you don't hear in the same sentence very often. He's pretty much indifferent to the stuff."

Arianna and Harry both laughed.

"I know, and that's the problem. I was talking to him last night, and he wasn't in the slightest bit interested in how his own account had done over the past year. He doesn't even have Griphook send him an annual report."

Ginny smiled. "We do keep an eye on things for him, Arianna."

"Yes, and you'll both be around for a long time," she agreed, "but someday you're going to want him, and Al and Lily, to take over dealing with PBP Investments. If he's not interested in taking care of twenty or thirty million, how will he ever be ready to manage tens of billions of galleons, and all of the responsibilities that go with it? There are now hundreds of thousands of Witches, Wizards, and even Muggles who rely on your company – not to mention the Phoenix Foundation."

"I take it you have a suggestion," Harry said seriously. This had been something that he'd occasionally wondered about too, not really sure how he'd eventually deal with it.

Arianna nodded. "I think it's time that he knows everything about your family accounts," she told them. "I expect when he's done school, after we're married, and he takes a break, he'll probably want to keep working with Uncle George and Lee. It's what he loves doing, but he should also start learning about all of the PBP Investments companies, so if and when he does need to jump in and help, he can. With everything you have going on, starting to learn that from the outside is probably a years-long job."

Ginny nodded. "You're right, sweetheart. And I don't plan on that day being all that far away, since eventually, Harry and I will decide to hand it all over to all of you kids, and retire young while we can enjoy ourselves."

Harry grinned at them. "Well, at least one of us will have to retire. I'll start getting some things together so we can sit down with him over the holidays and break it to him gently."

James hadn't been thinking money at all on Bonus Day. The start of December had gotten him thinking about the Christmas Holidays – not for himself, but for the students that he and Therese knew about who would not be going home for the holidays this year to face abuse at the hands of their families. After they'd finished with their study group that night, he was sitting in Therese's office talking about that.

"It's hard enough that they're not going home," he told her. "Having to stay here would be worse."

Therese nodded in agreement. "What can we do, though?"

"I want to find host homes for each of them," James said. "Mum and Dad would probably take a couple of kids, and I could see if anyone else in the family would. Maybe some of our mentors would consider it. TNM could handle Christmas presents and costs if needed. If I have to, I'll take them all myself."

"Why don't you talk to your parents about it first," Therese suggested. "I love the idea, and I'll help out any way I can, but my parents and I just have a little place, so I can't take anybody, even though I really would love to. Jon and I would help with entertaining them and getting gifts and anything else you need."

"Thanks, Therese," he said, standing up. "I'll get back to you. Want me to send Jon in?" That was turning in to something of a joke, since these meetings were every day, and even though everyone knew there wasn't anything weird going on, having two boys in and out of her office every night did appear funny.

"Sure. Thanks, James."

While Therese waited for Jon, she thought about what James had wanted to do, the fact that he'd consider taking all of the kids himself – that she knew he could if he decided to, reminded her of the economic gap between her, Jon, and many of their friends.

She and Jon both came from average Wizarding families. They weren't poor, but they certainly weren't rich either. They'd fit in with Andy, Aaron, and Arianna, and later, Laura, since while back then they hadn't known that Aaron and Arianna actually did have a fair bit of money, the Foundation had made sure they had enough money for going into town and to have the things they needed for school, just like her parents did.

James, and the rest of his family, treated them as equals. In fact, most of the time he didn't even seem to notice that some of the things he could do because he did have money weren't things that others around him could do. Like when he just decided to buy a house last Christmas for his about-to-be fiancée.

"You seem deep in thought," Jon said, startling her. She hadn't even heard him come in.

"James was just talking about something he wants to do for the holidays, and it got me thinking about what a difference there is in his life compared to ours."

Jon shrugged. "Maybe we'll be rich and famous someday too. None of our friends are stuck up about it like most of the kids from rich families here are. Other than flying a lightningbolt, driving a Porsche, and being the oldest son of the most famous Wizarding family in the world, he's just a regular guy."

Therese laughed. "You forgot the 'engaged to a World Famous professional Quidditch player'."

"And probably a couple dozen other things, but if you're done with all of the thinking, why don't we snuggle up on the sofa and find something better to do?"

James had written to his parents after speaking with Therese, and had hurriedly posted it so it would get the them on Friday morning.

Harry and Ginny were having breakfast when that letter arrived, and Ginny had read it out loud. When she'd finished, they looked at each other for a long minute before either spoke.

"We've created a whole family of do-gooder monsters," Ginny finally said.

"He wants to take in nine kids for the Holidays," Harry said, taking a deep breath. "James will be with Arianna, so we could take up to three without putting two to a room."

Ginny smiled. "Like we could say no to him. I think it'd be important to put them with people they'll trust, so let's see if Aaron and Tracey, Stewart and Isabelle, and Kirley and Ana would take one or two each. Then if James and Arianna take two, we could cover them all."

"They won't be able to say no either," Harry predicted with a grin. "Why don't you send him a qm, let him know that he and Arianna have to take two kids, and I'll get spots for the other seven, deal with the details and get them to him later."

Ginny smiled. "This should make things interesting this Christmas," she predicted.

James was still at breakfast when Ginny's QuillMessage came through, and he grinned and showed it to Therese.

"Way to go," she told him. "Let's talk about it at our nightly meeting later."

"We can get a start on it," he agreed. "We'll be able to do more when we get the details from Dad."

That message made for a great start to the last school day of the week for James, and he was fired up for his classes, and happily worked away at his assignments with the study group. When it was time for their daily wrap-up meeting, he met Therese in her office around nine, and sat down on one of the sofas, while Therese sat on the other. They got the business part of their meeting out of the way, and then took up talking about plans for the students he wanted to bring home for Christmas with him.

"I've been thinking about it all day," he began, "and I was thinking that if Arianna and I are taking two students that maybe we could take Callie and Sarah." Sarah was a fifth year Slytherin who'd come to Therese after talking with Callie.

"We could ask Callie first, but I think she's probably already confided in Sarah, and they'd probably get the most out of spending a couple of weeks with Arianna."

Therese nodded. "That sounds good. I take it then that you're thinking about having a couple of boys with Aaron, then." James nodded his agreement.

"I'm hoping they'll take two also, and then if Mum and Dad take three, then we've got a Slytherin boy that could go with Kieran and his parents, and then little Carissa for Isabelle and Stewart."

"Will you be taking this to Professor McGonagall soon?"

"I'd like to talk it over some more with you and Callie this weekend, and if she thinks it'll work too, then I can work things out with the Headmistress for the underage kids. Do you know if either Callie or Sarah have boyfriends?"

"I don't think so for Callie," Therese said. "I don't know about Sarah. Why?"

James grinned. "Just something to take into consideration over Christmas Holidays."

"We know now why Aaron didn't have any girlfriends before Tracey," she reminded him. "It's possible that they all have similar problems with trust."

"I know. That's why I'm glad that Mum and Dad are going to put them together with people that know what they're dealing with. You know that even with living in places where they were abused, it's still going to be hard for them to be away from family for their first Christmas. I remember how hard it was for Aaron and Arianna, even though I was only eight at the time."

"I'll set up a meeting with Callie for us for the morning if you want, James, and we'll see what she thinks." She looked at her watch. "And you have a call soon before Arianna has to get some sleep for her game tomorrow, so you'd better fly."

James jumped up and headed for the door. "Thanks again, Therese. Have a good night."

On Saturday, they studied most of the morning with the rest of the Marauders, and then met with Callie in Therese's office.

"You want to what?" Callie said in surprise. James and Therese both grinned at her.

"We want to have each of the students who've been put under the Phoenix Foundation's protection come stay over the holidays with my family," James told her. "Before I talk to Professor McGonagall about it, though, we wanted to hear what you thought about the idea first."

Callie laughed. "My first thought is that you must have totally lost it, if you want to have a bunch more kids around at Christmas, most of whom you barely know."

"My family's a bit different," James told her. "We've always had extra kids around at the holidays, and we have a big family, so even this many more isn't really that big a deal."

"And your family is all good with this?" Callie asked him, still not really comprehending how any family would open their homes at Christmas to a bunch of kids – it was just too far out of any experience she could relate to.

James nodded. "I'm still waiting to find out how many kids will go to which houses, except that Arianna and I would like you and Sarah to come stay at our house, and we're definitely going to put two of the boys with Aaron and Tracey. Mum and Dad will take either two or three kids."

Callie smiled at James and Therese. "Let's see," she said, pretending to think it over. "Spend two weeks with basically nothing to do except study at school, or get out for the Holidays and spend two weeks hanging out with the Head Boy, his famous fiancée and family. Tough choice."

James grinned at her. "I take it that's a yes. The other reason I wanted to talk to you about it first is because this would mean that for those of you who come stay with us, the others will figure out why pretty quickly, so it does mean that a few more kids will know about your situation than do now, including my own brother, sister, cousins, and their boyfriends and girlfriends."

"I would hope that the other kids like Sarah and I will keep our privacy, just as we'd keep theirs. Your family will do the same, if they can. When the other kids in Slytherin see I'm not going home for the holidays, my secret will pretty much be out anyway, though."

"If you're coming home with us on the train, we might be able to work around that," James suggested. "Have you meet us at the mall after getting to King's Cross Station or something."

Callie nodded. "Maybe. We'll all have the choice of coming or staying here?"

"Of course," Therese told her. "You think it's a good idea, then?"

"Yes. Especially putting each of us with Witches and Wizards who have experienced what we've been through."

"Thanks to James' father," Therese said, "everyone over seventeen has now."

Callie nodded. "In a way, yes, but that was still seeing what happened to someone else. Since I know what he showed to everyone, and can compare it to what I've lived through myself, I know that there's a big difference."

"That's what Arianna says too," James agreed. "I know that experiencing what happened to three of the people I love most in the world has really changed things for me – and it was a lot different than just knowing about it the way I had before."

"And what it showed me," Callie told him, "is that I don't have anyone who actually does love me like that."

Therese was sitting beside her, and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Maybe not quite yet," she told Callie, "but we're getting there fast."

James nodded. "Yes, we are," he told the girls with a smile. "Now how about we get out of here and go have some lunch? I have a very important date with QSPN to watch my fiancée play a little Quidditch this afternoon, and I'd hate to be late for it."

He didn't have to worry about being late, and they were set up in his office with plenty of time before the game was starting.

"Looks like they're going to have a cold, wet day for the game today," Scorpius said as the QSPN cameras showed the rain-swept pitch, and fans that, while shielding themselves, still looked uncomfortable.

"Better their fans than ours," Rose said with a smile. "The rain won't be a problem, but that wind could make things unpredictable."

"Maybe for the Arrows," Hugo said. "Sebastian and Tristan's school was in the Rocky Mountains. That wind will be nothing for them."

James was still at his desk going over some schedules before the game.

"Who's got the supply runs next weekend?" he asked Rose, since she usually ended up coordinating that for the Hogsmeade weekends.

"You do," Rose advised him, "and so do Al, Carolyn, Andy, and Laura this time. You can decided for yourselves which stops you want to make."

James nodded and wrote a note on his schedule to remind himself. Rose watched him, grinning.

"James?" she said, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah," he answered absently.

"Do you vaguely remember doing some of the supplies on the last weekend?" she asked. Matt and a few others were grinning too, and James finally looked up so he could see her grin, and he laughed.

"I wonder how many trips in a row I could get you doing supplies before you realized that you were doing them every time?" Rose speculated. "I was joking – you have this one off, James. You can erase that note, and everyone who's really doing the supplies already know. I'll have the lists to them by Friday."

James nodded, looked at his watch, and put his things away. It was game time, and he got up and joined the others, sitting on a sofa with Therese and Jon.

The Conons and Arrows were called into the stadium, and flew around, each team making a quick circuit in the driving rain and wind.

"They're probably wearing their cold-weather gear," Rose commented, and grinned. "For some reason, the heated hats, gloves, boots, and suits haven't hit the stores yet. It must be some glitch that's keeping them in testing for another year or more."

Lily grinned too. "I heard there's some legal issues about whether the Institute or the Canons own the rights to them, since Mum was technically employed by the Canons last year when they developed them."

Scorpius laughed. "And you know how long these legal matters can stay tied up in the courts with appeals and such. It could take years."

"Oh, they haven't taken legal action or anything like that, yet," Lily said. "They're trying negotiations first. I think their first meeting about it is late next year sometime. If negotiations don't work, then they'll have to consider those years in court."

"That's a real shame," Nick suggested. "I'm sure the other teams would love to have that advantage too."

The Arrows certainly would have liked it today, but then they also would have liked to have a couple of Beaters like Sebastian and Tristan who thought that the wind was just a nice brisk breeze, and had no problem using it to their advantage. The arcing angles and the spin they could put on the bludgers today was fun for the spectators to watch, but not so much fun for the Arrows players trying to avoid direct hits. Two of them didn't.

"Ouch!" Frederica said after one of the Arrow Beaters went down. "That must've really hurt." She had a much better appreciation for bludger injuries now for some reason.

Aaron, Arianna, and Kimberly had been well-prepared for playing in the wind and rain, and their passes were either extremely short, or were actually hand-offs as they wove intricate patterns into their flying to confuse the Arrows defenders.

When they were on defense, they were able to recover more than half of the errant passes from the Arrows that sailed away in the wind.

"Uncle Ron's having some trouble with the wind," Al said quietly as they watched another goal get scored on him – the ninth of the game so far.

Hugo nodded. "The wind's really unpredictable, and the Arrows have figured out if they just throw it out there, that the wind can do weird things with it. Throw enough of them like that, and some of them are going to get past him."

"Like one hundred and twenty-four of them so far," Lily commented. "That's a pretty good save percentage in nice weather."

"We're still scoring a lot more," Rose pointed out. "Even if the Arrows get lucky and catch the snitch, they're not going to beat us."

A half hour later, that's exactly what happened, too, ending the game with a final score of three hundred and ninety to two hundred and sixty.

"Lucky sod," Colin said. "He ran right into the silly thing, and it got tangled in his robe, or he'd have never caught it."

"Just be glad it didn't' happen earlier," Hugo said. "Or they could've squeaked out a win."

"This puts Arianna in first place for the scoring title again," Lily told James. "She got twenty-six of their goals."

"She's not too worried about anything like that this year," he said.

"Who can blame her after last season?" Brianna said. "She could end up winning the title this year, and do it with less than half the goals she scored last year – and she came in second to your Mum. It'd have to be a bit of a letdown."

"Being number two in the record books doesn't totally suck," Carolyn said with a laugh. "Especially when some of those record holders saw themselves drop from number one to number three or four."

Lily stood up, and everyone knew what that meant without needing to hear it – time to get studying. They packed up quickly, grabbed their bags, and left for the classroom where they usually studied.

The last Hogsmeade weekend before the Holidays was the following weekend. During that week, they all worked hard on studies, since with three weeks left until they'd be going home for Christmas, most of their assignments were due this week and next. James and his parents worked their Christmas plans out with Professor McGonagall and the Phoenix Foundation, and then he and Therese talked with each of the kids, who were all enthusiastic about the idea. Five of the kids were very shy, and one boy was going to be a pretty hard nut to crack, since he'd become a fairly tough, self-sufficient young man. He'd probably decided that going along with things was his main chance. He was probably right about that – just not in the way he thought.

On Friday night, James and Therese met with Callie and Sarah in Therese's office – Callie always felt more comfortable there than in James' office.

"How'd you both like to meet Arianna tomorrow morning?" James asked the two Slytherin girls.

"I know you were here when Arianna and Aaron were," he told Callie, "but you never actually officially met, did you?"

Callie shook her head. "No, I was still a drone of the status quo back then."

James laughed. "Then why don't you two stop in to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes tomorrow with Therese, and they have a lunch room where we can introduce you both to her," he suggested.

Callie and Sarah both nodded. Sarah looked excited. She'd never admit it to anyone in her house, but Arianna was her favourite Quidditch player, and she was over the moon for Sebastian and Tristan. When the Canons were playing, she was usually hiding somewhere with her portable WWVN watching the game.

As usual, Saturday morning after breakfast, James was on his way to Arianna the moment the students were allowed to leave, went animagus on the fly, and when he passed through the gates, changed back, and apparated into town, where Arianna was waiting for him.

"A new Hogwarts record," Arianna said as he hugged her.

"I'm not even sure Al's eagle could do the trip faster," he said, "but then, I'm motivated."

"Let's try and get your supplies done before Callie and Sarah come to meet me," she suggested. "That way we won't have to go out for the rest of the day."

James nodded and took her hand. "It won't take long. I only need some parchment, potions supplies, and the usual order from Honeydukes."

They finished those three stops and had been back in their lunchroom getaway for fifteen minutes when they heard Therese's knock on the door, and James went to answer it.

"Come in," he said with a big smile.

When the three girls, and Jon, were all there, he made the introductions, and the four girls took over from there while James and Jon were shuffled off to the role of spectators.

"I hope you like shopping, Sarah," Arianna told her. "That's a very popular sport in our family."

Sarah laughed and nodded, her brown eyes sparkling. She was definitely one of the shy ones of the group that would be spending Christmas with the clan, James thought, but Arianna was winning her over easily.

"Have either of you been to the Marauders Mall in Paris?" Arianna asked them next. Callie and Sarah both shook their heads 'no'.

"Then we'll definitely have to introduce you to the world of amusement rides there too," she told them. "Is there anything special you'd like to do more than anything while you're on Holidays with us?"

Callie answered. "I don't have anything, but I bet that Sarah would love to get to go see you play."

"We only have the one game at the Pride of Portree," Arianna said. "Which is too bad, since if we'd been playing at home, I could have gotten you a seat in the Owner's box," she told Sarah. "James is definitely coming to watch the game, so he will need to bring you along too. Callie can come if she wants to, but you might want to find out how cold it's going to be first."

Callie laughed when she saw Sarah's pleading look. "I don't have to see the weather report," she told Arianna. "I think that look on Sarah's face pretty much seals my fate."

Sarah gave her a hug, which Callie awkwardly returned. "You're catching on to this hugging thing a lot faster than I am," she told Sarah, who giggled.

"Better get used to it fast," Arianna said. "You'll be spending a lot of time with some seriously experienced huggers."

They talked for more than half an hour, and then after some hugs, from Arianna, Callie and Sarah left, while Therese and Jon stayed for a bit longer to talk about plans for the holidays.

"Will you guys be able to help out on the days that I have to work?" Arianna asked Therese and Jon. Aaron and Tracey will be gone too, and that'll leave James with both the boys and girls. We're practicing Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday each week."

"We should be able to help out most of those days," Therese confirmed. "I'll let you know for sure next week if there's any conflicts with family plans."

"You could both stay over those nights if you wanted. We have lots of room."

James grinned. "You could even use two rooms if you wanted," a comment that made both of his friends laugh.

"That should shock the girls when they find out you two sleep in the same room," Jon told them.

"Callie's eighteen, and Sarah will get used to it," Arianna assured him. "She's a real sweetheart. I'm going to like getting to know her."

"I'd say she's pretty excited about getting to know you too," Therese said.

"Anything else we need to cover?" James asked.

Therese stood up, pulling Jon along with her. "Nothing for all four of us. I'm guessing the two of you still have a fair bit to go over together, but you definitely don't need Jon and I around for that."

Arianna grinned, stood up and hugged them both. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks," she said. "If you can stop by after shopping on the Friday you get back, I'll have some wine chilling and we can have a glass before you have to get home to your families."

"Sounds like a good way to start the holidays to me," Jon said with a grin. "We'll be there."

They left James and Arianna alone to spend the rest of their day together, and went to meet up with Andy and Laura to do their shopping and go for lunch before deciding to go back to Hogwarts and work on their studies with whichever other members of their group had decided to do the same.

That turned out to be all of them except James. It hadn't been a warm, sunny day, and walking around in the cold wasn't much fun. Lily welcomed them to the classroom with a hug for each of them.

"How'd it go?" she asked Therese.

"Pretty great," Therese answered. "Those two girls are going to have a pretty awesome Christmas."

Lily nodded. "I certainly hope so. If I can do anything extra to help you, let me know."

"Actually," Therese said, "What are the odds we could get the girls into a spa day or half day on one of the days that Arianna's working? We'd have five girls."

Lily grinned. "That's a brilliant idea," she complimented Therese. "I'll see if I can get bookings for one of the days before New Year's Eve, but if not, I'm sure we can get days for the following week. Have you wondered why there are more girls than boys?"

Therese shook her head. "Not really. I think that there are more boys that just aren't telling."

"Well, girls are smarter," Lily said, grinning at Jon. "In this case, though, they should all smarten up and get help."

Jon grinned back. "Some will, once they see that these first kids are really getting helped. They know if they ever ended up being put back with their families that things would be ten times worse."

"We'd never let that happen," Lily said.

"They don't know that, Lily," Therese told her. "The first kids that have come forward are the really brave ones who are willing to take a big chance. Most of them probably have never known anybody like the adults in your family."

Lily laughed. "They're definitely in for a shock to their systems there – especially for the family Christmas."

They got down to work, and James joined them after he got back from spending the day with Arianna.

"You didn't meet me today," he told Lily. "Did you forget?"

"No," she told him, giving him a hug. "I just knew you wouldn't need the extra hugs today. We'll be home in less than two weeks now."

"And counting," he said with a smile. "What's the subject?"

"Arithmancy for you, since Therese just started it," she told him. "Let me know if you have any questions."

"Yes, ma'am," he promised, going to sit next to Therese and getting his books out.

While the New Marauders had been in Hogsmeade, and then back at school studying, the first DREAM Christmas weekend had been going on, and Harry and Ginny had been among the volunteers in Diagon Alley and the Marauders Mall helping to make some Christmas dreams come true.

"You know, the other foundation programs are making such an impact here at home, it's nice to see that there isn't as much need for the dream Christmas program," Ginny told Harry as they had lunch together.

They'd only found five families to help so far during the morning, so it was the quietest day they'd ever had in any year they'd helped out.

"There's still lots of need in other countries," he answered. "Maybe next year we'll go spend a weekend doing this somewhere else."

Ginny nodded. "I'd like to do that. Mum's got the new Marauders Mall in India that just opened, and she was so impressed with Santiago this summer that she's thinking about putting her second South America mall there."

"If that one's ready next year, it gets my vote, although India was pretty awesome too," Harry said. "Thanks for the reminder, though. I was going to pop down there and pick up a few more cases of wine next week. Some members of our family have become quite fond of them."

"You know you can buy them here, right?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded. "Sure, but some of the best never leave the country, so it's worth the trip, not to mention it's an excuse to go somewhere warm for a day. Maybe I'll see if Kira wants to go with me and have a play day."

"She'd probably be all for that if it's at the beach or something," Ginny said. "She wasn't exactly impressed with all of those broken down old buildings when she went to see some of the old ruins."

"Still a bit young ot appreciate them," Harry said. "It'll give Natalie and Owen a reason to go sometime when the kids are older."

"Speaking of traveling," Ginny said, "is everything ready for the family Christmas?"

"Yes. It'll be a long day, but everything's been arranged," Harry told her. "We've managed to keep it a complete surprise too."

Ginny smiled at him. "That's perfect. I can hardly wait."

They got back to work after eating, and helped six more families in the afternoon before going home. The next weekend, they'd only be helping on Saturday morning, and since the Canons were playing the Bats, they'd volunteered to help out in Ballycastle.

While Harry was busy that week with Christmas shopping, and holiday plans, and playing at the residence, and a side trip to Chile with Kira, the Hogwarts students were busy with the last big push to get homework assignments and projects finished. Lily also wrote her Astronomy and Divination exams, now having four of her twelve subjects finished so when she came back she could concentrate on the remaining eight classes.

"Like still having eight sixth year exams are so easy," Hugo had said. "I have no intention of even taking eight classes in sixth or seventh year."

Lily grinned. "Keep your marks like they are, and I'd love to be there for that fight with your Mum."

Rose shook her head. "I really don't think you would, Lily."

On Saturday, they studied all morning, and then watched the Canons knock another win out of the Bat's stadium in under an hour. With most of the afternoon and evening left open, they got back to work and by early evening, everyone was done all of their homework with all of Sunday still ahead of them.

"Oh yeah," Nick said excitedly. "We've got a day off tomorrow!"

Lily grinned at him, and he did not like the looks of that smile.

"What?" he asked her. "Why are you looking at me like that."

"Because I think we should keep working tomorrow, that's why," she told him.

"We've got everything done!" he protested.

"I've got most of the holiday homework already," she told him. "If we work ahead, we could get most of it done before we even go home, and then not have much work to do the whole time we're home."

Nick groaned, but Allie laughed. "Come on, Nick. I think it's brilliant. The less work we have to do on the holidays, the more time for me and you."

He gave up. "Can we at least have the rest of the night off, oh great study commander?"

"Yes you can, Mr. Weasley. Study class dismissed for the night."

For the next four days, while most of their fellow students were either taking it easy, or frantically trying to get late assignments handed in before they went home, Lily kept her group focused, and by Wednesday night, they did get most of their holiday work finished.

When they were packing up on Wednesday night, Allie gave Nick a big hug.

"Now don't you feel better about the whole thing? We've got one Potions assignment left to do, and we can do that in a morning at most."

He nodded. "I admit it, this will be better for being home. We had to miss out on some serious goofing off to do it, though."

You've still got all day tomorrow to play with your Christmas Wheezes and that blasted MagicMistletoe," she told him. "I'd be careful, though. I think Brianna's losing her sense of humour about you getting her and Scorpius with it all the time."

Nick laughed. "That's fine. There are lots of other couples to use it on. The younger couples are more fun to catch anyway. Scorpius and Brianna never even blush anymore."

The last day of school was pretty much a play day in classes, and then time to play between the end of classes and the Christmas feast. Most of the New Marauders were happy to join in with that, but James and Therese, and most of the prefects were kept busy with their duties, and helping to make sure that all was ready for the trip home in the morning.

All of the feasts that happened at Hogwarts were special, but the Christmas feast was definitely one of the favourites for everyone. The festive holiday decorations and the excitement about going home for Christmas helped make it one of the best nights of the year.

This year, with the success of last year's entertainment, there was now a theatre group at Hogwarts, and the fledgling Howarts troupe put on their very first ever stage production after the feast, doing a teenager version of A Christmas Carol, where the young seventh-year student, Scrooge was visited by three Hogwarts ghosts, and convinced of the errors of his youthful ways.

Peeves was hilarious as Marley, if unlikely, and Moaning Myrtle made a rare appearance outside of her washroom to happily scold Scrooge as the ghost of Christmas past, while the Fat Friar handled the present, and the Bloody Baron was a chilling ghost of Christmas yet to come. Most of the kids knew from seeing the oldest WWVN version of the show that the Friar and Baron were actually reprising roles they'd played before, if adapted for this version.

The show lasted about an hour and a half, and the troup of actors and ghosts earned a standing ovation for their efforts.

"That was really a great show," Lily told Kieran. He'd come to join her after dinner so they could watch the show together. "I bet it'd be a hit on WWVN."

"Dad might know some people that would be interested," he suggested. "I'll ask over the holidays."

"I was actually thinking that maybe it would be something for SpellBound Investments to think about," Lily said. "We could invest in it ourselves."

"Good idea," Kieran said. "Let's see what our CEO thinks about that."

Lily laughed. "Your Mum will love the idea," she predicted.

Kieran and Lily had been going out for a while now, and so instead of making him walk her all the way to her door, and then have to come back to the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common room, she said goodnight to him at his door after the show, and then joined the rest of her Ravenclaw Marauders as they went to Ravenclaw tower to go pack for the trip home.

James went back to his rooms, packed, and then worked at his desk until his nightly call with Arianna.

"Is everything ready for tomorrow?" he asked her.

"Yes," Arianna answered. "Rooms are set up, and the pantry is stocked with everything you wanted. I'm looking forward to having you back. You're a better cook than I am."

"We can practice that together when I'm out of this joint for good," James said, and Arianna laughed.

"When you're home for good, why would I need to learn then – you'll be here."

"Will it just be Dad at the station tomorrow?"

Arianna shook her head. "You'll have a number one fan there too," she said. "Your Mum said all Kira had to do was give him the look and he crumbled like a cookie that got stepped on by a Hippogriff."

James grinned. "That's my Dad. The Wizarding World would have been done for if Voldemort had had dimples and a winsome smile."

"I don't think that's allowed in the Dark Lord handbook," Arianna told him. "I believe that evil sneering is a requirement for the job."

"How much are you giving each of the kids tomorrow?" she asked James.

"I wasn't sure exactly what to do with that," he admitted. "The older ones like Callie probably need more than the younger ones will. I'm thinking a thousand for the fifth year and aboves, and five hundred for the younger ones – they will be shopping with Lily a lot, and she's definitely going to want to dress them up. Do you know if Dad got the gifts done for them?"

Arianna nodded. "All finished, but I think he's planning on keeping his eyes and ears open tomorrow to find out if there's anything that might not have been put of a list, but is one of those heart-of-hearts wish items."

"He has a knack for that, so I wouldn't be surprised if he finds something extra for each of them."

"Well, we've both got early starts tomorrow," Arianna told him. "Let's wrap this up and get some sleep. Guests or not, plan on some serious you and me time over the next two weeks."

"Definitely," James agreed. "I love you, Arianna. See you tomorrow after work."

"I love you too, James," she told him with a smile. "Have a safe trip back."

The next morning, James and the New Marauders had everything worked out for seven of the nine kids that would be coming with them for the holidays. Callie and Sarah would meet them at the Mall, and James had already given them Translocators and told them how to send their things to their rooms.

The rest of the fifth year and older students would meet James in the prefect car when the train arrived, and the first and second year kids rode home mixed in with Al, Carolyn, Lily, Kieran, Frederica, and Liam.

When the Hogwarts Express pulled out of Hogsmeade station on it's way home, there were nine very nervous students for whom the train ride home was going to be the start of a life-changing experience.


	89. First Merry Christmas

Chapter Eighty-Nine – First Merry Christmas

Kira was waiting at King's Cross Station with Harry, Kirley, and Ana. She was holding Harry's hand – Uncle Harry, although she knew that he wasn't' technically her uncle, he and Aunt Ginny had just allowed her to adopt them.

"How much longer?" she asked him, looking up at him. When his emerald eyes looked at her, and he smiled, her heart just jumped for joy, and she smiled back at him. He picked her up and hugged her.

"It'll be here any minute," he promised, and then they both heard it coming. A minute later, they could see it come around the corner, and make it's long, graceful stop alongside platform nine and three-quarters.

Lily didn't rush off the train this time, instead helping with the younger kids that had traveled back with them. The boys handled most of the luggage, while she and the other girls brought their four guests over to where Harry and the others were standing.

She gave her father and Kira a double hug, since he was still holding her in his arms.

"Hey, sweetheart," she told Kira. "I've missed you. Thanks for coming to see us home."

"I misted you too," Kira told her happily.

Lily hugged Kirley and Ana, and waited for Harry to welcome the rest of the girls back home before making the new introductions.

"Dad, I'd like you to meet Dale, Amy, and Millie, who will be staying with us, and Carissa, who's going to be with Isabelle and Stewart over the holidays. Guys, this is my Dad. Why don't you all just refer to him as Uncle Harry like my cousins do," she suggested.

Harry shook hands with Dale, and hugged the three girls, who were all very tentative about the contact with him, so he kept the hugs brief.

James caught up with them, having Andy, Laura, Therese, Jon, and the other three guests. He hugged his father before making the introductions of Karl, Joel, and Mark. Karl would be staying with Kirley, Ana, and Kieran, while Joel and Mark would be with Aaron and Tracey.

Harry already knew that the last two members of their group would meet them at the Mall, so he and Kirley got to work putting Translocators on luggage and sending them off to various destinations.

"And I thought back to school shopping was a lot of kids," Kirley told Harry with a smile. They had thirty kids and destinations, plus two more they'd meet at the Mall.

"How many people have you got for lunch today?" Ana asked Harry, who laughed.

"I may have lost track," he admitted. "Thirty-two students, one Kira, and twenty-five or six adults."

Once the luggage had been taken care of, they left for the Marauders Mall. Harry led them straight to the restaurant where they were having lunch, and into the private room they'd be using for the next hour and a half or so. James had split away from them, and went to meet Callie and Sarah, and bring them along too.

It wasn't until the two girls joined the group they'd be spending their holidays with that the size of this family started to sink in. James introduced them to his father, Kirley, and Ana, and then it was time for the kids to be introduced to each other, where necessary, since none of them knew all of the others.

While they were doing that, Harry had drinks brought in for everyone, and a couple of trays of appetizers to hold them over until lunch started, since they had twenty minutes until the parents and other guests arrived.

Sarah was staying close to Callie, and they were sitting down with James, Joel, and Mark. Since they'd be staying with Aaron and Tracey, it was probably a good idea for them to get to know each other, since they'd be spending more time together than with the other five students.

Joel was a fourth year Ravenclaw, and Mark was the only other seventh year other than Callie, and he was a Hufflepuff student. Both the boys and girls didn't talk with each other much, as they quietly assessed the situation and each other.

Andy and Laura joined them after spending a few minutes with Kirley and Ana catching up on how they were doing, and Therese and Jon sat down with them shortly after that.

"What will we be doing after lunch?" Sarah asked James in a whisper quiet voice.

"Shopping," he advised her with a smile. "If you'd like to hang out with us, we'll probably be going around the mall together, or if you'd rather go with Lily and some of the younger teens, you can do that too. I should warn you that my little sister is an advanced level shopper."

Andy laughed. "Why wouldn't she be – she's an advanced everything else."

Sarah smiled shyly, stifling a laugh. "I'd like to stay with Callie if that's alright," she told James, who assured her that was fine.

When the adults started arriving for lunch, each of the nine first-timers to a Weasley clan welcome home luncheon were amazed at how this family interacted, especially between adults and kids.

"What's wrong with your family?" Callie asked James when he came back and sat down with them after going to get hugs from his aunts, uncles, and friends.

James smiled at her. "It's a strange concept, but we're pretty much happy like this all the time."

Callie shook her head in mock sympathy. "You poor, poor misguided people. Didn't you get the memo on how families are supposed to treat each other? All of these parents, and not one kid has been yelled at or hit yet."

"The only time I've ever been yelled at by a parent," James told her seriously, "was if I was across the room or yard. None of us have ever been hit."

Joel stared at him. 'Never? Didn't your parents ever punish you?"

"I got my Junior Joke Inventor's kit taken away for a week once for turning my brother purple," James told him. "Does that count?"

"No," Joel told him with a sad smile. "That definitely does not count."

When Tracey got there, James was off again to welcome her, and then brought her back to meet Joel, Mark, Callie, and Sarah, after she'd finished with more hugs for Andy, Laura, Therese, and Jon.

"I'm skipping work for the afternoon," she told James. You and I are cooking for eight at your house after shopping, though, so we'll have to leave a bit early to do that."

"You're cooking?" Callie asked him in surprise. "Should we stop for sweets in case we need a backup plan?"

James laughed. "We can do that if you want, but I'm a pretty decent cook, so I don't think you'll starve or anything."

Therese laughed. "He's quite a bit better than a decent cook," she assured Callie and the others.

Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were nearly the last to get there, and when the mad rush of hugs and kisses were over, Ginny came over to hug James, Tracey, their friends, and guests.

"I think my lifetime hug total just doubled in the last half hour," Mark quipped. "How about you?" he asked Callie, who laughed.

"I'm not sure how you work out a percentage from zero," she told him, since double of zero is still zero."

Mark grinned at her. "Don't ask me, I didn't take Arithmancy."

Everyone sat down for lunch at six tables of ten, give or take a couple of empty spots. Harry had gotten everyone to choose from a menu earlier in the week, and had pre-ordered all of the meals, so their food began getting delivered soon after they were ready to eat.

"This is like all the noise at a meal in the Great Hall stuffed into a room a fraction of the size," Callie said.

James and Tracey grinned at her. "Fun, isn't it?" he said.

"I'll let you know when the shock wears off," she answered. "I'm still trying to get used to being allowed to talk during a meal. In my house, kids were seen, not heard – if you knew what was good for you."

"They allowed you to be seen at your house?" Joel asked, smiling. "Lucky you."

Harry and Ginny were sitting at a table with Al, Carolyn, Brianna, Scorpius, and the three kids that would be staying with them, Dale, Amy, and Millie. When James had told him that of the nine children coming for the holidays that one of them was a pretty hard kid, he'd been surprised to find out that it was the first year Gryffindor, Dale, and not one of the older boys or girls. Amy and Millie were both in second year, Amy in Ravenclaw, and Millie in Slytherin. Both girls were shy and hardly spoke before and during lunch, unless prompted by Harry, Ginny, or the other kids.

He knew after one look at Dale that James had not been wrong. It was going to take some extra work to keep this youngster from growing up to be an angry, bitter adult, but Harry could see deep inside to the same core that the sorting hat must have seen to place the boy in Gryffindor. If they could help Dale, he had a lot of potential.

Kirley and Ana were sitting with Kieran, Lily, Stewart, Isabelle, Teddy, Victoire, and Karl, who'd be with them, and Carissa, who'd be with Isabelle and Stewart. Carissa was a sweet, sandy-blonde hair girl with the palest blue eyes Ana had ever seen. Karl was a fifth year Slytherin student, with light brown hair, and dark, intense brown eyes.

Kieran and Lily were talking with Karl, although saying that Lily talked, while the boys mostly listened would be a more precise statement. The boy didn't seem to be shy, Ana thought. Reserved, certainly. This was a young man who was used to putting on a mask every day, and right now he was trying to figure out what mask to wear.

In contrast, Carissa was shy and talked in a near-whisper when asked questions. She seemed to really like hugs, but looked somewhat astonished each time Isabelle, Victoire, or Lily did hug her.

The addition of nine newcomers didn't affect the noise level during lunch, but it did change the dynamics of the group a bit, as James and Tracey concentrated on their four guests, Harry and Ginny did the same with their two girls and one boy, and the six adults did the same for Karl and Carissa.

That meant spending more time with them, and less time getting reacquainted with their family, while the other Marauders were able to mostly talk with their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles as they ate.

James hoped there'd be more time to do that later in the holidays, but he really had no idea if that'd be the case or not. He was quickly finding out that there was a big difference between spending an afternoon at the residence, or any of the other volunteer work he'd done over the years, and bringing people that needed help into his own private life, and how that affected him both positively and negatively.

When everyone was finished eating, most of the adults left for work, leaving Harry, Kirley, Ana, Isabelle, and Tracey with the large group of kids. Harry gathered them together to decide how they were going to split up, and to hand out some pouches to each of the kids – even Kira had a little one.

"We didn't want to take up time going to Gringotts," he told the teens, "so we took care of that already."

All nine of their guests looked surprised to receive a pouch, and Harry smiled at them. "If any of you need anything else, let me know, or let the people you're staying with know, and we'll help you out. We want you to have a very special holiday this year."

"Now," Ana told them, "we're definitely too big a group to go wandering around the Mall together, so why don't we get into smaller groups, and get out there and start shopping?"

James and Tracey already had their group, but they still had ten, so the boys and girls decided to split up for a couple of hours so that they could each do some of their Christmas shopping. This year they'd gotten out of school on the twenty-third, which only left them this afternoon and tomorrow to do their shopping before Christmas. The good part of that was getting to be home for more time after Christmas.

"Any preference on where to go first?" James asked Mark and Joel. When both boys shook their heads, he looked inquiringly at Andy and Jon.

"We've got to find gifts for the girls, and get some other gifts, so why don't we start with a jewellery store, and then maybe the GamePortal, and then play it by ear," Andy suggested.

At the jewellery store, while Andy and Jon looked around, James stayed with Joel and Mark.

"Do either of you have girlfriends that you want to pick something up for?" James asked them.

"I don't," Mark told him quietly, and Joel nodded that he didn't either.

"That's pretty common, you know," he told them just as quietly. "Aaron didn't start dating Tracey until January of their OWL year, although they did dance at the Yule Ball that year."

"I don't know how he managed trusting enough to ask her out," Mark told him.

James laughed. "She talked to him first," he told Mark. "After that, they just took it a little step at a time. You'll have to get him to tell you his story sometime while you're staying with him. When he and Arianna were rescued, he could only talk to her. If anyone else was around, he couldn't – or wouldn't."

"He seems to have gotten over that," Joel said, and James and Mark both laughed.

"He's turned out pretty good," James agreed. He was looking at some necklaces and smiled.

"I'm thinking that a couple of those silver and emerald necklaces would be perfect for our two Slytherin girls," he suggested. "House colours and all that."

Mark laughed. "And the serpentine chain is appropriate too."

James got two of them, and had them gift-wrapped, and by then Andy and Jon had finished their shopping too. They went on to the GamePortal after that, checking out the new games for the holidays. Andy and Jon both picked up a couple of the new games each. He saw that Joel wasn't really even looking at them.

"Not into GameWizard?" James asked him.

"I've never been allowed to have one," Joel told him. "My parents always said stuff like this was a waste of money."

"Remind me tonight to let you borrow mine, and you can decide that for yourself. Watch out if you play against Aaron, though. He's pretty good at League Championship Quidditch."

Joel grinned at him. "He seems pretty fair at it in real life too."

James and Mark had known each other since first year, although they'd never been friends at all, just occasionally classmates. They were both willing to just take it easy and see how they got along, but both boys were doing their best to make Joel feel welcome, and part of the group with the older boys.

Joel helped James pick out gifts for Al and Lily, and Arianna had already picked up gifts for his parents, grandparents, and the two names they'd drawn for the family Christmas, plus the extra gifts they'd gotten for Callie and Sarah.

They met with the girls as planned for a break, and then decided they'd done what they wanted to get finished for the afternoon, and all went back to James and Arianna's house. James showed Callie and Sarah their rooms, and around the house, then pulled out a couple of bottles of already chilled wine, and poured glasses for everyone except Sarah and Joel. He gave them their drink options, and then filled their orders before they all went into the sitting room.

Mark and Callie had never tried wine before, so it was fun watching them do that for the first time.

"I could get to like this stuff a lot," Callie said, smiling at James. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome," he told her. "That's one of Arianna's favourites you're trying."

"What' was the other kind you were pouring?" she asked.

"That's one that we tried last summer in Chile at the Quidditch World Cup," he explained. Matt had a glass of that, and offered her a sip. She smiled at him tentatively and tried it too.

"That one's good too," Callie mused. "I've definitely been missing out in this area of life."

Mark laughed. "I'm already beginning to suspect that we've been missing out on most every area of life."

They talked for a while, and had a couple of glasses of wine, and then James needed to get started on dinner, so they moved the party into the kitchen. Arianna got home from work, bringing Aaron with her, and after a round of hugs and kisses, they joined the others at the table, while James poured them each a glass of wine.

"Having fun yet?" Arianna asked Callie and Sarah, who both nodded.

"Big family lunch, shopping, and my first introduction to wine," Callie said. "I'd say it's definitely been a good day so far."

Andy, Laura, Therese, and Jon could only stay for a little while longer, and then had to get home to their own families. Arianna and James had gifts for each of them before they left, and then they were down to eight.

"We've got about a half hour until dinner will be served," James told the others. "If you wanted to show Mark and Joel their rooms, and your house, you have time," he told Aaron and Tracey.

"Why don't we all go over, Tracey suggested. "Except Arianna – she can probably find something to do here while we're gone," she added, winking at Sarah, who giggled.

Arianna waited until they'd left to wrap her arms around James and welcome him home properly, and they held each other tightly for a few moments.

"That was smooth of Tracey," she said, kissing James again.

He nodded. "Very smooth. If I'd known, though, I would've told them dinner was an hour away."

While snogging Arianna for the next half hour would have been a lot more fun, he had to keep cooking, so after a few more kisses, she let him go, and James got back to work.

"How's it going so far with our guests?" Arianna asked after sitting back down at the table.

"Callie seems to be doing good so far, Sarah's quiet, but seems happy. Mark's pretty much going with the flow for now, and Joel is coming along, but I haven't really gotten a handle on him yet."

"I'm surprised they're not in shock. That lunch with everyone can be really overwhelming all by itself, and that's just been the beginning for them."

James nodded. "It always makes me a bit sad when I see that it's the hugging and kissing that surprises guests the most. Every family should be like that, and sometimes it feels like we're the only ones who act like that."

"The hugging and kissing is one of the things I like best," she told him with a grin. "We can discuss that at length later, though. We're doing shopping in the morning again tomorrow, then we'll come back to Aaron and Tracey's for the afternoon, do dinner at the cottage with your parents, and then spend the evening at the residence."

"Sounds good. We're doing breakfast at the cottage on Christmas Day, but did you plan on doing some gifts here or at Aaron and Tracey's first?"

Arianna nodded. "They'll come over here after getting ready, and we'll do a couple of gifts each. Did you get any hints on gifts we might not have done?"

James nodded. "For Joel – he's never been allowed to have a GameWizard. I'll let him borrow mine tonight, but I was thinking a fully loaded one would be good for playing, and to help him with his classes."

"We can do that. We'll need to get him a VirtualQuill then too. Lily can teach him the tricks for using it."

"I didn't get any hints from Mark, but Dad might've seen something. We'll need to check. The girls were shopping together, so I don't know if Tracey, Therese, or Laura got any ideas, but it seems that Callie is quite fond of your favourite wine."

"Not much point in giving her something she can't take to school with her, and we can keep her supplied while she's here."

They heard their dinner guests returning, so they ended that topic, and Arianna welcomed them back. Matt and Joel seemed pretty happy with where they were staying, and Callie and Sarah were both smiling.

"Miss us?" Aaron asked, giving his sister a hug.

"You've only been gone a few minutes, Aaron," she told him. "We managed to entertain ourselves without you for that long."

He laughed. "I'm really glad to hear that, sis. If you couldn't I'd be really worried."

"Come on and sit down," James told them. "Dinner is on it's way."

When the platters and bowls started landing on the table, Callie laughed.

"When you said he could cook," she told Tracey, "I don't know what I expected, but it was nothing that looked this great."

James grinned. "It's a lot more fun this holiday. Last Christmas, I still couldn't use magic outside of school."

They had dinner together, and then after cleaning up, went into the sitting room to relax, and watch a Christmas show on WWVN. When that ended at nine, Aaron and Tracey got up to go back to their house.

"We've all got a really long day tomorrow," Tracey told Matt and Joel. "If you want to hang out here for a while longer, if anyone's staying up late, you're welcome to, or you can stay up in the sitting room at our place, or there are WWVN's in each of your rooms too."

"How long is a long day tomorrow?" Matt asked her.

"We don't usually get back from the residence until after midnight, and we're supposed to meet the family for shopping at nine."

Matt laughed and stood up. "Then I'm ready to get some sleep too. How 'bout you, Joel?"

The younger boy stood up too. "I'm with you guys," he said.

James pulled his Virtual GameWizard out of a pocket and tossed the glasses to Joel.

"Let me know what you think about them. Aaron or Tracey can give you the quick instructions to get you started."

Joel nodded. "Thanks, James."

When Tracey and the boys were gone, James looked at the three girls still in the sitting room.

"I'm going to go get ready for bed," he told them. "You're not going to get weirded out that Arianna and I sleep in the same room are you? The operative word is sleep – although there's a really good chance I'll kiss her goodnight first."

Sarah giggled again, and James laughed. "You can do the girl talk thing if you'd like some time alone, and you do still have a little wine left in that bottle you should finish up." He stood up, and gave Arianna a brief kiss.

"We won't be up late," Arianna promised, and he left for their bedroom.

"All you do is sleep?" Callie said in a near whisper. "That's a shame."

Arianna and Sarah both laughed at that comment, and Callie smiled at them. Sarah stood up and gave Callie, then Arianna each a hug.

"I'm pretty tired myself," she told them. "If it's alright, I'd like to go get some sleep too if we're supposed to be able to stay up late tomorrow night."

"That's fine, Sarah," Arianna told her. "We'll see you in the morning."

Arianna got up and retrieved the bottle of wine, and filled Callie's glass, and then hers, then sat down again.

"Are you doing alright with everything so far?" she asked Callie. "I know how overwhelming my introduction to this family was, and I got to meet them a little at a time."

"They're amazing," Callie said quietly. "Are they always like that? So happy and full of love?"

Arianna nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. The family that was around during the war went through a lot. They've made a point of making sure that they have as much fun as they can ever since then."

"Is that what you and Aaron want to do too? After everything that happened to you?"

"It's a pretty good way to decide to live," she told Callie. "Kids like us either seem to choose to be angry and bitter their whole lives, or withdrawn and never give anyone a chance. Harry, and Ginny, showed us that we could still do anything we wanted. The Phoenix Foundation, and James' family helped us get there, but the choice still had to be ours – and all the work too, of course."

Callie looked at Arianna for a while, and Arianna smiled at her. "Callie, you can ask me any question on your mind. It won't bother me at all."

"I saw the scars on your back," Callie said softly. "From what Harry showed everyone. You were lucky to find someone who'd love you even with them."

Ariannna read between the lines of that comment, and went to sit next to Callie.

"James didn't know about them for a long time," she told Callie. "And he loved me anyway after finding out. What Harry didn't show during his little demonstration, Callie, is that Aaron and I were both healed that same night we told them our whole story for the first time."

Callie stared at her in disbelief, so Arianna stood up, turned around, and lifted her shirt to show her. When she turned around again, Callie was crying, and she sat down quickly and put her arms around the other young woman.

"How bad are yours?" Arianna finally asked.

"Not as bad as yours were," she told Arianna, "but bad enough that I've never considered risking a boyfriend."

"Then you're definitely where you should be for the holidays," Arianna told her. "If you'll trust James' Mum and Dad, and his Aunt Hermione, I'm sure that they'll help you too."

Callie sat back and wiped her eyes. "You think so?"

"I know they will," Arianna assured her. We'll talk to Ginny about it after Christmas."

"I wish somebody had come rescued me a long time ago," Callie said. "At least it's happening now for a lot of other kids."

Arianna nodded. "After that couple of weeks that we went through after we announced the new program, I'm not surprised nobody had wanted to come forward before and confront the problem."

"Not everyone had Harry Potter to back them up," Callie said. "Was the program his idea?"

"Actually, it was Lily and Kieran. They were going to go ahead with the program with or without us."

Callie gave her another hug. "I'm really glad it was with you, Arianna."

They talked for a while longer, finished their wine, and then went to their bedrooms to get some sleep. Arianna slipped into her bedroom quietly, got a nightgown, and padded quietly into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she climbed in next to James, he held his arms out to her, and she snuggled next to him, and put a hand along his neck.

"You all right?" he asked, and she nodded.

"It was intense for a few moments, but we're both fine. I'm glad you wanted them to come, James. I think we can really help them."

"Me too," he said before kissing her. "Why don't we get back to doing that – tomorrow morning. I think we should get to the kissing goodnight part of the day now."

Arianna laughed. "Definitely."

Isabelle was sitting in bed with Carissa, having a little girl talk of their own. They'd had dinner with Victoire and Teddy, and watched A Christmas Carol together – the musical version, and then the two girls had come to the room Carissa would be staying in. She got into her nightgown, and under the covers of the big, soft bed, and then Isabelle had climbed onto the bed next to her.

"Are you having fun so far?" she asked Carissa, who nodded.

"I've never had a better day ever," she told the beautiful young woman that she still could hardly believe she was going to be spending the next two weeks with.

Isabelle smiled. "We're just getting started, sweetie. You're going to have quite a few best days ever while you're here."

"That wouldn't take much," Carissa said seriously. "I've had a lot of worst days ever, and up until recently, I've been happy to get a not really bad day here and there."

"I had enough of those when I was little too," Isabelle said with a laugh. "You're going to find out how really great things can be now instead." She gave Carissa a hug. "I'll see you in the morning. If you want a drink or anything you know where everything is, and if you need me, just knock on the door where I showed you my room is."

Carissa hugged her back, and kissed her cheek. "Thank-you, Isabelle."

"You're getting very good at that already," Isabelle complimented her. "You're going to fit right in with this family. You've probably noticed we're a very huggy bunch."

Carissa had nodded and smiled. Isabelle walked to the door and turned around. "Are you a lights on or off, and door closed or open kind of girl?"

"Lights off, door open a bit," Carissa told her, and Isabelle turned the lights off, and left the door open a little for her.

"Good night, Carissa. Sleep well," she told the young girl.

"Thank-you. You too," she answered.

When Isabelle joined Stewart, Victoire, and Teddy, she snuggled in his arms and sighed.

"She's such a sweetheart," she said quietly. "How could anyone hurt her?"

Victoire smiled. "I've asked that a thousand times about you, sis. Some questions there just are no answers to, other than there are bad people in the world."

"There are a lot more kids than you initially planned on, Teddy," Isabelle said. "What will you be doing for the long term to help them?"

"I'm still trying to figure that all out. We've got kids like Carissa that will need a place at least for the summer holidays, and then we have others that were never allowed to go to school, but weren't educated at home either, and then more that are under eleven. We'd planned on short-term solutions, expecting to need some long-term care that we could fit into the residences. It's way beyond that. We'll probably have to build some places, but that's going to take some time."

Isabelle nodded. "Well, I'm really glad we've got Carissa with us for Christmas. Remind me to thank James."

At the McCormack's home, Kirley and Ana had gone to bed, and the two boys were in the sitting room watching a late Christmas movie. Kieran admittedly didn't have any Slytherin friends, and hadn't known Karl, other than that they'd seen each other around the school. He had been fairly quiet, and had mostly seemed to be watching everything around him, trying to figure things out. The only genuine interest he'd shown so far was when Kieran and Kirley showed him the studio, which he'd found fascinating.

"Have you ever been interested in playing music?" Kieran had asked him, and Karl had told him that things like that hadn't been allowed in his home. Kieran had handed him a guitar, and showed him a few chords, and spent a half hour playing around before dinnertime.

Now they were watching a movie, and still both boys were trying to figure out just how these next two weeks were going to work out for them.

"What kind of things do you like doing?" Kieran asked Karl, who looked over at Kieran and shrugged.

"I've never really been allowed to do much when I was at home," he told Kieran softly. "I wouldn't say there've been many things in my life so far that I like doing, except maybe going to Hogwarts every year, which at least got me away from home."

"Alright, then how about anything you think you might like to try doing," Kieran persisted, and Karl thought about that for a bit.

"I'd like to go to the beach," he said finally. "And I'd like to learn to swim. I'd like to go to that Mall in Paris that has the rides right inside of it. That guitar thing we did earlier was alright too, even though I wasn't very good."

Kieran smiled. "You did well enough for a first try ever, mate. I've been playing for most of my life, so don't compare it to that. I think we can manage the other requests. Do you like any GameWizard games?"

"I've played a few on the 3D GameWizard at school, but I don't have my own, so I'm not as good as most of the other kids in my House."

"Then we'll have you play against Lily's father – he's like the worst GameWizard player in history."

Karl actually laughed. That was a good sign, Kieran thought. They stayed up and watched the movie, then Kieran wished Karl a good night, and headed for his bed, while Karl walked to the guest wing and the room he'd been given to use while he stayed with them.

He still wasn't sure what to think of everything, but so far today he'd been given a way better than expected amount of spending money, a couple of pretty great meals, and had spent a few hours with Kieran that had been pretty good too.

Kieran didn't swear, or talk about other kids behind their backs, or say anything that he was used to hearing from his friends. He thought it was pretty cool to go nearly a whole day with nothing like that happening. Karl wasn't ready to take any big risks and trust these people yet, but he was thinking that maybe the next two weeks would be fun.

Amy and Millie had been in some classes together both last year and this, but besides being Ravenclaw and Slytherin, they were both painfully shy, and had never even talked together, let alone become friends. Now that they were in this new situation together, they had started talking.

Besides the one thing that they now knew they had both lived with, by virtue of being here, the two girls began to find out there were other things they had in common.

They were sitting on Millie's bed that first night, talking about the day. Harry and Ginny had gone to bed, as had Dale, Lily, and Brianna. Al and Carolyn had still been cuddling on the sofa when everyone else left the sitting room for bed.

"What do you make of all of this?" Millie asked Amy.

"I think it's been brilliant so far," Amy told her. "I've never had a day like this before. Back home, by this time I'd have done something wrong, and been punished for it. There was always something I did wrong."

Millie nodded in understanding. "My parents missed me so much when I was at school that as soon as they got me home, they'd want to catch up right away on all the good times I'd missed out on while I was away, if you know what I mean. I didn't have to worry about doing something wrong first."

Amy gave her new friend a hug. "They won't be doing that to us ever again," she said quietly.

"We're here for the holidays, but what will the Phoenix Foundation be doing with us after that?" Millie asked. "We still have five and a half years of school before we're grown up."

"I don't know," Amy told her truthfully, "but I trust them. Look at Carolyn and Brianna – they're both orphans. So were Teddy, Stewart, Isabelle, Aaron, and Arianna."

"And so was Harry," Millie added. "When he looks at you with those green eyes of his, it feels like he's looking right into your heart."

"Yeah," Amy agreed, "but then it feels like he's filling it up with love to me."

"That may take a while for me, since mine's been on empty for a long time," Millie told her, and Amy hugged her again.

"We're supposed to have a long day tomorrow, I guess we should get some sleep," Amy said, and Millie looked suddenly fragile.

"This is a huge bed," she said tentatively. "You could stay in here with me." Amy had felt the change in Millie, and nodded.

"Sure, Milllie. We're safe here, but I don't mind staying with you."

Millie sighed. "Thanks. Being alone was – bad – at home. One of the best things about school was having roommates."

Amy hugged Millie one more time, and then climbed under the covers on the other side of the bed, and both girls laid back into big soft pillows and drifted off to sleep.

Dale was not sleeping. He lay awake in James' room, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure things out. He was taught his whole life, with brutal efficiency, that nothing in life was free. He'd certainly been made to pay for everything in his life so far, either in sweat or blood – or both.

That's why what had been going on so far here was so far beyond his ability to comprehend. These people just gave him things, asking nothing in return. He'd never been given money before, never been to a restaurant, and rarely been to the Mall or Diagon Alley.

Harry Potter had cooked dinner. Wizards did not do housework or cooking in his family. Never. Then Harry and Ginny had cleaned up afterward, not even asking the kids to help. He smiled when he thought about playing 3D GameWizard with Harry, Al, and the others. The most powerful Wizard in the world was such an atrocious player, that even a kid like him, who'd played GameWizard for the first time after going to Hogwarts was able to beat him at three different games.

Then they'd watched a Christmas movie together, and he'd sat on the sofa next to Harry and Ginny, and after a while, she'd put her arm around him, given him a hug, and held him for the rest of the show. That had felt really great, and he'd wanted to cry, but boys did not cry any more than they did housework where he grew up, so he didn't.

Finally, he had absolutely no clue on how to deal with Harry Potter. When they'd met at the station, they shook hands, but then he'd watched as the man had hugged his own kids, nieces, nephews, their friends, Amy, Millie, and the others. What was up with that? He'd even seen a couple of tears in his eyes – happy ones, but apparently this guy had not gotten the no crying memo or something, and all of that hugging and kissing was definitely not how real Wizards were supposed to act. Yet he'd defeated the Dark Lord in a duel when he was just seventeen. That was pretty darn Wizardly. None of it made any sense at all.

Dale hadn't worked out anything by the time he fell asleep, other than he was going to be very careful. There had to be a catch somewhere, and he needed to figure out what it was – and fast.

Harry and Ginny snuggled in their own bed, and had been talking about the day, eventually getting around to discussing Christmas gifts for each of the kids.

"Did you find anything that we need to get tomorrow?" Ginny asked him.

Harry nodded. "We've got four kids who've never had GameWizards, and didn't ask for them. Mark doesn't play Quidditch, but he loves to fly, and wishes more than anything to have his own racing broom. Four of the girls would like to have jewellery and makeup of their own. Maybe helping them pick out a dress or two tomorrow would be good too. Then there's Callie."

"You already had nine," Ginny told him.

"Millie was in both groups of four," he said.

"So what's Callie's biggest dream?"

"The same one that Arianna used to have," he said quietly. "You know we'll be at Marauders Paradise on Monday, and she's never worn a swimsuit, or shorts, or shortsleeve shirts."

Ginny gave him a tight squeeze. "Then I guess we better take care of that first thing in the morning, shouldn't we. We can let the kids get to the mall themselves, pick up Hermione on the way, and stop at their house first. Will you need Al and Lily?"

"We can take Lily with us, and Al, Carolyn, and Brianna can stay with the younger kids."

"When we're at the mall, if you can handle the games, broom, and jewellery, I'll take care of the clothes, and get one of the girls to pickup four makeup starter sets from SpaMagic."

Harry nodded. "I can do that." He kissed Ginny and smiled at her. "I'm really glad James asked us to do this – that we can help these kids personally."

"Me too," she said. "Let's get some sleep. It's going to be a big day."

Hermione was at the kitchen table having breakfast with Ron and the kids when Ginny's QuillMessage arrived, and she smiled.

"I gotta run out for a bit," she told the others, getting up. "I'll meet you at the Mall at nine."

"What's up?" Ron asked after she'd already kissed him goodbye.

"Ginny and Harry need me to help them with one of the kids this morning."

Ron looked concerned. "Will you be all right? The last time you did that, you were out of it for nearly a day."

Hermione nodded. "I'll be fine," she assured him. "That was an extreme case – and two of them at once. Don't worry. I'll see you at the Mall."

She went to grab the cream she needed, and then apparated to the cottage, and then again with Harry, Ginny, and Lily to Arianna and James' house. When they were invited in by a surprised James, they had a round of hugs before Ginny got to the point of their early morning visit.

"Sarah, would you mind if we talked with Callie and the others alone for a minute?" When Sarah got up to leave, Callie put a hand on her arm.

"It's alright, Sarah, you can stay. Whatever they want to talk about, you can hear too. I trust you."

Sarah gave her a hug, and sat down again. Ginny nodded.

"We came here this morning, Callie, because we want to give you one of your Christmas presents early, since you're going to want to have it before we go out today."

Callie looked surprised, and smiled. "That's very cryptic," she said. "What do I need? A shopping basket?"

Ginny laughed, but her eyes were full of compassion. "Actually, we had something a little bigger in mind. Like fixing your scars."

Callie stared first at Ginny, then at Arianna, but it was obvious that it had caught the other young woman completely by surprise too.

"How'd you know about them?" she asked Ginny.

"Let's just say that my husband is a very good guesser when it comes to figuring out what someone's biggest dream is," Ginny said. "We're going to need to get at it, though, so we're not late for the shopping."

Callie looked for support from Arianna, who nodded and stood up. "I'll be right there with you the whole time," she promised.

Harry waited with James, Sarah, and Lily while Hermione and Ginny went with Arianna and Callie.

"I didn't get most of that," Sarah admitted after they had left.

Lily smiled at her gently. "Do you have any scars from any of the things that were done to you?" she asked gently, and Sarah looked at Harry and James for a moment before looking back at Lily and nodding.

"A few, yes," she admitted.

"Callie has a lot of them, and the thing she wanted most in the whole world was to not have them anymore. That's what we're going to do for her."

Sarah's eyes got very wide. "You can do that?"

"Pretty cool, isn't it?" Lily said, nodding.

A few minutes later, a teary-eyed Arianna came out to get Harry and Lily, and took them into Callie's room. Lily had tears in her own eyes when she saw that while there weren't as many scars as had been on Arianna, Callie had them in a lot more places.

Harry looked at Hermione, who was pale and had tears falling down her cheeks. Ginny was holding up better, but she had tears on her face too.

"I want the two of you to just watch," he told them. "Let Lily and I do the work this time. We can't have you both too tired to celebrate Christmas."

Hermione and Ginny exchanged glances before nodding in agreement. "We'll just link," Ginny promised. "We won't add any power."

Harry took Lily's hand, and they each pulled out their wands. He'd already gotten permission for another exception for her from the Minister, and so they got started. Arianna sat on the bed next ot Callie, and held her hand. Seeing this happen to someone else was quite different from when it had happened to her and Aaron. It seemed to take longer than she remembered, but then it was over, and the magical light faded away.

"I'll get out of here," Harry told the girls quietly. Lily went with him, and the other girls didn't notice that they borrowed Hermione's little jar of cream.

When they rejoined James and Sarah, Lily gave the other girl a hug. "How'd you like us to take care of those few scars of yours while we're here?" she asked Sarah, who hugged her tightly again.

"I'll take it that's a yes," Lily said. "Are they anywhere that the boys shouldn't see?" she asked, and Sarah shook her head, and showed Lily where they were on one leg, an arm, and her back.

"This'll be quick, and you'll only feel a strong tingling," Lily told Sarah as she put the cream on each scar.

"I can handle this one, sweetheart," Harry told her when she went to get her wand out again. "If you do much more, you'll be sleeping by lunchtime."

So Lily held Sarah's hand while her father healed her, and then she cleaned off the cream so that Sarah could see her now unblemished skin. Both girls started to laugh when Sarah nearly knocked Lily over with a hug, and then she hugged Harry too.

"What's all the hugging about?" Ginny asked as she and Hermione walked into the kitchen.

Lily handed her aunt Hermione back the jar of cream. "We were just taking care of one other patient," she told them.

Ginny gave Sarah a hug and smiled. "All better now?"

Sarah nodded and smiled back. "Better than I've ever been in my whole life."

Aaron, Tracey, Joel and Mark came over to meet Arianna, James, and the girls before going to the mall.

"Was there a breakfast party, and we missed it?" Aaron asked Harry.

"No, just taking care of a few things before we go shopping," Harry told him. When Arianna and Callie came into the kitchen, by the look on Callie's face, Aaron was able to guess what those few things had been.

Callie was smiling brightly, happier than she'd ever imagined possible, and Sarah gave her a big hug. "Ready to go do some serious shopping?" she asked Callie.

"Absolutely," Callie told her. "Whenever you're ready."

They were the last group to get to where they were supposed to meet at the Mall, and so they quickly broke up into smaller groups. Harry and Kirley were going to start by picking up the few extra gifts they needed. Ron and Percy decided to join them. Most of the New Marauder couples went off alone, or in small groups, while James and Aaron had a group of boys with them, and the girls had split up into several groups too.

"Come on out," Arianna told Callie. "It's just us girls back here."

Callie stuck her head out of the changeroom door, and Arianna took hold of the hand she had on the door, and gently tugged.

"I don't think I could wear something like this," Callie said, as she stepped into the hallway wearing the bikini the other women had wanted her to try on, and Arianna turned her to look at herself in the mirror.

"I'd say you definitely can," Arianna said, and then laughed as Sarah attempted to whistle. "You've got to get that one for sure." She handed her another suit. "This is a one-piece – try it on too."

Callie laughed as she took the suit Arianna handed her. "That may be one piece, but there seems to be a lot of pieces missing from it."

Arianna laughed too. "Trust me, you'll look awesome in it."

She was glad that she had all of her Christmas shopping done so that she could spend the day doing this with Callie and Sarah. When they got finished with swimsuits, the only thing they had left was to find each girl a couple of knockout dresses, and they'd be all set.

Most of the adult women were having fun playing dress-up all morning with the girls in their respective groups, and by lunchtime, there was quite a load of bags for Harry to send to the different houses.

After lunch, Penelope had appointments at SpaMagic for herself, Brianna, and Allie to get ready for the Minister's Christmas party, so they left to do that, while Nick and Scorpius joined Percy and the other men to go shopping for a while longer before they'd have to get back to the townhouse to get ready to take the girls out for dinner.

Most of the other members of the family didn't stay out shopping for too long after lunch either. It was Christmas Eve day, after all, and there were parties and family gatherings to get ready for hosting or going to.

Lily and Frederica were going to be spending Christmas Eve with the McCormack family, at grandma Catriona's, and Karl would be going with them. Ron and Hermione were having her parents over for Christmas Eve, and Emily and Matt would be with them. The no-kids adults were going to the Burrow for dinner with Molly and Arthur. Harry and Ginny were having pretty much everyone else at the cottage for dinner before they'd all go to the residence, so they had James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey and their four kids, their own group, less Brianna and Lily, and Isabelle, Stewart, Victoire, Teddy, and Carissa.

James was in the sitting room, waiting for the girls to finish getting ready when Aaron, Tracey, Joel, and Mark arrived. Tracey went to join the girls with whatever it was they were doing, and the boys joined James to wait.

"They do know we're going to the cottage and residence, not dinner and the theatre, right?" Aaron asked James, who grinned at his best mate.

"You mean that makes a difference?" he joked.

It wasn't much longer, though, and the four girls joined them, watching the reaction from the boys.

"Arianna, who are your new friends? Will Callie and Sarah be much longer joining us?" James said, getting up to hug her and grin at Callie and Sarah, who smiled back at him. "You two look incredible," he told them.

Matt and Joel seemed to agree, if their reactions were any indication, Arianna thought. If they thought the girls looked great tonight, their jaws were going to hit the floor when they got a look at their new swimsuits on Monday.

"We should get going," Tracey said, looking at her watch. "Dinner's probably nearly ready."

They were the last group to get there, but they did have enough time before dinner still to have drinks, and catch up with what everyone else had been doing at the Mall and in the afternoon. Ginny and Carolyn had helped Millie and Amy with their own mini-makeovers, and Carissa looked happy and beautiful in one of the dresses that Isabelle and Victoire had helped her pick out.

Dinner for twenty was pretty quiet by family standards, but the eight out of nine kids they had with them tonight were starting to come out a bit, and it was getting easier to coax them into conversation. Harry had cooked again, but he'd gotten one of Winky's dessert specialties to finish with, and the new kids especially had loved that chocolate confection.

Cleanup didn't take long with ten adults, and then they were ready to go to the residence.

"Do you have your dolls?" Ginny asked Harry, and he smiled at her.

"Thanks for reminding me," he said, going over and picking up the two TeenWitch dolls and the DragonRider action figure and dragon he'd put on the counter earlier.

"You play with dolls?" Dale asked incredulously before he could stop himself. Harry laughed.

"You bet. It's a lot of fun, except when the girls put my TeenWizards in dresses."

Dale looked at him like he'd grown another head, but didn't say anything else, and Ginny gave him a hug.

"You'll have to see it to understand," she told him. "Give him a chance, he kinda grows on you after a while."

When they got to the residence, Harry and Ginny were swarmed, as usual, and so Al and Carolyn took Amy, Millie, and Dale and showed them around. Carolyn showed them which section she and Brianna had lived in, and introduced them to some friends. They showed them the pool, the dining hall, and the rest of the common areas like the libraries and game rooms.

"All of these kids are orphans?" Dale asked Al quietly, and saw the other boy nod.

"This place isn't like any orphanage I ever heard about," he said. "The Phoenix Foundation runs this place too?"

"This was their first one, and the first project – it wasn't even called the Phoenix Foundation back then," Al told him.

"How many of these places are there?" Dale asked.

"There's one hundred and seventy in one hundred and fifty countries now, and they're building fifteen more a year for the next three years, then they'll have them in every country around the world."

"Why do they do all of it?" Dale asked, trying to understand what would motivate Witches and Wizards to do all of this – it certainly couldn't have been cheap.

"A lot of people that help with this believe it's the right thing to do," Al told him. "For my Dad, it's personal, since he was an orphan, and he didn't want other kids to have as bad a childhood as his had been – the same way that the Child Abuse program is very personal for him."

"My family never did anything for anyone," Dale said. "Yours helps out thousands. I don't get it."

Al grinned at him. "Actually, the foundation helps millions, Dale. They have programs to feed poor people, they build houses and apartments for families, help people find jobs, and a few other projects."

"So where does playing with dolls fit in to all of this?" Dale asked him.

"That's the love part of everything," Al told him. "Dad, and a lot of the other volunteers do things like that because they love these kids, and if playing dolls with some little girls lets them know that, then he'll do it, or play DragonRider with the little boys, or GameWizard with the teens. Dad spends at least two mornings or afternoons here every week just to play with the kids."

Dale was quiet as he thought about all of that. "So that's why we're staying with you over the holidays?" he finally said, and Al nodded.

"But your parents don't even know us, Al."

"My parents haven't met a kid they didn't love, Dale – you included."

They came to one of the play rooms, and there were a group of younger girls playing with their dolls on the floor.

"Want to give it a try?" Al asked Dale.

"What, play with dolls?"

Al nodded, and pulled two TeenWizard dolls out of his pocket, offering one to Dale. "You won't know what it's all about until you try it."

Dale looked at Al for a moment before reaching out a hand to take the offered toy. If a sixth year House Quidditch team Chaser could play with dolls without looking stupid, he could at least try it, he supposed.

Carolyn, Amy, and Millie joined them too. There were only six girls that had been playing, and they'd all looked thrilled to have Al and Carolyn join them. Al made his doll talk, and prompted Dale to do the same with his doll by including him in the conversation, and he slowly started to join in, and see why it was that Harry and Al would want to do this. It was all about seeing the little girls having fun and laughing.

A Dragon swooped in and plucked a TeenWitch doll from one of the little girls, and she squealed in delight as Harry came over to join them, giving the girl a big hug.

"Hey, sweetie," you seem to have the boys outnumbered. Mind if I join in?" Harry asked the little girl. The dragon swooped past again, dropping the doll safely into her hands before flying around the room again.

Harry sat down next to Dale, and joined in. He wasn't there long before his little Kieran TeenWitch doll was captured by the girls, and put into a yellow sundress.

"You know he's going to be here tomorrow afternoon," Harry told the girls. "I'm going to tell him that you've been putting his doll in dresses."

The little girls all giggled, and Dale watched, fascinated as Harry not only played with them, but had them opening up to him, talking about what they'd been doing, any problems they were having, and for Christmas Eve, telling him what they were hoping to get for Christmas. He had that urge to cry several times while they'd played, and fought it down each time. That he could feel like crying for other kids was a new and strange experience.

They played for maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, and then Harry moved on, inviting Dale to go with him. They played 3D GameWizard next with some teens, then DragonRider with some five and six-year old boys and girls. He'd laughed when Harry and Ginny got caught kissing by a MagicMistletoe until Ginny gave him a kiss and set the silly thing off again, although he was still grinning as he blushed.

"Looks like we have a first-time victim," Susan said, coming up to them and giving Harry and Ginny each hugs.

"Where've you been hiding?" Ginny asked her. "I haven't seen you at all."

Susan smiled. "Wayne and I've been helping the two new kids most of the night," she told them. "Speaking of, who's this good-looking young man you've been kissing?"

Ginny laughed. "This would be Dale," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Dale, this is Susan. She's the Manager of this residence."

Susan held out her hand to Dale, and he shook it. "Nice to meet you Dale. What do you think of our home?"

Dale smiled at her. "It's taking some getting used to, but I think it's brilliant that you do all of this for so many kids."

"Thank-you," she said before turning back to Ginny. "I've got to go back and help Wayne, but I wanted to make sure I found you and wished you a Merry Christmas."

"Anything we can help with?" Ginny asked her, and Susan shook her head. "We're making progress with them, but first Christmases are always the hardest."

Ginny hugged her again, and then Susan left them, and they started walking down the hallway that Harry and Dale had met Ginny in when the MagicMistletoe had intercepted them.

"What did she mean by that?" Dale asked Harry curiously.

Harry smiled at the boy. "The kids she's talking about just came here a few weeks ago. They'd just lost their parents, and the two brothers are having a tough time. Christmas can be really hard for some of these kids. It's one of the times they miss their parents the most."

"And why you come here Christmas Eve?" Dale guessed.

"Yes," Harry agreed. "I was too young to really remember my parents, and Christmas with my aunt and uncle wasn't anything to get misty-eyed over missing out on, but I do understand what they're going through."

Dale felt himself fighting back tears again, and Harry could sense he wasn't ready quite yet, so he quickly changed the subject.

"You know what we haven't done yet," he told Dale, "is have a boys against the girls 3D GameWizard match. "We should get Ginny and some of the other girls to play a match against us."

Dale grinned at him. "Can I be on their team?"

Ginny laughed and put an arm around him. "He learns fast. And no, you can't, or it wouldn't be guys against girls anymore."

The rest of the kids were being similarly affected. Aaron and Arianna showed Joel, Mark, Sarah, and Callie around, where their rooms had been, and then they went around and spent time with as many kids as they could. Now that they were famous Quidditch players, there were a lot of kids that wanted to talk and spend a little time with them.

They played a few games, and helped out one group of youngsters when they went for a snack break. They each did a bedtime story for one or two little kids, tucking them in, and then watched a movie with a group of teens. It was nearing midnight when they all gathered in the entrance, ready to go home.

The party might have been wrapping up at the residence, but at the Minister of Magic's mansion, it was still in full swing. Percy, Penelope, and the four teens had enjoyed a wonderful dinner, then come to the party. Nick and Allie entertained themselves dancing and hanging out with a few of the other teens, while Percy, Penelope, Scorpius, and Brianna did the politics socializing in between dances.

"We seem to have gained a little actual respect," Brianna said quietly to Scorpius as they danced.

He nodded. "That was a pretty big win last summer. It's definitely gotten us noticed as more than just a couple of cute kids."

Brianna smiled at him. "That could have good and bad sides to it. We won't be underestimated next time we want to try to get something new done."

Nick came up to where they were dancing. "Mum said we can blow this joint early if we want. Do you guys want to come?"

Scorpius and Brianna both grinned at him, and Nick laughed. "Let's go say goodnight, and get out of here, then," he told them. "They'll be another couple of hours, and I think we can find something better to do."

When James and Arianna got home with Sarah and Callie, they all plopped onto sofas, tired out from the long day.

"That was really wonderful," Sarah told them. "The residence, and the kids are just so great. I can hardly wait to go back for the party tomorrow."

"You were really good with those little kids," Callie told her, "and they really liked you a lot too."

Arianna nodded. "I think you made yourself a couple little buddies too," she told Callie. "Not to mention a few of the older boys who seemed to pop up fairly often around both of you."

Callie laughed. "I thought they'd just come to see the beautiful Quidditch star."

"Most of the older kids know me from living there," she disagreed. "They were definitely coming around to ogle you and Sarah."

"That's a novel idea," Callie said. "Have you been ogled before, Sarah?"

"Nope," Sarah told her. "It might be something I could get used to, though."

"Well," James said, standing up, "you can stay up and chat if you'd like, but we have to be at the cottage for breakfast at eight thirty, and that means that we're going to have Tracey and the boys over here shortly after seven to open a few presents before we do leave, so I'm off to get some sleep."

Arianna, Callie, and Sarah all stood up too, exchanging hugs. "I think we're all ready for some sleep," Arianna said, and the other two girls nodded, and they all went off to their rooms for the short little sleep they had left until Christmas morning.

Carissa had gotten ready for bed when they got back from the residence, and Isabelle had come in again for what would become their nightly girl talk before she and Stewart went to bed too. She'd had so much fun playing with some of the kids tonight, and Teddy had shown her where he'd lived at the residence, and she'd met Susan and Wayne, and they'd had treats and drinks, and watched a show on WWVN. When they'd seen Harry, Al, and Dale playing with dolls, she'd giggled.

"Are you ready for Christmas?" Isabelle asked her, as she tucked her in and kissed her forehead. Carissa really liked that, even though she was really too grown up to be tucked in at night.

"I think so," she told Isabelle. "I haven't got any good Christmases to compare it to, but I'm hoping this one will be good."

Isabelle hugged her, and kissed her again. "If it's alright with you, we'll shoot for great, and see what happens. Have a good sleep, sweetie, and we'll see you in the morning."

By midnight, Karl was in his bed too. His evening with the McCormack family had been a real experience. He'd spent most of the time with Kieran, Lily, Frederica, and Liam. Dinner had been very formal, and he'd felt a bit out of place, but Lily in particular had gotten him involved in the conversation, and he'd eventually relaxed.

Right now, she was in a bed a couple of doors down from him. There probably wasn't' a single Slytherin boy who'd admit that they really liked Lily Potter, but how could you not? Especially once you got to know her. Those feelings could have made things weird, but it was so obvious that Kieran was her guy that there weren't any problems. Kieran was such a good guy too, that Karl didn't even feel jealous at all. Who could say, maybe he'd find a girl that loved him like that someday too.

He'd been surprised when they'd opened gifts after dinner, and he'd gotten one, just like Lily and Frederica had. He looked at the new watch on his arm that lit up in the dark if he touched it, and was supposed to be unbreakable. Since his next best Christmas gift to it had been nothing, since his parents didn't believe in gifts, he'd thought his very first one had been pretty awesome. He had no idea what Christmas morning was going to be like, but he was definitely looking forward to finding out.

Millie and Amy were sitting on Millie's bed again, and had been talking for a few minutes about their day before going to bed.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight again?" Amy asked, and didn't need to hear Millie's answer to see that she did want her to stay, so she climbed under the covers again. "These beds are wonderful," she said happily. "What do you think it'll be like in the morning?" she asked Millie quietly.

"I have no idea," Millie told her. "This last couple of days is like being in some kind of wonderful dream."

Amy nodded. "What'd you think about the residence?"

"I think that if the Foundation has places like that for orphans, whatever they decide to do with us is going to be way better than what we're coming from."

"No doubt about that," Amy agreed, laying back and closing her eyes. "Good night, Millie," she said sleepily. "Merry Christmas." Millie didn't answer, having already drifted off to sleep herself.

Dale was tired too, but he found himself staring at the darkened ceiling above him again. What was happening to him? He'd nearly lost it a dozen times tonight. He hadn't cried since he didn't know how long ago, and he certainly had enough he could have cried about. The problem seemed to be that it hadn't been something physical affecting him that he could close his mind to. It was totally his own emotions and feelings, and he wasn't having much luck hiding from them, and even now, back in this room where he should be able to keep it together, he still felt on the edge of cracking – giving in to the weakness his father had promised to beat out of him if it was the last thing he did.

When he drifted off to sleep, he was almost afraid to find out what the morning would bring. He was no longer sure he was strong enough to face anything they threw at him, like he'd thought he was before coming here. How do you even fight against what he was facing with this family?

James was smiling as he tenderly woke Arianna with soft kisses, and that's what she saw first when she opened her eyes. "Merry Christmas," he told her, "Time to get up. Company will be here soon."

She smiled back at him, her eyes sparkling in the pre-dawn light. "Merry Christmas," she answered, kissing him again.

"Why don't you give Callie and Sarah their wakeup calls while I get ready, and then I'll put something together to hold us over until we have breakfast at the cottage."

"Or we could stay here in bed and snog for a while instead," she suggested, and James laughed quietly, kissed her once more, and got out of bed.

"We could, but we can't," he told her regretfully. "Can we discuss that as an option tomorrow morning when we will be able to sleep in?"

Arianna smiled at him, got out of bed too, and put her arms around him. "We'll see," she said, giving him another long, rather serious kiss before going to knock on Callie and Sarah's doors while James had a quick shower and got ready for their day.

He had a selection of small croissants, cinnamon buns, and muffins out for everyone when Aaron, Tracey, Mark, and Joel arrived. Arianna, Callie, and Sarah joined them moments after, and they each picked out a little food, tea, coffee, or juice, and then went to the sitting room to open the few presents they had for everyone here. Callie and Sarah had loved the cashmere sweaters that Tracey and Arianna had picked out, and the necklaces from the boys. Joel had loved the new watch, and he'd immediately put on the new sweater he'd been given. Mark didn't know what to think about the broom maintenance kit and the fancy compass. Did they assume he had his own broom, or that since he used the old school brooms to fly that he really needed these things?

There were going to be quite a few people coming to the cottage that morning for breakfast and to open presents, so the early morning gift exchange was going on in other houses too.

When Karl opened his gift from Kieran and Lily, and saw his own guitar – that they'd cleverly hidden in Lily's special little keyboard case, he'd lost it, and Ana had been there to hold him until he could put himself together again.

"Thank-you," he told them, and Lily had given him a big hug.

"You're welcome," Kieran told him. "We'll have some time after Christmas for some lessons, and Dad said he'd do a couple with you too."

Karl smiled. "I'd like that," he told Kieran and Kirley.

Carissa had four young adults all to herself at Stewart and Isabelle's house, and she'd been given beautiful new clothes from the girls, and Stewart and Teddy had gotten her a little gold necklace with a small diamond solitaire. She'd cried, and hugged and kissed them. When it was time to get ready to leave for the cottage, Victoire and Isabelle helped her get ready, and she wore one of her new outfits and the necklace that she never planned on taking off ever again.

Harry had let the kids and Ginny sleep in as he'd gotten up and ready, then come to the kitchen to start cooking for thirty-one. Just as he knew it would, as the smells from his cooking wafted upstairs, he could hear the stirrings of activity from bedrooms as everyone started waking up and getting ready for the day.

Fluffy padded into the kitchen, and Harry didn't even look around has he tossed her a large piece of sausage.

"Merry Christmas, mooch," he told her as she caught the offering out of the air, and sauntered off with her prize.

Al and Dale came downstairs first, each boy getting glasses of juice before sitting down. Dale wasn't surprised by the fact that the kitchen was bigger this morning, or that the table could now seat more than thirty people, since he'd already seen it several different sizes in the less than two full days he'd been at the cottage. He was surprised to find his emotions were still on the edge as Harry had wished them a Merry Christmas, and Al had hugged his father.

The girls still weren't downstairs when their guests started to arrive. Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna got there first, and Harry had greeted them all with hugs, offered tea or coffee, and they'd joined Al and Dale at the table. The McCormack group arrived next, followed by Carissa and her four grownups, and then James, Arianna, and the others got there at the same time that Ginny, Carolyn, Amy, and Millie came downstairs.

Harry had platters and bowls loaded with food hitting the table by then, so they all sat down to eat, and even Dale's worries were forgotten as he piled his plate high with his favourite breakfast foods and dug in with enthusiasm.

An hour later, while the grownups cleaned up, Lily led the teens into the sitting room, where presents were piled high all around the tree. When the adults joined them, she, Carolyn, and Brianna started handing out presents to everyone.

Dale had gotten a skiving snackbox, and a couple of new shirts before he'd opened the present that contained his very own Virtual GameWizard. By the looks of all of the little game cards, it had just about every game with it too.

He'd taken the glasses out of the box and held them in his hands, then stood up, left the room, and gone as quickly as he could up to his bedroom, where he threw himself down on his bed and started to cry.

Downstairs, that was something that Harry had been expecting, but when he went to get up and follow the young boy, Carissa put her hand on his arm, having already gotten up after seeing Dale leave.

"I'll go talk with him," she told him quietly, and after a look into her eyes, he nodded and settled back down next to a surprised Ginny.

Dale heard the knock on his door, but he didn't answer. "Go away," he said when he heard the door opening.

"It's just me," he heard Carissa say softly as she closed the door and walked over to sit on the bed next to him.

He and Carissa had a couple of the same classes, but he hadn't known anything about her except her name before Friday.

"Leave me alone," he croaked, trying to hide his tears from her, but she ignored him, and put a hand on his shoulder, a touch which just made him want to cry even harder.

"There's no catch," she told him quietly. "They don't want anything from us, Dale."

He kept his face hidden from her, but he did listen. "There has to be," he told her. "I just haven't figured out what it is yet, and they just have the rest of you fooled."

"Just because I was never shown any love by my family doesn't mean that I don't know in my heart what it's supposed to be like," Carissa said, gently stroking his hair now.

"They don't even know us," he countered. "There's no way they could love us."

"Why not?" she asked him. "We're a very loveable group of kids."

Dale laughed scornfully. "Yeah, that's why our lives have been so much fun so far," he said, finally turning to look at her.

"Is it so hard for you to believe that everything they're doing here is precisely because they love you, and the rest of us too?"

"Yes," he told her. "and I don't know how to fight back against them. At least when I'd get hit I knew how to deal with it." He sat up in the bed, and angrily wiped the tears from his eyes. When he'd cleared his eyes enough that he could see the tears in her eyes, he broke down again, and she put her arms around him and hugged him, and he held on to her as if she were his last lifeline.

"Dale, I know how scary it is to open up and give anyone a chance to hurt you, but somewhere inside I'm sure your feelings are telling you this isn't a trick or a game. They love you and me just like they love those kids at the orphanage, and all of the other people they help."

He leaned back and looked into her eyes, and she tenderly wiped the tears from his face with soft, gentle hands, which she cupped his face with after she'd done that.

"Why did you come after me?" he asked, and the smile she gave him had his heart flipping.

"Because we're alike, and because I love you too," she told him. He had no time to react when she leaned toward him, and kissed him right on the mouth. "Now why don't you go wash your face, and we can go back downstairs so we can be with all of the other people who love us."

She hugged him once more, and he got up from the bed in something of a daze. He did what she'd told him to do, and when he came back out of the washroom, she tidied his hair for him, hugged him again, and then took his hand and led him downstairs.

When they sat down again, Carissa stayed with him, and while she wasn't still holding his hand, having her close to him was reassuring. While they'd been gone, he saw that Mark was now admiring his new racing broom, and some of the other kids were trying out new Virtual GameWizards of their own.

He and Carissa both still had a couple of presents each to open, and were the last two to finish unwrapping their gifts. Harry watched the two of them, and smiled. He wondered how many years would pass before Dale found out that the best present he got for Christmas this year was sitting next to him.

Nick and Allie had to leave for her family Christmas, as did Aaron and Tracey. Mark and Joel were going to stay at the cottage, and their hosts would meet back up with them at the residence Christmas party in the afternoon.

When they'd left, James got up and got Mark's attention. "I know you're not into Quidditch, but how about we go brave the cold and you can take that broom for a spin. I could use the workout too, after that breakfast."

Mark smiled at him and nodded. "Anyone else interested in a little flying workout?" James asked.

Scorpius, Al, and Harry offered to join them, but everyone else was content to stay inside where is was warm and comfortable. They only stayed out for three-quarters of an hour before coming in again, shivering and cold. Harry made up hot drinks, and then they rejoined everyone in the sitting room.

"How's the broom?" Callie asked Mark as he sat on the sofa next to her.

"It's awesome," he told her. "I thought I loved flying before, but today it was like discovering fine dining after thinking that fast food was the best there is."

Callie laughed and gave him a hug. "That's great, Mark."

When she let him go, he smiled at her. "In case I forget to tell you later, you look beautiful today," he said quietly enough that only she'd hear him. Callie returned his smile, and hugged him again.

They spent what little time was left of the morning talking and playing, then Harry and Ginny made up a lunch snack before they all took the TransPortal to the residence for the Christmas party.

Dale had stayed with Carissa when they got to the residence, and they were hanging out with Stewart, Teddy, Isabelle, and Victoire. Scorpius and Brianna spent some of the time with them too. When Carissa was doing something with Isabelle, Dale was left with Stewart.

"You used to live here?" Dale asked Stewart as they watched the girls sitting down for a few minutes with some younger girls. Stewart had nodded.

"That's how Teddy and I became best mates. He used to come here with Harry a lot. Both of us lost our parents in the war, and we had a lot of other things in common too.

"Why do you come back here now that you're grown up?" he asked next, and Stewart smiled.

"For the same reason I wanted to go work for the Phoenix Foundation after I graduated Hogwarts, Dale. I wanted to do for other kids what Harry, Ginny, and everyone here did to help me."

"So you're paying them back for everything you were given?" Dale asked, but Stewart shook his head.

"It's more like paying it forward," he told the boy. "Nobody would have asked a thing from me, and if I'd gone on to do something completely just for me, they would have been fine with that too."

Dale didn't ask any other questions after that, and Stewart could tell he needed time to work things out, so he got the boy involved in helping out with the younger kids – playing, helping them with snacks, and then herding them toward the dining hall when it was time for the presents.

He was again sitting with Carissa when the presents flew into the room, and they watched in astonishment as the hundreds of gifts flew around the hall, eventually arriving in front of excited boys and girls. They were surprised when two little gifts dropped in front of them, and Carissa opened hers first to find the little Phoenix pin with the single emerald set in it.

They both had seen the pins on the many volunteers, and Carissa smiled at Dale.

"I guess we've been officially declared foundation volunteers," she told him happily. "And here I just thought we were having fun."

Dale opened his gift and lifted the pin out of it's little box. Carissa had already put hers on, and she held out her hand.

"Let me help you," she offered, and he gave her the pin, put it on his shirt, then hugged him. He smiled shyly. This gentle young girl had hugged him more today than his parents had hugged him in his whole life. While he may not have it all figured out yet, he did know that he liked those hugs quite a lot.

They helped the little kids around them to open presents, and Dale just followed the lead of the two young men, trying to do what they did to help. The hugging part wasn't working out too well for him, but Carissa was right there with him, and she more than made up for his reluctance in that area.

The Christmas feast that followed was a lot like a feast at Hogwarts, except for this being more like a very big family, with lots of little kids, and a whole bunch of aunts, uncles, and grandparents everywhere. Carissa sat through dinner with Dale too, and then held his hand as they watched the Christmas pageant put on by the kids.

When the show was over, they played with the kids for another couple of hours. It was after eleven when they were all starting to get ready to go home. Carissa hugged Dale again before leaving with Stewart and Isabelle. He knew he'd see her on Monday, but he missed her as soon as she'd left. What was up with that? Yesterday he'd barely even paid attention to her.

Dale saw that he wasn't' the only one getting a hug goodbye, as Kieran and Lily said goodnight, as did Scorpius and Brianna. There were lots of other hugs and kisses going around, and he was even on the receiving end of a few of them. Then Harry and Ginny gathered the seven kids going home with them, and they left the residence and were quickly back at the cottage.

"We have our family Christmas tomorrow," Ginny told them, but that won't start until after lunch, so if anyone wants to stay up late, or sleep in tomorrow, you can."

Lily had hugged her mother, and told her she was all for the sleeping in part, and left for her room. Brianna, Amy, and Millie followed her. Dale might not be taking Arithmancy, but he could do the math, and so he said goodnight too, and went upstairs to bed too. At least he could play his new GameWizard, which would be a lot better than watching two couples snuggling on the sofas. He heard Harry and Ginny come upstairs too, and smiled. Make that one couple.

Over at Aaron and Tracey's house, they were deciding whether to stay up later or not too. James, Arianna, and Sarah all decided to go home and get some sleep, and Joel went into his room, ready to sleep too. Aaron, Tracey, Mark, and Callie opened a bottle of wine, and settled in to watch a late movie and talk for a while.

Aaron was the first one to start falling asleep, and Tracey nudged him awake, and then led him off to bed after saying goodnight, and hugging Mark and Callie.

"And then there were two," she said quietly, smiling at him. She'd gone to school with him for six and a half years, and it had only been over the last two days that she noticed how his beautiful dark eyes looked back at her with such soft tenderness.

"Seems so," he agreed, wondering how he'd never noticed just how beautiful she was before the last couple of days. "How would you feel about coming over to this side of the sofa and snuggling together for the rest of the show?"

His pulse quickened as she smiled, and slid over next to him. Neither of them had any experience at this sort of thing, and so it was a bit awkward getting settled at first, but they didn't mind, each of them understanding that this was totally new for both of them.

"Do you know what's going on tomorrow for this family Christmas?" Mark asked as Callie rested her head on the arm of the sofa, and he held her in his arms.

"No, but since they got me to buy a couple of swimsuits, water must be involved."

"Maybe they have it at a hotel like the Emerald City Centre," he suggested, and she nodded. They'd both forgotten all about the movie as they talked quietly.

"Have you ever kissed a girl before?" Callie asked him after they'd been talking for a while, pretty sure she knew the answer.

"I've never really wanted to before now," he said in a voice that was barely a whisper. "I guess it'd be more truthful to say I've never wanted to trust any girl before now."

"I haven't either," she told him, and he grinned.

"You haven't kissed a girl either? We seem to have loads in common."

She smiled up at him. "Very funny. We seem to be doing pretty well at the snuggling thing, why don't you try kissing me, and maybe we'll catch on to that too."

Mark bowed his head toward hers, and their lips met, soft and sweet. He'd exerted just the slightest pressure to the kiss, and Callie had put a hand around the back of his neck to draw him into a deeper, more intense kiss that sent a thrilling jolt through both of them. When they parted, they'd stared at each other in wide-eyed surprise, and then she pulled him willingly into another incredible kiss. The movie was over, and another one had started when they finally became aware of their surroundings again.

"I better get back to the other house and get some sleep," Callie said. "It's really late."

Mark looked at his watch, and was surprised to see that it was nearly three. "I'll walk you over," he said, and they both got up and grabbed their cloaks.

When they got to her door, Callie turned and hugged him tight, then kissed him once more.

"Thank-you for helping make this my best Christmas Day ever," she told him, smiling at him.

"Same here," he answered. "I'll see you in the morning – in a few hours."

Callie had her coat hung up, and was about to walk through the sitting room on her way to the bedrooms.

"Where have you been young lady?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin at Arianna's soft words, and then she laughed quietly.

"Having possibly the greatest few hours of my life ever," she told her friend, coming to sit next to her on the sofa. "Have you been waiting up for me?"

Arianna shook her head. 'No, I heard you outside, and came out here to get all the details."

Callie laughed. "Not much to that. We were watching a movie, Aaron fell asleep, so Tracey took him to bed, and the next thing I know Mark and I are snogging each other senseless, and when we finally come up for air, we seemed to have lost track of a couple of hours."

Arianna gave her a hug. "Way to go. Now let's go get some sleep. I want to be well rested so I can appreciate the look on Mark's face when he sees you in that swimsuit tomorrow."

Callie laughed again. "I'm suddenly feeling much better about getting those suits too. How is it possible for so much to change in just a few days?"

"It's probably the Christmas magic doing it's thing," Arianna said, standing up, and helping Callie up too.

"Well, whatever it is, it's brilliant," Callie said.

The next morning, local time, Gabrielle was in her office early, going over the holiday weekend reports when one of her assistant managers stepped into her office.

"Can you welcome a group of guests for me," he asked quietly. "I've got another guest emergency to run down, and can't get both."

Gabrielle smiled and carefully got to her feet. "Sure," she said, putting a hand over her swollen waistline. That way they'll be sure to see at least one whale while they're here."

The young wizard laughed. "You look fantastic as always, and you know it," he told her. "They'll be arriving in five," he added before ducking back out of the office.

It may have been that Gabrielle was preoccupied with everything else she had on the go, but for whatever reason, it just didn't occur to her that her hotel was already full, and that there shouldn't be any guests coming in this morning at all. When she arrived at the TransPortal site, she was just in time to greet the new arrivals.

"Merry Christmas, Gabrielle," her father told her as he quickly closed the gap between them to take her into a big hug.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, then saw that there were a lot more arrivals coming – Bill, Fleur, everyone.

"You're all coming?" she said excitedly.

Her mother, Apolline, hugged her too before answering. "Did you really think we'd have the family Christmas without you?"

"Hi Mum, Dad," Kevin said from behind her, and she whirled to look at her husband.

"You knew!" she accused, and he smiled and nodded.

It took nearly fifteen minutes for everyone to get there, and then Kevin led them to one of the small banquet rooms for a brunch, since even though it was still fairly early morning on the island, it was definitely lunchtime for everyone who'd come to spend the day with them.

"Have you ever seen anything like this place before?" Mark asked Callie. They were standing a bit out of the way as the family welcoming party continued. They'd already been introduced to Gabrielle, Kevin, Michael, and Patricia.

"I hadn't even heard about a place like this," Callie said. "I know they tried to tell us about some of the rides, but those roller coaster things look huge, and the water park slides look wild."

"And a whole lot of fun," he added.

Callie nodded. "Sounds like we'll find out after we eat."

Mark thought she was dazzling this morning. She felt really strange. It was the first time she could remember wearing shorts or anything like the spaghetti string shirt Arianna had talked her into wearing today. The thought of going around the water park in the bikini she had on underneath the shorts and top was even scarier.

There were a lot of things that Callie experienced while they were on the island that were scary, thrilling, and fun too. Sharing those experiences for the first time with Mark just made it all even better – including the wearing the swimsuit in public. Arianna assured her that Mark's reaction to seeing her in it for the first time had been about a twelve out of ten on the wow scale. (Apparently there were bonus points for him being left speechless, and for making an adult Wizard blush bright red.)

After breakfast, everyone was free to go spend the morning playing or doing whatever they wanted. While Aaron, Tracey, Arianna, and James showed their four guests around, Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran spent the morning with Karl, Millie, Amy, Dale, and Carissa. With all of their family here, they met up with the others regularly as they went on rides and played until lunchtime.

Those encounters ranged in nature from the funny, where Uncle George was going around offering puking pastilles to the people waiting to get on one of the many spinning rides to the whatever you call it when kids and grandparents go on the same biggest roller coaster on the island together. Amy, Millie, and Carissa had thought that was cool, while Dale and Karl had thought that Molly and Arthur Weasley had not gotten the memo that grandparents were not supposed to do things like that.

They all got together in the same banquet room for lunch, or Christmas dinner, then opened presents before all going out to play at the water park for the rest of the afternoon. Callie wasn't the only girl in the group who'd had a wow effect on a Wizard, but those effects weren't always obvious. In Sarah's case, Joel desperately hoped that she wasn't even aware of the effect she was having on him. He'd decided that the best way to deal with the problem was to find anywhere else to be that wasn't near her while they were all playing on the slides and in the pools.

The problem with that plan was that he couldn't leave his memories of seeing her in that swimsuit behind, and every time she smiled at him, he felt a lot like he did just as the roller coaster reached the top of the first peak and started to drop down the other side. Make it like that feeling, except without the nice padded safety bars.

"Why are you avoiding me, Joel?"

He turned and looked into Sarah's bright, smiling face, and swallowed hard. He'd just gotten in line for one of the slides, and there was a long, slow walk ahead of them. So much for her not noticing anything about how he was acting.

"I'm not," he started to say, but trailed off at the look on her face.

"You know," she told him quietly, "if you don't like me, that's fine, Joel, but please don't lie to me. I got enough of that from home to last me forever."

"I'm sorry, Sarah," he told her. "I'm not avoiding you because I don't like you, it's because I really like you a whole lot, and it's scaring me witless."

Sarah beamed at him. "You don't have to be scared of me," she told him gently, taking his hand in hers. "I like you a whole lot too."

He looked into her soft brown eyes, and smiled back at her.

"That's even scarier," he told her just as quietly. "That means I have to worry about your heart too."

Sarah shook her head, still smiling at him. "No, you don't," she promised. "And I'd never do anything to hurt you either, Joel."

"How can you be so sure?" he asked her.

She put her other hand to his face and turned it so he was looking directly in her eyes again.

"I know I can trust you partly because you do think that taking the chance on caring about me is scary," Sarah told him. "The cute factor is just a really great added bonus."

Joel blushed at that, and she laughed, sending a thrill through him. "Just relax," she added. "We can take our time and figure out all this boyfriend-girlfriend stuff together."

James and Arianna were walking around with Aaron and Tracey, and she pointed out Joel and Sarah.

"Looks like she finally tracked him down," she said, smiling at James. "Looks like you and Therese are two for two."

Tracey grinned at her. "Three for three if you include Dale and Carissa, although that was probably unexpected."

James nodded. "We actually thought it'd be my Dad that'd be helping him the most. When she gets done school, Teddy and Stewart better snap Carissa up to work for the Foundation. Everything she's been through, and she's still so empathic and caring."

"Callie and Sarah having boyfriends outside of Slytherin should turn a few heads when you go back to school," Tracey told James, and he smiled.

"You have to start breaking down barriers somewhere," he told her.

Harry and Ginny spent most of their day with Gabrielle and Kevin. She wasn't going to be doing roller coasters or water slides this year, so they took a walk in town, and then mostly relaxed by the pool in the morning. After lunch they sat under a shade umbrella at the water park, watching everyone playing. They went for short swims in one of the pools, which helped ease the soreness that Gabrielle felt in her back most of the time now.

"I can hardly wait for the baby to be born," she told Ginny. "The last weeks are definitely not much fun."

Ginny nodded and smiled. "At least it isn't in July like with Patricia."

"Good point. I feel better already," Gabrielle answered.

"When are you planning to stop working?" Ginny asked.

"Probably the end of January, but we can change it pretty quickly if needed."

"Are you doing anything with Patricia after the baby's born?" Harry asked, grinning hopefully.

Gabrielle laughed. "You're so transparent. As long as you share her with Bill and Fleur, you can take her back with you when you come down then."

"Deal," Harry told her.

Having the family Christmas on the island didn't exactly make for a lot of close family time like having it a the Burrow did, but everyone had fun, and it was another one of those really great days. Some of the adults had to work in the morning, so they left for home not too long after lunch, getting home in the early evening local time, while others stayed into the evening, having a light snack around local dinnertime, and then spending a couple more hours playing in paradise before going home, where it was already into the early hours of morning England time.

The return from Marauders Paradise unofficially marked the end of their Christmas celebration, and on Tuesday morning, they'd begin the holiday part of their two weeks off. With New Year's Day, a Canon's Quidditch game, and whatever else Therese and James had planned for their guests, the next thirteen days should prove to be a lot of fun.


	90. Happy Holidays

Chapter Ninety – Happy Holidays

"What are you going to pull out of your hat for an encore to the last few days?" Callie asked James and Arianna at breakfast in the morning.

Arianna smiled at her. "Well, I go back to work tomorrow, so I thought a little shopping would be fun. We'll need to find ourselves some party dresses for New Year's Eve."

Sarah's eyes lit up. "Are we going to a New Year's Eve party?" she asked excitedly, and Arianna nodded.

"It seems a pair of musicians of our acquaintance are going to be the main attraction at a dance on Saturday night, and we all have tickets."

"Seriously?" Sarah said, hopping up and giving Arianna a hug when she nodded again. "I've never been to anything like that before."

James grinned at her. "Then we definitely want to make sure you get the perfect dress for your coming out party," he said. "Let's finish up here and get to Paris."

"We're going to Paris?" Callie said excitedly. "As in France?"

"Of course. The guys need something to do while you're all shopping for fancy dresses. We'll think about you while we're having fun at the Atrium Amusement Park, though."

He got a double hug from Callie and Sarah, and laughed. "I think they're definitely getting the hang of the hugging thing," he told Arianna, who laughed as she was hugged next.

"Seems like," she agreed.

Kieran and Lily were going to be at work in the studio for most of the day, so Kieran went with Karl to the cottage after breakfast and traded him for Lily for the day so that he could go with the others to Paris instead of sitting around being bored while Kieran, Kirley, and Ana were working.

Stewart and Isabelle were both back to work too, so Carissa was more than happy to be spending the day with Dale and the others. The three groups of Weasley Marauders, and corresponding boyfriends or girlfriends would all be meeting the rest of them at the Mall too.

"Wishing you were in Paris with everyone else?" Kieran asked Lily as they set up in the studio.

"I'm sure it'll be fun," she answered, "but I'm glad we're doing this instead. I've missed getting to work here while we've been at school."

"Me too," he agreed.

"So what would you like to start with today?" Kirley asked them when they were set up and ready to go.

"This first one is for a special project," Kieran told his father. "You'll know what for once you've heard it."

Ana stopped in to drop some paperwork off for Kirley, and she stayed to listen as Kieran and Lily recorded another one of those songs that left both parents amazed.

"You have plans for that song?" Kirley asked them after they'd come into the control room to hear it played back to them, and Lily had nodded.

"We'll keep you posted, but you know when we'll need it ready for, and we're thinking to just have it as a single."

"Definitely," Ana agreed. "We can have it ready by then."

They worked in the studio all morning, and then after lunch, spent the afternoon practicing for their upcoming concert. Ana had a few other activities on their schedule for the rest of the holidays, but they would still have days off to play and relax too.

In Paris, Harry had opted to help the girls out by going shopping with them instead of spending the morning in the Atrium with the boys. That did mean he was recruited to carry bags, and do a fair bit of standing around and waiting, but what he did like about it was that it gave him a bit more time to talk with the girls, and catch up with them.

After watching so many of his other kids grow up on him, he knew how important those moments were, and this group was growing up fast on him. They met the boys for lunch, but finding the perfect dress, and all of the accessories for so many girls took most of the day, and it was a tired bunch of shoppers who returned to their homes at the end of the afternoon.

On Wednesday, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were back to work. Hugo and Matt had their two teams work out in the morning, and had quite a few spectators interested in watching, while Kieran had arranged his own team workout that morning at his grandmother's place.

They all gathered at the cottage for lunch, to be followed by a study afternoon. Callie and the others hadn't experienced a study session like Lily commanded before, and so while the others worked, she patiently showed her new friends a lot of the study techniques they all used. For those who hadn't owned them before, she showed them how to use the educational programs on their Virtual GameWizards or GameWitches, and how to use the timesaving VirtualQuills.

Since she'd had her group work ahead in the days before coming home, they wrapped up the rest of their assignments that afternoon, but all of their guests, particularly Callie and Mark in their NEWT year and Karl in his OWL year, had a lot more homework to do, so Lily offered to help them for a few mornings the following week, since she was booked for Thursday and Friday.

Actually, all of the girls were booked on Thursday, since Lily had managed to get a SpaMagic day for all of them at the SpaMagic in Hogsmeade. It meant that Arianna and Tracey couldn't come, since they'd be working, but Therese and Laura were able to join them instead.

The girls all left to meet at SpaMagic after breakfast, leaving the boys to find their own entertainments for the day. James, Mark, and Joel went over to the cottage to meet up with Harry, Al, and Dale to decide what that would be for them, while the rest of 'the boys' had other plans already.

"Does anyone have anything they'd like to do?" Harry asked them, and Mark indicated he did.

"Since the girls were shopping for fancy dresses yesterday, and are doing the Spa today, I'm guessing that means the New Year's Eve party is going to be a dress-up event," he said, and Harry nodded.

"I don't know about the rest of the guys, but I don't have a suit, or ties or any of that kind of stuff. I really wouldn't want to embarrass Callie by showing up in jeans and a tee to escort her on Saturday."

Harry saw Joel and Dale nod, and smiled at them. "We can fix that problem this morning," he told them. "Then do lunch there. How about for the afternoon?"

"You guys can do something else if you want, but I'm voting for a do nothing afternoon," James told them. "I've got to cook dinner for eight later, but it seems like we've been going constantly ever since we got home. An afternoon to just hang around the house seems pretty good to me – especially with New Year's Eve coming up on Saturday."

Mark and Joel agreed with that plan, and Dale just shrugged.

"I think the two of us can come up with something to do," Harry promised him, and with that, they left for the Mall and their mission to find suits for the three young men.

While they were busy shopping, Kieran and Karl spent their morning in guitar lessons.

"You're doing great," Kieran told Karl while taking their first break after an hour or so. "Once you've learned the basics, how good you can get comes down to how much you practice."

"Can we do lessons when we're back at school?" Karl asked, and Kieran nodded.

"Sure, if you don't mind being seen in public hanging out with a Hufflepuff."

Karl grinned at him. "You're not so bad – at least you're Captain of your Quidditch team, and a world famous musician."

"Speaking of music," Kieran said, "Do you have a good suit? We'll need to dress up for the New Year's Eve party."

Karl nodded. "Yeah, I've got one I brought with me to school in case there was a dance or something."

"You have a girlfriend?" Kieran asked.

"Not really, although there's a potential girlfriend," Karl answered.

"Maybe you should invite her to come with us to the New Year's Eve party," Kieran suggested. "We'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon, though, so it's not much notice."

"Why are we leaving tomorrow?" Karl asked in surprise.

Kieran smiled. "I'm not supposed to give anything away," he said, "but part of the reason is because Lily and I have other commitments besides performing at the New Year's Eve party."

"And your parents wouldn't mind if she could come on short notice?"

"They'll be fine with it, although she might need to bunk up with Lily Friday and Saturday night. I'm not sure of the hotel arrangements," Kieran answered. "Give her a call and see if she's even interested in coming. We can worry about the details if it's a yes."

Karl grinned at him. "Got a WiComm I can borrow?"

He made the call, and after Daphne Flint recovered from the shock, it only took her an hour to get back to them with a yes answer, laughing as she told Karl about how her mother had reacted after hearing the request to be allowed to go spend the New Year's Eve weekend with Kirley McCormack Duke and his family.

"You probably get that a lot," Karl said after he'd ended the call and handed the WiComm back to Kieran.

Kieran nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah, but I think it's pretty cool. The only time I've ever really felt weird about stuff like that was last year when a bunch of the guys in the dorms had posters of Lily's Mum everywhere."

Karl laughed. "You ought to love that – at least you know how incredible your girlfriend is going to look when she's older."

"There is that," Kieran agreed. "Now that you have a specific date, how would you rank that suit of yours? The low end is, 'it was good enough for my grandpa, it's good enough for me', and the high end is 'it's the latest fashion that all the best dressed Wizards are wearing'."

"It'd be at the low end," Karl admitted. "We didn't exactly wear suits a lot at my house."

Kieran stood up and put his guitar away. "Let's go let Mum and Dad know we have an extra guest this weekend, and then see if we Can get them to go with us to get you a real suit then. Mum's definitely good at dressing Dad and I up, so I'm sure she can save you from fashion disaster."

Ana was happy to have another girl with them for the weekend, and told them she could go with them after lunch to the Mall, so the boys went back to practicing guitar until it was time to eat, and then went out for lunch, and spent a couple of hours moving Karl's suit wardrobe into this century. Kieran's mother had asked to see his suit first, and then suggested after they were done getting him a new suit that he consider donating his old one to the fashion museum, or to the school to use for polishing armour.

"Daphne's going to be floored when she sees me in that outfit," Karl predicted after they got back to the house, and Kieran laughed.

"We'll see if you even notice, depending on what Lily and Mum do with her when they get ready themselves on Saturday."

"What do you mean?" Karl asked.

"You'll get an idea of what I mean when you see Lily at dinner after their day at the Spa. She's coming over to go over our schedule for the weekend."

Karl got a hug and a laugh from Lily when she saw his reaction after finding the boys when she came over.

"Thanks for the compliment," she told him with a big smile.

Karl laughed too. "Funny, I don't remember being able to say anything until just now."

"That was the compliment," she told him happily. "There's bonus points when the boys are left speechless. So what have you been up to all day?"

"We played a little guitar," Kieran answered, "and then we invited Karl's potential future girlfriend to join us for the weekend, then we played some more guitar. We went out to lunch with Mum and Dad, and then updated Karl's suit wardrobe by thirty or forty years."

Lily hugged Kieran again. "Sounds like a slow day," she joked. "Who's the future girlfriend?"

"Daphne Flint," Karl answered with a big grin.

"She plays Chaser for your House team," Lily said with a nod. "That should make for an interesting couple of days with Quidditch players from all four House teams now."

Lily spent the evening at the McCormack's home, although after dinner, she was working with Kieran and Ana while Kirley and Karl played a few games and watched WWVN. Friday morning, Kieran and Karl packed for their trip, and then had time for another guitar lesson before Karl and Kirley went to pickup Daphne and meet her mother.

By the time they returned, Lily had arrived from the cottage, and after the introductions, they sat down for lunch together.

"Ready to find out where we're spending the weekend?" Kirley asked Daphne and Karl, and they both nodded, and he smiled at them.

"This year, SpellBound will be part of the entertainment for the New Year's Eve party in New York City, at the brand new Camelot Resort and Conference Centre," he told them, and watched as two mouths fell open.

"We'll leave after lunch, and while Ana, Kieran, and Lily go do a morning interview at the New York WMVN studios, we'll check in to the hotel, and you'll be able to go exploring. Everyone else that's coming will be there sometime after lunch New York time."

Daphne gave a surprised Karl a hug. "Thank-you for inviting me," she told him. "This is so brilliant!"

When she, Karl, and Kirley arrived at the Camelot, she quickly decided that brilliant was a complete understatement. The place was absolutely breathtaking. She didn't have much hotel experience to go by, but she was sure that the five bedroom suite they were led to had to be right up there with the best anywhere. When they went exploring, there was everything from indoor pools to a bunch of stores that carried everything from clothes to sweets and souvenirs. Kirley left them to do their own thing while he went to meet with the people that were in charge of the New Year's Eve party.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" Daphne asked Karl.

"Actually, yes," he said. "We spent last Monday at an island resort that was just as amazing as this, and there's a hotel that's part of the Marauders Mall in Paris that looked just as fancy as this, although I didn't go into it."

"Since my previous plans for the weekend were to stay at home and maybe stay awake long enough to watch the New Year's Eve party on WMVN, this is quite a step up from that."

Karl laughed. "A month ago, I thought I'd be doing nothing but studying for a couple of weeks, stuck at Hogwarts," he told her. "Instead, it's like my whole life's been changed in a week."

Daphne looked at him, smiling, and took his hand in hers as they walked. "I think you are different. You're happier for sure, and you're not as closed off as you were before."

"If I'm learning anything, it's that I want the same kind of love and friendships like Kirley and Ana, and all of Lily's family have." He looked at her seriously. "I should have asked you out a long time ago. I'm sorry I was too afraid to do that."

Daphne stopped and looked into his eyes. "You don't have to be sorry, Karl. I understand why now, and it's okay."

They both found it strange to be having their second morning of the day. It took most of that extra morning to explore the entire hotel, and then they met everyone for lunch before Lily and Kieran were off for an afternoon interview with TeenWitch magazine.

"We can meet you at the pool for three thirty if you want to go for a swim," Lily told them. "Everyone else should be here by then too, and dinner's not until six-thirty, so we'll have time."

"I didn't bring a suit," Daphne told Lily, who smiled.

"You can pop over to the New York Marauders Mall," she suggested. "I'm sure Karl will find watching you try on swimsuits very entertaining."

Both girls laughed when Karl blushed. "It's just too easy to get them to do that," Lily said.

"I think it's kinda cute," Daphne told her.

While Lily and Kieran went to do their interview, and Daphne showed Karl that shopping could be more fun than he'd ever imagined, the rest of the family and guests that were coming to New York for the weekend began arriving.

Harry and Ginny had their group of six teens, and were in a four-bedroom suite with Al and Dale, Carolyn and Brianna, and Millie and Amy sharing rooms. Isabelle and Stewart came with Carissa, Victoire, and Teddy, while James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey had two three-bedroom suites for their group of eight.

There were quite a few other guests for the weekend too. Percy, Penelope, the boys, and Allie came, as did George, Marietta, Frederica, and Liam. Liselle, Tristan, Sebastian, and Trinity all came, and Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle's parents were all coming to New York too, getting the chance to spend a weekend with their kids.

Kira was sure that Natalie and Owen had come with her, and her brother so that she could come see Lily and Kieran, and that was a bonus, but they'd joined the weekend party so that Kira's grandparents could come to New York for the weekend too. Since Grandma Valerie was going to be having both Kira and James in her suite, she'd get lots of time with Kira, even if she came in second on the excitement meter to SpellBound.

Al and Carolyn were the first to meet up with Karl and Daphne. Since they all saw each other around school, and Carolyn and Daphne had been in some of the same classes over the years, the introductions were just a formality. When they found out that an afternoon swim was planned, Al and Carolyn promised to let the other teens know about it, and that they'd be there for sure.

Nick and Allie took a tour of the hotel after getting settled in their suite. Since his introduction into the world of property management, and specifically into architecture during the past two summers, he'd become much more interested in how the places he'd visited were constructed. The Camelot resort was a wonderland for him, and Allie was happy to wander around with him as he talked about this style or that feature, most of which she knew absolutely nothing about.

"This is quite a bit different than the other hotels your Mum and Grandma have had built so far," she told him. "It's just as wonderful as the Emerald City Centre, though."

"I hope I can design something like this when I start working full time," he said.

Allie laughed. "You say that about every building you see," she told him, and he grinned.

"That's true, but then there are a lot of buildings that would be fun to design."

Allie looked at her watch. "It's almost three thirty here. Would you like to keep admiring the hotel, or go for a swim."

Nick grinned at her. "If I ever pick admiring a building over admiring you in a bikini, then, well, never mind, 'cause that'll never happen."

"Even when we're old and gray?" she asked him, grinning too.

"I don't think we ever will be. Aunt Hermione and Isabelle are both older than us," Nick told her, "and I'm counting on them inventing a way for us all to look young for our entire lives long before we need it."

"That'd make living for a few centuries a lot more fun," Allie told him. "Let's go get changed and meet the others at the pool."

Coming to New York with Kirley and Ana in the morning had helped Daphne ease into the whirlwind that was the Weasley clan and friends. By dinnertime, she was taking the full-immersion class, and Karl was having fun watching her reaction.

"I'm not sure if it's the noise or all the happiness that's so overwhelming," she told him as they ate. "My family never gets together like this, and if they did, half of them would be complaining the whole time, if not outright fighting with each other."

"My family is only ever happy when they are bitter and angry," he said.

Daphne nodded. "That's mostly why the rest of the family doesn't like my parents, and us kids – we're basically happy, and they just don't like it that we're not miserable like we should be."

"You look great tonight," he said, and she smiled brightly at him.

"Thanks," she told him, "but I feel a bit under-dressed by comparison. The other girls are really dressed up, but I don't have any dresses like they have to bring."

Lily and Kieran were sitting next to Karl, and she overheard.

"You look great," she assured Daphne. Show me the dress you brought for tomorrow, and if it won't work, you and I will take Ana with us and go find you one that will tomorrow morning."

Daphne looked a bit embarrassed. "I can't do something like that," she told Lily. "I wish I could."

Lily just grinned at her. "Your in Camelot, Daphne. Anything is possible. We certainly wouldn't be doing our job for Karl if his date for the Ball wasn't as happy as possible."

Daphne laughed and smiled back at Lily. "Well, if it's for Karl, how could I possibly say no?"

Dinner had felt really late for everyone, and after that, they all stayed up into what would have been the very early hours of the morning back home, not wanting to go to sleep and then be wide awake in the middle of the night. The adults went to a couple of the dance clubs, while the teens found other entertainment around the hotel, ending their evening with another visit to the pool.

Lily and Ana had taken one look at the dress Daphne had brought for Saturday night, and told her that they were definitely taking her shopping after breakfast. It wasn't that her dress wasn't' pretty, but she was nearly sixteen, and the dress was more like little girl cute.

Daphne stared at herself in the mirror. The dress that Ana had picked out was like nothing she'd ever tried on before, and she barely recognized herself.

"Yeah, that's definitely going to be an eleven or twelve on Karl's Wow meter," Lily said from beside her, and Daphne smiled.

"Especially if you smile like that," she added. "You should definitely go with this one. Now we just need a few more things here, and get a pair of shoes to match, and you'll be all set."

"What accessories?" Daphne asked.

Lily smiled. "I guess the only way to put this is to be blunt. We need to pick you out some matching underwear."

Daphne looked at herself again, and Lily saw that she didn't know why.

"You do not want to wear what you have under that dress to a party where the lighting will make it show through your dress," Lily explained, and Daphne blushed.

"That wouldn't be good," she agreed.

"Definitely not," Lily said, leading her over to the lingerie section of the store. "And this is definitely why we told Karl and Keiran they couldn't go shopping with us this time."

"You might have thought it was fun," Daphne said. "You should've seen how red Karl got when I asked him to tell me what he thought about different swimsuits – and that was just on the racks. He wouldn't go near the change rooms."

"He seemed to like your choices just fine yesterday," Lily said, laughing.

Daphne might have been the older of the two girls, but Lily had her blushing quite a few times as she helped her new friend pick out not just undergarments to go with the dress, but several other sets too. If Karl ever found out the kind of things Lily had talked Daphne into getting, he'd never be able to look at her in school robes the same way again.

When they were finished at that store, they moved on to get shoes, then hurried back to the hotel. Their trip had taken most of the morning, so they didn't have much time before having lunch with the boys, and then Lily, Kieran, and Kirley had to go to the Hotel's ballroom for their sound check and practice. There were going to be five different acts. They'd be doing the hour between ten and eleven here, which they were happy with, since it meant they'd be able to go enjoy the party after that.

The rest of Lily's family and their friends spent their day in New York playing, or going sightseeing, or shopping either in Muggle stores or at the Marauders Mall. Harry, Al, and Scorpius followed the girls around as they shopped for the latest in Muggle fashion. Dale escaped that fate, instead getting to go with Carissa, Stewart, and Isabelle, who had decided to go with Teddy and Victoire on a tour of the city that included both Muggle and Magical World stops.

With Scorpius off with Brianna, Nick and Allie paired up with Matt and Rose and stayed and played at the hotel. James and Arianna tried to fit in both the sightseeing and shopping for their group, and Frederica and Liam spent their day mostly with Hugo and Emily, shopping in the morning, and hanging out at the pool in the afternoon until it was time to get ready for the party.

Doors opened at five thirty, and dinner would be from seven until nine, at which time the dance would start with the band that would be on ahead of SpellBound. There were going to be twelve thousand guests for the party, so Ana was having Lily and Kieran get to the ballroom by six so that they could have enough time to wade through the inevitable line of autograph hunters and still be able to be seated for dinner in time.

Ana already knew who their dinner companions would be, so instead of having Karl and Daphne be stuck with standing around for an hour on the outskirts of a small mob scene, they dropped them off with Natalie and Owen. Kira immediately took a liking to Daphne, and started chattering away with her while her parents and grandparents watched on in amusement. James wasn't as outgoing and impulsive as his big sister, but when Karl sat down on the floor and played dragons with him while they waited until it was time for them to go, he quickly warmed up to the young man.

Karl looked over at Daphne frequently as he played with little James, and she sat on one of the sofas and listened to the animated and entertaining conversation from Kira. When she'd walked out of her bedroom after getting ready this afternoon, it was a good thing that he'd been sitting on a sofa in the sitting room of the suite, since he probably would have been knocked over if someone had breathed out when he saw her.

"Definitely a twelve," was the first thing he'd remembered next, and the comment had come from a smiling Lily. "Way to go Daphne."

He'd heard Lily's comments, but he still hadn't taken his eyes from Daphne, and her brilliant smile. Walking over to her, he took her hand, and he was smiling too.

"You look absolutely stunning," he told her quietly, and she'd smiled even more brightly and hugged him.

Those words, or others like them were repeated frequently during that hour or so before everyone in their group made it to the ballroom. Arianna and Tracey certainly looked awesome, but along with James and Aaron, they enjoyed watching the reaction from Mark and Joel to the new and improved Callie and Sarah. Millie and Amy didn't have dates for the party, but Dale's reaction confirmed that they both looked awesome, and they'd both hugged the surprised boy. If his reaction to Mille and Amy had been entertaining, his reaction to seeing Carissa had been priceless, and she'd laughed as she stepped close and took his hands – probably the only thing that kept him standing up.

Carissa and her four adults were going to be sitting with Harry, Ginny, and their group. Since there were tables of twelve, Al and Carolyn were going to sit at the table with Percy and Penelope so that Scorpius and Brianna could sit with Teddy and Victoire.

They all left their suites for the ballroom before six thirty, with Kira coaxing her group into leaving not long after six so that she could meet up with Lily. Being small, wiry, and motivated, when she saw Lily, she escaped, wormed her way through the crowd around Kieran, Lily, Ana, and Kirley until she reached Lily. Ana motioned to Natalie and Owen that she had Kira and to go on without them, so Daphne and Karl, with James between them, went with them to find their table and sit down.

Karl and Daphne had been experiencing a lot already that was completely new to them, but none of what had happened to him over the past week, or to Daphne in the last day and a half was any more life-changing than spending an evening with Natalie's parents. Neither teen had ever actually associated with real live Muggles before, and you didn't spend years in Slytherin House, or in families like theirs without growing up with certain beliefs about Muggles. Even Daphne's comparatively moderate parents didn't have anything good to say about them.

Natalie's mother Valerie, in particular, blew up all of those prejudices and preconceptions for the young couple. Finally, Karl couldn't resist asking a few questions, and Valerie had been happy to answer him candidly.

"You're absolutely nothing like what I've been taught to believe about Muggles," he told her. "Are you a one-of-a-kind Muggle?"

Valerie and Natalie had both laughed, and Valerie smiled at him.

"There are lots of Muggles like me," she assured him. "And there are lots of Muggles that are nothing like me too, just like with Witches and Wizards in the Wizarding World."

"I've been taught my whole life to hate Muggles, and then when I finally get the chance to spend some time with some, you turn out to be so wonderful that I can't do that. It makes me wonder why we even need to hide our world from you at all."

Valerie smiled. "There are really good reasons for hiding the Magical World from most Muggles," she told him. "Like I said, there are lots of Muggles that aren't like us too, and they're the ones the Magical World does need to worry about – just like we Muggles had good reason to be afraid of Lord Voldemort, at least the few of us who actually knew about him."

While they waited for Kirley, Ana, Lily, Kieran, and Kira to join them just before dinner was to start, Karl and Daphne received their first real Muggle sociology lesson, taught from the perspective of Muggles with Witches and a Wizard for a daughter, granddaughter, and grandson. That was quite possibly the first time that a pair of Slytherin students ever sat down and actually learned about Muggles from Muggles.

Dinner was a fabulous event that all nine of the holiday guests – ten including Daphne – loved experiencing. Just being in a huge room with so many other people was exciting by itself, and then the unbelievable meal that arrived at their table in wave after wave of culinary art continued to amazed the teens right through to the decadent dessert options that were presented in the last half hour before the dance would be starting.

Lily and Kieran had to leave after dinner to get ready to go on stage at ten, but she'd recruited Carolyn and Brianna to make sure that all of their young guests got up dancing while she'd be gone for the first couple of hours. Mostly that meant getting dance partners out on the floor with Millie, Amy, and Kira, and also nudging the new couples to get up and dance too.

For Millie and Amy their dance highlight was definitely when Sebastian and Tristan took them out for a spin around the floor. Nobody was surprised that Kira's favourite part of the night was when Kieran got her up on the stage to dance with him during 'Get Up and Dance!', a song from their new album.

The first three groups performing for the crowd had been chosen mostly for the entertainment of the younger guests at the party. Lily and Kieran got back to their table before midnight, so they were able to meet up with some of the others by the time they rang in the New Year with toasts, hugs, and kisses.

Kira and James were off to bed right after that, with Grandma and Grandpa taking an already sleeping James, and a tired Kira up to their suite. She'd wanted to stay with Lily, but a bedtime battle was averted when Lily promised to spend the morning with her if she went to bed like she was supposed to after being allowed to stay up so late.

Lily and Kieran, and most of the rest of their large group stayed right through to the end of the party at two, but some of the young couples did leave early, either tired out, or hoping for a little couple time before going off to sleep. Al and Carolyn were one of those couples.

"I've been hoping to get you alone all night," Al told her as they snuggled on the sofa.

"Really," she purred at him. "Whatever for?"

He just smiled and then offered a lengthy, non-verbal response that thoroughly answered her question.

"That's a very good reason," she eventually said rather breathlessly, and then laughed as Al ran kisses along her neck, not planning on wasting any of their brief alone time with idle conversation. Knowing that it wouldn't be long before Dale, Millie, and Amy returned, Carolyn was happy to follow his lead and enjoy a truly brilliant snogging session right until they heard the first sounds of the others returning from the party.

"So this is where you've been hiding," Ginny said with a grin as she and Harry came in with Dale and the girls, who were all smiling too.

"How was the rest of the party?" Carolyn asked. "I'm surprised you were all able to stay out dancing that long."

"It was good, but I think we're all beat now," Ginny answered. "Have you seen Brianna?"

"Not since we were downstairs," Carolyn told her and Ginny nodded.

"She's probably over in Percy and Penelope's suite. There were a few couples that disappeared earlier tonight."

"I wonder why?" Harry said, which got Millie and Amy giggling.

Ginny laughed too. "Should I just go get a blanket to throw over you two now? I don't plan on waking up later to do that."

Carolyn laughed too. "That's a good plan," she said, "but I'll grab a blanket after I go get changed." She turned to Al and grinned. "I'll be right back," she promised.

"Why don't you got get changed too," Harry suggested to Al. "If you don't, that suit will be a wrinkled mess by morning."

Millie, Amy, and Dale had already seen Al and Carolyn fall asleep on a sofa at the cottage a couple of times in the past week, so none of this surprised them, but it was really very entertaining. They were all grinning when they went to their own bedrooms after hugs goodnight from Harry and Ginny.

Scorpius and Brianna had definitely been one of the couples who'd left early and gone back to his suite. They'd laughed when they'd found Nick and Allie already there, and that was the point that they came up with the idea of Brianna staying over, so she'd quickly gone to her suite and gotten her nightgown and clothes for the morning, left a note on Ginny and Harry's bed, and returned to spend the night cuddled with Scorpius.

Frederica and Liam hadn't left for their suite to have a snogging session, but because they were both just tired out. That didn't keep them from sharing a couple of pretty great goodnight kisses before going to bed. That scenario was repeated with Joel and Sarah when they went to bed long before the others got back.

Daphne and Karl had returned to their suite with every intention of going to sleep, but their goodnight kiss turned unexpectedly into a full-out snogging session that surprised and thrilled both of them, and when they heard Kirley, Ana, Lily, and Kieran at the door, they had to scramble to straighten clothes, and had no chance to fix mussed hair.

"Looks like you caught your second wind," Lily told Daphne with a smile. "I'd say you guys missed out leaving the party early, but you look like you've had a fair bit of fun."

Karl blushed furiously, and Lily walked behind the sofa and gave them each a hug.

"We're just passing through, so just ignore us," she told them. "Pretend we weren't even here."

Lily hugged and kissed Kieran goodnight, and just as quickly as they'd come in, the four of them had disappeared into their bedrooms, leaving Karl and Daphne still sitting on the sofa together.

"Well, that was unexpected," Daphne said quietly. "Now what do we do? Go to bed, or stay here a while longer?"

Karl looked into her eyes, finding himself once again getting lost in them. "We were told to pretend they weren't even here," he said, slipping his arms around her waist again, and pulling her close again. "And your Mum did make you promise to do everything they told you to do."

Daphne laughed and kissed him. "That's a good point," she said, turning as she snuggled with him again, and slipped a hand under his suit jacket, and around his waist so she could pull him close for another long, incredible kiss.

Sleeping in wasn't an option for Lily, since Kira kept her to the promise to spend the morning with her. They went for breakfast, and then wandered through the hotel stores, where they picked up a few souvenirs for Kira to take home with her, and finished up with play time in the pool, where Kieran, and quite a few of the other teens joined them.

There was a family lunch, and then they packed up, checked out, and left for home, which for everyone going home to England meant that they got home at around seven in the evening, in time to unpack, and for some, get ready for work on Monday.

The major travel events for the holidays were over, but everyone was still busy during their second week of holidays. The Canons, except for the coaches, were off on Monday and Tuesday, so they still had a couple of days to spend with their guests before working through the rest of the week to get ready for the game on Saturday.

Monday morning, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams had another workout that entertained the large group of spectators who came out to watch, and then they went out to lunch, and then Lily put on another afternoon study session, this time at Aaron and Tracey's house for everyone who still had assignments to work on, while the other students found other things to do.

Scorpius and Brianna spent the afternoon together doing their own thing, and that included a stop at the Ministry of Magic to see Percy.

"Is there any news coming in about the new minimum pay yet?" Brianna asked Percy and Grandpa Weasley when they sat down for a visit in Percy's office.

Arthur nodded and smiled. "Yeah, quite a bit that you two might not know about," he told her.

"First of all, since summer, and the announcement, nearly every other Ministry of Magic in the Wizarding World have matched your minimum pay law, and they all went into effect yesterday. It seems that once the news got out, Wizards and Witches everywhere started calling their Ministries and demanding the same pay standards as we now have here."

Scorpius and Brianna grinned at each other and the two men. "That's even better than we'd hoped," Scorpius told them.

"So like I mentioned," Arthur continued, "the new law took effect yesterday. There's been a lot of grumbling about it, but we've quietly assembled a team that will deal with any worker complaints if they don't start getting paid at the new rates now."

"How will you know?" Brianna asked. "That's one thing we didn't really work out last summer."

Percy grinned at her. "We did," he assured her. "Every Witch and Wizard received a letter from the Ministry advising them of the new law, and how to contact the Ministry if they aren't paid like they're supposed to be. We probably won't catch every single case where there are attempts to get around the law, but we'll find out about most of them."

"Any cases yet?" Scorpius asked.

"No," Arthur answered. "Pays won't start going out for anywhere from a week to a month, depending on when regular pay days are for each Witch and Wizard. When that does start, though, it's really going to be fun."

Percy nodded. "I'll make sure that you get regular updates at school, but if you watch the news a bit, I'm sure the stories will start popping up by next week as so many Witches and Wizards start getting pays that are way bigger than they've ever had before."

"When we researched our proposal," Brianna said, "I couldn't believe that there were people getting paid so little," she told the boys. Scorpius and I were getting paid more than double what a lot of Witches and Wizards to be pages, and we weren't trying to take care of entire families."

Arthur laughed. "I'd say you are both worth way more than we were paying you here, but you're right, and now they'll at least make that much, and making it a minimum hourly pay was brilliant, since if you'd gone with a weekly or monthly pay, there would have been a lot of employers who would have just made their workers put in more hours to make up for the extra cost."

"That's what we expected would happen after looking at all of the options," Scorpius agreed. "This is going to be fun for the next while as we get to see everything we did last summer start to really help people."

Brianna hugged Scorpius. "Yes it is," she agreed with a bright smile. "It's going to be brilliant!"

James was busy cooking dinner at Tracey and Aaron's house after the study session was over, talking with Callie, Mark, Joel, and Sarah as he worked.

"We've all heard about how brilliant your sister is," Callie told James, "but until you see it in action for yourself, you don't really appreciate it."

"I don't know how she manages to jump from subject to subject, in different grades, and still has the answers to every question," Sarah said.

"She has a photographic memory," James told them.

Mark laughed. "So do I, James," he told his new friend. "My problem isn't remembering, it's the comprehension part that gets me every time."

"Lily doesn't seem to have that issue," Callie said with a soft smile for Mark that had him smiling back at her too.

James looked at his watch. "Aaron, Tracey, and Arianna should be back any minute," he told them. "Why don't you open those bottles of wine, Mark, and pour some glasses, and I'll get the appetizers on the table."

When everyone was there, they sat down for dinner, and after they'd eaten, Callie and Sarah stayed with Tracey and the boys, while Arianna took James back to their house, where the first thing she did was pop a bottle of wine into a bucket of ice. He was visualizing a quiet evening for two until he saw her get four wine glasses out.

"Who's coming over?" he asked, and Arianna smiled.

"Your Mum and Dad," she told him, and wasn't surprised when the knock came on the door almost immediately after she said it. James opened the door, and greeted his parents with hugs, and a kiss for his mother.

Arianna had set the glasses and wine out on the kitchen table, so James figured this must be a meeting to discuss wedding plans – especially since his father was carrying his attaché case. When Arianna had hugged and kissed them, they all sat at the table, and James waited expectantly.

"You're getting married in six months," Harry began, and James grinned.

"I heard that," he said, and Ginny, Harry, and Arianna all laughed.

"We wanted to come over tonight to talk to you about some things you need to know about your family before that happens," Harry continued.

James looked surprised. "Have you been keeping secrets?"

Harry grinned at him. "Always, but in this case it's nothing we wouldn't have told you if you'd expressed any interest. You never have, though, and now we need to discuss it with you."

James looked at his parents, and at Arianna. Since she didn't look surprised, she obviously knew what his father was talking about.

"Alright, lay it on me, then," he said, and Arianna took his hand and smiled encouragingly.

He watched as his father pulled a large folder out of his case, and put it on the table.

"You know that our family has money," Harry told James, who nodded. "What you need to know about, and eventually start learning the details of, is that your family has a lot more money than most Wizards and Witches know about, or would even suspect." He lifted the top sheet from the file he'd put on the table and handed it to James.

"This is the most recent financial statement for PBP Investments," Harry told him.

James read it over carefully, and he whistled at the amounts.

"I take it you're showing me the company reports because you own part of the company," James said finally, and watched as the other three at the table grinned at him.

"I'm showing it to you," Harry said, "because we own it all."

James just stared at him blankly for a moment. He couldn't have heard that right.

"We own PBP Investments?" he repeated, questioning even as his mind came to grips with the reality.

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "Take a deep breath, James. We're still the same family we were two minutes ago."

James laughed. "I'll be fine once the room stops spinning." He turned to Arianna, who smiled at him.

"You're not surprised, so haow long have you known?"

"A few years or so, I guess," she told him. "I don't know the exact details, but I did know that your family owned PBP Investments."

He handed her the financial report so she could know those details. "Why didn't anyone tell me before now?" he asked, and Ginny answered.

"You've never cared about stuff like this, honey," she told him quietly. "Why bother you with any of this until you needed to know?"

"And I need to know now, why?" he asked.

"Mostly because Arianna pointed out to us a little while ago that we've had nearly twenty-five years to work with our finances, where you don't know anything about them at all," Harry told him. "When we're ready to retire, you, Al, and Lily will be dealing with the family business, and you need to start learning about it so you can do that when the time comes."

"And this doesn't include my investments," Ginny told him. "Arianna reminded us that there are a lot of people now who depend on PBP Investments, and Witch Investments to continue being successful. We have hundreds of thousands of jobs alone, and the millions that we help through the foundation, which is paid for by the money PBP Investments earn."

James nodded. "So will you want me to do that full time when I graduate?" he asked, and watched as Harry and Ginny both shook their heads.

"No, you can still do whatever you want," Harry told him. "We don't have any direct involvement in PBP Investments anymore. Fleur's been running the whole show for years. She'll eventually want to retire too, though, as will your grandmother, and Penelope, and while that's definitely a long time away, it's going to take you years to learn everything about PBP Investments, and the Phoenix Foundation."

He slid the large folder across the table to James. "Let me know when you get through that stack, and I can get the next batch ready for you."

James stared at the folder. "You mean that's not all of it?" he asked.

Harry laughed. "That's not a fiftieth of it, son." Arianna, Ginny, and Arianna all laughed at the look on James' face.

"You don't have to get it done this week," Ginny told him. "Like we said, you have years, but you do need to start sometime."

"So how come we don't live in a mansion?" James asked next. "We obviously could have."

Harry nodded. "We actually owned a few of them at first," he told James. "We didn't want to live like that, and we love the cottage. If you and Arianna want to live in a mansion, feel free, but why you'd want some big drafty place instead of this house is beyond me."

"We wouldn't," James told him. "I'm guessing that not having a big estate pays for a lot of dinners or spots in the residences."

Ginny smiled proudly at him. "That has a lot to do with everything that's done with PBP Investments. Let's not do any more with that tonight." She pointed to the forgotten bottle of wine. "Why don't you open that, pour some glasses, and we'll get busy with going over the plans for the wedding."

Ginny sent Tracey a message, and she and Aaron came over and joined them, leaving Mark, Callie, Joel, and Sarah to hang out at their place instead of having to sit through a few hours of wedding talk.

"So how does it feel finding out you're a member of the richest family in the Wizarding World?" Aaron asked James, who looked surprised, and then laughed.

"Am I the only one in this family who didn't know?" he asked, and Aaron nodded.

"We think so, yeah," he told his best mate. "The girls thought it was adorable."

"Well, at least being totally unaware of the world around me wasn't a total waste, then." James answered.

Arianna gave him a hug. "I don't see anything wrong with money not being what motivates you," she told him. "It says a lot about how good a man you've become."

"I'd say that we've got nine guests that are glad you cared more about them than about money," Tracey added.

James was glad of that too, and after spending Monday evening finalizing most of the wedding plans, he was happy to spend the rest of his week with their guests – their friends.

On Tuesday, Lily did another study morning, and the more time that her ten newest protégés spent with her, (Daphne came to the Tuesday morning session) the more they learned the tricks and habits that helped make Lily and the other New Marauders such good students. Tuesday afternoon, they all popped over to Marauders Paradise for a few hours of play, and dinner on the island.

That evening, when Aaron, Tracey, Arianna, and James all went to bed early, Mark, Callie, Joel, and Sarah were left to entertain themselves. They'd watched a couple of shows on WWVN, each couple snuggled on a safo, but when Joel and Sarah fell asleep, Callie gently put a blanket over them, left a note for Tracey on the kitchen table, and then had Mark walk her home, tuck her in, kiss her goodnight, and spend the night snuggled with her.

"Sarah, you look taller this morning," James told Mark with a grin as he came into the kitchen on Wednesday morning.

"You don't seem surprised," Mark said, answering his comment and grin. "I bet Joel was when he woke up on the sofa, though."

James laughed. "I already got a qm from Tracey, and he definitely was. He's probably still blushing."

"They seemed pretty peaceful when Callie put the blanket over them," Mark said. "I'm sure he'll get over being embarrassed."

"Good morning, Callie," James said, and Mark turned around to watch her come into the kitchen. She put her arms around him, and kissed him, then sat next to him at the table.

"What's up for today?" she asked James.

"Other than your spirits?" James asked with a grin. "There's another Quidditch practice for the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor teams this morning, and I hear that Kieran's having one for his team again today too. This afternoon, I was thinking we could get our back to school supply run out of the way, since we won't be doing it on Saturday with the game, and Lily's booked the last study day for Thursday."

"More shopping works for me," she told James. "Would you be terribly disappointed if Mark and I skipped the Quiddtich? Sarah may be a sports junkie, but my enthusiasm for the game is directly proportional to the temperature outside."

James laughed. "That's fine with me," he said. "Why don't you two meet us for lunch at the food court at twelve."

Arianna joined them, and James put the food out and sat down too. Breakfast was never very long on a work day for Arianna, so they finished quickly, she hugged and kissed James goodbye, and then while she went to work, Callie, Mark, and James did the cleanup.

A still sheepish looking Joel, and a pretty happy looking Sarah arrived just as they finished up, and they also opted for plan anything put sit in the cold and watch Qudditch practice. James left them to do whatever they wanted, and he grabbed his gear and apparated to the cottage.

The cold January morning they had on Wednesday encouraged most of the non-Quidditch playing teens to opt out of being frozen spectators. Carissa was spending the weekdays at the cottage, so she and Dale went into the sitting room to play 3D GameWizard. Amy and Millie went to spend the morning with Harry at the residence before going to meet the others at the Mall for lunch and supply shopping.

When they got there, Lily was happy to find out that her father had brought Vanessa with them, and that he'd sent Kieran a message to bring Nadine to the Mall with him after their team practice. She hadn't had much time to really spend with them so far, and was glad to have the afternoon to go shopping with them.

They had lunch together, and then while the teens all went shopping, Harry went to the Phoenix Foundation offices to visit with Teddy.

"So what's on your mind?" Teddy asked him. "The kids?"

Harry nodded, and Teddy grinned. "You already know where we stand with everything, so you must have something else you want to do."

"I want you to leave Callie and Mark to me to take care of," Harry told him. "They're the only seventh year Hogwarts kdis we have, right?"

Teddy nodded. "Yes, and that'd be a big help, since we've got enough going just trying to figure out what to do with the students just for the summer and Christmas holidays. We don't want to build a place that'd only be used three months a year."

"We'll need to work that out for the future," Harry told Teddy. For this summer, we'll keep our three, and I'm pretty sure Isabelle isn't going to be giving up Carissa ever, is she?"

Teddy grinned. "I'd say that's pretty much definite, yes. We've all pretty much fallen in love with that little charmer."

"So that only leaves Karl, Sarah, and Joel. We'll work things out for them this summer too, and that'll give you another year to work out a permanent plan."

"We'd have to figure out how to deal with daytimes while Victoire and I are at work, but what if Victoire and I took Millie and Amy, since they're pretty much inseparable now, and you could take Joel and Sarah. Do you think Kirley and Ana would keep Karl? Since he's fifth year, he'll be an adult by the summer after next anyway, and we'll probably do something else with the seventeen and older students by then."

I'll ask them," Harry promised. "That would take care of everything for the summer."

"For here anyway. We have kids in other schools around the world to deal with still."

"Get your volunteer base to help out this summer," Harry suggested. "Some of the older students might be able to join PBP construction crews, or do other jobs. Rent a few houses if needed and hire some staff."

"I'd suggest just renting the schools themselves, but there can't be very many kids that would choose to spend twelve months a year there for seven years."

Harry nodded. "They definitely need to have a break," he agreed, "and we do want to put some fun into their lives, since most of them haven't had much if any so far."

"We'll make sure they do," Teddy promised.

"Anything else going on?" Harry asked, and Teddy shook his head.

"The usual for this time of year," he said. "The food program is pretty much my first priority in the winter months. I'll be going to do a tour of Asia next week, and Africa the week after that. We're pretty close to one hundred percent coverage now, but it's a lot of work."

"Is Victoire going with you?"

"She's doing the Asia trip, but not Africa," Teddy answered.

Harry grinned. "Want some company for that one? We could hit a few residences along the way."

"I'd love the company," Teddy told him. "And if we get through enough of the residences, it'd probably save Stewart a trip too."

"Let me know where you want to go, and I'll upgrade our accommodations for the week," Harry told him, standing up and getting ready to leave. "I can apparate us anywhere that there isn't TransPortal terminals, if needed."

"I'll get that to you by Friday then," Teddy agreed. "Where are you off to now?"

"Back to the cottage. Everyone's shopping so I can catch up on a little work around there while they're gone."

Teddy laughed. "You have got to be the hardest working unemployed person in history," he told Harry, getting up to give him a hug before he left.

"I'm having too much fun for it to even be called work," Harry told him. "I'll see you Saturday at the game."

With all of the extra teenagers around during the holidays, it was hard even for Harry to keep up with what they were all doing. Wednesday morning, he'd had quite a group at the cottage, and had done lunch with all of them, but by dinner, he was down to four, plus himself and Ginny. Dale was having dinner with Carissa, Lily was at the McCormacks, and Brianna was with Scorpius.

Since Lily and Kieran hadn't had much time in the studio yet, they had an evening session. Daphne had come for dinner with Karl, and stayed to watch them quickly record three brand new songs flawlessly.

"That cannot be normal," Daphne said. "I read TeenWitch, and there's always bands saying how tough the work is in the studio."

Kirley nodded. "It is hard work for most artists," he agreed. "Lily and Kieran work hard too, it's just that once they have a song ready to record, they rarely have to record it more than once unless something unusual happens – like breaking a guitar string."

"You must love that," Daphne said. "No wonder they've been able to put out so many albums already."

She watched Lily through the window into the studio, and smiled. Less than a week ago, she had a completely different perception of the girl, and now they were definitely friends. What that would mean when they got back to school would be something that she, Karl, and the other Slytherins who'd been spending the holidays here would have to all work out.

Lily and Kieran finished the third song, and came into the control room. Lily sat down next to Daphne and hugged her, a bright smile on her face.

"What'd you think?" she asked.

"It's like you were singing that last one about us," Daphne said, referring to herself and Karl. Lily's smile grew even brighter, if that was possible.

"That's good, because we were." She laughed when Daphne and Karl both stared at her.

"We wrote that one this week," she told them. "Thanks for the inspiration."

Daphne smiled and hugged her. "Like Karl and I haven't had enough firsts already over the holidays, and now we have our very own song."

"We'll get you both a copy of it," Kieran told her. "We're working on the album after the next one already, so it won't be out for quite a while."

Kirley laughed. "Actually, we're thinking about changing the June release and making it a double album, you've recorded so many songs already," he told Kieran. "All three of these songs would go on it if we do that."

"That'd be great," Lily said. "Then we could use them all on tour next summer too."

"That's enough for tonight," Kirley told them. "Why don't you go have some fun."

Lily got up and gave him a hug. "This is fun for us, but I'm sure we can find something more interesting for Karl and Daphne."

She and Kieran packed up, then they went to the sitting room and played GameWizard until it was time for Lily and Daphne to both go home.

"Will you let me know if you're able to come to the game on Saturday?" Karl asked Daphne when he was hugging her goodbye.

Daphne nodded. "I'll send a qm to Kieran's WiComm when I know," she promised, then smiled and kissed Karl. "I hope so, since it's supposed to be pretty cold on Saturday. It'll mean we'll have to stay very close together to stay warm."

Karl smiled too. "That's definitely the part of your coming to the game that I'm hoping for."

On Thursday morning, with Lily's help, everyone got their holiday homework assignments finished, so to celebrate, they went to the Diner in Chudley for lunch before they were all off in different directions for the afternoon.

Harry was having James, and their group of eight for dinner and the evening on Thursday. He was a lot busier putting this meal together than he'd been on Wednesday only cooking for six. Tonight they had all of their kids, and with Scorpius, Kieran, Karl, and Carissa, would have a total of twenty-one for dinner.

He and Ginny had wanted an evening with all of the kids at home before they'd be going back to school on Sunday, but Harry had also planned on talking with Callie and Mark about their futures after Hogwarts. Dinner was boisterous and fun for everyone. It was amazing to see how much the nine kids had changed in just two weeks.

After the meal and clean-up, while everyone else settled into the sitting room, Harry asked Mark and Callie to come to his little office. When they were all sitting down, he smiled as they watched him with uncertain curiousity.

"I wanted to talk with you about what you'll be doing when you're done school in June," he told them. They both looked surprised.

"I thought the Phoenix Foundation was going to work with us on that," Callie said, and Harry nodded.

"They were, but I asked Teddy to let me help you instead. You're looking to work at the Ministry of Magic, right?"

Callie smiled and nodded. "I hope to, if the right job is there for me."

Harry handed her a few pages of parchment. "You may know that I hold two seats on the Wizengamot," he told her as she began to read the pages.

"I'm actually allowed one assistant for each seat, but have always just used the administrative pool instead. You're the first person to come along that I think would be perfect to handle that job for me."

Callie looked up at him, and she had tears in her eyes. "You want me to be your assistant for the Wizengamot?"

"Yes. It'll be a lot to learn at first, but I know you can do it, and I'm pretty sure you'll love the job."

Callie went back to quickly finish reading the job offer. The money was decent, a standard pay for that level at the Ministry, and she knew she'd be accepting it long before reaching the end.

"Thank-you," she told Harry sincerely. "This is way better than I'd hoped to get for a first job."

She signed the contract, and handed it back to Harry, and he handed her an envelope, which she looked at inquiringly.

"The Ministry doesn't believe in bonuses, but there's nothing to keep me from giving them to you myself. Why don't you open that on your own later, and I'll move on to Mark."

Mark was so happy for Callie that he'd forgotten that Harry said he wanted to help both of them.

"If you could do anything you wanted, Mark," Harry told him, "what would it be – no matter how unlikely you think it would be of ever happening?"

Mark looked into Harry's eyes, and felt like his heart and dreams were wide open to the man. Somehow Harry knew what he would wish for, and so he took a deep breath and said it out loud for the first time in his life.

"If I could do anything, I'd like to race brooms professionally."

Callie looked at him in surprise, and Harry grinned.

"From what I saw from when we went flying, you're good enough to do that," Harry told him, and handed him a few sheets of parchment, just like he had for Callie.

"In your case, I would need you to commit to at least five years," he told Mark. Technically you'll work for me, but you'll be representing whichever sponsors I line up for you, which for the first year will be GamePortal for sure, and I'm working on a couple of others.

You'll have a regular pay, your expenses will all be covered, and we'll split winnings fifty-fifty. There's potential merchandising income on top of that you will see kick in later once you're established on the racing circuit, and you get some name recognition."

Mark was stunned. This had been his secret dream his whole life, and it definitely would have never happened if he'd stayed at home with his family. Now a man that hardly knew him was handing him his dream and way more.

"Where do I sign before you come to your senses?" Mark asked, grinning at Harry, who laughed.

"Last page," he told Mark. "Funny, that's what everyone said when I bought the Canons too. I won't be wrong about you either."

Mark handed him the signed contract. "If you are, it won't be because I didn't try my hardest for you," he promised. Harry handed him an envelope too, and Mark wondered why he still felt surprised.

"You can both take the summer off, and start the first week of September," he told them. Decide where you're going to live, and get settled in. If you need any help from me, let me know."

"You made that sound like one place to live," Callie said with a laugh, and Harry grinned at her.

"I can't tell if you'll start out with one or two places, but I do think you've each found your match for sure, so it'll be one place eventually. Why don't we go join the others, have some wine, and celebrate?" he suggested.

When they were all standing, Callie hugged him. "Thank-you," she told him. "I am so glad you all had us come here for the holidays. You've completely changed our lives."

"You're welcome," Harry told her. "You all deserve to be happy from now on. We're just glad to help you get started with that. Being happy for the rest of your lives will be up to you."

They went into the sitting room, and stayed and visited until nearly nine, when Arianna and Aaron had to get home. Being professional Quidditch players definitely had the occasional downside. Sarah and Joel had decided to go to bed to, and so it was just Callie and Mark in the sitting room at James and Arianna's house when they decided to open the envelopes that Harry had given them.

Fortunately there was a box of tissues next to the sofa. When Callie read her letter from Gringotts, all she could do was wrap her arms around Mark, and cry.

Mark's letter had been for an identical amount, and he was just as overwhelmed. They wouldn't be starting a good life after finishing school; it'd be a great life. While he cradled Callie, Mark thought about what Harry had said about the two of them, and just as he'd known that Harry knew what he'd wanted to do more that anything, he also knew that Harry was right about him and Callie.

"I love you," he told Callie softly, and she leaned back so fast to look at him, she would have fallen off of the sofa if he hadn't been holding her.

"What?" she said, not sure she'd heard it or dreamed it.

Mark smiled, and looked into her eyes. "I love you," he repeated. "I know we've only really gotten to know each other over the past two weeks, but I know with all my heart that I love you."

Callie put her arms around his neck and pulled him into a long, deep kiss.

"I love you too, Mark," she told him when she finally let him up for air. "Why don't we go snuggle in bed and get some sleep - I don't think I can take any more excitement today."

Mark kissed her again, and then they stood, and she led them to her room, where they held each other close, and wondered at how their reality had suddenly become better than any dream either had ever been able to imagine before.

Friday morning was extremely cold, so the planned Quidditch practices at the cottage, and the one Kieran was having were both kept short, and then after sending a few QuillMessages back and forth, they all decided to spend the rest of the day at Marauders Mall in Paris. Vanessa and Nadine joined them for this trip, as did Daphne, Jon, Therese, Andy, and Laura.

James left Paris early, since he would be cooking for twelve, and wanted to get an early start on it. Therese and Jon went with him to lend a hand, and the others promised to be home by six to help out with the eating.

"This worked out really brilliantly for Callie and the others," Therese said happily. "Even better than we'd hoped."

James nodded. "Dad surprised me with what he did for Mark and Callie. I'm long past doubting him when he makes any business decisions like that."

Therese laughed. "I can't believe after what he pulled off with the Canons that anyone would ever doubt that he has better business instincts than anyone."

The kitchen had an open counter that divided the table from the rest of the kitchen, and Jon was leaning against it, staying out of their way, since he'd really just come for moral support, not because he had even the slightest amount of culinary skill.

"It's great that they're set up with jobs," he agreed. "Every one of them have changed a lot over the last two weeks, and it's all been for the better."

"Now we'll just need to make sure we can keep supporting them," Therese said. "We can lose all of that progress if we're not there for them after the holidays."

"That's true, but we won't let that happen," James said. "The rest of the New Marauders are going to need to help when they're at school after we graduate, though."

Jon nodded. "We'll help when we're able, James, but if all goes well, we'll be moving to Romania this summer."

"You'll get the job at the reserve," he told Jon. "They were impressed with you last summer, so all you have to concentrate on is getting your NEWTs and you'll be in."

"Then I just have to get into med school," Therese said, smiling.

"You'll get in," Jon said. "You're Head Girl, and are running right up there with James for top marks."

"When do you find out?" James asked her.

"March first," she answered. "If I'm in, I just have to get my NEWT's, and I'd be starting in September."

"At least you'll know for sure pretty soon," James said. "Are you applying to more than one school?"

"Yes, but Jon and I definitely don't want to spend years apart while I'm in training and he's working at the reserve, so I don't know if I'd go to a different school or not."

"The TransPortal would let you move back and forth easily enough, but the time zone change would be tough to deal with every day," James said. "I can't believe you won't get accepted at every school, Therese. They should all want the best prospect Hogwarts has this year."

Jon helped with setting the table, and keeping wine glasses filled while James and Therese put dinner together. Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey got there ahead of Andy, Laura, and the others, and when they were all there, James sat them down and started serving the first course.

It was James' turn for a surprise after dinner when after cleanup was done, and Therese, Jon, Andy, and Laura headed for home, Tracey and Aaron summarily told Callie and Sarah to pack up.

"Have you got your days mixed up, mate?" James asked Aaron, who grinned at him.

"Nope, we're just going to give you and Arianna a couple of nights alone before you have to go and do your last term at Hogwarts."

Arianna gave her brother and Tracey each big hugs.

"Thank-you," she told them.

Callie and Sarah didn't need to be asked twice, and Tracey went with Sarah to offer a little magical help with packing. Both girls were ready to go within fifteen minutes, and after a round of hugs and kisses, Arianna and James suddenly found themselves alone for the first time during the holidays.

"This was really nice of everyone," she told him when they were curled up on the sofa together.

"I wouldn't change having Callie and Sarah here for anything," James said, "but I'm really glad they're giving us a couple of nights together alone – even if it's a curfew night tonight."

"That just gives us more official snuggling time in bed," she said with a smile. James kissed her tenderly.

"I love you, Arianna," he said in a whisper-soft voice that was barely a breath across her cheek. He pulled her close, and she melted into another long, dreamy kiss.

"I love you too," she whispered back in between that kiss and the next.

While Arianna and James were enjoying being on their own, Tracey and Aaron were having fun with their four guests.

"We do have a couple of extra bedrooms over on the side of the house where our bedroom is," Aaron told Callie and Sarah, "or if you'd rather just cuddle with your respective boyfriends for the next couple of nights, that's entirely up to you."

Joel was starting to turn decidedly reddish, and Tracey laughed.

"Joel, if you and Sarah want your own rooms that's fine," Tracey told him, "but we don't see any difference between cuddling on the sofa all night and cuddling in a bed all night – except for being a lot more comfortable."

"Well, I'm certainly not picking alone if I have the choice," Callie said, and took her things into Mark's room before joining them again.

Sarah looked at Joel speculatively. "It's your room," she told him.

Joel smiled shyly, still blushing. "I'd like you to stay with me, but only if you want to."

Sarah laughed. "Was that so difficult?" she asked him.

"Reasonably difficult," he said. "We all have the same problem with opening up, I just seem to be a little slower than the rest of you at being able to do that."

Sarah gave him a hug. "That's alright," she told him. "I won't rush you. This is all new to me too."

Sarah put her things in Joel's room, and the three couples went into the sitting room to talk for a while until Aaron and Tracey had to go to bed.

"Do all these early nights ever bug you?" Callie asked Aaron.

"Sometimes, but there's so much great about playing for the Canons, that it's a pretty small downside."

"You can stay up late if you want," Tracey told them before she and Aaron went to their room. "The morning's pretty much open, you just need to be at the cottage for eleven. Knowing Harry, you're probably all doing lunch somewhere before going to the stadium. If I don't see you in the morning before we leave, I'll see you all at the game."

Harry did take everyone for lunch in Portree, and it was a good thing that they all came prepared for the cold weather, since it was definitely that on the Isle of Skye.

Sarah was definitely the most excited person in their group, finally getting to see a game live for her first time. Even she noticed the cold, though, and was happy to huddle under a blanket with Joel to stay warm.

They were all seated and comfortably under blankets when the Canons and Pride were announced, and flew into the stadium. This was the tenth game of the season for the Canons, and they were looking to reach the halfway point of the season still undefeated.

The game was started quickly after the teams had landed and the captains had briefly met at the centre pitch. Kimberly reached the Quaffle first, and a pass to Aaron, and then one from him on to Arianna gave her a scoring chance that she took full advantage of to put the Canons in the lead within the first fifteen seconds.

"They must be just about the best ever at putting together those opening plays," Sarah said as she watched Arianna speed back toward the Canons' goals to play defense.

"They do seem to score on a lot of their first plays," Joel agreed, "at least for the past year and a half, anyway."

He was not nearly as excited as Sarah to be here, except for the getting to cuddle with her part of the experience. When he looked around at the faces of the others in their group that he could see from where they were sitting, he suspected that most of them thought the same thing he did. Even the normally Quidditch-addicted Hugo seemed more interested in snuggling with Emily than the game.

The Canons had taken that early lead, and they slowly added to the score as the game went on. Liselle had been in tough against the Pride Seeker, each keeping the other from catching the snitch, but once Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly had the Canons up more than one hundred and seventy points, she backed off and waited for her chance, or was happy to let her opponent go ahead and catch the snitch, since it would still give her team the win.

Daphne was sitting next to Lily, each girl wrapped in blankets and the arms of their boyfriends. She'd finally made her House team this year, and she watched the Chasers on both teams constantly during the game.

"Aaron and Arianna are way faster than they look on QSPN," she said to Lily and the boys. "No wonder they won so many Quidditch Cups at Hogwarts."

"They're a lot better now than they were back then," Lily said as she watched Liselle fake a run at the snitch. "The Canons training program is a lot harder than anything we do at Hogwarts."

"No doubt," Daphne agreed. "I saw that report from the summer when the sports experts were all amazed to find out that they did a bludger practice wth fourteen bludgers. We don't even do a bludger practice."

"You should," Lily said idly as she continued to follow the game. "Your competition all practice with four at least a half hour every workout."

Daphne turned and stared at her. "You're kidding, right?"

Lily shook her head, and Kieran and Karl both laughed.

"She's not," Karl told her. "I've watched a couple of practices over the holidays."

"Aren't you giving away team secrets?" Daphne asked Lily, and watched as the other girl grinned.

"You're not going to get our game plan out of me for the match we have in two weeks," she told Daphne. "Talking about how we train to get better isn't something we mind sharing. My team had trained with most of the players for both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. It makes us all better."

Daphne smiled at her. "In that case, then, how do you train?"

Lily and Kieran took turns telling her all about how the other House teams practiced, and Daphne was amazed.

"I had no idea Slytherin was so far behind in how we prepare for our games," she said.

Kieran and Lily both laughed. "Gryffindor's trained like that for a long time, and Ravenclaw didn't start doing it until Rose taught them how," Lily told her.

"And Hufflepuff only started to really get with the program a year ago," Kieran told her. "We'll probably be another year or two before we'll be really able to compete – Ravenclaw proved that to us in November when they were able to wear us down in a long game."

Daphne nodded. "Now I understand why they did," she told Kieran. "I wonder if my captain will be open to hearing about how the other teams work out, or if he's as stuck in the old ways as our last captain."

"Thomas will listen," Karl told her. "The better question might be whether you have the teammates that are willing to put in that kind of work from now on to become a better team."

"That's true," she agreed. "A couple of the guys probably won't be."

"Pick some other students that have some talent, and train them all summer then," Lily suggested. "Then at least next year you'll have a team you can work with."

The Pride Seeker had gotten complacent, and when Liselle suddenly shot out after the snitch for real, he was out of position, and a few seconds later, out of luck as she caught the snitch to clinch the Canons' tenth win.

"They haven't lost anything not having your father on the team," Daphne told Lily. "You'd never know she was a rookie the way she's handling all of the veteran Seekers so far."

"Dad's sure she'll be better than Dennis, and he's her trainer now, so between him and Dad, there probably isn't much she hasn't learned."

With the game over, they didn't waste any time getting out of the stadium, and taking the TransPortal back to the cottage, where Harry, Ginny, and a few otheres got started on dinner, while everyone else went into the sitting room to relax and warm up.

After the big family dinner that would be the last gathering with the kids until school was out for the summer, everyone left for their homes, the teens needing to pack to go back to Hogwarts in the morning.

James was packed, and he and Arianna were in bed pretty early, wanting to be close together.

"Less than six months," she told him softly, holding him tight.

"This will be easy," he told her just as quietly. "With everything we both have going on until then, it's going to go by really fast."

Arianna nodded. "I'd say that you've got it easier not having to deal with all the wedding details, but I've already been through NEWTs, so I know that wouldn't be true."

They talked, kissed, and snuggled until sleep finally claimed them sometime after midnight. They weren't the only ones who were reluctant to go to sleep. Mark and Callie knew that starting in the morning, that they'd be facing new problems once they climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express.

"Nothing's going to be the same when we go back," Callie told Mark. "I don't even feel like the same person I was two weeks ago."

"We're not the same people," Mark answered. "It should make things interesting."

"I'm going to miss snuggling like this with you," she told him, and watched as he smiled.

"Then we'll just have to practice our Transfiguration and conjuring, and make ourselves a nice soft sofa to cuddle in when we study together."

"Like we'd get any studying done if we did that," Callie said with a laugh. "That's a really great idea for when we do have some spare time for a little snogging, though."

"I was hoping we'd find more than a little time for that," he said, kissing her.

Callie laughed again. "I'm sure we'll work it into our schedules," she told him.

Amy and Millie were in Millie's bed again after they'd packed. Amy had slept in her own room since Monday, but tonight, Millie had again wanted her to stay with her after their nightly talk. She was worried about what would happen tomorrow.

"We're still going to be best friends tomorrow," Amy assured her. "If you have any problems with any Slytherins, Callie, Karl, or Sarah will help you. We can get together to study and hang out every day after classes and after dinner, and we do have some other new friends too."

"You think that Vanessa and Nadine might study with us too?" Millie asked. "I really like them."

"We can ask – maybe they have a study group already that we can join," Amy suggested, and Millie nodded.

"It's funny that I was so scared about coming here, and now I'm scared about going back," Millie said.

"Don't be scared," Amy told her. "We don't have to be scared of anything anymore, Millie. Trust Harry and Ginny, and all of our new friends. They won't let us down."

"How can you be so sure? We've both been lied to by grownups lots of times."

Amy smiled. "If everything that's happened to us over the past two weeks hasn't convinced you, what will?"

"I don't know, Amy," Mille said. "I know the Phoenix Foundation is supposed to take care of us, but we haven't been told how yet, and we're only twelve."

"Going on thirteen," Amy said with a grin.

Millie smiled. "Okay, going on thirteen. My point is that we have five and a half years of school left. Will we be shuffled from place to place every summer and Christmas?"

"I don't know," Amy admitted. "If we're doing it together, though, you and I will be just fine."

"That's a very big if," Millie said, "and the scariest."

Carissa wasn't thinking that anything was scary as Isabelle sat on her bed and they talked quietly together before she went to sleep.

"How would you feel about staying with us this summer?" Isabelle asked her, and laughed when Carissa threw her arms around her neck and hugged her tightly.

"Would that be a yes?" she asked, and Carissa nodded.

"If you can handle it," Isabelle continued, "Stewart and I would like you to spend all your holidays with us until you're done school. We've seriously fallen in love with you."

"I love both of you too. And Teddy and Victoire and everybody else too," Carissa said. "I can definitely handle coming here for the holidays."

Isabelle hugged her again. "Good. I have a present for you," she told Carissa, handing her a gift. They both laughed as she tore the wrapping off, and opened the box to see her very own WiComm.

"You need anything from me, or just want to talk or send a qm, now you can."

Carissa hugged her again. "Thank-you," she told Isabelle. "For everything."

"You're welcome. Now let's get you tucked in and off to sleep. You have a big day tomorrow."

Karl and Kieran had packed, and then met in the sitting room, where they played around with their guitars while they talked about going back to school.

"I've always been glad to be going back to school before now just to get away from my family," Karl told his friend. "This is the first time I'm both going to miss the place I'm leaving, and looking forward to being at school where I'll see Daphne every day."

"You saw her every day at school for the last four and a half years, mate," Kieran pointed out, and Karl laughed.

"True, but it's definitely changed now. Everything has."

Kieran nodded. "I know. We should all make the gossip circuit by Monday. Lily and I having you and Daphne for new mates, and Mark and Callie will certainly turn some heads."

"Sarah and Joel too," Karl agreed. "I've never been gossiped about before. Maybe it'll be an interesting experience."

"It gets old fast," Kieran assured him. "Oh, and you're welcome to miss this place when we go back, but you'll see it again next summer – all summer long."

Karl stopped his soft strumming and stared at Kieran. "You're going to have me come back here again?"

Kieran smiled and nodded. It was so cool that his parents let him break the news. No wonder Lily's father loved getting to do things like this.

While they were playing and talking, Joel and Sarah were cuddling and deciding how they were going to handle going back to school.

"Would your friends be shocked if I sat with you on the train?" he asked Sarah, and she laughed and hugged him.

"Probably, but I'd love it if you would," she told him. "That way all the girls at school can find out right away that you're off the market now."

Joel smiled. "Two weeks ago I didn't think I'd ever even be able to open up for anyone, let alone be on the market. Now it's too late – I'm all yours."

"Do you get the feeling we were set up when they picked who we'd be staying with?" she asked him, and he laughed.

"If we were, then remind me to send whoever was responsible a big thank-you present for helping me to find out what love was supposed to be, and then putting us together so I'd have someone to fall in love with."

"Excuse me?" Sarah said, staring at him. "Run that by me again."

Joel smiled and ran his hand through her silky, soft hair. "I love you," he told her, and watched as her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Nobody's ever told me that in my whole life," she told him.

"I've never told anyone that in my entire life," he answered, still smiling as he caressed her face. "I'll make sure to tell you that a lot to make up for all the times you should have been."

"I love you too," Sarah told him, pulling him closer so they could share a tender kiss.

Dale was in his bed at the cottage – James' bed, he reminded himself. In the morning, he'd be going back to Hogwarts, and from there, he had no idea where. He'd come here for the sole purpose of seeing what goodies he might score out of the deal. What he'd been given was way more than he'd imagined, and that was the problem. Now he cared about Harry, Ginny, and the rest of this family.

'Don't lie to yourself,' he said softly out loud. 'You love them'.

That led to thinking about Carissa. How would things be between them after today? What about James and the others? He had barely known any of them, but now that he'd spent two weeks living with them, would that all change? When he finally fell asleep, he hadn't found any answers.

While the nine holiday guests of the New Marauders mostly all pondered their futures, their hosts and new friends had all been busy with their own packing and having a last evening with their parents before going back to school.

The last night of holidays was always sad in some ways, but was also exciting, knowing that there was so much to look forward to happening at Hogwarts. With six of the Marauders starting their last months at school, and ten new friends, if anything, they all had even more to look forward to this year than ever before.


	91. New Perspectives

Chapter Ninety-One – New Perspectives

The one thing that Carolyn always liked about the trip back to school after the Christmas Holidays was that it always came on a Sunday so that Ginny, Harry, and most of the parents could come to King's Cross station to say goodbye to them. When they couldn't say goodbye to everyone at the station, she just felt like something was missing, or left unfinished.

Harry had gotten them to there early, and even with three extra students, they were on platform nine and three-quarters with lots of time for those hugs and kisses that would have to hold them over until June. She and Al had already made it through the rounds, and were waiting for everyone else before boarding the train.

James had already said goodbye to his parents, and boarded the train to get things ready for the Prefects meeting he and Therese would have soon after the train started off for Hogsmeade. Harry and Ginny were now saying goodbye to Dale, Millie, and Amy, and Carolyn was smiling as the girls each hugged and kissed Harry. When it was Dale's turn, he surprised Harry by giving him a hug too.

"Have fun, and work hard at school," Harry told the young boy. "We'll see the three of you back here in June."

Dale stared at Harry, his eyes going wide. "We're coming back with you for the summer?" he asked. Millie and Amy had been hugging Ginny, and had overheard. Ginny laughed as they both hugged her again – this time double-teaming her.

"We'll work out everything before then," Harry told Dale, "but you'll all definitely be staying with our families for the summer – although Callie and Mark will have other plans, since they're graduating."

Dale hugged Harry again, and then hugged Ginny. "Thank-you," he told them, heaving a big sigh of relief inside, his biggest worry suddenly evaporated.

"Come on," Al told the others. "We need to get loaded up and find compartments."

There were more hugs and kisses as the kids started boarding the Hogwarts Express. Joel went with Sarah to sit with her friends, and Karl met up with Daphne. The rest of the group stuck together. Mark and Callie got a compartment with Rose, Matt, Scorpius, and Brianna before the three prefects left for their meeting. Millie, Amy, Dale, and Carissa all joined Frederica and Liam. Al and Carolyn were with Nick and Allie, while Lily and Kieran had Colin, Lance, Nadine, and Vanessa in their compartment.

The train pulled out of the station, and the students settled in for the trip, and most of them were happily getting back together with friends and catching up on all holiday news and gossip.

When Karl had come to sit with Daphne and a few of her friends, he hadn't caused much of a commotion, but it was a totally different story for Sarah when she and Joel sat in a compartment with four of her friends. It didn't take either of them long to figure out that two of her so-called friends refused to even talk to Joel, and it wasn't long before there were some nasty comments being exchanged between the same two girls, purposely made loud enough to be heard by Sarah, Joel, and the other couple.

Joel sat in stony-faced silence when that started, and Sarah looked angrily at her friends before finally standing up and pulling her luggage back out of the compartment she'd stored it in.

"Come on, Joel," she told him. "It seems I have a few less real friends than I thought I did. It's too bad that they're so bigoted that they won't find out what a great guy you are." She gave her other two friends hugs, which surprised them, since Sarah had never been one to do that, and she smiled at them.

"I've been taking hugging lessons over the holidays," she told them. "Once you get used to them, they're really quite nice."

When Joel had his bags too, she gave the other two girls a hard look, but didn't say anything else to them, just leaving the compartment with Joel right behind her.

"What a pair of jerks," she said when they were far enough away to not be overheard.

"It's not the first time I've heard things like that," Joel told her. "There are other purebloods that talk like that."

Sarah laughed bitterly. "That's too true," she agreed, "but since those two are just pretending to be pureblood, it makes it that much worse."

Joel stared at her as they walked. "How do you know that?"

"My family has kept track of every pureblood family going back hundreds of years. It was something I was taught about all my life. One of those girls has a Muggle grandfather, and the other girl's mother's family doesn't have a single pureblood anywhere in the line."

"Then your family wouldn't be very happy with you going out with someone like me," he commented. "Where are we going?"

Sarah smiled. "They were never happy, and certainly nothing I did every made them happier, so going out with you won't change anything there, if they even cared. We're going to sit with our real friends, if they have room for two more."

Brianna directed them to the compartment with two extra spots, and Al, Carolyn, Nick, and Allie welcomed them with big hugs.

"We found out that a couple of my friends weren't really friends after all," Sarah told them when Allie asked what had happened.

Carolyn hugged her again. "Then it's a good thing you guys have so many new friends."

Sarah grinned at her. "Yes, it is," she agreed. "Looks like I'm going to need them all too, if all of my old friends stick together."

"It'll be their loss if they do," Al told her. "Just be yourself, and hopefully some of them will come around."

"That might be part of the problem. I'm being myself, but I've never really let the real me out before." She grinned at them. "Two weeks ago, I'd have never gotten up and walked out on the others, and certainly wouldn't have had a boyfriend."

"Then maybe they will come around after they get to know the real you," Allie suggested. "We all sure think you're pretty awesome."

Joel nodded enthusiastically. "Yes she is," he agreed, making Sarah laugh.

"Have you met up with any of your friends yet, Joel?" Al asked.

"No, but I only have a couple of friends, and until very recently, I've never really opened up enough to have any close friends."

Callie was all smiles during the prefect meeting. Her fellow Slytherin prefects had stared at her when she'd arrived with Rose and Scorpius, and she'd caught them staring at her quite a few times during the meeting.

There wasn't anything that James and Therese went over she hadn't already known, since they'd included her when they were preparing the schedules and everything else during the holidays. The other Slytherin prefects should be happier now too, since with her inside perspective, they'd made a few adjustments to accommodate the biggest few complaints they'd had all through the first half of the school year.

She was still smiling after the meeting when the five Slytherins pulled her aside.

"What happened to you over the holidays?" was the first question she was asked, and she smiled even more brightly.

"Just about everything," she told them. "Why?"

"First of all, you look like a million galleons," one of the girls told her. "No offense, but when you left for the holidays you looked more like a handful of sickles."

Callie laughed. "None taken, and thank-you. It's amazing what a little shopping and a day at SpaMagic can do."

"There's more to it than that," the same girl told her. "You're not this happy from getting your hair done."

"Rumour has it that you spent the holidays with James Potter," one of the boys said with a smirk. "Has our Head Boy dumped little orphan Arianna for you?"

Callie stopped smiling and pinned the fifth year boy with a flinty look.

"Does it make you feel like a big man to talk like that about someone as wonderful as Arianna?" she asked him coldly. "What has she ever done to you to deserve that? How about James? He's probably the best Head Boy we've had at Hogwarts in the seven years I've been here, and you stand there and disrespect him, and make snide comments about his fiancée. You're supposed to be one of the best of Slytherin – way to go proving that." She took a calming breath before continuing.

"Yes, I spent the holidays with James, and Arianna, and their whole family. No, I'm not his girlfriend – he's marrying Arianna a week after we get out of school."

She turned back to the girl who'd asked the original question, and smiled again.

"You're right, there's a lot more than a haircut that happened to me, but you and I can talk about that back at school sometime when it's just us girls." With that, she left them, wanting nothing more than to go meet back up with Mark, and stay away from the rumours that were probably already rampant among the Slytherin students.

The rumours were running rampant among the students in all of the Houses, and enough kids that knew Callie, or one of the others had seen them with Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the family to do the math and figure out why none of them had gone back to their own homes for the holidays. That they all looked so much different, and happy just added fodder to the gossip fire.

Lily and Kieran heard some of it when they went for a walk around the train to see some of their friends. He checked in with all of his team, and they both wanted to say hi to their dorm roommates. They stopped to talk with Laura, Andy, and Jon last.

"From what we're hearing, it's Callie and Sarah that are getting the most mean rumours," Laura told them. "Even without all of that, it's going to be hard for our friends now that everyone knows they've either left, or been taken, from their families because of child abuse. It looks like they're being slapped with the same kind of stigma as the kids from the residences."

Lily nodded. "That outpouring of support for victims of Child Abuse seems to have faded away," she told the others. "Maybe my father shouldn't have excluded the kids."

Andy, Jon, and Laura all shook their heads vigourously. "He definitely needed to exclude them, Lily," Jon told her emphatically. "It was horrid, and I certainly wouldn't wish that experience on any little kids. I don't wish it on myself, but at least we're old enough to understand."

"It doesn't really have anything to do with that anyway," Andy said. "This isn't about feeling sorry for them, it's about finding out that it's happened to kids you know. Pushing them away is easier than letting them into their personal space and learning to deal with it."

"That's pretty profound for a future sportscaster," Lily told him with a smile. "Maybe you should think about switching fields."

Andy laughed. "Not a chance, and knowing Witches and Wizards is important if you want to be a great sportscaster. If you don't understand your audience, you're certainly not going to be able to give them what they want."

"You'll be way better than most of the others doing that job now," Kieran predicted.

"Maybe, if QSPN ever gives me my shot behind the desk instead of just being stuck behind the scenes."

"They're not going to let you work on-camera after you graduate?" Lily asked in surprise. "I would have thought they would."

"I'm told that I have to pay my dues for a few years first, and then maybe, if I kiss the right butts, I'll get my shot," Andy told her. "It's a crap way for things to work, but QSPN is the big fish in the Quidditch broadcasting pond."

"Maybe it's time for someone to go fish that pond and put a hook into the big one," Lily suggested with a grin, and the others laughed.

When Lily and Kieran got back to the car where their compartments were, they checked in with everyone before going back to sit with Colin, Lance, Nadine, and Vanessa.

"Anything going on around the train?" Vanessa asked Lily after they'd sat down.

"Just a bunch of stupid gossip about Callie and the others," Lily reported. "Other than that, there's not much going on."

"Well, we'll help Carissa if she needs it, and Joel and Amy have lots of help from you guys in Ravenclaw," Nadine said, including Kieran in the Hufflepuff 'we'. "Dale's got a whole gang backing him up in Gryffindor, so it's really just our Slytherin friends that we won't be able to help while they're in their dorms or Common room."

"They'll help each other, and they do have Daphne too," Kieran said. "Outside of their House, they've got all of us."

With Sarah and Joel quickly abandoning their attempt to sit with her friends, and Callie only dealing with her fellow Slytherin prefects and a few other younger Slytherins who needed help from their favourite prefect, only Karl actually rode out the entire trip back to school with both his friends and Daphne's.

None of their friends said anything bad about them being a couple now, but they certainly tried to get their digs in about his spending the holidays with Kieran, Lily, and their families. Two weeks ago, Karl would have hated having anyone know about his own child abuse, and certainly would have put on one of his masks to deal with the situation.

Today, with Daphne holding his hand, instead of any of that, he explained his story to their friends, and he responded to their little jibes with simple truth about everything that had happened to him over the holidays. That approach definitely lost him a friend or two, but somewhat surprisingly, most of them came around and were actually supportive for him. Maybe they'd both done a good job picking most of their friends after all.

When they finally arrived at Hogsmeade station, and through the carriage ride back to the school, Callie, Mark, and the others mostly stayed with their new friends, so it wasn't until they split up to sit at the House tables in the Great Hall that they each had to deal directly with their old friends and House mates.

When Sarah went to sit where she normally did, the same two girls that had been so rude in the compartment made it clear that she wasn't welcome, and even though several other girls looked like they didn't feel the same way, none of them spoke up for her. Karl and Daphne had been watching out for her, though, and she waved Sarah over to join them, giving her a big hug in front of everyone, and definitely getting the attention of those same two girls who were now furiously curious as to why one of the most popular girls in their House, and a rare Witch Quidditch team Chaser was all chummy with Sarah.

"Thanks, Daphne," Sarah told her after sitting down with them.

"You're welcome, Sarah," Daphne told her with a big smile as she glanced down the table. "Those two girls who blew you off look like they're trying to figure out whether they just made a colossal social blunder with you."

Sarah smiled back. "Thanks to you. I think I was supposed to end up all by myself, preferably crying in my soup without them, not being asked to sit with anyone like you."

"Life's just full of little disappointments, isn't it," Karl said with a grin.

"Did you see how Millie was doing?" Sarah asked him, and he nodded, motioning down the table to where she was sitting with her usual group.

"So far she seems to be handling things with her friends. You're the only one of the four of us taking any serious crap, and from what I saw, it's just a couple of them ruling the group so far."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, but those two aren't in my dorm room, so maybe my roommates will be better when they're not trying to impress my group's leaders. If not, then it could be a very long rest of the year."

"You can always hang out with Millie, Callie, or me," Daphne told her. "I have a feeling your other friends are going to come around, though. A couple of them look like they're already on the verge of telling those two blabbermouths to shut it."

Amy didn't have any problems with her friends at the Ravenclaw table, and her girlfriends just wanted all the details of her holidays. Joel didn't really have real friends, but he sat with his roommates like normal, and they surprised each other by probably finding out more about each other over dinner than they knew in the previous three and a half years.

Callie and Mark's friends were all over seventeen, and having been through Harry's little lesson, didn't bother either of them about that. Callie's friends wanted every detail about her holidays, and Mark's friends wanted to know about the new and very improved Callie that they'd seen kiss him at the entrance to the Great Hall.

That was the same kinds of questions Dale was answering too, after one of his roommates had seen Carissa, one of the prettiest girls in their year, kiss him goodnight before he continued along with Hugo, Emily, Liam, Frederica, Lance, and Colin. When they were finished grilling him about Carissa, they moved on to how he ended up being chums with five out of seven members of their Quidditch team too. He was glad that none of the boys gave him a hard time about why he'd been spending the holidays with Harry and Ginny Potter, and he probably would have been amazed if any of his friends had told him that so far, they liked the new Dale quite a bit better than the one who'd left at the start of the holidays.

James was sitting with Andy, Laura, Therese, and Jon, as usual during the meal, and they tried to keep up with what was happening with their new friends.

"They all seem to be working things out," Therese commented. "Except maybe for Sarah."

"We can keep an eye on that," James said. "Hopefully some of her friends will come around."

"I'll get Callie to help with that," Therese said. "She'll probably be doing that anyway."

"What do we have going on besides getting back to classes and studying?" Andy asked.

James smiled at him. "For the next two weeks, not much."

Therese nodded. "Be glad about that, too, Andy. We're going to get dumped on right away – remember all the work the profs piled onto Arianna, Tracey, and Aaron after the holidays in their NEWT year?"

Jon laughed. "Like what we got in our OWL year was so pitiful in comparison."

"We're going to like not having anything extra so we can get a good start," James said, agreeing with Therese. They were going to be busy enough with classes, homework, Quidditch, and for Therese and him, Head Boy and Girl duties.

The New Marauders, Callie, Mark, and the other kids that had spent the holidays with them all understood that when they got back to school things couldn't be the same as they'd been while they'd been away from school. There weren't enough hours in the day to add in the kind of time they'd all need to keep hanging out together on top of everything else they all did at school.

Callie and Mark did take what they'd learned from Lily, though, and started their own study group that included Karl, Daphne, Joel, Sarah, Millie, Amy, Carissa, and Dale. They started that on Monday, and that group became the core around which everything else they did revolved. Nadine, Vanessa, and through them, Lance, joined the group too. When Lily found out about their new study group, she offered to check in on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and for an hour or two on Saturdays to help with tutoring for anyone who wanted some help, and they were happy to accept the offer.

They might not all have been able to hang out together like they had over the holidays now that they were back at school, but that didn't mean that they didn't do anything together either. Karl and Kieran got together for a weekly guitar lesson, and Lily and Daphne would hang out while they did that, either doing homework, or just sitting around and talking together.

Callie and Mark spent more time with Therese and Jon, and were regular visitors to Therese's office. Millie and Amy had their own groups of friends, but they were also spending more time with Nadine, Vanessa, and the other second years like Frederica and Liam. Dale and Carissa were in the study group with Millie and Amy, so they saw them every day, and they were invited to do some things with Lance, Liam, Frederica, and the others too. One thing they all agreed on was that even despite a couple of little problems here and there, that school was way better now than it had been before the holidays.

While getting back into the school routine, or in some cases, making new routines, was going on during the first couple of weeks of classes, that didn't mean there wasn't anything interesting going on around school.

On Monday night, after the Slytherin team practice, Daphne had a little chat with her captain that was quite similar to the one Rose had with Trinity back in her first year. He'd been just as amazed as Trinity had been too, and Karl had been right that Thomas would be willing to listen, and then after she'd told him all about how the other teams trained, wanted to discuss ways to introduce that kind of training program into their House team workouts without causing a revolt among their players.

Matt and the Ravenclaw Quiddtich team put their practice level into high gear to get ready for their game against Slytherin. Hugo and Kieran had their teams starting their daily workouts again too, but since they still had six weeks until the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor game, they weren't working quite as hard as their Ravenclaw counterparts.

On the first Saturday back, James and Therese had a movie night for Callie, Mark, and the other teens in his office. With just the ten guests, and Jon, Andy, and Laura, it gave them a chance to talk, have a little fun, and make sure that everything was okay with their new friends.

"How are things working out with your friends, Sarah?" Therese asked her. "Is it any better yet?"

Sarah nodded. "My roommates are fine whenever they get away from the leaders of the pack. Actually, they're starting to just leave the pack completely and hanging out with Joel and me instead."

"That's because they've probably realized you guys are way more fun to be around," Callie told her with a smile, and Sarah had a big smile to answer hers.

"How's the new study group going?" James asked them. "Lily told me last night you make a great team."

"Considering how many different grades we're covering," Mark said, "it's surprising how well it seems to work for us."

Karl nodded. "I know I'm a lot more productive with my studying than I was before – especially with the Virtual GameWizard, study programs, and the VirtualQuill. I even got an O on a pop quiz we were given on Wednesday.

Daphne laughed. "Professor Slughorn was very impressed too."

"Probably because he'd been sure this would be the last year he'd be teaching me," Karl suggested. "Who knows, maybe I'll even pass my OWL in Potions after all."

The movie night had been a perfect way to end the first week, and with the Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch match on the following Saturday, all back to school gossip was replaced by Quidditch talk. Saturday was going to be busy because of that game, but also because the Canons would be playing at home against the Wasps. Since most of Saturday would be spent playing or watching Quidditch, Lily had gotten them to work on Sunday, and work harder all week long.

For January, they had a fairly mild day for the game, and while it was still cold, the players and fans were dressed warmly enough, and were comfortable as they arrived at the stadium. Harry and Ginny were hosting guests in the owner's box for the Canons game, so they wouldn't be at the game, but Percy and Penelope came to the game to watch Nick, bringing Allie's parents with them so they'd be able to spend a little time with her. Kirley and Ana came to watch Lily play, and be able to visit with Kieran during the game.

When the stands were nearly filled, Andy did his normal pre-game rundown for everyone, which for the Slytherin team was mostly talk, since there wasn't much on the positive side to talk about for their recent playing results, especially compared to the Ravenclaw team.

"With Daphne on their team," Brianna told Carolyn, "I just can't bring myself to boo the Slytherin team. It's terribly disappointing."

Carolyn laughed. "I could ask her to come over and start a fight with you if that'd help."

"Thanks, but I'll manage to get used to finding out that my villains are people too."

Carolyn and Brianna were sitting with some of the other fifth year Ravenclaw girls, since everyone else was either playing, or sitting in their own House sections today, and it was a bit odd, since that didn't happen very often. Usually Harry, Ginny, Hermione, or some of the others would be there, and they'd either all be in the Ravenclaw or Gryffindor sections together. James and the others had invited them to sit with them, but since they'd be doing their game analysis too, the girls had decided not to do that.

Andy eventually announced the teams, and Matt led his Ravenclaw team out, while Thomas Harper led the Slytherin team around the pitch. The boys shook hands, and Lily gave Daphne a good luck hug before Madame Hooch did her fair-play speech, and then got the game started.

"Daphne's pretty good, isn't she?" Carolyn said as they watched.

Brianna nodded. "Can't say I'd really paid attention to how she played against Gryffindor, but she's certainly the best of their Chasers today."

"I don't think she was playing this good in that game," Carolyn said. "She seems to have stepped it up a few notches."

Scorpius found that out a little while later when she scored Slytherin's first goal against him. She was playing quite a bit better than they'd seen her play in the first game of the season.

"Yeah, Daphne," Brianna said quietly so that only Carolyn could hear. "I mean, boo, boo."

Carolyn laughed. "Tough job when she scores on your boyfriend."

Brianna laughed too. "Do you think you could re-phrase that? It doesn't sound too good stated quite like that."

"Probably, but it wouldn't have been as funny," Carolyn said, laughing even harder.

Daphne scored the first two Slytherin goals, although Al, Rose, and Matt each scored two goals against Thomas by the time she'd scored that second goal after just under an hour.

"They are definitely better this year," Briana said as they watched the action flow back and forth around the stadium.

"Their Keeper's quite a bit better," Carolyn said. "That's making a difference for sure."

"Being captain seems to have motivated him," Brianna suggested.

When the second hour finished, the score was one hundred and ten to forty, and Daphne had scored another of the Slytherin goals, which seemed to be causing some bad feelings with her fellow Chasers, who'd completely stopped passing her the Quaffle, which probably had a lot to do with why she'd only scored one more goal.

"Are the boys a little jealous?" Carolyn mused as they watched them ignore her once again after she'd gotten wide open again.

"Seems so," Brianna agreed. "Good thing the boys on our team aren't like that with Rose and Lily."

"That's because they know the girls would kick their butts all over the pitch if they tried all that macho crap on them," Carolyn said with a grin.

Ravenclaw scored two more quick goals, and then Daphne finally got hold of the quaffle, no thanks to her fellow Chasers, and put one more shot past Scorpius before Lily put the game away by outracing the now exhausted Slytherin Seeker to catch the snitch. Final score: Ravenclaw - two hundred and eighty; Slytherin – fifty.

Carolyn and Brianna were up and cheering their team along with the rest of the Ravenclaw faithful, and hurried to the pitch so they could congratulate their friends.

The two teams were already on the ground, and Lily had again been hugging Daphne to the consternation of some of the other Slytherins.

"Way to go!" Lily told her. "You put four past Scorpius – that's pretty amazing."

Scorpius was close by the two girls, and laughed. "Speak for yourself," he told Lily. "I didn't think it was so great."

"You played well too," Lily told him, "and you know it."

"You all played a good game," Brianna told them, coming over and giving Scorpius a hug while Carolyn veered off to meet Al, who was a few yards away talking with Nick, Joe, Matt, and Rose.

Brianna hugged Lily and Daphne too before putting an arm around Scorpius again. "And you certainly entertained some of the Ravenclaw girls who thought it was very funny that I was cheering while a pretty girl was putting the moves on my boyfriend, and scored four times right in front of everybody."

Lily and Daphne laughed. "Can't say I thought about in quite that way during the game," Daphne told Brianna. "I'm not the only girl he's played against, though. Do they do that at every game?"

"Now that I think about it, no," Brianna said. "I'm not sure that the fact that several girls have put the moves on Scorpius make me feel any better. Maybe it just came up because you're closer in age to him."

Karl joined them, and gave Daphne a big hug and kiss at about the same time that Kieran, Kirley, and Ana got there to congratulate Lily, Daphne, and the others. While Lily and Daphne were talking with them, Percy, Penelope, and Allie's parents were visiting with Nick, Allie, and the others.

They had about fifteen minutes together before the parents had to get going, and left after a final round of hugs and kisses. Everyone on the Slytherin team had gone to the locker rooms already, and Matt and the other Ravenclaws hurried to get cleaned up, changed, and back to the school so they could make an appearance in their Common room, get some food, then go watch the Canons game in James' office.

James had gone back to the school right after the game to get things ready for watching the game. He conjured the extra sofas they'd need, and got snacks and drinks ready. The New Marauders who hadn't been playing Quidditch started arriving before the game started, while the Ravenclaw contingent joined them about fifteen minutes into the game.

"Did we miss much?" Rose asked as she and Matt sat down and she quickly snuggled close to him while scanning the WWVN for scores and watching the action in progress.

"Dad's looking like he's in good form today," Hugo reported. "Arianna's put up two goals, and Kimberly has one."

"Nothing for Aaron?" Matt asked.

"Just three assists," Hugo told him. "The real action came when the Wasps' Beaters took a run at Liselle. I don't think they'll do that again."

Rose laughed. "Did Tristan take it personally?"

"About as personally as Uncle Harry took it last season when those dopes went after Arianna and Aunt Ginny," Hugo said.

"The Wasps seem to have all of their players still," Matt noted. "I would have thought he'd have sent those boys to St. Mungos for a visit."

Hugo smiled. "Tristan isn't done with his lesson," he said, pointing to the screen. "Watch, and I'm sure they'll show more of what he's doing."

Nick was particularly interested in finding out what Hugo had meant, so as he and Allie cuddled, he watched as the cameras would periodically show Tristan smashing the bludgers ferociously with his bat, and then show those shots hitting the Wasps' Beaters, or those Wizards desperately dodging the shots, both of them showing both pain and fear in their faces.

"What's he doing?" Allie asked.

"If I had to guess," Nick said, "I'd say he's trying to hurt them without actually putting them out of the game."

Frederica nodded. "Looks that way. Somebody needs to talk to him, though. That's getting really ugly." She wasn't the only one to wince at the sound on the WWVN as a bludger solidly connected with one of the two targets of Tristan's anger.

Carolyn pointed to where it looked like Ron was barking out orders, and then Sebastian flew over and got a grip on his cousin's arm, obviously talking fast.

"Looks like Uncle Ron's ordered a stop to it," she said with relief in her voice. This was the only part of Quidditch that she really didn't like – the violence. The flying, scoring, and catching the snitch she loved, but why Witches and Wizards wanted to try and hit each other with hard steel bludgers was beyond her understanding, even though some of her best friends loved it.

"Good," Emily said. "Tristan might be mad right now, but he'd feel bad about what he's doing later."

"Or sooner," Lily said, as the scene flashed to where the Wasps' Seeker was Chasing after the snitch, with Liselle too far behind to stop him.

They watched as the Wizard triumphantly caught the snitch to give the Wasps the upset victory, one hundred and fifty to forty, as Arianna had scored another goal as the cameras had been following Tristan, and then the two Seekers. The hometown crowd was stunned at the sudden end to the game, and everyone in James' office watched as the two teams landed and exchanged handshakes.

"You know the media's going to blame Liselle for getting beat to the snitch," Nick said as they watched the post game show start. "Tristan should be the one getting it, though."

"Definitely," Frederica agreed. "He got the whole team distracted by going on his little vendetta. Too bad they blew their unbeaten streak playing like that."

"You'd rather have the other team beat you," Hugo agreed. "Beating yourself is a lousy way to end things – they had thirty-three straight wins going."

"Not including the World Cup run," Al said. "I guess it had to end sometime."

Lily and Kieran hadn't been sitting down very long, and she stood up. "Game's over, folks. I don't feel much like celebrating after seeing that, so I'm going to get my homework and get to it. Anyone who wants to come too is welcome, but we'll make it optional today for anyone who wants to go to the party or find other entertainments instead."

The fact that everyone decided to join her for the afternoon study session either said a lot about how well she'd trained her group, or it was simply that none of the others felt like celebrating after the Canons' loss either.

James and Arianna talked about the game on their nightly call, and she told him that all of the younger players were taking the loss hard.

"He just went a little beserk," James told Arianna. "He'll learn, and hopefully won't do that again."

Arianna smiled. "Coach kept it together until we were out of the public spotlight, but he made it clear that we were all going to learn that lesson. How'd the game there go?"

"Ravenclaw won, but it was a pretty decent game," James said. "It might have been even closer if the other two Slytherin Chasers hadn't stopped passing the quaffle to Daphne. She scored four on Scorpius even without her teammate's help for the last half of the game."

"That's too bad," Arianna answered. "One of these years Slytherin's going to get a team full of players that aren't a bunch of selfish gits."

"They've lost their first two, and it's not going to be any easier against Hufflepuff in May," he said. "I'm actually feeling sorry for them it's been so long since they've had a winning season."

"After spending the holidays with Sarah and Callie, how can you not? I can't help thinking now that maybe even more than half of our problems with Slytherins have been our own fault, not theirs."

James nodded. "Therese and I think that too. There really aren't any good excuses why we'd gone nearly six and a half years and never had a single friend from Slytherin House. We just had our minds closed to the possibilities."

"What you've begun now could eventually change all of that," Arianna told him. "It's certainly changed things for some of us already."

After their call, James lay awake in bed thinking about what Arianna had said about the problems between Slytherin and the other Houses being more their own fault that the fault of the Slytherin students. That was so the opposite of what he'd always believed. The more he thought about it, the more he knew she was right. The question was, what could be done to change that?

The last week of January seemed to crawl by for James. With the first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year happening on Saturday, he'd hoped it would fly past, but somehow it seemed interminable and slow. When Saturday finally arrived, he once again took advantage of his animagus abilities to race for the school gates, and then quickly apparate into town, where Arianna had a big hug and kiss waiting for him.

While they went to get his supply shopping finished, the rest of the Marauders were walking to town with some of their new friends. With the additional shopping lists from Millie, Amy, Dale, and Carissa, they now had twelve first and second years they were picking up supplies for. Mark, Callie, Karl, Daphne, Joel, and Sarah were all recruited to help out with the shopping, and Rose had simply handed out each student's lists until every couple were taking care of either one or two of their younger friend's supplies.

Karl and Daphne spent their day in Hogsmeade with Kieran and Lily. They'd been given Nadine, Vanessa, and Carissa's lists for shopping, and so after Lily booked the Valentine's Hogmeade weekend SpaMagic appointments, they started getting those supplies along with the things they needed to get for themselves.

"This seems a lot more fun this time," Karl told the others. "I wonder why?"

Daphne smiled at him. "Probably the company you're keeping," she suggested.

"That could definitely have something to do with it," he agreed. "That could be why just about everything seems more fun than ever before."

"Having someone you love to share things like this with does help make them better," Lily agreed, affectionately squeezing Kieran's arm.

"Do you have someone you love to share it with?" Daphne asked him with a grin and sparkling eyes, and he smiled back.

"Yes, I do," he told her seriously, and she gave him a hug and laughed.

"That's good, 'cause so do I," she said.

Mark and Callie were finding that doing a Hogsmeade weekend as a couple was more fun too. Rose had given them Millie's shopping list, and then had invited them to join her and Matt as they wandered around town, picking up everything from sweets to inks and quills.

They had the supply run finished by lunchtime, ate at the three broomsticks, and then did a little clothes shopping after lunch. Callie was still new at shopping for fashion, but she was learning fast, and Rose was happy to help her continue to replace her old, bland clothes with new outfits that were transforming her reputation from boring, plain prefect into the hottie who was turning more than Mark's head around the school.

"You definitely want to get that sweater," Rose told her when Callie came out of the changeroom in a cashmere sweater. The girls looked over at Mark, and laughed at his expression.

"If he thinks it looks great, wait until he gets to cuddle with you when you're wearing it," she added. "How do you like the pants?"

Callie looked at herself in the mirror. "I don't think I like them at all," she said after a minute.

Rose nodded. "Good, then it wasn't just me. The sweater will go with that first pair too, though, and we both liked them."

"Alright. Is that enough for today?" she asked Rose. "I was kinda hoping to get back to school with enough time for a little Mark and me time before we have our evening study session with Lily after dinner."

Rose laughed. "Yeah, that's enough. If you do an outfit or two every time you're in town, by the end of school you might have been able to dump your old clothes completely."

"I'll really miss those frumpy old things," Callie told Rose insincerely. "Especially all those good memories they bring up of home and family."

"We'll just make sure to make new memories to replace those old ones with," Mark promised her with a grin, and Callie gave him a hug which made him smile even more brightly.

"Maybe we should pick out a couple of those sweaters. Rose wasn't kidding about them being perfect for cuddling," Mark told Callie.

James and Arianna were back at their usual hideaway before lunch, and he'd cooked for them and they'd eaten before sitting down to do Arianna's homework – watching the Magpies play United. They had the Magpies at home next weekend, and would be playing United in March. James was definitely not making it easy to concentrate on the game.

"You know," she told him, "all the extra work this week wasn't so much fun that I want to be doing it again next week because of not being able to participate in the analysis session for this game on Monday."

He'd been nibbling on an earlobe that had attracted his undivided attention, and with a final, reluctant kiss along her neck, he settled back to watch the game.

"Sorry," he murmured close to her ear, nearly swooping in for another kiss before coming back to his senses. "I'll try to control myself."

Arianna looked away from the WWVN for a moment, kissed him, and smiled. "Thank-you. United should take care of the Magpies soon and we can get back to concentrating on me and you."

"Coach isn't worried about the Magpies is he?" James asked. "They're not very good this year."

"He wasn't worried about the Wasps either," she told him. "You know the Magpies are going to go after Liselle now too. It's the first thing anyone's tried that messed up our team enough to beat us."

"I'd put Dennis in then," James said, and Arianna turned to stare at him.

"You'd pull Liselle?" she asked in surprise. "Why?"

"The Magpies would never expect it and they'd never be ready for it. Then I'd pound them with Sebastian and Tristan all game long – don't even score much. Let Dennis defend the snitch, and let the boys show the other teams that the Wasps got lucky, not good."

Arianna kissed him and grinned. "You'd probably make a decent coach if you ever decided not to become the next great wheezes inventor."

"Except after working out with you guys all summer, I know that working in Uncle George's lab is way more fun."

"Has he given you the official offer yet?" Arianna asked him, and he shook his head.

"Not yet, but we've talked about it, and I'll definitely be working with them, probably starting the same week training camp opens for you at the start of August."

"Sounds good. I was surprised that your Dad got coach to agree to start it that late, but I'm really glad they did."

James smiled. "Coach probably put up a fight, but he's got to be ready for some time off too. You'll all have been going nearly constantly for two years by the end of this season."

"I know I will be," she agreed. "And I'm sure we'll find something to do for those five or six weeks."

When James started nibbling on her neck again, Arianna realized that maybe she'd made a tactical mistake by making that last suggestion, especially after the kiss that claimed her lips was the last thing she remembered before they both heard 'and United wins, two hundred and eighty to sixty'.

"Oops," she said breathlessly. "I better go spend some time with my dear brother after you head back to school and find out if he took notes."

"I'll get Rose's analysis for you too," James promised. "She'll have watched it with Matt."

They spent the rest of their time having a brilliant snogging session. The good thing about saying goodbye this time was that because of how the school year had worked out, the next Hogsmeade weekend was just two weeks away so there'd be one before Valentine's Day. With that, and everything else coming up over the next month, February was looking like it was going to be pretty great.


	92. All About Love

Chapter Ninety-Two – All About Love

Gabrielle's baby was due in early February, so it was only a little surprising when Harry and Ginny got the early Monday morning WiComm call from Kevin that Gabrielle was in labour and was at the resort's small medical centre.

Harry grabbed a quick shower while Ginny made a few calls, then she got ready quickly too, and they took the TransPortal to Marauders Paradise, where Bill met them, and walked with them to the waiting room, where Fleur and her father were already sitting along with a very bouncy Patricia, and a smiling Michael.

"Mummy's having a baby!" she told Ginny happily as she bounced from Aunt Fleur's lap to the floor, and into Ginny's arms, practically in one hyper-kinetic leap. "And I'm going to go live with you!"

It was hard to tell which pronouncement she was happier about, and Ginny smiled, hugged, and kissed the little girl that reminded them all so much of Victoire when she was that age.

"For a couple of weeks, sweetie," she agreed. "Your Mummy and Daddy wouldn't let us keep you forever, even though we wanted to."

Patricia giggled and nodded. "They said you can went me anytime though."

"We'll make sure we rent you lots of times," Ginny promised, passing her to Harry after he'd hugged Fleur and Michael. "How's she doing?"

"Mum told us it wouldn't be long just before you guys got here," Fleur told her. "If this one's in as big a hurry as Patricia was, it should be soon."

They settled in to wait, and there weren't any more updates until sometime after midnight island time, they all heard the first loud wails of the new baby. Patricia started bouncing again, wanting to go see her new brother or sister, and it took the combined persuasion of her aunts, uncles, and grandfather to convince her to wait while the medi-witch took care of both baby and mother.

It was about a half hour before Grandma Delacour came out to get Michael, Patricia and Grandpa to be the first visitors to see the baby. Fleur's father spent maybe ten minutes with his new grandbaby, then came out so Bill and Fleur could go in. Once they'd left the waiting room, he'd turned to Harry and Ginny and smiled.

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise for them. Gabrielle and Kevin are the proud parents of William Whitby, who looks like he'll be a blond-haired, blue-eyed charmer like his big sister."

Ginny gave him a hug and laughed. "Congratulations, Grandpa."

When Bill and Fleur came back out again, she had her arm around him, and he still had tears in his eyes. Ginny went over and gave him a hug too.

"Under all that macho curse-breaker image beats the heart of a romantic," she told him with a gentle smile. "Congratulations, Uncle Bill."

Fleur hugged her and motioned that she and Harry could go in and see the baby, so she took his hand and they walked into the small clinic, where Apolline was waiting to lead them to one of the only two hospital rooms in the little facility that normally dealt with minor accidents and injuries that occasionally happened on the island.

The medi-witch smiled at them and nodded as they passed the little station where she was working. When they walked into Gabrielle's room, she was smiling and holding her new little bundle of joy in her arms while Kevin stood next to her, and Michael was next to him with Patricia in his arms.

"Congratulations," Ginny told them quietly, coming over to hug each of them before Gabrielle handed William up to her.

"You are a very lucky young Wizard," she told the baby. "You're beautiful too, just like your mommy and sister."

Harry had tears in his eyes when he'd carefully hugged Gabrielle and kissed her cheek, then hugged Kevin, Michael and Patricia.

"How are you feeling?" He asked Gabrielle as Kevin, Michael, Patricia, and Ginny fussed with the baby.

He held her hand and watched as she looked in his eyes and smiled. "I'm fine," she assured him. "Really tired, but fine."

"That's good," he said, answering her smile. "You look beautiful."

"Here you go, Uncle Harry," Ginny told him, placing the baby in his arms. "Say hello to William."

"Hello, William," Harry said, smiling at the baby. "They're all going to tell you that you look like your mother," he told the sleeping infant. "I can see quite a bit of your daddy in you too." Harry certainly wouldn't dream of spoiling it for anyone by telling them just how much he really did see.

He held the baby close for a few minutes before handing him to Gabrielle. "We'll let you get some rest while you can," he told her. "I'll check with Kevin later and see how you're doing, and maybe Patricia and I will stop in for a visit on Tuesday after you're home," he told Gabrielle, who smiled and nodded.

Ginny had relieved Michael of Patricia, and took her to the bed. "Let's say goodbye to your Mum and William," she told the little girl. "Then we'll get your bag and take you home with us and let them get some sleep."

Patricia nodded happily, hugging and kissing her mother, baby brother, and father before happily leaving the room with Harry, Ginny, Michael, and Apolline. There were more hugs all around when they rejoined Bill, Fleur, and Mr. Delacour.

"I'll go get Patricia's bag and bring it back here," Michael told them. "Anything extra you need that isn't packed, sis?" he asked Patricia.

"The dollies that were in bed with me when mommy had to come here," she told him, and he nodded. "I'll bring them two, sweetie," he promised.

"Are you staying for a while?" Ginny asked Bill, Fleur, and the Delacours.

"Bill and I will head home when you do," Fleur told her. "Mum and Dad are going to stay and help out."

"We're going to get going," Ginny told her sister-in-law with a nod. "Will you guys come and have dinner with Patricia and us tonight?"

Fleur nodded, and gave Patricia a hug. "We'd love to," she said. "Maybe you can come for a couple of overnighters with us on the weekends too," she told Patricia, who nodded and hugged her back.

It didn't take Michael long to get back with Patricia's bag and dolls, and so after a few more goodbye hugs and kisses, he walked out of the resort with Bill, Fleur, Harry, Ginny, and Patricia.

"Are you going to be running the shop for Kevin?" Harry asked Michael, who nodded.

"Yeah, although knowing him, he'll be inspired and probably be painting a lot – when Patricia was born he was doing one or two a day for the first couple of weeks."

"How's your painting going?" Ginny asked.

"I'm not making the big galleons like Dad does, but my portraits are selling, and at least more people can afford my paintings."

"Well, how about you do one of your Mum and William for me," she told him. "Then I can put it next to the one you did of her and Patricia."

Michael nodded. "I can get to that later this week," he said as she hugged him goodbye. He hugged Patricia and the others too.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Harry told him. "If you need anything, let us know."

"We'll be fine," Michael told Harry. "You be good," he told Patricia. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too," she told him, hugging him one more time and kissing his cheek before Ginny picked her up again, and they all took the TransPortal back to the cottage.

"Stay for breakfast?" Ginny asked Bill and Fleur. "We can cook for five as easily as three."

"It's daytime!" Patricia said as they went into the cottage. "I stayed up all night!"

"Yes you did," Ginny told her with a grin. "Why don't we get some breakfast, then have a little nap. It's been a long night for all of us."

Patricia couldn't keep herself from yawning, and she bobbed her head, thinking that a nap would be okay after being up all night with the grownups, and the excitement of having a new baby brother.

The students were sitting down for breakfast at Hogwarts, and Lily had gone around passing the message to the others that Ginny had sent her after William had been born to let everyone know that Gabrielle had the baby this morning. The girls wanted all the usual details, and the boys were less than interested past knowing that both mother and baby were fine.

"It's a brilliant way to start the week," Carolyn told Lily.

"Patricia probably thinks so," Lily answered. "She gets to stay with Mum and Dad for the next couple of weeks."

"Who wouldn't? Can we go stay with them for the next couple of weeks too?" Brianna said with a laugh.

"Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny are the coolest," Nick said, "but it is winter here in case you didn't notice, and she lives in paradise. I'm not sure I'd want to trade."

"That's because you're not a girl," Rose told him. "Besides, they'll probably take her back home every couple of days for visits to get her used to having a baby brother. Michael's so much older than she is, he's more like another grownup than a brother to her."

"I don't know about that," Lily said. "Teddy's a lot older than I am, and I think of him like a big brother even though he's not technically my brother."

"If he's your Dad's Godson, that should make him your God-brother," Brianna said, smiling at Lily. "That's near enough."

"Let's not extrapolate that thought process too much farther," she told Brianna, "or pretty soon you'll have Carolyn dating her brother, since you're basically my sisters."

Carolyn laughed. "We definitely don't want that," she said, hugging Al. "What should we send Gabrielle and William?"

That question conveniently changed the subject, and had the girls spending the rest of breakfast talking baby and mommy gifts for William and Gabrielle.

The Hogwarts Professors didn't seem to think that the new addition to the family was cause for a homework holiday, so while Patricia was having fun with Harry and Ginny, the New Marauders were continuing to work hard on their studies, and the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams were working especially hard to get ready for their game that was the weekend after Valentine's Day.

On the first Saturday in February, the Canons were hosting the Montrose Magpies, so by game time, James had his office full of guests who had settled into the comfortable sofas and chairs and were ready to watch the show. When the Canons were announced and flew into the stadium, quite a few of the others gasped when they saw Dennis fly out onto the pitch with the team. James just started to laugh.

"What are they doing?" Rose asked," and what's so funny, James?"

"They're taking Liselle out of the Magpies game plan," he told her, "and it's funny because I suggested it to Arianna last Saturday in Hogsmeade. I guess your Dad thought it was a good one."

Rose grinned at him. "If it works, it will be."

James had an answering grin. "If the Magpies were putting their hopes in throwing Tristan and the rest of the Canons off like in the last game, it will."

There were two things that the Magpies, and the other teams in the league learned during the game. The first was that Dennis could still play as he ran the Magpies' Seeker ragged for over three and a half hours. The other was a clear message from Coach, through Sebastian and Tristan, that he'd corrected the little problem from the last game.

"They don't even seem to be trying to score much," Matt said as they watched the game.

"Sebastian and Tristan are putting it to them, though," Nick said. When he saw a still grinning James, he smiled too. "Was that part of your suggestion?"

James nodded. "They've adjusted it a bit, but yes, I suggested keeping the scoring down. Coach has obviously decided that having a lead of at least one hundred and fifty is prudent, though."

"I get putting Dennis in the game," Emily said, "although I'm not really sure that's fair for Liselle, but why all the rest of it?"

Hugo answered her question. "After last week, every team was probably planning on keying in on Liselle. Coach is showing the other teams that doing that not only isn't going to bother their team any more, but that the consequences won't be good for them if they do."

"How do you get that?" she asked, and he hugged her.

"This is how they should have dealt with the problem last week," he told her. "I'll wager by the end of this game that there won't be a Magpies' player out there who isn't hurting. The other teams will know that this is how they'll play next time."

Lily nodded. "And Liselle might not like being out of the game, but in the long run, it'll probably save her a few injuries – not to mention what would happen to the other players if she actually did get hurt."

"That makes sense," Emily said. "And so many people think it's just a physical game. It's more about strategy and psychology."

Frederica laughed. "Yeah, the getting to hit bludgers at the other team's players is just an added bonus."

The Canons won the game three hundred and forty to thirty when Coach finally gave Dennis the approval to catch the snitch, which wasn't difficult, since the Magpies Seeker by that time was so bruised and tired he could barely fly.

They didn't have much time before dinner to study, so they all just watched the post game show and talked, deciding to hit the books after dinner.

Over at the Canons' stadium, Patricia had been bouncing almost constantly throughout the game. Bill and Fleur were there in the owner's box, along with Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Liselle, Tracey, Demelza, and Grandma and Grandpa Weasley. The game had just ended, and they were getting ready to leave.

"He could take my place every week," Liselle said. "He's probably still better than I am."

Demelza laughed. "Not unless he wants to be sleeping in the doghouse every night at home, he can't. We agreed that twenty years was long enough. Even being your backup is only supposed to be for a couple of years until the team finds someone else to do that."

Hermione laughed too. "Why does that sound familiar – and Ron's back playing."

"You're a big softie," Demelza told Hermione with a smile. "I'm not going to let him off the hook. Besides, Liselle's wrong – she's quite a bit better than Dennis, and any other Seeker in the world would be pretty happy with a ten and one record. Harry just spoiled the Canons' fans last year. At least he let Ginny and the others score a few goals this time – not like back at school."

Harry smiled. "I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?" he asked Demelza.

"Probably not," she agreed, returning his smile. "I wasn't thrilled about Dennis playing today," she said, going back to topic, "but the other teams probably got the message, Liselle, and won't be going after you to try and get to Tristan and the others anymore."

Liselle nodded. "I know, but it still felt strange not being out there with them today."

Ginny picked Patricia up and was smiling at Liselle. "I'd say the way Tristan played, you were." She gave Patricia a kiss and hug. "Ready to go visit William?" she asked the little girl. "He should be getting up for lunch soon."

Patricia nodded. "Are we all going?" she asked.

"No, sweetie, just you, Uncle Bill, and Aunt Fleur, then you'll do another sleepover at their house tonight, and they'll drop you off at the cottage on their way to work tomorrow."

Patricia gave Ginny another hug, and then had one for Harry and everyone else before she'd go with Bill and Fleur while the rest of the group left for Ron and Hermione's house and the post-game party they'd be having there.

Later that night, after the party, and after the study session that James led at Hogwarts while Lily was doing her Saturday evening session with Callie, Mark, and the others, he and Arianna were having their nightly talk before bedtime.

"Nice game plan," he said when answering her call, and she'd laughed. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to use it?"

"I thought it'd be more fun for you to find out when the game started," she told him.

"It was fun," he agreed. "Anything else new going on in the real world?"

He watched as Arianna shook her head. "Not really. Patricia's keeping your parents busy, although Bill and Fleur have her overnight. Gabrielle's doing good, although I hear William is a lot like you were as a baby, and she and Kevin aren't getting much sleep."

"Why couldn't I have been one of the quiet ones?" James asked. "Every time there's a new baby born in our family, the question seems to be whether it'll be like me, or Al – the good baby."

Arianna laughed. "Any new parents would be happy to end up with kids like either of you."

"Sure, but they be happy and rested with one like Al," he countered, getting Arianna laughing again.

"I can hardly wait to see you next weekend in Hogsmeade," she told him. "Why don't you invite Callie, Sarah, and the boys to have lunch with us, and I'll have something catered in for us."

"Sounds good," James agreed. "The girls will be happy to see you for an hour or two. Do you have game watching homework in the afternoon?"

"Yes – the Arrows and Pride are playing, and we've got them both coming up," Arianna answered.

"Well, I didn't help with the supply run last time, and there will be more of it this weekend, so I guess we should just go around with Callie, Sarah, Mark, and Joel in the morning and help out – even though an all-morning snogging session would be way more fun."

"Have the boys asked you for any help with Valentine's Day?"

"Just Dale so far," he said. "Carissa's present is already taken care of, and will be coming by Owl Post."

"What'd you pick out for her?" she asked. Dale and Carissa were so cute.

"A little gold heart necklace with a little blue diamond in the centre of the heart."

"That should work," Arianna said with a smile. She looked at her watch. "We should get some sleep. With the Hogsmeade weekend, and your Quidditch match the week after that, I'm guessing Lily's going to want you all to work hard tomorrow."

James nodded. "I'd have to work even if she didn't. There don't seem to be enough hours in the day right now."

"Less than five months to go," she reminded him. "You can get through it." They talked for a few more minutes before saying goodnight, then ended the call, and James went quickly off to sleep.

The New Marauders were all busy during the whole week leading up to the Hogsmeade weekend. They all pitched in with getting the Valentine's gifts ready for the students they were helping this year, and also getting gifts for Millie, Amy, Vanessa, and Nadine. They had to keep up with the loads of homework. Hugo and Kieran stepped up their Quidditch practices another notch with the game now less than two weeks away. All of that work didn't leave much time for the snuggling and snogging time that Valentine's Day should be all about.

On Saturday, the only thing that James hadn't remembered when making plans with Arianna was that Lily had booked a SpaMagic morning for all of the girls, so it was up to the guys to do all of the supply shopping. That actually worked out pretty great, since Arianna found herself in the role of Valentine's gift advisor to several of the boys, and helped Mark, Joel, and Karl with gift selections for Callie, Sarah, and Daphne.

They occasionally met up with some of the other guys as they were shopping, but other than a few words and a hug for Arianna, they were mostly able to stay focused on getting through their long lists of supplies.

When it was nearly time to meet the girls at SpaMagic, James and Arianna hurried to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, since the food would be getting there any minute, while the boys went over to join the rest of the guys as they waited for the girls to come out.

There was a hugfest in the street as the couples reunited, then Mark and Joel led Callie and Sarah to their luncheon with James and Arianna, while the rest of the gang went to the Three Broomsticks.

"This is a pretty cool setup," Mark said when they got to the Wheezes break room. Sarah and Callie had been there when they first met Arianna, but Mark and Joel hadn't seen the place before.

"It's made our visits a lot more comfortable than they were when we either didn't have anywhere to go except to wander around the stores, and way better than the sitting room at the Hogs Head," Arianna said.

"Pitching a tent by the lake would have been better than a room at the Hog's Head," Callie said with a laugh.

"Never thought about doing that," Arianna admitted. "That would've worked, at least in the fall and spring."

"Not as great as this," Joel said. "Too bad there couldn't be places like this for all of the students to hang out in, but I guess that wouldn't pay very well, since they'd be empty the rest of the time."

"It'd be funny if we all set up like a tent city on Hogsmeade weekends, though," Sarah said with a grin. "Could you imagine? The people that live in town would go nuts."

They spent the next hour having lunch together, and the girls had fun catching up, then James and Arianna were left alone while the other couples left to do a little shopping the girls wanted to get done before going back to Hogwarts.

"That was fun," Arianna said after they'd cleaned up and then snuggled on the sofa in time to watch the game.

"So is this," James said, kissing her tenderly.

He managed to distract her very effectively until the game started. It was a good thing they'd turned the WWVN on first, or if she hadn't heard the game start, they might have completely missed it.

"I have to watch the game," Arianna told James as he tried to distract her again. She was fighting her own desires as much as him.

James settled back into the comfortable sofa, and cradled her gently in his arms. "I'll behave," he promised, and they relaxed and watched as the Pride pulled a win out over the Arrows in just over an hour, leaving the young couple a bit more snogging time before it was time to say goodbye again.

They weren't the only couples to find a little snogging time that afternoon, and it was a pretty happy group that gathered for the late afternoon study session.

"Good," Lily told everyone when they were all there. "I'm glad you're all happy, because we're going to have extra sessions this weekend."

"What for?" Hugo asked. "We're caught up!"

Lily smiled at him. "Did I hear rumours that you're having a team practice tomorrow morning?" she asked him, and he nodded. "And so is Kieran and his team. We're going to work Sunday afternoon and evening, and if you're all really good, you'll get Valentine's Day off on Tuesday."

That cheered everyone up again quickly. "If you don't want a team mutiny," she told Hugo and Kieran," you might want to think about doing the same thing."

"Does the team have to mutiny," Brianna asked her, "or can the team's boyfriends and girlfriends do it?"

"That's why we were practicing tomorrow," Hugo told her.

"And we were just going to skip our practice," Matt told her. "We don't play again until May anyway."

Brianna smiled and hugged Scorpius. "Good, then you're all mine on Tuesday."

He smiled back. "I'm all yours every day."

"That's so sweet," Lily told them. "Now let's get to work!"

Work was pretty much all they did right through until Tuesday morning. Homework – Quidditch - and more homework. They did get everything done that Commander Lily told them to do, and were all looking forward to having a fun Valentine's Day even if they did still have classes.

James started his morning with an early WiComm call with Arianna to wish her a happy Valentine's Day, and to watch her open the present he'd sent by Owl Post. There'd be flowers at the stadium for her later, and a bottle of her favourite wine on ice when she got home, thanks to a little help from his father.

When the Owl Posts arrived at breakfast, he watched as his friends opened gifts around him, and tried to catch as many of the other kids that TNM had bought gifts for as he could, but there were now too many to watch them all. He did see Amy and Millie both smiling, he was pretty sure that the girls had sent them each a Spa in a Bag from SpaMagic. He caught a glimpse of Frederica hugging Liam, so she must've liked his gift quite a lot.

He saw a strange look on Colin's face, and it took a moment before he caught the boy glance over at Nadine, then quickly look away, and James smiled. If he was guessing right, little Nadine had received a secret admirer present this morning.

James was guessing right, and Nadine and Vanessa had their heads together talking about it. Lily had sent each of them a box of chocolates and some new makeup, but Nadine had been stunned when she'd opened the extra little gift that had come for her in the Post. Someone had sent her a beautifully made golden snitch necklace. She'd seen Al's before when they'd been swimming at the pool in Santiago, Chile, and this was a smaller, delicate version of it, with a diamond in the centre of it.

"It's beautiful," Vanessa whispered. "Let me help you put it on."

"What if it's from somebody I don't want it to be from? Maybe I shouldn't wear it until I know."

Vanessa smiled at her. "Don't look around, but Colin has been watching you ever since the package arrived. "It's him for sure, even though he's trying to look like he's not watching you."

Nadine smiled too. "And here I thought he'd never notice me. Okay, help me put it on, please."

Vanessa did, and turned her friend to look. "It's beautiful," she told her. "He must've had that made just for you. I've never seen one like it in a store before."

"What do I do now?" Nadine asked.

"Nothing this week for sure," Vanessa told her friend. "You've got to compete against him on Saturday. Don't confuse the issue. After that, you two will have to figure it out on your own. He obviously likes you a whole lot. Considering how shy he is, this is a big step for him."

"He certainly has made my Valentine's Day," Nadine said with a smile.

The Valentine's gifts were a great way to start the day, and the students of Hogwarts were having fun all morning and afternoon. The use of Weasley's Valentine's Day Wheezes was rampant, and there was certainly extra handholding, hugging and kissing happening.

The happy young couples had time to themselves after classes, and then there was a special dinner in the Great Hall. After dinner, the same group of students who'd put on the Christmas show did a series of Valentine themed skits that entertained the Professors and students for an hour or so after the meal, and then it was every couple for themselves, as students paired off and either went to their Common rooms, or tried to find a quiet place and a little privacy.

James had given up his office for Andy and Laura – at least until eleven, and had gone to the library to do homework, since this wasn't much of a fun day for either singles, or guys who couldn't be with their girlfriends. He certainly wasn't alone, and there were quite a few students that had the same plan rather than sit in Common rooms with a bunch of cuddling couples.

Amy and Millie were at one table by themselves, so he went and joined them.

"How is it possible that two hot little numbers like you don't have guys hanging off of your arms today?" he asked with a grin as he sat down. Both girls laughed.

"I don't know," Millie said impishly, "but things are definitely looking up."

"It's a good thing you know that Arianna would find that really funny," Amy told her friend.

"What are you working on?" James asked them, pulling out his own books.

"Just a Charms assignment," Millie told him. "We're ahead, but this was better than sitting around in our Common rooms, and the rest of our study group is, um, occupied."

"Mine too," James told her. "I'm pretty fair at Charms if you have any questions, even if I'm not the encyclopedia that Lily is."

Amy smiled. "We like her best for her Professor to student translations. If they'd just teach us like she does, it'd be a lot easier."

"I'm not sure anybody else could teach quite like she does," James said. "It works, and that's good enough for me."

He and the two girls had fun while they worked, and they only asked him for help with one little part of their assignment. If there was any gossip he didn't know about, the girls had him filled in and up to speed before they packed up. When they left, he hugged each girl, which earned some giggles from a few other girls who'd been nearby.

"There goes another round of rumours," he told Amy and Millie. "I hope they don't ruin your reps."

The girls both laughed. "More likely to boost them up a few notches," Amy said. "Have a good night, James. Thanks for sitting with us – it was way more fun than we expected to have tonight."

"You're welcome. You have a good night too," he told them before heading for his rooms.

James went into the Common room first, and saw that Andy and Laura were there already, so he talked with them for a few minutes before going into his office and on to his bedroom, where he got ready for bed before climbing in and waiting for Arianna's call.

"How was your day?" Arianna asked him after he opened his WiComm and said 'hello'.

"Pretty good," he told her, giving her a quick summary that ended with his study time with the girls.

"So you spent your Valentine's evening with two pretty girls, and hugged and kissed them goodnight?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Hugged, and I guess Amy kissed my cheek," he admitted. "And we were seen, so there's sure to be gossip by morning."

Arianna laughed. "And probably a whole bunch of eleven and twelve-year old girls wishing it had been them."

"Since I couldn't be hugging and kissing you, it was way better than nothing, and those two girls are real sweethearts."

"They were probably as glad to have your company," she told him. "With all the other kids from the holidays paired up, they might have been feeling a bit left out."

"They're both like Aaron used to be, and don't seem interested in boyfriends right now," James said seriously.

"Give them time, they've come a long way already in a really short time."

"Did you do anything exciting after work?" he asked.

"I took my flowers home after work, started a bubble bath, opened the wine and had a long, hot soak. Then I made a romantic dinner for one, watched the news, and have been reading a book in bed until now."

"I'll make it up to you next Valentine's Day," James promised.

The rest of the week was all work and no play for the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch players, and by Saturday, they were all not only looking forward to the game, but to the break in the tough workload they'd been putting on themselves for the past few weeks.

The Canons weren't playing this weekend, so there was a large family contingent attending the game. They were sitting in a section that straddled the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sections of the stands with the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students, and the rest of their friends from Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"Hi, Patricia," Lily said, hugging the little girl when they met in the stands. "I thought you were going back home last Monday."

Patricia hugged her back and smiled. "I did, but they sent me back for a few more days 'cause Mummy is still too tired to keep up with me and William."

"Does your baby brother get up a lot at night?" Lily asked, and Patricia nodded.

"And he yells a lot too. I couldn't get any sleep at all."

"Well, at least you get to come and see James play one of his last matches," Lily told her. "And you know a lot of the kids who are playing today too."

"It's really cold out here," Patricia said.

"We've got blankets, and you can cuddle with me if you want," Lily told her. "My cuddle buddy is playing today, so you can have the job."

They all settled into a large block of seats, and by then, Andy had started his pre-game analysis to warm up the crowd.

"Welcome to our fourth game of the year," Andy began. "We should have a good match today, with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff both having good teams this season."

Andy went on to talk about their previous season, their first games of the year, and about their first-time Captains and some of their players, and finally got around to bringing the teams out onto the field.

"He's so good at that, it makes no sense why QSPN wouldn't want him doing the games right away," Hermione told the others. "He'd probably take the ratings way up."

"It does for the sportscasters he'd replace," Laura said. "They'll keep him down as long as they can."

"I doubt they'll be able to keep him down for very long," Therese predicted.

The game got started then, and they all watched and listened to Andy's play-by-play. The starting pace of the game was furious. Miranda beat Liam to the Quaffle, and after a couple of passes, Kieran took a shot on goal that Hugo barely managed to save. From that point on, the scoring attempts came fast and furiously. Andy could barely keep up with all of the scoring attempts, bludger attacks, and the wild chase that Colin and Nadine were engaged in as they fought to catch the snitch.

There was only one difference between the two teams that all of the spectators could see, and that was Hugo. The Hufflepuff game plan seemed to be to try and overwhelm the Gryffindor team with offense, but while they were out-shooting Gryffindor two to one they were being outscored by more than two to one.

"It's not working," Vanessa said quietly to Lily. "Hugo's too good today."

Lily nodded. "It was a good idea, though. He knew they wouldn't outlast Gryffindor. His team hasn't been doing conditioning long enough yet."

She was watching Nadine and Colin, partly because they were her assignments for their team game analysis, and so she saw what most of the crowd probably hadn't. The pair of Seekers had been close to each other, and Colin was staring at Nadine's necklace that had slipped outside of her team robe sometime while they'd been chasing the snitch. She was wearing the necklace he'd sent her!

Nadine saw him, and had put her hand over it to tuck it back in, and she smiled at Colin brilliantly. Whatever had passed between them had surprised him, and while he was reacting to that, she'd seen the snitch and took off after it.

"She's going to get it!" Lily said under her breath. "He's too far behind."

Colin knew that too, and knew that he'd just made a huge mistake, but he still tried in vain to overtake her. When he saw her hand close over the snitch, and heard Andy shout that Hufflepuff had caught the snitch, he slowed and flew over next to where Nadine was also slowing and holding the snitch in her hand, her eyes bright and flashing, and that smile dazzling him as much as it had a moment aga.

"Congratulations," he told her quietly. "You played a great game today."

"Thank-you, Colin," she said just as softly.

They flew to the ground again, and when they landed, she stepped close to him and hugged him. When he looked into her eyes, what he saw confirmed what had distracted him in the air. She knew he'd given her the necklace. When she nodded and smiled, he smiled back, and hugged her again.

"Thank-you for the necklace too," she whispered in his ear. "We're going to need to talk about that sometime soon."

Colin grinned, then laughed when he saw that the rest of their teams had joined them and were standing around grinning at him and Nadine.

"You've been taking lessons from my sister, haven't you?" James asked Colin. "Nice catch, Nadine," he complimented her. Congratulations on the win."

That was when Colin realized that not only had she beat him to the snitch, but they'd also lost the game two hundred and ten to one hundred and fifty. He probably shouldn't be grinning like an idiot, but he couldn't stop himself. He was happier for Nadine than he was sad for himself or his team.

"Don't worry about it, mate," James told him. "It was a good game, and somebody had to win, it just wasn't us today."

Nadine was pulled away for some team hugs, and then their family and friends were all around them, talking excitedly and happy to have a few minutes together. James took time to talk with everyone, then stepped off to the side to have some time with Arianna. Lily and Kieran talked with Kirley, Ana, Harry, Ginny, and Patricia.

There was a lot going on just then, and it was hard to keep up. Dennis and Demelza were with Colin, and made sure to spend a few minutes with Nadine too, since it looked like they'd be seeing more of her in the future. Hugo wasn't very happy about losing the game, and Ron, Hermione, and Emily were talking with him, trying to cheer him up.

Miranda's parents were congratulating her, while Frederica and Liam's families were visiting with them. Neville and Luna were talking with Lance, while the other team members all seemed to have either family or a couple of friends around them.

Laura joined Lily, Kieran and the others, and congratulated Kieran. "That was a pretty wild game," she told him. "How much longer would you have been able to keep that up if Nadine hadn't caught the snitch?"

Kieran smiled. "Probably not much longer before we'd have run out of gas or they'd have been more than one hundred and fifty ahead. Either way it was getting close."

Laura nodded. "The way your team is improving, I think you're going to be the one to beat next year."

"We'll see," he answered. "I think Lily's team will be, but who knows."

Kirley whispered something to Ana, and she nodded and pulled an envelope from her cloak.

"I almost forgot, Laura," she said, handing the envelope to her.

"What is it?" Laura asked, looking at it curiously.

"A job offer," Ana said. "Read it over later when you have some time, and if you'd like the job, sign the contract and send it back to me by Owl Post."

Laura threw her arms around Ana. "I'll read it over, but I can tell you right now that if it's working with you the answer's yes."

Ana hugged her back. "It is, and if that's the case, I'll give you this now too," she said, handing her another envelope. "We'll have to start the week after the wedding, though," The kids will be doing their first concert on July fourth."

"I can do that," Laura promised. "Thank-you," she added, hugging Ana again.

"You're welcome, Laura. We're going to make a great team," Ana told her confidently.

Lily gave both women a hug too. "Congratulations," she told Laura.

They didn't have much more time before the parents and guests all had to leave. That it was cold out probably sped that up, and the group that had gathered around centre pitch were soon the only Witches and Wizards in the stadium, as everyone else either left for home or the school to get warm again.

"Good luck against the Tornados next week," James told Arianna as he hugged her goodbye.

"I'll see you in Hogsmeade in two weeks," she answered. "I'll talk to you tonight."

They kissed goodbye, and then Ginny and Harry hugged him again before they gathered up Patricia from where she'd been glued to Lily, and he watched them leave the stadium with the rest of their family and friends.

"Come on, James," Frederica told him gently, taking his arm. "Let's go get cleaned up and get back to the school."

James put his arm around his cousin and smiled at her. "Thanks, Frederica. If it wasn't for all of you guys, being apart from her so long would have been impossible."

"You're welcome," she told him, returning his smile. "That's what family's for."

There were now about two and a half months before the next school Quidditch match the first weekend in May, so the intensity of the team workouts relaxed, and as normally happened this time of year, everyone at school seemed to be studying more, and doing less playing around. James and the other New Marauders were only exceptions in that they nearly always studied hard.

In the week following the big Hufflepuff win, the big news running through the school rumour mill was that the Hufflepuff and Gryfinndor Seekers had now become an item. By Wednesday, Colin had switched study groups, and was now with Callie and Mark's group so that he could study with Nadine.

On Saturday, they once again gathered in James' office and watched the Canons play a fairly short game on the road against the Tutshill Tornados that they won in just over two hours, with Liselle getting them the win with another impressive Seeker performance.

As February came to an end, there were six weeks until Easter, but there was something going on every weekend until then, and this year those normally dull weeks until spring were looking like there'd be at least some fun for the New Marauders.


	93. That's What Friends are For

Chapter Ninety-Three – That's What Friends Are For

Therese was excited and nervous as she walked with Jon to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was just another Wednesday for most students, but for her it was March first and the Owl Post should bring her letters that would hopefully get her into the medical program she wanted to be in so that she could be near Jon in Romania.

"Every school is going to say yes to your applications," Jon told her. "They'd be crazy not to."

"We'll know soon enough," she told him as they reached the Great Hall and went to sit down.

"You look nervous," James told her with a grin as they joined him, Andy, and Laura. "Something big happening today?" As if he didn't know.

Therese smiled at him. "You four all have your jobs worked out already. I'll find out any time now whether I even have a shot at my dreams, so yeah, it's pretty big, and you know it."

"Is it that day today?" he asked innocently. "Are you sure?"

"Thanks for trying, but I'm too wound up, and that's not going to work today." She and Jon had been nearly the last to get to breakfast, and by the time they'd filled their plates, the Owls began arriving, and her wait was over as an Owl dropped off a small stack of envelopes in front of her. She flipped through the letters until she found the only one that she'd been waiting for – the only one that mattered to her.

"Here it is," she said softly, looking up at her friends.

"Go ahead," Jon told her. "Whatever it says, we're all here for you."

She smiled, then opened the envelope and pulled out the single sheet of parchment. Her hands began to shake as she unfolded the page and began to read, and tears welled in her eyes.

"I got in," she breathed, before throwing her arms around Jon. "I got in!"

"Congratulations!" he told her, laughing as she hugged, then kissed him.

"When will you start?" Laura asked.

"In September," Therese answered. "I was so worried – all I've ever wanted to be was a Healer. Now I'm going to get the chance to be one"

"We should be allowed to have the day off to celebrate," Andy said, and the others laughed.

"Nice try, mate," Jon said. "Won't be happening, though."

Lily had known what today was, and when she saw Therese hug Jon, she'd gotten up to come over and congratulated her.

"Way to go, Therese, she said, hugging her. We all knew you'd get picked."

Therese got a lot of congratulations offered to her all day from her friends and a lot of other students who found out through the school gossip network. She'd sent her parents a QuillMessage in the morning to let them know she'd gotten in, but waited until after dinner to talk to them when she'd have more time.

That was when her world crashed in on her. She'd spent nearly a half hour on the phone with her Mum and Dad, most of it in tears. After that, she'd run into her bedroom, and thrown herself on her bed, where she'd been ever since, with no idea how much time had passed before she felt a gentle hand on her back.

"Therese?" James said softly. "What's wrong? What happened?"

She turned over, sat up, and put her arms around him, crying into his shoulder as new tears and sobs came tearing out of her in uncontrollable, wracking waves.

James just held her patiently and waited until the worst was over, then pulled away from her. Wiping tears from her eyes, he looked into them and saw the pain and desperate loss where there'd been happiness and joy only hours before when he'd seen her last.

"What happened?" he asked her again, watching as she closed her eyes.

"I talked to my parents after dinner," she told him, her eyes still closed as the memory washed over her again, threatening to bring the tears rushing back again.

"They've always done everything for me, James, they really have, and they've always encouraged me to follow my dream to be a Healer." She opened her eyes and saw the compassion in James' face.

"What they never wanted to have to tell me was that they can't afford to send me to medical school in Romania or anywhere else."

At that point, she lost it again, and James pulled her back into a hug as she wept bitterly again.

"I knew we weren't rich or anything, James, but with everything I did here to try and go into medicine, I never thought to find out how much it costs. It broke their hearts to tell me too. They know how hard I worked for it." She sat back and looked at James again.

"I feel like my whole world just got turned upside down from incredibly amazing this morning to I don't know what to call it tonight."

James wiped more of the tears from her face and smiled. "Then get ready for it to do another flip, Therese."

"What do you mean?" she asked, and his smile got brighter.

"I love you, Therese," he told her. "There is no way I'm going to let a little thing like money get in the way of your dreams."

Therese stared at him. "James, I can't let you do something like that. I could never repay it."

"I'd say you can't stop me, and I don't want or need to be paid back. If it'll make you feel better, then when you become a healer, pay it forward and maybe you could volunteer your services occasionally to the Phoenix Foundation. They work in a lot of places that don't have Healers at all."

Therese laughed, and cried, and hugged James again for a long time.

"I love you too, James," she said. "There's no way I'll ever be able to thank-you for this."

That was the moment that Jon chose to walk into the room, and he'd stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway and stared at his girlfriend hugging one of his two best friends and telling him she loved him too, which implied he'd said it first, while she was crying her eyes out.

"There is no way this can be as bad as it looks," he said quietly, and Therese jumped off of the bed and ran over to him and threw her arms around him, beginning to cry again.

James stood up too, and walked over to his friends, smiling at Jon. "I'll let her explain it all to you. Therese, we can deal with the Head meeting in the morning. Take the rest of the night off, and we'll work out what you're going to need and take care of that tomorrow too. Call your Mum and Dad, and tell them that everything's okay too. They've probably had as bad a time as you have."

When James was gone, Jon led Therese back to her bed and sat her down. She spent the next ten minutes explaining to him what had happened, and he held her as she alternately cried and talked.

"So he's going to pay for everything for you?" Jon asked. He was not the least surprised that their friend would do that for her.

Therese nodded. "I can hardly even think right now. It's like this is some kind of dream, and I'm waiting to see what reality I'll wake up to."

Jon kissed her and smiled. "It sometimes seems like that around James and his family. The only reality you need to be sure of is that you are going to med school."

"I don't know how to feel about James doing that," she told him. "I don't know how to accept something like that."

"If it was anyone other than James, I'd agree," he told her. "We can just do what he suggested after you graduate – we'll figure out a way to pay it forward."

"That's it?" she asked.

"Except for one thing. Do you think you could do me a favour and not hug any young Wizards except me in your bedroom from now on? I know that James really does love you, but the difference between loving your friends, and _loving _your friends should definitely have the line drawn at that door," he said, pointing at her bedroom door.

Therese laughed and hugged him. "I can handle granting that favour. Since our Head Boy told me to take the night off, why don't we go cuddle on the sofa, and you can show me a little of that second kind of loving so I know for sure what I'm not supposed to do with any other Wizard."

Jon laughed too and kissed her tenderly. "I love you, Therese," he whispered before kissing her again, and for the second time of the night, she completely lost track of time, now blissfully happy to be lost in his embrace.

James had been busy right up until his nightly call with Arianna, and was still at his desk when his WiComm chimed. He was smiling when he answered it and saw her smiling back at him.

"It's good to see your face tonight," he told her.

"Does that mean it isn't good to see it other nights?" Arianna teased him, and he laughed.

"No, more like this has just been an eventful day," he answered.

"I'd guessed, since you're still in your office. What's been going on?"

"Well, the big news is that Therese found out this morning that she got accepted to the medical school she wanted, then after dinner tonight her parents had to break it to her that they couldn't afford to pay the costs of going to med school. When I went to her office for our nightly meeting, she was in her bedroom, and you can imagine what kind of shape she was in."

Arianna nodded. "Yeah, I can. Since you started the call out smiling, though, it must be all worked out now, right?"

James nodded. "She cried on my shoulder for a while, explained it all to me, and then I told her that I loved her, and that I'd pay for her to go and wouldn't let her turn my offer down. Jon came looking for her at the moment that she told me she loved me too, and was giving me a thank-you hug. Since we were still sitting on her bed, that didn't look so great. Fortunately for me, my friends trust me, and he didn't pound me first and ask questions later."

"That would have been fun to see," Arianna said with a laugh. "The scene, not Jon pounding you," she clarified. "Did you get it straightened out?"

"I left Therese to do that," James told her. "Jon hasn't been seen since, so they're probably having a really brilliant snogging session while I'm sitting in my office working."

"We can have one of those sessions of our own on Saturday in Hogsmeade," she promised. "You did a good thing tonight, James. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," James said, smiling at the face looking back at him through his WiComm mirror. "I can hardly wait to see you."

There was a knock on his office door that led into the Gryffindor Common room.

"That's probably Jon," he told Arianna. "I'll talk to you tomorrow night, okay?"

Arianna nodded, and after a quick 'I love you' each, they ended the call, and James answered the door and invited Jon into the office. Jon and James, or Andy, had rarely hugged each other, but that was the first thing Jon did, however briefly before the two young men sat down, this time on two of the sofas.

"That must mean you're not here to turn me into a slug for hugging your girlfriend in her bedroom," James told Jon with a grin.

"No, just stopped by to thank-you. I've known her parents for quite a while now, and I had wondered if it was going to be a problem if she did get accepted into medical school. They've always gotten her the best things they could afford for school, but she may not have noticed the things they sacrificed around home so that they could."

James nodded. "And it's not something you could talk about with her without taking the chance that she'd stop believing she could be a Healer some day. Did she call them back?"

"She's on the phone with them now," Jon said. "Therese doesn't need to know this, but I was counting on you, which is why I only wondered if it'd be a problem, and not worried about it. That probably doesn't sound exactly how it's meant, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do," James agreed.

"There aren't a lot of cases like hers," Jon said thoughtfully. "It's too bad that the Ministry, or the Phoenix Foundation don't have something to help students like her that have the ability, but not the money to pay for some of the advanced education needed for some careers. The Ministry pays for Auror training, and even pays their trainees, from what I understand, even if it's not much. You'd think they'd want every Witch and Wizard with the talent to become Healers, not just the ones who can afford it."

"That's a good point," James agreed. "I'll send a letter to Teddy and mention it. The foundation might be interested in helping out – especially if they could trade the cost for some future help treating patients in other countries where there isn't much in the way of medical services available."

"I was actually thinking that the Foundation could have their own medical teams," Jon told him. "With the TransPortal available, if they had one team in say every four or five hours of time zones, each team could work from home, and just go out mostly on day trips to different countries."

James grinned at his friend. "One in Romania would be an awesome location too. A team there could cover Africa and the middle east."

"That's quite a coincidence," Jon answered, grinning too. "I wonder if there will be any graduates from medical school in the next few years who might be interested in leading a team like that."

"You should go to work for Teddy and Stewart," James told his friend. "Maybe dragons aren't your true calling after all."

"I'll be volunteering at the Dragon's Lair," Jon said, "and I know I don't look the type, but I love working on the reserve. You could say the same thing about yourself, though. You've got a real talent for working with these kids that have been abused. Look how much you've changed the lives of Callie, Mark, and the others already."

"I've thought about that a lot," James admitted. "Ever since I was a little kid, all I ever wanted to do was invent cool new wheezes like my Uncle George did. My Dad always joked that his job was to make things fun for everyone else in the family while they all worked, but I always thought that my Uncle George made things fun for everyone in the world."

"And now you're finding out that your Dad's the one that's been making things better for everyone on a way bigger scale than you thought," Jon summarized.

"Is that the worst kept secret in the world for everyone except me?" James asked.

Jon laughed. "No, it's still mostly a secret, but Therese and I spent a lot of time at the Dragon's Lair last summer, and with your aunt and uncle, so we eventually put it all together."

James nodded. "The Christmas holiday probably changed me as much as it did Callie and the others. It hasn't changed that I still love inventing wheezes, and working in the lab with uncle George and Lee."

"I doubt anyone can help you with that one," Jon said, standing up. "You'll know what's the right decision for you when you do figure it out. It's been a long day, though, so we should both get some sleep."

James stood up too. "Thanks, Jon. I'll let you know what Teddy thinks of your idea."

Jon smiled at him. "Thanks, mate. Thank-you for helping Therese, too."

"You're welcome, mate," James said. "I'll see you in the morning."

Since Therese's problems on Wednesday night hadn't gotten past her office door, nobody else knew there'd been a problem at all, and James knew that his friends would keep what he was going to do to help her private.

He, Jon, and Therese sat down on Thursday night and figured out how much she'd need for the years in medical school, and then he wrote letters to Griphook to arrange the transfer of money to an account for Therese, and to Teddy regarding Jon's very good suggestions, getting both letters out in the Owl Post in time for morning deliveries.

Friday morning, Teddy and Victoire were having breakfast when the Owl Post arrived from James, and Teddy read the letter out loud to Victoire.

"I have to admit, I've never thought about that before," Victoire said after he was done. "If those kids all just found out whether they were accepted or not on the first, then if you guys can act fast enough, the Foundation could help out with any other cases like hers this year before it's too late. Like he said, there probably aren't very many cases each year, but look at how much good every Healer does."

"That idea for medical teams is brilliant too," Teddy said. "We haven't had any real plan in place for dealing with medical problems, just mostly taken them as they came along. I think I'll pop over and talk it out with Uncle Harry before going to work."

They finished up eating, cleaned up, and after a couple or three kisses goodbye, Victoire went to her Witch Investments offices, and Teddy went to the cottage. Ginny was still there, so she stayed a bit later than she normally would while Teddy showed them James' letter, and talked it out with them before going on to work himself, the start of a plan already coming together.

"So James has gone from bringing kids home to live with him for the holidays to paying for medical school for Therese," Ginny said as she hugged Harry before going to work herself.

"He seems to have turned out to be a pretty good young man," Harry said, and Ginny smiled.

"Like we had any doubts about that," she told him. "This side of him is really great to see develop. He's always worked with the kids at the residence, and helped with the DREAM Christmases, but I don't think it really hit home with him personally until the holidays with the kids, and this with Therese."

Harry nodded as Ginny looked at her watch then hugged and kissed him again. "I have to get going. Are you at the residence today?"

"Yes, then I'm borrowing Kira from the daycare for the afternoon. I've been in withdrawal since Patricia went back home to stay."

Ginny laughed. "You could take Kira to Marauders Paradise and get both girls for a few hours."

"That's a good idea. I'll see if Kira would rather do that than the shopping trip we'd planned for the afternoon."

Harry got to work cleaning up from breakfast after Ginny left, then got ready for his own busy day of playing with the kids and having fun. At Hogwarts, the students were already in their first classes. Most of them were thinking 'thank Merlin it's Friday', and everyone in third year and above were looking forward to having Saturday in Hogsmeade.

Nobody was surprised on Saturday morning when James started blurring into his Animagus form when he was through the front door, but even as he changed, he could hear laughter, and knew why when a certain doe shot past him, racing for the gates. He laughed and took chase. She might have been smaller, but it was all he could do to gain ground on her, and they reached the gates at almost the same time, sliding to a stop in front of a laughing Arianna.

Lily walked up close to her and shivered as Arianna stroked her nose and neck.

"You're softer than James," she told Lily. "I bet all the other does are jealous of that hair too."

Lily stepped back and changed back to her own form, and grinned at James and Arianna.

"That was fun," she told her brother. "We should go running more often."

"You're quite a sight when you are," Arianna told them.

"Were you given a list today?" Lily asked James, and he nodded.

"Hand it over. Do you need anything yourself that I can get for you so that you can just go have fun with Arianna instead?"

James gave her a hug, and told her the few things he needed for his Potions kit, then she sent them off to Hogsmeade, while she waited for Kieran and the others to catch up.

"I already dropped off our lunch supplies," Arianna told James. "We can just go to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and hang out for the whole day if there's nothing else you want to do."

He grinned at Arianna, and they both laughed. "There's definitely nothing I'd rather do," he told her, and they were quickly snuggled on a sofa in their little hideaway long before any of the others students even got to town.

Kieran was smiling when he, Daphne, and Karl caught up with Lily. "Did you win?" he asked, hugging her.

"It was pretty much a tie," she told him. "I had a pretty good lead on him after catching him by surprise."

"I didn't see your Animagus before," Daphne told Lily. "It was pretty amazing watching the two of you race off like that."

"I can't even describe how much fun it is," Lily answered. "I love it as much as I love flying."

"Then it must be really great," Daphne told her. "Until fairly recently, I would have rather been flying than anything else."

"Whatever in the world could have replaced flying at number one on your list?" Lily asked, feigning shock.

"Like that isn't obvious," she told Lily while putting her arm around Karl.

"Did you get James' list from him?" Kieran asked, and Lily nodded.

"I didn't even have to twist his arm. They'll probably be in their lunchroom getaway all day."

"Good for them," Daphne said. "Every time I see your brother he seems to be doing something for someone else, or working on his own studies. He deserves a few hours just for them."

Lily thought so too, but in her case it was because she had a pretty good idea what her brother had been up to over the last couple of days if how Therese and Jon were acting around him was any indication. She was very proud of her big brother, which was the main reason she'd decided to go for a run with him as a surprise.

"Let's get going," Kieran said to the others. "We've got a lot of supplies to get today, and Lily and I have to get back for our before-dinner study session."

Al and Carolyn were walking to town with Scorpius and Brianna, planning to spend the morning with them as they went around picking up supplies for Frederica, Liam, Colin, and Lance. None of the lists were really that large this week, so Rose had split up the lists between a few of them so that the others could have a break.

"I've never heard a deer laugh before," Brianna said after they'd watched James and Lily change into their Animagus and race away. "That was, well, really weird sounding."

"I think it was cute," Carolyn said. "Brother and sister deer going out to play. The only thing missing was their golden eagle escort."

Al shrugged. "Try going out in this weather in a leather coat, then try it wearing nothing but feathers, and you'll know why I'm happy to be here in my nice warm cloak."

"Thanks, but I'll pass," Carolyn told him. "You make a very nice eagle, but I like you quite a lot this way too, so if you don't want to be a bird today, you don't have to be one."

When they got into town, they started right in on their shopping. They needed to stop for inks, parchment, and potions supplies for everyone, so they took care of those items first, and then picked up the sweets at Honeydukes. With the supplies finished early, Al and Scorpius were happy to go shopping for clothes with the girls until they went for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. After lunch, they went back to Hogwarts for a couple hours of snuggling time before they had to meet everyone else to study.

"We do not get to do this enough," Brianna told Scorpius as they snuggled on a sofa he'd conjured for them in an empty classroom.

"It seems like hardly at all some days," he agreed before kissing her.

"There's more going on this year," Brianna said. "Part of it's probably because of our new friends, but we've also had something going on every weekend except for the first one back from Holidays."

"And you're in your OWL year, and the work hasn't gotten any easier in sixth year for us," Scorpius pointed out.

"Speaking of," she said, smiling at him, "that study session isn't very far away, and we can talk anywhere. Why don't we put this time to better use."

Brianna didn't give him the opportunity to answer, and they weren't the only couple in the school taking advantage of an early return from town to find a secluded location for a little snogging time. Back in Hogsmeade, James and Arianna didn't spend their whole day snogging, although they did share some really brilliant kisses.

They went over how everything was going with the wedding plans in the morning. They were trying to keep it small, but it was probably still going to end up with close to two hundred guests. Their honeymoon at Marauders Escape was set up, and they discussed everything from flowers to dinner menus to music selection for the dance.

James made lunch for them, and then they settled in to watch the Catapults play the Harpies for Arianna's Conons' homework. Both teams were near the top of the league, and there was a good chance that on top of playing them each one more time this season, the Canons could be meeting one or both teams in the playoffs.

The game was still going strong when James had to leave for Hogwarts. With three weeks before they'd see each other again ahead of them, they took a little extra time with the goodbye, and James once again came to a skidding stop in the entrance hall after apparating to the gates, and running flat out to get back on time.

"You've got that down about as fine as possible," Lily told him, walking over to give him a hug. "Welcome back."

She looked into his eyes, and seeing that he was doing okay, smiled at him. "It's getting easier now that there's only months left, isn't it?"

James hugged her and grinned. "Yeah, but thanks for checking up on me to make sure. Ready for the study session?"

"Sure," Lily told him. "Anything new with Arianna?"

"Not really. She brought me up to date on the wedding plans, and she's busy with work as usual. Sometimes she probably thinks her life's kind of on hold waiting around for me."

Lily laughed and hugged him as they walked. "She seems to think you're worth the wait. I had my doubts, but it's looking like she was right about you for all of these years."

"Gee, thanks," James said, smiling at his sister. "And thanks for that surprise earlier. That was fun."

"You deserved it for being such a great friend this week. I was very proud of you."

"I should've known that you, and probably Al, would figure it out."

Lily nodded. "I haven't talked to him about it, but he probably knows too."

"For all we know, he knew last week," James said with a laugh, and Lily smiled at him.

Everyone else was already in the classroom when they arrived, and so James and Lily sat down and got to work right away. There was usually quite a bit of talk going on around the tables as they worked, and today, Easter became the main point of discussion.

"We've got five weeks until Easter," Hugo said. "We should start thinking about what we can do this year."

Carolyn nodded. "With so many TNM graduates this year, we should make it something memorable too."

They all continued working even while throwing out suggestions and discussing them, and as usual, came up with what they all thought was a good idea. This year, Hugo and Emily were thrilled to be in charge of the TNM Easter project for the first time. Everyone else would help out, but it was time for the younger Marauders to start getting ready to lead the group.

"That was smooth," Therese told James when they were walking back to their rooms.

Jon nodded. "Yeah, we should probably have been doing that more this year already."

"They'll need to do more next year too," James said. "Six less members, and a bunch more NEWT year students."

"They can always recruit more help when they need it," Therese said.

"I'd say there's some good candidates to pick from," Jon suggested. "I think having a few Slytherin members would be good for the group too."

"That's a good idea," James said. "You should suggest it to the others. They could invite them to join next fall."

During the next week, the winter routine finally settled in. They went to classes, studied when they could during the day, had daily Quidditch practices for those students who played, and studied every evening. Lily had already taken four of her twelve exams, and was planning on taking two more before the end of March so that she'd only have six exams in June. To manage that with everything else, she was working harder than anyone else, and stayed up late every night.

On Saturday, they worked on their assignments until lunch, then after eating, met in James' office for the Canons' home game against Puddlemere United.

"I hope this game lasts for a while," Hugo said as he settled into a soft sofa with Emily in his arms. "Have we done anything except homework and Quidditch all week?"

Emily shook her head. "No, we haven't, except working on Easter."

"Did Arianna have an inside scoop last night for today's game plan?" Hugo asked James, who laughed.

"Your Dad's on the team, and one of the coaches, mate. If you can't get the scoop from him, what makes you think Arianna would risk the wrath of Coach by telling anyone?"

"You know, pillow talk and all that," Hugo answered.

"I don't think that applies to bedtime WiComm calls," Lily told her cousin.

The game got started, and it was no surprise that the Canons jumped out to an early lead. That Ron let in a couple of early goals too really was surprising.

"What's up with that?" Hugo asked. "Those shots weren't all that difficult. Is Dad sick or something?"

Rose had been wondering the same thing, but he didn't look ill. "I don't think so, Hugo. I don't know why he's playing like that yet, though."

Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly were outscoring the United team, but their Chasers were putting up good numbers against Ron too. Liselle and her opposing Seeker were in a tough battle too, and after Ron let another pretty easy goal past him, even the normally dense commentators seemed to notice.

"This game is too close for him to be letting goals in like that," Scorpius said. "It's got to be on purpose, or there's something else wrong."

The game went on like that for just over three hours, until a mistake by the United Seeker gave Liselle the opening she needed to catch the snitch just a fraction of a second ahead of the other Seeker to win the close game.

It wasn't until the post-game press conference that they thought there was an answer to Ron's sub-par performance. That answer came in the fact that there was no answer. Ron smiled to the cameras, told the reporters that there was nothing wrong at all, and if anything, acted a lot like he was medicated.

"So that's it," Hugo said. "I'm not sure it's all that good an idea, but then I'm not the one with all those League Championships."

"What's it?" Emily asked.

"They're making it look like he's got a medical problem that they're not talking about in public," he explained. "Look at him – he looks like they're giving him something for pain. He never acts like that."

Rose nodded. "You're right about that being risky," she told her brother. "Sometimes I wonder if he forgets they have a rookie Seeker, no matter how good she is."

"I'd say she didn't win this matchup by much," Colin said. "It's not a bad idea, but you're right about it putting a lot of pressure on Liselle, Rose."

That theory continued to play out the following week, when the Canons finished their two-game home stand against the Appleby Arrows.

The New Marauders were again gathered around the WWVN in James' office, and watched as Ron seemed to be hit and miss on his ability to make saves, apparently drifting in and out, one minute making a great save, and the next letting an easy one get by, as if he hadn't noticed the scoring attempt at all.

Liselle was playing hard against the Arrows' Seeker, but she was also looking more stressed than in the last game – as if the fate of the team was on her shoulders now.

"That's a brilliant acting job," Lily said as they watched Liselle just barely block the Arrows' Seeker from catching the snitch. "Just enough of a touch to make it look like she's starting to feel the pressure, but still holding up okay."

It took her just under four hours to finally catch the snitch in another close race, and after the game, while Ron continued to look dreamily happy as he answered questions, Liselle looked tense and uptight.

"You guys know that the only real way for this plan to work is to lose one or two games before the end of the season, right?" Kieran said as they were packing up to go to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Sometimes I think my Dad spends too much time trying to be clever," Rose answered. "Sometimes I get worried that he'll over-strategize the game, and find himself getting beat for real. I hope it won't be this year that he finds that out."

The one good thing about being busy was that the last weekend of March, and the second Hogsmeade weekend of the month seemed to rush up on them. An early warm front gave them an unexpected spring-like day to enjoy their time in town with, and the students making the trek from school were in spring jackets instead of winter cloaks.

Arianna was waiting for James at the gates when he came cantering out to her, hooves prancing as he approached, before changing back, and giving her a big hug and kiss.

"I missed you," he said softly into her ear as they held each other close.

"Where's your running partner?" Arianna asked, smiling at him as they began to walk to town.

"She told me it was fun running out here with me last time, but not so entertaining to wait at the gates for Kieran and the others to catch up."

"Makes sense. Who've we got to shop for today?"

"Rose gave us Millie and Amy, since their lists were practically identical. Since this is the last day in town before Easter, all of the lists are pretty long."

Arianna nodded. "Easter sweets and Wheezes topping the list, right?"

"Yeah, although there's quite a bit of other supplies too. We've got orders for inks, quills, potions supplies, parchment, and a bunch of personal supplies," James said as he looked down the two lists.

"I'm just trying to picture those two girls playing with Easter Wheezes," Arianna told him with a laugh. "Or Carissa, Dale, Nadine, or Vanessa."

"I think it's brilliant that they're getting confident enough to try," James answered. "They all deserve to have more fun in their lives."

"Then we'll just make sure that they do," Arianna said, putting her arm around his waist. "Then we'll spend the afternoon making sure that you and I have fun too."

All of the New Marauders, along with Mark, Callie, Karl, Daphne, Joel, and Sarah were busy throughout the morning, and they crossed paths with each other quite a bit as they met in different stores or on the street.

James and Arianna got their shopping done, and went back to the lunchroom at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and James made lunch for them. Arianna went over the latest wedding news while they ate, and then after cleaning up, snuggled together to watch a Quidditch match that neither of them would remember much of, and Arianna would have to get Aaron to give her the scoop on before Monday's team meeting.

The day in Hogsmeeade was one of those really great days for all of the New Marauders and their friends, and even the first and second year students that couldn't go to town enjoyed having a warm day to get out of the castle, even if it was just to get some fresh air and wander around the school grounds.

Sunday was just as nice outside, and Lily let them take their study group outdoors for a few hours in the afternoon, joining with Callie, Mark, and the others so she could work with anyone who needed help while they all enjoyed the wonderful afternoon sunshine.

There were only a handful of days left in March, and two weeks until Easter as the light faded in the late afternoon on Sunday. James and the other NEWT students had about three months left at Hogwarts. Easter was sure to be fun, and there wouldn't be a shortage of work between classes, homework, and the Quidditch practices that would certainly get more difficult as it got closer to May. Add in three Canons' games in the next five weeks and another Hogsmeade weekend, and they all had a lot to look forward to in April.


	94. Hop into Spring

Chapter Ninety-Four – Hop into Spring

When the weather had turned nice for the last weekend in March, nobody expected it to last, but it did stay warm, and the students of Hogwarts took every opportunity to get outside and enjoy it. Quidditch practices were more fun now that the players weren't cold all the time as they played, and young couples could go for walks, finding more privacy than ever seemed possible inside the school, where there always seemed to be someone around.

Lily took her sixth year exams in Potions and Herbology on Tuesday and Thursday, and was sure that she'd aced them both to the surprise of nobody.

Saturday was the first of April, and after another morning of studying, tne New Marauders were again gathered in James' office to watch the Canons' road game against the Wimbourne Wasps. They were all relaxed and joking around before the game started. It was amazing how much a week of nice weather, and some regular escapes from the confines of the school buildings could lift the spirits.

"How's things coming for next weekend," James asked Hugo and Emily.

"We're just about ready," Emily told him. "Everything will be done in time."

"Anything you need from me?" James asked. They hadn't asked him for much help at all, though he'd joined in when they were all working on parts of the project.

"No," Hugo told him. "It's under control, and you've got enough going on already. We can handle this."

"What do you think the team will do against the Wasps?" Brianna asked. "And do you think they'll go after Liselle again? It worked for them last time."

"I don't know," Rose answered. "Dad can't possibly want to lose two games to them. I'd guess they probably will try to do the same thing. They probably think that the other teams just couldn't get it done against us."

When the game got underway, there was so much going on that the commentators and cameras could hardly keep up. The Wasps' Beaters did attack Liselle again, but Sebastian and Tristan were prepared for them, and calmly not only beat back their attack on her, but completely took out one of their Beaters and one Chaser in the process, not including a pretty painful injury to their Seeker.

That left Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly a pretty easy time of it playing against only two Chasers, and they started scoring a lot. The Wasps were probably berating themselves by then, though, because even with only two Chasers against him, Ron had let seven goals get past him, and they were all easy shots as he could be seen smiling and happily waving to the fans.

"Look at the Wasps' coach," Kieran said. "He looks pretty upset."

"Probably because he knows he beat himself today," Hugo said. "By the looks of Dad, it's exactly what he was hoping to accomplish, even if he is taking all the heat in the press right now."

"They can't say too much when they're still winning," Rose pointed out. "He's really taking this making the team look vulnerable a bit too far though."

The Canons were already more than two hundred points ahead when Liselle caught the snitch to end the game. Ron had given up eleven goals, which should have never happened against only two Chasers. In the press conference that followed, Liselle wasn't the only one on the team looking stressed, and of course the reporters and analysts were more than happy to feed the story that was all but being scripted for them.

"Dad and the others must go home after all of this and laugh their heads off," Rose said. "I swear all they ever want to do is tear whoever's on top back down again."

Lily nodded. "Arianna scored twenty goals and that wasn't even mentioned."

"The Canons must be the only team in history that can have fifteen wins, one loss, and have the media telling everyone that they're barely hanging on," Nick said with a laugh. "Even if they lost the last four games they'd still be in the playoffs, probably still ranked top four."

"Top three," Lily supplied helpfully.

They packed up, not wanting to listen to any more of the blather from the QSPN experts, and still having time before dinner that they could use for their homework. Lily was promising them a Sunday off if they got everything done today, and with all the work they'd done in the morning, that was looking like it was going to happen.

Some of the others might think that Lily never needed a break too, since she was almost always the person pushing everyone to work their hardest, but having a day off was just as important for her, and she was glad to have a whole day where she and Kieran could just let it all go.

While it was still cool in the morning, they spent a couple of hours playing, and then went for a long walk before lunch. In the afternoon, they went back outside to play with their friends. She and James even went for a little run while Al flew around the school grounds.

The good moods and great spring weather continued through that whole first week of April. There wasn't any less work; it just all seemed easier and more fun. On the Saturday of the Easter weekend, Lily had everyone working even harder so that they could all enjoy the day on Sunday without having to do any work.

Easter morning, Hugo woke to the shouts from his roommates as they saw the pink, fuzzy walls of their dorm. They all knew what was going on, so they dressed quickly and joined the other students that were streaming outside to take a look at their pink bunny school.

When most of the students were out there, hundreds of bunnies began to appear, and the students began picking them up and petting them. As the older students expected, on the seventh stroke along the bunnies backs, they turned into chocolate bunnies. Bite-sized ones this time, so there were a lot of students who ate them right away.

There was a roar of laughter as those students promptly turned into large pink, plush bunnies themselves, with only their whisker-clad faces showing.

Hugo and Emily had made sure they were among the first to eat the chocolates, and they had fun playing with everyone else as they hopped around outside, then all hopped into the Great Hall to attempt eating breakfast with big furry paws.

Mark and Callie had gone outside in the morning to see their floppy-eared school. Sarah, Joel, and most of their group had joined them, so that when the bunnies started hopping around them, Callie and Mark knew what to do, and showed the youngest in their group what happened when they pet the bunnies, and ate the choloates.

"You make a very cute bunny," Callie told Carissa, who grinned at her even as she hopped around Dale, who was still trying to decide whether he could handle being a bunny for however long it was going to last.

"Come on, Dale!" Carissa urged him. It's fun, and everyone else is joining in, so you don't have to worry about looking silly."

He couldn't resist anything she wanted, and so he picked up a passing bunny, stroked it's back, and ate the chocolate. When he looked at his pink arms and body, he smiled. Carissa hopped up to him and kissed him, since hugging didn't really work very well in their present condition.

"Let's go for a hop," she said happily, taking his fat pink paw and tugging him into motion.

Sarah, Joel, Karl, and Daphne had already joined the ranks of the bunnies too, and were playing around with Amy, Millie, Nadine, Vanessa, Colin and Lance, who were all laughing and hopping around.

"I've heard about these Easter pranks," Nadine told Colin, "but getting to actually get to experience them is way too cool. How does TNM come up with stuff like this?"

Colin grinned at her. "I guess they're just really creative. For some reason, though, I'm having more fun with it this year."

Nadine beamed at him. They saw that most of the student-bunnies were heading into the Great Hall, so they held paws, and hopped along with everyone else as they went back inside for breakfast.

There were baskets of easter eggs and sweets waiting for each student, and the more adventurous of them quickly found out that the different eggs changed them from pink bunnies to other colours. Soon there were bunnies of all colours, and even a few of the Professors had joined the ranks of the bunnies.

Most of the students by now had figured out that this was a best of the Easter pranks day, although this time around they seemed to have perfected and improved on every gag. The effects wore off after about two hours, but there were more than enough bunnies around for those who wanted to go for a second or third turn as a bunny.

None of the New Marauders were interested in spending the whole day as bunnies, preferring to instead enjoy the day having fun outside in the pink shadow of the school.

"It's nothing original this time," Emily said to Hugo as they walked by the lake, "but there's enough new for a lot of the students to work. Everyone's certainly having fun, so I'd say we did pretty good for the first project we got to lead for the group."

"We did," Hugo agreed. "We should probably enjoy doing these while we can. Once Lily and Al are done next year, I'm not sure we'll be able to pull anything this big off again."

Emily nodded. "Maybe not the really big things, but I think we can figure something else out that'll be just as fun. We definitely won't be able to Transfigure the whole school like that. I have no idea how they pull that one off, and it'll stay like that until midnight. No wonder they're both aces at Transfiguration."

"I don't know either," he said, squeezing her hand. "I do know that now we're not bunnies anymore, we can probably find something to do that's more fun than talking about my cousin's magical abililties.

"Really?" Emily asked, her eyes going wide.

Hugo laughed and tugged on her hand. "Come on. We'll find someplace quiet and I'll prove it to you."

James was impressed with how well Hugo and Emily pulled the day off too. He was in bed that night, waiting for Arianna's call, looking around at all the pink that would be gone soon. Thankfully gone, he thought. A guy could only take so much pink before enough was enough.

"Hi, sweetie," he said, answering her call on the first chime. "How was your Easter?"

"Not as good as yours, I see," she answered, indicating the pink walls behind him. "Aaron, Tracey, and I went to the cottage, and your Mum and Dad had Kira, James, Patricia, and Timothy over for an easter egg hunt in the afternoon. It was cute, and Patricia even gave one egg to William, although he wasn't very impressed when it bounced off of his head."

"You mean he can't catch yet?" James asked, and Arianna laughed.

"That's what she said. It sounds like the thrill of having a baby in the house has worn off for her. She was trying to trade him for Kira all afternoon."

"Sounds familiar. Wonder where I recognize it from?" he said, smiling.

"I'm sure she doesn't mean it any more than Lily did," Arianna told him.

"Even when she tried to trade me for you and Aaron?"

Arianna laughed. "She's getting me for a sister anyway, and Aaron might as well be another brother – he loves her the same as if he really was. How'd the big prank go?"

"Really great. I wasn't sure that doing the best of our previous ones would work, but half the kids hadn't seen one or more of them, and they really did a great job making them all better. When we were bunnies, we even had to hop to get around. It was definitely a hit."

"Sounds like it. Anything else going on now that Easter's done?"

James nodded. "Therese and I will be working with Colin and some others for the twenty-fifth anniversary memorial next, although we've been working on it a bit here and there since last fall."

"Are you expecting a lot of people?" she asked, and James nodded.

"Yeah, it's the only actual service they've had to commemorate the end of the war since the actual funeral service, and it's mostly been Colin that got it going."

"I think he had a brilliant idea," Arianna said.

"I do too," James agreed. "The only other thing I'm looking forward to is next week's Hogmeade weekend. Everything else is just loads of assignments, and Hugo working our butts off to get ready for our game against Ravenclaw."

"That sounds like a normal week for this time of year," she told him. "I'm looking forward to Saturday too. We only have this one, and one in May for the rest of the year."

"True, but you can come to the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game too, so that's at least part of another day together."

When they both saw the walls flicker from plush pink back to stone, it was long past when they should have been asleep, and they wrapped up their call with the usual 'I love you's', and James closed his eyes and drifted off to where he could at least dream of snuggling with Arianna all night even if it couldn't be reality for a few more months.

"Eight weeks until exams," Lily told her study group when they'd all sat down on Monday night. This was going to be the same thing she'd tell Callie and Mark's group at their Tuesday night session.

"I know," she told Hugo when she saw the look on his face. "We keep doing a little bit every day now to get ready, and you'll thank me when you don't need to try and cram it all in during exams."

Emily put her arm around his shoulders. "Remember the look on your Mum's face when you got your last report? Let's just do what we're told. Lily knows what she's doing."

"Are you sure she's not just doing it so I can't concentrate on Quidditch because she keeps filling my head up with all of this useless information instead?"

Lily grinned at him. "That'd be a brilliant plan if it would work, but it wouldn't. Besides, if I really wanted to cheat like that, it'd be a lot less work for me to just get rid of everything you know about Quidditch instead of doing this to you seven days a week."

"Seven?" Hugo exclaimed. "What happened to our day off?"

"It's messed up by two Hogsmeade weekends, four Canons' games, and our own two Quidditch matches, not including the first round of the League playoffs on the Saturday before exams start."

"Could you make things a little less fun for me?" he asked plaintively.

Lily pretended to think about that. "Sure, Hugo. I'm sure that Joel would love to have another fourth year in their study group. Would you like to join or should Emily?"

Emily laughed at that, and Hugo threw up his hands in defeat. "You win, I'll just shut-up now."

Hugo knew he was actually doing really well again this year, and sometimes he wondered himself why he bothered complaining about the work with Lily. He was beginning to think it was simply because it was fun sparring with her. Maybe he'd spent too many evenings watching his father and Aunt Nathalie doing the same thing over the Wizard's Chessboard.

Callie, Mark, and the others were all for starting their exam preparation early. They'd only been working with Lily since January, and every one of them had seen at least a full grade improvement in their marks. Dale's had jumped two, and was in serious danger of passing everything now, where when he'd left for the holidays, he'd been failing three subjects. Lily wouldn't dream of taking all the credit for that. She might be offering the tutoring, but it was Carissa providing the motivation.

On Saturday, she and Kieran took the shopping lists for Nadine, Vanessa, and Miranda with them, and again spent the morning with Karl and Daphne.

"How are things going with your team?" Lily asked Daphne as they walked into town. "Will you be ready for Kieran's team?"

Daphne smiled at her. "You want me to answer that right here in front of him?"

"Why not?" We talk all the time, and he's practiced with our team lots of times. We just don't discuss strategy or anything specific to the match we play against each other."

"Then in that case, it's going lousy," Daphne told her. "Thomas was pretty excited about a better way of training, but he's not getting much cooperation, and our other Chasers got razzed so badly after the last game, that they flat out ignore me."

"If I promise not to use it against you, will you take a suggestion?" Kieran asked her, and she nodded.

"Whenever Thomas makes a save, get him to pass it out to you first as much as he can. That way you'll at least get some chances, even if you have to try and do it alone."

"That's a thought," Daphne said. "It won't make him very popular, though."

"So what?" Lily said. "Will he be able to work with you and some other players this summer?"

"Yes, we're already working on that," Daphne said.

"It's your last game of the year, and there's a good chance that the guys that aren't playing to help your team won't make the team next year, so Thomas shouldn't care if they're mad at him after the game."

Kieran smiled at her. "Just remember that I said we won't go after that pass. It doesn't mean we're going to let you fly in on our goal without trying to stop you."

Daphne smiled back. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

When they got into town they started the supply shopping right away. The lists weren't long, and it only took a couple of hours to get everything for themselves and the five girls they had between them. They had lunch with Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna then did a little shopping for clothes before wandering back to school, taking their time, and enjoying another beautiful day.

Mark, Callie, Joel, and Sarah shopped during the morning, and then had another lunch invitation with Arianna and James. They had a wonderful lunch, and then Arianna surprised Mark with a birthday cake and present.

"I can't be there with you on Tuesday, so happy eighteenth," she told him as she put the cake in front of him. Callie was grinning at him, and he laughed.

"How many people did you tell?" he asked.

"Just everyone who loves you," she told him, which had him tearing up as she hugged him.

He opened his present to find a framed picture of a house, and lifted it out of the box, looking at it carefully. He heard Sarah gasp and looked at her across the table, and her eyes had gotten very large. Joel looked equally surprised.

"What?" Mark asked, and Sarah pointed to the painting. Since she hadn't seen the picture yet, he mistook her for wanting to see it and turned it around. That's when he saw the key tucked into the back of the frame.

"If you're going to be a world-famous broom racer, you need to have a place of your own," Arianna told him, and this time the tears did come, and he hugged Callie tightly until he could pull it together again.

"Thank-you," he told Arianna. He picked the card up that he'd read first, and added – "Thank everyone for me." It had been Arianna, James, Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Tracey who'd gotten it for him.

"I wish we could take you to see it, but that'll have to wait until you get done school," Arianna told him. "It's in Chudley too, but on the south side of town not far from Marauders Institute. It's not a really big place, but we thought it'd work for a few years until you decide where you do want to settle down."

"It's amazing," he assured her, getting up to give her a hug. "James better give you a couple of extra thank-you hugs for me, since it'll probably be a couple of days before it sinks in."

"I can do that for you," James told him with a grin. "But first you have to cut that cake so we can finish lunch. We'll definitely need a little privacy if I'm going to thank her properly for you."

Everyone laughed, and the cake was quickly dissected and eaten. There was another round of hugs before James and Arianna were left alone for the afternoon.

"That was brilliant," James complimented Arianna. "No wonder Dad has so much fun with stuff like this."

Arianna led him to one of the sofas and sat him down before snuggling comfortably in his arms.

"The question will be whether we need to do that again for Callie in the summer."

"I'll guess no," James said. "They'll be married before September."

"You're probably right," she agreed. "Now, why don't you get to that thanking me. We wouldn't want you to forget that after telling Mark you'd take care of that for him."

James laughed and kissed her. "No we wouldn't," he whispered.

Out in town, Mark was walking next to Callie, but he was feeling a little dazed.

"Did that really happen, or did we have a small group hallucination?" he asked Callie, Joel, and Sarah.

Sarah laughed. "It happened all right," she told him. "You've got the key in your pocket and the picture of your new house in that box you're carrying."

"When they decide to change someone's life, they go all out, don't they?" he said, and Callie squeezed him with the arm she had around his waist.

"Yes, they do," she agreed. "So what should we do to top the day we've had so far?"

Sarah laughed again. "Like we could. How about we see what's out for spring clothes at FashionKnut? It's not on the scale of getting a new house, but it's the best we can manage on short notice."

They spent another hour or so shopping before going back to the school, distributing supplies, then getting their study group together. It wasn't really a coincidence that their group was working at a lot of the same times that the New Marauders were studying. The only reason they didn't all work together was that there were just too many of them, and Lily would have been spread so thin she wouldn't have been able to help anyone very well.

The rest of the weekend was spent studying, except they all took Sunday evening off. On Tuesday, after dinner, Callie and Mark had their normal study session with Lily and their group, and they'd had another small cake together. Lily excused them early so that Callie and Mark could have a little time to themselves before needing to get back to their dorm rooms for the night.

They found an empty classroom, and conjured themselves a sofa, and snuggled together on it. Callie smiled and handed him a present.

"Happy birthday, Mark," she told him, and he hugged her.

"Thank-you," he said, and she sat close while he opened the gift and pulled out the sports watch she'd picked out for him.

"It's supposed to be the one that all the best broom racers wear," she told him.

"Thank-you,' he said again. "It's great."

She looked at him in disappointment. He didn't look like he thought it was great.

"You don't like it," she stated, and he looked into her eyes.

"No, it's not that," he told her. "There was just something I'd really hoped to get for my birthday. Something I wanted more than anything."

She couldn't help but smile. "You mean a new house and watch wasn't up there on your best gifts ever list?"

Mark smiled, and looked into her eyes. "Sure they were, but what I wanted more than anything was a fiancée."

Callie's eyes filled with tears as he held up a ring box with a diamond ring sparkling at her from inside.

"I know we've only been dating for not even four months yet," he said, taking her hand. "I love you with all of my heart, Callie, and I will forever. We've been given brand new lives, and I'd like to spend mine with you."

She threw her arms around him, and pulled him into a deep, almost desperate kiss.

"I love you too, Mark," she finally told him. "Yes, I'll marry you." She watched as he took the ring out of the box, and slipped it onto her finger.

A lengthy congratulatory snogging session followed, then it was time to hurry back to their Common Rooms, much sooner than either of them wished.

"So when did you want to get married?" she asked him as they walked.

"That depends on whether you want the whole ceremony and party, or whether we should just ask a few friends to come with us, and elope somewhere."

"We don't have family either of us want to invite," she said with a smile. "Do you think we could talk Aaron, Tracey, James, and Arianna into going somewhere for a weekend in July and elope?"

"We can ask them. As long as it's not the weekend they're getting married, I don't think it'd be a problem."

Not only wasn't it a problem, but it only took Arianna and Tracey a few phone calls to get another room at Marauders Escape for the two weeks they'd be there, and a wedding chapel opening for the first Tuesday they'd be on the island.

They also made the top of the school gossip circuit. Engagements weren't all that rare at school, but it was practically never heard of between a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff. The other side of it was the sound of grumbling from other Slytherin boys who hadn't noticed what a hottie Callie was in the nearly seven years she'd lived with them, and now one of the best looking girls in their house was engaged to a Hufflepuff!

That Saturday, the Canons were playing on the road against the Catapults. There was a pretty happy group gathered in James' office for the game – happy to hopefully get a few hours away from the relentless workload.

"Please let it be a long game," Hugo said fervently, which had the others laughing, since he asked for that at nearly every game.

"Don't say that, or it'll be another one of those three second games," Emily told him.

Hugo nodded. "You're probably right. That'd just be my luck."

He didn't need to worry about that, and the game got going without any attempts at breaking Harry's Seeker record. So far this season, nobody had even tried.

Arianna scored the first two goals of the game, and Ron made several fairly decent saves before letting in a couple of soft ones. Now it seemed like Aaron, Arianna, and Kimberly were all joining Liselle in looking stressed out. They'd score a few goals and Ron would let one or two easy shots past him that could have been stopped by a stick hanging from the goal hoops.

"The Catapults are playing better than they did against us in the first game," Rose said. "I guess there's a reason why they've gotten close to making the playoffs.

The fans seem to be loving it," Emily pointed out. "But then everyone likes high-scoring games."

"True," Scorpius said, "except for Keepers. This isn't all that much fun watching Uncle Ron let in all of these easy goals."

The score was three hundred and seventy to two hundred and forty for the Canons when Liselle was forced to dodge a bludger that gave her opponent an opening which he took advantage of to catch the snitch and give the ninth-place Catapults the upset win, three hundred and ninety to three hundred and eighty – Arianna having scored yet another goal just ahead of the Catapults' Seeker catching the snitch.

"She looks really ticked," Carolyn said. "Do you thnk it's an act, James?"

"Probably," he said. "Can you see her ever really being mad at Uncle Ron? I'm not sure they wanted to lose, though."

"It's the risk they take playing this strategy," Rose said. "They got burned this time." She still wasn't sure that the loss wasn't part of the plan too, but it could have been like James said, and hadn't been the plan.

"Game's over study buddies," Lily said happily as she stood up. "Let's pack up and get a couple of hours of work in before dinner."

"Might as well," Hugo said, surprising Lily. "I don't want to watch that press conference, since they'll be out to lynch Dad. Let's just turn it off and get out of here."

On Sunday, they were caught up on their assignments, and spent the morning studying for exams, but Lily saw that by lunch they needed a break, so she let them loose for the rest of the day. That had earned her a whole bunch of hugs before they'd all gone to the Great Hall to eat.

After lunch, she and Kieran checked in with Mark, Callie, and the others, helped with a couple of assignments due on Monday for about an hour, and then suggested strongly that they should all go find something to do that would de-stress them for the rest of the day.

Then Kieran and Lily went outside to enjoy a sunny, warm day with their friends, had dinner in the Great Hall, and spent the evening playing and singing in their sixth floor classroom.

That break was enough to have everyone ready for another busy week. Kieran, Daphne, and their teams were now less than two weeks away from their final game of the season, and there was a lot riding on it for both teams. Slytherin was facing another no-wins season, and Hufflepuff needed the win to stay in the hunt for the Quidditch Cup, since Ravenclaw already had two wins.

It was hard to believe that it was the last week of April already, and with everything going on, that week sped past too, and it was Saturday again, and the Canons were playing at home against the Pride of Portree.

These games were always tough for Kieran, since everyone in James' office was for the Canons, but he'd grown up a Pride fan, since that had been his Grandmother's and Aunt's team. His team hadn't done very well last season, or in the first game this season, but with what the Canons were doing, who knew what would happen today?

"We won't kick you out for cheering for the Pride," Lily whispered, a smile playing on her lips.

Kieran hugged her. "I know. It hasn't stopped feeling a bit strange, though. This is sort of like when Grandma would take me to an away game when I was little."

"We went to some road games with Mum and Dad too," Lily said. "I don't think we're as bad as that here."

"You are the first opposing team fan to snuggle with me," he conceded. "That's definitely better than any other road game I ever went to."

"I better be the first and only one," she told him, and he laughed and hugged her again.

Kieran didn't have much else to laugh about during the game. Ron was still playing erratically, but a determined looking trio of Canons' Chasers slowly built up the lead to one hundred and sixty, and then worked hard to maintain that lead at all times while Liselle battled for the snitch, and Sebastian and Tristan tried to keep the Pride players busy dodging bludgers.

"I'd say that shows they hadn't wanted to lose that game last week," Hugo said. "They're working too hard today to make sure they keep the game out of reach for the Pride."

"Boo," Kieran whispered into Lily's ear, getting her to laugh softly and kiss his cheek.

With his team behind, the Pride's Seeker had to defend the snitch against Liselle, which is always harder to do, and he finally made a mistake about ten minutes into the fourth hour of the game, and Liselle put the game away with an unspectacular, but game ending catch to give the Canons their sixteenth win of the season. They had two games left, but one win would ensure they had first place in the League.

"Too bad the Canons lost last week," Kieran said. "Maybe my team would have squeaked out the win this week instead."

"They're still going to make the playoffs," Lily told him. "It's just a matter of what spot."

"I just hope we don't play the Canons," he said.

"You don't want to win the Championship?" Hugo asked him in surprise.

Kieran laughed. "Of course I do. I just want some other team to beat yours so we don't have to play you."

Hugo laughed too. "My mistake. That's a very sound game plan. When the playoffs get here, Dad's little strategy game will be over, and it will be all business again. If they haven't forgotten how to play by then, it's going to be tough for any team to beat them."

They cleaned up after the game, but instead of getting the books out, Lily told them all to just relax until dinner and get back to the studying again in the evening.

Sunday was the last day of April. The Hufflepuff-Slytherin game was a week away, and the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game was three weeks after that. There was a total of five weeks until exams started.

Lily had them work through the day until dinnertime, then gave them the evening off. She and Kieran had a practice after they ate, and the rest of their friends found other entertainments.

James spent part of his evening in a meeting with Therese and Colin, making sure everything was taken care of for the memorial service on Tuesday.

"Everything is ready, James," Colin assured him. "The chairs, stage, and podium will be set up and ready, and everyone else knows what to do." He handed some pages of parchment to Therese and James.

"There's the order of service, and everything you need for what you'll each be doing," he told them, and they both flipped through the pages quickly.

"You've done a great job," James told Colin. "I'm glad you asked Professor McGonagall to do this. I think it's something that our parents and the older Witches and Wizards will appreciate, and maybe will help make the whole war and the final battle more real to the students."

"Thanks, James. Do you need me for anything else? It's been a long day, and I'm ready to get some sleep."

"No, it looks like you've given us what we need. We'll be ready by Tuesday too." After Colin left, Therese smiled at him.

"He's really done his homework for this," she told James. "I wonder where he found all of this?"

"I don't know," James said. "When he said we'd be doing the service, I didn't know he was going to have everything ready right down to the last little detail."

"That's probably a good thing," Therese said as she stood up. "Why don't you go over your part, then get some sleep. You're looking a bit worn out too."

James smiled. "We've got less than two months, but with exams between us and freedom, we'll probably all be looking pretty worn by the time we're done."

"Maybe, but since you can get a little extra rest tonight, try to do that."

"I will," he promised, and Therese left his office, probably to gather Jon up on her way through and have a little quiet time in her own office.

James spent the next hour memorizing everything Colin had given him, and practicing out loud. Then he got ready for bed, climbed in and called Arianna, who answered on the second chime.

"You must have had a long day if you're ready for our call now," she said, smiling at him. "Lily working you too hard?"

"Probably not hard enough," James answered. "How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty good. Your Mum, Tracey, and I spent the day working on the wedding. The menu's finalized, and the help for setting up at the cottage is taken care of as well, along with a hundred other little details."

"NEWTs are looking easier every minute," James quipped.

"I don't think so, but Mark and Callie's plan to elope is looking very attractive some days," Arianna told him half-seriously.

"They don't have very many people they want to share the moment with, while we have quite a few. I don't think it'd be the same without them all there."

"I know," Arianna said. "Most of it's been fun too. There won't be much more to do until about a week before you get done school now anyway."

"That's good," he said, yawning. "I'm going to have to keep this short, Arianna. Therese told me I looked worn out, but now I'm starting to feel that way."

"We can talk tomorrow night," she told him, and I'll see you Tuesday morning. Go ahead and get some sleep."

"Okay," he answered. "I love you, Arianna. Have a good night."

"I love you too, James. Sleep well."

He didn't remember closing his WiComm, or anything else until he woke to a new morning and month. He must have, since it was laying closed on his chest. 'Guess I was tired', he told himself as he got out of bed and headed for his bathroom for a quick shower.

James and the other residents of Hogwarts got ready to face the first day of May. While he got ready, he started going over everything that would be happening between now and the start of exams, and smiled. He was sure that his last two months at Hogwarts were going to be memorable.


	95. Memories

Chapter Ninety-Five – Memories

Tuesday morning, James was up an hour before dawn, and quickly got ready for the day, putting on his best dress robe after showering and cleaning up. He was getting his notes for the ceremony when he heard the knock on his door.

"Come in," he said, and watched as Colin stepped into his office.

"Ready to go?" the younger boy asked him, and James nodded.

"Just getting my notes, and we can get going. Is Therese ready?"

"Yes, she's waiting with Jon," Colin answered. A lot of the other students look like their coming too."

James was pleased to hear that. The service was optional, but a show of support from the current students would be welcomed.

"How are you doing?" he asked Colin, who smiled.

"I'm a bit nervous, since I've never done anything like this before, but I'm ready," he answered.

Papers in hand, he walked across the office, and putting a hand on Colin's shoulder, indicated he was ready to go.

"That's good," he told Colin. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who's nervous, but if you can keep it together and do this, then so can I."

They went into the Gryffindor Common room, where not only Therese and Jon were waiting, but so were most of the Gryffindors.

"Let's get going," Therese told him. "I've let everyone know they still have a little time still. They'll wait a few minutes and then start coming down in groups so things don't get too congested while everyone is getting seated."

James and Colin followed Therese and Jon out of the portrait hole, and they hurried to the Memorial Stone where there were what looked like several thousand chairs set up, with a podium set up on a small stage just to one side of the stone.

Lily and Kieran were on that stage, setting up her keyboard and his guitar. Guests were already arriving, and Arianna met James in the aisle as they approached the front of the rows of chairs. They hugged and then he hugged his parents, Aaron, and Tracey before he had to leave them for a few minutes to talk with Colin, Therese, Kieran and Lily to make sure they were all ready before he was able to go and sit next to Arianna.

The front two rows on each side of the aisle were reserved for the Hogwarts staff on one side, and on the other side for the Ministry of Magic officials that were coming. Harry, Ginny, and the others were sitting in the sixth row behind the Ministry of Magic side, and the rest of their family, and a lot of friends were arriving and filling up the seats in front and behind them.

Grandma and Grandpa Weasley were sitting a couple of rows ahead of them with George, Marietta, Bill, and Fleur. They'd kept spaces open for Frederica and Liam to join them. Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle were in the row ahead of them, and were right in front of Harry and Ginny.

The seats filled up rapidly, and Kieran and Lily played soft instrumental music as the thousands of Witches and Wizards found places to sit.

James hadn't noticed at first, but now he saw that there was a section for the Hogwarts House Elves, and when he asked Arianna, she'd assured him that Kreacher and Winky were there today too.

A few minutes before the service was to start, The Minister of Magic led the procession of Ministry officials down the long aisle, followed by the Professors and staff of the school. Percy and Penelope were in the group with the Minister. When they were all seated, Lily and Kieran stopped playing, and Colin stepped up to the podium.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said in a clear voice, "we have gathered here today to remember the brave Witches and Wizards who fought and died here twenty-five years ago this morning in the final battle in the war against the Dark Lord." He looked around at the somber audience.

"Many of you here today fought in that terrible battle, or are here because you lost loved ones. Some students of Hogwarts, like me, mourn members of our families we never got the chance to meet, and all of us are here to thank them, and everyone – Witches, Wizards, House Elves, and all of the other Magical Creatures – who fought in the war for the life that we can now enjoy because of your sacrifices."

Colin had motioned ot the different groups of veterans as he'd talked about who'd fought in the final battle. James heard a few people already crying softly as he watched and listened to Colin, and Arianna squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"We will begin by reading the names of our fallen heroes," Colin said, then stepped aside as Therese stood, and walked up to the podium. When Colin was seated, she slowly read every name, her list mirroring the names on the Memorial Stone.

There were more tears and quiet crying as she continued to read for the several minutes it took to go through all of the names. Colin Creevey's name came early on, and Victoire held Teddy close when his parents names were called out together somewhere in the middle, and James watched his father gently comfort his mother when Fred Weasley's name was called out. When Therese finished the list, she looked out over the crowd, tears in her own eyes.

"Kieran McCormack, and Lily Potter have a special song for us this morning, and we should all take these next few moments as we listen to remember these brave Witches and Wizards who gave everything for each of us."

Kieran and Lily began to play as Therese stepped down and quickly walked over and sat down next to Jon, who was waiting to take her in his arms and hold her. The music was haunting and heart-breakingly beautiful. The sound of their beautiful harmony as they began to sing was accompanied by the soft sounds of an audience where nearly everyone had tears in their eyes, and many were sobbing quietly as they clung to their loved ones.

(verse one)

The fighting raged on through the night

And even though I'd passed into the light

I could hear the anguished cries, as the battle seemed lost

And you wondered - was my sacrifice for naught

(chorus one)

But I fought for hope

I fought for love

I fought to give you a chance for life

I have no regrets

Whether we win or we lose

I fought for the light; I died for you

(verse two)

There was silence when the final fight was done

As golden sunlight crossed the battlefield

I could hear the vict'ry cheers, as the battle was won

And you knew now that my sacrifice was true

(chorus two)

'Cause I fought for hope

I fought for love

I fought to give you a chance for life

I have no regrets

Now that I know we can't lose

I fought for the light; I died for you

(chorus three, key change)

We fought for hope

We fought for love

We fought to give you a chance for life

We have no regrets

As we watch over you

We fought for the light; we died for you

We fought for the light; we died for you

As the last notes of the song faded, Colin stepped up to the podium again, and his eyes were filled with tears too, but somehow he managed to keep it together.

"There was a memorial service held here three days after the Battle of Hogwarts, and today we thought it would be fitting to hear the words from the speech given that day by Harry Potter, today delivered by our Head Boy, James Potter."

James squeezed Arianna's hand one more time, then stood and walked to the podium. He hugged Colin, then turned to face the crowd, and was surprised to see what looked like several hundred Witches and Wizards standing behind the rows of chairs. The turnout had been even more than they'd ever expected. He took a breath, set the notes he didn't expect to need on the podium, and began.

"Minister, members of the Ministry of Magic, Professors and staff of Hogwarts, students, family and friends, thank-you for coming today." He paused for a moment and looked around once again.

"I was born years after the Battle of Hogwarts, and like every other student that has come to Hogwarts having not been alive before the war, I was taught the stories, here and at home. There have only been a few times in my life that I've really felt touched personally by what happened twenty-five years ago. Reading this speech for the first time was one of those times. This is the speech that my father gave at that memorial service after the war." He took a breath, and began.

"When I was asked to speak at this memorial," James said, smiling at Harry, "after I got over the panic, I began to think about how I could find words that would comfort everyone here who have lost so much." He looked around again. "Every person who went against Lord Voldemort was willing to fight, and yes, die if necessary. What were we fighting for?"

James didn't have rows of biers to point to, so he instead pointed at the Memorial Stone. "What did they die for?" Everyone was watching him, and he continued. "I can't speak for everyone, but I was fighting for love." James smiled at Arianna and his parents.

"I was fighting to stop a man - and make no mistake, Tom Riddle was just a very twisted, evil man - from creating a world where there was no love at all. I was fighting for people like Fred Weasley, who brought joy and laughter that is so necessary in this world. I was fighting for my friends Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks who only wanted the chance to love each other for who they were, and not worry about what they were. I was fighting for Colin Creavey, who faced every day bravely, believing everything could be good, and making those of us around him want to believe too."

As he mentioned each name, James looked at his grandparents, Uncle George and Aunt Marietta, then to Teddy and Victoire, and then to Colin, who'd joined his own parents and grandparents before returning his gaze to his beautiful fiancée.

. "And lastly, I was fighting for the family and friends that I love, hoping that even if I died, that they could live and love in peace after I was gone."

James had first read the speech with the narration that had accompanied it, and as he spoke the words, he wondered how closely his own emotions today matched his father's from som any years ago. There was probably no way he could know those feelings of loss until he someday experienced them himself.

"I don't know everyone who died in this war. The ones I did know would want you to know this one thing: Love is the greatest magic there is. Don't remember us with sadness. Remember us by living happy lives, filled with love." He looked around one last time. "I plan on doing just that so they'll know their sacrifices were worthwhile."

James smiled at his father and mother again.

"The notes that were recorded with this speech say that you left the podium, hugged and kissed Mum," James told his Dad. "I hope you don't mind if I make this one slight change."

He stepped down from the stage, walked over to stand beside Arianna, put his arms around her and kissed her tenderly. They were both smiling when they heard the quiet laughter ripple through the crowd, and they quickly sat down.

There were still tears in Colin's eyes when he stepped up to the podium again, but he smiled and nodded at James in thanks.

"It is the ultimate mystery, the final journey to the light from which no one returns. We can rest assured that each of the dearly loved ones we've lost have reached their destination, and are surrounded in the eternal love, waiting until they see us again, when the time comes for us to join them."

That had been the closing benediction from the master of ceremonies from that same memorial service, which everyone here today that had been there recognized.

"I'd like to again thank everyone for coming this morning," Colin told them. "This area of the school grounds is open all day to anyone wishing to visit the Memorial Stone."

When he stepped back again, the Minister of Magic, the officials, and the Hogwarts Professors all stood, and their recession back down the aisle was quickly completed before anyone else began to leave their seats.

The entire memorial had lasted a bit less than a half hour, but Colin had told them that the memorial they'd done after the war hadn't been long either, so he didn't think this one needed to be drawn out. People would still be able to stay and visit the memorial too if they chose.

James hugged his parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, then walked with Arianna over to where Colin was with Dennis, Demelza, and Colin's grandparents. He hugged Colin, who smiled up at him.

"Your Uncle would have been really proud of you today," he told Colin, who hugged him again before being wrapped up again by Demelza.

"I'd pretty much forgotten about that hug and kiss at the end of your father's speech," Dennis told him. "I think you got more laughs, but it was very much the same as back then. Your father was right about one thing – My brother would be very happy to know how great our lives have turned out."

"I'm really glad that Colin wanted to do this," James told him. "From the students I saw, I think it was good for all of us too – maybe the best lesson we'll learn all year."

Demelza nodded. "I was watching some of the students too, and it looked like you all made a real impact on a lot of them."

"They made a real impact on us too," Molly said as she and Arthur joined them and she hugged James again before moving on to hug Dennis, Demelza, and his parents.

James and Arianna let them have some time together so they could talk about their sons and friends, rejoining Harry and Ginny. Lily and Kieran were there now too, and they both hugged Lily, and Arianna hugged Kieran too.

"That was another beautiful song," Arianna told them.

"Thank-you," Lily said, handing her a copy of the song that she could put on her 3D-VMP.

"They're handing out copies to everyone as they leave," Kieran said in explanation. "It's in stores by this morning too, and the proceeds will go to the Foundation."

"I'm going to need to get back to school soon," James told Arianna quietly. "Breakfast will be starting soon, and I'll need to change too."

"I know," she answered. "We'll be here Saturday for the game though, so it's okay."

James hugged and kissed her, then hugged his parents, Aaron, and Tracey before turning to start walking back to the school. Therese and Jon were waiting for him near the back of the chairs, and started walking with him.

"Are you alright?" he asked Therese, and she smiled.

"Yeah, I'm good. Nice ending on the speech," she said with a grin. "That probably wouldn't have worked for my part."

James laughed. "Probably not, no," he agreed.

"I've visited that stone I don't know how many times," Therese told the boys. "This was the first time those names were more than just names on a plaque."

"I don't think it's something we need to do like this every year," James said, "but twenty-five years is maybe a bit too long – especially if you already have a whole generation of kids who don't really understand what the war cost so many people."

"I'm pretty sure after today the Professors, and other Witches and Wizards see that now," Jon said.

"I hope so," Therese said.

They hurried to Gryffindor tower, where they all went to their rooms to change, then met back up to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

There was a pretty somber mood in the Great Hall as the students ate, and many of the students were looking around the room as if just really seeing it for the first time. They shared meals in the room three times a day, yet there seemed to be quite a few of the kids figuring out that it had been right there, twenty-five years and an hour or so ago that Harry Potter and the Dark Lord had dueled to the death, ending the war.

"I'd say it's definitely become personal for quite a few of our fellow students," Therese said to the others as they looked around.

James nodded. "That's good," James answered. "It should be more to us than a few chapters in the History of Magic textbook."

After breakfast, they all went to classes, and life at the school began to return to normal with the exception of the large numbers of Witches and Wizards who came throughout the day to spend a few moments at the Memorial Stone.

By dinnertime that night, the Great Hall was back to it's normal noise level, with the students talking with each other excitedly and having fun together. That was exactly how it should be.

The rest of the week breezed past as everyone got back to work. The Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams continued working hard at the last few practices they had left before the game, although only one of the teams were continuing to get better.

On Saturday, James was nearly as excited as he was on Hogsmeade days. He was at the stadium early, walking there with Andy and Laura, who always went there early so he could get ready to announce the games.

"It's hard to believe I've only got two games left to do," Andy told them. "I'm going to miss getting to do this. They'll probably have me carrying the bags and fetching drinks for the next five years."

Laura patted his arm and grinned. "I think that's the job I signed up for on purpose – to be the gopher for SpellBound and any other groups Ana wants me to work with."

James laughed. "Don't count on that," he told her. "I got the feeling she's looking for a partner, not an assistant."

"Your job just sounds more glamourous than mine," Andy said. "We both learned last summer that all that world traveling isn't always very much fun at all."

"You were gone more than I was," Laura pointed out. "We only had the one week when we weren't home for at least a few days out of each week."

Arianna must have been in a hurry to see James too, since she walked into the stadium while James was still talking with Andy and Laura. She had a long hug for James before hugging Andy and Laura, and they talked for a few minutes while Andy was setting up. Laura was going to sit with them for the game so that she could visit with Ana, Kirley, and the others.

They walked over to an area of seating where the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor sections met. Everyone in the family that was coming had agreed to sit there so they could be together, and also cheer on Kieran's team.

The students and guests started filling the stands, and it wasn't long before James and the girls were joined by the rest of the New Marauders except Kieran, and most of their other friends. Sarah, Callie, Karl, and Millie were going to stay with their House for the game, while Mark, Amy, Carissa, Dale, and Joel sat with James and their group.

Harry and Ginny got there about twenty minutes before the game, coming with Kirley, Ana, and Kieran's grandparents. Miranda's parents came and sat with them too. Putting current and former players from the Pride, Harpies, and Conons together helped to make for an entertaining few hours. When the stands were nearly full, Andy started his pre-game crowd warm-up, and then introduced the Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams to the field.

Madame Hooch got the game started, and Miranda flashed past the two Slytherin Chasers who were too busy keeping Daphne from going after the quaffle to actually go after it themselves.

"Smooth move," Rose said sarcastically. "Hold your best Chaser back and just hand the quaffle over to Hufflepuff."

While the two boys continued to get in Daphne's way, Miranda was more than happy to pass to Kieran, who was happy to show the Slytherin team, and everyone else, that he'd managed to perfect one of Liselle's direction change moves that left Slytherin team Captain and Keeper Thomas still going the wrong way when Kieran tossed the quaffle into the suddenly undefended centre goal.

"It's going to be a long day for Daphne and Thomas if the rest of their team keeps playing like that," Ana told Lily as they watched one of the Slytherin Chasers take the quaffle and turn toward the Hufflepuff goals.

They watched as the two boys made a couple of clumsy passes between themselves, completely ignoring Daphne, and losing the quaffle to a steal by Greg Griffiths, Hufflepuff's third Chaser, who'd pretty much become their playmaker, like Aaron had been for Gryffindor.

He tossed it smoothly to Kieran, who made it look like he was going to pull the same move on Thomas before deftly passing to a now-open Miranda, who rifled her shot past Thomas before he'd even seen her coming into the play.

The Hufflepuff fans were cheering, and the Slytherin section was nearly silent. Thomas retrieved the quaffle, and threw it out to Daphne, who found herself playing five on one Quidditch as her own Chasers tried to intercept her, then she had to face the Hufflepuff Chasers before finally managing a shot on goal that the Hufflepuff Keeper, John Madley was able to steer to the side.

Greg snagged the quaffle, but when his pass was abruptly intercepted by Daphne, who'd continued to speed around the Hufflepuff goals, coming up behind Greg, the Slytherins finally had something to cheer about as she spun, fired, and scored on a surprised Keeper who was way out of position, not expecting the interception or quick shot.

"She's pretty good," Catriona told Kirley and the others. "Too bad she's stuck playing with those other two gits."

Everyone around her who'd heard the comment laughed, mostly from hearing the great Catriona McCormack refer to a couple of teenage boys as 'gits'.

That was as close as the Slytherin team would get. Their Seeker wasn't bad, but Nadine was noticeably better, and was able to run circles around him. Thomas was trying his hardest, but with two Chasers more interested in making Daphne look bad that helping him defend against the high-powered Hufflepuff Chasers, he was fighting a losing battle.

The only bright moments for the Slytherin faithful was the times that Daphne finally did get her hands on the quaffle, which only came if she or Thomas got to the quaffle first after a Hufflepuff goal or a save, or if she intercepted a pass. Then, despite her teammate's attempts to get in her way, and the best efforts of Kieran and the Hufflepuff team to defend, she managed to score goals.

After the first hour, Hufflepuff led by one hundred and twenty to thirty, and Daphne had all of the Slytherin goals.

"You can tell that Daphne and Thomas have really trained hard," Matt said. "They're having to work twice as hard as Kieran and his team, but they're still going strong."

"They won't be able to keep that up forever," Lily predicted. "None of us could."

That might be true, but you wouldn't have known it as the second hour ended, and they were both still going strong. Thomas had managed to at least slow down the scoring, and it was now one hundred and ninety to sixty. Daphne still had all of her team's scoring, which was now making the other Chasers mad and they flew around doing nothing but holding their team back.

Their fellow Slytherins were able to see that there were only three members of their team actually trying to win, and so anytime they were involved in a play, they cheered them on, while they'd begun to boo the other four players whenever they got involved in a play.

The score was two hundred and forty to one hundred at the end of the third hour, and as they rolled into hour four, Daphne and Thomas both noticeably began to falter, and Kieran and Miranda took pass after pass from Greg, pelting Thomas with dozens of shots while Daphne put everything she had left into helping him defend against the onslaught.

She only scored one more goal just after the game reached three hours and forty-five minutes, while Kieran and Miranda had scored eleven more goals to put them up three hundred and fifty to one hundred and ten.

"Come on, Nadine," Lily said under her breath. "Get it done. Daphne's out of gas."

Nadine couldn't have heard her, but she and the Slytherin Seeker did start racing after the snitch. Nadine pulled ahead slowly, and then reached out with a lightning-fast move to catch the snitch, and give Hufflepuff the win, five hundred to one hundred and ten.

Lily watched as Daphne slumped over her broom, and wearily flew to the ground, landing next to an equally exhausted Thomas. She left the others to follow after her, and hurried down to the pitch to meet her friend and wrapped the other girl in a big, comforting hug.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked in concern as Daphne rested against her for a minute.

"I'll be fine, Lily. I'm just exhausted," she said in a whisper. "I've never played so hard in my life."

"You were brilliant," Lily told her. "I don't know how you managed one goal, let alone eleven."

She looked over Lily's shoulder to where an equally tired Thomas was being faced by four of his teammates.

"Why don't you just go get changed and get away from me," he told them. "If you'd actually helped us instead of being a bunch of selfish idiots, we'd have had a chance today. Daphne scored eleven goals playing on her own against five Chasers. You should be embarrassed about how you played today."

The boys looked angry and ready to fight, but while Thomas might not have any fight left in him, Kieran and the rest of the Hufflepuff team, and Karl, Callie, Sarah, and Millie quickly surrounded him protectively.

"I think Thomas is right," Callie told the four boys firmly. "You should be mad at yourselves, not at your Captain or at Daphne. Everyone in our House knows that the four of you screwed your teammates today. Don't expect any sympathy from any of us." She looked up at the Slytherin section of the stands, then smiled as she looked back at the four boys.

"You should probably make yourselves scarce fairly soon," she told them. "There are a lot of unhappy students watching you right now."

The two Chasers and two Beaters looked over their shoulders, and got the point immediately, and beat a hasty retreat without making any more of a scene.

"Thanks, Callie," Thomas told her, and she turned her smile on him.

"We should be thanking the three of you for trying your hardest even though half your team wouldn't even help you," she told him. "You're going to find that there are quite a few of us that are very proud of you guys today."

Lily gave up custody of Daphne to her parents, who smiled when they hugged her and told her how great they thought she'd played.

Lily turned her attention to Kieran, and he smiled as she hugged and kissed him.

"Congratulations," she told him. "You all played really well today."

"Thanks, Lily," he said. "Now all that's left for us to do is cheer Gryffindor on."

Lily laughed and hugged him again. "I won't hold that against you, since you'll be doing it for your team."

Kieran laughed too. "That's good, because that's not what I'd really like you to be holding against me."

"I'm already holding that against you now," she pointed out.

"I noticed," he said with an even bigger smile.

The rest of the family joined them. Kirley and Ana had hugs and congratulations for Kieran, and while they were talking with him, Lily went to talk with Nadine.

"Nice game," Lily told her while she was giving her a hug. "You've had a pretty awesome first season."

"Thanks," Nadine said with a big smile. "Maybe I'll be ready to give you a better game next season."

"There's no maybe about that," Lily answered. "You're already a lot better than when we played in November."

It never felt like they had much time to spend with their family after these games, even with one where they'd gotten to spend four hours together. Now they had to say goodbye again, and after a long round of hugs, the students left for either the locker room or school, while Harry, Ginny, and the others started walking toward the school gates.

James walked with Arianna, wanting to spend every minute with her that he could before she left.

"I'll see you next Saturday in Hogsmeade," she told him as they hugged one last time. "Have a good week. I love you."

"I love you too," James said as they let go, and his mother put an arm around Arianna.

"Just seven more weeks," Ginny told them with a smile. "It'll be over before you know it."

Lily intercepted James on his way back to the school, and she hugged him and smiled brightly.

"Kieran has a party to attend, why don't you and I go for a little run before we have to get back to the books, Prongs?"

James laughed and hugged her again. "I'd love to, Vixen," he told her. They changed into their stag and doe animagus, and took off running. He didn't waste time wondering how she knew this would be what he needed, instead choosing to simply enjoy the little bit of time they could forget about everything, run, and have a little fun playing with his little sister.

That was the only playtime they had during the next week. Lily led the studying and kept everyone focused, even to the point of making them work while they ate the birthday cake they'd gotten for her on her birthday. Kieran was done with Quidditch, but the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams had three weeks until their game, so Hugo and Matt were working them harder every day to get ready.

Their last Hogsmeade weekend arrived, and James was again out the door and running for the gates as soon as they could leave, while the rest of his family and friends took their time walking to town.

He'd been given a pass on getting supplies today, since Rose and the others knew that this would be the last time he saw Arianna until school was out in six weeks.

"Hi, handsome," Arianna said as he skidded to a stop and she placed a hand along his neck. She laughed when he nuzzled her with his soft nose; then watched as he stepped away for a moment and changed back to his own form.

"That's better," she said, putting her arms around his neck and pulling him close for a long kiss. "How's your day going so far?"

"Brilliantly now," he said before kissing her again.

They walked into town, then hurriedly picked up the supplies he expected to need during the last month and a half of school. When they had that done, they went to their lunchroom for the last time, and settled in to spend the rest of the day by themselves.

The rest of the Marauders had long lists of supplies to get for themselves, and for all of the first and second years that they helped.

Rose and Matt were walking around with Al and Carolyn today, and this had been the first time this year they'd paired up for the shopping.

They'd just gotten into town, and had passed the Three Broomsticks when Al came to an abrupt stop, surprising Carolyn. Rose and Matt had gone a few more paces before they noticed he'd stopped too.

"What's up," Matt asked him, and Al smiled at his friend.

"That is," he said, pulling out his WiComm.

Carolyn had already caught on to what had gotten his attention, and she'd smiled and squeezed his hand.

Matt and Rose followed where he'd pointed to a two-floor house that had a 'For Sale' sign on it that hadn't been there last time they'd been in town.

"What about it?" Matt asked, and Rose grinned at him.

"I do believe my cousin is looking to make an investment in a house," she told Matt, and watched as Al nodded before making the call.

"If I'm not mistaken, that sign is from one of Aunt Penelope's companies, although I didn't think they had any houses here in town. They do own quite a few of the business properties though," she added.

They watched Al talk for a minute, and when he closed his WiComm, he looked up at his cousin and friend and grinned.

"Do you guys want to hang around with us? We'll have company in a few minutes."

"Why are you looking for a house?" Matt asked him, and Al laughed.

"For the next year, I'm looking at it for you, although there are a few of us who'd probably like to come visit on Hogsmeade days – especially in the winter months. After that, Scorpius, Lily, and I are going to need someplace to visit Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran for a year or two, and then I have a few other ideas for it."

Rose gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You're brilliant," she told him.

They didn't have to wait long for the agent to join them, and she seemed a bit skeptical at first when she saw that it was four students who wanted to see the house. It wasn't fancy, but there were four bedrooms upstairs, two baths, and a large kitchen, a sitting room, and a library on the main floor.

The Witch's skepticism evaporated when Al gave her a cash offer, and a call to Aunt Penelope, the woman's ultimate boss, assured her that he certainly was able to afford the purchase.

The agent had agreed to meet Penelope at her office on Monday to do the paperwork, and take care of the money transfer, and Al had thanked his Aunt before ending the call.

"That didn't take long," Rose said with a grin as she, Matt, and Carolyn had watched Al and a slightly dazed real estate agent finish up the call with Penelope.

When they were back on the street and were alone again, Carolyn hugged Al.

"I love you," she told him. "That place will be perfect."

Al nodded. "We'll have to do some work on it this summer, but that's what I thought too." He smiled at Matt.

"You could live there next year if you want," he told his friend. "If not, you and Rose can still use it on Hogsmeade weekends. You'll have some company for some of those days, but you two could have that library, or one of the rooms upstairs to yourselves."

Matt surprised Al by giving him a hug that lifted him off of the ground, and the girls both laughed.

"Thanks, mate," he told Al. "I'll let you know about the living there idea when I know what I'll be doing after school. I should probably get a job first before I decide that."

"I didn't know you didn't have one yet," Carolyn said in surprise. "We definitely need to spend more time together."

Matt shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure what I want to do. It's too bad being a fun coordinator can't be a full-time job. I think Rose and I are pretty good at it."

"Why can't it be?" Carolyn asked him, and he laughed.

"Are you serious?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Sure. Maybe not doing everyday stuff, but why couldn't you two take small groups on different vacations around the world or something? Go after the busy executives like Aunt Fleur or Victoire who don't have time to plan all of that out, and put together luxury trips for them like the places that Uncle Harry had everyone stay in when we were in Chile for the World Cup."

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Rose said. "We'd get to spend most of the year playing and getting paid to do it."

Carolyn laughed. "You guys have done enough planning that you know it wouldn't be all play. I saw how much time you spent on planning and coordinating everything last summer."

"True," Rose agreed, "but there was a lot of fun times in between the work."

Matt looked from one girl to the other. "Where would you even start with something like that?"

Carolyn smiled at him. "That's easy. With Victoire. Maybe you've heard that Witch Investments has a travel division. She'd probably jump at the chance to try out something like this for a few years. I think it could be a really successful addition to what they do."

Al nodded. "And if she doesn't, I can think of o few young investors like Rose, Lily, James, and I who would be interested in helping you get started. I can't say I've heard of anything offered like it in the Wizarding World, and I agree that it could be big."

Rose looked at her watch and was surprised at the time.

"Let's talk about that another time," she told them. "We've lost half of the morning now, and have a lot to get done before we have to be back for our afternoon study session."

Carolyn nodded. "And we don't want to risk the wrath of Commander Lily," she said with a grin.

Matt laughed. "When you tell her about that house, she'll forgive you anything," he predicted.

They didn't have to wait long for her to find out, since they met up with her when they got to Honeydukes. She and Kieran were spending the day with Hugo and Emily, and she'd nearly flattened Al when Rose told her about his first purchase of the day.

"I'd say that she likes what you've done," Matt said dryly.

"Seems like," Kieran agreed as he, Hugo, Matt, and the girls all grinned at Al and Lily.

"I thought we were getting a lot done getting inks, quills, and parchment out of the way already," Hugo said with a laugh. "What was I thinking?"

Rose smiled at her brother. "You're way ahead of us then," she told him. "We're just getting started now."

They didn't go for lunch until nearly one-thirty, but by splitting up the lists, they did manage to get all of their shopping done.

James and Arianna had spent the morning snuggling and going over what they'd be doing during the week between his getting home and the wedding.

"That's going to be a long week after two months of nearly constant studying and three weeks of taking NEWTs," James said quietly after Arianna had gone through everything.

"It won't be that bad," she assured him. "Most of it will be fun, and then we'll have our honeymoon, and all of July to relax before we'll both be starting work."

He smiled at her. "Too bad we couldn't just skip straight to that part."

They made lunch together, and then spent the afternoon watching the Catapults beat the Bats to move into eighth place in the League. They'd have to win their last game to make sure they made the playoffs, but at least it was up to them, and they wouldn't have to count on other teams to lose to get in.

When it was time for him to go, they held each other close and shared a long, tender kiss that would have to hold them over for the next six weeks.

"At least this is the last time," Arianna told him. "We're never going to be apart like this ever again."

"Never," James agreed in a whisper as he squeezed once more before letting her go. "Call me tonight?" he asked, and she nodded.

They left Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes together, and he hugged her once more before apparating to the gates. He had time, so he walked the rest of the way, and was glad for the hug Lily had waiting for him when he reached the entrance hall.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked as they walked to the classroom where they'd be studying.

"Not much," she answered. "We picked up all of the supplies to get us through to the end of the year, had lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and your brother bought a house."

James laughed, but then saw by the look on her face that she wasn't joking.

"Why in Merlin's name did he do that?" he asked.

"Mostly to give us a place to meet on Hogsmeade weekends for the next few years. For Rose and Matt next year, then for Al, Scorpius and the girls the year after that, and the two years Kieran and I will be apart."

"I should have thought of that," James said. "Two years ago."

"Your setup is pretty sweet too," Lily told him. "And probably quite a bit cheaper."

"I'm glad you'll all have someplace to get together," he said a little wistfully. "I only wish I could spare you having to go through it."

Lily hugged him. "Thanks, but I will have my big brothers on the outside with me to help me get through it, so I'll be okay."

"Yes, you will," he agreed.

Later Saturday evening, Al and Carolyn were sitting in the Ravenclaw Common room, and actually had a spot that wasn't crowded with other students.

"This was another one of those good days," she said happily as she was wrapped in his arms with her head resting on his shoulder.

Al smiled contentedly. "That reminds me," he said, taking his WiComm out of his pocket and writing a short QuillMessage.

Since he was holding her, his WiComm was in front of Carolyn, so she could see the message he wrote to his parents, and laughed.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Thanks for the house.

Love Al and Carolyn.

Harry and Ginny were snuggled together in the sitting room at the cottage when Al's message arrived. Ginny laughed when she read the message, and showed it to Harry.

"I guess that's answers the question of whether he knew it was us or not," Harry said with a grin.

Penelope had called to let them know that it had been Al who'd bought the house. Harry had been sure that Al, Rose, or Lily would be buying it today, but hadn't been sure which one it would be. Penelope had told them that she thought he knew that the house had come up on the market specifically for them.

"You're not surprised," Ginny surmised, and he nodded.

"He probably sees more of the why for them needing the place than I do, but I know it's more than just for a place to hang out on Hogsmeade weekends."

Ginny wrote a quick reply and sent it back to Al before putting her WiComm away again and getting back to the snuggling and kissing part of her evening with Harry.

Al pulled up his mother's reply when he heard the chime letting him know it had come back.

Dear Al and Carolyn,

You're welcome. We love you.

Mum and Dad.

"How'd you know?" Carolyn asked him quietly, and he smiled.

"When I saw the place when we were walking past, I knew we had to buy it, and Aunt Penelope seemed to be expecting a call – or at least she wasn't at all surprised to find out we wanted to get the house. That meant that Mum and Dad knew we'd need the house."

"You said you have other ideas for it too," she said, remembering what he'd told them in town.

Al nodded. "That isn't totally clear to me yet, but we'll want it for more than a Saturday hideaway."

"It will do brilliantly for that too, though," Carolyn told him with a smile, and he laughed.

"Yes, it will," he agreed.

With the last day in Hogsmeade for the school year over, it was back to work. Two weeks until the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch game, and three weeks until exams. Even students who weren't normally very attentive to their studies knew it was crunch time now, and were trying to cram getting past-due assignments handed in along with fitting in most of a year's worth of learning into a few weeks.

On the next Saturday, they took a few hours off to watch the Canons win a close game against the Harpies, with a now completely frazzled-looking Liselle getting them the win with a score of four hundred and ten to one hundred and seventy.

"They clinched first place," Hugo said as they packed up after the game. "It didn't look pretty, though."

"If the Catapults keep eighth place next week, we'll be playing them again in the first round," Rose told them. "The sports pundits will love that."

"That's probably just what Uncle Ron wants," Nick said, "everyone in the media picking the Catapults to win."

"Who could blame them?" Emily said. "They won't be very happy when your father has a miraculous recovery when the playoffs start," she told Hugo.

"By then it'll be too late for the other teams," he said with a grin.

There was one week to the big final game of the year, and Lily had to compete with Hugo and Matt for playing time with her study team.

"I'll just be glad when this game is over," she told Kieran one night after a particularly grueling practice. "I love playing Quidditch, but it's getting in the way of our studying."

"We'll be fine," Kieran told her comfortingly. "A few more days and you'll have us all to yourself."

The Canons were having their last game of the season at home against the Falcons, and that meant that Arianna wouldn't be able to come and see James' last game at Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny were coming to the game with Hermione, while Molly and Arthur would be hosting the guests in the Owner's Box until Harry and Ginny could join them – hopefully not too long after the game started.

Percy, Penelope, George, Marietta, Dennis, and Demelza were there to watch their kids, while Kirley and Ana had come with Liam's family. The Goldsteins were there to watch Matt's last game too, and sat with Harry, Ginny, Percy, and Penelope in the Ravenclaw section, while the others sat together with the Gryffindors, except Kirley and Ana, who sat with Kieran, Allie, Nadine, and Vanessa in the Hufflepuff section.

"Welcome to the last game of the season," Andy welcomed everyone, "and to my last game as your humble game announcer."

Andy had set them up, and when everyone cheered, he laughed.

"Was that cheer for the game, or because I'm leaving?" he asked them, earning a round of laughs from his audience.

"Today we have another exciting finale to the Hogwarts Quidditch season," he continued. "We have our reigning champions, Ravenclaw, back again with two wins, and hoping for another undefeated season."

The Ravenclaw fans cheered while all three of the other House fans booed.

"They'll be playing against Gryffindor, who've won their first match and lost the second, and who are looking to earn a second win for the season."

Gryffindor's fans had help from Hufflepuff and Slytherin as they cheered for their team.

"Waiting on the sidelines is two-win Hufflepuff, and by the sounds of their fans, cheering on the Gryffindor team today." Andy waited while they cheered again.

"Should Gryffindor win today and leave us with three teams that have two-win records, I have spared no expense in having one of our best Arithmancy students ready to let us all know which team will win the Quidditch Cup on points."

"What expense?" Therese whispered to Jon as they sat behind Andy and Laura. "He's definitely going into the right business if he can spin 'undying gratitude' as sparing no expense."

Laura covered her mouth to muffle her laugh, and turned to grin at her friends, but Andy didn't even miss a beat.

"Now, if you would, please join me in welcoming our two teams – GRYFFINDOR and RAVENCLAW!"

The stadium resounded with the cheers and clapping as Matt and Hugo led their teams out for a lap around the field before landing. They met on the pitch, shaking hands, while Lily hugged all of the Gryffindor players before Madame Hooch gave her pre-game talk.

"We have lift-off!" Andy shouted as the quaffle was thrown, and the two teams hurtled into the air.

"Al catches the quaffle for Ravenclaw and passes to Rose, who turns toward the Gryffindor goals and her brother. She closes the gap and – PASSES to Matt! Where did he come from? He shoots and SCORES! Ravenclaw takes the early lead ten to naught!"

"Nice play," Harry said as they watched James take up the quaffle and start out toward the Ravenclaw goals.

Three passes later, and James again had the quaffle and took a shot on Scorpius, who stopped it with a flourish, batting it over to Matt, and Ravenclaw swung back onto offense.

During the next hour and a half, the spectators were treated to a fast-paced, high shooting offensive display that was complimented by an equally impressive Keeper performance by both Scorpius and Hugo.

The four Beaters were battling to a stalemate, and Colin was keeping move-for-move with Lily. Ravenclaw had the quaffle, and Al, Rose, and Matt were attacking with a little misdirection play they'd been saving. It was too late for Hugo when he caught what they were doing, and he watched as the quaffle sailed through his left-side goal to give Ravenclaw an eighty to fifty lead.

"She's seen the snitch," Harry said a split second ahead of Andy's echoing the comment.

"Lily Potter's after the snitch, and Colin Creevey's in hot pursuit!" Andy said, and the crowd quieted as they watched the two Seekers race toward the snitch.

"Lily's just ahead, but Colin is making up ground," Andy shouted. "It's going to be close, folks. Who will it be? COLIN'S CAUGHT IT! GRYFFINDOR WINS TWO HUNDRED TO EIGHTY!"

There was a roar of approval from the Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor sections of the stadium as Colin held the snitch above his head while he and Lily both slowed in a wide arc after their high-speed race. She flew beside him, and gave him a mid-air hug and a bright smile as she congratulated him.

"Way to go!" she told him. "I told you that these games would be fun. That was a really great catch."

"Thanks," Colin said, grinning back at her. "You played great too. I'm still not sure how I caught up in time."

Lily smiled. "You were just better today. By about an inch."

Colin grinned. "Thanks, Lily. This was definitely a most fun ever so far game."

They flew to the pitch together to join their teams, but Andy hadn't announced the Quidditch Cup Champions yet. That was because Therese was double-checking her numbers. Jon and Laura had their heads huddled next to hers as they watched, both of them incredulous.

"It's right," Laura agreed as Therese came to the same numbers again.

Andy was just reaching the end of his game recap when a smiling Therese handed him the Quidditch Cup results.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Andy said loudly. "We have the official results of the Quidditch Cup standings." The crowd quieted to listen, and Andy looked down to read the results, then looked up at Therese to see if she was joking, but she merely smiled and nodded. Andy laughed.

"I don't have to check my records to know that we have a Quidditch Cup first today," Andy announced. "We have a three-way tie for first place!"

There was a disbelieving buzz through the stadium and Andy waited for it to die down.

"I know," he agreed, but you're all welcome to check the figures after the game. With two wins, and a net points difference of two hundred and eighty points each, we have Co-Quidditch Cup Champions Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw! Let's hear it for our Champions!"

That took a moment to sink in but then the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor fans all jumped to their feet and began cheering.

Ginny, Harry, and the others in the Ravenclaw section all started making their way to the field where the two teams were meeting. The congratulations for Gryffindor had moved on to each team congratulating the other as Andy had announced the three-way tie for the Cup.

The rest of their family and friends that had been sitting in the other sections were all making their way to the field too. Kieran, his parents, and the other Hufflepuffs got there first, and Lily and Colin both found themselves being hugged by Hufflepuffs as Kieran hugged her, and Nadine hugged Colin.

"Let's see," Kieran said. "Good game; Sorry you lost; Happy you lost; Congratulations on winning the Quidditch Cup to all of us."

Lily laughed and hugged him again. "Nicely done," she complimented him. "Congratulations to you, too."

When Harry and Ginny joined them, they had a lot of hugs to deliver, and it was a bit of a circus for the first few minutes.

Ginny was near to James and pulled out her WiComm. "The Canons' game won't be starting for a bit yet, why don't you call Arianna and let her know how your game went. Maybe it'll motivate her today."

James hugged her and stepped away from the rest of the group to do that.

"Hi!" Arianna said excitedly when she saw it was him. "Is your game over, or are you in a time-out and calling for help?"

James laughed. "Game's over, and Colin won it for us," he reported, "and we ended up with exactly a three-way tie for the Quidditch Cup. Andy says that's a first ever."

"Tell everyone congratulations for me," she asked. "It sounds like it's been a brilliant day there so far."

James nodded. "It has been. I'll let you go though. I want to get cleaned up soon so I can get back and watch your game."

"Alright," she agreed. "I love you, James. Congratulations."

"Thanks, Arianna. I love you too. Good luck with your game."

They ended the call, and he hugged his mother again when he handed her back the WiComm.

"Was that hug supposed to be passed on to Arianna?" she asked with a smile, and James laughed.

"You can do that," he said, "or I'll just save them up for when I see her in four weeks."

Harry, Ginny, Dennis, and Demelza had to leave, but before Harry left, he took Lily to one side to talk to her in private for a moment.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm very proud of you," he told her quietly, smiling as he looked into her eyes intently.

Lily laughed and hugged him. "I learned from the best, Dad. Thank-you."

They were both a bit surprised when Professor McGonagall came over to them. She hugged Harry, and smiled at him.

"You've got quite the incredible group of kids," she told him, smiling at Lily. "I was quite impressed today. Ten points to Ravenclaw for sportsmanship and Arithmancy on the fly," she told Lily quietly enough that nobody but she and Harry heard before moving on to talk with Ginny, Dennis, and Demelza, and Lily hugged her father again before they left for Canons' stadium.

Lily and Kieran had a few extra minutes with Kirley, Ana, and the other parents before they all left, and the teams hurried to clean up and change, while the rest of the students mostly left for parties in their respective Common rooms.

All of the New Marauders had to stop by their Common rooms and at least make an appearance and get some food before joining James in his office for the game, so it had already started when they finally started getting there.

The Falcons had locked up fourth place in the League, and the outcome of this game wouldn't change that for them. When teams were in that position going into the playoffs, there were usually two ways to play a meaningless game. You played your best and used it to prepare for your playoff games, or you rested your best players so you didn't risk injuring them before the post-season.

"They're using their reserve team?" Hugo asked as he glanced at the screen on his way past to join Emily on one of the sofas.

"Yeah," James said. "I guess the Canons' fans don't rate their best effort."

Hugo shrugged. "Even with how Dad's been playing, I'm not sure that if I was the Falcons coach that I'd put my best guys up against Sebastian and Tristan in this game. They've managed to cause quite a few injuries this season.

"They should be finding out how they stack up against our team if they expect to make it very far in the playoffs," Rose told the boys, who both nodded.

"Maybe," Hugo agreed, "but they have to make it through to the second round for that to happen, so it's a tough decision."

"Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly are having fun," Carolyn said as they all watched Arianna score again. "I wonder how long coach will let it go before he sets Liselle loose to catch the snitch."

Lily smiled at her friend. "Not very long," she said, pointing as Liselle completely lost the way overmatched Falcons' reserve team Seeker and easily caught the snitch to end the game in under an hour.

"That was hardly worth leaving the parties for," Nick said. "Except for the getting to be with Allie part."

James laughed. "Isn't that the best part of all of these Canons' games for you?" he asked his cousin, and Nick laughed too, and nodded.

"Why don't any couples that would rather hang out here do so. I'm going to join my House party for a few hours." He watched Lily as she looked ready to protest, and put his hand up to stop her.

"I'm vetoing you," he told her. "We can get back to getting ready for our exams tomorrow morning, but if we never celebrate when we have a reason to, then what in the world are we doing all the work for?"

Lily smiled at him, and settled back into Keiran's arms. "You're right," she agreed. "We'll stay and celebrate here for a while. It'll be more fun for us inter-House couples."

James laughed again. "I thought you might look at it that way. Have fun." He left for the Gryffindor Common room, and all of the Gryffindors joined him. Rose, Matt, Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna all went out the door into the Hallway to return to Ravenclaw, leaving just Nick and Allie with Lily and Kieran.

"Way to clear a room, James," Allie said as she snuggled closer to Nick.

"We won't be able to stay all that long," Lily told her. "I'm sure that the Hufflepuff faithful will want their Captain to celebrate their Quidditch Cup with them even if Nick and I can probably get away with a disappearing act."

"I can stay for a little while, though," Kieran said, hugging Lily. "I'm only going to do the party until dinner though. If we have the evening off from homework, we should go find someplace to hide and spend it together."

"I hear that," Nick said fervently, and Allie laughed.

James was alone in his office later that night, wanting to get away from the party in time for his call with Arianna. That also gave him a good excuse to get to bed early instead of staying up late with the kids that were ready to party all night. His WiComm chimed, and he answered it.

"Hi, Arianna," he said with a tired smile.

Arianna returned his smile. "Hi, James. Long day?"

He nodded. "Yeah. That was nice of the Falcons to let you play their reserve team today. The fans must not have liked it much."

"They were okay with it. We're in the playoffs, and in first place, so everything in the Canon Quidditch universe is still good. Uncle Ron says he would have done the same thing in their place."

"He's lying," James said. "You were in the same place today – you could have lost and still been in first place."

Arianna laughed. "Good point, although we were at home."

"I saw the Catapults won, so you'll play them next week," James said, and she nodded.

"We sure hope they come to play just like the last game."

"They better hope they don't," he answered. "It will be a very bad day for them if they do. Lily told me to tell you congratulations."

"What for?" Arianna asked, and James smiled.

"For wrapping up the scoring title this year. Two years in a row for Canons' Chasers."

"I guess there's no point in questioning her Arithmancy on that, is there?"

James shook his head. "She'll be right."

"I'm surprised she didn't know that her team needed more points today to win," Arianna said, and James stared at her so long, she finally said – "What?"

James shook himself and smiled at her. "My sister is amazing," he told her, and Arianna returned his smile.

"I know that, but why the blank look?"

"Because I just realized that you're right. She would have known. She'd have those calculations going all the time."

It was Arianna's turn to stare at him, and he laughed.

"She let Colin catch the snitch to give you all the three-way tie?" Arianna prompted him, and he nodded.

"It makes sense now. She was ahead, and pushing for one of them to catch it right when the score was eighty to fifty, then let up just enough for Colin to pass her and catch it."

"Just like your father," Arianna pointed out. "She didn't want to let her team down, so the answer is to have everyone win."

James laughed again. "It was brilliant. Good for her."

They talked for nearly a half hour, then ended the call so that James could do one last check to make sure the party wasn't getting out of hand, and then he returned to his rooms to get some sleep. Lily might have agreed to the rest of the day off, but she'd have them back to work right after breakfast, and he'd need to be awake for that.

There were four weeks, less a day before James would be done school forever, and one week and a day until exams started. James wouldn't say that there was much prospect for fun – except for the end of year pool party that TNM planned to do again, but these last weeks should definitely prove interesting and challenging for all of them.


	96. James' Last Month at Hogwarts

Chapter Ninety-Six – James' Last Month at Hogwarts

"All right, kids," Lily told her study group on Sunday morning. "We have eight days to work until exams begin. None of us have Quidditch, or any other excuse now, and we are going to all be ready by next Monday!"

She watched as everyone grinned back at her, and she laughed.

"Okay, so the tough talk doesn't work coming from me," she admitted. "Let's just get started instead."

That last week before exams was dedicated to studying for their exams. The assignments were done now, and their classes were dedicated to review too. Lily increased her help time for Callie and Mark's group, and now spent one hour with them every evening after dinner, while her group continued to work on their own.

By lunchtime on Saturday, Lily was happy enough with where everyone was in their revisions to let them have the time off to watch the quarter-finals game between the Canons and Catapults, so after they'd eaten in the Great Hall, they all went to James' office – both the New Marauders and Callie and Mark's group. They set up the extra seating, and put out drinks and snacks.

They were all ready when the game started, and several members of their expanded group were in for a surprise, as Ron and the Canons roared into the air. They watched while Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly seemed to score every time they had possession of the quaffle. Ron seemed to be back to his normal self, and nothing got past him.

"What happened?" Sarah asked. "It's like watching a different team."

"Dad's been playing the second half of the year with a certain strategy," Hugo told her.

Sarah laughed. "All of that smiling dopiness was a ruse?"

Rose laughed too. "That's a very interesting way to phrase what he's been like," she noted. "I'll have to remember that one to tell him when we get home. Yes, it was another one of his grand plans to confuse the competition."

"Looks like it worked," Karl said as they all watched the Catapults' players in total disarray.

The play-by-play announcer, and the QSPN commentators seemed unable to react to the facts of the game they were watching. They wondered aloud if Ron would have a relapse, or suggested that the Catapults had just gotten off to a Rocky start.

Andy had snorted at that in disgust. "What a bunch of idiots," he said. "I can't believe I'm going to have to run around and wipe their noses for a living. They couldn't find a coherent analysis with two hands and a torch. It would just kill them to admit all of their predictions of a Catapults win was nothing but a load of hippogriff droppings."

"I'd feel bad for them," Rose said, "except that they always make the same mistakes over and over. Maybe they wouldn't be so easy for Dad and Coach to dupe if they actually knew what they were talking about, or did a little real journalism."

Andy nodded. "They definitely make you think that you really can't teach an old dog new tricks."

Those guys didn't give up on the Catapults, right through until Liselle caught the snitch to end a wildly lopsided game at the two hour and eighteen minute mark. The final score was Canons five hundred and thirty, Catapults – zero.

"When the other teams see that score, the ones that are still in the playoffs at the end of the day aren't going to sleep very well," Nick predicted.

Hugo saw Lily getting ready to stand up and jumped to his feet.

"Okay, everyone! Game's over, let's get packed up and back to studying for exams!"

Lily laughed, and gave him a hug. "You're welcome to take over anytime, Captain Hugo. How long have you been wanting to spring that one on me?"

Hugo hugged her back. "It was more of a spur of the moment thing. I'm not really that excited about getting back to studying, but that was fun."

"You're timing was perfect," Lily told him, still smiling. "Excited or not, though, you have your DADA exams on Monday, and we all need to get to work."

"I'm actually feeling pretty confident about DADA," Hugo told her, returning her smile. I may work on History and Charms instead of that for the rest of the day."

"Sounds like a good idea. Just stick with DADA tomorrow so you don't get muddled with the other subjects – especially for the written part of it."

The rest of the day on Saturday, and pretty late into the evening, both groups studied hard, then again worked all morning, and through to about an hour before dinner when Lily called a halt.

"That's it, guys," she went and told each group. They'd gotten classrooms next to each other so she could go between them to help with their work.

"Take the rest of the night off and relax," she added. For the New Marauders, she'd more than proven that she knew what she was doing last year. Mark and Callie's group took more convincing.

"You need to trust me on this," Lily told them. "You're all ready for your first exams. Trust that you've done everything you can, take it easy tonight, and get to sleep early. That part is really important."

Callie smiled at her, and the others. "I can't believe we're actually complaining about being ordered to take the rest of the day off," she told them. "Every one of us is at least a full level ahead in every subject, and a lot of that has to do with Lily. If she tells me that's how to do exams right, then I'm all for it."

Mark laughed. "Me too," he agreed. "That certainly sounds a lot better than staying up most of the night cramming like I've done every other year."

Their two groups were nearly exclusively the only students in the school who weren't studying furiously on Sunday night, and they received more than one dark look from a few students who probably had no idea how many hours they'd put into their exam preparation over the past eight weeks.

James was in the Great Hall having breakfast with Andy, Laura, Therese, and Jon on Monday morning. They were talking about the written part of their DADA NEWT. They'd be doing that part of the exam in the morning, and then taking their practical exam after lunch.

"I'm a bit nervous about the one-on-one duels," Therese said. "None of us have faced fully-trained Aurors before."

"Professor Williamson was an Auror," Jon reminded her. "Lily has us ready for this. Don't worry about it, you're going to do great."

"Besides," Andy said, "Do you think they're going to have anything to throw at us that Lily and James couldn't?"

Therese smiled. "Probably not, but then Lily kept beating you with her dimples alone."

Laura laughed and hugged Andy. "Yeah, she did."

"I've gotten better," Andy protested. "She hardly ever catches me off guard anymore."

While they were doing the written part of their DADA, the sixth year students were taking Transfiguration. Carolyn, Brianna, Karl, and Daphne were taking their OWL exams for Potions.

After lunch, the seventh year students all gathered outside of the testing room, and waited to be called in for their practical examinations.

James wasn't worried about this exam, and knew that Therese hadn't needed to be worrying either. They were all ready to face whatever the Aurors and their examiners threw at them, so when his name was called, he walked into the room confidently, and was smiling.

"Mr. Potter," said an older Wizard that was maybe around the same age as his grandparents in greeting. "Please take up your dueling position."

He did that, and faced a Wizard that looked to be in his early thirties. The other man did not smile, and had his wand at the ready. James faced him, and when he was ready, all that his examiner said after that was 'Begin'.

James' defenses were tested immediately as the Auror he was dueling launched a series of offensive attacks. He had no difficulty shielding each of the attacks while beginning his own counter-attack.

One of the things that Lily had done to help them get ready for their NEWTs was to talk with quite a few people they knew about what their NEWT exams had been like. They'd found out that for the DADA practical, the duel would be allowed to grow incrementally more difficult, until the student either faltered, or until the examiner called an end to the duel.

He did not get lulled into any sense of security as the duel progressed, even though his own attacks were obviously having more of an effect on his opponent than the attacks on him. Ten, fifteen minutes passed, and still he dueled on, with no signal from his examiner to stop, even though he was certainly well beyond needing to prove his abilities.

Some neighbouring examiners, aurors, and students had even stopped to watch. James didn't have time to wonder why this was being allowed to continue, and he did not want to hurt his opponent to end it, so finally, he shouted 'IMPERVIOUS TOTALIS!', ceased his own attack, and stood at the ready as his opponent continued throwing spells at him in a flurry of futile effort.

Now that he was protected, he turned to face his examiner, who was watching him intently, but made no move to stop the testing.

"I can hold this shield all day," James said loudly enough for several of the other aurors and examiner to hear. "Is there some reason why you're allowing this duel to continue? I have no wish to harm an Auror to satisfy whatever curiosity you have about how strong my magic is."

"You have not shown to my satisfaction your knowledge of offensive spells, young man," the examiner told him.

"Fine," James said, remaining shielded as the attack on him continued. He turned back to his opponent.

"Shield," he warned the other man, then blew the hastily erected shield apart without a word, and knocked the man back several steps.

"Convinced?" James asked his examiner, who shook his head that he was not. "Then you better have a few of your Aurors work together," he told the man, "or you're going to get this one injured."

His examiner motioned for three more Aurors to join the first, and the other examinations had ground to a halt as everyone watched the spectacle.

"You should probably shield together," James told the now four Aurors he faced, and he watched as they put up a strong shield, then all went on the attack against him.

These were trained Aurors, yet they were acting like they'd never actually fought against someone using the impervious totalis shield, and then James realized that they probably hadn't. He, on the other hand, had trained against the best shielding that Al and Lily could produce, and when he attacked their combined shield, he methodically destroyed it, and then disarmed and bound all four Aurors.

"What more do you want to see?" he asked, turning back to face his examiner, who had paled visibly. At first, James thought it was because of his duel with the Aurors.

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

James turned to see her standing a few yards away, and the Minister of Magic was with her, looking at the scene in amazement.

"James," she told him. "Please stand down and release your opponents. This examination is over."

The Professor then cleared the room of all students, including James, and there was already a buzz going on in the hall outside when he got out there.

"What happened?" Therese asked him, as she, Andy, Jon, and Laura gathered around him protectively.

"I think my examiner's curiousity about my family took over his good sense," James told them quietly. "He allowed my duel to escalate to four against one."

His friends stared at him in shock, and James grinned at them. "Fortunately for me, Lily's been working with me on the impervious totalis shield, and I can do it by myself now."

Therese hugged him. "I'm glad you're alright," she told him, and the others nodded.

"I wasn't worried for me in there," he told them. "That man didn't seem interested in the safety of his own co-workers at all, and they could have been injured for no reason."

They didn't find out what happened in the room after it had been cleared, but fifteen minutes later, the examinations were continued again. James waited with the others until they were all finished, and then went to get their books and meet for the study session Lily had ordered for before dinner.

"Your examiner put four Aurors up against you?" Scorpius asked in amazement. "Bad luck for him that the Minister of Magic picked that time for a surprise visit."

James laughed. "What I don't understand is why none of the other examiners or Aurors stepped in. Would they have let it keep going if Professor McGonagall and the Minister hadn't walked in?"

"Nobody ended up getting hurt," Lily said. "That was the only good part of the mess. I imagine your examiner has, at the very least, been reassigned."

"He ought to be fired," Brianna said.

"Let's get to work," Lily told them. There was no point in going over James' duel any longer, and they all needed to start focusing on their next exams, not the ones that were finished already.

Professor McGonagall wasn't putting the incident behind her. After she and the Minister both had strong words for the examiners and aurors who'd all stood around and allowed a four against one duel with a student to even happen, they'd left the examination room, taking the Wizard who'd been James' examiner with them.

They'd gone to the Ministry of Magic, where the examiner volunteered to be put under veritiserum to prove that the incident was no more than a case of curiosity allowed to get out of control, and not anything more sinister.

When she'd finished there, she popped over to the cottage to let Harry know what happened in person before any rumours reached him, then returned to school. She was sitting at her desk when Professor Williamson came in and sat across the desk from her.

"I heard about what happened in the NEWT exams – or at least the version that's going around among the students now. By tomorrow, James will have been facing twenty Aurors and a pair of giants."

Professor McGonagall smiled at him. "I think four was quite sufficient, and in this case, they're the ones that are lucky he held back."

"I know," he agreed. "This seems to have uncovered some gaps in our training of Aurors and examiners, though. It shouldn't have happened at all, but when it did, there's no excuse for all of those adults in the room to stand around and do nothing."

"I've been Headmistress here for twenty-five years now," she told Professor Williamson. "Every so often, I think about retiring, and then my fellow Witches and Wizards remind me why I prefer working with the children."

"I remember when you asked me to come here in the summer after the war," he said with a smile. "I was thinking it'd be a one or two year gig, and then I could go back to my life as an Auror. Then I went and fell in love with all of these kids, and this place, and now I can't imagine doing anything else."

"That's why I knew you'd be the right Wizard for the job," she told him with a rare smile of her own.

"Since everything seems to have quieted, I gather this wasn't anything more than a case of extreme stupidity."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Yes. James' examiner volunteered to be questioned under Veritiserum, and there was no malicious intent."

"That's a relief." He looked at his watch. "Was there anything else before we go downstairs for dinner?"

"The Minister asked me to convey his congratulations on how fine a job you've done training your students."

Professor Williamson laughed. "If he's basing that on James, I'll have to pass that compliment on to Lily. They always seem to be a step or two ahead of me before I even start my lessons."

"You've had quite the impact on all of your students," she disagreed. "Lily would tell you that too, and you worked with James for years before he started studying with Lily, Al, and their group."

"Thank-you, Minerva. I appreciate that."

The students who had Tuesday off started working on Wednesday's exams. Lily had Ancient Runes on Tuesday, and it was a subject she didn't need to do any extra studying for, so she spent Monday night helping anyone getting ready for a Tuesday exam.

While those students spent Tuesday writing exams, the sixth year students that were not writing Ancient Runes, but did have Herbology studied for that. The seventh year students all had the Charms NEWT on Wednesday, and spent their day studying for that.

Lily had written her Herbology back in March, so she was finished until Friday's DADA exams. On Tuesday night, she alternated between the two study groups, helping wherever she was needed. She hadn't had anyone that was disappointed with how they'd done on any exam so far.

After Monday's exams, she'd made complete converts of Callie and Mark's group, and they did everything she asked of them after their successes of the day.

On Wednesday and Thursday, during the day, she helped any of the students who had those days off, and in the evenings, she had to work with the other sixth years to practice the DADA group duels for their practical exam on Friday.

The seventh year students who took Arithmancy had their NEWT for that on Friday morning, and then had the weekend to get ready for their Transfiguration NEWT. Most of the other students had exams on Friday, except for the first years, who'd already written three, which gave them a long weekend to get ready for their second week of exams.

The sixth year students completed the written portion of their DADA exam in the morning, and then had appointment times for their group duels.

Al, Lily, Rose, Nick, Allie, and Scorpius were all outside of the DADA classroom ten minutes before their time slot. When the group that had been ahead of them came out a few minutes before they were to go in, they didn't look happy.

"Was it tough?" Nick asked one of the girls. She nodded.

"He definitely wants it all," she advised him.

They didn't have time to get any details, and they filed into the room and walked up to where the Professor was waiting.

"Take up your dueling positions," he advised them, and Al, Rose, and Scorpius stood on one side, while Lily, Nick, and Allie took the other position.

"Ready?" Professor Williamson asked them. He received six nods. "Begin."

This had been Lily's second time in two years getting a team ready for the sixth year group duel, and she'd known that last year James and the others had all earned 'O's' for their exam. Their group this year was even stronger.

Professor Williamson watched each of his students carefully as they dueled. They were shielding as a group, and were all using a wide variety of offensive spells, charms, and jinxes. This was no less than he'd expected, and he smiled as he watched them duel for a full ten minutes before calling an end to it.

"Very well done," he complimented them. "Will you be presenting a team display for bonus marks?"

They nodded, then again amazed him when they created their Impervious Totalis shield. He would have walked around it to take a look, but since he, and most of the room were inside of it, that wasn't an option. There were six faces grinning back at him when he laughed. Unlike the shield that James and their group had done, this shield didn't wink out after a few seconds, and he had to tell them that they could let it drop.

"You know you've spoiled it for every other group," he told them with a big smile. "Thank-you. Good luck on the rest of your exams."

When they were back in the hallway, and the group that was after them had gone in, Lily was gang-hugged.

"Way to go, sis," Al told her. "That was definitely brilliant."

"That has to have earned us all Outstandings," Allie said happily. "What a way to finish up the first week of exams!"

"Does that at least earn us a study reprieve until dinner?" Nick asked Lily. She shook her head.

"Sorry, Nick, but if we're going to take the afternoon off to watch the semi-finals game the Canons have against the Falcons, we'll need to keep working today."

"Don't forget that United and the Pride play tomorrow too," Rose reminded her. "Matt, Kieran, and Liam are going to want to watch that second game too."

Lily smiled. "I haven't forgotten. That's even more reason to keep at it for the rest of today, though."

James was in his office on Saturday after lunch, and about half of the New Marauders were there so far. They were getting everyting ready to watch the game, and he was busy conjuring sofas and chairs.

Sometimes he felt like you could pick any Saturday in his recent life and it would be practically the same. There was breakfast in the Great Hall, then study for exams all morning, followed by another stop for food in the Great Hall, and then into his office to watch the Canons play before ending the day with more studying, another meal, and even more studying.

The only thing that changed was the team the Canons played. Out of the eight teams in the playoffs, four were left, and the fourth place Falcons reached this game by barely defeating the fifth place Tornados – the team that the Canons had faced in the finals last year.

"I wonder how the Falcons are feeling about not playing their best against us a couple of weeks ago now?" Hugo asked. He was setting out snacks and drinks on tables that had been set up near the sofas and chairs.

"Probably the same as they did before," Nick suggested. "That extra rest might be the only reason that they got past the Tornados at all. The only reason they were in fourth was because most of their second games were against teams that didn't make the playoffs at all, while the Tornados had five of the top eight for two games each this year."

"Any predictions on what the expert predictions will be today?" Andy asked, and there were several laughs.

"They'll have five guys making predictions," Matt said. "I'll predict four select the Falcons, and one picks the Canons and gets jeered for it."

"That sounds about right," Hugo agreed. "Maybe three and two if they think it'll boost the ratings."

Andy scoffed at that. "Those gits probably would think that a unanimous Falcons pick would be what they needed to boost ratings."

Twenty minutes later, when everyone was there and had gotten comfortable, Hugo was laughing at Andy when prediction number five came in for the Falcons.

"You definitely know your soon to be co-workers," Hugo told him. "Five votes for the Falcons to win – and they're not even saying it'd be an upset."

Andy laughed. "I didn't actually think they'd do that, just that it would be what they'd think would help the ratings."

"They just end up looking like amateurs," Carolyn said. "Your game announcing here was way better than anything we've ever seen from that bunch at QSPN."

"There's a few guys and girls that I met last summer that are pretty good," Andy told his friends. "But they never get to do the 'A' games. I worked with one Witch that could have given Lily a run for her money in Arithmancy."

"Was she pretty?" Laura asked archly, and Andy laughed again.

"Yes, she is," he told her. "And about thirty-five, married, with two or three children, so you have nothing to worry about."

The Falcons and Canons were introduced, and within a few minutes, the game was underway. Arianna was on a roll right away, and she, Aaron, and Kimberly were all smiling as they raced around the pitch tossing the quaffle back and forth, and scoring more times than the Falcons' Keeper was saving them.

"Do you think she's happy that you guys only have two weeks left apart?" Lily asked James, who grinned at her.

"Seems like she's pretty happy about something," Rose agreed. "But then, they all look like they're having fun."

"No wonder there," Emily said. "They're making the Falcons' reserve team look good. At least they managed to score some goals."

Hugo hugged her and laughed along with everyone else. "That's probably what those players are thinking right now too."

Whether the Canons would win or not wasn't in question by the end of the first forty minutes when they passed one hundred and fifty points. Now it was just a matter of when it would be over.

This would be the last game of the season in Canons' stadium, and the team wanted to give their fans a fun afternoon, so they kept the game going until Liselle caught the snitch at the two hour and forty-four minute mark to end the game and send the Canons into the finals against either United or the Pride.

Most of the spectators in James' office took washroom breaks between the two games, and then settled down again to watch Matt's team go up against Liam and Kieran's team.

"Should we put you on opposite sides of the room?" Allie teased the boys.

"I think we can keep a lid on the animosity," Kieran told her. "Besides, if the expert predictions are accurate, they've given our team the kiss of death by picking them to beat United."

Matt laughed. "That'll depend on which United team shows up today. They've been a bit inconsistent this year."

"With our luck, it'll be the one that shut out the Harpies a couple of months ago, and not the one that got pasted by the Wasps," Liam told Matt.

That all proved true as Puddlemere United only needed twenty-eight minutes, and a brilliant catch by their Seeker to make the Quidditch experts look stupid for the second time of the day, and send the Pride of Portree home for the season.

There wasn't much time until dinner, so they all just relaxed and chatted until then, getting back to their exam studies after they'd eaten.

If James had thought that Saturdays were déjà vu, Sunday was more of the same, except they traded an afternoon watching Quidditch for an evening of ordered inactivity. He wasn't worried about the Transfiguration NEWTs on Monday, and didn't mind having a few quiet hours to relax either.

That was actually just one more sign that he was almost done school. For most of the past two years, having nothing to do was his personal enemy. Those were the times when he had nothing better to do than feel sorry for himself, so he'd avoided them whenever he could.

He was able to keep concentrating on his exams, but the clock in the back of his head was cheering him on by continually counting down the days. With Sunday over, he had just twelve days left, and one of those days would be the travel day home.

The NEWTs for the second week – or at least those that affected James and his friends, were Transfiguration, Potions and History on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They were all happy with their Transfiguration exams.

For those taking the Potions NEWT, it was probably their toughest exam – or at least the practical part of it was. James always thought that making a potion under pressure was kind of a dumb way to test, but he was a long way from the clumsy, error-prone student that used to blow up Professor Slughorn's lab at least a few times each year. This was one of two subjects that Therese was possibly slightly better than he was, and they were both happy when after comparing notes, they were sure their potions had been perfect.

While their friends studied History for their exam on Friday, James and Therese were glad to have five days to prepare for their last exam, Herbology.

The fifth and sixth year students all had their Charms exams on Monday – the fifths being tested for their OWLs by the Ministry, and the sixths by Professor Flitwick.

"I should have found out what the exam schedule was before picking which exams to take early," Lily told Kieran on Monday night after dinner. "I've got Potions on Wednesday, then my last two exams are next Monday and Tuesday, while pretty much everyone else only has one."

Kieran nodded. "Yeah, if you'd worked it right, you could have had nearly the whole last two weeks off."

"That would have been nice, but then I would have been helping everyone else anyway, so I guess in the end it doesn't matter much."

"How are everyone in Mark and Callie's study group doing so far?"

"They're all doing great, or at least they think so. Dale's still the biggest turnaround. He might have been on his way to another go at first year if things had stayed the same with him. Karl and Daphne are probably pretty close to where Carolyn and Brianna are. Not tops, but solid 'E's'. The rest are all doing much better too."

"We all are, thanks to you," he told her with a smile. "I actually got complimented on my Potion when I handed it in to Professor Slughorn. Mom won't know what to think if I get an 'O' in Potions."

Lily hugged him. "James wasn't all that great at Potions at first either, but he's pretty good at it now."

It was during that second week of exams that everyone working in Lily's group really started seeing the payoff of their earlier efforts. While other students tried to cram last minute information into their heads, they were able to just review their study notes, or practice for the practical part of their exams, and most importantly, go to bed early the night before each exam. Being well rested and alert for their exams probably helped them more than they realized.

The League Championship finals were played at the World Cup Stadium, and it was sold out. James' office was sold out too, with all of the Marauders, plus Callie, Mark, and the others. QSPN had decided to start the game at three to hopefully get a few more viewers watching from the Americas, while still not starting to late for viewers to the east.

That had given Lily extra time to work her study groups, and when it was time to go watch the game, she let them all know that they could have the rest of the day off. Lily, and most of the third and fourth year students still had two exams left, but everyone else only had one, with half of them on Tuesday. Between the long morning, and a couple of hours this afternoon, everyone had worked hard enough to deserve the break.

The Championship game always had a lengthy pre-game show, which for most people was incredibly boring as the sports analysts and reporters endlessly re-hashed the seasons for each team.

"Maybe they'll at least let you do stuff like this," Carolyn told Andy. "You could spice it up so it's not so dreadful."

"I wish," Andy told her. "If QSPN wasn't the network for Quidditch, I wouldn't want to put up with all of the crap until I get my chance. It took me about two weeks to learn everything they say they need to teach me over the next few years."

The commentary and ceremonies eventually ended, and the game got started. They had only watched the very end of the three-hour long pre-game show. Matt, and the faithful United fans were hoping for an upset, since despite the inane predictions from the Quidditch analysts bent on picking the other team until the Canons finally lost, they knew that their opponent was a more highly skilled team, and that they'd need a little luck to get a win.

That luck wasn't forthcoming for them, and the only good thing about the entire match for Matt was that at least he got to watch it with Rose snuggled in his arms.

From the moment the quaffle was thrown in the air, the Canons were all over the United team. It seemed that any time a United Chaser so much as breathed on the quaffle, a bludger was coming their way too.

Liselle was over her feigned anxiety, and she ran her opponent ragged by racing all over the stadium, putting on moves that just left the poor Wizard baffled.

"Is it possible that she's better than your Dad?" Brianna asked Lily.

"If she's not yet, it's close," Lily said. "He was faster, and I'd say she's got better turns and tricks."

Colin laughed. "Like a two hundred mile an hour barrel roll to catch the snitch is such a wimpy trick." Lily smiled at him. The last few games, she'd hardly heard anything from him about the games they watched. He had been distracted with the novelty of having Nadine cuddled beside him during the games now, and half the time he completely missed the action on the WWVN.

The game was fast-paced, with the action flowing across their WWVN. Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly were scoring on about one out of every three shots, while Ron had stopped all but one of the United team's thirty-two shots during that first hour.

When the second hour ended, the game was pretty much out of reach for United, with the Canons ahead two hundred and forty to thirty.

"Dad's really in the zone," Hugo said happily as they watched Ron make another spectacular save.

The shots for each team were pretty equal, and it was going to be another toss-up whether Ron should be MVP for his Keeper performance, or whether Arianna should be in the running for her sixteen goals so far.

Liselle ended the game at two hours and fifty-two minutes when she caught the snitch in a seemingly effortless maneuver that left the United Seeker going the wrong way while she dove and made the catch right in front of the broadcast booth for the QSPN announcers, who jumped back in surprise as the windows rattled when she roared by.

"Congratulations," Matt told Rose and the other Canons' fans in the room. "I'm growing up in the wrong century. Why couldn't I have been around when the Canons hadn't won a championship in a hundred years?"

Rose hugged him and laughed. "Well, I'm glad you weren't," she told him. "There were some bad parts about being around back then too if you remember – like a little war that was off and on for a couple or three decades."

"That's a good point," Matt agreed. "So who's the MVP? Your Dad or Arianna?"

"I'm biased," James told them, "but if they don't give it to Uncle Ron, he's been robbed. Arianna was pretty awesome too, but not as good as he was today."

"My vote's for Aaron," Lily told them. "He probably won't get the credit, since he didn't score that many goals, but he did either score, or have the assist, on every Canons' goal."

Lily was right about Aaron being in on every goal, and that he didn't get the credit for them. James was right that Ron would get robbed if he didn't get named MVP – which he wasn't as Arianna was awarded the title for her twenty-three goals. James was happy for her, but that didn't change the fact that his uncle had deserved it for only giving up five goals on over a hundred shots.

Once the MVP and League Championship trophies were presented, it was time to pack up and go down to the Great Hall for dinner, which was started half an hour after the game ended.

After dinner, since everyone had the evening off, James went outside for a walk by the lake until it was nearly dark. He saw some of the other Marauders out taking walks too. There were very few other students outside, and he was sure the Common rooms, library, and many classrooms were filled with students studying for their remaining exams.

He was back in his office long before it was time for his nightly call with Arianna, and he decided to get ready for bed. He couldn't keep himself from taking his Herbology notes and textbook with him, and studied until his WiComm chimed with her call.

"Congratulations!" he said when he answered the call and saw her smiling face. "For the Championship and the MVP award."

"Thanks, James. We all know that Uncle Ron got burned, but I guess there isn't much I can do about that."

"If it makes you feel better," James said, "Lily had you in third, but she said that nobody would notice that Aaron either had the goal or the assist on every one of your scores."

Arianna laughed. "To be honest, I hadn't noticed that, but now that I think about it, she's right. The only assists I had were on two of his goals, and he did get the assist on all of mine and all of Kimberly's goals."

"The whole team played great," James said. "I doubt a Beater's ever been awarded MVP, and the Seekers only seem to get it if their catch gives the team the win."

"How's the studying going for your last exam?" she asked him. "Any problems?"

James shook his head. "I'm really just doing review now. We're all ready for our last exams. Then I'll just have to figure out what to do for Tuesday and Wednesday."

"Any chance they'd let you out to come help me?" Arianna asked. "My week is totally booked."

"Did I say I was going to be bored?" James joked. "What was I thinking? I have a pool party to help get together, and a bunch of reports for Professor McGonagall, and Therese and I have a little party for our prefects on Wednesday evening."

Arianna laughed. "That was pathetically obvious," she told him. "I do hope you have enough to keep you busy. It'll make this last week go by faster."

"Six days," James said. "Five and a half if you count that we'll be home by noon."

"I'm crossing them off on my calendar in the mornings," she told him.

"I'll probably switch to hours by Tuesday or Wednesday. Do you at least get tomorrow off, or do you have appointments then too?"

"We're taking the day off," she told him. "Tracey, Aaron, and I will be going over to the cottage for lunch and to go over the next week. Tracey's only going to work in the mornings so that she can go with me to some of the appointments."

They didn't talk much longer, mostly filling the remaining minutes with the verbal hugs and kisses that they ended all of these nightly calls with.

Take the past few Sundays, and change the study subjects, and you pretty much had everything you needed to know about James' last Sunday at Hogwarts. That was actually one very distinct difference, when he thought about that.

James hadn't really thought about last anythings on Saturday, but that had been his very last Saturday here too. Monday he'd write his last exams, and it would all be over except for the goodbyes, parties, and the last train ride home.

He and Therese breezed through their Herbology written and practical NEWTs. Jon and Andy still had Care of Magical Creatures on Tuesday, and Laura was finished her NEWTs, so they stayed away from the study group so their friends could concentrate on getting ready for their last exam – especially since that exam was really important for Jon to do well on. Andy and Jon were both good at Care of Magical Creatures, but when it came to the practical exam in that subject, you did not want to make a mistake.

The New Marauders all pitched in to help with the pool party as they finished exams, so everyone that was done on Monday started helping on Tuesday, and the same thing for anyone who finished on Tuesday.

Lily was the only exception to that. When she finished her Care of Magical Creatures exam, she spent the rest of the day and evening helping Sarah get ready for third year Arithmancy, and help the fourth year students who had Care of Magical Creatures on Wednesday.

She and Kieran did both help out on Wednesday, but they had everything ready by lunchtime, so they had the afternoon off to go outside and just have fun.

"It's supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow," Kieran said as they lay on a blanket under a tree by the lake.

"That's going to be fun, but I'm really looking forward to getting home," Lily said. "I just know this is going to be another great summer."

Kieran smiled and leaned close to kiss her. "I'd think it was a great summer if we did nothing but sit in a room – as long as it was together."

Lily beamed at him, her eyes flashing in the sunlight. "I think we'll have something a little better than that going on. Hopefully we'll have at least a few weeks to relax too. Going on tour isn't exactly work, since we're mostly playing and having fun, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah," he said with a grin. "There's not nearly enough of you in a bikini when we're on tour. We should do at least a week on that island of yours."

"I love you, Kieran McCormack," Lily told him with a laugh before kissing him warmly.

The school grounds were filled with students outside and enjoying their first hours of exam freedom. Lily and Kieran were still under that tree when Sarah and Joel found them, and she had a big thank-you hug for Lily.

"I absolutely aced it!" she told Lily happily. "Thanks to you."

Lily grinned at her. "You did the work and wrote the exam, Sarah. I'd say it's all you. I just helped a bit with the teaching."

"You helped a lot with the teaching," Joel told her. "I'm sure I'll have all O's and E's, and you can say it's all me if you want, but I've got three previous reports that tell me that it's a lot because of you. My nickname could have been Grade-A, and it would have fit pretty accurately."

Kieran laughed. "My Mum won't even know what to say when she sees my report this summer. She was blown away last year."

"Okay, guys. Thanks for the ego boost, but let's move on," Lily said with a smile. "What are you two going to do for fun until we head home?"

Joel grinned. "Hopefully there'll be a third annual pool party tomorrow," he said. "I have a feeling I'm going to like it a lot more this year if there is."

Sarah returned his smile. "They did say second annual last year," she reminded them. "That certainly suggested it would become a yearly event."

"That'd take care of tomorrow afternoon, how about the rest of the time?" Lily asked.

"We'll probably just spend most of our time outside like you're doing now," Sarah told her. "I'll probably do a little packing tonight too, so I don't have to do it all tomorrow night."

"Even if we don't know where we'll be for the summer," Joel said, "at least we know it'll be with your family somewhere."

Sarah laughed. "As much as I'd love to stay with James and Arianna again, I really hope they're not going to have me stay there this summer. Newlyweds definitely do not need a teenager around for their first months together."

Lily grinned at her. "I'm sure that's all been worked out. You may have noticed that my father likes to surprise people – at least the good kind of surprises."

Joel laughed. "I'm not sure anyone would consider that press conference a good kind of surprise."

"No, but then he didn't like doing that at all," she told him seriously.

Kieran and Lily made room for their friends, and they talked the rest of the afternoon away until it was time for dinner. After dinner, James and Therese went to his office to get things ready for their party for the prefects. With dates, there were going to be forty students, and so they rearranged the room to make room for that much seating, put out drinks and treats, and then put the twenty-two gifts they'd ordered a couple of weeks ago on his desk.

Jon joined them about fifteen minutes before it was to start at eight o'clock, and then Callie, escorted by Mark, was the first prefect to arrive.

Rose, Matt, Scorpius, and Brianna came in a group with the other Ravenclaw prefects and the dates that two of them brought with them. The Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin prefects all got there by shortly after eight, and the party got started.

WMVN was turned on, and the music videos played across the screen, with the volume low enough that everyone could still talk and have fun. James had no idea whether a party had ever been done for the prefects before this one. He did know that it had been a good idea.

They were all having fun, and most importantly, those walls between the Houses – especially Slytherin, were coming down. James and the others had gotten their first five Slytherin friends over the holidays, and he was finding out that there were a few more in this room tonight that he would have liked to get to know better.

Keeping it going would be up to others to do in the years to come. He was hopeful, though, as he watched Rose, Scorpius, Matt, and Brianna talking with the two fifth year Slytherin prefects and their dates.

"It's going better than I expected," Therese told him quietly, coming to stand beside him.

"There's a lot of potential here," James said, smiling at her. "I do think we did good tonight."

The little party was only for a few hours, and near the end, James and Therese handed out their gifts, thanking each prefect. The gifts were all the same, in boys and girls versions of school rings, with the school crest, a diamond set within it, and around the edging, they'd added each person's name, and 'Prefect 2022-23'.

When everyone had left except for Therese and Jon, James smiled at her.

"Those rings were a big hit. I'm really glad you came up with the idea," he told her.

"Thanks, James," she said, hugging him.

"You're welcome. I'd thought about getting you a ring too, but having Head Boy and Head Girl rings for ourselves seemed a little ostentatious, so I hope you'll like this instead."

He handed her a gift-wrapped box, and she smiled as she tore off the paper and opened the box, finding the delicate gold watch with diamond accents.

"It's beautiful," she told him. "Thank-you." She hugged him again, and then he booted them out so that they could have some time alone before going to bed while he quickly cleaned up from the party and returned everything to normal.

Thursday morning, the New Marauders surreptitiously went around getting everything ready for the pool party, and then near the end of lunch, the big screen WWVN in the Great Hall came to life to announce the start of the third annual event, brought to the students of the school by the graduating class of TNM.

There were loud cheers as the students streamed outside, where the pools, tables of food and drinks, and games were spread out all over the school grounds.

James had decided to spend the afternoon wandering around and talking with as many of the kids as he could, since if he was honest, he wouldn't see most of them again after he left, other than in passing occasionally.

There were first and second year girls who giggled when he'd hug them and wished them a good summer. He spent ten minutes playing fanged Frisbee with a group of young boys who thought it was cool that their head boy didn't confiscate the banned toy. He went for a swim in one of the pools where Karl and Daphne were hanging out with a group of mostly Slytherin students. Eventually, near the end of the party, he ended up sitting with Jon, Therese, Andy, and Laura.

"Have fun?" Laura asked him with a smile. "You certainly looked like you'd left an impression on one group of little girls when you'd left after hugging each of them."

"I'm telling Arianna that you spent the day hugging girls," Andy teased.

James laughed. "She wont' be worried," he told Andy, "and yes, I had a lot of fun today, except maybe when the Frisbee bit me."

"You were playing fanged Frisbee?" Therese asked him. "Oh, the scandal!"

"I'm sure the school will survive the incident," James told her.

When it was time for everyone to go to dinner, as the pools, chairs, tables, and games were abandoned, they began to disappear, and for the third year, even the most curious didn't see how. The mysterious and wonderful powers of TNM remained intact and undiscovered.

Before dinner began, Professor McGonagall gave her end of the year speech, congratulating the Co-Quidditch Cup Champions, and then somewhat surprisingly, announcing that the winner of this year's House Cup was Slytherin House.

It had been quite some time since they'd won, and for that reason, led by the House prefects and the New Marauders, the other three Houses gave the celebrating Slytherins a standing ovation to congratulate them as the Great Hall colours were changed to Slytherin's silver and green.

Lily was sitting in her usual spot, and had started laughing softly after they'd all sat down again.

"What's so funny?" Carolyn asked her.

"The points for the House Cup were really close," she told Carolyn, who nodded.

"Close enough that all of the points that Callie, Karl, Daphne, Sarah, and Millie have earned since they spent the holidays with us and started hanging out with us put them over the top to get the win."

Carolyn and Al both grinned at her. "And everybody wins this year," Al said quietly, those beautiful emerald eyes dancing in the candlelight.

After dinner, while most students returned to their dorms to pack for the trip home, James and Therese were to meet Professor McGonagall for the last time. When they were seated across from her, she looked at each of them and smiled.

"I just asked you to come this evening so that I could personally thank you both for helping to make this year one of our best. You are certainly two of the best Head Boys and Girls we've had at Hogwarts."

"Thank-you, Professor," Therese told her.

"The changes you made to your quarters are permanent unless you change them back, correct?" she asked them, and they both nodded.

"If you don't mind leaving them like that, I'm sure that future Gryffindor Heads would appreciate what you've done with the quarters. They are quite splendid now, I must say."

"We don't mind at all," James assured her. "It's easier for us to leave them as they are now anyway."

Professor McGonagall talked with them for another fifteen minutes. This was a little different than her normal end of school meetings with the Head Boy and Girl, where she'd normally be giving them letters of reference or offering assistance if needed as they graduated.

James and Therese wouldn't need any of that, and so she just talked with them about their plans after school, most of which she knew already, and then stood, come around her desk, and hugged each of them before watching them leave.

"That was different," Therese said as she and James walked back to their quarters.

"There's probably more to those meetings when she has students that need things like letters of reference for jobs, or other assistance," James said. "We didn't, so we had to fill up the time with something."

James' door was first, so Therese went in through his office, hugged him goodnight, then went into the Common room to find Jon before going to her own office.

He went into his bedroom and started packing everything up, then went back into the office to put Lily's WWVN into it's little case so that he could give it back to her in the morning. The desk had already been cleaned out, and after one last look to make sure he didn't forget anything, he went back into his bedroom, finished packing, and then changed for bed.

Arianna's call was right on time and he was grinning when he answered.

"Last call," he joked, and she laughed.

"We did it, James. Two years. I can hardly believe it's finally over."

"I know," James agreed. "It'll feel more real when I get on that train tomorrow."

"Are you going to miss Hogwarts?" she asked him.

"Lots of people say they do," he answered, "but I honestly won't Arianna. You and I have too great a life ahead of us for me to miss the one I'm moving on from."

"I don't think I've missed Hogwarts," she told him, "just my favourite part of it."

James smiled. "Well that part will be with you in time for lunch tomorrow. Speaking of that, though, we should both get some sleep. It's going to be a very long day tomorrow."

They said their goodnights – another last time item for both of them, and James lay back in his bed, settling deep into his pillow, and closed his eyes. Sleep came slowly as his mind played back the highs and lows of the past seven years. He knew that wasn't uncommon, and he let his thoughts flit from memory to memory until he unknowingly drifted into a dreamless, restful sleep.

He was up before the first rays of a beautiful sunrise hit his window, and James quickly showered, dressed, and packed those last few items he'd needed this morning.

Therese met him in the Common room, and they worked steadily from then until the last students boarded the Hogwarts Express, and they got on and went to the prefects car where they'd have their last meeting on their last ride back to King's Cross Station.

The New Marauders, and their new friends had just finished an incredible school year. Six of the Marauders wouldn't be returning, and Mark and Callie were finished too. Some of them knew what they were doing and where they'd be going when they got to London, while for others some or all of their summer plans were a mystery. In a few hours they'd all be finding out if this summer would be as exciting as last year's incredible World Cup kind of holiday.


	97. James and Arianna Get Married

Chapter Ninety-Seven – James and Arianna Get Married

Harry didn't know who was more excited: Kira, Arianna, or he, himself. The Hogwarts Express would be arriving home for the summer any minute, and then his kids would be home again.

Switching back from full-time professional Quidditch player to unemployed play-boy, as some of their comedically challenged friends occasionally liked to call him, had taken some adjustment. While he had a lot to keep him occupied at the start of school last year, he had found out that he had missed the kids a lot more this year – especially after the Christmas holidays. Having a full house all through the holidays had been fun, and he could hardly wait to have a full house again.

"How much longer?" Kira asked him, and Arianna laughed.

"Yeah, Uncle Harry, how much longer?" she asked, trying to do it as winsomely as little Kira.

Harry smiled at them. "If you're very quiet, you can probably hear the train coming right now," he whispered, and bought a full minute as Kira immediately quieted to listen.

"I hear it!" she exclaimed. "They're almost here!"

"Yeah!" Arianna said, scooping the little girl up and hugging her. "They're coming!"

Harry laughed as they all watched the Hogwarts Express on it's long, graceful glide into platform nine and three-quarters. Chaos, only slightly controlled, reigned as students streamed from the train, excited to be home and with their families again. He was really going to miss those running hugs that Lily used to have for him when she returned on the train for each holiday, but his little girl was now fifteen, and today was also helping their youngest friends to get their luggage together before they all came over to greet their welcoming party.

There was a fairly long, drawn out welcome home since there was only a three member welcoming party, and a lot of returning students. Harry, James, and Arianna went to work on getting the luggage to all of the destinations, and then it was time to start getting people moved out too.

"We're not able to do a family lunch today," Harry told them. "There is just too much going on to fit one in." He smiled at the surprised looks on the faces around him.

"James, you're with Arianna, and you'll be taking Mark and Callie with you. Nick, Scorpius and Allie, you have apparition tests at the Ministry, then meet Percy in his office after you're finished. Good luck." He smiled, and then watched as Scorpius went to hug Brianna and say goodbye before he left with Nick and Allie. "Oh yeah, Brianna, you're supposed to go with them too."

"Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Emily," Harry said next, "meet Ron at Canons' stadium for further instructions, you're doing lunch with your three families somewhere." Harry looked around to see how much progress he'd made.

Lily, Kieran, Frederica, and Liam, you're to all go to Kirley and Ana's, and Karl is with you. Daphne too, if she's here."

Lily hugged him. "Daphne's parents were picking her up," she told her father. "We'll see you later."

That left Harry with Al, Carolyn, Kira, and their new six summertime adoptees.

"The rest of us are having lunch at the cottage, and I'll fill you in on what's going on, at least for the next week or two until we get past the wedding."

While they were taking the TransPortal to the cottage, Arianna had taken James, Mark, and Callie to see their new house in Chudley. Their luggage had been sent there already, and they explored the mostly unfurnished home until lunchtime.

"Tracey and I only picked out furniture for a guest bedroom," Arianna told them. "You can do meals with us until you can get set up here. We won't be able to help you with that until after we all get back from our trip, but we can see who else might be able to lend a hand during the next week, if you'd like."

Callie smiled and hugged her. "Thanks, Arianna. This place is great, and Mark and I can probably handle at least getting enough furniture picked out to get us started before the wedding. We really don't have anything going on."

James and Arianna both laughed. "You're joking, right?" Arianna said. "In this family? You both have a lot scheduled for the next three weeks."

"Like what?" Mark asked.

"Like this afternoon, you and I have tux and suit fittings respectively," James told him. "Then there's a dinner at the cottage tonight, shopping tomorrow, the couples party tomorrow night to send us all on our way out of singledom, and the list goes on every day from there."

"I thought we'd pretty much be on our own from now on," Callie said, and she was looking a bit misty-eyed.

"Sorry," Arianna told her. "You've been adopted into the family, just like Aaron and I were. There's never been a successful escape that we're aware of."

Mark laughed. "I'd imagine your only problem should be too many people trying to break in, not out."

They were having lunch with Aaron and Tracey at the Diner, so Arianna got them moving again, since they all had appointments for after they'd finished getting some food.

Brianna was waiting outside of the Apparition testing centre for Nick, Allie, and Scorpius. Next year, she'd be coming here to take her test too. She wasn't worried about any of her friends – they'd all been tops in the Apparition training and would get their licenses easily.

"Glad to be home, Bree?" the Witch at the reception desk asked her.

"Sure am," she answered with a smile. "It's been a long year with OWL's and everything."

"When will you and Scorpius be starting back here for the summer?"

"Probably the Monday or Tuesday after next," Brianna answered.

"Everyone will be glad to have you back for the summer," she told Brianna with a smile, and Brianna laughed.

"Maybe mostly everyone. We're not exactly universally popular after last summer."

The young Witch laughed good-naturedly too. "You're plenty popular enough with the Witches and Wizards that matter."

Scorpius walked out of the testing room, and Brianna stood to greet him.

"You're finished?" she asked, and he smiled and nodded.

"Alphabetical order does have the occasional advantages. Allie's doing hers now, and she'll probably just wait for Nick in there."

"Oh, the appointments aren't done like that," they were told by the young receptionist. "We just put Nick last because he didn't like working with us, and only stayed for one summer, while you two are our favourite pages ever."

Scorpius and Brianna laughed. "I think we can skip telling Nick that," he suggested to her. "What he doesn't know and all that."

They didn't have to wait much longer for Nick and Allie to join them, and the two couples left for Percy's office to find out what they were doing next.

"Welcome home," he told them when they came in, hugging each of the teens in turn. "How was your trip? Since you're all smiling, you've obviously passed your apparition tests."

Nick nodded as they sat down. "The trip back was fine. We were surprised that the family lunch wasn't happening, though."

Percy nodded. "There were a lot of people who couldn't make it because of everything else they have going on, so we decided to skip it. We're doing lunch with your mother, grandma, grandpa, and Allie's parents." He smiled at Allie.

"Don't' be surprised when Mum and Penelope try to recruit you to be their summer intern this year," he told her. "I've been asked to give you something first, though." He handed her an envelope, and she opened it.

Dear Allie,

My grandmother and aunt are going to try and get you to come train this summer for a job with them at PBP Investments, but as much as I love them, I think you should come work for me at Witch Investments. We girls would have much more fun working with the fashion stores, and the rest of our business interests than you could possibly have dealing with all of that boring property management stuff.

Before you meet them, read over my offer, which is for this summer, with an option to start full-time when you graduate next year.

You can let me know at the family dinner tonight.

Victoire Lupin

CEO – Witch Investments

Allie had started grinning as she'd read the letter, and then looked up at Percy, her smile bright and excited.

"Does your wife know that you were recruited to undermine her job offer?" she asked him, and he returned her smile with one that clearly showed that Penelope did not know.

"Not yet, or it wouldn't have worked. I personally think Victoire is right, but at least now you'll have her offer to consider when you hear what Penelope has for you."

While an excited Allie went back to reading over her first job offer of the day, Percy turned to Scorpius and Brianna.

"Scorpius, since you're graduating in a year, we'd like to have you start training for an entry-level position here for when you're done school. The pay's a little bit better for our interns, and you'll get much more involved in the Ministry operations than you have as a page."

"Who would I be working for?" he asked, and Percy smiled.

"Actually, nearly everyone wanted to get their hands on you, but since my father had an inside track, he won."

Scorpius grinned. "Good. Then I'll love doing that this summer."

"You'll keep working as a page for another summer," Percy told Brianna, and she nodded. "We're still looking for a replacement for Scorpius."

"Have you thought about Joel? I don't think that Sarah is old enough yet," Brianna said.

"That's an idea," Percy agreed. "I'll talk it over with Harry and Ginny tonight." He looked up at the clock, and stood up. "We need to get going, or we'll be late for lunch," he told the four teens, and they all stood up too. Allie put the sheets of parchment she'd been reading back into the envelope, and tucked it into her bag.

"What'd you think of it?" Nick asked her as they left his father's office, and Allie smiled.

"It's pretty amazing, but I'll wait to see what your Mum and Grandmother have to say before deciding.," Allie told him. Things are definitely looking up, though. I expected to be spending another summer working in the mall so I could get my shopping discount."

There was a lot of talk during lunch as the four kids caught up with their parents and grandparents. Molly and Penelope had laughed when they'd found out that Victoire had creatively used her uncle to get her offer to Allie first, but were still happy to put their own job offer on the table and let Allie decide what she'd like to do. Their offer would have her closer to Nick than Victoire's offer would, which was a plus, but then Allie was pretty sure that it wouldn't be a job she'd like as much as working with Victoire.

"I hope you won't mind," Allie told Penelope and Molly after reading about, and discussing the job they had in mind for her, "but if you've all taught me one thing, it's that I should make sure that whatever job I do take should be something I love to do."

Penelope smiled at her. "We've lost her, Mum. Your grand-daughter has won this round to get the best students from Hogwarts."

Molly laughed. "It's all in the family, so I can live with that, and if Allie's happy, then that's what is important."

Kirley and Ana were waiting for the kids when they got home, and they spent quite a while sharing hugs and kisses as they were reunited for the summer. They had time to sit down at the kitchen table and do a little catching up before they would be going to meet Liam's parents in the city for lunch.

"Do we have any first day back appointments?" Lily asked Ana, who nodded, and Lily sighed. "I guess it was too much to hope for."

"The price of fame," Kirley told her philosophically. "The new double album is hitting the stores tomorrow, though, and you'll be doing a video release with WMVN at three, and probably one live song during the interview, since you know they'll try and talk you into it, even though we didn't schedule one."

Kieran nodded. "I can just have my guitar ready, though. We don't have to set up your keyboard too," he told Lily.

"Can you give us an idea of what's going on for the summer yet?" Lily asked Ana.

"Sure, Lily. The tickets go on sale tomorrow too," Ana said with a smile.

"The week after the wedding, we're going to do two weeks of concerts in the Americas, along with the usual activities that go along with your shows."

"How many concerts?" Kieran asked.

"Six," Ana answered. "One in Canada, two in America, an encore in Mexico City, and then we'll be wrapping up with shows in Brazil and Argentina."

"That actually sounds like fun," Lily said with a grin. "Then what?"

Ana laughed. "We can go into all of the details later, Lily. We don't need to put Frederica, Liam, and Karl completely to sleep. What you're probably really wondering is if you'll get any time off, and the answer is yes – three weeks in total, plus most of next week here in the recording studio." Lily and Kieran exchanged a high five.

"If we're going to be gone for two weeks at a time, that's going to be a problem for Quidditch," Kieran said. He'd really hoped to work with his team all summer.

"You'll have to count on your team mates to keep working when we're gone," Lily told him. "You know that Nadine and Miranda will want to keep training. They're very motivated."

Ana smiled at them. "Actually, you're forgetting about the miracle of modern technology, my novice world travellers. We'll have two four-hour blocks of time open for you on Tuesday and Thursday that will match up with an evening practice time here every week except one, and you can take the TransPortal here so that you can practice with your teams."

Kieran got up and hugged her. "That's brilliant, Mum."

Kirley was watching Karl, who looked like he had no idea what he'd be doing if they were going to be gone for half of the summer on tour, since the math had told him that they'd be on the road for five out of nine weeks.

"We're planning on taking you with us," he told Karl, who looked surprised.

"Won't I just be in the way?" he asked Kirley.

"You might be bored sometimes, but definitely not in the way," Kirley answered. "I could actually use an assistant, if you'd be interested in the job. You'd be helping me deal with the warm-up bands, and the equipment, and there is always a lot you could help with when we do video shoots and stuff."

Karl grinned. "Does it pay much?"

"How about fifty galleons a week?" Ana suggested.

"That'll work," he agreed quickly. That was quite a bit better than your average summer job paid anywhere else. "I'm in."

"Must be nice to have jobs where you get to travel the world and play," Frederica told Liam, sighing theatrically. "I'm sure they'll think about us while we're hanging around here at home," she told Liam.

Ana and the others laughed at her. "I'm sure that Harry has plans for everyone that's staying here at home," she told them. "He's probably pretty excited to have the summer off to spend with all of you, since he was a bit busy for the last two summers."

Ron, Hermione, and the kids were talking jobs over lunch too. Hugo and Emily had quickly agreed to the Game Tester jobs at the Institute. Rose and Matt weren't set up for anything, since they had already planned on meeting with Victoire after the wedding to discuss their own business idea. Hermione might secretly wish to have her daughter follow her into research, but even though Rose had liked working on the Glassalloy project, she had also grown to realize that research wasn't going to be her passion in life, and knew she would never be happy cooped up in a lab for the rest of her life.

Back at the cottage, Harry had his small gang of eight students, Kira, and a previously delivered Fluffy to feed and entertain. The young Witches and Wizards sat down at the kitchen table, Harry went to work on making lunch for them, and Fluffy left the room as soon as she received an appropriate welcome home treat. Harry and the kids talked as he worked, and they spent most of that time telling him about their exams, the pool party, and the train ride home.

"And now that you're back, you're all wondering what is going to happen for the summer," Harry told them when it sounded like they'd completed telling him about the last few weeks of school. There were nods from everyone, since those plans were very important to Kira too. He smiled at her.

"I guess we should start with our youngest visitor," he said. "You and your brother and Timothy are not going to have Carolyn to take care of you this year, sweetie," he told her, and Kira looked crestfallen. "We're hoping that Frederica and Sarah, will be interested in the job, though."

Kira looked over at Sarah shyly and smiled. She didn't really know her very well yet, but she was pretty and seemed nice enough, and at least she knew Frederica really well.

Sarah smiled back at her. "I think that would be brilliant," she told Harry. He smiled too and nodded.

"Good. Then the next thing we should go over is who will live where." He grinned at Carissa. "Isabelle and Stewart have already told you they're going to keep you during all of the holidays until you graduate, right?" Carissa nodded and smiled brightly too.

"Sarah and Joel were with James, Arianna, Tracey, and Aaron at Christmas, but they'll be busy with the wedding, with being newlyweds, and then with the Canons' training camp for the second half of the summer. We were pretty sure that you guys probably wouldn't think that staying with them would be very much fun, not to mention potentially uncomfortable for all of you." Sarah and Joel both grinned, and looked quite relieved, as Harry knew they would be. He turned to Millie and Amy.

"I hear that you two are inseparable now," he told them, and they both nodded at him, waiting expectantly.

"Victoire and Teddy are hoping that you'll go and try out living with them all summer. Carissa may have told you that they live right beside Isabelle and Stewart, and they thought that you three girls might have more fun together."

Amy and Mille exchanged surprised looks. They hadn't expected that, but Teddy and Victoire were young and cool, and would probably be a lot of fun.

"They both work during the week," Harry continued, "so you'll be here at the cottage during the weekdays anyway, but if you two stay with them, then we'll have Joel and Sarah stay here with Dale." He grinned at Dale.

"Ginny and I hope you won't mind staying with us for the summer, even if we're not young and hip like Victoire, Teddy, Isabelle, and Stewart are."

Joel looked around at Dale and the girls. "Are we all good with that plan?" he asked them. When they all nodded, he smiled at Harry.

"I'd say you're six for six," he said. "With Sarah working, though, is there any chance that I can go out looking for a job too, so I can earn some spending money?"

Harry nodded. "Sure, Joel, We can take a look around and see what we can come up with for you."

Ginny surprised them all, including Harry, when she came into the kitchen to join them for lunch. She smiled, and laughed after hugging and kissing everyone.

"I decided I couldn't wait until after work to see all of you," she told them. "Have I missed much?"

Harry was just finishing up getting lunch ready and on the table, so he finished that, and then he and Ginny sat down at the table, and they all talked as they ate lunch, giving her a slightly condensed copy of the earlier discussion.

"I hope that you two are ready to do lots of shopping this summer," Ginny told Millie and Amy. "Victoire taught Lily everything she knows."

Carissa grinned and nodded. "She and Isabelle are very good at shopping," she confirmed.

"What are you all doing this afternoon?" Ginny asked Harry.

"We're doing shopping tomorrow," he answered, and the next week will be too busy for us to do much with them, so I thought we'd introduce them to the island for a few hours."

"The island?" Sarah asked.

Harry smiled and nodded. "It's sort of our private little paradise away from home," he told the six kids who didn't know anything about the island. When we're done eating, if you'll change into swimsuits, we'll go there and play for a few hours before I have to come back here and start getting dinner ready for the masses."

An hour later, they were on the island. Ron had brought Rose, Hugo, Matt, and Emily, and Frederica, Liam, and Karl had come too, since Lily and Kieran were busy anyway.

Sarah and Joel were sitting on the beach, taking a rest after coming to shore from a long swim.

"Can you believe this place?" she asked Joel quietly. "They have a whole island just for their family!"

"Nope. I can't. This whole thing is one really awesome dream."

Sarah laughed and hugged him. "Are you okay with staying at the cottage?" she asked next, and he nodded.

"I'm way better than okay with it. We'll have Al and Carolyn around at least some of the time, and we can help with Dale, and you'll have three kids to baby-sit. Who wouldn't want the get to live at the cottage for the whole summer? Uncle Harry can joke about the younger couples all he wants, but they all think he and Ginny are the cool ones."

A pair of jet-skis came in to shore, and Al waved Sarah and Joel over.

"Ready for another spin on these?" he asked them, and they both nodded enthusiastically. They'd done their training course with the others, and had gone out and sped around for a while, but then had needed to take a break, since while riding the ultra-fun machines was a blast, it hadn't taken long for them to get tired out during their first rides.

Al helped the get them going, and then he and Carolyn went to get drinks and find beach chairs to relax in and watch the action out on the lagoon.

"What do you think we'll be doing this summer, if I'm not babysitting?" Carolyn asked Al once they were settled.

He grinned at her. "Mostly whatever we want," he told her.

Carolyn laughed. "It's not like I've spent all of my bonus money from babysitting, but I will need to have a job, Al," she told him.

"You do," he answered. "I'm hiring you this summer."

"You're hiring me to do what?" she asked with a smile.

"We'll do a little work on that house in Hogsmeade, although we may leave some of it until after I'm seventeen and can do the major work with magic. Then I thought we'd do a little travelling, and take it easy all summer, except for getting ready for our sixth and seventh years."

"Other than because it'd be brilliantly fun, why do you want to take the summer off instead of working? Aren't you going to want to have a summer job that will help you get ready to start working after you graduate next year?"

"I already know what I'll be doing after school, and no, there will be lots of time to work when we're grown up. Why rush it along?"

This was the first time he'd so certainly stated that he knew what he was going to do after finishing school, and Carolyn was a bit surprised.

"What will you be doing after school, then?" she asked.

Al had her promise to keep it a secret, and then way more than surprised her over the next ten minutes while he told her what he saw in his own future.

"You've convinced me, and I accept the job," she eventually told him with a grin. "I hope you have a good incentive program like Natalie and Mandy have for their babysitters."

Al leaned over to her chair and kissed her quite seriously before answering.

"Mine will be way better than anything they could come up with." He promised.

"What was that? A signing bonus?" she asked with a grin, and they both laughed.

Harry could only stay on the island until four o'clock home time, but Ron offered to hang out with the kids for an extra hour or so while his best mate went back to the cottage to get the family dinner started.

He got everything started in the kitchen as soon as he arrived, and with nobody around to watch, had the tables and chairs set up outside where they'd be eating in mere moments, complete with tablecloths and place settings. There were bottles of wine chilling along with several drink choices for the underage crowd.

Winky popped by and dropped off the dessert she and Kreacher had made that would certainly be the highlight of the meal, and then he stayed in the kitchen, where he had a flurry of activity going on that would have boggled the mind had anyone other than Fluffy seen it as he worked. He threw a large piece of meat to her and smiled as she caught it in mid-air.

"Okay, so yeah, I've missed you too, you mooch," he told the kneazle cat.

Ginny was the first person back to the cottage, and she poured them each a glass of wine, and they had a few minutes to talk before their family started to arrive.

"Is everything under control for dinner?" Ginny asked him, and Harry nodded.

"Yeah, when everyone's away, I can speed things up a lot, so I'm actually a bit ahead of schedule now."

Ginny smiled. "These family gatherings are getting bigger every year. I can't help but picture us a hundred years from now, needing to rent the Grand Ballroom at the Emerald City Centre for our family dinners."

Harry laughed. "I don't think we'll be quite that large in a hundred years – it's been twenty-five now since the war, and we're only around seventy, and that's with nine new kids, and some friends like Kirley and Ana."

"That's about six times more than back then," she pointed out, and Harry nodded.

Ginny grinned at him. "And six times more of even say sixty in another twenty-five years would be three hundred and sixty, and then at fifty years, six times more of that would be twenty-one hundred and sixty, and at seventy-five years it'd be just under thirteen thousand, and by a hundred years, we'd be closing in on eighty thousand."

"I am not cooking for eighty thousand ever," he told Ginny with a smile. "We'll cater that one. We'd have to rent one of the Quidditch World Cup stadiums just to fit everyone in one place."

"You don't have to worry about anything like that for a long time – besides, our close family will never get that large. Most of them will have their own lives – like Megan and Devon, or Lisa and Marcus do."

"That's actually one of the things I like best about helping all of these kids out – when we've helped them to go out and have really great lives of their own."

"Well, it sounds like it won't take Mark and Callie long to get their new life started, and since they'll both be working for you, I guess you'll see them quite a bit."

"Those two are going to be very special," Harry predicted. "All of these kids have a lot of potential that could have just ended up being totally wasted."

"Then it's a good thing we'll all be here to make sure that doesn't happen."

Their family started arriving, and Ginny moved into hostess mode while Harry worked in the kitchen. James, Aaron, and Mark were recruited to fill the drink orders for the arriving guests, while Arianna, Tracey, and Callie were pulled into the ever-growing group of women who were already there, mostly to talk about the wedding and who knew what else that the guys were probably best left out of the loop for.

"How'd the tux and suit fittings go?" Harry asked James as they both worked.

"Pretty well," James answered. "We actually got Mark to get a couple of suits so he had one for his own little chapel wedding, though they're going with the casual attire like Megan and Devon did, so at least we'll all be comfortable."

"Try wearing dress robes in the summer like they did in the old days," Harry told James. Mark laughed.

"Lot's of the old families still wear robes at weddings and other occasions," he told the other three men. "Now that I'm done school, I'd be happy if I never wore another dress robe again."

"You're going to be a broom racer," Aaron pointed out. "Aren't robes part of the equipment?"

Mark nodded. "Yeah, but there isn't actually anything in the rules that requires it, and I'm thinking that not having big, billowing robes would make me a lot more stream-lined and faster."

"You should talk to Ginny and Hermione about that," Harry suggested. "I bet they could come up with something for you if you're looking at ways to get aerodynamic. Isabelle's an Arithmancy genius too, so she could certainly help out too. You've got until September to get ready and to train, so you could work on it with them all summer."

"If I didn't love Quidditch so much," Aaron told Mark, "I'd think about the racing circuit. It's supposed to be a blast."

"That's what they say," Mark told him with a smile. "I want to get in it to win it, though, so I'll just be working my tail off instead of hanging out on the wild side of the sport."

"I should have known," Callie said as she came in to the kitchen. "Give the boys a little time, and they'll eventually get around to talking sports." She hugged Mark, and then he refilled her wineglass.

"Having fun?" she asked them.

"We're mostly handing out drinks and watching Uncle Harry do all of the work," Mark told her. She and Harry both smiled.

"You'll be working for me in the fall, and you're both out of school and adults. Just call me Harry, alright?"

"Sure, Harry," James quipped, and watched his father laugh.

"That was for those two," he told James, pointing at Callie and Mark. "You two can stick with Dad for a few more years, thanks anyway." He looked at Aaron, who'd gotten a strange look on his face.

"Just think of yourself as our son-in-law or something," Harry told him. "Arianna will be officially related in a week, but you've both been our own kids in our hearts for years."

"Well, he will be my brother-in-law for real, so that only seems fair," James told Aaron with a smile. "Why don't you take a couple of bottles of wine outside and do some refills before we all go mushy in here."

Aaron laughed, but his eyes were a bit shiny anyway, and he did hug Harry on his way out to the yard.

"Are there ever just regular days in this family?" Callie asked. "It seems that every one we've spent with you there are full of big emotions and exciting things happening."

Harry laughed. "We seem to get to have lots of those days, but there are lots of regular days too. They're just not all that exciting to talk about even if they are all usually really great days too. I had enough bad days growing up, so I'm not too worried about trying to make most of them really good days now."

"Do you ever have bad days?" she asked curiously.

Harry thought about that. "We still have some days where bad things happen, but no, not really any bad days – that just seems like a terrible waste of twenty-four perfectly good hours."

Callie laighed. "I'm really going to love learning from you," she told Harry, hugging him. She hugged Mark again too. "I better get back out with the girls before I've missed too much and hey have to give me a recap to catch up." When she was gone, James smiled at Mark.

"You are one very lucky man," he told his friend. "To turn out that great after everything that she's been through is a miracle."

"We're both lucky," Mark agreed. "No wonder she fell in love with Arianna. They're very much the same inside."

"Am I going to have to send you outside with bottles of wine too?" James asked Mark with a grin. "There we were, happily talking about broom racing; a girl walks in, and the next thing you know, we're all a bunch of misty-eyed romantics."

Mark laughed. "We can go back to talking sports again, but you're a total fake, James. You're probably the mushiest of the group of us, except maybe for your father."

"Tell anyone and I'll deny it," James promised with an answering grin for Mark.

The family dinners were always loud – even when they were outdoors. This one was no exception. Ginny had set up the seating arrangements, and so wherever possible, they had each family grouping together – especially for kids that hadn't gotten to spend time with their parents much since getting back from school.

Millie and Amy were shy at first when seated with Teddy and Victoire, but with Carissa, Isabelle, and Stewart at their table too, it wasn't long before they were smiling, relaxing, and getting involved in the dinner conversation.

Percy and Penelope had the boys, Allie, and Brianna, along with Allie's parents. The only rule that Nick got everyone at his table to agree to was that there was to be no business or politics talk during the meal.

Harry and Ginny had Al, Carolyn, Dale, Sarah, and Joel, which allowed Ginny spend a little extra time with them now, since after tomorrow's shopping day, for the next week she'd have to focus on the wedding.

The only news flashes of the evening were Allie's acceptance of Victoire's job offer, a conversation which had included some good-natured teasing between three generations of businesswomen, and Joel's addition to the ranks of the Ministry of Magic pages for the summer, where he'd be working with Brianna.

With a busy day planned for Saturday, after dinner, most of the guests started leaving for home, and an early night. Percy, Teddy, Scorpius, and Brianna stayed behind, and when the other guests were gone, went into the cottage, and followed Harry into his office.

"We'll get you on your way in a few minutes," Harry said once everyone had taken seats. "Since we have everyone here, though, I thought we might as well get this little bit of business out of the way."

"What business?" Brianna asked curiously.

Harry smiled at her. "Scorpius is seventeen, so we need to see what he wants to do now that he's officially an adult." He turned his attention to Scorpius.

"Do you remember that when Teddy became your guardian that after you turned seventeen you'd have the choice of staying with Percy and Penelope, or that we'd help you with whatever you want to do if that isn't what you wanted to do?"

Scorpius nodded and waited.

"We can discuss those options now if you want, Harry continued, but Percy, Teddy, and I are hoping that you'd like to stay with Percy, Penelope, and Nick until after your last year of school, and then we can deal with your post-Hogwarts future next summer."

"I don't need to know what those options are," Scorpius said. "There's nothing that could be better than staying right where I am – with my family," Scorpius told them. "Next year will be lots soon enough for me to have to become a real grown-up."

Brianna hugged him, and Harry, Percy, and Teddy all laughed.

"Good," Harry said approvingly. "Teddy, you're guardianship continues for one more year, and we'll get back together and do this again next June."

They all got up, and Teddy and Percy both hugged Scorpius and Brianna before leaving the office. Harry and Brianna walked outside with Percy, Teddy, and Scorpius to say goodbye.

After they'd left, Harry and Brianna went back inside, and joined the others in the sitting room, where Ginny and the other six teenagers were relaxing for a little while after the hours of non-stop action.

"That was short and sweet," Ginny said as Harry sat next to her and put his arms around her so she could snuggle close. "That must mean that Scorpius is sticking with the status quo."

Harry nodded. "He is, and I'm glad that's what he wanted. A year from now, he'll know what kind of job he'll have at the Ministry, and helping him out with whatever he needs to get started will be a lot more effective than just setting him up with an apartment or something now. He might need something completely different by then."

"I don't think Penelope or Percy are ready for their boys to grow up and move out on them this year either," Ginny told him. "Nick's seventeen too, so he could if he wanted."

Brianna laughed. "If those two moved out and got a place, they'd either have to eat out all the time, or starve."

Ginny laughed too. "That's a very good point," she agreed. "You and Allie will have to work on that problem some day."

The conversation moved on from Scorpius to talking about tomorrow night's party.

"What's in the plans for the underage group tomorrow night?" Carolyn asked them.

"The camping at Ron and Hermione's seemed to be a big success two years ago when Aaron and Tracey got married," Ginny told her. "We thought you'd all like to do that again this time."

That was greeting with four smiles, and three blank looks.

"We'll be camping overnight in tents in Rose and Hugo's backyard," Lily supplied for Joel, Sarah, and Dale. "You'll love it," she promised. "There will be a much bigger group there this time, though."

Ginny nodded. "Nick and Allie are both over seventeen now, so they'll have the choice which they want to do, but we decided not to make any exceptions for underage members of the family, so there should end up being somewhere between nineteen and twenty-two at your little overnight party, depending on whether Daphne, Nick, and Allie are with your group.

"I'm surprised you can fit in any shopping at all with a party tomorrow night to get ready for," Al told his parents.

"You can shop all day, but we'll only be there until after lunch," Harry answered. "Kreacher and Winky are doing the meal for the party, so we just have to do set-up for one hundred or so guests. It won't be anything we can't handle in the afternoon.

"Is there anything we have to do for our party?" Brianna asked.

"No, everything is being set up for you, and Ron will have all the help he needs. All you'll each need to do is pack an overnight bag, and take towels and swimsuits, since I'm sure that a couple of portable pools will be set up," Ginny told her with a laugh when she saw that the last part of her answer had put smiles on the faces of the three boys.

"Maybe we should skip our party and go to theirs," Harry said. "It sounds like they'll be having fun."

"Just because the girls won't be in swimsuits at our party doesn't mean we won't have fun too, honey," she told Harry, which had the kids all laughing. "We should all think about getting some sleep, though, or we'll all be napping during our respective parties before dark tomorrow night."

While they all started to go off to bed at the cottage, Nick and Scorpius were in the sitting room talking. Percy and Penelope had already gone to bed.

"So your little meeting was about whether you stayed here or moved out?" Nick asked Scorpius.

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, but I told them I wanted to stay here with you and your parents, so we didn't actually talk about what my other options were."

Nick grinned. "Maybe you should have found out first," he joked. "Having your own place might have been interesting this summer. I know Allie and I would have been visiting a lot."

"You're seventeen, too," Scorpius reminded him. "You have the same choice, but I'm sure it's never crossed your mind. I want to stay here for the same reason you do."

"I haven't thought about moving out early," Nick agreed, a bit surprised to realize that Scorpius was right, and he did have that choice. "All joking aside, mate, I am really glad you do want to stay here. I'd really miss you a lot if you were off living in some wild, party-every-night bachelor pad."

Scorpius laughed. "That thought is absolutely absurd," he told Nick. "You can't possibly place me into a mental picture like that without laughing."

"No, not really," Nick agreed. "You'd be more likely to have the soft music, candlelight, and be snuggled on the sofa with Brianna than the party animal."

"Speaking of parties, will you and Allie go to the party at the cottage tomorrow?" Scorpius asked.

"I'll see what she says in the morning," Nick answered. "Maybe we'll stop in, since we can, but if we can't all be there, I'd rather be with our cousins and friends."

Scorpius nodded. "I think you guys should at least go for the dinner. That's going to be a Winky and Kreacher meal, so compared to what we'll likely be doing, you'd both be crazy not to go and get in on that deal."

Nick laughed. "I didn't think about the dinner. That pretty much decides for us, since Allie and I are definitely not crazy."

"Were you disappointed that she didn't want to work at PBP Investments with you this summer?" Scorpius asked, and Nick shook his head.

"Actually, I was a bit relieved, mate. If that had been her only choice, she would have taken the job, but she wouldn't have liked it any more than I liked working at the Ministry when you and I were pages that summer. She'll love working with Victoire if she's working with FashionKnut or any of the other clothing stores that Witch Investments is in to."

"Do you know that this is the first day we can use magic outside of Hogwarts and I haven't done anything all day?" Scorpius asked, changing subjects completely.

Nick laughed again. "Me either, now that I think about it. I guess we're just so used to not using it at home that neither of us thought about actually using magic for anything we were doing today."

Scorpius nodded. "Maybe that's why I'm being moved from page at the Ministry – I can do more for them now that I can do magic and apparate and everything."

"I'm looking forward to using magic in my architecture – I'll be able to actually conjure models of my designs now."

"That'll make your life a lot easier," Scorpius agreed. "I know it was bugging you a bit last year when you had to get someone else to do it for you, and they never got it quite like you envisioned your designs. Do you know what you'll be working on this summer?"

"Not yet," Nick said. "I'm sure they'll give me something decent, though."

"Probably," Scorpius agreed. "With your Grandmother and Mother being their ultimate bosses, and with you being so good at the job, they can do the math – work with you, or find themselves competing against you."

"Mum and Grandma have the best Witches and Wizards," Nick told Scorpius. "They didn't hire any egomaniacs. All they care about is whether you can do the job or not."

"Then it's a really good thing that you can," Scorpius said with a grin.

"The one good thing with the wedding is that we at least get a week off before we start working," Nick said. "I know Bree's still sixteen, but maybe the parents would agree to let us take off for two or three days and go on a mini-vacation together."

"That's a brilliant idea. Al and Carolyn are basically taking the whole summer off, and I'm sure they'll be allowed to do some travelling, so I don't see why anyone would mind if we got away for a few days too."

Nick grinned at him. "I wouldn't mind taking the summer off and travelling next year, but if Allie does take the permanent job with Victoire, that won't happen, since summer is really busy for Witch Investments."

Scorpius nodded. "True, but then you two could probably take January and February off and go someplace warm in the winters, while Brianna and I will be busy at the Ministry."

"The architecture business doesn't stop for winter," Nick pointed out."

"True, but you can take your drawing hand with you anywhere you go if you have to make it a working vacation."

"Like I'd be able to concentrate on work if I was in some tropical paradise with Allie."

"That would be a problem," Scorpius agreed. He looked at his watch and smiled. "We need to go get some sleep, mate. I definitely do not want to be falling asleep early tomorrow."

Nick laughed. "If it means a couple of more hours snuggling in a tent with Brianna, I'd think you would."

Millie and Amy were sitting up in Millie's bed at Teddy and Victoire's. This house was quite a lot different than the cottage, but it was very nice, and so were Teddy and Victoire.

"Our rooms are nice here – they look brand new too," Amy said quietly. "What do you think about spending the summer here so far."

Millie shrugged. "I'm wondering whether Harry and Ginny didn't like us as much as they liked Dale," Millie answered. "So they didn't want to keep us with them."

Amy hugged Millie and smiled at her. "That's not it, Millie. They just needed to have spots for Sarah and Joel, and since we're only a year older than Carissa, we're the best choice for here, since Teddy and Victoire spend so much time with Stewart and Isabelle. We're still going to be at the cottage every day during the week."

"You think so?" Millie asked.

"I'm sure of it," Amy told her friend. "You wait and see – this is going to be brilliant living here."

"We're at least together, like we'd hoped," Millie said, "and this is pretty great here."

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" Amy asked.

"Maybe just for tonight, if that's okay," Millie answered, and Amy hugged her again.

"It's definitely okay," Amy told her with a gentle smile. "Even though we're both safe now, we do both know how scary nights can be sometimes."

Mark and Callie didn't have any furniture in their sitting room yet, so a temporarily conjured sofa had sufficed for their evening, and now they were snuggled close in the guest bedroom bed that they'd be using until they picked out their own furniture next week.

"We certainly got lots of offers to help next week," Callie was saying as they cuddled. "With the wedding and everything, I'm surprised that anyone would have any time to help us at all."

Mark smiled. "I did notice that it was almost all girls offering to help out with the shopping and decorating," he pointed out. Most of the rooms here don't need to be painted right away, though. It doesn't look like they were done that many years ago."

They'd found out that their house was in the very first subdivision that was built to accommodate the growing workforce at the Institute. While Arianna had suggested that it would be good for a few years for them, Callie and Mark both thought it'd be perfect for quite a bit longer than that.

"We'll get the kitchen, sitting room, and our bedroom done next week," Callie said quietly. "Then we'll have the rest of the summer to work on the other rooms."

"Sounds good to me," Mark said, kissing Callie tenderly. "Let's get some sleep. If tomorrow's as busy as our other shopping day experiences with our new family have been, we're going to need as much rest as we can get."

Callie smiled at him. "In a few minutes," she said before kissing him again. "Right now, I'm busy," she added in between kisses.

James and Arianna were doing a little cuddling and kissing of their own. They'd visited with Aaron and Tracey for an hour or so before the other couple had gone across the road to go home for the night, and now they were happily wrapped in each other's arms.

"Finally," Arianna said as she rested her head on the pillow, smiling at James. "No more separations, no more Hogsmeade weekend hideaways, just you, me, and the rest of our lives together."

James was smiling too as he ran a hand through her soft, beautiful hair. "Sometimes it seemed this day would never get here. I'll make sure that it was worth waiting around for me."

"You already have, James," she told him. "Now it'll be just us, and I'll do Quidditch, and you'll invent Wheezes, and we'll live happily ever after."

"Most of that sounds perfect," James told her. "I'm not positive about the Wheezes thing anymore, though."

Arianna looked into his eyes and saw that he was serious. "You don't want to do that anymore? I thought that's what you've wanted your whole life."

"It was," he agreed. "The holidays with Sarah, Callie, and the others changed that for me. Did you hear Dad, Teddy, and Stewart talking about the Child Abuse program tonight?"

Arianna nodded. "They're going to have the first permanent facility ready for September first."

"I'm thinking about offering to run it for them. They don't have anyone yet, and the kids that are going to be there will be the worst cases. I could do a lot more good there than developing bat bogey brittle or something."

Arianna hugged him tightly, and when she looked at him again, she had tears in her eyes. "I think that would be brilliant," she told him. "You've got your number one volunteer right next to you if that's what you want to do." She grinned at him through her tears.

"Besides, you can always make bat bogey brittle in your spare time and sell the rights for it to your uncle."

James laughed. "That's true. You wouldn't mind the career change? I won't get rich doing that job."

Arianna laughed too. "Did you read any of those reports your father gave you at Christmas?" she asked. "You don't have to worry about that too much."

"I did read all of those files, and just the thought of getting ready to step in and run things when my parents, Grandma, and Aunts decide to start retiring is really daunting. I'm not sure I'm the guy to do that, and be responsible for keeping everything going."

Arianna shrugged. "That's still a long time away, and you have lots of time to prepare for it. They won't just dump it all on you and leave. Besides, it's not like you'd be doing it alone. You do have Al, Lily, and the rest of your family."

"That's true," he agreed. "So you're really okay with me taking that job?"

"I'm way more that okay with it. We're going to be way richer with you working with those kids than you ever would be inventing wheezes, it just won't be in a money kind of way."

"Thanks," James told her. "Jon told me back in March that I'd figure out what was right for me, and when I heard them talking about those kids tonight, I just knew that's where I'm supposed to be."

Arianna smiled at him. "You're right where you are supposed to be now, here, with me," she told him. "The only thing that's missing is the doing what you should be doing."

James laughed, and kissed her – a long, breathtakingly sweet caress into which he poured the love and joy he felt for her.

"Now you've got it all together," she breathed after the spectacular kiss. "The where, with whom, and doing what you're supposed to do. Keep up the good work." James smiled at her, and did.

On Saturday morning, by the time Harry started cooking breakfast, Ana was already sending Lily QuillMessages with information about how the new album was doing as stores had started opening from east to west, and the twenty-three song set was doing even better than the now over ten million copies sold last album had done on it's first day of release, although to be fair, students were in school when that album had come out.

"Looks like you and Kieran have yet another hit album," Harry told Lily after she'd read the latest message to everyone while they ate breakfast.

"If it's as good as the last album," Sarah said, "then it deserves to be another big hit."

Lily beamed at her. "Thanks, Sarah. We think It's even better than the last one."

The family shopping days were now long past the times of old when they could wander around together. There were just too many to do that, so it was more a case of all being at the Mall, or in Diagon Alley at the same time.

Ginny was off with a group of girls that included Sarah, Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily, while Harry was hanging out with Teddy, Stewart, James, and Aaron. They were helping get Dale, Karl, Joel, and Mark shopping for summer clothes.

While the boys shopped, James had talked with Harry, Stewart, and Teddy, telling them that he wanted to run the new home they were opening in September. Teddy and Stewart had been fired up about it, and Harry had been so proud of his son that he was just bursting all morning.

When they met the girls for lunch, Arianna must have told Ginny about James' plan of a career change, because the first thing she'd done was hug James for a very long minute while talking softly just to him. Whatever she was saying must have been good, because he was smiling as he hugged her back.

They all just scattered around the food court to eat, and then Harry and Ginny left Dale, Joel, and Sarah with the rest of the kids, and some of the adults, and hurried back to the cottage to get working on the party set-up.

"What do you think about James' new career?" Ginny asked him as they both worked on getting the tables ready outside.

"I was surprised," Harry admitted. "George won't be happy about losing his number one protégé, but I think it's absolutely brilliant that he wants to do this instead – especially for those particular kids. If it wouldn't mean having to give up a lot of my time with the kids at the residence, I'd be thinking about really getting involved with that program instead."

Ginny laughed. "There's always somewhere else we could be helping, Harry. That's why we're so lucky to have a lot of people that care just as much as we do."

"He's done a lot of pretty amazing things so far, and I think today was the proudest I've ever been of James."

"We do know that the foundation will be left in good hands someday when we do retire," Ginny said.

"Yes we do," Harry agreed. "What's the latest on SpellBound's new album? The GamePortal was packed at the Mall, but we stayed away from it."

"They were closing in on a million the last I heard, and with nearly the whole day left to go in the Americas, Ana's guessing they'll get close to two million sold today alone," she answered, and Harry grinned.

"Lily and Kieran must be loving that," he said. "The concerts went on sale too, didn't they?"

Ginny nodded. "Yes. Some of them are already sold out, although the ticket sales for five out of six of the concerts they'll be doing for the first two week trip in North and South America are really just starting to sell over there."

Harry nodded. "The other concert is the fourth of July celebration, so Kirley and Ana aren't putting that show together. I'm sure they'll sell them all out this year too."

"Me too," Ginny told him. "Maybe we'll even think about taking our group to one of the concerts they'll have in Europe later on if we can fit it in to the summer plans."

"If we do that, better plan on adding Kira, Nadine, and Vanessa with us on that trip," Harry said with a smile."

They continued working until nearly four, when they had everything ready, then went to get cleaned up and dressed for the party. They'd originally planned the party for Arianna and James, but had made it a joint party so that they could celebrate Callie and Mark's impending marriage too.

By the time Harry and Ginny were hitting the showers, the shopping trip was finishing up. Bags of clothes and other purchases had been Translocated to the bedrooms or homes of the purchasers, and the underage members of the family, including boyfriends and girlfriends, had all arrived at Ron and Hermione's home. Daphne had been allowed to come for the overnight campout, so when Nick and Allie came, there would be twenty-two teens with just a few over-age members of the group, and no parental supervision. A perfect recipe for fun!

Everything was ready for them, including pools, tents, tables, and chairs. The teens had stayed outside so that they wouldn't be in the way while Ron and Hermione were getting ready for their own party. Overnight bags had been stowed in tents, swimsuits had been changed into, and more than half of the kids had already either been in for a swim, or were in a pool playing around and having a blast.

Al and Carolyn were sitting in a pair of lounge chairs, watching the water play, and talking with Joel and Sarah.

"So your family has these parties instead of bachelor and bachelorette parties?" Sarah asked, and Al and Carolyn both nodded.

"I don't really remember how long they've been doing them this way," Al said, "but they seem to like it better than keeping them separate."

"I think it's brilliant," Sarah said. "Having us all here is looking pretty good too." Joel smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes it is," he agreed. "So what will we be doing all night?"

"Swim, hang around, maybe play a game or two, and then later we'll have a campfire, and since this year we have Kieran with us, I'm guessing that some guitar music and singing will be involved," Al told them. "We'll fit in lots of food along the way, too."

"I always thought swimming would be harder to learn," Joel said. "Half of us didn't even know how when we were at Marauders Paradise, but one short lesson each with your dad, and he had us swimming like we'd been doing it for years."

Sarah nodded toward Karl, who was happily swimming with Daphne. "I think Karl loved it the most of all of us," she told the others. "The first time he saw the beach at Marauders Paradise, I thought he was going to lose it, he was so happy."

Joel laughed. "Let's see now, you and I have spent something like seventeen days with Al and Carolyn's family so far, and I've probably lost it more than that many times with everything that's happened to us."

Sarah had been holding his hand, and she sqeezed it reassuringly. "Me too," she told him with that gentle smile of hers that always tugged at his heart.

Ron and Hermione came outside to say goodbye before leaving for the cottage, and they laughed as the boys whistled at her and Rose and the girls who weren't still wet from the pool hugged them and told them to have fun at the party.

While everyone else played, Rose, Matt, Al, and Carolyn worked together to cook dinner, and put the buffet out by six o'clock for everyone. They ate, and then they played until after dark. Nick and Allie joined them around eight-thirty, changed, and joined in with their friends.

Kieran and Karl had both brought their guitars, and they played, while the rest of the group joined in to sing, or just listened as the others had fun while they sat around the campfire. The younger kids had one tent to themselves, and by midnight, Dale, Carissa, Amy, and Millie were all tired and left to go get some sleep, while the rest of the couples stayed up and talked quietly around the fire until they too began to leave in pairs for their rooms in the tents too.

Rose, Matt, Al, and Carolyn were the last two couples around the fire. They were comfortable, and not really in all that big of a hurry to move off to the tents.

"Have you made any plans for what you're going to do all summer other than taking it off?" Rose asked Al and Carolyn.

"Not really," Al answered. "We can decide that after the wedding, and we don't even know what all else will be going on with the family yet. Whatever we do, we'll have to work around whatever family obligations we'll have."

"What about you guys?" Carolyn asked. "Anything new with your plans?"

Rose nodded. "We're going to meet with Victoire a week from Tuesday and submit our business proposal. If she likes it, then we'll do a little travelling this summer to check out a few possible destinations we could start with for our tours, then Matt would spend the next year while I'm finishing school selling the first trips to start in either the summer or fall of 2024."

Carolyn looked at Al hopefully. "Maybe we could join them for a couple of those trips," she suggested. "That'd be a great way to spend part of the summer."

"We could, if they wouldn't mind the company," Al agreed, and Rose and Matt both grinned at them.

"I think that'd be brilliant," Rose told them. "We can talk about that more after we find out what Victoire thinks."

"If you're gone a lot, though, won't that get in the way of Quidditch practices?" Matt asked. "Nick and Hugo both are going to want you all working this summer."

"I'm not sure I'm going to play next year," Al told them seriously. "I'm going to have nine NEWT classes, and I'm thinking that's going to be enough for me to keep up with – along with everything else we do for our TNM work."

Rose nodded. "I know what you mean," she told him. "With prefect duties too, I'm thinking the same thing."

Matt looked from one to the other and then grinned.

"I bet you're glad Nick already went to bed before this conversation came up." Rose, Al, and Carolyn all laughed quietly.

"We won't put off talking to him about it," Rose told Matt. "He could see if some of last year's practice team would want to come work out this summer instead, but it'll be up to him."

Al nodded. "It's not all bad news," he told them. "If we all played on the team for our last year, then next year Ravenclaw would only have a team with one veteran player left, and Joe would only be going into third year. I'd be willing to help train the new players one or two practices a week, and then at least we could pass on everything we know about the game to a new group so that Joe wouldn't be starting totally from scratch."

"That's actually really a pretty good idea," Matt conceded. "It's not like you haven't all done enough for our House during the last six years. Maybe it's time for some others to step up instead. Too bad that it still does mean that our team won't be very competitive for at least a couple of years, though."

"That's better than not being competitive for four or five years," Rose pointed out.

"Does anyone know what's up for tomorrow?" Carolyn asked. "With the shopping and tonight's party, I don't think I heard anything about what was going on."

"Free day," Rose told her. "Every family member for his or herself."

Carolyn laughed. "Translation for us – visit to the residence for sure. It'll be time for Al's Mum and Dad to go see the students that are back from Hogwarts."

Al nodded. "That's a safe assumption," he agreed. "Probably after lunch, since the party will certainly go late."

Rose yawned. "You had to go and say late," she told Al, smiling. "Now you've gone and started the yawning, and we're all going to catch it." She laughed when as soon as she said the word, Carolyn yawned too. "See? It's contagious, and there's no cure."

Matt stood up and stretched. "That may be true, but there is a pretty fun treatment for them," he said, putting a hand out to help Rose up. "Do you want me to put the fire out for you?" he asked Al and Carolyn, who both nodded and stood too.

"Sure," Carolyn answered. "That'll be easier than us doing it later with buckets of water. I'm ready for a little constructive cuddling now anyway."

Matt pulled out his wand, and soon had their little fire extinguished. They were in the same tent, so they walked there together, then into their separate rooms to get changed, before settling down in two of those rooms, each couple happy to snuggle close with their respective partners, and enjoy spending the rest of the night together.

The party at the cottage was still in full swing then, and the incredible dinner that Nick and Allie had attended was followed by a lot of dancing and socializing. Matt and Callie had been amazed and thrilled to find out that the party was for them too, and a few of their friends from school had been invited to come, thanks to a little help from Therese.

They were sitting down and taking a break from dancing. James and Arianna were at the same table with them, but were currently off saying goodnight to some guests who were leaving. Therese and Jon saw them, and came off of the dance floor, picked up drinks, and came over to sit with them.

"This party is something else," Jon told Mark and Callie. "Are you having fun?"

"It's been a wonderful night," Callie told him with a bright smile. Jon hadn't seen that smile in the first six and a half years they'd gone to school together, and he thought it was pretty cool that they saw it most of the time now.

"I think we've danced more than at New Year's Eve," Mark said. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really getting beat. I guess racing brooms isn't the only thing I'll have to train for. I need to have an exercise routine just so that I can keep up with everything this family does."

Therese laughed. "It'll calm down after the wedding," she assured him. "I'm going to miss not being able to do as many things like this back here at home now that Jon and I will be moving to Romania."

"Have you gone looking for a place? Are you going to get a place together?" Callie asked her, and Therese smiled.

"Yeah, scandalous as it is, we are going to get one place, but we haven't gone looking yet. We'll be heading over there the week after next to start on that," Therese answered.

"I guess we should all enjoy this next week together, then," Callie said. "By the end of the summer, we'll all be doing our own things, and nothing will be the same again after that."

"A few things will be," Therese disagreed. "Like you being one of my best friends, for instance. We'll only be a WiComm QuillMessage or call away from each other."

Callie smiled at her. "That's true," she agreed, "and we're only a TransPortal trip away from visits too."

"How was your first night in the house?" Jon asked Mark, and both young men were grinning.

"What comes after brilliant?" Mark questioned in return.

Jon and the girls all laughed. "I don't know, but that sounds like it went fairly well. Do you have any plans made for when you get back from Marauders Escape yet?"

"Nothing firm yet," Mark told him. "I'll need to start training to get ready to race this fall, even though I don't actually start until September. Other than that, we'll probably just settle into the house, and get used to this new life of ours."

"Sounds exactly like what Jon and I will be doing," Therese said. "I can hardly wait to start med school, but it will be nice to have a break first after such a long year."

"I wish we were getting a break," Laura said, as she and Andy overheard the last comment when they joined their friends. "I start work a week from tomorrow."

Therese smiled. "And start out by going on a two week, five-country tour," she told Laura. "That's not nearly all bad."

"How'd you know that?" Laura asked.

"Ana was talking about it earlier with Ginny," she answered. "Maybe Andy could follow you around and be your groupie part of the time before he has to go to work at QSPN when Quidditch training camp opens up."

"We're thinking about that," Andy agreed. "I haven't actually signed any contract yet – I'll be meeting with them later this week and see what the offer is, then we'll decide if I'm going to be doing any travelling before work starts."

"You're not sure you'll take the job?" Mark asked in surprise.

"I probably will," Andy conceded, "but it would be nice if I have some guaranteed future working in front of the cameras. If I don't have that, then maybe I'll have to think about seeing if I can get on announcing games at one of the stadiums somewhere instead, or as a sports reporter for one of the news channels."

The party began winding down, and by three o'clock, Harry and Ginny were saying goodnight to James and Arianna after everyone else had gone home. The last few couples had helped with the cleanup, and the yard was spotless again.

"Thanks, Mum, Dad," James told them as he hugged them goodnight. "This was really a great night."

"You're welcome," Ginny told him as she moved on to hug Arianna. "Will you two just take it easy tomorrow, or do you want to come to the residence with us in the afternoon?"

Arianna and James exchanged looks and he nodded. "We'll come tomorrow," Arianna said. "After that, it'll be three weeks or more before we can get back there, and then they'll have their week at Marauders Paradise the last week of July."

"Why don't you come for lunch then, and bring Mark and Callie with you, since they don't have a kitchen set up yet, and we'll go from here," Harry suggested. "Mark and Callie are welcome to come to the residence too if they want, or can go do their own thing after we feed them."

James nodded. "Sounds good. We'll see you at lunch then," he said, and then he and Arianna left for home. Ginny and Harry went upstairs and got ready for bed.

"Everything seems to be going so fast, it's hard to keep up with it all," Ginny told him as they snuggled close.

"I've missed having it busy like this," Harry said quietly. "We're not exactly getting James back to us, but things are going to change again. I'm still trying to get used to the idea that all of our kids will be done at Hogwarts after just one more year."

"True, but Lily will still only be sixteen next summer," she reminded him. "Maybe she'll decide to spend another year or two at home with us while she's waiting for Kieran to graduate."

"We can hope," he agreed before kissing her goodnight. "Right now, though, the only thing I'm hoping for is a few hours of uninterrupted sleep." Ginny murmured an unintelligible response, both of them slipping into a deep, dreamless rest.

On Sunday, the chefs for the second annual post-campout breakfast were busy, cooking for twenty-four. They were going to eat outdoors again, and so while they cooked, some of the other teens helped to set up tables, putting out place settings, jugs of juices, and pots of fresh tea and coffee. Ron and Hermione were impressed when they got downstairs just in time to be sent outside and invited to sit down with everyone and eat.

"This all looks great," Hermione told Rose and Al, who'd been the primary cooks. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome, Mum," Rose answered for them. "Matt, Hugo, Emily, and I are just buttering you up so that we can talk you into another trip to the island to play for our free day."

Ron laughed. "Then I'd say it worked beautifully, since we'd love to take you all there. You should probably see if your parents would like to go too, though," he told Matt and Emily, who both grinned and nodded.

After they ate and cleaned up, Rose and Matt first took Millie, Amy, and Carissa back to their houses, and the rest of the teens left for their homes in a fairly short time. Karl and Kieran would be spending the day with Kirley and Ana, while Nick and Scorpius would be doing the same with Percy and Penelope, while Allie went home to spend the day with her parents. Frederica and Liam were both going to their respective houses, while Al, Lily, and the others all went back to the cottage for the rest of the morning, before they'd be going to the residence for the afternoon.

They ended up with six extra for lunch, with Aaron and Tracey coming along for the trip to the residence too. They stayed there until nearly dinnertime. Most of the teenaged members of their little visitation group played with the younger kids, while Harry and Ginny made the rounds with the returning students, and spent a little extra time with the eleven graduating students that would be leaving the residence by the end of the summer now that they'd finished school at Hogwarts.

Lily eventually got to spend an hour or so with Nadine and Vanessa, wishing she'd have more time – especially since there was a good chance she wouldn't see them for three weeks or more. The girls understood, of course, but Lily made a note to herself to get some of their other friends to come spend some time here with them, or take them out on trips while she was away on her first two-week tour.

When they got back to the cottage, there were just nine for dinner, and a quiet, early night so they could all catch up on sleep before the craziness of the week before a wedding would start on Monday morning.

Al and Dale were the first two down to the kitchen after the smells from Harry's cooking reached their rooms. They both had hugs for Harry before sitting down at the table.

"What's up for this morning?" Al asked his father.

"For you," Harry told him, "it's to take Joel and Dale out to get suits for the wedding, and one for yourself if you want something new to wear too."

Al nodded. "I should probably get a new one for this. It isn't every day that my only brother gets married, and I will be ushering too. I'll see if Nick, Scorpius, and Hugo want to go with us. Kieran and Lily are in the studio today, aren't they?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, and that's a good idea to ask the other guys to go with you. Karl might be interested in going too, since I'm pretty sure that suit he got over the holidays is the only one he has now. I think Ana ordered him to get rid of anything he had that was more than fifty years out of style. We're going to have Carolyn and Brianna do the same with Sarah, Carissa, Millie, and Amy."

"Sounds good," Al said. 'You might want to think about the girls looking for dresses instead of suits, though." Dale laughed, and Harry grinned at the two boys.

"You and Mum will be running around with James, Arianna, Tracey, and Aaron most of the week?" Al asked, and Harry nodded.

"Pretty much, yes, so plan on doing some lunches on your own for the next few days, and mostly entertaining yourselves."

Al grinned at Dale. "Oh, I think we can manage that, right, Dale?"

"Probably, yes," Dale agreed with an answering grin.

"Anything else that we have to do after today?" Al continued as they talked.

"You two could probably help James out by packing up his stuff from his old room and getting it over to their house this week. Then you could decorate Dale's room however he'd like it. At least he's Gryffindor too, so he probably doesn't mind the colours. A new bed might be good too. I think James got that one when he was twelve or thirteen."

"We can do that too," Al said, and laughed at the look on Dale's face. "If you're going to be spending your holidays here until you graduate, you really ought to make the room your own," he told the boy. "You and I can start on that tomorrow, since doing suits and accessories will take most of today."

Dale got up and hugged both Al and Harry, unable to tell them any other way what that small suggestion meant to him. Joel, and the girls all started getting to the kitchen, and they mostly talked about wedding stuff and shopping while they ate.

When the cleanup was done after they'd eaten, Harry and Ginny quickly left to meet James and Arianna at Aaron and Tracey's house, while the girls waited for Millie, Amy, and Carissa to get there, and Al made some calls to see if any of the other boys would be joining them for their own shopping trip.

While they'd been having breakfast at the cottage, James and Arianna had gone over to Tracey and Aaron's house to have a quiet second anniversary breakfast celebration with them.

"Looks like we're already too late," Arianna teased as they were invited in. "By the looks of them, they've been celebrating already."

James laughed, and hugged Tracey and Aaron. "Good for them, since the rest of our day won't exactly leave them a lot of time to do that."

They were just going with a light breakfast of fruits, croissants, and pasties, and were just finishing up when Harry and Ginny got there.

"Happy Anniversary!" they told Aaron and Tracey before getting to the hugs and kisses part of their greeting.

"Ready for a busy day?" Ginny asked, and they all nodded. "We should get going then. First stop is our last meeting with the caterers."

Karl, Nick, and Scorpius were interested, but Hugo already had plans with Emily for the day, so there were just the six boys meeting at the Marauders Mall, and going directly to the store where they normally got all of their suits.

That took all morning by the time they had six suits, shirts, and ties. They met the girls for lunch, and then after eating, went back out to get dress shoes, and a few accessories like cufflinks and tiepins for the boys who didn't have them. There last stop was for a round of haircuts. They'd all decided to just get the unwelcome task over with now before either mothers or girlfriends mandated it for them anyway.

Al, Dale, and Joel got back to the cottage more than an hour ahead of the girls, so they put their new suits and other purchases away, and went outside to enjoy the beautiful, sunny day. Harry came back to the cottage next, and after spending a few minutes with the boys, went inside to start on dinner while Ginny was still with Arianna and Tracey at their last appointment of the day.

Lily was staying the night at the McCormack's so that they could just keep working in the studio on Tuesday. Since she was gone, there were only six teens at the cottage for dinner, and they were on their own for the evening, since Harry and Ginny had a small party to attend that Arianna's team mates were putting on for them at Liselle's house.

That party doubled as an anniversary party for Aaron and Tracey too, and it was there that they received gifts from Harry, Ginny, and their friends.

"You didn't think we'd completely skip celebrating it did you?" Arianna asked her brother after he and Tracey had opened the presents.

"No, I just thought that's what we did at breakfast," he told her with a grin.

"You thought wrong," she answered.

They'd been having fun all evening, and after a long day going from one appointment to another, it was a welcome reprieve for everyone. James enjoyed getting to spend a couple of hours with the team, since he hadn't really spent any time with them since last August, except for a little time with Sebastian, Trinity, Tristan, and Liselle at New Years in New York.

Like everything else seemed to be, though, this brief oasis from all of the running around was soon over, and it was time to go home, and get some sleep so that they'd be ready for another busy, full day to begin.

On Tuesday, Joel helped Al and Dale to pack all of James' remaining toys and clothes, and pretty much had the room cleared out except for Dale's own possessions. While they spent the morning doing that, the six girls just stayed around the house and took it easy. Just before noon, they were joined by most of the other teens except Lily and Kieran, and they all went out for lunch and an afternoon of playtime at the Marauders Mall in Paris.

Scorpius, Lily, and Kieran were at the cottage for dinner on Tuesday night, and spent the evening there too. Lily and Kieran would still be working in the studio, and shooting videos on Wednesday and Thursday, but would both have Friday and Saturday off before they'd be leaving on Sunday for their two-week long tour.

While the teens at the cottage were entertaining themselves on Wednesday by helping Dale to shop for his room, and Harry and Ginny were doing everything wedding with James and Arianna, Laura had gone with Andy to the QSPN offices for his meeting with the Wizards that would probably be his bosses.

She was in the small reception area of the QSPN offices, which was just inside the entrance to the office suites, and she was flipping through a Quidditch magazine while she waited for Andy to finish his meeting. He'd been in there for more than a half-hour already, and she was both nervous and excited for him. It wouldn't have taken this long if the offer hadn't been good enough for him.

When he finally came back down the long hallway that he'd been led down when they'd arrived, he'd been gone more than forty-five minutes, and he looked like he was in shock.

Laura stood and hugged him when he got to the waiting room.

"Are you all right?" she whispered, and he nodded.

"Let's get out of here, and I'll tell you about it over lunch," he said just as quietly.

When they'd left the building and were walking down the street, neither of them would have been able to see the two Wizards watching them from the office he'd left only minutes before – the top two men at QSPN.

"Would you have ever guessed that he had the kind of connections that put this deal together?" the younger of the two men asked as they watched the attractive young couple walk away.

"Not a chance," the CEO of the network answered. "At least it was my predecessor who signed that stupid contract, so we won't be on the hook if this is a disaster."

The other man was the CFO – the Chief Financial Officer - and he smiled. "I wouldn't make any bets on it being anything but brilliant," he advised. "The rest of that contract hasn't been very good for us, but it certainly has been for the other party. This could just make you and I a tidy little bonus by the end of the coming season if this does boost our audience."

"It'll have to boost it a lot, since if it doesn't, there's a hefty penalty for exercising that option," the older man said.

"That just means we win either way," the CFO stated confidently. "You do have to admit that the kid will probably be a star – he's got the looks, and he knows the sport inside and out."

"I'm sure that will be very comforting to the old boys who've just been replaced."

"No offence, but I'm not going to miss them all that much. Did you happen to notice that their collective game predictions were somewhere around twenty percent accurate last season? It's like they weren't even watching the same league that the rest of us were."

The older man nodded as he sat down at his desk again, Andy and Laura having walked out of sight.

"I'm not saying it's all bad, or even half bad. I am saying that I don't like having decisions like this taken out of our control, and that's were we stand for eight more seasons."

"Just remember that even if those decisions put our ratings in the hippogriff dung pile, we'll still make a decent profit, and that means that you and I make our bonuses."

Andy waited until they'd sat down for lunch, ordered, and received their drinks.

"So?" Laura finally said, and watched as Andy grinned.

"You're looking at the new play-by-play announcer and commentator for QSPN," he told her. "I'll be doing all of the 'A' games for the next five years, with a three year extension option that QSPN can pick up."

Laura stared at him in amazement. "You're going to get to start broadcasting this season?" she said excitedly. "That's brilliant!"

Andy nodded. "Not only that, but I get to pick my own broadcast team – the entire old team will be moved to other jobs or released. I'm actually going to start working on that right away, but I won't officially be starting until a week from Monday."

"What happened?" Laura asked. "Why are they doing this?"

Andy grinned. "I have my suspicions," he said in a near whisper. "There's probably a very good chance that a certain friend of ours has a father who can exert a little influence in the Quidditch World."

Laura smiled back at him. "You think James' father pulled a few strings?"

Andy nodded. "I wasn't given any specifics, but it seems that the company that owns all of the advertising slots for the QSPN broadcasts had the option in their contract to choose the broadcast team, and they invoked that right, and asked for me specifically. I got the feeling that a lot of money is riding on the decision."

"Then you'll just have to be your usual brilliant self, and make it pay off. Any other surprises?"

Andy nodded. "Just one more." He handed her the letter he'd been given by the CFO, and then laughed as her eyes got very wide.

"We both know that I'm not Mr Romantic," he said when she'd looked back up at him. "If you're not too busy after lunch, though, I was hoping that maybe you and I could maybe go looking for a certain kind of ring for you. The waiting until we get our careers off the ground and save a little money is over already. I hope that five days wasn't too long to wait."

Andy had been holding her hand, and looking into her beautiful eyes, and she'd smiled even as those glorious eyes filled with tears.

"I think my afternoon is suddenly completely open," she told him with a soft laugh. "I love you, Andy. Remind me when we have some time alone later to congratulate you properly on your new job."

"I definitely can remember to do that," he promised with a laugh.

After lunch on Wednesday, a large contingent of teens left for a couple of days on the island. Nick, Scorpius, and Allie left from the townhouse, and would be staying at their island bungalow with Brianna. Al and Carolyn were going to use the largest guesthouse on the island so that they could have room for themselves, Karl, Joel, Sarah, Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy. Rose and Hugo came with Matt and Emily, and would stay at their house along with Frederica and Liam.

"This was a brilliant idea," Allie told Nick as they walked toward the beach after dropping off their bags and getting swimsuits on. "The parents have us out of the way while they get ready for the wedding, and we aren't sitting around with nothing to do while we wait for the big event."

"Thank-you," he answered with a grin. "Since you and I won't get to spend the summer playing like some of my cousins and our friends, we thought that this would at least be a little break before we have to go to work next week."

"Like drawing buildings for you, and me getting to play in ladies fashions with Victoire is work," she said with a smile. "We're going to have a great summer, Nick."

Since they'd come to the island after lunch, it was still fairly early in the morning on the island, so they had a whole day ahead of them to play in the water, and relax on the beach. Al and Rose were going to be the cooks for the next two days, with some magical support from Matt, Scorpius, Nick, and Allie.

Back at home, or actually at that particular moment, in Chile, James and Harry were picking up cases of wine for the wedding while the girls were at their final dress fitting session.

"I should have checked with Megan to see if they carried Arianna's favourite wine at Marauders Escape," James said. "Callie's gotten to like it quite a lot too."

Harry laughed. "I had two cases sent there last week for you guys to make sure they did. That should be enough for two weeks for the girls."

"Do you and Mum have plans for the next couple of weeks?" James asked.

"Ginny will be getting back to work, and I'll start helping out more at the residence to start getting ready for the week at Marauders Paradise," Harry answered.

"You're going this year?" James asked, and Harry nodded.

"Yes. We're going to take the seven kids with us – and Mark and Callie if they want to, although we haven't talked to them about it yet. All of the new kids that the foundation is caring for now will be going for one of the weeks."

"The kids will love having you back there again after a couple of years off," James said. "Aunt Gabrielle and Uncle Kevin will be happy too."

"We've missed doing these holidays with the kids too," Harry said. He looked at his watch. "Let's get wrapped up here and get home so I can start cooking dinner. Aaron's probably already wondering where we are, and the girls should be back to the cottage in good time today."

While the rest of the kids played, Kieran and Lily were busy in the studio, shooting videos, and practicing for their new concert tour. Lily was staying over on Wednesday night, and while they still had a full day on Thursday, they were both looking forward to leaving for the island later in the afternoon, and at least getting to spend the rest of the day, island time, with everyone else, even if it was only for one night, and they'd have to leave before lunchtime local time on Friday to be back at the cottage for dinner with James and Arianna.

"I know we're getting a lot done this week," Lily told Kieran as they snuggled on a sofa in the sitting room long after Kirley and Ana had gone to bed. "I do wish we'd gotten to have a break first, though. We'll have to think about that for next year – especially after I've taken twelve NEWTs."

Kieran nodded. "I think so too," he agreed. "I do understand what they're doing, though. We'll only get so many years as a teen pop group before SpellBound will finish it's run and we'll have to move on, so we should keep at it while we can."

Lily nodded. "I guess, but we'll probably be good at least until you graduate, and that's still three more years."

"That'd be my guess too," Kieran said. "Then we'll have to think about getting real jobs."

Lily laughed. "It's too late at night to start thinking that far ahead," she told him. "Let's start a little closer to now. Have you got everything set up for your team practices to start next week?"

"Yes. We got everything confirmed today," he answered. "This should prove to be a very interesting summer for that."

"Hugo and Nick won't expect it, that's for sure," she agreed. "If Thomas and Daphne have picked well, you should have fun training with Slytherin all summer, and you'll both have way better teams this coming year."

"Will Ravenclaw and Gryffindor train together all summer too?" he asked, and Lily nodded.

"When you're at your Grandmother's place working out, I'll pop over to the cottage and do our team practices too," Lily said. "Nick and Hugo will try and work around our schedule when they can."

"You're sure that Nick will be the new captain? Not Rose or Scorpius – or you?"

"Rose and Scorpius are already Prefects, and Matt recommended Nick anyway. Joe is only going into second year, and even if he makes Captain next year, that's a bit early for him to take over the team."

Kieran nodded. "That'll be tough for him too, since he'll go in with at least five new players, depending on who you have on the team to replace Matt this coming year."

Lily was watching him, her eyes soft, and a little smile on her face.

"What?" he asked; smiling back at her.

"I was just thinking that we're here, all alone, and instead of taking advantage of the opportunity, we're talking business and Quidditch," she told him.

"Then you won't mind if I stop talking and just snog you senseless instead?" Kieran asked. Lily's bright smile and twinkling eyes were all the answer Kieran needed, and he pulled her into a long, brilliant kiss.

The last two days of the week passed quickly. Harry, Ginny, James, and Arianna were busy concentrating on the wedding, and the kids were busy having fun playing on the island. After work on Friday afternoon, Teddy and Stewart stopped by the cottage to pick up their three kids, along with Dale, Joel, and Sarah. They'd be splitting up the extra three teens between them for the night so that the Potters could have a family-only dinner with James and Arianna, and then have them out of the way in the morning while the cottage was set up for the wedding.

That dinner included Al, Lily, Carolyn, Brianna, Scorpius, and Kieran, along with James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, Grandma and Grandpa.

"Is there any chance of avoiding this turning into a maudlin review of our lives tonight?" James asked the others as they sat down to eat.

Ginny smiled at him. "Probably not. We'll be officially losing our first baby, and since we're also acting parents of the bride too, we'll just have to go over everything for both of you."

James groaned, but Arianna laughed. "Relax, James. This should be fun. Maybe I'll even hear some stories I didn't know about."

He hadn't needed to worry about things getting all that sentimental, since most of the stories revolved around his youthful propensity toward pulling pranks. There were some stories that Arianna didn't know about – like when Teddy had sent Lily the James Potter tickle me doll for her birthday that he'd ended up using to tickle himself blue in the face.

They didn't talk about Arianna's life pre-residence, but they had enough stories that they'd all been around for to remind each other about for her too, and Aaron was more than happy to help out with those parts of the conversation.

After dinner, it was time for a lost run-through for the big day, and then an early night for everyone, since Saturday would be a very long and full day for all of them. James and Arianna were at home, snuggled on the sofa for a few minutes before Tracey would be getting there to kick him out of the house and send him over to stay with Aaron for the night.

"One more day, and it'll be over. Then we'll be able to get to the part where we relax, have fun, and be merry part of getting married," James said quietly, kissing her tenderly. "I'm going to really miss not being here tonight, though."

"I'm going to really miss having you here. You'll be at the cottage early, and we'll be at SpaMagic, so it's probably a good thing we won't be able to cuddle together and talk all night."

James grinned. "I wasn't thinking about talking much at all, but yeah, not getting a good sleep tonight would be bad for later tomorrow."

Arianna laughed and kissed him. "Come on, she said. You'd better get your bag and tux before Tracey gets here. At least we won't be the only couple that aren't together tonight."

Saturday morning, Harry had breakfast ready early for everyone, and then the girls were off to SpaMagic – actually to several SpaMagics, since Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna were taking Sarah, Carissa, Millie, and Amy with them to SpaMagic Hogsmeade, while Ginny would be with Arianna, Tracey, and a few other Weasley women at the Marauders Mall SpaMagic, and a third group, led by Penelope and Ana, would be going to the Emerald City Centre SpaMagic, since they had too many Witches to handle them all at just one of the locations.

Once the girls were gone, quite a few of the boys started to gather at the cottage to start setting up the chairs for the ceremony, the tables for dinner, and everything for the dance. They had lots of adult magical help, so by noon, they had everything done, and then after a light lunch, left for their own homes to get ready for the wedding, since they all needed to be back at the cottage for two-thirty.

James and Aaron went back to Aaron's house to get ready, and when they were finished cleaning up and dressing up in their tuxes, they met in the sitting room. Aaron had a glass of wine waiting for James when he walked into the room, since he'd gotten there ahead of his about to be brother-in-law.

"Another couple of hours and we'll officially be brothers," he told James. "I'm really glad it's you marrying Arianna. I know you'll love her and make her happy."

"Once we catch up on our sleep in a couple of days, we'll have two weeks to get a brilliant start on that making her happy part," James said with a grin.

"That's true," Aaron agreed, looking up at the clock, "but if we don't get going, they won't be very happy with us at all. I've heard that getting to the wedding late is not a good idea."

They didn't actually have to worry about that, since they were there well ahead of two-thirty, and the ceremony was at three. Al, Nick, Scorpius, and Hugo were the ushers, and by two-thirty, the first guests were arriving, and they began the steady stream of walks up and down the aisle and the outside of the rows to seat everyone. There were just about two hundred guests, so they weren't hurried at all as they escorted the ladies to their seats.

Just before three, the four boys joined their girlfriends, Al and Carolyn in the front row this time with Ginny, Lily, Kieran, Brianna, Scorpius, Grandma, and Grandpa. James and Aaron stood at the front, and it wasn't long before the buzz from the back of the crowd announced that Tracey, Arianna, and Harry had arrived to begin their walk to the front.

All of the guests turned to watch the small procession. Tracey led the way, with Arianna walking next to Harry, her hand resting lightly on his arm. She was stunning, and James and Aaron were both smiling as they watched her approach. When they reached the front, she kissed Harry's cheek, before taking James' hand. Harry stepped back to sit with Ginny, and James and Arianna turned to face the Wizard who was performing the ceremony.

Al held Carolyn's hand as they watched the ceremony. They'd both been to a few weddings now, but this one was different, maybe more for Al than it was for Carolyn. He wasn't sure how he was feeling. His older brother was all grown up, and was starting his own life today, but it was also true that they had never really been close in the same way that he and Lily were. He loved James a lot, and they did have some things that they both loved to do together, but they were also different in a lot of ways too. Aaron was, and had been for years, more of that best friend kind of brother to James.

Sometimes he wished that had been different, but then now he also knew that their lives were going to be very different as adults too.

Carolyn nudged him, bringing him back to paying attention. It was funny how that happened to him fairly often at weddings.

Months of work went into putting this together, and in less than twenty minutes, the ceremony was ending, and James and Arianna Potter were introduced to their family and friends before being led back down the aisle as everyone clapped and cheered.

Most of the guests moved over to the section of the yard that was set up for dinner, getting drinks and socializing for the hour or so that James and Arianna were kept busy taking pictures with their family and friends. When that was done, they had an hour to go into the cottage and have a short break for themselves before rejoining their guests for dinner.

Harry and Ginny were at the table with James, Arianna, Tracey, and Aaron, along with Grandma and Grandpa Weasley. Al and Carolyn were at a table with Sarah, Joel, Millie, Amy, Dale, Carissa, Brianna, and Scorpius. Their six summer guests all seemed to be having fun so far, and the three younger girls chatted happily about how beautiful the ceremony had been, and about what else would be happening for the rest of the night. The rest of the Marauders were spread out at other tables, either with parents, or in other teen groups.

James had, over his short lifetime, been a major instigator of the dinner kisses at weddings. This time, there were quite a few adults at the wedding ready for a little retribution, so there was a regular sounding of clinking glasses to get the couple on their feet and kissing.

Dinner was incredible, and took nearly two and a half hours from appetizers to desserts. There was another hour-long break, and then the dance started at around nine o'clock with Lily and Kieran performing the song they'd written for James and Arianna's first dance.

The beautiful ballad had most of the Witches in tears as they listened and watched James and Arianna dance slowly to the music. When the song ended, they exchanged hugs and kisses with Lily and Kieran, before the band that would be entertaining them for the evening took to the stage and started the next song, bringing Aaron and Tracey out to join James and Arianna on the dance floor.

"Nicely done," Ana complimented Lily and Kieran when they sat back down with them again. "Do you get bonus points for having crying and laughing going on at the same time?"

Lily grinned at her. "Well, we couldn't have a song about James without there being at least a little humour, could we?"

They watched the next two dances until all of the guests were invited to join, then everyone at their table got up to go dancing too.

James and Arianna were able to sit down after the first half-dozen songs for a short break. They were at their table by themselves, and smiled as they watched everyone having fun.

"Weddings are quite a bit different from the bride and groom perspective," Arianna said.

"I promise to never clink glasses to get the happy couple up and kissing ever again," James promised. "Not that I mind kissing you a lot, but my youthful wedding indiscretions came back to haunt me tonight."

Arianna laughed. "They were all having fun, and they did eventually give us enough time to eat. The only thing I'm missing so far is getting to spend some time with our friends. We've hardly even talked to Andy, Laura, Jon, and Therese. Mark and Callie will be at the island, but by the time we get back, we won't have much time to see them before they'll be either gone to Romania, or busy with their own jobs."

James nodded. "We'll try and spend some time with them before we leave for the island."

"Tired out already?" Aaron asked them as he and Tracey sat down.

James grinned. "We're just pacing ourselves," he answered. "What brings you off of the dance floor?"

"We lost the bride and groom, so we came to find them," Tracey answered. "You're almost there. A few more hours, and we'll be in paradise for two whole weeks."

That few hours seemed to fly past. There was more dancing, a lengthy tour around the tables to talk with as many of their guests as possible, and then Tracey and Ginny disappeared with Arianna for nearly an hour while she changed for their last dances and trip to Marauders Escape.

They were down to the last couple of dances, and James was dancing with his mother, while Arianna was dancing with their father.

"Is this where I'm supposed to come up with some words of wisdom for you before you go off to live your life?" Ginny asked with a smile.

James laughed. "If you have something you've been saving. I think you and Dad have done a pretty great job getting both of us ready to be grown-ups, though, so I'm not sure how you could improve on that during a four-minute song."

"Thank-you. We're really proud of both of you, too," she told him. "I imagine you had enough advice from the rest of your family and friends for one night anyway, so why don't we just dance, and skip the motherly advice part altogether."

Harry was smiling as he danced with Arianna.

"You're absolutely stunning," he complimented her. Tracey and Ginny had touched up her hair, and she was wearing a simple, beautiful sundress. "Was James even able to talk when he saw you in that dress?"

"He managed to put together a few words, yes," she answered. "If I forgot to tell you, thank-you for everything. This has been an incredible day."

"You didn't forget," Harry told her, "and you're welcome."

"I'd ask if you were going to take a couple of days off, but knowing you, by tomorrow afternoon you'll be at the residence."

"Probably. I haven't been there all week, and I haven't gotten to play dolls at all either," Harry joked.

"The kids miss you just as much as you miss them when you can't get there to play," Arianna told him.

Their dance didn't last nearly long enough, and then it was time for James and Arianna to have one last dance before they were to leave for the island.

"Finally," James said, smiling. "One last dance, and a few goodbyes and we're out of here."

Arianna smiled at him. "Are you in a hurry to get me alone?" she asked archly, and James laughed.

"Definitely," he answered, kissing her.

They danced until the last notes of the song faded. The band took a break so that it would be easier for James and Arianna to go around and say goodbye to everyone before having a quiet moment with just Harry, Ginny, Aaron, and Tracey when they were ready to leave for Marauders Escape.

"You two have a great honeymoon," Ginny told them as she hugged them in turn. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mum," James said. "When will you guys be coming?" he asked Aaron and Tracey.

"We'll keep helping out here until after the party's over," Tracey told him. "Then we'll come along with Mark and Callie."

Aaron grinned at them. "We don't expect to see you guys until Monday, though." He hugged Arianna. "I love you, sis. We'll see you around the island when you two come up for air."

Arianna laughed and hugged him back. "I love you too, Aaron. Have a good rest of the night."

James and Arianna disappeared as they took the Transportal to Marauders Escape, where they blinked as the early morning sunshine of Sunday morning replaced the darkness of night they had just left.

"Welcome to Marauders Escape," Megan said, smiling at James and Arianna.

"You came ahead?" Arianna asked. "You could have stayed." Megan was still wearing the dress she was wearing at the wedding.

"I wanted to get you settled in myself, and then Devon and I have been up for nearly a whole day, and we both have to get back to work on Monday, so we didn't want to stay up for another few hours anyway."

She led them to a suite that overlooked the bay that the resort was built beside. There was a bottle of Arianna's favourite wine on ice, and a breakfast tray on the balcony table waiting for them.

"I didn't think you'd want to go down for breakfast this morning, so everything you need is here already," Megan told them.

"Thank-you," James said, hugging her. "This is perfect."

Megan laughed. "Not quite. Give me a minute to get out of here, and it will be."

Arianna laughed and hugged her too. "Thank-you, Megan. Will we see you around?"

She nodded. "Yes, but hopefully not for the rest of today. If you need anything, just call for it, and someone will get whatever you need brought up here."

Megan left, and then they were finally alone.

James opened the bottle of wine and poured two glasses and handed one to Arianna.

"Would you like something to eat?" he asked, and Arianna shook her head. After taking a drink from her glass, she set it on a table, and stepped next to James and put her arms around his neck.

"I've been waiting for this moment for quite a while, James," she told him with a smile. "All I want this morning – right now – is you."

James smiled too, and after putting his glass down, swept her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

"I love you, Arianna," he whispered tenderly as he laid her gently on the bed.

"I love you too, James," she whispered back, her glorious eyes soft and filled with love.

"Are you as nervous as I am?" he asked just as softly, and watched as she nodded, her soft, beautiful hair cascading around her face on the pillow.

There weren't many more words as soft kisses and caresses swept them both away into a shared joy and passion as they spent their first intimate night – or morning – together.

The wedding guests at the cottage had started to leave shortly after James and Arianna had left for Marauders Escape, and by two o'clock, the cleanup was finished, and Aaron, Tracey, Mark, and Callie had been the last to leave, on their way to Marauders Escape too.

Harry and Ginny dropped into a sofa in the sitting room, and smiled at Al and Carolyn, who were snuggled on one of the other sofas.

"I'm surprised you're still awake," Ginny told them tiredly. "Everyone else go to bed?"

Carolyn nodded. "Yeah, they were all tired out. We just weren't quite ready to say goodnight yet."

"We just needed to stop for a rest before climbing the stairs," Harry joked. "This has been a very long day."

"Other than hopefully sleeping in," Al said, "What's up for later today?"

"We'll have Kirley, Ana, and the boys over for lunch, and Lily needs to pack in the morning," Ginny told them. "Then we're planning on a stop at the residence, and finish up with dinner here, and hopefully a do-nothing rest of the night."

"Are you taking an extra day or two off from the lab?" Carolyn asked, and Ginny nodded.

"Just Monday – we're going to go out with Ron and Hermione for our anniversary, then I'll go back on Tuesday."

"That's probably a good plan," Carolyn said. "It's going to be busy around here on Monday with Millie, Amy, and Carissa over. Then there'll be Kira, James, and Timothy along with Frederica to baby-sit with Sarah."

Ginny laughed. "Maybe we should book a room at the Emerald City Centre for tomorrow night," she told Harry. "It's going to be a zoo here next week."

Harry smiled. "I know. That's just the way I like it – filled with kids."

"You two have a good night," Ginny told them, standing up and holding out her hand for Harry. "We're going to get some sleep."

"Good night, Mum, Dad," Al said. "We'll see you in the morning."

Al and Carolyn listened as Harry and Ginny climbed the stairs and went into their room.

"What have we here?" Al asked, lifting a blanket from the table next to them, and spreading it out over them.

"I would say that what we have here is a perfect end to a really great day," Carolyn said as they stretched out on the sofa.

Al and Carolyn snuggled close, ready for a few hours sleep before they could start the summer holidays that seemed like they'd been on hold until after the wedding. They might not have decided everything they'd do this summer, but they were sure that they were going to have another great holiday this year.


	98. Summer Days  July

Chapter Ninety-Eight – Summer Days – July

Sunday morning, everyone at the cottage slept in much later than they normally would. Lily was up first, and had begun packing for her trip even before Harry had gotten up to start cooking a late morning brunch. He stopped in on his way downstairs, and smiled as he looked in through her open door.

"You're already way ahead of me," he told her. "Since you'll be leaving me for a couple of weeks, I hope you won't mind if I make up a few of your favourite breakfast foods this morning."

Lily smiled back at him. "I won't mind at all. You have lots of kids to keep you company this summer, so you'll get along without me just fine."

"I'll still miss you a lot," he assured her. "I better get to work – it won't be long before we're all awake and ready for some food."

While her father went downstairs, Lily continued to pack. She had a whole new set of stage outfits for this summer's tour, all of which would be available for back to school shopping for teen Witches through some of the Witch Investment stores as part of the SpellBound product line that was a multi-million galleon business.

Since they would be staying in Muggle hotels during the whole trip, her luggage looked like two normal travel bags, but each had undetectable expansions, and could hold the dozens of outfits she needed, along with shoes and other accessories she had to go with them.

The smell of cooking coming from the kitchen wafted in her open door as she finished packing, and Ginny came in and sat on her bed.

"You're finished packing already. Are we excited about the trip?" she asked.

Lily came over and hugged her. "Yes. I'm going to miss being here, but Ana did say we'll get three weeks off with nothing booked at all, so hopefully we'll get to at least spend some of that time together."

"We'll work something out," Ginny agreed. "Since you're done, though, we should get downstairs before the boys beat us to the food."

"That's not really a problem this morning. Al's never been like that, while Dale and Joel never just pile up their plates either," Lily said with a smile.

"Your father's working on that with them slowly," she told Lily. "They're all doing so much better, but we can't forget that all of the kids still have a long way to go before they'll be past everything that happened to them."

Lily nodded. "Then it's a good thing that they have us to help them." She held out her hand, and Ginny took it and stood. "Let's go downstairs. We've got until later this afternoon before I'll have to leave, so at least we can hang out together until then."

Ginny laughed. "Sure. You, me, your father, and a couple of hundred kids."

James and Arianna were awake, snuggled in bed together. They hadn't gotten much sleep, but it felt like late morning to them.

Arianna smiled at him when he'd woken. "Good morning," she said softly. "How are you this afternoon?"

James returned her smile, and kissed her tenderly. "I'm absolutely brilliant. How are you?"

She smiled even brighter and laughed. "I'm feeling really great too," she said, running a hand across his bare chest and along his side. "You feel pretty good too."

James laughed too, as her touch sent a shiver of delight through him, and he pulled her close and kissed her again – this time a deep, yearning embrace that left them both breathless.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to go out and get something to eat," she told him after that kiss, "but I've changed my mind. You're not going anywhere for a while longer." When he ran his hands down the length of her back as he nibbled her neck, she laughed. "Maybe not for quite a while longer."

Carissa, Millie, and Amy were sitting in Carissa's room after the breakfast they'd all had at Stewart and Isabelle's. They had a little time before they were going to go out for the rest of the day together. They'd been told that they'd do that a lot this summer on the weekends.

"What do you think of living here this summer so far?" Carissa asked the other two girls, unknowingly repeating what Amy had asked Millie just a week ago.

"I think it's been brilliant so far," Amy said, and Millie nodded.

"Victoire and Teddy are so great," Millie said. "I guess they were right that coming to stay with them was just what Amy and I needed."

Carissa nodded. "And I get to pretend to have two really cool older sisters for the summer."

Amy hugged her. "You make a pretty great little sister for us too."

While the girls talked in Carissa's room, Karl was packing for the two-week trip he'd be going on with SpellBound. He had mixed feelings about that, since it also meant two weeks without seeing Daphne. He was nearly finished packing his things into the new travel bag that Kieran had given him, when the other boy knocked on the open door and came in.

"Just about packed?" he asked, and Karl nodded.

Mum, Dad, and I are going over to the cottage, and then to the residence for a visit before we go on our tour. Will you be okay here for a couple of hours?"

Karl was a bit surprised he wasn't asked to come along.

"Sure. I'll probably just practice my guitar or something while you're gone."

"You're sure? I was thinking you'd need some company, so I asked Daphne to stop by, but if you're really okay by yourself, then I could just call her and cancel."

Karl laughed, since when he looked up at Kieran after zipping his bag closed, Daphne was already standing just inside the room too, a brilliant smile on her face.

Kieran laughed too. "We'll see you two in a couple of hours, mate," he told Karl, and Daphne hugged him before he left.

"I didn't expect to see you again before we left," Karl said quietly as Daphne met him halfway across the room. They hugged, and shared a soft, gentle kiss.

"Mum wasn't all that happy, since we seem to be spending more time together than I spend with them, but they've got me full time for the next two weeks, so she'll get over it soon."

"Except for your new job," he pointed out, and Daphne nodded.

"That was nice of Allie to refer me to her old job in the Mall. She said the best part is the discount on clothes, but I think the rest of it sounds pretty awesome too, even if it's maybe not as cool as your job will be."

"I'll let you know after the trip whether that's true or not. Hopefully it'll be more interesting than just carrying equipment around."

"Well, if you're not going to play your guitar while they're gone," Daphne said with a smile, "what are you going to do instead?"

Karl smiled too. "I'm leaning heavily toward spending the next couple of hours snogging you senseless," he said. "I definitely want to make sure you won't be interested in looking for a replacement boyfriend while I'm gone."

"You don't have to worry about that happening, but the snogging me senseless part sounds like fun."

"Was he surprised?" Lily asked when Kieran, Kirley, and Ana got to the cottage.

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun to watch," Kieran answered as he hugged Lily.

They went into the sitting room, where Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the kids were sitting.

"Ready to go?" Harry asked them, and got four nods in return. It was just going to be the six of them going to the residence, while Al, Carolyn, and the others stayed around the cottage instead.

Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Ana had wanted to visit with the kids, but for Lily, her main reason for going was to see Vanessa and Nadine before they left, so she and Kieran spent most of their time with them.

"Here's our itinerary for the next two weeks," she told Vanessa as she handed her several sheets of parchment.

"I added the home time here next to the local times that are listed. I'll answer your qm's when I have time, and I'll try to call every couple of days."

"Thanks, Lily. Will we see you when Kieran comes over for our team practices on Tuesday and Thursday each week?"

Lily smiled. "I'm not sure yet. I'll be at my own practice, so that might depend on which one of us gets done first, or if we have any time left after finishing."

Vanessa and Nadine both nodded. "If you can't, maybe I can come and watch one of your practices instead of going with Nadine."

"That would be great," Lily told her. She knew there was a pretty good chance that her young friend might be as much interested in going to see Lance play, but that was okay too.

They sat and talked for nearly an hour before Lily and Kieran hugged them goodbye, and went for a walk around the residence to visit with some of the other kids before Ana found them and let them know it was time to leave.

When they left the residence, Lily had a long goodbye with her parents, and then went with Kieran and his parents to their house. Her bags had already been sent, and everything was ready to go, but with the time change, they still had time for a long meeting with Laura to go over their schedule with her in detail. Andy was going to travel with them for the first week, and so while Laura was in the meeting, he and Karl played 3D GameWizard until it was time to go. They left at around four o'clock in the afternoon for San Diego, where with an eight hour time difference, they arrived in time to start another whole new day.

While Harry and Ginny had been at the residence, the consensus at the cottage was that an afternoon playing in and around a portable pool was exactly what they needed, so when they returned, there was a very happy group of teens either playing in the water, or relaxing in chairs nearby.

"This looks like a perfect way to spend the rest of the day," Ginny told them. "We'll go get changed and be right back."

Al and Carolyn were two of the teens sitting in chairs and they both smiled as their parents went into the cottage.

"We could probably whip up dinner for everyone too," Carolyn suggested. "That way they can take it easy for the rest of the day."

"That sounds good," he agreed. "Since they're going to be gone most of tomorrow, I thought you and I could help out around here for the day instead of leaving Sarah and Frederica on their own with seven kids."

Carolyn nodded. "I thought we'd be doing that. Besides, we won't make plans until we know what goes on with Matt and Rose."

"That's true, but I thought we should start working on the house too. I can't do some of the things I want until after I turn seventeen in August, but we can start cleaning the place up, and getting it decorated and furnished."

"Do you think Matt will live there for the next year?" Carolyn asked.

"I don't know. He'll probably decide that sometime this week, though. That won't make much difference, except that he could pick out furniture for one of the bedrooms if he is going to live there."

"If there's a comfortable bed and someplace to put his things, he probably won't care about that," she told Al with a smile.

Al smiled back. "You're probably right about that."

Harry and Ginny joined them again, and Al and Carolyn joined the others in the pool when their parents jumped right in to swim and play.

At Marauders Escape, the newlyweds had enjoyed a private dinner on their balcony, watching as the sunlight faded into twilight across the water, and the first stars appeared. By ten o'clock local time, they were wide awake, but Megan had sent them a potion to take so that by morning they'd both be adjusted to this time zone and ready to enjoy themselves over the next two weeks.

Aaron, Tracey, Mark, and Callie were doing the same thing, although they'd gone out to dinner together, and Aaron and Tracey had shown the other couple around part of the island for an hour or two before they planned on returning to their suites to take their potions and go to bed.

"This place is just as incredible as Marauders Paradise," Callie told them. "Maybe we should reconsider our career choices," she told Mark, who laughed.

"This would be pretty great, but if it's okay with you, I'd like to find out if I can race first. If that doesn't work out for me, this would be a pretty great plan B."

"Since Dad's backing you," Aaron said, "I'd say you've probably got a good plan A."

"We should start heading back for our suites," Tracey told them. "That potion will work to get us adjusted to the time, but we do have to get the sleep that helps it work."

Callie nodded. "Yes, and we definitely want to be in this time zone by Tuesday," she said with a impish grin directed at Mark that had him blushing and Tracey laughing.

"That'll work out for us," Aaron said. "By the time you two disappear for a day or two, James and Arianna should come up for air."

Tracey took his hand, and they all turned back toward the hotel. "If they don't I'm sure we can find something to do, even if we are an old married couple."

The main reason that Lily, Kieran, and the others left for their trip on Sunday was to get used to the eight-hour time change. They had the whole second Sunday to themselves, and so after checking in to their hotel, they went shopping, then to the ocean for an afternoon on the beach, before going back to the hotel for dinner.

By six o'clock, it already felt like two in the morning, but they all needed to stay up until at least nine o'clock local time, then take their potions, and by the time they had to be ready for their morning interviews, they'd be ready for the new time zone. You didn't want to use the potion a lot, but in moderation, and just for the big time changes, it worked wonders.

"It's just interviews for most of the day for us," Kieran said to his father. "What will you and Karl do for the day?"

"We've got a couple of meetings in the morning, and we'll do lunch with all of you, and then while you're working, we'll just have to go find something to play at until it's time to do your sound check for the party tomorrow night."

"What's this stadium like?" Lily asked.

"It's similar to the one in Mexico," Ana answered. "The last time it was used for the Quidditch World Cup, the Spanish Muggles still controlled this area of America."

"You mean they don't now?" Lily joked. "I've heard more Spanish than English so far today."

"At least you understand the language" Kieran told her. "What will you do all day?" he asked Andy.

"I've got a couple of meetings with people I worked with last summer that I want to be on my broadcast team."

"Do you think they'll move?" Lily asked.

"These two guys are single, so I think they'll come, since it's a big promotion for both of them. I've already got my statistics expert, since I talked to her last week already, and I've got another Witch back home that I hope to recruit when I get back next week."

"It's a good thing you're not hiring an all-Witch team, or we'd be having a little talk about that," Laura told him.

"You met Erica and her husband and kids last week, and Hannah will hopefully be our field reporter, so I won't even be working in the same room with her all that often," Andy said with a grin. "You have nothing to worry about."

After dinner, Kieran and Lily went for a walk, and then went for a swim before going back to their room. For most of their stops on this trip, Kirley and Ana had agreed they could have their own room as long as it was an adjoining room, and they kept the door between them unlocked.

That wasn't a problem for the kids, since as long as they got to cuddle together all night they were both happy campers. It wasn't very long after taking their potions that they fell asleep, snuggled close and content.

Karl hadn't been all that surprised that Kieran and Lily had their own room, and didn't mind at all that he had a room to himself too. This was his first experience in a Muggle hotel, and so he'd been sitting up watching Muggle television before getting ready for bed himself.

He would have liked to say goodnight to Daphne, but it wasn't quite six o'clock in the morning there, and he didn't want to wake her up. At least with the new WiComm that Kirley and Ana had given him so that he could be reached if he was doing something on his own, he'd be able to call her sometimes, and send QuillMessages, and he could even send pictures with it from his camera. When he took his potion and went to sleep, it was less than an hour before Monday morning would be starting for most Witches and Wizards back home.

Harry and Ginny woke up to the smell of breakfast and coffee already cooking, and smiled at each other.

"Happy Anniversary," they said at nearly the same time before sharing a long, sweet kiss.

"Two meals in a row," Ginny said. "We should have anniversaries every day."

"We've got pretty smart kids," Harry answered. "I think they'd catch on to that quick, and it wouldn't work anymore."

Harry got up first and had a quick shower before getting ready and going downstairs while Ginny got ready too. There was a coffee waiting for him when he got to the kitchen, where Al, Carolyn, and Brianna all hugged him and wished him a Happy Anniversary.

"What time does the gang start arriving?" he asked them after sitting down and taking his first sip of coffee.

"Frederica will be here by seven-thirty, and the rest of the kids should be here anytime after that," Carolyn answered.

"We'll stay around here today while you're away in case she and Sarah need any help," Al told his father.

"Thanks," Harry told them. I'm sure that Dale, Carissa, Amy, and Millie will entertain themselves, or even help some with Kira and the boys, but having someone extra around will make Frederica and Sarah feel better for their first day."

"You're welcome," Al said. "I'll be right back," he told Carolyn and Brianna. "I better make sure Joel's just about ready. "He won't want to be late for his first day."

When he came back downstairs, he had Joel, Dale, and Sarah all with him. They were just finishing getting all of the food on the table when Ginny joined them and they all sat down to eat. Joel and Brianna had to hurry, and they were on their way long before the rest of them finished breakfast.

Frederica got there not long after Brianna and Joel had left for the Ministry of Magic, and she sat with them, taking the glass of juice, and a croissant that was offered to her.

"Ready for your first adventure in babysitting?" she asked Sarah with a laugh. "We'll be in for a long first day if Kira, James, and Timothy are as fired up as they were last year on their first day."

"I hope so," Sarah said. "This is a whole new world for me."

Mandy dropped Timothy off next, just as Al and Carolyn began to clean up from breakfast, and Owen dropped off Kira and James on his way to his office in London.

The last three additions came with Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle, who all came to wish Harry and Ginny a Happy Anniversary, and drop off a gift before going on to work themselves.

That was one of the things that Carissa, Millie, and Amy had done on Sunday – help pick out an anniversary gift when they were at the Marauders Mall in Paris. That, and play a little dress-up before going to play in the amazing atrium amusement park.

Harry and Ginny had opened that present, and one that Al gave them from 'the kids', and then Teddy and Victoire, then Isabelle and Stewart, left for work, and Harry and Ginny finished getting ready for their day out, hugged and kissed the kids goodbye, and left for Ron and Hermione's house.

"What are we going to do today?" Kira asked Frederica and Sarah.

"Are we supposed to do stuff with you?" Frederica teased. "We thought that you and the boys could just sit on sofas all day and have a really fun staring contest or something."

Kira looked at her suspiciously, but her now five-year old intellect told her that she was being teased, and Frederica laughed at the look on her face and picked her up for a hug.

"Guess not, Sarah. We'll have to go with option number two – play games outside all morning, take them out for lunch and then go shopping at the Mall for the afternoon."

Sarah had been surprised to find out that they actually had a weekly entertainment budget for the three kids that would allow them to do at least two outings every week with Kira and the boys. While she and Frederica took their charges out to play, in the kitchen, Dale, Carissa, Amy, and Millie were deciding what they wanted to do.

"The only thing on your schedule for today is lunch with us at the Marauders Mall," Carolyn told them. "You can go shopping in the afternoon, or do something else."

The girls were grinning, but Dale rolled his eyes.

"Do girls ever get tired of shopping?" he asked Al, who grinned at him.

"No, so you might as well get used to it," Al told him. "You and I could go walk around the Mall on our own and let the girls go have fun playing dress-up if you want."

"Well, if we're going to be stuck at the Mall, then I guess spending it finding out what's new at GamePortal or at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes is better than following the girls around."

"So that still leaves the morning," Amy said. "What should we do?"

"Have any of you actually gone into Godric's Hollow?" Carolyn asked, and received four negative headshakes.

"Well, you're going to spend a lot of time here this summer. Why don't Al and I show you around town, and maybe check out the ice cream shop on the way back."

That suggestion was a winner, and it didn't take long for Al and Carolyn to have Dale and the three girls walking toward town. Kira had given them the look, and was added to the group, while the boys wanted to stay and play in the yard with Sarah and Frederica.

In the office of the CEO of Witch Investments, Rose and Matt were meeting with Victoire, presenting their proposal for their little custom tour business. They'd put it together with Lily's expert assistance, and were now waiting for Victoire to finish reading the detailed analysis and projections. When she finally looked up at them, Victoire was smiling.

"I love the idea," she told them. "You target clientele is a group that our travel division isn't currently really going after at all." She looked at Matt.

"You're going to do all of the sales from September until June?" she asked, and he nodded.

"We'll need all of the next year to get ready. If these trips aren't spectacular, we won't get returning clientele and the kind of referrals we'll need."

Victoire nodded. "I'm sure you'll be great at this," she told them. "You've had someone go over your numbers, since they're exactly the kind of ownership percentages we'd agree to, so the only thing left to say, is – congratulations, your proposal is approved."

Rose hugged Matt, and then hugged Victoire.

"How's Aunt Hermione taking your not going into the lab with her?" Victoire asked.

"She's disappointed, but I think she realizes it's just not for me," Rose answered.

"Well, I think you two are going to do great in this business, and it should be a lot of fun along the way, too. Just don't' forget to come talk with Teddy, Stewart, Isabelle, and I about booking one of your trips. We'll definitely be interested."

Rose and Matt stood up, hugged Victoire again, and left for home so they could talk over their plans, now that their fledgling business was now backed by the second largest company in the Wizarding World.

"That part was easy," Matt said when they sat down with drinks at the kitchen table. "Now we get to have fun for the summer, and then I'll get started on the sales, planning, and research part of things in September."

"We've got four destinations to check out, and eight weeks to do it, plus get you a place to live, unless you were planning on just staying at home."

Matt shook his head. "I thought I'd take Al up on his offer for the next year," he told Rose. "I can work from Hogsmeade as easily as anywhere for this next year, and you can't beat the price."

Rose laughed. "He'll be glad that the place won't be empty for the next year, and we're going to love having that place for my Hogsmeade weekends."

They spent the rest of the morning making plans, and then took the afternoon off, set up a portable pool, and relaxed until it was time to make dinner for themselves, Hugo, and Emily.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had taken their anniversary show on the road to spend the day in Venice. They went shopping, had lunch, took a gondola tour for the afternoon, and then had a fabulous dinner before heading home early, since Ginny and Hermione were both going to be back at work on Tuesday.

"You two look like you had a pretty awesome day," Rose told them when her parents walked into the sitting room and sat down on the sofa across from where she and Matt were snuggled.

"We did," Hermione told her. "I'm guessing by your smiles that we're looking at a pair of new business owners. Congratulations."

Rose nodded. "Thanks, Mum. Yeah, Victoire loved our proposal."

"When will you take your first trip?" Ron asked.

"We're going to meet with Al and Carolyn tomorrow, but we're thinking the last two weeks of July, then back here for a week, then do two more weeks in August. That'll leave just under two weeks left home again before school starts," Rose answered.

"Do you think Al and Carolyn will go for all four weeks?" Hermione asked, and Rose nodded.

"I think so. They want to do some work this summer on that house he bought in Hogsmeade, and I'm not sure what else they have planned, but they wanted to get away and do some travelling too, after watching Lily, Kieran, and the Canons all travel last summer."

Hermione smiled and stood up. "Well, the only travelling we're doing right now is going to bed," she told them as she held out her hand to Ron. "I've got work in the morning, and it's been a long day of playing with our best friends."

Rose got up and hugged and kissed her parents. "Have a good night. I'll see you in the morning," she told them.

She sat down again, snuggling close to Matt and smiled at him. "Now, where were we?" she asked, and he answered by kissing her. "Now I remember," Rose breathed between kisses. "We should definitely get back to that right away."

Over at the cottage, the visit with Harry and Ginny hadn't lasted long either, as they'd both wanted to get to sleep early too. They'd talked with Al, Carolyn, Sarah, and Joel in the sitting room before going upstairs, and then Harry had checked in with Dale while Ginny went to get ready for bed.

"How was your day?" Harry asked, coming to sit on the bed next to the boy after being invited in to his room.

"Pretty good," Dale answered. "We went into town, and Al and Carolyn showed us all of the historical stuff, and we got ice creams, then we had lunch at the Mall, and went shopping after that."

"You came up here early tonight?"

Dale nodded. "Yeah. I could play my GameWizard, and sitting around watching two cuddling couples isn't all that much fun."

"I'll be going to the residence tomorrow for the morning to work on their trip to Marauders Paradise," Harry told him. 'Maybe you and the girls would like to come too. You could hang out with the other kids, and maybe go for a swim. Nadine and Vanessa would probably like the company too."

Dale nodded. "That sounds better than sitting around here," he agreed.

"You're welcome to go play Quidditch anytime you want. There are some older Firebolts you could all use to fly."

Dale smiled. "This family is full of Qudditch fanatics," he told Harry. "I like flying okay, but I've been hit enough times that I'm not interested in playing a game where there are two opposing players trying their hardest to hit you with a bludger."

Harry smiled too. "That's not a lot of fun when you do get hit," he agreed. "There are a couple of sets of LaserBroom games too, though. You might all like that better anyway, although it's the most fun after dark."

"I haven't tried that before," Dale said. "Some of the guys at school say it's fun."

"We'll find some time to show you how to play sometime this week," Harry promised. He hugged the boy, and stood up again. "Have a good night, Dale. I'll see you at breakfast."

"Good night," Dale said. "You too."

Harry went and got changed quickly, then climbed into bed, snuggling close to Ginny.

"How's Dale?" she asked quietly.

"He seems okay," Harry answered. "He's feeling a little bit like a fifth wheel with just himself and two couples."

"I forgot Brianna was hanging out with Scorpius tonight," Ginny said. "We'll have to work on that a bit."

"There won't be that many more days this summer that I won't be around to make sure they're all having fun for their holidays," Harry answered.

Ginny smiled, and then pulled him close for a kiss. "Speaking of fun, thanks for a really great day today."

"You're welcome," he said softly, kissing her again. One kiss led to another, and while they may have gone to bed early, it ended up being quite a while before they got to sleep.

Tuesday morning arrived at Marauders Escape not long after everyone back home had gone to sleep for the night. James and Arianna met Tracey, Aaron, Mark, and Callie for breakfast. Mark and Callie were getting married in a few hours, but when Arianna and Tracey had half-heartedly suggested that they should follow tradition and that Mark shouldn't see her after midnight, Callie had told them that would not be happening.

"Are you ready for the big day?" Arianna asked them after they'd all sat down.

"Yes we are," Callie answered, and Mark nodded and smiled.

"Can we at least get you away from Mark long enough to help you get ready this morning?" Tracey asked their friend, and Callie laughed.

"I guess we can do that," she agreed.

"Good," Tracey said. "We've got hair appointments in an hour, then we'll have an hour after that to get ready and have you at the chapel on time."

"You can use our suite to get ready," James told the girls. "I'll get ready early and get out of your way."

"Thanks, honey," Arianna told him.

They ate and talked about some of the things they wanted to do on the island for the rest of their vacation, and then the girls were on their way to SpaMagic, and the boys went back to their rooms to get ready, and then meet in Mark and Callie's suite. There was just over an hour left before the ceremony when Aaron and James got there, and Mark had glasses of wine ready for them.

"Were you guys as nervous as I am?" Mark asked, and watched as both men nodded.

"You'll be fine," Aaron told him. "Fifteen, twenty minutes, and it'll be over."

James nodded. "The questions aren't hard, either. They're all yes or no answers, and all you need to remember is that all of the answers are supposed to be yes."

"Or 'I do'," Aaron added with a grin.

Mark laughed. "All right. If I can get through NEWT exams, I can get through this."

Mark hadn't needed to worry. They arrived at the Chapel fifteen minutes early, and were welcomed by the Witch who would be performing the ceremony for them. She led them through what they would be doing, and then led them to the front of the Chapel before going to talk with the girls when they came in.

When she returned, the boys looked to the back of the room, and as music started playing, the girls walked down the short aisle, Tracey and Arianna moving to stand to the left of Mark and the boys, leaving room so that Callie could take his hand and stand next to him.

This was a first for all three of the couples, having just the six of them there for the wedding, and in a way, it was more special for them than any other wedding they'd been to. The ceremony didn't take long, and there was as much laughter as there were tears. Callie and Mark had written their own vows, and all four girls had tears in their eyes as Mark and Callie exchanged those promises of love and the rings that would symbolize that love.

The Witch pronounced them husband and wife, and they shared a tender kiss before being congratulated by their friends, thanking the Witch, and leaving the Chapel for a celebration lunch before Mark and Callie planned on spending the rest of their day on their own.

Harry had finished cooking breakfast at the cottage on Tuesday morning. Ginny and the kids were at the table, and he was just finishing getting everything on the table.

"Mark and Callie are married by now," Ginny told the others. Sarah, Carolyn, and Brianna all smiled.

"Is getting married contagious?" Dale asked with a grin.

"Not that I know of," Ginny answered. "Why?"

"Well, Callie stayed with James and Arianna last Christmas, and now she and Mark are married right after James and Arianna. If it was contagious, I was just worried for Sarah and Joel."

Ginny and the others laughed. "I don't think they have anything to worry about right now," she told the still grinning Dale.

They talked about plans for the day while they ate, then Ginny, Brianna, and Joel all left for work. Ginny went with Natalie and Mandy when they dropped their kids off for the day.

"We didn't get much time to talk yesterday," Brianna told Joel as they stepped from the lifts on level seven, and started walking down the corridor. "How was your first day?"

Joel smiled. "Tiring. It was way more walking than I've ever done in my life."

Brianna nodded. "You'll get used to that. We'll spend part of today working with the youth sports program, so it won't be as much walking for us."

"That should be fun. What will we be doing?"

"We'll help with some of the games, then with the lunch program. I'm not sure which location we're going to be visiting today, but we try to get to all of them at least once during the summer. Just stick with Uncle Percy the first couple of times, and he'll show you what to do."

"How did Scorpius like his first day in the ranks of the summer interns?"

"He spent most of yesterday reading the rules and regulations for Grandpa's department. He may be doing his first field work today."

Joel's WiComm chimed and he smiled. "Guess I'm not even going to get to the offices before I start running today."

Brianna's chimed too, and they laughed. "The madness begins," she said as they both looked to see where they needed to go first. "See you in a couple of hours, Joel."

There was practically a revolving door of people at the cottage after breakfast. Frederica had come to stay and work with Sarah, while Amy, Millie, and Carissa were just passing through as they came, then left for the residence with Harry and Dale.

Rose and Matt came over, but then left again with Al and Carolyn, leaving Sarah and Frederica alone with Kira, James, and Timothy. Liam came a bit later, planning to spend the day at the cottage, have dinner with Frederica and her parents, and then return for the team Quidditch practice in the evening.

The Three Broomsticks wasn't busy when Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt got a table and ordered drinks.

"So, where do you guys want to go, and when do we leave?" Carolyn asked Rose and Matt.

Rose and Matt took turns going over their suggestions for the weeks they wanted to be travelling, and where they'd go. Al and Carolyn both looked happy when they finished.

"We're in," Al said with a grin. "Do you need any help making the arrangements?"

Rose laughed. "I hope not, or we're going into the wrong business."

"I've decided to take you up on that offer to live in the house until next summer," Matt told Al. "I can work from there, and even if we're not together, it'll still feel like I'm close to Rose."

"That's good," Al told him. "When we're finished in here, we can go over there and start deciding what all we need to get, if you can spend the rest of the morning with us before starting in on making the travel arrangements. Carolyn and I should be able to handle the shopping and everything else."

"We'll make some time to help with cleaning and whatever you need between now and when we leave for the first trip," Rose promised.

They finished their drinks, walked over to the house, and went inside for the first time since the last Hogsmeade weekend.

"We definitely have some work to do," Carolyn said as they walked around the main floor.

"We can put an office in the library for you, Matt," Al suggested.

"Are you planning on moving in here when you graduate next year?" Rose asked, and Al nodded.

"I think so – for a year or so until Carolyn is finished school," he answered.

"What's the biggest group you expect in here on a Hogsmeade weekend?" Matt asked. They all thought about which teens would probably come and use the place.

"Maybe twelve or fourteen for the next couple of years?" Carolyn suggested, and Al nodded.

"You won't want that much furniture all of the time, but we can always conjure up temporary additions for those days," Rose said. "How about three sofas for the sitting room, a few tables, and a couple of recliners. That'll be enough for eight or ten when there's company over."

They made up a list for each room, including the bedrooms upstairs by lunchtime, including measurements for windows and everything they'd need for the kitchen. Rose and Matt stayed and had lunch with them at the Three Broomsticks. Al and Carolyn were on their own for the afternoon, and they spent the rest of the day beginning the daunting task of cleaning the house until it was time to go back to the cottage to get cleaned up in time for dinner.

Tuesday was the fourth of July – Independence Day for the Witches, Wizards, and Muggles of America. By the time that Al and Carolyn were going back to the cottage after working all afternoon at the house in Hogsmeade, Lily, Kieran, Karl, and the others were having breakfast, and would be soon on the way to their only morning appointment.

"When we're done at WMVN," Laura told them, "you can take the TransPortal home for your practices, but you need to be back here by two o'clock our time, which is ten o'clock at night home time."

"We should make it back here long before then," Kieran told her. "Practice will be over by nine for sure."

"Good," Laura said. "When you get back, it'll be non-stop, so be ready for a long day."

They did their interview, then Lily took the TransPortal to the cottage, while Kieran and Karl went to his Grandmother Catriona's, where Karl was surprised when Daphne was there waiting, and had a big hug and kiss for him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he continued to hug her.

"You'll see," she said as they walked to the Quidditch pitch.

When they got there, Karl saw other students from his house and grinned at her.

"Slytherin is going to train this summer with Hufflepuff? I never thought I'd see something like this in my lifetime."

Daphne laughed. "You live with a Hufflepuff," she pointed out, and Karl laughed too.

Kieran shook hands with Thomas, both boys grinning. The members of the two teams gathered around their captains.

"Thanks for coming, everyone," Kieran told them. "Thomas and I hope that you're all ready to leave any House politics outside of the Quidditch pitch this summer, because we're here so that we can make both of our teams better, and hopefully catch up to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."

Thomas nodded. "I've talked to each of you," he told the students he hoped would become his team for the coming year. "We haven't really competed for the Quidditch Cup in too many years. When you see how we'll be training tonight, you'll understand why. You've been picked because I think you could each be really good players, and that you'll be willing to put in the work that some of the members of our last team wouldn't."

"We'll be starting with flying practice, follow that with bludger practice, then have an actual game practice," Kieran told them. "Why don't we get the introductions out of the way, and then get started?"

At the cottage, they were playing a Chaser short on each team, since James and Matt were both finished school. Rose and Al had sat down with Nick the Thursday night they'd been on the island last week, and told him they didn't plan on trying out for the team this year, but that they'd help train his new team, and why they thought that doing that was important. Lily and Scorpius had been there too, and had both said that they'd like to do the same thing, since she'd have twelve NEWTs, and he'd be in the same position as Rose with NEWTs and prefect duties.

Nick had agreed with them that it was actually a good idea to use the coming year to help a new group of players get ready to take over instead of just playing and leaving five or six spots on the team open for the year after they graduated, even though he knew that this decision would end any hopes for Quidditch Cup glory as a team Captain. He decided not to try and pick new players to train with this summer, since short of doing tryouts, nothing else he did would be fair to everyone, so the others had agreed to keep practicing with him all summer.

That did mean that they were mostly training to help the Gryffindor team, and for Joe's benefit, but they all loved playing, and were glad for the twice-weekly workouts.

Grandma Catriona had drinks brought out for the teens as their first practice wrapped up. She'd sat with Karl and Vanessa to watch the action, and had been very impressed.

"You're off to a very good start," she told the group as they landed. "Kieran's Aunt Meghan might consider coming to do conditioning training with you for one of your practices each week if you wanted to ask her. She used to lead that when she played for the Pride."

Kieran smiled. "That's a really great suggestion, Grandma. Thanks. I'll call her tomorrow and ask."

"Is there anything else we can work on?" Thomas asked her.

"For your team? Go simpler in you play calls to start with," she told him. "Your team is just getting put together, while Kieran's team has played for nearly a year. You're not ready for some of the plays you're trying, and that's why you had so many interceptions and misses. I've got a book I can lend you that'll show you how to build from basic plays and make them more complex as you get better."

"Can we keep her?" Thomas asked Kieran, who laughed.

"I'm rather fond of my Grandma, but I am willing to share her," he told the other boy as Catriona laughed too.

Karl and Daphne had gone off to the side to have a few minutes alone, and Kieran excused himself to go talk with them.

"Karl, you don't have to come back with me right away. You could hang around for another hour or two, and still be back in lots of time for dinner."

Daphne hugged him, and Karl smiled and nodded.

"Thanks, mate," he told Kieran.

Lily arrived, and after spending a few minutes with Nadine, Vanessa, and Daphne, left again with Kieran to get back to San Diego in time for them to both have showers and get changed before meeting Laura and getting to their first appointment of the afternoon.

It was four o'clock in the morning on Wednesday back home when SpellBound took to the stage on Tuesday evening, and the sun was coming up, and Harry was starting breakfast by the time they had finished their concert, and the fireworks display sponsored by Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes began.

While Lily and Kieran finished their day with a long autograph session before leaving the stadium, and then their entire group got back to their hotel for some well-deserved sleep, back home, everyone spent their day either working or playing.

When Wednesday morning did finally arrive in San Diego, they all worked to get packed, and to move on to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, checking in to the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort, where they'd be spending the next two nights.

Their only Canadian stop for this summer would be a concert on Thursday night at the Moose Jaw Meteorites' stadium before they'd be going on to Chicago on Friday to get ready for their concert on Saturday night.

Lily, Kieran, and Karl went back home for the Thursday evening practice, and since they'd moved two time zones east, had left at lunchtime, and were back in time for their concert sound check before dinner.

While they were busy with the second and third stops on their tour, half a world away, James and Arianna were enjoying relaxing, fun-filled days with Aaron, Tracey, Mark, and Callie as they played during the day, and danced and enjoyed the fun and entertainment of the island night life.

Back at home, Rose and Matt spent the rest of the week making the travel arrangements for their trip while Al and Carolyn finished a complete cleaning of the house, and had even made their first few furniture purchases. Harry spent time with the kids at the cottage, or going on outings with them, along with spending another morning at the residence, helping Susan with getting things ready for the trip that was just over two weeks away.

During the second week of July, SpellBound was in Mexico on Sunday for their Tuesday night concert. When they'd left for Mexico City, Andy had returned home, ready to start his new job with his new team. Lily, Kieran, Kirley, Ana, Karl, and Laura were in Brazil by Wednesday morning for the concert there on Thursday, and wrapped up their two weeks on Saturday night in Argentina before going home first thing on Sunday morning to get back in time for lunch at the cottage.

At Marauders Escape, for the three young couples, the second week was a continuation of the long, sun-filled days and lively, entertaining nights that had kept them all busy for most of their first week there. The stresses of NEWT year studies and nearly two straight years of nearly non-stop Quidditch action, along with everything else they'd each dealt with, melted away as they played and had fun all day and night. By the time they left for home on Sunday evening, also getting back to the cottage in time for lunch, they were all rested and happy.

That week at home was just another work and play week, with one exception. Rose turned seventeen. She started her morning out having breakfast with her parents and Hugo before they went to work and Matt came over to go with her for her apparition test. She passed that easily enough, and after apparating back to her house, they had a couple of hours before they were supposed to go over to the cottage for lunch and an afternoon pool party before they'd be joined by most of the family for a celebration dinner.

"I'm really glad that we at least have a little time to ourselves this morning before we'll have to spend the rest of the day with people all around us," Matt said, smiling at Rose as they settled into a sofa.

"Why? Is there something you needed to have me all alone to do?" she teased, leaning forward to kiss him.

Matt laughed. "Yes, actually, there is," he told her, handing Rose her birthday present, and watching as her eyes flashed with excitement, and her smile widened. He waited until she had it unwrapped, then put his hands over hers before she opened the box, and looked into her beautiful, sparkling eyes.

"When we became team mates back in your second year, we started out with being friends, and that's continued to grow into a love that I could never imagine ever being separated from." He smiled as Rose's eyes started to fill with tears, and he knew that his surprise was out.

"I love you, Rose, so for your birthday, I want to promise you my heart forever. Marry me, and let's spend the rest of our lives making each other happy, and filling each day with love."

He let go of her hands so she could open the box to look inside, and waited as she stared at the diamond ring for a long minute, his heart in his throat, and his pulse racing in exhilaration and a touch of fear.

"I love you too, Matt," she told him as she looked back up into his face. "Yes, I'll marry you." She trailed off as he wiped a tear from her cheek with a gentle touch, and then she wrapped her arms around him, and poured her answer into a deep, passion-filled kiss that left them both breathless.

"Wow," Matt breathed. "Can I wrap that back up, and ask you again?"

Rose laughed and hugged him tightly. "No, but you can put in on my finger, and then we still have quite a bit of time before we have to leave for me to properly thank you for making this my most brilliant birthday ever."

When they walked into the kitchen of the cottage just before noon, Harry hadn't even needed to see the ring – only the two smiles.

"Congratulations," he told them, leaving his cooking long enough to hug each of them and then hand them each a glass of wine.

"Thank-you, Uncle Harry," Rose told him.

"Why don't you go out back and show off that ring, and I'll call you all in when lunch is ready," he suggested.

Rose took Matt's hand and they walked outside, and were soon surrounded as Al, Carolyn, and the others offered their congratulations.

They'd been outside setting up for the pool party and the family dinner that was going to follow their afternoon of sun and fun, and got back to finishing that work before they'd be having lunch.

The afternoon was filled with fun and games as Harry and the kids played. He let them continue doing that later when it was time for him to get started on the birthday dinner for Rose.

Usually that party would be at Ron and Hermione's, but since it was a workday, and the kids were mostly over here anyway, Harry had offered to just have it at the cottage instead.

The guests started arriving after work, and the yard quickly filled up with family and a few of Rose's non-Marauder friends.

She was the centre of attention as much for the news that she and Matt were now engaged as for the fact that it was her seventeenth birthday. There was at least a few girls around her nearly all the time, and she was obviously having a wonderful time.

"I can't believe my baby's engaged," Hermione told Harry and Ginny as they watched Rose through the kitchen window.

Ginny hugged her. "She's picked a pretty good young man, and they obviously love each other. You must be happy about that."

"I am," Hermione agreed. "I just wish she'd waited another twenty or thirty years to grow up on us."

Harry laughed. "Don't we all. Just try and think about it as getting an extra kid, not losing one."

"Except mine are going to be travelling the world for more than half of it every year," she told Harry.

"They've been at Hogwarts for three-quarters of every year for the past six year," Ginny reminded her. "You're going to have them around more often starting a year from now."

Harry had pretty much finished getting everything ready, so Ginny and Hermione helped him get the food outside, and the dinner started.

They didn't have a late night, since most of them were working the next day, but they did have a wonderful few hours together, with food, family, and fun all mixed together to make for another really great day.

Al and Carolyn were in the yard on Sunday morning, setting up for another out-door meal, this one a welcome home for their world-travellers.

"It's a good thing we'll be gone for the next two weeks if they're going to have these big meals two or three times a week all summer," Carolyn joked.

Al laughed as he continued to work. "This is probably as much a going away lunch for you, me, Rose, and Matt as a coming home for everyone. Our parents are going to miss their babies."

"Yes we will," Ginny told him. She walked up and hugged him before handing him a stack of tablecloths.

"You'll be away for the second week we're gone too," Al pointed out. "With thousands of kids to keep you company."

"That's true, but then this will be the first year that we've gone that you haven't gone with us," she told him.

"Maybe that's why James found you a whole new group to take to the island instead," Al suggested. "They're all going to have that brand new experience excitement for you to share with them all week."

"You mean like the four of you will have when you're off on your first trip by yourselves?" Ginny asked, and Al and Carolyn both laughed.

"Exactly like that," Carolyn agreed.

They finished setting up just before the three couples from Marauders Escape arrived, and the hugging and kissing began. That continued when Kirley and Ana arrived with Kieran, Lily, Karl, and Daphne, followed by the rest of the family who was coming for the lunch and to spend an afternoon together.

Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt gathered in the kitchen at the cottage just before six o'clock. Most of their family had left for home, and they were saying goodbye to their parents, Lily, Kieran, Brianna, and Scorpius.

"Have fun, and send pictures," Lily told Carolyn as she hugged her.

"We will," Carolyn promised. "Try not to spend your whole two weeks off writing and playing music."

Lily grinned at her. "We'll try to throw in a little snogging here and there to break up the monotony, and we'll go to Marauders Paradise for the second week, so that'll be fun."

When the goodbyes were done, they each took their single travel bag with them, and went outside.

Rose smiled at the others. "Ready? Next stop. Hawaii!"

A moment later, they arrived on Kauai, near the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa that was the first of three resorts they'd be checking out over the next seven days, along with touring as many of the attractions of the islands as they could manage in a week.

They checked in to the hotel and were led to two deluxe ocean view rooms. Since they had a brand new day again with the ten-hour time difference, they only spent a little time dropping off their luggage, and met up to go out and spend their first day exploring the island.

"Those rooms are just as great as the rooms we had in Santiago," Carolyn told Rose and Matt. "This is a pretty great first choice."

"Thanks," Matt said. "We'll be trying one other hotel and beach-front bungalows on two other islands, but we thought this was a good place to start with."

"Do they have a Wizarding school here?" Rose asked. "Maybe they'd consider taking a few exchange students."

"Like we'd find three students interested in giving this up for a winter at Hogwarts," Al said with a laugh.

"I don't think there is one," Matt told them. "I'm pretty sure the Witches and Wizards go to school on the mainland, or get home-schooled instead."

"So what do you have planned for us today?" Carolyn asked Matt.

"We're going to go around to as many of the attractions on the island as we can get to today. There's everything from the Sleeping Giant, to waterfalls, botanical gardens, caves, and a bunch of other places we probably won't have time to visit, even apparating around the island all day."

"What's the Sleeping Giant?" Al asked.

"It's just a name given to Nounou mountain because part of the ridgeline looks like a man sleeping on his back," Rose told him.

"It sounds like you have a fun day planned, so why don't we get started?" Carolyn suggested. "I can hardly wait to see more of this place!"

While they set out on their island tour, back at home, Harry and Ginny had a sitting room full of kids who were discussing what they wanted to do for the next week. Scorpius, Brianna, and Joel would be working at the Ministry all week, and Sarah and Frederica had their babysitting. That left Dale, Carissa, Amy, and Millie, along with Lily, Kieran, and Karl to decide how they wanted to entertain themselves, since Harry would be spending a lot more of this next week at the residence with just a week left until their big trip.

"You know Kira is going to want to spend time with you," Frederica told Lily and Kieran, who both nodded.

"We'll spend a couple of mornings with her," Lily promised. "Since we've been running around for the last two weeks, though, I'd really like to stay close to home this week and do as little as possible, since including the week at Marauders Paradise, we'll be on the road for the next four weeks straight."

"And here we all are, jealous that you get to go do all of that travel," Brianna teased.

They talked and made plans, then the visiting teens all left for their homes, and it wasn't much longer before everyone left at the cottage started going up to bed too.

Lily was changed and in bed when she heard the soft knock, and invited whoever was at the door into her room. Sarah came in quietly and walked softly across the floor to sit on her bed.

"Are you glad to be back in your own bed tonight?" she asked Lily, who nodded.

"We get to stay in really great places, but after a while, it's just another hotel room. I'm really glad to be back, even if it's really only for one week."

"I'm glad you're back too," Sarah told her.

They talked and laughed together for a while longer, then Sarah hugged her goodnight, and left to go back to her own room again. Lily sometimes felt like with everything she had going on that she was stretched out too thin, and couldn't do everything she wanted to do, but after talking with Sarah, she knew that finding a little extra time for her this week was something that she was just going to need to find time to do.

The third week of July was busy for everyone – whether working or playing. In Hawaii, Rose and Matt took Al and Carolyn on daily adventures that would have been a week of sightseeing for your average vacationing Muggle. They'd taken potions on Sunday night to adjust to the time change, and after touring the islands, or going out on the water during the day, they'd check out the nightly entertainments each evening.

After two nights at the Hyatt, they spent two nights in bungalows at the Kona Village Resort, before spending their last three days at the Grand Wailea Resort and Spa. By the end of the week, Matt and Rose had everything they would need to put together custom tours for their clientele, and were sure that this would be a very popular destination for both couples and families.

James and Arianna settled in to the married life at home. They helped Mark and Callie a bit around their house, and had a small party at home where they spent the evening catching up with Jon, Therese, Andy, and Laura.

Jon and Therese had rented a house near the reserve, and they'd be moving there the first week of August. Andy and his new broadcast team would be starting their first shows with next week's opening of training camp for most of the league teams. Laura was working with Ana this week while they were home, getting the next three week tour itinerary finalized, and also starting to learn about the rest of Ana's business.

The six concerts, and all of the promotion that Lily and Kieran had done over the past two weeks pushed their new album sales to over five million by the end of the third week, and would probably set a new record for fastest album to ten million sales (Not including the single for 'The Silent Minority').

When Saturday arrived, Harry and Ginny spent their morning helping at the residence, while the kids at home packed and got themselves ready for their vacation. They had an eleven-thirty TransPortal time, so Harry and Ginny were back in time to get everyone together who was going, say Goodbye to Brianna, who'd be staying to work at the Ministry, and leave for the island.

They were assigned a four-bedroom suite, since Lily was going to be staying with Ana, Kieran, and Karl in their suite. Kirley was staying back home, because he was working on another project while the kids weren't on tour.

Teddy and Stewart were already on the island, and busy helping Gabrielle and her staff to get everyone checked in for most of the day. Victoire, Isabelle, and the girls met up with Harry, Ginny, and the kids for a brunch, since it was still early morning on the island, then set the kids loose to go play.

While the kids and grownups arriving at Marauders Paradise all went out to play, Brianna had her own afternoon fun planned at the cottage. With everyone else gone, Frederica was going to come and spend the week at the cottage with Brianna, and Liam was going to help her with the babysitting duties for the week while Sarah was on vacation. Scorpius and Liam were probably going to end up staying for at least a few sleepovers too.

For Saturday afternoon, Nick and Allie joined the two couples for an afternoon pool party, dinner under the stars, and a quiet evening together.

"I guess if we can't be at Marauders Paradise, this is a pretty great substitute," Nick said as they sat around the pool in lounge chairs.

"How's work going in the world of architecture?" Brianna asked him.

"It's going great. I even got my first custom job request last week to design a house, and I got to design one of the smaller buildings for one of Mum and Grandma's new resorts. The only other project I'm doing right now is for another plaza for the same company that bought my design last year."

"Sounds busy," Brianna said. "How about you, Allie? How's the world of executive business?"

"I love it, and I really hope that Victoire is happy with how I'm doing, since I definitely want to do this when I graduate."

Brianna laughed. "She must be fairly happy, since she was confident enough to leave you to run things while she's gone."

Allie laughed. "I'm not in charge," she told Brianna. "I'm just supposed to keep doing what I've been doing, and make sure she knows if any emergencies happen."

"That all sounds way more exciting than my babysitting has been," Frederica told them. "Are you and Scorpius doing any major proposals at the Ministry this summer?" she asked Brianna.

"Grandpa and Uncle Percy suggested that we lie low this summer," Brianna answered. "There's stuff we'd like to do, but I guess we can't completely overhaul the Ministry as fast as we might like."

"You've managed more in a couple of years than some politicians manage in their entire lives," Nick pointed out. "Maybe next year you can get back on track with everything you want to do there."

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey had not gone to the island, since Canons' training camp was just a week away, they had decided to stay home and spend their last week of holidays resting, since with Quidditch, and James' new job, they were all going to be busy for most of the next year. On Saturday, the two couples had Mark and Callie over, and they were having a backyard pool party of their own.

"You're going to start training next week?" Arianna asked Mark, who nodded.

"Ginny said she'll work with me to design a new kind of racing suit, and so I'll work with her at the lab on that one or two days a week too, but I need to build up my stamina, since all of the races are endurance races."

"When's your first race?" Aaron asked.

"The second weekend in September, in Australia. A four thousand kilometre race."

Aaron laughed. "And here I thought a five hour Quidditch match was tough. Even at two hundred miles an hour that's still at least what, eleven hours of hard, non-stop riding."

Mark nodded. "The current record is just over twelve hours, since the riders usually need to make some stops. It starts just after midnight on the west coast, and then with the time change, ends up on the east coast sometime in the mid-afternoon. Most racers don't even finish it."

"You'll do that much of the race in the dark too?" James said in surprise. "That'll make it interesting to stay on course."

"I'm not as worried about that as I am about the temperatures," Mark said. "If I'm lucky, your Mum will have an answer for that too."

They spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, having a little wine, and enjoying the company of their best friends. By the time they were thinking about dinner plans, over at Marauders Paradise, everyone from the family that was going to be there for the week had arrived, and were meeting for lunch. The teens had pretty much all spent the morning doing the roller coasters and other rides, while the parents had split up between doing that, and just wandering through shops or going to the beach.

Lily and Kieran were sitting with Sarah, Joel, and Karl for lunch, and were talking about their morning, and what they'd be doing for the rest of the day.

"We normally all go spend the afternoon at the Water Park after lunch on the first day here, and take it easy," Lily told the others. "It's going to be a long day by the time we get through the banquet and talent show tonight."

Sarah grinned. "I think we can handle an afternoon playing on those incredible slides and in the pools."

"How many kids are here for the week?" Joel asked. He'd never seen so many kids in any one place before, and it hadn't been like this when they'd spent the day here at Christmas.

"Probably around eight thousand plus nearly seven thousand chaperones," Lily answered.

"No wonder everyone has to work so hard to get this all together," Karl said. "Your Aunt Gabrielle must be ready for a vacation herself after five weeks of this."

"I'm sure she is," Lily agreed.

They chatted through lunch, played all afternoon in the Water Park with everyone, and then went back to their suites to get ready for the banquet. Lily and Kieran had done the banquet concerts last summer, but she had missed spending the whole week on the island with the kids from the residence. A lot had happened since then, and she was looking forward to this week.

She had made a few requests, and gotten Nadine and Vanessa placed at her table for both the opening and closing night banquets. Kieran, Karl, Sarah, Joel, Carissa, Dale, Amy, and Millie rounded out the list of their dinner companions. They did end up adding Patricia to their group when none of the older kids could resist the dimples and puppy eyes she directed their way from where she'd been sitting with Gabrielle and Kevin.

"Did you need to escape from the grownups?" Lily asked Patricia, and the little girl nodded.

"They all want to talk about work and appalling-tics and fuss over William. Bo-ring!"

Lily laughed and hugged her. "I think you mean politics, sweetie."

"I think her name for it is more accurate," Kieran joked.

"Well, you're safe with us, Patricia," Lily told her. "We'll try to stick with fun stuff like games, rides, and shopping."

"Can we go shopping when I come home with you next week?" she asked hopefully.

Lily shook her head. "Sorry, sweetie, but Kieran and I will be away on tour while you're up there with Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur. I'm sure Frederica and Sarah will take you shopping sometimes, and Aunt Fleur will on the weekends. You'll have Kira to play with during the week when you're at the cottage too."

Patricia nodded. "That will be fun," she agreed. "I wish you could be there too, though. You're the funnest."

They quieted to listen as Gabrielle welcomed everyone, and then dinner was served over the next couple of hours. Patricia cuddled in Lily's lap for the talent show, and then the teens were set free to either go back to their suites to get some sleep, or to do something else. Dale, Carissa, Amy, and Millie opted for going to get some sleep, while Sarah, Joel, and Karl wanted to go do some rides. That left Lily and Kieran, and they went for a moonlight walk on the beach.

"This has been a pretty good day," Lily told Kieran quietly as they walked along the shore.

"It sure has," he agreed. "Will it be busy like this all week?"

Lily smiled. "I hope not. We may have to skip a few mornings or afternoons, or we'll just be worn out by the time we leave for our tour a week from tomorrow."

"Three more weeks, and then we'll have the last not quite two weeks back home – although some of that will be in the studio," Kieran said.

"I'm not even sure I want to think about that until we have to next week," Lily said, stopping and putting her arms around him and laying her head against his chest. "This is so beautiful out here tonight."

Kieran smiled. "It was until you got out here. Now it's spectacular."

She laughed softly, and looked up at his darkly sparkling eyes. "I love you, Kieran," she said before kissing him.

"Let's go back and get some sleep," Lily finally said. "It's been a long day, and you know the others will be ready to get out and play early."

Ana was in their sitting room when they got back to their suite, and looked at Lily critically.

"You're wearing out, sweetie," she told her. "You're taking the day off tomorrow with nobody else except Kieran. No games, rides, or running all over the place. Just rest by the pool or at the beach."

Lily smiled. "I'll be alright," she assured Ana, who smiled back.

"That wasn't a suggestion, Lily. Do nothing all day tomorrow, or we head back home, and I start handling you every day. I'll see tomorrow whether we need to make it two complete days off or not."

"You can argue for a while if you want, Lily, but we'll end up doing what she says, so why not just accept it?" Kieran told her. "I think we can both use a complete rest day too."

Lily nodded and went over to hug Ana. "Okay, you win. Nothing but rest all day. I promise."

"Good. Have you seen Karl?" she asked.

"He was going to do some rides with Joel and Sarah when we left them," Kieran reported. "I doubt he'll be long. I can wait up if you two want to get to sleep."

Ana stood up. "He's sixteen, and has his WiComm if there's any problems. We can all just go get some sleep."

She hugged Kieran and left them to say goodnight to each other. Lily put her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss.

"I'll see you in the morning," she whispered, squeezing him tight once more before letting him go.

"Good night, Lily. Sleep well," Kieran whispered back as they walked to their rooms.

When Karl got back to their suite a half hour later, everyone was already asleep, so he turned out the lights, and quietly went to his own room, ready for a good night's sleep too.

Ana passed the word to the parents, and through them, on to the kids that Lily needed to be off-limits for a day, and Gabrielle suggested that the kids just go hang out on the beach at her house, so that not even stray autograph seekers would be bothering them for the day.

"I don't think she's ever run out of energy before," Ginny told Ana at lunch. The older teens were already off doing their own thing, so they just had Dale and the three younger girls with them.

"She's been trying to do more with all of us this last week while she was home," Carissa told them. "I can't even imagine how she was able to do everything she did the last two and a half months at school either, with everything she had going on plus tutoring close to what? Thirty students?"

"Add in most of their first week home working in the studio, a wedding, and two weeks on tour, and it's no wonder she's beat," Ana said. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I should have been watching more closely, but she's always so fired up, I didn't see it coming."

"I didn't see it either, Ana. It is obvious that it's time to start handling her after all, though," Ginny suggested, and Ana nodded. "This isn't the place for them to get any real rest. We could take Karl with us and you could take Lily and Kieran to our island for the rest of the week."

"We can talk with them later. I think it's a good idea," Ana agreed. "Daphne's supposed to be coming here for Monday and Tuesday on her days off, though. Will you have room for both of them?"

Ginny nodded. "We can shuffle things around to make room."

That's how, shortly after dinner, Lily and Kieran ended up being moved from one very hopping, busy island, to having an island completely to themselves.

"I would have been fine, Ana," Lily told her as they sat on the patio of the guest house they were using for the rest of the week. "I'm just a little tired."

"Your friends reminded us that you've been going nearly non-stop for three and a half months," Ana told her. "You'll burn out in this business if you keep going like that, Lily."

"How am I supposed to help Nadine, and Vanessa, and Sarah, and all the others from here? This was my last week to spend time with them until after the tour."

"We'll take a look at your schedules again, Lily, but you can't do it all. Why do you think your father steps back from projects he starts, and has others take over? He knows he can't do it all, and trusts that the people around him will do those jobs."

"I get that," Lily said. "It's just the deciding where to draw that line that seems to be my problem."

"That's why your Mum and I are drawing it for you this week," Ana said with a grin. "If you're a really good girl, maybe we'll let a few of your friends come and play with you here for a few hours later this week."

"Alright," Lily said, knowing that Ana was right. "Anything else?"

Ana nodded and held out her hand. "Hand over your WiComms," she told the two teens. "When we say total rest, that means no interruptions."

Lily sighed and handed hers over, and Kieran did the same.

"Good," Ana said, nodding. "You've still got the rest of the evening. Go have fun."

Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt were not having any problems with being worn out at all. They'd gotten up with the sun, and by seven o'clock in the morning, they'd been packed and ready to leave the beautiful Hawaiian islands for Brazil, arriving there moments later, but seven hours later in the day with the time change. Their first hotel was the Copacabana Palace, and they checked in, and were escorted to the two Ocean View Suites where they'd be staying for the next three days as they toured the area.

"Nicely done again," Carolyn complimented Rose and Matt when they came over to Al and Carolyn's room. The only difference between their rooms was that Al and Carolyn had a corner suite, and a second balcony.

"This place opened one hundred years ago this year," Matt told them. "Rose and I will do a short tour of one of the penthouse suites before we go too, but we couldn't get one on this short notice without doing a major confounding of the Muggles."

"What's on the tour for this week?" Al asked.

"Since we're making another big time zone switch, today it's checking out the night time entertainment here," Rose told them. "Then for the next two days we're going to tour the Amazon, including a boat tour, a visit to the Iguassu Falls, and probably a morning or afternoon at the Pantanal wildlife reserve."

"Sounds like fun," Al said, and Carolyn nodded.

"The rest of the week, we'll explore some of the other cities in Brazil, and also do a couple of day trips into Argentina and Peru for for a few places we want to check out while we're this close," Matt added. "Then we'll head for home on Sunday morning, and be home by lunchtime."

"Thankfully, that's a week away," Carolyn said with a grin. "We have a beautiful afternoon left, so why don't we go exploring?"

Back at home, James and Arianna spent their last week of vacation puttering around the house, and hanging out with their friends. When Andy started his QSPN broadcasts on Monday, the response from the viewers astonished the company executives.

Every day, the ratings for the show he and his team were doing grew, and word-of-mouth among the Quidditch fans was all the advertising they needed. By the end of the week, the QSPN audience watching his show was up more than fifty percent from the previous year, and last year was a Quidditch World Cup summer.

Over at the cottage, Frederica and Liam were busy with Kira, James, and Timothy all week, who were feeling a bit left out with everyone else gone away for the week. They took the kids to the park, had a couple of pool days, and one trip to the Marauders Mall in Paris. By the end of the workweek on Friday, the kids were still fired up and full of energy, but their babysitters were definitely ready for the weekend off.

Brianna had been working hard too. With Joel off for the week, she and the pages in other departments had been busier than normal. The only good thing was that she got to spend more time with Scorpius, since he'd stayed overnight every night of the week, and they'd gone in to work together each morning.

At Marauders Paradise, Harry, Ginny, and the other parents in their group had enjoyed a pretty great week. The kids they had with them were all pretty much self-sufficient, and while they did spend a few hours of each day with them, they were also left to find their own entertainments for most of the day.

Daphne ended up getting to the island late on Sunday afternoon, and stayed until mid-afternoon on Tuesday, staying each night in the other bed in Sarah's room, while Karl bunked with Joel instead of moving some of the other kids around.

Other than getting to spend a couple of days on the island with Daphne, Karl's highlight for the week was learning to dive, and spending an afternoon with Harry and Ginny diving one of the reefs. The dreams he'd always had about beaches and water were a pale comparison to this brilliant reality, and he loved every minute he spent there.

For Sarah and Joel, it was the rides, the Water Park, and the teen dance club at night that they loved the most. Dale and Carissa loved everything they were doing, as long as it was together, and even better when they were with Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle.

Amy and Millie were having fun too, and they spend a lot of their time with Nadine and Vanessa, and all four girls tried to spend as much time as they could with Victoire and Isabelle.

The end of the week banquet and talent show seemed to sneak up on them far too quickly, and then it had arrived, happened, and the kids and their chaperones only had hours left before they'd be leaving again for homes all over the world.

Harry and Ginny were in the sitting room of their suite, waiting for their teens to return, and each having a glass of wine. They'd decided not to go out with some of the others after the talent show had ended, ready to just snuggle and take it easy for their last night.

"This has been different," Harry said quietly. "After Ana took Lily and Kieran to our island, this ended up being our first residence holiday here with none of our own kids."

Ginny smiled. "We have lots of our kids here," she told him. "A lot of them have just grown up on us, and are volunteers themselves."

"That's been really great to see, too," he agreed. "We just seemed to have a lot more time to ourselves this week than ever before."

"See, and I thought that was a really good thing," she told Harry with a soft laugh. "The rest of the summer is going to be really busy, so I'm glad we're actually getting a rest this week."

"That's true," he conceded.

They heard someone at the door, and Dale came in, walked over and sat down in one of the sitting room chairs.

"Had enough for tonight?" Ginny asked, and Dale nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, I didn't think it was possible to have too much fun, but in this place, you can definitely overdo it."

"You'll be able to rest up from your vacation when we get back home tomorrow," Harry told him.

Dale grinned. "Somehow I'm not so sure about that, since there always seems to be something on the go, but we'll see." He stood up, and went over to hug Harry and Ginny.

"I'm going to go get most of my things packed, and get some sleep. Good night, and thanks for bringing us here this week. It's been really great."

"Good night, Dale," Ginny told him. "You're welcome."

They waited up for Joel, Sarah, and Karl, and then went to bed too. In the morning, they took the TransPortal home, getting there in time for a lunch that Brianna, Scorpius, Nick, Allie, Frederica, and Liam put together for them to welcome everyone home.

Lily and Kieran came back for lunch too, while Ana went home to finish getting everything ready for their departure on Sunday for their next three weeks on the road.

While everyone who was home spent the rest of the day Saturday catching up with what they'd each been doing for the past week, Sunday afternoon was going to be another family day.

Harry's birthday was on Monday, but since most of the family would be working, it was going to be the first day of Canons' training camp, and Lily and Kieran would be gone on tour, the kids had planned an afternoon family play day.

Rose, Matt, Al, and Carolyn were the last members of the family to get back from their travels, getting home before lunch, and in time to unpack and then join their family for the afternoon fun.

"I hear you were sent to the island to get a rest," Al said when he and Carolyn finally got a little time to sit down and talk with Lily and Kieran. "Are you doing better now?"

Lily nodded and smiled. "Much better. You two look pretty happy too."

"We are," Carolyn told her. "Rose and Matt are going to do great at their new business. "You two should book your vacations with them early."

Kieran and Lily both laughed. "We'll remember to do that," Kieran said. "Maybe we'll do that for my graduation year."

"So where are you off to later today?" Al asked.

"Spain taday, with the concert there tomorrow night," Kieran answered. "Then Germany for Tuesday and the concert on Wednesday night, and end up in Greece for the rest of the week and a Saturday night concert."

It sounds like a busy week. Try not to wear yourselves out again," Al told them.

"How about you guys?" Lily asked. "What are you doing?"

Carolyn smiled. "A week at home, and we'll probably spend a lot of that at the house in Hogsmeade, then two more weeks with Rose and Matt. I'm pretty sure we're doing Egypt and then India, a week in each place."

Lily nodded. "We'll be in India for the last three days of our tour. Maybe we can get together there for a dinner or something. We'll be playing the same stadium where we played against the Japanese team last summer."

"I'll let Rose know, and we can work that out when it gets closer," Carolyn said.

Harry had a few gifts to open, and they had a birthday cake. Lily and Kieran had to leave early, and had a long goodbye with everyone before Ana and Kirley got them, and Karl, going and on their way to Spain.

There was just one day left in July, and August was looking to be just as busy for everyone. New jobs were starting, two Marauders were moving to Romania, and travel adventures were still ahead for other members of their family and friends. They were all rested from the one or more weeks of vacation they'd just finished, and all of the New Marauders were excited and ready to get the second half of their summer holiday started.


	99. Summer Days  August

Chapter Ninety-Nine – Summer Days – August

Lily and Kieran were settling in to their suite at the Westin Palace in Madrid, and Karl had stopped by after checking out his own suite.

"Can you believe this place?" he asked them. "Daphne's going to love it when she gets here later."

"It is really great," Lily agreed. "Is Daphne going to hang around with you and Kirley tomorrow, or does she want to go around with us?"

"I haven't asked yet. We can go over her options later tonight. Maybe she'd rather just hang out here and go do some shopping instead of either choice."

"Can I choose that option?" Lily asked, and the boys laughed.

"Will she get here in time for the dinner?" Kieran asked Karl, who nodded. "She won't have much time to get ready, but she'll be here."

"Good," Lily told the boys. "I'd hate for the magazines and talk shows to be reporting that I'd gone to this thing with two young men. That'd be all we'd get asked about for the rest of the summer in our interviews."

They had a little time to go for a tour of the palace before it was time to get ready for the dinner, and the private party that was going to follow that. When Daphne got there, Laura, Ana, and Lily helped her to get ready too, and then they were off to yet another glitzy evening where Lily and Kieran were as much the entertainment as they were the honoured guests.

On Monday, while they were running around doing interviews, and having a lunch at the foundation residence in Spain, back home the Canons were having their press meet and greet for the opening day of training camp.

Andy and his team were there for QSPN, and it had been the weirdest morning for him, interviewing two of his friends along with the rest of the Canons.

Aaron and Arianna had enjoyed doing their interviews with him, which wasn't surprising, but the rest of the team loved him too. For example, he was the only Quidditch reporter who'd actually known that both Tristan and Liselle, and Sebastian and Trinity had gotten engaged over the summer.

That news had made the TeenWitch magazine, and the WWVN talk show entertainment reports, but it seemed that all of the other sports reporters didn't keep up with anything except Quidditch.

"You have no idea how glad we are to have some intelligent questions get asked," Liselle told him after they were off-camera. "Thanks for giving us at least a few decent minutes in between the idiocy."

Andy grinned at her. "You mean being two-time League Champions, and reigning Quidditch World Cup Champs hasn't earned you any respect?"

Liselle laughed. "Sure it has," she told him. "We haven't had a practice yet, but we've been ranked by most of the media experts to finish either eighth or ninth this season. That puts us three spots higher than they ranked us last season."

"Our rankings come out on Friday," he told her. "We still have to analyse your team, and Erica has to crunch the numbers after that."

Tristan laughed. "You're not seriously thinking about applying statistics and reason into making your predictions are you?"

Andy laughed too. "Well, Al wouldn't look into the future for me and just give me the final standings, so we'll just have to do it the hard way."

"I think you'll have better luck that way than with Divination," Tristan told Andy. "We'll be interested in how that comes out."

James was touring his new facility – or what would be his soon. The building was nearly completed, and Teddy was showing him around.

"The room design is pretty close to the residences, except with ten bedrooms for every Common room, instead of twenty," Teddy told him as they went through one of those clusters of rooms.

"The kids and teens you're getting are the absolute worst cases, James. This is going to be a really hard job for everyone."

"How bad is worst case?" James asked.

"I'll give you the files on each kid when we get back to the office, but they're all seriously abused, and on top of that, every one that you're getting have either no education at all, or are years behind other children or teens their age. Other kids are getting adopted, or are being moved in to one of the residences, or will be starting at Hogwarts in September. Nearly half of your kids should be at Hogwarts, but don't have the skills to do that."

"So we'll be teaching them here," James said, and Teddy nodded.

"Yes. You'll probably need a one to five or one to ten ratio of teachers to students, with a lot of additional tutoring. We're working on getting approval for the kids to practice magic when they're far enough along to be able to do that."

"When will we start advertising for these jobs?" James asked.

"Today," Teddy told him with a smile. "You'll be starting interviews by later this week."

"Good. That way I'll have some time to get to know everyone we hire, and do a little training with them too."

"You'll be pretty close to fifty staff to cover all of the shifts, have teachers, cooks, and cleaning staff. We'll start recruiting volunteers too, and hopefully we'll end up with fifty mentors too."

"This is going to be perfect for these kids, Teddy. I'm really glad I decided to do this."

"We're glad you did too," Teddy told him.

They spent another hour finishing the tour, and talking about what challenges they'd be facing with the kids who would be here before going back to Teddy's office, where James got copies of the files of all fify kids he was getting. He took those files home with him to read through, and then he left for a lunch with Jon and Therese before they'd be leaving for Romania.

"For some reason, it feels like today's that day when we all start to go our own ways," James told them while they ate. "Andy and Laura already started their jobs, but until I started work today, and Arianna went back, and with you guys leaving tomorrow, it really feels like it now. I'm going to miss you."

"We're going to miss you too, mate," Jon told him, and Therese nodded.

James grinned. "Sure, sure. You'll meet and make friends with some nice new dragons," he told Jon, "and you're going to be a world-famous healer who won't have time for old pals from Hogwarts." He was trying to seem melodramatic, but failed, and his friends both laughed.

"Nice try, James," Therese told him. "First of all, that's so transparently insincere, and second of all, even though we might not see each other as much, we will be friends forever. Count on that."

"I know," James agreed. "I'm just trying to keep things from getting all emotional, since I forgot my pack of tissues at home."

"Then why don't you tell us about your new place, and what you'll be doing with the kids there," Jon suggested.

That was a safe road to go down, and James happily took the offered diversion, so they were able to push off the tears until the very end of lunch when it was time for them to say goodbye.

"If you need anything else at all, make sure you let me know," James told them. "I definitely don't want you worrying about anything other than dragons, med school, and each other."

Therese hugged him tightly. "You've already made sure we'll be fine," Therese promised. "You take care of your own new family, and those kids."

Jon hugged him next. "We'll let you know anytime we're going to be home for visits, and you know you and Arianna are always welcome to visit us."

James nodded. "I know. Thanks. We'll try for a visit sometime on a weekend that Arianna doesn't have a game this fall."

"We'd like that," Therese told him. "I love you, James. Now why don't you get out of here before I turn into a blubbering pile of goo."

He smiled, hugged her one last time, and then left for home and an afternoon of heavy reading.

Mark was in the labs at Marauders Institute with Ginny on Monday, and they were talking about revolutionizing the broom racing world with a little change like inventing a whole new racing outfit, instead of the traditional robes.

"You know," she told him as they worked. "I don't remember anything in the Quidditch rules that specifically say you have to wear robes either."

Mark smiled. "I can't say I follow Quidditch all that closely, but it makes sense. A lot of these things are done just out of tradition."

Ginny nodded. "My point is that with some adaptation, what you're looking for could have applications to Quidditch, and through that a much bigger market for a product."

"If you could make them so that bludgers would stop breaking bones, and maybe didn't do worse than leave bruises, you'd probably get an Order of Merlin from the Ministry of Magical Games and Sports," he joked.

"Isn't that Quidditch purist heresy just to suggest such a thing?" Ginny said with a laugh. "I'm not sure if it could be done, but I think it'd be brilliant."

They worked together for a few hours, using the Canons' environmental suit as a starting point. When they were finished discussing everything that should go into an endurance broom-racing suit, Ginny was smiling.

"This won't take long, she told Mark. "We can have a prototype ready for you to take a look at by the end of the week, and maybe test next week. I'm sure we can have a finished suit ready for you before your big race in Australia."

"That'd be great," he told her. "Now if I can get good enough myself, the other racers are going to be in for a surprise."

Ginny smiled. "At least for the first race," she agreed.

Back at the cottage, Frederica and Sarah had kept Liam helping them, since Patricia had joined them for two weeks, and they now had four kids. Harry spent the day at the cottage with them, and Dale, Carissa, Amy, and Millie all stayed close to the cottage all day too, their farthest trip from home an ice cream run into Godric's Hollow.

Al and Carolyn went shopping in the morning, then had lunch with Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Emily at the Diner in Chudley, before going over to the house in Hogsmeade to work on unpacking the boxes of kitchenware and everything else they'd sent from the Mall to the house by Translocator.

They all gathered back at the cottage for dinner, their group including Kira and Patricia, Brianna and Scorpius, and Nick and Allie. Harry was smiling at them when they'd all taken seats around the table.

"How would you all like to come and do something special with me tonight?" he asked them, and received nods all around the table.

"I was given a birthday present that I wasn't supposed to tell you about until now, but Kirley and Ana gave me enough tickets for all of us to go see SpellBound at their concert in Spain tonight."

Harry laughed as Kira and Patricia both hopped out of their seats and gang-hugged him.

"Really?" Kira said in her high, excited little voice. "We get to go see them tonight?"

Harry laughed. "Yes we do," he assured her. "I have to pick up Nadine and Vanessa on the way, but we have front row seats to the concert."

Al smiled at his parents. "Lily doesn't know, does she?"

Ginny laughed, her eyes sparkling in delight. "Not a clue, and if we get it right, she won't see us until she gets on stage."

They did get it right, and they'd even managed to throw her off as she'd started to speak with her audience of forty thousand in Spanish to open the concert. When she saw them smiling up at her, she'd lost track of what she was saying, and had laughed, and then apologized to her fans.

"I'm very sorry," she told them, "but my family has surprised me my coming to the concert tonight."

She grinned at Harry. "What's really great about that is that today is my father's birthday, so why don't we all just take a minute and sing Happy Birthday to him."

Kieran and most of the audience was laughing as he changed plans, and started playing the birthday song, and then helped Lily lead their audience in singing Happy Birthday to Harry Potter.

"That's what I get for trying to get cute and surprise her," he whispered to a laughing Ginny.

"If she'd known you were here, there probably would have been a cake and you'd be up on stage," Ginny whispered back as she hugged him at the end of the song. "Wave to the nice people now," she added.

Harry and Ginny spent the next two and a half hours watching the kids put on a great show, and taking turns with some of the older teens with holding Kira and Patricia up so they could see the show better. They sang favourite songs from their first albums, and more from the most recent two albums too. This year, One Magic Moment was still in the show, but wasn't the closer anymore. This year they were ending the show with a couple of faster songs, then had one more pop song and the ballad they'd written about Karl and Daphne as their encore songs to wind down the show.

It would be too busy after the show backstage for everyone to go see Lily and Kieran, so Nadine and Vanessa went with Ana and Laura to take Kira and Patricia to see Lily and Kieran, while everyone else stayed near the stage and talked with Kirley, Karl, and Daphne while they waited for the girls to come back.

"Hey, sweetie," Lily told Kira as she ran to her for a hug. "How did you like this year's show?"

"It was amazing," Kira told her. "I loved every song the best!"

Lily set Kira down so that she could pick Patricia up. "Hi Patricia," she said quietly. "I'm really glad you got to come see us tonight."

"Me too," Patricia said, hugging her back. "You were really great," she told Lily. "Even better than last year back home."

"Thanks, honey," Lily told her.

"Hey, don't I get any hugs?" Kieran teased, and was immediately rewarded with two big hugs and a couple of kisses too.

"Hey," Lily told the girls. "That's my boyfriend you're kissing over there." Kira and Patricia both giggled, and Nadine and Vanessa laughed.

"I guess we weren't fast enough," Nadine told her friend before hugging and kissing Kieran anyway. She moved on to hug Lily, who was now laughing too.

"You two are definitely not the shy girls we met last summer anymore," Lily told her friends as Vanessa hugged Kieran too, then hugged Lily.

"We have the two of you to at least partly thank for that," Vanessa told her. "Our popularity at school and the residence took a major jump after that week on tour with you."

Kieran grinned. "I'd say that being a first year school team Seeker that helped her team become co-Quidditch Cup Champions did a lot for your reputation too."

Lily smiled at them. "You probably don't have much time. Come on, and we can talk while I get changed and lose the makeup," she told the four girls.

That only took Lily about twenty minutes, and then it was time to hug the girls goodbye, and to go with Laura and Kieran to spend the next hour signing autographs for their fans before returning to their hotel.

While they did that, Ana led the four girls back to where the others were waiting, talked with everyone for a few minutes, then spent several more minutes with goodbye hugs and kisses.

Tuesday, August first was the day that Mark was going to officially start training for broom racing. Harry had asked him to come over to the cottage after breakfast, and so he kissed Callie goodbye after eating, and apparated to the cottage.

Harry was just finishing cleaning up from the breakfast he'd made for everyone at the cottage when Mark got there, and he smiled and nodded in greeting.

"Good timing," Harry told him. "Ready to go play?"

Mark smiled back. "Okay. Play at what?"

"You didn't think I'd invest in you without having training for you, did you?" Harry asked, and Mark was surprised.

"Actually, yes. I wasn't aware of any programs to train racers."

Harry grinned at him. "That's because you and I are starting the first one."

"Who's going to train me?" Mark asked, and then his eyes widened when Harry just grinned back at him.

"Once a week, I'll train with you," Harry told him. "I haven't done any racing, but I know how to make brooms go fast, and we'll work the rest of it out together."

He grabbed his Lightningbolt, and the two men went outside after saying goodbye to the kids that were still at the cottage.

"What would you like to do first?" Mark asked eagerly.

"Let's get high, and head east," Harry told him. "Go as fast as you're able, and I'll let you know when to stop."

They both took off, and Harry and Mark both watched their speed climb as they took off and sped east. Harry was flying next to Mark and pushed him to keep up, until he topped out at two hundred and twenty miles an hour, and they were over London very quickly.

Harry had them fly, and led them, to Paris in just over an hour, and they landed on the outskirts of the city for a rest.

"That was pretty good," Harry complimented him. "Why'd you stop at two hundred and twenty miles an hour though?"

Mark smiled. "That's the top speed of the Lightningbolt," Mark told him, and Harry smiled back at him.

"Everyone else seems to think so," Harry told him. "What if I told you that the limitation wasn't the broom, but the Witch or Wizard using it?"

"I'd say if I could be one of those Wizards who could get past that, the competition would be in for a really bad time in Australia, and probably every other race," he answered with a grin.

Harry laughed. 'I'm going to do something, and in a moment you'll understand what I'm talking about." He reached out a hand and placed it on the back of Mark's head. "Don't worry, this won't hurt – it'll just feel strange for a moment or two."

Mark nodded, and then went blank for a minute. When he came back around, it took a moment for him to know what had happened, and then his smile lit up the morning around them.

"That's incredible!" Mark said in an excited voice. "The suit that Ginny is designing for me could take care of those issues with wind resistance and cold," he added, and Harry nodded.

"Now let's try one more hour east, then turn back so we're home in time for lunch with the kids."

Harry was grinning as they took to the air again, and this time, they were able to easily break past that two hundred and twenty mile an hour barrier. Mark wasn't an extraordinarily powerful Wizard, but he did have this one very special ability that Harry had seen in him. He didn't think it was going to be a very common talent, but he was sure it would make Mark a huge star on the racing circuit, which is why he was also busy buying up all of the WWVN advertising for the coming racing season.

They flew for that extra hour out, then swept around and poured it on for the trip back home, getting there in time for him to start making lunch.

Mark hugged Harry when they landed.

"Thank-you," he told Harry. "That was more incredible than anything I've ever experienced."

Harry grinned at him. "Let me strongly suggest that you make that number two on your list before you get back home. If marrying Callie isn't number one by then, you could find yourself in the doghouse very quickly."

Mark laughed. "Oops. Thanks for saving me from my first newlywed screw-up."

"You're welcome," Harry told him. "Keep working out this week, and just go that four or five hours round trip. We'll work out together again next Tuesday morning, and maybe push it to six or seven hours. By the end of August, we'll have you ready for that four thousand kilometre monster."

Callie was laughing when Mark came home, swept her into his arms, and hugged and kissed her.

"Did you fly too high during your practice?" she asked him, and he laughed too.

"No, just spent the morning training with Harry, and finding out just how fast I'm able to fly that broom."

"That good?" she asked, and he nodded excitedly.

"I hoped that I could compete in these races," he answered. "Now I know I can maybe be the best at it."

Callie went back to finishing making their lunch. "Why don't you crack a bottle of wine, and you can tell me all about it over lunch," she suggested.

While Harry and Mark had been flying, Lily, Kieran, and the others had moved on to Germany from Spain, and were already doing the never-ending interviews with the local media. They were staying at the Kempinski Hotel Bristol for the next two nights, and after a busy morning, had lunch there with Karl, Daphne, and the others.

After an afternoon full of more interviews, they had a quick dinner, then Lily left for the cottage, while Kieran, Karl, and Daphne left for his Grandmother's and their respective practices.

"I've only got two hours," Lily told the others. We have a reception to be at for nine, and I'll need time to get cleaned up and ready after our workout."

Nick grinned at her. "Aren't famous people supposed to show up for those things fashionably late?"

"Kieran and I are starting a new trend. I know, we're rebels, but nobody seems to get too upset when we show up when we're supposed to and keep all of our commitments."

Nick and Hugo had them work hard for just under two hours, and Lily hugged everyone quickly before taking the TransPortal back to Germany, showering, and getting ready with a little help from Laura, and hurrying to their party.

The rest of the week went by quickly, with Al and Carolyn working on their house in Hogsmeade, Rose and Matt planning the trip that would be starting on Sunday, and Lily and Kieran doing their concert on Wednesday before moving on to Greece.

Harry spent the rest of the week almost completely with the kids, while Ginny worked on Mark's racing suit, and Brianna, Joel, Scorpius, Nick, and Allie all stayed busy with their respective jobs.

Lily and Kieran were at home on Thursday night for their Quidditch practices, and with the two hour time difference to Greece, had been booked for a dinner, then gone to practice, then returned for an eleven o'clock appearance at a private party.

On Friday morning, because they were two hours ahead, Lily, Kieran, and Karl received their Hogwarts letters earlier than their family and friends at home. They were having breakfast when the Owls arrived, unnoticed by the Muggles all around them.

"That's a pretty cool trick," Karl commented after the three Owls left.

"How'd you do?" Ana asked the kids.

She laughed when Lily handed her letter over. "I'd have only been surprised if there weren't twelve O's on yours," she told Lily. "Congratulations."

"Six O's, three E's," Kieran reported. "And a Captain's badge, and a Prefect badge."

Lily was next to him, so she beat Ana to the congratulatory hug and kiss, but Ana wasn't far behind, and Kirley was also looking very proud.

"Way to go, Kieran," Ana told him.

Karl was smiling as he read his own letter, and Lily touched his arm.

"How'd you do?" she asked, and his smile got even brighter.

"Permission to hug your girlfriend?" he asked Kieran, who laughed and nodded.

"Three O's, Five E's," he told her. "Way better than I would have done without your help this year. Thank-you."

"You're welcome," she told him. "You still did all of the work, so you should be very proud of what you've done."

"It's a good thing you have a sightseeing day so you can all celebrate having such a great bunch of reports," Ana told them. "There's a dinner and party tonight, but other than that, you can go exploring."

Back at home; when the rest of the students started their day, the Hogwarts letters began arriving. Rose and Hugo got their letters, and Rose had to sit down when she saw the Head Girl badge slide out from her envelope.

"Way to go, sis!" Hugo told her. "Like mother, like daughter."

Hermione hugged her, and they both laughed.

"Now I'm sure I don't want to play Quidditch this year," Rose told them. "I never saw James and Therese ever seem to slow down except for a few hours when we watched the Canons play."

Hugo grinned at her. "Does that mean I have to do what you tell me to do?" he asked, holding up the Prefect badge that he hadn't noticed until he'd picked up his Captain's badge and seen that there were two badges there."

He got hugs from both his Mum and Rose.

"Your marks must have gotten even better," Rose suggested, and Hugo nodded.

"Six O's, three E's," he confirmed. "That's a bit better than I thought it would be. I was guessing four O's and five E's."

"You did great," Hermione told him. Rose had all O's, and would continue with the same six classes for her NEWT year. Hugo would be taking all nine classes for his OWL year too.

Isabelle, Stewart, and Carissa had gone over to have breakfast with Teddy and Victoire, so all three Owl Posts had arrived there.

"Carissa!" Amy exclaimed after trading letters. "Six O's and an E! Way to go!"

Millie laughed. "When did you sneak up on us and become a genius?"

Carissa grinned at them. "I think it started last Christmas when we all got our lives changed," she said seriously.

Millie had earned three O's, three E's, and an A for her classes, and Amy had three O's and four E's. They were both thrilled with their results, since their first year marks had been a couple of E's and the rest A's.

"I thought an A in Astronomy was the best mark," Millie joked, and Amy laughed.

"You're probably just trying to get some extra time to stare into Al's gorgeous green eyes while he tutors that class for us," Amy teased.

Millie blushed, but she didn't deny it.

"What girl wouldn't want to?" Victoire asked, saving Millie. "Just because he's taken doesn't mean you can't look."

Isabelle, Stewart, Teddy, and the girls laughed, and Millie smiled gratefully at Victoire.

"We should take you all out for dinner tonight to celebrate," Teddy told them. "I'll see what kind of reservations I can get on short notice, but plan on dressing up to go out somewhere special."

Percy and Penelope were at breakfast with the boys, and their letters set off a hugfest there too. Nick and Scorpius both had straight O's, but the real celebration was for Scorpius being named Head Boy, while Nick officially became the Quidditch team captain.

"Way to go," Penelope told Scorpius as she hugged him. "You deserve this."

Percy laughed. "I wish I could be there when your grandfather finds out," he told Scorpius. "That would be very, very funny." He thought about that for a moment.

"I think an inter-office memo would be appropriate to congratulate one of our finest interns on being named Head Boy at Hogwarts." Penelope and Nick both started laughing.

Scorpius grinned at him. "If you did that, he'd hear about it before lunch."

"That'd be a shame," Penelope said.

Over at the cottage, Harry and Ginny were watching six kids opening their letters, and there were smiles all around. Joel was the only one going in to fifth year, and he had been in shock when the Prefect badge had slid out of his Hogwarts envelope.

Sarah had hugged and kissed him, and the others had laughed at the look on his face, then congratulated him for his five O's and four E's – way better than he'd ever thought he could do.

Sarah had been happy with her two O's, five E's, and two A's, and Harry, Ginny, and the girls had all hugged her. She'd come a long way in her marks in just six months.

Dale was the biggest improvement, and had even received an extra letter congratulating him for being the most improved student in the whole school, having gone from failing more than half of his classes to one O, four E's, and two A's.

Al had O's in all nine of his classes, and would continue with all of them for his NEWT year. Brianna had four O's, four E's, and an A in Divination. She was planning on dropping Divination and Astronomy, and going with her best seven subjects for her sixth year. Carolyn finished with five O's and four E's, and was going to drop the same classes as Brianna. After talking it over with Al, she agreed that taking Divination any farther wouldn't give her anything more than what she had wanted so that she would understand one of his gifts better, and he'd gotten her to admit that she really didn't like Astronomy at all, and she was really relieved to drop that subject too.

"I have to go to work this morning," Ginny told them, "but why don't I take the afternoon off, and we can take everyone who wants to go for an afternoon on the island to celebrate how great you've all done?"

That suggestion had nearly universal approval, except for from Brianna and Joel, who had to work, and Al and Carolyn, who already had plans with Rose and Matt.

Ginny, Brianna, and Joel went off to work, and Al and Carolyn went over to Rose's house to meet up with her, and with Matt. Harry stayed with the kids, and they played while he worked at putting a lunch together for them to have on the island, including a short shopping trip.

Brianna and Scorpius had some Witches and Wizards around them laughing when she hugged and kissed him in the Atrium when she found out that he'd been named Head Boy, which he'd kept out of their morning qm's so that he could tell her in person.

"Congratulations!" she whispered in his ear as she hugged him.

"Thank-you," he whispered back. "It's a bonus that we'll have a place for ourselves all year too," he added with a grin that she returned.

They didn't have time to celebrate, needing to get to work, so Scorpius and Joel congratulated each other, and headed for the lifts, and busy days. Their day had started off exceptionally, and they couldn't help but all have a great day.

Over at the Marauders Institute, some heads were turning when Mark walked from one of the washrooms where he'd changed into the suit that Ginny had created, and all of those heads belonged to Witches.

Mark was laughing when he walked back into her lab, and she smiled.

"If it doesn't help with my racing, it seems it will help the WWVN ratings," he joked.

The one-piece suit was definitely form fitting, and since there were still Witches craning their necks for a look even now, Mark apparently had a form that they were interested in looking at.

"This was your idea," Ginny reminded him. "It has the same environmental controls as the suits the Canons use under their robes, and the tests I ran showed that you should see significant reduction in wind resistance. You'll have to experiment with body position on your broom to optimize that."

Mark nodded. "It's perfect, Ginny. I can hardly wait to find out how well it works. Thank-you."

Ginny hugged him, and they both laughed as some of the girls who were still watching whistled.

"You better go change," she advised him. "You'll definitely attract attention if you wear that around town."

Mark grinned. "I'll go do that now."

"We're taking the kids to the island to celebrate how great they did on their school reports. If you and Callie want to come, meet us at the cottage just before lunchtime."

"I'll ask her when I get back and we'll let you know," he promised before leaving.

Draco and Astoria were out for their after-lunch walk around the Malfoy estates, and could barely contain their composure until they were far away from the mansion.

"Our son is to be Head Boy of Hogwarts!" Astoria exulted in a whisper when she could finally throw her arms around Draco's neck, and then she kissed him exuberantly.

"Those poor, defenceless heirlooms didn't know what hit them when my father found out. If Mum hadn't been there to save him again, he'd probably have done something drastic and irreversible."

Astoria grinned at him. "I think your mother was more mad about having those antiques destroyed than about Scorpius making Head Boy."

Draco nodded. "It seems that nothing happening at Hogwarts lately is making my father happy. Last year with Harry and Ginny's son being Head Boy, and now with his disowned grandson being named, along with Ron and Hermione's daughter as Head Girl, if what we heard from the Flint family is right, he's having a bad time of it."

"It's funny how I'm learning to handle his little disappointments like this so well," Astoria said, still grinning. "I just wish we could tell our son how proud we are of him."

"I do too," he said, but you know they're watching us any time he's home from school now, so I don't see how we can manage it."

Astoria sighed. "I hope someday we get to spend time with him again before it's too late for us."

Draco hugged her again. "Let's not be sad about that, honey," he told her. "We can just be happy for him, and not worry about the rest for just a little while."

She smiled and hugged him back. "How would you suggest we celebrate?" she asked him archly, and he grinned back at her.

"How about with a little afternoon outdoor snogging session?" he suggested before kissing her, and they both were lost to a few rare minutes of pure happiness.

Harry and Ginny had spent the afternoon on the island with the kids, and Mark and Callie had come along to get in on the fun. They'd spent several hours there, and then returned to the cottage.

"Turn on QSPN," Ginny told him after reading a QuillMessage that Arianna had just sent her.

She and Harry had been working on getting dinner started, and so he turned on the small WWVN they had there and tuned in to the Quidditch Sports Network.

They saw Andy's smiling face on the screen along with the other members of his broadcast team, and they were releasing their predictions for the League rankings for the coming season.

They'd been counting up from last place, and were now into the top five, so Harry and Ginny watched as they then ranked the Tutshill Tornados and number four, and the Holyhead Harpies at number three.

When they then put the Appleby Arrows at number two, the Chudley Canons were the only team that hadn't been listed, so everyone knew before Andy said it that they were predicting the Canons would be the number one team in the league again.

"Finally!" Ginny said. "A logical approach to ranking the teams. We'll see how the teams end up at the end of the year, but that list makes a lot more sense to me than anything the other sports experts have come up with."

Harry smiled. "I hope they've got it mostly right. Then maybe the rest of the sports reporters will figure out that it's time to do their jobs for real now that Andy and his little gang are on the scene."

Stewart and Isabelle had invited Dale to the dinner out with Carissa, Amy, and Millie, and he had put on his best suit, been hugged by Ginny and Harry, and taken over to Stewart and Isabelle's house.

From there, they went into London to the Emerald City Centre, and had dinner in the hotel's best restaurant before they went on to see a musical at the Magick Theatre, where Grandma and Grandpa had given up their balcony box for the night as a present for the four excellent reports.

None of the kids had been to the theatre before, and even Dale had been awed by the experience. They'd all watched, riveted to the story and had their emotions played like an instrument as the music pulled them into moments of laughter, and then would bring them to tears with the next song. When the show was over, the kids were taken for a late night dessert, and then back home.

Dale was staying overnight at Stewart and isabelle's and all eight of them were in the sitting room, still too excited to be ready to end the night.

"That was so wonderful," Carissa told Stewart and Isabelle. "Thank-you so much for taking us there, and dinner, and everything." Millie, Amy, and Dale all nodded too.

"You're welcome," Isabelle told her. "We'll have to send something to Grandma and Grandpa to thank them for letting us use their balcony box too."

Carissa nodded. "Yeah! Another reason to go shopping!"

Isabelle and Victoire both laughed, and Victoire stood up. "I don't know about the rest of you, but it's been a very long day today for me, and I'm ready to go get some sleep."

Teddy stood up too. "I'm with you," he agreed. "Would you like to stay and visit with Carissa and Dale for a bit longer?" he asked Amy and Millie, who both shook their heads and stood up.

"No," Amy told Teddy. "If we did that, then Carissa wouldn't be able to kiss Dale goodnight or anything with us sitting around watching."

Dale blushed furiously, and the others grinned at him.

"We definitely wouldn't want to get in the way of that,' Teddy agreed. "We'll see you in the morning," he told Stewart, Isabelle, Carissa, and Dale.

Stewart and Isabelle had hugs for Carissa and Dale, and left them alone in the sitting room. They snuggled on the sofa for close to an hour, and Dale did get to share a brilliant goodnight kiss with his adorable girlfriend before they both went to their rooms to get some sleep.

The Hogwarts letters coming out on Friday meant that the students had four weeks left until September first. Lily and Kieran finished their first week of their three-week tour with their concert in Greece, before moving on to Ethiopia on Sunday morning to get ready for their concert on Monday night at the Gimbi Giant-Slayers stadium.

While they were settling in to their rooms at the Sheriton Addis, Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt were checking in to the Mena House Oberoi, and another spectacular palace hotel. They had two of the deluxe palace suites, each with a spectacular view of the Great Pyramids. They were just starting their second two-week tour, and would be spending two days there while exploring the wonders of the Pyramids and of Cairo.

"Can you believe that view?" Carolyn asked Al as they looked at the Pyramids that weren't even a kilometre away from where they were standing.

"It is incredible," Al agreed. "Is this better than babysitting Kira, James, and Timothy yet?"

Carolyn put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "They're pretty great kids, but yes, this is way better."

"I'd love to do this all summer next year too," Al said.

"That'd be amazing if we could," Carolyn told him. "We're probably not going to be able to, though. You're going to be busy, and I should start thinking about getting a job that will look better than babysitter or boyfriend's travel companion and house-cleaning assistant on my resume for when I graduate."

Al smiled. "Maybe we can do some weekend trips," he suggested. "I could talk with Matt about that and see what he thinks about luxury weekend getaways."

"Now that would work," Carolyn said. "We'd have to work them around whatever family events we'll have next summer, like Rose and Matt's wedding, but even in our family we should find at least a few free weekends."

Matt and Rose came to their room to get them for their first sightseeing trip, and they were all excited about getting up close and personal with the Great Pyramids.

Sunday had been a lazy day for the rest of the family. They set up a pool at the cottage, and Harry, Ginny, and the kids that were there for the day all just spent the day playing and relaxed outside in the beautiful, hot August sunshine. That group had included Scorpius, Nick, and Allie, along with Percy and Penelope. Ron and Hermione had gone with Hugo for a day with Emily and her parents. She'd been named the other Gryffindor fifth-year Prefect, and they had a sort of celebration day for their kids. Frederica and Liam had been taking the weekend off from babysitting, and on Sunday, spent it with George, Marietta, and Lee and Cho Jordan and their three young kids.

The second week of August had started with a relaxing day, but by Monday, the working members of the family were back to their busy jobs. Nick had two weeks left, and wanted to get three projects finished before he'd be done for the summer, so he worked long days all week. Allie and Victoire were busy with the push to get new products into stores for back to school shopping that was already starting. Joel, Brianna, and Scorpius were all being kept busy at the Ministry, where Scorpius in particular was continuing to make a name for himself with his exceptional work as an intern.

Sarah, Frederica, and Liam had four kids for one more week, and the grownups were all busy with their jobs too. Harry's job had him at the residence on Monday morning, and Dale, Carissa, Amy, and Millie all went with him. He then took all of the kids to the Marauders Mall in Paris for lunch and an afternoon playtime before going back to the cottage to make dinner for just six and a quiet evening with Dale, Carissa, Sarah, and Joel.

SpellBound wowed their fans at their first-ever concert in Africa, and the Gimbi Giant-Slayers' stadium was packed with twenty-five thousand Witches and Wizards of all ages. They were on stage for more than two and a half hours before finishing their encore songs. They got cleaned up and changed, then spent another hour signing autographs. On Tuesday morning, they were off to Tanzania, where they'd be staying at the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge for the rest of their African week of the tour. Their Thursday concert was at the Patonga Proudsticks' stadium in Uganda, while their Saturday concert was at the Sumbawanga Sunrays' stadium in Tanzania.

The Lodge was built along the rim of the Ngorongoro volcanic crater, and the room that Lily and Kieran were in had it's own stone balcony overlooking the wonderful view of the crater.

"This is quite a bit different than anywhere else we've stayed," Lily said as she, Kieran, Daphne, and Karl took in the view. "It's really amazing though.

Daphne had joined them again, this time on Monday morning, and would be going back home when they went to their Quidditch practices later that evening.

"We've got the morning to go exploring," Kieran said. "Why don't we go do that, and meet Mum, Dad, and Laura back here for lunch."

While they were doing that, Rose, Matt, Al, and Carolyn were moving on too, this time to the Oberoi Sahl Hasheesh, another palatial hotel on the Red Sea. They were staying in Grand Suites that featured their own private swimming pools and open-air, walled gardens.

"Can we come work for you?" Carolyn asked Rose as they looked over the swimming pool in the suite that she and Al would be sharing for the next four nights.

Rose laughed. "You'd probably be great at it, but I think you two won't be spending your lives in the travel business."

Carolyn nodded. "No, but you and Matt have picked a really great career if it's going to be spending your time in places like this."

"We think it's going to be brilliant," Rose agreed.

Al and Matt joined them. "Now I see why you didn't want to check out any other hotels in Egypt," Al told Rose and Matt. "Either of these hotels will be perfect for the clientele you're going after. These trips won't be cheap, though, will they?"

Matt shook his head. "No, but then they'll never forget the trips either."

Carolyn smiled. "I know we won't." she told them.

Tuesday evening, the Hogwarts Quidditch teams were together for their two practices. The Gryffindor-Ravenclaw workout at the cottage included spectators Vanessa, Kira, Sarah, Joel, Allie, Emily, Dale, Carissa, Harry, and Ginny.

Colin and Lily were having fun battling for their usual best of five catches, while Hugo and Scorpius continued their twice-weekly duel. The two Beaters, and two Chasers on each team seemed to battle to a draw at every practice, with neither team having any advantage at all.

It was a different story over at the Slytherin-Hufflepuff practice. Nadine definitely had the advantage at Seeker, and the Hufflepuff Beaters were better than their Slytherin counterparts too, although Terry and Bill were learning fast, and were only in third year. The Keepers, Thomas for Slytherin, and John for Hufflepuff were very close in their abilities, but Kieran, Miranda, and Greg still had a decided advantage over Daphne and her two new Chaser partners Samantha and Eddie.

"You're still kicking our Chaser butts all over the pitch," Daphne told Kieran after their practice.

"The three of you are doing really well, Daphne," he told her. "You've only been playing together for just over a month, and by the time school starts, you'll be two months ahead in your training. We'll see how good you are when we play next May."

Thomas nodded. "We're at least playing together, and you're all really improving on defence, even if you don't feel like it yet. There were quite a few less shots getting through to me tonight."

Kieran had to get going, so after waiting for Karl and Daphne to say goodbye, the two boys took the TransPortal back to their hotel and got ready for another late night meet and greet.

During the rest of the week, Lily and Kieran left thirty-five thousand more fans satisfied by the end of their concert in Uganda. Not having to switch hotels, and with Thursday completely open, they went sightseeing for the day before going home for their Quidditch practices.

Friday was Ginny's birthday. She worked all day, and after work, went with Harry, the kids, and quite a few other groups of the family for a weekend getaway on the island. Winky and Kreacher had a beach-side birthday dinner for everyone, and the birthday cake was outstanding – even by Winky standards.

While most of the family played on the island, on Saturday, Rose and Matt took Al and Carolyn on to their next destination – the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur, India. The Grand Royal Suites Matt and Rose had booked for them were another over-the-top incredible choice. This palace was located on a four-acre island in the middle of lake Pichola, and the scenery was as spectacular as the hotel itself. The two couples had moved through a few time zones on the trip from Egypt to India, so it was nearly lunchtime when they arrived on the little island, so after dropping bags off in their suites, they went out for lunch and an afternoon of exploring.

Lily and Kieran had a busy day on Saturday, starting with visits to two of the Phoenix Foundation residences in Africa in the morning, and following that up with lunch back at their hotel, and then an afternoon WMVN – Africa interview, a sound check at the Sumbawanga Sunrays' stadium, and dinner at the hotel again. Their concert that night was to another sold out crowd, and the show was another huge success. With week two finished, they moved on to Sydney Australia, leaving early on Sunday morning after the concert was over. They were dealing with a big time zone change, and leaving at about two in the morning put them in Sydney at eleven o'clock. They were staying at the Observatory Hotel, and the Junior Suites each had a balcony with a beautiful view.

They stayed up, and had lunch together before everyone went back to their suites for a short nap before getting back up again. They all wanted more sleep, but with a concert coming on Monday night, they needed to stay up, then take the potions before going to bed that night local time that would help them adjust to the new time zone so they'd be ready for their busy day on Monday.

Back at home, or for this weekend, on the family island, Sunday didn't even get started for the family until after Lily, Kieran, and the others had finished dinner and gone for an evening walk along the harbour. They spent the day playing at the beach, and on the lagoon before leaving for the cottage and the other family homes in mid-afternoon so they'd be home in the early evening local time.

Daphne was going to try and spend her two days off with Karl again, so she went home, and straight to bed after work, slept until ten o'clock, and then took the TransPortal to Sydney, whick put her there at eight in the morning, just in time for breakfast with everyone.

When they finished eating, Laura had Lily and Kieran going all day, with interviews and a luncheon at the only foundation residence in Australia. This concert was the only open-air concert they were doing for the whole summer, and the area used by the Witches and Wizards here for different big events was well away from major Muggle centres. They had fifty thousand fans at the show, and Lily and Kieran ended up pouring it on for three hours, then signing autograpns until nearly one in the morning before getting back to the observatory hotel.

"That was probably our best show of the tour," Lily said tiredly as she and Kieran snuggled on the sofa in their suite, too tired to even get up and change yet.

"We had a great audience," Kieran told her. "Just two more shows, and we'll be on our way home."

Lily nodded. "Two days in Japan, and three in India. Speaking of, I got a qm from Carolyn after the concert. They'll be at the Leela Kempinski in Mumbai from Thursday night to Saturday night. We'll get there on Thursday morning, so we can probably meet them for lunch, or at the latest, for dinner on Thursday."

"That'll be nice," Kieran told her. He stood up, and held out his hand. "Let's get changed, and get some sleep."

Lily stood and hugged him before letting him get his things and go change in the bathroom while she changed in the bedroom. The soft, comfortable bed beckoned them, and after changing, they got in, cuddled close, and quickly fell asleep.

It was still Monday evening in India, and the two Marauders couples there were enjoying their last evening at the Taj Lake Palace before they'd be moving on to their next hotel for Tuesday night and Wednesday night. Back at home, it was just late afternoon, and the working members of the family were either on their way home from long days, or would be soon.

Tuesday morning, after breakfast, Kirley and Ana led their group on to Japan. It was an hour earlier in Tokyo, but Ana and Laura had set things up to take advantage of that, and Lily and Kieran were scheduled for a morning show on WMVN – Japan that teens all over the region would be watching.

They'd done that show, two other interviews, and were having lunch with Daphne and Karl before Rose, Matt, Al, and Carolyn were finished breakfast and getting packed for the next stop on their trip. When they got to the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, and were shown to the Royal Suites where they'd be staying, both couples were again impressed with everything about the place.

"You do remember that Al and I will be going back to Hogwarts in a few weeks, and living in dorm rooms, even if you have private rooms, and Matt will be in the house in Hogsmeade, right?" Carolyn asked Rose, who nodded.

"That's going to be really hard to take after all of this luxury," she added, and Rose, Matt, ana Al all laughed.

"Then we're doing something right," Rose said. "That's exactly what we want to have at the end of each trip – Witches and Wizards who loved this so much that they'll want to do another trip with us."

"I'm sure that will happen," Carolyn said. "What sightseeing do you want to do while we're here?"

"We're planning on a Safari for today, and then just more hopping around to different attractions in the area for Wednesday," Matt told her.

"A Safari?" Carolyn asked. "What are the odds we'll see some of the tigers?"

Matt grinned. "We're Witches and Wizards," he told her. "I'd say the odds are one hundred percent that we'll see them up close and personal. Just stay close in case we need to apparate in a hurry."

"We need to get going if we're going to do that," Rose told them. "Even doing things our way it will still take some time to get around to the different places we want to check out today."

They were seeing their first tigers by the time that Lily and Kieran had a break in their schedule and could check out their deluxe suite in the Peninsula Hotel. They didn't have much time to enjoy the place, since they were just there to change and get ready for their last interview of the day, which was to be followed by a sound check at the Toyohashi Tengu's stadium, where they'd be playing on Wednesday night.

"Some day we'll have to come back around and stay at some of these great places when we're not running around all the time, and actually enjoy everything they have to offer," Kieran told Lily.

"I'd love that," she answered. "I guess it will have to wait for a couple more years, since it would be more fun when we're both over seventeen."

"That's a good point," Kieran agreed. "Let's pencil that in for the summer after next, shall we?"

Lily laughed. "I think that will depend a lot on how SpellBound is doing by then. It's a really nice thought, though."

Laura came for them, and they were off and running again. Daphne was able to spend all of Tuesday with them, even staying for the dinner and party that was on Lily and Kieran's schedule, since the time change still put her back home early Tuesday afternoon.

That time change was too much of a jump to make for Al, Rose, Lily, or Kieran to go home for this week's Quidditch practices, but all four teams had decided to work out without the extra players. Daphne had gone for a nap after getting home, but was still tired by the time they started their workout for the night. Even without Kieran, the Hufflepuff team managed to keep the practice match close with Slytherin, although they would end up losing both the Tuesday and Thursday matches for the week, since they were playing one Chaser short.

Nick had been both Seeker and Chaser-less for their workouts, so Ginny and Teddy had stepped in to help him out for their two practices that week, while Harry took over for Lily, and really gave Colin a couple of Seeker workouts that he wouldn't forget any time soon.

Carissa, Millie, and Amy had loved seeing Ginny and Teddy play, and they'd cheered on the Ravenclaw team along with Brianna, Stewart, Isabelle, and Victoire, while Vanessa and Dale got help from visiting fans Ron, Hermione, James, and Arianna to cheer on Gryffindor. Sarah and Joel sat in the middle and cheered on both teams.

Harry won the battle of the Seekers four to one, and Ginny and James put up winning numbers against Hugo, while Scorpius had played an inspired match against Liam and Lance, everything coming together to give Ravenclaw the win.

"Did you kids have fun out there?" Victoire asked Teddy, Harry, and Ginny.

Harry smiled. "Yes, we did. Maybe we should start up our own little teams to get together and have fun like this occasionally. We'd have at least two teams worth of former players now."

Teddy grinned. "That's a really good idea," he approved. "Stewart and I would sign up for that."

"We'll see about doing that after school starts again," Harry told them. "Just don't expect me to want to play all winter, unless it's matches on the 3D GameWizard."

By the time that everyone at the cottage left for their homes, and Harry, Ginny, and the kids went to bed, it was Wednesday morning in Japan. Kirley and Ana were having breakfast with Laura, Karl, Lily, and Kieran, and going over the schedule for the day.

"We're shooting a video this morning," Kirley told them. "That should take until we go for lunch."

"After that," Laura said, taking over, "you'll have two interviews. One on a WWN live show, and the other for the Asia edition of TeenWitch."

"We seem to have completely missed out on any shopping time here," Lily pointed out, and Ana and Laura smiled.

"Sorry, Lily," Ana told her. "You'll have most of Thursday in Mumbai to do that, or go sightseeing if you want."

"Good," Lily said. "I wouldn't want to lose my finely tuned shopping skills by not practicing enough."

The video shoot was for 'An Ocean Apart', which would be on their next album. They'd written it after watching Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle with their families in New York at New Year's, but the lyrics could be interpreted as being about a couple who were separated, and that's how Kirley was shooting the video – to look like Kieran was on one shore, while Lily was on the far-distant shore on the other side of the ocean.

They were running behind by the time they finished the video, so they had to get changed, and eat on the run so that they could make it to their WWN interview on time, with Laura once again somehow managing to get them back on track. The afternoon flew by, and then they were doing a private dinner with a few of the movers and shakers of Wizarding Japan, where Lily and Kieran got about a dozen new fans for life after not only having dinner with the young kids, but by also getting out Kieran's guitar, and playing two songs for them before they had to move on to the stadium for their concert.

The Toyohashi Tengu's stadium had also been a former Quidditch World Cup stadium, so they were able to hold forty-five thousand fans in the just over half of the stadium seating they were using for the concert. This was their second to last concert of the summer, and Lily and Kieran were definitely seeing the light at the end of the tour, and were fired up about being home in just a few more days.

They performed for three solid hours again, and their fans loved every minute of the show. They cried through ballads, laughed when Kieran or Lily would joke with them, and shouted, danced, and clapped during all of the upbeat songs. By the time Laura finally put an end to the autograph signing after the concert, it was nearly one o'clock on Thursday morning when they returned to their suites at the Peninsula Hotel.

"You can sleep in today," Laura told everyone before they split up to go to their own rooms. "We'll leave around eleven, and get to Mumbai around seven-thirty in the morning."

Lily smiled. "And after we have breakfast, we'll get to the shopping!"

Everyone else smiled too, but it had been a long day, and nobody seemed to have the energy left to laugh. There were the usual nightly hugs and kisses, then they all went to bed, happy to get the chance to actually get more than the five or six hours of sleep that they'd been getting most nights for the past two and a half weeks.

Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt had enjoyed their day exploring some of the wonders of India while Lily and Kieran had been working hard. They'd gone out for a wonderful dinner at the same time that SpellBound was performing on stage in Japan, and were now out enjoying the nightlife in Jaipur. They caught a show at the Raj Mandir, and then went dancing at one of the more popular discotheques before going back to their hotel.

"That was fun," Carolyn told Al when they were snuggled in bed together. "I think I liked the puppeteers and the Kalbelia Dancers we saw last night more, but tonight was pretty great too."

"I don't think there's been anything that hasn't been fun," Al said quietly. "Getting to end each night cuddling with you is pretty great too."

Carolyn smiled, and pulled him into a very sweet, tender kiss.

"Change that to brilliant," he told her, his emerald eyes flashing in the moonlight that shone into the room.

Thursday morning, Al and Carolyn had breakfast with Rose and Matt before they all packed for their final stop – the city of Mumbai, and the Leela Kempinski Hotel. Lily, Kieran, Kirley, Ana, Laura, and Karl were already there when the two couples arrived and checked in. They met in the lobby, and decided to go shopping together in the morning.

"We really should know about the area shopping along with the attractions and entertainment," Rose told Matt and Al to justify changing their original morning sightseeing plans.

"If you do a shopping only tour," Lily told Rose, "I might just be interested in signing up for that."

Rose laughed. "That might be a really great idea," she said. "We'll have to look into that."

"Before I forget," Lily said, giving Al a hug, "happy belated birthday. I've got a boomerang from Australia in our suite for you."

Al hugged her back and smiled. "Thanks, Lily." Carolyn, Matt, and Rose had taken him out for dinner on his birthday, but with the way the whole trip had been so far, it had sort of felt like he'd been having one long birthday party the whole time, since every day had been special.

They went shopping all morning, and had lunch together, then Rose and Matt took Al and Carolyn in tow and got back to work – going sightseeing in and around Mumbai. Lily, Kieran, and the others went back to the hotel and opted for an afternoon by the pool relaxing before they again joined the other two couples for dinner.

The only engagement that SpellBound had on Thursday was a party in the evening that was hosted by WMVN – India, and was being broadcast live. There were maybe five hundred guests, and Lily and Kieran ended up performing three songs as part of the evening's entertainment, and spent a lot of the rest of their night doing the meet and greet thing, and signing a lot of autographs.

On Friday, they had a packed day of interviews, another residence luncheon, and a private dinner and party to attend. Laura and Karl were cut loose from being stuck attending that, and were able to go spend the evening with Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt.

Finally, it was Saturday – the last day of the tour, and the last full day of Rose and Matt's two-week long research trip. Lily, Kieran, Kirley, Ana, Laura, and Karl were all busy working the whole day, while Rose and Matt took Al and Carolyn on their last day of sightseeing, trying to fit in every remaining wonder of India that they could manage.

They all had dinner together, and then Lily and Kieran were whisked off to the stadium to get ready for their final concert in front of nearly sixty thousand fans. It took three encores, and three hours and fifteen minutes to wrap up that last concert, and then an hour and a half of autograph signing before they were finally done.

Back at the Leela, there wasn't any discussion, just quick hugs and kisses, and then everyone went straight to bed. They could sleep in, or get up and go out shopping or sightseeing for the morning if they wanted. Everyone was going to meet at one o'clock to go back home, which would have them getting back to the cottage in time for breakfast.

Harry and Ginny knew they were getting ten extra Witches and Wizards for breakfast on Sunday, and so Harry was in the kitchen by seven and cooking up a storm. They were getting everyone back home for the last twelve days before he'd be losing the teens for another school year.

Most of the teens were finished work for the summer, with Frederica and Sarah being the only exceptions after Kira gave them 'the look', and they told her they'd keep babysitting them for one more week.

Lily was first in the door, and first one hugging her parents when they got to the cottage, with everyone else following close behind.

"This smells great," she told Harry, breathing in the scents of her favourite breakfast foods as she hugged him. "I've missed you guys so much," she told them, tears filling her eyes.

"We've missed you too, honey," Harry told her. "Three weeks was a long time."

Harry and Ginny both had to juggle welcome home hugs and kisses with keeping the cooking under control.

"Andy should be here any time now," Ginny told Laura when she was hugging her, and she smiled at Karl. "Daphne's coming too," she told him, and was rewarded with another hug.

Brianna, Joel, Sarah, and Dale joined the welcoming party in the kitchen, and it was fifteen minutes before people started sitting at the table. Andy and Daphne got to the cottage while that was going on, and Laura and Karl welcomed them with long hugs and a few kisses.

During the next hour, the kitchen was filled with happy voices as everyone talked about what had been going on at home and on the road. Sarah and Brianna wanted to hear all about romantic private gardens, swimming pools, and all of the wonders that Carolyn and Rose could relay to them over a single meal. Lily and Kieran were interested in the stories from home, the family weekend on the island, and everything else that they'd missed while on tour.

"What's going on for the rest of today?" Al asked Ginny as they ate.

"We're having a family afternoon at the Burrow," she told him. "There've been a couple of birthdays that we weren't all able to get together to celebrate."

"Are we going over to help out this morning?" Carolyn asked, and Ginny shook her head.

"No, although Joel and Dale volunteered to go over and be introduced to the joys of de-gnoming the garden. Mum and Dad have other volunteers for set-up today."

Lily and Kieran were on the other side of the table from Al and Carolyn, and she smiled at that news.

"I'd like to go over to the residence for an hour or two this morning, then, and visit with Nadine and Vanessa, if that's okay," she told her parents.

"We can do that if you want," Harry said. "I've got to go over there sometime to pick them up to come to the party this afternoon anyway. It might take less time for me to just go get them and bring them back, though. That way you won't have to wade through visiting with half of the other kids before you can get to them."

"That works too," she said, hugging Harry. "I can visit the residence later in the week after we're rested up a bit."

"Like we'll have much time for rest," Kieran said. "We need to get our supplies and start getting ready for our OWL and NEWT years. We need probably two days in the studio for everything we've written this summer, and then there's whatever else we have going on."

"Let's worry about all of that tomorrow," she suggested with a squeeze of his hand as she kissed his cheek. "We can at least take today off and have some fun."

When everyone was finished breakfast, Rose and Matt left for her house, and Kirley and Ana left for their home to spend the rest of the morning there. Daphne took Karl home with her, and they'd hang out there until going to the party at the Burrow for the afternoon. Laura needed to go home and see her family, and Andy went with her, so it was quickly down to just Harry, Ginny, and their own group of kids in the kitchen.

"Will we be doing the back to school shopping during the week now?" Lily asked her parents. "We won't want to wait until next week to start looking over our textbooks."

"I was planning on taking everyone tomorrow," Harry told her. "We'll need to split up the supply shopping, since we have way too much to get for me to do that alone, but we do have some help. Callie and Mark are going to help out, and I'll get Al, Nick, and Scorpius to help out too while you and the other girls take care of robes, clothes,and everything else you need to get."

"So the boys do all the work, and we get to play dress-up with Carissa, Amy, and Millie?" Lily said with a big smile. "We can do that."

Harry nodded. "You'll have Kira along for the ride too, and we'll keep James and Timothy with us for the day."

Harry popped over to the residence to pick up Nadine and Vanessa, and then they all spent the rest of the morning catching up, and relaxing before having lunch, and getting ready to go over to the Burrow. Dale, Joel, and Sarah had gone on ahead earlier, and had stayed there for lunch.

"How was your first experience with the gnomes?" Al asked Joel when they'd gotten to the Burrow, and Joel laughed.

"It took some getting used to," he answered. "I'm fairly sure that isn't going to be a serious career choice for me."

Dale nodded. "Definitely not," he agreed.

They were nearly the last family group to get to the Burrow, so there was an extended round of welcomes for everyone as they made their way through the gang that was already sitting around in lounge chairs and at tables set up outside around three portable pools.

The afternoon was spent playing, talking, and just generally having fun. Rose and Matt were popular, and had all of the adults interested in talking with them about doing different tours with different members of the family and their respective friends.

"You'll have half of your first year booked doing trips with your own family," Ginny joked when they'd stopped to talk with Harry and Ginny for a few minutes.

Matt laughed. "Well, at least we'll have a good start to our first year in business. Then it'll be up to us to get all of those friends and new references to keep it going after that."

"If what Al and Carolyn told us so far about your trip is any indication, you'll have no problem getting those references,' Harry told them.

"Have you two picked a date yet?" Ginny asked Rose. She expected there to be a flurry of weddings over the next few years.

Rose nodded. "We talked about what we'd come up with this morning with Mum and Dad, and with Matt's parents." She told Ginny. "We're going to go with the trend and have it the week after I get done school, except we're going to have a Friday evening wedding and dance on June twenty-eighth. It should be a lot easier with out the big dinner and everything."

Ginny smiled. "That sounds like a wonderful idea, Rose. I don't think we've ever done a wedding in the evening before."

That sent the conversation into wedding talk mode, and the two women soon had other girls joining in the discussion, while Harry and Matt ended up moving on and letting the girls have fun.

They had dinner outside, including a birthday cake for Hugo and Al, and then everyone pitched in to clean up before it was time to leave for home. For the gang who'd come back from India, it had already been a very long day, and they were ready to get into their beds, and take the potions that would help them get back to home time. All of the students were looking forward to the free time they had left until going back to school, and wanted to make the most of every one of those days.

The shopping commenced bright and early on Monday, with the New Marauders, and their friends converging on the Marauders Mall and Diagon Alley to get started on a busy day. Even with having the graduating class, the addition of seven new students made for a lot of books and supplies.

They had six seventh year students, with between one and six sets of textbooks to get for all twelve NEWT subjects. There were four sixth year students including Daphne, each of them taking either six or seven subjects. The OWL year group included Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Kieran, all of them taking nine classes, covering every subject except Divination and Muggle Studies. Sarah was the lone fourth year student, and Frederica, Liam, Millie, and Amy were the third year students. They'd all chosen Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy for their two optionals. Dale and Carissa were their only second year students, and would continue with the seven core classes.

With twenty-one students, and probably an average of eight subjects each, that was a lot of textbooks, potion kits, parchment, quills, ink, and everything else that was needed. It took Harry and all of the boys until lunch to get that done, and then after lunch it was time to get fitted for robes, and start shopping for new clothes too. Al also had to run over to the Ministry of Magic to take his apparition test and get his license, since he'd been away on his birthday and hadn't really needed to take the time to come back and take the test as soon as he first could have.

The only other new student 'must have' product that was out for the coming school year was a set of new study programs that Ginny and Lisa had developed, including a VirtualArithmancer, a VirtualCharms lab, a VirtualRunes, and a VirtualTransfiguration program. Harry made sure he picked up the appropriate programs for each student to go along with the rest of study programs that they'd all come to depend on to help them with their classes and assignments.

Harry went back to the cottage with Al, Carolyn, Sarah, and Joel. Lily was going to be at Kieran's for a planning dinner with Andy, Laura, Kirley, and Ana, and Brianna was having dinner at the townhouse with Percy, Penelope, the boys, and Allie. Carissa took Dale home for dinner with her, and the others went their own ways too, with Frederica and Liam taking Kira, James, and Timothy home on their way to spend the evening with his family.

Harry got right to work on dinner, while the four teens went to their rooms to start sorting through the supplies, robes, and clothing purchases from their trip, wanting to get everything organized for later in the week when they'd all start going over their new texts and getting a head start on their classes.

"I guess this means it's really nearly here," Carolyn said as she walked into Al's room and sat on his bed while he was organizing his nine textbooks and all of the supplies they'd picked up.

"I suppose," he agreed. "This is going to be a really great year, though, so I'm looking forward to it."

"I was thinking about something when we came inside today," she told him. "I saw your Mum and Dad's cars outside and was wondering why they didn't get you one for your seventeenth like they seem to have done for everyone else."

Al looked over his shoulder, and smiled at her. "I told them I wasn't really interested in getting one right now," he explained. "It'd just sit around while we were in school anyway. Maybe I'll get my license when you do next year – if you want to."

Carolyn grinned at him. "Oh I definitely want to. Then I'm going to ask Teddy if I can take that roadster of his out for a spin."

Al laughed. "You've loved that car since he got it back in 2015."

"Yes I have," she agreed. "Your Mum's and Dad's cars are really great race cars, but there's just something about Teddy's car that I just love more than any of the other cars – even if it's not the fastest, raciest one out there."

"It's got class," Al said seriously. "I'm sure he'll be more than happy to let you take it for a spin too."

"Is this where the party is?" Sarah asked as she and Joel came into the room too.

"If sorting textbooks is your idea of a party," Al answered, smiling up at her. "I must be slacking if you're all done."

"We didn't stop to look through the first chapter or two," Joel told him. "Lily still has a little work left with us before we're fully trained like you are."

Al laughed. "I wish that were the case, but actually, I'm getting excited about getting back to Hogwarts and learning the really advanced level magic."

"I love all of that too," Joel answered. "I just wish we could do it without all of the assignments and tests."

"Maybe when you get done school, you can invent a whole new teaching system," Carolyn suggested. "This one's more than a thousand years old, so it probably could use an overhaul."

Joel and Sarah both laughed. "Maybe I will," he told Carolyn. "Since you're all showing us that anything is possible, who knows? That could be my calling in life – eliminating tests and homework for the students of the Wizarding World."

"You'd be the most popular Wizard in history if you do," Al predicted.

They had dinner with Harry and Ginny, and it was really great to just have the six of them for a meal, and to spend a quiet evening together watching a little WWVN, and having a long conversation.

Percy and Penelope were doing the same thing with Nick, Scorpius, Allie, and Brianna. The four teens had put dinner together and had it ready by the time the parents got home from work.

"This is great," Penelope told them as she was handed a glass of wine and instructed to sit down at the table. Percy had nodded as he did the same.

"How'd the shopping trip go?" Percy asked them.

"It was a really long day," Nick said. "This was the first time since maybe first year that I've actually gone around to get the books and supplies. I had no idea it had gotten so wild."

"We've got quite a gang these days to buy for," Penelope agreed. "Did you get it all done?"

Nick nodded. "Supplies are done. I have a few things left to get for clothes, but most of that's done too."

"Same here," Scorpius said when Penelope looked his way. "We'll get the rest of it done later this week. It won't take long."

They spent most of the time at dinner talking about the job with Witch Investments that Allie had accepted on Friday, and about the architecture company that Nick would be a full partner in when they graduated next year.

"I still can't believe that Victoire wants me to train to be a junior account manager," Allie told them. "I was expecting to maybe start by learning to manage stores or something."

Penelope laughed. "You must have impressed her this summer, Allie. She wouldn't offer the position if she wasn't sure you could do the job.

What had really shocked Allie had been the size of her signing bonus – a change your life forever kind of bonus. Victoire had loved getting to watch her open that Gringott's letter, and they'd hugged and she'd cried from being so happy.

Nick had received fairly substantial bonuses for five of his designs, including the custom home he'd created that would be starting construction in September. There wasn't an additional bonus for the partnership, but it would mean that he'd begin sharing in the overall profits starting when he did begin working there next summer.

"Maybe they'll remember us lowly Ministry of Magic workers when they're rich and famous," Brianna teased Nick and Allie.

"Right," Nick told her. "Scorpius is already on the fast-track to a big career with the Ministry, and you'll be right behind him when you're an intern next summer too."

Allie nodded. "We'll probably have to make appointments to see you."

Percy laughed. "We think you're all going to do really great things," he told them. "The sooner you get around to doing that, the sooner Penelope and I can retire to some exotic island paradise, and let you four take care of us in the style to which we want to become accustomed."

They all laughed at that, everyone knowing how unnecessary that would be, since they could retire whenever they wanted to, and never worry about money.

Dinner at the McCormacks was almost all business talk too. There were just ten full days left before the kids would be going back to school a week from Friday, and they still had work to get done.

"You know that during the two week break between tours, I was working on that project you'd suggested for us," Kirley stated, and Lily and Kieran had both nodded.

"I'll need to work on that most of the rest of this week, before everyone goes back to school, so why don't we spend next Monday and Tuesday in the studio, and that will be it for your work with me. We only got three videos done all summer, but maybe we can get a couple done at Christmas to make up for that."

"That's sounds pretty good," Kieran told his father. "Anything else we have to do?"

Ana nodded. "A week from Wednesday you have a day of interviews."

Lily and Kieran both groaned, and Ana smiled.

"Would you rather have fifty reporters pestering you on platform nine and three-quarters?" she asked them.

"No,' Lily said emphatically. "Okay, interviews all day Wednesday. Next?"

Laura grinned at her. "Spa day. Tomorrow. Your friends and cousins should be getting the messages now, she said, after tapping send on her WiComm.

They laughed as Daphne's WiComm chimed.

"That's it for SpellBound work," Ana told them. "We know you both need to work on getting ready for classes, and have a few more Quidditch workouts, and just need the break before school starts. It's only a few days, but it'll have to do."

"We'll be fine," Lily promised. "This won't even be a busy year at school. I've only got twelve NEWTs, and Kieran's got nine OWLs, Prefect duties, and is the Captain of his Quidditch team. We won't even know what to do with all of the spare time."

"Very funny," Kieran said. "We do get that first whole weekend to hang out, though, since classes won't start until Monday. Other than Quidditch tryouts, that'll be a quiet weekend."

"Maybe for you," Daphne said. "For our House, it could be fireworks if all of the players we've been training with this summer all make the team. We'll have some very upset boys. Avery and Bletchley in particular seem to be very talented when it comes to being big-mouthed jerks."

"I would have thought that those two had learned their lessons," Kieran said. "Dirk's adventures from his second year are legend, and Malcolm had a run-in with Frederica and Liam that should have straightened him out back in their first year."

"They're not bullying anymore," Daphne told him, "if that's what you mean. That doesn't mean that they're any nicer, and then there's also the fact that TNM doesn't seem to patrol the Common rooms and dorms – at least not in Slytherin – even if the rest of the school is bully free."

"That's the first time I've ever heard that there's still any problems with bullying in the dorms at all," Lily told her. "There's definitely nothing like that in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor."

"Not in Hufflepuff either," Kieran said. "Why would anyone bully the kids in their own House?"

"Why would anyone bully at all?" Karl countered. "This is just another example of some Slytherins still living in the past. It's stupid and immature, but it is still happening."

"Maybe TNM will find a way to stop that too someday," Daphne suggested.

"We can hope," Karl agreed.

On Tuesday, with the girls all gone to a SpaMagic day after breakfast, including Frederica and Sarah, it was up to Harry, Al, Joel, and Dale to entertain Kira, James, and Timothy.

"Road trip," Al suggested as they sat around the kitchen table deciding what to do.

"To where?" Kira asked him excitedly.

"How would everyone feel about a day touring the Great Pyramids of Egypt?" he suggested. "It's only two hours later there than here, so it's still only mid-morning, and Matt and Rose gave Carolyn and I the full tour, so I can be your amateur guide."

Harry, Joel, Dale, and the three kids were all unanimous in thinking that was a great idea, so they grabbed the bags for the boys, and took the TransPortal to Egypt, where they spent the next six hours showing the kids the wonders of the ancient Pyramids.

Nick and Scorpius had taken the opportunity to go back to the Mall and finish their shopping so that they wouldn't have to do it on a day that could be spent with the girls instead.

They were walking around the mall, and were passing Uncle Harry's favourite jewellery store.

"So when are you going to ask Allie to marry you?" Scorpius asked his best mate.

Nick stopped and stared at him. "I honestly didn't think about that," he told Scorpius. "We know we love each other, and know we're going to get married when we're done school."

"You do?" Scorpius asked him. "Congratulations. When's the big day? I am hurt you didn't ask me to be your best man, though."

He was grinning and Nick smacked him on the arm. "All right, I get it," he said, steering them both into the jewellery store.

"What's up?" Scorpius asked him.

"You're right," Nick answered. "Our parents are going to want the whole big wedding thing, so if I don't ask her soon, we'll probably end up waiting for another year. You and I both know that Dad will have to invite half the Ministry to come, and it'll probably take most of a year to put it all together."

The boys spent the next hour picking out a stunning engagement ring for Allie, and then went for lunch to talk about what Nick should do to make his proposal special.

"It's not like you have to do it tonight," Scorpius said. "Why don't you ask your parents if you can have the island to yourself on maybe Friday night, and I'll bet that Kreacher and Winky would make the two of you a special dinner – she goes all goey for romantic stuff like that."

"That's brilliant," Nick told him. "How do you expect to make a good politician with that poet's heart of yours?"

Scorpius laughed. "We'll just have to change everyone else's hearts to match, I guess."

Nick laughed too. "Then you better get Professor Macmillan to teach you how to Transfigure stone into living, beating hearts then, since that's all you'll have to work with for some of those Witches and Wizards."

Kieran and Karl were on their own for the day too, so they'd sat down in the morning and played their guitars for a couple of hours, then decided that lunch and a few hours at the Marauders Mall in Paris would be a fun way to spend the rest of their day.

"This was a good idea," Kieran told his friend. "I don't think I've ever come here without a whole gang."

"If my parents knew I was spending money on something like this they'd have gone nuts on me."

"What's the point of having money if it's not used to make you happy?" Kieran asked. "It's not worth anything if it just sits there in a Gringotts vault."

Karl shrugged. "They'd never understand why you give it away to charity either, mate. That bonus you guys gave me for basically getting to play all summer would have left them speechless."

"You earned every galleon," Kieran told him, "and you know it. We had a lot of really long days this summer."

Karl nodded. "Yeah, but it was still fun, and I'd probably have never seen so much of the world in my whole life if it hadn't been for all of you."

"We did get to see some pretty great places," Kieran agreed. "Going back to those dorms, and not getting to cuddle with the girls at night isn't going to be much fun, though. I'm definitely going to miss that."

Karl laughed. "We'll just have to take the girls and go visit Scorpius or Rose a lot."

"There's a thought," Kieran said. "Except it'll probably be crowded in their offices with all of the couples."

"Your girlfriend is a genius," Karl reminded Kieran. "I'm sure she can come up with a schedule."

Kieran laughed. "I can see it now – a snogging schedule posted on the doors for the Head Boy and Head Girl offices. That'd be priceless."

Harry had to get back from Egypt in good time because he was getting most of two Quidditch teams for dinner, along with Kira staying because Lily would be there and playing.

He and Al were both working in the kitchen, and they were each having a glass of wine while they prepared dinner. That was something that Harry was still getting used to – having glasses of wine with Al, when it seemed like it was just yesterday that milk and cookies was the preferred choice of beverage and snack when they were together. It was just one more step toward his kids growing up on him.

"That was a great idea to take the kids to Egypt," Harry told Al as they worked. The other cool thing was that they could both use magic.

"Thanks, Dad. It was fun to do that with Kira and the boys. They had a way different perspective, and it was really cute."

"I'm not sure that cute is the word I'd use for Timothy making the Sphinx roar like a lion. That was quick thinking to conjure that Muggle megaphone to explain it away, though."

Al laughed. "I hear your experience at a certain zoo was more impressive when you were a kid."

Harry laughed too. "My Uncle, Aunt, and cousin weren't impressed."

"Probably not," Al agreed. "Do we have anything specific planned for the rest of the week?"

"Not really," Harry answered. "Do you?"

"I've got some work to do on the house in Hogsmeade that needed to wait until I could use magic, so I wanted to get that done this week, and then we've got to get started on some studying too."

"Do you need a hand with the house?" Harry asked.

Al shook his head. "No. I'm just going to make a few changes, mostly to the bedrooms."

Harry smiled. "That house will work out pretty well for all of you for the next few years, and from what I hear, you're improving the value of the place already too."

"I'm not really looking at it for an investment, but I won't complain if it increases in value."

Ginny came into the kitchen then and smiled at two of her favourite boys.

"Cooking and talking about property investments?" she asked, hugging each of them. "I hope the rest of your day was more interesting than that."

"We went to Egypt and saw the Pyramids and the Sphinx," Harry told her. "That was pretty interesting."

Kira must have heard Ginny, and came running down the stairs and hopped into her arms.

"We saw the Pyramids today, Aunt Ginny!" she said excitedly. "And Timothy made the Sphinx roar like a lion 'cause he wanted it to. It was really funny."

She went on to tell Ginny everything that happened to her since getting to the cottage. It was a little scary how much she was like Lily had been at that age.

"And I get to stay for supper and to watch the Quidditch practice with you and Uncle Harry and everybody!" she finally finished five full minutes later.

"If you're going to be here that late," Ginny told her, "we should just keep you overnight, since you'll be here in the morning again anyway."

That set Kira off and running again – literally – as she went running back upstairs to tell everyone else after hugging Ginny breathless. Harry smiled and handed Ginny a glass of wine.

"Welcome home," he told her. "How was your day?"

Ginny laughed and sat down. "Not as good as Kira's, apparently. By the way, I thought you were training with Mark today."

"We were going to, but I switched in when the girls found out about the spa day so I could help out with Kira and the boys. He and I will be gone all day tomorrow, and I probably won't be back until six or so. We're shooting for ten hours this week."

"Would you like me to invent a special cushion for your broom?" Ginny asked, and Harry laughed.

"I'll let you know when we get back," he answered. "So far it hasn't been a problem. "That suit is really working out great. When we're going into the wind, it's making a huge difference. Same thing for strong cross-winds."

Ginny nodded. "I'm wondering if Coach is ready for something that radical for the Canons."

"The question is, would the QSPN audience be ready for it," Harry said. "It would definitely cause a huge jump in team poster sales."

"You think?" Ginny joked. "The girls in the lab would be the first to buy the posters of Sebastian and Tristan in those suits."

"Maybe we should let that whole idea sit for a while, and see what the reaction is with Mark when the racing season starts."

"We can do that," Ginny agreed. "Luna thinks you should put advertising on the suit too."

"That's a really good idea," Harry said. "Can the material get printed on like that?"

"Sure," Ginny told him. "That'd be easy enough to do. It might even help make it a bit less noticeable just how form fitting the suit is."

Al laughed. "Shouldn't you have one for Dad if he's going to be training with Mark?" he suggested with a grin. "You wouldn't want him to be at a disadvantage when they're working out."

Ginny smiled too. "That's a good point, Al," she told him.

"Never mind, you too," he told them. "The minute I did that, some photographer would have my picture splashed all over the papers by the next morning, with Merlin only knows what kind of headline explaining why I was wearing something like that. It's not happening."

The kitchen started filling up then, first with the girls all coming back from their SpaMagic day looking gorgeous and rested after going for the full treatment. Nick, Scorpius, Hugo, and Matt weren't far behind, and they chatted together at the table while Al and Harry finished cooking, then served dinner to everyone.

Quidditch practice followed, and Gryffindor took their practice match by thirty points. Lily told them that Colin beat her three catches to two because she didn't want to mess up her hair too much after just getting it done.

Kieran and Karl were at his Grandmother's having their practice with Slytherin, and they had a really great workout, then battled to a narrow twenty point win for Hufflepuff during their practice match.

"See," Kieran told Thomas, Daphne, and the rest of their team. "You're really coming on strong. If you have this team, and keep working like this, by November, you're going to be able to really compete against Gryffindor."

"That's your cousin's team," Thomas pointed out. "Won't they be mad at you?"

Kieran shook his head. "They might not like it if they lose, but all three of our teams would really like to know that if we win the Quidditch Cup, it's because we really beat teams that are playing their best. That game we played last May didn't feel like that."

Thomas grinned. "We'll just have to see if we can do better this year."

"You definitely will. I just hope you don't do better than us," Kieran told him, smiling too. "Is everyone good for practices this Thursday and next Tuesday?" he asked, and got thirteen nods from all of the other players.

"Great. You all did a great job tonight. See you all on Thursday," he said, wrapping up the practice.

On Wednesday morning, Al and Carolyn left for Hogsmeade right after breakfast, only staying long enough to talk with Mark for a minute before he and Harry took off for their training flight.

"Maybe I should get your Mum to make you one of those suits," Carolyn told Al when they were inside the house.

"What for?" Al asked. "I'm not going to be racing, or even playing Quidditch."

Carolyn laughed. "I was just going to watch you walk around in it," she told him. "You'd probably look pretty great in it."

Al laughed too. "I love you, Carolyn. We can skip that idea, though, if it's okay with you. Mark must be braver than I am to wear that out in public."

"What did you want to work on today?" she asked, deciding that getting away from thinking about Al in one of those racing suits was a good idea.

"I want to make some changes to the four bedrooms, then I'll take you for lunch, and we can pick up the extra furniture we'll need."

"I thought we were done with the furniture."

"You'll see what I mean when we're done," Al promised.

They went upstairs, and Carolyn spent the next hour watching in amazement as Al transformed the four bedrooms basically into four hotel-like suites. Each room got it's own bathroom, and each bedroom was doubled in size, allowing for an area that she could see was meant to be a small sitting area. She'd seen the results of magic like this once before, but hadn't seen Harry actually do it. When Al was finished, she put her arms around him, hugged, and kissed him for long minutes.

"Wow," Al breathed. "How many more bedrooms would you like me to make for you so you'll kiss me like that again?"

Carolyn laughed. "I plan on kissing you like that a lot, and you don't need to do anything else. This is amazing, Al. Matt's going to go nuts when he sees this place the next time he and Rose are here."

"I hope he likes it. Let's make a list of what we're going to need now, and head to the Mall. Maybe we can get done early, and go cook dinner at the cottage since Dad won't be back until six."

Carolyn nodded and they went downstairs and sat at the kitchen table.

"How does a sofa, a table or two, and an armchair for each bedroom sound?" she suggested. Al nodded.

"We only outfitted two bathrooms upstairs before," she continued. "Those supplies are all still there, so we'll need two more sets of towels and amenities for the two new baths," she continued, and Al nodded again.

"You want WWVN receivers for each room?"

"That's a good idea," he agreed. "I don't think we need to go big screen size, though."

"That should cover everything," Carolyn said, putting the quill down. "We can always get anything else we need later if we forgot something."

They left for the Marauders Mall, and had the bathroom purchases done by lunch, then picked out the furniture they wanted, and Translocated everything to the house before ending their trip at the GamePortal store, where they picked up four WWVN receivers.

Back at the house in Hogsmeade, it didn't take Al very long to get the furniture all set up while Carolyn took care of the two new bathrooms. When they were finished, they tested out the sofa in one of the rooms, and decided that it was perfectly suitable for cuddling and snogging, and then left for the cottage with lots of time to make dinner for everyone so that Ginny wouldn't have to do it after a long day at the lab.

Harry and Mark had been having fun all day too. They'd flown for four and a half hours out, racing down the western coast of Europe and then Africa. They'd managed to cover two thousand kilometres before turning back and racing for home. They were flying in to the wind a lot of the trip back, and they took five hours and ten minutes for the return trip.

"So you can do four thousand kilometres in under ten hours," Harry told Mark when they'd landed.

"That's two hours less than the record for the race in Australia," Matt said, excited and exhilarated.

"I'll be busy next week," he told Mark. "If you keep working like this, you're going to be ready, but I can do another workout with you on the Tuesday after the kids go back, as a last tune-up before your big racing debut."

"Thanks, Harry," Mark told him. "I'll be leaving for Australia on Wednesday so I have time to adjust to the ten hour difference, so that can be my last workout here."

Mark hugged Harry, then with a wave, apparated home to Chudley, while Harry went inside to find that dinner was being served right at six o'clock, thanks to chefs Al and Carolyn.

On Thursday, most of the students worked on beginning to read their new textbooks, and get familiar with what they'd be starting out with when they got back to classes. They'd all had at least a few summer assignments, but they had all long since completed them. Harry was at the residence on Thursday morning, and then helped out with Kira, James, and Timothy in the afternoon. The only other job that he needed to take care of that day was to have a short meeting with Kreacher and Winky to request a little House Elf magic for a certain engaging nephew of his.

He had dinner for ten that night, with Kira once again staying to watch the Quidditch, and then stay overnight before spending her last day with new favourite babysitters Frederica and Sarah. Ravenclaw took this practice match by twenty points, and Lily won the Seeker battle with Colin, three to two, which put them at five and five for the week.

The Slytherin and Hufflepuff practice had been lively too, and while Nadine had won their best of five matchup four to one tonight, Daphne and the Slytherin Chasers had put up four more goals than Hufflepuff had managed, and took the upset win by ten points.

"Way to go!" Kieran told the happy group of Slytherins. "That was definitely your best game so far this summer!"

"Thanks, mate," Thomas told him. "Especially for showing us how to train like the rest of the teams."

Kieran's Grandmother joined them, and had brought a tray of drinks out.

"Why don't you all come over here for dinner on Tuesday before your practice," she suggested. "We can set something up out here, and you can celebrate the end of your summer training."

Kieran hugged her and the others all quickly agreed.

"Thanks, Grandma," Kieran told her, and she hugged him again.

"I'm proud of all of you," she told the two teams. "I never thought I'd ever see the day that so many students from your two houses would become friends like this. You're doing something very special, and playing Quidditch together is just part of that."

None of them knew what to say about praise like that coming from Catriona McCormack, and she smoothed over the awkward moment by handing out the drinks and changing the topic. The two teams talked together for a while longer, reliving some of the plays from their practice, and then it was time to leave.

Catriona had gone back into her house before that, and was sitting with her husband on one of the sitting room sofas.

"Those kids may be finally putting an end to over a thousand years of enmity between Slytherin and the other Hogwarts Houses, and they have no idea how big a deal that is." She told him, snuggling close and resting her head against his chest.

"It really started last Christmas with Karl and those other kids," he said. "No point in scaring them about it, though. I'm sure there is still years more to come before what they've all started really starts to make a difference – maybe not even until these kids have kids going to Hogwarts."

"That still means we'll see it happen in our lifetime," she pointed out, and he laughed.

"Like we're that old," he said jovially. "We've got a lot of years left in us," he said. "Maybe even a couple of centuries, if that ReVive works like they claim."

Catriona reached around his neck and pulled him close for a long kiss.

"Keep that up, young lady, and you'll be finding out just how young we still are," he told her with a grin and twinkling eyes.

"Good," she said before kissing him again. "Then my plan is working."

Fortunately for Kieran, he never knew that his Grandparents were snogging each other silly before he even got home. Whoever coined the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' probably came up with that line specifically for situations like that.

Friday morning was busy around the cottage. They had breakfast for ten, and then Ginny went off to work with Mandy and Natalie after they dropped the boys off for the day. The rest of the kids were all coming over, and they were all going to the Marauders Mall in Paris for one last shopping and play day for Kira, James, and Timothy.

They all had another great day, but for everyone in the know, there was only one event on Friday that had their attention, and there were only going to be two witnesses to the event.

"I'll pick you up at seven, okay?" Nick told Allie. She nodded before they kissed and hugged goodbye, and then left Paris for their respective homes.

When he got to the townhouse, Nick went upstairs to shower and get dressed in his favourite summertime suit, and then he went downstairs to meet with his parents and Scorpius.

"The table is set up, flowers are there, and the bottle of Allie's favourite wine is chilled on ice," Scorpius reported.

Penelope hugged him and she wiped away a tear. "You look great," she told him. "Have you got the ring?"

Nick looked panicked for a minute until Scorpius handed it to him too. "Relax, mate. She's going to say yes. You gave me the ring to hang on to before you went in the shower."

"Thanks, mate," Nick told him, and he took a deep breath. He still had half an hour left. It had taken him an hour and a half to get ready. Since he normally didn't like spending more than ten minutes doing that, taking that long today was saying a lot about how he was feeling.

Percy poured him a glass of wine, and handed it to him.

"Sit down for a minute and have a drink," he told Nick. "I've never seen you this nervous in your whole life."

Nick laughed. "How many times have you seen me about to propose to my girlfriend?"

"Good point," Percy conceded with a smile. "Kreacher and Winky say they have everything ready too, and Allie's bag is already there."

"Hopefully she won't notice it's missing," Nick told them.

Penelope laughed at him. "Would you notice if your suitcase was gone at any other time than if you were packing for a trip?" she asked him. "Her mother is sure she has no idea what's coming, other than a date night with you."

They talked quietly together until just before he had to leave to pick Allie up. He got three hugs, and a kiss from his mother, and then left for Allie's house.

"You look absolutely beautiful," he told Allie when she came into the sitting room at a few minutes after seven.

"Thank-you. You look pretty great yourself," she told him, smiling brightly.

"Ready to go?" he asked, and she nodded. Her parents had gone out for dinner already, although she didn't know it was because her mother knew there was no way she could have kept from losing it when Nick came to pick Allie up tonight.

"Where are we going?" she asked, and Nick smiled.

"It's a surprise. You'll see in a minute."

They went outside, and took the TransPortal to the island, arriving in front of his family's island bungalow.

"We're having dinner on the island?" she exclaimed, hugging him happily. "This is brilliant!"

Nick smiled and led her around the house to the lanai, where a table for two was set up. He held her chair for her, and when she was seated, he opened the first bottle of wine, and filled the two wineglasses that were on the table.

When he was seated, Kreacher came out of the house, carrying a tray with two salads on it, and set one down in front of each of them.

"Thank-you, Kreacher,' Nick said with a deep bow that Kreacher returned before going back inside.

Allie smiled at Nick, and his heart flipped a couple of extra times. "You had some help planning this date," she said and he nodded, smiling too.

They talked quietly together through the seven courses that Kreacher and Winky alternately brought out to them. Every dish was perfect, and favourites of Allie's. When Winky brought the desserts out for them, she was smiling.

"Master Nick," she told him. "Everything is cleaned up in the kitchen. If you'll leave the rest of the dishes out here, Winky will come back for them later and clean up out here after you are done."

"Thank-you, Winky," Nick said, bowing again. Kreacher came out and joined Winky. "Thank-you both. You made an amazing dinner tonight."

"Kreacher and Winky were glad to do this for you, Master Nicolas," Kreacher told him. The two elves bowed again, and popped out of sight.

"What's going on?" Allie asked Nick after Kreacher and Winky were gone.

Nick looked in her eyes and smiled. His time was up. It was probably those tears in Winky's eyes that gave him away. He stood up and took the two steps to her side of the table, taking her hand, and kneeling next to her.

"What's up is that with a lot of help, I wanted to bring you here tonight to tell you how much I love you, Allie," he told her quietly, smiling gently as he looked into her eyes.

"I'm hoping that you'll let me love you for the rest of our lives." He pulled the ring box out of his pocket, opened the lid, and held it up for her to see.

"Alexandria Summers, I promise to love you with all of my heart, and spend my life making you as happy as you've made me since we first met. Will you marry me?"

Allie had tears in those soft, beautiful eyes of hers, and she reached out – not for the ring box – but for Nick and pulled him into a fierce hug before letting him move back far enough so that she could kiss him.

Nick's world tilted, and he wasn't sure if that kiss had been seconds or minutes, but when he could think again, Allie was smiling at him.

"Yes, Nick, I'll marry you. I love you, and I promise to help you make both of our lives happy."

Nick took the ring out of the box, and slipped it onto her finger. It fit as perfectly as they fit together, and they were both smiling brightly.

"So," she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Who all was in on this?"

Nick laughed. "My parents, Scorpius, Brianna, your parents, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. I'm pretty sure that Al and Carolyn knew about it too."

Allie laughed. "So that's why Mum and Dad went out, 'cause she'd have lost it and given the whole thing away."

Nick nodded. "I forgot that Winky would probably get misty, though. That really only changed things from asking you after dessert to before dessert, so no harm done."

Allie sat back in her chair and looked down at her plate. "Well, we definitely don't want to let these desserts get forgotten," she told Nick. "Why don't you sit down, and we can finish eating before we get on with our evening."

Nick stood up, kissed her once more, then sat in his chair again.

"I suppose we'll have to go back home soon," she said as they started in on the fabulous dessert.

"Nope," he answered. "We've got the whole island to ourselves all night. Your bag is in one of the guest rooms."

"We still have lots of daylight left here," she said. "We should get changed and go to the beach when we're done."

"Yes we should," he agreed with a big smile. "We don't have to be home until dinner tomorrow. Your parents will be joining us at the townhouse for that."

While Nick and Allie were busy getting engaged, after dinner, Al and Carolyn met Scorpius, Brianna, Rose, and Matt at the house in Hogsmeade to show the other two couples the changes they'd made during the week.

"This is brilliant, Al!" Matt told him as they went through the four bedrooms upstairs. "You've practically turned these bedrooms into luxury suites."

Al grinned at his friend. "I'm sure there will be some Hogsmead weekends where more than two will be a crowd, so I thought having sitting areas in the bedrooms would be nice to have, instead of everyone piled in the sitting room downstairs."

Rose and Brianna both hugged him. "Thanks, Al," Rose told him. "This really was a brilliant idea."

"You're welcome," Al told them, pleased that they all liked what he and Carolyn had done.

"You're welcome to move in any time, Matt," he said, tossing him a keyring with a copy of the front and rear door keys on it.

"Thanks, Al. You're going to live here starting next summer, so did you want any particular room kept for you?" Matt asked him.

"I'd like to have one of the two front bedrooms, but they're the same, so it doesn't matter which to me."

Matt nodded. "That's no problem. I'll probably take a back room anyway to get a little less noise from the street or the Three Broomsticks at night."

They all went back downstairs and went into the sitting room to talk.

"The pantry has been filled with all of the basics for cooking. You'll want to check that out before you go shopping for groceries."

"You mean food doesn't just appear on the tables?" Matt joked. "It does at Hogwarts."

"We already know you can do some cooking," Rose told him. "You always have the Three Broomsticks to fall back on if you're cooking doesn't work out."

"You could try stopping in around dinnertime at your future mother-in-law's house too," Scorpius suggested. "That would probably get you a sympathy invitation or ten."

"Can you believe that by this time next week, we'll be at Hogwarts again?" Carolyn said, then smiled at Matt. "At least most of us will be."

"I don't want to think about that," Rose said. "Matt and I are about to find out first hand what James and Arianna were dealing with. I've been trying not to think about it all summer."

Matt put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "We'll get through it, just like they did."

Brianna smiled at them. "If I were you," she told them, "I'd take a page right out of the James and Arianna playbook, and move in here tomorrow, Matt. Then Rose could just conveniently fall asleep here every night until next Friday morning. If it wasn't for the fact that you're Head Girl, you could have even skipped the train ride, and just shown up at school in time for the banquet."

"That is a really brilliant idea, Bree," Rose told her.

"I'm just setting up precedence for next year," Brianna said with a laugh that the others all joined in on while Scorpius grinned.

The rest of the teens had their own plans that night, including Lily, Kieran, Daphne, and Karl going out on a date night, taking Joel and Sarah with them. Dale was over at Stewart and Isabelle's for the night, and they were having an evening with Teddy, Victoire, Millie and Amy. That left Harry and Ginny with an empty house, and lots of time for a quiet night of cuddling on the sofa and watching a movie on WWVN. With as busy a week as they'd both had, it was a welcome few hours reprieve before the kids returned, and they started the last seven days of the summer holidays.

Saturday ended up being moving day for Matt. His parents had only been surprised until they'd seen his temporary new home when they'd gone over with the first load to help him.

"No wonder you want to move in today," Matt's father, Tony, told him.

"Not that having your own place with just a week to go before Rose goes back to school has anything to do with it," his mother teased.

Rose and Matt both laughed. "That might have been a major deciding factor," Rose agreed. "Al and Carolyn really just got the place finished a couple of days ago too, though, or we might have considered moving Matt earlier."

"It looks like they have you pretty well set up," Mrs. Goldstein told them. "Do you have any shopping you need to do to be ready to stay here?"

"Just groceries, Mum," Matt told her. "I'm supposed to check out the pantry before I do that, not that I have a clue why."

Rose and her future mother-in-law exchanged a look that said it all, and went into the kitchen to look over what Carolyn had already set up – which was a complete basic stock of every cooking necessity.

"She's done a good job with getting the pantry stocked, Matt," his mother informed him. "All you have to get for groceries is whatever you plan on making for each of your meals."

"That sounds easy enough. Thanks, Mum," Matt said, hugging her.

"We're done with that load," Tony told his son. "Why don't you and I go get the next load, and the girls can putter around here."

They got the rest of Matt's things in that second trip, and then the four of them went out for lunch before going shopping for groceries. Matt and Rose invited his parents to have dinner with them, but they declined, wanting to let the kids have the place to themselves for Matt's first night officially on his own.

While Matt and Rose were just beginning to play house by making their first dinner together, Nick and Allie were getting to the townhouse after having a brilliant time on the island.

After dessert, they'd gotten into swimsuits, and gone to the beach until nearly sunset, and then had returned to the bungalow to clean up, change, and snuggle in bed together, since it had been very late by home time even if it was just past dark on the island.

There had been a fair bit of snogging at the beach, and when they'd been swimming, and a little more snogging before they fell asleep in each other's arms. They woke up with the sun, had made breakfast together, and then spent the morning wandering the island and going for a swim in the lagoon before again getting cleaned up and packed to go back home.

When they got to the townhouse, everyone else was there already, and Allie's mother, Penelope, and Brianna were soon off in the kitchen talking weddings while the four men went into the sitting room to get out of the way and let them do that.

"Rose and Matt beat you to the weekend after school lets out," Percy told Nick. "Unless you all went with a Friday night wedding for them, and a Saturday afternoon wedding for you and Allie."

Nick laughed. "The family might love that, getting it all done in one weekend, but I think we can pick another weekend that won't be so crazy for everyone. Besides, with everyone the four of you know," he said, indicating the parents, "this wedding will be quite a bit bigger than what they can get away with."

"I'm sure the girls will get it all worked out," Percy said. "If we just do as we're told, we'll be just fine."

"Isn't that the recipe for a successful marriage for a Wizard?" Nick's future father-in-law asked. "Just do as we're told?"

Over at the cottage, Saturday morning had been a last shopping trip for any missed back to school necessities, and then they had an afternoon pool party and a dinner for all seven of their summer guests, and their hosts. Brianna was away with Scorpius for the little engagement party that Percy and Penelope were hosting, but the rest of the kids were there. Daphne had come with Karl, Kirley, Ana, and Kieran, and Carissa, Millie, and Amy were there with Isabelle, Victoire, Stewart, and Teddy.

They'd spent the afternoon playing, swimming, and having fun, then had dinner for twenty in the yard, before wrapping up another great summer day with drinks, conversation, and some 3D GameWizard action in the sitting room.

Al and Carolyn were the last teens standing – or snuggling – in the sitting room that night. Everyone else had either gone home, or upstairs to bed.

"And then there were only six days left," Carolyn said quietly.

She could feel Al nod, even though she had her eyes closed.

"Now that Matt's moved in to the house, and it's finished, we really don't have much left to do before going back," she added.

"We'll be at the residence tomorrow for sure so Mum can visit with the kids going back to Hogwarts, and the first year group that will be starting there this year," Al said. "Then probably one more trip on Wednesday or Thursday with Dad. We've got the last Quidditch practice on Tuesday night, but other than that, you're right - we can just take it easy. I'll probably keep trying to work ahead on my reading, though."

"Me too," Carolyn agreed. "Dropping down to seven subjects should make it easier to do better in the subjects I'm keeping, but if we can get a good head start, that'll be even better." She opened her eyes and looked at Al, who was smiling at her.

"Talking about working ahead on our studies is all very interesting," she told him, smiling back, "but now that we're finally alone, why don't we try a little non-verbal communication, with you and me as the conversation topic?"

Al laughed, and leaned forward to kiss her. Her response to his opening statement was to wrap her arms around his neck and deliver a blistering, brilliant explanation of her point of view.

The rest of the last week of the summer rolled along pretty much as Al had suggested for them. On Sunday, they had an afternoon at the residence, and on Tuesday night they had one last Quidditch practice. Al and Carolyn spent most of each weekday enjoying the outdoors, but just relaxing in lounge chairs, reading textbooks, and hopping into the portable pool every so often to cool off and take a break from their studies.

It was a different story for Lily and Kieran. She left for his place on Monday morning, and stayed overnight on Monday so they could make the most of the two days they had in the studio. Even for them, it was an amazing two days, and they recorded eighteen new songs, twelve that they'd written, and six others that Kirley and Ana had recommended, and the kids had loved.

They'd both gone to the dinner that Grandma and Grandpa McCormack had put on for the two Quidditch teams, and then Lily had returned home for her team Quidditch practice. Wednesday, she was back at the McCormacks after breakfast, and then she and Kieran went with Laura to all of their interviews, wrapping up just in time to get to the cottage for dinner.

Kieran had spent the evening at the cottage with her, and then they'd hugged and kissed goodbye. He was going to spend all day Thursday with Karl and his parents, and she was going to do the same with her family.

Thursday morning, Harry took all of the kids to the residence with him. While he spent the morning talking with all of the Hogwarts students, Al, Carolyn, and the others fanned out around the residence to hang out and play with some of the kids there.

Lily found Vanessa and Nadine in their Common room, and spent most of the morning talking with them.

"Are you both packed?" she asked them, and they both nodded.

"We've packed and re-packed a few times now," Vanessa told her. "We're a little excited about going back."

Lily smiled. "Any particular reasons why?" she asked.

"Maybe a couple of reasons," Nadine answered, smiling too. "I didn't get to see very much of Colin this summer, although we were QuillMessaging every day."

Vanessa laughed. "About a hundred times a day, more like."

"Okay," Nadine conceded, "we messaged a lot every day. He was only able to come over once every couple of weeks for a visit, and I only went to his place once all summer."

"Well, I know Vanessa saw Lance at practices more than that," Lily said, and Vanessa smiled.

"Sure," Vanessa agreed. "Maybe he'll get around to noticing me as more than just another girl someday."

Nadine smiled at her friend. "He's noticed you, Vanessa. He just hasn't figured out what to do about it yet. He did come here with Colin most of the times he was here, and it wasn't to see me."

"He'll come around,' Lily predicted. "If all else fails, get him alone somewhere at school and kiss some sense into the boy."

Nadine laughed, and Vanessa blushed while she laughed too.

"You make that sound so easy," Vanessa told her. "I wish I could be that confident."

"Refer to 'You Never Noticed Me'," Lily said, laughing. "I don't think my experience with one boyfriend makes me an expert."

"Your boyfriend is Kieran McCormack, Lily," Nadine told her. "It's not like you need to go out and shop around – you've already got one of the best ones ever."

"Sure," Lily answered. "Like Colin or Lance aren't way up there on the list for your years."

"I never suggested we didn't have good taste in men too," Vanessa said. "I just have to be patient enough for my pick to grow up a little."

The three girls spent the next hour or more talking about boys, classes, and school. Vanessa was taking Care of Magical Creatures and Divination for her two third-year optionals, and they'd both read at least the first couple of chapters of all of their textbooks. Nadine was excited about Quidditch tryouts on Saturday, and she was confident that she'd make the team again this year.

When they'd pretty much talked everything out, Lily made a round of the residence, talking with as many of the younger kids as she could, and promising to come visit a lot over the holidays at Christmas.

Harry took the kids out for lunch after leaving the residence, and then they went back to the cottage, where most of the teens started packing their trunks for the trip back to school in the morning.

For their last night of summer holidays, Harry made a special dinner for just the nine of them, and then they went into the sitting room to spend a quiet evening together before they all went to bed early. The NEWT year for Al, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, Allie, and Lily was just hours away from starting, and with everything that was going to be happening both at Hogwarts, and out here in the real world, it was sure to be another incredible year.


	100. We're Not All in Hogwarts Anymore

Chapter One Hundred – We're Not All in Hogwarts Anymore

James and Arianna got up on September first, showered, and got ready for the big day. It was a really big day in that it was the very first where neither of them were going to be leaving for platform nine and three-quarters and another year at Hogwarts.

"I'd say it's going to be nice to see you home again after work today," Arianna told him, "except that you won't be, will you?"

James shook his head. "No. I was thinking that you, Aaron, and Tracey could come to the Academy and have dinner with the kids and me. I'll probably stay there until they settle in for the night."

"I'd love to," she told him. "I'm sure Tracey and Aaron will too, but we won't be able to stay late on the night before a game day."

"I'll probably have a few late nights over this next week, but after that, things should settle down."

Arianna smiled at him. "Did you happen to notice how many hours Susan works at the residence before you took this job?" she asked James, and he laughed.

"Okay, so I'll probably put in a lot of time there, but it'll be worth it."

"Yes it will,' Arianna agreed.

They made and ate breakfast, shared a long goodbye, and then she left for the Canon's stadium, while James left for the about to open Phoenix Academy.

By that time, in Romania, Jon and Therese had already started their day – his at the Dragon Reserve, and her first day at med school. Andy and Laura were both on the go too, and Andy was already at the QSPN studio, getting ready to go over to Canons stadium for one last day of workouts before he'd be doing his very first broadcast of a League game on Saturday. Laura had offered to stay and do cleanup after breakfast before she went to Kirley and Ana's to get her workday started too.

Mark and Callie were the last two members of the family's graduating class of 'twenty-three, and he was planning on a training day, while Callie would be meeting Harry and Ginny for lunch before he'd be taking her to the Ministry of Magic to begin her new career as his Wizengamot assistant.

That still left a lot of New Marauders who were returning to Hogwarts, and all of their friends. That made for a pretty crazy Friday morning at the cottage, and at other houses. Rose and Matt left the house in Hogsmeade early so that they could meet up with Hugo, and say goodbye to her parents before they went to work. They went from their house over to Stewart and Isabelle's house and would be going to King's Cross station with them, and with Carissa, Millie, and Amy.

Nick and Scorpius were already in London, so they took themselves to the station, and were the first members of the family on platform nine and three-quarters, which was fine with them, since they could get on the train early. Nick went to pick out a block of compartments for everyone, while Scorpius went to the Prefects car to start getting ready for the first meeting that he and Rose would be having as Head Boy and Girl.

Since Ana was going to be busy working with Laura, she said goodbye to Kieran and Karl at the house, and Kirley took the boys to King's Cross Station. When they got there, Stewart and Isabelle had just pulled into the parking lot with their group of kids, so they all went into the station together.

Frederica and Liam were already on platform nine and three-quarters with George and Marietta. Liam had been dropped off late Thursday night, and stayed with them, since his parents would both be off to work early on Friday morning.

That left the group at the cottage to come in, and if they'd been just a few minutes earlier, they would have met in the parking lot with Kirley, Stewart, Isabelle, and the kids. With seven kids getting ready for the day, feeding nine, and then loading up the sedan with luggage, it had been a busy morning before they'd even left the cottage. When they finally walked onto platform nine and three quarters, it was filled with students, luggage, and family members who'd come to say goodbye to their children.

Rose had said goodbye to everyone who'd been there, then she and Matt went off away from the others to say a private goodbye – or as close to privacy as was possible on a crowded train platform. When they finally parted, she hurried to join Scorpius in the Prefects car, and Matt left the platform, heading back to Hogsmeade.

The rest of the family teens had waited for Al, Lily, and the others so that they could say goodbye to Harry and Ginny before boarding the Hogwarts Express.

They had about ten minutes left to say goodbye, and then the kids all loaded up, and disappeared into the train, going straight to the compartments that Nick had saved for everyone. Luggage was stowed, and then it was time for the new Prefects to leave for their meeting with Rose and Scorpius, so Kieran, Hugo, Joel, and Emily all left to do that, while the others settled in for the trip back to Hogwarts.

As Harry, Ginny, and the others watched the train slowly pull away from the platform, James was at the Phoenix Academy welcoming the fifty kids and teenagers that were coming to live there.

He'd spent the morning working with the dayshift staff, and they had everything ready for when Teddy and some foundation volunteers brought the kids over and had them gather in the dining hall.

James was smiling as he stood at the front of the room and looked at the mostly nervous group of young Witches and Wizards. He'd worked hard all through August, hiring the best staff he could find, training them, and making sure he was familiar with all fifty kids. They were as ready as they could be to face the many challenges he knew would be ahead of them.

"Good morning," he told the group. "Welcome to the Phoenix Academy." Teddy was sitting at one of the tables, and smiled at him encouragingly.

"My name is James Potter, and I am the Director of the Phoenix Academy. This will be your new home, and in a moment we'll take a tour of the building and show you around." These kids ranged in age from eight to sixteen, and there was a mixed, uncertain reaction from all of them.

"This academy has been specifically designed for you, and what we want to do is to help you all get the education that your parents or guardians denied to you. We'll also help you to learn to deal with the abuse that each of you has gone through, and hopefully, when you leave here, you'll be ready to either go to a regular school like Hogwarts, or will have been able to take your OWL's, or even your NEWTs directly through the Ministry, and be ready to go out and be successful adults."

He definitely had the attention of all of the kids, and he continued to smile at them.

"We'll talk about that again more when we start classes next Monday," he promised. "For today, and the rest of the weekend, we'll just get to know each other, and you can all settle in to your rooms. Now, why don't we all go and do a tour, then we'll come back here, and we'll have lunch and I'll introduce you to some of the Witches and Wizards who will be working here with all of you."

James saw most of the kids nodding, and led them on a tour that took just over an hour. He showed them the five classrooms, and the library, games rooms, lounges, and the indoor pool before going outside to show them the Quidditch pitch, and the different areas where they would be able to hang out together, and play games.

They finished up their tour by going back inside and going through one of the five, ten-bedroom dormitories, and the Common room that was the hub of each cluster of rooms. The kids had been growing more and more excited as the tour had gone along, and now they were nearly all overwhelmed by just how great their own private rooms were going to be.

Teddy and Stewart led them back to the dining hall, and James introduced them to the ten dayshift staff, and five teachers that they'd all be getting to know, and then they had lunch together before he, Teddy, the staff, and the teachers all pitched in to get all of the kids settled into their rooms, and just relax and get to know each other for the rest of the afternoon.

Scorpius and Rose started their meeting fifteen minutes after the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station. None of the Prefects seemed surprised to find out that their only two straight O prefects had been named Head Boy and Girl this year, but two of the Slytherin prefects didn't look happy to have another year with both Heads coming from the same House again – even if it wasn't Gryffindor this time.

Rose began the meeting by welcoming the twenty-two students. She then had the eight new fifth year prefects introduce themselves to the rest of the group. The sixth and seventh year prefects were always known by all of the students at Hogwarts, so introductions weren't needed for them.

She and Scorpius took turns going over schedules, rules, and the usual list of topics that happened at every one of these first meetings each year. They wrapped up the meeting by handing out a 'new' letter from TNM to be posted in the Common Rooms, Dorms, and around the school. This year there wasn't even a single comment about being asked to post the letters, since even the Slytherins had to admit that those letters had been effective last year.

The rest of the New Marauders were either hanging around their compartments and talking, or out visiting other friends. Lily had already done that, and was back sitting down with Brianna and Sarah.

"Is this what our year is going to be like?" Sarah asked. "Waiting around for the boys while they're off doing Prefect duties?"

Brianna laughed. "Look at the bright side. Your boyfriend doesn't have Quidditch too."

Sarah grinned at her. "He also doesn't have private rooms like yours," she told Brianna. "You'll be able to major in snogging this year. Besides, I thought that Scorpius was only going to help with training the new Ravenclaw team, not play."

Lily and Brianna laughed. "With everything he has going on, we'll be lucky to have time for a goodnight kiss," Brianna said.

"Okay," Lily told the other girls, "let's agree that we're all not going to like this part of things with the boys and move on. None of us are planning on trading them in over this."

"No, we're not," Brianna agreed, and Sarah nodded.

"How is everyone else doing?" Sarah asked Lily.

"Nadine and Vanessa are with Colin, Lance, Frederica and Liam, and they're all having fun," Lily reported. "Lance is even sitting beside Vanessa, so she's a happy camper."

Brianna smiled. "Vanessa's determined. It's only a matter of time before she catches our young friend."

Lily nodded. "Nick and Allie are hanging out with Al, Carolyn, Karl, and Daphne. Allie's getting quite a few friends stopping by as word about them getting engaged makes it's way along the gossip network. Millie and Amy are hanging out with Dale and Carissa, and Hugo and Emily will sit with them after, if they get time.

There weren't any firsties for them to watch out for this year, and they were all veterans of the Hogwarts Express, so after the trolley went by and they'd ordered pasties and candy, they all settled in for the ride.

They read books, or talked; listened to music, watched WWVN on their portable receivers, or played Virtual GameWizard as they moved ever closer to Hogwarts.

The train finally began to slow as they arrived at Hogsmeade station, and the students all got ready to get off of the train. The New Marauders and their friends all lined up with their respective years to wait their turn for a carriage.

Nick and Allie were among the first to go, and Al smiled. Nick would probably get the first tryout slot again this year for Ravenclaw. Al and Carolyn could have gone, but waited for Brianna, since they didn't want anyone talking about the Head Boy's girlfriend getting special treatment. Eventually they did all get into the Great Hall, and seated, everyone talking excitedly as they waited for the first year students to be brought in and sorted.

Professor Williamson had that honour this year, and led the first year students to the front of the hall, and set the sorting hat on the stool. The noise in the Great Hall quieted as the hat sang it's annual ditty, and then Professor Williamson began calling names, and one by one, the excited and nervous bunch of firsties were sorted into the four Houses.

When that was finally done, and the cheering had died down, Professor McGonagall stood to give her back to school speech. She went through all of the usual instructions, and then got all of the students in the Hall buzzing when she announced that this was a Yule Ball year at Hogwarts – the twenty-fifth year after the end of the war, and including the first one that Harry, Ginny, and all of the students in their year had gone to, the sixth one.

"I completely forgot!" Brianna whispered to Lily and Carolyn. "This is going to be another best year ever here!"

"It's looking better every day," Lily agreed.

The feast began then, and the House ghosts entered the Great Hall to visit with the students. The noise level grew again, as they all talked and enjoyed the wonderful feast together before eventually all going to their Houses to unpack, settle in, and get reacquainted with friends and House mates that they hadn't seen during the summer holidays.

Dinnertime at the Phoenix Academy had started with some excitement too. Aaron and Arianna had been introduced to the kids, and had announced that the Canons had enough seats at their home opener on Saturday to take all fifty kids, and as many of the staff who wanted to go, to watch the game at the stadium.

James had hugged and kissed Arianna, which earned them some whistles and giggles.

"Get used to it," he told the kids. "We do a lot of hugging and kissing in my family, and there will certainly be lots of it going on around here too. Once you get used to it, you're really going to like it a lot."

They'd had a really great dinner together, and then had gone around to spend time with each of the kids, getting to know them, and playing games with them.

When Aaron and Arianna had to get home to beat their curfew, Tracey stayed and helped out for another couple of hours as the kids all settled in to their rooms for their first night at the Academy.

Out of the five groups of rooms, there were two each for boys and girls, and one that was for brothers and sisters so that they weren't split up unless necessary. Each group of ten kids had one night shift staff member to help them with any problems they might have during the night. There were still older teens up after eleven, but James felt confident enough that everything was under control to go home when Tracey was ready to leave.

She came over to his house, and they had glasses of wine and talked about the evening and some of the challenges that he'd be dealing with over the next weeks and months as they really started working with the kids, and then Tracey went across the road back to her house, and James quietly got changed and got in to bed next to Arianna, who snuggled with him, but really only partially woke up long enough for a sweet, soft goodnight kiss before drifting back into a deep sleep.

At Hogwarts, when the Ravenclaw students arrived in their Common room, the first thing that happened was that they gathered together for an announcement from their new Quidditch team Captain.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts and to Ravenclaw House," he told them when everyone had quieted down. "If this is your first year here, welcome, and don't be afraid to ask anyone in this House for help with anything you need. We take care of our own in Ravenclaw." Nick looked around and smiled.

"Since today is Friday, I wanted to make sure that everyone here knows that Quidditch team tryouts will be tomorrow morning. I'll have the notices posted shortly. The other announcement I have is that besides me, Joe Jenkins will be the only member of last year's team trying out for our squad this year."

There was a loud buzz of surprise and shock that greeted this news, and quite a few students looked upset about the news.

"Please," Nick told them, "Let me explain." He waited for everyone to calm down.

"You all know by know that Rose and Scorpius are our Head Girl and Boy this year," he began. "Lily and Al both are going to have heavy NEWT study loads too, and they've all advised me that adding in Quidditch too is just too much this year. We were also concerned that if we all played again this year, we'd leave our House team with only Joe on the team next year with any experience at all." He watched as his fellow students mulled that over.

"I understand that there's a really good chance that this means that we won't be able to compete very well against the other House teams this year," he told them. "Rose, Scorpius, Al, and Lily have all agreed to each take one practice a week and help me to train our new team this year, and we hope that it will leave our House with a good start for the teams we'll have over the next few years after we've graduated."

He had his cousins around him as he made the announcement, and when he'd finished, he asked for, and answered questions from some of the teens – mostly those interested in trying out. When those questions had seemed to all be answered, the little meeting broke up, and students started going to their dorm rooms to unpack or stayed and visited with their friends in the Common room, many of them talking excitedly about the unexpected news.

Al, Nick, and Scorpius went to check out the Head Boy rooms, which were identical to what James' rooms had looked like before they'd modified the place. They'd already talked it over with the girls, and the plan was to make Scorpius' office the meeting place that they'd use for watching Canons' games or for their other gatherings.

They were about to get to work on the modifications when Scorpius was called away for his first emergency.

"Go ahead, mate," Al told him. "We can take care of this for you, and it'll be done by the time you get back."

When Scorpius had gone, Al smiled at Nick. "Why don't I make the big changes, then I have something you and I can both do that'll really wow the others."

Nick nodded and watched as Al made this room nearly five times larger than it had been. They both worked to rearrange the desk and chairs so that they'd only take up one corner of the room. When that was done, Al opened the pack he'd brought with him and started taking out miniature furniture – lots of it.

Nick laughed. "You bought all of that and shrunk it all so you could bring it here just for this?" he asked in amazement, and Al nodded, grinning.

"Let's bring them back to full size, and arrange the sitting area for Scorpius," Al said.

It really didn't take very long for the two of them to get that done, and there was soon an amazingly comfortable looking set of four sofas, two recliners, and two armchairs, with tables next to all of the seating. Al put three more miniature sofas on a shelf that they could re-size anytime they needed the extra seating.

There was a knock on the door that led into the Ravenclaw Common room, and then Rose, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna all came in. The first thing Rose did was hug Al.

"Thanks for the furniture," she told him. "That was a really brilliant surprise."

"You're welcome," he told her, and watched as Brianna went and tested one of the sofas that were now in her boyfriend's office.

"Really brilliant," Brianna told him with a bright smile. "Nick and Allie are going to like having a place like this to visit too."

Nick laughed. "If I thought I could get away with it, we'd sleep in here on one of those sofas every night," he joked.

Carolyn went over and hugged Al. "Nice job," she told him.

"I was hoping maybe this year that you girls could add a few decorating touches in here, instead of leaving it plain like we did with James' office last year," he told Lily and the other girls.

Lily nodded. "Sure," she told him. "It'll only take us a few minutes."

They did that, adding some style to the room, while still leaving it so it did look like a young Wizard lived there. They also set up Lily's big screen WWVN so they'd be ready for game day on Saturday too. When they'd finished, they left Scorpius' office, and Rose showed the boys her office, and the changes they'd made there before she was left to do her work, while the others went to their dorm rooms to unpack and get some sleep.

Saturday morning, Hugo was having breakfast in the Great Hall with Emily and the rest of their usual gang, and was doing a little venting.

"Sure, I get it," he grumbled to the others. "Can't have the Head Girl playing favourites with her Prefect little brother, but come on – Emily and I had to go with the last group of second years, so everyone beat us to the school, and even Thomas got to Madame Hooch before I could. Now we've got the last tryout slot today."

"Too bad you couldn't just do the tryouts for James' spot, get it over with, and get it over with," Emily told him. "The rest of you should all be able to keep your spots with as hard as you've worked all summer."

"The only good thing is that maybe my Dad's game will be over before tryouts instead of missing it like last year when we had the third spot," Hugo said.

Over at the Ravenclaw table, Nick was all smiles, since he'd gotten the first tryout spot for Ravenclaw, and the best practice times for the season too.

"Are you all coming to watch the tryouts?" he asked his cousins and friends, who all nodded.

"Wouldn't miss them," Al told him. "I want to see what kind of talent I'll be helping to train this year."

They were going to wait to see what their schedules were like before deciding who would help do training on which days, but Nick was hoping that with personal training available for his players that they'd all get a lot better over the year as they taught a whole new group of Ravenclaw Quidditch players what it took to be the best in the House.

Rose was the only one of their group who didn't leave for the Quidditch pitch after breakfast, since either she or Scorpius needed to stay at the school to deal with any emergencies. When the others got to the field, Nick went out onto the pitch with Joe Jenkins, while Al, Scorpius, Lily, and the others all took seats in the stands.

Carolyn was happily wrapped in Al's arms as they watched the prospective new players start to gather on the field.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "I get you back to cuddle with during all six of the games this year."

Brianna laughed. She was cuddling with Scorpius. "Funny how those cold weather games don't sound so bad anymore for this year."

"Must be nice," Lily told them. "I'll only get to cuddle for three games, and I'll have to sit in Hufflepuff section to do that, since Kieran will need to stay with his team during those games."

"Isn't that still two more games than last year?" Brianna asked Lily. "The only game you could sit together for was Gryffindor against Slytherin, since one or both of you were playing in the other five games."

Lily grinned at her. "You're wrecking my perfectly good complaining with logic, Bree," she told her friend. "I've created a monster."

The others laughed, but then they all turned their attention toward the field as they heard Nick get things going.

"Thanks for coming!" he said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Today we're going to pick the students that are going to lead out House Quidditch team into the future!" he told the more than one hundred prospects. His announcement last night had definitely brought out everyone who even remotely thought that they could play the game.

"We've got a lot to do picking this many new players, so let's get going! Flying test first. Everyone get on your brooms and start flying. Joe, please lead them out!"

It took fifteen minutes to weed out the half of the students who couldn't fly well enough, and then Nick called for Beater tryouts. That didn't take long as Joe easily defended his spot, and the two Beaters from last year's practice team kept their spots too, both of them hoping that working with the team again this year would help them to get good enough to earn Nick's spot on the team next year.

Next, Nick put the eight Keeper prospects he had left, and put them up against the twenty-three students who stepped up when he called for the Chaser tryouts. Nearly an hour later, Lily advised him of the top six out of the twenty-three Chasers, and the top two Keepers.

"Our new Keeper has some real potential," Scorpius told the others quietly. "If he can lose some of the bad habits."

Al nodded. "Same with Nick's new Chasers," he agreed. "A lot of that will depend on how well they can work together."

Last up was the tryout for Seeker, and there were eight students left, including two Chasers who hadn't made either the House or Practice team, and now wanted to try to be the new team Seeker.

"If you can't even make the practice team as Chaser," Lily said quietly, "You're not going to be good enough to be the team's Seeker."

Nick broke them up into fours, and then put the winners of those match-ups against each other to get the team and backup Seekers. Nick was pretty happy when he had a fourth year boy catch the snitch to win the team spot, doing that in just under ten minutes after the first two battles had taken over half an hour.

Their tryout had gone too long, so everyone cleared the pitch so that Hufflepuff could start their tryouts. Lily took time to hug Kieran, Nadine, and Miranda and wishing them luck before leaving with the others, most of them going back to the Common room, while Nick took his new team to an empty classroom for a short meeting before they all went to the Common room too.

The Hufflepuff tryouts didn't take nearly as long, and every member of last year's team were back on the team this year. They quickly got the picks for the practice team, and even had the team meeting done in time to get back to the Great Hall for lunch.

The Great Hall was buzzing with the Ravenclaw Quidditch news by then, and students in the other three Houses were suddenly much more excited about their team's chances for a Quidditch Cup this year, even though two of them were reigning Co-Champions anyway. There was a bit of grumbling among a few of the Ravenclaws, but most of the students thought that what Nick and the others were doing this year was actually a pretty brilliant way to make sure that at least some other students in their House learned everything they knew about Quidditch before they all graduated. It was really a Ravenclaw sort of thing to do.

"Look at the bright side, Nick," Lily told him. "By dinner, Slytherin will be the news story, and we'll have been forgotten."

Nick grinned at her. "Good. This shouldn't be such a big story anyway. When I saw everyone lined up at tryouts the first thing I thought was 'what if this backfires and we get five new players but they're all seventh year students'?"

Lily laughed. "Well, that didn't happen, and you actually got a pretty good mix, so our House shouldn't be back in that position again for at least the next five or six years. You didn't get more than two students from any single year, and it'll just be you graduating from this year's team."

Scorpius nodded. "You must have noticed that a few seventh years that we know are pretty good didn't even try out," he told Nick. "They were taking one for the House, since they probably would have made the team and gotten a chance to play."

"Yeah. Remind me to thank them later," Nick said.

Lily waited in the entrance hall for Daphne so that she could wish her luck when the Slytherin students started going out to the Quidditch pitch for their tryouts after lunch.

"You're going to do great today!" Lily predicted as she hugged Daphne. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Lily," Daphne said. "Have fun watching the Canons' game."

Lily and Kieran watched as Daphne and Karl left together, and then they started off toward Scorpius' office. Kieran hadn't seen it yet, and had grinned when they'd walked in and sat down on one of the comfortable sofas.

"This is even better than last year," he said happily as Lily cuddled close. "Nice place, Scorpius. Your interior decorators have more talent than James' did."

Scorpius laughed. "That'd be thanks to Lily and the girls for making it look like more than some big dungeon room."

Kieran grinned. "I'll make sure to thank Lily later then," he promised. "You're on your own for thanking Brianna, though."

The absences were noticeable as the other New Marauders got to the office. There were seven Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs, and five Gryffindors remaining after losing six members to graduation. With just fourteen in the room, there seemed to be more space than they needed.

They'd turned on the pre-game show that had already started, and watched Andy and his team break down the rematch between the Canons and Puddlemere United.

"Oh, look," Emily said, "they've got a whole new group of commentators and reporters this year! They almost sound intelligent, too."

"That field reporter's pretty easy to look at too," Hugo said, which earned him a playful slap from Emily.

"Like you weren't thinking the same thing about the new guys working with Andy," he said, rubbing his arm as if her light slap had actually hurt.

"His statistician is pretty talented," Lily told them. "You can never use that stuff to predict things that change, like injuries and weather, but her ranking of the teams at the start of August was quite brilliant."

"Of course it was," Rose said. "The Canons finally got ranked first in the preseason – and it only took winning two years in a row to get there."

"Haven't you watched that grouch-fest experts show that QSPN gave the commentators from last season that Andy and his team replaced?" Nick asked Rose. "They practically took those rankings, turned them upside down, and made that their predictions for the season."

"Not quite," Colin disagreed. "They did rank the Canons tenth – just two spots out of making the playoffs."

"I'm surprised they didn't just fire the idiots," Hugo said. "You could get better predictions calling in to that live Divination Direct show and asking their experts."

"You watch that drivel?" Scorpius asked him.

"No, but I do have a couple of girls that sat at the table next to us in Potions that talked about it all last year. "I can't believe that anyone can watch that crap and believe it. They must tell a hundred Witches and Wizards a week that they're going to meet the love of their life or get rich – or both if they're really lucky."

Fortunately, the teams were introduced, and they were saved from going into a discussion of the seamier side of reality WWVN. While they settled in to watch the game, out on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, Thomas was getting his tryouts started.

"This should be fun," he whispered to Daphne before they got started.

From the looks of the students gathered around, the tryouts were going to be a battle for control of the team. Dirk and Malcolm had a large group of their buddies there, and were probably expecting to earn all six spots, and then just push Thomas out after that. There weren't even very many other students who'd come to the tryouts – less than thirty in total.

He called everyone together, and got the flying test started. When that was finished, he was down to sixteen students. Slytherin had never done a practice squad, and after talking it over during the summer, they'd decided not to try and start one this year either, since they'd probably just end up with players that would sabotage what they were trying to do this year. Now they were about to find out if what they'd done all summer was going to pay off or not.

"Who's trying out for Beater?" Thomas asked.

Dirk Avery and Vincent Goyle stepped forward. So did Bill and Terry – the two third years who had been training with Thomas' group throughout the summer. Nobody else seemed willing to go up against Avery and Goyle.

"Good," Thomas said. "Dirk, Vincent, why don't you two pair up against Bill and Terry, and let's see how it goes?"

The two older boys grinned viciously as all four boys took to the air, and the bludgers were let loose. They weren't grinning for long as they found themselves fighting just to keep from getting hurt as Bill and Terry systematically worked together to attack first one, then the other boy. Vincent went down first when he'd managed to avoid the bludger Bill sent at him, but was hit solidly in the side by the one he never even saw coming from Terry. Dirk had turned to look at Vincent when the other boy had shouted in pain and that was his first and last mistake as Bill had already hit a bludger his way that hit Dirk's bat arm hard enough that his bat fell to the ground from numbed fingers, and he was doing some yelling of his own as he flew to the ground.

"Mr Warrington, Mr Higgs, congratulations," Thomas told them. "Very well played." He looked over at the pale face of Vincent Goyle.

"Dirk, would you please be so kind as to escort Vincent to see Madame Pomfrey? I do believe he may have one or more cracked ribs by the look of his face, and you should probably have her look at your arm."

Dirk looked angry, but he also knew that everyone watching had seen them lose fairly, and there wasn't anything he could do about it – here. He took both his and Vincent's brooms and bats, and walked slowly from the pitch with Vincent.

Thomas called for the Chaser tryout next, and inwardly groaned as Malcolm and Rudy, the two idiots that had mostly been responsible for last year's problems, confidently stepped forward, along with their buddy Monty. The three boys actually laughed when Daphne, Samantha, and Eddie, along with three first and second year kids joined them.

"We'll start with seeing how well each of you are able to dodge bludgers," Thomas told the nine candidates. "Bill, Terry, please take them up."

The three younger kids had just watched what had happened to Dirk and Vincent, and apparently hadn't realized that this would be part of the tryout. Bill and Terry didn't try to hurt the younger kids, but they were quickly eliminated, each one relieved when Thomas ordered them out of the air before they were injured.

Malcolm and his two buddies survived the bludger test, but they were all sweating and each of them had at least one bruise to show for their effort. Daphne, Samantha, and Eddie hadn't been touched. Train with four bludgers long enough, and you did learn how to dodge them effectively.

"All right," Thomas said, "we have six candidates left. You'll each get five shots against me, and then we'll keep going after that if there are any ties for the three spots."

Last year at tryouts, Malcolm and Rudy had each scored three goals on Thomas, and Daphne had scored four. The two boys looked like they were sure they'd do even better this year as the six Chasers and one Keeper took to the air. Daphne had the only goal out of the first round of six shots. Malcolm, Rudy, and Monty were all still sneering.

Eddie and Daphne scored the only two goals in the second round, and still the other three boys looked confident. When by the end of the third round they were still shut out, and Samantha and Eddie had both scored, Malcolm wasn't looking smug anymore – he was looking angry. Daphne scored her third goal in the fourth round, and Thomas blanked the others.

"Last round," Thomas called out. "Daphne, Eddie, you can sit this one out – You've already earned your spots on the team."

"That's not fair!" Malcolm protested. "It's best out of five!"

That shout caused the Slytherin spectators to laugh, and Thomas looked down to see that there were now quite a few more spectators than had been there at the start. Apparently word that something interesting was going on during the tryouts had gotten around.

Thomas smiled at Malcolm. "That's true, mate, but since the four of you have a combined total of one goal scored, then Daphne's three goals won't be beaten, and Eddie's two goals can only be tied by one of you, so they have both earned their spots without wasting our time with taking two more shots."

Malcolm turned a bright, angry red as he realized what a stupid thing he'd just said in front of quite a few other Slytherins.

"Fine," he snarled, taking the Quaffle. "Let's finish this."

He flew around the field, picking up speed, and then went straight after Thomas. He was probably expecting that Thomas would get scared and dodge out of the way, so the only emotion registering on his face before he ran chin-first into Thomas' shoulder was wide-eyed surprise before the lights went out.

Thomas had expected something like that eventually, and had practiced a defence for it. When it worked to perfection, he was barely able to keep Malcolm from falling to the ground as the quaffle sailed harmlessly away from the goals. He grabbed the instantly unconscious boy with both hands, and the extra weight pulled them both rapidly toward the ground.

Daphne had been the first to react, and had raced up from the ground to meet them, and help slow their descent to keep both boys from crashing to the ground. When they reached the ground, they laid Malcolm out flat, and used a little magic to bring him around.

"Are you okay mate?" Thomas asked him solicitously.

"What happened?" Malcolm asked, trying to figure out why he was on the ground. "Did I score?"

Thomas laughed. "No, Malcolm, you're lucky you didn't get hurt trying a move like that. I'm not some rookie Keeper anymore. If I hadn't managed to catch you, and if Daphne here hadn't come to help, you would have fallen. If you're alright, though, I've got to get back to the tryouts."

He helped Malcolm up, and then flew back into the air, while Malcolm walked groggily to sit in the stands and watch the last three shots. Rudy went next, and his shot got past Thomas, but only because it sailed far wide of the goals. Samantha ended it on her last shot, though, when she imitated one of Daphne's stop-and-go moves that Thomas hadn't seen her do before, and had him going the wrong way just long enough that her shot was just out of his reach.

"That's it," he told Monty. "Samantha's scored her second goal, and has the last Chaser spot on the team."

Monty nodded, and the three of them returned to the ground. Thomas called for the Seeker tryouts, and the remaining three students came over to stand next to him. It only took Darrin ten minutes to catch the snitch and keep his spot on the team, and then Thomas thanked everyone and ended the tryouts. They'd do the team meeting in private when they could celebrate what was really their first team victory of the year.

In Scorpius' office, they'd been having fun too. Andy was doing a great job with the play-by-play of the game, and his whole team made watching the game a lot more fun as they managed to balance making their show interesting for both Quidditch enthusiasts and for novices as well.

The Canons were winning too, so that made things even more fun as they watched Ron playing an awesome game at Keeper, while Arianna seemed to be putting on a show – probably specifically for James, who was getting to watch his wife play a season opener in person for the first time.

"I thought James would have been in the Owner's box today," Lily told them, "but they got tickets for all of the kids at his Academy, so he's sitting with them instead."

"That's a pretty great way to start out at their new home," Brianna said. "Whoever 'they' is, it was a really nice thing to do."

"Speaking of nice things to do," Colin said. "Are we having a meeting after dinner?"

Al nodded. "Yes. Has everyone been notified?" he asked. Hugo, and the other Gryffindors had already left for their tryouts. He hadn't been happy about missing the rest of the game, but at least the Canons had the scoring out of reach for United, so it was just a matter of time before the game would end, not a question of who would win.

Rose smiled. "We've talked to everyone," she assured Al. "We'll all be there fifteen minutes after dinner is over."

Arianna scored another goal, and there was a pause as they watched the replay, and listened to Andy's comment about her 'undressing' the United Keeper, and then laughed as one of the other commentators suggested that Arianna could undress him anytime.

"You would have never heard a line like that out of one of last year's commentators," Nick laughed. "Good thing James wasn't here to listen to that one.

Lily grinned at him. "He would have thought it was hilarious. That's one of the things that these broadcasts have been missing anyway – a little intelligent humour and some sex appeal. As soon as he said that, I guarantee that half of the Witches watching were thinking the same thing about him."

"Probably," Nick agreed. "We all know that your Dad probably put the pressure on QSPN to get Andy on the air, but I'll bet that they'll be loving the results by now."

"And taking full credit for being geniuses no doubt," Allie said.

The game went on for another hour before Liselle caught the snitch to end the game, which gave the Canons their third opening game win in a row.

"That's the way to get the season started," Lily said happily.

That's what James thought too as he and the staff members who'd come with him to the game rounded up a pretty happy looking group of kids and teens for the trip back to the academy. James was in charge of eight-year old sweetheart Rowena, nine-year old Dillon, and ten-year old Horatio, who'd only answer to 'H', since he apparently disliked his name.

"How'd you like the game, H?" he asked the boy, who shrugged.

"It was okay, I guess. I never got to watch no Quidditch before."

James already knew from his file that for Horatio there was before, and then whatever had come since he'd been taken from his home. He rarely said anything specific about the before times.

"I hope you can learn to stand it, since you've probably guessed that I'm a pretty big fan – especially of certain players."

H smiled, or as close to a smile as he had come so far. "I wonder why," he joked. That was something James thought was nice to see.

"I thought it was brilliant," Rowena said in her whisper-soft voice.

"I'm glad you liked it," James said, hugging her. He did that with all of the kids a lot, with mixed results so far. "When we get back, we're going to do ice cream sundaes to celebrate Arianna's win."

Dillon and Rowena both smiled, and H rolled his eyes, making James laugh.

"Come on, H," James told him. "You can't possibly have anything against ice cream sundaes, and I can usually come up with some excuse – I mean good reason – to have them, or some other treat."

"Are you always like this?" Horatio asked him. "So bloody happy all the time."

"Not all the time," James answered. "Just most of it."

That got a giggle out of Rowena, and he hugged her again.

"Don't get me wrong, H," James said seriously. "You all have some real work ahead of you to make up for everything your families did to you, and I take that very seriously. It just doesn't mean that we can't have a lot of fun along the way too."

"Try and take it easy on us, James," Horatio told him. "Most of us have already had more fun in the last two days than we've had in the rest of our lives. You could cause injuries."

James laughed and put a friendly hand on Horatio's shoulder. "I'll try to keep that from happening to you, but that might be fun too – explaining something like that to the Healers at St. Mungos."

Horatio actually laughed, then stopped in surprise.

"What's wrong?" James asked him.

"I don't ever remember laughing," he answered quietly, still with the same look of surprise on his face.

"Well, we like the sounds of it," James told him. "Try to do it more often. One laugh every ten years is a bit too far apart. See what you can do about spacing them a little closer together from now on."

They went back to the academy, had the sundaes despite the head cook assuring James that he was spoiling the kid's dinners by having them this close to meal time, and then James left the kids in the capable hands of his afternoon shift staff, and went to Ron and Hermione's house to join the party.

"How'd it go?" Arianna asked after hugging and kissing him.

"Great," James said. "I can see this is going to be a seven day a week job for a while, though."

Arianna smiled. "That's okay. I can help out on the days I'm not working, and once the kids all get used to their new lives, we'll probably still spend a lot of time there, but they'll be okay when we need to take a break and get away sometimes too."

While they celebrated the Canons' win with their team and family, the New Marauders, except for the Gryffindors, spent the rest of their time after the game just relaxing and chatting in Scorpius' office.

Hugo and his Gryffindor Quidditch prospects weren't relaxing. They'd had nearly one hundred students show up for tryouts, and he'd eliminated half of them in the flying tests. Including Frederica and Kevin, he had ten students trying out for the Beater positions. It wasn't even close, and his only problem was picking the best of the worst for the practice team.

He'd learned from his mistakes last year, and just put his twenty-three Chaser candidates up against the four Keeper candidates for the practice team Keeper spot, and let them fight it out for the top six Chaser spots, and one Keeper position instead of wasting his own time going up against them. Liam and Lance came in one and two, and a fourth year Witch named Claire came in a surprising third, scoring two goals more than the next best students – including all three of last year's practice team Chasers.

That left six Seeker wannabes and Colin. He took all of two minutes to dash the other six dreams, and then there was another twenty minutes before one of the remaining six kids finally caught the snitch to earn the last spot on the practice team.

Hugo thanked everyone, and then excused everyone except the team. He waited until they were alone, and then had their first meeting.

"Thanks, everyone, and congratulations," he told them. "Welcome to the team, Claire. You must have been practicing. Are you ready to replace the legend?"

She laughed and shook her head. "How about we let Liam or Lance do that, and I'll shoot for doing my very best instead of the impossible."

Hugo laughed too. "I think we can live with that." He handed out the schedules he'd made up on Friday night, and went over a few details about it.

"We're going to have a tough season," he told them. "Even with Ravenclaw rebuilding this year, we're going to face tough matches against what I'm told will be a strong Slytherin team, and a Hufflepuff team that's beaten us two years in a row. We'll have to work hard to keep up with the other House teams, so I hope you're all ready for that." He received six nods, and then went on to wrap up the meeting.

"Enjoy your weekend, everyone. On Monday we start classes, and Quidditch practices, and the real work will begin."

They had time to take their gear back to their rooms before it was time to go for dinner, and as predicted, the news on the Hogwarts gossip network was about Slytherin's new Quidditch players beating out the students from the old boys club.

"Dirk, Malcolm, and the boys don't look too happy tonight," Scorpius told the others. "That's a shame."

Nick laughed. "I'll wager Frederica is just as broken up about Malcolm not being on the team. She was probably hoping to get to send a few more bludgers his way this year."

"She'll learn to deal with the disappointment," Brianna told the boys.

After dinner, Rose and Scorpius led the Ravenclaw Marauders to the classroom where they'd be having their first Marauders meeting of the year. They were the first ones there, and so they had to wait for everyone else to get there. When he'd counted heads and was sure that everyone had made it to the meeting, Al sealed the room.

"Thanks for coming," he began.

"You're welcome," Karl told him. "Why are we here?"

Al smiled at him. "We're here for the first meeting of the year for The New Marauders. You're here, because we are inviting you, and the others here that aren't already members to join our little group."

Vanessa was the first one to catch on. "The New Marauders? You're TNM!" she blurted out. She turned to Lily and Kieran and stared at them. "You said that TNM asked you to take us on that trip!"

"They did," Lily said with a grin. "We just didn't tell you that we were asking ourselves."

Vanessa laughed and hugged Lily. "You want us to join? I'm in!"

"I've totally lost control," Al told them with a laugh. "Why don't we start by telling all of you what we do besides what everyone knows about already? Yes, we do have a little fun now and then, and we do deal with bullies. We also usually have somewhere around one hundred kids that we help every year with everything from school supplies to clothes to birthday presents or treats. That's by far the biggest, and most important project we do, and it goes on all year. Finally, we get all of the information needed for the students that are foundation volunteers that work around the school as mentors. That's also a program that we started, and one of our members always leads, although the mentors themselves don't know that TNM does that."

He saw nods around the room, and smiled.

"We lost six members last year, so we're recruiting to replace them this year, but also because we're losing six more Marauders this year. Actually, while we will offer any help you need while we're here this year, Rose, Scorpius, Nick, Allie, Lily, and I plan on having all of you pretty much take over running the New Marauders. Any questions so far?"

"Why us?" Daphne asked. "I'm guessing that we're the first Slytherins to be invited to join by the looks of this group."

Al nodded. "You are. Let's just say until we got to know you, Karl, Callie, Sarah, and Millie, we've had some trust issues with our Slytherin brothers and sisters, and we can't do our work in TNM without having complete trust in each other."

"How do you know you can trust all of us?" she persisted.

"The short answer is because I just know. It's kind of a gift I have. If any of you don't want to join, just say so now, and you're free to leave."

Daphne looked around at the others. "I can't believe anyone wouldn't want to be part of TNM," she told Al. "I'm in too."

Al watched as he got answers from all of the other candidates – Karl, Nadine, Lance, Joel, Sarah, Amy, Millie, Dale, and Carissa. Since Vanessa had already emphatically announced her intention to join, it was unanimous, just as Al knew it would be.

"Thank-you," he told them all. "Now, ever since we started, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, and I have been the coordinators of the group. That meant that all information went through us, and we sent that along to whoever else needed it."

"What kind of information?" Nadine asked.

"At the first of the year, we all watch for students that need our help. Since we have a lot of new members, Rose will hand out a list of kids we helped last year so we're not repeating ourselves. It's usually new first year students that we find each year now, but watch out for any kids you know that are acting a lot different this year, or seem to be having problems they didn't have before. Look for really bad clothes or shoes, kids with old, tattered books or who need to borrow supplies or equipment a lot. Watch out for the quiet ones that haven't made any friends. We didn't have any bullying reported all last year, and none this year, but thanks to our Slytherin friends, we've learned that there are some in-house problems there." He smiled at Daphne and Karl.

"You're going to like joining our enforcers," he told them. "With your help, and Millie's, once we find out where the problems are there, we can work together to put an end to the bullying in your House too."

Karl and Daphne both grinned.

"Why can't I be an enforcer?" Millie asked, and Al laughed.

"Good point, Millie. There's no reason why not if you want to be. Colin started helping James out in his first year."

Millie beamed at him and nodded vigorously. "I definitely want to be. I'm really tired of seeing me and my friends getting picked on in our House just because we're little, or don't belong to the rich kid's club."

"Then we've got an even better reason to stop it from happening," Al told her. "Keeping it from happening to someone we love."

Amy hugged Millie when her eyes filled with tears, and Sarah put a comforting hand on her shoulder too.

"Like I was saying," Al said, trying to get back on track, "those of us in seventh year need to step back and help the rest of you get ready to take over running our group. For the coordinators, we'd like Emily to take over, and the rest of you to put together three volunteers to help her. Since she's in fifth year, it'd be best to have some of you from other years so that we don't end up with another graduation crunch in the future."

He waited while they talked that out, and Sarah, Vanessa, and Carissa became the other three coordinators.

"Don't get overwhelmed about it," Rose told them. "I'll work with you until you're all confident with handling everything."

"Next up," Al said, "We have the mentor leader. Allie's going to help whoever takes this job, and you'll be working with somewhere around fifty or sixty mentors and students, depending on how much help is needed this year. It does fluctuate over the year too. Two of you can probably keep up with everything."

Kieran and Amy volunteered for that, and then Al moved on to purchasing.

"Lily and Frederica have been our shoppers," he told the others. "All requests for anything the students we help need goes to them, they order nearly everything through the VirtualMall, and have it delivered by Owl Post directly to the student. Frederica will keep doing this, but she needs a shopping assistant."

Al laughed as Frederica got a bunch of raised hands. She looked around and smiled.

"We'll need to bring in a younger helper in the future," she said looking at Millie, "but you and I can handle this for a few years together. I think having a Gryffindor and Slytherin working together on this part of TNM would be brilliant."

Millie smiled brightly and nodded. "Not to mention really fun!"

"The rest of us help out wherever needed, and since we have so many new additions, you can all start thinking about things we can do to entertain our fellow students. The year-end pool party is an annual event now, but we're always looking for something new for the other holidays."

"You should make that Haunted Hogwarts ride annual too," Karl told him. "That was brilliant."

"We'll be looking at Hallowe'en starting at the first of October, and we'll see," Al answered. "Some of the tricks are really advanced magic, and I'm not sure TNM will have the magical muscle to pull some of them off every year. We lost a pretty strong group with last year's graduates, not to mention a fairly brilliant inventor."

Karl nodded. "That makes sense. Anything else?"

"Nothing else to go over for setting up our group for this year," Al said. "Now we'll sit down and go over what those of us that are returning members have come up with so far for helping students. If any of you new members know of any kids that need our help, or are already getting bullied, jump in too. We work as a group to discuss every case, and decide how to best help each of them."

They all sat down and spent another hour going over the already pretty substantial list of kids, and what things they each needed. When they were finished they set up the next meetings.

"We should meet next Tuesday, since we should all have more kids that need help after a couple of days of classes," Al said. "Then we should meet once next weekend, too. Does anyone have anything else?"

Rose nodded. "Yes, Al. You forgot to get a replacement for you to lead the New Marauders."

Al grinned at her. "Sorry. I forgot about that, since we're actually replacing James. I'm not taking nominations, folks. I'd like Colin to take over. If he can put together something like that twenty-fifth anniversary service, he's the guy to lead our group. Will you take the job, Colin?"

The still smallest boy in their group looked surprised and thrilled to be asked to take James' place at the head of TNM.

"If you all think I can do it," he told them, "I'm willing to try my best."

Al looked around and saw everyone nodding agreement. "Congratulations, Colin. You are now the new leader of the New Marauders. If you need any help, let us know, and we'll be there for you."

Colin grinned and stood up. "Well, then I guess for my first act, all that's left to do is say – Meeting Adjourned!"

When they were finished with the meeting, Scorpius had Brianna, Nick, Allie, Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran back to his office, while Rose was going to be taking any emergencies for the rest of the evening.

"This is way better than conjuring a sofa in one of the classrooms," Nick said happily as he snuggled with Allie.

"The meeting went really well," Allie said. "Adding eleven new members in one year is going to be a bit of work for us though."

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, but not as much work as it would have been for the others if we'd left it until next year when there'd have been six less Marauders to do that."

Brianna nodded. "Definitely. We'll have enough troubles without our favourite study leader next year."

Lily smiled at her. "You'll do fine, and I'll still be just a WiComm call away, or could link up with you for any of the virtual study programs."

Brianna nodded. "That's true. I was thinking about the Yule Ball when we were talking about the TNM shopping. We girls should work on that for all of the Witches we help and help them get gowns and accessories so that they can really feel special for at least that one night."

"That's a wonderful idea," Carolyn complimented her friend. "We could do that with a little extra work. That will cost quite a bit, though."

Lily grinned at them. "What's the point of being rich and famous pop stars if we can't have a little fun with our fellow students? I'll cover the dresses, and anything else they need – except dates. I draw the line at renting Wizards."

"We'll take care of all of that," Kieran amended, hugging Lily. "There might be some young Wizards in need of a decent dress robe or suit too."

"I can't believe we haven't even had our first class yet, and the girls are already making plans for the Yule Ball," Nick said.

Allie smiled at him. "Think so? I've already had three girls tell me they've been asked to go to it."

Nick grinned when he saw the sparkle in her eyes. "Carolyn, Lily, and Brianna, right?"

Allie laughed. "That didn't work nearly as well as I'd hoped," she told him.

"Will you be my date at the Yule Ball, Alexandria?" he asked her.

"Yes, Nicolas, I'd love to go to the Yule Ball with you," she answered, kissing his cheek.

They sat around talking for over an hour before it was time for Allie and Kieran to get back to the Hufflepuff Common room. Nick walked Allie back, while Kieran and Lily went out into the hall for a private goodbye before she went back into Ravenclaw tower, and to her dorm room, while he went downstairs to Hufflepuff House.

Al and Carolyn went into the Common room, leaving Scorpius and Brianna alone in his office.

"They may like coming here in the evenings for visits," Brianna told Scorpius, "but having this place for you and me when we're on our own is going to be brilliant."

Scorpius smiled, and leaned close to kiss her softly.

"Yes, it is," he agreed. "I hope your reputation can handle getting called into the Head Boy's office so often."

Brianna laughed. "Jon seemed to survive last year. I'll be okay too."

Scorpius had started nibbling her neck, and she put her arms around his neck.

"Keep that up, and I'll be way better than okay," she said with a soft laugh.

Rose had taken care of a few minor problems during the evening, and was now changed and snuggled in her bed in time for her second nightly call with Matt. She opened her WiComm and called him. He answered on the first chime.

"Hi, Rose," he said with a big smile. "How are things at Hogwarts?"

"Pretty good," she answered. "Nick had a pretty good turnout for Quidditch, although to be honest, we're not going to have much of a chance this year."

"You've all done enough for five out of the last six years," Matt told her. "That should be enough, and I think what you're doing to help future teams is really great."

"It probably won't be until a couple of years from now that most of the other Ravenclaws see that," Rose answered.

"What about the TNM meeting?" Matt asked next.

Rose smiled. "Everyone accepted, and we delegated all of our jobs to the others. The seventh year Marauders are just there for support now."

"Who's the new leader, then? I thought it'd be Al, or maybe Hugo."

"Believe it or not, Al summarily picked Colin," Rose told him with a laugh. "I think it was something he saw, but he probably won't admit that to anyone."

"That's one talent he has that scares me a bit," Matt told her.

Rose laughed. "Not me. I can't think of anyone I'd rather have those talents than him, except for maybe Uncle Harry."

"You never wonder when he hugs you goodbye whether it's until he sees you tomorrow, or because he knows he's never going to see you again?" Matt asked.

"Of course not," she told him. "I think if he knew something was coming up, he'd just nudge me to change my plans so whatever it was didn't happen anymore."

"Okay, now I really wish I hadn't gone in that conversational road trip," Matt said with a laugh. "Anything else new?"

Rose shook her head. "Not really. Had to deal with a couple of homesick kids, and one Wheeze gone bad, but other than that, it's been pretty quiet."

"I wish you could have come to the game today," he told her. "For some reason, the Owner's box on opening day was different than when we went there two Christmas holidays ago."

"We'll get to do some of those games starting next year," she promised. "I'm really glad you had fun. Andy and his team did really awesome today. Patrick and Robert were sure hits if what I'm hearing from some of the girls around school is any indication. Hannah seems to have attracted a lot of Wizardly attention too."

"Uncle Harry had the QSPN broadcast playing while we watched the game. Tracey was getting updates on the viewers, and it was fifty percent higher than opening day last year. Since she and your uncle were so happy, I'm guessing that translates directly into a lot more money."

Rose nodded. "From what I know about that stuff, advertisers pay based on the number of viewers. If they're up that much, then the money is likely up fifty percent too."

"Are we going into the wrong business?" Matt asked with a grin.

"Not for us, we're not," she answered. "Besides, if we're successful with this, then we'll hire and open other offices all over the world. Uncle George started out with a thousand galleons, and look at his company now."

"Funny you should mention him. He and your Aunt Marietta booked four spots with me today for next September after the back to school rush is over. Same trip that Victoire, Teddy, Stewart, and Isabelle are booked for."

Rose smiled at him. "That's great. Why don't you ask Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope if they'd like the last two spots for that trip. They'd have a blast with George and Mariettat, and I imagine that the other two spots are for Lee and Cho."

Matt shook his head. "I asked already. It's the wrong time of year for Uncle Percy. The Ministry really gets rolling then. They're looking at the two-week trip we're doing for February 2025. It's the slowest time for Aunt Penelope then too."

"That'd be good too," Rose said. "What will you be working on next week?"

"I've got a dozen appointments that are already from word of mouth contacts. I'm even wondering if Aunt Fleur sent out a memo to the executive level of PBP Investments, since most of the calls are coming from them. Owen said he's thinking about buying up one whole trip and then he and Natalie would take their top store managers with them."

Rose smiled. "I never thought about that," she told him. "That's a brilliant idea. We should look into meeting with other companies about doing something like that. If it works for Owen, I bet Uncle George and Victoire would both go for the idea too."

"That's what I was thinking too," Matt agreed. "Anyway, other than those appointments, mostly I'll be doing more research and planning. If I have enough sales commitments by October, I'll start making our reservations then."

"You will," Rose told him. "I just know this is going to work for us. There are a lot of Witches and Wizards out there who are ready for more than the kind of accommodations that places like the Hog's Head has to offer."

They talked for a while longer, and then ended the call so they could both get some sleep. In just the last less than two days, Rose had earned a real appreciation for what James and Arianna had gone through for the previous two years. She sighed, and made herself more comfortable in her bed. They'd only been at school for a day and a few hours since arriving just before the feast. If what had been going on so far was any indication, they were in for an eventful ten months.


	101. All Along the Learning Curve

Chapter One Hundred and One – All Along the Learning Curve

James was in his office on Monday morning, getting ready to meet with all of the kids as soon as breakfast was finished. His five teachers were with him, and they were making sure everything was ready for the students that each teacher would have.

They would all be taking turns teaching different subjects, and James had picked these teachers for their range of subject knowledge, since that was going to be very important at the academy.

"Is there anything that any of you need that we haven't gotten already?" James asked them, and they all shook their heads.

"We're all set," Julie told him. She was the youngest of he five teachers, at twenty-three, but James hadn't looked at age when interviewing his staff. The proof of that was right here in this room, since while Julie was the youngest member of the group; Walter was the oldest at one hundred and eighteen. What they all had in common was talent, and a real compassion for coming and helping these kids.

"Then let's go tell the kids what's going to be happening," James said.

They all got up and left his office for the short walk to the dining hall. The kids looked like they'd all pretty much finished up, so James and his five teachers walked to the front of the hall and faced the kids.

"Good morning," James said brightly. "Today you're going to be starting your education at the academy. You have all been through testing, and we know what level you'll each need to start at." The students were looking around at each other speculatively.

"One thing I want to make clear to all of you is this: I do not want anyone here getting teased or picked on because of how much education they may have so far. That none of you were taught the way you should have been isn't your fault, and we're all going to learn to work together and help each other, and you are all going to be starting a crash course in education, whether at the very beginning, or at higher levels."

He had their attention, and he smiled at them encouragingly.

"We're going to have five groups of students," he told them. "The classes you start in today will be the classes you go to after breakfast every day from Monday to Friday. You will have different teachers for different subjects, and you'll get to know each other as we go along. Students that are over eleven will begin learning magic when they have learned enough to be able to handle the reading, writing, and other skills needed to begin magic training."

This created a buzz of excitement among the kids that were over eleven already. James looked at some of those older students. It just tore at his heart to see fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen year old kids who'd never even been taught to read, let alone have a wand and learn magic.

"We're going to put you into your classes now. As each teacher calls out your name, please come stand with them, and then they'll take you to your class, and start your lessons. Walter, if you would lead us off please?"

Walter called for his students, and then led them out of the dining hall, and Kent, Marianne, Julie, and Mitchell gathered their students together. When the Hall was empty, except for the cleaning staff, James left too, and went to Walter's classroom and went in. He was sitting on the corner of his desk, talking quietly with the kids. He had nine students, ranging from thirteen to sixteen. James walked up and leaned against the desk next to Walter.

"How far have you gotten?" he asked, and Walter smiled.

"We're just getting to the point where I tell them their first lesson is a field trip to Diagon Alley."

"Why are we going there?" sixteen-year old Chris asked.

Walter waved that James could answer.

"We can't start your real lessons until we go to Olivander's and get wands for each of you," he told Chris and the others. "You all proved that you can start with your magic education, and you'll all be starting with the equivalent of the first year Hogwarts classes. How fast you progress will be up to you. For now, all magic use must be supervised, including your practicing. No other use of magic is allowed and just like with all other underage Witches and Wizards, no magic is permitted to be used outside of this academy. Understood?"

He waited until he received nine excited nods from the teens. "Let's get going to Diagon Alley, then. We'll get you set up with wands, and hopefully be back here in time for a lesson or two before lunch."

It only took Olivander an hour to set up the nine kids with their wands, and they were back at school with lots of time to spare for Walter to hand out the first year textbooks for the Charms, Transfiguration, and History classes that he'd be teaching, and get the kids started on their first Charms lesson, since they all obviously wanted to try doing magic for the first time.

James left Walter to his lesson, and went to his office to get some work done. He hadn't even realized that he'd missed lunch until Julie knocked on his doorframe and smiled at him as she leaned against it.

"You have twenty students wishing to speak with you in the dining hall," she told him. "Can you call them, or what?"

James smiled too. "I just know that I'd be ticked when I found out," he told her.

Julie nodded and left for her classroom, and James walked down to the dining hall to meet with the twenty angry teens.

"Try not to jump me before we have a chance to talk this out," James told them as he walked past them and stood at the front of the hall for the second time of the day.

"Why are some of the other students starting to learn magic already, yet none of us get to?" Glenda asked him angrily. She was sixteen, and James knew that most of those sixteen years had been very bad.

"To be able to learn magic, and keep up with the studies that go with it, each student needs to have a very good basic education, Glenda," he told her gently. "You need to be able to read, write, and do math at the same level that any first year Hogwarts student is able to. Until you can do that, you're not ready to start learning magic."

"How long will that take?" she asked him bitterly. "I was never taught any of that."

"I don't know, Glenda. That will be up to each of you, and how hard you work at your studies. We'll give you as much help as you want, but it's still up to you."

"Why do we need to read and write to do magic?" she persisted. "You don't write out spells – you say them."

James smiled at her. "That's true," he agreed. "But then there's also a lot that goes in to learning those spells that does require reading and writing. Then there's learning how to to math so you can do things like making Potions." He looked around at all of them.

"Mostly, before you can use magic as an adult, you must at least pass your OWLs, and each of those exams have a very difficult written part to them."

"So it's hopeless for us older kids," Gabe said. He was another of the sixteen year olds. James saw several heads nodding.

"It's not hopeless," James told them. "That doesn't mean it isn't going to be hard. Each of you can be here at the academy until you're eighteen, unless when you're seventeen you choose to leave. We'll get you as far along as we can, and then the Phoenix Foundation will have other programs available to help you continue your education after that if you want to." The kids all watched him, weighing what he was telling them.

"You're not going to be in big classes, and we'll have lots of tutoring available," he continued. "Go to work, and give this whole thing a chance, and I promise you're going to see improvement all the time, and before you know it, you'll be starting with your first year Hogwarts level classes too."

James watched as one boy – Jason stood up.

"I don't know about the rest of you," he said softly, "but I'm really tired of feeling stupid for not knowing anything. If this is where I have to start, then I'm going to get at it." He smiled at James. "I'll be ready for that tutoring as soon as it's available."

James smiled back at him. "It'll be available starting after dinner tonight," he told the thirteen-year old. "One tutor for every five students."

"Good," Jason said. "I'll be ready."

He turned and walked out of the hall, going back to his classroom. The remaining teens looked at each other for a few moments, and then one by one, started to get up and leave for their classrooms. Gabe and Glenda were the last two in the hall, and James motioned for them to stay.

"You are going to have it the toughest," he told them honestly. "You're both very smart, and it's rotten that you haven't been allowed to use those smarts at school."

"Do you really think we can catch up?" Glenda asked James.

"I know you can," James said confidently. "If you want it bad enough, we'll help you get there."

"I want it a lot," she told him seriously, and Gabe nodded.

"Then you're already halfway there," he told her. James hugged her, and then watched the two teens leave for their classroom.

While he walked back to his office, James hoped that his confidence was well founded. They all had such a tough road ahead, there was no way to know for sure if all of the kids would be able to succeed.

Monday was the first day of classes for the students at Hogwarts too. There was lively and animated conversations going on all over the Great Hall during breakfast as the kids talked about what they'd be taking – or hoped to be taking, for those students not quite sure if they'd be allowed to continue with certain subjects.

Lily already knew for sure that she'd be taking twelve NEWT classes, the only thing she didn't know yet is which ones she'd be starting with, and which classes she'd need to work harder on so that she could complete the whole year in them, and join the classes that didn't fit into her schedule.

She was looking forward to not having daily Quidditch workouts, and all of the TNM purchasing responsibilities this year so that she could really concentrate on those twelve NEWT classes. Sometimes she thought that people forgot she was only fifteen, and probably the first student at Hogwarts to take all twelve subjects at the NEWT level, let alone doing it two years early.

The seventh year Marauders had time to talk while the schedules went out to the first through sixth year students, and then Professor Flitwick was handing out their schedules. Lily found out that she'd be taking Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination as her first three optionals, and would need to complete Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures by the Christmas Holidays so that she could start Arithmancy and Ancient Runes in January. The Professor had told her that the only exception would be that she and Professor Hagrid would work out training with any Magical Creatures that the other students would be learning about later in the year.

"We'll be in all the same classes in January at least," Al told her. "Looks like Tuesday or Wednesday will be my best days to help with Quidditch training," he told Nick. "Lily and I both have Astronomy on Thursday nights, and Mondays and Fridays are going to be busy days.

"Why don't you take the Tuesday practice, and then Lily can take the one on Wednesday," Nick suggested. "Can you two fit Monday or Thursday into your schedules?" he asked Rose and Scorpius.

"I've got History last class on Thursday," Scorpius said. "Monday would be better for me."

Rose nodded. "That's fine with me," she told the boys. "Nick and I both have that period open on Thursday, so I can help you with the team that day." With that decided, they all went off to their first class of their last school year.

Harry and Ginny were both volunteer tutors at the academy, and would eventually be helping out on Monday and Thursday evenings only, although they'd be helping out every day for the first couple of weeks as the kids began the long process of trying to fit as many as ten or eleven years of education into as few years as possible.

They hadn't planned on doing that, but just couldn't say no to James' request after hearing the stories of so many of the kids. Harry just decided he'd find a way to help there, at least at first, and still keep up his commitments at the residence too.

They weren't alone on Monday night either. All of the volunteers that James, and the foundation had recruited so far were at the academy to meet their students, and to help them get the one-on-one attention they needed to get started right.

Harry would start with tutoring the five oldest students that were starting from the very beginning with learning to read, write, and do mathematics. His tutoring was really a way to mask what he was really going to be doing – nudging the students along a little bit at a time to speed up their education in the same way he'd worked with James, Al, and Lily when they'd been young, and the occasional nudges he'd given kids at the residence too.

Most of the tutor recruits came from the best and brightest at the Marauders Institute, or from other PBP or Witch Investments companies. Isabelle, Stewart, Teddy, and Victoire were all going to take one evening a week, as were nearly every adult member of the Weasley family. They didn't quite have one tutor for each student for that first night, since some of the volunteers, like Harry and Ginny, were taking more than one shift a week, but there were three or four volunteers with every group of five students.

Ginny, Isabelle, Victoire, Natalie, and Lisa were going to be working with the six eight year old kids that had come to the academy, and would split up the seven tutoring sessions each week. This was the youngest group they had brought here, since the foundation was sure they'd be able to help the children who were younger than eight without needing the extra help that the kids here were going to need. They hoped that over the next three or four years that this youngest group could be helped to the point where they could be ready for Hogwarts by the time they were eleven or twelve.

The five classes that had been set up had been organized by each group's level of education. For tutoring, though, the groups were set up with putting students together with their peers in the hopes that the more advanced students would start helping the other kids their own age. The only exception to that had to be, by necessity, the students starting with the seven core magic subjects.

Some of the study groups worked in classrooms, but Harry's group were sitting at a table in the dining hall. He had Gabe and Glenda in his group, along with Elron, Krystal, and Tyler. They were all either fifteen or sixteen, and all of them had confidence issues when it came to education.

Harry had Tristan, Marcus, and Owen on his team of tutors for this group, and they were all there meeting the teens. The first tutoring session lasted for over two hours, and in that time, Harry was able to give all five of his students their first nudges. Since they'd each had lots of moments during tutoring where they'd be staring at parchment or book with blank incomprehension, the brief moments when Harry would be giving them those nudges weren't noticed by anyone else.

"You're doing great, Glenda," he told the girl as he walked past her as she was reading a few beginning sentences with Tristan's help.

She smiled up at him. "Thank-you. I don't know why this is all making more sense now. I didn't understand hardly anything we did in class today."

Tristan laughed. "You're probably like I was in school. The Professors would teach me, and then I'd go back to my Common room and get some of the other students to teach it to me again in teen English."

Glenda laughed too. "Then I'm really glad that you all haven't forgotten how to talk teen, or I'd still be lost."

When the tutoring was finished for the night, Harry and Ginny met with James and Arianna in his office.

"How'd it go?" James asked his parents.

"If I keep nudging them along," Harry said, "I can have them ready to start learning magic by January. Your teachers are going to notice, though."

"That can't be helped," James said. "They won't have much of a chance if we don't help them along."

"Our group of eight-year old kids are all bright enough," Ginny told him. "I don't see any reason why we can't have all of them ready for Hogwarts by the time they're eleven."

"That'd be great if they could be," James said. "I think everything went brilliantly for a first session. Every single kid looked happy and excited by the time we were done."

Arianna stood up. "Well, this has been fun, but you and I need to get home. It's way past my bedtime on a work night, and we've both got long days tomorrow." She hugged Harry and Ginny when they stood up too, and then left for home with James after he made one last round to check that all of the kids were okay.

At Hogwarts, all of the now twenty-five-member strong Marauders got right into their classes on Monday, and also watched and listened in classes, around the school, and in their Common rooms and dorms, looking for kids that needed help from TNM. Emily and the other new group coordinators got that information handed to them all day on Monday and Tuesday, and there was a lengthy list of students, and their needs to go over at their second meeting on Tuesday after dinner. They went through that list first, and had a large order for Frederica and Millie to get purchased and on the way to the kids. They had a short list of students who were in need of mentors, and then moved on to the most serious problem – the bullying that was going on in the dorms and Common room of Slytherin.

"Why won't some of these kids ever learn?" Hugo asked the others. "This is going to be a lot harder to deal with there in Slytherin House. It's not like we can just go walking in."

Al grinned at him. "We can't," he said, "but they can." He motioned toward Daphne, Karl, Sarah, and Milllie.

"We can," Karl agreed, "but how are we going to help without getting ganged up on ourselves? I can't even go into the girl's dorm to help Millie with those girls that are pushing the younger girls around in there."

"No, you can't," Al agreed. "Daphne, Sarah, and Millie will have to take care of that – with a little help from their friends."

"How will you be able to help us?" Daphne asked.

"First, we'll teach you and Karl about power transfer spells," Al told them. "You'll be learning the basics about that later this year anyway. We'll work out a plan to deal with the two groups you've got working the kids over in your House, and then we'll put them out of business."

"That still doesn't answer how we'll do that without getting caught," Karl told him.

Al grinned at him. "They'll never know you're there if you're borrowing my invisibility cloak while you're doing this."

The four Slytherin members of their group were all grinning now, and they spent another half hour working up plans for dealing with the three Witches and four Wizards who were the last, stubborn bullies at Hogwarts.

While the Marauders studied, and spent the rest of the week getting ready for the first TNM enforcers action in nearly two years, there was a lot going on in the outside world too. At the Phoenix Academy, there were fifty new students that were almost all just beginning an education that had been denied them until now, and as they had little successes each day, they started believing in themselves, and wanting to work even harder.

There was another big event going on that caught the attention of the Wizarding World, and that was the annual Australian cross-continent four-thousand kilometre long broom race.

Mark had trained on Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday, he took the TransPortal to Australia, where he spent the next two nights training for night time flying. He also had to attend the media events that were a part of the racing circuit, but as a completely unknown, unranked racer, he received almost no attention at all. On

Friday morning, he'd gone to sleep around ten, and slept until five. He had a race banquet to attend, and then it would strictly be preparation time until the race started. The start time where they were was actually ten o'clock, but the timekeeping was done in the Sydney time zone, which is why they referred to it as a midnight start time.

When he arrived at the banquet, he was completely surprised to find Harry and Owen there.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" he asked Harry, hugging him.

"I wanted to surprise you. All of the race sponsors are here. We want to be around when the GamePortal's star rider tears up the record books."

"Let's shoot for not falling on my face at the start, and go from there," Mark suggested.

"Did WMSN set everything up with you?" Harry asked.

Mark nodded. "Yes, they'll be hooking up the cameras on my broom a couple of hours before the race. The technician was pretty surprised that they were doing a hook-up for an unknown rookie. I think they're guessing it's for comic relief or something – after all it is a long broadcast."

Usually WMSN only put their camera packages on the brooms of the top twenty-five racers, and then on a select group from the pack. The network went along with putting cameras on Mark's broom for the simple expediency of placating Owen, since he was one of their network's biggest advertisers.

They sat together during dinner, and then while Owen rubbed elbows with the other sponsors, Harry helped Mark to get ready during the last two hours before the race. The whole time they were preparing, and while Mark's broom was being outfitted with a camera that could show him, one that would show the view behind his broom, and one that would show a wide view of where he was flying, they went over his race strategy and Harry worked to keep him calm.

"Why did you want all of this done?" Mark asked. "It's going to be a pain to put up with."

Harry smiled. "Because they won't be able to say anything about your race if the whole thing was recorded."

Mark grinned back at him. "Should make for a boring broadcast if there's nothing to see."

The call went out for the racers fifteen minutes before the start, and it was time for Mark to go.

"Good luck, Mark," Harry told him. They hugged, and then Mark immediately started drawing attention when he took off the racing robe he'd been wearing to hide his actual racing suit until the last minute.

The Wizarding Magical Sports Network cameras started to swing his was as he walked to the starting line with his broom. There was a camera and microphone there when the head referee was called over to talk with him, and anyone that was watching the start of the race got to listen in as the referee did confirm that there were no rules regarding the clothes a racer had to wear, and if Mark wanted to race in an outfit like that, when he froze half to death, someone from the medical team would hopefully get there in time to rescue him.

The top twenty-five racers from the previous season got to start the race in a wide line, while all of the other racers started in a pack that was positioned well behind the elite racers so that they didn't interfere with their start. Since Mark was unranked, he was in that pack, and would have to worry about the other racers getting in his way. He and Harry had worked on fast starts on Tuesday instead of doing a long run, and he was looking forward to seeing how well it worked tonight.

He was with the pack, which had over four hundred professional and amateur racers, and the race was about to start.

"Nice outfit, kid," one of the other racers told him with a laugh. "Why didn't you just go naked?"

Mark laughed too. "Because it's a family rated race, and if I'd done that, where would my sponsor put their advert?"

That had racers close enough to hear the two young men laughing, but then they heard the last minute call and countdown to the start of the race, and they all spread out as much as possible in the area they were allowed, and got ready to take off.

The starter's gun fired, and Mark hurled himself into the air exactly like Harry had taught him, and to his amazement, he shot out past the entire pack.

"Don't look back," he told himself. "Pour it on!"

They were away from the lights that had lit up the starting area, and into the dark in just seconds. Each racer had small lights that would keep them from running into each other in the dark, and Mark could see most of the twenty-five racers ahead of him in the distance as they all rapidly picked up speed.

He leaned forward over his broom, and settled in to the racing position he'd tested as being the most optimal for cutting wind resistance. He was checking the custom tracking system that Ginny had put together for him, and adjusted his course slightly according to what it told him. He'd only had that for a couple of weeks, but it had proved incredibly accurate, and he'd memorized all of the race points he needed to pass during the trip, and was certain the device would keep him from straying off course.

"Mark," he heard in the earpiece that the WMSN technician had given him, "that was a terrific take-off! How does it feel to be leading the pack as a first race rookie?"

Matt smiled, expecting that the camera facing him was active now.

"Not as great as getting past the twenty-five riders ahead of me would be," he told the race commentator.

"Our viewers want to know about your outfit. Aren't you worried about the freezing temperatures in the desert tonight? Why not wear the warm racing robes that racers have always worn?"

"This racing suit was designed for aerodynamics, and will keep me quite warm enough too," Mark told the commentator. "What we've done is taken a look at racing from a research perspective. We'll know by the end of the race how well all of that research worked."

"That sounds very interesting, Mark. Good luck, and we'll check in with you later in the race."

It wasn't that much later when the WMSN commentator wanted to talk with Mark again. They were only ten minutes into the race when he began passing the top twenty-five racers, who watched him in shock. Someone from the pack rarely caught the lead twenty-five racers, and when it did happen, it was a long way into the race, not near the beginning.

"Mark, you're back live on WMSN, and we're watching as you're overtaking the lead racers. What's happening up there? We're tracking you, and that's showing your speed at three hundred and sixty-two kilometres an hour – that's two hundred and twenty-five miles an hour!"

"That sounds about right," Mark agreed. "It's only been ten minutes, I'm still getting settled in."

"But that's five miles an hour faster than the Lightningbolt is capable of. Have you done modifications to the broom?"

Mark laughed. "I don't know the first thing about making brooms," he told the commentator. "I can tell you that the Lightningbolt is capable of going faster than advertised."

"How much faster?" the commentator asked, and Mark laughed again.

"We wouldn't want to spoil that for your viewers now, would we? Why don't you keep them posted as the race goes along?"

The WMSN commentators did that, and the news about the race carried like a fire into newsrooms all over the Wizarding World. With the ten hour time difference between Sydney and England, it had only been two in the afternoon on Friday back home, and it was still Friday morning in the Americas, so as Mark passed all twenty-five of the top broom racers in the world, WMSN began attracting huge numbers of viewers.

When classes were over at Hogwarts, the New Marauders started coming in and out of Scorpius' office to watch parts of Mark's race in between Quidditch and the other activities they had on the go. There were quite a few of them in the room when Mark passed four hundred kilometres an hour, or two hundred and fifty miles an hour, listening as incredulous commentators asked him question after question.

Ginny was hosting a party at the cottage after work and Callie was there watching as her husband was taking the racing world by storm.

"Do you think he's having fun yet?" Ginny asked her, and Callie laughed.

"He's been having fun since the day we met all of you last Christmas."

"How's your new job going?" Hermione asked. "Are you able to handle all of the politics?"

"So far, it's been really great," Callie told her. "This week I've mostly been working with Professor Slughorn's assistant, and learning the ropes. There's a lot more that goes on around the Wizengamot than I ever knew about. The whole thing is really fascinating."

"We've lost another one to the political machine," Hermione said, sighing dramatically.

"You rescued me eventually," Penelope told her. "All hope is not lost for Callie."

By dinnertime at Hogwarts, there were millions of viewers watching Mark's race. It wasn't that it was the most exciting thing to watch moment by moment, but everyone wanted to keep an eye on what would happen next. Could Mark keep it up for four thousand kilometres? Would he crash at such high speeds? How fast could he go?

For Mark's part, he just continued to concentrate on his flying, even while periodically answering questions from the WMSN commentators. He passed two hundred and sixty miles an hour, then two-seventy. When he reached two hundred and eighty miles an hour, or four hundred and fifty kilometres an hour, he held fast at that speed, and put all his effort into concentrating on keeping on the best track for the race.

Ginny had dinner for everyone that was over for the party, and then they all went to the sitting room, where they could talk quietly while keeping tabs on the race.

James was staying late at the Academy, and had quite a few of the kids in one of the lounges watching the race with him.

"So Mark is one of the abuse kids that the Phoenix Foundation helped?" Candice asked him. She was one of the nine teenagers that were in the 'magic' class.

"Yes," James told her. "He was in seventh year with me at Hogwarts. I'm really happy for him. Getting to be a professional broom racer was his dream, and now he's getting to do it."

Tyler laughed. "I'd say he's doing it brilliantly too."

"He's looking pretty good so far," James agreed.

"In that outfit, he's looking way better than pretty good," eleven-year old Erin said, giggling.

You couldn't actually see much of Mark's racing suit from the live shots on the broom, but the WMSN commentators kept replaying the early shots of Mark just as the race was about to start, and the girls were all very appreciative of them doing that.

James laughed. "You'll have to thank my mother next time you see her, then," he told Erin. "She designed that suit."

"Really?" Erin asked, but Candice laughed.

"That makes perfect sense," she told Erin. "No wonder all of us girls like it so much."

James let all of the kids that wanted to stay up late and watch the race. It started getting light in Australia around six-thirty, which was eight-thirty at night back home, so after that things were a little more interesting as they could all watch the landmarks on the ground flash past at four hundred and fifty kilometres an hour.

At nine o'clock local time, seven hours into the race, the commentators announced that Mark was more than twenty-nine hundred kilometres into the race, and was more than six hundred kilometres ahead of the nearest competitor.

"If he can keep it up," Lily said, "he'll be done in about two and a half hours." She was cuddling with Kieran in Scorpius' office, and by then, all of the New Marauders were watching the race there, and cheering their friend on.

"That'd be way more than two hours better than the record for this race," Joel said.

"How do you know that?" Sarah asked him.

"I looked it up a while ago," he told her. "I think what Mark's doing is really cool, even though I've never been into watching broom racing before."

"No wonder, if more than half of it's done in the dark," Sarah said. "How boring is that?"

Lily laughed. "They're not all like that," she assured Sarah. "Hopefully he's not planning on entering the one where they race through the Dragon reserve. Nothing cuts a racing career short faster than getting eaten by a dragon."

"That one isn't on the professional broom racing circuit," Joel told her. "I think they do fly over Romania on the London-Moscow-London race, though."

Back at the cottage, Ginny, Natalie, and Callie were getting ready to leave for the race finish area that was near Sydney. Kira and James were upstairs sleeping, and the other guests were going to stay to watch the end of the race. Tristan and Liselle had offered to stay with the kids until Ginny and Harry could get back from Sydney.

The race wasn't going to be over before students had to be back in their own Houses, so the Marauders split up, and only the Ravenclaw Marauders were still in Scorpius' office when Mark was closing in on the finish line. The WMSN cameras were showing a large crowd at the finish line. Word had gotten around, and there were a lot of Witches and Wizards who wanted to personally witness racing history.

Ginny, Callie, and Natalie met up with Owen and Harry with about fifteen minutes left before it looked like Mark was going to arrive at the finish line, and they talked quietly together as they waited.

There was finally a buzz from the crowd as some of the spectators, using binoculars, spotted Mark flying in. They all watched as he rapidly closed the distance to the finish line, and roared past, still at full speed before making a wide turn, and took a full lap around the huge field before finally slowing enough to come in for a landing to the cheers of everyone watching him.

Owen, Natalie, and Callie met him at the finish line, and he hugged Callie for a long minute, and kissed her while the cheering continued.

The WMSN crew were there recording every moment, and at the cottage, the academy, and at Hogwarts, there were lots of cheers, and quite a few tears, and they were all very happy for their friends.

The only problem that the race organizers had was that the podium ceremony was done with the top three finishers, and the next closest rider was just under three hours away still, so they were going to need to wait until at least some of the other racers arrived. The spectators weren't interested in waiting for three hours, so after the interviews with Mark were over, most of them left to get on with the rest of their Saturday.

"Congratulations," Callie told Mark when they finally had some time alone together. Harry had a pair of suites for the rest of the weekend for Mark and Callie, and Owen and Natalie at the Observatory Hotel, and that's where they had gotten together for the couple of hours before Mark and Owen at least would need to go back to the field where the awards ceremony would be done when the other racers arrived.

"Thanks," he said, hugging her again. "That was way better than anything I could have hoped for."

"You had an amazing race," Harry told him. "Ginny and I have to get home, since we're babysitting this weekend, but you guys have fun, and we'll see you when you get back."

"Thanks, Harry," Mark said, hugging him. "Thanks for making my dreams come true."

"You did all the hard work, but you're welcome, Mark. This is just the beginning too. Now you know for sure that you're going to be great at racing. We'll start working on the next race on Tuesday, so don't be late."

"I'll be there," Mark promised.

Callie hugged Ginny and Harry, and then they left for the cottage, leaving the other couples to celebrate, while they went home to relieve Tristan and Liselle from watching Kira and James.

At the academy, James was carrying a sleeping Rowena to her room, since she hadn't quite lasted to the end of the race. Arianna had come over from the cottage, and she and Erin came along with him so that when he'd dropped her into bed, they could help get Rowena changed, and under the covers.

When the girls had that done, they met James in the Common room.

"Thanks, Erin," Arianna said, hugging the smiling girl. "You were a big help."

James hugged her too. "Off to bed now, Erin. We're all up way past our bedtimes."

"It was worth staying up to watch," she told him. "Goodnight, James. Will you be here tomorrow?"

He nodded. "We'll be over after lunch sometime, Erin. I think you have swimming lessons in the morning."

James and Arianna had a few more goodnights to take care of before going home, and by then, over at Hogwarts, everyone had left Scorpius' office except for Brianna. She and Scorpius were busy saying goodnight, and it would be a while before either of them realized that it had gotten very late, and that maybe they should both go and get some sleep, since Lily did not consider late-night snogging sessions as an excuse for missing a study session.

The New Marauders enforcers were going to be dealing with the in-house Slytherin bullies on Saturday. Daphne, Karl, and Millie had told them who the bullies were, and then they'd tracked them all week with the Marauders map, and so they knew that the boys especially liked going after the young stragglers that were still in the dorms just before meals in the Great Hall.

Karl was in the boy's dorm and waiting when the four boys cornered two first year boys in their room.

"Did you get your parents to send what we told you to get for us, or are we going to have to hurt you again?" one of the boys asked.

Karl had slipped quietly inside the door, and could see the fear on the two youngster's faces. They didn't make any move to get anything for the four bullies.

"Seems like they didn't," one of the other boys said. "Their parents must not love them very much."

The first boy sneered. "Too bad for this lot," he said, laughing.

'LEAVE THE BOYS ALONE!'

The four boys whirled around, and the two younger kids stared with wide-eyed astonishment.

"Who said that?" the boy that was obviously the leader of the pack demanded, drawing his wand, his three friends doing the same.

Karl had never felt the kind of strength that was now flowing through him before, and he smiled as he sent a quick succession of spells out that disarmed the four boys, and slammed them against the walls of the room, pinning them there. 'Thanks, Al,' he thought as he continued delivering TNM's message to the bullies.

'TNM HAS WARNED YOU THAT BULLYING IS NOT PERMITTED AT HOGWARTS. YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO THOSE WARNINGS!"

The four boys all looked scared now. They were all old enough to know about some of the things that TNM had done to bullies in the past. Karl waved his wand again under the cloak, and the four boys found themselves inhaling a mist that suddenly appeared around their heads. They couldn't see what was happening to them, but they could see their other three friends begin transfiguring into the pig-headed jerks that they already were on the inside.

'GET OUT OF HERE, AND NEVER TRY TO BULLY ANYONE IN OUR SCHOOL AGAIN!'

The four boys were released from where they'd been pinned, and left the room at a run, knocking each other around, and oinking and squealing as they ran.

The two young boys still looked astonished, but they were both smiling too.

"If you can hear me," the one boy said quietly. "Thank-you."

'You're welcome', they heard the disembodied voice answer.

They left the room, and then Karl collected the two cameras, slipped out of the room and went back to his own dorm, and quickly put the cloak and cameras in his bag to pass off to Daphne and Millie.

Their plan to mask him being late for lunch was simple – he just met up with Daphne, and they went to the Great Hall together so it just looked like they'd been off snogging somewhere together. By the time they'd gotten there, the TNM broadcast of the incident in the Slytherin dorms was being shown on the big screen WWVN. Joel and Lance had been taught how to do all of that stuff that used to be Andy's main job, and there were a lot of surprised kids watching the scene that had just happened.

The Great Hall erupted with laughter when the pig-head transformations happened, and the laughter continued as a camera followed the four fleeing boys right through to where they were now standing just outside of the small entrance to the Great Hall itself, where they seemed to be waiting for one of the Professors to go in or out of the Hall so they could get helped.

When Professor Slughorn saw that part of the broadcast, he quickly got up from his seat, and hurried out through that door. Before he got there, the live broadcast ended, and the familiar message that TNM would not permit bullying was splashed across the screen before the WWVN again went dark.

That was the talk of the school for the rest of the day on Saturday, replacing Mark's record-breaking broom race news, but after dinner, part two of the TNM plan was put in to action when Millie became the bait that the three bullying Slytherin girls foolishly decided to take despite what had happened to the boys at lunchtime.

"What do you want?" Millie asked her question in a feigned, fearful voice when she was cornered by the girls in one of the dormitory bathrooms.

"We want whatever we decide we want out of that backpack of yours," she was told by one of the girls. "Hand it over."

'LEAVE THE GIRL ALONE!'

The three Witches weren't even allowed time to draw their wands before they were put into body-binds. Now it was Daphne's turn to feel what it was like to be infused with the power transfer that Lily was sending her from a nearby classroom.

'YOU'VE IGNORED OUR WARNINGS AND DIDN'T EVEN STOP AFTER TODAY'S LESSON! NOW YOU CAN JOIN YOUR PIG-HEADED FELLOW BULLIES!'

Three shouts of protest trailed off into unintelligible oinks and squeals as the transfiguration took effect, and they were released to go squealing out through a Common room full of their fellow students who roared with laughter as the girls had to run the length of the room before leaving Slytherin House, and running for Professor Slughorn's office.

Millie was waiting for Daphne in her own dorm room, and Sarah had joined her. It was about ten minutes before the older girl stopped by.

"That was brilliant," Millie whispaered as she hugged Daphne, and then gave Sarah the chance to do the same. "Those girls were doing that all last year, and were right back at it this year. Too bad their change will wear off by Monday."

"It'll give them something to think about every minute until then," Daphne said in a quiet voice too. "That should put an end to the problem."

Millie nodded. "Probably. We'll still be here if it doesn't, though."

"Yes we will," Daphne agreed with a broad grin that both Sarah and Millie returned.

They didn't get a chance until Sunday morning to talk with the other Marauders about what had happened on Saturday evening, and when they got together for their study session, there were a lot of hugs as they celebrated a TNM victory.

"I should become an Auror when I grow up," Millie told the others. "That was way too great getting to help stop those bullies."

"Better than all the shopping we've been doing?" Frederica asked her.

"That's pretty awesome too," Millie said. "That job probably wouldn't pay so great, though. I can always volunteer to take kids shopping like those volunteers did for back to school with the kids at the residence."

They all spent the morning catching up on the study time they'd skipped on Friday and Saturday while watching the race, and dealing with the bullies. By lunchtime they'd caught up, and Lily let them take the afternoon off to go out and enjoy a sunny September afternoon.

During the second week of September, the students at Hogwarts, and the small group at the Phoenix Academy all began to settle in to the routines that were a part of life for students. For the New Marauders, there were classes all day, followed by Quidditch for those who had it, and then they studied together every evening.

At the academy, the students had classes during the day, tutoring in the evenings, and only a little playtime each day. That could be going swimming, or watching WWVN, or playing GameWizard, or any of the other things they could do around the Academy. Some of the kids just put all of their effort into learning. If they didn't have classes or tutoring, they'd be off somewhere reading a book, or practicing their letters or numbers.

That Saturday, the Canons had their second game of the season on the road against the Falcons. Lily had the two groups studying until noon, and then after lunch in the Great Hall, they set up in Scorpius' office to watch the game.

Rose and Scorpius had both had a busy week. It had started out the previous weekend when they had to help deal with the parents of seven kids that had been the victims of those horrid vigilantes, TNM. That their sweet, innocent children had been seen to be threatening and bullying little kids made no difference to the parents, who wanted the identities of the students who'd done this to their precious darlings found by any means necessary.

From there, they'd had several late nights dealing with various problems like sick kids, or broken curfews – nothing major, just things that kept them running and losing sleep.

"James and Therese said it does get better after the first few weeks," Scorpius said as he laid his head against the back of the sofa that he and Brianna were sitting in as they watched the last fifteen minutes of Andy's pre-game show.

"It would have to," Rose answered. "How could anyone keep up with this much work for a whole year?"

Carolyn grinned at her. "You seem to have more work that Scorpius, though – especially among the eleven and twelve-year old Wizards of the school."

Rose laughed. "Not for the reason you're thinking, Carolyn. James' suggestion about keeping a wide assortment of sweets on hand for bribery purposes seems to have backfired on me, and now I get all these kids fabricating problems just to get free candy."

"I have a drawer full too." Scorpius pointed out. "You're getting that crowd more for those hugs than the sweets."

"Then how come you don't have a bunch of junior Witches all knocking on your door all day and night?" Rose asked.

"Because I have Brianna to protect me," he answered. "Try having Al and Carolyn, or Nick and Allie hang out in your office more. When you're not alone as often, they'll stop coming around so much."

"So I have to choose between a bunch of infatuated little boys and an office full of kissing cousins," Rose said with a laugh. "What a choice.

"You could make that kissing brother instead, if you'd rather," Hugo said. "Emily and I could run interference for you too."

"Like the two of you aren't over snuggled on a sofa in my office three or four nights a week now," Rose told him.

"They're very nice sofas," Emily told her as she cuddled with Hugo. "It'd be a shame for them to not get used a lot all year."

"That won't be a problem with our little group," Rose assured her. "I'm still considering posting a schedule for both of these offices."

They stopped to listen as Andy and his team made their game predictions for the day. There were four games today, and they were picking the Canons, Harpies, Bats, and Wanderers to win their respective games. The Canons and Falcons were brought out into the stadium, and the game got started.

"Do you think your father will play any strategy games this season?" Nick asked Rose and Hugo.

Rose laughed. "I doubt he could stop himself," she answered. "I don't think he'll try any of the games like he did last year, though. Andy and his new team have taken away his advantage with the media, since he'd never play along with the kind of idiocy those other guys would buy into."

"Good," Emily said. "I didn't like them playing like that anyway. I think they should always be trying their best."

The Canons were doing that again today, and they played a tough, two-hour match against an improving Falcons team, and getting the win with another great catch by Liselle that both ended the game, and put them over the top on points for the victory.

With a fairly short game now over, the New Marauders sat around Scorpius' office going over TNM business until dinnertime.

"We've completed all of the usual beginning of the year purchases for ninety-three students this year," Frederica reported. "That's down a little from last year, but that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"We have a few less kids we're starting to mentor so far too," Emily said. "Once we get closer to Christmas, and the rush for assignments and tests hit, we'll see how many more we get."

"This isn't TNM," Brianna said, "but since we have a Hogsmeade weekend next Saturday, how many kids do we have to do supplies for this year?"

"Lance, Nadine, and Miranda, I think," Rose answered. "Everyone else is third year and above now, aren't they?"

"Colin and I can take care of anything they need," Vanessa told the others. "You all did enough for us last year."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked. "We don't mind helping out."

"We're sure," Colin said. "You have better things to do anyway," he told Rose with a grin. "Will you be getting an animagus too, so you can race to the gates every week like James did last year?"

Rose laughed. "I don't think so. With my luck, my animagus would end up being a turtle or something."

"A bookworm?" Hugo suggested.

"Right, and with that sense of humour you'd be a laughing hyena," she told him.

After dinner on Saturday, Rose and the others all got back to studying, and they got everything done so that Sunday could be a full day off. For her that could have been the worst thing that could happen, since it left her with lots of time to think about being separated from Matt. She'd at least be seeing him on Saturday in Hogsmeade, and they could have a few precious hours together.

While Rose knew that James had dealt with being apart from Arianna by throwing himself into his studies, and Quiddtich, and Prefect and then Head Boy duties, she wanted the chance to enjoy her last year at school – not just work all the way through it.

So on their day off, instead of hanging around her office moping, or studying and working herself to exhaustion, she spent the morning hanging out with friends and going for a long walk by the lake. After lunch, she gathered a few of the girls together, and they went out past the Quidditch pitch behind the protection of the bleachers, set up a portable pool and had a girls-only pool party for nearly two hours of water fun that had them all relaxed and ready for another week.

That time in the pool gave her another good idea, and after dinner, she had Lily come back to her rooms.

"What's up?" Lily asked when they were alone.

"Some friends and I had a pool party this afternoon, and it gave me a really good idea that I need help with."

"You had a pool party and didn't invite me?" Lily asked.

"It was girls only, and you seemed to be happily occupied with someone who wouldn't have been invited. Someone else will have to do the couples pool party," Rose answered.

"So what's the good idea?" Lily asked.

"I'm wondering why I'm settling for that bathtub in there when with a little alteration, I could have a nice, big Jacuzzi kind of set-up like in all those fancy Muggle hotel suites. Didn't Al put one in every one of those bedrooms at his house?"

Lily smiled at her brightly. "Yes he did, and there's no reason at all that I can see. Why don't we go take care of that?"

The two girls walked into Rose's bathroom, and decided not only to change the tub, but spruce up the whole room so that when they were done, they had a gleaming, beautiful bathroom that any luxury hotel would be proud of having.

"Thanks, Lily," Rose said happily. "This is going to be so much nicer."

"You're welcome," Lily told her. "Just don't let too many people know, or the girls will want all of the dorm baths like this instead of having the showers."

"Maybe James should invent portable Jacuzzis to go with the portable pools," Rose suggested.

"That's a rather brilliant idea," Lily told her. "I'll send him a qm suggesting that later."

James wasn't thinking about new inventions on Sunday evening. He was focused on Arianna, and they were enjoying their first real evening off since the academy had opened. He'd made them dinner, and then they'd snuggled on the sofa for a couple of hours before going to bed early and trying to catch up on some sleep.

That had been the plan, anyway. One goodnight kiss had led to another, and the next thing they knew, it was a couple of hours later, and Arianna was snuggled close to James, her arm around his waist, and her head resting on his chest.

"So much for resting up," she told him, a soft, contented smile on her face.

"I feel very rested and relaxed," James said softly, hugging her closer to him.

"We'll see if you still feel that way after running around with fifty kids all day tomorrow," Arianna told him, and listened to the soft rumble of a laugh in his chest.

"Compared to a Canons workout, the academy is an every day vacation."

"Your every day should get back down to five or six days soon or you'll burn yourself out in a couple of years," she said seriously.

"I will be cutting back by the end of September," he promised. "By the first week of October, I'll be home in time to cook you dinners after work again instead of you coming to the academy to have dinner with me there."

"Good. The kids are really great, but I don't want to be having dinner with them every day."

They talked quietly for a while longer before both of them slowly sank into the soft embrace of sleep. The students of Hogwarts were mostly off to sleep by then too, another busy week of classes, homework, and Quidditch ahead of them.

That week at Hogwarts went by quickly for the New Marauders, as they all kept busy every day. Reports from the Quidditch members were that three out of four Houses were happy with how their workouts were going, while Nick, and his part-time trainers weren't unhappy, they just needed to lower their expectations as they worked with players who'd never worked as hard at the sport as they were now being shown was the way that the best players trained. The best that Nick and the others were hoping for was that their team wouldn't get completely blown out while they learned the conditioning and skills that would hopefully make them competitive in future years.

When Saturday morning finally arrived, Rose left the school with Al, Carolyn, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna. They were all going to meet Matt at the house before going out to shop for supplies, and then planned on having lunch back at the house, and spending the afternoon there.

"You seem to be in quite a bit more control than James was on Hogsmeade weekends," Nick told Rose.

"I'm just as excited," she answered, "James and Arianna are just more like Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, and Matt and I are more like our parents, or yours – or you two, for that matter."

Nick laughed. "Why do I get the feeling that should be a scary thought?"

They made it to Hogsmeade quickly, and Matt had the door open and was inviting them in before they even knocked. He ignored the others, and wrapped Rose into a warm hug, then kissed her for a long minute before he said anything else to the rest of his friends.

"Ready to go?" he asked them, watching as they all grinned at him.

"The question seems to be – are you?" Nick joked. "We can go on ahead and leave you two alone for a while."

Matt laughed. "That should hold us over until later," he told Nick. "We can get the running around done, and then come back here until you all have to go back again."

They spent the next two hours getting supplies, and picking out a lunch that Al was going to cook for everyone, then went back to the house, where everyone except Al and Carolyn went to relax in the sitting room, while they started cooking.

"How's the executive tour business going so far?" Allie asked Matt.

"We want to do twenty tours that will take a total of thirty weeks, since half of them will be two-week trips," Matt told her. "There will be an average of only ten guests per trip, so we'll have two hundred spots for the first year. As of yesterday, we have fifty-two confirmed bookings, with four trips sold out. I'm hoping to have all two hundred spots sold by Christmas, since I think they'll make really brilliant Christmas presents."

"They will be," Allie agreed. "You're doing awesome to have gotten that far already. That's quite a bit better than you expected, isn't it?"

Matt nodded. "We were hoping to sell out by next May or June – basically be a year ahead of all trips."

"That works for me," Rose said happily. "By the time I'm done school, you'll have the business to where I'll get to hop in at the fun part – the being the tour guides part."

"How's everything going at Hogwarts?" Matt asked them. "How's the new team doing?"

Nick laughed. "If Joe and I can take out seven out of seven of the other team's players, we'll have a chance. If not, we're in for a long year. Everything else is pretty great."

"I'm glad Rose isn't playing – that's three more days I'll get to spend time with her instead of just sitting in the stands watching her."

"I've been thinking the same thing about getting to sit with Scorpius during those games," Brianna said. "How are you liking living in the big town of Hogsmeade?"

"Being out on my own is taking some getting used to," he told Brianna. "My Mum, and Rose's are each having me over once a week for dinner, since they seem to be worried I'll starve from my lack of cooking skills. It's been a bit boring except for the work, but I'm going to help James out with a couple of academy trips over the next few weeks, and we're going to do a Haunted Academy Hallowe'en night that I'm helping him put together."

Carolyn came in and left a tray of appetizers for them to munch on while they waited for lunch.

"It sounds like the academy is really getting off to a good start," she said, and Matt nodded.

"The kids I've met so far are really great. All that they've been through, and now most of them are trying to start their educations from scratch. I don't know if I'd be able to do that."

"Me either," Rose said. "I can't even imagine how they've gotten through everything that's happened to them."

They moved on to talk business, Quidditch, politics, and family before Al and Carolyn called them in for a lunch that was way better than anything they would have gotten at the Three Broomsticks or the Hogs Head.

After lunch, Rose and Matt went upstairs to hang out in his room until they'd have to go back to school, and the other three couples settled in to the sitting room, turned on the WWVN, and spent the time watching a Quidditch match, talking quietly together, and snuggling with their respective boyfriend, girlfriend, or fiancée.

They were some of the last students to get back to the school, and they met up with the other Marauders who'd already returned and started studying again.

"How's the house working out?" Frederica asked Rose with a grin.

"Brilliantly," Rose told her. "It's almost like getting to go home for a day."

Joel laughed. "Less than a year ago, half of us would have thought that was a bad thing."

Rose smiled at him. "That's true, but that was a whole different life for all of you. We'll have you and Sarah over some of the weekends, and you'll love it there."

"Especially if Al and Carolyn are cooking," Brianna added.

The rest of the weekend was spent mostly doing homework, and the last week of September was just more of the same routine that they'd been settling in to ever since those first few exciting days of the year.

Saturday was the last day of September, and the Canons were playing at home against the Caerphilly Catapults. The New Marauders were going to again be in Scorpius' office for the game, but James was in the Owner's box with his parents and the other guests.

"I could get used to watching the games like this," James said as he sat next to Tracey on one of the sofas, sipping a glass of wine.

Tracey laughed. "The downside is when we're at the road games – especially in the winter months, and we're used to having this kind of comfort."

James laughed. "Those are the days I plan on watching the game with my kids at the academy."

Ginny laughed. "Maybe I'll start volunteering to help you on those days too."

"Keep it up," Harry joked, "and I'll start buying enough tickets for those games so that you have to take the kids to them just so Tracey and I aren't at there alone."

"You'll at least have me with you," Trinity told Harry and Tracey with a smile. "Even if all of these fair-weather fans bail on us."

"You're still in the engaged state," Tracey teased. "We'll see if you still come to all of those winter games after you're married. How are the plans for that going?"

"Pretty good. A lot of the work for it is travelling between his home, here, and Liselle's hometown. We did decide to have the ceremony at the Camelot in New York, though. That made the most sense when more than half the guests were coming from Canada and America."

"I hope the boys can eventually find something that they can do without the other cousin," Tracey said with a laugh. "They grew up together, went to school together, played Quidditch together, joined the Canons together, got girlfriends together, and now they're getting married together. If I was you and Liselle, I'd be drawing the line right there before they want to book a honeymoon suite together."

Trinity laughed. "That line was made clear quite some time ago. Tristan may still call the house he and Sebastian have his home, but he hasn't stayed there overnight in a long time."

"How would you know that?" Tracey asked, pretending to be shocked.

"Like I need to spell it out for you, since you and Aaron have stopped by in the mornings lots of times."

James smiled as he watched his friends talking, laughing, and having fun together. Finally getting to be part of this grown up world was already really great, and every day just seemed to get better.

The teams were called out onto the field, and his attention was focused on Arianna as she flew around the stadium with the Canons. With her hair flying, her eyes alive with excitement, and her smile bright, James absolutely loved watching her whenever she played Quidditch.

Arianna must have loved having James there because she was on a tear from the moment the quaffle was thrown into the air. She scored five goals in the first half hour, and seemed to be involved in every offensive and defensive play.

"We should have gotten you out of Hogwarts every game day if we'd known she'd play like this every time," Tracey told James.

"She does seem to be motivated again today," Ginny agreed. "James might be part of it, but then if she saw the interview that Hannah did with the Catapults' Keeper earlier in the week that probably gave her a reason to be ready to play too."

James laughed. "She saw it alright. Yes, she was ready to show the jerk that if he's going to predict a shutout, he better be sure to back up all the big talk."

"Maybe he meant to say he'd have a shutout for the first two minutes," Trinity suggested.

"More likely just a rookie mistake," Harry said. "Too bad he's not a rookie."

They watched as Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly put up thirty-two goals in just under two and a half hours before Liselle caught the snitch and put the win away for the Canons.

James and Arianna went out for dinner and a night of dancing with the other Canons' kids, while at Hogwarts, the New Marauders had another after-dinner study evening to wrap up the last day of the month. With October about to begin, there was a lot more than Hallowe'en to look forward to, including a couple of Hogsmeade weekends, Mark's second race of his fledgling rookie career, and of course, the Canons would continue their drive toward a three-peat League Championship with a pair of tough matches against the Harpies and Tornados. It was a very good thing that the adults outside of Hogwarts and the Academy had jobs to work at, and the kids all had classes, Quidditch practice, homework, and their other responsibilities or it would just be non-stop fun all month long.


	102. Haunted Hogwarts Two

Chapter One Hundred and Two – Haunted Hogwarts Two

Callie was officially working on her own starting the first week of October. That wasn't to say that she didn't have support if needed, it just meant that Harry believed she was ready to handle all of her responsibilities without checking on everything she did through Professor Slughorn's Wizengamot assistant anymore.

She would be doing everything for both the Potter and Black Wizengamot seats, although that didn't actually mean twice the work, since only a small part of her work might be for one or the other position, while the majority of the paperwork went out to all members of the Wizengamot.

There was a lot of paperwork too. It seemed that nothing in the Ministry of Magic was done without having three or more copies of parchment being created to document it.

When she'd started four weeks ago, there'd been some surprised Witches and Wizards in the department where she now had her little cubicle. Harry had been using the office pool since becoming a two-seat member of the court twenty-five years ago, and there had been rampant speculation about why he'd chosen an attractive, young Witch to be his first assistant.

Callie had thought all of that speculation was stupid. Anyone who knew Harry and Ginny couldn't possibly think that he'd be hiring her for anything like some of the darker rumours suggested.

There was an office politics minefield she'd had to quickly learn how to navigate through, and more than a few Witches and Wizards who were not happy that someone had come right out of Hogwarts, and jumped right into one of the best administrative jobs at the Ministry, working for probably the most influential member of the Wizengamot – even if he did work behind the scenes most of the time.

She did make friends too, though. Some of them she kept at a distance, since it was pretty obvious they were trying to play politics with her friendship, and then there were the few Witches that were mostly working for other members of the Wizengamot that were close to Harry that she could hang out with at breaks and lunch, or go out with after work that she could truly start developing close friendships with.

Callie had come into work early on Monday, since not only was she starting her first day on her own, but the Wizengamot was also in session for the morning, and Harry would be in to attend the meeting.

This wasn't going to be her first time attending one of the court sessions, but this was the first time she'd been completely responsible for reviewing the proposals that were being taken up by the court. One of those proposals had arrived on her desk late on Friday – a proposal that was several hundred pages long. She'd forwarded a copy to Harry, and then taken it home with her to study all weekend. When Harry arrived, and she met him in his office, she was ready with her analysis.

"That proposal we were sent on Friday is a waste of parchment," Callie began before even sitting down across the desk from Harry.

He smiled at her. "Good morning, Callie. How was your weekend?"

She laughed and returned his smile. "Busy. I'm sure the sponsors of this stupid proposal were counting on you and the other members not reading that monstrosity over the weekend since you had that home game and everything." She handed Harry a few sheets of parchment, and watched as he read them over.

"The majority of the proposal has to do with farming subsidies, which looks like a great idea on the surface, except for the fact that they're subsidies on farms that do more than a million galleons a year in business," Callie told him.

"That's bad enough, but then tucked into that seemingly benevolent proposal is an exemption on the minimum wage law for all farm and household workers for those very same farmers."

"That's awfully generous of them to do that," Harry said. "I take it there's something else you've found, by the way you're smiling."

"Just a record search that shows that all twenty-one sponsor members of the bill have full or part investment in at least one of those million galleon a year farming operations, so they'd no longer have to abide by the minimum pay law for their own workers," she answered with an even bigger grin.

"Did you check how many other Wizengamot members would also be affected by this?" he asked, and Callie nodded.

"Seven others that normally vote with your block. Page three of the analysis you're holding has an estimate of the financial benefits for all twenty-eight members," she told him.

"Recommendations?"

"Last page," Callie answered. "I'd put the whole analysis in the public record, and see whether those seven still have the guts to vote for it when the media finds out that they're voting themselves an exception to the law they voted for in the first place, and a big government subsidy on top of that."

"You've done a great job on this," Harry told her when he'd finished reading the last page. "Can you get copies of this to all of the members before the meeting?"

"They're ready, and I was just waiting for your approval," she said, standing up. "I'll go hand them around to the assistants right now."

"Thanks, Callie. Remind me to congratulate you later on your first political win."

"I'll do that – if we win," she promised before leaving.

Harry was still smiling when she was gone. He'd reviewed the proposal too, and was finally sure that Callie was perfect for this job, and for what his plans were for the future. He was also smiling because he knew she was right – those seven members that the proposal sponsor members were counting on to put them over the top in this vote were not going to vote yes with this analysis on the public record for rebuttal.

There was one other little piece of information he had that Callie didn't – this whole proposal had been carefully orchestrated by Lucius Malfoy and his buddies, who'd just finished investing millions of galleons into farming ventures specifically to get the tax breaks and to get their cheap, near-slave labour back again. They were in for another terrible disappointment today.

While Harry and Callie were busy countering yet another plot by the old-guard pureblood faction of the Wizengamot, Mark was out flying around, starting his final week of training before the South American broom race that covered nearly forty-two hundred kilometres, or twenty-six hundred miles from near Salvador, Brazil to Lima, Peru.

While the Australian race had been mostly desert and coastal flying, the race he had on Saturday was going to be across the vast Amazonian rain forests, and would cross over the Andes mountain range. There was a really good chance that weather was going to be a huge factor, so he'd been training by finding some of the worst weather he could track down, and training by flying through it. He'd raced across the Swiss Alps, and through central Africa. That part of his work was going perfectly.

The media attention he was now getting was something else. Mark had been thrust from complete obscurity to sports celebrity status in one day, and he was still getting used to being asked for autographs, and having to do interviews, or make appearances for GamePortal. The BroomCloset became a new sponsor within a week of his win, and they were working on a new line of products that would have his name on them.

Broom race fans, experts, and Mark himself were looking forward to finding out whether the Australian trans-continental race winner was a one-shot wonder, or the next great broom racer. They'd all have the answer to that question by the end of the week.

James was having a pretty good day at the academy too. He spent most of the morning with the 'non-magic' teens, having a little celebration. Every one of them had just completed their first two levels of the six levels they'd need to get through before starting their magic training. Now that they were seeing really tangible progress, the kids were all committed to the program too, and were coming together as friends, and getting close to their teachers and mentor volunteers too.

To celebrate, James and a few of the staff had taken the kids for a morning at the Marauders Mall atrium amusement park in Paris. They'd already done a couple of these trips in September with other students, but this was the first one for this group, and they all had a blast going on the coasters and other rides for a few hours.

They weren't having that kind of fun at Hogwarts, where the New Marauders were back to their classes after taking Sunday afternoon and evening off from studying. The Quidditch players of the group – especially for Gryffindor and Slytherin would be starting to pick up their training level with just five weeks left until the first game of the season, but for most of them, it was the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend that they were looking forward to on Saturday.

On Monday afternoon, Draco and Astoria were out for their daily after-lunch walk around the grounds of Malfoy mansion. When they were far enough away from the mansion itself, they were finally able to talk freely about the events of the morning, and about how Narcissa had managed to barely save Lucius from yet another disaster when he'd gotten the news about the defeat of the proposal he'd staked a small fortune on winning.

"Do you think your father and his cronies will ever stop underestimating Harry Potter?" Astoria asked Draco. "Did they really think that he wouldn't realize what that proposal was really all about?"

Droco laughed. "They probably won't ever stop underestimating him, and yes, they really thought the others wouldn't have time to get a decent argument against the proposal together. Word around the Ministry is that it was Harry's new assistant that put the rebuttal together – including that very impressive projection of the money it would make for each member of the Wizengamot. That was quite a brilliant tactic, since in one move, we lost the seven votes we'd needed to push the proposal into law."

"Did you find out what your father was about to do that your mother had to disarm him to keep him from doing?"

Draco shook his head. "No, but the Wizard who'd brought the message looked positively sick when he left, so I'm guessing that something very bad nearly happened to him. At least mother has pretty much stopped taking care of things like that for him. Even she seems to have hit her limit on how much pain she's willing to inflict on other people and creatures."

"That could be part of the reason why your father's rages are getting more intense – she's not carrying out his dirty work anymore. Those episodes of rage seem to be happening more and more often too," Astoria said. "You'd think after this long that Lucius would start getting used to his new limitations, but it seems that's not the case."

"No," Draco agreed. "If anything, it's definitely getting harder to keep him under control. It's no wonder he's mad today, though. This little fiasco has cost another few hundred thousand galleons if he cuts his losses now. More if he waits too long."

"What a surprise," Astoria said. "When was the last time he made a profitable deal?"

Draco laughed. "Not since he was still able to just steal and cheat to get what he wanted, and that was over twenty-five years ago."

"After today, maybe this would be a good time for us to get out of here for a week or two until he cools down."

"That's a pretty great idea," Draco told Astoria. "I'll find some reason for us to get away – maybe go tour our new farms or something."

Astoria laughed. "Going around visiting a bunch of farms doesn't sound like much fun, but compared to being around here for the next few days while your father rants and froths at the mouth, that will practically be paradise."

She smiled, and put her arms around Draco's neck. "I'm pretty sure we can find something to do together that will make the trip more interesting than just walking around counting herds or measuring crop yields."

It was Draco's turn to laugh, a throaty chuckle. "I love you Astoria," he said quietly as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I am very sure that together we can do almost anything."

Monday's Wizengamot session was news for about a day, although it didn't make the Hogwarts gossip network, since it wasn't as newsworthy as Quidditch, broom racing, or Hogsmeade weekends. Mark did his normal training with Harry on Tuesday, and then on Thursday he was off to Salvador, Brazil for the two days of race media and marketing work that preceded the actual event.

The race was going to be starting at six o'clock in the morning local time on Saturday, which was nine o'clock in the morning, home time. That was about the same time that the Hogwarts students were getting to Hogsmeade for their day in town, so most of the New Marauders stopped in at Matt's house to catch the start of the race.

"He'll be starting with the top twenty-five today," Joel told the others. "I read that it almost never happens, since someone from the pack almost never comes through to win a race."

The cameras were all over Mark too, as he joined the other twenty-five racers at the front for the start. There was a good turnout of Witches and Wizards to see the start of the race, even though it was still early in the morning in Brazil. With a two-hour time change between Salvador and Lima, the first racers would normally get to the finish line by around six o'clock in the evening, Lima time, which was eight in the evening Brazil time – around fourteen flying hours.

Once the Marauders saw Mark safely started into the race, and watched until he pulled past the other top racers to take the early lead, they went into Hogsmeade to do their supply shopping. Lily stopped in at SpaMagic and booked appointments for the next Hogsmeade weekend for the girls, then wandered around town with Kieran, Karl, and Daphne for the rest of the morning before having lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and going back to school to do a little studying and keep an eye on Mark's race on a portable WWVN.

Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie were the only Marauders that went back to the house to have lunch with Rose and Matt, and to watch more of the race before leaving the couple alone at the house and returning to Hogwarts to join the others for the study session.

The New Marauders, and a few others back home might be watching Mark's race, but he was living it. There had been a heavily overcast sky when the racers had taken off from outside of Salvador, but it wasn't long before they were into the rain and were dealing with strong winds as they flew westward across Brazil. None of the top racers had changed from wearing racing robes, although a few Wizards and Witches that had started in the pack had been wearing an imitation version of Mark's suit.

He'd gotten off to a clean start, and was among five racers who took the lead, and were accelerating at identical rates as they raced west. When they started hitting the wind and rain, the other racers started falling behind, not just because Mark was able to surpass two hundred and twenty miles an hour, but also because he was able to slice through the wind with much less resistance than the rest of the racers could.

By the time they were an hour into the race, he was cruising at four hundred and sixty kilometres per hour, and exactly on course, while his competition was running at more than one hundred kilometres per hour slower, and being blown all over the place, which would make their flying distance farther than the actual race distance as they had to continually correct from being off-course.

By lunchtime at home, three hours into the race, Mark was nearly thirteen hundred kilometres west of Salvador. While the Marauders were studying all afternoon, he continued to fly as hard as he could. The WMSN commentators talked to him regularly until he got into the technical part of the race, where crossing through the mountain passes of the Andes at the speed he was going required all of his attention.

The commentators didn't really mind, since they were as astonished as their viewers at how precisely he navigated those passes. The jagged mountain peaks seeming to be just feet away as he rushed past, maintaining the cruising speed he'd been holding steady at for hours above the rainforests that were the heart of South America.

When he finally came down out of the Andes for the final searing sweep toward Lima, the commentators were breathlessly anxious to talk with him.

"Mark, that was the most incredible display of mountain flying we've ever seen! Where did you learn to do that?"

Mark smiled into the camera. "I've been training along the Swiss Alps at least a couple of days a week since the race in Australia."

"You learned to do that in just one month?" the WMSN commentator said incredulously. "You hadn't done any mountain flying before that?"

"I hadn't even flown anything other than a school Cleansweep before last December," Mark answered with a laugh. "I've learned a fair bit since then."

"Seems so," the commentator agreed. "Well, good luck the rest of the way. We'll see you at the finish line."

That wasn't very far away, and he roared past the finish line in just nine hours and fifteen minutes after getting a little extra push from an off-shore wind flow that helped him get up to nearly four hundred and seventy kilometres an hour for the last little push to the end, and give him an average speed for the race of four hundred and fifty kilometres per hour.

Professor McGonagall had allowed the finish of the race to be shown on the big screen WWVN in the Great Hall as it was happening live just after dinner had started, and the students cheered as one of their own shattered another racing record by more than four and a half hours.

There was some whistles and laughter when Mark and Callie were shown kissing after he landed at the finish line, and then after watching a short interview, the WWVN was turned off, since it'd still be hours before the awards ceremony could commence.

Rose was sitting with the other Ravenclaw Marauders at dinner, but while most of them had returned to the school right after lunch for their study session, she and Matt had spent the day snuggled together, splitting their time between talking business, and doing a fair bit of really brilliant snogging.

"I can't tell if you're happy or not," Lily told Rose. "You've got the smile that says 'happy', but you're also pretty quiet tonight."

"Probably because I'm a bit of both," Rose told her quietly. 'It was a really great day today with Mark, but now we're starting another three weeks apart again. He's right there down the road from me, but it might as well be the other side of the world."

Lily nodded. "Well, after dinner, we'll get back to studying, and take your mind off of thinking about it. Stick with me, and that three weeks will go by so fast, you won't believe it."

With the Hogsmeade trip, and Mark's race over – at least for him – Rose, Lily, and the rest of the New Marauders did all go back to their studies after dinner. There were just over three weeks left until Hallowe'en, and so while they worked on their assignments, talk turned to what TNM was going to do for Hallowe'en night. The younger members of the group talked everyone into doing a repeat of last year's Haunted Hogwarts, with quite a few suggested changes to keep the ride interesting for the students who'd been here last year for the first event.

Scorpius and Brianna were cuddled on a sofa in his office later after they'd finished studying for the night. They usually had a little time like this every night where they had a chance to talk and sometimes they even spent a little time snogging, as difficult as that might be for the rest of their friends, or the other Hogwarts students, to believe.

"This was a pretty busy day," Brianna said quietly, "yet it feels like I didn't get much accomplished at all. There always seemed to be something distracting me from getting my homework done."

Scorpius was busy nibbling on her neck, and he laughed softly.

"I know what you mean," he told her in a soft voice that spoke volumes.

Brianna laughed too. "It's very difficult to have a conversation when you're doing that," she told him.

"Were we having a conversation?" Scorpius asked, continuing to press soft kisses to her neck.

"We do normally do the talking first, since we never seem to get around to that part of things if we start with the snogging first," she reminded him.

"That has been a problem sometimes," he agreed. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?"

He hadn't stopped nuzzling he neck as he'd asked the question, and before she could answer, he claimed her lips with his own. 'Oh well', Brianna thought before losing herself in that kiss. They could always talk tomorrow.

During the next few weeks, Scorpius, Brianna, and the other Marauders stayed busy with their classes, the seemingly never-ending assignments, and everything else they had on the go with Quidditch, Head or Prefect duties, and TNM work.

On the second weekend of October, they spent Saturday afternoon watching their Canons beat the Holyhead Harpies in a close match that Liselle won for them after a three and a half hour duel of Keepers and Chasers that had kept the score within reach for either team to win right until the end.

"That was a really great game," Hugo said happily, as Andy's post-game started.

"The Harpies are as good as Andy and his team predicted," Rose agreed. "Their Seeker and Liselle are really closely matched this year."

"The rest of their team wasn't too shabby either," Nick told them. "They must have been working hard in the off-season to get this much better."

"We'll see how they do as the season goes along," Hugo said. "If they can stay healthy, they'll be a contender come playoff time."

The game had taken most of the afternoon, so Lily allowed her troops to take the rest of the afternoon off. They would be having their normal study session after dinner, and for at least part of Sunday to make up for the study time they lost watching the game all afternoon, but when it came to Canons' Qudditch, no sacrifice was too small for the New Marauders.

There was absolutely nothing going on for the third weekend of the month – the first free weekend they'd had since starting back at Hogwarts. That gave them the chance to get all of their weekend assignments finished on Saturday without interruptions, and take the whole day off on Sunday.

The last full week of October was busy for all of them, as everyone pitched in to get the Haunted Hogwarts Adventure ready for Hallowe'en night. The last Saturday was a Hogsmeade weekend, and the girls, with the exception of Rose, happily went off to the SpaMagic morning that Lily had booked for everyone while in town for their last visit.

While the girls were being pampered at the spa, Rose met Matt at the house to begin their day together, and the boys all started picking up the supplies, sweets, and Hallowe'en Wheezes for themselves and the girls.

"How many Hallowe'en Wheezes packs do we need?" Al asked Scorpius. They were going around with Nick, taking care of the Wheezes and Honeydukes stops for the supplies.

"Eighteen," Scorpius told him. "There are also three orders for bat-bogey brittle, an order of foot-long nose nougat, and a box of pygmy puff food."

"Small order this time," Nick quipped. Usually there was more when they were doing all the orders like they were doing today.

"The Honeydukes order is larger, though," Scorpius told him. "Everyone must be running low on their supplies of sweets."

"Speaking of running low, do you guys realize that we have two Hogsmeade weekends left before the Yule Ball?" Al asked.

"So?" Nick said. "The Yule Ball is still nearly two months away."

"Do you vaguely remember hearing stories of the Yule Ball in ninety-eight?" Al asked him. "You can bet the girls are going to remember, and we better be planning on making this one special for our girls."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Why does this sound like more work?"

"Because it will be," Scorpius said with a grin. "It'll be worth it, though. What have you got in mind, Al?"

Al talked with them about what he thought they should do for the girls as they finished their supply shopping, and when it was time to meet the girls at SpaMagic, they had the beginnings of a plan together that they'd work on over the coming weeks once they'd gotten past everything they had going on for Hallowe'en.

The other guys were already there when they reached SpaMagic, and they had a few minutes to make sure they'd all finished their respective supply runs while they waited for the girls to join them.

They were as stunningly beautiful as always after the morning-long spa treatment, and the guys were happy to escort them to lunch at the Three Broomsticks, then hurried back to school to catch the Canons' road game against the Tornados.

Rose and Matt were watching the game at the house, after having picked up a few supplies that she needed, and having a quiet lunch for two. They were snuggled comfortably in the sitting room by the time the Canons and Tornados were introduced, and flew into the Tutshill stadium.

"Did you realize that including today, we get to see each other for five out of seven weekends?" Matt asked Rose, who nodded.

"I've been looking forward to it," Rose answered. "Three Hogsmeade weekends and two Quidditch games that we can spend the whole game snuggling during, and then only two weeks after that, and we'll be home for Christmas."

"Any chance you'll be able to spend the holidays here with me?" he asked.

Rose laughed. "A really good chance," she assured him. "We'll have to see if there's any travelling we'll be doing, and we might have an overnight here and there at your parent's house – or mine."

"If those are all as a 'we', then I'm good with that," Matt told her. "How are the Hallowe'en plans coming along? Ready to go?"

"I'm not in the loop for everything, but they seem to be coming along just fine. Colin and Hugo are doing most of the organizing, so I'm only helping out when they need the extra hands. They seem sure they'll be ready."

"I'm going to miss getting to do stuff like that at school."

"You're helping James with his Haunted Academy," Rose reminded him. "That should be fun too."

Matt nodded. "True, but not as much fun as scaring all of the students at Hogwarts was last year."

The game started, and they listened as Andy called the play-by-play. His team got to do the 'A' games, which so far meant that they had done all five of the Canons' games, along with four other games on the weekends the Canons hadn't been playing. Andy had predicted a Canons win, because the Tornados were using their reserve Keeper this week due to a practice injury that had happened on Friday, and that prediction proved accurate as Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly played pass and score until Liselle caught the snitch to put the overmatched rookie Keeper out of his misery and end the game in just over an hour.

That left Rose and Matt with lots of time for a little serious snogging before she had to hurry back to Hogwarts. The other Marauders were already studying again, so she joined them, and they spent the rest of their weekend doing homework, and finishing up the few remaining jobs so they'd be ready for their Haunted Hogwarts Adventure on Tuesday night.

James and the staff at the academy were having fun with their kids all day on Hallowe'en. They'd started out the day by giving each of the kids a box of Chocolate Hallowe'en Wheezes that they could, and did, have fun playing with all day.

The teachers had Hallowe'en themes to all of their classes, and they had themed meals and snacks all day too. It wasn't until just after dinner ended that the Haunted Academy was sprung on the kids.

They'd had to figure out what to do to even have a haunted adventure at an academy that didn't have a single ghost to haunt it's shiny new halls. What James and the other staff and volunteers came up with was a Haunted Academy of the Future in which doppelganger versions of the current Director, Teachers, Staff, and Volunteers haunted the place, and were happy to help out with the Haunted Academy adventure.

The lights went out in the dining hall when the adventure was about to start, and Andy had helped put together the introduction that they used on the big screen WWVN in the hall to start the event.

Students were then allowed to start out every so many minutes in groups of at least two, and no more than six on the walking tour through the academy. The first stop was to Walter's classroom, where his ghostly image caused more laughter than fear as he continued to exhort the wrinkled, old, ghostly images that were obviously supposed to be the current students, still working as his students hundreds of years from now.

Julie, the pretty, student-favourite teacher at the academy had met an early demise, and was therefore a young and beautiful ghost who repeatedly relived the tragic classroom accident that had caused her sudden death.

The other teachers had their own twists, as did members of the staff who haunted Common rooms, the kitchens, library, lounges, and game rooms.

James' display was the final stop on the tour, and he had the most tragic tale, having met his end while in his animagus form at the hands of an unsuspecting hunter. Now his magnificently antlered head was mounted on the wall of the Director's office where it was able to move around and join in on the conversations in the same way as the portraits of past Hogwarts' Headmasters and Headmistresses could.

If he'd been shooting for scary, he failed, since half of the kids came up to him to stroke his soft nose or touch his antlers, and a few of the kids giggled when he'd stick his tongue out at them or attempt to lick their faces.

The Haunted Academy Adventure took nearly two hours, and as each group finished their walking tour, they returned to the dining hall, where there was a Hallowe'en party and dance that would go until just after midnight.

At Hogwarts, when TNM hadn't done anything all day, the students were hopeful that there would be another big after-dinner adventure, so they were not disappointed when the lights in the Great Hall went out, and the second Haunted Hogwarts Adventure was announced on the WWVN.

The students rushed to line up for the ride, and it was quite a while before Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie got into a car with Rose and a first year Ravenclaw girl that hadn't paired up with anyone for the ride yet.

This year, instead of going up, they went down into the dungeon level, where their first stop was a deathday party that ended with them being chased out by Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore and the headless hunt who were supposedly looking for new members to join their ranks.

"That was way too real," Brianna said as they were hurtling down the hallway, leaving the howling hunt behind them.

The others had nodded, but didn't have time to respond as they were sent quite literally screaming up the stairs, all the way to the second floor, and a repeat trip through the Chamber of Secrets, since that had nearly universally been considered the scariest part of last year's adventure – especially being 'swallowed' by the basilisk.

Rose's little first year companion was trembling, and holding on to Rose for dear life by the time the escaped the darkness of the Chamber of secrets, and the passageway back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where they were met by water shooting from the toilets, and a screeching Myrtle having fun trying to scare them.

There was another wild ride that eventually took them to the base of the Astronomy tower, and up the spiral stairway before they were shot out onto the ramparts, and out over the edge, where they all screamed as they dropped straight toward the ground before at the last minute they swooped into a high-speed, curve along the edge of the tower before going back inside the school through an open window.

The last stop on the adventure ride was another visit to the room of requirements, with a whole new wild and terrifying ride that made a trip to your Gringotts vault seem like a walk in the park by comparison.

When their cart finally dropped them off in the entrance hall again, Rose's new little buddy was still shaking and clinging to her, but she was also grinning up at Rose.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever done," she told Rose. "Can we go again?"

Rose laughed and hugged her. "Sure, sweetie. I can probably manage one more ride with you, but after that, you'll have to find another victim to go with you. I'm getting older, and there's only so much scaring I can take in one night."

The other three couples all agreed to go one more round too, so they all got in line to wait for another turn – which nearly everyone seemed to be doing.

"Looks like TNM has another hit," Rose told the others. Since they had company, she had to be careful what she said.

"Looks like," Carolyn agreed. "This year seems to be even more popular than the one last year."

It took nearly another half hour before they started out on their second round, and even though they had now been through it once, there were still screams as the headless hunt chased them, and in the Chamber of Secrets, and maybe even louder screams when they went sailing over the parapet of the Astronomy tower, because they actually did know what was coming. The mind-numbing ride through the room of requirements section was an adrenalin rush that left them with still-wildly pounding hearts by the time they were again dropped off in the entrance hall.

"Okay," Rose told the others. "I'm done now. No more. TNM wins with a Head Girl knockout in round two."

The others laughed, but none of them went to get in line again either, instead choosing to all go back to Scorpius' office – except Rose, who went to her office to get some work done, and the first year girl, who went back to her dorm room, where she and her little friends could relive their respective adventures until bedtime.

"So what do we do now that our Hallowe'en fun is over for another year?" Brianna asked.

"Same thing we do every year after Hallowe'en," Scorpius told her. "We spend most of November talking and playing Quidditch, and then we work our butts off until the Christmas holidays keeping up with all of those assignments and tests the Professors are going to throw at us for the next nearly eight weeks."

"I had to ask," she told Carolyn and Allie, rolling her eyes. "That you didn't even mention any snogging time is very disappointing," she told Scorpius, who grinned at her.

"I didn't think that had to be mentioned, since there's no chance that any of us would forget to make time for that."

"I'm surprised we haven't seen any of the other couples stopping by yet," Allie told them. "Maybe they all decided to go for a third trip."

"More likely they went to get a little privacy of their own instead," Nick suggested.

They talked together until it was time for Nick to walk Allie back to her Common room. Al and Carolyn took that opportunity to leave for their own Common room, and give Scorpius and Brianna a little privacy.

While the Head Boy was spending some quality time with his girlfriend, Rose had finished having a long soak in the Jacuzzi bath that had become one of her favourite escapes from studies and Head Girl duties. She was changed and had settled into her soft, warm bed when Matt called for their bedtime talk.

"Hi, Matt," she said into her WiComm, smiling at her fiancée. "How'd your Haunted Academy night go?"

Matt smiled back at her. "Pretty great, although the kids laughed more than they screamed. That's not that much of a surprise, since James insisted on keeping things pretty mild on the scare factor. I'm pretty sure his use of his Animagus form tonight was a first in the history of the Wizarding World, and all of the staff and teachers had really creative displays too."

"That's probably a good idea to not scare the kids too much," Rose said approvingly. "Considering the fact that everything that those kids have been through is probably scarier than anything you could come up with anyway, I'm glad you guys didn't want to push the scare factor."

"That's what he thought too," Matt agreed. "Anyway, it was a blast, and they finished the night off with a dance that was pretty great too. I should tell you I was dancing with all sorts of pretty girls tonight, so you're not shocked if you hear about it from anyone in your family tomorrow."

"Really?" Rose said, smiling. "Should I be worried?"

"Well, you could have at least pretended to be a little jealous," he answered. "You don't have to be worried, though. My oldest dance partner was ten or eleven, since the older students were pairing up without too many nudges from us. How'd your adventure go?"

"I had an odd-girl out first-year Ravenclaw partner for the ride, and we went on two trips. It seemed to be even more popular than last year, so Colin and Hugo definitely put together a night that was another big hit for TNM. I don't know if it was because I didn't know everything that was going to happen, but it was a lot scarier for me this year too."

"I'm glad you all had fun with it," Matt told her. "It's already well past midnight, so I'm going to need to go get some sleep. I have another couple of appointments in the morning, and with luck, I'll have another tour filled before lunchtime."

Rose nodded. "Okay. It's been a long day here too, so I'm ready to get some sleep too."

They said their goodnights, ended the call, and then Rose snuggled deeper into her pillows and bed. She closed her eyes, and was quickly fast asleep. As All Hallows Eve came to an end, the first day of November began, marking the unofficial start of the Hogwarts Quidditch season.


	103. Winning Game Plans

Chapter One Hundred and Three – Winning Game Plans

Hugo had just three days left after Hallowe'en to get his team ready for the first game of the season, and he was working everyone on the team hard. They were going to be playing a team with only three returning players, and it was hard to get ready for a game with so many unknowns.

Daphne, Thomas, and the Slytherin team had a whole different problem – how to prepare to play a team that had mostly veteran players, even if most of them were still fairly young, who were all the best, or close to the best in the school at every position.

On Saturday, the stands were filling up before the game, and each student section was loud, and excited about watching the first game of the season. The Canons weren't playing, so Ron and Hermione were there to watch Hugo play, as were Dennis and Demelza for Colin, George and Marietta for Frederica, and Neville and Luna for Lance. Matt was there to hang out with Rose, while Harry and Ginny came mostly for a chance to spend a few hours with Al, Lily, and the rest of their teens - the same reason that Percy and Penelope came along too.

Harry, Ginny, Percy, and Penelope sat in the Ravenclaw section with their gang because Nick, Scorpius, and Al were helping to teach their new House players how to do a game analysis. Ron, Hermione, Matt, Rose, and the rest of the parents supporting the Gryffindor players sat in the Gryffindor section.

The first thing that the fans noticed as it got close to game time was that Andy wasn't there to do a pre-game warmup, and the new game announcer was apparently not planning on doing one at all.

"I'm going to miss Andy doing those pre-game pep talks," Brianna said. "He always made the games more fun to watch. Some of the kids at school who don't even like Quidditch came out just to hear him."

Scorpius grinned at her. "I'm here in compensation for that, for you personally. I can't help all the other disappointed fans, though. They'll have to find their own therapies for dealing with their loss."

Brianna smiled back at him. "This year. We'll see how many games you'll be able to get to next year."

"Hopefully, I'll get to all of them," he answered seriously. "I guess it will depend on what job I get at the Ministry, though. I could end up with something that has weekend work."

"I'm not holding my breath on you getting weekends off," Brianna told him. "We've seen enough junior members of the Ministry that work seven days a week, all hours of the day and night."

Carolyn laughed. "Bree, that's a year away. Relax and enjoy today, and we'll deal with the no boyfriends around for a year when we have to."

With no pre-game pep talk, they all had time to talk with the parents while they waited for the teams to be called out. Harry talked with them about what was going on at the residence and the academy, while Ginny and Penelope talked business and weddings, mostly with Nick and Allie, while Percy, Scorpius, and Brianna talked politics.

When Andy's replacement, a third year Witch from Slytherin, called the teams out into the stadium in a clear, urbane voice that was at least concise if not in any way emotional, passionate, or even sounding particularly interested in the game that was about to begin. Maybe she was just taking the goal of announcer neutrality too far, and would get into the game once it got started.

That introduction pretty much set the tone for her game calling, though, and it didn't take long for the spectators to pretty much just tune her out, watch the game, and talk about the action with the other students and guests around them.

While the game announcing was boring, the game was the complete opposite. Both teams had come out to play, and Gryffindor found out fast that this Slytherin team was nothing like the last few versions they'd faced.

"That's an interesting game plan they've got," Nick told the others. He was talking mostly for the benefit of the newest members of his team, and had been constantly instructing them ever since the game had started. "Does anyone see what Slytherin is doing?" he asked. His new Keeper answered.

"They're sending almost every quaffle shot right behind or at the same time as they hit a bludger at Hugo," he told Nick, who nodded.

"Exactly – and it's working pretty well so far – they've scored six goals already. How would you counter that strategy?"

Joe answered him. "Move the Beaters in to defend the Keeper, but then the Chasers will have to handle the rest of the defence while they protect Hugo."

Nick nodded, as they watched Frederica and Kevin do exactly what Joe had suggested. "Any problems with the tactic?" Nobody answered, so Scorpius did for them.

"Daphne and Samantha are better than Lance and Claire,' he told them. Other than Hugo, defence is not Gryffindor's strong point – they're an offensive team, and right now, they're playing exactly how Slytherin wants them playing."

Slytherin kept the pressure on Hugo, ignoring the Seekers, and hoping that Darrin could at least hold Colin off while they continued the attack on Hugo. Gryffindor's Chasers got their chances too, but Thomas, Daphne, Samantha, and Eddie seemed to have an answer for nearly every play that Liam, Lance, and Claire threw at them.

"Hugo looks a bit shell-shocked," Ginny commented. "Has anyone ever scored this much on him before?"

Daphne had close to three-quarters of Slytherin's twenty-three goals when Ginny asked that question, about an hour and a half into the game. Gryffindor had only managed to score five goals against Slytherin.

"Not like this," Scorpius said. "Thomas and Daphne have really done their homework for this game."

They showed that about a half hour later. Frederica and Keith had finally managed to battle to a stalemate against the Slytherin Beaters in their continuing attack on Hugo, and Liam, Lance, and Claire had picked up three more goals on Thomas to close the gap to two hundred and thirty to eighty.

Everyone in the stadium heard Darrin shout 'NOW!', and watched as the two Slytherin Beaters, just seconds apart from each other, sent bludgers not at Hugo, but at the undefended, and up until that moment, ignored, Colin.

Colin managed to dodge both bludgers, but by the time he'd recovered, Darrin was already halfway to the snitch, and it was far too late. Colin chased after Darrin anyway, but only to watch his counterpart catch the snitch, and give Slytherin their first victory over Gryffindor in years.

The Slytherin section of the stands went wild as they finally had something to cheer about after so many seasons of futility. The two teams landed, and met at the centre of the pitch.

"Great game," Hugo told Thomas when they shook hands. "We never saw that coming. You've got yourself a really great team this year."

"Thanks, Hugo," Thomas told him. "It's been a long time coming for our House. We haven't exactly had a lot of success against Gryffindor for a very long time."

Hugo laughed. "We'll be back next year," he promised. "Don't get used to it."

Daphne laughed too, and hugged him. "We'll enjoy today," she told him. "It's really great to get the win, but even if we'd lost, at least this year we played our best."

"Try to suck a little bit next year, then," Frederica told her. "I'm not sure we're enjoying your best all that much."

She hugged Daphne too, and by then their friends and family were beginning to join them, and they started splitting up as each of the players were pulled into other groups for hugs and a few minutes to talk together before the guests would need to leave the school grounds.

While the parents visited with the kids, Rose and Matt went for a short walk together so they could have the last bit of time to themselves before he would have to leave with everyone else.

"I'll see you in Hogsmeade in two weeks," Rose told him quietly as they walked.

Matt nodded, but stopped and pulled her close to him. "You know we can talk on our WiComms every day," he said a bit hoarsely before kissing her. "I'd much rather be doing this while we can," he added in between the first and second kiss.

Rose's only answer was to melt into that second kiss, and to hold on tight as they temporarily left the world they were standing in for a few brief, brilliant minutes before reality returned, and it was time for Matt to go home, and for Rose to get back to the school.

There wasn't much exciting going on at Hogwarts over the next couple of weeks. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams were getting ready for their upcoming game, but for the rest of the Marauders, it was mostly just the usual classes and studying. Frederica and Millie had just a few TNM purchases to deal with each week now, mostly for things like birthday presents or new supplies, but other than that, there wasn't much new for the New Marauders to work on.

On the Saturday after the big Slytherin victory, Scorpius' office was full, and they were all sitting down to watch the Canons' road game against the Appleby Arrows. This was going to be the first of one of those back-to-back Quidditch weeks for the Canons, with this game in Appleby, and next weekend at home against the Wanderers.

"The Arrows look pretty decent so far this year," Hugo told the others. "We could have a good game today."

"I just hope we have a long game," Brianna said. "How brilliant would it be to have one of those weeks-long matches like in the old days? Maybe they'd cancel classes so we could all keep watching, and we could have like a mini-holiday while we all watched the game."

"Like that'd happen," Carolyn told her. "Could you imagine the uproar from the daytime soaps viewers on WWVN if their shows were pre-empted for Quidditch? There'd be riots in the streets."

"Be careful, Carolyn," Brianna answered. "You could cause riots right here at Hogwarts if the wrong people hear you talking like that, and think that you're picking on their soaps."

"Quick!" Hugo said, "somebody change the subject before they start talking about the latest trouble between Kyle and Andrea."

Emily laughed. "How would you even know that Kyle and Andrea are characters on one of the shows?" she asked him.

"Maybe he watches the show at lunchtime?" Nick suggested. "That'd be a nice juicy rumour for the gossip network. Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain is a closet soaps fanatic."

"Don't even think about it, mate," Hugo told him. "How could anyone at school not know who the major characters are on those shows – there are at least a half dozen Witches in every class we have that talk about this soap or that one all day long."

"That's true," Allie agreed. "There are a few Wizards that are suspiciously well-informed too, though."

"Please, somebody, change the subject!" Hugo pleaded. "How did we even get talking about this when we have a perfectly good Quidditch game to talk about instead?"

"We could talk about Rose and Matt's wedding," Emily suggested, and Hugo rolled his eyes.

"You're not helping," he accused, and Emily laughed.

"I'd like to know what's new with that too," Brianna said.

"It's a conspiracy," Hugo said. "talking about weddings isn't much of an improvement."

"We girls could always go over to Rose's office and talk while you boys watch your Quidditch," Emily suggested, moving as if to get up from the sofa. Hugo had his arms wrapped around her, though, and pulled her closer to him.

"That is definitely not a good idea," he said as she gave up her attempt to stand. "Snuggling is a major part of why we like watching these games."

"Speak for yourself," Rose told him. "I'm just here to watch the game."

Lily had plopped Fluffy into her lap after Rose had sat in one of the comfortable recliners, and the Kneazle cat opened and eye and looked up at her as if to say that she was offended that Rose didn't seem to think that cuddling with her royal feline majesty was her sole reason for being there for the afternoon.

They watched as the game got started, and the girls did talk about the wedding, among other things that ranged from the Yule Ball to their studies, to the latest school gossip.

Hugo had been right in his prediction that it could be a good game, and the Arrows and Canons were both playing hard, but as the hours passed, the score proved that the Canons were still the better team. Ron was the main difference maker for this match. The Arrows had a slight edge in shots, but Ron had only allowed eight goals when Liselle caught the snitch near the end of the fourth hour to seal the win for the Canons.

With the Hogsmeade weekend, and the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff game coming up over the next two weekends, that Canons' home game was the only break Lily allowed her study groups for the rest of that next week, having them all work during nearly every spare moment that wasn't already taken up with classes or Quidditch practices.

That had made it difficult for the guys to work on their plans for the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, but with a lot of outside help, they did have everything ready by Saturday morning. They managed to keep everything a surprise for the girls until they all started showing up at Gladrags for their first stop, each of the boys leading one or more of the girls there.

Since they'd walked to town in smaller groups, it wasn't until then that Rose and the other girls figured out what was going on. Lily and Daphne were two of the last young Witches to arrive with Kieran and Karl, and while Daphne didn't know why they were there, Lily did, and she laughed and hugged Kieran.

"Thank-you," she told him in a whisper as she hugged him.

"You're welcome," he said just as softly.

"What's going on?" Daphne asked, looking around at the other girls and at the few boys who hadn't left yet.

"We're here for a private fashion show," Rose told her. "They'll be showing us gowns that we'll be able to pick from for the Yule Ball."

"Seriously?" Vanessa asked, and watched as Rose, Lily, and a few of the other girls nodded. "I wish Nadine and the other girls could have come for this."

"We'll work something out for them," Lily promised her.

Kieran, Karl, Matt, and Al were the last boys there, so they quickly left, and the girls were ushered in to a room at the back of Gladrags that none of them had been in before, but some of the girls had heard about from the stories that Ginny and Hermione had told them about their Yule Ball fashion show, and so they were sure that whatever was coming was going to be really great.

They spent the next couple of hours being shown the beautiful gowns they'd be choosing from, then pushed Rose to the front of the line for picking out and being fitted for her gown so that she'd still have some time to go visit with Matt before having to go back to school, while the rest of the girls would spend most of the day picking out gowns, being fitted for them, and picking out shoes and other accessories to match the gowns.

While the girls were busy with their fashion show and shopping adventure, the boys went around town picking up the supplies, and doing a few of the other jobs they'd given themselves for this weekend in town to get ready for the Yule Ball. When they were done, except for Matt, they all met for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Scorpius was the unofficial coordinator for the group, so he led their little lunch meeting.

"Did you get the SpaMagic appointments booked for the next Hogsmeade weekend?" he asked Al, who nodded.

"How about the flowers?" Scorpius asked Nick.

"Done," Nick told him. "They'll check in with Gladrags, and get each corsage matched to the gowns the girls pick out."

Scorpius looked around the table. "Has everyone asked their girls to the Ball?" He watched as Al, Nick, Colin, Karl, Joel, Liam, and Hugo all nodded their heads, but then Liam raised his hand.

"I don't think Lance has asked Vanessa – or anyone else," he told them.

"He hasn't asked Vanessa for sure," Colin agreed. "Nadine said she's not very happy about it – and she's turned down other Wizards who have asked her."

"I thought he really liked her," Joel said. "He sits beside her for nearly every study session."

"Anybody know why he hasn't?" Nick asked. None of the boys had an answer for his question.

"Maybe it's time for his Quidditch captain to investigate," Nick suggested.

"Why me?" Hugo asked. "What does whether he has a date to the Yule Ball have to do with Quidditch?"

"That's easy," Nick answered. "If you have a love-sick Chaser on your hands who is just being too shy to ask the girl he likes to the dance, then just imagine how he'll be mentally three days after Valentine's Day when you'll be playing Hufflepuff."

Kieran laughed. "In that case, don't do anything," he told Hugo.

"I get the point," Hugo told Nick, pretending to ignore Kieran's comment, even though he was grinning. "I can bring it up while we're watching the game after we get back to school – speaking of which, we better get a move on, or we'll be late."

Lance was the main conversation topic among the girls at Gladrags too.

"He hasn't asked you yet?" Sarah asked Vanessa, who shook her head.

"No, and I'm beginning to get a bit put out about the whole thing. It's not like I haven't had any other offers. I don't get it, though. I know he likes me."

"No doubt there," Emily agreed. "If it's a case of him being shy, though, don't let him see you in that gown, or he'll never get the nerve to ask you. That colour is a spectacular choice for you."

"It's perfect," Lily agreed. "Give him a little more time," she advised Vanessa. "If he doesn't ask you by the next Hogsmeade weekend, we'll temporarily abduct him and hex some sense into him."

Vanessa laughed. "Okay," she told Lily. "Is it wrong to hope, just a little bit, that he doesn't ask me by then?"

The other girls laughed too. "Probably," Lily told her. "You're allowed, though, since he should have asked you weeks ago."

The guys went back to school after lunch, and met in Scorpius' office to watch the Canons' game against the Wigtown Wanderers.

"I suppose the girls will be most of the day with their gown fittings," Hugo said as they settled in. "Too bad they'll miss most – or all - of the game."

"Gown fittings?" Lance asked, and Hugo nodded.

"For the Yule Ball. Uncle Harry helped us to do a private fashion show for the girls, and they're probably all getting fitted for the gowns they've picked out by now. It takes a while, I understand. I imagine when you pick Vanessa up for the Ball, she'll be stunning in whatever they all pick out for her."

Lance looked at him uncomfortably, and Hugo laughed. "You have asked her, right?"

"Um, no, I haven't," Lance said quietly, blushing a little.

"Why on earth not?" Hugo asked him. "You like her. We see you hanging around with her all the time. What's keeping you?"

Lance looked crushed. "I can't ask her to go with me. She'd be too embarrassed."

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked him. "You're the son of a war hero, one of the star Chasers on your Quidditch team, and one of the best students in your year. Why would she be embarrassed?"

Lance didn't look up at the other boys. "I can't dance," he said in a whisper the other boys barely heard.

Al looked over at him. "You've been to weddings and other dances, mate. You've never danced at any of them?" He was trying to remember, but couldn't actually think of any time he'd actually seen Lance on a dance floor.

Lance shook his head miserably. "No, I've always managed to avoid it so far."

"Why didn't you say something?" Hugo asked. When Lance finally looked up at him, he laughed. "Okay, I probably wouldn't have either. We can help you learn to dance by then, though, and I'm sure you're probably hurting Vanessa by not asking her, so why don't you do that soon, and we'll get you into some dancing lessons between now and then."

"You're going to teach me dancing?" Lance asked, and Hugo laughed.

"No way," he told Lance. "I'm sure that Emily and a couple of the other girls would be more than happy to help, and don't worry - they'd keep it quiet."

"Okay," Lance said after taking a deep breath. "If I fall on my face at the dance and ruin the whole night for her, though, I'm telling her it was all your fault so she knows who to hex."

Hugo and the other boys all laughed. "We'll put a dance spell on your shoes before we let that happen," Hugo told him. "Dancing isn't that hard, though. You'll catch on fast."

Thankfully, the game got started, and they were all happy to have the conversation diverted from dance to Quidditch.

"Do the Wanderers have much of a chance today?" Al asked Hugo, who shook his head.

"Probably not," he answered. "They could get lucky, but their Keeper hasn't been playing very well, and their Seeker would have to get really lucky, since he's not even close to as good a player as Liselle is."

"If Arianna is as fired up as she was for the last home game, they won't have much time to get a lucky win," Scorpius suggested. "She seems to really like having James at the stadium, watching the games in person."

That all proved to be true, as the game got started, and Arianna started scoring early and often against the hapless Wanderers' Keeper. Rose and Matt were watching the game too, snuggled comfortably on one of the sitting room sofas.

"That fashion show, and picking out a gown was amazing," she told him. "I just wish it didn't have to be instead of spending that time with you."

Matt grinned at her. "We'll just have to fit the whole day's snogging into the rest of the time we have left," he said, kissing her softly.

Rose wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled back at him. "That's a very good idea," she agreed before pulling him close for a much more serious sort of kiss, both of them ignoring the game that was quickly nothing more than noise in the background as they concentrated solely on each other.

The game was over by the time that Lily and the other girls had met up with Rose, and they'd all hurried back to the school to make it there on time. The Canons had won, but that information was pretty much ignored by all of the girls except Rose as they were each more interested in thanking their respective boyfriends for setting up such a great day for them. They'd split up to do that, which was how Lance found himself walking Vanessa back to her Common room, since the other couples had all left to spend the rest of the time until dinner on their own.

"Did you have fun today?" he asked Vanessa quietly.

"It was incredible," she answered. "I'd never seen such beautiful gowns anywhere except in magazines before."

He smiled nervously. "Were you able to find one you liked?"

Vanessa nodded. "Lily and the other girls helped me, and I love it."

Lance stopped, and reached out for her hand to stop Vanessa too. She turned and his heart started to pound as she smiled at him.

"Vanessa, will you be my date for the Yule Ball?" he blurted out in a rush of air. When her smile went from bright to brilliant, he thought his heart had stopped while he waited for her answer.

"Finally!" she whispered, stepping closer and hugging him tightly. "Yes, Lance. I'd love to go with you to the Ball. What took you so long?"

Lance laughed. "Hugo and the other guys would probably say it's because I've been an idiot," he answered. "Right now, I'm leaning toward agreeing with them."

Vanessa laughed too, and hugged him again. "Thank-you," she told him before kissing him.

"For being an idiot?" he asked.

"No, for asking me even though it was really scary for you." She flashed him that brilliant smile again. "You don't have to ever be scared of me, though, Lance."

"Tell that to my heart," Lance said with a faint smile. "It doesn't beat this fast when I'm dodging bludgers."

Vanessa moved her arms to put them around his neck, and looked straight into his eyes.

"Okay. You don't ever have to be afraid of me," she told him again before pulling him into another soft, tender kiss.

None of their friends made a deal of it, but there was no doubt by dinner time or into the evening when they got together to study that Lance and Vanessa had officially joined the New Maruaders' couples club.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much filled with homework assignments to catch up on what they didn't get done on Saturday with a Hogsmeade weekend and a Canons game. During the next week, most of the talk around school was about the upcoming Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff match, and also about the next professional broom race, and speculation on how Mark would do with the incredibly long and technical course he'd be facing in the sixty-four hundred kilometre long Great Wall of China race on the weekend.

Mark had been training for this race since getting back from Peru. Harry still worked with him on Tuesdays, and he also had Liselle work with him a few times on quick turns to help him with the challenges of the tight turns, acceleration, and deceleration that he'd need for this race that was so much different than the much straighter, cross-continent styles of the first two races he'd won.

With an eight hour time difference to home, and a noon time start for his race, there weren't really all that many Witches and Wizards up at four in the morning back home watching when the race started, but Harry, Ginny, and Callie had gone to China after the girls had finished work on Friday, and were there to see him off on the long race.

The current race record was just over twenty-five hours, with an average speed of just over two hundred and fifty-five kilometres an hour. Mark's ability to fly faster than anyone on the racing circuit wasn't going to be as important for this race as who could fly the best technical race, and not make mistakes from the fatigue of flying for a race that would be twice as long, time-wise, as either of the first two races had been.

Harry, Ginny, and Callie saw the start of the race, and then went back to their hotel suites to get some sleep after being up all night their time. At Hogwarts, a few kids had gotten up to watch the start of the race too, and watched as Mark raced off with the top twenty-five flyers, and stayed up long enough to see him take the lead before going back to get another couple of hours sleep.

There were more students in the Great Hall at breakfast who had their portable WWVN's tuned in to the race as they ate, and the news was that by eight o'clock, just four hours into the race, Mark was already more than two hundred kilometres ahead of his closest competition, and watching the view from the cameras on his broom was very exciting as he followed the twisting, difficult route.

Lily, Rose, Al, and Scorpius all felt a bit strange to again be sitting in the stands while Nick, Joe, and the Ravenclaw team was about to be taking the field for their first game of the season, but Rose and the boys at least were enjoying the compensation of getting to cuddle with Matt, Carolyn and Brianna instead.

Harry and Ginny were in China, but Percy and Penelope had come with Matt to watch the game, as had Kirley and Ana, along with quite a few of the other team parents. Kirley and Ana were sitting in the Hufflepuff section, so Lily joined them so they could visit during the game, even though she was going to be taking notes for Nick, as were Rose, Al, and Scorpius.

"Have you and Laura been keeping busy?" Lily asked Ana after they'd found seats. Allie had gone to talk weddings with Penelope while they watched Nick play, but Vanessa, and Miranda's parents were sitting with them.

"She's been working with some of our other clients, and with getting your new album and other new products ready to hit the stores next weekend for the Christmas shopping season," Ana told her. "I'm glad you and Kieran suggested her, she's really very good at this business."

"I'm glad," Lily said. "What've we got out new for the holidays?"

"FashionKnut has new SpellBound Clothes, and GamePortal has a new SpellBound game out," Ana answered. "The biggest one may be the new makeup and perfume launches. I'll keep you posted on how everything does."

"How about your little holiday project?" Lily asked Kirley. "Will it be ready?"

Kirley smiled at her. "Already done," he told her. "You're going to love it."

"Hopefully a lot of people will love it," she told him, returning his smile. "It was worth doing regardless, but we're certainly not against making a profit from it either."

"I'm sure it's going to do very well, and should make a decent return on your investment too," Kirley said confidently. "Any predictions on today's game?" he asked.

"Not that a Ravenclaw student can make publicly when surrounded by hundreds of Hufflepuffs," Lily answered.

"We're going to win," Vanessa said confidently. "Nadine really wishes she was getting another chance to play against you, though," she told Lily.

"I'm sure she is," Lily agreed. "I'm more interested in seeing what happens next February when she and Colin face off again. That's going to be the Seeker match-up to watch this year."

"That will be fun," Vanessa said, bobbing her head. "She definitely has the advantage today, though."

They found out that the whole Hufflepuff team had the advantage today, right from the start of the game, when Miranda put her first shot past the Ravenclaw Keeper. That's not to say that Ravenclaw didn't play hard, because they did. They were just no match for Kieran and his more experienced team.

There wasn't much cheering going on in the Ravenclaw section, which gave Allie and Penelope time to talk about the wedding. They'd decided on August twenty-fourth, and while she'd be spending a lot of time with her mother and Penelope over the holidays, there was still a lot of other things that the two Witches had been able to get done over the last few weeks.

"We've got the Grand Ballroom confirmed at the Emerald City Centre," Penelope told Allie. "Outdoor ceremony, and then the dinner and dance in the Ballroom."

Allie smiled. "Just how big has the guest list gotten?"

Penelope laughed. "The ballroom can be divided into four sections, and we expect to use either one or two sections, so between twenty-five hundred and five thousand guest," she told Allie. "Most of the guests will be because of politics, but you won't have to worry about all of that, and it does have some benefits – like that's too many people to reasonably do a reception line for, so you won't have to stand around shaking hands for a couple of hours."

"That will be good," Allie agreed. "Have you and Mum booked very many appointments for over the holidays?"

"Not too many," Penelope told her. "There will be a few of them, though. Since Rose and Matt have their wedding at the end of June, we'll be doing some appointments with Hermione and Rose, since we're getting things like flowers and invitations from the same places."

Rose was sitting next to Allie, and nodded even as she watched the game.

"That'll save some running around," she said. "Will we do the wedding gown showing in the spring together too?" she asked Penelope.

"Yes," Penelope told her. "That'll probably be in March or April. We'll keep you posted when the details are worked out."

While the girls continued to talk about weddings, most of the other spectators in the stands were watching the Hufflepuff team outplay Ravenclaw. Their new game announcer hadn't improved noticeably since her first game, delivering an unemotional, monotonous play-by-play of the action, with absolutely no commentary at all. When Nadine caught the snitch to end the game at one hour and twenty-six minutes, Hufflepuff had scored twenty-four goals to Ravenclaw's three goals, winning the game three hundred and ninety to thirty.

The two teams were already on the field, and had been talking together for a few minutes when the other Marauders and their families joined them.

"Congratulations," Lily told Kieran when she reached him. She hugged and kissed him before moving on to congratulate Nadine and Miranda while Kirley and Ana hugged Kieran.

Nick and Allie moved to one side to talk with his parents, while Matt and Rose left the stadium for another little walk before he had to leave.

"Just four weeks to the holidays," Matt said as they walked.

Rose nodded. "And I'll see you in two weeks in Hogsmeade. We'll both be busy, so it won't seem that long."

"I think it'll start getting easier after the holidays," Matt told her. "Right now, it just seems to get harder every time we have to say goodbye." He stopped, and pulled Rose close for a long hug and kiss.

"I was hoping for a longer game today," Rose said quietly after they'd parted again. "I guess we still got to have more time together than if I'd been playing today instead."

"We lost a lot of cuddle time over the years playing all of those games for our House," Matt noted as they started walking slowly toward the gates again. "Neither one of us would have traded those Quidditch Cups for that extra time though."

"If we hadn't been winning them together, I might have," she told him. "I'm really glad we're able to spend this time together this year, though. Six extra days together when we're separated like this makes a big difference."

They reached the gates, and held each other for a long goodbye while Matt waited for the rest of the family. Lily and Kieran were still talking with Kirley and Ana on the Quidditch pitch, although the stands were pretty much empty, and there were only a few parents and other guests still there.

"Are you two getting enough practice time in to be ready for the holidays?" Kirley asked them, and Lily and Kieran both nodded.

"Not quite as much as we'd like, but we'll be ready," Lily promised. "Now that Quidditch is finished until the New Year, we'll have more time for our music."

"Good. We don't want you working the whole time during the holidays this time. With your NEWTs and OWLs this year, you'll have lots of holiday revision, and need a rest too," Ana told them.

Kieran hugged her. "You won't hear us complain about being told to take it easy over the holidays," he told his mother. "If that's possible with everything that always seems to be going on with our two families whenever we're at home."

"We'll find some time to get the two of you some rest," she assured him. "Looks like we're the last group still here, though, so we had better get going. We'll see you in four weeks."

There was another round of hugs, and then Kirley and Ana left with Percy, Penelope, Miranda's parents, and the last few other stragglers, while the kids either headed for the change room, or back to school. The Hufflepuffs probably already had the party started, and those members of the New Marauders would be there, but the rest of the gang was supposed to meet in their usual study classroom, so Lily left with the rest of the Marauders who'd stayed to talk with the parents, and they went to get their books, and get to work.

They all kept an eye on Mark's broom race for the rest of the day as they studied. By four in the afternoon home time, midnight in China, the race had been going on for twelve hours, and Mark had covered more than thirty-eight hundred kilometres of the race, and was nearly eight hundred kilometres ahead of his nearest competition.

He was averaging around three hundred and twenty kilometres an hour, which was sixty-five kilometres per hour faster than the previous course record average, and if he kept the pace up, would finish the race in about twenty hours – somewhere around five hours faster than the old record.

There must have been some Professors watching too, since at dinner, Professor McGonagall moved the curfew to one o'clock for the night so that kids could stay up late with their friends and at least watch Mark finish the race, even if the rest of the racers wouldn't get to the finish line until hours later, and the awards ceremony wouldn't be until at least six or seven o'clock in the morning home time – two or three in the afternoon in China.

That announcement changed the plans for the Marauders, who studied until nine, then moved to Scorpius' office to watch the rest of the race, and snuggle with their significant others.

"How many of these races are there in the season?" Nick asked as they watched the view of the race on the WWVN. They showed Mark's point of view more than the others, but since it was still before dawn in China, mostly they saw a lot of dark forms flashing past below him, and not much else to see.

"Ten each season," Joel answered. He seemed to have become the unofficial answer Wizard for all things broom racing for the Marauders. "Racers don't normally enter all of them, but Mark probably will, since this is his first year – not to mention how much money he can make if he manages to win them all."

"What do you mean?" Dale asked.

"It's never been won, but there's always been a million galleons offered to any one racer that wins all of the races in one season. Since each race's top prize is fifty thousand galleons, you can see what a pretty great bonus that'd be."

"I had no idea that you could make that much as a broom racer," Sarah said.

"He's already got the GamePortal and BroomCloset companies for his sponsors," Joel told her, "but Mark will really clean up if he gets some good merchandising going too. If he doesn't have a signature Lightningbolt before the end of the season, I'll be very surprised."

"You're becoming the Hugo Weasley of broom racing," Nick told him. "Are you looking to get into racing like Mark did?"

Joel laughed. "No, but I do find it all pretty interesting. The only reason they're getting so many Witches and Wizards watching this year is because someone's finally come along and made the sport exciting again."

"At least for this year," Nick agreed. "The races are so long, though, it's a bit like watching paint dry."

"At two hundred and eighty or so miles an hour," Sarah said with a laugh.

Harry, Ginny, and Callie were at the finish line with fifteen minutes to spare. Owen and Natalie had come from home too, although Owen planned on leaving the awards ceremony duties to his regional manager instead of staying up until six in the morning or coming back after a few hours sleep.

They all watched Mark come roaring across the finish line at more than three hundred and fifty kilometres an hour, then loop around in a wide arc as he slowed down for his landing a few minutes later to the cheers of several thousand spectators who'd come early to watch his arrival and record-breaking win. At twenty hours, six minutes, and sixteen seconds, he'd proved that he not only had the speed, but the flying skills, since he'd only had a few stretches along the whole route where he'd been able to push his speed past the two hundred and twenty miles an hour limit that none of the other racers had learned how to get past yet.

Callie hugged him when he finally landed, then looked at him critically.

"Good thing you don't have five more hours to go," she told him. "You look like you're ready to drop."

Mark nodded wearily. "That was definitely the hardest race so far. It's no wonder there are so many riders who don't finish this marathon monster."

"Well, you've got until January to recover for the next one," she told him. "Let's get the WMSN interview out of the way, and get you to the hotel for a shower, some food, and a few hours sleep before you have to come back to officially claim your victory."

He exchanged hugs with Harry, Ginny, Owen, and Natalie before being led off to do about a half hour long interview with Owen, and two of the WMSN race commentators.

Back at Hogwarts, the Marauders had watched Mark's arrival, and most of his interview before hurrying back to their own Common rooms, and for most of them, getting right off to sleep, since Lily wanted them all back to work after breakfast in the morning. There were still five days left in November, but with just four weeks left until the Christmas break, and a lot to look forward to, it wouldn't be long before they all started feeling that holiday excitement that always made December one of the best months of the year.


	104. Magical Yule Ball

Chapter One Hundred and Four – Magical Yule Ball

The buzz over the Hufflepuff win, and Mark's amazing broom race lasted for most of the last few days of November, only being replaced near the end of the week as advertisements started hitting the WWVN for what was going to be new and out in stores for the holiday shopping season. Most products would be going on sale on the coming Saturday – December second.

In the world of Virtual gaming, the top two new adverts were for SpellBound's new game, and for the brand new Mark Davidson's BroomRacer – Rookie Season. That new game had all ten tour races that the players could compete in, and was promised to be the best racing game ever made so far. The SpellBound album would be out, and there was a lot of interest among the younger girls about the new clothes, makup, and perfume that would be out under the SpellBound name too.

December first was the biggest day of the week for quite a few members of the family. For James and Arianna, they'd been apart for the last two Bonus days, and so James was happy to get to watch as Arianna opened her letter from Turvog while he cooked breakfast. He'd received a package too, but he'd planned on waiting until he was finished cooking to open it.

Arianna read him her letter out loud, and the investments that she and Aaron shared had earned four million galleons over the past year thanks to Turvog, so including their own significant incentives from Quidditch, their account was now worth twenty-four million galleons.

"Turvog's really done a great job running your accounts," James said. "I'm surprised that Aunt Fleur hasn't tried to scoop him up for her team."

Arianna stood up and walked over to give him a hug. 'You better get started on your package," she advised him.

"What's the rush? I've got all day," he answered.

She pointed out the window to where an Owl waited patiently. "Did you forget that you have to go over the incentive letters for your staff and send them back to Gringotts? That's why the Owl didn't leave when you sent it away before I got out here."

James laughed and kissed her. "Yes, I completely forgot about that," he admitted, giving up the cooking duties to her, and going to sit at the table.

He opened his fairly thick envelope and began to read through it – most of it aloud to Arianna.

"The first letter is from Griphook, and my personal account is at twenty-nine point five million galleons. I guess that bat-bogey brittle is selling well, along with the other products I get a percentage of," he said before flipping to the next page.

"Dad must have had this letter included, and PBP Investments made just under six billion galleons, and is worth about sixty-five and a half billion galleons, give or take nineteen or twenty million galleons."

Arianna laughed. "That's a pretty significant give or take for most people," she told him.

"The Phoenix Foundation budget for next year is that same amount – just under six billion galleons. The incentive payout is really astonishing too, but you can read all of that later if you want," James told her.

He went on to quickly review the incentive report for his staff, which only covered just over three months for each of them, then signed off on the report, put it in an envelope, let the Owl back in, and sent it on it's way with the return post.

"That'll be fun to get to give out that money later today," Arianna said, as she put plates on the table for both of them and sat down to start eating.

Nobody working for the Phoenix Foundation was going to get rich on their annual incentives, but they were nice to get ahead of Christmas time, and nobody working for the organization was in it for the money anyway.

"I'll let you know tonight," he promised. "What time is our dinner reservation for?"

"Not until seven," she answered. "Try to get out in decent time if you can, and we'll do drinks here first."

"I'll try. We're doing more testing today, and we may get that last group of teens ready to start their last section of lessons before they'll be ready to start magic. It looks like Dad was right about being able to have them ready for that by January."

"They've all had to work really hard to do that much work in just months. How many times have your staff found some of the kids asleep on the sofas with open books on their chests?"

James laughed. "A lot of times," he agreed. "It won't get any easier for the older ones either if they want to have a real chance out on their own someday. Lily probably could have done her seven years in four if they'd let her, but I don't know how it will go with these kids. If it does take seven years for them, the older ones will be going on twenty-five before they can write their NEWTs."

Arianna nodded. "We'll just have to take it one case at a time, James. Hopefully you'll be able to help each of these kids, but this may not work for all of them."

"I know," he said. They talked about the rest of the reports that had been included in James' post, including the report for the Phoenix Foundation as they ate. They then cleaned up, had a quick goodbye, and left for the academy and stadium respectively.

At Hogwarts, the only incentive letters arriving this year were for Lily and Kieran for SpellBound Investments. Including New Year's Eve, SpellBound had done sixteen concerts in the past year, had two new albums, and a bunch of new merchandising. All of that had made Lily and Kieran each thirteen million galleons richer than they'd been a year ago. They were worth just over twenty-four million galleons each now, and both were smiling all during breakfast, and for most of the day after reading their letters.

Homework didn't take a day off for Bonus Day, though, and so Lily and Kieran didn't get to take the day off to celebrate either as their study groups got together to work on Friday night, and all morning on Saturday. They all planned to take Saturday afternoon off, and watch the Canons' road game against the Kenmare Kestrels.

Lily had been getting regular qm's from Ana updating her on how the first day of sales were going for the album and other products that were going on sale today all over the world. Even with students in school, the under elevens were getting their parents to take them to the malls in droves, and it looked like a lot of students in school were busy shopping at their VirtualMalls.

"What's the latest?" Carolyn asked Lily when she saw her reading another message from Ana just as the game was getting started.

"Stores in the Eastern Americas are just getting going, and all are reporting that they're very busy. Album sales over three-quarters of a million already, and the new game, and by the looks of things, all of the other new products are hot sellers too."

"What are you going to do with all that money? Buy Kieran an island for Christmas?" Carolyn said with a laugh.

Lily laughed too. "That's not a bad idea, Carolyn. We should probably hold off on that until we don't have to ask permission from our mommies to go there, though."

Kieran hugged her. "We've got that figured out anyway – you just have to look really exhausted, and they'll send us away somewhere quiet for a few days."

"Do you think that'd work if we all tried it?" Brianna asked. "A few days on the island over the holidays would be brilliant."

"We'll probably get to do that anyway," Al told her. "We do have nearly a whole week after New Year's Day. Maybe we could even do another New Year's Eve on the island like we've done a couple of other times."

"Did anyone else notice there was a game on?" Hugo asked. "The Canons are up fifty points already for anyone who cares."

"Do you care?" Emily asked before kissing him.

"About what?" Hugo asked after she let him go, and while the others laughed.

"The game," she reminded him, with a playful smile.

"Nope," he answered. "The conversation suddenly got to be far more interesting. Why don't you continue?"

Emily laughed, and kissed him once more before settling in to watch the game again and listen to the continuing conversation. The Canons eventually won the game, with Liselle putting away the win again for her team, taking them to eight wins and keeping them undefeated.

There were now just under three weeks left to the holidays, and as usual, all of the students were loaded down with assignments to have finished and handed in before the holidays started. All of the New Marauders expected Lily to keep them going every spare moment for the next couple of weeks, and she didn't let them down.

They worked all week during that first week of December, but the girls in particular had one other project that TNM was doing, and their big day for that came on that next Friday morning.

The Ravenclaw Marauders were sitting in their usual spot for breakfast, and the girls were all watching expectantly for the Owl Post. This was going to be a lot of fun.

"What's up?" Al said quietly to Carolyn.

"The deliveries should be here today," she whispered back to him, and he nodded. The guys weren't involved in this project, but they did know what the girls had been working on.

They all looked up as the Owl Post began arriving, and there were a lot of extra large packages coming into the Great Hall today, each one being carried by two Owls.

"How many?" Al asked, and Carolyn grinned at him.

"Sixty-four in total," she answered. "Plus the ones that are coming for Nadine, Millie, Amy, and Carissa."

Al watched as the large packages were delivered to those four girls, and was also able to watch quite a few of the other girls who were getting the boxes of gowns. He smiled as they all saw faces lighting up when those boxes were opened, and the girls found the beautiful gowns, shoes, and even jewellery and makeup that had been put together carefully for each young Witch. There were more than a few happy tears to go along with the smiles, and Al hugged Carolyn.

"You all did amazing with that," he complimented her. "Did you set them all up with dates too?"

Carolyn shook her head. "No, but Lily will be making sure that any of the girls who don't have dates do get dance partners at the Ball, so don't be terribly surprised if you're recruited for a few dances."

"I'd rather be dancing with you the whole night, but I'll help if she needs me."

"You'll have time to help her for a few dances. I'm expecting there will be a group of young Wizards that she'll be recruiting us girls to dance with too."

Al grinned at her. "I'm definitely liking this idea less every minute."

Carolyn hugged him again. "You've got nothing to worry about," she told him with a soft laugh.

"Speaking of the boys, though, did you do anything about suits for any of the Wizards we help?"

Carolyn nodded. "We don't have as many of those, but we sent all of the information for those to your father, and the suits should be here next week sometime. There were thirty-one of them."

"We should probably make sure they have corsages for their dates if they have one too," Al suggested, and Carolyn laughed again.

"Already considered and ordered," she told him. "Frederica and Millie have everything under control."

"Good thing the girls in our group do," Al told her. If the guys were doing all of that we'd still be sitting around trying to figure out how to get dress sizes, or how to pick colours."

"You did pretty well taking care of us," she reminded him. "If we thought we could have pulled it off, we would have loved to do a fashion show like that right here for those girls."

"I don't know how you'd manage that without having every Witch in the school showing up for it," Al said, and Carolyn nodded her agreement.

"That's the main reason we didn't consider it too seriously," she said. "This is a pretty great next best option, and every single girl looks thrilled - at least all of the girls I've seen so far."

The girls had loved how well their surprise gown delivery had gone on Friday, so on Saturday morning it was the boy's turn to surprise them with their SpaMagic appointments. They earned bonus hugs for setting this up for the girls, and also because the boys would be handling getting all of the supplies for everyone, a shopping list that was always long for the last Hogsmeade trip before the holidays.

Al was working with Kieran, Karl, and Joel for the morning, and they had the Wheezes and the quills, inks, and parchment to take care of today.

"What have we got on the list for Wheezes?" Kieran asked Joel.

"Thirty boxes of Chocolate Christmas Wheezes, four MagicMistletoe, two Yule ball-and-chains." He looked up from the list. "Please tell me that none of us are planning on being dumb enough to use them at the dance."

Al laughed. "I think Nick was getting them to give to a couple of other guys. What else?"

Joel returned to scanning his list. "a box of Pygmy Puff food, a box of bludger bars, two packs of bat-bogey brittle, and a pound of ton-tongue toffee."

"That won't take us long," Kieran told the others. "I'll bet with all of the holiday parties and stuff that the Honeydukes order is a lot bigger than this one."

"Probably," Al agreed. "Let's get this done, and move on. We need to do a last check on the flowers too before the girls are done."

While the guys were running errands all over town, the girls were happily being pampaered in SpaMagic. Lily, Carolyn, Brianna, and Sarah were currently getting their hair done while the other girls were at other stations.

"This was really nice of the boys," Sarah told the other three girls. "After that fashion show last time, and this, I wonder what else they've got up their sleeves."

Lily smiled at her. "They'll have corsages for us, and maybe another surprise or two, but that'll probably be it."

"This is going to be way better than the last one," Brianna told them. "We won't have any, um, distractions this time."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"Did you ever hear about what happened at the last Yule Ball to Dirk Avery?" Brianna asked with a grin, and then watched as Sarah first nodded, and then her eyes grew wide as that story clicked with what she knew about TNM now. They couldn't exactly talk about it there at SpaMagic, but Sarah couldn't help but laugh.

"We wouldn't want a repeat of anything like that," she agreed. "That explains why that story has been brought back out, dusted off, and talked about around the Slytherin Common room."

"I heard he just about lost it when he got an anonymous box of foot-long nose nougat in the Owl Post this week," Carolyn said.

"I wonder who would have sent him something like that?" Brianna asked innocently, grinning at the other girls.

"I don't know," Lily said dryly.

It took all morning for the girls to be primped and prodded into the stunning young Witches that emerged to meet the boys just before lunchtime. Rose and Matt went back to the house for the rest of the time they had together, while the other couples went for lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and then went back to school to start in on their homework.

Over the next week it was all about classes and homework assignments so that by Friday, all of the New Marauders had their assignments done and handed in, and only had the long list of holiday revision left as they went in to that last weekend at school before the holidays.

Lily got them all working on those assignments on Saturday morning, and then they took the afternoon off to watch the Canons win a good game against the Bats in a match that lasted just over four hours, and gave the couples in the group lots of snuggling time.

They took Saturday evening off too, because the students had been told there was a special event planned for them in the Great Hall after dinner.

They were allowed time while the plates and platters disappeared after the meal to move around, and get together with friends from other Houses, and then the school's theatre troupe went up to the front of the hall and let everyone know that they were going to be the first to see the movie version of the Christmas Carol show they'd put on for the school last year.

The lights in the Great Hall dimmed, and the big screen WWVN came to life. For the next two hours, the students were held mesmerized by the incredible cinematic adventure that they were experiencing.

"This is brilliant," Kieran whispered to Lily.

"Your Dad's done an amazing job with it," she agreed. "The Hogwarts Theatre Troupe must have loved making this with him."

Kieran nodded, even though she would only feel the motion in the darkened room, not see it.

"If this is their first time seeing the finished film, they're probably just as amazed – like we always are when we see the finished videos for our songs."

"When do they start showing it around the world?" Lily asked.

"I'm not sure," Kieran answered. "You'd think that they'd want to do some adverts, but they may have other plans."

When the show was over, the members of the Theatre Troupe got a standing ovation from their fellow students, and five points each from their Headmistress.

"Did you notice that all of the school ghosts were here watching?" Lily asked Kieran, who shook his head.

"I was too busy being sucked in by the show. I think that's my favourite version of the story ever."

Lily grinned at him. "You could be biased about that," she whispered. "We do have a bit of money riding on the show being successful."

"We're not going to have to worry about that show making us money," he whispered back. "I know it will."

Since they'd taken most of Saturday off, the New Marauders worked at their holiday revisions all day on Sunday. The only news event during that last week of classes – at least until the Yule Ball, was Lily finishing up her Muggle Studies, and Care of Magical Creatures classes so that she could start with Arithmancy and Ancient Runes in January.

Finally, it was Thursday – the last day at school before they'd be going home for the holidays on Friday, and this year, the Yule Ball.

The students were finished classes at lunchtime so that the girls could get ready, and they planned on using every moment of that time to do that. Ginny, and some of the other Moms had sent some very nice sets of jewellery for the girls to borrow for the Yule Ball, and the girls in each of the Houses worked together while getting ready.

While they were busy doing that, the boys had a few hours of free time before starting to get ready themselves, so they got together in Scorpius' office for a while, partly to hang out, and partly to keep the nerves under control of the younger boys who were doing a dance like this for the first time.

"Relax, Lance," Hugo told his young friend. "It's not even a once in a lifetime dance for you, since you'll get to have another shot at getting it right in your seventh year if you mess this one up."

"Thanks a lot, Hugo," Lance told him. "Like if I mess this up I'll have any chance of getting a date for the next one."

Hugo laughed. "I'm just kidding, mate. You'll be fine. You've got the dancing down cold, and everything else will be easy. Stop worrying."

"I'll try," Lance told him. He didn't look like he'd be stopping any time soon.

When it was time, they all went to their respective dorms to get ready, and then either met in their own Common rooms, or where needed, left to pick up their dates at the girl's House entrances.

Al was in the Ravenclaw Common room with Scorpius, waiting for Rose, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna. Nick had already left to go meet Allie, and Joel had gone to pickup Sarah. The four girls had met in Rose's rooms to help each other get ready, and when they came into the Common room from the Head Girl's office, they smiled as they left the two young Wizards speechless.

"You all look incredible," Al told them, hugging Carolyn, then Rose and Lily, before giving Carolyn her corsage. "We've arranged an escort for you, milady," he told Rose. "He's waiting for you in the hallway, as is your date, Lily."

Rose laughed. "Matt's going to want to talk to you about that tomorrow after we get home," she told Al, who laughed too.

"Your escort was fiancée approved before being chosen," he assured her. "Why don't we all get going? Dinner starts in twenty minutes."

Al held his arm out to Carolyn, and she took it, while Brianna and Scorpius did the same. Both boys were grinning when Rose stepped out into the hall, and stopped in her tracks when she saw who her escort was. Matt stood there next to a grinning Kieran, each young Wizard holding a corsage in his hands.

"What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously, before stepping over to him, and hugging him fiercely.

"Working," he said with a grin. "Kirley and Ana's company is doing the entertainment tonight, and they hired me on to help out for the night."

Rose laughed. "What part of your job is this?"

"Oh, it's not. I'm on my break right now, so it just happened to work out that I can escort you until after dinner, then I'll have to get back to work for a while. Then I'll probably have another break later where I can take you dancing for a few hours. These people in the music business seem to get lots of long breaks in between a little bit of work."

"I love you," Rose told him. "Thank-you. This is a brilliant surprise." She looked over at Al. "Fiancee approved?"

"Well, Matt does seem to approve," Al answered with a grin. "I wasn't lying or anything."

Rose and Lily both put their corsages on, and then the four couples walked to the Great Hall together, and found where the other New Marauders were sitting and joined them.

Since they didn't have to sit with their Houses, they'd all decided to sit together, and Rose, Matt, and the others were the last group to arrive.

"So is this your fallback job if the executive travel tour business doesn't work out?" Allie asked Matt. "I hope you weren't hauling equipment around in that suit."

Matt laughed. "I wasn't, and no, this is strictly a one time only deal. The bonus was just too good to pass up."

Rose hugged him for what was probably the twentieth time already.

"See what I mean?" Matt added.

"So which band did Kirley and Ana bring for the dance?" Rose asked.

"I'm sworn to secrecy," Matt told her. "You'll all know soon enough, though."

Dinner was served, and it was amazing as all of the Hogwarts feasts were. When it was over, Matt kissed Rose, then left them to get to work. Tables were cleared and moved to make space for a large dance floor, and it was nearly an hour before the band setup was done, and Professor McGonagall stood on the stage that was set up at the front of the Great Hall, and welcomed everyone to the Yule Ball. She spent a few moments going over the rules, including when the first and second year students had to return to their Common Rooms.

"And now," she told the excited students, "please help me welcome to the stage, here at Hogwarts for the first time in twenty-five years, and back together for the first time in more than fifteen years – THE WEIRD SISTERS!"

All of the New Marauders were clapping and cheering as Kirley and his band all took to the stage, and a lot of the students were clapping politely, but half of them didn't seem to know how to react to finding out who the surprise band was for the Yule Ball.

That uncertainty didn't last long, though. The Weird Sisters started out with one of their best known songs, and even if most of the students didn't listen to the band's old albums, they had listened to the songs played on WWN or at home by their parents.

The band had also reworked the old song too, and it wasn't long before the dance floor was filled with students who were discovering that they really liked the fresh take on the old music.

"Looks like they've still got it," Lily told Kieran as they danced.

"They've been told by a few people that retro is in right now. Maybe they'll make a comeback."

"Thinking about seeing if they want to be our lead-off band for next summer's tour?" Lily asked him.

Kieran laughed. "I'm not sure if that'd work out very well, but I guess you never know."

They danced to the first couple of songs, then Lily sent Kieran to get Rose out dancing while she asked a shy fourth year boy to dance with her – one of the kids that TNM helped out, and who looked constantly astonished as he danced with her.

Lily had talked with all of the other Marauders, and to quite a few of the mentors too, so they all had other students that they were to help make sure had fun at the Ball. Since Rose had expected to be on her own, she'd offered to watch for any kids they'd missed, along with having several sixth and seventh year Wizards that she and some of the other girls would be dancing with through the night.

The Weird Sisters played for nearly an hour, and then Kirley stepped to the front of the stage.

"Are you having fun?" he shouted to the students, who cheered and clapped in response.

"You've probably noticed that we're a bunch of pretty old guys now," he continued. "So while we take a break, we'd like you to welcome the group that will be sharing the stage with us tonight – SpellBound!"

The students cheered as Lily and Kieran came out on stage. Lily hugged Kirley before he and the other members of the Weird Sisters left them to keep the dance going.

"Did you even see them sneak out of here to go get changed?" Rose asked Al and Carolyn.

Al shook his head. "No. I guess we shouldn't be surprised, though."

Lily and Kieran played for an hour and a half, and then, to the amazement of the students, they joined the Weird Sisters for a half hour where they did some SpellBound and some Weird Sisters songs together that were really incredible.

"My Mum would have loved to see this," Daphne told Karl as they danced. Lily and Kieran had left the stage just before eleven, which was when the first and second year students had left for their dorms. The Weird Sisters would be playing for the rest of the dance. "This is way better than the Yule Ball in our first year."

"Since I didn't have a date, never danced even once, and had to be back in the dorms by eleven, that's not hard to improve on," Karl said with a laugh. "If I'd asked you out to that one, maybe it would have been a lot better than it was."

Daphne laughed too. "Since it's only those of us that were in first or second year last time that are still here for this one, I imagine we're all having more fun this time."

Karl nodded. "That's true," he agreed, grinning. "Have you seen Dirk around? I wonder if his Yule Ball is going better than the last one?"

"I'm not sure it is," she answered. "Word from the ladies room is that Mr Avery and some of his buddies have been dipping heavily into a bottle or three of firewhiskey." As they turned on the dance floor, she motioned with her head toward the tables where most of the Slytherins were sitting.

"He may think he's having fun getting plastered with his buddies, but his date doesn't look too happy right now, and neither do the girls who came with the other boys in his little gang," she continued telling him as he watched the group of five Witches talking together, and looking extremely ticked off.

Karl grinned at her. "You know, Lily made us promise to help other students have fun tonight. Maybe I should get the other guys and we should make sure those poor girls get to dance at least once or twice, since it is their last Yule Ball."

"Do you think Delia would dance with Scorpius if he asked her?" Daphne asked, trying hard not to laugh out loud at the thought. "She is Dirk's girl after all. It would probably be bad for her rep."

They'd turned again so Daphne couldn't see the five girls anymore, but Karl could, and he was smiling.

"The boys just came back," he told her. "Looks like we won't get to find out."

"That's a shame," Daphne told him. They'd turned again, and now she could see them again. "Oh dear," she said in a near whisper. "That doesn't look good."

"What doesn't?" Karl asked.

"They're getting up to come dancing, but the boys don't look too steady," she answered.

"Nobody warned them that you shouldn't drink and dance?" Karl quipped, and Daphne laughed.

"Apparently not," she said as they watched Dirk unsteadily escort Delia to a spot that could only be fatefully close to where Scorpius and Brianna were dancing.

"He seems to be having some difficulties with perception," Karl said as they watched him start jumping around like he was in some kind of mosh pit.

"How long do you think it will take him to figure out that this is a ballad the band's doing right now?"

Karl laughed. "Probably until it's over, and they've moved on to another set of fast songs."

Dirk and his boys didn't get past that song, since his mates had joined him in jumping around and acting like a bunch of gits. Unfortunately, they seemed to have forgotten about having girlfriends on the dance floor with them, and when Dirk accidentally knocked his own date flying she was saved by a quick acting Scorpius, who had released Brianna, and caught the other girl. Her momentum spun them in a circle that looked like a graceful dance step before he gently settled her back on her feet, smiling the whole time.

"Are you all right, Delia?" he asked as he let her go.

She looked up at him, still a little shocked. Most of the Slytherin girls might have to go around pretending that Scorpius Malfoy was nothing special, but darn, he was cute, and for just a moment, she smiled back at him as she looked into those soft, beautiful gray eyes of his before coming back to her senses.

"Looks like she got to dance with Scorpius after all," Daphne whispered to Karl, laughing softly. They'd stopped dancing, and had moved closer to their friends.

"Get away from my girl, Malfoy," Dirk snarled at Scorpius. "You're contaminating her."

Scorpius smiled at the other boy. "Sorry, mate," he told Dirk. "Next time you knock her over, I'll just let Delia hit the ground instead."

"How about I knock you over and you can try to catch yourself instead?" Dirk asked, the firewhiskey affecting his ability to notice that Scorpius had Al, Nick, Matt, Kieran, and Karl now standing near him.

"Dirk, you should go sit down before one of the Professors see how you're acting," Scorpius told him.

The other boy ignored his comment, and didn't see Delia waving him off too.

"The Professors here wouldn't notice a hippogriff dropping a load in the middle of their dining table," Dirk said stupidly.

"And yet we can notice history repeating itself with you making a scene at yet another Yule Ball," Professor Slughorn said as Dirk whirled to face him. The movement was too fast for his current motor skills, and he found himself staring up at Professor Slughorn from where he had landed on his butt, mouth hanging open in befuddled incomprehension.

"Please go to your dorm room, Mr Avery, and take your inebriated friends with you," the Professor told him firmly.

He watched as it took Dirk three attempts to stand, and then followed them to make sure they did as they were told. Delia and the other girls did not go with them, but instead went back to sit down at their table, all of them looking very upset, and talking animatedly with each other.

"That was fun," Nick told Scorpius. "What is it about you and Dirk Avery when it comes to Yule Balls?"

"I have no idea," Scorpius told him. "He just couldn't pick somewhere else in the entire hall to make an idiot of himself, or knock his girlfriend into anyone else, could he. You'd think the chances of that happening to me would be very small, yet here we are in the middle of it again."

"Delia seemed to like your little swirl around the floor," Daphne said with a grin. "She definitely had that swept off of her feet glaze in her eyes for a moment there."

Brianna put her arm protectively around Scorpius.

"Then it's a good thing she lost it fast. This Wizard is taken," she told the others firmly.

With the only glitch in a perfect evening over, the couples got back to dancing and having fun. Matt had the rest of the night, until it was time for the band to pack up again, to spend with Rose, and they danced close during the slow songs, and then mostly sat down together to talk while the Weird Sisters were busy rocking the Hall.

"I'll meet you at the station tomorrow," Matt told Rose. It was twelve thirty, and the Yule Ball was almost over.

"Why don't you walk me to my quarters before you have to get back to work," Rose suggested. "I'll show you my office and maybe even have an extra minute or two to thank you properly for doing this for me tonight."

Matt laughed, stood, and held out his hand. "I'd love to escort you to your room, milady," he told her.

Scorpius and Brianna saw them leave from the dance floor.

"That's a very good idea," Brianna said, smiling at Scorpius. "We both still have a little packing to do before we go home in the morning, so we should probably leave now so we have time for that and the snogging I have planned for you before letting you get around to that."

"I'm so glad you suggested that," he told her. "I've been thinking about getting you out of here since about ten minutes before we got here for dinner."

Brianna laughed. "That would have been about the time we walked out of Rose's office," she pointed out, and Scorpius smiled brightly at her.

"Exactly," he agreed. "This was fun too, but it's definitely time for a little me and you only time."

Al and Carolyn were still out on the dance floor, with Lily and Kieran close to them. The Great Hall was probably half empty now as couples started to leave to find someplace to say goodnight to their dates before they all had to be back in their dorms by one-thirty.

They'd watched Rose and Matt leave, and then Scorpius and Brianna. Nick and Allie had gone off somewhere quite a while ago, and most of the other New Marauder couples were gone too, except for Daphne and Karl.

"This has been a wonderful night," Carolyn said as they danced to what was probably the last song of the night, since it was almost one now.

"Yes it has," Al agreed. "Kirley and his band must be pretty happy too. They were really a hit tonight."

"He looks happy," Carolyn agreed. "Ana looked like she was having fun tonight too."

"Lily was going to have me dance with her, but she didn't seem to be short of offers from the Professors, and Kieran danced with her twice."

"And she danced with Kirley while Lily and Kieran were on stage," Carolyn added. "What do you want to do after the dance?"

Al smiled, his eyes sparkling. "Take you to the island for a moonlight walk on the beach, curl up in the warm sand, and snog you sensless until morning."

Carolyn laughed. "Okay. I guess I should have asked what we can do after the dance, since apparently what you'd like to do is totally impossible."

"In that case, since we have to be back in our House by one thirty, then we'll have to settle for a little cuddling time there before we go to bed and finish packing," Al answered.

The song came to an end, and before they left, Al and Carolyn went to say goodbye to Kirley, Ana, and Matt. Lily, Kieran, Daphne, and Karl had gone over to do the same.

"So when do you go on tour?" Daphne asked Kirley. "I'll make sure to take my Mom to one of your concerts."

Kirley laughed. "Actually we're going to be playing at the Ministry's New Year's Eve party this year. I'll make sure to get a couple of extra tickets for your parents if you'd like."

Daphne hugged him. "Thank-you. And thanks for making this such a great night for us."

"You're welcome," he told her, returning her hug.

"We don't have much time before we have to be in our dorms," Lily said, hugging Matt, Kirley, and finally Ana. "This was a lot of fun – especially getting to play with the whole band tonight." She smiled at Kirley.

"You should talk with our manger," she told him. "Our company would probably be interested in backing your group if you wanted to do a new album."

Kirley laughed. "Thanks, Lily. Maybe we'll do that."

The three couples left, Daphne and Karl for their dorm, Lily and Kieran only going as far as the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common room, and Al and Carolyn going to Ravenclaw tower, where they found the room fairly full of snuggling couples. Scorpius and Brianna were one of those couples, so they went over and sat on an empty sofa next to them.

"This is way too much company," Carolyn said with a grin. "So much for a little snogging before bedtime. What are you two doing out here?"

Brianna laughed. "Nick and Allie beat us to the office, and since they couldn't hang out in either Common room, we came in here," she said. "It seems that some of our fellow Ravenclaws don't seem to care if they have an audience or not, though."

Carolyn looked around the room. "I've never thought that snogging should be a spectator sport. We didn't get to talk to you much after dinner, did you have fun?"

Brianna nodded. "We had a blast. It's probably really wrong, but I was really disappointed that Professor Slughorn stopped Dirk from making an even bigger idiot of himself than he'd done to that point."

Scorpius laughed. "Probably, but you weren't the only one. Dirk probably would have ended up punching himself in the head if he'd taken a swing at me. At least it was fun watching him fall on his butt when Slughorn surprised him."

They talked until Lily returned to the Common room just before the one-thirty deadline.

"Made it!" she said, breathlessly sitting next to Carolyn. "These gowns may be beautiful, but these shoes are killers to try running in."

Carolyn laughed and hugged her. "At least you probably had more privacy than anyone has here for your goodnight kiss. Was Allie running the other direction?"

"Didn't see her. Maybe they're counting on the Head Boy catching her out late and walking her back to her dorm safely. After that run, two hours on stage, and the rest of the night dancing, I'm beat, though," Lily told them before getting up again. "I'll see you all in a few hours."

Carolyn hugged and kissed Al, and stood too. "I'm coming too," she told Lily. "By the time we get changed and packed, we're not going to get much sleep at all."

Brianna hugged and kissed Scorpius too, then joined her two roommates. "I'm with you too," she told Carolyn and Lily. She smiled at Scorpius. "I don't mind giving Nick and Allie a break, but you owe me, Mr Malfoy. Plan on making up for that sometime over the holidays."

Al and Scorpius watched the girls leave, each boy smiling as their respective girlfriends disappeared into the stairway to their dorms.

"That was nice of you to give up your office for Nick and Allie," Al told Scorpius. "I imagine you better plan something good for that make-up time Brianna's expecting."

Scorpius smiled. "Right now, I'm more interested in how long it will be before I can go get packed and get a few hours sleep."

"If you'd been in your office, you wouldn't have been getting ready to go to sleep now anyway," Al pointed out.

"True, but I would have been having more fun than sitting here talking to you, mate," he answered.

"I'm really hurt," Al joked. "I will hang out with you until they come looking for you to rescue the past-curfew damsel in distress anyway, though."

"I appreciate that," Scorpius told him. "Have you heard anything about what will be going on over the holidays this year?"

Al shook his head. "Other than the lunch tomorrow – make that later today – I haven't heard anything. Kirley said the Weird Sisters are playing New Year's Eve at the Ministry party, so maybe you and Bree will get to go there again this year."

Scorpius nodded. "Probably. I should just get used to all of those parties and dinners if I'm going to make politics my life."

"If?" Al asked. "Having second thoughts?"

"No. I'm definitely going to work for the Ministry. The only question will be where they're going to start me."

"Whichever department gets you, those Witches and Wizards are going to be very happy campers," Al said.

Scorpius laughed. "I guess that depends on who I'm working with. There are still enough of the old guard there that some departments wouldn't be much fun for a pureblood outcast like me."

"I think we're going to see that change in our lifetime," Al told him.

"Seeing into the future?" Scorpius asked.

Al laughed. "More like playing the percentages – with ReVive we could live for upwards of three hundred years. There's bound to be some real changes in that length of time."

"I sure hope so," Scorpius answered. "It would be nice to not keep repeating history like we always seem to do."

"Maybe we'll be able to keep that from happening," Al suggested.

Nick came into the Common room from Scorpius' office, grinning at his cousin and best mate.

"I was beginning to think you were just going to stay in there all night," Scorpius joked.

"Is that an option?" Nick asked.

Scorpius stood up. "No, it isn't. I need to get Allie back to her dorm, then get back to my room, finish my packing, and get a few hours sleep. Did you finish your goodnight kissing, or do you need another minute or two?"

"We did that before I came in here," Nick told him. "Thanks for the use of your office, and for getting Allie back to her dorm after curfew."

"You're welcome, Nick," Scorpius told him. "See you guys in the morning. Sleep well."

He went into his office, where a smiling Allie was waiting for her escort to the Hufflepuff Common room. Scorpius returned her smile, went across the room to the door into the hall, and opened it for her before offering his arm.

"Shall we go, milady?" he asked. "We wouldn't want your roommates sending out a search party."

"I'm sure they know where I've been," Allie answered.

Scorpius talked his way past a terribly disappointed Mr Filch in the entrance hall before delivering Allie safely to the entrance to her Common room, then hurried back to his own quarters, changed, packed, and was about to climb into bed when there was a soft knock on the door leading in to the Ravenclaw Common room. He went out into the office, and opened the door. Brianna walked in, smiling at him, and closed the door behind her.

"I couldn't sleep," she said softly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her. "There seems to be something else on my mind that's keeping me awake."

Scorpius smiled and put his arms around her waist. "Is there anything I can do to help clear your mind so you can get to sleep?" he asked.

"I think so," she told him. "Snogging me sensless for a while will probably tire me right out, and help me get to sleep. Do you think you can handle that?"

An hour later, when she climbed into her own bed, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep, her last thought was – yes, he definitely can handle that, and quite brilliantly!

It only seemed like a few minutes later that Lily and Carolyn were waking her up, and they were joining the other students for an early breakfast, and the trip to Hogsmeade Station. Scorpius, Rose, and the prefects made sure that all of the students that were heading home were on the train before going to the prefect car for their meeting. The rest of the New Marauders all settled into their compartments, many of them deciding that a nap to catch up on their sleep was the best way to spend their time.

There were a few exceptions, like Lance and Vanessa, or Colin and Nadine, who didn't expect to see each other much over the holidays, except for Quidditch practices, and wanted to spend every moment together before they'd be separated. Lily was exchanging QuillMessages with Laura while Kieran was at his prefect meeting. Laura was sending Lily the details on the afternoon interviews that she and Kieran would be doing after the family luncheon.

For the Hogwarts students, the official start of their Christmas holidays would begin when they stepped off the train at King's Cross Station in a few short hours. The only exceptions to a universal excitement about those holidays was a handful of Slytherin Wizards who were finding the motion of the train, combined with a firewhiskey hangover, and an ill-advised decision to eat large breakfasts made for a very unpleasant morning.

While the Hogwarts Express was speeding along on it's way home, Harry, Ginny, and all of the other members of the family were getting excited about having their kids home for the holidays too.

Harry puttered around the cottage until it was time to leave. He stopped first to pick Kira up, and then they both excitedly left for King's Cross Station, and platform nine and three-quarters. As usual, they got there ahead of schedule, and had time to have a treat and a drink before making their way onto the platform to wait for the train to arrive.


	105. Home for the Holidays

Chapter One Hundred and Five – Home for the Holidays

The Hogwarts Express pulled into King's Cross Station right on time, and the doors quickly opened, and noisy, happy students boiled out of the openings, a small torrent of youthful enthusiasm. Farewell hugs and kisses happened right next to welcome home greetings, and as always, it was a fairly chaotic scene.

Harry and Kira were both smiling as they welcomed their gang home, and Kirley and Ana had met them at the station to help out with the large group of students.

Lily got to them first, and Harry happily wrapped her in his arms and held her close.

"I've missed you," Harry said as he hugged her.

"I've missed you too," she told him quietly before moving on to pick up Kira. "How are you, sweetie?" she asked the happy little girl who squeezed her neck tight and kissed her.

"Great now that you're all home again," Kira told Lily, smiling brightly at her. "I've really missed you."

Lily passed her off to Sarah when she reached them, and moved on to Kirley and Ana. "Long time no see," she joked. "You couldn't have gotten much sleep by the time you packed up and got home."

"Not much, no," Ana agreed. "It was worth losing a little sleep, and a lot of fun getting to spend a night back at the school, and seeing all of the students having fun."

Kieran joined them, hugging his parents. Most of the other kids were there by then, with just Rose and Scorpius still coming from the prefect car. Vanessa and Nadine were joining them for lunch because Colin and Lance were both coming to the luncheon too. Dennis and Demelza, and Neville and Luna, would meet the boys at the restaurant, and would also be joining them for the welcome home meal.

"Where's Rose?" Harry asked Scorpius when he finally joined them.

"Over by the prefect car, still getting welcomed home by Matt," he told Harry with a grin. "They may be a few minutes."

Harry and the others hadn't seen Matt get there, and so while they waited for Rose and Matt to join them, he and Kirley got to work Translocating luggage to all of the houses they needed to get delivered to. A smiling Rose and Matt joined them before they were done, and then they all took the TransPortal to the Mall.

Since the end of school lunch in June had been cancelled due mostly to all the wedding-related appointments, it had been a year since the last family welcome home luncheon, and maybe that's why it seemed louder than usual this time. For some of the guests attending for the first time, it was probably shockingly noisy. Daphne's parents were probably the most amazed, although their attendance had, at the very least, surprised several other guests too.

This travel day seemed to be one of those rarities, when there weren't any major activities going on for some or all of the returning students. After lunch, they were all pretty much free to do whatever they wanted while parents went back to work for the afternoon before most of them would be starting a long holiday weekend.

Lily and Kieran had to leave with Laura for their afternoon of interviews, of course, but after everyone else left, Harry, Matt, and Kira were left with all of the students, waiting to decide what they all wanted to do.

"What do you think we should do?" Sarah asked Kira, who'd claimed Sarah after Lily had left.

Kira smiled up at her. "I've been learning about telling time," she told Sarah. "I learned that when it's after lunch here, the Marauders Mall in New York City is just opening up for the day. We could go there and start the day all over again!"

Sarah, and most of the other kids laughed.

"Most of us have dinner plans," Harry told her. "Anyone who wants to go there, though, can do that. You all know where you're supposed to be for dinner tonight, and what time you need to be there, so you just have to make sure you get back in time for those dinners. I can do New York for about three hours, and then have to be back home."

Rose and Matt opted to stay and shop where they were, while about half of the remaining group chose an afternoon at the Marauders Mall in Paris, and the rest, including Harry and Kira, went to New York.

There was a family shopping day on Saturday, so the girls had decided that while in New York they should spend today checking out the latest fashions, which left the boys to wander around, though they'd split up, most of them planning on doing some Christmas shopping.

Al and Scorpius had paired up, and were checking out one of the jewellery stores.

"You won't find what you're looking for in that case, mate," Al told his friend, who jerked his head up from the case of watches he had been blankly looking down at. When he saw the knowing look on Al's face, he laughed.

"That's fairly unnerving, you know," he answered. "Okay," he continued, taking a deep breath, "since I'm obviously busted, let's go take a look at the rings. Do you know which one I'm supposed to pick too?" he asked.

"No, but between the two of us, I'm sure you'll find one that'll be perfect."

Scorpius smiled at him. "What about you? When do you plan on asking Carolyn?"

"There's only one day that's appropriate for us," he answered, and Scorpius nodded.

"Should have known – Valentine's Day, and the first kiss when you were two, right?"

Al nodded. "Right, and just for the record, although I don't really make a deal of it, since the whole family always jokes about me getting my first Valentine's kiss when I was two, but I was actually three going on four, and Carolyn was almost three."

Scorpius laughed. "I stand corrected. You should still be looking for a ring too, though. The selection here has to be way better than Hogsmeade." He saw Al smiling and laughed again. "You've already got it, don't you?"

"Yes. I found it when we were travelling last summer," Al confirmed.

"I wish we could take the time off and travel like that this summer, but I'll be working full time starting the Monday after Rose and Matt's wedding, and Brianna will be an intern this summer."

"You could see about getting Matt to book you some weekend getaways, though," Al suggested.

"Maybe," Scorpius agreed. "That'll probably depend on what my job's going to be. I could be working on weekends. Speaking of jobs, you never talk about what you're going to do after school. Have you decided?"

"Yes, but I haven't told anyone except Carolyn," Al told him.

Scorpius waited, but Al didn't say anything else. "That's it? Can't you even give me a hint?"

Al laughed. "Okay. The application had to be delivered today, so I sent it yesterday from school."

Scorpius stared at him. "Al, you better tell everyone tonight. That news will be in the papers by tomorrow. Monday at the latest."

"What makes you say that?" Al asked. "The process is supposed to be confidential."

It was Scorpius' turn to laugh. "In the Ministry of Magic? You have got to be kidding, right? The only way your news isn't all over the Ministry by now is if your Owl Post hasn't been read yet."

Al groaned. "Figures. I was hoping it wouldn't go public until the candidate applicants are notified on March first. It can't be helped, I guess. How about that ring?" he said, pointing out a sparkling ring with a large diamond with a pair of smaller diamonds on each side of it. It's beautiful, and fitting the fiancée of a future high-ranking Ministry of Magic official."

"Nice one changing the subject," Scorpius said, as he motioned for help from one of the jewellers, and pointed out the ring they wanted to see.

"Thank-you. I thought it was smooth," Al said, then watched as Scorpius looked at the ring carefully.

"This is beautiful," Scorpius said after a moment. "Do you think Brianna will like it?"

"Absolutely," Al assured his friend. "I suspect it wouldn't matter to Bree if the ring was made out of plastic as long as you were proposing, but this one will do nicely."

Scorpius nodded. "I'll take this one," he told the jeweller, who nodded and took it back to polish and box it for the young Wizard.

"I've no doubt your application will be accepted," Scorpius said, returning to what they'd been discussing. "What made you decide on that career?"

Al shrugged and smiled. "I just know it's what I'm supposed to do," he answered. "Or at least part of it."

"Could you be a bit more cryptic – or mystical for me?" Scorpius said with a laugh.

"Probably," Al said, laughing too. "Let's just leave it at that, though."

"Okay, mate. I'll send you a QuillMessage if the news back home is all about you after Uncle Percy gets home from the Ministry."

"I'd appreciate that," Al told him as Scorpius paid for, and received, the engagement ring. "If we're done here, why don't we go watch the girls try on clothes until it's time to go?"

Scorpius grinned. "Do you think they'll let us?"

Al laughed again. "I did say watch them try on clothes, mate, not watch them change."

"I guess that'll be fun too," Scorpius said as they left the store.

"Are you going to be able to get that grin off of your face before we meet up with the girls?" Al asked. "If you don't, Brianna's going to know something is up."

"I'll try," Scorpius said, still grinning.

"Think about your grandfather," Al suggested, and watched a Scorpius grinned even more.

"That wouldn't work, since when you said that, the first thing I thought about was him losing his mind when he finds out I'm engaged to Brianna."

Al shook his head. "He wouldn't see it that way, mate. Lucius will see you getting engaged to her as exactly what he'd expect for you – to marry a poor orphan girl. He'll never be able to see how amazing Brianna is."

Scorpius lost his grin as he listened to Al, and then nodded his agreement. "You're right, Al. That is what he'd think."

"Don't let it bug you, Scorpius. You'll have lots of other chances to drive him crazy as you two become two of the movers and shakers at the Ministry."

"More predictions?" Scorpius asked, and Al laughed.

"Not this time. Everyone thinks you two are going places in the Ministry."

"I don't see how anyone can know that. The Ministry is still a minefield, and it's easy enough to blow up your political career there," Scorpius said seriously.

"True, but when you think about it, Uncle Percy is a good example of being able to do that, and still survive. He made enough bad choices, but eventually he figured it all out, and turned out pretty decent in the end."

"He never talks about the years at the Ministry before the war ended," Scorpius noted.

Al nodded. "No wonder there. He didn't think he was doing it at the time, but he was fighting on the wrong side of the war – or at least was going along with the Minister and other Ministry officials who were all playing right into Voldemort's hands back then."

"My grandparents and their pals all loved to talk about the good old days," Scorpius said. "My Dad didn't, though. Probably because my grandfather likes to lay a lot of the blame on his shoulders for all of his failures."

"Your grandfather had enough of his own," Al pointed out.

Scorpius laughed. "He doesn't seem to recall those moments so well."

"I wonder why?" Al said with a smile.

They caught up with Harry and the girls, and spent the next couple of hours helping him carry bags and watching the girls enjoy an afternoon playing dress-up. At four-thirty home time, they met back up with everyone that had come to New York, and left for the cottage.

Scorpius and Brianna were doing dinner with Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, and Allie's parents at the townhouse, so they left to go there. Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy were all going out to dinner with Teddy, Victoire, Isabelle, and Stewart, and went off with Teddy when he came to get them just after five. Frederica and Liam left for dinner with their parents, and Lily and Kieran would be getting to the cottage after their last interview was finished.

With most of the kids elsewhere for the evening, that left Harry with dinner for eight to cook, and he and Al got started on it. Ginny got home about the same time that Teddy had stopped in to get Dale and the girls, and Lily and Kieran got there about five thirty. They were all sitting around the table, talking, while Al and Harry worked. Al's WiComm chimed, and he took a minute to check the message, even though he was sure what it said.

"What's up?" Ginny asked him, when she saw the look on his face as he read Scorpius' message.

Al sighed and smiled at his mother. "Uncle Percy came home with the news that my application to join the Aurors was all over the Ministry by late this afternoon," he said quietly. Since neither his Mum or Dad looked surprised, he knew his father must have been pretty sure this was coming. Lily, Kieran, Joel, and Sarah all looked surprised, and Lily got up and hugged him.

"Do you think you could send out a few qm's to let some of the family know that it'll probably be hitting the newspapers by morning, Mum?" Al asked. "It may even make the WWVN news tonight. I'd hate for Grandma to find out that way."

Ginny nodded. "Sure, honey," she answered, pulling out her WiComm. "It'll only take a minute."

That was a bit of an under-estimation, as the QuillMessages began to fly between Ginny and her Mum, sisters-in-laws, and a few friends, but word had gotten around by the time dinner was served.

"Are we doing anything after dinner tonight?" Lily asked as they started to eat.

Ginny nodded. "We're going to the residence for the evening to see the kids that are back from school, since we'll be busy the rest of the weekend – until we go there on Christmas Eve. Even that's going to be a shorter visit this year, because we're going to be at the Academy on Christmas Eve too. You're all welcome to come, or you can all do your own thing instead."

Lily looked at Kieran, who shrupped, leaving it up to her.

"I think Kieran and I will stay here," Lily said. "We've got shopping all day tomorrow, the Christmas concert tomorrow night, and the rest of the holiday weekend will be just as busy."

Joel and Sarah decided to stay at the cottage too, while Al and Carolyn chose to go to the residence with Harry and Ginny.

"What's up for the rest of the holidays?" Carolyn asked. "We didn't hear much about it at lunch today."

Harry smiled at her. "Don't plan on getting much rest the next few days," he answered. "We have the shopping tomorrow, and the concert tomorrow night. On Sunday, we have the family dinner at the Burrow, at noon, and we're the morning volunteer helpers. Sunday night we're spending Christmas Eve with James and Arianna at the Academy, although like Ginny just mentioned to Lily, we'll probably pop over to the residence for a little while. We have the normal Christmas Day morning here at the cottage, and then we'll be at the residence for their Christmas party and dinner for the rest of the day."

"Not including any of the activities that some of you have going on too," Ginny said. "Like your family Christmas, Kieran, or Brianna's normal Christmas Eve party at the Ministry."

"I can hardly wait to see the Academy and meet those kids," Carolyn said.

Sarah nodded. "Me too. Not that it's a good thing that there are so many of us, but being someplace where there are a bunch of kids like Joel and I, and getting to hang out with them could be really great."

"You'll all love the place, and the kids," Harry told them. "Anyway, to continue on with the holiday plans, we don't have anything booked for the rest of the week, but next weekend, we have the home game against the Magpies on Saturday, and then we'll be spending the rest of the New Year's holiday weekend on the island, coming back on Monday evening. Some of us have other commitments we'll have to attend on New Year's Eve, but we can all travel back and forth for them, and even be back on the island in time for the midnight fireworks on the island on Sunday night."

"Most of the rest of the holidays are open right now for nearly everyone except Lily and Kieran," Ginny said. "That'll give you lots of time for your revisions, Quidditch, and resting up and having a bit of fun."

"That all sounds great," Carolyn said. "Especially that last part. It's been a pretty busy school year so far."

They talked through the rest of dinner, enjoying the chance to catch up with each other when there wasn't a big crowd. After eating, they cleaned up, and then Harry, Ginny, Al, and Carolyn got ready and left for the residence.

Over at the townhouse, the dinner conversation had begun with Percy telling the others all about the gossip and rumours that news of Albus' application to the Aurors had caused around the Ministry.

"The Minister wasn't very happy that an applicant's name got leaked to the press," Percy told the others. "The faithful gossip network is reporting that not only was his name released, but someone gave out an actual copy of his application."

Scorpius smiled. "And all they'll get off of that is his school record, which is nothing but a long list of Outstanding grades."

Penelope laughed. "Which with a mere nine subjects puts him in second place in school academics behind Lily, with you, Nick, and Rose tied for third."

"You watch," Nick said. "The media will probably pick on his application because he hasn't been a prefect or Head Boy, or House Quidditch captain."

"Neither has Lily," Brianna pointed out.

"True," Nick agreed, "but she does have that number one spot on the academics, and is going to graduate two years early."

"That could be an advantage for Al," Allie said. "Having him in the Aurors will certainly be good for Scorpius and Brianna's political careers."

"It won't hurt mine or Dad's either," Percy told her with a laugh. "Friends among the Aurors is always a good thing in politics."

"I was really surprised that he applied," Penelope said. "I don't remember ever hearing him talk about wanting to be an Auror, or to work for the Ministry. Has he ever said anything to any of you?" she asked the four teens.

They looked at each other, and all shook their heads.

"I'm sure he told Carolyn," Brianna answered. "I actually thought he'd end up working for the Foundation, like Teddy, or at the Institute."

"I'm sure he had his reasons to keep his plans quiet," Scorpius said. He'll be a brilliant Auror, though, so I'm glad he's going to be joining."

"There's no way the Ministry would reject his application," Allie's mother said quietly. "Even if he wasn't the best candidate in years, the public would go nuts – there were a lot of Witches and Wizards who never understood why Harry didn't become an Auror."

"As if spending seven years of your life fighting a Dark Wizard and his army wasn't enough reason," Percy told her. "Not to mention the rest of what he lived through."

"Well, I don't imagine that everyone will be happy with the news," Nick said. "The bad guys could be in for a very rough time with Al on the job."

"I find that the prospect of their discomfort about that fairly easy to take," Percy said with a big smile. "There are certainly enough Aurors that look the other way far too often."

"Well," Penelope said, "as interesting as politics is for three of us, why don't we move on and start talking about important things – like what we have to get done for the wedding over the holidays."

That effectively put an end to talking politics for the rest of dinner, and the four Witches spent the rest of dinner talking wedding, while the men motioned or voiced agreements at appropriate times, or when prompted.

While wedding talk ruled at the townhouse for the rest of the evening, back at the cottage it was every couple for themselves. Lily and Kieran went up to her room to practice for the concert they had on Saturday night. That left Joel and Sarah with the sitting room all to themselves, so they snuggled close on one of the sofas and turned on the WWVN.

"This worked out rather well for us," Sarah said happily. "This feels like the first time we've been alone in months."

"We do have company in the house," Joel pointed out, and then grinned. "I don't hear much music coming from Lily's room, though."

Sarah laughed. "They're probably using a silencing spell."

Joel shook his head. "We're not at school," he reminded her. "They can't use magic here."

"I keep forgetting Lily's only fifteen," Sarah admitted. "They ought to make an exception for underage NEWT students."

"Since she's probably the only one there's ever been, they probably have to make up the rules as they go. She'll be graduating in June, but would still have to wait nearly a year before she can take her apparition test or use magic outside of school. They must be planning on making some exceptions for her to deal with that."

"I'm sure they will," Sarah agreed. "Why don't you pick a Christmas movie for us to pretend to watch, and then we can snog each other senseless while we have the opportunity."

"That is a brilliant idea," Joel said with a grin, even as he randomly picked a show that neither of them would even be able to name when asked later by an amused Ginny.

Lily and Kieran were about ready to begin a little snogging session of their own. They had practiced for nearly an hour after dinner, and were now packing up. Joel had been right about Lily not being able to use magic, but he hadn't thought about the possibility that she'd gotten Al to put a silencing spell on her room before he'd left for the residence.

"Were your Mum and Dad okay with not having you or Karl home for dinner tonight?" Lily asked.

Kieran nodded. "I'm sure they would have liked us there, but since we'll be doing dinner with them tomorrow, and will be having Christmas Day with my family, it's all good. You and I will have to miss the residence party, though."

"We can pop in there Christmas Eve to give the presents to Nadine and Vanessa," Lily answered. "I didn't ask, but hopefully Dad got tickets for them to come tomorrow night."

"I'm sure he did," Kieran said as he closed his guitar case. "He usually has all of those little details well in hand."

Lily had put her keyboard away, lay down on her bed with a big sigh, and patted a spot on the bed next to her.

"Enough practicing, and talking about anything else except you and me," she told Kieran as he came and sat on the bed next to her. "In fact," she added, reaching out, and pulling him down to lay next to her, "enough doing anything except some serious snogging."

She gave Kieran plenty of opportunity to respond – just not verbally, as she kissed him soundly, and kept him busy until they heard Harry, Ginny, Al, and Carolyn returning home. By that time, Kieran needed to leave for home anyway, and the rest of them weren't long in going up to bed, a very long day on Saturday ahead of them.

James and Arianna were at the Academy early – before the kids had finished breakfast on Saturday. The kids had all gone on one previous Christmas shopping trip over the past couple of weeks, but today, they were taking all of them to the mall.

The older teens only had the restriction of going in groups of two to four, without supervision, while the younger kids were in groups of four with one or two chaperones that were a mix of volunteers, teachers, and academy staff members.

By the time breakfast was finished, and the cleanup started, the group of adults that would be going along with the students were all there and ready to go. James had already handed out money to all of the students on Friday, so they were all set there. Twenty-six of the teens had joined groups that would be at the mall on their own, while the remaining twenty-four kids would be in six groups with chaperones. Aaron, Tracey, Mark, and Callie were taking two of those groups, while James and Arianna took a third, and the other three groups were covered by Academy staff.

"Ready to go?" James asked his group when they were together.

He and Arianna had eight-year olds Rowena, Melody, and Nicole, and nine-year old Dillon in their group, and James received five excited nods in response to his question, including Arianna, who smiled as brightly at him as the kids.

"Let's go do some shopping, then!" he said, leading them outside, where they took the TransPortal to the Marauders Mall.

"Where to first?" James asked. "We've rented a private dining room for everyone for lunch, and we have three hours until we have to be there, and then we have the whole afternoon to continue shopping after that, so we have lots of time."

"Why don't you and Dillon go do your own thing for a while," Arianna suggested, "and we girls will go do a little clothes shopping for the morning."

James grinned at Dillon. "You mean you wouldn't find watching the girls try on clothes all morning fun?"

Dillon grinned back. "Compared to hanging around with you all morning? Not a chance. Let's go before they change their minds."

The two boys met up with Aaron on their way in to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. He was with ten-year old Horatio, and eight-year old Franklin, Tracey doing the same thing, and taking the two girls in their group shopping for clothes.

"How's it going, Franklin, H," James said in greeting. "So you escaped too. Way to go." Horatio still never answered to anything except 'H', and didn't show any signs of ever changing his mind about how he felt about his given name.

"It was a close call," Aaron joked. "The girls wanted us to carry the bags around for them, but we convinced them that it'd be better if we just stayed out of their way."

"We'll have more fun playing anyway," James predicted. "Do you have any specific gifts you still want to buy today that we can deal with this morning?" he asked the three boys. They all nodded, and told him what they wanted to pick up.

"Sounds like we can do most of that together," Aaron said. "We should definitely go in here first, though. A few boxes of Christmas Wheezes and a couple or three MagicMistletoes will definitely liven things up at the Academy for the next few days."

The three young boys all grinned at that, and happily followed the two young men into the store. Most of the other members of the family were at the Mall for at least the morning too. James, Aaron, and the boys crossed paths with quite a few of them fairly regularly as they wandered the mall, including offering condolences to Mark, who didn't seem to be at all upset with being out shopping with Callie, and the four girls they were chaperoning around for the day.

Lunch was more hectic for the twelve adults as they had fifty kids and teens to get fed with as little chaos as possible before going back out into the mall to continue shopping.

Most of the kids had a gift or two they wanted to get for friends, and nearly everyone had at least one or two staff members that they wanted to get something for. Most of the teachers would probably stop in over the weekend for a visit, but they were actually all off on vacation for two weeks, so they'd done a little afternoon Christmas party with them on Friday, and their students had given them gifts then.

James and Arianna started gathering all of the students and chaperones together, and had them all back at the Academy by four o'clock. They had everyone get together in the dining hall, and James stood at the front of the room, while the others sat at the tables.

"Hopefully you all had fun today," he began, smiling at the happy-looking faces he saw around the room.

"You've got about an hour and a half until dinner, so I'd like you all to go and get cleaned up and dressed in your best suits and dresses. We have eight hair and makeup volunteers that are available to help the girls. They'll be in your Common rooms to help you. When you're all ready, meet back here at five-thirty for dinner."

"Why are we getting all dressed up?" Gabe asked him.

James smiled at him, his eyes sparkling. "Because after dinner, we're all going to the Magick Theatre in London." He didn't have to wait long for the response, which came nearly immediately from most of the girls.

"To see the SpellBound Christmas concert?" Melody said, jumping up and hugging Arianna.

"I see some of you ladies have been keeping up with the WMVN concert listings," James answered. "Yes, my sister and her boyfriend were nice enough to send us tickets, and they're going to stop in here after the concert for some treats and to meet all of you."

He laughed as the announcement earned him a bunch of hugs before the girls all rushed off to start getting ready, the boys following after them, maybe not as enthusiastic, but certainly looking forward to getting to go see a concert at the famous theatre.

"Nicely done," Arianna told him after the room had been deserted. "I guess we should all get home and ready ourselves if we're coming back here for dinner."

James hugged and kissed her. "Thanks. You and I have to be back here for that," he said, as Aaron, Tracey, Mark, and Callie gathered around them. "You guys can do your own dinner instead if you want, or join us here. We just need to let the cooks know before we leave."

The other two couples exchanged looks, and Tracey answered. "We'll meet you back here. While having a few glasses of wine over dinner might be nice instead, drinking and then chaperoning isn't a good idea. It'll be fun hanging out with these kids when they're this excited too."

"Why don't you all go ahead," James said. "I'll get a couple of things done here, then meet you at home, Arianna."

While the students of the Academy were busy getting ready to go see the SpellBound Christmas concert, Lily and Kieran went to the theatre to do their sound check, then had dinner with Kirley, Ana, Karl, and Daphne before getting ready for the concert themselves.

The boys were in the sitting room, waiting for the girls to finish getting ready. They were all in suits and ties, Kirley and Karl because everyone dressed up to attend any show at the Magick Theatre, and Kieran because he and Lily were dressing up for this concert instead of wearing their normal show outfits.

"Did you two get all of your shopping done today?" Kirley asked.

"I did," Karl answered. "If Daphne and Lily hadn't been keeping us on track, though, I might not have."

"You and Daphne had more work to do – you have three family Christmases to attend while Lily and I only have two," Kieran told his friend.

"Don't remind me," Karl said. "I'm really nervous about that Christmas party with Daphne's family. Some of her aunts and uncles aren't exactly the nicest Witches and Wizards in the world."

"Just stick with Daphne and her parents," Kirley recommended. "You'll be fine."

Karl smiled faintly. "I hope so. Daphne doesn't seem to be looking forward to it, so that's what mostly has me on edge."

"Whatever happens, you'll at least be going from there to our Christmas dinner at Grandma's, so you'll have that to look forward to," Kieran said, and Karl nodded. "Besides, by the time you're done with the Weasley family Christmas tomorrow, you'll both be on happy overload, and that should carry you through whatever Daphne's family can throw at you."

Ana, then finally Lily and Daphne joined them, and they left for the theatre together. Ana went backstage with Kieran and Lily, and Kirley went to check on things with the sound and lighting, leaving Karl and Daphne on their own. There was still nearly an hour until the concert started, so they went for a walk to check out the beautiful building.

"I've been here a couple of times," Daphne told Karl, "but this is the first time I've actually really just walked around and taken a look at the place. It's really pretty cool. Whoever built the place put a lot of thought into every tiny little detail."

Karl smiled. "Is it? I was busy admiring you, and didn't notice. You look amazing tonight."

Daphne returned his smile, and squeezed his arm. "Thank-you. You're looking pretty great yourself."

"Too bad we have such a long night ahead of us," Karl answered. "By the time we get home from the concert and visit to the Academy, there won't be any me and you time left."

"You could always sneak into my room and cuddle with me for the few hours of sleep we'll get," she suggested, which had Karl grinning, and his eyes sparkling.

"That is a brilliant suggestion," he said. "Now we'll see if I can pay attention to anything else going on tonight, since I'll be thinking about that for most of the night."

Daphne laughed. "Let's go to the reception hall," she told him. "Some of the others should be arriving by now, and we can hang out with them until the concert starts."

When they got to the hall, they met up with Al, Carolyn, Sarah, and Joel, who were hanging out together while Harry and Ginny were talking with James, Arianna, and some of the kids from the Academy.

"James looks happy," Karl said to the others. "It looks like those kids think a lot of him too."

Al nodded. "We met a few of them today around the mall, and he's definitely as popular with his students as Susan is with the kids at the residence."

They heard a shout from the group of students, and Al and Carolyn both smiled as they all looked over at the group, which now included Grandma and Grandpa Weasley.

"What's up? Daphne asked.

"They're drawing the names of six students who are going to watch the concert from Grandma and Grandpa's private balcony box," Carolyn answered. "That is going to be very cool for the kids and teens that get to do that."

Molly and Arthur were smiling too as they watched the excited group of kids as the six names were drawn, and then had two of the older boys give up their winning seats to two of the youngest girls. When they'd finished sorting that out, they ended up with six young Witches that they led off to the balcony level of the theatre, while the others waited for the doors to open to the main theatre.

With such a large group tonight, the family was split up into several areas of the theatre, so when the doors opened, they spread out to different parts of the theatre to find their seats. Daphne and Karl had been put with Harry, Ginny, and their group, so they sat down next to Al and Carolyn.

"Are you all going to the Academy after the show?" Karl asked Al, who nodded in answer.

"Yeah. We usually all go out after these theatre nights anyway, so I'm pretty sure most of the family is going there after the concert instead of going out."

"It'll be nice having the company," Karl said. "Lily and Kieran will probably be tied up the whole time with meeting as many of the students as they can while we're there."

"There are enough older teens that we can all meet and hang out with that it should be fun," Carolyn said.

They talked quietly until the lights went down, and Lily and Kieran were introduced. Their friends walked out on stage together, Lily in a beautiful, shimmering black dress, and Kieran in a tux.

This concert was much different than their usual shows. There was a lot more audience participation, as Lily and Kieran prompted everyone to join in for favourite carols. They had fun with old favourites like 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs', and mixed in some Muggle Christmas songs that were completely new for many of the Witches and Wizards in attendance.

They performed for over an hour, had a short intermission, and then continued the show for another hour and a half. The audience were pulled along as Lily and Kieran deftly moved from fun or comedic songs that had everyone smiling and laughing, to songs that tugged at hearts and brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience.

When the concert was over, Ginny sent a qm to Ana, letting her know that Karl and Daphne would go with them, and meet Kirley, Ana, Lily, and Kieran at the Academy, and they joined James, Arianna, the Academy students, and the rest of the family before they all took the TransPortal to the Academy. There was a table set up in the dining hall with drinks, desserts, and snacks, and they all got drinks and filled plates, then sat around the tables and chatted while they waited for Lily and Kieran to get there.

Al, Carolyn, Karl, and Daphne sat with Bert, Gabe, Krystal, and Glenda after being introduced to them by Harry and Ginny, while Joel and Sarah were mixed in with Tyler, Nate, Kylie, and Janine. The other New Marauders that were there were spread out around the room with other groups of Academy students.

"This hall is smaller, but it's a lot like the dining hall at the foundation residences," Carolyn said to Glenda and the others. "Are your bedrooms set up around Common rooms too?"

Glenda nodded and smiled. "James says they're a lot the same, just not as many rooms. None of us have been to one of the residences though. I guess you would have been there lots of times with Harry and Ginny."

Carolyn smiled back at Glenda. "I mostly grew up at the Lily Evans residence," she told the other girl.

"You did? For how long?" Krystal asked.

"I guess it was just over eleven years," Carolyn answered, thinking about it for a moment. "Brianna and I had just finished our second year at Hogwarts when Harry and Ginny had us come live with them during the summer and Christmas Holidays instead of staying at the residence."

Krystal nodded. "Where do you fit into the family?" she asked Karl and Daphne. "I don't know how you all can keep up with everyone there's so many."

Karl laughed. "I'm one of the students from Hogwarts that were put under the protection of the Phoenix Foundation a year ago. James brought nine of us home for the Holidays last Christmas. I spent those holidays with Kieran McCormack and his parents, and I've stayed with them over the holidays ever since."

Daphne put her arm through his. "I'm Karl's girlfriend," she told Krystal, "so they've included me in most of the family fun."

"You were abused by your parents too?" Gabe asked Karl, who nodded. Harry had warned him ahead of time that some of the kids at the Academy were becoming much more open about talking about their pasts than maybe he was used to, so he wasn't surprised at the blunt question.

"As long as I can remember," Karl answered. "This last year or so has been the total opposite of what my life was like before the Foundation announced their child abuse program."

Gabe smiled at him. "I know the feeling. Four months ago, I couldn't even read, and now, after the holidays, I get to start learning magic."

"You covered six years of school in four months?" Daphne asked in amazement.

Glenda answered. "A whole group of us did, thanks to a lot of help from our teachers here, and tutors like Harry and Ginny."

"It was a lot of work too," Krystal added. "It was worth it, though. They've warned us that catching up on seven years of magic lessons won't go nearly that fast, and we'll have to keep working hard."

"You've done brilliantly to learn that much is such a short time," Carolyn told them. "You should be very proud of yourselves."

Lily, Kieran, Kirley, and Ana came into the dining hall right then, and since the table Al, Carolyn, and the other teens were sitting at was one of the closest to the door, they were diverted for a few minutes as Al introduced Lily and Kieran to Gabe, Krystal, Glenda, and Bert.

"How'd you like the concert?" Lily asked them after the introductions. "We didn't put you to sleep, did we?"

"It was amazing," Krystal answered. "Those Muggle songs you did were great, and I knew all of the songs from your Christmas album."

"You know all of the songs from all of their albums," Gabe said with a laugh. "I know half of them just from listening to you singing along with your 3D-VMP."

Krystal blushed and smiled, but didn't deny the claim. Lily hugged her for a second time.

"Don't let his teasing bother you," she said. "That's nothing compared to the teasing I get at school. I'm not sure which is worse – when they tease me about singing our own songs, or about when I'm singing songs I like from other groups."

Lily and Kieran moved on as quickly as they'd arrived, leaving the four teens a bit overwhelmed.

"You get used to it – eventually," Al told them.

"Is she always like that?" Bert asked. He'd barely said a word since they'd sat down together, allowing the other three teens to carry the conversation.

"Fired up, and lots of hugs and affection?" Carolyn asked. "Yes, pretty much all of the time. You must have noticed that the whole family is like that – she's just by far the best at it."

"She might be the best at it in the whole world," Glenda said, laughing. "I'm glad to see that she's just as real off the stage."

Al grinned at her. "She's got two loving brothers to bring her back down if her head gets too big," he joked.

"Right," Carolyn said, squeezing his hand. "She has you both wrapped around her little finger, and you know it. Besides, she never gets full of herself anyway."

They spent nearly two hours at the Academy while Lily and Kieran were introduced to all of the students. Al, Carolyn, Karl, and Daphne were taken on a tour of the place by their four new acquaintances. They were introduced to some of the other teens, and played a few 3D GameWizard games.

When it was finally time to leave, Al and Carolyn went home with Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah, while Karl and Daphne went home with Lily, Kieran, Kirley, and Ana.

"You can stay up for a while if you want," Ana told them, hugging each of the teens before taking Kirley's hand. "We're going to get some sleep, though. See you in the morning."

Kirley waved goodnight as she led him away. Kieran and Lily sat on one of the sofas, and Kieran turned on the WWVN.

"Want to watch a show?" he asked, looking up at Karl and Daphne.

Daphne looked at her watch. "Not me," she answered. "It's late, and it's going to be a long day tomorrow. Walk me to my room?" she asked Karl, who grinned and bobbed his head.

"Sure. It's been a long enough day already. Want me to bring you out a nice warm blanket so you're comfortable when you fall asleep on that sofa?" he asked Kieran and Lily.

"Sure, mate," Kieran answered. "Thanks."

A few minutes later, Kieran and Lily were laid out on the sofa, snuggled close, with a soft comforter tucked around them, while Karl had returned to the guest wing.

"Want to guess which room they're in?" Lily whispered when they both faintly heard a couple too many door closings from the guest wing.

"Hers," Kieran said confidently. "So what do you want to watch?"

Lily smiled. "Nothing. I'm exhausted too. Turn it off, and let's get some sleep," she told him before kissing him softly and settling more deeply into his embrace.

He turned off the WWVN, and since they'd already turned down the lights, the room was plunged into darkness.

"Good night, Lily," Kieran whispered. "I love you."

Lily moved slightly in his arms, and kissed him tenderly again, this time a longer, lingering kiss. "I love you too, Kieran," she responded as she nestled close again, and closed her eyes.

Kieran heard her breathing level out almost immediately, and lay there for long minutes, enjoying the simple pleasure of holding Lily in his arms as she drifted off to sleep. When he closed his eyes and followed her into slumber, it was with a profound sense of peace and contentment.

Harry was cooking breakfast for just six in the morning. Dale had been a last minute overnight guest for Stewart and Isabelle, who had been happy to rescue him from a morning of work at the Burrow. Al was next downstairs, and helped out by setting the table and getting juices, fruit, and croissants, muffins, and buns set out.

"I was expecting to find you and Carolyn on the sofa this morning," Harry said as they worked.

"Thought about it, but we were beat, and decided to just go up to our rooms and get some sleep," Al answered. "We probably weren't fifteen minutes behind you."

Harry nodded. "We weren't awake that long. Did you sleep well?"

Al shook his head. "Not really. Had a lot going through my head after everything – especially with the news about my application to the Aurors coming out so much earlier than I'd expected. There were even a few students from school that I saw at the Mall who stopped me to ask about the reports."

"At least the reporters aren't hounding you," Harry pointed out. "You'll be accepted, and you wouldn't start until September, so why is it keeping you awake?"

"That's only part of it," Al answered, sitting at the table, his work finished. "I'll be moving into the house in Hogsmeade after school – or after Matt and Rose are married – I haven't really talked about that with Matt yet, and then there's what you have planned for me after school to consider too."

Harry turned and looked at Al for a moment. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised," he finally said.

"Have you talked with anyone about it yet?" Al asked.

"No. I was going to wait until after the holidays to start on everything. There won't be any problems with any of that," Harry said confidently, and Al nodded.

"It won't be until next summer that things will get interesting," Al told his father, then he grinned. "Very interesting."

Harry laughed. "Is that deduction or divination?"

Al laughed too. "Mostly deduction, and a little high-probability divination."

"You're okay with it, though?" Harry asked seriously.

"You and I both know it's what is meant to be," Al answered, "and I'll be ready to handle it when the time comes."

"Ready for what?" Carolyn asked as she entered the kitchen, going over to hug Harry before sitting next to Al and hugging him.

"For my future," Al told her as he returned her hug.

"You mystics are so obscure sometimes. Since everyone knows about the Auror thing now, you must be referring to part two of what you told me."

"We can be," Al agreed, "and yes, that'd be what we've been talking about, although you and probably Mum are the only two besides Dad and I that are in the loop right now."

"Which is two more than I expected," Harry told them with a big smile. "Having a kid better at Divination than I am takes all the fun out of doing surprises."

Al laughed. "You'll have plenty of others to surprise, and it's not like either of us know everything that's going to happen. How boring would that be if we did?"

They heard more footsteps on the stairs, so dropped the topic as Joel, Sarah, and Ginny joined them in the kitchen. Breakfast didn't take long, and then they cleaned up, and got ready to leave for the Burrow, and a morning helping to get everything ready for the family Christmas dinner.

"Any idea how many people will be here today?" Joel asked Al as they de-gnomed the garden together.

"I'm not sure, mate," Al answered. "Probably between fifty and sixty, including extra guests like Callie and Mark."

"It'll be nice to get some time to talk with them," Joel said. "Sarah messages Callie a lot, but I've never really gotten in to QuillMessages much. Mark and your parents are pretty much the only ones that send me messages anyway."

"I don't message much either," Al responded, "but that'll probably chance a lot next year when Carolyn is still at school and I'm out."

"Probably," Joel agreed. He grabbed a gnome, spun it around a few times, and tossed it far out over the fence.

"Nice toss," Al complimented him, grabbing a gnome too.

"I'll never understand why they all come out of their holes to watch when you start de-gnoming," Joel said conversationally as they worked. "The only way they could be any dimmer would be if they lined up to wait their turn to get tossed."

"I'm not complaining. This would be a lot harder if we had to dig them out of those holes," Al said.

While they worked outside, Harry, Ginny, Sarah, and Carolyn were busy helping in the kitchen and around the house. Carolyn and Ginny were working with Molly, while Harry and Sarah were in the sitting room setting up there.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do next summer?" Molly asked Carolyn as they worked, "or what you want to do when you're finished school?"

"Not really," Carolyn answered. "I've mostly just done babysitting, and then Al and I took last summer off. That won't help me much in finding work."

"I didn't start working until after our kids were grown up," Molly told her with a smile. "I'd say babysitting prepares you pretty well for future jobs. You're one of the top students in your year too. I'm surprised you're not being recruited for an internship somewhere."

Carolyn smiled. "Thank-you. I wish there was some recruiting going on, but there isn't. Probably because compared to the rest of our group at school, I might be the quietest, so I get missed."

Molly stopped long enough to hug her before continuing her work.

"Well, I've noticed you. How'd you like to come be my intern this summer? I'll match the pay that Victoire scooped Allie for last year, and if it works out for both of us, then you could come and work for me full-time after you graduate."

Molly and Ginny both laughed when Carolyn hugged Molly, then Ginny.

"I have no idea what Allie was getting paid," Carolyn said, but it's a definite 'yes' for me. Thank-you, Grandma."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," Molly told her. "I'll get the usual paperwork to you sometime over the holidays."

They all worked hard until noon, then got themselves cleaned up and ready to welcome the rest of the family. Harry and Al were in charge of serving drinks to new arrivals, while Arthur, Molly, and Ginny welcomed everyone. Carolyn, Joel, and Sarah helped out with the younger arrivals once they got past the greetings, hugs, and kisses, and needed to be entertained. That ranged from gaming for the teens to cuddling for baby William, while Patricia was happy to play dolls and chat with the older kids.

Some of the guests that were here today didn't get here every year anymore, like Teddy's grandmother Andromeda and her husband, Megan and Devon, and Lisa and Marcus. Serena was there with Art, Nathalie, and Charlie. They were now both in their last year of med school, and would graduate in June, both of them at the top of their year.

Michael's long-time girlfriend, Rebecca was now his fiancée, and they were busy being congratulated by the members of the family who hadn't seen them since that had happened. They were getting married in just a few months – after the winter busy season, but before the summer rush began at Marauders Paradise.

There was a little over an hour before dinner, where they gathered in smaller groups to talk. Al and Carolyn spent some of that time catching up with Lisa and Marcus, and Brianna and Scorpius joined them after making the rounds to visit with everyone else.

"We haven't seen you much," Lisa told the girls. "Maybe the four of you could come have dinner with us sometime over the holidays so we can catch up."

Lisa and Marcus had been Carolyn and Brianna's volunteer mentors for quite a few of the years they'd lived at the residence, although that had faded as the girls had started school, and started spending most of their holidays with Al and Scorpius, and done babysitting at the cottage in the summers.

"We'd like that," Brianna said. "How are things at the Institute?"

"Same as always," Lisa answered. "I'm still running the gaming division, and Marcus is the manager for the Glassalloy manufacturing plant."

"Anything else new?" Carolyn asked with a grin. Lisa had seen Al whisper something in her ear, and she returned the smile after looking into his knowing, sparkling eyes.

"We wanted to tell you ourselves, so everyone else kept it quiet. We're going to have a baby," Lisa told them. Carolyn and Brianna hugged them both.

"Congratulations!" Brianna said. "When are you due?"

"July," Lisa answered. "I'm about two and a half months along."

"You're going to make great parents," Carolyn told them. "Looks like we'll have lots to celebrate this summer with weddings and babies."

"We'll get to do a lot of shopping too," Brianna added. "That's always a bonus."

There were others waiting to spend a little time with Lisa and Marcus, so the two younger couples moved on, visiting with Natalie and Charlie, Art and Serena, and Bill, Fleur, Gabrielle, and Kevin before everyone was called into the kitchen for dinner.

The meal was a typically rowdy Weasley family event. Molly and her helpers had made far more food than even their large group could manage, and Kreacher and Winky had brought enough desserts to feed a small army. When they'd all eaten more than they should have, the two house elves dismissed everyone else while they went to work on cleaning up before joining their family in the sitting room for the gift exchange.

That was as entertaining as always, and they spent more than an hour opening presents, joking, laughing, and having fun. By then, it was late afternoon, and while some of the family planned to stay for the rest of the day, by then it was time for some of the family to move on to other commitments.

Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna left to get ready for the Minister's Christmas party. Matt and Rose left for his parent's house, where they were spending the night. Hugo and Emily were doing the same, spending Christmas Eve with her family. James and Arianna left for the Academy, and Aaron and Tracey left to spend the night with her parents. Lisa and Marcus left for the United States, and plans to spend the rest of the holiday weekend with his family, the time change putting them there in the late morning, while for Megan and Devon, leaving then put them back at Marauders Escape well after midnight island time.

Harry, Ginny, and their group of teens stayed for a couple of hours longer before they went on to the Academy to spend Christmas Eve there.

"It's quieter here than at the residence," Carolyn told Al, "but other than that, everything is nearly the same."

Al nodded, then laughed as they heard a MagicMistletoe shout out it's snogging alert from a nearby room.

"Some things are exactly the same," he agreed, as they watched two of the younger boys go running past them, laughing, one of the boys carrying a madly giggling MagicMistletoe.

"What do you want to do?" Carolyn asked him.

"I wouldn't mind just getting drinks and snacks, and just sitting down and watching that movie the school theatre troupe did – it's supposed to be on tonight."

"That sounds like a plan. Why don't we go see if anyone else is interested, and do that?" Carolyn said.

They didn't have to ask around at all, since there was already a group gathering in one of the lounges to watch the new Christmas show, so they joined them, cuddling together on one side of a sofa that they shared with a shy, but smiling couple, Philip and Ophelia. Al and Carolyn had seen them around the previous night, but hadn't officially met them until now.

With a little prompting, Carolyn found out that they were both thirteen, and were both in first-year magic. They hoped that if they could each finish two years of classes each of the next two years, that they might be able to attend Hogwarts for their OWL year.

While Al and Carolyn settled in to watch the show, Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Kieran were leaving to spend a couple of hours at the residence. They were all quickly surrounded, and it took half an hour just to get through the hugs and kisses before they could actually start going around and playing with the kids. Lily and Kieran went to find Vanessa and Nadine, catching up with them in their Common room.

"Merry Christmas!" Lily told the girls, hugging them in turn. "Have you been having a good holiday so far?"

Vanessa nodded. "It's been great," she told Lily. "Lots of shopping, that concert last night, and we've been having fun all day today."

"Have you seen Lance or Colin since Friday?" Lily asked them, and both girls shook their heads.

"No," Nadine answered. "They're coming to see us tomorrow morning, though. They both had family Christmases today, and have them for the other sides of their families tomorrow afternoon too."

"We'll just have to make sure you get some more time to spend together over the rest of the holidays," Lily told her two friends.

Kieran had been carrying the bag with the presents for the girls, and Lily took it from him, then handed out the gifts to Vanessa and Nadine. They watched the girls open their gifts, had another round of hugs, then Kieran left the girls to have some time alone together, going off to find Harry, joining him, and a group of young Witches to play with TeenWitch dolls.

The party at the Minister of Magic's mansion was just getting started by then. Percy and Penelope were still in the reception line with the other senior officials. Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna were hanging around with some of the other teens and a few of the younger adults.

As usual, most of the guests wanted to talk politics, and the first thing that inquiring minds wanted to know from Nick and Scorpius was the inside scoop on the news that Albus Potter was applying to the Aurors. They were disappointed that the two couples didn't have any juicy information on that story.

There was also a lot of interest in whether Scorpius had been given any specific job offers yet. The most junior Ministry workers were the most interested in finding out about that, since where he was placed could affect them – most hoping it would mean a promotion for them to make room for Scorpius in an entry-level position.

"Aren't you glad that's information you don't have yet?" Brianna asked Scorpius when they had a break in the action.

"I'll be glad if I don't have to answer to half of those pompous, self-aggrandizing peacocks with whatever job I do get," he answered quietly, so he wasn't overheard. "If they spent half as much time getting their work done as they spend playing politics and sucking up to their bosses, the Ministry would be in a lot better shape."

Brianna laughed softly. "And they thought that a minimum pay law was radical. The whole political system might come to a crashing halt if you got an anti-sucking up rule put in place."

Scorpius smiled and hugged her. "I love you, Brianna. We may not like everything that goes with this business, but I'm glad you're here to make it so much more fun."

Brianna returned both his smile, and the hug. "I love you too, Scorpius," she told him. "Thank-you."

The flow of the river politics swept them up again, and for the next hour, they were caught in the currents and rapids, and were busy navigating the waters, avoiding hidden rocks, whirlpools, and undertows. When the dancing started, they were able to escape for a while, and enjoy themselves.

"I see Dirk's patched things up with Delia," Brianna said as they danced. "She even looks reasonably happy."

Scorpius nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out that her family is pressuring her a bit, since Dirk's family is rich, and hers may be pureblood too, but aren't rich. They've been looking for a way to get connected for a long time. Delia's pretty enough that she might be the ticket that will finally get them there."

"You think she's pretty?" Brianna teased, and Scorpius laughed.

"Of course she is," he answered. "If she can escape her scheming family, she might even be a decent person. She reminds me a bit of my Mum. Hopefully she won't end up living the same way."

"Living in a mansion, and being waited on hand and foot may be exactly what she wants," Brianna suggested.

"Or it may be that she's like my parents, and not strong enough to stand up to the family pressure. Not very many of us get to have Harry Potter and family to rescue us if we do stand up to them."

"You know that's really only partly true," Brianna told him. "Sure, you and I have had a lot of help, but it was still up to us to make our own decisions. We could have chosen to be very different if we'd wanted to."

Scorpius nodded. "I suppose, but don't you think we all have a built-in ability to know right and wrong?"

"Yes," Brianna answered. "I think we always know what's right in any situation – we just don't always do what's right. Too many of us do what we know is wrong most of the time."

"Dirk and Delia might say that we're doing the wrong things most of the time," he pointed out, and Brianna shook her head.

"They might say it, but they wouldn't truly believe it. Sometimes we are doing the wrong thing, though."

"What do you mean?" Scorpius asked.

Brianna smiled. "For instance, right now, I know it's wrong, but I'm a little jealous that my boyfriend finds Delia pretty, so I'm not liking her very much. She doesn't even know you think that, and I know that it doesn't change how you feel about me, but I'm still letting that cloud my opinion of a Witch that I basically don't know at all. Even the best of us do things like that."

"Is that really all that bad?" he asked. "It's not like your thoughts are hurting her. If you went over and smacked her because of what I said, that'd be different."

"The problem is, we don't know if my thoughts are hurting her, do we?" Brianna answered. "We talk about her choices in life, and how she's responsible for what happens to her, but what if her way out from her family was supposed to be through me being her friend, but because I chose to never try to be that friend, she never got that chance?"

"That's pretty wild," Scorpius told her. "Do you really think that it's that big a deal?"

"How would your life have been different if Al, Rose, and Nick had blown you off when you met on the Hogwart's Express that first day you met? They'd never heard anything good about your family, and considering your family histories, didn't have any reason to be fair to you, but they chose to befriend you anyway."

"Okay, so that definitely changed my life, but in a way, that was a big part of the reason I was disowned too," he said. "Does that mean it was their fault?"

Brianna smiled and shook her head. "Nice try, but no. You still had to make the choice to be their friend too, and then your grandfather had to make the choice to disinherit you. Your decisions, and theirs, were pretty much always right, while your grandfather's decisions were really bad."

"You won't get any arguments from me on that last part," Scorpius said, smiling back at her. "If you do decide to try and be friends with Delia, just don't do it here. She wouldn't be allowed to associate with someone like me in public, so if you got chummy with her, she'd be in trouble by the time she got home."

"I won't," she promised. "Besides, sometimes time, or timing, is part of the equation for doing the right thing."

Scorpius laughed. "Okay, you win, my brain is exploding."

Brianna laughed too. "We wouldn't want that, so let's change the subject. How long do we have to stay here before we can escape and go somewhere for a little uninterrupted Christmas snogging?"

"Probably not that early," Scorpius said. "We'll have to keep mixing with the movers and shakers, since it may affect where I'll be placed in the Ministry, and where you'll be interning for the summer."

"That's too bad," Brianna said with a sigh. "It won't be nearly as much fun."

"The sacrifices of a political career," he joked.

Nick and Allie escaped the party early, since they were going to be spending the night at her home. Scorpius was pretty sure that this was probably the last Minister's Christmas party that Nick and Allie would be attending, since they'd be married and on their own next year.

It was two thirty Christmas morning before Percy, Penelope, Scorpius, and Brianna got back to the townhouse, and the younger couple soon found themselves alone in the sitting room, where they snuggled on a sofa.

"I am so glad to get off of my feet," Brianna said. "All of that dancing is fun, but as much as I love dressing up, it's too bad that dress shoes aren't as comfortable as my runners."

"I don't even know how Witches walk in those heels," Scorpius told her. "I'd probably fall over if I wore shoes like that."

"You might," she agreed. "Mine aren't all that high, though."

Scorpius leaned forward and kissed her softly. He was sitting at one end of the sofa, and she had lain across his lap, her head resting on the arm of the sofa, his arms wrapped comfortingly around her. She looked so beautiful, it took his breath away to watch her.

"How would you like to open one of your presents now?" he asked, and she immediately perked up, smiled, and nodded.

He took the present out of his jacket pocket, and handed it to her. When she had the wrapping paper off of the small box, he put a hand over hers before she could open it, and she looked up into his smiling face.

"I love you, Brianna," he said softly. "You're smart, and funny, and beautiful, and I can't imagine my life without you there with me every day." He watched as her eyes widened, then began to fill with tears.

"I thought about a lot of different ways to do this, and while it isn't a private dinner on the island, or some other exotic plan, there isn't anyplace I'd rather be than somewhere quiet, cuddling with you." He took his hand off of hers, and nodded that she should open the box.

"Brianna, will you marry me? I promise to love you forever, and whatever lies ahead in our lives, I want to share it all with you."

Brianna had looked down as she opened the ring box to look at the ring, mesmerized by the diamonds winking at her in the firelight that dimly lit the room. When she looked back into his eyes, she reached up with one arm, and placing a warm hand across the back of his neck, pulled him into a soft, deep kiss. When she'd released him, and he'd opened his eyes, she was smiling at him.

"I love you too, Scorpius," she whispered. "Yes, I'll marry you."

She didn't have time to say anything more, as Scorpius pulled her into a long, fiery kiss that left them both breathless and dazed.

"What were we talking about?" Brianna joked.

Scorpius took the ring out of the box, and slipped it onto her finger. "Ring any bells?"

Brianna looked from him to the ring and back again. "I think you rang all of them with that kiss," she said, "but yes, now I remember. Why don't we go up to bed, get changed, and then you can sneak into my room, and cuddle with me for the few hours of sleep we're going to get, since it's after three."

While they were doing that, Al had woken from where he'd fallen asleep on the sofa, snuggled with Carolyn. For a moment, he'd wondered why, but then the memory of his dream came back, and he grinned to himself. He shifted around to get more comfortable, and Carolyn stirred, half-awake.

"You okay?" she murmured sleepily.

"Yeah. Your best friend just got engaged, and it woke me up," he whispered back, watching her calm, peaceful face.

It took a minute before what he said caught up with her sleepy mind, and he smiled, his emerald eyes sparkling as he watched her eyes fly open.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"I knew he'd be asking her, since I was there when he picked out the ring, and since I was just woken by the dream I was having, he must have just asked her, and she said 'yes'."

Carolyn threw her arms around him, and kissed him.

"I guess there's no point in saying you should have told me, since I know you wouldn't have sprung his surprise," she said after the kiss. "Since we're awake, let's go up to bed. You don't look very comfortable right now."

"That doesn't sound as good as staying here cuddled with you," Al said.

Carolyn smiled at him as she extracted herself from his arms and stood up. "Who said you won't be cuddling with me up there? Meet you in my room in five."

Rose and Matt were in the sitting room of his parent's home Christmas morning. They were opening gifts there, and then would be going to her house for breakfast and gifts with her family, then back here for his family Christmas for the rest of the day.

They'd nearly finished with the presents, and Rose handed one last gift to Matt. He was such a kid when it came to opening presents, and she smiled as he ripped the paper away and opened the small box.

"What are these for?" he asked, pulling a set of keys out of the box and looking at Rose's smiling face.

"Why don't we all go find out?" she suggested. His parents were both smiling, and had been in on the surprise.

They got their coats and went outside. Rose took Matt's arm, and side-along apparated him to their destination. The first thing Matt saw was a beautiful two-storey chalet with glass windows that covered the entire side of the house they were facing. Next, he could hear the roar of the sea behind him.

"Where are we?" he asked Rose and his parents, who were all smiling at him.

"We're a couple of kilometres away from Bill and Fleur's house," Rose told him. "You've always told me that you loved their place on the sea, so I hope you don't mind that I picked this location to have our house built."

Matt pulled her close for a hug and kiss.

"That wind's pretty cold out by the sea," his mother told them. "You can thank her inside where it's warmer."

They went inside, and started looking around. Rose had only seen the drawings, a model, and some pictures that her Mum had sent along as it had been built, so Matt's parents showed them around the four-bedroom home.

"I've never seen anyplace like this before," Matt said. "It's really incredible."

"This is a Nicolas Weasley original design," Rose told him. "It's also one of the first houses that is mostly structurally made with Glassalloy. These windows are basically all unbreakable."

"No wonder Nick wouldn't ever tell any of us what that special house project he was working on last summer was about," Matt said. "I'll wager this won't be the last house like this built."

Rose laughed. "Definitely not. Aunt Penelope and Grandma already have several under construction, and Nick gets a decent payday with every set of drawings he makes up, since each one is just a little different. Ours is still the first, though."

"Who did all of the furniture and decorating?" he asked.

"Our parents did all of that work for us," she told him.

"This is where we were most of those times when you couldn't reach us on our WiComm's," his mother told Matt.

Matt hugged each of his parents. "I should have known you were up to something. There were a lot more times I didn't get an answer from you than normal over the last month or so."

They looked around for nearly a half hour, and then went back to his parent's home, warming up with cups of tea and coffee.

"Did you want to move in there over the holidays?" Rose asked Matt.

He shook his head. "I'd rather move in with you after you're done school," he said. "I'll keep it clean, and can take my time moving our things over there, but it'll be nicer moving there together. Besides, Al's place in Hogsmeade is fine. He's probably moving in there after he's done school, so I can have everything moved out for when you all come back from school."

Rose hugged him. "That's fine with me if it's what you want."

She and Matt had to get ready and leave for the morning with her parents, Hermione's parents, Hugo, and Emily. At the cottage, Christmas morning had started out fairly quietly, with just Al, Carolyn, Joel, Sarah, Dale, Harry, and Ginny at home. That wasn't going to last long, and after opening some presents, Harry and Ginny went to work in the kitchen to make breakfast for the larger group that would be arriving at nine for breakfast and gifts.

That was going to include James and Arianna, Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna, and Bill, Fleur, and their gang, including Millie, Amy, and Carissa. Since that included Fleur's parents, Gabrielle, and her family, Grandma and Grandpa Weasley were joining them too.

The talk of the morning, once everyone found out, was Scorpius and Brianna's engagement, and since Matt had sent Nick a thank-you QuillMessage, he was finally able to show off pictures of the amazing house he'd designed for his cousin and her fiancée.

Breakfast, and the gift exchange seemed much more rushed this year, since most of the group had to leave for other places right after they finished. The only guests who were still at the cottage by eleven o'clock were Percy, Penelope, Scorpius, and Brianna, and they'd lost Dale, who went to Bill and Fleur's with Carissa, and Lily and Kieran were off again to spend the rest of the day with Kirley and Ana.

When everyone else was gone, Carolyn finally got Brianna alone, the two Witches going to Carolyn's room for a few minutes of privacy.

"You seem to be handling being engaged pretty well," Carolyn said. "Scorpius seems to be having trouble keeping that silly grin under control, though."

"it's probably from sleep deprivation, or possibly because I snogged him senseless before we fell asleep," Brianna answered with a laugh.

"Or both," Carolyn agreed. "We'll at least have lots of time to plan your wedding for the summer after next. I'm sure it'll be as big as the one Nick and Allie will be having in August."

"Maybe we should elope," Brianna joked.

"You wish. The Ministry certainly won't let two of their bright young stars get away with anything less than a big, news-making event."

"Just what we need. Reporters digging up details about me being an orphan, and how that happened, and they'll have a field day with Scorpius and his family disinheriting him."

"We just won't watch the news or read the papers until after you're married then," Carolyn told her friend.

"You will be my maid of honour, won't you?" Brianna asked, and laughed when Carolyn hugged her.

"Of course. You'll have to have a bigger wedding party than just a best man and maid of honour. Have you thought about bridesmaids before?"

"Only like every time I've dreamed about that day," Brianna answered. "I was thinking of asking Allie, Rose, and Lily. Nick will certainly be Scorpius' best man, then he could have Al, Matt, and Kieran to stand with him too."

"That should be enough," Carolyn agreed. "Don't forget to ask Uncle Harry to walk you down the aisle. It's just a formality, but you remember Lisa and Megan both asked him first."

"I will," she promised. "That is going to be brilliant, too. That reminds me of something I've been thinking about. Do you know what else is coming up next July?"

Carolyn didn't have to think about it, since they'd been talking about Harry. "Harry and Ginny's twenty-fifth anniversary," she said confidently, and Brianna nodded.

"We should find out if he's planning any surprises for the big day. It's on a Wednesday, and while Rose and Matt's wedding is the weekend before that, it's on the Friday, so he could be planning a trip or something for that week, but we should do something for them too – and for Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione too, since it's their twenty-fifth anniversary too."

"Let's talk to him later this week. Aunt Ginny will be back to work on Tuesday, so we could talk with him while she's gone," Carolyn suggested.

"Sounds good," Brianna agreed. "You realize that this is the first time we've had a chance to talk alone since getting back from school?"

"I know," Carolyn said, nodding. "At least we get to hang out for the rest of the day – although I guess since it's with a few hundred other Witches and Wizards, we'll see how much time we actually get to spend together."

"Well, we still have a little time right now. Tell me all about your new summer job," Brianna told Carolyn.

Carolyn laughed. "I don't know anything about it, really. Grandma's offer was so unexpected, all I did was agree to take the job, and I forgot to even ask what I'd be doing. I just hope that whatever it is, I'll be good at it."

"You will be," Brianna assured her. "Nick should be able to give you an idea of what you'll be doing. He worked for them two summers ago – that's how they found out he was so good at architecture."

"I remember," Carolyn said. "I also remember he didn't like any of the business part of things – he liked the operations work."

"Just find out what kind of work he did, and ignore his perspective on the jobs he didn't like, since you might love those jobs," Brianna counselled.

There was a knock on the door, and Al opened it after being invited in.

"Having fun?" he asked, and both girls nodded.

"I could try and make up some excuse, but the truth is that your fiancée and boyfriend respectively are missing you, and it's almost time for the light lunch we're having before going to the residence."

Carolyn looked at her watch in surprise. "We've been up here nearly an hour."

"A really fun hour," Brianna said with a bright smile. She stood up and held out her hand to Carolyn. "I guess it is time to get back to the real world again."

Brianna's news was big at the residence too, and for their first hour or more there, she and Carolyn were pulled into different groups of young Witches who wanted every detail of the proposal, to admire the ring, and to offer commentary on her fiancée that probably would have made Scorpius blush to hear.

In contrast, the teenaged Wizards joked with Scorpius about having another bachelor bite the dust, and all of the other jokes that guys made at a time like this to hide how they really felt about how lucky Scorpius was to be engaged to Brianna.

"You'd think that in this millennium, that guys could stop being such a bunch of gits when it comes to things like this," Al said as he and Scorpius moved on from one particularly vocal group of jokesters once they had finished roasting Scorpius with their juvenile engagement humour.

"I take it as a compliment," Scorpius told his friend. "Haven't you ever noticed that guys don't make jokes like that if they really think the couple shouldn't be together? In a way, if they're saying nice, safe, neutral things, that's when the guy should be worried about whether he's doing the right thing or not. If they're joking, you know it's because they're probably a bit jealous that you've picked a really good match."

Al laughed. "Can't say I've ever thought about it like that, but then, I can't think of any engagements I've known about that I wasn't sure were really great matches either."

"I have, back when I still lived at Malfoy Manor. "In fact, most of the marriages that I remember probably haven't ended up very well."

"What should we do next?" Al asked. "I've had enough of the joking around for one day. I think it bugs me more when it's directed at one of my friends. It's easier to take when I'm the one being teased."

Scorpius laughed. "I know what you mean. Let's go find your Dad, and maybe he and the girls he's probably playing dolls with will let us join."

Harry was playing dolls, and he and the girls did let him join, but that didn't end the teasing, since the group of young girls quickly decided that the TeenWizard doll Scorpius was given to play with needed to propose to one of the TeenWitch dolls in a long, drawn-out scene that expanded into an epic adventure that went way beyond reality.

"Good idea," Scorpius told Al after they had escaped when Carolyn and Brianna had saved them from the giggling gaggle of girls. "I think getting teased by the guys was better though."

"They were certainly more creative than the guys were," Al told him. "Dad wasn't helping much. It would have been easier for you to get that proposal out of the way if your prospective little TeenWitch doll didn't keep getting abducted by that dragon every time you were about to pop the question so you had to rescue the damsel in distress before trying ot propose again."

"That sounds cute," Brianna told them.

"You try fighting a dragon, then asking the love of your life to marry you while wearing a yellow party dress," Scorpius said, laughing. "If I'd proposed to you like that, you probably would have said no."

"If I was wearing a yellow party dress and doing that, it would probably look a lot different than you doing it," Brianna told him. "As for saying no, it wouldn't matter what you were wearing – there's no way I'd have said no."

"But if you had been wearing a yellow dress, she'd hopefully have taken pictures, since that'd be something I'd really like to see," Carolyn joked.

The call went out for everyone to move into the dining hall, so the two couples went there and found Vanessa and Nadine, sitting with them just as the annual flying gift delivery began.

"I'll never get tired of watching this every year," Carolyn whispered to Al. "This was always one of the best days of the year here."

"I always thought that every day I got to come here and be with you was a best day," Al answered, which earned him a soft, sweet kiss.

As they watched the gifts settling into the hands of the kids all over the hall, Al wondered how the day was going for everyone else in the family. Percy and Penelope were the only other two family members at the residence today, and that was probably the fewest ever.

James and Arianna had left the cottage and gone directly to the Academy to spend the rest of the day with their students. The staff had worked out a holiday schedule, and half of them were off this weekend, and the other half would be off for the New Year's weekend. It meant that everyone worked extra hours on the weekend they did work, although there was also some extra volunteer help too.

James had set things up here the same as at the residences. There were a few small gifts in each bedroom when the kids got up in the morning, and a big breakfast in the dining hall. The morning was open to them, and then James and Arianna joined them for a lunch snack.

The volunteers that were helping out for the afternoon started arriving around one, and they played games and had fun most of the afternoon until they all gathered in the dining hall again. James wasn't going to have the presents come whirling into the room, instead relying on his volunteers to get the gifts to each of the students.

He and Arianna handed out the gifts to Rowena, Melody, Franklin, and Dillon, smiling as they watched the excited group open their gifts – the third time that day for most of them, since they'd exchanged gifts among themselves earlier in the morning too.

A lot of hugs and kisses followed opening the presents, each of the kids thrilled to get exactly what they'd wanted most. Sure, they'd made up lists, but quite a few of them hadn't written down what they'd really wanted the most, yet somehow had gotten that special gift anyway.

"Having fun?" Callie asked James and Arianna as she and Mark walked over to them while the post gift exchange cleanup was going on.

"I'm having more fun with this than when Aaron and I were on the receiving end of the gifts when we lived at the residence," Arianna told her friends.

"Well, Mark and I are still pretty new at the getting gifts for Christmas thing – or at least gifts that we actually wanted, so it's still pretty great too. I'm really glad we can be part of doing Christmas for these kids though. They've all had it at least as bad as we did, and they really deserve this."

"We're glad you came to help," James told them. "Was your group happy with their gifts?"

Mark nodded. "Way past happy. When will you be starting to teach flying and Quidditch? There seemed to be quite a few brooms delivered around the room."

James grinned at him. "When were you available to volunteer to teach flying?" he asked Mark, who laughed.

"I've got the Iditarod race in Alaska on January twentieth, but I could probably squeeze in a couple of mornings or afternoons a week this week and next."

"I thought that was a Muggle dogsled race," James told Mark.

Mark nodded. "It is, but there's a Broom Race there too, and we do a round-trip race from Anchorage to Nome along the Northern route that the Muggles use every other year, and then back along the southern route that they use in the alternate year. It's about twenty-two hundred and fifty miles round trip."

"And really bloody cold in January, I'll wager," James said.

"That's what usually gets the racers," Mark agreed. "Good thing your Mum designed such a great racing suit. I guess we'll find out how it stands up to those temperatures."

"I hope none of the other racers try wearing any of those imitation suits that are poppling up," Arianna said. "Without the environmental controls, they'd freeze in minutes."

"I hope they don't too," Mark said. "There will be medical teams that will move to selected places along the race route to go rescue racers when needed. There will be a lot of racers that won't be able to handle the cold, and then there's always the chance we'll have bad weather for part or all of the race."

"How are you training for that?" James asked.

Mark laughed. "I'm taking the Transportal to different places, and training during blizzards. We've made some equipment adjustments to fix problems I've had with icing and snow build-up. Everything on my broom now is heated enough to keep that from happening."

"You're going to blast another record out of the books again," James predicted.

At about the same time that everyone sat down for Christmas dinner at the Academy, Lily and Kieran were doing the same at Grandma and Grandpa McCormack's home. Lily loved these quieter family gatherings with Kieran's family that were so much different than the boisterous, party atmosphere of her own family's dinners. She knew that Frederica felt the same way, and they had all had a great afternoon with Kieran and Liam's families.

Liam's brother Aiden was now nine, while his sister Myra was ten, and would be starting at Hogwarts next year. The two older couples made a point of including the two younger kids in most of what they did during the afternoon, playing GameWizard with them, and inviting them to hang out with them when they were just sitting around talking.

Myra had placed herself next to Lily and Kieran when they'd sat down for dinner, which Lily was used to, since Kieran's cousin had something of a crush on her handsome cousin, while she also adored Lily. Aiden was next to Frederica, and Lily suspected that he had a bit of a crush on his older brother's beautiful girlfriend.

"How's your Quidditch training going?" Lily asked Myra quietly as they ate.

"Really good," Myra told her. "I'm hoping that either Kieran or Liam will let me train with them this summer."

Lily smiled at her. "If they won't maybe we'll have to see about starting a girls team, and see how they like practicing without all of the girls that play on the school House teams all summer."

Myra laughed. "Maybe we should do that anyway – it would be very funny."

Kieran laughed too. "You do know that putting together an extra team is really a pretty good idea. Nick's done this year, so there's no reason for Hufflepuff to train at the cottage anymore – they'll probably train with Joe's uncle starting this summer. I've already promised Thomas and Daphne that we'd train with Slytherin again, so Gryffindor could use a whole practice team."

Myra beamed at him. "I'm a Keeper like my Mum," she said proudly. If you played Seeker, Lily, all we'd need is to find five more players."

"I'm glad you didn't suggest we could take on the whole Gryffindor team with just you and me," Lily teased.

"That would depend on how fast you could catch the snitch," Myra told her impishly. "I can only hold off three Chasers by myself for so long."

Lily and Kieran both laughed, and Lily hugged Myra.

"Fortunately we do have some other options – like your Mum, and then we have a whole bunch of current and former Quidditch players in my family too." She smiled across the table at Liam and winked. "I think if we got your Grandmother signed up that she could still take Liam in a fair game of Quidditch."

Liam was sitting next to his Grandmother Catriona, and they both laughed at Lily's comment to Myra.

"I have no doubt you're right about that," Liam agreed, and Catriona hugged her grandson and smiled at him fondly.

"Watch out for your little sister, Liam," she told him. "I've seen her practicing, and there's a good chance she's going to be an even better Keeper than your mother." Myra looked ready to burst from that praise from her grandmother.

Meghan laughed at her mother's comments. "If you and I had Lightningbolts to fly back then, we'd have been better too, mother," she suggested. "Every time I see Ron Weasley still out there playing, I get the itch to go try out for the Pride, and see whether I still could play at that level. Good thing I come to my senses and remember how much work it is to play professional Quidditch."

"He's only got a couple of seasons left," Lily told Meghan. "Aunt Hermione made him promise to retire from playing the year that Hugo graduates."

"Then your cousin will take over as Keeper for the Canons?" Myra asked, and watched as Lily nodded.

"We won't know until then how good he'll be as a professional, but he's much better than my Uncle was when he played for Gryffindor," Lily told her.

"He's good enough," Meghan said confidently. "Every time we see him, he's getting better, even though that doesn't always show up on the scoreboard."

"Daphne and her team had a really great gameplan against Hugo," Lily said, nodding her agreement to what Meghan had said. "He'll have that tactic defended by the time they play Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

Kieran grinned at Daphne. "Gee, thanks a lot. We're going to get to play Hugo, Liam, Frederica, and the rest of their team when they're looking for a big comeback game after losing to your team."

Daphne returned his smile. "Then if your team wins, you can thank us for making sure you did that against Gryffindor when they were playing their very best."

"Or blame you when they lose," Liam suggested, grinning at his cousin while Frederica laughed.

"Cold or not in February, we'll just have to come see that game," Catriona told her grandsons. "Whoever wins, it should be a good game."

"Do you ever remember a family dinner where Quidditch wasn't a main topic of conversation?" Kirley asked Ana, who shook her head.

Meghan laughed at her brother. "We could say the same thing about you and your music, since that comes up every time too. Speaking of coming out of retirement, is this New Year's Eve gig just a one time deal, or are you and the boys getting back together for a tour of the senior citizen's centres?"

Kirley, and everyone else, laughed. "First of all, we're not that old. No we're not going out on tour, but we are thinking about maybe doing a new album, and freshening up some of the old hits, and throwing in a couple of new songs too. The students at the Yule Ball seemed to really like what we did with the songs, and if the show next Sunday night goes as well, then we'll probably do that."

"Put a couple of those songs you guys did with Lily and Kieran on the album and you'll sell millions," Liam suggested. "That was the coolest part of the whole night."

"That's a brilliant suggestion, Liam," Ana told him.

Liam grinned at his aunt. "Thanks, but to be fair, I should tell you that I saw the studio schedule for next week when we stopped in on Friday, so I did notice that you had a double booking for one morning later this week. Now I'm sure that it wasn't a mistake."

"Just don't tell anyone," Ana said. "At least not until the adverts go out for the album."

"I won't," Liam promised.

The quiet dinner conversation continued as they ate, then they retired to the sitting room where they exchanged gifts, then spent the rest of the evening playing until it was time to go home.

Daphne and Lily were both staying overnight again, so the two couples were in the sitting room, relaxing after their long day. Kieran and Ana had already gone to bed.

"Now that we're alone," Lily said, "how did your family dinner go?"

"Let's just say that I think Karl and I will be too busy to attend next year," Daphne answered. "Until I did these family Christmases with your families, I don't think I knew just how warped my extended family was."

"That bad?" Kieran asked.

Karl smiled, but there wasn't any real amusement in his expression. "It was a lot like being back home again," he told Kieran and Lily. "Except without the physical abuse."

"They made it clear enough that we weren't welcome," Daphne added. "I know it had to be my grandparents, aunts, and uncles that ordered my cousins to all be so rude to us. Even my parents were getting angry about how we were being treated by everyone."

"At least your two brothers, sister, and their wives and husband let us hang around with them once they saw what was going on," Karl said.

Daphne was quite a few years younger than her siblings, and they were all grown up and on their own, her closest brother seven years older than she was.

"There are some advantages to being the baby of the family," Daphne told them with a smile. "That's probably the only reason why none of my cousins did try to pick a fight with us – they know my brothers would step in and protect me."

"I think it's really sad that your family wouldn't even try and get to know Karl," Lily said quietly. "It's amazing how petty and stupid Witches and Wizards can be."

"Some of them do know me," Karl said. "Either from school, or through my family. A few of them even still talked to me at school, but you wouldn't have known that today."

"Did you at least get any cool gifts?" Kieran asked, and watched as Karl laughed.

"Thanks for reminding me," he said, pulling a very nice gold quill from his pocket and handing it to Daphne.

"Thank your brother for me," he told her. "That was quick thinking, but I'm sure he wants this back, since it's got his name on it, and I'm pretty sure that message your sister-in-law had engraved on it wasn't meant for me."

Daphne read the tiny words and laughed too. "I would certainly hope you're not thinking of her every time you use this," she told him. "I never even noticed he'd done that. It makes me even angrier that your name wasn't even included in the gift exchange."

"I think it was," Karl said. "After I read the inscription on that quill, I saw your mother watching us – me – and she looked a bit angry. I thought she was mad at me, but then she motioned for me to be quiet, and I realized she was mad that you brother had needed to put together a last second gift for me."

"Let's change the subject before I start venting about my idiot extended family," Daphne suggested. "Anything else knew happening in the family?"

"Not really," Lily answered. "You already know about Scorpius and Brianna, and about Rose and Matt's new house. Compared to that, the rest of us had a pretty quiet Christmas."

Daphne laughed. "This was a quiet Christmas?" she asked. "We've been going day and night since we got back from Hogwarts."

"We'll get a few quieter days this week, and then after New Year's Day next week," Lily told her friend.

It was Kieran's turn to laugh. "Sure, Lily. Keep telling yourself that. We have four Quidditch practices, and study sessions booked over the next two weeks. Then we have three studio sessions, and one video shoot. Add in the Canons' game on Saturday, the rest of that three day weekend on the island, and at least one back to school shopping day, and we might have a grand total of one day off to relax before we go back to school. We always seem to have good intentions about getting to rest up, but then reality sets in, and suddenly every day is filled up, and we're wondering where all of that time off we promised ourselves disappeared to."

"That's true, but there wasn't anything on that list you mentioned that won't be fun," Lily told him.

"Especially the shopping," Daphne said. "If you do have a whole day off, though. Maybe we could go spend that day doing the rides and water park at Marauders Paradise," she suggested. "I love that place."

"Me too," Karl said. "Maybe we should go work someplace like that when we graduate," he told Daphne.

"When can we start packing?" Daphne joked.

Karl laughed. "A year ago, I'd say after we finish school this year, but now that I'm a decent student, I really want to do my NEWT year, so I hope you don't mind staying for our seventh year at Hogwarts."

"I can handle that," Daphne said. "That'll give us time to figure out what jobs we can do in paradise."

Lily looked at her watch and sighed. "You and Kieran have Quidditch practice tomorrow morning," she told Daphne. Then we have studying at the cottage after that, so we better go get some sleep."

Daphne nodded and stood up. "Come on, Karl. Let's give them some privacy so they can say goodnight properly. See you in the morning," she told Lily and Kieran as she led Karl away.

Lily and Kieran smiled at each other, and she moved closer so they could share a soft, lingering kiss.

"We better stop that," Kieran breathed into her ear. "I may not let you get any sleep."

Lily moved back away from him, and smiled, her eyes mischievous. "Then why don't you go get changed and then come join me in my room," she suggested. "Why should we be the only couple in the house that isn't snuggling together all night."

Kieran stood up, and helped Lily to stand. "Your logic, as always, is flawless," he said, hugging her. "I'll meet you in your room in five."

At the cottage, Al and Carolyn were thinking the same thing as Lily and Kieran were already drifting off to sleep. They were the last two in the house that were awake. Harry, Ginny, Brianna, Joel, and Sarah had all gone to bed shortly after getting back from the residence, and Dale was spending the night with Stewart, Isabelle, and Carissa again.

"Let's go upstairs and get ready for bed," Carolyn told him quietly. "We don't have Quidditch in the morning, but we could get a head start on our homework while everyone else is at practice."

"Do you want me to tuck you in?" Al asked hopefully.

Carolyn laughed. "No, I want you to get changed, and come snuggle with me all night. Dale's not here, and nobody else will mind."

Al kissed her, then got up and helped Carolyn to stand.

"Did I mention that you're brilliant today yet?" he asked.

Carolyn hugged him. "I don't' think so, but you did tell me you loved me quite a few times, so it's okay if you missed out on the brilliant compliment until now."

Al laughed, and they went upstairs together, unknowingly the last two members of the whole extended family that were still awake. It was past midnight, and Christmas was officially over, and the start of the rest of their holidays, and a lot more fun, just hours away from beginning for all of the New Marauders.


	106. Holiday Work and Play

Chapter One Hundred and Six – Holiday Work and Play

Tuesday morning, after having breakfast, and seeing Ginny off to work, Harry was happy to have the cottage inundated with teenagers as the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams came over for their practice, along with Amy, Millie, Carissa, Dale, Scorpius, Allie, Emily, and Lily.

While the players on both teams went outside for their practice, everyone else decided to stay indoors and stay warm.

Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Allie, and Lily were in the kitchen with Harry, while the others were hanging out in the sitting room. They'd wanted to get started on their homework, but also wanted to talk with Harry.

"Do you and Uncle Ron have plans for your twenty-fifth wedding anniversary?" Carolyn asked him. "We'd like to do something for all of you, but we want to make sure we don't get in the way of anything you're doing."

Harry had been working at the counter, so he left what he'd been working on and sat down at the table with his kids.

"The girls don't know about it, but we'll be taking them on vacation for a week, and we'll go visit most of the places we went on our honeymoon back then. What do you have in mind?"

"When are you going to leave for your trip?" Brianna asked.

"We left on Sunday afternoon for our honeymoon. We'd stayed here, and Ron and Hermione stayed at their house after the wedding reception on the Saturday, so we'll be leaving on the Sunday the weekend of Rose and Matt's wedding."

"How would you feel about us having a party on Saturday night, then," Lily suggested. "You got married at the Burrow, so I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa would let us have it there, then we could all stay somewhere else for the rest of the weekend so you have the cottage to yourselves, although we don't need the details of that part of your honeymoon."

Harry laughed. "That's the day after Rose and Matt's wedding," he pointed out. "Isn't that going to be a bit too much?"

"The good part of it would be that nearly everyone who was at your wedding would already be in town," Brianna said. "If we went for something the weekend after, they'd all have to tie up two weekends."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "Do you want it to be a surprise for your mother and Aunt?"

"Why don't we let them know," Al suggested. "That way you might have a better chance of keeping your own surprise from them."

Carolyn nodded. "I don't see how we could hide it anyway with that many people spending the weekend here."

"You're only going to have a week home from school before then," Harry told them. "If you need help from the outside putting it all together, let me know. Grandma would probably help you out too if you needed her."

"Thanks, Dad," Lily said, hugging him. "I think we should be able to handle most of it ourselves, but we'll let you know if we need your help."

"Well, I've got a meeting at the Ministry with Callie, then a lunch meeting with Tracey," Harry said, getting up again. "I'll see you all later this afternoon. Happy studying."

The six teens got to work after Harry left, and studied until nearly noon. The Quidditch practice had gone on for nearly two hours, and their studying had only been briefly interrupted for a few minutes as the two teams had all come into the kitchen to get hot drinks before going to the sitting room to hang out before some of the team members would be heading home, and while they waited for the rest of the New Marauders to arrive at the cottage to join them for lunch and their afternoon of studying.

Kieran, Daphne, Karl, Nadine, and Vanessa got there from the Slytherin-Hufflepuff practice, and Rose and Matt got there shortly after that. Matt was joining them for lunch, but then would be leaving them when they started studying for the afternoon.

"How'd your appointments go today?" Al asked Rose and Matt when they came into the kitchen.

"Pretty good," Rose told him. "We picked out the invitations, flowers, and decorations, and the food for the late night buffet we'll be doing."

"We talked with Dad about our parent's twenty-fifth anniversary before he left this morning," Lily told them. "We're going to do a party for them on Saturday that weekend, because he and your Dad are doing a surprise trip for our Mums, and will be leaving on Sunday for their vacation. Will that mess up your honeymoon plans much?"

Rose looked at Matt for the answer. "We were heading west on Saturday anyway, so even if we leave later at night, we'll still get there in the afternoon local time," he said. "At least now we know we wouldn't have to pop back home on the third like we had expected to do to for their anniversary. It really works out great for us."

"Going back to Hawaii?" Al asked, and Matt nodded. "A week there, then we're going to try a Muggle cruise for a week."

"That sounds like fun," Carolyn said. "If you add cruises to the trips you guys do, let us know."

Matt laughed. "I just finished selling out our first year of trips, and was planning on taking a couple of weeks off before thinking about what to do for our second year."

Al, Carolyn, Matt, and Rose put lunch together for everyone, then after eating, Matt escaped while everyone else got to work on their school assignments.

"Lily, when you said everything we had going on for the holidays was going to be fun," Daphne said, "how exactly did you come to the conclusion that all of this homework was fun?"

"it's fun because we get to do it together," Lily told her with a big smile. She always seemed to be smiling when they were studying.

"So your theory is that as long as you're with your friends, it's still fun no matter how lousy what you're doing is?" Daphne asked. Lily nodded.

"Why don't you take a group for a trip to the dentist, and each of you can have a root canal together, and let me know how your theory stands up," Daphne suggested, earning a smattering of laughs from around the table.

"I doubt anyone could convince a few of their friends to do that," Lily answered. "By getting everyone here laughing, though, you're validating my theory that this is more fun than studying alone."

"Give it up, Daphne," Karl told her. "Sure, we have a lot of work to get done, but you are having fun anyway."

"Compared to studying alone, sure," she told him. "Not if you compare it to a lot of other things we could be doing instead."

They studied all afternoon until it was time for everyone that had other places to be for dinner and the evening to leave, and Harry got back to the cottage to start cooking dinner for the group that would be dining at the cottage.

Harry and Ginny had their full compliment of teens for the evening, with the addition of Scorpius, Kieran, and Carissa. When Ginny got home from work, they had some time until dinner would be ready, so she was ordered to sit down at the table, relax, and have a glass of wine while Harry, Al, and Carolyn worked around the kitchen.

"You and Lily are in the studio all day tomorrow, aren't you?" she asked Kieran, who nodded.

"Tomorrow and Friday this week, and then just Wednesday next week, if we can get everything done."

"Maybe we should just work late tomorrow and Friday, and try to get it all done this week," Lily suggested, but Kieran shook his head.

"We might get the recording done, but we'll still have the video shoot next week," he reminded her. "That can't be moved very easily."

"What are the rest of you doing tomorrow?" Ginny asked.

"We're going to take it easy in the morning," Brianna answered for the group, "then lunch and a play afternoon at the Mall in Paris for everyone who wants to go."

"That sounds like fun," she told them. "While you're there, if any of you need new swimsuits, or clothes for the weekend on the island, you could take care of that too. I think Dale's grown at least an inch or two since summer, so he may need some new clothes as well, or by the end of school his pants may all look more like those knee-length shorts."

"We'll take care of that," Al promised as Dale grinned. "How was work? Was everyone glad to get back?"

Ginny laughed. "Mandy's still locking the doors to the place for the Christmas holiday weekend, so yes, there were lots of researchers who were glad to get back to their labs. The time off didn't solve any of the problems with my current project, though, so while it's always fun there, days like this can be frustrating."

"That probably means you're getting close to a breakthrough, then," Lily suggested.

"We'll see," Ginny said. "It wouldn't be the first project I've had to let simmer for a while longer before it comes together."

They talked quietly all through dinner, then watched a little WWVN, and played some 3D GameWizard after, everyone enjoying a quiet evening together. When it was time for Carissa to go back to Stewart and Isabelle's, Scorpius went with her before going back home himself, while Kieran went straight back to his house.

While Scorpius and Brianna had been spending their evening at the cottage, they were blissfully unaware that they were the main topic of conversation in the sitting room at Malfoy Manor.

"I heard today that your blood-traitor of a son has asked that orphan whelp of his to marry him," Lucius sneered at Draco and Astoria. "I'm sure they'll be blissfully happy living on the pitiful wages of a junior paper-pusher at the Ministry."

Draco and Astoria didn't bother to respond to what they both knew was Lucius' attempt to goad them into an argument. They watched in silence as the older man laughed.

"That fool, Percy Weasley actually sent out a memo to all of the Ministry senior staff announcing the engagement like it was great news!" he continued. "Considering that he probably isn't a galleon richer now than he was when he started at the Ministry, maybe the deluded dolt actually believes it."

Narcissa laughed dutifully, but Draco and Astoria just looked on, keeping their normal masks of bored indifference firmly in place.

"Our son is suspiciously silent this evening," Lucius told his wife. "I wonder why?"

Draco smiled at his father, but it was cold and there was no humour in it.

"And I wonder why you care about what's going on in your grandson's life at all," he told his father. "You've disinherited him, and he's supposed to be dead to you, so what is it to you if he's happy, miserable, rich, or poor?"

"He speaks," Lucius said, his sneering smile broadening. "Normally, I would agree with you, Draco, except you forget that our enemies seem to be using that blood traitor for some political play that we have yet to uncover. Would you suggest I turn my back to the dagger my foes may have pointed at me?"

"No, father," Draco answered calmly. "I suggest that you see daggers where there are none."

Lucius stared coldly at the son who had become such a disappointment to him.

"You wouldn't see a dagger pointed at you until it was sticking out of your chest," Lucius told him. "If that blood-traitor isn't being used against us, then just why do you suppose that Potter, and those Weasley freaks would help him at all?"

"If you concede for a moment that Harry Potter would not need to use the boy if he wished to come against you, then it doesn't matter why they help him, since it no longer has anything to do with us."

"I don't concede that," Lucius answered. "I am not surprised that you are foolish enough to dismiss the danger, Draco. It will someday be your undoing."

Draco didn't bother to respond, since he was well aware of the futility of arguing with his father about the many failings the man saw in his own son.

His mother, as usual, stepped in to turn her husband's attention away from beginning a rant about Draco – a fact that actually secretly angered her son. Sure, she always stepped in to change the subject, but she almost never stood with Draco against his father, no matter how absurd the accusations or pronouncements that Lucius would make toward him.

Draco and Astoria listened on dutifully as Lucius and Narcissa make more jokes about both Scorpius and Brianna, and entertained themselves by envisioning a miserable life for the young couple where they lived in a seedy flat in the worst part of London. The fact that the elder Malfoys equated poverty with unhappiness in itself proved how out of touch with reality they were.

They younger Malfoy couple eventually went to bed, and in the privacy of their own quarters, held each other close, and silently celebrated their son's engagement to Brianna, wishing them all the happiness in the world.

Wednesday was just a fun play day for most of the New Marauders. Lily and Kieran weren't having a play day, but spending the morning in the studio recording with the Weird Sisters, and then having the entire afternoon and evening to work in the studio on their own music was at least really fun, if technically still work. Rose and Matt were doing their own thing all day too, but everyone else met at the cottage an hour before lunch and went to the Marauders Mall in Paris for the rest of the day.

Nick, Scorpius, and the girls were having dinner with Percy and Penelope, so they'd gone straight to the townhouse from the Mall. They had a quiet dinner together, talking about their respective days, and then after cleaning up, settled into the sitting room.

"I was at a meeting with the Minister of Magic and the other Department Heads this morning," Percy told the others once they were all comfortable. "Your future at the Ministry was part of that meeting," he added, looking at Scorpius.

"Do we get any hints?" Scorpius asked, "or do I have to wait until summer to find out?"

Percy smiled. "This won't be announced until after you're done school, so you all need to keep it to yourselves, but you're going to be named a Junior Minister in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and you'll be our representative on the International Magical Trading Standards Body."

He and Penelope laughed as Brianna hugged and kissed a surprised – no, stunned - Scorpius.

"That's brilliant!" Brianna told Scorpius excitedly. "Isn't that the department that you started your career in?" she asked Percy.

"Yes," Percy agreed. "That didn't have anything to do with it, though. Padma Finnigan won the battle among the department heads to get you. It's certainly a risk for her politically to offer you such a high position to start with. I think that's what clinched it for the Minister. Everyone else was offering entry-level jobs, and she said that would just be a waste of your abilities."

"That's not the only reason, is it?" Scorpius asked Percy.

Percy smiled. "No, that job will quickly help you get to know and work with Ministry officials all over the world, and because it deals with commerce standards, it's fairly high profile too."

"So everyone will know he's being groomed for power," Allie surmised. "I'm sure Victoire would like to talk with you about international trade standards for the industries that Witch Investments deals with."

"I'm sure the new Junior Minister will have to meet with many of the leaders in the business world," Penelope told her with a smile. "Who knows, maybe you'll be the representative for Witch Investments to work with him."

Nick laughed at the look on Allie's face. "Something wrong, dear?" he asked. "Did you think that Scorpius and Brianna were the only members of the family being groomed for power?"

"I was having too much fun to think that might include me," she told him, laughing too.

"It's not so much that anyone's being groomed for power," Penelope told them seriously. "We're just making sure you get the opportunities to succeed at what you want to do. If we were grooming you all for power, then you'd be starting your career in politics next summer too, Nick."

"I'm sure the Wizarding World would appreciate the fact that I won't be working at the Ministry if they knew what a lousy politician I'd have made. I'll never have the kind of patience with idiocy that Dad and Grandpa can put up with."

"I don't think it's a matter of patience," Brianna said. "You have lots of that, which anyone who's watched you training your Quidditch team can see. You just don't like politics. Maybe someday, if we can get rid of all of the bad things about it, you won't feel the same way anymore."

"If you and Scorpius make that happen in our lifetimes, then the day after you do that, they should change the highest award in the land to the Order of Malfoy instead of Merlin."

"Very funny," Scorpius said, laughing. "I don't think that'll ever happen, but I'm willing to wager a bottle of your favourite wine that we will see the Ministry of Magic cleaned up in our lifetime."

"You're on," Nick told him. "It'll be worth the cost if you all accomplish that."

"We're supposed to keep this to ourselves," Brianna said, "but does that include from the rest of the family too?"

Percy laughed. "You want to share with your best friend? I'm sure they'll keep it quiet for us, but let's keep it to just family. The rest of your group of Marauders don't need to know about it yet, and we really don't want to spoil the surprise for the other side, since the Minister, Dad, Padma, and I are the only people at the Ministry who know that the decision has been made."

"Okay," Brianna agreed. "Do you know where I'll be working next summer yet?"

"Thanks for reminding me," Percy told her. "Yes. You'll be taking the intern spot in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Working for Cuthbert Mockridge?" she asked, and Percy nodded.

"I'm surprised he wanted me. He's never been especially friendly whenever I've dealt with him as a page."

"We don't get very many students interested in working at the Ministry who are also taking NEWT level Care of Magical Creatures," Percy said. "That's almost always young Wizards, and they usually get scooped up by the Dragon Reserves or other groups that work with Magical Creatures. You could do pretty well for yourself in that Department, and Bert might not be the most charming Wizard out there, but he does really care about Magical Creatures, and about doing right by them."

"And here all I was doing was trying to get out of getting stuck with an optional like Arithmancy," Brianna joked. "Care of Magical Creatures seemed like a better choice."

"You'll like working in that Department," Percy assured her. "Their two biggest areas of responsibility, at least by amount of work, are with Goblin Liason, and dealing with House Elf issues."

"Hide from Aunt Hermione," Nick suggested. "When she finds out, she'll be petitioning you to free the elves."

Penelope laughed. "She'd still like to see that happen, Nick, but your aunt has come to realize that the House Elves are going to need to want to be free first, and the majority of them just aren't ready for that yet. Who knows if they ever will be?"

"I don't. It does seem like you're working to get better coverage in all of the Ministry Departments, Dad," Nick pointed out. "Add Al in as an Auror in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and you've pretty much got everything covered, except the Department of Transportation, and now that we have the TransPortal system, they don't have much of a Department anymore. When was the last time anyone used the Floo Network, or a Portkey?"

"Very astute," Percy congratulated him. "There's some other places around the Ministry we'd still like to get more friendly Wizards and Witches into, but we are making progress."

"Can we move on, now?" Nick asked. "I think my politics talk quota has been used up for the rest of the holidays."

The others laughed, and they moved on to talk about wedding plans, what they were doing for the rest of the week, and anything else that came up before it was time for the boys to see their fiancées back home for the night.

Percy and Penelope had gone to bed, leaving Nick and Scorpius in the sitting room. The two young men had poured themselves drinks, and were listening to some music on WMVN and having their nightly talk.

"So you're busy having your future nailed down for you over the holidays, aren't you?" Nick said, smiling at his friend. "Your job is all set up and for some strange reason, Brianna has agreed to marry you too. Figure out where you're going to live for the next year while you're waiting for Brianna to graduate, and you'll be all set."

"You mean I can't move in with you and Allie for a year?" Scorpius joked.

Nick laughed. "I love you, mate, but not that much. Maybe you can room with Al in Hogsmeade."

"Maybe," Scorpius agreed. "How's your house coming along?"

"We've been too busy for me to get over there and see," Nick told him. "Maybe you and I could stop by on Friday morning and look around. I know from the pictures that Mum has sent me that the outside is done except for the landscaping they'll wait to do in the spring. The interior is getting done as the builders have time, since they have until the end of May to finish it. Allie can decide on all the decorating during the summer."

"I'm sure she'll get lots of help with that. She's going to love the place if it's as great as your model of it."

"Thanks, Scorpius. I hope she does. It's a pretty conservative design compared to Rose and Matt's chalet, but it's still one of a kind."

"Like I said, she's going to love it," Scorpius assured Nick.

"What do you think about starting out as a Junior Minister?" Nick asked. "I wonder if anyone has started that high up before right out of school?"

Scorpius shrugged. "I don't know about that, and I haven't really decided how I feel about it yet. It will mean I'll have to do some travelling, which could be pretty cool, but it's going to be a real challenge too."

Nick nodded. "I'm sure. Just thinking about what your grandfather will say when he finds out should have you pretty happy about it, though."

Scorpius smiled. "There is that," he agreed. "I wonder if he's heard I'm engaged yet. I wonder if my parents know."

"I don't know, mate. If they don't, it can't be much longer before they do hear about it. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he hears about both your engagement and your new job. That would be a lot of fun."

"Too bad we both don't have the gift to be Animagi," Scorpius told him. "Maybe Al would lend us his cloak, though."

"I always wondered why Uncle Harry had decided to give it to him instead of James, but now that he's decided to be an Auror, it makes a lot of sense."

"His cloak will be a huge asset in that job," Scorpius agreed. "He's going to make a great Auror too."

"No doubt," Nick said. "You and I have duelled him enough to know that you'd have to be nuts to want to face him for real."

"Especially since he always holds back on us," Scorpius said.

Nick looked at the clock on the table, then drained his glass and stood up. "This has been fun, but I've got a team to try and get to play better in the morning, and you, Al, and Lily are all supposed to come out and freeze with us, and help with training. Let's go get some sleep."

Scorpius stood, took Nick's glass, and headed for the kitchen. "I'll take care of the clean-up," he told Nick. "See you in the morning."

"Thanks, Scorpius," Nick told him. "Have a good sleep."

Hugo wasn't all that happy about the holiday practices his team was having, but there was really nothing he could do about it. The problem wasn't with his team – it was with his practice competition, or lack of competition.

He felt bad for Nick. He and Joe Jenkins were trying hard, and so was everyone else on his team, but they were definitely playing a few notches down from where Gryffindor was when it came to both raw talent, and experience. Frederica and Kevin were a match at Beater to Nick and Joe, so with that part of the competition being a draw, it was at Chaser, Seeker, and Keeper that Gryffindor showed just how much better they were than Ravenclaw was this year.

That wasn't the reason Hugo was upset, though. He was upset because he knew that his team wasn't getting enough competition in these practices, and were playing down from the level they normally practiced at. There was no way out of the problem that wouldn't end up causing hurt feelings, so he was stuck with the situation.

Nick was thinking the same thing, except in reverse. His team wasn't ready to be competing at this level. He'd had to quietly ask Frederica and Kevin to take it easy on his players during bludger practice to keep them from getting hurt, since they weren't really able to train with four bludgers.

His Chasers only scored one goal on Hugo during their practice game, and it was discouraging them, not helping them get better. Liam, Lance, and Claire were holding back on his team, or they'd have scored fifty goals, not the twenty they had scored before Colin had caught five out of five snitches.

When practice was over, and the teenagers who weren't staying for the study day had gone home, it was Nick who brought up the problem, knowing he was saving Hugo the discomfort of stating the obvious.

"These practices aren't working out for either team," he told the others as they sat around the table while Al and Rose were making lunch for everyone. "You're team isn't getting enough competition, Hugo, and mine is getting down because they're getting beat up. Joe's the only one who realizes that you're holding back on us."

"We can't go full-out against them," Hugo said. "Some of your players could end up with a lot worse than hurt feelings."

"I know," Nick agreed. "What I was thinking, though, was that we sort of stage Tuesday's practice, and play it to the level they can play at now. Let them score some goals, and take it even easier on them with your scoring. After it's over, I'll cancel our Thursday practice, telling them it's because that practice was so much better they deserved to have the last practice off."

"Works for me, mate. That way I'll at least have one workout that won't be a total waste of time. It'll be hard enough getting a win over Hufflepuff this year without totally losing two weeks of training."

Nick grinned at him. "I was thinking about seeing how my old team felt about doing that last workout against your team," he told Hugo. "They may not be practicing every day anymore, but I think we could still give you a good match."

Matt laughed. "I'm in," he told them. He'd stayed to watch the practice, as Rose helped to train Nick's inexperienced team. "I was itching all morning to get on a broom and join you up there."

Hugo and Nick watched as Rose, Al, Scorpius, and Lily agreed too, each of them smiling at the prospect of an informal rematch against Gryffindor.

"I'll ask Joe to come too, and we'll have the full team again," Nick told them. "You better have your team up for that practice, Hugo. By the looks of everyone here, we'll be fired up."

They had lunch together, then Matt left them to their studies for the afternoon. All of the second, third, and fourth year Marauders finished their holiday homework by the end of the day, while the OWL, sixth, and NEWT year students would all still need one or both of the study sessions they still had booked for next Tuesday and Thursday.

"What are you going to do with those two extra half-days?" Carolyn asked Dale, Joel, and Sarah. They were in the sitting room with Lily, Kieran, Scorpius, and Brianna, while Al and Harry were in the kitchen, and everyone else had left for wherever they were supposed to be for dinner.

"No idea," Joel answered for them. "Maybe Uncle Harry will do something with us, if he's not busy."

"Carolyn, we haven't even planned anything specific for tomorrow," Brianna told her. "We have a lot going on between now and those afternoons they have off."

"I'm not planning on doing anything tomorrow," Carolyn said. "We've got the game on Saturday, then with the time change to the island, a really long day of playing in the sun and having fun for the rest of the day there, and then Sunday is going to be wild. It'll be especially crazy for anyone in the family that's going to be both on the island, and coming back home for the New Year's Eve party at the Emerald City Centre that the Ministry is putting on before popping back over to the island to celebrate the New Year with everyone there."

"It'll be a good thing we have all of Monday to recover," Brianna said.

"Who all is coming back here for the party?" Sarah asked.

Scorpius answered. "Brianna and I will be going with Nick, Allie, Percy and Penelope. You two are going to be there as well, right?" he asked Lily and Kieran, who both nodded.

"Karl and Daphne are going with her parents too," Lily told them.

"Yes," Scorpius agreed. "Grandma and Grandpa will also be at the party, and that's everyone I know about from the family who are going. There will be lost of other friends there, though."

"Tough choice between playing on the island, or going to the biggest party in the country," Sarah said. "I have to say that I'd pick the island every time."

"Will everyone else be staying on the island for the day?" Dale asked.

"James and Arianna, and probably Aaron and Tracey, will be going to the Academy for their New Year's Eve party," Lily told him. "I don't know if anyone else from the family has volunteered to help with that or not."

Ginny got home from work, and they all moved into the kitchen so that they could visit with her before dinner. The rest of the evening went by quietly, with Lily and Kieran going off after dinner to practice for their studio session on Friday, while everyone else watched WWVN and relaxed in the sitting room until Scorpius and Kieran left to go home, and the rest of them went up to bed.

Percy and Penelope had both left for work on Friday morning, and Nick and Scorpius took care of the clean-up duties from breakfast before leaving to go check out Nick and Allie's new house.

Scorpius wasn't sure what Nick had meant about this place being more traditional than the Chalet he'd designed for Rose and Matt, since he thought it was amazing, and very different than most other houses.

The first thing you noticed was that it had a very unique roofline, with quite a few different levels and peaks that all fit together perfectly, and was beautiful to look at.

"This is really great," Scorpius told Nick. "I have no idea how you manage to dream these designs up, but it's no wonder you're taking the architectural world by storm."

"Thanks, mate," Nick said proudly. "Wait until you see the inside."

Scorpius was used to being in houses that had different floors, but this place was very different. Here, Nick had designed wide, open areas, but they were also on slightly different levels, some only a few steps above another section of the house, but all of it open.

For instance, the sitting room, kitchen, and dining room were all in one big, open area, but the sitting room was sunken four steps below the other areas. The same concept was used throughout the sprawling six-bedroom home, and the effect was stunning, even though the interior was still a long way from completion.

"No wonder you're proud of this place," Scorpius said. "This is possibly the coolest house I've ever seen. Nicely done, mate."

"So you think Allie is going to like it, then?" Nick asked.

Scorpius laughed. "If I were you, Nick, I'd make sure you didn't have any plans for a few hours after she sees the place, 'cause you're going to be in for the snogging of your life."

While Nick and Scorpius were touring the house, and Nick told his best friend all about everything that would be going into the house, Kirley and Ana were working with Lily and Kieran in the studio.

"Do you ever stop being amazed by them?" Ana asked Kirley the next morning as they watched and listened to Kieran and Lily as they recorded their fourth song of the session.

"I doubt I ever will," Kirley told her. "We'll definitely be done the studio work today. They may have been hoping to get it done so they could have next Wednesday afternoon off after the video shoot is done."

"You'll have everything you need for the summer album?" Ana asked, and Kirley nodded.

"Plus a few extras," he answered. "I'd have them slow down, but everything they're putting out is still really great, so we need to keep it going."

Lily and Kieran finished that song, and joined Kirley and Ana to listen to the playback.

"That one's good to go," Kirley told them when they'd finished listening to it again. "Want to take five and get drinks before you start the next one?"

"Sure," Lily said. "We only need to finish five more songs today, and we'll be done by the end of the afternoon even if we do take a couple of extra breaks."

They left the studio and went to the kitchen, where Ana got drinks for them, and they sat down at the table.

"Is Laura off today?" Lily asked Ana.

"No, she's working in London. One of our groups has a gig tonight, and she's taking care of that for me."

"Are you going to the game tomorrow?" Kieran asked his parents.

"Your mother is," Kirley told him. "The boys and I are going to be here all day practicing for Sunday night's show. It's been great that the guys all had the week off this week so we could get together more than we usually can when they're all at work."

Lily smiled at him. "You all sounded great on Wednesday. Will you at least be done by the time we're ready to leave for the island?"

"When the game's over, Ana will send me a message, and we'll wrap up our practice, and I'll meet you on the island," he answered. "I may pick music over Quidditch every time, but I'd never pick it over hanging out on an island paradise with Ana in a swimsuit."

"Good answer," Ana joked, smiling fondly at her husband.

They got back to work in the studio, breaking for a short lunch, and then once more in the afternoon before calling it a day. Karl and Daphne had spent the day at her house, and since she was spending the weekend on the island with them, they were staying overnight there, and would meet up again with everyone at lunchtime on Saturday in Chudley.

Lily was staying overnight, and they all decided to go out for dinner after the long hours in the studio. They followed that with a quiet evening back home, and an early bedtime, since they all knew that there wouldn't be much sleep over the next two days.

On Saturday morning, they were just finished breakfast when the members of the Weird Sisters began arriving. Myron Wagtail and Donaghan Tremlett got their first, and sat down with cups of coffee after welcome hugs from Ana and Lily.

"You know we're getting old when we're starting practice this early," Myron joked. "Back in the day, we didn't even get up until after one o'clock in the afternoon."

"We also didn't go to bed until four or five," Don pointed out. "That doesn't work out so well when you have a family."

The other five members of the band trickled in over the next twenty minutes, each of them greeted warmly by Ana, Lily, and the boys.

All of the band members were like uncles to Kieran, and they all adored Lily too. Bagpiper Gideon Crumb was the comedian of the group, and Lily suspected he probably had managed the rest of the egos when they'd all been younger. Myron and Kirley were the leaders of the group, but even now, Gideon was the one they all turned to when they were working out creative differences.

Merton Graves was their cello player, and he was a kind, mellow character that Ana told Lily had once been the hardest partying member of the group. It was really hard to picture that, but then when you looked at their old publicity photos, none of them were anything like they were back then.

Orsino Thruston, their drummer, and Heathcote Barbary, their rhythm guitarist had always been best mates, and since the first time she'd met them, Lily had never seen one of them without the other there.

Herman Wintringham was the last member of the band to get there, which earned him some good-natured ribbing from the other guys.

"Couldn't you get away from that bride of yours?" Myron asked him.

"You know how it is with newlyweds," Gideon told Myron.

"We've been married for more than eleven years, guys," Herman pointed out.

"Compared to the rest of us, that does make you newlyweds," Myron said.

"Aren't you ever going to stop using that line?" Herman complained.

Gideon laughed. "Sure. We're just waiting until we can start teasing you about getting senior's benefits at the same time you're getting child tax credits. How's the mother to be doing anyway?"

"She's fine, thanks," Herman answered. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled to know that our first baby is going to be such a big part of your future comedy routines."

"I don't think you have to put it quite like that," Gideon told his friend. "You do have to admit it'll be funny, though."

"Not as funny as it would be if it was somebody else other than me that was the butt of the joke," Herman answered.

"Don't let them bug you," Ana told him. "You're going to be a great father, and since you've seen these guys make every mistake there is in parenting, your kid's very lucky too."

"Let's get to work," Myron told the others. "Would you and Lily like to play with us while we're warming up?" he asked Kieran.

He looked at Lily, who smiled encouragingly. "We'd love to, Uncle Myron."

Ana cleaned up while her musicians all went off to play. Lily and Kieran ended up playing for nearly an hour before joining Ana again.

"I better go home and pack for the trip," Lily told them. "Meet you at the Diner for lunch?"

Ana nodded. "We'll be there. I was about to go start packing too."

"I guess that means I'll be doing the same," Kieran said. "I'll walk you out, then get at it," he told Lily.

The Canons were playing the Montrose Magpies, and everyone was happy that it was a home game so they could watch the game from the Owner's Box. Harry and Ginny took everyone to lunch at the Diner, and then went on to the stadium from there, arriving about twenty minutes before game time.

James, Tracey, and Trinity were the only regulars besides Harry and Ginny that were there for the game today so that all of the students who were home from school could be there instead. Sarah was probably the most excited of the group, with Carissa, Millie, and Amy close behind.

As usual, Harry had QSPN turned on so they could listen to Andy's pre-game show, and then his play-by-play during the game. There was no surprise that his team were picking the Canons to win today.

"How are Andy's ratings doing?" Rose asked Tracey. She knew that Tracey always kept close watch of that, since it really affected the Canons' revenue.

"Holding at fifty percent more viewers than last year," Tracey answered. "If you count the pre-game and post-game shows separately from the games, they have three shows on the weekend, and then his nightly show during the week. They're the top four shows on the network now, so we're all pretty happy with how it's going."

"I could have told you that without knowing the numbers," Nick told Rose. "All you have to do is see the posters of Hannah on the walls of the guy's dorm rooms to know that there are a lot of guys watching the show because of her. I would have never thought that any reporters would have posters that were as popular as the players."

"There are quite a few posters of Rob and Patrick in the girl's dorms," Brianna said.

Tracey nodded. "That doesn't surprise me. They've gotten a lot of Witches watching the games. Enough that we've adjusted our advertising strategies from being mostly geared toward Wizards to a fifty-fifty mix."

"How did we manage to come to a Quidditch game and have a business meeting break out?" Nick joked.

"Would you rather we talk politics?" Percy asked him.

Nick rolled his eyes. "That is so not funny, Dad."

Allie laughed. "That so was funny," she disagreed, winking at her father-in-law to be.

When the teams were called into the stadium, they all settled in to watch the game. The Magpies were no match for a Canons team that was fired up to be playing at home. Ron was putting on a show, excited to be playing a match that Rose and Hugo were able to watch in person for the first time in a couple of years. Arianna seemed to always be playing harder now that James was at nearly all of her games, and the rest of the team fed off of that, picking their game up a notch.

Liselle put the game away for the Canons at the two hour, six minute mark after faking out the Magpies Seeker so completely that he hadn't even figured out what had happened before she'd caught the snitch, and the Canons again found themselves undefeated at the halfway point of the season.

"Ready to leave for the island?" Harry asked everyone, and got a resounding round of yes answers and a room full of big smiles and excited faces.

Every house on the island was going to be in use this weekend, and as everyone began arriving on the island for their weekend stay, there was a flurry of activity at all of the family homes and the guest houses.

"We're pretty much full this weekend," Harry told Ginny as they began working on the meal they'd be having at the beach, while Joel, Sarah, and Dale ran off toward the lagoon after quickly changing.

"We may have to think about having a few more houses built," Ginny said. "If we have one built for each of the kids, that will pretty much fill up the island, unless we wanted to start putting them closer together."

Harry nodded. "I'll talk with Mum and Penelope next month sometime, and see what they think. Hugo and Frederica wouldn't need houses yet, but on the other hand, you couldn't get much cooler than a beach house of their own for Christmas next year."

Ginny laughed. "It'd be one or two steps up from Mum's jumpers, no doubt about it."

"I loved those jumpers," Harry told her.

"That's because in comparison to what your previous gift experiences had been, they were quite a few steps up for you," she pointed out. "Back to the topic, though, we do need the extra houses to keep up with the growing family, and if we're going to have construction on the island, we should do it all at once. Besides, Hugo's the same age as Lily, so we can hardly build her a house, and not one for him just because he's going to finish school in the normal seven years."

"Good point," Harry agreed. He waved to Al and Carolyn as they walked up to the bungalow.

"Need a hand?" Al asked them. "You have quite a gang to feed."

"We can handle it," Harry told him. "There's an hour and a half or more before everyone will be here."

"You and I could let the girls go have fun, though," Al suggested. "If we both put our minds to it, we could probably even get done and go play for a while too."

Ginny hugged Al, then hugged and kissed Harry. "You don't have to make me an offer like that twice," she told them. "Let's get out of here before they change their minds, Carolyn."

"Ready to kick it up a notch?" Al asked his father, who returned Al's smile with a grin of his own, both pairs of emerald eyes sparkling in the bright sunlight that streamed into the kitchen.

Harry and Ginny had pretty much had everything out and the preparation started, but with nobody else around, all of the work began speeding up, and all over the kitchen knives and peelers were a blur of activity as vegetables were cleaned, cut, peeled, and started cooking. Several pasta and garden salads came together quickly, and meat dishes were prepared and put in to cook.

"I'll start getting the buffet table set up at the beach," Al said after only twenty minutes. "Do you want me to put any appetizers out with the drinks?"

Harry nodded. "Sure. You know Ron will be hungry when he and the others get here from the press conference, and some of the others might be too."

Al levitated stacks of plates, a large box of cutlery, jugs of chilled drinks, and two large trays of appetizers, and left for the beach to set up the buffet table there.

Ron, Arianna, and Aaron were already at the beach when Al got there and started setting everything he'd brought down onto the large table, and Al smiled as his Uncle was the first one to come over, fill a plate, and get a glass of wine.

"How was the news conference?" Al asked.

"Not too bad, actually," Ron told his nephew. "The reporters must have all wanted to get to their holiday weekend. It was probably the shortest one we've had all year."

"Are Sebastion, Tristan, Liselle, and Trinity staying home or heading to Canada and America for the weekend?"

"Coach gave us Tuesday and Wednesday off too so they could go home," Ron answered. I think they're all going to Canada, since Tristan and Liselle were at her parents for Christmas, and Sebastian and Trinity had Christmas with her family."

"James and Tracey will like having the extra two days with Arianna and Aaron too," Al said. "Should I even ask if you get the extra time off?"

Ron laughed. "You can ask, but the answer would be no, as always. Coach, Dennis, and I will be working."

"You should talk to the owner about that," Al joked. "It doesn't seem fair at all."

"Your father wouldn't think about stepping into Coach's business. I may not always like the extra work, but that's part of what keeps us at the top of the league."

"That's for sure," Al agreed. "Is there anyone still coming, or is everyone here?"

"I think everyone's here," Ron answered.

"I'll go back and let Dad know. We can start dinner a bit earlier than we planned."

Al left his uncle to work on the appetizers, and went back to help his father finish getting dinner ready.

"I must have missed Winky and Kreacher," Al said as he walked in and saw the line of desserts that had arrived while he was gone. "Did they pop out to the beach to play?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Probably while you were walking back."

"Uncle Ron says he's pretty sure everyone is here, so we can do dinner whenever we have it ready. The press conference was shorter than normal."

"Sounds good to me. Kreacher and Winky are going to do a light meal later on, so once we're done and do the cleanup, we have the rest of the day to go and play with everyone."

They finished cooking the meal, and got everything ready to be taken out to the beach, and then Al took the first wave of serving dishes and platters out, while Harry quickly cleaned everything they'd used to cook with before following Al with the rest of the food.

Beachside dinners were always laid back, with the family scattered around at small tables, or just sitting in beach chairs, or even sitting in the sand. When the food had landed on the table, it wasn't long before everyone saw that the meal was served, and had come in from playing out in the lagoon, or from the beach.

Al and Carolyn were sitting at a table with Art, Serena, Nathalie, and Charlie.

"Where are you two staying for the weekend?" Nathalie asked them. "You definitely don't have room for everyone at your bungalow."

"We're in one fo the guest houses, Aunt Nathalie," Carolyn told her. "We've got Mark and Callie, Daphne and Karl, and Scorpius and Brianna with us."

"Will you be going back home for the New Year's Eve party at the Dragon's Lair?" Al asked.

"Charlie and I will be," Nathalie told him. "Art and Serena are going to stay here. We'll be back here to celebrate the New Year island time, though."

"Will you head home on Monday?" Carolyn asked.

"We're going to stay until Wednesday or maybe Thursday," Art answered. "For Serena and I, it'll be our last break before the big push to the end of our training in June."

"If we didn't have so much going on, we'd love to stay longer," Al told his cousin. "We'd never get the rest of our revision done here, though. Uncle Ron said that Aaron and Arianna have a couple of extra days off. Maybe they'll stay longer now too if James can get away from the Academy."

"That'd be fun if they do," Serena said.

They might not get to visit with the rest of the family very much – especially over the last couple of years while Art and Serena were both training to be medics, but since Arianna and Tracey were the closest in age to them, Serena was closest with them. Al knew that they kept in touch fairly regularly.

They'd finished their meal, had gotten desserts and drink refills, then sat down at the table together when Nick and Allie came over to talk with Al and Carolyn.

"Any chance we can get you to do us a huge favour?" Nick asked them.

"If we can," Al answered. "What do you need?"

Nick laughed. "To be rescued from having to attend the Ministry's New Year's Eve political game – I mean, party. Mum and Dad said we can skip it if I can find homes for the two tickets. We thought that since you're going to be joining the Aurors that maybe you and Carolyn would be interested in going and rubbing elbows with your future bosses and co-workers."

"How far down on the list are we really?" Carolyn asked Nick, who laughed.

"Third, but I think Scorpius and Brianna are hoping you'll say yes, and with Lily, Kieran, Karl, and Daphne going, you should have fun."

Al looked at Carolyn's excited face, and then turned back to Nick. "You're off the hook, mate. We'll take your places."

"Thanks, guys," Allie said. "We really appreciate this."

"You're welcome," Carolyn told her. "Who turned you down?"

"Teddy and Victoire, and Stewart and Isabelle," Nick answered. "I should have known the only way that might have worked would be if I had eight tickets, so they could all go, and take Dale and the girls."

"Well, Brianna always says these parties are great, so it'll be fun to go find out for ourselves what they're like."

Nick and Allie moved on, and Al and Carolyn finished their desserts before Al joined his father to clean everything up. When finished, they returned to the lagoon, and spent the rest of the day playing. Kreacher and Winky put on their little meal about an hour before the sun would be setting. By the time they'd finished eating again, since they were all still on home time, it felt much later to everyone than it actually was in island time. There wasn't a vote or anything, but most of the island guests began heading for their houses in small groups, with plans to turn in and get some sleep.

Al and Carolyn were among those groups, heading to their guest house with Scorpius and Brianna, while Karl and Daphne, and Callie and Mark both went their separate ways for walks along the beach.

"I'm glad you're coming with us tomorrow," Brianna told Carolyn when they were in the sitting room, each couple cuddling on one of the sofas.

"Me too," Carolyn said. "I'll have to go back a bit earlier to the cottage, though. I didn't bring anything here that's dressy enough for the party."

"We can all go get ready there," Brianna suggested. "Doors open at six, and the dinner starts at seven, so if we're at the cottage by three o'clock home time, we'll have enough time to pick something out for you to wear, and get ready."

"Will this be different for you tomorrow night, now that you know what you'll be doing at the Ministry after school?" Al asked Scorpius.

"We'll try not to do anything different," Scorpius said. "We wouldn't want to give anything away by accident."

"Is there anything we need to be careful of?" Carolyn asked.

Brianna nodded. "If in doubt, don't give out any information. There are lots of Witches and Wizards that just go around all night trying to coax news out of other guests. They can be pretty sneaky."

Carolyn laughed. "You've convinced me to stick close to you guys all night."

"That's not a bad plan," Scorpius said. "We'll be together most of the time anyway."

They talked together for nearly an hour before Karl and Daphne joined them, followed a few minutes later by Callie and Mark.

"Have a nice walk?" Carolyn asked the two couples after they'd been offered drinks and had joined them in the sitting room.

"It's so beautiful out there in the moonlight," Daphne told her. "Too bad we all can't just live here on the island when we're not at school."

"We've all thought about that," Brianna said. "The problem always ends up being that none of us ever get any work done when we're here, so we can't."

"That would be a problem," Daphne agreed. "Gabrielle and Kevin have figured out how to do both, though. Maybe we just need to practice."

"I don't think you can equate doing sixth and seventh year revision with painting for a living," Carolyn told Daphne. "Gabrielle hides in her office when she needs to get paperwork done, and a big part of the rest of her job is mixing with the guests, and making sure they're all having fun. She loves her job, so she doesn't mind working. We can't exactly say that we love revisions."

Daphne laughed. "That's for sure. Okay, so we can't move here. It'd be hard to practice Quidditch too. I can still dream, though."

"Yes, you can," Callie agreed. "If you want to live someplace like this when you're done school, though, you should start thinking about how to make that happen. Mark and I certainly know now that nothing is impossible, and we all have the help we need to make those dreams come true."

"Karl does," Daphne said. "My situation is different."

"Not necessarily if you're both doing the same thing," Carolyn suggested. "You won't know the answer to that until you decide what you want to do, and then see how much help you can get."

"You guys can sit up and talk if you'd like," Al said, standing up. "It's really late home time, though, and I'm going to get some sleep. We've got a really long day tomorrow."

Carolyn stood up too, taking Al's hand. "I'm with you," she said. "We'll see you all in the morning. Al and I will make breakfast."

"Goodnight," Brianna said to them. "Sleep well."

The other three couples talked quietly after Al and Carolyn had gone upstairs, finishing drinks, and winding down before they were each ready for bed, and left the sitting room to go up to bed too.

Al and Carolyn were first up in the morning, and after getting dressed, went down to the kitchen and got to work on making breakfast for eight. It was just after sunrise, but they both felt like they'd slept in late, since it was late morning already back home.

"We're only going to have a couple of hours to play after breakfast before we'll have to get going to the cottage," Carolyn said as they worked. "That part of agreeing to take Nick and Allie's places at the party tonight doesn't work out so well for us."

Al nodded. "Between the party and the time we need to get ready for it, we'll be gone for nine or ten hours, and that's nearly all daytime hours island time. By the time we get around to ringing in our second New Year of the night, we might not be all that excited about that either after six or seven hours at the Ministry party, then hours more back here before midnight."

"I'll miss not getting to spend the day playing here," she told Al, "but we're going to have a brilliant day too."

The other couples started making their way to the kitchen as the smells of food began to permeate the house, and they all sat down to eat, cleaned everything up when they'd finished, and then went down to the lagoon to play.

When it was time for anyone who was going to the Ministry party to go back home and get ready for their night out, Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and Scorpius went to the cottage, while Percy and Penelope went home, as did Ana, Kirley, Kieran, Karl, Lily, and Daphne.

"Are we supposed to meet Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope at the Emerald City Centre?" Carolyn asked Brianna when they were just about ready to meet the boys in the sitting room.

"Yes," Brianna agreed. "We'll be sitting at their table, but we'll do our own thing before dinner, and they'll be away from the table for a lot of the night after we eat."

"Will Lily, Kieran, Daphne, and Karl be with us too?"

Brianna shook her head. "I doubt it. They'll either be put with the other families of the Weird Sisters, or since Lily and Kieran are so famous, they'll end up sitting with the Minister and his family. Since his youngest daughter is such a fan of SpellBound's, I'd guess that Lily and Kieran will end up there, while Ana, Kirley, Karl, Daphne, and her parents are at another table."

"If Daphne's Mum gets to sit at the table with Kirley, and some of the other band members, she'll be thrilled," Carolyn said, putting on final touch on her hair. "I'm all set," she added, and Brianna nodded.

"Me too. Let's go wow the boys," she said with a laugh.

They did that, and then the two couples took the TransPortal to the Emerald City Centre, getting there just after six. Word about Scorpius and Brianna's engagement had gotten around, thanks mostly to Percy's memo, and it seemed that most of the Witches that worked at the Ministry wanted to stop Brianna to congratulate her, get any juicy details, and see what kind of ring Scorpius had gotten her.

"That should get more rumours going," Scorpius told Al as they watched the girls. "By Tuesday there should be all sorts of gossip as to how I could afford that ring."

"You mean you didn't sell off some family heirloom you took with you when you left home?" Al joked. "Or have some kind of racket going on at school?"

"Very funny, mate," Scorpius said, smiling back at Al. "I might have considered the first – if I'd known my grandfather was going to disinherit me when I was in second year. The second idea is just too ridiculous to comment on."

Al laughed. "Then it's certain to make the gossip circuit, isn't it?"

Scorpius laughed too. "Good point. Oh well. Nobody would likely believe the truth anyway."

"So is this what we'll be doing all night? Standing around, having a few drinks, and watching the girls talking engagements and weddings?"

"This will mostly just be until dinner for us," Scorpius told him. "Dinner is usually interesting, depending on who we have at our table. Once the dancing starts, it's pretty much every couple for themselves. There will still be lots of people playing politics too, but hopefully we can avoid most of that."

"Why can't they take a night off from it all?" Al asked.

"Probably because at parties like this there's a tendency for at least some Witches and Wizards to drink a little – or a lot - too much, and then they start to talk way more than they should," Scorpius answered.

"I wouldn't think that anyone who has been in politics a long time would get caught like that," Al commented.

"They wouldn't," Scorpius agreed. "But they have less experienced people working for them, and pumping family members and other guests for information is popular too."

"I'll keep that in mind," Al promised. "We seem to be drawing some attention ourselves," he noted. "I'm getting some strong vibes that there's a lot of interest in what Harry Potter's son is doing here with Draco Malfoy's kid."

Scorpius laughed. "It's not like they don't know about my relationship to your family, but I guess you and I aren't seen at functions like this, even though we do a lot of things together everywhere else."

Carolyn and Brianna finally got a break from being surrounded, and rejoined Al and Scorpius.

"Having fun?" Al asked Carolyn, who was smiling brightly.

"It's really different, but I really am having fun," Carolyn answered, tucking her arm into his. "How about you guys?"

"Scorpius is just educating me on party politics," Al told her. "I expect we'll learn a lot tonight."

"No doubt," Brianna said. "Let's start making our way to our table," she suggested. "It'll take a while to find out where we're supposed to sit, and then to work our way through the crowd."

"Nick and Allie won't need the whole Grand Ballroom for their wedding, will they?" Carolyn asked.

Scorpius shook his head. "They won't be using it all, but the other rooms will be too small. This one can be divided into up to four sections. The decision hasn't been made for sure yet whether they'll go with the quarter or half ballroom."

Carolyn looked around at the thousands of guests that were already in the hall, then smiled at Al.

"Whenever we get married, let's make it a small wedding, okay? I can't imagine standing there and trying to get through our vows with even a quarter of this many people watching on."

"It wouldn't be that bad," Brianna told her.

"Maybe for you," Carolyn said. "You know I still don't like presenting our projects in front of the class. If there were thousands of people watching on, it'd probably take me five minutes to stutter out a simple 'I d-d-d-do'."

They found their table and sat down, the first to arrive. The seating lists had been posted alphabetically, so other than Percy and Penelope, they still had no idea who else would be sitting with them. Grandma and Grandpa weren't for sure, and they didn't have anyone from Ana and Kirley's group either.

While they waited for the rest of their dinner companions to arrive, Brianna and Scorpius both had people stop to talk to them, and congratulate them on their engagement. Even the Minister of Magic and his wife stopped for a moment on their way to the head table.

All four teens got up and hugged Neville and Luna when they found out that Lance's parents would be sitting at their table.

"What's Lance doing tonight?" Al asked them.

Luna smiled at him. "He and Colin are going to the New Year's Eve party at the residence. They seem to have a couple of reasons to volunteer there this year. Then he's staying overnight at Colin's."

"Do you know anyone else who's at our table?" Brianna asked.

"We didn't really look to see who we'd be sitting with," Neville told her. "My parents, grandmother, and Luna's dad are with Molly and Arthur, since we stopped there on our way here."

When Mandy and Terry Boot arrived next with Natalie and Owen Caldwell, Scorpius wasn't the only teen who was a bit suspicious of the seating arrangements.

"Did you ship the kids off for the night?" Brianna asked Mandy and Natalie, who both nodded.

"Grandparents are a wonderful invention," Natalie joked. "I'll have to get Kira together with Lily before she goes back to school though. She was not happy when she found out they'd be here tonight, and she wasn't coming."

"We're probably going to do a day at Marauders Paradise on Friday," Carolyn said. "She could come with us for that."

"She'd love that, Carolyn. Thank-you," Natalie told her. She winked at Mandy. "Maybe we won't be able to call her Carolyn anymore," she teased. "She will be the assistant to our boss after all."

Carolyn laughed. "When did you find out about that? I only got the contract paperwork on Friday."

"We had a meeting with Molly, and she told us that she'd gotten you," Mandy told her. "I need to start recruiting earlier, since you were on my watch list, but we didn't have to recruit a year and a half in advance before now. Molly and Victoire are changing those rules on us."

"I'll keep that in mind if working in Grandma's office doesn't work out for me," Carolyn promised.

Percy and Penelope finally got to their table too, and sat down with them, since dinner would be starting soon.

"This should be fun," Penelope said. "The business people outnumber the politicians for once."

Neville laughed. "Maybe one of these years I'll swing it so you end up sitting at a table full of professors instead. Then we could talk about plants and spells and students all night."

"I was including you in the business people, Neville," Penelope told him. "Your partnership with the Institute has done fairly well, I'd say."

That was a real understatement, since Neville was certainly the richest Professor in the Wizarding World, and he just returned Penelope's smile, but didn't confirm or deny what everyone at the table knew to be true. He wasn't sure whether even Penelope knew that he hadn't negotiated anything, but had just signed on the dotted line that Harry had shown him all those years ago. His friend had been the one who'd made sure Neville was taken care of for his work.

Scorpius, Al, Carolyn, and Brianna weren't surprised when, over the next two hours, the dinner conversation mostly concentrated on business. Penelope, Luna, Mandy, and Natalie discussed global business issues that had the four teens sure that they'd been set up tonight specifically so that Scorpius could get a tutorial on international macro economics from four of the world's experts.

For their part, the four women were happy to see that Scorpius and Carolyn in particular got involved in the conversation, asking good questions, and that they both seemed to be enjoying themselves as they learned. Since Al and Brianna both understood what was going on, they stayed on the edges of the conversation and let the others have fun.

When the dessert dishes were cleared away around nine o'clock, everyone got up to stretch their legs, take washroom breaks, or wander around for the few minutes before the first band started. Carolyn and Al met up with Lily and Kieran near the head table when they were on their way back to their own table from their little walk.

"Having fun with the Minister and the other special guests?" Al asked them.

"It's not all that exciting, but at least his daughter is a little sweetheart. She's like a quiet version of Kira."

"When does your Dad and his band go on?" Carolyn asked Kieran.

"They've got the ten-thirty to just after midnight slot," Kieran answered. "They've been joking about still being older than the combined ages of the bands playing before and after them, but I think they're really fired up about showing everyone they've still got it, and they're being televised around the world on WMVN."

"Well, we should get back to our table," Al said, hugging Lily.

"Good luck," he whispered, and she squeezed him once more, the only indication that she'd heard him.

They rejoined Scorpius, Brianna, and the others, then got out on the dance floor when the first band began playing. They only had a forty-five minute set, then there was a fifteen minute break while the Weird Sisters set up on stage.

Carolyn had been watching the setup while the others were talking. Al had whispered something to Lily, and she hadn't asked him about it, but suddenly she noticed something on stage that most people wouldn't. She turned to look at the head table, and then at Al, who smiled at her and nodded. Carolyn returned his smile and hugged him.

Right on time at ten thirty, the WMVN broadcast of the party began, and the Weird Sisters were introduced. They ran out on stage, and rocked out one of their biggest hit songs. Al and Carolyn got up to dance, as did everyone else at their table.

When that song ended, Myron called SpellBound out to join them, and they played the next five songs together, three of the Weird Sisters classics, and two brand new songs that would be out on the album the Weird Sisters would be putting out in a few months.

The partygoers loved every minute of the unexpected collaboration. The dance floor was filled the whole time, and there was loud cheering and applause after each song, and an even longer cheer when Lily and Kieran took their bows, and left the stage when they were finished.

They were dancing at the Academy too, and had the WMVN broadcast of the party on the big screen WWVN in the dining hall, with the sound up loud.

James and Arianna had left the island in time to go get ready, and had ended up with some unexpected, but welcomed, guests. Millie and Amy had approached them in the morning, and asked if they could go to the dance at the Academy. Victoire and Isabelle had offered to go back home with them to help the girls get dressed up for the party, and by the time they all left for home, Carissa had talked Dale into going too, and so there were four extra kids with them for the dance.

"I guess we know why Millie and Amy wanted to come now," Arianna told him as they danced to the first of what would be two ballads that Lily and Kieran performed with the Weird Sisters.

James nodded, looking over to where Millie and Amy were dancing, not too far apart from each other, with Jason and Brian.

"I didn't hear a peep about it, but since they were only here for a while after Lily and Kieran's Christmas concert, the boys must have made an impression on those two sweethearts."

Arianna smiled. "I'd say that was mutual," she told him. "Victoire and Isabelle did a great job with getting the girls dressed up on such short notice too."

"Jason and Brian seem to have noticed that too," James said. "Since they were dressed up for the Christmas concert too, I hope they don't think the girls dress like that all of the time."

"I'm sure they know that," Arianna answered. "Keep an eye on them, though. Those boys may need a pair of WiComms by the end of the holidays so they can keep in touch with the girls when they go back to Hogwarts."

"I will. They all seem to really like the Weird Sisters music," he said, looking around at all of the kids and teens dancing together.

Arianna nodded. "Did you know that Lily and Kieran were going to be playing with them?"

James shook his head. "No. By the look of the WMVN vj's when it was announced, I'm not sure they knew either."

"This will make sure that their new album will do really well," Arianna said. "I know I'll want a copy."

Back at the Emerald City Centre Grand Ballroom, Lily and Kieran had met up with Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna. They were still out on the dance floor, and Kirley and the Weird Sisters were kicking it up a notch.

"Way to go, sis," Al complimented her. "You guys were great up there."

"Thanks, Al," she said, hugging him before returning to dancing with Kieran again.

Natalie and Owen joined them for a moment.

"You know Kira is probably going crazy right now after seeing you on stage here," Natalie told Lily. "We're not going to hear the end of it for not letting her come."

"I'll call her tomorrow and help smooth it over," Lily promised. "She can't blame you for something that was a secret."

"We'd appreciate that," Owen told her with a big smile. "If you do that, she might let us off the hook after a week or two."

When the Weird Sisters moved on to another ballad a couple of songs later, Lily and Kieran drifted off, while Al and Carolyn danced away, pretty much oblivious to anything except each other.

"I don't know why Nick and Allie don't like these parties," she said quietly as they danced. "I've loved every minute of it so far."

"They probably would have had more fun tonight if they'd had the same company at dinner," Al said just as softly. "It's just all the political games he's sick of being around."

"I have to admit that I'm finding it all fascinating, especially with Brianna and Scorpius giving us the commentary. If they weren't doing that, I probably wouldn't have even noticed most of what was going on."

"They do make it fairly entertaining," Al agreed. "It might not be so much fun if we were in the mess instead of looking at it from the outside."

"We will be there starting this summer," Carolyn pointed out, "or at least you will be. I'll still be mostly out of it for another year."

"That's probably a good thing," Al said. "That'll give Scorpius and I a year to settle into our jobs, and for the hype to settle down. I wouldn't be surprised if there were reporters wanting to sit in on my training."

Carolyn laughed. "That could be fun – they could play the bad guys you're learning to apprehend."

"I really don't think they'd like that assignment much," Al told her.

"Probably not," she agreed. "I really doubt that the Aurors would let that happen anyway."

The Weird Sisters picked up the beat again, and Al and Carolyn decided to go get drinks and sit down for a break. Percy, Penelope, Natalie and Owen joined them, while Mandy and Terry, and Scorpius and Brianna stayed out on the floor.

"I think Mandy still has a thing for the band," Natalie said. "Probably fond memories from school."

"I seem to remember seeing pictures of you in your dorm room with pictures of the band on the wall behind your bed," Owen said, smiling at her.

Natalie laughed. "Why do you think I know how she's feeling? This is almost like getting to go back in time again – although the guys aren't quite as hairy as they were back then."

"None of us are," Percy joked. "Their music is pretty good," he said more seriously. "You and Mandy aren't the only Witches that seem to be having crush flashbacks, though. It may take the Weird Sisters a while to get out of here if that group of women surrounding the stage is any indication."

"They seem to be enjoying the attention," Penelope said as they all watched the band jumping around on the stage.

"They'll be finished shortly after we ring in the New Year, so most of those Witches will be back with their husbands or dates," Owen said. "I don't think it'll be that much of a problem, although they may end up signing a few autographs before they leave."

"Are we going to wait for them?" Carolyn asked, "or will we leave after midnight?"

"Percy and I have to stay longer, but you two, Scorpius, and Brianna don't have to stay if you don't want to. We'll be here until two o'clock or so."

They got back up to dance when there was about fifteen minutes left until midnight, and stayed out on the dance floor to welcome in 2024 with hugs, kisses, and a round of singing.

Scorpius and Brianna decided that they'd stay with Percy and Penelope until they were ready to go. Lily, Kieran, Karl, and Daphne were ready to go back to the island, though, so Al and Carolyn went back with them, although it still took nearly an hour to get away from the party by the time they said goodnight to everyone, and Lily and Kieran signed maybe a hundred or more autographs.

The party on the beach at the lagoon was just getting going, and it was much quieter than the one they'd left. Instead of thousands, there were only a handful of couples dancing to the canned music, while nearly everyone else was sitting around at the tables, or in the beach chairs, having drinks and talking quietly.

"You're a bit over-dressed for a beach party," Harry joked when the three young couples joined them. He and Ginny were at a table with Nathalie, Charlie, Ron, and Hermione, and the others laughed.

"Did you all have fun?" Ginny asked them.

"It was brilliant," Lily said as she hugged her mother and father. "Everyone seemed to really love it when we got on stage with the Weird Sisters, and everything else was wonderful too."

"We watched that part of the show on a portable WWVN," Nathalie told her niece. "You were all really great."

"You seem to be a few couples short coming back," Ron told them. "You didn't lose my parents and the others, did you?"

Carolyn laughed. "They'll be along in an hour or so," she told him. "The six of us didn't need to stay to earn bonus political points, so we escaped early. What have we missed while we were gone?"

"An awesome play day in the sun, followed by a brilliant Kreacher and Winky dinner," Ron told her. "We've pretty much been recovering from dinner since then, which is probably why not very many of us are up and dancing yet."

"Too bad we couldn't have done both," Karl said. "That party was fun, though."

Daphne nodded. "It was, but I wouldn't mind getting out of these shoes, getting a drink, and sitting down somewhere for a while," she told Karl. "Let's go find somewhere to do that."

Lily, Kieran, Al, and Carolyn did the same, spreading out to join different groups of family. Al and Carolyn sat with Nick, Allie, Rose, and Matt.

"You don't look too worse for wear," Nick said when they joined them. "Don't tell me you've become political junkies too."

"Not yet," Al told him. "It was fun tonight. You might have even liked it, since we were sitting at the high-powered business table. There was almost no talk about politics all through dinner."

Nick laughed. "Figures. There still would have been all the other games before and after dinner, though. I'd pick being here over that every time."

"Watching all of that going on was sort of fun too," Carolyn told him. "With Scorpius and Brianna giving us the play by play, and commentary, sometimes I couldn't help but think it was a bit like watching Quidditch with Andy telling us all the little details about what was really happening."

"Brianna does have a knack for making fun of the dumber things that go on," Nick agreed. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves, and even more glad that you rescued us from going."

"You're welcome, mate," Al told him. He watched James and Arianna enter the clearing from the path that wound around the island past all of the houses.

"What's going on with James and Arianna?" he asked. "It looks like they had a few volunteers we didn't know about tonight."

Allie nodded. "They did. Millie and Amy wanted to go to the dance at the Academy with them, and Carissa and Dale decided to go along too. I have no idea why they wanted to do that instead of staying here."

Carolyn laughed. "Maybe you've had a boyfriend too long, then," she suggested. "It's probably a safe guess that Millie and Amy met a young Wizard or two when they were there after the SpellBound Christmas concert."

Rose laughed too as she watched their two young friends. "You could guess that just from looking at them right now," she told Carolyn. "They've got that 'I could have danced all night' look about them."

That was what Victoire was thinking too, when James and Arianna joined them long enough to put the four teens back into their care before moving on to join Aaron, Tracey, and some of the other young adults who were sitting around another table.

"So who were they?" she asked the pair of grinning Witches after the round of hugs, "and why didn't you tell Isabelle and me all about them before?"

Amy answered her question. "Brian and Jason are their names, and we didn't tell anyone because we had no idea whether they liked their first impression of us as much as we liked them."

"Since you both have perma-smiles, I'm guessing they did," Victoire said. "Should we plan on an extra visit or two to the Academy before you go back to school?"

Millie and Amy both nodded. "We don't have to go at night," Millie told her. "Maybe someone could drop us off for a visit during the day when the other kids are busy with Quidditch or revision," she suggested.

"I'm sure we can work something out for you," Teddy assured them. "How'd you two like the party?" he asked Dale and Carissa.

"It was fun," Carissa told him. "We like going there and hanging out."

Isabelle hugged her again. "I'm sure that the kids there like having you guys do that, too."

Stewart nodded. "They don't get enough visitors their own age there. You're doing a good thing by going over and visiting for a few hours."

"Until we heard some of their stories, I couldn't have imagined that things could have been worse than they were for us," Dale told them quietly. "I don't know how they can talk so openly about what happened to them. I don't even like to think about my past."

"They all take counselling to help deal with their abuse," Stewart told him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We haven't done anything like that for you and the other students at Hogwarts, but if you were interested, you could probably join some of their sessions next summer and see what they do."

Dale nodded. "I might like that," he told Stewart.

He turned to Carissa and smiled. "Feel like going dancing some more?" he asked, and she returned his smile with a dazzling one of her own.

"I'd love to," she answered, taking his offered hand. "Let's go."

The party continued on until midnight, island time, when Uncle George put on a fireworks display, and the couples - either for their first, or second time of the night - hugged and kissed as they welcomed in the New Year. The party broke up soon after that, since their bodies were all still on home time, and it wasn't very long before only the sounds of nature could be heard anywhere on the island.

They spent New Year's Day playing on the island. Al and Carolyn had again made breakfast for everyone in their house, and then they'd gone to join the rest of their family at the lagoon.

Since most of the family was going to need to leave for home by late afternoon, the only meal they were going to have together was put on at around two o'clock. Al and Carolyn were sitting with Harry, Ginny, James, and Arianna while they ate.

"What's the problem with you staying here for another couple of days?" Ginny asked James.

"We're running short staff over the holidays," he told his mother. "Even if I'd known earlier about Arianna having the extra time off, I couldn't have really changed the schedules. It wouldn't have been fair to the rest of the staff."

"Carolyn and I could help out tomorrow morning while the Quidditch practices are going on," Al told him. "We have to study in the afternoon, though."

Harry nodded. "Why don't you let us know what you need done for the next two days, and we'll get everything covered for you. If Al and Carolyn help tomorrow morning, I can take the rest of the day, and I'm sure we can handle whatever you need for Wednesday."

"You're sure you don't mind?" James asked, and Harry, Al, and Carolyn shook their heads.

"I'd be crazy not to take you up on the offer, then," he told them. "Thank-you."

Aaron and Tracey had already decided to stay on the island for the extra time, so when the rest of the family left for home, with only eight Witches and Wizards left behind, the island mostly returned to it's peaceful state as the four couples began two days of quiet relaxation that was almost the opposite of what the past few days had been.

Harry, Al, and Carolyn were all up early the next morning. Harry was getting breakfast ready for everyone, but Al and Carolyn were already having a quick meal before leaving for the Academy.

"If you need any help this morning, just send me a QuillMessage, and I'll come over there to help," Harry told them.

"We won't have any problems," Al said confidently. "James worries too much. Nearly everything on the list for the next two days, except for the trip to Olivanders tomorrow, is mostly just supervising jobs that his staff could do without him. When he's there, I doubt he's actually watching over their shoulders."

Harry nodded. "Probably not, but he is there if there are any problems, and so that's really all we need to be doing too."

Carolyn looked at her watch. "We better go," she told Al. "Will you be sending Millie and Amy along later?"

"Probably. I'll let you know for sure so you can let the kitchen staff know if they have extra kids for lunch."

James had advised a few key people that he was taking the extra time off, so none of the staff were surprised when Al and Carolyn showed up just before the students would be sitting down for breakfast.

Carolyn went to the dining hall to help out if needed, while Al went to the offices to sit in on the shift change meeting where the staff discussed anything that happened on the previous shift, assigned people to handle any incomplete tasks, and reviewed the shift ahead. There were no major problems, and the night shift team were on their way home fifteen minutes into the meeting, while the day shift spent another ten minutes getting ready to start.

"Have you thought about telling James to sleep in once in a while and let you all just do your jobs?" Al asked the small group.

"We've mentioned it a few times," one of the Witches answered, smiling at Al. "He cares so much about these kids, he just wants to make sure they're being taken care of all the time. That's probably what makes him such a great boss too."

Al returned her smile. "Well, if you do need me for anything, let me know," he said, standing up. "Carolyn and I will be more useful spending time with your students than getting in your way this morning."

He left the offices and joined Carolyn in the dining hall, where she was sitting with a few of the younger girls, talking quietly together as the girls ate breakfast.

"Everything under control?" she asked, looking up at him.

"James could take a month off, and this place would run fine. He has a good team here," Al said, sitting next to her. "How are you all doing this morning?"

Carolyn smiled at the girls around them. "We're doing good. I've just been getting updated on what's been going on around here over the weekend."

"Should I go hang out with some of the guys while you're busy with all of the girl talk?" he asked, smiling as a few of the girls blushed and giggled.

"That depends on whether you want to talk about who's kissing whom with us," Carolyn said, her words accompanied by more giggles.

Al leaned close and kissed her before standing again. "You girls have fun. I'm sure you can handle this discussion without me, and there must be some guy talk going on somewhere around here."

Everything went smoothly at the Academy all morning. Millie and Amy did come over, along with Carissa and Dale, who decided that this would be more fun than watching Quidditch or hanging around the cottage.

Harry came to the Academy to take over from Al and Carolyn after a morning meeting with Callie at the Ministry, giving them enough time to get back to the cottage and make lunch for everyone there.

"How'd practice go?" Al asked Nick when they'd all sat down to eat.

"Just mostly putting on that show we planned today," Nick told him. "We pushed our team about as hard as they're able to play, but it wasn't very challenging for the rest of us. Maybe in a year or two Joe will have a team that can compete with the other House teams again, but they're definitely not going to get there this year."

Al nodded. "So you gave them Thursday off, like you planned?"

"Yeah. Since we haven't been much competition, it only seems fair for us to give Hugo and his team at least one good training session after putting up with us for the last three practices."

"We appreciate that too," Hugo told him. "I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but how do you all feel about pushing through for the rest of the day until we're done all of our assignments? Then we could spend Thursday afternoon doing our back to school supplies instead of wasting Saturday doing that."

Lily laughed. "We can't believe you're suggesting it either, but I'm all for that plan."

There was a unanimous vote for that, and so after they finished eating, the books came out, and they all got to work.

As always, Lily not only worked on her own revision, but took turns helping everyone else. Instead of stopping and clearing the kitchen so that dinner could be made, they ordered pizza, and kept working as they ate, sending Harry, Ginny, and anyone who was finished their studies off to the sitting room with their food so they wouldn't be distracted.

It took until nearly eight o'clock before the last assignment was finished, but they were all happy about getting the work finished, giving them all the rest of the week off.

Lily and Kieran were cuddled in the sitting room after they were done. Most of the others had left, with Scorpius and Kieran the only two who had stayed.

"Once we get that video done tomorrow, we'll have the rest of the week off too," she said happily. "Three whole days with no work at all."

"We still have Quidditch and shopping on Thursday," Al reminded her.

"We haven't played much Quidditch, so that'll be fun," she told him, "and shopping is never work, even if it's mostly to get school supplies."

"That'll be fun," Brianna said, "but I'm really looking forward to spending Friday at Marauders Paradise the most. We haven't really talked about what to do on Saturday, though. Are we going to do anything together?"

"I'd like to just have a quiet day," Carolyn said. "We haven't had many of those over the holidays – just last Friday for most of us."

Lily nodded. "Me too, although I really want to visit the residence and the Academy at least once each before we go back, and Saturday may be my only chance to do that."

"We'll be going to the residence on Saturday for sure," Harry told her. "Ginny and I want to see the Hogwarts students before they go back, and today would have been one of my days there if I hadn't been at the Academy instead."

"You could visit the Academy Wednesday or Thursday night," Ginny told Lily. That way you wouldn't spend your whole day on Saturday doing that."

They talked for about a half hour longer, then Harry and Ginny went up to bed, followed shortly after by Dale, leaving the four young couples on their own in the sitting room.

"I should get going soon," Kieran said. "That video shoot starts early, and we are trying to get two done."

"I guess," Lily agreed reluctantly, getting to her feet. "I'll walk you out."

They left the sitting room, but it was a while before the others heard the door open, and Kieran leave. Lily came back into the sitting room, but didn't sit down again.

"I'm going up to bed too," she told them. "Have a good day tomorrow if I'm gone before you're down for breakfast."

"You too," Al told her. "Good luck with the shoot."

Joel and Sarah were the next to run out of steam and head up to bed, leaving Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna in the sitting room.

"Are you guys going to just play it by ear tomorrow?" Carolyn asked Brianna. "It didn't sound like you decided on anything specific to do with Nick and Allie."

"We're doing dinner with Allie's parents, but other than that, there isn't anything specific planned," Brianna answered. "What are you two doing after you finish helping out at the Academy?"

"Probably just come back here and relax for the rest of the day," Al said. "We'll see, though. Joel, Sarah, and the others may want to go out, so we may end up doing something with them."

Al and Carolyn went upstairs at around ten thirty, giving Brianna and Scorpius the sitting room to themselves so they could say goodnight before he went home for the night. That was a bit of a downside to having a full house at the cottage right now, but by some time next summer, that probably wouldn't matter anymore, since Scorpius would likely have a place of his own, and then Brianna would likely be there more than here anyway.

On Wednesday, Harry, Al, and Carolyn went to the Academy, and after breakfast, took the group of students who would be starting their first year magic classes next week to Diagon Alley, and a visit to Olivanders to get their first wands.

"This is so cool to be a part of," Carolyn whispered to Al as they watched the students being matched with their wands in fairly quick succession.

"They've all done so amazing to get this far as fast as they have," Al whispered back. "Not all of them started from scratch, but too many of them didn't even know how to read a few months ago."

"I'm sure they're mostly just glad to be getting closer to the same level as the rest of the students that are over eleven and learning magic at the Academy," Carolyn suggested. "That had to be very hard to deal with."

"Just at first," Al said. "They all really support each other there. Too bad we don't have more of that at Hogwarts. We'd probably have more students succeed if we did."

After getting the wands, they took the group to the Mall where they picked up the appropriate Virtual GameWizard programs that they'd all now be able to use in their studies. After that, they went shopping for a couple of hours before taking them back to the Academy in time for lunch.

Lily and Kieran were busy all morning, even though they were nearly as good at making videos in one take as they were in the recording studio. The first part of their shoot was done quickly, since all they were doing in the video was basically performing the song in one location, while the storyline, and the actors that would be playing the characters would be shot in a different session. The second video took the rest of the morning, since they had different scenes, and costume changes that took time to set up.

It was closer to one-thirty when they wrapped the last scene, and were able to leave, so Kirley and Ana took them out for lunch in London before they went back home to spend the afternoon taking it easy.

"Your Mum said you were taking it easy," Karl said when he found them in Kieran's room playing music. "I expected to be breaking up a snogging session until I heard the music coming down the hall."

Kieran laughed. "This is taking it easy for us," he told his friend. "There was some snogging earlier, too. How was your time at Daphne's?"

Karl smiled. "It was really great. I like being there nearly as much as here."

"Is she coming shopping with us tomorrow afternoon?" Lily asked, and Karl nodded.

"Yes, and she can come with us on Friday too, but then we're going to spend Saturday there, and they said I could stay overnight, and go to the station with them on Sunday."

"Sounds fair to me," Kieran said. "Lily should probably come spend the night here then, so I'm not lonely while you're gone."

Lily and Karl both laughed. "That is so lame, mate," Karl told him. "It'll probably work, though."

"Yes, it will," Lily agreed. "I'll try to keep him entertained while you're gone."

"You're such a good friend, making sacrifices like this for me," Karl joked. "How'd the shoot go today?"

"We went a bit long, as usual," Kieran answered. "It's the set and costume and makeup changes that seem to slow us down. We hardly ever need to do more than one take."

"Just imagine how long it'd be if you did have to do lots of takes before you got it right," Karl told them. "You guys are a music video director's dream come true."

Lily's WiComm chimed, and she opened it to read the qm that had just been sent to her, then smiled.

"Do you happen to recall if there was any other reason why you were sent to find us?" she asked Karl, who laughed.

"Oh yeah, dinner's ready," he answered. "Guess we can talk while we eat."

Back at the cottage, Al and Carolyn had ended up doing a trip to Paris with Joel, Sarah, Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy. They added Jason and Brian to their group, stopping by at the Academy to see if the two boys could be sprung for a few hours.

They returned home in time for Al to start cooking dinner for six, since Dale was having dinner with Carissa, Stewart, and Isabelle again. Carissa, Dale, Millie, and Amy left for their houses when Isabelle came back to the cottage with Ginny after work to get them.

It was another quiet dinner at the cottage, and then after they were done, they all went to the Academy, meeting Lily and Kieran there, where they spent a few hours playing games, and having fun with the kids. James and Arianna stopped in too on their way home from the island, both looking happy and rested.

"Aren't you glad you took the time off?" Ginny asked James. "You look much better now."

James nodded. "Yeah. I feel a lot better too. Any problems while we were gone?" he asked his father.

"Everything was fine," Harry told him. "You should take some time off more often," he suggested. "You have a good team here, and the kids understand that you need to have your own life too."

"I'll work on that," James promised.

"Well, I have training curfew," Arianna told him. "Let's make a quick round, and head home."

When Harry and Ginny left the Academy, Lily went with them, while Kieran returned home for the night. He had his own Quidditch practice in the morning, while Lily was going to be working out with the old Ravenclaw team against Gryffindor.

Hugo and his team found out the next morning that they had indeed lost a bit of their edge, as Lily outraced Colin four to one in snitch catches, and a rested and fired up Scorpius outplayed Hugo, allowing just four goals, while Rose, Al, and Matt put up eleven goals on Hugo before the fifth snitch was caught.

"Remind me to thank you for not all playing this year," Hugo told them when they were back in the kitchen having hot drinks and warming up before they'd be getting ready to go to the Mall for lunch and shopping.

"You're welcome," Lily told him. "That was fun today, though. It sort of makes me wish I was still playing."

"Speak for yourself," Colin said. "I'm happy that you're not. The only thing I learned today is that I'm not getting tough enough competition at our practices. I'll have to figure out another way to train harder, and do it fast or Nadine will be beating me again this year. I definitely don't want to be responsible for losing another game for my team this year."

"We all blew it against Slytherin," Hugo told him. "We won't get surprised like that again."

"No," Liam agreed. "But we will get outplayed if we don't play better than we did today."

Frederica nodded. "Well, at least we know how much we need to pick up our game, and we were worried that it might be happening. We can fix it before we play Hufflepuff."

Kieran, Daphne, Karl, and Nadine came into the kitchen then, coming straight from their practice. Vanessa had come to the cottage to watch Lance and the others play, so everyone that was going shopping was together. They finished their drinks, and then left for the Mall.

They all mostly needed the usual supplies, so after lunch, they split up into smaller groups, and went around the Mall to get the potions supplies, parchment, inks, quills, and the rest of what they needed for their schoolwork. They also picked up sweets and wheezes, before taking the rest of the afternoon to shop mostly for clothes for the girls, while th guys followed them around, carrying packages and enjoying the running fashion show.

When it was time for everyone to get home for dinner, they met up near the food court to make sure they had everyone, then left for their various destinations.

Joel and Sarah were doing dinner with Callie and Mark at their house, so they went to Chudley, while Scorpius, Dale, and Carissa were going to be having dinner at the cottage with Harry, Ginny, Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily. Everyone else had other plans and destinations.

They wouldn't be leaving for Marauders Paradise until just before noon local time, which would put them on the island with the whole day ahead of them. Since they had the morning free, the teens at the cottage spent part of their time getting most of their things packed for the trip back to Hogwarts on Sunday so that they didn't have to do it on Saturday.

Carolyn smiled when Al came into her room and sat down on her bed.

"Must be nice to be able to use magic to pack," she told him.

"Want me to help?" he asked, returning her smile.

"Thanks, but I can handle it," she answered. "If you do it, I won't know where everything is when I need it later."

"At least you'll be able to do magic all summer. I had to wait until it was almost over before I could last summer," Al said as he watched her work.

"That reminds me," Carolyn said. "If you've got a few minutes, could you pop out and get me the latest driver's training book? I want to get my license when we get home in June."

"I can do that while you're packing," Al said. "Do you want me to book the appointment too?"

"Can you do it this early?" she asked.

"I don't know," Al said. "I'll send you a message after I find out."

"If you can, just go ahead and book it," she told him. "I think I'm more excited about getting to drive than getting my apparition license."

"That's probably because taking the TransPortal is easier than apparating half the time anyway," Al said. "The only real advantage apparating has is that you don't need a TransPortal terminal for your destination."

"True," Carolyn agreed, "but then, how many times are you going somewhere that there isn't a terminal close by anyway."

Al stood up. "Do you think Bree will want a booking too?"

"I don't know," Carolyn answered with a shrug.

"I'll ask her on my way past," Al said, walking over to hug and kiss her before leaving on his errand.

He ended up getting four books, and making four appointments too, including one for Scorpius, although Al thought that Scorpius wasn't any more interested in driving than he was. The bottom line with that was really just a guy thing – if the girls were going to be driving, they should at least be able to do it too, even if they didn't do it all that often.

Harry was the only parent going to the island with the teenagers when they left for Marauders Paradise after everyone met up at the cottage. All of the New Marauders were going, with the addition of Jason and Brian, who were now well on their way to becoming Millie and Amy's first boyfriends.

Instead of just going there for a few hours, this trip had turned into an all day adventure plan, and most of the parents were going to be meeting them on the island when they finished work, where they'd have dinner with the kids, and then still have the whole afternoon, island time, to play on the rides, and in the water.

When they got to Marauders Paradise, Gabrielle and Kevin met them, and then went to have breakfast with him while the rest of the gang left them to go hit the rides.

"You had some new faces there," Gabrielle said when they'd found a table in the Atrium and sat down with plates of food and drinks.

"You've met everyone except Jason and Brian, I think," Harry said. "They're from the Academy, and Millie and Amy have taken a liking to them."

"I'm looking forward to meeting those kids in the summer," she told Harry. "They're coming the same week as your residence is, so you'll have a week here with James and Arianna. You'll be coming this year, won't you?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure we've worked out how many kids will be coming with us. We'll figure it out soon enough so it won't be a problem for you, though."

"We won't start working on room assignments for a few months," Gabrielle told him. "We have lots of time still. Anything else going on? You've got that look."

Harry laughed. "That obvious? I was wondering how you were set up for interns this summer."

"We're always looking for good recruits. Have you got one?" she asked.

"Two actually. Karl and Daphne. They both remind me a lot of Megan, and I have a feeling they'd jump at the chance to come work here when they graduate after next year."

Gabrielle smiled at him. "We talked with them a bit when we were all at the Burrow. There's no doubt they love this place. I'll meet with them after we do dinner with everyone if you want. Will they both be seventeen by then?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. I'll help them out if they need any financial help to get started for the summer. Just let me know what they'll need."

"They won't need much," Gabrielle told him. "They won't be able to stay with me like Megan did for her first summer here, but I'm sure they'll like the rooms we have for our temporary staff here in the hotel."

"Thanks, Gabrielle. How are Patricia and William?" Harry asked.

"They're good," Kevin answered. "They're spending the morning at the day-care centre, but we're taking the afternoon off to hang out with everyone, and we'll bring them along."

Harry nodded. "Sounds good. When things get back to normal after the kids get back to school, maybe I can borrow the kids for a week in February or March and you two could go take a vacation or something."

Gabrielle laughed. "You do know that you don't really have to come up with a reason to take the kids for a few days, right?"

Kevin laughed too. "That's okay, Gabrielle. Taking you on a vacation for a week sounds really great. We should do that."

"We have a wedding coming up," she reminded him. "Not to mention that it's always busy when it's winter in the north."

"We average about ninety-eight percent full every week," Kevin said. "Most of that remaining two percent is last minute cancellations. There's never really a good time to go away, which is probably why we pretty much never do take a whole week off, and when we do, we stay here."

"You should listen to him," Harry said. "You're always reminding Ginny and I to take the trips she gets to come here and to Marauders Escape. You should take your own advice."

Gabrielle smiled at two of her favourite Wizards in the world. "You win," she conceded. "One week, but you do all the work getting it set up," she told Kevin. "I won't have time to do that along with everything else I have on the go right now."

"Deal," Kevin said happily. "I'll take care of everything."

Gabrielle went back to work after they ate, and Kevin and Harry went to his little shop, where they talked with Michael for a few minutes before Harry left them to work while he went out to find some of the teens and join them as they played on the roller coasters and other rides and games until it was time to meet back at the hotel for the private dinner they were having in one of the smallest banquet rooms.

They had a really great dinner, then Gabrielle surprised Daphne and Karl when she asked them to come to her office before joining everyone else at the Water Park, where they planned on spending most of the afternoon.

Gabrielle invited them in as soon as Karl knocked on her open doorway, smiling brightly at them.

"Come in and sit down," she offered, pointing to the chairs in front of her desk. She walked around and closed the door behind them, then returned to her own chair and sat down.

"We all want to get out to the Water Park with everyone else, so let me keep it short and sweet," she told them. "I hear rumours that you might both be interested in summer jobs, and possibly permanent careers that would have you living someplace like this." She handed them each a few sheets of parchment before continuing.

"I usually hire a certain number of interns for the summers here, whenever we find young Witches and Wizards who are interested in this kind of business, and lifestyle, which really takes a certain kind of person."

"What would we be doing?" Karl asked, the excitement palpable in his voice.

"You'd work at different jobs while you're here, and we both get to find out what you're good at," Gabrielle answered. "If things work out both for you, and for us, you'd be offered permanent jobs for when you graduate from Hogwarts."

"Do we even need to think about this?" Karl asked Daphne, who returned his grin.

"Not a chance," she assured him. "We can break it to my parents gently tomorrow so they have some time to get used to the idea, but this is perfect for both of us."

There was a quill on Gabrielle's desk, and Daphne took it to sign her contract offer, then handed it to Karl so he could do the same.

"Thank-you, Gabrielle," Daphne said. "The only thing I saw in there was that we'd be starting on the Monday after school gets out. Will we still be able to go to Rose and Matt's wedding?"

Gabrielle nodded. "We'll work that out. Kevin and I will be going too." She took the two contracts back and stood up.

"Why don't you two go on and catch up with the others? I'll get copies of these made up for you, and meet you at the Water Park," she told the excited pair.

Daphne got up and hugged her, and then waited while Karl hugged her too.

"Thank-you," he said quietly. "I just know this is going to be a really amazing summer for Daphne and I."

"I think so too," Gabrielle told him. "You're both very welcome."

She opened her office door, and saw them out, then went off to make copies of their contracts before popping home to get changed and ready for an afternoon playing with Kevin, their kids, and the rest of their family.

They spent hours playing on the slides and in the pools at the Water Park, and then most of the adults went to relax at one of the beach front restaurants while the teenagers went off to spend a last couple of hours doing another round of rides and games before they all left for home, getting back shortly after midnight local time.

Saturday morning, Harry and Ginny went with most of the kids to spend a few hours at the residence, where they spent most of their time with the teens who would be going back to Hogwarts on Sunday, while Lily mostly tried to spend time with the younger kids that she wouldn't see until after she got out of school again.

Nadine and Vanessa went around with her as she spent time with the kids, helping to keep things moving so that Lily could see as many of the little boys and girls as she could in the few hours she had to spend with them.

Al, Carolyn, Joel, and Sarah hung around with the older teens, talking about getting back to school and playing a little 3D GameWizard.

Carolyn had been watching Al all morning, and he'd seemed a bit sad as they'd gone around, even though he was always smiling whenever they were around the other kids, or Harry and Ginny.

"Is something bothering you, Al?" she asked when they had a moment when nobody else was around.

He smiled at her. "You can read me so easily," he said quietly. "Nothing's really bothering me, I'm just pretty sure that I won't be doing this very much once I start working at the Ministry. I'll have too many other commitments to be able to come and just play with the kids here for a few hours once or twice a week."

Carolyn nodded. "I think you're right, at least when we're first getting started. That doesn't mean we won't be able to get more involved again when we're a bit older."

"That's true," he agreed. "What do you want to do next?"

"Why don't we go see if there are any games of dolls going on with the little girls. Maybe they'll let us join them."

Al laughed. "That shouldn't be hard to find. There always seems to be at least a few groups of girls playing with their TeenWitch dolls whenever my Dad's around. I'm sure we'll be an adequate substitute for him while he's busy with the older kids."

That's what they did until it was time to go back home. After they had lunch at the cottage, Lily finished packing, and then sent her trunk over to Kieran's. She'd see Harry and Ginny at the station in the morning, but still had a long goodbye with them before she left for Kieran's house too.

Dale had spent the day with Carissa, coming home after dinner that night so he could finish packing too. Brianna had gone to Percy and Penelope's after breakfast, then she and Scorpius had come back to the cottage for dinner. He went back home fairly early so he could get ready for the trip back to school, and spend the evening with Percy, Penelope, and Nick.

Harry and Ginny had stayed up until nearly eleven with the kids, none of them wanting the night to come to an end, since the start of the next day meant the beginning of another nearly six months apart, except for the odd Quidditch match.

When they did finally go to bed, Ginny snuggled close to Harry, and smiled at him.

"At least this is the last time we'll have to say goodbye to Al and Lily," she said softly. "Even if they don't live at home, we'll see them a lot more than we have while they've been in school."

Harry smiled back, leaned forward, and kissed Ginny tenderly. "I wonder if I'm as sad about the fact that they're almost grown up as I am about them going away to school this time," he mused.

"You probably are," Ginny agreed. "We still have a couple of years to get used to all of the kids having their own lives, though. Look at the bright side. Once they do, you and I can figure out what we're going to do in our post-kids, pre-grandkids life. That could be a lot of fun, you know."

Harry laughed. "I'm sure it will be," he agreed, kissing her again. "If we didn't have to get up early I'd suggest we discuss that in more detail, but we'd better save that for another night."

"I'm going to make sure you remember that suggestion," Ginny told him, snuggling even closer and closing her eyes.

Harry held her, and listened as her breathing became soft and slower, and she fell asleep. The muffled sounds of the others getting ready for bed faded into silence, and Harry finally drifted off to sleep too.

Another Christmas holiday was over, with only the formality of the trip to King's Cross Station left before it was official. Harry knew that he'd be busy between now and when the kids would all be home again, since 2024 was going to be a big year in so many ways. Some of the adventure and excitement that was coming had already been put into motion. There were other events that wouldn't even be anticipated by most Witches and Wizards. As he fell asleep, Harry had those images swirling in his mind, some images clear and precise, and others still murky and undefined.


	107. Last Train to Hogwarts

Chapter One Hundred and Seven – Last Train to Hogwarts

Rose woke up on Sunday morning, and smiled to herself. She was still comfortably wrapped up in Matt's arms, right where she'd been when they'd fallen asleep a few hours earlier in his bed at the house in Hogsmeade.

"Too bad you have to go to catch the train, or we could have most of the day together," Matt said, and Rose turned to see that he was awake and had been watching her.

"I suppose," she agreed, "but being Head Girl does have it's advantages too, so I'm not going to complain too much. At least we're pretty much halfway through the school year."

Matt hugged her, and then kissed her tenderly. "We better get up and ready to go. Your parents are going to want to see you, so we should get to the station a bit earlier so you can spend a few extra minutes with them."

"I know," Rose agreed, regretfully pulling away from his warm embrace and getting up. "I'll meet you downstairs after I get ready," she told him as he got out of bed too.

Matt was downstairs before Rose, so he made breakfast for them, then after eating, they cleaned up, and left for King's Cross Station.

"Are we the first to get here?" she asked when they walked onto platform nine and three-quarters.

Matt looked around at the still fairly sparse crowd, then saw Kirley and Ana with Lily and Kieran, and pointed them out to Rose. They walked over and joined them to wait for Hermione, Ron, and Hugo.

"You're here in good time," Rose told Lily.

"It's a lot faster when there's only two of us getting ready instead of the gang we usually have at the cottage. This was a nice change of pace."

"How long will it be before your Mum and Dad get here?" Rose asked.

"They should be here anytime now," Lily answered, looking around the platform. "There's your parents and Hugo," she added when she saw her Uncle, Aunt, and cousin.

Rose spent the next few minutes with her parents, talking quietly and saying goodbye before Harry, Ginny, and their group of kids joined the others.

"At least we're not the last ones to get here this time," Harry said with a smile. "It's bound to happen occasionally."

Ron laughed. "You'd be the first one here if you could fit everyone into that fancy little sports car of yours."

"It wouldn't be worth all of the confunding I'd have to do when the Muggles at the station here saw eight or ten people piling out of a two-seater," he told Ron.

They had nearly fifteen minutes to say goodbye, and for the kids to load up onto the train. Percy and Penelope came with Nick, Allie, and Scorpius, and George and Marietta brought Frederica and Liam.

Rose and Scorpius didn't wait for everyone else, but loaded up and went to the prefect car to get ready for their meeting. Al, Carolyn, and Brianna loaded up too, picked out four compartments that were together, and then the girls kept them from being scooped by other students while Al went back and began helping to bring the luggage onto the train for all of their friends.

At precisely eleven o'clock, the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station, picking up speed as it started rolling toward Hogsmeade. The New Marauders settled in to their compartments for the trip, except for the prefects, who continued on to the prefect car for the meeting with Rose and Scorpius after dropping their luggage in the compartment they'd be using when they weren't tied up with their duties.

"What should we do while the boys are busy playing in the prefect car?" Brianna asked Sarah and Lily. "Start a club for the lonely girlfriends of Hogwarts Heads and Prefects?"

Lily laughed. "That might be fun," she told Brianna. "The only problem is that you'll lose all of your members after June, since your boyfriend will be out of school, I'll be done, and Sarah will probably be a prefect herself."

"Too bad you won't be here to see the looks on her ex-friend's faces when that happens," Brianna said with a laugh.

"I'm counting on you two to send me pictures," Lily told them.

"Rose seemed to be doing okay at the station," Brianna told her friends. "It didn't even take her all that long to say goodbye to Matt."

"They were likely up late last night saying goodbye," Sarah suggested with a smile.

"Probably," Lily agreed. "They'll be seeing each other two out of the next three weeks too, so that makes a big difference."

"That's true," Brianna said. "Maybe we should be taking notes, since we'll all be in that boat eventually – or in Lily's case the reverse, where she's out and Kieran's at school."

"Why will that be a problem for Lily?" Sarah asked. "If I were her, I'd just go see Kieran at school every day."

"And how would you do that?" Brianna asked.

Sarah laughed. "I'd turn into my doe Animagus, and trot in through the forest to visit."

Lily laughed. "That's a very good plan, Sarah. There are a couple of problems with it, though. First of all, my father developed the school's protection, and since he had personal experience with a certain rat Animagus, you can't get past his defences just by changing form anymore, and since I won't be a student or staff member, I wouldn't be able to come on the grounds without permission any more than anyone else can."

"I didn't know that," Sarah admitted. "That's a real shame. What's the other reason?"

"I'd never go through the forbidden forest using my Animagus form. There are way too many creatures in there that would look at a nice juicy red-haired doe as take-out dinner for the family. I can't protect myself with my wand when I'm in Animagus form, so that could be a real problem."

Sarah shuddered. "Visits on Hogsmeade weekends and at the school Quidditch games are looking much better all of a sudden," she said. "Forget I suggested the whole idea."

Lily went off for her usual tour of the train, mostly visiting students that she knew, but hadn't seen over the holidays. When she'd finished the rounds, she then spent a little time with their friends in the other three compartments before returning to wait with Sarah and Brianna for the boys. Kieran and Joel got back first, and sat down with Lily and Sarah.

"Scorpius and Rose are going to work in the prefect car during the rest of the trip," Kieran told Brianna. "He asked me to tell you that if you'd like to join them, he'll buy the sweets and drinks from the trolley when it stops there."

"Bribery will get him everywhere," Brianna joked. "I guess if I want to spend any time with him, I better go up there." She stood up and grabbed her small bag.

"If I start sending you qm's it's because I'm bored from watching them make up schedules and all the other boring work they'll be doing," she told Lily. "See you all when we get to Hogsmeade Station."

"We'll get your luggage out of here," Kieran told her. "No point in you having to walk all the way back here just for that."

"Thanks, Kieran," she told him gratefully. "I appreciate that a lot."

"You're welcome," he answered. "Have fun."

When Brianna was gone, Lily turned to the boys a smiled at them.

"What are the chances that when she gets up there that she and Scorpius have the whole prefect car to themselves?" she asked them.

Kieran and Joel both grinned back at her, and Sarah laughed.

"Very nicely done," Sarah complimented them. "Is Rose joining us soon, or sitting somewhere else?"

"She'll be along after she finishes doing a round of the train," Joel answered.

Lily jumped up and hugged Rose when she arrived, then they all sat back and enjoyed the rest of the trip. They bought drinks and sweets when the trolley stopped at their compartment, and talked about everything from the holidays that had just ended, to the coming weeks at school, to what would be happening during the coming summer.

The students all got off of the train quickly when they got to Hogsmeade, and lined up for the carriages that would take them up to the school. Brianna caught up with Lily and Sarah, and hugged them both.

"That was a brilliant trip back, don't you think?" she told them.

"Apparently more brilliant for some of us than others," Lily answered. "Did Scorpius trade that off for staying and making sure all of the kids make it to the school?"

Brianna nodded. "Yeah, but Rose was just having fun with him about that, since it was his turn anyway."

Joel and Kieran each had to stay back, having been assigned the second year students this time so the three girls got on a carriage when the sixth year students started loading up, catching a ride with Daphne and Karl.

"You two look like you're still fired up about next summer," Brianna told them. "How'd your parents take the news?" she asked Daphne.

"Pretty well, actually. They said if we do go work there full-time when we graduate, that they're going to come live with us all winter," Daphne told her.

"You must be hoping they're joking," Lily said as she, Brianna, and Sarah all laughed.

"They were," Daphne said. "Between them, my brothers, an sister, I'm sure that we would get a fair bit of company, though."

"Gabrielle has told me before that lots of the staff on the island use the two weeks of holiday time they get on the island because they're part of PBP Investments for their families. They take the time off, but have their families stay in the suite they'd use. The staff apartments are really nice, but most of them are only two bedrooms, except for the family apartments and the bungalows that senior managers, or some of the business owners have, so it works out better than having a crowded apartment."

"We'd have four weeks between us," Karl pointed out, "and I certainly wouldn't be using any of that time to bring my family along for a visit."

"We're getting a bit ahead of ourselves," Daphne told him. "We should probably try to impress Gabrielle this summer before we plan trips for my family to come visit us there."

"I'm sure you'll do that," Lily told them. "You're both always smiling anytime we're near a beach or the water. You'll be smiling non-stop if you're on the island twenty-four hours a day."

Their carriage pulled up to the entrance to the school, and they all got off, and walked into the entrance hall, and then through the doors to the Great Hall. They had to split up after that and go sit at their House tables, so Lily and Brianna went to sit at the Ravenclaw table, while Sarah, Karl, and Daphne went to sit at the Slytherin table.

Rose, Al, Carolyn, and Nick were already at their usual seats, so Lily and Brianna joined them. With most of the students still to come, they had time to talk while they waited for the banquet to begin.

"Did anyone hear any interesting gossip?" Rose asked.

Al laughed. "You mean about anyone other than us?"

Rose smiled at him. "Depends. Were the stories about us any good?"

"Scorpius and Brianna seem to be a hot topic," Carolyn said. "We rode up here with a couple of Hufflepuff girls that were dying for the scoop on them."

"What did they want to know?" Brianna asked, unable to resist the strange compulsion to find out about the rumours that were swirling around among the students about her.

Carolyn grinned at her best friend. "They wanted to know if the rumours were true that you'd gotten engaged, then secretly got married. There's a rumour that Scorpius confounded a Muggle jeweller to steal the ring for you. My personal favourite is that you're pregnant, and should start showing any time now, and that your baby is due just before exams are to start, so you won't be able to write them, and will have to drop out of school."

Brianna stared at her in horror. "You're kidding, right?"

"About everything except them wanting to know all about your engagement," Carolyn said, able to keep from cracking up until her answer registered with Brianna.

"That is so bad," Brianna accused, but started laughing too.

"Too bad it would be wrong to give points to you for something like that," Rose joked. "You look so cute and innocent too. Who knew you had it in you?"

"Thank-you," Carolyn said. "That might have been bad, but it was definitely fun. I should have taken a picture, though."

Since Scorpius was with the last of the first years, when he finally joined them, it was only a few moments before Professor McGonagall welcomed them all back to school, went through her announcements, and then called for the feast to begin.

"How did the firsties like their carriage rides?" Nick asked Scorpius.

"The usual wide eyes and excitement," he answered. "I rode up with one girl who told us that she could see the Thestrals. I'm not sure that her friends believed her, but I'm pretty sure she could see them."

"That's sad if she could, considering what it means to be able too do that," Carolyn said.

"She told us that she'd been with her family at St. Mungos when her great-grandmother died, and had seen her go," Scorpius told her. "That's not the same as seeing someone killed or witness a bad accident."

"That's true," Brianna agreed. "I'm not in any hurry to join that club, though. Everybody that I care about, I want to have around for a very long time to come."

"Hopefully none of us will be able to see them for a long time," Rose said. "Any problems?" she asked Scorpius, who shook his head.

"Everything went smoothly. "We didn't misplace a single student."

The familiar buzz of conversation filled the Great Hall, and the various groups of Marauders added to that noise level as they ate dinner. It was always easier to get back into the school rhythm after the shorter Christmas holiday than it was after the summer break. The first year students knew what they were supposed to do, unlike in September, and all of the other students knew what to expect over the last half of the school year, so there was a lot less goofing around.

When dinner was over, The students mostly all went back to their dorms to unpack before going to their Common rooms to hang out with their friends and relax before going to bed and getting ready for their first day back at classes.

"You'd think they'd learn," Al whispered to Carolyn, nodding toward two tables that were filled with students working frantically on holiday assignments that they'd left until now to try and complete before they were due in the morning.

"Most of them will catch up," she told him quietly. "Not everybody has Lily to keep them on track all the time."

"We were doing pretty well before she started school," he said defensively.

Carolyn smiled at him. "You were doing great. Brianna and I have gotten a lot better since she started helping us. It'll be interesting to see how we handle things next year without her."

"You'll do fine. It won't hurt that you can have all of our notes from this year, either."

Nick came over and sat in a chair next to them.

"Is Brianna in with Scorpius?" he asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"She went in after we finished unpacking," she told Nick. "What took you so long?"

"I just got talking with some of the other guys," he said. "It seems that there are inquiring minds that want to know about Scorpius and Brianna's engagement, and about Al's application to become an Auror, but nobody willing to go to the source to get their answers. Allie messaged me that she and Kieran are getting grilled too."

"Brianna and I got the fifth degree from our dorm room mates, but nobody has said a word to Al and I out here."

"Maybe that's because I've been getting all of the questions," Lily suggested as she joined them and sat down next to Carolyn.

"I was only five minutes behind you and Brianna when I left our room, but I got pulled into five other dorm rooms to be questioned before I could get this far."

"Whatever we all say will probably sound completely different by tomorrow anyway," Carolyn predicted.

"No doubt," Lily agreed. "There's not much you can do with Scorpius and Brianna's engagement, but there will probably be all sorts of speculation out there as to why Al is going to be an Auror."

"Let them have fun with it," Al said. "Whatever they come up with will likely just help the bad guys underestimate me, and that may help me some day."

They stayed up for another hour or so, then went up to bed as the Common room began to empty, and their fellow Ravenclaws mostly decided to get a good night's sleep, except for the small group that stayed up late in their futile attempt to get all of their assignments done in just a few hours.

During the first week back at school, the New Marauders were busy as their professors didn't ease them back into their studies, but piled the work on right from the first class. Quidditch practices resumed in earnest as Slytherin and Ravenclaw got ready for their game that was less that two weeks away, and Gryffindor and Hufflepuff began picking up their training schedules for their game in February.

They were also all on the lookout for any students in need of new supplies, passing those lists on each evening at their study sessions so that the purchases could be made and delivered by Owl Post, in most cases by the next morning.

On Saturday, after studying all morning, and lunch in the Great Hall, they gathered in Scorpius' office to watch their first Canons' Quidditch match of the New Year. The Canons were on the road, playing the Wasps, and they were looking forward to a relaxing afternoon after having such a busy week.

"Anything interesting about today's game?" Joel asked Hugo.

"Not really," Hugo told him. "The Wasps have a pretty decent season going this year, but we should win the game today. They're one of the teams we play twice, so we'll want to have the road win when we play them at home later in the season."

Ten minutes later, Andy and his crew made the same prediction as their pre-game show wrapped up on QSPN. There was the usual commercial break, and they watched several commercials before Andy was back on, and the teams were being called into the stadium.

Andy's 'And we have lift-off' opening for his games was now world-famous, and everyone in the room was smiling as they watched him excitedly say the words that always launched his broadcast of the game.

"Is James at this game?" Allie asked. "Arianna always seems to play better when he's at the game."

Lily nodded. "I think Coach will string him up if he doesn't come to every game from now on. Quidditch players are a very superstitious lot. When they're on a winning streak, they don't want to do anything to mess with it."

"Aren't those stories about not washing socks or wearing some lucky charm all a bunch of hogwash?" Allie asked.

"Actually, most of them are probably quite accurate," Lily told her. "Most of the players at Hogwarts have their own little things they do that would fall under superstitious nonsense. If doing those things psyches them up, then it doesn't matter to me that wearing a dirty sock or something shouldn't make a difference, if in reality they play better because of it."

"Do you have any superstitions?" she asked Nick.

"Of course not," he told her.

"Sure you don't," Lily said, laughing. "Why don't you completely change the order of how you get ready for your next game, and let me know if you still believe that."

"What are you talking about?" he asked her. "I don't have a routine when I get ready for our games."

"Yes you do," Lily insisted. "You put your equipment on the exact same way every time, right down to your cloak. You also don't pull your bat out of the sheath from the time you strap it on until you get airborne at the start of the game. Just because you don't think about it doesn't mean you don't do it."

"Thanks a lot, Lily. If I've never thought about it before, what happens now that you have got me thinking about it. I could do something different, and screw up my whole game."

Lily laughed again. "That's the whole point about how dumb superstitious behaviour like that is," she told him. "You're a really good Beater, Nick. It shouldn't matter how you get dressed, or whether you have your bat in your hand or not when the game starts."

"I'm sure that's all true," Nick said, "but if you'd never told me, I'd have been blissfully ignorant to that little idiosyncrasy."

"Then forget I said anything about it," Lily said. "Problem solved."

While they'd been talking about that, whether James being at the game was fueling a superstition about winning, or just had Arianna playing her best because she was happy to have him there watching her play, she scored three quick goals, and Aaron and Kimberly each scored one as the Canons shot out to a fifty to ten lead.

"They're looking pretty good," Rose said. "The Wasp players seem a bit jumpy around Sebastian and Tristan."

"Who wouldn't be, playing against them," Al told her. "There aren't very many players in the league that haven't taken a few pretty solid hits from them."

The game lasted for just over three hours, and the group in Scorpius' office enjoyed every minute of it as they listened to Andy and the other commentators describing the game. The couples cuddled on the sofas, and they bantered back and forth about the game, and any other topics that came up.

When Liselle caught the snitch to end the game, the Canons had another solid win, and remained undefeated. Lily and the rest of the Marauders cleaned up, and went to get their books. If they worked until dinner, and then this evening, they would all be able to take the day off on Sunday, so they all worked hard to make that happen.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, with a whole day of free time ahead of them, Al and Carolyn had absolutely no idea what to do with their day. It was cold a miserable outside today, and they didn't feel like sitting around playing GameWizard or watching WWVN all day.

"How about an invitation only pool party?" Carolyn suggested quietly, and laughed when Al hugged and kissed her.

"Who did you want to invite?" he asked, and Carolyn laughed again.

"I was thinking about inviting you and me," she told him. "That should be a perfect number of guests."

The dorm rooms were pretty much empty, so nobody noticed Al and Carolyn go get swimsuits on under their clothes and school robes, and weren't noticed leaving the Common room any more than every other couple that walked in and out of the room were noticed.

They found an empty classroom, and Al sealed it so nobody would come in, intrude, or spy on their morning swim, then set up the portable pool. Carolyn was ready to hop in by the time he was done, and was having fun swimming lengths of the pool while she waited for Al to join her.

"This was a brilliant idea," he told her after jumping in and swimming over to where she was floating around, taking a short break. "Thank-you."

Carolyn flashed her bright smile at him. "You're welcome, Al. Those pool parties we've done are fun, but I have no idea why more of our group don't do something like this too. It seems like such a waste to have all of these pools and only use them a couple of times a year."

They swam and played in the pool right up until it was time to go to the Great Hall for lunch, then dried off, packed up, and left the classroom.

"Have a fun morning?" Brianna asked her smiling friend when she and Al sat down.

"We had a really great morning," Carolyn assured Brianna.

Brianna looked at her critically, and then smiled. "You had a pool party and didn't invite Scorpius and me?" she asked, fluffing Carolyn's still slightly damp hair.

"We didn't invite anyone else," Carolyn told her. "That's part of why it was so brilliant. You should try it sometime. It reminded me of the one hotel Al and I stayed in when we visited Egypt, where we had our own private pool."

"I suppose we shouldn't just go and blatantly copy you today," Brianna said regretfully. "That does sound like fun, though."

Scorpius laughed. "Why shouldn't we?" he asked Brianna. "Is there some kind of portable pool etiquette I'm not aware of? I don't have a problem being called a copycat when it comes to an idea as good as this one."

"We do have the whole afternoon to go, with nothing really going on," Brianna said, weakening fast as the idea grew on her.

Al laughed and handed Scorpius the small package that held the portable pool. "You can get it back to me later," he said. "If anyone calls you a copycat, just say 'I know I am, but why aren't you?', and that should be immature enough to rise to the occasion."

Brianna laughed. "I don't think we have to go quite that far," she told him. "Thanks for starting a new wave of couples entertainment, though."

"Let's try and keep it within our little group if we can," Carolyn suggested. "And keep the number of little pool parties going on at any one time fairly small, or the fun won't last very long."

Brianna nodded. "You're right," she agreed. "We'll keep it quiet if we can."

Rose had offered to take care of any afternoon problems that the Heads had to deal with, and Scorpius and Brianna disappeared somewhere for their private swim. That did leave his office available, which Nick and Allie took full advantage of, settling in to one of the comfortable sofas, watching a movie, and having a rather brilliant snogging session.

The rest of the Marauders were hanging out in groups or couples, occasionally crossing paths, but mostly doing their own thing.

For Al and Carolyn, their thing was getting a couple of books they were reading, finding an empty sofa in the Ravenclaw Common Room, and snuggling close for an afternoon of quiet reading. They'd been there for nearly an hour before either of them spoke. They were content to be close, and lose themselves in their respective stories.

"I was thinking about working with your Grandmother this summer," Carolyn told him quietly. "Do you realize it's going to be my first real, go off to work every day job?"

She felt Al nod his head. "Don't let it worry you, Carolyn. Grandma wouldn't have asked you unless she thought you could do the job. I don't think she had any go off to work jobs before she and Aunt Fleur started with PBP Investments," he pointed out. "She seems to have done pretty well since then."

"She did tell me something like that," she conceded. "I'll try not to worry about it too much. It's a pretty big jump in pay from babysitting. I could definitely get used to that part of it."

"So we can start splitting the bills when we go out on dates?" Al teased, and Carolyn laughed.

"Let's not get silly here, sweetie," she told him. "We wouldn't want to upset the universe by changing everything all at once."

"Okay," Al said, laughing quietly. "It's still my responsibility to take care of date nights. Got it."

"Will you be working with Nick a lot this week?" she asked, changing topics.

Al shook his head. "I'll be doing two practices with him, and Rose will do two. Lily and Scorpius are going to do three each, working with our young Seeker and Keeper."

"It's not going to matter, though, is it?" she said, sure she was right.

"No, not next weekend it won't," he agreed. "We knew this was all about future years, though, and making sure at least some of our fellow Ravenclaws knew everything about how we'd been training for five of the last six years. We just won't know for a while if it makes any difference or not."

"That will be up to Joe and his future teams," Carolyn told him. "You've all done your best this year to give them what they needed to learn. You can't play the games for them, though."

Al agreed, and they talked a while longer before the conversation trailed off again, and their books drew them back into worlds of fiction that captured their attention and imaginations until just before dinner.

Their second week back to school was busy for both the Quidditch players, and the non-players at Hogwarts. The first group worked hard day and night, putting in extra practice time, while keeping up with their studies, while the second group spent hours speculating on the outcome of the game on Saturday.

The other big sporting news story of the week was the upcoming Iditarod Broom Race that Mark would be competing in on Saturday in Alaska. Considering that broom racing was at best a fringe sport until Mark hit the scene, it was pretty amazing to see how many students at the school were becoming experts about each of the races on the circuit.

Hufflepuff students in particular were very proud of their now-famous alumni, although since he was also a Hogwarts graduate, that sense of pride was felt by most of the students at the school.

With the nine-hour time change between home and Alaska, Mark's race wouldn't even be starting until the afternoon local time, so everyone at the school was completely in Quidditch mode when they began to fill the stands to watch the game.

Despite the cold temperatures, both Rose and Matt were there as early as they could be, Rose having walked to the stadium with Nick and the rest of the Ravenclaw team.

"Try to keep the game going all day," she joked to Nick. "I'll be quite cross if this game only lasts a few minutes, even if it is cold out."

Nick laughed. "I certainly wouldn't want you cross at me, Rose, but I'm not sure how much this will be in my hands. We will try our best, though."

Other than Matt, there weren't very many other members of the family coming to this game, since Nick was the only one playing. Percy and Penelope were coming, since even though he'd warned them not to expect any wins this year, they did want to see him play his last games at Hogwarts, and support him. Daphne's parents were coming, and that was pretty much it for the Marauders' family.

When Percy and Penelope got to the stadium, it was more than half filled. All of the Ravenclaw Marauders, except for Nick and Joel, were already there, and were joined by Allie and Kieran. Nick was with the team, of course, and Joel was over in the Slytherin section, sitting with Sarah, Karl, and Daphne's parents.

"Our section isn't very vocal today," Penelope said as they sat down next to Allie.

"We're not going to have much to cheer about, I'm afraid," Rose said quietly enough that they weren't overheard. "Daphne and her team beat Gryffindor, and as hard as we've worked, we're nowhere near as good as Hugo's team yet."

"It's a bit windy today," Matt said. "Not really strong, but it might make it harder to score."

"That probably favours Slytherin more than it does us, mate," Scorpius told him.

They were able to talk together right up until the two teams were called out onto the pitch, since their game announcer still wasn't doing any of the pre-game warm-ups that Andy used to do.

The game got started without any fanfare, and everyone settled in under warm blankets to watch the game, and listen to the sporadic, and fairly boring, play-by-play that was being announced.

Matt had been right that the wind was making a difference, but it only took Daphne about fifteen minutes to start taking advantage of the conditions, and score her first goal on an improbably curving shot that the wind sent sailing through the right-side Ravenclaw goal while their Keeper watched it sail through after being sure it would miss by ten feet or more.

Nick's game plan had been simple. His team was going to play defensively and hope to end the game by catching the snitch. He knew that if the two teams were closely matched anywhere, it was at Seeker, so if Ravenclaw was going to get a win, it would be by catching the snitch before Slytherin could get more than one hundred and fifty points ahead of his team.

The Slytherin team matched that strategy with one of non-stop offence. They'd known that there was no way that their game plan against Gryffindor was going to work against Nick and Joe, since they were arguably the best Beater duo at the school, although that was pretty close between them and Frederica and Kevin. That plan had only worked the first time because it was a surprise.

By keeping the pressure on the Ravenclaw Chasers and Keeper, the plan was simply to tire out the young Ravenclaw players. With the cold and windy conditions, the game stayed close for the first hour, with Slytherin out-shooting Ravenclaw by a wide margin, but the score just fifty to naught for Slytherin.

"Our announcer doesn't seem to be able to notice that our team is already running out of gas," Lily told the others. "She's making it sound like this is a really close game, when it only looks that way on the scoreboard."

Scorpius nodded his agreement. "We're getting out-shot, and they've got twenty interceptions, and we haven't got any. If it wasn't for the wind, and Nick and Joe, we'd be down a few hundred points by now."

"Doesn't that mean Nick's plan is working then?" Percy asked.

Lily nodded. "It is, but he knew going in that they'd need to win in the first hour or so playing like this. He and Joe are the only two on the team that can keep up this kind of pace playing defence for hours, including our Seeker. The longer the game goes, the more it favours Slytherin's game plan."

Sure enough, as the game continued, Daphne, with the help of her fellow Chasers Samantha and Eddie, began scoring more goals. When their Seeker, Darrin, caught the snitch at the two hour, twelve minute mark, they'd been up by one hundred and sixty to ten, Ravenclaw finally getting one past Thomas on a shot that went through one of the goals more on luck than skill as the wind had caught it and sent it through the hoop, just out of Thomas' reach.

"It's fun watching Daphne play when she has Chasers who are more interested in the team win that in worrying about who scores the most goals," Penelope said as they began getting up to go down to the pitch to see Nick.

"One of the first things Thomas did with his team was to talk with them about Aaron and Arianna and Ginny's stats from their undefeated season," Rose told her aunt. "I'm pretty sure he convinced Samantha and Eddie that there was nothing wrong with being the playmakers for one of the best Chasers at the school if it gave them a chance to win games."

"Seems to have worked for them, since they're the only team that's got two wins so far," Percy said.

"When Gryffindor and Hufflepuff play next week, we'll find out if they stay in first place until May," Scorpius said. "If Hufflepuff wins, they'll join Slytherin with two wins. If that happens, then for the first time in a long time, the Quidditch Cup will come down to the Slytherin-Hufflepuff game instead of our game against Gryffindor. If Gryffindor wins, then both games in May will be important, since we could end up with three teams with two win seasons again this year."

"Either way, it would make for a pretty awesome end to the season," Lily told him. "Except for having to pick between Kieran and Nadine's team, and Daphne's team for their game."

Scorpius laughed. "If you could figure out a way to have a four-way tie for the Quidditch Cup, you'd do it, wouldn't you?"

Lily laughed. "Actually, I do know how that could be done, but I really doubt that I could orchestrate two ties in one season to go with one win and one loss for each team, and have all of that happen with identical net points for all four teams."

"Figures," Scorpius said, laughing. "Don't be surprised if I get you to help me out on anything in my job that's Arithmancy related," he told Lily. "You'd probably come up with an answer in seconds that would take me weeks to muddle through."

"How much does an Arithmancy consultant get paid at the Ministry?" she asked. Brianna laughed at the look on her fiancée's face.

"Good one, Lily," she complimented her. "I don't think he saw that one coming at all."

When they got to the centre of the Quidditch pitch, Lily and Kieran went over to congratulate Daphne, Thomas, and the rest of the Slytherin team, and to visit with Daphne's parents, while Percy and Penelope were talking with Nick and Allie.

Rose and Matt had gone off to take the long way around to the school gates. Fortunately, there really wasn't that much snow on the ground, so it wasn't difficult walking around the grounds.

"Will we have much company next weekend at the house?" Matt asked, and Rose nodded.

"Al said he'd take care of lunch, but we're going to have a pretty large group coming."

"We can at least go hide upstairs after lunch," Matt said. "We knew there'd be lots of company for at least some of the winter Hogsmeade weekends."

"Nobody's coming to the one after that," she told him. "Al told everyone that we should have the place to ourselves, since we won't be together for Valentine's Day."

Matt smiled and hugged her. "Remind me to thank him for that on Saturday."

"I will," she promised. "What are you doing after you leave?"

"I'm having dinner with Mum and Dad tonight, but other than that, I was thinking about just hanging around the house and keeping an eye on Mark's race."

"We'll be watching that here too," Rose said. "Anything new with the business?"

"Nothing I haven't kept you up to date with," Matt answered. "I'm working with all of our guests, putting together the custom parts of the trips, and Victoire and I have started discussing expansion already."

"Maybe you should talk with Uncle George, and Owen about that too," she suggested. "If we're going to be linked to other operations, we want to make sure that we have control of what's happening at the other locations. They'd be a big help in teaching us how to do that."

"Good idea," Matt said. "I'll make sure to do that soon."

When they eventually reached the gates, they shared a long hug and kiss goodbye, and then Matt left for Hogsmeade, while Rose made the lonely walk back up to the school. At least it was only a week until she'd see him again.

Slytherin House was having their second celebration of the year after winning their game. For the other three Houses, the game was pretty much old news not long after it was over, as the attention of the sports fans moved from Quidditch to Broom Racing.

At two-thirty, local time, just five-thirty in the morning in Alaska, the pre-race show began. They weren't going to spend the whole day in Scorpius' office, but most of the non-Slytherin Marauders did go there to watch the start of the race together.

The WMSN race announcers spent most of that half hour explaining the race to the millions of viewers who were tuning in to the show. They showed maps of the route, the northern trail leaving Anchorage, and travelling a winding route through towns like Ruby and Nulato on it's way to Nome. The racers would then turn around and take the southern route back to Anchorage, which passed through the old ghost town of Iditarod.

They explained how the Muggle dogsled version of the race alternated each year between the northern and southern routes, and how difficult that race must be, but for the Wizards and Witches in the broom version of the race, their trip might be a lot faster, but they did have extra issues to deal with.

Dogsledders and broom racers both had to deal with the temperatures and weather, although it was arguably much more difficult to handle those bitter temperatures at over two hundred miles an hour. There was also the issue of that little ghost town on the return trip. For Muggles, that was a quaint term for a town that had been abandoned.

For the Wizards and Witches, it meant flying through an area where the ghosts and poltergeist who resided there only got visitors this one time every year, and so they were out in force, trying to play tricks on the racers as they went through their town. The announcers suggested that if the storms and cold didn't get you, the Iditarod ghosts would.

"I wonder what Mark's plan is for dealing with them?" Lily asked.

"Actually he doesn't have a plan," Joel told her. "The race has been there for a long time, and he thinks that if he gets to Iditarod early enough, the ghosts won't even be out waiting for the racers yet. The trick will be to get there far enough ahead of any previous racer to catch them off-guard."

"That might just work," Lily agreed. "The ghosts aren't going to hang around outside for hours while they wait for the racers. At the speed he flies, Mark might get past them before they even know he's coming."

"It's definitely a one year only plan," Joel told the others. "He'll definitely have to deal with them next year if it works, and they probably won't be happy about being tricked either."

"I think he has enough to worry about this year," Al said. "He's definitely going to be into some stormy weather today by the looks of that weather report."

"He'll be testing that racing suit of his to the max too," Carolyn added. "If it fails him, he'll be out of the race."

"I don't think it will," Lily told her. "Since it is experimental, though, anything is possible."

The announcers, and everyone they interviewed seemed to be interested in finding out the answer to that question, and the answer to how Mark would deal with a race with such extreme flying conditions.

There was a race record of eleven hours, fifty-six minutes that had been set a long time ago, on one of the few race days when there hadn't been any storms to contend with along the entire route. The average race time was closer to fourteen hours, and had been as many as twenty-four when they had raced in blizzard conditions.

It was fifty below zero at race time, and snowing lightly as the racers lined up for the start. Mark was in the front line of racers, standing out in his bright racing suit compared to the heavily cloaked and muffled racers all around him.

None of the other top racers were wearing suits like his, but there were some racers in the large pack that were far behind the leader's starting line who were wearing suits that looked like Mark's but obviously weren't the same, since those racers seemed to be very cold, while Mark could be seen smiling and joking with the racers closest to him.

"They won't last an hour in those suits," Nick predicted. "Do those idiots think that they'll warm up once the race starts?"

"Who knows what they're thinking," Hugo answered. "Watching them fall out of the sky frozen should make the first part of the race entertaining, though."

"I don't see Mum and Dad yet," Lily told Al. "They're there with Owen and Natalie, aren't they?"

"How can you tell any of the spectators apart?" Carolyn asked. "They're all bundled up, and their faces are covered."

Al watched the screen, scanning the crowd. "They're next to the stage, on the left, right beside the GamePortal logo," he told the others. "Some of Mum's hair is peeking out of her hood."

Lily laughed. "I don't think she'd find that picture very flattering. Extreme cold weather gear is definitely not an attractive fashion statement for her."

The gun went off to signal the start, and the racers took off in a flurry of swirling snow. The front-runners broke ahead, leaving a small blizzard in their wake for the pack to contend with, which slowed them down even more.

Mark shot immediately into the lead, with most of the top twenty-five staying close to him as they all accelerated. On the ground, it looked like it had been snowing lightly, but as the racers gained altitude, and picked up speed, the cameras on their brooms weren't very useful for showing where they were going, as the landmarks below faded to unrecognisable shadows, and the flying snow blinded the view, except for the ones that faced the riders.

Since the announcers were able to talk with the riders, they began asking Mark questions as he flew. They wanted to know if he was warm enough, and how he was able to keep picking up speed, and stay on course despite the poor conditions.

By the time he was ten minutes into the race, he began pulling ahead of the other racers as his speed continued to climb, while nobody else even seemed able to reach two hundred miles an hour in the snowy weather.

"Looks like his new equipment must be working well," Joel said as they watched one of the other top racers continually wiping at his displays, trying to read them as they began icing over and getting covered with snow.

Mark was comfortably in his wind cutting racing position, not even paying attention to the way ahead, instead relying completely on his instruments, and watching them constantly as he flew.

"Now it's just a matter of waiting to see if he, and all of that fancy gear, can hold out for the entire race," Rose said. She stood up and stretched.

"I'm going to watch this on my portable and plug away at my homework. Anyone else interested in joining me?"

More than half of the group decided to join her, and they got their books and went to their usual classroom to work until dinner.

They kept one eye on the race as they worked, stopping occasionally when something particularly interesting happened, like when one frostbitten rider slowly lost altitude until he finally crashed into a stand of trees.

"Those medic teams are at least very fast," Allie said as they watched the small group of Witches and Wizards apparate to the crash site, and administer treatment to the injured racer before whisking him off to the Wizarding hospital in Anchorage.

By six o'clock, three hours into the race, Mark was seven hundred and fifty miles along the racecourse, and more than one hundred and eighty miles ahead of his closest competitor. If anything, he was looking more comfortable now that he was settled in than he had at the beginning of the race, while every other racer that the announcers talked with looked and sounded stressed out from the rigors of constantly fighting the weather, and spending hours in the freezing temperatures.

The race was shown on the big screen WWVN in the Great Hall during dinner, and there were two more spectacular crashes during that hour and more when nearly every student was watching the incredible race.

They were all seeing first-hand just how rigorous – and dangerous – the race was, and so what Mark was doing so far was even more incredible when compared to just how much better prepared he was than any of the other racers.

Some spectators might argue that Mark was ahead because he had the advantage of new equipment that was far superior to that of his competition. Everyone that new Mark, though, knew that he trained harder than any other racer, and that a lot of that new technology came around because he helped develop it with Ginny.

After dinner, most of the students at the school played and hung around their Common rooms, or were off studying, but they also were keeping an eye on the race. At nine o'clock, Mark was fifteen hundred and eighty miles into the race, and continued to gain time. He was about four hundred and seventy miles into the return trip, having turned around in Nome, and raced back along the southern route.

That was about the time that everyone started watching the race again, as he closed in rapidly on the town of Iditarod, and everyone wanted to see what would happen when he got there nearly three hours ahead of any racer had previously managed in the history of the race.

Iditarod was at the one thousand, seven hundred and ninth mile of the route, and so at nine o'clock he was just one hundred and twenty-nine miles away. Since his average speed was at just over two hundred and sixty miles an hour for the race so far, he was less than a half hour away from reaching the ghost town.

The announcers happily spent that time telling their viewers about past mishaps with the ghosts of Iditarod, including three previous race leaders who'd crashed and been taken out of the race thanks to the malevolent ghosts.

It was about twelve-thirty in the afternoon when Mark raced into the town, and fortunately for the race viewers around the world, it wasn't snowing at that particular point of the race, so they could see the dilapidated old remnants of the town.

Mark dove, and roared in low into the town, needing to pass the checkpoint there. No ghost was in sight at first, but then, as he came roaring in, the viewers were able to hear the ghost stirring, completely taken by surprise. They could see glimpses of the ghosts on each side of Mark, but he shot past them before they could close in on him.

Cheers could be heard all over the school as Mark raced out of town unscathed, and the camera on the back of his broom showed dozens of angry spectres futilely trying to chase him until they reached the boundaries of their domain, where they had to stop, wailing blood-curdling curses after Mark.

"That was pretty awesome," Joel said as the ghosts faded from the rear-view camera shot from Mark's broom. "Anyone want to guess that the next group of racers will be in for a bad time when they get to that town? Those ghosts looked pretty mad."

"I wouldn't want to be them," Hugo agreed.

After dinner, the entire group of Marauders had been studying together and watching the race. Since it was Saturday night, they had a later curfew and that time had been extended by Professor McGonagall until a half hour after Mark finished the race, whenever that happened.

"We've got two hours until Mark should reach the finish line in Anchorage," Lily told the others. "Why don't we call it a night for studying, and go to Scorpius' office to relax and watch the rest of the race?"

Her proposal was unanimously accepted, and they packed up and left to take books back to their dorms before gathering again in the Head Boy's office.

"Everybody's talking about Mark's dash through the ghost town," Sarah said when she and Joel sat down and snuggled close on one of the wonderfully soft sofas.

"He's going to be done the race before anyone else gets there," Nick said. "I might stay up long enough to watch at least those first few racers go through just to see what happens to them."

"That one announcer said it's the cold and fatigue that makes it so much easier for the ghosts to play their tricks on the racers," Allie said.

"If I'm watching that, it'll be from my bed," Lily said. "There are only four racers in the group closest to Mark, and their average speed right now is about one hundred and eighty miles an hour. That'll put them in Iditarod an hour after Mark finishes the race, since he's on track to finish in eight and a half hours."

"Just another regular day at the office for him," Joel joked. "He won't even get any overtime pay today."

Scorpius laughed. "Like fifty thousand galleons for eight and a half hours work is such lousy pay."

"He doesn't get all of that," Joel said. "His investors split it with him. That's one of the ways they make money on their investment. If he doesn't do well, neither do they."

They talked quietly, and watched the race coverage. The announcers mostly were covering Mark now as he closed in on the finish line, practically ignoring the rest of the racers except in cases where there was a crash or other event of interest.

Mark crossed the finish line at eight hours, forty-three minutes. He'd slowed slightly during the final part of the race, ending up with an average speed of just over two hundred and fifty-eight miles per hour.

"He slowed down quite a bit to lose fifteen minutes," Joel said. "I wonder if he had any problems?"

Carolyn laughed. "I'm thinking that after shattering the previous record by more than three hours, if he did have some glitch, it's not that big a deal. Maybe he just ran into a really strong head wind, and it dropped the speed he could hold against it."

"Whatever the case," Nick said, getting up, "the clock is ticking on the thirty minutes we have left before curfew kicks in. I better start walking you back to your House," he told Allie, holding out his hand to help her up. "We definitely wouldn't want to run out of time for that goodnight kiss, would we?"

Allie smiled, and let him help her stand. "No, we wouldn't want that," she agreed.

Everyone else began cleaning up, and getting ready to go. Some goodnight kisses happened there, while others happened after walking girlfriends or boyfriends to the entrances of other Common Rooms.

It had been about a quarter to twelve when Mark had finished the race with his record-breaking win, and so all of the Hogwarts students were back in their dorms or Common rooms by a quarter past midnight.

Some students went to sleep, but most couldn't help themselves from waiting up to watch what happened when the second through fifth place racers reached Iditarod, and met up with the ghosts that had been so angry about missing out on trying to stop the race leader.

They weren't disappointed. The four racers were fairly close together, with not much more than a few miles separating them, and as they each flew into the town, dropping low enough to trigger the checkpoint, the ghosts and poltergeist descended on them with a fury.

The ghosts howled in glee when they sent the first racer crashing into one of the buildings as they managed to disorient him so completely that he had no idea where he was. The second racer slowed to a crawl as she entered the town, and by doing that, managed to pass through the illusions that the ghosts hurled at her until she was out of town and beyond their reach.

When the third racer entered town, everyone could hear him scream in terror, at whatever the ghosts were doing. He flew straight to the ground, pulled out his personal TransPortal device, and disappeared. The next image his broom camera showed was a shaking, terrified Wizard standing at the finish line in Anchorage, his race standing forfeited. Quitting the race in that manner automatically counted as a 'did not finish', which could sink a top twenty-five racer, and put them back in the pack again, depending on how far they fell in the rankings.

The announcers didn't have time right then to talk with that racer, though, since the fourth racer had entered the ghost town, and they watched as he too crashed, this time right into the ground, where they could see that he lay curled up in a ball of gibbering insanity.

When the medical team arrived to deal with the two casualties, the ghosts attempted to go after them too, but now they were dealing with well rested, alert Witches and Wizards, and their howling, ranting, and illusions had no effect. They quickly stabalized the two injured Wizards, and evacuated them to the hospital in Anchorage, which had already begun to move patients on to other hospitals in Canada and the United States to make room for the latest race casualties.

"I had no idea that ghosts could have that kind of an effect on Witches and Wizards," Carolyn told Al as they watched the aftermath of the crashes and the announcer's commentary on what had happened, which had been the worst case in decades, having three of the top five competitors lost that far into the race.

"Our ghosts don't spend most of their eternity, except for a few hours once a year, completely isolated from us. That probably has a lot to do with why they act like that. Anyone who was as tired as these racers are by the time they get to that town would be at risk of being tricked by the illusions."

"That Witch seemed to get through with no problem," Carolyn pointed out, and Al nodded.

"She was alert enough to slow down and work her way through the illusions. Coming in second will be a pretty big deal now, and I doubt anyone behind her will catch up, since those four racers had a pretty decent lead on the next closest group."

Carolyn yawned and smiled. "Much as I'd like to sit here and snuggle with you, it's been a long day. Let's go get some sleep. Lily will have us back hitting the books right after breakfast, since we didn't get nearly enough work done today."

They'd moved into the Common room after things had broken up in Scorpius' office so that he and Brianna could have the place to themselves, so they both got up and Al walked her to the entrance to the girl's dorm, where they shared a hug and kiss goodnight before she disappeared into the stairway and he turned around to go to his dorm room and get ready for bed.

Since Slytherin and Ravenclaw were both done with Quidditch matches until May, their practice schedules lightened up a bit, while the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams picked up their practices another notch.

There were less than four weeks now until their game, and among other things there were going to be two Hogsmeade weekends, and Valentine's Day.

The last weekend of January was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year, and also coincided with a Canons' home game against the Pride of Portree.

When the Hogwarts students who could go to town finished breakfast, and were allowed to leave for town, the flood of students streaming toward town began. Rose was near the front of the pack, and when she got to town, she hurried to Matt's house, where he had the door open before she could knock, and had her pulled inside where he could welcome her properly.

"Miss me?" she joked after catching her breath from the searing kiss they'd shared.

"More every day," he assured her. "We better go do your shopping now. A few more kisses like that, and you might just find yourself locked in here for the rest of the day."

Rose smiled at him, her eyes sparkling. "That doesn't sound at all bad," she told him. "I suppose since Al's going to be cooking lunch for all of us, though, we'd better not lock him out of his own house."

Matt laughed. "Good point. Let's get going."

They spent the next couple of hours getting everything Rose was going to need for the next couple of weeks, then went back to the house to wait for the others to get there.

Al and Carolyn came in first, and had bags of groceries in addition to their own school supplies and sweets. They took everything into the kitchen, and Al got to work on making lunch for everyone while Carolyn helped Matt and Rose set everything up so there'd be enough seating for everyone.

Lily, Kieran, Karl, and Daphne were next to come, the girls hugging Matt before taking offered drinks and going into the sitting room. Nick, Allie, Hugo, and Emily came in a few minutes later, followed over the next fifteen minutes by the rest of the Marauders that were in town.

Al had a pretty spectacular lunch on the table by shortly after noon that was way better than anything they would have had at the Three Broomsticks. It took until nearly one to finish, and then they cleaned up quickly, and moved into the sitting room to watch as much of the Canons' game as they'd be able to before going back to school.

While everyone else settled in to watch the game, Rose and Matt went up to his room so they could be alone for the few hours they had left together.

They didn't end up having a house full of guests for very long, since it took Liselle just a few minutes over an hour to catch the snitch and keep the Canons' unbeaten streak going, even though the Pride had managed to keep the score within one hundred and fifty points until she'd given her team the game-winning catch.

Since the game was finished, everyone got their things together, and left Rose and Matt on their own, going back to school, and getting a head start on their weekend homework assignments.

Rose joined them when she got back to school, and they worked until dinner, and then again through most of the evening.

There were just a few days left in January, and February was going to be a very exciting time with another Hogsmeade weekend just two weeks away, Valentine's Day, and the highly anticipated Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match to look forward to. The New Marauders were definitely in for a busy month!


	108. An Engaging Time of Year

Chapter One Hundred and Eight – An Engaging Time of Year

James was thinking that it was hard to believe there were just a few days left in January. It was Monday morning, and he had just gotten to the Academy to start his day after having a pretty great weekend with Arianna and their friends.

That had included a night out in London on Saturday to celebrate the Canons' win over the Pride of Portree, and a brilliantly lazy Sunday where he and Arianna had spent most of the morning snuggled in bed, followed by an afternoon and evening spent puttering around the house and doing absolutely nothing important.

There had been enough going on in the past few weeks to warrant taking a day off so they could unwind, he thought. Now that there were twenty-nine students taking the equivalent of first year classes at Hogwarts, instead of just nine, that had made life more interesting at work for him, and for the teachers, staff, and volunteers.

After getting the extra two days off at New Year's, Coach had been working the team mercilessly to have them ready for their games against the Wasps and the Pride. The heavy practice schedule, the games, and the additional time that she and James had been spending at the Academy had pretty much completely worn Arianna out.

Finally, James was still processing the information he'd gotten at a meeting that he and Arianna had been invited to last Wednesday at the cottage. His parents had invited Teddy and Victoire too, and the three couples had dinner together, and then had gone into the sitting room. Harry had set everyone up with after-dinner drinks, then begun his little meeting.

He'd spent the next nearly two hours talking with Teddy and James about what he was going to be doing over the next few months, and more importantly, what would be happening in June once school was out.

James hadn't really thought about it until then, but except for Hugo and Frederica, who respectively still had two and four years left at Hogwarts, all of the family cousins, including his own brother and sister, would be finished school. His father definitely had been thinking about that, probably for a long time.

It hadn't taken anywhere near two hours to tell them what would be going on. Most of that time had been spent talking about those plans, and making sure that all four of them understood everything completely, and the why behind those decisions.

James had talked with Teddy briefly on Thursday when he'd stopped for a visit to the Academy, and was sure that Teddy and Victoire were just as amazed as he and Arianna were.

Now, he'd had four full days to think about everything, and James was still a bit awed at being brought into the loop, and getting to watch his father at work first hand as he quietly went about changing the lives around him while almost nobody knew he was doing it.

"Anybody home?"

James looked up from the report he was holding, but hadn't really been reading as his thoughts had taken him elsewhere to see Julie leaning against his door like she normally did when stopping by to talk.

"Sorry," James told her, a smile coming to his face that lit up his whole office. "I'm back now. What's up?"

"Are you thinking about coming to the shift meeting this morning, or should we go ahead without you?" Julie asked him, returning his smile.

James looked at his watch, and got up from his chair. "I'm going to have to put an alarm clock on my desk if I don't stop mentally wandering off while going over those reports before this meeting."

"You've just been distracted for the last few days," Julie told him. "It happens to the best of us."

There wasn't anything new from the night shift, so they were able to quickly get on their way home after passing off their notes to the day shift. James had a few instructions for some of the members of the team, and then, since it was Monday, he and his five teachers went over the student files.

They didn't go over every single student each Monday, but just reviewed cases where there was significant changes or milestones being reached. This week, that included six of the twenty-one students who were under eleven moving up one level in their studies.

The pre-magic education had been divided into six levels for the Academy, and as of today, they no longer had any students who hadn't completed at least the first level, and most of these students were in the third or fourth level.

For the eleven and older students, Walter had two students who were going to begin taking first year exams this week, nearly four months ahead of schedule. Since there was no need to fit their exams into any schedule, they'd be taking those exams throughout February, and if all went well, would be the first students moving up to second year studies beginning in March.

"Is there anything else we need?" James asked Walter and the other teachers.

"We could use a few more volunteers in the evenings," Marianne answered. "Now that we have more than half of the students studying magic, we should really have at least one tutor for each subject where the kids are using magic. I'm not sure it's working out very well for some of the volunteers when they have five or six students working on three or more subjects at the same time."

"What are the chances we could just hire part-time teacher's assistants for weeknight evening shifts, and maybe shifts on Saturday and Sunday?" Walter asked.

"It might be possible. How many would we need?" James asked him.

"If we had one each for Charms, Transfiguration, DADA, and Potions, the Volunteers should be able to keep up with the other subjects – at least until we start having students reach their third year studies," Walter told him, and the other four teachers were all nodding their agreement.

"I'll submit a proposal to the Foundation, and see if they'll fund it, and I'll let you know what they say," James said. "Anything else today?"

There wasn't, so the meeting ended, and James returned to his office while the teachers went off to their classrooms to get ready for the students who would be arriving shortly.

While James had been meeting with his staff at the Academy, Harry had been having a meeting too. Ginny had already left for the Institute, and Harry had called Kreacher and Winky to his office at the cottage.

He'd talked with them for a half hour, and that meeting had ended with long hugs from both elves before they'd returned to their work, leaving a smiling Harry behind when they'd disappeared. That had gone perfectly, and he really loved it when his plans started coming together, even if he still had months to go, and a lot of other work to do before he'd see the results of what he was putting in motion now.

Harry did a quick cleanup around the cottage, and then left for London. He had a busy day that included picking up a certain little birthday boy's first toy Lightningbolt for the party he and Ginny would be going to on Tuesday, after she was finished work, at Marauders Paradise. He had meetings with Callie at the Ministry, a session of the Wizengamot, and a working lunch date with Tracey before he'd get to the birthday present shopping for William, but he knew which part of his day was really the most important.

"How's Mark doing?" he asked Callie when they sat down in at her desk.

"He's good," Callie answered. "After taking last Monday and Tuesday off, he went right into training for the race in Africa.

"The race organizers certainly challenge their racers," Harry said. "Going from a cold extreme to racing across deserts."

"It seems so, but I guess compared to professional Quidditch injuries, broom racing is pretty tame," Callie told him. "Ready to go over the agenda for today's meeting?"

They got to work, and Harry's day flew by as he worked through everything he had going on for the day. He was back home in lots of time to cook dinner for Ginny, and have it ready for when she walked in the door.

At Hogwarts, the New Marauders had dinner in the Great Hall after a long day of classes, studying, and for some – Quidditch practices. After dinner, they met for their nightly study session, but tonight they began with a TNM meeting.

"We've got two and a half weeks until Valentine's Day," Colin told everyone. "I know we're all busy, but we do have some business to take care of between now and then."

"Yeah," Sarah said. "Like what we're going to do for the TNM Valentine surprise!"

The other first year members of the group were all nodding in agreement, but Colin didn't start with that.

"We'll get to that in a minute," he told Sarah. "The first thing we need to talk about is finding out which kids we need to help this year, and getting the lists together so that we can make the purchases and arrange for the Owl Posts to deliver on Valentine's Day."

"What are we looking for?" Daphne asked.

Rose answered her. "Usually, we get gifts for any of the kids we help that likely won't be getting gifts," she said. "That's mostly for the girls we help. We also help out kids that do have a boyfriend or girlfriend, but can't afford to get them anything."

Colin nodded. "If we can get those names, and some suggestions for gifts together by the end of the week, then Frederica and Millie can get the shopping done next week."

"Works for me," Frederica told him. "A week should be lots of time to get everything done."

Colin turned back to Sarah. "We can start coming up with ideas for our Valentine surprise now," he told her. "Normally we just throw out ideas for that while we work on our studies, since that seems to work best for us."

They got started on their homework, and by the time they finished for the night, had that done, and had a plan for Valentine's Day that they'd all be pitching in to help get ready for over the next couple of weeks.

The rest of the week went by in a blur of classes, study sessions, and Quidditch practices. January wrapped up and February started, and there was nothing more significant than a flip of the calendar page to distinguish the end of one month from the start of the other.

There was finally a weekend with no games or races to watch, matches to play, or days in Hogsmeade for the Marauders. That gave them the chance to get their assignments and studying done on Saturday, and to have another Sunday off.

For Rose, those days off weren't nearly as exciting as they were for everyone else, since she didn't have Matt there to share them with. She was sitting at her desk after breakfast when there was a knock on the door that led to the Ravenclaw Common room.

"Come in," she said loudly enough to be heard, and watched as Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna came into her office.

"You look bored," Lily said. "We're here to rescue you."

"What do you have planned?" Rose asked.

"Girls only pool party," Brianna answered with a grin. "Go get your swimsuit on. The rest of the girls are going to meet us in fifteen minutes, so we need to go get the pool set up."

"Why aren't you spending the day with the guys?" Rose asked as she stood and turned to go into her room.

"We'll still have the rest of the day for them," Lily told her. "We hardly ever do anything just for us girls though."

Rose laughed. "You're doing a SpaMagic morning next weekend," she reminded Lily.

"True," Lily admitted, "but then, you didn't want to go to that for some reason, and Nadine and Carissa can't go, so we thought that since we had the whole day free, that this would be a fun way to spend the morning. You can be bored after lunch instead."

While the girls were off playing, the boys got together in Scorpius' office, where they worked on the TNM Valentine's Day surprise, and talked about their own Valentine's Day plans.

"I'm all for the snogging that goes along with Valentine's Day," Hugo told the other guys, "but the timing of the day is really inconvenient – it seriously gets in the way of our Quidditch match against Hufflepuff."

"Valentine's Day has been around a long time, mate," Nick said. "Maybe the problem's with the Quidditch schedule."

"Hogwarts has been here a thousand years," Hugo countered.

"And the Pope declared February fourteenth Valentine's Day around four hundred and ninety-eight a.d.," Nick answered. "I'd say Valentine's Day wins the scheduling lottery by five hundred years or so."

"I just wish we didn't have to lose a whole day's practice three days before the game," Hugo complained. "What if that ends up being the difference between winning and losing the game?"

"Both teams are in the same situation," Scorpius told him. "Stop letting it get you wound up. That's more likely to cause you to lose than missing a practice."

Hugo thought about that for a minute. "You're right, Scorpius. "I really need to stop stressing so much about these games. James and Aaron always made getting ready for the games more fun, and I've probably been more like Coach is with the Canons. Maybe I just need to lighten up."

Kieran laughed. "If they beat us," he told Scorpius, "I'm blaming you."

"Go ahead, mate," Scorpius told him. "I think it's going to be a good game whoever wins."

They worked until it was time to go down to the Great Hall for lunch, and then it was couples time for the rest of the day. Whether that meant going off to play music, or find somewhere quiet for a little recreational snogging, the Marauders couples did enjoy themselves, and were glad to have the quiet day.

"Do you realize this is the last weekend when there isn't something scheduled on the weekend?" Carolyn asked Al as they snuggled on a sofa that he'd conjured for them in an empty classroom after they'd had dinner.

"I hadn't really thought about that," he admitted. "That's a little busier than normal, but I guess you're including Mark's races in that, and we never used to pay any attention to broom racing before he started racing."

Carolyn nodded. "At least we can still study while we watch the races. You miss too much of the action to do that with Quidditch."

"That's true," Al agreed, "but if we're busy studying during the races we lose out on all of that quality snuggling time that we get to have during the Canons' games."

"Then it's a good thing we still find other times for that," Carolyn told him.

They'd taken books with them, intending on doing some reading, but as their conversation trailed off, it wasn't replaced with reading, but with a pretty incredible snogging session that made it necessary for them to hurry back to their Common room just seconds ahead of curfew after they'd lost track of time and nearly stayed away too long.

During the first full week of February, it got much colder outside, and there was more snow nearly every day. That made for fairly miserable Quidditch practices. You knew the weather was bad out when the Quidditch players would rather be inside doing homework.

The talk around school was all about the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, Valentine's Day, and the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game that would be just three days after that.

When Saturday finally arrived, it was an excited group of students who braved the cold to trudge into town. Rose went directly to spend the day with Matt, having given Al her list of supplies so that she didn't have to take the time to do that too.

Lily took the girls in tow, and led them to SpaMagic for their morning of pampering, and the boys got to work on their shopping for supplies and the Valentine's gifts that they'd waited until today to get – like ordering flowers to be sent by Owl Post, or picking up freshly made chocolates from Honeydukes.

"Remind me again why we're walking around freezing our butts off," Hugo said to Kieran as they walked from Scrivenshaft's to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

"Because we love our girlfriends, and would do anything for them," Kieran reminded his friend.

"Oh yeah, I probably forgot because my memory is frozen solid. What do we need to get at Wheezes?"

Kieran looked at the list that Emily had drawn up for them. "sixteen boxes of Valentine Wheezes, two boxes of Pygmy Puff food, a junior joke inventor refill kit, two packs of ton-tongue toffee, three boxes of bat-bogey brittle, and a full box of bludger bars." He checked the list once more, seeing he'd missed one line.

"We also have four skiving snack boxes," he added after catching the missed item.

"We should have rented a delivery truck for all of that," Hugo joked as they reached the doors to the shop. "Let's get it over with. We've still got to order flowers for the girls, and I want to pick up some chocolates for Emily too before we have to meet them for lunch."

"Too bad we wouldn't be able to get back to the school in time for lunch there," Kieran said. "We'll just get nicely warmed up in the Three Broomsticks, and then we'll have to go back out in the cold for the walk back."

Hugo nodded. "At least we'll have the afternoon to cuddle with the girls while we watch the Canons play the Arrows."

They got to work picking out the Wheezes items on their list. In addition to getting all of those things, they also picked up a package of Chocolate Valentine Hugs for everyone, since it was brand new this year, and they hadn't heard about them before now.

"These are pretty cool," Hugo said. "I wonder if they're another one of James' inventions."

"I don't know," Kieran said. "You do feel like you're getting hugged after eating it, though. I wonder how it's doing that?"

"No idea, mate," Hugo answered. "It's a cute trick, though."

They'd only had the two stops, since the Wheezes list had been so many items, so when they finished there, they were able to get to the flower shop and to Honeydukes with time to spare before meeting up with the other guys in front of SpaMagic to collect the girls.

"Does anyone still have anything left to get done?" Hugo asked the guys when they were all there.

"We got everything on our list," Nick told him. He, Scorpius, and Al had been in charge of getting the regular Honeydukes sweets and potions supplies for everyone.

"We're done too," Karl confirmed. Joel and Colin had gone around with him, and they'd taken care of all of the parchment orders, and personal supplies.

"That's great," Hugo said. "We can get some lunch, then go back to school, snuggle with the girls, and watch the game."

"What if they want to go shopping after lunch?" Joel asked.

Hugo laughed. "I'm frozen solid, mate. I'm not to proud to beg for a reprieve."

He didn't need to do that since the girls were all more than willing to have a quick lunch and hurry back to the warmth of Scorpius' office.

"That's much better," Hugo said as he and Emily snuggled under a warm, soft blanket.

They'd missed pretty much the entire pre-game show, and the teams were about to be called into the stadium. Andy and his team had given the slight edge to the Canons to win, but had also said that with the cold, windy conditions, that the game could go either way.

"At least they didn't sit on the fence with their prediction," Rose said. "If the Arrows win, it'd be on a lucky play like that guy last season that caught the snitch in his cloak by accident."

"They're at home, and James is in the Owner's box with Mum and Dad," Lily said. "I wouldn't be betting against them no matter what the weather is like."

The Arrows, then the Canons were announced, and they watched the two teams fly around.

"Do you think they'll ever bring back those flying demonstrations?" Emily asked. "I really loved watching them."

"I don't think they will be anytime soon," Hugo told her. "They weren't having as much fun with it without Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, and last year they didn't want to distract Liselle or Kimberly with working on flying routines instead of playing the game."

The game started, and they settled in to watch. Arianna scored her first goal in the first five minutes, and the Canons never looked back as they put on an offensive show for their hometown fans.

"Or not so close a game," Nick said two and a half hours later when Liselle caught the snitch to end the lopsided game.

"Arianna's been watching Sebastian and Tristan," Al told the others. "She's really gotten good at using the wind to bend her shots like they do with the bludgers."

"Applied Arithmancy at it's best," Lily said approvingly. Which brings me around to the fact that it's time to turn the game off, and hit the books, ladies and gentlemen. We're putting in extra work this weekend so that we can all take next Wednesday off."

They all knew the drill, and nobody argued about the extra studying, since they did all want the day off on Wednesday. That did mean that there wasn't time for much of anything else over the next few days, since Hugo and Kieran were also putting their teams through extra practice time on Sunday, and longer practices on Monday and Tuesday.

It was Valentine's Day, and right from the moment that Al woke up, he'd had to put a lid on his nerves and emotions to get through the day. Helping with the TNM Valentine's Day surprise had helped distract him until after breakfast.

Only the Marauders who could manage non-verbal magic were up early, although they worked from their beds so not to attract attention. They set everything up from the decorations that appeared in every room and hallway in the school, to the Valentine surprise packs that were set out for each student and professor in the Great Hall. This year, they'd even made up little Valentine gifts for every House Elf, although since they'd already been up getting their day started, the elves were all in the kitchen working when those gifts appeared for them.

That last touch had been Carissa's idea, and if she, or any of the other Marauders had been able to be there to watch, they'd have seen that their small presents had been a very big deal for the House Elves that worked so hard for the school.

As the students began waking, and getting ready for the day, everyone seemed to be smiling as the bright decorations everywhere got the day started right. When they walked from their Common rooms to the Great Hall, there was a lot to see, like the suits of armour that were dressed as cupid for the day, or the impossibly long red and white streamers that floated high about their heads everywhere they went in an unbroken river of colour, or the Valentines that were plastered all over the walls that had messages that changed every few minutes, so that you could walk past any one of them dozens of times during the day, and never read the same message twice.

The Great Hall itself was decorated, and when the students saw that packages were set out in front of each Valentine-themed place setting, they hurried to their normal seats and began opening the gifts.

Al and Carolyn had walked down to the Great Hall with Scorpius and Brianna, so they'd opened their gifts together. Some of the other students had already opened their gifts and were either trying on the necklaces or wristbands that were in each package, depending on whether it was for a Witch or Wizard.

The small card inside each box simply read 'Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder'. It wasn't until the students started looking around at other students who were wearing those necklaces or bracelets that they began to understand what that meant.

It didn't take long after that before the noise level in the Great Hall began to rise as the excited, laughing teenagers began telling each other what they saw now when looking at them.

"What do you see when you look at me?" Carolyn asked Al after she'd put on the necklace, and he was wearing his bracelet.

Al smiled at her. "The same thing I see every time I look at you – the most beautiful Witch in the world."

She looked at him sceptically, and he took her hands in his. "You know how we made these," he whispered. "I see you exactly as you always are to me. What do you see? A Troll or something?"

Carolyn hugged him even as she laughed at the last part of his remark. "You do not look like a Troll," she told him. "Actually, you're sort of glowing a bright white. Any idea why?"

Al thought about that for a moment, then closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened his eyes again, he smiled at Carolyn's surprised expression.

"Is that better?" he asked.

"Well, he is one of my favourite actors and all," she told him, "but I prefer your own face. That's a pretty good trick, though."

"I'll change it back later," he promised. "I didn't think about how these things might affect our auras."

Carolyn looked past him to where Lily was sitting. "You should probably mention it to her too, since your sister is glowing too."

Al leaned over, and a moment later, Lily's glow had subsided too, and she'd decided to be a Veela for the morning.

"Hey, why not see what life's like for Aunt Fleur, Aunt Gabrielle, and Victoire for a day," she told Carolyn.

"Remind me to send James a Thank-you," Al told the girls quietly. "Sure, it was Millie who came up with the idea, but he's the one that got the prototypes to work for us."

"I'm sure he'll get thanked enough from what he'll make when they end up on the shelves of Uncle George's stores next year," Lily told him.

The noise level in the Great Hall subsided a bit when breakfast appeared, and everyone began eating. While they ate, Al saw Professors Macmillan and Flitwick looking over one of the necklaces and bracelets, obviously discussing how they worked, and both seemed fascinated by them.

"Why do I get the feeling that our jewellery is going to come up in today's Charms and Transfiguration classes?" Carolyn whispered in his ear.

Al grinned at her. "Because our Professors are up there playing with them like a pair of kids trying out a new toy?" he suggested.

"That might be why," she agreed.

When the Owl Post arrived, there was another spike in the noise level as gifts arrived, mostly to the young Witches in the Great Hall, but also to some of the Wizards too. Al, and the other Ravenclaw Marauders, watched as Rose, Brianna, Carolyn, and Lily opened the packages that arrived for them. They each received roses and boxes of chocolates to start their Valentine's Day off with. Carolyn had hugged and kissed him after opening her packages, and then they'd returned to their food and finished eating.

The decorations around the school would be around all day, but once breakfast was over, and it was time for everyone to get to their first classes, things had calmed down, and it was time to concentrate on schoolwork for the rest of the day.

As the day went along, most of the students took off their necklaces and bracelets. James had estimated that they'd actually probably work for several days, or even a week before the effects would wear off, but they were a bit distracting, and you didn't want to be distracted when working on a complicated Potion, Charm, or Transfiguration.

Since Quidditch practices were cancelled for the day, once classes ended, the New Marauders got together in their usual study classroom, and sat down to take care of the small amount of homework that had been given to them despite the fact that it was Valentine's Day.

They were all done their work before dinner, and stopped by their dorm rooms to drop off their books and to freshen up before going to the Great Hall for the Valentine's Day feast.

"Is it my imagination, or is this feast even more over the top than usual?" Nick asked when the tables filled with food.

"I think so too," Rose said as she looked up and down the table. "Maybe the House Elves got a bit carried away tonight."

"Maybe they just really loved getting Valentine's Day gifts too," Lily suggested. "We should have done that a long time ago. I wonder why none of us ever thought about doing that before?"

"At least we did something this year," Brianna said. "We can do it from now on, too."

The dinner lasted nearly an hour and a half before all of the Professors and students practically rolled themselves out of the Great Hall. Most of the couples started going off to find quiet places around the school where they could spend the last few hours of the day together without any unwanted company.

Al led Carolyn into Scorpius' office, and they went and sat on one of the sofas.

"Did you win the Valentine's Day office to ourselves contest?" she joked, and Al laughed.

"Not really," he answered. "We're just borrowing it for a while. I'm sure that Scorpius and Brianna will want it back a bit later."

"I would have thought Nick and Allie would want to come here too."

"I think Nick talked Rose into giving up her office until curfew," Al told her. He could feel his nervousness growing now, and pushed it back down.

"I wonder what Mum and Dad are doing tonight?" he asked. "He proposed to her twenty-five years ago today – or at least on Valentine's Day – I think it was actually on a Sunday that year."

"Are you really sure you want to know what they're doing to celebrate?" Carolyn asked, smiling at him. "There are some things you just don't need to know about your parents, Al."

He laughed and hugged her. "I love you, Carolyn. No, I don't need to know everything, but I do hope they're doing something nice to celebrate."

"They've probably gone out for the night with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione," she told him. "They did get engaged on the same night."

"You kissed me for the first time on Valentine's Day too," he said, smiling at her. "And gave my whole family years of entertainment value with that one chaste touch of our lips."

Carolyn laughed. "It's a good thing there isn't two or three years between us, or I'd have needed to reach out of the crib – or womb – to give you that kiss, since they all keep saying it was when you were two."

"Why spoil their fun over whether I was two or three?" Al said. "I'm just really glad you did."

"So am I," Carolyn breathed, looking into his shining eyes. "I'm thinking about kissing you on this Valentine's Day too."

Al smiled. He couldn't have set that up better if he'd tried.

"Well, if I remember correctly, back then you kissed me because I gave you a present that you really liked," he said quietly, taking the ring box out of his robe and placing it in her hands.

"I've loved you since before that first kiss, Carolyn. With every moment we've been together since then, and with every kiss and embrace, I have grown to love you more."

Carolyn's eyes filled with tears as she looked into his eyes. Al slid from the sofa, still holding her hands, and knelt next to her.

"I want to spend my life filling yours with joy and happiness, and to love you, and cherish every moment with you." He took a soft, shuddering breath, his heart in his eyes and voice.

"Carolyn, will you marry me?" he asked softly, as he opened the box and she looked down at the ring that he'd picked out last summer when they'd been travelling around the world with Rose and Matt.

She only looked at the ring for a brief moment before returning her gaze to Al's eyes. The look he returned to her was exactly the same look she saw whenever his father looked at Ginny.

"I love you too, Al," she whispered, putting her arms around his neck, leaving him to hold the ring. "I love this Valentine's present just as much as I loved the first one you gave me."

She laughed softly as she pulled him close. "You have definitely earned your Valentine's kiss," she whispered before sending them both soaring with a soft, passionate kiss.

"Is that a yes?" Al asked when he came back to his senses.

Carolyn laughed again. "That's definitely a yes," she agreed.

Al took the ring out of the soft velvet cushion that held it in the little box, and slipped it gently onto her finger, then watched the diamond and two smaller emeralds flash on her finger.

"When do we have to give the office up to Scorpius and Brianna?" she asked, her eyes flashing with excitement, and her smile playful.

"We have a little time still, but I'm sure Scorpius has told Brianna by now, so you know she's going to want to talk with you fairly soon."

"Then we shouldn't waste any of it," she said, pulling him into another searing embrace.

It was nearly a half hour later when the knock came on the door, ending the incredibly brilliant snogging session.

"Enough of that," Brianna teased when she and Scorpius came in and she sat down next to Carolyn. Brianna took her hand and looked at her friend's new piece of jewellery "It's beautiful," she said. "Now it's time for you to tell me all about it. Come on, out with every last detail."

While the girls put their heads together, and Carolyn was grilled on every detail of Al's proposal, the boys went out into the Common room and got drinks for all of them, then returned to the office. Brianna stood up and hugged Al.

"Congratulations," she told him. "You get the best friend seal of approval for your proposal. Tying it in with both your parent's twenty-fifth anniversary of their engagement, and your first kiss with Carolyn was absolutely brilliant."

"Thank-you," Al said, a bit embarrassed. "That was eerily like getting a QSPN commentary on a Quidditch play."

Carolyn, Brianna, and Scorpius all laughed. "That's only funny because that's almost exactly what it sounded like," Scorpius said, taking Brianna's hand and going to sit in the sofa across from the one Al and Carolyn were sitting back down on.

"So what did Scorpius give you for Valentine's Day?" Carolyn asked. "Or are you doing that after you get rid of us?"

Brianna laughed again. "I'll be thanking him after we get rid of you," she told them. "He got me these," she added, pulling her hair back so that Carolyn could see the diamond earrings she was wearing.

"So I shouldn't plan on waiting up for you?" Carolyn joked.

"We've got school in the morning," Brianna answered. "We won't stay up too late."

They talked together for fifteen or twenty minutes, then Al and Carolyn went into the Common room, where they met up with Rose, who was sitting in an armchair near one of the fires, and reading a book.

"Congratulations," she told them as she stood and hugged them both. "I thought that's what you were up to when Scorpius and Brianna were out here after the feast." She sat back down in her chair, and Al and Carolyn sat on the sofa next to her, Carolyn snuggling into his arms.

"You're not going to do a double wedding with them like our parents did, are you?" Rose continued.

Carolyn laughed. "No way, Rose. They'll have to do the full state wedding kind of thing. I'm hoping we can get away with just the family and a few friends, and if I can talk Al into it, having it on the beach at the island."

"Consider me talked into it," Al said, smiling at her. "That sounds perfect for us."

"It's pretty quiet in here," Carolyn said. "There must still be a lot of students out around the school."

Rose nodded. "They'll start coming back in just before curfew. I'm going to be out patrolling by then, since there are always at least a few couples that lose track of time on Valentine's Day. I've told the prefects to cut them a little slack, and just escort them to their Common rooms, but I can't do anything about it if Filch or one of the Professors catch them."

"If you don't see Lily back here before curfew, check their little music room on the sixth floor," Al said. "She and Kieran might need your services."

"If she's not here on time," Rose said, "then she either had an accident, and is in the hospital wing, or she's got your cloak with her, and was planning on staying out late."

"Like she'd need my cloak," Al laughed. "Her invisibility charm is so good that even Dad and I have to really concentrate hard to detect it. I'm not sure anyone else would."

"She won't be up past curfew," Carolyn told them confidently.

"How come you're so sure?" Rose asked.

"You two are the Quidditch players," Carolyn pointed out. "Why is it that the only non-player knows the answer to that question?"

Al and Rose both laughed. "Kieran has to be back in time to set an example for his team," Al said. "We weren't even thinking about it from his point of view. You're right, of course."

"Wow, I better write this down in my journal," Carolyn joked. "I'm not usually ahead of everyone else in the room on stuff like this."

"Will that come before or after 'Al asked me to marry him'?" Rose asked.

Carolyn grinned at her. "Maybe I'll just make it a footnote," she said. "I'll never get everything that's happened today onto one page anyway."

"I'm just teasing," Rose told her. "You should write the little details in your journal. I'm pretty sure you won't have to check back to remember when you got engaged. A girl tends to remember things like that without any help."

They talked quietly together until Lily joined them just before curfew. While she hugged and congratulated Al and Carolyn, Rose got up and went to go on patrol. Most of the Ravenclaw students had gone up to their dorm rooms, but there were a few couples still in the Common room, snuggling on sofas and talking quietly or sharing a few last Valentine kisses before going to bed.

"How was your night?" Carolyn asked. "Did Kieran give you a Happy Valentine's Day?"

"Yes, he did," Lily said, smiling brightly. "We had a fairly brilliant snogging session, and he gave me this necklace," she said, showing Carolyn the necklace that had been tucked into the V of her blouse.

"No music tonight?"

Lily shook her head. "We thought about it, but the sofa I conjured was really comfortable, and then the next thing we knew, we had run out of time. Speaking of that," she added, looking at her watch, "I'm going up to bed. We've had a really long day." She smiled at Carolyn.

"Don't be too much longer. You know the other girls are going to want the details, and I'd hate to fall asleep while you're telling us."

Al smiled and stood up too, holding out his hand for Carolyn. "You might as well get it over with," he said, helping her to stand. "It has been a really long day already."

He walked the girls to the entrance to their dorms, and hugged and kissed his fiancée before she and Lily left him to go to their room.

When he was almost to the stairs to the boys dorms, the door into the Common room opened, and a sheepish looking Joel came in. Before the door closed again, Al saw Rose wink at him from the hallway, and she had an equally sheepish looking Sarah in tow.

Al waited for Joel to cross the room and smiled at him. "Did we have a fun night?" he asked, and Joel returned his smile.

"Yeah, pretty great, except for the getting caught past curfew by the Head Girl. That wasn't quite so fun."

"It's better than getting caught by Filch," Al told him.

"There is that," Joel agreed. "Rose told us you and Carolyn are engaged now. Congratulations."

Al nodded. "Thanks, mate. We had a pretty brilliant night too. And don't feel bad about being out past curfew. I haven't seen Nick yet either, so I'm guessing he's waiting for Rose to get Allie back to her Common room too."

The door to Rose's office opened just as he'd finished saying that, and Nick walked into the Common Room, and straight over to Al, pulling him into a hug.

"Congratulations, Al," he said quietly. "Welcome to the club."

"Thanks, Nick. I take it Rose stopped by to get Allie so she didn't have to make two trips downstairs," Al said, and Nick nodded.

"And we hadn't even noticed," Nick told him. "Poor Allie's going to end up with a reputation if I don't stop keeping her out past curfew."

"I don't think that once after the Yule Ball, and once on Valentine's Day is going to give her a bad rep," Al told him.

The three boys went to their dorm rooms, Al and Nick wishing Joel a good night when he split off to go into his room, while they continued on to theirs.

Rose and the Prefects who were patrolling that night saved eleven couples from getting caught out past curfew by Mr Filch, getting them safely back to their Houses. She finished her patrol, and then returned to her quarters and got ready for bed.

The last thing she did before going to sleep was to call Matt one last time, and talk with him for about ten minutes, telling him about the events of the evening since they'd talked before dinner. They wished each other a Happy Valentine's Day again, and then ended the call, Rose already halfway asleep.

Harry and Ginny were snuggled in bed by then too. They'd gone out to dinner, and went dancing for a few hours, with Ron and Hermione before going back to the cottage. It had still been fairly early, but then it was a weeknight, and Ginny had to work in the morning.

She was surprised when her WiComm chimed, signalling she was getting a message.

"It's a bit late for QuillMessages," she murmured sleepily, taking her WiComm off of the night table, and opening it. A couple of taps later, and she was wide awake again.

"Lily wants to know if we'd like her to send pictures of Carolyn's engagement ring," she told Harry.

He laughed, and nodded. "Sure. Tell her we'd love to see it, and tell our new daughter-to-be congratulations."

Ginny wrote out the quick reply and tapped 'send'. The next chime was for the incoming picture, and she and Harry looked at the close-up shot of the diamond and emerald ring.

"Did you help him pick it out?" Ginny asked. Harry shook his head.

"No. This was all on his own," Harry said quietly. "I can't say I'm surprised that he picked tonight, but for once, I didn't know about it ahead of time."

Ginny hugged him. "That must be a refreshing change of pace," she joked.

There were a few more messages back and forth, and then Ginny was able to put her WiComm away, and snuggle with Harry again.

"Do you think he asked her tonight because it's been twenty-five years since you asked me?" Ginny asked.

"That's probably a bonus," Harry said. "I imagine he picked Valentine's Day because that's when she kissed him for the first time."

"That's very romantic too," she said with a soft sigh. "He must get that from his father."

"Maybe," he agreed. "But he wouldn't have if you hadn't said yes back then, so he should probably be thanking you. I know I still do every day."

Ginny pulled him close, and kissed him tenderly before resting her head against him again. "I love you, Harry," she told him.

"I love you too, Ginny. Sleep well," he answered.

The Professors at Hogwarts might disagree, but as far as the students were concerned, the Thursday and Friday after Valentine's Day was just a way to get from there to Saturday, and the next Quidditch match of the season.

For some of the students, there was also the excitement of the fifth professional Broom Race of the season. Today, the racers were traversing the Sahara Desert in Africa, from the Red Sea, near Quseir, Egypt, to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, near St. Louis, Senegal. The total race was about fifty-three hundred and fifty kilometres, or thirty-three hundred and twenty-five miles.

Since there was a two hour time difference between Egypt and England, and because the race was starting at six o'clock in the morning, local time, that meant that anyone at Hogwarts wanting to see the start of the race needed to be tuned in to WMSN just before four o'clock.

Joel and Al were the first two Ravenclaws to make it to the Common room, planning to watch the start of the race, and Joel turned on the WWVN, then sat down to watch.

"What's your prediction on how much Mark will crush this race record by," Al asked.

Joel smiled. "The current record is sixteen hours, twelve minutes," he said quietly. "If Mark can go full out, it's possible he could come in at around twelve, maybe thirteen hours. There are a lot of issues he'll be dealing with on this race that are as extreme in their way as the last race was."

"Hopefully we'll at least be able to see more than we could for that one. It was a bit boring watching nothing but snow flying into the cameras for half of the race."

"The weather report was decent when I checked last night," Joel said. "Hopefully it will hold all day."

The two young Wizards watched the announcers discuss the race, and what the competitors would be facing. By the time the race was about to start, there were maybe twenty sleepy-eyed Ravenclaws in the Common room watching, including Lily, Carolyn, Brianna, Scorpius, and Rose. Nick had rolled over and fallen back to sleep after his wake-up call from Al.

"Did Mum and Dad pop over this morning?" Al asked Lily.

"I don't think so," she answered. "Owen and Callie are there," she said pointing to the WWVN, where the camera was showing Owen standing next to Callie and Mark as they shared a good luck hug and kiss before he stepped up to the starting line. "I'm sure if they were in Egypt for the race start, they would be there with Owen and Callie."

"They'll be there for the finish, I'm sure," Al said.

Lily nodded, and smiled, not taking her eyes off of the screen, since the racers were all in position, and it was just seconds until the start.

The starter's gun went off, and the two groups of racers roared into the air. The lead group of top racers fanned out, each trying to set course trajectories as quickly as possible, while accelerating too. The pack that had started about two hundred metres behind them had a harder time doing that, as they also needed to fight for position in the crowd. There were only a lucky few who at least temporarily escaped the pack to get some free airspace they could work with.

Most of the Ravenclaw early risers watched long enough to see Mark begin to pull away from the rest of the racers as he exceeded the two hundred and twenty mile per hour speed that none of the other top racers had yet figured out how to exceed. Soon, there was just Al, Carolyn, and Joel watching, and Al and Carolyn were looking at each other, thinking the same thing.

"We're going back to bed for a couple or three more hours, mate," Al told Joel, who waved absently, his attention completely focused on the race.

Al walked Carolyn to the entrance to the girl's dorm where they shared a short hug and kiss.

"See you in a few hours," he said quietly. "I love you."

"I love you too, Al. See you soon," Carolyn answered.

Joel was still in the same spot when Al returned to the Common room, although there were other kids checking in to see how the race was going. Al went over and sat next to him.

"Joel, it's almost time for breakfast," he said.

"Uh-huh," Joel answered absently.

"Don't you think this might be a good time to get out of your night clothes? In case you haven't noticed, there are quite a few girls around now."

Joel looked down at his clothes in surprise, and laughed. "I guess that would be a good idea," he conceded. "I hate to miss any of this, though."

Al had anticipated that, and pulled his portable WWVN out of his robe.

"Don't get it wet when you have your shower, mate," he joked, handing it to Joel, who got up and stretched.

"Thanks, Al. Can I get it back to you at breakfast?" he asked.

"You are coming to the game, aren't you?" Al countered. "I can get it back after you're done with it."

Joel laughed again. "That'll work too. Am I the only kid in the whole school that forgot about the game today?"

Al nodded. "Probably, yes. See you downstairs, mate."

Joel's suggestion that Mark might be able to finish the race in around twelve hours was looking possible at the three hour mark, when he was almost a quarter of the way into the long race, and looked great. He was already more than an hour ahead of the closest competitor, who was wearing a knock-off version of Mark's suit.

The race was on the big screen WWVN in the Great Hall during breakfast, so most of the students were watching it. Rose listened to the race announcers as they talked with that second-place racer for a minute. The Wizard was telling the announcer that the suit was definitely helping him fly faster, and was a big improvement over the racing cloaks.

"If his suit doesn't have the environmental system in it – which it doesn't – he'll be out of the race before he gets halfway across the desert," she predicted. "I'm sure he thinks that black makes him look cool, but when he gets into the hottest part of the day, he's going to fry like an egg in that thing."

Nick laughed. "You'd think that'd be obvious to anyone," he agreed. "That guy has apparently never walked across a hot parking lot in the summer."

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams were trying to ignore the race and concentrate on their impending game. Both teams left for the stadium early to get away from the constant, distracting buzz about the race, and how Mark was doing.

The stands started filling up a bit more than a half hour before game time. Al and Carolyn were the only Marauders that were surprised when Harry and Ginny arrived, and came over to sit with them.

Carolyn hugged each of them first, then made way so Al could do the same.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming?" Carolyn asked.

Harry smiled, his eyes dancing. "We wanted to surprise the two of you. Everyone else knew."

Carolyn looked around at the grinning faces all around her, and laughed.

"Well, we're definitely surprised," she told Harry.

Ginny hugged her again. "We just didn't want to wait until May to congratulate you in person. It's not every week that parents find out they're getting another daughter in the family."

"We thought you'd be meeting Mark in St. Louis," Al told his parents. "Thanks for coming here too."

"You're welcome, Al," Harry told him. "We may have to leave early if this game goes too long, but hopefully that won't be a problem."

Matt and Rose joined them then, and Harry grinned at them.

"Did you get lost?" he asked. "You were ahead of us when we came in the school gates."

"We weren't lost, Uncle Harry," Rose told him, returning his smile. "We were just busy."

"Is that what we're supposed to call snogging these days? Getting busy?" Harry said, laughing.

Rose laughed too, and hugged him, then hugged Ginny. "Mum and Dad are coming, aren't they?" she asked Ginny, who nodded.

"Hermione sent me a qm. They'll be here in about ten minutes."

There were a lot of family visitors at the game. George and Marietta were there with Liam's parents to cheer on the kids from the Gryffindor section. They had Dennis and Demelza, and Neville and Luna with them. Kirley and Ana came to sit with Lily and Vanessa to root for Kieran, Nadine, and the Hufflepuff team. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Marauders had picked seats where their two sections met so that they could all watch the game together.

Miranda's parents sat with them, as did Karl, Daphne, Sarah, Millie, and Amy. Ron and Hermione were the last of their group to get to their seats, just a few minutes before the game would be starting.

By the time they'd finished the rounds of hugs and sat down, the two teams were being called into the stadium.

"Any predictions?" Ron asked Rose.

"I'm leaning toward Gryffindor," she told him. "Hufflepuff won the last two matches between them, so Hugo's team may be more motivated today. The fact that they already have one loss should make them work harder too."

Ron nodded, and they watched as Madame Pomfrey threw the Quaffle in the air and the two teams took off. Kieran and Liam were the two Chasers going after it, while the others got ready to either defend, or go on the offence.

Kieran won that short race, and threw the Quaffle immediately to Miranda, who fired a quick shot at Hugo, who made a really great save.

That play set the stage for the entire game. Both teams had an offensive game plan, and the two teams raced back and forth around the stadium. It was clear that Hufflepuff had a slight advantage at Chaser, but Hugo balanced that out because he was playing a really great game. The Beater edge went to Gryffindor too, and it was too close to call at Seeker. You'd never know from watching that Colin and Nadine were boyfriend and girlfriend off the field. Right now, they were both competing fiercely.

It took just under three hours, and a well-timed bludger attack on Nadine from Frederica and Kevin before Colin got a clear shot at the snitch, making no mistake with the chance his Beaters had given him, and ending the game.

The score had been one hundred and thirty for Gryffindor to one hundred and twenty for Hufflepuff, so his catch also gave his team the victory.

Nadine was the first one to fly over and congratulate him, and they were both smiling as they landed and got off of their brooms so she could congratulate him properly. There was a chorus of whistles and catcalls that accompanied them, and they were both laughing when the rest of their teams joined them on the ground.

"Let's go down and congratulate them," Harry said. "Then Ginny and I have to get out of here, and leave for Senegal."

They all went out onto the field, where quite a crowd had gathered. Harry and Ginny talked with each of the kids, and also spent a few moments with Neville, Luna, Dennis, and Demelza.

"I don't remember you ever getting kissed by the other Seeker after a game," Ginny told Dennis. Colin and Nadine both grinned at her.

"If I had," Dennis said, "I'd have needed to beat the guy up. I don't think I played against any Witches at Seeker until the first time we played the Harpies."

"Well, if those two both go pro when they graduate, it'd be a marketing dream to have them playing against each other for a couple of games a year," Luna told them. "Get them facing each other in a finals, and it'd be even better."

"Why don't we just let them have fun playing the game for now," Demelza told Luna. "I'm not in that big a hurry for Colin to grow up on me. It's happening way too fast as it is. Wasn't it just yesterday that girls were still icky?"

Colin laughed and hugged his mother. "I love you, Mum. Nadine and I should think about what Luna's saying though. We definitely don't have anything against being rich and famous when we grow up."

Harry and Ginny moved on to say goodbye to the kids, then left for the gates. Rose and Matt had already disappeared, probably off somewhere saying their own goodbyes, since it would be two more weeks before they'd see each other again.

When the rest of the parents were ready to leave, while the players from both teams went to get changed, and most of the students went back to the school to get warmed up, Lily walked with Kirley, Ana, Ron, and Hermione to the gates.

"Will you be coming to Kieran's game in May?" she asked Ana, who nodded.

"We'll be here," Ana promised. "Maybe we'll have everything nailed down for the summer by then, and I can let you know what we'll be doing."

"We'll be happy if the tours are a little shorter this year," she told Ana. "Fifteen concerts was tougher than I thought it would be. I'd really like to get to all of the weddings this summer too."

"I'm keeping in touch with Ginny to do the best we can with that. You'll definitely be there for Rose and Matt's wedding, and Nick and Allie's."

Lily hugged Kirley and Ana, then Ron and Hermione when they got to the gates. Rose and Matt caught up with them, and they talked with her parents for a few minutes before hugging and kissing them goodbye too.

When Matt and the parents were out of sight, Lily put her arm around Rose, and they began walking back to the school.

"When I see you and Matt saying goodbye like that, I can't help but think that maybe I should offer to home school Kieran for his last two years," Lily told her cousin.

Rose laughed. "You could do that after he was old enough to use magic outside of school," she agreed.

"I wouldn't want him to miss out on everything here," Lily said. "You and Matt are at least getting close to the end of your separation. Only about four more months now."

"They can't go by fast enough for me," Rose said.

When they got back to the school, they went up to Scorpius' office, where the race-watching party was already going on. They grabbed some food and drinks, and sat down on one of the sofas to watch. All of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Marauders were in their Common Rooms, since both Houses were having parties.

Mark roared across the finish line, and soared out across the Atlantic Ocean at three fifty-three in the afternoon, setting a race record of eleven hours and fifty-three minutes. The crowd that had gathered at the finish line to watch cheered wildly as he circled back and landed.

Callie was there first to greet Mark with a long hug and kiss, and then he was surrounded by reporters and fans who were all vying for his attention. The Marauders laughed when they saw Kira worm her way through the crowd, and watched Mark pick her up and hug her before passing her to Owen.

"You may have created a monster by having her up on stage with you, Lily," Rose told her. "Kira seems to love getting in front of the cameras."

"She's never really been shy," Lily pointed out. "Who knows? Maybe that's where her future is."

Rose laughed. "I picked ten or more careers a year when I was her age. None of those ideas included tour guide for executive vacations."

"I think you've made a brilliant choice," Lily told her. She stood up and stretched.

"I'm going to get my books and study," she told everyone. "It's optional, but if anyone else wants to get some work done before tomorrow, I'll be in our usual classroom."

"I'll come with you," Rose said, standing too.

Millie and Amy decided to go along, and eventually about half of the group that had been watching the race made their way to their study classroom, where they worked until dinner, then took up their studies again after eating.

There was another gathering in Scorpius' office around nine o'clock to watch the awards ceremony for Mark's broom race. The next closest rider had been more than four hours behind him, and then they'd waited for almost an hour until the other top racers had finished the race.

The end of the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game signalled the start of the annual, dreary weeks until Easter and the still-distant promise of spring that the holiday usually evoked. Easter was early this year, though, and the arrival of spring was never certain. What was certain for the New Marauders was that whatever the weather outside, there was enough going on over the next couple of months to keep them all busy.


	109. A Busy March to Spring

Chapter One Hundred and Nine – A Busy March to Spring

The week after the Gryffindor victory over Hufflepuff, Hugo and his team basked in the glow of their first win of the season. Lily hadn't cut them any slack on studying, though, and had everyone back to work bright and early on Sunday.

Hugo and Kieran both gave their teams a break, and took that entire week off from practices, letting them rest up from the tough pace of the previous weeks of hard work.

That worked out fairly well for everyone, since now that Quidditch was done for a couple of months, and there weren't any holidays for another six weeks, the Professors increased the workload for their students, handing out major projects, and adding new assignments in every class. It also seemed that there was a test every week in every subject.

The Canons were playing on the road against the Holyhead Harpies on the last Saturday in February. Scorpius and the other Marauders were in his office after lunch to witness the Canons' first defeat of the year, as the Harpies won a close, hard-fought game when their Seeker outraced Liselle to catch the snitch at the four hour, thirty-two minute mark of the game.

There was an extra day in February this year, since 2024 was a leap year. The extra day passed by virtually unnoticed by the students who were focused on their studies, and the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend.

Before they got to that on Saturday, though, March first arrived on Friday, and that was a big day for quite a few NEWT year students, including Albus Potter.

He was sitting next to Carolyn at breakfast as always when the Owl Post arrived, and a letter was dropped in front of him by a Ministry of Magic Owl.

"I guess it's time to find out officially if I've been accepted," he said quietly to Carolyn as he opened the envelope.

He held the letter so that they could both read it, but Carolyn was hugging him as soon as she saw the 'pleased to accept' line near the top of the parchment.

"Do you think he's been accepted into the Auror training program?" Lily asked Rose, who laughed.

"It seems so, unless Carolyn has been secretly hoping he didn't get in," she answered. "Congratulations, Al. You'll make a really brilliant Auror."

"Thanks, Rose," Al said. "I do still have to do the testing this summer, but that shouldn't be a problem."

"If you can't pass that character and aptitude testing," Rose told him, "then nobody should be able to pass them."

"I don't know how you can stand the thought of three more years of training after what we've been through to get this far," Nick told him.

Al shrugged. "It's not exactly like I'll be spending three more years in the classroom, Nick. It's more like being a rookie Quidditch player and having a trainer like Dennis teaching you how to play the game."

Nick laughed. "Then I give it a month before you're training the trainer," he joked.

Word of Al's acceptance into the Auror training program got around the school pretty quickly, and the reactions ranged from enthusiastic support to dark anger from a few Witches and Wizards like Dirk Avery and some of the other pureblood elitist holdouts that were still around the school.

Other than that few minutes of excitement when he'd gotten the letter, and dealing with the sporadic offers of congratulations, Al put that small success behind him, and concentrated on his classes and then on getting a head start on the weekend homework, since they'd lose most of Saturday while they were in Hogsmeade.

The temperature on Saturday morning was a bit above normal for early March, and the sun was bright, if not warm, in the sky. The New Marauders all left for town with the rest of the Hogwarts students.

"Are you sure you guys don't want to spend the day at the house?" Rose asked Al as they walked. "I thought that was the reason you bought the place."

Al smiled. "It's decent enough out today," he answered. "You and Matt don't need us underfoot, and it will be three weeks until you two get together again. The rest of us can just hang out around town like we usually do."

"Thanks, Al," she told him. "I really appreciate this."

When they got into town, she hugged Al and Carolyn, and left them when they reached Matt's house.

"So what do we do now?" Nick asked Al. "You've talked our way out of hanging out at your place. I'm not sure it's fair of you to feed us a lunch like you did the Hogsmeade weekend before last, and then leave us stuck with the lesser fare of the Three Broomsticks."

"We've got supplies to get," Al told him, "and I thought that maybe we'd go watch the girls try on clothes for a while. As for lunch, that probably works out better for you anyway, 'cause I think it was your turn to cook for everyone."

Allie laughed and put her arm around Nick. "Then we should all be grateful that we're eating out today," she said. "Let's get those supplies done so we can move on to that shopping for clothes part of the plan."

Scorpius and Brianna joined Al, Carolyn, Nick, and Allie, while the rest of their group split up and went off to do their own thing, everyone agreeing to meet at the Three Broomsticks for a later lunch, after the early rush would be over and it wouldn't be so crowded.

It took the three couples an hour and a half to get all of the supplies they'd need for the next three weeks, and then they started the shopping for fun. Allie, Carolyn, and Brianna all tried on several outfits at the FashionKnut, and left having purchased about half of those clothes.

"When are you and Rose going to be doing your wedding gowns?" Carolyn asked Allie.

"We'll be picking them out on the Hogsmeade weekend after Easter," Allie told her. "Mum and Aunt Hermione are going to come for the day and help us pick them out."

"That'll be a busy day for Rose's Mum. They're going to Michael and Rebecca's wedding too," Al said.

"Too bad we can't be there for it," Brianna said. "The weddings on the beach there are so wonderful."

"You're a big fan of weddings pretty much anywhere, aren't you?" Carolyn asked.

Brianna smiled. "Well, yes, they're all pretty great. We won't be underage for them anymore either, so I think they're only going to get better from now on."

"That's true," Carolyn agreed.

They stopped in to Gladrags, and the girls picked up a few more items. After leaving there, they wandered around Dervish and Banges until it was time to meet the others for lunch. After eating, most of the Marauders decided to go back to school, and return to their studies.

Rose and Matt were comfortably snuggled on a sofa in the sitting room after they'd had lunch. When she'd first gotten to the house, they'd stayed there for a fairly lengthy reunion, had made a quick trip around town to get her supplies, and then gone back to the house. They'd spent the rest of the morning cuddling in the sitting room, and had more of the same planned for their afternoon.

"Should I turn the WWVN on so we can pretend to watch it, or just leave it off?" Matt asked as they stretched out on the sofa.

"Leave it off," Rose told him. "I get more than enough noise all day at school."

"At least you can get away from it all in your office," he said.

"When I'm not getting knocks on the door day and night to deal with problems. Scorpius and I take turns, but it still takes up time, and we don't get all that many good nights of sleep."

"Just think of how much harder it would have been to keep up with everything before WiComms and Virtual GameWizard study programs," Matt told her. "I imagine the students that use PotionsMaster use just a fraction of the supplies that students who don't have it use, and you can test your work a lot faster on the GameWizard."

Rose nodded. "Mum said she was almost never in bed before one in the morning during their NEWT year."

"Probably because she kept hauling your father into the Head Girl's office," Matt joked.

"He probably deserved it more than any other student," Rose said, laughing.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking, and catching up on a fair bit of snogging until it was time for Rose to hurry back to the school, and the loads of work waiting for her there.

By Sunday morning, Rose, and probably quite a few other Hogwarts students were already counting down the days until the next Hogsmeade weekend, and their next break from their studies.

The NEWT year Marauders all had family or close friends that had gone through their NEWT year recently, and they'd even watched them do it, but they were all finding out that it wasn't just the examinations that gave the seventh year it's name.

"Whatever we decide to do for Easter this year," Rose told Colin as they worked on Sunday afternoon, "I don't think you should count on a lot of extra help from your NEWT Marauders. If our Professors shove one more assignment on us right now I may scream."

Al laughed. "Try it with nine subjects," he said tiredly. "We worked until curfew last night, and I'll probably need to do that again tonight."

"Well, you did want to stick with subjects like Astronomy," Nick reminded him.

"That may come in handy in the future," Hugo said. "If we're ever attacked by a race of alien Wizards and Witches, you'll be able to warn us about their approach from space, and as an Auror, you'll be able to defend your Wizarding World."

The others laughed, and Al grinned at his cousin.

"You obviously don't read the Muggle tabloids, or you'd know they were already here, quietly taking over the world without anybody knowing it's already too late," he told Hugo.

"Very funny," Lily told her brother, walking past on her way to the next Marauder she'd be helping. "You can talk about what you all want to do for Easter since it's only four weeks away, if you want, but other than that, get back to work, or we'll be wishing we were done by curfew, and sitting up late in our Common rooms still studying in reality."

While their kids were studying hard at school, Harry and Ginny were having a play day. They'd picked up Patricia and William from Marauders Paradise on Saturday, so that Gabrielle and Kevin could take that long-overdue vacation away from it all, if it was possible to do that when it meant leaving the island that tens of thousands of Witches and Wizards thought was the perfect place to go to do exactly that.

The kids had slept in on Sunday, since they were still on island time, so they'd had a late breakfast, and then Harry and Ginny had taken the kids visiting. They had lunch at the Burrow with Grandma and Grandpa Weasley, then spent the afternoon with Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill. Their day continued back at the cottage when they had dinner with Patricia and William's cousins, Victoire, Teddy, Isabelle, and Stewart before wrapping up their evening by spending several hours playing with the two young couples.

James and Arianna had been out on a play day too. He and the teachers had decided that their students were getting a bit too stressed, so they'd put together a field trip to the Marauders Mall in Paris, and set them all loose in the Atrium Amusement Park there for the day.

"This seems to have helped relax them," Tracey said, as she and Aaron sat at a café table with James, Arianna, Callie, and Mark.

They'd drawn a group of fifteen and sixteen-year old students, and weren't exactly needed – or wanted – to be following them around while they played the games, and rode on the amazing rides.

"We do trips to the Mall every few weeks," James said, "but it may be time to consider doing more field trips and play days like this. They all know why they're working so hard at their studies, but we can't expect them to do that without any fun breaks at all."

"You do lots of activities with them, James," Mark told him. "Part of it's just the winter blues right now. It'll get better again when they can go outside and not be cooped up inside all day. We all felt like that at Hogwarts by March too."

Callie nodded. "Who can blame them? It's not just the lousy weather, but there always seems to be more work piled on too – as if the Professors think that since it's winter, their students don't have anything better to do that homework anyway. I don't miss all of that studying for a second," she told the others, and Mark laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked, smiling at him.

"If you don't miss all of that studying, then what do you call all of those books and stacks of parchment all around your office at home?" he asked, returning her smile.

"Research," she answered. "It's definitely not the same thing."

"Does it help if you tell yourself that over and over?" Aaron asked.

"No, not really, but I do keep trying," Callie told him. "The difference is that I really love what I'm doing."

"From what Dad says, you're really good at it too," James said. "You've practically single-handedly stopped members of the Wizengamot, and Ministry officials and staff from trying to hide things in their bills and proposals. Even he hadn't realized that things like that had been going on as much as they were."

Callie smiled. "Thanks, James. It was a tricky way to try and get something from the Ministry budget without being open or fair about getting it."

"What's the next race, Mark?" Aaron asked. "That Sahara race was a blast to watch. Did they rescue that idiot in the black ripoff of your suit before it was too late?"

The racer that had been in second place at the beginning of the race had lasted about five hours before the sun had begun heating his suit to the point where he'd finally passed out from heat exhaustion and crashed into the desert.

"The next race is the Trans-Atlantic race from Paris to New York in two weeks," he told Aaron. "They did get to him in time, though I'm not sure if he'll be back racing or not. I went to see him in the hospital, and the crash had really shaken him up."

"That happens in Quidditch fairly often too," Arianna said. "You can't do sports like ours if you lose your nerve."

Callie laughed. "You're sort of saying you have to be a little crazy, Arianna. There must be a nicer way of putting it."

Arianna laughed. "You do have to at least be a risk-taker," she agreed. "Most Witches and Wizards probably do think we're crazy. You probably would reconsider your job if it included metal balls whizzing around the halls of the Ministry that some of the staff could hit at you, and the rest had to try and dodge while you were trying to get your job done. That's basically the job of a Chaser, Keeper, and Seeker."

"That's a novel suggestion," Callie said. "It might weed out some of those ponderous old fogies that keep getting on my nerves. I'm younger and faster than they are."

"Those old fogies are some of the most dangerous ones to watch your back around," Mark said seriously. "They be more likely to hex the bludgers to go after their enemies than get hit by them."

"Good point," Callie conceded. "Okay, bad idea, Arianna. Thanks for the submitting your suggestion, though."

"Watch out kids," Tracey told them. "A year or two from now, she'll be all 'motion denied' and all of that other Wizengamot talk. We won't understand a word she says."

Callie smiled at her. "You're out of order, Mrs Ryan," she joked.

They had the students at the Mall all day, having lunch there, and then returned them to the Academy in time for dinner. After they were finished, James and Arianna took their friends home with them, and had dinner and a quiet evening together before it would be back to work on Monday for everyone.

The first break since the Hogsmeade weekend for the New Marauders came on the following Saturday afternoon. They'd worked hard all week, including beginning to work on their TNM Easter project.

They were all looking forward to the Canons' home game against the Kestrels, mostly because it meant getting a few precious hours off from their studies.

"We may be excited about this game," Hugo told the others, after sitting down and cuddling with Emily, "but the Kestrels probably shouldn't be. There is no way that our team won't be up for this game after losing to the Harpies."

"That was a really close game, mate," Nick told him. "They did at least split their two games, and both teams won at home. I don't see what the big deal is."

"You mean other than getting that close to another undefeated season?" Hugo countered. "It could also make a difference in how the playoffs shake out, and who we face in the playoffs."

"If you had to lose a game," Nick asked, "would you rather lose one now, or go undefeated, and get beat in the Championship game? The Canons have had two undefeated seasons on your Dad's watch so far, and a whole whack of Championships. Aren't you getting just a bit greedy? You should be telling him to save one or two for you."

Hugo laughed. "That's not a bad point, Nick. He is going to be a hard act to follow, although since he'll still be coaching, it's not exactly like he'll be out of the game."

"You could always go play for the Pride instead," Kieran suggested. "No pressure there, and you could make your own history."

"I'd think about it," Hugo told him, "except I already know for sure that no other team pays as well as the Canons do, even though that fact isn't advertised, since the players are pretty much all in the family right now."

"Maybe they'd think about letting Scorpius be a weekend warrior," Lily said. "How cool would that be, watching you two battle it out in the show?"

"The pro Quidditch league," she explained, when she saw Millie's blank look.

"You're as bad as he is," Hugo accused. "Let's not rush the demise of the Canons' supremacy in the league. Considering that it's your father's team, you shouldn't be helping out the enemy, Vixen."

"You must have got him going," Kieran said. "He hardly ever calls you that."

"Probably because she and Al hardly ever use their Animagus forms now that James is finished school," Emily said. "You two really should let your Animagi out to play more often."

"It's not as much fun in the winter," Al told her. "I really hate having cold, wet feathers. They take forever to dry."

On QSPN, Andy's pre-game show was on, and one-by-one, his team predicted a big Canons' win today. The teams were introduced, and the game started with Andy's signature flourish.

Arianna beat the Kestrels' Chasers to the Quaffle by a couple of broom lengths, and passed to Kimberly, who tossed it on to Aaron, and the game was on. The Canons' game was on, anyway. The Kestrels didn't seem to be able to get anything going at all.

Over the next two hours and eighteen minutes, the time of record when Liselle caught the snitch, Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly played catch and score – or at least it looked that easy.

"Our team is so on today, you can hardly believe the Kestrels are a professional team," Rose said.

"Or that they'll probably make the playoffs too," Hugo added.

When Lily stood up, looking all business, Hugo couldn't keep a groan from escaping.

Lily smiled at him. "You know you want to go study," she told him.

Hugo laughed. "No, I really, really don't," he told his industrious cousin. "I'd like you all to leave me and Emily here so I can snog her senseless for a few hours. That's what I really want to do."

Emily laughed too. "That does sound like a lot more fun than a few hours of battling Potions and Herbology," she agreed.

"Get off that sofa, Weasley, and go get your books!" Lily joked, trying and failing to sound anything like Coach.

Hugo, and everyone else laughed at her faux outburst.

"If Coach did it like that, and stamped his foot like you just did, he'd get laughed out of the stadium," Rose told Lily. "Give it up. You just can't pull it off."

They did all get up, clean the office, and go get their books to start studying. You could tease Lily all you wanted about not being tough enough, but her troops pretty much always did what she wanted anyway.

The next week at Hogwarts was more of the same. More classes, more homework, and the daily Quidditch practices.

Out in the real world, there was one event that happened that went completely unnoticed, as it had been meant to, but was going to have a big impact in just a few months.

That event was a meeting of the PBP Investments Senior Account Managers with the owner of that account. It had been a long time since Harry had called one of these meetings, so Fleur, Molly, Penelope, Griphook, and the other Senior Managers were very interested as to what he was up to.

"Thank-you all for coming," Harry began, looking from one expectant face to another.

"Apparently I should come meet with you more often," he joked. "You all look like you haven't seen me in years."

"We haven't," Fleur told him. "At least not in meetings like this."

"That should just tell you how great you're all doing," he told her, smiling. "You are managing our investments incredibly. I don't plan on making changes that should impact your ability to do that, but I am here to let you know that we are going to be making some changes."

Everyone else at the table waited expectantly for him to continue. Harry passed around the first parchment he had prepared, and continued talking while they all read through the report.

"While our profit continues to grow year over year, it is diminishing as a percentage of total investments," he told them. "That's not unexpected for a mature business, which we now are, and I'm certainly not concerned about that."

He looked around the table again, and everyone was watching him again, having finished reading a report that they probably all knew the details of anyway, even if it was completed from a slightly different perspective than what they normally considered.

"What I am concerned about is that our investments are beginning to be less effectively utilized because of our business maturity. Our own success is making the investments too comfortable."

He handed out a second sheet of parchment, and it was passed around too.

"Both PBP Investments and the Investment Partnership have been rolling one hundred percent of profits back into the company. We haven't paid dividends back to the investors since we started."

"We've paid out millions to investors," one of the Goblins told Harry. "It shows that right here on this report."

"No, we haven't," Harry disagreed. "We've had investors cash out all or part of their investment, and essentially sold that investment back to other investors. We have not paid out a percentage of our annual profits either to me, or to all of the members of your partnership. I want us to start doing that beginning with this coming year-end."

"Why not just let the money keep working for us like we're doing?" another Goblin asked him.

Harry nodded to the parchments they were holding. "For the reason that you're seeing diminishing return on investment value. It's under ten percent a year now, and that number will keep shrinking. We need to all start spreading that money around, and do the same thing with new investments of our own as we started to do with my own account back in ninety-eight."

"So how much do you want to pay out in dividends?" Fleur asked him. Harry handed out his last small stack of parchment, and it too was sent around the table.

"I want to start paying out ten percent of our profits each year. We'll re-assess again in five years, and may need to bump that number to twenty percent. This would be done after the three-way profit split with the Foundation, so that we're not taking anything away from their annual finances – their work is just too important for us to think about reducing their funding."

"That's over a billion galleons a year," Fleur told him. "It will affect our ability to expand."

Harry nodded. "That's true," he agreed, "but it gives all of us the incentive to do something with that money that creates a return on new investments that could be much more than ten percent. Will you need to take this to your members, or is this a decision the executive of your partnership can make?"

"We can make the decision," Griphook told him. "I have been considering this issue for some time, and I concur with you. Just as we'd reached critical mass and stopped allowing new investment, this is just another progression that will help both PBP Investments, and our Investment Partnership healthy." He looked around at the others.

"Do we need to discuss this any longer, or shall we take the vote?" he asked.

Harry watched as all hands shot up, and he smiled.

"Good. Let's set up doing that review for five years from now, although it doesn't specifically have to be five years from today. I wanted to discuss this far enough ahead of year-end so that you would have time to prepare your investors so that they could get ready to deal with the sudden added income." He looked at Griphook.

"I'll discuss with you what I want to do with my ten percent divided at our meeting this afternoon," he told his Goblin friend and personal account manager, and Griphook nodded.

There was one last item of business that he had to go over with the Account Managers, and he spent another ten minutes explaining to them what his long-term plans were. When he'd finished, Fleur, Molly, and Penelope all hugged him, they closed the meeting and then he took everyone out for lunch.

It was after one-thirty when he and Griphook were settled into the Goblin's office.

"I don't think you even have to tell me what your plans are for your dividends, my friend," Griphook said.

Harry smiled, and handed him a sheet of parchment. "Probably not, but here's what I'd like to do."

Griphook looked over the parchment, nodding as he read. "Almost exactly as I expected with a couple of exceptions." He looked up at Harry. "This is going to be more work than I'm interested in taking on, Harry. I'm going to need help."

"Arianna and Aaron tell me that Turvog is doing a very good job for them," he said. "Do you think he's ready for the promotion? I'm thinking the same incentive that they give him for this first five years, then if he's doing a good job by then, move him up to the same percentage that you and the other Senior Managers receive. Let's say if he averages more than twelve percent annual profit that he gets the higher rate."

"I believe he's ready," Griphook agreed. "Your incentive at the lower rate is still an incredible increase for him."

"That's assuming he continues to make decent profits for his accounts," Harry pointed out. "If he does that, then it's worth every galleon."

"There is that," Griphook said. "Very well, I'll make the offer to him, and help him with the initial setup. Since there won't actually be any money disbursed until December first, how do you want to pay him until then?"

"Pay him out of my personal account, then have his regular pay switched over after December first."

Griphook made a few notes, and then looked up at Harry again. "You never cease to amaze me, even after all of these years. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all works out over the years."

"We've done pretty well together so far," Harry said. "I don't see that changing any time soon."

He stood up, and bowed to Griphook. "Thank-you for your time, Griphook. This has been a fun day."

Griphook stood and returned Harry's bow. "You're welcome, Harry. Have a good day."

Harry was in a buoyant mood, so he popped over to his favourite winery in Chile, picked up a couple of bottles of Ginny's favourite wine, then went on to pick up some special groceries for dinner before returning to the cottage.

When Ginny got home, there was a glass of chilled wine and a hot bubble bath waiting for her while Harry continued to work on dinner for two. She'd kissed him, taken the wine he'd offered, and went up to soak out the soreness from a long day in her lab.

"Does this mean that you got everything you wanted out of your meetings today?" Ginny asked when she returned to the kitchen.

Harry poured her a fresh glass of wine, and nodded. "Just about everything is set up now," he told her. "I don't think I've had this much fun with PBP Investments since we put Fleur and the others in charge of everything."

"No wonder," she told him. "You're one of the only kids that get to go play in a tens of billions of galleons candy store on the rare occasion that you choose to go out and play."

"It's much more fun to help other people get candy stores of their own," he answered.

"If you're going to wine and dine me like this, you should go out and play every day," Ginny told him.

"It wouldn't be as special if it was every day," he said, setting a platter on the table and going back for the rest of the bowls and plates of food he'd make for them.

"We could try it every day for the next month and test that theory if you'd like," she said after taking her first mouth-watering bite of the fabulous meal. "You could very well be wrong about that."

While Harry and Ginny had a really brilliant evening at home, at Hogwarts, the New Marauders were definitely not having a special night. It was just more of the same old daily routine.

"Come on, guys," Hugo said. "If we work together, I think we can take her, and then go do anything except studying."

Everyone laughed, but nobody moved. Lily grinned at him.

"You're all a bunch of Hippogriff-sized chickens," he accused.

"We're not chicken," Emily told him. "We're just not sure you're right about us being able to take her. If all else fails, she can always throw up her Impervious Totalis shield, and then what do we do?"

"You had to go and insert logic into a completely emotional suggestion," he told Emily. "That's just not fair."

"Maybe not," Emily agreed, patting his arm, "but then there's also the matter of not biting the hand that tutors us. Talk to us about getting together and taking her next September first – we'd all love to take her back to school with us then."

Hugo laughed. "You don't think we can overpower Lily, but you do think we can overcome the school defenses that Uncle Harry put together personally? You're very inconsistent, Emily."

"If you could sneak me in," Lily told them, "it wouldn't be a fight to get me to go along."

"See?" Hugo asked the others. "My poor deluded cousin earns herself a get out of school two years early card, and she'd rather be here! I could think of lots of things to do with those two years instead." Suddenly he smiled brightly.

"How about if we make up Polyjuice potion, and you can be me for the next two years?" he suggested excitedly. "Remember that story about Barty Crouch Junior doing it for a whole school year? It could work!"

Nick laughed. "Right up until you got caught snogging Kieran somewhere," he joked, which had most of the others howling with laughter.

"That possibility was taken into consideration when the defences were rebuilt," Lily told him. "I'd get caught if we tried, and there'd be a nasty side-effect. I love you a lot, Hugo, but I don't plan on spending the next several years looking like you."

"Too bad he hadn't come up with that idea earlier, though," Allie told them. "That would have been a brilliant practical joke. We could have all taken the potion to look like our boyfriends, and then gone to our appointments at SpaMagic in front of all of the other students."

Hugo looked at her in horror. "That would not be funny. We'd never live something like that down."

"Speaking of practical jokes," Al said to Colin, "How's the TNM Easter coming along? Do you need any extra help yet?"

"We will soon," Colin told him. "It will be the last one for our illustrious founders, so we should make sure it's great."

"Let us know when you need us, and we'll be there," Al assured their young leader.

During the rest of the week, most of the students at Hogwarts continued the dreary routine of the past weeks, matching the dull gray days outside. On Saturday morning, the new Marauders were up early to watch the start of the Trans-Atlantic Broom Race. This was a thirty-six hundred and thirty-five mile, fifty-eight hundred and fifty kilometre long race between the starting point near Paris, and the finish line near New York.

"What's the scoop on this race?" Carolyn asked Joel when she sat down in the Common room. The race start time was seven o'clock, and they had about fifteen minutes until the race would begin.

"This one is pretty neat," he told her as he watched the WMSN coverage.

"There are only the start and finish checkpoints, so the racers can choose any flight path they want to get to New York. The race record is seventeen hours, nine minutes, set three years ago on a Lightningbolt. With the five hour time difference, that puts the first racers in New York at some time after seven o'clock in the evening local time."

Carolyn nodded, even though he probably didn't see her do it. "Will Mark crush this record too?"

"That'll depend on a lot of things," Joel said. "This race can be won and lost on how well you pick your flight path. The shortest distance might not always be the fastest, depending on the weather conditions at any time. The record was set with very favourable conditions, and a fair bit of luck."

"Would you feel better about his chances to break the record if you knew that he had an Arithmancy expert helping him with that?" Lily asked him.

That got Joel's attention, and he looked over at her smiling face. "Did he ask you to help him?" Joel asked.

"Mum had Isabelle take a look at the problem," she told him. "Then they sent what she came up with to me to check over. I don't want to sound immodest, but I'd say he might just have the best thought out flight plan ever."

Joel returned her smile. "How long do you think it'll take him?"

"My guess is around thirteen hours," she told him. "He could do it faster, but at those speeds, it's the fear factor that decides how fast you go."

They watched the start of the race, including seeing Callie, Harry, Ginny, Owen, and Natalie wishing Mark luck before he had to get to the starting line.

There was a lot of confusion when the starter's gun went off. Mark went off on a tangent to the other race leaders, which completely threw off the rest of the field, and allowed him to immediately pull away from most of the other flyers who weren't sure whether to go with their own race plans, or attempt to follow Mark without having any idea what he was doing.

The announcers were scrambling too, trying to both follow the confusion with the other racers, and try and figure out what Mark was doing.

"That's priceless," Brianna told the others. "Did you and Isabelle expect that to happen?"

Lily shook her head. "No. It's an added bonus. Those other racers are being idiots to try and follow him. Between Isabelle and I, we spent hours making the calculations, and Mark has a very precise flight path to follow that they'll never be able to do without knowing what we've done. The final adjustments were made last night, factoring in the latest forecasts too. We're pretty confident it's about ninety-nine percent of optimal."

"When did you have time for that?" Nick asked her.

"Last night we met in the VirtualLibrary program, after we went to bed," Lily told him. "It only took an hour or so to finish it."

They watched the race until it was time to go to the Great Hall for breakfast, and then the New Marauders went to their study classroom, and got ready to start working.

"Before we get started," Lily told them, "I know we're all getting really tired of doing nothing but homework. If we all get our work done today, we're taking the day off tomorrow, and I was thinking it'd be a good day for another school-wide pool party."

"Finally, someone sees the light!" Hugo said triumphantly. "Let's get started. I definitely am up for this plan!"

They kept a pair of portable WWVN's on so that they could listen to the progress of the race as they worked. When they went for lunch at noon, the race had been going on for five hours, and Mark was more than fourteen hundred miles, or twenty-two hundred and fifty kilometres into the race, and was already far ahead of the competition.

The group of racers who'd made the foolish decision to attempt to follow Mark were all either out of the race, or were attempting to get to their original flight paths, even though some of them would be adding more than a hundred miles to their race by doing that. That tactical blunder would end up leaving them near the back of the pack, if they even had more than a slim chance of catching up to the pack at all.

Lily led her study group back into battle after lunch, and they worked through until dinner. The race was on the big screen WWVN again during dinner, and at six o'clock, eleven hours into the race, Mark had passed the thirty-one hundred mile, five thousand kilometre point of the race.

"Mark will be done in just under thirteen hours," Lily calculated as they watched the game. "He should hit the finish line at five or ten minutes before eight o'clock our time, three o'clock in the afternoon New York time."

"And another record falls to the brilliant rookie racer," Nick said. "What a way to start a career."

They went back to work after dinner, only stopping for about a half hour to watch Mark arrive in New York to the cheers of several thousand race fans who'd come from all over the Americas to see the rookie sensation win his sixth race, and smash another record.

As the different members of the group finished their assignments, they packed up and left the classroom until about a half hour before curfew, there was just Lily, Karl, Daphne, Al, and Carolyn left.

Carolyn had finished her work, but was staying with Al, while the others were each wrapping up their last assignments.

"We should be letting you get your work done before helping all of us," Daphne told Lily. "I feel bad that you aren't off spending time with Kieran."

"He's tired out anyway," Lily told her. "We do get to spend the whole day together tomorrow, so it's not all bad getting everything done like this. We don't have long until curfew, so it's not like we can sit up in the Common room and cuddle later like you and Karl, or Al and Carolyn can."

Carolyn laughed. "I don't think we'll be doing any of that tonight. I don't need to take Arithmancy to be able to calculate that Al's just about done for the day."

He smiled tiredly at her. "If I'm ever too tired to snuggle with you, shoot me," he joked.

They finished the work, packed up, and hurried to the Slytherin and Ravenclaw Common rooms just ahead of curfew. Al walked Carolyn and Lily to the entrance for the girl's dorms, hugged them both, and kissed Carolyn goodnight, then headed straight for bed.

"I don't think he has even one snuggle left in him," Lily told Carolyn as they took the stairs to their room. "It looks like we all really need that day off tomorrow."

Carolyn nodded. "If only spring would think about coming early this year, we'd probably all perk up. Except for Hogsmeade weekends and the two Quidditch games, none of us even bother to go outside except to trudge to the greenhouses for Herbology, or to go to Quidditch practices."

Brianna wasn't there when they reached their room, and both girls smiled.

"Apparently she and Scorpius aren't as tired as the rest of us," Carolyn said with a laugh. "Good for them."

"More likely they fell asleep on the sofa again," Lily suggested. "It wouldn't be the first time she snuck up here at three or four in the morning after that happened."

"Kieran and I got the short end of that straw," Carolyn said. "You're the best student probably in the history of the school, but because you're two years ahead, you don't get to be Head Girl, or even a prefect, so you and Kieran don't get the chance to hang out in your own quarters."

"And Al's got straight O's, and is taking more subjects than Scorpius, but isn't Head Boy because Rose had been made a Prefect back in fifth year, and then Scorpius was picked to be our other Prefect instead of one of Rose's cousins," Lily finished, as Carolyn nodded.

"Al wouldn't change it for a minute," Carolyn continued, "and Scorpius is a really great Head Boy, even if he's maybe not as flamboyant as James. It just would have been fun to have those private rooms."

"I'm happy not to have them," Lily said. "If I had all the Head Girl duties, there would be no way I could handle all of the tutoring I do too. This is much better for all of us. Having the Head Boy honours will be a lot more important for Scorpius' career than for Al's too."

The two girls had been getting changed while they'd been talking, and they climbed into bed, Lily nudging Fluffy over slightly to make room for herself. Fluffy opened one eye and gave her a look that spoke volumes, then closed it again and went back to sleep.

"Excuse me, your majesty," Lily told the kneazle cat, stroking her soft fur. "I'm sorry I disturbed your royal slumber."

Carolyn laughed. "Kneazle cats rule the world. Even dogs often have jobs, but not kneazle cats. They have it made."

"Some of them have jobs – like the ones that catch mice," Lily said, cudding close to Fluffy.

"Which for them is more like the work you and Kieran do – getting paid to do something you love to do anyway."

"I suppose that's true enough," Lily agreed. "Did you talk to Mum or Dad toward the end of this week?"

"Just some QuillMessages with your Mum," Carolyn answered. "Why?"

"I think my father has been having some fun this week. When I talked to him for a few minutes on Friday, he was pretty fired up."

"Maybe he's just in a good mood after spending a week with Patricia and William," Carolyn suggested.

"I think it's more than that," Lily said, "but I couldn't get anything out of him."

Carolyn yawned and snuggled under her warm blankets. "If you figure it out, let me know. Right now the only thing I'm clear about is that it's time to get a decent night's sleep. See you in the morning."

"Good night, Carolyn," Lily told her sister-in-law to be, not sure if Carolyn even heard her, but not caring anyway as she slipped off to sleep herself.

The New Marauders spent Sunday morning relaxing and having fun, except for a little work getting their pool party surprise ready. The party was announced near the end of lunch, Kieran and Dale having handled putting together the WWVN message that was greeted with cheers by the winter-weary students.

That afternoon spent playing in the water, and having fun with everyone had been a perfect way to change the moods of everyone around the school. By the end of the afternoon on Sunday, there were a lot more smiling faces, and that buoyant mood continued all through the next week as classes didn't seem quite so dull, and the homework load no longer felt quite so heavy as the re-energized students continued with their studies.

On Saturday, just one week before Easter, they had a Hogsmeade weekend and a Canons' home game going on. Rose had wanted to get everyone to spend the day with her and Matt, but had settled on doing lunch there, but then having everyone else go back to school to catch the game, while she and Matt had the place to themselves for the afternoon.

"You guys have two more three-week stretches apart," Lily had told her. "And for one of them, you'll be busy with wedding dresses for most of the day, so you might not see him much at all. You don't need the rest of us in your way the whole day."

Rose had eventually agreed with that, but had insisted that she and Matt would help out with the supplies run this time, so when they got to town, she and Matt joined Al and Carolyn for the morning shopping trip.

Since Al was cooking lunch for everyone, all they had to do was pick up their own supplies, and get the Wheezes orders for the second year Marauders, and a few of their other young friends like Miranda.

"This isn't too bad," Matt said. "You have a lot fewer younger students to pick up for this year."

Rose nodded. "We haven't added any first year students to the list this year, so that makes a big difference."

They hurried through their shopping, and then went back to the house so that Al could start cooking. This time, Matt had picked up everything that Al needed so that they didn't need to get groceries too, and Al got right to work while Rose, Matt, and Carolyn sat at the kitchen table with drinks and talked with him.

"Have you guys got everything ready for your TNM Easter?" Matt asked them.

Rose nodded. "Colin's in charge of it, and his last update was that we're almost ready."

"Lily and I have a couple of things left to do for him that we'll probably get finished tomorrow, depending on how long the homework takes," Al said.

"Are you spending Easter at the Academy like you did at Hallowe'en?" Carolyn asked Matt.

"Yeah. Just in the morning. I'll be with Mum and Dad for the rest of the day. It should be a blast, knowing James."

"None of the kids there have seen any of our little tricks," Rose said. "I'll wager they're in for a really brilliant day."

The other Marauders began arriving, and they moved into the sitting room, where Matt and Rose handed out drinks, and entertained everyone until Al had lunch ready, and they came out to the kitchen again to start filling plates.

"If the Auror thing doesn't work out for you, Al, you could always think about being a chef," Nick told him.

"I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be something I'd like much. This is fun occasionally, but I don't think that cooking for hundreds every day would be," Al told his cousin.

When they finished eating, everyone pitched in to clean up, and then Rose and Matt were quickly left on their own, while the rest of their group returned to Hogwarts, wanting to get to Scorpius' office in time to watch the Canons' game.

"That was fun," Matt said, as he and Rose snuggled on a sofa and turned on QSPN to watch Andy's pre-game show.

"Part of me is glad we have the afternoon to ourselves," Rose told Matt. "The other part wishes we'd spent the whole day together, since we sort of end up out of the loop when everyone else is hanging out together while we're here."

"I know what you mean," Matt agreed. "All of our friends out here are in couples too, so I'm the odd one out, just like Arianna was while she waited for James to get done school."

"The good news is that we have just under three months left to go now," Rose told him.

"And counting," he agreed.

They had every intention of watching the game, but one kiss led to another, and before they knew it, the game was over, and it was time for Rose to leave.

"Who won?" Matt asked.

"Rose laughed. "You and I did," she told him. "A great game plan that was brilliantly played."

"I love you, Rose Weasley," he said, hugging her.

Rose hugged him back and kissed him quickly. "I love you too, Matt. I have to run, or I'll be late. See you later at our bedtime WiComm call."

Matt saw her out, and Rose apparated to the school entrance, and hurried back, making it just in time. She went to get her books, then met up with everyone else in their study classroom.

"Have a good afternoon?" Hugo asked his smiling sister.

"Good enough that Matt and I seem to have missed the entire game," she told her brother. "Who won?"

Hugo laughed. "The Canons did. Not all that close, and Liselle caught the snitch. You can always watch the highlights on the sporting news later."

Rose got down to work right away, trying not to interrupt the study session that was already running smoothly. With their day in Hogsmeade finished, it was back to business for the Marauders.

During the last week of March, they all worked hard in classes, and on their homework. Quidditch practices continued, but everyone in the school was getting excited about the upcoming Easter weekend.

Lily kept her study group focused all week, and by dinner on Saturday, they were all done their homework, and would all have the day off on Sunday.

This year, when the Hogwart's students got up Easter morning, they found out that their day was going to begin with a ride from their Common rooms to the Great Hall.

Al, Carolyn, Lily, Joel, Scorpius, and Brianna sat down on the seats of a large, plush, soft bunny when their turn came, after they'd waited in line with the other Ravenclaw students. They were then sent hopping all over the school on a fifteen-minute thrill ride that felt just like they were riding a real hopping and running bunny.

They passed other students that were laughing and shouting as much as they were. The bunnies that picked up the students at the entrance of each House were coloured in the House colours, so as they hopped along everyone could tell which House the students inside were from.

When the ride was over, the students were dropped off at the entrance to the Great Hall, where they found that there were Easter baskets full of treats at each place setting.

"That was a really cool ride," Joel said as they walked to the Ravenclaw table. He would be sitting with his roommates, like he normally did, but they hadn't arrived yet, so he hung out with the others until they got to the Great Hall too.

"It wasn't scary like the Hallowe'en ride," Carolyn said, "but it was just as fun."

They'd all sat down except for Joel, and Al popped a blue candy Easter egg in his mouth, and promptly turned blue.

"Want one?" he offered to Joel, who picked out a green one and ate it.

"I'm surprised that you didn't start with the chocolate bunny," Joel said.

"I'm saving it until I get some breakfast in me," Al told him. "It's really hard to eat when you have big, fluffy paws instead of hands."

"Good thinking," Joel said. "I'd forgotten about that. Last year I got pancake syrup all over my fur trying to levitate them into my mouth."

A lot of other students didn't seem worried about that, and there were soon hundreds of various-coloured, or even multi-coloured bunnies all over the Great Hall. The Professors were all having fun too, since bunnies had picked them up from their private rooms to bring them to the Great Hall too. Professor Slughorn seemed to be particularly enthusiastic.

All through breakfast, the students and professors had fun with the effects of the various treats in their Easter baskets. The hall began to clear when the WWVN announcement was made that whenever the students and Professors were ready, that their bunnies were ready to take them back to their Houses or quarters.

That return trip was just as exciting as the one going to the Great Hall had been. Some of the students had apparently not noticed that the bunnies were in House colours, and got into the wrong House bunnies, while other students had finished the ride, and then run back down to the Great Hall, hoping to catch another ride.

"When will the rides stop running?" Carolyn asked Al.

"That will depend on how long it takes to have every student get at least one ride back to their House entrance," he answered. "There definitely won't be new bunnies starting rides after ten o'clock, though."

"Just wondering. I saw Joel and his buddies running back downstairs to try and get another ride."

"They'll probably be able to get one more easily enough," Al said.

The last TNM Easter for the founding Marauders was a brilliant success, and all of the Marauders enjoyed watching their fellow students having fun. They all thought that getting another whole day off from their studies was pretty brilliant too.

When classes began on Monday, it was the first day of April and everyone at the school was excited and in good spirits. The warming into spring hadn't exactly arrived yet, but everyone knew it could happen any day now, and that winter was near it's end.

With Easter over, talk around school that week invariably turned to Quidditch. There were still just under five weeks until the Slytherin-Hufflepuff game, but then this was the first year in a long time where the outcome of that game really meant something in the Quidditch Cup standings.

The amount of work that everyone was doing didn't get any easier, and in the case of the Marauders, Lily was already getting them started on final exam revision in addition to their other homework.

That first weekend of April, the New Marauders studied until lunchtime, and then, after eating, gathered in Scorpius' office to watch the Canons play a road game at Puddlemere United.

"Are we going to win this one?" Emily asked Hugo. "I hear United is playing pretty well right now."

Hugo nodded. "They are, but we should still win this one."

"Your Dad could give Matt an early wedding present and let United win," Nick suggested.

"My Dad doesn't love anybody enough to throw a game," Rose told Nick. "If United wins, they're going to have to earn it, or get lucky."

They watched the WWVN for a few minutes while Andy and his team made their predictions for the game. Four out of five picked the Canons, with Robert being the dissenter who was picking the United team to win at home.

"The only time I question their picks is if Erica picks a different team than the others," Lily said. "She's a brilliant statistician, and sometimes she sees things that everyone else misses."

"She is leading their little predictions competition," Hugo said. "What do they get out of that anyway?"

"I don't think they've said," Emily answered. "They probably can't do anything big, though. Insiders can't bet on Quidditch. It's probably just for bragging rights, or maybe they'll have some trophy or plaque."

The United team did put up a good fight during the game, and even managed to get fifteen goals scored on Ron. Unfortunately for them, Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly scored thirty-nine goals on them in the four and a half hour match. Liselle caught the snitch, and the Canons improved to sixteen and one on the season, with just three games remaining before the playoffs.

"Has Arianna locked up the scoring title yet?" Hugo asked Lily.

"Not yet. The Harpies have a Chaser who's still close enough that it's possible she could catch Arianna. She'd need some big games, and maybe one or two low scoring games from the Canons too."

"Do you want us to get our books?" Carissa asked Lily.

"It's almost dinner time," Lily told her. "We'd just get started and have to stop anyway. Why don't you and Dale just stay where you are and cuddle, and we can start studying after we eat tonight."

Dale grinned. "You heard the boss," he told Carissa. "We have our orders."

The Quidditch players were all beginning to train their hardest again now, but for the girls, the talk all week was about the upcoming private wedding gown fashion show that was being put on at Gladrags just for Rose and Allie on Saturday.

When the big day arrived, the two brides-to-be, escorted by Carolyn, Brianna, Lily, and Emily hurried into town, and to the store, where Rose and Allie's mothers were already waiting for them.

"Why don't we stop and see if Matt wants to wander around with us while he's waiting for Rose," Nick suggested.

They stopped at the house first, and Matt did go along with them. Because of the scheduling this year, there was going to be four weeks between this Hogsmeade weekend and the next one, so the supply orders were larger this week – especially in the sweets category.

That was the list that Nick, Al, and Scorpius had been given this week. They made that their last stop, and picked out everything they needed to fill the large order.

"This is more like what we were used to last year," Matt said. "The next one will be even larger, since it'll be the last one of the year."

"I'm pretty sure we got one less Hogsmeade weekend this year," Nick said. "Not that it matters much. When there's one closer to exams it's just a pain anyway, since it just takes away from our study time."

They finished their shopping, and then went back to the house. Rose sent Matt a qm just as they were deciding what to do for lunch to let him know she would be there soon.

"We didn't think you'd be done this early," Matt said after welcoming her with a long hug and kiss. Carolyn was with Rose, but Allie, Brianna, Lily, and Emily were not.

"Once we'd picked out our dresses, Allie had me go first so that I could have time to spend with you, and so that Mum could go get ready for Michael's wedding. Bree and Emily are staying with Allie for her fitting, and Allie's Mum ordered in lunch for them, since it'll take a couple of hours to finish. Lily went to have lunch with Kieran, Daphne, and Karl."

Carolyn had gone to hug and kiss Al while Rose and Matt had been doing the same, and then they went into the kitchen to put lunch together, now that Al knew how many to cook for.

"How did you like the fashion show?" Al asked Carolyn quietly while he got to work.

"It was fantastic," she said. "They both picked out amazing dresses too."

Al nodded. "Did they pick out dresses for their Maid of Honour and bridesmaids too?"

"They picked out the dresses. The fittings will be done for them after school is out," Carolyn told him.

"That'll be a bit tight for Rose's wedding, won't it?"

Carolyn nodded. "Yes, but they said it won't be a problem."

Lunch wasn't anything extravagant this time, since the boys hadn't expected to be wining and dining any of the girls, but it was still better than anything they'd have gotten at the Three Broomsticks. When they finished eating, Matt and Rose were once again left on their own for the afternoon, while everyone else went back to Hogwarts, and got to work on their studies.

By the time they were doing that, most of their family was at Marauders Paradise for Michael and Rebecca's wedding. They were having the ceremony at eleven o'clock in the morning, island time, and they were having the ceremony out on the beach in front of Gabrielle and Kevin's bungalow.

They were having an informal wedding, so the one hundred or so guests were dressed in casual suits or bright summer dresses.

Everyone had gathered on the beach just before eleven, and then Patricia had led the procession, having been given the responsibility of being the flower girl. She was followed by Rebecca's sister, and two of her best friends before the beautiful, smiling bride was escorted to where Michael, Rebecca's brothers, and Michael's best friend stood with the Wizard who would be marrying them.

"She looks wonderful," Ginny whispered to Harry. "This is exactly the kind of wedding Al and Carolyn want to have on our island."

"It works for me," Harry whispered back. "Too bad Lily and Kieran won't have that as an option. They'll have to do a big wedding."

Ginny nodded. "I think she'll like a big wedding, though," she answered. "Al and Carolyn wouldn't."

The wedding ceremony was as short and as sweet as Gabrielle and Kevin's wedding had been. Michael and Rebecca had written their vows, and Harry had handed out a steady stream of tissues to Ginny and Hermione.

After the newlyweds had been officially pronounced husband and wife, and they'd shared that first kiss as a married couple, they'd spent nearly an hour taking pictures on the beach, and then had all gone to the hotel, where they sat down to a fabulous seven-course dinner.

The newlyweds were going to be spending two weeks at Marauders Escape, so after the dinner was over, they went around to thank everyone, and to say goodbye before leaving the banquet room, and going to the new house that Kevin and Gabrielle had given them, where they planned on resting for a few hours before making the trip, and the big time zone jump, in the early evening.

Most of the Weasley clan left shortly after Michael and Rebecca did, instead of staying until it would be late at night back home. Harry and Ginny went back to Gabrielle and Kevin's place.

"Everything was perfect today," Ginny told Gabrielle. "You did a wonderful job."

"Thanks, Ginny," Gabrielle said. She was holding a now sleeping William, and Kevin got up and took him from her to go put him down for a short nap.

"It's a bit late for his afternoon nap, but if we get him up for dinner, he'll be alright," he said as he left the room. Patricia had already been napping before they'd gotten back here, and was already in her room sound asleep.

"I'm glad you could stay to visit for a while," Gabrielle told Harry and Ginny. "We probably won't see you again until Rose's wedding, unless you pop in for a day trip with Kira or something."

"I probably will bring her at least once before then," Harry said. "We're booked every weekend between now and then, though, so unless we come and do lunch with you guys some night after Ginny's done work, you're probably right that we won't see you until then."

When Kevin came back, he went around and refilled wine glasses before sitting down again.

"What's new back home?" he asked. "We've been a bit out of it while getting ready for the wedding."

"Not much," Harry said. "For the next couple of months we'll be spending our weekends either going to Quidditch games, or to broom races. Sometimes I think that all of that is as much work as when we were playing."

"At least you're backing winners," Kevin said. "What Mark's been doing is amazing, and the Canons seem to be well on the way to that three-peat."

"We can hope," Harry said. "How is everything here?"

"Busy," Gabrielle told him. "That should slow down now that the wedding's over, though."

"Not likely," Kevin said. "I'll be going seven days a week while Michael's gone. Someone has to run the shop."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Gabrielle admitted. "So we'll still be busy for two more weeks."

"Do you have any new attractions coming this summer?" Harry asked. "The kids at the residence are already starting to talk about coming here in July."

"Not this year," Gabrielle told him. "Next year we're putting in two new rides, though."

"It'll be all brand new for James' kids," Ginny said. "Getting to watch them spend the week here is going to be a lot of fun."

"We're looking forward to having all of you here to spend time with that week," Kevin told her. "We miss seeing the kids, but they're all starting to get their own lives now, aren't they?"

"Yes, they are," Ginny agreed. "Another few years, and they'll all have gone and done that. Maybe it's something in the water."

Gabrielle smiled. "Maybe," she agreed, "but I think it's brilliant. Once they're all doing their own thing, the two of you will have all the time in the world to come visit us here."

"Hopefully we can start doing that more," Ginny said, "but that's probably a few more years away still."

Harry and Ginny talked with Gabrielle and Kevin until it was time for them to get the kids up from their naps. It took another fifteen minutes to say goodbye to the kids – especially Patricia, who didn't want Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny to leave already. When they were finally able to appease the little girl with promises of future visits, they left the island, and went back home to the cottage, another long, fun-filled day having come to an end.

The day after the trip to Hogsmeade, and Michael and Rebecca's wedding, was finally a day when it actually began to feel like spring had arrived at Hogwarts. It was a bright, beautiful Sunday morning that greeted the Hogwarts students, and by late morning, the number of students who were outside climbed in direct proportion to the temperature as it climbed higher and higher.

At lunch, Lily watched the other Marauders looking outside wistfully, and laughed.

"Alright," she told them. "Pass the word along that you can all have a two hour break to go out and play, but be ready to study hard when you get back in."

Her announcement was cheered, and after eating, she and Kieran went outside to walk down by the lake and enjoy the warm afternoon too.

"We have a lot to get done today," he said. "I'm surprised you wanted to do this."

"Everyone was too distracted to concentrate anyway," she told him. "We lose a couple of hours now, but we'll at least be focused when we get back to studying."

She'd been right, and when they'd gotten back to their usual study classroom, more work got done during the rest of the day than had been done all morning.

Over the next two weeks, the weather continued to improve, and more and more they were able to take their studies outside for short periods of time, usually after classes were done for the day until dinnertime.

The Canons won their road game against the Magpies on the first of those two Saturdays, winning handily while Arianna widened her lead in the race for the scoring title, and Liselle caught the snitch again for her team. The Canons now had just two games left in the regular season, and were looking good in the stretch leading up to the playoffs.

Mark had his next broom race on the second weekend. This one was the first, and shortest, of three races in five weeks. The New York to Los Angeles race was just twenty-four hundred and fifty miles long, and Mark expected to continue his winning, and record-breaking streak.

The race start time was eight o'clock in the morning, New York time, so the New Marauders gathered in Scorpius' office after a quick lunch to watch the start on the big screen there before going back to their studies.

"Are we going to need to stay up late to watch the end of this race?" Hugo asked Joel, who shook his head.

"The current race record for this one is eleven hours and forty minutes, but Mark should be able to do it in under nine. That'd make the finish sometime just before ten o'clock tonight our time, and just before two o'clock in the afternoon Los Angeles time."

"It just seems so incredible that Mark can beat all of these records by so much," Nick said.

"It happens like this every so often," Joel said. "Nearly every record fell when the Firebolt came out, and again when the Lightningbolts started being used. Not all of them, since some of the races depend on a lot more than just top speed. This is the same thing with Mark, and some day, something – or someone - better will come along, and his records will fall."

They watched the race start, and stayed long enough to see Mark safely ahead of the field before taking their books and going back to their studies while just listening in on the race.

Five hours into the race, when they went to dinner, Mark had a commanding lead, and had completed more than fourteen hundred miles of the race, and was several hundred miles ahead of the racer in second place.

After eating, the Marauders went back to their studies until about a quarter past nine, when they saw that it was close to when Mark would be finishing the race, and then they packed up for the night, and went back to Scorpius' office to watch his arrival at the finish line.

"He's picked up even more time," Joel said as they watched the last few minutes of the race. "He's going to be just over eight and a half hours finishing the race. That's averaging something like two hundred and eighty-six miles an hour."

Mark's official time was eight hours, thirty-four minutes, and Callie was there to welcome and congratulate him, as were Harry, Ginny, Owen, and Natalie.

"Isn't he just three wins away from that million galleon bonus?" Nick asked.

Joel nodded. "The Trans-Canada race is two weeks from today, and is just a few hundred miles longer that this one. Then he'll have the Trans-Pacific race from Tokyo, Japan to Vancouver, Canada two weeks after that. The last race of the year is in June, and it's a round-trip race from London to Moscow and back. That's the only one on the circuit that we have in our country."

"At least he'll get to celebrate at home if he wins," Allie said. "That'll be nice for him, and for Callie too."

"Too bad we can't go watch it," Joel said. "If he does win all ten races, it'll be an historic racing moment."

"How long before the awards ceremony for this race?" Rose asked Joel.

"Probably nearly four hours," Joel told her. "They'll wait at least until the top twenty-five get finished."

She stood up. "I'm heading to my rooms, then. That's way past my bedtime. Don't miss curfew, guys. I'm too tired for late night escort duties."

The others wished Rose a good night, and then settled down again, the couples cuddling, and everyone enjoying some quiet time together. When it was nearly time to be back in their Common Rooms, they started leaving Scorpius' office until he was finally left there alone with Brianna.

"Alone at last," she sighed happily as they stretched out on one of the sofas and snuggled together again. "Why don't you float a blanket out here, and I'll worry about sneaking back into my dorm room before everyone wakes up."

Scorpius laughed, pulled out his wand, and brought a neatly folded blanket out to them from his bedroom.

"That's better," Brianna said. "This is one definite advantage to being the girlfriend of the Head Boy. It makes up for all of the times that I have to share you with the other kids when you're busy helping everyone else out, and can't be spending time with me."

It wasn't very long before both of them fell asleep, tired from another long day and week. There were just a few days left in April, and the big Quidditch game between Hufflepuff and Slytherin was now just a week away.

There were two big Quidditch games at Hogwarts, and only five weeks until exams. The big push toward getting ready for those exams, and the end of the school year would begin in earnest now. With one last Hogsmeade weekend, the Canons' last two regular season games, and two of Mark's last three Broom Races all happening in the next four weeks, May was going to be a very busy month indeed.


	110. May Mania

Chapter One Hundred and Ten – May Mania

Al was up, showered, and dressed before sunrise, and met Carolyn in the Common room, where he hugged her, and they shared a soft kiss before quietly leaving to go downstairs. They only waited a few minutes before being met there by Colin, who stared at them in surprise.

"Ready to go?" Al asked. "We don't want to miss the sunrise."

Colin walked up and hugged each of them. "Thank-you," he said simply.

"We have to wait a moment," Carolyn told the boys just as the door next to the main staircase opened, and Nadine stepped into the entrance hall and quickly joined them.

Colin hugged her too, and then the four friends left the school, and walked across the grounds to the Memorial Stone, each couple walking hand-in-hand.

There were already quite a few people there, and they walked over to join the group that included Al and Colin's parents and grandparents, James, Arianna, George, and Marietta.

"Good morning," Ginny said quietly, greeting each of the kids with hugs. "You're up early."

"It's all Colin's fault," Carolyn teased in a hushed voice. "After last year's ceremony, it just seems right to be here at sunrise on the anniversary."

Ginny nodded, putting her arm around Harry again after he finished hugging the kids too. "We feel the same way," she agreed.

Colin and Nadine were each hugged by James and Arianna before joining Dennis, Demelza, and his grandparents. They walked apart from the rest of the group, and left Molly and Arthur to share the moment with their family. Al and Carolyn were greeted by them, James, Arianna, George and Marietta, and then stood an listened as the six veterans of the war talked quietly, mostly about Fred and the other close friends they'd lost in that battle, and during the rest of the war. Al had heard all of the stories before, but for Carolyn, some of them were brand new.

"Has anyone considered writing these stories down, at least so your family can read and know about them?" She asked quietly. "I've never even heard these stories about some of the Witches and Wizards you're talking about." Ginny overheard her, and smiled.

"We probably should," she agreed. "History books usually end up with a certain bias, depending on the author, and who won, and a lot of the truth gets lost in that process."

"We do have a famous author in our own family," Carolyn suggested. "Maybe he'd think about doing it."

Ginny hugged her. "That, my dear, is a brilliant suggestion. I imagine if his mother and favourite baby sister in the whole world ask him, he'll just have to agree to do it."

Molly laughed. "Not to mention that Nathalie will think it's a brilliant idea too, and then he'll really have no choice but to agree once she's on our side."

Arianna, Marietta, and all of the men smiled as they listened to the three girls. Charlie really didn't have a chance. When Molly and Ginny both wanted the same thing, the Weasley men couldn't resist them. As the sun was just rising, they were joined by all of the Weasley Marauders and their significant others, all within a few minutes. Ron and Hermione came with Bill, Fleur, Percy, and Penelope, and Matt joined Rose, coming in at the same time as Victoire, Teddy, Isabelle, and Stewart.

While the rest of the family exchanged welcomes, Al and Carolyn stepped to the side, along with James and Arianna to give the others some extra space while they were reunited.

"Are you doing anything special with your students today?" Al asked James.

"We're going to bring them, and do a lesson right here," James answered. Professor McGonagall is going to teach it for me."

Carolyn smiled. "That's a wonderful idea, James. There are probably quite a few of your students that grew up being told that the good guys lost the war."

"You're right about that," Arianna told her. "Whatever they learned growing up, though, this is going to be a lesson they won't soon forget."

The Weasley clan spent about a half hour together, the veterans talking about the old days, and the younger members of the family eager to hear those stories, and then they seemed to all know that the moment had passed, and it was time to go. Rose walked to the school gates with Matt and her parents, wanting to have every minute she could with him.

"I'll see you at the game on Saturday," he told her as they hugged and kissed next to the entrance.

"He's going to see her in a couple of days and gets a hug and kiss," Ron teased. "I have to work on Saturday, and won't get to see my baby for three weeks, and she doesn't even know I'm here."

Rose laughed, and hugged and kissed both of her parents. "I love you, Daddy," she told him. "Good luck with your game on Saturday."

Ron smiled. "I love you too, honey. Try to have a little fun while you're busy getting ready for your NEWTs."

"You've completely blocked the memories of your NEWTs, haven't you?" Rose asked, and her parents both laughed.

"Pretty much, yes," Ron agreed. "If it wasn't for your mother, I probably would have been raving mad before those exams were finished. For me, our NEWT year ended when we won the Quidditch Cup at the end of May, and the Canons' scout told me that the team was interested in me coming to play for them. The rest is a blissful blank."

Rose hugged him again. "I better get back to school, or I'll be going to classes on an empty stomach."

Molly and Arthur had everyone, including Dennis, Demelza, and his parents, back to the Burrow for breakfast this year. Teddy's grandparents, Andromeda and Robert, had gotten to the Memorial Stone just as the others were leaving, and had been invited to join them too, so they'd be along with Teddy and Victoire soon.

"There were a lot more people there today," Dennis said when everyone was there, and they all sat down at the kitchen table to eat.

"That's certainly your son's doing," Molly told him. "His Uncle would be very proud of his nephew. I know we all think he's pretty special."

"Carolyn suggested to us that we get Charlie to write down all of our family's stories from the war," Ginny told everyone. "What did you really think about the idea, Mum?"

"I think she's absolutely right," Molly said. "There are a lot of things that we don't want the rest of the Wizarding World to know about the war, but we should all make sure that our descendants know the truth."

"My family did that," Harry said quietly, immediately getting everyone's attention. "The Black family did too," he added, looking at Teddy and Andromeda.

Ginny looked at him in surprise. She'd read most of the family history books for both families, but since he'd never seemed inclined to tell anyone else that they existed, she'd never talked about it with anyone else either.

"They did?" Arthur asked, looking excited. "How far back do they go?"

"The Black family history goes back two generations before Phineas," Harry told him. "Phineas wrote that part of the history himself, and it's not very detailed. The story is fairly complete from eighteen fifty on, except for anyone in the family who was disowned. When they did that, they were very thorough, which is a shame."

Andromeda laughed. "That's my family. Don't stop at removing the names from the family tree, take them out of the history books too."

"And what about your family history?" Arthur persisted.

Harry smiled. "Let's just say it goes back quite a bit farther. I only brought it up because I agree that we should do this for our family. You and Mum should even think about seeing how far back into your family histories you could go back and include in the story, although part of that would tie into the Black family history too."

"Ginny and I will go talk with Charlie, and see what he thinks," Molly told the others. "We'll let you know what he says."

"Any chance we could take a look at those family histories of yours?" Arthur asked Harry. "They must be fascinating."

There were quite a few nods around the table, and Harry smiled.

"Let me see what I can do about maybe making a condensed version for everyone. Some of them are very fragile, and it'd take you years to read everything, even if you did it full time."

"Maybe we could make a private VirtualLibrary for you," Isabelle suggested. "That way, even if the books eventually don't survive, your histories will."

"Give that girl a bonus," Harry said. "That's a very good idea." He smiled at Hermione. "I'm surprised you didn't suggest that for our little library vault."

Hermione laughed. "I'm suggesting it now. It escapes me why it never occurred to me, but then I haven't spent much time there over the past few years either."

"Thanks for reminding her, mate." Ron said sarcastically. "She spent the first ten years we were married reading through that library."

Ginny grinned at her brother. "We seem to have a niece and nephew that suggests that's not all you two did back then."

Ron actually blushed, and the others laughed.

"That's still just too easy," Ginny said happily. "I love you, Ron."

They talked and had a long breakfast together before everyone went off to work. James got to the Academy just as breakfast there had finished up, and the teachers were getting the students ready for their field trip.

"Ready to go?" he asked when he joined them in the dining hall.

"All set," Walter told him. "It's going to be a nice day for the trip." James nodded and got the kid's attention.

"Who can tell me what today is?" he asked, and then nodded to Horatio when he shot his hand up. "Go ahead, H," he told the boy encouragingly.

"Thursday, May second, 2024," the young boy answered. He waited a second, then added – "the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts."

"Very good," Harry complimented him. "Today our field trip is to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Every year, on the anniversary of the battle, the grounds are open so the public can visit the Memorial Stone there." He looked around at the excited faces.

"We will be doing that, and Headmistress McGonagall will be teaching you all about the war, and that final battle."

Walter took over to give the students the pre-trip safety and conduct lecture that was given before every field trip, and then they left the school and took the TransPortal to the gates of Hogwarts.

"Why do we have to walk in from here?" Melody asked curiously. "Wouldn't it be better to have the TransPortal terminal right at the school?"

She was walking with Harry, Julie, and a few of her friends, and was holding Julie's hand. Whenever they were doing something new, Melody was never far from Julie, or one of the other adults.

"The school is protected by magical defences," James told the small group of girls. "The TransPortal is not permitted to pass through those defences."

"Why does the school need to be protected? The war was over a long time ago," Melody said.

James nodded. "The war is over, sweetie, but there are still lots of bad people in the world, and we want to protect our children while they're at school." He leaned close so that only Julie, Melody, and her friends could hear him. "I'll tell you a secret," he whispered. "Our Academy is protected just like Hogwarts is, 'cause we love you and want to make sure you're all safe too."

"Really?" Melody said, her eyes getting big and round. "You love us?"

The fact that it was the 'we love you' that was more important to Melody than finding out that her home was magically protected earned her a hug from James.

"We absolutely love all of you very much," he assured her. "That's a big part of what we're going to learn today when you think about it. The Witches and Wizards that fought and died in the war, and at the Battle of Hogwarts, died because they loved us."

"That happened a long time ago," Melody told him. "We weren't even born yet – not even you."

James laughed. "That's true, Melody, but they loved their own families and friends, and they definitely would have loved to see how much better the world is today because of their sacrifices."

By then, they'd reached the Memorial Stone, and Professor McGonagall was there already, waiting for them, along with maybe twenty or thirty other visitors. James introduced her to the students, and she began an hour long lesson without any preamble or fanfare, just having the Academy students gather in closer, while James, and the Academy teachers stepped back and listened to the lesson too.

"I've never heard it told quite like this before," Julie whispered to James and the other teachers, who nodded. "Apparently a few of the visitors have gotten caught up in the lesson too."

James smiled. There were ten or twelve adults that were staying to listen to the Professor's lesson, and Minerva seemed happy to let them listen in. You were never too old to learn something new.

When she finished her lesson, she offered to take questions from the students for about fifteen minutes longer before she needed to return to the school, and James was proud to hear his kids ask smart, well thought out questions that clearly showed they'd listened to her lesson very intently.

Rowena had the job of thanking Professor McGonagall, and giving her the gift that James had picked up for her, and he smiled when the little charmer thanked the Professor in her high, pixie voice, gave her the present, and then hugged her impulsively, throwing etiquette to the wind.

James and Walter thanked her too, while the other teachers gathered the kids and got them ready to leave.

"That was wonderful, Minerva," Walter told her. They'd known each other for a long time.

"Thank-you, Walter," she answered. "You're all doing a wonderful job with those kids. No wonder you didn't want to come and teach here."

Walter laughed. "I hadn't planned on teaching anywhere, Minerva. I just couldn't say no to helping these kids when I heard about the Academy, and now they have me hooked."

"They do have that ability," she agreed.

James hugged her, and then it was time to leave. When they got to the gates of the school, he got everyone's attention again.

"Ready for the next stop, and lesson, of our little road trip?" he asked.

"Where are we going now?" Gabe asked.

"We're going to spend the rest of the day at the Marauders Mall in Paris, where you'll be having a fun-filled day of rides, games, and shopping. Somewhere we'll fit in lunch too."

"I'm not complaining about the plan," Gabe told him with a smile, "but the lesson part of a day at the Mall escapes me."

James smiled. "It wouldn't be a very good lesson if we didn't learn anything, now would it? The lesson is very simple – The war, and the Battle of Hogwarts, was fought so that we could all have a better life. The Witches and Wizards who fought for the light wanted us to be happy, to have our lives filled with joy and love, and to have fun, so that's what we're going to do – go have fun with the people we love."

Gabe stepped forward and hugged James. "That's a very cool way to teach, James. Thank-you."

They got into their groups, and took the TransPortal to Paris, where the kids quickly fanned out through the Atrium Amusement Park to go and play.

James, and his five friends and teachers went to get cold drinks and sit at a table on one of the patios that overlooked the rides.

"So there was a method to your madness after all," Walter told James with a smile.

James laughed. "We can teach them to read and write, and all about magic, but if they can't learn to be happy, loving adults, then what's the point of doing everything else?"

"Your Uncle Fred would have thought this was a perfect idea," Marianne told him, and then laughed. "He might have thought it was fun to fill this Atrium with a portable swamp too, but he'd have thought this was pretty good even without the swamp."

"You knew him?" James asked in surprise, even as he laughed too. "I didn't know that."

Marianne nodded. "Not well, but everybody knew George and Fred. Your Uncle's wheezes gave all of us a few laughs during a pretty dark time in our lives. I still laugh every time I think of that sign in their store for U-NO-POO that poked fun at Lord Voldemort. We heard that the Dark Lord was not amused, which made it even funnier – not that any of us would admit it in public back then."

"Uncle George has pictures of it," James told her. "He was very proud of that little act of defiance."

"As he should be," Marianne agreed. She looked around, and watched some of the kids playing. "How cool would it have been to do something like this when we went to school? I'd say this is several notches up from the Hogsmeade weekends."

Walter drained his glass and stood up. "Yes it is," he agreed. "Since we're supposed to be learning about fun, I think it's time for me to find out if I like roller coasters or not. Anyone else want to come along?"

Marianne, Kent, and Mitchell went with him, leaving James and Julie at the table alone.

"If you didn't see what he looked like, you'd never guess how old Walter is," Julie said.

"He's usually got more energy than I do," James agreed. "We're lucky to have him at the Academy."

Melody, Rowena, and Nicole came and whisked a laughing Julie away then, and James was on his own.

"Houston, we have a problem."

James turned and smiled when he saw Gabe, Chris, Glenda, and Candice coming up to him.

"What problem would that be?" James asked with a smile.

"Our illustrious leader seems to be sitting around doing nothing instead of taking his own advice and having a play day," Glenda answered, returning his smile.

James laughed and stood up. "We can't have that. Let's go hit those coasters."

While the students, teachers, and director of the Academy were having their fun lesson, at Hogwarts, it was school as usual, except for the Hufflepuff and Slytherin Quidditch teams, who were now spending nearly every spare moment getting ready for their big match on Saturday.

Lily had to juggle their needs with making sure that assignments still got done, and they kept working on their revisions for final exams that were now just over four weeks away.

"Let them get this game out of the way," Carolyn advised Lily. "Then we'll have a couple of weeks where we can mostly concentrate on our studies before the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw players will need to focus on their game. They'll be fine. You're doing a good job getting us all prepared, just like you always do."

"Okay," Lily had agreed. "Come Sunday, though, they better watch out, 'cause Commander Lily is going to be taking command away from the Quidditch Captains."

Carolyn laughed. "Kieran's going to love that, I think."

They had a beautiful day for the game on Saturday, and the stands were full early, as the students and visitors were all ready to watch a good match between one of last year's co-champions and this year's only remaining undefeated team.

The New Marauders, and family members who were there for the game, had mostly decided to sit in a section that straddled the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sections, with the exception of Daphne's parents, who sat with Karl, Sarah, and Millie to cheer on their team, along with the parents of the rest of the Slytherin team.

Harry and Ginny were there with Matt, Hermione, Kirley, Ana, and Catriona, all of them cheering on the Hufflepuff team.

"You've played both teams," Harry told Hugo. "Who do you think has the advantage?"

Hugo smiled at his Uncle. "I may not be the one to ask," he said. "Kieran's team is the better one on paper, but then so were we when Slytherin beat us back in November. Kieran does have the advantage that he's seen this new team twice, and trained with them, while we were caught by surprise."

"That also means that Slytherin knows a lot about the Hufflepuff team too, though," Ginny said. "I think Miranda and Daphne battle nearly to a draw, and Nadine will be the difference today."

Ginny's prediction proved itself out in just over an hour. Miranda scored eight of Hufflepuff's fourteen goals, with Kieran scoring the rest, while Daphne scored all six of Slytherin's goals against a fired up Hufflepuff Keeper that managed to save forty of her shots.

Nadine caught the snitch after surprising Slytherin's Seeker, Darrin, when she pulled off one of Liselle's famous one-eighties, and chased down the snitch before Darrin even got turned around.

"How good is she going to be by the time she graduates if she can do that when she's twelve?" Harry asked.

Colin laughed. "Hopefully not better than I am," he said. "I really want to play for the Canons some day, and I'd be terribly disappointed if my Dad and Uncle Ron decided to hire Nadine instead of me."

"I wouldn't count on her even trying to play for the Canons," Lily told him. "Kieran's got two more years to make her a fan of the Pride, and Miranda is probably working on making her a Harpies fan. She'd be great for either team."

"I don't even want to think about playing a Harpies team with Miranda and Nadine on it," Colin said. "Throw Frederica in as Beater, and any team would love to build around those three."

"I wouldn't mind giving that a try," Harry said. "The competition would be good for the league too."

The two teams landed, and Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their group made their way down to the field.

"You were supposed to play for four or five hours," Rose told Nadine. "An hour isn't very long to get to spend with Matt."

Nadine smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Rose, but I actually sort of forgot we weren't playing best out of five catches like we did all through the holidays. It was a really good catch, wasn't it?"

Rose hugged her. "It was a brilliant catch," she assured Nadine. "I still can't make my broom do that, and I've tried for years."

"How does it feel to get your team the win, and put them in first place?" Lily asked Nadine after hugging her.

"We're in first place?" Nadine asked in surprise. "I thought we were tied with two wins each."

"Yes, but you're ahead of Slytherin on points, and you beat them, so that puts Hufflepuff in first place."

"Now all we can do is wait to see what happens with the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game," Kieran said. "We've done everything we can do for our part."

Daphne joined them, and hugged Nadine, Lily, and Kieran.

"Congratulations, guys. That was a really fun game," she told Nadine and Kieran. "That was a pretty awesome catch, too."

"Thanks," Kieran told her. "You guys played great too. I sure hope your House is going to throw you a party later to let you know that. I don't remember the last year you had a two win season, and it could have just as easily been a three win season, since this game was so close."

Harry and Ginny came and congratulated Daphne and Nadine, then borrowed Lily and Kieran so they could say goodbye.

"We've got to get to the stadium, since we're hosting a group in the Owner's Box today," Harry told them. "We'll see you in three weeks."

Lily hugged him, then her mother. "We'll call you next week, but Happy early sweet sixteenth," Ginny told her before hugging Kieran too.

Hermione joined them, having said goodbye to Hugo and Rose, and Lily and Kieran watched them leave the stadium before returning to their friends. That gathering was already breaking up as the two teams went to the locker rooms to get cleaned up and changed, while the rest of the guests began leaving, and the students returned to the school.

The Hufflepuff and Slytherin Marauders had parties to attend, so it was a smaller group that gathered in Scorpius' office in time to watch the Canons' home game against the Ballycastle Bats.

"Last home game of the regular season," Hugo said as he and Emily snuggled on one of the sofas. "If they win today, they lock up home field advantage for the playoffs again. It won't matter what happens in their last game. The best the Harpies can do is seventeen and three now."

"They'll win today," Rose predicted. "The Bats aren't going to be able to keep pace with our team."

"If it's a done deal, we could all go start in on our homework," Lily suggested.

"Thanks anyway, Lily, but we'll pass on that idea," Hugo told her. "Tomorrow you're welcome to start beating the information into us again, but I am not giving up my game day cuddle time."

Lily smiled and stood up. "Well, my cuddle buddy is busy, so since I don't have any tutoring, I think I'm going to go get a jump on my own work, then," she told everyone. "Have fun watching the game."

"Wait up," Rose told her. "Why don't you meet me in my office, and we can both get some work done. I'll turn the WWVN on low so we can listen to the game while we work."

"Anyone else feeling guilty yet?" Al asked after they left.

Carolyn laughed. "Sure, but I'm willing to learn to live with it if you are. I agree with Hugo. I don't want to give up my cuddle time either. We're not going to get much of it between now and the end of school."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Nick told them, "but I'm actually thinking about joining them."

There was a knock on the hallway door to Scorpius' office, and Allie came in, going over to sit next to Nick.

"I decided that this would be more fun than the party," she told him, and Nick grinned as she cuddled with him.

"Shall we deduce that you've had a change of heart?" Hugo joked, and Nick laughed.

"Yes, you can," he confirmed.

"A change of heart about what?" Allie asked. "That sounds ominous when you say it right after I walk into the room."

Nick laughed and hugged her again. "I was bordering on temporary insanity, and was about to go join Lily and Rose for a study session, since you and Kieran were going to be at your House party all day. Thankfully, you saved me."

Allie laughed too, and kissed him. "You're welcome, Nick. I'm glad I was able to save you from that terrible fate."

They all settled in just in time to hear a unanimous prediction of a Canons' win from the QSPN experts. The Bats and Canons were introduced, and the game got started.

Arianna sped to the quaffle, and instead of her usual pass to Aaron, turned straight for the Bats' goals. The Bats' Chasers were in formation to defend the pass, and were out of position when she shot past all three of them, and went in alone against their Keeper. It only took a head fake to get past him and score on the open left-side goal.

"That was way too easy," Scorpius said. "If they're going to play the whole game like that, it's going to get ugly."

"If their Beaters don't get with it, it's going to be painful too," Nick said as they watched one of the Bats' Chasers narrowly avoid a bludger shot from Sebastian.

The Bats' Keeper settled down, and tried valiantly, making a lot of saves, but he wasn't getting much help from his Chasers, who weren't scoring on Ron, and were constantly giving up the quaffle, and getting beat on defence.

He took a bludger to the shoulder near the start of the fourth hour while he'd been making a fairly brilliant save on one of Arianna's shots. The audible crack of breaking bones made everyone watching wince.

The young Wizard somehow stayed on his broom, but it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to do anything more than that, and both Coach, and Ron, ordered the team to back off, and gave Liselle the green light to end the game. Sebastian and Tristan double-teamed the Bats' Seeker, and it only took a few minutes until Liselle had her chance and ended the game.

"You've got to like that," Brianna said. "Other than that first bad goal, that guy stood on his head trying to keep his team in it, even though they still got out-scored by quite a bit."

Hugo nodded. "If there's one thing Coach and Dad love, it's a player that'll take a bludger hit like that to make the save. I do hope Dad doesn't congratulate him by pounding him on the shoulder like he normally does."

Nick laughed. "That wouldn't be good," he agreed. "I don't think we have to worry about that, though," he added as they watched two of the Medi-Wizards catch him as the man passed out from the pain not long after landing.

Frederica looked away from the screen, snuggling closer with Liam. "I'm okay when I'm playing," she said quietly, "but when I see someone getting hurt like that, it's still really hard to watch."

"You've got a good reason to feel that way," Liam told her.

"So now what?" Al asked. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I really do have a lot of work to get done, much as I'd rather take the whole day off."

"I vote for studying too," Carolyn said, standing up with a sigh. "If anyone else wants to get to work too, we'll be in the usual spot. We'll let Lily and Rose know on our way out."

When the dust settled, there were three couples left – Scorpius and Brianna, Hugo and Emily, and Nick and Allie. Everyone else had opted for the study session.

"They'll all be studying after dinner too," Nick told the others. "We can always join them then."

"I can live with that," Hugo said. "You and I still have teams to get ready for our last game. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so obstinate about not studying today. We're going to have that on our plates, and most of the other Marauders won't."

Scorpius laughed. "Then what's our excuse? Brianna and I don't have Qudditch to worry about."

"You do still have your Head Boy duties," Nick reminded him. "None of us are behind in our work anyway. I can live with losing a couple of hours of time studying for my exams."

"What are we doing next weekend in Hogsmeade?" Emily asked. "Usually on the last weekend of the year we just go there, get what we need, and come back and study, but we've never had a house there before, either."

"We need to leave Matt and Rose alone this weekend," Allie told her. "Except for the Quidditch game, they're not going to see each other for six weeks after next weekend. I have no intention of getting in the way of what ought to be an all day snogfest."

Brianna nodded. "That's my current plan for Hogsmeade weekends with Scorpius next year. All day snogging."

Scorpius grinned. "Maybe we could practice up for that later," he suggested.

"Like you don't already practice enough," Nick told him. "You'll probably be practicing all summer too."

"Hopefully, but we're both going to have a busy summer," Scorpius said. "Like they're not all busy. I won't even get the last week of summer off this year, since I'll be full time at the Ministry."

"I didn't think about that," Brianna said. "That really sucks."

"We'll just have to make up for that at night, and on the weekends," Scorpius told her. "We won't have things like Quidditch practices this summer, so that's quite a few free nights we didn't have last summer."

The three couples relaxed, and chatted together until dinner, and then joined the rest of the Marauders for the evening study session. By Sunday morning, none of the Marauders had any doubt that Commander Lily was in the house, and was in charge.

During the next week, the only excuses that she accepted for any of them to not be studying during nearly every waking moment was if they had Quidditch practices, were eating a meal, or were in classes. Rose was given a snogging exemption to that rule for Saturday only, but had to stay up late and work with Lily in her office for most of the week to earn it.

Lily's birthday was on Friday, and she didn't slow down for that either, except for a few minutes at breakfast, where she opened the presents that came by Owl Post, and another few minutes alone with Kieran after they'd finished studying for the night, and before she went to work with Rose in her office.

"You should have taken the night off to celebrate," Rose told Lily when they were in Rose's office, and had started working. "This is the only sweet sixteen birthday you'll have."

"It's been pretty sweet anyway," Lily said. "I can celebrate birthdays for the rest of my life, but I only get one shot at my NEWTs. I'm not going to let anything screw that up."

"Did you at least get a cool, non-musical birthday present from your sweetheart?" Rose asked.

Lily pulled her fiery tumble of hair out of the way so Rose could see the new pair of earrings she was wearing, and both girls laughed.

"I guess that would be a yes and a no," Rose joked. "I've never seen musical note earrings with diamonds for the bottom of each note. They're beautiful."

"Thank-you," Lily said. "Now let's get back to work so you can have that snogging day tomorrow. I don't want the rest of the troups thinking I'm playing favourites just because you're my cousin, or the Head Girl."

While Rose and Matt were spending their last-ever Hogsmeade weekend together, and getting ready for that last six weeks apart, the rest of the Marauders that could go to Hogsmeade picked up all of the supplies that they needed to get through those last weeks of classes and exams, then returned to Hogwarts in time to have lunch there, and then hit the books again.

By getting back to Hogwarts by noon, they'd also been able to watch the start of Mark's race in the Great Hall at twelve o'clock. In Halifax, it was only eight in the morning. Joel had given them the usual stats about the race, so they knew that it started in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and ended in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The race was twenty-seven hundred and sixty miles long, or just under forty-four hundred and fifty kilometres. The current course record was thirteen hours and twenty-eight minutes, and there was a four-hour time difference between Halifax and Vancouver, so the race normally ended at around five-thirty in the afternoon, Vancouver time, or what would be one-thirty Sunday morning here at home.

Lily did allow them to have a couple of portable WWVN's so that they could listen to the race while they studied. Fifteen minutes into their session, she firmly moved one of those WWVN's away from Joel so he could no longer see the screen, but only listen.

"Sorry, mate," she apologized. "I hate to do it to you, but you'd watch that screen for the next ten hours if I let you."

Joel laughed. "I'd argue, but you're right. I wonder who's going to save me from myself next year?"

Sarah patted his arm, and smiled at him. "I've got you covered," she promised.

While everyone else was studying, Rose and Matt had just finished lunch too, having watched the start of the race while they'd eaten. Now they were stretched out on one of the sofas, with the race turned on.

"This is going to be a really long six weeks," Matt said softly as he held Rose close. "It's a good thing we're both going to be busy."

"We'll have the game in two weeks too," Rose said. "Once we start our NEWT exams, though, I won't be thinking about anything else until they're over."

They spent the rest of the time they had left in the soft glow of each other's embrace before they finally had to say goodbye, and Rose hurried back to school. When she walked into the entrance hall, Lily was there waiting for her, with a bright smile and warm hug.

"No wonder James liked those so much," Rose told her. "Why did you wait for the last one?"

"This one's the toughest for you guys," Lily answered. "Let's get your books, and get your mind occupied for a while."

Rose hugged her again, and the two young women went to her office, and then on to their study classroom, where Lily got back to work, and Rose got started.

"How's Mark doing?" she asked Joel. "We had the race on, but for some reason we got distracted."

Joel laughed. "He's well ahead of everyone else," he reported. "There's a good chance he'll finish in under ten hours, depending on how he does going through the Rocky Mountains. Since that's the last section of the race, we won't really know until right near the finish."

"He did fine with the Andes mountain range in that race in South America," Rose told him. "I think he'll do well today too."

When they went to dinner, Mark was still on pace to finish the race in under ten hours, and was averaging nearly two hundred and ninety miles an hour as he roared across the Canadian prairies.

They took less than an hour for dinner, and then got back to work. At nine-thirty, when it was apparent that Mark was going to finish the race in about ten hours, Lily called an end to the study session so that they could all go watch the finish in Scorpius' office.

"Look at him weave through those mountains," Nick said in wonder. "That boy has definitely got a lot of nerve. One mistake, and the Medics would be peeling him off of the rocks, if you could even survive a crash at those speeds."

"Look at his current speed," Joel said. "He's doing that at two hundred and forty miles an hour! The other racers still haven't figured out how to go more than two-twenty at top speed, and if they do the same as past races, when they get into the mountains, they'll slow down to more like one-forty or one-forty-five."

"He's going to knock three and a half hours off of the race record," Lily said. "I guess this will be one more awards ceremony I won't be staying awake for."

Mark's speed hit three hundred miles an hour when he swooped down out of the mountains, and roared across the finish line near Vancouver, and it took him several minutes to slow down and land, where he was greeted by Callie, as always, and Harry, Ginny, Owen, and Nathalie. There were several thousand cheering fans that had come to watch his finish, and they had not been disappointed.

"It's too bad for the rest of the field that most of them won't stay – or come back – to watch the rest of the racers finish, or to see the awards ceremony," Joel said. "There were only a few hundred that watched the awards ceremony after the last race, and most of them were the race teams, their families, and sponsors."

"The organizers need to give the spectators something to do while they wait," Lily told him. "They've been through eight races now, so you'd think they would have figured that out and done something about it."

With the race over, everyone started leaving Scorpius' office, heading for their Common Rooms, or other locations until they had to be in their respective Houses for curfew. Within twenty minutes, Scorpius and Brianna were alone and stretched out on a sofa, snuggled under a warm blanket.

"Would you be terribly offended if I close my eyes and have a nap?" Brianna asked him. "This has been a really long day for some reason, and I'm beat."

"I'd only be offended if you didn't want to have that nap cuddling with me," Scorpius told her. "I wouldn't mind a little nap of my own."

Brianna sighed, and melted into his arms. They were both sound asleep in minutes, and when they did finally wake up from their little nap, Brianna had to quietly make her way to her dorm room, and try not to wake Carolyn, Lily, and their other roommates as she changed and got into her own bed to get a last few hours of sleep before morning.

Over the next two weeks, the Marauders worked away at the last assignments of the year, and studied hard for their exams. Hugo and Nick were having long, tough practices with their teams, and the days just seemed to fly past.

On the Saturday between the Hogsmeade weekend and the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match, the Canons had their last game of the season on the road against the Catapults.

This time, Lily didn't let anyone take a study break to watch a game that meant nothing other than whether the Canons would finish at eighteen and two or nineteen and one. They were allowed to listen to the game on the portable WWVN's while they worked, but anyone caught watching the action for too long earned the wrath of Commander Lily. The effect of that wrath was dimished by her ever-present smile, but they all tried to avoid that anyway.

The Canons did win the game, by four hundred and sixty points, which just showed the Catapults' fans that the Canons were there to play their best even if the game wouldn't change anything in the league standings for either team.

For the last week before the final Hogwarts Qudditch match of the school year, Lily did have to cut those players a little slack with their studies again. They were all just working too hard to do everything, and once they started falling asleep on their books, she knew it was time to send them off to bed each evening.

The other event on the last weekend in May was Mark's second to last Broom Race. This was the monster Trans-Pacific race from Tokyo, Japan to Vancouver, Canada – the only city on the racing circuit to get two race finishes. Since this race crossed the International Date Line, the racers left on Saturday morning in Japan, and arrived in Vancouver on Saturday afternoon.

There was a seventeen-hour time difference between Tokyo and Vancouver, and the currently held race record was twenty-two hours and sixteen minutes. Since the race started at nine o'clock on Saturday morning in Tokyo, the racers started arriving in Vancouver at around two-fifteen on Saturday afternoon. The racers joked about it being the longest five hours or so of their lives.

The dream of every racer on the circuit was to someday leave Tokyo at nine in the morning, and arrive in Vancouver before nine in the morning. That would require racing the four thousand, seven hundred and three mile distance in less than the seventeen-hour time difference. Until Mark joined the circuit and had so far broken the record in every race, everyone had still thought that goal was a dream. Now there was excited speculation all over the world about whether this previously unattainable feat could possibly happen this year.

Since the race was starting at nine in the morning on Saturday, Tokyo time, that meant that any Hogwarts students who wanted to watch the start of the race needed to stay up until midnight on Friday night. Hugo and Nick summarily dismissed that as an option for their teams, since they were playing in the morning, but many of the rest of the Hogwarts students did stay up in their Common Rooms to watch the start of the race.

All of the Ravenclaw Marauders, except for Nick, gathered in Scorpius' office to watch the start of the race, and while they were all tired from their long day, none of them wanted to miss it.

"What do you think Mark's chances are of getting to Vancouver before nine in the morning, their time?" Al asked Joel.

"I think he could do it," Joel answered. "The hardest part of this race is how long it is. With the old record, when you think about it, the racers are up for more than twenty-four hours, and are on their brooms for more than twenty-two hours without a break, unless they stop on one of the islands along the way, which is allowed, but then slows them down a lot."

"Do any of them fall asleep during the race?" Brianna asked.

"It's happened," Joel told her. "That's not a good thing to do, though. Most racers have altitude alarms now that wake them up if they doze off and start falling. That's pretty much solved that problem, except for the rare sound sleeper."

"Mum and Dad are going to have a busy day," Lily said. "They're in Japan for the start, then are coming here to watch the game, and then they'll be off to Vancouver to see the end of the race."

"That might just be a record for them," Al said. "The timing works out pretty well, though. I'm sure they'll come straight back to the cottage after the start, and get some sleep."

"Which is my plan," Rose told them. "Watch the start, and then get some sleep."

Right on time, at nine in the morning in Tokyo, and at midnight at Hogwarts, the starter's pistol was fired, and Mark and the other racers took off, and raced away toward Vancouver. Mark once again went off on a slight tangent to the direction the other racers were heading, but this time, none of the other racers followed him.

"Did you and Isabelle plot his course again this time?" Joel asked Lily, who nodded.

"Isabelle did the last minute adjustments based on the weather forecasts this evening, but we had the rest of it worked out about a week ago."

"I can hardly wait to find out if all of the training and work pays off for him," Joel said.

Since Mark was on a completely different heading than the other racers, there would really be no way to tell if he was in the lead for quite a while, so after watching the race for the first five or ten minutes, they all got up and left to go and get some sleep.

Saturday morning at breakfast, the race was the big news in the Great Hall, and it was being shown on the WWVN there. Eight hours into the race, Mark was creating a stir all over the Wizarding World, as he was almost to the halfway point of the race. He needed to reach that point by eight-thirty in the morning, home time, and when he did that with just minutes to spare, most of the students at Hogwarts cheered.

The view on the WWVN was a bit boring when they showed the racers, since they were flying through the star-filled dark of night. When the announcers showed the view of the cameras that pointed at each rider, Mark's was the only one that didn't look fatigued, and in some cases, bored. Keeping your concentration when flying through the darkness, with nothing but stars above, and black waters below was a gruelling, mind-numbing test of will.

A lot of students kept their portable WWVN's on, and with them after breakfast, and later, as the stands filled for the big game, there were still a lot of students planning on watching the game and the race, not wanting to miss a thing. Right up until the start of the Quidditch game, Mark was still on track to break that seventeen-hour barrier, and in fact, had been picking up speed, and was gaining time.

Harry and Ginny got to Hogwarts nearly a half-hour before the game was starting. Ron, Hermione, and Matt came with them. Since Ron and Hermione wanted to sit in the Gryffindor section so they could cheer Hugo on, Rose and Matt went and sat with them.

Dennis and Demelza, Neville and Luna, George and Marietta, and Liam's parents, brother, and sister all came and joined the Gryffindor students to cheer their kids and team on.

"It's a bit lonely over here in the Ravenclaw cheering gallery today," Ginny joked. Percy and Penelope were the only other parents who had joined the Ravenclaw contingent so far, having come to watch Nick's last game. They were again sitting in the area where the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sections met, and had most of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Marauders sitting together, with the additions of Sarah, Millie, Daphne and Karl from the Slytherin section.

"We haven't deserted you," Ana told Ginny as she and Kirley joined them. There was a round of hugs, and then they sat down one row behind Harry and Ginny.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many portable WWVN's in one place before," Kirley said. "Mark's certainly got everyone excited about broom racing this year for it to even intrude here at a Hogwarts Quidditch match. I never thought the day would come where any other sport could challenge Quidditch for the attention of it's rabid fans."

"It's pretty exciting to watch," Harry said. "The crowds a the start and finish have grown a lot as the season's continued too."

"So what's going to happen with this game?" Ana asked the kids.

"Gryffindor's going to win," Lily said quietly, not wanting to offend her fellow Ravenclaws. "The only question is by how much."

It didn't take long to answer that question, as the teams were called out onto the field, and then the game started. Without Andy's pre-game warm-up, or any fanfare introducing the teams, the start of the games this year didn't take long at all.

Nick and Joe were trying their best, as were the rest of the Ravenclaw players, but today, against Gryffindor, they were just simply over-matched. Hugo stopped everything that came his way, and Liam, Lance, and Claire had the Ravenclaw Chasers and Keeper on the run. Quidditch fans who might have been hoping for a good game today were disappointed as the score began to climb.

Hugo was watching that score carefully, and made what he was pretty sure was the toughest decision he'd ever made in his young life. He sent a hand signal to Frederica, and another one to Colin, and in just a few more minutes, the game was over, as Frederica and Colin orchestrated getting the Ravenclaw Seeker off of Colin's back at the perfect time to allow him a free shot at the snitch. Final score - Gryffindor three hundred and thirty, Ravenclaw - zero. Colin caught the snitch at the thirty-nine minute mark of the game.

The Gryffindor fans had at first cheered as Colin caught the snitch, but then realization of what had just happened crashed in, and they fell silent as the Hufflepuff section came to life.

The possible outcomes of the Quidditch Cup had been the main topic of conversation around the school all week, so everyone knew by how much Gryffindor had needed to win to pass the large lead that Hufflepuff had on points over them. Gryffindor had indeed won the game, but were still two hundred and forty points behind Hufflepuff, and would end up in third place behind both Hufflepuff, and Slytherin in the standings despite having a very good two win season.

"That took a lot of courage," Lily said quietly as they got up to make their way to the pitch.

"What do you mean?" Ana asked her.

"To win the Quidditch Cup, Gryffindor needed to win this game by more than five hundred and seventy points to pass Hufflepuff in the standings. They only won by three hundred and thirty, and ended up in third place. Hugo purposely ended the game so he didn't run up the score on Nick in his final game at Hogwarts. They could have easily won the Cup, but he'd have needed to embarrass Nick and the Ravenclaw team to do it."

Everyone else in the stadium seemed to be coming to the same understanding of what had just happened, and as Harry, Ginny, and the others were crossing the field, the two teams on the field were the recipients of a standing ovation from every section of the stands as Hugo and Nick met and shared a long hug.

"Thanks, mate." Nick said when they stepped back. "That was a very cool thing to do."

"You're welcome, Nick. Hopefully I won't get lynched when I get back to my Common room, but winning the Quidditch Cup like that wouldn't have been right."

Professor McGonagall walked up to the two Captains, and flashed them a rare smile. "Nicely played, Mr. Weasley," she told Hugo. "Twenty points for Gryffindor for exceptional sportsmanship."

Hugo smile broadened. "Thank-you, Professor."

Ron and Hermione reached Hugo and Nick in time to overhear McGonagall's conversation with the boys, and they both hugged Hugo fiercely.

"I'm very proud of you, son," Ron told him. "You absolutely did the right thing today."

"Thanks, Dad," Hugo said. "That means a lot to me."

Since the game hadn't lasted three-quarters of an hour, they all took their time visiting after the game. Rose and Matt congratulated Hugo, Nick, Frederica, and their friends, and then went off together to make the walk to the gates as long a trip as possible.

Percy and Penelope were talking quietly with Nick and Allie, off to one side of the crowded pitch.

"Hugo deserves all of the credit he's getting," Percy told Nick. "Just don't forget that you should be proud of what you did this year, since it was pretty special too. You, Rose, Al, Lily, and Scorpius have at least tried to pass on everything you know to the younger Ravenclaws. Now it's up to them to carry on, and you've given them the best chance of that by doing it this way."

"We are, Dad. I can't say this has been much fun, though."

"The hard stuff usually isn't," Percy said.

"Are you all just about ready for your exams?" Penelope asked.

"Sure are," Nick said, grinning. "Commander Lily is making sure of that."

Penelope returned her son's smile. "Good. Keep it up, and in less than four weeks, it'll all be over,"

The visit on the Quidditch pitch lasted slightly longer than the game, and then the parents and other visitors left the stadium and school grounds, while the two teams went to get changed, and the rest of the students who'd stayed went back to the school.

Matt was one of the last visitors to leave. He and Rose had walked along the lake, stopping for a fairly brilliant, if short, snogging session, and had finally ended up near the school gates, not wanting to say goodbye, but knowing it was time.

"Four weeks," Rose said quietly as they hugged one more time for the fifth or sixth time.

"Less a day," Matt agreed. "I'll be at the station waiting for you."

"Just keep thinking about how brilliant things will be after that," Rose told him. "We're going to get paid to play all year long."

"I already am," Matt assured her. "I'd better go. I love you, Rose."

"I love you too, Matt," she answered, kissing him again, and squeezing just one extra last, last hug in before watching him walk out the gate.

There were parties going on in all four Hogwarts Houses after the game. Lily had conceded defeat on getting back to studying until after dinner, but was insistent that they would be studying all evening. After all, exams were only a week away!

The party in the Hufflepuff Common room was for the Quidditch Cup winners, and Kieran and his team were cheered, toasted, and roasted. In Slytherin, they were celebrating their best season in a very long time, while in Gryffindor, they were celebrating winning the game, and showing their pride for a team that was willing to give up a Quidditch Cup in the name of good sportsmanship. In the Hogwarts House where honour and bravery ruled, as far as they were concerned, their team won it all today.

When the Ravenclaw team arrived to find a party going on in their honour, they'd been very surprised, and pleased that their House mates would thank them for working hard all year, even though all of that work wasn't showing up on the scoreboard yet. Since they were Ravenclaws, they could have all justified having the party to celebrate their team's quest for knowledge and self-improvement, but then again, sometimes you just needed to have a party for no other reason than that it's just time to have one!

In all of the Houses, the WWVN's were tuned in to the Trans-Pacific Broom Race. By four o'clock, the parties had paused as word spread that Mark was getting close to the finish line. Students were crowded around the big screen WWVN's, and around any student that was holding a portable WWVN.

The roar of cheering could be heard all over the school when Mark soared across the finish line in Vancouver. It was in the same location as the last race, except this time, he was crossing in the opposite direction.

There had to have been five thousand or more Witches and Wizards at the finish line this time, even though it was only eight-thirty in the morning there.

The announcers couldn't stop talking about the fact that Mark had achieved the seemingly impossible – he'd arrived at the finish line on Saturday, May twenty-fifth at eight thirty-three in the morning, after having started the race on Saturday, May twenty-fifth, at nine in the morning. They had a graphic on the screen with the headline – 'Mark Davidson wins the Trans-Pacific Broom Race in No Time Flat'.

Callie was there to hug and kiss Mark when he landed, and he embraced Harry, Ginny, Owen, and Natalie too.

"He looks pretty good considering he's coming off of a double shift sitting on a broom," Lily said. The Ravenclaw Marauders had slipped into Scorpius' office to catch the very end of the race.

"I'm sure he'll run out of gas soon," Joel predicted. "Once the adrenaline from finishing, and getting such a huge record and win wears off. It's too bad that he's going to have wait around about six or seven more hours before they'll be doing the awards ceremony."

"Was there any extra bonuses for getting there in under seventeen hours?" Nick asked.

Joel nodded. "Actually, yes. The first place prize doubles, so he'll receive one hundred thousand galleons instead of fifty for this race."

"He's gotta love that," Brianna said.

Nick laughed. "Not as much as he'll love the million galleon bonus he'll earn in two weeks if he wins the last race of the season."

"That would be a nice way to end his rookie season," Carolyn suggested.

Joel grinned. "I forgot about that," he told the others. "There are actually two other bonuses he's already won – rookie of the year is fifty thousand more, and the overall season race leader is another one hundred thousand. That one is usually the top prize of the season, since nobody's ever come close to winning all ten races before."

Nick whistled. "He's going to need a bigger vault at Gringotts," he joked.

They watched the interview that the WMSN reporter did with Mark, Callie, and his sponsor, Owen, and then went back into the Common Room to rejoin the party until dinnertime.

When dinner was over, Lily, and the rest of the Marauders went to their study classroom, and got to work. Hogwarts Quidditch was done, and it was time to put everything else aside, and concentrate on getting ready for their exams. Lily was in complete command for the last weeks of school, and her little band of Marauders were willing, if not always eager to follow her lead.


	111. The Class of 2024

Chapter One Hundred and Eleven – The Class of 2024

On Sunday morning, with the excitement of the Quidditch and Broom Racing events of yesterday passing, after breakfast, the New Marauders met in their classroom for their morning study session.

"Good morning!" Lily said brightly as everyone sat down. "Are we all ready for an exciting day?" She laughed as more than half of the group looked unenthusiastic.

"Before we get this last week of studying for our exams started, I wanted to let you know that if, and I do mean IF by Friday night I'm satisfied that you are all close enough to being ready, we'll take the afternoon off next Saturday to watch the Canons' first playoff game against the Wigtown Wanderers." She held up a hand as if hearing protests.

"I know you all would rather study all afternoon, and just listen to the game, but I feel that if at all possible, we should take the time to support our team in a manner appropriate for the hopefully soon to be three-peat League Champions."

The rest of the group laughed at her comments, and it had the effect that Lily had wanted, as everyone perked up. Having the promise of an unexpected afternoon off on Saturday was enough to get them focused on the job ahead of them, and they got down to work.

Over the next six days, with Quidditch practices over, their little group was now able to be together for every study session, and they were proving that there was strength in that unity. They helped each other out, with the students in more advanced years helping the younger Marauders whenever they could. Lily was helping everyone, of course, but everyone did remember that she had twelve NEWTs of her own to prepare for, and so Al, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, and the other OWL and sixth-year students tried to help her out with the younger Marauders whenever possible.

On Friday night, just before ten o'clock, a very proud Lily called an end to their evening session.

"You guys have done so great this week!" she told them. "I'll see you in the morning for our next session, but your afternoon off to watch the playoff game is approved."

Her announcement was greeted with enthusiastic, if tired-sounding cheers, and then everyone packed up, and with only a few exceptions, went off to their dorm rooms, with plans on getting a good night's sleep.

One of those exceptions, not at all surprisingly, was Scorpius and Brianna. They happily went to his office, and snuggled on a sofa.

"I was pretty confident last year going into exams," Brianna said quietly. "This year I'm better prepared than last year for sure."

"Me too," Scorpius agreed. "We all are. Lily's managed to time everything just right, too. It's just been in the last couple of days that I've been feeling like this."

Brianna nodded. "The really hard work is nearly over now. We just need to keep reviewing what we've been learning, and keep it fresh for each exam. I'm mostly going to concentrate on Transfiguration for the weekend now, since it's my first exam."

"We start off with our DADA NEWT," Scorpius said. "I'll probably split my time between that and getting ready for Charms on Wednesday, since I think we all have DADA down cold."

Brianna laughed. "If I was Al's examiner, I don't think I'd go overboard like James' examiner did last year. If they thought what James could do was impressive, what Al can do would leave them stunned."

"He's going to be a good friend to have at our backs at the Ministry," Scorpius told her. "And I'm sure he'll be glad to have us watching out for wands pointed at his back too."

"Let the bad guys beware," Brianna joked.

They talked quietly until nearly midnight, weaving a little tender snogging time into the conversation, and then Brianna kissed Scorpius goodnight and went off to bed, wanting to get a whole night of sleep that wasn't interrupted with an early morning trip from his office to her dorm room.

Saturday morning's study session breezed by, with everyone actually having fun as they happily worked toward their afternoon off. When it was almost lunchtime, they packed up, and put their things away before going to the Great Hall to eat, and then move on to Scorpius' office for their playoff game day afternoon.

"Okay, Hugo, we're ready for your pre-game analysis," Allie told Hugo when they were all settled in and waiting for the game to start.

Hugo laughed. "Alright. Today's quarterfinal matchup is between the nineteen and one, first-place Chudley Canons, and the eleven and nine, just snuck in the backdoor, eighth place Wigtown Wanderers."

"What do you mean by 'snuck in the backdoor?" Allie asked.

"That, my dear novice Quidditch fan, means that the Wanderers hobbled into the playoffs by losing their last three games, and needing some help with other teams losing their final games so that they could hold on to the last playoff spot over two other teams that finished with ten and ten records," he explained.

"The Canons are heavy favourites to win today, not just because your pre-game analyst wants his father to win the second three-peat Championship of his playing career, but because the Wanderers would need a miracle to beat the Canons today."

"Nicely done," Rose complimented her grinning brother. "If the Quidditch thing doesn't work out for you, Andy might want to consider having you join his team at QSPN."

"Why thank-you, Rose," Hugo said, only half-modestly.

"This is way better than listening to the game and studying, Lily," Nick said as he cuddled with Allie. "We should start up handing out Marauders points, 'cause you deserve a few for this."

Lily was happily doing a little snuggling of her own, and smiled at her cousin. "Thanks, and it is a lot better," she agreed. "Hopefully we'll be doing well enough to do this for the last two games if the Canons keep winning."

"Hopefully?" Nick asked. "How about just 'will be doing'?"

"That'll depend on whether we're all ready for the second and final weeks of exams," she told him. "I'm not making any promises this early."

They watched QSPN as the Canons were given another unanimous prediction to win from Andy and the other reporters and commentators, just before the two teams were introduced.

Over the next three and a quarter hours, the Wanderers managed not to totally embarrass themselves while the Canons rolled to a convincing win that handed the Wanderers their fourth loss in a row, and ended any meagre light of hope for playoff glory they might have been harbouring.

"We're not going back to studying until after dinner, right?" Hugo asked Lily, who nodded.

"Good, let's flip to the Harpies-Wasps game," he said. "Maybe it'll be over before dinner, and I'd like to see how the Harpies are playing."

The Harpies were playing great, they found out, and in less than two hours, they'd stung the Wasps for twenty-nine goals, and their Seeker had ended the game with a pretty spectacular catch.

"If they keep playing like that, the Canons will be seeing them in the finals," Rose predicted.

Hugo nodded. "They'll be playing the Tornados next week in the semis, but they should get past them."

It was nearly time to go to the Great Hall for dinner, so they all started cleaning up, and then each went to get ready for dinner and get their books so they could go straight to their study classroom after eating.

The students were all talking about the four Quidditch matches of the afternoon, the Great Hall split between the student who were excited about their teams winning and making it to the next round, while many others were not so thrilled that for their teams, the season was over.

It was back to the business of exam preparation for the Marauders when dinner was over, though, and they again worked until just before ten o'clock. Lily walked Kieran back to his dorm, and they stood outside of the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common room and shared a long goodbye.

"One more day and we'll be into the exams," he said quietly. "I feel like I'm ready, but then I hear the other OWL students freaking out, and I'm not so sure I should be as confident as I feel."

Lily smiled at him. "We've worked hard to get ready, and you have every reason to be confident. I can't think of any way we could have possibly gotten better prepared that we are this year."

"Then there probably isn't any way," Kieran said with a smile, his eyes lighting up.

"We both need to sleep," she told him. "Time to kiss me, and then I'm going to go back upstairs, climb into bed, and crash until morning."

Kieran did that, pouring his whole heart into that short, sweet moment, and then he went into his Common Room, while Lily hurried up to the Ravenclaw Tower, and her warm, beckoning bed.

On Sunday, Lily did morning and afternoon study sessions, and then told everyone to take the night off, get to bed early, and get as much sleep as they could to be ready for their first exams.

Al was smiling on Monday morning when he met Carolyn in the Common room. The'd be walking down to the Great Hall together like they did every morning. Sometimes it was with other Ravenclaw Marauders, but most of the time they went down to breakfast alone. It was a few moments they could have to talk before their usually hectic days would get started, and they'd be off going through their respective classes and other responsibilities.

"Do you still feel ready?" Al asked as they left the Common room.

Carolyn nodded. "I've never felt this good going into any of the other exams," she answered. "I think some of it has to do with deciding not to take the two extra classes. Having more time for the seven I am taking has made a huge difference."

Al nodded. "It means a lot to me that you took Divination through your OWLs, and tried so hard in Astronomy just because you knew how important those things were to me. I'm glad that not taking them again this year has made the subjects you do like better."

"I'm not sure that like is the word I'd use for all of my subjects," she joked. "Tolerate might be more accurate when it comes to History and Herbology. I do love the rest of them, though."

"What's everyone else writing today?" Al asked. Carolyn always kept better track of that than he did.

She didn't bother stating the obvious for her year or his, and gave him the rest of the rundown. "OWL year is Potions, fourth year is DADA, same as you. Third years are taking Charms, and second years are writing History."

"That's not a bad one to start with," Al said.

"They have Charms on Tuesday, though," Carolyn told him. "That will be enough for them to do in two straight days."

Al nodded. "I liked it when we had that happen. They get a three day weekend to study this weekend, don't they?"

"Yes," she agreed. "That part of it is pretty sweet. Since you're taking a NEWT every day this week, you'll be wishing for the good old days by Friday."

"I'm sure of that," he said, laughing. "My only tough day is going to be Wednesday, since I'll be writing Charms after being up most of Tuesday night taking the Astronomy NEWT."

"I get the feeling that some of us will be watching that game, and the last Broom Race, on Portable WWVN's on Saturday, she said. "You certainly won't have any time to study for next week's NEWTs this week."

"I won't be taking the time off for sure," he agreed. "I've got three more exams next week, and Transfiguration is on Monday."

"Then I'll be with you while the others that can go watch the game," she promised. "The extra work won't hurt in getting ready for my Charms and Potions exams next week."

They got to the Great Hall, and went to sit at their usual places. Rose and Nick were already there, and the others weren't far behind. Everyone seemed relaxed, and they talked quietly together while all up and down the table other students had books open and were frantically trying to cram the last bit of knowledge in before their first exams.

Joel normally sat with his roommates, but after a few minutes, he came and sat down next to Lily, who made room for him.

"All of that cramming they're trying to do is just distracting," he told the others with a smile. "They weren't very happy with me when I kept giving them the right answers to all of the questions they were throwing at each other, since that was messing them up."

"You probably weren't popular when you went to bed by nine either, then," Lily said, and Joel laughed.

"Actually, I didn't hear about that until this morning. I had the dorm room to myself for hours, and slept like a baby all night." He looked at Nick and laughed. "Don't bother with that old 'woke up every few hours crying for my mommy' line, mate. It's time for the Wizarding World to retire that joke for a few centuries or so."

Nick laughed too. "I was going to add 'cold and wet', but point taken. Are you feeling good about your Potions OWLs?"

Joel nodded. "Better than I ever thought possible. It's amazing how much easier it is to measure your ingredients when your hands aren't shaking with nerves and fear."

They finished breakfast, and then they all left for their respective exam locations. Al, Lily, Rose, Nick, Scorpius, and Allie walked together to the DADA classroom, where they'd be spending the morning taking the written portion of their NEWT.

"Good luck guys," Rose told them as the doors opened, and they went inside to take their seats.

The written exam wasn't anything that they were worried about, but it was very thorough, and tested them on every facet of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lily finished first, handing in her papers with about forty-five minutes remaining in their exam time, while the rest of the Marauders finished over the next half hour, with Scorpius finishing next after Lily, and Nick bringing up the rear just minutes after Allie went up to hand in her papers.

"That was fun," Lily said with a smile when they were all in the hallway outside.

"You have a seriously twisted idea of what fun is," Nick told her.

The buzz in the Great Hall at lunchtime was a mixture of conversations about the morning exams, and the students talking about, or still trying to cram for, the afternoon exams.

Lily couldn't help but shake her head at the stupidity. "Almost every afternoon exam is the practical part of the exams," she said. "Studying notes is a pointless waste of time. You either can do the magic, or you can't. They're not going to get any better at the practical without practicing."

"That's a novel concept," Brianna joked. "Being calm and in control is pretty important too, and there are a lot of students around right now who aren't calm or in control."

"How'd your written exam go?" Al asked Carolyn.

"Brianna, Daphne, and I are sure we aced it, and Karl thinks he at least pulled off an E," she reported. "I shouldn't have to ask about your DADA."

Al smiled. "It's so nice to have someone who has so much faith in you," he said. "We all aced it, though."

They all made a point of staying relaxed and loose through lunch until it was time to move on to where they were taking their respective practical exams.

"Good luck," Al told Carolyn. They hugged and kissed, and then she left with Brianna, Karl, and Daphne, while he went with the other NEWT students to wait their turn for their DADA practical.

"I should go have a nap," Rose joked. "I'll be last again, right behind Nick, while you'll all be done."

Scorpius laughed. "I'd have been willing to give up my alphabetical standings to have been born into your family in a second," he told Rose.

Nick laughed. "Why? This way you get to have both. Besides, you may not have been born into our family, but you're definitely in it now."

Scorpius was the first of their group to be called in for his exam, and the others wished him luck as he left. Fifteen minutes later, he was back out, smiling, and looking as calm and relaxed as when he went in.

"Now that was fun," he told them. "Professor McGonagall just came in the other entrance to the room as I was leaving," he told them. "I have the feeling she's planning on personally making sure that nothing improper is going to happen with your testing," he told Al and Lily.

It was only fifteen more minutes before Al and Lily were both called, and they went into the large room together, only separating when they were directed to two different examiners.

"Mr Potter, you are to duel with your Auror, using any and all legal means. You will be tested on an increasing difficulty level until such time that you have either reached the limit of your abilities, or have shown high enough skill to warrant an Outstanding designation for this examination. Do you have any questions?"

Al shook his head. "No sir," he said calmly.

"Very well, then, please take up your duelling positions," the examiner said. He waited a moment for Al, and his Auror duelling partner to move into position and indicate they were ready before ordering them to start the duel with a simple - "Begin!"

He and Lily had discussed strategies for this exam, considering their unique abilities, and they'd both decided that an immediate show of power could be the best way to handle an exam that was designed in this way.

'Impervious Totalis!' he thought, and his shield leapt into place, strong, unyielding, and covering an area large enough to shield a dozen people.

He then went immediately on the offence, first blasting the Auror's shield apart with a single bolt of energy that knocked the Wizard back a half dozen paces, and then Al quickly disarmed him, and put him in a body-bind.

It had taken him less than ten seconds, and he turned to his now open-mouthed examiner, and waited for instructions. The man jumped slightly when he heard Professor McGonagall clear her throat meaningfully.

"Very impressive, Mr. Potter," the man finally said. "Please release your opponent, and return his wand. Your examination is completed."

By the time Al had done as instructed, Lily was just being given similar orders, so he waited the extra few moments for her. Professor McGonagall nodded to them as they left, a faint smile playing at the corners of her mouth, and her eyes were definitely alight with the suppressed laughter.

"That was fast," Rose said when they got out into the hallway.

"We're just trying to help out so that you can get in a little sooner," Lily joked. "I think Al has just earned the all-time speed record for earning an Outstanding on his DADA practical. What did that take you? Ten seconds?"

Al shrugged. "Give or take. You weren't much longer."

"I'd love to be in the room when you start training with them in September," Nick told Al. "I wonder just who will be teaching whom."

Scorpius, Al, and Lily waited as first Allie, and then finally Nick and Rose were called in for their exams. All three of them were certain they'd earned O's, and they were all pleased with getting their NEWTs off to such a great start.

Professor McGonagall stopped into the teacher's lounge on her way to the Great Hall for dinner. She knew Professor Williamson would be there, as he always was at this time of the day.

"How'd they do?" he asked, and watched as Minerva, away from prying eyes, could let her pride in Al and Lily shine through. She smiled broadly at him, and he grinned back.

"Al defeated his Auror opponent in less than ten seconds," she told him. "He's probably unaware of the fact that they put their very best Auror against him."

"I wouldn't count on that," Williamson said. "He may indeed know that. How'd Lily do?"

"She was put up against their next best, and she had him disarmed and immobilized in about thirty-five seconds."

"They used an interesting tactic, since it didn't show that they also know every single DADA spell I've been able to teach them, but you can't argue the results. If you can defeat your Auror opponent, you deserve the O for the exam."

"Hopefully they won't make Al spend the full three years in training," Minerva said. "That would be a waste of about two and a half of those years."

Professor Williamson laughed. "There is no way he'll be doing that. The three years is what's allotted anyway. The trainee is allowed to work at his or her own pace, and a lot of the time is fieldwork too. I'd be willing to guess he'll be promoted in a year. Two at the most."

The two Professors left the lounge, and went on to the Great Hall for dinner. They were both feeling pretty good about the start of exams too. When their kids succeeded, it meant that they had succeeded too.

It was pretty lonely in the room where the Astronomy written exam was being held. The only NEWT year class with fewer students was Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures, and Lily and Al were half of this class.

This exam was as detailed as the written had been for DADA, but Lily's photographic memory carried her through, while Al's love of the subject and thorough knowledge of it got him to the same destination as Lily – earning another Outstanding mark.

The rest of the NEWT year Marauders had the day off, and had spent the morning studying for Wednesday's Charms exams. At lunch, Carolyn brought Al and Lily up to speed on how all of the other Marauders were doing on their exams, or with their studies.

"The sixth years are studying for our Herbology exam tomorrow, if they don't have Ancient Runes today. The fifth year Arithmancers have finished their OWL, and History is up next for them on Wednesday. Fourth years had History this morning, and have until Thursday to get ready for Charms. Thirds and seconds have Herbology and Charms respectively, and then the thirds will start getting ready for Transfiguration, while the seconds gear up for Potions – both of those exams on Thursday."

"Grandma's going to love having you work for her this summer," Nick predicted. "You don't even have to stop and think about that sort of stuff, and keeping track of all of their various projects is basically the same thing, except you keep score using money instead of grades."

Carolyn laughed. "That's an interesting way of looking at their business," she told Nick. "It sounds a lot less daunting that way."

"I didn't say it was easy – it wasn't for me, but then I really do think you're going to like the job a lot, and probably be way better at it than I ever was."

Al and Lily joined the other Marauders who were able to study during the afternoon, and then after dinner, went to have naps so they'd be fresh for their practical Astronomy NEWT. That took two solid hours to complete, and then they walked tiredly back to the Ravenclaw Common room, and straight up to bed.

For most of the NEWT year students, the first week of exams was actually pretty easy. They had taken the DADA exam on Monday, had the Charms exam on Wednesday, and then were done until the following Monday. The students who were taking their Divination and Arithmancy NEWTs were taking the first on Thursday, and the second on Friday. Lily and Al were the only two students in their year taking both.

The good news for the other Marauders was that they were all going to be able to take Saturday afternoon off to watch the two semi-final Quidditch matches.

The only Marauders exam during the last part of the week that could be considered exciting was the sixth year DADA exams on Friday. The written exam went smoothly for Carolyn, Brianna, Daphne, and Karl, but it was the group duel that had them excited for the afternoon.

They'd decided to do their duel with just the four of them, instead of bringing in any other classmates, so Lily had helped them design a really great pairs duel for their exam.

They'd drawn the third exam slot for the afternoon, so it wasn't long after lunch when Karl and Daphne faced off against best friends Carolyn and Brianna. They didn't have the magical muscle that Al and Lily had, but they were now four of the best in their year, and they wowed Professor Williamson with just how good they'd gotten over the past year. When they managed to erect the Impervious Totalis shield for a few brief moments in what had become known as the 'bonus round', he'd clapped and congratulated them for their Outstanding achievement.

Lily was pounced by all four of them when they met up later in their study classroom, and she laughed.

"Does this mean your DADA practical went well?" she teased Carolyn after being hugged for the second time by her future sister-in-law.

"Professor Williamson said we did outstanding!" Daphne said. "My parents are going to totally go nuts if I got an O in DADA!"

"I hope that means go nuts in a good way," Lily told her.

"It'd be in a great way," Daphne assured her. "If we're doing those points that Nick suggested, then I think you should automatically win the New Marauders Cup this year."

On Friday night, when they were wrapping up their study session, Lily told everyone they could have the afternoon off on Saturday to watch the game, but that she and Al would be studying in their classroom if anyone did want to join them. She did caution them that she needed to concentrate on her own upcoming exams as much as possible, so tutoring would be limited.

The Common rooms in all four Houses were bustling with activity early on Saturday morning, as students got up early to watch the start of the last Professional Broom Race of the season. Scorpius had all of the Ravenclaw Marauders in his office by a quarter to six in the morning, with the race start time set for six o'clock.

"Why do so many of these silly things need to start so darn early?" Nick complained.

Joel laughed. "Because they're so darn long," he answered. "This one is five thousand kilometres, or just over thirty-one hundred miles. They leave from the start-finish line in London, fly the twenty-five hundred kilometres to the turnaround point near Moscow, and then race back." He took a breath, and smiled at Nick.

"The current record for the round-trip is fifteen hours and twenty-one minutes. Even starting at six in the morning, that still puts the finish at around nine-thirty at night."

"I love the idea of this race," Brianna said. "When Mark takes the turn back home, he'll have to fly right past the other racers. There will be no way for them to deny how far ahead he is when that happens."

Joel laughed. "I think it's brilliant too," he agreed. "He'll only have to be careful to avoid any collisions as they pass."

"Has that ever happened?" Brianna asked in surprise.

"Nobody's ever admitted to doing it on purpose," Joel said, "but race leaders have been crashed into before and taken out of the race. It's convenient that it often is done by a junior racing team mate of one of the second to fifth place racers."

"He should be careful, then," Nick said. "Whoever is going to have to put up that million galleon bonus might be willing to pay some weekend racer a few thousand galleons to take Mark out and save the million."

Lily nodded. "You can bet that Mark and Dad have considered that possibility," she told the others. "They'll have that contingency covered."

"If the record is about fifteen and a half hours," Carolyn said to Joel, "what's your prediction for Mark?"

"Under eleven hours," he answered. "This is his hometown, and you can bet that his family is watching, and he's going to want to make sure that they have a few regrets by the end of today."

Carolyn laughed. "When he gets that award for winning all of the races this season, I'm sure they will," she suggested – "about a million of them."

There was a pretty large crowd there for the start of the race, and they watched as the cameras showed the different racers making final preparations. Mark got his good luck hugs and kisses from Callie, Owen, Harry, and Ginny, and then went to the starting line.

"Natalie must have decided not to get Kira and James up this early," Carolyn said when she saw that Owen had come to the start without them.

"They'll be there for the finish," Brianna said. "I'd love to go to that party. Hopefully a Canons win and celebrating a win today for Mark, and his incredible season too."

Mark and the other top racers, and the racers that were back in the pack, took off at precisely six o'clock, and the race was on.

"We have lift-off," Nick joked, borrowing Andy's Quidditch line.

By the time the lead racers hit the open water of the channel, Mark was already pulling ahead, having exceeded two hundred and twenty miles an hour.

"He's laying it all out, isn't he?" Rose asked Joel.

"It looks like it," Joel agreed. "That's a very fast start, even for him."

They all split up after watching for a few more minutes, either planning on catching a bit more sleep before breakfast, or going to hit the showers and get their day started.

At breakfast in the Great Hall, the race was being shown on the WWVN. By eight-thirty, the announcers were letting everyone watching know that Mark was already nearly halfway to Moscow, closing in rapidly on the twelve hundred and fifty kilometre point of the race.

When the Marauders finished breakfast, they started their morning study session, and worked until lunchtime. They kept track of the race as they worked, and took a short break around a quarter past eleven to watch Mark make the turn in Moscow, where several thousand race fans cheered him on as he screamed through the turnaround checkpoint, and then made a wide circling turn before roaring back through the checkpoint to begin the trip back.

"At least they've got a big party going on there," Joel said. "It looked like there was a band playing and everything."

"What was his time to the checkpoint?" Nick asked.

"Five hours, twenty-four minutes," Joel supplied. "Add a couple of minutes for that turn, and if he can keep it up, he'd be finished in ten hours and fifty minutes."

"When will he start meeting the other racers on the way back?" Emily asked. "I want to watch that for sure."

"If the leaders are on track for about fifteen and a half hours," Joel said, "then their halfway point is seven hours, forty-five minutes or so. Would an hour and ten minutes from his turn be about right, Lily?" he asked, not quite sure if he'd worked it out correctly.

"You've got it," she agreed. "They're about two hours and twenty minutes behind – or at least the second place racer is – and now that they're racing toward each other, they'll meet in half that time."

"With a closing speed of more than five hundred miles an hour," Hugo said. "That should be like watching some of those flying demonstrations the Canons did with Uncle Harry if they're anywhere close to each other."

"That means he'll start passing them while we're having lunch," Scorpius said. "Let's get back to work and finished so we can get down to the Great Hall in good time."

The race was back on the big screen WWVN in the Great Hall for lunch, and it was a few minutes past twelve-thirty when they all watched Mark and the second place racer speeding toward each other.

"That's a cool idea," Nick said.

WMSN had decided to show this with a split screen, each side showing the camera view of the two racers as they approached. It seemed to happen in slow motion as they approached each other, but when they passed, just a few metres apart, that was over in the blink of an eye, and then the views were quickly switched to the rear-facing cameras.

"Look at that guy staring back at Mark," Brianna said. "He should probably turn around – he's throwing himself off course."

The cameras followed the quickly receding images for a moment before switching to the face of the second place racer, while the announcers asked the obviously annoyed-looking Wizard a few questions about what it felt like to be passed already when he was still over an hour away from the halfway point.

"We should get going soon," Hugo said. "The Canons have the one o'clock game."

"I'd like to watch some more of the passing Mark will be doing," Joel said.

"How about we watch that until one, and then we can keep a few portables on too so we can keep an eye on both," Allie suggested. "Mark should be past all of the other racers in around an hour, I'd think."

Lily nodded. "About that, yes," she agreed.

While everyone else went to Scorpius' office to watch both the broom race and the Canons' semi-final match against the Arrows, Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran went to their study classroom, set up a portable WWVN for each for the race and the game, and got to work.

Since Lily was taking all twelve NEWTs, she had exams every day for the second week too. Al would be writing three, and would have Tuesday off while Lily wrote the Muggle Studies NEWT, and Friday off when she and Scorpius wrote History.

"That guy's going straight for Mark," Kieran said suddenly. They'd been working for about twenty minutes, and something had caught Kieran's eye. The Canons' game was underway too, and they were all checking both screens every few minutes to see what was going on.

The two couples stopped to watch as the announcers, and everyone watching could clearly see that one of the pack racers was moving to intercept Mark.

"I guess we know now that someone has decided not to play fair," Lily said.

"Mark's not changing course," Kieran said. "What's he doing?"

The two racers were closing so quickly that they didn't have to wait long to find out, as Mark waited until the last second, and then pulled out a move that Kieran was quite familiar with, since it was his.

"He did a Mack Attack at three hundred miles an hour!" Lily shouted. "The other racer completely whiffed."

"Mark's already tearing off again too," Carolyn pointed out. "He won't get a second chance."

"That was too obvious anyway," Al said. "I imagine that other guy won't be racing again anytime soon, and it probably means being disqualified from this race too."

There was some cheering going on in Scorpius' office too, most loudly from Joel.

"That was brilliant!" he said enthusiastically as they watched Mark speed away from the incident as if nothing had happened at all.

Even Hugo had pulled his attention away from the Canons' game to watch one of the portables.

"I can't say I'd have ever expected to see a Quiditch move like that in a broom race," Hugo said. "Kieran must be so proud to see his Mack Attack done so well with millions of Witches and Wizards watching.

Joel laughed as they listened to Mark give Kieran credit for the move when the announcer asked about it.

"And the SpellBound legend grows," Emily joked.

Once the excitement from the broom race had settled, they all went back to watching Quidditch. Arianna was putting on another show, and had the Canons up by one hundred points after an hour, and two hundred and thirty points after two.

"She is really on fire today," Brianna said. "Uncle Ron is playing really well too."

Hugo nodded. "Even so, a semi-final team should be able to put more than two goals in against him. The Arrows don't look all that sharp today."

"Ha Ha," Nick said. "Have you been keeping that sad little joke in your quiver all season?"

"Yes, and I'm terribly disappointed that it wasn't better appreciated," Hugo told him.

It was just after four o'clock when Liselle caught the snitch, giving the Canons a five hundred and ten to thirty victory that only got that far out of hand because she was in tough against a hard-fighting Arrows Seeker who battled right to the end with her.

"I know the Harpies game will start at four-thirty," Joel said, "but Mark's going to be getting close to the finish line by then too. Can we put the race on the big screen until he's done, and watch the start of the Harpies game on the portables?"

They all agreed to do that, and they switched the big screen to WMSN at about a quarter after four. There was now a countdown clock in one corner, and it was estimating that Mark was twenty-three minutes away from the finish line.

There were thousands more fans at the finish line, and they watched in amazement as that number began swelling right before their eyes.

"What's going on there?" Hugo asked.

"If I had to guess," Brianna said, "I'd say that there are a lot of Quidditch fans hurrying there from the Canons' game. That is far too many new people showing up there for it to be a coincidence."

Hugo looked at his portable WWVN, and sure enough, the fans weren't waiting around for the post-game on the field, but were hurrying out of the stadium.

"There must have been a lot of people watching the race while they watched the game too," Hugo said.

"Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry will need to hurry too," Nick said. "They'll want to be there for Mark and Callie."

They did make it there in time, and the WMSN cameras went back to show them with Callie, Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James as they waited for Mark to arrive and finish the never done before perfect racing season.

The countdown clock they were trying out was very accurate, and Mark crossed the finish line, his speed shown as two hundred and ninety-seven miles per hour, at four thirty-eight. His total race time was ten hours and thirty-eight minutes, and average speed was two hundred and ninety-two miles per hour.

"He's getting faster," Joel mused. "That's his best average speed of the season."

"You did say he'd be motivated today," Brianaa reminded him. "That's probably just his way of putting an exclamation mark on his 'so there!' for his family."

It took several minutes for Mark to slow and descend for a landing among the now probably close to ten thousand spectators. Callie was there to give her racing knight on shining Lightningbolt his hero's reward. There were probably as many cheers for that long hug and kiss as there had been for his landing, and they were both laughing when she finally let him go.

They watched Harry, Ginny, Natalie, and Owen congratulate him, and then Kira hopped into his arms for a hug and kiss too. The interview wasn't all that exciting, though, so they switched over to watching the Harpies-Tornados game.

"How long until the race awards presentation?" Emily asked Joel.

"Probably not until ten-thirty or eleven tonight," he answered. "I'll probably tune in, though. He won't be getting the real galleons or anything, but they will have something for him to hold for the photo-op for that million galleon prize."

"Dinner is going to be half an hour after the end of this game, isn't it?" Allie asked.

Scorpius nodded. "Yes. Everyone seems to prefer that, and it's not too inconvenient for the House Elves."

That ended up meaning that dinner was pretty late, since it took the Harpies until just before eight o'clock to finally dispatch a pesky Tornados team that just kept fighting.

"That was a better game than the Canons' game," Hugo said as they packed up to get ready to leave for dinner. "Both teams showed up to play, and it could have gone either way."

"Having the only team that beat the Canons in the final is a nice bonus too," Scorpius said. "Next week should be fun. We've got two good teams, a neutral site, playing at the World Cup Stadium, and one hundred and ten thousand fans cheering them on. I can hardly wait."

Lily, Kieran, Al, and Carolyn were packing up too. "It's already eight," Lily said. "It'll be nine-thirty or ten before we're done eating, so let's call it a night, and we can get back to studying in the morning."

"Works for us," Carolyn agreed. "That was a very long study session, even with the short breaks."

"After watching some of Mark's races this year," Kieran said, "seven hours studying seems pretty tame by comparison."

When they got to the Great Hall for dinner, since non of his House mates had seen him since before Mark's use of the Mack Attack, Kieran was whisked away by his roommates as soon as they saw him. It seemed that Mark's mentioning that he'd learned the Mack Attack from the Hufflepuff Quidditch team Captain was enough to earn him a few extra minutes of at least localized fame.

While the Hogwarts students had been watching the Harpies-Tornado game, and then having dinner, Mark was happy to be at least temporarily escaping his moment of fame. He and Callie were at the cottage, along with Owen, Natalie, their two adorable kids, and the Canons team, their significant others, and some other members of the family.

"Are you wishing you were a little less famous right now?" Harry asked him when Mark walked into the kitchen where Harry was putting away some empty wine bottles, and putting new ones on ice.

Mark laughed. "Like you don't wish that on a fairly regular basis. I'm okay with the fame so far, but this waiting around for hours after my race, and then having to go back isn't much fun. Callie and I will be leaving shortly to make sure we're there when the other racers start getting back."

"Owen and I will come along too," Harry told him. "He has to be there for the ceremony anyway, and I wouldn't mind having a little chat with that guy who tried to take you out."

"You must have missed the announcers talking with him after, Harry. The poor fellow had an equipment malfunction."

Harry laughed derisively. "Sure he did – one that just happened to be able to exactly calculate the contact point of two racers that were travelling at a closing speed of five hundred and ten miles an hour, in a three-dimensional environment, with a ten mile per hour wind sheer. That's a pretty precise malfunction."

Mark grineed. "I was impressed at how accurate he was. I'm not sure that I could have managed that at those speeds."

"My guess would be inside help," Harry said seriously. "Probably some WMSN tech who could feed him your tracking coordinates as you both closed on each other. There are only so many people that had access to that."

"I really hope it doesn't turn out that the Professional Broom Racing Federation or any of the sponsors had anything to do with it," Mark said. "That wouldn't be very good for the sport, and it's come a long way in the last year."

"Thanks mostly to you," Harry agreed. "There were something like twenty million viewers watching the end of the race today, and that's not many million fewer than the Canons had for their game. It's also about nineteen million more than watched that race last year."

"Too bad we don't get a piece of that action," Mark joked.

"We do," Harry said seriously. "I bought up ten years of the race advertising, and your contract gives you a piece of any profits from that, just like with the merchandising."

"I love my job," Mark said. "I'll go round up Callie and we can get going."

Since dinner had been so late, and the Marauders didn't have an evening study session, most of them gathered in Scorpius' office after dinner to hang out, watch the other top racers finish the London-Moscow-London race, and then, if it wasn't too late, watch the awards ceremony. It was about a quarter after nine when they started sitting down and turned the WWVN on to watch the rest of the race.

"The only way this could have been a better sports day would have been if the broom race had been on the same day as the League Championship game, and the Canons were already celebrating their three-peat," Hugo told the others.

"They don't have the race on that weekend because if they did, they'd have three goats and a cow watching the race while everyone else was at the World Cup Stadium," Joel said.

"I suppose that wouldn't be very good for the race," Hugo conceded.

The second place racer crossed the finish line at nine thirty-three, twelve minutes behind the old race record, and looking like he was ready to drop. The cameras also regularly showed Mark, Callie, Harry, and Owen at the finish line, and watching the ragged, tired racers begin arriving, it was almost comical how they looked in comparison to the happy, rested, and cleaned up race winner.

"The rest of the top twenty-five seem to have gotten closer together, by the looks of things," Joel said. "They may be able to have that ceremony closer to ten-thirty."

"That'd be nice," Lily said. "I'm about ready to go get some sleep. We've got a long day of studying ahead of us tomorrow."

"You had to go and say the 's' word," Hugo joked. "I'd done such a good job blocking it from my mind until now too."

Lily smiled at him. "You're sounding more like your father every day," she told him.

Hugo grinned. "Since I've wanted to be just like him since I was old enough to want anything, that's a pretty big compliment, Lily. Thanks."

They all ended up sticking around for the awards ceremony, where Mark received the trophy for winning the race, and then was awarded the rookie of the year trophy, the overall racer of the year award, and finally the million galleon award for winning all ten races of the season, which was presented to him on an oversized imitation of a Gringotts bank letter with his name and 'one million galleons' in big, bold lettering that the cameras easily picked up.

"Well, that's all there is, folks," Lily said, standing up. She leaned over and kissed Kieran. "You're on your own to get back to your Common room," she told him. "I'll be lucky to stay awake long enough to get into bed."

Kieran smiled. "Maybe I can talk Allie, or one of our other Hufflepuff girls into walking me home, since they'll be going there too."

Amy hopped out of her seat, grinning at Lily. "I'll volunteer for that job," she said. "It's a dirty job, and all that, but somebody should do it to help Lily out."

Lily laughed and hugged Amy. "You're hired. Thank-you. I'll see you all in the morning," she said before going out into the Ravenclaw Common Room and up to her bed from there.

"Too bad she already kissed you goodnight," Amy joked as Kieran stood. "If I had to do that for her too, it would have made for a fun day listening to all of the rumours tomorrow."

"Maybe for you," Kieran said. "My idea of a good day is when I'm not being talked about on the Hogwarts Gossip Network."

Millie went with Kieran and Amy, since she was heading in the same direction to go back to Slytherin House, and the others began filing out, leaving for the Ravenclaw Common Room, their own Houses, or to walk their significant others back to their Common Rooms. When the office was empty, except for Scorpius and Brianna, they stretched out on their usual sofa, and snuggled under a blanket.

"I thought you might want to go up to your room now and get to sleep," Scorpius said quietly.

"I've decided that snuggling with you is more fun," she told him. "We won't be doing this much longer either, so I want to take advantage of every chance we have left before we go back home for the summer."

"I have no problem working with you on that," he said happily.

"You are a team player," she said, kissing him softly. "I do believe that now that the rest of the team is gone, though, that it's definitely time for a mixed doubles match."

"Doesn't that require two couples?" Scorpius asked.

"Definitely not, and I'm pretty sure that my intent is crystal clear, even if my metaphor is slightly inaccurate."

"Yes, it is," Scorpius managed to say before Brianna kissed him again, and he was lost to the soft, wondrous passion of her tender embrace.

The only difference between this Sunday, and the last one, was the names of the subjects each of the New Marauders were studying. Everything else was nearly identical. They started with breakfast, studied until lunch, ate again, and then studied all afternoon, right up until a few minutes before they needed to go back to the Great Hall for dinner. After that, they had the evening off, with a strong recommendation from their study commander to be in bed early and get a good night's sleep.

Carolyn was smiling brightly when Al walked into the Common room on Monday morning. They hugged and kissed, the same as they did every morning, and then left the Common room to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"You seem especially chipper today," Al told her.

"I am. Charms is one of my best subjects, so my exams should be a breeze, and I've only got three exams this week instead of the five I had last year for my second week of OWL exams."

Al smiled and nodded. "I should be happy I only have three NEWTs this week, then, since compared to last week's five exams, this is a breeze."

"Most students wouldn't think that taking NEWTs in Transfiguration, Potions, and Ancient Runes in four days is exactly a breeze," Carolyn said. "I hope I don't have more than three in one week next year, especially not after having that five NEWT week last week. I have no idea how you and Lily do it without losing your minds."

"Who says we haven't?" Al joked.

For Al and the other NEWT year Marauders, the written part of their Transfiguration exam was pretty easy, and they all impressed their examiners in the afternoon Practical exams, especially Al and Lily, who were both asked to perform their Animagus Transfiguration in addition to the other requirements of the exam.

"I should have kicked that pompous jerk," Lily said after she and Al were back out in the hallway. "It's not like our Animagi aren't on record at the Ministry. Why waste our time showing them something that the Ministry already recognizes we can do?"

"My examiner was pretty nice," Al said. "I didn't mind showing her my Animagus. Maybe if your guy hadn't been so full of himself, you wouldn't have minded either."

"Probably not," Lily conceded. "There wasn't anything on the exams we didn't prepare for," she told Rose, Nick, and Allie, who'd been listening on in amused silence. "Scorpius probably already told you that, though," she added, smiling at him.

"Good," Rose said. "I want to get this over with so I can concentrate on getting ready for Potions on Wednesday."

Scorpius, Lily, and Al waited while the others went in to take their practical exams, and then the six of them went to get their books, and to meet the others for their pre-dinner study session.

They all kept up with how each other's exams were going, and so far, all of the Marauders were extremely happy with how everything was going, and with the end of today's exam, they were all at least halfway finished, whether they were second year students with seven exams, or Lily Potter with twelve.

Lily spent the rest of the day studying Potions with the rest of the NEWT group, since the Muggle Studies NEWT was no big deal for her, since her handy dandy photographic memory was all she needed for that subject, and for most of the History NEWT too. There would be essay questions too, but even they weren't very difficult for someone who carried a library around in her head.

Both the NEWT and sixth year students had their Potions exams on Wednesday, and the morning written portion of the exam was the hardest one any of them had yet taken.

"Now that one definitely lived up to it's Nastily Exhausting reputation," Nick told the others while they were walking to the Great Hall for lunch.

Nick was pretty sure at first that he'd only get an E for the written exam part of the Potions NEWT, but once they started talking about the questions he hadn't been quite positive about, and Lily assured he he had in fact done them correctly, he felt much better about his chances for getting the Outstanding. Rose, Al, Scorpius, and Allie had all been confident that they'd written near-perfect papers.

None of them were particularly concerned about the practical exam in the afternoon, since they all excelled at making potions. That confidence proved valid as one by one they completed their examinations and were each certain their resulting potions had all been perfect.

With Potions out of the way, that only left Ancient Runes on Thursday, and History on Friday. Lily was the only one of the six NEWT Marauders who would be taking both exams, and Nick, Allie, and Rose didn't have either, so they could start studying for next Monday's Herbology.

Lily and Al both aced their Ancient Runes NEWTs, and Lily and Scorpius had no problems with the History NEWT on Friday either. The sixth year Marauders who had History, wrote their exam for it on Friday too, and they were all happy with their results too.

As the second week of exams came to an end on Friday, it was really hard not to start to get excited, not only about Saturday's League Championship game, but also because in just seven short days, they'd all be on their way home.

Lily had a study session on Friday evening that was optional, since there were quite a few Marauders who were well on their way to being ready for their last one or two exams.

All of the Marauders showed up for the study session on Saturday morning, since they all planned on taking the afternoon off to watch the Canons play for the League Championship. They worked through until lunchtime, and then packed up and went down to the Great Hall to eat before heading to Scorpius' office to watch the hour-long pre-game show.

"You'd think after a whole week of hype that they'd skip all of this junk and just want to get to the game," Allie said.

"They probably do it just in case the game is short, so they've at least made some money on the advertising," Emily suggested. "The longer the game, the more money they make."

"Like they don't make a bundle even if it lasts less than a minute," Hugo said. "They do have one hundred and ten thousand tickets sold after all."

"Including the ones that James bought to take all of his students to the game," Lily said. "Somehow it seems a bit unfair that we can't leave school to go see the game too."

"You'll be able to go starting next year," Al reminded her. "If you volunteer for James, you could probably go on his sickle too."

"It's a lot more than a sickle for those tickets, mate," Nick told him.

"Even more reason to get James to pay," Al joked.

"While we're waiting for the game to get started," Hugo said, "why don't we work on the TNM Pool Party?"

"Quite a few of us will have time on Tuesday and Wednesday to work on it," Al told him. "Have you got something extra in mind this year?"

Hugo nodded. "Actually, I do. How hard would it be to conjure rides like at the Mall in Paris or at Marauders Paradise? That'd be a pretty cool addition, and it isn't that much different than the Hallowe'en or Easter ride we did this year, is it?"

Al whistled. "It would be a pretty big trick, Hugo. We spent upwards of a month on just one ride for each of those events, and we'd only have a few days this time. What do you think, Lily?"

"We'd all need to do it together so that it'd last the whole afternoon, and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to do more than three or four rides, but yeah, we could do it. I really like the idea of it. Conjuring probably would be too difficult to maintain for that many hours, though. I'd suggest making actual working miniatures, and then Transfiguring them to full size rides on Thursday."

"Any Volunteers to make up the miniature rides?" Hugo asked.

He quickly got eight volunteers, and then they moved on from rides to talk about everything else they wanted to do for their annual end of school party.

By game time, they had everything planned out, and as they each finished their exams, they would all turn their attention and effort to getting the work done.

Since the Canons were the home team by virtue of their first place finish, the Harpies were introduced first, and then the Canons were called out into the stadium. There was about a ten-minute ceremony, and then the game finally got started.

If the QSPN powers that be wanted a long game so that they earned more advertising revenue, then they got their wish. Arianna led the Canons out of the gate with three fast goals, and then the two teams settled down, and the battle began in earnest.

The Canons built up a big lead on the Harpies, with Ron saving nearly everything they threw at him, and because Arianna was taking advantage of a questionable Harpies game strategy to score goal after goal on their outclassed Keeper.

"Why are they continuing to just let her keep doing that?" Emily asked. "I get their plan to stop the playmakers by getting on Aaron and Kimberly, but Arianna's killing them."

The game was over in the first hour and a half, except the Harpies Seeker wouldn't catch the snitch to end the game because her team was behind by more than one hundred and fifty points, yet also kept effectively blocking Liselle from catching it either.

"This is getting silly," Hugo complained when the game moved into it's fourth hour, and the Canons were up four hundred and sixty to just thirty points for the Harpies, who continued to beat their collective heads against the wall that was Ron Weasley's near-perfect Keeper performance.

"Maybe they think that Dad will tire out if they let the game go on long enough," Rose suggested.

"He'd have to need to lay down and have a nap for them to catch up now," Nick said. "Even then, they'd still have to figure out a way to slow Arianna down."

The Harpies didn't figure out how to slow her down, and Ron didn't show even the slightest sign of tiring. The Professors sent word around to the students that dinner would be at seven-thirty, when it seemed obvious that the game wouldn't be ending anytime soon.

Dinner and a continuing Quidditch match in the Great Hall was fun, but the game was still going on when most of the students were finished eating at eight-thirty, so the New Marauders again gathered in Scorpius' office to continue watching the game.

It was just after nine o'clock when the Harpies' Seeker finally made a fatal mistake, and Liselle got a clean shot at the snitch. Despite having been playing for more than seven hours straight, she did not waste the chance, and the crowd roared it's approval as she ended the game with a spectacular, high-speed catch, making the grab mere feet above the ground, and then deftly soaring high into the air again, the snitch held triumphantly in her outstretched hand.

"I'd say the Harpies game plan was a total dud," Emily said after the cheering in the office had subsided, and everyone had settled back in to watch the post-game show.

"That's a pretty accurate assessment," Hugo agreed. "When you lose by a score of nine hundred and twenty to seventy in a game that was more than seven hours long, you definitely did something wrong."

The Canons were awarded the League Championship Trophy, and then Arianna was named the game's most valuable player. In the interviews that followed, the Harpies Coach confirmed that they had indeed been trying to outlast Ron, but had expected him to falter much earlier in the game, when instead he had easily outlasted their own players.

"They all know that Uncle Ron is only going to be playing for two more years," Lily said. "Wait until they find out that his son will be taking over after that, and that he's just as good."

Hugo laughed. "Maybe not quite yet," he told her. "Hopefully I will be by then, though."

Their little office Quidditch party began to break up then, with everyone ready to go get some sleep so they'd be ready for one last day long study session before their final week of exams began.

When Rose was changed and in bed, she called Matt for their nightly bedtime chat.

"Hey beautiful," Matt said when he answered the call. "Six more sleeps until we're back together again."

Rose smiled at his image in her WiComm mirror. "I can hardly wait. Once I get Herbology out of the way on Monday, there won't be anything left except the wait for Friday morning."

Matt laughed. "Right. Except for all of the end of year Head Girl duties, the TNM pool party, all of the goodbyes, packing to come home, and probably another half dozen things I'm forgetting."

"You seem to have got most everything except the Thursday night banquet," she told him. "Scorpius and I are doing a little party for the Prefects again this year, since the one James and Therese did last year was so popular."

"Are you doing the rings too?" he asked, and saw Rose nod.

"Yeah. That was a rather brilliant idea of James'. I hear rumours that Kieran is doing the same thing for his Quidditch team, with 'Quidditch Cup Champions' instead of 'Prefects' on the rings he's giving them."

"I wish I had thought of that," Matt said. "We have our names on the Cup at Hogwarts, but we don't' get anything to take with us."

"Well, I imagine that the winning team will from now on," she said. "How's everything out in the real world?"

"Everything is just going great," he answered. "When you get home, it'll go from great to brilliant."

"The first week is going to be crazy, though," Rose told him. "Too bad we couldn't skip that week, and get right to the honeymoon."

"I don't know about that. Your Mum is having so much fun, and she's so excited about the wedding, that I'm really glad we didn't seriously consider eloping. My Mum's pretty fired up too."

"I don't really have anything to complain about. Our Mums are doing basically all of the work. All I have to do is show up for whatever fittings, appointments, and parties I'm told to go to for one little week."

Mark nodded. "Be glad we're not Nick and Allie. They'll have nearly two months until they get married, and be doing all of that and working too."

"I feel better already," Rose said with a soft laugh that turned into a yawn. "Time to get some sleep, I guess," she added.

"Okay. Have a good sleep, and I'll talk to you tomorrow," Matt told her. "I love you, Rose."

"I love you too, Matt," she told him. "Have a good night."

They ended the call, and it wasn't long before Rose was sound asleep, as were most of the other Marauders as the second to last week at school came to an end.

The New Marauders' Sunday morning and afternoon study sessions went very well, and Lily even set everyone free a full hour before dinner so they could have a little extra time to spend relaxing.

Al and Carolyn chose to spend that time going for a walk outside in the bright, warm afternoon sunshine.

"Too bad your last exam is on Monday, and mine's on Tuesday," she said as they walked. "We'll only have Wednesday and Thursday together to wind down before we go home."

"Your Practical exam will be done early on Tuesday afternoon, though, so we'll have the rest of that day too," Al told her. "We don't have as much going on as some of the others do."

"That's true," she agreed. "What do you want to do tonight to relax and rest up for your exam tomorrow?"

Al grinned. "Why don't we go find an empty classroom, and we'll conjure a nice comfy sofa, and snog each other sensless?"

Carolyn returned his smile. "That sounds like a very good plan, she agreed.

Quite a few of the Marauder couples had similar plans for their evening, while others settled for watching a movie on WWVN, or playing some GameWizard in their Common Rooms. Whatever they chose to do, if they had an exam on Monday, they were in bed early, following Commander Lily's instructions to the letter.

Over the next three days, they all finished their exams, and as each member of the Marauders came available, they took on assignments to help get everything ready for the pool party on Thursday.

Al was working on one of those assignments on Tuesday morning, while Carolyn was busy taking the written part of her Care of Magical Creatures exam. He was walking along an empty hallway when he abruptly stopped, sensing a problem. He scanned the area, and then sighed regretfully.

"I know you're there, Dirk," he said aloud. "You may as well come out and face me."

There was a moment's hesitation, and then Dirk Avery stepped out of the doorway where Al had felt him hiding.

"Any chance you'll reconsider what you have in mind?" Al asked the smirking boy when they were face-to-face.

"And just what do you think I'm considering?" Dirk asked.

"You were considering ambushing me, and now you're considering duelling me," Al said simply. "You should walk away and forget about it. You won't like this re-match any more than you liked our last little duel."

"I'm not a scared little second year anymore, Potter," Dirk sneered.

Al laughed. "You weren't scared back then either," Al reminded him. "At least not until after our little encounter."

"I've learned a lot since then," Dirk said with a dark smile. "Just because the Ministry thinks that you're Auror material doesn't make it so. I plan on proving that to everyone today."

Dirk didn't give Al any warning, and hurled an opening attack at him – a Cruciatus curse. Al was ready, and had his Impervious Totalis shield up right away, the curse being absorbed harmlessly.

"Very impressive," Dirk said, and Al watched as an Impervious Totalis shield formed around Dirk too.

"I wonder which one of us can hold our shield the longest?" he asked Al, smiling proudly from behind his shield.

Al smiled at him too, his eyes flashing with power. "I can hold mine forever, Dirk," he told the boy. "I'd guess you and your – let's see now – five friends are in trouble."

"And why would that be?" Dirk sneered as he threw another pointless cruciatus curse against Al's impenetrable shield.

"Because you all forgot one basic rule of duelling, Dirk. They're giving you all of their power for your pitiful shield, and you've left them unprotected," Al answered.

He launched a silent attack that disarmed and bound all five of Dirk's friend's where they were hiding in the classroom, each boy being flung hard against the walls of the room where they were firmly pinned. As soon as he did that, Dirk's shield dropped, and Al immediately disarmed him, and watched calmly as Dirk was thrown hard against the hallway wall. Al bound him as well before dropping his own shield and gathering up the six wands.

He stepped in front of the fuming, but helpless Dirk, and stared into his eyes.

"How about I remind you why we agreed that you wouldn't bother me, my family, or our friends anymore," Al told him.

Dirk's eyes widened, and fear and panic soon followed. It only took the briefest of seconds for Al to send horror after horror flashing into Dirk's mind, but then it was over, and Al released him from his bindings, and the young man crumpled to the floor in a sobbing heap.

"This was totally pointless Dirk," Al told him without any pity. "Stop listening to your parents and their cronies, and grow up. We're not living in their pathetic, warped world anymore. Save yourself a lot of grief, and never try to come after me again – next time you'll lose a lot more than control of your bodily functions."

He tossed the six wands onto the floor in the classroom where Dirk's friends were still bound against the walls, and staring at him in shock and fear. He walked away without another word, not releasing Dirk's friends until he was nearly to his Common room. This time he did not do Dirk the courtesy of cleaning him up from the little 'accident' that the other young Wizard had experienced. If he'd learned so much, he could clean himself up before anyone else found out.

For the rest of the day Tuesday, and all day Wednesday, the Marauders worked on their party, and by dinnertime on Wednesday everything was ready except for the final setup they'd do in the morning.

All of the students were finished exams on Wednesday, and after dinner, the Common Rooms were full of celebrating teenagers. In Scorpius' office the school Prefects and their dates were having a private party.

Scorpius and Rose hadn't really been thinking about it when they'd set up the party, but there was a surprising high number of Marauders at the party. There were twenty-two prefects there, and nineteen of them had brought dates, so including Scorpius, Brianna, and Rose, there were forty-four students in the office. Nearly a quarter of them were Marauders.

They had drinks and snacks, watched and listened to music videos on the WWVN, and generally had a lot of fun before about a half hour ahead of curfew, Scorpius and Rose gave out the rings to their Prefects, thanked them all, and sent them on their way.

On Thursday morning, all of the Marauders pitched in to get everything set up, still managing to do that without attracting any unwanted attention.

There wasn't a single student in the Great Hall at lunch not expecting the TNM pool party announcement, and they were all prepared to go straight outside to begin their afternoon of sun and fun.

When they saw that this year there was the addition of two coasters, and two additional amusement park rides, the cheers were loud, and lasted for several minutes.

"I'd say that the rides are a big hit," Al told Carolyn as they walked around the school grounds later in the afternoon.

Carolyn nodded. "The lines certainly haven't gotten any smaller. We'll have to see if next year's version of TNM can still manage something like this."

"Lily's working on that problem. Hopefully she'll come up with something so that you can."

"Is there anything you want to do, since it's your last day here?" she asked.

Al shook his head. "Not really. If we didn't get it done in the last seven years, I'm not going to get it done in these last few hours. Let's just go hang out with the others, and if you want, we can go for another swim before we'll have to go in and get ready for the banquet."

The rest of the afternoon seemed to go by too fast, and then it was time for everyone to go inside for the banquet. The rides, pools, and everything else seemed to just disappear, and in moments, the school grounds were cleared and back to normal, as if nothing had been going on at all.

When the banquet started, Professor McGonagall gave her usual end of school address, and Gryffindor won the House Cup by fifteen points.

"That twenty points Hugo and the Gryffindor Quidditch team won is looking pretty good right now," Brianna said quietly. Ravenclaw had come in second this year.

"It looks like some of the Gryffindors have figured that out too," Lily said as she watched Hugo receiving some good-natured thumps on the back.

The banquet was another wonderful, incredible meal, and the students – especially those who wouldn't be returning – savoured every delectable morsel that passed their lips.

After they had all eaten more than their fill, the Great Hall emptied, and the dormitories filled up as most of the students packed up for the trip home in the morning.

Scorpius and Brianna were both packed, and now they happily snuggled on a sofa in his office. The big screen WWVN was back in it's special case, and had been returned to Lily, so they weren't going to be watching any movies tonight. That was fine with Brianna, since she didn't have watching WWVN on her mind anyway.

"Are you going to miss all of this?" Brianna asked.

"I'll miss some things," he answered quietly. "I'm really going to miss you next year. I won't miss all the studying, or the exams, though."

Brianna laughed. "You should have your head examined if you were going to miss all the studying."

"Speaking of exams, are you ready for your driving test tomorrow afternoon?" he asked.

Brianna nodded. "Sure am. I'm ready for that and for my Apparition test. How about you?"

"I'm ready to take it too. We will have to go get a car sometime though. I don't imagine Uncle Harry will want to lend us his S7 all that often."

"Probably not," Brianna agreed. "I'm sure we can find something over the summer."

They talked, and shared a few brilliant kisses, until about eleven o'clock, and then Brianna went up to bed, and Scorpius got changed and climbed into his bed for the last time.

Friday morning, all of the Hogwarts students were up before dawn. Scorpius, Rose, and the Prefects were all kept busy as they helped get their fellow students through a quick early breakfast, and then make sure that every student, and all of their luggage, made it to Hogsmeade Station, and onto the Hogwarts Express.

The train pulled away from the station right on time, carrying the New Marauders home, either for the summer, or for the last time. There were weddings, new jobs, and unexpected surprises and adventures ahead, some just hours or days away, and all of them exciting.


	112. This is Our Time

Chapter One Hundred and Twelve – This Is Our Time

Harry, Kira, and Matt were on platform nine and three-quarters, waiting for the Hogwarts Express to arrive. It was probably a toss-up as to which Wizard, or young Witch, was most excited about the impending arrival of the train, and they'd all gotten to King's Cross Station much earlier than necessary, since the train always arrived at the exact same time every year.

"How long have the three of you been waiting here?" Ana asked when she and Kirley walked up to Harry, Matt, and Kira.

Harry hugged her, and smiled. "About twenty minutes. For some reason, Matt, Kira, and I all think that this is an extra-special day."

"I wonder why?" Kirley said dryly. "Do you get any time alone with Rose before she gets whisked away to wedding appointments?" he asked Matt.

"Not really," Matt told him. "She's got dress fittings that start right after lunch, and we're booked for the rest of the day from there. I think it's a conspiracy."

"That's the only downside of having your wedding a week after school is out," Ana told him. "Rose will have to do all of that running around in just a few days."

"The upside being that you'll be starting your honeymoon nearly two months earlier than Nick and Allie will be," Harry told Matt, who returned Harry's broad smile.

"They're coming, Uncle Harry!" Kira said happily, jumping up and down excitedly. "They're coming!"

Harry scooped up the bouncing Kira and hugged her as they looked down the track to watch the Hogwarts Express as it glided toward the platform and slowed gracefully to a stop.

The carriage doors opened, and students began pouring out onto the platform, unloading their luggage, and rushing to either meet their welcoming parties, or to leave the platform and get started on their summer holidays.

Kira squirmed to be let down, and then ran to meet Lily when she saw her step down from one of the cars, throwing herself into her hero's waiting arms.

"Miss me?" Lily said with a laugh as Kira hugged her tightly.

"Yes!" Kira said happily, kissing Lily's cheek. "A whole lot!"

"Where's my hug and kiss?" Kieran asked their biggest little fan, and Kira giggled as Lily passed her off to Kieran so she could take care of that.

"You two go ahead," Kieran told Lily, handing Kira back to her. "We'll get the luggage, and your Dad's waiting for you."

Lily carried Kira over to where Harry, Kirley, and Ana waited. Matt had walked over to the Prefect car, where Rose had met him for a long hug and kiss while Scorpius unloaded the luggage for both of them.

"Welcome home," Harry said softly in Lily's ear as they hugged. "I've really, really missed you too," he added, trying to sound like Kira, and making Lily laugh.

The rest of the gang gathered around, and the hugfest began as the three parents, and one super-fan welcomed all of their students back home. Harry and Kirley got to work sending all of the trunks and cases to the various houses, and when they were done, it was time to get everyone moving.

"Al and Scorpius, you're to go with Carolyn, Brianna, Karl, and Daphne to the Ministry for their apparition testing, then meet us at the usual restaurant for the welcome home luncheon," Harry told them.

He smiled at Matt and Rose. "Matt, go take your fiancée somewhere until then and find something better to do than hang around with us at the Mall."

"Everyone else, we're just going to cruise the Mall until lunch, and you'll get instructions for the rest of your day then."

The three couples going to the Ministry of Magic left right away, and took the TransPortal there, then made their way to the Apparition Testing Centre.

"Welcome home, Bree," the young Witch at the reception desk said brightly when she saw them come in. "Ready for your test?"

Brianna returned the smile and nodded. "Compared to the last few weeks of exams, this will be nothing," she told the other woman.

She and Daphne were sent in first, and when they came out with their shiny new licenses, Karl and Carolyn were sent in to take their tests.

"Congratulations," Scorpius told Brianna, hugging her. "One down, one to go."

"We probably should have booked those driving tests for another day," Brianna said. "Carolyn and I weren't thinking about appointments for dress fittings or anything when we decided to do them today, so it's going to be a bit hectic."

Rose and Matt had decided to go with four bridesmaids and ushers to stand with them, having Hugo, Nick, Scorpius, and Al stand with Matt, while Emily, Allie, Brianna, and Carolyn would be Rose's support group. Since the four couples were all their best friends, they decided not to pick any one pair to be best man and maid of honour. Besides, shouldn't the best man at a wedding be the groom anyway?

"We'll have you and Carolyn take your driving tests first, so you can get to the dress fitting right away, and then Scorpius and I can get the car back home before we go do tuxes with Matt, Nick, and Hugo," Al told her.

They were at the Ministry for less than a half hour, and Carolyn and Karl were both successful in getting their apparition licenses too. The six friends hurried back to the Mall, apparating there so that Karl and the girls could try out those new licenses, and then meeting up with everyone else in the private banquet room they'd be using for lunch.

"Do you think this will be the last family welcome home luncheon?" Carolyn asked Al after they'd gotten drinks and sat down. She was trying out a glass of wine that Harry had informed her was Ginny's personal favourite, and could see why she'd like it so much.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe not the same as we've done until now, but we may still do them at least until Hugo and Kieran graduate. If we don't, though, I'll make sure to put together something special for you and me next year. Maybe we'd even invite Scorpius and Brianna – or not."

Carolyn laughed. "You're making me hope there won't be a family dinner next June," she half joked.

Al laughed along with her. "I'm making me hope that too."

Harry, Kirley, Ana, and the kids had arrived at the restaurant with time to spare. When the rest of the family and guests began arriving, everyone was up again, and it took nearly thirty minutes to get through the welcomes and get seated for lunch. Lily and Kieran were sitting with Kirley, Ana, Laura, and Kira.

"How many interviews do we have today?" Lily asked Laura.

"Three," Laura answered. "The usual WMVN show, a press meet and greet, and an interview with TeenWitch magazine."

"That's all?" Kieran asked in surprise. "That'll be easy."

"You've got one extra special WMVN appearance for the morning show tomorrow, though," Laura told him. "That's when we'll be previewing the new albums and making the tour announcement."

"That is going to be so brilliant!" Lily said. "A Weird Sisters album going head-to-head against a SpellBound album. It's going to be way better than putting them out separately like we were originally going to do."

Ana nodded. "Wait until we announce the Mega Jams," she told Lily. "With both SpellBound and the Weird Sisters headlining, I won't be at all surprised to see them sell out in one day."

Lily and Kieran had been thrilled to find out that Ana, Kirley, and Laura had come up with the Mega Jam idea – they were going to do just four concerts all summer, but they were going to be all-day events, with two hundred and fifty thousand tickets available for each Mega Jam. They loved it because it meant that they were only going to be on the road for about twelve days total, three days for each show. They would be doing recording studio and video shoot sessions too, but they were going to have a lot more time off this summer.

While Lily and Kieran were talking music, Al and Carolyn were sitting with his grandparents during lunch.

"Are you ready to start work with me a week from Monday?" Molly asked Carolyn.

"I can hardly wait," Carolyn answered. "Try not to let me have too much fun, though, or I may not want to go back to Hogwarts in September."

"You're doing way too great at school to not go back and earn your NEWTs, dear," Molly told her. "Besides, it'll make Albus appreciate you that much more when you get back home again."

Al smiled affectionately at his grandmother. "I don't see how it's possible I could appreciate her more than I do already, grandma."

"Let us know if you still think that next June," Arthur told his grandson. "Your perception may be different by then."

"Maybe," Al agreed. "What's new at the Ministry?"

Arthur laughed. "You mean besides rampant speculation about our newest Auror candidate, and about where Scorpius is going to be placed when he starts a week from Monday? Not much else of anything exciting."

"The excitement is on the way, then," Al joked. "We are definitely going to have some fun this summer."

"Yes, we are," Arthur agreed. "Are you ready?"

Al grinned at his grandparents, his emerald eyes flashing with excitement. "Oh yeah, I'm definitely ready."

They spent a little less than an hour having lunch, and then the parents and other guests started leaving to get back to work. Hermione took Rose, Allie, and Emily with her for their dress-fitting appointment. While she did that, Ginny was taking enough time off to pop over to the cottage with Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna so that she could drive them to town so they could take their driving tests, leaving them to do that, while she got back to work at the lab.

Matt, Nick, and Hugo went to begin getting fitted for their tuxes, and Laura, Kirley, and Ana took Lily, Kieran, and Kira with them and left for the WMVN studios. That left Harry with just ten students in his little group, and they were all smiling at him once they were on their own.

"I've got nothing planned for you except an afternoon of shopping," he told them. "Have you all been told what you're each doing for dinner tonight?"

He watched as they each nodded. Frederica and Liam had plans with both of their families tonight, and Karl and Daphne were going to be at her house. Joel and Sarah were going with Callie and Mark for dinner and an overnight stay. Stewart, and Isabelle were taking Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy out for dinner. Jason and Brian would be joining them too, but Millie and Amy wouldn't be finding that out until just before they'd be leaving.

"We still have the family shopping day tomorrow for most of you," Harry continued, "but I thought that since Karl and Daphne need a whole new summer wardrobe before they leave for Marauders Paradise on Sunday, and Joel and Sarah need to get outfitted for their jobs at the Ministry that we could just get a head start on all of that today. The only question is whether you want to do that here or in Paris."

"I vote Paris," Dale said quickly. "Some of us non-shoppers could go play on the rides while the rest of you are busy doing the dress-up thing."

Harry laughed as Liam jumped on that bandwagon, and the girls quickly agreed to go with the Paris option.

"Can I go play on the rides instead of shopping?" Karl asked Daphne.

"Maybe for a little while," she told him. "You do need to get started on getting your clothes, though. We'll both need quite a lot of new clothes. I've got the list of must-haves from Gabrielle with me too, so we'll make sure we get all of the work-approved pants, shorts, and tops."

"I can hardly believe it's only two days away now," Karl said with a big smile. "We're going to have a brilliant summer!"

Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna didn't have time to celebrate getting their Muggle drivers licenses, other than quick hugs for the girls before they hurried off to Gladrags in Hogsmeade, where they joined Rose, Allie, and Emily for their dress-fitting appointment.

Scorpius took his test third, and Al went last, and then the two young Wizards drove the sedan back to the cottage, and went on to meet up with Matt, Nick, and Hugo. Their three friends were about halfway through their tux fitting process when Al and Scorpius caught up with them. The two latecomers were given their tuxes right away, and went off to get changed so they could join the others as they stood in front of mirrors and got measured and pinned for alterations.

"Too bad that Allie and your Mums picked out completely different tuxes for your wedding, mate," Scorpius told Nick as they tried to stand still and do everything the tailors were instructing them to do. "We could have just worn these tuxes for your wedding too."

Nick laughed. "Would you like to suggest that to Mum?" Nick asked. "You're welcome to, but you're on your own, 'cause I'm just going to do whatever they tell me to do when it comes to the wedding."

"I didn't say I was willing to suggest it to them, or even that you should do it." Scorpius said. "I'm just saying it would have been nice if we could have just done this once."

"We're such a bunch of wusses," Hugo told the other boys. "None of us have any problems flying around on brooms at two hundred miles an hour, with bludgers flying at us from everywhere, but not one of us are willing to risk disappointing our Mums or girls by challenging them over how they're telling us to dress for a wedding."

"That's because we'd all rather take a bludger hit than disappoint the girls, mate," Al told him. He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. "At least we can be glad that your Mum, and Matt's, have good taste. We are going to look pretty darn good in these."

"Right up until the girls start walking down the aisle, and then we'll probably all look like slack-jawed, slow-witted penguins," Nick joked.

Their girls were doing a fair bit of joking too as they were being fitted for their bridesmaid dresses and wedding gown.

"You should ask Uncle Harry to be ready to revive Matt from the stun spell he's going to be under after seeing you in that dress next Friday," Emily told Rose. "If he doesn't, there's a good chance that your fiancée won't remember how to put 'I' and 'do' together in the same sentence."

Hermione laughed. "He'll be fine, Rose. Just give him a nudge if you see his eyes glazing over. I had to nudge your father a lot when we were getting married, but I don't think you'll have that problem with Matt."

"I'm just planning on concentrating on not tripping down the aisle, or saying something stupid myself," Rose told the others. "He'll have to hold his end up by himself."

"You are not going to trip or have any other problems," Brianna told her. "Don't even think about stuff like that."

"Is there a bride in the world that doesn't worry about things going wrong at their wedding?" Allie asked. "I know I've had a few bad dreams about falling flat on my face at my wedding."

"Or having someone stand up and shout out some reason why we shouldn't be married," Rose said with a nod. "I even had one dream where Matt's United team was playing in the finals, and he wanted to put the ceremony on hold until after the game, and his yes or no depended on whether United won or not."

"Were they playing the Canons?" Emily asked, grinning at her someday-to-be sister-in-law.

"All of that's normal," Hermione assured her daughter. "When it's time to walk down the aisle, though, you won't be worried about anything, and you're going to love every second of it."

Harry was the first one back at the cottage, along with Joel, Sarah, Dale, Carissa, Amy, and Millie. Frederica, Liam, Karl, and Daphne had gone their own ways when they'd left the mall, and Joel, Sarah, and Dale were all upstairs getting packed, cleaned up, and ready for their respective evenings, while the three younger girls were hanging out in the kitchen with Harry.

"What are you guys doing tonight?" Carissa asked him. The girls all had drinks and Harry had put a plate of chocolate squares out for them to snack on while they waited for Dale, and for Isabelle, who'd be picking them up here after work.

"We're going out to dinner too," he told them. "That's where Teddy and Victoire will be too, but it's sort of a business dinner, and we thought you'd all have more fun doing just about anything else."

"And you would be right," Millie joked. "Can you give us any clues about what we'll be doing all summer?"

Harry smiled. "Sure. How many young Witches does it take to run a babysitting service?"

Carissa laughed. "Um, three?" she guessed as Millie and Amy both caught on too.

"Give that Witch the prize," Harry told her. "Frederica and Sarah both have other jobs this summer, and you can be Kira, James, and Timothy's babysitters this summer if you want the jobs. You'll have Patricia and William off and on during the summer too."

"All in favour, hug Uncle Harry," Amy said, popping up from her seat to do that.

Isabelle came home from the Institute with Ginny, and was just as quickly off again, with four young teenagers in tow. Callie stopped in on her way back from the Ministry of Magic and picked up Joel and Sarah on her way home, and then Ginny and Harry suddenly found themselves on their own for a brief respite.

"Let's go get ready before Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily get back," Ginny suggested. "Then we'll have a little time to chat with them before we go out."

Al got back while Harry and Ginny were still getting ready, and went to grab a shower and get dressed up himself. Carolyn and Brianna were next, and Lily was the last one back to the cottage after finishing the interviews that she and Kieran had been doing all afternoon.

By the time the three younger Witches were ready, Kieran had joined Harry, Ginny, and Al in the sitting room, and it was time to leave. Their first stop was at Percy and Penelope's, where they were meeting the rest of their dinner party. That included Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Teddy, Victoire, James, and Arianna.

"So when do we find out where we're going?" Lily asked her parents when they were all outside of the townhouse and ready to leave.

"In a few seconds," Harry assured her. "We wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."

The eight couples took the TransPortal to their destination, and Harry watched as Lily's eyes brightened when she realized where they were.

"We're at number twelve Grimmauld Place!" she said excitedly. She'd never been here, but she knew all about the place from the stories. Whatever her parents had planned, if they were bringing their kids here for the first time, it must be something special!

The first thing Lily noticed was that whatever else had been done to the house, the front entrance was now beautiful, not dilapidated and worn like in the stories from back during the war. The whole front façade of the building was amazing, and was in impeccable condition.

"Shall we go in?" Ginny suggested.

She and Harry led the way, and the other couples followed as they walked up the steps and went in through the door that opened soundlessly to a wave of Harry's wand. Lily stopped on her way through long enough to admire the gleaming silver serpent doorknocker that was the only accessory on the front of the sleek, darkly polished wood of the door.

They four younger couples all stopped and looked around in astonishment when they were all in the entrance hall. Every detail of the room was breathtaking – from the sparkling chandelier high overhead, to the majestic grand staircase that they faced at the other end of the hall, everything was so spectacularly the opposite of what they'd heard about the place over the years that it literally took your breath away to see.

"Even with twenty-five years to work on it, Kreacher and Winky must have been very busy," Lily said quietly.

"It definitely was a lot of work," Ginny agreed. "This is what this place was meant to look like, though. They've done a fabulous job."

"Welcome!" Kreacher said, as if on cue, coming out of a wide doorway on one side of the hall. "Please come in, Masters! Drinks are waiting for you, and Kreacher and Winky will be serving dinner shortly."

They followed Kreacher into the large dining room, and it was just as fabulous as the entrance hall. The table and chairs were polished to a glow, as was the rest of the furniture in the room, which included a beautiful glass cabinet, a wonderfully restored old dresser, and then a few upholstered and comfortable looking chairs that lined the walls.

The table was set for sixteen. Lily, Al, and Scorpius recognized the Black family crest on the gleaming china, and the rest of the table settings, from the silverware and napkins, to the crystal water and wine glasses were as fine as anything any of them had ever seen even at the finest of restaurants.

Kreacher had them all sit down, and then poured drinks for everyone before popping out of the room, presumably going downstairs to the kitchen.

"Have they restored the whole place like this?" Al asked, and watched as his parents both nodded.

"You could say that this has been their pet project since after the war," Harry told him. "I've never made an issue of it, but I suspect that they spent more than a few of their days off working around here too."

"And now we get to find out tonight what you've been planning for this place all of these years?" Lily guessed.

Harry laughed. "You're getting ahead of things, sweetie, but yes, that is one of the reasons why we're doing dinner here tonight."

"This doesn't look anything like how my grandmother described the place," Scorpius said. "She always talked about the place fondly, but I always thought the place sounded ghastly. Shrunken heads of House Elves, and ghouls and all. You'd think that those stories were about a completely different Black Family home."

"Do you like the place?" Harry asked him.

"Who wouldn't," Scorpius said, smiling. "It's absolutely incredible."

"That's good," Harry said offhandedly, "because we want you and Brianna to have it."

Everyone else started laughing when Scorpius' jaw fell open, and he stared at Harry incredulously, even as Brianna threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Pardon me?" he asked.

"We want you to have this house," Harry told him again. "There are some details we'll explain later, but Teddy and I have agreed that you should have your family home, and since you seem to like it quite a bit, I'd say it's a perfect match."

Brianna hugged a still stunned Scorpius a second time as he continued to look a bit wildly from Teddy to Harry and then around at the other members of their little dinner group. He could see that the four older couples were all in the loop on this, and it seemed that Al and Lily weren't very surprised, so it was just him, Nick, Allie, Brianna, and Carolyn who all looked surprised.

"I don't know what to say to something like this," he managed finally.

Teddy laughed. "That's easy. You say 'yes', and then after you and Brianna get married, you live here happily ever after."

"You're the eldest Black family descendant, though," Scorpius pointed out. "Why not you?"

"I can think of lots of reasons," Teddy told him. "You're going to need a really great place like this for your political career for one, and I could go over a lot of others, but my personal favourite reason is because it'll drive your grandparents bonkers when they find out that this is your house. That was all it took to convince me that you should have the place."

Scorpius laughed, and was joined by everyone else. "You've convinced me with that last argument too," he told Teddy. "Yes, we'd love to live here, and thank-you so much."

He got out of his chair and went around to hug Harry, Ginny, Percy, Penelope, Teddy, and Victoire before sitting down again, and Brianna happily re-captured his hand and squeezed it excitedly.

"We can do a tour of the house after dinner," Harry told Scorpius as Kreacher reappeared, this time with Winky, and they began setting out the first course of the meal.

"Has Master Scorpius and Mistress Brianna accepted your offer already?" Kreacher asked Harry.

"He has, Kreacher," Harry told the elf. "We haven't discussed all of the details yet, though."

Kreacher beamed at him, then bowed to Scorpius and Brianna. "Kreacher and Winky will be very happy to be serving you soon," he told them with a wide smile. "This house has been empty for far too long."

Scorpius bowed. "Thank-you, Kreacher. We will do our best to make you proud of our family again." He wasn't sure how he knew it, but it was obvious that he had said exactly the right thing, and Kreacher bowed again before leaving them and returning to the kitchen.

"Nicely done," Harry said approvingly.

Their dinner was quite possibly the best Kreacher and Winky dinner that any of them had experienced, which said a great deal about how excited the two elves were to be serving the first dinner party at their house since before Sirius and Regulus Black's parents had died.

Nearly two hours later, Harry and Ginny took everyone on a tour of the house, beginning with a trip downstairs to see the immaculate, gleaming kitchen, through a return visit of the rooms on the ground floor, and then up the grand staircase to the first, second, and third floors, where they looked in on the drawing room, bedrooms, baths, and every other room in the place.

"We'll skip the fourth floor and attic," Harry told the others when they'd finished the tour of the third floor. "The attic is just storage, and the fourth floor is Kreacher and Winky's apartment now."

They returned to the first floor, and went into the drawing room, where Harry offered drinks to everyone, each person sitting down in the comfortable chairs and sofas after getting their drinks.

"You already know that part of the reason we wanted to have dinner with all of you here was to give the house to Scorpius and Brianna," Harry began when everyone else was sitting down and settled in. "The other reason was so that we could have some privacy to talk about some things that are going to be happening with regards to your futures."

He paused and watched as the four younger couples all nodded. He took four envelopes out of his jacket pocket and handed one each to Lily, Al, Nick, and Scorpius before continuing.

"I've made some changes to my family finances to get ready for having most of you out of school and ready to start your own lives and families," he told them.

"Teddy, Victoire, James, and Arianna already know what has been done, and your cousins will be told by their parents sometime tonight about any of those changes that effect them." Lily and the boys had opened their envelopes, and had their heads together with Kieran, Carolyn, Allie, and Brianna as they all began reading the parchments as Harry talked to them.

"Nick, for you and your cousins, beginning this coming December first, you will be part of a new dividend sharing plan where part of the profit from my investments will be transferred to each person's account. Besides your cousins, Scorpius and Brianna, and Aaron and Tracey are included in that sharing plan."

"What about Teddy?" Nick asked.

"He and Stewart are married to two of your cousins, Nick," Penelope reminded him. "They're included too."

"One of the reason we're letting you know about this now is because you should all start thinking about how you're going to deal with that income, since it will be significant," Harry told them.

Nick looked around, but since none of the others seemed inclined, he went ahead and asked the obvious. "How significant?"

Harry laughed. "I'd guess that this year it will probably end up somewhere just short of fifty million galleons." He paused for effect before adding – "each".

Nick laughed too. "Would it be totally inappropriate to tell you that you're my favourite Aunt and Uncle in the whole world?" he joked.

"Probably," Ginny told him, smiling brightly at him, "but thank-you anyway."

Harry turned his attention to Scorpius and Brianna. "You'll see that you have an extra sheet of parchment in your envelope," he told Scorpius, who nodded.

"You're transferring one half of one percent ownership of your interest in PBP Investments to Brianna and me," he said, having read the letter. "You've already done so much for me, Uncle Harry. This is just way over the top."

Harry grinned at him. "Wait until you find out just how over the top," he said.

"You probably know that my Godfather, Sirius Black, left me the entire Black Family estate," he continued, and Scorpius nodded.

"One of my grandmother's pet peeves," he told everyone, and they laughed.

"Well, besides this house, there was a sizeable amount of money that has been extremely wisely invested over the past twenty-five years or so, and that half-percent is the part of that estate that I'm giving to you." He saw Scorpius glance over at Teddy, and smiled.

"Before you ask, yes, Teddy has a percentage of PBP Investments too. In your case, as of today, your half percent is worth approximately three hundred and twenty-five million galleons."

"You are definitely buying lunch tomorrow," Nick told Scorpius. "Quick, Mum – adopt him before he gets away."

Scorpius was past words, and Brianna hugged him as his eyes filled with tears. His weren't the only ones, as all of the girls had both smiles and tears happening at the same time.

"Thank-you," Scorpius eventually managed to say. "Whatever you all do, don't wake Brianna and I up from this dream. It's way too brilliant."

Harry grinned at him. "It's just getting started," he promised. "I've begun transferring part of PBP Investments to James, Al, and Lily too," he told everyone, and Al and Lily both nodded, since they'd already read their letters too, and knew that he'd transferred five percent of the company to each of his kids.

"The last thing we have to go over with all of you is a little surprise we're going to be springing on the Wizarding World on Monday morning," he said.

"This must be really great for you to be grinning like a kneazle who just caught a big juicy mouse," Lily told her father.

He laughed, and his emerald eyes were flashing. "On Monday, I'm retiring from the Wizengamot, and will be installing Scorpius Malfoy as the hereditary heir to the Black family seat, and Albus Potter to take the Potter family seat. Does that qualify as really great?"

Lily bounced out of her seat next to Kieran, and hugged Harry, then Al, and finally a once again dumbfounded Scorpius.

"I'd say it's way past brilliant," she told Harry. "Can we come on Monday? I have got to be there to see that."

"Yes, you can," Harry assured her. "This stays confidential until it's announced at the meeting, though."

"I have no problem with that," she told him. "We do not want to spoil this surprise!"

"Al doesn't look surprised," Brianna pointed out after she and Scorpius had calmed down again.

"I've had some time to get used to the idea," Al told her. "Scorpius and I will probably both wish that it had been Teddy and James getting this responsibility instead of us, though."

"Why isn't it them?" Brianna asked Harry.

"Because it's meant to be Scorpius and Al," he answered.

"Thank Merlin for that!" James said fervently, grinning at Al. "You may wish it had been me, but I'll be thankful every day that it wasn't – and so will the rest of the Wizarding World."

"Amen to that," Teddy said, nodding his agreement.

"Is this why you hired Callie to be your assistant?" Carolyn asked Harry, and he nodded approvingly.

"Very good, Carolyn," he said. "That's exactly why. The boys have an exceptional assistant to take care of all of the administrative duties for them, and the three of them are going to be a formidable team."

"But that means you've been planning this for over a year and a half!" Allie said incredulously.

Harry grinned at her. "Actually, I've been working on it for quite a bit longer than that – it's just the last year or so that it's really been getting fun."

"Please tell us that you don't have any more fun for the rest of tonight," Scorpius said. "I'm not sure I can take any more. This has felt like about a dozen of those freefall jumps at Marauders Paradise – one right after the next."

"You're safely on solid ground again," Harry told him. "No more surprises tonight."

"It's not feeling all that solid yet," Scorpius joked. "That may take a couple of days before I feel that way again."

They spent another couple of hours at Scorpius' new house before each group headed back home. Brianna and Allie went with Percy, Penelope, and the boys, since both girls were staying overnight at the townhouse and would be doing the annual shopping trip in the morning. With most of the other kids away for the night, there was lots of room at the cottage, and so Kieran would be staying there for a rare overnight visit. Harry and Ginny went to bed soon after getting home, leaving Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran in the sitting room, each couple snuggled on one of the sofas.

"This has been a fairly entertaining evening," Kieran told the others quietly. "All I can say is that I hope Mum's right and we sell a lot of albums over the weekend, and sell out the Mega Jams."

Carolyn laughed. "I think you lost me on the connection between that and tonight, Kieran."

"There's going to be a new story on the block come Monday," he explained. "I imagine that the new SpellBound and Weird Sisters albums and concerts will not even be noticed for a while after that."

"That will only last a few days," Al predicted, "and I doubt that your base fan demographic is going to care at all about the politics."

"True," Lily agreed, "but the parents that take them to the Malls, and to the concerts will, so Kieran's right that sales will drop like a rock for most of next week."

"What do you guys think about Scorpius' new house?" Carolyn asked. "I couldn't believe what Kreacher and Winky have done with the place. It's at least as nice as the way Brianna's described the Minister's mansion. I'll wager it'll be the nicest home that any of the other Junior Minister's have."

"I loved watching Scorpius and Brianna," Lily said, "but did you guys see how happy Kreacher and Winky were to be finally getting a family living there again? Our two friends are going to be totally spoiled."

"We'll just have to show up for visits around dinnertime a lot," Kieran joked. "Nick was teasing Scorpius about buying lunch tomorrow, but we could probably skip all of our meals tomorrow after what we had tonight."

"But we won't," Al told him, grinning. "Once we smell Dad's cooking in the morning, I'm fairly sure our appetites will come back. Especially since it's been nearly six months since the last time we woke up to those smells."

"For you," Kieran told him. "My House is near the kitchens, so we get to smell breakfast cooking every morning. Any ideas why your Dad is picking now to do all of this, and retire from the Wizengamot – other than because you're done school now?"

"That's certainly part of it," Al said. "This is really just the start, though. Scorpius and I are just the first of the next generation of the Wizengamot. Dad's trying to speed that process up a little. He wasn't quite eighteen when he became a two-seat elder back in ninety-eight, and he has been doing it for twenty-six years now."

"Well, whatever the reasons, I'm with Lily. I definitely want to be there on Monday to see this. It's going to be priceless," Kieran said.

Lily laughed and hugged him. "Let's check with your Mum tomorrow, and make sure we don't have anything on the schedule for Monday. Once we get that WMVN interview out of the way in the morning, I think we're off until after the wedding, but I'm not positive that we didn't have any recording sessions or video shoots to deal with."

Kieran nodded. "We can ask her when we meet at the studios for that interview in the morning."

While they continued talking at the cottage, there were two young couples doing the same at the townhouse too. Nick and Allie were having quite a bit of fun with a still slightly shell-shocked Scorpius, and a very excited Brianna.

"I guess that starting on Monday, your grandfather will have to get used to the fact that when people talk about the Elder Malfoy, they'll be referring to you," Nick joked.

"He's definitely not going to like any of this," Scorpius said with a big smile. "It's probably wrong for me to enjoy that, but I just can't help myself."

Brianna laughed and hugged him. "Nobody's going to give you a hard time about it," she told him. "The fact that you feel a bit guilty about feeling that way says a lot."

"So when are you moving in to your new pad?" Nick asked Scorpius.

"We're supposed to keep things quiet until after the Wizengamot meeting on Monday," Scorpius answered. "I'll at least wait until after that, or word might get around. I'll take a guess and say that they'll probably be announcing my new job as Junior Minister on Monday too, so maybe we can move my things over there on Monday afternoon."

"And then you and Brianna can do a James and Arianna for the rest of the summer?" Nick teased.

"That's a rather brilliant suggestion, Nick," Brianna told him, smiling brightly at him. "I think that's exactly what we should do."

"Like you needed me to suggest it," Nick answered. "With Kreacher and Winky doing meals for you, I'm thinking about coming to live with you too."

Allie laughed. "You do happen to remember we're getting married soon, right?" she asked Nick. "I love Scorpius and Brianna as much as you do, but I do not plan on living with them after the wedding."

"I'm not either," Nick assured her. "We could stop in around dinnertime occasionally – or a lot."

"Yes, we could - occasionally," she agreed. "That's probably what Al, Carolyn, Lily, Kieran, and everyone else who was there tonight is thinking too."

Scorpius stood up and stretched. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but for some reason, I'm completely drained now." He held his hand out to Brianna. "Ready to go up to bed?" he asked her. "The next few days are going to be busy, and we should probably get a decent night's sleep."

Brianna took his hand and let him help her up. "I'm cooked too," she agreed. "Have a good night, guys," she told Nick and Allie. "We'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Bree," Allie said. "You guys have a good night too."

"And finally there were only two left standing – or snuggling in this case," Nick told Allie, kissing her softly.

"We should probably be going upstairs and getting some sleep too," she said. "Even if we won't be in the middle of everything over the next few days, it is going to be busy."

"You're right about that," Nick agreed, "except that cuddling here and snogging you sounds like a lot more fun than going upstairs and climbing into bed all by myself."

Allie smiled at him. "What makes you think you'd be alone? I had every intention of getting changed and then cuddling with you all night in your room."

"What, no sneaking into my room first?" he joked.

"Nick, we're both over eighteen, and we're getting married in about two months. I don't think we'll be shocking anyone by sleeping in the same room."

"Growing up isn't all fun, you know," Nick said as he stood up and helped Allie to her feet too. "I'm going to miss all of the excitement and perceived danger of sneaking around so we could steal a few hours snuggled together – even if we never fooled any of our parents for a second."

"There's a lot of fun things that do go with growing up, sweetie," Allie told him. "I have a feeling that we're both going to like being grownups a lot."

Nick hugged and kissed her before gathering up the six glasses they'd used for drinks after getting home from Grimmauld Place, and took them into the kitchen, where he did a quick cleanup, and then they went upstairs to get ready for bed, and get some sleep before the big shopping day on Saturday.

Al was met by Kieran in the upstairs hallway as he was leaving his room to go downstairs for breakfast, and smiled at his friend.

"Impossible to resist the siren smell of bacon and eggs?" he joked, and Kieran returned his smile.

"Seems so," Kieran agreed. "I think this is the quietest I've ever heard it here on any morning before today, but then it's been quite a while since I've stayed overnight here. There hasn't been room at the inn for a long time."

"There will be soon," Al told him. "I'll guess that Scorpius will move into his new place after the dust settles on Monday, and Brianna will be moving in with him about five minutes later. I'll be moving to my house in Hogsmeade the week after next, after Matt and Rose are married, and they move into their house. I don't know for sure whether Carolyn will move there too, but she'll definitely be a frequent overnight guest if she doesn't. That'll leave Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Lily here, with lots of space for extra guests again. You and Carissa will probably become regular guests for the rest of the summer."

Kieran grinned at Al. "Our holidays this year are looking better every minute."

The two boys had been walking downstairs as they talked, and reached the kitchen, where Harry waved them to sit at the table, smiling at them while he kept working.

"Good morning, guys," he said. "Sleep well?" Al and Kieran both nodded.

"We were just talking about how quiet it was with everyone else gone," Al said. "It was kind of nice not having so much noise to go off to sleep with last night too."

Harry laughed. "Really? There seemed to be a lot more than four doors opening and closing last night to me – or at least four doors opening and closing more than once each. I wonder why?"

Al and Kieran both laughed too. The boys weren't embarrassed about cuddling all night with Carolyn and Lily respectively, and knew that Harry and Ginny didn't mind them doing that anyway.

"Did you forget to put up that muffliato spell again last night, Al?" Kieran joked. "You know Lily and I can't do magic outside of school for another year."

"It must have slipped my mind," Al told him. "I'd be wasting my time anyway, since Dad could get past a spell like that without even trying. Thanks for reminding me, though. The Ministry can't possibly be planning on making Lily wait to use magic outside of Hogwarts until she turns seventeen next May, can they?" he asked his father. "That would be such a waste of all of that talent for nearly a year."

Harry shook his head. "They're supposed to be expediting her NEWT results, and then the Minister is going to give her a special exemption," he told the boys. "I would expect she should have that by sometime next week, and then she'll be able to use magic. They will be making her wait to take her apparition test until then even though she took the course a year early with Carolyn and Brianna."

"I doubt she'll care much about that," Kieran said. "It would have been the year with no magic that she wouldn't have liked."

"See, and I was thinking it was going to be the two school years without you that she wasn't going to be happy with," Harry joked. "Are you and Lily going straight to the WMVN studios after breakfast?" Harry asked Kieran.

Kieran nodded. "Yes. We're meeting Mum, Dad, and the rest of the Weird Sisters there, then we'll catch up with you all at the Mall after we're done."

"Sounds good," Harry told him. "How about you and the other guys?" he asked Al. "Will you go around with the girls or do you own thing?"

"We're going to let the girls do their shopping without us, do a little summer clothes shopping of our own, and hang around together," Al answered. "I may try to get Uncle Owen or Aunt Natalie to meet me and bring copies of the new albums so I don't have to wade through the packed GamePortal store to get them."

"Try offering drinks and cinnamon buns to Natalie," Harry suggested. "They work like a charm."

Lily, Carolyn, and Ginny joined them, and they sat down to eat, then quickly cleaned up and left for the Mall or the WMVN studios. Harry, Ginny, Al, and Carolyn met up with Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna, the group split along girls and guys lines, and the shopping began. Most of the rest of the family were coming to spend the day at the Mall, and part of their shopping time was taken up with stopping to visit with each other as everyone went from store to store, mostly shopping for clothes.

Liam and Frederica were there with his family, and she had a long hug for her Aunt Ginny when she, Meghan, and Myra met up with, and then joined, Ginny and their little group of shoppers.

"Thank-you!" she'd whispered to Ginny as she hugged her. "That was a really amazing surprise last night."

"You're welcome, sweetie," Ginny whispered back. "Hopefully that was a fun way to start your summer holidays."

Frederica laughed. "It was way beyond fun," she assured Ginny.

Ron, Hugo, and Matt met up with Harry, Percy, Al, Nick, and Scorpius while they were wandering around, and joined them for a while to discuss the plans for the rest of the day.

"How are things going for the party tonight?" Harry asked Ron, who laughed.

"Everything will be ready, since I just hired people to do all of the work so we didn't have to worry about it,' he told the other men. "Mum and Dad are having the underage party and campover at the Burrow tonight, so I think they have that all ready to go too."

"I'm not sure that the kids don't have more fun than we do at these parties," Percy joked. "Maybe we should crash their party sometime and find out."

"That'd be pretty funny if we did," Ron agreed. "I guess we shouldn't start something like that, though, or the next thing you know, they'll be crashing our parties too."

They all shopped until noon, and then met for lunch in the food court, where Harry and Ginny each received some extra hugs from Frederica, Hugo, and Rose. Lily, Kieran, Kirley, and Ana had made it to the Mall by then and had already joined boys and girls shopping crews after spending an hour wowing the WMVN studio audience and viewers by performing a few songs and talking about their new albums and tour. A quick bite to eat later, and then the shopping continued for another couple of hours until it was time for everyone to go home and get ready for the parties.

Joel, Sarah, and Dale had stopped by the cottage after shopping long enough to refresh their overnight bags with clean clothes and to add swimsuits before they were on their way again. After a few quick hugs for Harry and Ginny, they were off for their campout party at the Burrow.

"They will be spending most of the summer here," Ginny told Harry after the three teens had whirled through the house and were gone. "The summer babysitting will be here again too, so you'll have a full house most days to keep you busy starting a week from Monday."

Harry nodded, not mentioning that he and Ginny would be gone that first week, since hopefully she and Hermione still didn't know that they were going to be on a surprise twenty-fifth anniversary vacation for the first week of July.

"They seem excited about their party. They must have liked the one last year a lot," Harry said. "They'll have a bit smaller group this year, although I hear that Jason and Brian have been added to their guest list for the night."

"I expect they'll be on quite a few guest lists this summer – including next Friday's wedding. Remind me to check with James and make sure that those boys have appropriate suits for the weddings they'll be attending this summer."

Harry nodded. "I can do that. I'm looking forward to having a couple of family weddings where we won't be the ones working our tails off to get ready for them. All we have to do this year is show up for the parties."

"I'm sure we'll make up for that with weddings over the two summers after that," Ginny told him. "Al and Carolyn's won't be too much work, but you know that the one Scorpius and Brianna will be having next summer, and Lily and Kieran's the summer after that, will both be a lot of work."

"I'm leaning towards Ron's philosophy for both of those weddings – hire people to do it all, and then sit back and let the experts get the work done for us," Harry answered.

When Harry, Ginny, Al, Carolyn, and Brianna were all ready to head out to the party, Scorpius came over to the cottage to meet them so that he could escort Brianna to Ron and Hermione's house. Lily had already left for the Burrow, and would be meeting Kieran there.

They all got drinks, and then split up, Harry and Ginny going to wander around the yard, mingling with the other guests, and Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna going to meet up with Nick, Allie, Karl, and Daphne, who were sitting at a table near an area that was set up for the dance that would follow dinner.

"You're both going to be smiling like that all summer, aren't you?" Carolyn asked Karl and Daphne.

"If we were spending the whole summer in paradise, we'd be smiling like that too," Nick told her. "Sometimes I think the rest of us are doing a lousy job picking our careers. All you need to do is see how happy Gabrielle and Kevin, or Megan and Devon are, and you wonder if we should be getting our heads examined for not wanting to go work on one of their islands."

"Don't ask us to answer that for you," Daphne told him. "We love you guys, but yeah, you just might need your heads examined."

"But not all of you," Karl added. "Rose and Matt's career is a pretty brilliant option to living and working full-time on an island. Doing tours like they're going to be handling will be really amazing too."

"You guys are going to be busy, with everything you've had so far, and moving to the island tomorrow," Brianna told Karl and Daphne. "Did you get all of your shopping done today?"

Daphne nodded. "We did, and it's going to be hectic tomorrow, since we haven't had any time to think about packing, so we'll have to do that in the morning before we leave for the island."

"I haven't even gotten around to unpacking from school yet," Karl said with a laugh. "I'm not sure if that will make things easier or more difficult."

"Is anyone going there with you to help you settle in?" Allie asked them.

"Lily and Kieran are going to come, but we asked Mum and Dad, and Kirley and Ana to stay here," Daphne answered. "I didn't want things there to end up in a big cry-fest. We'll have lots of other times to see them over the summer instead, so we'll do most of the goodbyes here."

"What are you going to do about Quidditch practices?" Nick asked. "Will you have to skip them all summer? That time zone isn't going to be great for Tuesday and Thursday evening practices, since it'll be afternoon there."

Daphne shrugged. "We're still looking at that," she told him. "Hopefully I'll be able to do at least some of them, but if I can't, then there's not much I can do about it. Maybe Grandma Catriona can take my spot on the days I can't be there."

"They might not have you back on the team after watching her play," Al joked. "She's probably still pretty good."

"She certainly helped our team out a lot last summer," Daphne told him. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if she was a lot more than pretty good still. I can hardly believe she's anyone's grandmother – kind of like your grandparents. They're too cool to be that old."

"So while we're on our way to paradise," Karl asked, "what are the rest of you doing tomorrow, and next week?"

"I'll guess that we'll have a trip to the residence tomorrow for us," Al told him. "The rest of the week will be mostly dealing with wedding stuff for Matt and Rose, and helping with the last bit of the move to their new house. The first week back seems to always be really busy."

"The rest of us mostly have the week off too," Nick told Karl. "Allie and I will probably be checking into our respective offices, and you know that Scorpius and Brianna can't stay a week away from politics when they're home, but we'll mostly be hanging out with Matt and Rose, and helping to get them through the week."

"We'll need all the help we can get too," Rose told Nick as she and Matt joined the little group. "You've still got time, mate – think about eloping."

"There is no place on this planet far enough away from the wrath our mothers would unleash on us if we did that," Nick told her. "They both have way too many hours invested in the whole thing to even think about going off and eloping. If we did that, you'd all be going to the Emerald City Centre that day anyway, except instead of a wedding and reception, you'd be attending my funeral and wake."

Rose laughed. "I guess you had better just go with the flow then. We're all rather fond of you, and wouldn't want to see that happen."

"Do you get to hang out with us for a while, or are you just passing through?" Carolyn asked.

"Passing through," Matt answered. "Hopefully we'll have time to chat later after we're done all of the meet and greet."

Rose and Matt moved on, and the others settled in to their chairs, or got up to wander around and visit too. While they were enjoying an hour or so of pre-dinner socializing, over at the Burrow, the underage gang had their pool party in full swing already.

Grandma and Grandpa had received some extra set-up help from Teddy and Stewart in the afternoon, and had portable pools, tents, tables, and chairs ready for the teens by the time they arrived. Kreacher and Winky had offered to provide the food for the underage party, since Rose and Matt's party was being catered. Molly and Arthur had left for Ron and Hermione's once they were ready, and all fourteen of the young guests had either arrived or been delivered.

Lily, Kieran, Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah were now the senior members of the underage club, and the three couples were sitting around one of the pools in lounge chairs, watching the other younger teens as they played, either in the pools or with some of the games that were set up for them.

"You must find this a bit strange being graduated from Hogwarts, but at the underage party," Sarah told Lily.

"A little strange, yes," Lily agreed. "I like these parties too, though, and this time we're the ones getting the Kreacher and Winky meal, so I'm quite glad that this is the one we get to be at."

"If that catered meal isn't really great, I wonder if we'll get some parents stopping by and checking up on us around dinnertime," Joel joked.

"They might think about it," Kieran told him. "I doubt they'd actually do it, though."

"We were shopping with Callie and Mark today, so we didn't hear much about it, but how's your album and the Mega Jam tickets selling?" Sarah asked Lily.

"The Weird Sisters album is slightly ahead of ours in sales, but they're both over a million copies sold today, with most of the shopping day still ahead in the Americas. The concerts will almost certainly be sold out by the end of the weekend, or very close to sold out."

"Your jobs seem so much cooler than ours," she told Lily, "but I really hope you won't be working as hard as you did last summer. I didn't like seeing you so worn out from everything you were doing."

"We're definitely not going to be working as hard this summer," Kieran assured her. "You guys, on the other hand, are going to be running all summer with those Ministry Page jobs."

"No doubt about that," Joel agreed. "Hugo and Emily had the game tester jobs wrapped up already. I do really like the days we help out with the youth sports programs a lot, though. It's fun playing with the kids, and then helping make sure they're getting a decent meal every day."

"The game tester jobs aren't anywhere near all fun either," Hugo told Joel. "Finding the bugs in those games can get downright tedious – especially for some of the study programs we worked on last year. Like we didn't get enough of school work during school, we get to the labs and find out that half of our summer is going to be spent debugging stuff like that instead of the cool games they normally have most of the time."

"Maybe you'll mostly have the action games this summer," Lily suggested.

"We can hope," Emily told her. "Hugo can complain all he wants, but we still have one of the coolest jobs out there."

Hugo nodded. "That is true. Frederica and Liam's jobs are going to be pretty awesome too, though. Working all summer in the Diagon Alley Wheezes store is going to be a blast for them."

"Yes it is," a dripping wet, smiling Frederica agreed as she and Liam joined the other three couples after hopping out of the pool. "Dad wants me to learn about his business from the ground up starting this year, so we're working the store this year, and then maybe we'll spend next summer in his lab and see if we're any good at inventing things too."

"That'll be even more fun next year, then," Hugo predicted.

They spent the next hour or two playing in the water, and having a couple of games of beach volleyball before Kreacher and Winky put on their little dinner. After eating, the teens returned to their play time until dark, when they started a campfire. Kieran got out his guitar, and the seven couples cuddled with each other while they sang along, or listened to the others sing favourite songs, tell scary stories, and then later on, toast some marshmallows and hotdogs for a late night snack.

The party had moved on from dinner to dancing over at Ron and Hermione's by dark, and maybe half of the guests were out dancing in the large level part of the yard that had been set up for that purpose, while the rest of the guests were scattered around the yard in small groups, enjoying a chance to visit with friends and family that they didn't always see nearly often enough.

"Now that you're officially a Medi-Wizard and Medi-Witch, what are you going to do next?" Carolyn asked Serena. "Besides getting married, that is."

Al and Carolyn had been making the rounds, and had stopped to visit with Art and Serena, who'd been sitting with James and Arianna, Aaron and Tracey, Jon and Therese, Andy and Laura, and Mark and Callie for the evening.

"We're taking the entire summer off," Serena answered with a big smile for Art, who grinned back. "Then in September, we'll start our new jobs at the hospital."

"Which hospital?" Al asked. His cousin's smile got even brighter, and Al smiled too. "You guys are going to be living here, aren't you!" he said, answering his own question. "You've taken jobs at St. Mungo's!"

"Five bonus points to Al," Serena joked. "Yes, we are," she confirmed. "We hear this is where all the fun is."

"Darn, and that's why we moved to Romania," Therese joked. "Then when we finally get there, we find out the fun was really here all along."

"I think it will be brilliant having you guys here," Al told them. "James and Arianna, and the others are going to love it too."

"Just don't end up under our care any time soon, Mr Auror-to-be," Art told him.

Al laughed. "If I do ever need to go there, I feel much better about things knowing you guys will be there to take care of me. How do your parents feel about it?"

"Mine are fine with it," Serena answered. "We're really not that far away. I think when your Uncle Charlie is ready to retire from the reserve and just write his books full-time that they'll probably move back here too."

"Let us know well in advance, and we'll sneak over here and hide Uncle Ron's Wizard's Chess board," Carolyn said with a laugh. "If we don't, we may never see him or Aunt Nathalie again."

"You could always take up the game if you wanted to visit with them," Art suggested. "Mum really does love playing chess."

"I grew up with Lily, Art," she reminded him. "I think she had every possible move in the game memorized when she was about four. After you see that happen, it's a bit hard to get motivated to play a game that she can win every time, or at worst duel to a draw. That's probably why she doesn't play against Uncle Ron."

"I could have used that memory during med school," Serena said. "We had a lot of late night sessions over the past three years just sitting around memorizing medical terms."

"Let's skip talk about studying," Carolyn pleaded. "We're still recovering from exams too. What are you going to do with the whole summer off? Do a little travelling?"

Art nodded. "We're going to take a couple of weeks in July to travel around, and we'll take two weeks for our honeymoon, ending it in time to be back here for Nick and Allie's wedding. We'll make a few other trips here to look for a house with Aunt Penelope too, then probably be moving into whatever house we get during the last week of August."

"Well, if you need any help with moving or anything, let us know, and we'll be happy to help," Al told them.

"Or with the shopping for furniture, and decorating and everything too," Carolyn added. "We have some seriously experienced shoppers that are always willing to lend a hand."

"Thanks, guys," Serena told them. "We'll be sure to call if we need the help."

Back at the Burrow, by shortly after midnight, there were just three couples left at the campfire, since everyone else had decided to go off to their tents and get some sleep.

"Now that the others have gone off to bed," Frederica said, "I was wondering what you guys thought about those letters we got from Uncle Harry yesterday."

Hugo laughed. "I thought they were about a twelve or thirteen on a one to ten brilliant scale," he answered, and Lily and Frederica both laughed.

"I did too, of course," she told him. "I'm sort of wondering why he's doing it, though. Any ideas?"

"It's probably just part of his master plan," Lily joked. "You know – the one where he wants to help everyone in the family have the happiest lives possible. How's it going for you so far?"

Frederica grinned. "I'd say it's going absolutely brilliantly."

"Are you guys doing anything exciting tomorrow?" Lily asked Frederica, Liam, Hugo, and Emily.

"We're going to be hanging out with our own families tomorrow," Liam answered. "I'm not sure how we'll get through the whole day apart, but we'll try and suffer through it as best we can."

"I have no idea," Hugo said. "I'm sure it's something wedding-related though, unless Emily and I can escape to her house later tomorrow to get away from it. Do we even have to guess for you? The Sunday after getting back from school usually means a trip to the residence."

Lily nodded. "We'll be doing a stop there in the morning, but then Kieran and I are going with Karl and Daphne to Marauders Paradise and spend the afternoon with them while they settle in to their rooms and get ready to start their jobs on Monday."

"Maybe that's what we should do tomorrow," Hugo suggested to Emily. "Take a trip there and spend a few hours doing the rides."

Emily laughed. "I wish. My parents might understand not hanging out with them this weekend because we're in Rose and Matt's wedding party, and have things to do, Hugo, but they would not understand us going to play on the island instead of spending the day with them after not seeing them for the past six months."

"I suppose," Hugo agreed. "We should probably all go get some sleep regardless, since it's going to be busy whatever we do."

He and Liam took care of the fire, and the three couples went off to their tents, each of them quickly getting changed before picking out three bedrooms and snuggling close with their respective boyfriend or girlfriend for the rest of the night. The getting some sleep came sooner for some, and later for others.

Rose and Matt never did seem to get that time to sit down with their friends and just have a nice long visit anytime during the night, since there always seemed to be just one more thing to do. By two in the morning, the last guests were heading home, everything had been cleaned up, and they were in the sitting room with Ron and Hermione, taking a moment together before they all went up to bed.

"That was a very long night," Rose said. "A lot of fun too, but really long. I'm absolutely beat."

"You should be tired," Hermione told her. "I didn't see you guys stop all night. It's a good thing we can sleep in tomorrow – the one really brilliant part about having the underage party at the Burrow instead of here this time around."

"The down side will be not having Al and Rose making us up those great breakfasts, though," Ron said wistfully.

"We'll take you to the Diner for brunch instead, daddy," Rose told him. "That way you can sleep in and still have that great breakfast too."

"Deal," Ron said, getting to his feet. "Let's go get that sleeping in part of your plan started, and go from there."

There wasn't much sleeping in late going on at the cottage or the Burrow on Sunday morning. Harry and Al were up by eight cooking breakfast for six, while over at the Burrow, Grandma and Lily were doing the same, except cooking for sixteen instead of six.

"While Ginny and I are at the residence, you and Scorpius should go over the books I brought here for you so you'll be ready for Monday," Harry told him. "We're doing a pool party this afternoon with Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, Isabelle, and the girls, so you'll want to get it out of the way so you can take it easy with us for the rest of the day."

"We can do that," Al agreed. "Scorpius probably knows all of it inside and out anyway, since he's worked at the Ministry, and has his NEWT History."

"Probably," Harry said, nodding. "It should only take a couple of hours at most."

"So what are you going to do with all of the extra time once you're done with the Wizengamot?" Al asked, and Harry laughed.

"I've lost count of the number of times I've passed on jobs or projects to other people, sure that things would slow down for me and I could take it easy for a while, but something new and interesting always comes up, and I'm off on another crusade or project," Harry answered. "I don't even bother worrying about what to do with that spare time, since it just seems to take care of itself."

"Well, you do still have a few student works-in-progress around here for a few more years, and the Canons, and Mark's racing career. Don't rush out and start up too many new projects quite yet," Al advised. "Maybe you and Lily can do a little travelling or something starting in September. She'll be a Kieran short of a full SpellBound for a few months, and as long as you're back for Hogsmeade weekends, she'd probably be ready for a little time away from it all."

"That's a pretty good idea," Harry agreed. "She and I will have to talk about that. I guess travelling this summer is out for you and Carolyn, unless you do some on the weekends."

"We're thinking about getting away for a few weekends if we can manage it, but there's a lot of weddings going on, so we may not really get that many chances. There are five weddings on four weekends alone, and I'm not even sure how many other family functions we'll be having."

"That reminds me," Harry said, listening to make sure Ginny was still upstairs. "I know you were talking about moving to Hogsmeade next week, and I'd like you to keep talking about that, but your mother and I are going to be gone that week, and I'd appreciate it if you and Carolyn would hang out here one more week before moving up there, since we will have Carissa, Amy, and Millie running their daycare here all week, and Joel and Sarah will be working at the Ministry all day."

Al nodded. "Of course, Dad. I wasn't even thinking about that. We'll stay here and I'll hang out here during the days while Carolyn's at work with Grandma."

"Thanks, Al. I appreciate it," Harry told him.

They had breakfast, then Harry and Ginny left for the Burrow to meet up with Lily and Kieran for their trip to the residence, while Scorpius and Al cuddled with the girls on sofas in the sitting room and started going through the books that covered the general history, and all of the rules, regulations, and procedures for the Wizengamot while Carolyn and Brianna chatted and watched WWVN.

"I'll be following your lead, mate," Al told Scorpius. "Hopefully I won't make too many mistakes as we go along."

"Callie will keep you boys from doing that," Brianna said confidently. "Uncle Harry says she's the best assistant at the Ministry already. You two better find out what kind of bonuses she's getting from him, and keep it up, or someone else will scoop her from you."

Al laughed. "I think we can manage to outbid anyone to keep her."

"Absolutely," Scorpius agreed. "Whatever it takes."

It took Al and Scorpius until just before noon to get through their study material, and then Al and Carolyn went into the kitchen to start making lunch for when Harry and Ginny got back, while Scorpius and Brianna went outside to set up portable pools, tables, and chairs.

"I wonder what happened to Joel and Sarah?" Carolyn asked. "It just dawned on me that they're not back from the Burrow yet."

Al shrugged. "I just figured they ended up either going with Mum and Dad, or went with Teddy, Victoire, and their gang, depending on who was going to be having more fun."

When their friends came in a few minutes later with Harry and Ginny, they had the answer to that question. The four couples sat down for lunch, and Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna got the scoop on the latest news from the residence while they ate. They were just finished cleaning up when they heard a group of cars roll into the driveway all at the same time, and they went outside to find four extra cars in the drive, since Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle had all decided to drive over, each sportscar carrying one driver, and one seriously fired up teenager.

"Are we out playing today?" Ginny asked as the hugs began.

"Yes, we are," Teddy answered. "We also heard that there was a certain beautiful young witch with a new driver's license wanting to take my roadster out for a spin too."

Carolyn grinned at him, her eyes flashing with excitement.

Teddy's smile was just as bright as he tossed her the keys. "Take care of her, Carolyn. She's all yours now. Happy we had to wait until now to surprise you belated birthday."

He laughed as she launched herself into his arms for a long hug and then kissed his cheek.

"Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!" she said excitedly.

"I think she likes her present," Harry quipped.

"You think?" Victoire said, laughing as she got hugged too.

"Don't worry about poor Teddy," she told Carolyn when she saw her coming down from her excitement when she started thinking about Teddy giving up his favourite sportscar for her. "He has a shiny new one being delivered next week, and we know you'll love this one just as much as we did."

"I will," Carolyn promised. "Thank-you!"

"Why don't you go take your fiancée for a drive, and we'll get to the pool party part of the day while we wait for you to get back," Teddy suggested.

The rest of the group watched as Carolyn and Al drove off in the roadster that she'd loved since the first time she'd seen it, and then turned to walk around to the back of the cottage.

"So are you getting another roadster or something else?" Ginny asked Teddy.

"What can I say, I love those roadsters, so I have a 2024 version coming. They're quite a bit different looking than this one, but they're still really beautiful machines."

"Well, I think you're brilliant," Brianna told Teddy, hugging him. "Thanks for doing that for my best friend. I'm sure she'll put getting engaged to Al ahead of getting that car for a gift, but not by very much."

While Carolyn was taking Al for a drive, and the rest of the gang at the cottage were starting their pool party, Lily and Kieran were at his house, getting ready to leave for Marauders Paradise with Karl and Daphne. She'd spent the morning with her parents, and packing for her summer on the island, and he'd done the same here. It took them about fifteen minutes to say goodbye to Kirley and Ana, and then the two young couples took the TransPortal to Marauders Paradise.

Before they left, they'd sent Karl and Daphne's luggage on ahead, Translocating them to the locations that Gabrielle had sent ahead for them that put their things directly into their rooms. Gabrielle was waiting for them at the TransPortal terminal, and hugged each of them.

"Welcome to your summer jobs away from home," she told Karl and Daphne. "Let's start by showing you your quarters, and then we'll go have breakfast together – or lunch for you guys."

The rooms that were at the hotel for temporary and summer staff were located on all floors of one corner of the original hotel building where there wasn't a view that was nice enough for the hotel guests. The two-bedroom suites were exactly the same as every other two-bedroom suite in the hotel, just with nothing to look at but the edge of the copse of trees that butted up against that corner of the building, blocking the view of either the beach or the pools.

"Your luggage is in the two bedrooms already," Gabrielle told them, handing them each a keycard on a lanyard. Each card also had their own picture on it, with their names and the hotel crest and other information. "These cards open the door to this room, and also to any employee only doors on the island, so keep them with you at all times."

"We're in the same suite?" Daphne asked, seeming surprised.

"We can change that after if you want," Gabrielle told her, smiling at both of them. "Your parents, and Kirley and Ana thought that'd be a waste of time and space, though. Since they obviously didn't tell you that we met to discuss what you'd be doing on the island all summer, I'm guessing they're all having a pretty good laugh about now."

That might be true, but Lily and Kieran were both laughing by then as well.

"We're having a pretty good laugh right here," Lily told them. "Don't worry about it guys. You're going to absolutely love this setup. Let's go get something to eat, and Gabrielle can tell us all about what you'll be starting out with tomorrow."

Lily and Kieran spent the entire morning, island time, with Karl and Daphne. They had breakfast, and Gabrielle talked with them about what they'd be doing over the coming weeks as they learned how to do most of the jobs on the island. After that, they wandered the island shops for a while, and caught the morning water show out on the bay before they went back to the hotel, where Daphne and Karl said goodbye to their friends just before lunchtime, and Lily and Kieran took the TransPortal back to the cottage in time to join the rest of their family for dinner.

"Are they getting settled in okay?" Ginny asked Lily after she and Kieran had returned.

"They are so brilliantly happy, I have no doubt that even if they don't end up with jobs there after graduating, that they'll definitely be working at some tropical paradise somewhere."

"I'd say that either is possible," Harry told her. "Especially since I happen to know that your grandmother has a third tropical resort in the works right now, and they'll definitely be openings at both Marauders Paradise and Marauders Escape, and on the new island too."

"Funny how the timing for these things just seem to work out perfectly," Lily said, grinning at her father. "You'd think it was all planned."

"What are the chances," Kieran joked. "Let's go get in on a little swimming," he suggested. "We spent all morning on the island and didn't even get around to going in the water even once."

Kirley and Ana joined them for dinner, and then after spending a quiet evening together, all of the guests left for home, either driving home or by more mundane magical means, leaving Harry and Ginny with their full contingent of seven teenagers for the first time since they'd gotten back from school.

"I've got a session of the Wizengamot tomorrow morning," Harry told the kids, since three of them were not in the loop on what would be happening tomorrow. "How would you feel about coming to see that session instead of hanging around here, and then maybe we could do lunch and spend the afternoon playing at the Mall in Paris."

"That sounds suspiciously like bribery to get us to go spend the morning learning some obscure lesson about politics," Dale told Harry with a grin, "but it's definitely a bribe that's going to work on me as long as Carissa's coming too."

Harry laughed. "If Carissa is agreeing to the same bribe about now, then she definitely will be coming. How about the rest of you?"

"We're in," Joel said after exchanging nods with Sarah. "I can show Sarah around too so she gets used to the place before we start work in a week."

"Ditto for the rest of us," Brianna said. "You know if it has to do with politics, Scorpius and I are good to go."

Harry looked at his watch. "Well, it's after ten, and if I'm going to be able to keep up with all of you tomorrow in Paris, I better go get some sleep."

He and Ginny went up to bed then, and over the next hour, the rest of their gang followed, with Al and Carolyn being the last two in the sitting room. They were snuggled on the sofa they'd been sharing all evening, and deciding whether to join the others, or cuddle for a while longer.

"We really should get to sleep you know," Carolyn said quietly. "Much as I'd really rather stay here."

"I know," Al agreed. "Doing rides in Paris is hardly going to be the big part of our day."

Carolyn smiled up at him. "In case I don't get the privacy to tell you in the morning, good luck, and have fun. It's going to be a really brilliant morning."

Al returned her smile, and leaned forward to kiss her softly. "Thank-you, Carolyn. If you get the chance from the visitor's gallery, take pictures of the Wizengamot members who are always fighting against Dad and our side. Some of their expressions may be priceless."

"Oh, yeah, they will be," she agreed.

Harry was up cooking breakfast on Monday morning like it was any other day, and Ginny and the kids eventually all made their way down to the kitchen, where they talked about their plans for the day like they did every morning. They left for the Ministry of Magic together at just before nine o'clock. When they made their way through the Atrium, and through security, Harry took Al with him to his office, while the others split up too. Joel and Brianna took Sarah and Carolyn on a tour, while Ginny took Dale and Lily with her for a visit to see her father before they'd be going down to the Wizengamot courtroom level for nine thirty.

Percy and Scorpius met Harry and Al in his office, and the four Wizards sat down to talk before Harry would need to leave for the Wizengamot session.

"The notice is already out this morning that Scorpius has been named Junior Minister for the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and will hold our seat on the International Magical Trading Standards Body," Percy reported with a broad smile. "It's pretty lively out there right now, and the paper airplanes are really flying."

"Wait a bit if you think they're flying now," Harry said, laughing. "It's going to get better."

"No doubt," Percy agreed. "A whole lot better. Are you two ready?" he asked Scorpius and Al, who both nodded.

He handed the boys two small packages. "You're Wizengamot robes are in those packs – they're undetectable expansion packs. You know what you're supposed to do, so wait until right before you're called in to put them on. I'd be there for you, but we wouldn't want to give anything away, so you three have fun, and I'll talk to you again after work."

He hugged both young men, and then left for his own office, leaving Harry, Al, and Scorpius on their own.

"I'll head down in a few minutes," Harry told them. "You two go do your little walk around, and then make your way downstairs long enough after nine thirty so that the doors are closed. Ginny will send you the QuillMessage when the floor is opened for new business, and you'll be let in when I request it, so you won't have much time between the message and the doors opening to put on your robes."

"We'll be fine, Dad," Al told Harry. "Go have fun, and we'll see you in a bit."

Ginny had met up with all of the teens who now sat with her in the courtroom as the doors were closed after the last members of the Wizengamot had entered and taken their seats. Nick and Allie had come with Percy, and Carissa, Amy, and Millie had come to the Ministry with Grandpa Weasley, and met up with Ginny and the others at his office. Kieran had come by himself, and had met them in the hallway outside of the courtroom just a few minutes before they came in and sat down.

The kids who didn't know why Scorpius and Al were absent all looked surprised that the two boys hadn't made it there in time. There weren't a lot of Witches and Wizards in the spectator section, so they had lots of room, except for a few bored-looking court reporters, and there was no way that the two boys could just be sitting somewhere else.

"Al and Scorpius didn't make it," Sarah whispered. "Now they're going to miss the session."

Ginny shrugged. "Scorpius probably got tied up," she told the kids. "You read that memo announcing his new job, and he knows a lot of people here. He probably got stopped every few desks by people wanting to congratulate him."

"Is being named a Junior Minister that big a deal?" Dale asked, and Ginny nodded.

"A very big deal," she agreed. "Witches and Wizards usually work years or even decades to get to that level. I'm not sure anyone has ever started that high right out of school, but then Scorpius is a very talented young man. I don't think anyone else, besides Brianna, of course, who can say they have gotten major laws passed when they were only sixteen either."

The session was called to order, and over the next forty-five minutes, all of the scheduled business was taken care of, with several votes, and another few proposals tabled for further review and revision. When everything was done, the court secretary called for new business, and as Harry stood, Ginny tapped her WiComm, sending her already prepared message to Al and Scorpius.

"Thank-you," Harry began. "Witches and Wizards of the Wizengamot, I would like to thank all of you for the honour of working with you for the past twenty-six years." He handed a few pages of parchment to the court secretary before continuing.

"Today I'm advising the court that I am retiring from this body, and have selected my successors for the Black and Potter family seats." He turned to the guard at the doors and smiled brightly, ignoring the commotion his words were causing all around him.

"If you would be so kind as to admit the young Wizards who are waiting outside, please?" he asked the guard, who nodded, and moved to comply to the request.

"Would you please join me in welcoming my son, Albus Severus Potter," he asked the now shocked members of the Wizengamot as Al stepped into the courtroom.

"Albus, and his progeny will take up the mantle and responsibility for the Potter family seat of the Wizengamot in perpetuity," Harry continued as a smattering of applause welcomed Al to the courtroom as he stepped up and joined Harry.

"For the Black family seat, it is my distinct honour to present the great grand-nephew of Orion and Walburga Black to come and take his place as the head of the Black Family estate, and as the Wizengamot member for the Black Family seat. Please join me in welcoming Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy to the membership of this august body. He, and his progeny, in perpetuity, will serve the Wizengamot and our Magical World with what I'm certain will be honour and distinction."

Scorpius had walked into the courtroom as Harry had been speaking, but the scattered clapping that had begun for Al had died away as the majority of the members of the Wizengamot stared at him as he walked across the room and joined Al and Harry.

That was a long drawn out moment, and then the Minister of Magic, along with Arthur Weasley, Horace Slughorn, and most of the other members that were on Harry's side of the Wizengamot began to applaud, as did Ginny, all of the kids, and the reporters and the few other visitors who had just been privileged to witness a completely unexpected and unannounced political bombshell.

When the applause died down, the Minister of Magic and the court secretary looked over Harry's paperwork, and then the Minister stood and turned to face Harry.

"Elder Potter, your paperwork is in order, and your named successors are duly noted," he said formally. "Do you understand that through your actions today that you forever release any claim to either the Potter or Black family Wizengamot seats?"

Harry nodded. "I do so understand," he answered clearly.

"Very well, then," the Minister said. "I am pleased to acknowledge Elder Albus Severus Potter as the rightful, hereditary member of the Wizengamot for the Potter family seat, and Elder Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy as the rightful and hereditary member of the Wizengamot for the Black family seat. Gentlemen, please take your places, and welcome."

Once the two young men had done that, the Minister returned his attention to Harry.

"I would also like to thank Harry for his twenty-six years of service to our court, and ask you all to join me in expressing that thanks to him for everything he has done for the Wizengamot, and the Wizarding World."

Up until a few moments ago, there had been forty-nine members of the Wizengamot, and the court secretary. There were now a full compliment of fifty members, and twenty-nine of them stood immediately to give Harry a standing ovation, followed moments later by a reluctant, and still stunned twenty-one members, since while there might not be very many viewers, the Wizengamot sessions were still shown on the Ministry of Magic's own WWVN political network, and they all knew that this part of the session would be all over the WWVN news by tonight.

Harry bowed to the Minister, hugged Scorpius and Al, and then stepped down and joined Ginny and the kids in the spectator section, hugging her briefly before removing the Wizengamot robe he no longer had the right to wear, and sitting down next to her.

The court secretary asked for any other new business, and nobody was surprised when there was none, and the meeting was quickly adjourned.

The group of Wizengamot members who were on Al and Scorpius' side of the political aisle gathered around their two new members to congratulate them, and the other twenty-one members all quickly bolted for the door.

"They seem to be in a hurry," Ginny commented dryly. "I wonder why?"

Harry laughed. "I'm sure they're all rushing off to scheme and see if they can turn this news to their advantage. Dad's going to take care of Al and Scorpius. Let's get out of here, and we'll meet them in Paris when they can get there." He smiled at the teens in their group who were still stunned by what they'd just seen.

"We can get drinks and tell you about it when we get to the Mall," he told them quietly. "Just hold your curiousity until then."

He was asked for comments from the few court reporters that were now scrambling to cover the story, and so it took about fifteen minutes to get out of the courtroom and on their way out of the Ministry. They were sitting at several tables in one of the patio restaurants at the Atrium of the Paris Marauders Mall by about a half hour after the end of the Wizengamot session, and the grilling from the kids began.

"So Al and Scorpius were probably just tied up, were they?" Joel asked Ginny, who grinned at him.

"It wasn't a total fib," she told him. "They were tied up with something else."

Joel nodded. "Yeah, they were tied up with the political play of the year. Talk about dropping a bomb! Elder Scorpius Malfoy, head of the Noble House of Black. That was a brilliant move."

"Why thank-you," Harry said, grinning like a little kid. "It was a fair bit of fun too."

"So why do it this way?" Sarah asked. "Your retirement should have been a big deal, not to mention how big the rest of the story is."

Harry laughed. "The rest of the story will be big now anyway, and I'm very glad to get out of there with just a few hasty questions from the reporters and pretty much be done with it. I can play the game, but I've never ever liked politics, and I'm glad to be done with it."

"If it's such a lousy job," Dale asked, "then why are you sticking Al and Scorpius with it?"

"Mostly because it's their time now, and they're the ones meant to do those jobs. You watch – they're going to do brilliantly."

"That wouldn't surprise any of us," Carissa said. "Thanks for bringing us to see it, Uncle Harry. It's pretty cool to be one of only a very few people that got to see a little piece of major history happen."

It had been a bit after eleven when Harry, Ginny, and their group arrived at the Mall, and it was nearly twelve before Al and Scorpius managed to get away from the Ministry and join them.

"Having fun?" Ginny asked as she hugged them.

Scorpius' smile said it all. "That was just so amazingly great!" he said enthusiastically. "There is no way you could have timed that any more perfectly."

Brianna hugged him next, while Carolyn hugged Al. "I took lots of pictures," Carolyn whispered to Al. "Priceless doesn't come close to describing the looks on the faces of some of those Elders."

While they sat down for lunch in Paris, back home, Narcissa Malfoy was having lunch with Draco and Astoria at a little café in Falmouth, where they'd gone to run a few errands for the morning. Harry, Ginny, and the kids might all be having fun at their lunch, but the best that could be said for the lunch with the Malfoys would be that it was polite and cordial.

They ordered their food, talked politely about mundane, unimportant, and mostly safe issues while they ate, and then went back out into town to finish their shopping before returning to Malfoy Mansion shortly after two in the afternoon.

Draco and Astoria were in their private suite of rooms when they heard his mother scream in anguish, and they both ran toward where they could now hear her loud wails. It took a few moments to narrow their search down, and when they came to a sliding stop at the open door to Lucius Malfoy's private study, they stared in through the door in open-mouthed astonishment.

Lucius Malfoy, one of the top lieutenants to Lord Voldemort was sitting cross-legged on the floor of his study, playing with the pieces of his Wizard's Chess set as if they were little toys. Narcissa was crumpled to the floor next to the door, sobbing uncontrollably, and the only other occupant in the room was an Owl that was lying on a table near the window. It was unconscious, but the slight rise and fall of it's body was evidence enough that it was still alive.

"Play!" Lucius demanded, looking up at Draco and Astoria, a childish grin on his face. "Play games!"

"In a moment, Lucius," Draco said quietly before going to put his arms around his mother.

"Crying," Lucius said. "She yelled too. Hurt my ears," he added, covering his ears for emphasis. "Why is the lady crying?"

Narcissa buried her face in Draco's shoulder and continued to cry uncontrollably. Astoria walked over to where she saw a folded sheet of parchment lying discarded on the floor not far from where Lucius' wand lay. She picked it up, and her face paled, then flushed as she read the contents of the letter.

"Draco," she said in a whisper-soft voice, "you need to look at this."

She took the letter over to him, and he read it quickly, the contents enough for him to piece together what had happened.

"Those idiots!" he said. "We've warned them over and over to make sure we're here before sending any news that could get father worked up!"

"What is it, Draco?" Narcissa asked him.

Draco took a deep breath, helped his mother to her feet, then sat her down in one of the comfortable armchairs before telling her.

"Mother, this letter was sent to inform us of a few things that happened at the Ministry of Magic this morning while we were in Falmouth. Apparently, the day began with an announcement from the Minister of Magic that Scorpius will be starting next week as a Junior Minister for the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

Narcissa stared at him open-mouthed. "That can't possibly be right, Draco. No Witch or Wizard would ever get a position like that right out of school."

Draco shrugged. "I'll check on whether the news is accurate or not in due time, mother. There is more, though." He took another long, shuddering breath to calm himself.

"Harry Potter retired from the Wizengamot at this morning's meeting. He named his second son, Albus to the Potter family seat, and he named Scorpius to the Black Family seat – and specifically referred to him as the Head of the Black family estate, and as the great grand-nephew of Orion and Walburga Black."

He watched as Narcissa slumped in her chair, and just stared dumbly at her son, unable to speak at all. Draco waited for a moment, but then went over to the Owl to take a look at the bird.

"Astoria, you're better at healing than I, could you please look after the bird. I'm guessing it was a Cruciatus Curse, but I'm not positive. The Ministry will not be pleased if one of their best messengers needs to be destroyed."

"I'll kill him!"

Draco whirled around to see his mother jumping out of her chair, her eyes suddenly blazing with fury, and looking around wildly. He motioned to Astoria, quietly drew his wand, and stepped in front of his mother.

"Kill whom, mother?" he asked quietly.

"Harry Potter, of course, you dolt!" she screeched at him insanely.

"You mean you'd die trying," he countered. "Or more likely end up like my father – with the mind of a two-year old. Is that what you want?"

She stared at him, fury overwhelming her. "Get out of my way, Draco," she demanded.

"No, mother," he said calmly, but firmly. "I will not. Since father is permanently incapacitated, I am now the Head of our family, and I will have your vow that you will not raise your hand against Harry Potter, or any of his family, his friends, or against my son."

"Never!" she screamed at him.

"Then leave my house, take my father with you, and never return, mother," he said flatly. "Your choice."

Narcissa stared at him, the shock of his cold words momentarily draining the fury and insanity from her in an instant.

"You cannot – you would not do that to us!" she told him.

"Do you really think so, mother?" he asked icily. "Do you believe that I couldn't do to you what you forced Astoria and I to do to our own son – your own grandson?"

Narcissa stared into the cold eyes of unyielding truth, and then drew herself up, drawing her wand and pointing it at her son, the fury and insanity returning in her desperation and anguish.

"Lucius was right all along," she said shrilly. "You are a traitor to the blood. If our line must die here, then so be it!"

Draco was ready, and unknown to Narcissa, Astoria had already opened the power sharing between herself and Draco, their love for each other multiplying it immeasurably.

"Impervious Totalis!" Draco shouted as his mother attacked. His shield blazed into place before her killing curse reached him, and it was dispersed harmlessly when it struck the impenetrable barrier.

Narcissa, in her momentary insanity, had been so certain of her victory, that she did not defend herself, and suddenly her wand flew out of her hand and shattered against Draco's shield. He then bound her, and stared at her in disbelief, pain, and anger.

"You would kill your only son to protect what, mother? Is there no price that's too high to pay for you and those toothless, powerless, bigoted old fools? Your time has passed, father has made his last stupid mistake, and his fate is of his own making. You will choose to give me that vow now mother, or we will call the Aurors, and you can spend the rest of your life in Azkaban for attempting to kill me with an unforgivable curse. Choose now."

Narcissa's eyes went wide for a moment, then the will seemed to drain out of her as the full impact of her defeat registered on her, and a modicum of sanity returned. Draco nodded once, released her bindings, and then sat her in the same chair again, and motioned for Astoria to stand over them and help them execute his mother's unbreakable vow, making sure there were absolutely no loopholes that she could wiggle her way through. When it was done, he stepped away from her, and she slumped into her chair.

"So what will you do with us now?" she asked him dully.

"I will set you up in one wing of the mansion, and we will hire staff to help you care for father," Draco told her.

"Then Astoria and I will attempt to save our family fortune from the brink of ruin that father has brought it to since being released from prison. We will not be able to keep what happened to father from your closest friends, but we should try to keep it private if we can."

"Will I be a prisoner in my own home?" she asked him.

"It is my home now, mother," Draco told her. "Do not forget that. No, you are not a prisoner, and are free to come and go as you please. It's up to you whether the rest of your life is a good one or not. The only restrictions we will all have is with the amount of money we can afford to spend. When Astoria and I have fully reviewed our current situation, we will let you know what sort of budget we will need to maintain for the near future."

"It seems I have no choice," Narcissa told him. "Will you help me to get your father to our quarters?"

"Of course, mother." He looked into her eyes, and she could see the deep sense of regret shining out from his soul. "Maybe some day you can forgive me, mother. I do love you even though I have not been able to believe in the things you believe for a very long time."

Narcissa didn't answer him, but something deep inside of her broke at the compassion in her son's voice – the son she only moments ago tried to kill.

Draco leaned over his father, who looked up at him and smiled.

"Play now?" Lucius asked hopefully.

"Yes," Draco told him gently. "We'll play now, but let's go to another place where you can play, and then I'll go find you some other toys to play with. How about some toy dragons?"

"Yes!" Lucius said, jumping excitedly to his feet. "Play with dragons!" Draco smiled as his father happily took his hand, and allowed the younger man to lead him out of the study and toward the Master suite that would very soon be the rooms that Draco and Astoria would be living in as he took responsibility for caring for his parents, and the tattered remnants of their family estate. Narcissa, still in a state of shock and confusion, followed her husband and son out of the study in silence as she watched Draco's gentle handling of his father.

Astoria turned her attention to the injured Owl, and drew her wand. Draco had been the only other person in her whole life who knew that she wasn't just good at healing spells, she was exceptional. In just a few minutes, she had the Owl completely healed, and after finding it a treat, sent it on it's way back to the Ministry, none the worse for wear. By the time she was finished, Draco had returned to the study, and closed the door behind him, shutting them both in, before meeting her near the centre of the room, and taking her into his arms for a long, sweet embrace.

"Can you believe he was undone by attempting to torture an Owl?" he asked softly. "It's just all so incredibly stupid."

"It's incredibly brilliant," Astoria told him. "You were brilliant. Now we can try to fix all the damage your parents have done for so long."

Draco nodded. "Yes we can, and we will," he promised before kissing her and then lifting her into the air and twirling her around. "We were brilliant, weren't we? I love you, Astoria Malfoy."

"I love you too, Draco Malfoy," she answered, kissing him again. "I think we're finally about to start the 'for better' part of our wedding vows."

"I know we are," he agreed. "If it's okay with you, I'll spend the rest of our lives working on that for better and see if we can maybe work our way up to great or even brilliant."

Astoria laughed and kissed him again. "You're off to a good start right now," she told him. "Let's get to work, though. We have a lot to get done, and we're going to have our hands full for quite some time to come."

"Yes we do, and together, we will," Draco said with a nod. They heard a loud crash from the master suite, followed by a loud, childlike wail coming from the voice of a grown man. "Starting with setting up a daddy daycare," he added with a big smile.

Harry and Ginny went on rides and played with the teens for the afternoon before most of their group returned to the cottage, where Harry started in on cooking dinner. Lily and Kieran were going to be having dinner with Kirley and Ana, and went from Paris to his house. Al and Nick went with Scorpius to the townhouse to help him move his belongings to the now incredibly sumptuous master bedroom suite at number twelve Grimmauld Place, while Allie and Carolyn had gone to the cottage with Brianna to help move her things to one of the guest bedrooms that none of them expected she'd be using for anything more than a very opulent change room.

"You'd never know by looking at this master suite that Sirius Black had Buckbeak living here – other than that the room is big enough," Nick told Scorpius. "You're going to love this place."

"I already do," Scorpius told his friends. "I can unpack some other time. Let's go have drinks in the drawing room, and wait for the girls to get here."

Once the three boys had moved to the drawing room, and had each gotten drinks, they stood looking at the Black Family tapestry, reading the names and dates of the family members, and also noting the glaring holes in the tapestry.

"Kreacher must have worked hard to clean this tapestry up," Nick said. "Other than the holes, it looks to be in much better shape than anyone described it being in during the war."

"I wonder why it hasn't been updated?" Al asked. "Your father is the last name on here."

"Let's ask," Scorpius said. "Kreacher!"

The House Elf popped into the room, bowing and smiling.

"How may Kreacher serve Master?" he asked Scorpius.

"We were curious as to why the family tapestry hasn't been updated since my father was born," Scorpius asked the elf.

"Master," Kreacher answered with a bow, "the tapestry can only be changed by the Head of the family. Harry Potter has been able to do this, but has not chosen to do so. Now that you are the Head of the Black Family, it is one of your responsibilities."

"And I can make any changes and additions to it?" Scorpius asked, and Kreacher nodded, bowing again.

"Kreacher can help you with this," he told Scorpius happily.

"Why don't we start with adding my mother's name next to my father's," Scorpius suggested, and practically as soon as he'd finished making the request, Astoria's name and birth year appeared next to Draco's.

"Could you then add my name below theirs, please, Kreacher?" Scorpius asked, and that was immediately added too.

Scorpius nodded, and looked at the rest of the tapestry, then at Kreacher.

"There is another change I would like to make, Kreacher, but before I suggest it, will you promise to tell me honestly whether you approve of the idea or not?"

Kreacher looked surprised, but bobbed his head. "Yes, Master. Kreacher will give you his honest opinion."

"I'd like for Teddy Lupin to be recognized on our family tapestry, but it will also require reinstating his Grandmother Andromeda to the family, adding her husbands Ted and Robert, her daughter, Nymphadora and her husband Remus Lupin to do that."

Kreacher seemed torn between the thought of restoring a name to the tapestry of someone who had been disinherited with how he personally felt about Teddy Lupin.

"The Head of the family has the right to both disinherit members of the family, or reinstate them," he said finally. "You can do this thing."

Scorpius smiled. "You haven't said whether you think I should or not, though," he pointed out, and Kreacher bowed.

"I do not have an answer, Master. I was here when Mistress Andromeda was disowned, but I also know her, and her grandson, and am honoured that they are part of our family."

Scorpius nodded. "Then I will decide for our family," he said quietly. "Please restore Andromeda's name to the tapestry, and add the names and dates for her first and second husband, her daughter and son-in-law, and then add Teddy and Victoire to the end. That way we will at least have two continuing lines for our family tree for the future – or at least we will after Brianna and I are married."

"Yes, Master," Kreacher said. He might not be sure how he felt about this task, but there were tears in his eyes as he added Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley's names to the tapestry. He and Winky had both help with raising those two when they were children.

"Thank-you, Kreacher," Scorpius said with a deep bow.

"You are welcome, Master Scorpius," Kreacher said, bowing again. "Will there be anything else?"

"Yes. I would like to know who these other Witches or Wizards were, and why they were disowned by the family," Scorpius told Kreacher, pointing to the other holes on the tapestry.

The House Elf bowed, and began teaching the boys about the missing names on the tapestry, and the reasons they were removed.

"Wait a moment, please," Scorpius told Kreacher. "Cedrella Black was disinherited because she married Septimus Weasley? Why do I recognize that name?"

Kreacher bowed and nodded. "Possibly because he is Arthur Weasley's father, Master," he suggested, and Scorpius stared at him in astonishment. "Master must have known that the Weasley's had relationships with the Black family."

Scorpius nodded. "I was under the impression that the relationship was much more distant." He took another deep breath, but knew what he wanted – needed to do next.

"Kreacher, please restore Cedrella Black Weasley to the family tapestry, and their progeny through to today."

Kreacher stared up at him in wide-eyed astonishment, and as he realized _all_ of the names that command would include, he began to shake. Scorpius knelt on the floor next to him.

"I understand, Kreacher," he told the elf gently, "but it is time to put old, misguided beliefs behind us. You know and love every person I'm asking you to add to the tapestry. They have taken both of us in, and made them part of their family. You cannot possibly believe that it is not an honour – and something we should be proud of - that Arthur and Molly Weasley, Ginny and Harry Potter, and all of the others are part of our family. This is a very small repayment to them for all they have given us."

Kreacher looked at Scorpius, then up at Al and Nick. He bowed formally to Scorpius, and then turned to the tapestry. They all watched as the entire Weasley family was added to the tapestry, right down to James and Arianna, and all of the other cousins.

"Thank-you, Kreacher," Scorpius said, hugging the again teary-eyed elf. "I have one last request for the tapestry, but you may consider how best to do this thing, and take care of it when you have decided that, and are able. I would like you to include yourself and Winky on our tapestry. You may also, if you wish, include any other previous family House Elves that you believe deserve the honour."

Kreacher was speechless, and Scorpius hugged him again. "When we say you are part of our family, Kreacher, they are not just words to us. You and Winky have as much right to have your names there as any of us – more right than some."

"Kreacher is humbled and honoured, Master," Kreacher said with another deep bow. "Kreacher and Winky will do as you wish. Thank-you."

Both House Elf and Wizard knew that they were done with this task, and Kreacher popped out of sight, while Scorpius stood again.

"That was very cool, mate," Nick said as the door opened, and the girls came in to join them.

"What's very cool?" Brianna asked, coming over to hug Scorpius, who pointed toward the tapestry.

"Kreacher just helped make some updates to the family tapestry for us," he told Brianna.

"You had him add your Mum and you – and Teddy's family – and _ours!"_ Brianna said before hugging him again, and kissing him soundly. "That's brilliant, Scorpius!"

The three couples stood for a few minutes talking about the tapestry and the changes that the new Head of the Black Family had asked Kreacher to make.

"We have to get back to the cottage, Al," Carolyn told him after ten minutes or so. "Your Mum said dinner would be ready by six, and I'm sure that Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope will be here any time now too." She grinned at their four friends. "Make sure you tell us all about what Uncle Percy has heard around the Ministry. I'm sure he's had a very entertaining day to tell you all about over dinner."

Al and Carolyn left the drawing room, went down the grand staircase, and out the front door into the bright late afternoon sunshine, then apparated to the cottage.

"Have fun?" Ginny asked them when they walked into the kitchen.

"We got all of their things moved," Al told his parents. "Then we had time left over, so Scorpius and Kreacher worked on the family tapestry, so it was updated to include Scorpius and his mother. Then Scorpius had Kreacher restore Grandma Andromeda, and her family, through to Teddy and Vitoire, and all of Septimus and Cedrella's family."

Ginny and Harry had both stopped what they were doing to stare at the grinning young couple, and then there was a round of hugs and kisses before they went back to work again.

"We thought it was pretty awesome too," Carolyn told them. She sat down with Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa while Al poured two glasses of wine before joining her at the table and setting one of the glasses down in front of her.

"Thanks, Al," she told him. "Any news reaching you about the big day at the Ministry yet?" she asked Harry and Ginny.

"Nothing we haven't already discussed from the qm's we've been getting this afternoon," Ginny answered. "We may not hear about much from the other side of the Wizengamot aisle for a few days. Those twenty-one members have suddenly gone very quiet, and not even Horace is getting anything from his contacts."

"I'm sure they'll resurface in a day or two," Harry told them. "They're probably just trying to figure out whether they can gain some advantage first, although they may not try to act for some time yet."

"I get that they were surprised about your retirement today," Dale told Harry. "But why were some of those Elders so upset – mostly about your naming Scorpius to your second seat?"

Ginny smiled at Harry and he nodded that she could go ahead and take that one, while he kept working. She poured herself a glass of wine, and sat down with their kids, across the table from Dale and Carissa.

"That question needs to start with a family history lesson that you, Carissa, Sarah, and Joel wouldn't likely know about," Ginny began.

"Me and my big mouth," Dale joked, and the others laughed.

"You'll know a lot of the stories from the war, and probably many of the families that fought on both sides of the war, right?" she continued, and all four of their 'summer students' nodded.

"The Black family has always been firmly on the side of those pureblood Witches and Wizards who have fought for their bigoted view of what they think the Wizarding World should be like – I don't think we really need to rehash that, though." She took a sip of her wine before going on.

"Not every member of the Black family was like that, but unfortunately the ones in control of the family, and their wealth, were, and they were a powerful ally for our family's enemies – like the Malfoys, Avery's, Lestranges, and the other old purebloods."

Dale nodded. "That makes sense, and since Uncle Harry said Scorpius is a great grand-nephew of that Orion Black dude, and basically named him Head of the Black Family, then they lost all of that clout, and are wondering why he was named at all, since Scorpius' family are sworn enemies of the Potter family."

"Give the History student an Outstanding," Ginny said with a grin. "That's exactly right. What they don't seem to remember, though, are those members of the Black family that were friends of the rest of the Wizarding World. In some cases, had the order of birth of some of the children been different, the Black family could have been an ally of the Potter family, not an enemy."

"And now they will be," Sarah surmised. "With Scorpius and Teddy leading the way as two of the last heirs."

Ginny laughed. "Actually, there are a few more of us Black family heirs than you might think," she told them. My Grandmother Cedrella was one of the members of the Black family that were disinherited – for marrying my Grandpa Septimus Weasley.

Carissa looked over at Al and Carolyn. "Isn't that the last two names you just told us that Scorpius had Kreacher restore to the tapestry? Septimus and Cedrella? You said he had their family restored."

Carolyn smiled at her young friend and nodded. "He did, and yes, that means all of Grandma and Grandpa Weasley's children, and their spouses and grandchildren are now listed on the tapestry too."

Carissa smiled brightly too. "That's brilliant!" she said. "Do you think we could go and see this tapestry sometime?"

"I'm sure we can probably find time later this week to stop by and show you. By next week, we'll all be busy with our new jobs, so it might be harder to fit in."

Harry began setting platters and bowls on the table, and the conversation moved on as they began to have dinner. The second dinner in just four days was just starting at twelve Grimmauld Place too, with Percy and Penelope joining Nick, Allie, and their hosts, Scorpius and Brianna. Kreacher had happily delivered the first course of the meal, and popped back downstairs to the kitchen to work with Winky.

"I don't think that anyone at the Ministry got anything productive done today," Percy told the others with a smile. "All everyone wanted to to was hang around each other's desks and talk about the Wizengamot meeting. You're Junior Minister job was suddenly not that big of a deal by comparison."

"Has anyone figured out that Uncle Harry meant that he'd given me much more than the Wizengamot seat?" Scorpius asked, and Percy nodded.

"Nobody will have a clue just how big a deal that is, but the rumours have been flying that it would mean you'd get the family home and estate. We won't ever want them to know the full extent of what that means for you and Teddy, though."

"We've kept it in the family this long," Penelope told him, "that won't be a problem."

Percy nodded. "There's something going on with the other side," he continued. "They were meeting with each other for most of the day, but then suddenly, around four o'clock or so, they all left the Ministry, and now we're getting no information at all, and nobody knows what they're up to."

"Do you think they're just meeting somewhere else in private so that we won't find out about whatever they have planned?"

"Probably," Percy agreed. "We'll see how long it is before we find out what those plans will be."

Nick laughed, getting everyone's attention. He grinned when he saw them all wondering what he'd thought was so funny.

"Sorry, I was just laughing because for the last few minutes, I've actually been finding a conversation about politics interesting. Quick, change the subject before I'm permanently damaged."

The others laughed, and took his cue to change topics to less world-shaking events like Friday's wedding, and what they all had going on for the rest of the week. They all enjoyed another amazing Kreacher and Winky dinner, and then after just a short visit in the drawing room to show Percy and Penelope the changes that had been made to the tapestry, which had included their own names, and Nick's name beneath theirs, Scorpius and Brianna saw their guests out, and were left alone in their home. It might not be official for another year or so, but it was definitely their home.

"So now what do we do?" Brianna asked Scorpius as they walked back up the incredible grand staircase and returned to the drawing room. "A whole evening with just you and me, and not a WWVN in sight."

Scorpius grinned. "I'm sure we can think of something to keep busy doing. What can I get you to drink?"

"Another glass of that wine, thank-you," she answered. "We should go and pick up a WWVN receiver for this room, at least, and maybe one for some of the bedrooms for when we have guests. I can live without watching what will be all over the news tonight, though."

"Me too," Scorpius agreed. He waited until she'd sat down on one of the sofas, handed her the glass of wine, and then sat next to her.

"Has all of this started to sink in yet?" she asked him quietly as she snuggled close to him.

"It's started to," he answered. "I have no idea how long it will be before either of us get used to all of this," he added, waving a hand around, and Brianna knew he was talking about the house, the wealth, and everything.

"We will need to sit down and talk with Kreacher and Winky soon," she said with a laugh. "If we keep having meals like this one, and the one on Friday, you and I will end up being very big in the Wizarding World indeed, and not in a good way."

Scorpius laughed. "We'll do that," he agreed. "The four of us are going to have to figure out how this whole Master-Elf thing is going to work for us."

They spent a couple of hours in the drawing room, talking and cuddling, and then went to get ready for bed. Brianna joined Scorpius in the incredibly large, luxuriously comfortable bed, and once they were snuggled close, found that there was still a great deal of open space around them.

"You could fit a not so small family in this bed," she joked, and Scorpius laughed.

"That sounds interesting," he answered. "Maybe we'll find out about that some day. I can fairly easily picture a bunch of kids jumping up into bed in here to wake us up in the mornings, or to cuddle when they've had a bad dream."

"Let's not have that some day come too soon," she told him with a soft laugh. "We're definitely going to want quite a number of years for just you and me to make up for this next year."

"Yes we are," he agreed. "What do we have going on tomorrow? We've been so involved with everything today, I haven't even thought about what's going on for the rest of the week. Do we have anything to work on for Matt and Rose's wedding?"

"We don't have anything specific for tomorrow," Brianna answered. "The one good thing about having Aunt Hermione on the job for this wedding is that she is ultra organized, and even Rose and Matt don't have all that much to do this week, other than some parties, and a few appointments. We have a small dinner to attend on Wednesday night, and on Thursday, you and the other guys are going to help move the rest of Matt's things to their new house so they'll be ready to move in after the wedding on Friday."

"What about the anniversary party on Saturday?" Scorpius asked. "Do Al and Lily need help there?"

"We're supposed to help with set-up on Saturday morning, but I think Lily and Carolyn have had everything else ready for quite a while."

"Whatever will we do with ourselves for the rest of the time?" he joked. "Have we ever had that much free time available during the first week of summer holidays?"

"We managed to keep ourselves entertained tonight," she reminded him. "I think we can manage to find something to fill up all those empty hours with."

She proved that by beginning the first night together in their own home with a brilliant snogging session before cuddling close together, and drifting off to sleep.

In the morning, they were in the dining room, having breakfast. They were seated in two chairs on one corner of the large dining room table so they could be close together, and talk quietly. They were both surprised when an Owl Post arrived, delivering a letter for Scorpius. He opened it, and his eyes widened as he began to read.

Dear Scorpius,

News of yesterday's events and announcements at the Ministry of Magic have reached us at Malfoy Mansion.

We would like you to come to a meeting here at one o'clock this afternoon, as we have several issues to discuss. You may bring any advisors or friends along that you may require to attend.

The Owl will wait for your reply.

Draco Malfoy

Scorpius had read the short letter aloud to Brianna, and had handed it to her when he had finished.

"What could my father possibly want with me?" he wondered aloud. "I've been disowned, and he risks the same to even talk with me."

Brianna saw something that he had obviously missed, though, and was smiling.

"This letter has the Malfoy family signet," she told Scorpius, holding it up to show him.

He stared at it, comprehension dawning on him. "My father is Head of the Malfoy family now?" he practically whispered. Brianna nodded.

"It seems so, Scorpius. Whatever has happened, he would never use that signet as his own without having the right to do so. We must agree to go see him."

Scorpius nodded, got quill and parchment, wrote a quick reply, confirming that he would be there, and sent the Owl off with the reply post.

"Can you send a QuillMessage to Carolyn and see if she and Al could go with us. I'll send one to Nick and ask him and Allie to come too."

"If they can, why don't we meet here for lunch before we go?" Brianna suggested. "That way we can talk things over before we go."

"That's a good idea too," Scorpius agreed.

Brianna's QuillMessage reached Carolyn while they were still having breakfast at the cottage, and so she and Al had a few minutes to talk about it with both Harry and Ginny before Ginny would be leaving for work.

"What do you think has happened for Scorpius' father to ask for a meeting?" Carolyn asked the others.

"I'm afraid there's probably only one reason," Harry said sadly. "For whatever reason, Lucius must no longer be able to act as Head of their family, and Draco has needed to take over."

"You suspect he's broken his vow?" Ginny said, and Harry nodded. "I had truly hoped that he would learn the errors of his ways and live out his life in peace, but since we have heard nothing about his death, then the probability that he's attempted to cause harm to someone and broken his vow is very high."

Al nodded. "You are likely right, Dad." He turned to Carolyn and smiled. "Let Scorpius know that we will definitely be there for him. There is nothing wrong with being cautious, but I do not sense any danger for any of us in going to this meeting."

"I agree," Harry told them. "If you need me, though, call, and I'll be there."

Draco and Astoria were having lunch with Narcissa and Lucius, who was happily playing with his food as much as eating it. At the moment, he was attempting to stand his broccoli up in the mashed potatoes.

"Trees taste icky!" he declared, and even Narcissa was having difficulty keeping a straight face at Lucius' antics.

"They're called 'broccoli', Lucius," Draco told his father gently. "Can you say 'broccoli?"

"Bok-o-li tastes icky!" Lucius told him. "Go play now, Dayco. Wanna go play!"

"You need to eat first," Draco told him. "Then I have a meeting after lunch, and then we can play for a while."

"Pwomise, Dayco?" Lucius asked.

"I promise," Draco agreed, which seemed to appease Lucius, who returned to playing with his trees in between eating the other foods that he did like until he got bored, and was led off to his room by one of the household staff that Draco and Astoria had carefully chosen. They did not want anyone around Lucius who would be holding a grudge against their former boss.

"Why are you doing that?" Narcissa asked Draco. "He will be like that for the rest of his life. Will you play with him, and treat him like that from now on?"

"He's a complete innocent now, mother. He has no idea what he did in the past, so why should we do anything less than make his life as happy as we can under the circumstances? Do you know that playing Dragons with him yesterday for an hour or so was the only fun I've had with him in my entire life? How sad a statement is that?"

"He would not have done the same for you," she told him bluntly.

"That is of no consequence to my decision, mother. I understand that our biggest problem is that we've all cared more about ourselves than about others, and I know how wrong that is." He smiled at her.

"You understood that once, for just a brief moment, when you defied Lord Voldemort and put what you thought was best for me ahead of yourself. You've just forgotten again."

"I still believed you were worthy of being saved," she told him.

Draco smiled. "I was, mother. The good news for you is that I still think that you're worth saving too. You've spent all of these years surrounded by bitterness and hate, but why don't you wait and see how you like being surrounded by hope and love instead. You might just decide that you like it."

"With what you're doing to your father's friends, I'll be alone, with only the two of you to torment me."

"Most of those people were not your friends, mother." Draco told her. "They were nothing more than leeches sucking our family dry. You have no idea how many millions of galleons father blindly gave them, receiving nothing in return but their sycophantic praises. All I did was put an end to that foolishness."

"You don't have to be alone, either, mother," Astoria told her in a soft voice. "We do have other family, and could have other friends. You have a sister, and a grandnephew you've never even met. We don't have to choose to live like we have anymore. Draco and I won't be living like that anymore."

Narcissa was torn between a retort, and the sudden rush of childhood memories that flashed through her mind – memories of her once-favourite sister Andromeda. The sister who had told her that she loved her, even as Narcissa had joined the rest of her family and turned her back on a young woman who had been willing to give up everything for the man she loved. Those thoughts left her with no wish to make a retort, and she had no idea why.

Draco looked at his watch and stood up. "Scorpius and his party will be here shortly. Do you wish to join us and see your grandson again, mother? It's been nearly six years. I would require your promise to be civil with him, and whomever he brings with him."

Narcissa thought about refusing, but was also pulled by curiosity to know what her son was doing. "I will attend, and you have my promise."

Scorpius smiled, came around the table, and hugged his mother. "Thank-you," he told her simply before holding out his hand to her. "Shall we go to the study to await our guests?"

He helped her to stand, then did the same for Astoria, and then he led the two Witches to the study, where he poured them each a glass of their favourite drinks, and they waited the last few minutes until their guests were announced.

Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Al, and Carolyn took the TransPortal to the gates of the Malfoy estates, and stood for a moment looking across the grounds down the driveway that led to Malfoy Mansion.

"It's been a long time," Scorpius said quietly. He took a deep breath, and squared his shoulders. "Shall we go?"

The three couples walked up to Malfoy Mansion, and were quickly admitted by a bowing attendant, and led directly to Lucius Malfoy's study, where they were admitted, and saw that Scorpius' parents and grandmother were there, waiting their arrival.

"Thank-you for coming," Draco told Scorpius. "Can I get you and your friends drinks before we begin?"

Scorpius nodded, and waited while one of the house servants provided everyone with drinks, and then Draco motioned for them to take seats in the chairs around his desk.

"As I explained in my letter," Draco began without preamble, "we were sent word yesterday of your appointment to a Junior Minister's position with the Ministry, and that Harry Potter also named you heir to the Black family estate, and Elder for the Black family seat on the Wizengamot. Was any of that information in error?"

"I am now Head of the Black family, and Harry has divided the family estate between my fiancée Brianna and I, and my cousin Teddy and his wife Victoire. I moved into the Black family home yesterday."

Draco nodded. "That's a bit surprising. I would not have expected that you would have liked Grimmauld Place."

"It has been completely restored," Scorpius told his father. "The family home is quite possibly one of the most beautiful houses I've ever been in, this mansion, or even the Minister's home included."

Draco nodded, and Astoria had tears in her eyes.

"The reason I ask that question is because I want to be certain that you have no need for financial assistance. My understanding is that the Black family estates – or your share of them – have ensured that you are financially secure."

Scorpius watched his father for a moment, trying to see where this was going, but finally nodded.

"That is true, yes," he agreed.

"Very good," Draco said approvingly. "The first reason I asked you to come here was to advise you that I am now the Head of the Malfoy family. Your grandfather is no longer able to continue in that capacity."

Scorpius nodded, but didn't respond, and so Draco continued.

"I asked you those questions first, because I wanted to establish to everyone that my next decision as Head of our family is in no way motivated by money, since you have no need of it. In front of these witnesses, I therefore rescind the disinheritance that was placed upon you by your grandfather, and fully restore you to the rolls and histories of the Malfoy family."

Scorpius stared at his father in amazement, then at his smiling mother, and shocked-looking grandmother.

"Now that you're part of the family, would it be too much of a boon to ask you to hug your mother?" Draco asked his son. "She has missed you terribly these past six years."

Brianna nudged Scorpius, and he smiled at her, then stood and took the few steps to stand in front of his mother, who stood and tentatively put her arms around him. There was nothing tentative about his hug, and she laughed when he lifted her slightly off of the ground.

"You couldn't do that the last time you hugged me," she said when he'd set her down again.

"I've been taking hugging practices while I've been away," he told her with a smile, "and grown a little taller."

Astoria smiled back at him. "Why don't you officially introduce us to your friends - and your fiancée, who I presume is your primary partner in those hugging lessons."

Brianna stood and walked over to join them. "Mother, this is Brianna. Brianna, my mother, Astoria."

Astoria held out her hand, but Brianna ignored that and hugged her too.

"Thank-you for doing this for Scorpius," she whispered while they hugged.

"You're welcome," Astoria whispered back. "It was as much for his father and I too. We have missed so much these past years."

Scorpius had turned to his father, who had come to stand next to Astoria, and hugged him as well.

"Welcome back to the family," Draco told him quietly. "Your mother and I are very proud of you."

"Thank-you, father," Scorpius said. Brianna hugged Draco too, and then Scorpius intrduced Al, Carolyn, Nick, and Allie before they all returned to their chairs.

"The last thing I wanted to talk with you about is more to advise you of a change in our family's involvement in politics," Draco told the three young couples. "As of yesterday, I have withdrawn all of the financial support our family has given to members of the Wizengamot, or to any employees of the Ministry of Magic. I have furthermore called in all debts owed to our family by these individuals and other families. For the foreseeable future, the only Malfoy who will have any involvement in politics will be you, Scorpius. I have other family issues that will require all of my attention for quite some time to come."

"You will have earned some enemies with that decision," Scorpius told him, and Draco nodded.

"Then it's a good thing you will have your son and his friends to stand by you, father. If you need that help, it will be there for you."

Draco watched as not only Scorpius and Brianna, but Al, Nick, Carolyn, and Allie all nodded agreement to what his son had said.

"Let's hope there won't be the need," Draco said brusquely, something catching in his throat that he needed to clear out before continuing.

"Your mother and I hope that over the next weeks and months we can get to know you again, and your fiancée, and friends too, Scorpius. When you're ready, maybe we can start getting together for a dinner now and then, or get together for an evening visit. We'll leave it mostly up to you to decide what you're comfortable with for now."

Scorpius smiled. "We're a bit busy the rest of this week with a wedding on Friday, but why don't we set up a dinner at Grimmauld Place for a week from Friday?" He turned his head to look at his grandmother.

"You would be welcome to come too, Grandmother," he told her. "I believe you would like seeing how beautiful Kreacher and Winky have made the house."

Narcissa looked at him for a long minute, and then nodded ever so slightly. Draco, Astoria, and Scorpius all knew that it was at least a start.

Scorpius stood then, and Brianna, Nick, Allie, Carolyn, and Al did the same.

"Thank-you for inviting me here, father," Scorpius told him, "and for restoring me to the family so I can see you, mother, and grandmother again." He hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"Will grandfather be well cared for?" he asked, and watched as his father nodded.

"We will see that he has everything he needs," Draco assured him, and Scorpius nodded.

He went to his mother and hugged her again, then hugged Draco once more too before leading Brianna and his friends back outside, where they took the TransPortal back to number twelve Grimmauld Place as soon as they'd cleared the gates of the Malfoy Estates.

"He looks like you did at that age," Narcissa told Draco after the three handsome young couples had left.

She could hate the Potter and Weasley families all she wanted, but it was also true that she'd felt a pang of envy at how much her grandson's friends obviously loved him. She had known many close friends over the years, but none of them had been bound by love; they'd been bound by common purpose. She wondered at what her life might have been like with friends like the ones her grandson had instead.

"He does," Draco agreed, smiling at his mother. "It's like looking into a mirror of myself twenty-five years ago. I wish I had that hair back again."

The short burst of laughter was out before Narcissa could help herself, and the sound surprised her as much as it obviously surprised Draco and Astoria.

"Why mother, you have a beautiful 'happy laugh'," Draco told her. "It's a terrible shame we haven't heard it before."

"So what do we do for the rest of the afternoon," Astoria asked Draco.

He smiled and hugged her. "I, my dear, have an appointment to play dragons next. You and Mother have the afternoon open, so maybe you should think about a trip to the Mall in London or Paris, and go looking for something appropriate to wear to that dinner party we have next Friday evening."

Astoria looked both a bit tentatively and hopefully at Narcissa who looked from her to Draco.

"What about your new budget," she asked him, and Draco laughed.

"I saved or recovered a bit over two million galleons yesterday alone, mother. I think we can swing a couple of stylish new dresses and maybe even some matching shoes and handbags."

Narcissa was shocked at the amount, and Draco shrugged. "Father did include me in at least observing his business matters, mother, even if he wouldn't listen to my advice. That's just a tiny portion of the amounts of money he wasted away in his little schemes. Our family would have been completely broke in maybe as little as another twenty years had he continued the way he'd been going." When he saw that she clearly didn't believe him, he shrugged again.

"You're welcome to see our financial records anytime you like, and see for yourself, mother. The problems he has created are obvious to anyone with basic Arithmancy skills. Our family fortune has been declining by millions of galleons every single year for more than thirty years."

"We have time to fix that," Astoria told them. "You two are letting a financial discussion get in the way of a potentially brilliant shopping trip, though, and I just won't have it!"

Draco laughed and hugged her, then hugged his mother too. The look on her face had him laughing again.

"Get used to them, mother," he told her. "As Head of the family, I'm letting you know officially that hugs and kisses are here to stay in this house. Go have fun shopping. While you're out, maybe you could look for a new toy for father. I'm sure he would love the surprise."

While Draco left his mother and wife to go on a shopping trip so he could go play dragons with his father, there were three young couples having glasses of wine in the drawing room at number twelve Grimmauld Place, and having a little celebration.

"Your Dad doesn't seem to be nearly the total git we thought he was," Nick joked. "Your Mum seems really nice, too. Your grandmother's a bit of a downer, but I think I caught her almost smiling once. It could have just been the light from the window, though."

Scorpius laughed. "I can't even describe how great that was for me. This week is either tied for, or has just pulled ahead of that first week coming to live with you back at Christmas in our second year on the list for best week ever of my life."

Brianna laughed. "That's fine, as long as those two weeks move to second and third place after the weeks of our wedding and honeymoon next year," she told him.

"I have no problem with adding lots more best weeks ever to the list," he answered. "This one is always going to be special, though."

"Your last few days would make a best life ever for most Witches and Wizards," Allie told him. "I'd think about asking if Nick and I could come play in your sandbox too if it wasn't for the fact that our lives are starting out just as brilliantly, if a bit different than yours and Brianna's."

"Your father didn't come out and say it," Carolyn said quietly, "but it seems clear that your Grandfather did indeed break his vow, wouldn't you say?"

Scorpius nodded. "No doubt about it," he agreed. "Something happened with Grandmother too. She didn't say one word, for one thing, and she seemed different somehow."

"Your father and mother are different too, mate," Al told him. "It's like they've both just grown up overnight. I think you're going to have some fun watching them become everything they could have been had they not been so firmly under your Grandparent's control."

"I can't believe I'm asking about anything to do with politics," Nick said, "but what do you guys think about what he said about withdrawing all of the Malfoy financial support from all things politic?"

Brianna laughed. 'I think it clearly explains why we're getting no news from the other side right now. There may be quite a few Wizengamot Elders, and Ministry officials who are suddenly facing financial ruin without their primary incomes – or because their debts have been called in."

"This could be very good for our side," Scorpius said. "This decision could end up causing a great number of changes at the Ministry. We'll have to wait and see."

"Maybe your Grandfather won't be the only former Death Eater breaking those vows they made to Uncle Harry," Nick suggested. 'I'm sure that he wasn't the only member of their little group who has been upset by the news."

"We may not hear about it if that does happen," Scorpius said. "Father's words to us make it pretty clear that they are not going to disclose what my Grandfather's true condition is. If the same thing happened to any of the others, they would likely do the same thing."

"We do know who was there that night, though," Allie said. "If any of those Wizards suddenly become permanently ill, we at least will know why."

"Any guesses as to what Lucius did to trigger the vow?" Brianna asked.

Al grinned at her. "Actually, I know, since I couldn't help but pick up the image from Astoria. It seems that he got some unwelcome news by Owl Post yesterday while he was at the Mansion alone, so nobody was there when he took his rage out by placing the offending delivery Owl under the Cruciatus Curse."

"Was the Owl okay?" Carolyn asked, and Al nodded.

"Astoria healed the Owl," Al assured her. "When Scorpius asked if Lucius was going to be well cared for, she was thinking very loudly about him being undone by something so incredibly stupid as taking out his rage on a poor defenceless Owl."

"That is pretty funny when you think about it," Nick said. "The only thing that would have been better than that would be if it'd been because of doing something to a House Elf – now that would have been poetic justice for Dobby."

"This is close enough," Al said. "Dad's right that it's too bad that Lucius just couldn't give up his old ways. We'll see whether your Grandmother, or any of their other old cronies can learn from this."

"That's true, mate," Nick agreed. "There are still a lot of Witches and Wizards out there that would suggest that Lucius Malfoy got far more chances than he deserved, or ever gave any of his victims."

"Which is one of the big differences between us and them," Allie said, hugging Nick. "I think we're all going to get to see one of those second chances pay off through Scorpius' parents."

"If you want to turn the Wizarding World on it's head, Allie, add them to your wedding guest list," Brianna joked.

Allie and Nick both laughed. "That's a brilliant suggestion, Bree," she told her friend. "It's only right that the parents of our best man come – now that he officially has parents again."

That moved the conversation smoothly off to talking about weddings, and they spent a lazy afternoon together talking before it was time to move on to the dinners and other plans they each had for the evening.

Later on Tuesday night, Harry and Ginny were cuddled in their bed, ready to get some sleep. Ginny was working in the morning, and Harry was planning on spending the day playing with the kids.

"I'm glad that Draco has restored Scorpius to the family," Ginny said quietly, "and that they're beginning to patch things up, but you know that he and Astoria are going to need some friends their own age now too. They're probably going to need them a whole lot after what Al and Carolyn said they've done."

"Why am I getting that sinking feeling in my stomach that you mean us?" Harry asked her. "You do vaguely remember that Draco and I didn't exactly have a lot of love for each other back in the day. We haven't been enemies since after the war, but we haven't been drinking buddies either."

"You didn't have a lot of love for Percy back then either, and look how great he turned out," she reminded him. "If our kids can have Slytherin friends, then why can't we at least find out if it's possible or not? If we still don't like them after giving it a chance, then at least we know we tried. I'd say that Draco and Astoria earned getting that chance with what they did for Scorpius today."

"You win," Harry told her. "Will getting Al and Carolyn to send them a last minute invite to the anniversary party be good for starters? Please don't ask me to include Narcissa, though. I'm just not ready for that yet."

Ginny laughed, then hugged and kissed him before snuggling close again. "We'll see if the day ever comes when we're ready for that, and yes, that would be brilliant."

Harry was up early again on Wednesday, cooking breakfast for eight. He'd known that this first week having the kids back home was going to be incredible, since he'd orchestrated a lot of it himself, but even he was finding it hard to believe that this was just day five of the summer holidays. It felt like they'd packed weeks worth of adventure into just a few short days, and they hadn't even gotten to the first wedding of the summer.

Fluffy came padding through the kitchen door, stopped for a long, luxurious stretch, then walked over next to Harry, sat down, and looked up expectantly.

"Good morning, mooch," Harry said. "What would you like for breakfast? Maybe you'd enjoy a nice piece of fruit? How about having a slice of toast? No?" he laughed as Fluffy gave him the look, and tossed her the large piece of sausage he'd already put aside to cool for her.

"Sausage it is, then," he said as she deftly caught it, and then silently left the room to find someplace quiet to enjoy her meal.

"She has got you completely wrapped around her little paw," Al told him when he came in after passing Fluffy just outside of the kitchen.

"Guilty," Harry agreed. "She's fairly easy to please, though. What are you guys up to today?"

"We've got the day open until we have to get ready for the bridal party dinner we have tonight. How about you?"

"I'm thinking play day, but I'm open to suggestions. Before I forget, though, after what happened yesterday, your mother would like you and Carolyn to invite Draco and Astoria to the anniversary party on Saturday."

Al laughed. "That's brilliant. You didn't get very far into your retirement before your first new project came up, Dad. I'm trying to picture you, Uncle Ron, and Draco Malfoy kicking back with a few cold ones and watching a game on QSPN, but the urge to giggle at that mental picture keeps dissolving it."

Harry grinned over his shoulder at Al. "I'm having a bit of trouble with it myself, but your mother is right that they deserve a chance, and he is her cousin after all, even if it is like a fifth or sixth cousin."

"We'll get an invitation on the way to them this morning," Al promised. "Depending on what you all decide to do for your play day, maybe we'll join your for that too."

Nick was having breakfast with his parents Wednesday morning too, and then he and Allie were going to start their morning out with her first visit to the house that she didn't yet know about.

"Stop worrying," Penelope told him. "The house is incredible, and she is going to love it."

Everybody – or at least the few people that knew about the house – told him the same thing, but he couldn't help being nervous anyway. He didn't eat much, and after his parents hugged and kissed him goodbye and left for work, he paced the floors as he cleaned up from breakfast, and until it was time for him to go pick Allie up.

"Where ae we going today?" Allie asked him, and he smiled at her.

"It's a surprise," he answered.

Allie laughed. "Am I going to like this surprise as much as the last one?" she asked, referring to their engagement dinner last August.

"I certainly hope you like it," he said fervently.

They went outside, and he side-along apparated them to the new house, where they appeared in the driveway, close to the road.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking at the brand new house in front of her, and at the neighbourhood.

"We're standing in front of our new home, a kilometre or so outside of Overton, Hampshire," he told her, and laughed as she hugged and kissed him.

"Are you serious? This is beautiful, Nick!"

"You like it?" he asked, and she hugged him again.

"I love it! Can we go in and look around?" she asked.

Nick handed her a gold key ring with her house keys on it, and earned himself another hug and kiss before she pulled him toward the house, and they went inside to explore every inch of the now-completed house.

"I've had to put this off for two days now, since Uncle Harry put a nix into Monday, and then Scorpius needed us yesterday," he told her as they walked around.

"I thought you'd rather want to decorate and pick out our own furniture yourself instead of having it done for us. We'll have all summer, and you'll have lots of help to do all of that shopping and decorating so we can have the place ready when we move in after getting back from our honeymoon."

"I love you, Nicolas Weasley," she told him, hugging him for the umpteenth time since they'd arrived. "This is perfect for us. I can hardly wait until we can move in."

Draco and Astoria were in his study going over their finances when one of the servants delivered the envelope that had come by express Owl Post. The young man looked startled when Draco thanked him before he left. Draco and Astoria had both started to be polite with all of their staff, and the effect that was having was often amusing for them and their workers.

"What is it?" Astoria asked when he'd opened it, and then just kept staring at the single piece of parchment that had been in the envelope.

"We've been invited to the twenty-fifth anniversary party for Harry and Ginny Potter, and Ron and Hermione Weasley on Saturday,' he told her, looking up and smiling at her. "Casual attire, and bring best wishes only."

Astoria laughed. "Do you think we can manage to bring those with us?" she asked, and Draco laughed too.

"I think we can probably manage that, yes," he answered. "Do we even need to think about this? It will surely mean we get to spend time with Scorpius and Brianna. Whatever else happens, it's worth it just to see them again."

"Definitely," she agreed. "That for better is getting better every day, Draco."

Draco looked around his desk at all the paperwork and sighed. "It will keep getting better if we can get the good ship Malfoy righted again."

While Draco and Astoria got back to work, Harry was outside playing with all of the Marauders who'd come to hang out at the cottage for a play day. They had two portable pools set up, and they swam, played games, and generally just goofed off for most of the day.

"This was a fun break in the action," Carolyn said as she and Al got ready to go inside and get showered and dressed up for their dinner party.

"Probably the last one until Sunday too," Al said. "Then it will be off to work you go, while I spend next week with the summer daycare program."

Carolyn laughed. "Think of it as advanced Auror training," she suggested.

"I don't think the bad guys will be as hard to catch as James and Timothy, so that might be closer to truth than you think."

"They are four now," Carolyn pointed out. "Just wait until they want Uncle Al to teach them Quidditch in a few years."

They went upstairs and got ready, Al in suit and tie, and Carolyn in a dress that had Al wishing they were staying home and having a private dinner for two instead of going out for the evening. Harry was in the kitchen working away at cooking dinner for the gang that would be at the cottage to eat, and whistled and smiled when he saw Carolyn.

"I'm surprised you two aren't still upstairs with you looking like that," he joked. "Did you have to beat Al off with your wand?"

Carolyn laughed. "No, we just agreed to a 'to be continued later' plan. You look like you're cooking for a bigger gang tonight."

Harry nodded. "Since you're out, we're keeping the three girls, and adding Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, Isabelle, and Jason and Brian from the Academy."

"So you lose two, gain nine extras? No wonder Arithmancy wasn't your thing," Carolyn joked.

"Will you two be late?" Harry asked.

"Probably after midnight," Al answered. "Dinner's out, and then we'll be at the Goldstein's for the rest of the evening. I'm pretty sure that even Uncle Ron is staying away from the stadium for the next couple of days, so nobody has to get up early for work."

"Well, have fun then," Harry told them. "Don't drink and apparate – take public TransPortal instead tonight."

Al and Carolyn laughed, and they both hugged him before leaving the cottage and apparating to the Goldstein house, where they were greeted by Matt at the door, and shown into a comfortable looking sitting room.

"You're the first couple here," Matt told them as he poured them each a drink and invited them to sit down. "How's your day been?"

"We spent the day hanging around in the backyard, playing, swimming, and pretty much doing nothing," Carolyn told him. "It was a pretty great day."

"Good, you'll both be all rested up for the next few days," Matt said. "The girls will all be busier, since they have to fit their SpaMagic afternoon in too, but none of us are going to be bored between now and Sunday."

"I seriously doubt you'll be bored for at least a couple of weeks after that,' Carolyn teased, and Matt laughed.

"I don't expect to ever be bored once I'm married to Rose," Matt told her.

"Good answer," Rose said as she and Matt's mother joined them in the sitting room. Matt's father, Tony, was right behind the girls, carrying a tray of appetizers that he set down on the table next to where the bottles of wine were in silver ice buckets.

"Any earth-shaking news today?" Rose asked Al and Carolyn. "It'd be a first this week if there wasn't."

"I'm pretty sure the pool party at the cottage didn't make the headlines today," Al told her.

"Stop the presses," Rose joked. "Nothing major happened in the Potter family today."

"It happens occasionally," Al told his cousin. "I didn't check with James, though, so you never know, he might have had something newsworthy happen at the Academy, or at home."

"They didn't," Carolyn said, "but it is Aaron and Tracey's third anniversary today. I'm sure they're going out to dinner or something to celebrate."

"Shoot," Rose said. "I didn't even send a card."

Carolyn grinned at her. "Actually, you did, and a present from all of us Marauders. I didn't bother you, since you've been busy."

Ron and Hermione got there next, with Hugo and Emily, and Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna came in last, about ten minutes later. They visited in the sitting room for another half hour or so, then went out to enjoy a wonderful dinner in London before returning to the Goldstein house to spend a quiet evening telling stories about Matt and Rose.

"What'd you guys do, spend the last few weeks remembering all of these old stories and writing them down just so you could drag them back out and embarrass us with them?" Rose asked. For some reason, her family seemed to have more stories to tell than everyone had for Matt.

"No, but that's something to think about if we do something like this for Nick and Allie before their wedding," Brianna told Rose.

"Just remember you said that a year from now when it's your turn to be roasted before your wedding," Nick warned.

"If we can find anything to roast her about," Rose said. "Hopefully Carolyn will have some stories from the residence for us to hear when it's Brianna's turn."

"Probably not as many as I have about her, though," Brianna said with a laugh. "Nice job changing the subject, Rose. Now, where were we? Closing in on the start of the Hogwarts years, wasn't it? Did she really wear her Hogwarts robes around the house for the entire last two weeks of August, Aunt Hermione?"

On Thursday morning, Al and Carolyn had breakfast at the cottage, and then Al was off to Hogsmeade to meet the guys at the house there, while Carolyn went to Rose's house. The only goal for the day was to get everything, except for what Matt and Rose would need for their wedding day, moved to the Chalet.

There were a couple of errands and appointments to deal with too – like the guys had to pick up their tuxes, and the girls had a short, final dress fitting to make any last minute adjustments before the wedding on Friday.

The five boys were all going to spend Thursday night in Hogsmeade too, while the girls were going to all be at Rose's house for the night, and then go from there to SpaMagic on Friday after lunch.

With five of them to get the packing done at the house in Hogsmeade, they had everything ready in less than a couple of hours, and Translocated all of the boxes, trunks, and cases to the Chalet.

"I can't believe how much paperwork you have there just for about two hundred customers and twenty trips," Scorpius told Matt.

"Several boxes of that is notes from my research. I have a file for every destination, and then another one for each customer's preferences so that we make sure everything is perfect for each person on the trip."

"That must have been a lot of work putting it all together," Nick said. "I guess the good news is that once you have the information, it'll be fairly easy to keep everything up to date after that – especially if you have a lot of repeat business."

"At the rate we're selling these trips, repeat business will be about every two years, since I've already sold nearly half of the year two trips."

"Once Allie and I get settled in, we'll be looking at signing up for one of your trips too."

They left the house in Hogsmeade, and took the TransPortal over to the Chalet, and began reversing the process, helping Matt to set up his office, and either unpack, or put the rest of his things into storage.

Hermione and Matt had moved some of Rose's things over the past month, so she really didn't have all that much left to move, but the girls didn't get to the Chalet until nearly lunchtime, after having Translocated the boxes and cases they'd packed to the new house.

"Let's go get something to eat before we finish up here," Hugo suggested. "Then you'll have to get to your dress fitting appointment, we need to pick up our tuxes, and Mum's ordered me to get a haircut or she's threatened to do it herself in the morning."

"I think she said 'promise', Hugo," Rose told him.

"Semantics, and you know it, sis," Hugo answered. "Bottom line is that I'm getting my hair cut this afternoon."

"We'll make it a party, mate," Al told him. "Matt's the only one of us who isn't looking a bit shaggy. I was going to go in the morning, but we have time to get it done today."

"Works for me," Nick agreed. "That way we can sleep in a bit later tomorrow too."

The five couples went for lunch, and then went back to the Chalet so they could finish unpacking Rose's things. The guys left from the Chalet for Marauders Mall to pick up their tuxes, and get four haircuts before going to Hogsmeade, where Al started in on dinner for ten. The girls went to Gladrags for their final dress fitting, then took Rose's wedding gown, and the bridesmaid's dresses to Rose's house. When they finished that, they freshened up, and returned to Hogsmeade for dinner, and an evening with the boys before they'd be splitting up to keep the bride and groom separated until they saw each other again when Rose started her walk down the aisle at the ceremony on Friday evening.

"If the girls go all gushy over these little wedding traditions, I'm all for making them happy," Nick was telling the guys while they sat around the kitchen table having drinks and watching Al work.

"I don't get why just because you're not supposed to see Rose after midnight that the rest of us guys get caught in the fallout and lose out on all of that quality snuggling time with our girls too."

"The sacrifices you have to make for your friends, mate," Scorpius told Nick. "I'm pretty sure you'll survive, though, especially since you probably got snogged half out of your mind every moment you've been alone with Allie since showing her your new house."

Nick grinned, and Scorpius laughed. "See what I mean guys? He's still got that dopey grin on his face just from mentioning it. He ought to be thanking you for saving at least a few of the brain cells that haven't been snogged out of him, Matt."

"We just need to figure out what to do with ourselves all day," Matt said. "Since Rose's Mum and Dad have people hired to do everything, we don't have to help with set-up or do any work at all. Since the ceremony isn't until seven thirty, that leaves us a lot of spare time."

"You mean that hanging out with your best mates all day won't be entertaining enough for you?" Nick asked him.

"What have you got planned for tomorrow night and Saturday morning back at the Chalet?" Al asked Matt, who laughed.

"I'm not sure we need to go into specifics, Al, but if you're curious, there are books in the library, I'm sure," Matt answered, and Nick, Scorpius, and Hugo all laughed too.

"Thanks for the help with that, Matt," Al told him dryly, "but I was referring to whether you had anything set up yet like champagne on ice for when you get home, or breakfast in bed, or making Rose something special for lunch, since you do have until later in the afternoon before the anniversary party starts. Have you packed for your honeymoon either? I didn't see you working on packing your suitcase this morning."

"That would be a no to all of the above, and yes to solving my problem with what to do tomorrow," Matt told him. "Now we have getting champagne, special breakfast and lunch groceries, and pack for a two-week trip."

"No more comments from the cook," Nick joked. "You'll have us running ourselves ragged if you offer any more help with keeping us busy."

Al had dinner ready by the time the girls got back to town, and they enjoyed an entertaining dinner together. After cleaning up, the five couples went into the sitting room, where they spent a second quiet evening in a row relaxing and having fun reminiscing, and talking about their futures too until just before midnight. By a quarter to twelve, the girls were getting ready to go, hugging and kissing their guys goodnight, whisking Rose away just in time, and taking her back home to Chudley.

"Have you ever been to an evening wedding before?" Sarah asked Joel, Karl, and Daphne, who all shook their heads.

They had been seated in the same row with Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Kieran, and were waiting for Rose, Ron, and her bridesmaids to begin their walk down the aisle. The wedding ceremony, and the dance that was going to follow, was being held in Ron and Hermione's back yard, and everything from the decorations on down was perfect.

There were somewhere around two hundred guests by the looks of things, and Matt was already standing at the front of the rows of chairs with Al, Nick, Scorpius, and Hugo next to him.

"I haven't," Daphne answered Sarah, "but I'm loving it so far. I think it's brilliant."

The wedding procession music began to play, and all of the guests turned to watch as one stunningly beautiful young Witch after another walked gracefully toward the front, and fanned out to the left. Rose was absolutely gorgeous in her wedding gown, and Ron was smiling as he proudly walked her down the aisle, although there was just a hint of moisture in his eyes as he turned to step back and then sit beside Hermione after placing Rose's hand into Matt's.

Harry had prepared Joel and Karl well, and the boys handed out tissues to Sarah and Daphne as the ceremony progressed – at least once they got past the boring little wedding history lesson that seemed to be a requirement of all wedding ceremonies, while also being completely unnecessary.

When they were sitting around at tables after the ceremony and formal wedding pictures were done, and before the dance was to start, the girls were all able to recall every single word of the vows, and in great detail describe every glance and trembling touch that the happy couple exchanged, but for most of the guys it was more like blah, blah, blah, I do; blah, blah, blah, me too; followed by 'I now pronounce you', and 'you may kiss the bride'.

"You guys are so unromantic," Sarah complained.

Joel grinned at her. "What do you mean? We're so romantic, we even had the bridal bouquet scented tissues for you."

"Don't give up your summer job at the Ministry to go into comedy," Sarah told him. "You won't make much if they pay by the laugh."

"Speaking of summer jobs, how are things in paradise?" Joel asked Karl and Daphne.

"Things are going brilliantly," Karl said enthusiastically. "Who'd have ever thought that work would be fun all day?"

"Not Ministry of Magic pages," Joel joked. "The running around all week is about a one on the fun scale, though there are at least some jobs that are fun too."

"Everything we worked at this week was more like a twelve on the work fun scale," Daphne told them.

The clinking of glasses was started up at some of the tables, and the two young couples joined in until Rose and Matt stood and kissed to the cheers and applause of their guests.

"Seems like they didn't escape that by not having a wedding dinner," Joel said.

"True, but they aren't being interrupted from eating, and it'll probably pretty much end when the dance starts," Daphne suggested.

Rose and Matt were hoping the same thing as they sat with the rest of the bridal party, getting a few minutes to have drinks before they'd be out dancing for the first hour or more.

"Come on, let's get the dance going," Rose said to the others. "Then maybe they'll all stop doing that."

"You'll get a few more during the rest of the night," Al predicted. "It shouldn't be too much to handle. The kids will get bored with it soon enough."

They did have to get up and kiss three more times before the Master of Ceremonies called them up to begin the dance with their first dance as a married couple, and as was quickly becoming tradition, Lily and Kieran were on stage to perform the song they'd written for Rose and Matt.

That beautiful ballad had most of the girls in tears, and most of the guys scrambling for more tissues as the guests all watched the happy couple dance as they listened to the incredible, pure melody and harmony that Lily and Kieran weaved together to create such a breath-takingly sweet few minutes of magic.

There was scattered applause and laughter when the song ended, but Rose and Matt danced on for several more moments as they shared a soft, tender kiss, oblivious to the fact that the music had faded.

When that applause and laughter did finally intrude, they stepped apart, both of them joining in the laughter before going over to hug and thank Kieran and Lily as the band took the stage and got ready for their first song, and the rest of the wedding party came out to join Rose and Matt.

The parents and grandparents were added in for the third song, and by the fourth one, the dance area began filling up with couples ready to get up and start having some fun and celebrating the happy occasion. It ended up being closer to an hour and a half before Rose and Matt got their first break, and joined Al and Carolyn at their table.

"Can I get you each some wine?" Al asked them, and both Rose and Matt nodded gratefully, so Al got up and went to get fresh drinks for all of them.

"The rest of the evening will be over before you know it, Rose," Carolyn told her. "Another hour and we'll go get you changed, and that'll take the better part of an hour. Then you'll have to make the rounds to talk with as many guests as you can, have another half dozen dances, and then you'll be out of here, while the rest of us party on."

"And then Matt and I crawl into our bed and fall fast asleep," Rose said tiredly.

Carolyn grinned. "That's totally up to you, but I suspect you'll change your mind about that by then."

Rose returned her smile. "Your suspicions are probably well-founded, too."

Al returned with the drinks and passed them out before sitting down again.

"Why did you guys escape the dancing already?" Matt asked Al and Carolyn.

"We're trying to take it easy tonight, since tomorrow's going to be a pretty busy day too with setting up for the anniversary party at the Burrow and then the party itself."

Matt nodded. "That's probably a good idea. The party tomorrow won't go all that late though, will it?"

Al shook his head. "No, probably not past midnight, and you two can escape anytime – although I wouldn't leave until at least after Winky's dessert."

"We wouldn't dream of missing out on that," Rose assured her cousin.

The happy couple only had time for that short break, and were back out dancing until it was time for Hermione and Carolyn to take Rose in hand to get changed and ready to go. Rose and Matt then spent another hour going around visiting with their guests, before it was time for their final few dances with parents, grandparents, and finally their own last dance.

"Yeah!" Matt whispered as they danced. "The night's finally just about over."

Rose laughed softly, a throaty sound that sent shivers running down Matt's back. "Not for you," she whispered back. "Yours is just about to get started."

When their dance ended, they walked around to the front of the house with their parents, and the rest of their wedding party. That last goodbye took another ten minutes, and then the happy newlyweds apparated to the Chalet while the rest of the group returned to the party.

"You did good keeping it together, daddy," Harry told Ron when he and Hermione had rejoined their table. "I don't think I'll do as well when it's Lily's turn in a couple of years."

"You didn't have any problems with James' wedding," Ron reminded him.

"Boys are different," Harry answered. "It's losing our little girls that turns us fathers into puddles of goo."

"Maybe it's because you don't walk your sons down the aisle," Ginny suggested.

"Or because in their cases, you're gaining a daughter, not losing a son," Hermione added, grinning at the boys.

"I'm sure we could come up with lots of reasons," Harry agreed. "So now they're sent off, we can enjoy the rest of the night, and then rest up so that our kids can celebrate that we're old married couples tomorrow."

The Goldstein's, McCormack's, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, and Nathalie Weasley had been their table companions since the dance had started, and they were all there at the moment, except Bill and Fleur, and they all laughed at Harry's comment.

"None of us are exactly looking like we're ready for our rocking chairs quite yet," Tony Goldstein told them. "The way Ron's still playing Quidditch, he could play another twenty-five years."

"No," Hermione told Ron flatly. "Remember what I threatened to do to you and your Lightningbolt, because I won't have forgotten if you try and keep playing professionally even one day past the season after next."

"That sounds ominous," Tony joked.

"And painful," Nathalie added, grinning at her favourite Wizard's Chess opponent. "A winning strategy here suggests going with the classic 'yes, dear – you're absolutely right' move," she told Ron.

Once Rose and Matt had left, the party slowly began to wind down. Harry and Ginny gathered everyone in their group, except Al and Carolyn, and headed for the cottage shortly after one, everyone ready to go straight upstairs to bed. By two, a half hour after the band finished playing, the last of the guests were safely on their way home, and the four pairs of bridesmaids and ushers were saying goodnight to the parents of the bride and groom before leaving for their homes too – except for Hugo and Emily, who were already there.

"Let's meet at the Burrow for ten thirty," Al suggested to everyone. "We'll at least get a little extra sleep, but we do have a lot to get done there, so we can't make it much later than that or we won't have everything ready in time."

Hugo laughed, and took Emily's hand. "Okay, but we're going to get some sleep right now. Even I can figure out the Arithmancy there, and it means that we'll only get about five hours sleep. See you in the morning."

Al, Carolyn, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna all had hugs and kisses for Rose and Matt's parents, and then they too left to go get some sleep, heading either to the townhouse, cottage, or Grimmauld Place.

Ron grinned at Hermione and the Goldsteins. "Too bad for them that they have to get up early," he told the others. "How do the three of you feel about sleeping in and then maybe meeting for brunch at the Diner around maybe one, one-thirty? The party doesn't start until four, right?"

"That works for us," Tony told him. "We'll meet you there for one thirty."

A few more quick hugs later, and the Goldsteins took the TransPortal home, and Ron and Hermione waited until the last of the cleanup was finished, and the crews had left, and then gone upstairs to bed too, another successful, wonderful family wedding finished, and one more pretty great family day that was just hours away from starting.

"You're all going to be away from the cottage tonight?" Ginny asked in surprise on Saturday morning, when they were sitting down for breakfast just before ten o'clock.

Lily nodded. "We're fairly sure there weren't any kids here on your wedding night twenty-five years ago, even though this is more symbolic to go along with the party, since your big day is actually in the middle of next week, but the wedding was twenty-five years ago this weekend."

"So where have you sent everyone?" she asked them.

"Dale's with Stewart and Isabelle, Joel, Sarah, Al, and Carolyn will be at Al's house in Hogsmeade, and I'll just have to make the big sacrifice, and stay at Kieran's house," Lily answered.

"We appreciate you taking one for the team," Harry joked.

The six teens had a quick breakfast, and then hurried off to the Burrow to meet the rest of the gang, and get to work on setting up for an anniversary party that was going to have more than one hundred more guests than the previous night's wedding had. Kreacher and Winky were cooking up a storm, although they had been working on much of the menu and all of the dessert preparation for the past two days, with all of that effort coming together in these last few hours.

The garden had been degnomed, dinner tables for three hundred had been set up, and every other detail had been taken care of by two thirty, and the work group of young Witches and Wizards had one hour to go off and get showered and ready for the party, agreeing to all be back by about three-thirty so they'd be ready to greet their guests.

The four guests of honour were there by a few minutes before four o'clock, and their only job for the evening was to do the meet and greet as the other guests arrived over the next half hour or forty-five minutes. Their kids kept them supplied with drinks while they did that, and there were chairs they could use so they wouldn't be stuck standing the entire time. The funniest moment they had while greeting the partygoers was when Draco and Astoria arrived.

"Did we forget to mention that we invited your folks?" Al asked Scorpius innocently. "How did that slip our minds?"

Scorpius had nearly dropped the glasses of wine he'd been carrying when he saw his parents, and now he grinned at Al and Carolyn.

"I'd be mad at you, but this is a really brilliant surprise," he told them before hugging his parents, and kissing his mother's cheek.

"I'm really glad you could come," he told them. "Shall we do the formal introductions?" he asked his parents, who nodded.

He proceeded to introduce them to his friends, and ended with the re-introduction to Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.

"Thanks for coming, Draco, Astoria," Ginny said, hugging each of them in turn. "And thanks for making Scorpius' year earlier this week."

Draco laughed, a sound that was nothing like the laugh that any of them remembered from when they were young. This one actually sounded happy, and was fairly pleasant to hear.

"I'm not sure that with everything that happened to him over this past week that we even had the highlight of the day for him," he told the other two couples, who joined with Astoria and laughed too.

"I decided to just lump it all together and call it one of my top two weeks ever so far," Scorpius told his father.

"You're relieved of duty, Scorpius, Brianna," Al told his friends. "Go have fun with your parents. If nothing else, the reaction to seeing them here from the rest of the guests should entertain the four of you all night."

Scorpius and Brianna both hugged him, and then happily led Draco and Astoria off to mingle with the other guests until it would be time to sit down for dinner.

"Can you imagine how much money we could have made if we'd wagered on whether Draco Malfoy and his son would be at our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary party back when we were at Hogwarts?" Ron asked.

Harry laughed. "If we'd made the bet back then, we probably would have been betting a bag of nose-bleed nougat or some other wheezes, mate."

"I think it's brilliant," Hermione said, putting her arm around Ron. "And you and I are going to give them every chance to fit in, Ron. Who have you got them sitting with?" she asked Al and Carolyn.

"Scorpius and Brianna, of course," Carolyn answered, "and we put Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, Daphne, Karl, and Daphne's parents with them."

"That should be a fun table to be at," Ron said. "Honey, where's my wireless extendable ear?"

"Never mind," Hermione told him as the others laughed. "We'll be busy enough keeping up with the conversation at our own table without listening in to theirs."

Dinner started promptly and five thirty, and the guests were treated to one of Kreacher and Winky's best ever meals. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny were sitting with the four couples who had made up their wedding party back in ninety-nine. Bill and Fleur, Neville and Luna, and Padma and Seamus were all there, while Dean was there with his wife, Lavender, and Professor Parvati Macmillan was with her husband, Professor Ernie Macmillan. It wasn't surprising that Draco and Astoria were high on the conversation list at their table.

"All right, which one of you cranked up the time-turner, went back to Hogwarts, and changed things around so that Draco became our friend," Dean joked. "All these years, and I didn't find out until today that the man has a sense of humour."

"Well, I'm not sure I like it," Seamus told them. What kind of a world will this be if all the villains are gone?"

"A really great one," Ginny told him. "Don't worry, though. I don't imagine we'll run out of bad guys for a while. There always seem to be new ones popping up every so often."

Ernie nodded. "Sure, but now, with your son on the job, they won't stand a chance."

"I think it's brilliant," Parvatti told the others. "Did any of us really believe that Draco was really as bad as he tried to act? He could have been our friend just as easily as Scorpius is friends with Al, Rose, Nick, and the others if things had been different."

"Like if he hadn't had Death Eaters for parents, for one," Ron said. "I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say we'd have been best mates or anything, but he probably would have been okay."

"I hear he's a fair Wizard's Chess player," Padma told Ron, grinning as his eyes lit up.

"Maybe we'll have to find out about that sometime," Ron said, and Hermione laughed.

"Way to go, Padma," she told her friend. "That's all he needs is more people to play chess with."

"Nathalie would probably like the break," Ginny suggested.

Their conversation moved on, and they talked about the old days while they enjoyed dinner together. Draco and Astoria were enjoying the food too – nearly as much as they were enjoying hearing about Scorpius' last six years from Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, and Brianna.

"We've missed out on so much," Astoria told Scorpius. "Your life has turned out much different than it would have if you'd stayed at Malfoy Mansion."

"But you knew that back then, didn't you mother?" Scorpius told her. "That's why you and father didn't fight Grandfather on disinheriting me – so that I'd get to have a chance at a better life."

Astoria nodded. "Yes, but that doesn't help much when we see how much we missed while you were gone."

"The good news is that it was just six years, and we still have the rest of our lives to make up for what we missed out on," Scorpius told her.

The dinner lasted until about seven thirty, and then there was a break while the entertainment was set up for the dance. Everyone else at Scorpius and Brianna's table left to go stretch their legs and visit, leaving them to talk quietly with Draco and Astoria.

"Got room for some company?"

Scorpius looked up and smiled as Teddy, Victoire, Andromeda, and Robert walked up.

Scorpius got up and hugged all four of them. "Sure do. Thanks for coming over, I was hoping to get the chance to introduce you."

He smiled at his father, who was looking a bit stunned at the moment.

"Father, I'd like you to meet your Aunt Andromeda, her husband Robert, our cousin, Teddy, and his wife, Victoire." Turning to Teddy and the others, Scorpius grinned and winked at them.

"Andromeda, Teddy, this is your nephew and cousin, Draco Malfoy, and his wife Astoria."

"If I had a picture," Andromeda told Draco as she shook his hand, "the look on your face is identical to the one Scorpius had on his when he met me his first Christmas with our family."

Draco came out of it, and laughed. "I'm sorry, but you look exactly how I dreamed my Aunt Bellatrix would have looked like if she hadn't been, well, evil."

Andromeda laughed too. "I can't say anyone has ever told me that before, but then I don't have any other nephews or nieces to compare notes against."

"Your laugh is like Mum's, although since I've only heard her happy laugh once, and it was earlier this week, I could be wrong," Draco said. "We've been talking about Astoria and I missing out on the last six years of our son's life, and suddenly I'm feeling like I got ripped off not getting to spend any of the last forty-four years with you."

"When The Black family disowns a member, you don't risk your own future by having anything to do with them," she told Draco seriously.

"Then it's a good thing that Scorpius reinstated you, and your line, to the family last Monday," Brianna told them. "It's never too late for you to start getting to know each other." Her smile got even wider. "In fact, why don't you, Robert, Teddy, and Victoire join us at Grimmauld Place for dinner next Friday night?" she suggested to Andromeda. "Draco and Astoria are coming, and it would be fun to get the whole family together for an evening. You'd love seeing what Kreacher and Winky have done with the place."

Andromeda smiled at her and nodded. "We'd love to come, Brianna. Thank-you."

"We wouldn't miss it," Victoire told her, hugging Brianna. "We'll definitely be there."

Andromeda turned back to Draco and smiled, and she had tears in her eyes. "I'm glad to finally meet you. When you see your mother, tell her I do still love her. She'll know what it means."

Draco stood up, and nodded. "I will," he promised. "Would you mind if I hug you? I'm still fairly new at it, but Astoria and I have been practicing."

Andromeda laughed again and hugged him. "You're catching on just fine, Draco," she assured him. "We'll see the two of you next Friday."

When Draco, Astoria, Scorpius, and Brianna were alone, Draco turned to Brianna and grinned.

"You seem to have omitted the fact that mother is going to be there next Friday too," he told her.

"I did?" Brianna said, feigning innocence. "It must have slipped my mind."

Astoria laughed. "No wonder these two are doing so well in politics," she joked. "I don't believe your mother necessarily needs to know about this little change in the dinner plans either," she told Draco.

"Definitely not," he agreed. "I think once they're together in the same room, it'll work itself out."

"That possibility did cross my mind," Brianna told them. "I just love family reunions – especially the surprise ones."

The dance was about to start, and Lily and Kieran stepped up onto the low stage that had been set up. Most of the night was just going to be canned music, but Lily and Kieran were going to start the night off, and then Kirley was going to sit in with them and have a little fun jam session too before they let the DJ take over for the rest of the night.

"Could I have your attention?" Lily asked, and the guests quieted, many of them taking seats.

"We'd like to thank everyone for coming to help us celebrate Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione's twenty-fifth anniversary. Before we get started, though, I'd like to take a moment for all of us to thank Kreacher and Winky for putting together such a fabulous meal."

She called the two elves then – "Kreacher! Winky!" When they appeared with them on the low stage, the guests all applauded while Lily hugged each elf, and gave them each a small thank-you gift before they popped out of sight again.

"And now, if we could have our two happy couples out on the dance floor, well get this party started." She waited while her parents, and Aunt and Uncle came over and stood near the stage.

"A few of you know that my father wrote and recorded a song for my mother for their tenth anniversary, but I found out that they've never once actually been able to dance to it together, so here, tonight, for the first time, we hope you'll enjoy our version of that song.

She and Kieran began playing and both Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione began dancing. Most of the guests had never heard the song, and most hadn't even known Harry had done something like that, so there was an awed hush as everyone listened to Lily and Kieran sing.

(Kieran began with the first verse) You, Loved me from the start

You gave me your heart

Though I didn't even know it

(Lily took the melody for the second verse)

You, stood beside me through the rain

Said we'd make it through the pain

But I didn't believe we would

(Kieran took the melody again, while Lily sang harmony)

Then the sun came out from behind the clouds

A rainbow shone across a clear blue sky

And all the dreams I'd ever hoped for finally came true

Then I gave you my heart

Promised forever

Told you I'd spend every day

Showing you how much I care

And tonight

When I look in your eyes

I know that forever won't be long enough

(Lily took the meloday again for the third verse)

You, made me want to live

And with the love we have to give

We will cherish every moment

(then Kieran took the lead again for the fourth verse)

You - are more beautiful tonight

And now with all of my heart

I want to tell you again

(Lily sang the melody to Kieran's hamony for the rest of the song)

That I give you my heart

Promise forever

I'm still gonna spend every day

Showing you how much I care

And tonight

When I look in your eyes

I know that forever won't be long enough

(key change up)

I give you my heart

Promise forever

I'm still gonna spend every day

Showing you how much I care

And tonight

When I look in your eyes

I know that forever won't be long enough

No, forever won't be long enough

Forever just could never be long enough

Harry and Ginny kissed as the last notes of the song faded and the guests applauded, even as most of them were wiping away tears. Lily gave everyone a moment before continuing.

"Now, we all know that Uncle Ron is, shall we say, vocally challenged," Lily said next, smiling at her Aunt and Uncle. "Kieran and I just didn't think it was fair, though, that Mum and Dad should have their very own special song, and that my Aunt and Uncle shouldn't have one too, so we wanted to take care of that for them this year." She looked around at all of the other guests.

"You're all welcome to join our two couples out here, and we hope you like the song."

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all started laughing when Lily and Kieran started playing a bright, fluffy pop song tune, and it wasn't long before that laughter spread to everyone as they listened to 'A little bit Quiddith, A little bit Scientist', and the absolutely silly – and brilliant - lyrics that somehow were still perfect for Ron and Hermione.

The dance floor filled up, and it was a wonderful way to lift everyone up into party mode after the soft, tender moments of the first song. When they finished that second song, there was wild applause and cheering, and a laughing Ron and Hermione hugged Lily and Kieran before they got ready for their next song.

"Everyone here tonight will be getting special copies of those first two songs before you go home tonight," Kieran told the guests. "Now we'd like to welcome my father, Kirley McCormack to the stage, so please give him a warm welcome, and we'll really get this party started!"

Kirley joined them, grabbed his guitar, and they ended up spending nearly an hour entertaining everyone before they were able to escape and leave the rest of the entertainment to the DJ.

Rose and Matt went around shortly after the canned music started, and said some quiet goodbyes to their parents and friends, then left for the first week of their slightly delayed honeymoon, heading for Hawaii.

They had started the party early, and planned to wrap it up by midnight, so by a little after eleven, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione made their rounds, handing out little gifts that included the two SpellBound songs, among other mementos, and then kissed their kids goodbye and left for their respective homes.

Ginny and Harry went up to their room, and laughed when they entered to find their room had been set up with a cozy fire, champagne on ice, and a tray of desserts, exactly as Kreacher had done for them on their wedding night.

"This is perfect," Ginny said, hugging Harry. "Why don't you pour the champagne, and I'll be right back."

There might be a lot of things that had changed over the years, but the way his heart did back-flips at moments like this with Ginny hadn't changed at all.

His hands were steadier than he remembered as he poured the champagne, but he still nearly dropped the glasses when Ginny walked back into the room. It wasn't exactly the same, but this shimmering, short, satin night-dress had just as strong an effect on Harry as the one she'd worn back then had, and she laughed, when she saw him bobble the glasses before handing her one as he stepped forward to meet her in the middle of the room.

"To the woman who's still, and will always be the love of my life," Harry said softly, tapping his glass against hers.

"To a lifetime of love," she answered, taking a drink, before taking both his glass, and hers, walking over to the table, and setting them down again.

"Would you like something to eat?" he asked her with a smile.

She shook her head and took a step toward him, both of them thrilling at the familiarity.

"Are you warm enough? I can put more wood on the fire," he offered again.

Ginny smiled, and tried not to laugh as she nodded that yes she was warm enough, and then shook her head no, that he did not need to put wood on the fire. She took the last step that brought her to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and looked into those emerald eyes that still made her heart beat a little faster when she looked into them.

"Take me to bed, Harry. The only thing I need for the rest of the night is you."

Harry smiled and picked her up gently, and carried her to their bed, laying down with her, and putting his arm around her waist, as he continued to be lost in her beautiful, love-filled eyes.

They weren't nervous, shy newlyweds anymore, so from that moment on, they created a new, brilliant memory to go with the other twenty-five years of happiness that they'd shared, and hopefully would be a beautiful start to their next twenty-five years together.


	113. Adventure Overload

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen – Adventure Overload!

Harry and Ginny slept in late on Sunday because they could, and after showering and getting dressed, he went downstairs to cook breakfast for them, while she got ready for their day too.

"What's up for today?" Ginny asked as they sat down to eat.

"I thought we'd have breakfast, then you could go pack, and then we'd meet Ron and Hermione at their place, and head for Paris, and the first stop on our vacation," Harry told her, watching as her face lit up. She threw her arms around him, and laughed.

"I knew you boys were up to something more than helping the kids with that party!" she exclaimed.

"We only have one week this time, so we won't get to hit every place, but hopefully you and Hermione will have fun with our little retro vacation."

"What about the kids?" she asked. "We've got Kira, James, and Timothy here starting tomorrow."

"Al and Carolyn will be here all week, and Al will stick around during the days while everyone else is at work. Don't worry, it's all under control," he assured her.

Harry told her about where they planned on going over the next week while they ate, and then had Ginny go and pack while he cleaned up. They left for Ron and Hermione's shortly after eleven, and Hermione met them at the door, grinning at them.

"Are we feeling a bit nostalgic today, Harry?" she asked. "I don't remember the last time we got a patronus message from anyone."

"Probably not since WiComms went on sale," Ginny told her. "Was your place set up like your wedding night when you got here too?"

Hermione nodded. "The kids did their homework, no doubt about it."

They went into the sitting room, and Ron was pouring drinks for everyone. He looked up at Harry and grinned.

"Thanks for the warning, Harry, but we actually were out of bed already, you git!"

Harry laughed too. "Noticed you didn't say anything there about dressed, Ron."

"What'd you boys do, borrow Minerva's pensieve to put all of that together?" Hermione asked, and the boys grinned.

"We didn't borrow the pensieve, but yes, we did talk about this ahead of time," Harry admitted. "I guess we've pretty much worn that all out, though, Ron. It'll probably lose it's charm if we do that for the whole week."

"It definitely would," Ginny agreed.

They had their drinks, and then got their bags and headed for Paris, and the start of a whirlwind tour to some of the favourite stops they'd had during their honeymoon.

Al, Carolyn, Joel, and Sarah were on their own for breakfast at Al's house in Hogsmeade on Sunday morning. It had been past one o'clock in the morning by the time they'd gotten to the house after the party and subsequent cleanup was finished, so they didn't start coming to life until around nine o'clock. Joel was sitting at the kitchen table while the girls were still upstairs getting ready, and Al was cooking breakfast for them.

"Did you and Sarah see Karl and Daphne much last night?" Al asked, and Joel shook his head.

"Not too much, but we talked with them quite a bit at the wedding on Friday. They left early last night anyway, since they were both working an evening shift on the island. They left around nine, I think."

"From what little we heard, it sounds like they're loving their jobs."

Joel nodded. "They are," he agreed. "I don't need a crystal ball to see them moving there next summer after they graduate."

"Anything else going on with the rest of the Marauders?" Al asked.

"Colin's starting a job on Monday as a gopher for the company his Mum works for, which sounds like the exact same job description Sarah and I have as pages. Lance isn't working, but he is going to do a couple of trips with his father, probably to some deep dark jungle somewhere." Joel took a break and had a drink of his juice.

"Vanessa's fourteen, and can get a job, but Nadine isn't, so I don't think Vanessa took a summer job, but I got the feeling that your sister has something going on there that the girls don't know about, since Lily was grinning like Fluffy does when she scores dinner from Uncle Harry when we were talking about it last night. I think you're up to speed with what everyone else is doing."

Al nodded. "Do you and Sarah have anything you want to do today? We'll stay away from the cottage at least until after lunch in case Mum and Dad slept in. I was thinking pool party for four this afternoon, since we won't get Dale back until Monday when the girls are dropped off for their first day of babysitting."

"I'm sure we could talk the girls into wandering the Mall for a couple of hours, and having lunch at the food court before heading home," Joel answered. "The pool party sounds great, since Sarah's probably going to be run ragged the first week or two until she gets used to all of the walking."

"Did someone say shopping?" Sarah asked, coming into the kitchen, hugging Joel, and then sitting down next to him, as Carolyn went over to where Al was working and hugged and kissed him good morning too.

"And a pool party too," Carolyn added. "We like the sounds of both ideas."

"Especially since we start working tomorrow, and will be working right through until the last week before school starts," Sarah said. "By the way, before I forget, Al, can I come live with you? That room is really awesome. I've never had my own sitting room like that before. I could get used to it, and that bathroom is something else too."

Al laughed. "Not this summer, Sarah, but I was thinking that this place might make a good holiday place for some of our friends starting next summer with you and Joel. We can talk about it sometime when we're closer to next June."

They had breakfast, cleaned up, and then spent the rest of the morning at the Mall, shopping until they were ready to have lunch at the food court. When they were done, they went back to Hogsmeade for their bags, and then went home to the cottage, and their afternoon pool party.

That party for four grew to six, then eight, then ten as Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, Kieran, and Lily all found out about it through QuillMessage and decided that Al and Joel had the best plan going for the afternoon.

"How on earth did our quiet afternoon end up with us cooking dinner for ten?" Carolyn asked as she and Al got to work in the kitchen while the others were outside soaking up the sun or playing in the two pools they'd ended up using.

"Just lucky, I guess," Al answered. "I'll enjoy every day like this we can get. There won't be so many more of them the more we get tied up in our own lives over the next few years."

"That's true," Carolyn agreed. "Your Mum and Dad keep up with all of their old friends, but they hardly all get together at the same time anymore."

"That's probably a good thing," Al said. "If Mum and Dad had parties for three hundred every night, the neighbours would start talking."

Their dinner was pretty much the end of the impromptu party, since Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna wanted to get home and make it an early night before starting work in the morning, while Lily and Kieran wanted to get back to his place and spend the evening with Kirley and Ana.

"Well, at least we started and ended the day with four," Carolyn said as she cuddled with Al on one sofa while Joel and Sarah were doing the same on one of the other sofas in the sitting room.

Sarah nodded. "It was still relaxing and fun. I'm ready to get out there and face anything the Ministry can throw at me tomorrow."

Joel laughed. "Ignorance really is bliss, isn't it?" he joked.

"You joke about it, but you know you loved it last summer anyway, and I'm not worried about having to do a lot of running around. You and Brianna made sure I picked out the right shoes and everything. That's a definite advantage to following older kids into jobs like this – you get to learn from their mistakes."

"It's not going to be boring there this summer," Carolyn predicted. "You two are going to get to see the fallout of last week's events first hand all summer. Make sure you take notes and tell Al and I all about it."

"Won't you be there a lot this summer?" Joel asked Al, who shook his head.

"The Wizengamot doesn't usually meet all that often in the summer, and other than taking my Auror tests, I probably won't be there very often until I start Auror training in September."

"How does he do it?" Joel asked. "From what we've been told, or been here to witness ourselves, you've basically got this summer off, had last summer off, and spent the two summers before that working as a fun coordinator. Your entire resume so far consists of one summer job working at your mother's lab, and they asked you not to come back."

Al laughed. "That's fairly accurate, although you're not making it sound too great, since I wasn't' asked not to come back because I was a bad researcher. They just couldn't keep up with everything that Lily, Rose, and I were coming up with."

"Adding that would make the story a lot less funny, though," Joel countered. "Work with me here, will you?"

"Are you ready for your first day in the business world?" Sarah asked Carolyn who nodded.

"I'm really getting nervous, but I'm excited too. It's going to be so different than anything else I've done, and Grandma Weasley is supposed to be a genius at her job."

"Aunt Ginny and her brothers had to get it from somewhere," Sarah suggested. "Even Uncle Ron has his little area of expertise where he's the smartest at what he does. How many families can claim that all of their kids are as successful as Grandma and Grandpa Weasley's kids are?"

Joel laughed. "Just about every family of everyone this family has helped over the years."

"Getting back to talking about Carolyn starting work tomorrow," Sarah said, "have you picked out what you're going to wear?"

"No, I haven't," Carolyn admitted. "Maybe you and I should go do that now before we all go get some sleep."

Sarah stood up, grinning. "Yeah! Time to play dress-up."

Al and Joel grinned as the girls went off to play, and settled back into their seats.

"You may wish that you were going to be working all week instead of being here with James and Timothy on the tear all day," Joel told Al.

"They are quite the pair," Al agreed. "I'm sure we can keep them under control and entertained, though. I'm looking forward to doing stuff like that this summer, since once I start my training in September, I don't expect to have much time to play."

Joel nodded. "Especially when you'll be both an Auror-trainee and an Elder in the Wizengamot."

"Scorpius and I are both in for an interesting year," Al agreed. "What happened with his Grandfather should make things even more interesting for him."

"I'm not sure I could forgive my parents as easily as he's doing," Joel said quietly. "I'm not sure I could ever forgive them for what they did to me."

"There's a big difference between what happened to Scorpius and what was done to you, Sarah, and the others," Al told him. "Scorpius understands that his parents were as much, or even more, victims than he was. That's not the case with your parents."

"It's funny that I hardly ever think about them anymore," Joel mused. "I can't help hoping they're still as unhappy and miserable now as they were when I lived there – even if they don't realize they're miserable. I sure didn't know that my life was different than other kid's lives until you all taught us what a family was supposed to look like – and what shouldn't happen to kids. With everything you've done for all of us, teaching us that, and how to be happy might be the most important."

Al laughed. "We're really happy to see how good you've gotten at being happy too, mate. Speaking of, why don't we get the glasses washed up and go hang out with the girls before it's time to cuddle with them and get some sleep before the three of you have to go do that work thing tomorrow."

Monday morning, Al got up early, and left Carolyn to sleep a bit longer while he went to his room, showered, dressed, and went downstairs to the kitchen to start breakfast.

"Morning Fluffy," he said when the Kneazle cat padded in to get her morning meal. "Don't worry, I've got you covered while Dad and Lily are away,' he told her as he tossed her a large slice of ham. "You could come visit me sometime other than mealtime, though. If you didn't come down to eat, we'd never see you around here."

Joel was next to make it downstairs, and the boys could hear that both girls were awake now, and moving around upstairs.

"There's so much going on in the family today with everyone starting jobs, or on vacations, maybe you should spend the week as information coordinator," Joel suggested. "You could send out a morning family newspaper or something."

"That'd be a full time job keeping up with this family," Al told him. "I'd have to hire reporters and everything."

By the time Carolyn and Sarah joined them, Al had breakfast ready to serve, and they had a half-hour long chat while they ate before it was time for Joel and Sarah to leave for the Ministry of Magic, and for Carolyn to go to the PBP Investments offices in Diagon Alley.

"Good luck," Al told her as he walked her outside where they shared a long hug and kiss. "Have fun today, and I'll see you when you get back home tonight."

Carolyn smiled and hugged and kissed him one last time. "I could get used to this morning routine with you," she told him.

"If you think this is good, wait until you try out the welcome home tonight," Al promised.

Joel, Sarah, and Carolyn had all left a bit earlier than they normally would be needing to, so Al had time to clean up before the gang that would be taking over the cottage during the days all summer began arriving. Teddy and Stewart dropped off Carissa, Dale, Millie, and Amy first; Owen dropped Kira and James off, and then Mandy dropped off Timothy.

"What are you all going to do today?" Al asked when they'd all gathered in the sitting room after Mandy left for the Institute. "You definitely want to get your summer off to a good start today."

"We were just about to decide that," Amy told him. "I was thinking a morning playing at the Mall in Paris, lunch there, and then set up a pool back here at the cottage for the afternoon, since it's supposed to be a beautiful, hot day today."

"Can I come?" Al asked. "That sounds like way more fun than what I was going to do today. I may have to leave the pool party early, though, since I do have to get some work done around here."

Kira, James, and Timothy were very vocal in their support of Amy's plan for the day, so they quickly got ready and took the TransPortal to Paris. While they began their play day, most of the other Marauders were either starting their summer jobs, or beginning their new careers.

Scorpius and Brianna arrived at the Ministry of Magic together, and then she went to level four and the Department for the Care and Control of Magical Creatures, while he travelled to level five and the Department of International Magical Cooperation.

"Good, you're here early," Padma Finnigan said as she stepped off of another lift and saw Scorpius looking around. "Come into my office, and we'll get you started right away."

Scorpius nodded, and followed her to a spacious, well-appointed office with a large desk and comfortable looking chairs. It was very strange to see Padma here when he was so used to seeing her twin, Professor Macmillan at Hogwarts, but it was calming in a way too, since he almost felt like he knew her. She sat down at her desk, and motioned for him to take a seat too.

"You've had an interesting first week out of school," she began, smiling at him. "I do believe that you're going to like working in this department."

"It has, and I think so too, Minister Finnigan."

"When we're in public, Minister or Mrs Finnigan is fine, Scorpius, but in private, call me Padma. We're going to be working closely together, and we try to be informal when we're here in our department. In public, you'll be referred to as Junior Minister, Mr, or Elder Malfoy, depending on what the occasion requires."

Scorpius nodded, and Padma continued.

"What are the chances that you've read up on your new Department, and on the International Magical Trading Standards Body you'll be our representative on?"

Scorpius smiled. "One hundred percent, Padma. The history, all current regulations, and all of the issues that are currently under consideration or negotiation."

"Good. That'll save us from wasting a week or more," she said approvingly. "Let's start by showing you your office, then we'll gather your team and introduce you to them."

They both stood, and she again led the way as they went out into the main office, and down along the row of private offices until she reached a door that had his name on it, and the title 'Junior Minister – International Magical Trading Standards Body'. The office was maybe half the size of Padma's office, but looked equally comfortable, and Scorpius liked it right away.

"You have a much larger office on Level Two for your Wizengamot office, but you will certainly need to spend most of your time here, when you're not travelling."

"This will work very well," he assured his new boss. "Is there anything I should know about my staff before meeting them?"

Padma shook her head. "Not really. All of the Witches and Wizards on your team have entry-level, administrative positions. You may have one or two of them who will not be happy that you've skipped several steps on the normal career path, but you'll either get them to come around, or you'll have to give them the option to move somewhere else. You have just one receptionist, six inspectors, and three Research and Negotiation Assistants. I'll introduce you to Alison, have her get your team together in one of the conference rooms, and we'll get the meet and greet over with. After that, I'll let you loose on the unsuspecting world of international trading standards, sit back, and watch all of the fun."

While Scorpius was meeting his small team of ten, Brianna was meeting with Cuthbert Mockridge, the Minister for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

"Good morning, Brianna," Cuthbert said gruffly when she entered his office. "Please come and sit down." When she had done so, he continued.

"As an Intern for my department, you will spend time in as many of the different sections and divisions as we can get you in over the summer. We will, however have you spend extra time in two divisions that we think may be where your future in the Ministry may lie – in the Centaur Liason Division, and in the Goblin Liason Division. You will be starting today in Goblin Liason. Do you know the Head of that Division?"

"Yes, sir," Brianna answered, the first words she'd spoken so far in the short meeting.

"Very well, you may report there now. I'm looking forward to seeing how you progress this summer, Brianna. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. My door is always open."

"Thank-you, Minister Mockridge," Brianna said as she stood and left the office. She didn't think that it was all that likely that any of his people took advantage of their boss's open door policy, since his gruff attitude was anything but open door. Her meeting had lasted minutes, and she'd been glad to be dismissed so quickly, and sent off to the Goblin Liason Division, and the start of her first day as a Ministry Intern. That, at least, was something she did like about her new boss – he didn't sit around wasting time like a lot of Witches and Wizards who worked at the Ministry.

At PBP Investments, Carolyn had met first thing in the morning with Mrs and Mrs Weasley, and had then begun her day by sitting down with a small stack of reports that she needed to read through so that she would get up to speed on current operations. She spent the entire morning going through those reports, and then was taken out for lunch by Molly and Penelope.

"What do you think about what you've learned about our little company so far this morning?" Molly asked her after they'd ordered their food.

Carolyn smiled at her. "Little is hardly the word, and you have an amazingly organized business, but I'm a bit confused about one thing."

"What's that?" Penelope asked.

"Why do you do everything on paper, and a lot of your communications by Owl Post?" Carolyn asked.

"I'm not sure I follow that," Penelope answered. "WiComms and Translocators are a huge part of how we do business."

"Did you know that for quite a few years now, we do a lot of our studying at Hogwarts using our Virtual GameWizards?" she asked the two women.

Molly and Penelope both nodded. "Sure, those Virtual study programs are a fairly decent piece of our Marauders Institute gaming division revenue," Molly answered. "What does that have to do with our business communication?"

"Starting this September, Lily is still going to be able to help us study, because she can join us for Virtual study sessions," Carolyn told them. "I'm wondering why you do all of this paperwork, and the reports and scheduling, and everything on paper when you could be doing all of it using the same technology as you use for the VirtualLibrary or any of the Virtual programs we use for our studies. All of your staff could be working at the speed of thought. Lily's the best of us, and she can think her reports at something like a thousand words a minute, and then she just uses her VirtualQuill to print them. Those reports I spent all morning reading, I could have read in the VirtualLibrary program in about a quarter of the time."

Molly and Penelope both stared at her; then began laughing. "We have no idea why not, Carolyn. Maybe because not very many of us old folks actually have used those programs," Molly told her. "I'm not sure using the Virtual GameWizard glasses won't have some issues, though, since the user can't do other things while they are in the Virtual game or program."

Carolyn shrugged. "Use the original GameWizard systems – the two-dimensional ones," she suggested. "Your employees could have access to all company information wherever they are on the portable versions, and you can make a bigger version for the desks. I haven't used one in a long time, but they worked by thought too, didn't they? I'm sure that Natalie and Lisa can work all of that out for you."

"Way to pick them, Mum," Penelope told Molly. "It only took her half a day to tell us how to revolutionize our operations."

Molly laughed. "I think you've just picked your summer intern project for yourself, Carolyn. We'll set up a meeting with Mandy for later today and get her to assign us a development team to work with you. Way to start impressing us."

Carolyn smiled, and inside she was bursting with excitement that her ideas had been so enthusiastically received. She loved sitting through lunch with Molly and Penelope as they discussed her idea, and began a rough analysis of what would need to be done to make it all happen, and even a little talk about potential retail applications for the idea to other businesses, or even for the Ministry of Magic.

After lunch, Carolyn went back to the reports, continuing to work through learning about the Property Division, and Marauders Institute operations until at just before three o'clock she was called in to a meeting with Mandy Boot, Executive Director of Marauders Institute, Natalie Cauldwell, and a now very pregnant Lisa Allen, the top two managers for the Institute's gaming division.

"We'd like to start by telling you that we're all feeling a bit dumber this afternoon," Mandy told Carolyn after she'd taken a seat.

"We're supposed to be the best and brightest in the company, and for some reason it's never occurred to any of us to apply our technology to our own business operations," she continued. Carolyn had no idea what to say to that, so she just smiled and said nothing.

"What Mandy's trying to tell you," Lisa told Carolyn, "is that we love the idea, and it's got the added bonus of putting new life into a system that we've pretty much retired except for use as a game system for very young kids. Marcus and I plan on taking all of the credit, since we were your mentors during those important developmental years of your life."

Carolyn laughed. "You had a lot to do with how Brianna and I turned out," she agreed. "We definitely learned from you, and the rest of our family, what we wanted to be like when we grew up."

They spent the next hour and a half talking about the new project, and everything that would be needed to get it off the ground. Since Lisa was going to be off having her baby soon, Natalie would be in charge of the project, although she wouldn't be working directly with the team of program designers she and Lisa decided to put together to work with Carolyn.

When the meeting was over, Molly sent her home with a hug and smile, and told her to go celebrate the best first day any intern had ever had at PBP Investments with Al and her friends.

The pool party was still going on at the cottage when she got there, so she stopped to visit with everyone there for a few minutes before going inside to greet Al with a long hug and kiss.

"Good day?" he asked, his eyes sparkling as he saw the excitement just overflowing from her. "You have a bubble bath waiting for you upstairs. Would you like a glass of wine to take with you, or have it when you come back downstairs?"

Carolyn hugged and kissed him again. "I'll have the wine after," she decided.

"Then go have a nice long soak," Al told her. "You still have lots of time before dinner, since you got the get out of work early card. You can tell us all about your day over dinner tonight."

Carolyn happily went upstairs to have that long bubble bath, and when Sarah and Joel got home, he sent her along upstairs too, having set up a bubble bath for her too.

"What, no bubble bath for me?" Joel joked as he sat down at the kitchen table while Sarah left to go upstairs.

"If I'd known that you had a thing for bubble baths, I still probably wouldn't have gotten one ready for you, but since in the year and a half I've known you, you've always taken showers, it never occurred to me that you'd want to have one," Al told him.

"That's true," Joel agreed, "but then, I can't say I've tried one either, so I don't actually know if I'd like it or not. The girls certainly seem to."

"Well, if you decide to experiment, I can tell you how to get it ready, but I am not going to be drawing bubble baths for you, or any of the other guys, in this lifetime."

"Fair enough," Joel told him. "How was your day?"

Al laughed. "We played in Paris all morning, had lunch at the Mall there, then came back here and played in the pool all afternoon until I came inside to start getting some work done. How are things at the Ministry?"

"There seems to be a lot more activity. Sarah and I, and all of the Pages were getting run off of our feet today. Most Witches and Wizards seem pretty excited about everything that happened last week, but there are also quite a number of very unhappy people too."

"Watch out for those ones – there's a good chance that they could be some of the people that Draco cut off from the Malfoy financial Gringotts cart."

"Then we should be very careful, because at least one or two of those unhappy people were supposed to be on our side," Joel told him.

"You should pass that information on to Uncle Percy and Grandfather," Al told him. "They may not know about those people."

"I'll stop by Uncle Percy's office tomorrow," Joel promised. "How'd Carolyn like her first day?"

"It seems her day was brilliant, but I haven't heard about it yet. We'll get her to tell us all about it over dinner."

Al and Joel talked while Al cooked dinner. Outside, Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy were packing up from their pool party, and had Kira, James, and Timothy packed up and ready to go home by the time Natalie and Mandy came to pick up their happy, exhausted children.

"If you're lucky, they'll last through dinner, and then be out cold for the night," Amy told the two women. "They were too fired up for a nap today."

"If they do that, we may want you to keep them up all day every day," Natalie told the girls.

Once their little charges were gone for the day, Dale and the girls joined Al and Joel in the kitchen, getting drinks for themselves and sitting down at the table.

"That was a pretty great start to our babysitting career," Millie said. "The boys are getting to be more fun now that they're getting older too."

"I think we're going to have to hire Dale, though. Those two boys seem to be getting attached to him at a high rate of speed," Carissa told Millie and Amy. We practically ended up with the three of us taking care of Kira, while the boys hung out with Dale and Al."

"I'm just in it for the fun and games this week," Al told her. "Dale seems willing to work for hugs and kisses from you, so he shouldn't be too difficult to keep happy either."

Dale grinned, and Carissa hugged him. "I'm pretty sure we can work something out there," she agreed.

Victoire stopped by to pick up Carissa, Millie, and Amy after she was done work, just after Carolyn and Sarah rejoined everyone in the kitchen. Dale was staying at the cottage, so he walked Carissa out when the girls left, returning several minutes later, with a grin on his face that suggested that the goodbye hug and kiss had been worth the short trip. Al had his dinner for five ready, so he set everything out, and his ravenous group of worker Witches and Wizards dove in.

"Okay, hit us with it," Al told Carolyn. "What was so brilliant about your day?"

Carolyn still had that same bright, excited smile on her face, and that excitement shone through as she answered him.

"I started out the day reading through stacks of company reports, then at lunch made a suggestion about how I thought that it would be way easier to do all of their work the same way that we do a lot of our studying using all of the GameWizard study programs. The next thing I know, they're telling me I'm brilliant, and my summer intern job is now as a member of the system development team from the Institute research division to make my idea happen."

"Wow, no wonder she saw what all of those business bigshots missed," Sarah said. "She's so organized she fit describing how, in one short day, she changed the way Witches and Wizards will be running their businesses in the future into one breath and two sentences. Will you take me shopping when you get that gigantic bonus?"

"I just hope it takes them a few years to get it all going," Joel said. "If they start using GameWizards to do everything they do on parchment now, us Pages would be out of work at the Ministry."

"Not necessarily," Carolyn told him. "How cool would it be if you could do things like work with those kids in the youth sports program all day, every day instead of spending most of your time running documents all over the Ministry building?"

"That would be ultra-brilliant," Joel agreed.

Al laughed. "Here we've all been asking the age-old question – what's better than brilliant, and here we have a wordsmith in the house that just casually comes up with ultra-brilliant for us."

"I didn't know you were all looking for a what's-better-than-brilliant word, or I would have helped you out sooner," Joel told Al.

"Well, now we know who to come to," Sarah said, hugging him. "Way to go, Joel."

"I hope that when I get older I can invent words too," Dale joked, and Joel grinned at him.

"From the way you looked after coming back from saying goodbye to Carissa, you'd be coming up with words like 'snogalicious, or snogtastic, or maybe snoggerific," Joel told him.

Dale laughed. "Quick, somebody hand me a quill and parchment. I may want to use these some day."

The dinner and quiet evening that the five friends were having at the cottage was being repeated at most of the other homes around the family, everyone catching their breath from a busy weekend and first day back to work. There were some members of the family who were away on vacations and honeymoons, who were busy having fun rather than shaking up the business world, playing in the world of politics, running a summer daycare service, or working on inventing new words.

Monday was July first – the first anniversary for James and Arianna. Since they'd thankfully been on the outside edges of the excitement of the past week, they had been able to get together with Aaron and Tracey, and quietly disappear on Sunday to the family island for a week of sun, fun, and mostly to relax from the stresses of a long Quidditch season, and for James, a challenging first year as Director of the Phoenix Academy.

The plan had been for just the two couples to spend the week there, but a chat on Saturday evening with Art and Serena had added them to the exclusive guest list. Back at home, everyone might be wrapping up their day, but on the island, it was still early afternoon, and the three couples were having fun playing on the lagoon and at the beach. That's where James, Arianna, Art, and Serena were at the moment, while Aaron and Tracey had wandered off somewhere for a little alone time.

"Thanks for inviting us along," Serena told James and Arianna. "This is a perfect way to wind down from the last six months at med school. We're pretty sure that you either make it through that last year of medical training, or they break you trying to do it."

"It is a pretty small group that does graduate, when you think about how many started with us three years ago," Art said. "I'm just glad we're finally done. In just over a month, we'll be married, and in two we'll be starting our new jobs at St. Mungos."

Arianna smiled at them. "And we're going to love having you here at home with us."

"We're going to love being here," Serena told her. "Just tell Sebastian and Tristan not to send St. Mungo's so many injuries on the Saturdays it'll be our turn to work. We were told that Quidditch day is the busiest of the week for the hospital."

"Wasn't it the same at the hospital you trained at?" James asked.

Art laughed. "Are you kidding? With a Dragon Reserve in our backyard, every day had the potential to be the busiest. Don't you remember that's how my parents met?"

James grinned at his cousin. "I vaguely remember something about that, but once your Dad stopped talking about Dragons, I usually just tuned the rest of that mushy talk right out."

"It's a wonder I ended up in medicine and you ended up running an academy when you think about the role models we had growing up – Dragon Handlers, Professional Quidditch players, and Curse Breakers among the group," Art told James, who nodded.

"Thankfully they also taught us to find something we love to do and then go ahead and do it. That seems to be working out pretty well for all of us."

Art laughed. "It's working out quite a bit better than pretty well for us since we got that letter from your Dad a week ago Friday. I'm all for that doing a job you love thing, but we're looking forward to being able to do that on something a little bit more financially stable than the starting wages that a Medi-Wizard or Medi-Witch makes. You do not get into medicine for the money."

"I know the feeling," James said. "Nobody works for the Phoenix Foundation for the big bucks. That's why Teddy, Stewart, and I all married brilliant, beautiful, rich women."

"You are so full of it, James. Sure, you may not make the big bucks at your Academy, but Uncle George talks about your inventions, and it's pretty clear that you're doing pretty well with what you make from them. You're kind of like my Dad – his job is working on the Dragon Reserve, but his money comes from his writing hobby."

"How long do you think he'll keep working at the reserve?" Arianna asked.

"We're pretty sure he's training Jon to be his replacement," Art told her. "I'm going to guess maybe four or five more years. It takes quite a while to become one of the best handlers, and everyone in Romania knows my Dad's the best there is."

It was obvious that Art was proud of his father, but he wasn't boasting or anything, since it was absolutely the truth – his father was a world-renowned dragon handler, and certainly one of the top two or three in the world.

"We're going to like having them home too," James told Art. "Al, Lily, and I all think your Mum's our coolest Aunt. Your Dad's great too, but Uncle George has a lock on the number one spot for coolest Uncles."

"And all of your cousins think the same thing about your Mum," Serena told him with a grin. "I'm sure it has everything to do with them being the most fun to play with, though. I love all of your other Aunts too, but sometimes they're just a bit too serious about work and everything."

"That's a good point," Arianna told Serena. "Which makes me wonder why we're sitting around talking family when there's a perfectly good lagoon right there to go play in, and a beautiful day to enjoy."

The two young couples got back to their play time, and in France, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were enjoying a little play time too, except they were doing an evening of fine dining, followed by a night out dancing.

"I hope James and Arianna are having a happy anniversary," Ginny told Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "They really needed to get away for a week and unwind."

"So did we after Quidditch, all the work at the lab, and the wedding," Hermione said. "I'm feeling better already after just two days."

"Then our plan is working perfectly," Ron told her.

"Where is your plan taking us next?" she asked him.

"Tomorrow, we leave for Venice," he answered. "We'll do a little shopping, a little sightseeing, and my personal favourite, a little fine dining. I love the food in Venice."

Ginny laughed. "You love the food everywhere, Ron."

"What can I say?" he said, shrugging. "I'm an equal opportunity, multi-culturally diverse culinary arts enthusiast."

"Is that what you call it?" Harry asked. "That's a very creative way of saying 'I haven't met a food I didn't love'."

"I like my way of saying it much better, mate," Ron told Harry.

"I wonder what Rose and Matt are doing?" Hermione asked. "Their Monday is just getting started in Hawaii."

"We might not want to know the answer to that," Ron told her. "That way I can keep my little fantasy where our baby girl hasn't grown up and gotten married already."

Ron could live in his little fantasy world if he wanted to, but Rose and Matt were living in the real world, and they thought it was absolutely brilliant. Since they hadn't ended up staying at the anniversary party very late, they'd gotten to their hotel in Hawaii before lunchtime on Saturday with the ten-hour time difference. They'd spent the rest of the day out playing, and then had taken the potions that would have them adjusted to the new time zone by Sunday morning, and gone to bed.

They'd spent Sunday out on the water, doing a little diving and a lot of swimming, and then gone out to dinner, and then a spectacular evening enjoying the island nightlife – both in public, and back at their hotel suite. On Monday, while back home their family were all ending their day, the newlyweds were out hitting all of the island tourist traps.

"I think Hawaii is going to be one of our tours that I'll always love the best," Rose told Matt.

"Me too," Matt agreed. "Hopefully now that we have another whole week to spend here before we move on to the cruise, we can see a lot more of the different islands this time around, although it'll probably take us years of trips here before we've seen it all."

"Then it's a good thing we plan on coming here for a lot of years to come," Rose said happily.

It was Tuesday morning at home long before Rose and Matt went to bed on Monday night. With the big first day at work over for the working New Marauders, the summer routine began to take shape for most of them. Tuesday and Thursday nights were going to be Quidditch practices again this summer, with Hufflepuff and Slytherin training at Grandma Catriona's house again, while Gryffindor would have their practices at the cottage, against a mix-and-match team, depending on who was available for the practices. The only players for that team that were confirmed for most practices were Lily, and Liam's sister Myra.

With so many people in the family away during that first week of July, Teddy, Al, and Myra's mother Meghan joined Lily and Myra's team to play Chaser, while Stewart and Nick played Beater for the new summer practice squad. Hugo might not have been happy with the competition during the Christmas holidays, but he may have wished for a little less competition now, as his team faced off against some of the best players ever from Hogwarts and the pro ranks. Even the one exception, Myra, showed them right away that she was a fiery little Quidditch phenom at Keeper, easily matching Hugo save for save during their hour-long practice game.

"I hope you're not placed in Gryffindor in September," Hugo told Myra after they'd landed.

"Gee, thanks," Myra said, sounding hurt, and Hugo laughed.

"Not because we wouldn't appreciate you in our House," he assured her quickly, "but because I don't plan on giving up my spot on the team, or my captaincy for two more years, and it'd be a waste to have you playing on our practice team for your first two years. You're already way too good to not be playing on a House team your first year – not that I'm looking forward to playing against you."

Myra beamed at him. "Well, in that case, I hope I'm not in your House either," she joked. "Maybe I'll get to play on Kieran's team."

Hugo rolled his eyes. "I really hope not," he answered. "Like he needs any more talent on that team. If he gets you too, we should just skip the season and give Hufflepuff the Quidditch Cup again."

"Keep finding reasons why she shouldn't be in one of the Hogwarts Houses, Hugo, and pretty soon she'll have to attend Beauxbatons instead," Lily told her cousin. "You may not want her to waste away her talents in Gryffindor, but Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw would love to have her in their Houses."

"Is sending her to Beauxbatons an option, mother?" Liam asked, and Meghan laughed, while Myra stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"Sorry, Liam, but she has her heart set on following her big brother to Hogwarts," Meghan told him.

Nick and Allie were talking with Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna after the practice. Scorpius and Brianna had come for the entertainment, and to hang out with their friends for a few hours.

"How have your first two days as a partner in your architecture company gone?" Al asked Nick. "And how's the executive life in Witch Investments?" he asked Allie. Nick waved for Allie to go first.

"My job is brilliant," Allie told the others. "Victoire is probably the best boss in the whole world, and we get to play with companies that are almost all about the most fun things that Witches love to do. The whole business and money side of it is just how we're keeping score during the game, and Witch Investments is way ahead of the competition."

"I started out with two pretty great projects dropped on my desk," Nick told them, "so I'm a happy camper. I'm getting to design the next Marauders resort hotel – that's actually what I started with right away on Monday."

"Where's the new resort going to be?" Carolyn asked.

"Grandma and Mum found a little island paradise in the French Polynesian islands in the South Pacific," Nick told her. "Marauders Refuge will be opening up probably a year from September."

"Maybe I'll get to help with that project next summer," Carolyn said dreamily. "That wouldn't be too hard to take – working all summer in paradise."

Allie laughed. "Hopefully you'll at least take a couple of days to marry Al along the way."

"Oh, we'll definitely make that a high priority," Carolyn promised. "Are you having fun in Goblin Liason, Brianna?"

"It's going to be an interesting summer," Brianna told her. "For some reason, most of the Witches and Wizards in Goblin Liason don't' seem to think it's necessary to actually talk face-to-face with the Goblins. I was given a stack of files full of grievances that were supposed to be my projects for the next two weeks, and told not to get discouraged if I wasn't able to resolve many of the cases. I'm already more than half-way through the stack, and have them all resolved – mostly just by going and sitting down with the Goblins who've filed the disputes and working out a settlement."

"It's amazing what a little simple courtesy and Goblin etiquette can accomplish," Al told her. "Sounds like you're on your way to making a good impression in your department. Scorpius better work hard, or someday he'll be reporting to you at the Ministry."

Scorpius laughed. "I personally think that'd be brilliant," he said. "There's no doubt she's getting more accomplished right now than I am, but then I don't even have my first trade conference for another couple of weeks. Hopefully by then my team will be ready to do more than push papers around for a couple of days and not actually get anything done. We're going to try something radical and see if we can maybe have a few successful deals worked out this time at that conference."

"And the Wizarding World will tremble at the sound of international politics making progress," Nick joked.

The rest of the first week of July passed by comparatively uneventfully, although everyone was having fun, whether working or playing. Wednesday was Harry and Ginny's, and Ron and Hermione's, twenty-fifth anniversary, and they spent it in Venice, one of the most romantic cities in the world. The Quidditch players had another pair of practices on Thursday evening, with Gryffindor coming out second-best in their practice match for the second time.

When Friday finally rolled around, and all of the working members of the Marauders and the family could look forward to the weekend, there was only one topic that was tops on the conversation lists for everyone – the upcoming dinner that Scorpius and Brianna were having that evening.

Brianna opened the door at just before six o'clock, and welcomed Draco, Astoria, and Narcissa Malfoy into the house at twelve Grimmauld Place, hugging Draco and Astoria, and shaking hands briefly with Narcissa. All three Malfoys were looking around with astonished expressions on their faces.

"You and Scorpius weren't kidding about this place being beautiful now," Astoria told Brianna. "It's absolutely stunning!"

Brianna smiled. "It is really hard for us to picture the house ever looking like we're told it did before the war ended," she told them. "If you'll come with me, we're having drinks in the drawing room before dinner."

She motioned for Narcissa to join her, and she allowed the older woman to walk a step ahead as they went up the grand staircase, with Draco and Astoria following. They walked into the drawing room, and Narcissa looked around the room, but then stopped in her tracks when she saw Andromeda sitting on a sofa next to a distinguished gentleman that she didn't know.

"Dromeda?" she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

Andromeda was just as stunned and she stood up quickly and walked over to her sister.

"Cissy!" she said, holding out her hands and taking Narcissa's hands in hers, tears filling her own eyes. "They didn't tell me you would be here!" She couldn't help herself, and pulled her stunned sister into a fierce hug.

"I've missed you so terribly, Cissy," she told Narcissa.

Narcissa finally pushed away, and stared at the sister she hadn't seen since the day she'd been disinherited from the Black family.

"I have to leave, Draco," she told her son. "We're not permitted to speak with my former sister."

"Because she was disowned?" Draco asked, and his mother nodded curtly, although she still couldn't take her eyes from her long-lost sister.

"But her disinheritance was rescinded, mother," Draco told her gently. "So what reason could you possibly have to leave now?"

"That's not possible," Narcissa told him. "Only the Head of the…" she trailed off as realization dawned on her – and a small flicker of hope came to life, making her heart flutter.

"Black family could do that?" Draco finished for her. "That is true, mother. Take a look at the family tapestry and see for yourself. Your sister – my aunt - and her family have been restored to us."

Andromeda smiled at her sister as she watched Narcissa look over at the tapestry on the wall, and then in wonder back at her favourite sister.

"Please don't leave, Cissy. It's not too late for us to start anew."

"You can forgive me?" Narcissa said in a whisper-soft voice filled with wonder.

"I love you, Cissy," Andromeda said. "Of course I forgive you. Will you come and let me introduce you to my husband, your nephew, and his wife?"

Narcissa took a deep, shuddering breath, and finally smiled. She pulled Andromeda into a hug of her own, holding on tightly for a long moment.

"I feel like you are all waking me up from a very bad dream," she told Andromeda. "How is it that I have not been able to see what I've been missing out on all of my life? Even less than two weeks ago, I was willing to kill my own son over what I thought was right, and now I don't think I ever knew what right was at all."

Andromeda laughed and hugged her sister again. "I love you, Cissy. We are going to have a brilliant time showing you just how much you've missed out on. It's a good thing that we'll have a couple of hundred years left to do that. Come on, and meet the rest of your family."

Andromeda introduced Narcissa to her husband, Robert, and to Teddy and Victoire before Scorpius had the chance to hand her the drink that Narcissa was probably more than ready for.

"I'm sorry we surprised you both this way, grandmother," he told her as she took the drink. "We just all thought giving you both a chance to get back together was too important to not try having you both come here."

"You are not the timid little boy anymore, Scorpius," she told him. "Someday maybe I will thank our Minister of Sport for helping you turn into such a fine young man."

Scorpius smiled at her. "Thank-you, Grandmother."

He'd thought about saying that she'd had a lot to do with how he'd grown up too, but then even she was now coming to realize that her contribution to his education was in teaching him everything he didn't want to be.

Andromeda had Narcissa sit next to her and Robert, while Draco and Astoria took seats too, and they spent most of the next hour in surprisingly pleasant conversation as the two sisters started to get to know one another again until Kreacher came to invite them to come to the dining room for dinner.

Scorpius smiled at his Grandmother's surprise, and raised eyebrows, when he returned Kreacher's bow and thanked the House Elf before Kreacher popped out of the room.

"Kreacher and Winky are family, Grandmother. We all extend them the same courtesy and affection we have for everyone else we love – and they love all of their family too."

"I'm in an alternate universe, aren't I," Narcissa told Scorpius, who laughed.

"We must be, Grandmother. In that old universe, you'd have never used humour. Father even told us that you have quite a lovely laugh. Maybe we'll all get to hear it sometime."

He offered her his arm, and led the way back downstairs to the dining room, where Narcissa and Andromeda had a few more happy tears to shed when they saw the beautifully restored room, and how even the family china, silverware, and crystal were all so perfect.

They sat down for the first Black family dinner in over forty years, and while they were doing that, SpellBound was having a late lunch in Kansas City, Missouri after getting done a WMVN lunchtime show that they'd done with the Weird Sisters to promote the long-since sold out Mega Jam that was on Saturday at an outdoor venue south of Topeka, Kansas, where they'd have an easier time keeping Muggles away from the huge concert.

"How do you think that went?" Lily asked her two Mega Jam assistants. Technically one assistant helped her, while the other one helped Kieran, but since she usually needed more help than he did, the two new employees were usually with her.

"It was really great," Vanessa told her. "Nadine and I were hanging out in the studio audience, and when you performed with the Weird Sisters, everyone was totally sucked in."

Nadine nodded. "What was really funny was watching the teenie boppers mooning over you guys, while their Mums were doing the same over Kirley and the other guys."

Ana laughed. "That's my husband," she said proudly. "He's still got it."

"What's up for the afternoon?" Kieran asked Laura. She and Andy had both come on this trip, since he was taking a few weeks off in between Quidditch seasons.

"Your sound check is at two, and then you have a TeenWitch interview at four, and then you'll end your night with one of those meet and greet dinner parties. This one has a dance too, so plan on getting on stage with some or all of the Weird Sisters for a song or two. I wouldn't mind seeing you just maybe go up there with a couple of guitars, and maybe you, Lily, Kirley, and Myron."

"That's an idea," Kirley agreed. "I'll let the organizers know that we'll be willing to do a little unplugged session tonight. Can you handle a half hour?" he asked Kieran and Lily, who both nodded.

"We could mess around all night if you wanted, but I guess none of us better overdue it and lose our voices. That wouldn't make us very popular on Saturday," Kieran said.

"You will not be jamming all night," Ana told him. "We want this first Mega Jam to be the talk of the summer to set things up for the other three Jams."

"Don't worry, Mum," he answered, "this is going to be the best concert ever, and it was a brilliant idea."

"It's your manager's job to worry," Ana said. "Even for us, these concerts are a pretty big deal. The tickets may be sold out, but a big part of the revenue we earn will come from the all-day concessions, and if they flop, so will these concerts."

"Then we'll make sure they don't flop," Lily assured her.

At the cottage, Al and Carolyn had a quiet evening going on with just Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa there. Carissa was spending the night, and had stayed for dinner.

"What are we doing for the weekend?" Carissa asked Al and Carolyn. "I'm pretty sure that Millie and Amy are going to be spending a lot of their weekend with Jason and Brian, either at Teddy and Victoire's, or at the Academy."

"Everyone else is doing their own thing this weekend, so we can do whatever we want," Al told her. "Is there anything you'd especially like to do?"

"I was sort of thinking that a day at the Marauders Paradise Water Park would be fun," she suggested, "and we could also throw in a few roller coaster rides. Patricia is coming for two weeks, so maybe we could save Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur a trip, and bring her back with us too."

"That sounds like a very good idea," Carolyn said. "All in favour?"

The vote was unanimous, so by noon home time, the three couples popped over to Marauders Paradise, had breakfast with Gabrielle, Kevin, Patricia, and William, then took almost four-year old Patricia in tow, and spent their day playing mostly at the Water Park. Al and Carolyn took Patricia on some of the smaller rides for an hour or so, and let Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa go spend that time riding their favourite coasters and other rides.

They had dinner on the island at one of the beachfront cafés, and then left for home, delivering Patricia to Bill and Fleur's house before returning to the cottage and another quiet evening together.

By then, the Mega Jam was rolling, the first band having hit the stage at ten o'clock in the morning, local time, which was six hours earlier than home time. The fourteen hour event had six bands that would fill up the first nine hours of the day, and then at seven o'clock, SpellBound would take the stage, and then they, and the Weird Sisters, would be taking turns on stage until midnight.

That didn't mean that they weren't busy all day, though. They made cameo appearances on stage at different times during the day, and did autograph sessions at several different concessions that sold everything from their albums to shirts, hats, pins, and just about anything else you could imagine.

They showed up for a lunch with a group of fans that had written to them and had told Lily and Kieran that they would be at the concert, having pooled their money so that they could bring two school friends that lived at one of the Foundation residences and couldn't afford to come. SpellBound rewarded them with a half hour of their time, and enough gifts to more than repay them for what they'd done for their friends.

Finally, it was time for them to go onstage, and from seven until just after nine, they had a blast performing in front of a quarter of a million appreciative fans. They had a short break then as the equipment for the Weird Sisters was rolled out, and then Lily and Kieran spent another hour on stage wowing their massive crowd with their mix of old Weird Sisters song remixes, and the new songs they'd done together for the new Weird Sisters album.

By ten o'clock, it was the Weird Sisters turn to shine, and they rocked the house until midnight, when they once again shared the stage with SpellBound for an encore duel of the bands that had the fans of both groups roaring their support as they battled to earn the loudest applause, and win their little contest. By a quarter to one, Lily and Kieran conceded defeat for the first round of the Mega Jam battle of the bands, and sent the very happy and tired fans home knowing they'd been part of something very special that day.

By the time Lily, Kieran, and the rest of their entourage were getting to bed in their hotel suites, Al was cooking breakfast for six again on Sunday morning at the cottage. Fluffy had already been through and scooped up the chunk of sausage that Al had tossed her, and from the sounds upstairs, he knew that his customers would be down any time now.

"Are we doing anything special today with everyone coming back home?" Carissa asked when they sat down to eat.

Al nodded. "Compared to this past week, yeah, we're going to have quite a gang for dinner tonight. Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle will be here with Millie and Amy, but then you and Dale are spending the day with them, so you'll be coming back here too."

"Who else will be here?" Dale asked.

"Mum, Dad, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Hugo, Emily, James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey," Al answered.

"Gee, I wonder why we've only seen Hugo and Emily on Tuesday and Thursday night for Quidditch?" Dale asked with a grin. "Could it be that they've been busy while he's been home alone all week?"

"Was he alone?" Joel asked, grinning too. "I sort of doubt that – not by the way they were grinning every time they looked at each other. Maybe that's why Gryffindor got beat both nights."

"What are you guys going to do all day while we're gone?" Carissa asked. "You will be able to come up with something to do, won't you?"

Carolyn laughed. "I know it's hard to believe, but yes, we'll manage to get through the day, difficult as it will be. Actually, Al and I will be moving our things to the house in Hogsmeade this morning," she told the other two couples. "If Joel and Sarah want to give us a hand, that's cool, or they can get a head start on the day by the pool we had planned for after lunch."

"I think we should give you a hand," Sarah said with a smile. "That way we can all get to that day by the pool faster."

"Count me in," Joel told them. "It's the least we can do after everything Al's done for us this past week."

After breakfast, and kitchen cleanup, Dale and Carissa took the TransPortal to Stewart and Isabelle's. Al and Joel went to work in his room, while Carolyn and Sarah went to pack her things up.

"We're going to miss having you and Carolyn here," Joel told Al as he mostly watched in awe as Al worked his magic and began packing all of his things into his trunk, boxes, and travel bags. "With Brianna moved out too, and Lily gone a lot, Sarah and your Mum are outnumbered again."

"The cool thing about this is that Carissa and Kieran will have rooms they can use for overnight visits, and you could even invite other friends over here too."

Joel laughed. "Now that would be very interesting if we invited some of Sarah's Slytherin roommates for an overnighter with Harry and Ginny Potter."

Al laughed too. "I think it'd be brilliant, if you two picked the right friends of hers. The more we do things like that, the better chance we have of finally ending all the animosity between Slytherin and the other Houses."

"Is that what Sarah and I are? One of those 'things like that'?" Joel asked.

"In a way, yes," Al agreed. "Would you have even considered asking a Slytherin girl out before you came to spend Christmas with us a year and a half ago? I didn't have a single Slytherin friend before Callie, Sarah, Karl, Daphne, and Millie, and I'd been at Hogwarts for five and a half years."

"Neither did I," Joel told him, "and no, I probably wouldn't have asked a Slytherin girl out – but then, I'd never asked any girl out before then."

The last items in Al's room landed in boxes that then sealed themselves, and just that fast, Al was finished packing up his childhood, and was ready to Translocate everything to his new room at his house in Hogsmeade.

"That was really amazing, Al. I have no idea how you manage to keep so much going on all at once, but it is really something to watch," Joel told him.

The two boys spent the next five minutes putting Translocators on everything, and sending them off to his house, and then went over to Carolyn's room to watch them work.

"Of course he's done first," Carolyn said, smiling at the boys as they came in. "No, I don't want the help, or I'll never find everything when it's time to unpack," she added, answering the unspoken question.

"If you have anything that's ready to go, we can get them Translocated, though," Al suggested, and Carolyn pointed to where they'd been stacking the finished boxes and cases.

"They're all ready to go," she told the boys. "Feel free to send them along."

The four friends spent the next hour chatting as Carolyn and Sarah packed, and the boys then put the Translocators on anything they had ready to go, and sent them to Hogsmeade. When Carolyn's room too had been emptied of all her worldly possessions, they went outside, and took the TransPortal to Hogsmeade, and went into the house there, and at least partially reversed the process.

"I'm not unpacking everything," Al told Joel. "I'm only going to be here until Carolyn and I get married, and then we'll move in to a different house."

"Are you going to have Nick design you one too?" Joel asked.

"Yes," Al answered. "It's going to be a surprise for Carolyn, though, so don't say anything. Nick and I haven't even really started yet, but I'm hoping to have it ready for a Christmas present for her."

Joel nodded. "Are you going to be at the Ministry next week for that Auror aptitude testing? Maybe you can do lunch with Sarah and I if it's not on a day when we're working the lunch program at one of the youth sports programs."

"I'll be there at least part of the day on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday," Al told him. "Two days for the testing, and one day on Wizengamot business."

"We could do lunch on Thursday for sure then," Joel told him. "On Mondays, we hardly seem to stop, and Tuesday and Wednesday we'll be doing the lunch program thing."

"I'll talk with you later in the week then, and see if we can still do that," Al promised. He looked at his watch. "I can do the rest of this later in the week. Let's get the girls, go back to the cottage, and get to the laying around by the pool, swimming, and having fun part of the day."

They spent the next several hours around and in the portable pool they set up, and then Al went inside at around four o'clock to start getting dinner ready for the gang he was going to be feeding tonight. Carolyn, Sarah, and Joel stayed outside, and set up tables and chairs, since they'd decided to eat outside.

Harry and Ginny were the first to arrive at the cottage, coming home from the last stop on their trip – Sweden. Ron and Hermione had gone home first, and would be coming over with Hugo and Emily.

"Don't' even think about it," Al told his father when he looked like he was ready to pitch in. "Go get yourselves drinks, and go outside and play until I call you all to eat."

Harry and Ginny laughed, hugged him, and did as they were ordered, spending the next hour visiting with everyone as they arrived. Lily and Kieran were there last, having come in straight from Kansas City, where they'd slept in late local time, and then fit in a couple of hours of morning shopping before leaving for home.

Since Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey had all been completely out of the news loop for the past week, the dinner conversation was as much about the happenings at the Ministry, with Carolyn's job, what Teddy and Stewart were up to at the Foundation, and news from the babysitter's club as it was about telling everyone all about the anniversary vacations in Europe, on the island, or hearing about the first, and extremely successful Mega Jam.

It was getting dark by the time that everyone began heading home to get ready for another workweek. Sarah, Joel, Lily, and Dale would be the only teens remaining with Harry and Ginny at the cottage. Al and Carolyn were the last to leave, and Harry and Ginny were outside to see them off.

"Thanks for holding off on the move for a week," Harry told them, hugging each of them. "Try to stop by and visit occasionally."

"We'll be over a lot," Al promised. "Carolyn will be working at the Institute most of the summer too, so she and Mum can do lunch all the time too."

"I can hardly wait to see what your team is doing tomorrow," Ginny told Carolyn. "I'm still amazed that none of the rest of us even thought about using the GameWizard systems like that before."

"Quick, Al," Harry said, "escape now before they get talking shop again."

Al, Carolyn, and Ginny all laughed, but after another quick round of hugs, Al did take his father's advice, and he and Carolyn left for Hogsmeade, and the first night in their temporary home.

James was at the Academy early on Monday morning, and had read the week's worth of reports that had been waiting for him on his desk. He was even at the shift change meeting without needing Julie, or one of the staff to stop by his office to remind him to get there on time.

"Did anyone even notice I was gone last week?" he joked when they started the meeting.

"It did seem a bit quieter around here," Walter told him. "We just thought it was because the kids were spending more time outside enjoying the nice weather when they didn't have classes."

They got the night shift part of the meeting over so they could go home, went over the notes and schedules for the day shift, and then James and his five teachers got to work on their student reviews.

"We've got two of our kids that are very close to being caught up to their age level, James," Marianne said. "Erin and Quincy were the youngest to start taking magic in January, and if we keep working hard with them for the rest of the summer, they can be ready to start year two at Hogwarts with the other twelve-year old students."

"How cool is that?" James asked. "A year ahead of our projections! Let's give them whatever extra help they need, but I don't want getting them ready for Hogwarts to get in the way of them having fun the week we take them to Marauders Paradise in two weeks, or have them too worn out to keep up with classes when they do get there."

"We'll be careful with them," Marianne promised. "I'd like you to see if any of your cousins or friends would come and spend some time with them and mentor them once they get to the school in September."

James nodded. "That's a good idea," he agreed. "Dale and Carissa could be a good match for Erin and Quincy, and they'll be spending lots of time here this summer, since it's a safe bet that Millie and Amy will be here a lot."

Walter laughed. "I hope those two keep hanging out here. Those two boys of theirs are bound and determined to get to Hogwarts in time for their OWL year. They might even make it at the rate they're going, since they've started their year two, but it still means trying to do just under three years in about fourteen months."

"I have some experience with being away from my girl during the school year," James said. "It can be a real motivator. I'll put my money on Jason and Brian to do it. Anything else to go over?"

"We're good for right now," Julie told him. "We'll try to keep the kids all focused on their studies, but we're not actually expecting to be very successful at that by next week as their trip gets closer."

"Let's just go with the flow," James told her. "I haven't got any suggestions on how to make studying more interesting than Marauders Paradise – probably because it isn't even a close second."

They wrapped up their meeting, and James went to the dining hall to visit with some of the students while they had breakfast, and before they started classes, then got back to work in his office. His big project for the next two weeks was going to be getting all of his kids ready to go to Marauders Paradise for a week, while most of his staff got ready to take a week off for vacation.

Al was in his Wizengamot office at the Ministry of Magic, having a short meeting with Callie and Scorpius. They would be attending their first session in a week, and Callie was bringing them up to speed on some of the proposals that were being submitted for consideration at that meeting.

"It seems that the other side has decided to test whether they can outsmart a couple of new kids on the block, so they're dumping all of these proposals on everyone's desks," Callie told them. "You're both going to need to keep up with all of them, so I'll probably be sending you daily Owl Posts with the latest proposals, and my analysis of each as soon as I can get them researched. I may need some help with that, though. They're sending so many, I'm having trouble keeping up."

"I can work with you to do that," Al told her. "I have my testing on Tuesday and Thursday, but I have the rest of the week pretty much open."

Callie nodded. "Thanks, Al. We'll see what gets dumped on us for Friday, but we may need to put some time in on the weekend too. Somewhere in this mess of crap they're throwing at us is what they're really trying to get out of all of this major waste of time and effort, and we need to find out what that is before it's too late to stop them."

"We'll get it figured out," Scorpius said confidently. "They don't have a chance against the Wizengamot Marauders."

Callie laughed. "That's cute, but you forget that I wasn't a New Marauder, guys. I didn't even find out that you all were TNM until James and Arianna told Mark and I last year."

"Consider yourself inducted," Al told her. "If TNM can rule Hogwarts, just imagine what we'll do with the Ministry of Magic!"

"Are you the one-Wizard enforcer of the Ministry version of TNM?" she asked, grinning at him.

"Probably," Al agreed, only half joking. "It's time to clean this place up of all of the bullies too."

"Way past time," Callie agreed. "That's all I have, guys. You've got all the proposals that have come in so far, and we'll keep working on all of the new ones I expect to keep coming in all week. We'll know by the end of next Monday whether we're up to the challenge."

Lily had been up and had breakfast with everyone else in the morning, but while they all either left for work, or were getting ready for a day of babysitting at the cottage, she and her father both had the day off. She actually had the entire week off, which was Ana's plan for her and Kieran all summer. They would do studio and video work during the week ahead of each Mega Jam, and then would have the following week off.

"Do you have anything planned with Kieran today?" Harry asked her as she sat at the table in the kitchen while he worked away at cleanup before Kira, Patricia, James, and Timothy arrived.

"I may drag Kieran out to the Mall today and look for a new dress for the wedding on Saturday. Is everything worked out with Joel, Sarah, and Dale for this weekend?"

Harry nodded. "Joel and Sarah will be spending the weekend with Callie and Mark, and Dale will have to suck it up and spend the weekend with Stewart, Isabelle, and Carissa."

"I'm sure he'll manage to suffer through," Lily said. "Are you going to be working on getting things together for the Residence trip to Marauders Paradise this week and next?"

"For a few days each week," Harry answered. "I've got to work something out on the babysitting front too. Frederica and Liam watched the kids last summer while Sarah was on the island, and Millie, Amy, and Carissa don't want to leave Mandy and Natalie without sitters for the week, so I've got to find replacements for them, or they may not want to go to the island." 

"We can't have that," Lily said. "Especially since Jason and Brian are probably counting on getting to spend that week with Millie and Amy. They're working way too hard to catch up on their schooling to disappoint them."

"Any suggestions?" Harry asked, and Lily thought about it for a minute.

"Kieran and I are going to meet you at Marauders Paradise after the Argentina Mega Jam. We could take Kira with us to Argentina, and keep her with us. Patricia will be spending the week there with Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill anyway, so that just leaves the boys." Harry nodded.

"Do you think Al would take care of them?" Lily asked. "Last I talked to him, he didn't have anything specific booked for that week with the Wizengamot, and his Auror aptitude testing will be done this week."

"I'll ask him and see what he thinks," Harry told her. "That would make it easy enough, and if he can't then maybe with just the boys, Mandy and Natalie could always just put them back in the day care centre at the Institute for the week. Kira was the only one too old for that now."

"How's Lisa doing?" Lily asked. "She must be getting close."

"Her due date is only a week away, so it could be any day now," Harry answered.

Lily grinned at him. "My daddy's going to be a grandpa soon," she teased, and Harry laughed.

"Sometimes I really wish we had officially adopted Lisa and Megan," he said seriously.

"They don't need that piece of paper to know you and Mum love them like daughters," Lily told him. "You'll be the only father she has at St. Mungo's when she goes in to have the baby, and I'm looking forward to being an Aunt."

"You're going to be a pretty awesome Aunt," Harry told her. "I can see it now, the kids at day care and Lisa's little boy or girl proudly telling their new little friends that their Aunt Lily is the Lily Potter from SpellBound."

Lily laughed. "And by then, the other kids will be saying – Who's SpellBound?"

"I don't think you'll be done your music career quite that soon," Harry said. "Maybe by the time they hit Hogwarts your little duo will be on the oldies channels."

"That's actually a cheerful thought," Lily told him. "It would mean that even when we're not going to be touring or doing new albums, we'll still have some income coming in from video and WWN airplay."

"Keep talking like that, and when your mother and I decide to hand everything over to you and your brothers to run, they're going to put you firmly in charge of the business side of things."

"Like they're not going to do that anyway," Lily said. "Don't get in too big of a hurry to retire, though. I wouldn't mind having a few decades before that day gets here."

Kira came running into the kitchen then, and the father-daughter chat came to an end as Lily was pounced on.

"We were talking about you a little while ago, sweetie," Lily said as Natalie came in to say hello to Harry before heading off to work. "Dad and I were thinking that maybe you'd like to come with Kieran and me to the next Mega Jam in Argentina, and then spend the week after that with us at Marauders Paradise."

Natalie laughed as she was pounced next with an excited 'Can I, Mommy' accompanying the flying hug.

"We'll see what Daddy says tonight, sweetheart," Natalie told her. "Not that I have any doubt that your dimples, hugs, and kisses will convince him to let you go on the trip."

It seemed that every day had become a whirlwind of non-stop activity in the extended Weasley clan, and Joel's suggestion that Al do a family daily newspaper probably would have made it easier for everyone to keep up, since there was just so much going on all of the time now.

Hugo and the Gryffindor team got even tougher competition as Ginny and Harry joined the practice squad for the week while Lily went to watch Kieran and his team train on Tuesday and Thursday evenings instead.

That also gave her the chance to catch up with Karl and Daphne, who had worked out split shifts for those days so they'd have the afternoons off to come home from the island for Daphne's practices.

Rose and Matt were on their cruise of the Mediterranean during the second week of their honeymoon, and they loved every minute of the whole luxury cruise ship adventure.

"Maybe Victoire, or Aunt Fleur should think about getting one or two of these ships," Rose suggested. "That might be the one thing that would make this vacation more fun – if we had a ship full of other Witches and Wizards so we could use our magic more freely than we can around so many Muggles."

"That's a really great suggestion," Matt told her. "Imagine what we could do with a ship like this. Even the little cabins could be made into large, luxury suites with a little magical help."

"We're as bad as my parents – talking business even while we're on our honeymoon," Rose said. "Let's drop it, and get back to concentrating on me and you."

Al and Carolyn had been interested in concentrating on finally having a week that would mostly be just them, but life was beginning to intrude on that. Al had his Auror aptitude testing on Tuesday and Thursday, which went flawlessly, but then also had hours of work going over the inundation of proposals being flooded on the members of the Wizengamot.

Carolyn was beginning to spend more hours at work, going into the PBP offices most mornings, having lunch with Ginny and some of the other Witches from the Institute, and then spending the afternoons working in the lab that her project team was using at Marauders Institute. She was working late there on Thursday when Al came in, bearing gifts of dinner.

"Did you notice you're the last one here?" he asked, setting out a place setting for her on the lab bench, and then setting out the food so she could eat.

"What time is it?" she asked absently, still not coming over to eat.

"After seven," Al advised. "Come and eat, honey. You're just like Mum when she gets her teeth into a project."

Carolyn laughed, and did as she was told. "Why does that feel like such a great compliment?"

"Because it is?" Al joked. "What's got you so wound up?"

"I'm not sure what the problem is, exactly," she told him as she filled her plate and started to eat. "I think I have a pretty good handle on what I think these new business programs should do, but communication that to these game programmers isn't going so well. It's like they're so used to making games look graphically attractive that it's getting in the way of making everything functional – and easy – for the Witches and Wizards who would be using the new systems. Then there's the whole deal with how to get the old game system to do everything we want it to do."

"Would you like some help?" Al asked. "I'm a pretty fair program designer, if I can be so modest."

"Can you read my mind, design the program the way I envision it, and then help show these other programmers how to fix their information storage and system communications problems?"

Al laughed. "Not all in one night, but yes, actually I can," he told her. "Have something to eat, and then we'll get to work." Carolyn hurriedly did that, and when she was done, smiled at Al expectantly.

"Okay, so what do we do first?" she asked.

Al returned her smile. "I want you to think hard about how you see your program working. Pick something simple to start with, like maybe how you want to do scheduling, and what it would look like on the game system. Relax, and I'll do the rest."

Carolyn closed her eyes, and concentrated. It was strange when she felt Al gently sifting through her thoughts as she concentrated, but she trusted and loved him, and the sharing was intimate and beautiful, and she embraced that sharing with all of her heart. She realized that her thoughts had drifted away when she heard Al laughing, and she opened her eyes and laughed too.

"I don't think we'll include that last part in the program design, but we can definitely find some time later for that snogging session you'd drifted off to thinking about."

Carolyn reached out and pulled him close for a hug. "That was really wonderful, Al," she told him. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome," Al said, hugging her back. "Let's take a look now at what your team has come up with, and see if I can help you make it more like what you want, instead of what you're getting."

They worked until after ten, and by the time they were done, Carolyn was ready to take him home and snog him senseless.

"That's exactly it!" she told him. "Are you sure that working here wouldn't be a perfect job for you?"

"There are other Witches and Wizards who can do this," Al said quietly. "I could love doing research here, but it's not where my future is going to be." He grinned at her. "That doesn't mean I can't stop by while you're working on this project and be your little helper elf. Your team is going to wonder how all of this got done since they left today."

Carolyn laughed. "They can wonder all they want, as long as this helps them see where I want this to go. Let's head for home, and you can help me out with a little snogging session before we need to get some sleep."

Nobody in the family that was going to be attending the double wedding of Sebastian and Tristan on Saturday were working late on Friday – they were all heading for New York City, and a weekend at the Camelot resort hotel.

Harry and Ginny had seen all of their weekday gang off, and then left for New York with Ron and Hermione. James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey had all arrived earlier, and Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran came a bit later, coming over with Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna. Rose and Matt were coming to the wedding, but wouldn't be there until just before the wedding ceremony started on Saturday.

The four younger couples were actually there as guests and friends of Trinity's, having been her team mates from their years at Hogwarts, while the older members of the family were there for Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle. With the time change, they'd all arrived by early afternoon, so they had the afternoon to hang out, do a little shopping, or relax by the hotel pool. Friday night, there was a fairly small dinner that Harry, Ginny, James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey needed to attend, while the others were on their own for both dinner, and for the evening.

"So what do we do for the rest of the night?" Brianna asked as the four couples left the restaurant where they'd had dinner.

"Kieran and I can't go to the clubs with you or anything," Lily said, "so why don't you guys go have fun?"

"Why can't you?" Brianna asked. "You mean because you're not seventeen yet?" Lily nodded, and Brianna laughed.

"Why don't we see about that, and maybe have some fun in the process?" she asked the others.

"What are you cooking up, Bree?" Carolyn asked.

"I was just thinking that if we went and talked to the manager of the WizardKaraoke bar, and asked if they'd consider letting Lily and Kieran hang out with us there in exchange for maybe a couple of SpellBound Karaoke songs, that Lily and Kieran would be in just like that. How funny would that be when the other guests realized it was the real SpellBound up their?"

"It'd be priceless," Nick agreed. "Let's do it!"

Brianna was absolutely right, and Lily and Kieran were instant VIP's. They ended up going on the small stage to do three different songs over the few hours they were there, the last time to sing 'One Magic Moment', after which the surprise was on them when Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their group were there to greet them when they got off of the stage.

"Having fun?" Ginny asked, trying very hard not to laugh. Lily and Kieran had almost never taken advantage of their fame, and trading singing a few of their songs so they could hang out with their friends in a WizardKaraoke bar was hardly a capitol crime.

"Busted," Kieran told Lily, grinning at Harry, Ginny, and the others. "It was way worth it, though."

"If those are non-alcoholic drinks," Harry told them, "feel free to stay and finish them before you head back to our suite. If they're not, we definitely will be having a talk later."

"They are non-alcoholic," Lily told him. "The more important question, though, is – did you like the song?"

Harry laughed and hugged her. "You two were as amazing as always," he told her, giving up any faint hope he had at being upset about his underage daughter getting into a bar, even if she and Kieran weren't drinking.

"Come and sit down," Ginny told them. "If we hadn't heard your singing from outside, we'd have never even known you were in here."

"How'd the dinner go?" Lily asked her mother.

"It was fun, but it's been a long day, so we left early, even though their little private party was still going strong."

"And Sebastian, Trinity, Tristan, and Liselle all gained time zones coming here, so it still feels early to them," James said. "They may be up and going strong for quite a while."

Lily didn't know if talking about it made her remember she was tired, but whatever the case, she and Kieran finished their drinks and went up to bed. The rest of the family wasn't' far behind, although the newcomers to the WizardKaraoke bar did stay long enough to have a drink with Al, Carolyn, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna, and then they all went back to their suites, and were quickly off to sleep.

"Does this remind you much of our wedding?" Ginny asked Harry as they watched the bridesmaids and two Maids of Honour walk down the long aisle, followed next by Trinity and her father, and lastly by Liselle and her Dad.

"Only in being a double wedding. Ours was a lot more intimate that this one."

"Compared to the one we'll be at for Nick and Allie's this one is intimate," Ginny told him. "The girls look gorgeous. Whoever picked out the dresses did a wonderful job."

They watched as first Trinity was handed off to Sebastian, and then Liselle's father placed her hand in Tristan's. Harry kept his usual supply of tissue going for Ginny as the two couples stood in front of their families and friends, and declared their love for each other. The rings were exchanged, the two young Wizards kissed their respective brides, and they were pronounced husbands and wives to the cheers of the wedding guests.

Tristan and Liselle were leading the way for the recessional, with Sebastian and Trinity following, when Harry's WiComm vibrated silently in his pocket, and he pulled it out. There was only one reason it would be going off right now, so he pulled it out and opened it to see Marcus' smiling face.

"We're just leaving for the hospital," he told Harry. "Lisa made me call you before my parents or Megan. How bad's the timing?"

Harry laughed. "A minute earlier, and I could have shown the boys kissing their brides," Harry said softly, trying not to disturb the other guests. "We're on our way, Marcus, and we'll meet you at St. Mungo's."

Marcus nodded. "Thanks, Harry. I'll see you there."

Ginny hugged him when he ended the call. "Let's go around the outside and catch up with the newlyweds and say goodbye before we get to London," she told him. "We definitely don't want to be late."

It only took them about ten minutes to go talk with Sebastian, Trinity, Tristan, and Liselle, explaining why they had to run, and congratulating them. James and Arianna offered to bring their luggage back with them on Sunday so that Harry and Ginny didn't have to stop and pack, so they were able to leave the hotel right away, and take the TransPortal to St. Mungo's.

"Having a busy weekend?" Marcus joked when they caught up with him.

Ginny and Harry both hugged him. "Reasonably busy," Ginny answered. "How's she doing?"

"It's just starting, and the Healer says we may be at it for a while," Marcus answered. "She'd like you both to go in and see her."

Lisa was smiling when they walked into her room, and Ginny, then Harry took turns gently hugging her.

"You look beautiful," Harry told her. "That's saying a lot, since we just came from a room full of very pretty girls."

"Your perception is still skewed by bias," she told him with a laugh.

"I'll concede it's skewed by love, but not bias," he countered. "Is there anything we can get you?"

Lisa laughed. "Is a surrogate an option at this point?"

"Not really, no," Ginny told her, laughing too. "We will all be here with you, though." Lisa started having another contraction, and Ginny held her hand, and stroked her hair as they waited for it to pass.

"That was really not fun," Lisa panted after the contraction had eased off. "No wonder it's impossible to describe properly to anyone, Witch or Wizard. Until you experience it for yourself, it's only words."

Ginny nodded. "Welcome to the club."

"Thanks," Lisa said. "Your club's initiation sucks."

"Just the first part," Ginny promised. "The holding the baby at the end more than makes up for it."

The wedding ceremony had been at three o'clock, New York time, so Lisa had gone into labour sometime around eight o'clock home time. When Jair Allen was born at two thirty-seven on Sunday morning, his mother, father, and everyone in his family were exhausted.

"Took you long enough," Lisa told her adorable baby boy as Harry and Ginny were invited in to meet the first child that would grow up referring to them as Grandma and Grandpa.

"Say hi to your Grandma Ginny," Lisa said, handing Jair up to Ginny, and then laughing as Harry hugged her gently.

"He's so beautiful," Harry whispered. "You and Marcus seem to have done a pretty fair job with this one."

"We think we'll keep him," Lisa said in a soft, tired voice.

Ginny passed Jair on to Harry, and hugged Lisa too. "Anything you need, just let us know," Ginny told her.

"Right now, I'm hoping for a nap, but other than that, we're good," Lisa answered.

"We'll see you later today, honey, but you have a few more visitors still wanting to welcome Jair, so we'll get out of here, and hopefully you can get that sleep soon," Ginny said.

She hugged and kissed Lisa again, and Harry did the same as he handed Jair back to her. They both hugged Marcus, and then went out so that Marcus' parents could go in.

"Do you guys want to come back to the cottage to grab a nap after you meet Jair?" Ginny asked Megan and Devon.

"If you don't mind the company," Megan said. "We've been up for something like twenty-eight hours now, and are about ready to drop."

Ginny nodded. "Meet us there when you're done here, and we'll go ahead and get one of the guest rooms ready for you."

Harry and Ginny left, and within a half hour, the two couples had settled in for the night, and were fast asleep after another one of those amazing, incredibly great days.

Jair arrived just a day ahead of the halfway point of July, and there was still so much going on. Ginny was busy at work, which always seemed to happen every time she was getting ready for a week off. Harry was helping out every day of that next week getting two hundred students ready for their trip, and then he also made at least one trip every day to see Lisa, Marcus, and Jair. Lily and Kieran were back in the studio and had two video shoots between Monday and Thursday, and would then be leaving on Friday for Argentina and their second Mega Jam on Saturday.

In the world of politics, Al and Scorpius had their first Wizengamot meeting on Monday, which dragged on to an all day session as the twenty-one members of the old-guard, pureblood faction attempted to put through a series of bills that Callie, Al, and Scorpius had determined was meant solely to improve the financial situations mostly for those same Wizengamot members.

Al and Scorpius had spent time on Saturday before the wedding, and had hurried back home early on Sunday to help work through everything, and by Monday, they had a complete analysis ready for every single proposal, and were sure they had found every single item in each of those documents that was the true goal of each proposal. They included in those analyses their rebuttal, and another report that itemized the potential financial gain that the proposal sponsors and supporting members would receive should the bill pass, all of which would be in the public record should any of the proposals pass.

It had taken a lot of work, and Monday was a very long day, but by the time the Minister of Magic adjourned the Wizengamot, nobody in the room had any doubt that Harry had chosen his successors well, and that Al and Scorpius were going to be a force to be reckoned with for a long time to come. The twenty-one members of the Wizengamot that had put a lot of their hopes on getting an early, easy victory left angry, disillusioned, and still much poorer than they'd been before Draco Malfoy had pulled the financial rug out from under them.

Al and Scorpius met Callie back in Scorpius' office after the meeting to discuss the day, and yes, maybe celebrate just a little.

"They couldn't even get that increase in wages for the Wizengamot Elders," Scorpius said happily. "Your analysis of that, and especially suggesting that if we were going to give ourselves a fifty-five percent raise that we should do the same for all Ministry of Magic staff was brilliant, Callie."

Al nodded. "I loved your revised Ministry budget with the new wages factored in, and how much we'd have to increase taxes to make that happen."

Callie grinned at them. "Come on, guys, you all did give yourselves a raise after all."

"Yes, but I don't think they're going to be happy with getting the same cost of living adjustment that everyone else gets," Scorpius said. "This has been fun, but I have to get to my other office, and get back to work, since we've managed to lose a whole day. I'll be in Austria for the next three days, so you two have fun this week."

"Will Brianna at least be able to pop over after work and go play with you at all of the meet and greets they always have at those conferences?" Callie asked, and Scorpius nodded.

"Yes. I'm only there two nights, and she'll come after work each day," he answered. They all got up, and left his office, exchanging hugs.

"Good luck with your conference," Al told his friend. "If you have as much fun there as we had today, you're going to have a great few days."

"Thanks, mate. It won't likely be as exciting, but considering how little this Trading Standards Body has done, practically since it started, anything I can get done would be progress," Scorpius told him.

Scorpius could modestly hope for any meagre success to justify his trip, but in reality, his agenda was fairly radical, and he had gotten his small team fired up by throwing the way they did everything out the window, and taking a look at the top twenty-five or so Trading Standards issues that had been in limbo for years – many of them because their own Ministry was being obtuse, and not recognizing the valid arguments of the other members of the body.

From the moment that the conference opened on Tuesday morning, until the closing gavel on Thursday, Scorpius swept through the group like a storm during the day, sweeping away mistrust and antagonistic sentiment, and replacing it with hope, and a shared resolve to actually start working for the best interests of the Witches and Wizards of the world that they served. At the dinners and parties on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, Scorpius and his fiancée, Brianna, were a devastating duo as they absolutely charmed the other members of the Trading Standards Body, their staff, and families with a fresh charm and excitement for the future that just lifted everyone up and made them want to come play in that world.

When everyone went home on Thursday, they left with twenty-three agreements in principal. While they would still need the approval of the respective Ministries, all of the members were confident that would happen, since Scorpius and his team had been kind enough to include the all important cost impact analysis that was the lifeblood of politics. Since those twenty-three new standards would combine to save tens of millions of galleons in wasteful spending – money that could be spent by the government elsewhere – they were likely right, and all of the new trade standards agreements would be passed.

"Have a nice trip?" Brianna asked when a smiling Scorpius got home on Thursday. "From what they're saying on the news, you've been busy today."

Scorpius hugged and kissed her before answering. "We've been busy all three days, today just looked bigger because we actually voted on most of the agreements, and eventually, I'll get those last few agreements too."

"I have no doubt," she agreed. "Those dinners and parties were something else. We're going to love that part of our jobs – especially yours getting to meet Witches and Wizards from all over the world. I've got three new QuillMessge buddies already."

"Is that all?" Scorpius joked. "Considering all the praise you got during the day on Wednesday and Thursday, I would have thought you'd have more. It must be tough being universally adored."

"I'm only interested in being adored by one certain Wizard," she told him. "I'll settle for everyone else just liking me a lot."

"Let's go have dinner, and then find somewhere we can snuggle, you can let me adore you for a while, and we can celebrate a really great week in politics for us. We can be modest about it tomorrow, but we were brilliant this week."

On Friday morning, when Scorpius got to his office, his entire team was already in, and hanging around Alison's desk.

"Did I miss something on my schedule?" he asked them with a grin.

"No," Lysa told him. "We've just been passing around QuillMessages, and came in a few minutes early because we needed to be here to see one half of one of this week's TeenWitch hottest couples. The first time any politicians have been on that list, let alone a Junior Minister and Elder of the Wizengamot."

Scorpius stared at the picture of himself and Brianna in this week's edition of TeenWitch magazine, and sure enough, they were on the Hottest Couples pages. When he saw that Lily and Kieran had made the list too, he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Alison asked.

"That we made the list in the same week as two of our best friends, Lily and Kieran," he answered, and all of the girls laughed.

"Scorpius, we're fairly glad to find out that you aren't an avid reader of TeenWitch, but Lily and Kieran have been on that list every week pretty much since they were announced back at that New Year's Eve party," Moira told him.

"Longer," Lysa countered. "Remember they were on it before that, except they just had question marks instead of faces."

"I wonder if our intern at Goblin Liason has been given the news yet?" Devlin asked. "Maybe I should stop by and visit one of my buddies on my way out and drop a copy off just in case."

Lysa handed him a copy, and Devlin grabbed his case and headed out with a wave. Scorpius knew that his inspectors all worked in the field on Friday so they could knock off early for the weekend, but he had allowed that to continue, since he also knew that in just three short weeks, his inspectors had picked up their performance significantly, and even the two young Wizards on his team who had not been happy about Scorpius getting the job had quickly come around after finding out that their new boss was put there because he was talented and brilliant.

"I take it that Scorpius knows," Brianna told Devlin when he walked into the section for Goblin Liason carrying the TeenWitch magazine.

"Lysa's little sister got her copy with the Owl Post this morning, and we just all had to come in early to have a little fun with him." He handed the copy to his buddy, Nigel, who worked at the desk next to Brianna. "I guess you don't need this, but we picked up extra copies anyway. Since the girls are all giggling every time they come out of the Witches' washrooms in our department, I'm guessing they've stuck a copy of the picture on a mirror or something in there, or that's just where the really juicy gossip is being passed along."

"Isn't this going to be a fun day," Brianna told the two Wizards. "I really hope the Goblins I'm meeting with today don't read TeenWitch, or I'll probably get laughed out of the room as a featherweight."

"Not if they're smart," Nigel told her. "I know we've managed to keep you in our division for an extra couple of weeks longer than you were supposed to be, but any of the Goblins lucky enough to have you on their cases aren't going to blow their big chance. Once you move on to Centaur Liason for the rest of your internship, our case resolution rate is going to go in the tank again."

"I hope that doesn't happen," Brianna told him. "You, and some of the other Liason Officers could keep it going."

"Maybe," Nigel agreed. "You have a little more political clout behind you than we do, though. Most of us junior officers don't have Junior Ministers for fiancées, or have Harry Potter as our guardian growing up."

Brianna laughed. "Give it up, Nigel. You may have grown up in a Muggle home, but you drive a Porsche, so don't give me that poor me spiel, 'cause it's nothing but a load of Hippogriff droppings."

Nigel and Devlin both laughed too. "You are so busted, Nigel," Devlin told him. "I've got to get out on the road. You guys have a good day."

While Scorpius and Brianna were getting their day started with some good-natured fun, Lily, Kieran, the Weird Sisters, and their entourage were packing for their trip to Argentina. SpellBound had a busy week, shooting two videos, recording eight new songs, and having two practice sessions with Kirley and the boys in addition to their own usual daily practices. They'd managed to fit in two Quidditch practices, which was important, since the teams were taking next week off while Kieran and Lily were away.

"I think we've got everything ready," Nadine told Lily and Vanessa as she was zipping a case shut. "It's amazing how many outfits you need to get through one of these Mega Jams. You've got four changes to go through before you even go on stage for your part of the concert."

"That's mostly because every time she wears one of the outfits they sell in stores, the cash registers all over the Wizarding World go 'ka-ching!'," Vanessa told her best friend.

Lily pulled out her wand, and the bags and cases floated out of the room to join the rest of the luggage that would be going with them to Argentina.

"I'm really glad they gave you that exemption so you can use your magic," Vanessa told Lily.

"I still forget I can half the time," Lily told the girls. "I am glad that they didn't make me wait until next May, though."

"Are you three about ready?" Kieran asked, sticking his head in the door. "We do have a lunch date with a certain Professor and his son, and we have a lot to get done before then, including picking up our little superfan, Kira."

Vanessa returned Kieran's smile, and he winked at her. "Come on," he told her. "After three weeks in the Amazon, far away from civilization, Lance is going to be ready to snog you senseless when he sees you – especially with the way you look in that killer sundress."

They got to their hotel, the Park Hyatt in Buenos Aires just before nine o'clock local time, and Laura took Lily and Kieran immediately to their first WMVN – Argentina interview, along with Kira, Kirley and the Weird Sisters, Ana, Vanessa, and Nadine worked along with the rest of their small team to get checked into their suites and get everything set up for their stay in South America.

The concert was actually being held in an area north of the city of Bahia Blanca, but since the major media was based in Buenos Aires, that's where they'd decided to stay both nights.

"How cool would it be if some day we could come back and actually do a little sightseeing in places like this?" Vanessa asked Nadine as they worked on getting Lily's things organized.

"I think it's pretty cool even if we don't have much time to do that," Nadine told her. "And we get to do all of the stuff like this just because you gave your House team captain a broom that you won."

Vanessa laughed. "It didn't seem like that big of a deal back then," she told Nadine. "To be honest, I actually had no idea just how cool a prize that was, other than I did know that the Lightningbolts were the best. Who knew they were so expensive?"

"Only everyone else in the Wizarding World," Nadine joked. "Most of them, anyway."

While Lily and Kieran were busy doing interviews all day, back at home, just about everyone who was going to Marauders Paradise for the next week were finishing getting ready for the trip.

Al didn't end up getting recruited for babysitting duty, as Grandma Valerie was taking James for the week in Toronto while Kira was gone, and Mandy's parents had decided to do the same, and took their grandson, Timothy for the week too.

That did leave Carissa, Millie, and Amy free to go on the trip, and since Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle would have the three girls, Harry and Ginny ended up being the chaperones for Dale, Jason, and Brian for the week, which had been a very popular decision for all three of the young couples.

This next week was going to be Arianna and Aaron's last week off before Quidditch training camp started, so while they were both going with Tracey and James, each couple were assigned a quartet of low-maintenance older teens for their chaperone duties, with Aaron and Tracey getting Candice, Tyler, Nate and Janine, while James and Arianna got Gabe, Glenda, Kylie and Chris.

James and Arianna were at the Academy shortly after breakfast was done, and helped the staff make sure that all of the students were ready, and then helping to get the students together with their chaperones before they had to leave with their four students so that James could be at Marauders Paradise to help out at that end with the arriving students.

While James did that, Arianna took their four teens to their five-bedroom suite, and let them check the place out for a while before they went out to explore the island.

"I'm just planning on wandering around the shops until we meet James, Mum, and Dad for lunch," Arianna told them. "You're welcome to come along, or go hit the rides and games instead."

She wasn't surprised when the four excited teens opted for choice number two, and were off and running after getting instructions on where to meet for lunch. Arianna met up with Harry and Ginny after a quick exchange of QuillMessages, and the three of them went out to wander around the little shops, including a visit with Kevin and Michael in their studio shop, where Arianna bought one of Michael's newest works of art.

"I'm going to keep buying them, too," she told Michael. "It's not going to be many more years until your paintings are as famous as your Dad's landscapes and portraits."

"That's sort of a catch twenty-two for me, Arianna. If you buy them all up, then nobody else will see them so I can get famous," Michael answered.

"I'm not buying that many of them, am I?" she asked the others.

Ginny grinned at her. "Don't ask me, I'm as bad as you are when it comes to these paintings. Now I either have to buy them as gifts, or give older ones away, since there's just no more room in the Cottage Inn for more paintings on the walls."

"Maybe we should just start our own gallery," Arianna suggested. "There's always all of our family office buildings, and now that Michael mentions needing to get exposure, maybe we should get another couple of his better ones and put them in Scorpius' two offices. That'll get a lot of notice from a lot of Witches and Wizards at the Ministry."

"That's a great idea," Ginny agreed. "Pick out a couple of your best this summer, Michael. Send them to Scorpius, and bill me."

Michael grinned. "I may have to take the afternoon off, Dad," he joked to Kevin. "I think I've hit my quota for the month already."

Back home, Rose and Matt were hosting a pool party for the afternoon. Nick, Allie, Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Hugo, and Emily were all there, and they were really catching up for the first time since before Rose and Matt's wedding. They'd had a little time to talk at the wedding last weekend, but most of them went back home early, since Al and Scorpius had needed to work on Wizengamot business on Sunday, and they'd all also wanted to check up on Lisa, Marcus, and their new baby.

The other reason for their little get-together was to celebrate Rose's eighteenth birthday, since they hadn't been able to have a party for her earlier. Scorpius and Brianna brought a Winky-made birthday cake, and Al and Carolyn took care of dinner for everyone.

"We seem to be missing out on all of the fun around here," Rose told the others as they lounged around the pool.

"You're going to be travelling the world, doing luxury tours with the movers and shakers of the Wizarding World, and you think you're missing out?" Nick said with a laugh. "How do you reach that conclusion?"

"We were gone two weeks, and have spent most of this week working on our tour business, and while we've been doing that, Carolyn has started overhauling the way Witches and Wizards manage their businesses, Al has passed his Auror Aptitude tests, and Brianna has turned Goblin Liason on it's head," Rose answered, taking a breath before continuing.

"Then Al and Scorpius have successfully made their first Wizengamot stand, with the help of Callie, and Scorpius has managed to practically single-handedly turn the Magical Trading Standards Body around from being a sink-hole of political idiocy to a viable, functioning organization."

"When you put it that way, it sounds like a lot," Nick conceded.

Rose laughed. "That doesn't even include your mega project for Marauders Refuge, mate, or Lily and Kieran's first Mega Jam, or Allie's rise to power at Witch Investments, and I haven't even caught up on half of the rest of the family."

"We'll get you up to speed before the afternoon's over," Brianna promised.

"And she should know what's going on, with her and Scorpius being one of TeenWitch's hottest couples," Carolyn joked. "I can hardly wait to see how that plays out at Hogwarts. My best friend could be the first political pinup Witch in the history of the school."

"She'd be on every wall if her picture was in that swimsuit," Emily told them.

In Argentina, the second Mega Jam had started by ten in the morning again, and the mostly South American fans were ready to party all day and night. The bands playing all day delivered for them too, and if anything, this Mega Jam was even hotter than the first one. The fans certainly did know how to have fun here.

Lily and Kieran had done more appearances around the Mega Jam all day, and when they hit the stage right on time at seven, they were welcomed by two hundred and fifty thousand seriously fired up fans. For the next two hours, they took their audience on an emotional roller coaster that had them right where they wanted them when they took the short break while the Weird Sisters' set-up was done.

The hour-long jam session with both SpellBound and the Weird Sisters kept the party going full-tilt so that when the Weird Sisters were on their own from ten until midnight, they had the crowd in the palm of their collective hand, and retro-rocked their fans to near exhaustion.

They weren't done, though, and when SpellBound came back out for their encore battle of the bands, the crowd went crazy again. After the first song that each band did, it was looking like the Weird Sisters were going to win the second battle of the bands, but then Lily and Kieran pulled out Nothing's Impossible, which many of the fans remembered from the Quidditch World Cup performance in Chile, and finished up with One Magic Moment, which she and Kieran had re-written and they now performed it half in Spanish, which turned the tide in their favour, and gave SpellBound round two.

At Marauders Paradise, Harry, Ginny, and most of their family and young charges spent the afternoon playing at the Water Park as they usually did, and followed that up with the always amazing opening night banquet and staff talent show.

Harry and Ginny were kid-less after the talent show ended, with Dale, Jason, and Brian all going with their girls to the teen dance club for a couple of hours before they'd be back to their hotel suite, so they went out for a while with James, Arianna, Tracey, and Aaron, deciding to have drinks at one of their favourite patio restaurants that overlooked the bay where a lot of the water activities on the island happened.

"It looks like we'll have a lot of time to spend entertaining ourselves this week," Ginny told the other girls. "I thought maybe I'd go book all of our girls a half-day Spa visit tomorrow. If you can let me know whether your four girls want to get in on it, I'd appreciate it. I know Victoire, Isabelle, and their girls are in for sure. I haven't talked with Fleur about it yet, but she and Bill have a couple of girls closer to Patrica's age, so she may not be able to join us."

"I think that Bill and I could handle their little group of kids for a few hours," Harry told her. "We've both handled tougher jobs."

"Having most of the week mostly to ourselves sounds pretty great to me," Tracey told them. "Maybe we can get a little diving in, and a couple of lazy days by the pools or at the beach."

"Count us in on those plans," James said. "I know we just finished a week on the island two weeks ago, but this will be our last break for most of the next year, except for a couple of days here and there."

"What time do you expect Lily, Kieran, and the girls tomorrow?" Aaron asked Ginny.

"They'll be having lunch with us, but they won't get to bed tonight until probabably two o'clock, so they're going to sleep in."

"Are they officially our youngest chaperones?" James asked, and Ginny nodded.

"They can chaperone a year early because Lily got that exemption, and can use magic if needed to help Vanessa and Nadine," she answered. "They'll probably be spending more time with the girls, though, so we probably won't have them around to hang out with us old folks. I'll make sure they're booked for that Spa appointment, though."

The three couples talked together for an hour or so, enjoying the ocean breezes and star-filled night sky before returning to their suites, and snuggling on sofas in their respective sitting rooms until their kids returned from their first night out dancing and playing.

Marauders Paradise was certainly the fun place to be over the next week, as about half of the family was there playing, while back home, it was mostly work, and not a lot of play.

Al was the only one at home who wasn't really doing any actual work, yet he was running all day every day. He was wearing several hats, as he switched from Uncle Al, who found several lame excuses to go visit Lisa and spend a little time with Jair, who had quickly stolen Al's heart just like he'd done with Harry, Ginny, and nearly everyone else around him. He had just one meeting with Callie, since all was at least temporarily quiet on the Wizengamot front while the other side regrouped again. He spent several nights at the lab with Carolyn, working his magic to help her project jump in leaps and bounds as he would correct mistakes, and help Carolyn make what she saw in her creative little mind's eye a reality.

Scorpius and Brianna were both busy with their jobs, and they were also getting more and more socially active, both on the Ministry, and the family fronts. They got together with Draco and Astoria at least once a week, and did the same with Percy and Penelope. They were getting more invitations to parties and dinners than they had any hope of keeping up with. The last thing they had going on was helping Nick and Allie as much as they could. Their wedding was less than a month away, and the two couples were busy with final plans for that, and were also decorating and furnishing Nick and Allie's beautiful new home.

Nick and Allie were doing that while keeping up with their respective jobs. While Victoire was at Marauders Paradise, Allie was basically in charge this year, and she was very busy getting back to school fashions, and everything else that Witch Investments was involved with into their stores, and keeping everything stocked.

On the architecture front, Nick was proving once again that he was going to be a star in the business as his plans for Marauders Refuge took shape, and his partners and fellow architects applauded what he was coming up with. His other main project he was keeping under tight wraps, and only a very few people knew what was going on with it, but that project was also going to be stunning when he had it finished.

Rose and Matt were busy on several fronts of their business. They were finalizing the first two trips, and by the end of August hoped to have all of the trips through December ready so they could mostly just go from one tour to the next. They were doing sales for their second year of trips, and landed one new company who bought an entire tour for 2026 that they'd use as an employee reward, just as Owen was doing with his top five store managers next year – one of the only exceptions that Rose and Matt allowed to go past their ten-guest limit for any tour, and only because Owen and Natalie would be doing a lot of the hosting themselves.

Joel and Sarah were having a great week with Callie and Mark. Callie, Joel, and Sarah would go to the Ministry of Magic every morning, leaving Mark with morning cleanup before he started his morning workout. He'd taken a few weeks off after the racing season was over, but was now back at it, and working hard to make sure he could go back out there this year and prove he wasn't a one-year wonder.

The other Marauders still at home were Hugo, Emily, Frederica, and Liam. Work was plugging along for all of them, Hugo and Emily testing games, and Frederica and Liam immersed in wheezes all day. Hugo didn't have enough family left to have a practice team, but he did still have practices on Tuesday and Thursday at the vacated Cottage, with Colin, Lance, Liam, Frederica, and the rest of their team wanting to keep pushing all summer long.

The week was going by way too quickly at Marauders Paradise. For Lily and Kieran, one of their best days was Thursday, when they got to spend the whole day with Karl and Daphne on their day off. Karl took them diving for the morning, and then they relaxed at the beach all afternoon while they caught up with everything going on in each other's lives.

Lily and Kieran weren't surprised to find out that Karl loved any job that was outdoors, and after watching him for the first couple of weeks, Gabrielle had just made sure that he was assigned jobs that kept him outdoors. Daphne on the other hand was Gabrielle's dream come true – a very likely candidate good enough to replace the promoted and dearly missed talents that she'd lost when Megan moved on to run Marauders Escape.

"It sounds like you guys are definitely going to be back here next summer," Lily told her friends, and they both nodded.

"We're both a bit conflicted about going back for our NEWT year," Karl told Lily, "but we will be going back. I'm going to really miss this place, though."

"I'm pretty sure that Megan came and worked here during the Christmas in between her summer internship, and starting full-time the following summer," Lily told them. "I imagine Gabrielle would love the extra help for that week this year too."

"Sign me up," Daphne said. "Mum won't be thrilled, but hey, it's a lot warmer here in December than it is back home."

"What do you guys have going on for the rest of the summer?" Karl asked Kieran.

"We're back in the studio, and doing video shoots next week, and then we have the Moscow Mega Jam on the third of August," he answered. "We have the week after that off, but Lily and I are going to go to Romania for Art and Serena's wedding a couple or three days early so we can do a little sightseeing, and maybe get a tour of the Dragon Reserve from Jon if he can swing it."

"Then after the wedding, we have another week doing the studio and video shoot thing," Lily said, "and then our last Mega Jam on the seventeenth in China. We're off for the last two weeks of the summer, so other than Nick and Allie's wedding, and getting ready for back to school, we'll be taking it easy."

"Do you have a lot to do so you're ready for back to school?" Daphne teased, and Lily laughed.

"I've got to get ready for being away from my best friends for most of the next ten months, so yeah," Lily answered. "I've got a fair bit of snogging planned for Kieran, and the four of us should probably do a couple of date nights or something when you're back for the last week of August. A shopping trip or two, and maybe eve an spa day for you and me would be good too."

"Sign me up for the Spa, shopping, and dates," Daphne told her. "We may have to include Moms in two out of three of those suggestions. My mother will lose it if I don't spend some serious time with her during that last week."

"We could probably arrange that," Lily agreed.

Friday was the last full day at Marauders Paradise before they'd all have to get back to the real world on Saturday to make room for the next wave of Phoenix Foundation kids. The Weasley clan and their kids spent most of the day together, then enjoyed the end of week banquet, celebrated with their sister residence Dumbledore House when they won the Phoenix Cup for their week, and had a blast at the talent show that included a one song only cameo from SpellBound.

There were a lot of kids and parents out late that night, going dancing, spending a last night going on the rides and playing the games, or going for long walks on the beach. On Saturday morning, it was time to pack if you hadn't done it already, and to head for home, another one of those best weeks ever over. Harry and Ginny took the boys to the cottage first, and then Ginny went on to the Academy with Jason and Brian, while Harry and Dale stayed home and started unpacking, and then got ready to have a small gang over for lunch as Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Percy, and Penelope would be over to eat, and then spend the afternoon together.

Lily and Kieran had a different departure time, and when they left, they went to Kieran's house, and then took Nadine and Vanessa back to the residence before going back home to spend the day with Kirley and Ana.

That last weekend of July was a rest up and get ready to go back to work time, whether that meant babysitting four kids that for the next two weeks would included one and a half year old toddler William Whitby instead of his sister Patricia, or back to the lab or offices for the rest of the family.

The last day of July ended the same as it did every year, with a celebration of Harry's birthday – this year, his forty-fourth. James and Arianna were hosting Harry's birthday party at their house on Wednesday night, a not so quiet outdoor dinner and evening's entertainment for sixty or so close friends and family.

Summer was just half over now, and there was no sign that things would be slowing down for anyone in the family during the second half of the holidays. With weddings big and small still ahead, two more Mega Jams for SpellBound and the Weird Sisters, work, Quidditch, and everything else that was still to come in August, the summer adventures were going to just keep on coming.


	114. Summer Countdown

Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen – Summer Countdown

The closest Mega Jam to home was the one that was being held not too far from Moscow. That was the one that Harry had picked up a large block of tickets for, and on Friday, he went around and started handing out those tickets. While SpellBound and the Weird Sisters were away from home early, checking in to their executive rooms and suites in the Hotel Savoy in Moscow before starting their day long round of interviews, Harry was dropping off sixty tickets to James at the Academy. He had tickets for everyone in the family, and for quite a few of their friends too, like Liam's and Daphne's families, the Longbottom's, and the Creevey's.

"Will we have to stay there overnight tomorrow?" Dale asked excitedly when they were sitting down for dinner on Friday night.

"We'll just go for the day," Harry told him. "There's a three hour time difference between here and there, so we'll be leaving early in the morning, and we'll get home at maybe ten o'clock or so tomorrow night."

"How early?" Sarah asked.

"We'll leave here a little after six, so I'll start cooking breakfast at five," Harry answered. "The Mega Jam starts at ten o'clock Moscow time, seven o'clock our time."

"That's awfully early to try and get fired up to dance and party all day," Joel told them. "I'm going to have to go to bed early tonight."

"I'll be doing the same," Ginny told him. "We all should, but I'll wake up any sleepy-heads who aren't up by five-thirty."

Friday night was very quiet at the cottage, and by nine o'clock, not a creature was stirring as everyone went to bed early, wanting to get at least eight hours of sleep before going to the massive fourteen or fifteen hour concert in the morning.

Harry was up by four-thirty, had showered and dressed, and was in the kitchen cooking breakfast right on time at five, as promised. He heard the sounds of the others getting up by shortly after five, and by five-thirty, he had five sleepy, and four excited mouths to feed. Fluffy was the only exception, and she was not excited to be awake so early, but didn't want to miss out on her meal, and had decided that she could eat now and go back to sleep again once she had her castle to herself again.

"Did you know that there were two five o'clock times in the day?" Dale joked to Joel and Sarah.

"We'd heard that," Sarah answered. "Until now, we just thought it was one of those silly Muggle urban myths."

"When you get there, and have two hundred and fifty thousand other Witches and Wizards all around, you're going to be glad we all got up and going this early," Ginny told the three teens.

"We are fired up, Aunt Ginny," Joel told her. "It's just still on the inside."

"Speak for yourself," Dale told him. "My enthusiasm hit the snooze button, and told me to get back to him in an hour or two."

Harry laughed. "Your enthusiasm may still be asleep, but your sense of humour is up and ready to go."

"I can't do anything with it," Dale told Harry. "It spent the first eleven or so years of my life totally unused, and now that it's out, it wants to make up for all of that lost time."

They finished eating before six, Harry got the cleanup done, and then they went outside, and took the TransPortal first to Teddy and Victoire's, and then they all went on to the site of the Mega Jam near Moscow.

"We're not even going to try and stick together all day," Harry told the kids. "Stay together at least in pairs, and keep your WiComm's handy so we can reach you if we need to do that."

Ginny nodded. "We're going to find a good spot, and we'll let you know where that is soon, so you'll know where at least some of us old folks will be all day long if you need us. You can always QuillMessage us too, of course."

"Can we go find Jason and Brian before you leave us?" Millie asked Victoire.

"Of course," Victoire told her. "Let's just call James, find out who the boys came with, and get you hooked up."

Dale and Carissa went off with Joel and Sarah after they were on the grounds of the Mega Jam, and right at ten o'clock local time, the first band got on stage, and began to crank up the crowd – and the volume.

"The question is, do we want to be close, and end up half-deaf by the end of the day, or be farther away, keep our hearing, but see nothing," Ginny asked Harry, Stewart, and Isabelle.

"Let's go with close, and we can either put up a sound dampening field around our area, or just conjure up some earplugs," Stewart suggested. "The kids are going to want a good view of the show – especially when our bands go on tonight."

They worked their way through the crowds, and found an area they liked that was close enough to the stage to see everything, but not right up next to the stage, where it would be crushingly crowded by seven o'clock when SpellBound went on stage. Ginny and Isabelle sent around the QuillMessages letting the kids and other family members know approximately where to find them, and then they conjured up some chairs, and sat down to wait for some of the others to get to them.

There were always at least ten or twelve people holding down the fort for their little stake of concert territory, and the rest of the group would be out visiting concession stands, or getting food, or just wandering around and enjoying hanging out and listening to music with so many other Witches and Wizards.

There was so much going on, it was surprising how quickly the nine hours went past from the time the first band went on, until SpellBound started their concert at seven. Harry and Ginny had nearly all of the gang they'd given tickets to around them by seven o'clock, and they were all ready to party as Lily and Kieran started their concert.

"They're starting!" Kira shouted happily. She'd been at their concert in Argentina, but she thought that coming here with her parents, all of their bestest friends, and even her little brother was way better than the last concert.

"We noticed that," Ginny teased, and Kira hugged her, and then settled onto her lap to watch the show.

SpellBound started out with three upbeat pop songs, and from there they took their third group of a quarter of a million fans of their concert season on a magical music ride, and everyone there, young or old, loved every minute of it.

"This is when Uncle Kirley and his band come out and play too," Kira happily told Ginny when Lily and Kieran finished their set, and the stage set-up was started to get ready for the Weird Sisters – SpellBound part of the night.

"Do you like it when they're on stage together?" Ginny asked her, and Kira nodded.

"It's really fun – especially at the end when they have their battle of the bands – that's the bestest! Lily says they won the last one because I was there cheering so loud for them."

"You are a very good cheerer," Ginny told her. "I wouldn't be surprised if she was right. Maybe we'll help them win tonight too."

Ginny held Kira, and they watched as the Weird Sisters and SpellBound absolutely tore it up on stage for an hour, and then the Weird Sisters kept the crowd going for two more hours before it was finally the end of the show, and time for the third battle of the bands.

Tonight, they started out with a nearly ten minute long guitar duel between Kirley and Kieran, while Lily and the rest of the Weird Sisters tried to get the crowd roaring the loudest for their guitar hero.

"I don't know who got the loudest cheers," Harry told Ginny and Kira over the deafening noise, "but I don't know how you could pick a best – they're both amazing."

Since SpellBound won the last battle, they went first this time, and the Weird Sisters would get to end it, and they did a three-song duel, switching back and forth after each song.

"Cheer louder!" Kira would urge everyone around her when SpellBound finished a song, and then she'd urge them all to be quiet after each Weird Sisters song.

Ginny had no idea whether Kira had actually made any difference, but SpellBound was awarded their second battle of the bands win of the tour, and Kira was more than happy to shout out – "We did it! We did it!"

"I think you did it," Harry told her. "SpellBound's superfan strikes again!"

Kira giggled and hopped out of Ginny's lap so she could hug Harry. "Can we go see Lily and Kieran before we go home?"

Harry looked around at all of the tens of thousands of milling fans and shuddered.

"Sweetie, you know I'd love to take you to see her, but it's just too crazy around here. They'll be on their way home by the time we could get to them," he told her. "How about you come over and see Lily tomorrow at our house instead. We're going to have one of those lazy pool days."

"Deal," Kira told him, kissing his cheek and hugging him again. Harry sighed in relief, and tried not to laugh when Ginny winked at him.

Even without trying to get back stage to see Lily and Kieran, it still took over half an hour to get out to a spot where they could all take the TransPortal back to their respective homes, and to the Academy. That put Harry, Ginny, and their three teens back home at just after ten-thirty, and after being up since four-thirty or five in the morning, there was nobody thinking about staying up, and so they all tiredly went upstairs, got ready for bed, and were out cold in no time flat.

Lily, Kieran, Nadine, and Vanessa all stayed at Kieran's house on Saturday night, after getting home by just before midnight home time after packing up from the concert, and doing an hour or so of autograph signing. They were all tired out too, but after getting ready for bed, Nadine and Vanessa joined Lily in her room for a bedtime girl talk session.

"That was way so the best Mega Jam so far," Nadine told the other two girls.

"Could that have anything to do with Colin and Lance being there?" Lily asked. "Our assistants seemed to have their own assistants for most of the day."

Vanessa and Nadine both grinned. "They were willing to work for hugs and kisses," Vanessa said. "It seemed like a good deal."

"Most of the guys there today that were around your age would have taken you up on that job offer," Lily told her.

"Maybe," Nadine agreed. "There are only two boys that are going to get that offer though, and thankfully they just happened to be there today."

Vanessa yawned and stretched. "I thought I was up for some girl talk, but now that we've stopped running, I'm about done for." She climbed off of Lily's bed, hugged her, and then hugged Nadine. "You two have a good night. I'll see you in the morning."

Nadine got up and hugged Lily too. "I guess I might as well get to bed too. Sleep well, Lily."

"Thanks, guys," Lily answered. "You too."

A few minutes later, her door opened quietly again, and Lily smiled as Kieran closed the door, walked across the room, and climbed into bed with her.

"This seems to be a popular place tonight," he joked. "Expecting anyone else to stop by?"

"I hope not," Lily told him. "I'm about out of steam, and now that I've got you here to cuddle with, I'm all set to get some sleep."

"Me too," Kieran said, kissing her, and then wrapping his arms around Lily and holding her close. "Good night, Lily. I love you."

"Good night, Kieran," Lily murmured, already half asleep. "I love you too."

Sunday was a rest up and relax play day at the cottage like Harry had told Kira it would be. Carissa was over to spend the day with Dale, and Lily and Kieran were home, and would both be staying at the cottage until they went to Romania on Wednesday. Kira ended up coming over for the day, and staying the night instead of going home and returning in the morning again anyway. There were visitors that popped in and out during the day, but never so many at any one time to change the easy-going pace of the day's activities.

With a fun and relaxing day on Sunday, everyone was charged up and ready to go on Monday morning, and for the students in the family, their day started out with the arrival of the Hogwarts letters.

There were four letters delivered at the cottage, and Kieran, Joel, Sarah, and Dale all excitedly opened their letters while Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Kira watched on.

"Well?" Lily asked Kieran and the others.

Dale grinned up from his letter and answered first. "Five O's, two E's, Commander. This trooper wishes to offer his deepest appreciation for helping him do so well."

Lily returned his smile and raised him a hug. "You're welcome, Dale, and congratulations!"

"I'm five O's and four E's," Sarah told Lily and the others excitedly.

"And TNM's first Slytherin Prefect too, I see," Lily said, hugging her too. "Way to go!"

Joel and Kieran had matching seven O, two E reports, earning all nine of their OWLs, and would both be Prefects again, while Kieran would also continue as Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain.

"You two will be battling it out for Head Boy honours next year if you keep that up," Ginny told Kieran and Joel.

"I vote for Joel," Kieran said. "I've got more than enough going on, and he'll have more fun with the quarters, since Sarah will be at school too."

"I vote for waiting to see if either of us are still in the running after our first year of trying to make it on our own without our fearless leader," Joel answered.

The Hogwarts letters were arriving at the homes of the other Marauders too. In Hogsmeade, Carolyn was opening her letter while Al was cooking breakfast for them before she'd be off to work.

"Six O's and an E," she reported. "I'm good to go for all seven NEWTs."

"Congratulations," Al said, leaving his work long enough to give Carolyn a congratulatory hug and kiss. "Those marks would have earned you Head Girl duties if you'd been a prefect."

"And just like you, I'm happy I don't have the extra work load," she told him.

At number twelve Grimmauld Place, Scorpius and Brianna were in the dining room having their breakfast, and dropping her two worst subjects, and going with just seven classes, had paid of for Brianna too, and she had matched Carolyn's six O's and one E. What had her sitting there in shock, though, was the Head Girl's badge, and the letter from Professor McGonagall congratulating her on the honour.

"But I'm not a prefect!" she told Scorpius, who was grinning at her.

"There's nothing in the rules that says that the Head Boy or Head Girl have to be chosen from the Prefects," he told her. "It has happened before – Uncle Harry's father, James comes to mind."

"If that's the case, then Carolyn should get the pick, not me."

"Carolyn wouldn't want it, and it's not just about marks anyway, Brianna, you know that. I'd guess your work at the Ministry is a big part of the reason you've been picked."

"I have to tell Carolyn!" Brianna said, pulling out her WiCommm, and writing a short QuillMessage.

"No hurry," Scorpius told her. "I can always give you the hug and kiss to congratulate you later."

Hugo was at home with his parents when his Owl arrived, and he'd earned six O's and three E's for his nine OWL's. He was also a prefect, and Quidditch team captain again, the same as Kieran was.

"I'm so proud of you, honey," Hermione told him as she hugged him.

Ron was grinning at him. "Would you like to have the battle with your mother now over what subjects you want to keep taking in sixth year now, or do it later?"

Hugo shrugged. "I hope it won't be a battle at all. I want to drop Astronomy, 'cause it's Astronomy, and I don't want to take NEWT level Care of Magical Creatures that look on me as dinner. I'll keep Arithmancy, since I seem to have a knack for it that I must have inherited somewhere, and I'm willing to stick with seven subjects for sixth year if you'll give me the option to drop Herbology for seventh year if I can't keep up with the advanced plants, or one of them eats me.

"Deal," Hermione told him. At least he was going to stick with seven classes.

"Wow," Ron said, "write this date down on the calendar."

Hugo's WiComm chimed, and he opened it and read the qm from Emily.

"Figures," Hugo said. "Eight O's, One E. She's a prefect again too. Do you need to know that she loves me and will meet me at the lab?"

"We already knew that without the confirmation," Ron told him. "Don't forget to tell her you love her too when you answer her message, though."

The Hogwarts letters breakfast was at Stewart and Isabelle's this morning, and Carissa, Millie, and Amy were exchanging hugs with Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle.

"Straight O's!" Amy said. "We're going to have to make you study Commander this year, Carissa."

"You and Millie both have five O's and four E's," Carissa told her. "We'll see if I can do that well with the extra subjects this year."

"We're way more than happy with our marks too, Carissa," Millie assured her. "Your report is just outstanding, though, and you deserve a little bonus cheering for it."

"Definitely," Isabelle agreed. "I'm thinking we need to do another dinner out. Why don't you see if Jason and Brian are available to come too?" she told Millie and Amy.

The Lily Evans Memorial Residence might possibly be the most entertaining place to be on Hogwarts letter day, since there were usually somewhere between seventy and eighty students getting those letters each year. Vanessa and Nadine were as excited as the rest of the Hogwarts students to get their letters.

"How'd you do, Vanessa?" Nadine asked as she opened her own envelope.

"Six O's, three E's," Vanessa reported. "You?"

"Five O's, two E's," Nadine said happily, turning to hug Vanessa. "I guess I was worried about those exams seeming too easy for nothing. We did pretty awesome, didn't we?"

"Yes we did," Vanessa agreed. "Let's send Lily a qm and let her know, and then we can go around and see how everyone else did."

Frederica and Liam were both at her house when their letters came in, and Frederica had edged Liam out slightly by getting seven O's and two E's, to his six O's and three E's, but both were just as happy as the rest of the Marauders were with their marks.

"You obviously got all of those smarts from you mother," George joked. "That's more O's than Fred and I got together in third year."

"And I'm happy to take all the credit for that," Marietta teased her husband. "You and Fred were way more brilliant than your marks ever showed. If there'd have been a class in making wheezes, you'd have aced that one."

"Well, I'm really proud of both of you," George told Frederica and Liam. "Congratulations on such great reports."

The last Marauders to get their reports were Karl and Daphne, since they were at Marauders Paradise, and received theirs hours later than the rest of their friends.

"They must have made a mistake," Karl said in disbelief as he stared at the table in front of him.

Daphne didn't think about whether it could be a mistake or not, but instead threw her arms around him and hugged and kissed him until they heard some laughter beginning around them.

"Our Slytherin seventh year prefect is going to lose it," Daphne said, grinning at him. "When he does, just show him those six O's and tell him to shut it."

"What's all the commotion?" Gabrielle asked, walking over to them. "I heard there was some employee snogging going on over here."

"Guilty," Daphne confirmed. "I plead mitigating circumstances – you're looking at the new Head Boy for Hogwarts."

Gabrielle had the people around them laughing again as she hugged Karl too, and announced his achievement loudly enough for most of the guests in the Atrium to hear and offer a short congratulatory applause for the first Marauders Paradise Intern to get such an honour.

"Did you happen to look at your own letter?" Gabrielle asked Daphne.

"I've got five O's and two E's for my seven classes, so I can take all of them at the NEWT level," she answered. "Since I was an A and E student before Lily got her hands on me, I'm very happy with those marks. Having the Head Boy for my boyfriend is going to be a seriously cool added bonus."

Brianna was at lunch with Scorpius when she found out that Karl was to be Head Boy, and now she was feeling a lot better about the whole Head Girl job now that at least she knew there was someone she could trust at her back.

There were small celebrations going on with most of the remaining Hogwarts Marauders on Monday, with the exception of Al and Carolyn. She was working late at the lab again, and Al had taken her dinner, and then stayed to help. The new business system was almost ready, and Carolyn was determined to get it rolled out, at least for the first phase, before she went back to school.

With Al's help, and the two of them working late every night that week, by two in the morning, on Friday morning, it was done, and neither of them had any doubt about just how really brilliant the new program was.

"We make a really great team doing this," Al said, hugging an exhausted Carolyn after she'd finished running the last test.

"Yes we do," she agreed. "This would have taken another year without your special abilities, though. Thank-you so much."

Al smiled and nodded. "You're welcome. Let's get out of here and go get some sleep before you get to take this all to Grandma and Aunt Penelope tomorrow and floor them with it."

"If I fall asleep while we're taking the TransPortal, hold me up at the other end," Carolyn joked. "I'd be willing to cuddle up right here on the workbench, but then you just know that people would talk when they found us here in the morning."

"We wouldn't want that – especially since Mum and Aunt Hermione are often two of the first ones here," Al told her. "I'll make sure you get home and in bed safely."

Molly, Penelope, Mandy, Natalie, and Luna were way more than floored when Carolyn presented them with the finished business system. They were going to be able to do basically everything they now did on parchment using the old original GameWizard systems, one version that was a mid-sized WWVN-style model they could use at office desks, and the one that was the same size as the portable GameWizard had been that could be used anywhere, and was brilliant for anyone who worked in the field for the company, or travelled a lot for them. Everything from scheduling to reporting, supply ordering, and all accounting could be done just by thinking about it.

That was a significant over-simplification, since the system was so complex, but that was the truly amazing part of it – that it could do such complex things, yet had been designed to be extremely simple to use. Carolyn had spent over an hour explaining how it all worked, about the various levels of access to the system that could be assigned to PBP Investments managers and employees, and a lengthy list of other amazing capabilities. When she was done, the five women applauded.

"You're ready to start rolling out phase one next week?" Luna asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"Once we're successfully up and running, you could start marketing this system to other businesses. Your design team has all of the documentation they need to customize it for pretty much any application. I'd suggest trying some other business models in our own company – like maybe Marauders Paradise, which could have a huge benefit for the hotel business, and maybe stores like FashionKnut and GamePortal. This system can also link with the VirtualMall system."

"Have you named it too?" Luna asked. "We certainly have to come up with something other than GameWizard."

"How about BusinessMagic?" Pnelope suggested. "When you have custom versions, just tack on a 'Retail Version' or 'Hotel System' or something."

"That's actually pretty good," Luna told Penelope. "I can work with that."

"Let's start bringing in our key managers over the last two weeks we have Carolyn before she's done her Internship," Molly told everyone. "She'll be training them, and they'll be the trainers we'll be using to teach everyone else as we roll it out across the company. Property Division and Marauders Institute will be first and second, and then we'll go out from there into the rest of our business units. Any questions?"

Mandy smiled and nodded. "Yes. Are you sure you want to keep Carolyn, or can we have her?"

Molly laughed. "We're definitely keeping her, so don't even think about it, Mrs Boot. You absolutely cannot have her. If there's nothing else, I think we should take Carolyn out for lunch, and then Penelope and I are going to take her off to the Spa so that we can all get beautiful for Art and Serena's wedding tomorrow."

Carolyn hadn't had much sleep, but the adrenaline of the morning had kept her going through lunch, and an afternoon at the spa with not just Molly and Penelope, but also with Fleur, Ginny, and Hermione. That rush of energy was wearing off by the time she got back to the house in Hogsmeade, and she was happy to sink into one of the soft, comfortable sofas in the sitting room while Al poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her, along with a soft kiss before he went back into the kitchen and continued cooking their dinner.

She took a few sips of her wine, and set it down on the table, leaning her head back against the sofa and closing her eyes for a minute. When she opened them again, she was disoriented for a moment as she found herself wrapped in both a soft blanket, and in Al's arms.

"Welcome back," he said, smiling as he leaned forward to kiss her. "Have a nice nap?"

"How long was I out?" she asked, still a little dazed.

"A little over two hours," he answered. "I can get our dinner out and warmed up if you'd like to eat something now. I just couldn't bring myself to wake you when I came in to get you earlier."

"I am hungry now," she answered. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Al assured her. "I haven't eaten either. Cuddling with you looked like more fun. Come on out to the kitchen and you can tell me all about your meeting, and afternoon at the Spa."

They both got up, and Carolyn sat at the kitchen table while Al reheated their dinners, telling him all about the meeting, and how much his Grandmother and the other Witches loved their new system.

"So they're going to call it BusinessMagic? No wonder Luna likes it. The name's catchy enough. When business owners find out how much time and money it'll save, it'll sell itself."

"I sure hope so," Carolyn said. "This has been really great to see it all come together. Finding out that I'm pretty good at this business thing has been pretty awesome too."

"It sounds like your last two weeks is going to be busy if you're going to spend it training the trainers," Al suggested. "Will you have to work late?"

Carolyn shook her head. "I'll just be doing morning and afternoon training sessions. The late nights are done now."

Al grinned at her, his eyes sparkling. "At least the ones at work. We'll have to wait and see if that means you get to sleep any earlier."

"Why don't we go upstairs after we finish eating and cleaning up, and discuss that for a while?" she suggested.

"That is another brilliant idea, Carolyn," Al told her. "I have a feeling that this will be one of those discussions where we both win."

"I do believe you're right about that," Carolyn agreed.

They had their late, warmed up dinner, cleaned up, and then went upstairs to get changed, and climb into bed, snuggling close. Carolyn really had planned on sharing a rather brilliant snogging session with Al, but once she was snuggled close, all she managed were a few warm, tender kisses before her deep exhaustion crashed back in on her, and she fell asleep to the soft, rhythmic sounds of Al's heartbeat and breathing as she rested her head on his chest. Al smiled to himself as she fell asleep, brushed a kiss across her forehead, then closed his own eyes, and allowed himself to drift off to sleep too.

Art and Serena's wedding was being held at Serena's family home on Saturday. Lily and Kieran had been in Romania since Wednesday, staying with Jon and Therese, and Molly and Arthur had gone over Friday after work to be there for a small dinner party that Charlie and Nathalie put on for Art and Serena. The rest of the family didn't need to travel there until around twelve-thirty home time on Saturday, which put them in Romania at two-thirty in the afternoon. The wedding ceremony was at three o'clock, so the guests were seated in the rows of chairs that were set up, with a wide centre aisle dividing the section for Art's family and friends from Serena's nearly equally populated side of the aisle.

"Wow," Carolyn said softly to Al. "You don't see that at very many Weasley weddings where the other clan is nearly as big as ours."

"It's sort of refreshing," Al answered. "This should be a fun night."

Lily and Kieran were seated next to Al and Carolyn, and she hugged both of them before sitting down.

"You two look like you've been enjoying your visit here," Carolyn told them.

"We've had a brilliant few days," Lily agreed. "The best was Thursday, when we got to tour the Dragon Reserve with Uncle Charlie and Jon for a couple of hours. They said we got really lucky, and we actually saw Norbert out flying around!" She grinned at them. "He wouldn't fit in Hagrid's cabin anymore. It's hard to imagine when you see him that he ever could have."

"Did you take pictures?" Al asked, and Lily nodded. "I already sent them to Hagrid, and when I called him, he was a total puddle of goo. We could barely see his face in the WiComm from all the tears splashing around at his end."

"Good job," Carolyn told her. "I thought I'd also get a few of them done up in frames and that you and Brianna could start out your NEWT year with a suck up to the Professor present for him."

"Nix that," Carolyn joked. "Make that a brilliant job."

"I hear you've been rather brilliant this week too," Lily told Carolyn. "Now that you have that future Senior Account Manager job locked up, what are you doing for the rest of the summer?"

Carolyn laughed. "I'll settle for getting a job offer for when I'm done school, not a future anything, Lily. I'll be spending the next two weeks training the managers and designated employees that will be training everyone else as the new system is launched."

Lily grinned at her. "Ah, success! The student becomes the master. This is a proud moment for me."

Carolyn, Al, and Kieran all laughed. A fairly young Witch led Art, his best man, and two ushers to the front of the rows of chairs, catching the attention of most of the guests. All heads began looking toward the back of the centre aisle, searching for that first view of either bridesmaids or bride.

"Why do we all do this?" Kieran asked. "In all of the weddings we've ever been to, have the bridesmaids or bride ever started coming down the aisle before the music starts? There's really not much point in this looking back until then."

"Is that why you think we look around like that?" Lily asked. "We girls do it so we can scope out which Witches have better dresses or hair styles than we do. I'm personally always on the lookout for the next big thing in fashion, aren't you?"

Kieran laughed. "Um, no, I'm not. How about you, Al - are you checking out which guys have better suits or haircuts than you do?"

Al laughed too. "Now that would be a waste of time, since all I have to do is look over at you and Scorpius to find two guys who fit that description – or at least TeenWitch thinks so. I didn't see a picture of Carolyn and I anywhere on that hottest couples list."

"Please tell me you don't base your opinions in life on a weekly magazine that's geared toward entertaining teenage girls, mate. If you are, I'm not nearly so sure about your future as an Auror."

"Careful, mate," Al cautioned Kieran. "Your bordering on denigrating a magazine that these two young Witches used to read avidly."

"What do you mean by 'used to read'?" Lily teased. "How else would we find out what all of our favourite celebrities are doing?"

Carolyn laughed. "Well, I send her a QuillMessage and ask," she told Lily. "If that doesn't work, I ask her mother and father."

The two couples had to stifle their laughter as the processional music started to play. They all turned to watch as two bridesmaids, the Maid of Honour, and then Serena and her father walked down the aisle. All of the young women looked beautiful, and Serena was stunning, as proven by the effect she was having on Art. Thankfully his best man was there to gently nudge him back to the real world before too many people noticed he'd been momentarily glazed over.

Serena and her father reached Art and the rest of the party, and she hugged him before he handed her off to Art, and went to sit next to his wife, while Art and Serena stood together with their friends, and the ceremony began.

Al watched on as the Witch presiding over the marriage went through the little speech that some day soon he should probably listen to, but as usual his thoughts wandered off, as he thought about Art and Serena, who'd be moving into their new house during the last week of August, after they got back from their honeymoon in time to attend Nick and Allie's wedding on the twenty-fourth. Aunt Penelope had found them a great house near Southampton that they'd absolutely fallen in love with.

Carolyn nudged him and he squeezed her hand as they smiled at each other. While he'd been away, the ceremony had moved on to the start of the vows, and he watched as Serena and Art expressed their love and commitment for each other, the rings were exchanged, they were pronounced husband and wife, and then they finally got to the kiss the bride part of the ceremony. Arthur and Serena Weasley were presented to their families and friends, and then the recession began.

"That was pretty good for you," Carolyn told Al. "We only lost you once through the whole ceremony."

"I'll try to have that down to zero by the time it's our turn," he promised.

"You do that," Carolyn told him with a bright smile. "We definitely do not want you daydreaming through anything important at that wedding."

Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran only had to do a few pictures with Art and Serena after the ceremony, and had the rest of the time to mingle. For Lily and Kieran, some of that mingling required talking with mostly young fans from Serena's side of the family and friends, signing some autographs, and getting their picture taken with those fans.

Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie were sitting at a table having drinks, and Al and Carolyn joined them.

"Having fun?" Carolyn asked. They'd ended up a few rows apart during the wedding, and hadn't had much of a chance to talk with each other. With everything Carolyn had been up to, she'd barely talked with Brianna during the entire past week.

"It's beautiful here," Brianna answered. "No wonder Uncle Charlie and Aunt Nathalie love this country. Yes, we're having fun. How long do you think Lily and Kieran will be tied up with their adoring fans?"

"I'll guess until dinner, and then the parents will start reeling them in again,' Carolyn guessed. "I'm sure they'll have some little dancing fans near them all night, though – Especially after they sing."

"This summer, being the wedding singers for our family could have been a full-time gig for them," Nick joked.

"Last summer they did fifteen concerts, and probably performed in front of a bit more than a half-million fans," Allie told the others. "This year, it's four Mega Jams, and a million fans. I don't think they need to worry about falling back on doing weddings any time soon."

Dinner started at five-thirty, lasted for two hours, and was Kreacher and Winky's wedding gift to Art and Serena. There was a half hour break, and then Art and Serena were brought out to the dance floor, and shared that first dance as a married couple to the sounds of a soft, beautiful a cappella song written just for them. Lily and Kieran had every Witch there in tears with their heartbreakingly pure, unaccompanied harmonies, and their lyrics put such a beautiful, perfect light on Art and Serena, that everyone that knew them wondered at just how Lily and Kieran had been able to so wonderfully capture the essence of the newlyweds in just a few minutes of song.

Art and Serena shared long hugs with Lily and Kieran after their first dance ended, while the wedding guests clapped in that hushed response that happened sometimes when you were just overwhelmed by the beauty of the moment you'd just experienced. That gave the band time to get out on stage, and for eyes to be dried before the wedding party joined Art and Serena for the next song of the night.

There was one really great thing about jumping across a couple of time zones, and for the Weasley clan, it was getting to stay up, dance, and celebrate until one in the morning, and then go home and be in bed by just after eleven o'clock, home time.

"This is brilliant," Brianna told the others as they were sitting down and taking a break. "For Rose and Matt's wedding, we were all too busy to have any fun, and it'll be the same thing for us with Nick and Allie's wedding in a couple of weeks. With the big time change for Sebastian and Tristan's double wedding, by nine o'clock we were too tired to party. This wedding is just right. It feels like it's two hours earlier than it is, and our only job is to have fun and celebrate."

"Enjoy it while you can," Allie told her. "We girls have things going on nearly every evening for the next two weeks, since we're all working. We've got the party next Saturday too."

"Oops," Carolyn said to Al. "Remember when I said we'd be able to hang out together every night after work for the next two weeks? I was wrong."

Al laughed and hugged her. "It's okay, Carolyn. You were really tired when you said it, and I knew it wasn't really going to be happening. Maybe we'll manage to find a few days to spend on our own during the last week of August, when we can cuddle and I can watch you read ahead for your NEWT year subjects."

"That sounds so romantic," Nick joked.

"That sounds like our last week before school too," Brianna said to Scorpius. "We do need to get the work done, and that's pretty much the only time we'll have left when we can do it."

"I vote for a subject change," Scorpius told the others. "We seem to have gotten off of the party train all of a sudden. Worry about all of that stuff later. We've got the rest of tonight, and tomorrow we have the triple birthday party at the cottage for Aunt Ginny, Al, and Hugo, since it's like our last available spare day for the rest of the summer."

"I second the motion," Al said. "All in favour, get out there and dance!"

Art and Serena made their rounds at around eleven, and had their last dances finish up shortly after midnight. When they left for their honeymoon, the party began to wind down, and by one o'clock, the guests were all leaving to go home.

Harry and Ginny had six of those guests return with them to the cottage. Joel, Sarah, Lily, Kieran, Dale, and Carissa all stayed up in the sitting room to talk for a while, and Harry and Ginny kissed them all goodnight, and went off to bed.

"I guess we shouldn't stay up too late," Lily said as they settled in. "We will have to pitch in tomorrow morning to help get ready for the birthday party."

"Joel and I are going to need to get back to work on Monday so we can get a little rest from everything we've been doing this weekend," Sarah joked. "I guess we will get the chance to rest up a bit next weekend, though. It's too bad that you and Kieran won't get to do that, since you'll be busy with the last Mega Jam in China."

Lily shook her head. "That's true, but at least this is our last week of work. We've got three video shoots, and maybe two more sessions in the studio. We'll go to China on Thursday afternoon, and do the potion thing to help us with the eight hour time zone jump, and then when we get home next Sunday we'll be free for the last two weeks – or that's what we're going to keep telling ourselves over and over until we believe it."

"How's that working for you so far?" Joel asked.

"It's not," Kieran answered. "That's no reason to give up on it, though. This four mega-concert concept is really brilliant in a lot of ways, but I'm not sure that it's turned out to be any easier on us. We're working fewer weeks, but there's a lot more work in those weeks, and even when we're off, it's like we're always on the run too."

Lily and Kieran were the first couple to call it a night and go upstairs, and then Joel and Sarah followed about fifteen minutes later, leaving a grinning Dale and Carissa with the sitting room to themselves. They had just stretched out on the sofa they'd been cuddling on when they heard soft footsteps on the stairs. A moment later, Lily appeared, carrying a soft blanket, and smiled at them.

"If you're contemplating pulling an Al and Carolyn fall asleep in the sitting room, you need to have a nice soft, warm blanket, guys," she told them. "Sleep well, and I'll see you in the morning."

Morning didn't feel like it took very long in arriving from the time everyone in the cottage had gotten to sleep until Harry was up, and the sweet smells of breakfast cooking woke the others, and they all started getting ready for the day.

Ginny was greeted with a loud 'Happy Birthday' and a round of hugs and kisses when she got into the kitchen, and there were a few presents waiting for her with the glass of juice and cup of coffee. She opened the presents first, and then they all sat down to eat.

"How many guests should we start setting up for outside," Lily asked her father.

"Let's set up to be ready for one hundred for dinner," he answered. "We've got more than that coming to stop by during the day, but I only have ninety comfirmed for dinner, and that'll give us room for up to ten last minute additions."

Lily nodded. "If we set up four portable pools by the Quidditch pitch will that be enough?"

"It should be," Harry agreed. "I'm sure at least one Quidditch match will break out sometime this afternoon too, so we'll want to have the Quidditch set and the old Firebolts put out there too."

"Anything else for us to work on?" Joel asked.

"Maybe set up some canned music," Ginny suggested. "Dinner's going to be buffet style, so we can set up a long table for that, and get all of the plates, silverware, glasses, and napkins out and set up for that, so that when chefs Harry and Al are ready, all we'll have to do is get the platters and bowls of food put out later."

They finished breakfast, and then while Harry cleaned up, the six teens went outside and got to work. Joel and Dale went off to set up the four portable pools, and get the Quidditch equipment put out, while Sarah, Carissa, Lily, and Kieran got to work on setting up thirteen tables for eight, and a total of one hundred and four chairs. The buffet table was set up next, and then they all started getting tablecloths on everything, and hauling out stacks of plates, trays of silverware, and everything else they'd need for dinner.

All of the work was finished by eleven o'clock, and then it was time to get into swimsuits, and cool off in the pool before they had lunch, and got ready to begin welcoming the party guests. Since they'd worked all moring helping with set-up, Lily, Kieran, Sarah, Joel, Carissa, and Dale all had the afternoon off, while the older couples in the family took over hosting duties, helping to serve drinks, take trays of snacks and appetizers around, and entertain for the afternoon.

"How'd you end up on cooking detail at your own birthday party?" Scorpius asked Al when they were taking a break from doing their last round of drink refills.

"I don't mind, and Dad and I make a pretty good team in the kitchen," Al answered. "Kreacher and Winky would do all of these dinners if we asked them, but then they'd never have any fun just hanging out with us."

Scorpius nodded. "I think Winky's been a bit under the weather for the last week or so – or at least that's how long I've noticed it. I didn't even know that House Elves did get sick."

Al looked over at where she and Kreacher were sitting, talking with Ginny, Hermione, and Fleur. He did a double take, and then grinned at his friend. "Want to have some fun?" he asked, and Scorpius grinned back at him.

"Sure. I don't know what you're up to, but by the look on your face, it's going to be good," Scorpius answered.

Al led him over to where the two House Elves were sitting with the three Witches.

"Hi Winky, Kreacher," Al said conversationally. "How are you doing?"

"Winky and Kreacher are fine, Master Albus," Kreacher answered.

"And how is the baby?" Al continued, trying not to grin, but his glittering emerald eyes gave him away to everyone.

"Winky, are you pregnant?" Ginny exclaimed excitedly. "How far along are you? When are you due?"

Kreacher and Winky exchanged looks, and they both smiled. "Winky is due next March sometime, Ginny," Winky answered, and Al and Scorpius were both grinning as they watched the three Witches doing the math.

"You really were happy to finally have a family living at Grimmauld Place, weren't you?" Hermione said, laughing, and they watched as Kreacher and Winky both turned bright pink.

Ginny looked up at her grinning son. "How'd you know?" she asked.

"Scorpius told me a few minutes ago that Winky hadn't been feeling well for the last week or more, and when I looked over at her, I just knew. She's got that expecting mother aura thing going on. Congratulations Winky, Kreacher. You two are going to be wonderful parents."

"Thank-you, Master Al," Kreacher said, bowing.

Ginny hugged her two friends, and while the girls started talking babies, Al and Scorpius left to get back to work.

"Thanks, mate," Scorpius told Al. "That was a lot of fun. I had no idea that they turned that shade of pink when they got embarrassed."

Al laughed. "I knew that they did, but I haven't seen it before. Mum and Dad say that they saw it once on the day Kreacher and Winky became mates, and I think Dad saw it with Dobby once or twice."

"Since the girls will be at school when she's due, I'm going to be counting on your Mum to help me with whatever we need to do to help Winky," Scorpius said. "This is way out of my scope of experience."

The party rolled on all afternoon, with friends stopping by for short visits, or coming for the afternoon and staying for dinner. There were a couple of short Quidditch matches, the more entertaining of the two being a boys against the girls game in which the girl's team won partly because of superior skill, and partly because the boy's team seemed to be unable to concentrate on the game due primarily to the fact that most of the girls that were playing on the team, and the girls in the stands watching, were in shorts and swimsuits.

"That was definitely the most fun I've ever had losing a Quidditch match," Liam told the other guys after they'd landed.

"Yeah," Hugo grumbled, "except you seemed to think that the game was scored today on how many times you kissed Frederica, instead of how many goals you put past your sister, mate."

"Look who's talking?" Liam countered. "Did you actually think that it was coincidence that every time the girls were about to take a shot that Emily did something or yelled something out to get your attention? The girls had a beautiful game plan, and kicked our collective Quidditch butts. The fact that we loved watching them do it is a bonus as far as I'm concerned."

Al and Harry had been playing in that game, and had left the others to handle the post-game banter while they went inside and started cooking up dinner for one hundred. An hour later, they called for help to get everything out to the buffet table, and then Ron led the charge as everyone filled plates, got fresh drinks, and found tables to sit at while they ate.

The party wrapped up with cake and ice cream, and then it was time for everyone to go home, with another workweek starting on Monday. There were enough hands that stayed around long enough to make cleanup a quick and painless process, and then they were gone too.

"Are we going to see you much for the rest of the week after you and Kieran head over to his place in the morning?" Ginny asked Lily after they'd all taken seats in the sitting room.

"We'll try and stop by at least once before we leave for China on Thursday, but it'll depend on how long the video shoots take," Lily answered. "I could pop over on Tuesday while Kieran's doing his Quidditch practice too."

"It seems like you're still gone a lot this summer," Harry told Lily. "You do have three less weeks away, though."

"With four weddings thrown in this year, we're all busier," Kieran suggested. "Will you be doing back to school shopping next weekend while we're gone?"

Harry shook his head. "Those of us who aren't working are going to do the books and supplies for everyone a week from Monday, since we have the parties on Saturday night. We'll do our own robes and clothes, but the working teens will have to find a day for that during the last week of August when they're off. I have no idea when you will all find time to start reading ahead for your subjects, though."

"We'll find the time somehow," Joel said. "I wish I had time to read all of the books, and then have Lily explain it all to me before we leave for school."

"Relax, Joel," Lily told him. "We'll do virtual study sessions if any of you get really stuck."

"You'll be wearing your Virtual GameWizard glasses all day, all year," Sarah predicted.

"I think you're all way underestimating yourselves," Lily told her. "Wait and see – you won't end up needing me at all once you start working together again."

They didn't stay up very much longer, everyone wanting to get to bed and get a good night's sleep. There was now just three weeks left until September first, and it was starting to feel like summer was really winding down, even though there was still going to be a lot happening during those three weeks.

On Monday, Brianna was starting her second week working in the Centaur Liason Division. She'd loved working in Goblin Liason, and after a week in this area, she was wishing they'd move her back.

"What is it with this place sometimes?" she asked Scorpius over lunch. "We have a whole team of Witches and Wizards working in Centaur Liason to try and build our relationships with a group of magical creatures who want nothing more than for us to leave them alone. Let's put someone in charge of leaving them alone, and maybe have a few Witches and Wizards on-call to help make sure they get left alone if any Witches and Wizards give them a hard time, and dump the rest of the division, since it's all a total waste of time, money, and energy."

Scorpius grinned. "So propose that to the Centaurs, and if they agree in principle, send the proposal directly to Minister Mockridge, and copy the Minister of Magic. Throw in the cost-savings analysis, and watch the wheels turn while you're safely tucked away in Hogwarts."

Brianna returned his grin. "I love you, Scorpius," she said softly. "Remind me tonight to thank you for being so brilliant."

The first group of future BusinessMagic trainers were thinking that their instructor was brilliant too. Any sceptics in the room were converted within the first hour of her instruction as they all quickly realized that this new system was so far better than what they'd been doing up until now that she was showing them a way to get rid of most of the tedious, least-liked parts of their job, which would free up everyone's time to actually do the parts of their respective jobs that they loved doing.

"Are you sure you're still a student at Hogwarts?" one of the Witches asked Carolyn.

"For one more year, yes," Carolyn confirmed.

The other woman nodded. "I'd ask you to come work for me, but Molly's already told us that she's keeping you herself. Now I guess we all know why."

While Carolyn was having fun teaching BusinessMagic one-oh-one, Nick was actually down the hall in his mother's office, meeting with her, and his grandmother about his two main summer projects.

"This is the overall plan," he told them, showing them the detailed drawings, and then conjuring his three-dimensional model. The finished designs for the support buildings, shops, employee apartments, and the bungalows will be done in phases, as we need them, but the hotel is finished."

He set out the hotel drawings, and then conjured the model of the hotel complex itself, and watched as the two women looked over his plans.

"This is stunning, Nicolas," Molly told him after spending ten minutes reviewing everything. "I absolutely love everything about it."

"I love that it's completely different that our other resorts," Penelope said. "It'll be the first project of this size built with Glassalloy too, and those cost savings from doing that are truly amazing."

"I think he'll be able to go with the good champagne on his honeymoon, Penelope," Molly said, smiling at Nick. "What do you think?"

"I think we've bought ourselves a set of drawings, with approval to keep on designing the rest of the project. Congratulations, Nick," Penelope said.

Nick hugged both women, and then carefully packed up those drawings before getting out the next set.

"Here's the drawings for the other project," he told them. "Everything is complete for all buildings." He conjured his model for this project, and again Molly and Penelope studied the drawings and model carefully.

"There's nothing really radical with any of the buildings here, since having everything fit together was of high importance," he told them while they looked everything over.

"It's exactly what we wanted," Penelope told him. "Do you agree, Mum?"

"Yes," Molly answered. "The flow from the old to the new is wonderfully crafted. You're two for two, Nick. Your little partnership is going to be very happy with you."

"I'm just glad that you and Mum are," Nick told her. "That's what really matters."

The business and politics people weren't the only members of the family having fun on Monday. At lunchtime in the dining hall of the Phoenix Academy, James and his five teachers advised their students that they had two members of their group who were going to be able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry starting on September first.

"Quincy, Erin, we are so proud of how well you've done here," James told them. "You both still need to keep working these last few weeks before school starts to be ready, but your enrolment into second year is confirmed now, and we'll be getting you both everything you need to start at Hogwarts."

Erin and Quincy were congratulated by their friends, and by all of the students before the end of lunch, and James, the teachers, and the rest of the staff loved seeing how supportive every one of their kids were of the happy pair.

James spent most of the rest of his afternoon working in his office, and was thinking about wrapping it up when he heard a tentative knock on his door, and looked up to see a shyly nervous Erin at his door.

"Come on in, Erin," he said, inviting her in. "What can I do for you?"

Erin stepped into his office, and looked around before answering. "Would you have time for me to show you something, James?" she asked in her soft, gentle voice.

"Sure Erin, what've you got?" James asked.

"I need you to come outside for me to show you," she said hesitantly.

James was curious now, and got up from his desk. Okay, Erin. Lead the way."

He followed the young Witch outside, and to the Quidditch pitch, where Quincy was waiting with the Quidditch set, and a pair of the Academy Firebolts.

"Are we going to play a match?" he asked.

"No, I want to show you what I can do, then I have a question for you," Erin told him.

James thought he knew all of his kids pretty well, but he had never seen Erin out playing Quidditch with the other kids that were into the game, so he watched with interest as Quincy took only the snitch out of the case, and when Erin was ready, released it. His interest turned to amazement when she took off, and within a minute had the snitch caught, then flew back toward Harry and Quincy, and landed.

"Way to go!" James told Erin as he hugged her. "How come I've never seen you play out here when the other students are out playing?"

"I like catching the snitch, but I'm not very good playing Chaser or Keeper or Beater. They never let me have a chance at Seeker to find out I could do it after I wasn't good at the other places."

James nodded. "And since you weren't any good at the other spots, they stopped asking you to play," he surmised, and Erin and Quincy both nodded too.

"So what's your question?" he asked Erin, and she looked up at him hopefully.

"Is there any way I could have a broom to take with me to school? I'd like to try out for a House team, and maybe I'd be good enough to make at least a practice team and get to play."

"I'd say you're good enough from what I just saw," James told her. "I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll get one of my cousins to lend you their broom for tryouts, and if you make a team or practice squad, I'll get you a Lightningbolt of your very own. Deal?"

Erin threw her arms around him and hugged him, while Quincy laughed.

"Do you think that's a yes?" he joked, and James and Erin both laughed with him.

"That's definitely a yes," Erin assured them. "Thank-you, James."

"Are you a player too, Quincy?" James asked, and the boy shook his head.

"Erin's my friend, and I don't mind batting a bludger around to help her practice, but it's not my thing, unless I'm playing it on my GameWizard."

"Well, now that I know we have a really awesome Seeker in the House," James said, "lets see what we can do over these last few weeks to get her ready for those tryouts, shall we?"

"Definitely," Quincy agreed, which earned him a hug from Erin too.

James was having dinner with Arianna later after they'd both gotten home from work, and he was telling her about Erin's little demonstration.

"I'll ask Liselle if maybe she could stop by some evening this week and spend a little time with Erin," Arianna told him. "I'm sure she'd love to see what that little sweetheart can do. I would have never guessed it by looking at her."

"You wouldn't think Nadine was as good as she is by looking at her either," James pointed out. "They both look like a pair of pixies."

"Professor McGonagall is going to assign them to Houses instead of sorting them, right?" she asked, and James nodded. "You should suggest to her that Ravenclaw might best appreciate getting a top Seeker prospect this year."

"That's a very good idea," he agreed. "I'll send her an Owl Post tomorrow. She and Quincy are both certainly smart enough to be Ravenclaws to get through as many years of education as they have in just one year, even if they didn't have to start totally from scratch."

"Sounds like a perfect match," Arianna said. "Anything else going on today at work?"

"Just the usual," James answered. "Some of the kids that started magic training last September are testing to move on to third year over the next couple of weeks, but as the kids spread out with their progress, we're starting to get to the point where we're doing some testing every week now anyway."

Arianna nodded. "Will you be bringing in two new students in September to take Erin and Quincy's spots?"

James shrugged. "We haven't decided yet. We want to have a plan for them at holidays first before we move them out of the Academy."

"I'm sure you guys will work something out for them," she told him confidently.

James and Arianna were having a quiet night at home alone, ready for a break after the busy weekend. Some of the other family members were doing the same, while others, particularly anyone involved with Nick and Allie's wedding, were busy not only Monday night, but all week long.

Some of those wedding preparations included getting ready for the party on Saturday night. While the wedding, by necessity of Percy's standing in the Ministry was going to be large, the party on Saturday was going to be much smaller. Allie's parents had agreed to host it at their house, since the small yard at the townhouse was too small to have the hundred or so guests who would be attending.

The underage party was going to be at the Cottage this time, and so on Saturday, Harry, Joel, Sarah, and Dale were out in the yard, setting up pools, tents, and games for the gang that would start coming over after lunch.

"SpellBound should be hitting the stage right now," Sarah said when she saw it was just about eleven o'clock. The eight-hour time change made it seven o'clock in China.

"I'm sure they're going to wow them at this show too," Harry told them.

"It'd be more fun if they were here tonight," Dale said.

"We'll manage to entertain ourselves," Sarah told him. "I'm sure Carissa will be happy to help you have fun."

"You'll have Jason and Brian over," Harry told him, "and we're having Erin and Quincy come too so they can get to know you all better before they start at Hogwarts."

"Frederica, Liam, Hugo, and Emily are all coming too, aren't they?" Joel asked, and Harry nodded.

"They'll be here, and Myra's coming with Liam. Kreacher and Winky are doing your dinner again, and everybody at our party would be very jealous if they knew that, so keep it quiet."

While Harry and the kids were finishing their set-up at the cottage, Ana, Laura, Vanessa, and Nadine were watching Lily and Kieran up on stage at their last Mega Jam. Ana didn't know if it was just because of the time change, or maybe that they were just getting tired now that this was the last day they'd be working, but it had been a tough day for all of them, although you wouldn't know it by the way SpellBound was out there putting on as incredible a show as they always did.

"How do they do it?" Vanessa asked Ana and Nadine as they watched. "I know they're both just as tired as we are after the last couple of days."

"I'm sure they'll be ready to drop right off to sleep when we eventually get back to the hotel," Ana answered. "We can all sleep in tomorrow, and then maybe we'll go do a little shopping and sightseeing before going home tomorrow afternoon so that we can start a second Sunday back home."

"Do you ever get used to these big time zone jumps, Ana?" Nadine asked, and Ana shook her head.

"Not really. It's just one of those things you learn to live with in this business."

"Let's get backstage again, girls," Laura told Nadine and Vanessa. "Ten minutes to the next costume change."

They went backstage, and waited for Lily. When either she or Kieran did a costume change, the other was always on stage either doing an instrumental solo, or starting their part of one of their 'story' songs. The time for those costume changes could be as little as thirty seconds, and so everything had to work perfectly, from having the clothes ready, to getting them drinks to keep them hydrated during the gruelling three hours they spent on the stage before the Weird Sisters would do their two-hour concert.

"You're doing great, Lily," Vanessa told her when she jogged off stage. She and Nadine helped her change in eighteen seconds flat, and Lily grinned at them as she sipped water for the last twelve seconds she had left.

"Way to go, guys," she complimented them before hurrying back out to hit her cue, and Vanessa and Nadine hurried around to get set-up for the next change.

It got more crowded backstage when Kirley and the Weird Sisters were getting ready to go on just before nine.

"Last change until the encore," Laura announced quietly. "In thirty seconds."

If there was one thing that Nadine and Vanessa had to get used to this summer, it was that there was no place for modesty in show business. Neither Kieran or Lily had time to care about whether a boy or girl saw them getting changed, and with so little time to get the changes right, there was no time for blushing, shy assistants who were helping them get changed. By now, the girls didn't even bat an eye at seeing Kieran in his underwear as he quickly changed out of one costume into the next while the Weird Sister's equipment was rolled out.

"Forty-five seconds, people," Laura told everyone. "Lily get some more to drink, and somebody put a bottle of water on the stage for her. She looks like she's lost five pounds tonight already."

"Great, we're trying to get though this show, and Laura's working on developing the Mega Jam weight loss program," Kieran joked, sucking back some water himself.

Laura grinned at him. "Shut up, McCormack, and keep drinking. Twenty seconds."

The Weird Sisters ran out on stage, with Lily and Kieran following, allowing Kirley and the boys enough extra time to get their own instruments ready before joining them and starting the first song of their joint one-hour set.

"Good job, girls," Laura told Nadine and Vanessa. "Let's get this stuff packed up, and get the encore outfits ready for Lily and Kieran back in the change rooms."

They worked for the next forty-five minutes, and then were again backstage waiting for Lily and Kieran to finish their session with the Weird Sisters.

"Listen to that crowd!" Nadine said as they started into the last song before the Weird Sisters would start their set, and Lily and Kieran would have the next two hours off. "They've really got them going again tonight."

"No wonder," Vanessa answered. "They seem to get better with every show."

They watched as the song wrapped up, and Lily and Kieran took their bows before trotting off stage while the Weird Sisters cranked it up.

"How'd we do?" Kieran panted as he and Lily both turned to watch his father and his band out on stage.

"You were awesome as always," Laura told them. "Let's get back to your change rooms and you two can get some food and water into you and take a break while you wait for the encore."

They walked over to where the change rooms were set up, and met Ana there, who handed them each a bottle of water, with the unspoken order to start re-hydrating.

Lily smiled at her. "Thanks, Ana. Remember when you made me promise to tell you when I'm getting tired?" Ana nodded. "I'm there now. Anytime you want to order Kieran and me to an island for a week of total isolation, I'm ready to go."

Ana laughed. "I have no idea whether you're telling me this because you really are tired out, or because a week on your island with just Kieran is just an idea you two have cooked up so you get a week all to yourselves before Kieran heads back to school."

Lily laughed too. "I really am beat, and it would be brilliant to have Kieran to myself for at least a few days when somebody isn't wanting something from us before he goes back to school."

"Okay, Laura and I will see what we can come up with, but you guys have the wedding next weekend, and Kieran has studying to do to get ready for sixth year, so I'm not sure how much we can do with just two weeks left."

"Mum doesn't think I'll get any studying done if we're on a beach somewhere, and you're in a swimsuit," Kieran joked. "I wonder why?"

"Maybe because I saw that pitiful excuse for a Quidditch match against the girls last Sunday?" Ana suggested. "If your Chaser skills are no match for a girl in a swimsuit, then your study skills don't stand a chance."

Laura, Nadine, and Vanessa worked with Lily and Kieran, keeping them drinking lots of water, and getting them to eat a light power snack to help them recharge before the last high-energy hour when they'd be battling the Weird Sisters, and trying to win the Mega Jam Battle of the Bands title. A win for SpellBound tonight would give them the title, and if the Weird Sisters won, it'd be a tie.

"I'll bet Kira's hoping that Dad and his mates win tonight," Kieran said. "That way she can tell all of her little friends that she helped put us over the top to win the two Mega Jams that she was there to cheer us on for."

Lily grinned at him. "Well, isn't that what superfans do? Maybe we should have brought her with us for this one just in case she's right."

When they had thirty minutes left until it would be time for the encore, Lily and Kieran got changed, had a makeup and hair touch-up, and were backstage again with five minutes left to go.

"Father and son guitar duel first," Laura told them. "Then your line-up is 'Get Up and Dance!' first, then 'No Such Thing as Too Much Fun. You'll wrap up with You Never Noticed Me."

They watched and waited as the Weird Sisters wrapped up their show's final song, and then Kieran hugged Lily quickly, and ran out on stage for one of his favourite parts of the night – the guitar duel with his Dad. It was their last one, and both Kirley and Kieran were fired up. The duel ended up going thirteen minutes before Kieran bowed to Kirley, conceding the battle after a blistering hot improvisation that both Kieran, and the fans, knew that Kirley had won.

Lily ran out on stage then, and she and Kieran launched into 'Get Up and Dance!', and had their quarter-million strong audience doing just that. The Weird Sisters countered with a hot version of one of their old number one hits, and the battle was on. When the instrumental and vocal dust settled, the Weird Sisters were declared the winners of the fourth Mega Jam Battle of the Bands, ending the series in a two-two tie.

"I guess we really should have brought Kira after all," Lily said when they were all backstage. "Without our superfan, we're just no match for these guys."

"We had it won by the end of Kirley and Kieran's guitar duel," Myron told her. "That was possibly the most brilliant playing I've ever seen him do onstage, and we've all seen him play a lot."

The other guys were all nodding, and Lily hugged Kirley. "We thought it was brilliant too."

"Come on, kids," Laura told everyone. "Your fans await. Let's get you all changed, lose the makeup, and get packed up. Then you can fight through an hour or so of autographs before we all get back to the hotel and get some sleep. It's been a really long day."

By the time that SpellBound and the Weird Sisters were wrapping up their concert, back at home, the party for Nick and Allie was just getting going. The campout at the cottage had been going strong most of the afternoon, and both groups were getting ready for dinner.

At the cottage, Kreacher and Winky had gone with a gourmet teen menu that they followed up with four dessert options that left their young dessert experts offering them rave reviews. There were no portable pools anywhere in sight at the Summers' house. Allie's parents had a nice country home located on beautifully landscaped grounds. Their party was being catered, and there were waiters mingling with the guests carrying trays of champagnes and wines during the social hour before dinner, and then those waiters started serving dinner when they sat down to eat at six o'clock.

Scorpius and Brianna were Nick and Allie's best man and maid of honour, and Rose and Carolyn were Allie's bridesmaids, while Matt and Al were Nick's ushers, so the three couples were seated at a table with Nick, Allie, and their parents for the evening.

"I love Grimmauld Place, but wouldn't it be nice to have grounds like this?" Brianna asked Scorpius. "There are some definite downsides to living in the big city."

"We'll just have to get ourselves a weekend home in the country some day when we're older and need to have a place for the kids to run," Scorpius told her with a smile. "There are pretty nice grounds at Malfoy Mansion we can go visit if you need to stretch your legs."

"That's true," she agreed. "Or we'll go visit Nick and Allie a lot. Their place is on a pretty nice piece of land too."

"You're welcome to drop by anytime," Allie told her. "Not that it'll be an option until you're home for Christmas, and then after you're done next June, since we won't be there until after you're back at Hogwarts."

"Don't remind us," Carolyn told her. "We've only got two weeks left, while the rest of you get to stay out here in the real world."

"At least you have the surprise bonus of having Brianna for Head Girl," Al said. "The Ravenclaw girls are going to rule this year."

"Maybe, but Daphne and Karl are going to have more fun," Brianna told him. "I knew he was doing way better, but I don't even think Lily knew he'd be getting straight O's."

"Brianna or one of our TNM prefects are going to have to take pictures at that first meeting on the Hogwarts Express," Nick said. "I'm sure having one Head get named from outside of the eight senior prefects, but to have both Heads picked that way must really bug at least some of them."

"I hope it won't be too bad," Brianna said. "We'll have to work with them all year."

"Bree, you've spent half the summer negotiating with Goblins, and the other half working with Centaurs," Allie told her. "Seventh year Hogwarts prefects should be easy."

"We'll see if anyone at the Ministry thinks I'm any good at Centaur Liason when they get my proposal at the end of next week, with a recommendation to basically dump the whole department," Brianna said. "I'll probably be very unpopular there too."

"Don't you love our safe, secure little worlds of architecture and executive management, Allie?" Nick asked.

"Yes, I do, Nick," Allie answered. "I'll be ready for that honeymoon, though. It's been busy keeping the back to school season rolling smoothly."

"There's that word again," Carolyn joked. "We're supposed to be celebrating an upcoming marriage, and you all keep coming back to talking about school."

"Okay, Carolyn, we'll change the subject," Allie promised. "How'd your training go this week? Will you have to work all next week too?"

"I'll be doing instruction until noon on Friday," Carolyn confirmed. "I'll only have the afternoon off."

"Ditto that here," Brianna told Allie. "I'm done my Internship at noon on Friday. Joel and Sarah are done then too."

"Good," Allie told them. "The rest of the day is booked for all of us, starting with our final dress fitting before we take them home with us."

"I can't believe it's only a week away," Allie's mother told them, "and Penelope and I seem to be the only ones getting nervous."

"That's because we're not nervous, Mum," Allie told her. "Relax, and have fun. Everything is going to be perfect."

"Sure, honey. There's nothing to worry about. We're just going to be having a little get together with five thousand of our closest friends, including the Minister of Magic, and every other VIP in the country. No pressure."

Penelope laughed. "We can do all of the worrying for them," she said. "That way they can just have fun and enjoy their big day."

"We'll see if they're still so calm and cool on Saturday afternoon," Percy said. "At least up until after the 'I do's' when the pressure's off."

There was no pressure all night for Nick, Allie, or any of the other guests. This night was for family and friends, and even after so many parties and weddings already this summer, they were all still ready to have fun, and enjoy another great night together.

The Cottage campout was a hit too, and by midnight, after a whole afternoon of swimming, playing, and hanging out, there were just three couples left around the campfire.

"Who else here has concluded that working all summer for a living sucks?" Hugo asked, and watched as five hands shot up in answer.

"Even our week off at the beginning of holidays, and the one we'll get for the last week of the summer won't be much in the way of time off, since it was all Rose and Matt's wedding for the first week, and we'll all be getting ready to go back to school for the next two weeks," he added.

Joel nodded. "We didn't have as much to do that first week as you and Emily did, and none of us will have to do much more than show up to Nick and Allie's wedding, so at least we don't have that too, like Brianna and Carolyn will."

"Uncle Harry, and the younger kids are going to get our texts and supplies on Monday too," Emily said. "That'll make our back to school shopping day easier when we can get to it the week after the wedding."

"What is everyone doing tomorrow?" Liam asked. "Frederica and I are hanging out with my family for the next two Sundays. I'm beginning to think our parents have made up a kid sharing contract or something – Frederica's family gets us for this wedding or that party, and then my family gets us for so many other days and family events."

"They probably do, mate," Hugo agreed. "I think my sister joined in to negotiate throwing your sister in for Quidditch practices and assorted other family days, though. She probably thinks it's good for me to have a hot Keeper to train against."

"Hugo, whatever you do, mate," Liam pleaded, "don't ever put the word 'hot' in the same sentence you're using to describe my sister. I am definitely not ready for that."

Emily laughed and hugged Hugo. "If she helps make you a better player, then I think you should be happy," she told him. "As for you, protective big brother Liam, your sister is going to be breaking little Wizard's hearts all over the school, so just look the other way if you can't stand the fact that in not too many years she will definitely have that hot factor for more than Quidditch."

"And why shouldn't she?" Frederica asked. "Her brother certainly has it."

"Can we get back to you guys telling us what you're doing tomorrow?" Liam asked, desperately wanting to change the subject to anything that didn't included discussing his sister's current or future potential hotness.

"We're the same as you," Emily told him. "My family has custody of us tomorrow."

"I think we're just around here," Joel told him. "There will likely be a trip to the residence, but Sarah and I don't go to those every time. Dale's probably with Carissa tomorrow, whatever she's doing, and I think Lily and Kieran will be here, and probably do the residence visit too."

"They're going to have a long day," Sarah said. "They'll have a whole day in China, and then probably be here for breakfast. It's already after eight in the morning there now."

Hugo grinned at her. "The sacrifices one must make to be rich and famous musicians. That's probably why none of us made the hottest couples list in TeenWitch – they don't come looking around Marauders Institute for the hottest game testers, to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes stores looking for hottest store clerks, or into the bowels of the Ministry of Magic looking for the hottest Pages."

"What is it with you and everything related to being hot?" Liam asked. "Do you need to go for a late night swim to cool off?"

"Don't even think about it," Emily told Hugo. "None of us can use magic here to dry off after, and if you're cold and damp, you'll be on your own tonight."

"That'd be a 'no' to the swim, mate," Hugo told him.

"In that case, then, let's change the subject – again. How do you think our team's coming along?" Liam asked.

"We'll be able to compete again this year," Hugo said. "Frederica and Kevin are the best Beaters in the school, although Bill and Terry are probably a close second for Slytherin. Depending on what House gets your sister, I'll still have the nod at Keeper. I hate to admit it, but we're probably number three at Chaser." He laughed when Liam looked ready to protest.

"Let's be honest to ourselves, mate. You're our best Chaser, but Lance is about as good as he's ever going to get, which is decent, but not great, and Claire's the best of the rest."

"You're right," Liam agreed. "We'll just have to hope it's enough. What about Colin?"

Hugo laughed again. "I was going to say he and Nadine were probably a tie, and both better than anyone else, but if our new little friend Erin gets in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, then every game could be a toss-up."

"She was pretty fast on that Firebolt this afternoon," Frederica said. "Do you think she's as good and Colin and Nadine though?"

Hugo nodded. "Dad told us the other night that Liselle went to spend an hour or so with her on Wednesday night, and told everyone on Thursday that the kid was really good, and just needed some decent training."

"If she's training with Liselle," Emily said, "then Colin and Nadine better watch out."

Hugo nodded. "I think Liselle's going to work with her three or four more times before school starts."

"If she's that good, why don't we bring her here for our last few practices?" Liam suggested. "That way, if she does make a team, Colin gets a few chances to see her play before we have to face her."

"That's a very good idea, mate," Hugo said. "I'm getting rather tired of having other teams surprising us every year."

"Speaking of tired," Sarah said, standing up, "It's been fun, but I'm ready for a little snuggling time with Joel and a good night's sleep."

Joel grinned and stood too. "Nice talking to you all," he told the others, taking Sarah's hand. "We'll see you all in the morning."

Hugo, Emily, Frederica, and Liam exchanged glances, and just like that, the campfire time was over, and after putting out the fire, the last two couples moved on to the cuddling and sleeping over part of the night. When Harry and Ginny got back to the cottage shortly after one, all was quiet on the camping front, so they went upstairs, and went straight to bed, a long, fun day of their own finally over.

While the family back home were pretty much all asleep, in China, the gang that was with Lily and Kieran were getting up by nine o'clock local time, and meeting for breakfast. The plan for today was to go shopping and sightseeing all day, and then leave for home by around five in the afternoon. Lily, Kieran, Kirley, Ana, Vanessa, and Nadine had a breakfast date for nine in the morning at the cottage, followed by a trip to the residence to both drop the girls off, and visit with some of the other students while they were there.

"Does anyone have any special requests for sightseeing today?" Ana asked the girls.

Nadine bobbed her head excitedly. "Vanessa and I would like to go see at least one section of the Great Wall, and we'd like to see the Terracotta Warriors if we could. Some shopping would be good too, if we can get that all done."

"You've got my vote for that plan," Kieran told them. "Those warriors, horses, and chariots are supposed to be something to see."

"Those two stops and shopping will pretty much fill our day," Kirley told them. "Let's go with the wall, the warriors, and the shopping. If we do have some time left, we can decide to add something in later if we want."

They ate breakfast, and then returned to their rooms, packing, and Translocating their things back home, and then went out on their sightseeing and shopping mission. The Great Wall of China was the first stop, and they spent an hour walking around one of the restored sections of the wall.

"Any wizarding history about the wall, Lily?" Nadine asked as they'd stopped to look out over the side, admiring the view.

"Nope. This is all Muggle work," she told the others. "The Witches and Wizards that lived here back then sat around and laughed their heads off at the Muggles, since whichever side of the wall they lived on, they could apparate anywhere they wanted to, so for them the wall was a total waste of time."

"It is a pretty amazing accomplishment, though," Vanessa said. "Even if Witches and Wizards had built it, this would have been a Herculean job."

"Now there's a good wizarding story," Lily said. "Hercules, son of Zeus and a Muggle woman – in reality a self-aggrandizing, mediocre Wizard using a few lame parlour tricks to impress the peasants of ancient Greece and Rome. The guy was as much of a twit as that pompous fool Gilderoy Lockhart. Too bad they decided to heal the guy the same way that Aunt Hermione, Dad, and the others healed Professor Longbottom's parents."

"How'd we start out sightseeing in China, and end up discussing ancient Greek mythology?" Kieran asked. "If you're all done admiring the view, why don't we move on and see some more ancient history from this region."

"Lead on, oh great explorer," Lily told him. "At least until we get to the shopping, and then we'll take over from there."

"As you should," Kieran agreed. "I'd just slow you down."

They spent just over two hours touring the Museum, and looking at the amazing army of life-sized warriors, and everything else, from the weapons to the horses and chariots.

"So this Emperor Qin unified China, started the Great Wall, and a whole lot of other innovations for the time, but then he also had nearly three-quarters of a million people build him an underground palace for him to live in when he died, and put eight thousand or so of these warriors outside of the walls to protect him?" Nadine asked, and Lily nodded.

"Don't get me wrong, because I do think this is a really incredible display, but this guy was a bit crazy, don't you think? Why would everyone in the country put up with all of this?"

"Historians suggest that part of the reason he was obsessed like this is precisely because there were several assassination attempts against him," Lily answered. "We should be glad he did, though. These soldiers are so detailed, they tell us a lot about what life was like back then. We Witches and Wizards have better first-hand histories than the Muggles do, but even our histories didn't spend much time on the things that were just part of everyday life."

"I guess," Vanessa said. "If our Minister of Magic tried something like this, though, he'd be sacked in a second."

"That's for sure," Kirley agreed. "Anyone else ready for a little snack before we start shopping?"

By the time they'd eaten, they still had about three hours left to shop, and then it was time to take the TransPortal back home, leaving in the late afternoon, and travelling the thousands of miles, and eight time zones, where they ended up outside of the cottage promptly at nine in the morning.

"How was China?" Ginny asked as she met them at the door with hugs and kisses before leading them into the kitchen for more welcome home hugs.

"It's been a long few days," Lily told her mother. "I'm really glad we're done for this summer, because I've run out of steam."

"You look it too," Ginny agreed. "Is it too late to handle them, Ana?"

"We'll work out something for them," Ana answered. "We do need to get them some down time, though. Lily may be a bit more tired than Kieran, but probably not by very much."

"Come on and sit down," Harry told everyone. "Brinner is served."

"Brinner?" Dale asked.

"Breakfast for us, Dinner for them," Harry explained. "These guys are starting their second Sunday morning."

With all of the teens from the campout, and six extras from China, it was a full kitchen, and fairly noisy as everyone wanted to catch up on what had been going on either here at home, or over in China. It was after ten by the time that they'd all finished eating, and had cleaned up. Harry and Ginny took Lily, Kieran, Vanessa, and Nadine with them to the residence, while Ana and Kirley went home to start unpacking, and most of the teens left for their homes or the Academy, all of them having other plans for the day. By eleven, Joel and Sarah had the cottage to themselves, set up a couple of chairs and a portable pool, and settled in for an hour or two of doing nothing but a little swimming and a lot of relaxing before they'd be starting their last week at their summer jobs.

That's what most of the family used Sunday for – resting up for the next week. Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Kieran only stayed at the residence until about twelve thirty, and then they happily joined Joel and Sarah for their lazy day. Lily and Kieran were sent off for an afternoon nap, and since they'd already been through three meals and a late lunch snack, Harry just did up a simple dinner for everyone. The three couples spent a couple of hours in the sitting room after dinner, and then all went off to bed. Lily and Kieran took another dose of potion that would have them back on home time by morning, and it wasn't long before the cottage was silent, as if holding it's breath in anticipation of the morning rush of activity to come.

Harry was up early, and cooking breakfast in the morning. They had a lot to get done today, and a smaller than normal group to help out, since so many of the students were still working. He was going to have Al's help today, but on top of getting the books and supplies, they also had three young kids to juggle, now that they were back down to having just Kira, James, and Timothy.

"Good morning, Dad," Lily said as she came into the kitchen and went over to hug him. "Ready for a big day of shopping?"

Harry laughed. "I was just trying to work out how we were going to get it all done with such a small crew today."

"I'll take Kira with the girls," she told him. "We should be able to keep her entertained even when we're getting the school robes and back to school clothes. "Dale and Al can keep the boys under control while you're all going around getting books and supplies. Just have them go get the sweets and wheezes and any programs you need from the GamePortal and things like that, and you and Kieran can concentrate on books and the other study supplies."

Harry nodded. "That'll work, and Al and I can watch the boys while Kieran and Dale get their robes and new clothes."

"Have you got the lists?" Lily asked, and Harry nodded to the parchments he'd put on the counter near the door. Lily got them and sat at the table.

"Four NEWT year students, twenty-seven textbooks, but no new programs or anything, since they're all the same subjects as last year," she said, checking over the list. "Four sixth year students, three dropping to seven classes, and Kieran only dropping Astronomy, and going with eight."

"Another twenty-nine books," Harry said, and Lily nodded.

"We just have Sarah in her OWL year?" Lily asked. "That only adds nine more books."

"True, but you've still got two more years of students to go," Harry told her.

"In fourth year, we have Amy, Millie, Frederica, and Liam, each with nine classes, and so thirty-six books. Third year is Dale and Carissa. She's taking three optionals, and he's taking two, so they've got nineteen books, and we'll also need two VirtualArithmancers and one Virtual RunesMaster. They're also both taking Care of Magical Creatures."

"Only one hundred and twenty books," Harry said. "A piece of cake compared to last year's list."

"Are we picking up Myra's books?" she asked, and Harry shook his head.

"No, Meghan is going to take her, since they want to be there when she gets her wand. We only ended up with Liam's list because he and Frederica made it up together, and it's not really any more work to grab two books for them instead of one."

"This list seems awfully small for some reason," Lily said. "I know we had six graduates, but there just seems to be more of us – them - than this." She was still getting used to the fact that it really was 'them' and not 'us' anymore.

"There is, Lily," Harry said, agreeing. "We just aren't the ones getting the supplies for Colin, Lance, Nadine, Vanessa, and anyone else I'm missing from your Marauders."

"I'm going to miss being part of that," she told Harry. "We've done a lot of really good things there over the last six and a half years."

Harry nodded. "Yes, you have. It'll be interesting to see how long it can keep going now that the founders are all graduated."

"I think it can go a long time," Lily predicted. "They could bring Myra in this year or next if they wanted, and by the time she's in sixth year, Kira will be at school. TNM could be there to stay."

Ginny, Kieran, Joel, and Sarah joined Harry and Lily in the kitchen, and they sat down for a quick breakfast before Ginny, Joel, and Sarah left for work, while Lily and Kieran helped Harry clean up from breakfast. Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy all got to the cottage as the cleanup was just finished, and Kira, James, and Timothy weren't far behind. Al was the last to arrive after having breakfast with Carolyn before seeing her off to work.

Harry found out that getting the supplies really didn't end up being that much of a challenge for him and Kieran. He did have one hundred and twenty books to get, but since the majority of them were multiple copies of the same books, it didn't even take them an entire hour to get that done. Every year when getting parchment, Harry normally just bought a lot of it, and let the students split up the cases of it among themselves, and he did the same thing this year. Quills and inks were a bit more work, since everyone seemed to have their personal favourites, but with six less students to buy for, and with two Wizards doing the work, that wasn't too bad either. Without any new students, Potions kits were all year-appropriate refills, and since Al and Dale were taking care of sweets, wheezes, and GamePortal study programs, by lunchtime, Harry and Kieran were done.

"Why don't Al and I take the three kids to Paris to play after lunch," Harry suggested. "Dale still has to do all of his clothes shopping, so he and Kieran can work on that all afternoon, and I'm sure that Lily and the girls can shop 'til they drop too."

"Why don't you leave James and Timothy with Kieran, and I'll go play on the rides in Paris with you and Al," Dale suggested.

"Because if Kieran uses either of the boys for your robe fitting, you are going to look very odd when you wear them," Lily told him. "If you're a good boy, maybe we'll go spend a day at Marauders Paradise next week before you have to go back."

Dale was about to ask why they couldn't go this week, but caught Lily's suggestive look toward the three younger kids who wouldn't be slowing them down if they went next week instead. They'd also have everyone who had been working all summer off next week too, so that'd be even better.

"Okay, Lily," he answered. "I'll be a good little Wizard, get all my robes and clothes, and maybe even eat my vegetables at dinner."

After lunch, Lily led the shopping charge, leading Millie, Amy, and Carissa out into battle, while Kieran and Dale started with getting their school robes, and moved on to new clothes, since Dale was continuing his growth spurt, and pretty much nothing he wore at school last year still fit, and Kieran also needed new clothes too. Harry and Al took the three youngest kids to the Paris Mall Atrium Amusement Park, and played with them until four o'clock, when they hurried back to the cottage so that Harry could start working on dinner, and Al left them so he could get home and make dinner for Carolyn.

Harry had ten for dinner, including Kirley, Ana, Dale, and Carissa. Carissa was doing an overnight stay, while Kirley and Ana were coming over to decide what to do with Lily and Kieran for the next two weeks. They waited until after dinner to discuss that, and they settled into the sitting room before the subject was brought up.

"I was thinking we could send Lily and Kieran to the island this evening," Ana told Ginny and Harry. "Kieran can take his books so he can study, and they can be out of the loop until Friday, and come back then – maybe picking up Karl and Daphne at Marauders Paradise on the way home."

"Will that be enough rest for them?" Harry asked. "You know we'll all be busy for most of these last two weeks, and they'll want to get in on the shopping and everything else."

"Three days won't get them rested, no," Ana agreed. "We could send them back again next week, or maybe make other arrangements. Mostly I'd really like to see both of them step back from Quidditch and everything. I don't think that the words 'No, I've just got too much going on to help' are in either of their vocabularies."

"We're right here, you know," Kieran told his mother. "It's not so bad wanting to be helpful."

"No, it's not," Kirley told him. "You still have to take care of yourselves too, though. Take the time off and rest while you can. Once you start school, that won't be an option, and you know it."

"Kieran, are you actually fighting against spending just over three days on the island with Lily?" Joel asked. "You must be way more tired than you think, because that's a no-brainer. Maybe Teddy or somebody else will sit in as Chaser for your team practices and teach your team something new while you're gone if you ask them, but if you guys really don't want to go, then how about taking our Page jobs for the rest of the week, and Sarah and I will stand in for you."

Kieran laughed. "Okay, you're right about the first part, and if I took your job for the rest of the week, you'd probably get fired." He turned back to his parents and smiled.

"We promised to do what you told us to do when it came to this, so if that's what you think is best, then we'll do that. I'll need to make some calls, and get packed before we go, and Lily's sort of promised Dale a day at Marauders Paradise next week that if we can't do, hope the rest of you will work out for him."

"I don't know, Kirley," Harry said. "Could we handle a day playing with the kids at Marauders Paradise?"

"It would be a sacrifice, but I think we can manage," Kirley answered. "Let's head back to the house, Kieran. We'll make your calls, pack a bag, and meet Lily back here before taking you over to the island and dropping you off there."

"You're not going to stay?" Lily asked Ana, who shook her head. "Well take turns checking in on you, but Kirley and I both have work to do this week we can't reschedule."

"Harry and I can help with that too," Ginny told Ana. "Come on, Lily. Ana and I can help you pack up while Kieran's gone."

An hour later, the four parents were on the island with Lily and Kieran, who were going to stay this time at the Potter island home instead of one of the guest houses. Here they'd have the pool too if they wanted to take an early morning or late night swim.

"One of us will stop in at least a couple of times a day," Ginny told the two teens. "If you need any supplies, then just send your father a message, and he'll have whatever it is Translocated to you."

"Try and get a decent start on those studies," Ana told Kieran, "but don't work so hard that you defeat the purpose of being here."

They exchanged hugs and kisses, and as quickly as they'd all arrived, Lily and Kieran were on their own. It was still late afternoon on the island, so they went and got changed into swimsuits, and then headed for the beach.

"Three whole days!" Lily said excitedly. "Even if you have to do some studying, this is still going to be brilliant."

Kieran smiled, and stopped them long enough so he could hug and kiss her. "I love you, Lily," he told her. "I'll start the studying tomorrow. Let's just take it easy the rest of today. I know you can shop for days on end, but I've been worn out from all the walking."

"That works for me," Lily told him.

While Lily and Kieran played and rested on the island for the next three days, back home, it was work, wedding, and studying, and sometimes all of the above, depending on the person. Carolyn and Brianna were definitely doing all three as they worked all day, ran around with Allie after work, and then worked on reading their textbooks, and finishing up any assignments they hadn't gotten finished yet over the summer.

"Would you mind if we hide here in Hogsmeade all next week?" Carolyn asked Al as they snuggled on a sofa while she was reading her Charms textbook on Thursday night. "I love all of our family, but I have to get this work done, and wouldn't mind spending any extra time I have left over just for you and me."

"I'd love it," Al told her. "You know that Lily and Kieran are probably going to be in hiding again next week too. Maybe they could come here, or we could go hide out on the island with them."

Carolyn perked up at that thought. "The island would be so nice, as long as Kieran and I both made sure we studied first and played later."

"You know that my sister will make sure that happens," Al told her, and Carolyn nodded.

"See what your parents think," Carolyn told Al. "If everyone's okay with the idea, then I think it'd be wonderful."

"I'll pop over there tomorrow after you go to work," he promised. "Half a day left, and you're finished for the summer."

"I don't think it'll feel like that until we get up on Sunday after the wedding's over," she said. "The next two days are going to be just as crazy as most of the summer has been."

"You're probably right," Al agreed. "It's been a long enough day, Carolyn. Put the book away, and let's go up to bed. You can get back to the books on Monday again."

All of the New Marauder students were excited on Friday morning. Most of them only had a half-day at work, a lunch with bosses or family, and then were finished for the summer.

Brianna had spent the morning finishing a few last touches on the proposal that she was going to be presenting to Cuthbert Mockridge and his Junior Minister for Centaur Liason, Caleb Jennings at eleven o'clock, and she was feeling rather nervous when the time came and she made the walk to the Department Minister's office.

"Come in, Brianna," he said in his usual gruff voice. "Sit down, and let's get started."

Brianna took a silent breath, handed each Wizard copies of her report, sat down, and began her presentation. She knew it was going to be unpopular with Junior Minister Jennings, and she could see him turning beet red as she pushed on to the end, before she sat back and waited for either Wizard to respond.

"You're recommending that my entire division basically be scrapped," the younger Wizard who had been Brianna's boss for the past few weeks practically shouted at her. "Minister Mockridge, this proposal is ridiculous! My department is essential to maintaining the peace between Centaurs and Wizards and Witches!"

"With all due respect, sir," Brianna told him calmly, "this department wastes millions of galleons to maintain a status quo between us and the Centaurs that would be exactly the same if we did nothing at all. They don't want anything to do with us, and the biggest intrusion we Witches and Wizards impose on them is the Centaur Liason Division itself. The Ministry has better things they could be using that money for, and your talents, and those of your team can be more effectively used elsewhere. I've included an analysis at the back of my report on how to most effectively re-assign those resources, although I did not go over that in the presentation."

"So how best do you utilize a Junior Minister who doesn't have a department?" he said sourly, flipping through her report, looking for that section.

"Your particular skills and training would be optimal in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, sir. The Minister post for that Department is opening due to retirement at the end of this year, or there is a Junior Minister post to head the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. Either position would take better advantage of your abilities than your current job does. That would still be true even if my proposal is rejected and Centaur Liason Division continues."

That had pretty much shut him up, as she knew it would. Minister Mockridge was a meticulous manager, even if he wasn't big on the interpersonal skills, and he read through her entire report before commenting.

"You're absolutely right, Brianna. Your agreement in principle with the Centaurs is well thought out, and getting them to concede to allow us to deal with any infringements on their territory will end decades of unfortunate incidents between Centaurs and Witches and Wizards."

"Thank-you, Minister Mockridge," Brianna said. This was better than she'd hoped for, expecting the fight to eventually go to the Minister of Magic and the Wizengamot.

"I'll send your proposal on to the Minister, although I'll advise you that I'll be submitting my own alternate budget assessment, since I'm not very excited about just handing all of those savings over to the other departments without a few new program proposals for this department."

"Yes, sir," Brianna said. The battle over the 'my department over the greater good of the Ministry' mentality would happen in some future year.

"I think we're done here," Minister Mockridge told Brianna, standing up. "It has been a pleasure to have you intern in our Department this summer, and I'm sure wherever you end up working in the Ministry after school, you are going to do very well."

Brianna and the Centaur Liason Junior Minister both stood as well, and she shook hands with both Wizards before leaving them, since Minister Mockridge made it clear that only she was dismissed, and went to get her bag, say goodbye to some of the Witches and Wizards she'd worked with over the summer, and then went to meet Scorpius.

Cuthbert Mockridge closed his office door behind Brianna and returned to his chair.

"Nice touch with the anger and red face, Caleb," he told his friend.

"Thank-you, Bert," Caleb answered with a grin. "That kid isn't shy, is she? Sat right there and told me to my face that my department is nothing but a waste of money and resources."

"Her proposal gives us a perfect way to do what we've talked about for years, though, Cuthbert told him. "She gets the credit and the blame for it, depending on which side you're on, and we just go with the flow and do what the Minister of Magic and the Wizengamot direct."

Caleb nodded. "A perfect solution. I wonder how she did her staff aptitude analysis. The fact that she picked me for the job I'll be doing next before it was even announced was really surprising to hear."

"That made me want to laugh, but it'd ruin my reputation," Cuthbert told Caleb. "Somehow I'm going to have to convince the Minister and the other Department Heads that she needs to be placed here next year. She's the best Goblin Liason Officer I've ever seen, and she's only seventeen. Imagine what she'll be able to accomplish with a little experience."

Caleb laughed. "I'd say she's stacking up some pretty impressive accolades already."

"How'd it go?" Scorpius asked when Brianna stepped into his office.

"It was brilliant, and Minister Mockridge is sending my proposal on to the Minister of Magic."

Scorpius came around his desk and hugged her. "That's great, Brianna. Did Caleb take it okay?"

"He yelled for a bit, and then when I told him that my recommendation for him was to become Minister for the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, it pretty much ended any disgruntled comments."

Scorpius laughed, and Brianna looked at him suspiciously. "What's so funny?"

Scorpius closed his door, and turned back around to face her. "A little birdie told me this morning that in a week or so, it'll be announced that Caleb has been promoted to that job. He probably just found out about it himself in the past few days – a week at most."

Brianna stared at him, her mind racing, and then her eyes opened wide.

"That old fox and his young apprentice set me up!" she exclaimed, and Scorpius continued to grin as he nodded.

"I wouldn't underestimate him from now on," he told her. "How much do you want to bet that the gruff talk is all for show too? You're obviously exactly what they wanted – someone to make the tough call, while they can come out looking clean. They must've been ready to bust a gut when you even had Caleb's next job in your proposal."

"They hid it well," Brianna said. "Maybe I should have proposed that Caleb go work for the Magick Theatre troop."

Scorpius laughed and hugged her again. "Let's go meet up with Uncle Percy. It's about time for your end-of-summer lunch."

Carolyn had finished her last training session, and was now in Molly's office, along with Penelope. They'd be going to lunch in a few minutes with Fleur, Bill, Percy, Arthur, and the Ministry Marauders, but Molly had wanted a short meeting with her first.

"Did everything go okay with your training this morning?" Penelope asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"Everyone I've trained has really caught on, and they'll do fine training everyone else as you roll out BusinessMagic," she told the two Witches.

"We wanted to meet with you before lunch to make you our job offer," Molly said, handing her a few pages of parchment. "Starting next summer, Penelope and I would both be working with you as our Junior Account Manager, and eventually we'll move you either full-time to Property Division, or to the Marauders Institute account, depending on what you're best at doing."

Carolyn read over the three pages quickly, and then signed the contract without hesitation.

"No questions?" Penelope asked with a smile.

"I've loved every minute of this summer, Aunt Penelope," Carolyn said. "It wouldn't have mattered what you offered to pay me – not that I'm not all for what you have offered. I'm just really glad that you're giving me the chance to come work for you. There isn't anything I'd rather do when I get finished school, and I can't thank you enough."

"You're welcome, Carolyn," Molly told her. "We're really glad you've joined us. If this summer is any indication, you're going to do very well here." She handed Carolyn an envelope, and watched her future grand-daughter-in-law's face light up when she read what was inside.

"I am definitely going to get a couple of extra new outfits for back-to-school," she joked, and Molly and Penelope laughed as she got up and hugged them both. "Thank-you again, Grandma, Aunt Penelope. This has just been a brilliant summer."

"You're welcome again," Penelope told her. "Let's get going or we'll be late meeting everyone for lunch."

There were several end of summer job lunches going on, and at each of them, the students were receiving bonuses for their work, whether it was Brianna, Joel, and Sarah at the Ministry, Frederica and Liam with George and Marietta, Hugo and Emily with Mandy and Natalie, or Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy, who were at the same lunch with Mandy and Natalie, except for babysitting instead of game testing.

While those lunches were going on, it was still early morning at Marauders Paradise. Karl and Daphne were already officially done, having finished their last shifts the previous night. They'd packed their luggage this morning before breakfast, had gone to the Atrium to eat, and then had reported to Gabrielle's office for nine o'clock as directed.

"Good morning, guys," Gabrielle said. "All packed and ready to go home?"

"Yes, but we're not all that excited about it. We're going to miss this place a lot."

"Well, then sit down, and we'll see if we can cheer you up," Gabrielle told her. She waited until they were sitting, and then handed Daphne a contract offer.

"I want you to come work for me here in the hotel," she told Daphne. "My current second in command here is going to be leaving me next year to go run another resort that will be starting construction any day now. I want you to be his replacement here. You're perfect for the job, and I hope you'll take it."

Daphne hopped back out of her chair and went around the desk to hug Gabrielle. "I'll absolutely take it!" she said happily.

"Would you like to read the contract first?" Gabrielle asked, and Daphne laughed.

"I suppose, but it's still a yes," she told Gabrielle.

"Good. While she's reading that, you and I can keep it going, Karl," Gabrielle told him, and he nodded.

"I don't have a job offer for you, Karl," she began, and Daphne stopped reading and looked up in alarm – the same look that Karl had on his face.

"Relax guys," Gabrielle said. "Karl, I don't have a job for you because there's really nothing here at the hotel you'd be all that happy with. What I have for you, instead, is a contract for one of our island's licensed businesses." She handed him a much thicker stack of parchment.

Karl started reading the top page, and then looked up at Gabrielle again. "This is for one of the diving tour companies," he said. "I know all of the owners of those companies, and they all love it here. Are you adding competition?"

"No, Karl," Gabrielle assured him. "You'd be buying out one of the owners that wants to move to the new resort and run one of the diving businesses there."

Karl's face fell with disappointment. "There's no way I can buy a company, Gabrielle," he said quietly, reaching out to hand her back the contract, but Gabrielle didn't take it from him.

"Oh ye of little faith," she joked. "I'm a bit hurt that you think I'd just tease you with the impossible, Karl. Everything's in the contract there, including the approved financing. Your investors get a percentage of your profits and minority ownership, and once you've read it over and signed off on the deal, come next June, you'll be the proud owner of five dive boats. The rest of it will be up to you, but I think you're going to do very well here."

Karl pulled the contract back, and started reading in earnest. It took him twenty minutes to read it over and then he looked up at Gabrielle again.

"It doesn't say who the investors are," he said. "Can I trust them?"

Gabrielle flashed her brilliant smile. "They want to remain anonymous, but I can assure you that you can trust them like you trust your best friends," she said meaningfully.

Daphne laughed and leaned over to hug Karl. "Go for it, Karl," she told him. "This is where we're supposed to be. I just know it. If your investors believe in you, and I definitely do, then you should too."

"Are you sure you shouldn't go into sales?" he joked. His hand was shaking, but he signed the contract and handed it back to Gabrielle.

"So what do you think?" Gabrielle asked Daphne, who'd forgotten all about her own job offer.

"I think we're going to have a lot of fun over the years," Daphne said, signing her own contract and handing it to Gabrielle. "Which reminds me – would you like some extra help around here at Christmas? Karl and I could come for the week or so after Christmas, at least until a day or two after New Year's Day."

"I'd love the help," Gabrielle told them. "Let's wait and see what the family plans are, and then we'll work it out."

"Is there anything else?" Daphne asked. "We've got a lot to get done back home today so we'll be ready for the wedding tomorrow."

Gabrielle nodded. "Just two more things." She handed them each an envelope. "Karl, your bonus is our usual bonus for staying the whole summer with us. Daphne, you have that bonus, and a signing bonus for accepting your new job. You can open them later, since right now, I see that your escort home has arrived, so you should probably go say hello to them."

Daphne and Karl turned around to see Lily and Kieran smiling at them from just outside the door, and the both got up and went out the greet them with hugs and kisses. Gabrielle joined them, hugging Lily and Kieran, and then a pair of goodbye hugs for Daphne and Karl.

"I'll see you all at the wedding tomorrow," she told the two young couples. "When everyone gets back to school, Lily, maybe you could come spend a week with us. Patricia would love to spend some time with you, and so would Kevin, Michael, Rebecca, William, and I."

"That's sounds like fun, Aunt Gabrielle," Lily told her. "We'll set something up when I know whether Ana's going to have anything I'll have to do for SpellBound."

"Good," Gabrielle said. She hugged everyone again, and then left to get back to work, while Kieran, Lily, Karl, and Daphne all went back to their suite.

"You looked like you were having fun in Gabrielle's office," Lily said as they started putting Translocators on all of the luggage. "I take it that it means you'll both be coming back here to live next summer."

"Yes, we will," Daphne answered. "I'll be working for Gabrielle, and Karl's going into the diving business, thanks to some anonymous investors that will hopefully be very happy with their investment over the coming years."

"I'm sure that Karl will do very well running a diving company," Lily told them. "Congratulations to both of you. If Kieran and I weren't doing the music thing, working someplace like this would be high on the second best choice list for us."

Daphne laughed. "Karl may be able to play a little guitar, but if I was doing the music thing with him, we'd starve."

"Come on," Kieran said. "Let's get everything sent home, and go get out of here ourselves. It'll be mid-afternoon by the time we get there, and we can catch up with each other when we get back and while we're shopping."

Back home, the rest of the day on Friday was pretty much a get ready for the wedding time for everyone in the family. Whether that was shopping for suits and dresses like Karl and Daphne, getting haircuts like Dale and Joel did, or any of dozens of other wedding-related activities that were going on, the last half of the day rolled past too quickly.

Nick, Allie, and their wedding party had their dinner with the parents on Friday night, then they spent the evening at the townhouse before the girls all went to Allie's house, and the boys all stayed overnight with Nick, keeping him company during his last hours of bachelorhood.

"This is it, mate," Matt told Nick as the four friends relaxed in the sitting room after the girls had left, and Percy and Penelope had gone up to bed. "Are you getting nervous at all?"

Nick shook his head. "No. I'll be glad when tomorrow's over though. "You're lucky that you and Rose didn't have to do the huge wedding like we do."

Matt laughed. "The way Scorpius and Brianna are going, they'll probably have twice as many at their wedding next summer, since they'll need to have representatives from all of the other Ministries of Magic too."

"They like all of the politics stuff, though," Nick answered. "I just want to design buildings and have fun with Allie, our family, and our friends."

"It's just one day, mate," Al told him. "Then you'll have a couple of weeks to work on that having fun with Allie thing."

Nick grinned at his cousin. "I plan on it, Al."

"We need to go get some sleep," Scorpius told them. "There might be some good things about a big wedding, but a big downside is how long everything is going to take. We have to be at the Emerald City Centre at twelve-thirty."

"The ceremony isn't until two, Scorpius," Matt said. "Why so early?"

"Matt, you and Al will be seating five thousand. How long do you expect it to take?" Scorpius asked.

"We've got professional help," Matt pointed out. "Al and I will only be ushering VIP's, mothers, and probably most of the women in the family."

"Trust me, Matt," Scorpius told him. "It'll take nearly the entire hour and a half to get everyone seated, and that means seating guests at a rate of fifty a minute."

Matt groaned and stood up. "Okay. If I'm going to be making a hundred trips up and down those long aisles, then it is definitely time to get some sleep."

Saturday morning, all of the women in the family were off bright and early to one of the SpaMagics to get ready for the wedding. The guys were left to take care of all of the day-of-the-wedding details, and to get ready themselves. Nick, Scorpius, Al, and Matt ran some errands in the morning, most of which weren't much more than make-work designed to keep them busy until it was time to get into their tuxes and go over to the Emerald City Centre.

The guests began arriving shortly after twelve-thirty, and Al, Matt, and their team of professional ushers got to work. Al didn't know if he and Matt did a hundred trips each over the next hour and a half or not, but however many it was, when they were finished, he was sure that if the Auror thing didn't work out, he would not be applying for a job as a professional usher.

At five minutes to two, Matt and Al joined Nick and Scorpius, and the four friends followed the old wizard who would be performing the ceremony to the front of the long, wide rows of guests.

"I know this is a really big wedding, but after those Mega Jams, it really doesn't seem like that many people are here," Lily said to Kieran as they waited for the girls to start their procession.

"I know what you mean," Kieran agreed. "How perceptions change in one short summer."

Lily looked back at Karl and Daphne and flashed them a smile. "Karl looks more nervous than Nick does today."

"Do you think it's that some of the Hogwarts prefects are here today, or because of how Daphne looks in that dress?"

Lily stifled a laugh. "Probably a bit of both. That dress is a knockout for sure. Too bad I can't wear that colour with my hair, or I'd have bought it."

"You're a total knockout today too," Kieran assured her. "What'd you think about the commotion when Andromeda and Robert came here with Draco, Astoria, and Narcissa?"

"I thought it was brilliant," Lily declared. "Definitely the political play of the day. Scorpius' grandmother has come a long way in a short time."

"That has been quite extraordinary," he agreed. "Your family's made some progress too, you know. I really thought it would take a lot longer before your parents would be ready to have Narcissa Malfoy coming to family weddings or anything."

"I think Andromeda has been working on Daddy," Lily told him. "There isn't much he wouldn't do for her, so if she asked him to give her sister a chance, he'd do it, even if he really didn't want to."

They turned when the processional music started playing, and watched as Carolyn led off the procession, followed by Rose, then Brianna, and finally Allie and her father started their walk to the front.

"It's going to take longer to walk that far than it's going to take to perform the ceremony," Kieran whispered, and Lily squeezed his hand.

At the slow pace they were using, it did take a couple of minutes to reach Nick, who looked suitably awed by his beautiful bride. Lily noticed that Scorpius, Matt, and Al also looked quite appreciative of their respective fiancées or wife. Allie hugged her father briefly before he placed her hand in Nick's and then went to sit down next to, and put his arm around, Allie's already teary-eyed mother.

Apparently there was a long version of the wedding ceremony that was probably reserved exclusively for these big political weddings, but longer was a relative term, since even a ceremony that was fifty percent longer than normal only lasted thirty minutes instead of twenty before wrapping up with the 'kiss the bride' part. Alexandria and Nicolas Weasley were then presented to the wedding guests, and the recessional began.

For the early arriving guests, the end of the ceremony was quite welcome after spending two hours in their seats. When each guest had been seated, the program they were given included instructions for where refreshments would be available for them between the wedding and the start of the reception, so most of the Witches and Wizards started moving off toward the several locations that would be used to accommodate the large group.

Lily and Kieran wouldn't be able to stop and do that for a while yet, though, since they had to join the rest of the family for the photo session in one of the beautiful gardens that surrounded the Emerald City Centre.

"We have got to start getting smarter at these things," Kieran told Lily. "A little polyjuice, a couple of willing volunteers, and we could be off having fun while our temporary doubles sat around here getting our pictures done for us."

"This isn't that much trouble, and it makes the parents happy," Lily answered. "In this case, would you really rather be mingling with the guests, and getting stuck in all of those political conversations?"

"I forgot about that," he admitted. "Okay, take your time Mr Photographer, we've got hours to spare."

It didn't take hours to finish the photo session, but it was around four when it finished. Allie, Nick, their parents, and the wedding party all left to spend an hour freshening up before the reception would begin with a social hour which also allowed the hotel staff to smoothly move the group into the half of the Grand Ballroom that they were using for the dinner and dance.

There were more than four hundred tables for twelve. Lily and Kieran had met up with Karl and Daphne after they'd finished with the pictures, so they'd found out that they were at the same table for the dinner, and had gone to sit down early, then talked quietly as they watched the room fill up. They'd been set up as a teen table, and Joel, Sarah, Dale, Carissa, Millie, Jason, Amy, and Brian rounded out their group of twelve.

"Who was the comedian who put your Mum and Dad with Draco, Astoria, Narcissa, Andromeda, and Robert?" Kieran asked Lily, and she smiled at him.

"Probably my Mum and Dad," she answered. "Scorpius and Brianna won't have much time to spend with them, so it works out."

"Too bad you won't be at the Ministry on Monday," Kieran told Joel and Sarah. "I imagine the rumours will be flying all week."

"We're both ready for the week off," Joel said. "I'm sure the gossip network will survive without us."

"Do many of these people even know Nick and Allie?" Millie asked.

"Nick would know quite a lot of them," Lily told her. "He grew up around the Ministry of Magic, and knows a lot of the families, and most of the kids that grew up with him. Allie would know some from the years she's gone to some of the Ministry parties with Nick. I'm not sure whether they have any friends at all that they hang out with, though. Most of the kids of Ministry lifers like Uncle Percy go into politics too, or at least stay connected. Nick's the exception."

"Let's give Scorpius and Brianna some time to clean up the Ministry, and maybe it won't be such a joke anymore," Sarah suggested. "They both have a knack for getting things done, that's for sure."

"Maybe Scorpius will have it all done by the time Brianna gets done school next June," Dale offered.

"Nobody's that good, Dale," Sarah said with a laugh. "You know there have been people like Uncle Harry and Professor Slughorn working in the background to make things better there for a long time. Uncle Percy, Grandpa, and a bunch of others have been too. Now we're just starting to see all that background work pay off."

"That's very good, young political apprentice," Lily told Sarah. "Probably more than half of the politicians wouldn't understand that's exactly what is going on. You're right that there's still a long way to go, though."

"I think I understand why Nick is so anti-politics," Dale told the others. "It's because we'd have more fun watching paint dry. What are all of us who aren't going to be in hiding next week going to be doing with our last week of summer holidays?"

"We've all got some more studying to do," Joel told him. "We're going to do a shopping day, since a bunch of us still need to get school robes and back to school clothes. I don't think that Uncle Harry and Kirley have picked the day yet for the Marauders Paradise play day, but that'll be one day, and then there's more Quidditch and probably a family dinner or party somewhere in there too."

"Can Carissa and I come with you?" he asked Lily and Kieran. "That isn't exactly sounding like we're going to get much of a break at all."

"We'd love to have you, mate," Kieran told him. "We've got strict orders, though. My mother is determined not to let Lily burn out again like last summer."

"With you at school, she's basically unemployed, Kieran. That should make it easy to rest up for a while."

Carissa laughed. "Uncle Harry's technically unemployed too, Dale. How slow are things for him?"

"Who knows?" Dale answered. "For all we know, from the minute the train pulls out of King's Cross Station until the moment it comes back it could be a non-stop party out here."

"How cool would that be if we grew up, graduated, and found out that was true?" Amy joked, then grinned at Karl and Daphne. "Oh that's right, for some of us who are going to get to go live in Paradise when we grow up, that is exactly what life is going to be like."

"There are lots of jobs at the resorts," Daphne told her. "If you think it's for you too, then let Gabrielle know when you're old enough."

While Lily, Kieran, and their tablemates were having fun, at the head table, Nick and Allie were enjoying themselves quite a lot too. The hour-long escape to one of the hotel suites had been a welcomed break, and now they were all refreshed and ready to face the intimate dinner for five thousand, and the dance to follow.

"Do you think with this many kids in the room that we'll be allowed to eat anything tonight?" Nick asked. "Maybe we should just go find someplace comfortable to stand and snog for the next couple of hours while everyone else eats."

"It won't be that bad," Percy assured them while everyone else laughed. "Most of your guests won't do that stuff, so even our normally exuberant family will probably get bored with the whole thing when they don't get much support."

"That'd be a shame," Allie said, smiling brightly. "If I forget later when everything gets busier, thanks, Mums and Dads," she told Percy, Penelope, and her parents. "Everything is so perfect today, and I've loved every minute so far."

"You're welcome, honey," her mother answered. "Hopefully the rest of the night will be pretty good too."

Dinner certainly was more than pretty good, and from the time it started at six, until it ended at eight-thirty, it was just one amazing dish after another. Percy had predicted correctly, and when there was no real response from the majority of guests to the youthful attempts to get Nick and Allie up kissing, after the third feeble attempt failed to garner support, the kids stopped trying, leaving Nick and Allie free to enjoy their dinner in peace.

Harry and Ginny had Ron and Hermione, Molly and Arthur, and Horace Slughorn rounding out their table with Draco, Astoria, Andromeda, Robert, and Narcissa.

"We've got a pretty great looking group of kids up there," Astoria told the others, as she watched her son and his fiancée smiling and laughing with their friends at the head table.

"Yes we do," Ginny agreed. "Once the kids get back to school, you, Penelope, and I should start getting together to work on Scorpius and Brianna's wedding. I'm going to be putting two weddings together over the next year, so maybe we can get some grandmother support to help us out," she suggested, nodding to her mother and Narcissa.

"Molly's just as busy at work as you and Penelope are," Andromeda told her. "Cissy and I could probably help you out quite a bit. We're getting to be a pretty good team again like we were back when we were kids."

"We'd love the help," Ginny said. "Thank-you."

"Why do I feel the pressure of an impending workload being dropped on us, Draco?" Harry asked, and the other man smiled.

"I don't know, Harry. Finely honed perception and years of experience, maybe? Since this will all be a first for me, though, I'm looking forward to every minute of it."

Narcissa had talked quietly with Andromeda and Horace a few times, but had mostly listened in as the others talked, and even after a couple of months, she still felt a bit like she was waking from a bad dream. She liked this reality a lot better than the old one.

When dinner finished up around eight-thirty, there was a half-hour break where everyone could go stretch their legs and mingle before the dance would start. Lily and Kieran left to go get ready for their little part of the evening, and the rest of the Marauders at their table went for breaks to the restrooms and went visiting some of their other friends.

At nine o'clock, the master of ceremonies got things started by bringing Nick and Allie out onto the dance floor, and then introducing Lily and Kieran to the stage. Nick and Allie began to dance when their friends began playing. Even in a room with five thousand Witches and Wizards, when Kieran and Lily started singing, the ballroom went silent as everyone stopped to listen.

Allie and Nick were barely moving as they listened to the extraordinary, beautiful song that their cousin and friend had crafted for them, and was now bringing them, and most everyone in the ballroom to tears with as they poured their hearts into the music. For the newlyweds, it was as if Lily and Kieran had reached right into their hearts, and lifted out exactly how they felt about each other, and put those feelings into music. They kissed for their guests and the photographer as the song was ending, and then went over to Lily and Kieran to hug and thank them before they had to return to the dance floor for the next song when the band took to the stage.

"I've never heard that song before," Narcissa said softly after the song had ended. "it's beautiful."

"The kids write a special song for each family wedding," Andromeda told her sister. "They've done quite a few of them now, and they're all just as wonderful as this one was."

"They wrote that?" she asked in surprise.

"Lily and Kieran write most of the songs on their albums, and wrote a couple of the songs on the latest Weird Sisters' album too," Andromeda answered.

Narcissa smiled at her sister. "Let's add listening to some SpellBound songs to our list of things I need to experience list. Who knows, maybe I'll even find out I like today's music."

Nick and Allie danced, and had fun with their friends for the next couple of hours, and then Allie was taken away to get into her going away outfit, returning shortly before midnight. With five thousand guests, going around and visiting all of them was an impossible endeavour, but they did spend nearly a half hour visiting everyone in their family before it was time for the last dances of the night for them.

Allie had dances with Scorpius, Matt, and Al, while Nick danced with Brianna, Rose, and Carolyn. They then danced with both sets of parents, with their second to last dance being Allie with her father, and Nick with his mother. Finally it was their last song, and then just before one o'clock, they were free to leave, and start out on their life together, sent off with hugs and kisses from their parents, and the six members of their wedding party.

The party continued on until two, and then began winding down as the band packed up, and the guests began leaving. It took nearly an hour before everyone had left, and the parents of the bride and groom, and Scorpius, Brianna, Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt could all go home to bed too.

Everyone at the cottage had slept in on Sunday morning, and Harry hadn't started cooking breakfast until eight-thirty. Everyone included Lily, Kieran, Joel, Sarah, Dale, Carissa, Ginny, and himself. They'd tossed a coin with Stewart and Isabelle for whether Dale went with Carissa, or she came back to the cottage with him after the wedding. Lily and Kieran were first to the kitchen, and they poured themselves drinks and sat down at the table.

"Are you two ready to go back to the island today?" Harry asked them.

"We are, but since there's not much point in going until after lunch, I'd like to stop in at the residence and see Nadine and Vanessa this morning after breakfast. Kieran and I should probably try and spend a little time with some of the other younger kids too."

"I think we can do that," Harry agreed. "I'm sure your mother would like to go visit with the kids that are going back to school next weekend anyway, so that'll work out for her too."

"Will Al and Carolyn meet us here, or on the island?" Kieran asked.

"They have a post-wedding brunch to do later this morning, and they're not sure how long they'll be, so they're going to meet you there when they can," Harry answered. They'll probably get there an hour or two after you do."

Kieran nodded. "Did you and Dad pick a day yet for your Marauders Paradise trip?"

"We're going to do it on Friday," Harry said. "Kirley and I are leaving it up to Ginny and Ana to decide whether you get to go play too or not. Don't expect them to decide until Thursday, though."

"Sometimes being handled sucks," Lily said bluntly, and Harry and Kieran laughed.

"Getting another five or six days on the island is not one of those times," Kieran told her. "That's more like the most brilliant part of being handled."

When everyone was downstairs, they had breakfast, and then Harry and Ginny took Lily and Kieran to the residence, while Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa opted to stay home, offering to start setting up the pools and some tables for the lazy afternoon they had planned for when Harry and Ginny got back, and after Lily and Kieran went back to the island again.

The last week of summer was a mix of work, fun, and play for all of the Marauders. For Scorpius and Brianna, she would study during the day while he was at work, or take care of her back to school shopping, going to do that with Daphne, Sarah, Frederica, and Emily. They spent their evenings together, usually snuggled on a sofa in the drawing room before going to bed each night, where they held each other close as if bracing for the coming months when she'd be away at Hogwarts.

Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran were getting just the break they'd needed, and the time together they each wanted before Carolyn and Kieran would be going back to school. Mornings were set aside for studying, and Lily and Al would sometimes help a little, and then other times, they'd leave Carolyn and Kieran to their work and just go out for a little brother and sister time so that the students could concentrate on their studies. The rest of the day was reserved for total fun and relaxation time, and by the end of the week, they had certainly had a lot of fun, and were relaxed.

Ginny and Ana gave Lily and Kieran permission to go with the rest of the teens to Marauders Paradise on Friday, and Al and Carolyn decided to go with them too. That day had rated high on the fun scale too, and nearly all of this year's Marauders were there. In addition, Jason, Brian, and Myra were along for the trip, and Kira had been a last minute addition after she had used her expert hugging and dimpling techniques to talk Harry into adding her to the group for the day. Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Ana joined Harry and Kirley after work on Friday, and it was after midnight when they got everyone back to their respective homes when they'd finally finished playing there for the day.

Saturday morning, most of the students spent their time packing for their trip back to school on Sunday, and then in the afternoon, there was a family party at the cottage as everyone got together so they could visit with their gang of students one more time before they left for Hogwarts in the morning.

When the last day of summer came to an end, Hogwarts students all over the country were going to bed, trying to sleep despite the excitement that most of them were feeling. Three young couples, one in London, one in Hogsmeade, and the last at a certain famous musician's country estate held on to each other, not wanting the night to end, and knowing that it would far too soon.

New adventures were about to begin with another school year at Hogwarts, and there would be a lot happening with the Marauders on the outside now too. There was Scorpius' political career, Al's Auror training, and the Wizengamot duties that they would work on together. Rose and Matt had their first tour starting in a week. Nick and Allie were still on their honeymoon, but would be returning to jobs and their beautiful new home. Lily hadn't worried much about what she'd do during the school year over the next couple of years while she waited for Kieran, and since she was used to being on the go all of the time, she would have to decide on what she was going to fill those now-empty hours with while Kieran was away. Whether they were returning to school, or staying out in the real world, all of the Marauders were sure that this was going to be another great year.


	115. Hogwarts, We Have Separation

Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen – Hogwarts, We Have Separation

Sunday morning, Al started Carolyn's day back to school with breakfast in bed, followed by a fairly serious goodbye snogging session before it was time for her to get up and ready to leave. He took her tray downstairs, cleaned up the kitchen, and then went back upstairs to see if she was ready. Carolyn was just putting the last few things she'd still needed this morning into her trunk, and smiled at him as she closed and fastened the lid.

"I guess it's about time," she said, and Al nodded. "Can we reconsider home schooling?"

"I wish, but no, at this point your best friend in the world is going to need you to be there for her, and it's a bit late for Brianna to pull out of being Head Girl," Al told her, coming over and putting his arms around her waist. "We're going to be fine, and you and the other Marauders are going to have a really great year. Make sure you take pictures the first time any Slytherins come into Karl's office when you're doing a game day party. That's going to be worth being at Hogwarts for this year all by itself."

Carolyn laughed. "We'll try to do that," she promised before pulling him close for another long kiss.

"We better go," Al breathed after a few minutes. "I don't imagine your Head Girl will be impressed if you miss the train."

Hogwarts' new Head Girl was going to have to hurry or her first act as a Head was going to be hauling herself into her office for missing the train. She and Scorpius had been awake for a long time before exhaustion finally made them lapse into sleep. They'd gotten up late, and been behind ever since.

"Ready to go?" Scorpius asked, coming into 'her' room, which she used as a very large, comfortable walk in closet, since she hadn't used the bed since they'd both moved to Grimmauld Place.

"I suppose," she said, looking around. "If I've missed anything, I'll have you send it by Owl Post."

Scorpius grinned at her. "It'll take a lot of Owls to post me, and I'm not sure Professor McGonagall would appreciate the humour."

Brianna laughed, and reached out to pull him close for a hug and kiss. "I already miss you, Scorpius," she told him, and he gently brushed away a couple of escaped tears.

"We're both going to have our friends there for us, Brianna. Sixteen weeks until Christmas, and I'll see you for seven of those Saturdays between Hogsmeade weekends and Quidditch matches."

"Okay," Brianna said, pulling away from their embrace. "Let's get out of here before I lose it again."

Harry and Ginny were on the road long before Al and Carolyn, or Scorpius and Brianna were getting ready to leave for King's Cross Station. They'd all been up early, had breakfast, and loaded up the sedan for the drive to London. They only had Joel, Sarah, and Dale with them, since Lily had stayed overnight at Kieran's so they could spend the evening with Kirley and Ana before Kieran would be off to Hogwarts, and share one more quiet night together before the coming months apart.

Percy and Penelope were the first parents finished with these September first trips to King's Cross Station, but most of the rest of the family, and quite a few friends, were converging on the station, beginning to arrive at about ten thirty, and quickly gathering as they came to see all of their students off.

George and Marietta were there with Frederica, and were clustered with Liam, Myra, and their parents, and younger brother, Aiden, who was both unhappy about his brother and sister going off to Hogwarts without him, and excited about the fact that next year he'd be going too.

Ron and Hermione were there with Hugo, Emily, and her parents, and they were part of the larger group that included Harry, Ginny, and their gang. They seemed to be the focal point of the main family gathering, and Kirley, Ana, Kieran, and Lily joined them when they got to platform nine and three-quarters. Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle came with Carissa, Millie, and Amy. Daphne's parents joined them, bringing both Daphne and Karl.

Carolyn, Al, Brianna, and Scorpius probably thought that they were the last of their gang to arrive when they got to the station with just ten minutes to spare, but then James and Arianna rolled in moments later with Erin, Quincy, Jason, and Brian in tow. The boys were both laughing when their two surprised girlfriends threw their arms around their respective boyfriends, hugging and kissing them.

"I'd say they liked your surprise, James," Stewart said, laughing as they watched the two young couples.

"Definitely," Carissa said. "Hey Erin, Quincy. Are you ready to go?"

Erin and Quincy both smiled and nodded. "I sort of feel like we're at the top of one of those roller coasters at Marauders Paradise," Erin told her. "Scared and excited all at the same time."

Carissa hugged her impulsively. "Then it's a good thing you have so many friends here to go on the ride with you," she told them. "You're going to love Hogwarts. I just know you will."

They were running out of time, so the hugs and kisses were wrapped up, and all of the departing students boarded the train. Karl and Brianna loaded into the Prefect car, Brianna sharing one last hug and kiss with Scorpius, while the rest of the Marauders got onto another car farther down the line, with just Lily and Al there for a last goodbye with Kieran and Carolyn before everyone was loaded up, and the train doors started closing.

"So, am I supposed to hold you up, or you me?" Lily asked Al as they stood together and watched the train begin to move.

Al put his arm around her, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. "We'll help each other," he answered. The train's glide out of sight didn't seem to take nearly as long this morning as either of them remembered from when they'd stand here and watch Teddy, James, or the other older kids go off to Hogwarts before they were old enough to go themselves. It had probably been out of sight for a minute before either of them realized they were only staring at an empty set of tracks.

"Come on," Al said gently. "Let's go find out what the family does these days once their students are gone.

"Is curling up in a ball on my bed and crying for the rest of the day an option?" Lily asked, and Al hugged her.

"We still have a lot of day left," he reminded her. "I was thinking we'd keep ourselves busy all day, and save that for bedtime tonight. I wouldn't want to start my Auror training tomorrow all wiped out from a whole day of wailing in despair."

Lily hugged him back, and laughed. "Okay, Al. We wouldn't want your first day as a trainee to be a total disaster. I just hope that our parents use something therapeutic, like shopping to help deal with the separation anxiety."

By the time they rejoined the group, it had dwindled significantly, as most of the family had left already. Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Ana were still there, as was Scorpius, James, Arianna, Jason, and Brian.

"No big post-student party?" Lily joked as she hugged Scorpius, who looked as sad as she felt.

"No parties," Ginny agreed. "Ana, Arianna, and I are seriously considering shopping and lunch out, though. Feel up to it?"

Lily hugged her mother, Ana, and Arianna next. "Not really, but let's go pretend everything's going to be alright for a while, and see how it goes." She smiled at Jason and Brian. "Do you two have anyplace important to be, or would you like to come hang out with us for a few hours too?"

"They're with us today," James told Lily, and the two boys smiled up at James gratefully.

"Then let's get out of here," Harry said. "The Mall, and all of those shops are open and waiting for us."

The smaller group of New Marauders on the Hogwarts Express this year did have a few extra young students with them, as Erin, Quincy, and Myra had been put in their care for the trip to school, and the coming school year. Colin, Lance, Vanessa, and Nadine had picked out the compartments for them, and they'd begun to settle in as the train left the station.

Millie, Amy, Carissa, and Dale shared their compartment with Erin and Quincy. Frederica and Liam had Myra in their compartment, along with Kieran, Hugo, and Emily, who were only there long enough to drop off their things and head to the Prefect car. Colin, Nadine, Lance, and Vanessa were together in a third car, while Joel and Sarah, who were also there just long enough to stow luggage and leave for the prefect's car, shared a fourth compartment with Carolyn and Daphne.

"I guess we lucked out, getting this compartment mostly to ourselves while Joel and Sarah are gone," Daphne said.

"That's probably a good thing, since I doubt I'll be very much fun on this trip," Carolyn told her friend.

"That's what Lily told me you'd say," Daphne said, pulling a parchment out of her shoulder bag, and looking down at it. "You're two minutes ahead of schedule, though. We'll have to slow down a bit."

"What schedule?" Carolyn asked, smiling unenthusiastically at Daphne.

"The one Lily gave me to help me keep you entertained on the trip back," Daphne answered, rummaging in her bag again and pulling out a box of chocolates – Carolyn's favourites.

"You're supposed to start taking your chocolates at eleven-fifteen, but I don't see any reason why you can't start early," Daphne told Carolyn as she handed her the box before pulling another one out of her bag. "Apparently since I'm boyfriend-less for the trip, I get to have a box of my favourites too."

Carolyn laughed, opened the box and selected a chocolate. "So what's next on the agenda?" she asked before popping it in her mouth.

Daphne looked down at the parchment. "Let's see. Eleven-fifteen to eleven-thirty – speculate wildly on what's happening in the Prefect car with Karl, Brianna, and the prefects. Starting question: Will they or won't they have to duel one or more angry NEWT year prefects?"

There wasn't any duelling going on in the prefect car, but there were some seriously unhappy seventh year prefects. Since none of the prefects had been selected as Head Boy or Girl, there were twenty-four prefects attending the meeting. Karl and Brianna at least had the support of their five Marauder prefects, and the two seventh year Ravenclaw prefects weren't among the disgruntled, since they at least had another Ravenclaw Head, and hadn't really expected that their House would get another one this year after having both Heads last year anyway. The two Slytherin senior prefects were being the most obstinate, and when Brianna and Karl began the meeting, they started disrupting the meeting by making rude comments and complaining about every single instruction. Brianna put up with that for about five minutes, and then confronted the two troublemakers.

"If you have a complaint about Headmistress McGonagall's choices for Heads," she told them, "then file your complaints with her. We're holding a meeting, though, and you're interrupting, so please keep your comments and complaints to yourselves."

"What are you going to do, go cry to your boyfriend if we don't?" the Slytherin Witch asked, and both prefects laughed derisively. "Oh, that's right, Scorpius isn't here this year to protect you."

Brianna smiled at them sweetly. "First of all, it's either Elder Malfoy, or Junior Minister Malfoy, and he's my fiancée, not my boyfriend. Secondly, I don't need him to protect me, since I'm quite capable of doing that myself. Finally, you can start acting like the seventh year prefects you are, instead of a pair of spoiled children, or you can resign if you don't think you can work with Karl and me. We have two Prefects more than we normally have anyway, and I'm sure you won't miss the perks like the Prefects bathrooms at all."

"We don't have to take this!" the Slytherin Wizard practically shouted at Brianna.

"That's true, Brianna agreed. "Like I said, you can leave anytime you want. For this meeting, though, decide whether you're staying or going so we can get on with our agenda. You're wasting everyone's time, and we have a lot to cover." She stared the pair of Slytherins down, and wasn't surprised when the pair backed off, and thankfully shut up for the rest of the meeting.

Brianna and Karl might not have any previous experience as Prefects, but they'd both been around James, Therese, Scorpius, and Rose, and Scorpius had also gone over everything with them over the past week, so they were well-prepared, and once that minor confrontation was over, the rest of the meeting went smoothly.

"I'd say that none of our Prefects have any doubts about whether we can handle our jobs," Karl told Brianna after the twenty-four students had all left after the meeting. "Even those two whiners will come around eventually. There's no way they're giving up the clout or perks of being Prefects over this, and they know that complaining to Professor McGonagall would just be childish and stupid."

"I know they're not your mates or anything, but maybe you and Daphne can soften them up faster with a couple of invites to hang out in your office."

Karl nodded. "We can do that. What do we have to get done next?" he asked, and they got back to work on the schedules and other details they needed to cover before arriving at Hogsmeade station.

"Aren't you at the end of that agenda yet?" Carolyn complained to Daphne. "Where's the time I'm supposed to have for crying and feeling sorry for myself?"

Lily was very thorough. She had visitors scheduled to stop by and visit with Carolyn, and a non-stop agenda that kept Carolyn occupied for the whole trip. Joel, Sarah, and Daphne all laughed.

"Actually, we've reached the end of the list," Daphne told her. "If Lily's timing is right, the train should start slowing down any moment, and we're supposed to start getting ready to get off of the train.

Carolyn looked at her watch in surprise, and sure enough, Daphne and her friends had managed to keep her occupied for the entire trip.

"Thank-you, Daphne," Carolyn said, getting up to hug her friend. "You all made this a lot easier than I thought it was going to be." She hugged Joel and Sarah too, and then sat down just as they all felt that change in momentum that told them the train was switching from cruising along to slowing down to get ready for it's destination.

When the train finally stopped at Hogsmeade station, and all of the students disembarked, Erin and Quincy stood next to their trunks, looking around excitedly.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Erin asked Dale and Carissa.

"We're not sure," Carissa answered. "You haven't been sorted, so maybe you're supposed to go on the boats with the first years."

"Actually, they get to come with me," Brianna told them, smiling as she walked up to them. "You'll be having dinner with Carolyn and me at the Ravenclaw table, and then we'll meet Professor McGonagall in the Headmistress's office after the feast to find out which House or Houses you'll be in."

"We might not be in the same House?" Quincy asked. He hadn't really thought about that possibility.

"I don't know, Quincy," Brianna told him. "Whatever ends up happening, though, we do have friends to help you in every House. Come on, now. The cool thing about hanging out with me is that we get to go up to the school with the seventh years instead of waiting for the second years to have their turn."

"Must be nice," Dale told them. "Have fun while your friends are all waiting out here for our turn to get a ride."

Myra was the only one of their group going up to the school in the boats, and she hugged Frederica and Liam goodbye before excitedly following Hagrid and the other firsties to the lake.

Carolyn and Daphne had waited for Brianna, and went up to the school in the same carriage with her, Erin, and Quincy. Their two young charges looked everywhere around them with open-mouthed, wide-eyed astonishment, and the three senior students smiled as they enjoyed getting to watch the kids experience their first carriage ride, and view of Hogwarts.

"How was your train ride?" Brianna asked Carolyn.

"Lily recruited Daphne and the rest of our friends to keep me busy the whole trip, so it was actually pretty good. You?"

"We stayed busy working up the schedules and doing everything else. I'll hopefully find time for a good cry later tonight," Brianna answered.

"At least you'll have someplace quiet to do that," Carolyn said. "Our dorm room is going to be a lot less fun with you, Lily, and Fluffy all gone this year."

"You can come have a good cry in my office anytime you want," Brianna told her friend.

Their carriage pulled up to the school entrance, and they got out and went into the entrance hall, and on to the Great Hall. Daphne hugged her two friends, and they split off to sit at the Slytherin table, while Brianna and Carolyn led Erin and Quincy to seats at the Ravenclaw table.

It wasn't until the Ravenclaw table started filling up that the full impact of last year's graduations hit Brianna and Carolyn. They were all that was left of the group they'd sat with during the past six years – five of them with Lily. There were no other seventh, sixth, or fifth year students who joined them, and it was a very strange feeling. When the fourth year students started coming in, Amy came and joined them instead of sitting with her roommates like she normally did.

"Let me guess," Carolyn said, "Lily's orders?"

Amy smiled and nodded. "Just for tonight," she told them. "Joel will be joining us too when he gets here with the second year students."

"That girl had too much time on her hands while she was on the island," Brianna joked.

"Looks like Thomas and Hugo won the race to Madame Hooch," Carolyn said when she spotted the two boys up at the front of the hall. "What group did you give Kieran?" she asked Brianna.

"He's with Joel for the second years," Brianna answered. "Rose couldn't play favourites with Hugo last year, so I gave him a break." She nodded at Joe Jenkins as he walked up front and joined the other two Captains. "I guess it's my fault that Hufflepuff's going to get stuck with the last tryout spot, and probably the worst practice times too."

"He'll understand," Amy said, "and his team would practice with him at midnight if he asked them to."

The Great Hall filled up with both students, and noise as they talked excitedly with each other, and got back together with roommates and friends again. Joel joined Brianna, Carolyn, and the others as the last of the second year students came in and found seats, and then the first year students were brought in to be sorted.

Myra was the only first year that the Marauders were watching, and so when her name was called maybe slightly more than halfway through the first year students, they were all watching as the sorting hat immediately shouted out 'RAVENCLAW!'.

Brianna had sat their group near the front so she could help welcome the new Ravenclaws, and Myra happily hugged her, Carolyn, Amy, and Joel before going to join the other first year Ravenclaws.

"That's going to be a hard one for Joe," Amy told the others. "If Myra makes the team, she'll be replacing last year's Keeper, and he and Joe have become pretty good friends."

"We've all watched her play," Brianna said. "Do any of us really think there's any chance she's not going to be the best?"

They watched as the rest of the firsties were sorted, and then listened to Professor McGonagall's annual speech. When she was finished, and pronounced the start of the feast, the tables filled with the incredible platters and bowls of food that still amazed even the senior students each year.

"Are all of the meals like this?" Quincy asked Brianna.

"The feasts are extra special," she answered, "but the food always just appears like this for all of the meals."

"This is all way more fantastic than the stories," Erin said. "She stared up in amazement as the Grey Lady welcomed her and Quincy to Hogwarts.

"Relax, guys," Carolyn told them. "Peeves is a bit of a prankster, but you won't even notice the other ghosts around here after a few days."

Erin and Quincy asked the older students questions all through dinner, and Brianna and Carolyn were happy to have the distraction as they all took turns answering them. When the feast came to an end, Joel joined the other Ravenclaw prefects to get their students up to Ravenclaw Tower. Amy and Carolyn went with the other students, while Brianna took Erin and Quincy with her to meet Professor McGonagall in her office.

"Mr. Potter has told me that you are two of the brightest young students at his Academy," McGonagall began after the two now nervous young students sat on the edge of two chairs in front of her desk. "That is high praise indeed from one of our former Head Boys. Because of the difficulties you've faced in the past, and because we want to make sure that our first students from the Phoenix Academy have every opportunity to succeed, I have decided to place you both in Ravenclaw, and under the guidance and capable hands of our Head Girl, Brianna. She will help you with anything you may need, and will be able to be there for you all year. Do you have any questions?"

"No, Professor McGonagall," Erin answered for both her and Quincy, and the Headmistress nodded.

"Very well, then. Brianna, you may show them to their new House. Their belongings have already been delivered to their new dorm rooms."

"Thank-you, Professor," Brianna answered, smiling at Erin and Quincy. "Come along, guys, and we'll get you settled in and introduce you to some of your Ravenclaw family."

They left the Headmistress' office, and walked to Ravenclaw Tower, and into the Common Room. Brianna had Joel show Quincy to his dorm room and help with the introductions to his new roommates. She took Erin into the girl's dormitory herself, and did the same, spending about fifteen minutes with her before leaving the younger girls to get to know each other on their own.

From there, she went to see Carolyn, and then the two friends went back down to the Common Room, and then into the Head Girl's quarters. It looked almost exactly the same as when Rose was here, except there was a different WWVN receiver there, and on one of the tables was a box of Brianna's favourite Honeydukes sweets, and a note.

'Welcome back to Hogwarts. I hope you have a wonderful year. Enjoy the WWVN and sweets, and think about me, as I am surely thinking of you right now. Love, Scorpius.'

"How did he manage this?" Brianna said, and Carolyn hugged her.

"I have no idea, but I'd say it's brilliant," Carolyn told her.

Karl had been busy with helping the first year students get settled in to their dorms, so it had been over an hour before he even got a chance to check out his quarters. Daphne, Sarah, and Millie went in with him, Millie wanting to get her first look at the Slytherin Head Boy's office.

"Wow!" Millie said when they walked in and saw the spacious, beautifully furnished office. There was a monster big screen WWVN on one wall, with four sofas that looked amazingly comfortable, a pair of recliners, and several tables.

"It didn't look like this the last time Slytherin had a Head Boy," Daphne said. "What happened?"

Karl was looking around and was the first one to see the note propped up on the otherwise bare desk.

'Congratulations on making Head Boy, mate. Hope you like what we did with your office. Al and Scorpius.'

"This is a very cool surprise," Sarah told the others. "Do we have great friends, or what?"

"We have some really brilliant friends," Daphne answered. "Remind me in the morning to hug Carolyn and Brianna. Their fiancées just helped make our whole year, since I really doubt any of us could have pulled this off like Al and Lily had done the last two years."

"It looks like we'll be hosting the game day parties too," Karl said. "How long has it been since Slytherin ruled the school?"

The three girls laughed, and Daphne hugged him. "A very long time," she answered. "We didn't do so great at it, so they stopped giving us a turn."

"I'd say we're getting another chance this year," Sarah said happily. "Let's make sure we don't let any of our fellow Slytherin screw it up."

Carolyn had only stayed with Brianna for less than a half hour, and then she returned to her dorm room while Brianna went to deal with her first of many little problems that would keep her busy until nearly midnight. Classes would be starting in the morning, so Carolyn finished unpacking, got changed, and climbed into bed. She tapped out a QuillMessage to Al, and waiting for his response, and then set her WiComm aside, snuggled in her bed, put her Virtual GameWizard glasses on, and went into the VirtualChat program.

"Hi, Al," she said when his avatar appeared. "How has your day been?" Al's avatar walked over and sat down on the sofa next to where she'd sat.

"We went out to do some shopping and have lunch after the train left," he answered. "Lily, Scorpius, and I weren't very motivated, though, and we didn't stay out all that long. I picked up a new book, came back home, and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and having a nap. How about you? Did Lily's plan work for you?"

"You knew about it?" she asked.

"Not before. She told me about it when we were hanging out at the Mall," Al said.

"Well, it did work pretty well. Scorpius' little surprise for Brianna was pretty great too."

Al's little avatar laughed. "If you think that's good, wait until you see what we did with Karl's quarters."

Carolyn smiled. "We? What did you and Scorpius do?"

"Just a little office enhancement," he answered. "We thought he should have all the comforts of his most recent two predecessors, and Professor McGonagall was nice enough to let us stop in and take care of that."

"I love you," Carolyn told him. "That was a very cool thing to do. Who'd have guessed a couple of years ago that a couple of Ravenclaws would do something like that for a Slytherin Head Boy?"

"Not me, that's for sure," Al said. "Slytherin's just his House though. He's a Marauder now, and that's all that matters to us."

"Are you ready for your big first day?" she asked. "Or should we be asking if the Aurors are ready for you?"

"I'm ready, and they definitely are not," Al answered. "We'll see who learns more while I'm in training."

"And who will wash out during that training," Carolyn added. "There must be a certain number of Aurors on the wrong side of the political fence just like in every other department in the Ministry."

"They won't be for long," he predicted. "Trainee or not, cleaning up the Aurors is going to be high on my list of priorities."

"Just be careful, Al. The bad guys will be playing for keeps, and they'd think you are a real prize."

"I will be," he promised. "Try not to worry, Carolyn. We're going to be around for a very long time."

"I'm going to hold you to that prediction," she told him. "We should probably get to sleep, though. We both have big days tomorrow."

"Okay. I love you, Carolyn. Sleep well," Al said.

"I love you too, Al," she answered. "You have a good night too."

They ended the VirtualChat, and Carolyn put her GameWizard glasses on her night table next to her WiComm, then closed her eyes, and willed herself to sleep, not wanting to remain awake where her emotions threatened to overwhelm her.

It was after one before Brianna had the chance to get to bed, and as much as she would have liked to call and talk to Scorpius, they'd agreed not to, knowing that it would be late when she finished dealing with homesick and scared firsties. She changed and got into her soft, comfortable bed, pulled the covers around her, and let the tears come that she'd been holding back for hours. Firsties weren't the only students at Hogwarts who were desperately missing loved ones back home tonight.

Monday was back to business as usual for most Witches and Wizards. For Hogwarts students, it was their first day of classes. The graduated New Marauders were either on their honeymoon, counting down the last few days before their first luxury tour, having just another day at the Ministry, starting Auror training, or in just one case, having absolutely nothing planned at all.

"Good morning, sweetie," Harry said as Lily joined him in the kitchen as he cooked breakfast for three.

It had been a tough night for Lily, and Ginny had stayed up with her for hours. Harry had wanted to help too, but knew that his little girl needed her mother to talk with. The circumstances had been very different, but Ginny knew exactly how Lily was feeling, having spent nearly a year apart from Harry during the last year of the war. He was feeling conflicted, since he hurt with Lily, but then was overjoyed to have her home with them for another year, or maybe even two years.

"Good morning, Dad," Lily answered, her voice tired-sounding and dull. She walked across to him, and hugged him tightly for a minute before going to sit at the table.

"Did you talk to Kieran last night?" he asked next, and Lily nodded. "Anything exciting happen at Hogwarts yesterday, or on the ride there?"

"The two seventh year prefects tried giving Brianna and Karl a hard time, but Kieran said she handled it and they backed down. Vanessa told him that my plan for keeping Carolyn occupied on the train worked perfectly. Myra got sorted into Ravenclaw, and when Brianna saw him while he was on patrol, she told him that Erin and Quincy were placed in Ravenclaw too, under her personal supervision."

"I would imagine that if young Mr Jenkins isn't excited about having Myra and Erin in Ravenclaw, by Saturday, he will be," Harry said.

"He probably doesn't know yet," Lily said. "With all of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Marauders gone, and with him only in third year, he probably hasn't talked with the others about Quidditch at all. Kieran also said that Karl told him that he loves what Al and Scorpius did with his office. Brianna and Carolyn have probably already gotten the thank-you hugs from him, and I imagine that Daphne and Sarah are pretty happy this morning too."

"I'm sure that Al and Scorpius will love hearing about how their girlfriends were getting hugged by good looking young Wizards only a day after getting to school," Harry joked.

"If Daphne doesn't mind Karl hugging other girls right in front of her, I think Al and Scorpius won't have any problems with it either," Lily answered.

"So what are your plans for today?" he asked as Ginny joined them in the kitchen, and hugged Lily and Harry before sitting down at the table.

"I'm going to meet with Ana and Laura this morning, but after that, I've got nothing," she told her parents. "I'm so used to going non-stop all day at school, finding myself with nothing to do is a bit unnerving."

"Why don't you find out what Ana and Laura want to do," Ginny suggested. "Hopefully it won't really be all that much. Then we can decide what to do to keep you busy, and hopefully have some fun too."

"You mean I wasn't having fun for the last five years?" Lily joked. "Pretty much everything seemed to be fun." Harry set out the food, and joined his two favourite girls at the table.

"If all you want to do is keep busy working, you can do anything you want," Harry told her. "I'm sure your mother would love working with you again in the lab. We were hoping to spend a lot more time with you this year while you have the time, and we can make the time."

Ginny nodded. "I was thinking about maybe taking extra time off, a week or two at a time, and we could do some travelling together."

Lily leaned over and hugged her mother. "I'd like that a lot, Mum. When I know what Ana and Laura have for me, then maybe we'll do both – I'll work with you in the lab when we're not away on trips."

"And I'll just hang around and outrageously pamper my two girls while they do that," Harry told them.

"That sounds pretty great too," Lily told him.

Al had made and eaten breakfast for one, cleaned up, and then apparated to the Ministry of Magic in London. He went through security, which took seconds for a Wizengamot Elder, and then took the lifts to the second floor. He went directly to the office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Minister Arnold Peasegood, and was directed by his receptionist to take a seat in the small waiting area for the Department until the Minister was ready to see him.

He was early for his eight o'clock appointment, so he sat down and looked around. Al had been through here at least once or twice a week, since this section of level two was the hub from which everyone moved on to the division sections, including the Wizengamot and Wizengamot Administrative Services offices where he, Scorpius, and Callie had their offices.

There was one corridor that led to the Auror Headquarters and the offices for the Magical Law Enforcement Squad where the Hit Wizards were located. Another corridor led to the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts division offices, and to the Improper Use of Magic division that Arthur Weasley now ran. The third corridor led to the Wizengamot offices, and to the Magical Equipment Control Division that included the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects.

"You may go in now," Minister Peasegood's receptionist, Sally-Ann told Al.

"Thank-you," he told the woman as he stood and approached the office.

"Come in, come in," Minister Peasegood told Al when he opened the door, standing up to welcome him with a warm, friendly handshake. They were not alone in the office, and Al also shook hands with Junior Minister Rick Savage, who was the Head of the Aurors, before all three men sat down.

"I wanted to meet with you before Mr Savage here takes you under his wing and you begin your training, Mr Potter," Minister Peasegood told Al.

"Your candidacy has attracted a great deal of attention, as I'm sure you are well aware," he continued, and Al nodded.

"Junior Minister Savage and I want to make it clear to you that while you are in the Auror training program, there will be no special treatment allowed you because of your status as an Elder in the Wizengamot, or because of your family connections, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," Al answered.

While Al listened, he opened his mind, and listened with all of his abilities. He knew that Arnold Peasegood had been an Obliviator, and trained Hit Wizard. Al sensed that the Minister was not at all happy to have Al joining the Aurors, and would be someone he would need to be very careful around. Rick Savage, on the other hand, seemed genuinely pleased to have Al on his team, even though he wasn't letting that show on his face, or in his actions.

"We will certainly have to allow for your absence during Wizengamot sessions, but I'm sure we can work your training schedule around those occasional meetings," the Minister continued. "The length of your training, and even whether you remain in the training program, will depend on your abilities, and how quickly you master the techniques you will be taught. It normally takes three years for trainees to complete the program, but there have been a few cases where that has been shorter, or longer."

"How many trainees are there right now?" Al asked, and the Minister exchanged a look with Mr Savage before answering.

"Including you – one," he told Al. "Our last successful trainee graduated last year, and the few other candidates that started with him, or more recently either washed out, or transferred to the Hit Wizards."

"The younger Witches and Wizards seem to believe that the Hit Wizards squad is where all the action is these days," Junior Minister Savage told Al, speaking for the first time.

"That's because the Law Enforcement Squad is where the action is," Minister Peasegood said. "We have not had many successes in recent years with the Aurors. Maybe we are just running out of Dark Wizards to battle."

Al didn't show any emotions, and nodded in acknowledgement of the Minister's comment, but now he was sure that Minister Peasegood was someone to be cautious with. He wasn't on the dark side – he was one of those fools like Fudge and Scrimgeour. Minister Peasegood actually believed they were running out of Dark Wizards.

"Anyway," the Minister continued, "we all have a lot of work to get done today, so welcome to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Mr Potter, and I look forward to watching your progress through Auror Training."

Junior Minister Savage and Al both stood, and then Al followed the older Wizard out of the office, and down the corridor that led to Auror Headquarters.

"When we're in private, Al, or among our fellow Aurors, call me Rick," Savage told his new trainee. "We all need to work closely together, and don't waste time with formalities."

"Yes, sir," Al answered.

"Our training, as the Minister told you, normally takes three years. The reports I received about your NEWT practical suggest to me that it will not take you nearly that long, and Professor Williamson has told me to be prepared to be impressed," Rick continued.

"All Aurors, including myself, will be involved in your training, and you will take part in the daily training that we all do. In addition, you will have a great deal of material to study and techniques to master. As you progress, there will also be fieldwork. When and if your fellow Aurors and I believe you are ready to join our ranks as a full Auror, you will be promoted. There is no final exam. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Al answered again. He was here to learn, and Rick seemed to appreciate that he was willing to shut up and listen. They reached the Auror Headquarters, and Rick led him straight to one cubicle where a Witch with black hair was sitting, reading from a stack of parchment.

"Good morning, Hestia," Rick said when they reached her. "I'd like you to meet your new trainee, Albus Potter. Al, this is Hestia Jones, and she will be your Auror-Trainer."

Al and Hestia both smiled, and he liked her right away. She stood and shook his hand. "Welcome to the Aurors, Al," she told him. "Is there anything else you want to do with him, Rick, or should I just get him started?"

"Get him started," Rick answered. "If you need anything, let me know."

Rick left them; heading for his office, and Hestia motioned for Al to follow her over one cubicle to where there was a desk, cabinet, and three chairs. The open-faced cabinet was filled with books, and there were two more placed on his desk.

"This will be your home away from home now," she told Al. "We're going to join the morning training session in a minute, but when we finish with that each morning, the rest of your days will be spent working through these training manuals for the next few months. As you progress, we will add practical training of the new techniques as you learn them. Any questions so far?"

"No questions," Al answered. "So much for a reprieve from textbooks, though. I only had nine last year, and I thought that was plenty."

Hestia laughed. "You don't have to read them all this week, and these aren't all training books. Most are books you'll use for research. I'll explain more of that another day. For now, though, if you're ready, I'll show you where the change rooms are, and get you some workout clothes, and we'll join the others."

She led him to a storage room first, where she picked out a few shirts and pairs of track pants, then led him into the training room, where apparently all of the other Aurors were already assembled and warming up, Rick included. They went on to where the changerooms were located, and then Hestia left him to go into the Wizard's change room to get ready, while she went into the Witch's change room.

Al was changed, and back out first, and waited for Hestia to join him. She looked down at his feet, and then smiled when she looked up at him.

"Observant, aren't you?" she complimented him. They were both barefoot, and he returned her smile.

"Was that my first test?" he asked.

Hestia laughed. "Not really. We just find it amusing to see our new trainees walk out in dress shoes and their workout clothes. Shall we join them for the warmup?"

They joined the other Aurors, and began the stretching exercises that everyone else was already doing. This wasn't anything different than Al had done for years during Quidditch practices, since physical conditioning was as important as the flying and everything else. When they were all warmed up, there was a half-hour workout that Al thought was reasonably challenging, if not as difficult as what he had been used to, but since he'd really only worked out with Ravenclaw once or twice a week last year, this would be adequate for the first couple of weeks until he was back in shape and ready for more advanced training.

"Good job, Al," Hestia told him when they'd finished. "Most trainees have difficulty with the morning workouts at first."

"Our Quidditch training at Hogwarts has included conditioning like this for quite a few years now," Al told her, and Hestia nodded.

"Good. We won't be slowed down by you being sore for the first week or two," she told him.

One of the other Aurors walked over to them and put out his hand. "Welcome to the team, Al," the man said, smiling at Al. "My name is Miles Baddock – call me Miles."

Al shook his hand, and had to hide his momentary shock. He returned the man's smile, and nodded.

"Thank-you, Miles," he answered. "How long have you been an Auror?"

"I guess it's been ten years or so, plus my years as a trainee," Miles answered. "This is a great place to work. You'll really like it here, I'm sure."

"I think so too," Al agreed.

"Come on, Al," Hestia told him. "We need to get showered, changed, and get to work."

They both did that, and while he was in the change room, Al briefly met a few other Aurors before he was back out in the training room, and waiting for Hestia.

"Can we stop in to see Rick for a minute before we get to work?" Al asked Hestia. "There's something I need to talk with both of you about."

Hestia looked a bit surprised, but nodded, and led him to Rick's office.

"Change your mind already after one workout?" Rick joked, and Hestia laughed, but stopped when she saw the serious look on Al's face.

"I'm going to seal your office, sir," Al told him, pulling out his wand and doing that.

"Minister Peasegood said during our meeting that the Aurors haven't had much success in recent years," Al began, and both Rick and Hestia nodded.

"Would you say it's been about five years?" he asked.

"About that, yes," Rick answered. "Our capture rate for Dark Wizards, and confiscation of Dark Magic books and Artifacts has dropped significantly. How did you know that it's been that long?"

"Because that's about how long Miles Baddock has been under the Imperius Curse," Al answered. Don't react, sir, Hestia, he's very likely watching us."

"What makes you think he's been Imperiused?" Hestia asked Al.

"I have the ability to sense things like this," Al told them. "When we shook hands after our workout, I could feel it. The reason you're not having any real successes is because the other side knows everything you're doing before it happens, so you're only getting the few little tidbits they allow you to have."

"We need to check this out immediately," Hestia told Rick, who was looking thoughtful. It was nice to see that neither doubted Al. They all knew that finding out for sure would be a simple matter now that they knew to look, so there was no reason for Al to make something like that up about someone he'd only just met.

"Not necessarily, Hestia," he told her. "It would be easy enough to remove the curse, but should we?"

"Absolutely," Al told him. "I know what you're getting at, but he's an Auror, and I would certainly hope if it was me that my fellow Aurors wouldn't leave me Imperiused just to feed false information to the enemy."

"I agree with Al, Rick. Besides, if they lose their favourite spy on the same day that Al starts his training," Hestia said, "that would give the other side something to worry about for a while too."

Rick sighed. "You're both right. We can't leave one of our own like this, even if it might help us get some more bad guys. At least they'll stop finding out everything we're doing ahead of time. I'll take care of this from here, Al. This conversation stays in this room."

"Yes, sir," Al agreed. He and Hestia both stood, Al released his protective spells, and they left Rick's office, and returned to his cubicle.

"The top book on your desk is our Auror history, quite a lot of which is not public knowledge," Hestia told him. "Start with that, and then move on to the second book, which is your first training book. We start all of our new trainees out with basic stealth and tracking techniques."

Al nodded, and Hestia smiled. "If you have any questions, I'm right next door, and will be happy to discuss anything you're learning about with you."

"Thank-you, Hestia," Al said, sitting down at his desk and picking up the first book. "Will there be a history test later?"

Hestia laughed. "No, but you will need to demonstrate your knowledge over time, since we do try to learn from our history and past mistakes."

Al laughed too. "That's a novel concept. Maybe it'll catch on with the rest of the Ministry some day." Hestia left him alone, and Al got started on his introduction to the history of the Aurors.

The Great Hall at Hogwarts was buzzing with excitement as the students talked about classes and schedules during breakfast. For most of the New Marauders, it was pretty much a normal first morning back to classes. For Carolyn and Brianna, it was way different. They sat with some of the other seventh-year students, but were really just on the outside of the group, since they'd always hung out with Rose, Nick, Al, Scorpius, and Lily. They were also among the last students to get their schedules from Professor Flitwick, and didn't have much time to get to their first class of the day.

"How are Erin and Quincy doing this morning?" Daphne asked when she and Karl met up with them to walk to the Charms classroom.

"They seem to be holding up pretty well," Brianna answered. "Their roommates all seem to be giving them a chance, and they were both really excited about starting classes this morning."

"Are you going to have them join our study group?" Karl asked, and Brianna shook her head.

"Not right now for sure," she told him. "We'll get them any tutoring they need, but I think it's important for them to get into study groups with the other kids in their year for now. We'll see if they can maybe be ready for our group later, but we're pretty intense, and they may not be ready to handle how we work yet."

Karl nodded. "Will we do our first meeting tonight?"

"Yes," Carolyn said. "Colin wants to have it before we start our studying after dinner."

"Any new members being invited to join?" Daphne asked.

Brianna shook her head. "Not at least to start the year. They'll probably ask Myra to join either later this year, or next year. Colin and Liam can make the decision on that. We still have nineteen members this year, so we have more than enough in the group to handle everything." They caught up with some other students, so dropped the TNM discussions.

"What time is the game day party starting on Saturday, Karl?" Carolyn asked him, grinning.

"Come on down anytime after lunch," he answered. "We won't have everyone the whole time, since Kieran and Nadine will have to leave for their tryouts, but it should be a good first game."

"We'll have Mark's Broom Race this weekend too," Brianna reminded the others. "Race start is two in the afternoon our time on Friday, I think."

"I guess those of us with tryouts on Saturday will have to watch the finish on the sports highlights," Daphne told the others. "That'll be way past our bedtime."

"I don't know why they just don't move the race time so that it's all during the day," Karl said. "Mark would be done before dark, even if the rest of the riders might not make it in until later."

"At least the race organizers are having a big party at the finish area this year. They should be able to keep the fans entertained while they wait around for the rest of the racers to get finished," Carolyn said.

They'd reached their classroom, and the doors were already opened, so they hurried in with the rest of their class, took seats together, and got ready to start their first class of the year.

By the time they were doing that, Lily was over at Kirley and Ana's, sitting down at the kitchen table with Ana and Laura.

"Have you got any plans for me now that Kieran's at school?" Lily asked after the small talk was over.

"We're not going to do very much, no," Ana answered. "Putting you out there a lot on your own could mess up our marketing for SpellBound, so you won't be doing a lot of solo appearances."

"That's fine with me," Lily told the women. "It wouldn't be as much fun by myself anyway."

Laura handed her a schedule of the few bookings they did have for her. "The only official appearances you'll have will be to promote the products like your clothing line, perfume, jewellery, and makeup lines. We'll do most of that in December for the Christmas shopping season. You and I will take a full week in December, start in Japan, and hop our way back through the time zones, hitting as many of the big Malls as we can manage – probably four a day."

"There's nothing after December on here, and I see there are no SpellBound concerts at the Christmas holidays," Lily pointed out.

"We're not going to have you do anything over the holidays, except for the interviews you'll have on the afternoon that Kieran gets home for Christmas, and are only planning one event for you between January and June. We didn't put it on the schedule, since you'll want to send a copy to Kieran," Ana told her. "You and Kieran will be doing the Valentine's Day dance at Hogwarts, since Valentine's Day lands on a Friday this year. We want it to be a surprise for him." Lily hopped out of her chair and hugged Ana and Laura.

"That's going to be brilliant!" Lily said excitedly. "The whole holiday off, and getting to spend some time with him on Valentine's Day!"

"You won't be totally off at the holidays," Ana told her. "I expect Kirley will want you in the studio, and knowing the two of you, you'll have a whole new batch of songs to record by then."

Lily nodded. "That's just playtime anyway," she said happily. "This is working out great for everything. Mum, Dad, and I are going to do some travelling, and I'll have some time to go play in the lab with Mum too."

"Funny how that works out," Laura said, and she and Ana were both smiling at Lily, who laughed.

"I've been set up," she accused. "That's okay, though, because it's still brilliant."

Lily visited with Ana and Laura for a while, and then went back to the cottage to meet up with Harry and spend the rest of the day with him, starting with lunch in Chudley with Ginny.

"Planning on going for lunch?"

Al looked up, and smiled at Scorpius. "Is a lowly Auror trainee allowed to have lunch with a Junior Minister?"

Scorpius laughed. "I think you're Wizengamot Elder alter-ego offsets any improper fraternizing with the rank-and-file Ministry staff. Are you having fun yet?"

"The morning workout was pretty decent," Al told him, marking his page near the end of the first book, and standing up. "The History book I've been working through since then isn't quite so much fun, but I'll have it done soon, and can move on to my first training book. How about you?"

"I'm keeping busy," Scorpius answered. "We have another trade conference coming in October, so we're doing all the backroom negotiations right now."

"Where's this conference?" Al asked as they started walking toward the lifts.

"This one's in New York at the Camelot Hotel and Conference Centre," Scorpius said. "We won't get as much done as the last time, but we should get at least another ten or twelve deals put together."

"You're going to put yourself out of a job at that rate," Al predicted.

"We'll always have work with the regulation and inspection side of our division," Scorpius told Al. "Besides, this is just the beginning, there's a whole Ministry of Magic to work on. I don't think either of us will be bored any time soon."

"Really? Try reading a history book all morning," Al suggested.

"Don't expect me to feel sorry for you, mate," Scorpius told Al unsympathetically. "When you start facing your opponents, at least you're going to be able to use magic to defeat them. That's not an option for me."

"Too bad," Al answered. "Those Wizengamot sessions would probably get a lot more viewers on that Ministry of Magic network if you and I could just duel our way through the proposals."

Scorpius laughed. "Our opponents don't fight fair the way we do it now, Al. Do you really want to start duelling, and see how they'd cheat during them? Maybe you and I would be okay, but I sure wouldn't want to lose any friends along the way."

"Fine," Al told him. "Duelling stays with the Auror job."

The students of Hogwarts were in the Great Hall having lunch then too, and the talk around the Hall was now all about morning classes and whatever cross-House gossip the students had learned about so far. The Gryffindor Marauders were having lunch together. They hadn't done that a lot in previous years, but while last year Colin had technically been the leader of TNM, Ravenclaw had still been the power that kept TNM rolling. Now that Ravenclaw had just four members left, it was Gryffindor that was truly leading now, and it was drawing them closer together.

"Brianna and Carolyn don't look like they're having much fun now that it's just them left from their little group," Emily told the others. "I wish we could do something to help them during meals, but I guess there isn't much we can do about it."

"We'll just have to make up for it when we can be there for them," Colin told her. "Is anyone hearing about any problems around school this morning? Nadine and Vanessa told Lance and I that they haven't heard of any kids getting picked on."

"We asked Myra if she, or any of the other firsties have been getting bullied at all," Liam reported, "and she said that other than a little teasing, she hasn't heard about any problems, or had any herself."

"Sarah told me everything's quiet in Slytherin House too," Emily said. "I'd say we're looking pretty good so far."

Colin nodded. "Good. Maybe we'll get a whole year with no bullying. How's your sister liking being here, and taking her first classes?" he asked Liam.

"She's already earned ten points for Ravenclaw," Liam answered. "I think she must have pumped Lily for some information on how to get ready for school."

"Good for her," Frederica told him. "You know she did a lot of studying every day after getting her books, though, so she deserves the points for that extra work."

"Is anyone else finding the start of this year weird?" Lance asked. "This is my first year where we've had a whole week of classes to get through before Quidditch tryouts."

"It's been a while," Hugo agreed. "Our first year here started on a Sunday for Emily, Lily, Kieran, and me too, but you've lucked out getting a couple of years with September first being on a Thursday and Friday."

"Well, it's making for a pretty boring start to the year," Lance told the others. "I was a lot more fired up about starting classes after having fun all weekend first."

"Get fired up then," Hugo told him. "We want to get a good start to the year, and everyone on the team needs to be ready to defend his or her spot on the team this weekend."

"I'm looking forward to classes this year," Emily said. "I'm really glad we've had Lily around to help us and teach us how to study, but it's time to prove to ourselves we can do it on our own too."

Frederica nodded. "Me too. Regardless of how I do this year, at least it will be all me. Time to see how well the master has trained her little apprentices."

Lunch was wrapping up, and it was time for the Maruaders, and the rest of the students to move on to their afternoon classes. Harry and Lily were moving on from lunch too. Ginny had told them that Lisa had started back to work half days, and had been tired out by noon, so they went and talked her into letting them take Jair for the afternoon so that she could have the afternoon off to rest.

Al and Scorpius both went back to work after their lunch, and Al returned to his History book, finishing it up and then starting in on the second book – 'Introduction to Auror Stealth and Tracking Techniques'. When he wanted to relax and enjoy a book, Al would just read at a fairly normal pace, but he was able to read much faster when he just wanted to absorb the information instead of savouring an entertaining story, and that's what he started doing with this book. The more he read, though, the more frustrated he became. When he reached the end of the book, he must have closed it too hard, or made too much noise when he dropped it back on his desk in irritation, because a moment later, Hestia walked around the divider between them, and sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk.

"Problems?" she asked.

"How long has it been since these training books have been updated?" he asked, pointing to the book he'd just finished reading. "That thing is a waste of parchment."

"That book has been a standard since before I joined," Hestia told him. "More advanced books have some more recent updates, but those changes aren't all that significant. I don't see that book as being a waste, since it takes most trainees several months to master all of those techniques."

"Then it's probably just me then," Al said. "There's basically nothing in that book that I'd need to use for tracking someone, and staying undetected."

Hestia grinned at him. "Really? Why don't we go play for a while and find out?"

Al returned her smile. "Sure, what do you have in mind?"

"We don't normally start practical training for at least the first month or so, but if you're so confident, then let's see how well you can track me, and keep me from catching you doing it."

"That sounds like more fun than sitting here starting another book," Al agreed. They both got up, and Hestia led him into the training room again.

"If I don't catch you in an hour, I'll meet you back here. If I've lost you, send me a WiComm and save me the bother of continuing the exercise, and we'll meet back here too. Ready?"

Al nodded, and Hestia immediately disappeared. When she was gone, he smiled, and pulled out his invisibility cloak and put it on before taking the TransPortal to the first destination she'd broadcast in her mind. He already had read pretty much everything she planned on doing over the next hour, since it was the same test she gave every trainee she worked with. That worked out even better for Al, because she had very fond memories of specific tricks she played to trip up the other trainees.

Hestia took him on a chase through the Mall, into the city, among the Muggles, hopping around different towns, and through country fields and moors during that hour. She ended her little exercise in Bristol, and then apparated back to the Auror Training room.

"Where is that boy?" she asked aloud to herself when after a few minutes Al hadn't appeared. "I'll be very cross if he left me out there this whole time and I lost him early."

She waited another few minutes, and then stomped out of the room, and headed for her desk. Al's cubicle was empty, and she sat down at her own desk, now fuming. She was just getting her WiComm out to call Al and let him have it when she saw him walk into the offices from the lifts, and come sit down across from her.

"Did you happen to forget the part where I said if I lost you that you were supposed to call me so I didn't waste the whole hour?" she asked him. "I'm not amused."

"I didn't forget," Al answered, smiling brightly at her. His face was flushed, and those astonishing emerald eyes of his flashing with excitement. "It just took me a little longer to get here because I stopped to get you a present." He handed her a gift-wrapped box, and when Hestia had it opened, she laughed as she lifted out the beautiful silver necklace she'd been admiring in a little jewellery shop in Bristol just before she'd returned to the Ministry.

"Very clever," she told him. "Congratulations. You're the first trainee I've ever had that I didn't either lose or catch. Give me the rundown on where we went, and what you did to conceal yourself from me."

Al spent the next ten minutes doing that, and Hestia was having as much fun finding out about how he'd managed to keep up with her and avoid detection as she'd had during the chase.

"I looked for your animagus when I was on the moors," she told him when he got to the point where he told her about going eagle when they were in the countryside. "I didn't spot you at all."

"Eagles can see a lot farther away than we can," he explained. "I was quite a distance from you."

Hestia nodded. "Your Transfigurations were perfect, Al. I didn't detect a thing with any of the disguises you used. That doesn't explain how you knew where I'd apparate to next."

"I'm a Legilimens," Al answered.

"I didn't feel any attack there, and I'm a pretty fair Occlumens," Hestia said.

"What I do is more like listening, not an attack," he told her. "The surface thoughts are usually fairly clear to me with anyone if I'm concentrating on it. I don't do that normally, though, since most of the time I really don't want to know what the people around me are thinking."

Hestia nodded, looking thoughtful. "No wonder you found that book a waste of time. Keep working through all of them anyway, since there should be some useful information in there, but I think we'll also keep you from getting bored by starting you with some research and field work too. There's no point in wasting your talents when it's obvious you're already able to start helping with the real work."

"Thank-you, Hestia," Al said. When she went to give him the necklace back, he shook his head. "I really did get that for you, not just to prove I'd followed you."

She smiled and put the box back on her desk. "Then thank-you too," she told him. "Something tells me that we are going to really like working together."

"I think so too," Al agreed as he stood up. "Is there anything else before I get back to my books?"

"No. You can go ahead, Al," she answered. "Happy reading."

They both got back to their work for what little bit of the afternoon was left, and after Scorpius stopped by on his way out to meet Al, since they were both having dinner at the cottage, Hestia wrapped up her day with another visit to Rick's office.

"How'd things go with Miles?" Hestia asked after sitting down.

"We got the Imperius curse removed," Rick told her. "It had all the signs of being a job done by our old Death Eater pal Mulciber."

"He was probably their best," Hestia agreed. "It's no wonder we can't catch any of the big guys that have been in hiding all of these years. They're always one step ahead of us."

"They've at least lost one source of inside information," Rick told her. "I hear you took our new trainee out on a tracking exercise this afternoon. Isn't it a bit early for that?"

Hestia laughed. "I thought so, but apparently not, since he was able to track me for an hour, and I never spotted him once."

"Are you serious?" Rick asked in surprise. "You're one of our best at that."

"I'd say we're all number two in that department now, Rick," she answered. "By quite a bit, too. I'm going to have him start working with me doing research on active cases tomorrow. He'll keep working through the training as well, but I have no doubt he can start helping us right now."

"Just make sure you keep him out of danger, Hestia," Rick ordered. "We'd both be in the hot seat if we got a member of the Wizengamot killed by sending him into the field too early."

"From what I've seen today, and heard about from Williamson and the Aurors that tested the young man, it's the bad guys that are in danger," Hestia said seriously.

Rick smiled. "That would be a nice change. We told Al this morning that the reason we didn't get many Auror trainees anymore was because the action was with the Hit Wizards. I left out the part about the fairly low survival rate. If Albus Potter can help us turn that around, then we're certainly not going to hold him back from doing that."

"Good," Hestia said. "Since Mulciber has stuck his head up, then I'll start Al out on his case, and see whether a fresh set of eyes can help out with tracking him down."

"He stuck his head up with Miles five years ago," Rick reminded her. "That's not exactly a fresh lead."

"It's more than we've had in probably twenty years," Hestia countered. "If we come up with nothing, at least it's good training for him."

"Good point. Go ahead and give him the file on Mulciber. This should be a very interesting test," Rick told Hestia. He stood up and stretched. "Let's get out of here. It's been a busy day."

James and Arianna had both been busy all day too, and were home from work and cooking dinner together.

"So how did the first day of classes go for your two new students?" Arianna asked. He and Teddy had decided to add the two new students to fill the empty spots left by Erin and Quincy instead of wasting the space and teaching resources.

"Eileen and Callum both seemed to do okay," James answered. "They're both starting from scratch like a lot of the other kids did, but they're young enough, and I'm sure they'll catch up too."

"You're going to have a lot of kids ready to start at Hogwarts over the next couple of years at the rate you're going," Arianna told him.

James nodded. "We will, but we're adjusting the curriculum depending on the age of the students too, so the younger kids aren't going to speed along as fast as some of the older students, where we're just trying to get them through OWL's, or as far along as we can before they finish their second year with us."

"Hopefully Stewart and Teddy are getting something worked out for those students after next summer," Arianna answered. "We certainly can't leave them hanging with no prospects for their futures."

"We won't," James assured her. "If we can get them through two more school years each, then the older group will only have one or two more years of classes to go before they can take their OWL's."

"That's probably the best we could have hoped for," Arianna said. "Anything else going on?"

James shook his head. "Not really. I got a message from Brianna to let me know Erin and Quincy are having a good first day of classes, and seem to be getting along with their new roommates. That's about it. How's Quidditch?"

"Coach is running us hard," she answered. "You know how he gets before the first game of the season."

James laughed. "Yeah – the same way he gets before every other game. You're going to have a tough game on Saturday, though. The Harpies are going to be ready for a little payback for losing in the finals."

Arianna nodded. "I know. Hopefully we'll be as up for the game as they will be."

"You don't sound convinced," James told her.

"Kimberly just got engaged, and Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle are all a bit unfocused still. We've still got the rest of the week for them to get it together, or we won't be ready to play our best."

"You and Aaron never had any problems with staying focused after getting married," he pointed out, and Arianna smiled at him.

"We've been through a lot more than any of them have, honey. One thing that does is to make sure we never take anything we do have for granted."

James returned her smile, and put his arms around her waist. "Really? When we're finished dinner, maybe we should go spend a little time making sure we're not taking you and me for granted."

Arianna put her arms around his neck and kissed him rather seriously. "That sounds like a very good idea. I'm very glad we have no other plans tonight to get in the way of that."

James and Arianna didn't have any after-dinner plans, but the New Marauders did, and after eating in the Great Hall, they met in their usual classroom for their meeting and the study session they were going to have after that.

"Welcome to the first TNM meeting of the school year," Colin told everyone when they'd all arrived and taken seats. "Since we don't have any new members this year, this shouldn't take very long."

"Take your time, mate," Hugo told him. "We'll just be moving on to studying after the meeting, and I'm in no big rush for that."

"Considering how much work we were assigned today, you should be," Kieran told Hugo.

"We're loaded down too," Brianna said, referring to the NEWT year Marauders. "Let's keep things moving along."

The others all nodded, and Colin started going through all of the usual first-of-year items. Frederica and Millie were going to continue being the group buyers, and Emily, Sarah, Vanessa, and Carissa would continue to coordinate everything. Kieran and Amy would keep their jobs taking care of the Mentors, and in fact already had more than enough signed up for this year to likely cover every student they'd get all year.

Since they all knew the drill, between them, they already had fifty-three names of students needing help, and what they needed, so even though the rest of the meeting didn't take long, they were still more than an hour going through those cases individually, and making the decisions on the orders that Frederica and Millie would be placing for them later.

"That's it, folks," Frederica told them. "Let the studying begin!"

They all got their books out, and went to work on their assignments. For the next nearly three hours, they kept at it until it was almost curfew, and then packed up and headed to their respective Common rooms or Head Girl and Head Boy quarters. Carolyn, Kieran, and Brianna all hurried, since they had appointments to chat with their respective fiancées or girlfriend before going to sleep for the night.

"How was your first day in Auror training?" Carolyn asked when she and Al had both entered the VirtualChat after she'd gotten changed, climbed into bed, and put her GameWizard glasses on.

"Parts of it were great, and parts were really, really boring," Al told her. "The studying history and reading a pretty lame instruction book were the boring parts. The morning workout was pretty good, and an hour chasing my Auror-Trainer Hestia Jones around the country while she tried to lose me was a total blast."

"You have a Witch for your trainer?" Carolyn asked. "Is she pretty?"

Al's avatar laughed. "I suppose so, yes," he answered. "I'd guess she's also in her early fifties too, so relax. I haven't met very many of the Aurors yet, but there aren't very many all that close to me in age anyway. I don't think they've had very many successful candidates in the last ten or fifteen years."

"Then I guess you'll just have to be the exception," she told him. "Will you be doing a lot of studying at first?"

"Yes, but Hestia is going to have me start helping with research on active cases tomorrow, so hopefully that will give me at least some interesting things to do."

"Hopefully not too interesting," Carolyn answered, her avatar smiling at Al. "Are there really all that many bad guys even left?"

"There's enough," Al told her. "There are pictures of wanted Wizards all over the walls of every Auror cubicle in our Headquarters."

"Try not to catch them all in your first week, then," Carolyn joked. "How was dinner at the cottage?"

"It was a lot better than coming back here and eating alone. Lily is going to work in the lab with Mum some of the time, and Mum's going to take some extra time off so the three of them can travel this year. That's about all of the news though."

"I thought Ana would keep her busy with SpellBound stuff," Carolyn said, and Al's avatar shrugged.

"Sounds like they decided not to do very much, except for in early December to promote their products for the Christmas shopping season. I think it'll be good for her to be doing something else. Spending all of her time promoting SpellBound would have her thinking about Kieran all of the time."

"Like she won't be anyway," Carolyn answered. "Every time I turn around here, I keep thinking you should be right next to me. Right now, it's the meals and after dinner that are the worst for Brianna and I. Kieran at least always sat with his own group at the Hufflepuff table, but at our table, it's down to just the two of us. We are sitting with some of the other seventh year students, but we're not really part of the group at all."

"I wish this was easier for you," Al told her. "I'm just going to throw myself into work, and hope that these first three weeks go by faster if I do that."

Carolyn nodded. "That's what we're doing here too. We should wrap up our little chat so you can get some sleep. If you're starting on real cases tomorrow, you'll want to be at your best."

"I guess so," Al said reluctantly. They spent a few more minutes exchanging the goodnight pleasantries before ending their VirtualChat. Al dealt with his feelings by staying awake and finishing the second instruction book that he'd taken home with him to read before going to sleep, but Carolyn again went to sleep quickly, hoping to get through another night without having emotions overwhelm her as she fought to deal with missing her fiancée so much.

Al was back at work early on Tuesday morning, and had already spent more than an hour studying the third instruction book, this one all about disguises. Hestia had been right that he'd find at least some information useful, but he thought it was too bad that he had to read through the rest of the junk to get those few nuggets. When it was time for the morning workout, he joined Hestia and the other Aurors in the training room, where they had another half-hour long workout that was an exact repetition of the workout they'd had on Monday.

"Don't you ever change your workout routines to keep them more interesting?" Al asked Hestia when they got back to her cubicle.

Hestia shrugged. "Not really," she answered. "It's just meant to keep us in shape physically, not entertain us." She sat down at her desk, picked up a thick stack of folders, and handed them to Al.

"Here's your first case. Start by reading everything we have on the guy, and then we'll discuss any new ideas you may have for the investigation and hunt for him."

Al took the files and nodded. "Sounds like a fun break from reading Intermediate disguises. Who is Mulciber?" he asked after reading the name on the top folder.

"He used to be the Dark Lord's best at the Imperius Curse," Hestia answered.

"So you picked him for me to start with because of what happened yesterday?" he surmised, and Hestia nodded.

"Yes. This is one guy we'd really like to catch. I won't say anything more so that I don't accidentally prejudice your analysis of the files."

"I'll let you know when I'm done going through everything," Al told her before going around the dividing wall, and returning to his own desk.

While he sat down and delved into the fascinating world of tracking fugitive Dark Wizards, Lily and Ginny were just getting to the labs at the Institute after having breakfast with Harry.

"So what are the hot research topics right now?" Lily asked her mother.

"For the gaming division, that'd be Carolyn's BusinessMagic. They're already working on product development for new applications – like for our hotels and retail business interests. It should keep that group busy for quite a few years."

"No doubt," Lily agreed. "What have you been working on?"

"I've got a few things on the go, but what I thought you might be able to help me with is my current pet project," Ginny answered. "I'm trying to develop a next generation of WiComm's. I've brought the project a long way over the past few years, but there are still a lot of problems that need fixing." She opened a drawer with her wand, and took out two prototypes – each one a small device that obviously was meant to fit in the ear, along with what looked basically the same as the current WiComms.

"Try it out, and I'll show you what I've done so far, and what problems I still have," Ginny said, handing one of the little devices to Lily.

For the next fifteen minutes, they communicated in silence as Ginny taught Lily about the new prototype WiComms, and they discussed the technical issues that still needed to be resolved. When they were finished, Lily hugged her mother.

"These things are incredible," Lily told her. You're a genius!"

Ginny laughed. "If they're ever completely functional, maybe I'll agree with you on that. Until then, they're just a really good idea."

Lily laughed too. "It's a brilliant idea, Mum, and when we put our heads together, we'll fix those problems in no time. Have you considered applying this to the Virtual GameWizard systems too? This little gem could replace those glasses."

"I thought maybe I'd get this working before thinking about doing that too, but yes, I've actually considered combining them into one device."

"That's a rather good idea too," Lily said. "Thanks for letting me come play with you. It is going to be a lot of fun working on this."

"You're welcome, honey," Ginny said, hugging Lily again. "I think it's pretty great too."

Mother and daughter happily got to work, immersing themselves into their research. Harry stopped by and dropped off lunch for them after spending the morning at the Residence.

"How did I know that you two would be working right through lunch on your first day back in the lab together?" he joked as he came into their lab and dropped the bags of take-out food on the work table.

"Because you know us so well," Lily answered, hugging her father. "Thanks, Daddy."

"You're welcome, sweetie," Harry said. Ginny hugged him too, and then the two women sat at the table, got their lunches out of the bags, and started to eat.

"Should I be bringing dinner here too, or will you be home tonight?" he asked them.

"We'll be home," Ginny promised. "I don't want to get completely tied up here or I'll forget about everything else that we have going on – like getting ready for two weddings next summer."

"I'll have bubble baths waiting for you when you get home, then," Harry told them. "It's just the three of us for dinner tonight, so we're flexible on when we eat."

Harry talked with Ginny and Lily while they ate, then left them to get back to work for the rest of the afternoon. Scorpius and Al had lunch together again, and by the time Harry had left the Institute, Al was sitting in one of the chairs across from Hestia's desk, having finished reading the stacks of files she'd given him on Mulciber.

"So what do you think?" she asked.

I think there's been something that all of the Aurors who have worked on this case have missed completely," Al answered.

Hestia nodded. "What do you think we've missed?"

"You're looking for two Wizards, not one," he told her. "I'd guess father and son, or possibly uncle and nephew."

"How do you come to that conclusion?" Hestia asked. "We've never had any reason to think there were two Mulcibers."

Al shrugged. "Right now, I suspect I'm correct. Most of the files on Mulciber refer to an original Death Eater who was a contemporary of Tom Riddle's at Hogwarts. He's the one that is the expert with the Imperius Curse. Then there's a few other references to a Mulciber who fought side-by-side with Lucius Malfoy and his contemporaries like the Lestranges, Avery, Goyle, and the others It's been assumed that this was the same Wizard, but I checked the Hogwarts records, and there was a Mulciber who went to school around the same time as Lucius Malfoy too."

"So you think that the older Mulciber has always stayed in the background, while the younger one went out and did the fighting?" Hestia concluded, and Al nodded his agreement.

"That's most likely what's been going on. It also gives us a place to start looking," Al told her.

"The Avery's," Hestia said with a nod of agreement. "They're not exactly going to be willing to turn their friends in, Al."

Al laughed. "It'd be a lot easier for us if they did, but I was thinking more along the lines of a little old-fashioned tracking. If the Avery's are hiding them, then they must be living somewhere. Someone has to be having supplies sent to them, and helping them to get around too, unless they're just holed up somewhere. If the older Mulciber is being used to Imperius Witches and Wizards, then they must get together sometimes as well."

"Okay," Hestia agreed. "It's worth a try. Chase the paper trail all you want, but any need for actual surveillance or field work goes through me, and we'll decide how much you'll help with any of that as we go along."

"It will mostly be chasing paperwork at first," Al said. "Do you want daily updates?"

Hestia shook her head. "It doesn't have to be anything formal or daily. Just keep me informed of any progress you make."

Al stood up. "Sounds good. I'll get started on it."

"Don't forget to spend some time with your instruction books. We'll keep working on the practical training too," she told him, and he nodded his agreement before going around the divider and returning to his own desk and work.

Getting to work, and into either new or familiar routines was the order of the day on Tuesday, and for the rest of the week for everyone in the family. At Hogwarts, the New Marauders, and the other students spent most of the rest of the week getting used to the organized, scheduled life at Hogwarts after a summer holiday where most of the teens had more than two months completely unfettered by such mundane social conformities.

By Friday, the talk around school was all about Quidditch tryouts on Saturday, and the Australian Broom Race that would be starting at two in the afternoon home time. Most of the students would have to catch the race start highlights after classes ended, but quite a few also watched the start live – either students who didn't have classes at the time, or who were in classes where the Professor allowed a short break so they could watch the start on portable WWVNs.

Harry was in Australia for the start of the race with Owen, and they'd brought Kira and James with them. Mark was ranked number one for the start of the racing season, and other than the fact that he was starting among the top twenty-five this year instead of with the pack, the only obvious difference this year was that all of the racers were now wearing racing suits like his. Marauder's Institute had begun selling the suits exclusively through the BroomCloset stores, and while they were quite expensive, the suits were also a must-have now for any serious racer.

"What do you think, Harry?" Mark asked. "Do you think anyone else will break the two hundred and twenty mile an hour limit for this race?"

Harry had been wandering around among the racers as they prepared for the start, and he nodded in answer to Mark's question.

"There's two racers back in the pack that could do it tonight, but I'm not sure they've got the nerve to take it up to your speeds," Harry told him. He motioned toward one of the three Witches in the top twenty-five. "The young Witch who came in second to you in the Iditarod race has definitely figured it out, and has the nerve to race at the higher speeds."

Mark grinned. "Good. This should be a lot of fun then, and thanks to you and the Institute, I should be ready to handle the competition."

Harry returned his smile. "Your own hard work is more important that everything else, Mark. It is a good thing that some of the other racers are stepping up, though. If you just kept winning by such big margins, all of the new audience from last year would get bored pretty quickly and tune out again."

"We don't want that to happen," Mark agreed. "I'm sure that Mariposa there will keep the interest in Broom Racing alive and well."

"No doubt," Owen said. "I'm really glad that we signed up in the off-season to co-sponsor her this year. She's going to sell us quite a few BroomRacer games too."

Mark laughed. "Probably because she looks way better in these racing suits than any of us guys do."

The call went out for the racers to get to the starting lines for the leaders and the pack, so Mark got a hug from Kira, and Harry and Owen wished him luck before he left them and walked out to take up his starting position.

Joel had talked his professor into letting his class take a break and watch the start of Mark's race, so they were allowed fifteen minutes to watch Mark blast off with the top racers, take the lead, and then were left hanging as not just Mark, but one of the other top racers began leaving the other racers behind as they both exceeded two hundred and twenty miles an hour.

Once classes were finished for the day, there weren't very many students who didn't stay close to a WWVN so they could keep up with how the race was going. Just like Mark had become famous overnight last year, by dinnertime at Hogwarts, millions of Witches and Wizards were talking about the Spanish sensation, Mariposa, who four hours into the race was keeping pace with Mark.

There had been two racers from the pack who had also passed two hundred and twenty miles an hour, but not long after they too had passed most of the top racers, one of them had lost control in the dark and crashed. When the other racer saw that happen, he lost his nerve and slowed down again, eventually being caught by the other racers.

With Quidditch tryouts, and a Canons' game on Saturday, the New Marauders had study sessions both before and after dinner on Friday, and kept an eye on Mark's race as they worked. The Quidditch players wrapped up their studies by nine, and the rest of the group worked until just before curfew.

Brianna had their much smaller group of Ravenclaw Marauders in her office after that, and they watched until Mark crossed the finish line near Sydney at nine hours, five minutes. Nearly two hours from the end of the race, Mark had increased his speed until he began pulling away from Mariposa, and by the time he finished the race, she was trailing him by just over fifty kilometres. The crowd had roared it's approval for Mark when he'd won the race, and had cheered just as vigorously for Mariposa when she flew across the line about seven minutes after he had.

"This racing season might end up being even better than last year now that Mark's got some serious competition catching up to him," Joel said.

Carolyn nodded as she stood up. "That will be great if it is. I'm heading for bed, though. We've got a busy day tomorrow, and I'm going to have my nightly chat with Al and get some sleep."

"Me too, except for the chat with Al," Amy said. "I'll have my chat with Brian instead."

She and Joel both got up, and after they all hugged Brianna goodnight, went with Carolyn into the Ravenclaw Common Room, and off to their respective dorm rooms. Carolyn and Amy both got ready for bed and VirtualChats, while Joel settled into his bed with his portable WWVN intending to watch the rest of the race. Brianna straightened up her office, turned off her WWVN, got ready for bed, and had her nightly bedtime call with Scorpius before going off to sleep sometime after midnight.

There was a lot of excitement around the Great Hall on Saturday morning over the Quidditch tryouts. Since the Marauders now had members in each House, they did get to find out fairly quickly how things went for all of their friends.

Slytherin had the first slot of the day, and there was no real surprise when everyone on last year's team successfully defended their positions against a pretty light turnout. Hugo had a much bigger turnout for the Gryffindor tryouts, but the same results. Claire had been the only close call, just beating out a second-year boy with one extra goal.

After studying all morning, Brianna, Carolyn, and the others were ready to take the afternoon off to watch the Canons-Harpies game. When lunch was over, all of the Marauders went to Karl's office and got ready to watch the game.

"Who lent a broom to Erin?" Brianna asked after sitting down next to Carolyn.

"I did," Frederica answered. "She and Myra are going to stop here after they're done to let us know how the tryouts went."

"Tell me again why we're helping out candidates for the competition teams?" Hugo joked.

"It's that silly Gryffindor honour getting in the way of good sense," Frederica answered. "Wouldn't you prefer playing against the best players?"

Hugo grinned. "That depends on whether we win or not."

Down at the Quidditch pitch, Joe Jenkins had been keeping the tryouts rolling along. Sure, he was only a third year, but the team he'd worked with all last year got along with him, and since he had been on a co-Quidditch Cup winning team in his first year at Hogwarts, he was pretty popular with all of the other students in the House. He had the largest turnout for player prospects with over one hundred students. He'd weeded out half of them in the flying practice, and then moved on to tryouts for the one Beater and three Chaser positions.

That had gone as he'd expected, with all of the players from last year's team – the team he'd worked with all summer at his uncle's Quidditch pitch – successfully defending their spots on the team. Now it was time for Keeper tryouts, and five students stepped forward, not including last year's Keeper, Don.

"Lady and Gentlemen," he said, smiling at Myra, the only girl in the group, "you'll face one shot from each of our team Chaser's, and the best of the five of you will go up against Don for the spot on our House team. Any questions?"

There weren't, so Joe sent the Chasers in the air, and the first Keeper candidate. With just three shots against each of them, it didn't take long, and he was surprised that the pretty, first year Witch that he hadn't met yet had saved all three of her shots and beat out the four older boys.

"Great job!" Joe told the smiling Myra. "This round will be five shots from each Chaser, most saves out of fifteen wins the House team spot, and the other candidate will be our reserve team Keeper. Since you're defending your spot, Don, would you like to go first or second?"

"Ladies first," Don told his friend and Captain with a smile.

"Okay. We'll alternate after every round of three shots," Joe told his two competitors. "Everyone, in the air, please, and let's get started."

The Ravenclaw captain, and the students who'd come to watch or tryout were lucky to be there to witness a virtuoso Keeper tryout, as Myra stopped all fifteen one-on-one shots against her. Don managed a respectable eleven of fifteen saves, but knew he was outplayed. He was grinning ruefully when he'd landed next to Myra.

"I'm going to miss playing on the team with you, mate," he told Joe as he put out his hand to Myra. "Congratulations. You should be a big surprise for the other teams when we play them this year."

Myra shook his hand and laughed. "That would be nice, but unfortunately, my brother, cousin and their friends know all about me, so we won't have surprise on our side."

"Your brother and cousin?" Joe asked, trying to put that together.

Myra nodded. "Liam's my big brother, and Kieran's my cousin," she told them. "I'm Myra Murray."

"Well, at least I can go back to the Common room and tell everyone I got beat out by Meghan Murray's daughter," Don said. "I feel much better now."

Joe nodded. "I feel pretty dumb for not paying more attention to the sorting this year. Welcome to the team, Myra."

The last part of tryouts was for the Seeker position. Joe had seven candidates for the position, and went with two groups, with the winners facing off for the House and Practice team spots. Erin was in the first group of four, which included last year's now fifth year Seeker, and she shocked everyone when she caught the snitch in under a minute, outracing the three boys she was competing against. Joe couldn't hide being upset that another of his friends had been unable to defend his spot on the team, but this really bothered him because not only had his Seeker been beaten, but he also hadn't even made it to the final two candidates.

He sent the second group up, and it took twenty minutes for a sixth-year Wizard to catch the snitch. Erin proved that the first catch wasn't a fluke when she caught the snitch the second time in one minute and twenty-five seconds to win the spot on the team.

"That was amazing," he told Erin. "Don't tell me you're from a famous Quidditch family too."

Erin grinned at him. "No, I'm not," she answered. "My name's Erin McLeod."

"Well, Erin, welcome to the team," Joe said, shaking hands with her. "I have a feeling that we're going to have an interesting season."

Joe thanked everyone for coming, and had a short meeting with his team, and then Myra and Erin left the Quidditch Pitch together, wanting to get back to the school and tell everyone that they'd both made the team. They met up with Kieran, Nadine, and Miranda just outside of the entrance.

"Those two smiles pretty much tell it all," Kieran said as he hugged the two girls. "Congratulations. I knew you'd both make the team."

"Thanks, Kieran," Myra told him. "You should have seen Erin. She totally left the other Seekers in the dust."

Erin laughed. "Like your shutout Keeper performance wasn't pretty awesome too."

"We've got to get to our tryouts," Kieran said. "The Canons' game is pretty good. Why don't you two watch it with the others in Karl's office, and I'll talk to you after we're done our tryouts."

Myra nodded, hugged him again, and wished them good luck before going on into the school while Kieran, Nadine, and Miranda headed toward the Quidditch pitch.

"Thanks for lending me your broom," Erin told Frederica when she handed in back to her after she and Myra were let into Karl's office. "Who' winning?"

"You're welcome, and the Harpies are up twenty points right now," Frederica answered. "Congratulations on making the team," she told the two girls.

"Thanks," Myra said as she hugged Frederica and then Liam.

"Before you sit down to watch the game," Brianna told Erin, "I'm supposed to give you this." She handed a gift to the surprised Erin, and then she sat down next to Brianna and Carolyn to open it.

When she unwrapped the present, there was a fairly small case that she opened up, and after looking inside, dropped it in her lap and hugged Brianna.

"Thank-you!" she said happily. There were tears in her eyes, and she was grinning when she reached back into the case and pulled out the Lightningbolt that had been placed in the undetectable expansion case.

"James gave that to me last week," Brianna explained. "He was very sure that you'd make the team and earn your new broom. I have to send that case back to Lily, though. She uses it for her spare keyboard."

Erin handed her the case back, and got up to put her new broom against the wall next to where Myra had left hers. When she sat down again, Brianna put her arm around the younger girl and hugged her again as they sat back to watch the game. The Canons and Harpies were having a real battle, and Erin was happy to join in and cheer on Liselle and the Canons.

The game was still going on when Kieran and Nadine rejoined the game day party. The Hufflepuff team had stayed together for another year too, and Kieran was happy with having his veteran team together for one more year.

They were just getting ready to make the decision to pack up the party and go for dinner when Liselle managed to catch the snitch for the Canons after the Harpies Seeker lost track of Liselle and the snitch while dodging a bludger attack from Tristan. The Canons had been down by thirty points, so her catch won them the game by one hundred and twenty points.

"That was way too close for a home opener," Hugo said as they packed up. "The Harpies have really improved this year."

"From what Andy's been saying, quite a few teams are a lot better this year," Frederica commented. "The Canons have a pretty tough schedule again this year too."

"I wonder what he and the rest of his team saw that had them rank the Canons third this year?" Daphne asked.

"Statistics probably played a big part," Carolyn answered. "The odds of being Champions four years in a row is fairly low, not to mention keeping up that level of play for that long. They've only lost three games in the last three years."

"Then let's hope that Erica's statistics are wrong this year," Hugo said.

They all left Karl's office, either going straight to the Great Hall for dinner, or making stops to their own dorm rooms first before going on to dinner. Saturday evening was a study night for the Marauders, the little piece of Commander Lily that had been trained into all of them keeping them working when most of them would rather be taking the time off instead.

The first week at Hogwarts came to a close quietly after the excitement of Friday's broom race, and the Quidditch tryouts and Canons' game during the day. For the Marauders and the rest of the students at school, it was time to get into their normal routines.

Outside school, Rose and Matt were away on their first luxury tour. Nick and Allie would be back from their honeymoon on Sunday, and going back to their jobs on Monday. Scorpius was going to be busy getting ready for his conference in October, while Lily would be having fun with Ginny in the lab. Al would keep learning everything about being an Auror, while beginning the hunt for the two Mulcibers. For all six of last year's graduating Marauders, the next few weeks and months were definitely going to be a lot different than the school routines that had been their lives for the past five or seven years. They were beginning to find out that some of those differences were fun, exciting, and absolutely brilliant.


	116. Track and Field Work

Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen – Track and Field Work

Al was at work bright and early on Monday. On Saturday, he'd spent most of the day with Scorpius, Lily, and his family, having lunch with them, then watching the Canons' home opener from the Owner's Box before wrapping the day up with the dinner and victory party at Ron and Hermione's house. On Sunday, he'd worked on his research, except for a couple of hours in the afternoon when he, Lily, and Scorpius had visited with Nick and Allie after they got back from their honeymoon.

"You've already been impressing us," Hestia told him when she came into the office and saw him at work already. "It's not necessary for you to be the first one here every day."

"Good morning," Al said as she sat down across the desk from him. "The extra time I'm working right now is more to keep myself busy than it is to impress anyone," he explained. "I have found something that probably will impress you, though. I'm pretty sure I know where the Mulcibers are."

Hestia sat up straight in her chair, and looked at Al intently. "What've you found?"

"I've got two business associates of the Avery family running a business in Cork, Ireland, who live at an Avery family estate near Fermoy. Lem Rubic Senior and Junior are in the right age ranges at around one hundred, and seventy years old respectively. The business is listed as import/export, but could be anything."

"Why do you think it could be the Mulcibers?" Hestia asked.

"There are quite a few reasons," Al answered, "but the most obvious to me is that Lem Rubic is Mulciber with the letters rearranged."

Hestia nodded. "That can't be a coincidence. What would you suggest doing next?"

"I'd say it's time for some surveillance," he said confidently. "While that's going on, we should also work up a capture plan. We probably have the element of surprise right now since they've lost their eyes and ears among the Aurors."

"Let's meet with Rick after our workout, and see what he thinks," Hestia decided. "We'll definitely want to get this right the first time. If it is them, and we miss, it could be another twenty-five years before we get another chance." She stood up and smiled at Al. "Get all of the information you've gathered together, and let's keep this quiet until we've talked with Rick."

Al agreed with a nod of his head, and Hestia went around the divider to her own cubicle to work until it was time for their morning training session. He'd only been doing the workouts with the Aurors for a week, and already Al was finding that he had passed the minimal fitness level that the other Aurors were maintaining. When they'd finished the half-hour of fitness training, and had cleaned up and changed, Al got his research paperwork from his desk, and followed Hestia to Rick's office.

"Hestia tells me that you've found the Mulcibers," Rick said to Al after they'd all taken seats. Hestia had told him last week about Al's opinion that there were actually two Mulcibers, not one, which had made a lot of what both Aurors had known about the case make a lot more sense in hindsight. Al handed over the documents he'd brought along, and Rick began to read them as he listened to Al's explanation.

"I started my search by getting all of the Ministry records on the Avery family properties and finances, which were fairly extensive," Al told Rick and Hestia.

"To make the story shorter, while many of the Death Eaters were caught and sentenced to time in Azkaban, there were still quite a few who were never captured. Back in ninety-eight, not long after the war, two partners were put on record for one of the Avery's companies in Cork. Lem Rubic Senior and Junior began running the business that fall, and their home address is an Avery family property about twenty miles north of Cork, near Fermoy." Al stopped for a moment, but Rick just motioned for him to continue.

"I could find no record of either of the Lem Rubics prior to that year in the Ministry records, including immigration," Al continued. "Add to that the letters from Mulciber can spell Lem Rubic, and I'm quite certain that these are the Wizards we're looking for."

"I agree," Rick said. "What do we know about any other family?"

"I haven't gotten anything about that yet," Al admitted. "No school records of kids with the last name Rubic, and no records of wives for either Lem, although we know that at least the senior Mulciber was married. We'll need to know how many Witches and Wizards are living on that estate if that's where we end up deciding to attempt apprehending them."

Rick nodded. "Let's set up surveillance at both their business in Cork, and at their home near Fermoy. Hestia, have Geoff and Vicky Hooper, and Garret Vance stake out the business. You and Al can watch the estate with Patrick Perks."

"You want me to take Al out into the field already?" Hestia asked in surprise.

"His Golden Eagle animagus won't be noticed there now that they've been so successfully reintroduced to Ireland over the past twenty years or so, and he'll be able to see things at the estate from a long distance away, while you and Patrick will need to be very careful – especially if there is any protection set up, which there probably is."

Hestia nodded. "Okay. Should we start today?"

"You, Al, and Patrick can start today. Have Patrick get some sleep later this afternoon and take the night shift. The others can start on the business tomorrow. Does it run day and night?"

Al shook his head. "Just during the day," he answered. "We should probably stake it out a couple of nights just in case the place is used for other activities at night that we don't know about."

"It wouldn't hurt for a day or two," Hestia agreed. "If it is, though, I'd expect that one or both Mulcibers would be there anyway, and one of us would be tailing them."

"Set it all up, and then you two get over to Ireland and start your surveillance. Be careful, and don't underestimate them," Rick told Hestia and Al, who both nodded and stood up.

"We won't underestimate them," Hestia promised before she and Al left Rick's office. "I'll go talk with the others and get everything set up and meet you at your desk in a half hour," she told Al. "Then we'll go take a look at this estate and see what kind of defences they have set up there."

Al was at his desk and ready to go when Hestia returned, carrying a couple of small backpacks. She handed one to Al, and he set it down on his desk to look inside.

"These are our standard field packs," she explained. "They've got the field rations and equipment we might need while on our stakeout."

The pack's rations looked pretty unappetizing, and Al ignored them as he checked out the other contents. There was a small pair of Muggle binoculars, a selection of potions, a first aid kit, a water bottle, and various other instruments tucked into pockets inside the bag.

"What's the plan?" Al asked.

"The estate is in the country, so we'll go take a little walk along the roads around the place," Hestia answered. "We'll check out the defences, and decide where we'll position ourselves to watch the place. We'll get some lunch if we can after that, and then get into position, hopefully before they get home from Cork."

Al nodded. "What would you like to use for disguise?"

"Let's go with a young Muggle couple," she decided as they both shouldered their packs and started walking toward the lifts. "An older couple might be less noticeable, but we'd have to move a lot more slowly."

There were other Witches and Wizards around once they left Auror Headquarters, so they stopped talking about their assignment, left the Ministry of Magic, and then took the TransPortal to different locations in Fermoy after Transfiguring their disguises. They met at a junction in the roads about two kilometres outside of town, and then started walking together, taking a long, looping route that wrapped around the estate that they were investigating.

"What do you think about their defences," Hestia asked Al when they were on their way back toward Fermoy, planning on having lunch at the Grand Hotel.

"The defences are a bit out of date," Al suggested. "I shouldn't have any problems flying around the place, and there are lots of places not too far from the main house where I can hide easily enough. They seem to be ready for any attempt to apparate into the property, and once in, you'd be unable to apparate back out again, but they aren't able to stop using the TransPortal instead, and may not have even considered that problem. There are some nasty surprises for anyone who breaches their defences, but we can probably get past everything with a little planning."

"There were a few people working around the property, but judging by the size of the place, there must be more workers we didn't see," Hestia said after nodding at Al's assessment.

"Probably," Al agreed. "We can keep track of how many come and go each day, and find out if there is any other family living there too."

"Too bad we can't listen in on the conversations too," Hestia commented.

"Maybe we could," Al answered. "Maybe we could get a wireless extendable ear planted on one of the Mulcibers in town, or onto one or more of the house workers."

"They're not very hard to spot," Hestia pointed out, and Al grinned.

"So we transfigure it into a pin or flower or something first," Al said. "We can all keep our eyes open for a chance to get bugs in. Since the extendable ears are really just toys, though, the Mulcibers probably wouldn't even notice them, since they wouldn't think of them as a threat."

Hestia nodded. "That's a good point. I'll pass that on to everyone else before we head back out to the estate after lunch."

They had a leisurely lunch at the hotel, then after leaving, split up, with Hestia walking back toward the estate, and Al apparating to a spot outside of Mallow where he could change to his animagus and fly back toward Fermoy, and the place he'd already picked out to watch the estate house. He flew high above the Blackwater river, eventually drifted away from the river and making his way to the estate property.

He didn't get out flying very often, but when he could, Al loved the freedom of flying without needing his broom. Other lesser birds gave him a wide berth, and his only worry as he descended toward the tree he planned on using for his perch, was the commotion from the other birds and animals scurrying away at his approach. Sweeping into the small copse of trees, he watched everything around him, searching to see if he was noticed at all as he landed on a branch mid-way up the tree. None of the few workers nearby seemed to notice him at all, and he silently watched them for long minutes before making even the slightest move again.

When he was certain that he hadn't attracted any attention, Al moved in closer to the trunk of the tree, and began to study the main house and surrounding buildings. His eyesight allowed him to pick out the tiniest details, and his hearing was incredibly sensitive too, which let him listen to the conversations of the outside workers too.

The first hours of Al's surveillance were pretty uneventful until near dinnertime, when two men apparated into the yard near the house, getting Al's full attention immediately. They both had grey hair, and hard, worn-looking faces. Al could easily see which man was the elder, not only by the differences in their appearances, but also by the deferential manner that the comparatively younger man showed toward the elder Wizard.

Al could hear them talking of business as they walked into the house and closed the door, but picked up nothing to tell him positively that he had the right two Wizards. He had picked his perch for the proximity to what he hoped would prove to be windows into the dining and sitting rooms of the large house. If he'd guessed right, then as the sun began setting, and the lights came on inside, he would get to see both his quarry, and any other members of the family inside.

There wasn't anyone out in the nearby grounds of the estate, and the few people that Al had seen had gone into the main house, or had probably left the property, since there were other entrances to the house out of Al's view, and another driveway to where the service entrance was located. Al planned on staking that out in the morning, while Hestia was taking care of watching that side of the property from somewhere outside of the estate today.

During the next couple of hours, Al watched the house. He was able to see the two men have dinner by themselves, with a servant periodically entering and leaving the room. They then left the dining room for some other location in the house that he couldn't see, and by the time it was starting to get dark, Al left his perch and flew off, back toward the Blackwater river and a long, sweeping exit route that he hoped wouldn't attract any unwanted attention.

When he changed back to his own form, Al took the TransPortal back to the Ministry of Magic, and went to work at his desk until Hestia joined him after switching off with Patrick out at the estate. It was nearly an hour before she sat down at his desk, and she looked tired, although she was smiling at him.

"Has the excitement worn off yet?" she asked, and Al returned her smile.

"Not yet, no," he answered. "I didn't find out all that much, though."

"Did you see them?" she asked, and Al nodded.

"Yes. They apparated into the yard in front of the main entrance, then I was able to watch them as they had dinner," Al told her. "There were just the two of them, plus a servant. I didn't learn anything new that confirmed whether they are the Mulcibers or not, though."

Hestia nodded. "Did you see anything to make you doubt who they are?"

"No. They're about the right ages, and both of them looked pretty mean." He shrugged. "Neither look like the pictures in the file from when the older Mulciber was imprisoned, but that is to be expected. Did you find out very much information?"

"I pretty much just got to see the workers who left the estate at the end of the day," Hestia answered. "Nobody came to the estate before Patrick took over." She looked at her watch and stood up. "I'm stopping by to give Rick an update before going home. You should get out of here too. Go home, get some sleep, and be back out there by sunrise. When Patrick sees you fly in, he'll know you've relieved him."

Al stood too. "Okay. Do you just want to meet back here after Patrick relieves you tomorrow night?"

"Check your WiComm when you change back tomorrow, and I'll leave you a message," Hestia told him. "I've got to coordinate with the others too, so I'm not sure right now. We'll sort of play it by ear these first few days."

Hestia left him, heading for the lifts, and Al sat back down, wanting to finish what he'd been working on, and then he packed up and left for home. He made dinner for himself, cleaned up, had his nightly VirtualChat with Carolyn, and went to sleep, needing to get up before dawn to get back out to his post.

During the rest of the week, he found out all about the hours of tedium that went into the surveillance of their suspects, some days with nothing really going on at all. Hestia kept him in the loop with any information the rest of their team was gathering, and they were making slow progress. Garret Vance had staked out the business property the first two nights, with nothing going on, and then joined Patrick at the estate so they could cover more ground there, and be able to leave and track their targets if either left the estate.

By the end of the day on Friday, they pretty much had the routines down for the two men, knew how many workers there were at the estate and business respectively, and had checked out every customer that had visited their business offices in Cork. It wasn't until Saturday morning that they got confirmation that Lem Rubic Senior and Junior were in fact Uncle and Nephew Mulciber, and that happened when the two men went out for a walk around the estates, and Al was able to watch and listen in on their conversation.

"This is beautiful country, Uncle," the younger man said as they walked toward the copse of trees where Al was perched. "Yet I am sick of it. We've been hiding out here for more than twenty-five years now. Why are we stuck here while many of the others get to live out in the open and actually have lives?"

"We are not the only ones in hiding. Would you have preferred a decade or two in Azkaban, Nephew?" the older man asked in a raspy, hard voice. "Maybe you could have been at that meeting with Lucius and the others, and gotten to join them for that unbreakable vow that Harry Potter imposed on them."

"If we'd been there, Harry Potter would have been working for us or dead," Lem Junior answered.

The older man barked out a laugh. "I doubt that all of the Knights could have managed that, my boy. The only smart thing those fools did was to not call for the rest of us when he suggested they'd need more help. That would have been a disaster!"

"So you've said, Uncle. Do you think that someday you'll stop referring to me as 'boy'? I am over seventy now."

"I must call you something, and I despise our ficticious names as much as you've come to despise our lovely prison," the elder Lem answered.

"Some day the Knights will succeed, and we will take back our rightful places, and the name of Mulciber will be restored to its former grandeur," the younger Mulciber stated confidently.

"If we don't keep having these blows against our cause," the older Mulciber answered. "Losing Lucius, and having that traitor of a son of his turn his back on us has made things difficult for us these last two months."

"Naricissa and the others should have killed him, or brought Draco to you so he could be Imperiused if needed, Uncle."

The older Wizard nodded. "Yes, but that they didn't or couldn't is of some concern. Draco has never shown much skill, but I doubt Narcissa would have allowed this to happen without a fight, and if he was strong enough to defeat and subdue her, then the boy is a new adversary we need to be careful with."

"We'll deal with him after we've dealt with that brat of his," Lem Junior said. "We have endured enough defeats in recent years. It's about time for some successes for our side."

"The others have underestimated that boy every time. Hopefully they have not done so again," Lem Senior answered.

Their conversation continued as they walked, and Al continued to listen in when he was able to be close enough to do so. When the two Wizards returned to the house, he flew off, being as careful as always, changed back to his own form near Mallow, and then sent a Quill Message to Hestia before taking the TransPortal to London.

"I take it that you have some news if you're having us both leave our surveillance," Hestia said a half-hour later when she sat down across the desk from Al.

"I've confirmed that they are the Mulcibers, and they are Uncle and Nephew," Al told her with a nod. "They were out for a walk, and I overheard most of their conversation. The reason I left, though, was because they also talked about 'dealing with' Elder Malfoy. I think that we need to think about capturing these two as soon as we can, and find out how close they are to acting against Scorpius."

"Let's get together with Rick and see what he says," Hestia told Al, pulling out her WiComm and calling their boss.

They had a fifteen-minute wait for Rick to join them at Auror Headquarters, and they moved into his office. Over the next hour, Al told them about everything he'd heard during the morning, and they discussed what to do next. Al was sent back to the estate to continue the surveillance, while Rick and Hestia were going to work up a capture plan with some of the other Aurors over the rest of the weekend. Patrick and Al were left to watch the estate for the rest of Saturday and Sunday, and the plan was to apprehend the Mulcibers when they went to leave for work on Monday morning.

Rick had insisted that Al not be put in harm's way during their mission, but had made the exception on two points. Al would be flying in before dawn, and dropping off a pair of special TransPortal terminals that the capture team would be using, and he would then wait in the copse of trees where he could observe the other Aurors.

Monday morning, Al was up well before dawn, had gotten ready, eaten, and left for Ireland, this time picking Mitchelstown for the place to switch into his animagus and fly to the Avery estate. He swooped in low near the house and dropped off the two small devices he was carrying in his talons, each landing exactly where they were supposed to be. One was hidden among the flowers in a garden that was the centrepiece of the looping drive, and the other dropped to the ground under a bush near the corner of the house.

Al was in place and watching when the two Wizards came out of the house, ready to leave for work as they'd done every morning. Suddenly, eight Aurors, including Rick and Hestia, appeared, surrounding the two old men.

"Stop where you are!" Rick commanded. "You are both under arrest!"

Neither man hesitated even a moment, and spun as if to apparate away, but nothing happened. Unable to apparate, they both pulled their wands, put up shields, and went on the attack. Rick, Hestia, and the others got shields up in time too, but they all seemed shocked by the speed and ferocity of the attack. Vicky Hooper went down with a cry of pain, and it was all that her husband Geoff could do to crouch down next to her and shield them both, effectively putting two of the eight Aurors out of commission.

With one flank now weakened, the two Mulcibers started moving in that direction, shielding against the four Aurors behind them, and attacking the two remaining Aurors in front of them. Al watched in dismay as the two Wizards ruthlessly pushed Patrick and Garret steadily backwards, looking to escape.

He didn't even think about the how or why he was able to do it in his animagus form, but launched power transfer spells to the six Aurors who were still able to battle the Mulcibers, and watched as they pushed back and held the two old Wizards. They held them, and the battle intensified.

'It's taking too long,' Al thought to himself. They were going to be in trouble if any of the staff came out to join the fight. He launched himself into the air, flying first away from the group of Witches and Wizards battling next to the house, and climbing high before silently diving toward the Mulcibers. The two Wizards looked up at the same time, just as Al was almost upon them, and both pointed wands at him, sending green bolts of light flashing toward him.

'Impervious Totalis!' Al thought to himself. His golden eagle animagus was immediately surrounded by a glowing shield that dispersed the two killing curses harmlessly even as he spread his wings to their full extension, swooped in, and grabbed the two wands that had been raised above the heads of the two Wizards.

As soon as he did that, their shields winked out, and the six Aurors on the ground quickly surrounded and bound the two now-helpless Wizards.

"What is the meaning of this?" the older Mulciber demanded. "Why have you attacked us?"

"The word is 'arrested'," Rick answered. "Would you prefer we call you Lem Rubic, or Mulciber? I hear you really dislike your name, but if you'd like to stick with it for a while longer, it doesn't really matter to me."

"How did you find us?" the younger Mulciber asked angrily. "You've been fumbling around for twenty-five years and haven't found anyone we didn't let you find."

Hestia grinned at them. "A little birdie told us," she joked, as Al walked up and handed two wands to her. "Have a little problem with staying out of the way and just observing?" she asked Al, who shrugged.

"I wasn't in any real danger, and if it had taken much longer, reinforcements might have arrived. Speaking of which, we should probably get out of here before we find ourselves fighting again. I expect that word has reached the Avery's by now."

"Good point," Rick agreed. "Good job, everyone. Emma, help Geoff get Vicky to St. Mungos, the rest of you, let's get these two over to Auror Headquarters for a little chat."

Emma Midgen had nodded to Rick and gone over to help Geoff get Vicky up and then helped him get her down the driveway and out the gate before they disappeared. The remaining five Aurors, one Auror-trainee, and two captives followed them down the drive, and then apparated directly to the training room at Auror Headquarters; both Mulcibers still in body-binds. Rick and the other Aurors took the Mulcibers to one of the interrogation rooms, except for Hestia, who waited with Al until they were gone, then took him to the observation room where they could watch the first of what would likely be many interrogations of the two Dark Wizards.

"This should be fun," Hestia told Al as they sat down in a couple of chairs to watch through the one-way glass. "The file noted that the older Mulciber was able to keep from giving up any information back when he was captured after the first war, so we'll see whether we get anything this time."

Al nodded. "Is Rick going to do the interrogations?"

"Yes," Hestia answered. "With Garret and Sturgis Podmore."

While she was saying that, Sturgis had walked into the interrogation room and joined Rick, Garret, and the two Mulcibers, so even though they couldn't be heard from where they were, both Hestia and Al stopped talking and just listened as the interrogation began.

"Welcome to Auror Headquarters," Rick told the two Wizards. For whatever reason, our records have no reference to your first names. Would you care to give them to us now, or should we just call you Lem Senior and Junior?"

"You managed to catch us, and you don't even know that much?" the older Mulciber asked incredulously. "Pathetic! I am Darius Mulciber, and this is my nephew, Daemon Mulciber."

"What are you doing, Uncle?" Daemon exclaimed.

"They've caught us – for now," Darius spat out, "and I am not going to have these mongrels calling me Lem Rubic while they make their feeble attempts to interrogate us."

"Why don't you start by telling us how you ended up in Cork County, Ireland after the war?" Rick suggested.

"I don't think so," Darius answered. "Your pathetic old Legilimens is no match for either of us, and now that it's illegal again for even the Aurors to force anyone to use Veritaserum, you'll get nothing out of us, Savage."

"You're probably right," Rick agreed, "but since we have nothing better to do for the rest of the day, we thought to amuse ourselves with the attempt."

Over the next few hours, Rick, Sturgis, and Garret took turns asking Darius and Daemon Mulciber questions that were for the most part left unanswered by the two Wizards. They took a break at lunch, posting two Aurors as guards while the three men joined Al and Hestia in the observation room, where they ate and discussed what they'd found out so far.

"They're being decidedly uncooperative," Rick said happily as they ate and looked into the interrogation room where their captives were also having lunch. "Did you come up with anything, Sturgis?"

The older man shook his head. "Nothing, Rick. They are both superior Occlumens. I'm sorry."

Rick shrugged. "It is of no matter, my old friend. They will be spending a long time in Azkaban after they stand trial before a Wizengamot tribunal. We have more than enough evidence of their previous crimes, even if he have little about what they have done since the war."

"What about what they did to Miles?" Garret demanded. "It must have been Darius who imperiused him!"

"We'll keep working on them," Rick answered. "Without any proof, though, we'll probably have to settle for putting them away for what we do have, including today's little adventure where they resisted arrest, injured an Auror, and used numerous unforgivable curses."

When they were finished eating, Rick sent Garret and Sturgis back into the interrogation room, while he stayed back for a few minutes with Hestia and Al.

"What did you get, Al?" Rick asked quietly. "I'm sure you didn't have the problems that Sturgis did."

"I didn't," Al agreed. "There is no doubt that the Averys have been hiding them, although not everyone was in the loop on who they were. They're both involved with this group that they both think of as 'the Knights', which seems to be a replacement of the Death Eaters. I'm only picking up things that they are overtly thinking about, so maybe if you start asking them about some of the other old Death Eaters that you're looking for, they'll start thinking about where they are, assuming they know."

Rick nodded. "We can do that. Anything else?"

"I'd like to find out more about what they were talking about for Scorpius, but I'm not sure how to bring it up without them being suspicious."

"Easy enough," Hestia said. "Just work in Scorpius as a potential Elder for their tribunal. That should get them thinking about him."

"We can do that," Rick agreed. "Don't make any plans for the next few days. You'll both be in here every time we talk with them. I want to get everything we can out of them before they're off to Azkaban."

Al and Hestia spent the rest of the afternoon watching the interrogation, and when it was near dinnertime, the Mulcibers were led away to the cells they'd be spending the night in down in the dungeons of the Ministry, where they would be well-guarded.

While they'd been busy with their work, that afternoon, the Minister of Magic and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Minister Peasegood had called together a press conference to notify the Wizarding World of the apprehension of the two Dark Wizards. Trust the politicians to take advantage of the situation if they could.

Rick met with Hestia and Al after his two prisoners were safely locked away, wanting to hear what Al had learned during the afternoon.

"They don't seem to know where the other Death Eaters that were never captured are exactly, although there were some vague impressions for a few of the names that suggested they've been sent to different places around the world," Al reported. "There must be a few Wizards who do know where everyone is, but the Mulcibers do not."

"What about these Knights?" Hestia asked. "Anything more on them?"

"Nothing more than that Daemon wondered whether we were on to the Knights, since Rick was asking about so many of the members, but then he decided that we were just asking about former Death Eaters, and not about any of the newer members."

"Did either of them let anything slip about Scorpius?" Rick asked.

Al nodded. "When Garret suggested that maybe Scorpius would be one of their judges, they were both thinking that it was too bad that Darius didn't get to Imperius him before they were captured, or they might have been found innocent. Darius was also thinking that they'd just have to kill Scorpius instead, since that was plan B."

"No idea of when they were going to attack him?" Hestia asked.

"No," Al answered. "We'll have to work on narrowing that down if we can. Maybe we can catch a few more Knights if we can find out."

"I wonder if we should put some protection on Elder Malfoy," Rick said.

"If you do, then whoever is coming after him will know we're on to them," Hestia told Rick. "Let Al talk to Scorpius, and let him just make sure he's with other Witches and Wizards as much as he can be until we find out more."

"That's okay with me for now," Rick agreed, "but if we don't find out what's going on over the next couple of days, then he'll be getting a full security detachment until we can be sure he's safe."

"If you're done with me for the day, I'll go talk with him now – knowing Scorpius, he'll still be in his office working."

Rick and Hestia both nodded that they were done for now, and so Al left Auror Headquarters, and went to Scorpius' office on Level Five.

"Hey mate," Scorpius said, smiling as Al came into his office. "I haven't seen you much over the last week. Does this visit mean that whatever you've been up to is finished? Were you involved with the big news of the day?" Al closed the door, sealed the room for privacy, and went to sit down across the desk from his friend.

"You heard about the capture, then?" Al asked, and Scorpius nodded. "It's all over the Ministry," he answered. "It's a good day for the Aurors."

"It's a start," Al said. "What I'm stopping by for, though, is to talk with you about something we're starting to investigate that involves you. We've got reason to believe that you're going to be a target of some friends of the Mulcibers. We're hoping to find out more about what they have planned, but for now we want you to be more careful. Don't go anywhere alone, and keep your eyes open."

"Why are they coming after me?" Scorpius asked.

"It looks like originally, they wanted to Imperius you, just like they were planning years ago," Al told him. "They wanted you working for them. Now that we have their best at the Imperius Curse, though, plan B is to kill you."

"Then you had best stop them from doing that. Brianna would be very upset with you if they manage to do that before we're married – or afterwards, for that matter."

Al laughed. "I can't say that worrying about what Brianna would do to me if I let you get killed is all that motivating, but don't worry. We're not going to let anything happen to you. If we don't find out more details in the next day or two, you'll be getting security to protect you, but we're hoping we'll find the when and where so that we can catch the people that are coming after you."

"Good," Scorpius told Al. "Are you done for the day?"

"Yes. Want an escort home?" Al asked, and Scorpius nodded.

"Sure, and if you don't have plans, I'm sure that Kreacher and Winky won't mind one more for dinner."

Al was all for that plan, so he and Scorpius ended up having dinner together, and a couple of hours together before he apparated home to Hogsmeade. He'd taken some reading home with him from the office, like he normally did, and he was reading in bed when Carolyn sent the QuillMessage to let him know she was ready for their nightly VirtualChat.

"Were you in on that capture today?" she asked as soon as he entered the chat program.

"Um, Hi, honey. How was your day. I love you and really miss you," Al answered.

"You were!" she accused. "Were you hurt? They said on the news that one of the Aurors had minor injuries."

"I'm fine, Carolyn," Al assured her. "I wasn't hurt, and Vicky is already back home, though they've told her to take a few days off."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" she asked, and Al's avatar shrugged.

"I couldn't, Carolyn. There's going to be times in this job that I won't be able to tell you everything, and you probably don't really want to know, or you'd just worry all of the time."

"Like I'm not going to worry about you anyway," she told him.

"Try not to," Al said softly. "I'll be doing this for a long time, and I am going to be fine. How's everything at school?"

"The usual – classes, studying, and Quidditch," Carolyn said. "Everyone that can go into town is getting excited about our first Hogsmeade weekend."

"I had dinner with Scorpius tonight, and I can tell you that there are two Wizards out here that are pretty excited about that too. I'm sure Lily is just as fired up about seeing Kieran."

Carolyn's avatar nodded. "This has seemed like a very long three weeks, and we still have most of this week left to go. Will you be busy?"

"For the next couple of days for sure," Al answered. "I'm supposed to observe the interrogations. If it's like today, a lot of it is going to be pretty boring. Our two suspects are not being very cooperative, so mostly Hestia and I get to listen to Rick and the other Aurors talk."

"Be careful anyway, Al," Carolyn told him. "The bad guys can't be happy about those two Wizards getting caught."

"I will be," he promised.

They talked for a while longer, then ended the VirtualChat so they could both get some sleep, each of them tired after a very long day. Al spent most of the next three days cooped up in the observation room, watching as Rick, Hestia, and several of the other Aurors continued the interrogation of Darius and Daemon Mulciber. The two Dark Wizards were grilled over and over again about the other Death Eaters who'd never been captured, or had commited new offences and were again on the run. Al picked up quite a bit of information from the pair, but it wasn't until Thursday afternoon that they finally got the information they wanted about Scorpius. Rick had been wrapping things up for the day, and had been telling his prisoners about what would be happening to them next.

"Tomorrow, you'll be brought before the full Wizengamot, where we will be publicly declaring the charges against you," Rick told Darius and Daemon. "Your tribunal of Elders and trial date will be announced, and then you will be sent to Azkaban to await that trial."

"I suppose you know which Elders have been chosen for us?" Darius asked Rick, who shook his head.

"Actually, I don't. I do know that the trial has been scheduled to start October twenty-first, though, so I suspect that Elder Malfoy is going to be put on the Tribunal, since I know he's busy preparing for an international conference the week before that date, suggesting they're putting it off until he's available. As a new member of the Wizengamot, I would not expect him to act as chief justice, though."

Hestia had been with Al as the interrogation was wrapping up, and saw Al's reaction to whatever he'd picked up from the minds of the two prisoners.

"What is it, Al?" she asked.

"They're going after Scorpius while he's at that conference in New York," Al answered. "These two don't know the exact details, just that it was to be handled by a group of the Knights that are living in the Americas. Darius was thinking that Scorpius might be going on that trip, but wouldn't be coming back alive."

Hestia grinned at him. "Way to go, Al. Looks like we'll be hunting down a few more bad guys very soon."

"New York is a nice city to visit in the fall," Al joked.

"You've been in school since you were eleven, Al," she pointed out. "How many times have you even been to New York in the fall?"

"Never," he answered. "That's just what I've heard. It's probably time for me to find out for myself don't you think?"

"Definitely," Hestia agreed. "We'll start working on our plans for that trip once we have these two safely tucked away in prison."

On Friday morning, Al was sitting with the other members of the Wizengamot as Darius and Daemon Mulciber were brought into the courtroom, and the charges against the two men were read out. Rick had needed to get the Minister of Magic in the loop so that Scorpius could be named to the tribunal, and the date could be set for October twenty-first, and the Minister also played along by asking some specific questions during the meeting that Rick wanted asked – like whether the two old Wizards had been cooperating with the Aurors or not.

By the time they were finished their little charade, Al was certain that the Mulciber's friends in the room were convinced that the two men had given away nothing to the Aurors, and that the other members of the Knights had been protected. All charges, except for the new resisting arrest, eight counts of assaulting an Auror, and use of unforgivable curses were from back during the war.

Once that meeting was over, Al had to switch back to Auror-trainee, and he was part of the group that took the Mulcibers to Azkaban and handed them over to the guards there. The prison had changed a lot since the war, and now the prisoners were treated humanely. There were no dementors, and the prison now guarded by carefully screened and well-trained guards.

This was Al's first trip to the prison island, so Hestia took him on a tour of the place. He was shown one of the cells, which was clean and tidy, with a comfortable, albeit small single bed, an armchair, table, dresser, and a two-piece bathroom in a closet sized room at the back of the cell. There was no place on the island for an outdoor yard, but a heavily barred terrace had been created after the war, and there was also a large common room with skylights in the ceiling high above where the prisoners could gather. Al was shown the library, lounge, and cafeteria, as well as the section of the building that housed the guards and staff who lived here full-time during their shift rotations.

"There are a lot of Witches and Wizards who think we're too easy on our prisoners now," Hestia told Al when they were on their way back to the mainland. "What did you think of the place?"

"I think it's one of the things we're doing right," Al answered seriously. "Just because we can't allow most of those prisoners to ever get out of Azkaban doesn't mean we should treat them badly. We'd be no better than our enemies if we did this any other way."

"I sort of thought you'd see it that way," Hestia said, smiling at him. "I really hope you aren't going to be too nice a guy to handle this job. It's very easy to get cynical and hardened in the Auror business, and we've lost a lot of good Aurors over the years who were just too nice to take everything that can happen."

Al returned her smile. "I'll be fine, Hestia," he assured her. "I plan on being an Auror for a long time, and I'm even going to try and stay a nice guy too."

When they got back to Auror Headquarters, Al went back to work at his desk, while Hestia and the other Aurors went back to their own work too. Keeping focused on his job wasn't all that easy for Al, since now that all of the adventure for the week was finished, thinking about getting to spend most of the day with Carolyn on Saturday was front and centre in his thoughts.

He worked his way through a book of advanced offensive spells. Some of which were actually new to him, but were also spells he would be unlikely to ever need to use, since he had other abilities that would be more effective, and less harmful to his opponents. That was something else that was on the things not to like list about what he was learning of the Aurors – the training manuals taught ways to injure or even kill opponents almost as a first option, instead of the very last, no other choice option it should always be.

At the end of the day, he went to the cottage where he was having dinner with his Mum, Dad, and Lily, and then she was coming to spend the night at his house so that they'd both be there in the morning when Carolyn, Kieran, and Brianna came to spend the day with them. Scorpius had other plans for the night, and would be joining them in the morning for breakfast.

They'd done that Saturday morning, and then had decided to walk up the road to the Hogwarts entrance in time to meet Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran there, not wanting to wait for them to walk to town. The reunion hugs and kisses were more public that way, and there were quite a few giggles, whistles, and catcalls from some of the other students, but the three couples didn't care about that at all. They were each just glad to be back together for a few hours.

All of the current New Marauders were in third year or above this year, so they were only helping out a small group of first and second year kids with supplies, including Myra, Erin, and Quincy. Liam and Frederica were taking care of that this time, so Kieran, Carolyn, and Brianna only had to get their own supplies, and then had the rest of the day to spend with Lily, Al, and Scorpius.

"It seemed like this first weekend would never get here," Carolyn told Al quietly as they walked back to town. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too," Al told her just as quietly. They were hardly alone on the road, but talking softly at least made them feel like they had a little privacy. "Where would you like to go first when we get to town?"

Carolyn grinned at him. "I'd like to go to the house and snog you senseless all morning, but unfortunately I do need to make a few stops for supplies first, and then I expect you've planned on making lunch and hanging out with our friends, so that's probably not going to work out."

"We'll still have the afternoon for some time alone in our room after lunch," he pointed out. "We can put the Canons game on the WWVN and pretend to watch it."

The three couples went around town together, stopping to talk with some of their friends when they met up with them, but mostly keeping to themselves. Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran picked up parchment, quills, inks, potions supplies, sweets, and even a few wheezes before they all went back to Al's house. He started cooking lunch for them while everyone else sat at the kitchen table with drinks and appetizers and talked while Al worked.

"So what do we have to talk about?" Kieran asked the others. "Al probably can't talk about what he and the Aurors are up to, and Lily's already told me that her work at the institute is confidential. No offence, Scorpius, but talking international trade standards isn't high on my list of exciting topics."

"No offence taken, mate," Scorpius assured him. "How's your team shaping up so far?"

Kieran smiled. "I've got the same team this year, so we're in really good shape. The wild card for the season is going to be Ravenclaw. Now that Joe has Myra and Erin, they could be a lot better than last year."

"I'm glad they're both getting a chance to play," Lily said. "It would have been a shame for them to be sitting on the bench watching Hugo and Colin play – or Nadine and John on your team, Kieran."

"Myra probably would have beaten John in the tryouts," Kieran said. "I don't think Erin's quite as good as Nadine though."

"Not yet," Lily agreed. "She's going to get better. The studying must be going pretty well for everyone. I haven't gotten a single request for help yet."

"You've trained us well, Commander," Brianna told her. "So far we've been able to take turns with tutoring each other during our study sessions. We'll only bug you if we really get stuck."

"You know it wouldn't be bugging me at all," Lily told her. "I really miss getting to hang out with everyone."

"We miss having you there too, Lily," Brianna said. "Not having you at school is making all of us better students, though. Our research skills weren't as good as they should have been by now, since all we had to do to get an answer before was to just ask you."

"I guess that's not a bad thing," Lily admitted. "Have you been doing anything except working?"

"We had a girls only pool party last weekend," Carolyn told her. "That was fun, but other than that and watching the Canons game and the broom race a couple of weekends ago, we've mostly just tried to keep busy. How about you? Are you doing anything besides working in the lab with your Mum?"

"I've been out a couple of times," Lily told the others. "I had dinner with Rose and Matt earlier this week and heard all about their first tour, which they're sure was a huge success, since everyone on the trip have promised to book another vacation with them. Mum, Dad, and I are taking a week off in October. We're going to watch Mark's South American Broom Race, and then spend the rest of the week at Marauders Paradise. We'll get back home in time for the Canons' home game on the nineteenth."

"And won't miss a single Hogsmeade weekend," Brianna added. "Good planning. Wish we could go along – it sounds like way more fun than being at school."

"It's sounds way better than working all week at the Ministry too," Scorpius said.

"You'll be in New York for half of that week," Brianna reminded him. "It's not exactly like you'll be cooped up in an office all day, and then you'll have those parties every evening too."

"Those parties won't be any fun without you there," he said seriously.

"Try to have fun anyway," she told him. "If you end up back on the TeenWitch hottest couples list the week after, though, you're going to have some explaining to do."

Al served them lunch, and they took their time eating, enjoying having the time together. They all pitched in to clean up, and then all went upstairs to three of the bedroom suites so that each couple could have some alone time.

For Kieran and Lily, that meant playing some music together and sharing some new songs they'd each written over the past three weeks. They also had the Canons game on, and took regular snogging breaks too. Carolyn and Al were content to cuddle on the sofa in his room, and spend the afternoon half-watching the Canons lose their road game to Puddlemere United. That would have made Matt very happy if he weren't missing the rare victory over the Canons while he and Rose were in Hawaii, having started their second tour. Brianna and Scorpius were doing some cuddling and snogging too, and they mostly talked politics while they completely ignored the Quidditch game.

Their afternoon seemed to go by far too quickly, and then it was time for Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran to all hurry back to school. Carolyn and Al side-along apparated Kieran and Lily to the gates, where they all shared hugs and kisses goodbye before splitting up again. Al, Scorpius, and Lily decided to walk back to town.

"At least it's only two weeks until the next Hogsmeade weekend," Lily said with a sigh. "So what do we do now? The victory party will be cancelled for tonight, since the Canons actually lost a game."

"How about we take our favourite non-Hogwarts girl shopping?" Scorpius suggested. "The Marauders Mall in New York still has lots of shopping hours left in the day, and then we could take you out for dinner somewhere."

Lily hugged him and laughed. "That's a brilliant idea, Scorpius. Do you think Allie and Nick would be up for the trip too?"

"We can find out," he said agreeably.

Shopping might not be a cure for being separated from your fiancée or boyfriend, but it was a lot better than going home and being alone for the rest of the day. Nick and Allie were more than happy to join the expedition to New York, and they helped to entertain their three friends for the rest of the day.

During the next few weeks, Al was kept busy at work. Rick had put Hestia in charge of putting together a plan for protecting Scorpius while he was at the conference in New York. They had no idea who would be attacking, or exactly when, so they were going to need to plan for every moment of the trip, and still keep it all quiet so nobody would know that Scorpius was being protected.

They poured over the conference itinerary, memorized the hotel floor plans, and reviewed every person that worked at the Camelot, would be attending the conference, and even those who would be guests at the hotel during those three days. No suspicious characters came out of that research, but Al hadn't been surprised about that – he didn't expect whoever was coming after his friend to leave a trail for them to find.

The second Hogsmeade weekend was on the first Saturday in October, and Al had invited all of the Marauders for lunch, and they all stayed in the sitting room in the afternoon to watch the Canons lose again – this time at home to the Tutshill Tornados, although Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Lily, and Kieran had all left their friends to watch the game downstairs while they'd gone upstairs so that each couple could have that time to themselves.

Rose and Matt had just one week off between most of their trips, and Al had only seen them once after they'd gotten back from Hawaii, and this weekend, they were off to India for a week for their third tour.

Al had been keeping Scorpius in the loop about what he and Hestia were doing, but they'd both agreed not to talk with anyone else about the attack they expected to come against Scorpius in just over a week. Hestia and Al finalized all of their plans during that last week before the trip, and Al passed on those details to Scorpius.

It had made for a busy week for Al, since he was working long days, and then also spent a couple of evenings with Lily and his parents before they left for their trip on Saturday, starting with going to Salvador, Brazil to catch the start of Mark's race.

While Mark was busy racing on Saturday, Al and Scorpius were both at the Ministry of Magic. They were getting ready for the conference, but also had a bunch of last-minute proposals dumped on them to be voted on at the Wizengamot meeting that had been scheduled for Monday, and were working with Callie on that, although she'd popped over to catch the start of Mark's race, and would leave for Peru in time to greet him at the end of the race.

"Why do they keep bothering with all of this foolishness?" Callie complained to Al and Scorpius. "It's such a waste of time."

"They're still hoping that one of these times we'll just have too much going on to deal with this too," Scorpius suggested. "This time they probably think that between Mark's race and my upcoming conference, we won't review all of these proposals."

"They should stop thinking," Callie shot back. "Those old boys aren't very good at it, and if they try and keep it up, they may hurt themselves."

They worked together on those proposals until Callie had to leave, then Al and Scorpius took a break, got some food, and watched Mark win his second race of the season. There had been three other racers who had been able to nearly keep up with him during this race, including Mariposa, but he'd left them all far behind as they crossed the Andes Mountains, none of them willing to take the high-speed risks that Mark took through the high mountain passes. After the race, the two friends went back to work until late in the evening, and then worked all day on Sunday too, most of that time with Callie coming back into the office to work with them.

By Monday morning, Callie had helped her two Wizengamot Elders put together rebuttals for all of the proposals, the highlights of which had been a new exemption to the House Elf Bill of Rights that would allow Masters to 'reasonable discipline' of their slaves, with the definition of reasonable being left up to the Witch or Wizard Master, and a well-hidden, but easily refuted amnesty for all war crimes over twenty-five years old, which would have been particularly valuable to the Mulcibers, since their trial was now looming close. As with every previous attempt, Al, Scorpius, and their side won all of the votes, and the twenty-one members of the pureblood elite opposition went away empty-handed and angry.

After his Wizengamot session, Al had lunch with Scorpius, then went back to work with Hestia. They were both going to be going to New York on Tuesday, but would be in disguise. For this trip, Garret would be working with them, along with Emma Midgen, Jake Dorny, and Edward Dobbs. They would each have specific jobs over the next three days, and would all be on instant call if any of the others needed them.

Because of the five hour time difference with New York, Scorpius and his team didn't leave the Ministry of Magic until after lunch on Tuesday. They checked into their rooms, and then Scorpius led them to the morning conference.

Al was Scorpius' shadow from the moment they arrived at the Camelot Hotel in New York. He would be using his cloak most of the time, and was never far away from his friend as he watched Scorpius work his political magic with the other members of the International Magical Trading Standards Body and their staff members. The entire first day went by without incident, although Scorpius and Al didn't get back to his room until after one in the morning.

"That wasn't much fun for me," Al told Scorpius after they were safely in his room and Al had put the protections up around the room.

"No surprise there," Scorpius answered. "It was so stuffy in that reception room, I don't know how you kept from suffocating under your cloak."

Al shrugged. "I just hung out near those open terrace doors a lot to get fresh air."

"Are you surprised nothing's happened yet?" Scorpius asked.

"Not really," Al told him. "Since we don't know the who or when, the only way I'll be surprised is if we get back home and nothing happened."

"You don't think that'll happen, though," Scorpius stated.

"The probability that there won't be an attack is very small," Al agreed. "I think we'd have to make a mistake, and that's not going to happen if I have anything to do with it. Let's go get some sleep, mate. It's been a really long day."

Al, Hestia, and the other Aurors were getting more nervous as they went through morning and afternoon conferences on Wednesday and there was still no sign of an attack. The American Minister of Magic was hosting the dinner and party on Wednesday night, and again, nothing happened. Scorpius and Al were safely returned to Scorpius' room by one-thirty, and Al again put up the protections around the room before they went to bed.

Rick and Hestia had decided that Al wouldn't try to communicate with any of the other Aurors unless there was an attack so that they didn't risk compromising his position and proximity to Scorpius, so while he shared the nervousness that the other Aurors felt, he couldn't talk about it with anyone – he didn't even want to let Scorpius know he was feeling edgy.

On Thursday morning, Scorpius and the other conference attendees had one more working session, followed by lunch, and then the final afternoon session, where they would make the votes and pass the new regulations that they'd worked out over the past few days, mostly thanks to Scorpius and his team. They'd done an exceptional job once again researching each issue, and negotiating fairly for everyone's best interests.

There was a fair amount of media attention for this last part of the conference – the only part of the entire three days that was open to the press to cover. With so many extra people in the conference room, Al was at his most attentive, and hoped he'd be ready for anything.

The attack on Scorpius came just as the committee chairman was beginning his closing remarks that would conclude the conference. Al's felt the danger just an instant before there was a loud double CRACK, and two Wizards apparated into the conference room directly in front of the table where the members of the Trade Standards Body were seated, and they both immediately sent killing curses toward Scorpius. Al was faster, though, and his Impervious Totalis shield fired up not just around Scorpius, but around every Witch and Wizard at the head table, protecting all of them as the two curses were harmlessly dispersed.

That had been Al's only job, and it had been up to Hestia and Edward to counter-attack. For this part of the conference, they were posing as a journalist and photographer. The two attackers had their backs to the two Aurors, and Hestia's spells disarmed and bound one of the Wizards, but the other had dodged quickly to one side as soon as Al's shield had appeared, then apparated out of sight as Edward's spells missed the man and were then dispersed as they hit Al's shimmering shield.

"Have you got the other one?" Al shouted at Hestia as he threw his cloak off.

"I've got him, Al," Hestia said as she stepped up next to her captive.

"Good," Al said. "Edward, take care of Scorpius, I'm going after the other one."

"Al – don't!" Hestia said, but Al was already gone, and so all she could do was wave Edward over to Scorpius' side, and call for reinforcements.

He hadn't had time to explain what he was doing to Hestia, but he also knew that there wouldn't be much time before the other attacker managed to escape. Al had only picked up what the man's first two moves were going to be, so he'd apparated directly to the second place he'd seen in the man's thoughts – an abandoned house the two Wizards had chosen for a rendeavous point after they'd killed Scorpius and escaped.

There was no doubt in his mind that he'd arrived first, and he quickly went inside to wait for the other Wizard to arrive. That only took a few minutes, as the other man had only stayed at his first apparition stop to either make sure he hadn't been followed, or to kill anyone who had managed to track him.

The loud crack let Al know when the other Wizard had arrived, and his heart was racing, even though outwardly nobody would have noticed anything except calm confidence. The door opened, and the man stepped in to the dimmer light.

"Good," he growled. "You made it. I thought I saw you get hit, Thorfin. That was a close one."

"Very close," Al agreed as he threw up an anti-apparition spell around the house, and then shielded himself. "Thanks for letting me know who our other prisoner is. He doesn't look anything like the old pictures. Would you prefer to just surrender, or shall we do this the hard way?"

The other Wizard laughed coarsely when he heard the youthful sound of Al's voice. "You think that a pup like you can take me in? Just who do you think you are, boy?"

The other man must still not be able to see him all that well, or Al doubted that the Wizard wouldn't recognize him. "I'm pretty sure I'm Auror-Trainee Albus Potter, and I'm quite certain I'll be taking you back with me."

Again Al heard that coarse laugh, and smiled as he watched the older Wizard raise his wand, preparing to attack.

"Goodbye, little Potter puppy," he growled, and then shouted "Avada Kedavra!"

The thick cord of green energy shot the short distance to Al in a flash, and he didn't flinch in the slightest as it crashed against his shield and dispersed harmlessly away.

"Didn't you believe your friends when they told you of my father's inpenentrable shield?" Al asked conversationally. "You should just surrender now."

"Never!" his opponent spat before shooting a flurry of spells at Al. There was a spell of purple, zig-zagging light that Al recognized that his shield had no more trouble with than the others.

"Could it be that you are the long-lost Antonin Dolohov?" Al asked the old Wizard. "That's his trademark spell, if the files are still accurate after all of these years."

"Aren't you the clever one," Dolohov said acidly. "What matters if you have found me out – you won't be able to hold that shield much longer, and then you will be dead." The old Wizard redoubled his efforts, and Al just stood his ground and waited the man out.

"While we're waiting for that to happen," Al said, "you're under arrest for your escape from Azkaban, where you were serving a life sentence for the murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett. Since then, you have outstanding arrest warrants for your participation in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, for your attack on my father, Aunt and Uncle in a café on Tottenham Court road in ninety-seven, and for the murder of Remus Lupin during the Battle of Hogwarts, along with other lesser charges."

"Then I won't be too upset to add your murder to the list, will I boy?" Dolohov spat. "Do those imbeciles at Auror Headquarters not teach their puppies offensive spells anymore? Will you just stand there until I break through your shield and kill you?"

"They teach us youngsters quite well," Al answered. "Would you like to see what I've learned in my first month and a half?"

Dolohov laughed again. "That long, boy? Sure, show me what you've got. It should be good for a laugh."

"Would you like the chance to shield first?" Al asked politely, and watched as the older Wizard put up a fairly respectable shield.

Al was sure that Dolohov probably thought he couldn't maintain his shield and attack, but the old man was about to find out he was wrong. It wasn't his intention to hurt the man, but after listing those charges, he'd had a few moments to think about the fact that this was the man who had killed Teddy's father, and afterward he'd have to admit that he had been angry when he launched his three-pronged attack.

First, he sent a massive bolt of energy that blew Dolohov's shield to pieces, then he nearly simultaneously took the other Wizard's wand, shattering it against his own shield, and then the third part of the attack sent Dolohov flying backwards, where he slammed so hard against the wall that went through the inner wall and was pinned against the bricks of the outer wall. The other man cried out in pain, and there was incredulous shock on his face as Al allowed his shield to drop, and he walked up to the other Wizard, his emerald eyes blazing as he looked into Dolohov's dark, angry eyes.

"I warned you that it would have been better for you to surrender quietly, old man," Al said quietly. "When we get back to Auror Headquarters, I'll let my boss decide when to treat you for all of those broken bones. I'm probably going to feel bad about doing that to you too – in a day or two."

He put Dolohov in a body-bind that both immobilized him, and kept those broken bones from causing any more damage internally, sent a QuillMessage to Hestia, and then apparated directly to Auror Headquarters with his captive, who looked even more stunned when he realized that Al had just side-along apparated him an impossible distance.

"You'll have lots of time to think about how badly you've underestimated a member of the Potter family once again," Al told him as Rick, Hestia, and several of the other Aurors came running into the training room.

"I'd like you all to meet Antonin Dolohov," Al said when they came to a stop next to him. "If one of you would be so kind as to conjure a stretcher, he sustained some injuries while being apprehended, so you will need to be careful with him. We should probably get a Healer to see him soon too."

"Dolohov!" Rick said excitedly. "You captured Dolohov by yourself?"

Al grinned at his boss. "Do we have to make that bit of information public? I'd really rather we keep it just between us Aurors, and I'm sure that he certainly won't want to admit he was captured by a single Auror-trainee. It'd be much better for him in Azkaban if he told everyone he was captured by a whole gang of us – at least twenty or thirty."

"We can probably do that," Rick agreed. "What kind of injuries does he have?"

Hestia had conjured the stetcher, Al levitated Dolohov onto it, and then had let Garret take over the body-bind spell, which the other Auror may have momentarily made a bit too tight, since Dolohov cried out once, and his face went nearly white.

"Oops," Garret said before easing off the bindings just a bit.

"I pushed him a bit too hard when I was capturing him and he sort of went through the wall I was going to pin him against," Al said, answering Rick's question. "I'm not very good at Healing, so I didn't try, but I could tell he's got a couple of breaks in each arm, a broken collarbone, two or three cracked ribs, and several fractures in his wand hand, since it was outstretched when he hit the wall."

"Sort of went through the wall?" Hestia teased. "That sounds like a lot worse than going through a wall."

Al actually looked a bit sheepish. "The outside wall stopped him from going all the way through – it was brick."

"Oh my," Hestia said, trying not to laugh. "That explains it alright. Did you learn anything from him?"

Al nodded. "We had quite a long chat while he tried to destroy my shield. The only really useful information was that the other Wizard who attacked Scorpius is Thorfinn Rowle. Had you learned that from him yet?"

Hestia shook her head. "No. We haven't even started interrogating him. They sent two of the big boys out to play this time, though. Dolohov here is one of the original Death Eaters, and while Rowle wasn't high up in the Death Eaters, he was one of their stronger soldiers."

Rick had Emma and Garret take charge of Dolohov, and call for a Healer from St. Mungo's Hospital before having the others get back to work. He, Sturgis, and Hestia went into the interrogation room, and Al was sent into the observation room, where he once again would be spending hours watching as Rick and the others began to interrogate a former Death Eater. Vicky came in and handed Al a sandwich and drink that she must have picked up at the cafeteria, and Al nodded to her.

"Thanks, Vicky," he said quietly. "It seems like a long time since lunch."

"From what Hestia has told us, it was nearly four o'clock when the attack happened, Al. I don't know how long you fought with Dolohov, but you got here more than an hour and a half after Hestia and the others. It's eleven o'clock our time if you haven't changed your watch yet."

Al looked up at the clock on the wall in surprise. He'd completely forgotten about the time change from New York to London, and it was indeed eleven o'clock at night now.

"It didn't seem to take that long," Al told Vicky. "I guess he did keep attacking for quite a while before I ended it, though."

Vicky put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You did really great today, Al. If you get too tired, let Rick know. He can always pick up the interrogation tomorrow, even though I know he wants to talk to both Rowle and Dolohov tonight first."

"I will," Al promised. "I think it'll be a while yet before I've wound down from the past few hours. Besides, it still feels early to me since I've been on New York time for a few days now."

Vicky nodded, patted his shoulder again, and left the room. She and her husband, Geoff had been working at the office since morning, and were heading home. Al turned his attention back to Thorfinn Rowle. His hair was white now, but his file picture showed that he'd once had blonde hair. He was quite a bit larger than Al, which had him wondering why Dolohov hadn't noticed right away that something was wrong when he'd walked into that abandoned house. It might have just been because of going from bright light outside into a darkened room.

Rick had yet to mention that they knew who they'd captured, or that they had also caught Dolohov. He asked questions about the attack, and where they could find his partner. Where Al was only able to read the surface thoughts of the Mulcibers, Thorfinn Rowle was like an open book to him, and probably to Sturgis too, since the man obviously had no talent for hiding his thoughts at all.

Al learned that Rowle and Dolohov had been hiding out in the United States since after the war. Somehow in the confusion after the battle, Dolohov had been presumed dead, and after being laid out with the other dead from Voldemort's army had been able to escape. Thorfinn had fled the battle when he'd seen Harry Potter defeat the Dark Lord, and while the victors had momentarily forgotten about their own battles as they celebrated.

There was no doubt that Dolohov had been in charge of the pair, and Rowle had taken his orders from Dolohov ever since the war. They'd gone into hiding, moving around a lot for the first few years before settling down in a small town in Kentucky. They'd lived there ever since, taking care of some interest or other that the Lestrange family had in the Americas.

"Sturgis is smiling," Hestia said as she joined Al in the observation room so she could grab some food and take a break. "That always means he's picking up a lot."

Al nodded. "This guy's an open book. Too bad it's Dolohov who's the brains of their little operation. Rowle knows a bit about the Knights, but only the little bits that Dolohov has told him. He certainly has no idea who called for the hit on Scorpius. He didn't even know what they were doing until the last minute."

"That's not surprising. He was never one of Voldemort's top guys. Rick wants you to write up what you've found out before you head home," Hestia told Al. "We're going to switch in a few minutes, and bring Dolohov in."

"Are you going to let Rowle see him?" Al asked, and Hestia nodded.

"Definitely. That should be fun. By the way, did you get Dolohov's wand?"

Al shook his head. "It was destroyed in the fight. I can go back and get the pieces if you want, but it's in a lot of very small pieces."

"Don't worry about it," Hestia said. "I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't left around for some unsuspecting Muggle to find. She sat next to Al and finished off a sandwich, and then left the room again to get Dolohov and take him into the interrogation room.

It was definitely fun watching Thorfinn and Dolohov cross paths as one was led into the room, and the other was led out. The two former Death Eaters didn't talk at all, but Thorfinn's face had blanched as white as his hair, and his mouth had fallen open and stayed that way until after he was out of the room and being taken to the dungeons.

"Your friend didn't look at all happy to see you, Dolohov," Rick said cheerfully.

"And it's obvious you didn't tell him I was here," Dolohov snarled. "Pathetic Auror games. I'm sure they will work very well on him, but then he's a weak-minded fool anyway, and has nothing of use for you even if you do manage to get him to talk."

"Surprisingly, he hasn't talked yet," Rick told his prisoner. "We'll see if that's still the case after he's had a night to think things over – now that he knows you didn't get away like he'd thought."

"Where's your little puppy?" Dolohov asked. "Is it past his bedtime, or did one of the girls have to go change his diaper?" Rick and Hestia both laughed, as did Al in the observation room.

"He's filling out reports," Rick answered. "You know how the Ministry is – they're more interested in the paperwork that the real work."

"Sure he is," Dolohov growled, looking directly into the one-way window even though he couldn't see the still smiling Al – just the reflection of himself and the others in the room. "Why don't you bring him in and let him do the interrogation?"

Rick shrugged. "We thought maybe you'd already had more of Al than you can handle already. If those injuries you got were from him pushing a little too hard, I'd hate to see what you would have looked like if he'd been trying to hurt you instead of doing it accidentally."

Dolohov had been keeping a snide smile on his face, but that had faded as he'd listened to Rick, and Al was able to read his surface thoughts the same as he could for nearly everyone except his father and sister, so he knew that for that brief moment, Dolohov had been truly afraid of Al, even if he now was trying to convince himself that he'd just somehow made a mistake, and was looking for a way to explain to himself how he'd been defeated by a boy.

"That mongrel puppy got lucky," Dolohov sneered. "I was caught by surprise, and he had me disarmed before I knew what happened."

"I'm sure that your fellow inmates will love hearing that story – that the great Dolohov was captured by an Auror-trainee who surprised you so totally that he defeated you before you could even get a single spell off," Rick said. "I guess that's preferable to telling them that he let you throw everything you had at him for an hour or so, then blasted your defences to shreds, disarmed you, and then threw you against a wall so hard you broke" – he looked at the medical report Hestia had given him – "fifteen bones. You might want to re-think your story before getting to Azkaban, mate."

Dolohov stared daggers at Rick. "You weren't laughing like this when we killed Dumbledore while you were supposed to be guarding Hogwarts, Savage. How pathetic have the Aurors become that they had nobody better than you left to put in charge?"

Rick grinned at the old Wizard. "Apparently not as pathetic as you've become, since we seem to have managed to stop your little plot, and capture you. Instead of trading insults, though, why don't we go through the formalities of me asking the questions, and you refusing to answer, then we can all go get some sleep and try it all again tomorrow."

Rick and Hestia spent about another hour asking Dolohov the same questions they'd asked Thorfinn Rowle. While they did that, Al listened in, and also wrote up his report about what he'd picked up from Rowle, and then what he was catching from Dolohov's thoughts, not including what he'd picked up about being afraid of Al. he knew it was late, but he'd also sent a QuillMessage to Teddy asking him to stay up and wait for him to stop by on his way home, and had gotten a confirmation back a few minutes later. It was about twelve-thirty when Al handed his reports to Rick, got hugged by an equally tired Hestia, and left Auror Headquarters for his next stop.

"What's up, Al?" Teddy asked him when he opened the door to let him in. "You look beat, mate."

"It's been a long day," Al said as Teddy led him into the sitting room, where Victoire was still up; sitting on one of the sofas. Al sat down across from her, and Teddy sat down next to her. "I'm sorry to keep you up late, but I wanted to talk to you about something that's going to be big news by tomorrow morning."

"If it's the attempt on Scorpius in New York," Victoire said, "it's too late. That's already big news."

Al smiled. "I figured it would be, and this is related. It's about one of the Wizards who were in on that attack. His name is Antonin Dolohov, and he's the Death Eater that killed your father, Teddy."

Teddy stared at Al for a long minute, and Victoire put her arm around him for support. "How do you know that?" Teddy practically whispered. "I'd been told that Bellatrix Lestrange had killed my mother, but I didn't know who'd killed my father."

"It was in the file the Aurors have on Dolohov," Al answered. "Just a single witness statement. I thought you should know before it was announced, since he is being charged with that murder along with everything else he's done."

Victoire was holding on to Teddy, but had been watching Al closely too. "You caught him, didn't you?" she asked, and Al nodded, his face serious.

"Yes. He's the one that apparated out of the conference room, and I had to chase him down."

"You weren't hurt, were you?" Teddy asked.

"No," Al told him. "Dolohov was, but a Healer has already fixed him up. I'm not very proud of the fact he got hurt, but when it had dawned on me that he'd been the one to kill your father, I got a little angry and pushed him through a wall."

Teddy grinned at him. "Maybe not, but I won't be all that sorry that you did hurt him a little. I may make the time to be there for that trial. Thanks for coming and telling us, Al – and for catching him."

Al nodded and stood up again. "You're welcome, Teddy. I'm going to get out of here and go get some sleep. I've got another long day ahead of me just a few hours away, and I'm sure you two want to get to sleep too."

Teddy and Victoire both got up, hugged him, and saw him out, then Al apparated to Hogsmeade. He went into his house, and straight upstairs where he grabbed a hot shower and then went to bed. The next thing he remembered was waking up to the pre-dawn light of early morning, his internal alarm clock not failing him even though he'd been exhausted. He got up, showered again, dressed, and went downstairs to make himself breakfast. He was still cooking when his WiComm chimed, and he opened it to see Carolyn's face looking at him.

"Hi sweetie," he said, smiling at her. "This is a pleasant surprise."

"Only because I can't reach through the WiComm and get my hands on you," she told him. "Did you and Scorpius forget to mention to Brianna and I that you'd both be risking your lives this week while you were in New York?"

"I'm sorry, Carolyn. We couldn't tell you. Scorpius was the only person outside of the Aurors who knew anything about this."

"You knew that Scorpius was in danger and let him go anyway! Brianna wants me to let her punch you out first. I'm seriously thinking about letting her. Then it'll be my turn."

Al laughed, which seemed to make Carolyn even madder. "Why are you laughing? Does the bigshot Auror think he's got nothing to worry about from a couple of young Witches?"

"No," he said quickly. "I'm sure you'd both have no trouble beating me up. You won't, though. Once you stop being mad at us, you'll know we did what we had to do, Carolyn. You're not going to like this part of my job, but you do need to try to get used to it, or we'll be having these fights every time I have to go out in the field and go after all the bad guys. I'm fine, and you know I wouldn't let anything happen to Scorpius. I just hope I don't have to protect him from Brianna next Hogsmeade weekend."

He watched Carolyn take a deep, calming breath, and she finally smiled at him. "Okay, Al. I'm sorry. This is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I really thought your being an Auror wouldn't be like this. You've been in on more captures in a few weeks than I've heard about my whole life. Couldn't you have worked into the new job a little more slowly? You don't have to catch all of the bad guys this year."

"I wish I could promise I would, but you know I'll just keep doing my best," Al said.

"I know," she agreed. "I'm sure you have to get to work and I have to get down to the Great Hall. Talk to you tonight?"

"Definitely. I love you, Carolyn. Have a good day," Al said.

"I love you too, Al," Carolyn answered before they both ended the call.

Al finished making breakfast, ate quickly, and left for the Ministry. His first stop before going to Auror Headquarters was Scorpius' office.

"How are you, mate?" Al asked when he walked in to the office and sat down. "Sorry I had to leave you hanging yesterday."

Scorpius laughed. "I could have used your help last night when Brianna got on the WiComm with me, Al. She was pretty mad at me."

"From what Carolyn said this morning, she's pretty mad at me too. I think it's a good thing that we don't have a Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow – they've at least got a week to cool off."

"The way things are going with us, that's just one more week to give us time to get in even more trouble," Scorpius joked. "Don't worry about going after that other guy yesterday either. All you missed out on was the press feeding frenzy. Your Auror buddies helped me out with that anyway. They only let me answer questions for a few minutes before bringing me back here."

"How is your team doing?" Al asked.

"They were a bit shocked yesterday, but they'll be fine," Scorpius said confidently. "They're a pretty good group. Will you be in the observation room all day?"

Al nodded. "Today for sure, and maybe all weekend too, although I'm hoping to still make the game tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure Mum will have a thing or two to say about yesterday when she finds out."

Scorpius laughed again. "She'll be the one hugging you and saying 'way to go'," he predicted. "I'm sure that Dolohov is one old Death Eater that your whole family will be glad you caught."

Al stood up again and waved. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'd better go get to work, and let you get back to it too. I'll see you tomorrow if I make it to the game."

Scorpius nodded and Al left and took the lifts from level five to level two. When he got to the main office of Auror Headquarters. Hestia was at her cubicle, and waved him over.

"Good timing, Al," she told him. "We've just sent for our two prisoners. Rick wants to work with them together today. Let's go have some fun."

"You kinda scare me sometimes," Al joked as Hestia got up from her desk, and he followed her to the observation room. "Is there anything in particular we're going to try and find out today?"

Hestia nodded. "Dolohov has got to be fairly high up, Al. We want to find out everything we can get from him about all of the other members of these Knights, and anything he knows about any of the other Death Eaters who are still in hiding."

"Sounds like a plan," Al said agreeably.

They had about a ten minute wait before Rick, Sturgis, Garret, and Patrick all came into the interrogation room, Garret and Patrick bringing Dolohov and Rowle in with them. The two prisoners were sat in chairs so they faced each other and so that Al and Hestia could see their profiles.

"Have a good night, boys?" Rick asked. Neither Wizard answered him. "This isn't going to be much fun if you won't even answer a question like that."

"Charge us and send us off to Azkaban to await trial, and quit wasting our time," Dolohov growled.

Rick sighed. "If only I could, Antonin. It's just that we have these silly procedures to follow, and you have to be given the chance to repent, come clean, and help us catch all of the other bad guys before we move on to sending you off to prison. Even Aurors get caught in the snare of politics. It's just one of the downsides of being the good guys – we're always hoping to save the bad guys from themselves."

Dolohov snorted. "How can you manage to spew that rubbish with a straight face? Give me your wand for a minute and I'll put you out of your misery."

"Nice to see you're keeping your sense of humour," Rick told him. "Let's get the show on the road, shall we?"

Rick did most of the talking, asking Dolohov and Rowle about everything he'd covered yesterday, and then going on to ask them about every former Death Eater that was still on the loose. While Rick asked the questions, Al was busy picking up everything he could from the thoughts of both prisoners, writing down anything new that he found out. As they'd all expected, Thorfinn Rowle knew almost nothing about where any of the other Death Eaters were. Dolohov never answered a single question, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking about certain things as Rick talked.

He was thinking about Bulgaria when Rick asked him about Alecto and Amycus Carrow, who had done their time in Azkaban with the other Death Eaters who'd been captured after the war ended, but were now wanted for several murders that had happened less than six months after they'd been released. When asked about Borgin and Burke, the former Dark Arts store owners, who were wanted as accomplices in the attack at Hogwarts where Dumbledore had been killed, he was picturing a non-descript store in Mexico City.

Dolohov's thoughts put Selwyn in the United States too, also hiding thanks to the Lestrange family, though he wasn't in the loop on exactly where the man was. He had information on several of the other Death Eaters, although he wasn't sure where everyone was. Al didn't get anything else new on the Knights, other than the same feeling he'd gotten from Darius Mulciber. Dolohov was also feeling pretty confident that the Aurors weren't on to their new group at all. There was something else there, but it was sort of a blankness that Al could detect, but didn't understand.

"Too bad we can't ask them anything directly about the Knights without giving up letting them know we're starting to find out about them," Hestia said, and Al nodded.

"Even if we're not getting much about that yet, at least we must be hurting them when we catch guys like Dolohov and Mulciber," Al answered.

"It certainly won't hurt our cause," Hestia agreed.

They spent the rest of the day with Al just sitting in the observation room and taking notes, while Rick worked on interrogating their prisoners. Hestia switched between the two rooms, giving Rick a break occasionally, or working with him as they grilled Dolohov and Rowle until late in the afternoon.

"That was entertaining," Rick told Al and Hestia after they'd finished and were sitting in his office. "I hate to do this to both of you, but Peasegood has our prisoners going before the Wizengamot on Monday morning, so we'll be interrogating them all weekend."

Hestia and Al both nodded their understanding. "That's okay, Rick," Hestia answered. "I don't have a life, and as long as you don't book these things on Hogsmeade weekends for Al, he'll manage."

"Don't even suggest that," Al told her. "I'm already in deep enough with Carolyn right now."

"This job is hard on marriages, Al," Rick said seriously. "Maybe she should join us too – it seems to work for Vicky and Geoff."

Al laughed. "We can't afford her. She already has a job waiting for her when she finishes school."

"Too bad," Hestia said. "We could use a few more Witches around here."

"With all of the excitement around here the last few weeks, I expect applications to go way up this year," Rick told her. "Maybe we'll get some good new prospects. We've got a long weekend ahead, so why don't you two get out of here, and I'll see you both in the morning."

Al spent yet another weekend working at the Ministry of Magic, this time getting every bit of information out of their two prisoners as possible. He missed getting to watch the Canons win at home against the Kestrels, but did get to the party at Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's place in time for dinner. Spending the evening with his family and their friends was a nice break between the long hours watching interrogations. By the end of the day on Sunday, Al was very glad it was over – at least for dealing with Dolohov and Rowle.

On Monday morning, he was in the courtroom, sitting next to Scorpius as the Wizengamot met long enough to hear the long list of charges against the two Dark Wizards. The three Elders who would be hearing this case were announced, and a trial date was set for November twenty-fifth. The meeting was adjourned, and immediately after it ended, Dolohov and Rowle were sent off to Azkaban. Al was with the group of Aurors taking them to the prison, while another group, led by Garret, were guarding Darius and Daemon Mulciber as they had been brought back to the Ministry of Magic for the start of their trial.

The courtroom was filled with reporters, victims, family members of victims, and quite a number of curious spectators. It took four days to get through all of the evidence and testimony even with the advantage of magic, and the ability to use a pensieve to view witness memories. There were two defence lawyers present at the trial, but there was little they could do to counter the mass of evidence against their clients. The two defendants had the option to do so, but certainly weren't going to submit to Veritaserum and get on the witness stand to defend themselves, so nobody was surprised when on Thursday afternoon, they were found guilty by the tribunal and each sentenced to life in prison at Azkaban.

"That was a pretty awful four days," Scorpius told Al after the trial was over and they were sitting in Scorpius' office on the fifth floor. "Those two Wizards did a lot of really terrible things. I'm glad they won't be able to anymore, but having to sit through days of testimony about what they did during the war was tough."

"At least you won't be on the tribunal for the trial for Dolohov and Rowle," Al said. "That one is going to be worse, I think – especially the witnesses that will be testifying about Dolohov killing Teddy's father."

Scorpius nodded. "No doubt about that. Is Lily staying at your place tomorrow night?"

"Yes," Al answered. "You're welcome to stay over too."

"I've got company over tomorrow night," Scorpius told him. "You haven't had much time to just hang out with Lily. Enjoy it when you can."

After everything that had happened over the past month or so, getting to enjoy life a little was high on Al's list of things to do. Lily was coming over on Friday after work, and they had a Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday. Hallowe'en was just a week away, and between two Hogsmeade weekends and the first two Quidditch games of the Hogwarts Quidditch season, he would hopefully get to see Carolyn four out of the next five Saturdays as long as work didn't get in the way.

Everyone else in the family was busy too. Nick and Allie were busy with their jobs – Nick continuing the designs for Marauders Refuge, and several new projects, and Allie working with Victoire on the upcoming Christmas shopping season. Rose and Matt were in the middle of a two-week trip to Brazil. Ginny and Lily were back in the lab after their trip, and working long hours on their special project, and James was as busy as always with the Academy.

The New Marauders at Hogwarts had a lot on the go during the last week of October too. They'd been busy with studies, Quidditch, and everything else that was going on around school, and were also getting ready to put on the TNM Haunted Hogwarts. They all still had lots of work still ahead over the next month or so, but there was also going to be a lot more fun happening too.


	117. Games Wizards Play

Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen – Games Wizards Play

"Are you going to have to arrest yourself if you give me that?" Lily asked Al as he handed her a glass of wine. "You are serving alcohol to an underage Witch."

Al laughed. "Then at least I'll get to spend some time with Dad, since he's given both of us the occasional glass before. How was your day?"

"It was pretty good," she answered after taking a sip of the wine. "Mum and I made some decent progress today. How about you?"

"Now that all the excitement is over, it's back to studying for me, along with some researching that Hestia is throwing my way."

"Should I even bother asking whether you got any good leads on finding any of the other wanted Witches and Wizards?"

Al smiled. "I guess not. I'd love to tell you all about it if I could, though."

"That's okay, Al. I can't talk about what we're doing at the lab either. All this confidentiality stuff doesn't make gossiping much fun, though."

"Why don't you tell me all about your trip then?" Al suggested. "How's Aunt Gabrielle, Uncle Kevin, and everyone else?"

Al cooked dinner for the two of them while Lily happily told him about her week long vacation. He'd heard a bit about it at the dinner after the game last Saturday, but now she had the time to go into the details about what Gabrielle, Kevin, Michael, Rebecca, Patricia, and William had been doing since he'd seen them at Nick and Allie's wedding.

"So you'll only be home two weeks and you're off again?" Al asked as he sat down at the table after putting the last dishes of food down.

Lily nodded. "We're going to leave after the Gryffindor-Slytherin game and go to Hawaii for a week, and then spend a week in Australia. I'll be back in time for the Hogsmeade weekend on November sixteenth."

"You're going to be doing a lot of travelling between now and Christmas," Al said. "You ought to get a discount on TransPortal services."

"Imagine how much it'd cost if we were Muggles and had to use airplanes? Those fancy low-orbit passenger shuttles are a lot faster, but they cost a small fortune to get a seat on. I'll take the TransPortal any day over that."

"Grandpa said he loved taking a trip on the shuttle," Al reminded her.

"You know he's fascinated with Muggle airplanes, Al. I woulnd't be surprised if he bought one of those Muggle Concordes after they stopped flying them, and has it hidden in that chicken coop along with that old motorcycle."

Al laughed. "Do you think it'd fit? Those things were pretty big."

"He could have shrunk it down, or just made himself a room in there the size of an airplane hanger," Lily told him. "He may not look like it, brother, but our Grandfather probably has a lot more magical power than he ever lets on."

"I wouldn't put it past him, Lily. I just have no idea why he'd want one. Since the muggles don't even use them anymore, it's not like he could fly his around without being noticed."

"I have no idea," Lily answered. "What do you want to do after dinner tonight?"

"There's a couple of Hallowe'en movies on tonight," he told Lily. "One's a werewolf spoof – if you get bitten, you turn into a Muggle every full moon, and the late show is one of those Muggles take over the Wizarding World horror flicks."

Lily laughed. "That'll work, and it sounds a lot better than the studying that Kieran and the others are probably doing tonight. I have to admit that I'm really getting to like not having to do all of that revision anymore."

"Must be nice," Al said. "I'm still doing a fair bit of studying. If I keep at it, I might get through all of those Auror training books by next summer."

"Since that's supposed to take three years, Al, that's not so bad if you get through them all in one," Lily pointed out.

"I know," Al agreed. "It would just be nice if so much of it wasn't so out of date and boring."

"Compared to the rest of your job, I'd think you would welcome a little boring."

Al and Lily talked quietly through dinner, cleaned up, and then settled into the sitting room with drinks and snacks so they could watch the two movies Al had suggested. They both took a break between the movies for their goodnight chats with Carolyn and Kieran, and managed to stay awake through the second show where the heroine Witch of the movie saved the Wizarding World from the big, bad Muggles, though it had been touch and go for most of the show.

They were both up and ready to go early on Saturday morning, and breakfast was nearly ready when Scorpius joined them. Lily hugged him in welcome, and they sat down at the kitchen table while Al finished up the cooking and put the last two platters on the table.

"How was dinner with your folks?" Lily asked Scorpius. "How are they?"

"We had a pretty good night," Scorpius answered. "Andromeda and Robert were over too so that Narcissa wouldn't be bored. They're all doing pretty good too. Mum and Dad have been dealing with a lot ever since Dad became Head of the family, but I get the feeling he and Mum have gotten their finances straightened out. He never talks about it much, so I'm glad that he seems to be happier now."

"That's really great, Scorpius," Lily told him. "I'm glad it's all starting to work out for all of you."

Al joined them, and they ate quickly, cleaned up, and got ready to leave. It was a nice fall day out, and they had decided to walk to the school gates to meet Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran instead of just apparating there or waiting for them to get into Hogsmeade.

There was an abundance of smiles, hugs, and kisses when the three couples were finally together again for the first time in three weeks. They went back to town together, and did all of the supply shopping before going back to Al's house for the rest of the day. It was just the six of them for lunch, and then they split up for the afternoon again, each couple glad to have those few hours in the afternoon to themselves before having to say goodbye at the gates to the school once again.

"We'll see them next Saturday at the game," Brianna told Carolyn and Kieran as they walked back to the school, "and you're not playing in this game, so you'll be able to sit with Lily, Kieran."

He nodded. "No wonder Lily usually went to meet James after his Hogsmeade weekends. This really sucks."

Carolyn put her arm around him. "No doubt about that. Let's go get our books and meet the others in our study classroom. If we can't be happy, at least we can be busy for the rest of the day."

The few students at Hogwarts who were completely uninterested in Quidditch usually just went into hiding during November, but they had to start early this year, since the first game was on November second. There was at least some relief as the teens entertained each other with Hallowe'en wheezes all week, and speculated on what TNM would be doing this year.

Hugo and the other Quidditch playing Gryffindor Marauders, and Daphne, were really busy getting ready for their game on Saturday, keeping up with their studies, and helping out the rest of the Marauders with getting the Haunted Hogwarts night ready. Lily and Al had helped them figure out how to put together the ride without having the high-wattage magic they'd been able to manage, and the idea for what would surely be the highlight of this year's ride had surprisingly come from Carissa.

Hallowe'en finally arrived, and after a day of classes, Quidditch practices, studying, and a fair number of Hallowe'en pranks, it was time for the feast. It was as awesome as it was every year, and the students in the Great Hall were continuing to have fun even as they enjoyed their meals. There were loud cheers, and more than a few screams when the lights went out, and the TNM announcement came on the big screen WWVN.

The doors that led to the entrance hall opened, allowing just enough light in so that everyone could see the ride cars lining up to take the students and any professors who wanted to go on the Haunted Hogwarts ride. The favourite parts of the last two year's rides had been kept this year, so the ride started with the terrifying Chamber of Secrets trip into the gullet of the Basilisk, then did the trip out and over the battlements of the Astronomy tower and the plunge down and around the outside of the tower, and finished the trio of old favourites with the dungeon chase by the Headless Hunt before hurling the riders all the way up to the seventh floor and into the Room of Requirements.

This was where sweet, innocent Carissa had come up with the idea of having the Haunted Hogwarts ride go on a seriously scary trip through a magical copy of the Forbidden Forest – a ten-minute long heart-pounding, adrenaline rush that left even the hardiest student trembling with excitement and more than a touch of fear.

After entering the forest, they were first confronted by Fluffy, the three-headed dog, then had a band of centaurs chase them, firing streams of arrows. When they were past the centaurs, it was time for them to drop into the Acromantula's den, where the hoard of giant spiders attacked as the car each group of students were in went on a crazy zig-zagging race away from the den with the Acromantulas trying to get them from all directions, but somehow just missing each time.

That attack suddenly stopped, but the fun wasn't over quite yet as the last confrontation in the Forbidden forest was with a giant, who grabbed the car the students were riding in, bellowed at them, and then threw them high into the air, above the trees, and out of the forest while the students on the ride screamed in terror before their car sped out of the Room of Requirements again, made a turn in the seventh floor hallway, and sped back downstairs to drop the teens back off in the entrance hall.

"Wow!" Dale said after he and Carissa got out of their car on shaking legs. "That was way scarier than last year!"

Carissa hugged him. "Yeah, it was. Let's go get in line again! Anyone else want to come?" she asked. Millie, Amy, Lance, Vanessa, Colin, and Nadine had gone with them, and they all excitedly agreed to go one more time. It might have been scary, but there had been so much going on, you just had to go again to try and catch everything you'd missed the first time.

While the New Marauders and the other Hogwarts thrill seekers were having fun with their Haunted Hogwarts, the students at the Academy were having fun too. They were doing their second annual Haunted Academy. It was a walking tour, and they couldn't make it too scary for the younger students, but it was still entertaining, and both the kids and the volunteers loved it. There were a few additions this year, like Al's Golden Eagle, and Lily's doe both joining James' Stag as talking trophies in the Director's office, the three of them keeping up a constant, hilarious banter when each group of kids came through. There were ghostly tutor volunteers wandering the halls, and a few of the students who were now in their last year at the Academy had asked to join in, adding some tragic tales of student ghosts to the mix.

Harry and Ginny were at the Residence for the evening. Some of the students at the Academy had become friends with kids at the Residence during the summer, and the idea of doing a Haunted Residence had been approved by Susan, and was actually being done in quite a few of the residences around the world. Harry and Susan's husband, Wayne, were two ghosts who played with dolls and dragons in one room, endlessly exhorting the kids coming through on the tour to come and play with them for all eternity. Ginny was set up in one of the game rooms with a bunch of GameWizard playing ghosts looking for kids interested in playing her, and her team, to the death.

The Haunted Residence was kept more fun than scary, since the kids were all under eleven. They also had games, and were given lots of Hallowe'en treats. When it was all over, it took the combined effort of all of the staff and volunteers to get the fired up kids off to bed. By then, the fun was over at Hogwarts, and at the Academy too. Al was home in Hogsmeade, changed, and in bed before eleven when he got the QuillMessage that Carolyn was ready for their nightly talk.

"How'd the kids like the Haunted Hogwarts this year?" he asked Carolyn when they'd both made it into the VirtualChat.

"They loved it," she answered. "It was bigger and scarier than ever. I still can't believe that it was Carissa coming up with the Forbidden Forest part. That was definitely the best part of the ride this year. Did you have fun at the Academy?"

Al's avatar nodded. "James, Lily, and I had a blast, and the kids loved it too. Now that it's over, though, I'm getting tired. It's been a long day."

"We can keep it short tonight," Carolyn told him. "Will you still be coming to the game?"

"I'll be there. Is there anything you or Brianna need? I could get it for you after work tomorrow."

"I'll ask Brianna tomorrow and send you a message if she needs something, but I picked up everything I needed last weekend in Hogsmeade to get me through to the next weekend in town," she answered. "I'm just glad you'll be there."

"Tell Hugo and Daphne to drag the game out," Al said. "Hopefully we'll get to spend a few hours together."

They only talked for a few more minutes before ending the VirtualChat and going off to sleep. On Friday morning, Al was back at Auror Headquarters, continuing the research he was doing for Hestia. He'd thought that there had been stacks of records to go through when he'd gone through the Avery's records, and then everything else he'd worked through to find the Mulcibers. Now he was searching records from other countries, looking for records that were up to twenty-five years old, trying to find Death Eaters who certainly had new identities, and other than what countries to look toward, they didn't have much else to work with.

Al's assignment was to look for Alecto and Amycus Carrow in Bulgaria. So far, he'd come up with nothing, but he was really just getting started. The other Aurors were all working on tracking down the other leads they had gotten from Dolohov, but nobody else had made any more progress than Al had. Their most specific information had been about Borgin and Burke being somewhere in Mexico City, but even that was going to be tough, since there were more than twenty million people in that city. Garret and Patrick were working on that assignment, although Al suspected that their enthusiasm was mostly caused by the prospect of spending most of the winter in Mexico, and not because they had a lead on where to find the two old Wizards.

After spending a long day with his nose stuck in old documents, Al went home, cleaned up, and then went to the cottage to have dinner with his parents, Lily, James, and Arianna, since after the Canons game on Saturday, Harry, Ginny, and Lily were going to be leaving straight for Hawaii, and he wouldn't see them for two weeks. He was the last one to get there, and Harry was already starting to set bowls and platters on the table.

"Good timing," he said as Al walked into the kitchen. "Come and sit down. Would you like a glass of wine?"

Al nodded and sat down next to Lily, who hugged him in greeting. "How was your day?" she asked.

"I picked up more dirt than information from the paperwork I was shuffling all day," he answered. "That's why I'm late – I really needed to grab a shower when I was done for the day. How about you?"

"Mum and I always have fun," Lily told him happily. "It's going to be tough staying away for two whole weeks."

Arianna laughed. "You're not going to get much sympathy about that from us. Two weeks away sounds pretty good to me. Coach is not happy that we've already lost two games this season. Practices are brutal."

"The other teams were going to catch up again," Harry told her. "We've had a pretty great run these last few years, and it's not like we got blown out or anything. They were both games that could have gone either way."

Arianna shrugged. "Like any of that matters to Coach. The only way he'll be happy the rest of the season will be if we win out. Did you go back to the residence for a visit today?"

Harry shook his head. "I didn't have time today, but I spent most of yesterday there, so I should be able to get through the next two weeks without playing dolls or dragons."

"You'll be fine," Ginny assured him. "Lily and I will keep you busy. Are you guys doing anything exciting while we're gone?"

"I'll just be working," Al answered. "I'll probably do dinner with Matt and Rose next week when they're between trips, but we haven't made any firm plans."

"We haven't got anything too exciting going on either," James said. "Since the Canons aren't playing next weekend, we're doing a date night with Aaron, Tracey, and a few other couples."

"How are your kids doing with their studies?" Ginny asked him.

"They're all working hard," he answered. "They're slowing down as the work gets more challenging, but most of the older students will still get through two years of classes this year."

"Won't you have quite a few kids ready to start at Hogwarts next September, then?" Lily asked, and James nodded.

"There's a good chance we'll have six kids ready for next September – two to start their OWL year, two for year four, and two in second year," James told Lily. "There are a couple more that could maybe go into their OWL year, but they'd be a year behind the kids their own age, so we're not sure what we want to do with them."

"Keep them at the Academy," Lily said confidently. "If they'd be starting their OWL year at sixteen, if they stay at the Academy, they'd still have a chance of getting two years done in one, and taking their NEWT year on time."

"That's how we're leaning so far," James agreed, "but we'll see how they're doing when it gets closer to actually making the decision. Not all of these kids will be taking the NEWT levels."

"We've nudged most of your kids along a bit, but we can't give them abilities they don't have," Harry told James. "They're at least all doing way better than they would have without your Academy."

"What's going on with the wedding plans?" Arianna asked Ginny. "I don't know how you're finding time for dealing with two weddings when you have so much going on."

Ginny smiled. "It's not really that much work right now. Al and Carolyn's is first, and is going to be pretty much just family, so there isn't all that much to do. Scorpius and Brianna's is going to be bigger than Nick and Allie's was, since we'll need to invite all of those dignitaries he's working with in his new job as well as all of the Ministry of Magic people. We've booked the Emerald City Centre Grand Ballroom already, and we're pretty much going with the same companies for everything else too. Penelope and Astoria have been arranging a lot of that stuff, and Allie's helped out too. I'll have more to do starting when the girls are home for Christmas, and then have to keep up with everything after that."

"If you need anything that we can help with, let me know," Arianna said. "Tracey and I would be glad to give you a hand."

They spent over an hour having dinner and chatting, then Al went home after he and Lily had done the cleanup. James and Arianna were staying for a while longer, but Al was ready to just go home, get ready for bed, and settle in for the night with a good book.

On Saturday, Hogwarts was open to visitors starting an hour before the game, and he, Scorpius, and Lily were all at the gates the moment they could enter. They were the only three visitors there that early, but then they were also the only three that had a welcoming committee coming out to meet them. Each couple took a few minutes to hug, kiss, and exchange a private greeting before they all began walking toward the Quidditch stadium.

"This should be a good game today," Kieran told the others. "From what Daphne's said, Slytherin's really been training well the past couple of months."

"Maybe," Scorpius said, "but I'll still give the edge to Hugo and Colin, even if the rest of the two teams are pretty evenly matched."

"We'll see," Kieran said. "Don't forget that this is Daphne's last season. That may make a difference."

Since they did have an hour until game time, they took the long way around the school to the stadium. When they got there, Lily and Kieran went to sit in the Hufflepuff section, since he had to watch the game with his team, while Carolyn and Brianna led Al and Scorpius to seats in the Ravenclaw section. There weren't very many students or visitors there yet, so they had time to talk while the stadium seats filled up and they waited for game time.

"Do we have the same announcer this year?" Al asked Carolyn, and she shrugged.

"I don't know, Al. It isn't something that I've heard anything about around school." When the same Slytherin girl who'd been doing the announcing since Andy had left came and sat down at the announcer's box, they had their answer – at least one more year of boring game play-by-play.

"No wonder you haven't heard anything," Scorpius said quietly. "There wasn't any good news to talk about."

"Who's coming to the game today?" Brianna asked the boys, and Al answered.

"Aunt Hermione, Uncle George, and Aunt Marietta will be in the Gryffindor section cheering Hugo and Frederica on," he told Brianna. "I'm sure Daphne's parents will be here to watch her play, and I think Lily said that most of Liam's family will be here too."

Carolyn nodded. "Myra said something about her parents and brother coming. Kirley and Ana will probably sit with Lily and Kieran."

Myra, her parents, and brother came and sat in the row behind Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna, and by then the seats were filling fast. There was still no pre-game warm-up from their announcer, so they were able to talk quietly right up until game time when the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams were called out onto the pitch to start the game.

From the moment the Quaffle was thrown into the air, the game was on, as the two teams immediately began racing up and down the pitch. There were a lot of scoring attempts, but both Hugo and Thomas were saving nearly everything. Scorpius had given Hugo the advantage at Keeper, but that wasn't showing up today, as Thomas was playing a great game too. An hour into the game, and the score was just twenty points for each team, but there had been more than sixty shots already between the two teams. After two hours, the score was fifty to forty for Slytherin. Daphne had scored all five of Slytherin's goals so far.

"Yeah," Al cheered softly so that only Carolyn heard him. "Keep the game going!"

Carolyn laughed and kissed his cheek. "Your cousins must have decided to give you that long game you were hoping for."

They did even more than Al had hoped for. By the three hour mark, the score was just eighty points each, and at four hours, it was one hundred and twenty to one hundred and ten in favour of Slytherin again. By then, all of the players on both teams were getting tired, and they started making mistakes.

The biggest mistake came four hours and forty-three minutes into the game when Slytherin's Seeker, Darrin Davis, didn't see the bludger that Frederica had hit his way, and was hit solidly in the side. His face went white, and Frederica ignored the fact that he was on the other team, and rushed to support him so he wouldn't fall until Thomas could call a timeout and they could get him safely to the ground and on his way to the hospital wing.

At that point, the score was one hundred and eighty for Slytherin, and one hundred and sixty for Gryffindor, but the Slytherin team knew what losing their Seeker meant for this game. When the timeout was over, the two teams went back into the air and continued the game. Daphne managed to score one more goal before Colin was able to fake out Eddie Zeller, who'd switched from Chaser to Seeker for Slytherin, and caught the snitch at the four hour and fifty-one minute mark to give Gryffindor the win, three hundred and ten to one hundred and ninety.

"That was a bit of bad luck for Slytherin," Scorpius said as they got up to go out onto the pitch and meet with their friends. "That was a really great game, though."

"Especially the getting to cuddle with you for five hours," Brianna told him.

The two couples did a quick round of congratulations and hugs with their friends, and then retraced the long way back to the school gates, trying to stretch out their time together just a little longer. By the time they got to the gates, Lily and Kieran were already there, and Lily was about to leave. She hugged all four of them, then stepped outside of the Hogwarts grounds, and took the TransPortal home, where she'd be meeting Harry and Ginny after the Canons' game was over.

"Do you think she's excited about the trip with Mum and Dad?" Al asked the others.

"I guess if you need to find something to do while missing your boyfriend, a two-week vacation to paradise is a pretty good plan," Brianna answered. "It's certainly a lot better than what Carolyn, Kieran, and I will be doing here. You two better behave, though," she told Al and Scorpius. "Last time they went on vacation, you decided to go play with a pair of Death Eaters, and scare your fiancées half out of their minds."

Scorpius hugged her again. "I'll just be working in my little office the whole two weeks, sweetie. I don't think the bad guys will be trying anything against me for a while. They're probably going to lay low."

Carolyn watched and waited for Al to say something, and finally he just shrugged.

"There's no point in me promising something like that, Carolyn. Going after bad guys is my job."

She sighed, and hugged him for a long minute. "Then at least be careful, Al. I love you."

He smiled and then kissed her one more time. "I love you too." He and Scorpius left the school grounds, and Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran started walking back to the school.

"What are you doing for the rest of the day?" Al asked Scorpius.

"I was thinking about going into work," he answered. "Want to come along, and then grab some dinner later on?"

"Sure," Al agreed. "That sounds a lot better than puttering around the house and eating alone tonight. Let's walk into town, though. I've got a couple of files at the house I need to get first."

Scorpius nodded. "Are you getting close to finding some of the other Death Eaters? You didn't exactly leave Carolyn feeling reassured there."

Al sighed. "I wish I could, mate, but I haven't exactly picked the safest career out there, and I won't lie to her. We haven't got anything specific right now, but I have no idea when we'll have a breakthrough and need to go out in the field."

"Do you like being an Auror?" Scorpius asked. "It's pretty obvious you're good at it, and you've always said it's what you're supposed to do, but you've never said whether it's what you'd like to do."

"There are parts of it that are exciting and all that," Al said seriously, "but no, I don't like it the way that you like your job."

Scorpius nodded. "Why do it, mate? It's not like you need the money or anything. Why does it have to be you that rounds up the bad guys?"

Al laughed. "It won't be just me, Scorpius. We've mostly had peace in the Wizarding World for twenty-five years, and any time now we'll be starting a second generation of Witches and Wizards who've never seen war. Too many of us think that there isn't still evil, or that there won't be future Dark Lords trying to take over the world. You're a big History buff. You and I both know that there's always another bad guy around the corner. We've just been lucky so far. Last time Tom Riddle was right there and ready to take over from Grindewald back in nineteen forty-five or so. We don't know yet who the next one will be, but he or she is coming."

"That's a pretty depressing thought," Scorpius told his friend. "You don't see that in our immediate futures do you?"

"No," Al answered. "What I do see about that is cloudy enough to suggest the next Dark Ascension won't be for a long time. Don't worry about it, mate. When the time comes, we'll be ready. That's the main reason why I'm doing this."

"Meaning that there are other reasons?" Scorpius surmised. "Do I want to know any of them?" He was thinking about the past few weeks, and suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"What would have happened to me the other week in New York if you hadn't become an Auror?" he asked.

"Do you really want to know?" Al asked, and Scorpius nodded mutely. "Do you remember what I told you plan A was?" Again, Scorpius nodded.

"The Mulcibers wouldn't have been caught, and so the highest probability is that Dolohov and Rowle would have abducted you from your room instead, you would have been taken to Darius Mulciber, been Imperiused, and returned none the wiser to your Hotel room."

"That would have really sucked," Scorpius said, swallowing hard. "I don't think I'll ask you any more questions about why you joined the Aurors anymore, mate. I can live with just being glad you did."

Al laughed and put a hand on Scorpius' shoulder. "Don't worry about the could have been things, Scorpius. I'll watch your backs while you and Brianna are playing with your politics."

Al picked up the files he needed to take with him to the office, and then he and Scorpius apparated to the Ministry of Magic, taking a lift to the second and fifth floor respectively. They didn't really set a time to meet and go out for dinner, and it ended up being after eight-thirty before Al decided to call it a day and went to the fifth floor to meet up with Scorpius.

"Find any bad guys?" Scorpius asked when he looked up after hearing Al's approach.

"Nothing yet," Al said, sitting in one of the chairs across from Scorpius. "This job would be a lot easier if the Ministry records were all in a big VirtualLibrary, though. I could do my research hundreds of times faster than I am now. I'm spending more than half of my time hunting down old parchment."

"Maybe the Ministry will buy Carolyn's BusinessMagic program if they come out with a version for governments," Scorpius suggested.

"Maybe you could push that along by proposing it for your trade standards division," Al told him. "Just think of how much easier life would be for your inspectors if they were using BusinessMagic. They could actually spend most of their time doing field work."

"That's a very good idea, Al," Scorpius said approvingly. "I'll have a talk next week with Natalie or Lisa at the Institute and see what they think about working on that for me." He stood up and stretched. "Let's get out of here and get some food, or we'll both be late for our nightly chats with the girls. Did you happen to hear who won the Canons' game? I forgot all about it."

Al nodded. "I got a QuillMessage from Mum before they left for Hawaii. The Canons beat the Wanderers, which wasn't unexpected, even though they were playing in Wigtown."

"Good. Maybe Coach will let up on them a bit now that they've got a winning record again," Scorpius suggested as Al stood too, and they headed for the lifts, both young men ready to go get some food, then head home for the night.

Al might not be having any luck in his game of Death Eater hide and seek, but Jake Dorny and Emma Midgen were. After a week of frustratingly unsuccessful searching, on Friday afternoon, Al found out that they'd tracked Travers down to an estate near Aberdeen, Scotland. They'd had him under surveillance, and were planning on capturing him on Sunday.

Travers was another Death Eater who'd escaped after the Battle of Hogwarts, and would spend the rest of his life in prison from his previous conviction for his involvement in the murder of the McKinnon family without even taking into consideration everything he'd done since escaping Azkaban.

Rick wasn't taking any chances with Travers – he was a dangerous murderer, and he was going to have ten Aurors, including Al there for the capture, although Al's role was to again fly in, drop some TransPortal terminals, then get out of the way, observe, and offer backup if needed.

On Saturday, he went for a country walk with Emma, disguised as a pair of Muggle teens, and she showed him the estate where Travers had been living, and pointed out where they wanted the TransPortal terminals dropped.

"Why Sunday?" Al asked her quietly as they walked.

"From what we saw last weekend, most of the workers here have the day off on Sunday, so we'll have the least chance of innocents getting hurt," Emma answered. "Hopefully nobody will get hurt tomorrow."

When Emma had finished taking him on the tour, they went back to Auror Headquarters for a short meeting with Rick and Hestia, and then Al had the rest of the day off. He was up before dawn on Sunday, got ready, and left for a spot he'd picked north of Aberdeen so that he would be far away from the estate he was flying to when he changed into his golden eagle animagus. He dropped off the TransPortal terminals in the pre-dawn light. There was no sign from the main house that anyone was even awake yet, and nothing to suggest that he'd been seen. He took up position high in one of a small cluster of trees that were about fifty yards from the house, and settled in to wait.

Everyone else was in position before the sun was up, and the waiting game began. It was a long, tedious morning, but finally, about a half-hour before noon, the front door opened, and a grey-haired wizard stepped out onto the walkway. When nine Aurors suddenly appeared, fanned out around him, and Rick told him he was under arrest, Al wasn't surprised when Travers immediately drew his wand and started firing curses, but this time, Rick and the others were working together, and he only got a few curses off before he was overpowered, disarmed, and bound, none of his attacks injuring any of the Aurors.

"That was pretty anti-climactic," Garret said as Al walked up to join them.

"You're a bunch of heroes when it's ten to one," Travers spat, his face showing a contemptuous smile. "How long do you plan on keeping me?"

Al's internal alarm went off as he heard Travers' unspoken thought.

"He's got company coming!" Al said loudly enough for everyone to hear. "We need to get him out of here now!"

None of the others hesitated for even a moment. Rick and Garret grabbed Travers, and the eleven of them hurried for the estate boundary to get outside of the defences so they could get him safely to London. When they reached the road, Al put a hand on Hestia's arm to keep her from going just as the others apparated away.

"I'm going to fly back in," he told her. "Maybe I'll be able to get some new information when whoever comes gets here."

Hestia nodded. "Okay, Al, but be careful, and come back to Auror Headquarters as soon as you can."

Al nodded his understanding. They both apparated away, but Al only went far enough so he could change back into his animagus, and fly back to his perch from a different direction. He hadn't been there for very long before Witches and Wizards began apparating into the yard – a feat that meant that they all had the key to the estate defences. He watched in dismay as Dirk Avery arrived with one group, and then Vincent Goyle came with three other Wizards that were probably his great-grandfather, grandfather and father. All together, twenty Witches and Wizards appeared in the yard – a group that would have been twenty-one if Travers had still been there.

"Where is he?" one of the old Wizards asked the others. "He must have heard us arriving."

"Yes, he should have," one of the Witches agreed. She pulled her wand and approached the house, but the door opened, and a pale, shaking old woman stepped outside.

"Master!" she said to one of the old Wizards. "They came and took Master Travers! Just now! They appeared out of nowhere right here in front of the house and captured him!" The old woman had fallen on her knees in front of the group of Witches and Wizards, who were all staring at her.

"They?" The Wizard she'd obviously been speaking to asked. "Speak up, squib!"

"I don't know, Master! I was in the kitchen making lunch. I heard one of them shout that Master Travers was under arrest, and then there was a fight. I crept to the dining room window in time to see them take him out to the road, and they disappeared."

"Get up, squib, and go finish making lunch. We'll be in shortly."

"Yes, master," she said, scrambling to her feet and scurrying inside.

"We should leave," Dirk's grandfather growled, but the other Wizard – the one that the old woman had called 'Master' shook his head.

"They won't be back," he said confidently. "The Aurors got Travers, and if they'd known we were coming, they would have tried to take us too."

"I hope you're not wrong about that," another Witch told the old man.

"I've checked," he growled back. "Other than the squib and all of us, there isn't any Witches or Wizards within at least a mile of this place. After today, though, we won't use this place to meet again."

"What do we do about Travers?" one of the other Wizards asked. This man looked like he was maybe around fifty.

"We do nothing, Bletchley," the same old Wizard said. "For now, we dare not help him – or the others that have been captured."

That must be Miles Bletchley – Malcolm's father, Al thought. He was keeping his mind open while he listened to the conversation, and the thoughts of several of the Witches and Wizards in front of the house were quite easy for him to read. Besides the people he'd already identified, Al found out from reading those thoughts that the old guy in charge was Rosier, one of, if not the most wanted Wizards the Aurors had been trying ot find since after the war.

Another of the old guys was Nott, who Al knew had been forced to take the unbreakable vow his father had forced on Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eaters who'd been plotting against Scorpius. He was pretty sure that everyone else from that group were here now too – the Avery's, Lestrange's, Crabbe, Goyle, and Yaxley.

There were people he hadn't heard of before, and he noted as many of their names as he could pick up – There were two Flints – an Uncle and Aunt of Daphne's, a Witch that looked like she was in her sixties named Melania Gamp, and two Wizards – Herb Burke, who looked to be in his fifties, and Byron Bulstrode, who was maybe around thirty, and one of the younger members of the group.

While he'd been picking up their thoughts, the conversation had continued, but without anyone talking about anything of interest to Al. He'd stayed close to the tree trunk as soon as he'd seen Dirk and Vincent in the group, not daring to move, since should either of them spot him, they might remember that his animagus was a golden eagle.

They didn't stay outside for very long before going into the house for lunch. Once Al was sure it was safe for him to leave, he used the trees and other buildings for cover, and flew away, riding the winds north all the way to the outskirts of Peterhead before changing back into his own form and apparating to the training room at Auror Headquarters.

He went straight to the observation room, where Rick and Hestia were already watching Travers while having some lunch. Since this was Jake and Emma's catch, Rick was letting them start the interrogation, though at the moment, they'd left their prisoner in the room alone after providing him with lunch and a drink which he was now busy eating.

"See, I told you he'd get back here alive," Hestia told Rick as she smiled at Al. "There's a sandwich and drink on the table back there for you," she added, pointing to the back of the room.

"Thanks," Al said, going to get them before coming to sit down next to her.

"So what happened after we left?" Rick asked him.

"Twenty Witches and Wizards showed up for a visit with Travers and found out from the cook there that we'd just captured him. They weren't happy, but they also are going ahead with whatever meeting they were having at the house."

"Why didn't you stay, then?" Hestia asked.

"I took names, and I can replay the memory in the pensieve for you later, but I'm not familiar with the house, and wasn't going to be able to hear anything without getting a lot closer. Since at least two of the Wizards who were there know what my animagus is, I thought it was prudent to leave when I had the chance."

"Was there anyone there we're looking for?" Rick asked, and Al nodded.

"Rosier was there," he said, and Rick and Hestia both looked at him excitedly.

"Did you find out anything useful about him?" Hestia wanted to know.

"I'm not sure," Al answered. "I think that was his place – or at least the cook who told them about Travers getting captured called him Master. The owner of record for that place could be the name he's using now."

Rick nodded. "We can check into that. If he was the only one on our wanted list, then who else was there?"

"Some old Death Eater buddies and some of their kids, and a few new faces that definitely aren't on our radar right now, but probably will need to be now if they're part of these Knights," Al answered. "If we'd gone in just a few minutes later, things could have turned out a lot different, had we ended up being outnumbered two to one."

"Then it's a good thing you were able to warn us," Hestia told him.

"Did Travers say anything after you got back here?" Al asked. "He must have been wondering how I knew we needed to get out of there."

Rick laughed. "He wasn't nearly so smug after we got him here, but he didn't say anything. I'll let Emma and Jake work with him all afternoon, then I'll probably take a turn at it tomorrow." He stood up and stretched. "Do your usual thing, Al, and leave a report on my desk after they're done talking with him for the day. I'm getting out of here for the rest of the day."

Al nodded, and watched as Rick and Hestia both left the room. He knew that she'd be back soon, and was probably going over what Rick wanted Emma and Jake to do with Travers for the afternoon. The two younger Aurors had a much different style than Rick and Hestia used. Travers was contemptuous of them, and other than spitting venomous comments at the pair, refused to answer any of their questions. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't very good at keeping his thoughts to himself, and Al was able to pick up quite a bit of information.

"He's confirming that Rosier owns that estate," Al told Hestia as they listened to Emma asking their prisoner about the former Death Eaters they were looking for. "His assumed name is Ross Evans."

"How unimaginative," Hestia said quietly. "Rosier had a son named Evan. He was killed by Aurors during the war – sometime around nineteen eighty if I remember correctly."

Al nodded. "It's easy enough to figure all of that out in hindsight." He stopped talking for a moment and listened. "The Carrows are definitely in Bulgaria – somewhere along the coast of the Black Sea."

Emma wasn't asking him about the other Death Eaters that were wanted by the Aurors in any particular order. Some of them he didn't know any more about than the others had, and a few he knew more about. Walden Macnair was somewhere around or in Tangier, Morocco, and Jugson was in Belgrade, Serbia. Both clues at least got them closer, even though it didn't lead them right to their doors.

While they'd listened to the interrogation, Al had written down the names of everyone who'd showed up at Travers' house, and when Hestia had read down the list, she'd whistled softly.

"We suspected some of these people of being Death Eaters, but they were never caught doing anything and were never given up by anyone. Some others were never even suspected." She looked over at Al. "Were you surprised to see Dirk and Vincent there?"

Al shook his head. "Not surprised, just disappointed. It's too bad they've decided to follow in their father's footsteps. He's still in school right now, but we might as well keep an eye on Malcolm Bletchley too. He hung out with Dirk, even though he was younger, and since his father was at that meeting, it's a pretty safe bet that he's gotten involved too."

"That's all we can really do right now anyway," Hestia said. "We haven't got anything on them, except for Rosier, but at least we're finding out about who we need to be watching in the future."

Emma and Jake kept going until nearly seven, then Hestia went with them to take Travers to his cell while Al finished his report for Rick and put it on his boss's desk. He was at his own cubicle, packing up to go home when Hestia got back.

"Meet me in the observation room at eight tomorrow," she told him. "Rick and Sturgis will be working on him, and we'll see if we can get anything else out of him. Depending on how that goes, we may just have the charges read to the Wizengamot on Tuesday and send him off to Azkaban."

"Sounds good," Al answered. "I'll see you in the morning."

Hestia went and sat down at her desk, and Al waved as he left Auror Headquarters and went to the lifts. He was home in Hogsmeade within ten minutes, and cooked a light dinner for himself, cleaned up, had a shower, and climbed into bed with a book to wait for Carolyn's call before going to sleep.

His WiComm chimed for a call instead of the expected QuillMessage, so he opened it and smiled when he saw Carolyn smiling back at him.

"You must be in Brianna's office," he said. "This is a nice surprise."

"I wanted to see your face instead of that avatar for once," she told him. "How was your day?"

"I had to go out and watch Hestia and some of the others catch a bad guy this morning, then she and I got to sit around all afternoon and watch the interrogation. I'm sure it'll be on the news by tomorrow night."

"Was everyone okay?" she asked, and watched as Al nodded.

"Nobody got hurt, and I was well out of the way this time. How was your day?"

"We got our work done yesterday, so we had a TNM pool party today. Brianna and I have been in her office working ahead tonight, since we didn't have anything else to do. Some of the TNM couples had gone to Karl's office to watch a movie, but sitting around watching everyone else cuddling didn't sound like much fun to us."

"I'm glad I didn't know about that pool party before – it would have been tough concentrating on my work thinking about you being in your swimsuit all afternoon," Al said with a grin.

"It was fun, but even doing stuff like that just isn't the same without you guys here," she told him seriously. "At least we've only got six weeks until the holidays, and we'll see each other for three of those weekends."

"It'll feel like it's getting close to the holidays when we get into December," Al answered. "Six weeks still seems like a long time away."

They talked for nearly an hour before Carolyn decided it was time for her to call it a night and go get some sleep. Al stayed up and read for a while longer, his mind not quite ready for sleep as the day's events replayed in his head, and he considered what little they were learning about the Knights. He had no doubt that this was only the beginning of whatever they were doing.

On Monday, they didn't learn anything new from Travers, and Rick made the call to wrap up their interrogation of him at the end of the day. Tuesday, Al was there when the new charges were read to the Wizengamot, a Tribunal was picked, and a trial date set for December second. He then was again part of the team that escorted Travers to Azkaban.

"They're starting to have quite a little group of old friends here," Hestia said as they were getting ready to leave the prison island. "I'm seriously beginning to wonder if giving so many of those old Death Eaters another chance and letting them out early was such a good idea, though. Especially after hearing about everyone who showed up at Travers' house."

"Everyone deserves a second chance," Al answered. "It's too bad that a lot of them didn't take advantage of getting one, though."

The rest of the week, Al kept digging through files and records, patiently searching for anything that would lead him to the Carrows. By the end of the day on Friday, he was still coming up with nothing, so he packed up a few files to work on over the weekend, and headed for home.

On Saturday, Lily and Scorpius came over for breakfast. She'd come home from Australia with Harry and Ginny, dropped off her bags, changed into fall weather clothes, and then come right over. She'd already had a long day, with the ten-hour time difference, but that didn't stop her from being pretty fired up about seeing Kieran today. That worked out great, since she kept a monologue going on while they ate, telling the boys all about Hawaii and Australia. When they were done, and had finished cleaning up, they walked out to the school gates to meet Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran.

For the middle of November, it was a pretty decent morning, so they enjoyed the short walk. When the three couples were reunited, and they'd done the rounds of hugs and kisses, they joined the line of students heading toward Hogsmeade and went into town. They spent a couple of hours shopping, and then went back to Al's house. The Canons had another road game – this time against the Montrose Magpies, so he'd invited the rest of the Marauders for lunch and an afternoon watching the game.

Carolyn gave him a hand in the kitchen, and Lily, Kieran, Brianna, and Scorpius sat at the kitchen table so they could all talk together while Al and Carolyn worked. The rest of the group trickled in until everyone was there just before noon. With twenty-one for lunch, they had a full house, and it was fairly noisy as they ate and Scorpius, Lily, and Al got to hear about what everyone had been doing at school.

After lunch, they all crowded into the sitting room to watch the game. Al had conjured some extra sofas and chairs for the afternoon, and he, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Lily, and Kieran all stayed and watched the game with their friends for a while before going upstairs to three of the rooms so they could have a couple of hours alone before it would be time for all of the students to go back.

"Isn't this supposed to get easier?" Lily asked Kieran as they snuggled on the sofa in the room she used when she stayed here with Al. "Even though we'll see each other next Saturday, it's still seems just as hard this time as the first Hogsmeade weekend."

"I wish I wasn't playing next Saturday," Kieran said softly. "We won't get to spend much time together at all."

"I know," Lily agreed. "It's better than not seeing you at all for three more weeks, though."

Kieran looked at his watch and groaned. "We've got to get going, or I won't make it back in time."

Lily kissed him – a long, tender caress, and then stood up and held out her hand to help him up. They went downstairs, where everyone else was getting ready to leave too, and then they all walked back up to the school together.

"Who won the game?" Lily asked Hugo as they walked.

He grinned at her. "Didn't you watch it? Whatever else could you have been doing instead?"

"The Canons won," Emily told her as she gave Hugo a little shove with her shoulder. "Apparently they're back on track. That's three wins in a row, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," Lily agreed. "They've had a couple of easier teams to play, though. We'll have to see how they do when they get back into the tougher part of their schedule again."

When they reached the gates, only Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran stayed behind for an extra couple of minutes to say goodbye, then they had to hurry to catch up with the others, since they'd all been cutting it close. Al and Scorpius were both going to the cottage for dinner with Lily, Harry, and Ginny, so they left right from there and took the TransPortal to the cottage. Since Lily and her parents had already been up for twenty hours or so, they only visited for an hour or so, and then Scorpius and Al went back to their homes while Harry, Ginny, and Lily took the potion that would help them adjust back to home time by morning, and went off to bed early.

During the next week, Al kept doing his research, trying to find any nugget of information that would lead him to the Carrows. Lily and Ginny got back to work in the lab, and Harry made the rounds to the Residence and the Academy to spend time with the kids. He also made time to spend an afternoon with Kira, which included her coming back to the cottage for a sleepover with Lily, and a full day with Lisa and Marcus' son Jair.

On Friday, after work, Harry and Ginny left for China with Natalie, Owen, and Callie. The Great Wall of China Broom Race was this weekend, and they were going there to support Mark, who'd been in China for the past couple of days, getting ready for what most of the racers considered the toughest race of the season. Lily was going to stay with Al overnight since they were both going to the game on Saturday anyway, and it would be more fun than just staying at the cottage alone.

At four in the morning, she and Al were in their rooms sleeping, but at Hogwarts, Joel was in his Common Room with a few other Broom Race fans to watch the start of the Broom Race in China. Carolyn, Brianna, and Amy had gotten up too, more to support Joel than because of any big desire to watch Mark start the race.

"What's the stats on this race?" Brianna asked Joel while they waited for the start. "I remember this one roughly follows the Great Wall, and it's the longest one except for the Trans Pacific race."

"It's the second longest distance," Joel confirmed, "but it's the longest one for time, since they can fly a lot faster on the Trans Pacific race. This one is sixty-four hundred kilometres, or about four thousand miles. The old record was twenty-five hours, but last year, Mark set the new record of twenty hours, six minutes, and sixteen seconds."

"Do you think Mariposa or one of those other guys that were keeping up with him in the South America race will give him any trouble for this race?" Amy asked, and Joel shook his head.

"Not unless they've gotten a lot better in their precision flying," he answered. "He lost them all through the Andes Mountains, and this race is way more technical than that was. He averaged just under two hundred miles an hour last year, so all of the other racers could have kept up with that speed, but they weren't able to make the turns as fast as Mark could. There were a few guys who crashed pretty hard when they tried."

"That sounds like you're pretty sure Mark's going to get his third win," Carolyn suggested, and Joel nodded. "Unless something goes wrong, I think he will. I am biased, though."

They watched as WMSN's cameras followed Mark while he got a hug and kiss from Callie and then walked to the start line to join the other top twenty-five racers. He was smiling, as was Mariposa and a couple of the other guys, but most of those top racers had serious, almost grim expressions on their faces.

"No wonder the fans love Mark and Mariposa," Amy said. "They look like they're having fun while most of the others look like they're going into battle instead of going out to play on their brooms. Maybe if they'd lighten up a bit they would be better racers."

"They'd at least be more fun," Joel said. "Mark told me that some of the guys look like that because they're still recovering from the parties that go on the few nights before all of these races."

The starter's gun went off, and they watched as the racers shot into the air and flew off, following the contour of the Great Wall.

"How do they keep the racers from just cutting corners?" Amy asked.

"They have markers that the racers have to go around for every turn," Joel answered. "They can go around them with as wide a turn as they want, but if they go inside of them, then they have to go back and go around the correct side of the marker or they get disqualified."

Amy nodded. "Wouldn't you end up flying farther with wider turns?"

"Yes," Joel agreed, "but all of the racers have to work out what combination of longer distance and speed is best for them. That sixty-four hundred kilometre distance is the shortest route. I think Mark actually flew closer to sixty-five hundred kilometres last year, but he was able to keep his speed higher by doing that."

Once Mark was safely in the lead, which took less than fifteen minutes, everyone except Joel went back to bed for a little more sleep. A few hours later, Al was up, showered, dressed, and downstairs cooking breakfast for three. Scorpius was coming over for eight, and once the smell of eggs, pancakes, and sausage reached Lily, he heard her start moving around upstairs. She got to the kitchen and hugged Al before sitting at the table.

"How's Mark doing?" she asked, pointing to the portable WWVN Al had sitting on the counter.

"He's nearly eight hundred miles into the race. Mariposa and Raffaele are trying to keep up, but they're already fifty miles behind him. There's one other guy about twenty miles behind them, and the rest are only coming up on six hundred and fifty miles."

"Fifty miles isn't very far behind," Lily said. "At those speeds, it's only fifteen minutes."

Al nodded. "That's true, but we'll see how they do once it gets dark over there. That's when the flying really gets hard."

A knock on the door let them know that Scorpius had arrived, so Lily got up and went to invite him in with a warm hug and smile.

"Welcome to Al's Diner," she joked as they sat down at the table. "Help yourself to juice, tea, or coffee while your order is being prepared. Before we get busy and I forget to ask, how's Winky doing? She must be coming up on five months with her pregnancy."

"She says that everything is fine," Scorpius answered while pouring himself a coffee. "I can't get her to slow down at all, though. They both seem to be very happy, so I guess they know what's best for House Elf mothers-to-be."

"I'm sure she does," Lily agreed. "I've never seen a baby House Elf before. It's going to be interesting to watch him or her grow up."

Al laughed. "Why am I suddenly getting a mental picture of Scorpius opening the door to a little teenage elf coming to pick up his date?"

"Do teenage house elves date?" Scorpius asked. "That idea just seems weird."

Al brought over a bowl of eggs and platters of pancakes and sausages, and they all started filling their plates. They had lots of time before they could go up to the school, so they had a long chat while they ate, and kept an eye on the broom race, although other than one crash by a racer who missed a turn and ran into a stand of trees, there wasn't much new going on. Cleanup didn't take long after they'd finished eating, and so instead of sitting around, they decided to go pick up some sweets for Brianna, Carolyn, and Kieran, then wander around town until they could get into the school grounds an hour before game time.

Carolyn and Brianna met them at the gate, and walked with them to the stadium. Kieran took a few minutes off from getting ready with his team to spend with Lily before he had to get back to concentrating on playing the game. They went and found seats in the Ravenclaw section, and waited while the stands began filling up with students, professors, and visitors. Kirley and Ana got there about twenty minutes before the game, coming with Myra's parents and brother. They all came and sat in the Ravenclaw section, and Lily moved up a row so she could sit and talk with Ana and Meghan.

Al and Lily were both surprised when James and Arianna joined them. Quincy, Joel, Sarah, Amy, and Millie had come to sit with them earlier along with Liam and Frederica, and Quincy hugged James and Arianna.

"Thanks for coming," he said quietly. "Erin is going to love the surprise."

"You're welcome," James told him. "I'm glad you asked us to come." He and Arianna made the rounds of hugs and kisses, then sat down with Quincy, a row below Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna.

"How's Erin feeling?" Arianna asked Quincy.

"She could barely eat at breakfast," he answered. "She's excited and scared, but I think she'll calm down once the game gets started. I hope she does okay. She's worked really hard at her practices."

"I'm sure Erin will do fine," Arianna told him.

It wasn't much longer before the teams came out and flew once around the pitch. They landed, got the pre-game fair play speech, and then the game started with a flourish as Miranda flashed into the air ahead of everyone, snatched the quaffle, and flew straight for the Ravenclaw goals. The Ravenclaw students cheered when Myra made an impossible looking save on Miranda's shot, and knocked the Quaffle straight to one of her Chasers.

Over the next three hours and twenty-five minutes, the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams treated their spectators to an incredible game. Kieran and Miranda were far better than the Ravenclaw Chasers, but Myra was playing her heart out, making one spectacular save after another. She'd only given up three goals, and they were all because of steals that Miranda or Kieran had made on the Ravenclaw Chasers that left them with open goals that she had no chance of getting to. While she'd been busy saving over one hundred and sixty shots, her Chasers had only managed one lone goal against Hufflepuff, and so Kieran's team led by thirty points to just ten points for Ravenclaw.

While she was putting on that performance, Erin was pushing Nadine through the entire game. The two young Witches were so closely matched that neither could gain an advantage over the other as they raced all around the stadium. It was yet another mistake by a Ravenclaw Chaser that allowed Nadine to finally get a clean shot at the snitch. She and Erin had both spotted the snitch, and began racing after it when the Ravenclaw Chaser flew right into Erin's path, forcing her to veer off and fall behind Nadine – too far behind.

That was all it took, and that small mistake – just a couple of seconds of lost momentum, and the game was over as Nadine scooped up the snitch victoriously as the Hufflepuff section cheered for their team.

"Myra and Erin would have been better off without those three Chasers," Liam said softly to Frederica and his parents and brother. "They were both playing good enough to win today. Kieran's lucky that Joe was the only other Ravenclaw having a decent game."

His mother nodded. "Let's go try and cheer your sister up. Losing these close games is never fun."

They all went out to the centre of the pitch where the two teams were meeting. James, Arianna, and Quincy went straight to Erin. She'd been bravely fighting back the tears ever since she'd seen Nadine catch the snitch, but when she saw James and Arianna, she couldn't stop from crying anymore, and she threw herself into Arianna's arms.

"It's okay, sweetie," Arianna told her gently as she stroked her hair and held her close. "You played a great game and just had a tough break there at the end." She waved James and Quincy off, so they joined the others while Arianna took care of consoling Erin.

Myra was shedding a few tears too when she hugged her parents. "That was fun right up to the losing part," she joked. "I definitely didn't like that part of the game at all."

"You played brilliantly, Myra," Meghan told her. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks, Mum," Myra said, hugging her again. "What'd you think of the game?" she asked Liam, who grinned at her.

"I'm thinking that Lance, Claire, and I better start training harder now, or you're going to make us look bad next May," he said with a laugh. "I'm willing to concede that Kieran and Miranda are better than we are, and you held them to thirty points."

"There may be some hope for him after all," Meghan joked. "That actually sounded like you were complimenting your sister."

Liam laughed. "Don't tell anyone. You'll ruin my rep."

Frederica hugged him. "You're such a fake," she told him. "Go be macho around your room mates. We like the real you when you're with us."

Arianna had held Erin until her crying had stopped, and then helped fix her face before they joined the others. Quincy hugged her, and she smiled at him.

"Sorry, Quincy. Thanks for the surprise. Arianna told me that you asked them to come see me play. That was really nice of you."

"You're welcome, Erin," he said, smiling at her happily. "Everybody's already talking about how great you and Myra played today. You're going to be heroes in our House for the next few days."

"Did anyone happen to notice that we didn't win?" she asked him, and he laughed.

"What difference does that make? I'm pretty sure even James and Arianna lost a game once or twice when they played here, and you know how good they are."

James laughed. "We lost more than one or two," he assured Erin. "You're playing on a really young team. In a year or two, your team will catch up with you and Myra, and then these other teams will have to watch out."

Carolyn and Brianna led Al and Scorpius off to take the long way back to the gate as soon as they could get away from the others. Kieran ducked out to go take a quick shower and get changed, then came back out so that he could walk Lily to the gates before he had to get back to school and go to the party in Hufflepuff House.

"This doesn't feel like much of a visit," Kieran told Lily as they walked. "I wish they'd allow visitors to stay longer after the game."

Lily nodded. "We'll have most of the day on the next Hogsmeade weekend, and that's only two weeks away."

"At least we'll both be busy. You know the professors will be dumping the pre-Christmas work on us now that Quidditch is done until January, and you've got your trip with Laura starting next weekend."

"Don't remind me," Lily said. "That's going to be all work and no play. At least four stops a day for seven days."

"All of those Malls, and no time to shop," Kieran joked.

"Let's not be silly, Kieran. We'll find at least a little time for shopping," Lily told him.

When they got to the gate, Carolyn and Brianna were just finishing saying goodbye to Al and Scorpius, so Lily hugged and kissed Kieran, hugged Carolyn and Brianna, and then left with Al and Scorpius, as Brianna, Carolyn, and Kieran turned away from the gates, starting the walk back up to the school. None of them wondered why that walk back always felt long and lonely, while the one going to the gates with their fiancées and girlfriend was always way too short. While Kieran and the other Hufflepuffs were busy with their Quidditch victory party, the rest of the Marauders had a study session and watched parts of the broom race while they worked.

By four in the afternoon, twelve hours into the race, Mark was continuing to pull ahead of the next closest racers. He was twenty-five hundred miles into the race, and had stretched his lead to one hundred and fifty miles over Mariposa and Raffaele. They went down to the Great Hall for dinner, where Professor McGonagall again let the students know that curfew would be extended until a half-hour after Mark finished the race so the students who wanted to could stay up until after Mark won the race.

After dinner, the Hufflepuff Marauders joined the study session, and they worked until ten o'clock, and then they packed up and went to Karl's office to watch the rest of the race.

"It looks like he's going to knock nearly an hour off of his own record," Joel told the others as they watched the forward camera view from Mark's broom as he raced along in the early morning light.

"He's nearly doubled his lead over Mariposa and Raffaele too," Sarah added. "I wonder how he does that?"

"Hard work and some seriously advanced Arithmancy," Joel told her. "He asked Isabelle to work out optimal flight paths for the entire race, just like she and Lily did for the Trans Atlantic and Trans Pacific races. It must have been a monster job to figure that out for thousands of turns."

"For any of us average Arithmany students," Carolyn said. "Isabelle probably put it together with no trouble at all. Lily's probably the only other Witch or Wizard who even knows what she's talking about half the time."

Mark crossed the finish line at eleven-fourteen home time, or seven-fourteen Sunday morning, China time. His average speed was two hundred and eight miles per hour. After roaring past the finish line, he did a wide loop around the field where thousands of Witches and Wizards had come out to watch the end of the race before landing. Callie was there with hugs and kisses for him, as were Owen, Natalie, Harry, and Ginny.

The gang in Karl's office watched most of Mark's interview, and then started heading for their own Houses and dorm rooms to make it back before curfew. Al and Lily had stayed up and watched the race too, and then gone up to their rooms, since each of them had a VirtualChat date before going to sleep.

Since Harry and Ginny were staying in China for the weekend, and wouldn't be back until Monday morning, Al and Lily spent the rest of their weekend together after leaving Hogwarts. The first part of the day on Sunday was dedicated to a shopping and lunch trip to the Mall. After that, they visited Nick and Allie for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and then went out for dinner before going back to Hogsmeade for the night.

"What are you working on?" Lily asked Al. They were in the sitting room, and he was going over the files he'd brought home from work, while she was curled up on one of the sofas reading a novel.

"I'm looking for Alecto and Amycus Carrow," he explained. "We're pretty certain that they've been living in Bulgaria, somewhere along the Black Sea coast, but so far I'm not finding anything that's pointing to them."

"if you've got that much information, then they're not hiding behind a Fidelius Charm," she pointed out. "That doesn't rule out having made their hideout unplottable, though. The Carrows were a pretty nasty pair, Al. Have you thought about looking through hospital records for strange injuries and fatalities? If they're way over there, most Witches and Wizards wouldn't be able to apparate from here to Bulgaria to see them, assuming that there are Witches and Wizards who would actually want to see them. You could get the TransPortal billing records for any of their pals that you know about, and see where they're going when they visit Bulgaria."

Al grinned at her. "Have I told you that I love you yet today? Those are both brilliant ideas."

Lily returned his smile. "I love you too, Al. You're welcome."

The first thing Al did after breakfast on Monday was to go with Lily to Marauders Institute, and get the international TransPortal records for all of the Witches and Wizards he'd seen at Travers' house for the past year. When he got to Auror Headquarters, he dropped the box full of those records in one chair, and sat down in the other one and smiled across the desk at Hestia.

"What is all of that?" she asked curiously.

"My brilliant sister suggested that if we want to find some bad guys out of country, that we should look through the TransPortal records of certain other known or suspected bad guys and see where they're going when travelling too far from home to be able to apparate."

Hestia sat up in her chair and was smiling now too. "They keep all of those records?" she asked excitedly. "I guess I should have known that – I do get a bill every month."

Al nodded. "Since quite a few of us are looking for fugitives in other countries, I thought maybe we could split up these files and that way we'll get through them faster. We can each be looking for all of the Witches and Wizards we want to find. We'll be looking for trips to Bulgaria, America, Mexico, Morocco, and Serbia. Too bad we don't have any hints on where to look for Rosier."

He stopped and stared off into space long enough that Hestia finally asked him if he was okay. He came back into the real world and smiled again.

"Sorry. I was just trying to remember something else Lily said last night. It's odd that the Mulcibers, Dolohov, and Rowle seemed to have no idea where Rosier lives. I'm wondering if that's because his home is protected with a Fldelius Charm?"

Hestia nodded. "That makes sense," she agreed. "It certainly explains why he's invisible. I wonder who the secret-keeper is?"

Al shrugged. "I've got no idea," he answered. "If that's what Rosier has done, though, it's going to make him very hard to find."

"Let's keep working on the ones we do have leads for," Hestia said. "Why don't you take those with you, and I'll have the others drop by and pick up files when they can to start helping you out."

Lily's idea was a really great one, but going through those records, and cross-referencing them to destinations took a long time. While Al continued his search for the Carrows, the only big event going on at the Ministry of Magic was the trial of Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle. It took four days to present the long list of evidence, including for the attempted murder of Elder Scorpius Malfoy. Al and the other Aurors were called to testify about that on Thursday, and then on Friday the tribunal of Wizengamot Elders found them both guilty of all of the charges, and both Wizards were sentenced to life in Azkaban.

Lily's worldwide promotion tour was starting on Saturday, but she and Laura left for Japan early on Friday so that they could get adjusted to the time change before starting their busy week. While the two girls were focused on launching the Christmas line of SpellBound's clothes, perfumes, makeup, and new album, Al was spending Saturday with Harry and Ginny. They started their day out with a trip to the Mall so they could do a little early Christmas shopping, went for lunch with everyone who was going to the Canons game with them in the afternoon, and then went on to the stadium and the comforts of the Owner's Box to watch the Canons play the Ballycastle Bats.

"Did you buy the new album?" Ana asked Al while they were all getting drinks and getting ready to watch the game.

Al nodded. "The GamePortal was packed, so Mum, Dad, and I bribed Owen with coffees and cinnamon buns for him and Natalie so he'd bring us out some copies. How are the sales going so far?"

"So far they're a little ahead of the album we put out last year at this time, and a bit behind the one that came out last June. The merchandising is way up over last year. Victoire and Allie have done a great job with the clothing and makeup lines, and there is a new older version of the SpellBound TeenWitch dolls and accessories this year too."

"You should get Kieran and Lily to give you a raise," Al told her. "You're like the music industry's version of Luna."

Ana laughed. "I've actually learned a lot from Luna over the past few years. She really is a genius."

Al sat on one of the sofas with Scorpius and Tracey to watch the game, and they were all sitting down by the time the Bats, then the Canons were introduced. Andy's QSPN show was on the WWVN so that they could listen to his play-by-play while they watched the game.

"Where have Lily and Loura been today?" Tracey asked Ana. "They must be done for the day with the time change."

"They did stops in Tokyo, Japan, Sydney, Australia, Seoul, South Korea, and Hong Kong today," Ana told her, "and they're probably just wrapping up now in Hong Kong, depending on what kind of turnout they had at the GamePortal and the Teen FashionKnut stores."

"Are they going to be running around like that every day?" Trinity asked, and Ana nodded.

"Four Malls a day, and except for two stops in China, and two in the United States, they'll only be doing one Mall in each country they go to. They'll get to twenty-six countries by the end of the day next Friday."

The game got started, and the Canons were playing great right from the start. Arianna had three goals in the first fifteen minutes, and they never looked back as over the next two hours and twenty minutes they completely outplayed the Bats, and then Liselle capped off a nearly flawless game with a really spectacular catch of the snitch.

Saturday was the last day of November, and Harry, Ginny, and their guests closed the month out with a victory party at the cottage. Al got home early enough that he could get ready for bed before it was time for his chat with Carolyn, and when they each went to sleep, neither were even thinking about it being December first on Sunday, and that bonus day was going to be very exciting for them this year. The Christmas holidays were now just under three weeks away, and the letters that would arrive in the morning were going to be a great start to the Christmas season.


	118. Tis the Season

Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen – 'Tis the Season

Al woke up Sunday morning, and took his time getting ready for the day. He was going into work today, so he was in no hurry. When he got to the kitchen he didn't even notice the Owl in the window until it pecked at the glass to be let in. He opened the window, and when he saw where the package was from, he finally remembered what day it was. He sent the Owl on it's way, then sat down at the table to open his package and read through everything.

Fleur had sent him the PBP Investments and Phoenix Foundation reports, and Turvog sent him his first dividend account report. The letter that Fleur sent with the reports advised him that his five percent ownership of PBP Investments was, as of the end of November, worth around three and a half billion galleons, and she welcomed him to the relatively exclusive billionaire club. PBP Investements had done very well, and had earned six point four billion galleons in the past year after bonuses, and the three way split with the Investment Partnership and the Phoenix Foundation.

That brought him around to his letter from Turvog. He and Carolyn were co-account holders for their dividend account, and just under forty-nine and a quarter million galleons was deposited into that account this morning. All of the cousins who had these new dividend accounts had already worked out with Turvog how they wanted their accounts handled, including investment strategies that the talented Goblin had recommended for everyone, so other than reading the reports, he didn't have anything that needed to be done, since it was already taken care of. They didn't have to worry about it this year, but starting next year, Lily had been elected to deal with authorizing Turvog's annual incentive for all of the cousins, instead of having to send back a whole bunch of separate approvals.

He was smiling as he made breakfast, then sat down to eat. He got a QuillMessage from Lily asking him if he was having fun yet. A couple of messges back and forth, and he found out that she'd already been in Shanghai and Beijing, and was now in New Delhi, India. She was going to finish her day in Moscow before moving on to the next stop on her tour Monday morning.

After eating breakfast and cleaning up, Al grabbed his files and left for Auror Headquarters. He had just sat down at his desk when his WiComm chimed. He smiled back at Carolyn's beaming face.

"I take it you got your package," he said cheerfully. "Are you having a good day?"

"We're have a rather brilliant day," she answered. "I see you're at work. Why didn't you take the day off to celebrate?"

Al laughed. "Because the one person I'd like to celebrate with isn't available. This keeps me occupied while you're at school."

"Well, I have to keep it short because everyone's getting ready for our study session. I love you, Al. Have a good day. I'll call you after dinner sometime when I can borrow Brianna's office again."

Al nodded. "Okay. I love you too, Carolyn. You have a great day too."

When he finished the call with Carolyn, Al spread the TransPortal records out on his desk for four different Wizards – Avery Senior, Rabastan Lestrange, Marcus Flint, and Goyle Senior. He started going through the records from where he'd left off, and didn't stop until he heard footsteps coming down the hall from the lifts.

"Thought I'd find you here," Scorpius said when he reached Al's cubicle. "It's after one. Do you want to grab a late lunch? I've been working all morning too."

Al got up and stretched. "Sure. I'm getting nowhere fast right now anyway. They never talk about tracking the bad guys through paper trails in the movies."

"That's because nobody would pay to go see the hero sitting at a desk for weeks at a time reading," Scorpius told him.

They were gone for just over an hour, and when Al got back, he did feel in a better frame of mind to tackle the mounds of records again. Before he started, though, he just sort of stared at the four files sitting open there, thinking about what he'd learned so far about these four Knights.

Each of them used the TransPortal quite often for international trips. They went to all of the countries they were looking in, but also went to many other countries too. What were they doing on all of these trips? Business? Meeting with other Knights? That gave him an idea, and he grabbed fresh parchment and his quill and got to work.

He'd already noted every instance on each file where the person had travelled to one of the countries they believed was where the old Death Eaters were hiding. It took him nearly four hours, but he cross-referenced all four of the files by date and destination wherever there were matches. When he was finished, he had eight destinations in the United States where at least two of them had been at the same places and at the same times. He had similar results for Morocco, Serbia, and Bulgaria, with between four and six destinations in each of those three countries.

When he realized how late it was already, he packed up the files and put them away, then took the pages of parchment he'd just finished writing, and left for home. He wanted to have dinner before his call with Carolyn, and he could continue with what he was working on while he ate. There were five destinations in Bulgaria that had been travelled to multiple times over the past year.

There were two locations in Sofia, one in Varna, and two more in Bourgas. Since his other information suggested that the Carrows were near the Black Sea, it was the locations in Bourgas and Varna that he started with. Each terminal they'd used was a public location, not for private houses or businesses, but that didn't surprise Al, since once in Bulgaria, they'd be able to apparate anywhere within range of their individual abilities. Since they were going to these specific locations, though, they must have some significance.

Al kept working on the problem, taking breaks to clean up after dinner, and an hour to talk with Carolyn. He used his VirtualLibrary to read up on the cities of Bourgas, Varna, and Sofia, looked through a listing of Wizarding businesses in Bulgaria, and skimmed through a history book on the country for any clues about possible family links. By eleven, he'd decided to call it a night, but he went to bed finally feeling like he was actually closing in on his quarry.

When he got to work in the morning, Al found out that he was on guard duty for the next two or three days. He and Patrick were to escort Travers from Azkaban each day of his trial, stand guard all day, and then escort him back for the night. He had enough time before leaving to talk with Hestia about what he'd been working on, and while he was busy, she was going to have some of the others check the dates and destinations he'd matched with the TransPortal records of the Witches and Wizards they were working on, and see if there were any more matches.

"Your bosses are fools sending the kiddie Cops to guard me," Travers sneered when he saw that Patrick and Al were going to be escorting him from Azkaban. "Either that, or you're just both expendable."

Al and Patrick both laughed. "It's nice to see that keeping a sense of humour is encouraged in Azkaban," Patrick told their prisoner. "I'm sure it'll make your long stay here much easier."

"Why don't you let me go now, and maybe you'll live a while longer?" Travers suggested. "What's so funny?" he spat at Al, who was grinning at him.

"I'll tell you later," Al promised. "I'd hate to spoil anything for you."

The trip to London was quick and uneventful. The trial moved along quickly, starting with establishing that Travers was already supposed to be serving a life sentence for his role in the murder of the McKinnon family. From there, they moved on to his escape from Azkaban, and the other remaining new charges.

Travers sat through the presentation of all of the evidence and testimony with a contemptuous smirk on his face. He was still arrogant and confident when Al and Patrick returned him safely to Azkaban that evening. On Tuesday morning when Al and Patrick picked him up, he was practically crowing as he taunted them.

"Time's running out, boys,' he warned them. "I really hope you said goodbye to your loved ones this morning before coming to work."

When they reached the mainland, Travers was looking around expectantly, but nothing happened, and they took the TransPortal to the Ministry of Magic. Again Travers looked around, but they entered the Ministry Atrium without any problems. The presentation of the evidence was finished by lunch, and then after a two-hour recess, the tribunal was reassembled, and Travers was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Al had been listening to Traver's surface thoughts for the past day and a half, and when the verdict was read, his first thought was that one of the first things he planned on doing when he escaped was to get the two Elders that were from among the twenty-one Wizengamot members that were aligned with the pureblood elitists, and kill them for daring to convict him today. The two Elders in question, however, ignored the daggers Travers was trying to stare into him. They had their orders, and they were not to compromise themselves to find Travers innocent of the new charges when they could do nothing about the old murder charges, and he'd be going to Azkaban for life anyway.

When Al and Patrick escorted Travers back out of the Ministry building, his head was practically on a swivel as he looked all around them. He was starting to get angry now, and Al stayed close to him as they took the TransPortal straight to the docks where the ferry to Azkaban was waiting for them. There was no rescue attempt at the docks, and Al and Patrick had to keep Travers moving onto the ferry as he continued to look all around them, still searching expectantly for some sign. Nothing happened, and Travers was getting red in the face as his anger boiled up inside. They arrived at Azkaban, and their prisoner was practically shaking with rage as he was led into the prison.

"Looks like we get to live another day after all, Al," Patrick said conversationally as they walked into the security room where they'd be handing Travers over to the prison guards.

"Seems so," Al agreed amiably. "Do you remember yesterday morning when I promised to tell you later what was so funny, Travers?"

"Yes," Travers snarled at Al. "Something stupid about not wanting to spoil it for me."

Al nodded. "Exactly. I should probably confess that it was as much for my own amusement, though. Your supposed friends were never going to attempt to rescue you, Travers. We've known for weeks now that you, the Mulcibers, Dolohov, and Rowle were cut loose as lost causes. You're all going to be here for a very, very long time."

Patrick laughed, and Travers glowered at them both. "When I get out of here," he snarled at them, "I'm going to come after the two of you first," he promised.

Al pinned him with his piercing emerald eyes, and smiled. "You're not getting out of here, Travers, and even if you did, if I were you, the last thing I'd think about doing if I were you is coming after me or any of the other Aurors."

"Ah, I see you've arrived with our newest lifetime member," one of the guards on duty said when he came into the room. "Welcome home, Travers. You're room is ready, and we'll let you go to the Common Room to play with your little friends until dinner, unless you'd rather go to your cell and have a good cry instead."

Their arrival had broken the eye contact that Al had made with Travers, and the older man had quickly looked away. He didn't say anything in response to either Al's comments, or to what the guard had said. The second guard searched him thoroughly, and then with a wave to Al and Patrick, they led Travers into the prison while Al and Patrick made their way back outside and on to the ferry to wait for the return trip that would begin once the supplies for the prison had been unloaded.

When they got back to Auror Headquarters, Al went to see Hestia, who smiled at him cheerfully when he sat down across the desk from her.

"How was guard duty?" she asked, and Al laughed.

"Patrick and I had some fun, but it wasn't such a good couple of days for Travers. He was fairly disappointed when none of his buddies tried to rescue him with just two young Aurors guarding him. He seems to have had an inflated impression of his value to the group, but I think reality is sinking in now."

"I'm sure that he and the other Death Eaters there will spend long hours entertaining themselves with escape plans," Hestia told him. "We've made some progress on that list you put together on the weekend."

Al took the pages of parchment she handed him, and looked through them. Now, instead of four corroborating records, they had sixteen so far. All of the Witches and Wizards having made trips to the TransPortal terminals that he'd listed.

"Now that we know that these are important places, what do you want to do next?" Al asked.

Hestia laughed. "We're going to go on some field trips. How do you feel about a few visits to Bulgaria starting tomorrow? We'll take some walks, see the sights, do a little shopping, and see what we can dig up."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Al told her. "Is that what the others are going to do too?"

"Garret and Patrick are heading for Mexico," she said with a nod. "Geoff and Vicky are going on a mini-vacation in Morocco, and Rick's sending four other Aurors to check out all of those locations in the United States."

"When do you want to leave tomorrow?" he asked.

"They're a couple of time zones ahead of us, so why don't we leave here at seven. That way most businesses should be open by the time we get there."

"That's fine with me," Al agreed, standing up. "I'd better get some work done before we go. Can I keep these?" he asked, waving the pages of parchment she'd given him, and she nodded.

"Sure, I've got another copy," Hestia told him. "Don't stay here half the night, Al. We'll need to be alert and very careful while we're over there poking around."

He didn't stay half the night, but it was after eight o'clock before he decided to go home. While he made and ate supper, he caught up on his QuillMessages. Lily kept him updated on how she was doing, and she and Laura were having a lot of fun, even though it was also a lot of work, and they were tired every night. On Monday, they'd travelled to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, then to Pretoria, South Africa, and ended the day with stops in Jerusalem and Cairo. Today they started in Ankara, Turkey, then went to Athens, Stockholm, and were now in Berlin. On Wednesday, she was going to be making appearances in Rome, Paris, Dakar, Senegal, and would get to be home for the night after a stop at the Marauders Mall in London.

Carolyn met him for an early VirtualChat so that he could get to sleep earlier than either of them normally did. Wednesday morning, he was at work and ready to go by a quarter to seven, and Hestia got there just minutes after him.

"Ready to go play?" she asked.

"Whenever you are," Al answered.

Hestia had a couple of things to do first, including a stop to see Rick, and then she came back for Al, and they left for Bourgas, Bulgaria. They used a different TransPortal terminal than the two that they'd marked in the city in case either location was someplace where they'd be seen by other Witches and Wizards. Bourgas was a fairly small city of about two hundred thousand people. When they made it to the first TransPortal terminal they were interested in, they found it was located near the beaches on the northeast section of the city. The beaches were nearly empty, with just a few people out for walks. The shops and cafés nearby didn't look very busy either as they wandered around trying to find any clues as to why this was a regular stop for the Knights.

"Maybe they just come here in July and August for the sunny beaches," Hestia joked.

Al laughed. "Rosier and his little band didn't look like they'd been spending a lot of time sun-tanning the last time I saw them. The younger guys would probably love it here. Too bad all of the trips weren't on a certain day of the week or something. Then all we'd have to do is wait around for a day, and watch to see where they went."

"We could end up doing that seven days a week if we don't come up with any better way," she told him. "That's not anywhere near my plan A, though. Huddling in the cold for weeks is not my idea of fun."

They visited all of the shops within two blocks of the TransPortal terminal, and a couple of the cafés, and then moved on to the second location. This was located near a Muggle Mall called the Tria City Centre.

"This isn't very helpful," Hestia said. "We're right in the central part of the city. I'm pretty sure that a bunch of former Death Eaters, their kids, and new buddies didn't come here to go shopping in Muggle stores."

"Do they have any of our shops in this city?" Al asked.

"Wizarding stores? Yes, a few, but nothing unusual, and I imagine that most Witches and Wizards around here apparate to Sofia, or go to one of the Marauders Malls, since they're the best anyway."

"I'll tell Grandma you think so," Al said with a grin.

Hestia laughed. "I always forget that Molly's company built all of those Malls. Who'd have guessed back when we were in the Order together that she'd be switching from super-mom to high-powered, big-business account manager."

"Do you still want to check out this area?" Al asked, and Hestia nodded.

"We might as well," she told him. "There might be a clue we'd miss if we don't. Make it a four-block area this time, though. There are a lot of places around here, but I doubt that any of those guys would walk more than a few blocks from here, and they definitely wouldn't take Muggle transportation."

They spent the rest of the day looking around the parks, hotels, and public buildings. Al took Hestia to lunch at one of the better restaurants there, and they visited the small group of Wizarding shops that boasted a bookstore, an Apothecary, a tavern, and a single clothing store that reminded Al a lot of the Gladrags store in Hogsmeade.

"Let's go home," Hestia finally said at around seven o'clock local time. "We haven't come up with anything here, but it's too late to go up to Varna today. We'll head there tomorrow."

"That works for me," Al answered. "I was hoping to have time to see Lily while she was in town tonight before she's off to South America tomorrow."

"Must be nice to be a world-famous musician and travel the world," Hestia said with a sigh.

"We travel," Al said. "I've only worked with you for a little over three months, and we've already been to Ireland, New York, and now Bulgaria."

Hestia nodded. "Maybe, but when I was a young Witch, I hadn't planned on seeing the world one criminal at a time."

With the time change, it was only a little after five when they got home, so Al sent Lily a QuillMessage to see whether she was back home yet, and sat down at his desk to work, since he knew that it might be a while before she would be able to answer. When his WiComm did chime, he was surprised to see that it was past six-thirty. Lily's qm let him know that she'd just finished her third stop, and they'd be going straight to the Marauders Mall in London, where she'd be splitting her time betweent he GamePortal and the Teen FashionKnut until nine or nine-thirty.

Al sent her a reply that he'd meet her at the cottage after that, and went back to work for another hour. He left the Ministry building, and popped over to the Mall, deciding to get something to eat at the food court, and to see what kind of crowds had come out to see Lily. He was pretty sure by the looks of how crowded the Mall was that there couldn't be very many little Witches and Wizards between the ages of four and ten who weren't here tonight. There was no way he was even going to get close enough to see Lily, so he got his food, ate quickly, and then went over to the cottage to visit with his parents while he waited for Lily to get home.

Harry and Ginny weren't alone, and he smiled as Kira threw her arms around his neck and hugged him when he walked into the sitting room.

"It's nice to see you too," he told Kira, hugging her back. "I didn't know you were going to be here. Are you and Lily doing another sleepover?"

Kira was bouncing up and down and bobbed her head. "Yes! And I get to go with her for two whole days! And I get to see Grandma and Grandpa and my aunts and uncles and cousins too!"

"All that in just two days?" Al asked. "You're going to be a very busy little Witch." Kira bounced back over to where she'd been sitting next to Ginny, and Al sat down on one of the empty sofas.

"Is this a change in plans?" Al asked his mother, who nodded.

"Lily has a stop at Valerie's GamePortal in Toronto on Friday, so she sent me a message this morning suggesting she could take Kira with her tomorrow, and then instead of staying in Guatemala like they'd planned, they're going to go up to Toronto and stay there tomorrow night."

"And I'll stay overnight with Grandma!" Kira said happily. "I haven't seen her since summertime."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Al told her. "If I didn't have to work, I'd think about going along. You and Lily get to do all the fun stuff."

"How was your day in Bulgaria?" Harry asked, and Al shrugged.

"Other than having a couple of good meals and touring the city of Bourgas, we didn't learn anything new today. Hestia and I will be there again tomorrow, and probably Friday too, depending on how it goes."

Harry nodded. "At least that's got to be more fun than guard duty. Travers didn't look too happy in the picture that was on the front page of the Daily Prophet this morning."

"I didn't see it, but that doesn't surprise me. He was pretty angry when we left him at Azkaban yesterday afternoon," Al said.

"Maybe he'll cheer up when you send some of his other little friends along to play with him in prison," Ginny suggested with a smile.

"We're working on that, Mum," Al assured her. "I'm not sure that Azkaban is big enough to hold all the bad guys in the world."

"There are other prisons," Harry said. "You won't run out of room for quite a while."

"This is boring, Aunt Ginny," Kira told her. "Can we play dolls or something instead?"

Al and Harry joined Ginny and Kira, and played dolls with her until Lily got home, which ended up being closer to ten-thirty than nine-thirty, so Al only visited with her for a half-hour, and then had to get home in time for his nightly chat with Carolyn and get some sleep so he'd be ready for another day of exploring in Bulgaria.

He and Hestia spent Thursday in and around the city of Varna, and on Friday, they checked out the two areas around the TransPortal terminals in the capitol city of Sofia. One wasn't far from the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic, and the other was again in a shopping district. Whatever the Knights were doing in these places, they hadn't left a clue behind anywhere that either Al or Hestia could find.

"Let's take the weekend off, and think about what we want to do next," Hestia suggested. "There has to be a connection between these TransPortal trips and the Carrows. We just haven't figured out what that connection is yet."

"I'm glad you said that," Al said with a smile. "Carolyn would have been really ticked if I wasn't able to see her tomorrow."

"That was a consideration," Hestia told him, "but contrary to popular belief, and all of the joking I do about it, I actually really do have a life outside of the Ministry too. You must both be looking forward to her being home for a couple of weeks at Christmas, though."

Al nodded. "We are. Any chance we'll have all the bad guys caught by then and you and I can take the holidays off?"

Hestia laughed. "There's zero chance, but we will have a few extra days off unless anything happens that we need to deal with right away."

It was already after six when they'd returned from Bulgaria, and they were the only two people in the office, so they packed up and left for their respective homes. Al wasn't feeling like making a big meal, so he just made up a couple of sandwiches, poured himself a glass of juice, and sat down at the kitchen table with one of the files he'd brought home with him.

The first thing he did before starting in on the file was to check his WiComm for QuillMessages, and Lily had sent him one new message. On Thursday, she, Laura, and Kira had started out in Sao Paulo, Brazil, then gone to Santiago, Chile, San Jose, Costa Rica, and Guatemala City, Guatemala before going to spend the night in Toronto, Canada.

Today, Lily had done her appearance at Valerie's GamePortal store in Toronto, and then gone to the Marauders Mall in New York. She was just finishing there, and they were going to the Marauders Mall in Mexico City next, and then on to the Marauders Mall in Los Angeles. With the eight hour time difference between there and home, and because she probably wasn't going to be back until around two o'clock in the morning home time, she wanted to come straight to his house and crash here for the few hours she'd have to sleep before they'd be getting ready for their day with Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran.

Al sent her a reply letting her know that was fine, and that he'd have her room ready for when she got here, and then put his WiComm aside and started in on his sandwiches, and the contents of the file. When he and Hestia had been in Sofia, he'd stopped by the Wizarding hospital there and asked for copies of any unusual or unsolved injuries or fatalities for the years between the time the Carrows went on the run and now. He'd made the request early in the morning, and then he and Hestia had stopped by to pick up the file on their way home.

For a fairly small country, the file was unusually large, and Al found the reports fascinating, although some were a bit morbid. When he'd finished his dinner, he stopped reading long enough to clean up and go upstairs to put fresh linens on Lily's bed. He then took the file with him into the sitting room, stretched out on one of the sofas, and continued reading the reports. His WiComm chimed at ten o'clock, and he talked with Carolyn for fifteen minutes or so. They still used the VirtualChat quite a bit, but a couple of times a week she'd borrow Brianna's office so they could talk instead and still have some privacy.

He went back to reading the file after the call. There were a few reports that he set aside, each of them having things about them that he thought deserved more investigation. At some point about half way through the reports he must have fallen asleep, because one minute he was reading about a Wizard who'd been brought in by his brother, and who's mind had completely shut off from the real world – which sounded a lot like what had happened to Neville's parents, and the next, Lily was gently waking him up.

"Hey, sleepy," she said as she leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Was your reading for the evening a bit on the boring side?"

Al got up and hugged her. "No, it's just been a long week. I'm sure you can relate. Where's your sidekick?"

"Natalie came to Los Angeles and got her four or five hours ago so that she wouldn't have to stay up this late," Lily told him. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to just go upstairs and pass out until morning."

"I'll be right behind you," he said, "once I've straightened up this file again."

Lily nodded, hugged him again, and then went upstairs. The file Al had been reading through had dropped to the floor when he'd fallen asleep, so he had to pick up all of the reports, and leaf through them again to find where he'd left off. He quickly scanned the last report he remembered reading, and added that one to his smaller pile of reports that he wanted to look at more closely later, and then put everything back in his case, went around turning the lights off, and went up to bed.

In the morning, he was up early enough to shower, get dressed, and have breakfast nearly cooked by the time Scorpius got there, and Lily had gotten up and ready. They ate, cleaned up, and then made the walk up to the school gates to meet Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran.

This was the last Hogsmeade weekend before the Christmas holidays, and this was one of the weekends for them to help out getting supplies for their first and second year friends. That combination made for extra-large orders for sweets and Christmas Wheezes, along with a few small gifts that Kieran and the girls wanted to pick up for some of their friends that they wouldn't see during the holidays.

"I'm ready for a nap," Lily said tiredly when they got back to Al's house. "That few hours sleep was not enough, and all of those time changes this past week have me totally messed up."

"You've got over an hour until lunch," Al told her. "Why don't you and Kieran go upstairs, and you can go ahead and have that nap."

Lily thought that was a brilliant suggestion, and she took Kieran in tow and headed for the stairs. Brianna and Scorpius sat at the kitchen table with drinks and talked with Al and Carolyn while they started cooking lunch. All of the Marauders were joining them for lunch again, but weren't going to stay for the afternoon this time since most of them wanted to get back to Hogwarts and work on all of the assignments they had due over the next week or so before everyone at the school switched to Christmas party mode for the last few days before they'd be going home for the holidays.

"I hope that long trip pays off for Lily," Brianna said. "No wonder she's so exhausted – twenty-eight appearances in twenty-six countries in seven days, covering eighteen time zones. Our last week wasn't that tough."

"If she had the crowds that I saw on Wednesday at the Mall for every stop, I'm sure it did," Al told her. "I'm sure your week was no picnic either. I'm surprised that you and Carolyn didn't bring some work with you today."

"We'll catch up tonight and tomorrow," Carolyn told him. "And we worked late last night too."

"Do we know what's going on over Christmas yet?" Brianna asked.

Scorpius nodded. "You'll have the welcome home lunch on Friday, and the shopping day Saturday. The Weasley family Christmas will be that Sunday on the island. You and I have Christmas Eve at the Minister's mansion, Christmas morning breakfast with Percy, Penelope, Nick, and Allie, late morning at the Cottage, and the afternoon and Christmas dinner with my parents and grandparents at our house." He stopped, took a breath, and a drink before continuing.

"You and Carolyn have some wedding-related appointments on days that Al and I are working, and the four of us have tickets to the New Year's Eve party at the Emerald City Centre. I've heard that on the weekend between Christmas and New Year's Day a lot of the family is going to be on the island, and we are all invited to go too if we want. Can you think about anything I've missed, Al?"

"Not for you two," he said. "Carolyn and I will be on our own Christmas Eve, and we'll be at the cottage at nine for breakfast on Christmas morning, and the residence for the party in the afternoon. I'm a yes vote for that weekend on the island."

"Me too," Carolyn said. "A couple of days in the sun sound perfect."

"Make that three votes," Brianna said, smiling at Scorpius. "I guess that means you'll be coming along with the majority regardless of how you vote."

Scorpius laughed. "Like I'd vote no to that anyway. Hopefully the days that Al and I have to work will give you enough time to get through your holiday revisions."

"Too bad you guys haven't been there long enough to just take the time off," Carolyn said wistfully. "I guess Brianna and I will be in the same situation next year, though."

"True, but we'll be in it together," Al told her. "Even if we don't get to do a lot of vacationing for the first few years."

Their guests started arriving, and the conversation moved on and got more animated as the house filled up, and everyone talked about school and Quidditch and the Christmas holidays. Lily and Kieran joined them a few minutes before Al served lunch, and everyone sat down to eat. An hour and a half later the house seemed empty by comparison as the last three couples standing went upstairs to their rooms for the rest of the time they had left before Kieran, Carolyn, and Brianna would have to get back to the school.

After walking Kieran and the girls back to the Hogwarts gates, Lily and Scorpius went back with Al to his house. Lily picked up her travel bag, and went home to the cottage, planning on having another nap before dinner. Scorpius had dinner plans with Nick and Allie, and Al planned on staying home and continuing to read through the medical records.

Al had poured himself a glass of wine, and sat down on one of the sofas with his feet up, and continued from where he'd left off, totally focused on what he was doing. When he realized that there were only a few pages left, he looked at his watch, surprised to see that it was already after nine o'clock. He hadn't even noticed that it had gotten dark outside. Since he was almost done, he read the last few records, and then put the file back in his case. The top fourteen records were the ones he was going to start looking deeper into in the morning.

He made himself a light, late dinner, and just had everything cleaned up when Carolyn sent him a qm to let him know she was ready for their nightly VirtualChat. They were both tired, so they didn't talk for long, and just mostly told each other what they'd been doing since Carolyn had gone back to Hogwarts before saying goodnight and ending the chat.

On Sunday morning, Al just picked up a coffee and a cinnamon bun on his way to Auror Headquarters. When he got there, and found that he was the only one in, he sat down at his desk and pulled out the fourteen records that he'd set aside over the past two nights. He read through each of them very carefully again, and the one record that kept nagging at him was the one Wizard who was to this day still in the Wizarding Hospital in Sofia, his shattered mind seemingly un-reparable.

'Ilian Kinlov, what is it about your file that's bugging me?' Al thought to himself. He didn't know, but he never distrusted his hunches and there was one easy way to find out. He folded the parchments for his records, and left for the hospital in Sofia. When he arrived, he was directed to the long-term care ward, and he took a lift to that floor. A Medi-Wizard told him which room that Ilian was in, and so he walked down the hall and went inside. There were eight beds in the room, all of them occupied. He walked down one side of the room, reading the names for each patient. He had to cross the room, and get to the second bed in from the windows before he found the Wizard he was searching for.

Ilian Kinlov was an average-sized man who looked to be somewhere in his sixties or maybe early seventies. Lying unmoving, his eyes were open and staring vacantly at the ceiling. There was a chair beside the bed, so Al went and sat down and opened his mind to the other Wizard. What he found was exactly what he expected to find – a mind that had been shredded, with the small, dim nub of consciousness that was Ilian Kinlov hidden so deeply in the wreckage that it was possible that none of the Healers here would even sense it's presence.

"Can I help you?" a young-sounding woman asked, and Al looked up to see a gently smiling Witch at the foot of the bed. Her nametag identified her as Ehlana.

Al had disguised himself before coming to Sofia, so he wasn't worried about being recognized, and he made up a cover story.

"Hi Ehlana, my name is Al. I'm a hit squad trainee, and my boss assigned some old cases for me to sort of practice on," he said. "If you have a moment, I'd appreciate anything you can tell me about this Wizard."

"He's been like this since he was brought here about six years ago," she told him. "There's not much else to say – we don't really know what happened to him."

"The records I have said he was brought in by a brother, Andrei Kinlov. Does he come to visit often?" Al asked.

The young Healer lost her smile, and looked sadly at Ilian. "He's never had any visitors," she told Al. "Not a single one in all of these years. That's why I was so surprised to see you here. It's not right that his family should just dump him here and never come see him. He's not the only patient here like that, but it's not like he's one of our John or Jane Doe's. At least for them it could just be that their families don't know they're here."

Al nodded sympathetically. "Is there nothing that can be done for him?"

She shook her head. "Frankly, we don't even know what keeps him alive," she told Al, confirming his suspicions that they in fact couldn't see that little nucleus of self deep inside Ilian. "His mind is completely gone."

"That's really too bad," Al said quietly. "I wish something could be done to help him." He stood up and held out his hand. "Thank-you, Ehlana. If I do find out anything new about what happened to him or his family, I'll let you know."

Ehlana shook his hand, and walked with him out of the room and down the hallway, stopping at the workstation for this ward while Al continued to the lifts and left the hospital. His next stop was another visit to Varna where he changed into his animagus. He hadn't thought about it at the time, but his Golden Eagle form was very handy in that the bird was present in a lot of countries in the Northern Hemisphere, which made him inconspicuous, and it was a form of transportation that didn't come with any loud noises like apparating could – though he'd come up with a little trick for that, or the destination restrictions of the TransPortal system.

Al winged his way along the Black Sea coast north of Varna toward the town of Balchik, which among other things, was where the summer home that had once been owned, built for, and used by Queen Maria of Romania still stood in it's palatial splendour. He wasn't going all the way to town, but to the address he had for Ilian Kinlov. When he arrived, he found a fairly large house at the top of a high cliff that overlooked the Black Sea. He flew past the house, which was part of a long string of widely spaced houses that stretched along that section of the coast. He continued on for a kilometre or more until he found a suitable place where he could change back to the disguise he'd used at the hospital in a place where he could easily walk down to the beach.

When he'd done that, he turned and started walking back toward Ilian's house. When he was getting close, he began checking for wards around the property, and sure enough, he found that even though it wasn't a large property, and the owner was comatose in the hospital, that it had been warded. His heart had begun to pound with excitement, and his extra senses had kicked into high gear.

He'd passed one couple and another solitary walker in the kilometre he'd walked to come level with the house he was interested in, and another couple were approaching in the distance, the gap closing as they walked toward each other. When the older couple passed him, he nodded as he'd done with the other people he'd passed, but it took all of his self-control to keep from revealing the shock he'd felt when he realized that it was Alecto and Amycus Carrow passing him. He had no doubt at all about it, since the pictures in their files had only been six or seven years old. They were both short and squat, and the lopsided smile that had been on Amycus' face as they'd approached was exactly like in the picture.

Al continued walking, not looking back once, and since he didn't hear any change in the footsteps behind him, the Carrows at least had not stopped or turned around after him, so hopefully he had not drawn their attention at all. He continued on until a curving path up away from the beach gave him the opportunity to get out of sight, change back into his animagus, and take off into the air again. He flew inland a short distance, then turned back toward the coast again, making his way to a stand of trees that separated Ilian's house from the property next to it. Winging in among the trees from the other side, he noiselessly perched on a tree a few metres in from the edge where he hoped that he wouldn't be noticed while he watched the house.

He'd expected that the Carrows would already be in the house, so he was surprised to first hear, then see them walking up the road and eventually into their yard. They both seemed to be breathing heavily, and he decided that they must have walked on to a spot along the beach where there was a more gentle climb that the one that led up to this house.

Al listened to them talking as they walked up their driveway and went into the house. Their conversation wasn't all that interesting, but what he could sense from their thoughts – particularly those he could read from Amycus, were very interesting. Here in their little hiding place, Amycus had charmed their neighbours into believing that he was Andrei Kinlov, and Alecto was now Alekko Kinlova. They were supposedly the brother and sister of Ilian Kinlov, and had inherited his estate after the terrible accident that had left him a mindless shell.

Al didn't hang around, and as soon as he felt it was safe to do so, he flew back out through the trees, climbed high into the air, and flew back to Varna before taking the TransPortal back to London. He returned to his desk at Auror Headquarters, and wrote up a report for Rick and Hestia detailing everything about what he'd discovered that day. They'd need to start surveillance on Monday, but he saw no reason to bother either of them with the news today. When he was finished writing and making a copy of his report, he tucked them both into his case, and took the rest of the day off. Rose and Matt were home from Hawaii today, so he popped over to see them and hear all about their latest trip, then stopped in to see Nick and Allie, and finished up his afternoon off with dinner at the Cottage with Lily and his parents, who'd spent most of their day at the Marauders Mall working on the DREAM Christmas project.

On Monday morning, he was up early and at his desk by seven, well ahead of everyone else. When Hestia got in, she knew something was up as soon as she saw the look on his face.

"I love seeing those sparkling emerald eyes of yours," she told him as she sat down across from him. "It always means that you've got something really great to tell me."

Al handed her his report, and watched silently as she quickly read through it. They were both grinning when she looked up at him again.

"You're a little scary when those feelings come over you, Al. I'm not complaining, though."

"It was just plain luck that they happened to be out on the beach for a walk at the same time I was checking the house out. We'll still need to set a stakeout up, and work out a way to capture them with the least amount of risk. Their file suggests that the Cruciatus curse is their specialty, and I'm not all that interested in finding out what it's like first hand," Al said, and Hestia nodded.

"I don't blame you – it's not a pleasant experience. I'll go talk with Rick and see what he wants to do," she told him, and he was handing her a second copy of his report even as she started to ask him if he'd made a copy. "You should probably get ready, since I expect you and I will be going to Bulgaria shortly."

Within a half hour, Al and Hestia were on their way to Varna, Bulgaria, and then on to Balchik. They went on a walking tour, doing a loop along the beach, then up to the road that they followed back past the Kinlov house. The defences were similar to those being used by the Mulcibers and by Travers with just a few minor differences. When they'd finished their tour, they went back to Varna, had lunch, and decided how they were going to deal with the surveillance.

"It's a lot colder out now," Al pointed out. "I'm not going to be able to sit out there in the open in my animagus form for twelve or fourteen hours a day – I'd freeze my beak off."

"There isn't all that much in the way of cover out there," Hestia told him, "but the property isn't that large, so I suppose if you use your cloak you would be able to get nearly as close to the house as you could as a bird. I'll figure out something else for myself, but after we eat, I'll head back to Headquarters, pick up Jake and Emma, and bring them here for the tour before they go get some sleep so they're ready for their shift here tonight."

For the rest of the week, more than half of Al's days were spent huddled under his invisibility cloak, watching the house. It had been empty all day on Monday, until late in the afternoon, when the Carrows both apparated into the yard before going directly inside the house. Whatever they did during the day, since they came back home together, it suggested that they did it together.

It was after nine o'clock local time when Al got the QuillMessage that Jake and Emma were on the job and he could leave. Cold and stiff, he was glad to be done for the night. He and Hestia met back at the office for a few minutes, and Hestia decided that if Al got any hints in the morning about where the Carrows were going in the morning that he would send her a message, and she'd attempt to follow them while Al continued the stakeout of the house.

Since there was a two hour time difference, Al was up hours before dawn, and left his house shortly before four each morning, getting to the hiding spot he'd picked out that put him closest to the house by six o'clock, sending messages to Jake and Emma so they knew that he was there and that they could go home. The lights in the house started coming on at six-thirty on Tuesday morning, and at around seven-thirty, brother and sister Carrow came out of the house, then apparated out of sight.

Al wrote a QuillMessage for Hestia - 'Sofia; Shipka street; at or near Alexander Nevsky Square going somewhere near Muggle National Library', and hit 'send'.

He knew that Hestia would already be on her way, and he settled in to watch the now empty house and entertained himself by putting together possible capture scenarios and studying the defences that the Carrows had placed around their house. As the hours dragged into days, and the only break in the monotony for him was the morning departures and late afternoon arrivals of the Carrows, and the occasional short breaks he took, it got more difficult to keep alert all the time.

On Friday, after they'd finished their surveillance for the day, Hestia and Al met with Rick in his office to discuss what they knew so far.

"I've gotten nothing from watching them in Sofia," Hestia reported. "I didn't find them at all when I got there Tuesday morning, but I hung around all day, and eventually they came walking down the street toward the square to a spot where it was clear for them to apparate out of the city. On Wednesday, I waited there and followed them, but they were there in front of me one second, and gone the next."

"So they're spending their days in a place that has a Fidelius Charm on it," Rick said confidently. "It must be important to the Knights to set that up, but we're not going to find it, unless we somehow get lucky and stumble across the Secret Keeper. Let's bring them in. Maybe we'll get lucky and one of them will be the Secret Keeper, though I highly doubt that either of them would be."

"What do you think, Al?" Hestia asked.

"Let's see what they do tomorrow," Al suggested. "Maybe that Sunday morning walk is something they do on the weekends. If it is, we could get them on the beach and not have to worry about the protections around the house."

"That's true," Hestia agreed. "And if they don't?"

"If they're not out for a walk Sunday morning, then I'd suggest we set it up again for Monday morning – at least we know what time they leave for work every day," Al told them, and Rick and Hestia both nodded their agreement.

Because Al was spending his Saturday on the stakeout, he missed watching the Canons lose another road game, this time to the Catapults. That bad news was offset earlier in the day when he watched the Carrows go for a morning walk along the beach. They walked down the path from their house, went down the beach far enough to be out of Al's sight, and then returned past their house, probably walking all the way back to the same gentler path up to the road they'd used the previous Sunday before returning to their house again. At least it looked good for them for their plan-A Sunday capture of the two fugitives.

The plan they worked out that night was pretty simple. Rick and Hestia were going to wait with the other Aurors in Balchik, while Al went in early by himself. He was to set up four TransPortal terminals on the beach below the Carrow's house, and when they were on their way back from their walk – if they went on it, he was to send a message to Hestia when the pair were almost to the middle of the four TransPortals, and put up the Anti-apparition shield over the area. They'd decided to make the capture attempt at the end of the walk hoping that being a little physically tired would have both Carrows a little less alert when the trap was sprung.

Everything came together so perfectly, and the Carrows were so shocked that they didn't even get their wands drawn before they were bound and disarmed by the eight Aurors who'd appeared soundlessly all around them. The two Wizards who had inflicted the most pain on the students of Hogwarts during the last year of the war went down without any fight at all.

Al went with everyone who was escorting the Carrows back to Auror Headquarters. Sturgis and Garret were going to stay behind and carefully take down the wards around the house, and then search the place for anything that would help them. Doing that in the other captures hadn't been possible, since there were other owners of those properties, but in this case, several of the Carrows crimes had been against the owner of the house, so recovery of the property was something they could do. Part of that recovery required a full, accurate accounting of everything that was found there.

There was no doubt as to where he expected to be for the rest of the day, so after the Carrows were in the interrogation room, Al went and got himself a drink and sandwich, and went to the observation room.

"Welcome home," Rick told the Carrows when he walked into the room a few minutes after Al had sat down to watch the show. "You've been missed."

"We've served our time," Amycus spat. Why can't you leave us in peace?"

Rick shrugged. "Oh, I don't know – maybe because you left a witness behind alive during your little triple murder. Yes, that definitely could be why. And now we'll have to add grand theft, felony assault, and use of unforgiveable curses against poor Ilian Kinlov. I'm sure there's more, but all of that will earn you each a lifetime membership at Spa Azkaban. Since it is the season of giving, you probably can't imagine how much joy I'm receiving by being able to give that to you, and to your buddies that are already at Azkaban, for Christmas."

"How do you know about Kinlov?" Amycus asked, and Alecto smacked him on the arm. Al heard her 'stupid git' thought loud and clear.

Her mind was as opaque to him as Darius Mulciber's and Dolohov's had been, while Amycus' mind was nearly completely transparent. He wondered why it was that he could read some minds so easily without even using Legilimency, but didn't come up with any answers. Maybe he'd ask Lily about it sometime. Whatever the reason, he wasn't complaining about it as he read the open book that was Amycus Carrow, writing down notes as he went.

They took breaks for lunch and dinner, and kept at the interrogation until late in the evening after deciding during the dinner break that they nearly had everything they were going to get out of the Carrows anyway, since Al had already determined that while they were involved in something important enough to warrant a Fidelius Charm being used to hide it, they weren't the Secret Keepers, so there was no way that the Aurors would be finding out anything about that from them. The Carrows also didn't have anything new that they could use about any of the other former Death Eaters, although Amycus did have some new names of Wizards and Witches who were part of the Knights.

On Monday, the Carrows were read their charges before Al, Scorpius, and the other members of the Wizengamot, and after a trial date was set for January twenty-seventh and a tribunal of Elders was selected, they were taken to Azkaban so they could spend the holidays with some of their best friends.

With the few experiences Al had with fugitive captures, there was something of a letdown after each catch when there was a lull in the action. Before that happened this time, Al had a few things to do first. On Monday night, he went to see his parents, and asked Harry if he could recruit some help and go with him to Sofia and see if they could help Ilian Kinlov. When he got to work on Tuesday, he found out that he and Hestia were going to spend the day helping out with the search at the house the Carrows had been using for the past six years.

By the end of Tuesday when they sealed the house and returned to Auror Headquarters, the nearly three days of scouring the place had garnered them a small room full of boxes full of potential clues for the Aurors to work through whenever they had time to do that.

Al got a call Tuesday night that his father, along with Aunt Hermione, Lily, Art and Serena would be able to go with him in the morning to Sofia and try to heal Ilian. On Wednesday morning, Al went to the cottage to have breakfast with everyone, and then they took the TransPortal to the hospital in Bulgaria.

Al led them to the long-term care ward, and then asked to see Ehlana, the young Healer who'd talked with him a week and a half ago. He reintroduced himself, apologizing for the need for the disguise, and explained why they had come. Ehlana, like possibly every other Healer in the world had heard about Hermione Granger, and her incredible successes, so other than asking to have enough time to gather some other Healers to watch them, she had no problems at all with them attempting to heal her patient.

When everyone was there, Hermione taught the Bulgarian Healers how to do the spells that would let them 'see' what was being done to their patient, and then they began. Harry was again the lead, and Art and Serena were his Healer-guides, while Al, Lily, and Hermione provided Harry with the power to make it all work. Al had no idea how long the procedure took, since he was concentrating on keeping the power flowing, and on watching what was happening in Ilian's mind.

When it was over, Ehlana and her fellow Healers began talking excitedly together, and with Art, Serena, and Hermione. When Ilian's eyes came into focus and he started looking around in confusion, Ehlana left the others and went to check him over, talking soothingly to him as she worked.

Al hugged Lily, his Aunt, cousins, and father. "Thank-you," he told them. "I really didn't want to leave him like that if there was any way we could help him."

"You're welcome, Al," Harry told him. "He's still got a long recovery ahead of him, though."

"At least he will recover now," Al answered.

He went over and talked with Ehlana for a minute, telling her that she could get in touch with him at Auror Headquarters in London if he could help her with anything that Ilian needed during his recovery. They left the hospital, each of them going off to different destinations – Al's being Auror Headquarters.

"What was up this morning?" Hestia asked when he sat down across the desk from her.

"I asked Dad, Aunt Hermione, and a few others to go with me to Sofia and see what they could do for Ilian Kinlov," he told her. "After the holidays we should probably go see him and ask if he's up to testifying against the Carrows. Maybe he'll be far along enough in his recovery to do that by the time they go to trial."

"That's brilliant, Al. Hopefully he'll be able to pick up the pieces and get back to his life again some day. Are you shooting for Santa's job?" she teased. "You get Rick and I the Carrows for Christmas, and give Kinlov his life back. What are you going to do to top that?"

"No, I'm not looking for Santa's job unless he's going to move the whole operation to the Caribbean where it's warm," Al told her with a grin. "Since it's my Aunt Hermione that came up with the treatment that worked for Ilian, I can't really take much credit there, so there isn't all that much that I've done to compete against the jolly old Wizard anyway. What do you want me to work on for the rest of today?"

"When I was in Sofia trying to find the Carrows and then watching for them to appear and disappear, I never saw anyone else just vanish like they did, yet it's reasonable to expect that wherever they were going, that there were other Witches and Wizards going there too."

"That seems reasonable," Al agreed. "What would you like me to do?"

"They went there the same time in the morning during the week, and left at the same time each night," she told him. "I'd like you to go there both of those times each day, starting this afternoon, and figure out if there's a way to spot any of these other people."

"There could be multiple entrances," he suggested. "They might even have something like a pair of vanishing cabinets that the others use to get to and from the place."

"You could pick different spots around that block and see what happens," Hestia suggested. "We'll see how it's going in a couple of weeks, and decide whether to keep trying, or move on. The rest of the time, at least over the holidays, why don't you start in on all of those boxes we brought back from the Kinlov house – and don't work all day and night at it either."

Al nodded. "I won't while Carolyn's home for sure," he promised. "After that, I can't give you any guarantees about that. I have to fill the days up with something. It might as well be chasing down bad guys."

For the rest of the day Wednesday, and all of Thursday, Al started the daunting task of going through everything they'd collected from their search of the Carrow house. He made three trips to Sofia, but came up blank each time. He didn't see anyone disappear or reappear anywhere around the area, and didn't sense anything that he could sort out of the cacophony of mental jabber all around him.

At Hogwarts, the students were all excited and busy as they finished their last day of classes before the holidays. None of the Professors tried all that hard to get any real work done, and mostly just played subject-related, holiday-themed games with their students. Other than handing in assignments that were due, and receiving their holiday homework, the whole week had been more play than work for most of the teens.

The New Marauders had all kept working every day, wanting to get well ahead on their holiday work so they'd have more time to have fun while they were off. They'd taken Saturday afternoon and evening off to first watch the Canons lose their game, and then after dinner to sit with the rest of the students in the Great Hall to watch another showing of their fellow student's Christmas movie.

Now it was finally Thursday, and tomorrow they'd be going home for two weeks. Brianna was in her office, having just finished getting ready to go down to the Great Hall for the feast when Carolyn knocked on her door, and came in.

"Can you believe it's finally here?" she asked Brianna. "Tomorrow night we'll be able to snuggle with our fiancées all night. I wish they'd just let you and me go tonight."

"Me too, but even if they'd let you, I have to take the train tomorrow and deal with all the Head Girl duties," Brianna said. "They're working tomorrow anyway, so it's not like we'd see them much. We should get going, or we'll be late."

They walked down to the Great Hall, along with the rest of the stragglers who'd be getting there just in time to eat. The decorations had been up throughout the holidays, but everything seemed more festive tonight. The noise level was much higher than normal too and the students all talked loudly to be heard over the din, and there was the regular sound of laughter all over the room.

The Christmas Wheezes had been out in force all week, and dinnertime was no exception. There were kids transformed into Santa, or into Christmas Elves – both the real kind, and the imaginative, but inaccurate Muggle versions among dozens of other amusing transfigurations. A pair of giggling Magic Mistletoe were zooming around the room, and the familiar 'SNOGGING ALERT' would be shrilly shouted out at random intervals.

"Seems like everyone is ready to party," Brianna said as they sat down with most of the other seventh year Ravenclaws. "I guess we're not the only ones excited to be going home tomorrow."

"I'm sure everyone who is going home is ready for the break," Carolyn agreed.

The two friends had only been seated for a couple of minutes when the feast appeared on the tables and everyone started piling their plates high with favourite foods.

"Is Al still going to be there for lunch tomorrow?" Brianna asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"As of last night nothing had come up," she answered. "I hope nothing does happen over the holidays. They're already way past their bad guy catching quota for this year."

Brianna laughed. "I don't think there is a quota, Carolyn. As long as there's crime, there are going to be Witches and Wizards for the Aurors and Hit Squad to try and catch."

"Are you and Karl ready for the party tonight?" Carolyn asked.

He and Daphne should have the last of it done by now," Brianna answered. "They did most of it anyway, with some help from Millie, Amy, Sarah, and Joel."

"You're going to have a late night, doing that and packing," Carolyn told her friend. "I'm glad all I have to do is pack, have my nightly chat with Al, and go get some sleep."

"Watch it, or I'll ask you to be my date tonight," Brianna joked.

"Don't. I love you, and I'd hate to hurt your feelings by turning you down," Carolyn said with a laugh.

Brianna laughed too. "I'm crushed. Good thing I'll have Scorpius around for the next couple of weeks to help heal my poor broken heart."

After dinner, Brianna went to get ready for the party that she and Karl were putting on for the prefects, and Carolyn went to her room to pack. She went back to Brianna's office a few minutes before her friend had to leave, and after helping her with a couple of last minute touches and seeing her off, had the office to herself for her nightly call with Al. They'd agreed to do their bedtime talk earlier than usual so they could both get to sleep in good time, since it was going to be a very long day on Friday for both of them.

"How was the feast?" Al asked her. "I'm sure it was better than the soup and sandwich I made for myself tonight."

"The feasts are always amazing," she answered. "You must be tired if you just wanted to make that up."

"I'm getting there," Al agreed. "When Hestia told me to do those little side trips to Bulgaria every morning and afternoon, I think she forgot that for me to get there for a quarter after seven local time, I have to leave here at a quarter past five. It's making for some really long days."

"We'll both get some rest during the holidays," Carolyn told him. "If we have to, we'll just start going to bed earlier at night."

Al grinned at her. "We could do that anyway," he said suggestively, and Carolyn laughed.

"I love you, Al," she told him. "Let's both go get some sleep, and I'll see you at the family lunch."

"I love you too, Carolyn," Al answered. "I'll be there."

While Al and Carolyn were both going off to bed, in Karl's office the party was just getting going. They had WMVN playing what were mostly Christmas music videos on the big screen, and the room was full, with forty-six teens, including all twenty-four prefects, Karl, Brianna, and the twenty dates that had been invited to attend.

"You guys did a great job with everything," Brianna told Daphne.

"Thanks, Brianna," Daphne answered. "It feels strange being the ones throwing a party, but I guess you'll have to get used to doing this sort of thing with your job."

"And you won't?" Brianna asked. "Karl's going to own his own business. I'm sure there will be some entertaining involved, and you're going to be Gabrielle's right hand in a business that is all about entertaining about fifteen thousand guests a week."

Daphne laughed. "I guess you're right. Nothing I've done on Marauders Paradise feels like work at all, so I just don't think about it from that perspective."

"Having fun?" Karl asked when he joined them, bringing drinks for the three of them.

"So far," Daphne said, putting her arm around his waist. "How about you?"

"I'd rather be snuggling on one of those sofas with just me and you in here, but this is okay too," he said with a grin. "We'll have some time for snuggling during the holidays."

"When we're not doing holiday stuff, shopping, or the week we're going to be at Marauders Paradise working," Daphne reminded him.

"Okay, everybody out," he joked, talking quietly enough that only Brianna and Daphne would hear.

The prefect party went on until just before eleven. Karl and Brianna handed out Christmas presents near the end, and then they all left Karl and Daphne alone, although the Marauders who were there all stayed long enough to help with the cleanup before leaving.

Brianna hurried back to her quarters, got changed into her nightclothes, and then started packing for the trip home in the morning. Scorpius called her, and they talked until she was finished, and then they said goodnight, and she got into bed and was off to sleep in minutes.

Friday morning, by the time the Hogwarts students were getting up and ready for the trip home, Al had already done his entire morning routine, had spent nearly an hour wandering the early morning streets of Sofia, moved on to Auror Headquarters, picked up a coffee and croissant in the Ministry cafeteria, and started working at his desk.

At Hogwarts, Brianna was busy right from the moment she woke up until the train was loaded and pulling out of the station. She and Karl still had their prefect meeting, and the train still needed to be patrolled, but they were finally on their way, and were now just hours from home, not days, weeks, or months.

With just five more sleeps until Christmas, the holiday fun was just about to get started.


	119. Family Christmases

Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen – Family Christmases

Al was sitting at his desk, working away when Hestia came around the corner from her own cubicle.

"Isn't your fiancée coming in from Hogwarts in about twenty minutes?" she asked him, and Al looked at his watch, then up at her and nodded.

"About that, yes," Al agreed. "We're doing lunch with the family at noon."

"Why don't you get out of here and go meet her instead," she suggested. "Pick up Junior Minister Scorpius on your way out and escort him to the station too – that's an order."

Al grinned and quickly packed up everything he was working on and put it away. "Thanks, Hestia," he said, hugging her on his way out. "I really appreciate this."

"You're welcome, Al," she told him. "I'll see you after lunch."

Al took the lifts to the fifth floor and found Scorpius working in his office with his team of researchers.

"Come on, mate, I mean Junior Minister Malfoy," Al told him. "I've been ordered to escort you to the train station to meet a certain train that's coming in for eleven."

Scorpius laughed. "I guess you get to all go for an early lunch," he told the others. See you back here at around one-thirty. This is one Auror-trainee that I have no intention of stopping from doing his job."

He straightened up his own desk, and then followed Al out of his department and into the lifts. They got out on the Atrium level, left the building, and apparated to Kings Cross Station. When they got to platform nine and three-quarters, Al wasn't surprised to see his father, Lily, and Kira were already there to meet the Hogwarts Express, and Lily hugged them when they reached the spot where they'd been standing for the past fifteen minutes.

"Are you skipping out of work early?" she teased. "I'm going to tell Hestia and Padma on you two."

Al and Scorpius both laughed. "I was ordered to come and bring Scorpius with me," Al told her. "Go ahead and tell Hestia – it was her order, and I'm sure she would have talked with Padma first. I'm surprised you came today, Kira – Lily's already here."

Kira laughed and hopped up to get a hug too. "Mostly I came to help out with the shopping today," she told him happily, "and to see Kieran and everybody too."

"So you're planning on going shopping after lunch?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Yes. Are you coming shopping with us?" she asked.

"I can't, sweetie," Al told her. "I have to go back to work after lunch."

"How many are we picking up?" Scorpius asked Harry.

"All of the Marauders, Myra, Quincy, and Erin," Harry answered. "Twenty-two in total. There's quite a crowd for lunch today even with losing six students last year."

"Three of us are still here,' Lily told him. "We're just not on the train."

"I hear it!" Kira said excitedly, starting to bounce up and down. "It's coming!"

Sure enough, a moment later, the Hogwarts Express came into view, and they watched it glide up to the platform and stop. The doors opened, and the usual pandemonium ensued as the students poured out of the train. Scorpius waded through to the Prefects car to meet Brianna when she and Karl got off of the train, and it wasn't long before Al and Carolyn, and Kieran and Lily were reunited too.

It took a full ten minutes to get everyone together, get through all of the hugs and kisses, and then sort all of the luggage, tag them with Translocators, and send everything to the right houses and rooms.

"Do you ever get them mixed up?" Joel asked Harry as he helped him get everything sent.

"I hope not, or you and the other guys could end up wearing dresses all during the holidays," Harry joked.

With all twenty-two Hogwarts students gathered up, Harry and the other four members of his welcoming committee led their group as they went to the Marauders Mall. They split up and wandered around for the short time they had until lunch, and then gathered together again in the private dining room that they usually used for their welcome home lunch with the family.

Since Colin and Lance had been picked up with Nadine and Vanessa, their Mums had come for lunch while Dennis had to stay at the Canons' practice, and Neville was still wrapping things up at Hogwarts. Daphne's parents had been invited, and Emily's parents were coming too.

When James came in a few minutes before noon with Jason and Brian, after Millie and Amy were finished hugging their boyfriends, it was his turn to get hugged by the girls.

"Thank-you!" Amy told him happily. "This is a really great surprise!"

"You're welcome," James assured her.

"Quincy and Erin were next in line to hug James, and he grinned at them. "Arianna wanted to be here too, but after losing last weekend's game, Coach wasn't in the mood this week for her to even think about asking for a little extra time off over lunch. That means I get to be the one to tell you that the two of you will be spending your Christmas Holidays with us this year."

He laughed when Erin hugged him again, and when she let him go, there were tears in her eyes. "I didn't want to make you cry," he teased gently. "We can make other arrangements if you don't want to stay with me and Arianna."

Erin laughed and wiped away her tears with the tissues Quincy had ready for her. "These are the happy version of tears," she assured him. "Spending Christmas at your house sounds wonderful."

"Good, because you stole Arianna's heart after that Quidditch match in November, and she's really looking forward to having you around for the next two weeks."

That got Erin teared up again, and Quincy got more tissues out for her. "Remind me to pick up a few more packages this afternoon," he told Erin. "I get the feeling I'm going to need them."

Even without the full family, there were still close to fifty for lunch, and Harry had again taken orders ahead of time this year so that the restaurant could have everything ready for them for a quarter past twelve, since so many of the adults had to go back to work after lunch.

Lily, Kieran, and Kira sat close to Kirley and Ana so that Kieran and his parents could spend the hour or so together. Ana was going to go shopping with them for the afternoon, but Kirley had a recording session for two o'clock that he had to get back to after lunch.

"How'd we get out of the usual homecoming interviews?" Kieran asked his mother. "Last I'd heard, we were going to have them all afternoon."

"Laura and I asked them to cut you some slack today. We actually tried to get away with no interviews, but we had to give in for one short interview tomorrow morning from eight to nine at the WMVN studios, and one with TeenWitch on the Thursday after New Year's Day."

"That's easy enough," Kieran told her. "Anything else for us?"

"The studio's been set aside for you two to go play in a few times, but that's mostly because we were pretty sure you'd want to record some new songs."

"We do have a few songs we'll want to record," Lily agreed.

"How come you weren't at the lab?" Kieran asked her, remembering that she did actually have a job there, even if it was sort of freelance.

"I'm playing hooky for the day," she joked. "Actually, I'm skipping out of work for the next two weeks."

Kieran hugged her. "Good. Do you think the Professors would be mad if I did that with my holiday assignments too?"

Ana laughed. "Even if they wouldn't be, you still have a mother who'd have something to say about that, Kieran. You will be doing your revision."

The lunch started wrapping up shortly after one as anyone who needed to get back to work started leaving. James had to get back to the Academy with Jason and Brian, who were going to be a little late for their first afternoon class, but would be back together with Millie and Amy later, since Teddy and Victoire had already invited them over for dinner and to spend the evening with the girls.

Al and Scorpius kissed and hugged their fiancées before going back to the Ministry, and by a quarter past one, Harry and Ana were left with twenty-three teens and a little shopping assistant for the afternoon.

"We're going to be back at this Mall tomorrow," Harry told them. "How does everyone feel about spending the afternoon at the Mall in Paris?"

He received a unanimous vote, and so they all took the TransPortal to the Marauders Mall in Paris, and spent the afternoon shopping and playing on a few rides. When it was time to leave for home, they were also splitting up. Lance and Vanessa went to Lance's house, and Nadine was going to spend the evening with Colin and his family.

Lily and Kieran went home with Ana, and Lily was spending the weekend there. Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy went to Diagon Alley, where they were going to meet up with Teddy and Stewart before going home. Karl went home with Daphne, and Hugo went to Emily's house. Since Matt and Rose wouldn't be back from their current tour until Saturday, they'd decided to spend Friday night with her parents, and Saturday night with his, which also worked out better for the Weasley family Christmas on Sunday.

Frederica and Liam took Myra with them, and went to Frederica's house after leaving Paris, but they'd be doing dinner with both of their families tonight. Harry had Kira, Joel, Sarah, Carolyn, Brianna, Quincy, and Erin with him. Kira was going to be picked up by Owen or Natalie after work, but the six teens would be staying at the cottage for dinner. Al and Scorpius would meet them there when they were finished at the Ministry, and James and Arianna would be coming for dinner at the cottage after work at the Academy and Stadium too.

"So what do you think about spending the holidays with James and Arianna," Sarah asked Quincy and Erin. They were watching videos on WMVN in the sitting room at the cottage while they waited for everyone else to get there for dinner.

"I think it's brilliant," Quincy told her. "We'll still get to go to the parties at the Academy with them too, so we'll also get to spend time with our friends."

"Callie and I spent our first Christmas with them after we were placed under the protection of the Phoenix Foundation," Sarah told her. "Joel and Mark stayed across the road with Aaron and Tracey. It was the first real Christmas for any of us. You're going to love the next two weeks with our family."

Joel grinned at their two young friends. "I get the feeling that it's about to become their family too," he told Sarah.

Carolyn, Brianna, and Kira were in the kitchen, and Carolyn was giving Harry a hand with cooking dinner while Brianna entertained Kira.

"It sounds like we've got a busy weekend ahead," Brianna said as she and Kira played with the little girl's new TeenWitch dolls.

"We do," Harry agreed. "At least we'll have a little break on Monday and for the morning on Tuesday before all of the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day rush this year. Last year it just seemed like we ran around for five or six days straight without stopping at all."

Brianna laughed. "That's what we did do. It's going to be strange this year with Al, Scorpius, Nick, and Allie all working. I'm sure Matt and Rose will be too, but at least they'll be home for the whole two weeks. They leave for their next trip the day before we go back to Hogwarts."

"We'll have enough going on to keep us busy while they're working," Carolyn said. "We haven't even found out what appointments we have to deal with wedding plans."

"There isn't too much you have to take care of that I've heard about," Harry told them. "Ginny will let you know tonight, I'm sure."

Ginny was the first one home, and Natalie and Kira's brother James had come with Ginny to pick Kira up and take her home.

Natalie laughed when she saw the look on Kira's face. "Oh, sweetie, don't look like that! Were you having so much fun that you forgot that we're going to Grandma and Grandpa's in Toronto for the weekend? We've got to get home and finish packing. When Daddy gets home, we want to be ready to go."

Kira popped up out of her chair, and she was back to her bouncy self again. Brianna helped her get the dolls back into one of the shopping bags that had Kira's purchases for the day in them, and then she was ready to go after hugging Harry, Ginny, Carolyn, and Brianna.

Ginny got herself a glass of wine and sat down with Brianna, Joel, Sarah, Quincy, and Erin, the last four teens having come into the kitchen when Ginny had gotten home. "She reminds me so much of Lily when she's bouncing around like that and chattering away a mile a minute. Natalie told me that getting a keyboard like Lily's has been Kira's number one Christmas request for the past few months. I wonder how much of how she acts is imitating Lily, and how much of it is the real Kira."

"If that was an act just now," Carolyn said, "then she's going to be a movie star some day because I was totally convinced."

Ginny laughed. "It wouldn't surprise me if she did do something like that. Kira's not shy around cameras."

James and Arianna were next to join the pre-dinner kitchen party, and Erin was again in tears after hugging Arianna, and Quincy was again handing her tissues. Scorpius came in a few minutes after James and Arianna, and Al was the last one to get there.

"What took you so long?" Carolyn asked as she hugged him.

"I was a grubby mess by the time I was finished at work, so I went home to take a shower and get clean clothes," he explained. "You all look like you're having fun."

"We are," Harry told him. "Dinner's ready too, so come sit down, everyone, and we can dig in."

With just twelve at the table, compared to lunch, this was a nice, quiet change of pace – especially for the Hogwarts students who'd gotten used to having meals with fourteen hundred or so. While eating, they talked about school, work, Quidditch, and mostly about their holiday plans. After dinner and the cleanup was done, they visited for another hour or so in the sitting room, and then James and Arianna took Quincy and Erin home so they'd have some time to settle in. Scorpius and Brianna left for their home at the same time, and Al and Carolyn stayed for another half-hour before going home to their little house in Hogsmeade. When everyone else had left, Harry and Ginny sat and watched a Christmas movie with Joel and Sarah.

"I don't know why, but I never get tired of watching any of the old Christmas movies," Sarah told the others. "Then again, I haven't really been doing it for that many years, so most of them are new to me anyway."

Harry stood up, stretched, and held out his hand to Ginny. "Let's go get some sleep," he said quietly. "We've got a long day of shopping ahead of us tomorrow."

Ginny stood and smiled at Joel and Sarah. "It's just the four of us tonight," she told them. You're welcome to stay up as late as you want, but when you do come up to bed, it's okay if you want to sleep in the same room – it's not like we don't know that all of you do that whenever we're away anyhow."

"The operative word there being 'sleep'," Harry joked, and Joel and Sarah both returned his grin.

"Thank-you," Sarah told them. "Sleep well, and we'll see you in the morning."

The younger couple stayed up and watched another Christmas movie. When it was over, it was after midnight, and they went upstairs to their own rooms to change, and then Joel joined Sarah in her room.

"This is much nicer than sleeping alone," Sarah whispered once they were snuggled close together. "I'm glad that Harry and Ginny trust us."

Joel kissed her tenderly. "Me too," he said just as softly. "I love you, Sarah," he told her, and she pulled him close for another soft, sweet kiss.

"I love you too, Joel," she answered. "Let's get to sleep. It is going to be a long day tomorrow."

They shared another soft kiss or three before falling asleep, and the next thing they were aware of was the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen.

"Good morning," Joel said as he watched Sarah open her beautiful eyes. "Sleep well?"

Sarah kissed him first, and then nodded. "Really well," she told him. "You?"

"Ditto for me," he answered. "I guess we have to get up now, though. It smells like breakfast is almost ready."

Al was making breakfast for two at the same time Sarah and Joel were waking up, and Carolyn was upstairs just starting to stir after Al had left her sleeping to go get ready and come downstairs to start cooking. They'd come home from the cottage last night, and gone right upstairs to get ready for bed. Once there, they'd cuddled in bed and watched a Christmas show, with a few short snogging breaks, and then happily drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

Carolyn joined Al in the kitchen, hugged him, and then went to sit down at the table when he told her that breakfast was ready.

"It is so good to be home," she told Al happily. "Do you have much shopping to do today?"

"I actually haven't got much of it done," he admitted. "We've got to buy for our family, friends, and we have Serena and Liam for the family Christmas tomorrow. If we don't get the rest done, though, we can go out again after I'm done work on Monday."

"We'll be able to get everything done," Carolyn said confidently. "Do you have any idea what Nick and Allie are up to over the holidays? It seemed strange not seeing them at all yesterday."

"I'm pretty sure they'll be at the Mall today and do lunch with us," Al answered, "and they'll be at the family Christmas on Sunday. They're probably doing Christmas with Allie's family Christmas Eve, since Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope will be at the Minister's party, and then spending Christmas Day with Nick's Mum and Dad."

"I hope we can get at least a little time to spend with them while I'm home other than the family Christmas, since that's just a crazy day," Carolyn told him.

Al nodded. "We're going to try to do something together after Christmas, but we wanted to wait and see when we could fit it in with everything else that's going on."

They ate breakfast, cleaned up, and then left for the Mall. The gang was temporarily meeting in the food court to get the lunch instructions before splitting up for the morning. Al and Carolyn ended up shopping with Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna.

"When are Matt and Rose getting back from India?" Carolyn asked.

Allie answered her. "They'll be back later this afternoon. Their trips normally end on Sundays, but since it's so close to Christmas, this group wanted to be back today so they could get adjusted to home time sooner."

"I guess we won't see them until tomorrow, then," Carolyn said. "By the time they get settled in and go see their families, they'll be ready to drop."

"Probably," Allie agreed. "Where to first?"

The three couples were all loaded down with bags by lunchtime, and they tagged them with Translocators and sent them home instead of carrying them around for the rest of the day. Harry had again rented the private room they'd used yesterday for their lunch, and this time there was somewhere around sixty guests.

In the afternoon, Al, Scorpius, and Nick went off on their own to do some shopping that included a few small gifts for the girls, while Carolyn, Brianna, and Allie went to finish up some of the girl present buying, and a few things they wanted to get for the boys.

The Marauders Institute Christmas party was Saturday night at the Emerald City Centre, and Harry and Ginny were going to attend this year. That worked out for Joel and Sarah, who were going to go spend the night with Callie and Mark. Nearly everyone else in the family had plans for the night too, except Al and Carolyn, so when they were finished with their shopping for the day, they headed back home to Hogsmeade.

"I guess I didn't plan things very well," Al said as he handed Carolyn a glass of wine. "Everyone else is going out somewhere tonight and doing something special. Since there just always seems to be something going on all of the time during the holidays, I didn't even think about setting up anything extra for us to do."

Carolyn smiled at him. "I don't have a problem with that, Al," she assured him. "We can make ourselves dinner, wrap the presents up, snuggle on the sofa, and watch a movie or two. It's not like we're going to get very many evenings to ourselves over the holidays. I think you've come up with an absolutely brilliant non-plan."

While Al and Carolyn were having their quiet night at home, Quincy and Erin were the only teens at the small party that James and Arianna were having. Aaron, Tracey, Sebastian, Trinity, Tristan, and Liselle were there from the Quidditch group of friends, and then Andy, Laura, Jon, and Therese were there from the Hogwarts-Marauders group. Julie and Mitchell were the only two teachers and guests from the Academy. It had probably become the worst kept secret at the Academy that Julie and Mitchell had been dating since sometime during the summer, or maybe in June, and they'd begun joining some of the date nights out that the Quidditch group had on many of the off-game weekends.

"How was your first full-immersion day with the Weasley clan?" Liselle asked the two teens. She and Tristan were wandering between the group playing a game at the kitchen table, and the gang hanging out in the sitting room.

"I don't know how to describe it," Erin told her. "Everything about the last two days has just been amazing." She stopped and giggled when she saw Julie and Mitchell kissing. "Sorry, Liselle. Seeing our former teachers kissing is taking some getting used to."

Liselle laughed. "That is a bit strange for you, isn't it?" she agreed. "I hear you played a really great game for your first match last month."

"Everyone keeps saying so, but since I didn't catch the snitch, and we didn't win, I'm still not feeling so great about it."

"You can't think about the game like that, Erin," Liselle said seriously. "Arianna said you played really hard, and it was somebody else's mistake that gave Nadine the chance to catch the snitch ahead of you. Win or lose, Seekers have to get good at letting the last game go, and just concentrate on the next one. If you can't learn to do that, don't play the game – you won't be able to keep the edge we need to always have."

"How do you do that?" Erin asked. "I really felt like I let my whole team down, and I don't want to do that again."

"That's different for every Seeker I've ever talked to about it," Liselle said. "I've just learned to forget about the last game, and put everything into getting ready for the next game – and believing I can win that game."

"That's easy for you," Quincy said with a grin. "You're the best Seeker in the world."

Liselle and Erin both laughed. "Maybe," Liselle told him, "but the best Seeker in the world only has her team with a record of five wins and three losses so far this year. You can't win every game."

"Unless you're Harry and Ginny Potter," Tristan joked as he joined them and handed Liselle a drink. "They're the only two players in the history of the league to go undefeated."

"That's true, but neither of them are undefeated in Quidditch – they both lost games when they played at Hogwarts."

"Sure, when they also had to contend with Dementors, charmed killer bludgers, and crazed teachers who shared their heads with the Dark Lord," Tristan answered. "I'm thinking our record wouldn't be so hot as professionals either if we'd had to deal with stuff like that."

"Suddenly having to deal with clumsy Chasers on my team isn't sounding so bad," Erin said with a grin. "Thank-you."

Quincy and Erin stayed up until nearly midnight, and then said goodnight to everyone, including quite a few hugs and kisses, then went to bed while the party continued on for another couple of hours without them. They were both up by eight on Sunday morning, and after getting ready for the day, they met in the kitchen.

"Do you think they'd mind if we cooked them breakfast?" Erin asked Quincy.

"That depends," Quincy said with a smile. "Can you cook?"

Erin nodded. "I've got years and years of experience cooking and cleaning," she told him. "This will be a first doing it without having my parents smacking me around while I worked, though. It's something we could do to thank them for being so nice to us."

"I'm willing to learn," Quicy told her, "and when we get to the cleaning up part, I'll have no trouble keeping up with you doing that."

They got to work, and a half-hour later, James and Arianna woke up to the smells of coffee, bacon, eggs, and pancakes coming from the kitchen.

"I've lost my job," James joked after kissing Arianna good morning.

"I'd say you've gained a helper or two," Arianna told him, climbing out of bed. "Let's get ready and see what they've been cooking up for us."

When they got out to the kitchen, Erin and Quincy were ready to put everything out on the table, and they both had bright smiles as James and Arianna hugged them.

"This looks amazing and smells wonderful," Arianna told them. "It was a perfect way to wake up this morning. Thank-you."

"You're welcome," Quincy told her as she and James sat down, and he put the pot of coffee on the table next to the juices. "Erin's the master chef, and I'm just doing what I'm told. It's seems to be working out okay, and I'm learning a thing or two as we go along."

It took a few more trips before Quincy had everything on the table and he and Erin sat down too. They all began pouring themselves drinks, and filling their plates, and Erin grinned as the others complimented her effusively as they ate.

"What time does the family Christmas start?" Quincy asked.

"At one o'clock," James answered. "We've got to wrap a few gifts this morning, and then we're going across to Aaron and Tracey's for a light lunch before we go."

"I was surprised we didn't see any of our friends from the Academy at the Mall yesterday," Erin said. "We had a trip there last year on the Saturday, didn't we?"

James nodded. "We did, along with one that we did earlier in December. This year we did one last weekend, but since Christmas is Wednesday this year, we decided to do the second trip on Monday instead. You, Quincy, and I will be going too."

"Having fun shopping while I'm busy training hard outside in a cold Quidditch stadium," Arianna teased.

"We'll have a bubble bath and your favourite wine on ice when you get home," James promised. "At least you'll only have a morning practice on Tuesday."

"True, but we'll be working Thursday and Friday," Arianna said. "We only get extra time off next week if we win on Saturday."

"Does that mean that Liselle and the others can't go home for Christmas this year?" Erin asked.

Arianna nodded. "Yes, but they went home last year, so their parents, and some of their families, are coming here for a few days this year, and will be staying to see them play on Saturday."

"Then I'll wager you're going to win for sure," Quincy told Arianna. "There is no way Liselle's not going to catch the snitch with her parents there at the stadium watching her play."

"We'll see," Arianna answered. "The Arrows are pretty good this year. It should be a tough game, and you never know what kind of weather you'll have this time of year."

"That's why I'm glad it's a home game," James said with a grin. "Erin, Quincy, and I will be nice and toasty warm in the Owner's Box regardless of the weather."

"We're going to the game – in the Owner's Box?" Erin asked excitedly, and James nodded.

"Did we forget to mention that? I wonder how that slipped our minds?"

They took nearly an hour eating breakfast and talking, and then Arianna, Erin and Quincy were told to stay put while James did the cleanup. When that was done, they all went into the sitting room and wrapped up the presents they had picked out yesterday. They'd drawn Uncle Charlie, Isabelle, Carissa, and Daphne for their four names, so Arianna and Erin had done most of the gift selections, while James and Quincy had picked out Charlie's gift. After they were done with that little job, which had included a fair bit of goofing around, Erin and Quincy were told to go pack swimsuits, shorts, and t-shirts with the cryptic suggestion that they'd need them later in the day, and James and Arianna packed small bags too, including the gifts.

They went across to Aaron and Tracey's at about eleven-thirty, had lunch shortly after twelve, and left for the famly Christmas just before one.

"Where are we?" Erin asked when they arrived on a pathway right at the edge of a beautiful sandy beach.

Arianna grinned at her. "We're on the family island," she told Erin. "Welcome to the exclusive club of people that know about our little paradise home away from home."

Erin returned her grin and hugged her. "This is where we're having the family Christmas?"

"Yep," Arianna confirmed. "Now you know why you needed those swimsuits, shorts and tops."

From what James saw, about half of the family was here already, and the six new arrivals joined in with the welcoming hugs and kisses. Arianna dropped the gifts off in the growing pile that was on one of the tables by the beach. By one-thirty, everyone was there, and Grandma Weasley called everyone to gather around her.

"I know you all want to get out and play in the water, so this year, we're going to open the presents now, and then you can all go get changed and play. We're going to have Christmas dinner later. Who wants to volunteer to hand out presents?"

Patricia was first up to volunteer, and Frederica and Emily offered to help the four-year old sweetie distribute those gifts. With the water beckoning, the one good thing about the family Christmas on the island was that the present opening was always quick.

This year it was almost too quick, so Harry and Ginny had to get some help at the last minute handing out twelve special gifts.

Ginny stood up and smiled brightly at her family as Harry, Hermione, and Fleur handed out the small boxes to Victoire, Isabelle, Art, Aaron, James, Al, Lily, Nick, Scorpius, Rose, Hugo, and Frederica.

"You can go ahead and open those gifts, she told them once they'd all been delivered. While they started doing that, Ginny continued. "Last year, when we saw that the houses were all full, we decided that it was time for an expansion. For the past few months, the island has been under construction." By then, most of the boxes were open, and there were twenty-four grinning young adults and teens, since there had been two sets of keys in each box.

"When you have some time, thank Nick for designing your new houses, Grandma Weasley and Aunt Penelope for getting them built, and pretty much all of your Aunts and Uncles who decorated and furnished each house. We're sure that you're going to love them. Now, why don't you all go check out your new houses, and the rest of us will go get changed and meet you back here when you're ready to come play too."

There was another round of hugs, and then everyone started going down the pathway in two different directions, depending on which side of the island they were going to. Harry and Ginny helped direct the twelve younger couples as to the path they should take to their new island homes.

"You did happen to remember we have a house here, didn't you?" Teddy asked Harry and Ginny when he, Victoire, and their two teen couples made it to the front of the directions, hugs, and kisses line.

Harry grinned at him. "You're being moved so you guys and Isabelle and Stewart are next door to each other," he explained. "We'll make your old place another guest house." Teddy and Victoire both hugged him, then Ginny before their group of six went off along the south-side path with Isabelle, Stewart, Dale, and Carissa.

Al, Carolyn, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, Lily, and Kieran were sent down the path on the right, which took them the long way around from where Harry and Ginny's home was.

"I can't believe you didn't say a word to me!" Allie told Nick, who grinned at his cousins and friends.

"It wasn't easy, but just now, it was so worth it," Nick told them. "If it makes you feel better, though, Uncle Harry wouldn't let me come see them when they were finished a few weeks ago."

They had all explored the island from one end to the other over the years, and knew that the new houses had to have been built along the kilometre or so of land past the other family houses. Since Ginny had sent them to the right, they also knew that their houses would be on the south side of the island. Teddy, Stewart, Dale, and the girls were walking up ahead of them, and they turned off to the right and quickly disappeared through the trees.

When the four younger couples reached that point, they saw a sign that told them that both Victoire and Isabelle's houses were down that path, and looking down it, they could just make out two beautiful homes back there with a pathway that looped around a large circular botanical garden.

"We're going to have to take our time and do a tour next weekend to see all the new places," Allie said, and the others nodded or added their agreement to that.

The next path on the right had their names on it, so they turned down that path, and it wasn't long before the first house appeared.

"This is where Allie and I stop," Nick told the others, and then he was laughing as Allie hugged and kissed him.

"I think she likes it," Carolyn said dryly. "What do you guys think?"

"It seems so," Brianna agreed. "Let's carry on and let Nick show her around."

Nick and Allie had a two-storey home, and the next one along the path was a sprawling single-level beach house.

"That one would be yours," Lily told Brianna and Scorpius, seeing the sign first. "With all those stairs at Grimmauld Place, Nick must have decided you'd rather have everything on one floor here."

Brianna and Scorpius turned off of the path and walked up to their house while Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran continued on. The next path was actually straight as the main path turned back to the left, and all of their names were on the sign.

"I guess we're right on the south-east tip of the island," Lily said. "We're going to have the waves to lull us to sleep at night."

They walked down the path and came out in an opening with two houses separated by a stand of trees that was only about twenty feet across, but dense enough for there to be privacy for both houses. The one on the right faced south, and the other was straight ahead, and faced east.

"Someone must have decided that you and I are the early risers," Carolyn told Al as she looked at the back side of the two-storey house.

"Maybe the Master bedroom's in the back," Kieran suggested.

Carolyn laughed. "Somehow, I really doubt that."

Lily was already tugging Kieran toward the other house, which was another sprawling single-level home. "We'll meet you at your house once we've checked out our house and gotten changed," Lily called back to Al and Carolyn.

Al motioned for Carolyn to go ahead and unlock the back door, and they walked into an entranceway with a bathroom with a shower to the right, and a spacious closet on the left.

"How great an idea is that?" Carolyn said as she checked out the washroom. "When you get back to the house from the beach, you can shower off the sand without tracking it all over the house first."

The entranceway opened up to a huge great room that had hardwood floors in the sitting room and dining room, and stone-look tiles in the kitchen. There was an L-shaped half-wall that did triple duty as a divider between the kitchen and dining room and sitting room areas, a long countertop with a gleaming double sink along the sitting room side of the 'L', and as an eating area with four bar stools tucked neatly under the counter overhang that was on the diningroom side of the 'L'.

There were plush, black leather sofas and chairs in the sitting room – again obviously picked with sun, sand, and water in mind, and gleaming wood coffee and end tables. One of Kevin's island landscapes hung on one wall, and there was a big screen WWVN in the corner by a wide row of floor to ceiling windows.

In the dining room, there was a tall china cabinet against the left-side wall, and a beautiful wood table that currently had eight chairs around it. There was a patio door that led out to a lanai, and beyond that there was a sparkling blue pool.

"Wow!" was all Carolyn could manage, and Al had to agree as he first walked through the gleaming kitchen, then into the dining room. He looked out through the glass doors to the lanai with the white patio furniture, glass table, and floral-patterned cushions, then past that to the pool and landscaped yard that led down to the beach maybe fifty metres away.

It wasn't until he turned and walked into the sitting room that he even noticed the staircase that led upstairs, or the two rooms that were next to the entranceway. The first room was where all of the utilities were, along with a pantry for storing dry goods and a large double door upright freezer. The other room was a fairly good-sized office that had Carolyn laughing when she saw the BusinessMagic desktop system sitting on the beautiful wood desk.

"At first I thought the office was for you," she told Al. "I guess Grandma wanted to make sure I could still work while I was here."

"I think it's brilliant," Al told her. "If you can work from here, we can come here more often."

The staircase was actually a U-shape, with the bottom of the 'U' being the back wall, and the top opening up in the middle of the upper floor into a hallway that ran the centre of the house from side to side. They went upstairs after leaving the office, and were nearly as amazed with what was up there as they'd been with the main floor. There were five bedrooms there, three along the front of the house, and one at each corner of the back. They each had an ensuite bathroom with large Jacuzzi tubs. The master suite was above part of the kitchen and dining room, and had a king-sized bed, a walk-in closet, and beautiful wood dressers. What made the whole thing stunning was the floor to ceiling windows, and the patio door in the middle that opened to a balcony above the lanai.

Carolyn opened the door and walked out onto the balcony and took a deep breath of ocean air as she admired the incredible view of the beach and ocean.

"I don't want to go back home again, Al," she told him when he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "Can we just come and live here forever?"

Al laughed. "Someday we will," he promised. "We have a few things to do before we can, though."

The balcony had a waist high railing around it, and to the left there was a staircase that went toward the back of the house, and then halfway down, turned back on itself and ended at the ground level at the edge of the house.

"We'll be able to go right from our room, down the stairs, and take a swim in the pool," Al said, kissing Carolyn's neck as he held her. "This is just so perfect. Nick does to architecture what Kevin does to painting."

They checked out the other four bedrooms, each of them a little smaller than their bedroom, but still large enough for either a double or queen size bed. The other two rooms that faced the ocean also had floor to ceiling glass, but instead of a patio door, they had a single, glass-paned French door onto the balcony. The two back corner bedrooms had large windows on the walls that faced the back and the side of the house.

"These back rooms don't have that gorgeous view of the ocean, but they're still pretty great," Al said. He looked at his watch. "I guess we better hurry and get changed before Lily and Kieran get here."

They did that, and were downstairs exploring when Lily and Kieran knocked and came in to join them.

"Take me on the condensed tour," Lily told Carolyn, "and then we better get going. It's a pretty long walk back to the lagoon."

"How do you like your place?" Carolyn asked as she showed Lily around the main floor and they went out back onto the lanai.

"We have our own little recording studio," Lily answered. "You have no idea how much I wanted to just get in there and start working, but then we would have been there for the rest of the day for sure. We have the same pool in our yard. You can't see it from the back, but our house is actually U-shaped."

Carolyn laughed. "Maybe Nick was looking at the alphabet when he designed them. The staircase to the second floor is a 'U' too."

"Then it's a good thing we can move furniture with Translocators," Lily said. "Could you imagine carrying a king size bed up a staircase like that?"

"I wouldn't want to try it, that's for sure," Carolyn said.

They did a quick tour of the upstairs, and then the two couples left the house and started the walk back to the lagoon, this time taking the path on the north side of the island. Rose and Matt met up with them, and they told each other about their houses as they walked the nearly two kilometres to the lagoon.

"We've got five bedrooms in our house," Rose told the others. "Is that supposed to be a hint?"

"Possibly," Lily answered as everyone else laughed. "If it is, though, Kieran and I, and Al and Carolyn were given the same hint."

"Part of it's probably because Mum and Dad only had the three bedrooms," Al suggested. "That was fine for James, Lily, and me, but once we started having friends come, and when we had Carolyn and Brianna come live with us, it was too small. At least now we'll have room if we want to have friends come stay with us."

"That's true," Rose agreed. "Let's go with that reason for now, since I don't think any of us have immediate plans for filling those rooms up with children for quite a while yet."

It looked like they were the last ones to get back to the lagoon, which was busy with jet-skis and AquaBikes, as well as the occasional swimmers. The beach was dotted with beach chairs, blankets, kids, and grownups too, and there were at least three sandcastles under construction that they could see from where they were.

Ginny and her five sisters-in-law were sitting together, and so before going off to play, the three couples went over to them to distribute some more hugs and to thank them again.

"That's the last of them," Hermione said. "We're twenty-four for twenty-four, and I'd say they all definitely loved their houses."

"Plus the extra votes of approval from Quincy, Erin, Dale, Carissa, Millie, Jason, Amy, and Brian," Marietta added.

"What did you, George, Hermione, and Ron decide about how to handle things with Frederica, Liam, Hugo, and Emily?" Fleur asked Marietta and Hermione.

Hermione waved to Marietta to go ahead and answer, since they'd worked it out together so they were on the same page with both of their kids.

"We decided that if Liam's or Emily's family were staying with them, they could stay there overnight. If not, then they'll stay with us, or with other adults like Rose and Matt, or with Kieran and Lily. They can also go spend the days there anytime. Once they're seventeen, they can do what they want."

"Sounds fair," Fleur said. "If you add in other adults, I'm sure they'd have no trouble finding volunteers to come stay here with them too."

Hermione laughed. "If it comes up, we'll see, but we won't be suggesting it. Hugo and Emily will both be seventeen by the end of next summer, and Frederica will be in less than two years, so it's probably not going to be all that big of a deal anyway."

"It seems like a big deal to me," Marietta said. "I'm not ready for my baby to be all grown up so soon."

"I know what you mean," Ginny said, "and my baby grew up two years ahead of schedule."

"I actually think that's pretty cool," Fleur said. "You get an extra couple of years to play with her before she goes and starts her own life."

"It's been fun working in the lab with her," Ginny agreed. "The vacations were pretty great too."

"Are you going on any more next year?" Marietta asked, and Ginny nodded.

"We're going to take a week each in January and March here on the island, and then we'll be doing one of Matt and Rose's two-week tours at the end of April and into May for Lily's seventeenth birthday."

"You won't be bored with all of that, work, and two weddings to get ready for," Fleur told Ginny. "Let us know if you, Penelope, and Astoria need any help."

"Thanks, Fleur," Ginny said. "I think everything's under control, but if it gets too crazy, will call for backup."

The hours seemed to fly past, and then it was time for dinner, which island time was around one o'clock. Kreacher and Winky did the meal this year, and it was another one for the record books. Most of the working members of the family left not long after they finished dinner, but most of the students, and any of the non-working adults stayed to first clean up after dinner, and then stay and play for the rest of the day. When they did eventually go home, it was after midnight home time.

Since Al had to get up early on Monday and leave for Bulgaria around a quarter after five, he and Carolyn had not stayed once the cleanup was finished, and they'd both gone to bed shortly after getting home. Al managed not to wake Carolyn, and to try and keep it that way, he took his clothes and went down to the farthest bedroom away from theirs to shower and dress. He made himself coffee and only had a croissant to eat, planning on picking something up after he was finished his stakeout in Sofia.

"Who knew there were two five o'clocks in one day?" Carolyn said, coming into the kitchen. "I'd heard about it, but I thought it was just an urban legend."

Al laughed, knowing that she'd been up this early quite a few times before, the most recent probably being the Moscow Mega Jam, or maybe to watch one of Mark's Broom Races. "It's not my favourite time of day, but hopefully I'll only be doing this for a few weeks."

"Hopefully you'll find something," Carolyn said with a yawn. "I just came down to say goodbye, though." She hugged and kissed him, and then quietly padded back upstairs while Al finished his coffee and got ready to leave.

Carolyn listened dreamily until she heard Al leave, and then she drifted off to sleep and didn't wake again until eight o'clock. She got up, showered and dressed, and then headed off to the Marauders Mall where she had a breakfast date with some of the girls, planning to follow that up with some shopping, lunch, and possibly some more shopping. It was a tough way to spend a day, but she and the other girls were up to the challenge.

She didn't see any of the others there when she got to the food court, so she ordered a coffee and a cinnamon bun, bumped into Owen, who was doing the same thing on his way to give his store manager a hand for what would be another busy shopping day at his GamePortal stores, and eventually sat down at a table that allowed her to see down two of the Mall entrances.

Rose got there first, and stopped to hug Carolyn before going to get a drink and a muffin before coming back to sit next to her.

"How was the rest of the day on the island?" Carolyn asked her.

"It was fun, but we stayed too late, and I'm paying for it this morning," Rose answered. "One thing that Matt and I don't get a lot of on our tours is sleep. We seem to always have at least a few early risers, and a group of late-night party-goers."

"And at least one of you are taking care of both groups," Carolyn surmised, and Rose nodded.

Brianna and Sarah came next, followed by Daphne and Lily, and their little group was complete.

"Where were you and Karl last night?" Carolyn asked Daphne.

"We stayed at Kirley and Ana's after getting back from the island," she told Carolyn. "We peeked in the windows of your place after Lily and Kieran gave us a tour of their house. If Karl and I weren't moving to Marauders Paradise, I'd be really jealous. That view from your balcony is so awesome."

"I know what you mean. I tried to talk Al into just moving there now and forgetting about all of this school and working for a living stuff, but he said we can't retire yet. I was terribly disappointed."

"You'll get over it when you start your new job next summer after you get back from your honeymoon," Brianna predicted. "Then you'll spend some time helping out with opening Marauders Refuge and want to retire there."

Carolyn laughed. "I probably will," she agreed, "but then that's another Nick Weasley creation, so that shouldn't be a surprise. That reminds me of why I keep feeling like something's missing – we don't have Allie with us this morning."

Rose nodded. "I'm sure she wished she could take the day off with us, but there wasn't much chance of that - with two of the biggest shopping days of the year today and tomorrow, it's all hands on deck at Witch Investments."

When they were all finished their drinks and muffins, croissants, or cinnamon buns, the six Witches went out into the Mall to do battle with the Christmas shopping crowds. While they were out there, they came across several of the Academy student and volunteer groups, usually stopping to visit with them for a minute or two. Most of their shopping was to pick up last minute gifts, but there was some bargain hunting clothes shopping going on too. They had lunch in the busy food court, and then went shopping for another couple of hours before calling it a day, trading some hugs, and heading for their respective homes.

Carolyn hadn't been home very long before Al got back to the house. "I didn't think you'd be home this early," she told him after hugging and kissing him.

"I usually go back to Auror Headquarters after I finish my afternoon surveillance in Sofia, but while you're home, I was planning on coming back here from Bulgaria each afternoon. I'm still putting in more that ten hours a day, since I'm usually out of here shortly after five in the mornings."

"Good. That's a few more hours to spend with you than I'd expected," Carolyn said happily. "Do you want to get cleaned up and go over to the cottage early?"

Al nodded. "Sure. It'll give us a little more time to talk with Dad, Joel, Sarah, and whoever else is there early."

Harry and Ginny were having a pretty big group over for dinner, mostly because some of the guests were going to be away for Christmas. Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle were taking six kids, including Dale, Jason, and Brian to the Delacours from Tuesday afternoon until Friday afternoon, when they'd all be moving on to the island to join most of the Weasley clan for the weekend. Aaron and Tracey were going to be with her parents and family Christmas Day, and spending Christmas Eve with James and Arianna at the Academy. Everyone else would be at least stopping in to open gifts Christmas morning, if not spending the day with Harry and Ginny, but also wanted to see their friends that wouldn't be around over the next few days.

When Al and Carolyn got there, Ginny was already home, and Lily, Kieran, Karl, and Daphne were there, hanging out around the kitchen table and chatting about what they had each been doing all day. They poured themselves glasses of wine and joined in while they waited for everyone to get there.

"We didn't expect to see the two of you so early," Ginny said after they'd sat down. "Did you finish catching all of the fugitives, and they let you go home early?"

Al laughed. "Not even close, Mum. I'm just cutting back to ten hours a day while Carolyn's home – unless something major comes up."

"Then let's hope that doesn't happen," Ginny said. "Do you have to work all day tomorrow?"

Al shook his head. "Just the morning. We're having a Christmas lunch, then I'll be done until Thursday morning."

"That's not much time off, but I guess since you're the newest member of the team it'll be a while before you have the seniority to not get stuck with things like that."

"I'm not sure seniority makes much difference," Al answered. "Hestia and Rick both plan on being in. About half of the Aurors will be off until next Monday, though, so maybe they take turns each year."

"Or the dedicated ones just work more," Ginny countered, smiling at him.

More guests arrived, and after the greetings were over, the conversation moved on. Brianna and Scorpius were the last two to arrive, getting there at around a quarter to six. By then, Harry nearly had everything ready to put on the table, so while he started putting the platters and bowls out, drinks were topped up, and then they all sat down to eat.

While they had dinner, James told everyone all about his adventures with fifty-two kids and teens at the Mall, and Teddy and Stewart told them about some of the cooler DREAM Christmases that had been done over the weekend around the world.

"Why to you call them DREAM Christmases?" Erin asked curiously.

"It's an acronym for 'Doing Random Extreme Acts of Magic'," Teddy told her. "I don't know who came up with the name, though."

"It was one of the volunteers the first Christmas we started doing that project," Ginny supplied. "Since it also fit with how we were making dreams come true for the Witches and Wizards we helped, we all thought the name was perfect."

"When I get older, do you think I could help with something like that?" Erin asked Ginny, who grinned at her.

"Well, Erin," she answered. "I'm taking the day off tomorrow. How would you like to come spend the morning with me at the Mall, and we'll see if we can make a few last-minute DREAM Christmases come true?"

"Would that be okay?" she asked Arianna, who smiled and nodded.

"Sure, sweetie. I could meet the two of you, and anyone else who's going, for lunch after I'm done my morning workout."

"Anyone else want to volunteer for morning DREAM Christmas duty?" Ginny asked. Including Harry, she ended up with twelve more volunteers, so they made plans to meet at the Mall for eight o'clock, since it was open early for the last shopping day before Christmas.

When they were finished dinner, Al and Carolyn took on the cleanup duties while everyone else went into the sitting room to chat while they waited for them to get that done. After Al and Carolyn joined them, they exchanged a few gifts, mostly for Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy, but there were a few for the adults that would be away too.

"We're sending most of your gifts along with Stewart and Isabelle for you to open on Christmas morning," Ginny told Dale after handing him a couple of gift-wrapped packages, and Dale nodded before turning his attention to unwrapping his presents while Carissa was beside him doing the same with the gifts Ginny had handed to her a moment earlier.

When Ginny got around to Victoire and Isabelle, she handed them several gifts, the last two being identical-looking packages addressed to Victoire and Teddy, and Isabelle and Stewart.

"We need you to wait until you get home, or until Christmas morning to open these," Ginny told them as she handed them over. "There are other people in the room who will be getting this gift on Christmas Day too, and we wouldn't want them to see what it is early." Victoire and Isabelle both nodded and set those packages aside.

It was already eight-thirty by the time they finished opening gifts, and since everyone was either working in the morning or going to the Mall in search of DREAM Christmas candidates, they started packing up to get ready to head for their homes. By the time Al and Carolyn got back to Hogsmeade, it was after nine.

"We better go get some sleep," Carolyn told him. "I don't want you too tired when you're on stakeout in the morning, or the bad guys could sneak up on you and catch you off-guard."

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "I'm glad we don't have to go anywhere tonight, though. I'm thinking you and me snuggled on the sofa, a bottle of wine, some munchies, and a Christmas movie or two will be perfect."

"Sign me up," Carolyn told him with a smile. "Maybe we can make that our own little Christmas tradition."

"I wish," Al said, "but we'll probably have to start going to the Minister's Christmas parties by next year."

Carolyn nodded. "I guess that will at least let us spend Christmas Eve with Scorpius and Brianna every year. We probably won't see them on Christmas Day every year now that his parents are back in their lives."

"True," Al agreed. "We do have some advantages with having one family when it comes to things like Christmas – although sometimes I think that our one family is like two or three of everyone else's."

Carolyn laughed. "It certainly is if you're rating that on a fun scale – that may even be four or five families worth of fun."

Al was only half-awake when he quietly left their bedroom at a quarter past four. He'd only slept for about six hours, but the snogging session with Carolyn had been worth losing a little sleep for. He'd already put his clothes out on the bed in the far back room last night so that he wouldn't have to fumble around in the dark looking for clothes now, so everything was there for him when he got done showering and cleaning up.

When he got downstairs to the kitchen, he put the coffee on, and toasted himself a bagel, then sat down at the table after both were ready. He heard Carolyn on the stairs, and was smiling when she joined him at the table.

"My Auror stealth technique isn't working very well," he said as she leaned over to hug him.

"If you're brewing coffee while you chase the bad guys, then I'd say it's time to re-write the stealth handbook," she joked. "I'd have a cup, but then there's no way I would get back to sleep."

"Do you want me to give you a wake-up call?" he asked. "You're meeting everyone at the Mall for eight, right?"

"I'll be fine," she told him. "What time will you be done your Christmas lunch?"

"Probably by one-thirty or so," Al answered. "Is there anything you want to do this afternoon?"

Carolyn shook her head. "Nothing specific, but if anything comes up, I'll know whether we can join in or not."

Al finished his coffee and bagel, and Carolyn hugged and kissed him goodbye before he left for Bulgaria and his morning stakeout in Sofia, while she went back up to bed for another couple of hours.

By the time Carolyn got up, got ready for her day, and headed to the Mall, Al had long since been back from Sofia, and gotten to work at his desk after another morning without a single bad guy in sight. The morning's DREAM Christmas volunteers were meeting in the food court, and this time, Carolyn wasn't the first one there, so she got a coffee and croissant and joined Harry, Ginny, and the eight teens that were with them.

"Is that breakfast?" Ginny asked her after Carolyn had taken a seat.

"Yes," she answered. "I didn't feel like cooking for just myself, and this is easy."

They talked while Carolyn ate and drank her coffee, and by the time she was finished, Brianna, Lily, and Kieran had joined them, and they split up into small groups to go wander the Mall to look for Witches and Wizards young and old to help.

Carolyn and Brianna took Millie and Amy with them, while Dale and Carissa went with Lily, Kieran, Joel, and Sarah. That left Harry and Ginny with Erin and Quincy.

"What are we supposed to do?" Erin asked Ginny.

"We just walk around the Mall and keep our eyes and ears open," Ginny explained. "Sometimes it's something as small as seeing a little kid spending too much time looking at something they can't afford for someone they love, or parents or grandparents doing the same. Listen for any conversations where they're talking about not being able to afford something. If you and Quincy watch Harry and I for a bit, you'll see what I mean."

That's what Erin did, and over the next hour and a half, the four of them helped two young mothers buy gifts for their children, one older couple get a Virtual GameWitch for their granddaughter, and a young brother and sister get a gold locket for their mother, then had their pictures taken and the little Wizarding photos of the two kids put into the locket before having it gift-wrapped.

"This is so amazing," Erin told Ginny, Harry, and Quincy. "I've never felt anything like this before in my whole life."

Quincy laughed. "That's probably because our parent's idea of giving of themselves had a whole different meaning. I'm surprised that there aren't some less scrupulous Wizards who try to take advantage of this, though – you know, a little play-acting, and voila, some free stuff."

"We hardly ever have any of the people we help tell anyone who it was that helped them, other than that it was volunteers from the DREAM Christmas program," Harry told him. "That makes it harder for anyone to do that, since they wouldn't know who to target. I'm sure that some do try, though I doubt it succeeds very often."

It had been quite a few years since Harry and Ginny had one of those really extreme DREAM Christmases come up, and it was Erin and Quincy who hit the double jackpot when they found four brothers and sisters that looked like they ranged in age from about four to maybe nine or ten. They were in one of the toy stores, and Erin and Quincy overheard the oldest boy telling the younger ones that Santa wasn't going to be getting them anything this year because Daddy had lost his job, and they were going to be moving in with Grandma and Grandpa after the holidays, 'cause they couldn't afford to rent their house anymore.

Quincy went to get Harry and Ginny and tell them about what they'd overheard, while Erin kept an eye on the four kids. By the time Quincy brought Harry and Ginny back, the kids had left the toy store and gone over to stand around two tired and despondent-looking parents.

When Harry, Ginny, and the two teens came up to the young family, they all recognized who Harry and Ginny were, and once the surprise wore off, they were more than happy to accept the invitation to go to the food court for drinks and a snack so that Harry and Ginny could talk with them. Erin and Quincy sat with the four kids and entertained them while the two couples talked quietly at the table next to them.

The double bonus of this find came when Harry and Ginny found out that the job this Wizard had lost was the one he'd had working at the estate where Travers had been captured. It had admittedly been an awful job, but it had at least barely paid enough to keep the family in a little old house in town and put food on the table.

Ginny called in for some reinforcements, and the four young kids were stunned when they found out that they were going shopping with Lily and Kieran, while Dale and Carissa stayed with Joel and Sarah for the rest of the morning.

"We're going to be six short for lunch," Carolyn told Brianna, Millie, and Amy after reading the QuillMessage from Ginny. "It'll just be Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa meeting us in the food court. Erin and Quincy found one of those major projects, so Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Kieran are helping them with that family."

"What do you mean by a major project?" Amy asked her.

"Usually a few times each Christmas some of the DREAM Christmas volunteers find a family that needs something a lot bigger than a few toys or some other special present," Brianna told the two younger girls. "When they do find one, they're really special, 'cause the Phoenix Foundation does stuff like give them houses, and money, and food, and whatever they need. Carolyn found a family like that once quite a few years ago."

"Won't that take a long time to do things like that?" Millie asked, and Brianna nodded.

"They'll probably be busy most of the afternoon," she told Millie. "You'll probably be in France by the time they're done."

Harry and Ginny brought Erin and Quincy with them to first help the parents, Ray and Cora, make a whirlwind tour through two toy stores, the GamePortal, and stops for sweets and wheezes. By the time they were done that, Penelope had found Harry and Ginny a house for the family in a subdivision that PBP Investments owned on the outskirts of Aberdeen.

While Lily and Kieran kept the four kids busy, the four adults and two teens, along with a few more volunteers that Ginny called in to help, moved the family into their new five bedroom home in under three hours, including buying five new beds, some new sitting room furniture, and one big screen WWVN. Ginny, Cora, and Erin went on a grocery shopping spree while the guys finished the house, and by four o'clock, they were ready for Lily and Kieran to bring the kids to their new home.

"Thank-you," Erin told Ginny and Harry, hugging them both when they finally got back to the cottage around five o'clock. James and Arianna were with them, having joined the volunteer effort at the house after lunch, while Lily and Kieran had gone directly to his house after dropping the four kids off. "I'm going to remember today forever. Is this what it felt like for the people who came and rescued Quincy and me, and all the other abused kids?"

"Probably exactly like this, yes," Ginny agreed.

James nodded. "The way I felt after helping out Joel, Sarah, and the others at Hogwarts had a lot to do with why I decided to work at the Academy," he told her.

Ginny handed Erin and Quincy a little box each, and the kids both hugged her when they saw the Phoenix pins with the single little emerald winking at them after opening the boxes.

"Welcome to the volunteer ranks of the Phoenix Foundation," she told them as Quincy delved into his pocket to get tissues for Erin. "You two did a really great job today."

Joel and Sarah had gone to hang out with Al and Carolyn after Victoire and Isabelle had met them to pick up Millie, Amy, Dale, and Carissa. Ginny had sent them a message just before they left Ray, Cora, and their family to let them know they were on the way home, so they got to the cottage about fifteen minutes after Harry, Ginny, and the others.

Since they were all doing Christmas Eve at the Academy, they decided to have dinner together, so Harry and Ginny started cooking while Erin and Quincy told Joel and Sarah all about the family they'd spent most of the day helping, and everything they'd done for them.

"Will the Foundation help the father find work?" Sarah asked Harry and Ginny.

"I'm sure Teddy or Stewart already have somebody assigned to help with that," Ginny answered. "I'm sure they'll find something for him, and we made sure they won't have to worry about money until Ray is working again."

They didn't have all that much time until they all needed to get ready to go to the Academy, so they ate quickly once dinner was ready, and then while Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah went upstairs to get ready, James, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy popped home so they could get cleaned up and changed before going on to the Academy.

Brianna and Scorpius had Christmas Eve dinner plans with Percy and Penelope, and the four of them met at the restaurant that Percy had picked out for their annual pre-Christmas Eve party meal.

"We had our Department Heads meeting with the Minister of Magic this morning," Percy told Brianna and Scorpius. "Bert Mockridge must have liked you a lot, Brianna. There are going to be a few ticked off Wizards when they find out what he's gotten the Minister to agree to so he could get you back in his department when you graduate."

"What's he doing?" Brianna asked. The closure of the Centaur Liason division had been announced a couple of months ago, so that couldn't be it.

"He's transferring his Junior Minister in charge of Goblin Liason to the Junior Minister in charge of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, and come next July, you're going to be the new Head of Goblin Liason," Percy told her.

Brianna got out of her chair and went around the table to hug Percy and Penelope after Scorpius was first to hug her in congratulations.

"I was pretty sure that they were going to make me a Goblin Liason Officer, but I never imagined that he would make me a Junior Minister," Brianna said, a bit overwhelmed.

"He had to come up with something to get you, because Caleb Jennings tried to steal you away from him by telling the Minister of Magic that he'd give you that Accidental Magic Reversal Squad Junior Minister job instead. I couldn't be sure, but I did get the feeling that they were both acting, so it could be they were just fabricating a good reason for Bert to put you in charge of Goblin Liason."

"Considering how they played me like one of Kieran's guitars to get me to submit that proposal to axe the Centaur Liason Division, I wouldn't put it past them at all," Brianna said. "When will they announce this?"

"In January, after you're back to school," Percy told her. "That way you'll be out of reach of the reporters, and by June, they'll have forgotten about the story."

"We can hope, anyway," Brianna said. "Anything else exciting coming up?"

"Just that thanks to a proposal from Scorpius to have a BusinessMagic System developed for his Department, the Ministry of Magic has worked out a deal with Marauders Institute to design and implement the system Ministry-wide over the next year or so," Percy told her. "We get a big discount for helping them design and test out the new system before offering it for sale to all of the other Ministries of Magic around the Wizarding World."

"With the added bonus of making Carolyn's day, since it's probably the first out-of-company sale for BusinessMagic," Brianna added.

"Actually, technically, it's the third or fourth, depending on how you count them," Penelope told her. "George and Owen have bought a retail version of the system for the Wheezes and GamePortal chains, which was technically one purchase, but two different systems, and Victoire has already signed a deal for all of the Witch Investment companies, and put Allie in charge of a team to help Marauders Institute develop custom BusinessMagic systems for their companies."

"That's incredible," Brianna said. She was really happy to hear that her friend's invention was doing so great already. "If you come up with a personal version of the system, let me know, 'cause I'd love to have one."

"What do you mean?" Penelope asked her, and Brianna smiled.

"Carolyn's told me quite a bit about it, and if you can keep all of a company's records on these systems, let the employees of that company have access to all of those records, and everything else you can do, then why couldn't you have a version that lets you write letters like we can do with our Virtual GameWizards, or read any books in the VirtualLibrary, or access any public records – like from the Ministry of Magic? I can think of lots of uses for a system like that for personal use. I doubt many adults that didn't grow up with the Virtual study programs even use Virtual GameWizards for things like that."

Penelope laughed in delight. "Remind me to hug you again after dinner, Brianna. Your little idea there is going to be huge, and since Scorpius owns a significant little piece of PBP Investments, that's a good thing for you too."

They had dinner while Penelope quizzed Brianna on what other things she thought that a personal version of BusinessMagic could be used for, and Percy and Scorpius were happy to mostly listen in, although they did have a few suggestions too.

Two hours later, they were at the Minister of Magic's mansion. Scorpius and Brianna were mingling with the other guests while Percy and Penelope were in the reception line greeting new arrivals. Minister Mockridge and his wife had already been in that reception line, and when he had greeted Scorpius and Brianna, he looked like a kneazle cat that had just swallowed a pygmy puff.

While Scorpius and Brianna mixed politics with Christmas cheer, it was strictly fun and games at the Academy. Erin and Quincy were swept up by their friends as soon as they arrived, most of them wanting to hear everything about what it was like at Hogwarts, whether they were able to keep up with the other kids in their classes, and what it was like to be the Seeker for a House team.

Joel and Sarah went to hang out with some of the older teens, while Harry, Ginny, James, and Arianna wandered around to the different rooms. They played GameWizard, watched parts of movies, and joined in to play whatever other games the younger kids were playing.

Harry and Ginny skipped out for an hour or so to drop by the Residence for a short visit, then returned to the Academy. By eleven, they were helping to get the younger kids off to bed, and they left for home shortly after midnight. There was still a couple of groups of the older students staying up to watch a late night Christmas movie, but everyone fourteen and under were in bed when they left.

Carolyn and Al were enjoying their quiet Christmas Eve with just the two of them. After Joel and Sarah had gone back to the cottage, Al had cooked them dinner, and they'd done the cleanup together before moving into the sitting room with glasses of wine and some snacks for later. They decided to watch the original WWVN version of A Christmas Carol, and stretched out on a sofa, snuggled close with a warm, soft blanket over them, and settled in to watch the show.

They'd originally planned on watching a couple of movies, but by the time the first one was done, they were both ready to just call it a night and go up to bed. Later that night, Carolyn pretended not to wake when Al got up, got her presents out of the office where he'd hid them, and put them under the tree, and then when he got up to go shower and dress before going downstairs to make a light breakfast for them, she crept downstairs and put his presents under the tree too before hurrying back upstairs and climbing into bed before he got out of the shower.

She stayed snuggled warm in bed until the smell of coffee reached her, and then she got up, showered and dressed, and went downstairs. She hugged and kissed Al, and then he poured them both cups of coffee. He handed one to her, picked up the small tray of sweet buns, croissants, and muffins, and followed her into the sitting room, where they sat on the floor next to the tree, and began handing each other presents.

"We haven't been up this early on Christmas morning for a few years," Carolyn said as she watched Al open a present. "Not since back when James used to get us up before dawn. Brianna and I always got up early at the Residence too."

"We do have to be at the cottage for breakfast at nine," Al said.

"It's not even seven, Al," she reminded him. "Maybe it just feels late for you because you've been getting up around four."

"That's true," he agreed. They took their time opening their gifts, and by seven-thirty, Al was handing Carolyn the little present he'd been holding back until last. He watched excitedly as Carolyn unwrapped it and opened the box. She looked up at him as she pulled out a set of keys and saw his flashing eyes and wide smile.

"These keys look an awful lot like our keys to the house on the island," she said. "What are they for?" she asked, her own excitement growing as she was pretty sure of what the answer would be.

"They're for our new home," he told her. "Would you like to go on a trip before we go to the cottage?" Carolyn threw her arms around him and kissed him for a long minute before letting him go again. "I'll take that as a yes," he joked, and Carolyn kissed him again before they both stood up and went to get their cloaks.

"Should we take the gifts we have for later this morning with us?" she asked, and Al nodded. "We probably should. You'll have a little more time to explore if we do that."

They'd packed those gifts up yesterday, so they just had to get those bags out of the closet, and they were ready to get going.

"Where is the house?" she asked Al as they stepped outside.

"We built it on a couple of acres of land not far from a little town called Burbage in Wiltshire," he told her. "It's maybe a little over an hour away from London – or about a half-hour if Mum's driving. Nick and Allie's house near Overton is about thirty kilometres away from ours."

Al side-along apparated Carolyn to their house, and was nearly knocked over when she again hugged and kissed him.

"This is stunning," she told him. "I thought the house on the island was amazing, but this is way over the top."

Al grinned at her. "Wait until you see inside," he said as he took her hand and led her up the driveway. Carolyn tried to take everything in, from the three-car garage that they were walking up to now, to the two-level main section of the house to the left of the attached garage, to the long single-level wing that stretched out past the two-storey part of the house.

"That garage will be nice to have for my little roadster," she said when they reached it. Al waved his wand, and the garage door closest to the main house began to open.

"You're baby is already tucked in there for the winter," he told her and laughed as she hurried in to lovingly run a hand along the sleek contour of the car Teddy had given her during the summer holidays.

There was an entrance from the garage into the house, and they went into the house through it. Al hadn't known it until seeing their house on the island, but Nick had designed a similar entrance for both the back entrance for that house, and the garage entrance for this one. There was a bathroom with a shower, and a large closet for cloaks, shoes, and boots. From there, the main floor opened up into a Great Room too, with the huge sitting room facing the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the back yard, and the kitchen and dining room on the front side. Instead of an L-shaped half wall, the kitchen was completely open to the rest of the house except for a large island work centre that had six barstools tucked under the two sides that faced the dining room and sitting room.

"I have a company lined up to do all the decorating for us," Al told her. "You'll be able to pick everything out, and they'll do all of the work so it's ready for when we get back from our honeymoon."

Carolyn nodded as she looked around. She'd seen that the front door had jutted out from the main building, and now she could see why. There was a pretty large entranceway and closet at the front door that was large enough for welcoming guests without intruding into the Great Room. She next went on to explore the wing that had extended past the main part of the house, and Al offered commentary as they walked.

"This will be a library and office for us," he said as they walked into the first spacious room. "Since you and I will probably both bring work home with us, we decided to make it big enough so we could both work without getting in each other's way."

The rest of that wing of the house was dedicated to guest bedrooms, and there were four of them, each with en-suite baths that any luxury hotel would love to have. The staircase to the second level was right next to the office, so they went upstairs next, and looked around at the five bedrooms up there. Each of the bedrooms had en-suite baths like the guest rooms did, and were quite large and airy. The master bedroom had a huge walk-in closet, and the bathroom had both a Jacuzzi tub and a completely separate shower.

"We should probably get going soon," Carolyn said. "We don't want to be late."

Al nodded. "We will, but there's still one more section of the house to see," he told her. "You did see the wing that goes out behind the garage, didn't you?"

Carolyn looked out of the back window of their master bedroom, and saw that there was another wing of the house behind the garage. She couldn't see inside, but there were eight large skylights on each side of the peaked roof.

"Actually, I didn't," she told him. "What's in there?"

"Let's go find out," he said evasively, and she hugged him again before leading him back downstairs.

When they walked back into the Great Room, she wondered how she'd missed seeing the wing, since it was obvious when you looked out the back windows from this direction, and she now saw the hallway that led toward it from the back corner of the room.

That hallway went behind the garage for maybe the width of the first garage bay, and then turned left into that wing of the house. When Carolyn turned the corner, her mouth fell open as she looked into the huge main room that housed an indoor pool. The water wasn't in it yet, but she was left speechless as she started walking along one side of the pool.

"There are change rooms and washrooms at the far end," Al told her. "The pool is fifteen metres by six metres."

Carolyn nodded as she walked past four patio doors that could be opened up in the summer months onto the back yard. She checked out the changerooms and bathrooms that each had a small shower, and then walked back up the other side of the pool.

"What do you think?" Al asked.

"I think it's perfect," she told him. "I love it, and I love you, Al." She wrapped her arms around him for another long hug and kiss, and then they left the pool room and got ready to leave for the cottage.

"Merry Christmas!" Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah chorused when Al and Carolyn walked in to the kitchen and made the rounds of hugs and kisses.

"Have we had an especially Merry Christmas so far?" Ginny asked Carolyn, who hugged Ginny again.

"A way over the top brilliant kind of Christmas," Carolyn confirmed.

"Good," Ginny told her. "I'd say that Al's been fussing over that house, but he pretty much just put his total trust in everyone working on it to get it all just right."

"I'd say that trust was pretty well placed," Carolyn said happily. "I really don't know how you all expect not to have to drag me kicking and screaming back to Hogwarts when we have to go there again a week from Sunday."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Harry joked. "It wouldn't set a very good example for the younger students."

James, Arianna, Erin, Quincy, Lily, and Kieran all got to the cottage for nine, and by then, Harry had everything ready, so they sat down to eat after finishing another round of Merry Christmases, hugs, and kisses. They were just finishing the cleanup when Scorpius and Brianna joined them.

"Good timing," Ginny told them. "We're about ready to go open the presents."

Anyone who wanted coffee, tea, or anything else to drink while they were exchanging gifts got them, and then they all gathered in the sitting room. Lily and Sarah handed out presents, and for the next hour, they had fun chatting, and watching each other opening presents. While there were a lot of really cool gifts, there were a couple of really special gifts.

The first one was a two-book set that included a Weasley family history of the war years that Charlie had written after getting everyone to tell him their stories, and a condensed and redacted version of the Potter family history that went all the way back to the Peverell brothers. James, Al, Lily, and Scorpius each got a set of those books, although Scorpius' set also included a third book, which was a copy of the Black Family history book that was kept safely in the family library vault at Gringotts.

There were six recipients of the second special gift. Al, Carolyn, Lily, Kieran, Scorpius, and Brianna. Lily made sure that they opened them at the same time, and she smiled as she watched the others, since this gift was from her and Ginny.

"These are the prototypes for the new ViComms – VirtualCommunicators - that will be coming out next June," she told the others as they looked at their new communication systems. The main module looked similar to the old WiComms, and then there was the earpiece that fit comfortably into the inner ear.

"What's the difference between these and the old WiComms?" Carolyn asked.

"There are a lot of differences," Ginny answered. "The biggest one is that you can communicate by thought instead of needing to talk out loud or write the QuillMessages. It can also do a lot more. Lily will show you all how to use them, but basically it can do everything within your mind. It's also the next generation Virtual GameWizard all in one amazing little gadget. You won't need the Virtual glasses anymore."

"Why do we get to have prototypes?" Scorpius asked, and Brianna answered him.

"Because Carolyn and Kieran will be able to talk with, and see Al and Lily without being overheard by their room mates in the dorm rooms, and I guess we lucked out and got lumped in with them."

Lily nodded excitedly. "You guys won't believe it until you see them in action," she told them. "You still need the two-way mirror in front of you so that the other person can see you Virtually, but then they can also let you see what they're seeing through their own eyes. That's a little freaky at first until you get used to it, but it's brilliant after that."

"And it has all of the GameWizard games and programs too?" Brianna asked, and Lily nodded. "We've improved the VirtualQuill too. You can write your whole report virtually now, make all the corrections you want, and then have it written on real parchment."

"I love you guys," Brianna told Lily and Ginny. She got up and hugged them both before going to sit back down next to Scorpius.

The ViComms were the last gifts to be handed out, so after that, they all sat around visiting and playing with their new toys. Scorpius was flipping through the first few pages of the Black Family History, and on the third page in, he saw a line at the top written in French.

"Hey, Lily," he said, getting her attention. "There's some writing in here that's in French. I recognize the first two words, because they're the family motto that's in the Black Family Crest at the top of the family tree tapestry and on the good china – 'Toujours Pur'. That means 'Always pure', but I've never seen the other words with the family motto before."

"Here," Lily said, holding her hands out. "Let me see." Scorpius handed her the book, and she looked at it, reading it aloud. "It says 'Toujours Pur de Coeur', which translates to 'Always Pure of Heart'."

Scorpius stared at her in amazement. "Lily, are you telling me that our family motto is supposed to be 'Always Pure of Heart'? That it was never meant to mean 'Pureblood'?"

"That's what it looks like to me," she confirmed.

"So all of these centuries my family twisted pure of heart into intolerance and hate," Scorpius said, still trying to come to grips with it. "It would be funny if there hadn't been so many horrors come of it."

"It might not have mattered," Harry told him. "The Black family believed in the rights of purebloods just as Salazar Slytherin did over a thousand years ago."

"It is just one more reason to wonder what could have been, though," Scorpius said.

Harry nodded. "True, but the good news is that with you and Brianna, you can change all that now."

"We will," Scorpius promised.

They all had big dinners they'd be going to later in the afternoon, so they just had some snacks for lunch, and then Lily and Kieran left for his grandparent's house, James, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy left for the Academy, Scorpius and Brianna went home to Grimmauld Place, and then Harry, Ginny, Al, Carolyn, Joel, and Sarah went to the Residence for the Christmas party and feast there.

Joel and Sarah spent the afternoon going around with Al and Carolyn, mostly hanging out and playing GameWizard with the older teens except for a half-hour when Joel and Al joined Harry, Wayne, and a group of eight giggling little girls to play with TeenWitch dolls.

"Did you two have fun?" Sarah asked when she and Carolyn rescued them after the girls against the boys GameWizard match they had gone to Ginny's call to arms for.

"Yes we did," Joel told her with a grin. "Don't you dare ever tell any of the guys at school, though. I could get beat up for something like playing with dolls."

"Your secret's safe with us," Carolyn promised. "We can't vouch for the other seventy or eighty Hogwarts students around here, though. What do you want to do now?"

Al looked at his watch. "They'll be calling to do the gifts soon. Why don't we just go to the dining hall, get drinks, and wait for everyone to join us there."

They were only in the dining hall for about ten minutes when it started filling up with kids and volunteers. When everyone was there, the wild whirling presents flew into the room high above everyone's heads, swirling around for a minute before delivering themselves to the waiting hands of the two hundred excited kids.

The kids happily tore into wrapping paper, bows, and ribbons, and the hall was filled with happy chatter and laughter as the volunteers helped out where needed and enjoyed watching the kids all having fun. When the presents had all been opened and the piles of discarded packaging cleaned up, it was time for the Christmas feast.

Lily and Kieran were sitting down to Christmas dinner at Grandma and Grandpa McCormack's at about the same time, along with the rest of Kieran and Liam's family, as well as Daphne, Karl, and Frederica.

Karl had spent Christmas Eve with Daphne's family, and when they'd come over this afternoon, she was sporting a sparkling new engagement ring on her hand. They hadn't set a date yet, but they told Kieran and Lily that they were planning on doing something close to what Mark and Callie did, except to have Daphne's parents, brothers and sisters-in-law, and Kirley, Ana, Kieran, and Lily come to the Marauders Paradise for a wedding on the beach and maybe a dinner party sometime during the summer.

"Did your family dinner go any better this year?" Kieran asked Daphne.

"Not noticeably, no," she told him. "I'm seriously considering volunteering to work every Christmas on the island forever to avoid them in the future. I'd rather just rent a couple of suites for my family and have them come spend Christmases with us instead."

"Your parents, brothers, and their families would probably like that better too," Lily joked. "Don't work all of them, though. We'd like to see you here for our family Christmases once in a while."

"We'll probably be home every other year," Daphne told Lily. "I think we're still going to be done with my family's Christmas, though."

"I hear you're going down to that Marauders Paradise tomorrow to work for a week," Catriona said to Daphne, who nodded. "Is your team not practicing over the holidays then?"

"We're practicing tomorrow morning before Karl and I go," Daphne answered, "and then I'll pop back over for a practice on Monday, and we'll be home for the practice next Thursday. It'll be a bit hectic, but I'll manage."

With the topic conveniently steered onto Quidditch, the conversation turned to talk of Hogwarts and League Quidditch, then moved on to school and holiday homework, and by the time they started dessert, the discussion had turned to plans for the rest of the holidays for everyone.

"So you're all going to leave your poor grandma and grandpa here in the snow and cold while you go play all weekend in paradise?" Catriona asked Liam. He'd been the one talking about what everyone was doing this weekend and the time, and he laughed.

"Frederica and I are going to have a full house, Grandma, but I imagine that Lily and Kieran have an extra room if it's just them, Aunt Ana, and Uncle Kirley."

Lily nodded. "We sure do. Would you two like to come? I should have thought to ask you a couple of days ago when we found out about the new houses. I'm sure you'd love it there."

Catriona looked at her husband who just grinned and nodded. "We'd love to come along," she told Lily. "Are you sure we won't be too old to hang out with all of you?"

Lily laughed. "No, but if you're worried about that, there are at least three other sets of grandparents who will be there too."

"I'd like to see Grandma try out the jet-skis," Liam said with a grin.

"What's a jet-ski?" Catriona asked.

"It's a Muggle watercraft, grandma," Liam told her. "We'll show you this weekend."

The kids went on to tell their grandparents all about the island they'd now all be going to spend the weekend at until they were finished dinner, and then they went into the sitting room to exchange presents.

Scorpius and Brianna were in the drawing room with his parents and grandparents after just finishing a wonderful Kreacher and Winky dinner. That had been an adventure, especially when Kreacher and Winky joined them for the meal. Scorpius hadn't been able to decide which had been funnier, his grandmother's reaction, or his grandfather's.

Since Lucius had no memory of House Elves, and hadn't seen one since the day that the unbreakable vow had been broken, he was fascinated by the two elves like any other two year old would be. Since Kreacher and Winky had been prepared to deal with Lucius' unique condition, they treated him like any other toddler, and patiently answered all of his questions until Brianna managed to get him focused on telling her all about what he'd gotten for Christmas.

While Scorpius and Brianna had wanted to do the after-dinner cleanup, Kreacher and Winky had put their little feet down and firmly told them that they wouldn't allow it when their young masters were entertaining company today.

Scorpius passed out glasses of wine to his grandmother, father, mother, and Brianna, and had juice for his grandfather. When they were sitting down, he began handing out presents, several of which were for Lucius.

"I got a real flying dragon, Dayco!" Lucius happily told his son, holding it up for everyone to see. "Can we play with it now? Can we?"

"There's a lot of things in this room that could break, Lucius," Draco said gently, smiling at his father. "Why don't we wait until we get home, and we can try it out in your playroom. You have other presents you can open up now, though, so why don't you see what else you got for Christmas?"

Lucius was happy with that, set the dragon next to him and opened the next present. Even Narcissa laughed when he pulled out the big soft sweater and said – "Yuck! This one has clothes in it."

When he got to his last present, he was much happier, since there were not one, but two of the original Portable GameWizards that were now sold only for little kids, and had all sorts of cute, age-appropriate games for the two to four year old gamer.

"Can we play with these now, Dayco?" he asked hopefully, and Draco nodded. "Yes, we can," Draco agreed. "I'll come and sit next to you and we can learn how to play them together."

While Draco showed Lucius how to play a couple of the games on his new GameWizard, Astoria and Narcissa opened their presents. Scorpius had picked out a pair of diamond earrings for his mother, and a gleaming white pearl necklace for his grandmother. Brianna opened the present that Draco had given to her that was for both of them, and carefully lifted out a beautifully carved table clock that was a miniature version of a country house with a fenced front yard.

"Move the minute hand to the top of the hour," Astoria told her, and Brianna did so, then laughed in delight as while it struck six o'clock, six garden gnomes popped up out of their holes and yelped once as a kneazle cat tried to pounce on them.

"This is adorable," Brianna said, handing it to Scorpius so she could get up and hug Astoria, Draco, and a surprised Narcissa. "Thank-you," she added. "I love it."

"So do I," Scorpius said, following Brianna around to hug everyone.

"You didn't open your pwesent, Dayco," Lucius said, momentarily distracted from his game by the colourful but as yet unopened gift.

Draco smiled, and set his GameWizard down. "Why don't you help me open it," he suggested to Lucius, and laughed as his father helped him tear all of the wrapping paper off, and open the box.

"What is it?" Lucius asked as Draco took the watch out of the box to look at it more closely.

"It's called a watch, and you wear it on your wrist so you know what time it is."

"We thought with all the playing that you and Lucius do that having an unbreakable watch might be handy to have," Scorpius told his father.

"Thank-you," Draco told him. "It's a great idea. I've already had to replace the crystal once in my good watch."

"Let's play again, Dayco!" Lucius pleaded, the excitement of helping to open Draco's present already forgotten.

While father and son played, Scorpius mostly listened as the three women talked about recent shopping trips, and a planned day at the Spa that Astoria and Narcissa were going to do with Andromeda later in January.

"DON'T BEAT ME, DAYCO! DON'T BEAT ME!" Lucius shouted, making Scorpius and the girls all jump, and Draco laughed.

"Relax, Mum, he's talking about in the game," he told Narcissa, and they all laughed.

"Don't worry, Lucius," Draco told him soothingly, a big gmile on his face. "I promise I won't beat you."

At the Residence, the Christmas feast had been followed by the Christmas talent show that the kids did every year, and for an hour and a half, the performers entertained their fellow residents and the volunteers with songs and little mini Christmas skits. When that was over at around eight-thirty, Al and Carolyn had to get going. He had to be up early again for his morning stakeout in Bulgaria. It took another half-hour to say goodnight to Carolyn's friends, Susan, Wayne, Joel, Sarah, Nadine, Vanessa, and Harry and Ginny, but finally they were able to leave, and apparated home to Hogsmeade.

"This has been another one of those best Christmases," Carolyn said happily as they snuggled in bed less than fifteen minutes after getting home. "Thank-you for making it so wonderful." She kissed him tenderly, and Al smiled in the darkness.

"You're welcome," he said in a whisper. "This was a best Christmas for me too."

They talked quietly for a while longer, and shared a few more tender kisses until they both drifted off to sleep. Christmas might be over now, but there was still more than half of the Christmas holiday to go. With a weekend on the island, New Year's Eve, and much more of both work and play ahead, The New Marauders and their families still had a lot to look forward to over the remaining week and a half of their Christmas holiday season.


	120. HyperHoliday

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty – Hyper-Holiday

When Carolyn woke up on Thursday morning, the sun was up, and Al had somehow managed to get ready for work and out the door without waking her up. She got out of bed and spent the next half hour getting ready for the day, then went downstairs to make breakfast for herself.

The Quidditch playing Marauders all had practices this morning, and the non-players were meeting at the cottage for an all-day study session that the others would join after their practice, except for Daphne and Karl, who would be going to Marauders Paradise to work for the next week, and Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy, who were in France at the Delacours.

She wondered how they were going to manage that along with all of the homework they had too, but she was sure that her two friends would manage to do both, and in Daphne's case, fit in three Quidditch practices too. Two scrambled eggs, two slices of toast, a coffee, and a glass of juice later, and Carolyn was ready to go face a day of NEWT revision with Brianna.

There was already quite a gang at the cottage, as most of the Gryffindor team was there, as were Vanessa, Joel, Sarah, Emily, and Lily.

"I'm supposed to ask you if you ate a real breakfast this morning," Harry told her when she came into the kitchen, and Carolyn laughed.

"Yes, I actually cooked and ate a real breakfast with eggs and everything this morning," she told him. "Who wanted to make sure I wasn't running on coffee and a croissant?"

"Ginny was worried about it," Harry told her. "I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that you were a good girl this morning."

It wasn't long before the Quidditch team trudged out to the pitch to begin their practice, and Brianna got to the cottage a few minutes after they'd gone out.

"Ready to get to work?" she asked the others, who all nodded and started breaking out their books.

"Why don't you and Carolyn come into the sitting room with me for a little while," Lily suggested to Brianna. "I'll give you the tutorial on your new ViComms, and then you can amaze your fellow Hogwarts students with what you'll be able to do."

Brianna and Carolyn both agreed, and followed Lily into the sitting room so they could have a quiet place where they could concentrate and practice. It took nearly forty-five minutes to cover everything, and practice enough to get the basics all figured out, but when they were done, they each hugged Lily to thank her.

"You weren't kidding about these things being incredible," Brianna said excitedly. "I think the changes you've made for writing with the VirtualQuill will make doing our homework a lot faster once we get good at it."

Lily grinned at her. "Good. Then go get enough done today so that Carolyn can go show us that new house before your fiancées get home from work today. I want to pick out my room for when I come visit every other day next year."

Carolyn and Brianna joined the others in the kitchen and got to work. Lily stayed in the kitchen with them, chatting as they worked, and sneaking in a little tutoring as her friends worked, eventually helping them all to get farther along than they would have without her help.

"Are you sure there's no way to sneak Lily into Hogwarts?" Joel asked. "She could hide out in Brianna's office, and nobody would have to know she was there. I could get all of the prefects to start sending Kieran to the Head Girl's office four or five times a day. It could work, I tell you!"

"My offer's always open if you guys want to do some virtual classes," she told Joel.

"We've been doing okay so far," Joel said seriously. "I'll probably want some extra tutoring when we get closer to exam time, though, so don't be surprised if I take you up on that offer by sometime in May."

Since Carolyn and Brianna had done the ViComm tutorial first, they'd only actually been working on revision for a bit more than an hour and a half when Hugo led his team into the kitchen. They all looked half frozen, so Lily put on a pot of coffee, and the kettle to boil water for anyone who wanted hot chocolate or tea instead. She put snacks out on the counter for everyone to have.

"How'd the practice go?" she asked Hugo.

"Pretty good until our hands and feet started to go numb," he told his cousin. "No wonder you're in here instead of going to watch Kieran's practice."

"And the reason Emily and Vanessa are in here instead of out watching you and Lance," Lily said. "Are you guys joining our study session today?" she asked the only two non-Marauders on Hugo's team, Claire and Kevin.

"I wish I could," Claire told her. "Once I thaw out, though, I have to go meet my Mum. If you're studying after Monday's practice, though, I'd like to sit in, if that's okay."

"It's definitely okay," Sarah told her. "I could use another OWL student to study with."

"I've got plans already too," Kevin told Lily. "Besides, it's not the Saturday before we go back," he said with a grin. "Why is everyone starting their holiday revisions over a week early?"

Lily laughed. "You should try it sometime, Kevin. You might surprise yourself – and your Professors too."

He laughed too. "They're all mostly pretty old, and I'd hate to be responsible for causing a heart attack or something, so I don't think I should. In a way, you could say I'm not doing my revision for them."

"He's either going into politics or sales," Claire predicted.

When the coffee was ready, and the kettle boiled, Lily took and filled the hot drink orders, and then left the team to fend for themselves, and rejoined the study group. Claire and Kevin both left after about a half hour, and Frederica and the boys got their books out and joined the study group.

Kieran and Nadine joined them fifteen minutes after that, having been taken in by Grandma Catriona and warmed up with hot drinks and snacks after their practice before being allowed to leave to come here. After they hugged Lily and Colin respectively, the last two members of their study group joined in and got down to work.

Harry ordered in pizza for lunch instead of shutting down the study session to cook for everyone, and they kept working while they ate.

Al got back from Bulgaria at about three-thirty, and came to the cottage to meet up with Carolyn. Since she was still working hard, Lily took the opportunity to give Al his tutorial on the ViComm, which in his case took about two minutes, as he simply opened his mind to hers, and she quickly passed on everything he needed to know about how to use it. They did spend another ten minutes or so playing with them while he experimented with what they could do, and then they went back into the kitchen with everyone else.

By four o'clock, everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion that they'd done enough for the day, and began packing up and leaving for home. Kieran, Lily, Vanessa, and Nadine were staying at the cottage for dinner with Harry, Ginny, Joel and Sarah, but Lily really wanted to go see Al and Carolyn's house before then.

"Do we have time to pop over there, Dad?" she asked Harry.

"Sure, honey," he assured her. "I'm just getting started on dinner, so if you can be back by five-thirty, you've got time."

With that decided, Al, Kieran, Joel, and the six girls bundled up, went outside, and took the TransPortal to Al and Carolyn's house.

"Wow," Nadine said when she first saw the place.

"Double wow," Vanessa said. "Can we all come live with you Carolyn?"

Carolyn laughed. "Lots of visiting, yes," she answered. "Moving in? I love you a lot, but I think for the first few years at least, I'd like to have Al mostly to myself when we're here."

"That sounds like a very polite 'no',' Nadine joked. "We can live with coming for visits, though."

They went inside through the front door this time, and Kieran, Joel, and Al mostly let the girls go exploring, while they followed them around and tried to stay out of the way. Lily, Brianna, Sarah, Nadine, and Vanessa had pretty much the same reaction to the indoor pool as Carolyn had.

"Keep this room in mind when we get around to building our home," Lily told Kieran. "I think it's absolutely brilliant."

"One big indoor pool; check," Kieran joked. "Anything else?"

"Not right now," Lily said, hugging him.

When they were finished the tour, they went back outside, traded hugs, and then Lily, Kieran, Sarah, Joel, Nadine, and Vanessa went back to the cottage, while Brianna went home to Grimmauld Place, and Al and Carolyn apparated to the house in Hogsmeade.

They cooked and ate dinner together, cleaned up after they were done, and then got ready to go out for the evening. Rose and Matt had invited Al and Carolyn, Nick and Allie, and Scorpius and Brianna over to their Chalet for a visit, the first real chance they'd had to hang out together since Carolyn and Brianna got home from school.

Al and Carolyn were the last two getting there, and once they'd done the rounds of hugs and kisses, and been handed drinks by Matt, they sat down on the last unoccupied sofa.

"Brianna's been telling us about your study day at the cottage," Rose told Carolyn. "It sounds like those ViComms are really great. You guys could have a lot of fun with them in classes too."

"Why do you say that?" Carolyn asked, and Rose laughed.

"She's so sweet and innocent," Rose told the others before answering Carolyn. "You, Brianna, and Kieran have three of only six prototypes outside of the Institute, and I doubt anyone else knows about them. You could talk to each other – or think to each other – whatever it is that you're doing, and nobody else in the classroom would know."

Carolyn laughed. "That's a pretty good idea, though since Brianna and I sit beside each other, I'm not sure how often it will come in handy. By next September, I'm sure they'll be banned in the classroom along with portable WWVN's and GameWizards."

"We may have to ban them on our tours too," Matt joked. "Some of these high-powered executives we've had on our trips don't know when to turn their WiComms off and just have fun with their husbands or wives and friends."

"There are probably lots of things they do that make your jobs harder," Carolyn told him. "You guys look happy, though, so you must be liking doing these tours."

"We love them," Rose told her enthusiastically. "Everything's even better than we'd hoped."

"What trips have you got coming up next?" Brianna asked.

"We've got a week in Brazil that starts on January fourth, then two weeks in Egypt starting the eleventh," Rose answered. "We'll be home for the last week of January, and then we have our two week, Valentine's trip to Hawaii. Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope are going on that one."

"Why does it seem like what everyone else is doing sounds so much better than going back to Hogwarts?" Carolyn asked.

"Because what everyone else is doing really is better than going back to Hogwarts," Brianna answered, grinning at her best friend. "If school was better, why would anyone want to leave?"

The four couples sat and talked for hours. Al and Scorpius had mostly been able to keep up with what Nick, Allie, Matt, and Rose were doing, but for Brianna and Carolyn, getting to hear all of the stories of what had been happening in their friend's lives for the past few months in person was a lot better than the infrequent Owl Posts, or regular QuillMessages they'd had, mostly with Allie and Rose, while they'd been at school.

"I can't believe it's after eleven!" Carolyn said suddenly. "Why didn't you say something, Al? You've got to get up for work in like five hours."

Al grinned at her. "You were having fun, and I can catch up on my sleep on the weekend while we're on the island. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

They were all working in the morning – including Matt and Rose, even though they could work from home. It was closer to eleven-thirty by the time that Matt and Rose finished saying goodbye, and their six guests left for their respective homes for the night.

On Friday morning, Ginny and Penelope were taking the morning off, and along with Astoria, took Carolyn and Brianna in tow to a string of wedding-related appointments. They picked out invitations, flowers, cakes, and in Brianna's case, a menu for dinner. The last stop of the morning was to Gladrags in Hogmeade.

"I thought we were dealing with the dresses in March or April," Brianna said.

"We are," Penelope told her, "but we're trying something different this time around. You'll see."

What Penelope, Astoria, and Ginny had come up with was to have a little custom designer contest of sorts. Today, they were meeting with six of the best designers in the world, and they were each going to come up with a dress designed specifically for Carolyn and Brianna, and for the two very different kinds of weddings. Both girls were extensively measured, and the designers asked a lot of questions about each wedding, and what the girls each liked and disliked. It took a bit over an hour, and then the five women went out for lunch, popping over to the Diner in Chudley.

"Why are we trying out this designer challenge?" Carolyn asked after they'd ordered their food, and their drinks had been delivered. "Won't they just end up with ten too many dresses?"

Penelope, Astoria, and Ginny laughed. "We expect that all of the dress designs, including the ones you pick will sell in the stores," Penelope told her. "When we talked with the Witches at Gladrags, they thought it was worth trying out. If it works out, they'll have a new high-end service they can offer."

"How much of that company does Witch Investments own now?" Brianna asked Penelope, who grinned.

"I do believe they own all of it now," Penelope answered. "You could ask Allie or Victoire the next time you see them. Why do you ask?"

"Because this sounds like something Victoire would be interested in doing," Carolyn told her.

"I'm pretty sure she was there the day the suggestion first came up," Ginny said. "No wonder it seemed like such a good idea."

Brianna and Carolyn were done with their appointments for the day, so after lunch, they decided to go back to the house in Hogsmeade and work on revision until Al got home from work, and then Brianna went home to Grimmauld Place, all three of them planning on packing for the weekend on the island.

Al and Carolyn were ready to leave by four-thirty, and they took the TransPortal to the island, appearing on the pathway at the point where it split off to their house, and to Lily and Kieran's. They went inside, took their travel bags upstairs, and got changed before going back downstairs.

"Let's go see if Lily and Kieran are here yet," Carolyn said. "Then we can walk to the lagoon and see who else is already here playing."

"Did you notice last Sunday that you aren't able to hear the jet-skis from our end of the island?" Al asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"I love playing on them, but it will be nice not to have to listen to them if we just want some quiet time here too."

Lily and Kieran were at their house already, and happily took them on a tour of their place – the highlight for her being the recording studio.

"So what did you guys do today?" Carolyn asked Lily.

"We stopped by the Ministry of Magic so Kieran could take his apparition test," Lily told her. "Then we spent the rest of the morning in the studio with Kirley. We had lunch with him and Ana, then did two more hours in the studio. After that we packed and came here."

"I forgot you could take your test over the holidays," Carolyn told Kieran. "Why didn't you do it earlier?"

Kieran shrugged. "There was a lot going on, and it's not that big of a deal, since we can't apparate around Hogwarts anyway."

Carolyn laughed. "Think so?" she asked. "Now the three of us can apparate from the school gates to Hogsmeade and back again. That's going to save us some cold winter walks."

Kieran laughed too. "I didn't think about that part of it. I guess there will be something it will be useful for."

"Your place is awesome too," Al told them. "It's a bit like Mum and Dad's in that you've got your side of the house with the master bedroom and your studio in the one wing, and the other wing has the guest rooms – or someday the kid's rooms."

"We heard that Hugo and Emily, and Frederica and Liam need to have chaperones to stay at there houses," Carolyn said as they all left the house to begin the walk to the lagoon. "Do you have to do that?"

"No, but in our case, Kieran's already seventeen, we have company this weekend, and by next June, I'll be seventeen too, so they probably figured it didn't really matter," Lily answered. "I'm definitely going to come spend some time here all through the rest of winter."

"When are your parents and grandparents going to get here?" Al asked Kieran.

"Probably in the next hour or so," he told Al. "Mum and Dad will pick them up, and Mum popped over with us when we came so she knew where our house is, then went back home to finish some work. She's got most of her bands working this weekend, so she may have to do a little bit of hopping back and forth tomorrow."

They didn't see anyone on the paths until they were nearly to the lagoon, and just caught up with Harry and Ginny before coming out onto the beach there. Jet-skis and AquaBikes dotted the water, the jet-skis speeding along, and the AquaBikes bobbing around in the waves made by the jet-skis, and moving slowly as they were pedalled around.

"I'm surprised so many people are here already," Lily said.

"The Delacour gang decided to come early," Ginny told her. "They left from home around lunchtime. Emily's parents took the afternoon off of work, so Hugo and Emily brought them here early too."

"Are there very many who couldn't come?" Al asked.

"Art and Serena are working this weekend, so Nathalie and Charlie aren't coming this weekend either – they're going to come for a few days next week when Art and Serena are off duty," Ginny answered. "Ron and Hermione, James and Arianna, and Aaron and Tracey have the game tomorrow, so they're not coming until after the game. We offered to bring Quincy and Erin with us, but they decided to stay with James and Arianna tonight. Everyone else is either here now, or will be once they're done work."

Ginny and Harry led the way down to the lagoon, and they all hopped onto jet-skis and went out to play. Harry pulled back into shore three-quarters of an hour later, wanting to go get started on dinner for everyone, and Al followed him in so he could help too.

Kirley, Ana, and his parents were coming down the beach from the path, all four of them smiling at Harry and Al.

"This island of yours is wonderful," Catriona told Harry. "Magnus and I always wanted another son. Would you consider letting us adopt you?"

Harry laughed. "You don't have to take any drastic measures to come here, Catriona. Now that we have the extra room, I'm sure Lily, Kieran, Frederica, and Liam will have an open invitation for you to come here anytime you want. Are you going to try out the jet-skis?"

Catriona eyed the pair that Harry and Al had just vacated. "Maybe we should start with those," she suggested, pointing the AquaBikes. "Magnus and I may need to work our way up to those jet-ski things."

"Or not," Magnus added with a grin.

Kirley and Ana led the way, and soon the two couples had joined the others out on the water, lazily pedalling two of the AquaBikes around the lagoon. Harry and Al walked back to Harry and Ginny's house, and got to work on cooking for the gang they'd be feeding in a little over an hour.

"We've got over fifty to feed today?" Al asked when Harry had told him how many they were cooking for.

"Fifty-two by my count," Harry said. "We're going to have eight more tomorrow when the Quidditch gang gets here. We're doing potluck tomorrow, though. Everyone's supposed to bring a dish with them to that dinner. Breakfast and lunch are self-serve, since some of us will be going to the game tomorrow, and no, you and Carolyn are not in that group. Ginny and I are entertaining Sebastian, Tristan, and Liselle's families, so we only had so many extra spots. Hugo, Emily, Joel, Sarah, Rose, and Matt are going with us, and James is taking Erin and Quincy. The rest of you get to stay here and play all day."

"We can always bring our portable WWVNs and watch the game at the beach," Al told Harry, who laughed.

"Like you'd watch the game over Carolyn in a swimsuit," Harry joked. "If you do find yourself watching the game instead, book an appointment with Art or Serena and get your head examined."

Al laughed. "That won't be a problem," he assured his father. "I was thinking about Liam, Emily, and Matt having their families here, and was wondering whether you'd thought about Scorpius' parents. He's probably going to want to bring them here some day."

Harry nodded. "We've thought about it, and I've talked with him about it too," he told Al. "We're going to wait at least a couple of years, and then see how things stand with them. I'm just not quite ready to be that trusting with Draco and Astoria yet, and while Andromeda tells me that Narcissa is totally changed, it might be longer than that before I'm ready to trust having her come here for visits."

Al nodded. "I'm sure Scorpius understands, Dad. He's taking things one step at a time too."

Even with their combined magic creating a virtual storm of activity in the kitchen, it took more than an hour for Harry and Al to get everything ready for dinner. Ginny, Lily, Kieran, and Carolyn came to help with taking everything out to the tables by the beach. The lagoon emptied as everyone came in from playing to come and eat. By the time Harry and Al got there, a line had formed on both sides of the table the food and drinks had been put out on, so they went to the back of the line and joined in the chatting as everyone made their way up to the table, filled their plates, and then went to either sit at one of the tables, or in beach chairs.

When he'd finally gotten a plate filled, and poured himself a drink, Al went looking for Carolyn, and found her with Nick, Allie, Percy, and Penelope, each of them sitting in beach chairs that were clustered in a little circle. There were still three empty chairs, so he sat down in the one next to Carolyn.

"We thought you and Uncle Harry were going to be stuck cooking all day, mate," Nick told him.

"It was only a little more than an hour," Al answered. "A pretty busy one, though. I'm sure we've cooked for this many before, but that was at the cottage. Winky and Kreacher have done the bigger meals here."

"Harry just likes to make sure everyone else is having fun while they're here," Penelope said. "I think we'll have to start doing these dinners differently now that there's getting to be so many of us."

"How was work today for all of you?" Carolyn asked.

That single question sent the conversation on a discussion ranging from politics to business to architecture, and took the entire time they were eating to get through. Al and Harry were ordered not to help with the cleanup, so after they'd finished eating, Al and Carolyn decided to go pedal an AquaBike around the lagoon.

They'd been out on the water for less than a half-hour when Molly and Catriona buzzed them on a pair of jet-skis, making their AquaBike bob wildly as the two wakes hit them. The two older Witches were both laughing, and with their silvery hair flying, they continued farther out into the lagoon to join the other jet-skiers as they raced around, chasing each other.

"Where's a camera when you need one?" Carolyn said with a laugh. "That's something the grandkids will never believe without having proof.

"Those two will probably still be playing and doing stuff like that when we do have grandchildren around," Al predicted. "Maybe even when their grandchildren are around."

"It's hard to even imagine that," Carolyn admitted. "Three hundred years, give or take, seems like an impossibly long time to live."

"It does," Al agreed, "but they are tracking the effects of ReVive at the Institute, and they're getting some pretty astonishing results. Professor Longbottom may actually have been a little conservative on that three hundred year estimate. It could be longer for those of us who started taking it at a young age."

"How do you know that?" she asked, and Al shrugged.

"I've had time to read a lot while you're at school. I can't remember exactly where I read about that, though. I thought the article was interesting because it hypothesized that the rate of aging would slow too."

"What did they mean by that?" Carolyn asked.

"They had a chart that basically suggested that we'd look younger than our years, and maybe by a lot – like looking thirty when you're ninety – basically triple what it was like before ReVive. The article said that the older you were when you started taking it would minimize that, since there was no indication that ReVive made anyone look younger."

Carolyn grinned at him. "That's a pretty awesome hypothesis," she told him happily. "I could get used to the idea that we're not going to look much older than we do now for the next hundred years. They could be right too. Your Mum and Dad, and your Aunts and Uncles all look a lot younger than they actually are, and they were some of the first to take ReVive."

"I've noticed that," Al agreed. "I was going to ask Scorpius about whether his parents take ReVive or not. They both look at least ten years older than Mum and Dad – maybe fifteen."

"If they didn't take it before, they probably are now," Carolyn told him. "Like you said, though, it won't make them look younger. I'm sure how you live still has a lot to do with it too."

Everyone played on or by the lagoon until the sun was low in the sky, and then they packed up anything they'd brought with them, and began returning to their houses for the night. Since Al, Carolyn, Lily, and Kieran were the last two stops on the south side, it seemed to take longer to walk back as they stopped to say goodnight to each group as they turned off the path to their own homes.

"Did your parents and grandparents go back earlier?" Carolyn asked Kieran, who nodded.

"I think they went for drinks with Grandma and Grandpa Weasley at their house, and then on back to ours."

As they moved farther away from the lagoon, it got darker among the trees, and suddenly the path lit up with soft, glowing light.

"They've put lights along the path!" Lily said excitedly. "I didn't even notice they'd done it."

Al stopped to look at one. "They're pretty well disguised," he told his sister. "They must come on when it gets dark enough to need them. Now how are future young couples supposed to use the excuse that they got lost on the way home?"

"Our parents never believed that line, so what makes you think we will when it's our kids sneaking off to go snogging someplace?" Lily asked, laughing at Al's comment.

There were lights on in Lily and Kieran's house when they finally reached the end of the path, and after quick hugs, the two couples split up, and went into their own houses. Al and Carolyn went upstairs to get ready for bed. He'd been up since four that morning, and in home time, it was after one o'clock in the morning now.

"We should try out that pool sometime this weekend," Carolyn said as she looked out over the railing of their balcony.

After changing, she'd stepped outside to take a look around at the view of the clear night sky and the ocean. There were more of the cleverly hidden lights tucked into the gardens around their pool. Those lights were focused toward the ground, though, and because of that, they didn't affect the stunning ocean panorama. Al came up behind Carolyn, put his arms around her, and they watched in contented silence for a time as the stars began appearing in the ever-darkening sky.

"It's like being on the Astronomy tower back at Hogwarts without having to climb all of those stairs," she whispered, not wanting to break the perfect moment.

"No wonder they picked this spot for our house," he whispered back. "We must have one of the clearest night sky views on the whole island. Everything we find out about this place just makes it better and better."

"Have you thought about what we'll do on our honeymoon at all yet?" she asked, and she could feel him shake his head.

"No. I was thinking about working on that after you're back in school. Why?"

"Couldn't we just come and stay here?" she asked him seriously. "If we want to go out some of the nights, we can just go wherever we want and go to dinner, or dancing or something, but it'd be nice to not be running all over the place, and since we're getting married here anyway, we won't have far to go after the wedding."

"We'll have an island full of family for that weekend," he pointed out, "but if you don't mind that, then I'd love to stay here too."

"I won't mind," Carolyn answered. "Even if everyone was here the whole time, we could probably hide out here for days without being disturbed."

"I'll let Mum and Dad know that we'll staying here, then," Al promised. Carolyn turned around in his arms, put hers around his neck, and kissed him for several long, wonderful minutes.

"Let's go in and get some sleep," she told him. "We've got a lot of playing ahead of us to get rested up for."

They woke up Saturday morning to the pre-dawn light, and cuddled in bed for another half-hour. There was no hurry this morning – no work or appointments or plans other than to spend the day playing with their family and friends.

"Why don't you stay and snooze for a while and I'll go shower, get ready, and go make you some breakfast," Al suggested, and Carolyn nodded, kissing him before he got out of bed.

Carolyn didn't realise she'd dozed off again until the smell of breakfast cooking brought her back to life. She hopped out of bed, instantly awake again, and went to have a shower and get ready for the day too. She put on a swimsuit, then shorts and a top over it. When she was ready, she went downstairs, and into the Great Room.

"Grab a bar stool," Al told her with a big smile. "Everything is ready to go."

Carolyn went to her left, going around to the kitchen side of the L-shaped counter so she could hug and kiss Al before continuing on to the dining room side of the 'L' where she pulled out one of the stools from under the counter overhang, and hopped up on it. Al set a plate filled with pancakes, sausage, and fried potatoes in front of her, and she was smiling as she leaned forward to breath in the aroma.

"This looks and smells great," she told Al. "I'll have to pedal an AquaBike once around the island to work it off, though."

Al laughed. "You definitely don't need to do that, but I'm sure we'll both work off breakfast while we're swimming and playing."

"What do you want to do this morning?" she asked him.

"I was thinking we could walk around and check out all of the new houses. If anyone's around their houses, they could give us the inside tour too. Then we can go join everyone who'll be at the lagoon for the day."

"That sounds like fun," Carolyn said. "I could see a glimmer of lights to our left, so the last house on the north side isn't very far away from us, but I didn't see a path through the trees, so I guess we have to go out to the main path, and then back in that little north loop path."

Al nodded. "Or walking along the beach. I don't think I even asked which order those houses were in," he said. "Matt and Rose, Hugo and Emily, and Frederica and Liam have their houses on that loop, though."

"Arianna said that their house, Aaron and Tracey's, and Art and Serena's houses are all along the beach they liked to take the AquaBikes to when they went on those all-day trips."

"Art and Serena are working, and James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey are doing the game thing, so I guess all we can do there is take a walk-around of their places," Al said. "That is a pretty good spot there too, and I'm sure that they'll spend a lot of time out on their beach there."

When they finished eating and cleaning up, they left the house and walked out to the main path, then turned right into the northeast loop path. The sign on the first house, the one closest to theirs, had Matt and Rose's names on the sign. They weren't there, so Al and Carolyn just took a walk around the house, admiring it before moving on to the next one, which was Hugo and Emily's. They were gone too, so after another quick walk-around, they moved on.

"They've either left for the game already, or gone down to Mum and Dad's house," Al surmised, and Carolyn nodded.

Frederica and Liam were home, and they were just finishing having breakfast with Liam's parents, Myra, and Aiden. Their house was a lot like Harry and Ginny's house, except with five bedrooms instead of three that made it look more like a capital 'T' shape with a smaller wing on the bottom end that had the master bedroom suite in it, while the four guest bedrooms were at the top of the 'T'. Frederica and Myra took Al and Carolyn on the quick tour, including the lanai, yard, and pool at the back of the house.

"Aiden, Frederica, and I went swimming before breakfast," Myra told them when they were walking around the pool. Do you have a pool at your house?"

Carolyn nodded. "We do, but we haven't tried it out yet. We were both too tired last night, and this morning, we wanted to go see the other new houses. This one is really great."

They visited with Frederica, Liam, and his family for another five minutes or so, and then continued on their little tour, taking the loop back out to the main trail, and turning right toward the lagoon. The next path to the right led them down to a three-way fork. They took the path on the right first, which had James and Arianna's name on the sign.

Their house reminded Al and Carolyn a lot of Matt and Rose's chalet. The design was quite different, but it was also two-levels, with windows that went from floor to ceiling on each floor along the side that faced the ocean and pool. The upper level of this house was maybe a bit more than three-quarters of the size of the main floor, with the rest of the space above the main level being used for a large balcony. This one didn't have outside stairs like Al and Carolyn's did, but it did have a covered roof for the rare occasions they had rain.

There was a large deck at the front of the main floor, and the deck was open, with no overhang or roof above it. Beyond the deck was a pool nestled in among gardens and fountains, and from there they had a path that led down to the beach. They walked up on the deck and looked in through the windows. They could see the dining room and kitchen, which were divided by a counter on the right, and on the left was a large sitting room. There was a wall dividing the kitchen and sitting room, and there was a wall at the back of the kitchen too, but they couldn't see beyond that.

Since James, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy wouldn't get to the island until after the game, they moved on to do a walk-around of Aaron and Tracey's house. Their house was also two levels, but this one had the upper balcony on the east side of the house instead of at the front, and there was a staircase that ran from the back of the house at the balcony level along the side of the house down to the lanai level of the front of the house, facing the pool and beach.

Carolyn led Al up onto the balcony first, and they looked into the two sets of French doors that led into two bedrooms, and admired the view of the ocean from the balcony before going back downstairs and going around to the front of the house. The roofline of the first floor extended far past the house, and the lanai ran the length of the house. There was a pool and gardens here too, with a path that angled toward the beach and a bit toward James and Arianna's place.

After briefly looking into the house through the patio doors, they went back up the path and took the last fork, going down that path to do a walk-around of Art and Serena's one-level bungalow. It had three sections, with the two wings jutting off toward the water at forty-five degree angles to the centre section with a courtyard in the middle that had a pool as it's centrepiece, and a long lanai that ran the entire length of all three sections.

"Let's go see what's happening at the lagoon," Carolyn suggested as they reached the main path again and turned right. "We can check out the houses on the south side when we go back to our house for lunch."

Harry and Ginny were in the Owner's Box at Canons' Stadium by the time Carolyn and Al were making their way to the lagoon to play. They had a full room today, and it took right up until game time to welcome everyone, serve drinks, set snacks out on tables around the room, and get everyone seated and comfortable.

Ginny was sitting with Liselle's parents, and had saved Harry a spot, so he joined her just as the quaffle was tossed into the air and the game started. The windows overlooking the stadium went nearly to the floor, and Erin had gone and sat on the carpeted floor right near the windows so she could see the game better. Quincy had hesitated for a minute, and then joined his friend so that she wasn't sitting by herself. Harry thought that Erin was so focused on the action, she might not have noticed if a troll sat down beside her.

With the added incentive of parents and kids watching them, and two extra days off after New Year's Day that would give them a five-day weekend, the entire Canons' team was fired up and it showed in their play. Sebastian and Tristan were wreaking havoc with the Arrows players as they harried them with attack after attack while the Arrows' Beaters desperately tried to keep up. Arianna was putting up her best numbers of the season, and had seven goals in the first hour, and sixteen by the end of the second hour. Liselle caught the snitch at the two hour and thirty-nine minute mark to end a game that was already out of reach for the Arrows, since while Arianna had been putting up big numbers, Ron had been nearly flawless, giving up just a single goal.

"Yes!" Erin shouted excitedly when Liselle caught the snitch, getting nearly everyone in the room chuckling.

"You always know when there's a Seeker watching the game," Ginny teased. "Arianna scored twenty-three goals and didn't get a single shout, and Liselle makes one little catch, and the crowd goes wild."

"Spoken like a hardcore Chaser," Harry said. "Don't you listen to her, Erin. We Seekers need to stick together."

Erin beamed at him and nodded happily. One of the best Seekers ever was including her in the Seeker club.

"What are we going to do now?" Quincy asked, looking up at James.

"Arianna will be an hour or so getting done the press conference and everything," James told the kids. "We'll go on ahead to the island and she'll catch up with us."

Harry and Ginny needed to hang around for a while longer, but James, Tracey, Erin, and Quincy left for the island along with Hermione, Matt, Rose, Hugo, and Emily. It was still late morning when they got there, each group taking the TransPortal to their own homes, and with an hour or more until Ron, Arianna, Aaron, and the others got here, they all got changed and went to join the rest of their family and friends at the lagoon.

Since everyone was doing their own thing for lunch, and Scorpius, Brianna, Al, and Carolyn were not entertaining other family for the weekend, they decided to have lunch together. Everyone that was going to be at the island for the rest of the weekend had gotten here no later than noon, and most of them had come down to the lagoon to play for a while before going back to their houses to have lunch. They didn't just all go do that at one time, but instead just left in smaller groups whenever they felt like going and getting something to eat.

Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna decided to leave the lagoon just before one. On their way to the other end of the island, they made stops at Teddy, Victoire, Isabelle, and Stewart's houses, getting tours of both houses, and did a walk-around of Nick and Allie's place while Brianna told Carolyn and Al about what it was like inside.

They stopped in at Scorpius and Brianna's house long enough for Brianna to give them the tour of their gorgeous five-bedroom home. Al wasn't sure if it was because everything was on one level, or if it was the vaulted ceilings, but even though there probably wasn't any more actual space in this house than in his and Carolyn's, it somehow felt bigger. The design was similar to Art and Serena's, except this house was more like a 'V' with the middle squared off. That middle was the big, open Great Room that was a smaller version of the one in Al and Carolyn's home near Burbage, then the east wing of the 'V' had three bedrooms, and the west side had two bedrooms, including the master bedroom, and a spacious office.

"Any chance the Ministry of Magic would let you guys work from home?" Carolyn joked.

"They might until they found out we never got any work done because we were out playing in the pool or down at the lagoon all day," Brianna answered. "It'd be great if we could, though."

When the girls were finished with the tour, the two couples continued on to Al and Carolyn's house, and while Carolyn showed Brianna and Scorpius around, Al got started making lunch for them. There was a chilled bottle of wine, and glasses on the counter waiting when Carolyn led the way back into the main room.

"Every one of these houses are amazing," Brianna was saying. "No wonder Nick's getting such rave reviews in the architecture world. Nobody outside of our friends and family will get to see these places, but I hope he puts them out there for other people to buy and build. It'd be a shame if nobody else got to live in houses like ours."

"I'm pretty sure his company puts all of their house designs up for sale," Scorpius told her as he filled the four glasses with wine. "Nick once said something to me about that being where the real money was – in selling the same drawings lots of times, since you only do the work once, except for custom modifications."

"Have you thought about what you're bringing to the potluck dinner tonight?" Carolyn asked Brianna, who shook her head. "Not at all. You?"

Carolyn laughed. "Have we?" she asked Al.

"Yes we have," he told her. "We're bringing a casserole. It's already made up, and I'll put it in to cook on low just before we go back out to play. I got that ready this morning before I started in on breakfast."

"You're making me look bad, mate," Scorpius joked, and Al laughed.

"Don't worry about that," he told Scorpius. "You two have Kreacher and Winky cooking for you at Grimmauld Place. I thought about that too, and I've got everything here for you to make up a big pasta salad. I'll help you whip it up when we come back to get the casserole."

"Our hero," Brianna said happily. "Thanks, Al."

They were just doing sandwiches for lunch, along with a veggie tray and some tortilla chips, the latter two with a few dipping sauce choices, so it didn't take Al long to have everything ready. The four friends took everything outside and sat at the table on the lanai to eat and enjoy the view. When they were finished eating, and cleaned up, it was about two o'clock, so Al put his casserole in to cook, and they left to go spend the rest of the afternoon playing at the lagoon.

They had the potluck dinner at around six o'clock, and after that was finished, nearly everyone went to their homes, ready for a little quiet time before going to bed. Al and Carolyn stopped to have a drink with Brianna and Scorpius before going on to their house, so by the time they got home, they were ready to go upstairs and go straight to bed. Carolyn opened the glass patio door and slid the screen closed so they could enjoy the ocean breeze and listen to the waves. She smiled when she heard the soft sounds of guitars playing.

"It sounds like we're going to be serenaded to sleep to the soft sounds of the McCormack guitars tonight," she told Al.

"Hopefully we'll get to hear them do that lots of nights," Al said. "I'll never get tired of hearing them sing and play."

"Me either," Carolyn agreed.

They both climbed into bed after Al changed in the bathroom while Carolyn was changing in the bedroom. Snuggling close, they shared a few soft kisses, then lay there quietly and listened to the music coming from Lily and Kieran's house, and the sound of the waves as they came ashore and caressed the sandy beaches of the island.

Al woke up early again on Sunday morning. He quietly got out of bed and went to have a shower, putting a silencing spell around the bathroom so as to hopefully not wake Carolyn. By the time he was dressed and left the washroom, the pre-dawn light was beginning to brighten rapidly, and the first blush of sunrise wasn't far off. Carolyn was still sleeping, so he went downstairs and started making breakfast. Today he was just doing coffee, juice, a fruit salad, and the only cooking was the cinnamon buns he was going to bake.

That was the smell that woke Carolyn – that wonderful aroma of cinnamon buns baking in the oven. She smiled as she slowly came fully awake, and stretched languorously across the bed. 'I can't believe I have to give all of this up for six more months at Hogwarts', she thought to herself. It took a little willpower, but she did get up, shower and dress, and go downstairs to hug and kiss Al good morning.

"Those buns smell incredible," she told him after sitting down on one of the stools and starting to pour herself a cup of coffee. "You were up early again to get all of this done. How are you managing that without waking me up?"

Al smiled. "I used a silencing spell on the bathroom while I showered, but other than that, you were just tired out from all of the sun and fun."

Carolyn watched as he opened the oven and took out the baking sheet with the cinnamon buns on them and set them down to cool for a few minutes. She filled a small bowl with some fruit cocktail, and began with that while they waited for the buns to be cool enough to put icing on.

"What time do you want to get out of here this afternoon so we can be home in time for you to get enough sleep before work tomorrow?" she asked Al.

"If we leave by three or four, and I pretty much go straight to bed when we get home I should be fine," he answered. "The first day back's going to be a bit tough regardless of what time we head home."

"I suppose," she agreed. "We're doing another study day tomorrow, and the Quidditch gang all have practices in the morning."

"How far along are you and Brianna with your revisions?" he asked.

"Right now we're about halfway through them," Carolyn told him. "By the end of Monday, we're hoping that with one more day of studying on Thursday, we'll get everything finished, and have the last weekend home to spend with you and Scorpius."

"That sounds good," Al said as he began spreading icing on the buns and transferring them to a serving platter. "Are you two going to SpaMagic on Tuesday to get ready for the New Year's Eve party?"

Carolyn nodded. "We're going with Penelope," she answered. "We're doing lunch with her, and then we'll go there for the afternoon."

When he was finished working, Al put the platter of cinnamon buns on the counter, and came around to sit on a stool next to Carolyn. He filled a bowl with fruit salad, poured a coffee, selected a cinnamon bun, and then began eating. There was a knock at the back door, and Carolyn went to open the door, then hug Brianna and Scorpius in welcome.

"You're up early," she told them happily. "I haven't even been awake for a half-hour."

Brianna laughed. "It felt like we slept in, even though it was barely getting light out when we got up and went for a swim."

"Well, you're timing is good," Al told them. "Come and have something to eat – we've got lots."

They moved everything to one end of the dining room table and sat down there so they could talk with each other more easily than lined up along the counter.

"We're probably the only ones who haven't tried out our pool yet," Carolyn told Brianna. "I'm going to swim in that thing sometime today before we have to go home just so we can say it's been used at least once."

"When we come back here for lunch we could just stay here by the pool until it's time to go home," Al suggested to Carolyn. "You could see if anyone else would want to come too if you want – there are a few of us couples with no family houseguests around this weekend."

Carolyn looked at Brianna, who shrugged. "We're booked for lunch with Nick, Allie, and the parents, but after that we could drop by. Joel and Sarah might like the idea," she suggested.

The two couples talked for the next half-hour while they ate, then Al did the quick cleanup while Carolyn went to get a beach bag packed for their morning at the lagoon. They stopped at Scorpius and Brianna's so that Brianna could do the same, and then they headed for the lagoon, and another morning of sun and fun.

Carolyn didn't have to look any further than Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah to find guests for lunch, and they ended up being the only four who hadn't made plans – other than to just have lunch by themselves. Al left the lagoon a bit after eleven so he could go on ahead of the others and start making lunch for six, and Joel went along to keep him company.

"I'm glad Carolyn asked us to come for lunch," Joel told Al as they walked along the main path. "With so many people on the island, we haven't had much time to visit with you guys."

"I know what you mean," Al agreed. "You spend five or ten minutes with each group, and the next thing you know, the whole morning has gone by."

"Do you get any extra time off next week, other than New Year's Day?" Joel asked, and Al shook his head.

"Probably not," he answered. "Since I'm starting early every day, I'll still get done by three-thirty or four in the afternoons, but I don't have any extra time off."

"That's too bad," Joel told him. "I'm sure you would have liked some extra time with Carolyn before we have to go back to Hogwarts."

Al shrugged. "That would be nice, but then she's still got a couple of days worth of assignments to do, a SpaMagic afternoon on Tuesday, and whatever else they have booked for Friday, so it's not like I'd get to spend much time with her even if I wasn't working."

When they got to the house, Joel went on a self-guided tour while Al got to work on making lunch, and then sat down on one of the stools at the counter when he'd finished checking out the house and yard. They talked about everything from houses to broom racing until Harry, Ginny, Carolyn, and Sarah joined them, and by then, Al had lunch ready to go, so they all helped to get everything outside to the lanai, and then sat down to eat.

"This was a good idea," Ginny said happily as she looked out toward the beach. "I love the fact that all of the new houses have pools like ours does. Making the beach side of the house the front was a brilliant idea too. We don't go out onto the beach in front of our house all that often, since we're usually in the back yard or the lagoon, but down at this end of the island, it's going to be great to go out there and play when you want to have a day when you don't feel like hanging out with everyone else."

"When there were only eight families here, putting the lanai and pool on the path side seemed like a good idea," Harry said. "Fleur and I figured that it'd be easier for everyone else to tell whether we were home or not without having to walk all the way around the house."

Ginny nodded. "I still love our house too," she assured Harry. "That's one of the advantages to our house – we get to watch and talk with people out walking the paths. They won't have that out here, since all of the paths into these houses are dead ends."

"Maybe now that we have all of these houses down at this end we'll get some beach walking traffic instead," Al suggested.

"You probably will," Ginny agreed.

Al and Carolyn enjoyed spending a few hours with just their parents, Joel, and Sarah without all of the noise and frenetic activity like they'd had all morning at the lagoon. After lunch, they took a short walk on the beach, seeing how far it was to go around that way to where Rose and Matt's house was, and then back the other way a bit past Lily and Kieran's place. Scorpius and Brianna joined them shortly after they got back to the house, and the four couples swam in the pool, laid out in the sun, or sat in the cooler shade of the lanai with drinks and some snacks that Al had brought out for everyone.

By shortly after three, Harry, Ginny, Joel, Sarah, Brianna, and Scorpius had all said their goodbyes and left to get ready to go home themselves while Al and Carolyn packed and did a quick once-through to clean up the house before going home to Hogsmeade, leaving the island by four o'clock.

"It's not going to be easy to get to sleep this early after staying up late the last two nights," Carolyn said when they finally climbed into bed at about ten o'clock home time.

"We're going to have to try," Al said. "I have to get up in about six hours, and you've got a breakfast date at the cottage for seven before your study session starts."

"I know," she said, kissing him before cuddling close and laying her head on the pillow. "Maybe I should have gotten up earlier the last couple of days, and then I wouldn't still be so awake now."

She did want to let Al get to sleep, though, so she closed her eyes and listened as his breathing slowed and he fell asleep after a few minutes. In less that a week, she'd be going back to Hogwarts again, and she was going to especially miss this – feeling warm, happy, and loved as she slept each night with Al's arms wrapped around her, snuggled close to each other.

The next thought she remembered was when she woke up to the early morning light of day. She was keenly aware that she was alone in bed now, and by the looks of how bright it was outside, Al had been gone for a while. When her watch told her that it was already a quarter after six, she hopped out of bed, and for the next half hour, rushed around to get cleaned up, dressed, gather everything she was going to need to study, and then get out the door and apparate to the cottage.

"You made it," Harry said with a smile when she came into the kitchen. Carolyn walked over to where he was busy cooking to hug him, and then hugged Joel, who was the only other person in the kitchen so far.

"It was close," she told Harry. "I'm a bit surprised that I did wake up in time."

"None of us were in a hurry to get up this morning either," Harry told her. "I take it that you didn't see Al before he left."

Carolyn shook her head. "No, he was long gone when I woke up. I don't know how he does that, but I've never seen him use an alarm clock, and he still always gets up on time."

By the time Ginny, Lily, and Sarah made it to the kitchen, breakfast was served, and they joined Harry, Joel, and Carolyn at the table.

"Have you decided whether you're going to the Residence this morning or afternoon yet?" Ginny asked Harry.

"I'm thinking after lunch," he answered. "I'll putter around here this morning, feed the study gang lunch, and then go over there for a few hours."

Ginny nodded. "Sounds good." She smiled at Carolyn, took a Virtual GameWizard program disk out of her pocket, and handed it to her. "I forgot to give this to you last week," she explained. "I saw that it was still sitting on my dresser this morning, so I brought it down."

"What is it?" Carolyn asked curiously. There were no markings on it to suggest what kind of game or program it was.

"It's an experimental program for decorating houses," Ginny explained. "Your new house has been virtually recorded, and you can go into the program and try out everything from paints and wallpaper to furniture and decorations from any VirtualMall store. When you've got what you like, you can order everything virtually if you want. I'm pretty sure Al said he's got a company lined up to do whatever decorating you want done, so I thought this could help you."

Carolyn was sitting next to Ginny, so it was easy to lean over and hug her. "Thank-you! This will be brilliant."

"You're welcome," Ginny told her. "It's still in testing, so if you find any glitches, let me know, and I can pass it along to Lisa or Natalie."

"I can do that," Carolyn agreed. "Is it a mult-user program?"

Ginny nodded. "Sure is. If you wanted some second opinions of what you design, I could get copies to some of your Aunts or friends."

"Or sisters-in-law to be," Lily added with a grin.

"Do you need to do that with the new system?" Carolyn asked. "What I mean is, if I can show you what I'm seeing, would I be able to show you what I'm seeing in any of the Virtual GameWizard games and programs too?"

Lily and Ginny exchanged glances and shrugged. "I don't know," Lily told Carolyn. "I don't think we've actually tried to do that while in GameWizard mode."

"But you can do both GameWizard and Virtual Communication at the same time," Carolyn said. "I remember you saying we could still take calls while in programs like PotionMaster."

Ginny laughed. "That's easy enough to find out," she told the girls. "I'll get that tested this morning and let you know."

Lily nodded. "If it can't do it now, Mum, it'd be something pretty cool to add before full production starts next month."

"You make that sound so easy," Ginny said with a laugh.

Lily grinned at her. "Don't worry, Mum," she told Ginny. "I'm busy crunching the numbers in my head, and I'm already pretty sure that when the ViComms are in transmit mode for visual cortex that if you're in game mode too, the other person is going to see whatever you're seeing in the game – or more specifically, whatever you're focused on, since the user can switch between game, normal vision, and the ViComm incoming image."

"All of a sudden, my OWL revisions don't seem all that bad," Sarah joked. "They're both so sweet and cute, and unless you listen to them, you'd never guess that they're so far up the genius scale that the rest of us normal Witches and Wizards can only look up in awe."

The others laughed, and Lily hugged her. "I love you, Sarah. Let's finish breakfast, and see how close we can get to finishing all of that OWL homework today."

When they were done breakfast, Ginny hugged everyone and left for work. Carolyn and Lily helped Harry with the cleanup, and Joel and Sarah went to get their books and then get set up at the table. Hugo, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team all got there by eight, and after stopping in to say hello to everyone, went out into the cold morning air to start their workout.

Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy arrived before eight too, and Brianna got there at about ten after eight. The last two to get there were Emily and Vanessa, and they came in together at eight-thirty. Since everyone else was already working, they each got themselves drinks that were available on the counter, and joined the study party.

Hugo called an end to his practice at ten-thirty when Kieran and Nadine arrived at the cottage and waved to their friends on the way into the house. They all went inside to where Harry had hot drinks and snacks waiting for them. Claire was staying for the rest of their study session, but Kevin had other plans, and after warming up, told the others to have fun, and left them to their studies.

"Maybe Kevin wasn't joking about starting his revision on the Saturday night before going back to Hogwarts," Dale said. "He didn't seem too worried about getting it done."

"He's in a couple of my classes every year," Carissa told them. "I've never heard him get in trouble for handing anything in late, so I'd guess he just doesn't want to study with us."

"Why not?" Hugo asked, and Claire answered him.

"Probably because you're the brainiacs of the school," she told him with a laugh. "It can be a little intimidating."

"You're here studying with us," Hugo pointed out, and Claire nodded.

"True, but then I'm looking to move up in the academic world, and to do that, I need to start hanging out with people who can help me get there."

"Is that because of some career you want?" Sarah asked, and Claire nodded.

"I'm hoping for medical school, but my marks need to be a little bit better than they are right now by the time I write my NEWTs or I won't get there. I wasn't even considering it until I found out that there are new scholarship programs that pay for it, and all you have to do is volunteer your time and medical skills for so many days a year after you graduate. I couldn't even think about affording to go without something like that."

"Then you've come to the right place," Lily told her. "We'll be happy to help you out, and on top of that, we happen to know the guy who decides on those scholarships, since he's married to one of our cousins."

"Really?" Claire asked excitedly. "Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it."

With the Quidditch players now settled in, they got back to work until lunch. Harry worked around them when he came in to cook for everyone, and they took a break while they ate and then pitched in for the cleanup. Harry left for the Residence after that while Lily and the students got back to work.

Al came over to the cottage at about a quarter to four, after getting back from his afternoon stakeout in Sofia. He sat and talked with everyone until four-thirty, when they wrapped up for the day, and then he and Carolyn left for home at the same time that everyone else who wasn't staying for dinner did.

"I was surprised to see Claire there," Al told Carolyn when they were back home and relaxing in the sitting room with glasses of wine.

"She's asked to join our study group," Carolyn explained. "When she found out about those new med school scholarships, she realised that maybe there was a real chance for her to become a Medi-Witch, and was hoping the best study group in the school would help her with getting her grades up too."

"Good for her," Al said approvingly. "How are you going to work around doing your TNM business if she's with you studying every night?"

"I don't know," Carolyn admitted. "We didn't really think about that. We'll figure something out. Maybe we could trust her to join. She and Kevin are the only two Gryffindor Quidditch players who aren't in TNM."

"Is she studying with you on Thursday too?" Al asked, and Carolyn nodded. "I could take a look when I meet you there after work and let you know the answer to that. Colin is going to need some new people next year to replace you, Brianna, Karl, and Daphne."

"True, but then she'd only have two more years after this one. Colin might rather recruit younger kids."

Al nodded. "Maybe. It's up to you guys. I'll bet Myra's going to make a good Marauder from what I saw on the weekend. No wonder Liam's parents had a nanny. There probably aren't two parents on earth who could keep up with Myra and her little brother."

"Aiden's going to break a lot of hearts at Hogwarts starting next September," Carolyn predicted. "He reminds me a bit of James when he was that age, except that he looks like some kind of cross between Liam and Kieran."

Al laughed. "Probably, but it was funny when he found out that pranking the world's greatest prankster was a really bad idea."

Carolyn laughed. "Uncle George at least didn't leave him with the shark head for very long, and Aiden still thought it was funny, if a bit embarrassing."

"We'll see if he thinks so someday when Meghan pulls out the pictures to show to some future girlfriend," Al said. "I saw her laughing with Liam's dad and grandparents while she took several shots of him."

Al and Carolyn had nothing going on tonight, so they relaxed and took it easy. They made and ate dinner together, and the cleanup after that before returning to the sitting room for the evening.

"Are you doing anything in the morning before you go for lunch with Bree and Aunt Penelope?" Al asked.

"Brianna and I are going to the new house to talk decorating, but other than that, we don't really have anything," Carolyn answered. "Depending on when we get done, we'll probably just go to the Mall early and wander around until noon."

Al nodded. "How are you liking your ViComm for doing homework?"

"I'm still getting used to it, but even so, it's faster than the Virtual GameWizard, and I can use it and still work in the real world too. The Virtual QuillMessaging can be a bit distracting, though."

"A little bit," he agreed, "but answering them is way faster now. I love that part of it – and nobody is looking over your shoulder to see what you're writing."

"Who are you trading messages with?" Carolyn asked. "You haven't sent me hardly any, and you only called me one time since we got them."

"Mostly with Hestia, Scorpius, and Callie," he told her. "Add in a couple from Lily, and one here and there from some other people, and they add up."

"Lily kept sending qm's to me and Brianna all day, trying to get us laughing while we worked. She thought it was funny when we laughed out loud for no apparent reason that the others could see, and they just thought we were nuts."

"You mean they don't think that you two are nuts anyway?" Al joked, and Carolyn nudged him with her elbow.

"Very funny, Al. If they do, it's probably because we hang out with you and Scorpius."

"Probably," Al agreed with a smile. "Is there anything you'd like to do tonight?"

"Yes there is," she answered, putting her arms around Al and kissing him.

"And what would that be?" Al asked her.

"I'm doing it," she answered, kissing him again. It was quite a while later when she finally gave him the opportunity for any verbal communication, and they were both a little breathless.

"Um, okay, that sounds like fun," Al told her with a grin. "Can I get you anything first?"

Carolyn laughed. "I love you, Al."

"I love you too, Carolyn," he answered before kissing her again.

While Al and Carolyn were busy snogging, Lily and Kieran were at the cottage, hanging out with Harry, Ginny, Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa. Millie and Amy had stayed for dinner too, but then they had gone to the Academy to spend the evening with Jason and Brian, and Teddy or Victoire would pick them up there later.

"What are you guys doing tomorrow?" Ginny asked the six teens.

"Kieran and I have the studio tomorrow morning," Lily answered. "We haven't decided what to for New Year's Eve. We'll probably stop in at the parties at the Residence and Academy for visits, and see what we feel like doing after that."

"Would any of you girls be interested if I told you there were some extra slots available for the afternoon at SpaMagic?" Ginny asked, and Lily, Sarah, and Carissa all let her know fairly exuberantly that they all would be very interested.

"Good. We're meeting in the food court for lunch at noon," she told them, "and then we'll go to the spa from there."

"Are you two going out to dinner or anything with Stewart and Isabelle before the Academy party tomorrow night?" Harry asked Dale and Carissa.

"We're doing dinner with Teddy, Victoire, Millie, and Amy," Carissa told Harry, "but just at one of our houses. Then we'll go to the party after that."

Harry nodded. "Are you still with us tomorrow night?" he asked Joel and Sarah, "or did Mark and Callie give you a better offer?"

Joel laughed. "They were calling to set up seeing us on Thursday or Friday night," he answered. "Tomorrow night, they're doing a New Year's Eve party at Tristan and Liselle's house. Sarah and I will go wherever you lead tomorrow."

"I forgot about that," Harry said. "I wonder if James and Arianna will be able to do both that party and the one at the Academy."

"I'll ask Arianna tomorrow," Ginny told him. "Maybe we could take Erin and Quincy overnight so they could."

"Sounds good," Harry said with a nod. "Did you all decided today when you're going to do your back to school shopping?"

Sarah answered for them. "Most of us are going on Friday morning, and have lunch at the Mall. We haven't planned naything for the afternoon."

"I was thinking about taking anyone interested in going to Marauders Paradise for the afternoon on Friday," Harry told them. "Why don't you guys let the others know, and get back to me if anyone's interested."

There were quiet chats like that going on in quite a few of the family sitting rooms. Hugo and Emily were doing that with Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Matt. Frederica and Liam were hanging out with George, Marietta, Lee, and Cho. James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were entertaining Erin and Quincy, while Percy, Penelope, Nick, and Allie were visiting Grimmauld Place, and talking with Scorpius and Brianna in the drawing room. Having another quiet night before the New Year's Eve bustle began on Tuesday was something welcomed by all of them.

"Thought you were going to escape, didn't you?" Carolyn told Al as he was about to walk softly out of the bedroom on his way downstairs.

"I was hoping I wouldn't' wake you," he said, changing direction to go and sit on the bed next to her. "You don't need to get up for at least a couple of hours."

Carolyn pushed herself up into a sitting position, put her arms around Al and kissed him tenderly.

"I appreciate that, but I like getting to kiss you goodbye too," she told him. "You be careful out there."

"I will," he promised, kissing her again. "Go back to sleep, now, and I'll see you back here after you get back from your SpaMagic adventure."

Carolyn lay down again, and Al pulled the covers up around her and tucked her in. He leaned forward and kissed her again, then got up and left the room, and went downstairs to have a quick breakfast before leaving for Bulgaria and his morning exercise in surveillance futility.

"Do you have any idea what you want to do with decorating this place?" Brianna asked Carolyn. "I have no idea where to start."

Carolyn had met Brianna at Grimmauld Place, and they'd come to the new house from there. They were both looking around the Great Room, and Carolyn had to admit that she was a bit overwhelmed.

"We've both seen a lot of new places during the last week," Carolyn said. "There were lots of good ideas in all of them, but I'm not sure where to start. It just all seems like so much."

"Let's start small, then," Brianna suggested. "We could start with the guest bedrooms, and your office, and see how far we get before it'll be time to meet Aunt Penelope at the Mall."

"Plus everyone else," Carolyn added. "Lily sent me a qm to let us know that quite a few of the Witches in the family will be there."

"That'll make it even more fun," Brianna said happily.

They walked into the wing with the guest bedrooms, and started discussing different ideas for these rooms. Carolyn made notes as they went along, and by the time they needed to leave for London, they'd gotten a lot farther than she had expected, having covered all of the rooms in the guest wing, and all of the upstairs bedrooms except for the master bedroom.

"You were right," Carolyn told Brianna. "Taking it a room at a time didn't make it seem that bad at all. I can put all of these ideas into the decorating program Aunt Ginny gave me, and we can see what it will all look like."

"We can do that once we get back to school, then," Brianna suggested. "Another few hours here before we go back, and you'll have a once-through done for the rest of the place too. We've just really got this main room and the master bedroom left. That pool room won't be much work to decorate – some blinds, a few patio tables, chairs, and loungers, and you'll be done."

"Maybe we'll have time to pop over with the boys after work on Thursday, or stop in on Saturday," Carolyn said, and Brianna nodded.

They got their cloaks on, went outside, and apparated to the Marauders Mall.

"I forgot to say goodbye to my baby," Carolyn said when they arrived and started toward the food court.

Brianna laughed. "I'm sure that the roadster will get over it's hurt feelings."

"He's very sensitive," Carolyn said. "He might not."

"He used to be a she up until Teddy gave the car to you back in June, Carolyn. If a sex change didn't mess him up, I doubt forgetting to say goodbye to him one time will."

Carolyn grinned at her friend. "I guess when you put it that way, he'll be okay, but if he's still pouting the next time I see him, I'm telling him it's your fault so he can be mad at you instead."

"Maybe you should just have Lily invent a ViComm for him so you can call him while you're away and see how he's doing," Brianna suggested. "Or get him a cute little red number like Ginny's car to cuddle up next to in that big comfy garage of his."

"I'm not sure that I love him enough to by him a Lamborghini," Carolyn said. "He'll have to settle for occasionally going parking with her when we're visiting the cottage."

"Who's going parking with whom at the cottage?" Ginny asked, catching up with Carolyn and Brianna.

"My roadster with your Lamborghini," Carolyn answered. "Brianna is teasing me about my baby."

Ginny nodded. "Did you have fun at the house this morning?"

"Yes. We've got a list of ideas that I'll run through that decorating program after we're back at school. We've got a few rooms left to go through still, so we'll probably stop by once more before we leave on Sunday."

"Sounds like you've got it under control," Ginny said. "If you need anything, let me know."

They met the rest of the group going to SpaMagic, which included Ginny, Penelope, Molly, Fleur, Marietta, and Hermione from the parental group, and Rose, Emily, Frederica, Carolyn, Brianna, Lily, Sarah, Millie, Amy, Carissa, and Erin from the younger generation.

The next four hours was dedicated to girl talk and some serious pampering. They had lunch in the food court, and then went to the spa, where they were split up into smaller groups and sent on a rotation from station to station. By the time they left SpaMagic, the transformations from beautiful to stunningly gorgeous were complete, and it was time for farewell hugs and trips home.

James and Quincy were at home, and James was starting dinner when Lily stopped by with Erin before going home to the cottage. Both girls were smiling brightly when they saw Quincy's jaw practically hit the table, his eyes get very wide, and his face start turning red.

"I'd say that's about an eleven, Erin," Lily told her young friend. "Twelve if it takes him more than five minutes to talk again."

Quincy's face turned even redder, but he did manage to close his mouth and work up some moisture so he could talk again.

"You look beautiful, Erin," he told her. "Every boy close to our age at the Academy is going to be asking you to dance all night," he predicted.

Erin laughed and walked over to hug her best friend. "Thanks, Quincy. I hope that'll include you too," she told him.

"When Kieran sees you, he's not going ot want to go out anywhere with you," James told Lily when she went into the kitchen to hug him before leaving for the cottage. "He's going to want to keep you all to himself."

"Probably," Lily agreed with a laugh. She looked over at Erin and Quincy. "Mum said you guys are going to stay over at the cottage tonight. Did you get you bags ready yet? I could take them back with me so you don't have to drag them to the Academy later."

Erin and Quincy both nodded and went off to get them for her. Lily leaned against the counter and watched James work.

"What are you guys doing for the next few days now that Arianna has the rest of the week off?" Lily asked James.

"Art and Serena are going to be on the island for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so we're thinking about just going back there starting tomorrow afternoon, and coming back Saturday morning so we can do the back to school shopping before Erin and Quincy go back on Sunday. I'm pretty sure that Aaron and Tracey are going even if we change our plans."

"Have they got their revision done?" she asked, and James nodded.

"They've been working on it when we're at the Academy during the day," he told her. "They finished up yesterday."

A minute later, Lily had the two overnight bags, hugged James, Erin, and Quincy, and then went back outside and took the TransPortal to the Cottage, where an evening with Kieran, Joel, Sarah, and her parents awaited.

Al was back at the house in Hogsmeade by three-thirty, so he poured himself a glass of wine and went to relax in the sitting room until Carolyn got home. The doors opened for the social hour at the Emerald City Centre Grand Ballroom at six, with dinner at seven, and the dance starting sometime shortly after nine.

He flipped through some WWVN channels, but was really just going through the motions, and finally turned it off. He was getting a bit frustrated with the surveillance he was doing, and the slow progress he was making with going through their boxes of evidence from the Carrow's house – the latter mostly because he was the only one doing any of it. That seemed to be one constant among a lot of the Aurors – if the job was unpleasant, it either didn't get done, or was pushed off to a junior member. Al was pretty certain that Patrick was the happiest Auror at Headquarters now that he was no longer the most junior member of the team.

'Once Carolyn gets back to school, it'll go faster', he thought to himself as he mulled over the problems. He couldn't make the others help out with the evidence sorting, but he had to come up with a more useful way of finding out what was going on behind a Fidelius Charmed building of some sort in Sofia.

All thoughts of work went out the door when Carolyn opened it and walked into the house shortly after four, and he stood and went over to welcome her with a long hug and kiss.

"Can we give our tickets away and stay home tonight?" he asked her, and she laughed in delight.

"We could, but we won't," she told him. "You may not be a Junior Minister, but we should at least go out sometimes and find out who the political players are, even if you don't want to play with them."

Al got her a glass of wine too, and they sat and talked until four-thirty, and then went upstairs to get ready to go out. Al used the en-suite in the room Lily normally stayed in when she came over, and he was ready and downstairs by five-thirty. Carolyn was ready fifteen minutes later, and she looked stunning in a long, shimmering black gown, and her neck, ears, and wrist sparkled with emeralds and diamonds.

"How'd you manage to keep your hair exactly the same after a shower?" he asked, and Carolyn laughed.

"I used a bubble-head charm while I was in the shower," she confessed. "There was no way I was going to try and get it like this again."

"You are absolutely gorgeous," he told her seriously. "I love you, Carolyn. There are going to be a lot of young Wizards at this party tonight wishing they were me once they see you."

Carolyn hugged and kissed him. "I love you too, Al. We'd better get our good cloaks out and get going. Brianna and Scorpius are going to meet us outside the Grand Ballroom shortly after six."

Al helped Carolyn into her cloak first, then put his on. When they stepped out into the crisp, cold night, they stepped away from the house, and then they apparated to the Emerald City Centre. It was just after six when they reached the wide promenade in front of the Grand Ballroom, and there was already a quickly growing crowd there. They picked up glasses of champagne from one of the stations that were set up in a dozen or more locations, and then went to stand in a place where Scorpius and Brianna would be able to find them, or they'd see them coming on their way here.

"Are you guys shooting for fashionably late?" Carolyn asked Brianna when they joined Al and Carolyn at twenty past six.

"No," Brianna told her. "Scorpius just couldn't get off of a call at work from his counterpart in the American Ministry of Magic, who wasn't thinking about the five hour time difference, so he didn't get home until five-thirty."

"The price of international politics," Al said philosophically.

"More like the reason that lots of politicians drink," Scorpius said sourly. "That was an hour I could have been spending with my stunning fiancée instead."

Scorpius and Al went to get drinks for all four of them, and by now there were lineups at all of the stations so they got in line. Ten minutes later, they were reunited with the girls, and went to check the seating charts to find out what table they'd be at for the night. They were at the same table, so they wandered around the ballroom in search of their table number. There were other guests already at their tables, but most were empty, although they would probably start filling up faster now that there was less than a half-hour until the first course of dinner would be served.

Their table was six or seven rows in from the dance floor, and maybe four rows away from where the Minister of Magic's VIP table was located. There were already two other couples there, and Scorpius and Al did the introductions.

"I'd like you to all meet Emma Midgen and Jake Dorny," Al told the others. "Emma and Jake are both Aurors at the Ministry. Emma, Jake, this is my fiancée, Carolyn, and you both know Junior Minister Scorpius, and this is his fiancée, Brianna."

"And this is Devlin," Scorpius said, taking over from Al, "one of the inspectors in my department. We haven't met personally yet, but the lovely young lady next to him must be Francine. Since Al's already introduced the rest of us, I guess he's the only one who's been missed. Francine, this is Elder and Auror-trainee Al Potter."

The four couples exchanged pleasantries, and a few hugs before Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna sat down at the table, and the others returned to their seats. They all got up two more times. The first was to welcome Moira, another one of Scorpius' inspectors, who had come to the party with Devlin's friend Nigel, who Brianna had worked with when she'd been interning in the Goblin Liason Division during the summer. The second time was to welcome the couple that completed their table of twelve, Junior Minister Caleb Jennings and his wife, Leah.

"Do we call you 'Junior Minister Jennings until midnight, and then switch to 'Minister Jennings after that?" Brianna asked Caleb after he and his wife had taken their seats.

"Why don't we dispense with the formalities tonight, and go with first names instead," he suggested. "I don't think the etiquette police will mind if we take the night off."

"I don't know about you guys," Devlin told the other non-executive members at their table, "but I'm trying to figure out why we're at this table. Somebody must have made a mistake."

The others laughed, and Caleb smiled at him. "Leah and I are here because I wanted to get the chance to talk with one of you in particular – the young genius who I'm told is the brains behind the BusinessMagic system that will be coming soon to a Ministry of Magic near you."

"Well, I know that's not me," Moira said, "and what's BusinessMagic?"

Caleb laughed. "It's a brilliant new system that's going to let us do all of our administrative work on a device that's similar to the original GameWizards," he explained to her. "The brilliant young Witch I'm referring to is Carolyn," he added, pointing to her from across the table.

That launched the conversation topic for the next thirty minutes or so, as Carolyn was asked all about what kinds of things they'd be able to do with BusinessMagic, from the applications for inspectors, to the full information access to everything any Auror could possibly want out of the Ministry of Magic records. That took them through the first course of dinner, and shortly after the second course arrived, the conversation moved on to other topics, nearly all of which revolved around politics for the rest of their meal.

While they were still having dinner at the Ministry of Magic party, the dinners at the Academy and Residence were long since over, and the evening of fun and games had started. There were dances going on in the dining halls at both places, but the kids were also spread out around the two buildings, at least to start, playing games, watching WWVN, or just hanging around together.

Harry and Ginny were at the Residence, along with Lily, Kieran, Joel, and Sarah. Harry was with Wayne and a gaggle of young Witches in one of the Common Rooms, playing TeenWitch dolls. Ginny was with some of the older teens, playing GameWizard with a little help from Sarah on the girl's team, while Joel was on one of the boy's teams that challenged them. Lily and Kieran were in the dining hall at the dance, along with Nadine, Colin, Vanessa, and Lance.

"What are the parents up to tonight while you guys are away?" Lily asked Colin and Lance.

"They're all at the big party at the Emerald City Centre," Lance told her. "I was told not to wait up when I got home."

Kieran laughed. "Then you at least better make sure you get home before they do," he joked. "Unless you're sure you can sneak in later and not get caught."

"Are you guys staying here for the party?" Nadine asked Lily and Kieran.

Lily shook her head. "Mum, Dad, Joel, and Sarah are, but we're going to go from here to the Academy, and finish the night there before going home."

The six friends sat and talked until nine, when Susan brought a request to Kieran and Lily from a bunch of the kids asking if they'd perform a few songs for them. The dance floor, and the dining hall filled up fast when word got around that they were playing, and a few songs ended up being an hour-long concert before they wrapped up, did a round of goodbye hugs and kisses, and left for the Academy.

James had that look on his face when he came over to greet them, and Lily laughed. "The answer is 'yes', but we need a little break, since we just finished a mini-concert at the Residence. How about we play from eleven until just before midnight?"

"Thanks, sis," James said, hugging her. "So much for getting through the holidays without doing a concert – and you don't even get paid for these ones."

"We definitely get paid," Kieran told him. "Just not in money. By the way, which one of you Wheezes guys came up with the new New Year's wheeze? There was a half-dozen or more wrinkled old guys walking around the Residence tonight, and they tell me that they'll turn into babies at midnight."

"That would be me," James said modestly. "We've got a few of them around here too tonight. Uncle George designed the one that shoots confetti out of your ears and Lee came up with the one that turns your nose into one of those blowout noisemakers. I'm sure you'll see more of those nearer to midnight."

Lily looked at Kieran and laughed. "Don't even think about taking one of those before midnight if you expect a New Year's kiss from me, buddy," she told him.

Kieran and Lily got themselves drinks, and went around visiting until just before eleven. Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle were all volunteering at the Academy for the night, mostly so that Millie and Amy could be here with Jason and Brian. Dale and Carissa were there too, and were hanging out with Erin, Quincy, and some of their friends.

At eleven, they went onto the low stage at the front of the dining hall, and got the dance really going until about five minutes before midnight, when they turned on the WWVN to the music video station, and watched the festivities at the Emerald City Centre as they did the big countdown there.

Al and Carolyn were out on the dance floor, close to Scorpius and Brianna when the whole crowd started counting down the last few seconds of 2024. He had his arms wrapped around her waist, and she had hers around his neck.

"Happy New Year," Al whispered into her ear before kissing her as the clock hit midnight. "I love you, Carolyn."

"Happy New Year, and I love you too, Al," she whispered back after the kiss.

There was a lot of hugging and kissing going on at all of the parties. After the midnight hugs and kisses were over at the Academy, Lily and Kieran were coaxed into two more encore songs before their audience allowed them to escape the spotlight. They stayed, danced, and visited some more before gathering Erin and Quincy, and heading for the cottage.

James and Arianna left the Academy party just before midnight, and had gone on to the party at Tristan and Liselle's house, leaving the staff and volunteers to take care of winding down the party – and the kids – at the Academy. The party they were now joining was in full swing, and they'd barely even started the greetings when they stopped to watch the New Year being counted down at the Ministry of Magic party that they had on the WWVN in the sitting room.

"I heard you guys have the rest of the night off from Erin and Quincy," Tristan told James when they finally had a minute to talk. "Now you can party all night with us."

James laughed. "I doubt I could keep up with you and Sebastian, but we should be able to stay up a few hours past our bedtime."

"I don't know how you manage to switch back and forth so easily," Arianna told Tristan and Liselle. "I'm so used to Quidditch curfews, that even when we don't have them, I'm ready to go to sleep by nine or ten anyway."

"That's because you're a good girl and do what you're told," Tristan joked, as if to suggest that he and Liselle didn't follow curfew, which they all knew was absurd – you did what Coach ordered on the Canons, or you didn't play for them. There'd been more than one member of the reserve team to find that out over the past few years.

"What are you guys doing with your long weekend?" Arianna asked Liselle.

"It was too late to book any hotels or anything like that since we didn't find out until Saturday," Liselle answered, "so we're just going to do some day trips instead. So far we've decided on a day in Venice and one in Egypt."

"That sounds like fun," Arianna said. "I thought you might want to pop back home for a few days."

Liselle shook her head. "We had enough family adventure while they were all here. It's time for few days of couples only time."

While James and Arianna were enjoying getting drawn into a couples-only party, Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah were helping to start winding down the mostly-kids and teens party at the Residence. Shortly after midnight, they started helping to get the younger kids to bed, tucking kids in and reading bedtime stories. They got back to the cottage shortly after one, and joined Lily, Kieran, Erin, and Quincy in the sitting room.

"How was the Academy party?" Ginny asked after hugging everyone and sitting down beside Harry.

"It was really great," Erin said enthusiastically. The best part was Lily and Kieran playing for us."

"You mean the best part wasn't me stepping on your feet when you danced with me?" Quincy joked, and Erin laughed.

"You did not step on my feet at all, so stop that," she told him. "Lenny on the other hand, stepped on my feet four times in one song, and then I had to dodge him the rest of the night, unless it was a fast song, or you all might have needed to drop me off at St. Mungo's for medical attention."

They talked for ten or fifteen minutes, and then Harry, Ginny, Erin, and Quincy all went upstairs to bed, while Lily, Kieran, Joel, and Sarah stayed up, watching music videos on WMVN, cuddling with their respective partners on two of the sofas, and talking quietly.

By then, Al and Carolyn were back home in Hogsmeade, and snuggled close in bed. Scorpius and Brianna might have to stay at those parties until the bitter end, but they didn't, and by one had been more than ready to go home.

"That was a lot of fun," Carolyn told Al sleepily. "It's been a long day, though. Even longer for you, since you were up at four this morning – yesterday morning."

"I don't think it'll matter how many parties we go to," he answered softly. "I'm never going to be one of the night owl types. We'll have to let Uncle Percy, Aunt Penelope, Scorpius, and Brianna handle that for the family."

"That works for me," Carolyn told him. "It probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to become a party girl and try to help run PBP Investments too. The combination might make for some really bad decisions."

Al laughed. "Are you suggesting a reason for why so much of the Ministry is messed up?" he asked, and Carolyn laughed too.

"I didn't mean it to sound like that, but it is possible that all of those parties do sometimes get in the way of making good decisions."

They continued to talk quietly, but it wasn't long before the pauses between comments grew longer, and Carolyn fell asleep, with Al following her a few minutes later.

Since everyone had New Year's Day off, Harry and Ginny were having the kids over for a late morning brunch. Al and Carolyn got to the cottage around ten o'clock, and they joined the gang in the kitchen while Harry and Ginny worked, and they waited for James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey to get there.

They talked about their respective New Year's Eve parties, each of them passing on their own personal highlights of the night. Everything was on the table and ready when the last two couples arrived, and they sat down to an hour-long meal that was as much about entertaining each other with New Year's Eve stories as it was about the food.

When they were done, Al and Carolyn helped with the cleanup, while Erin and Quincy went up to their rooms to pack their bags, since they were going home with James and Arianna, and repacking for three more days on the island.

"What are you and Al doing for the rest of the day?" Ginny asked Carolyn as they worked.

"We haven't really planned on anything," Carolyn answered. "It was such a long day yesterday, going home and having an afternoon nap might work just fine. What are you guys doing?"

"You already heard that Lily and Kieran are going to spend the day with the McCormacks, so Joel, Sarah, Harry, and I are tossing around the idea of popping over to the island to play for a few hours, then come back here for dinner, and get to bed early, since I have work in the morning, and you all have another study day."

"That sounds like fun," Al told his mother and fiancée. "We could do that too, if you want," he suggested to Carolyn. "If you get tired and want a nap, we can do that at the house there as easily as the one in Hogsmeade."

An afternoon on the island proved to be a popular plan for quite a few members of the family. Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle decided to go there with Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy, and Frederica and Liam were there with both of their families too.

Al and Carolyn planned to leave by noon or so island time, but ended up staying a bit longer when Uncle Charlie and Aunt Nathalie got there to start their four day weekend. They stayed an extra hour and a half, and then went home to Hogsmeade, had a late dinner, and went to bed by eight-thirty, never having gotten around to that nap, and both of them tired out and ready to get a solid night of sleep.

Carolyn did wake up long enough to give Al a goodbye hug and kiss before he went to work, and then went back to sleep until just before seven. She managed to get through the whole morning routine, have a croissant and coffee for breakfast, and get to the cottage in time for the eight o'clock start to the study session.

Hugo and his team were making their way out to the pitch by the time she got there, and she waved at them as she went into the house. Everyone else was already there except Brianna and Lily, and Carolyn got her books out, sat down next to Sarah, and dove into the first of three assignments she had left to get finished. Brianna got there ten minutes later, and Lily got there a few minutes after that, and had Karl with her.

"Don't tell us the Hufflepuff captain was late for his own practice, was he?" Carissa asked Lily, who grinned at her.

"He was on-time," she told Carissa. "We're just late because Karl was putting his bags away and getting his books after Kieran and Daphne left for their practice."

"Have you got a lot to work on still?" Carolyn asked Karl, who shook his head.

"Daphne and I've been doing an hour or two of revision a day, so we're nearly done," he told her. "I've got parts of four assignments to finish up, but I should get them done today."

"Then let's get you working," Lily told him, pulling out a chair for him to sit in, and Karl laughed.

"I've missed you, Commander," he said, hugging her before sitting down as ordered and getting his books out.

Since this was the last official study day, and everyone really wanted to get everything done so they could just enjoy the last couple of days before going back to school. That motivation had them all completely focusing on their studies, which made for getting more work done, while reducing the fun level from where it had been during the other study sessions.

Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy were done by noon, so after lunch, Harry took them out for the afternoon while the rest of the group kept working. Al came over after work, and by then, Emily, Vanessa, Joel, and Sarah had finished their work, and were hanging out in the sitting room. By then, Lily was spending most of her time helping Claire, who after just two study days with them was catching on fast, and doing great.

Carolyn and Brianna were next to finish, shortly before five, and they packed up and left the cottage, going to Grimmauld Place to have dinner with Scorpius, and then go to Al and Carolyn's new house after that so that the girls could finish their decorating tour of the house.

That left the nine Quidditch players, and Karl, working with Lily when Ginny got home, and they'd decided to keep going and get the work done, so Harry and Ginny decided to order in pizza again, and left the students still working on their studies in the kitchen, and camped out in the sitting room with the teens that were finished their work. Hugo, Claire, Karl, and Daphne were the last to get done, and they wrapped up shortly after eight o'clock.

"Thanks, Lily," Claire said, hugging her when they were done. "I'd have gotten everything done on my own, but none of it would have been this good. My Professors are going to be surprised for sure."

"You're welcome," Lily told her with a smile. "Stick with these guys, and you'll be surprising them every day until they get used to you being up at the Oustanding level. I can tell already that you really have what it takes to do really great in med school just watching you for a couple of days. If you need an extra virtual tutor, send me a message, and we'll set something up."

"From what I saw today, you'll be tutoring some of us within a few months," Hugo told Claire. "You've certainly got a real knack for Potions that I can only wish I had."

"I don't know about that," Claire told him. "If I can help, though, I'll be happy to do that too."

By then, it was time for everyone to get going. Karl and Daphne were staying overnight at Kirley and Ana's with Lily and Kieran, so they left for Kieran's house. Hugo, Emily, Claire, Frederica, Liam, Colin, and Lance all left for their homes too, and by eight-thirty, Harry and Ginny were left with Joel, Sarah, Dale, Carissa, Millie, Amy, Nadine, and Vanessa, who were all staying the night, since they were going shopping in the morning anyway, and then would be going with Harry to Marauders Paradise. Harry would have been happy to keep more of the teens, except this gave them a full house already – something that he was happy to have.

Al and Carolyn were happy to join Scorpius and Brianna for a Kreacher and Winky dinner, and after eating, were at the new house by seven.

"Let's go upstairs and go through the master bedroom first," Brianna suggested, accepting a glass of wine from Al before leading the way up the stairs.

"So what do we do while they're having fun?" Scorpius asked Al. "Maybe we should go into the garage and pick out decorations for it."

Al laughed and handed his friend a glass of wine before pouring a last glass for himself. It had been Brianna's suggestion that they bring a couple of bottles along, so they had picked out two different vintage choices, and brought them along with four glasses.

"I think the garage is just fine the way it is," Al answered. "We can follow the girls around, if you want, wander around on our own, or conjure ourselves a pair of sofas and sit around while they play."

"Let's wander around for a while, and when the girls come down to talk about what to do with the Great Room, we'll conjure the sofas so they can sit and talk about what they want to do."

They started out by going into the poolroom and turning on the lights. They walked around the pool, sipping wine, and talking quietly.

"I wonder if we could put one of these in somewhere at Grimmauld Place," Scorpius mused. The basement's probably the only place we could put it, and that probably wouldn't be all that great."

"Just pop over here anytime you feel like taking a dip and don't want to go over to your house on the island," Al told him. "You're always welcome."

"You're going to get a lot of company here," Scorpius predicted. "I saw the other day that there's a nice spot back in the yard there that'd be perfect for a Quidditch pitch too."

Al grinned at him. "You know, I noticed that spot when we picked the property. It's getting built in April or May sometime, depending on the weather, though it won't be quite the little stadium that Mum and Dad have at the cottage – just the pitch, goals, and maybe a couple of benches."

"I take it back – you're going to have people coming to live here all summer," Scorpius joked. "I'll have Brianna go pick out our room before you're completely full."

"I doubt it'll be quite that bad," Al said. "Once Carolyn and I get back from our honeymoon, we're both going to be busy with work, and helping out getting ready for your wedding. I expect it'll feel like all we're doing here is coming here for somewhere to sleep."

They left the pool room, and went into the guest bedroom wing, checking out the room that would be the library and office first.

"These built-in shelves are great," Scorpius told Al, running his hand along the lightly stained, softly polished wood. "You must have room for several hundred books."

Al shrugged. "Carolyn and I both read a lot, so I thought we'd want lots of space. They can actually hold quite a bit more than that, though. Give one of the dividers a tug to the left or right, and you'll see what I mean."

Scorpius did that, and it moved easily in both directions, making what you could see of one section of shelves longer, and the one beside it shorter.

"That is really brilliant," Scorpius told him. "That must have been your work."

"It was," Al agreed. "There are a few hidden features around here that won't kick in until they're needed – like closet sizes and things like that."

"You and Nick have really thought this place out," Scorpius said approvingly. "You must be planning on this being the last house you ever need."

"That's the plan," Al agreed.

They went back into the Great Room when they heard the girls coming back down the stairs, conjured a pair of sofas, refilled their glasses, and then sat down.

"Here you go, Carolyn," Brianna said. "Just have the boys conjure new furniture every time you need it, and let it disappear when you're done with it."

Carolyn laughed. "I'm thinking a more permanent solution is needed, and we're not going to want to conjure paint on the walls every day."

"I think you should just go with a neutral colour in this room and keep it bright and open. Get some of Kevin's, and Michael's landscapes on the walls, and some plants and curios around, and keep it simple. Two or three sofas and a couple of recliners, and a really great dining room set, and you're done."

"What about the kitchen?" Carolyn asked, and Brianna laughed.

"Since Al will probably be doing ninety percent of the work there, let him take care of all of that. We can deal with the window coverings and stuff like that, and some decorating for the little bit of open wall space, though."

"Then our work is done," Carolyn told Brianna. "Except for all of the virtual designing, shopping, and booking the work with the decorating company. What should we do now?"

"Finish the wine, and go get some sleep," Brianna answered. "Scorpius and Al are working, and we have back to school shopping, and an afternoon at Marauders Paradise."

"We could meet you there for dinner after work if you want," Scorpius suggested. "It's Friday too, so we could even stay and play for a few hours."

"I like that idea," Brianna said. "What do you think, Carolyn?"

She looked at Al, who smiled and nodded that it was up to her. "That sounds like fun to me too," she told the others. "We haven't got anything else going on, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Aunt Ginny and Aunt Hermione are planning to do the same thing."

With that decided, they sat back and just enjoyed a little more time together, and by nine o'clock, they were saying goodnight to each other, and splitting up to go home to Grimmauld Place and Hogsmeade.

"Don't forget to say goodnight to your baby this time," Brianna told Carolyn with a laugh as she hugged her before leaving with Scorpius, and Carolyn laughed too.

"Thanks for reminding me," she answered. "I probably won't see him again until the end of June."

Friday morning, Harry was happily cooking breakfast for ten, not including Fluffy, who'd already come and scooped up her breakfast and retreated to whichever one of her several hiding places she'd picked for this morning's meal.

"Good morning, Uncle Harry," Dale said when he came into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Dale. You haven't been here much for these holidays. It's nice to see you," Harry said with a grin. "I guess the trick is for us to start inviting Carissa to stay overnight here before Stewart and Isabelle invite you to stay there."

Dale laughed. "That does make a difference," he agreed.

"Then let's make sure before you go back to school that we sit down and invite her over for about half of next summer," Harry suggested.

"Maybe it'd be fairer for you to just negotiate a deal with Stewart and Isabelle," Dale answered. "I'd hate to hurt their feelings, and they love Carissa a whole lot."

"And I love them a lot too," Carissa said as she came into the room, hugged Harry, then hugged Dale before sitting down next to him. "What does Uncle Harry need to negotiate?"

"Overnight visits for you and me for here and at their house," Dale told her.

"I guess you have been there more than here," Carissa said thoughtfully. "I'm sure we can work something out. Uncle Harry, I was wondering if Kira was coming today. I thought she might like to play with Patricia this afternoon."

"I thought about it," Harry told her, "but I decided not to ask her so that you could all just go do whatever you want without worrying about what rides she and Patricia can and can't go on. I usually take her there for an afternoon every few weeks or a month anyway."

Carissa nodded. "Okay. I'll have to try and stop in to see her before we go back on Sunday."

Joel was next downstairs, and then Ginny, Sarah, Millie, Amy, Nadine, and Vanessa joined them in fairly quick succession, each of them hugging Harry before sitting down at the table.

"I got a QuillMessage from Carolyn this morning," Harry told Ginny. "Scorpius and Al are going to the island after work to have dinner there and stay longer and play. She was wondering if you, Hermione, and anyone else were going to go there after work too."

"I guess we could," Ginny said. "I'll send some messages around later and see if anyone's interested."

"Frederica will be there, so maybe George and Marietta would like to come too," Harry suggested.

"What about Colin and Lance's parents?" Vanessa asked, and Ginny laughed.

"Could we have an ulterior motive?" she teased, and Vanessa grinned.

"Yes, we could," she agreed. "If they can't come, though, do you think that maybe we could still keep Colin and Lance and stay late too? Susan wouldn't mind as long as she knows Nadine and I won't be there for dinner early enough in the day that they don't cook the extra meals."

"I'll let Susan know you'll be back sometime after dinner regardless of whatever else goes on," Harry told the two girls. "Since Carolyn and Brianna are staying late, I'm sure the rest of the gang is going to want to stay there too."

They ate breakfast fairly quickly, and Ginny left for work when they were finished. Harry cleaned up before their group of nine went to the Mall, armed with their back to school supply lists. The rest of the Marauders were doing their shopping too, but they weren't all meeting first, but instead just going around in their smaller groups, with plans to meet for lunch.

Nadine and Vanessa met up with Colin and Lance, and went off to do their shopping, and Joel and Sarah went off on their own too. That left Harry with Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy, and the five of them spent the first two hours getting supplies, and the rest of the time, the girls went shopping for a few new outfits with Lily while Kieran, Harry, and Dale spent the rest of the morning getting some clothes for Dale, and anything else they still needed to get done.

When they gathered at the food court for lunch, Harry earned himself some extra hugs when Millie and Amy found out that Jason and Brian were joining the group for lunch and their play day at Marauders Paradise. Millie and Amy had both hugged and kissed him when they saw their boyfriends being dropped off by an Academy volunteer, even before hugging Jason and Brian.

All of the Marauders were there, and only Karl and Daphne would not be going on to the island after lunch. They were going to be spending the rest of the weekend with her family, and were going to her house instead. Frederica and Liam brought Myra and Aiden with them, so with Jason and Brian, Harry had twenty-three for lunch, and twenty-one going to the island.

They had lunch there, and then they all stopped by their houses to drop off their purchases, change for warm weather, and then take the TransPortal to Marauders Paradise.

It was early morning on the island, and cool compared to what it would be like in a few more hours, but compared to home it was warm, and the sun was bright and beautiful. Harry left the teens to go play, and decided to go visit Gabrielle, and then stop by the studio shop in the little shopping village to see Kevin and Michael.

Carolyn and Brianna wandered around with Joel and Sarah, riding the roller coasters, and some of their other favourite rides.

"Did you have to change your plans with Callie and Mark?" Brianna asked. "I thought you were spending the evening with them tonight."

Sarah nodded. "We offered to still go back early, but when they found out that we were all going to be playing here, they decided to come join us here instead."

"You'll have more fun here," Brianna told her. "The only down side to us spending all of these days in the sun is that we're going to really miss it when we're back at Hogwarts."

"We'll just have to set up more pool party days," Joel suggested. "Especially for the rest of the winter."

Al sent Carolyn a Virtual QuillMessage to let her know he was coming at around four o'clock home time, and after a couple of messages between them, agreed to meet by one of the roller coasters. Scorpius got to the island an hour or so later, and Callie and Mark joined them at the same time. The four couples hung out together until dinner, when the family gathered at one of the beachfront patio cafés for dinner.

Rose, Matt, Nick, and Allie had come after work too, in Rose and Matt's case mostly because they had to eat anyway, and it gave them a chance to say goodbye to their friends before they'd be leaving in the morning for their next tour – this one to Brazil. Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna sat at a table with them for dinner.

"We're really glad you came," Carolyn told Rose and Matt. "I didn't think we were going to get to see you again before you left."

"So are we," Rose told her. "We've still got a lot of work to do back home, or we'd stay and play for a few hours too."

"Nick and I are definitely here to play, though," Allie told them. "Even with New Year's Day off, it's seemed like a long, busy week."

"Probably because it took two days just to recover from the weekend on the island," Nick joked. "Then we were up until three at that New Year's Eve party we went to with your family."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Allie told him. "That decision could have been heavily influenced by the wine, though."

Since it was early afternoon on the island, the café was still on the lunch menu, so the dinner orders were all for lunch-type foods, and the service was fast, since the lunch rush was pretty much over. The younger teens ate fast and were off again – possibly attempting personal bests for most rides covered in one day-trip visit. The rest of the group, which now included Ginny, Ron and Hermione, George and Marietta, Dennis and Demelza, and Neville and Luna, stayed long enough for an extra drink and visit before Rose and Matt left for home and final preparations for their tour, and the rest of them went back out to wander the island and play.

Al and Carolyn spent the rest of their time on the island with Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie, and let Joel and Sarah enjoy the rest of their day with Mark and Callie. By six o'clock island time, they were ready to head home, while Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie all decided to stay and play for another couple of hours.

On their way to the hotel TransPortal terminal, they met up with Harry and Ginny, who were also heading for home with maybe a little more than half of their group, and corresponding parents.

"Had enough for the day?" Ginny asked them, and both Al and Carolyn nodded.

"When the day starts at four, I'm just not that interested in having it go until four the next morning," Al told his mother.

Ginny nodded. "I don't blame you. Will we see you earlier tomorrow, or just at dinner?"

"That depends some on what you're doing tomorrow," Carolyn told her. "Are you going to the residence in the morning or afternoon to do the goodbyes?"

"Since the shopping's done already, we're going in the morning, and plan on being home all afternoon."

"We'll come over a couple of hours early then," Carolyn promised. "We're just planning on taking it easy all day anyway, other than doing my packing for the trip back."

There were a lot of goodbye hugs and kisses going on when they got to the TransPortal terminal as the various groups said their goodbyes and started leaving. Dennis, Demelza, and Colin were first away. Neville and Luna offered to take Nadine and Vanessa back to the residence on their way home, and left with Lance and the girls. Harry and Ginny had six teens, so Al and Carolyn took Jason and Brian back to the Academy, while Harry and Ginny went to Teddy and Victoire's to have a little visit with them, and with Isabelle and Stewart, while dropping off Millie, Amy, and Carissa before going home with Dale an hour later.

Lily and Kieran were among the group that stayed, and they were doing the rides and games with Hugo, Emily, Frederica, Liam, Myra, and Aiden. Meghan had given them a strict 'have your brother and sister home by midnight' order to Liam, so a half-hour before their deadline, to avoid any problems, they all decided to wrap up their trip, which gave them more than enough time to get to the TransPortal terminal and start leaving for their respective homes.

Ron, Hermione, George, and Marietta all met them there, and Hugo and Emily went home with Ron and Hermione, Frederica went home with her parents, and Liam took Myra and Aiden in tow, and took them home. Lily and Kieran were the last to leave, and they left for his house, where they would mostly be staying until Sunday, except for dinner Saturday night at the cottage, which they'd be attending along with Kirley and Ana.

Joel, Sarah, Callie, and Mark were the last four still standing on the island, but they were having fun, and weren't worried about getting back late after deciding that Joel and Sarah would stay at Mark and Callie's for the night so they could stay out as late as they wanted. They had let Harry and Ginny know about the change in plans after dinner, and had gone off on their own after that. It wasn't until eleven o'clock island time that they finally ran out of steam and went home, getting there in the very wee hours of the morning, climbing into their beds, and falling asleep almost immediately.

On Saturday, Al and Carolyn spent the morning by themselves. He cooked her breakfast, and she did most of her back to school packing. They made one quick trip to the Mall for a couple of things she'd missed getting, and then they went to Grimmauld Place, where they were having lunch with Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Percy and Penelope.

"At least this is the last time you'll be going back," Penelope told Carolyn and Brianna. "Less than six months, and you'll be finished school, and starting your new lives."

They'd been talking about how they were beginning to really feel the separation anxiety now that going back to school was less than a day away.

"I think it's bad enough for us," Brianna said. "I can't even imagine what Lily and Kieran are thinking – they still have a year and a half to go."

"They're probably not even thinking that far ahead," Percy suggested. "More than likely, they'll just be taking it a week and a month at a time until this time next year."

"One good thing about this term is that we have these new ViComms," Carolyn said. "I'm going to like getting to talk to Al in private, even when I'm in my dorm room."

Percy laughed. "Ginny told us a bit about those things," he said. "You'll want to make sure that you're in the correct visual mode when you're in your dorms, or Al might end up seeing more than he needs to of your roommates." Everyone else laughed, and Al actually blushed a little.

"I never thought about that," Carolyn admitted. "I may have to keep my eyes closed if they're changing when I'm on a call just in case."

"Darn," Nick joked, "and I was going to start calling you every night around bedtime."

Allie elbowed him, and he pretended she'd hurt him. "Ow! What'd I say?"

"First of all, you don't have one of those ViComms too," she answered, "and secondly, you don't need to be looking at Carolyn's roommates getting changed any more than Al does. Then, of course, there's the fact that it would just be wrong."

"I'm guessing that your attempt at humour was completely unsuccessful, mate," Scorpius told Nick.

"I'd say so," Nick agreed. "Good thing I have a day job to fall back on."

Al and Carolyn spent a couple of hours at Grimmauld Place, having lunch, and then visiting in the drawing room, before they left there and headed for the Cottage. Scorpius and Brianna would be joining them there later, since they were among the dinner guests for the evening. When they got there, Harry, Ginny, and Dale were in the sitting room, so they joined them there.

"How was the visit to the Residence?" Carolyn asked them.

"Pretty uneventful," Ginny answered. "I'd say that about half of the Hogwarts teens were working on revision today, so we didn't spend much time with them. The rest all seemed to be doing fine, and were looking forward to getting back there. Dale spent the morning helping a couple of the younger boys with their revision."

"Who'd have ever guessed that'd happen a couple of years ago?" Dale joked.

"How many are coming for dinner tonight?" Al asked Harry.

"We've got Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, Isabelle, the girls, Jason, and Brian," Harry named off. "Then James, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy. Since Joel and Sarah spent the night at Callie and Mark's, they'll all be coming. Lily, Kieran, Kirley, and Ana will be here around four, and Scorpius and Brianna will be coming too. With the five of us, that makes twenty-eight, unless I forgot anyone."

"I don't think you did," Ginny told him. Everyone else had other plans."

"Compared with breakfast and lunch for three today, it's a big crowd," Dale said. "Tonight will be a good way to get warmed up for dinners in the Great Hall again starting tomorrow night."

Ginny laughed and hugged him. "Probably, but it was nice getting to have you all to ourselves this morning."

Dale grinned at her. "Sure – just you, me, Uncle Harry, and two hundred other kids."

When it was time for Harry to start cooking, Al went with him to the kitchen to lend a hand while Ginny set up some drinks and snacks in the sitting room for when their guests started arriving. Callie, Mark, Joel, and Sarah came in first at around four o'clock, and over the next hour, the rest of the group joined the pre-dinner party in the sitting room. Most of the older guys made their way into the kitchen so they could talk with Harry and Al while they worked. Dale, Jason, and Brian played GameWizard with Carissa, Millie, and Amy, and the other girls sat and chatted while they waited for dinner to be ready.

Harry called everyone into the kitchen just before six, and for the next hour and a half, they ate, joked, laughed, and chatted. After dinner was over, Al and Carolyn, and Scorpius and Brianna were sent to their homes so they would have the rest of their last evening together before the girls went back to school to spend by themselves.

"That was nice of everyone to let us off of the hook for cleanup duty," Carolyn told Al as they put their cloaks away when they'd gotten home. "I don't imagine the others will be staying long, though. Joel and Sarah still have to pack, Jason and Brian have to go back to the Academy, and I'm sure Lily and Kieran have plans for a little snogging time once they get back to his house too."

Al grinned. "Well, my sister is brilliant, so if she thinks that's a good plan for tonight, we should probably get with the program too."

Carolyn laughed. "Don't you worry about that, Al, we will definitely be making time for a nice long snogging session. It'll have to last us until the next Hogsmeade weekend in three weeks."

"We've got the Quidditch match in two weeks," Al reminded her.

"True," she agreed, "but it's going to be freezing outside, and we're not going to be snogging through the whole game in front of the whole school. That wouldn't' do very well for your reputation in the Wizengamot – or as an Auror."

"I'm sure glad that's not a problem when we're here all by ourselves," Al told her, and Carolyn laughed, put her arms around him, and kissed him.

"I know it's still early, but let's just go get ready for bed, and cuddle for the rest of the night," she suggested.

Al thought that was a brilliant suggestion, and so they turned out the lights, went upstairs, and each got ready for bed. They were snuggled close before it was even eight o'clock, but it was long hours later before either of them went to sleep. There was a little snogging, and a little bit of soft conversation, but mostly they were content to hold on to, and comfort each other as the inexorable march of minutes and hours drew them closer to morning, and the start of this last, long separation.

Saturday was really the last day of the Christmas holidays, and as midnight passed, the arrival of back to school Sunday marked what most students and their families thought of as the real start of the New Year. With weddings and baby House Elves, school, Quidditch, work, and vacations, that New Year was shaping up to keep the excitement of the past year going strong.


	121. Winter Games

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-One – Winter Games

Al woke up very early, and lay quietly next to Carolyn, not wanting to wake her, and not ready to let her go and get up to start the day. She was still wrapped in his arms, and he stayed there like that for more than an hour before carefully extracting himself so he could go shower, get dressed, and go downstairs to make one last special breakfast for Carolyn.

Carolyn had slept fitfully most of the night, probably awake more than she was asleep until at least five o'clock. She'd been content, though, feeling warm and safe in Al's arms. She'd tried not to cry, but a few tears had occasionally escaped, beyond her ability to keep under control as she thought about how this was going to be the last night they'd be cuddled like this for another long five and a half months.

When she'd woken later to find Al gone, and the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs, she got up and started getting ready for her day and trip back to Hogwarts. By the time she was ready, packed the last few things she'd kept out for this morning, and had levitated her luggage downstairs, Al had breakfast ready for them, and after hugging and kissing him, she sat down at the table.

"This looks so wonderful," Carolyn said quietly, fighting tears again. "You're making it harder to go back, though."

Al came over and hugged her again. "I was shooting for making sure you'd want to come back in June," he told her. "Isn't this supposed to be the way to a girl's heart?"

Carolyn laughed and wiped away a few tears. "It's an added bonus, but you already had my heart."

She would have liked to savour the wonderful food, and the time with her fiancée for hours if she could, but that wasn't possible and get to King's Cross Station on time. When it was almost time to go, she put her arms around Al's neck, and kissed him fiercely for several scorching minutes.

"Now you're making it tough for me to let you leave," he told her with a smile. "I love you, Carolyn, and when this is over, I'm never going to let you go ever again."

"I love you too," Carolyn told him. "Don't worry about that. When I get home, I won't be going anywhere, unless you're going too."

Scorpius and Brianna stepped onto platform nine and three-quarters, and had nearly twenty minutes to spare, but Brianna wanted to get on the train early, and start getting ready for the Prefect meeting. She loaded her luggage right away, and then stepped back off of the train for a long goodbye while they waited for some of the rest of the family to get there.

"Take care of yourself while I'm gone," Brianna told him. "Don't just work all day and night, and try not to have anybody try to kill you this term."

Scorpius laughed. "I'll work really hard at that, but if it doesn't work, at least Al's got my back."

Al and Carolyn got there at the same time that Karl and Daphne did, so the two couples met up with Scorpius and Brianna.

"Your parents didn't come?" Brianna asked Daphne, who shook her head. "I asked them not to. Mum's already gotten her crying out of the way, and I didn't want her to get going again."

Karl loaded his things into the Prefect car, but Carolyn and Daphne waited for some of the other Marauders to get there before going in search of compartments for their group. There wasn't much time left, and the family started arriving in quick succession. Once Harry and Ginny were there with Lily, Kieran, Dale, Joel, and Sarah, the group that was ready to board shared hugs and kisses with them, and for Brianna and Carolyn, last hugs and kisses for their fiancées, and then they all got on the train – Carolyn, Daphne, Joel, Sarah, and Dale going to pick out the compartments they'd need for the trip back. Since they had twenty students to make room for, they picked out four compartments in one cluster, and waited for everyone else to join them.

Amy, Millie, and Carissa met up with them first, and sat with Dale. Colin, Nadine, Lance, and Vanessa took the car across the aisle from them. Kieran, Hugo, and Emily stored their luggage in the compartment across from Carolyn, Daphne, Joel, and Sarah, and finally, Frederica, Liam, Myra, Erin, and Quincy arrived, the first three joining Hugo, Emily, and Kieran, while Erin and Quincy again sat with Millie, Amy, Carissa, and Dale.

The Marauders Prefects were on the move to the Prefect car by the time the Hogwarts Express began pulling away from the platform, starting the long trip to Hogsmeade. With Joel and Sarah's departure, that left Carolyn and Daphne on their own in their compartment for most of the trip back.

"Please tell me that Lily didn't make up another schedule," Carolyn said, and Daphne laughed.

"No, she didn't, but she did send along a box of chocolates for each of us that are supposed to help us get through the trip," she answered, pulling out a large box of Carolyn's favourite chocolates and setting them on the seat next to Carolyn before pulling a second box out and setting it down too. "There weren't any other instructions, so we can just do whatever we want."

Carolyn opened the box, selected a chocolate, and offered the now opened box to Daphne, who picked one too. After eating their chosen sweets, the two friends decided to get their books out and start reading ahead for their classes while they talked quietly together, mostly about what their lives would be like starting at the end of June as the train carried them across the long miles toward Hogwarts.

Lily had her arm around Al as they watched the Hogwarts Express pull out, and leaned her head against his shoulder. Scorpius, and most of the family that had come to see their kids off this morning were still there too, talking together, and when they could see nothing but the back of the train in the distance, she straightened up, and pulled Al around and back toward the group.

"What are we doing now?" she asked Harry and Ginny.

"We're just discussing that," Ginny answered. "We're leaning toward lunch at the Mall, and maybe a little shopping, but there are also a couple of votes for spending the afternoon on the island."

"So let's shop for a couple of hours, eat lunch here so we don't have to cook, and go to the island for a few hours," Lily suggested.

"I'm with you until after lunch," Al told her, "but then I'm going to Auror Headquarters to work this afternoon."

Scorpius nodded. "I was planning on working at the Ministry this afternoon too," he told them. "I can go along for the shopping and lunch first, though."

Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, George, and Marietta went with Lily's full-day suggestion, while James and Arianna also opted for just the shopping and lunch, since they'd only come back yesterday from a few days on the island. They shopped until about twelve-thirty, had lunch in the food court, and then went their separate ways – heading for the Ministry of Magic, the island, or home.

"Is this make-work for you?" Al asked Scorpius as they walked into the Atrium at the Ministry and walked toward the lifts.

Scorpius shrugged. "There's always more work, but no, there's nothing pressing, so yeah, it's to keep me busy."

"That's mostly why I'm here too," Al told him. "I definitely wasn't in the mood for fun and sun. I'm sorry about leaving Lily hanging, but I wouldn't have been any fun if I had gone."

"Me either," Scorpius agreed. "It sounded like she was going to go borrow Kira to join them, though, so I'm sure that she'll be able to keep Lily busy for a few hours."

They entered one of the lifts and took it to the second and fifth levels respectively. When Al got to Auror Headquarters, he had the place to himself, so he went straight to his cubicle, sat down, and started working.

Lily had hoped that Al and Scorpius would go with her to the island, but she did understand why they'd rather throw themselves into work instead of play. A call to Natalie later, though, and she had an ecstatic Kira dropped off at the Cottage for an overnighter, ready to help Lily go play on the island, along with all of the grownups that were going along too.

"Thanks for coming," Lily told Kira, hugging the 'going on seven' year old girl. "None of the other kids wanted to come out to play today."

Kira giggled and hugged Lily back. "You're welcome, Lily. I'll come play with you anytime!"

The two girls left for the island with Harry and Ginny, and since this was Kira's first time there since Lily and Kieran got their own house, the first thing she wanted to do was to have Lily show it to her. They went and did that, tried out the pool, and then walked back to the lagoon, where they joined everyone else who was already there, including a few extra guests that had been on the island all weekend.

While Al and Scorpius worked, and Lily and Kira played, the Hogwarts Express kept rolling along. The Prefect meeting was always a bit shorter on this trip than it was in September, so Brianna and Karl were able to quickly go through everything they needed to cover, hand out the schedules, and send everyone on their way. There had been some of the seventh-year Prefects who had been angry at the start of the year about the Head Boy and Head Girl selections, but by now both Karl and Brianna had at least won their grudging respect, if not their affection, and that made their jobs easier too.

"Why don't you go hang out with Daphne," Brianna suggested. "I can stay here and deal with anything that comes up for the rest of the trip."

Karl smiled at her. "If I left you here all alone for the rest of the trip, when Lily comes to school in a couple of weeks for the game, she'd hex me into next year if Daphne and Carolyn didn't turn me into a radish first. How about I stay here, and you go hang out with Carolyn and the others. Daphne can always stop by to visit if she wants."

Brianna laughed. "Okay, mate. You win. I'd hate to be responsible for your fiancée turning you into a radish."

She grabbed her bag, and headed for the door. "I'll come back when we're getting close to arriving, since my stuff's all here, and you may have more to deal with then."

"Sounds good," Karl told her, and waved as she left.

Brianna walked along the train, stopping occasionally to talk with someone, or answer questions. When she got to the compartment that Carolyn and Daphne were in, Joel and Sarah had already returned, and all four of them looked up in surprise.

"We didn't expect to see you all trip," Carolyn said with a smile. "Did you get bored?" Brianna smiled as she came in, and sat down next to Carolyn and Daphne, across from Joel and Sarah.

"There wasn't much left to do except be there in case anyone had any problems," she answered. "I offered to send Karl down here, but he seems to think the two of you would turn him into a radish if he left me alone to mope and feel sorry for myself for the rest of the trip. I'm terribly disappointed too, because that had been my plan. Now I'm supposed to come here instead and be sociable."

Daphne laughed. "We wouldn't turn him into a radish – who'd want to kiss one of those? I'd go for a cute fluffy kneazle cat or something like that instead. Then I could at least still cuddle and kiss him."

"I'm sure that'll make him feel a lot better," Carolyn joked. "Now that he's all alone, though, are you going to visit him instead?" she asked Daphne, who nodded.

"Sure. You've got lots of company, and I'm sure you and Brianna can keep out of trouble with two Prefects keeping an eye on you," Daphne answered. She got up, picked up her shoulder bag, and left their compartment.

Carolyn had put her books away when Joel and Sarah had returned, so now that Brianna was there too, instead of going back to studying, Carolyn just settled back in her seat and talked with them for the rest of the trip. When they were close to Hogsmeade, Brianna left them and returned to the Prefect car again, and not much later, Daphne came back to their compartment, and the four of them got ready to get off of the train when it came to a stop at Hogsmeade Station.

Even now that they were in seventh year, Carolyn and Daphne still enjoyed watching the first year students who were gathering and waiting for their turn to ride in the Thestral-drawn carriages up to the school. There were the inevitable boasts, usually from a few first-year Wizards that they could see the Thestrals, but they generally just earned jeers and laughter from their friends and other nearby students.

They were both smiling when they got into a carriage with some other seventh-year students, and the carriage rolled away from the station. It was cold out, and they were glad when they finally arrived at the school entrance and could hurry inside where it was warm. When they reached the Great Hall, they split up, going to the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables respectively.

Since she had time before Brianna would get there, Carolyn decided to give her ViComm it's first use at Hogwarts, and called Al.

"Hi sweetie," Al said happily when he answered her call. "How come you're just in audio mode?"

"I thought it'd be fun to try visual mode in a second and let you see what I'm seeing here in the Great Hall," she answered.

"Go ahead," Al told her. "Let's see how well it works." His ViComm main module was on the desk, and Carolyn was able to see him, but she'd left hers in her shoulder bag, wanting to see if she could use it without attracting any attention from her Housemates. She made the selection switch to visual mode, and heard Al laugh as he could suddenly see what she was seeing as she looked around the Great Hall.

"It's like looking around myself," Al reported. "This could have some pretty cool uses for Aurors in the field." He laughed again. "Hey! You just checked out that guy's butt!"

Carolyn laughed too, and got a couple of strange looks directed her way. "I was just testing to see if you really were seeing everything," she told him. "You passed. Professor McGonagall is definitely going to need to ban these things during tests, though. It'd be way too easy to have someone else do your test with you and give you the answers as you go along - or just look them up in the VirtualLibrary or other study programs."

"I'm sure they'll do that next year, and the only three of you who have them, don't need to, and wouldn't, cheat on a test," Al said. "This is so much nicer to talk with you instead of using the VirtualChat. It could be the end of the life of that little program for the Institute. That was it's big draw over just calling someone – having the privacy."

"Your little avatar was cute and all that, Al, but I'm not going to miss those chats," Carolyn said happily. "I'll let you go for now, though, and call later at bedtime. Don't stay there at the Ministry all evening."

Okay, and I won't. Scorpius and I are going to get something to eat in another hour or so. Say 'Hi' to Brianna for me."

Carolyn ended the call, and waited while the students continued to file into the Great Hall. Brianna was one of the last to get there, coming with the last first year group.

"I take it that Karl got to come early," Carolyn said when Brianna sat down.

"I got to come up early last time," Brianna answered. "If I'd been thinking back then when he offered to let me go first with Erin and Quincy, I would have realized that I was going to get to sit out in the freezing cold this time while he was here, warm and happy."

"He probably wasn't thinking about that either," Carolyn pointed out. "It worked out rather well for him, though. Before I forget, Al says 'Hi'."

"How's he doing?" Brianna asked.

"I didn't ask, but he was at work, and told me that he and Scorpius were going out to dinner together in an hour."

"Which will probably be two hours by the time one of them actually notice the time and realize how late it is," Brianna added, and Carolyn nodded her agreement.

Since Brianna had gotten there with the last group, it wasn't long before the feast began. Brianna and Carolyn were drawn into the conversation that Carolyn's roommates were having about the holidays, although they didn't talk about everything that they'd been doing – like anything about their time on the island.

The feast at Hogwarts was nearly over by the time that Al went looking for Scorpius. He didn't feel like he'd made any progress, but since the goal had been to keep busy all day, that at least had been achieved.

"Ready to go get something to eat?" he asked Scorpius when he walked into his friend's office.

Scorpius looked up and smiled. "Is it that time already?"

Al nodded. "It's later than that, but since one of us has to get up at four, I can't really stay any longer, even though I'd like to."

"Okay. Let's get out of here," Scorpius agreed. "I won't get what I'm working on finished tonight anyway."

"What are you doing these days?" Al asked him as they left the office and walked toward the lifts.

"Research for more trade standards that need a serious overhaul," Scorpius answered. "Right now, I'm working on standards for the purity of Potion ingredients."

"I had no idea they weren't the same everywhere now," Al told him. "That must make the resulting potions quite different."

"It does," Scorpius agreed. "That also affects the quality of those Potions too, and that will eventually be included, since we need better standards for finished Potions too."

"Good luck with that," Al said. "I have problems figuring out the grading of produce at the grocery store let alone if it comes to that at the apothecary."

Scorpius laughed. "I doubt that, but we won't be doing it like that, Al. They'll be standards that ingredients and Potions have to meet that will be the same in all countries. We're trying to make things safer for everyone. There are way too many problems around the world from substandard products."

"Well, you've convinced me – that being an Auror was the right career choice for me," Al joked, "even though there are times when my job isn't all that much fun."

"Still nothing new from your stakeouts or going through all of the evidence from the house?" Scorpius asked, and Al shook his head.

"It's just like when we drew a blank on following the trail to the TransPortal terminals before. They didn't go anywhere…" They'd already reached the atrium level and started walking across the room, and Al stopped in his tracks.

"What?" Scorpius asked.

"I'm doing this backwards," Al told him. "It's not the destination I should be tracking, it's the Witches and Wizards. That's why we didn't find anything near the TransPortal terminals – they're going from those locations to places that are under Fidelius Charms. That's why we knew what was happening when the Carrows would disappear – we were following them. Maybe they go from all of those locations in Bulgaria to that same place that the Carrows went to."

"Sounds reasonable," Scorpius said. "So you need to stakeout those TransPortal terminals – not the place that's charmed, because you can follow any of your targets from the TransPortal terminals."

"Or just start following some of our targets all the time," Al agreed. "Let's hurry up and get out of here. I'm getting the itch to turn around and go back up to work."

Scorpius put a hand on Al's arm. "Forget it, mate. You can deal with it starting tomorrow. Now that you've got me moving, I'm hungry and need to be fed."

They went out to dinner, and afterward, Al went home, got ready for bed, and had a nice long ViComm call with Carolyn before going to sleep.

Monday morning, Al did his usual early morning stakeout in Bulgaria, and then went into work from there, getting to Auror Headquarters by around seven. Hestia wasn't there yet, so he went to his desk, and got out the TransPortal summaries that they'd all worked on to put together, going through them to refresh his memory about who was going where, and when they were doing it. It was as he'd remembered, and there was no set pattern to the trips that he could determine, so whatever they were doing, it wasn't on a discernable schedule that any of the Aurors had figured out so far.

"How's it going, Al?" Hestia asked, sticking her head around the corner as she took her cloak off. "Anything new?"

"Good morning," Al said, smiling up at her. "I haven't found any bad guys or anything, but I do think that I'm going about my stakeout the wrong way in Sofia."

Hestia hung her cloak up, then came and sat down across the desk from him. "What's your idea?"

"I think we need to go back to these TransPortal terminals we marked," Al answered. "I think we drew a blank because they're using them, and then going to either just that one Fidelius Charmed place, or to multiple places with the same charms. I think we need to either watch those terminals, or start following selected members of this new group that we've already identified, and see where they go the same way you followed the Carrows."

"We didn't find anything at any of the other terminals either," Hestia mused. "Since there was no pattern, we didn't decide to do a full stakeout – there are too many locations for that anyway. On top of that, we've only cross-referenced certain countries, and it's likely we'll find common TransPortal sites in many other countries too."

Al nodded. "That's why I'm leaning toward tracking certain members of the group. I was looking through our summary again, and there are a couple of pretty young Wizards who are doing the kind of travelling that would suggest that they may be messengers for the group. I'd recommend we follow them and see where it leads."

"Are you volunteering for the assignment?" she asked him with a grin. "It's very cold out there this time of year to be following someone around all day, and you're not going to get too many enthusiasts interested in going out and freezing for twelve hours a day."

"Yes, I'm volunteering," he told her seriously. "Why don't you see what Rick thinks, and if you want, I'll pick one of these guys, and follow him around by myself. If I get results, then maybe some of the others will be willing to come out into the cold and work this angle to get leads to the fugitives they're chasing."

Hestia nodded and stood up. "I'll see what Rick thinks, and let you know. Anything else?"

"Carolyn's back at school, so send out a memo to the bad guys that I've got a lot of time on my hands until June," he joked.

"I really don't think that we'll advertise that," she told him. "It's not like they're turning themselves in or anything, and I don't want to make it even harder to find them."

Al got approval for his personal surveillance of one of the Knights, and he picked Terrance Nott. The twenty-five year old Wizard was the son of Theodore Nott, a contemporary of Scorpius' father, and his Grandfather Nott had been a Death Eater. Since his TransPortal records showed him travelling to the marked locations on a regular basis, and the fact that he lived in the city, Al thought he'd be the best choice for this first assignment.

He worked out a rough plan, and in the afternoon, he took a long walk through the entire neighbourhood where Terrance lived. The Ministry records showed him as being the only registered Wizard or Witch at that address, so Terrance probably lived alone, since the chance of one of the Knights living with a Muggle was fairly remote and absurd.

When he was finished with his preliminary check there, he went back to Auror Headquarters, got all of the TransPortal terminal locations they'd singled out, and made quick trips around to all of them, except for the five in Bulgaria he was familiar with already. By the time he'd finished up with the eight stops in America and got home to Hogsmeade, it was going on ten o'clock. He planned on parking himself outside of Terrance Nott's home by five o'clock, so he got ready for bed, climbed in, and waited for Carolyn's call.

"How was your first day back?" he asked when he answered her call.

"The usual," Carolyn said tiredly. "The Professors loaded us up with new assignments, we had a pop quiz to see if we'd actually done the holiday work, and a bunch of the kids were making too merry to do the holiday assignments, and are in trouble now."

"I've never understood that," Al admitted. "I can see it in the first or second year students, but by the time you get to your NEWT year, shouldn't you have figured out that you just doing the work on-time is easier than getting in all that trouble – especially when they'll have to still do the work anyway."

"I'm sure they think we're crazy spending so much of our time studying and working," Carolyn suggested. "Some days I think they're right."

Al laughed. Learning to just think the ViComm conversations and QuillMessages was coming fairly easily, but the laughs still came out aloud, which was a bit surprising to hear in the silence of the bedroom.

"What did you do today?" she asked.

"I'm starting a new surveillance in the morning, and was laying the groundwork for it today," he answered. "I did a fair bit of travelling, going as far east as Serbia, and as far west as California."

"Are you going to be in danger again?"

Al laughed again. "Danger is my middle name," he joked.

Carolyn laughed too. "Your middle name is Severus, and I'll take that as a probably. Be careful, Al."

"I will be, Carolyn," he promised. "Try not to worry too much about me being out there in the field. I'm going to be fine. Did you guys have much new TNM work to start the new term?"

Carolyn nodded. "Thanks for reminding me. Colin invited Myra, Claire, Erin, and Quincy to join, so that was pretty entertaining, and of course, they all accepted. There were maybe twenty kids that we'd collectively found who needed some back to school supplies that they didn't come back to school with, so Frederica and Millie are taking care of that for us. That was about all of the TNM news today."

"That sounds like quite enough for one day," Al told her. "I'd better get some sleep. At least for tomorrow, I'm starting early again."

"Okay," Carolyn said. "I love you, Al, and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"I love you too," Al told her. "Sleep well." They ended their call, and Al closed his eyes and was quickly asleep.

All was dark in most of the neighbourhood when Al arrived at the spot he'd picked out to begin his surveillance outside his mark's home. There were streetlights along the street, so even with his invisibility cloak, he had to be careful, but there wasn't a single light on in the houses across the street from where he'd stationed himself.

'Maybe he'll be a nine to fiver', Al thought to himself. Sleeping in until a normal hour might be nice, but he wasn't holding his breath. He was glad to have his new ViComm, since one of the things about surveillance under his cloak was that he couldn't just sit there and read a book or something – until now. Once he was settled in, he brought up the VirtualLibrary program, picked out a book, and started reading it while he also watched the building across the road.

At six o'clock, the first lights in the buildings on the street started coming on, but it wasn't until seven-thirty that there was any sign of life from Terrance's place. Over the next hour, Al watched the place, until at eight thirty-five, the young man he was waiting for emerged into the cold, his breath steaming as he descended the stairs from his building. Al had enough time to catch Terrance's planned destination as he looked up and down the street to make sure it was empty before he disappeared.

There had actually been two destinations that Al had seen – the first was a TransPortal terminal that Al had looked at in Nis, Serbia, but the second was a location the other man was planning on apparating to in Belgrade. The instant that Terrance had left, Al apparated directly to the second location, arriving at a road called Kralja Milana, down the street from the Muggle government building.

Since he'd seen the destination clearly in Terrance's mind, he'd chosen to appear a short distance from where the man should appear shortly, depending on how long he would wait before apparating here from where he'd chosen to arrive in Serbia.

It wasn't very long, and when the man arrived, he looked around again, and then started walking away from the Muggle government buildings. After a short distance, Al was not surprised to see him just simply disappear. There was no clue that he'd picked up, and so since there had been a total blank, Al had already suspected that he was about to enter a place that was protected by a Fidelius Charm. He found an out of the way spot, pulled the book up in his VirtualLibrary, and settled in to wait.

Terrance Nott reappeared about an hour and a half later, and Al quickly scanned for any surface thoughts. His quarry's next stop was going to be in Sofia, Bulgaria, although the man was going to apparate to another Serbian city, take the TransPortal to Bourgas, and then apparate to Sofia.

Once he'd disappeared, Al apparated directly to Shipka street, near Alexander Nevsky Square, and kept his eyes and mind open for Nott's arrival. He probably wouldn't pick the exact same location that the Carrows used, but hopefully he'd be close.

It turned out that Al was almost too close. Terrance apparated to a spot that was less than ten feet away from the place Al had picked. Since the man again took a moment to look around before turning toward him, Al had enough time to silently move out of the way of any possible collision. Once Terrance had passed, Al followed him, sure that he'd be disappearing when he reached the spot the Carrows had vanished from view every time that Hestia had tracked them.

Al was also still scanning Terrance's thoughts, and while there was nothing there about his destination, there were some fairly strong thoughts about how the Carrows had well and truly botched things for the Knights here in Bulgaria. He popped out of sight exactly where Al had known he would, so now it was back to the waiting game for Al. One thing of interest that he now had a second confirmation of was that not only did the Wizard or Witch disappear behind the Fidelius Charm, but Al couldn't pick up their thoughts anymore either.

That was the name of the game for the rest of the day. When Terrance reappeared on Shipka street again, Al picked up his next ultimate destination, along with a snide comment about whomever he'd been meeting with that was not very flattering. The first two stops were the only ones that were in countries where the Aurors were looking for fugitives, but Al followed Terrance – or in each case leapt ahead of him – as he made jumps to Turkey, Poland, and Norway, each time using TransPortal locations first, apparating to specific locations, and then disappearing into locations Al couldn't enter.

When Terrance finished in Norway, he had one more jump, and Al again jumped ahead of him to Rover Way, a road in Cardiff, Wales, at a spot near the water. When Terrance appeared this time, he didn't travel very far before disappearing, and so Al was able to watch the whole scene without moving. This stop didn't take nearly as long as the others, and when his target appeared again, he was heading home by way of a TransPortal stop in London, which again gave Al time to get to his stakeout spot before young Mr Nott got home.

Al stayed in that spot for more than an hour after Terrance went into his home, and then decided that it was time to call it a day and go back to Auror Headquarters to print the report for Hestia and Rick that he'd been creating as he went in the VirtualLibrary program.

He'd sent Hestia regular QuillMessages, keeping her updated on his progress throughout the day, and she was still at work when he got back, so Al sat down at her cubicle and gave her the full report.

"So you've identified five new locations that have Fidelius Charm protected places, including what's probably Rosier's place if that last one in Cardiff isn't something else," Hestia said, and Al nodded.

"It looks that way, yes," he agreed. "I'll keep at this, and see where it takes me. If he does different destinations every day, then I'm going to be busy."

"Put your report together for me, and go get out of here," she told him. "You've already had a long day, and you're probably ready to get something to eat too."

Al got up and went around the corner to his own cubicle. Sitting at his desk, he pulled out his VirtualQuill and some parchment, pulled up the virtual report he'd created, checked it over one more time, and sent it to the VirtualQuill to create two real life copies. When they were done, he put the quill and parchment away, got ready to leave, and walked back around the divider and handed the two reports to Hestia.

"How'd you do that?" she asked, and Al laughed.

"I'm getting to test out something that Mum and Lily have invented in the lab. I can do stuff like this wherever I am, and then just print it out later."

"Where do I sign up?" Hestia asked.

"From what I'm told, you'll hear about what they are soon," Al answered, "and they'll be available for sale at the end of June. I promise that you'll love it when you do get one for yourself."

Hestia sighed. "And here I was hoping to start saving all of that time I waste on report writing sooner."

"Do you have a Virtual GameWizard?" Al asked, and she nodded.

"Then use the VirtualLibrary program to write your reports, and print them with a VirtualQuill. That's how a lot of my friends and I have done our school reports for quite a few years now."

"That's a very good idea," Hestia told him. "I'll be sure to give that a try."

Al left the Ministry of Magic, going straight home to Hogsmeade. He made himself dinner, ate quickly, and cleaned up. For a brief moment, he considered going into the sitting room and doing some work, but then decided to just go upstairs and get ready for bed and his nightly call with Carolyn. It had been a long day, and there was a good chance tomorrow would be just as long.

Every day for the rest of the week was long as Al spent the next two days following Nott through ten countries in the Middle East and Africa, collecting a lot of new information on the locations and cities that were of some importance to the Knights, if not specific locations. The fact that he'd confirmed that the Knights were up to something in so many countries was worrisome, but since he still had no idea what they were doing in all of these places, any guesses as to the purpose of this apparent network was premature.

Terrance finished up the week with a route that took him through four countries in Western Europe. It was the fifth stop on Friday that was of the most interest to Al, because Terrance went from Spain to Morocco. Somewhere in the city of Tangier, fugitive former Death Eater Walden Macnair was in hiding – or at least he had been before all of the captures during the past few months.

While Al's assignment used the TransPortal to go to the city of Rabat first, he went straight to Tangiers, ending up near the fringe of the city's Medina section, close to the Kasbah, on the Rue de la Kasbah. When Nott arrived a few minutes later, Al followed him along the Rue de la Kasbah until he once again disappeared.

The man was gone for an hour and a half this time, and as he'd done every day so far, went apparating to another location before using the TransPortal, and eventually ended up on Rover Way in Cardiff. This time, it took Terrance closer to forty-five minutes to get back and make his way back home.

Al knew he could leave Terrance there for most of the weekend because he'd picked up the very loud thoughts all day about how much he hated next week's trips because of having to leave on Sunday night, and vague impressions of a very long week of travel.

That was just fine with Al, and he went back to Auror Headquarters, filed his report, picked up some files he wanted for the weekend, and went home. He was supposed to have had dinner at the Cottage, but he'd needed to call his father and cancel when it was obvious that he wouldn't be done work in time. That had been rescheduled for Saturday evening instead, and Al was looking forward to spending a few hours with them.

For tonight, he made himself something to eat, and while he did that, began spreading out the files and reports he'd brought home with him across the table, taking up most of it with the small stacks of parchment. Over the next two days, he planned on cross-referencing all of the information he'd gathered so far with as many of the Knights as he could. Since Terrance had used a different TransPortal location on the way in and out of each country, including the destinations themselves, he had a total of sixty points to work with.

Since there had been two TransPortal locations in Sofia to go with the Fidelius Charmed destination, there was a high probability that the same would be true for the other nineteen cities. What that all meant was that he had a lot of work to do, and other than eating, sleeping, and a few ViComm calls with Carolyn, that was pretty much all he did until it was time to get ready for dinner with his family on Saturday afternoon.

"You made it!" Lily said excitedly when Al came into the kitchen. She jumped up from her chair and hugged him tightly when he reached the table. "I thought you might be cancelling again."

"I'm just a little preoccupied with work," he explained while he moved on to hug Ginny and Harry, who were working together making dinner. "Now that I'm finally making some progress again, I don't want to lose any potential new leads, but there's just a lot of information to process, and more coming in all of the time."

"You're doing it all by shuffling papers, aren't you?" Lily asked, and Al nodded.

"Of course, Lily," he answered. "You know everything in the government is still on paper."

"That's true," she agreed, "but you're a pretty competent Virtual Game and Program designer, so why don't you throw something together that will let you work virtually with your own files and data? Compared to what you, Carolyn, and the other programmers did for BusinessMagic, it ought to be simple."

"That's not a bad idea if I can find the time. I had most of the summer off when I was working on BusinessMagic with Carolyn."

Lily laughed at him. "You mean like the five or six hours a day that you told me a couple of days ago you were filling with reading some book on ancient Astronomers of the Wizarding World while you waited for your target's next move?"

Al laughed too. "Yeah, maybe like that kind of time," he agreed. "How's work going with you?"

"Mum and I are keeping busy," she answered. "We're going to have the production ViComm ready before we go on vacation in two weeks, and they'll be going into production before we get back."

Al nodded. "Then what'll you do? Take the rest of the year off?"

"Is that an option?" Ginny joked.

"Sure it is," Harry answered. "You won't do that, though. I'm pretty sure you two have already picked your next project, and once you get back from vacation, you'll both be ready to get back in the lab."

"We have," Ginny admitted, "and I'll be glad to get back in the lab. It's been a lot of fun working with Lily again this year."

Lily nodded in agreement. "We make a pretty great team, too. If we don't solve all of the world's problems this year, maybe I'll work with you during the next school year too."

"If we solve all of the world's problems by June, I'll take next year off and we'll go spend the whole year playing, and just come back for Hogsmeade weekends, Quiditch matches, and Christmas," Ginny told Lily. "Don't book the hotels quite yet, though."

During the next few hours, Al was brought up to speed on what had been going on around the family, found out all about what Luna was going to be doing with her advertising campaign for the ViComms, and an update on the wedding plans for both his and Carolyn's wedding on the island, and Brianna and Scorpius' Emerald City Centre wedding. They talked about the Canons' road win over the Wasps in which Arianna had scored twenty-nine goals and Liselle had caught the snitch. It was after nine when he got home, and he got ready for bed then, planning on getting up early and getting back to working his way through the files that were still on the table.

Carolyn kept him informed of everything that was going on at Hogwarts, and for the first week of school, that had been just three things: Classes and the piles of homework; Quidditch; and talk about the upcoming Iditarod Broom Race that was on the same weekend as the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game. The students universally agreed that there was too much of the first, that Slytherin was going to win the second, and that they all wanted to see what the ghosts of Iditarod were going to try and do to Mark this year after being surprised last year and totally missing the chance to attack him.

On Sunday, Al worked at home until around two o'clock, and then forced himself to go sleep again for a few hours. He wasn't exactly sure when Terrance was going to be leaving, so he planned on being at his stakeout post for nine o'clock. That was a bit of a risk, but it was highly likely that if the destination was far enough to the east for Terrance to need to leave in the evening on Sunday, then at most he was going ten hours in time zone jumps. He wouldn't want to arrive before the normal start of the workday, so Al guessed that, based on last week, Terrance probably wouldn't leave until at least ten, but probably no later than midnight.

He slept until seven-thirty, got cleaned up and ready for a long day, and packed a change of clothes in his undetectable expansion pouch in case he needed them. He ate dinner, called Carolyn for their nightly chat, and then left for London and the early start of another week playing follow the Knight messenger.

A silent sigh of relief did escape his lips when his guess was proven right, and Terrance stepped out into the cold winter's night shortly before eleven o'clock and the leapfrog tracking began with a jump to Australia.

They were gone for two days, and Al followed Nott from Australia to New Zealand, and then up to Japan. There were another ten stops during those two days, including Korea, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and finally Russia as they worked their way from east to west. From there, they returned to England, where Terrance made his Rover Way stop in Cardiff, and after more than two hours there, went home.

Once his target was there, and Al was sure he knew what the next move was, he went to Auror Headquarters to go over everything with Hestia, filed his report, and went home to take the rest of the night off. He was focused on his work, and had to admit to himself that he was enjoying the cloak and wand work quite a lot, but now that it was only a few days away, he was also getting excited about seeing Carolyn again at the game on Saturday.

He almost took the night off from work, except for an hour when he'd had an idea for something he could do with the new program he was creating for himself, and had worked that idea out, and added it to the now about a quarter-finished program. At ten o'clock, he was in bed when Carolyn's call came in.

"Good, you're home again," she said when seeing he was in his room at the house in Hogsmeade. "Did you have fun playing hide and seek?"

Al laughed. "Yes I did," he answered. "There's a lot of hurry-up and wait involved, but it is a lot more exciting that sifting through a bunch of old junk, or going through endless stacks of parchment."

"That last part sounds like my life – endless studying – except that we're mostly reading from books," Carolyn told him. "You are being careful?"

"I haven't had a problem," he assured her. "He's on the move again tomorrow, and I don't think I'll be back home until Friday night or Saturday morning."

"You're still going to make the game, aren't you?" Carolyn asked, looking worried.

"I expect to be, yes," he answered. "Don't be surprised if I'm a little tired, though."

Carolyn's face relaxed. "As long as you're there and cuddling with me, I don't care if you nap through the whole game."

"There's no way I'll sleep through the few hours I'll get to spend with you," Al said firmly. "We get to spend time together for four out of the next five Saturdays, but then we have ten long weeks with just three Hogsmeade weekends. I'm definitely going to be awake for every minute of that time with you."

They talked for another twenty minutes, and then ended the call, each ready to get some sleep. Al was able to get his first good night of sleep since Saturday night, and he had lots of time on Wednesday morning to get ready for his continuing tracking mission because they were heading west this time.

He was ready, and had been watching Nott's home for well over an hour when the chase resumed at a quarter to twelve. During the next ten hours or so, the game was on as Al stayed one step ahead of Terrance through Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, and Colombia.

On Thursday morning, they were off again, criss-crossing Central America in no apparent pattern. By the end of the day, though, they'd gone to Guatemala, Panama, Hondouras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and ended the day in Mexico. Both Wednesday night, and Thursday night, Terrance stayed in fairly unpleasant-looking Wizarding Inns that reminded him a lot of the way the rooms at the Hog's Head had been described to him by James, Arianna, and others. Al had no problem with staying in Muggle hotels, though, so even though he could only stay for a few hours, he had no problem checking in to a couple of the resort hotels in the area each night, getting a great meal, and the few hours of sleep in a comfortable room and bed.

On Friday morning, when young Mr Nott came out of the Inn he'd stayed in, Al had to work to keep from laughing. Terrance did not look like he'd had a very good night, and Al was beginning to see why the man had been dreading this week's trips. He wondered idly what Terrance would think if he'd known that Al had just finished a five-star breakfast while he'd watched the sun come up on the sparkling waters of the Caribbean. Al had made a note to himself to make sure he brought Carolyn back there sometime for a few days.

Al was glad he had the big breakfast, because it was a long day. Terrance jumped all around the United States and Canada, with his ultimate destinations hidden places in New York, Miami, New Orleans, and Los Angeles in the United States, and in Montreal and Calgary in Canada. With those six stops, the last of which was Los Angeles, it wasn't until six o'clock local time that Terrance finished his stop there and left for home.

When he did go to Cardiff for whatever end-of-trip meeting he normally had, even though it was after two o'clock in the morning home time when they arrived, Al was both surprised and a little annoyed that he was going to be getting even less sleep before going to Hogwarts for the game in the morning. When the other Wizard finally reappeared at three-thirty, Al was ready to turn him into a slug and shove him under a rock. It wasn't just that it was cold at that time of morning, but that had been made worse by coming back from Los Angeles, where it had been a lot warmer.

Fortunately for Terrance, the only thought in his mind was for home and a bed that didn't have things crawling in it. Al made the jump to his spot across the road from Nott's home, and as soon as the other Wizard had gone inside, and Al was sure of what was going on next, he apparated to Hogsmeade, went into his house and straight up to bed. He was fast asleep before four o'clock, and set his internal alarm to go off an hour before he could go onto the school grounds.

Al was awake, showered, dressed, and having a quick breakfast on Saturday morning when Lily stopped by on her way to Hogwarts.

"I thought I'd check and see if you'd slept in," she told him. "What time did you get home?"

"A little before four," Al answered. "If I wasn't highly motivated this morning, sleeping in would have been high on my to-do list."

"At least what you're doing has you on the right track," she told him. "Are you about ready to go? Since I only get to sit with Kieran for three of the games, I don't want to miss a minute with him."

"Just let me clean up from breakfast, and I'll be ready to roll," he told her. "We've still got ten minutes before we can go in anyway."

Lily and Al were both laughing with Scorpius a few minutes later when they met outside of the gates to Hogwarts. Al had side-along apparated Lily to the entrance, and Scropius told them he'd just gotten there himself. When it was officially an hour before game time, it was safe for them to enter the school grounds, and they started walking toward the Quidditch stadium. There was a delay in their progress when Kieran, Brianna, and Carolyn met them part-way as they exchanged hugs and kisses, and then the three couples continued their trek, hurrying along to get into the relative protection from the cold breeze that the stadium stands offered.

"Is anyone else coming today?" Carolyn asked Lily as they walked.

"I don't think so this time," Lily answered. "I don't know if Daphne's parents are coming or not, but we're all that's coming from our family."

"Isn't it funny how there's a direct connection between the outside temperature and the guest attendance at these games?" Kieran asked. "At least you're all here."

"We're hoping for a marathon game too," Lily told him. "Even if it is really cold out."

The stands were pretty much deserted when they got there, so they went and picked out a good spot in the Ravenclaw section, got their blankets out, cuddled under them, and waited for the game to start.

"What do you think will happen with the game today?" Scorpius asked Kieran.

"I have no idea," he answered truthfully. "I'd give Slytherin the edge, just because they've got the better team on paper, but with Myra and Erin in the mix, and how closely they played us in November, I don't know."

"If it is a long game, the cold could make a big difference too," Lily suggested. "It's so hard to play when it's this cold out."

"It's a lot less fun too," Al added.

They practically had the whole place to themselves until about twenty minutes before game time, when the stands started filling up rapidly as students, Professors, and guests who had waited until the last minute to brave the cold came and found seats. Their announcer got to the game with all of five minutes to spare, and hurried to get set up.

For the last ten or fifteen minutes before the game, Al, Scorpius, and Lily spent most of their time visiting with their friends as they came and sat down around them to watch the game. The Gryffindor and Slytherin Marauders, along with Joel and Amy, stopped by for hugs and kisses before going on to their sections, while the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Marauders, along with Dale, sat with them after joining in on those hugs and greetings.

"I guess somebody has to be over in the Slytherin section supporting Daphne," Lily said, "but it looked like they would have rather stayed here to hang out with us instead."

"They do care about their House too," Carissa said quietly as she snuggled with Dale. "We keep thinking they could come sit with us, but it'd be just as easy for us to go sit with them and cheer for Daphne too."

Lily laughed. "You're absolutely right. Should we shock the whole school and go do that?"

Carissa smiled at her. "I did say 'could' not 'would'," she told Lily. "I'm not rooting for a team anyway – I'm just hoping that Daphne, Myra, and Erin all have good games."

"You should be rooting for Ravenclaw," Scorpius told her. "If Slytherin wins today, they'll have a win and a loss, and be gunning for Hufflepuff in May. If they lose, then it probably won't matter if they win or lose in May, since either you or Gryffindor will have two wins by then."

"Isn't it still a bit early in the season for the what-if's?" Brianna asked. "The only thing you'll know at the end of today is that you're going to have three one-win teams so far. When the next game's over, you'll have two and a half months to work on all of those possibilities."

"Just trying to keep my brain from freezing, dear," Scorpius said, kissing her cold cheek.

There was no fanfare for this game, and the teams made quick, short loops around the stadium, landed, shook hands, nodded a few times as Madame Hooch gave them the abbreviated speech reserved for especially chilly days, and threw the quaffle into the air to get the game started.

Some of the spectators might not have been happy as the game roared on, but the true fans couldn't help but get into the game. Daphne led the charge for Slytherin, and she threw everything she had at the Ravenclaw team, and against Myra. She'd personally taken forty-three shots in the first hour, and didn't have a single goal to show for it as Myra seemed to be in the perfect position to make every save. While Myra was doing that, her Chasers had actually managed to get a goal against Thomas, and Ravenclaw had the lead by ten points.

Erin was running Slytherin's Seeker, Darrin all over the pitch, and it looked like he was barely keeping up as he managed to block Erin's attempts to catch the snitch, even if he wasn't getting many chances of his own.

In the second hour, Ravenclaw scored another goal, going up twenty points, but it wasn't until they were twenty-seven minutes into the third hour that Daphne finally scored a goal against Myra on her one hundred and eleventh shot. Ravenclaw scored a third goal at the two hours and forty-two minute mark to make it thirty to ten, and then less than ten minutes later, the final mistake of the game was made.

Joe Jenkins and his fellow Ravenclaw Beater had finally gotten the set-up they'd wanted to try and get Darrin out of their way and give Erin a free shot at the snitch. Both Seekers were diving on the snitch, and Joe sent a bludger at Darrin, who dodged it, managing to stay close to Erin as they continued after the snitch.

The other Ravenclaw Beater had sent the other bludger after Darrin from behind, and then watched in horror as he, and quite a few of the spectators realized at the very last moment that he'd missed. Everyone heard the loud CRACK when the bludger struck Erin high on her thigh, close to the hip, and she cried out in pain, grabbing her injured leg with one hand, which immediately dropped her behind Darrin. The Slytherin Seeker ended the game a few seconds later, but he wasn't celebrating as he wheeled around to see how Erin was doing.

Daphne and Joe had been closest, and were already on each side of Erin, helping her to land as quickly and gently as possible.

"Don't put any weight on that leg when we land," Joe told a grimacing Erin. "We'll hold you up."

Madame Hooch was there when they landed, and after a quick inspection, declared that Erin's leg probably had a fracture, and ordered the big, strong Captain of the Ravenclaw team to carefully pick up the diminutive Erin and follow her to the Hospital Wing to see Madame Pomfrey right away.

"I'll call James and let him know," Lily told the others when they saw Joe carry Erin away even as she was placing the ViComm call and they were all getting up to make their way to the field.

"I'll go ask Professor McGonagall if we can go stay with her until James or Arianna can get there," Scorpius said, heading toward where he'd seen the Headmistress, Brianna going with him.

Carolyn had her arm around an ashen-faced Quincy, and was talking quietly with him as they hurried along.

"Just relax," she told him. "Take a few deep breaths. You're not going to want to show Erin how upset you are when we do get the chance to see her. I'm sure Madame Pomfrey will have her good as new in no time."

Quincy did as she asked, and some of the colour returned to his face. They met with Daphne, Myra, and the rest of the two teams, and waited for Scorpius and Brianna to rejoin them. Daphne relayed what Madame Hooch had said about Erin's injury, confirming what everyone was pretty sure they'd heard during that loud collision. Professor McGonagall came along with Scorpius and Brianna, and she had that serious, calm expression that all of the current and former students in the group recognized.

"I know that the three of you would all like to remain here with your friend," she told Al, Scorpius, and Lily, "but I don't believe that the young lady needs a Hospital Wing full of well-wishers. Lily, if you'd like to stay until James can get here, I think that you and our Head Girl should be sufficient moral support for your friend while not aggravating Madame Pomfrey while she works."

Al and Scorpius nodded, and hugged Brianna and Lily before the two girls hurried off, Brianna adding a too-short kiss goodbye for her fiancée.

"Can't I go along, Professor?" Quincy asked Professor McGonagall before she left, and she looked down at Erin's young friend.

"Considering where Erin was injured, I think maybe you should come visit her a little later, Quincy," she told him gently. "I'll make sure that you have permission to visit once Madame Pomfrey advises us that it is alright for you to do so." She looked up at Carolyn who nodded that she'd take care of him, nodded in return, and left them to start walking back to the school.

"It looks like it'll be a while before we'll get to see Erin," Carolyn told Quincy. "Why don't you and I walk Al and Scorpius to the gates to fill up some of that time, and then we'll go see what everyone else is doing this afternoon. We're probably still getting together to watch the start of Mark's race in Karl's office."

"Okay," Quincy agreed, resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to be able to just sit and watch over his friend like he wanted to do.

Scorpius and Al started a round of goodbyes with their friends, and then the three boys left the stadium with Carolyn, and started walking toward the gates.

"I always expected that if Brianna or I weren't going to get to spend time with you boys that it'd be because of something going on with your work, not with Brianna or I," Carolyn told them.

"We still got nearly four hours together," Scorpius said. "That's more than I thought we'd have for a winter game. I sure hope Erin's luck changes. She's playing so great, and then her team mates are screwing it up for her."

Al nodded. "Yeah. You should never have to worry about your own Beaters taking you out of the game. I'm sure the kid feels bad, but come on – if you're not sure about the shot, you just don't take it. Any Beater will tell you that."

"Come on, guys. He made a mistake. Show a little Ravenclaw understanding," Carolyn told the boys.

"I'll try," Quincy told her. "Will it be okay if I wait until after Erin gets out of the Hospital Wing first, though? Maybe a week or a month or two after?"

Carolyn laughed and hugged him. "You know she'll forgive him the next time she sees him, mate."

Quincy nodded. "That's true," he agreed, "but if he'd done that to one of her friends, it would have been a whole different story."

When they reached the gates, Carolyn kept her goodbye with Al short, hugged Scorpius goodbye too, and then put an arm around Quincy as they turned to walk back to school. Al and Scorpius left the school grounds and apparated to the house in Hogsmeade. The plan had been to hang out for the rest of the day with Lily, watch the Iditarod Broom Race, and then Lily was going to stay the night, while Scorpius was going to go back to Grimmauld Place. Lily had already sent them a QuillMessage to let them know that she'd meet them there after James and Arianna got to the Hospital Wing, so Al and Scorpius went inside and Al made hot drinks for them, put some wine on ice, and made up a couple of sandwiches for himself and Scorpius.

At Hogwarts, Lily was holding Erin's hand and wiping sweat and tears from her brow and cheeks as Madame Pomfrey worked on Erin's leg. She was in a hospital gown now, and was laying on her uninjured hip.

"The bone isn't completely broken, and it's still lined up straight," Madame Pomfrey said approvingly. "I'll have you fixed up in a jiffy, sweetheart," she told Erin. "You'll be staying with me overnight so I can watch you, but you should be back with your friends by lunchtime tomorrow. Your Captain did just the right thing to make sure they didn't make things worse while moving you."

Joe had been summarily dismissed after gently helping to get Erin into the bed, and was probably still outside waiting to hear how Erin was doing.

"I'll go tell Joe she's going to be fine," Brianna said, leaving Lily to stay with Erin.

"What exactly happened?" Erin asked Lliy in a whisper, her voice still filled with pain. "I was sure I'd marked both of the Slytherin Beaters."

"You had, sweetie," Lily told her. "It was your guy who miss-hit the Bludger and got you."

Erin closed her eyes and winced. "Maybe I'll have a chance in one of these games if those boys can just get out of my way," she said, trying to smile. "I'll let you know in a couple of days, but right now, I'm pretty sure this hurts more than the first loss did."

Lily smiled and squeezed her hand. "I'm pretty sure that in a few days, you'll still be sure."

"Madame Pomfrey," Brianna called softly from just inside the door, "Erin's guardians, James and Arianna are here. Should I send them in?"

"Just send Arianna in," Madame Pomfrey told Brianna. "Mr Potter will have to wait until I'm finished fixing the young lady's leg, and she can be covered up properly for receiving gentlemen callers."

Brianna stuck her head out the door, opening it to admit Arianna, who hurried over to Erin. Lily hugged her and stepped back to let Arianna take over.

"I've got to go now Erin," she told her. "Call me when you can and let me know how you're feeling sometime tomorrow, okay?"

Erin nodded. "I will. Thanks for staying, Lily."

Brianna left the room with Lily, and waited while she hugged James for a minute.

"She's going to be okay, Dad," Lily told him, and James smiled and nodded.

"Brianna told us already. How's Quincy doing?"

"I'll call Carolyn and ask her," Brianna told him. "She's been staying with him." It only took her a few seconds to get the answer. "They're in the Ravenclaw Common room, and Carolyn said she'll bring him up to see you while you're waiting to get in. He's pretty upset still."

James nodded. "I thought he might be. Maybe I'll be able to help."

Kieran had been waiting too, and Lily went over with him to wait for Carolyn and Quincy. She didn't think Professor McGonagall would mind if she stayed long enough to say goodbye to them too. It was only a few minutes before they came down the hallway, but it was several more minutes before she could say goodbye to Quincy, since he had thrown himself into James' arms as soon as he'd seen him. James had held Quincy gently, and talked soothingly as he stroked his hair, and then handed him tissues to dry his eyes with. When he was back in control, Lily went to him and hugged and kissed him.

"I have to leave now, Quincy," she told him. "Take care of Erin for us, and if you need anything at all, let me know, and I'll get it to you."

"I will," he said, answering both parts. "Thanks, Lily."

She hugged Brianna and James again, and then took Kieran's hand and they started a long, slow walk to the Hogwarts gates.

"That's not exactly the way I wanted to get more time with you," Lily said after they were outside. "It could have been worse, though. A little higher up, and they'd have been growing her a new hip, and she'd have been moved to St. Mungo's."

"Do you think she'll be able to get out there and play again?" he asked. "We've both seen players who lose their nerve after something like this."

Lily smiled. "I'm sure she'll be back," she told him confidently. "She's a lot tougher than she looks. You forget what she's been through."

Kieran nodded. "I do, but that's mostly because I can't imagine anyone wanting to hurt her on purpose."

When they reached the gates, Lily wrapped her arms around Kieran's neck, and pulled him close for a long, searing kiss that he was sure should have melted the snow around them for ten feet, but when she let him go, the ground was still white.

"I'll see you in a week," she told him huskily, both of them breathing hard as they caught their breath. "I love you, Kieran. Take care of yourself, and don't work too hard."

"I love you too, Lily," he said, kissing her one last time. "I can't promise not to work hard, though. I've got a Quidditch game coming up, and loads of assignments."

"Try anyway," she said again. "I don't want you too tired to spend some quality time with me next Saturday."

Kieran nodded, and watched her leave and begin the walk to town. He thought about calling Al to come and get her, but then decided that maybe she wanted the alone time as much as he wanted the few minutes he'd have while walking back to the school.

Al fixed Lily something to eat when she got back, and a hot chocolate to warm her up. She told them about Erin, and how she was doing, and after she was finished eating, Al cleaned up, and they went into the sitting room to talk while they waited for the race to start on WMSN.

"How are we supposed to know what's going on for the race today with Joel over there at Hogwarts?" Scorpius asked.

Lily grinned at him. "I can give you last year's recap. Race length, twenty-two hundred and fifty miles. It's a round-trip race from Anchorage to Nome Alaska. They fly above and along the north and south routes used by the Muggle dogsledders on alternate years for their one-way annual race. They go to Nome along the Northern route, and back along the Southern route, which takes them through the now-famous ghost town of Iditarod, for which the race is named. The old race record was eleven hours and fifty-six minutes, and the average previous race time was closer to fourteen hours. The weather always plays a factor in the times. Mark set the new record of eight hours and forty-three minutes, with an average speed of about two hundred and fifty-eight miles per hour."

"Was that in one breath?" Al asked, and Scorpius laughed.

"I think it was, yes," Scorpius agreed.

"The only other bit of important information is that the Iditarod ghost town is at the seventeen hundred and ninth mile of the race, and Mark should get there sometime around nine-thirty tonight our time, twelve-thirty in the afternoon local time," Lily told them, finishing the major details of the race for the boys.

"What's the weather like for the race?" Al asked her.

"A lot better than last year from what I heard from Mum and Dad," she told him. "It's bitterly cold, but they're not supposed to have snow, except for maybe a hundred miles around Nome."

"That should make for an even faster race," Scorpius said. "Maybe I won't be out too much past my bedtime after all."

They watched the half-hour long pre-game show, and then watched nearly the entire first hour of the race. Al served drinks, and put snacks out for them to work on, and they were enjoying the time together just hanging around and really doing nothing. James and Arianna stopped by at around four o'clock after leaving Hogwarts to give them an Erin update, join them for a drink, and find out how the race was going so far, but had a date night with the gang, so didn't stay long before going home to get ready for an evening out with their friends.

When they left, Al went into the kitchen to start cooking dinner for three while Lily and Scorpius continued to watch the race. He got called in a couple of times to watch the replays of a couple of pretty wild crashes, and they kept him updated frequently on Mark's progress compared to the rest of the racers.

By five o'clock, Mark was only ten miles ahead of Mariposa, and that was less than three minutes flying time at the speeds they were flying. He was more than one hundred and forty miles ahead of the next closest competition, and that gap was growing at more than a mile a minute, since his average speed was two hundred and sixty miles an hour.

Mariposa now seemed to be able to get to the same top speed that Mark could, but was losing precious time on the turns and on her own flight paths. That wouldn't matter if Mark made a mistake and crashed, though. They were both closing in on the half-way point of the leg to Nome, and they would probably both get there at around the same time as Mark had made the turn back toward the finish line last year.

"Dinner is served," Al told Lily and Scorpius shortly before six, and they sat down at the dining room table to eat.

"This looks great, Al," Lily told him. "You didn't have to go with the major meal, though."

Al shrugged. "I've been eating a lot of field rations the past couple of weeks. This was as much for me and for you guys."

"Then we're really glad we picked tonight to have dinner with you," Scorpius told him. "I've seen those field rations, and I for one am glad we weren't having dinner with you for one of those meals."

"Will you be back out on the trail next week?" Lily asked, and Al nodded. "I'll be following him for as long as I can keep learning more about what he's doing, or until some better lead comes along."

"Aren't any of the other Aurors making progress on their cases?" Scorpius asked, and Al shook his head.

"Not that I've heard," he answered. "Patrick and Garret are spending a lot of time in Mexico, but most of the others are working paper trails."

Lily nodded. "What are the chances that winter is impacting any interest in field work?"

"Probably a lot for everyone," Al said. "You've got two single guys spending most of their time touring Mexico, and everyone else except me holed up at Auror Headquarters."

"They ought to smarten up, because it's pretty obvious that the bad guys are not sitting around all winter waiting for spring," Scorpius said seriously.

"The seventeen sickle question that we need to find the answer to is what?" Al told them.

"Considering the characters involved," Lily said, "it can't be good."

They took their time eating dinner, and all pitched in to clean up before getting fresh drinks and going back into the sitting room to watch more of the broom race. All three of them had been getting occasional updates from Kieran, Carolyn, and Brianna on Erin, and on what the Marauders were doing.

James and Arianna had already told them that after her leg had been healed, Erin was given a restorative that had put her to sleep not long after James and Quincy had been allowed in for a very short visit. Brianna sent Scorpius a message after she'd taken Quincy for a visit after dinner in the Great Hall, and called him to talk later on when they were back in Karl's office watching the race.

By nine o'clock home time, the WMSN race commentators were getting excited about Mark's approach to the ghost town. They'd set up several cameras there this year, and when they showed the scene there in town, the ghosts were out in force and were already moaning, wailing, and frenetically roaming the town, all of them obviously agitated to a very high degree, and possibly showing off for the cameras too.

At six hours into the race, Mark had still only pulled thirty miles ahead of Mariposa, and that lead only added up to maybe a seven or eight minute advantage. The ghost town could win or lose the race for either of them. The next group of riders were now four hundred and fifty miles behind Mark, and short of crashing out of the race, Mark and Mariposa would be the first two finished, by more than two, and probably closer to three hours over the rest of the field.

"How come we haven't heard anything from those other two guys who have been able to go faster than two hundred and twenty along with Mark and Mariposa?" Al asked. "Did I miss something?"

"Raffaele retired from the race while you were cooking, probably because of the cold, and Wyn is way behind with a group of stragglers that haven't even made the turn at Nome yet," Lily told him. "Neither of them seemed to like the cold weather."

"Do any of them like that weather?" Scorpius asked. "It was something like forty-five below zero when the race started."

WMSN was now switching back and forth between Mark's cameras and the cameras in Iditarod. The closer Mark got, the more Al and Scorpius noticed that Lily's excitement level was going up.

"Do you know something that we don't?" Al asked her finally. "You're bouncing."

Lily grinned at him, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Yes, I do, but I'd hate to spoil it for you."

"Why do I get the feeling that she was in on whatever Mark has planned for dealing with the ghosts?" Scorpius asked, and Al laughed.

"Because it's becoming obvious that she did?" he suggested.

It was just before nine-thirty when Mark came roaring toward Iditarod. The racers had to come down to around fifty feet above the ground, following the main street through the dilapidated old town. From the moment he hit the outskirts of town, his forward-view broom camera showed every detail of ghostly horror after horror that was being thrown at him, while an inset picture showed the camera pointed at Mark's placid face that if anything just showed intense concentration.

Lily began cheering, and they watched as Mark flew through and past every ghastly apparition, seeming to just completely ignore them as he flew. Many of the now-frantic ghosts set up at the other end of town for one last-ditch effort to bring down the race leader, but Mark just blasted past them and out of their reach at full speed, beginning his climb higher into the air as the furious ghosts massed at the town limits and raged impotently at him.

"Okay, Lily," Al said. "Spill it. You know you want to. How did he do that without even so much as a cringe?"

Lily laughed. "I knew it'd work!" she exulted. "We took the ghost town section from the latest BroomRacer game, gave Mark a ViComm, set up that program to be synchronized with his real-time data, and kick in when he reached a spot five miles outside of town. He was flying based on what he saw in the Virtual BroomRacer. What he flew in the game from that point on was what he was flying in real life too, except without the cute little ghosties."

"That was brilliant!" Scorpius told her. "Why not just do that for the whole race?"

"We can't – at least not yet," she told him. "This worked because there was nobody else around him. Synchronizing the game with the real life position of all of the racers would be much more complex. Just doing this took some real effort. If we'd made a mistake, he could've flown full speed into a building or something."

It was only a few minutes before Mariposa flew into town, and her game plan was the same as it had been last year. She slowed down to a crawl, and flew through town at a snail's pace. That did get her safely through, but in the four minutes it took her to do it that way, Mark gained another seventeen miles on her, and was now almost forty miles ahead.

"I doubt she'll catch him now," Lily said happily. "She is getting better every race, though. I can see there being some close races coming up – any of the races that don't have a lot of technical flying to them."

"She's very determined," Scorpius told them. "I have a feeling that she will get a win this season. Maybe in the Trans-Atlantic or the New York to Los Angeles race."

"Those are two that she should have her best shots in," Lily agreed. "I'm not sure how much stamina she has for the Trans-Pacific race. It's just so long, that one might be too much when she doesn't have the Arithmancy advantage that Mark has with Isabelle and me."

Scorpius looked at his watch and then at Al and Lily. "Would you guys be terribly offended if I went home early? I can watch Mark and Mariposa get to the finish line from bed, and I don't think I'm going to stay up much after that, except to maybe catch the next few racers through the ghost town."

"We won't be offended," Al assured him. "I'd do that too, except there's no way I could stay awake for another two hours if I climbed into bed now."

The three of them got up, and Scorpius hugged both of them, then got ready to brave the cold for the few minutes he'd be outside, and left for Grimmauld Place. Al and Lily took the opportunity to refill their drinks before going back to the sitting room to watch the rest of the race. Mark crossed the finish line at eight hours, twenty-nine minutes, with an average speed of two hundred and sixty-five miles an hour. Mariposa arrived just twelve minutes later, coming in with the second fastest time in history, two minutes faster than Mark's record last year.

Al and Lily were both ready to get some sleep, but by the time they'd watched Mark's post-race interview, the next racers coming up on the ghost town were almost there, so they stayed up the extra fifteen minutes to watch a group of eight racers come through the town. The first one attempted to fly through at full speed, pulling ahead of the other seven, and they watched a a particularly nasty apparition caused him to veer away and crash. The other seven racers did the same thing Mariposa had done, and although they went through slowly, they did all get through.

"Have you had enough excitement for one day?" Al asked, and Lily nodded.

"Yes. Turn it off, and let's clean up and go to bed," she told him. "Kieran should be calling once he gets back to his House, and as soon as we're done talking, I want to be in a position to go right to sleep."

Al nodded. "That sounds like my plan, except I think I'll talk with Carolyn instead of Kieran."

It didn't take long to clean up, and they were both changed and in their respective rooms by the time that Carolyn called Al, and Kieran called Lily. Both conversations were pretty much just update and goodnight chats, and then it was time for a good night's sleep.

Sunday morning, Al cooked breakfast for two, and had it ready by the time Lily joined him in the kitchen. His game plan for the day was to go shopping with Lily this morning, and then they were having lunch with Nick, Allie, and Scorpius. Al and Lily didn't see Nick and Allie as much as they'd like, but they were all busy, so getting together once every couple of weeks was about all they could manage right now. After lunch, Al planned on going in to work for a few hours and trying to make some progress putting all of the new information he was gathering together, and see if anything new came out of it.

During the morning shopping, Lily picked out a get well present for Erin, even though she was going to be out of the Hospital Wing any time now, a new swimsuit for her upcoming week on the island with their parents, and a new outfit for work. At lunch, Nick and Allie told them all about their last couple of weeks at work.

On Thursday, they'd both gone to the South Pacific, and had just returned yesterday. Nick went to see how the hotel and the other buildings he'd designed were coming along, and Allie went with him to check out the new premises for the Marauders Refuge SpaMagic, and three other new shops that Witch Investments was going to be launching on the island – one that just carried summer-weather clothing and swimsuits for women, a jewellery store, and a gift shop geared toward Witches.

When they split up after lunch, Scorpius went with Al to the Ministry of Magic, planning on working through the afternoon too. They parted ways in the lift, and Al went straight to his cubicle when he got to Auror Headquarters and saw that he again had the place to himself, sat down and got to work.

With twenty-nine new destinations from last week, along with fifty-eight more TransPortal terminals, of which only a few had previously been identified in the United States, his data-crunching job had gotten even tougher. He ended up staying and working until after seven o'clock, and then regretfully packed up for the night. With another week of surveillance ahead of him, he was just going to have to accept that there were only so many hours in a day, and he couldn't do everything.

On Monday, he spent the entire day following Terrance around Wizarding England. This was either a day off, or cleverly disguised as one. After leaving home, Al followed him to stops at Gringotts, the Apothecary, and a few other shops in Diagon Alley. Terrance eventually had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron with his father, who Al recognized, and a woman who was probably his mother, that Al hadn't yet seen. After that, he went grocery shopping, and finally returned home, still in the early afternoon.

Al stopped his surveillance for the day after that, having picked up Terrance's thoughts that let Al know that Mr Nott was going to be staying home for the rest of the day. He wondered that in two weeks of following the man, he'd yet to see him hang out with any friends his own age. So far, it looked like he was a real loner, although it was possible that he did see some friends when Al wasn't watching him on the weekends.

Beginning on Tuesday, Al and his Knight Messenger were on the move again. This time, they were doing the stops that Terrance had done on the Friday of the first week that Al had followed him – four stops in Western Europe, and the stop in Tangier, Morocco. He used some of the same TransPortal terminals, and also added some others into the mix as well. He also mixed up the order of the stops from two weeks ago, and Al was beginning to see why no pattern had emerged, since days and times didn't match up from week to week.

For the rest of the week, all of the other stops from two weeks ago were covered, all mixed, except each day's stops were kept on a single daily schedule. After doing the Friday stops from two weeks ago on Tuesday, Terrance then did the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday stops from that week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. It wasn't all that complicated, but it was an effective way to keep from having any apparent pattern or schedule.

Al was a happy camper when he finished his tracking for the day on Friday. The first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year was on Saturday, and he was going to get to spend the day with Carolyn. He checked in to Auror Headquarters, but by the time he'd gotten there, the place was deserted for the weekend. He worked at his desk long enough to print off his daily report, dropped copies off for Hestia and Rick, and then left again. His next stop was for some extra groceries he wanted for the lunch he was doing for everyone tomorrow, and then he headed home.

Since he was running behind, Al just made himself a sandwich for dinner. Lily was spending the night at his house, partly to be here for the Hogsmeade weekend, and partly to get to spend a few hours with Al before she left on vacation after Kieran went back to school on Saturday afternoon.

"I'd say we haven't seen you all week, but then Mum and I worked late every day too," Lily told Al after she'd arrived, they'd gotten drinks, and gone into the sitting room.

"I did stop in to see Dad on Monday," Al told her. "You must have gotten the production model of the ViComm finished, though, or you wouldn't be here now."

Lily nodded. "We did, and it looks awesome." She pulled a program chip out of her pocket and tossed it to him. "Load that into yours," she told him. "It's the final production system upgrades. I doubt you'll notice any differences, but there were a few little changes we made over the past three weeks."

Al did that right then, since it only took seconds. They talked for close to an hour, catching up on what they'd each been doing all week, and then decided to watch a movie before going to bed.

They both got up early on Saturday, and Lily joined Al in the kitchen to make breakfast for three, since Scorpius was going to join them. He got to the house at seven-thirty, and his timing was perfect, as Lily and Al were just setting the food out on the table.

"Good timing," Al told Scorpius, who laughed and nodded at Lily.

"She sent me a Virtual QuillMessage fifteen minutes ago," he told Al. "I probably would have been late if she hadn't."

They had time for a long, leisurely meal, since Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran were all going to apparate from outside the school gates and into town. By the time the knock came on the door, they'd eaten, cleaned up, and had gone back to sitting at the table and talking while they'd been waiting.

Lily was first to the door, and opened it quickly, and pulled Kieran into the house, hugging and kissing him while Carolyn and Brianna laughed as they followed him inside.

"I think she missed him," Brianna joked.

"We can all hope so," Carolyn answered. "If that's how she welcomes someone she didn't miss, we probably don't want to see how she says hello to someone she does miss."

The two girls went around Kieran and Lily, and went to hug and kiss their respective fiancées.

"Ready to go brave the cold and get the shopping out of the way?" Carolyn asked Al, who nodded. Lily was still busy welcoming Kieran, and Al grinned when he saw that at least two of them didn't seem ready to leave at all.

"Kieran, why don't you just give us a list of what you need, and the two of you can stay here while we're gone," Al suggested. "As shocking as it is, my little sister seems totally uninterested in going out shopping."

That got Lily to break off her welcome with Kieran so she could hug Al, and then she went to get Kieran a quill and parchment so he could make that list. She was already pulling Kieran toward the sitting room before Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna were out the door ten minutes later.

"What all does Kieran need to get besides the lip balm he'll need after Lily snogs him silly for the next couple of hours?" Brianna asked.

"The usual," Al answered. "Parchment, inks, quills, sweets, and Potions supplies. He forgot to write down that lip balm, though."

The two couples joined the mass of students in town, and managed to stretch out their shopping for two hours before heading back to the house. Al did have a large group coming for lunch and to watch the Canons' game in the afternoon, so he did need to get back in time to start cooking. Lily and Kieran were sitting at the kitchen table with innocent looks on their faces when Al and the others got home.

"Okay, which one of you girls sent Lily the message to let her know we were on the way?" Scorpius asked. "I was looking forward to catching them in mid-snog so we could have a laugh."

"I did," Carolyn and Brianna both answered at the same time, and everyone laughed.

"You've got to love Witch-power," Lily said. "We girls have to stick together."

Carolyn, Brianna, and Scorpius joined Kieran and Lily at the table, while Al handed Kieran his supplies, and then went on into the kitchen to get working. The house began filling up with Marauders shortly after their return, the cold driving the rest of their friends indoors. Carolyn joined Al in the kitchen, making up coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to help warm their frozen little band of students back up to room temperature.

Lunch was served by noon, and for the next hour, they ate while continuing a fairly noisy, animated conversation, finishing their meal, and the post lunch cleanup in time to go into the sitting room and catch the beginning of the Canons' home game against the Falmouth Falcons.

"Isn't this the official start to the second half of the season?" Joel asked the others, and Hugo nodded and answered.

"For the Canons it is,' he told Joel. "They were seven and three after ten games, and in fourth place overall. They've got a really tough stretch of games coming up, though. The price you pay for being number one three years in a row – the league has you play most of the playoff teams twice the next season."

"That doesn't seem quite fair," Sarah said. "Why wouldn't the schedules be done the same way for all of the teams?"

Hugo shrugged. "Probably to try and keep from having one team win the Championship all of the time. We can't complain much. The Canons have won a lot of Championships over the last twenty-five seasons. It does affect the team, since you have to play more tough games during the year, but if they are the best, they should be able to win anyway."

Al, Carolyn, Lily, Kieran, Scorpius, and Brianna watched the first hour of the game with their friends, and then went upstairs for a little one-on-one time with their significant others. They each turned the Canons' game on in the the three rooms, but other than hearing that the Canons won about twenty-five minutes before the Hogwarts students were going to need to leave to go back to school, none of them watched the rest of the game, more interested in their own brilliant little snogging sessions.

When they heard that the game had ended, though, it was time to rejoin their friends, who were already gathering their things and getting bundled up for the walk back to Hogwarts.

"I'll see you again in two weeks," Carolyn told Al quietly as she hugged him goodbye. "Then we'll get two Saturdays together in a row."

Al kissed her one last time. "Take care of yourself," he told her. "I love you."

Carolyn smiled. "I will, and you do the same. I love you too."

After everyone had left except Scorpius and Lily, Al started to clean up from the game-watching party in the sitting room.

"I can handle this, Lily," he told her. "You should go pack your bag and get to the cottage. Mum and Dad will be home from the game soon, and ready to leave for the island."

"Okay, Al," she agreed, hugging him, and heading for the stairs.

"What have you got going on for the rest of the day?" he asked Scorpius.

"I'm having dinner at Malfoy Mansion. Andromeda and Robert are coming too," he answered.

Al nodded. "How does that work out with your Grandfather?"

"It can be entertaining, but they're very good with him, and Robert is very patient and kind with Lucius. What are you doing with Lily and your parents gone?"

Al laughed. "What else? Work. It keeps me busy. Matt and Rose get back later tomorrow, so I'll probably drop by to see them sometime in the afternoon, but then I'm gone again tomorrow night anyway."

"I'll have to go see them too," Scorpius said. "They were only home for a few hours between trips two weeks ago. I'm sure they'll be ready for nearly a week off before the one that starts next Saturday."

"Isn't that the two-week long Valentine's trip that Uncle Percy's taking Aunt Penelope on?" Al asked, and Scorpius nodded.

"Thanks for reminding me," he told Al. "I've got to get together with them for dinner this week too. I guess I'll have to take them out or something."

"Why wouldn't you just have them over to the house?"

Scorpius looked around to make sure Lily hadn't returned yet. "Because Kreacher and Winky are going to spend the week on the island taking care of your parents and sister," he told Al quietly. "It's a surprise for them, so don't tell Lily."

"That's awfully nice of you," he told his friend. "I'd have you over for a couple of meals, but I'm pretty sure of where I'll be going this week, so I won't be here much."

Al was finished cleaning up downstairs by the time Lily got back, and the three of them left together – Scorpius for Grimmauld Place, Lily for the Cottage, and Al for Auror Headquarters.

"Have a great vacation," he told Lily when he hugged her goodbye. "If I can, I'll stop in for a visit later in the week."

"I will," she promised. "Keep in touch so we know you're okay while you're out chasing the bad guys."

For the rest of the afternoon, and fairly late into the evening, Al worked at his desk at Auror Headquarters, finally going home at around eleven o'clock. He'd picked up food on the way to the Ministry, and had eaten it at his desk while he worked, so after getting home, he got ready for bed right away, had his bedtime ViComm call with Carolyn, and went to sleep.

On Sunday, he went back into work in the morning, meeting Scorpius for a coffee and bagel breakfast first. They then took Matt and Rose out for lunch, and heard all about their week in Brazil, and two weeks in Egypt, while bringing them up to date with the happenings around home.

Home was where Al was off to after their extended lunch. Terrance Nott was going to be on the move again tonight, so Al needed to get some sleep before he needed to be up and ready for another trip to the east. He got to his stakeout spot across from Nott's home by ten, and tonight, it was midnight before Terrance made his appearance, broadcasting his thoughts about heading for Japan, and giving Al what he needed to know so he could get there first.

Terrance mixed up the stops for each day all week, but because of the big time change differences, couldn't really change the days around, so Al followed him for two days in the east, and then three days in the Americas. While Terrance slept in the same Wizarding Inns he'd stayed in last time, Al popped over to the island, had a late Kreacher and Winky dinner both nights with Lily and his parents, and stayed the night on the island, happy and comfortable in his own bed and house there.

While he was busy following Terrance Nott around, back at home, the big news of the week was the trial for Alecto and Amycus Carrow. The trial started on Monday, and the testimony took three days, including two solid hours from Ilian Kinlov. In a shaking, whisper-soft voice that needed to be amplified, he told the court about the days of torture that the Carrows had inflicted on him before his mind shut down, and they dumped him in the Hospital in Sofia and left him there in oblivion for six long years while they took over his house and looted his modest finances and possessions.

When the tribunal came back with guilty verdicts on all three murders, and on all charges relating to what the Carrows had done to Ilian Kinlov, nobody was surprised when they were both given life in prison with no chance of parole.

Al spent the last day of January following Terrance Nott around the United States and Canada again, and started February, home time, with another early Saturday morning stakeout on Rover Way in Cardiff until shortly after three, when Terrance appeared again, and headed for home. Al made sure that home was the last stop for Terrance, and then went home himself, exhausted, frozen, and ready to get some sleep. The new month was just going to have to wait a little while, because Al was not going to be ready to face it for at least a few more hours.


	122. February Fun

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Two – February Fun

When Al got up late on Saturday morning, he took his time getting ready for the day, starting out with a long, hot shower, and moving on to an eggs and sausages breakfast. While he ate, he thought about what he wanted to do for the day. His parents and sister were still on the island for another day, and Matt and Rose would be busy getting ready to leave for two weeks in Hawaii.

The Canons were playing on the road against the Pride today, so James and Arianna were busy, and Nick and Allie were probably both working, since the Valentine's Day shopping rush was on for Allie, and Nick was working on finishing the designs for the last few buildings for Marauders Refuge, since the construction for them needed to get started soon as the island resort was now less than seven months from it's planned completion date. Scorpius was spending the day with his parents, taking his mother out for the day shopping in Paris or Moscow or someplace.

When he'd gotten up, taking the day off of work had seemed like a good idea, but with everyone else busy, going into work was what he decided on doing in the end. He cleaned up his breakfast dishes, threw on his cloak, went out into the cold, and apparated to the Ministry of Magic.

He spent the rest of the day immersed in TransPortal records, continuing to cross-reference them with what he knew from following Nott around. Hestia had told him that the joke going around Auror Headquarters was that everything Al had been doing for the last four weeks was all for Nott. Al thought his fellow Aurors needed to go out and track down a sense of humour. When the Canons game was about to start, he put his portable WWVN on his desk and turned it on to QSPN, and kept working while the Canons lost their fourth game of the season. Al already felt sorry for Arianna, Aaron, and the rest of the team, since losses meant much harder workouts from Coach as they got ready for the next game.

On Sunday, Al spent the morning and early afternoon back at work, and then went over to the Cottage in the afternoon to spend a few hours, and have dinner with Harry, Ginny, and Lily.

"How's the paper chase going?" Lily asked him after they'd finished talking about her last couple of days on the island during dinner.

"It'll go faster when I finish making the new virtual program to help me crunch all of the data," he told her. "I am making progress through all of it, but so far there isn't anything new that's come up."

Lily nodded. "Are you back on the trail all week?"

"There's a Wizengamot meeting on Monday, so I'll be busy with that tomorrow, but then I'll be on the move again for the rest of the week," Al answered. "What are you doing now that your ViComms have gone to production?"

"We're moving on to our next top-secret project," she told him. "I could tell you all about it, but then I'd have to use a Memory Charm on you, and we don't want to be messing around with your memories on you."

Al laughed. "I appreciate that, Lily. You don't have to tell me anything. Dad and I are used to all the high-tech secrecy of the Institute."

"Speak for yourself," Harry told him. "I always want to know what the next big thing is going to be."

"You could always come and work for the Institute," Ginny suggested. "I'm sure you could be a lot of help."

"Compared to you and Lily and all the other geniuses there?" Harry asked. "I'd be more likely to fit in with the cleaning staff than the researchers."

"I seem to vaguely recall that it was you who came up with the idea for the TransPortal system," Ginny told him.

Harry nodded. "And I seem to remember that it was a group of young Witches who took that idea and made it work. All I did was provide a little magical muscle. Besides, I don't want to go work at the Institute all day – you girls never want to play dolls or nothing fun like that."

Ginny laughed and hugged him. "I love you," she said before kissing him. "You just keep having fun with all of your kids, and Lily and I will keep playing in our lab."

Al had some preparation to do in the evening to get ready for his Wizengamot meeting, so after dinner, and helping out with the cleanup, he lef the Cottage, and went home to Hogsmeade to do that before his nightly call with Carolyn and an early bedtime.

Monday's Wizengamot meeting was pretty low-key. There weren't any major pushes for new laws from either side of the political aisle, so they dealt with a few dozen minor issues, and were done by lunchtime.

"Why do I feel like it's the lull before the storm every time we get through one of these meetings without getting thrown a stack of proposals from our fellow Elders on the Pureblood elitists side of the Wizengamot aisle?" Scorpius asked when he and Al sat down for the post-meeting meeting with Callie.

"Probably because it's just a matter of time?" Callie suggested. "With all of the success the Aurors are having, they may be back on their heels a bit."

"That's possible," Al agreed. "I doubt it will last, though."

"It never does," Scorpius said. "There's nothing that we really need to go over with Callie. Why don't we just take her out for lunch, and then we can all get back to work."

They did that, and when Al got back, he went to Auror Headquarters and checked in with Hestia before getting back to work.

"Anything new going on?" he asked, dropping into one of the chairs in Hestia's cubicle.

"There seems to be, yes," she told him. "Our Auror-trainee is actually at work for once."

Al laughed. "I've been working here – it's just mostly been on the weekends when everyone else is gone."

"Sure, sure," she teased. "Seriously, though, none of us have picked up anything new on any of our fugitives. I think Garret and Patrick have moved to Mexico, but the only thing they seem to be getting is suntanned. We're getting nothing going through all of that stuff we brought back from the house in Bulgaria, and the TransPortal records trail seems to be cold except for your angle on it with Nott."

"I'm pretty sure there's more we can get from those records," Al said. "We just haven't found it yet."

"Your report from Friday said you want to keep following Terrance. Do you really think you can get much more out of doing that?" Hestia asked him, and Al nodded.

"Until I'm sure that he's used all of the TransPortal terminals that the Knights are using, and there aren't any more hidden locations, I want to keep following him. Like you said, we've got nothing else right now anyway."

"I just feel bad that you're out freezing in the cold all day," she told him. "Not bad enough to take your place, but bad."

"I'll be fine," he assured her, getting to his feet. "If you need me, just give me a call."

Hestia nodded, and Al went around the divider to his own cubicle and got to work. He only worked until five, and then went home for the night. That was his last short day, and for the rest of the week, he followed Terrance around Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The man once again moved the previous Friday's stops from two Fridays ago to Tuesday, and then did the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday stops from that week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. The daily stops were scrambled again, but this week, there were only a few new TransPortal terminals that Terrance used, so Al was hopeful he was getting a bit closer to having all of that information.

Al also continued working on the virtual program he was designing for himself, and by the end of he week, he was closing in on getting it finished. With a Hogsmeade day with Carolyn coming up on the weekend, though, getting it done would just have to wait. Lily was doing the overnight stay again on Friday night, so as soon as Al followed Terrance back home, he apparated to his own house, and got ready for company.

"I wish they'd do Hogsmeade weekends every two weeks all year long," Lily told him later when they were in the sitting room, each of them sipping at a glass of wine.

"So do I," he agreed. "At least for this year – and next."

"Have we got the whole gang again tomorrow?" Lily asked.

"We do, but just for lunch. There's no Canons game or anything, and they're going to go back to Hogwarts after eating with us so they can study," Al answered. "I'm sure they're doing the same thing we did last year for Matt and Rose."

"Probably," Lily agreed. "Have you done your Valentine's shopping yet?"

"I've done the flowers and chocolates orders that will be going there by Owl Post, and I picked up a nice little diamond necklace in South Africa this week," Al told her. "Are you getting anything for Kieran?"

"I did, but I may wait to see if he takes anyone to the Valentine's Day dance next Friday night or not. I've heard that at least two girls have actually asked him to be their date."

Al feigned looking shocked. "The unmitigated audacity!" he said. "Should I take them into custody, interrogate them for a week or two, and then send them off to Azkaban?"

Lily grinned at him. "Is that an option? I was just going to sit upstairs in one of the front bedrooms and hex them when they walked by tomorrow. Once they've spent a week or so with 'I will not steal boyfriends' written in big zits on their foreheads, I'm pretty sure they'll give up on chasing after Kieran."

"You wouldn't really do that, would you?" Al asked. "It's not like you actually have to worry about Kieran going around with any other girls."

"Okay, I probably wouldn't," Lily admitted. "It's fun to imagine it, though."

"I'm surprised that Carolyn, Brianna, and the girls aren't doing a SpaMagic morning tomorrow with that dance next Friday," Al said.

"The other girls are," Lily told him. Carolyn and Brianna wanted to spend that time with you and Scorpius instead."

"And we'd rather they spend that time with us too," Al said.

They stayed up, talked, and watched a little WWVN until eleven, and then went upstairs to go to bed, have their nightly calls with Carolyn and Kieran, and get some sleep. Al was up early and cooking breakfast for three again, and this morning, Scorpius got in before Lily made it downstairs.

"How's it going?" Al asked Scorpius while he was taking his cloak off and hanging it up.

"It's going," Scorpius answered. "This was a long week, though. They probably all will be between now and the next conference."

Al nodded. "When is it?"

"A little over five weeks away," Scorpius told him. "We're getting close to getting some of the new standards worked out now, so it's keeping me hopping."

"At least you're making some progress with your job. For some reason, my fugitives don't want to just stick their heads up and negotiate their surrenders."

Scorpius laughed. "It'd be brilliant if they would, but then you'd be out of a job. I'd hate to see that happen."

"There is no chance of that happening anytime soon," Al told him. "Good morning, Lily," he said, turning around just as she was about to finish sneaking up on him. "Nice try, but I heard you the entire way."

Lily laughed and hugged him. "I guess all that sneaking around really has sharpened your senses." She went over and hugged Scorpius next. "You look a bit frayed around the edges," she told him, looking at his face critically. "You should slow down and get a little more sleep."

"I'll try, Dr. Lily," he told her with a grin. "Sometimes that's easier said than done – like you don't know that first-hand."

"So you should listen to me, then. I know what I'm talking about," Lily said, returning his smile.

Al had Lily sit down, and started serving breakfast to them. They ate, cleaned up, and still had a half hour to spare before their fiancées and boyfriend arrived, ready to spend the day with them.

"Are we helping out with the shopping lists today?" Al asked Carolyn after they'd left the house and started out along the street.

"Yes," she answered. "We're taking care of Erin and Quincy's lists. They don't need very many things, so it won't take much longer."

They only needed a bit more than an hour to get everything that Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran needed, and fill Erin and Quincy's orders too. When they were finished, they hurried back to the house, where they could make some hot drinks and warm up again.

Since the rest of the Marauders Witches were at SpaMagic all morning, the guys took care of the running around for supplies, met their girls in front of SpaMagic just before noon, and then escorted the gorgeous group of young Witches to Al's house. With everyone getting there at the same time, it took quite a while to get through the welcoming hugs and kisses, and then Al had everyone sit down, and served lunch.

A little over an hour later, he was finishing the cleanup, and all but five of his guests were bundling up and getting ready for the walk back to Hogwarts. The goodbye hugs and kisses took a little longer than the welcome ones, but finally, the three couples were on their own again.

"Would you all like to go into the sitting room and hang around together for a bit, or shall we just say that we did, and go up to our own rooms now?" Al asked.

"I vote for upstairs," Lily said. "You guys get to snuggle together next weekend again, but for Kieran and I, this is it for three weeks, since he's playing in next week's game."

Al and Carolyn spent the rest of their time together snuggled on the sofa in their room. They turned on the music video channel on the WWVN, with the sound turned low, and shared a brilliant afternoon of snogging that was seasoned very lightly with just a dash of conversation. These afternoons were never long enough, though, and it was time for Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran to leave long before any of them were ready to say goodbye again.

Since they could apparate to the gates, they'd held back on leaving until the very last minute, so the final goodbyes at the door were short and bittersweet. When Lily was left alone with Al and Scorpius, she turned to them and smiled.

"I don't' want either one of you to even think about going in to work today," she told them. "Have you done the shopping for your Valentine?" she asked Scorpius.

"Not yet," he admitted. "I was going to get it done this coming week."

"Good, then you can get it done today, and we'll come along for the fun and adventure of it," she told him. "Then I think you should both come to the Cottage for dinner with Mum, Dad, and me."

Al and Scorpius exchanged looks and grinned. "We might as well just concede defeat and do what she tells us to, mate," Al told him. "She's obviously putting her cute little foot down."

"I guess it won't kill us to take one whole day off," Scorpius conceded. "Okay, Lily. Lead the way."

Al actually ended up taking the whole weekend off – or at least what work he did do was done from home. Since he was going to be leaving for another Sunday night adventure, he had a nice long nap in the late afternoon and early evening, and then got up, had a late dinner, and left in time to get to his stakeout of Terrance Nott's home by ten o'clock.

Like last week, Terrance used very few new TransPortal terminals, and as Al followed the man around Australia, New Zealand, and Asia for the third time, he was finding that even the daily shuffle of stops were probably just a rotation too, the same as he was doing with the days during what Al thought of now as his week one rotation.

This might only be Al's third time through the week-two rotation, but he was definitely beginning to understand why Terrance disliked it so much. At least he was staying in better accommodations than Nott was on the one night they spent away in Asia, and the two nights in the Americas, but it was a long week when you started Sunday night and ended in the early hours of the following Saturday.

Al had warned Carolyn not to send any Owl Posts or anything to him while he was on stakeout, but he hadn't been thinking about the time change, so when he got the wake-up ViComm call very early Friday morning, he was momentarily disoriented as he answered the call.

"Hello?" he said sleepily. He could see Carolyn's smiling face, and her eyes were alive with excitement.

"Thank-you!" she told him, touching her hand to the new diamond solitaire necklace at her throat. "I love the necklace, Al, and the flowers were beautiful too."

"Um, you're welcome," Al said drowsily. He was starting to come around, and sat up in his hotel room bed. "What time is it?"

Carolyn's smile faltered a bit, and then fell away. "Oh Al, I'm so sorry! I forgot where you were. It must only be about two o'clock there."

Al laughed. "It's okay, Carolyn," he assured her. "Just give me a second to turn a light on and get the main module of this thing open so you'll be able to see me too. Are you having a good start to your Valentine's Day?"

Carolyn laughed too. "Right up until the point where I woke my fiancée up in the middle of the night," she told him. "That wasn't exactly brilliant."

"I'm glad you did call," he told her, and now she could see him too, and saw that he was smiling. "Are the TNM presents going over well?"

Carolyn nodded. "We had a few less to do this year, but Frederica and Millie were busy because they had those, and something like twenty or twenty-five dresses to get for girls to wear to the dance, and six or seven suits that your father helped out with for the boys."

"Any other excitement going on?"

"Not really," she answered. "There are a lot of flowers, chocolates, and Valentine's Day cards, and from what I've seen, all of the Marauders men must have done a good job, since the girls all seem happy. By lunchtime, I'm sure the talk will be all about tonight's dance."

"Who's playing at it?" Al asked, and Carolyn shrugged.

"We haven't heard anything about anyone playing," she told him. "It's probably just canned music."

"I wish I could be there to take you," Al told her. "Especially if you go looking as great as you did to the Yule Ball."

"Would it keep you warmer while you're out in the cold doing surveillance today if I told you that I was going to look exactly that great?" she asked, and Al laughed.

"It'd probably make it nearly impossible for me to pay attention to what I was doing all day," he answered.

Carolyn grinned at him. "In that case, I'm definitely going to look that great tonight."

"Then I'll call Kieran sometime during the dance and have him let me see what you look like," Al promised, "so don't get embarrassed if you catch him ogling you."

"I'm going to tell Lily that you're going to have her boyfriend ogling other Witches for you," she joked. "Your sister may not find it all that amusing."

Al laughed. "Actually, she probably would."

"I should let you get back to sleep," Carolyn told him. "I love you, Al. Thanks for the necklace, flowers, and chocolates. Can I call you later?"

"I love you too, Carolyn, and you're welcome," Al told her. "You can call me any time all day. I just won't be able to use the mirror so you can see me."

They'd already dealt with that every day that he'd been doing surveillance in the Americas, so Carolyn was used to that, and nodded.

"I'll call you later on this afternoon when it's a more normal time for you over there," she told him. "Happy Valentine's Day."

They said their goodbyes and ended the call, but it was more than another half hour before Al got back to sleep. He was back up again at six, had breakfast, and was outside of the Inn where Terrance spent every other Thursday night by seven to wait for the other man to get started.

By then, back at home, Lily was finishing having lunch with Kirley and Ana, and was going out with Ana for a SpaMagic afternoon while Kirley was getting the equipment ready to take to Hogwarts for the SpellBound concert that Kieran still had no idea would be happening tonight.

"I hope we don't have any problems tonight," Lily worried. "We haven't played or sung together since the holidays."

"You mean that isn't what you two do all day on those Hogsmeade weekends?" Kirley joked, and Lily and Ana laughed.

"That would be a no," Lily told him. "If you only saw Ana for a few hours every three weeks, I'd hope that playing guitar wasn't first on you list of things to do with her."

"It wouldn't be," Kirley told her. "I'm surprised you didn't have me put Al and Scorpius on the crew for tonight. Don't they know you're going to be there?"

Lily shook her head. "No, they don't. I talked that over with Mum and Dad, and they told me that it was one thing for us to do that for Matt, but that Al and Scorpius were both too high-profile to be sneaking into a Hogwarts Valentine's Day dance, and the media would have a field day if they had pictures and video of two Wizengamot Elders working as roadies for SpellBound."

"They're right," Ana said. "It's too bad, though. We couldn't even disguise them, or then we'd be seeing pictures of Carolyn and Brianna in the news for being seen snogging boys other than their fiancées at the dance – especially Brianna, since she's one half of one of TeenWitch's Hottest Couples."

"At least they'll be able to see the girls at the game tomorrow. Are you going to come brave the cold and watch Kieran's game with me?"

"We are," Kirley confirmed. "Is anyone coming from the rest of the family?"

Lily nodded. "The Canons aren't playing, so all of the Gryffindor parents are coming, and Mum, Dad, James, and Arianna are coming to hang out with us in the Ravenclaw section. James and Arianna are mostly coming to spend the time with Erin and Quincy."

"They've decided to be the permanent guardians for those two, haven't they?" Ana asked.

"They haven't come out and made it official," Lily told her, "but I'm sure they'll be taking care of them at least until they're seventeen. Arianna loves both kids so much, and James is getting more like Dad all the time - when it comes to his kids, he'd take them all home if he could."

"Now that Karl will be moving away, we'd think about taking on another kid for the summer and Christmas holidays," Kirley told her. "Maybe if James has some other kids starting Hogwarts next September we can talk to him about helping out."

Ana leaned over and kissed him. "Okay, sweetie, but next time we get to have a girl. I've been outnumbered long enough."

Kirley grinned at her. "I don't have a problem with that at all. We've both loved having Lily and Daphne around. I'll be interested to see how I feel about having boyfriends coming around for a change."

Lily and Ana had to leave for their appointment to SpaMagic, so Kirley offered to clean up from lunch, and earned a pair of hugs and a kiss from them before they left for London, and he got to work.

Most of the girls at Hogwarts were busy getting ready for the dance by the time Al wasn't even half-way through his long day of tracking, having only gotten to New Orleans, Montreal, and Miami, with New York, Calgary, and Los Angeles still to go, plus a couple of late night stops back home before he could get to bed sometime in the next eight or nine hours.

The students and Professors had dinner in the Great Hall, and then the students were sent away to get ready for the dance while the Great Hall was closed so it could be decorated and everything could be set up for the night.

Kieran was in the Hufflepuff Common room a half hour before the dance, dressed and ready to go to the Great Hall when a breathless first year student ran in with a message from Professor McGonagall for him to come and meet her in the Great Hall now.

He hurried upstairs to the entrance hall, and then into the Great Hall, closing the large door behind him after entering. When he turned around from doing that, he stopped in his tracks when he saw a smiling trio of very familiar faces – his parents, and Lily.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise. Even as he said it, his mind was already registering the fact that the stage at the front of the Great Hall was set up with their SpellBound equipment. "We're playing tonight?"

"Surprise!" Lily answered, starting to walk toward him.

He got his feet in motion, and met her half way, hugging and kissing her before she turned around and they both walked to the front of the room. He hugged his parents, and now that the shock was wearing off, had a grin on his face too.

"This was a really great surprise," he told them. "Thank-you!"

"Come on," Lily told him. "We've got a few minutes to warm up, and then we have to go hide until we're announced."

"Just don't get so caught up in some Valentine's snogging that you forget to come out when you're called," Kirley joked.

The doors to the Great Hall were opened again at eight o'clock, and the dance would be starting at eight-thirty. Carolyn and Brianna came down to the dance together, and while a lot of the other students might not recognize what was on the stage, they both knew Lily's keyboard and Kieran's concert guitar when they saw them.

"Why didn't anyone tell us?" Brianna whispered.

"It had to be a surprise for Kieran," Carolyn whispered back. "There's no way he would have been able to fake being so unenthusiastic about this dance all week if he'd known Lily was going to be here. I just talked to Al, and he said he was in New York. You don't think they'd be here too, do you?"

Brianna shook her head. "I wish, but there's no way that anyone would advise them to come here like Matt did for the Yule Ball last year," she told Carolyn quietly. "That'd be a total political no-no."

Carolyn nodded. "Sucks for us, good for Kieran and Lily."

The Great Hall erupted in cheers shortly after eight-thirty when Professor McGonagall announced that SpellBound was the band for the dance. When Lily and Kieran took the stage, they started out with a string of upbeat pop songs to get the dance hopping. Since the students didn't have to sit with their Houses during the dance, Carolyn and Brianna sat with Millie and Amy, the only other Marauders without dates for the dance.

"I wish our guys could have been here too," Millie said wistfully. "This would be a lot more fun."

"Maybe they'll be able to come to Hogwarts next year," Amy told her friend. "They're trying really hard to get far enough so they can."

"We can hope," Millie answered.

The four girls did get up to dance for most of the fast dances, and Karl, Joel, Hugo, Colin, Lance, Liam, and Dale were all drafted by their girlfriends to take their single Marauders out for a couple of slow dances too. Carolyn was sitting down after four or five fast songs, catching her breath when Al called her to see how the dance was going. It was almost midnight, and there was only about an hour left to go, but Al was expecting to be moving from Calgary to Los Angeles at any moment, and by the time he got there, it'd only be four in the afternoon local time.

"Having fun?" he asked. "How are Lily and Kieran doing?" She'd called him earlier and let him know that Lily was there, and that SpellBound was the band for the night.

"They're absolutely rocking the place tonight," she told him. "It doesn't sound like zero practice time has slowed them down at all. It will be interesting to see if all of that work slows Kieran down in the game tomorrow, though."

"I'd think that it's more likely that the players out dancing all night will be more tired," Al suggested. "You didn't answer whether you're having fun."

Carolyn shrugged. "It's my first dance without a boyfriend or fiancée to dance with," she answered. "Brianna and I aren't having an awful time or anything, but it's not nearly as fun as we all had at the New Year's Eve dance. Karl, Joel, and the other guys are getting us out dancing a bit, but we'd rather be dancing with our own guys, and they'd rather be dancing with their girls."

"Have there been any problems?" he asked.

"Not so far," she told him. "Everyone's having fun, and nobody's doing anything stupid like Dirk did at both of our Yule Balls."

"That's good to hear," Al said. He went silent for a moment. "I've got to get going, Carolyn. Have fun the rest of the night, and I'll see you at the game tomorrow. I love you."

"I love you too, Al," she had time to tell him before he had to end the call and apparate to Los Angeles.

Brianna had to leave the dance a bit early to help the prefects make sure that all of the students made it back to their Common Rooms, while Karl stayed to make sure that they all left the Great Hall after the dance ended at one 'clock. Carolyn stayed with him, and with Daphne, so that she could say goodbye to Lily, Ana, and Kirley after Lily and Kieran had finished the dance by playing a brand new song that would be on the album coming out at the end of June called 'Here in My Heart' that was a perfect way to end a Valentine's Day dance.

"Are you staying in Hogsmeade tonight?" Carolyn asked Lily, who nodded.

"Al said he won't be back until three or four, but he told me to go ahead and he'd see me in the morning."

"Maybe he's just making sure someone's there to wake him up in time for the game," Daphne suggested.

Lily laughed. "Even with just a few hours sleep, it's more likely that he'll wake me up. It's been a long night. Which reminds me – give me a hug and kiss, Kieran, and then get out of here. You've got a game to play later this morning."

Kieran did that, and then hugged his parents before doing as he was told and leaving for the Hufflepuff Common Room, and from there on to bed. Carolyn, Karl, and Daphne weren't far behind him, saying their own goodbyes, and in Karl's case, making sure there were no students in the Great Hall, the entrance hall, or hiding in any of the rooms nearby. Carolyn stopped in to see Brianna in her office before going on to her dorm room.

"Is all quiet on the Ravenclaw front?" Carolyn asked, and Brianna nodded.

"Yes. I think it's safe for me to go get ready for bed now. Are you going to get up to watch the start of Mark's race?"

Carolyn shook her head. "I'd love to, but that's at four o'clock our time, and it's already nearly one-thirty. If anyone's in the Common Room to watch that other than Joel, I'll be shocked – or at least I'll be shocked when I hear about it at breakfast, because I won't be there to witness it."

"I don't plan on getting up for it either," Brianna told her. "It's not like we're going to get that much sleep as it is without losing another hour or more."

"I'll stop by in time to walk down to breakfast with you then," Carolyn told Brianna. She hugged her friend, and then headed for the door that led into the Ravenclaw Common Room. "Have a good sleep, Brianna."

"You too, Carolyn," Brianna answered.

Joel was the only one in the Common Room a couple hours later, ready to watch the start of the Sahara Desert Broom Race, but he wasn't the only one watching it. Al was just getting home at three-thirty, and he found Lily snuggled under a warm blanket, asleep on one of the sofas in the sitting room.

"Hey, sis," he said softly, brushing some stray red hairs from her cheek. "How come you're sleeping down here?"

Lily opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Because I knew you'd wake me up when you got home," she answered. "What time is it?"

"After three-thirty. Are you ready to go up to bed?" he asked, and Lily shook her head.

"Not yet," she told him. "Your timing's perfect. Mark's race starts at four. Do you want to watch it with me?"

"I guess staying up for another half hour won't make much difference," Al said, and Lily sat up and made room for him to sit next to her.

"Did anything exciting happen today?" she asked.

"Well, I heard that my sister got to go spend the evening at Hogwarts with her boyfriend," he joked. "Does that count?"

Lily laughed. "Yes, but I meant in your own personal day, not mine."

"I finished my new program today. On Sunday I'll start putting all of the information I've got so far into it. That may take another few weeks or so, but then I'll see if it can speed up the data crunching."

"That's great, Al," she told him, cuddling close to him and sharing the blanket.

They turned on the WWVN and changed the channel to WMSN, where the pre-race show was already on. The announcers were going over the race statistics. It was fifty-three hundred and fifty kilometres long, or about thirty-three hundred and twenty-five miles. The start time was six o'clock, local time just outside of Quseir, Egypt, and ended near St. Louis, Senegal, on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Africa. Mark's incredible record last year was eleven hours and fifty-three minutes – more than four hours off of the old record.

"So what are you hoping your new program will help you find faster than doing it all by hand?" Lily asked while they waited for the start of the race.

"I'm not completely sure," Al admitted. "I am sure that there are some leads hiding somewhere in those TransPortal records, though. We just don't have the resources to just follow all of these Knights that we've identified so far."

"That makes me very nervous," Lily told him. "You don't have the resources to follow a couple of dozen Witches and Wizards, yet from what you've told me about what you've found out so far, these Knights must be a pretty large group now."

Al had been coming to that same conclusion over the past few weeks, and nodded. "What would be your guess on how big?"

"Including England, you've identified fifty of these hidden places," she answered. "There are at least twenty members of the Knights that you know about here at home, and probably more, but for the sake of argument, even if you only had twenty at each of these places, you're up to a thousand Knights. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it was double or triple that."

"Neither would I," he told her seriously, "and I really doubt they're getting together to swap recipes or knit sweaters for the needy."

"Now that's a mental picture," Lily said with a laugh. "There's Dad and Owen," she added, pointing to the screen. "I guess they'll be having a long day too."

"Yeah, but they likely went to bed early last night, while you and I were working," Al said. "They'll probably be back home sleeping for another few hours once Mark's on his way."

That was true, and Harry and Owen did both go back home to get more sleep, but Al and Lily were both upstairs, and fast asleep in their beds before the two Wizards had even left Egypt. They'd stayed up long enough to see both Mark and Mariposa jump out into the lead over the rest of the racers, and then had turned off the WWVN, hugged each other goodnight, and gone upstairs to get the few hours of rest they'd have before getting up again to get ready for their game day trip to Hogwarts.

Lily and Al had breakfast, and Al had gotten up first, and nearly had everything cooked before Lily made it downstairs. He had the portable WWVN tuned in to the Broom Race, and they listened in, and watched a bit of the action. Mariposa was still staying right with Mark as they flew across the desert at over four hundred and fifty kilometres an hour, but the toughest parts of the race were still to come, and would test both of them to the limits of their endurance and abilities.

"Mariposa's doing really great," Lily said as they watched. "If she makes it through the worst heat of the day, she may have a chance at the end."

"Maybe if she makes it that far, Mark will let the lady go first across the finish line," Al suggested, and Lily laughed.

"Or not," she told him. "I guarantee you that if Mariposa wins a race against Mark, it'll be because she deserved and earned it. She wouldn't thank him for it if he did let her win. I sure hope you're not suggesting that it's the only way she can win – if Mark lets her."

"Relax, sis," Al told her. "It's called humour, and you did laugh. "I'm sure if she wins, it'll be because she beat Mark – I don't think that's going to happen today, though."

"Is that a prediction?" Lily asked. "I could see if they're still taking bets."

"No prediction, just a feeling. Mark and Dad must have been thinking about what to do in these speed races with Mariposa after she did so well in Australia. If they don't have something up their sleeves, I'll be very surprised."

By the time they finished eating, Al and Lily had to hurry the cleanup so they could be out the door, and he could side-along apparate them to the school gates on time to be there an hour before the game when they'd be able to enter the grounds. Scorpius was there already, his cloak hunched around him in the cold, but he was smiling when they appeared.

"Hi Al," he said first, pretending not to see Lily. "Oh, hi, you who got to spend Valentine's night with her boyfriend and didn't ask one of her best friends to come along and left him to sit at home all by himself all night girl," he told Lily, who laughed and hugged him.

"You guys both know why I couldn't bring you along, and I didn't tell you ahead of time because it was a surprise for Kieran, and for the students."

Scorpius nodded as he hugged her back. "Yes we do, and it's actually the very first and only time so far that I've truly resented choosing politics."

"I'm sure you're over that resentment by now," Lily told him. "You and Brianna are going to have way too much fun in politics to get bitter about missing a dance."

"We can go in now," Al told them, checking his watch. "Let's get going."

Brianna and Carolyn met them at the point where they would swing off to go the the stadium instead of on up to the school, and spent a minute hugging and kissing their fiancées before the five of them turned up the path to the stadium.

"How's Kieran this morning?" Lily asked the girls.

"He's looking a bit tired," Brianna told her. "Everyone on both teams look tired, though, so we'll see how the game goes."

When they reached the stadium, Brianna went to get Kieran out of the locker room, and he came and spent a few minutes with Lily before he had to go back to getting ready for the game, and she caught up with the others, who had already staked out a spot in the Ravenclaw section and settled in under heavy, warm blankets.

"Come sit in between us," Carolyn told her. "We'll keep you warm until reinforcements arrive."

Lily grinned, and first pretended like she was going to worm her way in between Carolyn and Al before moving one spot over and sitting between Carolyn and Brianna. It was probably a good five degrees colder than the game in January had been, and they were all glad when twenty minutes before the game was to start, the stands started filling up, the growing mass of heat making it at least feel a bit warmer out.

"Either all of this hot air has actually warmed things up in the stadium, or we're all just having the same mass delusion, and it's just as cold as it was when the stadium was mostly empty," Brianna said.

"I'd say it's the second part," Lily told her. "Especially now that we keep getting up to hug people, then have to burrow under the blankets again to warm back up."

They'd picked seats on the border of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sections, so when the parents started arriving, Miranda's parents joined Kirley, Ana, Harry, Ginny, James, and Arianna in their section. The Slytherin Marauders sat with them too, so they had the larger support group for Hufflepuff, even though there were about an equal number of family guests in the Gryffindor section. Myra was the only exception, and she'd gone to sit with her parents and younger brother as they cheered for Liam and his team.

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams were called out into the stadium, flew around, and landed for their pre-game handshakes and instructions. The quaffle was thrown into the air right at the top of the hour, and Miranda shot out past the rest of the players like they were standing still, grabbed the quaffle, and outraced a surprised Hugo to the Gryffindor goals and scored on the right-side, undefended goal.

"Didn't she go to the dance too?" Lily asked. "That was way too easy."

Brianna shrugged. "I know she was there early, 'cause I talked to her, but I can't say how late she stayed."

That burst of speed from Miranda did have the effect of waking up the rest of the players, and the game play heated up fast, even if the spectators were freezing. Hugo was making two or three saves for every save that John Madley, Hufflepuff's Keeper was making, but the problem with that was that Kieran and Miranda were getting two and three shots against him for every shot that Liam, Lance, and Claire were managing against Hufflepuff, since Miranda was absolutely on fire, getting blocks, interceptions, and steals, mostly from Lance and Claire, as she seemed to be everywhere the quaffle was.

"Miranda was not very happy with how she played against Ravenclaw," Gwenog Jones told the others. "She was pretty sure that if Erin's own team mate hadn't blown it for her, that Ravenclaw would have beaten them." She smiled at Kirley. "Your niece will need to be ready for their game next year, because Miranda is not going to want to settle for Hufflepuff only getting three goals again."

"We'd be happy to trade letting her score more goals, if she'll let us win the game," Erin suggested. "Do you think they'd go for it?"

Gwenog laughed. "Not a chance," she assured Erin.

An hour into the game, the score was fifty for Hufflepuff, and thirty for Gryffindor. Miranda had four of the goals for Hufflepuff, and Liam had all three of Gryffindor's goals.

"It's a good thing Miranda's playing so well," Scorpius said. "Kieran's looking a little sluggish today."

"Don't tell Hugo that," Lily joked. "He'll make sure that there's a dance on the Friday night before the game next year too."

"I guess we should have thought about that before agreeing to do the dance," Kirley said. "I wasn't even thinking about coming out here and playing a long game after spending most of four and a half hours on stage last night."

"Is it really that hard playing a concert like that?" Gwenog asked him.

Kirley nodded. "Kieran and Lily each lose between three and five pounds during their concerts. That's pretty close to pound or so that Quidditch players lose each hour during a game."

Lily grinned at them. "True, but I had Al making me a monster breakfast this morning to make up for a good chunk of that weight loss."

"And we'll make up for the rest when we go out for dinner with Mark, Callie, and the others in Senegal tonight after the race," Ginny told her.

"Kira will be there, Mum," she reminded Ginny. "I'll be lucky not to lose more weight running around after her."

"Get practiced up," Harry told her. "Kira is coming with us on our vacation in March."

The game, and conversation sped on, and after two hours, the score was eighty to sixty for Hufflepuff. Colin and Nadine were locked into a battle, neither of them giving up an inch of advantage on the other as they raced around the field.

"Do they have a fight or something before the game so they can compete against each other like that?" Ana asked.

"If they do," Brianna answered, "the making up after the game must be fun, whoever ends up winning."

"They've got one win each in their two games against each other," Al pointed out. "Including this game, they've got four more games against each other, if they both play every year until Colin graduates, so they'll be playing for best out of six matches."

This year's battle, and the outcome of the game didn't get decided until the three hour and nine minute mark. The score at that point was one hundred and twenty for Hufflepuff, and one hundred for Gryffindor. Colin and Nadine had both spotted the snitch across the stadium from where they were, and took off after it. They each took a different flight path, and everyone in the stadium was sure that Colin was going to catch it when Nadine suddenly closed the gap, her trajectory to the snitch being just a hair better than Colin's, and caught the snitch even as her boyfriend's hand brushed her outstretched wrist as they crossed flight paths.

"Yes!" Lily shouted, although it was lost in the roar of similar shouts from all over the Hufflepuff section as they began celebrating their second win of the season.

"Trust an Arithmancer and fellow Seeker to love that catch," Scorpius said. "I wonder who could be tutoring Nadine in that?"

Lily grinned at him. "The same person who has tutored Colin," she answered. "I have no control over which one of them is better at it, though. We'll have to talk about that some other time, though. I have a boyfriend to go spend a little time with before our guest privileges are revoked for the day."

They all went out onto the pitch to visit with the players on both teams, and to have a few minutes to talk with the parents and guests who'd sat in the two different sections during the game. Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna kept those greetings short, and left the stadium early so they could take a slow walk back toward the school gates.

"What are you guys going to do for the rest of the weekend?" Brianna asked.

"Do we even have to ask?" Carolyn said.

"Yes, I'll be going to work," Al answered, and Scorpius nodded.

"Ditto that for me," he told the girls. "It keeps us out of trouble while you two are busy here."

"All evidence of that to the contrary," Brianna joked. "You didn't require Auror protection until after you were out there on your own."

"I only needed protecting once," Scorpius protested.

"So far," she cautioned. "You two need to keep watching each other's backs while we're stuck in here."

"And here we thought you'd just be worrying that we'd be out partying all of the time," Al teased.

After spending hours out in the cold, the goodbyes didn't last very long, and then Al and Scorpius were on their way out of the gate, while Carolyn and Brianna were hurrying back to the beckoning warmth of the school. The two boys stopped in at Al's place for coffee and a snack, and once they felt warmed up enough, went on to the Ministry of Magic, each planning on spending the rest of the day working on their respective projects.

While Al worked at his desk, he listened to the Broom Race commentary, stopping to watch occasionally. Mark and Mariposa were still close together as they came up on the eleven-hour point of the race at three o'clock home time. They were both running full out, averaging two hundred and eighty-eight miles an hour, and the announcers were estimating a finish time of just over eleven and a half hours.

That was when Mark made his move. He suddenly jumped out ahead of Mariposa, increasing his speed until he was flying at more than three hundred and ten miles an hour. After eleven hours of an already exhausting race, Mariposa had no response to his attack, and Mark steadily pulled ahead, although it looked like he was having some difficulty maintaining control at the higher speed. When he crossed the finish line, and soared out over the Atlantic Ocean, he was actually fishtailing as he fought to keep from losing control as he slowed down and returned to the field filled with cheering fans.

He'd barely made it to the ground when Mariposa roared through the finish line just three minutes after him, the crowds cheering just as loudly for her as they had cheered for Mark. Al watched Mark getting congratulated by Callie, Owen, Natalie, his parents, Lily, and Kira, and as he greeted and congratulated Mariposa after she'd landed and met with her family and friends. He turned his portable WWVN off after that, and concentrated on his work.

Scorpius came looking for Al at around seven-thirty, and they went out for dinner before going home. Sunday morning, they both went over to Matt and Rose's house, along with Nick and Allie, bearing gifts of breakfast. Their friends were only home for hours, having gotten in late last night from Hawaii, and getting ready to leave for India with Owen, Natalie, his top five store managers for last year, and their spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends.

"You guys must be finding this switch hard to do," Scorpius told Matt and Rose. "Coming ten hours in time zones back from Hawaii last night, and going six or seven more hours east today again already."

Rose nodded. "We are, but it'll work out, since we'll be getting to India in the afternoon local time, and it's only five and a half hours difference from here. The whole group will have an early night so we can get adjusted to that time zone by Monday morning."

"What are Owen and Natalie doing with the kids?" Allie asked.

"I think they're spending the week with Owen's parents, but I'm not positive," Rose told her.

The six of them spent an hour eating and catching up on the past two weeks, and then it was time for them to split up so that Matt and Rose could start getting ready for their trip, needing to meet up with Owen's group in just a couple of hours.

Nick and Allie would be spending most of the day with his parents, although they were letting them sleep in this morning, having come back from Hawaii with Matt and Rose's tour group. Al and Scorpius went back to the Ministry for another day of extra-curricular work.

The real work week started for Al on Monday when he spent another day following Terrance around as he had another day of what still looked like personal running around. It was hard for Al to believe, but this was the start of his seventh week of following Terrance around. On Tuesday and Wednesday, they did the Middle East and Africa stops, and on Thursday, it was the Western Europe and Morocco stops.

That was the day when Al got a surprising break. Terrance had again made Morocco his last stop of the day, and Al had watched him disappear in the same place as every time he came to Tangier. When he reappeared this time, though, he wasn't alone.

"You've got to talk to him!" the older man that appeared with Terrance said. "I need more money! How am I supposed to survive here on that pittance you bring me? I can barely feed myself."

"What are you doing?" Terrance hissed at the man. "You know we're never supposed to leave these places at the same time. What if you're being watched?"

The older man scoffed at that. "We're not being followed or watched, Nott."

"Tell that to the Carrows," Terrance told him.

"They got caught because they were stupid," the man stated bluntly. "I watched the testimony at their trial. Did they really think someone wouldn't eventually figure out what they'd done to that guy – or that he could be healed? Frank and Alice Longbottom are walking proof that you shouldn't leave witnesses alive."

"Dead ones leave a trail too," Terrance said.

"Not one that can talk, though. Now I demand that you tell Rosier that I want more money from now on."

"Or what, Macnair?" Terrance shot back. "You'll file a complaint with the Ministry of Magic for unfair treatment of a fugitive? You've got nowhere else to go, and we're all feeling the crunch since getting tossed off of the Malfoy money train. If you've got a problem with that, go talk to Mr Rosier yourself. I'm not putting my butt on the line for you."

With that, Terrance apparated away, leaving for his last stop in Cardiff, but Al stayed put and began following his new target. His pulse had shot up dramatically when he'd heard Terrance call the other Wizard 'Macnair', since it meant he'd just gotten a huge break. He followed the man into the Medina district of the city – the old city, along the Rue de la Kasbah, which became the Rue d'Italie, eventually ending up near the Parc de la Mendoubia. The man went into a building that his surface thoughts identified as 'home', and was right on the Rue d'Italie – one that he didn't believe suited his Pureblood status.

Al found himself an out of the way spot to watch the building. He'd used another of his new ViComm's amazing abilities, and begun recording what he was seeing as soon as Macnair had popped out of nowhere with Terrance. Now, while he settled in for his new stakeout, he called Hestia, got her to go see Rick, and then replayed the scene for them.

"So what do you need from us?" Rick asked Al. "Do you want to pick him up?"

Al shook his head. "No. If we do it today, then they may suspect that Terrance is being followed," Al answered. "I'd like to switch and watch this guy for a while. He made a mistake today – he may make more."

"Do you want help?" Hestia asked. "We could put a team on the night shift."

"That'd be helpful," Al agreed. "Let me show you the area." He switched to his ViComm visual mode, and scanned the street around him, including the rooftops so that Hestia and Rick could get a good idea of the layout.

"I can hardly wait for those ViComms to be on sale," Rick said admiringly. Luna's advertising campaign had started this past Monday, and the buzz was already starting for the new devices. She was predicting a best-ever start to sales. "Hestia will call you and let you know who will be your night shift. Garret and Patrick are still in Mexico, so I'm not sure who we're going to send yet."

"Okay. I can handle staying late tonight so that whoever you get can get some sleep before coming here," Al told them.

"Thanks, Al," Rick told him. "Great job. Be careful."

They ended the call, and Al started working on his virtual report as he relaxed and got ready for the long wait. He didn't end up waiting all that long, though, and his surprises weren't done for the day either. Macnair came back out onto the street an hour after having gone in, and Al was a bit shocked when a supposedly tested and true Purblood elitist, former Death Eater walked into a Muggle restaurant called Hammadi's. He thought that it had to be a mistake, but sure enough, Macnair's thoughts were of having dinner at a familiar place, so he obviously came here regularly.

Al found himself another good spot for watching the restaurant, and went back to working on his report. He finished that, had a short chat with Carolyn, and caught up on his QuillMessages while he waited through the hour and a half until Macnair finished dinner. He followed the Wizard as he went for an evening walk before returning to his home again, and then Al settled in again to watch the place and wait for Emma and Jake to come and take over from him for the rest of the night.

They sent him a message when they arrived at around eleven o'clock, and Al happily left them to to take the night shift and went home. He'd already had his little bedtime call with Carolyn at around ten when she was going to bed, so when he got home, Al just went straight upstairs, got changed, climbed into bed and fell fast asleep.

He got up early on Friday, got ready, had a quick breakfast, and then took the TransPortal to Tangier, then walked into the Medina district, going down the Rue d'Italie to the same spot he'd used the night before for his stakeout of Walden Macnair. A QuillMessage let Emma and Jake know that they were relieved, and they sent a message back to let him know that Macnair hadn't moved all night.

At eight o'clock, Macnair made an appearance, and immediately set out toward the Kasbah. Al was less surprised this morning when he went for breakfast at another Muggle restaurant, and was getting an idea why the man was demanding more money if he never cooked any of his own meals. By shortly after nine, Macnair was on the move again. When he got to the same place that Terrance always disappeared, he vanished, and Al began the waiting game again.

He'd managed to enter all of the TransPortal records for five of the suspected Knights over the weekend, and all of the other information he had for them, so he entertained himself for the rest of the morning by playing with his new program, and seeing whether he came up with any interesting conclusions from different manipulations of that information.

When Macnair appeared again, and went to another Muggle restaurant for lunch, he hadn't come up with anything useful, but he was patient about it. He didn't really expect the whole picture to start making sense until he had all of the information. Al followed the old Wizard to the restaurant, waited for him, and then followed him back again to the point where he disappeared into thin air.

Al decided it was safe to take a quick break, so he did that, getting something to eat, and then returning to his post. He'd had enough of crunching data for one day, so he let his thoughts drift to the problem of these Fidelius Charmed places. With fifty of them identified, he wondered whether there were fifty different Secret Keepers, or only a few – or even one. The last seemed very unlikely, considering the difficulty of the Charm, and the unlikelihood that whoever was in charge of the Knights would entrust all of the secrets to one person, unless it was the leader him or herself.

The more he thought about that, the more he was convinced that there was probably one Secret Keeper for each place. He knew that the Carrows, Dolohov, Rowle, Travers, Nott, and now Macnair were not the Secret Keepers for anyplace that they'd been talked to about, and in most cases, either did not know where the other locations were, or couldn't say because they weren't Secret Keepers. Since the Carrows, and Macnair weren't Secret Keepers for the places that they seemed to be in charge of locally wasn't making sense to Al yet.

Macnair reappeared at five o'clock, and again walked back to his home on the Rue d'Italie, was inside for an hour or so, and then this time walked through the streets until he went into another Muggle restaurant called the Mamounia Palace. Al kept a watchful eye on the restaurant until the Wizard came out again at close to nine o'clock, and went straight back to his home instead of going for a longer walk first as he'd done the previous night. Emma and Jake were ready to take over by then, so Al left them to the night shift, and went home to get some dinner and sleep.

With the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game over, the Hogwarts students were starting a long, ten-week stretch of classes with only three Hogsmeade weekends to look forward to. Easter was late this year, and was on the second to last weekend in April - the ninth of those ten weeks that would take them through to the end of April.

Since this was an off-week for Al anyway, he had no problems with doing the stakeout during the day all weekend. When he got back to his spot across the street from Macnair's home, he let Emma and Jake know he was there, and they were happy to be relieved and go home. For the second night, Macnair hadn't stirred, and hadn't had any visitors. Al sent a QuillMessage to Hestia suggesting that they just cancel the overnight stakeouts, since it seemed fairly obvious that the action around here was during the day, and if Macnair was going to be ending his days by eight or nine at night, Al could handle that by himself.

The old, former Death Eater apparently slept in on Saturdays, and didn't make an appearance until nine o'clock. Al followed him to the Petit Socco area, and watched as he had breakfast at some Muggle café or other. When he was done there, Al jumped ahead of him when his thoughts showed to Al that he was going to take the TransPortal to the Wizarding section of Rabat, Morocco, which was similar to Diagon Alley back home, if a bit smaller. Macnair went to the Apothecary, a book store that also carried all quill and parchment supplies, and a final stop at a magical equipment store, although if he bought anything there, Al didn't see it, and he didn't have any more bags than he'd had going into the shop.

From there it was back to Tangier, and his home until noon, when Macnair again came out in search of another Muggle restaurant and lunch. Al stuck with him, waiting outside the restaurant, and then following Macnair as he wandered through Muggle shops and markets. The man used his wand three times on unsuspecting Muggle merchants, taking what he wanted, and leaving the Merchants with no memory that he'd been there, or that they were even missing anything at the same time they would happily bag his new possessions for him.

Macnair made another trip home, and spent the rest of the afternoon there before one more trip out for dinner, a long evening walk, and one last return home for the night. Al watched the place for a little while after that, in case there were any evening visitors, but when most of the lights were turned out, he left for Hogsmeade, ready to make himself a hot meal, find out how the Canons did against the Tornados that afternoon, have his nightly call with Carolyn, and go to bed. The hot meal was good, and the news that the Canons had lost, and fallen to eight wins against five losses was not so good. The call with Carolyn was brilliant, and the sleep very welcome when it finally came.

Sunday morning, Al was ready for another day of watching and waiting, and he was there early to get his front row seat. Macnair came out at nine o'clock again, and went out for breakfast, then came right back home again. Al thought that he'd be watching and waiting until Macnair went for lunch, so he relaxed and started working with his virtual program again.

At eleven o'clock, he was surprised when two Wizards walked up the street and stopped in front of Macnair's house. They looked around somewhat furtively, and then went inside. With the talent Al had for picking up the surface thoughts of other Witches and Wizards, he got both of their names, recorded their faces, and got the general impression that the two young men were uneasy about meeting Macnair at his home instead of at their safe house.

They were young too – not much older than Al. That was the beginning of a total of twenty Wizards and Witches that arrived over the next half hour, some alone, and some in two's or three's. They ranged in age from as young as sixteen or seventeen to the late thirties or early forties. Al picked up all of their names, quite a few locations of where they lived, some snippets of conversation and thoughts that suggested that most of them were uncomfortable with meeting there – and one Wizard who was among the group that was in the under thirty crowd who _knew_ where the Fidelius Charmed safe house was, which meant that he had to be their Secret Keeper! He was mentally vocalizing it's location as he thought about the fact that he believed that this meeting should have been held there where it was safe instead of at Macnair's home.

Whether it was intentional or not, when the Secret Keeper gave up the location of a Fidelius Charmed thing or person, the person that now knew the secret could go to that place or find that person, but Al now had the problem of knowing the secret, but not being able to share it with his fellow Aurors – or anyone else.

He set thinking about that aside for now, and watched Macnair's place for any sign of activity. His ability to read thoughts, without using legilimency did have it's limits – a significant one being how close the other person needed to be to Al, and another, Lily had hypothesized, was how well the other person's mind was trained, and how much ability they had at shielding their minds. Whatever the meeting was about, they were too far away from Al for him to pick up thoughts, although the protections that Macnair had around his place could also be interfering with that too.

While he waited for any of the Wizards or Witches to reappear, he went over everything he'd picked up about each of them. The first thing that kept coming into his mind was that they were young. Even the oldest among them would have been teenagers still when the last war ended. They were all from Northern African countries, and over half were from Morocco. There were three husband and wife pairs, two of which had come with young adult children. The fact that the twenty guests, plus Macnair made a group of twenty-one was not lost on Al either. That number was coming up a lot the more he learned about the Knights.

The meeting must have finished by one, since the Witches and Wizards began exiting Macnair's place, again as singles, or small groups. Al watched them, and listened with both ears and mind to all of them as they left, making virtual notes as he went. When all of his guests were gone, Macnair came out too, and left for another Muggle restaurant, unaware that Al was continuing to follow him under cover of his cloak. He'd been the only one of the whole group who hadn't even so much as glanced around looking to see if there was anything unusual going on anywhere on the street around him.

Al followed him all the way to one of the beach areas, where Macnair had lunch, went for a walk by the water, and then went back home for the rest of the afternoon. Al was pretty sure the excitement was over for the day, but he watched Macnair's place for the rest of the afternoon, followed him as he went out for dinner, and then back home again for the night.

With his fugitive safely back home for the night, Al walked up the Rue d'Italie, continuing on where it became the Rue de la Kasbah, and followed it to where he'd been previously watching first Terrance, and now Macnair disappear from sight. Now that he'd been 'told' the location, when he came to that place now, he was able to see a third building where only two had been visible to him before.

The spot he'd been using to wait for Macnair when he'd been at this place wasn't very well positioned to watch the building, so he found an new one, and spent close to an hour meticulously scanning every inch of the building, looking for magical protections. Other than the Fidelius Charm, and standard Muggle-repelling Charms, Macnair and his group had not put on any other protections that Al could detect, relying entirely on that one single protection to keep them safe. It was now late evening, there was nobody there, and Al had no idea how many chances he might get, so he took a deep, calming breath, walked across the street under cover of his cloak, opened the unlocked door, and entered one of the Knight's safe houses.

He closed the door again after getting inside, and wondered at this complete lack of additional security on the place. Thinking back on the old stories about Grimmauld Place, and his own childhood home when they were under Fidelius Charms, they'd done no additional security at those places either – except for at Grimmauld Place after Professor Dumbledore died, and they put in other security because they'd believed that Professor Snape had been on Voldemort's side all along. Maybe it was just that then and now, they were all just too arrogantly confident in the power of this magic.

Whatever the reason, he was in, and it was time to see what he could learn. Since he'd been outside in the dark, with just the lights from the street and nearby buildings, it didn't take long for his eyes to adjust to the dim light illuminating the room through the windows facing the street. He was standing at the entrance to an open office area that was reasonably neat, with a half-dozen work stations that were spaced out along both walls with a wide aisle down the middle. The desks and other furniture looked to be serviceable, and wouldn't be out of place in any average Wizarding office.

He walked slowly along the aisle, just taking the whole place in, and when he got to the back, he found two rooms – a private office, and a small conference room. The door to the conference room was open, and he looked in to see a large table with twenty-five or thirty chairs around it, just discernable in the dark gloom. It was no wonder that Macnair's visitors didn't understand why he wouldn't have just had the meeting here, where their safety would have been more assured. This had definitely been Macnair's second big mistake. Going from that doorway to the private office, Al took the time to do another scan of this room, but again, there were no magical protections here either, so he opened the door, and went into what he expected must be Walden Manair's office.

There were no windows in the office, so when Al closed the door, he was plunged into total darkness. He lit the tip of his wand, allowing only a dim light at first while he took a look around. The large desk was mostly empty, except for a large blotter, a table lamp, a few quills, and a couple of inkbottles. Al used his ViComm to take pictures of exactly where everything was before reaching out to turn on the lamp, and sit down at the desk.

With nothing really to go through on the desk, Al started looking through the desk drawers. Most just had supplies in them, and the last one was a file-drawer, and was filled with folders. He carefully pulled each one out in order, and spent the next three hours creating virtual documents of every piece of parchment in all of those files. He didn't spend much time thinking about the information on those pages, just taking it all in as quickly as possible so he could get finished and out of the building undetected. He'd have lots of time during his daily surveillances to re-read and analyse the contents of these files.

Carolyn had called for their nightly bedtime talk while he'd been in the office, and he'd hopefully been able to get through that conversation without worrying her, but he hadn't been able to let her see him, and the fact that he was still out working this late probably had her at least a little concerned.

By a little after one o'clock, he was done everything he planned on doing for the night. He made sure that everything was exactly as he'd found it, turned off the lamp, and left the office. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light again, so he waited before moving back through the open office. He was sure there was more to find out in here, but what he'd gotten done for this one night was going to need to be enough. He looked out of the window, and seeing nobody else in sight, and sensing nobody close by, opened the door, and quietly left the building, closing the door as he left, sure that everything was exactly how he'd left it.

With only a few hours of sleep, Al was back on stakeout in front of Macnair's home by seven o'clock on Monday. The fugitive Death Eater made his morning appearance promptly at eight o'clock, and Al followed him to the same Muggle restaurant he'd eaten breakfast at on Friday morning. The difference between Friday morning and today was that when Macnair went to his office, or whatever they called these places, he didn't disappear from view this time, and Al was able to watch him walk up to the building, open the door, and go inside.

Once the door was closed, Al went over to the spot he'd picked out the night before, sat down, and began reading through the hundreds of pages of parchment he'd made copies of during his night time adventure while he watched the building. The Knights did have a business front, trading in Magical objects, but what they really had set up was an information network, and in this part of Africa, that information went through this office, presumably on up the chain through Terrance Nott.

Al thought that a lot of that information was nothing more than useless gossip about local Witches and Wizards, and about the local Wizarding government. There was a lot of information that was of importance to his investigation, though. For instance, Al knew approximately how long Macnair had been there, which was between fifteen and twenty years. If there had only been one Secret Keeper, it meant that the Wizard Al had identified yesterday had only been a child when he'd been made Secret Keeper. He wondered if it was possible that the man didn't even know he was the Secret Keeper. Maybe Lily could tell him whether it was possible to be one and not know it – maybe the same way that his father hadn't known that he was an unintended living Horcrux for Voldemort.

While he worked through his review of those documents, Al watched with interest as a few Witches and Wizards came to and from the building. Macnair must not have been the first one to the office today, since one person left the office at lunchtime that Al had not seen earlier. He took names and pictures of these people too, adding everything to his rapidly growing new information.

He was torn between staying and watching the building, and following Macnair when he left for lunch, deciding to stick with his fugitive, and hoping he didn't miss much. An hour and a quarter of his time sitting outside of another Muggle restaurant while Macnair had lunch, and he was back watching the Knight's Tangier office through the afternoon.

Most of that time, when he wasn't photographing and picking up information from new visitors, he sent messages to Hestia, mostly asking for help with tracking down anything she could get him on the twenty new members of the Knights that he'd identified, including all TransPortal records for each of them.

At the end of the afternoon, after Macnair had gone home, but before he went out for his nightly dinner, Jake was sent to follow him for the rest of the evening, while Al was called back to Auror Headquarters to a meeting with Hestia and Rick. He stopped at Hestia's desk when he arrived, and after stopping at his desk to use his VirtualQuill to print off two copies of the dozen page virtual report he'd been working on since Sunday morning, they went to join Rick in his office.

"I hear you've been busy the last couple of days," Rick said as Hestia and Al sat down. He and Hestia both took a few minutes to read the reports Al handed them.

"So Macnair had a meeting at his home on Sunday morning," Rick summarized, "and you identified the twenty Witches and Wizards he was hosting." Al nodded his agreement.

"From that, you've gone on to report on quite a lot of other information, but there's nothing here about where you got this information," Rick continued, looking up at Al.

"I'd tell you if I could," Al told him. "That is unfortunately not possible." Rick and Hestia both watched Al, waiting for more, but he didn't add anything else.

"If he can't tell us," Rick said thoughtfully, "then if I had to guess, it would be that he's learned a certain secret. Would you agree, Hestia?"

"That'd be my guess," she told Rick, nodding her head. "The question then would be, if that were true, what would we decide to do with that information?"

"Al has been following Terrance Nott," Rick told her. "We probably should discuss what we want him to do should he hypothetically discover the location of any of these places."

"That's true," she agreed, smiling at Al. "If that did happen, I'd recommend that Al look for any other defences, and if he could, explore the location when none of these Knights were around. If he were to find proof of serious illegalities, then I guess we'd have to look at taking down these people at other locations. If there is no evidence of that sort of thing, then I'd recommend that Al just get all of the information he can, and then we let the place keep running, and follow the leads we get from that information."

"I agree," Rick said, "except for Macnair. We will not be letting him get away now that we know where he is."

This was an area that Al could talk about finally, so he put in his thoughts about that.

"I'd like to keep watching Macnair for a while longer," he told Rick. "He's making mistakes that are helping us get new leads about the Knights, and he could make more before we've exhausted his usefulness. When that's done, I don't think we'll have any difficulty bringing him in from what I read in his file, and have seen of him. He's not a very powerful Wizard. The main thing I want to make sure of is that his capture doesn't put Terrance, or any of Macnair's group under suspicion within the Knights."

Rick nodded. "Okay. You and Hestia can work that out. If you need another two or three weeks, that's fine with me – just be careful. If he shows any sign of catching on to you, grab him and get out of there." Al nodded and stood up, now familiar with Rick's way of wrapping up meetings like this.

"Be careful, Al,' Rick told him, "especially should you find yourself someplace where none of us can come to your aid."

"I will be," Al promised. "If you don't need me for anything else, Hestia, I'd like to go home and get some sleep." He grinned at her. "I didn't get much rest last night."

Hestia laughed. "Go ahead, Al. Keep me posted on how it's going." Al nodded and left Hestia with Rick, off to make a stop at his desk for a few things before leaving.

"That kid is something else," Rick said when he was alone with Hestia. "With everything he's turning up about these Knights, we're going to be glad to have him on our side."

Hestia nodded. "It's definitely looking more serious than a bunch of disgruntled old Death Eaters," she agreed. "How they've managed to build this network without us even catching a whiff of it makes me wonder what we've been doing here since the war."

"Don't waste your time worrying about that," Rick advised. "We're making progress now, and we just need to keep it going, find out what's going on, and put an end to it."

Al went from the Ministry to the Cottage, wanting to talk with Lily and his parents about his questions on the Fidelius Charm.

"Have you eaten yet?" Harry asked him when he came into the sitting room, where the three of them were watching a show on the WWVN.

Al shook his head. "I've barely stopped the last couple of days," he answered, and Harry got up.

"Let's go into the kitchen, then, and we can talk while I get something together for you," Harry told him. Ginny and Lily got up too, turned off the WWVN, and went to the kitchen with the boys.

"I've got some questions about Fidelius Charms that I was hoping you and Lily might have some answers for," he told them, getting to the point of his visit.

"It's not something I have a lot of experience with," Ginny told him, "but why don't you tell us what you need to know?"

"The first thing I was wondering is whether the Secret Keeper has to be aware that he or she is the Secret Keeper for the Charm."

Lily and Ginny exchanged a glance, and Lily shrugged, nodding slightly for Ginny to answer first.

"I don't see why that wouldn't be possible," Ginny answered. "I can think of several ways that could happen, such as using a Memory Charm to hide it from them."

Lily nodded. "It's not a spell like an Imperius Curse, or something that would need to be forced, Al, but I'd think it would cause a problem in that you do need the Secret Keeper to tell new people about the Secret, and if they don't know they have the Secret, it would make that fairly challenging."

"Someone would have to tell the Secret Keeper to give out the Secret, then make sure neither person remembered that happening," Ginny said. "I agree with Lily that it'd be awkward to work with. I'd imagine you'd want to have a really good reason to do that. The Secret Keeper is supposed to be someone you trust."

"It does have possible advantages, Mum," Lily suggested. "For instance, if we look at it from the bad guys' point of view, if they didn't know about it, a Secret Keeper could be caught, and never give up the secret."

"That's true," Ginny agreed, "but then you'd also run the risk of the person giving away the secret inadvertently, without knowing that they'd done it."

"Is there any known way to break the Charm?" Al asked, moving on now that they'd pretty much confirmed that his suspicion was possible, if with some caveats.

"Yes," Lily told him, looking serious. "It would be very bad to do it, though."

"Why?" Al asked.

"The only way I can think of that it's possible would be to have one person learn the secret, and through that, know the Secret Keeper – and then kill the Secret Keeper," Lily answered. "When a Secret Keeper dies, the Witches and Wizards who know the secret essentially all become the Secret Keepers, and then you'd be able to tell anyone you want to tell."

Al watched his mother thinking about that, and finally she nodded her agreement. "That's the only way I can think of, Al."

Harry put a plate in front of Al with a pair of sandwiches, and set out four glasses of wine before sitting down with them.

"When Dumbledore died," Harry said quietly, "the Order of the Phoenix moved out of Grimmauld Place because they believed that Professor Snape would be able to give up the location, so Ginny and Lily are likely right. Since you've talked about lots of locations, Al, if the Secret Keepers of those places don't know that they are Secret Keepers, it would mean that at least one person, and more likely, an inner circle of Witches and Wizards would have to know who all of the Secret Keepers are."

"That could be the weak link, if you could get your hands on one of them," Lily told Al, who nodded as he ate.

"When you're following someone, and they disappear, you're able to reacquire them when they return," Lily mused. "Other people must be coming and going too, but you don't see them, or at least your mind doesn't register seeing them as appearing out of nowhere." Al nodded again.

"If that's the only places your bad guys are meeting, Al, I don't know what to suggest," Lily told him. "Keep watching your man, and wait for a mistake."

"They always do make mistakes eventually," Ginny said with a fairly grim smile. "Starting with choosing to follow the Dark Arts."

Al finished eating, and visited with his parents and sister for another hour, and then wished them a good night, and went home. He called Carolyn early, and talked for more than a half hour, and then got ready for bed, let the exhaustion claim him, and finally managed to get a solid night's sleep.

For the rest of the last week of February, Al was busy with his surveillance. He followed Macnair all day, and then later that night, he returned to the office, and went through all of the desks in the main office, making virtual copies of anything that might be important, although there was really not that much that seemed worth copying.

On Wednesday, he got another surprise when he saw Byron Bulstrode came for a visit to the office. He'd gotten on Al's radar when he was among the group he'd seen with Rosier after they'd captured Travers. Byron was thirty years old, and now that Al saw him visiting this location, he made a note to himself to put the man high on his priority list for getting his information into the virtual program. Until now, Al had placed a higher value on some of the other members of that group, but if Byron knew about this place, then he had more than a peripheral involvement.

When he left Macnair that night, he went back to Auror Headquarters and took the time to copy all of Byron's information into his virtual program, even though it meant losing a couple of hours of sleep. That proved a good decision, as on Thursday and Friday, he was able to determine that Mr Bulstrode was a messenger for the Knights the same as Terrance Nott was, working the same locations on opposite weeks to Terrance. Al was able to piece together his schedule for past weeks, and had a probable future schedule for him put together by the end of Friday.

His own workday on Friday ended early when Hestia called him back to the office, and had Emma take over Macnair's surveillance for the evening. He was smiling when he sat down at her desk.

"What's up?" he asked. "I didn't expect to be back for a visit already – there hasn't been anything new since Wednesday."

"You're being reassigned," she told him. "There's a higher priority job I have for you."

"Okay," Al said, looking interested. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to go home, spend the evening with your sister, and spend the day with your fiancée tomorrow while she's in Hogsmeade. Before you go do that, though, maybe you could tell me why you didn't ask to have someone cover your surveillance tomorrow."

Al laughed. "Because I'm an idiot?" he suggested, and Hestia laughed too. "I wasn't even thinking it was tomorrow. Who let you know?"

"Lily called me," Hestia answered. "She also gave me the schedule for the rest of the year, so make sure you do ask for those days off from now on, or I'll know you're neglecting that sweetheart fiancée of yours, which we just cannot allow."

"Thanks, Hestia," he said simply. "Is it okay for me to be back on the job on Sunday again?"

Hestia nodded. "Yes. Jake's covering you tomorrow, and will send you a QuillMessage with the highlights from the day. Now get out of here and enjoy your night, and your day with Carolyn tomorrow." Al got up, thanked her again, and went to his desk, where he packed up some files, and then left for home.

"You could have called me," Al told Lily when she got to his house a couple of hours later.

"I could have," she agreed with a smile, "but this was way more fun, and I really doubt you'll forget again."

"Carolyn didn't say anything either," Al said. "I wonder why?"

"Probably because most of your calls were cut short the whole last week, or you were half asleep when you did talk," Lily suggested. "At least you are going to be here to spend the day with her."

Al and Lily sat and visited for a couple of hours, and then turned in early. Carolyn was more amused than upset with Al during their call before going to sleep.

Saturday morning, Al was doing breakfast for three again, and good-naturedly endured Lily and Scorpius' teasing about nearly missing today's Hogsmeade weekend. They were finished eating, had finished cleaning up, and were ready to go out into town when Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran arrived at the door.

"I'm going to get teased about this all day, aren't I?" Al asked when the teasing was renewed now that Lily had more people to help her out with all new jokes.

"Probably, yes," Lily agreed. "I don't get to have fun at your expense very often. You're normally so darn dependable, there just isn't much to tease you about."

Al laughed. "Sorry about that. I'll see what I can do about becoming more tease-able so you can be entertained more often," he joked.

They went out into town to get the supply shopping out of the way, and then returned to the house again. The Marauders were coming for lunch and a visit again today, but since the Canons weren't playing today, everyone except for Kieran, Brianna, and Carolyn were going to go back to Hogwarts after lunch, again leaving the three couples on their own for the rest of the afternoon.

Al and Carolyn worked in the kitchen making lunch, while Brianna, Scorpius, Lily, and Kieran sat at the kitchen table, talking with them, and then with the other Marauders as they arrived. Since Al had been busier than usual with work for the past two weeks, he was happy to spend the better part of two hours hearing all about what his friends and cousins had been up to at school.

After lunch, and after the rest of the Marauders left for Hogwarts, Al and Carolyn were upstairs, snuggled on the sofa in their room, catching up on some overdue snogging, and talking quietly. They had no doubt that Kieran and Lily, and Scorpius and Brianna were similarly occupied in their rooms too.

"I don't even want to think about having three weeks before I see you again," Carolyn told Al. "I thought it was supposed to get easier the closer we got to the end of the school year."

"It will get easier," Al promised. "Once we get past this next couple of months, May and June will go really fast."

"May's still a long way off, and we only get two Hogsmeade Saturdays the whole time," Carolyn said. "And Brianna and I have dress fittings for the one in April, so we'll hardly get any time together."

"Let's not think about that until we have to," Al suggested, kissing her tenderly. "I'm sure we can find a better use for the rest of our time today."

They did that, and spent the rest of their afternoon enjoying being together, and pushing those sad thoughts of being apart again away to be dealt with later. When it was time for Carolyn to go, they went downstairs, and she started gathering her things while they waited for the others to come downstairs too.

"Take care of yourself, Al," she told him, hugging and kissing him again while they waited. "I know you're close to something right now, so be careful."

"I will, Carolyn," he promised. "You take care of yourself too. Don't just study all the time, and try not to worry about me – I'll be fine."

"Give it up, Al," she told him. "I'll probably worry about you every day for the rest of our lives. Get used to it."

Brianna and Scorpius were downstairs next, with Lily and Kieran hurrying down at the last minute. Those last goodbyes were quick, and then Brianna led Carolyn and Kieran outside, and they apparated to the gates of the school, and then hurried in, making it back just at the last minute.

Scorpius had plans with his parents again for the evening, and Lily was going to have dinner with Kirley, Ana, Harry, and Ginny, so it wasn't long before Al was on his own again. Spending the first day of March with Carolyn and his friends had started the month out brilliantly, and other than having to deal with weeks apart from Carolyn, he was very excited about the coming weeks – especially from a work point of view. He looked over at the case that held all of the files he'd brought home, thinking about getting started on that month of work, but then decided that the rest of March could wait until after a nice, long, late-afternoon nap.


	123. Winter Knights

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three – Winter Knights

When Al got back to work on Saturday, he started out by continuing the long process of copying more records and information into his virtual program, trying ot get as many of them into the system as he could. His first priority was adding everything Hestia had found for him on a certain Moroccan Secret Keeper, since he wanted to start exploring everything they had on the man, and see if that gave him any new trails to follow.

On Sunday, he was back in Tangier, spending the day following Walden Macnair. There were no meetings today, so he knew that wasn't a weekly deal, and he didn't go to the Knight's office. He had three meals in Muggle restaurants or cafés, went for another walk around town, and spent the rest of the day at home.

The entire next week went pretty much exactly like that. Al did three more late night incursions into the office, checking over nearly every inch of the place, and gathering up every bit of information he could find. There were only two new visitors to the place, and he'd identified the regulars already. On Friday, Terrance Nott made his bi-weekly appearance, stopping in around ten in the morning this time, and as usual, spending nearly an hour inside with Macnair.

This stakeout had pretty much run it's useful course by then, so Al sent Hestia a QuillMessage letting her know that he was ready to sit down with her and work out a capture plan for Macnair. She wanted to meet with him at Auror Headquarters after he was finished tucking his fugitive in for the night, so when Macnair went home for the last time at around nine-thirty, Al left for the Ministry of Magic, sending Hestia a message that he was on the way before leaving Tangier. He'd been at his desk for maybe fifteen minutes when she arrived.

"Have a good day?" Hestia asked him when she sat down across the desk from him.

"It was okay," he answered. "You?"

"Mine's improving with the prospect of bringing in another of our fugitives. Do you want to grab him this weekend?"

Al shook his head. "Terrance stopped in today, and if we grab Macnair this weekend, they could think we got him through Nott. It also wouldn't hurt to find out if those group meetings are every two weeks, though I'm thinking they're monthly, or even less frequent than that."

"So when are you thinking a good time would be?" she asked him.

"Next Tuesday," he answered. "I've also got an idea about taking him in peacefully too." Al spent ten minutes outlining his idea for capturing Macnair, and when he was done, Hestia was grinning at him.

"I like it," she told him. "I'll get the team together and ready for Tuesday, and we'll be in town and waiting when you tell us where we need to be. Is there anything else you need?"

Al shook his head. "Other than some sleep, I'm good for now," he told her. "Let's get out of here so I can go take care of that before I have to be back in Tangier for another day out on the Knight trail."

It was getting late by then, but Lily had made him promise to stop in at the Cottage and say goodbye to her, since she would be gone on another vacation to the island with Harry and Ginny before he got back home on Saturday. This time, they were taking Kira along for the week, and were going to leave right after the Canons' home game against the Catapults. He sent her a QuillMessage a few minutes before leaving Auror Headquarters, and she met him at the door.

"I thought you weren't going to make it," she told him, looking critically at his tired-looking face before hugging him. "You look like you could use coming along and spending the week with us."

Al laughed. "I feel like I could use a week on the island too, but that's not an option. I'm saving my vacation time for the honeymoon, and we rookie Aurors don't exactly get a lot of vacation time."

"That must be the royal we, since there's only one rookie Auror right now," Lily joked. "Come on in. Mum and Dad waited up to see you too."

They could all see how tired he was, so Harry, Ginny, and Lily only let him stay long enough to have a glass of wine, and visit with them for a little over a half-hour, and then sent him on his way home.

"He's only been an Auror for six months, and look how tired he is already," Lily told Harry and Ginny after he'd left for home. "Why is he so certain that this is what he has to do? There's so many other things he could do that I'm sure would make him happier."

"Al's doing it because he knows it has to be done by someone strong enough to do the job," Harry told her in a soft voice, "and because I couldn't – or more accurately wouldn't do it, Lily."

"You did a lot for the whole Wizarding World, Dad," Lily said. "You make it sound like you didn't."

"I didn't finish the job," he answered. "Partly that was because I didn't want to fight anymore, which was the selfish part of me that just wanted to be happy for the rest of my life, but part of it was because I was afraid of what I'd be willing to do – and able to do - if I did keep on fighting those battles."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked. She'd never heard her father talk about this before.

"There are things that I did during the war that I'm not proud of, Lily. I used the Imperius and Cruciatus Curses on Death Eaters back then, and I used one particularly nasty one that could have killed Draco Malfoy when we were just sixteen. Most of that happened before I gained control of my full power. Could you imagine what would happen to my opponents if I ever did anything like that now?" he asked her.

Lily thought about that, understanding why he would have been worried back then. "You haven't done anything like that since then," she told him. "Not even when you faced down Lucius and the others over what they were planning to do to Scorpius."

Harry nodded. "That's true, but there were a lot of good years, and loving people to help me, between the war and then to soften me up. Even now, though, I don't think I could be sure how far I'd be willing to go in a battle situation – especially if any of the people I love are at risk. Look at what happened the day of that press conference Rita Skeeter held – and they were just hurting people I loved with words."

Lily looked at her mother, who wasn't showing any signs of surprise, and so this was something she'd known and understood.

"You're crushing your little girl's image of her Daddy being the bestest Wizard in the whole world," she told Harry with a smile, and Ginny and Harry both laughed.

"I'm sorry, honey," he told her, "but I've got my faults just like everyone else."

Lily nodded. "Okay, I can live with that, but that doesn't explain why it has to be Al, or why you think that he wouldn't be at risk for those same temptations that you're worried about for yourself, Dad. He's nearly as powerful a Wizard as you are."

"He's stronger than I am," Harry told her. "I'm sure he won't go down the path of the Dark Arts for the same reason you should be sure – he's got one of the purest hearts I've ever been touched by. He may and surely will make some mistakes, but I'm positive he'll never use the Dark Arts magics himself. I've sensed for maybe a couple of years that this is the direction his life was going to take, but the main reason he's doing it is because this is what he sees in his own future, and I suspect he sees a lot more of the future than he tells any of us about, except maybe Carolyn."

Lily nodded. "You've convinced me. Is there anything you know about that would keep us from watching his back and trying to take care of him so he doesn't burn himself out while he's busy cleaning up all of the bad guys?"

Harry grinned at her. "Nothing that I know about, and I think that keeping an eye on him is a really good idea – at least until Carolyn's home and can take care of him for us."

"Let's go get some sleep," Ginny suggested. "We can talk about how to start handling your brother while we're on vacation next week."

If Al had been there for that conversation, he wouldn't have been surprised about what his father had to say either. Seeing into the future was, after all, looking into possibilities. Harry had done a lot of really great things for the Wizarding World since the war, and helped millions of Witches and Wizards, but Al understood the difference between himself and his father – he didn't have the capacity for hate within him that his father harboured inside, and had let out very rarely. He knew that his father was right to be afraid of that.

He was back on the job in Tangier on Saturday morning by the time that Harry was in the kitchen cooking breakfast for three. Al wasn't expecting any excitement today, and was actually hoping that there wouldn't be any so he could spend his day concentrating on his virtual program, and working with the growing database he was building within it.

'I need to come up for a name for this thing', he thought to himself as he waited for Macnair to make his morning appearance to go on his breakfast run. He'd built it based on the BusinessMagic system, which his mother and Lily had made sure his ViComm was compatible with, and at the same time he was deciding to call it BusinessMagic – Auror Case Manager, or BusinessMagic – ACM, he mentally smacked himself in the head.

The virtual program he'd designed was based on – and functional with – the latest version of BusinessMagic. It could work with the same system that was already running at Marauders Institute, doing among other things, keeping track of all TransPortal billing records. All he needed to do was make a simple little tweak to ACM, and get access permission to that part of the system from Mandy or one of the other senior managers at the Institute, and he wouldn't have to copy those records from parchment any longer at all.

He sent a qm to Mandy asking for that permission, but had to hold off on making the changes to ACM, since Macnair came outside and was on the move. Al followed him to the café where he had breakfast, and from there on another Saturday hop to the Wizarding section of Rabat. The rest of the day pretty much was the same as two weeks ago, and from the report he'd gotten, the same as last Saturday. Macnair went back home, then out for lunch and around to some of the Muggle markets and shops to rip off the Muggle shopkeepers to acquire the things he wanted that week. He ended the day with dinner and a walk, and once Macnair was home for the night, Al went home to Hogsmeade.

While he had a late dinner, Al watched one of the sports channels to find out that the Canons had won their home game. After eating and cleaning up, he got ready for bed, and his nightly call with Carolyn. He was already in bed when she called.

"Hi, beautiful," he said, smiling at her. "How was your game day party?"

"They're always more fun when the Canons win," she answered. "How was your day playing 'follow the fugitive'?"

"Pretty boring," Al told her. "Saturday seems to be shopping day, and other than learning that petty theft is among the man's many faults, I'm not learning much there."

"Lily said you looked tired last night when you stopped by," Carolyn said. "You're supposed to be taking care of yourself."

Al sighed. "I'm trying, Carolyn. There's just so much to do, and not enough hours in the days right now."

"I'm pretty sure you've said that before – a few times," she told him. "I'm afraid you'll make a mistake if you're too tired out there."

"Like forgetting what days you're in town on Hogsmeade weekends?" he joked, and Carolyn laughed.

"If that's your biggest mistake from being tired, I can live with that," she told him. "You know what I mean, though, Al, and you need to try a little harder on that taking care of yourself thing."

"Yes, dear, you're absolutely right," Al said.

Carolyn had a suspicious look on her face. "Why did you say it like that?" she asked.

Al grinned at her. "I was just practicing," he answered. "They're supposed to be the five words a Wizard needs to know to have a successful marriage – I read it in a virtual book today."

"You're doing research on how to have a successful marriage?" she asked with a laugh, and Al nodded.

"I only plan on getting married once, so practicing until I get it right isn't an option. Thankfully, I've got some good role models in my family, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to find out what other Witches and Wizards think you should do to have a good marriage."

Carolyn smiled at him. "I love you, Al. You keep on reading about it all you want, but I'm sure we're going to have a great marriage. I've known that forever."

They talked about school and work and their friends for nearly an hour, and then Carolyn told Al to get some sleep and ended the call. Al did as he was ordered, and the next thing he knew, it was morning, and time to get up and ready for another day in Tangier.

There were no meetings or anything even remotely exciting happening on Sunday, and Monday was more of the same, except watching the comings and goings of the few Witches and Wizards stopping by Macnair's office. Al had one last meeting with Rick and Hestia late on Monday afternoon, while Jake watched Macnair do his evening dining, and then Al went home to get a good night's sleep so he'd be ready for Tuesday's planned adventure.

Al spent the day following Macnair around, most of the day spent on stakeout near his office. It was nearly six o'clock when, after being home for an hour or so, Macnair came out onto the Rue d'Italie for his usual walk to whichever restaurant he'd picked for dinner. Al followed him to the Mamounia Palace restaurant, which was one of the man's favourite places to dine. He waited outside long enough to let Hestia know where he was so that she could get the team in place to back him up, to give Macnair time to be seated, and to give himself time to find a spot where he could remove his invisibility cloak without attracting attention by just appearing out of nowhere on the busy Rue as-Siaghin.

When he was ready, Al stepped into the restaurant and searched for Macnair. He would have expected that a fugitive Wizard would sit facing the entrance whenever he was in a public place, but Macnair had his back to the door, and at the moment was placing his dinner order. Al made sure that none of the Muggles paid any attention to him, and silently put up an anit-apparition spell as he walked up behind Macnair when the Muggle taking his order left him alone. He walked past the man, and sat down in one of the chairs across the table from him.

"This table is taken," Macnair said before looking at Al. His mouth dropped open in shock as his eyes locked on Al's piercing emerald eyes.

"Don't try anything," Al told the man in a soft, low voice. "My wand's already in hand, you can't apparate, and this restaurant is surrounded." He watched the play of emotions across Macnair's face, and tried not to laugh.

"Walden Macnair, you're under arrest, and I'll be happy to go over the long list of charges later, but why don't we just be civil about this. We'll have dinner, you can tell me all about how you came to be living in Morocco, and then we'll go outside and take a trip to Auror Headquarters with the rest of the team outside." He pinned Macnair with his piercing, soul-searching gaze. "You really don't want to try and duel it out with me."

The older Wizard sat back in his chair, and as the shock wore off, he smiled at Al and nodded. "Very well, boy. If I'm captured, I may as well enjoy one last meal." He waved the Muggle waiter over, and Al ordered a meal too.

"How did you find me?" Macnair asked.

Al smiled. "I've been working a lot, so I decided to take the day off today. One of my friends suggested I'd like visiting the Tangier Medina and the Kasbah. I'd just finished taking a walk through the Parc de la Mendoubia, and was thinking about trying out the Marhaba Palace restaurant that I'd seen near the Kasbah. If you think you were surprised to see me, imagine how I felt when I saw you come walking down the Rue d'Italie."

Macnair laughed, a sort of barking, harsh sound. "You're telling me that I've been caught by an Auror-trainee because I was walking down the wrong road at the wrong time?"

"That would be a matter of perspective, since from my point of view, I'd say it was the right road at the right time, but yes, that'd be about right." He watched as Macnair looked around them speculatively.

"You're wondering whether I'm lying about having backup," Al told him. "Welcome to the new world of technology. A couple of WiComm calls and QuillMessages, some TransPortal trips, and just like that, you have all of the backup you need."

"Why let me have the meal then?" Macnair asked suspiciously. "I think you're just trying to buy time."

"Like I said," Al answered, "there's no need to be uncivil about this, and I had planned on eating anyway. I am surprised to find out that you'd eat in a Muggle restaurant, though. From everything I've read, I thought that having anything to do with Muggles was against the Pureblood code of conduct."

Macnair shrugged. "Some of my colleagues would agree with that. I, on the other hand, am more than happy to use these Muggles as the servants and slaves they are. Since I wasn't given House Elves to serve me when I was located here, these Muggles suffice as a poor substitute."

Al nodded, and they both waited as the first dishes were delivered. "Have you been here ever since the war?"

Macnair shook his head. "No. I've moved around some, but I've been here for a few years."

Al knew the other Wizard had been here a lot longer than a few years, but nodded his head. "This is a pretty good choice of a place to hide – there isn't a very large Wizarding population here, since they're mostly in Rabat, Fez, and Marrakech in Morocco."

"Apparently not good enough," Macnair told Al, who laughed.

"Do you see your old pals much anymore?" Al asked him. "There's a few of them I'm interested in talking to if you could tell me where I could find them."

Now it was Macnair's turn to laugh. "I'm sure you would be, but since I don't see them, I can't help you – not that I would help you even if I did keep in touch with the others."

Macnair was helping out just fine, as Al read his thoughts while listening to him talk. He was lying about not keeping in contact, of course, but he was also thinking about some of the other fugitives, and confirming at least general locations, even if he didn't actually go see them.

"Is there anything you'd like to know about what's been going on back home while you've been gone?" Al asked him.

"They do have WWVN's in Wizarding Morocco too, boy," Macnair told him. "I've heard all about you, for instance. I would be interested in knowing the inside story on how you managed to catch Dolohov and the others." Their main course was delivered, and Al waited until they were alone again.

"Let's see," Al said thoughtfully. "For most of them, it was spending a lot of very tedious hours searching through paperwork. Darius and Daemon Mulciber, for instance used an alias spelled out of the letters in Mulciber, and started showing up in government documents shortly after the war. I tracked the Carrows down through a man named Ilian Kinlov. I found him by checking medical records, thinking I might get some leads by looking for unsolved medical cases that fit the profile of certain fugitives. When I found out that a Witch and Wizard had created identities as the man's sister and brother – siblings who hadn't existed until six years earlier, the rest was easy."

Macnair nodded. "I thought it might be something like that. What about Travers, Dolohov, and Rowle?"

"I was just an observer for Travers' capture," Al told him. "Maybe you can ask the Aurors who did catch him how they found him sometime. As for Dolohov and Rowle, I have a certain gift for seeing, and I knew that something was going to happen at that conference in New York, so I talked Rick into sending a team to keep the delegates there safe. Dolohov and Rowle came to us."

"Yet Dolohov got away from there, and you somehow tracked him down and captured him by yourself," Macnair said, watching Al intently.

"That's true," Al agreed with a nod. "I felt bad that he got hurt, but then that was my first real life and death duel, and I only meant to push him up against the wall, not through it."

Macnair stared at him, trying to see if Al was joking, but the look he saw in Al's eyes was pure honesty. "There wasn't anything in the news about him being injured, and he looked fine when he was charged a couple of days later."

"The Healers fixed all of the broken bones as soon as I got him back to Auror Headquarters," Al told him. "That's mostly what I'm talking about when I say you really don't want to duel with me – it may be a while yet before I get used to them, and I'd really rather not hurt anyone else while I'm still learning to be an Auror."

He heard Hestia laugh as he said that, since he'd kept a ViComm call open with her during the entire conversation, and he had to fight to keep from grinning.

"But then if we all came quietly, you'd never get any duelling experience at all," Macnair suggested with a smile. "Why don't you and I go somewhere without all of your little friends, and I'd be happy to give you the last lesson you'll ever need in duelling."

Al smiled at the old Wizard. They were getting to the end of dinner, and the game – at least the end of it for Macnair.

"I'd really love to," Al told him, "but I have my orders. I'm sure you understand. Shall we go?"

He knew almost before Macnair did that the man was going to try for his wand anyway, and with a flick of his wand, Al immobized Macnair, pinning him in a vise-like invisible stasis that caused the man's eyes to water with the discomfort. An Expelliarmus spell later, and Al was holding a second wand and looking sadly at Macnair.

"I did try to warn you," he told the man. "Why don't I let you go now, and we can walk out of here without making a scene," he suggested, standing up, and putting more than enough Muggle money on the table to cover the meals, along with a generous tip. "Dinner's on me."

He released Macnair, who let out a shuddering breath before getting shakily to his feet. Al motioned that he should go ahead, and Al followed him outside to where Hestia was waiting with Jake, Emma, Geoff, and Vicky, and then they started walking together, looking for a place where they could take the TransPortal back to London.

"How was dinner?" Hestia asked Al.

"I'd recommend the place," he told her. "The dinner company was okay too, except for one little misunderstanding right there at the end when he wanted to kill me."

"I'm sure Rick will be glad to see that this little misunderstanding didn't end with the need for anyone requiring medical attention," Hestia told him. "I'm sure he made it clear the last time how much he hates all of the extra paperwork."

Al nodded. "He did, although he told me that the extra medical services costs that weren't in the budget was a close second."

Macnair was watching both of them as they walked with a confused look on his face, as if trying to figure out what went wrong.

"Don't worry about it, Walden," Hestia told him. "Al has that effect on all of us. I think it's because he just looks so cute and innocent – you don't suspect all of that power until it's too late."

They found a good spot to leave from, and they took the TransPortal to the terminal outside of the Ministry of Magic, and then walked with Macnair into the building, through the Atrium, and took the lifts to Auror Headquarters. Rick was there to meet them, and had a big smile on his face when he welcomed the latest fugitive Death Eater to the Ministry of Magic.

"You need to take more days off if you're going to find fugitives every time you do," Rick told Al, playing the storyline for Macnair's benefit. "Welcome back to England, Walden. I'm sure you're not all that happy to be home under these circumstances, but we are very glad you're here."

"Funny, Savage," Macnair said with a sneer. "It's a wonder somebody hasn't killed you by now just because of that lousy sense of humour."

Rick laughed. "That wasn't humour, Walden. It's how I get prisoners to talk – you tell me what I want to know, or I'll make really bad jokes until you crack. Take him in to the interrogation room please, Emma. I'll be in as soon as I get my copy of World's Worst Wizarding Jokes book from my office." Jake, Geoff, and Vicky went with Emma to watch over Macnair, leaving Hestia and Al with Rick.

"I take it that everything went smoothly," Rick said once Macnair was gone, and Hestia and Al both nodded.

"Al had to disarm him by force," Hestia told Rick, "but there were no fireworks, and the Muggles never saw a thing."

"Okay. Let's keep it fairly short tonight," Rick decided. "We'll spend the day with him tomorrow, and then we'll bring him before the Wizengamot on Thursday morning. You two watch from the observation room, and after I've let him stew for a few minutes, I'll get started."

"Sounds good Rick," Hestia told him. She grinned at Al. "Some of us had dinner already, but I'm going to grab something from the cafeteria. Do you want anything?"

Rick laughed. "A cup of coffee would be good, but I had a sandwich earlier while I was waiting for all of you to get here."

Al went into the observation room, while Rick went to his office, and Hestia popped out to get herself some food, and two extra coffees. He sat down and looked into the other room at Walden Macnair. He'd just finished spending an hour or so with the man, and he hadn't been very impressed. The conversation had been a game that they both knew they were playing, but Al hadn't much liked what he had learned so far. This guy was a self-centred user who didn't care about anyone except himself. Al had seen him stealing from Muggle vendors, and suspected from what he'd said during dinner that he likely never paid for meals either, and then was also demanding more money from his friends in the Knights. He laughed at himself – was he thinking that a murderer and former Death Eater should be all sweet and grandfatherly?

"Did you learn anything useful during your little dinner?" Hestia asked Al when she came into the room. She handed him a coffee, and sat down next to him with a sandwich, salad, and tea.

"The restaurant house specialty was good," Al joked before getting serious. "He confirms the general areas where a few of our other fugitives are, but not anything more specific than we have already. If I was one of the guys in charge of the Knights, I'm not sure how much trust I'd put in this guy."

Hestia laughed. "Do you mean to tell me that there are untrustworthy bad guys among the Knights?"

Al laughed too. "I mean this guy isn't in it for anything other than his own self-interest. That makes for a very bad fanatic."

"Maybe we can take advantage of that," Hestia suggested, but Al shook his head.

"We have to be careful with this guy," he said. "If we try and get what little he knows about the Knights out of him, he'll probably give it to us, but then he'll go running to his buddies and tell them that we're on to them."

"From Azkaban?" Hestia said sceptically.

Al nodded. "Do you actually think that there aren't at least some guards or other staff members who are working for the other side? Heck, twenty-one out of fifty members of the Wizengamot are at least sympathetic, if not all working outright for them. The leaders of the Knights would know what we know in a day or two at most, and I wouldn't be surprised if they knew within the first hour."

"You may be right," Hestia conceded. "Do you think we'll get anything out of him we don't already have?"

"I don't know," Al answered. "We've gotten a lot of information from the surveillance, and that's going to take some time just to follow all of the leads, so even if we don't get more out of him, I'm not going to be too disappointed."

Rick walked into the interrogation room, and sat down across from Macnair. "Normally, I'd offer you dinner, but since Auror-trainee Potter already took care of that, and probably with a better meal than I had tonight, that shouldn't be necessary. Would you like anything to drink before we get going?"

Macnair shook his head, and Rick got started. For the next two hours, he asked Macnair about where he'd been, and what he'd been doing for the past nearly twenty-six years, and about other fugitives and where they might be hiding. The former Death Eater spun a lengthy lie about what he'd been doing, and professed to know nothing about any of the other former Death Eaters.

"He's at least enjoying himself," Al told Hestia. "Right now he's thinking about how easy it is to fool all of us, and how soft we've all become over the years."

Hestia grinned. "I miss the good old days when we could just beat the truth out of the Dark Wizards we captured too," she joked. "Threatening them with the Dementor kiss of death was always fairly effective too, but then they turned out to be so undependable."

"We should have never used them in the first place," Al said. "What we allowed those Dementors to do was just as bad as what the Dark Lord used them for."

"I doubt you'd find very many to disagree with you in hindsight," Hestia told him. "There are a lot of things that are clearer now than they were back then."

Al nodded toward Macnair. "Not for everyone, though. Even with all the really great things going on around the Wizarding World, we've got guys like this who are running around sewing their hate, and teaching their Dark Arts. It's all just so stupid."

Rick wrapped up the interrogation, and Al and Hestia met with him in his office, while Emma and Jake took Macnair to the dungeon level, and the nice comfy cell where he'd be spending the night.

"There wasn't anything new so far," Al reported. "It's not that he's particularly good at guarding his thoughts, it's more likely that he really doesn't know much more that we can get from him without directing the interrogation toward talking about the Knights themselves, and I have a really strong feeling that we don't want to give up the advantage of surprise we have. I really don't think the other side has any idea we're on to anything more than finding old war fugitives."

Rick nodded. "I agree. We're going to work him over again tomorrow anyway, but I think that we can make better use of your time by having you return to your surveillance in Tangier, Al. The news about him should be out by morning, if it isn't already, and there could be some activity around Macnair's home and – other places – that may be of more interest to us. Maybe over the next few days we'll even find out who his replacement will be."

"I'll be there first thing tomorrow," Al agreed. "Someone will have to take over for me on Thursday while the Wizengamot is convened to hear the charges against Macnair, though."

"I'll make sure that's taken care of," Hestia told Rick. "Since Emma and Jake have been helping there, I'll send one or both of them."

"Go get some sleep," Rick told both Hestia and Al. "You did great today."

Al had gone home, had his ViComm call with Carolyn, and gone to sleep, and was back in Tangier early Wednesday morning. He'd decided that staking out the office at first made more sense than waiting outside of Macnair's home, since he expected that the office would be the first place that panicked young Knights would run to after hearing about Macnair's capture.

The first person to arrive, a young Witch named Nicolette whom Al normally saw coming and going at lunch, and at the end of the day, but was always there before Macnair, didn't seem worried or upset as he walked up to the office and went in. She must not have heard the news yet. It wasn't long before she did find out, though, since two highly agitated Wizards came to the office together, and hurried inside. When one of the group's couples came into view, Al saw one of the young Wizards open the door and approach them.

"Have you heard?" he asked them. "They came and snatched Macnair right here in the city! What are we to do? What if they're watching us right now?"

"Calm down," the Witch told him. "First of all, this place is protected, and they cannot be watching us. You already know what we are to do. Wait here, and someone else will come to give us our instructions."

Al watched on as over the next two hours, all twenty of the members of this group of Knights arrived and went inside the office. The tension inside must have been growing to a fever pitch, for when Byron Bulstrode walked into view, the young Witch who'd been the first one there that morning opened the door and threw her arms around the startled Wizard.

"Byron, you're here! I was worried we wouldn't see you until your regular day tomorrow! What has happened to Walden? The news says he was captured last night!"

"He was, Nicolette," Byron answered, "but it looks like it was just chance that he was seen and captured. You and the rest of the Knights are not in danger. Are the others all here?"

"They are," Nicolette answered. She still hadn't completely let go of Byron, and he had to extricate himself from her before continuing.

"Then let's go inside and I'll let you all know what we'll be doing now."

Al already had read what Byron was going to tell them, and he was finding the answer very entertaining – the Knights were sending Vincent Goyle here, at least temporarily. What could the Knights be thinking? Vincent Goyle had followed Dirk Avery around for seven years, and never shown an iota of leadership, and at best mediocre skills with his magic. Maybe that's what they were looking for – someone who'd follow orders, and wouldn't think too much for himself.

That did bring up an interesting possibility, though. If Vincent didn't know where this office was, then the Secret Keeper was going to have to meet with Vincent. Al hadn't had time to even get all of the information about the Knights in this group yet, but decided that following the Secret Keeper for the time being would be his plan of action, at least until he met with Vincent. It was nearly two hours later before the door opened again, and Byron stepped out of the office, along with a few of the members of the group.

"I will have Galen come with me," Byron told them, and the young Wizard who Al knew was the Secret Keeper stepped across the space between the group and Byron to stand beside him. "We will check out Macnair's place to see if it's been disturbed, and then I will take Galen to meet the young Wizard who will assume Macnair's responsibilities for the time being so that he can confirm his identity for all of you when he arrives tomorrow. He is young, but I remind you that he is from a family with very important friends, if you catch my meaning."

"How will he find this place?" one of the other Wizards asked.

"That is of no concern for any of us," Byron told them, and Al was sure that as far as Byron knew, that was true, since he didn't know the answer, and didn't seem curious to know either. "Galen, wait five minutes, and then follow me to Macnair's place. Take your time, and act normally. The rest of you can go home. Vincent will be here by nine o'clock tomorrow."

"You won't be here for your regular visit?" Nicolette asked him, and Byron shook his head.

"This setback has changed my schedule, and I have lost most of a day's work that I still have to get done," he told her. "I will see you again in two weeks."

Nicolette seemed quite disappointed, and Al smiled. From the look on Byron's face, there was more going on between those two than the others knew about. He didn't have time to think about that, though, since Byron left then, and he needed to get moving to follow him.

Byron must have been to Macnair's place before, since he didn't hesitate as he walked there, and went straight inside when he arrived. Al took up the same place he'd used whenever watching the place, and just five minutes later, Galen followed. If that was looking natural, then Galen's head must be on a loose swivel, because he looked around everywhere, and his face had a nervous, nearly fearful expression on it.

The two Wizards were in Macnair's place for maybe twenty more minutes before coming out, and Byron looked satisfied with whatever he'd found. Al picked up the other man's thoughts of where he was taking Galen, and as soon as the two Wizards activated their TransPortal devices, he apparated to the destination that had been clear in Byron's mind.

The door opened, and a decidedly seedy-looking Wizard stepped out into the street, and Al took the opportunity to step inside the Hog's Head tavern unnoticed by anyone on the street, or inside the bar either. He'd been living in Hogsmeade for over eight months, and this was the first time that he'd been in here since moving to town. He'd only been here one other time, on a Hogsmeade weekend, just so he, Carolyn, and the others could say they had been to the Hog's Head. Students rarely felt the need to come back after they'd been here once.

Al looked around, and saw that Vincent Goyle was already there, and was accompanied by Dirk Avery and his Grandfather. He moved silently around the room, moving first away from them, and then around behind where they were sitting, to a spot that looked good for observing and overhearing them, without being in danger of being found. Byron and Galen came in a few minutes later, and Al watched as they joined Vincent, Dirk, and his grandfather.

The actual meeting only lasted fifteen minutes, or maybe a little less, although they all stayed long enough to have a drink after the real reason for getting together was finished. Al was fascinated as he watched, and more importantly, listened to the thoughts of the five Wizards. He watched as Dirk's grandfather instructed Galen to tell Vincent the location of the safe house in Tangier, using some key that unlocked Galen's conscious knowledge of the secret, and when that had been done, he blanked the minds of Vincent, Galen, and Byron so that they had no recollection of that part of the meeting.

That Dirk wasn't included in that memory wipe was of some pride for the young Wizard, and he was mentally crowing about being permitted to know the identities of the Knight's Secret Keepers. Those thoughts were so strong and open, that Al was furiously writing down names into a virtual document. The five Wizards at the table talked while they had their drinks, a conversation that was mostly between the four younger Wizards, while the elder Avery watched on intently.

Where Dirk's mind was an open book, his grandfather's was closely guarded, and there was very little that Al sensed from him. He did get the strong impression that the old man had a fair bit of contempt for the younger Wizards, with the exception of his grandson. To him, the other three were just expendable pawns.

Al had to wait nearly twenty minutes after they'd left before the door opened again, and he could get out without being noticed. Since he was already in Hogsmeade, he went home to have a quick lunch, and then continued on to Auror Headquarters. He stopped in to see Hestia, who was once again in the observation room.

"I didn't expect to see you at all today," she told him. "You must have some developments."

"It's been an interesting day so far," Al agreed. "How are things with Macnair?"

Hestia shrugged. "Rick's just playing now," she told him. "He should go into acting if he ever gives up the Auror business. He probably gets underestimated nearly as much as you do."

Al laughed. "Well, I know who's at least the temporary replacement for our new buddy in the other room there. He's a Wizard who was in my year at school named Vincent Goyle. I'm sure you recognize the last name for sure."

"I've heard it a time or two, yes," Hestia agreed. "Is he anyone we should be worrying about?"

"Probably not," Al answered. "He'll sit there in Tangier and do what he's told to do. I don't imagine he'll be anything more than the gate between the leaders and that little group there."

"You must have more than that, or you wouldn't be here," she guessed, and Al nodded.

"I've still got a lot of leg work ahead, Hestia, but I'm pretty sure I have the names of at least some of the Secret Keepers."

Hestia sat up straight in her chair and turned to give him her full attention. "You do? What can I do to help?"

"I'm not sure right now," he answered. "I want to follow this up, though. The problem is that if these names do lead to discovering Fidelius Charmed locations, then once I know a Secret, I don't think I'll be able to talk about the Wizards or Witches who are the Secret Keepers, or about the places themselves."

"That would make it harder for any of us to help you," she agreed. "You go ahead and start on that, and I'll let Rick know what you're going to be working on. Keep us up to date with what you're doing, and you know if you do need anything, you just have to ask."

Al nodded. "Thanks, Hestia. I'll stop in as much as I can. Is Rick still going to bring Macnair to the Wizengamot tomorrow?"

"Yes," Hestia answered. "I think the time's nine o'clock, but I'm sure that Callie will be able to confirm that with you."

When Al left Hestia, the first thing he did was to go and look up everything he could find out about the first name he'd chosen to work on from his new list – a Wizard named Jovan from Serbia. He decided that the first places he should start looking for these Witches and Wizards was in countries where they were looking for fugitives. Once he had that information on Jovan, which included his known address in Nis, Serbia, Al copied that information into the ACM program, and left for Serbia. He set up a stakeout outside of the man's house, and settled in to wait.

He accessed the TransPortal records for Jovan, and cross-referenced them with the six known TransPortal destinations being used by the Knights, including one that was there in Nis. He'd used all of them on a daily, rotating basis, which was something Al was glad to see, since it meant he probably went to the Knight's safe house in Belgrade every day.

It was nearly two hours later when Al saw a young couple approach the house he was watching. As they closed the gap, and turned into the driveway for the house, Al was able to identify them as the Wizard he was looking for, Jovan, and his wife Mila. They looked to be between twenty-five and thirty, and she was telling him about her day, which suggested that they didn't work together. It was too soon to say whether she was involved with the Knights or not.

He watched their house for another hour, but the pair seemed to be in for the night, so Al went home, planning to come back here by six o'clock in the morning, and see where Jovan led him – hopefully straight to the Knight office and safe house that he knew was in Belgrade.

Al knew that he probably didn't need to be back as early as he got to Jovan's house, but since he had no idea when the Wizard left for Belgrade, he needed to be sure not to miss his leaving. It did give him over two hours to work with the ACM program, and he was glad that Lily had suggested it, since now he was able to analyse and process the information he was gathering much faster than he'd been able to do on paper.

For instance, when he ran a check on TransPortal matches for day and time for Jovan and Dirk's grandfather, using the known terminal locations he'd collected, he came up with several matches where both Wizards were in the same vicinity for short periods of time. Al considered the possibility that since Dirk's grandfather and father had both been with the group that had taken the unbreakable vow with Lucius, maybe this was one of the few things that the old man could still do for the Knights and not break his vow and end up like Lucius.

It was after eight o'clock before Jovan appeared at the door of his house, kissed his wife goodbye, and walked out the drive to the road. For the next hour and a half, Al followed and jumped ahead of the other Wizard as he travelled to several different cities in Serbia before he finally went to the Knight's office in Belgrade. As soon as Al picked up Jovan's thoughts picturing the Muggle government buildings on Kralja Milana in the Serbian Capitol, he apparated there to wait for Jovan.

With two examples now, he had no doubt that for whatever reason, the way the Knights were using their Secret Keepers had the same flaw – they could and did think, and could certainly talk about the actual location of the places they kept the secret for. When Al appeared on the Kralja Milana, a place he'd been to several times while following Terrance Nott, he was now able to see the building that had been hidden from him on all of the previous visits.

Jovan appeared a few minutes later and went inside the office. Al had waited at the spot he'd used to wait for Terrance at first, but now he moved to a better location for observing the building. That's where he stayed for the rest of the day until shortly after five. Up until that time, he'd been photographing all of the visitors to the office, listening in on the sporadic conversations, and picking up the thoughts of the Witches and Wizards as they came and went. He took down names, and anything else he picked up from them.

When Jugson came walking out of the office at ten after five, and Al recognized him, it was time to move again. Jugson was apparently not one for walking, and Al had to move fast to get to the location Jugson was going to ahead of him – a house not far from the Sava river. Since Jugson did do a TransPortal jump before apparating to the place, Al made it there in time, and found himself another location from which to observe Jugson when he arrived just a few seconds after Al was in position.

The Wizard went inside of the house quickly, leaving Al outside to observe the building, and work with his ACM program. The first thing he did was to check the TransPortal billing records for anyone who'd used the TransPortal system in the past few minutes, at the location Al had read from Jugson's mind. One of them came back billed to a business account owned by the Avery family, though there were no additional details. When by eight o'clock Jugson didn't reappear, Al decided that it was time to take a trip back to the Knight's office, and see if it was possible to take a look around there before going home.

When he got back to the office on Kralja Milana, he spent over an hour meticulously checking and rechecking to make sure that there were no other magical protections on the building or grounds, and then spent two more hours inside, scouring through files, searching for anything that looked of interest. Just like in Tangier, it seemed to be the collection of information that was the main focus of what they were doing, although they were also dealing in trade. Since he wanted to be back in Belgrade, watching Jugson's house by six o'clock, he stopped his search for the night, and went home to get some food, have his call with Carolyn, and get some sleep.

Friday morning, he was back outside of Jugson's house, waiting for him to come out and start his day. The lights started coming on at around seven o'clock, and then Jugson left the place at ten to eight. Al again just barely had time to make the jump to his hiding spot near the office on Kralja Milana, while Jugson took a side trip by TransPortal. Considering how close his house and office were to each other, Al thought that maybe the man was taking procedures just a little too far.

While his fugitive worked at whatever business he was doing for the Knights inside the office, Al continued to keep track of all visitors to the place, and using his ACM program to work with the information he was collecting.

When Byron showed up at around ten-thirty, Al watched him enter the office with a smile. His projections had been accurate – at least for this stop on Byron's route. He hadn't been sure with the switch-up on Wednesday whether the young Wizard would get back on that schedule this week or not. Byron spent more than an hour in the office, and when he came out, his main thought was that he wished all of these groups would just get over Macnair's capture – it was because of a chance encounter on the street with a hot-shot Auror-trainee trying to make a name for himself, nothing more.

Jugson was different than Macnair in that he was the first one to the office each morning, and the last one to leave in the afternoon. He didn't go out for lunch, and during Al's admittedly limited surveillance, he went home at night and stayed there. That worked out just fine for Al, letting him go back to the office to continue his search of the place, again staying until about eleven o'clock local time before going home for the night.

On Saturday, Al wished he was hanging out with his friends, or spending the day with Lily and his parents as they split their time between the island and New York, where they planned on being to welcome Mark when he got to the finish line from Paris, and hopefully helping him to celebrate winning the Trans-Atlantic Broom Race.

What he was doing was following a former Death Eater around as he, in disguise, went shopping in Wizarding Moscow. Al couldn't fault the man for how careful he was being. He could have just gone to the Wizarding section of Belgrade, but Al got the sense from the man that he rotated his weekly shopping trip to Wizarding cities all over Europe and Asia to lower the chance of being recognized or caught. When it was time to capture Jugson, he and Hestia would need to come up with some cover story of how he was found, since so far, the man was practically a ghost.

Since he wasn't able to watch the race, Carolyn sent him updates, calling a few times, and sending him QuillMessages every hour or so. The main news of the race was that Mark and Mariposa were both well getting farther ahead of the rest of the racers as the day went on, but the announcers were having trouble calculating which one of them were in the lead, since they were on two completely different flight paths.

Carolyn, and the other Hogwarts Marauders got Lily involved in looking at that by around noon home time, making sure they hadn't talked to her until they were sure she'd be awake on the island. Her early answer by around two o'clock in the afternoon, with the race over halfway finished was that it was too close to call. Both Mark and Mariposa seemed to have race plans that were optimized to be best for them. They'd all just have to wait until the finish to find out.

Jugson was back home by mid-afternoon on Saturday, and Al stayed and watched the house until six o'clock local time, and when the Wizard didn't make another appearance, he decided to go home early. He briefly toyed with the idea of going to New York to watch the end of the race with Lily, Kira, his parents, Natalie and Owen, but decided that just picking up a pizza, going home, and having a few slices, a glass of wine, and watching the end of the race on WMSN sounded much more relaxing.

By the time he got home, after stopping at Auror Headquarters to file a report and ordering and picking up the pizza, it was six-thirty home time. He turned on the WWVN, poured himself the glass of wine, got a plate and napkins, and settled down in the sitting room to watch the rest of the race. He'd also sent a message to Carolyn to let her know that he'd come home early, and she called him a few minutes later.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked him when he answered, and Al laughed.

"I'm fine, honey," he assured her. "It's not like I took the day off or anything – I was still out there for about twelve hours today."

"Compared to the eighteen hours a day you've been going during most of the last two weeks, that practically is a day off," she told him. "What are you doing now?" Al was so used to not using the ViComm main module while he was doing surveillance that he hadn't thought about opening it up so that she could see him. He got it out of his pocket and flipped it open.

"Is that better?" he asked, and Carolyn nodded. "I didn't feel like cooking, so I picked up a pizza, and now I'm watching the race, eating the pizza, and drinking some of your favourite wine."

"Lily's still saying the race is too close to call," Carolyn told him. "She did say they won't beat his record from last year – they've had to fly through some nasty weather, and she's guessing they'll be around twenty-five or thirty minutes slower. That should put them in New York somewhere before eight-fifteen or eight-twenty our time."

"Sounds like it's going to be a great finish," he said. "Is everyone at school watching?"

"Most are," Carolyn answered. "Mark may be a Hogwarts alumni, but I think there may be more students rooting for Mariposa than for Mark today."

"You just can't help wanting to cheer on the underdog," Al suggested.

"I guess so," Carolyn agreed. "Do you want to have our bedtime call early tonight so you can get some extra sleep?"

"If you don't mind," Al told her. "Maybe we can talk for a bit after the race. I'll be back on the road early again tomorrow."

"We can do that," Carolyn answered with a nod. "I'll call you in a couple of hours, and let you get to your pizza now."

She ended their call, and Al sat back into the sofa with a sigh, letting the tension of a day spent tracking a Death Eater slide away as he watched the continuing race coverage. He'd polished off the small pizza and glass of wine, and put his feet up on the sofa by seven o'clock or so. Closing his eyes to rest them for a minute didn't seem like a bad idea at the time, but when he opened them again, it was because he was getting a ViComm call.

"Hi, Carolyn," he said when he could see her smiling face. "Who won the race?"

"Fell asleep?" she asked, and Al nodded, though since he hadn't opened the ViComm main module again, she couldn't see that. "Mariposa beat Mark by a half-kilometre, which at the speed they were going was about four seconds. I'm sure they'll be running the replays for another couple of hours, so you can watch it if you want."

Al opened up the ViComm so she could see him, and looked over at the WWVN. "They're showing it right now," he said, watching the replay as Mariposa, her hair flying and a fierce look of triumph on her face, blew over the finish line to the cheer of the crowds below. She hadn't even started her wide turn to slow down yet when Mark flashed across the finish line too.

"It looks like he was going a lot faster than she was at the end," he commented, and Carolyn nodded.

"He was, but he was just far enough behind her that he couldn't catch up before the finish line. Did you have a nice nap?"

"I must have been more tired than I thought," he answered. "Was Joel very disappointed?"

"I think he was okay with Mark coming in second," she told him. "That fifteen win in a row record will probably stand for a long time."

"Unless Mark breaks it himself," Al said. "Did you guys get all of your homework done today, or will you be working at it again tomorrow?"

"The younger gang pretty much got done," Carolyn answered. "The rest of us still have more work to do. I have no idea how you managed nine and Lily kept up with twelve NEWTs. I'm barely keeping up with seven."

Al laughed. "I'm sure most of the other NEWT students would be happy to trade your 'barely keeping up' seven O's for whatever marks they've got going. I think you're doing brilliantly."

They talked for quite a while, and Al busied himself cleaning up from his pizza and wine dinner, went upstairs and got ready for bed, and eventually ended the call when Carolyn saw that he was starting to fall asleep even while they were still talking.

He got up early on Sunday morning again, and was off to Belgrade for another day on stakeout. On Thurday and Friday, he'd identified just twelve Witches and Wizards who appeared to be members of the Serbian chapter of the Knights. Not all of the Knights showed up every day at the Tangier office either, so Al hadn't been surprised by that, but he was thinking that Jugson could be calling a meeting for today, considering the stress and worry that the members of the group were likely all still feeling.

That proved to be a pretty good guess, although he waited around until nearly two o'clock in the afternoon before Jugson made an appearance outside, and Al went on ahead to his spot outside of the office when he saw that was where Jugson was heading. The older Wizard popped into sight a minute later, and went into the office, and over the next half-hour, the twelve Wizards and Witches that Al had identified earlier joined Jugson in the office, along with eight new faces that Al photographed and gathered everything he could on them from what he heard and what he read in their thoughts.

The members of this group, with the exception of Jugson, were all young like the group in Tangier. There weren't any of the twenty who were older than their mid-forties, and most were under thirty. Since Jovan came alone, that answered Al's question from Wednesday as to whether his wife Mila was a member of the group. It seemed that she wasn't.

There wasn't any doubt in his mind that most of the group were coming to the meeting expecting answers to their worries about whether the Aurors were on to the Knights. Those concerns must have mostly been appeased when an hour and a half later, the group began leaving, everyone projecting much more positive and confident thoughts.

Al followed Jugson back to his house, watched for another hour, and then went home, calling ahead, and getting himself invited to dinner at the cottage. He went home and cleaned up first, and then apparated to the Cottage from there. Harry was putting together dinner for them, and Ginny and Lily were sitting at the kitchen table when he came into the room.

"You guys look like you're rested up and ready to get back to the lab," he told his mother and sister as he hugged them in turn. "You seem to have lost your sidekick, though, Lily. Did you decide to leave her on the island?"

Lily laughed. "She stayed with Owen, Natalie, and James after the race on Saturday. They were going to spend the night in New York, and then spend today with Grandma Valerie in Toronto. This was a nice surprise having you here for dinner. I thought you'd be out skulking around the world somewhere half the night."

"I do not skulk around," Al told her. "Skulking is what the bad guys do. The good guys do surveillance and stakeouts."

"And all of those other nice words that mean skulking around for good guys," Lily added with a grin. "We saw that you went and captured another bad guy while we were on vacation again. We could take another week off if that would help you out."

"I'm sure that would be a real sacrifice for you, but I'm not really planning these around when you're away. It's just coincidence that some of them have been while you're travelling."

"Or that you don't have anything else to do but work all day and night while we're all away playing or at school," Ginny suggested.

"That could have something to do with it," he agreed. "I do seem to put more hours in when everyone else is busy too."

"Are you making any new breakthroughs?" Lily asked, and Al nodded.

"Just about every day right now," Al told her. "I'm going to be busy for quite a while just trying to keep up."

"Can't you get help with all of it?" Harry asked. He was just finishing cooking, and started to put dinner on the table.

"I'm passing a lot of information on to Hestia and Rick," Al answered. "A big part of it I have to do on my own, since my little talent for picking up thoughts is what's giving me information that I can't share with anyone else. I'll have to deal with all of that personally."

"So that hypothetical you were asking us about is proving itself true?" Lily guessed, and Al nodded.

"If you do think of a way around the problem of me not being able to talk about places I've found out about, let me know."

"I'll keep tossing it around, Al, but I just don't see any way to do it right now," Lily told him.

"Neither do I," Al agreed. "I've had enough work for the week, though. Why don't you guys tell me all about your vacation?"

Al stayed and visited for a few hours, hearing about their trip in great detail, then went home early enough to have his chat with Carolyn and still get a good night of sleep.

He was back on the job first thing Monday morning, and for the next three days and nights, he alternated between watching the office, and following Jugson to and from his home each morning and afternoon, and spending several hours each night going through every inch of the office until he was certain that he had gotten every piece of information that was there.

Other than Terrance's visit on Wednesday, there were no new visitors to the office, and so on Thursday, he set up a meeting for the late afternoon with Hestia and Rick. He saw Jugson safely home after another day spent watching the office, and then he left for Auror Headquarters.

"How's Jugson?" Hestia asked when Al joined her in Rick's office.

"He seemed to be pretty good when he went home," Al answered. "It won't be too much longer before things take a turn for the worse, though,"

"Is it time to bring him in already?" Rick asked.

"Not quite yet," Al answered. "I'd like to pass him off to whoever you want to give him to, though. I've gotten everything I can get out of my surveillance, and there is a lot of other leads I should move on to."

"So why not just pick him up?" Hestia asked.

"It's only been just over a week since we took Macnair," Al said. "We've found him, but short of giving up the fact that we're tracking these guys through the Knight's network right now, we've got no reason for knowing where he is. I'm hoping if you have him followed for a couple of weeks or so that maybe something will come up that we can use. I also don't think I should have any connection with the capture, except for if you want me to hang out in the background to observe and be there for backup."

"Where do you want to turn your attention?" Rick asked.

"I'm going to see if I can find Selwyn next," Al told him. "It could take a while. We know he's in the United States somewhere, but Terrance does four stops there."

"It's convenient that three of those locations are in warm climates," Hestia joked, and Rick and Al both laughed.

"That is an added bonus," Al agreed. "If it wasn't for the fact that I expect to be going day and night seven days a week, maybe it would even sound good. Being on stakeout in the warm sunshine does sound better than the last week has been, though."

"Have you come up with any ideas about what the Knights are doing with all of these groups yet?" Rick asked.

"All I've seen so far is a very concerted effort to collect information," Al answered. "I haven't even found a whiff of anything illegal – except for having some Ministry documents that are confidential. We just don't know enough yet to see the big picture."

Rick nodded. "Okay. I'll put Emma and Jake on Jugson, and you move on. Will you be heading west tomorrow?"

"Not if I value my life," Al said with a grin. "Saturday's a Hogsmeade weekend, and I've been warned not to forget about another one. I'll work from here and do all of the research I need to get started with, and then probably go there on Sunday to do a little snooping around."

"That's fine with me," Rick told Al. "Is there anything else you have to add to the file for the Belgrade group or Jugson?"

Al shook his head. "There wasn't anything new today, so it's current."

"Okay. I'll get a copy to Emma and Jake. They can follow Jugson around for a couple of weeks, and by then we'll figure out some excuse for finding him and pick him up."

That pretty much ended the meeting, and Al went back to his desk to do a little work, grab a few things, and head home. He was really looking forward to not getting up at four o'clock in the morning, and just working a regular day on Friday.

The last day of the week ended up being pretty busy anyway. Since he'd been busy day and night all week, and Scorpius had gotten back last night from the conference he'd been at for the last three days, now that they were both in town for the day, he and Scorpius set up having lunch with Rose and Matt.

Al worked at his desk all morning, and then took an hour and a half for lunch. Rose and Matt had been home since Sunday, but were off on their next tour on Saturday. They told Scorpius and Al all about their two weeks in and around Egypt, and about what they'd be doing with their group for the next two weeks in Brazil and South America.

Scorpius had a lot of news out of his conference, which had been held in New Delhi, India. The biggest political win he got was to pass a new trade standards agreement for Potions and Potion supply quality standards. As seemed to always be the case with government, it was money that talked. Scorpius and his researchers had made sure that everyone knew just how much economic advantage there was to all of the governments to have one uniform, quality standard, and the rest of the deal practically signed itself.

"You haven't told us much about what you've been doing," Rose told Al as they were getting close to the end of lunch. "Is it all top secret, you'd have to kill us if you told us sort of work?"

Al laughed. "Hardly that, but there isn't much I can talk about, either."

Rose read between the lines, and nodded. "Well, while you're busy learning all of that tracking and whatever else Auror-trainees are taught, Matt and I will have a drink for you while we're down south playing in Rio or Sao Paulo."

"I appreciate you taking care of me like that," Al joked. "It's so nice to know that your cousins and friends are there looking out for you, and making the tough sacrifices."

Al and Scorpius went back to work for the afternoon, while Rose and Matt had to get back to getting ready for the trip on Saturday. It took a fair bit of digging, but by the end of the day, Al had put together all of the information he needed for his trip to the United States. He was on his way home by five o'clock, where he planned on having a quick dinner, and doing a little work around the house before Lily got there to spend the night.

On Saturday morning, Al was up early and cooking up a storm when Lily came downstairs and hugged him on the way past to the table.

"Are we excited about seeing Carolyn?" she asked him. "You seem especially fired up this morning."

"Don't you think this could just be because I'm so happy to have my favourite sister over?" Al asked.

"Sure, if that's all that was happening today," Lily answered. "That's not the case, though, and if how I'm feeling about seeing Kieran after three long weeks is any indication of how you're feeling about seeing Carolyn, then having me staying here last night probably isn't even a third or fourth thought."

"Just now you were actually my first thought, since I had been thinking about how great it was to hang out with you last night. We should try and do that more than just on the nights before Hogsmeade Saturdays."

"Maybe after I'm seventeen in May you could even be my date and we could go out on one of the date nights that James and Arianna do on their off-weekends."

"That would be fun too," Al agreed. "Although by the time you get back from that birthday tour Mum and Dad are taking you on, they won't have many off-weekends before the playoffs anyway."

"I wasn't thinking about that," she admitted. "I guess there will only be one of them between then and the end of May. Then we'll have Kieran and Carolyn back three weeks after that."

"That almost makes it sound like we're getting close to the end," Al said.

"Except that Kieran and I have another year to go after this one," Lily reminded him. "I've lost count of how many people have told me that I should either home school him next year, or apply to teach at Hogwarts."

"You'd make a really great teacher," Al told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"You're no help, Al. The only thing worse than being away from Kieran would be seeing him every day at school, and not being able to so much as hug him. I imagine the Ministry seriously frowns on Professor-student relationships like that."

"Probably," Al agreed. "You'd definitely be number one on the hottest teachers list, though."

"Then I definitely can't go work there," Lily said with a grin. "I'd never want to take that spot away from Professor Williamson."

Al laughed. "If a younger Professor doesn't, eventually age will catch up with him, although you'd never guess he was on the other side of fifty just by looking at him."

"Looks are only part of it, Al," Lily assured him. "He's the coolest teacher for a lot of other reasons."

Scorpius got to the house then, and after welcoming him with a warm hug and kiss, Lily had him sit down at the table with her and tell her all about his latest conquests in the arena of international politics, which took up most of the conversation before, during, and after breakfast.

"If you ever decide you don't want to play with your Mum in the lab," Scorpius told Lily, "I could find some way to fit a new job into my budget to have you come work for me. You'd make an awesome researcher and negotiator."

"Sorry, Scorpius. Politics is just not going to be my thing. We'll just have to leave that up to you and Brianna," Lily told him. "Doing my music, and working in the lab is all playing, and I'm hoping to get to play for most of my life."

"Starting any second now," Scorpius told them. "Brianna says they're almost to the school gate, and will be here in a minute."

They were already getting their cloaks on when Brianna, Carolyn, and Kieran got there, and they broke up into couples for the hugs and kisses before getting ready to go around town to do the shopping.

"Are we doing any extra shopping this time?" Scorpius asked Brianna and Carolyn.

"We're off the hook this weekend," Brianna answered. "We'll be helping out with the Easter rush next time, though – or should I say that you guys will be helping out, since Carolyn and I have to deal with Wedding dresses, and Lily will be coming along for moral support."

"I think that we can handle that while we wait for you," Scorpius told her. "Have you got everything you need for lunch and snacks today, Al?"

Al nodded. "I'm all set. It should be a good game today against Puddlemere United. Maybe Carolyn and I will even watch a few minutes of it."

Carolyn laughed. "Or not," she added, putting her arm around Al and hugging him. "As soon as lunch is over, we're heading upstairs, and you're all mine until it's time to go back to school."

"In that case, lunch is in a half hour – let's get the shopping done!" Al joked.

It was more like two hours that the three couples spent wandering around town, picking up supplies, and shopping for a couple of new spring outfits at the FashionKnut store before it was time for them to get back to the house so Al could start cooking for the full gang again. There were only two Hogsmeade weekends left in this school year after the one today – the next one three weeks from now on the weekend before Easter in April, and the last one on May tenth, which happened to fall on Lily's birthday this year.

Since the girls were going to be at Gladrags dealing with wedding dress fittings at the next Hogsmeade weekend, they weren't having a lunch for everyone at the house that weekend, and Al was still deciding what he was going to do the weekend of Lily's birthday. He was sure their friends would want to celebrate Lily's birthday, but then she and Kieran would also want as much alone time as they could get together too.

Lily, Kieran, Brianna, and Scorpius went into the sitting room to set things up there for the afternoon game party, while Al and Carolyn started making lunch. The rest of the Marauders started getting to the house by eleven-thirty, and they all gathered at the table, filling the house with the sound of friendly conversations, and happy laughter.

There were a lot of things about being an Auror that Al did like, but the long hours of solitude when he was doing surveillance was not one of them. He much preferred hanging out with his friends, and he really missed being part of a team like this.

Lunch was served at noon, and they sped things along today so that they could finish eating, and get the cleanup done in time for the start of the Canons-United game.

"Any predictions for today?" Joel asked Hugo as they were finishing lunch.

"Canons in a close one, with Liselle winning it for us," Hugo answered. "They've got three out of five of our last games on the road, and we need the win more than United does."

"And United beat the Canons back in September," Kieran added. "You never want to lose two in a season against the same team."

"That's for sure," Hugo agreed. "I'm not a big fan of losing once to a team in a season."

Emily laughed. "You have been so spoiled growing up with your Dad's version of the Canons," she told him. "Now he was a true fan – sticking it out when they were having a good year if they won a few games. You guys are worried, and they're still winning two games for every one they lose. Half the teams in the league would love to have that record."

"I've never claimed that I wasn't spoiled," Hugo said, pretending to pout. "I'd just like to keep getting spoiled, that's all."

"Then come on and help clean up," Emily told him. "Then we'll go cuddle in the sitting room and see if the Canons can do that for you today."

When the cleanup was finished, Carolyn had everyone laughing when she dragged Al off upstairs, not giving him any chance to visit any longer with the others, or get interested in the game that was just getting started.

"I meant it when I told you that you were all mine for the rest of the day," she told him in front of everyone. "You can play with your other friends another time."

Lily, Kieran, Scorpius, and Brianna had laughed too, but they weren't far behind Al and Carolyn either, each couple seriously in need of some alone time after three weeks apart. Al and Carolyn snuggled on the sofa in their room, and Carolyn distracted Al from any thoughts about watching the game with a fairly brilliant snogging session.

"Did I miss something?" Al asked when she let him up for air for a minute. "I'm fairly certain I heard three more sets of feet come upstairs, not two."

"Any guesses on who?" she asked with a grin.

"I'll pick Karl and Daphne, although he does have his own quarters at school, so maybe not."

"My pick is Joel and Sarah," Carolyn told him. "They may be checking it out for future reference."

"Could be. If we find out that it's Dale and Carissa, though, I'm probably not going to be able to keep from laughing," Al said.

"I really don't think Dale would even suggest it with the other boys there," Carolyn answered. "It would be funny, though."

They didn't turn the WWVN on, and other than hearing the occasional cheer or laughter floating up to them from the sitting room, Carolyn and Al had a perfect, quiet afternoon together.

"I think maybe Grandma and Grandpa were right when they told me to wait until we'd been apart for a while before deciding I couldn't love you more than I did before we started this school year," Al said softly as they snuggled close, almost out of time for the day.

"Do you really think so?" Caralyn asked him. "I think it's more like we're more appreciative of having that love right there with us all of the time."

Al nodded. "If that's it, then I appreciate you a whole lot more," he said, kissing her tenderly. "I'm not appreciating the clock right now. Where's a time-turner when you need one?"

"I'm pretty sure the Ministry isn't going to want to let us use one so we can fit in a little extra snogging time on Hogsmeade weekends," Carolyn told him. "Besides, all of our past selves would still be here, so what would we do? Go into one of the other bedrooms and hang out with Lily and Kieran, or Scorpius and Brianna, or whoever else is in the other room?"

"That's a good point," Al said. "I should've bought a bigger house."

Carolyn kissed him again, one more long, blistering kiss before she had to go get ready to leave. They went downstairs, and the rest of the gang were sitting around talking about the game that must be over, since they'd turned the WWVN off.

"We must have won," Carolyn said, "or Hugo wouldn't be smiling like that."

"Just like I predicted," Hugo told her. "Liselle pulls out the win for us in a squeaker. Didn't you watch any of the game?"

"We were busy," Carolyn told him with a grin, and Emily laughed. "You all seem to be missing a couple of Marauders. Did they go back to school early?"

"More like we drew straws and Joel and Sarah won," Daphne answered. "Karl and I didn't mind. We get to snuggle in his office pretty much every night."

"We were rooting for Dale and Carissa," Amy said, smiling at Dale, who started blushing, and Amy and Millie both laughed. "That's just too easy," Amy added.

"And very entertaining too," Millie added. "Don't give us the look, Dale," she told him fondly. "You know we love you, and are just having a little fun."

The Hogwarts Marauders all started getting their things, and were joined by three more grinning couples as Joel and Sarah, then Lily and Kieran, and finally Scorpius and Brianna made their way to the main floor. Since they were walking back today, Al, Scorpius, and Lily all threw their cloaks on and walked with them as far as the school gates. They only had time for a quick round of hugs, and then they stood at the gates and watched their friends, boyfriend, and fiancées walk up the lane toward the school for a few silent minutes before turning away.

"I suppose you boys are going to throw yourselves back into your work now," Lily said as by mutual, unspoken assent, they started walking back to town instead of just apparating back to the house.

"If you don't have plans, I was thinking about taking you shopping in New York or someplace for a few hours," Al told her. "I'll be back on the road tomorrow, so I'm taking the whole day off today."

"That sounds like more fun than sitting around the office," Scorpius said. "Can I come play?"

Lily hugged each of them, and her smile lit up the otherwise dull, overcast March afternoon. "Thanks, guys. I love you."

"So what do you think? New York, or somewhere else?" Al asked.

"How about the Marauders Mall in Santiago," she suggested. "Then we could pick up a case of Carolyn's favourite wine while we're in Chile, since you and I seem to be drinking some of it up on her while she's away."

"Even better," Scorpius said. "I'm running low on a couple of vintages from there too."

They changed their plans about walking back to town, and Scorpius apparated to Grimmauld Place so he could get dressed for a warm weather afternoon, while Al side-along apparated Lily to the house in Hogsmeade so he could change quickly, and then on to the cottage so she could get changed and they could wait for Scorpius to meet them there before taking the TransPortal to Santiago.

There was only one week left in March, and four weeks to go until Easter, which this year was a late unofficial end to winter, since spring would likely arrive ahead of the Easter Bunny this year. For Al, with his plans to leave for the United States on Sunday and begin the search for the next fugitive Death Eater on his most wanted list, this almost felt like the end of winter for him. That may have had a lot to do with why the rest of the day spent shopping and hanging out with Lily and Scorpius in the sunshine and warmth of Chile felt like that first real day of spring was here.


	124. Spring Knights

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four – Spring Knights

Al had lots of time to sleep in on Sunday morning, and then putter around the house in Hogsmeade. After spending the afternoon in Chile, and taking Lily out to dinner after their shopping adventures, he'd decided that since he was going to be in the Americas anyway, he could just stay at his and Carolyn's house on the island instead of dealing with hotel rooms. He didn't expect to get more than a few hours of sleep most nights while he was over there, but at least they'd be in his own bed.

He packed a bag, and then took a trip to Auror Headquarters to re-stock his field kit, and pick up some files he wanted for the road. He stopped at home again, checked everything, and Translocated his bags to the house on the island. The last thing he did before leaving was to go have lunch with his parents and Lily, since he didn't expect to be back for at least a couple of weeks.

"I don't think anyone's going to be on the island during the week," Harry told him, "but there's usually somebody there on the weekends in the winter and early spring, so don't be surprised if you have company."

"I'll probably be in late most nights, and out by dawn anyway," Al told him. "They may not even notice I'm there."

"Try not to work all the time you're gone like that," Lily told him. "Take a little time for yourself too. You've got that beautiful house and pool, and everything else on the island. It's a novel idea, but you could at least attempt to set a few hours aside here and there to have a little fun while you're there."

"I'll try, Lily, but I can't promise you," Al told her. "I will if I can, though."

He didn't stay at the Cottage for long, and then took the TransPortal to the house on the island. He unpacked, checked to see if there was anything he needed to pick up while he was out, and then left for New York City.

It was about eight-thirty in the morning when he got to New York, and his first stop was to see if there was anything to see on East Fifty-ninth Street. Somewhere there, near First Ave., was where the Knight's New York office safe house was located. He didn't expect to see anything, but since he did know what Selwyn looked like, there was always a chance.

From that starting point, he checked out the area around the spot where he'd staked out Terrance when he'd been here, covering one block in all directions. When he was done there, he moved on to his main target – a place in the Bronx section of the city on Sheridan Ave where his suspected Secret Keeper, a young Wizard named Dominic lived. Since it was around seven miles away from where he was, Al apparated to a place a couple of streets over from Sheridan, and then walked the rest of the way.

He found himself a good location to watch Dominic's home, and settled in. Since he had no way of knowing whether the man was at home, or somewhere else, he needed to watch the street and the building both. While he waited, Al reviewed the file he'd loaded up for Dominic. Another under-thirty Wizard – in this case only twenty-three, he'd lived in New York his entire life. He came from a pureblood Wizarding family, and his grandparents had moved to New York from Italy. There were no employer records, so he probably worked for his family or didn't need to work. The file also included school records, and a few other items like his Apparition license photo and test results.

That gave Al an idea, and he checked the morning activity for Dominic's TransPortal account, but found that there had not been any activity so far today. That didn't tell him whether Dominic was home, but it did mean that he hadn't travelled any significant distance if he was out. With no sign of him leaving the house, or on the street coming back, Al continued working on finding new information using the ACM program. As he worked with the information he was collecting, he was also able to start looking for more specific things, and was getting a regular list of checks that he would be running on each new suspected Knight.

For Dominic, one of the first checks was cross-referencing his TransPortal travel with that of Avery, Terrance Nott, and Byron Bulstrode to start. That search came up with several common dates and times that Al filed away for future reference. He worked up quite a bit of new information on Dominic, and his relationship with a few of the other Knights, and then had to set it aside when at about nine-thirty, Dominic came out of his home, and started walking up the street.

Al could read his thoughts about where he was going, and since he was already in an out of the way place, activated his TransPortal, and went directly to the Camelot Hotel. Dominic was coming here for brunch with his family, since the best restaurants in Wizarding New York were at the Camelot. He decided to go with a disguise, and Transfigured himself into a middle-aged, dark-haired man with soft brown eyes. When he was ready, he walked into the restaurant and was directed to a table that was five or six tables away from where Dominic was already sitting with a group of eleven other Witches and Wizards.

Al ordered breakfast, and took a look at the Wizarding Street Journal that was offered to him to read by the waiter who took his order. While he was doing that, he was also focusing in on the thoughts of the group with Dominic. In a room full of people, this was more difficult to do because of the sheer volume of mental chatter, so he had to concentrate hard while still maintaining appearances while interacting with his waiter, and acting normally as other Witches and Wizards passed by his table.

The members of Dominic's family who were at the table today included his Grandparents on his father's side, his parents, an Aunt and Uncle, two cousins, one with his wife, and two young, toddler age children. Listening in on the thoughts of the family adults was fascinating for Al. He'd learned a long time ago to block hearing the thoughts of others, since listening to them all of the time was like being in a noisy crowd all of the time – even when he was somewhere that everyone was being quiet, like at the Magick Theatre.

Now that he was concentrating on this group, he got a graphic education into the world of Pureblood bigotry. All of the adults had contemptuous thoughts about their waitress, and about some of the other patrons of the restaurant, most of whom they viewed as half bloods or mud-bloods. It was also interesting that the younger adults seemed even more vehement in their thoughts that the Grandparents were.

Over the hour that he spent at the restaurant, Al discovered that Dominic's parents, Uncle, and Aunt were all members of the local Knights, and they in turn had passing thoughts about their upcoming week. He didn't get anything one way or the other from the cousins, and he was pretty sure that the Grandparents were not part of the Knights, although they certainly shared the beliefs of the Pureblood Elites of the Wizarding World.

Since he was at the restaurant alone, it would have attracted attention if he'd stayed too long, so when he'd finished eating, Al paid his bill and left the restaurant. He found a place where he could change back to himself and go back to using his cloak again, and then found an out of the way place to watch and wait for Dominic to do whatever he was going to do next.

When the young Wizard he was following came out of the restaurant with his family forty minutes later, there were no hugs and kisses, and they went their separate ways. Al locked in on Dominic's thoughts, and then took a shortcut outside so that he could apparate to where Dominic was going before the other man could get there.

The rest of his day was spent following a young couple around as Dominic took a young Witch named Maddelena out for the afternoon and then had dinner with her family. Al was worried at first that his surveillance was about to get awkward, but it was soon abundantly clear that this was not a pairing that either Dominic or Maddelena had chosen – their families had arranged this relationship, and while they outwardly pretended that all was well, their thoughts betrayed the fact that there was very little that either one of them saw in the other that attracted them to each other. She thought he was an arrogant, rich snob, and he thought her family was throwing their only asset – a pretty daughter – at his family for the money. Al wondered what would happen if they'd both just try and get to know each other instead of carrying all of the baggage around.

When dinner with the girlfriend's family was finished, Al jumped ahead of Dominic again, saw him safely back home, and watched the place for another hour. When it looked like his man was in for the night, Al left for the island, where he went for a swim, made himself dinner, and turned in early – which in home-time was early in the morning.

He was up early Monday morning, and back outside of Dominic's place by seven o'clock. It was eight-thirty before his target came outside, and then he led Al on an all-day trip around the city that finally ended with a stop at the Knight's office on East Fifty-Ninth late in the afternoon. With two previous cases now behind him, Al had been pretty sure that he'd get the secret for this place from Dominic's thoughts, but he still let out a sigh of relief that went side-by-side with the excitement of having another of the Knight's safe houses revealed to him.

Dominic's thoughts may have, unknowingly to him, betrayed the safe house, but there weren't any thoughts about Selwyn that Al could detect. It was possible that if the fugitive Death Eater was using an assumed name, that Dominic and the other Knights didn't know his true identity, so Al wasn't ready to conclude that Selwyn wasn't here quite yet.

When Dominic left the office half an hour later, Al let him go on his way, and stayed to watch the office. Nobody else went in, and over the next hour, two Wizards and one Witch left the place. Dominic's Aunt and Uncle left together, and Al photographed and picked out the other Wizard's name and his planned destination. The man was far too young to be Selwyn, and even if it had been a disguise, Al didn't think that anyone had the power to create a disguise that could successfully mask thoughts.

For the next three hours, he continued to watch and study the place. Al still found it strange that the Knights didn't have any extra protections on these places other than the Fidelius Charm, but again there was nothing on this building, so after he'd finished his meticulous check, he left the spot he'd been using to stake out the place, and went on into the office to spend three more hours looking around.

That's what he did for the rest of the week – watch the comings and goings of the Witches and Wizards to the office by day, and going into the office to search for, and copy anything that he found of interest inside. On Tuesday, he confirmed that it was Dominic's Aunt who led this group of Knights and that Selwyn was not in New York. By the end of the night on Thursday, he was also sure that he'd identified all of the members of the group, and after four nights of searching through the offices, had gathered all of the information that there was to find.

He was wrapping up his visit to the office at around nine-thirty on Thursday night, when he got a ViComm call from Lily. Since it was two-thirty in the morning back home, the call had surprised him.

"What's up, Lily?" he asked when he saw her smiling, excited face.

It's time," she told him. "Can you come?"

"Time for what?" Al asked, and then he remembered. "Winky's gone into labour?" Lily nodded excitedly.

"Mum, Dad, and I are on the way to Grimmauld Place. Can you meet us there?"

"I'm almost done," he told her. "I'll probably be about fifteen minutes."

Lily nodded, and ended the call. Al made sure that everything he'd touched was exactly where it had been before he'd entered, then took his time leaving the building, making sure to be as careful as always. He was outside of Grimmauld Place in just under fifteen minutes, and Lily let him in when he knocked on the door, throwing her arms around him.

"We're going to get to see a new baby House Elf!" she told him. "Isn't this incredible? Come on, everyone's up in the drawing room waiting."

Al followed her up the Grand Staircase and into the drawing room, where he hugged his parents and Scorpius.

"You all look pretty wide awake for this time of the morning," Al told them. "Other than in the usual way, how do House Elf births get done? Do they have Healers come from St. Mungo's or something?"

Ginny shook her head. "The House Elves have their own Healers and Midwives and things," she told him. "We'll wait here, and after the baby is born, Kreacher will bring him down here to be bonded to the Black and Potter families, since he and Winky are bound to both of our families now."

Scorpius served them drinks, and they sat down to wait. At a quarter to four, Kreacher entered the room with something small wrapped in a soft, fluffy white blanket, and he came over to Harry, Ginny, and Scorpius.

"Masters, Kreacher is humbled and honoured to present to you our family's newest and most faithful servant, Dobby the House Elf. It is a bit early to say for certain, but Kreacher and Winky think that he shows some promise."

Kreacher was watching Harry carefully when he named his son after the first House Elf that Harry had ever befriended, and was not disappointed when he saw Harry's eyes fill with tears as he knealt on the floor in front of Kreacher and baby Dobby, and hugged them both.

"Thank-you, Kreacher. Dobby would be very honoured to know that his name will live on in our family."

"You are welcome, Master," Kreacher answered. He pulled back the blanket so that they could all see the baby elf.

Al had no real idea what to expect. He loved Winky and Kreacher, but he also had to be honest – they were never going to win any beauty pageants. Baby Dobby, however, was adorable. Not pretty, but you couldn't help but smile as the pair of large eyes looked up at you with open, trusting innocence. His ears and nose were smaller than they'd be when he grew up, and he smiled a big toothless grin and gurgled and cooed happily.

"Masters Harry and Scorpius, it is time to perform the bonding, and then I must take Dobby back to be with Winky."

Kreacher had taught Harry and Scorpius what needed to be done for the bonding, and it was not that much different than other binding spells like unbreakable vows. Lily leaned her head against Al's chest, and he put his arm around her as they watched the short ceremony. At the end, baby Dobby glowed a brilliant blue for a moment, and then it was done, and the Potter-Black family had a third House Elf in the family.

"Can any of us come and see Winky?" Lily asked Kreacher.

"Kreacher is not certain," the elf answered. "Kreacher will ask the House Elves who are tending Winky and return with an answer.

With that, he left the room, and there were some more hugs to go around.

"That was so amazing," Lily told them. "Naming him Dobby was just perfect."

Harry nodded. "I doubt I'll ever be able to tell Kreacher just how much that means to me."

"I think he knows," Ginny assured him. "From the way he was watching you when he introduced Dobby, I'd say that the naming was done entirely for you."

Kreacher popped into the room, which suggested to Al that Elves did not use their apparating with their newborns, since he'd walked down to this level with Dobby, and had walked back upstairs again when he'd left.

"The attendants say that Ginny and Lily may come and see Winky, but that the Masters should wait until Winky has had time to recover more," he told them.

Al always was just a little amused that the Wizards in the family were still referred to as Masters, while the Witches were usually called by name only. That wasn't because Kreacher and Winky didn't want to address them formally too – it was because his mother had eventually convinced them that she, and every other Witch in the family, did not wish to be referred to as Mistresses. Kreacher was getting better with dropping the 'Master' when it was just family, but since this was a very special night for all of them, Al wasn't surprised that Kreacher was at his most formal.

Ginny and Lily followed Kreacher upstairs, and Al waited with his father and Scorpius. "You didn't call anyone else?" he asked Harry.

"The only reason Lily called you was because she was sure you'd still be up since it was five hours earlier where you are," he explained. "The others can find out in the morning."

Al nodded. "I can stay until Mum and Lily get back, but then I need to go get some sleep. I'll need to be on the job first thing in the morning New York time."

Scorpius had walked over to the tapestry, and waved Al and Harry over. "Looks like our proud Papa has already made the addition to the family tapestry," he told them, pointing to where Dobby's name and birth date were already added to the section that Kreacher and Winky had added back in the summer for the family House Elves.

"That was a seriously brilliant idea to have them add that section," Al told his friend. "I'm with Aunt Hermione on thinking that House Elves should be free, but if they were all family like Kreacher, Winky, and now Dobby are with us, then that whole bonding enslavement would really only in name like it is for our family."

"You and Brianna are doing everything with Kreacher and Winky really well," Harry told Scorpius. "I'm still hopeful that someday they will ask to be free elves, though I don't think that the time will come around for a while yet."

They sat back down and talked quietly for the fifteen minutes or so that Ginny and Lily were upstairs congratulating Winky, and when they came back downstairs, Al spent a few more minutes with them, and finally, by about five o'clock home time, midnight New York time, he hugged everyone again, and left for the island to get the few hours of sleep he had time for before starting another day of surveillance.

The last thing he wanted to do in New York before moving on to the next location was to stay long enough to see Terrance stop in for his bi-weekly Friday visit. Since his Knight messenger friend was accommodating enough to make New York his first stop of the day, Al waited to see if he was thinking anything interesting when he left, and then he left New York for home and a few hours of reporting to Hestia and Rick about his week in the big apple, and his plans to move his search to Miami starting on Saturday.

At Hogwarts, the end of classes on Friday afternoon was the start of a weekend when, for the Marauders, there was nothing going on. There wasn't any Canons' Quidditch, they didn't have a Hogsmeade weekend, and there weren't any Broom Races happening.

"Do you realize that this is going to be our only weekend this whole second half of the school year when we don't have anything to do?" Brianna asked Carolyn while they had dinner in the Great Hall on Friday night.

"It's not exactly like all of the assignments we have to get done is having nothing to do, but I know what you mean. We could have a girls-only pool party on Sunday if we get our work done tonight and tomorrow," Carolyn suggested.

"That's a great idea," Brianna approved. "Let's ask around later and see if Daphne and the other girls are interested. Have you talked to Al today?"

Carolyn nodded. "We talked after last class. He was at Auror Headquarters, but was going to the Cottage for dinner, and then head back to the island, so he's probably still at the Cottage now."

Brianna sent Carolyn a QuillMessage, which was something they both did when they didn't want their tablemates hearing what they wanted to talk about – 'Have you heard anything from Colin or Hugo about Easter? It's only three weeks from Sunday'.

Carolyn shook her head even as she sent the reply. 'No. We should probably be starting on that this weekend too'.

They agreed to talk with the boys about Easter after dinner, and by the end of the evening, their supposedly open weekend was now a full plate of activities that included planning sessions for the TNM Easter, the pool party for the girls, and a whole lot of studying.

Al's weekend ended up being nothing but two days of complete boredom. He'd started his day on Saturday with a visit to the place he'd used previously to stakeout the spot where Terrance had disappeared on Ponce de Leon Blvd in the Coral Gables area of Miami. After staying there for a couple of hours of seeing nothing, he moved on to watch a house on Samana Drive. It was about four or five miles away from where he'd been, so he apparated across to a nearby street, and walked the rest of the way to where he knew that his suspected Secret Keeper for the Knight's Miami office, a twenty-seven year old Wizard named Rodger, lived with his wife Laline.

The stakeout was boring because apparently Rodger and Laline didn't get the memo that they were going to be put under surveillance by the great Albus Potter, and had decided to go away for the weekend. Hindsight was always good, but Al would have preferred knowing that ahead of time, since he could have been lying around his own pool on the island and enjoying the last weekend in March, and just popped over here for a quick visit on Sunday afternoon instead of spending two days roasting under his invisibility cloak while he watched an empty house.

When the couple did show up late on Sunday afternoon, luggage floating along behind them, Al's only consolation was that he hadn't picked a time to come when they were on vacation for a week. The only real information he got from them was that they were staying in for the rest of the night, and that they would both be going to work in the morning. Once he had that much, Al called it a day and went back to the island for the night.

Rodger and Laline's 'going to work in the morning' made Al's job much easier on Monday, since they both worked at the Knight's office. This was the first husband and wife team where one of them was the Secret Keeper that Al had the opportunity to watch when they both went into the safe house. He tried to focus on the thoughts from both of them to see if he could pick up anything at all that would be useful in better explaining the reason why these Secret Keepers' thoughts so readily disclosed the secret location, while the other Witches and Wizards just had blank spots when they were probably also thinking about the place. Al could see those differences in thoughts clearly, but wasn't coming up with any new insights, and with that, no new ideas on how he could pass on what he knew to other Aurors.

What he did have was the fourth location for one of the Knight's safe houses, and the next five days was pretty much a repeat of his week in New York, with the exception that the weather was much warmer here. By Monday evening, he was sure that Selwyn was not hiding out in Miami and running the Knight's operation here. Just like when he was in New York, he'd had to decide whether to stay and document the operation, or just continue on to the next place, and he had again decided to stay and get it done now.

Al had identified the twenty-one members of the group by Friday, had finished going through everything in the office by the end of the night on Wednesday. Although he'd had everything done, Al stayed until around two o'clock in the afternoon on Friday until after Byron Bulstrode had made his visit to the place. After that, he'd gone back to Auror Headquarters to file his reports. His plan had been to spend a few hours there, and then take Saturday off and spend it on the island.

That was scrapped when Hestia and Rick let him know that they were going to be bringing Jugson in on Saturday, and that Al was going to be going along to do a couple of things – first, they wanted him to give them the early warning on where Jugson was going to go shopping for the day, and second, he was going to observe the operation, put up the anti-apparition shield around the area, and provide backup if necessary.

He'd agreed, of course, but when he'd gotten home to the house in Hogsmeade, had at least admitted to himself that that day off had been something he had been really ready for. It seemed that Rick and Hestia had forgotten that he'd been spending the past two weeks in an earlier time zone, and now wanted him to be in Belgrade for seven o'clock local time, which was the middle of the night tonight in the time he was used to right now.

It had been nine-thirty by the time he got home, but only felt like late afternoon to him. Al made himself a couple of sandwiches, ate quickly, and then went upstairs to attempt getting a few hours of sleep. He called Carolyn to talk with her before having his nap, and though he tried not to give anything away, just the fact that he was in Hogsmeade instead of on the island gave her all she needed to catch on that something was up at work.

Al had a ViComm message ready to send to Hestia from the moment he arrived for his stakeout outside of Jugson's place in Belgrade. All he needed to do was put in the location, and send it to her. She had her team ready to take the TransPortal to any location as soon as she knew where to lead them. They all had a two-hour long wait before Jugson came out to leave for his weekly shopping trip, and Al quickly fired off the location that Jugson was thinking about – the Wizarding section of Oslo, Norway. Al also took a picture of what Jugson looked like in his disguise, and sent that along to Hestia while he waited for Jugson to make his first TransPortal jump, and then apparated directly to Oslo to wait for their about to be captured fugitive to arrive.

While Emma and Jake had been watching Jugson, she had noticed that he was still wearing a fairly gaudy-looking medallion necklace that had also been described in some witness reports from the war days, by witnesses who didn't know Jugson, but had described his involvement in certain battles or other crimes he'd committed during the war. That was going to be the pretext for why they were going to apprehend him today – to take him in for questioning about the necklace. Emma and Jake were going to be pretending to be in Norway on vacation, while the rest of Hestia's team would be there if Jugson wasn't cooperative, although if they had to be used, it'd pretty much blow their story.

In other captures that Al was to stay on the outside of, the location of the capture had been fixed, but here, Emma and Jake were going to have to pick as good a spot to play out their storyline as possible, and Al needed to be able to blend in. He decided to disguise himself as a white-haired, wrinkled old man, and then began to shadow Jugson when he arrived.

When Jugson came out of the Apothecary – his third stop of the morning so far, Al was down the street from the man, just two shops away, pretending to window shop. Emma and Jake were walking up toward him, holding hands and talking happily together, and when he turned toward them, she stopped in her tracks, as if in surprise, and stared at the medallion around Jugson's neck, and then to his face, and then back to the medallion.

"What's wrong, honey?" Jake asked solicitously, stopping and looking from Emma to Jugson curiously. "Do you know this man?"

Emma didn't answer him, but instead put a hand out to keep Jugson from passing her. "Excuse me, sir," she told him. "I am Auror Emma Midgen, and I'm sorry to inconvenience you, but I'd like you to come with me to answer a few questions about that medallion you're wearing."

Jugson stared at her coldly, but Jake spoke up before he had the chance to respond.

"Emma, we're on vacation!" he complained. "You promised me a whole week with just you and me – this can't be that important."

"I'm sorry sweetie," she told him, "but I'm afraid this is something I'll have to deal with. It shouldn't take long, and we can get back to our trip."

"You can get back to your trip right now," Jugson said gruffly. "I have no intention of going with you anywhere to answer questions. Why are you even bothering me?"

Emma pointed to his necklace. "I need to ask you about how you acquired that, sir, and I'd rather not have this discussion in public. I really am sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm afraid I have to insist. If you would just come with me now, I'll explain everything to you, and then once you've told me about how you came to own the medallion, you can be on your way again."

"Very well," Jugson growled, "but I'm warning you that I will be filing a complaint with your superiors when this is finished. I don't know what they teach you young Aurors these days, but detaining honest, law-abiding citizens should be taken out of the program."

Jugson motioned for Emma and Jake to turn around, and that he was ready to follow them to the closest TransPortal terminal, but Al had been reading the man's thoughts as they raced along, deciding how to try and get out of the situation. Al had already put up the anti-apparition wards around a two-block area, and had his wand out and ready long before Jugson started to pull his out of his pocket at the moment when Emma and Jake were turning away from him.

What the former Death Eater hadn't expected, was that when he pulled the wand out that it would just keep going, soaring out of his hand and high into the air. He spun around and watched as it flew into the wrinkled old hand that Al was holding up to catch it even as he shuffled toward Jugson, Emma, and Jake.

"Give me that, old man!" Jugson barked at Al, but stopped his lunge toward him when Al's other wrinkled old hand pointed his own wand at the younger-looking Wizard.

"Stay right where you are young man," Al told him in a raspy, cracked voice. "I may be old, but I quite clearly heard this lovely young Witch identify herself as an Auror, and ask you quite nicely to go with her to answer some questions." He handed Jugson's wand to Emma, and smiled at her.

"When you turned away, this supposedly law-abiding citizen drew his wand, and looked about to attack you from behind." He looked up from his stooped position to Jugson and gave him a hard look.

"That's not a very nice thing to do," he accused, wagging a finger at the man. "What ever happened to the good old days when duelling was done face to face?"

He turned back to Emma and smiled his crooked, wrinkled smile. "Anyway, I just couldn't stand over there and let that happen, miss. I'd suggest that you not give him back that wand until you've had the chance to get your questions answered."

With that, Al turned around slowly, and tottered off slowly, leaving a bewildered and temporarily subdued Jugson, and two Aurors who were trying their best not to fall on the ground laughing at their young trainee's act.

Emma and Jake did have their wands out now, and she turned back to Jugson after watching Al's departure for a moment.

"Let's go, sir," she told him firmly. "I may have more than a couple of questions for you now."

Since Jugson was unarmed, and had two wands pointed at him, he really had no choice in the matter, so with one last dark look aiming daggers at Al's stooped over retreating back, he went along with Emma and Jake.

Fifteen minutes later, Al was in the observation room getting hugged by a laughing Hestia. "That was brilliant, Al," she told him. "I was ready to call in the troops when I saw him start to pull his wand, but then when it just kept on flying out of his pocket, I was able to hold back. I'm glad we were able to grab him and still keep Emma's story intact."

"So am I," Al agreed. "What's the plan for the interrogation?"

"Emma's going to start it. Jugson probably doesn't have a paper cover to go with that disguise, so we should be able to break him down in a day or two. Rick will be brought in to help out later today. Stick around for a few more hours, and see if you find out anything new, but I don't think there's any point in keeping you here when you're getting way more accomplished out in the field right now."

"Sounds good," Al told her, and the two of them sat down to watch as Emma came into the interrogation room with a tray filled with some pasties, coffee, tea, and bottled water.

"I don't remember Rick serving snacks and drinks in any of his interrogations," Al remarked, and Hestia laughed.

"True, but then you forget that Emma's questioning a respectable, upstanding citizen, not a captured fugitive," Hestia answered. "She's still playing the game."

He hadn't seen Emma lead an interrogation before, and Al was impressed. "She's got a real gift for this," he told Hestia, who nodded.

"I swear that we have the wrong requirements for joining the Aurors. We should be looking for students who were into drama club and had summer jobs in daycare or babysitting. That's what we seem to do most of the time – acting and babysitting a bunch of grownup children like that guy," she said, pointing into the other room.

Al ended up spending the rest of the day in the observation room as he watched Emma, and later Rick, play. They both seemed to be having a lot of fun, but Jugson definitely was not enjoying himself. He'd spent the first couple of hours making up lies about who he was and where he'd gotten a necklace that was known to have belonged to a fugitive Death Eater. Later, when Rick joined the party, Jugson tried going on the offence, demanding that he be released, and his wand returned to him, which Rick happily offered to do just as soon as he told them who he really was instead of continuing to claim to be some fictitious Wizard that didn't exist in any of the Ministry records, tell them where he lived so they could reach him if needed, and something a little more believable than the story he'd given them about picking up the medallion in some forgotten shop somewhere.

By the end of the afternoon, Jugson had just decided to stop talking, so Rick sadly informed him that he had no choice but to keep him in custody until they could determine who he really was. When Rick added that he didn't understand why a Wizard of Jugson's maturity would play at this identity game with the Aurors like some of the kids these days did with the Hit Squad when they got caught drinking while underage, or trying to shoplift the latest Virtual GameWizard game or Wizarding Wheeze, Jugson had remained silent, while Al had sat in the observation room laughing.

"What's so funny?" Hestia asked.

"When Rick made that last comment, Jugson was thinking – 'I'm doing it because you bunch of idiots stumbled on me and are too stupid to even know who you've brought in for questioning'," Al answered.

"It's nice to see that he's so totally buying into the act," Hestia told him. "You should get out of here. Rick's done for the day, and Jugson still looks ready to hold out for another day or two – unless his transfiguration magic isn't very strong, and then we'll know when he changes back again, since he doesn't have his wand to keep the disguise going indefinitely."

Al got up, nodding as he stretched out the kinks of sitting in the same place for too long. "Okay. I'll keep you posted on how it's going in New Orleans this week."

He left Auror Headquarters by way of the training room, the same way he'd entered from Norway so that nobody else in the Ministry would know he had been there. His first stop was the Cottage, where his parents and Lily were consoling the losing team after the Canons were shot down in a four hour long road game by the Appleby Arrows.

"How was your day?" Lily asked Al when he joined them.

"Not bad," he answered, hugging her. "Emma and Jake are having a better one, though. Hestia called to tell me that they picked up a Wizard for questioning in Norway where they were starting their vacation, and now they suspect that they've stumbled onto one of our fugitives named Jugson, since the guy's story isn't checking out."

Lily, and his parents, read between the lines, and followed along.

"I remember him," Ginny said. "He was there at the Department of Mysteries. Didn't you put him in a body-bind, Hermione?"

Hermione shook her head. "That was Harry," she told Ginny. "I put the silencio spell on Dolohov, but then he knocked me out with some non-verbal spell before Harry or Neville could get him too. So if it is him, what's he going to be arrested for? Being a pitiful Wizard who couldn't even fight a bunch kids?"

"He'd be facing a long list of crimes, but if he was there at the Department of Mysteries battle, all of the Death Eaters who were there faced charges of accessories to the murder of Sirius Black while committing a felony. That one is good for life in prison all by itself, and the courts are not leaning toward offering early releases after what happened with the Carrows."

"That's too bad," Ron said with deep insincerity, and a big smile. "If that guy turns out to be Jugson, remind me to send Emma and Jake a nice bottle of wine to thank them."

"Can you stay long?" Harry asked Al, who shook his head.

"I've got to get going. I mostly came to say 'Hi' and get an update on baby Dobby before I head west again."

"He's getting the royal treatment," Ginny told him with a laugh. "I think Dobby has more toys already than any baby elf in history. The girls can't shop for baby clothes, so they've been scouring the world for the finest towels, tea cosies, and pillow cases they can find, so Winky and Kreacher have everything from silk to cashmere to dress Dobby with."

"I sure hope that diapers aren't considered clothing," Al said. "I'm sure even House Elves would find those Muggle disposables way better than having to wash cloth diapers – or whatever they'd use."

Ginny laughed. 'I asked about that months ago," she told him. "Diapers are not considered clothes, and yes they have cases of the Muggle diapers."

"Have you ordered the kiddie elf version of Kreacher and Winky's AquaBike yet?" he asked Harry, and he and Ginny both laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes," Al told them. "Is there anything else going on?"

Al sat and visited with everyone for what ended up being closer to an hour before leaving for the island. He went for a swim in the pool, then had dinner, cleaned up, had his nightly conversation with Carolyn, and then went to bed early so he'd be ready to go to New Orleans early on Sunday.

When he found himself a good stakeout spot across the road from his target house on Baronne Street at six-thirty in the morning, Al expected to be sitting there for a while before he was on the move, so he ran the Auror Case Manager program, and reviewed what he knew about his target for this week.

Sylvie was twenty-two, lived in this house on Baronne, and worked at a company owned by her family that made Potion supplies. She was mostly an E student, with the exception of having O's all through school in Potions.

Al was just beginning his usual searches for connections between Slyvie and other members of the Knights when the door to her house opened, and Sylvie stepped out of the house. He scanned her thoughts, and Sylvie was going out for her morning walk. The familiarity suggested to Al that this was an every day thing for her, and he quickly got ready to follow her.

For the next hour and a half, Al followed Sylvie on a five or six-mile walk from her house to Audubon Park and back again. He didn't have any difficulty keeping up with her, but she did set a good strong pace, and was definitely doing it for the exercise. Al took a ViComm call from Carolyn while at the beginning of that walk, and that had been a fair bit of fun too.

"Hi sweetie," Al said when he answered her call. "How is your day so far?"

"We're just finishing up our lunch break, and the morning study session went pretty well," she answered. "What are you doing?" Al couldn't use the ViComm module so she could see his face, but he was grinning when he answered.

"I'm chasing a rather pretty young Witch around New Orleans," he said, and watched her face as she gave him the look.

"First off, buddy, this better be for work, and secondly, just how pretty?" she demanded.

"It is for work," he assured her, "and why don't I just let you see, and you can decided for yourself?"

He switched the ViComm to visual mode, and looked ahead at Sylvie. She rounded the next corner, and Carolyn could see her profile – long sandy blonde hair, pretty face, and a figure that was shown off quite well by the shorts and tee she was wearing. Al grinned to himself and focused his vision on her butt, which earned him the response he'd expected.

"Hey, quit checking out her butt!" Carolyn told him.

Al laughed. "I'm just teasing, Carolyn. I've been waiting for the chance since you did that to me on your first night back in January."

Carolyn laughed too. "I'd forgotten about that. Okay, you're forgiven this time. Don't let it happen again, though."

"Yes, dear," Al answered. He turned off the visual mode again, so she only had the audio.

"So why are you following pretty girls around? She hardly looks like one of the bad guys. If anything, I'd say by looking at her face that she was quite nice. Bad guys don't normally have happy faces like that."

"I was thinking the same thing, but yes, she's my assignment, at least at first. She'll hopefully lead me to my real target."

"Well, I'm going to have to talk with Hestia," Carolyn said. "I don't remember anyone telling me that part of your job description was going to include following beautiful young Witches in tiny shorts and tees around all day – not to mention that you're somewhere where it's warm enough for the girls to be out wearing clothes like that. It's raining and cold here today."

"I'm sure if Patrick and Garret knew what Sylvie looked like, they'd be kicking me off of the case," Al joked, "Except they've been spending most of the winter in Mexico on another assignment."

"Maybe they'd get their assignment done sooner if they looked for whomever they're trying to find somewhere other than on the beaches," Carolyn suggested. "And just to let you know, the correct answer was supposed to be – 'I don't think she's beautiful, honey, not compared to you', or something like that."

Al grinned, forgetting she couldn't see him. "She's nowhere near as beautiful as you are, Carolyn, but I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I don't think that she is pretty, because anyone can see that, and you'd know I was lying. As for Garret and Patrick, it wouldn't surprise me at all if that was exactly what they were doing all of these months down there. I do have a lead in Mexico City that may help them, but it's going to be a little while before I can get around to looking into it."

Carolyn laughed. "That's a good enough answer to get you off of the hook, Al, and I'm sure your Auror pals will be fine with having to hang out over there until May or June if that's how long it takes you to get around to chasing that lead, and getting the information to them."

"No doubt," Al agreed. "Is it all study, all day for you guys after having a game day yesterday?"

"Pretty much. Some of us put in extra time last night, but we're getting loads of work handed out now. We've got to do a little work for the TNM Easter too, so it'll be another late night."

"I'm going to try and keep today short, since I'm pretty sure the next few days will be a lot longer," Al told her.

"Just keep being careful," Carolyn said quietly. "I'd better let you go now, and I'll call you later before I go to bed."

They went through the goodbye routine, and then Al went back to concentrating on following Sylvie, and continuing to run various analyses through the ACM program. There was a difference with the information he was getting with Sylvie than with any of the other Secret Keepers. There were no correlations between her TransPortal activity and any other member of the Knights that he had in the program so far. In fact, she didn't even use the TransPortal system to go to any of the previously identified terminals.

She went to Wizarding sections of different cities, and had been to most of the Marauders Malls in the Americas, but didn't use the TransPortal much other than for trips like that. He adjusted his search to check for which Knights, other than Terrance and Byron came here to New Orleans, but again came up with nothing all that telling. He widened his search to include the terminals he'd known Terrance to use when coming to this city, and came up with a few hits for Dirk and his Grandfather, but also for several others, which left him with nothing concrete to work with so far.

When they got back to Sylvie's house on Baronne, Al settled in to wait, while she went inside. He had a couple of hours to plug away at his ACM program, continuing to try new searches and look for other clues to figure out what the Knights were trying to do. He didn't come up with anything new, but if nothing else, he was slowly eliminating a lot of possibilities.

Sylvie came back outside at around ten-thirty, this time dressed in a light cotton sundress, and if Carolyn had thought she was beautiful when she was out walking, Al didn't know what she'd call what Sylvie looked like now, but a few adjectives came to Al's mind that he was happy to keep to himself.

For the rest of the day, Al followed Sylvie around as she had lunch with a group of her friends from work and school, and visited her parents later in the day, having dinner with them before going home for the night early since it was a work night. Al left her there after watching the house for another hour after she'd returned home, and popped over to the island to have dinner and get some sleep himself.

He was back on stakeout at Sylvie's house at six o'clock, and actually just made it in time as she was out the door and off for her morning walk, coming out of the house within a few minutes of him getting there, and then he was off again following her. Today she went out on a different route, but still ended up at the park, and took yet another way back to her house.

At eight-thirty, she was back out again, this time dressed for business an he followed her to the building where she worked for that Potions company that her family owned.

This was only his fifth surveillance of a Secret Keeper, and she was the first that had a real, non-Knights related job. That made a difference in how this surveillance went compared to the last three. Al continued to follow Sylvie, but although her house was only a mile or so away from the place where he'd previously watched Terrance disappear on his other stops in New Orleans, and where he was certain the Knight's office and safe house was located, she didn't go to that area at all on either Monday or Tuesday. She instead just followed a routine that started with her morning walk, getting to work before nine o'clock, lunch with her co-workers at nearby restaurants, work all afternoon, and ending her day by going home after work.

Al finally got his break on Wednesday, when Sylvie left work at lunch, and instead of going with her friends, was apparating to the safe house on St Charles Ave. That was something else that was different with Sylvie too. All of the Knights, with the exception of Macnair, had always used at least one TransPortal trip between where they were and their safe house. Since she didn't do that, Al didn't have the time to get there ahead of her, and so he had to apparate to a spot around the corner from where he now knew the safe house was, and then walked out to St Charles Ave.

Sylvie was already out of sight, but he'd read the location in her thoughts, and could now see the building that hadn't been visible to him before, and confirmed that he now knew the secret for this place. The spot he'd used to wait for Terrance was in a good location to watch the place, so he went there, and then waited. It was only a few minutes later when Sylvie came out again, this time in the company of her father.

"Come on," she urged him. "I've only got an hour for lunch, even if you can take all of the time off you want."

She did most of the talking as they walked away, but Al was more interested in what her father was thinking. He didn't make a move to follow them, since his need for tracking Sylvie was over now, but in the fifteen or twenty seconds he was able to keep in contact with her father, he learned that he was definitely one of the Knights, and she definitely was not. He also got the distinct impression that her father was not all that enthusiastic about being a Knight anymore – disillusioned was the word that came to Al's mind as he read those thoughts. That knowledge could be useful someday, and Al tucked it away in the notes for the file he was already starting for the older Wizard.

He was glad to find out that Sylvie wasn't a member of the Knights, but this new wrinkle of information – that they had Secret Keepers who weren't even members of the group added more confusion to the mix. He'd have to work on that problem another time. Now he had to focus on what he wanted to do next. He'd photographed Sylvie and her father, and added everything he had learned from the man's thoughts into his ACM records, and now he studied the office. Since it was lunch time, over the next hour there were a number of Witches and Wizards who left to go eat, and came back after their lunch. Sylvie's father returned less than an hour after leaving. After that, the traffic in and out of the place slowed to a crawl until right near the end of the afternoon when everyone began leaving.

Al had photographed, and picked up the identities of eight Knights since arriving, and they'd all left the building by around five o'clock. He continued watching the place, and had gotten an hour into his exhaustive examination of the building as he searched for even the tiniest trace of magical defences in and around the place when one more Wizard game out of the building.

'Got you!' Al exulted to himself. Finally, after two and a half weeks of stakeouts in three cities, he'd finally tracked down the elusive Selwyn.

He was probably the youngest-looking of the Death Eater fugitives, and Al knew he was in his mid-fifties. His hair was only lightly touched with grey, and his eyes were dark and intense as he looked around before beginning to walk down the street.

Al started following him, and Selwyn turned down a side street, and followed it for five blocks to Chestnut Street, and then turned right onto Chestnut for a couple more blocks before turning into one of the houses and going inside. Al picked a stakeout position and relaxed again – at least physically. His mind was racing and he was writing down virtual notes as he went.

Now that he'd found the fugitive Death Eater, Al was going to be busy. After an hour, it looked like Selwyn was staying in for the night, so Al popped over to Auror Headquarters for a late night record search for the registered Wizard at that location, and eventually dug up one Ryan Selwyn, who took ownership of the house twenty-one years ago. He was a little surprised to find that he'd actually used the name Selwyn, but then it was a well-known name in the Wizarding World, so it's not like one more would be noticed. In a way, it wasn't a bad choice, since nobody would be very likely to suspect that he'd just use his real name while in hiding.

That did give Al an easy explanation for how he'd tracked the man down, though, which would make a cover story for capturing him simple. He dropped off reports for Rick and Hestia, with an extra note for Hestia to let her know that he was going to need someone to cover surveillance of Selwyn on Saturday for him. With that done, he popped back over to New Orleans, continued his sweep of the Knight's office, and then spent two hours combing through the place and copying files before wrapping up for the night and going back to the island to get a few hours of sleep.

For the next two days, Al followed the same routine he'd used in his other surveillances. He followed Selwyn by day, and worked his way through the Knight's office after dark. Like Jugson, Selwyn did not go out on the town – or at least not on the days Al had watched him so far, but kept a low profile. There was no way for Al to know whether that was normal for the man, or whether the captures of his former cohorts was responsible for a change in behaviour.

Friday morning, Al watched Terrance when he entered and left the office. It must have been the first stop of the day, since Terrance did not get up early enough in the mornings to fit in any stops ahead of this time of day. Hestia stopped in New Orleans in the afternoon, and Al met with her for a late lunch while Selwyn was at the office, then showed her their fugitive's house, and went over the latest information he'd collected. She was going to take the Saturday surveillance herself, and told Al to take the whole day off, and not just come running back here once Carolyn went back to Hogwarts, since it wouldn't even be noon here by then.

Al hadn't planned on being too late getting back home to Hogsmeade, but he'd gotten caught up with his third night of searching the office, and had lost track of time. He ended up getting home at four-thirty in the morning, and found Lily sound asleep on one of the sofas in the sitting room, a blanket drawn snugly around her, and her fiery hair cascading across the pillow she'd brought downstairs.

"I'm going to tell Carolyn about all of these late nights you're having while she's gone," Lily said softly, waking up as Al came into the room. "Were we having too much fun to come home at a decent hour?"

Al walked across the room, and leaned over to hug his sister. "It's only ten-thirty where I'm coming from," he answered. "I got caught up in my work."

"I heard about your work from Carolyn," Lily told him. "You'll be in even bigger trouble with your fiancée if you were chasing that girl around all night."

"Old news, sis," he told her. "I've been following someone else since Wednesday afternoon, and I don't think Carolyn has anything to worry about with him. Let's go upstairs. I'm going to try and sleep for a couple of hours before we have to get up." Lily held out her hands, and he helped her to stand up. She hugged him one more time, and then they went up to their rooms and went to bed.

He woke up slowly, a bit disoriented, and for a moment felt like he was back home in his room at the Cottage. As he came fully awake, he realized why – the wonderful smells of breakfast cooking in the kitchen had reached his room, and his stomach was reminding him that he hadn't eaten dinner the night before. Al hopped out of bed, grabbed a quick shower, dressed, and hurried downstairs. He hugged Lily, who was just finishing cooking in the kitchen, and then Scorpius, who was already sitting at the table.

"I thought maybe you'd decided to just sleep until after the girls get back from their appointment to pick out, and be fitted for their dresses," Scorpius told his friend with a smile.

"I might have if breakfast didn't smell so great," Al said. "I hadn't noticed until it woke me up that I'd forgotten to have dinner yesterday – and lunch for that matter, now that I think about it."

"Then you're in luck," Lily told him. "I've made lots, and it's ready, so let's eat and get things cleaned up before they get here. I want a few minutes alone with Kieran before I have to go with Carolyn and Brianna to Gladrags."

"Anything new happening around here while I've been busy?" Al asked.

"Winky's already starting to help out with the work again," Scorpius told him. "I told her that she could take as much time as she needed, but apparently House Elves are equal opportunity parents, and she's finding it boring with nothing to do during the hours that Kreacher is doting on their son. Since I can't seem to figure out a way to stop her, I'll just have to hope she won't overdo it."

"And how is Dobby?" Al asked.

Scorpius laughed. "I'm surprised that every family doesn't want to have baby House Elves around. They're very entertaining. I didn't ever expect to put the words 'cute' and 'House Elf' in the same sentence, but there's just no other way to describe the little guy. Even Narcissa couldn't resist Dobby's charm, and Lucius was absolutely fascinated when he got to see the baby elf, though we had to be careful with him."

Lily laughed, and Al and Scorpius looked at her curiously. "Was it something I said?" Scorpius asked her.

"More like a mental picture of Lucius sitting on the floor in your drawing room in a couple of years, playing dragons with Dobby. When that happens, I want pictures, or an invitation to come and watch," she told him with a grin.

"That will be a lot of fun," Scorpius agreed. "Some day I should talk Mum and Dad into letting someone do some research by studying Lucius. I've been wondering if this was what he was like when he was two, and he's basically a pretty good-natured child, then what happened to turn him into the monster he grew up to be? He's self-centred, like any other two-year old is, but there doesn't seem to be anything mean about him at all."

"I'm sure that if your family ever wanted to do that, there'd be lots of people who'd love the chance to look into that," Lily told him. "I wouldn't be surprised if Aunt Hermione was high on that list. Could you imagine what it would be like if she found a cure for hate?"

"I'd sure like to," Scorpius said. "We'd have to find a new job for Al, but I'm sure we could come up with something – maybe he could stay on the island and keep all of the pools clean or something."

Al and Lily both laughed. "I'd take that job in a second," Al told him. "I haven't been spending very many hours there each night, but I'm loving the place more every day."

"And I'm sure Carolyn would love picking out a uniform for him – probably some skimpy little speedo number or something," Lily said.

"That is a little too much information, thanks anyway," Scorpius told her.

They finished breakfast, moving on to talk about what Scorpius was up to at the Ministry, and Lily bringing Al up to date on what was going on at the lab, home, the Residence, and the Academy. There was just time for a quick cleanup, and then Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran got to the house. The girls only had about five minutes to spend with their guys, and then they had to hurry over to Gladrags while Al, Scorpius, and Kieran, shopping lists in hand, waded out into the crowd of students to go on the big Easter supply run.

Brianna, Carolyn, and Lily walked into Gladrags a couple of minutes late, and were greeted by quite a support group.

"Rose!" Brianna and Carolyn both said at nearly the same time. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming?" Brianna added.

Rose hugged each of them before answering. "I wasn't, but this morning Matt told me I should be here instead, and that he could handle getting everything ready for the trip to Hawaii by himself."

"Well, all of that sun and fun is agreeing with you," Carolyn told Rose. "You look like a million galleons."

Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily did a quick round of hugs with Ginny, Penelope, Astoria, and Allie, and then they were swept away to the back showroom, where the designers who'd met with them over the Christmas holidays were now ready to present their wedding dress designs to the girls.

During the next hour, the girls were each shown six unique, stunningly beautiful dresses, and then spent another half hour talking over their choices with everyone. Carolyn ended up choosing a design that was more like a sundress than a wedding gown. It was a gorgeous, form-fitting dress with a hemline that was maybe an inch above the knee. There wasn't a hint of lace anywhere on it, but there was incredibly detailed embroidery that had been used to compliment and emphasize the small diamonds that lightly accented the neckline of the sleeveless dress. Her choice was perfect for a wedding on the beach, and had unanimous support from the rest of the women.

Brianna chose a much more classic gown that had the flowing, long train, and all of the frills, pearls, and matching headdress and veil.

"I absolutely love this dress," Brianna told the other women, "but I'm reasonably sure that after four or five hours wearing it, I'm going to be very jealous of the one Carolyn picked for her wedding."

"So are we," Penelope told her. "You're marrying a Junior Minister, though, and this is just one of the little things you'll have to put up with for the sake of your political careers."

"And it's going to definitely get you and Scorpius on the TeenWitch hottest couples list again," Rose told her. "This may even be enough to move Kieran and Lily to number two."

"That'll depend on the dresses we pick out for the bridesmaids," Ginny told them. "Let's let Brianna and Carolyn do their fittings, and the rest of us will go show you what we've got in mind for Brianna's wedding. We're not doing matching dresses for Carolyn and Al's wedding."

It took all of ten minutes for Carolyn to finish her fitting, since it was a perfect fit, and didn't need a single alteration. She hugged the designer, and kissed his cheek.

"Thank-you," she told him quietly. "You made this just as if you'd read my mind."

Brianna's fitting took longer, but not because it needed a lot of alterations, but because it took so long just to get in and out of it. Her dress was equally as perfect fitting as Carolyn's had been, and the Witch who'd designed it was laughing when Briann hugged her after she'd changed back into her own clothes.

"You're a very huggy family, aren't you?" she asked Brianna, who nodded.

"Yes, we are," she agreed. "Especially when people do things as brilliant as all of you have done with these dresses. I wish we could have picked them all."

"Well, I'm really glad you picked my design, but the company loved all of our designs, so they've all been put in this year's collection, and they've told us that they expect them to all be very popular."

"Just don't go into retirement any time soon," Brianna told the young woman. "When I get done school, and after the wedding, we're going to sit down and talk designs for some new formal dinner and party dresses. I think it's time that some of us younger Witches brought fashion into this Millenium at the Ministry of Magic."

"That sounds like a really great challenge. I'll look forward to doing that with you," the other woman answered.

Brianna and Carolyn went out into the main showroom, and found Rose, Allie, and Lily all being fitted for bridesmaid dresses, and Ginny handed one that was just slightly different than the others to Carolyn to go put on.

"Your bridesmaids went ahead and picked without you," Penelope told Brianna. They're trying to speed up the process, because for some reason, they think you've got somewhere else you'd rather be than here with us all day."

Brianna laughed. "The reason might be because they know Carolyn and I so well, and I'd have agreed with the choice anyway – you all look amazing!"

Another half-hour later, just as it was coming up on noon, the bridesmaids and maid-of-honour fittings were done, and Brianna, Carolyn, and Lily were set free with parting hugs and kisses. A quick ViComm call let them know that the boys were already back at the house, so they went straight there, where they were greeted with another round of hugs and kisses.

"We didn't expect to see you until quite a bit later," Al told Carolyn. He was just finishing making lunch, and Kieran was grabbing what he needed for three more place settings. "I made enough for all of us, but I expected to be warming food up for you when you did get back."

"Having that meeting back at Christmas made today a lot quicker," Carolyn told him. "The dresses we picked already fit perfectly, and then it didn't take too long to get the bridesmaids dresses picked out and fitted."

"You and Brianna must have made a couple of designers happy – weren't the winning designers getting some kind of prize or bonus?" Al asked.

"They were happy, and yes there was a bonus for them, but Brianna's designer told us that all twelve designs were picked up for this year's catalogue."

"She'll be happier after Brianna's wedding, I'm sure," Al predicted. "Once pictures start making the magazines, that dress will become the most wanted by brides-to-be for at least a couple of years."

"Probably, " Carolyn agreed. "I'm sure it will move her up a few notches on the famous designer list."

They made it a quick lunch, with the girls telling the boys about their morning, and then Al, Scorpius, and Kieran telling them about the shopping trip. After lunch and cleanup, they split up and went upstairs to their rooms for the rest of the time they had left that afternoon.

The Canons were playing at home against the Pride of Portree, and Mark's New York to Los Angeles broom race started at one o'clock home time, so all three couples did turn the WWVN's in their rooms on, but they'd been apart for three weeks, and only had less than half of the time together that they normally had on their Hogsmeade Saturdays. With that combination, there was very little conversation, Broom Race, or Quidditch game watching happening, and a whole lot of snogging going on instead. They were all smiling when they gathered downstairs again when it was time for Brianna, Carolyn, and Keiran to go back to school.

"Did anyone catch who won the game?" Scorpius asked as they went outside and started walking toward Hogwarts. "How's Mark doing in the race?"

"The Canons won, and Mark's got a small lead on Mariposa," Lily told him. "No, we didn't catch the game or the race, I just sent Emily a QuillMessage when we were getting ready to leave and asked her who won and how Mark was doing."

"That must at least put the Canons in the playoffs for sure," Scorpius said, and Lily nodded.

"It does – they can't do worse than eighth now, but I'm sure they won't be settling for that. You do not want to be playing the number one team in the league in the first round of the playoffs if you can help it."

They'd had a nice spring day, but as usual, they were cutting it close for Kieran and the girls to get back to school in time, so the goodbyes at the school gates were rushed.

"I'll see you at the game in three weeks," Carolyn whispered to Al as she hugged him one last time. Because of the way the schedule worked out this year, they now had three weeks until the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game, and then would have a Hogsmeade weekend, and then the Gryffindor-Rvenclaw game two weeks after the Hogsmeade weekend. The good news was that once they got past this next three weeks, it was really going to start feeling like they were almost to the end of their long separation.

"Try to have a little fun around all of the studying," he told her. They had time for one last kiss, and then Lily put her arm around Al, and they watched Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran walk up the lane for a long minute before turning back toward town.

Since Al had been told to take the whole day off, he decided to go along with Lily to the victory party at their Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's place, while Scorpius had previous dinner plans already set up with his parents, so he left for Grimmauld Place to get ready to go out.

Even with all of the travelling Al had been doing since January, except for when they'd been on vacation, he seen his parents, and Lily at least once or twice every week. That hadn't been the case with James and Arianna, and Al was glad to have a few hours to visit with them, Aaron, Tracey, and the rest of the team.

James gave him the latest on how his kids were doing at the Academy, and the top story there this year was the single-minded resolve and effort that Jason and Brian were putting in to getting all of the way through four years of school in just twenty months. James and the teachers were thinking they were going to make it, since they were just about to start writing their finals for third year, and if they passed everything, would start fourth year by the first week of May, which gave them four months to get through their fourth year in time to start their OWL year at Hogwarts.

"Have you decided what you're going to do with your over-age students at the end of summer?" Al asked James, who shook his head.

"We're still assessing that," James told him. "There are just four of them, and two of them will probably only be finished year four, and two will only be done year three."

"I'd still want the house in Hogsmeade for Lily to use on Hogsmeade weekends," Al told him, "but other than that, it's going to be empty when you're looking to move them at the end of August. What if you used it for you over-agers so they can learn how to live on their own? The foundation could have people come and teach them how to cook, and everything else that they'll need to know, and they could just go to the Academy every day to keep taking classes – it sounds like one more year would get them at least through their OWLs so they'd be able to get jobs."

"That'd be brilliant," James told him. "I'm sure that Arianna and I can come up with something for them to do for the day on the Hogsmeade weekends. "You don't mind lending us the place for a year?"

Al shook his head. "It'd mean there would be someone taking care of the place until I do decide what I want to do with it. I'm going to keep it for at least a couple more years so Joel and Sarah can use it the year after he graduates too, so you could probably use it for the next two years if you wanted."

"I'll talk it over with Teddy and Stewart, but I'm sure they'll agree too, so pencil us in for using the house for the next school year for sure," James told Al. "Two years would probably take care of all of the older students who won't get far enough along to catch up with their age group to be able to go to Hogwarts. Thanks for giving me one less thing to worry about between now and September."

"You're welcome," Al assured him.

Harry and Ginny had to leave at around eight o'clock and go to Los Angeles for the end of the Broom Race. Mark was on pace to get to the finish line in under eight and a half hours, which would put him there before one-thirty in the afternoon local time, or in about an hour and a half home time.

They turned on the WWVN to watch the rest of the race, and found out that it wasn't going to be close this time. Mariposa was sick, and couldn't keep going at top speed. She'd even made a few emergency stops. While she was still well ahead of the rest of the field, she was already twenty minutes behind Mark, and losing a little more time with every passing mile, despite fighting on bravely.

Mark crossed the finish line in eight hours and nineteen minutes, with an average speed of just under two hundred and ninety-five miles an hour, breaking his own record from last year by twenty-one minutes.

Al stayed to watch Mark's post-game interview, and saw Mariposa come flying across the finish line in eight hours and forty-six minutes, and then left the party at around ten o'clock. From there he went to New Orleans, despite Hestia's warning to take the day off, but calmed her down with a bribe of dinner at one of the city's world-famous Muggle restaurants. Since she was on home time, and hadn't eaten yet, it was a pretty easy sell, and they spent the better part of two hours discussing the case.

"So you're sure that by Thursday you'll have finished up here?" she asked, and Al nodded.

"I could probably be done a bit earlier, but just in case, let's make it Thursday morning local time, and we'll get him when he leaves his house on the way to the office, since we don't have to know that's where he's going, and I could make it look like that's the first day I'd come to watch the place."

"That's a good idea," Hestia agreed. "Put out TransPortal terminals when you set up in the morning, call me when you see him, and I can have a team here in about five seconds."

"How did you all manage to even do this job before the invention of WiComms and TransPortals?" Al asked with a grin and Hestia pretended to swat him, but answered his question seriously.

"It was a lot more dangerous, Al. We've had seven fugitives captured since you started with us, and only one minor injury to one of us, and one slightly more serious injury to one of the fugitives. We've never had that many before where we didn't have fatalities – either on our side, or on theirs. My only worry lately is that we need to keep everyone from getting overconfident. What Emma and Jake did with Jugson – turning their backs to him like that, could have been their last mistake if you hadn't been there to save them."

"We'll just have to keep reminding them to be careful," Al told her.

It was after midnight back home when they finished eating, so Al talked Hestia into going home, since she had to get up for work earlier than he did, and let him stay and wrap up the day's surveillance. He went back to Selwyn's house, and watched it until dusk with no sign of life at all until the lights came on as the sky darkened. From there he went and did another two hours of searching in the office, and then went home to the island for some sleep.

Over the next three days, he had twenty-one Witches and Wizards identified as the Knights in this local group, including Selwyn. He was finished going through every piece of parchment in the office by the end of the night on Tuesday, and so on Wednesday, after Selwyn was tucked in for the night, Al went back to the island early to get a full night's sleep so he'd be ready for Thursday morning.

He got outside of Selwyn's house bright and early, and set up four TransPortal terminals around the spot near where he planned on confronting Selwyn. Today he wanted a stakeout location that was closer to the house than the one he normally used, so he moved to a spot that would only require him to take about an equal number of strides to reach the place on the sidewalk in the middle of the four TransPortal terminals as it would take Selwyn to reach the same spot.

Selwyn stepped out of his house at eight-thirty, and Al went into motion. He called Hestia, and let her see what he was seeing even as he started walking. As Selwyn stepped into the area Al had set up, he put up the anti-apparition wards, along with anti-Muggle charms. The last thing he did was sweep his cloak off into his left arm, keeping his wand hand clear.

"Mr. Selwyn, I am Auror-trainee Albus Potter, and you are under arrest."

Al had to give him credit for being fast to react. The other Wizard had his wand out in a flash and was firing a killing curse at Al, not even showing any surprise. That changed, though, when Al's Impervious Totalis shield appeared and diffused the Avada Kedavra curse harmlessly into nothing. Selwyn got one more killing curse off before Al had him disarmed and in a body-bind, both Wizards watching as first the curse, and then the wand shattered against the shield. Hestia, Rick, and four other Aurors appeared right then, wands at the ready, but the little fight was already over.

"He was pretty fast," Al commented to the others conversationally, and Hestia grinned at him.

"Not quite fast enough it seems, but then, neither were we. You and I are going to sit down and discuss tactics a little more, my talented young trainee."

"We have to work on this talent he has for destroying perfectly good wands too," Rick added, looking at the shattered wand at Al's feet. "You are keeping Olivander and the other wand makers in business, though, so it's not all bad." He walked over to stand in front of Selwyn, and nodded to Al to release him from the body-bind.

"I would have thought that with all of the other charges waiting for you back home that you wouldn't want to add attempted murder of an Auror, and two uses of unforgivable curses to the list," he told Selwyn conversationally.

"What difference would a few more make if you hadn't caught me," Selwyn sneered. "Which begs the question, how did you find me after all of these years?"

Rick pointed back at Al. "We've been letting him play detective. For the last couple of months, he's been checking out every Selwyn male in the Wizarding World that changed addresses in the past twenty-five years. I think he got lucky myself, since he'd only gotten through England, Europe, and as far west in the United States as here so far, and there was a lot of world left to check, but the kid is relentless. It's been a bit of a pain humouring him for all of these morning stakeouts he's been setting up, although at least the ones over here have at least been in the early afternoon our time back home. That's actually why we were a bit late. We'd all just gotten so used to them being called off that we had to scramble when he sent us the call that he actually had found you."

"I never thought you'd actually use your real name when you went into hiding," Hestia told him. "That's probably why it never occurred to us to even bother checking."

Selwyn was putting on a front of looking annoyed and even angry, but Al was able to read his thoughts of utter relief that he hadn't been under surveillance, and that the safe house was still secure.

"Let's get out of here before we attract any unwanted Muggle attention," Rick told them. "Jake, I think you should probably bind him again until we get back to Auror Headquarters. We wouldn't want him getting his hands on another wand, and he's definitely still got fast hands."

Jake put him into another body-bind, and then they all escorted Selwyn to the Ministry of Magic. It was mid-afternoon there, and the Atrium was a bustle of activity that practically came to a standstill as the group of seven Aurors and one captive walked through to the lifts.

"We should have apparated to the training room from the TransPortal terminal," Rick said. "I should've know that we'd get this reaction."

"Smile," Hestia told him, nodding toward where a Wizarding News Network cameraman had alertly grabbed his camera and started shooting while his reporter tried unsuccessfully to get to them through the crowd before they made it to the lifts. "We're going to make the evening news too."

When they got to their floor, Al followed Hestia into the observation room after the others took Selwyn into the interrogation room. Al had thought about suggesting to Hestia and Rick that he go back to New Orleans and wait around to see who they sent along to replace Selwyn, but he already knew how they worked it with getting the safe house secret to other Wizards and Witches, and decided that he could just as easily just go back there another afternoon near the end of their day and watch the place until the new person left for the night. That seemed more appealing than spending another day or two on stakeout.

"I thought my heart wasn't going to start up again when I saw that killing curse coming right at you, and you weren't even moving," Hestia told Al when they were sitting down. "It was definitely the scariest thing I've ever seen on my WiComm."

"There wasn't anything I saw in his file that suggested he was a particularly good dueller," Al told her. "Make sure we add that to the file. That would have been a nice thing to know ahead of time."

"Do you realize that we're running low on these old fugitive cases, Al?" Hestia asked. "There are other more recent cases, but I was looking at the board, and we only have three left – Rosier, and the pair that Garret and Patrick are looking for in Mexico – Borgin and Burke."

"Now that we have Selwyn, I've got a lead I can start chasing down next week in Mexico City if you want me to do that while I'm still adjusted to that time zone," Al offered. "I'd like to take the weekend off, though. This last couple of months have been busy."

"I think both checking out your lead, and taking the weekend off are good ideas," Hestia told him. "Rick probably won't take very long with him," she added, pointing through the one-way glass. "I'm sure he'll have the Wizengamot convene tomorrow to hear the charges, and send our other buddies in Azkaban an early Easter present."

Al laughed. "Can we slip him one of the wheezes that turns you into a bunny for a couple of hours? That'd be a cute way for him to arrive at the prison."

"It would be, but no, we can't do that," Hestia told him. "That would be really funny, though."

Rick only interrogated an uncooperative Selwyn until eight o'clock, and since it only felt like early afternoon to Al, he changed his mind, and popped back over to New Orleans to stake out the Knight's office, and see what the reaction had been. Emma had been given the job of meeting with the clamouring media hours ago, reading a prepared statement that detailed the story they were going with, and most news channels had carried it live, so the Knights should all know what had happened to their local leader.

There was a fair bit of activity going on, and Witches and Wizards were going in and out of the office, but near the end of the afternoon, they all seemed to be gathering for a meeting. When Byron Bulstrode showed up at around four o'clock in the afternoon, it was clear why. His demeanor and thoughts both showed Al that the man was not in the slightest bit worried that this safe house had been compromised, and he even seemed to be glad that Selwyn was out of the picture.

The meeting lasted for over two hours, and when the doors opened, and the Knights began leaving singly, or at most in pairs, Al listened carefully, and scanned their thoughts. Sylvie's father and Byron were the last two out, and Al listened to their short conversation.

"We have complete confidence in your abilities to keep things running here for us," Byron was telling the other Wizard. "You can contact me, or Terrance any time if there's need, and we will be here every Friday as normal for your weekly meetings."

"Thank-you," Sylvie's father answered. "I appreciate your faith in me, and I won't let you down."

What Al heard the man thinking was that now he was in charge, at least he'd be able to take care of his friends and family, and maybe he could get out of the mess he'd gotten himself into before anyone he loved got killed.

Now that Al knew who was going to be in charge here, once the two Wizards left, he went on to the island to grab a couple of hours sleep. He had to be back at Auror Headquarters for eight o'clock home time, so he only took the time to have a quick sandwich, and then went up to bed.

On Friday, Al spent the morning in the observation room watching Rick interrogate Selwyn, had lunch with Scorpius, and then sat with the Wizengamot as Selwyn was charged with his long list of crimes, his tribunal of Elders was chosen, and a trial date was set for May thirteenth.

When that was finished, he was done for the weekend, although he did end up staying and working for another hour, getting everything together that he needed for his next stakeout in Mexico.

From there, he went straight to the island, and settled in to begin a little less than three full days of R&R. He was sitting out by the pool, reading a book when Lily stopped in to see him.

"This is nice to see," she told him, leaning over to give him a hug. "I've decided to come join you here at least for the rest of today and tomorrow. I'm helping out at the Academy on Sunday for James' Easter Adventure."

"Is anyone else coming here for the weekend?" Al asked.

"I'd think there will be at least a few," Lily answered, "but I haven't heard from anyone in particular. I'm going to go get a swimsuit on, and then I'll come back and test out your pool, and then we can just wing it for the rest of the day if that'll work for you."

That worked just fine for Al, and for the rest of the day, and most of Saturday, he and Lily spent their time laying by the pool, going for walks around the island, and just one visit to the lagoon for an hour out on the jet-skis. He cooked the meals, and other than stopping in for a drink with Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur while they were on their Friday night walk, and having them stop in, along with Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle on Saturday afternoon for a little visit, they were pretty much on their own the entire time.

Lily went home late in the afternoon so that she could get some sleep and be ready for an early Sunday morning at the Academy, and Al had already been told that he'd have the island to himself for the rest of the weekend, since everyone else had other plans for Sunday too. He'd briefly toyed with the idea of going with Lily and helping out at the Academy, but decided that just having the down time was more important right now. He had promised Lily and his parents that he'd come for dinner on Sunday night, though, so he would be seeing them, and James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey for a couple of hours.

Al was up with the sunrise on Sunday morning, and had gone for a morning swim, showered, dressed, and made himself breakfast when Carolyn called to wish him a Happy Easter.

"How'd the TNM Easter go?" Al asked. It was almost lunchtime at home already.

"The kids loved it just as much as last year," she told him. "I'm pretty sure that we'll do Easter the same way we've been doing Hallowe'en – the bunny adventure ride is just as popular this year, and the Easter baskets will never get dull, because we're always coming up with a few new tricks to add in with the old favourites."

"That does make it easier to get ready too," Al said, and Carolyn nodded.

"We still had a lot of work, but it really did go pretty smoothly this year. What are you doing until you go to the Cottage later?"

"I'm thinking about taking a walk, and then finishing a book I've been reading this weekend," Al answered. "How about you?"

"Brianna and I are going to hide in her office and do some review for our NEWTs," Carolyn told him. "The rest of the gang is taking the day off to play."

Carolyn had to go down to the Great Hall for lunch, so they talked until she got there, and then ended the call, and Al went out for his walk. He left for the Cottage a little before noon island time, and spent a few hours with everyone who was there until Canons' team curfew got in the way of the fun, and half of the dinner guests had to go home to bed.

It was still late afternoon when Al went back to the island after a lengthy round of goodbyes, so he got changed, went for a swim, and then settled into one of the sofas in the sitting room to make sure he had everything ready for his trip in the morning. He had another long chat with Carolyn before she went to bed, when it was still early evening on the island, and then went to bed early, planning on starting his surveillance at six in the morning in Mexico City.

When Easter arrived each year, it almost always meant that spring was either here, or almost here. In some cases, like this year, it also meant that Hogwarts Quidditch was about to get going again with the last two games of the season. For the Hogwarts students, the Slytherin-Hufflepuff game in two weeks would be the talk of the school by Monday. For Al, the Easter weekend had been a welcome break, and when he went to sleep on Sunday night, he was once again ready to get back to work and determined to succeed.


	125. Playing to Win

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Five – Playing to Win

Al was in Mexico City, _Ciudad de Mexico,_ as Lily had tried to explain to his multi-linguistically challenged brain. She had also tried to teach him at least a few basic words, but had lost him at Hola. He'd suggested that her next project be a universal magical translator spell so he could just speak English and everyone else could speak their own languages too, since not everyone could memorize the phonetic sounds of every major language in the world like certain sisters he knew.

He'd gotten there at six o'clock local time, and had immediately set up his stakeout near the home of suspected Secret Keeper for the Mexico City Knights, Humberto, and his wife Marlina. At a quarter to eight, Humberto left his house, and following proper Knight procedure, took the TransPortal to another city, and then apparated back to the Knight's safe house.

Having read Humberto's thoughts, Al went on ahead to the place outside of the safe house office on Republica de Peru that he'd previously used to watch Terrance when he'd come here for his every other Thursday stop. Now he could see the building that had been invisible to him before, and he waited for Humberto to catch up to him and go into the office.

That extremely fortunate start to this surveillance just kept getting better when at nine o'clock, none other than Mr Caractus Burke himself came along the street and went inside the Knight's safe house too. 'Not bad', Al thought to himself. Three hours of surveillance and he was well on his way to handing over the location for Borgin and Burke to Garret and Patrick.

With things looking up right from the start, Al happily sat back and worked away in his ACM program, stopping each time someone new came along, taking pictures, listening in on conversations, and picking up their thoughts. At noon, Burke left for lunch, and Al followed him to a café in Wizarding Mexico City, that was very close to the Templo Mayor, a fourteenth Century Aztec Temple. From there he went on to a small shop on Carmen with no name on the front or any markings or signs of any kind.

Al found a good spot where he could sit in a slightly shaded area, watch the shop, and continue his work. He was done with needing to follow Humberto, but he still wanted to run the same searches for him that he'd run on the other Secret Keepers, since every match he came up with moved him a little closer to finding out what was going on with the Knights. It was only fifteen minutes before the shop door opened, and this time, instead of Mr Burke, it was Mr Borgin who came out of the shop. Al photographed him too, and then waited for the old Wizard to move on before apparating back to the Knight's office, which was where Borgin was going to be after he'd finished his own lunch.

For the rest of the afternoon, Al continued to watch the office, and then, at the end of the afternoon, Borgin left again, going back to the shop, although this time he took a TransPortal trip first, which gave Al time to make it to the shop ahead of him. When Borgin went into the shop, Al was in for an hour-long wait before both Borgin and Burke came out of their shop, locking the door behind them. In that entire time, there hadn't been a single customer come into their shop.

They were walking to a restaurant in the Wizarding section of the city again, and Al followed them cautiously. Al waited outside while they had dinner, and then resumed following them as they took an evening stroll from the restaurant to their Liverpool street home. He watched and studied that place for an hour, and then went back first to the store, which had shielding around it that was good enough that Al wasn't going to try and get past it, and then on to the Knight's office.

It would probably be easy to get overconfident about going into these places, but Al wasn't going to make that mistake. He'd rather take the time to check out the places thoroughly than make a mistake that could ruin everything he'd been doing up until now. There weren't any additional security measures on this place either, and so after spending more than an hour checking for wards and spells of any kind, he finally went into the offices and really got to work.

He only had time left to do a couple of hours of digging around in the office before going back to the island to get some sleep. Tuesday was another day of following Borgin and Burke around, though he stayed with his stakeout of the office, following Burke in the morning again, and then Borgin in the afternoon. By the end of the day, he'd identified twelve of the Knights so far, including Borgin and Burke, so he expected that there were still nine more yet to make an appearance there.

Al reported in to Hestia when he had time that morning, and she and Rick decided that he should meet with Garret and Patrick, pass off Borgin and Burke to them, and then he could concentrate on watching the office, while they set up a stakeout of their shop and house. What Al was doing was important, but if the two old Wizards had another Dark Arts shop, getting them, and their wares off of the streets of the Wizarding World was a priority too.

Garret and Patrick met with Al while their two fugitives were still in the shop after the office had closed, and he showed them the location of their house first, and then where the unmarked shop was, leaving them to deal with them while he went back to focusing on identifying the rest of the Knights in this group, and turning up everything he could get out of their offices, planning to move on once he had that done. If he didn't find a way to start working through all of these places a little faster, he'd be spending years just following the leads he had right now, and he still had no idea how much more there still was to learn about the Knights – or whether he had years to spend in the search.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Al kept his stakeout by day, and sifted through cabinets and desks by night. By the end of the afternoon on Thursday, the remaining nine Knights had all checked in at least once, and Terrance had stopped by for his visit. With all of the group's Knights identified, he made one last sweep of the office, and when he was finished, decided he'd gotten all of the information he was going to get out of the place. When he went back to the island, he planned to move on to another of the cities on his list. The only question now was – which one?

He thought about that while he had a quick sandwich before bed. It was hard to believe, but today marked nine weeks since Macnair had shown himself with Terrance in Tangier. Nine long weeks had netted them three fugitives in custody, and two more that would be brought in whenever Rick was satisfied that Garret and Patrick had found out everything of interest about Borgin and Burke's new shop and it's clientele. Al had also identified the members and location of six of the forty-nine international cells of the Knights.

Since he was acclimated to the time zone over here, Al decided that he'd keep going – at least for now, in the Americas. If Terrance's week two route covered all of the locations the Knights had in the Americas, then there were still twelve cities to check out in Central and South America, two in Canada, and the one in Los Angeles that he hadn't gotten to in the United States. Al decided to tackle the last three places first, and to start with Montreal first thing on Friday morning.

By the time Al had been on the job in Montreal for an hour, Ginny and Lily were having lunch at the Diner with Mandy, Hermione, Luna, and the rest of the girls who were the power behind the Marauders Institute. This was a farewell lunch, since mother and daughter were taking the afternoon off to get ready for the two-week tour with Rose and Matt that they'd be leaving for early on Saturday morning.

"We're all going to hide in your luggage and go along," Lisa joked. "Or maybe I should just send Jair along with you and Marcus and I can have a vacation right here at home for two weeks."

"Mum, Dad, and I would take him in a second if we thought you were serious," Lily told her. "You and Marcus wouldn't last two weeks without that little sweetheart."

"That's just how he acts in public," Lisa told her. "When we're at home by ourselves, he's more than a year ahead of schedule for the terrible twos."

Ginny laughed. "Do those episodes happen after every time Harry takes him for the day? It could be that you're problem is with him winding Jair up, and then leaving him with you to spin all night."

Lisa laughed. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "I'll start keeping track, and see if that's where our problem starts."

"I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was at least a contributing factor," Ginny told Lisa. "Your little boy has Harry wrapped around his little finger. He's already got Jair's toy Lightningbolt wrapped up and tucked away in the closet for his first birthday."

"Marcus was looking at them already too, but I warned him off, since I was pretty sure that's what you and Harry would want to get him."

"He does like getting his kids their brooms," Lily agreed. "I think the only exceptions he's made were Rose and Hugo so that Uncle Ron could do that himself."

"What will you be doing in India?" Mandy asked. "We loved our week in Egypt with Matt and Rose – Terry and I have already booked another trip with them for next winter."

"We'll be doing sightseeing for about half of the time," Ginny answered. "There will be a Safari, of course, and we'll see all of the major Wizarding and Muggle sightseeing stops, and then the rest of the days are all about getting pampered and relaxing."

"And hopefully some really great shopping too," Lily added with a smile. "Shopping is always good."

"If every Witch and Wizard got to see what those tours are like, they'd never look at the Leaky Cauldron or the Hog's Head the same way again," Natalie said. "At least your Mum and Penelope are building some decent hotels like the Emerald City Centre for the Wizarding World, but when it comes to Hotels and Restaurants, we're still way behind the Muggles."

"From what I've heard about Marauders Refuge, we're catching up fast," Luna told the other women. "Penelope told me that Nick's taken Marauders' luxury to a whole new level. Maybe he'll design the next public Wizarding resort that gets built."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Penelope has already talked with him about it. They certainly want to keep expanding those Hotels," Ginny said.

While Ginny and Lily did lunch, and then went on to spend the afternoon packing, and running out to pick up a few last travel necessities, and Al was busy following the Secret Keeper for the Knight's Montreal group, at Hogwarts, the students were getting through their last afternoon of classes for the week, and looking forward to the weekend.

The New Marauders were glad the weekend was here too, but looking forward to it might be a bit strong, since they were just over five weeks away from the start of exams, and were going to be working hard all weekend to get their assignments done, and also keep working on getting ready for those exams. Their only break was going to be on Saturday afternoon when they would be watching the Canons' road game against the Bats.

The Hufflepuff and Slytherin Quidditch Marauders also had the added work of getting ready for their last game of the season, and that continued to be the lead topic around school as the students tried to work out all of the possible outcomes of the season. Hufflepuff was the only team with two wins, so if they beat Slytherin, they'd win the cup. If Slytherin won, then it was going to get interesting, because everyone was sure that Gryffindor would win their last game, and then they'd have another season with three two-win teams, and it could go down to points again. Quidditch may have been the main topic around school, but for Carolyn and Brianna, it was about their family's current and upcoming travels.

"We're going to need to start wearing three watches for the next couple of weeks to know what time it is in India and wherever it is Al is now and next week," Brianna told Lily at dinner on Friday night.

"He's in Montreal, and just add five and a half hours for Lily, Mum, and Dad, and take away five hours for Al," Carolyn told her. "For Al, I know it's safe to call pretty much anytime from around noon and after, and for Lily, it'll be anytime before late afternoon here."

Brianna nodded. "At least her time zone will work out okay for the next two Saturdays so she can pop back over. It's not quite so great for Al."

"That's for sure," Carolyn agreed. "He only got something like three hours of sleep Friday night on the last Hogsmeade weekend."

"Why didn't you just tell him to go have a nap after we got back from the dress fitting?" Brianna asked with a grin, and Carolyn laughed.

"Because I was too busy snogging him senseless, that's why," she answered. "Are you going to watch the Canons game tomorrow?"

"Are you thinking about skipping it?"

"Yeah, I am," Carolyn told her. "We could turn the game on in your office if you wanted, but I'd really rather keep studying. I'm not feeling as ready as I did last year at this time, and we're going to lose three out of the next five Saturdays with the games and the Hogsmeade weekend."

"I'm with you, then," Brianna said. "We can let Karl know he'll have two less at the game day party tomorrow when we see him after dinner."

Carolyn nodded. "What's Scorpius doing for the weekend?"

"Probably starving," Brianna said with a laugh. "He talked Kreacher and Winky into taking Dobby and spending the weekend on the island. He'll at least get fed once when he has dinner with his parents tomorrow night. Other than that, I think he's planning on hanging out at the Ministry most of the weekend."

"What a surprise. I'd say we'll have to get the boys to stop doing that after we're done school, but I'd better not say that until I find out if I'll be just as bad when it comes to my job."

"You did put in a lot of late nights last summer," Brianna told her. "I'm pretty sure that I'll be working to impress my boss at the Ministry too, so Scorpius and I will probably both put in long days."

"When will you be starting at the Ministry? The Monday after the wedding?" Carolyn asked, and Brianna nodded.

"I'll only be there a little over a month before Scorpius and I get married, but since Scorpius wouldn't have any time off, and you'll be gone half of that time, I decided not to wait until later in the summer to start."

"And I'll be starting at PBP Investments the Monday after Al and I get back from the island too," Carolyn added. "Do you vaguely remember talking about taking our first summer off and touring the world when we finished our NEWT year?"

Brianna laughed. "We're a little older, and we both have bigger dreams than we had when we were kids at the Residence."

"Speak for yourself," Carolyn told her friend. "I wanted to grow up to be just like Ginny Potter, and marry Al. I'm only halfway there so far – it's probably too early to tell whether I'll be as great a Witch as my mother-in-law to be is."

"Okay, so you're still working on your dream, but when I was two or three, I wanted to be a House Elf when I grew up, 'cause I thought they were cute and did really cool magic. I've changed my mind since then."

"Why? They are cute in a weird sort of way, and their magic really is pretty cool," Carolyn joked, and Brianna laughed again.

When dinner was over, they joined the rest of the Marauders for their nightly study session. By that time, it was only early afternoon in Montreal, but Al had already been kept busy as he followed Etienne, the Montreal group's Secret Keeper from his house to their office on Rue Sherbrooke, and then watched the place as four other Knights arrived by nine o'clock. He got to see Terrance for the second time that week when he stopped in at around ten-thirty for an hour-long visit, and then watched the departures and arrivals during lunchtime, which was just wrapping up.

Things slowed down for the afternoon, and then there was another short spurt of activity when the few Knights who'd spent the entire day at the office went home for the day. Al had identified the group's leader, Charmaine, and followed her, and her husband Vardan home. He watched their house for an hour or so, mostly since that was also when Carolyn called for her bedtime chat with him.

After he finished the call, he went back to the office, and began his usual, thorough check of the building and property's defences before going in to begin looking around. This office was smaller than the others he'd been to so far, and Al was sure that a couple of evenings would be enough to go through everything. The only slowdown here was going to be how long it took to identify all of the members of the group.

On Saturday, he followed Charmaine and Vardan around, and then finished going through the office again that night. His problem with how long it was going to take to identify the members of the group was solved on Sunday morning when he followed Charmaine and Vardan to the office, and then was able to photograph and identify all twenty-one members of the group, who were there for their monthly meeting. One of the Knights had been nice enough to be thinking about that for Al so that he knew that they always met on the last Sunday of each month.

Having learned everything he needed to know, and still most of the day left to him, Al went to Auror Headquarters to do a little research for his planned stops in Calgary and Los Angeles, met Scorpius for dinner, and then went back to the island to enjoy the rest of his day laying by the pool and crunching data in the Auror Case Manager program.

Al only needed to spend the first two days of the week in Calgary. He was led to the office there on Riverfront Ave, near the Eau Claire Festival Market. The reason his visit there was so short was because he came across a file in one of the desks with all of the information for the members of this group. That was the first time there had been a paper trail left at any of the offices, but it allowed him to just go out on Tuesday and find each of the Witches and Wizards who hadn't stopped in on Monday already, confirm they were indeed Knights, and then move on. He did one last quick sweep through the office on Tuesday night, and then went back to the island to get some sleep, planning to move on to Los Angeles in the morning.

By Wednesday afternoon, Al had been led to the Los Angeles office, which was quite boldly put right outside of the entrance to the Wizarding section of the city on Olvera Street, which was the birthplace from which Los Angeles had grown. The spot Al had used to wait for Terrance when he'd disappeared here each time Al had followed him to Los Angeles worked just fine for watching the old building, so he settled in to the spot and started keeping watch at about three in the afternoon.

There was now an eight hour time difference between home and where he was in Los Angeles, so he'd just gotten set in his stakeout when Carolyn called for her bedtime chat with him.

"Hi sweetie," he said when he saw her tired-looking, but smiling face. "You stayed up a little later than usual tonight."

Carolyn nodded. "Brianna and I are starting to feel the pressure. With tomorrow being the first of May, we're down to a month left until our NEWT exams. I think we'll be working late a lot. How are things in sunny California?"

"Going pretty good so far," he answered. "I'll be here until Friday, and then come home for the game on Saturday. I can hardly wait to see you."

"Have you thought about coming here on Friday morning?" she asked him, and Al nodded before remembering she couldn't see him.

"I'll see how things go here. If I can make it for six o'clock with everyone else, I'll come, but that's only ten o'clock Thursday night here, so I'm not sure."

"Okay, Al. Scorpius is coming, so Brianna and I will be there if you do make it."

"Is James bringing the kids from the Academy again this year?"

"Not from what I've heard," Carolyn told him. "There are only two kids there that didn't come to that lesson by Professor McGonagall last year, though, so he probably didn't think it was something that needed to be done every year."

"That's true," Al agreed. "Anything else going on at school?"

Carolyn laughed. "You haven't been out of school that long, Al. We're just three more sleeps before a big Quidditch match."

Al laughed too. "Silly me. The school is in Quidditch mode. It's a wonder the Professors get anything at all out of their students the week before each game."

"They always seem to manage somehow," Carolyn said. "I'm going to let you go, though, Al. It's been a very long day, and I'm sure you're busy. Don't chase any of those pretty California Witches around while you're away."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Al assured her, laughing. "Have a good sleep, and we'll talk again tomorrow."

The rest of Al's day was a mix of a late afternoon stakeout; a game of follow the Knight's leader, and ending with a pretty late night of find the hidden secrets in their office. Thursday was more of the same, except that just before ten o'clock, he'd stopped his search through their office, and taken the TransPortal back home, straight to the gates of Hogwarts.

From there, he walked onto the grounds and over to where the Memorial Stone was by the lake. His parents, Lily, and quite a few others were already there, and he went over to hug them.

"You made it," Lily said, hugging him an extra time. "Carolyn wasn't sure that you would."

"Neither was I," Al told her. "I just decided I wanted to be here more than working for another couple of hours. Did you just get here too?"

Lily nodded. "Rose and Matt had to stay with the group. We'll catch up with them again at lunch."

Al had a few minutes to talk quietly with them, and then Carolyn was there, and hugging him tightly. Scorpius and Brianna were with her, and he realized that the girls must have walked to the gates to meet him.

"I'm an idiot," he said softly. "If I'd called, you would have known I was coming. I couldn't have missed you by more than a minute or two."

Carolyn hugged him again. "You're here, and that's good enough for me."

They joined the growing group of family and friends that gathered around to quietly commemorate the twenty-seventh anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, the end of the war, and to remember their lost loved ones. Al, and most of the rest of the family, stayed for less than half an hour, and then started leaving again. Kieran, Carolyn and Brianna walked Lily, Al, and Scorpius to the gates, along with Harry, Ginny, all of the Weasley clan that had been at the Battle, and their spouses.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Carolyn told Al, hugging and kissing him for the fourth last time.

"Come on, Carolyn," Brianna told her, "We have to get back to the school. You can snog him some more at the game tomorrow."

While everyone else went their own ways, Scorpius and Al decided to go have breakfast together before Al left for the island, and Scorpius went into work.

"You're going to be one tired puppy by tomorrow," Scorpius predicted, and Al nodded.

"No doubt," Al agreed. "I may even end up having to come straight here from Los Angeles if I don't get done until after midnight there."

"You're obviously making progress, though," Scorpius said. "Either that or you're choosing a very odd way to see the world."

"I'm making progress," was all Al said about it. The restaurant they were in was no place to talk freely about his cases, and Scorpius understood that, so they both let it drop there.

"We made it through the worst of the school year," Scorpius said, switching topics. "Now we get to see them three out of the next four weekends, and then they'll have exams, and after that, they'll be home."

"It is getting close," Al said with a nod. "I'd better start making some time to go over to the house and see how close it's getting to being done. I just don't know when I'm going to find the time."

"I'm sure Lily would help out when she gets back after next weekend," Scorpius suggested. "Especially the testing out that pool of yours when they go to fill it in a few weeks."

"Thanks for bringing her up – that reminds me that I have to go shopping sometime between now and next weekend and pick out a birthday present for her," Al said. "Since it's on the Hogsmeade weekend, she's probably already got what she wanted most – to spend it with Kieran, but maybe I can find some little trinket that will come in a close second."

"Would that be a close second to whatever Kieran gets her, or to the car I've heard rumours about that your parents are getting her?"

Al laughed. "Okay. I'll shoot for top ten or fifteen, then," he joked. "I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa will have something special for her too, and James and Arianna, and you and Brianna. I'd make her breakfast, but she'll be coming from India Saturday, and it'll already be past noon there when she meets us in Hogsmeade."

"I'm pretty sure that Brianna hasn't gotten anything yet," Scorpius said. "Let's wait until tomorrow, and we can see what they think. Maybe they'll come up with something we can get her together."

"Works for me," Al said.

They finished breakfast, and then Scorpius went to work, and Al went to the island to get some sleep before starting his Friday in Los Angeles. His whole day Friday had been pretty quiet until late afternoon, when a steady steam of Witches and Wizards started arriving at the office. Within an hour, he'd photographed and identified all twenty-one of the Knights in the group. Up until that point, he'd only identified seven of them. The last Wizard to arrive was Byron, and Al surmised that this group all got together for the weekly visits that Byron and Terrance took turns doing.

He was glad to get that out of the way, although he probably still needed another two or three days to finish going through their office, but with getting this done so much sooner than he'd expected, Al was actually thinking about going home to Hogsmeade after this meeting was over, having something to eat, and getting some sleep.

That thought was blasted away an hour later when Byron walked out of the office, getting ready to leave for what Al expected was the same end of trip meeting that Terrance did each Friday after this three day trip through the Americas. What momentarily shocked Al was that when he scanned the other Wizard's thoughts, more out of habit that because he'd been planning on following the man, he found out that Byron _knew _where the house on Rover Way in Cardiff was! Byron was the Secret Keeper for Rosier's hideout.

Al leapt into action as soon as Byron disappeared, and immediately apparated directly to the stakeout spot he'd used to wait for Terrance. What he saw as he waited for Byron wasn't some house tucked in between the other buildings, but an entire estate. Byron was only a minute behind him, having followed procedure and taken the TransPortal to another location first before coming to Cardiff. Al watched him walk up the long, wide lane, knock on the door, and be admitted by a servant.

It was two o'clock in the morning here at home, and Byron was inside Rosier's estate for an hour and a half before being shown back out again, and returning back out the lane until he was out on Rover Way again. He was doing another TransPortal hop before going home, and Al jumped ahead of him again to get there and see where the man lived. He watched Byron go inside, studied the place for a little while, and then apparated to Hogsmeade. He didn't bother to eat anything, since it was already four o'clock, and went up to bed, setting his little internal alarm clock to wake himself up in three hours.

He was up on time, had a long, hot shower to try and help himself wake up, got dressed and ready for the day, and went downstairs to make himself some breakfast. He was just finishing with that when Lily knocked and came in.

"Good, you made it, and you're awake," she said, coming over to hug Al. "You look pretty run down, though."

"It feels like the middle of the night to me right now," Al told her. "I'll be okay as long as I keep going all day. After that, it's going to be lights out so I can catch up on my sleep. Are you hungry?"

"I could eat a little," she told him. "They were just going for lunch when I left to come here."

"Grab an extra place setting. I've made enough for both of us," he said, pulling out a second plate, and filling two plates with eggs, sausage and toast. "Is one slice of toast enough, or should I put a couple more down?"

"You'd better put a couple more in, and I'll use some more of that homemade jam you had here last time. I'll have to get to that market you bought it at and get some one of these days."

Al opened a cupboard door and pulled an unopened jar out and handed it to her. "I went back and bought a dozen," he explained. "You can take that one with you."

Lily hugged him, and they took their plates to the table and sat down to eat. Al hadn't set up anything with Scorpius for this morning, since he hadn't known whether he'd be here early enough to do breakfast together until a few hours ago, so Lily called him, and they agreed to meet at the gates to the school an hour before the game was to start. She and Al cleaned up from breakfast, and had time to go pick up some of Kieran, Brianna, and Carolyn's favourite chocolates from Honeydukes before walking to the school.

They still had five minutes to spare when they got to the gates, and Scorpius was there with three minutes to go – long enough for some hugs and to hear a bit about what Lily'd been doing in India since they'd seen her on Friday morning. When they could go onto the grounds, they hurried toward the Quidditch pitch, and were met halfway there by Carolyn and Brianna.

"Finally we've got a warm, beautiful day to be out here and watch the game," Brianna said happily as they starting walking again.

Scorpius grinned at her. "I kinda liked snuggling under a blanket with you at the games in January and February."

"You like snuggling with Brianna anywhere, mate," Al told his grinning friend.

"That is very true," Scorpius agreed. "Would it cause a major scandal if the Head Girl skipped the game and went off down by the lake somewhere to spend the morning snogging a certain willing Junior Minister?"

"Definitely," Brianna told him. "Too bad, though, because I like the way you think."

Kieran was just coming out of the locker room when they reached the stadium, and he swept Lily up into a hug that lifted her into the air as he swung her around.

"Yep, he definitely missed her," Carolyn told the others. "Let's give them some privacy and Lily can meet us later."

They were going to sit where the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sections met today, so the two couples went and found a good spot where the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Marauders, friends, and family visitors could come and get seats all around them, and then sat down, Carolyn and Brianna sitting comfortably with their fiancée's arms wrapped around them.

"What's the buzz around the school for the game?" Scorpius asked the girls.

"There's one group of supposed experts giving Slytherin the edge because it's Daphne's last game, and another group predicting that Kieran, Miranda, and Nadine are going to be too much for Slytherin, and will go undefeated," Brianna told him. "I have absolutely no idea, but Hufflepuff has won at least the last three years in a row that I can remember for sure, so you'd think that momentum is on their side."

"Whoever wins, I think it'll be a close one," Carolyn said. "Daphne and Kieran were both acting like they were just ready to get out here and see who wins today, not like they were sure they'd either win or lose."

Since they'd come so early, they had lots of time to talk while they waited for the stands to fill up, and for all of their own friends and family to get here. Lily rejoined them after about fifteen minutes, which was longer than they'd expected her to be gone.

"You didn't tire the Hufflepuff captain out, did you?" Brianna teased, and Lily laughed.

"Not a chance," she told Brianna. "He did stay out with me for a little longer than he probably should have, but I'm not complaining."

"We didn't think you would be," Carolyn said. "Not if the smile that was on your face when you joined us was any indication."

There were a lot of smiling faces as the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and select Gryffindor Marauders joined them. The Gryffindor Marauders were Liam, Frederica, and Lance – Liam and Frederica so they could visit with Liam's parents and brother, and Lance so he could sit with Vanessa. All three of them were still on game analysis duty, though, and had notebooks and quills ready. Kirley and Ana came, along with Myra's parents, grandparents, and brother Aiden. Miranda's parents sat with them too, and by game time, the stadium was filled with spectators who were all ready for the game to get started.

The Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams were called out, and they each flew once around the stadium, most of them waving to the fans, and then they landed on the pitch to receive their pre-game instructions. Madame Hooch threw the quaffle in the air, and sent the bludgers and snitch soaring too. Both teams took off, and the fans didn't have to wait any longer – the game was finally on!

During the next three hours and eleven minutes, the Witches and Wizards lucky enough to be at the game were treated to an incredible, back-and-forth offensive battle between two teams that had now practiced against each other for a long time, and were very familiar with how the other team played. It was certainly not a banner day for Keepers, as Slytherin put twenty-six goals past John Madley, the Hufflepuff Keeper on one hundred an four shots. Thomas didn't fare any better, giving up twenty-five goals, all of them to Kieran and Miranda, on ninety-eight shots.

The game came down to a wild race for the snitch between Nadine and Darrin, and when the dust literally settled, since they'd both nearly crashed into the pitch in the attempt, and their broomtails both scraped the ground as they fought for control, it was a surprised and ecstatic Darrin who'd come up with the catch to give his team a four hundred and ten point to two hundred and fifty point win. Nadine was smiling when she flew close to congratulate him, and she was the first one to hug Darrin when he reached the ground.

"This is going to be interesting," Lily said as they all started to get up and go down to the pitch to congratulate their friends on a great match.

"What is?" Kirley asked.

"Slytherin won the game," she answered, "but only by one hundred and sixty points. That means that Hufflepuff is ahead of them by ten points. They both won two games, but unless Gryffindor wins by more than two hundred and thirty points, then Hufflepuff will probably win the cup over the team that beat them."

"That's close enough for Madame Hooch to declare a tie," Myra suggested, "and there's no way that I'll be letting my big brother score that many goals on me, so you can forget about Gryffindor winning by that many points – if they beat us, it's going to be a very close game."

"I heard that, sis," Liam said, grinning at her, "and so did Lance."

Myra returned his grin. "I was hoping you would. That way you boys have a few weeks to get used to the idea."

Meghan laughed and hugged Myra. "That's my girl!" she said proudly.

"Which side are you on, Mum?" Liam asked.

"I'm not on either side," Meghan told him. "That doesn't mean I can't also be proud of Myra, just like I am of you and Aiden."

It was a pretty festive group of players on the pitch when the large group of Marauders and family got there. They split off into smaller groups so they could actually have a chance to talk with each other for a few minutes. Lily had hugged Kieran quickly, then made quick work of her rounds to congratulate Daphne, hug Karl, congratulate Nadine on a great game, and hug her too, and on down the line before going to rejoin Kieran, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Have you seen your son?" she asked Ana. "I seem to have lost him."

Ana smiled. "He dashed off to grab a shower and get changed so he could walk us to the gates, although I'm fairly sure the 'we' really meant 'you'."

"Then when he gets back, let's say our goodbyes and leave them to go do that," Kirley suggested. "I'm sure they can find the long walk back to the road without our help."

Lily hugged both of them, and they only had to wait a couple more minutes before Kieran came running back onto the pitch, sliding to a stop in front of his parents and girlfriend.

"World record time!" he panted. "Ready to go?" Ana hugged him first, and then waited while Kirley did too.

"You two go have a nice walk," Ana told him. "We'll see you at the next game in three weeks, honey."

With that quick farewell, Lily had Kieran all to herself for as long as they could drag the walk to the gates out for. They weren't the only couple doing that either. Al and Carolyn had been the first to leave the pitch, and Scorpius and Brianna were not very far behind.

"You look like you're ready to drop," Carolyn told Al. "Are you at least going to go back to the house and have an afternoon nap when you leave?"

Al nodded. "That's my plan, and if I happen to sleep until tomorrow morning, I can live with that too."

"If it's not too late, call me when you wake up, and I'll let you know how Mark did in the race today," Carolyn told him. "It's already started, since the game went so long, but it won't be over until sometime around ten o'clock tonight our time, and two o'clock in the afternoon Vancouver time."

"I hadn't even thought about him having that Trans-Canada race today," Al admitted. "Maybe I'd better start putting all of that stuff into that planner program in your BusinessMagic and start using that to keep track of everything."

"I'll be using that when I start working," Carolyn said. "It's perfect for those of us who aren't blessed with Lily's memory abilities."

They'd taken nearly another half an hour to make their way to the gates, where they waited as Brianna and Scorpius, and finally Lily and Kieran caught up with them. They made plans now to meet at the gates next Saturday and walk into town together, and then they had one last round of hugs before Lily led Scorpius and Al out of the gates and onto the road to Hogsmeade.

"I'll see you two next Saturday for breakfast," Lily told them. "I'd better get back to India and see if I can catch up with the group for dinner, or if they went on without me. Go get some sleep, Al, and Scorpius – take the day off work. There's always going to be more, even if you worked ten days a week."

"Yes, Commander," Al and Scorpius said together.

"Have fun on the second half of your trip," Al told her as she hugged him one more time.

She left by TransPortal, and after saying goodbye to each other, Scorpius apparated to Grimmauld Place, while Al apparated to the House in Hogsmeade, went inside, upstairs, and crashed on the bed. He vaguely remembered pulling a blanket over himself, and then he was out for the count.

When Al woke up again, he checked his watch and saw that it was only about eight o'clock in the evening. He hadn't let it get in the way of his day with Carolyn, and enjoying watching the game at Hogwarts, but Al had been letting what he was going to do about his latest find stew all day, and it seemed that having a nice long nap had cleared things up for him. After disentangling himself from the blanket, he got up, had a shower, and got dressed and ready to go out.

His first stop was Vancouver, Canada, and the finish line of the Trans-Canada Broom Race. Once there, a quick ViComm call to Callie gave him directions on where to find her, Natalie, Owen, Kira, and James, and he worked his way through the crowd to meet them.

"This is a nice surprise," Natalie said as she hugged him. "We thought it would just be us here with Callie today."

"My sleep schedule is a bit messed up from work," Al explained. "I just got up from a nap, and thought it'd be cool to come watch the big finish in person. How's Mark doing?"

"He and Mariposa were really close until they got into the mountains, but he's really pulling away now – he's still got a big advantage over her when it comes to precision flying through the mountain passes," Callie told him.

"How long before he gets here?' Al asked.

"About three-quarters of an hour," she answered as Al was just getting around to hugging Kira.

"Good, I have a little time," Al said. "Do they have any good food around here, sweetie?" he asked Kira. "I haven't eaten since breakfast."

Kira grinned at him. "Breakfast wasn't that long ago," she told him, "but I can show you where they're selling the food and sweets."

"It's night-time back home," he reminded her. "Breakfast was a very long time ago for me, and I was fairly certain that you might know where the sweets are being sold. You should probably show me around, and we can see what we can do about spoiling your dinner for you."

Natalie, Owen, and Callie laughed at Al, and Kira hugged him. Al caught the hopeful look on James' face and grinned at him. "Okay, you too, but take it easy on me, I'm only an Auror-trainee, and you and your sister will have me outnumbered two to one."

James laughed and lifted his arms to be picked up. Callie intercepted him, and lifted him high into the air. "Why don't I come along too," she suggested. "We wouldn't want you kids taking down our country's brightest new Auror right here in front of all of these cameras and the media, and I don't have anything to do but wait right now anyway."

For the next half-hour, Kira and James showed Al where all of the food booths were set up, and he even managed to have a little real food to go with the sweets and ice creams that the kids were happy to suggest – and help him sample.

"Should we get rid of the evidence from the food crimes before we catch up with your Mum and Dad?" he asked the kids.

"What evidence?" James asked. "We ate everything all up!"

Al ran a finger just under James' mouth and held it up so the boy could see the chocolate smear. "Your Mum may not be a highly-trained Auror, but I'm thinking she'll be able to figure it out if we don't get you cleaned up."

Callie already had her wand out, and took care of the cleanup just in time as they caught back up with Natalie and Owen.

"Nice job on the cleanup, but you forgot to tell the kids not to be grinning like a pair of kneazle cats who just got finished raiding the pantry," she told Al and Callie.

"How do Mothers do that?" Al asked Kira and James. "Maybe my boss should be having your Mum train me instead of the other Aurors."

Kira laughed and hugged him. "That's silly. Mum and Dad say you're already the best Auror ever in the whole world."

"Do you think they might be exaggerating just a little?" he asked her. "After all, they say you're the best daughter in the whole world ever too, and when you think about it there have been some other pretty great daughters that would be right up there with you."

"Do you really think so?" Kira asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that your own Mum was a pretty awesome daughter, and Grandma Weasley says that your Aunt Ginny was pretty good, and I personally think that my sister Lily is about as good as any Mother would hope for. I hate to tell you this, but it could be a tie up there at the top for best daughter ever, sweetheart."

"I'd say that's a pretty great group of Witches to be tied with," Callie told her, and Kira was all smiles.

Al called Carolyn, and saw her smiling face when she answered on the first ring.

"Did you get some rest?" she asked him.

"I slept from the time I got back until eight," Al answered. "Are you and the gang watching the race in Karl's office?"

"We just got here to catch the end, but then Brianna, Karl, Daphne, and I are going to do a little more studying before going to bed tonight. Are you watching the race now too?"

"Actually, I am, and I've got a cute little Witch to snuggle with too," he told her.

"Excuse me?" Carolyn said. "You'd better have a really good answer as to why you're snuggling with another Witch, Mr Potter."

Al didn't say anything, instead just switching to visual mode so she could see what he was seeing, which at the moment was the profile of a smiling Kira as she looked up into the sky to watch for Mark. Carolyn laughed, and then had to take a minute to explain to everyone in Karl's office why she was laughing before talking to Al again.

"Cute, buddy, real cute," she told him. "When did you decide to go watch the finish in person?"

"When I woke up," he answered. "I was coming back this way anyhow, so I thought it might be fun to watch and spend an hour with Callie and the others before I get back to work. Do you want me to leave this in Visual mode so you can watch too?"

"Sure," Carolyn said. "This should feel a lot different that watching it on the WWVN."

Al was able to see Mark flying in when he was maybe two kilometres away, which at the speed he was going took about fifteen seconds to cover. Carolyn had been right, and this was a lot different that on WWVN as Mark blasted past, and soared high into the air again to begin the circle around the field that would give him time to slow down to a safe landing speed. He'd finished the race in nine hours and forty-seven minutes, shaving seven minutes off of last year's record.

"No wonder you like coming to watch the finishes of these races," Al told Kira. "That was brilliant."

Kira nodded. "It's way better than when I have to stay home and watch it on the WWVN instead," she agreed.

"It was pretty great to watch it from your point of view here too," Carolyn told him, their ViComm connection still open. "We'll have to get to some of those races in person next year."

"Especially the ones in the sunny south in the winter," Al agreed. "I'm thinking we can watch that one in Alaska at home in front of a nice warm fire."

Carolyn stayed on the call with Al until after Mariposa crossed the line just fourteen minutes after Mark, having lost all of that time crossing the Rockies, since she'd still been keeping right with Mark until then. Corolyn promised to call before going to bed later, and they ended the call so Al could say goodbye to Mark, Callie, and the Cauldwells before leaving for Los Angeles.

Al had decided that before he moved on to staking out Rosier's estate, that he should finish what he'd started in Los Angeles. For the rest of the weekend, he watched the group's leader during the day, and on Saturday and Sunday night, he scoured their office for every scrap of information he could dig up. He was satisfied that he'd done that by midnight on Sunday night, so he took the TransPortal to London, and went into Auror Headquarters, getting there just after eight o'clock Monday morning home time.

"You're looking a bit ragged for first thing in the morning," Hestia told him when he flopped into one of the chairs at her desk. "Late night?"

"It's just after midnight where I'm coming from," he answered. "I'm just checking in, and I'll file a report, and then I'm going to go home and have a nap – possibly until tomorrow."

"Are you coming back home for a while then?" she asked, and Al nodded.

"I've got a new lead, so my tour of the Americas is over for now. I'll have to get back to Central and South America when I can."

"Good. We could use the extra body around here too. Pencil yourself in to help out with the security for Selwyn's trial next week. Rick's been taking some heat because the junior guy isn't getting enough of those less-enjoyable assignments – especially since you missed out on the work detail for Jugson's trial last week. In case you didn't hear, he got a lifetime membership at Hotel Azkaban too."

Al laughed. "Compared to either freezing my tail off, or broiling in the sun for fourteen or sixteen hour stakeouts? I'll be happy to take a nice cushy security detail for a few days. The court only sits for something like seven hours a day, and they take an hour and a half of that off for lunch."

"I'm sure you'll find other things to do that will fill up the other hours you're used to putting in," Hestia predicted. "You must have found a good lead to bring you back here. Anything you can tell us?"

"No details, but I have a lead on Rosier," he told her, and Hestia smiled.

"I thought it might be something like that. Be extra careful with him, Al. He's one of the original Death Eaters, and he especially hates Aurors, because we killed his son back in nineteen-eighty."

"I will be," Al assured her. "Anything new from Mexico?"

"Garret and Patrick are either busy, or they're holding out for even warmer weather back here," Hestia joked. "I'm sure Rick will want you to come along for backup when they do call us in to pick them up."

Al nodded and stood up. "I'm going to get that report done, and then get out of here. I'll come back in for the day tomorrow once I've had a chance to get back onto home time."

He spent another half-hour doing that, then stopped in to say hi to Scorpius, and finally went home to Hogsmeade, where he went upstairs, got changed, and then had a nap until just before noon, waking up to take Carolyn's lunchtime call, and then spending the rest of the day doing the shopping and running around he needed to get done to restock his groceries and a few other things he needed for around the house. By seven o'clock, he was ready to take the potion that would help him get back on home time by morning, so he had an early bedtime chat with Carolyn, and happily went off to sleep for the next nearly twelve hours.

On Tuesday, Al spent the entire day at the Ministry of Magic, working at Auror Headquarters for most of the day, except for a late afternoon meeting with Callie and Scorpius so he could be brought up to speed on the Wizengamot business that was going on. He and Scorpius went out for dinner, and then went shopping to get the present for Lily's birthday that Carolyn and Brianna had suggested they all get for her together.

It was six o'clock in the morning on Wednesday when Al began his first day of surveillance on the Rosier estate. He spent the entire first day just checking the place out for wards and any other protective spells. The anti-Muggle spells made sure that no Muggle would see the estate house or grounds, despite the fact that they stretched out along a five hundred metre long section of Rover Way. Other than that, and of course the Fidelius Charm, he again found that there were no other spells protecting the place.

There was only one visitor all day, and that was Byron Bulstrode, back from his five-stop loop through Africa, and he had stayed for close to an hour before leaving again. Al considered going onto the grounds and snooping around, but in the end, decided to go home early, and not risk a first visit when he wasn't fully rested and able to react should there be any problems.

Al took his first tentative step onto the grounds of the Rosier Estate on Thursday morning a little after eight o'clock. He spent the entire morning mapping out the entire property, starting on the outer perimeter, and moving toward the main house. It was nearly noon when he reached the rear of the house, and here Al was being extremely cautious, moving slowly enough to make sure he didn't make even the slightest sound, his wand constantly at the ready if needed.

The house itself was a large, three level mansion, but here at the back, there was what looked to be an addition that was a single level, one-room section that was maybe twenty feet wide and spanned the middle forty feet of the back wall of the house. He knew it was one room because the windows were about eight feet tall, and stretched all the way around the outside walls. Those windows were all open now, and the blinds opened to let the warm spring breezes blow through the room.

Inside, the room was split up into a large sitting room that took up most of the room, and at the far end from where Al was at the moment, a table and chairs that were probably used to have casual meals out here instead of in whatever formal dining room there was in the mansion. Al decided to backtrack, and taking a wide route around, came around to the other side of the house, closest to that small dining area.

That extra effort paid off when he watched a white-haired old man that he recognized immediately come into the room and sit down at the table. A servant delivered a silver tray with Rosier's lunch and drinks on it, bowed, and left the room again.

Rosier was probably believing he was about to have a quiet lunch, alone with his thoughts for a time, except today, neither he or his thoughts were alone. Al was beside the house, hidden under his invisibility cloak, and he was open to whatever the old man wished to think about. All through lunch, he was mostly thinking about the reports he'd received from Byron yesterday and had read over in detail during the morning. The only new information Al picked up while he watched Rosier eat was the sense from the way the old Wizard was thinking that this was the leader of the Knights. Rosier didn't have any thoughts about talking matters over with a leadership group or a superior, and while he thought of decisions in terms of what 'we' will do, it was also clear that the decisions were his, and the 'doing' would be completed by subordinates.

When he finished eating, Rosier stood and went back into the main house, leaving the tray and dishes for his servant to deal with. There were no visitors again all day until Byron showed up with the daily report. Al had returned to the same place by the side of the house when he saw Byron arrive, but wherever they were meeting, it wasn't in the back room. He stayed there, and eventually, Rosier did come back into the room after Byron had left, and the same servant had another silver tray filled with food for his master's dinner, while another brought in a bottle of wine in a silver ice bucket and a long-stemmed crystal wineglass. He poured the first glass, and then both servants left Rosier alone, neither speaking a word.

Tonight, Rosier was thinking about Byron's just delivered report, and was wondering if he needed to have a few stern words with young Vincent Goyle. Terrance, and now Byron were bringing him back news that the boy may be letting the promotion go to his head. He decided to give the boy's father the chance to correct his son before he had to do it himself. Theodore Nott might look like a goon, but he was smart enough to explain to the kid that sitting there in Tangier and doing nothing except what he was told to do would be a healthier choice than defying the Commander of the Knights.

That definitely confirmed to Al that Rosier was the leader of this new group. Rosier spent nearly an hour having his solitary dinner. Al had eaten enough dinners alone over the past months, but where he nearly always would prefer to be with other people for meals, Rosier liked having nobody around. When he went back inside again after eating, Al carefully left the estate property, and then went home himself.

His day at the Rosier Estate on Friday was spent getting close to the house for each of the three meals, and then stepping back to a spot where he could watch the house and the entrance to the estate at the same time, while he worked away in the ACM program. When Rosier had finished his dinner, Al again left for the night. It would have been nice if he could get help with surveillance, but since that wasn't an option, Rosier would just have to get through the day tomorrow without having Al to watch over him. Saturday was going to be a day with Carolyn, and Lily's birthday, so there was no way he was going to be at the Rosier Estate instead.

Lily woke up in a pretty amazing mood on Saturday morning. The fact that it was her seventeenth birthday and that she would be getting to spend it with her boyfriend were definite pluses. She also thought that being in India, and getting to start her birthday five and a half hours early was pretty great too.

She got out of bed, and had a long hot shower, then got ready for the day which was going to be starting with breakfast with her parents, Matt, Rose, and whoever else in the group wanted to come to the optional morning meal. When she was ready, Lily left her suite, and went to meet everyone.

"Happy Birthday, Lily," Ginny said, hugging her, and then making way so Harry, Rose, and Matt could do the same, each of them wishing her a happy birthday too. They sat down and a waiter came and took their orders.

"I guess we should probably wait to give Lily her presents until lunchtime or something," Harry told the others. "It won't be morning back home for hours yet."

"But if we do that, Uncle Harry, we'd have to wait until tonight, 'cause she'll be in Hogsmeade before lunch," Rose told him.

Harry grinned at her. "That's true. I guess we'll have to wait until then."

"Or not," Lily told him. "You can't seriously expect me to wait all day, and if you try, I'll just walk around right beside you all day saying 'Is it time yet?' every fifteen seconds or so."

"You're sure you want to open your presents now?" he asked, and Lily nodded enthusiastically.

"I guess we'd better not keep her waiting, then," Ginny told Harry, and he pulled a small gift from his pocket and handed it to her, while Rose put a larger one on the table to give her in a minute too.

Lily happily tore into the wrapping paper, a talent she'd definitely inherited from Ginny. She opened the small box, pulled out a set of keys, and hopped up to hug and kiss her parents again.

"Thank-you!" she told them. "What kind of car is it? Can we go see it? Can you take me for a ride?"

Harry, Ginny, Rose, and Matt were all laughing. "It's a 2025 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet," Ginny told her, and yes we can take you for a ride in it, and go see it, but why don't we wait until it's at least nearly morning back home before we do that? We've got time to have breakfast, and do the morning part of today's tour, and then we can pop over there a little bit before you're supposed to be at Al's for breakfast number two."

"And it's not the keys to another car, but you do have another present to open still," Rose told her. "I did get to see a picture of yours, though, and I may have to reconsider not wanting to get my driver's license, then talk Matt into getting me one."

Lily sat down again, and opened the present from Matt and Rose, who'd gotten her a Swarmandal, a type of local harp from India.

"This is wonderful!" Lily exclaimed, gently plucking a few strings. She got up again and hugged Matt and Rose. "Thank-you, guys. I love it."

"You're welcome, Lily," Rose told her. "Now let's get breakfast out of the way so we can get started on our last day of exploring, since tomorrow is all day, non-stop shopping until it's time to go back home."

Al got up with the sun, took his time getting ready, and then had a mojor breakfast feast for three just about ready to serve when Scorpius, and then Lily arrived. The original plan for the day hadn't included breakfast, but thanks to his early return from his tour of the Americas, he'd offered to do breakfast, and Lily had agreed to skip lunch in India to join him and Scorpius.

"Happy Birthday," he told her, stopping long enough to hug and kiss her. "How do you like the new car?"

Lily was still bouncing, so Al and Scorpius already knew the answer, but Lily proceeded to tell them just how much she loved it. She and Scorpius sat at the table, and Al set out all of the platters and bowls of food, and then joined them to eat.

At Hogwarts, as breakfast was winding down, and the third year students and above were getting ready to leave for town, Kieran came over to the Ravenclaw table and sat down next to Brianna.

"Would you mind picking up the supplies I need in town today?" he asked quietly.

"Have you decided to stay here instead?" Carolyn joked, and Kieran smiled.

"No, but I was hoping to just get to spend the morning alone with Lily instead of having to run around to all of the stores."

Carolyn looked at him more closely. Kieran was actually fidgeting, and he never did that. She replayed the tone of his voice in her mind, and her eyes opened wide as she leaned across the table.

"You're going to propose!" she whispered so that only Brianna and Kieran could hear, and Kieran gave them that same nervous smile, and nodded.

Brianna hugged him, and held her hand out for his list. "Of course we'll get what you need picked up," she told him. "I think the car she sent us a picture of is about to become the second-best birthday present of the day for her," she added in a whisper.

"I'd say Kieran's is going to definitely be the best ever birthday present for her," Carolyn agreed, keeping her voice soft too. "Brianna and I will keep the boys away until we absolutely have to come back to get lunch ready for the gang."

It was just about time to go, so they got up, and went out to the entrance hall to wait until they were set free to leave for town.

Al, Lily, and Scorpius were on their way to the school gates by then, with Lily leading the way, and the conversation, as they walked. They were early, and she was restless, and paced back and forth while continuing a near-monologue that kept the boys entertained.

"Maybe we should have had her change into her animagus and taken her out for a run first to burn off some of that extra energy," Scorpius suggested. "I'm worried that Kieran might need medical attention after their snogging session today."

Al laughed, and Lily stuck her tongue out at Scorpius. "The day your department starts looking at international standards for snogging, and worrying about snogging-related injuries is the day you should quit politics," she told him. "You don't need to worry yourself about Kieran's safety around me."

"That was a reasonably polite way of telling me to shut it," Scorpius told Al.

"I'd say so," Al agreed. "Look at the bright side, though. If by some freak chance he does get injured today, you're going to have a really great 'I told you so' story to use over and over again."

"So would the Healer," Scorpius joked.

"You two are in serious need of a sense of humour," Lily told them.

"Aurors aren't supposed to have a sense of humour," Al told her. "I think it's frowned on for anyone at the Ministry of Magic, isn't it Scorpius?"

"That's true," Scorpius agreed. "It's right in the employee handbook – Thou shall not try to be funny."

"Then in that case, you're both doing a wonderful job," Lily complimented them.

Kieran, Brianna, and Carolyn weren't the very first students to reach the road, but they were near the front of the stream of students, stepping off to the side to meet with Lily, Scorpius, and Al. There were more Happy birthday's for Lily, and extra hugs and kisses before they turned and started walking toward town. When they reached Al's house, Kieran stopped Lily, while the girls kept Al and Scorpius moving.

"Carolyn and Brianna are going to pick up my supplies so you and I can have a little time alone to celebrate your birthday," he told Lily, and she hugged him before they went inside and upstairs to her room.

"This was a great idea," she told him after a few minutes of properly saying hello to him in a non-verbal sort of way.

"Would you like to open your present now or later?" he asked, and Lily hugged and kissed him again.

"That seems to be a yes," he said with a laugh, and handed her a small present that she immediately tore into, letting the paper fly as she pulled it off.

There was a little cardboard box, and inside of it was a small, dark blue velvet box. 'A ring box', she thought, 'definitely a ring box'. Her hands started shaking when she opened the lid and saw the beautiful ring inside, and she looked up into Kieran's beautiful eyes. He was smiling nervously, and reached out to take her hands in his.

"I've been thinking about this moment for a long time," he said in a soft, gentle voice. "Just about from that first night we met, and you hugged and kissed me outside of the Ravenclaw Common Room. Should I shoot for something big, like on-stage at one of our concerts, or maybe live on WMSN, or something really big like that. Nothing like that seemed right, though. I wanted this to be something special for just you and me." He slid from the sofa onto his knees and looked up at Lily, all of the love he felt for her in his eyes.

"I love you, Lily Potter, and hope that you'll let me spend the rest of our lives together sharing that love, and making our dreams come true. Will you marry me, Lily?"

Lily slid onto the floor next to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love you too, Kieran McCormack – with all of my heart, and from the moment we met." She kissed him then – a long, passionate kiss. When Kieran's senses began returning, the first thing he saw was Lily's brilliant smile.

"That would be a yes," she confirmed, and Kieran laughed and kissed her again before taking the ring out of the box and sliding it onto her finger.

"It's perfect," she told him, and looked up when he laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, really," he answered. "I was told that your Dad had a gift for picking jewellery. Now I'm really glad I recruited him to help me pick your ring out."

"He knew? For how long?" she asked.

"Since Christmas," he told her. "I'm an old-fashioned kind of Wizard, Lily – the kind that asks for his girl's parents blessing and permission to propose to their daughter. He helped me pick it out on that Friday we were doing the back to school supply shopping when you were shopping for clothes with the other girls."

Lily hugged and kissed him again. "I think it's brilliant," she told him. "What would you have done if they'd said no, though?"

Kieran laughed. "I didn't have a plan B," he admitted. "What would any Wizard do if Harry Potter told you to stay away from his daughter? I'm guessing you'd have been looking for a new boyfriend, and I'd be thinking about becoming a hermit."

Lily laughed too and kissed him again. "Then I'm really glad that my father could see just how perfect a match you are for me."

Carolyn and Brianna kept Al and Scorpius running around town until a quarter after eleven, when Al absolutely had to be back in time to cook Lily's birthday lunch with the Marauders. Kieran and Lily came downstairs a few minutes after they'd arrived, and from then on, the conversation was all about engagements, rings, and weddings. The rest of the Marauders began arriving. They'd all gotten together and picked up one gift for Lily from everyone, except for Nadine and Vanessa, who'd really wanted to do something special for their friend themselves.

Once everyone was there, and while Al was still cooking, they had Lily sit down and open her presents. Even with her ability to open presents at something close to the speed of sound, that did keep them entertained until Al started putting the food on the table and it was time to eat.

Lily wasn't the only one that had to pop home for the afternoon – the Canons were playing their last home game of the season, so Harry and Ginny had come home to host the party in the Owner's Box. The group at Al's house had to eat, and then get the post-lunch cleanup finished fairly quickly so they could be in the sitting room for the start of the game against the Wasps.

Once his guests were settled in, complete with snacks and drinks, Al took Carolyn's hand, and led her upstairs. There were still six weeks left until the end of school, and while they would get to see each other at the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game, this was the last few hours they could have completely alone together until school was out on June twentieth.

"So now that we're finally alone, did you know that Kieran was going to propose to Lily?"

"Of course," Al answered. "I'm pretty sure we all knew he would. I didn't know it'd be today until I saw him at the gates this morning. James and I are going to like having another brother."

Carolyn hugged him. "I think it was brilliant," she told him. "The warm fuzzies should carry her all the way to the end of June, too."

Al grinned, and wrapped his arms around her. "Funny you should say that," he said, kissing her softly. "I've been thinking we need to create a few warm fuzzies of our own this afternoon."

Carolyn would have answered, but then she was busy being completely and thoroughly snogged, and later, she was too filled up with those warm fuzzy feelings to remember what he'd said anyway. That blissful loss of memory must have been contagious on the second floor of the house, since when it was time for the students to go back to Hogwarts, there were three couples that all had cases of the warm fuzzies, and no memory of any part of the Canons' big win over the Wasps – or even knowing whether they'd won or lost until they were provided that information by their friends downstairs.

Scorpius, Al, and Lily walked back to the school gates with their friends, and this time they'd even left a little extra time for a last round of Happy Birthdays for Lily, and engagement congratulations for both Lily and Kieran.

When Lily was alone with the boys again, she called Ginny to find out where they were, and then hugged Al and Scorpius goodbye before taking the TransPortal to meet them at the stadium before going back to India to catch up with Rose and Matt for their last night, and the Sunday shopping day of their tour.

"Are you doing something with your parents and grandparents today?" Al asked Scorpius, who nodded.

"We're going out to dinner with Andromeda, Robert, Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle," he answered. Scorpius didn't need to add that Lucius wouldn't be going with them, since his travel was still limited to Grimmauld Place, and now Andromeda and Robert's house. "What are you going to be doing?"

"I'm going to get back to work for a few hours, then probably make it an early night back home," Al told him, and Scorpius nodded.

"Just keep counting down the days, Al. We're almost done now."

They each apparated away, Scorpius going to Grimmauld Place to get ready for his family dinner, and Al leaving for Rover Way, Cardiff, and another few hours watching the Knight's Commander. He stayed there until nearly eight o'clock, as Rosier stayed out in that back room after dinner, moving to the sitting area for an after-dinner drink while he listened to WWN and read a book. There wasn't a WWVN in the room, and Al hadn't seen a WiComm or any of the newer technology from the Marauders Institute. Maybe Rosier didn't believe in advances in science and magic, though he at least tolerated the TransPortal system enough to let his subordinates use it. Al was certainly glad about that decision, since those TransPortal records were quite important to his ongoing case.

Al went home after Rosier retired to somewhere else in the house after eight o'clock, but was back in the morning to watch the man have breakfast at eight o'clock, lunch at noon, and dinner at six. He moved in close to the house during each meal, and then slipped back out away from the house where he could observe the whole area during the rest of the day.

Sunday was the last day he was able to watch the place for most of the week, since on Monday he had a Wizengamot session, and he was on guard duty from Tuesday until Friday while Selwyn was on trial. That worked out pretty well for his personal life too, since on Monday, Lily went first to take her apparition test, and then went on to take her Muggle driver's test, getting both licenses easily.

Not being busy all day and night with stakeouts gave Al some time to go for a couple of drives with Lily, have dinner at the Cottage one night, and finally get around to going shopping and buying everything he needed for his kitchen at the new house, except for food, which he'd wait until June to start taking care of. Lily was a big help with the shopping too, and certainly made it a lot more fun. On Friday, Selwyn was only in court long enough to be informed of his conviction and life sentence, so after Al and Edward escorted him to Azkaban, Al was free to return to his surveillance of Rosier for a while.

He was back outside of Rosier's house in time to watch over another solitary lunch, observe Terrance come and go for his week one schedule end of trip visit, and stood close to the house again while Rosier had dinner. After that, Al left long enough to get something to eat, then returned to see whether there was any other Friday night activity for Rosier other than the late night visit from the week two schedule messenger, which this week was Byron.

There wasn't, and the only entertainment Al had until Byron showed up at a little before two o'clock was a ViComm call near midnight from Carolyn, who used visual mode while in Brianna's office so he could watch the start of the Trans-Pacific Broom Race.

"What's Joel's predictions for this race?" Al asked as they watched the start together. His parents and Lily had gone to see the start of the race, and they'd watched as the WMSN cameras showed Lily holding a very sleepy-looking Kira for a moment while the race commentators talked about having a celebrity there for the start of the race.

"He's saying that if the weather holds for the race like the latest reports suggest it will, that Mark and Mariposa both have a shot at beating his time from last year," Carolyn told him. They both laughed when one of the field reporters explained to the announcers that Lily was holding the daughter of Mark's main sponsor, and that the word on the street among the racers was that the little girl was also unofficially SpellBound's number one fan.

"Kira probably started that 'word on the street' herself," Carolyn told Al. "Hopefully not too many of Lily and Kieran's other number one fans are up this late watching this now."

"Probably not too many," Al answered. "Just the millions in the east where it's morning already. Then, of course, in the Americas, it's anywhere from late afternoon Friday on the west coast, to prime-time WWVN viewing on the east coast, so I guess it'll just be the fans here at home, in Europe, and Africa who likely weren't up to watch this."

"I guess all of that travelling has done some good for you," Carolyn joked. "You can do time zone calculations on the fly, while on a ViComm call, watching a visual feed of the start of a Broom Race, and on a stakeout all at once."

Al laughed. "Since stakeouts are about ninety-five percent sitting around and waiting for something to happen, and five percent something happening, it's not like I don't have time to multi-task."

"Are you going to be out much later tonight?" Carolyn asked.

"A few more hours, yeah," Al admitted. "You don't have to worry, Carolyn. It's strictly a stakeout tonight."

They watched the start of the race together, then talked for a few more minutes before ending the call so Carolyn could go get some sleep. When Byron showed up, Al moved back in close to the house again, but once more, wherever Rosier was meeting his messengers, it wasn't close enough for Al to hear even the slightest sound, or pick up any thoughts. When Byron left at around three o'clock, Al allowed him enough time to leave, and then made his way to the street too. When he was far enough away from the estate, he apparated home to Hogsmeade and the few hours of sleep he would get before returning to the Rosier estate for another long day of surveillance.

Al checked in on how Mark was doing in the race while having a quick breakfast on Saturday morning, and then Carolyn sent him regular updates all day. The Marauders were in an all-day study session, but kept a pair of portable WWVN's going to keep track of the race. Mark and Mariposa had again taken different flight paths for this race, like they'd done for the Trans-Atlantic race, so the calculations the race analysts were trying to do weren't accurate enough to be sure which one of them were in the lead yet, but they were sure that it was close, and that they were both on track to beat last year's record.

Those race updates were again pretty much all of the excitement for his day. Al hadn't been actually here watching Rosier for all that many days yet, but other than his servants and his two messengers, the old Wizard didn't have any visitors at all. Since Al had seen him leading that group just after they'd captured Travers, Rosier did get together with other Witches and Wizards, but was it possible that they never came to his own estate? Maybe that's exactly what it was. He was sure that the Aurors had no idea about the Knights, and they'd have no reason to be interested in Terrance Nott or Byron Bulstrode, but with all of the captures of fugitive Death Eaters, maybe he wasn't so sure about having his old friends over right now.

Whatever the reason, it made for a very unexciting weekend for Al. Even the Trans-Pacific Broom Race didn't have any real drama. A single tiny mistake by Mariposa's team when they'd programmed her route sent her off-course, and because of race-fatigue she didn't realize there was a problem until she was nearly two hundred miles off course, which put her about forty-five minutes behind Mark. He finished the race in sixteen hours and eleven minutes, and Mariposa's only consolation was that she finished the race in sixteen hours and fifty-six minutes to become only the second racer in history to start the race at nine o'clock in the morning on Saturday, and finish the race before nine o'clock on Saturday.

When Al got the call from Hestia to come in to Auror Headquarters late on Sunday afternoon, it was with a huge sense of relief that he left the Rosier Estate, and apparated to Auror Headquarters. Watching Rosier was turning out to be just a step or two below watching paint dry on the fun meter.

Hestia was at her desk, but standing, and looked to just be grabbing a quill and parchment. "Good timing," she told Al. "We're meeting in the conference room. Having a good weekend?"

"That depends on whether you've got something that will wake me up from the stupor of boredom I've been lulled into for the past forty-eight hours or so," he answered.

Hestia laughed. "Please tell me you didn't sign up thinking this job was going to be nothing but non-stop action."

"I didn't," Al answered, "and it's not all bad. I did get two Virtual books read."

"Well, we are going to put a little more excitement in your life for a few days," she told him. "Garret and Patrick are ready to bring Borgin and Burke in."

Al nodded, and walked with her toward the conference room. Rick, Garret, Edward, Jake, Emma, Geoff, and Vicky were there already, so he and Hestia sat down, and Rick got the meeting started.

"Garret and Patrick want to bring Borgin and Burke in tomorrow," he told everyone. "Patrick's watching them while Garret's here with us." He smiled at Garret.

"Now, I personally think that they're ready now because it's starting to get uncomfortably hot in Mexico about now, and they're ready to come back home now that the weather here is warm again, but they assure me that there's another reason." He motioned to Garret to take over, and the younger man laughed.

"That's just an added bonus," he assured everyone. "We wanted to make sure that our cover story for this capture made it clear that we didn't find out about the Knights while tracking down Borgin and Burke. Neither of them have been to that Fidelius Charmed location since Friday, so we're going with the story that Patrick and I finally found their shop after searching most of the winter on Saturday, have watched them all weekend, and that we decided to pick them up in front of their house on Monday morning when they come out to go to the shop."

Rick nodded. "I want the same setup with the TransPortals that we used in New Orleans," he told them. "This time, though, the seven of you, and Patrick, will pop in and surround them at the same time. Al will go and drop off the terminals, and then he and I will be your backup and observers. We'll tell you when Borgin and Burke are in position, and you'll go in and get them. Any questions?"

"Do you expect them to fight?" Emma asked, and Rick shook his head.

"No, I don't, but we're sending enough of you in to discourage them from considering it. These guys aren't known for fighting. There crimes are mostly as accessories to other crimes. They're probably the only fugitives that are on our boards that are unlikely to be given life sentences. I'd guess they'll only end up getting between twenty-five and fifty years each."

"What do we do about their shop?" Edward asked.

"We'll deal with that after, but thanks for reminding me. These guys deal nearly exclusively in Dark Arts objects. When you take them down, if they have anything with them, no matter how innocent looking, don't touch it or do anything with it. Definitely don't let them give you anything. None of us want to get hit by any curses, or touch anything they may have dipped in poison."

"It might be a good idea for us to have Bill on call," Hestia suggested, and Rick nodded.

"That's probably a good idea. We'll need him to bring a team in to deal with that shop anyway. Give him a call when we're done, and if he's not taking your calls, I'm sure Al can get his Uncle Bill or Aunt Fleur to take a call from him instead."

Al laughed. "I doubt you'll have to worry about that. He'll jump at the chance to work on cleaning up a shop like that."

They talked out their plans in a little more detail, and then the meeting was adjourned. Al went back to his stakeout for another few hours, and then went home for the night. He and Rick didn't have to leave for Mexico City until shortly before noon, but since he was planning on doing the breakfast stakeout at Rosier's place in the morning, he wanted to get a good long sleep, since he expected to have a long day on Monday, and probably for the next few days.

He was up early on Monday, spent two hours at Rosier's estate, and had then gone on to Auror Headquarters to work at his desk for a couple of hours before he and Rick left for Mexico City, and Borgin and Burke's house on Liverpool street. Rick went to the position that Garret had identified for him across the street and down a few houses from their fugitive's house while Al, under his invisibility cloak, went to the spot directly across the street from where Rick was, and set out the four TransPortal terminals that Hestia and the others would be using soon. When he'd finished, Al went back across the road, and down farther to another location that Garret and Patrick had selected for Al to be in position if something went wrong and one or both of their fugitives needed to be blocked from escaping.

Garret and Patrick had been right about when the capture would go down – the two old Wizards came out of the house at precisely seven-thirty, and turned toward Rick and Al as they started out along the sidewalk. It was Rick's call to make for bringing in the team, and he timed it pretty well.

Al was watching Borgin and Burke, and they both jumped and cried out in surprise when they found themselves suddenly surrounded by five Wizards and three Witches.

"Mr Borgin, and Mr Burke, I am Auror Garret Vance, and you are both under arrest," Garret said in a stern, no-nonsense voice, his wand pointed at the two men. "Please do not attempt to resist – we will use force if necessary."

"That will not be necessary," Borgin told Garret. "Allow us to surrender our wands to you, and we will come along with you peacefully."

The two fugitives waited for Garret to nod his agreement, and then very carefully removed their wands, preparing to hand them over.

"Don't touch the wands!" Hestia told Garret sharply when he reached out for them, and he jerked his hand back like a kid who'd been about to touch a hot stove. "Drop them on the ground!" she ordered Borgin and Burke, who were now glaring at her. "DO IT!" she ordered again, levelling her wand at them.

Borgin and Burke hesitated just a little too long, and suddenly found themselves in very tight body-binds as Hestia was not going to take any chances with them pulling anything sneaky.

"Call in Bill Weasley, please," she asked Garret. "They were far too willing to give up their wands. If anyone wants to wager dinner, I'll bet that Bill is going to find a nasty surprise or two on those wands."

"If he does, I'll buy you dinner for saving me from whatever touching them would have done to me," Garret told her before pulling out his WiComm, making the call, and giving Bill the special TransPortal code he needed to use one of the terminals that Al had set up.

"That was a good call," Bill told Hestia ten minutes later, after examining the wands. "If anyone but the rightful owner takes them in hand, it would be fatal, and a very unpleasant death at that."

Garret swallowed hard and smiled wanly at Hestia. "How does dinner at one of the Emerald City Centre restaurants sound?" he asked, and she hugged him and nodded.

"It sounds great, Garret," she told him. "I'm just glad nobody got hurt."

"Why don't you take your prisoners to Auror Headquarters," Rick suggested to Garret, Patrick, and the others. "Al and I will stay here with Bill until he can do whatever needs to be done so they can be moved to a safe place."

Garret and the others nodded, surrounded Borgin and Burke, who were still in body-binds, and got ready to leave.

"When I'm done with the wands, I'll come to Headquarters and help you search them for anything else dangerous they might have on themselves," Bill told Hestia, and she nodded her agreement just before they disappeared.

"Those two men may not be willing to pick up their wands and fight, but in some ways they're worse than the Death Eaters were," Bill told Rick and Al. "They peddle their Dark Arts, and don't care who gets hurt or killed in the process."

"The counts of attempted murder of an Auror will at least add a couple of extra decades onto their sentences," Rick told him, and Bill nodded.

"Have them bring Katie Bell in as a witness, and even the hardest Elder on the tribunal will feel the pressure to put them away for the maximum sentences or face the wrath of a sympathetic public," Bill suggested.

He got to work after that, and within a half hour, had the two wands carefully packaged, and ready to take to Gringotts for storage until they could be dealt with properly.

"I'll take these to the bank, and shouldn't be more than fifteen minutes behind you getting to Auror Headquarters," he told Rick. "Have you secured the shop until we can get started there?"

Rick nodded. "Jake and Emma were to go there and just guard it until further notice after making sure that Borgin and Burke were safely at Auror Headquarters."

"Can you spare the help while we work on the place, or do you want me to arrange for Gringotts security too?"

"We'll handle it at least for a couple of days, and then we'll decided whether to just have your security there once we have a better idea how long it'll take to clear the place out," Rick answered, and Bill nodded.

"That'll work," he agreed. "I'll see you shortly."

With that, he disappeared, leaving Rick and Al alone. Al had already collected the TransPortal terminals, so he and Rick were only there a few more moments before they disappeared too, while on Liverpool street, not a single Muggle had noticed that anything had happened there at all.

When Al got back to Auror Headquarters, he first went to the cafeteria to pick up a drink and some lunch, and then hurried to the observation room, where he found Hestia already there and having lunch herself while she watched the action in the interrogation room. Bill hadn't arrived yet, and they were pretty much on hold until he was there to make sure that Borgin and Burke didn't have any more surprises waiting for them.

"Thanks for the heads up back there," Hestia told Al quietly now that they were alone. The others hadn't noticed, but she and Al had kept a WiComm call open, and she'd kept it close to her ear so that if he'd picked up anything out of the thoughts of either fugitive, he could pass it on to her right away.

"You're welcome," he told her with a smile. "They were thinking some very bad words at you when you stopped them from getting Garret to touch those wands. They were expecting to escape while you all ran to try and keep Garret from dying."

"That's okay. I wasn't thinking very nice things about them either – or did you know that?"

Al shook his head. "I was only concentrating on them, and don't worry, I don't mind using my little talent for work, but I don't use it all of the time. It would overwhelm me if I did."

"Well, I'm glad you were using it today," she told him. "Maybe not as glad as Garret, but then he won't find out about it anyway. Besides," she added with a grin, "we wouldn't want to screw up that free dinner I got out of the deal."

"That's for sure," Al agreed.

Bill joined Rick, Patrick, and Garret in the interrogation room, and he sat down at the table with the other five Wizards.

"Shall we just do this the easy way?" he asked Borgin and Burke, "or shall I just have a pair of my Goblin friends come and do it the hard way?" He set a large, metal lined box on the table and smiled at the two old men. "I'd really recommend doing it my way."

They stared at Bill for a minute, and he just held their gazes unflinchingly until they stood up and began emptying pockets and dropping what they had into the box.

"Burke's keeping something back in his left boot," Al told Hestia. "Borgin has something in a pouch around his neck."

Hestia got up and left the room, and a moment later went into the interrogation room, and whispered into Bill's ear for a moment, Bill nodded, and Hestia left again.

"Is that everything?" Bill asked Borgin and Burke when they'd sat down again, and both men nodded. Bill turned to Rick. "Hestia told me that my two Goblin friends are here. It looks like we're going to need them after all."

"We just told you we've handed over everything!" Burke complained, and Bill levelled him with a stern look.

"I'm sure you're lying," Bill told him flatly. "Would you like another chance before I have Rick send them in?"

He watched as the men exchanged glances, and then Burke reached down, took his left boot off, and upended it over the box, and a large gold coin dropped out, while Borgin opened the collar of his robe, took the pouch that was on a cord around his neck, and dropped it into the box as well.

"That's all of it," Borgin said in disgust, and Bill nodded.

"Wise decision," he told them. He carefully sealed the box, nodded to Rick, and left the room.

"I'm very glad that you decided not to let that get ugly," Rick told them. "The last time I saw Bill's Goblin friends in action, I had to leave the room."

When Al had been called in on Sunday, and found out they were bringing Borgin and Burke in, he'd expected to be busy on Monday, and maybe Tuesday, but that turned into a weeklong deal. He had watched the interrogation on Monday and again Tuesday morning, and then found out that he was put on guard detail at the shop in Mexico City. He and Edward were given the noon to midnight shift starting on Tuesday, which was six o'clock in the afternoon until six o'clock the next morning home time. Add to that a Wednesday morning Wizengamot session to hear the charges against Borgin and Burke, choose a tribunal, and set a trial date, and suddenly his week was filled up with no time to keep up his surveillance of Rosier's Estate.

The great thing about getting assigned to that guard duty was that he got to work with, and watch his Uncle Bill in action for the first five or six hours of his shift. For the three days that he was helping out, Al got to see for himself exactly why Bill was considered the best curse-breaker in the Wizarding World.

There was a lot of inventory tucked into that little shop, but Borgin and Burke were meticulous shop keepers, and they had clearly identified the most dangerous items, so Bill and his team were able to clean out the entire store by late Friday morning local time, although dealing with all of the items they'd collected and put into safe storage would be something that they'd work on when they had time over the next months or possibly even years. Bill had told Al that they had items in storage from before he'd even become a curse-breaker that they still had no way of neutralizing, and possibly never would.

Since Al had been up all night home time on Thursday night, and wouldn't be needed for Friday night, he took the whole day off, having a nap until noon, and then doing some grocery shopping, and running a few other errands before having dinner at the Cottage, and then spending the evening at his house with Lily staying overnight so they could have breakfast, and then go to the game together on Saturday.

"Four weeks from today and they'll be home," Lily told Al as they relaxed in the sitting room for a little while before going to bed for the night. "I wish Kieran were coming home for good like Carolyn and Brianna, but at least we've almost finished the first year."

"Have you been getting many requests for virtual study help now that exams are so close?" Al asked her, and Lily nodded.

"I'm doing two hours a night, and I told them that I'd do three hours every Sunday morning for the next three Sundays," Lily told him. "Mostly they just want someone to reassure them that they're doing it right. I'm not really getting all that many questions that they don't know the answer to already."

"I hope Carolyn can relax a bit by the time her NEWTs start – she's a lot more nervous than last year."

"She'll be fine," Lily told him. "There isn't anything wrong with having a little nervousness. I've talked with her and Brianna a lot over the last week or so, and they're both ready for those exams right now. Once they get the first one over with, they'll relax."

Al nodded. "Do you think any of them aren't ready yet?"

"They're all getting close. I think that Hugo and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Marauders are going to need to kick it up a notch once they get the game over with tomorrow, but they should be okay too," Lily answered. "Myra and Erin don't seem to be having any problems getting ready for their exams and doing all of the Quidditch practices too, but they're also just in first and second year too."

They sat up and talked until ten o'clock, and then went upstairs to their rooms, each of them ending their day with ViComm calls with their respective fiancées. That was still new for Lily, and she'd decided that, at least for May, fiancée was her very favourite word.

She woke up on Saturday morning to the sweet scents of breakfast cooking in the kitchen and bounced out of bed. Kieran wasn't playing today, and hopefully Gryffindor and Ravenclaw would give them a nice long game so they could spend a few hours together. By the time she'd showered, gotten ready, and gone downstairs, Al was putting the food on the table, and Scorpius was there already. Lily hugged both boys, and then they sat down to eat.

They filled up the hour they had to eat and clean up talking about what they'd all been doing during the week. Al's stories about working with Bill took up most of the time, since Lily and Scorpius were both fascinated to hear about Uncle Bill's work, since Bill was always so modest about his job, and how good he was at it.

Despite trying to time it better this week, they still got to the gates five minutes early, and had to wait until they could go in. This time, they weren't the only ones, since Brianna, Carolyn, and Kieran were talking to them from the other side of the gate – each group waiting until the wards were released so that the game day visitors could start entering the school grounds.

"So close, but yet so far," Lily joked, standing as close as she could get to Kieran. "How'd the studying go last night?"

"We lost the Quidditch players just before nine," Kieran answered, "but the rest of us kept going until curfew at eleven. I was pretty happy with what I got done."

"Everyone did really great last night," Brianna told her. "Even Carolyn and I are starting to feel like we did last year before exams. Of course it could just mean that we're having a mass hallucination."

Lily laughed. "More likely you're all on your way to a whole mess of O's and E's."

"Fly and be free, Lily," Al told her. "It should be safe to go in now."

Lily took the few steps across to Kieran, threw her arms around him, and kissed him. Al and Scorpius were a few steps behind, but they were welcomed with hugs and kisses too when they reached Carolyn and Brianna. They took their time walking to the stadium, taking the long way around, and by the time they got there, the stands were already starting to fill with students and visitors.

They went into the Ravenclaw section, next to the Hufflepuff section, and joined the Marauders who were already there, along with Harry, Ginny, and James. The Canons were playing their last game of the regular season on the road against the Harpies, so Arianna wasn't able to come and see Erin play. There was still a half-hour until the game would be starting, and their little group was kept busy the entire time, catching up with each other, and continually welcoming each new arrival as they joined in the pre-game festivities.

Kirley and Ana had come to cheer on Liam and Myra, and they were sitting with Lily and Kieran, while the Murrays sat in the Gryffindor section with George and Marietta, Neville and Luna, and Demelza. Joe Jenkins' family sat with the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff group today, as did Miranda's Mum and Dad, who'd come mostly for the chance to spend the time with Miranda as much as to watch the game. All of the Slytherin Marauders sat with them too - Karl and Daphne to visit with Kirley and Ana, Sarah and Joel to visit with Harry and Ginny, and Millie because that's where all the fun was happening.

The two teams got called out into the stadium, and a few minutes later, the quaffle was thrown into the air, and the game got started. The game play was so lopsided in favour of Gryffindor that it should have been a blowout. The Ravenclaw Chasers were almost completely defenceless against the Gryffindor Chasers, while barely getting any shots on Hugo at all. It should have been a blowout, except Myra was making good on her promise from three weeks ago.

In the first hour, she faced thirty-one shots, and Liam had the only goal. Her Chasers had managed just four weak shots, and Hugo had saved them all easily. During the second hour, Gryffindor had thirty-eight shots on goal, and she stopped them all, while Hugo continued his now ten-save shutout.

"I know we wanted a long game," Carolyn whispered to Al, "but how long can she keep that up?" she asked as the third hour came to a close. Myra had faced forty-two more shots, allowing just one more goal, again at the hands of her big brother. Hugo still had a shutout going, and had saved all seventeen shots.

"I have no idea," Al answered. "I don't know how long Erin can keep up the fight against Colin either."

What Erin had been doing for the past three hours, not just keeping up with Colin, but really pushing him the whole game had been overshadowed by Myra's brilliant play, but without some help from their team, those two performances were looking like they'd be in a losing cause.

The fourth hour wrapped up, and Myra had given up one more goal on just twenty-eight shots – it was looking like it was the Gryffindor Chasers who were being worn down by Myra, not the other way around. Gryffindor led thirty to naught, though, and now that Colin and Erin were four hours into their battle, the spectators were all watching them to see who would make the first mistake.

They reached the five-hour mark, and Myra had stopped twenty-three more shots, keeping the score at thirty to nothing. Liam scored his fourth goal of the game at the five hour, twenty minute mark, and everyone heard him laugh when Myra stuck her tongue out at her brother, and quite a few of the spectators who had seen her do that joined in to laugh with him.

That was the moment Erin picked to attack. She'd been watching the snitch out of the corner of her eye, and when Colin was distracted for that split second, she spun and dove toward the snitch. The few seconds advantage that surprise attack earned her before Colin took off after her was just barely enough, and for the first time in a game that counted, Erin felt that surge of excitement and triumph as her hand closed firmly around the snitch, and she pulled up on her broom just in time to avoid crashing to the pitch. The stadium erupted in cheers, and many of them were on their feet to applaud both teams for a really great game.

"I guess this means that Hufflepuff wins the Quidditch Cup," Lily said quietly to Kieran, who leaned over and whispered something in her ear, and she hugged him.

While the Marauders and their guests were walking out onto the pitch, the news that Kieran had whispered to Lily was officially announced to everyone in the stadium – Madame Hooch, with the agreement of the House team Captains, had ruled that Slytherin and Hufflepuff were Co-Quidditch Cup Champions this year.

"From what Lily said, that must have been your decision," Ana told Kieran, who shrugged.

"It was the right thing to do," he told his mother. "Slytherin beat us, but we were ahead on total points. It seemed like the only fair answer."

"You only won by sixty points last year too," she reminded him, and he nodded. "True, but we also won our game against them. If they'd won last year, it would have been different."

Daphne came over and hugged him. "It sure would have – we would have been undefeated last year. Thanks for sharing this year, though. It's been a long time since Slytherin ended up the Quidditch season at the top."

"You're welcome," Kieran told her as she moved on to hug Lily. "Your team deserves it for everything you've done these last few years."

James had picked Erin up and hugged her when she ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck, and they were both laughing.

"You were absolutely brilliant!" he told her. "You must be ready to go have a nap, though. What a game!" He set her down, and Quincy hugged and congratulated her.

James' WiComm chimed and he opened it to see Arianna smiling at him. "How's our girl doing?" she asked him.

"She won the game for Ravenclaw," James told her. "Is your game over already?"

"Unfortunately," she answered. "Liselle wasn't having as good a day as Erin must be having, and the Harpies got a pretty fast win. Coach is blaming it on you not being here. Can I talk to Erin?"

James nodded, and handed his WiComm to Erin, who moved off to the side so she could tell Arianna all about her game and the big catch. He moved on to congratulate Joe and Myra, and then move on to talk with Hugo, Frederica, Liam, Lance, and finally Colin.

"The girls are giving you a hard time up there this year," James told him, and Colin laughed.

"You mean they're kicking my butt," he told James. "The only catch I got this year was against Darrin. I may have to re-think my career plan if this keeps up."

"I don't think you need to be worrying about that after a couple of tough losses that could have gone either way," James said. "It's going to make the rest of your games at Hogwarts interesting, since you'll be playing against Nadine and Erin for the rest of your school Quidditch career."

"Thanks for the cheerful thoughts," Colin joked, and James laughed.

"I wasn't trying to cheer you up, mate," James told him. "I'll leave that up to Nadine to take care of later. How does it feel to be a three-time Quidditch Cup Champion in your first three years?" he asked Nadine.

"It feels like I've been a little lucky," she said as she hugged Colin. "A couple of breaks the other way, and we'd have no Quidditch Cups."

"Keep that in mind if you ever have any not so great seasons," James told her, and she nodded.

Erin and Quincy came back over to James and she returned his WiComm to him. "Thank-you," she said, hugging him again. "And thanks for coming to see me play – especially since it meant that the Canons lost their game because of it."

James grinned at her. "If they really believe that, then maybe it's time for me to stop going to the games until they start believing in themselves again, and not in a bunch of superstitions."

While the rest of the family were visiting, Lily and Kieran, Al and Carolyn, and Scorpius and Brianna had all done their round of hugs and congratulations quickly, and then left the stadium to go for walks around the school grounds on their way to the gates.

"One week until exams start, and four weeks until we're done," Carolyn told Al. "At least we'll be busy the whole time. It should go by fast now."

Al nodded. "The faster the better. The new house is pretty much ready. Do you want to move there right from here, or wait until after we're married?"

"I'm tempted to say wait, but then if we just go ahead and move in, my car will be right there if I want to take it out for a spin."

"You mean 'when'," he said with a grin. "Let's just move in when you get back on the twentieth. We'll be closer to the Cottage, to London, and to Nick and Allie, and Matt and Rose, and everyone else too."

"You've convinced me," she told him happily. "Do you think you'll have to do much more travelling between now and the end of school?"

"I hope not," Al told her. "I'm ready to stick around home for a while."

This time, they were the last couple to reach the gates, and their friends were grinning at them. "Did you get lost?" Lily asked them. "I'm pretty sure you two left first."

"We weren't lost, just busy," Carolyn told her. "It was just our turn to be last."

They had one last round of hugs and kisses goodbye, and then Kieran, Carolyn, and Brianna went back towards the school and the parties that would already be in full swing in both the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Common Rooms. Lily, Al, and Scorpius all had their own plans, and when they were outside of the gate, they split up – Lily to Kirley and Ana's house, Scorpius to Grimmauld Place, and then on to dinner with Nick, Allie, Percy, and Penelope, and Al to his house in Hogsmeade, and from there, on to Rosier's Estate, and the resumption of his interrupted stakeout.

Al spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching and waiting, and again, not much was going on, but he was in high spirits as he patiently continued his stakeout, and worked with the data in the ACM program. If some other Witch or Wizard had been near him with his talent for reading thoughts, the one they'd have read most often from him was an excited 'four more weeks, just four more weeks'.


	126. Tests of Character

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Six – Tests of Character

During the last week of May, Al continued his surveillance of Rosier, going there each morning in time for breakfast, and staying through until after dinner. There were no visitors on Monday, both Terrance and Byron stopped in on Tuesday, and then Terrance stopped in after each day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoon before dinner while Byron was doing the three-day long Americas route. After he finished his daily stakeout, Al either worked on packing at the house in Hogsmeade, unpacking over at the new house, or getting a head start on the major shopping job of stocking the basic supplies for the house. On Friday night, Al returned to Rosier's to wait for Byron's late night visit, hoping to eventually catch a break, but again Rosier met his messenger somewhere inside the house, and Al went home with nothing new.

He was taking the last day of May off to get some work done, and to spend the afternoon with his family, going with them to watch the Canons play the first road playoff game they'd had in years. They'd finished the regular season with a thirteen and seven record that put them in fifth place, and they were playing the fourth place Caerphilly Catapults in the first round.

Al met Lily, his parents, and everyone else that was going to the game in Caerphilly for lunch, and then they went on to the stadium from there. Their seats weren't nearly as good as the Owner's Box back at their own Stadium, but at least they had a nice, warm and dry day for the game.

"Things must be about to kick into high gear for you," Al told Lily as they waited for the game to start. "You've got the ViComm launch, a new album, and the summer line of SpellBound merchandise coming out in three weeks. Has your summer schedule been nailed down, and when will you finish up at the Institute?"

"I'm working there for two more weeks, then doing a five-day long promotional tour for the summer clothing line with Laura from the thirteenth to the seventeenth," Lily told him. "The concert schedule is set, and we're doing fourteen concerts – six the first two weeks of July, and eight the middle two weeks of August."

"I'm feeling much better about my schedule," Al joked.

"You should," Lily said. "You're starting your summer out with getting married and two weeks on the island. Who wouldn't like your schedule better than mine?"

"Speaking of weddings, did you, Mum, and Ana pick a date for yours?"

Lily nodded. "June twenty-seventh, a week after school gets out, like you and Carolyn are doing. They were talking big wedding like Scorpius and Brianna, but Kieran and I negotiated them into having it at Kirley and Ana's for the privacy, and promising to keep it under five hundred guests, if at all possible."

"If you do that, you'll never make the hottest couples list for that's month's TeenWitch magazine," Al said, and Lily laughed.

"I wish, but there will be some media there. Ana and Laura are going to work that out sometime between now and the wedding. How's the shopping and packing going?"

"Pretty well so far," Al answered. "Yes, I know you'll help if I need it, but you have enough going on between work and virtual studying without adding anything else to the list. I've got this covered."

Lily nodded. "Okay, though I'm sure the shopping would be more fun than the virtual studying. I think that may be about over, though. With exams starting on Monday, it's pretty much time for reviewing. From what I've seen, they're all ready to ace their exams."

The Canons were introduced, and flew into the stadium to the raucous jeering of the Catapults' fans, who then switched to cheering wildly when their hometown team flew out and around the stadium. There was about a fifteen-minute long pre-game show, and then the match began with Arianna grabbing the quaffle first, and after two quick passes, putting a shot past the Catapult's Keeper that quieted the crowd, and got the whole Canons team fired up.

For the next three and a half hours or so, the Catapults fans didn't get much to cheer about at all. Arianna led the way; helping the Canons build a two hundred point lead over the Catapults, and then she helped to keep a big lead throughout the rest of the game. That forced the Catapults Seeker into playing defence against Liselle for the entire game, hoping that his team would close the gap, but that didn't happen. He finally made a mistake that left Liselle open to catch the snitch, win the game for the Canons, and put a quick end to the Catapults' season and too-short playoff run.

The celebration party was at the Cottage, and Al went back with Harry, Ginny, and Lily ahead of the others so that he and Lily could help out with setting up a couple of portable pools, table and chairs outside, while their parents started getting food and drinks ready for everyone that would be coming to the party.

"We'd better put out a few portable WWVN's,' Lily suggested. "If we don't, Uncle Ron and half of our guests will be in the sitting room glued to the Harpies game."

Al nodded. "Good idea, though I don't know why they'll bother. I don't remember the last time that the first place team lost in the first round against the eighth place team. They can wish all they want, but next week, they're going to be up against the Harpies – and this year, they'll be the team with the home field advantage."

"They probably should be hoping for an upset," Lily told him. "They'd be playing at home if the Harpies do somehow lose. It could happen."

"Only if the Harpies all splinched themselves on the way to the game today," Al joked.

They had everything set up outside by the time the first guests arrived, and for the rest of the day, Al just enjoyed himself, not even thinking about work, or getting houses ready to move into, or anything other than having a few hours of fun with his family and friends.

At Hogwarts, the New Marauders had taken the afternoon off and gone into Karl's office to watch the Canons' game, but that was the only break they took for the rest of the weekend. While Al, Scorpius, and Lily were having fun at the party, Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran were hard at work getting ready for their first exams on Monday. For the girls, and all of the NEWT year students taking the subject, they'd be starting out with DADA, while Kieran and the other sixth-year students began with Transfiguration.

"What are the odds that Al will be our Auror for our practicals?" Daphne asked Carolyn, who looked up at her in surprise and laughed.

"You know, I never even thought to ask him if he was going to be here doing that," Carolyn said. "Just a minute, and I'll ask him."

She called Al and he answered right away.

"Daphne just asked a really good question, and I hadn't thought to ask you," she told him. "Are you going to be working the NEWT exams?"

"Sorry, Carolyn, but I'm not on the team doing that this year. I guess it's a fairly popular assignment among at least some of the Aurors. I'm sure they'd never let me duel any of you even if I was there, though."

"Too bad," she told him. "I was hoping to get the first O in a DADA NEWT by defeating my Auror by snogging him senseless."

Al laughed. "That would probably work, but if you don't mind, I'd really rather you didn't try that out on whomever you do get – I'd never live something like that down at work."

Carolyn laughed too. "Okay, Al. I'll just have to do my exam the old-fashioned way – with magic. I'd better get back to work. I'll talk to you at bedtime."

"Well?" Daphne asked. "What was so funny?"

"He isn't, and I told him that was too bad because I wanted to be the first Witch to get an O in her DADA NEWT by defeating her Auror opponent by snogging."

"Do you think it'd work?" Daphne asked, winking at Karl.

"I don't know," he answered, suddenly grinning. "Are you suggesting I try it if I get a pretty young Witch for my opponent?"

Daphne slapped his arm lightly. "No, you should definitely not try it," she told him firmly. "Suddenly it doesn't sound like such a great idea after all, Carolyn."

All of the Marauders worked late on Saturday, and then only studied until dinnertime on Sunday. Lily may have only been with them virtually, but they still did what she told them to do, and taking it easy the evening before their exams, and getting a good night's sleep were her strict orders when she'd ended the Sunday afternoon virtual study session.

On Monday morning, most students in the school were taking the written portion of whichever exam they had that day, and by lunchtime, the post-exam analysis was going strong. Carolyn, Brianna, Karl, and Daphne were all sure they'd aced the written part of the DADA NEWT, and all of the Marauders were happy with their first tests.

The afternoon was a lot of time spent waiting around, and then a few minutes of activity when it was time for each student's practical exam. Since Carolyn, Brianna, Daphne, and Karl were so spread out along the alphabet, they agreed to meet after they were done their DADA duels in their study classroom so that when they were each done, they could start studying for their next NEWT on Wednesday. When they were all back together again, it was time to compare notes.

"I'm a little shocked," Carolyn told her friends excitedly, "but I won my duel!"

"I didn't," Brianna told her. "I duelled to a draw, but my examiner was smiling, so I'm pretty sure that it was enough for an O."

Daphne and Karl were both nodding. "We did too," Daphne reported for both of them. "How did you manage to win?"

Carolyn laughed. "I doused my opponent with water, and then later on, when I thought he might not expect it, I froze it on the ground. When he slipped, I got my opening, and disarmed him. I still can't believe it worked."

"And she looks so sweet and innocent," Karl joked. "Who'd have thought there was a duelling champion hiding inside?"

It wasn't until later on, at dinner, that Carolyn found out that she had actually been the only NEWT student to win her practical duel, and for an hour or so, she was a minor celebrity. Al called her up during dinner to congratulate her after getting a message from Hestia asking him why his fiancée wasn't applying to be an Auror after winning her NEWT duel.

"You didn't try that snogging thing did you?" he asked after congratulating her, and Carolyn laughed.

"No, actually I decided to try making things colder instead of hotter," she told him, "and he slipped on the ice."

"Well, you certainly made an impression among the Aurors," Al told her. "Hestia thinks you should join."

"Tell her thanks, but I'm happy with going to work for your Grandmother," she said. "It's nice to know a girl has options, though. How is your day going?"

"Nowhere near as exciting as yours, but I'm making progress, even if it is slow."

"I like it when your life isn't exciting," Carolyn told him. "At least whenever I'm not there with you. You can make it as exciting as you want to once we're back together," she added suggestively.

"We'll definitely want to talk about that in more detail in a few weeks," Al said, and she might not be able to see his face, but she could sure hear the grin in his voice.

Al was still grinning for quite a while after that call. He was so proud of his quiet, gentle, and beautiful fiancée. He was probably going to be getting some teasing for the next few weeks over her duelling win, but he was happy to put up with those kinds of jokes. He knew just how lucky a guy he really was to be marrying Carolyn.

Since it was Monday, Rosier again didn't have a single visitor, and once he'd finished dinner and retired inside again, Al left his stakeout, and went to the Mall. He had a quick dinner at the food court, and then went shopping for the next batch of supplies for the house. He tagged his purchases with Translocators, sent them to the house, and then went there himself after his last stop for the day. Once there, he spent an hour putting everything away, and then went home to Hogsmeade to get some sleep before starting another early – and long day.

That was pretty much the way that the rest of Al's week went, while at Hogwarts, Carolyn and Brianna only had their Charms NEWT on Wednesday, and then had the rest of the week and weekend to get ready for their Transfiguration, Potions, and History exams that were on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Al was taking the day off on Saturday again, and had skipped the late night stakeout to watch Terrance stop by Rosier's in favour of having Lily stay overnight. They were both up early – before six o'clock, and she'd come into his room, hopped up on the bed with him, and they'd watched the six o'clock start of the London-Moscow round-trip Broom Race before getting up to start their day.

After breakfast, they went to the Mall to do some more shopping for the house, which Lily had wanted to come help with before they were to meet Harry and Ginny for the pre-game lunch they were having before entering the hostile territory that was the Holyhead Harpies' stadium to watch the semi-final game between the Canons and Harpies.

They went from the Mall to Al and Carolyn's house when they were finished the list Al had for the day, and quickly put everything away – today's job being bathroom supplies for all of the bathrooms in the house.

"When is the pool being filled?" Lily asked Al.

"This coming Thursday," he answered. "It'll be ready to use by Saturday. Stop by for a swim anytime you want."

"I'd love to, but your timing is crummy, since I'll be away from this Thursday until basically the following Wednesday on that promotional tour," she told him. "I guess it'll have to wait until you and Carolyn move in two weeks from now."

Al nodded. "I forgot about your trip starting this coming week. Is this one going to be a lot like the Christmas one?"

"A lot like it, with a few less stops, since it's only five days instead of seven this time," Lily answered.

"At least you'll have a couple of days to get rested up before Kieran gets home on Friday," Al said.

They were just about done, and Lily was looking out the back windows of the Great Room at the now beautifully landscaped yard, and the completed Quidditch pitch near the back of the property. "I saw a pretty big parcel of land for sale about a kilometre up the road from here the last time I drove over," she told Al. "Would you and Carolyn think I was crowding you if I asked Kieran about building our house there? I just love the area you've picked here. It's beautiful and quiet. We could be really happy here."

Al went over and hugged her. "We'd love having you and Kieran living close to us, Lily. I don't even have to ask Carolyn to know that she'd think it was brilliant."

"Thanks, Al," she said, hugging him back. "I'm pretty sure that Kieran will think so too. I guess we'd better get going to the Cottage," she added, looking at her watch. "Mum and Dad will be waiting to get going to lunch."

Harry and Ginny had been watching Mark's race when Lily and Al got to the Cottage. Mark and Mariposa made the turn in Moscow about five minutes apart, with Mark in the lead at the turn. The cameras showed that they were both smiling and waved at each other as Mark passed her on his way back toward London.

"Well, we've got a little over five hours until he'll be back," Ginny told them. "Let's go to lunch, and then see if our beloved Canons can pull out an upset over the hometown favourites this afternoon."

The good news was that they really had a great lunch with everyone that met them for lunch and the game. The bad news was that the Canons lost to the Harpies for the second time in three weeks when Liselle was outraced to the snitch by a Harpies Seeker who was, at least for this game, better than Liselle, giving the Harpies the win by a mere twenty points.

Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily had to hurry out of the stadium and apparate to the finish line in London where they were met by Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James. Kira had Lily claimed for her own in about two seconds flat.

"Can you take me for a drive in your car after Mark finishes the race?" she asked Lily, bouncing in her arms.

"If we can, maybe we'll go for a quick ride before dinner," Lily promised. "It is a very nice day for a drive."

"Can we go really fast again too?" Kira asked next, and Lily pretended to shush her.

"Remember, your Mummy and Daddy aren't supposed to know about that," she told the little girl conspiratorially, and Kira giggled.

"Too late," Natalie told them. "I heard you already, but I know Lily is being very careful when you're with her, Kira."

Mark blasted across the finish line at four thirty-five, finishing the race in ten hours and thirty-five minutes, shaving just three minutes from last year's record. Mariposa crossed the line twenty minutes later; having once again lost time because of a guidance glitch that sent her off course.

"I'm beginning to wonder if it's her people, or if it's a flaw in the system she's using," Lily mused. "She's using one that's made by a competitor of the Institute's in Spain."

"If that's possible, she ought to think about changing her equipment," Al said, and Lily nodded.

"If she can – sometimes those sponsorship deals get in the way of that."

The rest of the field was more than four hours behind the two leaders, so Mark, Callie, Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James went with Harry, Ginny, Al, and Lily to Ron and Hermione's house, where their hoped for victory party had turned into an end-of-season party.

None of the Canons' players were happy about being done for the season – no good Quidditch player would be, but it wasn't exactly like they could be terribly disappointed with the run they'd been having for the past four years. Uncle Ron was already talking big goals for his last playing season next year.

Lily had to pop over to the Cottage to take Kira for a little drive before dinner while most of the other guests were busy watching Puddlemere United win the other playoff game of the day to earn the other spot in the finals against the Harpies.

Al stayed at the party until Mark, Callie, Owen, and Harry had to go back to the race finish area to be there when most of the other racers arrived and for the awards ceremony, and then he left for home and plans to make it an early night. It was going to be a busy week for him with guard duty at Borgin and Burke's trial starting on Monday, so he was going to be at Rosier's on Sunday, but probably not again until Thursday or Friday, depending on how long the trial took to complete.

His Sunday surveillance wasn't any more exciting than any of the other days he'd spent watching Rosier. The testimony at the trial for Borgin and Burke took just two days, with the highlights being witnesses Katie Bell and Draco Malfoy testifying about the opal necklace that had nearly killed her, and had killed many others, and from Bill Weasley, who described in fairly graphic detail the fate that they'd attempted to inflict on Auror Garret Vance the morning they were arrested. On Wednesday, they each received fifty-year memberships to Club Azkaban, and Garret was very happy to go with Al and deliver the pair of old Wizards to the prison.

"How come those two guys only got fifty years?" Carolyn asked Al. After work, he had gone to the Cottage for dinner, mostly to say goodbye to Lily before she left on Thursday, and was now home, in bed, and having his nightly call with Carolyn.

"From what I've heard around the Ministry, that's a pretty long sentence for being accessories to crimes they didn't actually commit," Al told her. "They'd probably have gotten half that or less if they hadn't tried to do something so nasty to Garret. He wasn't feeling so hot by the time Uncle Bill got through telling the tribunal the details of what the curses on those wands would have done to him had he touched them."

Carolyn nodded. "His testimony was big news in some of the student circles around here. At least when they do get out, they'll never be allowed to possess any other Dark Arts artefacts."

"Not unless they want to go back for another twenty-five years if they get caught with anything ever again," Al agreed. "How'd everyone do on their exams today?"

"Sixth and Seventh year Marauders all had Potions today. Everyone, including me are pretty confident about having solid E's, with a few of us leaning toward being good enough for an O. The OWL Marauders all think they've got O's coming in Transfiguration. The fourth years had an off day, the thirds are doing Astronomy tonight, and the second-year group all aced their DADA exams."

"At least you're more than halfway done now," Al said. "Herbology on Monday's really the only tough one you have left."

"They'll all be tough, but that one will be the hardest," she answered. "Karl, Daphne, Brianna, and I are all pretty confident now that we have three or four NEWTs under our belts. At least we know what to expect now. Anything new out in the real world?"

Al laughed. "I'm going to be glad to get back out in the field. In the last three days around the Ministry, I've been taking a fair bit of teasing about my impending marriage to a duelling master."

"Tell them to stop picking on my fiancée, or when I get out of here, maybe I'll come over there and test out my duelling skills with a few challenges," Carolyn joked. "I do like the sounds of that 'impending marriage', though. It's finally getting that close – we'll be home in nine days, and married in just two and a half more weeks."

"That's the first thing at the top of each day on my virtual planner," Al told her. "The countdown to you coming home and the wedding."

In one way, Al was glad to be back in the field on Thursday, but he really did wish that Rosier did something more than come out to his back room for three meals a day, and then disappear back into the house the rest of the time. His surveillance had been sporadic, but other than Terrance, Byron, and a few servants, Al had yet to see anyone else visit, and Rosier had not even left the house to walk around the yard.

Al worked at his house each evening after Rosier finished dinner, and by Friday night, had everything ready for him and Carolyn to move in except for the fresh groceries that he planned on picking up next Thursday.

Lily and Laura had left for Japan on Thursday, but their tour actually started on Friday, and she sent Al regular updates on how her trip was going, usually as she was finishing in one place or just getting ready to start another. Her four Friday stops were Japan, Australia, Korea, and China, all of them huge successes, with big lineups of fans of all ages.

He went back to the Rosier Estate from the house near Burbage late on Friday night to watch Byron make his late night call, but once again, Byron and Rosier didn't meet somewhere that Al could listen in on the conversation, or pick up their thoughts, and he went home to Hogsmeade to get a few hours sleep before returning to the estate for another breakfast with Rosier moment on Saturday.

He was in his normal position by the side of the house, more than a half-hour before Rosier normally came out for breakfast. He sent a few QuillMessages back and forth with Lily, who had already been in India and Saudi Arabia, and would be going on to Russia in another couple of hours. Rosier entered the back room right on schedule, the usual servant bringing along the usual silver tray with his meal. Rosier had just taken his usual seat, and Al was getting ready to listen in on his usual thoughts, when an Owl Post flew up to one of the large screened windows, and waited to be admitted. The servant set down the tray, admitted the Owl, untied the letter that the Owl was carrying, allowed the Owl to leave, and handed the letter to Rosier.

Since this was the first Owl Post that Al had seen arrive, and other than Terrance and Byron, Al had seen no other means by which Rosier communicated with the world outside of his little hideaway, he'd immediately become very alert, and was listening, watching, and open to any thoughts that either master or servant were having. He couldn't read the letter, but Rosier's thoughts were clear – nine o'clock; Avery's.

As sometimes happened with Al, that information unlocked a little piece of foreknowledge, and he suddenly knew that today was going to be one of those days. He didn't need to stay here – didn't have time to stay here, since nine o'clock was barely an hour away, but he knew clearly what he had to do, so he carefully made his way out of the estate property, and when he was far enough away from Rover Way, he apparated to the Ministry of Magic to get ready for what was coming.

At five minutes to nine, he was outside of Dirk's grandfather's estate, hidden by his invisibility cloak. His quick scan of the estate defences had confirmed what his flash of foresight had told him would be there. Rosier appeared outside of the entrance to the estate at exactly nine o'clock, as Al knew he would, and walked up the long drive to the house, where Al watched him be admitted by a servant. He waited five minutes, and then, after putting his invisibility cloak away, followed that same route up to the house.

The security wards would have alerted the servants that someone had entered the grounds but since Al was alone, and walking straight up the drive, no alarm was raised in response to his arrival. He walked up to the main doors and a servant opened the door before he could knock.

"May I help you, sir?" the man asked. He was maybe in his fifties, and Al could tell that he was a senior member of Avery's household.

"My name is Elder Albus Potter, and I'd like to have a few moments of Mr Avery's time if it would be convenient for him," Al told the man, who bowed, and admitted Al, asking him to wait in the entrance hall while he went to deliver the message to Avery.

Even though Al knew what was coming, his heart had begun beating faster, and he had to work harder to maintain a calm exterior, and relaxing was flat out of the question. A few minutes later, a now very nervous servant returned to lead Al deep into the house, and out into a garden in the back yard, where nine Wizards sat in chairs around a table. The men closest to Al had turned their chairs toward him in anticipation of his arrival. Dirk's Father and Grandfather were there, along with Rosier, the Lestrange brothers, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Yaxley.

"Elder Albus Potter to see you, master," the servant said a bit shakily, bowing and walking away quickly.

Al looked around the table at the faces that were turned toward him, all of the men staring at him with cold, hate-filled eyes. Each of the old Wizards were smiling cruelly, and their thoughts were transparent to him. He smiled in return – his warm and friendly. They were all about to find out that life was just full of unexpected surprises and disappointments.

"Elder Potter! This is quite an unexpected surprise," Dirk's grandfather said once the servant had left. "What brings you all the way out here to my humble abode?"

"I was coming here to speak with you on a matter to do with the Wizengamot, Mr Avery," Al told him, "but that will, unfortunately, have to wait for another day now."

"Oh? Why is that?" the senior of the two Averys around the table asked, and Al looked directly at Rosier.

"You may be unaware of this man's true identity, but Mr Rosier there is a wanted fugitive, and as an Auror-trainee, it is my responsibility to advise him that he his under arrest for a wide assortment of capitol crimes. Mr Rosier, would you please stand, surrender your wand, and come with me?"

Roser made no move to stand, and Avery smiled at Al. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Potter," he said. "This is Ross Evans, a close, personal friend that everyone around this table can vouch for."

"Mr Avery," Al said, directing his piercing emerald eyes at the old man, "we all know that he is Rosier, one of the original Death Eaters, just as you yourself were. I'm willing to allow the fiction to stand that you were not aware of who he really was, since harbouring a fugitive would send all of you back to Azkaban should I choose to press the issue." He turned to Rosier next.

"Ross Evans? Nice touch, though not very subtle. Mr Rosier, I repeat – you are under arrest. Please stand up, surrender your wand, and come with me."

"I don't think so, boy," Rosier growled, and Al mentally shook his head as another possible future was eliminated. Rosier stood, but so did the other eight men, all of them drawing their wands. "You don't have your little army of Aurors behind you today, Potter. You shouldn't have been so foolish as to come here alone."

"I came here on a matter of business," Al reminded him. "I wouldn't need an 'army of Aurors' as you put it, but then again, I don't need one now either. Put down your wands. I do not wish for any of you to be injured."

Rosier and the eight other men all laughed. "You're very confident for a dead man," Rosier told him. "We'll be sure to send our condolences to your father."

"I'm sure he would have appreciated your sentimentality, but when I say I don't want to see any of you injured, it's not about confidence, it's about warning you ahead of time before you make any more really stupid mistakes," Al answered. "You're a bunch of washed up has been Wizards, who were stupid enough to be duped into fighting for an insane, half-blood charlatan for some stupid pureblood ideal that has done nothing for you and your families but cause you pain and suffering. Was it all worth losing your son over, Rosier? How about your son, Crabbe? What about everything else the rest of you have lost? What have you gained from any of it? Your whole lives have been complete wastes of time, and the Wizarding World has moved on without you."

His words had sent all of the men into a rage, and his shield was up well before the nine killing curses they shot at him arrived, and he stood and watched as eight of the men's expressions flashed from rage, to sudden horror as realization of what they'd just done hit them, to child-like innocence, as in a moment of intense idiocy, they collectively broke their unbreakable vows. Al ignored them and focused all of his attention on Rosier.

"You can add what just happened to your friends to the long list of what trying to impose your stupid, bigoted beliefs onto the rest of us has cost you, Rosier. Put down your wand."

"You'll have to kill me, or I'll kill you, Potter," Rosier spat, firing a flurry of curses at Al's shield.

"No," Al disagreed in a quiet, confident voice, "I won't."

He let go of the tight control he almost always kept over his power, and let it blaze openly, and he sensed the change in Rosier as hate and anger were replace by fear. He jumped back when his wand flew out of his hand and landed at Al's feet. He was in a body-bind before the thought had even crossed his mind to attempt to retrieve it, and Al let his shield drop. He reached down and picked up Rosier's wand, and walked over to stand in front of the pathetic old Wizard, his power still unshielded and blazing brightly.

"One of my gifts," he said in that same quiet voice, "is that I can see possible futures. In one of them, if you hadn't joined Tom Riddle's gang, and if you'd made a few other better choices, you and your son Evan would have led long, happy lives. Even now, after everything that's happened, you still think in terms of one side living while the other side must die. There is a third option, though, and that's to change. You're going to be going to prison soon, and I hope for the sake of your soul that you find that ability to change. Tom Riddle, and a lot of your other friends couldn't, but there have been other Dark Wizards, like Grindewald who were able to change and truly repent." Al let his words sink in for a minute.

"You won't remember this conversation," he told Rosier, "but you will keep the thoughts about what I've said." Rosier's face went blank for just a second, and then he blinked and was back.

"Mr Rosier, I'll be taking you to Auror Headquarters now. I would prefer that you be allowed the dignity of walking out of here, and into the Ministry of Magic, so I am going to release you now. Do not attempt to test me again. Understood?" Rosier nodded, and Al could tell from his thoughts that he would not attempt anything more today. The servant who had led Al into the garden came out of the house with tentative steps.

"It's over," Al told the man. "I am taking Mr. Rosier into custody. Get in touch with Mr Avery's grandson Dirk to help you deal with his father, grandfather, and the others. Do you understand what has happened to them?" The servant nodded.

"Tell young Master Avery that this incident does not need to become public knowledge unless he chooses to make it so. I would strongly suggest that he not do that for the sake of your families."

"Very well, Elder Potter," the man finally said, bowing. "Will that be all?"

"No," Al answered. "Turn off the wards, or have whoever is responsible do it. If I have to destroy them to leave, because of the way they were designed, either you, or some of your fellow servants would be seriously, maybe permanently injured."

The servant's face paled. He nodded, pulled his wand, and deactivated the wards that had been set to prevent Al's departure the moment he'd left Al in the garden.

"Finally, someone makes a wise decision around here today," Al said. "Shall we go, Mr Rosier?"

He placed the ViComm call to Hestia as he and Rosier were leaving the Avery Estate. Al didn't look around, but knew that there were quite a few sets of eyes watching him leave with Rosier.

"What's up, Al?" she told him. "Did someone forget to tell you that it's the weekend?"

"I need you and Rick to come to Headquarters," Al told her. "I'm bringing Rosier in. I'll explain later when we have more time, but the chance came up to get him, so I took it."

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Hestia promised, and ended the call so she could get in touch with Rick, and whomever else they wanted to bring in to help with the interrogation.

Al side-along apparated Rosier to the Ministry of Magic. Since it was Saturday, the Atrium was pretty much empty except for security and a few Witches and Wizards coming and going to do extra work. The two security guards on duty both had wide-eyed expressions as Al led Rosier past them, but they did not say anything to him, and allowed them to pass. When the lift doors closed behind them, Al let out a sigh, and smiled at Rosier's look of curiosity.

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not particularly fond of the spotlight," he explained. "I'm glad there was no media, or an Atrium full of Witches and Wizards gawking at us just now."

"I find that remarkably hard to believe," Rosier told him, and Al shrugged.

"It's still the truth," Al said. "Believe it, or don't."

"What business matter with Avery brought you the fortune of finding me?" he asked.

"It probably won't matter, since Mr Avery will be unable to help me now, but I know that he and your other friends are the power behind the faction in the Wizengamot who are always at odds with me, and the Elders on my side. If you want to change things, you need to talk to the people who can make the changes happen," Al told him. It was a complete fabrication, but it sounded good.

"Then it seems that if change is what you wanted, you accomplished your goal," Rosier told him.

"No, I didn't," Al disagreed. "If I had, then there wouldn't be eight men at the Avery Estate right now with the mental capacity of two –year old children."

"Which is your responsibility – and your fathers!" Rosier accused.

Al nodded. "In part, that's true," he agreed, "but no greater a responsibility that theirs, and yours. They would have all been fine if you'd just chosen to accept being under arrest, and not made me take you in by force. They could have chosen not to attempt killing me, and would not have broken their vows."

"It would have been kinder to kill them," Rosier told him.

"There is no chance of redemption of your soul after death, Rosier," Al told him. "Condemning them to an eternity of darkness would not be kinder. You have no idea how much I hope that you understand that someday."

The doors opened on level two, and Rosier walked with Al into Auror Headquarters, and into the interrogation room, where they sat down to wait for Hestia and Rick to arrive.

"So now I suppose that you'll sit around here and interrogate me all weekend," Rosier said, and Al nodded.

"Probably, yes," Al agreed. "Since you're the last of the fugitives from the war, though, Rick will probably just be more interested in how you've managed to hide for all of these years. He didn't get anything out of any of the others, and I'm fairly sure he'll get nothing out of you either, but it amuses him to make the attempt."

Rosier laughed. "Are you always so honest?"

Al laughed too. "Nobody's always honest, but other than those little social lies that keep the world going, yeah, I try to be honest." The door had opened as Al was saying that, and Rick came in, a big smile on his face.

"I really never thought that I'd see the day when you'd be here in my interrogation room, Rosier. This must be a good story."

Al gave Rick the Wizengamot business visit to the Avery Estate story, his finding Rosier there with Avery and some other Wizards, and glossed over the fight and capture to make it sound less intense than it really was.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're holding back some of the story here?" Rick asked.

Al grinned at him. "Um, because I am? The rest isn't important, Rick. Mr Rosier is in custody, and we can't throw everyone in prison that draws a wand on us. We wouldn't have the room."

"Okay, Al. I can live with that. We're going to be here a while, could you go to the cafeteria and pick up some coffee for me, and whatever Rosier would like, and then it's up to you if you want to hang around or get back to your Wizengamot business."

That gave Al his out, so after going to get a coffee, tea, and throwing in a platter of pasties to apologize for dragging Rick into work on the weekend, Al took that chance to get out of the interrogation room, and went into the observation room, where he handed Hestia a coffee, put one for himself on the table, and set a second plate of pasties between the two chairs.

"Okay, it's later," she told him. "I get the cover story, but the real story is that somehow you found out that Rosier was going to be at Avery's this morning. Why didn't you call for backup?"

"First of all, I guess it's time for me to tell you about one of my other little talents," he began. "You know that I was a top student in Divination, right?" Hestia nodded.

"For lack of a better way to explain it, sometimes when something is about to happen, I just know about it. There's more to it than that, though – it's like I know all of the possible outcomes of that event. Are you with me so far?"

"I think so," Hestia told him. "You see more than one future of these events, or what happens during them."

Al nodded. "So for example, I see an outcome if I call for backup, and if I don't. With every choice by everyone involved in the event, there is another possible future."

"Sounds complicated. I'm glad I only have to deal with the here and now," she joked, and Al laughed again.

"Making a long story short," he continued, "going in alone meant that everybody came out alive. Going in with a team would have meant casualties and fatalities on both sides."

Hestia stared at him. "And you see these things?"

"Thankfully, it only happens like that rarely," he answered with a nod. "It's certainly not something I want publicized, but you and Rick should know."

"I'll talk with him after, and you obviously know that we'll keep your confidence, or this conversation wouldn't be happening."

Al grinned. "You catch on fast. So what would you have been doing today if I hadn't ruined your weekend?"

Hestia laughed. "I had a hot date with a good book and a bottle of wine for later today, but other than that and a little housework and grocery shopping, I had nothing else going on. What are you going to do now that you've caught your Wizard?"

"I'm not sure," Al admitted. "I still have a lot to discover about these Knights, but I'm probably not going to get much accomplished with that between now and after Carolyn and I get back from our honeymoon, so I'll probably work on research around here for the next two weeks, and then take up the chase again in July."

"Okay," Hestia agreed. "We may decide to send you on vacation more often, though. This has been a little busier a year than we're used to around here."

"I don't imagine that Carolyn would have a problem with that," Al told her. "Just let me know whenever you'd like me to take the extra time, and I'll be happy to go spend those weeks off with her instead."

Rick had also called in Sturgis Podmore for the interrogation, and the two Wizards went through the hours-long questioning they'd used with everyone else, less the questions about other fugitive Death Eaters. Al and Hestia watched it unfold all weekend, but by Sunday afternoon, they'd all had enough, and Rick put an end to it, sending Rosier back to his cell to await a formal hearing before the Wizengamot on Monday, and a trip to Azkaban, where, except for his trial, he'd be spending the rest of his life.

A press release had gone out on Saturday afternoon advising the public that fugitive number one in the Wizarding World had been apprehended. By dinnertime, that news had managed to jump ahead of the Harpies win over Puddlemere United in the finals to win the Quidditch League Championship as the lead story, though the details were still sketchy.

While most of Al's weekend was spent sitting around watching an interrogation, at Hogwarts, his fiancée, cousins, and friends were busy studying for their last one or two exams. The second year students had Astronomy on Monday, and would then be done. The third years had Potions as their big one on Monday, and Muggle Studies and Arithmancy on Tuesday and Wednesday, if they were taking either of those classes.

The fourth year schedule was Transfiguration, Divination, and Care of Magical Creatures for the three days, and the two remaining OWL exams were DADA on Monday, and Ancient Runes on Tuesday. Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures were the Monday-Tuesday exams for sixth year students who were taking those two optionals, and the NEWT exams were Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures, also on Monday and Tuesday.

Al and Carolyn talked at least two or three times a day now, getting more and more excited as a week left became just days to go. She was fairly sure there'd be an O on her NEWT report for Herbology, and at least an E for Care of Magical Creatures, while Brianna was expecting two O's for her marks after stellar practical exams in both subjects.

While the Marauders had been studying for, and writing exams, Lily had continued her promotional tour, spending Sunday doing stops in Europe and Africa, Monday in South America, and wrapping up on Tuesday doing a stop each in Mexico and Canada, and two in the United States – in New York and Los Angeles before finally getting home on Wednesday at about four o'clock in the morning.

Colin had put Hugo in charge of the TNM end of year pool party, and as each of the Marauders finished their exams, they were recruited to help out with getting everything ready for Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday evening, after dinner, Karl and Brianna were having the now-annual Prefect party in Karl's office. Since this year there were twenty-four prefects, instead of the normal twenty-two, there were a few extra guests at the party. This was Karl's first end of year party, and there had only been a few of them before, but Brianna had been to them with Scorpius, and she saw what a difference just a few short years had made. The year that James and Therese had done it, the prefects from the four Houses barely spoke with each other. Now, there were true friendships among the prefects and their dates. She loved getting to be here to see some of those old walls and boundaries coming down.

When it was time to wrap up the party, and for the Prefects who were on patrol that night to get to work, Karl, Daphne, and Brianna began handing out the rings, along with hugs and quite a few kisses as they thanked their Prefects for the hard work they'd put in all year.

"That was really great," Daphne told Karl and Brianna as they cleaned up after everyone else was gone. "I think it was even better than the one at Christmas."

"I think so too," Karl agreed. "I guess we're getting better at throwing parties or something."

"Or maybe everyone is just really excited to be done exams," Daphne suggested. "I know I am. Two more sleeps and we're out of here forever!"

"And on to paradise for the two of you, and the world of politics for me," Brianna told them.

"Which some would say is the opposite of paradise," Karl joked.

"Maybe," Brianna agreed, "but we're working on changing that. Give Scorpius and I a little time."

"You two are going to have brilliant careers there," Daphne predicted. "Try not to forget about us little people when you get to the top."

"That won't happen," Brianna told her. "Especially not with the two of you – you're going to have to schedule company, 'cause everyone's going to want to come visit you on the island."

"We'll be glad to have the company once we get our apartment and some furniture for it," Daphne told her. "We'll be going there for a couple of days next week to get started on that before we move to the island after Al and Carolyn's wedding."

"If you need a hand, let me know. Scorpius will be working, so I could probably free up a day to help," Brianna offered.

"Thanks, Brianna," Daphne said. "I'll talk with you about that after we've seen our new place."

They finished the cleanup, and Brianna hugged them goodnight before going to her own quarters, where she finished her day with the second to last bedtime call with Scorpius before going off to sleep.

The Thursday afternoon TNM pool party was bigger and better than ever this year. There were new rides, and more games, and from the moment that it was announced in the Great Hall at the end of lunch until it ended just before the end-of-school feast, it was non-stop fun.

Carolyn and Brianna spent the afternoon together, going on some of the rides, swimming for a while, and hanging out with their friends.

"What's Al doing today?" Brianna asked Carolyn. They'd gotten drinks and were sitting in a pair of lounge chairs near to one of the pools.

"Working in the office again today," Carolyn answered. "When he's done there, he's going grocery shopping to stock the new house with fresh food, and then he'll be back in Hogsmeade for his last night there."

"I'm thinking our day sounds like more fun," Brianna said. "How far along are you with your packing?"

"I'm nearly done," Carolyn told her. "That's what I worked on last night while you were at the Prefects party."

Brianna nodded. "Must be nice. I've barely started."

"I can come give you a hand after the feast tonight," Carolyn offered. "We'd just be sitting around talking anyway, so that'll just give us something to do at the same time."

Another TNM party came to an end, and the very happy students gathered in the Great Hall for the end of school feast. Thomas and Kieran had Quidditch Cup rings to hand out to their co-champion teams when that announcement was officially made, and Professor McGonagall announced that Ravenclaw had won this year's House Cup.

When the feast was over, Carolyn and Brianna went back to her quarters, and spent two hours getting her packed, and talking about the upcoming week, and the wedding. Carolyn left Brianna when they were nearly done so that she could finish her own packing, and have her bedtime ViComm call with Al.

"Are you home yet?" Carolyn asked when he answered her call, and Al laughed.

"That would be yes, and no," he told her. "I'm still at the new house, but will be going back to Hogmeade soon. How was the party and feast?"

"They were both great," she reported. "Ravenclaw won the House Cup this year, so that was a nice surprise. That race was pretty close again this year."

"Congratulations," Al told her. "It's probably those brilliant NEWT year Witches that put our House over the top."

"Probably," Carolyn agreed with a laugh. "That'll be nice to look back on some day, but tonight, I'm just glad our last night is finally here. I can hardly wait until I see you tomorrow."

"You could try sneaking out and coming to town," Al joked. "What's the worst they can do? Kick you out of school?"

Carolyn laughed again. "With my luck, the worst they could do is have me stay here another week polishing armour or something. I'll just be a good little student and wait out the last few hours."

"If you have to," Al said with a sigh. "I'd suggest that tomorrow night you're all mine, but I'm sure we'll be at the Cottage half the evening going over our schedules for the next week."

"That's okay, Al," she told him with a grin. "Having you all to myself for the other half of the evening will work out just fine."

It was nearly eleven when they said good night and ended the call so that Carolyn could get to sleep, and Al could finish up and get back to Hogsmeade. In just about twelve hours, they'd be back together, the school year over, and another summer holiday officially beginning when the Hogwarts Express reached it's destination at King's Cross Station.

While the students at Hogwarts were getting ready to go home for the summer, or were already in bed, there was a meeting going on elsewhere that was also dealing with an ending and a beginning.

"What are we to do now?" Dirk Avery asked the Wizards and Witches who'd answered the call to the meeting, "and which one of you called for a gathering of the Knights?"

"I did," one of the Wizards told him, "and what we're going to do now is continue what we've set out to do."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Dirk asked him. "My father and grandfather are useless to us now. All of their friends are either in Azkaban, or mental children. Who's going to lead us? You? Your grandfather couldn't stand up to an Auror-trainee. What makes you think you can?"

"Rosier was not my grandfather," the man told Dirk. "That was a fiction created to protect me. Rosier's only son was killed by Aurors in nineteen eighty. I wasn't born until nineteen ninety-eight."

Dirk stared at him in open-mouthed astonishment as what the man was suggesting hit home. "That's impossible, Evan!"

Suddenly, he dropped to the floor, writhing in unimaginable pain, his eyes still fixed on, and pleading for mercy with the man towering over him. A minute passed, and then suddenly, he was released, and left lying on the floor, panting.

"Listen to me, all of you! I am who you are all now guessing I am. You worry about your old leaders, and I tell you that what has happened to them _I have allowed to happen!_ They were a weakness, a cancer that brought down Lord Voldemort, and I could not allow them to bring me down." He looked from Knight to Knight, each of them with nearly identical stunned looks on their faces. He leaned over and reached out a hand to Dirk, who took it, and was helped to stand on shaking legs.

"Stand and take your place at my side," he told Dirk. "I see the future as clearly as I see all of you in this room. You are to be my right hand, and in return for your loyalty, I will give you the power to achieve your deepest desire – to destroy Albus Potter."

"How do you…" Dirk began to ask, but the other man he'd known all of his life as Evan Rosier Junior laughed at him.

"You are an open book to me," he told Dirk. "Will you follow me?" He turned to look at the other eighteen Witches and Wizards. "Will you all follow me?"

"I will follow you," Dirk told him, bending his knee to the man, and moments later, the others followed suit, echoing Dirk's pledge of allegiance.

"I no longer have any need to hide behind the name that was used to protect me from my enemies when I was a child," he told them. "From this moment on, you shall all refer to me as Lord Chernobog. I am your new Lord-Commander of the Knights of Walpurgis, and the time for the ascension of the Knighthood is nearly at hand!"


	127. Island Wedding

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven – Island Wedding

Carolyn was up before dawn, had showered and gotten ready for the day, and finished packing the few things she had left to get into her trunk so everything was ready to be taken to the train. When she was done, she took one last look around her dorm room, and then left for the Common Room. She took a last look around there too, most of her best memories in that room of time spent with Al and the rest of their friends over her first six years at Hogwarts.

Brianna had been up early too, and she was just about ready to go when she heard the knock on her office door, and then heard Carolyn's call as she came into her office.

"I'm in the bedroom," Brianna told her best friend, and Carolyn walked into the room, went over to where Brianna was packing her last few things into the trunk, and hugged her, a huge smile on her face.

"Good, you're just about ready too," Carolyn said happily. "You look about as excited as I feel. Do you think the boys will be sent to meet us at the station again?"

"I really hope so, but if they can't we'll see them at lunch," Brianna answered. "Either way, we're down to hours and minutes."

Carolyn watched as Brianna finished her packing, and when her luggage was all ready to go, they left for the Great Hall, a breakfast that all of the students hurried through, and then they both worked to help with everything that needed to be done to get all of the students and luggage to Hogsmeade Station, and loaded on the train for the trip home.

At Auror Headquarters, Hestia was in early, and had brought two coffees with her. She by-passed her desk, and set both cups down on Al's desk at the same time those incredible emerald eyes looked up at her from what he'd been working on, and he smiled at her.

"How did I know you'd be here already," she said, returning his smile. "Is something important happening today that's got you all fired up and in a hurry to get working so early?"

Al laughed. "You know very well what that something important is today. For as much as I slept last night, I should have come worked here instead – at least it would have been a more productive use of my time than all of those hours spent staring at the ceiling."

"I'm just glad to see you've been here working hard. If you'd been slacking, I probably wouldn't be giving you the afternoon off, and then I would have had to feel bad later." Al got out of his chair and came around his desk to hug her, his smile going from bright to brilliant in a flash.

"Thank-you!" he said happily. "This is a really great surprise."

"You're welcome, Al,' Hestia told him. "Rick wants to meet with us at nine-thirty, and when that's over, you can get out of here, and we don't want to see you back until Monday morning."

Padma Finnigan was giving Scorpius similar news, and had been the recipient of an equally enthusiastic hug. He'd been in early too, and had crossed paths with Al in the cafeteria when they'd each been stopping for wake-up coffee and croissant breakfasts on their way to the second and fifth floors.

"I wish my boss was giving me the afternoon off so I could spend it with my fiancée," Devlin told Scorpius. They were gathered around Alison's desk, just finishing up a quick meeting before the inspectors all headed out into the field for the day.

"Like you don't take most of the afternoon off every Friday anyway," Moira told him. "I'm terribly hurt that you didn't tell us you got engaged too, though I'm sure that Francine must have been thrilled that you finally got around to asking her."

Devlin coughed, and Moira laughed. "Didn't think you'd really asked her yet. You had better think about doing that soon before she gives up on you, mate. You've been dragging your feet for years now."

"It hasn't been years!" he protested, and Moira laughed again.

"Really? How long do you think you've been dating her? I'm pretty sure it was your OWL year, and that would make it six years, oh Arithmancy-challenged one."

"Give it up Devlin," Scorpius told him. "Moira's right, and you know it. None of us have any idea what you're waiting around for – especially since it's pretty obvious how you two feel about each other."

Devlin picked up his case, getting ready to leave. "I'm not sure how we got from me making a feeble attempt at getting a Friday afternoon off to me being a git for not proposing to my girlfriend, but I'm getting out of here and off to work before this conversation can go any farther. Say 'Hi' to Brianna for me."

"Chicken," Moira accused, and Devlin laughed.

"Absolutely," he agreed, "and proud of it."

Devlin's abrupt departure did bring their meeting to an end, and Moira and the other inspectors grabbed their cases too, and left to start their rounds. That left Scorpius with just Alison, and his three researchers, Sheridan, Tomas, and Keegan in their little section of the Department of International Cooperation, and after a little more banter, the five of them got back to work too. Scorpius may have the afternoon off, but the next trade conference was less than a month away, and they had a lot of work to get done between now and then.

Lily was taking the day off from the lab, and Kira had been her little cuddle buddy last night, while by day planned on hopping into her role as SpellBound superfan, and going with Kieran and Lily for their afternoon home-from-school rounds of interviews that would be starting at one-thirty at the WMVN studios. They'd had breakfast with Harry and Ginny, and were now at the Mall 'warming up' for both their busy afternoon, and the annual Saturday morning shopping trip that was scheduled.

"How much longer?" Kira asked Lily, who looked at her watch to check.

"Still two more hours, sweetie," she answered patiently, since it was about the tenth time in the last half-hour Kira had asked. "Are we a little excited to be having everyone coming home for the summer?"

"We're a lot excited about everyone coming home," Kira told her with a grin. "Summers are the bestest time of the whole year – well, summers and Christmases are."

"That's because all of our friends are home every summer and Christmas," Lily told her diminutive little shopping partner. "I don't even know what I'll do in another four years when it's your turn to start going to Hogwarts."

"I was worried about that," Kira told Lily seriously, "but Mummy says that it will be Kieran's job to take care of you when I'm gone to school."

Lily hugged Kira and laughed. "I think he'll do okay as a replacement cuddle buddy, but there's no way he'll ever be as good of a shopping buddy or superfan as you are. Speaking of, we need to get back to that shopping before it's time to go meet Uncle Harry at King's Cross Station."

Al and Hestia were in Rick's office promptly at nine-thirty, and Rick had gotten right to the point of the meeting, looking for the status of Al's investigation, and where he planned on taking it from there.

"I wish it were possible to go into more detail," Al told them, "but what I'm doing right now is running down the paper trail that will give me everything I need to get back out into the field and continue working on tracking as many of these Knights as I can. I've only been working in nine of the forty-nine cities we've identified, and that took most of five months."

"So you're planning on running down the other forty leads you have?" Rick asked, and Al nodded. "At that rate, it'll take you two or three more years, Al. Is there no way we can put other Aurors on this to help you out?"

"I've asked Mum and Lily to keep thinking about any way around the problem, but so far they don't have a viable answer. If they don't come up with one, I really doubt there is anything that can be done. Regardless of that, though, for now, there's no way for me to pass on certain information to anyone else right now. I am trying to find a way to speed up my investigation at each place, and I'll keep you posted if I'm able to do that."

"Hestia and I are both worried about just how large this group appears to be," Rick told him, "not to mention that we have no way to watch your back for you."

Al nodded. "I know, Rick, and I appreciate the concern, but I haven't seen anything so far that suggests anyone in this new group are doing anything more than a few petty crimes and a whole lot of information gathering. I'm sure there is an ultimate goal of the leaders – whoever they are once the power vacuum gets filled after Rosier – but I'm not convinced that most of them even have a clue of what they've gotten themselves into."

"Okay, Al. Keep at it when you get back from your honeymoon," Rick said, approving his continuing investigation. "Keep us up to date with everything you can tell us, and be careful." He smiled at Hestia.

"Please escort Auror Potter out of here, and send him on his way to King's Cross Station," he instructed her, and laughed when Al immediately caught his meaning. He tossed a small leather bi-fold that contained Al's new Auror badge and identification across his desk, and Al caught it deftly, opening it up to look, and then smiling at Rick and Hestia.

"Congratulations, Al. There is no doubt in any of our minds that you deserve to have the fastest promotion to Auror of any trainee in the history of the Ministry of Magic."

Al got up, hugged Hestia, and then hugged Rick too. "Thank-you," he told them, and Hestia hugged him again.

"You're welcome," Rick answered. "Now get out of here – you've got some fellow Aurors out there waiting to congratulate you, and then a train to go meet."

It may have been a first, but Harry was not the first one to arrive at platform nine and three-quarters. Ana and Kirley were there already, as were Scorpius, Al, Lily, and Kira when he arrived ten minutes before the train was due. He was just in time to catch the tail end of a hug-fest.

"What's all the excitement?" he asked as he joined the others. "You have noticed that the train hasn't arrived yet, haven't you?"

Lily came over to hug him, and they were all laughing. "We were just congratulating Al on becoming the youngest Auror in history – less than a year, and already promoted!"

Harry grinned over at Al, who was smiling too, and both father and son now had identically flashing emerald eyes.

"Way to go, Al," Harry said, hugging him next before moving on to hug everyone else. "So what kind of perks do you get out of being a full Auror now?" he asked Al as he worked through those hugs.

Al laughed. "Um, longer hours, less sleep, and a reservation at St. Mungos for any time I need it," he joked.

"No wonder you signed up," Harry said, laughing too. "Who could resist the lure of all of that?"

While they waited the last few minutes for the train, Al let Kira play with his new Auror badge while he and Scorpius told the others about what they'd been doing during the morning, and how they'd both been given the afternoon off.

"It's a good thing that your wedding is first," Lily told Al. "Carolyn and Brianna don't have any wedding appointments to go running to after lunch, so you can spend the rest of the day and weekend together. Think about Kieran and I while we're busy working the interview circuit."

"Just as long as you two are thinking about us when you make a billion galleons tomorrow," Scorpius told her with a laugh.

"It won't be billions," Lily told him. "Maybe millions, but not billions."

"Other than Lily and Kieran, is there much running around that has to get done today?" he asked Harry, who shook his head.

"Joel and Emily will be going for their Apparition tests before lunch. Hugo has to wait until August to take his. Other than that, we've got an afternoon at the Mall, and an open dinner invitation at the Cottage for anyone who can come, and that's about it for today's plans."

Arianna and James joined them then, along with Jason and Brian, setting off another round of hugs, and more congratulations for Al. Kira had moved down toward the end of the platform to watch and listen for the train, and her shouted announcement that the Hogwarts Express was coming diverted everyone's attention to watching both the train, and Kira as she came running back to their little group and hurled herself into Lily's arms, continuing a litany of 'They're here, They're here' as she excitedly watched the train's approach.

Lily, Al, and Scorpius might not have been cheering that aloud, but they were all thinking it. For the boys, their girls were back to stay, and for Lily, she at least had ten weeks to spend with Kieran before they'd have to endure one last school year apart. They all watched the train pull up to the platform, and then watched as the students began hurrying off of the train the moment the doors opened. Kira squirmed to be let down, and then dodged through the crowded platform toward where she and Lily had both spotted Kieran. Kira reached him long before Lily could, and they were all laughing when she did catch up.

"What's this?" she asked Kieran and Kira. "My fiancée hasn't been home from school for two minutes and he's already hugging other Witches before he's even said 'Hi' to me!"

Kieran and Kira both laughed, and he wrapped his free arm around Lily, hugged her close, and then kissed her. "Kira was just doing warm-up hugs so I'd be ready when you caught up," he told Lily.

The one good thing about having a Head Girl or Head Boy for a fiancée was that you knew where the Prefect car would always be when the train came to a stop, so Scorpius had been in the right place at the right time when the doors opened, and Brianna hopped off of the train ahead of Karl, who was getting both his and Brianna's luggage while she went ahead to be reunited with Scorpius.

"Finally," she whispered after a long hug and kiss. "I am so glad to be home to stay."

"And I'm very glad to have you home to stay," he whispered back. "If we didn't have that lunch to go to, I'd take you home and snog you senseless to show you just how glad."

"Lunch, and then that little matter of work," she added, and he grinned at her.

"I was told to take the afternoon off," he told her, and laughed when she hugged and kissed him again.

That was Carolyn's reaction too when Al let her know that he was done work for the day, plus a second long hug and kiss when she found out he'd just been promoted too.

"What a great way to start out being done school!" she said excitedly. "You get promoted, have the afternoon off, and we'll be in our new house tonight."

"It's been brilliant so far," Al agreed. "Let's get your stuff on the way to the house, and then go meet up with everyone else."

By the time they'd done that and walked over to where Harry, Kirley, and Ana were, everyone else had already gathered, and Harry and Kirley were busy sending trunks and other luggage to their various destinations. All of the Marauders, except Claire, were coming for lunch, and their families would be meeting them at the restaurant for the welcome home lunch.

"Joel, Emily, you've got your Apparition tests now," Harry told them. "Do you want me to go along?"

Joel shook his head. "We can take care of it on our own," he answered, and they left with Sarah and Hugo for the Ministry of Magic.

"The rest of us can just go hang out at the Mall until it's time to go to the restaurant," Harry told the rest of the gang.

They did that, breaking up into smaller groups once at the Mall. Dale, Carissa, Millie, Jason, Amy, and Brian went off together, and Erin and Quincy were glued to James and Arianna. Colin and Nadine went around with Lance and Vanessa, and Liam and Frederica had Myra with them. The rest of the Marauders stayed in a group with Harry, Kirley, and Ana, all of them wanting to spend time with the parents, and with Al, Lily, and Scorpius.

While Lily and Ana led Daphne, Carolyn, and Brianna into a few stores looking for summer clothes, Harry, Kirley, and the boys either wandered through nearby stores, or would take seats and wait for their girls to return.

"Did you set up a meeting with Gabrielle to see your new place next week?" Kirley asked Karl, who nodded.

"Tuesday morning," he answered. "We'll go check the apartment out and see what we'll need to do for furnishing and decorating it. The rest of the week might be a bit hectic getting that work done and making the move around everything else that's going on with Al and Carolyn's wedding, but we'll work it out somehow."

"You've got all of your friends to help, mate," Kieran told him. "We'll be there to help you with whatever you need."

"Plus some of us old folks too," Kirley added. "I'm sure Daphne's parents, brothers, sister, and sisters-in-law would be happy to help too."

"Don't let them kid you, Karl," Al told him. "They're all just working on earning bonus points so they can come visit you in the winter when it's cold up here at home."

Karl laughed. "That's okay with Daphne and me. We'd rather everyone come see us in the winter instead of coming up here then anyway. It's one of those win-win situations for all of us."

They didn't have very much time to shop before lunch, but the girls had somehow managed to collectively make eight new clothing purchases before they temporarily suspended shopping while they did the family luncheon. Their group was first to the restaurant, so they busied themselves with getting drinks while they waited to welcome the other students and their families.

Al and Carolyn were kept busy as Ginny, their Grandparents, and about half of their Aunts and Uncles came to the lunch, along with Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle.

"I thought you guys might be away at some of the Residence openings today," Al told Stewart and Teddy.

"We've been to a bunch of them already," Teddy told him. "There are a few more we'll pop in to visit later today too, but they're all just social calls – our teams running each place know what they're doing."

"It's hard to believe this is our last year of these big opening days," Stewart added. "Two hundred and fifteen Residences now, and by the time these last fifteen are full, we'll be helping forty-three thousand orphans a year, and have around twenty-two hundred graduates a year."

"So you won't be building any new Residences now?" Carolyn asked.

"This fall we're going to do a new assessment," Teddy told her. "We may want to have a few more in certain countries, but other than that, we've met our target, and one good thing with that is the money the foundation will have available to direct into other programs now that we won't be spending on building fifteen new Residences a year."

"Will you retire once you've finished helping everyone in the Wizarding World?" she asked. "You'll have that wrapped up in a few more years at the rate you're going."

Teddy and Stewart both laughed. "That's probably a bit optimistic, and no, should we ever run out of Wizards, Witches, and the rest of our Magical neighbours to help, then we can always start doing a lot more to help out the Muggles after that. The Phoenix Foundation has barely even started working to help them."

"I take it back, then," Carolyn told him. "You've still got a very long way to go."

Everyone got there by shortly after twelve, and lunch was served by twelve fifteen. Harry and Ginny had Al, Carolyn, Joel, Sarah, James, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy at their table. They were pretty much the last table to get seated and served, and after nearly a half-hour of meet and greet, they were all ready to eat.

"Have you and Joel decided yet whether you want to use Al's house in Hogsmeade this summer?" Ginny asked Sarah, who exchanged looks with Joel, smiled, and nodded at Ginny.

"If it's okay with you and Uncle Harry, we'd like to stay at the Cottage with you again this summer and the next Christmas holidays too," she answered, and Harry got up long enough to hug each of them.

"I'm thinking that's a yes," Joel joked.

"It's a definite yes," Harry agreed. "I'm a little surprised though."

Joel and Sarah both laughed. "Good, we were hoping to surprise you," Sarah told him. "It really wasn't a hard decision, though. Joel and I both just aren't ready to give up living with a family that loves us. We've really gotten to like it over the past few years."

"And we've really gotten to love having you, and Dale, living with us too," Ginny told her.

"I guess that means you can start using the house in Hogsmeade for the Academy anytime you want to start," Al told James. I moved most of the pantry supplies over to the new house, so the only thing you'll need to do is stock it with food again, and it's ready to go."

James nodded. "That sounds good to me. We'll ease them into the new place over the summer."

"What is the Academy doing with Al's house?" Erin asked, so James spent a few minutes explaining what they were going to do with the over-age students who wouldn't be living at the Academy by the end of the summer.

"That's a really great plan," she told James, hugging him. "I'm glad that Gabe, Glenda, Bert, and Chris will get to keep studying at the Academy."

"So are we," James agreed. "One more year of studying, and we'll get them at least through their OWL exams."

"Do you know how many other Academy kids will be coming to Hogwarts with us in September?" Quincy asked.

"We've got eight that we're pretty sure will be ready to go, and I think that Jason and Brian are going to make it too, which will give us ten in total," James told Quincy. "They'll all be writing exams later this summer, and if they all make it like we expect, that's more than double what we were hoping for after just two years."

"I think it's brilliant," Carolyn told them. "Maybe Ravenclaw will get lucky and have all of you in our House."

"That probably won't happen," James told her, "but whichever Houses do get them are going to be lucky to have them."

"Will you move all of them out of the Academy when they start school too?" Erin asked, and James nodded.

"Most of them are going to move out during the last week of August this time," he explained. "We have homes for all of them for the Christmas and summer holidays, so they're all going to spend at least a week or two with their new families this summer."

"Will we still get to see them?" she asked, "other that at school?"

James nodded. "I'd say so, yes. Kirley and Ana are going to take both Cassandra and Violet. If Jason and Brian are ready, they'll be staying with Mum and Dad. Callie and Mark have offered to have Alice and Lenny live with them, and Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope are going to have Ophelia and Philip come stay at the townhouse. Aaron and Tracey are going to take Adam and H. Your friends don't know about that yet, though, so keep it to yourselves for now."

"We will," Erin promised. "I'm not sure how much I like the idea of being outnumbered three to one by the boys," she added, and Arianna hugged her.

"Don't you worry about that," she told Erin. "You'll have Tracey and me to back you up, and those five boys won't stand a chance against us."

They didn't have a lot of time for visiting, and it didn't seem like nearly long enough before it was time for the working members of the family to get back to their offices and labs, for Lily, Kieran, and Kira to go with Ana for their afternoon of interviews, and for the rest of them to head back out into the Mall for an afternoon of shopping.

"You know, this is fun, but there's no big shopping rush for either of you," Scorpius told Carolyn and Brianna. "We could all go over to Grimmauld Place, and you could both meet Dobby, and then maybe Al could show you around the new house now that it's finished and furnished before it'll be time to go over to the Cottage."

"That's a rather brilliant suggestion," Brianna told him. "Maybe Carolyn and I could even take her little roadster to the Cottage – I'm sure her baby has missed her a lot."

"I'm sure that I've missed him too," Carolyn said. "All in favour of the Junior Minister's proposal, with the other Junior Minister's amendment?"

They let Harry know what they were doing, and then left to spend an hour at Grimmauld Place, where the girls spent some time with the adorable, and mostly sleeping Dobby before moving on to Al and Carolyn's house near Burbage. The two couples took a tour of the entire house first, the girls getting to see the real life results of their virtual design, and then decided to spend an hour testing out the pool before it was time to get ready for dinner at the Cottage.

"Did you boys lose anything this afternoon?" Harry asked when Al and Scorpius walked into the kitchen. "I was pretty sure that you left the Mall with a couple of fiancées."

"They're coming along in the roadster," Al explained, and Harry nodded. "Can I help out with anything?"

"Dinner's under control," Harry answered. "Why don't you guys get something to drink, and see if they need a hand setting up outside – we decided to eat out there tonight."

'They' were Joel, Sarah, Dale, Carissa, Amy, Brian, Mille, and Jason. Since the set up was only about half done, Al and Scorpius pitched in to help, and by the time they were putting the finishing touches on the tables, Carolyn and Brianna were pulling into the drive and parking next to Ginny's Lamborghini.

"Have fun?" Al asked when Carolyn threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"It was brilliant," she told him. "I've missed going for drives in my roadster."

"He has missed going for drives too," Al said. "Just how enthusiastically did he bring you here anyway?"

Brianna laughed. "Brilliantly fast," she told Al and Scorpius. "You'll find out on the trip home, I'm sure," she added, grinning at him.

The dinner guests began arriving shortly after the yard set up had been finished, and Al and Scorpius were recruited to serve drinks for those guests. All six pairs of Aunts and Uncles were there, including Charlie and Nathalie, who were mixing a weekend visit to Art and Serena's with this dinner and the Saturday night party. Add in all of the cousins, girlfriend and boyfriend families, and assorted other friends, and they had quite a group for the evening. The only ones who couldn't make the dinner were Rose and Matt, who wouldn't be back until Sunday night from Hawaii.

"I think this is nearly everyone who's coming to the wedding next Saturday," Carolyn told everyone sitting at their table. "We could have just had the wedding tonight and been done with it."

"Are we in a hurry," Brianna teased. "At least you only have to wait a week. We've still got seven weeks until our wedding."

"The price of political fame and glory," Carolyn told her friend with a smile. "Did you get any information on the plans for the weekend while you were shopping?" she asked Joel and Sarah.

"Just the basics," Sarah answered. "Shopping tomorrow, party tomorrow night, visit to the Residence on Sunday to see the returning Hogwarts students. The usual first summer holiday weekend around our family."

"I was thinking that compared to last year, things were a little on the quiet side," Scorpius joked.

"Compared to this week last year for you, it is," Sarah told him. "Unless they're announcing next week that you've been made Minister of Magic or something."

Scorpius laughed. "No, I'm pretty sure our current Minister is quite happy to continue on in his job a while longer yet. Al and I thought we'd leave the political news to our new Junior Minister for Goblin Liason this summer."

"How's that working out so far, Mr Youngest Auror Ever?" Sarah asked Al.

"We can hope that won't make the news," Al suggested hopefully.

"Of course," Joel said. "The son of Harry and Ginny Potter and Wizengamot Elder promoted to Auror after less than ten months as a trainee instead of the normal three years couldn't possibly be news."

Al nodded. "You're probably right, but maybe the ViComms and SpellBound album will move my news to the back page."

Even when these family dinners were taken outside, they were still a noisy, fun and exciting event. It was hours later before things started to wind down and people started heading for home. By eight-thirty, though, Harry and Ginny were finally snuggled close on a sofa in the sitting room, with just Joel, Sarah, Al, and Carolyn left. Dale was with Isabelle, Stewart, and Carissa for the first night of the holidays, and the two teens would be splitting their summer holiday time between the two houses.

"I'm sure Al and Carolyn want to get home soon," Ginny told the two couples, "so let's go over the schedule for the next week and send them off." She sipped her wine while waiting for four nods, and then continued.

"Tomorrow morning, shopping, starting at eight-thirty, where we have an appointment at the GamePortal before they open to purchase ViComms and SpellBound albums. Every family ViComm will be of the fully loaded variety, and training will be available over the next week or so for anyone who'd like the help, although the built in tutorials can teach you about everything they can do."

"That's going to be great for school next year," Sarah said. "Carolyn, Brianna, and Kieran were getting reports done way faster than the rest of us once they'd gotten used to using them."

"Not to mention talking with each other from our dorms after curfew," Joel added with a grin.

"I'm sure you'll find all sorts of advantages to them," Ginny told them. "Harry and I will be leaving the Mall after lunch, along with some other selected party set-up helpers, but the rest of you will have most of the afternoon open to keep shopping until it's time to get ready for the party."

"Where's the underage party this time?" Sarah asked.

Ginny, Harry, Al, and Carolyn were all smiling, and Harry answered. "It's here at the Cottage too," he told Sarah and Joel. "Al and Carolyn wanted to try out a family party instead of a couples party since half of their best friends are underage. We're setting tents up on the other side of the Quidditch pitch so any teens who want to can still camp out all night, but you'll all be at the one party."

"That's going to be brilliant," Sarah said. "Will all of the kids be coming?"

"Pretty much everyone that normally went to the past underage parties, plus the other Marauders that have been invited to this party too," Ginny told her. "We're not going to have any of the family kids who are under eleven, though, so keep it low-key when you see Kira tomorrow. On Sunday, the only thing Harry and I have is our visit to the Residence, and the rest of the family is doing their own thing."

"We were thinking that maybe the four of you, Lily and Kieran, and anyone else who might still be around after the party, would like to spend the afternoon at our house," Carolyn told them. "Test out the pool, then have an early dinner since Al's working on Monday."

"That looks like a unanimous yes to me," Ginny said as she looked at the smiles on Harry, Joel, and Sarah's faces. "Since everything is pretty much ready for the wedding, I'm working until Wednesday, so you all have the first three days of the week to do whatever you want, and then on Thursday and Friday we have Wedding appointments, and next Saturday we have a SpaMagic morning before we go to the island. The wedding ceremony will be at ten o'clock island time, followed by a beach party until around five o'clock. Kreacher and Winky will have dinner ready for six, and then we'll have a dance in the evening."

"So we'll only have to stay dressed up for the ceremony itself?" Sarah asked.

"We'll be doing a photo session after the ceremony, but when that's finished, I plan on changing into a swimsuit and sundress for the rest of the day," Carolyn told Sarah.

Joel laughed. "Maybe you should take a spin on a jet-ski in you wedding dress first – that'd be a picture worth putting in the photo album."

"I don't' think so," she told him, laughing too. "Forget about us riding off into the sunset on one with a 'just married' sign on the back of it either. That's not going to happen."

"How about on an AquaBike then?" he asked, and she shook her head. "So much for those plans," he said with a feigned sigh, and Sarah hugged him.

"If you think they're such brilliant ideas, we could set them up for your wedding some day," Harry offered.

"We'll get back to you on that," Sarah told him. "I'd love having our wedding on the island too."

"So after the wedding, do we all stick around on the island for the next two weeks to keep Al and Carolyn from getting bored?" Joel asked.

Ginny laughed. "That would be no. Pretty much everyone is staying on the island overnight, and we're doing a family lunch at the lagoon, but then we'll all be leaving for home. Most of us are working starting that Monday anyway."

"Did you find out where you're interning?" Al asked Joel, who nodded.

"I'm working full-time for Uncle Percy on the Youth Sports Program. He's going to have me spend a couple of weeks at a time at some of the different places working with the kids – that's what I'm pretty sure I want to do when I graduate after next year."

"I think that'd be brilliant," Al told him. "You'd be perfect to work with those kids."

"We'll see, but whether it's with the Ministry or somewhere else, Sarah and I both want to have jobs helping kids," Joel told him.

"You two should probably think about getting on the road," Ginny told Al and Carolyn after noticing the time on the table clock. "By the time you drive home you're both going to be ready to get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

They made pretty quick work of the goodbyes, and then Carolyn took Al on an amusement park worthy ride from the Cottage to their house that even his mother would have been hard-pressed to do faster. Carolyn's eyes were alight with excitement as she pulled her purring roadster into the garage and turned it off.

"That was so brilliant," she told Al, leaning across the gearshift to hug and kiss him. "Let's go inside – it's definitely time for the you and me half of the evening we've been waiting for."

They went inside, and since their morning was going to need to start early, went upstairs, got ready for bed, and were snuggled close together in their new, big, soft bed within fifteen minutes.

"I am really glad we decided to move in now instead of after we get back from the island," Carolyn told Al. "The House in Hogsmeade was nice to have during the last year, but this place really feels like home."

Al pulled Carolyn closer and kissed her, a long, sweet embrace, before answering. "I'm glad we moved now too. We'll have enough going on when you start work, and I get back to work to not have all of the added stress of moving everything here too."

They shared quite a few more kisses during a brilliant, if short snogging session before they went to sleep, happy to finally be back together again after the long five and a half months apart.

Carolyn had fallen asleep as content and happy as she could ever remember being, and then she was waking up to the wonderful aromas of breakfast cooking in the kitchen. Somehow Al had managed to get up without waking her, though she did have some half-dream seeming memory of a soft kiss before he left their bed to go get ready for the day. That was what she got up to do then, having a long shower, doing the rest of her usual morning routine, and getting dressed for the day before going downstairs.

"I'll be trying you out in the very near future," she promised the large Jacuzzi tub that beckoned to her invitingly from beside the etched glass shower before she left the bathroom and the master bedroom.

"Good morning," she said, coming around the island to hug and kiss Al. "Is this going to be an everyday thing?" she asked, pointing to the major breakfast meal he was just finishing getting ready.

"Good morning. Today's special, but yeah, I'm planning on making you breakfast every day that it's possible for me to do that. How was your first night's sleep in your new home?"

"My first night's sleep in _our _home was the best one I've had since the Christmas holidays," she told him with a smile. "I'm thinking there's a connection."

Al returned her smile. "I'm pretty sure you're right about that. Pull up a stool, everything's ready to go."

Lily and Kieran were sitting down for breakfast at Kirley and Ana's then too, and while Al and Carolyn were enjoying a quiet meal together, for Ana and Lily, it was non-stop QuillMessages and excited conversation with their guys.

Mum says that the ViComms are flying off of the shelves everywhere that stores are open. The new game launches to go with them are all doing great too."

"Your album and merchandise are all selling strongly too,' Ana told her. "We were wondering if going up against the ViComms would hurt us this weekend, but it seems that if anything, the album sales are stronger."

"Could that have anything to do with Owen's decision to put the album on display right next to the ViComms and new games?" Lily asked, and Ana smiled and nodded.

"That may make a big difference, yes," she agreed. "The concert tickets going on sale today probably help too. Every concert in Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia are already sold out. I'm sure they're all going to sell out over the weekend."

"I'm never going to stop being amazed every time we do sell out a concert so quickly," Kieran said. "Do we still have a lot to get arranged for the tour?"

Kirley laughed. "If by we, you mean your mother, Laura, and I, then yes, we have a lot to do still. The two of you have the week off, although I did leave two morning studio sessions open if you want the time in there."

"Laura and I need to know whether you're going to be having your team practices on the same days this summer so we can work them into your schedule while we're away."

Kieran smiled. "I can answer that one now. I won't be having any practices this summer. I let Professor McGonagall, Professor Macmillan, and Madame Hooch know a few days ago that I don't plan on playing Quidditch next year. I'll let the team know next week at the Tuesday night practice we've got booked."

"Mum will be disappointed," Kirley said, and Kieran shrugged.

"It's been fun playing, Dad, but it's a lot of work, and I really want to concentrate on my NEWTs."

"Will those extra three game day visits with Lily help with that?" Ana joked. By then, Lily was hugging and kissing her son, thinking the same thing – that she was going to get to sit with him through all six of the Quidditch matches.

"Possibly," Kieran answered. "The hours of workouts every week spent studying instead is still the main reason I don't want to play, though."

"It'll make our scheduling easier too," Ana told him. "Going out with three Quidditch Cups in a row isn't a bad way to leave your school sports career, and we're certainly not going to discourage you from wanting to work harder on your studies."

"I'll probably get blamed if our House doesn't win the Qudditch Cup this year, but the chances of winning four in a row were pretty slim anyway – especially when you've got Hugo there looking to get a pro contract at the end of the season."

"Is there any doubt about that?" Kirley asked. "I've always thought that he'd be taking over for Ron next year."

Lily nodded. "That has been the plan, but he still has to prove he's the best Keeper for the job. If there is someone better, Coach won't think twice about hiring that Witch or Wizard instead. I do think Hugo probably is the best, though."

"I hope he gets more competition this year then," Kirley said. "Ravenclaw's Chasers sure didn't give him much in that last game even if he did have a shutout in the loss."

"With Kieran not playing, and Daphne done school, that's not looking very likely," Lily said. "We'll see, though. There could be more surprises like Erin for next year too."

"It's time to go," Kirley said, looking at his watch. "Those of us who didn't get to have advance prototypes of the ViComms don't want to miss our early GamePortal appointment to get them."

Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James met the Weasley clan at the storage room entrance at the back of the GamePortal store, and invited them in to the large area where most of their inventory was kept. Right now, it was stocked high with ViComms, and extra stock of every game, VirtualQuills, and other accessories, not to mention a healthy supply of SpellBound albums.

He didn't have much time before the store was opening, and there was already a very long line-up, so he and Natalie both started passing out the customized, top of the line, fully loaded ViComms to everyone except for the three couples who already had them.

"It's looking like you're in for a very long day today," Ginny told Natalie, who nodded.

"We're hearing that Luna's new pre-release ordering has been really successful everywhere east of us where the stores are open, so hopefully it'll be the same here."

"What did you do with that?" Ginny asked. "Do you have all of those pre-ordered units ready to go and set aside?"

"We have," Natalie agreed. "The payments for them were automatically done this morning too, so we're going to have a separate line for those orders that should go much faster than the lines for Witches and Wizards who are purchasing them today and wanting whatever games and programs they purchase loaded on to them too."

"Our store here is still number one in pre-opening sales," Owen told Ginny and Harry. "Valerie's store in Toronto will probably end up number two or three, since they've really been pushing the pre-orders all spring."

"Well, you two have a really fun day," Ginny told them. "Are you ready to go shopping?" she asked Kira and James.

"Yes!" Kira said from where she was busy hovering around Lily and Kieran. "We are definitely ready!"

"Then let's go," Harry told them. "James, you're with me and the rest of the guys, unless you really want to go watch the girls try on clothes all day."

James and Kira both hugged their Mum and Dad goodbye first, and then the Weasley wave was unleashed on the Mall. Small ripples might be more accurate, since they broke up into groups that were mostly between four and eight people, and mostly girls and guys groups – at least for the morning session. Al, Scorpius, Nick, Joel, Kieran, Hugo, and Karl teamed up, planning on picking up some new summer clothes, and then check out the usual stores that young Wizards always stopped at when at the Mall – the Broom Closet, and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. The GamePortal would be on that list on normal weekends too, but none of them had any intention of getting in those lines, where they'd likely be stuck all day.

"I hear that the Comet Trading Company has a new broom out today," Joel told the other boys. "Do any of you know how it'll compare to the Lightningbolt?"

"Which Broomstick magazine testers liked it," Hugo told him. "They said it's not as fast as the Lightningbolt, but that it's very close in agility. They ranked it ahead of the Nimbus, so it must be better than anything they've come out with before now."

"Maybe it'll help Kevin's game out,' Nick suggested. "It probably bugs him that he pretty much has to fly his family's brooms when so many of the rest of the players are on Lightningbolts, but it would definitely be bad for business if he flew anything besides a Comet."

Hugo nodded. "I'm sure he'll be happy with the new broom – I know I will be. Maybe that will be enough to push him and Frederica over the top as the best Beater pair at school."

"If they weren't already there," Nick said with a nod. "Where to first?"

"I'm thinking about picking up something new to wear tonight," Al told them. "I've been so busy with work and getting the house ready, I haven't picked anything up yet."

The rest of the guys decided to do the same thing as Al, while also looking for clothes for both work and play, and that ended up taking most of the morning to get done. As usual, when they met with everyone else for lunch, the girls had by far out-shopped the boys, and before they sat down to eat, it took five minutes just to tag and send all of their bags to the different houses by Translocator.

Since Harry, Ginny, and some of the other adults were going back to the Cottage after lunch to begin the party set-up, Al and the other guys took James around with them for the afternoon, getting very little done in the area of clothes shopping, but having a lot of fun playing at the toy stores, BroomCloset, and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. When it was time for them to go get ready for the party, they met up with the girls, dropped Kira and James off with Natalie, and left for their homes.

"Did you have fun playing this afternoon?" Carolyn asked Al when they got home. The girls had been loaded down with more bags of clothes, shoes, and other purchases when they'd met with Natalie, while young James had more bags of toys and wheezes than the rest of the young men had bags of clothes combined.

"Yes, we did," Al answered with a smile. "There were some very cool new toys out there for summer, and there was a new Junior Auror Stealth Kit at Wheezes, and we saw the new Comet 440 broomstick."

"I'm glad to hear you and the rest of the boys managed to get to all of the most important shopping," Carolyn told him, smiling too. "We didn't get around to any of those stores, but we did manage to pretty much get our summer work and play clothes shopping done today."

"I don't know about the rest of the guys, but I didn't really need to pick up very many new outfits right now anyway. Hugo, Joel, Karl and Kieran picked up more than Scorpius, Nick, and I did this morning, and they've all got next week off if they need to do more shopping."

"I suppose," she agreed. "We have a little extra time before we have to get ready to go – do you feel like going for a swim with me?" They went and got changed, and while they didn't have a lot of time to spare, they did enjoy the short playtime in the pool before going back upstairs to get ready for the party.

At the Cottage, Harry, Ginny, and their group of volunteers had been busy all afternoon doing the party set-up that they'd all done lots of times now, adding in the extra work of setting up tents for the overnight teen guests that would be coming. Winky and Kreacher were doing the dinner, and both parents were juggling dinner preparation with taking care of Dobby – although they had lots of help, mostly from Harry.

"Kreacher and Winky seem to be able to do all of their work and take care of Dobby just fine," Ginny told Harry with a smile. "What's your excuse?"

Harry laughed and hugged her before getting back to doing what he was supposed to be working on. "My excuse is that babies are more fun than party set-ups are," he told her. "Besides, Kreacher and Winky did a lot to help us with our kids when they were little, it only seems fair to return the favour."

"I agree," she said, still smiling. "You can help out with Dobby, just do it after all of your work is done. Then you can play with him all you want."

By three-thirty, set-up was mostly finished, so the volunteer troopers all left for their homes to get ready for the party. Harry and Ginny went upstairs to do the same, and Kreacher and Winky kept everything in the kitchen going strong. Joel, Sarah, and Dale made it back to the cottage by four, and they all went upstairs to get ready too. The couple of honour and first guests would start arriving by five, and by a quarter to five, Harry, Ginny, and the three teens were in the back yard, ready to receive those guests. Al and Carolyn did make it there first, just a few minutes later.

"You two both look great," Ginny told them as she hugged Carolyn and Al. "Are you ready to have fun tonight?"

"Definitely, and I'm pretty sure that just about everything we do is going to be fun for these first few months now that we're back together," Carolyn answered as she moved on to hug Harry, Joel, Sarah, and Dale. "You must've gotten a new outfit," she told Dale. "I have a feeling that Carissa is really going to like it a lot, 'cause you're looking especially handsome tonight."

"Told you so," Sarah told him with a laugh, and Dale blushed a little, but was smiling too.

"This set-up looks like the party's a bit bigger than normal," Al told his parents, and they both nodded.

"It is," Harry agreed. "Part of it is adding in the teens, and we also have a few extra guests coming tonight, since the wedding will be mostly family. It still won't be all that much over two hundred, though. We have had bigger parties."

Al and Carolyn had time to get drinks, check in with Kreacher, Winky, and Dobby, and then it was time to get into a very short reception line of four until Brianna and Scorpius got there at ten after five to join Al, Carolyn, Harry, and Ginny.

"Did you have some problems after we left the Mall?" Carolyn asked Brianna, who grinned at her.

"No, I wouldn't say problems," she answered quietly. "More like maybe a little too much fun. We were only a few minutes late."

"By the looks of the two of you, it was worth being late for," Carolyn told her, and watched as Brianna's smile grew brighter.

"Oh it definitely was worth it. I could get to like afternoon snogging sessions a lot."

"Remind me to make sure there are blinds for Scorpius' office windows and door next week," Al joked. "He's going to need them."

"Don't forget to check if Brianna has them for her office too," Carolyn told him. "We wouldn't want to start any incidents with the Goblins over a misinterpreted snogging session."

It took just over an hour to welcome all of their guests, and then the three couples had fifteen or twenty minutes to take a break before everyone sat down for dinner. They were at a table with Grandma and Grandpa Weasley, James and Arianna, and Lily and Kieran.

"I'm ready for a nap already, and we're just getting started," Carolyn joked.

"You'll have time to rest up during dinner," Ginny told her. "We're used to doing those reception lines, and I'm thinking that Scorpius and Brianna will have to get used to them, since I think they'll be doing them a lot over the coming years."

"I thought it was fun," Scorpius told them. "Especially getting to see people we haven't seen very much. I don't even remember the last time I saw Christina. I'm not sure I would have recognized her if she and her boyfriend hadn't been with Trinity and Sebastian."

"She looks really happy," Carolyn told the others, looking over to where Christina sat close to the handsome young Wizard she'd been 'officially' dating since New Year's Eve. "Maybe this is the guy."

"I'm sure that would make Liselle happy," Ginny said, smiling as she watched the young couple too. "She still gets teased sometimes about how she messed up Trinity and Christina's plans to marry Sebastian and Tristan, when Tristan had the audacity to fall in love with his team mate instead of Christina – especially since Sebastian did exactly like he was supposed to."

"They all seem to be pretty good friends," Brianna said. "I wouldn't have guessed that Christina would be the type to be jealous like that."

Arianna and James both laughed. "I'm sure she's not jealous, and they all are really good friends," she assured Brianna. "That doesn't stop them from teasing Liselle and Tristan anyway. I do think you're right about this being the guy for Christina. She's definitely got that look, and so does he."

Dinner was served, and the conversation moved on to talking about what other old friends had been doing, and what everyone was doing over the next week until the wedding. Carolyn and Molly talked a little bit about what was going on at PBP Investments, and what she'd be doing when she started in three weeks, which was definitely going to include taking turns helping out with Marauders Refuge. Scorpius, Brianna, and Arthur talked politics. Harry, Ginny, and Al joined in on those conversations, and also kept up with James, Arianna, Lily, and Kieran as they talked Quidditch, the Academy, and music.

After dinner, they all got up and went around visiting the guests at the other tables for an hour or so until the DJ got the dance started, and the tables emptied as the dance area filled up.

"Having fun?" Lily asked Karl and Daphne as she hugged Karl from behind before hugging Daphne too. They had been sitting at one of the 'friends' tables along with Joel, Sarah, Callie, Mark, and three other couples.

"We're having a great time," Daphne told her. "These family parties are definitely going to be one of the things we're going to miss now that we'll be living at Marauders Paradise."

"Aunt Gabrielle and Uncle Kevin still come to a lot of them," Lily pointed out. "I know what you mean though, since it'll probably be a few years before you guys are settled enough to get away from your job and diving business very often. We'll all just have to bring the parties to you."

Daphne and Karl both laughed, and Daphne hugged her again. "We really hope you will. I'm not sure this many people would have much fun if we tried to have them all come to a party in one of those two-bedroom apartments on the island, but I guess we could always rent one of the banquet rooms instead."

Lily hugged her back and laughed. "Maybe we could just pile everyone onto Karl's boats and have a big diving party." She looked over to where Professor Slughorn was sitting, regaling his current victims with his usual stories of famous students he'd taught, and grinned. "Then again, there are at least a few guests here that I'm not sure I want to see in scuba gear."

Her friends had seen where she was looking and had both nodded their agreement. There were some things you just did not need a mental picture of, and Professor Slughorn scuba diving was one of those things.

The party rolled on until after two o'clock, though by then, most of the underage teens had left the party and gone around behind the Quidditch pitch to where the tents were set up for the overnight campout. They hadn't gotten to have the swimming or campfire they'd done at previous campouts, but getting to go to what was normally the adult party had more than made up for that. They had all been invited to stay on Sunday and join the afternoon play day at Al and Carolyn's, but most of them were only going to be able to stay until after breakfast, since they already had other family plans. The campers this year were Dale and Carissa, Millie and Jason, Amy and Brian, Hugo and Emily, Frederica and Liam, Colin and Nadine, Vanessa and Lance, Erin, Quincy, Myra, and Aiden. The last four had their own tent and rooms, while the seven couples were split among four tents, but only seven rooms.

Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna had to stay until the last guests left, and it ended up being nearly three o'clock before they were able to hug an equally tired Harry, Ginny, Lily, Kieran, Joel, and Sarah goodnight, and leave for their respective homes.

"Thank-you," Al told his Mum and Dad as he hugged them goodnight. "This was one of those really great nights."

"You're welcome," Ginny told him. "We'll see you tomorrow after lunch, and I'll send you a QuillMessage to let you know how many will be coming as soon as we know for sure."

"Sounds good," he agreed. "Say 'Hi' to Susan and Wayne for us when you see them tomorrow – I mean later this morning." Ginny had agreed, and they'd left for home. None of the couples were very long in getting to bed and going straight off to sleep.

Carolyn woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking again, and she smiled as she stretched and yawned. Getting out of bed, she went to have a shower, and since it was already late morning, she got dressed in her swimsuit, shorts and a top so that she'd be ready for their afternoon pool party. Her favourite part of the mornings now might be the waking up to the smell of breakfast cooking, but Al's was definitely the good morning hug and kiss that his making breakfast earned him.

Al had everything nearly ready, so she poured herself coffee and juice, and then sat down on one of the stools where he'd already put place settings for them on the corner of the island. They had breakfast, and after cleaning up, they went for her first walk around their property.

"This is just so beautiful out here," she told him as they walked hand-in-hand out past the Quidditch pitch to a groomed pathway through a small glade at the back of their property, over a wooden bridge that crossed a small stream, along the back of their land, back across another small bridge, and then back up along the outside edge of the large back yard to the gardens and patio that took up the entire area from the back end of the pool room across the entire length of the back of the main house and guest wing.

"The landscapers did an amazing job out here," Al answered. "We've got a really great set-up here for entertaining our family and friends."

"It's pretty great for entertaining you and me too," Carolyn said, stopping him for a hug and kiss. "I suppose we should go get started on making up some salads, snacks, and desserts for our company," she added after letting him go again with a sigh of regret. "That seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm wishing I had you all to myself for the rest of the day."

"There's less than a week left and then we'll be on the island for two whole weeks," he reminded her. "Once you and I are both working, we won't have as much time for these little afternoons, so this will be fun for all of us."

"I suppose," she agreed. "I guarantee that snogging you all afternoon would have been fun too, though."

Al laughed. "Just a second – I'll call Mum and Dad up and cancel due to a snogging emergency."

Carolyn laughed too. "Don't you dare," she told him firmly. "Just make sure you save some time for that later after they've gone home."

"We can definitely do that," he promised.

The afternoon pool party ended up being a bit larger than originally planned, and James, Arianna, Aaron and Tracey brought Erin and Quincy along, while Lily and Kieran brought Ana and Kirley with them. With Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah, Al and Carolyn ended up with fourteen guests. Those guests started arriving at shortly after one o'clock.

"If we ever decide to move, we're going to get Nick to design our place," Aaron told Carolyn as she took him, Tracey, and the rest of their group on a tour of the house while Al continued working. None of them had been there since the decorating was done, and only James and Arianna had been to the house once before with Al earlier in the year.

"Absolutely," Tracey agreed. "This place is something else."

"I'd say we should wait and see how keeping a place this big clean is first," James told them, "but then again, if Al can duel and bring in Death Eaters on his own, he can probably clean this whole place in no time flat."

Arianna hugged him. "True, but for us normal Witches and Wizards, it'd be a lot to keep up with. Our house is just perfect for us, so don't get any ideas about building a new one – I'm very happy right where we are."

Everyone else was either in the pool room when they finished the tour, or outside on the patio. Al was serving drinks, so he filled their orders before they all sat down at some of the tables that were set up for the afternoon. Erin and Quincy sat with Lily and Kieran, while Aaron, Tracey, Arianna, and James sat around a table that was next to where Harry, Ginny, Ana, and Kirley were sitting.

"I'm thinking our little cottage has just become the backup place to have parties," Harry joked. "You've got the year-round pool, the Quidditch Pitch, and a great set-up for everything else here too."

"Don't count on that," Al told him. "The cottage is home for all of us, so if you're expecting to be having years of peace and quiet ahead of you, that isn't happening."

"Like your Dad would want that anyway," Ginny told them. "He's having the most fun when the house is full."

"Are you going to have a house full this summer again?" Carolyn asked, and Harry nodded.

"We'll have Joel and Sarah at nights, and Dale and Carissa maybe half the time," he answered. "Millie, Amy, Dale, and Carissa are running the babysitting service again this year, and will have Lisa and Marcus' son Jair added to Kira, James, and Timothy. The Phoenix Foundation has six weeks at Marauders Paradise this year, so they'll also have Patricia for three weeks, and William for the other three weeks."

"Bill and Fleur are taking their niece and nephew for at total of six weeks this summer?" Carolyn asked; a bit surprised.

"We're taking them for a week each," Ginny told her, "and Grandma and Grandpa Delacour are taking them for a long weekend each, so Bill and Fleur will have them for a little under two weeks each. I imagine that Victoire and Isabelle are going to want to get them for at least one or two overnights too while they're here."

"Better get some extra Translocators for the haul those kids are going to have when they go back home," Arianna predicted.

The afternoon seemed to breeze by as they played, relaxed, and had fun together. They didn't have two full Quidditch teams there, but they did go out and try out the new Quidditch pitch for a while, mostly goofing around, as they left the bludgers in the box so that Quincy and Tracey would play Keeper for the two teams. Erin and Lily played Seeker, both of them on Tracey's team along with Ginny, Arianna, and Carolyn as Chasers on the 'girls' team. Harry was matched up two to one against Lily and Erin, playing Seeker for Quincy's team, along with James, Aaron, and Al on the 'boys' team. Ana and Kirley were left to cheer on the two teams.

"Now we know why we don't play Quidditch," Tracey told Carolyn and Quincy after their little game. "I'm pretty sure that kissing the opponent Keeper to distract her from the other Chasers trying to score a goal is against the rules though," she told Aaron with a smile. "Fun, but against the rules."

Aaron laughed and hugged her. "No more against the rules than what Erin and Lily were doing to Dad," he countered, "or what Arianna was doing to James."

"I think Erin and Quincy were the only two actually trying to play the game," Ginny told them. "I even noticed our spectators kissing the enemy a few times."

"You all started it," Kirley told her with a grin. "We were just following your lead. The game may not have ranked very high on best Quidditch matches ever, but it was very entertaining and fun."

They went back to the house, and while everyone else cooled off in the pool, Al went into the kitchen to get dinner ready for everyone. He and Carolyn had done most of the work earlier in the day, so he only had to get the main meat dish ready, warm up a casserole, and then get everything out onto the patio, which he had done by the time everyone else was done swimming.

Ginny, Al, James, Tracey, Kirley, and Ana all had work in the morning, so after dinner and helping out with the clean-up, everyone left for their homes, Lily going along with Kieran, Kirley, and Ana. When everyone was gone, Carolyn and Al worked for another half-hour or so straightening up the pool room, patio, and house, and then spent the rest of their evening on that delayed snogging session. They went to bed early so that they could both get a good night's sleep before Al had to start his last workweek before the wedding, and his first week as an Auror instead of a trainee.

Lily and Kieran had a snogging session of their own planned for the evening, but when they left Al and Carolyn's house with Kirley and Ana, they had a stop to make first.

"This is lovely," Ana said as she and Kirley walked along the lane into the property Lily had wanted to show them. "It looks bigger than Al and Carolyn's property.

"There's just over ten hectares, or about twenty-five acres," Lily told them. "We're a bit over a kilometre from Al and Carolyn's house. What do you think, Kieran?"

"I love it," he said, hugging and kissing her. "It's big enough that we'll have lots of privacy, so I think it will be perfect for us, and we should definitely buy it. Have you talked to Nick about designing a house for us?"

"Not yet," Lily told him, "but we will." She pulled out her ViComm and opened the mirror, placing a call, and Kieran laughed and put his arm around her. It wasn't Nick's face that appeared in her mirror, though, but someone he didn't recognize instead. "That'd be a yes to buying the land we talked about," Lily said aloud so Kieran could hear too. "If you can send the paperwork to us next week, we can close the deal before Kieran and I go on tour."

The Witch that Lily had called was all smiles after hearing that, and promised to have everything to them on Monday. When the call ended, Kieran hugged and kissed Lily.

"Congratulations," Kirley told them. "You've picked a really great place to build your house."

They walked around the place for a while longer, and then continued on home. Kirley and Ana stayed up long enough to have a drink with Lily and Kieran, and then went to bed, and left the young couple alone so they could get to that snogging session they'd been planning.

"That's pretty good timing," Hestia told Al when he walked into Auror Headquarters, and over to her cubicle. "Bets were that you'd be late this morning now that Carolyn's home."

"Did you lose much?" Al asked, smiling as he sat down, and Hestia laughed.

"I think my lunches are covered for the next two weeks," she answered. "You should know I'd never bet against you."

Al handed her a virtual program that didn't have any markings on it. "If you've picked up your ViComm already, I think you'll like this," he told her.

"What is it?" she asked, pulling out her ViComm module and installing the program.

"I've been designing a program that goes with BusinessMagic that I've called the Auror Case Manager, or BusinessMagic – ACM. Try it out, and see if you find it useful. I'll keep working on it this year as the BusinessMagic – Ministry of Magic systems get introduced and all of the archived information gets put into the new system. When that's done, the ACM program will be able to work with it too so we can gather any information we need. A year from now, we should never have to go search through parchment records ever again."

"Thanks, Al," Hestia told him. "I played with my ViComm all weekend, but I'm really just starting to learn the basics. You were right about it being very cool though. I absolutely love it."

Al smiled, and stood up to go around to his own cubicle. "I'll let Mum and Lily know that. They like hearing that all of that hard work paid off."

Hestia laughed. "If everyone knew that they were the ones behind the ViComm, it'd take them the next year or two to read all of the thank-you Virtual QuillMessages. Are you doing the morning workout with us?"

"Yes. I've got a couple of short trips I want to make this week, but I'll be able to do the workouts every day too," he answered.

"Good," she told him. "We wouldn't want our newest Auror to go off on his honeymoon out of shape."

Carolyn had once again woken up Monday morning to the smell of breakfast cooking, and had gotten up, showered, and dressed for the day, then joined Al for breakfast before he had to leave for work. She took care of the short clean-up, and then left for the Mall, where a bunch of the girls had decided to gather for another shopping trip. Brianna and Daphne were already there at the food court when Carolyn arrived, and Rose, Emily, Lily, and Sarah were going to join the shopping party.

Emily had seen Rose on Sunday afternoon after she and Matt got back from Hawaii, and Lily had seen them the last time they'd been home, but the rest of the girls hadn't seen her since the Christmas Holidays, and were excited to get to spend a few hours with her today.

"You two made it here early," Carolyn said after getting a coffee and sitting down with Brianna and Daphne. "I expected to be here first."

"Scorpius goes in to work as early as Al does," Brianna reminded her. "Daphne may have left Karl sleeping, though."

Daphne laughed. "Actually, I did leave him at home sleeping, but since Mum and Dad have already gone to work too, it's not really a problem. He doesn't really have anything on the go this morning anyway."

"We should have let you spend the day with him instead then," Brianna told her.

"I wanted to spend some time with all of you before we leave for Marauders Paradise on Sunday," she told her two friends. "Once we've moved there, I won't see all of you nearly enough. Karl and I will be spending most of the rest of this week getting our apartment furnished, and our things moved to the island, so we've pretty much just got today and Saturday to hang out with everyone."

"That's the only part of this growing up and getting finished school thing that isn't so great," Carolyn said. "The rest of it is pretty much perfect for all of us." She looked up and smiled when she saw Rose and Emily walking up to their table, and all three girls got up to hug their friends.

"I guess we don't need to ask if you're enjoying yourself," Brianna told Rose. "How was your trip?"

"It was so great! I'm never going to get tired of going to Hawaii," she answered. "Then again, I don't think I'll get tired of any of the places we've been going to all year. We do have three new destinations for year two, but we'll still be doing all of our first year trips at least twice."

"Are you sold out for next year already?" Carolyn asked, and Rose nodded.

"Yes, and for about a quarter of year three too. We weren't really thinking about expanding quite so soon, but the demand is so high we've decided to start looking for couples to come and do tours for us – either part-time or full-time. Hopefully we'll get some new trips lined up for later this year or early next year."

"How long do you have until your next tour?" Daphne asked.

"Just under two weeks," Rose answered. "Then we're in Egypt for two weeks. After that, we'll be home until we go to Brazil for the last two weeks of August."

Daphne nodded. "So you'll have nearly four weeks off? What do tour guides do on vacation? Work in an office?"

Rose and the other girls laughed. "Matt and I will be doing some work in the office, but we're going to start with a few days catching up with everyone back home, and then maybe a week at our house on the island before getting back to work on our tours. We have loads of work to do with getting ready for our second year of tours."

Lily and Sarah joined them then, and another round of hugs interrupted the conversation, and instead of sitting down again, they went out and got started on the shopping. Carolyn, Brianna, and Sarah were mostly looking for outfits for work, while Daphne wanted to finish up getting clothes for both summer work and play. The rest of the girls were just there mostly for support, although they each ended up picking out a few new pieces to add to their own wardrobes. They had lunch in the food court, and then after some more hugs and kisses, went on their separate ways for the rest of the day.

While the girls had been playing dress-up, Hugo had gone to the Canons' stadium to meet his father at eleven-thirty. When he got to Ron's office, he was surprised to find Uncle Harry and Coach both there.

"Come in and have a seat," Ron told him, and Hugo sat down, his stomach starting to roil with excitement as he watched his father's own poorly disguised excitement.

"We wanted you to stop in today so that we could talk to you about working for the Canons this summer," Ron continued, and Hugo nodded.

"What would I be doing?" he asked, and Ron couldn't keep the grin off of his face anymore.

"You'd be training with us as Keeper for the reserve team," he told Hugo, who was out of his chair in a flash, and went around the desk to hug his father before hugging both Harry and Coach, who tried to look stern, but wasn't being very successful.

"If you take the job," Coach told him, "hugging the Caoch is definitely going to earn you fifty push-ups in the future, Mr Weasley."

"Yes sir," Hugo said, still grinning.

"The pay is a little more now than it was back when Aaron and Arianna worked on the reserve team," Ron told him after Hugo had returned to his seat. "It pays four hundred and fifty galleons a week. We're going to start training camp early this year – two weeks from today, but starting next Monday, you and I are going to start early. This is my last season ever playing Professionally, and I'm going to be trying my best to win one more League Championship. You're going to help me do that." He handed Hugo a contract. "Read that over, and your mother has already signed off on it, since you won't be seventeen until August. If you don't have any problems with it, sign it too, and then we'll go have some lunch and let you get on with your afternoon plans with Emily."

Ron, Harry, and Coach all watched expectantly as Hugo read over the contract, and laughed when he looked up at his father, his eyes wide.

"This is a _five-year_ contract!" he said in amazement.

"It's actually five years not including this summer," Ron told him. "That's the main reason we want you to train this summer with us – we are expecting that you are going to replace me for the 2026-27 season, if you prove you're ready, and that'll keep you with us through the 2030-31 season."

Hugo turned and smiled at his about to be new Head Coach. "If I hug you again before I sign this, will I still be getting fifty push-ups?"

Coach actually laughed. "I think we can manage one more exception, Hugo. Tell anyone you made me laugh, though, and it'll be a hundred, not fifty."

Hugo laughed too, and hugged all three men again before happily signing away his summer, and the first five years of his post-Hogwarts life with one quick signature.

When he handed his father back the contract, Ron handed him an envelope, and Hugo's smile got even brighter. "I'm pretty sure he knows what that is," Ron told Harry and Coach.

"Seems so," Harry agreed. "Why don't we go do that lunch now, since I'm sure Hugo is really going to want to go celebrate with Emily this afternoon."

Hugo's news was the number one family story of the day, and he and Emily did spend the afternoon celebrating before going back to his house for a celebration dinner party that included Emily's parents, Rose, and Matt. That was where Emily found out that she had her choice of Internships at Marauders Institute. She could join any of the research sections, work in administration under Mandy, or work in any of the manufacturing sectors. She picked research, working for Lisa in the gaming division, and she would be starting her new job the Monday after the wedding too.

On Tuesday, it was probably Lily and Kieran having the most interesting day. They spent the morning in the recording studio, and then the fun part of their day got started when they went with Karl and Daphne to Marauders Paradise. They were met when they arrived by a brightly smiling Gabrielle.

"Would you like to go check out your new home first, or grab something to eat first?" she asked them after the hugs and kisses were done. With a look, Karl left that decision to Daphne.

"I'd really like to go see our apartment first," she told Gabrielle and the others.

"Well," Gabrielle said as she took Daphne by an arm, and Lily did the same with Karl, "we can go see your new place, but it isn't an apartment." They disappeared as Gabrielle and Lily side-along apparated Karl and Daphne, while a grinning Kieran apparated alone, meeting them at their destination.

"Where are we?" Daphne asked, looking around. "What did you mean it isn't an apartment?"

Gabrielle, Lily, and Kieran all laughed, and Lily hugged Karl, then hugged Daphne, both of her friends smiling but confused.

"We're in front of your new home, and it's about a kilometre from Gabrielle and Kevin's beach house," Lily told them, and it was Daphne's turn to hug her.

"I thought employees were assigned apartments," she told Gabrielle, who nodded.

"They do, but most of our business owners have houses," Gabrielle explained.

"There wasn't anything in my contract about a house being included in the assets," Karl said, sure there hadn't been anything about getting a house.

"That's because it's a present," Lily told him. "Kieran and I wanted to make sure that you had lots of room for your family and friends to come visit you." She laughed when Karl and Daphne were hugging her again, and then hugging Kieran and Gabrielle too.

Gabrielle handed Daphne two sets of keys. "Why don't we go take a look around," she suggested. "Then we can go have brunch before I have to get back to work, and you guys can spend your day deciding how you want to decorate and furnish your house."

There were a few more hugs, and quite a few tears before they went inside and checked out the four-bedroom bungalow that was on the south side of the island. It was not a new house, and had only been vacant for a little over a month, the previous residents having already moved to Marauders Refuge with the first wave of managers that were getting the new resort ready to open in September.

"This place is amazing," Daphne said as she and Karl walked around. She'd been hugging him a lot too as they checked out the different rooms, then went out onto the lanai and into the beachside yard. "Thank-you so much," she added to Lily, Kieran, and Gabrielle.

"You're welcome," Lily told her. "Let's go eat, and then we'll come back here and you and I can talk decorating and furnishing for a few hours before we have to go back home."

While Lily and Kieran had been having fun playing in the studio and surprising their friends, Al had been busy at work, and he'd started early too. He wasn't going to be working in earnest on finding out everything he could about the forty remaining groups of Knights around the world, but he was spending some time this week seeing how many of the locations he could discover by following the Secret Keepers. On Tuesday, he started out by following the Secret Keeper for the Knight's group in Norway. He had a plan for each day of the week, depending on how things went, and his plan for Tuesday went perfectly.

The Secret Keepers for Norway, and then Senegal both went from home straight to their respective safe house offices, and since that was the only goal of these surveillances, Al left each place as soon as he had that information. He had that done in time to get back to Auror Headquarters for the morning training session. After doing a little work at his desk, he was off again, and had the same success with the Secret Keepers in Brazil and Peru before going back to Auror Headquarters for the last couple hours of the afternoon and then going home.

"How was you day?" Carolyn asked as he came into the kitchen. Al hugged and kissed her before answering.

"It was pretty great today. I'm making pretty good progress, though it's going to take time to track down all of the leads I have. What did you do today?"

Carolyn laughed. "Well, when I did get around to getting up, I went for a swim, then puttered around here for a while. Then I went out for lunch with Brianna, and then we came back here and had a lazy afternoon, though we did spend a couple of hours where I showed her the basics on how to use the BusinessMagic system. She left a little while ago, and I was about to start dinner."

"Sounds like your day was more fun than mine for sure," he told her. "What are you planning for your last free day tomorrow before the wedding work starts on Thursday?"

"Brianna and I are going to hang out with some of the gang. We may take the younger teens to Paris to play for the morning, and then maybe come back here or to the cottage for a pool party."

"Work is sounding less and less interesting," he joked as they both started working on dinner. "Are we still going to the Cottage later?"

Carolyn nodded. "You're supposed to bring your broom along too, since you may be on the practice squad that'll be working out against Hugo's team."

They cooked and ate dinner together, and Al did the cleanup while Carolyn got ready to go to the cottage. When she was ready to go, Al grabbed his broom and equipment, and they apparated over to the cottage. Everyone else was already there, and he was asked to join Aaron and Teddy on the practice team, with Scorpius playing Keeper for them, Nick and Stewart playing Beater, and Dennis as their Seeker.

Carolyn sat next to Brianna in the stands, and there were a lot of spectators for this practice. Tracey was there, cheering on Aaron, and Victoire, Isabelle, Millie, and Amy were supporting Teddy and Stewart. Ron, Hermione, Emily, Matt, and Rose were there, probably as much to visit as to support Hugo and his team. Allie, Percy and Penelope came to cheer on Nick. Marietta and George were there to cheer on Frederica and Liam, and Demelza had come over to support Colin and Dennis as father and son were going to be competing against each other. Vanessa, Luna, and Neville were there for Lance, and Ginny, Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa rounded out the group, cheering everyone on.

"This should be fun," Brianna told Carolyn. "Hugo and his team are up against a pretty tough group."

"With all of the other Quidditch players around here, they'd be up against a tough team no matter which group they had put together," Carolyn suggested. "Now that he's going to be spending the summer training with the Canons, though, I imagine Hugo will be glad to have the tougher competition."

Brianna nodded. "I doubt the other Hogwarts teams will like how good he'll be next season, though."

"Probably not," Carolyn agreed. "Aaron and Arianna were a lot better in their last year after their summer with the Canons."

Over at Catriona McCormack's, practice was starting off in a much different way from the excitement that was happening over at the cottage. First of all, Slytherin wasn't going to be training with Hufflepuff this summer. Thomas had decided that it was time for him, and for his team to start working with a Slytherin practice squad so that when he graduated after this year that he left more of his fellow House students ready to continue what he, Daphne, and the other Slytherin players had started during the past two years. Everyone on the team had known that already, so it hadn't been a surprise, but Kieran's announcement that he wasn't going to be playing in his last year at Hogwarts had been a complete shocker for his team.

"So how are we going to train now that we're a Captain and a Chaser short of a team?" Nadine asked Kieran, who smiled at her.

"For the Chaser, I thought maybe you could use my cousin Aiden," he told Nadine and the rest of the team. Lily had been sitting beside Aiden while Kieran was talking with his team, and had laughed when he'd jumped up and hugged Kieran.

"I have no control over which House he'll be sorted into," Kieran continued, "but he's at least as good as Liam was in his first year, so he'll be a good training partner for the summer. As for your Captain, you know that won't be announced until the Hogwarts letters come out, but I don't mind telling you that I recommended Miranda." He smiled at his two sixth year, and one fifth year friends, Beater Eric Stebbins, Keeper John Madley, and Chaser Greg Griffiths. "I hope that won't bug you, but if we're all honest – including me – Miranda knows more about the game than pretty much the rest of us combined."

The three boys all laughed. "We don't have a problem conceding that," John told him, grinning at a somewhat surprised and thrilled Miranda. "There's no doubt you're the best choice, so why don't we just have you take over as interim Captain until it's official in August."

"Then I guess you're all set," Kieran told them. "Grandma Catriana said she's happy to let you train here all summer if you want, or you can do something else instead," he added. "Lily and I are going to get out of here, though. We'd love to stop in sometimes to see how it's going, but at first, it's probably best that I just stay out of your way and let you all work out without me looking over your shoulders."

With that, he and Lily hugged everyone, then left them to continue the practice, and apparated to the Cottage to join the spectators who were watching the practice that was already in progress there.

"How'd it go?" Ginny asked them when they sat down next to her, already watching the action.

"They were surprised for sure," Kieran told her. "Once everything settles down, I'm sure they'll be fine, and Miranda will be a really great Captain."

"Aiden was certainly happy to take Kieran's spot for the summer," Lily said. "The only down side with having him play with the Hufflepuff team all summer will be if he ends up with Myra in Ravenclaw, or with Liam in Gryffindor this September."

"If he's as good as Liam and Myra, I'm sure any of the four teams would be happy to have him," Harry told them.

"Are we going to put together practice teams for Hugo all summer?" Lily asked, and Harry nodded.

"Pretty much, yeah," he answered. "We may not have enough players every time, but we'll try to give them some competition."

"It's too bad that Joe Jenkins wants to do his own practices for Ravenclaw," Kieran said. "Erin and Myra would probably rather be here with everyone instead of at Joe's uncle's place."

"James, Arianna, and Quincy went with her tonight," Ginny told Lily and Kieran. "I'm pretty sure that Meghan was going with Myra too, but we'd have loved having their team here, even though we also like getting a chance to get out there and play too." She smiled at Kieran. "Now that you don't have a team, expect to get drafted for some of these practice teams," she advised.

"I'd love to when we're home and able to," he told Ginny. "We already know the concert schedule, and we should get the video shoot and recording schedule by the end of the week, so we can let you know when Lily and I are available for practice team duty."

"Sounds good," Ginny said. "We don't want you burning out, though, so we won't have you tied up with more than a couple of practices." She grinned at him. "I'm sure you'd hate having Ana and I have to handle you and send you and Lily off to the island for a week again this summer."

Kieran laughed. "I'm actually hoping you will send us off to the island later this summer. If not, we may just have to send ourselves there instead."

The practice lasted for just over two hours, and a highly motivated Hugo, with the help of his fired up Seeker, pulled out the win in the practice game.

"You're going to make me look bad all summer if you play like that every day," Ron told Hugo, who hugged his father and grinned.

"I doubt that," he answered. "You've got your own motivation for this coming season. I'm just hoping to keep up with everyone."

"We'll be a week ahead of everyone by the start of training camp," Ron told him. "They'll be trying ot keep up with you and me."

"You wish," Aaron told him with a laugh. "The rest of us will be ready to go, and none of us enjoyed our first experience with not being League Champions, so we're just as motivated as you are."

"Not to mention the fact that there are some contract renewals on the line for five of you," Tracey added. "You'll all want to impress the owner this season."

Harry laughed. "I plan on having them all signed to extensions before the end of this summer," he told the others. "There is no way I'm giving any of them a chance to shop around for new teams."

Everyone went into the Cottage for after practice drinks, snacks, and Quidditch talk before leaving for their respective homes. It was nearly ten o'clock before Al and Carolyn got back home. They went for a short swim, and then, because he had to get up early for work again, they went to bed, with just four more sleeps until their wedding.

On Wednesday, Al was off to Poland long before Carolyn got up for the day. It took him a bit longer to get the location of the Knight's office from their Secret Keeper, so he wasn't able to do a second morning stop like he'd hoped. Instead, he went to Auror Headquarters to do a little work, and then left for Argentina, where he spent the rest of his day following the Secret Keeper there until he finally stopped into the Knight's office after lunch local time.

Wednesday was the last take it easy day for Carolyn. Thursday and Friday were devoted to wedding preparation. Al kept making progress at work, finding the locations of the Knight's offices in Bulgaria, Angola, and Chile on Thursday, and Turkey and Venezuela on Friday.

On Thursday, after work, Al and Carolyn had a dinner party to attend that Scorpius and Brianna were putting on for their friends at Grimmauld Place. Since Al, Scorpius, and a lot of the guests were working on Friday, the party wasn't a late-night outing. The evening was a very entertaining few hours, and Al and Carolyn were thoroughly roasted by their cousins and best friends.

Al finished work fairly early on Friday afternoon. He and Carolyn ended his workweek, and their last day as a bachelor and bachelorette, with another roasting – this time at the hands of their family during and after dinner at the Cottage. When they'd had this party for James and Arianna two years ago, it had been a pretty small group, but this time, there were quite a few more teens and adults there to help out either telling stories about the about to be married couple, or to share in and enjoy the entertainment.

"I'm pretty sure that every little detail of our lives so far was pretty much completely picked over last night," Al told his family when they sat down to eat. "Why don't you all skip the old stories about us tonight? Carolyn and I won't mind at all."

"Most of us weren't there last night," Lisa told him. "We certainly wouldn't want any stories about either of you to get missed – it's one of the last good chances we'll all have until we can drag them out and dust them off after you have kids and they start growing up. I guess we should probably start from the beginning, don't you think?" she asked everyone. "The story began back on December first, two thousand and five – Bonus Day!"

Everyone at the table laughed, and the storytelling commenced as they had dinner. From first kisses and Valentine's Day gifts, to favourite brotherly pranks, to sitting room sofa sleepovers, the cute and comical moments of Al and Carolyn's lives were reviewed. By ten o'clock, long after everyone had retired to the sitting room, their family had pretty much finished the job, and Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna were allowed to escape, leaving for Al and Carolyn's house for a while before Al and Scorpius would be leaving the girls and going on to Grimmauld Place before midnight.

"That was another fun night," Brianna said as she and Scorpius cuddled on one sofa, while Al and Carolyn sat on another.

"We'll see if you still think so after you get grilled at those dinners before your wedding in August," Carolyn told her best friend. "I'm really hoping that Scorpius' parents have a few good stories for us too."

Scorpius laughed. "I'm sure they have some stories, but I'm not sure any of them will be good."

"That's okay," Al said. "Your other family has enough material from the last eight years to keep us all entertained. I was surprised at how much fun it was hearing about Carolyn and Brianna from Lisa and Marcus' point of view tonight. I hadn't forgotten about them getting those rings from Marcus when he proposed to Lisa, or that they'd 'adopted' their volunteers at the wedding ceremony, but those were two of my favourite stories of the night."

Carolyn hugged him. "Those were two of our best days ever – in a way, Brianna and I really had four parents growing up. Lisa and Marcus, and your Mum and Dad."

"Along with really great grandparents, aunts, uncies, and cousins," Brianna added.

They sat and talked until a quarter to twelve, and then there were some separate hugs and kisses before Al and Scorpius left for Grimmauld Place. They went up to the drawing room, where Scorpius poured drinks for each of them, and they sat down to talk for a while longer before going to bed.

"What do you think the girls are doing?" Scorpius asked, and Al laughed.

"They're probably already in the pool having a swim before bedtime," he told Scorpius. "Thanks for getting me thinking about Carolyn in a swimsuit – now I'll probably be awake half the night."

"I'd have thought you'd be awake half the night anyway," Scorpius said, laughing too. "Aren't you at all nervous?"

Al shrugged. "I'm really not," he answered. "Maybe if we were getting married in front of everyone in the Wizarding World like you and Brianna will be, I might have some nerves, but it's just going to be our family and a few really close friends tomorrow."

"It's not going to be everyone in the world at our wedding either – just ten thousand or so."

"Plus everyone that watches the news coverage of it on WWVN," Al added. "I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that WNN was going to cover it live."

Scorpius nodded. "They are, but I have no idea who'd want to watch it. You'll want to be ready for it too, since you'll be standing up there with me and the other guys."

"We'll all be fine," Al predicted. "Everyone will be watching you, Brianna, and maybe my Mum and Dad, and your parents. I'm sure the media is going to love that part of the story."

"I'm sure they will," Scorpius agreed. "I think it's brilliant, though, and something I really didn't expect would happen. Now, how exactly did we get to talking about my wedding instead of your imminently impending one?"

Al grinned. "Good diversionary tactics?" he suggested, and Scorpius laughed again.

They sat up and talked until nearly one, and then went to bed, Al spending the night in the guest room that Brianna only half-jokingly referred to as her closet. Back at Al and Carolyn's house, Carolyn and Brianna had finished their swim, but they were having their sleepover in the same room.

"We could've stayed in my bedroom," Carolyn said as she and Brianna were getting settled into the king-size bed in one of the main floor guest rooms.

"I know," Brianna agreed, "but this is nice, and that's Al's room too, so it just wouldn't feel right to me."

"I guess we won't be doing too many more sleepovers after tonight," Carolyn mused.

Brianna nodded. "We'll still have some girl's nights ahead for other weddings, but the boys probably won't want to do sleepovers. I'm pretty sure that a girl's night out occasionally is still allowed though."

"That would be fun," Carolyn agreed, "although I'm thinking that couples pool parties here will be fun too."

"Especially in the winter," Brianna said. "We should really get some sleep. Our SpaMagic appointments are a bit later than usual, but we still have to be at the Cottage for breakfast with the girls at eight-thirty."

"I really hope this all works out tomorrow," Carolyn told her friend. "The ceremony won't be anything different, but having a beach party and play day instead of a normal reception and dance is going to be very different."

"Everything is going to be perfect," Brianna assured her. "The whole beach party idea is brilliant, and we're still going to have a bit of a dance in the evening."

The plan was to get some sleep, but the two young Witches and lifelong friends talked for a while longer before first Brianna, then Carolyn fell asleep, the wedding now down to being just hours away.

For the girls, Saturday morning, while starting a little later than for other weddings, was going to be pretty much the same routine – breakfast, followed by hours of pampering at SpaMagic. Harry was the only guy at the Cottage by the time the girls started gathering, since the Wizards of the family were all having a Kreacher and Winky breakfast at Grimmauld Place. They were going to have a slightly different morning, since because of the time change between home and the island, they wouldn't be able to go start setup until after dawn island time.

While they waited to be able to do that, after having breakfast, they went to the Mall, where about half of the guys went for haircuts while the others killed some time wandering around, and then they moved on to the Cottage once they'd gotten the all-clear that the girls had left for the Spa.

"What have you got for us to do when we get to the island?" James asked his father as they sat around the kitchen table.

Harry pulled out a sheet of parchment and started going down the list. "You, Aaron, Nick, and Matt are on table and chairs set-up for both the ceremony and the meals." He looked up at Matt and smiled. "Happy first anniversary," he added, and Matt grinned.

"Thank-you," he answered, and the other guys added their congratulations too.

"I wasn't even thinking about today being your anniversary too," Aaron told Matt. "Was that on purpose so you and Rose could have the same anniversary date as Al and Carolyn just like your parents do?"

"It is funny that it worked out that way, but no – we didn't even think about our weddings being on the same date until last fall sometime," Matt told Aaron.

"Did you have time to celebrate before coming over here?" James asked, grinning at his friend, and Matt laughed.

"I'd say they must have," Harry answered before Matt had a chance. "Rose was showing off some very nice new sparklies, and had a smile to match when she was here for breakfast." He returned to his list, and got their little planning meeting back on track.

"Kieran and Karl can start with getting everything set up for the dance, and then come see me for further instructions. Hugo, Joel, and Dale can help me with getting everything except the food out to the buffet tables. Al and Scorpius are to take care of whatever Al wants to get ready at his and Carolyn's house for the night and weekend. We'll have some other running around to do, so when any of you are done, come find me, and I'll let you know what else needs to be done – which will mostly be with getting the guest houses ready for the extra overnight company."

"So much for test driving the jet-skis to make sure they were all working properly,' James told Aaron.

"You'll have lots of time to play after the wedding," Harry told him. "This will be a pretty fast set-up anyway, since we'll have to get ready and in our suits by nine o'clock island time. Speaking of – you can figure out how you want to split up to do that, but Carolyn and Brianna will be with Ginny at our house, so to be on the safe side, use the south path for any guys who are not supposed to see the bride before the ceremony."

"I still don't see why we can't wear the ties with our swimsuits that I suggested," James told the others, and Harry laughed.

"Because your mother said no, and you do not want to find out just how good her bat-bogey hex really is," he told James.

"Good point," James said, laughing too. "Regular suits it is, even though it won't be for very long."

The guys got to the island just after six o'clock island time, and started working right away. For Al and Scorpius, that meant mostly that Scorpius provided moral support while Al did some cooking and baking. He did help Al by getting bottles of wine out of the storage room, and setting out glasses and ice buckets so that Al would only need to add ice and put the bottles in to chill later in the day.

"When did you have time to get all of the food stocked up?" Scorpius asked.

"I've been over this way four days this week," Al explained. "I just picked up some groceries every day and dropped them off on my way back home."

Scorpius laughed. "That's a pretty strange mental picture – the world's most powerful Auror chasing bad guys all day, then going grocery shopping after work before going home to cook dinner."

"I only cooked dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday," Al reminded him. "Thursday and Friday we were being roasted instead."

"You know that Winky would have been happy to make all of this stuff for you," Scorpius told Al, who nodded.

"I know, but she and Kreacher are busy enough with the food for today, and I like doing things like this for Carolyn."

"The only thing I'm good at making is reservations," Scorpius joked, and Al laughed.

"You're welcome to come take cooking lessons anytime you want, mate."

"I'll keep that in mind, but I'm not sure that will ever be a talent of mine, Al, and Winky probably won't let me mess up her kitchen anyway."

Al had everything done by eight-thirty, and then he and Scorpius went upstairs to grab showers and get ready for the wedding ceremony, which would be starting at ten o'clock. They were ready to go by nine-fifteen, and started heading for the lagoon. Along the way, they met up with quite a few of the other guys, and they were at the lagoon by nine-thirty. The only people that were on the island for the wedding that hadn't been there before were the Witch who was performing the ceremony, and her husband. She had married Art and Serena, and the couple were now close friends with Charlie and Nathalie. All four of them were at the lagoon when Al and the other guys got there, and she spent the next ten minutes going over the ceremony with Al, Scorpius, Nick, Matt, and Kieran while the guests started arriving – either walking to the lagoon from their houses on the island, or coming by TransPortal from home.

They didn't need to escort anyone to their seats, but Nick, Matt, and Kieran went to work as the welcoming committee after their little meeting, while Scorpius was left to stay with Al while they waited for the ceremony to begin. By five to ten, nearly everyone was seated, and Al, Scorpius, Nick, Matt, and Kieran were led to the front of the rows of seating, standing to the right of the centre aisle. Even with just having family and a few friends, there were still just over eighty Witches and Wizards attending the wedding, and Al smiled as he looked around at everyone while they waited for his father, Carolyn, Brianna, and the other girls to arrive.

When they did emerge from the path, Al's heart soared as he watched Carolyn approach. There were just ten rows of chairs between them, and they were both smiling brightly, each of them focused on the other for a moment before the music started. Lily led off the procession, followed by Rose and Allie, with Brianna following them just ahead of Harry and Carolyn as they all made the short walk up the aisle. There was a ripple of laughter when Carolyn and Al both hugged the father of the bride and groom before they joined hands and turned back to face the front. Harry went to sit next to an already teary-eyed, smiling Ginny, and the ceremony began.

Al was paying attention as the speech about weddings and marriage was given, though he was watching Carolyn more than he was watching the Witch performing the ceremony. The connection of his hand with Carolyn's seemed even more perfect at that moment than ever before. He didn't know what to call her wedding dress, since it wasn't like anything he'd seen before, but it was beautiful, and she was more beautiful than he'd ever seen her before, seeming to glow in the mid-morning sunlight.

The 'I do' part of the ceremony came next, and then it was time to exchange the rings. Scorpius handed Al the wedding ring, and he held it in one hand, and held Carolyn's left hand with the other. He was smiling, and his emerald eyes were flashing brilliantly as he looked into her eyes.

"Ever since the first time we met, I've known that we were meant to be together," he said in a gentle, clear voice. "This ring is a symbol of my eternal love for you, and I promise to spend my life filling yours with the same joy and happiness that you give to me every moment we're together." He slipped the ring onto her finger. The diamonds on the wedding ring were as perfect a match to her engagement ring as they were a match for each other.

Brianna handed Carolyn his ring, and her hands trembled slightly as she held his hand. She'd looked away from him while taking the ring from Brianna, but was once again looking into his eyes, and they were both still smiling.

"What I remember most about meeting you is feeling like in an instant, all of the sadness and sorrow in my life had been swept away, and was replaced with more love and joy than I could even understand back then," she told Al as she squeezed his hand. "My heart has been yours ever since, and with this ring, I pledge that my heart will be yours forever." She slipped the ring on his finger, and after a few more brief closing comments, they were pronounced husband and wife, and then Al was instructed to kiss the bride, which he enthusiastically was happy to do.

There was some more laughter amidst the happy tears when that kiss got to the borderline of being too enthusiastic, and when Al and Carolyn heard that ripple of laughter, they ended the kiss, both of them smiling again. They were introduced to their family and friends as Albus and Carolyn Potter, and then instead of doing a recessional, they stayed at the front, and after they'd been congratulated by their wedding party, everyone else started coming to the front to congratulate them, starting with Harry, Ginny, their grandparents, James, and Arianna.

A quick round of congratulations was followed by a fairly short half-hour photo session, and then it was time for everyone to go get changed and ready to play. Al and Carolyn walked back to their house, and they were part of a group that included about half of the wedding guests. That group continued to diminish until it was just the two of them with Lily, Kieran, Ana, Kirley, Karl, and Daphne when they got to the two houses at the southeast corner of the island. A few more quick hugs later, and they were left to go into their house to get changed with promises to meet back outside in fifteen minutes.

"Maybe we should have told them to go on ahead without us," Carolyn suggested when the first thing they did once they were inside the house and alone was to share a very long, sweet kiss.

"It's probably a good thing that we didn't, or there's a good chance we'd miss the whole party," Al said, hugging her one more time before taking her hand and leading her upstairs. He grabbed the swimsuit and shirt he'd put out for himself and went to go into the bathroom to change.

"You don't want to change out here?" Carolyn asked with a soft, throaty laugh, and Al grinned at her, his eyes flashing.

"I definitely want to," he answered. "If I did, though, there's a very good chance we wouldn't get out of this house for the rest of the weekend."

"Can you at least help me with the zipper on this dress before you leave?" she asked, and Al stepped close as she turned around, and slid the zipper down very slowly as he also placed some soft kisses along her neck. Carolyn turned and put her arms around his neck and kissed him again before letting him go, both of them smiling.

"Maybe I'll just have a quick cold shower while I'm in there," Al joked before kissing her one more time, and going into the bathroom to change.

They were only a few minutes late meeting back up Lily, Kieran, and the others, and they headed back toward the lagoon.

"What took you so long?" Lily asked them, as the rest of the group laughed.

"We thought we did all right under the circumstances," Carolyn told her new sister-in-law. That fact clicked in suddenly, and she stopped and hugged Lily for a long minute.

"What was that for?" Lily asked, and Carolyn laughed.

"The last hour or so has been a bit of a whirlwind, and I just needed to hug my new sister."

Lily laughed too, and hugged Carolyn again. "Don't forget to hug your other new sister too when you see her. I'm sure Arianna's as glad to have another sister as I am."

Their group was pretty much the last to arrive, along with another group that had come along the northern path. It was nearly noon, island time, and while they'd been gone, a lunch buffet had been set out for everyone, though this was an eat-whenever-you-want meal. They'd do the sit-down wedding dinner with everyone at around six o'clock. Kira and Patricia pounced on Lily and Kieran as soon as they saw them get back, and they were drawn away to go play, while the rest of them decided to have lunch first and then go play. When they'd gotten plates of food and glasses of wine, Kirley and Ana went to sit with Harry, Ginny, and some of the other parents, while Al, Carolyn, Karl, and Daphne went to sit with Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, Matt, and Rose.

"I think you two have started a new wedding tradition," Matt told them as they sat down. "This is really brilliant. Getting to watch Rose in a swimsuit for the rest of the party is pretty great, and not having to wear a suit and tie all day is a really close second."

"This is definitely just what we were hoping for," Carolyn told the others. "It's just been absolutely perfect so far."

The rest of the afternoon was pretty great too, and everyone played at the beach, and in and on the water until five o'clock, when drinks and appetizers were put out to draw everyone in to get ready for dinner. They were doing another buffet, but this one was one of those amazing Kreacher and Winky culinary experiences that most of them went back up to get seconds for, and a few went back for thirds before the dessert course was delivered around seven-thirty. By eight o'clock, the food and dishes had all been cleared away, drinks had been topped up, and then Lily and Kieran called Al and Carolyn out for their first dance.

"Over the last few years," Lily said, smiling at her brother and sister-in-law, "Kieran and I have been writing wedding songs for our family and friends, and we did that for Al and Carolyn too, except in this case, we wrote it a few years ago, and it's the only one, at least so far, that became a number one hit for SpellBound. For those of you who didn't know, 'Loved You All My Life' was written for and about Al and Carolyn."

While Lily was talking, she and Kieran had both begun to play, and Al and Carolyn had started dancing to the music, her arms around his neck, and his around her waist. While everyone there knew the song very well, that familiarity didn't keep the tears from flowing as they watched the newlyweds dance and listened to Lily and Kieran spin their magic as they sang the beautiful ballad. Al and Carolyn ended that dance with a soft, lingering kiss that ended as the last notes of the song faded. They both hugged Lily and Kieran, and then waited while Lily sat back down at her keyboard, and Kieran sat down with his guitar again.

"Today is also Rose and Matt's first anniversary, so before we bring out the rest of the wedding party, parents, and grandparents, we'd like them to come join Al and Carolyn for the next dance," Kieran told everyone next. "Rose and Matt, congratulations, and this next song is for you."

Rose and Matt were smiling as they joined Al and Carolyn, hugging them while their family and friends applauded before the two couples danced to an encore performance of their own wedding song. When that song ended, Lily called for the wedding party, parents, and grandparents to join in for one more song before they opened up the dance for everyone.

For the next hour and a half, Lily and Kieran played and sang while their family and friends danced. Their last three songs were the last three that Al and Carolyn would be staying for – a dance with the Best Man and Maid of Honour, one with the mother and father of the bride, and then finally, their last dance of the night. When that ended, they switched to canned music that Kieran had set up ahead of time with a good mix of fast songs and ballads to keep the party going. Al and Carolyn went around to thank everyone, and were sent on their way down the path toward their house with a last round of hugs and kisses from Harry, Ginny, James, Arianna, Lily, Kieran, Scorpius, Brianna, Rose, Matt, Nick, and Allie.

"I wonder how late they'll all stay up partying?" Carolyn asked as she and Al walked along the south path toward home and the start of their two-week long honeymoon.

"I don't think it will be long before Kira and the younger kids will be sent off to bed, but I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few of the younger couples stay out there for a few more hours," Al answered, and Carolyn nodded.

"I guess they can all sleep in if they want, but it already feels really late."

Al smiled and squeezed her hand. "We can sleep in too if you want."

"What makes you think I'm going to let you sleep at all?" Carolyn asked him, the way she said it sending shivers of excitement through both of them.

When they got back to their house, Carolyn laughed when Al picked her up, carried her inside and upstairs to their room before setting her back on her feet. There was a bottle of her favourite wine on ice ready, and he opened the bottle and poured two glasses, handing one to her.

"I think we're supposed to be nervous and scared," Al said softly, touching her hair and cheek with his free hand. "I'm not, though."

Carolyn laughed softly. "Neither am I."

They both took drinks from their glasses, and then she took both glasses and put them back on the table. She put her arms around his neck, and pulled him close for a long, searing kiss, and he first wrapped his arms around her waist before beginning to caress her back. Carolyn briefly thought about the beautiful satin number that she'd picked out for tonight, but forgot all about it as Al helped her out of her sundress, continuing to caress her even as she tugged off his shirt, and relieved him of the pants he'd put on over his swimsuit before dinner.

There was no sense of time passing, but at some point, after swimsuits had also been removed, Al again picked Carolyn up and climbed into bed with her. He was pretty sure that what happened next was pretty rare, as they linked minds, hearts, and bodies, sharing everything with each other, and creating something together that was more passionate and beautiful than either of them could have ever imagined. Al couldn't have said how long they were joined like that, but he was brought back to the real world by Carolyn's soft laughter in his ear.

"Do you think that you could very carefully put us back down?" she asked him, and that's when Al realized that they, and their bed were floating very near to the ceiling of the room. He laughed too, and slowly and gently returned them – and their bed – to where it belonged before kissing Carolyn again.

"Wow," was all he could manage to say, and Carolyn laughed again.

"Yeah, what you said," she agreed. "I love you, Al."

"I love you too, Carolyn," Al answered, kissing her again. "Do you think that maybe we could keep this little story to ourselves?"

"That's probably a very good idea," Carolyn told him. "We do not want to be the inspiration for Wedding Night Wheezes, or any more family jokes."

Al lay beside her and pulled the sheet up around them. "What exactly happened?" Carolyn asked him, and then laughed at her own question even as Al grinned at her. "You know what I mean – it was like when you worked with me on the BusinessMagic program, and we were linked together, but it was way more than that."

"I'm not sure," Al told her honestly, then grinned again. "We should probably study the phenomenon a lot more, and maybe someday we'll understand."

"We can do that," Carolyn told him before pulling him close for a tender kiss. "Why don't we do that, and while we're at it, you can work on keeping the furniture on the floor where it belongs."

There was an island full of family and friends, but the newlyweds were oblivious to the others as the wonderful day spent celebrating with everyone transitioned into an absolutely brilliant first intimate and beautiful night together. When the party at the lagoon ended, for most of the family it meant that the summer holidays could really get started. That meant summer jobs, concert tours, vacations, and all of the other fun and adventure that always happened during the summer. With everything that was going on around the family, this was definitely going to be another exciting holiday.


	128. While the Auror's Away

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight – While the Auror's Away

Harry was up early, cooking breakfast for eight on Monday morning. Compared to the island full that had been at the lagoon for brunch on Sunday, this was a breeze. Technically there were nine for breakfast, but then Fluffy had already come for her breakfast, and had left once she'd gotten her piece of sausage.

"Good morning," Lily said as she came into the kitchen and went over to hug him. She and Kieran would be leaving later this morning on the first concert tour of the summer, and had spent the night at the cottage, since they wouldn't be seeing Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the family for the next two weeks.

"Good morning honey," Harry answered. "Did you sleep well?"

Lily nodded, poured herself some juice, and sat at the table. "I did, though it was hard to get to sleep at first."

"Did you hear anything from Karl and Daphne last night?" he asked. They'd left the island fairly early on Sunday so that they could spend the afternoon and evening with her family before moving to Marauders Paradise.

"Daphne sent me a few messages overnight. They went out to dinner with Michael and Rebecca, and then visited some of the friends they'd made last summer for a few hours before taking their potions," Lily answered. "She's starting work today, and Karl officially takes over his business today too, though the Wizard he's taking over from will be working with him for the next two weeks before moving on to Marauders Refuge."

"They're probably going to have the most exciting Monday of everyone in the family," Harry suggested, and Lily nodded.

"Probably, although Hugo will likely think that starting to train with Uncle Ron today is a pretty close second."

"I can't blame him for that," Harry said with a laugh. "He's going to love training with the Canons as much as your mother and I did. I'll probably stop in a few times this week to see how that's going."

"And maybe take your broom along for a little flying practice with him?" Ginny asked as she came into the kitchen with Joel and Sarah. Harry laughed again.

"Maybe. Why? Do you want to take a morning off and come play too?"

Ginny hugged and kissed him as their teens all laughed. "Maybe I will, since my lab buddy is gone for the summer anyway, but today won't work. Ron and Hugo would probably like to have some Chasers to train with this week."

"That would be fun," Harry told her. "Why don't you see when you could get away, and send me a QuillMessage. I'll let Ron know, and see if I can get some others to come play for a day or two this week."

Joel and Sarah had hugged him too before sitting down, and it was only a few more minutes before Dale, Carissa, and Kieran joined everyone else at the table after another round of hugs. Harry finished cooking, put everything out, and sat down next to Ginny. Since she, Joel, and Sarah would be leaving for work, and Dale and Carissa needed to get ready for the incoming kids for their babysitting service, breakfast was over pretty quickly. Joel and Sarah left for the Ministry, and Ginny spent a little extra time saying goodbye to Lily and Kieran, since she wouldn't see them for two weeks.

When Lisa was the first parent to get to the cottage, and dropped off Jair, Ginny had another quick round of goodbyes before leaving for work with her. Millie and Amy were there next, and Kira, James, and Timothy were brought over by Natalie and Mandy on their way to work, getting there maybe ten minutes after Millie and Amy.

"When are you two leaving?" Harry asked Lily and Kieran. Kira was glued to Lily, but the other kids had moved into the sitting room.

"We'll have to get out of here pretty soon," Lily answered. "Kieran's going to help out with getting the equipment ready to go this morning, and I'll be stopping by to pick up Nadine and Vanessa, and then the three of us will work with Ana and Laura for the rest of the morning. We'll be leaving for the tour just before lunch."

"I'm going to miss you," Kira told Lily, hugging her.

"We're going to miss you too, sweetie," Lily assured their little superfan. "You'll have to take care of Dad for me while I'm gone. Take him out shopping, play dolls with him, and all of that stuff, okay?"

Kira giggled and hugged her again. "I will," she promised.

While Lily and Kieran were getting ready to leave the Cottage, Brianna was already at the Ministry of Magic, getting ready to start her first day as the Junior Minister in charge of Goblin Liason. She and Scorpius had eaten breakfast, and then gone to work together. He had hugged her when she got off of the lift on the fourth floor, and when she reached Cuthbert Mockridge's office, her boss had waved her in right away.

"I thought you'd be in early," he said in his gruff voice, skipping the formalities. "Your office is ready to go, and you know all of your staff from working in Goblin Liason last summer. I'm expecting you to keep doing what you started then. Train the members of your team that are willing to learn, replace the ones who won't or can't. If you need anything from me, the door's always open."

Brianna smiled and nodded. "Thank-you," she told him. "I do have one question before I get to work. Do you really find this gruff old Wizard act all that effective, or do you just do it because of the entertainment value?"

Cuthbert Mockridge didn't change his expression in the slightest, since there were other Witches and Wizards around in the department, but he was inwardly pleased that his newest Junior Minister was so perceptive.

"The entertainment value is just an added bonus," he told her quietly. "I expect you've already worked out why I do it, and yes, in my modest opinion, it's fairly effective, so don't mess it up for me."

"I won't," Brianna promised, still smiling as she stood up to leave. "I'm going to really like learning from one of the politics masters, sir. Thank-you for wanting me to come work in your department."

She left Minister Mockridge's office and went to her new office in the Goblin Liason Division. Nigel was the only member of her new team who was already at his cubicle, and when he'd come over to greet her, she'd hugged him and stopped to see how he'd been since the last time she had seen him at the New Year's Eve party.

"This is definitely the first time I've been hugged by the boss," Nigel joked. "I could get used to it, though if Minister Mockridge starts hugging us, I may change my mind on that."

Brianna laughed. "I don't think you have to worry about that happening," she told him. "How come you're in so early?"

"I knew you'd be in early, and thought someone should be here to welcome you," he answered. "Then there are these things," he said, pointing out the shiny new BusinessMagic systems that were sitting on every desk in her division. "Goblin Liason is the first division in our department to get these things, and apparently your first big job is to help us all muddle through learning how to use them."

"We're going to love them," Brianna told him, now really glad that Carolyn had given her an introduction to them the previous week. "Do we have a trainer coming today?"

Nigel nodded. "Yes. I'm sure the memo is on your desk. Training starts at nine in our conference room."

"Good. Anything else I should know about before everyone gets here?"

"No," he answered. "Other than a couple of grumblers, we're all pretty fired up to have you running this division. You probably have a lot to get working on before the training session, though, so you might want to go take a look at the pile waiting on your desk."

"Thanks, Nigel," Brianna told him. "I'll get started and see you in a bit."

She continued on to her office, going in, and leaving the door open before going across the office that wasn't much different than Scorpius' office on the fifth floor. A little re-decorating would definitely be in order soon, but that could wait until she got settled into the job. Nigel wasn't kidding about a stack of parchment and files on her desk, and she was a bit surprised that there was so much there.

"Your predecessor decided that since he was being moved to another department to make room for you, that he should leave pretty much all of the work for you too."

Brianna looked up from her desk, and smiled at Willow, who'd been the Goblin Liason Division receptionist for the past three years. She and Brianna had gotten along pretty well last summer, and while she might not admit it around the office, Willow was pretty excited to be getting Brianna for a boss.

"That was nice of him," Brianna said, going back around her desk to hug Willow. "I hope he didn't make things too unpleasant since the announcement was made."

"It wasn't unpleasant," Willow assured her. "A bit boring, since he was deferring everything that could be pushed off, and only working on the few jobs that absolutely had to be done. I thought the Goblins might start getting angry about the delays, but since they knew you were going to be taking over, it seems they were happy to wait for you to start."

"Is there anything I should get at before the training session starts?" Brianna asked, and Willow nodded.

"Small stack in the middle of your desk," she answered. "BusinessMagic training will be all day, I've set everything up for the conference room, including drinks, snacks for morning and afternoon breaks, and lunch for twelve-thirty. If you need anything, let me know."

With that, Willow left Brianna's office, and went over to her cubicle, and Brianna went back to her desk and sat down, getting to work right away. Most of the parchments Willow had indicated were summary reports of the status of current cases and issues for Goblin Liason, some priority correspondence, a budget report, and a few other items requiring her attention. Willow's organization skills must have been pretty finely tuned, since she tapped on the office door just as Brianna finished dealing with the last parchment.

"It's almost nine," she told Brianna. "Time to go to school."

Brianna laughed. "I was hoping I wouldn't be hearing those words anymore," she joked, standing up and handing Willow a few of the sheets of parchment that had needed her signature. "If it wasn't for the fact that I know just how much we're all going to love these systems, I'd think about cutting class."

Willow laughed. "I can hardly wait," she told Brianna. "Some of my friends in divisions who've already got these things all tell me that they absolutely love them."

When Brianna and the Witches and Wizards who now reported to her in Goblin Liason were getting ready to start their training class, most of the Marauders were already busy at their jobs too. Hugo, of course, was starting his first morning at Canon's stadium with conditioning training with his father, and Emily was at the lab, working with the team in the Gaming division that Lisa had wanted her to work with. Frederica and Liam were starting their first day in the Wheezes lab with George and Lee, both of them excited about actually getting to help work on the latest wheezes.

The Marauders and their families weren't the only people busy while Al and Carolyn were beginning their honeymoon on the island. At the Avery Estate, of which Dirk Avery was now the titular head, he was hosting a meeting of the Knights while the rest of the Wizarding World carried on in blissful ignorance. The only addition to this meeting from the one just over a week ago was Malcolm Bletchley, now that he was out of school, and Dirk's younger friend looked nervous and a bit scared as he sat beside his father. Dirk couldn't blame him. He was still shaken over the revelation of the last meeting, and remembered all too well his 'lesson'.

"Thank-you all for coming," Evan – Lord Chernobog – began, smiling as he looked from face to face. "Now that our group is complete," he continued, glancing at Malcolm, "it is time for me to reveal to all of you my plans for our return to power."

Over the next hour, Dirk, Malcolm, and the other Knights listened as their new leader told them what he saw in their future – a glorious, exciting vision where Purebloods again ruled, and proper order was returned to the Wizarding World. By the time he was finished, they were all fervent, nay, fanatical supporters, each of them ready to do whatever was asked of them by their Lord-Commander. The meeting broke up, and eventually, only Lord Chernobog and Gwendolyn Montague remained with Dirk.

"While Terrance and Byron continue their work, and the others prepare," Lord Chernobog told Dirk, "I want you and Miles to work with young Malcolm. Teach him, and prepare him well so that he will be ready when I have need of his service."

"I will, Lord," Dirk answered. "Is there anything else you need of me?"

"Not at the moment," he was told. "You have your other instructions, and my complete confidence. I will be much more directly involved than my surrogate grandfather was with his former Death Eater cronies. We will continue working with all of the Knights, and when we are ready, we will strike – as I have foreseen."

"Yes, my Lord," Dirk said, bowing deeply. He personally escorted his Master and Gwendolyn to the door, and then watched as they walked down the drive, left the estate, and disappeared.

Minutes later, Lord Chernobog, and Gwendolyn were at what was now his estate in Cardiff, in the room at the back of the Main House. Drinks had been served, and then his servants were sent away. When they were finally alone, she put her arms around him, and he kissed her fiercely.

"You were brilliant, my Lord," she breathed after being released from that kiss. They had been a 'couple' for several years, and Gwen had been sure that the young man she'd known as Evan Rosier, and Ross Evans Junior, was destined for greatness. Being the sole heir of the Rosier family estate had been a big plus too. His revelation just over a week ago had been as much of a shock to her as it had been to the other Knights, but where most of them served partly out of fear, she served with undying devotion, her soul inexorably drawn to his power, like recognizing like. He ran a hand through her glorious golden hair, and she shivered at the thrill of his touch, momentarily closing her blue eyes as he pulled her into another searing kiss.

"This is just the beginning, Gwen," he said after letting her go. There was passion and need for her within him, but he pushed that aside for later. They both understood their relationship for what it was, and it was not based on foolish concepts like love.

"Finally, now that those old fools are out of the way," she agreed. "They have wasted decades in useless scheming while hiding in fear from our enemies, mere shadows of what they once were."

"Yet now you know why," Lord Chernobog told her. "They were not destined to lead at all – that has always been my pre-ordained right, and my enemies, wallowing unaware in their innocence, shall soon tremble and fall."

"I can hardly wait for that day," Gwen said fervently. "What those mudbloods and blood traitors have done to our world needs to be undone and the abominations they have created be swept away utterly."

"Patience," he answered. "It will be soon enough, but not until all is ready, and the appointed time arrives. Then we will act – beginning with destroying our greatest enemy first, as I have promised Mr. Avery."

"Al Potter will have no chance against your power," Gwen stated confidently. "When you come against him, he won't even know what hit him even as he dies."

Lord Chernobog laughed. "No doubt. He's still twenty-five years behind us – and he's supposed to be the best the Aurors have now? Pathetic."

"Now that he's married his little orphan wench, I'll be surprised if he can manage to catch anything more than a cold anymore," Gwen joked, and he nodded.

"As I've told all of you before, his successes have all been part of my plan. He is a lamb that I have been leading around until it is time to bring him to the slaughter."

Gwen laughed. "And after that, we can destroy the rest of his family and their pathetic flock of followers."

Two servants entered the room, bringing lunch for the master and his guest. While they sat down to eat, the subject of their last comments was in the kitchen cooking breakfast for two while his wife was upstairs, just starting to get ready for the day.

He was smiling as he worked, though to be fair, he'd been smiling pretty much constantly for the past two days, and didn't expect that to change anytime soon. They'd only had the island to themselves since late Sunday afternoon – not that they would have really noticed, since they had spent quite a lot of that time in the master bedroom. Al laughed to himself as he thought about Carolyn's suggestions that he needed to keep practicing _not_ moving the furniture.

"So what would you like to do today?" Al asked Carolyn after she'd come downstairs, and they'd sat outside to eat breakfast. He laughed when she smiled, her eyes flashing in the sunlight.

"Other than making sure we find time for my new number one favourite thing to do, I don't have any ideas," she answered. "Any suggestions?"

Al nodded. "How would you like to do a morning of sightseeing or shopping in Mexico? We could have lunch there, and then come back here for the rest of the day."

"That sounds brilliant," Carolyn agreed. "Maybe we can find something to send to James and Arianna for their anniversary tomorrow, and for your Mum and Dad for theirs on the third."

"That'd be 'our' Mum and Dad now," he reminded her, "and yes, I'm sure we'll be able to do that."

Back home, by the time Al and Carolyn were popping over to Mexico, it was early afternoon. Whether on a babysitting day trip to the Marauders Mall in Paris, or working at new full-time or summer jobs, the current, and just graduated Marauders were having fun.

Brianna's team was catching on to the BusinessMagic system fast, and it hadn't taken long for them to all get fired up about everything they could do with it. Since she had already gotten an advance tutorial from the primary creator of the system, and was a veteran of the virtual study programs, her own training on using Carolyn's system had been quick, and as their trainer had worked with other members of her department, she'd been able to keep up with the lessons and actually get some work done too.

Joel absolutely loved his summer internship. Technically, he was working for Percy, but would be working for the directors of some of the Youth Sports Programs, spending a week or two helping out at different locations. He wasn't going to get to see Sarah during the work day, but getting to work with the kids all summer was brilliant.

For Sarah, running errands all day might not seem like much fun, especially now that Joel wasn't a page anymore, but she was enjoying getting back to work at the Ministry. There were a lot of Witches and Wizards who happily welcomed her back, and now that she was a veteran at the job, she knew all of the tricks to make the best use of her time. While there was still a long way to go before the BusinessMagic systems would be available throughout the Ministry, she could see that the departments that did have them didn't need pages to run as many errands, which definitely made the job a bit less stressful.

There probably weren't very many Witches or Wizards who would find eight gruelling hours of conditioning and Quidditch training fun, but at Canons stadium, it was a toss-up as to whether Ron or Hugo were having more fun as father and son both worked hard all day. Hugo might not have the experience and decades of training that his father had, but youth and enthusiasm helped him to keep up with everything Ron threw at him.

At Marauders Institute, Emily was also happily working in the lab with the team she'd been assigned to, and had spent the day learning all about the BusinessMagic project she would be helping with for the summer. There were two advantages that she had going for her – experience as a game tester, and a session she'd had with Al after finding out she had this job, where he gave her a magical crash course in creating games and programs. Combined with her own natural ability, which was at least an equal of Lisa's and Natalie's, there was no doubt that this was exactly the perfect job for her.

Frederica and Liam had been let loose in the wheezes lab, with basically no instructions on what to do, while George and Lee went to work, which was really just playing from everything the young couple observed. There were a lot of projects that the two Wizards had on the go, in various stages of completion, and they were encouraged to either play with any of those projects, or go ahead and work on anything else that their imaginations could come up with. This was pretty much the opposite of the scheduled work they'd had in the stores last summer, but they both loved getting to play with the new wheezes in progress as they let their creative side loose in a way neither of them had really done before.

At Marauders Paradise, Daphne and Gabrielle had started early, and just like Brianna, Daphne was starting her first day at her new job with a training session with the BusinessMagic system that the Marauders resorts were now starting to use. While she was doing that, Karl was working with the Wizard that had sold him the diving business, and with his new employees. Divers were generally a pretty easy-going group, and they all made Karl welcome as he began learning everything about his new business. Most of them knew him, and had dived with him last summer, so it also helped that he already had been accepted within their ranks as an equal. He'd started work just after dawn, and was out leading his first diving excursion by eight o'clock, island time. His excitement and enthusiasm was obvious to his clients, and his first day was off to an even better start than he had imagined.

Lily, Kieran, and everyone else travelling with them had left for Canada, getting there in the morning. They checked into their hotel in Ottawa, and then Laura took them off to Toronto, where they were starting their day with an autograph session at the GamePortal store, while Nadine and Vanessa stayed in Ottawa to work with Ana and Kirley. They had appointments all day, a sound-check late in the afternoon, and everyone would be going to a dinner party in the evening. July first was Canada Day, and they were the headlining group at the all-day party that was being held just outside of Ottawa that would have an expected seventy-five thousand Witches and Wizards attending.

Later in the afternoon, Harry was back home at the Cottage, starting to cook dinner. The teens entertained their four kids in the sitting room while waiting for parents to start coming over after work to pick the kids up, all of them pretty much tired out after a busy play day. He was cooking for just six, with just Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa with them this week.

"How was your day?" he asked, not needing to look around to know that it was Ginny who walked into the kitchen. She laughed softly and came over to hug and kiss him.

"I had fun, as always," she answered. "How was your day with the kids?"

"Pretty much the same, though Jair and I were mostly spectators while everyone else played on the rides," he told her. "Did Mandy, Lisa, and Natalie all come with you?"

"Just Natalie and Lisa," Ginny said as she went to pour herself a glass of wine from the bottle that was already chilled and set out on the counter. "Terry's picking up Timothy tonight, since Mandy's tied up at the Institute with some issue in manufacturing."

"Hi Harry," Lisa said as she came into the kitchen, carrying Jair in one arm, his bag over her shoulder. "Somebody wants to say goodbye before he leaves."

Harry smiled as he turned from his work to take Jair from her and hug him. "You be good for your Mum and Dad," he told the toddler. "I'll see you tomorrow morning." He handed Jair off to Ginny, then hugged Lisa too while Ginny hugged and kissed Jair until she had him giggling.

"How'd Emily do for her first day?" Harry asked Lisa.

"She's doing really great," Lisa told him. "Her team leader certainly is impressed."

"From what I heard at lunch, it won't be long before she's about as good as you, me, and Natalie are at programming," Ginny said, handing Jair back to Lisa.

"That's what I heard too," Natalie said as both Kira and James ran ahead of her to say goodbye to Harry and Ginny. "I haven't heard that much buzz over an intern since the summer Al worked on the Astronomy program. She's not planning on becoming an Auror too, is she?"

"Not that we've heard," Ginny told her as she hugged James, then switched for Kira. "I can't even picture that sweetheart out there chasing down the bad guys."

"I could say the same about Al," Natalie told her with a laugh.

"I suppose," Ginny agreed. "I try not to think about his job too much, or I'd probably worry all the time."

Harry had finished the round of hugs, and hugged Ginny again before getting back to work. "At least we get two weeks off from worrying," he told Ginny. "Besides, it's the bad guys who should be worried."

Natalie nodded. "Maybe, but they won't be. That lot seems to have a major blind spot to reality when it comes to you and your family, Harry. They always have."

'For longer than you can imagine', Harry thought to himself. Ginny walked Natalie, Lisa, and the kids outside, and was gone for five minutes or so before returning to the kitchen along with Joel and Sarah. Carissa and Dale had joined Harry already, and Millie and Amy had rushed in and out for goodbye hugs before heading for home, dinner, and a planned evening at the Academy with the boys.

"Millie and Amy left in a hurry," Ginny said with a laugh. "Do you think they're helping Jason and Brian with their studies, or distracting them?"

Harry laughed too. "Probably both. If you think they're excited now, though, wait until they find out that James got the two of them exemptions on the underage magic rules so that they can use magic at the Academy too while helping the boys, or any of the other teens there."

"Maybe we should sign up to tutor this summer too," Carissa suggested.

"It might be cool getting to use magic during the holidays," Dale said, "but do you really want to do even more studying than we absolutely have to just so we can use our wands?"

Carissa squeezed his hand and smiled at him. "I like studying, so that wouldn't be a problem for me. We don't have to do that, though. I'm sure we can find other ways to entertain ourselves instead."

Dale blushed, and the others laughed. Harry diverted the conversation by delivering dinner to the table, and smoothly changing the topic. Since this was the first day back at work, dinner was followed by a quiet evening, all of them going up to bed early, tired from their respective workdays.

On Tuesday morning, James and Arianna came over for breakfast, opened a couple of anniversary presents, and left for a day trip to Greece with Aaron and Tracey, leaving Erin and Quincy with Harry and Ginny for an overnight stay. Joel and Sarah left for the Ministry of Magic, while Dale and Carissa went into the sitting room when Amy and Millie arrived to get ready for Jair, Kira, James, and Timothy's impending arrival.

"We were going to just hang around here today," Harry told Quincy and Erin as they sat at the kitchen table with Ginny as he cleaned up from breakfast. "Ron and Hugo have started their training early, though, and Ginny and I are going to go work out with them for the day. How would you two like to come along?"

Erin bounced out of her chair and hugged him, then hugged Ginny, and Quincy laughed. "That definitely seems to be a yes from Erin, so I'm a yes too."

"Do you want to play too, or will we just need three brooms today?" Ginny asked him. She laughed when Erin hugged her for a second time.

"I get to practice with you too?" she exclaimed, and Ginny nodded.

"Harry needs to have someone to play Seeker against him today. We won't quite have two full teams today, but we do have enough players so we can have a good practice game this afternoon."

Quincy didn't escape the Erin hugs, and it wasn't long before Harry, Ginny, and Erin grabbed their brooms and equipment, and with Quincy in tow, left for Canons Stadium. Ron and Hugo were already there, and after a quick greeting, Ginny and Erin went into the Witches change room to get ready. Harry went to get changed too, while Quincy went with Ron and Hugo out into the stadium. He went to sit down in the stands, settling in, and pulling up a book on his ViComm that he could read while still watching Erin and the others work out.

Ginny had told Erin to just go through the conditioning workout at her own pace, and not worry about it if she couldn't keep up with everything that Ron, Hugo, and any of the others were doing. Erin was fired up, though, and Ginny wasn't the only one who was surprised when she pretty much kept up with everyone, and was actually better than a couple of the practice team players who'd come out to work out today.

When Harry and Ginny had played for the Canons, Ginny and Liselle had been the two closest fliers to Harry when he led the flying workout, and today, Ginny and Erin were both grinning and laughing, as they followed Harry through his gruelling practice, and Ron, Hugo, and the others tried their hardest just to keep up.

"That was amazing!" Erin said breathlessly after they'd landed, and Hugo groaned, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Can't you at least pretend to be tired? For those of us who don't chase snitches all day, that was a brutal hour of flying."

Erin laughed and smiled brightly at him. "I probably can't, Hugo. This is just too much fun. What's next?"

Ginny laughed too. "Bludger practice, but we're only going to use four today, just like you do in your practices. We're just playing today, and don't want anyone hurt."

"You call this playing, Aunt Ginny?" Hugo asked, and Ginny laughed again.

"When you do the full workouts during training camp, Hugo, you'll understand what I mean. Don't worry – you're doing great from what I've seen so far today."

After a short break, they went on to do an hour of bludger practice, and then went for lunch, before spending the afternoon having a long game practice. While they were doing that, SpellBound was starting their morning in Ottawa, having breakfast before heading to the grounds where the Wizarding World's Canada Day celebration was getting started. They wouldn't be on the stage until eight o'clock in the evening, but had other commitments all day, doing interviews, autograph sessions, and special meetings with some lucky fans.

Most of the family might be working back home, or on tour, but on the family island, it was all fun, all day for Al and Carolyn. They played for a while at the lagoon, racing jet-skis and going for a lazy ride on an AquaBike in the morning. In the afternoon, they took a long walk on the beach, relaxed by, and swam in their pool, and found time for some clothing-optional entertainment.

Tuesday evening at the cottage was another Gryffindor Quidditch practice. Harry, Ginny, and Erin weren't going to play on the practice team, but there was lots of company over, and they had no problem putting a team together to help Hugo and his team have another good workout. Ron was playing Keeper, and had George and Stewart at Beater, Dennis at Seeker again, and Demelza, Meghan, and Rose at Chaser.

"This should be fun," Victoire told Teddy and the others sitting close to her as they watched the practice game get started after an hour of training. "Except for Stewart, tonight it's all Mums, Dads, and a sister against the Gryffindor team."

"I'm surprised Ron wanted to play again tonight after training all day," Marietta said as she watched her husband and daughter having fun competing against each other.

"That's why I'm sitting here," Ginny told her. "It would have been fun to play tonight with Demelza and Meghan, but I've had enough for one day. How are Frederica and Liam liking working in the wheezes lab so far?"

Marietta laughed. "They seem to be having a lot of fun, though I don't know if any of them are actually getting anything done. Cho and I will wait to see what they have ready for back to school, Hallowe'en, and Christmas by the end of the summer before deciding how this works out."

The game lasted for just over an hour, and while it was a close game, Hugo's team lost by forty points, despite Colin winning the Seeker battle with his father three catches to two. Harry and Ginny had drinks and snacks out for everyone after the practice, but since it was a work night, it was only a half hour or so before the players and spectators started leaving for their homes.

By the time Al and Carolyn went out to dinner and a night of dancing in George Town on Grand Cayman Island, pretty much everyone else in the family were already off to bed for the night. Lily, Kieran, and their tour group were the only exceptions, as they were busy entertaining their seventy-five thousand fans for over three hours, then spending another hour and a half packing up and signing autographs before going back to their hotel for a few hours sleep before moving on to the next stop on their tour.

During the rest of the first week of July, other than work, there was so much going on that it was hard to keep up with the action. SpellBound was busy in and around New York on Wednesday and Thursday, doing interviews, appearances, autograph sessions, and the Thursday night concert before moving on to Los Angeles on Friday for the fourth of July all-day concert where they spent another day in meet-and-greets, interviews, and appearances before going on stage to entertain the more than one hundred thousand spectators who'd come out to celebrate their country's birthday.

Wednesday was a comparatively quiet day around the cottage, while Thursday started out with extra guests for an anniversary breakfast for Harry and Ginny. That was followed by another workout day at Canons Stadium, where James, Arianna, and Aaron joined Harry, Ginny, and Erin to help Ron and Hugo with their training. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione ended their day with a night out to dinner and dancing while Joel and Sarah spent the night with Callie and Mark, and Dale and Carissa stayed with Isabelle and Stewart.

Aaron and Arianna would be starting training camp on the coming Monday, so James and Tracey took Friday off, and taking Quincy and Erin with them, went on a three day weekend of sun and fun on the Black Sea coast, in the city of Constanta, Romania. Jon and Therese had to work on Friday, but then joined them for the rest of the weekend, happy to have a chance to spend some time with their friends, and show them around a little of the country that they'd both come to love so much over the past two years.

Scorpius and Brianna had mostly concentrated on work – she put in long days working her way through the piles of jobs that had been left for her by her predecessor, and Scorpius and his team were working hard on being ready for the conference which was now less than three weeks away. They'd had dinner with Draco and Astoria once since Brianna finished school, and they'd come to the party at the cottage, but had not been invited to the island wedding. On Saturday night, the only real break that the young couple took from work was having his parents, grandparents, and his great-aunt and uncle over for dinner.

Nick and Allie had been busy at work all week. Allie was busy helping to plan for the back-to-school shopping season that wasn't as far away as the students might hope, while Nick had lots of work on the go, including designing a new custom home for SpellBound. Since the home of one of the most popular groups of all time would likely get photographed a lot, he was going to have to design something extraordinary for them – after all, publicity like that could be very good for his own career.

For their weekend, they left Friday after work, and went to spend the weekend with Percy and Penelope at Marauders Refuge as Penelope was going to tour the island and check up on the progress of the project as it neared it's open date while Percy, Nick, and Allie could enjoy a couple of days relaxing in paradise.

Rose and Matt started their next tour on Saturday, taking three families, each couple with two kids, to Egypt for two weeks. This was their first family tour, and they were looking forward to doing a trip geared toward adults, teens, and younger kids. It was something they hoped would be a big part of their tour business in the future.

There were weekend pool parties, dinners, date nights, and other fun and games to entertain the rest of the New Marauders and their family. While pretty much everyone was active all weekend, their activities were all about playing and relaxing, and by Monday, when it was time to get back to work, they were rested, happy, and ready to go again.

Al and Carolyn had been having fun all week. Wednesday and Thursday, they stayed on the island, entertaining themselves and enjoying the peace of having the island to themselves. On Friday, they spent the day in Chile, doing some shopping, picking up some wine, and having dinner in Santiago before going back to the island again. On Saturday, they spent the day touring Jamaica, finishing their day going dancing again until late into the night, and Sunday was another lazy day on the island.

Lily and Kieran had mostly had the weekend off too. They'd spent Saturday in Los Angeles, getting to do some shopping and sightseeing. Their only work was another dinner party Saturday night. On Sunday, they moved on to Mexico, and after checking in to their hotel, had another sightseeing day before having dinner at the hotel, and returning to their rooms early, everyone wanting to get a good night's sleep on the only early night they'd be having for the next seven days.

"Will you be heading to the Residence after breakfast?" Ginny asked Harry when they were sitting down for breakfast with Joel and Sarah on Monday morning. Dale and Carissa would be at Stewart and Isabelle's this week.

Harry nodded. "Once all of the kids are here I will. Patricia will be here most of this week too, so I'll make sure that she's doing okay before I leave."

"She'll be fine," Ginny assured him. "Kira will be glad to have another Witch to play with, and Millie, Amy, and Carissa are all looking forward to having her here too."

"Has everything been worked out for where she and William will be while they're over here?" Sarah asked, and Ginny nodded.

"Patricia is with Bill and Fleur this week, and will be here during the day until Thursday. She'll be with her Grandma and Grandpa Delacour from Thursday night to Monday, then here with us until we go to Marauders Paradise. She'll spend the week there on the island with Bill, Fleur, and the kids they're taking from the Residence this year. When we come back home, we'll bring William with us, and we'll have him until that Thursday. He'll do his four day weekend in France, and then spend his last two weeks with Bill and Fleur, coming here during the weekdays while they're at work."

"Will you be taking Brian and Jason to Marauders Paradise this year?" Joel asked, and Harry nodded.

"Yes. Dale is going to stay with Stewart, Isabelle, and Carissa. We're going to take two other teens with us too, but James and I still have to finalize that this week."

"You'll have more company staying home working this year," Ginny told them. "I'm pretty sure Hugo's going to keep his practices going that week too, but he may not have enough players around for a full team to practice against."

"Joel and I can't help with that, but I'm sure we can manage to put together drinks and snacks for them when they're here," Sarah offered.

The conversation moved on to other topics, but breakfast didn't take long, and then Ginny, Sarah, and Joel all left for work while Harry cleaned up and the babysitters and their young charges started arriving. He only stayed around until Patricia and Kira went off to play together, and then left for the Residence, and a morning helping Susan with all of the work they had to get two hundred kids and their chaperones organized and ready for a weeklong trip.

At the Avery Estate, Dirk Avery had been dealing with kids too, except his were mental children, and he despised spending any time with them at all. Normally, he didn't spend time with his father or grandfather, but on the few occasions when he needed to get involved personally, he was always left even more angry at Al Potter than ever before, and the workers who watched over the two men had learned quickly to only get him involved if they had no other option.

Today's 'problem' was that the two men were becoming more and more difficult to handle. They may only have the mentality of children, but they were children in adult bodies, with adult strength – and they were not happy children. The staff responsible for watching the two older Avery men had threatened en-masse to quit unless he allowed them to use magic as necessary to control their charges. The two men had injured nearly half of those Witches and Wizards during recent temper tantrums.

From the day that Dirk had taken over as Head of the family, they'd already lost ten staff over problems with his father and grandfather. Some had quit because of being injured, while others had quit when he would not agree to their requests to coddle the men with toys, games, trips, or outdoor playtime. Dirk understood that he could never allow that. The two men would have been appalled at the suggestion that they be paraded around for the Wizarding World to see what had been done to them, and as long as he could manage it, this would remain a deep, dark family secret.

When he arrived that morning at the quarters being used to keep his father and grandfather, he was already in a foul mood just having to see the two men like this. When he received the ultimatum from the staff, he was ready to do a lot more than fire them right up until the moment that his Grandfather, who was still having a temper-tantrum, threw a large, heavy book which struck Dirk solidly in the back of his head. After that, he'd quickly changed his mind and given the staff permission to use whatever magic necessary to control the two men. He didn't concern himself in the slightest about what that would mean for how they'd be treated now, and didn't really care.

"I want you to take care of any future problems with them, Lawrence," he told his Chief of Staff when he entered the dining room to have breakfast. "Do whatever is necessary to keep them under control, and out of my way."

"Yes Master," the man answered promptly. He'd been serving the Avery family for a long time now, and while his new master was certainly not the brightest or best in the family history, he had all of the least endearing family traits, and he acted accordingly.

"Let's go over the schedule while I eat," Dirk continued. "That little problem has put me behind schedule." He sat down at the head of the table, where his breakfast was already served, and began to eat while the other Wizard quickly ran through what he would be doing all day.

"You have a meeting with Minister Peasegood at nine-thirty, followed by a meeting with your faction of the Wizengamot at ten-thirty, both at the Ministry of Magic."

"I should be a member of the Wizengamot!" Dirk interrupted. "Another piece of my birthright stolen by Albus Potter and his family."

"Yes Master," Lawrence agreed before continuing. "You have lunch with Malcolm Bletchley, and the afternoon reserved for training him. Dinner will be at six-thirty, as requested, and Miss Delia will be arriving at six o'clock for drinks before the meal is served."

"Did you get the ring out of the vault?" Dirk asked, and Lawrence immediately produced it from a pocket.

"Would you like it now, sir?" he asked, and Dirk shook his head.

"Keep it until after I'm dressed for dinner," he instructed. "This getting engaged is just another unwelcome chore for me. Delia understands that I need a pretty wife and heirs, and I understand that she wants the wealth and status that comes with marrying me, but this is something I do only because I must."

"As your father and grandfather have done before you," Lawrence told him. There's no way he'd ever tell Dirk that he actually thought that the young man was getting engaged to a Witch who was far better than he deserved, or that he already felt sorry for her, and the life she would soon be choosing for herself.

When Dirk finished breakfast, he left his estates for the Ministry of Magic and his meeting with Minister Peasegood. He thought the old Wizard was an idiot, but he was an idiot that the Knights could use, and Lord Chernobog had directed Dirk to do that.

"Mr Avery, so good to see you!" Peasegood told Dirk as he welcomed him into his office. "I must say that I was surprised to see your name on my appointment schedule. What can I do for you?" He motioned Dirk to a chair, and then sat down behind his desk.

Dirk chatted the man up for the next forty-five minutes, while carefully working in the real reason for his visit into the conversation, reinforcing what he wanted the older Wizard to do with a little magical encouragement taught him by Lord Chernobog. By the time he left the office, he was certain that Minister Peasegood would be keeping him informed of everything that Al Potter was doing for the Aurors from now on.

His meeting with the twenty-one members of the Wizengamot that were bought and paid for by the Knights was simply to lay out instructions for what they were to accomplish for the Knights over the next few months. He also let them know that failure to get results would end in the termination of their funding.

"How did your morning meetings go?" Malcolm asked Dirk as they sat down for lunch.

"As expected," Dirk answered. "Peasegood is a fool, and our greedy little friends in the Wizengamot will do as they're told, and if they don't get us what we want, we'll financially ruin them."

"Why do we even care what they get done?" Malcolm asked. "When the Lord Commander's plan succeeds, they will be of even less use to the Knights than they are now."

"I would suggest that you be cautious with questioning Lord Chernobog's decisions," Dirk told Malcolm. "He will not be gentle if you anger or disappoint him."

Malcolm nodded. "You're right. I'm sure he has good reasons for everything we are doing. You must be looking forward to the day he destroys Al Potter as he has promised."

"Yes I am," Dirk agreed. "That will come soon enough, though, and we still have a lot to do before we will be ready to stand with Lord Chernobog and claim our victory."

They continued talking about Knight's business through lunch, and then Dirk spent most of the afternoon continuing Malcolm's training in the Dark Arts. When Malcolm left, he was tired and sore, but hoped that none of that showed to either Dirk, or to his father when he got home. He'd learned quickly in his first week of 'training' that neither Wizard accepted any sign of weakness, and used extremely painful means to teach him that lesson – and every other lesson they taught him. His father had been in a foul mood, and had decided that a duelling session was in order after dinner. It had been all Malcolm could do to keep it together, yet he had stoically gone with his father, and did what he had to do to get through the hour and a half of 'training'.

Back at the Avery Estate, Dirk had an hour to get ready for his dinner with Delia after finishing the training session with Malcolm, and he was in the drawing room just before Delia was escorted into the room, and they were each served drinks.

He didn't need to force a smile on his face when they were together – after all, she really was quite beautiful. They had their drinks, and another one of the dinners that always impressed her, before returning to the drawing room again for after-dinner drinks. Dirk may have been convincing himself all day that asking Delia to marry him was just another chore that had to be done, but even so, when he did ask her after dinner, his heart had been pounding, and come to a stop while he waited for her answer. It felt like she'd been looking down at the ring he'd held up to her for a long time before she finally looked into his eyes again. Her gaze was searching, and her face serious.

"Do you love me, Dirk?" she asked, and it took a moment for her question to register with him.

"What do you think?" he asked, trying for a laugh that caught in his throat. "I'm asking you to marry me!"

Her eyes continued to watch him steadily, and she still wasn't smiling. "I know, Dirk, but you didn't say you wanted to marry me because you love me. In fact, you've never told me you love me – not once."

Dirk didn't need to think back to know she was right, and the reason was simple – because he didn't love her. "Does that matter?" he asked. "We both understand why we're together, and what we want out of this. What's the problem?"

Delia sighed. "The problem is that I thought it would be enough, and now I know it isn't." She closed the ring box and handed it back to him. "I'm sorry, Dirk. I can't marry you just because I don't like being poor. I know too many Witches and Wizards who are miserable because of making choices like that, and I'm not going to be one of them." She wasn't surprised when there was only anger in the stare he levelled at her, and she sighed again, stood up, and got ready to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded.

"Home," she answered. "Good-night, Dirk – and good-bye."

She stepped around him, and started toward the door. When she heard him pull his wand out, she spun to face him, her own wand already out too, and her shield up.

"Don't do this, Dirk," she warned him. "You're angry, but not hurt that I don't want to marry you. If you think about it a little longer, you'll probably be relieved."

"You are not going to embarrass me by refusing me," he spat, raising his wand as if about to attack. "Agree to marry me, or I will force you to do it."

Delia stared at him incredulously. "Have you lost your mind, Dirk? I do not wish to hurt you, and nobody else needs know that you asked me to marry you at all. Tell your friends you broke up with me if you must – I don't care, if that's what you think you need to do to save your precious ego."

"Hurt me?" he retorted. "That's ridiculous! Last chance – will you agree to marry me?"

"No, Dirk, I won't" Delia told him in a firm, steady voice. "Now let me leave in peace."

Dirk's answer was an attack that bounced harmlessly from her shield. She stood her ground as he attacked over and over until he finally paused, panting hard from the exertion.

"Will you let me go now?" Delia asked calmly, and Dirk shook his head vehemently. She raised her wand, and sent a spell at Dirk that sliced through his shield, and hurled him against the wall behind where he had been standing. He crumpled to the ground, dazed, and watched uncomprehendingly as his wand flew across the room, and into her hand.

"Maybe if you'd practiced your DADA with me when we were at school, instead of insisting that Witches weren't strong enough to keep up with you and your mates, you would have found out that your girlfriend was one of the very best duellers in our year," she told him. "I'm leaving now. If Lawrence escorts me to the gate, I'll return your wand to him there. Don't even think about trying to ever attack me again. You really don't want to find out what I'm like when I'm angry."

With that, she turned around and walked away from her now ex-boyfriend, suddenly feeling more free than she'd felt in years. Lawrence was at the front door, and did escort her to the gates, where she handed him Dirk's wand.

"Good-bye, Lawrence," she said quietly as she took one last look around at what she was giving up by deciding not to marry Dirk Avery. She smiled at the older Wizard fondly. "I'll miss you. It's too bad your Master isn't even a shadow of the Wizard you are, but I guess I've always known that."

She knew he wouldn't answer that comment, so she took the few steps to the other side of the gates, and apparated home without looking back. Lawrence's expression didn't change in the slightest, but he was surprised at her decision to turn down his Master's proposal, and he was happy for her. The only down side of the situation was that it would be him, and the rest of the staff who would have to deal with a Master who would now certainly be in an even fouler mood than usual for some time to come.

By the time Delia had returned home after her break-up with Dirk, Harry and Ginny were having a quiet evening in the sitting room with Joel and Sarah. It had been a busy day for all of them, and none of them planned on being up very late. That pretty much described the situation in most of the family homes Monday night – especially for the members of the Canons team who had just finished their first day back to work at Canons Stadium.

Training Camp for the Canons opened on Monday, and while it was starting two weeks earlier than all of the other teams, nobody on the team was complaining about having less time off between seasons this year. Hugo found out right away what Aunt Ginny had meant about how much harder training camp was than what they'd been doing last week, and while he might groan and complain along with everyone else, he absolutely loved his first day of training with the whole team.

"Now I know why curfew is so early," Hugo told Emily as they cuddled on a sofa in the sitting room of her house. "I'm pretty much wiped out."

"I won't keep you out much later," she promised. "It was a long day at the lab too."

"I'm pretty sure you brought the lab home with you," he joked. "You've been lost in thought quite a bit tonight. You're like my Mum and Aunt Ginny - they do that too."

Emily laughed, hugged, and kissed him. "That's a pretty great compliment to be told I'm even a little bit like them."

"You're way more than a little bit like them," he told her seriously. "You have the whole amazing package like they do, and I know just how lucky I am to be your boyfriend."

"Keep talking like that, and you are going to be late for your curfew," Emily told him before kissing him again. "I love you, Hugo Weasley."

"I love you too, Emily Donahue," Hugo answered in between kisses.

Al and Carolyn still had nearly half of the day left to go by the time that Hugo was heading home just minutes before training curfew, and they'd been having a brilliant start to the second week of their honeymoon. They'd played on the island all morning, and then had lunch in Philipsburg, St. Maarten. That was followed up with an afternoon of sightseeing, and dinner in Marigot on the French side of St. Martin. After having a fabulous dinner, they visited several discotheques and dance clubs. By the time they left St. Martin with plans to continue their night's entertainment on their own island paradise, everyone back at home were already getting up and starting their day on Tuesday.

It was mostly just another workday for most members of the family. Harry spent another morning working at the Residence, and then took the kids out for lunch and then went back to the cottage for an afternoon pool party and play time. There was a pretty large group over in the evening for the Gryffindor team workout, and more than enough players for the practice team.

The SpellBound group were just sitting down for dinner in Mexico when pretty much everyone back home were in bed and fast asleep. The past two days had been incredibly busy for Lily and Kieran. They had packed in a lot of interviews, appointments, lunches, and a very long dinner and party on Monday night. This concert was again in the World Cup Stadium in Mexico, and they'd be going on stage at eight-thirty.

"The last couple of days have gone by so fast, it's hard to believe it's our last night in Mexico already," Vanessa told the others.

"It's been fun, and I love Mexico," Nadine said, "but I'm looking forward to going to Costa Rica for the first time too."

"I am too," Lily told her friends. "Too bad we won't have any time for sightseeing."

"I'll see what I can do about squeezing in a couple of sightseeing stops," Laura told Lily. "Let's see how it goes each day. You may not want to add more activities to your schedule."

"If we get time to visit the Guayabo archaeological site, or maybe the museum in San Jose, that'd be fun," Lily suggested. "What I'd really like to find time for is a night visit to the Arenal Volcano Observatory. Maybe we could do that after the party tomorrow night."

"I'd like to see that too," Kirley agreed. "It's been a long time since I've seen an active volcano at night, and I've never been to see that one."

"Okay, kids," Ana said with a laugh. "We should be able to at least fit that in tomorrow night. Now, do you think we could concentrate on tonight's show?"

They did that, and after dinner, it was time to go to the stadium and start getting ready. From the moment that Lily and Kieran took to the stage at eight-thirty, until they left shortly after eleven-thirty, after two encores, they had once again absolutely captivated their fans, sending them home happy and satisfied. By midnight, they were ready to go meet the dedicated fans who were waiting for a chance to get autographs from Lily and Kieran, and they patiently worked their way through the crowd until nearly a quarter past one, when Laura finally led them off, and took them back to their hotel.

The next two days were just as busy as Monday and Tuesday had been. There were the usual interviews with the local media, a lunch at the Foundation Residence, and the dinner party they had on Wednesday night. On Thursday, they had more interviews, a VIP lunch, and their sound check in the afternoon. They did get to the volcano observatory on Wednesday night, and squeezed in an hour to visit the pre-Columbian artefact Museum in San Jose on Thursday afternoon. Al and Carolyn surprised Lily and Kieran by coming to Costa Rica to have dinner with them on Thursday, and then go to see their concert.

"You two look amazing," Lily told them as she hugged them when they came into the hotel restaurant with Kirley and Ana. "This is such a great surprise!"

"We thought this might be a good time to catch one of your shows, since we might be too busy with work in August when you're in Germany or France," Carolyn told her.

"I'm glad to hear it's not because you're already bored with the married life," Lily teased, and Carolyn and Al both laughed.

"That's definitely not a problem," Carolyn assured her sister-in-law. "Have you all been having fun on your tour?"

Lily nodded. "It's been great so far, though except for having most of the weekend off, we've been going day and night."

Kieran laughed. "We were going day and night on the weekend too, Lily," he reminded her.

"True, but that was shopping and sight-seeing, so it doesn't count," she countered.

During dinner, Lily, Kieran, and the others told Al and Carolyn about their tour so far, and it was mostly Carolyn who told everyone about the daytrips they'd been doing while on their honeymoon. The concert was another huge success, and Al and Carolyn stopped by backstage after it was over to say goodbye before heading back to the island.

"We'll see you at home on Sunday," Carolyn said as she hugged Lily, then moved on to hug everyone else.

"If you get bored again, you can always come see us on Saturday in Brazil," Kieran told her, and Carolyn laughed.

"We've only got two more full days on the island," she told him. "I'm going to keep Al all to myself there for both days, and we will definitely not be bored."

Lily and Kieran needed to finish up and get on to the autograph signing, so Al and Carolyn didn't keep them any longer. Those last two days on the island were brilliant. They spent most of their time around the house, only going to the lagoon to play for a while on Friday afternoon, and for morning and evening walks on the beach or along the paths. On Sunday, they got up early, packed up, and left for home.

It had been a perfect start to their new life together, and while there was some regret that the holiday was over, they were also both excited and ready to get back home. Carolyn was looking forward to starting her new job, and Al was ready to get back to tracking down all of the Knights. With work, and everything else that was going on, their first summer together as a married couple was sure to continue to be fun and exciting!


	129. Four Weeks to the Wedding of the Year

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine – Four Weeks to the Wedding of the Year

Harry was smiling as he worked in the kitchen late Sunday morning. They had a large group coming for lunch, which was going to be great, but he was mostly excited about having Lily, Kieran, Al, and Carolyn back home after a long two weeks away. He dropped what he was doing when he heard the 'Hi, Dad' from Carolyn as she and Al walked into the kitchen, and hugged his newest daughter-in-law for a long minute before hugging Al too.

"You both look great," he told them. "Did you stop to see Ginny before coming in?"

Carolyn shook her head. "No – we came in here first. Is she in the back yard?"

"Not anymore," Ginny said as she walked in the back door and went over to hug and kiss her kids. "We definitely don't need to ask whether you had fun on your honeymoon. Are you going to be able to handle a big family party after two weeks on your own?"

"We did do some day trips, Mum," Al told her. "It's not like we spent the whole time alone."

"Lily told us you caught their concert in Costa Rica," Ginny said. "You'll have to tell us all about everywhere else you went. I have to get back to work right now, so why don't you get yourselves drinks and come outside. Joel and Sarah are out there helping to set up, and the rest of our guests should start getting here soon."

Al and Carolyn did that, while Harry and Ginny both got back to work. They spent most of the next hour visiting with everyone as they arrived, and along with Lily and Kieran, became the unofficial welcoming committee. At lunch, they were at a table with Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Joel, and Sarah.

"What's been going on around here while we've been gone?" Carolyn asked after the other couples had pretty much finished questioning them about what she and Al had been doing over the past two weeks.

"We've all mostly been working," Brianna told her. "My predecessor in Goblin Liason left months of back-logged claims for my team and I to work through. We're all loving your BusinessMagic system, but a few Wizards are catching on a lot more slowly that the rest of us."

"Victoire and I are busy getting ready for back to school season," Allie told her, "and Nick has more business being sent his way than he has time for. We did spend a brilliant weekend with his Mum and Dad checking out Marauders Refuge. Make sure you take Al with you when it's your turn to go there."

"We'll definitely do that," Carolyn agreed. "How are the wedding plans coming along?" she asked Brianna.

"There really isn't anything new," Brianna answered. "We have a lot to do during the two weeks before the wedding, but right now, Aunt Ginny, Aunt Penelope, and Scorpius' Mum have everything else done already."

Carolyn nodded. "That's good – I'll have a couple of weeks to get settled in at work before it gets busy again."

Brianna laughed. "Sure, Carolyn – except for Laura and Andy's wedding on Friday night, Karl and Daphne's wedding a week from Wednesday, which will be in the middle of the Residence and Academy trip to Marauders Paradise, and Scorpius' conference in Egypt…"

"When did Karl and Daphne decide to get married then?" Carolyn asked, interrupting Brianna.

"I guess that was last week," Brianna told her. "I wasn't thinking that you hadn't heard about that. They decided that since so much of the family was going to be there already that it would be a good time to have the ceremony. Daphne's parents, brothers, sister, and their families could all come on the Wednesday, and those of us that are working will leave for the island as soon as we're done work for the day. They're having the ceremony on the beach near their house, and dinner at the hotel."

"Is there anything else we didn't hear about while we were gone?" Al asked.

"Well, there's the combined birthday party on the Sunday after everyone gets back from Marauders Paradise, since that's the first day we'll have everyone back home all month," Sarah told him. "Did you hear about that?"

Al laughed and shook his head. "No, we didn't hear about that either. So much for a couple of quiet weeks."

"Like that's really a surprise with our family," Nick told him. "Maybe Carolyn needs to make a BusinessMagic Weasley Family Manager program to help us all keep up."

"Maybe I will some day," Carolyn told him as the others all laughed. "There probably isn't much point in doing that until we all have the systems in our homes, or use the portables."

"Speaking of portables," Joel said, "if you're all done eating, why don't you move over to the chairs by the portable pools while Sarah and I help out with clean-up."

They saw that everyone else was starting to move away from the tables, so they did do that, except that Sarah was sent off with the girls, and Al, Nick, and Scorpius joined Joel to help get the lunch clean-up done faster. When that was done, Joel was able to join Sarah by one of the pools, but the other guys were drafted for a Quidditch match.

"You're training five days a week, and doing your team practices two nights a week, Hugo," Nick told his cousin. "Why do you want to be out here playing on one of your days off?"

"I think it's because I'm so used to being so busy all day that I can't just do nothing for a whole day," Hugo told him. "It's nice to be playing just for fun sometimes too."

They played for a little over an hour, and it was fun for both the players and the spectators. After the game, Al and Carolyn spent most of the afternoon making the rounds, visiting with nearly everyone until the party started breaking up late in the afternoon. They stayed for dinner at the Cottage, along with Lily, Kieran, James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, Quincy, and Erin, then left for home early in the evening so they could take the potions that would help them get back on home time, and get a good night's sleep so they'd be ready for work on Monday morning.

Carolyn was smiling brightly when she walked into the PBP Investments offices in the morning. Al had put together another amazing breakfast for her, and while that had been great, it was a really incredible wake-up call that had started her day off so brilliantly, and put the smile on her face.

"Are you normally a morning person, or just really fired up today," Penelope asked when she saw Carolyn step off of the lift on the executive offices level.

"Both, I guess," Carolyn answered with a laugh. "I'm definitely ready to get started today."

Penelope nodded. "Good. Let's start by taking a look at your office, and when Molly gets here, we'll sit down and go over what you'll be doing over the next couple of months."

Her office was pretty much the same as Molly and Penelope's offices, without any decorations yet. There was a desk, leather chairs, and a small conference table. There was a desktop BusinessMagic system on the desk, another one on the conference table, and a mid-sized WWVN on the wall above the conference table.

"You can decorate however you want," Penelope told her, and laughed as Carolyn hugged her. "Does that mean this will work for you?"

Carolyn laughed too and nodded. "This is really great."

They didn't have to wait long for Molly to get to the office, and after getting cups of coffee, they all went into Molly's office and got to work. Al was at his cubicle by then, and picking right up where he'd left off two weeks ago. Hestia checked in with him when she got in, and when Rick arrived, he had both Al and Hestia meet him in his office.

"What's up, Rick?" Hestia asked when they were all sitting down. "I'm pretty sure that even Al couldn't have caught any more bad guys since getting back to work this morning."

Rick laughed. "I wouldn't have been surprised if he had, but that's not why I wanted to talk with you." He levelled his gaze on Al. "Last Tuesday, Minister Peasegood called me in for a meeting, and wanted to know specifically what you were working on now, Al. I've been ordered to submit weekly reports to him, keeping him in the loop."

"Why does he want to know what Al's doing?" Hestia asked. "I don't remember him showing any real interest in anything the Aurors do since he became the Department Head."

"I don't know for sure, but I have my suspicions," Rick told her.

"The Knights are pulling his strings," Al said, sure he was right. "We can't tell him what I'm really doing, Rick."

"I know," Rick agreed. "That's why we're going to make something up to report to him, and make sure that the three of us all have the same story for him."

"We could tell him Al's working on cold cases," Hestia suggested. "There are lots of them on file, and if we could manage to solve a couple of them while he's working on his real project, it'd be enough to keep Peasegood satisfied."

"That's a really good idea," Rick said approvingly. "Do you think you could manage that?" he asked Al, who nodded.

"I can do that, and I think it's a great idea too," he said, smiling at Hestia. "Let me know which cases you want me to work on, and I'll make sure that everything at my cubicle looks like that's what I'm working on."

"Let me know too," Rick told Hestia. "Send me weekly reports on your progress, Al, and I'll include them in my report to Minister Peasegood. Make sure you have lots of field work going on to explain why you're gone so much, and leave a trail too, if you can manage that."

Al laughed. "Did you ever think you'd be telling one of your Aurors to leave a trail instead of making sure they're not detected?"

Rick and Hestia laughed too. "I haven't needed to do that before," Rick conceded. "A false trail seems like a good idea now that the bad guys have decided they want to keep track of you. I don't want to give out any more information than necessary, though. That could put a bulls-eye on your back. Whatever trail you leave, make sure there isn't any pattern where someone could set up a trap for you."

"That should be easy enough," Al assured Rick. "Is there anything else?"

Rick nodded. "Just one more thing – find a way to make contact with Minister Peasegood. It'd be bad enough if he's just passing on information to appease some powerful families, but I want to be sure he hasn't been Imperiused. Forcing him to be tested isn't an option without alerting the other side that we might be on to them."

"I'm sure I can bump into him sometime today, and I'll let you know what I find out," Al promised.

With that, the meeting was over, and Al and Hestia went from there to the training room to join the other Aurors for the morning workout. It was a good thing that Rick met with Al and Hestia first thing, because when Al went to pick up coffee for himself and Hestia before getting back to work after their workout, he ran into Minister Peasegood on his way back from the cafeteria.

"Welcome back, Auror Potter," Peasegood told him, extending his hand toward Al as he approached from the lifts.

Al got all of the information he was looking for from the other Wizard during that contact. Peasegood was not Imperiused, but he was unwittingly spying on Al for the Knights at the request of Dirk Avery. He'd seen Al go past on the way to the cafeteria, and had positioned himself to catch Al on the way back.

"Thank-you, Minister Peasegood," Al answered at the same time he was processing the mental information that was being broadcast so clearly.

"What are you working on these days, now that you've put all of the fugitive Death Eaters away in Azkaban?" Peasegood asked next.

"I wrapped up pretty much everything with that before I left," Al answered smoothly. "Auror Jones has advised me that since I did so well working those old cases, that I'll be working on some of the other cold cases next. She's going to have the files ready for me later this morning or afternoon."

"That sounds like an excellent idea!" the Minister told him enthusiastically. "I'm am sure that you will continue to have success with that, and it will be good for our Department's image to get some of those cases solved, and the fugitives captured."

"Thank-you, Sir. Working on solving these old cases may be more difficult, since from what Auror Jones told me, many of them don't even have suspects, but I will try my best and see what happens."

"Of course, Auror Potter. Well, I must get back to work. Good luck with your new assignments."

With that, Al was dismissed, and the Minister returned to his office, not waiting for a reply, so Al continued on to Auror Headquarters. He gave Hestia her coffee, passed on the information about Peasegood to her, and what he'd told the Minister about what he was going to be working on, and left it to her to pass that on to Rick. She handed him the first two cold case files she'd pulled so far for him, so he took them with him to his cubicle, and spent the rest of the morning reading through them. The first case was a twenty-year old murder of a Witch who had been in her mid-thirties. There had been several suspects, but not enough evidence. The second case was seventeen years old, a murder of a Wizard who had been a known low-level criminal. From what Al could see from the file, there hadn't been much effort put into solving the case, and there were certainly leads that were never followed.

He'd finished reading both files by noon, and met Scorpius, Brianna, and Sarah in the cafeteria for lunch. He only took a half hour off, and by the time he returned to his cubicle, Hestia had dropped four more files on his desk. For the rest of the day, he worked his way through reading those files, which included three more murders, and an assault that had left the victim a permanent resident at St. Mungo's. At four-thirty, he left for home, and had dinner well underway by the time Carolyn got home.

"How was your first day?" Al asked after Carolyn had hugged and kissed him.

"It was brilliant!" she told him excitedly. "My office is great, and I love everything Grandma and Aunt Penelope have me doing. They're going to have me spend two weeks at Marauders Refuge, so hopefully you can come too, and work from there those weeks like we talked about."

Al nodded as he worked. "Which weeks are you going to be there?"

"The week after Brianna and Scorpius' wedding, and the last week of August. It's two out of the last three weeks of August, but they didn't want to have me go between now and the wedding, since we have so much going on here."

"That should actually work out pretty good for me," he told her. "What else will you be doing?"

Carolyn went on to tell him all about everything his Grandmother and Aunt wanted Carolyn to do. They were obviously going to train her so that when either of them was away that Carolyn would step in and take over while they were gone. By the time he put dinner on the table, it was Al's turn to tell her about his day, which didn't take nearly as long, since he skipped over the details of the new cases he had been assigned.

"I'm not surprised that the Knights are trying to keep track of what you're doing," Carolyn told him. "Do you think that Dirk is the new leader of the Knights?"

Al shook his head. "No, but if he's now the one pulling the strings at the Ministry, he's definitely been promoted."

"You, Scorpius, and Callie might want to keep a closer watch on what the other side of the Wizengamot is doing too. If the Knights are starting to push the strings of Wizards like Peasegood, they're probably ready to try for another push to pass new proposals there."

"That's true," Al agreed. "I'll let them know."

There was a dinner going on at Al's other house then too. James and Arianna were hosting it, a welcome home dinner for the Academy students who were about to spend their first night there. Bert, Chris, Gabe, and Glenda had all been excited when they'd been shown around the house.

"This place is nice enough looking outside," Glenda told Arianna as she was shown her room, "but you'd never know from that how incredible it is inside."

Arianna laughed. "Al did an amazing job with this place – especially with these bedrooms and baths. You're going to like having this sitting area too, since you're outnumbered three to one by the guys."

"There's a really good chance that Gabe will be spending some time with me in that sitting area," Glenda said, laughing with Arianna. "I'm sure Bert and Chris will think these rooms are great for when their girlfriends are over to visit too. This doesn't look like a guy's room. Was it redecorated?"

Arianna shook her head. "No, but this is the room that Lily used when she stayed overnight, so she did a little decorating last year."

Now that they were having dinner together, James was going over with the four teens what the Foundation would be doing to help them learn how to live on their own. They'd had some meetings with them over the past few weeks to get their input on what they did and didn't need help with, so this was really just a review of what they already knew would be happening.

"You've already got your Gringotts letters, and your accounts are set up," James told them, and watched as they each nodded their agreement. "The pantry has been stocked, and everything your trainer requested for this week is here too. She'll meet you here after your classes tomorrow to begin your first cooking class."

"That should be fun watching the boys in the kitchen," Glenda said, and Gabe hugged her.

"I'm looking forward to learning how to cook," he told her. "You'll definitely like this a lot better than your previous experiences in the kitchen."

Glenda laughed. "That wouldn't take much," she answered.

"You'll be on your own for breakfasts, and will have lunches at the Academy," James continued. "Constance will work out with you when you want to do groceries and deal with finances."

"I'm still not all that clear on how that's going to work," Chris told James.

"You're going to have weekly pay going into your accounts," James explained. "The amount will be what you can reasonably expect to get paid in an average job you can get with your OWL's. Constance is going to teach you how to budget that money to pay for rent and other house expenses, food, transportation costs, and everything else that you'll need to be able to handle when you're out on your own."

"We won't likely be living with four people when we're on our own," Bert pointed out, and James nodded.

"That's true," he agreed, "but you also wouldn't likely rent a four-bedroom house. Compared to your other studies, personal finance will be a breeze, so don't worry about it."

"Will there be anything else we'll be learning about?" Glenda asked, and Arianna answered.

"You're going to all be taking fun classes," she told Glenda, who laughed.

"Fun classes? What does that mean?"

"It means you're going to learn about things like date nights, parties, vacations, and all of the other fun things that most Witches and Wizards like to do when they're not working," Arianna explained. "You'll have a bunch of volunteers that are around your age helping out with that over the next year."

"That's going to be my favourite class for sure," Chris joked. "Will Bert and I get to take Candice and Kylie out on dates?"

Arianna laughed. "Date nights wouldn't be much fun if you couldn't," she told him.

"Just don't let that get in the way of your full-time jobs," James reminded them. "The goal is still to have you all taking your OWLs by next summer."

"We won't let that happen," Glenda assured him. "All of us want to be able to use magic whenever we want, and we need to pass our OWL exams to do that."

James and Arianna stayed until after the cleanup was done, and then went over to the Academy for the evening tutoring session, and left the four teens to settle in and get to their own homework. Erin and Quincy had gone for dinner with Aaron and Tracey, and then had come with them to the Academy, where they helped out some of the younger kids while Aaron and Tracey tutored their regular group of teens.

"How'd it go in Hogsmeade?" Tracey asked Arianna when she stopped by.

"They love the place, and I think they're really going to like getting to live there," Arianna answered. "How are things here?"

"We're just finishing up the writing assignments, and then we're going to go to one of the classrooms and work on DADA. Do you want to come play?"

Arianna laughed. "I'd love to. Let me know when you're ready to do that." She left Tracey, Aaron, and their group, and moved on to where Erin and Quincy were working, hugging both of them.

"What are you guys working on tonight?" she asked the kids.

"Math and book reports," Quincy answered. "We're just about done for the night, and then we're going to have a girls against the guys GameWizard match.

"That sounds like fun. I'm going to help Aaron and Tracey with DADA tutoring in a bit, but James or I will come find you when it's time to go so Aaron and I aren't out past our training curfew."

Harry and Ginny were having dinner, and spending the evening with Lisa, Marcus, Jair, his parents, Megan, Devon, and a few other friends. It was Jair's first birthday, and they were having his little party in the back yard. Lisa and Marcus had decided to have a fairly small party for Jair, and the adults were having as much fun as Jair and the few other young kids were having. The highlights of the night were watching Lisa, Marcus, and the other kids all help Jair open presents, a very messy cake and ice cream scene, and then playtime with the new toys that included chasing a giggling Jair around on his new toy Lightningbolt.

Al had wanted to be home to make breakfast for Carolyn on Monday, but starting on Tuesday, he needed to get back to working on tracking down the Knight's safe houses, so he was up early, and on the road by four o'clock. He was going with the same plan he'd started during the week before the wedding. He was going to first identify all of the Knight offices, and when he was done that, he planned on tracking down all of the members of each group.

Tuesday morning, he followed the Secret Keeper for the Saudi Arabia Knights, who made Al's job easy by going to their office first thing. He even learned the identities of two other members of that group before leaving for London in time for the morning training session. After that, he spent the rest of the morning working on his new cases, and then left for Guatemala in time to follow the Secret Keeper there. That Wizard didn't stop in to their safe house until nearly noon local time, so after getting the location, he left for home, where he and Carolyn had a quick dinner before heading to the cottage for the Gryffindor practice.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Al mostly repeated the same routine, finding the Knight offices in Syria and Egypt in the mornings, and Costa Rica and Panama in the afternoons. He missed Thursday's workout at Auror Headquarters, since the Secret Keeper in Egypt did a lot of running around before stopping in to the office, but everything else went pretty smoothly. On Friday, he was only able to track down the safe house in Ethiopia, since that ended up taking until late afternoon, and by then he needed to get home and start getting ready for Laura and Andy's wedding.

Lily and Kieran spent most of the week working in the studio, and they'd had two videos to shoot. There were two album projects that they were working on this summer – a second Christmas album that would be out for the coming Christmas shopping season, and the album that would be coming out next June.

They'd gone to the Tuesday Quidditch practice at the cottage, but the rest of their time had been spent on wedding-related activities for Laura and Andy. Therese and Jon came home after work on Wednesday, and there had been parties on Wednesday and Thursday night. The girls had final dress fittings on Thursday, and had SpaMagic appointments on Friday afternoon. The evening wedding was being held at Laura's parent's home, and there were going to be about two hundred and fifty guests.

"It's time to go," Therese told Laura, both Witches smiling as Laura took one last look in the mirror before turning to face her maid of honour.

"Have we forgotten anything?" she asked, and Therese shook her head.

"Everything is done, and you look perfect. It should be fun to watch Andy finally get left speechless when he sees you. Your Dad's waiting downstairs. Are you ready?"

Laura took a deep breath. "Yes. Let's go."

Arianna, Tracey, Lily, and Laura's mother were in the room too, and the six brightly smiling Witches filed out of the bedroom where Laura had been getting ready, and went downstairs. Her mother went outside first so that she had time to be seated, and then Lily led the way outside, stopping when she reached the back of the rows of chairs.

The music started, and one after the other, Lily, Tracey, and Arianna began walking up the centre aisle. Therese followed them, and finally Laura and her father began their walk toward a smiling, nervous Andy. He was being supported by James, Jon, Aaron, and Kieran, and his best man and ushers were all smiling too as they'd watched their respective wives and fiancées approach, and fan out to the left of the aisle at the front.

Al and Carolyn were sitting with Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, and Rose. She was only here for the ceremony, while Matt stayed with their tour group in Egypt. This was Al's first post-marriage wedding, and as the ceremony began, he found his mind wandering off. He hadn't really thought about it with last year's weddings, or the other weddings that were happening this summer, including his own, but now he was thinking about the fact that it had been four years now since the first Marauders had graduated.

He was again surprised that while he was very happy for Laura and Andy, he was also feeling a bit sad and nostalgic because they were growing apart as they all moved on to their respective careers. Carolyn must have noticed him drift off, because she gently nudged him out of his little reverie, and was smiling at him when he briefly looked at her before returning his attention to the ceremony that was already at the 'I do' part. The vows and ring exchange came next, and Al kept tissues flowing to Carolyn and Rose all the way through to the end of the ceremony.

"Is it just me, or is there more photographers than normal for a wedding?" Nick asked quietly as they watched the wedding party recessional.

Carolyn, Rose, and Allie all laughed quietly. "You did know that Andy is a world-famous Quidditch commentator, right?" Allie asked him. "Lily told us that they worked out a photo and video sharing deal with the media, but there are still several photographers just working for the media, plus the official photographer."

"Oh good," he answered, feigning excitement. "Maybe you and I can make the TeenWitch hottest couples list with Lily, Kieran, Scorpius, and Brianna."

"You two do look pretty great," Rose told him, "but I'm afraid you don't have exciting enough careers to make the hottest couple short list."

Nick sighed dramatically. "Oh well. I guess we can't all be famous. Some of us have to settle for being the supporting cast."

"That's just the way we like it, too," Allie told him.

They had an hour or so to mingle while the wedding party and families were busy with getting pictures taken. Rose spent a couple of minutes with Laura and Andy to congratulate them before heading back to Egypt, where she and Matt were taking the adults in their group out dancing for the night. Their own dance started around nine o'clock with another original wedding song by SpellBound that had most of the Witches in tears again while they watched the happy newlyweds dance to the beautiful ballad.

Harry and Ginny were at a table with Kirley, Ana, and some other 'older' couples for the dance. After the first few dances of the night, when everyone had been invited to join the wedding party, parents, and grandparents on the dance floor, they'd gone dancing for nearly an hour before returning to their table for a break.

"How late are you staying?" Ana asked Ginny.

"We're planning to get going right after Laura and Andy leave," Ginny answered. "We've got an early arrival time at Marauders Paradise tomorrow, and I still have to pack in the morning before we go over to the Academy to pick up our four teens."

"Good," Ana said with a sigh. "We can get away early too, then. We've got to pick up Vanessa and Nadine at the Residence, and Cassandra and Violet at the Academy before we leave at noon, and we need to pack still too. It's been so busy this week with work and this wedding, we haven't had time to even think about packing for the trip to Marauders Paradise until now."

"We'll get a week now to relax," Ginny told her. "The kids will entertain themselves most of the time, so I'm expecting to have time for some laid back days by the pools, or at the beach while they're off playing."

"That sounds like a great plan," Ana told her. "Sign me up for a few afternoons of that. I do hope to spend some extra time with Cassandra and Violet, though. They'll be spending the last week of summer with us after we get back from the second half of the tour, but this week will be a good chance for them to get to know us."

"We can do some shopping with them, and maybe fit in a visit to SpaMagic," Ginny suggested, "and there is quite a few other activities we'll be doing together, like the diving trip we have booked with Karl, and the Haunted Island Adventure."

"Don't forget about the wedding," Harry reminded the girls.

"Thanks for reminding me," Ginny said with a laugh. "Dress shopping for the wedding too," she told Ana. "If we have to, we can pop over to New York for a couple of hours if we can't find something for them on the island."

At the Head table, the bride and groom were taking a break too, along with Jon, Therese, James, and Arianna.

"We're going to have to take you away to get changed soon," Therese told Laura. "Your last dance is supposed to be just before midnight, and then you should be on your way by about twelve-thirty, once you get finished saying goodbye to everyone."

"That sounds good," Laura said with a sigh. "Just give me a few minutes to rest. Between the ceremony, pictures, and dancing, I've been on these heels for hours, and my feet are protesting."

They each had a glass of wine, and talked quietly together for a while, then Therese and Arianna, along with Laura's mother, took Laura into the house to get changed, and left the guys to entertain themselves while they were busy.

"It's too bad you couldn't work out your schedules so you could get away together for a couple of weeks," James told Andy. "Between Quidditch and the music business, that's not very easy to do."

Andy nodded. "I wish we could have, but since we both love everything else about our jobs, we can live with the few inconveniences that go along with having to work so much."

"I'd suggest you take Laura away next summer, but since it's a Quidditch World Cup year, I guess that's out of the question," James said.

"I've already been told that my team will be doing the games as long as either England or Ireland are in the running, and we've been picked to do the Cup Final regardless of which teams are playing. If Arianna makes the team, there's a good chance I'll see your wife next summer more than I'll see Laura."

James laughed. "That doesn't sound very good, mate. If she makes the team, maybe I'll take the summer off, and Quincy, Erin, and I will hit the road with her."

When Laura returned, she and Andy started their last round of dances, finishing up with their last dance of the night right on time, just before midnight. When that was over, the band took a break, a midnight buffet was put out, and Andy and Laura spent most of the next half-hour saying goodbye to their families and closest friends. Therese had continued to manage Laura's time, and by just before twelve-thirty, she had them wrap up the farewells, and leave for their weekend getaway on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

"Why don't you guys get out of here," Therese suggested to James, Arianna, Lily, Kieran, Aaron, and Tracey after Andy and Laura had left. "Jon and I can stay late until all of the guests leave to help out Laura's parents, and you're all going to need to be up early to get ready for your trip to Marauders Paradise."

The three couples had agreed to that, though it took them until after one o'clock before they actually got around to leaving. They were all in bed and asleep long before the last guests went home at around two-thirty, and Jon, Therese, and some other friends like Al and Carolyn helped Laura and Andy's parents with the clean-up before going home too.

It was controlled chaos at the Residence and Academy on Saturday morning. There were nearly two hundred and fifty kids and teens, and all of their chaperones to get from home to Marauders Paradise. The departure times didn't start until late morning, but most of the kids were up early and impatient to get one of their two favourite weeks of the year going.

Harry and Ginny were up fairly early too, and had breakfast with Joel and Sarah, then packed for the trip, and left for the Academy to pick up the four teens that were going with them to the island. James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were all there already too. James and Arianna were going to be with the last group leaving the Academy, but Aaron and Tracey would be leaving with Harry, Ginny, and their group.

"I guess we don't need to ask if you're all ready to go," Ginny told Brian, Jason, Alice, and Lenny, who all nodded excitedly. Aaron and Tracey had Adam and H with them, and they were ready too, so when it was time for them to leave, it only took a few minutes to send their luggage along using Translocators and then take the TransPortal to the island.

"You can go ahead and help with the arrivals," Ginny told Harry, giving him a kiss and hug. "We'll get settled in to our suites, and see you at lunch."

"Can we meet up with Millie and Amy?" Brian asked Ginny.

Ginny hugged him and laughed. "We'll be meeting them in the Atrium for brunch in a half hour," she told him. "Since we have one of the earliest starts, we have some time before the rides start running."

Aaron and Tracey's suite was in the same section of the hotel as the suite Harry, Ginny, and their teens had been assigned, but on different floors, so they split up to go to their respective suites, and would meet up again in the Atrium. Ginny led her gang to their five-bedroom suite, where she and Alice unpacked, and the boys explored the suite, then waited somewhat impatiently for the girls to finish so they could get going again.

When they got to the Atrium, Tracey and the boys were there already, and had joined Victoire, Isabelle, Dale, and the girls, who'd staked out several tables. Ginny, Aaron, and Tracey sat with Victoire and Isabelle, while Brian, Jason, Alice, and Lenny sat with Millie and Amy, and Adam and H sat with Dale and Carissa.

"How was the wedding last night?" Victoire asked Ginny after they'd gotten food from the buffet and sat down again.

"It was a lot like Rose and Matt's," Ginny told her. "I've got some pictures I can show you later, though if you pick up the next TeenWitch magazine, they will probably have pictures too."

"Maybe Andy and Laura will make the hottest couples list with Lily and Kieran, and Scorpius and Brianna," Isabelle suggested.

The four Witches took their time having breakfast, but Aaron had to eat quickly, and was off and running with Adam and H when the eight teens left early enough that they could be in line for their favourite rides the minute they started running. After eating, they went out to wander the shops in the village. They stopped in to see Kevin and Michael, who were both in their shop, and later went to the beach to watch the morning Water Show before going to the Café where they were meeting everyone for lunch.

There was a pretty large group this year. Kirley and Ana were there with Lily, Kieran, and the four girls. Percy and Penelope were chaperones for Ophelia and Philip from the Academy. Bill and Fleur were there with Patricia and the students they mentored at the Residence, and Tracey's parents had four kids from the Residence with them.

"You must be looking forward to spending a week with Tracey," Ginny told Tracey's Mum, Katie.

"We are," she agreed. "It's too bad that Aaron and Arianna can only be here on the weekends, but I'm sure Tracey and I can stay entertained while Aaron's working during the week."

"What about me?" Trent asked, and Katie hugged him, laughing softly.

"You can go along with James and play with the kids," she told him.

Ginny laughed too. "Harry will probably want to go play too," she told Trent. She saw the grin on Kirley's face, and laughed again. "I'm sure they'll let you go play too, Kirley," she assured him. "Sometimes I wonder if this trip is for the kids, or for the chaperones."

"You have a lot of really long-time volunteers, so I'd guess it's both," Katie suggested.

Lunch was followed by the usual first day afternoon at the WaterPark, and the opening night banquet and talent show. Lily and Kieran surprised the nearly fifteen thousand guests by putting on a six-song mini-concert as part of the staff talent show. Harry and Ginny's four teens went off to the teen dance club after the talent show ended, so they went out for a drink with Katie, Trent, Bill, Fleur, and a few other couples before calling it a night and returning to their suite. They cuddled on one of the sofas in the sitting room until Brian, Jason, Alice, and Lenny returned to their suite too. There was a little chatting, and some goodnight hugs and kisses, and it wasn't long before they all went off to bed, ready to get some sleep after a long, fun-filled day.

Back home, Joel and Sarah were enjoying a quiet weekend at the cottage. They had set up a portable pool on Saturday morning, and done pretty much nothing all day. Mark and Callie met them in London for dinner, and after that, they went back to Mark and Callie's house to watch a movie before going home to the cottage.

On Sunday, they spent the afternoon at Al and Carolyn's house along with most of the other Marauders who weren't at Marauders Paradise. Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, and a bit later, Rose and Matt were the graduated Marauders who came to the afternoon party. Hugo, Emily, Frederica, and Liam joined Joel and Sarah in representing the current Marauders.

"How are you two liking having the cottage to yourselves so far?" Emily asked Sarah.

"We're having fun," Sarah answered. "It was definitely a lot quieter this weekend, and other than the two Quidditch practices, it should be quiet all week."

"Maybe I should talk my parents into going on vacation for a week or two," Emily suggested, and Hugo laughed.

"That'd be a brilliant idea if I didn't have curfew five nights a week almost all summer. Maybe we could send them to our house on the island for a weekend, though."

"Maybe we could send ourselves to the island for a weekend," Emily countered.

"If you decide to do that, let us know," Frederica told them. "If we brought Myra and Aiden as chaperones, Mum and Dad would probably let Liam and I come along."

"Have any of you heard anything from Marauders Paradise?" Hugo asked, and Joel nodded.

"Dale sent me pictures yesterday of the new Broom Racer coaster. His message said it's the fastest on the island, and the two coasters start out in the same direction, but then they split up, and cross paths with each other four times – twice each upright, and twice inverted."

"We definitely need to get over there and check that out sometime before we go back to school," Hugo told him. "That sounds like it's a blast."

"We don't really have all that many open weekends this summer, guys," Emily reminded them. "Maybe you can try out the new rides when we're there on Wednesday for the wedding."

"That's a good idea," Hugo said. "We're not even halfway through the summer, though. We still have lots of time before going back to school."

"Have you looked at what we have coming up?" Emily asked him. "There are six weekends left, and we have something scheduled already on four of those weekends."

"I guess," Hugo agreed. "At least we mostly get to enjoy the parties this year, and won't be put to work all of the time. I still hope we'll have time to do a few things on our own, though."

It remained to be seen whether they'd get time for some time on the island, a play day at Marauders Paradise, or anything else, but at least for the afternoon, they did get to hang out with their friends, enjoy a beautiful summer day, and relax before the start of another busy week at work.

Al and Carolyn had fun having everyone over too, though for them it did involve a fair bit of work to entertain and feed their cousins and friends, then clean up after everyone went home. Since Al was going to be gone early in the morning, they were in bed fairly early, though it was quite a while before they went to sleep.

While a lot of the guests who were on vacation at Marauders Paradise were just getting off to sleep on Sunday night, Al was up and off to Tanzania to wait for the Knight's Secret Keeper to start the day, and lead him to their office. He'd been led there, and had gone on to Auror Headquarters in time for the morning workout. He was starting to feel like the work days were a bit repetitive, but it certainly wasn't boring, and he was happy with his progress so far. He worked on the cold cases until just before noon, and then left for El Salvador, and his second Secret Keeper surveillance of the day. Al followed the Wizard all day, and it was late afternoon local time before he discovered the location of the Knight's office there, and could head home, have a quick, late dinner, and get a few hours sleep before getting back to work early Tuesday morning.

His morning surveillance on Tuesday was Uganda, and in the afternoon, he was in Hondouras. In both cases, the Secret Keepers stopped in at their respective safe houses early, and he was able to be home in lots of time to make dinner for Carolyn. After eating, they went over to the cottage for the Gryffindor team workout. Al was recruited for the practice team, and played Chaser with Matt and Rose. Uncle Ron was their Keeper, and Uncle George had Tristan for his Beater partner, while Liselle gave Colin his best workout of the summer so far.

On Wednesday, he was in Togo early in the morning, but after being led to the Knight's office there, he returned to Auror Headquarters, and planned to work on his cold cases for the rest of the day. He and Carolyn were both leaving work early so they could get ready and make it to Marauders Paradise in time for Karl and Daphne's wedding.

Daphne had the day off, and she had gone with most of the girls to SpaMagic for the morning, and by noon, they were at her house, along with her mother, sister, Ana, and Ginny, who were all helping her to get ready for the ceremony. Karl had gone to work in the morning for a few hours to make sure his diving tours all got out on time, and then he'd met up with Kieran and Kirley, stopped for haircuts, then used their suite to get ready for the wedding, along with Daphne's father.

"Time to go, mate," Kieran told him as he walked into the room Karl had been using to get ready. "Your father-in-law to be and Dad are waiting for us in the sitting room."

"You don't look nervous at all," Karl said with a smile. "I wonder what my problem is?"

"I'm not nervous," Kieran answered, "and you'll be fine as soon as the ceremony is over. Until then, Daphne's brothers, brother-in-law, and I will be there for you, so try to relax."

The two friends went out to the sitting room, the four Wizards left the suite, went outside, and then apparated to the beach outside of Karl and Daphne's house. Some of the guests were already arriving, and the Wizard who was going to be performing the ceremony was waiting for Karl and Kieran to again give them their instructions. Daphne's brothers, sister, and their families got there about fifteen minutes before the ceremony. The Witches hurried into the house, and the Wizards settled their children into chairs in the front row before joining Karl and Kieran in time to be led to the front of the rows of chairs.

Inside the house, the girls were just about ready to make their appearance. Daphne's Mum, Ana, and Ginny all hugged the girls, and Daphne's father, and then went outside to take their seats. The rest of them waited until they'd done that, and when it looked like everything was ready, Daphne's sisters-in-law, sister, and Lily led the way out to the beach, while Daphne and her father followed them. There weren't very many rows of chairs, and it didn't take long for the processional. Daphne hugged and kissed her father before taking Karl's hand, and turning to face the Wizard who was performing the ceremony while her father went to sit down next to her equally teary-eyed mother.

Kirley and Ana were in the front row on the groom's side of the aisle, and Kirley was kept busy keeping his five Witches supplied with tissues. This was Cassandra and Violet's first 'family' wedding, and they were completely caught up in the magic of the moment. He didn't look around, but he could hear the sound of tissues being pulled from the package behind him, and new that Harry, and probably Al were busy keeping the tissues flowing to Ginny, Carolyn, and Alice.

Karl might have been nervous, and his heart was certainly pounding, but his voice was steady as he quietly promised his heart and life to Daphne when it came time to exchange the vows, and his hands were steady when he slipped the ring on her finger. Daphne was smiling, and her eyes sparkling in the bright afternoon sunshine as she held Karl's gaze and committed to love him all of their lives as she placed the wedding ring on his finger. The next thing Karl remembered hearing was the 'I now pronounce you husband and wife', and 'You may kiss the bride', which he was enthusiastically happy to do.

Just like for Al and Carolyn's wedding, instead of a recessional, the wedding party stayed at the front, and their family and friends lined up to congratulate the newlyweds. While the wedding pictures were being taken on the beach, Gabrielle had the other wedding guests go to the banquet room where they'd be having dinner. Al, Carolyn, Rose, Matt, Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie were in that group, and after getting drinks they found their assigned table and sat down. Daphne and Karl had invited a few friends from Slytherin, and Thomas and his girlfriend, and Samantha and her boyfriend had been put at the same table with the other three couples.

"No wonder Daphne and Karl have been so excited about coming to live here," Thomas told the others. "I've never seen anyplace like this before."

Samantha nodded. "I actually thought they had to be exaggerating, but from what we've seen so far, it's even more incredible than they described."

"If you want, after dinner, we could show you around, and maybe do some rides before going home," Nick offered, and Allie laughed.

"You just want to try out that new racing coaster," she told him, and he laughed too.

"Busted, but I can't be the only one here that wants to do that."

"I'd love to go along," Scorpius told Nick, "but Brianna and I have to leave right after dinner and catch the end of the party at the conference in Egypt."

"How's that going?" Carolyn asked him. The conference had started on Tuesday, and Brianna had gone to Egypt after work on Tuesday, and then come back home Wednesday morning for work again.

"We've gotten everything done we'd hoped for," he told her. "The signing ceremony tomorrow afternoon is just for the benefit of the media."

"Well, I guess Thomas and I can take a couple of extra rides in your honour," Nick offered. "It will be a sacrifice, but what are friends for?"

Thomas asked Nick to tell them all about Marauders Paradise, so all six of them took turns telling the two couples about the island, about the public face of PBP Investments, and wrapped up with telling them about the Phoenix Foundation Residences and Academies, and the week-long vacations that each of the kids and teens got to come to the island to enjoy each summer.

By the time they'd finished, all of the guests had arrived, and the wedding party and families were just coming into the banquet room. It took a while to get everyone seated, and then the first course was brought in, and for the next nearly two hours, everyone enjoyed the incredible dinner. When they finished eating, Brianna and Scorpius went to again congratulate Daphne and Karl, and then hurried off to Egypt. There was an hour after dinner where the guests mingled and Karl and Daphne made the rounds to thank everyone for coming, and then the afternoon dinner party was over. Some of the visiting guests left for home, while most of the kids and adults who were there on vacation got changed, and then went out to play.

Al, Carolyn, Rose, Matt, Nick, and Allie went with Thomas, Samantha, and their dates and showed them around the island, took them on quite a few of the rides, and had drinks at one of the beach-front cafés before going home in the early evening, which put them back home after midnight.

Lily, Kieran, Daphne's family, and Kirley and Ana had gone with Karl and Daphne back to their house after leaving the hotel. They all got changed, then sat outside and visited for a couple of hours before Daphne's parents, brothers, sister, and their families needed to leave for home. Kirley and Ana took that opportunity to leave too, leaving the two younger couples on their own. They were planning on going dancing for a few hours, but the clubs wouldn't get going for a while yet. Kieran handed out fresh drinks, and then sat down next to Lily again.

"This has been one of those really great days," Lily said happily. "The ceremony was beautiful, and the hotel chefs came up with another masterpiece for dinner."

"It has been," Daphne agreed, "though it's been such a whirlwind, I feel like we missed most of what was going on. We hardly spent any time with the friends we invited. I hope they had fun too."

"I was watching out for that," Kieran told her. "They all seemed to be having fun, if a little overwhelmed by the place. Thomas, Samantha, and their dates sure seemed impressed with your home, and the island."

Daphne nodded. "I'm not sure that any of our Slytherin friends believed our descriptions of the island."

"Maybe not," Karl agreed, "but I'm guessing they'll all be willing to come visit us here now that they've been here."

Lily laughed. "No doubt about that. You definitely have some new friends for life after today."

The two couples went out dancing later in the evening, eventually ending up at the WizardKaraoke bar. Karl and Daphne weren't surprised when Lily and Kieran got up to sing until they were called out onto the small dance floor. After announcing to everyone there that Karl and Daphne had just gotten married that afternoon, Lily and Kieran performed the wedding song they'd written for their friends while Karl and Daphne danced.

"Thank-you," Daphne told Lily and Kieran after they'd all returned to their table. "That was a really brilliant surprise."

"Yes, it was," Karl agreed. "Since we didn't decide to go out dancing tonight until earlier this week, though, how did you know you'd need to record the backing track to use here?" he asked Kieran.

Kieran and Lily both laughed. "We didn't for sure, though we hoped we'd get to surprise you like this. Plan B would have been to have that dance during the talent show at the closing banquet on Friday night," he told their friends.

"In that case, I'm really glad we went out tonight," Karl said fervently. "I definitely would not like having to get up and dance in front of fifteen thousand Witches and Wizards."

They stayed at the WizardKaraoke bar for another hour, and Lily and Kieran were talked into doing two more songs – the first by some of the other guests, and the second by Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Ana when they stopped in for a drink before going back to their suites for the night. The four couples left together, and went outside to see Karl and Daphne off with hugs, kisses, and a last round of congratulations. When the happy newlyweds apparated home, Lily and Kieran went back into the hotel with their parents, and up to their suite with Kirley and Ana.

Carolyn woke to the smell of breakfast cooking on Thursday morning, and smiled to herself as she got up and started getting ready for work. She definitely liked the mornings better when Al didn't have to take off early in the morning. His breakfasts were way better than what she usually put together for herself when he was off on his early morning surveillances.

"What are you doing at work today?" she asked Al after they'd shared a long hug and kiss, and she'd sat on one of the stools at the island where he had set a plate of food for her.

"I'll work at Headquarters until after we're done our morning training session, and then I'm going to do some field work on one of my cold cases until noon. Then I'm off to Nicaragua for another surveillance. How about you?"

"Grandma and I have meetings at Marauders Institute this morning, and then I'll be in the office working all afternoon. It's not as exciting as chasing bad guys, but I still love my job anyway."

Al laughed and hugged her before sitting down beside her to eat. "Mine may be more exciting, but thankfully your job pays a lot more than mine does," he said, and Carolyn laughed too.

"Don't go talking like that around work, or pretty soon you'll have all kinds of wild rumours floating around like there is for your Mum and Dad. I'm sure there are still Wizards and Witches out there that believe that your Mum has to support him."

Al nodded. "Probably. After all, he did blow the family fortune when he was young – everybody knows that."

They talked quietly as they ate, and then shared a fairly brilliant and lengthy goodbye hug and kiss before leaving for work. Al went right to work on his cold cases when he got to his cubicle. After the morning workout, he went out to start on the fieldwork for one of the cold cases. The afternoon trip to Nicaragua was the best surveillance he'd had so far during the summer. Not only did the Secret Keeper there lead him to the Knight's office, but their group was having a full meeting with Byron first thing in the morning, local time. That allowed Al to identify all twenty-one members of the group within just a few hours.

Carolyn was in a great mood when she got home, and was welcomed first by the smells of dinner cooking, and next by a warm hug and kiss. Al poured her a glass of wine, and she sat down at the island to talk with him while he worked.

"You must have had a pretty good day too," she told him, and he nodded and smiled.

"My visit to Nicaragua was very productive,' he answered. "How did your meeting go, or was it all confidential information?"

"There was some of that," she conceded, "but most of it was about ongoing operations. The BusinessMagic system sales are exploding, and it's been a challenge for manufacturing to keep up. They have a pretty impressive new line of games and programs coming out for the ViComms. About half of them will be out for back-to-school, and the rest coming along for the Christmas shopping season. Marauders Institute is on track to have their biggest year-over-year jump in both revenue and profit than they've had since the year the Virtual GameWizards came out."

"Thanks to you, Mum, and Lily," Al suggested. "They'll have a full year of BusinessMagic sales, and over five months of ViComm sales, and all of the extras that can be purchased for both of them. No wonder they're having a great year."

"Those two products are definitely stars," Carolyn agreed, "but there are a lot of other products like Glassalloy that are quietly making a lot of money for the company without getting the big media exposure. ReVive is probably the single biggest product now, and nobody even thinks about it – they just take one every day."

"There is still a lot of growth with it in the Muggle World, so that probably won't change anytime soon, unless they invent a non-magical version of the ViComm that Muggles can use."

They had another Gryffindor Quidditch workout that Al was to be on the practice team for again, so after dinner, they left for the Cottage. Tonight's competition for Gryffindor had Scorpius at Keeper now that he was back from Egypt. Al ended up getting the night off when Demelza and Rose drafted Trinity to play Chaser with them instead of Al, who was happy to spend the time cuddling with Carolyn instead. Sebastian and Tristan were at Beater, and Liselle again played Seeker.

"I don't remember the last time Trinity played at one of the practices or family games," Brianna told the others as they watched the action above the Quidditch pitch. "The girls seem to be doing pretty well against Liam, Lance, and Claire."

Carolyn laughed. "You sound surprised, Bree. That group of girls includes one of the best professional Chasers ever, a two-time Quidditch Cup winning team Captain, and Rose won what – four or five Quidditch Cups? I think Gryffindor is doing pretty great just keeping the score close."

"Thanks to Hugo," Matt said. He'd gotten to sit out the practice too, and he was enjoying watching Rose out there having fun. "He's looking better with every practice this summer. Working out with the Canons is definitely helping him take his game to a whole new level."

"Tell me about it," Ron said. "Coach has been so impressed this week, he had Aaron, Arianna, and Kimberly play against Hugo today instead on against me as usual. They only scored four goals on him, and they were throwing everything they had at him."

"What are you going to do for a backup Keeper for the season?" Matt asked Ron.

"We'll have the same backup as last year," Ron answered. "He'll start training with us again the last week of August after Hugo's finished. He was happy to get the summer off to spend with his family. It'll take him a while to get back in condition, but I don't plan on missing any games, so we'll be fine."

Joel and Sarah had played hosts, and had drinks and snacks for everyone. Al and Carolyn stayed to help with the cleanup after everyone else left.

"We'll see you on Saturday at lunch," Carolyn told Sarah when they'd pretty much finished getting everything done. "Are you two doing anything exciting for your last night here alone before everyone gets home?"

Sarah shook her head. "We're going to go out to dinner, and then just come back here and maybe watch a movie. It's been a long week, and it's going to be a busy weekend with the party on Sunday."

"Al and I will be here to help with setup Sunday morning," Carolyn promised. "Do you have any gifts left to get?"

"Yes, but I was planning on a shopping trip on Saturday morning."

"Would you like some company? That was our plan too, since we haven't had any time to do that this week either."

They agreed to do that, and Sarah and Joel would stop at Al and Carolyn's for breakfast before they all went on to the Mall. With that decided, Al and Carolyn left for home. Al was going to be working early again, but they decided to go for a swim before bed. For some reason, going for a swim with a bikini-clad Carolyn did not make Al sleepy at all, but by the time they did go to sleep, she had found something for them to do that tired them both out quite effectively.

On Friday, Al was doing surveillance all day, spending the entire morning in South Africa, and after the Secret Keeper there finally stopped in at the Knight's office near noon local time, he went straight to Columbia, where he was kept busy following the Secret Keeper there for the seven more hours before finally being led to the office there.

"This part of your job isn't that much fun," Carolyn told him after sitting him down with a plate of leftovers. "Will you have any problems keeping up with all of the wedding appointments over the next two weeks?"

Al shook his head. "I'll make sure I don't start any surveillances that I can't be sure to finish in time. I'm probably going to have a lot of these late nights and early mornings while I track down all of these Knights, though."

"I know," Carolyn told him. "Grandma and Aunt Penelope are going to love seeing how much work I get done on the nights you're working late. Tonight I got a great jump on next week's work."

When he was finished eating, Al cleaned up, and then they went up to bed. They shared a few goodnight kisses, and then the next thing Carolyn remembered was waking to the smell of Al's cooking. By the time she was finished getting ready for the day and got downstairs, Joel and Sarah had just gotten there, and Al had breakfast nearly ready.

"We should have come for breakfast here all week," Joel joked when he saw everything Al was cooking. "We just did stuff like cereal, muffins, bagels, and fruit all week."

Carolyn laughed. "That sounds like my breakfasts on the days that Al was gone to work early. Thursday was the only day you missed out on his cooking."

"Mum and Dad will be home for the rest of the summer, so you'll be back to the usual breakfasts starting tomorrow," Al told his friends. "Maybe Carolyn will come have breakfast with you on the mornings that I'm gone to work early."

"There's an idea," Carolyn told him. "I may just have to do that."

The two couples wanted to be back to the cottage in time to make lunch for everyone, so they had breakfast quickly, cleaned up, and then left for the Mall. The party on Sunday was for all of the July birthdays in the family, so they were looking for small gifts for Harry, Rose, Patricia, Jair, and Art. They managed to get their shopping done by ten-thirty, and then went on to the Cottage, and got started on lunch.

Harry and Ginny had a departure time that was going to put them home around eleven-thirty, so lunch preparation was well underway by the time they got home. Al was doing most of the cooking, while Joel and the girls got everything set up outside, including a couple of portable pools for the planned lazy afternoon.

Teddy and Stewart would be busy all day at Marauders Paradise helping with both the departing and arriving groups, so Victoire and Isabelle took Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy home with them, and were coming to the Cottage for lunch too. Kirley and Ana were coming with Kieran and the girls, which meant that Al was cooking for twenty-four.

"This smells wonderful," Ginny told him when she came into the kitchen and went over to hug him. "How are you? Have you had a good week?"

She had William with her, so Al returned her hug, and nodded as he took William for a big hug too. "I'm fine, and it's been a pretty great week, if a little too busy with work and everything else. Are you glad to be home?"

"Really glad," she assured him. "I'm about ready for a week off to rest up from our vacation, though."

"I'd suggest you do that, but compared to this place when the kids are all here for babysitting, your lab is quieter," he told her with a soft laugh. "I'm sure you'll have fun, though," he told William. "I hope you're ready for three weeks of fun while you're up here with us."

Harry had been outside with Brian, Jason, Alice, and Lenny, and then got caught up with welcoming their lunch guests, so it was a while before he had time to go inside and see Al too.

"It looks like everyone's here," Al said after hugging Harry and nodding out the kitchen window. "Lunch will be ready in about fifteen minutes."

"Sounds good. Do you need a hand with anything?"

"The salads, buns, and meat trays can go out any time now," Al answered. He looked around and pointed to a few bottles of wine. "If they've gone through a few bottles outside, there should be room for them now too. Other than that, I'm all set."

Carolyn and Sarah had come in then, so with their help, everything Al had mentioned went out in one trip. When he had the hot dishes ready, he had more help ready to get those dishes outside too, and then everyone filled plates, and sat down to eat. Al and Carolyn sat with Alice, Lenny, Millie, Brian, Amy, and Jason, who were happy to tell them every detail of their week at Marauders Paradise.

After lunch, they spread out around the yard, and spent the afternoon visiting, relaxing, and playing until it was time to get the teens back to the Academy and Residence in time for dinner, and for everyone else to head back home. Harry and Ginny had six teens and William for dinner, and they had a quiet evening before seven of them took the potion that would help them get switched to the time change, and they all went to bed so they'd all be rested up for a busy day on Sunday.

James and Arianna were happy to be cuddled in bed by then too. She and Aaron had stayed at Marauders Paradise until late last Sunday afternoon before going home to be ready to start work on Monday. They'd come back to spend a few hours with James, Tracey, and the kids on Tuesday after work, and for the wedding on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday, they'd returned to the island again, and stayed overnight. Saturday morning, Aaron and Tracey took Quincy, Erin, Adam, and H with them back home, and left James and Arianna free to help get all of their students back to the Academy.

When that was done, they'd gone on to Hogsmeade, and spent an hour with Glenda, Gabe, Bert, and Chris. They'd gone to Marauders Paradise too, so James and Arianna helped them out with a shopping trip for the few fresh groceries they'd need for the rest of the weekend, and then went back home, where they had dinner with Aaron, Tracey, Erin, and Quincy.

"It's nice to be home in our own bed," James said quietly as they snuggled close. "I really missed you the nights you had to be here this week."

"I missed you too," Arianna told him. "Coach told Aaron and I not to let you and Tracey go away anymore if we're going to practice so badly whenever you're gone."

James laughed softly and kissed her. "Were you guys actually playing any worse, or was he just using it as an excuse to get you to work harder."

"It was just an excuse," she answered. "Coach will try anything to get us going. Uncle Ron was on a tear on Friday after Coach had Aaron, Kimberly, and I practice against Hugo instead of him on Thursday."

"How'd Hugo do against you guys?"

Arianna laughed. "Let's just say that it's a good thing he's going to be playing for us. He only let in four goals on more than sixty shots. It might have been the light, but I'm pretty sure I caught Coach smiling once."

"That sounds good for Gryffindor's team this year, and ominous for the other three House teams," James said, and Arianna nodded.

"Dennis tells us that Colin is working harder than ever this summer too, and Sebastian and Tristan said that Frederica and Kevin have really stepped it up too. I think the whole team wants to give their Captain a Quidditch Cup to end his Hogwarts Quidditch career with."

James had started nibbling Arianna's neck, having completely lost interest in Quidditch, and Arianna was more than happy to drop the conversation, and let James carry her away on a brilliant wave of passion before they eventually drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

There was a bustle of activity going on at the Cottage on Sunday morning. Al and Carolyn had come over after breakfast, and along with Lily, Kieran, Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa, had gotten to work getting everything ready for the afternoon party. The entire family was coming, along with quite a few friends. The teens set up tables and chairs for one hundred and twenty, and six portable pools out to one side of the Quiditch pitch. There was a long buffet table, and they had the plates, cutlery, glasses, and napkins all out on that table, and ready to go for the late afternoon dinner. Winky and Kreacher were doing the dinner, so once everything was set up, they all had lunch in the kitchen, cleaned up from that, and then went outside as the House Elves took over the kitchen for the afternoon.

The guests started arriving just before one, and while Harry and Ginny did the meet and greet, Dale and Carissa collected the younger kids to entertain them, while Joel, Sarah, Al, and Carolyn served drinks to everyone. With so many Quidditch players around, it was no surprise that a couple of teams were put together for a game, and most of the kids, and quite a few of the adults were in and out of the pools all afternoon.

Since the only other family parties this summer had been their wedding, and the party the week before that, Al and Carolyn were enjoying getting to actually sit down with different groups and really catch up with everyone. At dinner, they got to spend an hour with Art, Serena, Michael, Rebecca, Mark, Callie, Tristan, and Liselle.

That turned out to be a great mix, and Al and Carolyn were able to hear all about everything going on around the Canons, and with Sebastian, Trinity, Tristan, and Liselle's families; what Michael, Rebecca, and the Delacour and Whitby families were doing; and how Art and Serena were enjoying their jobs at St. Mungo's. Mark was already training for his third Broom Racing season, and Callie entertained all of them with some of the stories around the Wizengamot. Those stories weren't new for Al and Carolyn, but Callie did have a knack for telling them, and she had everyone at their table laughing about some of the idiocies that happened at the Ministry of Magic.

The party started breaking up after dinner, and by the time the cleanup was finished, the only guests remaining were Draco and Astoria, Percy and Penelope, Scorpius and Brianna, and their wedding party. They all went into the sitting room, and after everyone got drinks, they sat down to go over the appointment schedule for the now less than two weeks until the wedding.

"We've booked all of your appointments for after work, or in the evenings," Astoria told them, and passed around copies of the schedule that she had put together. "This week, you'll mostly be doing final meetings to go over the wedding details. You'll see we meet with the florist tomorrow night, the caterer on Tuesday, the hotel events coordinator on Wednesday, and the entertainment management company on Thursday."

"Isn't that Kirley and Ana?" Brianna asked, and Astoria nodded.

"Actually, Laura is handling your wedding, but yes, it's Ana's agency supplying the band." She looked down at her schedule, and then continued. "Friday night, the girls have their final dress fitting, and the guys have an appointment to be fitted for tuxes. You all know about the party here on Saturday night, and the underage campout is at Al and Carolyn's this time."

"Do you have enough people to help with setup?" Al asked his father.

"We've hired a caterer for the party," Harry told him. "They'll be doing everything, so we don't have to do anything here. You'll probably want some help setting up at your place for the underage party, though." Al got several offers of help for that, and then Astoria continued going over the schedule for the week of the wedding.

"A week from tomorrow, we have a walk-through for the wedding that everyone in the wedding party, and the parents need to attend. There are far too many guests to do a full reception line, but since there are so many VIP's coming, you will be doing a small reception for them before the dinner in a private room, and we will also have a protocol advisor go over everything we need to know for that." She looked up from her schedule, and smiled at Scorpius and Brianna.

"Once that's done, it's all parties. On Tuesday night, your wedding party is taking you out to dinner. Wednesday, you have dinner at Percy and Penelope's. Thursday is at Malfoy Mansion, and Friday is here at the Cottage. Expect to be roasted by your friends and family at all of those dinners." Everyone else laughed, including Scorpius and Brianna.

"You all sound way to happy about that," Brianna told them. "Scorpius and I won't mind at all if you skip the roasting part of those dinners."

"You didn't seem to have that problem when it was time to roast all of us," Rose reminded her. "We definitely don't want you to miss out on all of the fun now that it's your turn."

The only thing they had left on the schedule was the day of the wedding itself, and Astoria went over that quickly, wrapping up the little meeting. Al and Carolyn were the first couple to leave, since he was going to be working early again in the morning. They'd done a quick round of goodbye hugs, and then apparated home, and went up to bed.

Between work and wedding appointments, the next week flew by. Al was only doing morning surveillances, and this week located the Knight's offices in Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. It took all day on Tuesday before the Secret Keeper for the Italy office stopped into the safe house, but in Germany and France, the Secret Keepers there went to their offices first thing in the mornings, and in Spain, he was led to the office in Madrid shortly before noon. The rest of the time, he worked his cold cases, and made sure he was home each night in time to cook dinner for Carolyn, and get to their appointments each evening on time. The only exception was Thursday night, where they had dinner at the Cottage, and a small birthday party for Harry before going on to their wedding appointment.

On Saturday morning, Scorpius, Nick, Matt, and Joel came over to give Al and Carolyn a hand getting everything set up for the underage party. When that was done, and the guys had left, Al and Carolyn spent another couple of hours making the dinner that the teens would be having later, and would only need to heat up a few dishes before serving. Joel and Sarah were going to take care of that for them, and came over for lunch so they could go over everything with their friends.

"Have we got a final number on how many teens will be here tonight?" Sarah asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"Including yourselves, twenty-eight," she told Sarah. "All of the teens from the Academy we're expecting to start at Hogwarts in September have been invited, including Brian and Jason."

"That's a good idea," Joel said. "It should make for a fun night."

The teens started arriving a bit after one o'clock, and Al and Carolyn helped Joel and Sarah welcome everyone until they needed to go and get ready for their own party. When they went out into the back yard to say goodbye to everyone, they laughed when they were welcomed with whistles and catcalls, and it was a very odd feeling to be on the opposite side of that scene from where they'd been only a couple of years ago when they'd done that for Ron and Hermione when they'd been part of the underage group.

"Very funny," Al told Joel, Hugo, and the other guys, while Carolyn was saying goodbye to some of the girls, and being complimented on how incredible she looked. "Have fun tonight, and we'll see you at breakfast in the morning."

The party at the Cottage was starting with a social hour, or hour and a half starting at four-thirty. Since Al and Carolyn were to be in the reception line with the rest of the wedding party and the three sets of parents, they got there by a quarter past four. Astoria and Ginny had them all lined up and ready to go by the time the first guests began arriving, and the meet and greet got started.

There were over three hundred guests for the party, and it took most of the hour and a half to welcome everyone, and get them seated for dinner by six o'clock. For the next two hours, dinner was served in wave after wave of wonderful dishes. After dinner, there was an hour-long break while the caterers cleaned up from dinner, and the band set up for the dance. Scorpius, Brianna, the parents, and their wedding party used that time to fan out and visit with as many guests as they could get around to seeing, and then they were out at the area set aside for dancing for most of the next four hours.

"Are you having fun?" Astoria asked Scorpius and Brianna when they came over to the table where she, Draco, Narcissa, Andromeda, and Robert were sitting.

"We're having a wonderful time, mother," Scorpius assured her. "It looks like everyone is having fun."

"So what brings you over here to hang out with the old people?" Draco asked, smiling up at his son.

"We were noticing that you all hadn't been out dancing for a while, so I thought I'd come see if my Grandmother would like to go dancing with me for a song or two, and get the rest of you 'old people' out dancing too." He held out his hand to a surprised Narcissa, who smiled when Andromeda nudged her to go ahead. She took her grandson's hand, and let him lead her to the dance area, where the band was just starting a set of classic ballads.

"Good timing," Astoria complimented Brianna. "What will you do now that you've lost your dance partner?"

"I'm going dancing with Grandpa Weasley, and the four of you should go dancing too," Brianna answered. She hugged Astoria and Draco, and then moved on to the table where Molly and Arthur were sitting.

"Shall we?" Robert asked Andromeda as they watched Arthur stand and take Brianna's arm. "It seems the kids have decided that we've been sitting here to keep Narcissa company, and have taken steps to fix that."

Andromeda, Draco, and Astoria all stood up, and Astoria nodded to where Molly was now getting up to go dancing with Luna's father, Xenophilius. "I get the feeling we're not the only ones doing that tonight. Maybe we should put them at the same table."

They all laughed at that suggestion. It was absurd to picture Narcissa and Xenophilius having anything in common to talk about. She may have come a very long way over the past year, but not that far.

Scorpius and Brianna must have had a plan, because for the rest of the night, while Narcissa had short breaks between dancing sessions, there were regular offers as she was taken dancing by Arthur, Al, Teddy, and several other Wizards. She was even caught laughing when Harry danced with her for a song, which definitely had gotten the attention of some of the Ministry of Magic guests.

"I don't know how that was for you," Ginny told Harry when he sat down at their table again, "but from here that was very entertaining."

"No doubt," he agreed. "I never expected the day would come where I'd dance with Narcissa, so I'm sure there are others here that are shocked."

"I think it was brilliant," Arianna told him. "We've all come a long way over the last year. Give Narcissa another year or two, and she might be as much fun as Grandma Andromeda."

"Why is that idea so hard for me to imagine?" Harry asked, and Ginny laughed and hugged him.

"A year ago, you couldn't have imagined dancing with her, honey. We certainly never expected to be friends with Draco and Astoria. I'm with Arianna, and wouldn't be at all surprised if she's right."

They were laughing about that dance at Narcissa's table too, and she smiled tolerantly as her family had their fun.

"If you think that was fun, you and Harry should definitely dance at the wedding next weekend when everyone from the Ministry is there to watch," Draco suggested. "I'd definitely want to have the camera ready to take pictures."

"That would be entertaining," Andromeda agreed. "I'm sure there are enough politicians here tonight to make sure that their dance tonight makes the gossip circuit at the Ministry on Monday, though."

"I'm very glad that we were able to entertain you," Narcissa told Andromeda. "You're very easily amused, aren't you?"

"I do enjoy the simple pleasures in life," Andromeda answered. "Don't bother trying to convince us you didn't find that fun – we all heard you laughing while you were dancing with Harry."

Narcissa gave up and laughed softly. "Okay, so the reaction of some of those pompous politicians was funny. I've always found those puffed up peacocks amusing."

Draco smiled at his mother, and didn't bother to mention that her idea of amusing these days was much different than it had been not that long ago. He'd been surprised when Harry had come over and invited his mother to dance. Over the last year, especially as Astoria spent more time with Ginny and Penelope, he and Harry had spent more time together, and had certainly started a real friendship, but Harry had also been much more cautious around his mother. That simple act of dancing together had been a big step for both of them, and Draco had been really happy to see it happen.

Scorpius and Brianna were taking a break at their table, along with Nick, Allie, Al, Carolyn, Rose, and Matt. It'd been more than an hour since they'd last taken a break, and they were all glad to get off of their feet for a while and have drinks.

"So which one of you girls talked Dad into asking Narcissa to dance?" Al asked. Carolyn had nudged him to dance with Scorpius' grandmother, and was sure he hadn't been the only one she'd talked to.

"That was a team effort," Brianna told him. "It was Lily's hug and kiss that got him, though."

Al laughed. "There's no point in me saying anything about that, since her hugs and kisses have that effect on all of the guys in our family, me included."

"That's why we love all of you so much," Allie told him. "What are you all doing tomorrow, after sleeping in?"

"We're not sleeping in," Carolyn told her. "Al and I have twenty-eight to feed in the morning, and most of them will likely be up fairly early. After they go home, we're planning on taking it easy for the rest of the day."

"That's our plan too," Allie told her. "I was thinking we could all get together for the afternoon, though. Scorpius and Brianna are going to be gone for two weeks, Rose and Matt have another tour, you and Al are gone to Marauders Refuge for two of the last three weeks of the month, and Lily and Kieran have the second half of their tour starting a week from tomorrow. After the wedding, we won't all be home at the same time again before Kieran goes back to school, so we won't all be able to get together again until Christmas."

"If everyone wants to do that, and we all bring something for dinner so Al and Carolyn don't have to do all the work, that sounds like a plan," Rose said after getting a nod from Matt. "We'd definitely be in."

Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna were in too, as were Lily and Kieran when they were asked about it, so the plan was approved by the group. After taking a break, Scorpius, Brianna, and the others were back out dancing, and visiting with guests. The band played until shortly after one, and then there was canned music playing softly as the party wound down, and guests began leaving.

At Al and Carolyn's house, the teens had played all afternoon. They'd been swimming in the incredible pool, and played Quidditch, and had a lazy, fun day. Joel, Sarah, Hugo, and Emily had done most of the work getting dinner put out for everyone, and they'd all pitched in for the cleanup. There had been more swimming in the evening, and a game of LaserBroom after dark, before starting their campfire. By the time the band was wrapping up at the other party, most of the underage group were in tents, and fast asleep. Joel, Sarah, Hugo, Emily, Frederica, Liam, Colin, Nadine, Lance, and Vanessa were the only teens still standing – or sitting – around the fire.

"Do you think that Al and Carolyn would mind if we all come live here with them?" Frederica asked. "I love their house, and having a pool to use year-round would be really awesome."

Liam laughed. "You have one already," he reminded her. "Do you think we'd be allowed to go live on the island during holidays from now on so you could use it?"

"I wish, but no, we wouldn't," Frederica answered with a regretful sigh. "That would be brilliant if we could."

"You guys can always get Nick to design you a place like this too," Hugo suggested. "I'm not sure having to do all of the work to keep a place like this clean is my idea of a good time, but if it's what you really want, go for it."

"That's a good point," she agreed. "Maybe I'll find out about that first. Spending half of my free time cleaning would not be my idea of fun either."

"We're only starting our OWL year," Liam told her. "Hugo, Emily, and Joel may need to think about where they're going to live next summer when they're done school, but the rest of us have some time before we have to worry about growing up."

"Don't remind us," Joel said with a laugh. "Sarah and I love being at the cottage so much, I don't want to think about going out on our own yet."

Frederica laughed. "You've been around our family to know that you'll never be 'out on your own'. How's your internship going? Do you still think that's what you'll be doing after graduating?"

"It's going really well," Joel told her. "I don't know when I'll find out whether I'll have a job offer for after school, but if there isn't a way I can work with the kids there, Teddy and Stewart have told me to come see them, and they'd love to have me work for them."

"That'd probably be great too, but since you're the first page I know of that Uncle Percy offered an internship for in his own department, I'd guess he has plans for you," Frederica said, and Sarah nodded.

"I think so too," she agreed.

"Are you going to be another career politician too?" Hugo asked, and Sarah laughed.

"Possibly, but I really don't know what I'd like to do there yet – just that after watching Scorpius, Brianna, Al, and Callie, that I'd like to be a part of what they're all trying to do there. The coming years are really going to be exciting."

"We've lost them both," Hugo said, sighing dramatically. "Another couple deluded into thinking that politics is fun."

"I suppose," Sarah agreed. "I guess we don't have to ask you how things are going in training camp, since even us Quidditch novices can see you're getting a lot better, from what we've seen on Tuesdays and Thursdays. How is work going at the Institute and Wheezes labs?" she asked Emily, Frederica, and Liam.

"I'm loving my job," Emily answered first. "They haven't told me for sure that I'll have a job there after school, but Lisa's made it pretty clear to me that the offer will be coming at the end of summer."

"We're having fun working with Dad and Lee," Frederica told the others, "but if I'm being honest with myself, I'm not very good at coming up with new wheezes, so I doubt that my future is in that part of the business. I'm happy to learn all about Mum and Dad's company, but I really hope they understand that I still really want to play professional Quidditch after school."

"How about you, Liam?" Sarah asked, and Liam shrugged.

"I love wheezes as much as the next Wizard, but I don't seem to have the imagination to come up with new ones like James does. We've been able to help work out the bugs in some of the projects that they're working on, but that's about all we've gotten done. James just goofs around with wheezes on the side, and he dropped off three new prototypes in the last month alone. I'm with Frederica, and want to play Quidditch when we graduate. Maybe we could even play on the same team like Tristan and Liselle do for the Canons."

"At least you could do that," Colin told him. "Nadine and I couldn't do that, unless I was on the reserve team."

Nadine laughed and hugged him. "You don't have to worry about that – the Harpies don't have any guys on their team."

"You're going to be the future Seeker for the Harpies?" Emily asked, and Nadine nodded.

"That's my current plan, yes," she agreed. "We'll see if I'm good enough by the time I graduate, but I'm thinking that Miranda and I could really be great additions for the Harpies. If Frederica isn't stuck on the idea of playing on the same team as Liam, she might want to think about playing for the Harpies too."

Frederica laughed. "That's an idea. That might be a winning team with the three of us on it."

"What about our Canons?" Hugo asked. "Will you just desert your team and go play for the enemy?"

"We'd all love to play for the Canons," Colin told him, "but you're going to be playing for a very young team, and other than maybe Kimberly's spot, there aren't going to be any openings on the team for a long time. If we want to play, we're going to have to play for another team."

"I guess," Hugo conceded, "but does it have to be in this league? Maybe you'd like the weather in Australia or South America better."

Frederica laughed. "Nice try, Hugo, but we all know that this is the best league in the world to play in, so forget about talking any of us in to playing somewhere else."

"Oh well, at least I'll have a couple of years before you all start getting into the league. Are we putting you to sleep with all of the Quidditch talk, Vanessa?"

Vanessa was cuddled in a lounge chair with Lance, and she opened her eyes and smiled at Hugo. "No, but keep going, and you will soon enough."

"It's after one," Lance told her. "Why don't we go get some sleep?"

"We can do that," she agreed. They got up, wished everyone else goodnight, and headed for the tents.

"Maybe we should change the subject before everyone leaves," Emily suggested. "Have you gotten dresses for the wedding?" she asked the other girls.

"I'm suddenly very tired," Hugo joked. "Maybe we should go get some sleep too."

Emily laughed and hugged him. "How quickly you change your tune. The other girls and I can go sit in one of the tents and talk if we're boring you boys."

"You definitely shouldn't do that," Hugo told her. "This campfire wouldn't be any fun without having you here to cuddle with."

The girls talked fashion and weddings for a while longer while their boyfriends cuddled with them, but as two o'clock approached, they collectively decided that it was time to put the fire out, and go get some sleep.

At the cottage, by two o'clock they were down to less than a hundred guests. Scorpius, Brianna, and the rest of their wedding party were kept busy until a bit after two-thirty, thanking their guests for coming, and seeing them off. The caterers had been busy as the guests left, and nearly had the entire yard cleaned up by then, with just a few tables and chairs left to go. Once the guests and catering staff were all gone, Al and Carolyn had one last round of hugs and kisses, and then left for home.

"I imagine everyone is asleep in the tents," Carolyn said quietly as she and Al walked into their house.

"They are," Al agreed confidently. "Let's go upstairs and get some sleep too. We won't get much rest before getting up to start cooking."

Carolyn had expected to help Al in the morning, but when she woke, it was to the smells of breakfast already cooking downstairs. It took a moment for her to notice the voices too, and knew that at least some of their overnight guests were with Al in the kitchen. She hopped out of bed, and went to have a quick shower, and get ready. When she got downstairs, it looked like more than half of the teens had joined Al, and they were sitting at the Dining room table that Al had expanded to seat thirty, or were sitting on the stools at the island.

"So much for helping you cook this morning," she told Al as she hugged and kissed him good morning.

"I'm glad you were able to sleep a little longer," he answered. "Everything will be ready soon. Can you go collect the gang who's having a morning swim, please?"

Sarah and Joel were two of the group sitting at the island, and Sarah stood and joined Carolyn as she left for the pool room.

"Did you guys have fun yesterday?" Carolyn asked as they walked, and Sarah nodded.

"We had a great day. I think Joel and I are going to miss these underage parties, even though going to the adult parties will be brilliant too."

Frederica had suggested the morning swim, and Liam, Colin, Nadine, Vanessa, Lance, Cassandra, Violet, Erin, Quincy, Ophelia, and Philip had all decided to join her.

"Anyone in here ready for breakfast?" Carolyn called out, and got an immediate response from the boys, who were quick to hop out of the pool, dry off, and get dressed. The girls weren't in as big a hurry, and sent the boys on ahead, while they talked with Carolyn and Sarah.

"Any highlights inquiring minds need to know about from your party?" Frederica asked Carolyn.

"Your Uncle Harry's dance with Scorpius' grandmother will probably be the news of the day on Monday at the Ministry," Carolyn told her, "but other than that, while it was a lot of fun, there wasn't anything extraordinary happening. We did a lot of meet and greet, dinner was really good, and we danced so much I'll need the whole week to recover and be ready for the dance at the wedding."

"With everything you have going on this week, I'd be surprised if you remember at all that you were dancing last night by next weekend," Sarah said.

"Maybe I won't by then," Carolyn conceded. "My feet definitely remember this morning, though."

By the time the girls joined everyone else in the Great Room, Al had everyone else sitting at the dining room table, and so they all sat down too, just as Al put the last two platters on the table.

"Wow!" Emily exclaimed. "We really need to come stay overnight at your house more often. You even baked cinnamon buns and everything!"

"I'd say something about how you Potter Wizards make the rest of us cooking-challenged guys look bad when you do stuff like this," Hugo said, "but I'll save that up until after eating, since this really is great."

"I appreciate you doing that," Al said dryly.

They spent the next hour or so eating, chatting, and having fun. Al and Carolyn were sitting near Ophelia, Philip, Alice, and Lenny, and liked having some time to get to know the four teens a little better. When they finished eating, everyone except Joel and Sarah went to pack their overnight bags, and get ready to leave. Joel and Sarah helped Al and Carolyn with the breakfast cleanup, and then they went outside with Al and Carolyn to start packing up tents. James stopped over to pick up Erin and Quincy, and take the ten Academy teens back to the Academy.

The rest of the Marauders had plans for the day, so after thanking Al and Carolyn, they began leaving. Frederica and Liam left for his house with Myra and Aiden, and Hugo and Emily were off to spend the day with her family. Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy all went to meet up with Stewart, Isabelle, Teddy, and Victoire, while Nadine and Vanessa were each spending the day with their respective boyfriends, and left for the Creevey and Longbottom houses. That just left Joel and Sarah, and after everything was cleaned up from the campout, the two couples got cold drinks, and sat out on the patio.

"What do you guys have planned for the day?" Carolyn asked Sarah.

"We're going to spend the afternoon with Mark and Callie. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny are visiting the Residence, and then we're all going to have dinner together at Mark and Callie's," Sarah answered. "What about you?"

Carolyn told her what they'd decided last night would be the plan for today, and they sat around talking for nearly another hour. When Sarah got a message from Lily asking if she and Joel were going to sleep all day, they left for the cottage, and left Al and Carolyn to enjoy what was left of their morning. Since they'd had a monster-sized breakfast, they just had a snack for lunch, while Al also made up a couple of dishes for their potluck dinner.

Other than the little bit of work involved in keeping drinks and snacks supplied all afternoon, and to get dinner ready, the five couples had one of those perfect, do-nothing, lazy days. By the time that Al and Carolyn went to bed Sunday night, they were relaxed, happy, and ready for another busy week.

Al was up early and on his way to Ankara, Turkey hours before Carolyn would need to get up. As of the end of the last week, other than the Knight's offices that were dotted across the Asian-Pacific region, he'd located all of the other safe houses that he knew about. Since he was going to work on finding those locations during the two weeks he and Carolyn were at Marauders Refuge, this week, he was going to start his stakeouts of the offices he had found. He still needed to identify all of the members of each group, and while he couldn't work on it this week because of the wedding, he would also be going into each office to learn everything he could about what they were doing.

The Knight's office in Ankara was on Ataturk Blvd., near the Muggle Grand National Assembly. The location was probably more because of it's proximity to the Wizarding area of Ankara, but Al did find it amusing that many of the Knight's offices were in close proximity to the government buildings of the Muggles that those Witches and Wizards despised so much. His game plan for the week was to begin his surveillances early, in time zones that were a couple of hours ahead of home so that he would be done watching the offices early enough to be back for the nightly appointments and dinners.

Monday was a big day for Hogwarts students, since their letters were being delivered with the morning OWL posts. There were just three letters delivered to the Cottage, and Kieran, Joel, and Sarah were all quick to open their envelopes. Kieran barely had time to recognize the badge that slid out of his envelope before Lily threw her arms around his neck and kissed him excitedly.

"I knew it!" she told him. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Lily," he said, smiling ruefully as Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah laughed. "I know being named Head Boy is a big deal, but honestly, I was hoping someone else would be given the job."

"Then you'll probably be a very good Head Boy," Ginny told him. "I think the professors made a very good choice."

"So do I," Joel told Kieran, and both boys laughed. "I was pretty sure that I was safe, since Ravenclaw has had three of the last four Heads from our House."

"So how did you all do last year?" Harry asked.

Kieran had seven O's and an E, while Sarah had seven O's and two E's, and Joel had six O's and one E for his seven classes. Joel and Sarah were both prefects again, and while the boys were going to keep taking all of their subjects in their NEWT year, Sarah was doing the same as Kieran had done last year, and only dropping Astronomy for her sixth year.

"Does this mean you'll keep taking Herbology?" Hermione asked Hugo when he showed her the six O's and the E on his report.

Hugo laughed. "I guess the deal was that I could only drop it if I couldn't keep up, so yes, I'll take the NEWT year. At least I'll have Emily to help me get through it again." He heard the soft chime that let him know that he had a QuillMessage coming in on his ViComm, and quickly checked the message.

"Emily had straight O's, and she's been named Head Girl," Hugo told his parents as he quickly sent a reply to Emily to congratulate her, and let her know how he'd done.

Victoire and Teddy were hosting the Hogwarts Letter morning breakfast, so Millie, Amy, Dale, and Carissa were all there to open their letters together.

"Six O's and three E's!" Dale said excitedly as he read his third year report. "Do we need to even ask if you have straight O's?" he asked Carissa, who hugged him before answering.

"Yes, I did get ten O's," she told him happily. She was about to ask Millie and Amy how they had done, when she saw the matching Prefect badges slide out of their envelopes as they'd pulled out their letters. "You've both made Prefect!" she exclaimed, and hopped up to go hug her friends. "Congratulations!"

Victoire, Isabelle, Teddy, and Stewart had hugs for all four of the teens before Millie and Amy even got around to looking at their marks. Millie had six O's and three E's, and Amy had seven O's and two E's.

"You can have that O in Astronomy," Millie told Amy. "That is one subject I'll be dropping after our OWLs for sure, no matter how well I do. Night time is supposed to be for sleeping, not having astronomy lessons. I could hardly stay awake during those classes."

"You might change your mind if Brian is in our class this year," Amy suggested, and Millie laughed.

"Maybe," she conceded, "but I doubt even that will make me want to keep taking the class."

"Will Brian and Jason get their letters today?" Stewart asked.

Amy shook her head. "No. None of the Academy students will get letters unless they pass their exams. Brian and Jason start writing their fourth year exams next week, and most everyone else start writing them either this week or next week."

"That won't leave much time to get ready to go to Hogwarts if they only know a week or two ahead of time," Isabelle told the girls. "What will they do about summer assignments?"

"I don't know," Millie answered. "James must have some plan, though. I'll ask Erin what they did for her and Quincy last year and find out."

Frederica had spent Sunday night at Liam's house, so she was there when the four OWL Posts arrived. Aiden was definitely the most excited of their group, and he was the first to get his letter out of the envelope and start reading about what he'd need for his first year.

"You read all of my first year books and have been using the ViComm study programs already this summer," Myra told him. "Other than your wand and robes, there probably isn't anything in that letter you don't know about already, Aiden."

"You were just as excited last year when you got your first letter," Meghan reminded her daughter. "I can't believe you'll all be gone to school this year. Whatever will your father and I do while you're gone?"

Liam laughed. "The question for us might be 'Do we really want to know what you and Dad will be doing while we're gone. If I were you, Dad, I would have booked one of Rose and Matt's vacations to take Mum on."

"That's a brilliant idea, Liam," his father said with a big smile. "Of course, I thought that it was a brilliant idea a year ago when Matt sold us the trip we're going on in October too. We'll try to find time to send you each postcards while we're gone."

"How'd you do on your reports?" Meghan asked Liam, Myra, and Frederica.

"Five O's and two E's here," Myra reported. "Herbology and Astronomy were the E's. Is that a Prefect badge, Frederica? Can I see it?"

Frederica handed it over, smiling at the younger girl's excitement. "I have eight O's and an E," she told the others. "Getting to be a Prefect would have been more fun if they'd made you one too, Liam."

He laughed and hugged her. "I'm glad that I'm not, thanks anyway. With our studies and Quidditch, I've got enough going on already. I know we haven't heard yet, but we both know that Colin will be the other Prefect for our House and year. He likely does more around the school than every other student, and most don't even know half of the things he does."

"That's true," Frederica agreed. "What'd you get for your marks?"

Liam handed her his letter. "Seven O's, two E's. You've managed to stay one O ahead of me again this year."

Vanessa and Nadine were at the Residence, enjoying the atmosphere in the dining hall as the seventy or eighty OWL Posts arrived for the Hogwarts students. They both quickly opened their envelopes, and Nadine hugged Vanessa when the Prefect badge slid out of Vanessa's envelope.

"Way to go!" Nadine said in a quiet, but enthusiastic voice. "You're going to be a really great Prefect."

"Thanks, Nadine," Vanessa said as she returned the hug. Both girls then began to read over their letters, then switched so they could look at each other's letters.

"Seven O's and two E's," Vanessa said. "That's one O better than I did in third year. Congratulations!"

"Yeah, but you have seven O's and two E's for your fourth year, so I'd say we both did brilliantly."

"Why don't you do the honours of letting Lily know how we did," Vanessa suggested.

While Nadine did that, Vanessa sent a qm to Lance to let him know how she had done, and that his girlfriend had been made a Prefect. He sent her a message back congratulating her, and letting her know that he'd earned seven O's and two E's as well.

"Colin was named a Prefect too," Nadine reported to Vanessa as she read the QuillMessage from him. "That seems to be catching," she added, after reading Lily's reply. "Lily says Frederica, Millie, and Amy are all Prefects too. Kieran and Emily are our Head Boy and Girl." She had another message chime in, and read it. "Miranda is officially our team Captain. I'm glad Professor Macmillan agreed with Kieran's recommendation. She really is going to be a brilliant Captain."

"Tell her congratulations from me too," Vanessa said. Both girls were getting messages, sending replies on their ViComms, and also talking with other students who were stopping by, mostly to congratulate Vanessa when they noticed the Prefect badge on the table in front of her. There hadn't really been that many students at the Residence who got to be Prefects, so it was a pretty big deal, and most of the kids were proud that one of their own had been given the honour.

After breakfast, it was time for the working Marauders to get going for the day. Kieran and Lily had video shoots and studio time booked every day except Friday, and left the Cottage at the same time Joel and Sarah left for the Ministry, and Ginny left for the Institute. Hermione had 'the girls', including Ginny, take Emily out for lunch to congratulate her for being named Head Girl, and had proudly sent a memo around to all the departments at the Institute too.

Since Harry had two brand new Prefects at the Cottage, and so many really great reports, to celebrate, he took all of the teens and kids to the Mall in Paris for lunch and a play afternoon. They had to be back early enough that he could get dinner ready, and they could eat before he and Ginny had to leave for the appointment at the Emerald City Centre, but they did have a lot of fun in the few hours they did get to spend in the Atrium Amusement Park.

The wedding rehearsal was a three hour long marathon that included a run-through of the ceremony, which was going to be outside, an extensive review of the VIP meet and greet, and all of the protocols that everyone needed to follow when dealing with international leaders. They finished up by going over the schedule for the dinner and dance, and by nine-thirty, they were finished, and went to one of the hotel lounges to have a drink together before leaving for home.

"Is there no way we can move Lily closer to us for that reception line?" Brianna asked Astoria. "She could be our translator for that VIP reception."

Astoria laughed. "Every group will have at least one translator with them," she told Brianna. "You and Scorpius already know that most of the dignitaries speak English too, though we all need to remember that, and be careful what we say."

Brianna laughed too. "But that's why I want Lily close by – so she can let us know if they say anything interesting in their own languages that they don't think we'll understand."

"I'll keep my ears open," Lily promised. "I don't really know that many languages fluently, though."

"You know about six more than the rest of us," Kieran reminded her, "and another dozen or so that you know enough phrases in to talk to the audiences at our concerts, or to the fans when we're signing autographs."

"That session on protocol just re-affirmed just how wise a decision it was for me to not go into politics," Nick told the others. "I think my game plan is going to be to nod a lot, and keep my mouth shut as much as possible. The rest of you can impress the bigshots."

"Don't worry about it," Penelope advised him. "You've been around politicians your whole life, and I'm sure you will do very well on Saturday. Look at meeting all of those Witches and Wizards as a chance to get future customers. Maybe you could end up designing a new Ministry of Magic, or some fancy estate mansion."

"With my luck, they'd have me do the drawings, and then they'd be stuck in committee for twenty years, the project would get killed, and we'd never get paid."

"I'm going to really enjoy the day that you have to give up your cynicism about politics," Percy told him. "You may not see it, but things are really getting a lot better at the Ministry – and at the other Ministries of Magic too."

They only stayed out until ten-thirty, and then left the hotel for their respective homes. For the rest of the week, it was work by day for everyone, and then different groupings for dinner each night, with Scorpius, Brianna, and the four couples in their wedding party being the only Witches and Wizards who were at all four dinners.

For Al, work meant two more days in Ankara, Turkey before he identified all twenty-one members of the Knights there, and then moving on to Warsaw, Poland, where it only took him Thursday, and then Friday morning to identify all of the Knights there. Carolyn was busy at work too. She was keeping up with everything going on at Marauders Institute as the back to school launches were rolled out, and was also getting ready for her trip to Marauders Refuge. She and Al were going to be leaving on Sunday for the island, and she and Penelope spent a lot of time together as Penelope taught Carolyn about everything she needed to be doing while she was there.

Everyone in the wedding party was working all week, but Ginny was taking Thursday and Friday off so that she could help Astoria out with everything that needed to be handled at the Emerald City Centre, while Penelope took Friday off to help too. Harry and Draco had their assigned jobs too, and had been kept busy from Wednesday through Friday running errands and basically being the gophers for the girls.

Finally, it was Saturday morning. The girls had taken over Al and Carolyn's place on Friday night, having kicked the boys out before midnight. They had spent the night at Grimmauld Place. Carolyn had set her alarm clock so she'd be up early enough to go start making breakfast, but when she woke up, she could already those sweet smells of breakfast cooking coming from the kitchen. She showered and got ready for the morning, and then hurried downstairs, where she found Kreacher and Winky happily cooking up a storm.

"This is such a wonderful surprise," she told them as she hugged Winky, Kreacher, and finally Dobby, who giggled when she picked him up from the portable playpen that Kreacher and Winky usually used for him when they weren't at Grimmauld Place. "Thank-you so much!"

"You're welcome, Carolyn," Kreacher told her. "Winky and Kreacher are very happy to be able to do this for all of you this morning."

"Aren't you worried about leaving the boys to fend for themselves in your kitchen?" she asked Winky, who grinned at her.

"If it was Masters Scorpius or Nick, we might be. Winky is sure that Master Al will take very good care of everything." Carolyn returned her grin.

"I'm sure he will too," she agreed. "If Nick and Scorpius had to make breakfast, they'd be going out to the Mall or the Diner. Cooking is not a talent that either of them have – unless they've managed to keep it hidden from us so far."

The aroma from Kreacher and Winky's cooking had attracted the attention of the rest of the Witches in the house, and they began joining Carolyn and the three elves in the Great Room. Ginny, Sarah, Penelope, and Astoria came over for breakfast too, and the nine Witches and the elves sat down at the Dining Room table to eat. After that, Kreacher and Winky were left to take care of the cleanup, while the girls all left for the Emerald City Centre SpaMagic.

At Grimmauld Place, Al had been the breakfast chef, and the guys had gathered in the kitchen. Harry, Joel, Percy, and Draco had joined them, and they'd taken their time eating, since they didn't have nearly as much to do as the girls did.

"Maybe you and I should learn how to cook like this," Draco suggested to Scorpius, who laughed.

"You're welcome to try, Dad, but my limited experimentation into cooking suggests that I have absolutely no talent for it, and continuing to try would just cause a lot of heartburn to those I love."

The rest of the guys all laughed. "You're not the only one in that club," Nick told him. "I don't think Allie's completely given up on me yet, but she also isn't asking me to help out with much more than tossing salads and putting wine on ice anymore."

"That's too bad," Scorpius told him. "The take-out restaurants near your place are going to miss having the last minute dinner replacement business."

"You're hilarious," Nick answered, though he did laugh. "I'm sure that those places will survive. Besides, there's still enough days when we're both running late that we just get take-out food on the way home, or meet at a restaurant."

When they did finish eating, Percy had what was basically a make-work list for Nick and Scorpius, and he sent them off to do the running around while the rest of them went to the Emerald City Centre, where they split up to take care of the different jobs that needed to be done before the wedding started at two o'clock. By eleven, they all needed to be back home, or for the guys in the wedding party, Grimmauld Place to start getting cleaned up and ready for the wedding.

Matt, Al, and Kieran had to be back at the hotel by a quarter past twelve, and ready to lead the team of hired ushers who would be helping to seat the thousands of guests, starting at twelve-thirty. Including the left and right sides of the wide rows of seats, and the three aisles in between, the ushers had five long lanes they could use to seat the arriving guests.

For most of the first hour, the three guys were able to escort pretty much whoever was arriving to their seats. The most entertaining part of that hour was the reaction of many of the Witches and Wizards to the arrivals and seating of a small but conspicuous contingent of Goblins that included Griphook and the other PBP Investments Account Managers, and several representatives of the Goblin nation that were there as a show of respect for the Junior Minister in charge of Goblin Liason. There was another stir caused when Kreacher, Winky, and Dobby arrived, and were seated at the front, in the section reserved for the family of the groom.

When the VIP's and family members started to get there, though, they were exclusively used to escort the special guests to their seats. Except for his own mother and grandmother, Al was assigned to escort all Ministers of Magic, or their wives, as needed, and as many Senior and Junior Ministers as he could manage to do without help. Kieran was second choice whenever there were too many for Al to keep up, and Matt and some of the hired ushers needed to join in to help when there was a bit of a backlog as a few too many guests arrived with just a few minutes to spare.

The Wizard who would be performing the ceremony led Scorpius and Nick out of the hotel, and they collected Matt, Al, and Kieran before continuing to the front, where a low stage had been located that would allow the guests a better view of the ceremony. The other ushers continued to seat the last few guests, and then they moved off to one side, where they would be able to watch the wedding until needed again after the recessional to escort groups to the different areas that were set up to take care of the guests during the time between the ceremony and the reception dinner and dance.

"We should have brought Al's telescope," Nick joked in a whisper. "You won't even be able to see Brianna until she's halfway up that aisle."

"She'll be the gorgeous one in white," Al whispered.

"As opposed to the other girls, who will be gorgeous in whatever colours their dresses are," Scorpius answered just as softly.

The comments dried up the moment the five Wizards caught sight of their girls approaching the back rows, but they were all thinking the same thing – Wow!

The girls were all stunning, and smiling brightly. The music started, and Lily led off the procession, followed by Rose, Allie, and Carolyn. There were a lot of guests who did not know that Harry and Ginny Potter had been Brianna's guardians, so there was a ripple of noise that rolled through as more and more Witches and Wizards were able to see that Harry was the Wizard standing next to Brianna as they waited for their turn to begin the processional.

"Are you ready?" he asked her quietly. His emerald eyes were sparkling, and his smile was bright, and Brianna returned his smile.

"Just about. If I forget to tell you later, thank-you for everything today, and I love you very much."

"I love you too, Brianna, and you're very welcome," Harry answered.

It was time for them to start, so they began the lengthy walk to the front, paced about four rows behind Carolyn. Cameras flashed, and they knew that some WWVN stations were carrying the wedding live around the world, but Brianna concentrated on watching the smiling Scorpius, and how incredible it felt to be walking down the aisle holding the arm of the Wizard she would always consider her father. When they reached the front, Harry gently took her hand from his arm, kissed her cheek, and then placed that hand in Scorpius' hand before turning to go and sit next to Ginny.

Scorpius and Brianna didn't pay any attention to the cameras that were capturing every moment of the ceremony. They were completely focused on each other and on the Wizard they were facing. Since this was about as big as a wedding got in the Wizarding World, they were doing the long version of the ceremony. What that meant was that the Wizard talked a lot more, and it was nearly forty minutes before they got around to the wedding vows. The 'I do's', ring exchange, and vows didn't take long at all, though that was the part of the ceremony where the tissue companies really cleaned up, and then there was another ten minute speech by the Wizard before Scorpius and Brianna were finally pronounced husband and wife, and Scorpius was told to kiss the bride.

When they'd had the dinner party for just the wedding party on Tuesday, the girls had discussed the big wedding kiss quite extensively, wanting to make sure that Brianna and Scorpius didn't disappoint the worldwide audience with a kiss that was too short, or create a scandal with a major snogfest. Whether that conversation made any difference or not was debatable, but they apparently got it right, ending the sweet embrace just as the soft sighs of the Witches in the audience were fading, and before any giggling or laughing started that would have indicated they'd taken it a bit too far.

With that kiss done, the only task left for the wedding Wizard was for him to introduce Scorpius and Brianna Malfoy to the guests, and lead the recessional back down the aisle. Nick and Al switched places for that, so they could each escort their own wives, followed by Rose and Matt, and Lily and Kieran. The front row of family for each side was probably enough to get people talking as they followed the wedding party. With Harry, Ginny, Molly, Arthur, James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey on one side alternating with Draco, Astoria, Narcissa, Andromeda, Richard, Teddy, Victoire, Percy, Penelope, Kreacher, Winky, and Dobby it made for very intriguing combination for any guests who weren't 'in the know'.

There was protocol that needed to be followed for the rest of the recessional, and the ushers spread out, and assisted with making that happen smoothly and without incident. Anyone who was to be involved in the photo session had been notified in advance, and they followed the wedding party to the gardens where the wedding pictures were being taken. The VIP guests were led to the small banquet room where they could relax and get refreshments. Until Scorpius and Brianna could arrive for the reception line, the Minister of Magic and his wife were unofficial interim hosts.

"Are we even close to being done yet?" Nick asked Allie, trying to talk without moving his smiling lips. "I think this smile is stuck now."

Allie squeezed his hand and laughed softly. "We're nearly done, honey," she assured him. It really hadn't been as bad as Nick tried to make it seem, since they'd been in and out of the picture set-ups, but it had also been nearly an hour since they'd started, and it was hot in the afternoon sunshine.

They were finally released by the photographer at a quarter after four, and had just a half hour before they needed to be at the VIP reception. That gave them enough time to go up to the hotel rooms the girls had been using to get ready before the wedding, freshen up, have a quick drink, and then get going to the banquet room, where they spent an hour doing what was basically a reverse reception line. The doors they lined up beside allowed the VIP's to exit the small banquet room, cross the hall, and enter the Grand Ballroom, where the ushers were waiting to escort them to their tables.

That reception went brilliantly for Scorpius and Brianna. They'd met some of the Senior Department Ministers, and Ministers of Magic before, and had loved getting to meet so many more of the Wizarding World's leaders. In return, every Witch and Wizard they met were very impressed with the bright, attractive young couple, and could now understand why they had been receiving such glowing reports about the pair over the past year.

There was another very quick break, and then it was time for them to take their seats in the Grand Ballroom. The wedding party was seated at a long table on a raised platform so that they could be seen everywhere in the hall. The parents, grandparents, and immediate families were at two tables directly in front of the head table. Harry, Ginny, Draco, Astoria, Percy, and Penelope were sitting at one table with Narcissa, Andromeda, Robert, Molly, and Arthur. James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle were at the other table, and they had Lisa, Marcus, Megan, and Devon rounding out their group.

The rest of the seating was, to a large extent, protocol driven, and the family teens were at tables that were five rows of tables away from the head table, and along one of the outer walls, which they were all pretty happy with, since it kept them out of the spotlight. Hugo, Emily, Joel, Sarah, Millie, Brian, Amy, Jason, Vanessa, Lance, Nadine, and Colin were at one table. Frederica, Liam, Dale, Carissa, Erin, and Quincy, were at a second table with Myra, Aiden, Miranda Jones and her current boyfriend, and Kevin Keitch and his date.

"I guess trying to get Scorpius and Brianna up and kissing would be a waste of time from way over here," Hugo said regretfully. "It didn't work very well at Nick and Allie's wedding, and there are a lot more people at this wedding."

"I'm sure they'll do enough kissing on their honeymoon to make up for it," Emily suggested. "Everything else today has been wonderful, and we're going to have a really great time tonight, so I'm sure you can live without that one little amusement."

Scorpius and Brianna were hoping their guests could live without that too, and were grateful when dinner got started, and they weren't required to get up and kiss even once. They were able to have their meal, chat with Al, Carolyn, Nick, and Allie, and thoroughly enjoy themselves. Dinner took two and a half hours, and then there was a half-hour break before the dance started. Lily and Kieran had needed to hurry off to get ready to go on stage. The other girls took Brianna in tow to the ladies room, and the guys were left to fend for themselves.

Shortly after nine, Scorpius and Brianna were called out to the dance floor, and Lily and Kieran came on stage. The newlyweds began dancing close together when the music started, and over the next four and a half minutes or so, pretty much every Witch in the room was in tears as they listened to the incredibly poignant ballad. Tonight, instead of just doing the song for the first dance, Lily and Kieran were part of the evening's entertainment, so they invited the rest of the wedding party out next, and they danced to 'Loved You All My Life', followed by the parents, where they performed 'Forever Won't Be Long Enough', which had the Witches in tears as many of them listened for the first time to a song Lily had explained to them had been written by her father for her mother. The grandparents were invited out for the last song before the dance would be opened up to all guests, and Lily and Kieran sang 'Here in My Heart', which was one of the number one hits from their newest album.

Laura and Ana had booked one of their best bands for the night, and Lily and Kieran were only playing until ten-fifteen. They mostly had teens dancing near the stage the whole time they were playing, and they mixed up the dance tunes with just two more ballads to keep them fired up. There were a lot of adult couples up dancing too, and by the time they left the stage, and the headliner band took over the stage, the party was definitely in full swing.

"You guys were amazing tonight," Brianna told Lily and Kieran as she hugged them when they got back after changing back into tux and gown, and returning to the head table. "That song you wrote for us was beautiful too. Thank-you."

"You're welcome," Lily told her. "Are you just starting a break?"

Brianna nodded. "We just got here a couple of minutes ago. Why don't you sit with us and have a drink before we have to get back out there?"

Lily and Kieran sat down, but a moment later, Lily had Kira hopping up for a goodnight hug and kiss.

"Mum and Dad say James and I have to go now," she told Lily. "You were great tonight. Will I get to see you again before you go back out on tour again?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but we have to leave early in the morning tomorrow. Our first concert is tomorrow night in China. You can send me QuillMessages while we're gone, and I'll answer them when I have time."

"I'm going to miss you," Kira said, hugging Lily again.

"Kieran and I are going to miss you too," Lily assured their little superfan, and she passed Kira on to Kieran for a hug and kiss.

"Yes we are," he agreed. "You'll have to take care of everyone while we're gone, though. Make sure they get lots of hugs and kisses, and everything."

Kira giggled. "I will," she promised.

"Come on, honey," Natalie told Kira. She was carrying a tired out looking James, and Lily got up again to go give him a hug. Kira hugged Brianna and Scorpius too before Natalie took the two kids off to meet up with Owen's parents, who were taking them for the rest of the night.

"We've been so busy, I completely forgot that you guys have to leave in the morning," Brianna told Lily when she was sitting down again. "How are you going to manage a concert on a few hours sleep?"

"We're going to leave right after you do, and everything is packed and ready to go. Our sound check is at five o'clock local time, so as long as we leave home by around eight-thirty in the morning, we'll be fine. It'll work out."

They didn't have much of a break before Scorpius and Brianna were back out dancing. Lily and Kieran had to deal with a few more fans, but then they were able to go dancing too. The night seemed to be flying past. Carolyn and Ginny came to get Brianna when it was time to go back up to the suite and get her changed into the outfit she'd be wearing for their last dances, and to leave on their honeymoon. The three Witches were back in the Grand Ballroom by just before twelve, and the last round of dances began.

"I hear we missed your dance with Scorpius' grandmother while I was getting changed," Brianna told Harry when they were sharing the father-daughter dance while Scorpius was dancing with his mother. They'd worked out the dances with the parents by having Scorpius dance with Penelope, while Brianna danced with Percy, followed by Scorpius dancing with Ginny, and finally with Astoria, while Brianna danced with Draco, and now Harry.

"We thought it went over very well," he answered, laughing softly. "Ginny told us afterward that everyone sitting down at our tables were very entertained while they watched the reactions of some of the guests while Narcissa and I were out here."

"I really hope somebody took pictures," Brianna said as she looked into Harry's sparkling emerald eyes. "This has all been way better than my biggest little girl dreams about what my wedding would be like," she added. "You were always the Dad, but all the rest of this is just brilliant."

"Well, I really miss playing dolls with you and Carolyn like we did when you were little, but you've grown up to be an amazing young woman, and I'm very proud of you, Brianna. I know that you and Scorpius have a really great life ahead of you, and I think that's going to be better than your biggest dreams too."

Brianna hugged him, and kissed his cheek as the song came to an end. "Thank-you, Dad," she whispered.

"You're welcome, honey," he whispered back, and she now saw tears shimmering in his brilliant eyes. "If it's okay with you, I really like the sound of you calling me Dad a lot better than Uncle Harry."

Brianna hugged him again. "That's definitely okay," she told him, her eyes filling with tears. Harry smiled as he handed her a couple of tissues, and then turned her over to Scorpius for their last dance, and offered his arm to Astoria, and escorted her back to their table, where they joined Draco, Ginny, and the others to watch the newlyweds dance.

"I really hope those are happy tears," Scorpius said as they began dancing, and Brianna laughed.

"They are," she assured him. "He wants me to call him Dad from now on. This has definitely been my best day ever so far."

Scorpius hugged her close as they danced, and for several minutes, it was just the two of them, sharing a very special moment, oblivious to everyone around them. When the music began fading, they shared a soft, tender kiss, and then it was time to do a round of farewells. By one o'clock, they were away from the Grand Ballroom, and just outside of the hotel. Harry, Ginny, Draco, Astoria, Percy, Penelope, and everyone in their wedding party had come along to see them off.

"Have a great time on your honeymoon, and we'll see you in two weeks," Ginny told Brianna as they hugged goodbye.

"Thanks, Mum,' Brianna said, her voice cracking a bit as she tried that out with Ginny for the first time. Ginny laughed and hugged her again.

"I like the sound of that as much as Harry likes you calling him 'Dad'," she assured Brianna in a soft whisper.

The round of hugs didn't take very long, and then the newlyweds took the Transportal to their hotel in Italy, which was the first stop on their honeymoon. They'd be spending the first week in Italy and Egypt, and the second week in India and China.

"We're going to get out of here too," Lily told the others. They all knew she and Kieran had to leave early for the concert in China, so after another quick round of hugs, they left for Kieran's house, while everyone else went back to the party.

The band played until two o'clock, and after that, the parents and remaining members of the wedding party were kept busy until nearly three-thirty before the Grand Ballroom had been emptied of the thousands of guests. Al and Carolyn hugged everyone goodbye, and left for home. They were changed, and snuggled close in bed by four, and off to sleep within minutes.

"Staying up this late should work out pretty good for us," Carolyn told Al. "Let's sleep as late as we can, and when it's time to go to Marauders Refuge, it'll be morning there, and we'll be all set to start the day."

Al was about to answer, but could tell that she'd already fallen asleep, so he hugged her gently, and happily drifted off to sleep too. The last few weeks of summer were going to be very busy for everyone. The student Marauders had two weeks of work left, and would then have a week off to get ready for school, and hopefully enjoy a little vacation time. Al and Carolyn didn't have to worry about going back to school anymore, but with the weddings all done for the year, it was time to get back to concentrating on work. That they were going to be able to start doing that from an island paradise was a really great bonus, and signalled that the rest of August, and even the work, would hopefully end up being a lot of fun.


	130. Home and Away Work and Play

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty – Home and Away Work and Play

The time change between home and Marauders Refuge was ten hours, so Al and Carolyn were going to be leaving for the island at five o'clock in the afternoon, and would arrive at Marauders Refuge at seven o'clock in the morning, local time. They slept in until around one o'clock, and then took their time getting ready, having a brunch, and packing for their trip. Harry and Ginny stopped by after leaving the Residence, while on their way to dinner at Callie and Mark's to say goodbye, and after they left, Al and Carolyn took the Transportal to Marauders Refuge.

"Nice place," Al said as they looked around at the incredible hotel complex. That was such an understatement of reality that Carolyn laughed and hugged him.

"That's the best description you can come up with?" she asked him. "I'd say this was way more than 'nice'."

Al laughed too. "Let's check in and go take a look around, and I'll try to come up with more appropriate compliments."

There was still some work going on inside the hotel, but the new resort manager put them in a suite that was in a wing and floor that was completed. The two-bedroom suite had a balcony with a wonderful view of the ocean, one of the pools, and part of the WaterPark.

"Every guest room has a balcony," Carolyn told Al as they enjoyed the view. The other side of the hotel doesn't have the ocean view, but the kids will love being able to see all of the rides from their balconies. Most of the four and five-bedroom suites are on that side."

"Will they need any passengers to help test out those rides while we're here?" Al asked, and Carolyn laughed.

"Probably not this week, but our last week here, they'll certainly be testing the rides all week to get ready for the big opening. Let's go take a tour, and then get something to eat before you have to leave for work."

When Al had taken a look at going on these trips with Carolyn, he'd taken a look at how he could take advantage of the big time difference, and what this allowed him to do was to do his surveillance of the Asian-Pacific Knight's Secret Keepers more effectively than from at home. Today, he was going to leave the island at ten o'clock, which would put him in Sydney, Australia at six o'clock Monday morning, since there was a twenty-hour time difference. Each morning, he was going to be able to leave sometime between eight and noon, and hopefully be back at Marauders Refuge in time to take Carolyn out to dinner, and spend the evenings together checking out the entertainment that was open already for the thousands of workers who were on the island.

They started out their tour by wandering around the hotel complex. Where the Marauders Paradise hotel was built around the incredible atrium, this hotel was spread out, with three guestroom towers connected by tiered, four level sections that housed the restaurants, clubs, stores, and banquet facilities, including an amazing Grand Ballroom.

From there, they went for an hour-long walk, and were able to take just a quick look at the WaterPark, the village, where they saw quite a few of the new store owners working on getting those stores ready for the August thirtieth opening. The last part of their tour was through the amusement park area before returning to the hotel to try out one of the restaurants.

"Pretty much everyone here seems to be working seven days a week, so after you leave, I'll get to work too," Carolyn told Al as they ate. "Maybe I'll even get enough done that by Friday, I'll be able to take most of the day off with you."

Al nodded. "That'd be great if you could. We'll probably both be ready for a day off by then."

Thoughts about spending a day off in paradise with Carolyn occasionally intruded on Al as he followed the Australian Knight's Secret Keeper, and then spent most of his time there watching Witches and Wizards enter and leave the Fidelius Charmed safe house in Sydney. Terrance Nott stopped in while Al was watching the place, spending just under an hour there before continuing on to the next stop on his route. Al returned to Marauders Refuge after working for eight hours, getting back there by six o'clock so that he could go to dinner with Carolyn. By ten o'clock, they were back in their suite and taking the potions that would get them adjusted to the time change, and then getting to sleep right away so they'd be ready for the rest of the week.

Back home, at the Cottage, Harry was cleaning up for breakfast while Ginny, Joel, and Sarah had all left for work on Monday morning by the time Al and Carolyn were going to bed. There had been a small stack of birthday presents for Ginny to open before eating, and it had been a really great start to the day. Dale, Carissa, Millie, and Amy were in the sitting room with all five of their kids. This was the last week they'd have William before he'd be going back home to Marauders Paradise after the sixth and final week of the Residence weeks ended on Saturday. They only had two more weeks of babysitting left, and just three weeks from today, they'd be going back to school.

They didn't have any special plans for the day, but over at the Academy, quite a few of the students were very busy. There was a tight, condensed exam schedule over the next two weeks, and there were ten students who would or wouldn't be going to Hogwarts depending on their exam results. There were seven more students taking some or all of their fourth year exams, and six taking third year exams. Some of the younger students were taking non-magic level testing, including Cassandra, Violet, and Adam, who were taking level six tests.

James was very confident that all of the Hogwarts-bound students would pass those exams, so while the teachers were busy testing the students, he was already working on everything that needed to be done to move those ten students out, and bring in ten replacements. When Erin and Quincy had gone to Hogwarts, and come to live with him and Arianna, they'd brought in eight-year olds Eileen and Callum. When Gabe, Glenda, Bert, and Chris had moved to Hogsmeade earlier in the summer, the four students who replaced them ranged in age from eight to fourteen.

Now that he was going to have ten more openings, they were going to be able to do something that the Foundation hadn't been able to do until now – bring three students to the Academy from Hogwarts, along with another seven students who'd been on their waiting list. The three Hogwarts students were in the Foundation's Child Abuse Program, and also were helped by the New Marauders when they were at school, but they were each well behind their age groups with their education. Two of the students had been in the program for nearly two years, and the third for less than a year. They were between two and three years behind in their education, and Professor McGonagall and James both hoped that by coming to the Academy, the three teens would still have a chance to get their OWLs, and maybe even NEWTs, though since they were fourteen and fifteen, there was little chance they'd be ready to return to Hogwarts by their seventh year.

This week, James was going to meet with each of the ten kids and teens. Starting to get to know them was part of the reason for doing that, but he also wanted to have the kids participating in the move, and help him make sure that they'd have everything they needed when they came to live at the Academy.

Since the three Hogwarts students were spending their summer holiday in the same place, under the care of one of the Foundation's volunteer families, they were his first visit of the week. When he was caught up with his morning work, James went to meet with the three teens. There was fifteen-year old Nina, her fourteen-year old brother Nicodemus, or Nick, and fifteen-year old Becky. Nina and Nick had both been in Slytherin, and Becky had been in Hufflepuff while at Hogwarts.

"You meet with him if you want, Nina," James heard a young boy's voice say loudly as he walked up the stairs to where he was told the girls were trying to get Nick to come out of his room for their meeting. "I don't need to see the stupid Head of the stupid school where they send all the stupid kids like us. He's probably some total loser, just like us."

James couldn't help but laugh when he heard that, and he had just reached the open doorway as Nick was wrapping up his rant, so the two girls whirled around in surprise when they heard his laugh, and Nick, who was sitting on the bed, looked up at the handsome young man standing there, emotions flashing across his face before he settled on a look of sullen anger. They'd all recognized the young Wizard who had been their Head Boy when they'd been in first and second year, though none of them had personally talked to him before.

"James Potter, stupid Director of the stupid Phoenix Academy," he said, introducing himself. "May I come in?" He was still smiling, and Becky laughed, while Nina tried to hide a smile, and Nick just continued to glower at him.

"No," Nick answered bluntly, ignoring his sister's attempts to keep him quiet. "Forget it, sis – you two go have your little meeting, and leave me alone." Nina was about to say something to her brother, but caught the wink from James, and let him take the lead.

"Well, if that's what you really want, Nick," he told the boy. "Come on, girls. Let's go downstairs to the sitting room, and after our meeting, I can give you the gifts I brought to surprise you with. Nick probably wouldn't like what I brought all of you anyway."

"What surprise?" Nick asked. He'd said it without even thinking, and now clamped his mouth firmly closed.

"It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you what it was. All it will cost you is a little of your time to find out."

"You're trying to bribe us," Nick accused, and James laughed.

"Yes, I am," he agreed. "Is it working?"

Both girls laughed that time, and finally Nick shrugged. "Whatever. It's probably something really stupid anyway, but come on in, and give us all the bad news."

James stepped into the room, pulled over the chair from Nick's desk, and sat down. Nina and Becky sat down on the bed on each side of Nick.

"Thanks, Nick," James began. "I'll try and give you the condensed version of my usual presentation, but I really hope you won't still think it is bad news when I'm done." Nick shrugged again, but he and the girls were all paying close attention to James.

"The Phoenix Academy opened two years ago, and on September first, we'll be starting our third year. We have just fifty students that live at the Academy, and all of them have backgrounds like your own."

"See, Nina," Nick said, "I told you – it's where they send all of the stupid kids." James' heart wrenched as he watched the two girls nodding at Nick's comments. At moments like this, he couldn't help but get angry at what the parents of these kids had done to them, even as he was already becoming attached to the kids. He was still smiling, and focused his attention completely on Nick.

"You're not stupid, Nick – none of you are. Neither are the students at the Academy. What your families did to you isn't your fault, and you each have way too much potential to keep thinking like that. We want you to come to live at the Academy because we believe we can help you all graduate, and reach that potential."

"Right," Nick said sarcastically. "Becky barely passed her second year exams, Nina didn't pass her third year, and I didn't pass any of my second year classes – they didn't even bother having me try writing my exams. How are we ever going to catch up?"

"You probably can't at Hogwarts," James told him. "There are too many students for your Professors to give you the help you need. At the Academy, though, we only have ten students in each class, one tutor for every five students in the evenings and on the weekends, and have teacher assistants to help you with practical magic for DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and Herbology."

"You said this will be the third year for the Academy," Becky said, and James nodded. "If we've got all of this potential, why didn't I get sent there last year, or the year before that for Nina and Nick?"

"I wish we could have had you come," James answered. "The three of you were already at Hogwarts, and we had other kids who hadn't been given enough education to even be able to go there. Some had never even been taught to read and write. This summer, we have a total of fourteen students leaving the Academy. Four of them are already starting to live on their own, while continuing their studies for another year at the Academy, and the other ten will be starting at Hogwarts. That's given us enough spaces to help everyone on our waiting list, and the three of you."

"You have students going to Hogwarts?" Nina asked in surprise.

"Three starting first year, one in second year, two in fourth year, and four starting their OWL year," James confirmed. "None of them had taken any magic until two years ago. Two of the students starting fifth year covered four years over the last two years. Jason and Brian had to do all six levels we have of pre-magic classes, and then also did the first four years of magic too. The other six teens have had similar results to get caught up with their own age groups."

"And you think that we can get caught up too?" Becky asked him.

James nodded. "Absolutely, though you'll probably finish your education at the Academy. You and Nina would have three years with us to cover the four and a half, and five years you each have left to go, and Nick has four years to cover his five and a half years. It is up to each of you, but if you want it enough, we'll give you everything you need to succeed too."

"What's the Academy like?" Nina wanted to know next, so James told them all about what their rooms would be like, and everything else about what was going to be their new home. By the time he was done, even Nick seemed to be feeling a lot better about the whole idea.

"So, if you don't have any more questions, I guess the next time I'll see you is in two weeks," James said. The three teens all nodded, so he stood up and got ready to leave.

"Hey!" Nick exclaimed. "What about the surprise?" he demanded, the suspicion back in his face and voice.

James grinned at him. "I was wondering if you'd remember," he told Nick as he reached into his pocket twice to pull out the three packages, which he handed out to them.

Nick had his opened first, and his hands started shaking with excitement. "It's a ViComm," he told the two girls, who were only a little behind him finding that out for themselves.

"I hope you don't think it's too stupid a surprise," James said with a laugh. "They've got all of the study programs on them that you'll need for your classes, and a bunch of the best Virtual GameWizard games. All of our students use them now, so this will give you a couple of weeks to get used to them before you move there."

Nina and Becky both had tears in their eyes when they looked up at him, and Nick didn't look up, just staring at the ViComm in his lap. James pulled out some tissues, handed them to each of the young Witches, and then hugged them. He laughed at their looks of surprise.

"We are very big on hugs at the Academy. I blame that on my Mum and Dad – they got my brother, sister, and I to like them so much, we seem to need to hug everyone else a lot, and it's very contagious."

Nick's eyes got very wide, as he realized whom James was talking about. He'd been so busy being stubborn that he'd completely forgotten that James was Harry Potter's son, and James laughed again.

"Relax, mate. You'll be calling my parents 'Harry and Ginny' like all of the other students do, and you're going to love them. During the regular school year, they tutor at the Academy twice a week."

"Our parents didn't say very nice things about your family," Nina said quietly, not looking at James.

"Pretty much all of the other students at the Academy would tell you that too," James told her. "You can each decide for yourselves what to think as you get to know my family, but I've always been rather fond of them."

There was another meeting at the Avery Estates that had been going on Monday morning. The full membership of the core Knight's group was together again, and these Monday morning gatherings were becoming part of everyone's routines.

"Did you learn anything at the wedding of the year?" Lord Chernobog asked Marcus and Madeline Flint, and Winston and Bertha Warrington.

"We learned that it was possible to spoil a perfectly good dinner by having to watch that blood-traitor Malfoy and his pathetic orphan wench all night," Bertha Warrington joked, and everyone laughed.

"I couldn't decide which was worse for me," Marcus added. "Seeing my own pathetic niece, Daphne, and her useless excuse for a husband, Karl right in there chumming with all of those other blood-traitors, or when Narcissa went dancing with Harry Potter right out there in front of everyone. It absolutely made me ill to watch."

"Once we regain our rightful places, and we have destroyed our greatest enemies, we will repay blood traitors like your niece and the Malfoys for turning against us," Lord Chernobog assured his followers. "There is no room in our world for weaklings like them, and we will show them no mercy."

"And they deserve none from us," Madeline Flint said fervently. "Hasten the day that we can rid ourselves of them."

"Patience," Lord Chernobog counselled her, and then turned to Dirk. "What news have you gotten from that fool, Peasegood about Potter?"

Dirk laughed. "He's been assigned a bunch of cold case murders from fifteen and twenty years ago. I'm told that this week he's busy skulking around all night, trying to track down the murderer of some Witch who was killed twenty years ago."

"Good," Lord Chernobog said in approval. "He's so pathetic, I may decide to throw him some bread crumbs, or he may never be able to solve any of those cases."

"You want to help him?" Winston Warrington asked. "Whatever for?"

Lord Chernobog laughed. "We wouldn't want him to get discouraged now, would we? Having the Aurors wasting all of their time on a bunch of old cases that nobody cares about keeps them out of our way. When we're ready to act, by the time they get a clue, it'll be far too late. How did your meetings go today?" he asked Terrance Nott, who had come back from Asia after spending the day doing his regular rounds to their offices in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, and South Korea.

"As expected, Lord," Terrance answered. "All of our groups are making progress growing our information network. When that is done, there won't be anything going on anywhere that we won't know about."

"You and Byron need to start pushing those groups to work harder," Lord Chernobog told Terrance. "They have been coddled for too many years, and not enough demanded of them for what we're paying. If they do not come up with better results soon, I will visit them personally, and those visits will not be pleasant for them."

"Yes, Lord Chernobog," Terrance and Byron answered in unison.

The meeting continued for another hour or so, and at the end, after most of the Knights had left, Lord Chernobog had Miles and Malcolm Bletchley stay behind. This would be the last time he would be speaking with the boy before he returned to school in three weeks, and he wanted to be sure that Malcolm was ready.

"Will Malcolm have finished his training in time?" he asked Dirk and Miles.

"Yes, Lord," Miles answered, and Dirk nodded. "His training will be completed by the end of next week, and he has been an apt student."

"Excellent," Lord Chernobog told the three Wizards. "You know what is expected of you, Malcolm?"

"Yes, Lord Chernobog," Malcolm answered. His training, especially from his father, had been – difficult, but one lesson he had learned was to never show weakness around the Knights. In truth, his assignment scared him nearly witless, and he'd learned more about how to conceal his true feelings and deal with extreme pain than anything else.

He and his friends had never told anyone else about what had happened to them back in first year with Frederica Weasley and Al Potter, and he also was sure that Dirk Avery had never told anyone else about what had happened to them just over a year ago when they'd tried to ambush Al during the last week of school, and had been so easily defeated. Now he was hoping fervently that Lord Chernobog could not sense the fear and uncertainty that he'd learned to successfully hide from Dirk and his father.

"You're tasks will be very important to our cause," Lord Chernobog told him. "Are you certain that you can succeed?"

Malcolm did not flinch from the other Wizard's intense stare as Lord Chernobog scrutinized him. "I am certain to succeed, Lord," he answered, hoping against hope that his lie would not be detected. "Our enemies do not stand a chance against us now that you lead us."

Lord Chernobog kept his focus on Malcolm for what seemed like forever to the teenager, but then he finally nodded. It was all Malcolm could do to keep from sighing aloud in relief.

"Be sure that you do," Lord Chernobog told him in dismissal. Malcolm and Miles left then, and after giving Dirk a few more instructions, Lord Chernobog, along with Gwendolyn, left the Avery Estate, and returned to his own home in Cardiff.

Scorpius and Brianna were having lunch by the time that the two very different meetings were wrapping up back home. They'd stayed in the beautiful bi-level suite at the Grand Hotel Parker's in Naples all day on Sunday, except for going out for dinner. They were touring around Vesuvius all day on Monday, covering some of the sights that Lily and Kieran had recommended from when they'd been here during the World Cup summer.

"I'm so glad we decided to do some travelling instead of just going to stay at our house on the island," Brianna told Scorpius, who nodded.

"Me too. There has been so much we haven't been able to do because we want to work in the Ministry, we haven't had time to travel like this."

Brianna nodded. "We definitely need to make time for it in the future. This next two weeks will be a great start, but there is a lot of world out there, and I want to see it all eventually."

Lily and Kieran were in the Philippines, at a VIP party on an estate on the outskirts of Manila. The concert on Sunday night in China had been another huge success, though they'd all been exhausted by the time they'd finally gotten to bed at around two o'clock in the morning, local time. Catching up on sleep wasn't on the schedule, and they were up again by eight o'clock in the morning, packing up, and travelling to Manila, where they'd spent the day doing interviews, and a luncheon at the Foundation Residence.

"You guys should get out of here early, and go get some extra sleep," Lily told Vanessa and Nadine. "We'll be lucky to be out of here by one o'clock."

"We'll be fine," Nadine told her. "This is a really tough job doing all of these parties and everything, but you pay us well to do it."

Kieran, Lily, and Vanessa laughed, and Lily hugged her. "You're worth every galleon, too."

The dinner had been a lot of fun, as the Minister of Magic's granddaughter had latched on to Lily, and along with her brother, had entertained everyone. They performed for about three quarters of an hour starting around nine, and then Lily found herself drafted into bedtime story duties for the grandkids.

"That must have been a very long story," Kieran said when she'd returned, and Lily hugged him.

"It was, and then there was the hugs, kisses, and lullaby."

"You're a total pushover when it comes to little kids," Vanessa told her, and Lily laughed.

"I know, but they're all so cute, I just can't help it."

When Lily, Kieran, and the rest of the SpellBound entourage was going back to their hotel to get some sleep early Tuesday morning, Al and Carolyn were having breakfast at Marauders Refuge on Monday morning.

"New Zealand is twenty-two hours ahead of us?" Carolyn asked, and Al nodded.

"Yes. I'll leave here at eight, and it'll be six o'clock Tuesday morning there. New Zealand is only about four thousand kilometres away, but it's on the other side of the International Dateline from here."

"I wondered why they picked this location, but it really is a pretty good location for PBP employees from the Americas and the Asian-Pacific regions."

"That's probably the main reason it was picked," Al agreed. "Anyone back home will love it here too, though – even with having to adjust back and forth to the time change. What are you doing today?"

"I'll be spending most of the day going through the employee apartment complexes and houses, and starting my meetings with the business owners," Carolyn told him. "I'll let you know how I'm doing, but we probably won't be able to have dinner until maybe eight o'clock."

"Sounds good. That'll allow me to stay on my surveillance longer too, so that works for me."

When they finished having breakfast, Carolyn walked him out to the TransPortal terminal, hugged and kissed him goodbye, and then went to meet the manager who was in charge of the employee housing projects, and get to work.

Except for Scorpius and Brianna, work seemed to be the word of the week for everyone. Coach was progressively working the Canons players harder; wanting to make sure they were ready for the season opener that was less than four weeks away. The rest of the student Marauders were working hard too, many of them trying to wrap up projects before the end of summer. Nick was loaded down with architecture projects, and Allie was putting in long hours keeping up with the back-to-school shopping craziness that Witch Investments was busy with. Rose and Matt were getting ready for their last trip of the first year of their tour business, and also working on the first few trips for the second year.

It was supposed to be a quiet week at the Cottage. They had nice, long, lazy days playing outside, swimming, and having fun, but most of the evenings ended up being pretty busy. Harry had a pretty large gang over for dinner on Monday to celebrate Ginny's birthday. On Tuesday and Thursday, the Gryffindor Quidditch practices both ended up being family and friends nights, with more than thirty guests each night. They did get to have a quiet evening on Wednesday, and then they wrapped up the week by taking the kids to the Mall in Paris for a play day.

Al and Carolyn were mostly having a play day at Marauders Refuge too. They'd both worked long days from Monday to Thursday, starting early, and then having late dinners each evening before going to bed. Al had spent his days in New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. As he changed time zones each day, his surveillance start times got later, so in the mornings, he went to the Ministry of Magic first, worked on his cold cases for a while during what was the early evenings back home, and then continued on to do his surveillance of the Knight's Secret Keepers and offices. By the end of the day on Thursday, Carolyn had finished her review of the entire resort, and had been very happy with how well everything was going. If all of the projects continued ahead of schedule like they were now, everything would be ready on time for the opening weekend.

Scorpius and Brianna stayed in Italy until Wednesday, and then moved on to Egypt for the rest of the week. They were staying at the Oberoi Sahl Hasheesh – one of the palatial hotels that Rose and Matt frequented on their tours, and that Al and Carolyn had also highly recommended. When they'd seen the private garden and swimming pool for themselves, the newlyweds had understood why their friends had loved the Red Sea hotel so much.

For Lily, Kieran, Kirley, Ana, Laura, Vanessa, and Nadine, their week was non-stop action. After going all day long on Tuesday, their concert near Manila was a three and a half hour blast of energy that left the SpellBound fans fired up with excitement after the show, and Lily and Kieran exhausted. They were on the road again first thing in the morning on Wednesday, going on to Australia, and two more days crowded with interviews, lunches, and a Wednesday night party before getting to the outdoor concert on Thursday night that was attended by seventy thousand Witches and Wizards of all ages. They did at least get to sleep in a bit on Friday before moving on to Jakarta, Indonesia, where they continued the busy schedule.

There was a lot of travelling going on on Saturday. Rose and Matt left for Brazil with the three families they were hosting for a tour that was going to take them sightseeing throughout South America. Bill and Fleur spent the day at Marauders Paradise, playing with Patricia and William in the morning while Gabrielle was busy with the last departing Phoenix Foundation groups. Al and Carolyn had stayed up late on Friday night, enjoying the island entertainment, and then gotten up early to return home late in the afternoon home time.

"How was your week?" Ginny asked them when they came into the kitchen at the Cottage. They were having dinner there, and Harry and Ginny were busy cooking for eight, while Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa were outside setting up a table and chairs so they could eat outside, and enjoy the beautiful weather.

"Five really busy, long days working, and one brilliant play day," Carolyn answered as she hugged her mother-in-law and father-in-law. "I hope you booked a week there sometime this winter – you're going to love the place."

"We did," Ginny assured her. "We'll be going there for a week next March, after the TransAtlantic Broom Race finishes in New York."

"Is Lily going too?" Al asked, and Ginny nodded.

"She's going to watch the end of the race with us, to give us a hand with Kira, James, and Timothy, and then we'll go on to the island from there."

"Lily sounded tired when I talked to her on Thursday," Al told his parents. "They may only have had four weeks on tour, but with all of the weddings, working on two albums, video shoots, and everything else, it looks to me like she and Kieran have pushed things a bit too hard again this summer."

"I'll talk with Ana about it," Ginny told him. "Lily can take some time off after the tour, but Kieran will only have a week to rest up, and he's going to have a busy year with being Head Boy."

"We can get his supplies next week," Harry suggested. "Send them off to the island again for the last week." He looked out of the window and smiled. "Maybe we should send all of the students there for the week. They've all been working really hard this summer."

"That's a really great idea," Ginny told him.

"Yes it is," Carolyn agreed. "I wish Al and I could go too, but we'll be back at Marauders Refuge that whole week."

"You must have been bored," Al told his father. "You've just pretty much filled your week up with work to organize all of that in just a few days."

They all talked over the idea during dinner. Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa all loved the plan, but there was a lot to work out – not the least of which was the fact that there was likely going to be ten extra students in the family beginning that week. When Al and Carolyn left for home, they'd agreed to help out with a shopping day on Sunday. Al was going to help Harry with the books and supplies shopping that they'd decided to move up a week, instead of trying to do it over a few nights after work during the week. Carolyn and Ginny were going to be joining most of the girls in the family, who would be spending the day shopping for clothes.

Harry and Al started out their supply run by getting the textbooks for all of the students first. By the time they'd reached the Mall, between last evening and this morning, Ginny had gotten all of the supply lists from nearly all of the students, and the two Wizards were going to be busy filling those orders. She'd also gotten a lot of interest in the clothes shopping trip, and Emily, Frederica, Myra, Erin, Millie, and Amy joined Ginny, Sarah, and Carissa for the trip, along with Arianna, Victoire, Isabelle, Marietta, and Meghan. The guys weren't completely out of the loop, and while James had offered to take Quincy shopping for his robes and clothes, they ended up being joined by Joel, Dale, Hugo, Liam, and Aiden.

"Lily sent me a QuillMessage while we were having breakfast," Al told his father as they were picking up the textbooks. "She was really glad to get to sleep in this morning, local time, since they were gaining time going to Moscow. They got there at around eight o'clock Moscow time, and had to get going right away to a morning WWVN interview."

Harry nodded. "She sent a message to Ginny earlier too. I guess the concert was another big success last night."

"Aren't they all?" Al asked. "I wonder if things will change with their fans next year after they get married."

"I expect it will, but I don't know what that'll mean for their music careers," Harry told him. "Kirley and Ana probably have a plan, though."

"I'm sure they do," Al agreed. "Speaking of plans, what's yours for after September first?"

"James will have ten new students at the Academy, so I'll probably do some extra helping out there, and the kids at the Residence always need some extra attention the first week after the Hogwarts students go back, so I'll be there most days during the week. The week after that, we're taking Jair while Lisa and Marcus go on Rose and Matt's first tour of their second year. Add in the Canons' season opener and Mark's Australian Broom Race, and it's going to be a busy couple of weeks."

"Are you sure you don't want to join the Aurors?" Al joked. "I think it'd be less work for you."

Harry laughed. "While it'd probably be really great working with you, yes, I'm sure."

They spent the morning getting the supplies shopping finished, and then met up with everyone else for lunch in the food court. The girls were loaded down with bags of clothes, and while James and the other guys didn't have as many bags with them, it did look like they'd made quite a lot of progress.

"This wasn't exactly in my weekend game plan," Hugo told Al, Carolyn, and Emily as they sat together while they ate, "but if it means getting a week on the island before going back to school, it is so worth it."

"Yes it is," Emily agreed. "We'll have to do some studying while we're there, but if we work on that a bit this week too, it shouldn't be too much work."

"Did you have to go and say the 's' word?" Hugo asked. "I've been trying not to think about all the work we're going to have for our NEWT year."

Emily laughed. "Compared to your last two months of training with the Canons, you should find classes this year a breeze."

"If we were dodging bludgers and stopping quaffles in our classes, maybe I would. The Canons didn't practice conjuring, advanced Potions, or any of our other subjects, so I don't think my summer job has helped me out that much."

"We'll see," Emily told him. "I think you might be surprised."

"How's work going for you at the lab?" Carolyn asked Emily.

"It's going great," she reported. "We're working out a last few issues with the main project my team was working on, and should have it ready sometime this week."

Carolyn nodded. "That's great, Emily. Your team has come up with a really great addition to the BusinessMagic line-up. I'm sure it's going to be a big hit when it goes on the market."

"I hope so," Emily answered. "Have you heard from Brianna?"

"No. They've turned their ViComms off while they're gone," Carolyn told her. "I'm sure they're having a great time. They were going from Egypt to India today, and then on to China on Wednesday morning."

"Maybe we'll be able to do some travelling like that next summer before you start training camp," Emily suggested to Hugo.

"I'd love to," Hugo told her, "but we may have to wing it. Next summer is a Quidditch World Cup summer, and we won't know until February whether anyone from our team gets invited to play on the National team again this time. Everyone, except maybe Kimberly, should have a really good shot, so if very many of them get chosen, I may not have a team to train with until late August."

"That wouldn't be a very good way to start your first season," Al told Hugo. "I hope Coach, and your Dad, have a plan B if most of the team is away next summer."

"So do I," Hugo agreed.

With the supply shopping done, after lunch, Harry and Al joined the girls, and spent the afternoon carrying bags, and enjoying watching the girls play dress-up. Al and Carolyn went back home when they were done for the day, wanting to have a quiet evening together before getting back to work, while everyone else had their own plans for the rest of the day too.

Now that Al was close to being finished locating all of the Knight's offices, he was going to be starting the more intensive surveillance of the offices. On Monday, he began that by heading to Oslo, Norway, where he settled in to watch the office, and start discovering the identities of the members of the Norwegian Knights.

It was going to mean some long days, but he was going to attempt to do surveillance on two locations each day. Depending on how much he got done in Norway, he was going to head from there to Lima, Peru, hopefully in time to get there before any of the Knights got to their office, and do surveillance throughout their day too. If it worked out, he was hoping to complete his surveillance of three or four Knights offices a week, though part of that would depend on how much he had going on with everything else, like Wizengamot business, that would pick up again in the fall.

By the time Al was starting his surveillance, the SpellBound travelling circus was already on the go for the day too. They were having breakfast, and then would be getting started with the interviews and everything else they had going on right up until the start of the concert.

"Four concerts in six nights, and then we'll be done for the summer," Kieran said as they ate. "I'm worn out just thinking about it. Did you ever get tired like this when you were on tour, Dad?"

Kirley laughed. "I'm not sure we were bright enough to get tired. Most of the time we stayed out partying until dawn after our gigs, and slept in until the middle of the afternoon."

"You didn't have all of these interviews and appointments," Ana reminded him. "The band also didn't start saving much money until you all stopped doing all of that partying."

"Thanks mostly to you," Kirley told her. "The Weird Sisters would probably be playing pubs for drinks if you and the other guy's wives hadn't come along and rescued us from ourselves."

"We thought you were worth rescuing," Ana told him. "It didn't hurt that you were so darn cute too, though."

Farther to the east, in India, Scorpius and Brianna were out sightseeing in and around New Dehli for the day. They were staying at the incredible Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur, and the Grand Royal Suite they had booked was another over-the-top experience.

"So, where would you like to go next?" Scorpius asked Brianna. They'd already visited the India Gate, and had just finished seeing the Qutab Minar, a seventy-two metre tall pillar built around twelve hundred A.D.

"Let's go see the Red Fort before lunch, and then go see Humayun's Tomb, the Lotus Temple and the Jama Masjid mosque before going back to the hotel," Brianna suggested.

"That works for me," he agreed. "We're going to have to come back to India sometime. Even sightseeing our way, there is just too much to see in just a few days."

Brianna smiled and hugged him. "Sign me up for that trip, and every other one we've promised ourselves to on already. Hopefully we'll find time to do all of that travelling."

"We will," Scorpius promised.

At home, when they got around to starting their day, it was back to work again. The student Marauders all had just five days left for their summer jobs, and now that they had a week's vacation on the island to look forward to, it was easy to be excited as they went off to work.

Whether working or playing, the first few days of the week flew past. Al was gone in the morning before Carolyn woke, and home late each night, but by Wednesday night, he'd finished identifying all twenty-one Knights at each office, and also went into both offices to gather all of the information he could about what they were doing. Since Carolyn was on her own for meals, Harry and Ginny had her over for dinner on Tuesday, and then she'd stayed to visit during the Gryffindor Quidditch practice.

The exams at the Academy wrapped up late on Wednesday afternoon, and James was at work early on Thursday, meeting with the five teachers to review the exam results before meeting with the students.

"You're all smiling, so I take it we won't be disappointing any of our kids today," James said, and received five nods. "So, what are the results?"

Walter started, and each of the teachers quickly reviewed the results for the exams they'd been responsible for. The bottom line was that all ten of the students they expected to be going to Hogwarts had earned high enough marks in seven classes each to do that, with the exception of Cassandra, Violet, and Adam, who'd all passed their level six testing, and were ready to start first year. Students that had been taking exams to move up to their own next level in some or all of their classes had all done well too, and it was going to make for a fun day today, and for the rest of the week too, since James was about to give the students a week off from classes after doing so well.

"So, do we get our special surprise now?" Walter asked James when they'd finished, and James and the other teachers all laughed.

"Yes we do," James told him. "Tomorrow, at lunchtime, we're going to all go to Marauders Paradise for a play day, and then after dinner, we all have tickets to go see SpellBound at their concert in Germany."

"That's a pretty great surprise," Walter told him. "You might want to think about putting up your shield when you tell the students – we wouldn't want you to get hurt when they gang-hug you."

"I'll take the chance," James told him. "Hugs are one of the best perks that go with our jobs here."

There was a lot to do today, so he ended that meeting, and called in the first group of students he needed to meet with. They all looked nervous and excited as they filed into the small conference room and sat down.

"I won't keep you in suspense," James began. "You've all passed your exams, and will be going to Hogwarts on September first." He smiled as his announcement generated a bunch of excited shouts and hugs, including a number of hugs for him.

"You'll get your reports later today, once they've been put together, but there are a few other details to go over with you this morning before we go do your Hogwarts school supplies shopping for the rest of the day." It took a few minutes for everyone to quiet down again after that news, and when he had the attention of all ten students, he continued.

"I'm sure that you all understand that now that you will be starting at Hogwarts, that you will be moving out of the Academy like Erin and Quincy did last year." All of the teens nodded, now looking more nervous again.

"Most of you were put together with chaperones for our week at Marauders Paradise so you could get to know my family better. Cassandra and Violet, I hope you like Kirley and Ana, because they want to be your guardians from now on. Do you think you'd like spending your holidays with them until after you graduate school?" The rest of the teens laughed when the two girls hugged James for the second time. They all looked relieved and excited again.

"Ophelia and Philip, my Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope want you to come live with them. Adam and H will be with Aaron and Tracey, and Brian and Jason will be going to spend their vacations with my parents." He smiled at Alice and Lenny. "Two of your tutors want to be your guardians, and while they couldn't go to Marauders Paradise with you that week, I hope you'll both be happy to go live with Mark and Callie during your holidays. I know they're really fired up about you coming to live with them." He laughed when he was hugged a few more times, and he had to wait until everyone was sitting again before he could continue.

"Like I said at the beginning, today we're going shopping for everything you'll need for school, but before we do that, there's just one last thing to talk about. All of the other students in my family are going on vacation for the last week of August. Not all of your new guardians can go for the whole week, but we'd like you all to come with us, and they'll each spend both weekends with you, while during the week, you'll hang out with the rest of the family. What do you think?"

"I think it's brilliant," Cassandra said excitedly. "Where are we going?"

James laughed. "That is a surprise," he told her. "I promise that you will love it, though."

There were a few more questions and then some more hugs before the new Hogwarts students were off and going to get ready for their shopping trip. While they were doing that, James had a few more short meetings, where he gave the other students the news about their exam results.

Walter, Marianne, Kent, and a few volunteers were taking most of the teens to play at the Mall in Paris for the day, while Mitchell and Julie went with James to help him with the shopping for their ten Hogwarts students. The guys picked up books, parchment, quills, and all of the necessities like sweets and wheezes in the morning, while Julie took the girls shopping for clothes. After lunch, Cassandra, Violet, and Adam got their wands first, and then caught up with everyone else to be fitted for robes, and then spend the rest of the afternoon shopping for more clothes. By the time they needed to get back to the Academy, all of the shopping was pretty much finished – as were the grown-ups.

"Can I have your attention, please?" James asked when all of the students were in the Dining Hall and ready for dinner. When they'd quieted, he continued.

"Before I go home for the night, there are a couple of announcements for everyone. First of all, since you've all been working so hard, and doing so great, you get next week off from classes." This announcement was greeted with cheers, and he had to wait before he could go on with his announcements.

"Tomorrow, we'll need all of you to meet here in the Dining Hall at eleven-thirty. The younger students will be put together with chaperones, and the teens need to be in groups of at least four for our trip to Marauders Paradise." He had to wait again for the cheering to subside again. "We'll be spending about six hours playing there, and then we're going from there to Germany, where we'll be going to see Lily and Kieran in concert."

This time, he was hugged by a dozen or so of the younger girls while the rest of the teens talked excitedly until he held up his hand, and got their attention again.

"I'm sure you've all heard about our ten students who will be starting at Hogwarts in September. When you have time, please take a minute to congratulate them over the next couple of days. They'll be moving out this weekend to go spend the last week of the summer with their new guardians, though I'm sure they will all keep in touch with you, and come visit when they're home during the holidays."

With that last announcement done, James got ready to leave for home, while the staff began bringing dinner out, and the students returned to their conversations.

"How'd it go today?" Arianna asked when he got home. She, Erin, and Quincy were putting dinner together, and she handed him a glass of wine.

"Erin and Quincy have ten more Academy students joining them at Hogwarts, and we had a brilliant day doing their back to school shopping. How was your day?"

"Mine was really long," Arianna answered. "The way Coach is working us, you'd think our first game is the League Championship match."

"We played outside, swam a lot, and started reading ahead for our new classes," Erin told him. "If you're both tired, Quincy and I can go to the Ravenclaw practice without you."

"We'll come along," Arianna said. "Your practices are always fun."

The Gryffindor practice at the Cottage was fun too. The practice team this time had Harry at Seeker, George and Nick at Beater, Ginny, Aaron, and Meghan playing Chaser, and Ron at Keeper.

"Is Al working late again tonight?" Marietta asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"He's putting in extra time this week, since we'll be back at Marauders Refuge next week – even though he does keep working when we're there too."

"If he gets bored, I'm sure you can find some work for him to do around the island," Penelope joked. "Everyone is going to be busy getting ready for the open."

Al was busy while Carolyn was watching the Quidditch practice, but he was having a pretty good day. Having finished up in Norway and Peru on Wednesday, he'd started the morning in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was now in Santiago, Chile. In Sofia, he'd identified twelve of the Knights, and here in Chile, they were having a meeting, and he was able to identify all of them. Now, he was waiting for the office to be empty, and was going to go through the place before going home. Once that was done, he'd be able to spend the whole day on Friday doing surveillance in Sofia, and he was hoping that he'd be able to wrap things up there too before the trip to Marauders Refuge.

Friday was a play day for the students and staff at the Academy, and for most of the student Marauders, they only had a half-day at work, before being taken out for lunch by their respective bosses. Percy and Arthur took Joel and Sarah out, meeting up with Molly, Penelope, and Carolyn. There were a couple of nice bonuses handed out, and they had a leisurely meal together before sending Joel and Sarah out to enjoy their afternoon off, while the rest of them went back to work for the rest of the day.

Emily was at a meeting in Mandy's office before they'd be going to lunch and meeting up with the babysitter's club and their kids. Lisa and Natalie were in the meeting too, and all four Witches were smiling.

"I'm guessing you know why we're having this meeting," Mandy said as she handed Emily the contract offer for her to read over. "You have done a really great job here this summer, and we want you to come work for us when you graduate. You'll report to Lisa, and be in charge of what will be the BusinessMagic research department."

Emily read through the contract quickly, and happily signed on the dotted line before handing the sheets of parchment back to Mandy.

"Thank-you," she told Mandy. "I'm so glad you all want me to come work for you, because I really love the job a lot."

"You're welcome," Mandy answered, smiling as she handed Emily her signing bonus. "We're going to love working with you too."

Frederica and Liam had lunch with George, Marietta, Lee, and Cho, and they had the afternoon off too. The only Marauders who weren't having those luncheons were Hugo, Vanessa, and Nadine. The two girls were busy getting things ready for Friday night's concert in Germany and after that, they still had the last concert on Saturday in France. Friday was Hugo's last day, but he would be training with the team all day at Canons Stadium before he would be done for the summer.

Harry suggested a trip to Marauders Paradise after lunch to wrap up the summer day care, and after a few ViComm calls, had Joel, Sarah, Frederica, Liam, Myra, Aiden, and Emily join them for the trip. The Academy group had already been there for a couple of hours, so once the kids had all gone off to play, Harry and Jair met up with James, and wandered around with him, and the group he was chaperoning.

"Have you told them about the concert yet?" James asked, and Harry shook his head.

"Not yet. If Kira knew now, that'd be all she'd be interested in for the rest of the day. I'll tell them when we have dinner, since we'll leave for Germany right after that."

"We'll see if that works after she hears about the Academy students going to the concert. She's a bright kid, and will probably get suspicious. Are you all set for Brian and Jason?"

Harry nodded. "She might, and yes, we're ready for the boys, and will come and get them tomorrow morning, so they have time to check out their rooms before we leave for the island."

"Are you going to be the only grown-up there during the week days?" James asked.

"Probably the only parent," Harry answered. "I will have Lily, Kieran, Joel, Sarah, Hugo, and Emily. Some of the other parents are going to take a couple of days off at the end of next week, but with back to school business, most will be too busy."

"We've given my kids the week off from classes next week, so I may be able to spend a couple of days there next week to give you a hand, and spend some extra time with Erin and Quincy."

"We're going to be having a lot of fun next week, so that would be great if you could," Harry told him.

They let the kids all play for a few more hours, and then gathered everyone together for dinner. Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Hugo, Aaron, Arianna, and Tracey joined them in time to eat, having finished work, and then the entire group went on to Germany for the concert.

"Uncle Harry – Over here!"

Most of the members of the group arriving from Marauders Paradise turned to look to where Vanessa was waving to them from one of the entrances to the Quidditch stadium where the concert would be starting in less than a half hour. Harry and Ginny led the way toward Vanessa, until Kira ran ahead and threw her arms around the older girl.

"You're just the Witch I was looking for," Vanessa told Kira. "Once we get everyone else to their seats, I'm supposed to bring you backstage to see Lily and Kieran before the show. They have really missed their bestest fan in the whole world."

Kira hugged her again, and then Vanessa led the group to the block of seats that had been reserved for them next to the stage. From there, she and Ginny took Kira with them, and went backstage to see Lily and Kieran. There was only fifteen minutes until the start of the concert, but SpellBound's warm-up band would be taking the stage for the first hour, so they did have some time to spend together.

"Hi, sweetie," Lily said with a laugh as Kira pounced her. "It is so great to see you! Are you ready to have fun tonight?"

"Yes!" Kira answered, continuing to hug Lily fiercely. "Vanessa said you missed me – I missed you a whole lot too."

"We did," Lily told her. "Two weeks is a long time to go without any of your hugs."

Kira hugged her again, and then Lily passed her on to a grinning Kieran, and then hugged her mother.

"We've missed you too," Ginny told her. "Two more nights, and then on Sunday, you'll be on the island, and have a week to rest up and have fun."

"Make that tomorrow night," Lily said. "We decided to cancel the hotel, send our gear home after the show in France, and go straight to the island once we get finished signing autographs after the show. With the time change, depending on how long it takes to get away, we should be there around nine o'clock, island time."

Ginny hugged her again. "I'll make sure everything is ready at your house. Will Laura and Andy be coming?"

Lily nodded. "Yes, but just for the one night. Andy has to get back to work on Monday."

That was all the time they had to talk before Kira reclaimed Lily, and proceeded to give her the speed version of the last two weeks of her life, interspersed with questions about what Lily and Kieran had been doing, what it was like in the countries they'd visited, and anything else that happened to cross the little girl's inquisitive little mind. Finally, Laura had to gently put an end to the visit so that Lily and Kieran could get ready to go on-stage, and Ginny led a very bouncy Kira back to their seats, where Harry was the next victim of a Kira hug attack.

When SpellBound went on stage, they took the Quidditch stadium full of fans on a three hour, forty-five minute musical express that more than satisfied their fans, and left Lily and Kieran both exhilarated and exhausted. Once the pair had left the stage after their third and final encore, Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the adults and chaperones gathered their gang together, made their way outside, and took the TransPortal back home.

Harry and Ginny had a Cottage full, with Kira, James, and Timothy all staying overnight, along with Joel, Sarah, Dale, and Carissa. The two five-year old boys had fallen asleep before the end of the concert, and Harry and Joel took them straight to bed. Kira was still awake, but even she was running out of power. By the time Ginny helped her get changed and in bed, the little fireball had enough left to hug and kiss Ginny before closing her eyes, and drifting off to sleep.

"I wondered if she'd be able to keep going like that much longer," Harry said softly from the doorway. He came into the room, leaned over the bed to kiss Kira's forehead, and then held out his hands to Ginny. "Let's go to bed too. It's been a very long day."

The action on Saturday morning was at the Academy. Ten students were doing a last bit of packing, and visiting with their friends while waiting for their new guardians to come pick them up and take them to their new homes. For both the students who were leaving, and those remaining, there was a wide range of emotions that the impending separation was causing. There was a lot of excitement, of course, and more than a few tears of both the happy and sad kind. All of the students who were staying at the Academy were happy for the students who were getting to go to Hogwarts, but some still had to deal with just a little jealousy for their friends, while others were quietly relieved that they were getting to stay at the home they'd come to love. James, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy got to the Academy just as breakfast was wrapping up, along with Aaron and Tracey, who were the first of the new guardians to arrive.

"Are you guys ready to make your great Academy escape?" Aaron asked H and Adam. James had already told him that the night shift staff had reported that the two boys had stayed up late on Thursday, packing everything in their trunks to get ready for the move.

"We're both ready whenever you are," Adam told him.

"Then why don't we go to your rooms and get your things Translocated to your new rooms, and then Tracey and I will take you home. We'll have a few hours to show you around, and get a couple of bags packed before we leave for vacation."

"Can you tell us where we're going yet?" H asked, and Tracey shook her head.

"Nope. You won't find out until we get there, but you don't have long to wait now, and you are going to love it."

Over the next hour, Erin and Quincy visited with their friends, while James and Arianna helped out with the departing students, and with some of the students who were staying at the Academy, and dealing with being left behind, while some of their friends were moving on. Harry and Ginny were the next guardians to arrive, and had brought a very excited Millie and Amy along to help Jason and Brian with the move to the Cottage. Callie and Mark, and Percy and Penelope weren't far behind them, though they were at the Academy a little longer than the others, helping out their teens to finish packing before Alice and Lenny were ready to go with Callie and Mark, and Ophelia and Philip were ready to go with Percy and Penelope. That just left Cassandra and Violet, so when everything else was done, Arianna went to get them.

"Ready to go?" she asked the two girls, who were sitting on Cassandra's bed. Both girls nodded, and hopped up.

James had told them on Thursday that they'd be going with him, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy for the day while Kirley and Ana were busy with the last day of the SpellBound tour. Arianna sent most of Cassandra's things to her new room at the McCormack house, and the one bag Cassandra had packed for vacation to their island home. The three Witches then went over to Violet's room, and did the same before going to meet up with James, Erin, and Quincy.

"We've still got a couple of hours before we can leave on our trip," James told Quincy and the girls. "What would you like to do until then?"

Arianna hugged him. "Do you really need to ask when you're with four Witches?"

James laughed. "I guess not. Shopping it is. Can you handle that, Quincy?"

"Definitely," Quincy answered. "Cassandra and Violet should be warned that you and I are only in it for the hugs and kisses, though."

While James and Arianna took their kids shopping, Callie and Mark were helping Alice and Lenny do a little unpacking, the guys in Lenny's room, and the girls in Alice's.

"I was really surprised when James told us that you wanted us to come live here," Lenny told Mark. "It was a really great surprise, but why do you guys want to get stuck taking care of a couple of kids like us?"

Mark laughed. "Callie and I are a couple of kids like you too, Lenny. James, Arianna, and their family – our family – helped change our lives, and we want to help them do that for other kids. That's why we volunteer at the Academy, and that's why we want you to come live here."

"Well, Alice and I are really glad that you do want us. We're both a little scared about going to Hogwarts, but getting to spend the holidays with you is going to be brilliant."

"You're going to love Hogwarts," Mark told him, "and you, Alice, and the other Academy students have lots of support there regardless of which House you're placed in, so try not to worry about it too much."

The two Wizards moved on to talk about Broom Racing and other 'safe' topics, while in Alice's room, the two Witches were sitting on the bed talking quietly.

"When you're home for Christmas holidays, you and I can decide how you want to decorate your room," Callie told her. "That'll give us an excuse for some extra shopping too."

"Shopping is always good," Alice agreed, and then laughed.

"What's so funny?" Callie asked, and Alice grinned at her.

"Sorry. Some of the girls at the Academy are already sending me QuillMessages asking me to send pictures, and one of them asked for a picture of Mark."

Callie laughed too. "Wait until you get to Hogwarts. I'm told his posters are very popular in the girl's dorms."

"They're pretty popular around the Academy too,' Alice told her. "Kieran probably is a bit ahead of Mark, and the various top Quidditch players, but not by very much."

"Maybe that explains why some of the girls there ask me to wait a minute while they straighten up their rooms before inviting me in sometimes," Callie suggested, and Alice laughed.

"That could be it," she agreed. "I don't really get that, since the guys don't worry about that with James. They think it's hilarious when he sees their posters of Arianna."

"Boys are easily amused, and I'm including James in that group, since he finds it as funny as the younger boys do. We should probably get started packing a bag for your trip while we talk."

"Okay," Alice said, getting up and going over to her trunk. "How is this all going to work? Should Lenny and I call you Mum and Dad?"

Callie laughed and shook her head. "Definitely not. Callie and Mark will be just fine. This guardian thing is all new for us too, so the four of us will figure it out as we go along. We will have fun, though. I'm sure of that."

All ten of the Academy students were having fun so far that morning. Adam and Horatio really liked their rooms, thought that having Aaron for a guardian was brilliant, and loved the hugs and kisses from Tracey. Jason and Brian were getting hugged and kissed too, but in their case, it was Millie and Amy who were doing most of the hugging and kissing as they helped them settle into their rooms at the cottage. Millie and Jason were in the middle of one of those kisses when they heard Dale's laugh at the door.

"I'd tell you guys to get a room, but you just did," he told Jason. "When you're finished, grab you travel bag, and come downstairs. We'll be leaving soon."

It took fifteen minutes for everyone to get together, send their bags ahead, and go outside, but finally they were all ready to go, and they took the TransPortal to the island. Since the boys had been to the island with Millie and Amy before, they'd already guessed that this was their 'surprise' vacation destination, but this time, they'd be living with Harry and Ginny instead of staying with Teddy and Victoire.

"You guys know where the bedrooms are?" Ginny asked, and both boys nodded. "Jason, you're in the room on the left, and Brian's in the room on the right."

"What about Dale, Joel, and Sarah?" Brian asked.

"Dale's with Stewart and Isabelle this week, and Joel and Sarah are in one of the guest houses," Ginny answered. "They're going to be helping out with some of the other teens during the week. Why don't you go get changed, and then you can go play with Amy and Millie. Lunch will be out at the lagoon in about an hour."

The two girls waited for their boyfriends to do that, while Joel and Sarah left for the guesthouse they were going to be using for the week, and Dale and Carissa went to Stewart and Isabelle's house, both couples going to get towels and anything else they wanted to take with them to the lagoon. Stewart, Isabelle, Teddy, and Victoire were already on the island, and were at Stewart and Isabelle's house to greet Dale and Carissa. Joel and Sarah would be staying in the same guest house with Callie, Mark, Alice, and Lenny, though they'd already been to their house, and left for the lagoon by the time that Mark and Callie arrived on the island with Alice and Lenny.

"Where are we?" Alice asked as she and Lenny looked around.

"We're on the family's private Caribbean island," Callie answered. "This is one of the guest houses, and where you'll be staying this week." She laughed when Alice hugged her, and Lenny was grinning. "I'm guessing you like the surprise."

"I love the surprise," Alice assured her. "This is amazing!"

"Let's show you your rooms, and then Mark and I can take you on a quick tour before we meet everyone at the lagoon."

"The lagoon?" Lenny asked.

Mark nodded. "There's a large lagoon at the west end of the island," he explained. "It's where we keep the jet-skis and AquaBikes, and get together to play most of the time. When we have meals together, we usually have them there too."

"You have your own jet-skis and AquaBikes here?" Lenny asked excitedly. "I loved the jet-skis at Marauders Paradise."

"Yes, and you're going to love them here too. Everyone gets a safety and training session on the jet-skis, but after that, you'll be able to take a spin whenever you want, though once in a while they're actually all out being used, and we have to take turns."

Percy and Penelope were showing Ophelia and Philip their island house too, and then went on to the lagoon, deciding to take a tour of the island later. Ophelia and Philip were the only two students out of the group who'd started taking magic back in their first year at the Academy to go to Hogwarts, and possibly would be the only two of that original group of nine who would, since they'd been the youngest. Their week at Marauders Paradise with Percy and Penelope had been great, and the two teens had really gotten close to their chaperones, so when they'd found out that they would be going to live with them, they'd been very happy with the decision. Everything that had happened since leaving the Academy just a few hours earlier, from their rooms at the townhouse in London, to this incredible island, had been brilliant.

The last four Academy students being introduced to the family island were Adam, H, Cassandra, and Violet. They all arrived together with Aaron, Tracey, James, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy. They were the youngest of the ten students, so that might explain why they were the most fun to watch as they reacted to seeing the island for the first time.

"This is your own island?" H asked the adults around him.

"Pretty cool, isn't it?" Aaron answered, and H could only nod. They'd all appeared in front of James and Arianna's house, and the young Wizard was wide-eyed as he looked at the house, pool, beach, and Caribbean Sea.

"Let's let James and Arianna show Carissa and Violet around here, and we'll get you settled in to our house," Tracey suggested to the boys, which had H staring at her.

"You have your own house here too?" he asked incredulously, and Tracey laughed and hugged him.

"Our house is just over there on the other side of those trees," she told him. "There are quite a few houses here. We'll show you around after we get a bag packed with everything we need to go play at the lagoon."

That answer got another batch of questions going, and Aaron and Tracey answered them as they walked over to their house while James and Arianna went into their house with Quincy and the girls.

"Lily told Mum that they changed their plans, and will be here later tonight, but you'll still stay with us tonight, because they're going to have a house full just for tonight," Arianna told the girls as she led them into one of the guest bedrooms. Cassandra motioned for Violet to go ahead and take that room.

"Is their house like this one?" Violet asked.

"It looks a lot different than this one, but it's just as beautiful, and has it's own pool too," Arianna answered. "Why don't you get changed, and meet us downstairs, and I'll show Cassandra her room – she'll be right next door to you."

Ginny and Harry were busy putting together a lunch buffet for the gang that were arriving on the island. Most of the parents were contributing to the meal, but they were still putting together most of the food and all of the drinks. Ron and Hermione stopped by on their way to the lagoon, and helped Ginny take a load out to the buffet table that was already set up.

"It looks like quite a few people are out on the lagoon already," Ginny told Ron and Hermione. "Have you seen anyone else?

"Emily's parents came along with us," Hermione answered. "They have farther to walk than we do to get here. Since I see Frederica, Liam, Myra, and Aiden out playing, their parents must all be here too. I haven't seen anyone else yet."

"Luna sent me a message, and they're on the way," Ginny said. "I haven't heard from Demelza since yesterday, but she said they'd be leaving around twelve-thirty home time, so they're probably already at the guest house they're using, or she would have sent a message."

"Or we could have been put to work by Harry," Dennis said as he walked up to them, Demelza and Colin right behind him, and all three of them bringing more bowls, platters, and pitchers. He put his load on the table, then hugged Ginny and Hermione. "This was a really great idea. Too bad Colin's the only one of us who can stay all week."

"Maybe you can't, but I'm already thinking about calling in sick next week," Demelza told him as she hugged all three of their friends.

Dennis laughed. "You may be thinking it, but I doubt you'll actually do it. You and I might be able to talk Coach into throwing a three day weekend at the team as a carrot to work harder this week, Ron."

"That's worth a try," Ron agreed. "Even he might be ready for an extra day considering how hard we've worked this summer."

"Why don't you go ahead and play," Ginny told Colin after hugging him too. "Those jet-skis will probably get snapped up fast today, and you probably won't find the AquaBikes as much fun without Nadine."

"He'd tell you that there hasn't been much of anything that's been fun without Nadine for the last two weeks," Demelza told Ginny and Hermione after Colin had hurried off to hop on a jet-ski.

"I'm sure they'll catch up on the fun they missed out on during this coming week," Dennis told her.

"That shouldn't take much," Demelza told him. "Until we were invited here, he was going to be spending most of next week studying."

Ginny laughed. "They'll still be doing that here. From what I've heard, pretty much all of the students are going to study in the mornings, and play for the rest of the day."

"If Nadine is studying with him, I'm sure he won't mind at all," Dennis said. "I don't think I'll say much else about that, since he's a way better student than I ever was."

"I hear that," Ron said. "Thank Merlin our kids got their smarts from their mothers."

"Don't you two get started with that," Demelza told them. "You're both plenty smart enough."

Ginny laughed. "Well, they were at least smart enough to marry you and Hermione."

"Yes we were," Ron agreed, hugging his wife. "How much is left to do here?" he asked his sister.

"We should be able to get everything else in one more trip," she answered after seeing what had been brought out so far. "Then you can sit down and eat, or go play for a while."

While everyone else was arriving at the island, and having fun playing, in France, the Witches and Wizards in the SpellBound group were working hard. Laura was keeping Lily and Kieran on time as they blasted through a full day of interviews and appointments. They were busier than usual, since they were only in France for one day instead of the two days they'd spent in most other stops on the tour. Ana and Kirley had Nadine and Vanessa with them, and they'd been working at the Quiberon Quafflepunchers' stadium for most of the day after packing up at the hotel in Germany.

They all normally attended the VIP dinners with Lily and Kieran, but they were too busy to do that this time. Since going to the dinner wasn't an option, they just had something to eat on the fly at the stadium, and kept working right through until Laura brought Lily and Kieran over about a half-hour before the concert was starting.

"Did we miss anything exciting?" Nadine asked Lily when she walked into the change room she would be using for the night.

Lily sat in a chair and sighed. "It was another great dinner, but right now, I'm just glad they're over with, and we're about to get the last concert done."

"Look at the bright side," Vanessa told her. "You can be in bed sleeping by nine or ten o'clock tonight."

Lily laughed. "Sure – island time." She looked at her watch and got up again. "Alright, let's get the show on the road. I need to start with a hot shower before we begin on the make-up, or Kieran is not going to want to be anywhere near me when it's time to sing those love songs."

"That'd be fine for Oceans Apart, but not so good for One Magic Moment," Nadine said, laughing too.

There was a lot for everyone to do in the nearly hour and a half they had until SpellBound was to hit the stage, so they got to work, but at least it was a bit of a break for Lily and Kieran where they were just working with Ana, Kirley, Laura, Vanessa, and Nadine. SpellBound took to the stage for their part of the concert starting at nine o'clock, and they performed for their fans for three hours and twenty-five minutes. After getting cleaned up and changed, Laura took Lily and Kieran for the normal hour or so of autographs that they always did after their shows while Ana, Kirley, Vanessa, and Nadine finished packing everything up and sending it all back home. They took the TransPortal to the island when everything was done, and did manage to get there just before nine o'clock.

"I vote for drinks and then straight to bed," Lily told the others as they all went inside.

"I second the motion," Kirley said. "You girls go ahead and sit down, and Kieran and I will get the drinks while we wait for Andy to get here."

"He was at James and Arianna's place, so he won't be long," Laura told him, then laughed when they heard the knock at the door.

"I'm guessing he missed you," Ana told her as Laura hurried to answer the door.

"I missed him too," Laura said as she reached the door, and then laughed again as Andy swept her up for a hug and kiss after she'd opened the door for him.

They all sat down after the drinks had been handed out, and talked quietly together for a little while as they all started winding down after a busy day. Laura and Andy left for their room first, and Lily and Kieran left a few minutes after them, leaving Kirley and Ana with Vanessa and Nadine.

"Funny how they got to do all of the fun work, while we did all of the hard work, and we're the ones still going," Kirley joked.

"You'll have one less still going in another few minutes," Nadine told him with a tired smile.

"If you can stay awake a little longer, we'd like to talk to you and Vanessa for a minute," Kirley told her. When both girls nodded, he squeezed Ana's hand and nodded to her. They were both smiling now.

"You know that tomorrow we'll be having Carissa and Violet coming to live with us," Ana began, and the girls both nodded again. "Kirley and I love you, and we don't want you to go back to the Residence. We'd like you to come live with us from now on too. We've talked with Susan, and if you both agree, we can make it official next week. What do you think?"

Ana didn't really need to ask that question, since she and Kirley could see the tears and smiles on the faces of both girls. They hugged each other first, and then got up and went over to take turns hugging Kirley and Ana.

"That would be a definite 'yes'," Vanessa told them, and Nadine nodded. "We love you too. Are you sure you're ready to have four teenage girls around the house during the holidays?" she asked Kirley.

"I'm going to love it," Kirley assured her. "You will have to put up with having Kieran for a brother, and Lily for a sister-in-law by next summer. I hope you can handle that."

Vanessa and Nadine both laughed and hugged him again. "We don't have a problem with getting the coolest big brother and sister in the world," Vanessa assured him.

Ana stood up and put her arms around the two girls. "Let's go to bed, and we can talk about this more over breakfast."

"You girls go ahead," Kirley told them. "I'll clean up quickly and be right behind you." He smiled at Ana as Vanessa and Nadine hugged him one more time before going toward the guest room wing of the house with Ana, and disappearing down the hall while he started gathering up the glasses, and taking them into the kitchen.

"It's completely your fault," Kirley told Harry later the next morning when he, Ana, Harry, and Ginny were sitting in beach chairs watching the kids play out on the lagoon. "If we hadn't watched you with all of the kids you've helped, we never would have gotten started with Karl, and now it's out of control."

Harry laughed. "Fun isn't it. You're welcome. That's something I don't have a problem getting blamed for – especially after seeing how happy Vanessa and Nadine are this morning."

"Cassandra and Violet look pretty happy today too," Ginny said. "You worked things out pretty well getting four girls, Ana. I expect Joel and Sarah will get their own place sometime next summer, and Lily and Kieran will be getting married, and I'll be left with a house full of Wizards."

"Sure," Harry agreed, "except for Millie, Amy, and Carissa coming to visit their respective boyfriends, or being an empty house when they're over at the girl's houses."

"Speaking of houses, do you guys want one of the guest houses for next weekend?" Ginny asked Ana. "You've got a pretty full house at Lily and Kieran's."

"That's probably a good idea," Ana answered. "I'm sure that Lily and Kieran would like to have the place to themselves for the last couple of days before he goes back to school."

Cassandra and Violet were out on the lagoon pedalling an AquaBike around. Arianna had walked over to Lily and Kieran's house with them after breakfast, and while they'd both been nervous, that didn't last past the round of hugs they got from Kirley, Ana, Lily, Kieran, Vanessa, and Nadine. That's when they'd found out that Kirley and Ana were going to have the other two girls come live with them too, and that not only were Cassandra and Violet getting guardians, and Kieran for a big brother, but a pair of pretty great older sisters too.

"Let's go over the checklist again," Violet told her best friend. "Beautiful mother, Handsome and famous father and brother, beautiful home to live happily ever after in."

"Check, check, check," Cassandra answered with a bright smile.

"Then where did this island, the big family, and two extra sisters come from?" Violet asked. "We hadn't built any of this into that little dream world we've been working on since getting back from Marauders Paradise."

"I don't know, Violet, but I don't have a problem with that dream world being so much more brilliant than anything we could imagine." The two girls laughed as Aiden, H, and Adam buzzed past them on jet-skis, making their AquaBike bob around in the wakes they left behind.

"Neither do I," Violet said as they watched the three boys speed off again. "There's a lot to love about this place and our new family."

Cassandra laughed and nudged her friend, who had still been watching Aiden. "Could it be that you're changning your mind about boys?"

Violet laughed too. "Not in general, but I'm considering making an exception. Kieran's cousin is very cute."

"Since they've buzzed us four times now, I wonder if he thinks the same thing about you," Cassandra suggested.

Most of the adults were going to need to leave for home in the early afternoon, so they had their big meal with everyone at noon. Scorpius and Brianna joined them on the island for a couple of hours, including lunch, since that seemed to be their best chance to see everyone before getting back to work on Monday.

"We go away for a couple of weeks, and you grow the family by ten while we're gone," Brianna joked. They were having lunch with Harry, Ginny, Percy, and Penelope.

"I think it's really great," Scorpius said. "Ophelia and Philip both look really happy. I'm looking forward to getting to know them over the holidays at Christmas."

"You don't think you could get away next weekend and join us here?" Penelope asked, and Scorpius shook his head.

"Brianna and I are both expecting to be loaded down with work after being away two weeks, and we have a couple of dinner commitments, so we'll need to stay around home and catch up."

"Did you get to spend much time with Al and Carolyn yesterday?" Ginny asked, and Brianna nodded.

"We had breakfast with them after coming back from China, spent the morning catching up, and then Nick and Allie came over for lunch. When we left, they were going to have a nap, then finish packing and leave for Marauders Refuge."

Penelope asked Scorpius and Brianna to tell them all about what they'd done and seen while away, and doing that took the rest of the time they were eating. After lunch, it was time to start getting ready to return home, and getting the teens all set up for the rest of the week. Lily and Kieran had the four girls with them, so they could all just keep on playing after hugging and kissing Kirley and Ana goodbye. Joel and Sarah had Alice and Lenny at their guesthouse already, and had Adam and H moved in with them while Aaron and Tracey were back at work. Hugo and Emily had Ophelia, Philip, Colin, and Lance stay with them, and Frederica and Liam had Myra, Aiden, Erin, and Quincy at their house. Harry had Jason and Brian with him, and Stewart, Isabelle, Teddy, and Victoire had decided to let Carissa and Dale stay with Millie and Amy for the week, though they'd be having meals with Harry and the boys.

While the working members of the family left for home, and Harry and the gang of students returned to playing, Carolyn was already working at Marauders Refuge, and Al was in New Zealand, continuing his surveillance of the Knight's office there. His plan for this week was to spend the mornings identifying all of the members of the Knights in New Zealand and Australia, check out the offices themselves, and then continuing on to find the locations of the last offices he still needed to identify in China, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and Moscow.

For Carolyn, her job was really just to make sure that everything was getting done, and that the managers for the hundreds of projects that were still continuing to be finished during the last week of preparation before opening got anything they needed to get those jobs done. During her first week on the island, some of the Witches and Wizards had underestimated or dismissed her because she was so young and because she was such a sweet, gentle personality. That hadn't lasted long, as she'd won them all over with her hard work, organization, and the unassuming way she exercised the power that a Junior Account Manager for the biggest company in the world had at her disposal to get things done. This week, she was the first person the managers came to for help with solving problems. It was a lot of work and long days, and Carolyn loved every minute of it.

Carolyn and Al both worked long days on Sunday. By the time they went to bed Sunday night, it was already Monday morning back home. Fluffy had decided that cuddling with Ginny had been better than staying in Lily's room alone, but spending the night without Harry, and waking up to the absence of the smells of breakfast cooking had convinced Ginny that spending the week here alone instead of taking the week off and spending it on the island was a really bad plan. She got ready for work, and when she got to the Institute, stopped at the cafeteria to get coffee and a muffin before going to work in her lab. At noon, she let Mandy and the other girls know she was taking the rest of the week off, and by four o'clock, she went home, packed a bag, and left for the island to surprise Harry and the kids.

James and Arianna loved Erin and Quincy, but while Ginny hadn't liked being alone at the Cottage, they were enjoying having a few days alone, even if they both did have work every day. With the ten new students coming to the Academy on Monday, Arianna went there after work, and they'd had dinner with the students, and then spent some time with those kids to start getting to know them before going home.

"How was your day?" James asked after they got home and were cuddling on the sofa. The kids had taken all of their attention, and they were just now getting the chance to catch up on what had been happening all day.

"Coach liked Ron and Dennis' suggestion to work harder through Thursday, and take the three-day weekend, so he was driving us hard all day," Arianna answered. "I really hope we won't be so tired by Friday that all we'll be doing on our day off is sleeping. Your new kids all seem to be doing pretty well so far."

James nodded. "I'm happy with how it's going. This is the biggest group we've brought in since we opened, but it's the third time for new students, and the rest of the kids are really being great with helping make the new students feel welcome."

"You seem to have made an impression on Nicodemus," she told him with a smile. "He's trying to play it cool, but I noticed that he was watching you a lot through dinner. You should have Dad take a look at him, Nina, and Becky. My first impression is that they're all fairly bright, which makes me wonder why they ended up so far behind at school. There might be something we're missing."

"That's a good idea," James agreed. "He's going to be helping out a few extra nights next week when we get back to classes, so I'll have him work with them and see what he thinks. The other seven kids are going to need a lot of help too. The families they've been staying with have been starting to work with them, but they're all still years behind their own levels, and none of the four that are eleven or older are ready for magic yet."

"How are your Hogsmeade students doing?" Arianna asked. "I didn't see them today."

"They're mostly playing this week. Constance is giving them assignments for doing day trips, and learning how to budget those trips so they don't impulse spend themselves into money troubles. I didn't have time to go see them today, but I called Glenda and talked to her for a few minutes. Today was learning to use Muggle money, transit, and shopping in London. Candice and Kylie went with them today too, so the three couples were going to finish their day with a dinner and a movie date night."

"I'm glad they're learning all of that stuff, and getting to have a little fun while they're at it." Arianna said, and then she sighed tiredly. "Let's go to bed, James. I've pretty much run out of steam."

Since it was mostly all work at home, and for Al and Carolyn at Marauders Refuge, most of the fun was being had at the island. The students all spent a few hours each morning studying, and then were let loose to play for the rest of the day. Vanessa and Nadine had a few extra things to do, including going home on Monday morning to get their things from the Residence, and move them over to their new rooms at the McCormack home, and going shopping on Tuesday with Lily to get their robes, clothes, and supplies for school. That had gotten them out of studying for the first two days, but also meant they had to work a little harder for the rest of the week.

The island started filling up again on Thursday by lunchtime, as the three-day weekenders started arriving after finishing work on Thursday afternoon back at home. That included James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, Percy, Penelope, Ron, Hermione, Dennis, Demelza, Kirley, Ana, and Grandma and Grandpa Weasley. Natalie dropped Kira and James off, but she and Owen were going to be busy helping out at the GameWizard stores on the last weekend before the students all went back to school, which was always one of the busiest of the year. George and Marietta were going to be busy with the Wheezes stores too, but the Murrays would be coming after work on Friday to spend the weekend with the kids.

They were on the island in time for lunch on Friday, as were Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, Isabelle, Luna, and Neville. Harry had left word for everyone to meet at the lagoon for lunch at twelve-thirty, and everyone was there and waiting when he and Ginny joined them.

"You seem to have forgotten the food part of the lunch concept," Ron told him, earning a chorus of laughs.

"We're going out for lunch," Harry told him. "Carolyn called me earlier this week, and invited all of us to come spend the day at Marauders Refuge, and be the first to try out all of the new rides and the WaterPark. They've invited all of the families of everyone who have been working on building the island, and the resort staff to come too, so it should be a really great day. It is, of course, optional, if you'd rather just hang out here instead."

Nobody was interested in choosing that option, so they all took the TransPortal to Marauders Refuge, getting there just after seven-thirty in the morning. Carolyn and Al were there to meet them, and there was a lengthy hugging session before they went to get something to eat, and then head out to explore the island, and get a brilliant play day started.

The first thing they all noticed about the new resort is that while there was a WaterPark and Amusement Park like at Marauders Paradise, this resort had all new rides and games, and the WaterPark design was new too. That made everything they did for the day even more exciting than a day at Marauders Paradise always was.

"We're ready to go tomorrow," Carolyn told Molly as they walked through the village, checking out the shops that were all open for the family guests to visit and do a little shopping. Arthur, Harry, Ginny, and Al were walking with them, on their way to one of the beachfront cafés for lunch.

"How many guests will be here each week?" Arthur asked, and Molly answered his question.

"The hotel has room for up to fifteen thousand, but we'll be starting out with about sixty percent capacity for next week. The first week where we booked one hundred percent was the last weekend in September."

"Will you be using this resort for any of the Residence weeks?" he asked next. "The kids would love this place as much as they love Marauders Paradise."

Molly nodded. "Yes. We're going to move two of the six weeks here starting next summer. It'll take some of the pressure off of Gabrielle and everyone working on her island. We're going to rotate the two weeks so that all of the kids get to have one week here every third year." She laughed when she saw the look on Harry's face. "Yes, you'll be coming here with your group next summer," she told him.

"Don't forget that I've booked a week here for next March too," Ginny reminded him. "We're going to have a really great time here when you, Lily, and I bring Kira, James, and Timothy here."

"That is going to be fun," Harry agreed, hugging Ginny. "Maybe we could take Patricia and William too so that Gabrielle and Kevin can take a week off again."

Ginny laughed. "Or maybe they're booking a vacation here that week too, and want to spend the time with all of us instead."

Harry hugged her again, laughing too. "Make that way better than just fun."

They weren't getting everyone together for lunch, but Luna, Neville, Ron, Hermione, Dennis, and Demelza were already at the café they'd chosen, so they put a couple of tables together, and joined them. Plans for what they were all going to be doing once their kids returned to Hogwarts dominated the conversation while they ate.

"You're all making me wish I wasn't going back to school too," Neville told the others. "All of the fun is going to be out here in the real world."

Luna leaned over and kissed him. "You love your job, and all of your kids, and I like having you home. If you weren't teaching, you'd probably be off exploring somewhere for months at a time."

"I might be tempted to do that," he conceded, "but more than likely, I'm going to be at Hogwarts for a long time."

After lunch, they went to play on the rides with the kids. By three o'clock local time, some of the parents began returning to their own island. Harry, Ginny, Molly, and Arthur were with one of those groups, and they took Kira and James back with them, and put them to bed at 'Grandma and Grandpa's' house. The younger adults, and all of the teens stayed and played until close to nine o'clock. They all met up before leaving to make sure they had everyone, and then took the TransPortal back to the island, getting there around two o'clock in the morning, island time.

That left just one more brilliant play day on Saturday, and then Sunday morning, they all packed up early in the morning, and left for home. The students all spent the rest of the day on Sunday getting ready to return to school on Monday, and spending those last few hours together with their families before they'd be separated again until the Christmas holidays.

Lily and Kieran were spending the rest of their last day together at Kieran's house, and while packing up was high on the list of jobs for Kieran and his four new sisters, he and Lily had one last meeting to deal with on Sunday afternoon. Nick came over to see them, and present the plans for their new house that he'd put the finishing touches on over the weekend while Allie was busy with Witch Investments work as she kept track of everything for the last back to school weekend while Victoire was spending the weekend with Teddy, Millie, and Amy.

"It's perfect!" Lily said excitedly. Nick and Kieran laughed when she threw her arms around her cousin and kissed him.

'I think it's brilliant too," Kieran told Nick. "If you don't mind, I'll let Lily take care of the hugging and kissing you, though."

Nick had conjured the model he'd dreamed up, and had spread the plans out on the kitchen table. Ana, Kirley, and the girls had joined them too, and they all told Nick, Lily, and Kieran how much they loved the new house design too.

"I'd say that's a unanimous approval," Kieran said. "Would you like to tell your cousin he's got a sale, or should I?" he asked Lily, who laughed and hugged him.

"I'm pretty sure you just did," she answered. "Go ahead and have the contractor start building whenever they can fit our project into their schedule."

With the excitement of seeing what their new house was going to look like over with, Kieran, Vanessa, Nadine, Cassandra, and Violet went back to packing for their trip back to school. Lily spent most of that time with Kieran, but also checked in frequently with the girls, offering to help them with their packing too.

The newest ten members of the family were only getting to spend one night in their new homes and rooms before going to Hogwarts for the first time, and they were all nervous, excited, and a little scared. The New Marauders were all going to miss their families, but were mostly excited about getting back to school.

James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were involved with helping their four students get ready for school and spending time with them, and Rose and Matt spent a few hours with Hugo, Emily, and both the Weasley and Donahue parents after getting back from their tour on Sunday. At the Cottage, after Sarah and the boys were packed up, they had Isabelle, Stewart, Victoire, and Teddy over for dinner with Carissa, Millie, and Amy. George, Marietta, and Frederica had dinner at the Murray's home, and then went back home to spend a quiet evening together, while Liam, Myra, and Aiden did the same thing with their parents.

Percy and Penelope had Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie come and have dinner with them, and spend a little time together with Ophelia and Philip, while the last two new members of the family, Alice and Lenny, had a quiet dinner and evening in their new home with Mark and Callie.

After Kieran, Vanessa, Nadine, Cassandra, and Violet were packed up, they'd had a little time before dinner to hang out with Kirley, Ana, and Lily. After dinner, they went into the sitting room to visit for a while longer, but Lily and Kieran went to bed early and spent the rest of the night snuggled close together as they got ready for their last school year apart.

There was one other Hogwarts students who was packed up and ready for his return to Hogwarts, and Malcolm had a lot of emotions to deal with about going back to school. Things had never really been very good at his home during the holidays, or even before he'd started going to Hogwarts. His father had always been hard on his son, as he was hard on everyone, but this summer had been by far the worst of his life.

Because of everything his father and Dirk had done to him under the pretence of training him for the Knights, Malcolm was glad to escape those horrid, painful training and duelling sessions, but he was afraid of going to Hogwarts and the consequences that would likely be his should he fail in the tasks he had been charged with by the Lord Commander. When he did finally get to sleep after hours of restlessness, he hadn't been able to work out any of his problems, and they continued to chase him through dark dreams for the remainder of the night.

The arrival of September first did mean that summer was over for everyone. For some, the imminent school year was going to be filled with firsts, while for others it was the beginning of an ending. Hugo, Emily, Kieran, and Joel were starting their last year at Hogwarts. Ron was starting his last year as a Professional Quidditch player. Carolyn and Brianna had both already started their post-Hogwarts lives, but this first September out of school somehow made it official.

There was a lot that was going to be happening at Hogwarts, and out in the real world, and as everyone went to sleep on Sunday night, or in the early hours of Monday morning, it felt almost like the Wizarding World was waiting for the Hogwarts Express pulling away from platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station to signal the start of a new season of fun and adventure.


	131. Marauders Rule or Knight School

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-One – Marauders Rule, or Knight School?

Platform nine and three-quarters wasn't as crowded on Monday morning as it was whenever September first landed on a Saturday or Sunday, like it had last year. That made it a little easier for the students to get loaded on the train, and made many of the goodbyes shorter. That wasn't the case for the Marauders and the extra students in their family. There were fewer parents, but more kids leaving on the train today, so it took about as long as every other year before they could board the Hogwarts Express.

Emily and Hugo had come to the station on their own, and had boarded the train early so that she could start getting ready for the Prefect meeting, and he could pick out compartments for their group, and help their new friends get settled in for the trip. Kieran wasn't far behind Emily, though he and Lily did share a rather lengthy goodbye hug and kiss before he too boarded the Prefect car, and she went to join the others, who were finishing up the goodbyes, and starting to board the train too.

"Take care of Kieran for me while you're all gone," she told Vanessa and Nadine as she hugged each of them. "I'll see you in three weeks on your first Hogsmeade weekend."

"We will," Vanessa promised. "You take care of the parents for us while we're gone."

Lily laughed and hugged her friend again. "I can do that."

They were running out of time, and she hugged Cassandra and Violet, then quickly hugged the rest of her cousins and friends who hadn't already boarded as they were getting on the train. When the doors started closing, she stepped back from the train, and leaned her head against her father's shoulder as he put his arm comfortingly around her waist. Moments later, the train began to slowly move down the track, and they watched until it was out of sight.

"How about we go get an early lunch, and then you can have your choice between spending your afternoon shopping, or coming to play with me in the lab," Ginny told Lily.

"Let's go to the lab," Lily decided. "Keeping busy might be just what I need for the rest of the day."

On the Hogwarts Express, the larger group of family students had their luggage stored, and were either finding seats, or getting ready to leave for their Prefect meeting. Now that Kieran and Emily were this year's Heads, Hugo and Joel were the only two NEWT year Marauder Prefects. Sarah joined them, along with new Prefects Frederica, Colin, Millie, Amy, and Vanessa when they left for the Prefect car.

The new members of their group were mostly split up among the rest of the Marauders, and they were taking up a total of five compartments. Ophelia and Philip were with Lance and Nadine, and would be joined by Vanessa and Colin when they were not busy with Prefect duties. Alice and Lenny sat with Dale and Carissa. Myra had Aiden, Cassandra, and Violet with her, and had room for Hugo and Emily if either of them ended up having any time to sit with them. Brian and Jason were with Liam, the three boys waiting for their Prefect girlfriends to rejoin them after their meeting. Erin, Quincy, H, and Adam were in the fifth compartment, and would have Joel and Sarah with them later.

"I read all about the Hogwarts Express, but this is way better than the stories," Adam told H as he watched out the window.

"Wait until you see Hogwarts," Erin suggested, smiling as she watched the excited younger boy. "The only thing Quincy and I missed out on was the boat ride that first years get to take, and you'll get to do that with Cassandra, Violet, and Aiden."

"That should be fun, but I'm a little scared about that whole sorting thing. I wish they'd just put me in a House like they did with you guys, and like they're going to do with H and the others," Adam said.

Quincy nodded. "A lot of the kids we've talked to at school say they were scared too, but the sorting hat always seems to be able to pick the best House for each kid, and I haven't met any students yet who weren't happy with the House they were sorted into."

While Erin and Quincy were kept occupied answering Adam's steady stream of questions, Brian, Jason, and Liam were talking about Hogwarts too, or at least about Hogwarts Quidditch.

"Your team must be the favourite this year now that Kieran isn't playing, and Hugo spent the summer training with the Canons," Jason suggested to Liam.

"Probably," he agreed, "but you never know. Gryffindor almost always has a really good team, but we'll have to see what kind of teams Ravenclaw and Slytherin put together, and Hufflepuff still has a pretty good team – especially if they get Aiden sorted into their house."

"Is your little brother that good?" Brian asked, and Liam nodded.

"He's not as good as I am right now, but better than I was in my first year. Myra's probably the best of the three of us, but don't tell her I said that."

"We won't," Jason promised. "Don't you find it hard to keep up with your studies and all of those practices and everything?"

Liam nodded. "It can get pretty busy, but it probably isn't even close to as hard as what you and Brian were doing with all of your studying at the Academy. Even for your OWL year, you'll probably find this a lot easier, since you'll just be doing one year of studies this year."

"Millie and Amy helped a lot this summer with getting us ready for those exams, or I'm not sure we would have made it," Brian told him. "Getting to go to Hogwarts with them is the only reason we worked so hard."

Liam laughed. "Well, they are a couple of really great reasons to get motivated."

Brian and Jason's motivators were having fun at the meeting in the Prefect car. Nobody had been surprised at the Head Boy and Girl choices this year. Kieran and Emily were the reason that the meeting was fun. There were drinks and treats for everyone while they went over the regular business, and Kieran and Emily both encouraged their Prefects to participate in the discussions, ask questions, and work out any problems they had with schedules or anything else they went over during the meeting.

"I think that went pretty well," Sarah told Joel and the other Marauder Prefects as they walked back to their compartments. "Everyone seemed happy enough with Kieran and Emily."

"Since they're both part of the family for eight of their Prefects, that's not all that surprising," Frederica suggested.

"True," Sarah agreed, "but we're all getting along much better than we did when Joel started as Prefect." She stopped and turned around, something having caught her eye, and she smiled. "Whoever you are, please stop following us – your Invisibility Shield Charm needs work, and all of that rippling is distracting, and a bit nauseating." Joel, Hugo, and the rest of their group had stopped, and they were all now looking at the same spot about ten feet behind them.

"It's not all that bad," Amy told Sarah conversationally. "Now that we're all standing still, I can hardly see it at all. Getting everything right when you're walking is pretty difficult."

"That's true," Sarah agreed, and was still smiling as she pulled out her wand. "Should we find out who our secret admirer is, or let them escape gracefully?" The rippling of the air got more violent, and quickly receded from them.

"I wouldn't say that was graceful, but it was an escape," Frederica said quietly so she wasn't overheard by the departing student. They turned around again, and hurried to rejoin their friends and enjoy the rest of the trip.

Malcolm Bletchley had ducked into one of the washrooms and closed the door before releasing his Invisibility Shield Charm. He was breathing hard, and shaking as he leaned against the door. That was a disaster! His first attempt at following the Weasleys, as ordered by Lord Chernobog, and they'd been able to see that he was there – or at least that someone was there. His father and Dirk had told him that his shield was perfect – were they lying, or actually not strong enough to see what Sarah and the rest of those kids could obviously see easily?

'Now what do I do?' he asked himself. There hadn't been a plan 'B', and he had nobody to turn to for help. He couldn't report that he'd failed already in his very first task. Failure was not acceptable in his family – his father loved throwing his many failings in his face. He didn't even want to think about what Lord Chernobog would do if he heard about this.

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, and pulled himself together. Step one was going to be to make sure that none of the Knights did find out about this. A little storytelling for his first reports to Dirk should buy him some time. Hugo and Frederica would probably just be talking Quidditch until after the tryouts anyway – that's it – and he wished they'd just all shut-up about it too. When he left the washroom, he felt better, but the uncomfortable pit that had been sitting in his stomach all summer was still there.

At the Avery Estates, the other twenty members of the Knights were having another of their Monday morning meetings. Miles Bletchley didn't arrive until just after eleven, having gone to King's Cross Station to see Malcolm onto the train, and more importantly, to watch the Weasley and Potter families.

"Did you find out anything interesting?" Lord Chernobog asked once Miles was sitting down.

"They had a bunch of those clingy orphans around them, and there was all of that usual hugging and kissing that makes my stomach turn to see," Miles reported. "Malcolm wanted to know if he should watch those kids too, but I told him to ignore them. There's no way they'd know anything useful to us."

"Good," Lord Chernobog told him. "I only want the Weasley boy and girl watched. Was Auror Potter there?"

Miles shook his head. "No. He's probably still doing those night surveillances and it was past his bedtime." The other Knights laughed.

"Peasegood says he is," Dirk confirmed. "Maybe we should arrange for him to have an accident some night."

"No!" Lord Chernobog said loudly. "How many times must I tell you? I do not want anything happening that might tip off our enemies. They know nothing about us, and by the time we do act, it will be too late for them. Stop obsessing about Potter, Dirk. His time is coming too, just as I have promised."

"Yes, Lord," Dirk said quickly, bowing to the other Wizard.

They continued the meeting, with each member of the group giving reports on how their own tasks were progressing. When that was done, the Lord Commander had additional instructions for some of the Knights, and then he ended the meeting.

As Lord Chernobog was leaving the Avery Estates with Gwen, and going back to Rosier Mansion in Cardiff, Ginny and Lily were leaving Harry and the others and going to work at the Institute.

"I've missed this place," Lily said as she followed her mother into her lab. "I hope Dad doesn't mind me coming here, but I really didn't feel much like shopping."

Ginny laughed and hugged her. "Shocking as that statement is for all of us, I'm sure he understands, and the kids at the Residence will be happy to have him spend a few hours with them instead."

"This is going to end up being a long day by the time we get done tutoring at the Academy tonight, but at least it'll keep me busy."

"I'll show you what I've gotten done during the summer, and then we can get started," Ginny suggested, and they got to work.

James had been busy at the Academy. He and Arianna had made breakfast for eight, and Aaron, Tracey, Adam, and H had joined them. Tracey had taken the time off so that she could take the four students to King's Cross Station, while Aaron and Arianna had gone to work at the stadium, and James came to the Academy, where his day had started with getting their ten newest students into their new classes.

Their first week at the Academy had gone pretty well, and even Nicodemus was coming around to deciding that maybe he was going to like his new home, but they were all nervous about what their classes would be like. Half of the new group, including Nina, Nicodemus, and Becky, would be in first, second, or third year magic classes, and the other five, including eleven-year old Tina, and twelve-year old Magnus would be starting at different pre-magic levels.

Tina and Magnus had been upset about not being able to take magic with the other teens their age, but they did at least have two other teens who'd come to the Academy in July taking pre-magic classes with them. For all of the new kids, their teachers eased them into the work, and their fellow students were all happy to help out, so it wasn't long before nervousness was forgotten as they were each immersed into this high-intensity education program.

Al was working too, though he hadn't started as early in the morning as he normally did. Carolyn had been busy at Marauders Refuge all weekend, and they hadn't left for home until Sunday afternoon, getting to their house shortly after two o'clock on Monday morning. They'd taken their potions right away, and then slept until about nine o'clock. They were both at work by ten.

He met with Rick and Hestia, and was introduced to the two new Auror trainees that had made it through the testing process. There'd been more applicants, but only these two candidates had passed the tests, and also actually achieved the necessary NEWT grades to be approved. He'd seen both of the new Auror-trainees around Hogwarts, but hadn't known either very well. Kendra Elkins had been in Hufflepuff, and Shae Harris had been in Gryffindor. Emma Midgen was Kendra's trainer, and since she worked with Jake Dorny, he became Shae's trainer. Al thought that the young Witch and Wizard would do well under Emma and Jake's guidance, and had a good feeling about the department's newest members.

After spending the past week travelling around Asia, he decided to spend the rest of the day working on one of his cold cases. At about one o'clock, he went to grab something to eat in the cafeteria, but was delayed when Minister Peasegood stopped him as he approached the Minister's office.

"Auror Potter! Good to see you!" Peasegood said in a tone that was probably more for show than because he really was glad to see Al. "Please, come into my office. I'd like to hear all about how those cold cases are going." Caught in what had probably been a trap, Al followed Peasegood into his office, and sat down when invited.

"I'm surprised to see you in the office. The report I just got this morning from Junior Minister Savage advised me that you were working night surveillance on one of your cases."

"I have been, and am," Al answered. "There was some research I needed to do here at the Ministry today, and I'll be back out on surveillance again for most of the next few weeks, except for when the Wizengamot meets next week."

"Excellent," Peasegood said approvingly, "and how are your cases progressing?"

"I'm expecting to solve the case I have been concentrating on with the current surveillance soon, though it's taken a lot of digging to come up with some leads. The other cases all still need much more work. Given enough time, there is a good chance they can all be solved." Peasegood was nodding as Al spoke, but his thoughts were conflicted. He wasn't sure if Dirk Avery was going to like this news or not.

"Well, solving any of these old cases will be something that the families of the victims will greatly appreciate, but don't get discouraged if you run into dead ends – sometimes cases just don't get solved."

Al wondered if Peasegood had even listened to what he'd said, since his own comments had all been positive. "I understand, sir." The Minister's thoughts had drifted off, and he probably hadn't even heard Al's answer. "Will there be anything else, Minister?"

"What? Oh, no, Auror Potter. That will be all. Good luck with your cases, and keep up the good work."

"Thank-you, sir," Al said, standing up and shaking the offered hand before leaving the office.

Most of the family adults were working, but on the Hogwarts Express, except for a few students who were reading textbooks, nobody was thinking about work at all – that would start on Tuesday when they started their first day of classes. The train finally pulled into Hogsmeade Station, and the transfer from the train to boats and carriages began.

Hugo and Kieran were taking the seven older Academy students with them, and went up to the school with the seventh year students, while Cassandra, Violet, and Adam followed Hagrid to the boats with Aiden and the other first year students. The rest of the Marauders followed along in carriages for their own years, or in the case of the Prefects, with whichever groups they'd been assigned.

"How did we end up bringing up the rear?" Sarah asked Emily, who grinned at her.

"Because I remember last year, when Brianna had to wait with the second year students when we came back to school in January, while Karl got to go straight up to the nice warm school with the other seventh year students. I'm sure Kieran and Hugo know they're going to get stuck with that now, but Hugo would rather get there first now and get the first time slot for Quidditch tryouts and practices, and Kieran is just doing it because he's a sweetheart."

"Good thinking," Sarah approved. "I guess you'll have to handle most of the Head duties until Kieran's done helping Ophelia, Philip, and the others, but Joel and I can help if you need us."

Emily nodded. "I'll probably be okay while he's doing that, but if I need the help, I'll send you a qm. Thanks."

The Great Hall was full, except for the new first years when Emily and Sarah ushered in the last group of second year students that included Myra and three of her room mates, so they all hurried to their seats, and it was only moments before Professor Parvati Macmillan led the first year students to the front of the hall.

Cassandra, Violet, Adam, and Aiden were all standing together, and they all looked nervous. Violet was called first from their group, and was sorted into Hufflepuff. Since the seven older Academy students were sitting with Kieran, she had lots of hugs waiting for her when she joined her new House. She was a happy camper until Cassandra was called up, and sorted into Gryffindor. Her best friend wasn't going to be in Hufflepuff with her, and Cassandra looked just as surprised as she walked over to the Gryffindor table, where Hugo, Emily, and the rest of the Marauder Gryffindors welcomed her.

"Keep your fingers crossed," Nadine whispered to Miranda as Aiden was called, and Miranda nodded mutely.

The sorting hat was on Aiden's head a little longer than for most of the students, but finally, it called out – 'GRYFFINDOR!'

The Gryffindor table cheered, and Aiden hurried over to get hugs from Liam, Frederica, and the others, while the Hufflepuff Quidditch players groaned. Aiden hadn't been as good as Kieran yet, but he'd been very good indeed, and would have really helped their team this year.

"Oh well," Miranda said quietly. "It would have been nice to have him in our House, but he's probably more a Gryffindor than a Hufflepuff anyway. I really hope we'll get some decent new players trying out this weekend, or this could be a long season. Gryffindor is going to be really good."

"We're still really good too," Nadine reminded her, "and if Aiden couldn't be on our team, I think I prefer him on Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw or Slytherin. He could really make a big difference on either of those teams."

Adam was the last first year to be sorted that the Marauders were waiting for, and the sorting hat barely touched his head when it placed him in Hufflepuff along with Violet. She was the first to hug him when he walked over to where she was sitting next to Kieran, and they were both relieved to at least have one friend in their House, even if Cassandra wasn't with them.

Professor McGonagall gave her annual speech, with the only new addition being that ViComms had been added to the banned items list in classes and the library, which all of the students expected anyway. She called for the start of the feast, and the tables filled with heaping bowls and platters of food.

Now that Carolyn and Brianna had graduated, the new Ravenclaw Marauders group consisted of Erin, Quincy, and Myra, while Joel and Amy sat with their NEWT and OWL year friends. The Slytherin Marauders had lost two members too, and now just had Sarah and Millie left to help out their fellow Housemates. Kieran only had Vanessa and Nadine with him in Hufflepuff, while their leader, Colin, had lots of fellow Gryffindors with Hugo, Emily, Claire, Frederica, Liam, Lance, Dale, and Carissa.

All of the members of TNM enjoyed the feast as much as the other students, and were happy to get to spend that first meal catching up with roommates and friends. When dinner was over, most of the students left for their Houses, led by their Prefects. The little group with Kieran was the exception, and he took them to meet with Professor McGonagall in her office.

"Congratulations for your achievement in advancing your education so dramatically at the Academy and catching up so that you are now able to join your peers here at Hogwarts," she told the seven new students.

"I'm sure you all understand that with so many of you, we won't be able to put you all in one House, but Mr. Potter and I discussed each of your cases before deciding on where to put you, and think that what we've come up with will give you the best opportunities to succeed at your new school." She waited until all of the teens nodded, and then continued.

"Alice, Lenny, and Jason, you will be in Slytherin House, and House Prefects Sarah and Millie will be your mentors. Ophelia and Philip are in Gryffindor, and our Head Girl, Emily, will be there to help you with anything you need." As she told them which House they'd be in, Professor McGonagall looked at each of her new students, and now she was looking at Brian.

"You will be in Ravenclaw, Brian, and Joel will be your mentor." Finally, she turned her attention to H, who was standing right next to Kieran.

"Kieran, you will have Horatio in your House, and be his mentor. I would also like you and Emily to pick mentors for the three first year students from the Academy that were sorted into your two Houses."

"Yes, Professor,' Kieran answered, even as he put a hand on H's shoulder and squeezed a warning since he looked about to spit out a retort. "We'll get that done this evening."

Professor McGonagall nodded curtly. "Excellent. Please escort our new students to their Houses, and again, congratulations, and welcome to Hogwarts."

"I hate being called that!" Horatio spat out after they were in the hallway and walking toward Gryffindor Tower.

"I know, H, but this is Hogwarts, not the Academy, and most of the Professors are going to use your full name, or your last name, and talking back to them is not an option," Kieran told him. "What do you think about being in Hufflepuff?"

"It's okay, I guess," H conceded. "Violet and Adam will be in the same House, even if we're not in the same year. I don't know what to think about the whole roommate thing, though."

"Having friends to hang out with is great, and the lack of privacy can sometimes be a pain, but I really liked living in dorm rooms."

"Well, then why don't you take my spot, and I'll stay in the Head Boy's quarters?" H suggested with a grin, and the rest of the teens all laughed.

"Nice try, H, but that is not happening. You probably wouldn't like all of the work that goes along with being Head Boy very much either." When they got to Gryffindor, he knocked on the door to the Head Girl's office, and Emily invited them in.

"Ophelia and Philip have been placed in your House," he told Emily, who came over and hugged them.

Kieran let her know where the rest of their friends were going, told her that Professor McGonagall had made her Ophelia and Philip's mentor, and had asked her to assign a mentor for Cassandra. Emily hugged everyone, and then took Ophelia and Philip into the Gryffindor Common Room while Kieran continued on to Ravenclaw Tower, where they left Brian with Joel and an ecstatic Amy.

"Any wagers on whether Millie has the same reaction when she sees you?" Kieran asked a grinning Jason as they headed for Slytherin next.

"Only if you're betting she won't," Jason answered. "I know mine will be the same as Brian's."

When they got to the entrance to Slytherin House, they had to wait a few minutes for Sarah and Millie to join them, and while Millie happily hugged and kissed her boyfriend, Sarah hugged Alice and Lenny, and welcomed them to Slytherin.

"Are we ever glad to get all of you in our House," she told Alice while they waited for Millie to hug Kieran and H. "With Karl and Daphne graduating last year, we were down to just Millie and me as the last Slytherins from our family."

"Millie seems to be very happy," Alice teased, and Millie hugged her, then Lenny too.

"I am," Millie assured her as she took possession of Jason's hand. "This is going to be our best school year ever!"

Sarah led the way, and a moment later, Kieran and H were alone in the hallway.

"Ready to check out your new home for the next six school years?" Kieran asked, and H shrugged.

"I guess so. Lead the way," H said with a sigh.

The entrance to the Head Boy's office came before the main entrance to Hufflepuff, so Kieran went in that way. When they stepped inside the office, both boys stopped and stared.

"Whoa!" H said softly. "What do you have to do to get to be Head Boy? I want to sign up for that program."

Since Kieran had seen what Al and Lily had done to other Head offices over the past few years, the fact that his office was much bigger hadn't surprised him, but his office was even better than Karl's had been last year – or either of the ones Al had made for Scorpius and James. There was the usual big screen WWVN, and the comfortable sofas and chairs, but besides his desk, there was also a decent sized conference table that smaller groups would be able to study at. The room had soft, plush carpeting, and the walls had been very tastefully decorated.

"Lily and Al did this for us," he told H. The Heads quarters used to be much smaller than this, but over the last few years, they've spruced up almost all of them."

"This is way bigger than Emily's office," H pointed out, and Kieran nodded.

"Yes, but when we all get together to watch Canons games, or watch a movie or something, we'll do that here instead of her office. Let's go into the Common Room. I'll show you around, introduce you to some of the students, and help you settle into your dorm room and meet your new roommates. Then I'll have to get to work – Emily and I both have a lot to do before we'll be able to get any sleep tonight."

He spent about three quarters of an hour with H, and about half of that time was spent in his dorm room. Since he had been the most popular Prefect in Hufflepuff, he knew all of the boys that were H's roommates, and they were happy to welcome Horatio into their group. When Kieran left, the boys were so engrossed in their conversation that they hardly noticed his departure.

When Kieran was finally getting started on his Head Boy duties, the first tutoring session of September was wrapping up for the night at the Academy. Harry, Ginny, and Lily met with James in his office to talk about how things went with the new students they had worked with over the past few hours. Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey had already left for home so Aaron and Arianna didn't miss training curfew.

"What did you think about the new kids?" James asked his father when they were all sitting down.

"I'm glad you wanted me to take a look at Nina, Nick, and Becky," Harry answered. "I'll talk to Hermione tomorrow, and if she can come over tomorrow night, she, Ginny, Lily, and I can help each of them. Becky is very bright, but doesn't believe in herself at all. Being here will help her come around, but she has a lot of physical scars that we can heal that I'm sure will help her confidence a lot too. She spent more time tonight worrying about making sure that none of them showed than about her studies."

"We're going to need to find a better way to deal with that for these kids," Ginny suggested. "I understand why we don't want to violate their privacy, but there seem to be too many kids who aren't telling us about their injuries and scars."

"We tell all of them about being able to help them, Mum," James told her, "but we can't make it any easier for them to come and talk about it, and Dad can't personally get involved with all of the kids – there are just too many. What about Nina and Nick?"

"Their problem is more serious," Harry told him sadly. "That's the main reason I want Hermione, and she may want to see if Art and Serena can come too. Their parents did enough physical damage, but they also injured their minds – not as bad as what happened to Neville's parents, but pretty bad. They're having problems learning because they have these, um, let's call them 'mental scars' that are affecting their ability to learn. Unless we can help heal them, they will never be able to learn or do magic like they should."

"It's probably a good thing Al's the Auror," James said, his expression grim. "I don't think the parents of these kids would like it if I was coming after them. A cushy cell in Azkaban would be way better than any of them deserve."

Harry laughed. "I can relate to that. You and I both seem to have a wide streak of your namesake in us, while Al and Lily got your grandmother and mother's gentler nature."

Ginny laughed too. "More likely my father's gentleness. I'm my mother's daughter, and I'm with the two of you when it comes to something like this."

Lily smiled at her parents and brother, knowing they were really only half joking. "I spent time with the other kids while Dad was working with Nina, Nick, and Becky," she told James. "The three youngest should be fine without any special help. Tina and Magnus are going to need some of our special nudges. The two thirteen-year olds, Greta and Dominic, are starting first year magic, and while I'm sure we can get them through their OWL year, it may be a while before you'll know whether they have the ability to go farther than that – Greta may just barely have enough ability to do that, but I suspect that Dominic does not have the natural power to handle the advanced magic."

James, Harry, and Ginny were all nodding at her assessment. It wasn't fun having to consider the actual limitations of any of their students, but there were a few students like Dominic at the Academy, and the one thing they couldn't do was give the kids abilities they didn't have. There wasn't much left to go over, and after hugs and kisses goodbye, Harry, Ginny, and Lily left for the Cottage, while James did one last round of the Academy before going home himself.

Lily went to bed shortly after getting home, and Ginny had come in for a little girl chat and motherly comfort before leaving Lily alone again. She read a book for a while, and finally, around eleven o'clock, Kieran called her for their first goodnight chat.

"I'm not going to have much time," Kieran said quietly. He was sitting at his desk, just back from one lonely firstie emergency, and expecting the next one any time. "Thank-you for making these quarters so brilliant for me, and thank Al too. It was a really great surprise."

"You're welcome, and I'll let Al know," Lily told him. "How'd everything go with all of our new students?"

Kieran told her all about how the night had gone, and which House each teen was placed in. They only ended up getting five minutes to talk, and then Kieran had to go off to help comfort another scared kid. He was awake and dealing with all of the usual first night issues at Hogwarts until long after Lily had snuggled with Fluffy, cried a little into her soft fur, and fallen asleep.

On Tuesday morning, Al was the first member of the family up and starting his day, and he'd been working at his surveillance of the Knight's Saudi Arabian office for close to two hours before anyone else even woke up. Most people would think that what he'd accomplished so far with his investigation of the Knights was remarkable, but he felt the progress was coming too slowly, and he still had so much to do. That being said, the two weeks he'd tried doing surveillance on four offices a week had been too much, and he had to concede that continuing to try and do that, and keep up with everything else he needed to do wasn't possible. With that decision made, he was now going to shoot for completing his investigations on two offices a week, while also continuing to work his cold cases, and keep up with what would be a busier Wizengamot schedule during the fall.

This week, he was going to stake out the Knight offices in Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, identify all of the Knights, and do a thorough search of both places. The sitting around and watching all day was boring, but it did allow him to keep working on the continually growing mass of information he was collecting, and try to figure out just what the Knights were trying to do now, and more importantly, planning for the future.

Back at Hogwarts, Tuesday morning brought the first day of classes, and the students, as always, were loud and excited as they had breakfast in the Great Hall, and then started getting their schedules. Frederica, Liam, Colin, Ophelia, and Philip had met up with Jason, Millie, Brian, Amy, and Vanessa after they'd all received their schedules to see what classes they had together. The five Gryffindors had their first class with Jason and Millie, so the seven teens left for Transfiguration class, while Brian, Amy, and Vanessa headed for the Potions dungeon.

"Hugo wants to do a practice after classes today and Thursday to get warmed up for tryouts," Frederica told Liam as they walked. "I wonder if we could get enough players together for a practice team by then."

"I'm sure if Colin asked, that Nadine would come, and Miranda and Myra would be interested," Millie said, and smiled at Jason. "I think Jason's a pretty decent Chaser, even though he doesn't think so. Maybe you could talk him into practicing against you too."

"I didn't know you played," Liam said, and Jason shrugged.

"Brian and I spent most of our time studying for the past couple of years, but we did play Quidditch once in a while with some of our friends at the Academy. I guess I do okay playing against those guys – and girls, but I've seen you guys play at some of the family parties, and I doubt I could even keep up with you and your Lightningbolts flying the Nimbus I got for my first Christmas at the Academy."

Frederica laughed. "None of us could do that either, Jason. Come on out to the Quidditch pitch after classes with us, I'll borrow an extra Lightningbolt, and we'll see how you do. Liam and I will ask around, but I'm sure we can come up with a few more players by then, so it should be fun."

They talked Quidditch right up until class started, and then it was pretty much forgotten about as they were put right to work on their first OWL Transfiguration assignments. All of the Academy students had been worried about whether they were actually ready to keep up with the work at Hogwarts. Ophelia, Philip, and Jason all felt much better about that as the morning went along. There was certainly a lot of homework, and they had a lot to learn, but it really wasn't as much of a load as they'd put on themselves at the Academy over the last two years, so they were quickly becoming confident that they did belong here after all.

Horatio had probably been the most nervous of the Academy students. He was the only one of their group in second year, and while his first night had gone pretty well, he and his new roommates were still getting to know each other, while they'd mostly all been friends with each other for a year now. He also hadn't met very many of the other second year Hufflepuffs, while they all knew each other already. He had all of that to worry about, and his first Hogwarts lessons on top of all of the social worries.

His day started getting better when they'd gotten their schedules, and found out that DADA was going to be their first class. Since learning to defend himself had been a big deal for him, H was glad to be starting out with one of his favourite and best subjects. That got even better when he and his roommates got to the hallway outside of the DADA classroom, and he found out that Myra was in this class with him when she came up to him and gave him an encouraging hug and smile that definitely earned him some points with the guys.

"How are you liking Hogwarts so far?" Myra asked him, and he returned her smile.

"Well, it started out with hugs from Vanessa, Nadine, and Violet this morning before going to breakfast, DADA's my favourite subject, and from what I was told by the guys last night when they were telling me all about school, I just got hugged by the prettiest Witch in our year, so I'd say it's going pretty great so far."

Myra laughed and hugged him again. "And I came over because you looked nervous and I thought a hug might help. You don't sound nervous at all."

Horatio laughed too. "I'm faking it, though not very well, since you saw right through me. The hugs definitely helped."

Having some success in class, and earning five points for Hufflepuff helped too, as he was the first student in their class to succeed in using the Petrificus Totalis spell on one of his roommates. After DADA, he and the other Hufflepuff students had Potions, and while Myra wasn't in this class with him, he did have a few of his fellow Hufflepuffs invite him to join them at their table when they got to the Potions dungeon. By then, his nervousness was gone, and he really started to relax and enjoy himself.

The rest of the day seemed to rush by, and after lunch and their afternoon classes, while some of the Marauders and their new friends took a break before dinner, the rest of them headed for the Quidditch Pitch for their little practice session. Hugo had his full Gryffindor team from last year, and they were going to be up against Nadine, Myra, Aiden, Jason, and Miranda. They didn't end up getting any extra Beaters to play against Frederica and Kevin, so they just played one Beater on each team instead.

"This is going to be a tough season for the Chasers," Erin said as they watched the practice. She and Quincy had come to watch, along with Millie, Emily, and Vanessa. "Hugo hasn't let anything in, and Myra's only let in three."

"Compared to playing against Arianna and Aaron, Hugo may not find this very challenging anymore," Vanessa suggested.

"Maybe," Erin said, "but Miranda and Aiden are pushing him pretty hard, and Jason's taken some pretty good shots too. He may not have been sure if he was any good, but it's pretty obvious that he definitely good enough."

That's exactly what Hugo and the others were telling him after their practice match.

"I don't know about that," Jason told Hugo. "I didn't score a single goal, so how could you tell?"

Miranda laughed. "None of us scored a goal on him, Jason, and we know because we were up there flying too. You should go try out for your House team on Saturday and see what happens."

"See? I knew you could play," Millie told him as she gave him a hug. "I think you should go to the tryouts too."

It was almost time for dinner, so they packed up, and went back to the school. Hugo had to put the Quidditch set away, and Claire gave him a hand, while Emily waited for them, so they were the last three to leave the Quidditch Pitch, and they were several minutes behind the others.

"Liam's little brother looked pretty good out there," Claire said, and Hugo nodded.

"He's been training all summer with the Hufflepuff team. I know Nadine and Miranda were disappointed that he didn't get sorted into their house."

Claire nodded. "I'm sure they are, but you're going to really like having him on your team." She laughed when she saw the uncomfortable look on Hugo's face.

"Don't worry about me," she assured him. "I only stayed to help you so that I could let you know that I'm not going to try out for the team this year. If I didn't think you had someone good to replace me, I might have, but I'm glad you do have Aiden. Now I can concentrate on my studies, and trying to get the marks I need to go to med school, and won't have to feel bad about leaving you and the team hanging."

"Are you sure?" Hugo asked, and Claire nodded.

"I'm sure, and even if I did want to play, I'm not sure he isn't better than I am anyway – though it might be fun to find out sometime."

Hugo laughed. "You might want to make that sometime fairly soon, since there's a really good chance that in a year or two, he'll be one of the best at Hogwarts."

The members of TNM had needed to make some decisions before coming to Hogwarts on whether they'd be expanding their membership by the eleven new students they had this year. They were going to study together so that the Academy students would have all of the help they needed, but they had decided against inviting any of them, or Aiden, to join TNM – at least for this year.

That meant they would have to deal with TNM business away from their study group, but working through their ViComms, and having a few TNM-only meetings in Emily or Kieran's office, it probably wouldn't be too much trouble doing everything they always did at the first of every school year.

Everyone met after dinner in the same classroom they'd been using to study in for the past few years, and the now group of thirty students spent the next several hours working on all of the first day homework assignments. They were grouped together, with the sixth and seventh year students in one group, the OWL students in another, and the first and second, and third and fourth year teens making up the last two study groups.

The older teens split up the tutoring duties, and the younger students only asked for help when they couldn't work something out within their own group first. That seemed to work pretty well for everyone, and by shortly before curfew, all of the homework was done, and it was a happy group of friends returning to their respective Houses to get some sleep after a really great first day.

When they'd all left the classroom, another student came out from where he'd been hiding in one of the nearby rooms, and went into that same classroom to take a look around. He didn't have much time before needing to get back to his own House, but when he left the classroom, Malcolm Bletchley was smiling. Finally, maybe something was starting to go right for him.

The most amazing event that happened on Tuesday went completely unnoticed by everyone in the Wizarding World, except for three teenagers, and a handful of adults. Harry, Ginny, Lily, Hermione, Art, and Serena were all at the Academy after dinner, and they started out by meeting with Nina, Nick, and Becky in James' office. James and Arianna were the only other adults there for the meeting.

"Is there something wrong, James?" Nina asked nervously. "The last time we were called into a meeting with this many grown-ups was when the Phoenix Foundation came to meet with us in Professor McGonagall's office when Nick and I asked for their help."

"I guess the short answer to that question is yes," James told her gently, "but we're hoping to fix that tonight."

"Maybe they've figured out that we don't belong here either," Nick said glumly. "Is that it? Are we being moved again?"

"No, you're not being moved, Nick, and you definitely belong here," James said, trying to reassure the boy. "We have discovered that part of the reason you've had problems in school is because of the scars you each have from the abuse your families inflicted on you."

"How do you know about them?" Nick demanded suspiciously. "We never told nobody! You guys didn't tell did you?" he asked his sister and Becky, who both shook their heads.

"I knew from working with you last night," Harry told them, and all three teens turned to stare at him, and he smiled. "It's one of my talents. We want to start with healing Becky, and then we'll help you and Nina at the same time."

"You can do that?" Becky said in a whisper. She'd had tears in her eyes ever since James had told them they wanted to heal them.

"They healed my scars – and Aaron's," Arianna told them, "and they've helped a lot of other Witches and Wizards too. You don't have to live with them anymore."

"Then I'm ready," Becky told them. "There's nothing I want more than to not have all of these scars anymore."

Lily went over, helped her stand, and hugged her. "Then why don't we go to your room and get you ready, and we'll have you fixed up in no time." Hermione and Serena went with Lily and Becky, leaving Nick and Nina with Harry and the others.

"I'm glad you can help Becky," Nina told them. "Her family hurt her a lot more than ours hurt us."

"I wish you were right about that," Harry told her, "but that's not really true. Your parents just didn't leave as many physical scars."

Nina and Nick both looked at Harry in surprise. "What do you mean?" Nick asked.

"The worst of your scars are in your minds," Harry explained. "I'd guess that almost everything you have problems with learning, whether for school, or anything else, is because of those mental scars messing things up for you. When we heal those injuries, I'd say you'll both immediately do better with your classes."

"So the reason we're so dumb is because our Mum and Dad hurt our brains with what they did to us?" Nick summarized, and Harry nodded.

"I wouldn't put it quite like that, since you're not dumb, but it is why it's been so hard for you to learn until now."

They talked over what they'd be doing with Nick and Nina until Harry got the ViComm QuillMessage that they were ready for him in Becky's room.

"If the rest of you can get Nick and Nina ready, Ginny and I will go help with Becky, and then we can help them right after we've healed Becky."

"You don't want a rest first?" Ginny asked, and Harry shook his head.

"We have lots of help tonight, so we should be fine."

When he and Ginny got to Becky's room, she was already slathered with Hermione's special cream, and covered up. Lily was sitting on the side of her bed, stroking her hair, and had been explaining to her what would be happening, and what to expect.

"If you're all ready," Harry said, "Let's get started."

The four Witches joined Harry, he and Ginny on one side, Serena and Lily on the other, and Hermione at the foot of the bed. Becky's scars were spread out all over her body like they'd been for Callie, and it took more than ten minutes before they were done, and the nimbus of light that had surrounded Becky began to fade. Ginny slumped against Harry, and he quickly put his arm around her waist to support her.

"I guess that decides which one of us will stay here and help Becky get cleaned up," Hermione said, sounding tired too. "If Serena's as tired right now as I feel, we'll just be helping to guide you with Nick and Nina, Harry."

"That's fine," he agreed. "Lily and I are still good to go, and we have James, Arianna, and Art to help us too."

"Did it work?" Becky asked Lily, who sat down on the bed again, smiling at the younger Witch.

"Yes it did," she assured Becky. "Mum's going to help you clean up, and you'll see for yourself. The rest of us are going to go help Nick and Nina now, so I'll see you in a little while."

Nick and Nina were in the family dorms, so Harry, Lily, Hermione, and Serena left Becky's room, and went there. James had conjured a second bed in Nina's room, and both Nina and Nick had been prepared for their healing. Harry took a quick look at the spots where the cream had been applied over the scars, and nodded to himself.

"Let's heal these first, and do their minds second," he said decisively, and the others all nodded and gathered around the two teens, with Harry and Lily in the middle, between the beds. There weren't as many physical scars on both of these kids combined as there had been on Becky, and it only took a few minutes to complete that part of their healing.

"That felt very funny," Nina said after they were done. "Will it be like that when you work on our minds too?"

"It won't be quite the same," Harry told her. "For that, you'll sort of be aware of what's happening, but also be partly asleep too. After it's all done, we can answer any questions you have, though I expect you'll have most of them answered by then anyway."

For this part of the healing, Harry was going to continue to be the focus Wizard, but like with other healings they'd done, Hermione, Art, and Serena would guide him as they all worked together. If there was a nimbus of power around Nina and Nick this time, nobody noticed, as they all had their eyes closed as they focused inward. They were all able to 'see' what Harry was doing, and it was fascinating to watch as Serena, Art, and Hermione pointed out all of the areas that needed healing for each of the kids. Harry was able to have multiple healing flows going, and respond to all three of his guides at the same time. They were finishing healing the last few scars, and about to end the session when Lily jumped in.

"We can do this," she suggested, passing along a complex mental picture to the others, "and this," she added, another thought passing to the others.

"I don't get it," Art thought back, but Hermione did, and Harry didn't understand what his brilliant daughter wanted him to do, but did get what it would do for the two kids.

"Show me how to do it," Harry thought back at Lily, and while the others watched in awe, father and daughter allowed their power to flare incandescent for seemingly endless minutes as she guided him, and together, they took a leap beyond healing. The only word Harry could think of to put what Lily had come up with into a simple enough term for his own use was 'optimisation'.

There were tears in his eyes as they finished, and they all withdrew from the two shimmering, bright auras that were the now better than healed minds of their patients. When he opened his eyes, he smiled as he looked around at the others.

"Art, please sit down before you fall down," he told his nephew, and James was already helping an equally exhausted Arianna. Hermione walked over to Lily and hugged her tightly.

"I am definitely going to have to take you away from your mother at the lab for a while so we can talk about what you did here," she said quietly. She was going to say more, but Nina and Nick both started waking up, and all of the adults turned their attention to them.

Nina came around first, and as understanding and remembrance of what had just happened hit, her eyes opened wide, and she sat up abruptly.

"Is this what it's supposed to be like for normal Witches and Wizards?" she breathed. Lily sat beside her on the bed, and hugged her.

"Yes, it is," she agreed. "How do you feel?"

Nina laughed. "I feel like a jigsaw puzzle that someone finally figured out how to put together." She looked into Lily's eyes, and she was smiling. "You did something else to us too, right at the end - something more. I don't understand what, though."

Lily nodded. "We did, but I don't think my explanation would make much sense to you anyway. Let's just say you're going to find those extra changes helpful, and leave it at that."

Nick sat up too, and looked over at his smiling sister, then got up and went over to hug her. They both looked down at the cream that had rubbed off of his chest and arms onto the sheet she had around her, and laughed.

"Maybe we should get cleaned up and dressed before any more hugs," she suggested, and Nick nodded.

"Okay, but then we have some serious thank-you hugs to pass around."

"Let's go over to your room, and I'll give you a hand getting that stuff off of you," James told Nick.

"I'll help Nina," Serena told the others. "The rest of you should go get a drink and maybe a snack, and then get home to bed before you're ready to fall asleep.

"Are you all okay?" Nina asked, noticing for the first time how tired most of the adults looked.

"Healing takes a lot out of the healers," Serena explained, "and out of the patients too. You'll both be starting to feel exhausted again once the excitement wears off."

Harry, Hermione, Arianna, Art, and Lily went to the dining hall while James helped Nick, and Serena helped Nina. Ginny and a brightly smiling Becky met them there, and they sat at the end of one table, and had drinks while they waited.

"How are you doing?" Lily asked Becky.

"I'm starting to feel really tired, but other than that, I feel better than I ever remember feeling in my whole life," she answered. "How are Nina and Nick?"

"They're both healed too," Lily told her, "and will probably be just as tired as you are pretty soon."

"I was getting scared for them, you were gone so long, but Ginny said their healing would take longer than mine."

Lily looked at her watch, and saw that it had taken over an hour to heal Nick and Nina, and she hadn't even realized that so much time had passed.

"I'm sorry we worried you," Lily said. "Once you start something like that, it's easy to lose track of time."

They talked together while waiting for James and Serena to finish helping Nick and Nina, and join them. The two teens made good on Nick's suggestion for the thank-you hugs, and then Hermione, Serena, and Art answered some of the questions that all three teens had for another fifteen or twenty minutes. Finally James held up his hand.

"I'm sure you have lots of questions still, but most of us need to get home and go to sleep so we can recover from helping you, and you're all going to need to do the same."

"We've still got homework to do tonight," Becky told him, and James shook his head.

"Trust me, you wouldn't be able to get very far before you'd be falling asleep. You can get back to your studies tomorrow."

There was another round of hugs, and then all of the adults left for their respective homes. Lily made an early, short bedtime ViComm call to Kieran, and even though that didn't really take all that long, by the time she allowed her own exhaustion to pull her into a deep sleep, all of the other members of their little healing group were already sound asleep too.

On Wednesday, and during the rest of the week, the students, Professors, and staff at Hogwarts began to get back into the regular daily routines, while outside of the school, life somehow managed to go on without the teenage members of the population around to keep an eye on the adults and younger children. The New Marauders and friends all jumped right into their studies, wanting to get a good start to their year. Hugo had another Quidditch practice on Thursday after classes, and the only other non-studying, must-do activity for most of them was to watch as much of Mark's first broom race of the season as they could on Friday afternoon and evening.

The novelty of having a famous Hogwarts alumni on the Broom Racing circuit was wearing off, so except for a couple of Professors who were avid racing fans, most of the students had to catch the start of the Australian Broom Race after classes, when WMSN replayed the start. This year, including Mark and Mariposa, there was a pack of fifteen racers that were all able to blast past the old two hundred and twenty mile an hour barrier, leaving the other racers behind as they rocketed across the country.

After classes, the big screen WWVN's in the Common Rooms were all tuned in to the race, and while the Marauders were all studying both before and after dinner, they had portable WWVN's on so they could listen to the race commentary, and occasionally stopped to watch when something particularly interesting happened.

By the time that Mark was half way to the finish line, the pack of fifteen was down to seven as eight of the racers dropped back, unable to keep the pace going any longer for various reasons. With Quidditch tryouts in the morning, the Quidditch playing members of their study group all went to bed around nine o'clock, while the rest of them either went back to their Common Rooms, or to Kieran or Emily's offices, to at least watch Mark finish the race.

The Quidditch players missed a brilliant race to the finish line. Mark and Mariposa had pulled ahead of the last five racers who'd been with them for most of the race, and they were both pouring it on as they came in to the finish line. Mariposa was some distance above Mark, and to his right, and they were only about five kilometres from the finish line when she made her move. Diving toward the ground, and toward Mark, she crossed his path just barely in front of him, and now less than two kilometres from the finish line. The move caused Mark to go off course for just the slightest of wobbles, but that was all Mariposa had needed. She crossed the finish line in nine hours and seventeen minutes, winning the race, while Mark blasted through the finish line just two seconds behind her.

"That was a pretty risky move," Joel said as he watched the replay with Amy, Brian, and Quincy in the Ravenclaw Common Room. "It paid off, but at those speeds, she could have taken them both out of the race if she'd missed."

"She had to try something, or Mark would have won," Amy told the boys. "I think it was a brilliant tactic."

The cameras showed both Mariposa and Mark being congratulated after landing at the finish line, and then covered the next five racers to finish as they began crossing the finish line about six minutes after Mariposa's winning time. After those racers were landed safely, Amy stood up and held out her hand to Brian.

"Time to go get some sleep. We've got studying to do in the morning, and I want to go support Erin and Myra at tryouts tomorrow afternoon."

Quincy was nodding and all three boys stood too. "Don't forget the Canons' season opener is tomorrow afternoon too. I guess we can take a couple of portable WWVN's with us so we don't miss too much of the game while we're watching the tryouts."

"That's a good idea," Amy said, hugging Quincy and Joel goodnight before hugging and kissing Brian goodnight. "I'll see you guys in the morning. Sleep well."

Harry, Ginny, and Lily were still in Australia when most of the Hogwarts students were going to bed after watching the first group of Witches and Wizards finish the broom race. Mark was only a little disappointed that he didn't win the race, and their little group were celebrating nearly as much as Mariposa and her family and friends were.

"We're going to get out of here soon," Harry told Mark, Callie, Owen, and Natalie. "We've got the Canons' home opener later today, and the post-game party to get ready for." He grinned at Kira, who was currently in Lily's arms. "Why don't we take you and your sleepy little brother home with us, and let your Mum and Dad have the weekend off?"

"Can we?" Kira asked her Mum and Dad, who both laughed.

"Sure honey," Natalie told her. "We'll mostly be hanging around here all day, so you might as well go get some sleep and you'll both like going to see the Canons game better than this anyway."

With that decided, after a round of goodbyes, Harry, Ginny, and Lily took the two kids with them, and went home to the Cottage. It was after one o'clock home time by then, so Ginny put James to bed, Lily caved in to having Kira sleep in her room, and Harry and Ginny went to bed, all of them tired out and quickly off to sleep.

The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement at breakfast on Saturday morning. Most of that was because of Quidditch tryouts, but also because it was opening day for the professional Quidditch league too. Hugo and Thomas had gotten the two morning tryout slots for Gryffindor and Slytherin, while Joe had gotten the first afternoon slot for Ravenclaw, and Miranda was left with the last slot for her Hufflepuff team.

There was a fairly low turnout for the Gryffindor tryout, with less than fifty students coming out, and most of them understanding that they were trying out for spots on the practice team. There were probably close to one hundred more Gryffindors who came to watch, and get a first look at their team, and they were not disappointed.

Frederica and Kevin easily defended their Beater positions, and everyone watching thought they looked even better than last season, when they were arguably the best Beater pair in the school. There were five Keeper and fourteen Chaser candidates, so Hugo put them up against each other, with each Chaser getting one shot against each Keeper. Aiden and Liam went five for five to earn their spots on the team, and Lance and three other students scored four out of five.

The best Keeper had stopped ten out of fourteen shots, so Hugo had Lance and the other three prospects face her again, getting three shots each. Lance had been watching all of the Keepers carefully, and had noticed a few things that this Keeper did that telegraphed her moves, and was able to score on all three attempts as he took advantage of that. His competition only scored either one or two goals in the run-off, so while it had been much closer this year, Lance did keep his spot on the team.

Only two other students stepped up with Colin for the Seeker tryouts, and nobody was surprised when Colin won his position easily. Tryouts lasted another fifteen minutes while the other two Seekers battled for the spot on the practice team. When that was finished, Hugo had a short meeting with his team while the rest of the Gryffindors returned to the school.

"Congratulations," he told everyone, "although my condolences might be more appropriate. Now that I've spent the summer learning how the pros train, we're going to take our training up a few notches this year."

Frederica laughed. "Please tell us you aren't planning on using fourteen bludgers in practice like the Canons do."

Hugo grinned at her. "That might be fun, but no, we won't be going quite that far. We are going to work harder than ever, and we are going to bring the Quidditch Cup back to Gryffindor this year."

Thomas Harper wanted to win the Quidditch Cup too, but he was not nearly as confident as Hugo and the Gryffindor team. His number one scoring Chaser had graduated, and while there was a good chance that the rest of his team would be able to defend their positions on the team, he hadn't found a decent replacement for Daphne, and he knew that except for his two Beaters, they were weaker than at least Gryffindor and Ravenclaw at every other position. They might have a slight advantage over Hufflepuff, but that game could come down to a battle of the Seekers, which would favour Nadine for sure.

They did have a pretty good turnout for the tryouts, so being co-Quidditch Cup champions had at least gotten Slytherins excited about their team again. As usual, more than half of the prospects washed out during the flying test, and then they got down to the position tryouts. Bill and Terry were so much better than the other six Beater candidates that they even had to hold back a bit to keep from seriously injuring anyone. Thomas joined them in the air for the Chaser tryouts, and he had twenty-two candidates that he had take five shots each against him.

Twelve of the Chasers couldn't score on him at all, and three more only scored once. Four players scored two goals on Thomas, but one of them was eliminated because he was completely unable to deal with the bludgers, taking one glancing blow on the head while taking his fourth shot. Samantha and Eddie scored three goals each on him, but what surprised everyone there at the tryouts was the new fifth-year boy from the Academy, who put four goals past Thomas.

"Congratulations," Thomas said as he and the other players all landed. "Thomas Harper, your new captain," he added, holding out his hand to Jason.

"Thank-you. I'm Jason Anders," the newest team Chaser answered, shaking Thomas' hand.

"I've got to keep the tryouts going, but welcome to the team," Thomas said. Jason nodded, and then Thomas continued the tryouts.

Jason, Samantha, and Eddie were sent up to test the prospective Keepers for their practice squad, and again, Jason impressed his fellow Slytherin with his play. Once they'd selected a Keeper, they finished up the tryouts with the Seekers. Darrin once again defended his place on the team, and three other Seeker candidates battled it out for the practice team spot before Thomas called an end to the tryouts, and thanked everyone for coming out. They had a short team meeting, and then it was time to hurry back to the school for lunch.

There were more congratulations waiting for Jason in the Great Hall, including one from Millie that included a fairly brilliant hug and kiss. After lunch, they went with Sarah, Alice, and Lenny to Kieran's office for the first Canons game day party of the year. The Ravenclaw members were all at their House tryouts, and would join them after, while the Hufflepuff students would all be leaving for their practice halfway through the afternoon.

"Thanks for lending me your Lightningbolt, Kieran," Jason said when they got into the office, and he reached out to hand it over to Kieran.

"Why don't you just keep it for now so you can use it in practices, and if I get the urge to go flying, I can get it from you," Kieran suggested. He was pretty sure that James would be sending Jason a Lightningbolt of his own on Monday or Tuesday, but there was a chance that Jason didn't know that, so why spoil the surprise.

James hadn't ordered the broom yet, but he had gotten the excited QuillMessage from Millie and Sarah, and would be getting a broom for Jason, as he had for Erin. He and Arianna were already at Canons Stadium. She was in the locker room with the team, and he was in the Owners Box with his parents, Lily, Al, Carolyn, Kira and James Cauldwell, Jair Allen, and the rest of the guests who were there for the season opener. He'd found out that Kira and James had been brought home with his parents from Australia after the race, while he'd already known that Jair was spending the week at the Cottage while Lisa and Marcus were on vacation, taking their second trip with Rose and Matt, this time, to Hawaii.

The Canons' first game was against the Caerphilly Catapults, and for the past couple of weeks, their opponents had been doing a lot of trash talking to the media about how they were going to avenge their loss to the Canons in last season's quarter-final round. As always, nobody in the Canons' organization ever responded to challenges like that, preferring to do their talking on the field. Andy, and his QSPN team reported on all of the trash talking, but when it was time for their predictions, the Canons were picked unanimously to win.

"This could be a good game if the Catapults are as good playing as they are at talking themselves up," Trinity said. She, Tracey, and James were sitting on one of the sofas, chatting while they waited for the teams to be called out into the stadium.

"If they're that good, they should win," Tracey answered with a laugh. "Too bad there isn't a championship for trash talk, or they'd definitely be in the running."

The Catapults were introduced, and they made their loop around the stadium to the boos of the Canons' faithful, followed by the Canons' flying around to the deafening cheer of their fans. The two teams met at the centre of the pitch, shook hands, and got ready to take off. When the referee sent the quaffle flying into the air, while the Catapults' Chasers tried to slow down Aaron and Arianna, Kimberly shot through one of the openings that tactic left for her, and reached the quaffle first. She turned toward the Catapults goals, dodged a bludger, faked a pass to Aaron, breezed past one of her opponent Chasers, and then put a move on the Catapults' Keeper that had him shaking his head as he watched her shot sail through the middle goal he'd just vacated.

"That's a pretty good start," Carolyn said as they watched the Catapults' Chasers go on the attack. She and Al were sitting with Lily and Kira, and she loved getting to be at the stadium for her first season opener. "The Catapults better not let Kimberly fly around free all game if she's going to be playing like that all afternoon."

The Catapults didn't do that, but that didn't make much difference, since all three of the Canons' Chasers were all but unstoppable. Tristan and Sebastian were keeping all of their opponents scrambling, and while his Chasers were unstoppable, Ron was nearly unbeatable. The only player having any success for the Catapults at all was their Seeker, and even that was just that he was succeeding in keeping Liselle from catching the snitch.

While the Canons were having fun in their game, Joe Jenkins was putting his Ravenclaw Quidditch hopefuls through a tough tryout session. He, Erin, and Myra were the core of his team, and while they had worked with the rest of last year's team all summer, he knew that his Chasers and even his Beater partner were not, and probably never would be, able to play at a high enough level to compete with the other teams at the school.

He started with the Beater tryouts after spending a half hour eliminating the kids who couldn't make it through the flying test. His Beater partner defended his spot, which from Joe's perspective wasn't that great a start, since he had still been hoping for a more talented player to help him keep up with the likes of Frederica and Kevin, or Bill and Terry.

There were twenty-six Chaser candidates, and four players trying out for Keeper, so Joe put the two position tryouts together. Chasers would be best of four, and Keepers would be best saves out of twenty-six. The Chasers and Keepers would all have to dodge bludgers as they played.

Joe finally got his first ray of hope when a first-year boy not only scored on all three of Myra's opponent, but went four out of four when he beat Myra too. He was the only Chaser candidate to do that, and there were seven Chasers who scored three out of four. Only one other Chaser scored on Myra, and she was one of the seven Chasers with three goals. Myra locked up her Keeper spot with twenty-four saves out of twenty-six shots. There were two Keepers who both had eighteen saves, so for a second round of elimination, Joe gave the seven three-goal Chasers five shots each against each of those two Keepers to hopefully get two more Chasers for the team, and three practice team Chasers. Two of the seven Chasers were from last year's team, and the third Chaser from last year had only scored twice, and been eliminated.

"The Chaser tryouts are turning out better than I expected," Quincy said as he tried to keep up with the tryouts and the Canons game. "We've got some pretty good players out there this year." Quincy, Joel, Amy, and Brian had come to watch the tryouts together, and cheer on their friends.

"Joe must be pretty happy, but it's not looking good for last year's Chasers," Amy said as they watched one of the two remaining Chasers from last year have another shot stopped by one of the Keepers shooting for the practice team spot.

The Witch who had scored on Myra scored eight out of ten times to earn the second place on the team, and another first-year Wizard put seven of his ten shots past the two Keepers to lock up the final Chaser spot. Two of the other Chasers scored five times to get two of the practice team spots, with the final spot going to the only Chaser from last year's team still left in the competition, who scored just four goals. Each Keeper faced thirty-five shots, and a sixth year Wizard won the practice team spot with twenty-two saves.

Quincy stopped watching the Canons game when Erin and five other Ravenclaws stepped forward for the Seeker tryouts, but he didn't have to miss much of the game, since it only took her about six minutes to catch the snitch and earn her place on the team.

"Let's get out of here and go catch the rest of the Canons game in Kieran's office," Joel suggested, and Amy and the other boys all got up to leave, waving to Myra and Erin as they left.

Getting a practice team Seeker took another half-hour, and then Joe was able to have a short team meeting before they needed to give up the Pitch so Hufflepuff could have their tryouts.

"Congratulations to everyone for making the team," he told his new team. "Let's start with a quick round of introductions." Myra led off, and their three new Chasers were first-year Gerath Morgan, Angela Birch, a fourth-year Witch, and Ryan Troy, the other first year Wizard.

"You've all done well to get this far," Joe told them, "but we're going to have a tough season again this year. All of the other houses have strong, more experienced teams, and if we want to have any chance at all, we're going to have to work harder than we have been for the past couple of years. I hope you're all ready for that, because the real work starts on Monday."

All of his players nodded or voiced their agreement, and then he handed them the schedules, team robes, and talked with them for a few more minutes about what they'd be doing starting on Monday. They wrapped up the meeting, and as they were leaving, the Hufflepuff hopefuls and spectators were on the way into the stadium. Erin and Myra had hugs for Nadine and Miranda, wishing them good luck. Vanessa had come to watch the tryouts and support her friends, but Kieran stayed away so that it was clear that this year's team was Miranda's. Violet, Adam, and H also stayed at the school, wanting to watch the rest of the Canons game with everyone else in Kieran's office.

"How's the game going?" Myra asked when she and Erin walked into Kieran's office.

"Canons are up two hundred and thirty to twenty," Liam told the two girls. "You're both smiling, so I take it your tryouts went pretty well. Congratulations."

"Thanks," Myra said as she and Erin went to sit with Quincy and Aiden on one of the sofas. "We've got a whole new group of Chasers, and I think they're going to help make us a lot better this year."

"Anyone we know?" Liam asked, and Myra shrugged.

"You might know Angela Birch – she's in fourth year. The other two guys are firsties, Ryan Troy and Gerath Morgan."

"Gerath Morgan?" Kieran asked, and Myra nodded. "I'm not surprised that he's a good Chaser. His great-grandmother is Gwendolyn Morgan."

"As in former Captain of the Harpies Morgan?" Aiden asked. "How do you know that?"

"That would be the one," Kieran affirmed. "She's a friend of Grandma Catriona's, and I've met him before, though he was maybe four of five back then."

"I guess we better all watch out for Ravenclaw this year," Hugo said. They could be the surprise team of the season."

The Ravenclaw team might be a potential surprise team, but the co-defending Quidditch Cup Champion Hufflepuffs were looking to put another team together that could be a contender for the Cup again. The turnout at their tryouts was smaller than it had been over the past few years, but bigger than Gryffindor's had been.

Miranda, Nadine, and the three remaining boys from last year's team were all confident that they'd keep their places on the team. Eric defended his Beater spot, but needed a new partner to replace Tim, who'd graduated. There were seven other Beater candidates who battled it out for the second spot on the team, and the two places on the practice team. None of those seven players were as good as Miranda would have liked, and Brody, a second-year boy barely beat out two older boys to make the team.

The Chaser tryout was held next, and Greg Griffiths earned his spot by scoring four out of five against John Madley. The only other Chaser candidate to score on four out of five shots was a quiet, cute first-year Witch who may have been quiet on the ground, but was a fiery, talented Chaser in the air. A trio of Wizards had three goals each, and earned the practice team Chaser slots.

Greg, Miranda, and their new Chaser then took to the air to test John, and the four other Keeper hopefuls. They each took one shot against each Keeper, and after the first round, John, and a third-year boy were tied with just one save each, while the other three contenders didn't save a single shot. Miranda had another round, with three shots against each Keeper, and John earned his spot with five saves, while the other boy took the practice team Keeper job with only two saves.

The tryouts wrapped up pretty quickly after that, when Nadine caught the snitch in just three minutes against just two other Seekers, and then one of those two boys only needed ten minutes to be the practice team Seeker. Miranda had a short meeting before letting everyone go back to the school, since it was nearly dinnertime.

"Who won the game?" Nadine asked Vanessa, who had waited for her after the tryouts.

"The Canons. Liselle caught the snitch about a half-hour ago," Vanessa answered. "What do you think of your team this year?"

"I think we're good at Chaser and Seeker, but our new Beater is going to have a tough time, and after seeing how much better Hugo and Myra have both gotten over the summer, John didn't look very good today either compared to them."

Vanessa nodded. "I was thinking that too. When we play Gryffindor, I think you're either going to need to catch the snitch ahead of Colin early, or our team will be in trouble."

"I'll try my best, but Colin, and Erin, are really hard to beat, and he's worked harder this summer than ever before," Nadine answered, and Vanessa laughed.

"I'm sure they'd say the same thing about you, Miss three-times-Quidditch-Cup-Champion."

Nadine laughed too. "That may be, but would you bet your summer bonus on Hufflepuff to win the Cup this year, or Gryffindor?"

"I wouldn't bet it at all," Nadine told her best friend, "but if I did bet, it wouldn't be against Hugo in his last year."

They returned to Kieran's office, where their friends were just hanging out while they waited to go to the Great Hall for dinner. The first week at school was nearly over, and after pretty much taking the day off on Saturday, the rest of their weekend would be mostly filled with getting their homework assignments done. Outside of Hogwarts, most of the family, and quite a few friends spent Saturday evening at the opening day game win celebration at the Cottage.

When the Hogwarts study session on Saturday night was over, and the victory party was winding down at the Cottage, Malcolm Bletchley was making a report to Dirk Avery on his ViComm. He still wasn't very good at using the thing, and since a couple of his roommates were in the dorm room too, he pretended to be reading a book as he mumbled softly to himself.

"Anything new today?" Dirk asked, and Malcolm shook his head. "Well?" Dirk persisted when he hadn't gotten a verbal answer. Malcolm wasn't using the two-way mirror for the call at his end as they talked, so that their conversation would be private at Malcolm's end.

"Sorry,' Malcolm mumbled. "There's nothing really new to report. They sat around studying for hours, and talking about tryouts and the Canons game, and about the Hogsmeade weekend in two weeks. Lily Potter will be there to spend the day with Kieran, but I doubt that's of any use to us."

"Probably not," Dirk agreed, "but I'll pass it on to Lord Chernobog. Keep watching them, and get working on your other tasks. If anything comes up before your next report, you know how to reach me. Keep up with your studies too – we don't want any of your Professors getting suspicious."

"I will, Dirk," Malcolm promised, and then Dirk ended the call, and Malcolm was again alone with his thoughts.

He had promised Dirk to do all of that, but had no idea how he was going to do everything. Spending hours watching a bunch of other students studying didn't get his own work done, and Hugo, Frederica, and the rest of them seemed to study all of the time that they weren't in classes or playing Quidditch, which didn't leave him much time for his own homework, or those other tasks.

When he'd followed Hugo and Emily after dinner back on Tuesday, and found their study classroom, he'd been sure that this was where he'd learn everything he needed to know about the Weasleys, and through them, the Potters. Now, after just four days, he wasn't so sure anymore, but he would keep watching them, as ordered, and hope to find out something that would please Lord Chernobog.

With the first big sports weekend finished, it was time to get into the normal school-year routines both at school, and in the outside world. The Canons' win over the Catapults had been a big start to the season, but their next game, in two weeks, was against the Harpies, at the Holyhead stadium, and was going to be an early test against the defending Quidditch Cup Champions, and the team that had defeated them in the semi-finals.

Other than that game, and the first Hogsmeade weekend on the same Saturday, there wasn't actually much else on the collective schedules in September, but when it came to the New Marauders and their families, it never seemed to matter how busy or quiet the schedule was – excitement somehow always seemed to find them.


	132. Eight Weeks to Hallowe'en

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Two – Eight weeks to Hallowe'en

Al and Carolyn had company over for most of the day on Sunday. Scorpius and Brianna were there, along with Callie and Mark. At the end of the day on Friday, the Wizengamot Elders that always opposed Al, Scorpius, and their faction had dumped a load of new proposals on the rest of the elders to be voted on at the meeting on Monday. Al, Scorpius, and Callie had plugged away at them when they'd had time on Friday and Saturday, but today was going to be an all day work session to get through all of the reports, prepare their rebuttals, and be ready for the meeting in the morning.

"Your side has the majority, why not pass a law putting a longer time limit on submitting these things before a Wizengamot session?" Mark suggested. "Make it a week or two before a meeting, instead of just the Friday before."

"That's already in place," Callie told him. "There's an exception for emergency proposals, and the other side is using that exception to do this, and there isn't anything we can do about it."

"Except work harder than they do," Scorpius added. "This one I'm working on has a provision to eliminate taxes on all income over a million galleons. The idiots that want this would save more money if they just stopped paying the bribes to their pet Wizengamot Elders."

"It does make you wonder why they haven't," Callie said. "Their investment can't be paying off, since they've never gotten anything they've tried to get for years now."

"Don't be too sure about that," Al told her. "They may not have gotten laws passed, but who knows what they've been able to do in other areas – like in their trial rulings?"

"That's true," Scorpius agreed. "Maybe the Aurors should investigate that, and do something about it."

Al laughed. "I've got enough on the go right now, thanks, but that is something we'll have to deal with sometime, along with all of the other corruption at the Ministry."

Carolyn, Brianna, and Mark made lunch and dinner for everyone, and it took until nearly nine o'clock before they finished getting all of the work done.

"I'll have copies of our rebuttals on all of our Elder's desks in time for the meeting," Callie promised as she, Mark, Scorpius, and Brianna got ready to leave. "The Elders that submitted all of this garbage are going to have a very bad day tomorrow."

"That's such a shame," Brianna said insincerely. "If I wasn't so busy tomorrow, I'd come watch."

"I don't think there will be much excitement tomorrow," Scorpius told her. "Submitting the proposals is one thing, but after our rebuttals go on the record, those Elders won't be able to say very much in support of their proposals without either looking stupid or bought and paid for lackeys of the pureblood elitists."

"Isn't that what they are?" Carolyn asked.

Scorpius laughed. "Of course, but the average Witch and Wizard doesn't know that, and they must keep up appearances for them."

Al and Carolyn hugged their friends, and after they'd left, straightened up and went to bed.

"I'm glad you're going to be around home this week," Carolyn told Al as they snuggled close in bed. "Mornings start out much better when we get to start them out together."

"Me too, if only to make sure your breakfast is more than a muffin and a tea that you pick up on the way to work," Al answered.

Carolyn laughed softly. "Who told on me? Grandma or Aunt Penelope?"

"Grandma told me to stop working so hard, and take better care of her favourite Junior Account Manager," Al explained. "She's very big on that 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day' thing."

"I'll try to do better when you're back out on the road early so you don't get in trouble anymore," Carolyn promised.

She was already starting to drift off, and it wasn't much longer before Al knew she was sound asleep. He didn't join her right away as his mind continued to work away on everything he had going on with the Wizengamot and his investigations, but he was content to hold Carolyn close for the hour or more that it took before he finally went to sleep too.

The Monday meeting of the Knights at the Avery Estate had been moved to the afternoon so that they would be able to make new plans once they had the new resources that would be available once all of their proposals were pushed through the Wizengamot. Unfortunately for Dirk and the other Knights, that hadn't worked out at all as planned, and their Lord Commander was not happy.

"Dirk, you're telling me that those idiots couldn't even get one single proposal passed?" Lord Chernobog demanded.

"They could not, My Lord," Dirk answered nervously. "Potter, Malfoy, and their assistant had rebuttals prepared for every proposal, despite the fact that they only got them on Friday, and they had the votes to defeat all of our proposals."

"We should just kill those two," Miles Bletchley spat, and then blanched when Lord Chernobog levelled a scathing glance at him.

"You're still thinking like a Death Eater," Lord Chernobog told him angrily. "We will do nothing to attract attention to ourselves – NOTHING! When we act, our enemies will not have any warning at all, and will not be prepared. How many times must I repeat this?" He turned back to Dirk.

"Cut those idiot Elders off. No more money until they get something done for us," he ordered, and Dirk nodded. "What's the latest from Peasegood and Malcolm?"

"Peasegood talked with Potter last week, and he's still working on those cold cases. Potter told him he was close to solving one of the cases, but hasn't made much progress on any of the others. Malcolm is continuing to watch the Weasley kids, but other than finding out that Lily Potter will be in Hogsmeade to see the McCormack boy on the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, so far, they've mostly just studied and talked about Quidditch."

"Have Malcolm keep watching them. I am certain he is going to find out something we need to know from those two blood-traitors. Has he made any progress on his other tasks?"

"Not yet, Lord," Dirk answered quickly. "He has put all of his effort into finding a way to watch the Weasleys, and then watching them until now. He will begin his other tasks this week."

"Very well," Lord Chernobog said, nodding once. "Make sure he does get everything done, Dirk. It is vitally important that young Mr. Bletchley succeeds. Have Peasegood keep a close eye on Potter to make sure he stays out of our way too."

Many of the plans he'd had needed to be adjusted with the failures in the Wizengamot, but Lord Chernobog spent another hour giving out new orders to the Knights. When the meeting was over, he and Gwen returned to his estate, and immediately sat down for dinner.

"When we have defeated our enemies, and taken over the Ministry, I think one of the first things we'll do is get rid of those idiots at the Wizengamot," he told Gwen. "They are completely useless to us."

"You will be the law when we win, my Lord," Gwen told him in a throaty, sultry voice, stroking his arm as she stroked his ego. "There will be no need for the Wizengamot."

"There will no longer be need for much more than just the Wizengamot. We will end all of the foolishness that has been allowed to grow like a weed over the decades. Care of Magical Creatures? We should destroy most of the filthy beasts, and put the Goblins and House Elves back in their rightful places as our servants and slaves."

"With you to lead us, we will do all of that and more," Gwen gushed excitedly.

While Lord Chernobog and Gwendolyn plotted and schemed during dinner, Malcolm Bletchley was in his hiding place, only half-listening to the happily chatting members of the study group. It was close to dinnertime, and he was tired out, hungry, and still sore from being stuck almost all day on Sunday like he was right now.

The other thing that was making him angry was that Hugo and Frederica hadn't even been there for most of this study session, and if he was being honest, it was his own fault. The Quidditch practice schedules were posted, and all he'd needed to do was look, and he would have known that they would be at the Quidditch pitch for the first practice spot, and so it was no surprise that when they did join their friends, all they talked about was Quidditch.

'Oh, shut up already,' Malcolm thought. 'Don't you ever talk about anything other than Quidditch and your classes'?

They did finally pack up and leave the classroom so that Malcolm could leave too, go eat, and then hurry back to be here before they returned for their evening study session. At least now he knew that he didn't need to be here between the end of classes and dinnertime during the week. Maybe he could even get some of his own homework done then, instead of late at night like he had needed to do nearly every night before going to bed, and work on the other tasks the Knights had given him.

Malcolm might not be getting anything useful out of his surveillance of the New Marauders and their friends, but Al was really making progress on one of his cold cases. The one that had really grabbed his attention first had been the Witch who'd been murdered. Bianca Matthews had been in her mid-thirties, had been married for six years, and had two children, Louisa and Britt.

Because she had been a pureblood, and her husband muggle-born, her family had disowned her. They'd been investigated, as had her husband, co-workers, and friends, but the Aurors on the case had come up with absolutely nothing. Since Al had started working on the case, he'd dug much deeper into Bianca's life, and over the last couple of weeks, he'd been concentrating on one Wizard from her past that had caught his attention – an old, pureblood boyfriend from her Hogwarts years.

Murphy Bigston was a large, tough man who was now fifty-seven years old. Al had interviewed most of Bianca's friends from school, and while he hadn't interviewed Murphy yet, he had begun investigating him when so many of the Witches who'd been friends of Bianca's had seemed afraid to talk about her old school boyfriend.

His investigation of Bigston took on a sense of urgency when Al found out on Tuesday and Wednesday that not only had Bianca been murdered, but there were two other past girlfriends of Murphy's who had died tragically in what had been believed to have been terrible accidents, each of them happening years after the Witches had been involved with him. Al had been building up some circumstantial evidence, and finding out that his suspect may have, in fact, killed several former girlfriends prompted Al to finally bring the Wizard in to Auror Headquarters for questioning. Thursday morning, he and Hestia went to Bigston's home to bring him in to do that. When the man answered the door, he gaped at the two Aurors standing there.

"Mr. Bigston," Al began, "I'm Auror Albus Potter, and this is Auror Hestia Jones. We'd like you to come with us to Auror Headquarters to ask you some questions about a case I'm working on that involves an old girlfriend of yours from Hogwarts."

"You might like to do that, but I'm busy. Go away and leave me alone," Murphy told Al bluntly, and began to close the door. Al put his hand out to keep him from doing that, and surprised the much bigger man when he could no longer budge it.

"I must not have made myself clear," Al said pleasantly. "This is not a request you can refuse, Mr. Bigston. Is there anything you need before you come along? A cloak or jacket?"

Bigston looked irritably from Al to Hestia, then stepped outside next to them, and firmly closed the door behind him. Al and Hestia had an open ViComm call going, in case they needed to communicate without their suspect knowing, so Al was easily able to warn her when the man decided to make his moves in an attempt to get away from them. First, he quickly took several steps away from them, and tried to apparate. When that didn't work, he drew his wand, and spun around, sending a pair of curses at the two Aurors.

When those spells dispersed harmlessly on the Impervious Totalis shield that Al had already surrounded himself and Hestia with, he dodged to one side, and put up a feeble Shield Charm despite his loudly shouted 'PROTEGO!' that suggested he'd put up the best shield he could manage. Hestia's first counter-attack missed, and Bigston got off three more curses before her second spell blasted through his shield, and his wand flew out of his hand. Al dropped his own shield before the wand could be shattered against it, and put Murphy in a body-bind by the time Hestia had Bigston's wand in her hand.

"Congratulations, Mr. Bigston," Al told him as he walked over to the other man. "You are now under arrest for two counts of assaulting an Auror. Are you okay, Hestia?"

"I'm fine, Al. Why don't you drop the anti-apparition spell, and we can get out of here. I'm looking forward to talking with Mr. Bigston here, since there must be a very good reason why he would risk attacking two Aurors over being asked a few questions."

They apparated directly to the training room in Auror Headquarters, and after releasing him from the body-bind, they took Murphy into one of the interview rooms, sat him down, and left him there.

"We're going to do the interview, but I'll get Emma and Jake to take Kendra and Shae into the observation room so they can get a chance to see an interrogation in progress. Do you want Sturgis with you for show?"

Al shook his head. "I don't think so. We can always have him join in later if needed."

Hestia nodded, and then she went to talk with Emma and Jake, and let Rick know that they now had Bigston under arrest, while Al went to the cafeteria, picked up a few cups of coffee, bottles of water, and a few pasties. By the time he got back, Hestia and their observers were ready, and she led him back into the interrogation room, holding the door for him as he carried the drinks and snacks.

"You want to charge me, go ahead and take me before a Wizengamot Elder so I can get out of here," Murphy told them as soon as the door closed. "I'm not talking to you."

"Funny," Hestia said lightly. "What exactly do you call what you're doing now?"

Al and Hestia sat down across from Bigston, and he handed her a coffee, offered coffee or water and a pastie to their prisoner, which he refused, and took a minute to take a drink of his coffee before beginning. This was going to be his interrogation to lead, though Hestia was there to help out if needed and could easily send him Virtual QuillMessages if she had any suggestions for him.

"Mr. Bigston," Al began finally, "The reason I wanted to talk to you today, as I told you at your house, is to ask you some questions about a former girlfriend of yours, Bianca Matthews."

"Whatever. Like I said, I'm not talking to you, so why don't you stop wasting my time and take me before the Wizengamot now and be done with it."

"We'll get to that soon enough, sir," Al answered, "but since I've been working on this old case for the past couple of months, we'll at least make the attempt to give you a chance to explain why I shouldn't charge you with Bianca's murder before we submit those charges to the Wizengamot, and you get sent to Azkaban until your trial."

"You're lying," Bigston declared flatly, but Al pinned him with his piercing emerald eyes, and he could feel the uncertainty in the older man.

"Why don't we start, and you can decide for yourself if I'm lying," Al told him. "The first thing I'd really like to know is where you were the night that Bianca was murdered."

"How would I know that?" Bigston demanded. "That was more than twenty years ago."

"Well, I'd suggest you'd remember because you were there in that alley where you dragged your old girlfriend and killed her," Al told him. "That should be something you'd remember fairly well."

"That's ridiculous!" Murphy spat at Al. "I was nowhere near Piccadilly that night." Al stared at him in surprise for so long that Bigston finally broke the silence. "What?"

"How would you know that the alley was off of Piccadilly?" Al asked him, still stunned at the other man's blunder, and the man shifted in his chair, and wouldn't meet Al's eyes.

"I must've read it in the Prophet," he said, and Al shook his head.

"That information was never released to the press, Mr. Bigston," Al told him. "I've read every scrap of news on this case, and it definitely was never mentioned. Why don't you tell me about the necklace? Did she give it back to you when she dumped you?"

"She never dumped me!" the other man said loudly. "I dumped her, the mudblood loving blood-traitor."

Al nodded. "Sure you did," he said sarcastically. "That's why you kept that necklace all of those years, and then put it around her neck after killing her."

"Before," Murphy said absently, and then clamped his mouth shut, not even able to figure out a way to cover from his slip.

"Fine, so you made her put it on before you killed her," Al said with a nod. "What I really want to know is why? Bianca had been married for over six years, and had two little children. You probably hadn't seen her in ten years. Why kill her?"

Bigston locked gazes with Al, and saw the quiet confidence, and undeniable assurance that he knew the truth about everything he'd done, and he clenched the table with his massive hands, thoughts of violence toward Al flashing through his mind.

"I wouldn't," Al warned him, his eyes flashing with such power that it stopped the other Wizard cold just as he was on the verge of acting. He sat back in his chair, and crossed his arms defiantly.

"Fine. I can see you've got it all figured out anyway, mister hotshot Auror. She had it coming to her, the filthy blood-traitor. I hadn't seen her in years, and then there she was, right out there in public, hugging and kissing that mudblood freak she married, and dragging around those two stinking half-blood abominations."

"So you started following her around, figuring out her schedule," Al said, and Murphy nodded.

"Yeah, until I caught her all alone out late that night. You should have seen the look on her face when she realized who had captured her. I'll never forget it," he said, a dark smile crossing his face, and his eyes as dark as the memory that Al could so easily read.

"You made some mistakes with that first one," Al continued, steering the man's thoughts from the twisted remembrances of that night that even now still excited Murphy Bigston, while overhearing those thoughts sickened Al. "I had a much harder time finding them, since they'd all been determined to be accidental deaths."

Murphy nodded, looking proud of his accomplishments. "I was lying low for years after Bianca," he told Al, Hestia, and the observers in the other room, who were watching in amazement as Al somehow managed to get this cold-blooded killer to open up with almost no effort. "Eventually, I figured out that you Aurors hadn't found anything, and shelved the case, and by the next one, I'd worked out how to keep anyone from even finding out that the other Witches had even been murdered at all. You Aurors, and the hit-Wizards were easy to fool," he said with a sneer.

"Why don't you start with the next one, and tell us all about how you managed to do that?" Al suggested.

That request started Bigston on a verbal flood, where for the next day and a half, he gave Al and Hestia a detailed confession of every Witch he'd murdered. There had been the two former girlfriends that Al had uncovered already, and six other Witches that for one reason or another had attracted Bigston's attention, and he insisted they had all 'deserved what they got'.

"That is one twisted Wizard," Hestia told Al after they'd finished the interrogation on Friday, and were having a quick break before taking Bigston before the Wizengamot to charge him with the nine murders, and the two counts of assaulting an Auror, not that the latter charge would make any real difference. "I still can't believe he just told us everything like that."

"He wanted to," Al explained. "The guy has been hoping to have someone to tell about all of this for a long time. He honestly doesn't think that he's done anything wrong."

Hestia nodded. "There's no doubt he's proud of killing all of those Witches. I'm sure he'll fit right in at Azkaban."

Since Al was the arresting Auror, he wasn't able to sit with the other Elders. Jake and Emma came with them, and brought their Auror-trainees along to witness the process. After the trial date was set, they went with Al to take Bigston to Azkaban while Hestia went back up to Auror Headquarters. While they were there, Jake and Emma took Shae and Kendra on a tour of the prison while they waited for the ferry to be unloaded and readied to return to the mainland again.

Al was the only one returning to Auror Headquarters, and he spent another hour there finishing his report for Rick, and then hurried home with plans to spend the entire weekend with Carolyn before getting back to his investigation of the Knight's offices.

"Long day?" Carolyn asked when he got home. She already had dinner started, handed him a glass of wine, and motioned for him to sit down and relax.

"Long enough. All of the work has been worth it to get that guy off the street before he killed anyone else. Has anything come up for this weekend, or are we still good to just have a couple of days to ourselves?"

"We had a few offers, but I turned them down. We can hide out here, or on the island, or whatever we want."

"Good," Al said with a contented sigh. "Let's just stay here. The island sounds good too, but I don't feel like dealing with time changes for just two days."

"That works for me too," Carolyn said, stopping her work long enough to hug and kiss him.

While Al and Carolyn started their lazy weekend at home, at Hogwarts, the Marauders and friends had an open weekend too. That didn't mean no homework, but that there were no Quidditch games, tryouts, practices, Broom Races, Hogsmeade weekends or other distractions. It also meant that they could work on those assignments on Friday and Saturday, and take the whole day on Sunday off if they got their work done. This was a new concept for the former Academy students, since they'd been so used to pushing themselves almost all of the time, but they did like the idea – especially Jason and Brian.

They all worked especially hard to get that day off, and actually finished all of their assignments by dinnertime on Saturday. With the rest of the evening, and a whole day off ahead of them, it was a pretty happy group that packed up after that last study session of the weekend and went to the Great Hall.

Malcolm Bletchley was pretty happy about that too, although he still had his own homework, and other tasks to do, but at least he wouldn't be stuck in his cramped little hiding spot for the rest of the weekend. He went to the Great Hall to eat too, and after that, went to work on one of those tasks, a bit envious as he thought about having to do stuff like that while Liam was probably off somewhere snogging Frederica all evening. He worked on that for a few hours, and then returned to his dorm room, where he worked on his homework until nearly midnight.

On Sunday, he finished his homework assignments in the morning, then spent the rest of his day working on the same task that he had been working on Saturday night, and in the time before dinner each weekday since Tuesday. Later on Sunday night, he called in his report to Dirk Avery.

"I'm pretty sure it's not here anymore," he told Dirk. "I've searched the Room of Requirements from one end to the other, and I didn't see the vanishing cabinet there anywhere."

"That's not unexpected," Dirk told him. "Goyle did warn us that it might have been destroyed in the Fiendfyre. Leave that for now, and start on the next task. Did you find out anything new from those Weasley brats?"

"Nothing at all, Dirk," Malcolm reported. "It's been a total waste of my time so far."

"Be patient," Dirk told him. "The Lord Commander is certain that you will learn something from them that is critical to our success, so keep at it."

"I will," Malcolm promised, and a moment later, they ended the ViComm call, and it wasn't long before Malcolm went off to sleep.

"Should we find another kid or two for you to play with this week?" Lily asked her father at breakfast on Monday, and Harry and Ginny both laughed.

"Thanks, honey, but I'll be good for a week or two," he answered. "I might miss those afternoon naps that Jair and I were having, though."

"You seem to be in an especially good mood this morning," Ginny told Lily. "Is that because of a certain upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, or is something else going on?"

"It's mostly the Hogsmeade weekend," Lily answered with a bright smile, "but they're also starting to build the house this week, so that's pretty exciting too."

Lily and Kieran had both loved getting to see the drawings and model of their new house before Kieran went back to school, which had been brilliant, but she'd been surprised at how quickly Nick had been able to get the actual construction started for them. They were getting the same builder who had built Al and Carolyn's place, and last week, they'd been getting the ground ready for the house.

"Is everything worked out with Glenda and the boys for Saturday?" Harry asked, and Lily nodded.

"Yes. They're going to go study at the Academy in the morning, and then have an all expenses paid trip to go out for lunch at a restaurant of their choice, and then go watch the Canons play the Harpies in the afternoon."

"That was a good idea," Ginny told her. "There's a good chance that match will be the best game at least for the first half of the season."

"It's the least Kieran and I can do, since they're giving up their house for all of the Hogsmeade weekends for us. We'll try to come up with something fun for them to do on each of the weekends that we're borrowing the place from them."

Ginny and Lily talked with Harry while they finished breakfast, and then left for the lab, while he cleaned up and got ready to spend the morning at the Residence. At Hogwarts, the other half of SpellBound was also happy to be counting down days to the first Hogsmeade weekend instead of weeks. Now that they were past the first two weeks of school, Kieran and Emily were also finally seeing their Head Boy and Girl duties relaxing as the first-year students got used to life at Hogwarts.

Work for the New Marauders was slowing down too. During the first two weeks, they'd mostly been busy with matching mentors with students needing help, searching for students who needed help with new supplies, robes, or clothes, and getting those items purchased and delivered to the teens. That had been a bit more challenging as they worked around their new friends – especially for Millie and Amy, since they spent so much time with Jason and Brian, but they managed without any major problems.

Back outside of Hogwarts, Al was back out in the field, and this week, he was going to be doing his surveillances in Syria and Argentina. There had been lots of news about his latest success over the weekend, but he ignored those stories as much as he'd ignored the stories that had started creeping into the news that weren't so flattering about him after months had gone by since his last big capture. The Bigston arrest had been one of the first things that Lord Chernobog and the Knights talked about at their Monday meeting.

"It seems that Peasegood's information was actually good," Dirk told the others. "Potter somehow managed to catch that fool Bigston."

Lord Chernobog laughed. "With the trail I left for him, the only thing Potter proved was that he's an idiot too. I'll have to be more obvious from now on, or he could spend years on those cold cases of his." He laughed again with dark humour. "We can't have that. Auror Potter doesn't have that long left to live." His followers dutifully laughed at his statement, and then he had Dirk start their meeting off with his report.

"Malcolm is certain that the vanishing cabinet is no longer in the Room of Requirements, so it appears that it was destroyed by the Fiendfyre. He's continuing with his next task now, along with watching the Weasleys. They haven't given him any information of interest, but we can be sure something will come up eventually."

"It will," Lord Chernobog confirmed. "What news from the Ministry?"

"The Wizengamot Elders apparently thought we were bluffing before, and they were not happy when I advised them that their 'retainer fees' were being stopped immediately. They have assured me that they will redouble their efforts and get what we want pushed through the Wizengamot, but I quite frankly have my doubts. Since meeting with them, I've heard that most of them are spending all of their time scrambling to salvage their finances now that they've lost the biggest part of their income."

Lord Chernobog nodded. "You are right to be doubtful. We may not get the policy changes we want from them at all, but what we wanted most from them was the financial breaks, and cutting them out of our expenses is nearly as beneficial for us anyway. Keep the pressure on them, and throw them a bone if they actually do get something done, but don't waste too much more of your time on them."

"Yes, Lord," Dirk confirmed. "We already know what happened with Potter last week now, and Peasegood told me he's already back out in the field again working on another of the cold cases."

When Dirk finished, Lord Chernobog had all of the other Knights give their progress reports, the most extensive being the ones from Byron and Terrance on the progress they were making with all of the other groups of Knights that they rotated meeting with each week. They didn't exactly impress the Lord Commander with their reports, and he again strongly exhorted them to get the other groups working as hard as they all were in the core group.

"If it wouldn't be so difficult and cost us more time than we can afford to lose, I'd replace Nott and Bulstrode with Wizards or Witches who weren't so incompetent," Lord Chernobog told Gwen while they were having lunch after the meeting. "Those two are quite possibly the worst choices that could have been made for those assignments – yet another ill-advised choice made by Rosier and the rest of those old fools."

"Sometimes it's hard to believe that they did anything right, my Lord," Gwen told him. "They did at least manage to start all of those groups of Knights and keep them hidden, though. That is at least something."

"I suppose, Gwen, but then look at what little those groups have accomplished for us. So what if we know what the Minister of Magic in Hondouras had for breakfast? We need all of our Knights ready to seize control of their own regions once we have acted here."

"They will be ready," Gwen said fervently. "If Nott and Bulstrode do not start reporting better news soon, send me out with them, and I will be glad to more forcefully encourage our fellow Knights for you."

Lord Chernobog smiled. "Let us hope that isn't necessary. I'm sure they would not enjoy a sample of your skills in the art of persuasion."

Terrance and Byron were having lunch together then too, and the problems with the other Knight's groups were the reason for them getting together. Byron was on the second week of his route, so he needed to get back to the east and get some sleep soon, but they'd both now been criticized by the Lord Commander at nearly every meeting over the slow progress they were reporting, and it had them very worried. They'd all seen what had happened to Dirk, and were not interested in being on the receiving end of their leader's wrath.

"What are we going to do?" Byron asked Terrance. "Do you actually believe that the other groups of Knights can accomplish everything he's asking of them?"

"Not a chance," Terrance answered. "What we're going to do is start telling the Lord Commander and the others what they want to hear – whether it's what's really going on or not."

"They'll kill us if they find out," Byron told Terrance.

"There is a lot they'd kill us for if they knew the truth," Terrance countered. "Do you think they'd be happy to know that we've been skimming money every week off the top of what they send out to the offices? We'll just have to make sure they don't find out about this either."

"That might work for now, but what happens when it's time to fight?" Byron asked, and Terrance shrugged.

"Then we'll be suitably disappointed in their performances. If most of them get killed in the fighting, so much the better – there wouldn't be anyone left after who might be able to help anyone in our own group find out about our little financial arrangement."

"Good point," Byron said approvingly. "Okay, let's do it your way. We've both done pretty well for ourselves doing that so far."

Al stopped his surveillance in Syria early on Monday, and went home to cook dinner for nine. Rose and Matt were back home from Hawaii, but would be leaving again on Saturday for back-to-back tours that would have them away from home for three weeks, except for a few hours between the first and second trip. Al and Carolyn were having them over for dinner and a quiet evening together, along with Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, and Lily.

"What can I help with?" Carolyn asked when she got home an hour after Al.

"The cooking's all under control," he answered after stopping to welcome her home with a warm hug and kiss. "Why don't you set the table, get a glass of wine, sit down, and tell me about your day while I work."

Carolyn did that, and they had a bit over a half hour to catch up before their guests started arriving. Rose and Matt were the first to get there, followed by Nick and Allie, and Scorpius and Brianna. Lily was last, roaring into the driveway in her Porsche, coming to a stop mere inches from the garage doors.

"You could have apparated over to take a look at how your house is coming along," Carolyn told Lily as she hugged her in welcome. "Aren't they just mostly putting in the foundation this week anyway? There can't be much to see yet."

Lily laughed, her eyes bright, and her fiery hair wind-blown from the drive. "Yes, I could have, and no, there isn't much to see yet, but apparating isn't nearly as much fun as driving, and I'll probably be over to see how the house is coming every day until it's finished."

"I'll probably do that too," Nick told her. "I don't get to do that for most of the places I design, but this one is close to home, and I love watching them come to life from the drawings and models." He waved at the house around them. "This one was a lot of fun to see getting built too."

"We think that it's pretty brilliant to live in," Carolyn told him. "Come on and get a drink, Lily. Rose and Matt are just starting to tell us about their trip, so you're just in time."

The one really great thing about being best friends was that even when weeks or months might go by when you couldn't all see each other, when you did get together again, you were so close, it was like you'd never been apart at all. It took the first hour or so to catch up with what they'd each been doing, and for the rest of the evening they mostly just enjoyed spending time together and having fun. Since even Rose and Matt had to work in the morning as they got ready for the coming two tours, and Lily would need to drive back to the Cottage, by ten o'clock, it was time for the goodbye hugs and kisses. When Al and Carolyn were alone again, they finished the little bit of cleaning up that was left, and weren't long going up to bed so that Al could get some sleep before starting another early morning.

For the rest of the week, everyone was pretty much working for the weekend. The Canons were training hard to get ready for their match against the Harpies. The tour that Rose and Matt had starting on Saturday was their first luxury cruise, and they wanted it to be a hit addition to their business. Lily, Kieran, and all of the third-year and above Hogwarts students were all looking forward to their first Hogsmeade weekend.

Al and Carolyn were going to be working for the week and weekend. They were spending the weekend at Marauders Refuge to check up on how everything was going as the resort continued to ramp up to full capacity. That worked out rather well for Al's work too. He'd finished in Syria on Wednesday, and spent the rest of the week doing surveillance on the Knight's office in Argentina. Since Carolyn left for Marauders Refuge late on Friday, getting there early in the morning, he was able to stay late in Argentina, spend all the time he needed to go through their office after all of the Knights had left for the day, and still get to Marauders Refuge in time to have dinner, island time, with Carolyn.

By the time Al and Carolyn went to bed at Marauders Paradise, Lily was at Al's house in Hogsmeade, chatting with Glenda and the boys before they left for the Academy.

"I think we got the better part of this deal," Gabe told Lily. "Six tickets to see the Canons-Harpies game, and going out to lunch would definitely not have been in our budget."

Bert laughed. "Maybe we could talk the Hogwarts Headmistress into having Hogsmeade weekends every weekend, if we're going to get to do stuff like this every time."

"I'd be good with that, but don't hold your breath on that happening," Lily told him with a smile. "You probably wouldn't enjoy the Canons games as much in the winter, but I'm sure we can come up with other places to send you for a fun day."

"Well, we have to get through the studying before the fun part of our day," Glenda told Gabe, Chris, and Bert, "so let's get over to the Academy and get that done, since Kieran should be here soon." She hugged Lily goodbye, and led the boys outside so they could take the TransPortal to the Academy.

Lily took a quick look through the main floor and was happy to see that the house was being kept clean and neat, which she hadn't been sure would be the case with three Wizards living there. She didn't have to wait long before she heard Kieran's knock on the door, and when he was able to, he laughed after she opened the door, pulled him in, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him until they were both breathless.

"I'm really glad that some door-to-door sales Wizard wasn't the one knocking," he joked. "Did you even have time to see it was me for sure?"

Lily laughed too. "Yes, I did," she assured him. "This has been a very long three weeks without you."

"Let's not think about that," he suggested. "We've got most of the day today together, and that's enough for me right now." Lily hugged and kissed him again, and then they went out to get his supplies and pick-up food to cook for lunch.

"Where would you like to go first?" she asked. "Do we have any of the younger students to buy supplies for?"

"I guess we might as well start with the Apothecary, and we've got Adam and H's lists, but they didn't ask for much." He pulled out the two lists and handed them to Lily to look at.

"They didn't want any sweets or wheezes, and I don't see any Potions supplies here. Did anyone talk with them about what we could get for them here?"

Kieran nodded. "We did, but maybe they're just not used to ordering their own supplies. Everything they need is probably just there for them at the Academy."

"You're probably right. We'll pick up the first and second year Potions refill kits for them, some sweets, and maybe a couple of wheezes, and you can go over everything with them so they know what they need to check for when they make up their lists for next time."

"I can do that," he agreed. "Would you like to shop for some clothes too?"

Lily shook her head. "I can do that anytime. Let's get everything done, and get back to the house. We have a lot of snogging to catch up on before you have to go back to school."

Hugo and Emily were spending the morning in Hogsmeade with Ophelia, Philip, Alice, Lenny, Joel, and Sarah. They started out by stopping at SpaMagic so the girls could book appointments for the Hogsmeade weekend before Hallowe'en, and then started going from store to store and filling their supply orders. They also had the lists for Cassandra and Violet, and it took until eleven-thirty to get everything picked up. Lunch was at the Three Broomsticks, and by twelve-thirty, the four couples were on the way back to Hogwarts so they could get there in time to watch the Canons-Harpies game.

"How do you think the Canons will do today?" Ophelia asked Hugo when they were all sitting down in Kieran's office. That felt a bit odd, since he wasn't there, but they hadn't thought about the Hogsmeade weekends when setting up his office instead of Emily's for the game day parties, and her office didn't have room for everyone.

"I don't really know," Hugo admitted. "The Harpies won their first game, and are at home, but I'm pretty sure the Canons have worked harder than everyone this year so far. We'll just have to watch and see if all of that work pays off for them."

The rest of their group began to join them, although the game had been going for nearly twenty minutes before the last stragglers got back from town. With Kieran and Claire being the only Marauders missing in action, they had a room full with twenty-eight students.

"Come on, Aaron!" Adam said loudly as they watched Aaron streak in to take a shot. "YES!" he added when Aaron's shot sailed through the right-side Harpies' goal.

"You didn't cheer like that for Arianna a minute ago when she scored," Erin told Adam, and he laughed.

"That's your job, Erin – and Quincy's. You guys cheer for your guardian and H and I can cheer for ours."

"I must have missed hearing H's cheer," Quincy said.

"He's cheering on the inside," Adam told him absently as he continued to watch the action. Aaron's goal had added to the Canons' lead, and they were now ahead by a score of sixty points to twenty points.

"Um, yeah, that's it," H said. "I'm cheering on the inside." Like Dale, he was hardly a Quidditch fanatic like most of the members of his new family, but he didn't mind watching the games, and he loved hanging around with everyone when they were just having fun like this.

The Canons' faithful had a lot to cheer about all afternoon. They were in a hard-fought game, but Ron was having a great match, and Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly slowly built up the score until after three hours, they were up by one hundred and sixty points, which put the Harpies Seeker completely on defence to keep Liselle from ending the game, while she was able to float around patiently and wait for her chances and throw in some fake runs to try and mess up her opponent.

The game was still going on when Kieran returned from his day in Hogsmeade with Lily, and so he joined the party and watched the two teams battle until it wrapped up just before dinnertime with Liselle finally catching the Harpies Seeker off-guard and making a spectacular catch of the snitch. The Canons won by a score of four hundred and eighty to sixty, and put the rest of the teams in the league on notice that they were the team to beat again this year.

For the rest of the weekend, it was back to studying for the Marauders and friends. Malcolm had guessed right about that, and was in his hiding spot for the Saturday night study session, and the Sunday morning, afternoon, and evening gatherings. When Dirk called him for his report on Sunday, the only news he had to report was that he'd finished investigating the secret school entrance between the shrieking shack and the Whomping Willow, and the tunnel had been collapsed, probably along most of the length of it, since he'd only been able to go a short distance into it at the tree end he'd checked out earlier in the week, and the Shrieking Shack end he'd checked out on Saturday morning when he was in Hogsmeade.

Malcolm would have liked to go to sleep after that call, but that wasn't an option for him. With all of the time he'd spent watching the Weasleys, now he still had hours of homework left to finish. His father, Dirk, and the others had made joining the Knights sound brilliant, but from his perspective, so far it was just about the complete opposite of that. There was one thing he was learning from watching the Weasleys and their friends so much that he did not report to Dirk. Yes, they all worked very hard, but even when they were doing that, they were having fun, and almost always seemed to be happy. That was something that he spent a lot of time thinking about during those hours in his hiding spot, since in his entire life, he couldn't actually come up with any times that he really and truly had ever felt like that himself.

With the first Hogsmeade weekend over, there was a three-week stretch until the next one, with only one Canons' home game on the first Saturday in October, and their own Quidditch team practices to keep the Marauders from their studies. The last weekend in September was open, so they worked hard so they could get another Sunday off, and on the first weekend in October, they'd all been doing so well that they were able to take the afternoon off to watch the Canons win a good game against Puddlemere United, and still finish up all of their assignments by curfew on Saturday night so they could enjoy having a second Sunday in a row off.

During those two weeks, Al was continuing his surveillance, finding out everything there was to know about the Knight's offices in Egypt and Brazil the first week, and Ethiopia and Columbia in the second week. There had been several occasions when he'd seen either Terrance or Byron as he'd been watching the different offices, so it hadn't been a surprise to see Terrance in Egypt on Tuesday, or Byron in Brazil on Wednesday. One bit of information he had picked up from them during those encounters that had been interesting had been thoughts from both of them as they'd left each office that they were definitely going to have to lie to the other Knights in their next report. He wasn't sure how that fit in with everything else he was learning so far, but he added the notes to his files for both Wizards.

Al and Carolyn had not gone to the Canons-United game on Saturday, but instead stayed around the house. She had brought work home that she wanted to get finished over the weekend, and while she worked on that, he worked on the stack of proposals that had once again been dumped on the desks of the Wizengamot Elders on Friday by the usual group of twenty-one Elders.

On Sunday, he had another work session with Callie and Scorpius, while Carolyn, Brianna, and Mark entertained themselves, but this meeting didn't take as long as the last one. They were finished by noon, had lunch together, and then Scorpius and Brianna went to spend the afternoon at Malfoy Mansion, while Mark and Callie went to spend the rest of the day on their own.

"I wonder why they pretty much just submitted basically the same proposals again, and just moved things around a bit," Carolyn asked Al when they were alone again and snuggled on the sofa together.

"There seems to be more going on with them than we know about," Al answered. "This doesn't make any sense – even for them. Callie hears more about what goes on around the office than Scorpius and I do, and the word she keeps hearing used when talking about our Wizengamot opponents is 'desperate'."

"Maybe the Knights are finally fed up with them, and are putting the pressure on," Carolyn suggested, and Al nodded.

"That would be my guess. Maybe after tomorrow's meeting, I'll have a better idea of what's happening with them."

They had most of the afternoon to just putter around the house, and then went over to the Cottage for dinner with their parents, Lily, James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey. Carolyn had been over there more than Al had since the start of school, since he had quite a few late nights nearly every week. That gave Carolyn the chance to go over for dinner, or hang out, or go shopping, with her sister-in-law and mother-in-law, but Al missed out on a lot of the fun, so he was enjoying having a few hours together with his family.

"How's everything going at the Academy?" he asked James after they'd all sat down to eat.

"Pretty great," James answered. "Glenda and Gabe are writing the last of their fourth year exams this week, and should be ready to start their OWL classes next week. That'll put all of our Hogsmeade group on target to take their OWL exams next summer sometime."

"It's brilliant that they've managed to do that in what will be three years," Carolyn said, and James nodded.

"Nick, Nina, and Becky have really taken off since we helped them, and I'm pretty sure Nick will be able to take his second year exams, and Nina will be able to take her third year exams before Christmas. Becky was about at the start of third year, so she'll still be working on that for a while yet, but she is doing much better now."

"Will you be doing the Haunted Academy for Hallowe'en again this year?" Lily asked him.

"We're going to do a shorter version of it, and then have a dance in the dining hall," James told her. "Will you and Al be coming to play again?"

Lily laughed. "I wouldn't miss it. How about you, Al?"

"Carolyn and I have the Institute Hallowe'en dance at the Emerald City Centre that night," Al told her.

"It doesn't start until nine, though," Carolyn told him. "You could go play until nearly eight-thirty, pop home, get into your suit, and we could still be there on time."

"Change that to a yes, but I have to go home early," Al corrected, hugging Carolyn. "Did you want to play too, honey?"

"Maybe next year," Carolyn answered. "You can get ready that fast, but it takes us Witches hours to get ready for these big social events."

Arianna and Aaron had training curfew, so they went home with James and Tracey early, but Al and Carolyn stayed to visit until shortly after ten. They both had busy weeks ahead, and after the coming Hogsmeade Saturday, and the South American Broom Race, Harry, Ginny, and Lily were going to spend a week at Marauders Paradise, so there was a good chance that at least Al wouldn't see them for two weeks. They went to bed shortly after getting home, though it was quite a while later before they went to sleep – and a fairly brilliant quite a while later it was.

On Monday, Al and Scorpius wasted most of their day arguing with their Wizengamot opponents, who insisted on debating every proposal they'd submitted, despite the fact that it was repeatedly pointed out to them that they were just re-worded, but identical versions of the bills that had all been defeated just weeks ago. All they accomplished was to look incredibly stupid and incompetent to anyone who watched the display of idiocy as all of their proposals went down to defeat for a second time. When they finally adjourned, Al went with Scorpius to his Wizengamot office, where they did their usual Wizengamot meeting post-mortem with Callie.

"So what did we learn today, other than our Wizengamot opposition is losing their minds?" Scorpius asked.

"What I learned was that they've been cut off from their cash cow until they get some results," Al told Scorpius and Callie seriously. "They've been told they won't get another sickle or knut until then."

"That explains the desperation," Callie said. "They're probably all having to cut back on their lavish lifestyles."

"Probably," Al agreed. "We'll need to keep an eye on them. There is no way to know for sure what somebody is willing to do when they do get that desperate."

"We can do that, but I'm not sure that any of them would actually do anything themselves. They're the schemers and plotters, and have always been happy to leave the dirty work to others."

"Except now those others have told them to put up or shut up," Callie added. "We've all got work to get back to, but before you two go, Scorpius, you've got the trial of Bigston the week after next, starting on the Monday. You're at your conference in Brazil next week, right?" Scorpius nodded. "Al, you're on a tribunal next Wednesday for a felony theft case. It probably won't take more than a couple of hours, but you'll have to adjust your Auror schedule for it."

"That won't be a problem. I'll just work around Headquarters that day," Al answered. "Anything else?"

"Not so far between now and the next full session in November. I'll keep you posted if anything comes up, and we can be sure that there will be another load of proposals for us for that meeting, so don't plan too much for the first weekend in November."

"I can keep the rest of the weekend open, if we need to, but Hallowe'en night I'm booked," Al told her, and Callie made a note of that, then stood up.

"I'll send you copies of the minutes from today's meeting when I have them. Try not to work too late catching up with everything, and stop in to say 'hi' once in a while."

Al and Scorpius both got up too, hugged Callie, and then they all went back to work. Scorpius worked on getting ready for the conference until Brianna came to take him home with her after she'd finished work, while Al had gone to Tanzania to stake out the Knight's office there. He identified six of their members as they left the office for the day, and then spent several hours combing through their office before going home for the night.

That was pretty much all Al did for the rest of the week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, he was up early and off to Tanzania to continue his mission to find all of the members of their group of Knights, and finish searching their offices. On Wednesday, after finishing everything in Tanzania, he moved on to Nicaragua, working there until late into the night. Since he had already identified all of the Knights at the office in Nicaragua, all he had to do there was wait for everyone to leave for the day so he could begin going through the offices and collecting any important information.

Since he was finished in Tanzania, Al was able to stay home later on Thursday and Friday mornings, make breakfast for Carolyn, and do a little work on his cold cases before returning to Nicaragua to continue combing through the office both nights, finishing up on Friday, and getting home by a little after midnight. On Saturday morning, Al and Carolyn were sleeping in, but Lily was in Hogsmeade bright and early.

"So, where are you sending us today?" Glenda asked. Lily had told them to have Candice and Kylie stay overnight so they'd all be ready to go on their trip, and the three couples were all watching her expectantly.

"You are getting to spend your day in beautiful South America," Lily told them. "Starting your day in Salvador, Brazil, you will get to watch the start of the famous South American Broom Race, and after that, will have breakfast with Harry and Ginny Potter, and GamePortal CEO Owen Cauldwell, his wife Natalie, and their kids, Kira and James."

"That sounds brilliant," Kylie said excitedly.

"I'm sure you're going to love it," Lily agreed, "but that's just the beginning. From there, you'll go spend the rest of your morning shopping, and you're welcome to do that on your own, or go along with your breakfast hosts, who are very knowledgeable of the regional shopping opportunities." She handed out six pouches of galleons at that point, and laughed as the girls all hugged her.

"You have lunch reservations in Lima, Peru, and then VIP passes to watch what will hopefully be Mark's first win of the Broom Racing season. After that, you can stay for the party there, go sightseeing for the afternoon, or whatever else you'd like to do."

"We thought the last Hogsmeade weekend was amazing, but this is just over the top, Lily," Glenda told her. "Thank-you so much!"

Lily hugged her again. "You're all very welcome."

They needed to leave soon so they could get to Brazil in time, so after a quick round of hugs, the excited trio of couples left for their extreme day trip to South America. Instead of waiting there for Kieran, Lily decided to apparate to the school gates, and was there in lots of time to greet Kieran and most of their friends when they got there with the first wave of Hogwarts students.

"At this rate, by the last Hogsmeade weekend before Christmas, you'll be pitching a tent here by the gate on Friday night," Hugo joked when they met up with Lily, and she hugged and kissed Kieran for a long minute before saying anything to any of them.

"That's an idea," Lily agreed. "You guys could pick up Kieran's supplies, and I could just keep him right here in the tent so we don't lose a single second of snogging time."

Hugo rolled his eyes and laughed. "Leave it up to my brilliant cousin to figure out a way to optimize snogging time. Would you two like to walk to town with us, or stand out her hugging and kissing for a while longer?"

Lily took Kieran's hand and turned toward Hugo, Emily, and the others. "We're good for a while. Lead on, oh great Quidditch Keeper Cousin."

Kieran didn't have to pick up supplies for any of their first or second year friends this time, so he and Lily went around to quickly pick up everything he needed for himself, and went back to the house to spend the rest of the day together.

"Do you think anyone at Hogwarts would miss their Head Boy if I took you with me to Marauders Paradise for the week?" Lily asked as she and Kieran cuddled on one of the sofas. They had Mark's Broom Race on the WWVN, but weren't really paying any attention to it, since they were concentrating on each other instead.

Kieran laughed. "I expect they would. With the amount of homework we're getting, taking a week off isn't an option anyway. TNM is busy with getting ready for Hallowe'en too, so I'll be busy while you're having fun on the island."

"Will you need any help with the Haunted Hogwarts Adventure?" Lily asked.

"I don't think so," he answered. "We're using everything that you, James, and Al set up from last year, and just making some changes to what will be happening on the ride."

Lily nodded. "Okay. Let me know if you need anything. Will there be anything else going on for the night, since it's on Friday this year?"

"There isn't going to be a dance in the Great Hall, but it looks like there is going to be parties in each of the Houses after the Adventure is over," Kieran told her. "That won't be much fun for the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch players, though. Since they'll be playing on Saturday, I'm sure they'll all have to miss the parties."

"The Canons have the same problem, since they have their game against the Wasps that Saturday too," Lily said. "That's going to be a really busy weekend."

"A little too busy," Kieran answered. "I have no idea how we'll get all of our homework done when most of us won't be doing any work on Friday night or Saturday. We'll have to make up for it on Sunday, I guess."

"You could bring some assignments with you for the next Hogsmeade weekend, and work ahead on them," Lily suggested, and Kieran laughed.

"I may end up working a few late nights over the next few weeks to keep up, Lily, but I am not going to be spending the few hours I get to have with you doing schoolwork. I'm pretty sure we can both come up with something better to do than that."

Lily laughed too, and kissed him. "Really? Maybe you and I should spend a little time discussing what that 'something' would be."

While they did that, out in town, their friends spent the morning shopping, had lunch, and then Joel and Sarah led a group that went back to Hogwarts for some studying and to watch Mark's race, while the rest of their group spent the few hours they had left in the afternoon doing some more shopping before going back to school and getting back to their studies.

Mark, Mariposa, and the other racers who could keep up with them now had stayed fairly close together throughout the race, until reaching the Andes Mountains. By the time they flew into the mountain range, all of the Marauders, including Kieran, were back at school, and in their study classroom. They stopped studying to watch as Mark and two other racers started pulling ahead of Mariposa and the other racers who all slowed down to fly the difficult route through the mountain passes.

Everyone watching the race got to see just how dangerous flying at those speeds really was. They were just a few minutes into the incredibly difficult flying through those passes when one of the two racers staying with Mark missed a turn, and crashed, nearly taking the other Wizard with him as he lost control. That near miss broke the confidence of the second racer, and he dropped back, while Mark continued to pour it on, and was able to quickly pull far ahead of the other racers.

"That was a really ugly crash," Emily said as they watched the medical team working on the downed racer. He wasn't moving, and they were being very careful as they dealt with what were obviously very serious injuries. When they finally left with their patient, the closing shot from that scene with just the tangled, broken remains of the man's Lightningbolt and racing equipment was a sober reminder of the risks of the sport. Nobody was surprised when some of the racers who still had to pass that spot on their way to the finish line slowed down just a little more than they might have normally after seeing where their fellow racer had fallen.

"It's amazing the guy survived," Hugo told the others. "That's the worst crash we've seen since Mark started racing."

"After seeing that, I'm wondering if our new guardian is a little crazy," Lenny told Alice. "Mark seems to be the only racer willing to fly that close to the edge."

Joel laughed. "They're all flying to the edge of their own abilities, mate. Mark's not crazy, he's just that much better than the other racers."

They got back to work until it was time to go for dinner in the Great Hall, where the race was on the big screen WWVN so that they could all watch Mark win the race, finishing in nine hours and twelve minutes, three minutes faster than his first-year record. Mariposa finished second, in nine hours and forty-one minutes. They now both had a first and second place finish in the first two races, but Mark was now in first place in the season standings, since he was now twenty-nine minutes ahead of Mariposa in total race time.

Malcolm Bletchley had only gone to Hogsmeade long enough to pick up his supplies, and then spent the rest of the day working on trying to find the old secret ways into the school. So far, there'd been no vanishing cabinet, and the entrance under the Whomping Willow was collapsed. This week, he'd been trying to find the passage that had been used during the battle to evacuate the younger Hogwarts students from the Room of Requirements to the Hogs Head Tavern. Today, he'd spent hours more continuing that search, finally deciding late in the afternoon that if it did still exist, there was no way for him to get access to it. He'd tried everything that had been suggested to him, and the Room of Requirements did not reveal that passageway to him, or if it did, he wasn't able to find it.

He'd been mad at himself at dinner when he saw Hugo with his book bag, and realized that they'd had an afternoon study session, when he'd expected that they'd be in Hogsmeade all day. Hopefully he hadn't missed anything important, but there wasn't anything he could do about that now. He left the Great Hall early, and went to get settled in his hiding spot before Hugo and the others returned for their Saturday evening study session.

Lily had left Hogsmeade and gone directly to Marauders Paradise. She'd thought about going to watch the end of the broom race, but after having to say goodbye to Kieran for another two weeks, she hadn't felt like going to a party. Instead, she checked into the suite she'd be sharing with her parents, and for the weekend with Kira, and then met Daphne for lunch at noon, island time.

"You look fantastic!" Lily told Daphne. "Is it the island or married life doing that for you?"

"I'd say both," Daphne answered with a bright smile. If Lily asked around, everyone would tell her that Daphne always smiled like that here, as did Karl. "This is going to be great having you here for a whole week."

The two friends sat down at a table where they could see the bay where Witches and Wizards played on AquaBikes and Jet-Skis, while others went swimming, or played near the beach as they all enjoyed the beautiful day.

"It's going to be great to be here," Lily agreed. "You've probably had company nearly every week since moving here, though, so I'm surprised you're not ready for a break."

Daphne laughed. "Karl and I are loving the company, and my family thinks getting to come here to visit us is brilliant. I'm pretty sure I've spent more time with my brothers, sister, and their families since moving here than I did in the last seven years combined."

"You're not the pesky little baby sister anymore," Lily told her. "I guess that's normal with that big of an age difference, though."

"That seems a lot smaller now, and you should see Karl with his new nieces and nephews. He's so great with them, and with all the kids he takes diving too."

"I'm not surprised," Lily said. "The summer he went on tour with us, he was really great with the littlest kids who wanted to meet us. How's the diving going? Did all of the staff stay with him after the last owner moved to Marauders Refuge?"

"One guy decided to move to Marauders Refuge too, but everyone else seem to love working with Karl. His boats are usually completely booked, though I'm not sure how happy I should be about that, since he seems to be especially popular with the younger Witch segment of our guests."

"Like you have anything to worry about," Lily said with a laugh. "We can let Karl tell me all about his job later. How is everything going with your job?"

Daphne was working, so they didn't have too long for lunch, but Lily was happy to have a quick meal as her friend excitedly told her all about how much she loved working on the island, and everything that she was now doing as Gabrielle's second-in-command. When she had to run, Lily went to Kevin and Michael's shop to visit with them for a while, and then decided to pick up something to read, get a large, cold drink, and go lay out on a lounge chair by the pool for the hour or two she had left before her parents and Kira would be arriving from Peru.

Back home, it was a work weekend for Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Al, and Carolyn. Scorpius was busy preparing for the conference in Brazil that was starting on Tuesday, so Brianna had brought work home with her too, and they'd both spent most of the day on Saturday at the desks in their office. With Hallowe'en now just under three weeks away, Allie was busy keeping up with the usual issues surrounding seasonal products – manufacturing, distribution, and sales problems that always needed quick solutions to keep everything running properly. Nick had two project deadlines by the end of October, and since Allie was busy anyway, he played with his designs for most of the day while she worked.

Carolyn had brought work home with her too, or more specifically, worked on her BusinessMagic system at her desk in their office all day after she and Al had enjoyed sleeping in late on Saturday morning. Al had worked around the house part of that time, and made lunch and dinner for them, then joined her in the office in the evening. He'd turned on the BusinessMagic system on his own desk, and read the file on the case he'd be one of the judges for this week, and then idly sifted through the data on the Knights, which was something he did fairly often.

He'd reached into one of his desk drawers to get his VirtualQuill and some parchment so he could make a copy of a page he'd been working on, and nearly created that report on the Marauders Map.

"What's so funny?" Carolyn asked when she heard him laugh softly.

"I nearly used the Marauders Map as parchment for what I was going to print just now," he explained. "I haven't used this in quite a while." He pulled out his wand and said – "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," and watched as the map appeared. "Let's see if our friends are actually studying like they should be, or are off playing somewhere."

He scanned the map until he found the classroom the Marauders had been using for years now as their study room, and smiled. "Yep, there's definitely a room full there," he told Carolyn. His smile faded, though, when he saw one name that he hadn't expected to see there. "That's strange," he said to himself.

"What is?" Carolyn asked. When she saw the look of concern on his face, she got up and walked over to his desk, even as he was answering her.

"The map is showing Malcolm Bletchley in the classroom with everyone else," he answered, checking again to make sure that Malcolm wasn't just in a neighbouring room.

Carolyn put her arms around Al, and looked over his shoulder. "Why on earth would he be working with them?"

"I'm not sure that he is," Al told her. He pointed to several spots in the room with his wand - "See? There seems to be four little groups where they're all working, and he's off over there at the side of the room."

"What do you think he's doing, Al?"

"Something I should have probably been looking out for," he answered. "It seems that the Knights have put eyes and ears on our friends."

Carolyn hugged Al. "Do you think he's found out that they're TNM?"

Al shook his head. "I don't know for sure, but I doubt it. Lily told us that they'd decided not to invite all of the new students to join yet, so they wouldn't be talking about any TNM business around them."

"That's true," she agreed, "but for all we know right now, Malcolm could be following them everywhere. What should we do?"

"We'll need to warn them, but before I do that, let's think about this. There could be some advantages to this situation, now that we know the Knights are watching Hugo and the others."

"You're not worried they could be in danger?" Carolyn asked, and Al shook his head.

"Not at all – at least not once they know about him lurking around. Malcolm's a magical featherweight."

Carolyn laughed. "Compared to you, that statement would apply to just about all but two other Witches and Wizards, Al, and the last time you had any dealings with him was over two years ago. He may have learned a lot since then."

"I'm sure he has, honey," Al agreed, "but he couldn't have gotten any more natural ability than he had then, and I'm sure that Hugo, Emily, and the rest of the Marauders can take care of themselves, and protect our younger friends if needed. Since he's skulking around and spying on them, it's more likely that the Knights aren't looking to hurt them anyway. They're looking for information."

"Skulking and spying?" Carolyn repeated. "I thought you said it was 'tracking and surveillance'."

Al laughed. "That's what it's called when the good guys are doing it. The bad guys do the skulking and spying."

Carolyn hugged him again, and laughed too. "So how do you think this can be used to your advantage?"

"Well, if it's information they want, we could certainly give them lots of that," Al suggested.

"The only problem is that we don't know what information they're looking for. Well, maybe two problems. Malcolm's only fifteen, Al. What if he's in a situation like Scorpius' father was back when Mum and Dad were at school? He could have no choice about what he's doing, and it's possible we could put him at risk by passing on misinformation to the Knights through him."

"Those are good points," Al agreed, his mind racing. "They can't do anything to Malcolm while he's in school, so if we did start passing him information, we'd have to make sure that some of it was accurate, and about things that actually happen before he goes home for the Christmas holidays, and that anything else we feed him couldn't be verified by them at all, or not until after he's back within the safety of Hogwarts."

"That should protect him," Carolyn agreed. "I do think if we can help him more than that, though, we should try. Just imagine how different things might have been if Draco could have been helped out of his situation."

Al nodded. "I agree, but coming out and offering to help him could be even riskier for him if the Knights find out. It could be a bigger problem if they think we're on to them, and force them to act before I know what they're doing. We'll need to be very careful with this."

"Why don't you give Kieran a call on his ViComm, and get him to finish their study session early enough before curfew to have just him, Hugo, Emily, Frederica, Liam, and maybe Colin meet in Emily's office so you can talk with them," Carolyn suggested. "You'd have to tell them at least a little bit about the Knights so they know why they're being watched, but we can keep the others out of the loop on this for now, since they don't all really need to know."

"That sounds like a good way to start," Al said. "I'll do that now."

Carolyn continued watching the map as Al made the ViComm call. He talked out loud so that she could at least hear his end of the conversation.

"Hi, Al," Kieran thought as he answered the call. "Nothing better to do on a Saturday night in the real world than sit around making ViComm calls to your poor friends stuck here in Hogwarts study prison?"

"Actually, Carolyn and I were working, but something came up that I'd like to talk to you and a few of the others about," Al answered. "Could you wrap up your session tonight in time that you could meet up with Hugo, Emily, Frederica, Liam, and Colin in Emily's office?"

"Sure, though we could do that after curfew too, if you want," Kieran answered. "They're all in Gryffindor, and being out after that isn't a problem for the Heads and Prefects. That wouldn't be past your bedtime, would it?"

Al laughed. "No, that's not past my bedtime, and will be better anyway. Send me a qm when you're all ready, and we can meet in VirtualChat to talk."

"Okay, Al. We'll talk to you again in a couple of hours," Kieran said, and a moment later they ended the call.

Al passed on to Carolyn what Kieran had said, and then they both went back to work until it was nearly time for their friends to finish studying for the night. Then, Al watched the map to find out what Malcolm would do after the others left, and was glad to see that he went straight back to Slytherin House, and to what was probably his dorm room. He let Carolyn know that it would be time for their VirtualChat soon, and they went out to the Great Room, got themselves glasses of wine, and then snuggled close on a sofa. Kieran sent Al the QuillMessage, and then he and Carolyn both loaded the VirtualChat program. There were already six other avatars there when they arrived, so their avatars joined the others by sitting down on the remaining empty virtual sofa.

"Thanks for getting together," Al told his cousins and friends.

"You're welcome," Kieran told him. "What's up?"

"While we were working in our office tonight, I was getting some parchment out of a drawer, and pulled out the Marauders Map," Al told them. "I joked with Carolyn that I should see if you all were actually studying tonight, and when I checked, found a little surprise."

"You were surprised that we actually were studying?" Hugo asked with a laugh.

"No, I was surprised that Malcolm Bletchley was in the room with you," Al answered, and then laughed when the other avatars all had comical-looking expressions that apparently were supposed to indicate shock.

"I fail to see the funny part of that," Frederica told him, and Al laughed again.

"Sorry, Frederica. I was just laughing at the expressions on your avatars, not about the topic."

"Why on earth would he be in our classroom spying on us?" Emily asked Al.

"To explain that," Al told her, "I'll have to start by telling you a little about an investigation I've been working on, and you'll need to make sure you don't tell anyone else what I've told you without clearing it with me first, though you can talk with Lily about it, Kieran, since she already knows most of this." He waited until he got six virtual nods, and then continued.

"There is a group that call themselves 'the Knights' that was started by a bunch of former Death Eaters. We've been investigating them for over a year now, and are trying to discover what they're all about. Since Malcolm is watching you, I suspect that he's now a member of the Knights, and they're looking to get information of some kind from spying on you – probably about our family."

"That was probably Malcolm following us on the train," Frederica suggested, then explained to Al and Carolyn what she was talking about when Sarah had caught someone following them from the Prefect car on the trip to Hogwarts.

"Catching him like that probably means that he isn't trying to follow you around school," Al said thoughtfully. "Finding a hiding place in your study classroom was probably what he came up with to do instead of trying to follow you once he realized that you could detect his Shield Charm. Don't let him see that you're watching him, but you'll probably find that he leaves before everyone after dinner, and he'll be the last one to get to meals after your study sessions."

"I'll do that," Colin offered. "If he's watching your family, then he's probably ignoring me, and focusing on Hugo, Frederica, and possibly Kieran. Emily and Liam might not get noticed as much either, but I'm not as sure about that."

"That should work," Al agreed. "Now that we know the Knights are watching you, I think it gives us an opportunity to pass on information that we want them to have, while making sure that they don't get anything they do want to know. Carolyn's also suggested that Malcolm could be in a situation like Scorpius' father was in back during the war. This won't be as easy for you, and we certainly don't want to put him at risk, but keep your eyes open for any chances you might have to help him without getting him in trouble."

"You want us to help him?" Frederica asked incredulously.

"From what we've all been told, Draco Malfoy was a lot worse than Malcolm," Carolyn told her. "There could be a lot of reasons that Malcolm is doing this - he may not have any choice."

"That would explain why he's seemed different this year," Colin suggested. "He's been quieter since Dirk, and the other older boys all graduated over the last couple of years, but he's really been something of a loner around school."

Frederica sighed. "All right, you guys win. We can see if there are any ways to help him – but if we find out he's just plain bad, I call first hex."

"Okay, Al," Kieran said, "What kind of information do you want us to start giving him?" Al had been thinking about that for the past couple of hours, and had come up with a couple of things to start with.

"We want to build some trust first," Al told them. "Let's start with dropping names of who will be at the Gryffindor-Slytherin game, and include Carolyn and I in that list. It's something that Malcolm will probably find interesting enough to pass on, and that he can verify at the game. At work, my investigation of the Knights is being covered with the story that I'm working on cold cases, so you could push that news too."

"You mean you didn't capture that serial killer?" Colin asked, and Al laughed.

"Oh, I caught him too, but if I was actually working on those cases full time, it wouldn't have taken months to solve. Right now, the cold case I'm concentrating on is from about fifteen years ago. A Wizard named Padrick MacKenzie was murdered, apparently in a robbery. If you mention something about me working long hours on that, it'll corroborate what they're probably hearing from their sources at the Ministry of Magic."

"We should probably be worried," Liam said, "but I think this is exciting. Do we get Junior Auror badges or anything?"

Al laughed again. "Sorry, mate. You're welcome to apply to join when you graduate, though, if you decide to change your mind about professional Quidditch."

"Thanks, Al, but that isn't going to happen," Liam told him. "Anything else for now?"

"No. Try not to do anything to give away the fact that you know he's watching you. I'll keep an eye on him through the Marauders Map, and keep you posted if I find out anything new. I'm nearly positive that Malcolm isn't looking to hurt anyone, but be careful anyway, and watch your backs."

"We will," Kieran promised. "Thanks for finding out about this, Al. If we hadn't known we were being watched, eventually Malcolm might have found out about TNM, or other things we wouldn't want him to know."

Al's avatar nodded. "You're welcome, Kieran. Have a good night, guys. If you need me for anything, I'm just a call away."

They ended the VirtualChat, and while Al and Carolyn cleaned up and then went to bed, Kieran returned to his quarters, got ready for bed, and made his bedtime call to Lily.

"I thought you would have called earlier," she told him after answering the call. "Tough day?"

"Actually, I thought it was going brilliantly until I had to leave you in Hogsmeade and come back here. Then it was pretty much all studying after that. I'm late because Al wanted to have a VirtualChat with Hugo, Emily, Frederica, Liam, Colin, and I. It seems that our study group has had an extra member we didn't know about, and he found out about it tonight when he was taking a look at the Marauders Map. Malcolm Bletchley has been hiding in our study classroom and watching us."

"Which means the Knights have taken an interest in you," Lily concluded, and Kieran nodded.

"Al seems to be thinking that it's Hugo and Frederica they're watching, and possibly me, Emily, and Liam to a lesser degree."

"Knowing Al, he wouldn't want you to out Malcolm and tip the Knights off that he knows about them, so is he going to have you feed Malcolm information instead?"

"Why didn't you say 'hi' if you were in the VirtualChat with us," Kieran joked. "Were you hiding under a virtual invisibility cloak? Yes, and Carolyn thinks we should be open to any chances we might get to help Malcolm without getting him into trouble."

"She might be right," Lily told him. "If he's in deep with the Knights, he's probably scared half to death."

"Then we should probably give him some information that will put him in the good graces of those Knights," Kieran said, and Lily nodded.

"That's a start," she agreed.

They didn't talk for too long, since Kieran was pretty tired, but he did have Lily tell him all about how the rest of her day had gone, and what she, Harry, Ginny, and Kira had been doing while he'd been studying. They'd ended the call with the usual verbal hugs and kisses, and then he'd gone to bed, while she'd returned to playing with Kira and her parents as they had an evening snack at the kid's ice cream bar and play centre.

On Sunday morning, Malcolm reluctantly braced himself for another brutally long day cooped up in his hiding spot, finished breakfast early, and left the Great Hall for the classroom prison he'd made for himself completely unaware that his departure had been watched by Colin Creevey. He'd been stuck listening to the babble of thirty students as they studied for hours, and was looking forward to getting to go for lunch soon when Liam finally started a conversation that actually gave him something interesting to hear.

"The trial for that Bigston guy that Al caught is coming up a week from tomorrow," Liam told the others as they worked. "The news was finally moving on from the case, and now it'll be in the headlines again. I wonder if he's been taking a break for a while after all of that."

Frederica laughed. "I'd say so," she answered. "A 'rest of his life' kind of break."

Liam and several others laughed too. "I meant Al," he amended. "He probably put a lot of time into the case to find the guy after so many years."

"Lily said he was right back at it the Monday after Bigston was sent to Azkaban to wait for his trial," Kieran told Liam. "He's trying to find out who robbed and murdered some guy named MacKenzie about fifteen years ago. Lily said he's got other cold cases too, but that's the main one he's concentrating on right now."

"Scorpius is one of the judges on the tribunal for that case," Emily told everyone. "I wouldn't' want to have to do that job – having to hear every detail about all of those Witches he murdered." She shuddered at the thought, and Hugo hugged her, mostly because it was such a brilliant touch to the little scene they were putting on for Malcolm.

It was very effective too, as Malcolm was completely sucked in, and really happy to finally have something worthwhile to tell Dirk later that night on their call. Nothing else might be working for him, but at least this would please the Lord Commander. He was in a much better mood during lunch, and wasn't feeling sorry for himself at all when he went back to his hiding spot to spend a long afternoon listening in on Hugo and Frederica. It was another boring session, with all of them concentrating on their assignments, and by dinnertime, Malcolm's enthusiasm had worn off again as boredom and fatigue set in.

When he was alone in the classroom, Malcolm left his hiding spot, and took several minutes to stretch and unwind from the hours of inactivity, then left to go for a washroom break before going to the Great Hall for dinner. He was a lot more reluctant about returning to the classroom for the Sunday evening study session, but hoped that they were all nearly finished for the weekend. He liked the weekends they all took Sunday off a lot more than when they wasted their Saturdays with Hogsmeade days or watching Canons Quidditch. With most of his own assignments left to do, it was going to be another late night for him when he could finally get to the work.

"Do you realize that we're less than three weeks to our game against Slytherin?" Colin asked. 'Great', Malcolm thought – more talk about Quidditch.

"Yeah, I do," Hugo told him. "Get ready to work even harder, because we're kicking our practices up a notch starting tomorrow, and I'm seriously thinking about adding an extra weekend practice or two if we can fit them in, since you'll probably all want Hallowe'en night off."

"You'll want it off too if TNM does the Haunted Hogwarts again like they have the last few years," Colin answered. "Maybe they'll do that part through the forest again – those giant spiders, and getting thrown by that giant were my favourites."

"Your favourite part was Nadine holding on to you for dear life," Lance told him. "I can hardly wait for game day, though. Mum's coming to watch, and it's the only chance I'll get to see her before Christmas Holidays. Are you're parents coming, Colin?"

"My Mum is too," Colin told him, "but the Canons are playing, so Dad can't." Malcolm's attention had been wandering, but Lance's comment, and Colin's answer had brought him right back into focus. "Your Dad will have to miss the game too, Hugo, but is anyone else coming, or will they all be at the game?"

"Actually, I think we'll have a pretty good turnout," Hugo answered. "Mum's coming for sure, and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny are coming, though they might have to leave early if the game goes too long. Lily will be here to see Kieran for sure, and Al and Carolyn are coming."

"That should be fun watching Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny," Vanessa said. "Will they cheer for Gryffindor, or for Jason and Slytherin?"

"Your Mums and Dads must be coming too, aren't they?" Hugo asked Frederica and Liam, who both nodded.

"They are," Frederica told Hugo. "That's everyone I've heard is going to be there, though. Now that the others have graduated, and Kieran's not playing this year, we're not going to have quite as many parents coming to the games as we used to get."

"My Mum and Dad may still come to a game or two," Kieran told them. "They're busy that weekend, though, and I don't expect to see them at the winter games either."

"Newsflash," Liam joked, "Uncle Kirley and Aunt Ana are fair-weather only Quidditch fans."

Kieran laughed. "Maybe that's why he went into music – it's always warm in the concert spotlights."

Malcolm let his mind wander again as the conversation moved on, and Hugo and the others got back to concentrating on their studies. Knowing that a bunch of Potters and Weasleys would be at the game in three weeks could be important, but he was puzzled by why Harry and Ginny Potter would be cheering for Jason in Slytherin. He'd known that Jason had made the team, saw him in classes and around the Slytherin Common Room, usually hanging around with Millie, Sarah, and the other two new kids from that Academy place. He was part of this group too, but Malcolm had never talked to the other boy even once since the start of school, and knew pretty much nothing else about him. He'd see what Dirk thought about that too.

When the study session was over, while everyone else was returning to their Common Rooms or going to spend the little bit of time they had left before curfew with their respective boyfriends or girlfriends, Kieran went back to his quarters and gave Al a quick call.

"We passed on the information you suggested," he told Al. "Colin said Malcolm looked pretty happy at lunch after we talked about your cold case in the morning, and then we waited until after dinner to talk about who was coming to the game in three weeks. You don't think we did that too soon, do you?"

Al shook his head. "That's perfect, Kieran. If you, or maybe Sarah can get me Malcolm's class schedule and send me a qm with the details, that will make it easier for me to know when I should be looking for him on the Marauders Map."

"Got it. Anything else?" Kieran asked.

"Not for right now. Just carry on as normally. We may not try to pass on anything else until after the Gryffindor-Slytherin game, but if that changes, I'll let you know."

"Sounds good," Kieran said with a nod. "I've got a call with Lily soon, so I'll let you go. Give Carolyn a hug for me."

Al promised to do that, and they ended the call. While Kieran was getting ready for bed, and his call with Lily, Malcolm was taking his weekly call from Dirk Avery.

"You sound excited," Dirk commented when he heard Malcolm's voice. "What's got you so fired up?"

Malcolm told Dirk everything he'd heard about Al's work, and the guests coming to the Quidditch match on the first of November, and was glad to see that Dirk thought it was important news too.

"What do you think about what the one orphan girl said about Harry and Ginny Potter cheering for Jason and Slytherin?" he asked Dirk when he was done.

"I'm not sure," Dirk told him. "See if you can find out, but it's probably just because he's one of those child abuse kids they supposedly help. If Lord Chernobog has any instructions for you at tomorrow's meeting, I'll let you know. Anything new with the other things you're working on?"

"Not good news," Malcolm answered. "I can't find any way to get access to that secret passage between the Room of Requirements and the Hogs Head Tavern. It's either gone now, or too well protected. I'm going to start looking for the next one tomorrow."

"Well, at least you've gotten something worthwhile from watching those two Weasleys," Dirk said. "If Lord Chernobog doesn't have any new instructions, I'll talk to you at our next regular call." Malcolm had been feeling pretty good until after the call with Dirk, but after getting started on his homework, it wasn't long before he ran out of steam, and he fell asleep with his assignments unfinished.

Lord Chernobog could care less about Malcolm Bletchley's homework assignments, but he had been pleased with Dirk's report on what Malcolm had learned from the Weasleys on the weekend, which had been a huge relief for Dirk, since he hadn't been bringing very much good news to these meetings.

"Now we know that Peasegood's information is good," he told his Knights. "Potter is busy spinning his wheels on a bunch of old cases that nobody cares about. This news about all of the family members who are going to be at Hogwarts for that Quidditch game could be very useful too. I want Malcolm to be at that game and watch them. If we can reliably know where they're all going to be at certain times, that could be exactly the information we need. Tell him not to worry about that Jason kid. The girl was probably just trying to make the boy feel better. They're always big on that sickeningly sweet crap. They all love their little white lies to make each other feel good."

"That's probably the only way they can hide from the truth about their pathetic, unworthy lives," Gwen suggested, and smiled when her Lord laughed.

"You're exactly right," he agreed. "Now, Let's get on with our meeting. Nott, Bulstrode, keep the good news coming, and tell us that things are improving with all of our other groups."

Terrance and Byron did just that, helping to continue improving Lord Chernobog's mood, and the rest of the Knights all seemed to get the message that it was time to get on the good news bandwagon and keep their Lord Commander in his current good mood.

Al was already loaded down with working on tracking down all of the members of the Knights around the world, handling a half-dozen cold cases, and now had to fit in keeping an eye on a previously suspected, but now newly confirmed member of the Knights who was watching his friends and family at Hogwarts. On Monday morning, he had been on the road early again – long before the Knights started their meeting, and this week, it was Uganda that he was starting with, and he was hoping that even with the trial on Wednesday, he'd get done with that office, and move on to surveillance of the Knight's office in Hondouras too.

Rose and Matt were home this week, and had five days off between the trip they had just finished in Egypt, and the two weeks they'd be spending in Brazil starting on Saturday. When they were home like this, it was always busy as they got everything ready for their next tour, worked on sales for future trips, and with trying to spend some time with their family and friends. They had dinner with his parents on Monday, her parents on Tuesday, and were over for dinner on Friday night at Grimmauld Place with Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Al, and Carolyn.

"Where should we start with catching up tonight?" Rose asked. "There's been a lot going on this week."

"Let's start with Scorpius and Brianna," Carolyn suggested. "Was the Ministry buzzing with you making the TeenWitch hottest couples list again today? I loved that dress you were wearing to the reception Tuesday night in Brazil, Brianna."

"Thanks, and no, it's not that big of a deal anymore," Brianna told her. "I love those parties, but dealing with the time change, and still having to go to work in the morning wasn't much fun. I was getting up at three in the morning in Brazil to get ready, and we didn't get to sleep until after one both Tuesday and Wednesday night. I went to bed right after dinner last night and slept for twelve hours."

"How'd the conference itself go, Scorpius?" Matt asked. "Did you get a lot accomplished?"

Scorpius nodded. "We got everything passed that we were trying to get done. This time there really wasn't very much that wasn't all worked out ahead of time already. Getting everyone together like that from all over the Wizarding World does help a lot when it comes time to negotiate in the back rooms the rest of the year, but we don't really need these big conferences for anything more than that and to put on a show for the media."

"That is half of politics, mate," Nick said with a laugh. "You'll be wishing you were at a conference instead of sitting through the trial next week, though," he added more seriously.

"Don't remind me," Scorpius told him. "I'm really glad that Al is catching so many of the bad guys, but some of the things these Witches and Wizards have done is horrid."

"Well, I didn't catch any bad guys this week," Al said. "I would have traded cases so you could have done the theft case I had this week, but that wasn't an option this time."

"I appreciate that, Al, and I'll get through it, but I'm never going to like that part of being an Elder. What was the verdict in your case?"

Al laughed. "The defendant wasn't very bright, mate. He actually volunteered to take Veritaserum, and thought he was a strong enough Wizard to beat it. He was wrong, and confessed to that crime, and was still making confessions when the hit squad team took him away – starting with a bag of sweets he stole from Honeydukes in third year at Hogwarts."

The four couples spent a fun evening together, and the Kreacher and Winky dinner was as wonderful as always. Since Rose and Matt had to finish getting ready for their trip in the morning, they left by around ten, while Nick, Allie, Al, and Carolyn all ended up staying and talking with Scorpius and Brianna until well after midnight before going home too.

At Hogwarts, TNM and friends were again going to try for another Sunday off, even with watching the Canons road game against the Bats. They worked right until curfew on Friday night, and all morning on Saturday. They met in Kieran's office after lunch, and the Canons helped them out with their plans for a Sunday off by winning the game over the Ballycastle Bats in under an hour. That allowed Kieran and the others to pack up early, and get back to their studies again. By nine o'clock on Saturday night, they were done all of the work, and most of them were going to get to take the entire day off on Sunday.

'Most of them' did not include the Gryffindor Quidditch players. Hugo called a morning practice, and worked the whole team hard for three hours before they were given the rest of the day off to go have fun with their friends. Malcolm wasn't taking any playtime on the weekend, and he'd been busy all day on Saturday, between watching the Weasleys in the morning and evening, and working on his search for secret passages in the afternoon. He'd done that again on Sunday, finally finding one that he was looking for only to find out that the passage was collapsed just like the one under the Whomping Willow tree.

That had been really frustrating, since he'd spent hours every afternoon after classes, and all of the additional hours on the weekend, searching the halls, looking behind every mirror and tapestry, and doing it without being seen before finally finding the passage behind a mirror on the fourth floor, only to find that the passage only went a short way before it was completely blocked.

Al had been keeping an eye on Malcolm while he'd been doing his surveillance during the week, and had puzzled over what the young Wizard had been doing seeming to be aimlessly, and slowly wandering the school. When Malcolm had gone into the wall between rooms on the fourth floor on Sunday afternoon, Al understood exactly what the boy was doing – searching for the secret passages.

"He's looking for a way into the school," Al said aloud, talking to himself as he closed the map, thinking hard.

"What was that?" Carolyn asked, looking up from what she was working at on her BusinessMagic system.

"Malcolm is looking for the secret passages at Hogwarts. He's supposed to find a way past the school defences for the Knights."

"That doesn't sound good. They've all been destroyed or protected, haven't they?"

"Yes they have been," Al answered, "and the defences are beyond anything the Knights could even imagine, but they wouldn't know that. What I need to figure out is why they want a way into the school."

"Or out," Carolyn suggested. "It could be in, or there could be something or someone they want to get out of the school without getting caught."

Al nodded. "You're right. I wasn't thinking about that, and it is a possibility to consider."

Carolyn looked at the clock on the wall, reached out to turn her BusinessMagic system off, and stood up. "Come on, honey. You can work on that puzzle later. Right now, we have to get going to the Cottage, or we'll be late for dinner with Mum, Dad, and Lily."

Al straightened his desk first, and then they went over to the cottage, but working on the puzzle became part of the dinner conversation when Lily brought up the subject. After giving them the condensed version of events, they spent some time discussing the possible reasons that the Knights were interested in Hogwarts, but didn't come to any conclusions.

"Let him search all he wants," Harry suggested. "I'm positive that there is no way to breach my protections, and even if they could, there's one more protection that only a very few of us know about – no person or creature can be seriously harmed by magic anywhere within the boundaries of the school grounds." Carolyn looked surprised, but Al and Lily were both nodding.

"The old magic from your sacrifice still protects the school?" Lily asked, but it was a question she already knew the answer to.

"It does, though I have a theory that it was all of the sacrifices during the battle that made it such a strong protection," Harry told them.

"Wouldn't that mean they were protected too?" Carolyn asked, and then shook her head. "Never mind, that's not right – your protection didn't extend to Belatrix Lestrange or Lord Voldemort, and it wouldn't in this case either, would it?"

"That's right," Harry agreed. "Good for you. For lack of a better way of putting it, the magic only protects anyone on the side of light."

"Then the best course for now is to let Malcolm fumble around, and I'll keep working on discovering everything I can about the Knights," Al decided, and everyone else nodded their agreement.

Al wasn't going to be out on surveillance on Monday, since he was both on guard duty for Murphy Bigston's trial, and on-call as a witness. Even though he didn't need to get up early for work, he and Carolyn hadn't stayed at the Cottage for very long after dinner. They had gone home, taken a nice long swim together, enjoyed a little clothing-optional entertainment, and then snuggled close and gone to sleep. Al had made breakfast for them in the morning, and then met Patrick at the ferry for Azkaban, gone over to pick up Bigston, and brought him back to the Ministry of Magic for his trial.

Normally, a murder trial like this would take a lot longer, but Bigston's detailed confession and the evidence, which had included 'souvenirs' frpm each crime that had been found in his house, didn't take long to present, and there wasn't much that the defence council could refute, so by late afternoon, Scorpius, and the other two Elders on the tribunal had unanimously found the man guilty on all charges, and sentenced him to life in Azkaban. Al and Patrick escorted Bigston back to prison, then Al went straight home, and made dinner for two, since he didn't expect to get the chance to do that for Carolyn during the rest of the week.

While Al spent the rest of his week working stakeouts at the Knight's offices in Togo and El Salvador, at Hogwarts, TNM and their friends were getting even busier. There was less than two weeks to Hallowe'en and the Gryffindor-Slytherin game, so the members of TNM were all working on the Haunted Hogwarts, but had to do that when their other friends weren't around. Jason was the only Slytherin player in the group, but six out of seven of the Gryffindor Qudditch team members were part of the group, and busy with longer, tougher practices every day after classes. Add to that a Hogsmeade weekend that was just days away, and it seemed like everyone was going full speed from the time they got up in the morning until they fell asleep at night.

Though the week seemed nearly endless for Kieran, Saturday did finally arrive, and when they could leave for Hogsmeade, he was among the first group leaving, and when he reached Lily at the gates, he picked her up and swung her around even as she was kissing him in welcome. They both ignored the catcalls and whistles of a few of the passing Witches and Wizards, but broke it up when Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah stopped to wait for them.

"This should be a fun morning," Lily said as they started walking to town. "It will be my first time finding out what it is the boys do on the days the girls are gone on their SpaMagic mornings."

Hugo laughed. "Then get ready to work, because this is a weekend before Hallowe'en Hogsmeade day, and the best shoppers are all going to be at SpaMagic. We just run around trying to get everything done before it's time to pick the girls up and take them for lunch."

"Then you should be happy to have one of the world's premier shoppers to help you today," Emily told him. "You'll probably be done in half the time."

That didn't end up being the case, but they did get all of the shopping done, and have time to get flowers for the girls before meeting them outside of SpaMagic. Lily and Kieran had helped with all of the shopping, and then left Hugo and Joel when they went to meet Emily and Sarah, going to Al's house instead.

"Where did you send Glenda and the others today?" Kieran asked as they started to make lunch for themselves. "There isn't a Canons game or Broom Race this weekend."

"They're spending the day sightseeing and shopping in Italy today," Lily told him. "Speaking of travelling, our Mums were asking me about what we wanted to do for our honeymoon. For some reason they want to know how long we're going to take, and where we're going so they can work on our tour schedule."

"I suppose that means that taking five years is out of the question," Kieran joked, and Lily hugged him.

"That would be brilliant, but no, it is not an option," she agreed.

"You know that other than the Marauders resorts, and our family island, there isn't really anyplace we can go that the media won't chase us, right?" Kieran asked, and Lily nodded.

"Then I'd pick our own island, for as long as they'll let us go there for. A month off would be nice if you can talk them into it, but if we can only have two weeks, then I guess we can take some more time after school starts again a year from now."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Lily said, hugging him again, and adding a kiss. "I'll see what your Mum and Laura think about us taking a month off, but that'd be five weeks including the week before the wedding, and they may not think that's very good for business."

"Probably not, and once we're done school, it may not be long before it's time to re-invent SpellBound anyway."

Lily laughed. "Still considering being the headliners at one of the duelling piano bars?"

"We could be happy doing that, but no. I think we'll find other more exciting projects," Kieran answered seriously. "How is everything coming along with the wedding planning?"

"They're way ahead of schedule," Lily told him. "Invitations will go out the first week of November, and since our parents have hired the same companies who worked on some of the other weddings and parties, the only thing you and I will still need to deal with is tuxes and dresses for ourselves and the wedding party. The rest of the work will be done for us."

"That sounds great," Kieran said. "By June, I'm probably not going to want to even hear the word 'work' for a while."

"You'll be thinking that by the time you get through Hallowe'en," Lily told him.

"Thanks for reminding me," Kieran said. He went over to his bag and pulled out a miniature car from the Haunted Hogwarts ride. "This one wasn't working right when we tested it," he explained, handing it to her. "We can run without it if needed, but Colin thought that maybe you or James could figure out why it's not working right."

"What's it doing?" Lily asked as she looked it over.

"Going upside down instead of just down on the drops," Kieran answered. "I doubt TNM would get good reviews for the ride this year if we had injuries."

Lily nodded and put it on the counter. "We'll take a look at it, and if we can fix it, I'll send it back to you by Owl Post in one of my undetectable expansion cases."

They had lunch, cleaned up, and then spent a brilliant afternoon together that was about ninety percent snogging and ten percent talking. When Kieran walked through the gates onto the school grounds, Lily apparated to Al and Carolyn's house, and let them cheer her up with a dinner and a movie night, and a late night swim. After that, she went back home, had her bedtime chat with Kieran, cuddled with Fluffy, and went to sleep. Saying goodbye to Kieran wasn't as hard this time, because it was only going to be a week before they'd be together again, even if only for a few hours while watching the Gryffindor-Slytherin game.

Sunday was another one of those lazy days, though for Al and Carolyn, it had actually been a lazy weekend, since they'd both agreed not to bring any work home at all. The last week of October was busy for both of them. Since Al was going to help out with the Haunted Academy on Friday, he worked even harder from Monday to Thursday, finding all of the Knights, and completely going through both of the Knight's offices in South Africa and Panama, and then on Friday, he worked on the MacKenzie murder case, which was getting close to being solved.

For Carolyn, she was working full time on business with Marauders Institute, and would keep doing that at least until Christmas. She loved working with Mandy, Luna, and everyone else at the Institute, but it was eye opening to see just how much went into having a successful Christmas shopping season, and just how important that was to the success of PBP Investments.

"Your father is a genius, did you know that?" she told Al one night.

"Our father, and yes, I did know that – even though he really doesn't think so. Is there some specific reason why you're saying that now?"

Carolyn nodded. "The whole Christmas business cycle is critical to us, and Dad put Bonus Day smack in the middle of it. Everyone's fired up and working hard in the months leading up to it, wanting to help make those bonuses even better, and after getting them, they're even more fired up and working hard all the way through Christmas and into the New Year. I don't know if that extra productivity has ever been measured, but it must have a big impact."

"You should ask him sometime, but I'm not sure that even crossed his mind," Al told her. "I think he just didn't like having such lousy Christmases when he was living with his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, and wanted o make sure that everyone working for him had some extra money to spend around the holidays. I doubt that he'd even dreamed about how big the company would get, since when he set that up, it was just his six account managers who had those bonuses."

"I'll do that sometime," Carolyn promised. "I'm still pretty sure he knew what effect the bonuses would have, even if he didn't know just how huge his investments would become."

At Hogwarts, the members of TNM and their friends were taking Friday off from studying and Quidditch. Hugo had his team do a shorter practice on Sunday, and worked them hard all week. After dinner, they'd study until they were ready to drop, and everyone was ready for a fun day on Hallowe'en.

Malcolm was more than ready to have a day away from watching Hugo and Frederica too. This close to the game, all they wanted to talk about was Quidditch whenever they weren't talking about their homework assignments. He'd also been spending long hours under cover of his invisibility charm at the entrance to the DADA classroom, trying to find a way to get into the secret passage that was supposed to be under the statue of the one-eyed Witch there. It was supposed to lead to the cellar at Honeydukes, but the password he'd been given – 'Dissendium' – didn't work, and nothing he tried would either move the statue, or open the hidden door.

On Friday night, though, he could at least forget about the problems he was having, and have a little fun. There were Hallowe'en wheezes to enjoy, the feast, and while he and some of the other ex-bullies might not like TNM because of their successful efforts to end bullying at school, they couldn't deny that the Haunted Hallowe'en Adventure was brilliant.

He and some of his roommates had hurried to the front of the line after the lights had gone out in the Great Hall, and the announcement had been made, and hadn't waited long until it was their turn to go on the ride. Malcolm was yelling and laughing right along with the other boys as they went on the twenty minute adrenaline rush through some of the favourite parts of previous rides, and all-new additions that was highlighted by a trip through a very real-looking dragon reserve in the Room of Requirements. There, they watched dragons fight, where chased by them, hit by phantom dragon fire, had the car they were riding in grabbed by one of the dragons, flown around, and dropped from a dizzying height before swooping back out into the hallway and continuing on the incredible adventure.

Malcolm and his friends went on the ride three more times, and when they got back from their last ride, their car disappeared when they got out, so they knew the adventure was over for another year, and went to the Slytherin Common Room, where their House Hallowe'en party was going on.

For Aiden and the ten new students from the Academy, the Haunted Hogwarts Adventure was all new, and as much fun as any ride they'd been on at the Atrium amusement park in Paris, or at Marauders Paradise or Refuge. Their TNM friends had put it together, but it was just as much fun for them, and they especially loved getting to share the experience with their new friends. They all went on the ride at least twice, while Aiden and some of the other first and second year students went a third time.

Since not all of the couples could be together if they went to their respective House parties, Kieran had given up his office for any couples or friends who wanted to get together there until the curfew that had been set for twelve-thirty, while he joined the party in the Hufflepuff Common Room. Joel and Sarah were the first to take him up on that offer, and Cassandra and Violet, Brian and Amy, Millie, Emily, and Lenny and Alice joined them as they finished going on the ride, or saying goodnight to their Quidditch player boyfriends who had orders to be in bed early. They sat back with snacks and drinks and watched a Hallowe'en movie together, while the parties went on in the school Common Rooms, and in many places outside of school.

The Haunted Academy had been another big success too, and the fourteen newest students had really loved doing that for their first time. Al, Arianna, and Aaron had needed to leave before the dance started, since Arianna and Aaron had game night curfew, and Al had the Institute party, but Lily, James, and Tracey stayed to help chaperone the dance. Lily was out dancing more than she was sitting down with the other chaperones, sometimes going to get one of the boys up dancing, and a few times getting asked to dance. She was sure that Nicodemus was a much more confident young Wizard when he was one of the boys who did ask her to dance.

"I'm not going to have to worry about your fiancée coming looking for me, will I?" he joked as they danced, and Lily laughed.

"I think you're safe from him, though Becky might have something to say about you dancing with other Witches."

Nick laughed too. "If she's mad at me, she must have gotten over it, since she's over asking your brother to dance."

"Then I guess you don't have to worry about anything," Lily told him. "You've come a long way in the last couple of months. Are you happy?"

"Yes," he answered. "Sometimes it's hard to believe just how much better everything is now. I've learned more in the last couple of months than I learned in the last two years."

"Good for you, Nick," Lily said, hugging him. They finished the song they'd started, and then James cut in, and Nick and Becky danced off while James danced with Lily.

"They're like two different kids now," James commented as he watched Nick and Becky dancing. "We did something really special with them."

"Yes, we did," Lily agreed. "Are Nina and Thom an item? I haven't seen her dance with anyone else tonight."

"That's what I've heard. He's only been doing fourth year for two months, so she won't be very far behind him when she's ready to start fourth year in January."

"What time are you going to get out of here?" she asked. "I can probably manage to last until midnight, but then I need to go home and get some sleep. I've got two Quidditch games to go see, and hopefully another victory party tomorrow night."

"That'll be fine," James told her. "I'll be staying until about one, but the under eleven kids will be going to bed at eleven, so maybe you could help with them, and then get out of here. We'll have enough help around until the dance ends at twelve-thirty."

By the time Lily was helping to round up the younger kids at the Academy and put them to bed, the Hallowe'en party at the Emerald City Centre was just revving up. Al and Carolyn had gotten there just as the dance was starting, and they were at a table with Lisa and Marcus, Stewart and Isabelle, and three other younger couples. For the first few hours, they didn't spend much time at their table, since they were up and dancing most of the time, or making the rounds, with Carolyn introducing him to Witches and Wizards he hadn't met before, and catching up with others that he did know from the lab.

The Wizengamot opposition Elders had dumped a Hallowe'en surprise on everyone's desks, probably desperately hoping that Hallowe'en parties, and school and professional Quidditch games would keep Scorpius, Al, and Callie from getting through the stacks of proposals, but even with everything they had going on, that wasn't going to happen. Since Al was going to have to work all weekend on that Wizengamot business, and they also had the Hogwarts Quidditch game to attend, they only stayed at the party until one o'clock, so they could get some sleep before getting to work. They were home, in bed, and doing that long before the party started to wind down after the band stopped playing at two-thirty.

It had still been after midnight, though, and it was officially November when they finished a really great Hallowe'en day. The start of November always meant that it was Quidditch time at Hogwarts. With the first game of the school season being the morning after Hallowe'en, there wouldn't be any time to wind down from one, and get fired up about the other, so the excitement level at Hogwarts was just going to stay high as they switched from one to the other in the span of a few hours.

Quidditch wasn't the only thing happening during the seven weeks that were left until Christmas holidays. Both at Hogwarts, and out in the real world, there was work, play, adventure, excitement, and surprises just waiting to happen. That would all be starting in just a few hours when Gryffindor and Slytherin would take to the air and get November going with a roar.


	133. Game Changers

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three – Game Changers

Hugo had been restless from the moment he woke up on Saturday. This was it – the first game of the Quidditch season, and he was about to find out if he and his team were as good as he thought they were. Spending the summer with the Canons had shifted his perspective on the team. In past years, he'd always compared the team he was on with the teams he'd played on, or against, in the seasons before that. He'd played with Arianna, Aaron, and James, and against players like Rose, Al, Matt, Nick, and Scorpius, but now he realized that he needed to be thinking about how much better the other teams were going to be this year, not about how his team compared to past teams. The game was getting faster, and the players better every year, and he had needed to learn how to get a step ahead of the other teams and players.

The Great Hall had been buzzing with excitement during breakfast, and after eating, Hugo had gone to the Quidditch pitch early to have a little time alone so he could get a handle on that restlessness, and get mentally ready to play. The rest of his team joined him about forty-five minutes before game time, and they all started getting their equipment and robes on, and going over their game plans one last time.

When Harry and Ginny arrived at the gates to Hogwarts with Lily, they were not at all surprised to see Kieran waiting there for them – for her, and Lily was very happy to see him.

"We'll just go on ahead, and you two can catch up with us at the stadium," Ginny told the now hugging and kissing pair. "Don't mind us, we know the way." She and Harry were both chuckling when the only response her comments got was a wave of Lily's hand.

"I wonder if they'll make it to the start of the game?" Harry asked, and Ginny put her arm around him and hugged him.

"If that were you and me, I'd be finding someplace quiet by the lake and missing the entire game."

Harry laughed and kissed her cheek. "Is that an option for us anyway? That sounds like fun."

"It would be," Ginny agreed, "but what would the kids think?"

"James would tell us to get a room, and Al and Lily would think it was brilliant," Harry said confidently. "I guess we really should go watch the kids play, though it was a really great idea."

Lily and Kieran were just starting to walk toward the stadium from the gates when Al and Carolyn came onto the grounds, so they stopped and waited for them.

"Were you late, Lily?" Carolyn asked. "I would have thought you'd be here fifteen minutes ago when the grounds were open to visitors."

"I was," Lily said with a bright smile. "We've been busy since then."

"Good for you," Carolyn approved. "I'm sure the other visitors enjoyed the pre-game entertainment too."

Lily laughed. "Aunt Marietta wanted to know if the Head Boy was going to be welcoming all of the Witches to Hogwarts like that when she and Uncle George went past with the Murrays. From the sounds of the other whistles and laughs we heard from other visitors, I'd say you're probably right."

"How was the Haunted Hogwarts last night?" Al asked Kieran.

"It was another big success," he told Al and Carolyn. "The Room of Requirements section this year was a trip through a dragon reserve, and kids were still talking about that as much as they were talking about Quidditch at breakfast. I'm glad Hallowe'en is over, though. Last week was just a little too busy."

"I'm sure the Gryffindor and Slytherin players are thinking that too," Al said. "Anything else going on around here?"

Kieran shook his head. "Not really. Other than taking yesterday and most of today off, we've been studying our brains out. What's new out there in the real world?"

Al and Carolyn told him what they'd been doing until they reached the stadium, and then it was time to find their family and join in on the welcoming hugs and kisses. From over in the Slytherin section, Al, Carolyn, and the rest of the group were being watched closely. When Harry and Ginny Potter had first entered the stadium, they'd come over to the Slytherin section and spent a few minutes with Sarah, Joel, Millie, Alice, and Lenny.

Malcolm hadn't been very far away from them, and had been able to hear most of the conversation. The other Knights dismissed the relationships between the Potters and the orphans and child abuse kids, but if they actually didn't sincerely care about these students, then Malcolm thought they must be consummate actors. What had disturbed him most, though, was his own reaction to those hugs, kisses, and the genuine-looking display of love.

He was now witnessing more of the same over in the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections, since Harry, Ginny, and the other visitors were sitting where the two sections met, and by the looks of things, most of the Hufflepuff students in their study group had joined them to sit there during the game. Everyone that he'd overheard Hugo and the others say were coming were there, which he was sure would make Dirk happy when he reported the news to him on Sunday night.

While Malcolm was watching his family, Al was sifting through the roar of noise that the surface thoughts of all of the Witches and Wizards in the stadium created for him until he found Malcolm and locked in on his thoughts, while shutting out all of the others like he normally did with everyone. The underlying emotions he was picking up on suggested to him that Carolyn was probably right about Malcolm. If he was fanatically devoted to the Knights, there is no way that the young Wizard would be conflicted like he was while watching the welcome that Al and his family were receiving.

Al made sure that he didn't make any eye contact with Malcolm, or even look over his way, but knew when the boy was focusing on him, because he could sense the fear that Malcolm felt for him. Considering the two confrontations they'd had – the first in the hallway after his confrontation with Frederica and Liam, and the second when he was part of the group that had planned on ambushing Al at the end of his NEWT year – that wasn't at all surprising.

Listening in on Malcolm's surface thoughts while continuing to interact with his own friends and family before and during the game created a rather interesting duality in how he saw what was going on around him. When the two teams were called out into the stadium, there was the excitement and anticipation all around him, while from Malcolm's perspective there was some bitterness that he'd been ordered not to try out for the team by the Knights so he could concentrate on his tasks when he was sure that he could have made the team this season.

While Al's family and friends were cheering for Gryffindor, Malcolm was jeering them along with the other Slytherins, though his thoughts also revealed that his vocal animosity toward Hugo and the rest of the Marauders was more bluster than actual belief. It seemed to Al that the boy's weeks spent spying on his cousin's and friend's study group was making Malcolm re-think how he felt about them.

The two teams met and shook hands at centre pitch, and then the game was quickly started. The pace of the game was furious right from the start, and all of the spectators, including Malcolm were kept busy just trying to watch all of the action as the two teams battled hard. There were a total of twenty-four shots against Hugo and Thomas before Liam scored the first goal of the game at the eighteen-minute mark, and Aiden scored his first goal at the thirty-two minute point in the game.

Thomas was playing his heart out, but as the game continued into the second, then third hour, the constant onslaught of scoring attempts was wearing him down, while he could see that Hugo just seemed to be getting better, and had still not let a goal in, despite facing over one hundred shots from Jason, Samantha, and Eddie.

Harry and Ginny had to leave early, having to host guests for the Canons home game, but Hermione and everyone else stayed to watch the action. Malcolm watched Harry and Ginny leave the stadium, and Al could sense the thought as he remembered that Frederica, Hugo, or someone else had said they might have to leave before the end of the game if it went too long.

At that point in the game, the score had been one hundred and thirty to naught for Gryffindor. The Slytherin team fought on valiantly, but were tiring fast, and as the fourth hour was coming to an end, Liam and Aiden had each scored twice more to bring the score up to one hundred and seventy to naught, and have them more than one hundred and fifty points ahead.

When that happened, and they had the cushion, Colin backed off from continually battling for the snitch, and Darrin, Slytherin's Seeker had no choice but to just defend while Colin waited around to catch the other boy off-guard. That chance came at the five hour, thirty-nine minute mark. Gryffindor had increased their lead to two hundred and twenty points, with Aiden and Lance each scoring one, while Liam scored three more. Darrin had dodged a bludger sent his way by Kevin Keitch, and Colin had taken off after the snitch. By the time Darrin had recovered, it was too late, and Colin had caught the snitch to end the game with a score of three hundred and seventy to naught.

"I should send all of the players on both teams presents," Lily said as they all started getting up to go down to the pitch and congratulate their friends. "Getting to spend more than six hours in total with Kieran is way better than I'd hoped for."

Al was holding hands with Carolyn as they walked to the centre of the stadium with their friends, but his concentration was still divided as he listened in to Malcolm's thoughts. The same mixed emotions were there as he watched Al and the others meeting with Hugo, Frederica, the other Gryffindors, and Jason, Millie, and the other Slytherin members of their group.

"You were brilliant today!" Hermione told Hugo as she hugged him. "You're Dad is going to be so proud when he finds out that you didn't let in a single goal on one hundred and seventy-three shots."

"If Colin hadn't finished the game, I'm not sure that would have been the case much longer, Mum,' Hugo told her. "That was a very long game."

"Yes it was," Lily agreed as she had her turn to hug Hugo. "I really appreciate you doing that for Kieran and me. I'm hoping all of the games are like this one this year."

"If Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are playing as well as Slytherin did today, that wouldn't surprise me at all," Hugo told her.

Lily made quick work going through hugs and kisses for everyone she hadn't been able to meet with before the game, and then she and Kieran left the stadium and took the long way around the school to the gates. Al and Carolyn stayed to visit with everyone a little longer, and then they took the short way out, and headed for Grimmauld Place, where Scorpius and Callie were already working through the stack of proposals, while Brianna and Mark watched the Canons game on QSPN.

"Must've been a good game," Scorpius said when Al and Carolyn joined them in the drawing room. "Who won?"

"Gryffindor," Al told him. "Hugo had a shutout."

"Didn't Slytherin get very many shots on him?" Mark asked as he kept one eye on the Canons game.

"I'd say that one hundred and seventy-three is pretty respectable," Al said with a laugh. "They were playing a great game, but Hugo was unbeatable today."

Carolyn joined Brianna and Mark to watch the Canons beat the Wasps in a three and a half hour game of their own, while Al joined Scorpius and Callie and got to work. They took a short break for a Kreacher and Winky dinner special, and then went back to work until nearly eleven o'clock before calling it a night.

"I'll meet you guys at the office by eight," Callie told Scorpius and Al. Mark's broom race in China was less than three weeks away, so since Callie was going to be working anyway, he was going to train on Sunday. Carolyn and Brianna were going shopping with Lily while the boys were working, so Callie had suggested that they work at the Ministry where they would have fewer distractions.

"We'll be there," Scorpius promised her, and Al nodded.

"What did you learn from Malcolm?" Carolyn asked when she and Al were home and getting ready for bed. She hadn't been able to ask him about that until then, since Scorpius, Brianna, Callie, and Mark did not know about what was going on with the Knights at Hogwarts.

"I learned that you were right about him, though he probably wouldn't admit it to himself yet. He was glad that he was going to be able to report back to the Knights that the information he'd gotten from Hugo and the others had been spot on, and he calls his reports in to Dirk Avery."

"Is Dirk Avery leading the Knights now?" Carolyn tried to picture that possibility, but it just did not seem likely.

Al shook his head. "No. There was another thought later, after the game, about the 'Lord Commander'. I'm pretty sure that this Wizard is someone else. He was afraid of him, while there wasn't any sign of fear when he thought about Dirk."

"Did you find out about anything else he's supposed to do at Hogwarts for the Knights?"

"I think so," Al answered. "When he was thinking about Dirk being happy about confirming what he'd discovered about which members of our family were at the game, he was wishing he had good news about finding the secret passages."

"But we knew that already," Carolyn said, and Al nodded.

"True, but he was thinking about it in terms of finding a way around the Hogwarts defences, not just a way in or out. That suggests he's supposed to find out everything about how the school is protected, not just find a useable passage."

"That makes sense," Carolyn said. "Any hints on why they want to know that?"

"Not that I picked up today. It's possible he hasn't been told anyway," Al suggested.

Carolyn nodded. "Does any of this change what you want to do with him, or with your investigation?"

"It confirms that if Hugo or the others get a chance to help Malcolm out, it's worth trying to do that and turn him around," he answered. "I'll have to think about it some more, and maybe talk it over with Mum and Dad, but I'm also thinking about passing on real information to him about at least some of the protections."

"Why would you do that?" Carolyn asked in surprise.

"Because if they believe the information, and see that breaching those defences is impossible, we can hope they decide to drop whatever it is they're thinking about doing."

"That could happen, but then if they come up with a new plan, you could end up knowing nothing about it before it's put into action," Carolyn said.

"I love you, Carolyn," he said, kissing her happily. "You're a genius." They were snuggled close in bed by that time, and she laughed.

"What'd I say?" she asked and Al grinned at her.

"You're absolutely right. We definitely do not want them to give up on their plan, so the easy answer is that we should help them find a way into Hogwarts."

Carolyn laughed again, but saw that he wasn't joking. "You're serious! Isn't that a little too risky?"

"I'd make sure everyone was safe," Al assured her. "Let's get some sleep now. That whole idea is going to take some time to work through before even thinking about going ahead with it."

Carolyn pulled him close for another kiss and smiled at him. "I have no problem with letting you deal with that later, but your brilliant wife has another really good idea, and it does not involve sleep – yet."

Sunday at Hogwarts was an all-day study session for the Marauders and their friends. Kieran and a few others had gotten together in his office to do a little work on Saturday night, but there were parties going on in Gryffindor and Slytherin, so studying was optional for everyone else. For Malcolm, it had been an unbelievably boring, long day. The only discussions other than about their assignments for the entire day were about Quidditch as they talked about the Canons win, and re-hashed practically every play of the Gryffindor game.

When he could finally leave his hiding place, it took Malcolm a couple of minutes of stretching and getting the kinks out before he left the classroom and hurried back to his dorm room. He got ready for bed, got his books out, and when he was ready, made the call to Dirk.

"Were they all there?" Dirk asked without any kind of greeting.

"They were," Malcolm answered. "The game lasted just over five and a half hours, and Harry and Ginny Potter had to leave early to go to the Canons game just like they'd said."

Dirk nodded. "Did you find out anything else from watching them?" Malcolm didn't tell him what he'd really been thinking when he'd watched Harry, Ginny, and their family and friends.

"They had most of those orphans and child abuse kids hanging all over them before, during, and after the game. Harry and Ginny Potter stopped to see Sarah, Millie, and two other Slytherins before the game, and I overheard them saying they'd see them at Christmas holidays, but other than that, they were sitting on the other side of the stadium from me, so I couldn't hear them talking."

"I'll see what Lord Chernobog thinks," Dirk said. "If we can come up with a way for you to do it at other games, we should try to make it so you can listen in to them. Anything new on the passages?"

"No, and I'm running out of them," Malcolm told him. "I'm going to try to check out the Honeydukes end of the passage that's supposed to be under that one-eyed Witch statue next weekend in Hogsmeade, and see if I can get into it from that end."

"Okay," Dirk agreed. "Unless something else important comes up, then I won't talk to you again until next Sunday." He ended the call abruptly, and Malcolm sighed as he focused on his books again. Frederica and the other OWL students in their group had worked all day and half the night to get their assignments done, and he was just getting them started now. When he fell asleep an hour or so later, he hadn't finished a single assignment.

The Wizengamot session on Monday was another total disaster for the twenty-one members of the group who had been again so desperately trying to do something to get back in the good graces, and financial pockets, of the Knights. Callie, Scorpius, and Al had needed to work until dinnertime to get through all of the proposals and put together their rebuttals. It did take most of the day, though, so after having the usual debriefing with Callie after the session, Al went back to Auror Headquarters to work on the MacKenzie case, which is what he expected to be busy with all week.

Things weren't going at all well for Malcolm at Hogwarts on Monday either. This was far from the first time this year he hadn't had his assignments done for his classes, and he'd endured the criticism from each of his teachers in every class. Here he was now, getting a lecture after class from Professor Slughorn, when he had other things he was supposed to be doing for the Knights while he had the time. Slughorn was going on about how important it was to get his work done on time and keep up – especially in his OWL year, and Malcolm was half listening. He and the Professor hadn't noticed that they weren't alone for this lecture until they heard someone clearing their throat.

"Professor, I'm sorry to interrupt," Colin Creevey said in his still-high voice.

"Not at all, Mr. Creevey," Slughorn said. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, sir, I was wondering if maybe there was something my friends and I could do for Malcolm." Colin smiled at Malcolm. "If you're having problems with our classes, we'd be glad to have you join our study group. I'd be happy to help you, and all of this work doesn't seem nearly as hard when we're working on it together."

"That's an excellent suggestion, Colin!" Professor Slughorn said enthusiastically. "You'd do well to take Colin up on that offer Mr. Bletchley. He and his friends are the best students in your year. Why don't I leave you to work it out together, and I'll look forward to seeing some improvement in your work soon."

Slughorn left the Potions dungeon, and after watching him go, Colin turned back to face the taller, bigger Malcolm, who looked down at him angrily.

"Now you've done it, Creevey. You expect me to study with a bunch of Gryffindors? Have you lost your mind?"

Colin laughed. "My friends will probably think so, but no, I haven't. There are enough Gryffindors in our study group, but we do have five other Slytherins, and some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws."

"Great, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws too. That's supposed to make me like the idea more?" Malcolm asked.

Colin shrugged. "Probably not. I am sorry I overheard the Professor talking with you, Malcolm, but now that I know you're having some problems, I really would like to help if you'll let me."

"Why would you want to do that?" the other boy demanded. "It's not like we've even talked to each other in over four years here."

"Well, for the last part, that's as much my fault as yours, since I've never really tried to talk with you before now," Colin said. "I want to help you because we both know that if we want to go on to our NEWT level studies, we have to get high enough marks on our OWLs to do that. Why not come study with us tonight and see if it helps you?"

"I'll think about it," Malcolm conceded.

Colin had nodded, and told Malcolm where their study classroom was if he did decide to come after dinner, and then left the other boy to pack up while he hurried to his dorm room to drop off his books, grab his broom and Quidditch gear, and hurry to the Quidditch pitch for the practice he was now late for.

"Should I be pulling a Coach and having you do fifty pushups?" Hugo asked him.

"Sorry, Captain. I was held up after Potions class inviting Malcolm Bletchley to join our study group." He laughed when Hugo's mouth fell open.

"You did what?" he exclaimed quietly enough that the rest of the team didn't overhear them. "Why on earth would you do that?"

"Al suggested that if the chance came up to help him we should, and I overheard him getting it from Slughorn for not keeping up with his work," Colin answered just as quietly. "We know the reason he's falling behind, and he's already there in the classroom listening in to us anyway, so I thought this was a perfect way to help him."

Hugo nodded thoughtfully. "Let's get together with Kieran and the others before dinner and talk this out. Did he agree to come?"

"He said he'd think about it, but I'm pretty sure he will. Call it a hunch."

Malcolm had gone and closed the door to the Potions dungeon as soon as Colin had disappeared from sight, gone to sit down, and put in a call to Dirk.

"We're in the middle of our meeting," Dirk hissed when he answered the call. "Can't this wait?"

"I don't think so," Malcolm told him, and explained quickly what had just happened. "Slughorn all but ordered me to join Creevey's study group."

"You were told not to draw any attention to yourself this year," Dirk spat back. "Why haven't you kept up with your work?"

"When am I supposed to do that?" Malcolm asked a bit testily, even though he was shaking with fear over the possibility that the Lord Commander would be furious about the mess he was now in. "I'm spending all of my time when I'm not in class either watching the Weasleys or working on everything else you want. I can't keep up with all of the OWL homework too."

"Is there a problem, Avery?" Lord Chernobog asked, and Dirk jerked his attention from listening to Malcolm.

"My apologies, Lord, but there may be, yes." Dirk answered, then quickly explained what was going on at Hogwarts.

"Tell that boy of mine to forget about it," Miles Bletchley snarled. "I don't want him to have naything to do with those freaks, and I'll deal with him when he gets home!"

"Calm yourself, Miles," Lord Chernobog said. "Let's think this through first. This could be an opportunity for us."

"What opportunity?" Miles asked. "For them to turn Malcolm into one of them like they did the Malfoy blood-traitor?"

"Your son is one of us," Lord Chernobog told him. "You and Dirk have trained him, and if you have done your job well, he could not possibly be at risk. If Malcolm joined this study group he could get even closer to these Weasley brats, pretend to befriend them, earn their trust, and find out everything we need to know about our enemies!"

"That's brilliant, my Lord!" Gwen said excitedly. "They might believe that he's becoming their friend, but they'd never believe that his parents would approve, would they? He should make it look like he has to be careful that they don't find out about this."

Lord Chernobog was nodding his approval, excited about this new development. "Yes!" he agreed. "Then to seal it, Miles could disown him sometime after Christmas, and the Potters and Weasleys could run to his rescue just like they did for Malfoy. Dirk, has Malcolm been able to hear us?"

Dirk nodded. "Yes, and see what I see too."

Malcolm had, and he was glad that Dirk couldn't see his expression, since his mouth was hanging open. They were talking about disowning him in public! He'd become a pariah in Slytherin House, and lose the few friends he had left at school.

"This is a brilliant opportunity for us,' Lord Chernobog told everyone. "Does anyone see any faults with the plan?"

Since it was the Lord Commander's plan, none of the Knights were dumb enough to dare to venture a dissenting opinion, and he nodded in approval. "Very well then. Malcolm, you are instructed to join this study group, and begin making friends with them. Make sure they understand that your family would disown you if they found out about this, though be careful how quickly you do all of this, or even these fools could get suspicious. Keep Dirk informed of your progress, and we will decide later about when the time will be right to have your parents disown you to get you deep enough into their confidence later. We are all counting on you, Malcolm. Do not fail us."

"Yes, my Lord," Malcolm answered, and Dirk relayed that to the Lord Commander and the other Knights.

Dirk ended the call, and while the Knights continued their meeting, Malcolm sat in the classroom for a long time, staring blankly at the blackboard and lost in thought until he pulled himself together, grabbed his bag, and went to the Slytherin Common Room to hang out with his friends until dinnertime.

Colin, Hugo, Frederica, and Liam met with Emily and Kieran in Emily's office after practice. They called Al, and then met in VirtualChat with both him and Carolyn. They talked over the pros and cons of having Malcolm join their study group, and all agreed that it was worth trying.

"He must need to run this past the Knights," Frederica said. "What do you think they'll do?"

"If I was in their place, and wanted information from our family, I'd make him join," Hugo answered. "We're offering him an in to our group they could have never hoped to get."

"You'll know the answer to that after dinner," Carolyn told him. "He's probably scared half to death right now, so be careful with him. You know hanging around with all of you could cost him all of his pureblood elite friends."

"That's not that big a loss," Liam said, "but I guess if they're the only friends you have it would be tough."

"Okay. We give it a try," Kieran said. "We've got dinner soon, so we need to go. I'm sure you'll want updates, Al, so why don't we let Colin do that, since he's the one with the new study buddy."

"I can do that," Colin agreed, and Al's avatar nodded.

They ended the VirtualChat, and the six Marauders left Emily's office and went to the Great Hall for dinner. An hour and a half later, everyone except Colin was in the classroom getting started on their assignments, and he was waiting outside. Malcolm had not left the Great Hall early, so since he wasn't going ahead of them to his hiding spot, he must be planning on joining them. While he waited, Kieran let the rest of their group know that they were probably getting a new member joining tonight.

"I was hoping you'd come," Colin said, smiling at Malcolm when the other boy walked up to him in the hallway. "Come on in, and I'll introduce you to everyone and we can get started."

Colin watched Malcolm take a deep breath and nod once. He opened the door, led the way in, and then proceeded to make the introductions, and then the two boys sat down at the table with the other OWL year students.

"Do you have a ViComm?" Colin asked Malcolm, who nodded.

"Yes. Why?"

"We use ours a lot when we study," Colin answered. "Do you have all of the virtual study programs?"

"I don't have any of them. My parents say they're a waste of money," Malcolm told him.

Colin laughed. "Well, then you're in for a surprise," he told the other boy, pulling out a small stack of virtual program cards and a virtual quill. "Let's get you loaded up with everything you'll need, and then you and I can start with a quick lesson in how to use them. It takes a little getting used to, but after that, you'll never want to study without them again."

Malcolm was in a constant state of amazement over the next few hours as Colin and the others began showing him how they studied. He'd been secretly watching them for weeks, and had no idea that there had been a whole other level of their studying going on in VirtualPotions and the other study programs they used. Even though he was just learning how to write his assignments by thinking them in the virtual programs, he found that he could already do that faster than he could writing them by hand.

While all of that was amazing, he was also surprised to find out that it wasn't just Colin willing to give him a hand with his studies. The others all joined in to help him begin catching up in all of his classes. There was maybe fifteen minutes until curfew, and most of the group were packing up and leaving. Colin was leading Malcolm through using the VirtualQuill, and they were printing off all of the assignments he'd finished during the past few hours.

"You've done really great tonight," Colin complimented him. "I'll wager that if you want to keep studying with us, by the start of next week you'll be caught up in all of your classes."

Malcolm tried to think back to the last time someone had sincerely complimented him, and couldn't remember any. The way it made him feel was as unsettling as how he'd felt watching Harry and Ginny before the game.

"I don't know," he said a bit more gruffly than he'd planned. There seemed to be something stuck in his throat. "My friends would kill me if they found out about this."

Colin shrugged. "So tell them that Slughorn is making you do it, and I'll back you up on that if you need me to," he suggested. "That should shut them up for a while."

Malcolm hadn't thought about that, and he nodded. "Okay. I'll keep coming for now and see what happens." The last report finished printing, and he went to hand the VirtualQuill back to Colin.

"Keep it," Colin told him. "You should try to keep working on all of these assignments whenever you have time." He handed Malcolm another package. "Here's a bunch of refills for it that should keep you going for a while. You can get them in Hogsmeade when you need more after that. I usually go through a pack of refills like that every two or three weeks, depending on how many assignments we have."

"Um, Thanks," Malcolm said, still gruff, and still having something stuck in his throat that he couldn't seem to get cleared.

"You're welcome," Colin said with a smile. "I'll see you here tomorrow after dinner. Have a good night's sleep."

With that, Colin left Malcolm to finish packing up. The other members of the group who had already left had wished them both a good night too, and he wasn't the only one packing up, as Kieran and the others at the NEWT table, including Sarah, were still getting ready to leave too.

"Colin and the others didn't throw too much at you for your first night with us, did they?" Kieran asked, coming over to stand across the table from Malcolm.

"You all study a lot differently than I ever have," Malcolm answered, and Kieran nodded.

"I know," he agreed. "I didn't meet Lily until halfway through second year, so when I started studying with them, it was a bit daunting at first. My parents couldn't believe how much better my marks were just by the end of that year, and I've gotten better every year since then. Will we see you here tomorrow night?"

"I guess so," Malcolm answered. "It seems Professor Slughorn is right about your group being able to help me, though I still don't really understand why."

"That's easy, mate," Kieran said. "Everyone in our group has been helped by someone else. For me, it was Lily, Al, Scorpius, and the others who've already graduated." He waved back to where Joel, Sarah, Hugo, and Emily were packing up. "We help each other out, and help the younger students too. When Colin heard you needed help, he wanted to do the same for you."

"I think we've reached the point of throwing too much at me," Malcolm told Kieran. "Slytherins aren't wired right for concepts like that." He turned toward the other table when he heard Sarah's laugh.

"A few years ago, I would have agreed with you on that," she told him. "Then again, back then, I didn't know there were kids in the world who'd never been hit by their parents either." She laughed again when she saw the look of incomprehension on his face. "I see you didn't know that either. I know it's a shocking concept, but Kieran, Hugo, and Emily have never been punished like that."

"You're joking, right?" Malcolm asked, and she shook her head.

"I remember James telling me once that he turned Al purple, and all that happened was that he got his Junior Joke Inventor kit taken away for a while. I can laugh at that now, but back then, all I could think about was what my parents would have done to me if I'd even asked to have something like that to play with. Then again, they didn't need any excuse to beat me. I'd show you my scars, but Uncle Harry healed them for me."

Kieran looked at his watch. "It's past curfew, guys," he told everyone. "Sarah, you and Joel are on patrol anyway, aren't you?" When she nodded, Kieran turned back to Malcolm. "I guess you're with me then. I'll walk you back so that if we run into Filch you're covered."

They both grabbed their bags, and Malcolm was quiet as they walked. He'd looked troubled since listening to what Sarah had told him. Kieran let him work on that until they were about halfway to the Slytherin Common Room.

"Malcolm, I can imagine that what Sarah told you back there is hard to believe, but it is true. I've talked to kids all over the world who are now under the protection of the Phoenix Foundation's Child Abuse Program, just like Sarah, Joel, and nearly half of our study group. I've met dozens of little sweethearts like Carissa who've had parents or other adults who've used stinging hexes, cutting curses, breaking charms or even the Cruciatus Curse on them, and so many other horrible things. Most parents would never do anything to hurt their kids, and the biggest lie that abusive parents tell their kids is that everyone does treat their children that way."

Malcolm didn't say anything, and Kieran left it at that, knowing that the other boy had enough to think about for one night. He wished him a good night when he left him at the entrance to Slytherin House, and then went on to his own quarters and the bedtime chat with Lily that he was now running late for.

Malcolm was awake for quite a while after climbing into his bed. If he wanted to be honest with himself, he'd had more fun studying with Colin and the others than ever before. That was bad enough, but what Kieran and Sarah had talked with him about at the end there had been as shocking as Sarah had suggested. He remembered sitting in the Slytherin Common room with Dirk and the rest of their friends back when the Child Abuse program had been announced, and joining in with the jeers and sneers about Harry Potter and the others whining about how badly they were treated when they were kids.

He didn't know what had been different about tonight, but Kieran's talk about the kinds of abuse he'd heard about had hit him like blows – mostly because his father had done many of those same things to him over the years. His father had used the Cruciatus Curse on him just this past summer whenever he did something wrong in his special lessons, and during nearly every one of his duelling lessons. The shocking concept tonight hadn't been that there were kids out there that were never hit by their parents; it was the possibility that he might be the same as Sarah, Joel, and the others.

Al and Carolyn had enjoyed a quiet evening at home on Monday while the Marauders were working with Malcolm for the first time. Al was up early on Tuesday morning, but just early enough to get ready for the day and go downstairs to make breakfast for Carolyn and himself. When he did get started at work, he was running all day. By late afternoon, he'd tied up all of the loose ends of the MacKenzie murder case. He went back to Auror Headquarters, and sat down with Hestia.

"I'm ready to make the arrests in the MacKenzie case," he told her. "There are two Wizards involved, and I'd like to take some help along, since I expect they're the type who will resist arrest."

"How many do you want?" she asked.

"I'm thinking six – you, me, Emma, Jake, Patrick, and Garret," he suggested, and Hestia nodded.

"Okay. Let's get together with them now, and work out a plan,"

They did that, and then Al went home, where he and Carolyn got ready to go out, and then they went over to Rose and Matt's house for their now regular in-between-tours dinner. On Wednesday morning, he was back at Auror Headquarters, meeting up with Hestia and the other Aurors.

"Ready to go have some fun?" Garret asked him, and Al laughed.

"Let's hope it's not too much fun, Garret, but yeah, I'm ready."

Al's two suspects worked in a small office and warehouse, and since there were children at their home, he'd decided to arrest them at work, where there was less chance of anyone else being hurt if there was a confrontation. The business was in the middle of a long row of businesses, so Al and Hestia took the front, while Garret and the others took the back. The office was already open for business, so Al held the door open for Hestia, and then followed her inside.

"Can I help you?" a Witch who was probably somewhere in her forties asked, and Al nodded.

"I'd like to speak with Wally and William Widdershins, if they have a moment," he told her.

"Who's there, Maureen?" a deep, burly voice called out.

"Someone asking to see you and William, father," the woman answered, and a moment later, a Wizard came into the room from whatever was behind the office.

"William!" he bellowed over his shoulder. "Come on up here!"

The man was already standing next to his daughter when he finally turned around and saw Al and Hestia for the first time, and his face blanched. He obviously recognized Al, even if his daughter hadn't.

"What is it father?" a second man said as he strode into the office and he too stopped in his tracks when he saw the two Aurors.

"Wally and William Widdershins, I am Auror Albus Potter, and you are both under arrest for the murder of Padrick MacKenzie, and for grand larceny." He was about to tell them to come with him, but William had already bolted back through the door with Hestia right behind him thanks to Al's ViComm warning to her and to the Aurors out back, and Wally had grabbed his daughter, yanked her in front of him, and pointed his wand at her head.

"Father! What are you doing?" she looked at Al in alarm. "There must be some mistake, sir. My father and brother could not have killed Padrick!"

"Shut up, Maureen," Wally snapped. "Get out of my way, or I'll kill her," he threatened, and Maureen paled and started to tremble. Al had already pulled his wand too, and held it point down by his side.

"You really don't want to do this, Mr. Widdershins. I won't allow you to hurt your daughter. Put down your wand and surrender."

The big man laughed. "You're in no position to give orders, or deny me anything boy. Move out of the way, or her blood will be on your hands."

Al's wand flashed so quickly the man didn't even see it move until it was too late. He cried out when the arm he'd been holding his daughter with was hit with an invisible blow that instantly numbed it, and it fell uselessly to his side. With Maureen free, Al's second spell sent the man flying, and he slammed against the wall. By the time Wally pointed his wand at his daughter again, Al had his Impervious Totalis shield protecting both Maureen and himself, and the curse that the man fired at her dispersed harmlessly. There were loud shouts from what must be the warehouse from the way the voices echoed, crashes, flashes of light, and then silence.

"Your son has been apprehended," Al told the man. "Put down your wand, and when we get to Auror Headquarters we can have that arm looked at by a Healer."

Wally's answer was to shoot a series of curses at Al's shield in a futile effort to attack him. They could all hear running footsteps approaching from the back, and Wally spun toward the sound, ready to fire more curses. That's when Al hit his other arm with the same spell. This time, he'd needed to break through the man's shield too, and he'd slightly over-estimated it's strength. Wally cried out again and Al and Maureen could both clearly hear bones breaking even as his wand fell from useless fingers and hit the floor.

"Be careful with his arms," Al told Hestia as she and Patrick came through the door and slid to a stop, wands pointed at the older Widdershins Wizard. "The right one got hurt pretty badly when I blasted past his shield." He dropped his own shield, and went over to pick up Wally's wand before turning to Maureen.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and she sank into a chair, all colour drained from her face as she stared at her father in horror.

"You and William killed Padrick?" she asked. "Why?"

"Why do you think?" he snapped back. "Did you think we would be content to watch you go off to live in luxury with that fancy boy of yours while we had to scrape for every sickle and knut? The only reason we kept you and the kiddies alive was because if we'd killed you too, those blasted MacKenzie cousins would have gotten everything."

"This might be a good time to mention to you that you have the right to remain silent," Patrick joked.

"Is everyone else okay?" Al asked Hestia.

"William is going to need some medical attention, and Garret got a minor cut on one arm. The rest of us are fine. I've already sent Rick a message asking for a medical team to meet us at Headquarters."

"Okay. Let's have Emma and Jake stay here to help Maureen and the rest of us can take her father and brother with us. Who wants to try immobilizing that right arm?"

"I'll do it," Patrick told him. "I'm better at it than Hestia, and Garret is in no mood to be gentle right now."

Once he had Wally's injuries bound so he wouldn't be hurt further while they went to Auror Headquarters, Emma and Jake were left with a now sobbing Maureen MacKenzie while Hestia and Patrick took Wally, and Garret and Al took William away. It was nearly an hour later when Al and Hestia finally sat down in the interrogation room with the two Widdershins Wizards.

Al then spent the rest of the day going over every piece of evidence with them, starting with the sales records of items that Maureen had reported stolen during the robbery when her husband was killed, that her father and brother had later sold. Then there was the witness that Al had interviewed again – and had the memory charm that had been placed on him removed so that his true memory of the crime was restored. He had to split the two men up when William offered to testify against his father in exchange for leniency, since he hadn't actually been the one to kill his sister's husband. Wally had turned purple with rage, and promised to kill his traitorous son with his bare hands.

Whether to make a deal like that or not was Rick's call to make, and he spent nearly an hour with William himself. The younger Widdershins volunteered to take Veritaserum to prove he was telling the truth, and when Rick had finished his interrogation, he had approved a deal with the man. William would testify, plead guilty, and serve twenty-five years for those crimes, while his father could end up with as many as one hundred years, including the new charges from today.

"I can't believe you let him get off that easily," Garret complained when they all met with Rick after their prisoners were locked up for the night.

Rick shrugged. "If we didn't have his testimony, any decent defender could bring up reasonable doubt as to which one of them actually killed the man, and then they both might have only ended up with a few years each for the robbery. There's no doubt he was telling the truth, so I can live with making the deal to make sure the actual murderer is put away. Anyone who would take his own daughter hostage and threaten to kill her should be in prison for a long, long time."

"What are we doing with them tomorrow?" Emma asked Rick.

"They'll be sent before the Wizengamot in the morning. Wally will get a court day, and William will confirm the plea agreement, plead guilty, and receive his sentence right then. You, Jake, Al, and Garret will take them to Azkaban and drop them off."

There were a few other things Rick wanted to go over, and then Al went back to his desk, finished his arrest report, dropped it on Rick's desk, and headed home for the night.

The coming weekend was another one where the Marauders and their friends didn't have any Quidditch, Broom Races, or Hogsmeade weekends going on, and the last open weekend through to the Christmas holidays. Malcolm had continued to come to the evening study sessions, and worked hard at catching up with his assignments. So far, his friends hadn't noticed anything, since he'd been gone every evening anyway, and Colin and the others had left him alone outside of the study group so they wouldn't get him in trouble.

Al's latest arrest had been all over the news on Wednesday and Thursday, and had made a splash across the Hogwarts gossip network, but by Friday, or Saturday at the latest, that was old news. Malcolm worked with his new study group all day on Saturday. Everyone else was able to finish their assignments by then, but Malcolm still had more work to do, so Colin helped him out all morning on Sunday, and by noon, he was completely caught up in all of his classes.

"See?" Colin told him as they packed up to go for lunch. "I knew this would work out great."

"Did Nadine agree with you on that when you told her you would be helping me all morning instead of hanging out with her?"

Colin laughed. "Well, no, but then she got invited to a girls-only pool party for the morning, so she was good after that."

"I thought only TNM did pool parties here," Malcolm said, and Colin shook his head.

"The girls do them every so often, and sometimes they even do a couples-only party and let us come play too," Colin told him, and when he saw the suspicious look from Malcolm, he laughed.

"Are you actually surprised to find out that the daughter of the parents who own the Wheezes stores would have one of their portable pools?"

"No, but it makes me wonder if she's part of TNM," Malcolm answered.

"I've been her friend for over four years now, Malcolm, and I've never seen her sneaking off to any secret meetings or anything. I know for sure she was with some of her girlfriends the afternoon those bullies tried to push me around and TNM used that troll illusion on them. I thought that was a pretty cool trick, though I was a little surprised those boys didn't figure out it wasn't real."

"What do you mean it wasn't real?" Malcolm asked, his attention diverted from Frederica. "It looked real enough on the WWVN."

Colin laughed. "I've never said anything about this, since all of the guys were so impressed that I didn't look scared too, but I knew right away that it was conjured. Trolls smell horrible, and when TNM did that trick, they didn't add smell to the illusion."

"Aren't you worried about giving your secret out to a Slytherin former bully?" Malcolm asked, and Colin smiled and shook his head.

"Not really. I don't think you're like that anymore, and even if I was wrong about that, and everyone did find out, I may still be smaller than the other guys in our year, but I can take care of myself now, and wouldn't need TNM to help protect me."

It was time to get going, so the two boys split up when they left the classroom, each heading for their own Houses to put their books away before going to the Great Hall for lunch. While Colin and the other members of their study group had a fun afternoon and evening, Malcolm spent his time continuing to work at his Knight job, though he was left frustrated again, having found nothing of value to report to Dirk.

Sunday had been a quiet day for most of the family outside of Hogwarts, with just Rose and Matt working, having left for a one-week tour in India on Saturday. For everyone else, it would be the last slow weekend until the New Year. The business people had three weeks left until the November thirtieth year-end, bonus day on December first, and the weekend that the Christmas shopping season would really kick into high gear. Teddy and Stewart were always busy at the start of winter and through the holidays with the Phoenix Foundation, and James had students getting ready for testing before the holidays, and a lot of planning to do so that his students would all have a happy Christmas holiday.

On Monday, Al was back to his stakeouts of the Knight's offices, spending two days in Angola, then getting to make breakfast for Carolyn on Wednesday before spending a few hours on his next cold case, and then going to Costa Rica to start his surveillance there. That meant working late nights on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but by the time he got home in the early hours of Saturday morning, he was sure he'd learned everything he could about that group of Knights, and was ready to move on to the next group.

Lily had been in Hogsmeade early again, and she hadn't needed to send Glenda and the boys anywhere, because they had decided to spend the day at the Academy working on their studies instead of taking another day off. She was outside of the Hogwarts gates with five minutes to wait until the first group of students started coming out onto the road to town. Kieran was with them, and they hugged and kissed before joining Hugo, Emily, and the rest of the students going toward Hogsmeade.

"Are the girls booking another SpaMagic day for the next Hogsmeade weekend?" Lily asked Emily, who shook her head.

"Christmas is on the Thursday after we get home. We were hoping you could maybe see what the parents have planned and book one on the Monday or Tuesday for all of us so we'll all look our best for the rest of the holidays."

"That's a really great idea," Lily told her. "I'll get that set up for us and let you know when it is. Anything exciting going on at school that Kieran wouldn't have passed on to me?"

"I tell you all about what's going on every night," Kieran protested, and the girls laughed.

"Boys don't even know half the stuff that goes on at school," Lily told him. To prove her point, she and Emily launched into a review of the latest gossip going on among the Witches at school.

"I stand corrected," Kieran told Hugo when Lily was up-to-date on the news. "Aren't you glad that your buddies don't sit around discussing your personal fashion, hair, and whether your girlfriend is right for you or not?"

Hugo laughed. "As long as the answer to the last question was 'yes', if that's what you and the other guys want to talk about, go nuts. It won't bother me in the slightest."

The two couples did their supply shopping together, and then split up, with Lily taking Kieran to spend the rest of the day at Al's house, while Hugo and Emily met up with Joel, Sarah, and some of the other Marauders to do a little more shopping, have an early lunch, and then get back to Hogwarts to watch the Canons' road game against the Falmouth Falcons.

Malcolm had gone into Hogsmeade with a group of students from Slytherin, but they hadn't known he was there, since he had cast his invisibility charm after getting past Filch, and before leaving the grounds. He'd gone straight to Honeydukes and down into the cellar to start searching for the secret passage that was supposed to come out there.

It took him two hours, and he'd needed to stop three times and hide when someone came into the cellar to retrieve boxes of stock for the store, but he finally found it. His euphoria was short-lived, though, because when he opened the trap door, it was only to find solid ground beneath it. Where some of the passages had obviously caved in, this one appeared to have been filled in, since it looked like it had never been there at all. With that option now proven useless, he left Honeydukes, went around behind a house where he wouldn't be seen, and ended the invisibility charm so that he could go around town, get his supplies, have lunch, and go back to school where he could spend a few hours working on another of his tasks.

Kieran was the last one to get to his office after spending a brilliant afternoon with Lily. The Canons game was already over, and more than half of the teens who had stopped in to watch the game had gone on to do other things until dinnertime.

"Who won?" Kieran asked, and Colin answered.

"The Canons. The score was three hundred and forty to sixty, and Liselle caught the snitch at the two hour and eleven minute mark."

"So how come you all didn't decide to get a start on your homework?"

"Hanging out here sounded like more fun than that," Sarah told him. "We'll be doing enough of that for the rest of the weekend."

"I'm sure it was more fun too," Kieran agreed. "Anything else going on around here?"

"Not really," Sarah told him. "It's been pretty quiet this afternoon. Since you're smiling like that, I guess we don't have to ask if you had a good day. What's Lily doing for the rest of the day?"

"She's going to the Canons victory party, since it's at the Cottage again this week," Kieran told her. "I'm sure that will be more fun tonight than we'll have studying."

The party at the Cottage was already underway when Lily got there from Hogsmeade. There hadn't been a big family turnout for the game, since nearly everyone had been working. Rose and Matt had returned from India, and worked all day to get ready for their two week Hawaii tour that they would be leaving for first thing on Sunday morning, but they were at the Cottage to have dinner and spend a couple of hours with everyone before they'd need to go home and get some sleep.

Al and Carolyn had been working most of the day on Saturday, and then had joined the party at the Cottage for dinner and to enjoy an evening with their family. They were back working again on Sunday, with Carolyn concentrating on PBP Investments holiday manufacturing interests, and Al spending his day sifting through and analysing the volumes of information he now had on the Knights.

It was going to be another early morning for Al again on Monday, so after dinner, he and Carolyn put the work away, snuggled on a sofa, and watched a little WWVN before going to bed for the night. In the morning, Al was already on his stakeout in Senegal for an hour before Carolyn woke up and started her day. His goal this week was to completely investigate the Knight's offices in Senegal and Guatemala.

Business was not even slightly on the minds of the students at Hogwarts, and only one student was thinking about anything to do with the Knights. Most of the teens were concentrating on their classes and homework, with the only other distractions being the upcoming Quidditch game between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and the China Broom Race that were both on Saturday.

Miranda and Joe were both having their respective Quidditch teams training hard all week, and that made it tough for Erin, Myra, and Nadine to keep up with all of the work. They had each fallen asleep at least one time during their evening study sessions over the five days, and Myra had fallen asleep twice. Kieran took one look at the three girls when they came into the classroom to study on Friday after dinner, and ordered them to take the night off and go get some sleep. They could all help the girls catch up on their weekend assignments on Sunday, and he could tell they were too tired to get much accomplished anyway.

On Saturday morning, there were small, but faithful groups of Broom Racing fans in each of the Houses who got up early in the morning to watch the start of Mark's China Broom Race. Joel was in the Ravenclaw Common Room by a quarter to four, and by four o'clock, there were another dozen sleepy students with him, including Quincy, Amy, and Brian.

"Anything we should know about the race this year?" Amy asked Joel.

"The big news for the race today is that there's a big storm that the racers are going to be dealing with for most of the race, according to the Wizarding Weather Service report,' Joel told her. "It's sure to make for a slower race this year, and make it more dangerous for all of the racers."

"It looks okay where they're starting the race," Quincy said. They could all see that the sky was overcast above the field where the race was starting, but it wasn't dark storm clouds.

"The storm is still a couple of hundred miles away from there, but they'll be flying right into it, so by an hour or so into the race, they're going to be dealing with a lot of wind and rain, and from that point on, it is going to get nasty," Joel explained.

They watched the race start, and stayed long enough to see Mark, Mariposa, and the other faster racers pull ahead of the pack, and then everyone, including Joel, went back to their dorm rooms with plans to go back to sleep for a few more hours.

Kieran had not woken up to watch the start of the race, but he was out waiting by the gates to the school a few minutes before the grounds would be open for visitors coming to watch the Quidditch match. Lily got there a minute later, and they talked to each other across the short distance until it was time, and when it was okay for her to do so, Lily crossed the space between them, threw herself into Kieran's arms and enthusiastically hugged and kissed him for several long minutes.

"Let's get over to the stadium," Lily told him. "We don't need to entertain the incoming visitors for every game."

"Sounds good," Kieran agreed amiably. "I'd rather sit down and cuddle with you anyway. Did you and Fluffy have a decent breakfast without having your Dad around to cook for you this morning?"

Lily laughed. "Dad had cooked up an extra sausage for Fluffy yesterday, so I gave it to her this morning, and I just had a coffee, toasted bagel and a bowl of mixed fruit."

"Did you pop over to the house before coming here, or are you doing your daily visit later?"

"I'll do it later, since I'm having dinner with Al and Carolyn," she answered. "It's coming along great, though. They haven't started the brickwork or siding yet, but the walls, roof, windows, and doors are done. They've told me that except for the landscaping, the outside of the house will be done by the Christmas holidays."

"They're keeping on schedule, then," Kieran said with a nod. "It's going to be fun to see it myself when we're home for Christmas. Seeing it through the ViComm when you show me what you're seeing just isn't the same as being there will be."

"You're going to love it," Lily promised.

They continued talking about the house, and everything else Lily had going on in the real world as they walked to the stadium and picked out seats in the Hufflepuff section. The stands were pretty much empty until a half hour before the game, and then started filling up quickly. In the Hufflepuff section, Lily and Kieran were joined by the other Hufflepuffs, Vanessa, Carissa, Violet, Adam, and H; and by Gryffindors Colin, Lance, Dale, and Cassandra.

Over in the Ravenclaw section, they had Joel, Amy, Brian, and Quincy there to support their team. Slytherins Sarah, Millie, Jason, Alice, and Lenny, and Gryffindors Ophelia, Philip, Frederica, Liam, and Aiden sat with them for the game to support Erin and Myra. The Ravenclaw group had both Frederica and Liam's parents, and James and Arianna sitting with them for the game. Kirley and Ana, Aaron and Tracey, and Miranda's parents were in the Hufflepuff section to support Nadine and Miranda.

Kirley and Kieran were surrounded by girls, with Vanessa, Cassandra, and Violet all wanting to spend time visiting with Lily and Ana. The two Wizards mostly listened as the girls talked excitedly about what they'd been doing at school and at home, and what would be happening between now and the holidays that were just four weeks away. There was a pause in the conversation when the teams were called out into the stadium. The two teams met, shook hands - or in Nadine and Erin's case, hugged – and then the quaffle was tossed high into the air, and the fourteen players took off to the cheers of their fellow students and visiting spectators.

Hufflepuff Captain Miranda Jones was first to the quaffle, and passed immediately to Greg Griffiths, who passed again to Alaida Maddock. She sped toward the Ravenclaw goals, tried a fake, and took her shot. Myra wasn't fooled by the fake, and was in position to make a really good save, and tossed the quaffle out to Gerath Morgan.

With two veteran Chasers, and the talented Alaida taking Kieran's spot, Hufflepuff was expected to have the advantage over the three new and untested Chasers on the Ravenclaw team. That proved to be true, but Gerath, Angela, and Ryan surprised a lot of the spectators by just how good they were in their first game.

Ryan scored the first goal of the game for Ravenclaw, taking a pass from Gerath, and getting a shot past John Madley to give his team the lead. The Hufflepuff Chasers were out-shooting the Ravenclaw Chasers by nearly two to one, and by the end of the first hour, they had thirty-seven shots to Ravenclaw's nineteen, but Ravenclaw was ahead by a score of forty to ten, as Myra had stopped everything except one goal that Miranda scored against her.

The shots on goal were eighty-one to thirty-five in favour of Hufflepuff at the end of the second hour, yet Ravenclaw had extended their lead, and were ahead with a score of ninety points to Hufflepuff's twenty. Alaida scored the first goal of her fledgling Hogwarts Quidditch career in the third hour, and Miranda added her third of the game, but as the third hour came to a close, Ravenclaw had scored six more times to lead one hundred and fifty to forty. Miranda scored a fourth goal against Myra, and Gerath added another for Ravenclaw when the attention of the fans was turned away from the Chasers and Keepers to Nadine and Erin, who were both streaking across the pitch toward the snitch. They'd both been on the other side of the pitch from the snitch when they'd seen it, but had been on opposite sides of the Ravenclaw goals, so they were racing toward the snitch from different directions and angles. Erin had taken a low path, trying to fly in under the snitch, while Nadine was coming in high and in a deep dive. When she began pulling out of her dive, everyone watching thought she'd missed high, since she was too far above the snitch, but then she pulled off a barrel roll that Harry Potter would have been proud of, and grabbed the snitch in mid-roll, just ahead of Erin's outstretched hand.

The Hufflepuff section went crazy as they cheered for their team, but even the disappointed Ravenclaw fans were on their feet applauding their team for playing such a great game. The final score was two hundred to one hundred and sixty, and while Ravenclaw had come up just a little short, Joe and his team put the other House teams on notice that Ravenclaw was back as a real contender again.

"That was a brilliant catch!" Kirley told Nadine as he hugged her after the game. "You're going to make it to the show for sure if you keep playing like that."

"I think she and Erin both will," Lily told him as she took her turn hugging Nadine. "There are going to be some very happy professional Quidditch teams in the league in a few years when you, Colin, and Erin graduate."

Nadine laughed. "Is this when I'm supposed to say 'thank-you', or should I admit that I'd screwed up my dive, and just tried that because I was desperate?"

Lily and Kirley both laughed. "you go with the thank-you, and don't admit to the other," Lily told her. "It's a good thing you caught it then, since it was looking like Ravenclaw's Chasers might put the game out of reach for you soon."

"I know," Nadine agreed. "Angela, Gerath and Ryan are a lot better than we expected them to be already."

Lily, Kieran, Kirley, and Ana left Nadine with Colin and the others who were hanging around with the Hufflepuff team, and went on to talk with Myra and Erin, who were surrounded by the gang who had been sitting in the Ravenclaw section.

"Having Nadine beat us again this year wasn't any more fun this time than it was last year," Myra was saying as Lily came up next to her and gave her a one-armed hug.

"Your team scored one hundred and fifty points more than you did last year, and you made one hundred and thirty-two saves, and only gave up five goals," Lily told her. "I'd say you all played a great game, and it was just a really brilliant play by Nadine that gave Hufflepuff the win."

"Thanks, Lily," Myra said, hugging her back. "We're all happy with how we played, it's just the results that suck."

"If you ever get to the point where you like losing, stop playing," Lily told her. "When you do win your first Quidditch Cup, though, just remember the days like this one that went into getting you there."

Lily moved on to hugging Erin, while Kieran hugged and congratulated his cousin before Ana, and Kirley took a turn. James, Arianna, and Quincy were with Erin, along with Aaron, Tracey, Adam, and H. Kieran joined them, and he and Lily spent another few minutes talking with Erin, and then they left the stadium to take a slow, drawn-out walk to the school gates.

"I'll see you in Hogsmeade in two weeks," Lily said when it was time to say goodbye. "Just four weeks until we'll have two whole weeks together."

"We're both going to be busy," Kieran answered. "The professors are going to dump the work on us now that Quidditch is done until January. Our new Christmas album, and all of the other new SpellBound merchandise will be out next Saturday, we've got bonus day on December first, and then after Hogsmeade, you'll be on your promotional trip with Laura for a week."

Lily nodded. "When I get back from that trip, I may just stay home and sleep for a few days before you all get home on the nineteenth."

They shared a last, long hug and kiss, and then Kieran watched until she apparated out of sight, going to Al and Carolyn's for the rest of the day, while he made the lonely walk back to the school. He didn't feel much like celebrating, but went to join the Hufflepuff victory party until dinner. There were music videos playing on the big screen WWVN in the Common Room, but quite a few students had portable WWVN's out and tuned in to the Broom Race, so anyone who was interested could keep track of how Mark was doing.

By two o'clock home time, he was nearly halfway through the race, and was more than forty minutes ahead of the next closest racers. It was nearly impossible to see anything on the WWVN, since it was after dark in China, and on top of that, the storm made visibility so low that all of the racers had to fly by instruments. That combination had made for some spectacular crashes since nightfall, and the commentators spent as much time on replays of those crashes as they did on the continuing race.

While most of the Hufflepuffs partied late into the night, Kieran and the other Hufflepuff members of their study group joined the rest of the Marauders and their friends and got to work on their assignments after dinner. Professor McGonnagal had extended curfew until one o'clock so students could stay out with their friends and watch Mark finish the race. Kieran invited everyone in the study group to his office to watch what seemed certain to be Mark's second win of the season, and they wrapped up the study session a little after eleven, took their book-bags back to their respective dorm rooms, and then met up in Kieran's office by eleven-thirty.

Malcolm had thought about not going, since he wasn't all that interested in the race, but he'd been told to get close to them, and that meant doing more with them than just studying. His reticence over doing that wasn't any teenage rebellion over being ordered around by his father, or by the Lord Commander, it was because the more time he spent with Colin and the rest of the study group, the more conflicted he was becoming about how he felt toward them, and toward his father and the other Knights.

"Hey Malcolm," Colin said when Malcolm came into the office. "Come on in, grab a drink and snack if you want anything, and sit down."

He'd been in Kieran's office a few times since joining their study group, so he wasn't surprised anymore about how comfortable the sofas and recliners were. He sat down on the sofa next to Ophelia and Philip, and they both smiled at him and nodded in welcome before returning their attention to the race.

When he'd first started working with all of the OWL students in their study group, Malcolm had assumed that Ophelia and Philip were a couple, since they were almost always together, but eventually he found out that they were just best friends, like Erin and Quincy, and Alice and Lenny were. That had seemed strange to him at first, since he had never known any other Wizards who had a Witch for a best mate. Compared to this group, though, he wasn't sure how many of his friends actually knew anything about being a real friend at all. He was almost certain that he didn't know either, which was another disturbing thought that kept nagging at him.

"Are they watching the race in the Slytherin Common Room too?" Colin asked him, and Malcolm shook his head.

"Not on the big screen. They had some horror movie satire playing instead."

"They're still playing music videos in our Common Room," Vanessa reported, "though they do have quite a few portables with the game on."

"There'd be more people watching if Mark wasn't so far ahead now," Joel suggested. "He's getting some decent competition from Mariposa and some of the other guys on the races that are mostly straight, flat out racing, but he's still way ahead of everyone in these races where there's a lot of technical flying."

"I don't even know how they can keep going on a race this long," Amy said. "Mark's going to be over twenty hours, and they're saying the slowest racers may be over twenty-six hours getting to the finish line this year."

They sat around talking while watching the race. By a quarter after twelve, WMSN was switching between Mark's broom cameras and the finish line. It was raining there, and was probably why there wasn't a very large crowd on hand to watch Mark win the race. They saw Callie there with Harry, Ginny, Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James. They were all standing under a large tent that had been set up for VIP's next to the finish line.

Mark crossed the finish line at exactly twelve-thirty, finishing the race in twenty hours and thirty minutes. He took a wide lap around the field to slow down, and landed next to the tent, where Callie met him for a hug and kiss before leading him under the tent. Harry, Ginny, Owen, and Natalie all had hugs for him too, which Malcolm watched with interest, and that same uncomfortable twist deep inside.

"Why are your Uncle and Aunt there with that other couple?" Malcolm asked Hugo.

"Uncle Harry and his investors finance Mark's racing career," Hugo told him, "and the other Wizard there is Owen Cauldwell, who is the CEO of GamePortal, and they're Mark's primary sponsor. The other Witch is his wife, Natalie, and that's their kids, Kira and James with them."

"Is Broom Racing that expensive?" he asked Hugo next, but it was Joel who answered.

"Next time you're in the BroomCloset, take a look at the cost of one of those racing suits and all of the other equipment the pros use," he suggested. "Then add in all of the costs of travelling to the races, and all of the time they all put in with training. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more expensive than professional Quidditch on a per racer or player basis, since Quidditch players don't have all of those travel costs."

"That doesn't sound like a very good investment," Malcolm said, and Joel shrugged.

"It may not be for some racers, Malcolm, but the top racers, their investors, and sponsors usually all do pretty well," Joel told him.

"Well, the next racers won't be in for over an hour, and we need to get studying after breakfast," Kieran said, standing up. "I hate to break up the party, but it's time for me to clean up, and for all of us to get some sleep."

Malcolm felt awkward as he was on the outside looking in while there was a lot of goodnight hugging and kissing going on - awkward, and another emotion that he tried hard to ignore. He was a bit lost in thought as he watched, and jumped when he felt a soft, gentle hand on his shoulder. When he turned to his right, he didn't have any idea how to react when Ophelia hugged him, and then was smiling at him after letting him go.

"You looked like you needed a hug," she explained. "I can relate to that. Before I went to live at the Academy, I'd never been hugged."

"Never?" Malcolm asked.

"Nope. My family was about as opposite from this as you can get," she told him. "If my parents were touching me, it was never a good thing. You're looking at all of this hugging and kissing like I did at first, but you should give it a try. It's amazing how happy a hug can make you."

Malcolm realized that he had liked that hug, but then that also had him sifting through his memory to remember the last time he was hugged by anybody. He hadn't come up with a single memory when he heard his name called.

"Come on, Malcolm. We need to get going or we'll be late," Sarah told him.

"Have a good night," Ophelia told him, still smiling. "We'll see you in the morning."

"Um, You too," Malcolm answered, and then he joined Sarah and the other Slytherins who were leaving the office.

"What was up with that?" Philip asked Ophelia after Malcolm was gone, and the Gryffindor group began leaving Kieran's office along with the Ravenclaws.

"He's like us," she told him. "I don't think he's ready to deal with that yet, but hanging out with us has him thinking a lot about it."

Philip nodded. "I was wondering about that." Then he grinned at her. "I was also thinking that you like him too."

Ophelia laughed, put her arm around his waist, and hugged him as they walked. "Let's just say that I think he has some potential," she told him. "He has a lot to work out for himself first, though."

"Don't we all," Philip said.

By the time that the race watching party was over in Kieran's office, Lily was already cuddling with Fluffy in bed. She'd spent most of the afternoon with Al and Carolyn, though Carolyn had been working for most of that time while she and Al watched the Broom Race and chatted for a few hours. They both cooked dinner for the three of them, and then after dinner, Lily went home to the Cottage, where she stretched out on a sofa, turned the Broom Race on, and read a book while listening to the race commentators report on the race. It was after one o'clock when she and Kieran finally had their bedtime call, but she'd expected that, and didn't have to worry about getting up early anyway, since she and Fluffy could sleep in on Sunday. Kieran wasn't going to get to sleep in, so that call didn't really last all that long, and after wishing Kieran a good night, and ending the call, it wasn't much longer before Lily and Kieran were both fast asleep.

Al had enjoyed having an afternoon where he mostly had Lily to himself. They were both so busy, that those quiet visits where they weren't competing with the rest of the family for a little bit of time together were getting rare, and because of that, more precious for both of them. Carolyn took the evening off, and they watched the broom race on and off, enjoyed a nice long swim together, went to bed early, and then entertained themselves for a while before snuggling close and watching Mark win the race before going to sleep.

On Sunday, Carolyn was working again, now just a week away from year-end, and was busy helping Molly and Penelope with everything they had to do, while also on a steep learning curve as she worked. Al wasn't being as productive, but was working on his investigation of the Knights, and assessing how everything was going so far.

With the completion of his surveillance of the office in Guatemala, he had investigated thirty-seven of the forty-nine international groups of Knights. He had four offices left to stake out in Europe, and eight in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to that, he needed to find out the identity of the new Lord Commander of the Knights, decide how to take advantage of the situation with Malcolm Bletchley without putting the boy in danger, and discover what the Knights were planning to do.

All of the work he was doing on this case wasn't the only source of information he had. His Divination skills were telling him a lot too, but that information was more difficult to work with. There was no sense of imminent threat in what he saw, since he could see that there were still many possible futures ahead, but then he was also knew that what was coming was some number of months, not years away.

"You look like you're deep in thought," Carolyn said, and Al smiled at her.

"Just taking stock of my investigation and trying to decide what to do next," he told her.

"Well, it's going on one o'clock. How about you feed me next?" Carolyn suggested, and Al laughed.

"I guess I really was lost. It didn't feel like we'd been at our desks for four hours." Carolyn stood up, stretched, walked over to his desk, and helped him to stand.

"Come on, and we'll make some lunch, and talk about what's got you thinking such deep thoughts." When they'd started cooking, she prompted him again to talk about his investigation.

"I need to decide how to deal with Malcolm to start with," he began. "It would be nice to know what the Knights want with Hogwarts, but you are definitely right that we don't want them to abandon those plans and come up with something that I might not be able to find out about."

"So the trick will be to find a way to string them along, keep their interest, and not put Malcolm at risk," Carolyn summarized. "They want to know about the school defences, and you'll eventually want to give them a way to get past those defences that will not put anyone in danger, yet they can relatively easily test."

"In a nutshell, yes," Al agreed.

"What if the NEWT year students have a special project between now and the holidays?" she suggested. "You know they'll have lots of assignments anyway, so Malcolm probably wouldn't notice one more. Have them investigate, and attempt to discover a way around the school defences as a DADA report."

"That's a great idea, but they'd need to start that soon, and I haven't talked with Dad about putting a hole in the defences they could test."

"Why do that?" Carolyn asked with a smile. "There's already a weakness that would be obvious to them if they thought about it for a minute."

"You're talking about when the grounds are opened for the games," he said with a nod. "It's not true that the school is undefended then, but only a few people would know that."

"There's one other time too," she reminded him, "though this year, it's on the same day as the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game."

Al felt that now familiar click that sometimes happened to him when the possible futures started converging toward a single event, and realized immediately that he had a much more accurate probability for when that event he sensed coming was going to happen.

"That would work," Al agreed. "I'll work some kind of a schedule up where they can feed Malcolm a lot of the real defences around the school to him – the stuff that could reasonably be expected, and then maybe right before the report would be due, they could have a big discussion about using a game day or memorial day to get in past the protections. Maybe you should think about joining the Aurors after all," he said, and Carolyn laughed.

"Thanks, but while I really like talking with you about things like this, I wouldn't like having to deal with the bad guys all of the time, and I really like working with Grandma and Aunt Penelope."

Al sighed dramatically. "It's probably just as well. If you were with me on all of those long, boring surveillances, we'd probably end up giving ourselves away when we started snogging under my invisibility cloak."

Carolyn laughed again and hugged him. "That would really not be good – especially when dealing with the Wizards and Witches you're following."

They had lunch, discussing some of the other things he was working on in the case. Al cleaned up while Carolyn went back to her work, and then he sat down at his desk to work on putting together a three-week schedule for passing information to Malcolm that would take them through to the weekend before the holidays, where they could come up with their solution, since most assignments were due during the first few days of that last week before the holidays.

He sent Kieran a QuillMessage to call him when he had a few minutes alone where he could talk, and then spent ten minutes talking to him just before Kieran had dinner in the Great Hall, then sending him the rough schedule he'd put together, along with some suggestions on getting Hugo, Emily, Frederica, Liam, and Colin to help him with what he was doing. The only concern that Kieran had told Al about was that he'd at least need to bring Joel and Sarah in part or all of the way into the loop because it wouldn't work with just three out of four of the NEWT year students. Al had agreed with him, and told him to go ahead and add them to the small group who were in the know on this.

Only about half of the study group needed to have a session after dinner on Sunday, and that included all of the NEWT students, Sarah, all of the OWL students, and Nadine and Lance, who were done, but came and worked ahead while Colin and Vanessa finished up their work. An hour before curfew, they packed up and called it a night. Sarah and Joel were surprised when Kieran asked them to come to Emily's office with him for a meeting, but were a lot more surprised at what he, Hugo, Emily, Frederica, Liam, and Colin told them after that.

"I can't believe that Malcolm's been spying on us," Sarah said after hearing Kieran and the others out. "I really hope Al's right about him."

"I think he is right," Joel told her. "Have you watched how he is around all of us? He's dealing with his own demons right now, and at least some of them are the same ones you and I have dealt with."

"Okay. Then if we're also trying to help him, aren't you worried that doing this will put him in danger?" she asked.

"Actually, Al and Carolyn think that for now, it'll keep him safer," Kieran answered. "They're not likely to be angry with him if he's getting results, and the first time they could test the information wouldn't be until the games in January and February. If we can get him safely through the holidays, he'll be out of their reach here at Hogwarts until the end of June."

Sarah and Joel each had a few more questions, though they were both happy to help Al any way they could. After the meeting, when Kieran was back in his office, he called Al to let him know that everything was set up and everyone knew what to do. After that, he had a nice long talk with Lily, and then turned in for the night.

Malcolm had not enjoyed his post-study session night. Dirk had not been happy to hear that there was no useful information for him to report to Lord Chernobog at the meeting on Monday. Before that, two of his friends had finally confronted him about seeing him hanging around with orphans, mudbloods, and blood-traitors. Colin's suggestion to tell them that Slughorn had ordered him to join their study group because he wasn't doing very well in his classes this year had satisfied them for now, but since he knew what his father and the Lord Commander had planned for him soon, it was just a matter of time before almost no student in Slytherin would be willing to talk to him. The only good things happening in his life were because of what his enemies – the kids he was spying on – were doing for him. That simple truth was something he was finding harder to swallow every day.

His despair over what the lack of progress with his tasks for the Knights was swept away on Monday night during the evening study session. He was sitting between Colin and Ophelia, and they were working on their Charms assignment when he overheard Kieran ask Hugo a question.

"Where do you want to start with breaking into this place?"

Hugo laughed. "Well, it's probably a good idea for us to start by finding out about all of the school defences first, and then see if we can find a hole in them somewhere. I'm not actually sure that it's possible, but we were the dummies that picked the assignment."

"I think it'll be brilliant," Sarah told them. "It has to be way harder than anything any of the other groups are doing. Maybe the four of you will be the first to find a way to do it. That'd have to be worth an O, wouldn't it?"

Malcolm's heart and mind were both racing, but other than talking about where to start looking for the information they would need for the assignment, Hugo and the other NEWT students didn't say anything more about this assignment, the school defences, or ideas on how to get into the school. It was all he could do to go back to concentrating on his own homework, and after they were done for the night, he went back to his dorm room, and got ready for bed. He was about to call Dirk to talk when he paused and thought about what he knew so far, which was really just that Kieran, Hugo, Emily, and Joel had decided to do an assignment about trying to find a way past the Hogwarts defences. Dirk had made it clear that they wanted results, and this didn't exactly count as results yet. Instead of calling Dirk, he decided to wait, and see what they came up with as they worked on the project. There was a small, nagging voice in the back of his head trying to be heard as he thought about how this could help him, but he resolutely ignored it.

It wasn't until Wednesday night that Malcolm heard anything more from any of the NEWT students about their DADA assignment. They'd talked about the anti-apparition spells that everyone knew protected the school, and then started talking about other options.

"What about using a Polyjuice potion and becoming a current student," Joel suggested. Malcolm thought that was a great suggestion.

"Sorry mate," Hugo told him. "Transfigurations, Polyjuice, and even Animagi would be detected by the defences."

"How do you know that?" Joel asked.

"We were joking with Lily about changing into her Animagus form and sneaking in to see Kieran, and she told us that all of that was added to the defences after the war. Does Lily count as a valid source for our report?"

"We can ask the Professor," Emily said. "She ought to be. That doesn't surprise me, though. After having Barty Crouch Junior use Polyjuice to impersonate Mad-eye Moody for the whole school year, and have Peter Pettigrew at the school in his rat Animagus form, it makes sense that all of those types of transformational magics would be protected against."

"But James, Al, and Lily could all change into their Animagi when they were here," Kieran said, and Emily nodded.

"True, but they were students here at the time," Emily said. "I would imagine they can't do that now."

Kieran nodded. "That does make sense, and is probably the same for advanced Transfigurations too. Only Witches and Wizards who are supposed to be here can do them."

"Do you think that would include metamorphmagi?" Joel asked.

"That's a good question," Emily told him. "It's probably the same as for animagi, but we should look into that possibility."

They tossed around that idea, and others, for a while longer before moving on to other homework, and Malcolm had gone back to his own work. He again decided not to call Dirk, and to just find out everything he could before his regular Sunday night meeting. On Friday evening, he found out that besides the anti-apparition charms, the TransPortal could not be used within the grounds of any Wizarding school.

On Saturday, there were morning and evening study sessions, and he accepted Colin's invitation to come watch the Canons' home game against the Pride. The Canons won the two and a half hour match, and it had been a good game, but for some reason, the only vivid memory he had from the afternoon was of Ophelia's smiling face, and the hug she gave him when they were all getting ready to leave Kieran's office.

The last bit of information Malcolm learned about the school defences before his Sunday night call with Dirk came during their morning study session. Kieran and Joel had been trying to find out whether tunnelling would be an option, but found out that there were seismic wards that would be set off by the digging.

Since they'd done most of their work on Friday night and Saturday, the Sunday morning session had been enough to finish the weekend assignments, so they all had the rest of the day off to do whatever they wanted. Malcolm decided to go hang out in the Slytherin Common Room, where he got together with his mates, and planned to hang out with them until dinnertime.

He'd been with them for a couple of hours when he realized that he wasn't enjoying himself at all. They weren't doing anything different than normal – playing GameWizard, watching WWVN, and talking crudely like always. He was trying to figure out why when he suddenly knew the answer. They never talked like this in the study group. It wasn't that you never heard a bad word, because that did happen occasionally, but what he had never once heard was anyone in that room ever saying anything bad about anyone else. He thought about everything he and the guys had been talking about here, and none of them had said anything nice about anybody or anything. There were compliments made, but he was pretty sure that most Witches would find those compliments about their physical attributes rude and disgusting, not complimentary.

There was still hours left before dinner, but he made an excuse to leave, left the Common Room, and went to the library. He picked out a book, found a chair that wasn't on the beaten path, and sat down. The book was just meant to be a prop. He opened it, and remembered to turn a few pages, but then just let himself get lost in his thoughts.

"Either that's a particularly good part of the story, or you're daydreaming."

Malcolm snapped to attention at the sound of the voice, and looked up to see Ophelia smiling down at him.

"Welcome back," she added, and sat in the chair next to his. "This is a nice quiet place to come and think. The students at the Academy have their own rooms, so it was easy to just close the door if you wanted some time alone. I miss that a lot sometimes, even though my roommates here are all really nice."

"You aren't reading my mind or something are you?" he asked, and Ophelia laughed.

"I can't even read a tea leaf. Why do you ask that?"

Malcolm shrugged. "Just wondering. It's funny that you're mentioning that your roommates are really nice, when I've been thinking that my roommates really aren't nice at all."

She put a hand on his arm comfortingly. "Are they giving you trouble?"

"They're not razzing me or anything," he answered. "I haven't been any nicer than they are. That's the problem I'm having."

Ophelia's smile returned, and he couldn't help but smile too. "That's not a bad problem to have, Malcolm. I have heard you and your mates talking in some of our classes, so I'm pretty sure I know what you mean. I like the boy that's in our study group a lot more than the one that hangs out with your mates. It really doesn't matter what I think, or they think, though. You're the one who has to choose which boy you want to be."

"What if that's not true?" he asked, and Ophelia squeezed his arm.

"It is true, Malcolm. That doesn't mean our choices are easy, though. Those choices can cost us a lot too."

"Since I started going to your study group, it's like I'm starting to doubt everything I've ever been taught to believe in," he said in a whisper. "I'm not sure I even know what's right or wrong anymore."

"Are you sure you don't?" Ophelia asked. "I think we all know what's right and wrong. It's pretty easy to give ourselves excuses when we do something bad, but deep down, we do know the truth."

"If this is supposed to make me feel better, it's not working," Malcolm told her, and she laughed quietly.

"Once you've had more time to think about it, I hope it will help." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "That's for the good you. I actually came over to let you know that it's almost time for dinner, so now that I've talked your ear off, we should get going or we'll be late."

They both stood up, and Ophelia hugged him. "Don't get too wound up about everything you're dealing with. You'll know what's right for you eventually. Have a good night, Malcolm."

He nodded, and she left him, knowing that he wouldn't want to walk to the Great Hall with a Gryffindor, and not expecting any platitudes or thanks from him that he didn't yet know how to offer, even though she was sure he had been glad to talk with her. Malcolm put the book back, and then went to the Great Hall. He saw Ophelia just getting to her seat next to Philip when he walked in, and he went over to sit with his roommates like he always did.

When it was time to make his report to Dirk, he was in bed, and had a book in front of him, as usual. It took him five minutes to tell Dirk about everything that he'd learned about the school defences in the past week, and about how he'd learned it.

"So they're trying to find a way past the school defences for a DADA assignment?" Dirk asked, and Malcolm told him that was true. "We didn't do an assignment like that in my NEWT year."

"They said they got to pick the topic, and they thought this could get them all O's if they figure out a way to do it. Kieran and Emily are the best in their year, Dirk. Maybe they can find a way."

Dirk nodded. "Well, some of those defences are obvious, but that seismic detection and the Animagus, Polyjuice, and Transfiguration defences is all new information. I'll pass everything on to Lord Chernobog. Keep listening in to them, keep me posted, and if you can manage it, get a copy of that report when it's finished. I'll talk to you next week." Malcolm would have answered, but Dirk had already ended the call.

'You're welcome, Dirk', he thought to himself. 'Thanks for taking the time to tell me how much you appreciate me putting my butt on the line for the cause'.

Monday was December first – Bonus Day. At Hogwarts, Frederica, Hugo, and Kieran all had packages sent to them by their Gringotts Account Manager, Turvog, and for Kieran, an extra one from his mother. He and Lily had made sixteen and a half million galleons each over the past year. His total account balance now stood at just over fifty-five and a half million galleons.

While the letter from Turvog was for Lily, she'd had a copy sent to him too. He knew that Hugo, Emily, Frederica, and Liam were looking at the same amounts he was looking at, and this year, Lily's part of the dividend from PBP Investments was nearly fifty-four million galleons. On top of that, Turvog had earned Lily another five million galleons on the money that had been deposited the last year. That put the account total at about one hundred and eight million galleons.

The only part of the letter he was holding that was different that Hugo's and Frederica's letters was the summary of Lily's ownership stake in PBP Investments. That amount was still as staggering to Kieran as it had been the first time he'd read about it, and that number continued to get bigger. This year-end it was just under three point nine billion galleons.

Lily and his mother had kept him posted all weekend about how the new Christmas album, and the new merchandise was selling, and he thought that had been brilliant as the album shot past a million sales on Saturday, and past two million by the end of the night last night – the fastest selling Christmas album in the history of the Wizarding World, replacing their first Christmas album at the top of the list. All of the other merchandise had been selling incredibly well too, but these annual reports were off the charts brilliant by comparison.

Al and Carolyn were having a much quieter Bonus Day morning. That didn't mean that it wasn't just as exciting for them to see the same numbers for their own accounts that Kieran had been reading. It was quieter because they were both really tired. Carolyn had been at the PBP Investments offices day and night for most of the past week, and all weekend. They'd sent the last Owl Posts out at shortly after one o'clock this morning.

"My own bonus, for five months work was seventy-three million galleons," Carolyn told Al tiredly as they read their reports and had breakfast. "I can't even get my head around that, but what was really brilliant for me this weekend was when Grandma let me authorize and write up the bonus letters for Mum, Aunt Hermione, Luna, Mandy, and Natalie."

"Mum's probably loving that too," Al told her. "Are you going to the Bonus Day party at the Institute this afternoon?"

"Yes, and that's going to be brilliant too. This is another best year ever for us, and there are going to be a lot of very happy Witches and Wizards."

"There will be twenty-one at the Ministry who won't be in that happy group by then," he predicted. "Today's Wizengamot meeting will go as badly for the other side as the last few have."

He, Scorpius, and Callie had spent their weekend writing up another round of rebuttals for the stacks of proposals their Wizengamot opponents dumped on them on the Friday before their meeting again. It was frustrating, and a total waste of time to continually have to argue against all of the stupid attempts by those Elders to give themselves and their cronies more money, or make new laws that were aimed at imposing the ideals of the pureblood elites, but it had to be done, and it seemed that it was up to the three of them to do it.

"Too bad you can't just vote them out," Carolyn said, and Al laughed.

"That might be nice now, but maybe not in the future if the balance of power changes."

"Is it too much to hope that doesn't ever happen again?" she asked. "Nobody likes it when the bad guys are in charge."

"Except for the bad guys," Al pointed out.

When Carolyn had finished breakfast, Al sent her on ahead to work, since she still had a lot to do this morning once the bonus authorizations started coming back in from the senior managers around the company, and they needed to get the Gringotts letters for those bonuses ready and out to all of their employees. He cleaned up their breakfast dishes, and then headed off to the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot meeting. Last week, he'd spent most of his time in Germany, identifying all of the Knights in that group, and spending his evenings going through their offices. That had taken longer than he'd expected, and the Knights there seemed to make notes for every miniscule detail of everything that went on in Wizarding Germany.

This week, starting on Tuesday, he was going to start his stakeout of the Knight's office in Italy. Al expected to be working long days all week except for Wednesday, when he and Carolyn had another dinner with Rose, Matt, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, and Lily. Once he was done work on Friday night, though, he and Carolyn were taking the weekend off, both of them really needing a couple of days of down time.

Kieran, Hugo, Emily, Frederica, and Liam didn't get to have any Bonus Day parties or anything. Their Professors didn't declare a holiday, and they had loads of homework to do by the end of their classes for the day. With less than three weeks to go until Christmas, and most assignments and projects due over the next two weeks, it was time for another stretch of late nights and long days. Kieran threw himself into that work, hoping it would help make the days go by faster, and get him more quickly to the last Hogsmeade weekend before the Christmas Holidays.

Lily had been busy all week too. She'd had the Bonus Day party at the Institute on Monday, worked in the lab on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then spent Thursday and Friday getting ready for her promotional tour with Laura. That had included a SpaMagic trip, a custom fitting for the new line of clothes that had just come out on Saturday, and a dozen other details that needed to be taken care of before leaving for a week.

On Saturday morning, she was in Hogsmeade early enough to set Glenda, Gabe, Bert, Candice, Chris, and Kylie up with some shopping and lunch money, and sent them off for a day of Christmas shopping before going to meet Kieran at the school gates again.

It was a pretty cold day, so they shared a short hug and kiss, and then started walking into town with their friends. Everyone in their group had long shopping lists, and Christmas Wheezes and holiday sweets were a big part of the necessary supplies. Lily, Kieran, Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah went around to do their shopping together, and along with their own supplies, they had Adam, H, Cassandra, and Violet to shop for.

"Any new Christmas Wheezes out this year?" Hugo asked as they started looking around the Wheezes store.

"James said something about a new Christmas Ghosts three pack with the Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future Transfiguration chocolates," Lily told him.

"We should pick up some of those too – for the younger kids," he suggested, and Emily laughed.

"Sure, and maybe one or three extra packages for the not-so-young kids like you, Kieran, and Joel."

It was about eleven-thirty when they finished shopping, and Lily and Kieran changed their plans a bit, invited the other two couples to join them for lunch, and picked up some extra groceries before going to the house to have lunch together. Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah hadn't needed much convincing to accept the offer over a mediocre lunch at the Three Broomsticks, but when they finished helping with the after-lunch cleanup, they all hugged Lily goodbye, and left to go back to Hogwarts.

Now that they were just thirteen days away from the start of the Christmas holidays, after a really great afternoon together, it wasn't as tough as usual to say goodbye when Kieran had to get back to school, and Lily had to go meet up with Laura and leave for New Zealand. They had pushed their time to the limit, though, so Lily and Kieran both apparated to the school gates, and she hugged and kissed him goodbye again. She watched him walk up the drive toward the school for a minute, and then apparated to the Cottage to get her bag, say goodbye to her parents and Fluffy, and then catch up with Laura at Kirley and Ana's house.

Malcolm had been working as hard as the other members of his new study group during the week, and he'd spent the morning in Hogsmeade getting supplies, and then having lunch with his friends. That visit to town had been the last real break that they had all weekend, and by Sunday night, he was ready to get some sleep. He planned to get right to that as soon as he gave Dirk his report for the week.

Hugo and the other NEWT students seemed to be thorough in their research of the school defences, and they'd worked through a lot of possibilities, including quite a few that Malcolm wouldn't even have thought about. They had determined that it wasn't possible to fly in over the defences, or come in on, through, or under the lake. Hiding in an Owl Post package, or trying the same with sending a package using a Translocator wasn't possible without being caught either. When he called Dirk, Malcolm passed all of the new information on to him.

"This is all good to know," Dirk told him when Malcolm had finished his report, "but Lord Chernobog is not going to want to keep hearing what can't be done. It will not be good for you, or for your father and me, if you fail at this task."

"If the best students in our school do not find a way past the school protections, how can I be expected to do better?" Malcolm asked.

"Because you are a Knight and a pureblood, and because you really do not want to face the consequences of disappointing the Lord Commander," Dirk told him.

There wasn't much else to say after that, and Dirk again abruptly ended the call, leaving Malcolm feeling very alone and afraid. Sleep didn't end up coming all that easily after all, and when it did, the dreams were not pleasant, and he was still tired and edgy when he woke up on Monday morning.

Lily and Laura were busy mall-hopping all week, starting with New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and South Korea on Sunday, and working their way west after that. Rose and Matt were in Australia for their first luxury tour in that country. Al was in France all week watching the Knight's office in Paris during the day, identifying the members of that group, and combing through the office at night after the building was empty. The rest of the family outside of Hogwarts were equally busy, and even Harry was running all day as he helped Susan with Christmas preparations for the Residence and getting gifts for their two hundred children.

It had been looking like Christmas around Hogwarts since decorations started going up at the first of December, but not many of the students were feeling the Christmas spirit yet, since that second week of December was all about getting assignments that were due before the holidays finished and handed in on time before getting loaded down with the holiday revisions they always were given to work on while they were home.

As the week went on, Malcolm was getting edgier and more concerned. By the end of the study session on Friday, Hugo and the other NEWT students hadn't come up with a way to get past the Hogwarts defences, and even though he had continued to search for an answer himself in the afternoons before dinner, he hadn't even found information that they obviously had. On Saturday, they studied all morning. They were going to have an evening study session too, but were taking the afternoon off to watch the Canons play on the road against the Tutshill Tornados. Malcolm hadn't planned on going to watch the game, but when Ophelia flashed her smile, and asked if he was coming, he had not been able to say no.

"This should be a good game today," Hugo said while they watched the pre-game show. "The Tornados are in third place behind us and the Harpies, and they haven't lost at home this season."

"Not yet," Frederica said with a laugh. "That's about to change."

Andy and his team pretty much said the same thing when predicting a Canons win just before game time. When the game got started, though, it looked from the start like it was going to be a tough battle. As the game went on and on, though, Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly started to really pour it on, and the score started to get out of hand for the Tornados as Ron was playing yet another brilliant game. When Arianna got a clean breakaway on the Tornado Keeper, and easily scored, Kieran thought he had a really great chance to put the last piece of Al's information passing plan into play.

"What kind of defence lets you just walk in like that and score?" he asked, and then paused with what he hoped was a look of surprise on his face. "THAT'S IT!" he said loudly. A few of the other students jumped, not expecting his sudden pronouncement, and he laughed.

"What's it?" Hugo asked him.

"That's how you get past the Hogwarts defences, mate," he told Hugo. "You walk right in!"

"We've talked about that already," Emily told him. "You can't walk, fly, swim, or do anything else like that to get into the grounds."

"I can think of seven days that isn't true," Kieran told her. There are actually only six during this particular school year, since two of those events are on the same day."

"The school Quidditch games and the Battle of Hogwarts Memorial Day," Hugo said excitedly with a nod as he caught up with what Kieran was doing. "We've been searching for a way to get past the defences when we wanted to, but this is so obvious, we didn't even consider the possibility."

"Are you sure that anyone can come to the school for the games and memorial?" Joel asked.

"We can check around and make sure, but the games are open to any guests, even though it's usually just family or people from town, and Witches and Wizards from all over the world come to visit the Memorial Stone on May second every year. Have you ever heard your parents talk about having to make any special arrangements before coming to a game?" she asked Hugo and Kieran, and they both shook their heads.

"Mine don't for sure," Kieran answered. "I agree we need to check this out first before we make it our conclusion. It just seems too simple."

"Then it's probably the right answer," Hugo said. "Too bad we didn't think of this first. We could have saved ourselves a lot of work."

Emily laughed. "We had a pretty great project put together anyway, and even without this, I think Professor Williamson would have still given us all Outstanding marks. There's nothing wrong with being thorough."

They went back to watching the game, and Malcolm had been pretending to do that anyway as he'd listened to them. Could they be right about this? He'd never visited the Memorial Stone, but he had been out on the grounds before when Witches and Wizards were going there, and he, Dirk, and their friends had sat around in their Common Room making jokes the day that Colin had led the twenty-fifth anniversary ceremony, but they had heard that thousands had shown up for it. There were always lots of visitors for the games too, though he'd never really thought about the fact that they would certainly have to open the school defences so that the guests could come into the school grounds.

The Canons did win the game, and Liselle caught the snitch again, unbeaten so far this season. After dinner, and all day on Sunday, it was back to their studies, but by Sunday night, they were all finished their assignments.

"Are we done studying until after the holidays then?" Malcolm asked Colin, who laughed and shook his head.

"We all wish, but no. The Professors will start giving us the holiday assignments tomorrow, and we'll start working on them this week so that we don't have as much work to do while we're home."

"We do take Thursday off, though," Frederica added. "With the feast and having to pack to go home, there isn't really time to get anything done anyway."

"When exactly do you stop to have fun?" Malcolm asked.

"Aren't you having fun?" Ophelia asked him, smiling and giving him a hug. "I really like hanging out with everyone here and playing with magic."

"Well, he seems to like your hugs," Philip joked, and Malcolm smiled as Ophelia and the others laughed, and she hugged him again.

"What was the question again?" Malcolm asked and Ophelia laughed again.

Malcolm listened as the others talked about the coming holidays while they packed up, and then left for Slytherin House on his own. He had a couple of hours before it was time for his call with Dirk, so he hung around the Common Room, watching WWVN. He went to his dorm and got ready for bed and he was in bed and all set with the book he used for appearances when Dirk called him, and he answered the call right away.

"Tell me you have some good news for the Lord Commander," Dirk said abruptly.

"Well, Weasley and the others think they have a solution," Malcolm answered. "They believe the way to get past the defences is to just walk in on one of the days that the school grounds are open to the public – on game days, and on the Memorial Day on May second. Other than those days, they don't think it's possible."

He watched as Dirk stared at his ViComm mirror incredulously, seeming to be trying to see Malcolm, even though he couldn't. "You're joking, right? You want me to tell Lord Chernobog that? Have you lost your bloody mind, Bletchley?"

"Why wouldn't it work?" Malcolm challenged him. "They didn't come up with the idea sooner because they spent all of their time trying to find a way to get in whenever they wanted. I've never heard about any restrictions on who can come to the games or to visit the Memorial Stone on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. There are four more of those days this year, since the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game is on May second, so you could test the idea out in January or February to make sure it can be done."

Dirk was now considering the idea more fully, and was nodding to himself. "Okay, maybe it could work. I'll report back to the Knights, and when you get home for the holidays, I'm sure that the Lord Commander will want to talk with you about this in more detail. Keep close to the Weasleys this week. You might learn something as they get ready for the holiday."

He hung up on Malcolm again, and this time, Malcolm was able to go to sleep easily. Tonight, his dreams were of a bright smile and hugs instead of the nightmares of a week ago.

For the next three days, he went to classes all day that were mostly handing in assignments, getting the holiday homework, and some holiday magic fun. They worked on those assignments after dinner on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, finishing up an hour before curfew on Wednesday.

"We'll be getting together to study over the holidays," Colin told him as they packed up. "You're welcome to come, but if you can't do that, we understand."

"When are you studying?" Malcolm asked.

"We've confirmed study days at the Cottage on both Tuesdays we're home. Hugo's got our team practicing both mornings starting around eight-thirty, and we'll study after our practice, but most of the others will likely stay inside and study all morning while we're training."

"What's the Cottage?"

Colin grinned at him. "The Cottage would be Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's home."

"I don't know," Malcolm said doubtfully. "If my parents ever found out…"

"We don't want you to get in trouble, mate. If you can't come, you can always send me a qm if you have any homework questions and have to work on your own instead."

"Okay. I'll think about it," Malcolm told him.

The room was emptying out, and most of the others wished him a Merry Christmas, since they likely wouldn't be able to do that any other times before they went home on Friday. There weren't very many left in the room when Ophelia came up to him, took his hand, and led him over by the windows where they had a little privacy.

"I don't know what your Christmases are like at home, but when I lived with my family, Christmas was one of the really bad times," she said softly, smiling up at him, her grey eyes as soft as her voice as she seemed to look into his heart.

"Since you might not be able to come study with us over the holidays, I wanted to give this to you now," she added, handing him a gift-wrapped present. "Merry Christmas, Malcolm." She hugged him, and then, after looking deeply into his eyes again, moved closer, and kissed him – a too brief, sweet touch of her lips. She smiled at him again, and then left him there to go get her bag, and meet up with Philip, who was grinning as he waited for her by the door.

Malcolm stood there holding the gift she'd given him for a long moment before coming around, and going to get his bag too, carefully putting the present inside of it. There were a few more goodbye and Merry Christmases before he left the classroom, and returned to his dorm room. None of his roommates were there, and instead of going to hang out with them, he got ready for, and then climbed into bed. He didn't get the gift Ophelia gave him out of his bag, not wanting to take the chance of getting caught with it by his mates. It was that soft kiss that still had him off-balance.

'You're an idiot', he told himself. She'd given him a gift, wished him a Merry Christmas, and hugged and kissed him, and he hadn't even been able to spit out a simple thank-you or say anything at all. What was his problem anyway? Ophelia was pretty, smart, gentle, caring, and for some reason, she seemed to like him. The little voice that had been nagging him a lot lately that maybe he was the problem. He lay in bed, wide-awake for a long time, reliving that moment, and doing a lot of thinking.

On Thursday, the Hogwarts students didn't really do any work in classes, and their Christmas feast was a great way to kick off the start of their holidays. After the feast, while most of the students were packing, or hanging out in the Common Rooms, Kieran and Emily were hosting a Christmas party for the Prefects and their dates in Kieran's office. They enjoyed a few hours together, with a little dancing, lots of treats and drinks, and when it was nearly curfew, the party started wrapping up, and Emily and Kieran handed out gifts to their Prefects as they wished them a Merry Christmas while they left to either begin patrols or return to their Houses and do their own packing for the trip home.

Hugo and Emily stayed and helped Kieran with the cleanup, and then they left for Gryffindor House, while Kieran went to pack up, do a round through the Hufflepuff Common Room to check in on the few students staying up late, and then went to get ready for bed. He was just getting into bed when Lily called him, and they were both smiling when he answered her call and flipped open the mirror on his ViComm.

"How was your day?" Lily asked.

"Pretty much the usual last day before the holidays," he answered. "Not much going on in class, I ate too much at the feast, and the Prefect party was a lot of fun."

"I hope they like the gifts that Emily and I picked out," Lily told him. "Since you're in bed, you must be packed up already. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight."

Kieran laughed. "I'm excited about getting home too, but it's been a long couple of weeks, so sleeping won't be a problem for me. You should try and get some rest, though. We've got interviews tomorrow afternoon."

"Any chance we could skip all of those and go somewhere that I can snog you senseless for a few hours instead?"

Kieran laughed. "I wish, but you know we can't do that. Who's coming to the station tomorrow?"

"Your Mum and Dad, my father,Kira, Mark, Tracey, and James will be at the station with me, and most of the parents and guardians will be at the lunch," Lily answered. "We'll have a full room at the restaurant."

"I can hardly wait, though after dinner tonight, I should probably just skip food until Christmas."

"You'll be starving, and filling a plate by breakfast," Lily predicted. "I should let you get some sleep now. It's going to be a busy morning for you."

Kieran agreed, and after a minute of goodnights, they ended the call. Lily sat up and read a book for another hour or more, while Kieran was off to sleep almost right away. This Christmas, the family had ten new members that were going to get to find out what a real family Christmas should be. There was a lot that would be happening, and it was sure to be a busy, fun-filled holiday.

The Lord Commander of the Knights was still awake then, and he was not thinking happy Christmas thoughts, but was instead formulating schemes and plans that he was convinced would soon help him defeat his enemies, and take his rightful place as ruler of the Wizarding World. With the latest news that Dirk had brought him on Monday from Malcolm Bletchley, he knew for certain now that the time for his ascension was nearly at hand.

"Enjoy your silly holiday," he said aloud to the empty room, laughing. "Your pathetic lives are almost at an end."


	134. Family and Friends Christmas Fun

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Four – Family and Friends Christmas Fun

The Hogwarts Express was almost to King's Cross Station, and Kieran had started packing up what he'd been working on in the Prefect car, and starting to get his things together. After the short Prefect meeting, he had told Emily to go on and hang out with Hugo and their friends, while he stayed behind to deal with any problems that came up during the trip home. Other than one case of motion sickness for a first year boy that was probably more due to over-indulgence the night before at the feast and eating holiday sweets all night than from the train ride, it was a quiet trip, and he was able to get a fair bit of work done.

Hugo, Emily, and the others in their group hadn't done any work, but instead just had fun hanging out together and talking about the coming holidays. Kieran did have one advantage when the train did pull to a stop next to platform nine and three-quarters – he wasn't in the middle of a jumble of students all jostling to get off of the train and get their holidays started. He got to step off the train, and into the waiting arms of his fiancée, who hugged and kissed him for quite a while before letting him go again.

"If the rest of the holidays are as great as that start, they're going to be brilliant," Kieran said, and Lily laughed and hugged him again.

"Hopefully they will be," she told him. "Let's go meet up with your Mum and Dad before they're over-run with the rest of the gang."

Kieran brought his luggage with him, and they did get there ahead of most of the other students. He had time to hug his parents, Harry, and Kira, who the grownups had managed to hold back to give Lily a chance to have a minute alone with Kieran first, and then most of their group reached them, and the long welcome home began. Kirley, Kieran, Hugo, and Joel stepped to one side, and began tagging luggage with Translocators, and sending them to all of the kid's homes.

There were five sets going to Kirley and Ana's; five to the Cottage; two to Percy and Penelope's townhouse; two each to James and Arianna's, Aaron and Tracey's, and Mark and Callie's homes; one set for Stewart and Isabelle, and two sets for Teddy and Victoire; and the luggage for Hugo, Emily, Colin, Lance, Frederica, Liam, Myra, and Aiden to their six homes. When all of that was done, they all left the platform and took the TransPortal to the Marauders Mall to wander around for the short time they had until lunch.

Malcolm hadn't still been on the platform to see them leave, but he had been there long enough to watch the warm greeting and the hugs and kisses that everyone else in his study group were met with, while his welcome had been a gruff 'Get your things and let's go' from his father, and a not-so-gentle hand on his shoulder to help move him along more quickly. His bags were sent home, and Miles side-along apparated Malcolm to the Avery Estates, his grip digging even more forcefully into his son's shoulder, and leaving a dull ache behind when he let go.

"Come on, boy," Miles growled. "The Lord Commander is waiting for you."

Malcolm swallowed hard, but kept up with the fast pace his father started, and they were quickly at the house, invited in, and escorted to the drawing room where Lord Chernobog and the other Knights were waiting.

"We came as soon as we could, Lord," Miles said deferentially.

"Did you observe anything of interest from our enemies while you were there?" Lord Chernobog asked.

"No, Lord Commander," Miles answered. "Just the same pathetic fawning over those disgusting abominations they waste their time on."

Lord Chernobog nodded. "That is to be expected with their kind. It is of no moment. What we all really want to hear about is everything that Malcolm has heard regarding this DADA project the Weasley mutt and his friends did on getting past the school defences. Start from the beginning, and try not to leave anything out."

With the spotlight firmly put on him, and the Lord Commander staring at him intently, Malcolm took a calming breath that he hoped was quiet enough to not be noticed by the others, and spent the next ten or fifteen minutes going over everything he could remember hearing about the project, and what Hugo and the others had concluded.

"So you believe that we have four days during the rest of the school year where we can, without having any problems getting through the school defences, walk right in?"

"Yes, Lord Commander," Malcolm agreed.

"When are these games?" he asked next.

Malcolm had to think about that for a minute. "The first game is Ravenclaw against Slytherin on January seventeenth. The next is Gryffindor-Hufflepuff the weekend after Valentine's Day, so this year, that would be on February twenty-first. The Hufflepuff-Slytherin game is on the first Saturday in May, and since that's also the anniversary marking the end of the Battle of Hogwarts, the school grounds will be open all day from about a half hour before sunrise. The last game is Gryffindor-Ravenclaw three weeks after that, which is on May twenty-third."

Lord Chernobog asked the other Knights what they thought about whether getting into the school could be that simple. There was some discussion about that, but in the end, the consensus was that it probably would work.

"We will test this out at this game in January," Lord Chernobog decided. "If that test is successful, we will make our plans, and when ready, we will strike!"

He picked Marcus and Madeline Flint, and Melania Gamp to be the Knights going to the game, and seeing whether they could enter the school grounds, and then went over some other plans. Malcolm had been quietly sitting next to his father, thinking that his part in the meeting was over, but then the Lord Commander returned his attention to his youngest Knight.

"How is it going with befriending these Weasleys and their friends, Malcolm? Have you managed to do that?"

"I believe so, yes," Malcolm answered. "They invited me to a couple of study days over the holidays at Harry and Ginny Potter's home. I told them that I didn't think I could come because my parents would never allow it, but that I'd think about it."

"Then you will have to sneak away and go study with them despite your parents," Lord Chernobog said, and Malcolm felt his father tense beside him. "Don't you see, Miles? We will have a Knight in the home of our greatest enemy, and you will have a perfect excuse to disown him when you 'find out' after the holidays. That will get Malcolm all the way in with those pathetic do-gooders. They won't be able to resist helping the poor boy!"

"I understand Lord," Miles said. "When do you want me to do that?"

"Do it a few days after Malcolm returns to school. We can finalize the details at our Monday meeting that week."

Malcolm's throat was tight, and his heart was pounding as the Lord Commander and his father talked so casually about destroying his life – or at least his life for the rest of the school year. He almost asked himself whether they just didn't care about what that would do to him, but then he didn't need to ask, since he knew they really didn't care. He was nothing more than a tool to the Lord Commander, and his father was a dedicated follower who wouldn't hesitate to give up his son for the cause.

While his fate was being sealed, all of Malcolm's study group except for Claire were having lunch together with their families in the private banquet room they usually rented for these occasions. This was one of the bigger welcome home lunches, and it was a noisy, entertaining event. Only the Canons players couldn't come, so there were twenty-six parents, grandparents, and guardians, and Lily and Kira with the twenty-nine students.

Lily and Kieran had to leave right after lunch for the first of several interviews that would keep them running all afternoon. The working adults returned to work, leaving Harry, Mark, and Kira with a group of twenty-eight fired up teens.

"It's all shopping, all afternoon," Harry told them. "Try to stay in groups, and you can call Mark or I if you need anything from us." Money had already been handed out to the students by guardians, so all that was left was for them to split up, go out into the mall, and start shopping.

For the next few hours, the teens had fun checking out everything that was out new for Christmas, picking up a few presents, and getting a special outfit or three to wear during the holidays. By a little after four o'clock, it was time for Harry to go and start cooking dinner at the Cottage. Mark, Joel, Sarah, Hugo, and Emily offered to stay at the Mall to give any of the other younger students who wanted to stay there a little more time to shop.

Since Brian and Jason were the newcomers to the Cottage, Harry was cooking for fourteen, with Stewart, Isabelle, Teddy, and Victoire coming for dinner with their three girls. Lily was going to be at Kieran's house for the weekend, and they were having their own dinner with Vanessa, Nadine, Cassandra, and Violet, and spending the evening helping the four girls settle in to their new home.

That was happening at Mark and Callie's house for Alice and Lenny, and Percy and Penelope had Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna over to help welcome Ophelia and Philip home. Adam and H had spent a little time with Aaron and Tracey after the couple were done work, but they went over to James and Arianna's to have dinner and spend the evening with them, and with Erin and Quincy.

The other student Marauders were doing the family dinners too, with Hugo and Emily having dinner with their parents, Rose, and Matt, and Frederica and Liam going out to dinner with their parents, Myra, and Aiden. Al and Carolyn were not in on any of the family gatherings, since he hadn't been sure if he would get finished work in time to get to any of the dinners.

He had been working his stakeout of the Knight's office in Spain all week, and it had been slow going, as this location only seemed to have a handful of members that came in to the office every day, and had one Wizard who came early, and stayed late into the evenings, which meant that Al had to wait until late to go into the office and start sifting through their files.

After everyone else except that one Wizard left the office for the weekend, instead of waiting around doing nothing for a few hours, he called Carolyn up, and suggested she meet him in Spain and they could go out for dinner before he went back to work. She agreed, and they met at a small café in Madrid.

"Do you think this will be your last night here?" she asked when they were seated, had ordered, and been served their drinks.

"I still haven't identified everyone in this group, so I'll try to get that done next week, but I will be done going through the office with a few more hours of work tonight."

"Good. I've missed having you home at night this week."

"I'll be home every night for the next two weeks, and I'm taking four day weekends from Thursday to Sunday both weeks, so we'll have some time to spend together, and with our family," Al told her. "We are going to be busy with everything else we have going on, though."

Carolyn nodded. "I know. We've got the Institute Christmas party at the Emerald City Centre tomorrow night, the Weasley Christmas on Sunday, the Minister of Magic's Christmas party on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day at the Cottage, and the New Year's Eve party at the Emerald City Centre again."

"We need to try and get together with Rose and Matt at least once before they're off on their New Year's tour sometime in the next week too," Al reminded her. "Maybe we should see if we could get a little dinner party together at our house for Monday or Tuesday night, even though everyone else is just as busy as we are."

"I'll ask around and see if the other girls and I can work something out," Carolyn offered. "Now that you're taking both weekends off, though, I was thinking that after the New Year's Eve party, you and I could go spend most of that second four day weekend at our house on the island. We'd have to come back home sometime Sunday afternoon, island time, but it would still be almost four full days away together. The only thing I know of that's going on for sure is the Canons' game on the Saturday, and it's on the road in Kenmare. I'm pretty sure I can survive missing an afternoon outdoors in January, watching a game that the Canons should be able to win blindfolded."

Al laughed. "So can I. Maybe when you do that calling around, you should mention that plan, and see how many others are interested in doing that too. Kieran and Lily might love the idea before he goes back to school again, though I guess they could only stay until Saturday afternoon."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were doing that already, but I'll see what everyone else is doing for that too," Carolyn said. "I told Mum and Dad I'd help out with the shopping tomorrow morning. Do you want me to let you sleep in, or would you like to come along?"

"I'm not sure yet," Al answered. "If I get done early enough tonight, I'll come along, but if it's another really late night, I may just make breakfast for you, and go back to sleep for a while so I'm not sleeping at the table by nine o'clock at the Institute party tomorrow night."

Carolyn nodded. "Okay. Do you realize that this was the first welcome home lunches and dinners that we've missed out on practically in our whole lives? I thought this first holiday not being a student anymore would feel strange, but it's just all different – and all of it's in a good way."

"Considering how much homework you and I bring home from work with us, I'm not sure school revisions wouldn't be easier, but I know what you mean. I did miss getting to do the lunch, though. Sometimes it seems like we hardly get to see some of our family very much at all."

"Maybe when you finish with this Knight's investigation, you'll be around the Ministry more," Carolyn suggested, "and then you could come have lunches with me. I go out at least once a week with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Percy, and Aunt Penelope, and I've met Art and Serena for lunch a couple of times too."

"That would be great," Al told her. "Now that you're pretty much done year-end and Christmas, what will you be working on next?"

Carolyn told him all about what Molly and Penelope wanted her working on over the next few months while they ate, and when they were finished dinner and left the café, Al kissed her goodbye, and she went home, while he went back to the Knight's office to wait for the remaining Knight to leave so he could get into the office and finish searching the place.

He didn't get home until nearly two o'clock in the morning, and Carolyn only woke briefly to kiss him goodnight when he climbed into bed, then she snuggled close to him and drifted off to sleep again. The next thing she knew, there was the sweet aromas of breakfast cooking caressing her gently awake, and she enjoyed spending a few languorous moments in the warm, comfortable bed before deciding that she was hungry, and that getting up and ready for the day was better than closing her eyes and having a little nap.

"Thank-you," Carolyn told Al as she came into the Great Room, went over and hugged and kissed him good morning. "Since you're dressed already, have you decided to come shopping too?"

"It sounded like more fun than going back to sleep for a few hours," he answered. "Besides, Christmas is next Thursday, so I should probably start looking for something to get you, don't you think?"

Carolyn laughed and hugged him again. "I think I don't believe you. There are a few more gifts we need to be looking for, though. We're ready for tomorrow's Christmas at the Burrow, but we haven't picked out anything for Jason and Brian, and since we're getting something for them, I'm wondering if we should have gotten something for Erin, Quincy, Adam, and H, since they'll be at the Cottage too."

"We could do that if you'd like, but don't forget Alice and Lenny then. They're coming with Mark and Callie, aren't they?" Al asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"Yes, they are," she agreed. "Next year, we might want to think about drawing names for everyone that comes to the Cottage like we do for the Weasley family Christmas. We'll be buying gifts for twenty-eight, and that doesn't include all of the others we've picked up for at work and for our other friends and cousins."

"I guess it was going to happen eventually. Do you know if Nick, Allie, Rose, Matt, Scorpius, or Brianna are going shopping with us today?"

"I don't know about Rose and Matt, but Scorpius and Brianna are coming, and Nick and Allie aren't. Allie will be working this weekend so that Victoire can be with Teddy, Millie and Amy. She won't be far from her portable BusinessMagic system or her ViComm on Sunday either."

"That's too bad, but I guess somebody has to do it," Al said.

They didn't take long to have breakfast and clean up, and then they took the TransPortal to the Mall, where they were meeting up with everyone at the food court before getting in groups and wading out into the crowds. Al and Scorpius joined a group that included Joel, Jason, Brian, Dale, and Philip, and they started making the usual gift stops at jewellery stores, toy stores, the GamePortal, BroomCloset, and Wheezes stores. It was getting fairly close to lunchtime, and they were walking past one of the jewellery stores when Al spotted Malcolm Bletchley inside. He waved Scorpius and the others on, and detoured into the store, casually looking in the glass cases as he moved through the place.

Malcolm had not enjoyed the start of his holidays. From the meeting with the Knights, where he found out that his father would be disowning him in less than three weeks, to a welcome home from his mother that could at best be called tepid and unemotional, it had not gone well at all. With everything else that had been going on at school, he'd forgotten how things were at home, but every time he came home it took a few days to get used to how it was again.

Lunch had not been to his father's satisfaction, and he berated Malcolm's mother and their one old servant. Within an hour after lunch, he was the target of his father's anger for making too much noise while his father was trying to work. That had earned him a smack across the back of the head to go with the shouting. There was another rant all through dinner, and in the evening, his father had decided that a little duelling practice with Malcolm would be entertaining.

He shuddered as he thought about that hour-long disaster. Miles didn't give his son any choice in the matter, insisting that they needed to keep ready for anything when the Knights needed them. Malcolm knew from previous experience that any success he might have against his father angered him, and made those duelling sessions even worse, so what he did do was shield as best as he could, never make an attack that overpowered his father, and endured the pain that was inflicted on him 'for his own good'.

When he went to bed, tired and aching with a dull, throbbing pain, he stayed awake for a long time. This day had been nothing new for him, but spending the last couple of months with Colin and the others had given him a new perspective on his own situation. It was all of that thinking that had driven him to lie to his father on Saturday morning, and the reason he was standing in that jewellery store at that moment, instead of hanging out with his friends.

Even now he was a bit amazed by the fact that he'd actually made up that story for his father while they had been having breakfast, never having dared anything like that before. He'd been looking at a diamond pendant necklace that he thought would have been nice to get Ophelia for quite a while, but it was more than he could afford without going to his father for the money – an amount he knew his father would never allow him to spend.

"Hello, Malcolm."

Malcolm hadn't heard anyone approaching, and he jumped slightly, and turned to find a pair of piercing emerald eyes looking at him.

"Um, H-Hi, Al," he managed to say, and Al smiled at him.

"Are you out getting some Christmas shopping done too?" Al asked, and Malcolm nodded. "This is one of my favourite stores for getting presents for girls," Al continued. He pointed to the necklace directly in front of Malcolm. "That's a beautiful necklace. Are you thinking about getting it for somebody special?"

"Thinking about it, but…" Malcolm trailed off. There was no way he was going to tell Al Potter that he couldn't afford something like that.

Al motioned to one of the clerks, who came over and got the necklace out of the case and showed it to Malcolm for the second time.

"Have you ever heard of the DREAM Christmas before?" Al asked Malcolm.

"No. What is it?" he asked, only managing to look into Al's eyes again for a moment before lowering his gaze to the necklace again.

"It's a program where volunteers all over the world grant special Christmas wishes to Witches and Wizards who want to do or get something special for someone they care about. Those wishes can be something small, like toys for parents to give to their children, or gifts that kids might want to give their parents, to making big DREAMS come true, like when they give houses away to deserving families."

"Are you serious?" Malcolm said incredulously. "They give away houses?"

Al nodded. "They do," he agreed. "I'm one of those volunteers, Malcolm. If you'll let me, I'd like to help you with getting that necklace. I'm sure that it will make for a really special Christmas for whomever you want to get it for, and that's exactly what DREAM Christmases are all about. What do you think?"

Malcolm's mouth had opened in a small 'oh', and he couldn't look up at Al, but he took a deep breath and answered Al's question, though he didn't say what he was really thinking, since Al didn't need to know that his father would probably tear him apart if he found out about this.

"I think it would be brilliant, Al. Th-Thank-you."

"You're welcome," Al told him. "We'll take the necklace," he told the clerk, who nodded, and went to gift wrap it and ring up the sale. When that was done, Al had paid for the necklace, the clerk gave the gift-wrapped box to Malcolm, and Al held out his hand to him. "Have a Merry Christmas, Malcolm."

"You too," Malcolm answered, shaking Al's hand briefly, then stood and watched as Al left the store and joined the crush of shoppers. He only waited a few seconds, and then left the store too, heading in the opposite direction, the small gift already tucked into his cloak pocket.

"Did you get lost?" Carolyn asked as Al joined her at the table she was sitting at in the private dining room where they were having lunch, and he laughed.

"Nope, just taking care of a little DREAM Christmas. I'll tell you about it later. Did you order for me?"

Carolyn nodded. "Yes, though if I'd known you were being such a good boy, I wouldn't have ordered the slugs on a bun for you." Scorpius, Brianna, Joel, Sarah, Ophelia and Philip all laughed along with Al.

They had lunch together, and then Carolyn had an appointment at SpaMagic to get ready for the party, as did several other Witches in the family, so while she was doing that, Al continued to help with the shopping for another couple of hours until it was time for him to go home and start getting ready for the Christmas party.

Harry, Ginny, Victoire, Teddy, Isabelle, and Stewart were going to the party too, so Joel and Sarah, Jason and Millie, Brian and Amy, and Dale and Carissa were going to all be at the Cottage, and have a Christmas movie night and sleepover. Instead of having Harry cook dinner for the four teen couples, they decided that they would order in pizza after Harry and Ginny left for the Emerald City Centre instead, and had picked up lots of munchies to get them through a major movie marathon.

Al and Carolyn were at the Emerald City Centre right at the beginning of the social hour before dinner, and after doing the meet and greet, went to one of the smaller banquet rooms where Carolyn would be the PBP Investments management host for that room, and have a part in the pre-dinner speeches and welcome, while Lisa and Marcus would be doing that with her as the Marauders Institute senior managers. They were at a table with four other couples that Mandy had picked out from the different company divisions. There was one young Witch that Al knew from the lab, while her date, and the other couples were all Witches and Wizards he was meeting for the first time.

Carolyn was a knock-out in her softly shimmering dinner dress, and Al thought she did a great job with her first speech in front of this many people, sounding confident and assured as she welcomed everyone and told them about what would be happening in the different banquet rooms and the Grand Ballroom after dinner. Their room was where the WizardKaraoke would be happening, and Al was hoping to get to hear his father and Luna sing later that night.

"See? You did a great job with that," Al whispered to Carolyn when she sat down again.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure I'll ever get used to doing speeches," Carolyn whispered back. "At least that's the only one I have to do tonight."

Over the next couple of hours, there was a fair bit of talking shop among Carolyn, Lisa, Marcus, and the others, though Lisa and Carolyn also worked on getting to know the other couples, and include the non-institute members of their tablemates in the conversation as they ate the wonderful dinner. There was a short break after the dessert dishes were cleared away, and then the WizardKaraoke got started. Carolyn and Al got up and danced to both the good and not-so-great performances. Lisa and Marcus got up and took a turn at singing that was entertaining, but Al was pretty sure that SpellBound didn't have to worry about the competition.

"So what are you guys going to sing?" Lisa asked Carolyn after she and Marcus were sitting down again.

"Um, nothing?" Carolyn suggested.

"Didn't Mandy or Molly tell you that you'd have to get up and sing? We're supposed to inspire the troops."

"The troops might run screaming from my singing," Carolyn said with a laugh.

"Come on, Carolyn," Marcus said. "You can't be any worse at it than I am, and I'm sure that our brave Auror here won't be scared of a little singing."

"I'll take chasing the bad guys any day," Al joked, but stood up and held out his hand to Carolyn. "Come on, honey. Let's go pick something out and get it over with." They did that, with Al picking the song, each of them using the charm that taught them the lyrics, and then they waited for their turn to take the stage.

"Why don't you let me handle this?" he whispered to Carolyn as they walked across the stage about ten minutes later.

The music started and he took her hand, smiled, and then, keeping his eyes on Carolyn the entire time, sang his heart out to her. The ballad he'd picked was one of her favourites, and his voice was as pure and true as his father's or sister's. Neither of them noticed that the room had gone silent as nearly everyone stopped to listen except for those already up dancing. When the last notes of the song ended, Al reached up and wiped a tear from Carolyn's cheek, then kissed her softly before taking her hand again and escorting her off of the stage.

"That was beautiful," Lisa told him, standing up to hug both Al and Carolyn when they got back to their table. "You are going to have to get back up there and sing again later now that your secret is out."

"Yes it is, and I'm impressed," Ginny said as she came up to Al and hugged him too, with Harry, Luna, and Neville right behind her. "If your father hadn't been beside me when we were coming in, I would have thought it was him up there singing. It seems that your voice has the same effect on your wife as his has on me, too,' she added, hugging Carolyn. "Were you surprised too?"

Carolyn shook her head. "I've heard him humming and singing a little bit here and there enough to suspect that he could sing. I'm really glad he can too, since I definitely can't."

Ginny laughed and hugged her again. "That's okay. You, James, and I can play our 3D-VMP's instead, and leave the music to those of us with the talent for it."

Harry and Luna went up and sang a couple of duets during the hour or so that the two couples stayed and visited, and Ginny got Al to get up and sing for her one more time before they left, and then they were on to their next stop in the tour they were making of the different banquet rooms.

Al and Carolyn visited the other banquet rooms and the Grand Ballroom, and then returned to their banquet room for the rest of the night. The music shut down just before two o'clock, and Lisa, Marcus, Carolyn, and Al were kept busy with a long line of goodbyes before Al was finally able to take Carolyn home and take her to bed.

They didn't get much sleep, because they needed to be up in good time to have breakfast, and head over to the Burrow to help Molly and Arthur with getting everything ready for the family Christmas. Carolyn and Penelope had offered to help out this year, and Nick and Allie had been volunteered too, so they had come over to help as well, along with Ophelia and Philip.

"When was the last time you de-gnomed the garden?" Nick asked Al. "It's been a while for me."

"I guess it's been a year or so for me," Al answered. "Have you done this before, Philip?"

"No, but I doubt you really want to hear about what my father did do with the few gnomes unlucky enough to pick my family's yard to try to live in," Philip said.

"Probably not," Nick agreed. "How are you and Ophelia liking the townhouse, and living with Mum and Dad?"

"It's been a bit overwhelming, since there always seems to be something going on in your family, but we really like it. Ophelia especially loves your Mum. Other than our one teacher at the Academy, Julie, she's the only adult Witch that Ophelia has really connected with."

"That's great to hear, since I'd say Mum's getting really attached to both of you too," Nick told him. "Are you going to be stuck attending the Minister's Christmas Eve party?"

Philip nodded. "Yes, but since we've never done anything like that before, we're actually looking forward to it. Are they that bad?"

"Nick's not a big fan of anything to do with politics," Al said. "Carolyn and I, and Scorpius and Brianna will be there too, though, so even if you do find it a bit boring, you'll at least have a few people you know to talk with. This will be the first time Carolyn and I have been there too, but we've been to the Ministry's New Year's Eve party before and liked it, so hopefully this will be fun too."

"I thought there was still hope for the two of you. Is it too late to save you after all?" Nick asked Al.

"I expect so," Al answered, "but my days were probably numbered the day Dad named Scorpius and I to our seats on the Wizengamot."

Nick sighed dramatically, and put a hand on Philip's shoulder. "Well, at least I can try to save you and Ophelia before you've been corrupted like these other poor misguided Wizards and Witches. For now, though, let's get this done so we can go in and get warm again."

After de-gnoming the garden, they washed up, and moved on to helping get everything ready in the sitting room. Kreacher and Winky had made dinner for the family Christmas on the island last year, so while the boys worked, Allie, Carolyn, Ophelia, and Penelope helped Molly in the kitchen. They had a lunchtime snack together in the kitchen, and then the boys were banished to the sitting room to stay out from underfoot while the girl talk and cooking continued.

Starting by shortly after one o'clock, the rest of the family began arriving, and they were having one of the bigger gatherings again this year. Carolyn and Ophelia were transferred from their jobs in the kitchen to work with Al and Philip to entertain incoming youngsters as they came in with their parents.

Patricia and William were the first kids for the two couples to take care of after they'd made it through the welcoming hugs and kisses. Gabrielle, Kevin, Michael, and Rebecca were there with them, and while the two kids were taking into the sitting room to play, they stayed in the kitchen to join in and welcome everyone coming after them. George and Marietta came with Frederica and Liam, followed by Bill, Fleur, and Grandma and Grandpa Delacour.

Harry and Ginny came with their five teens, and Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, Isabelle, and their three girls were there at nearly the same time. Lisa and Marcus came with Jair, and Grandma Andromeda and Grandpa Robert came into the kitchen with Charlie, Nathalie, Art, and Serena. Scorpius and Brianna came with Kreacher, Winky, and Dobby, helping to carry the desserts that Winky had worked on for the past couple of days. Dobby joined Patricia, William, and Jair in the sitting room, with Patricia happy to play with the baby. Ron, Hermione, Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Emily all came together, and Lily and Kieran got to the Burrow right behind Mark, Callie, Alice, and Lenny. James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, Erin, and the boys were the last to get there, coming in at about twenty to two.

"Dobby seems unimpressed with his first Weasley family Christmas," Carolyn told Ophelia. "He's already decided to take a nap."

"If you were rocking me like that, I might take a little nap too," Al joked on his way by to where he would be taking care of getting drinks for everyone. "I doubt he'll be able to nap for long as it gets noisier in here."

"With all of the late nights you've had over the past couple of weeks, you're probably ready for a nap even without any rocking," Carolyn told him.

With Monday being a workday, after everyone had settled into the sitting room, gotten drinks and found seats, they started the afternoon out with the gift exchange, instead of doing that after dinner. The best gift of the day award went to one of the presents that Molly and Arthur were given.

"What's this?" Arthur asked when he pulled a large roll of parchment out of the box he'd just opened. Molly knew what it was, though, and she looked over at Nick and smiled.

"What have you been drawing up, Nick?" she asked, and he grinned back at her. She helped Arthur unroll the architectural drawings, and as they started to look at them, Nick conjured a model of what he'd created.

"I was asked to design a new house for you," Nick told his Grandmother. "If you and Grandpa like it, we'll have it built right here for you."

"We've talked so many times about building a new house, but we just could never bring ourselves to tearing down this old house," Arthur said as he and Molly looked at the drawings and model. "This is a wonderful house you've designed, Nick. Do you think we should Molly?"

She hugged her husband and there were tears in her eyes, but she nodded. "I think it's time," she answered. "I will miss this old place, though."

"We all will, Mum," Ginny told her, "but we can make all new memories in your new home, and you'll love everything that Nick's designed into your new house, and Dad's going to love that workshop," she added, pointing to a large building off to one side of the drawings that Nick hadn't included in the model he'd conjured.

"A workshop?" Arthur asked, looking to where Ginny had pointed, and she nodded.

"I'm sure you'll miss hiding out in your chicken coop for about five seconds after you see what Nick's got planned for you in that place. I think it's going to be nicer than my lab at the Institute."

"When do we start building?" he joked and Molly hugged him again.

"Well, we thought that maybe you'd like to spend the Christmas holidays here, and then we'll move you out in January and get to work," Bill told him. "Aunt Penelope has a house picked out for you to stay in, and we can have you in the new house by summer for sure."

"What about the family ghoul?" Hugo asked.

"We've got him taken care of too," Bill told his nephew. "He's very excited about getting a new attic to live in."

Molly laughed. "You talked this over with the ghoul?"

"That explains why he's been so active lately," Arthur said, laughing too. "I guess we have no choice but to say yes. If we don't, he'll bang on those pipes, and we won't be able to sleep through the night for the next fifty years or more."

"Thank-you," Molly told all of their kids and grandkids. "This is a brilliant present."

They finished opening gifts, with Molly, Penelope, and some of the others popping in and out of the room to keep an eye on dinner. The ten newest members of the family weren't as overwhelmed by the family gathering as other first timers had been before, since having that week on the island at the end of summer, and Friday's welcome home lunch had helped to prepare them for the fun overload that happened when the Weasley clan gathered. While not overwhelmed, there were still a lot of opportunities for them to be surprised and amazed.

Watching Harry, Ginny, and the other adults playing with baby Dobby was fun, but something that none of them had experienced before. They were introduced to the concept of gag gifts for the first time, and Adam and H especially thought that doing that was very funny. There were gifts that had the kids tearing up too, whether it was some sweet or adorable gift for someone that had the girls shedding tears, or a present they had received that had obviously been chosen with love and care for each of them, there were parts of the afternoon that seemed like an emotional roller-coaster ride.

"Do you realize there aren't this many Witches and Wizards at a normal dinner at the Academy?" Philip whispered to Ophelia as they began dinner at around six o'clock, and she nodded.

"And the dining hall there is a lot bigger than this kitchen," she answered. "I guess next Christmas they're going to have a lot more room in that new house, though. How cool of a present was that?"

Philip laughed. "I thought that the unbreakable watch I got was cool. Getting a house designed and built for you must be completely off the scale cool."

It might have been a little crowded, and a lot noisy during dinner, but it was all fun for nearly two hours. After dinner, while Kreacher and Winky took care of the cleanup that was something Ophelia, Philip, and the others learned rotated depending on who cooked the big dinners, it was time for most of the family to start packing up and getting ready to go home. Ophelia and Philip were among the first groups heading out, and Lily came over to hug them goodbye.

"See you at the Mall in the morning," Lily told Ophelia and Philip. "We'll go shopping for a couple of dresses for you and a few of the other girls while the boys are off getting suits, haircuts, and whatever else they'll play at," she added, talking to Ophelia, "and after lunch, we've got our SpaMagic appointments."

"I'll be there," Ophelia promised, and Philip nodded.

Lily was going back home with Kieran, and Dale was going home with Carissa, Stewart, and Isabelle, so when Harry and Ginny left, they just had Joel, Sarah, Jason, and Brian going back to the Cottage with them.

"Are you guys staying up to watch a movie or two tonight again?" Ginny asked Sarah.

"The boys can if they want," she answered, "but I'm tired out, and am heading to bed."

Joel decided he was going to bed too, while Jason and Brian opted to stay up and do the movie thing for a while. Ginny hugged and kissed them all goodnight, and then she, Harry, Joel, and Sarah went up to bed, while Jason and Brian grabbed drinks from the kitchen, got comfortable in the sitting room, and put a Christmas show on the WWVN.

"I could really get used to those goodnight hugs and kisses from Aunt Ginny," Jason told Brian. "I'm pretty sure that she cares more about me than my own parents ever did."

Brian nodded. "I do too, and it wouldn't take much for anyone to care about us more than our parents did – mild dislike would have been an improvement. Are you ready for some more shopping tomorrow?"

"I'd rather spend the time with the girls, but if getting a new suit will make Millie happy, and she's going to be busy anyway, I guess it's not that much trouble to do that."

"Maybe we can get done by lunch, and then talk the guys inot a trip to the Paris Mall to play for the afternoon," Brian suggested.

"That's a really great idea, mate," Jason told his best friend. "We should definitely try to do that."

The other guys thought it was a great suggestion when they heard about it in the morning, so they split up, with some of them doing the haircut thing first, and suits second, and the others reversing that so they weren't wasting time waiting around. By noon, they were all trimmed up, and had sent new suits, shoes, and accessories by Translocator to their respective bedrooms. The food court was incredibly busy, so it took nearly an hour to have lunch with the girls, and then while they went to SpaMagic, all of the guys left for an afternoon at the Atrium Amusement Park at the Paris Marauders Mall.

Al would have much rather been hanging out with Kieran and the other guys than been doing his stakeout in Spain on Monday, but at least by the end of lunchtime, he'd identified the last members of that group. He went from there to Auror Headquarters, grabbed a drink and sandwich, went to his desk, and went to work on the cold case of Stanton Colter. This Wizard had been killed outside of his place of business in what appeared to be a robbery gone wrong. The perpetrators had struck too early, before Stanton had disabled the security, so after killing him, they'd had to flee empty-handed when they set off the alarms that summoned the hit squad. There had been lots of evidence at the scene, but the investigating Aurors never matched that evidence to any suspects.

Carolyn had been able to set up that dinner party for after work on Monday, so Al only worked in the office until about three o'clock, and then he went home to start cooking for twelve. Carolyn was home shortly after four, and their guests began arriving a little before five. Lily, Kieran, Joel, and Sarah came first, followed by Rose and Matt, Nick and Allie, and finally, Scorpius and Brianna.

"I'm surprised that Joel and Kieran didn't call and cancel on us with you two girls looking so great," Al told Sarah and Lily as he welcomed the two couples with hugs and glasses of wine.

"The thought did cross our minds," Kieran told his brother-in-law to be, "but Lily said if we cancelled, she wouldn't take us over to see how the house was coming along until after Christmas, since we'll be busy until Friday after tonight."

"Do we all get to go along?" Carolyn asked Lily.

"It hasn't been that long since you and Al, or Nick and Allie have been there," Lily answered, "but you're all welcome to come along if you want."

"What are you and Kieran doing for the rest of the week, other than Christmas morning at the Cottage, and your concert tomorrow night," Al asked Lily.

"After dinner, and a visit to the house tonight, we'll have a little practice session to get ready for tomorrow's concert," Lily told him. "Then we told Hugo we'd be on the practice team for his Quidditch practice in the morning. After that, I'll do a little tutoring while Kieran and the others work on revision for the rest of the day." She stopped and took a sip of her wine before continuing.

"We have a late afternoon sound check at the theatre, then dinner out, and back to the theatre for the show. On Christmas Eve day, Kieran and I are going to spend the morning at the Mall with his new sisters, and maybe see if we can make a few Christmas DREAMS come true, then spend the afternoon back at home. Since Mum and Dad are going to be at the Academy Christmas Eve, and we won't be at the Residence for the party on Christmas Day, we're going there Christmas Eve for a few hours, and Christmas Day, after we leave the Cottage, we'll be off to Grandma and Grandpa McCormack's to spend the rest of the day there."

"Just another boring Christmas holiday with hardly anything to do at all, then," Al joked. "That does sound like way more fun than working for the next couple of days."

Al had everything ready to go by the time that Scorpius and Brianna got there, and they enjoyed an hour and a half together having dinner, but the really great part of the night ended up being the visit to Kieran and Lily's house. Nick's design was something in between what he'd created for Al and Carolyn, and for his and Allie's house, but there was still quite a bit about the place that was all it's own.

"This is definitely the coolest feature in the whole house," Sarah told Lily as they stood on the balcony that led from the master bedroom, and overlooked the pool room – the indoor balcony, with stairs leading down to the pool.

"It's one of my favourites too," Lily told her. She pointed over to the five sets of French doors that were spaced along the wall on the other side of the pool room from where they were standing. "Those doors lead to the guest bedrooms, so when you and Joel come for overnight visits, you'll be a few steps from the pool too."

The master bedroom, and four other bedrooms were on the second floor of the north wing of the house, with the floor below them where a games room, office, library, and recording studio would be. The single-level guest wing was on the south side, and the pool room was covered by a massive glassalloy Atrium that rose from the roofline of that wing in a graceful arc to the roofline that was maybe eight or ten feet above their heads where Lily and Sarah were standing on the second floor balcony.

The length of the pool ran north-south, and there was a glass wall with four sets of wide patio doors on the west side of the house, immediately to their right, and on the east side, there was a wide hallway entrance a little right of centre that led either left and up a few steps to the Great Room level, or right, where a hallway ran between the pool atrium and the garage to the guest wing hallway. There were also floor-to-ceiling windows that ran the length of the Great Room that overlooked the pool room too.

"Why don't we go exploring with the others and give Kieran and Lily a little time to look around on their own?" Joel suggested, holding his hand out to Sarah. The others were still below them checking out the pool, so they went down the stairs and went with them into one of the guest bedrooms to check out that wing of the house.

"This is turning out even better than I thought it would," Kieran said, hugging Lily. "We won't get the morning sun in here too early, but the sunsets are going to be spectacular to watch from here."

"Or from the outside balcony," Lily agreed.

Their room was against the west wall of the north wing, so they had this balcony, which ran nearly the entire length of this section, with doors and a window overlooking the pool for each bedroom, and also had an outdoor balcony on the west wall of the master bedroom with stairs that led down to what would be a garden and patio area when the landscaping was done in the spring. The length of each bedroom in both the guest wing and the family wing ran north-south like the pool did, with the hallways along the outside walls.

Lily and Kieran went into their master suite to look around, then walked down that hallway, which was lined with tall, wide windows, and looked through each of the other four bedrooms before going downstairs to go through the large game room, studio, office, and library. There were a few hugs when they passed Al, Carolyn, and the other couples before they went through the Great Room with it's vaulted, skylit ceilings, walked behind the garage, and did a tour of the guest rooms. When they were done, and after sharing a few kisses, they went back out through the pool room, and met up with the others back in the Great Room.

"You've done it again, Nick," Rose told him. "This place is going to be stunning when it's finished."

"Thanks, Rose," Nick said, hugging her. "This one was a lot of fun to design."

Allie laughed. "You say that about everything you design, but since this one will probably be as famous as it's owners someday, it's a good thing that it is so spectacular."

"I'd say sooner than later," Lily told Allie. "Ana and Laura have given TeenWitch an exclusive to photograph the place after it's done, and the wards are set up so we don't have the place crawling with fans the day after it hits the magazine stands."

"I thought you might wait a while before doing that," Nick said.

"Mum says it'll be easier this way than dealing with photo hounds trying to get the scoop for the first few months after we're married," Kieran explained. "TeenWitch will run the story in the issue that comes out the day I come home from Hogwarts, so maybe by the time we get back from our honeymoon, Lily and I won't be hounded by the press or overly devoted fans."

"Speaking of devoted fans," Lily told him, "we need to go practice, and then get some sleep. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow, and we don't want to disappoint those fans by putting on a lousy show."

"Like that would ever happen," Carolyn told her.

They shared a quick round of hugs and kisses, and then Lily and Kieran left for home, while the other five couples went back to Al and Carolyn's to have drinks and visit for another hour or two. While they were doing that, Lily and Kieran were practicing, and had an audience of six in the sitting room with them.

"Every one of the girls in my dorm room would love to be here right now," Cassandra whispered to Violet.

"My roommates would too," Violet whispered back. "Who needs WWVN or music videos, when you can watch them live like this?"

Lily and Kieran ended up going through all of the songs they'd be performing at the concert, which took about two and a half hours, and then everyone headed for bed. Lily went into each girl's room to spend a few private minutes with each of them, and to say goodnight. She finished up in Vanessa's room, and then went back to her own room, where Kieran was already waiting for her.

"Good timing," he said with a smile. Lily hugged him, and then they both got into bed, and cuddled close. "Have fun with your bedtime chats?"

"Of course," Lily answered. "Girl talk is always fun. Cassandra and Violet really loved getting to sit through our practice tonight. If we have some time over the holidays, maybe we should let them come play in the studio with us for an hour or two. They'd probably get a kick out of trying to record something with us."

"Can either of them sing?" Kieran asked, and Lily shrugged.

"I have no idea, but if they can't we can always give them some simple percussion or something to do and still be a part of it. How cool would that be for them to go back to school next September with performance credits on the album we'll have out in June."

Kieran laughed. "It'd make them very popular in their dorm rooms, I'm sure. We should be able to work something out for that, and it's a really great idea."

"I have another really great idea," Lily told him before pulling him close for a long, soft, and sweet kiss.

"What's the idea?" Kieran asked breathlessly when they came up for air.

"I forget," Lily said before kissing him again. Eventually, she snuggled contentedly in Kieran's arms, and they went to sleep.

All of the Marauders, and the rest of their study group friends were up early on Tuesday morning. Lily and Kieran had breakfast with Kirley, Ana, and the girls, and then hurried over to the cottage, taking everyone's books, Kieran's broom and Quidditch equipment, and Vanessa, Cassandra, and Violet, while Nadine went to Miranda's house, where Hufflepuff was holding their Quidditch practice. Lily and Kieran weren't surprised to see that the entire Gryffindor team was there in the kitchen already when they got there, but they were surprised to see Malcolm Bletchley had come with Colin Creevey.

Neither the Ravenclaw or Slytherin teams were having a practice during the first week of the holidays, so Myra was going to play Keeper for the practice team, and Jason was playing Chaser with Kieran.

"How would you like to be the third Chaser on our practice squad?" Kieran asked Malcolm.

"I didn't bring my broom or anything with me," Malcolm answered.

"We keep some extra Firebolts around, or you can borrow my Lightningbolt," Harry offered. "Lily can set you up with some of the spare equipment we keep for guest players too."

That was Lily's second surprise of the morning – she didn't remember her father ever offering his own broom to anyone else. There must be some reason why he was doing that now.

"What do you say, mate?" Colin asked. "It's cold out, and we have a pretty tough workout planned, but it's always fun."

"I haven't played much in quite a while, so it would be great to get out there and play again," Malcolm told Colin.

Lily put her arm around his waist and gave him a one-armed hug. "Come on, then, and we'll get you some equipment and grab Dad's broom. I'll get my stuff too, and we'll meet the others outside."

Malcolm had been a bit overwhelmed from the moment that he and Colin had gotten to the Cottage. The house was a nice enough looking place, if small. Having their own Quidditch pitch seemed out of place for such a modest home, but since Harry and Ginny had played professional Quidditch, and all of their kids played Quidditch at Hogwarts, he supposed that it did make sense.

When he'd gotten inside, the sitting room and kitchen that he'd seen so far had been much larger than the outside of the house, and both rooms had looked warm and comfortable, which was much different than his own home. His biggest surprise so far had been when he first saw Harry Potter in the kitchen. The most hated enemy of the Knights - the Wizard who had defeated Lord Voldemort – was cleaning the breakfast dishes in the kitchen when he and Colin had joined the others who were already in the kitchen, and it was all Malcolm could do to keep from gaping in astonishment.

In the less than fifteen minutes that he'd spent at the Cottage so far that morning, Malcolm was being overloaded with conflicting information. From the outside, the place was modest, but inside, there was expensive-looking furniture, and a big-screen, top of the line WWVN in the sitting room, and everyone in the family flew Lightningbolts. There were no servants around, and it appeared that Harry Potter did the cooking and cleaning, and didn't have a job, since he'd said something to Hugo and Frederica about going to play with the kids at the Residence, and they'd teased him about remembering to take his dollies and toy dragons with him.

Now, Lily Potter had hugged him, and then set him up with Harry's own Lightningbolt, and a set of Quidditch equipment that was as good as his own set back home, grabbed her own equipment, and then led him outside to the Quidditch pitch. He and Lily got their equipment on, and then Hugo sent them all into the air, having Colin and Lily lead them on a half-hour long flying practice that was harder than anything Malcolm had ever done before.

"You did pretty well for not playing much," Colin told Malcolm when they were catching their breath before starting bludger practice.

"I wasn't even doing all of the stuff the rest of you were doing," Malcolm told him. "Do you always work that hard in practice?"

"We're just getting started, mate," Colin told him. "At least today we'll only have two Beaters instead of four, but we're still using four bludgers, so keep your head on a swivel."

"Come on, ladies!" Hugo shouted. "Bludger practice!"

"Take it easy on him," Lily whispered to Frederica, who nodded before they took off.

Frederica might have been taking it easy on Malcolm, but it didn't feel like that to him as he had to fly his very best to keep up with the frenetic pace the others set as they flew around dodging bludgers and each other, while Frederica and Kevin kept them all constantly on their toes. There was another short break to catch their breath, and then they played a practice game to best of five snitch catches for three quarters of an hour.

The score was forty to twenty for Gryffindor, with Lily's two snitch catches being the only points for the practice squad, while Colin had two catches, and Liam and Aiden each had one goal against their sister. Kieran, Jason, and Malcolm were re-grouping behind their goals, and were floating close together.

"Jason and I are going to go in," Kieran told the other two boys. "He'll pass to me, and I'll make it look like I'm making the fake and the shot. You swing out wide and high to the left, Malcolm, and when I've got Hugo committing to me, I'll throw it back and up to you for the shot. Hopefully he won't see you coming until it's too late. Got it?"

Malcolm had thought that it wasn't very likely to work. Hugo had easily stopped the few shots he had taken, but he and Jason had both nodded, they'd moved out, and he had been so shocked when Kieran's plan worked, and he had an open left goal to shoot at, he nearly missed the shot, bouncing it through off of the inside of the rim of the goal. He didn't have time to celebrate, though, since the Gryffindor Chasers were right back on the attack. They fought on for another ten scoreless minutes before Lily made the fifth and final catch of the snitch to end the practice in a forty-forty tie.

"You should have tried out for our team this year," Jason told Malcolm. "Maybe we wouldn't have been shut out with you on the team too."

"You and Kieran did all of the work on that play," Malcolm said, "and I was so surprised it worked, I nearly missed the shot."

"We can talk about the game after we get inside and warm up, boys," Frederica suggested. "This has been fun, but I'm ready for a hot drink and a snack, and would like to be able to feel my hands and feet again soon."

She, Lily, and Myra didn't wait around for the boys, but hurried inside, where Sarah and Joel already had coffee, tea, and hot chocolate ready for them, and a plate of snacks set out on the counter too.

"Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!" Lily said, hugging the pair before going to pour herself a steaming cup of hot chocolate, and choosing a soft chocolate chip cookie.

"You're welcome. Who won the game?" Sarah asked.

"We tied forty apiece," Lily told her.

Joel and Sarah had been studying for the past two hours, and there was already a kitchen full with all of the other members of their study group working around a table that was much larger than it had been when the Quidditch players had gone outside, now big enough to accommodate everyone in the group, plus Lily.

"I'm glad you could come today," Ophelia told Malcolm after he got a drink, some kind of chocolate square that was delicious, his books, and sat down next to her at the table. "Did you have fun playing with the other kids outside?"

"I did, but if I'd known that these squares were waiting for us inside, I might have changed my mind about going out to play."

"I'll let Winky know she has another fan of her desserts," Lily told him.

"Who's Winky?" Malcolm asked.

"Kreacher, Winky, and their baby Dobby are our family's House Elves," Lily told him.

"Why does your Dad do the cooking and cleaning around here if you have House Elves?" Malcolm asked, the question popping out before he thought about it, and Lily laughed.

"Well, mostly because he likes cooking and taking care of my Mum and all of his kids," Lily explained. "Kreacher and Winky live in the Black family home at Grimmauld Place, take care of Scorpius and Brianna, and have a lot of other things they take care of instead. The squares are leftovers from our family Christmas party on Sunday."

"Have you ever seen a baby House Elf?" Ophelia asked him, and Malcolm shook his head. "I would have never called House Elves cute before, but Dobby is really cute. Carolyn and I were babysitting him for a while on Sunday, and he's just adorable."

"I've never seen a baby House Elf, and have never heard of any Witches babysitting one before either," Malcolm told her, and several of the other teens around them, including Ophelia, laughed.

"That wouldn't surprise me," Ophelia said. "I don't know any other families that treat their House Elves like this family does. They're as much a part of the family as anyone else."

"Are they free elves?" Malcolm asked, and Ophelia shook her head.

"No. I guess if Kreacher and Winky ever want to be, Harry and Ginny have promised to free them, but they're like most House Elves still, and don't want to be free. Aunt Penelope told me that they do get regular gifts of money, and have one day off each week. If you get the chance sometime to see them with the family, you'll understand. Everyone loves them, and they love this family right back. It's really amazing."

"I'd say that you feel pretty strongly about them too," Malcolm told her, and she nodded and smiled brightly at him.

"I do," she agreed. "They joke that there's never been a successful escape once you've become part of the family, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to leave."

"All right, Witches and Wizards," Lily said loudly enough to be heard over the chatter, "time to get back to work if you've been studying, and get to work for those of you who've been playing all morning."

"Yes, Commander," Hugo said even as he pulled his books out of his schoolbag and the NEWT year group decided what to work on first.

The OWL year students were just beginning their Charms assignments, so Jason, Malcolm, Frederica, Liam, and Colin started their studying with that. Malcolm was the only one to have never experienced a study session with Commander Lily, though for the students from the Academy, those sessions had been during tutoring at the Academy. He was amazed at how easily she was able to explain things to him the few times she leaned over between him and Ophelia, and helped them out with problems they were having. For the most part, Malcolm concentrated on his own work, but he did notice that Lily made rounds and helped out the other groups too, though she spent most of her time with Kieran, the other NEWT students, and Sarah and Claire.

"How does she do that without ever needing to look up anything in a book?" Malcolm whispered to Ophelia.

"She co-invented the ViComm with Aunt Ginny," Ophelia told him. "She's like off the chart brilliant, Malcolm. Do you really think that any of these subjects are going to be a problem for her?"

"They're the ones who invented them?" he asked incredulously, and Ophelia nodded.

"Aunt Ginny has invented or co-invented a lot of things, and Lily's helped with other things besides the ViComms. What else has she worked on, Frederica?"

"I guess the only other really big project was those environmental control systems that Lily helped with the one summer she, Al, and Rose worked at the Institute. I think she was twelve when they developed them. Maybe you remember that was a really, really hot summer, so maybe that's why they were so motivated."

"Gee, and I thought getting high score on DragonMaster was pretty great when I was twelve," Malcolm joked.

He'd been glad when the others had laughed at his little joke, and they'd gotten back to work. Harry came back just before lunch, and brought a stack of pizzas with him. He had lunch with them, and while the students didn't put their books away, they did stop to eat and visit with him. After lunch, he was off again, this time to spend at least part of the afternoon at Canons stadium, to work with Tracey, and spend a little time seeing how the team was doing.

"Uncle Harry is definitely the hardest working unemployed Wizard or Witch in the world," Frederica said after he'd left and they'd gotten back to work. "I hope we have as much fun as he does all of the time when we're grown up, Liam."

"Is he on the go like that all of the time?" Malcolm asked.

"Pretty much, yes," Frederica agreed. "He has a lot of different things he's involved with, and it keeps him busy."

Lily and Kieran had to leave at three-thirty for their sound check, but the rest of them studied until four-thirty before packing up, everyone except Claire and Malcolm needing to go home, have dinner, and get ready to go to the SpellBound concert at the Magick Theatre. Malcolm was one of the first ready to leave, and Ophelia walked him to the front door, where she hugged him, and for the first time, he tentatively hugged her back.

"Did you like the present?" she asked quietly.

"Um, I haven't opened it yet," he told her. "I was going to save it for Christmas morning." He reached into his cloak and fumbled around for a moment, before pulling the present that Al and the DREAM Christmas had helped him get for her. "I wanted to get a present for you too, and say thank-you. It's not like I don't get Christmas presents or anything, but they're always just things my father thinks he has to get me to keep up appearances – like good school robes, supplies, and things like that. He's not usually very happy during the holidays either, so like you said, Christmases aren't very good in my house, and I really appreciate you trying to make that even a little better for me this year." He handed her the present, and smiled as he watched her eyes light up and her smile get even brighter.

"You're welcome, Malcolm, and thank-you so much. Should I open it now, or would you like me to wait until Christmas too?"

"Why don't you open it now," he answered, feeling excited as he watched her tear into the wrapping paper, then open the box. When she saw the beautiful little diamond pendant on the delicate gold chain, she threw her arms around Malcolm's neck and kissed him.

"SNOGGING ALERT! MAJOR CHRISTMAS SNOGGING GOING ON HERE!"

Malcolm and Ophelia both jumped, and they could here laughter coming both from the madly giggling MagicMistletoe as it sped back down the hall, and from the teens that were still in the kitchen.

"Busted," Ophelia said, her arms still around Malcolm. "Thank-you. The necklace is beautiful, and I love it." She kissed him again, hugging him tightly, and then stepped back. "Thank-you for coming today too. I'm glad you could join us. Will you be coming to next Tuesday's study session?"

"I'd like to, though maybe I'll skip the Quidditch thing next time, and stay in where it's warm and study instead."

"Then I'll see you next Tuesday," Ophelia told him. "If you can't have a happy Christmas, at least try to remember that you do have someone here who cares about you." There were tears brimming in her eyes, and she hugged and kissed him one last time, and then he went outside, and took the TransPortal away from the cottage. He didn't go straight home, though - he needed someplace quiet to go where he could shed a few tears of his own and collect himself again before going home to face his father.

"Who's the comedian responsible for the MagicMistletoe?" Ophelia asked when she got back to the kitchen.

"That would be Adam and H helping us all have a little fun," Philip told her, even as he was pulling out some tissues to hand her. "Did you get a Christmas present from Malcolm?" he added, pointing to the box in her hands.

"Yes I did," she answered, showing him the necklace. "Can you help me put it on? I'd like to wear it to the concert tonight."

"Nice piece of jewellery," Philip commented as he lifted it out of the box. He must have really liked that present you got him a lot." Ophelia turned around, and lifted her hair from around her neck after Philip had reached over her head with the necklace, ready to fasten it.

"He hasn't opened it yet," she told him. "He's saving it for Christmas morning."

"That looks great, Ophelia," Sarah told her. "I'd say that Malcolm definitely likes you, just in case you weren't sure about that until today."

Ophelia laughed. "That's good, because I'm getting rather fond of him too."

"We need to get going, Ophelia," Philip told her. "We were supposed to be back at the townhouse already."

"We'll see you at the theatre in a couple or three hours," Sarah told them. Ophelia and Philip both had their bags packed, so after a few quick hugs, they were on their way, with several others heading out with them, taking the TransPortal to their own homes.

The rest of the study group were going home and being welcomed with hugs and kisses, but for Malcolm, he returned home to an angry father who had apparently not had a good day. Malcolm had lied to him about where he'd gone on Saturday, and now, after spending the day at the Cottage, he'd decided that he was not going to be telling him everything he'd learned today. If he'd learned one important lesson from the Knights over the past few months, it was that they did not like hearing bad news. His father would have thought that a lot of what he'd learned during his day at the Cottage was either bad news, or complete lunacy, so instead of giving him the truth, he decided to tell him what he would want to hear.

"Harry Potter does his own cooking and cleaning?" Miles crowed in delight. "You say he goes to this Residence place to play with dolls and toy dragons with the little kids too?"

"That's what they said," Malcolm told him, "and he had his own dolls and dragons to take along when he left, so I've no reason to doubt them."

"What about Ginny Potter?" Miles asked next.

"I didn't see her all day," Miles answered. "She works in research at that Marauders Institute place."

"Probably as a cleaning wench," Miles said with a snort of laughter.

Miles continued to badger Malcolm with questions through dinner, in between complaining about the food, and harshly berating his mother and their servant. By the end of dinner, Malcolm was practically trembling. When his father got this wound up, there was only one fate waiting for him after dinner, and that was another duelling session. No matter how much Miles seemed to enjoy the half-truths that Malcolm was telling him about the Potters and Weasleys, it was obvious that the news was not helping to moderate his anger. If anything, talking about Harry Potter seemed to be winding him up even more.

"Finish up your dinner, Malcolm," Miles finally told his son. "We need to keep working on our duelling so that when the Lord Commander is ready to act, we will be prepared."

"Yes, father," Malcolm said in what he hoped was a neutral tone of voice.

For the next two hours, while his father practiced curses, hexes, and other duelling spells on him, Malcolm thought about Ophelia, and those hugs and kisses she'd shared with him earlier, finding that those memories helped a lot with enduring the pain being inflicted on him.

The reception hall at the Magick Theatre was full as the Witches and Wizards lucky enough to have tickets to see the SpellBound Christmas concert waited for the doors to the theatre to open. Al and Carolyn were right in the middle of that happy, excited crowd, and had met up with the rest of their family and friends.

"Remember that little DREAM Christmas I took care of on Saturday before lunch?" Al whispered in Carolyn's ear, and she nodded.

"Yes, but you never got around to telling about that later. Why?"

"Because Ophelia is wearing that gift around her neck tonight," Al told her softly. "I guess Malcolm must have given it to her today sometime when they were at the Cottage for that study session."

"It was Malcolm Bletchley you were helping?" Carolyn asked in surprise, and Al grinned at her.

"He needed the help, and I'd say by the way she's smiling, that it's helped make Ophelia's Christmas too. I hope that it made things a little better for Malcolm, but from what I picked up from his thoughts while I was helping him, his Christmas isn't likely to be very merry."

"Then I'm glad you helped him," Carolyn told Al, hugging him for a moment.

Grandma and Grandpa Weasley left the rest of the group to go up to their private balcony. This time, instead of having a group of kids with them, they had Bill and Fleur, Charlie and Nathalie, and Art and Serena joining them for the concert. The doors opened a half hour before show time, and the rest of the group filed into the theatre with everyone else.

The tickets that Harry and Ginny had gotten for everyone had been handed out randomly. Al and Carolyn ended up sitting next to Vanessa and Lance on her side, and Uncle George and Aunt Marietta on Al's side. Having Uncle George next to him made the time before the show started entertaining for Al and Carolyn, but when Lily and Kieran took to the stage, it didn't really matter who any of them were sitting next to as everyone in the audience were completely sucked into the magic of the music for an hour and a half until the intermission, and then for another hour and a half after that. When the concert was over, they all met up at a nearby restaurant for a little late night dessert, and then hurried home to get some sleep, a busy Christmas Eve Day just hours away.

Most of the working members of the family were working a half-day or more on Wednesday, and taking a four-day weekend. Al and Carolyn were in that half-day group, and were having Christmas lunches to end their shortened workday. Carolyn was doing lunch with everyone that worked at the main PBP Investments office, and Al was having lunch with all of the Aurors.

They both got home from those luncheons by around two o'clock, and had a couple of hours to take it easy before getting ready to go out to dinner with Percy, Penelope, Ophelia, Philip, Scorpius, and Brianna before they'd all be going on to the Minister of Magic's Christmas Eve party. When they were ready to go, they apparated over to Percy and Penelope's and had glasses of wine while waiting for Scorpius and Brianna to get there.

"I love your dress," Carolyn told Ophelia. "You look amazing, and that necklace goes perfectly with it."

"Thanks, Carolyn," Ophelia said. This getting dressed up was something that she thought would be very easy to get used to.

Her family would never even recognize her compared to the dirty, mousy girl who'd been taken out of their home just under four years ago now. She remembered the fall when the Child Abuse Program had started, and she'd held back and tried to find out every detail from the news during those months. In her case, it had been another terrible Christmas season that had pushed her to make the phone call that had changed her life. What a difference a few years made! Tonight she and Philip were going to be spending Christmas Eve with the movers and shakers of the Ministry of Magic.

"Are you ready for your first political Christmas Eve?" Percy asked Al and Carolyn.

"I hope so," Carolyn answered. "This is going to be a lot different than Christmas Eve at the Residence."

Penelope laughed. "If you get bored, maybe the little kids would let you and Al play dolls with them in the kid's playroom."

"That might be fun, but there is no way I'll be sitting cross-legged on the floor and playing with dolls in this dress," Carolyn said, laughing too.

"I guess we'll have to settle for hanging out with the other grownups then," Al told her. "We'll manage to have fun anyway, especially if Brianna's commentary tonight is as entertaining as it was at the New Year's Eve party last year."

Brianna and Scorpius got to the townhouse then, had a glass of wine each while the others finished their drinks, and then left for dinner. Going to an upscale Muggle bistro was another new experience for Philip and Ophelia, and it was one that they definitely loved.

"I'd say by the looks of your smile, that you're feeling exactly like Scorpius and I felt the first time we got to come to one of these dinners," Brianna told Ophelia. "We'll have to take you out a few times next summer when you're home and try out some other restaurants like this. There are some really great chefs at different places here in London."

"That would be wonderful if we could," Ophelia told her. "If they did field trips to places like this, Muggle Studies would be a way more popular class at Hogwarts."

Brianna laughed. "I don't see that happening anytime soon, but that's a really great suggestion for the Academy. You should talk to James about that idea."

They were at the bistro for about two and a half hours, enjoying a leisurely, amazing meal, and then Percy and Penelope had booked a Muggle limousine to cross the city to the Minister of Magic's home, mostly for Ophelia and Philip to enjoy. When they went inside, and made their way through the reception line, Ophelia was feeling more and more out of place as she watched the glamour and grace of the other Witches all around her.

"You do fit right in here," Al whispered to her, and she looked up in surprise. He was smiling, and those emerald eyes of his were soft, gentle, and somehow helped her feel better right away just with a glance. "We all see a beautiful young Witch when we look at you," he added. "Don't let the way your family used to make you feel get in the way of having fun tonight, Ophelia. You're way more special than they could ever see, understand, or appreciate."

Ophelia hugged him impulsively. "Thank-you, Al."

"What's going on?" Carolyn asked Al. "I turn around for a minute, and you're hugging other Witches."

"He deserved one," Ophelia told Carolyn. "I was just feeling out of my league here, but thanks to him, I'm feeling much better now."

"I'm glad," Carolyn said, hugging Ophelia too. "Uncle Percy, Aunt Penelope, Scorpius, and Brianna are going to be busy with that reception line for a while, so why don't we go get drinks, and do a little mingling?"

While the party was just getting going at the Minister's mansion, Harry and Ginny had a pretty large group with them spending Christmas Eve at the Academy. Sarah and the four boys had come with them, and Stewart, Isabelle, Teddy, Victoire, and the girls met them at the Academy after dinner. James, Arianna, Erin, and Quincy were there, and Callie, Mark, Alice, and Lenny were spending the evening there too. Aaron, Tracey, Adam, and H would be spending the afternoon on Christmas Day at the Academy, but they were spending Christmas Eve with Tracey's family.

At the Residence, it was Kirley, Ana, and their group helping to entertain the kids for the evening. Bill and Fleur, and Molly and Arthur were spending a few hours there too, since they weren't going to be there on Christmas Day either. The highlight of the evening for the kids there was the mini concert and sing-along that Lily and Kieran put on for them, and with a last minute change in plans, they popped over to the Academy, and did the same thing there.

"That worked out rather well," Arianna told Lily and Kieran when they were packing up. "Now we can get the younger kids off to bed, and maybe we'll even get home by midnight this year."

"Glad we could help," Lily said. "We're going to get home now too. This was fun, but I am really tired out."

"No wonder, with everything you've been doing," Ginny told her daughter. "With a shopping and SpaMagic day, Quidditch workouts, tutoring, two nights of concerts, and doing DREAM Christmases today, you've had a lot to get done in three days. Maybe you should have worked in the lab with me this week instead."

"Maybe," Lily agreed, "but since Kieran was there for all of that except the Monday shopping and SpaMagic visit, I'll take tired over missing out on spending all of that time with him."

When Lily and Kieran were packed up, they hugged everyone goodnight, and then left for home while Harry, Ginny, and the others stayed and helped with getting the younger kids in bed, and reading a few bedtime stories. Everyone helping out at both the Academy and Residence were in bed and asleep long before the party at the Ministry of Magic even started to wind down.

"This is way past my bedtime," Al joked as he, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, Philip, and Ophelia were sitting down and taking a break. They'd all been dancing quite a bit as the night moved on and the initial hours of politicking wound down, and the guests started to mostly just have fun.

"You've been trying to come up with excuses to get Carolyn home for the last three hours," Brianna told him. "The party is almost over, so give it up – you'll be home within the next hour."

"You guys do remember we're supposed to be at the Cottage for nine o'clock, right?" Carolyn reminded Scorpius and Brianna.

"We've all got four days off, so we can catch up on our sleep tomorrow night," Brianna said. "Ophelia and Philip get to sleep in, since they've got all morning to open presents with Uncle Percy, Aunt Penelope, Nick, and Allie, and they don't have to go anywhere until they come over to our place."

"That's sounding pretty great right now," Philip told her. "This has been a lot of fun, but I'm running out of steam fast."

"No wonder," Ophelia said, patting his arm. "You've danced with nearly every Witch around our age tonight."

"There are some advantages to being the new kids at the party," Scorpius suggested. "All of the young Witches want to find out how you ended up on the guest list."

Carolyn laughed. "I'm thinking the cute factor had something to do with it too."

"Are you blushing, Philip?" Ophelia asked. "That's so sweet!"

Scorpius and Brianna had to go join the other Ministers and Junior Ministers to see the guests out, and it was about two-thirty before they wished the Minister of Magic and his wife a Merry Christmas, and left for their respective homes.

Even though it had been three o'clock when Al and Carolyn had finally climbed into bed, he was up at six-thirty Christmas morning, had a quick shower, dressed, and went downstairs to get coffee started, and bake a tray of cinnamon buns for them to have while opening presents. When they'd finished doing that, they would be going to the Cottage to spend the morning there before going on to the Residence to spend the rest of the day at their annual Christmas party.

Carolyn came down and joined him shortly after seven, and after they each got cups of coffee, they went and sat on the floor next to the tree, and exchanged the few gifts they'd gotten for each other. He loved the new, warm cloak that would keep him warm on those cold winter surveillances, and Carolyn had bought them both one of Rose and Matt's third-year tours, picking a new Pacific Ocean cruise that was being added to the tour schedule. She'd also let him know that Allie, Brianna, and Lily had given Nick, Scorpius, and Kieran the same gift, so including Rose and Matt, all five couples would be on the trip.

Al had picked out a few nice pieces of jewellery, and a pair of soft, gorgeous sweaters for Carolyn, but it was the last gift he handed to her that he hoped would really wow her. There was no disguising the logo on the key, and when Carolyn saw it, she threw her arms around his neck, hugged and kissed him.

"You got me another car?" she asked excitedly. "Where is it?"

"Actually, it's a Mercedes SUV, and it's in the garage next to your baby."

Carolyn jumped up, and ran out into the garage to take a look at the beautiful, deep blue M-series sports utility vehicle that she'd be able to drive year-round, but especially in the winter when her roadster was kept nice and warm in the garage.

"I thought you might like to drive over to the Cottage this morning and try it out," Al suggested, and Carolyn hugged and kissed him again before opening the driver's door and getting in to sit behind the wheel.

"I love it, Al," she said excitedly. "Thank-you!"

"You're welcome, honey. Why don't we get everything ready to go, put the gifts in your truck and hit the road?"

They did that, and by eight o'clock, they were speeding down the highway toward Godric's Hollow, and Al found out that trucks could be pretty fast too with the right Witch behind the wheel. When they pulled into the drive at the Cottage at a quarter to nine, Carolyn was exhilarated and hugged and kissed Al again before they grabbed the bags of presents they'd brought with them, and went inside.

"Nice set of wheels," Harry said as he hugged Carolyn. "I may have to think about replacing the sedan with something like that some day."

"The ride to King's Cross Station would be fun – it's got built in WWVN's that the passengers can watch," Carolyn told him. "It's amazing to drive too."

"Better than your roadster?" Ginny asked, hugging her too, and Carolyn laughed.

"Not that good, but this is fun to drive too, and I can drive it all year long."

Harry and Ginny were both busy cooking, and Al offered to take over for his mother so that she could welcome their incoming guests. Victoire, Teddy, Isabelle, Stewart, Andromeda, Robert, and the girls were already there when Al and Carolyn had arrived, and the rest of the gang began coming in just moments after them. Bill and Fleur came with Molly and Arthur, and Lisa and Marcus brought Jair, Megan, and Devon. Scorpius, Brianna, Kreacher, Winky, and Dobby were next, with Mark, Callie, Alice, and Lenny right behind them. Lily and Kieran just barely got in ahead of James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, and their four students, giving them the last group to arrive honours.

Breakfast was on the table by a quarter after nine, and they spent an hour eating and hearing about everyone's Christmas Eve and Christmas morning so far. Harry and Al took care of the cleanup, while the rest of the family moved into the sitting room to get ready to open presents.

By the time they were doing that at the Cottage, Ophelia, Philip, Percy, and Penelope were just getting downstairs, enjoying getting to sleep in for an extra couple of hours before getting up and ready. Nick and Allie came over and had a late morning brunch with them, and then they went into the sitting room to open their presents.

Those gift exchanges were all happy, fun experiences for the Marauders, their families, and friends. Malcolm's Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so far had been far from that, with one small exception. He'd woken up early in the morning, before dawn, and slowly and carefully unwrapped the gift Ophelia had given him, wanting to savour the moments, since they'd probably be the only good moments of his entire day. Once he had the wrapping paper off, and carefully folded, with the stringy little bow resting on the folded paper, he held the box in his hands for a long moment before opening it.

When he did decide to open it, he reached in and pulled out the top of the line unbreakable watch that most of the professional Quidditch players and Broom Racers used. He put it on his wrist for a while, though he wouldn't be able to wear it around his parents. There was also a folded piece of parchment and a small picture frame in the box, so he took them out next. There were tears in his eyes when he saw the picture of Ophelia smiling brightly and waving at him, and he had to wipe them away before reading the note.

Dear Malcolm,

The watch is to help you keep track of the hours until we'll be back together at school again, and the picture is so you'll have at least one smiling face to see whenever you really need one.

Merry Christmas.

Ophelia

Malcolm had to wipe away a few more tears, and after staring at her picture for a few more minutes, he packed it, the letter, watch, wrapping paper, and bow into the box, and buried it deep inside of his trunk. He'd gone back to sleep for another hour or so before the sounds of his father's yelling woke him again, and he hurriedly got up, showered, and dressed.

He'd gotten to have Christmas Eve off from having duelling practice with his father, who instead spent his evening over-enjoying some alcoholic beverages. That was never a good thing, and this morning, Miles was in a foul temper, and taking it out on everyone around him. Malcolm, his mother, and their servant were all trying their best to be as unobtrusive as they could be, but the ranting continued through breakfast, and the pathetic excuse for what they called a gift exchange. Malcolm got a OWL year potions refill kit, parchment, inks, and a twenty minute lecture on how bloody expensive kids were, and that the school should have to pay for all of these supplies, not the hard-working parents.

When his father finally decided that ranting and raving wasn't going to be enough to satisfy his anger, Malcolm got to spend two and a half hours in the afternoon duelling his father. It was the worst session of the holidays so far, and when his father's anger was finally, if temporarily, sated, it was all Malcolm could do to make it to his room without showing any of the weakness that would send his father into a rage again, close his door, and go collapse on his bed. He'd have until dinnertime to pull himself together somehow, and with a little luck, maybe his father would leave him alone for the rest of the day.

Back at the Cottage, the gift exchange had ended before noon, and some of the guests had to pack up right away and head out. Bill, Fleur, Molly, Arthur, Isabelle, Stewart, Victoire, Teddy, the three girls, and their three boyfriends were going straight from the Cottage to the Delacour estate in France, where they'd be staying until Sunday. Andromeda and Robert went to Malfoy mansion to visit with Narcissa, Lucius, Draco, and Astoria before they'd all be going over to Grimmauld Place for the family Christmas there. Scorpius, Brianna, Kreacher, Winky, and Dobby went straight to Grimmauld Place, where they'd be getting ready for their guests, which would also include Percy, Penelope, Nick, Allie, Ophelia, and Philip. Lisa and Marcus stayed until around one o'clock, and then took Jair with them to his parent's house, getting to start Christmas Day all over again in the United States. Megan and Devon left at the same time that Lisa and Marcus did, but were going to his parent's home instead.

Lily and Kieran went back to his house, before they'd be going on to Grandma Catriona's house, and James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, Erin, and the three boys left for the Academy, where they'd be helping out with the Christmas party there for the rest of the day. That left Al, Carolyn, Callie, Mark, Alice, and Lenny with Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah, and they were all going to the Residence. When everyone else was gone, they all pitched in to straighten up, then left for the Residence, and another brilliant Christmas Day party, feast, and the always-entertaining Christmas pageant.

There was a lot more going on for Christmas Day for the other Marauders. Hugo and Emily had spent Christmas Eve, and stayed overnight with her parents, while Rose and Matt had spent the night with his. Ron and Hermione had gone to her Mum and Dad's place Christmas Eve, and then Rose, Matt, Hugo, and Emily had met them there Christmas morning to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa Granger.

It was a fun, but hectic day for Colin, Nadine, Lance, and Vanessa. They'd all spent the early part of Christmas morning with their own families, and then when Lily and Kieran went to the Cottage, Nadine went to spend the morning with Colin and his family, while Vanessa went to Lance's house, and from there, on to Lance's Great-Grandmother's home. Both young couples joined the McCormack family Christmas by around two o'clock at Grandma and Grandpa McCormack's home, where Kirley, Ana, Cassandra, and Violet had gone after the others had left to help out with getting everything ready for the afternoon festivities and dinner.

Liam and Frederica had spent Christmas Eve with his family, stayed overnight at her house, and had a brilliant morning with George and Marietta before going back to Liam's home along with her parents, and then they all went on to Grandma and Grandpa McCormack's. The last arrivals there were Karl and Daphne, who popped over from Marauders Paradise after work to spend a few hours with them.

Whether at the always-magical Christmas party at the Residence, the Academy, or one of the family Christmases, it was the being together having fun with loved ones ihat made everyone's Christmas special. There was one thing that all of the Marauders, their families, and friends had in common by the end of another brilliant Christmas – they were all happily exhausted when they returned home and went to bed.

For the student Marauders and friends, there was still more than half of their Christmas holidays left to go. This year, they weren't going to be doing quite as much all together as they usually seemed to do, but whether they were at home or away, they all expected that the fun level would be as high as it was during every holiday.


	135. Out With the Old  Ring in the New Year

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Five – Out with the Old and Ring in the New Year

Al and Carolyn had slept in late on Friday morning. By the time they'd gotten back to the Cottage from the Residence party, visited for a while with Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah, and driven home, it was nearly midnight. They'd both been tired, and had gone upstairs with every intention of going to sleep right after getting changed and in bed, but one sweet goodnight kiss led to another, and they ended up staying, um, awake for quite a while longer making one last, brilliant Christmas memory together.

"So, whatever will we do with three whole days off, and nothing really planned?" Carolyn asked Al when she joined him in the kitchen. He'd gotten out of bed, showered, dressed, and had breakfast well underway before she'd woken to those enticing aromas wafting upstairs from the kitchen.

"Rose and Matt leave tomorrow for their New Year's trip, so we should try to stop by to see them for a few minutes," Al answered. "I thought you might like to go wade through the Mall for a while and check out the after-Christmas bargains today too. As for the rest of the weekend, why don't we just wing it? I'd be happy just hanging out here all weekend with you."

"That works just fine for me," Carolyn told him. "I'll check and see when Rose and Matt have some time for visitors, and maybe Scorpius and Brianna, and a few of the other couples would like to come play at the Mall this afternoon with us."

Lily and Kieran had been playing in the studio for most of the morning, and were listening to a playback of their latest recording when she got the virtual QuillMessage from Carolyn asking if they were interested in an afternoon shopping trip. Cassandra and Violet had been invited to come and play with them, while Vanessa and Nadine watched from the control room with Kirley and Ana. Both girls had high, clear voices, so Kieran and Lily made up some extra backup vocals that the two girls could sing for one of the songs they wanted to record for the album that would be out in June. While it took quite a bit longer to put the recording together, the resulting hugs and kisses from Cassandra and Violet had been so worth the effort, and with a little mixing help from Kirley, the song had come out sounding brilliant too.

"Carolyn wants to know if we're interested in going shopping at the Mall this afternoon to hunt for after-Christmas bargains," Lily told everyone after they'd finished listening to the recording. "All in favour?"

They all laughed when Ana's hand shot up just as quickly as the other four girl's hands were raised in unanimous support of the idea.

"I guess that means we're going shopping," Kirley told Kieran.

"Seems so," Kieran agreed. "I guess you can tell Carolyn that she'll have at least eight extra shoppers, and maybe more if Colin and Lance are available," he told Lily. "We can take up the recording session another day."

Lily hugged him, and sent an answering QuillMessage to Carolyn. Scorpius and Brianna had been a yes, and they brought Ophelia and Philip with them to the Mall. Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah had already planned on going to the Mall anyway, and were happy to have the extra company.

"Do you ever wonder what they do with all of these returned gifts after Christmas?" Kieran asked Al as they sat on a bench, waiting while the girls were busy trying on clothes in one of the stores. He'd been watching a long line of Witches and Wizards who were returning Christmas gifts at one of the stores, and the growing piles of those returned items all around the busy clerks handling those returns.

"Mostly I wonder who keeps buying these presents that the person they're giving them to don't like," Al answered.

Kieran laughed. "Well, I don't see any Mercedes SUV's getting returned today, so I can tell you it's not the guy who got one of those for his wife for Christmas, though I guess that is a step down from the two houses she got for Christmas last year."

"I didn't know about the other house," Al protested, "and besides, you and Lily got a house last year too."

"Which I can hardly wait to go spend a few days at next weekend," Kieran said. "It'll be nice to have a little time there before having to go back to school."

"I'm looking forward to being there too," Al told him. "It'll probably be the last break that Carolyn and I will have for a while. We'll both be busy with work in the New Year."

"How are the cold cases coming along?" Kieran asked.

Al shrugged. "I've got some leads on the case I'm concentrating on right now, and a couple of suspects, so it's going pretty well. It's a lot of tedious work, though."

"You're not making it sound very glamorous. It's probably a good thing that you're not a recruiter if that's your way of selling the job to new candidates."

"Are you considering joining?" Al joked, and Kieran laughed.

"Not a chance. I don't know what all Lily and I will end up doing, but joining the Aurors will not be one of them."

"I don't know," Al said, "being world-famous pop stars could be a great cover – who'd ever suspect that you were Aurors?"

"That's true, Al, but can you actually picture the bad guys hanging out at SpellBound concerts with all of the kids and teens?" Kieran asked, and Al shook his head.

"Not without laughing, no. Okay, no secret identities for SpellBound."

The girls came back out of the store, handed Al and Kieran a couple of bags, and then moved on down the Mall to their next bargain conquest. Colin and Lance hadn't been able to come, so Al and Kieran were on their own as they followed the girls around. Lily and Carolyn had Vanessa, Nadine, Cassandra, and Violet with them, and the six girls were having a blast as they shopped. When they'd met up with everyone at the food court, Joel and Sarah had gone with Scorpius, Brianna, Ophelia, and Philip, leaving Ginny, Ana, Harry, and Kirley to do their own thing for the afternoon.

They met up again at four-thirty, and after the usual goodbye hugs and kisses, went back to their respective homes, and on to whatever plans they had for their Friday evening. For most of them, that whole weekend between Christmas and New Year's Day was all about taking it easy and recovering from what had been mostly non-stop action since the students had gotten home from Hogwarts.

Al and Carolyn had a pool party for a few hours on Saturday afternoon, and had a pretty good turnout, but other than that, they had spent the rest of the weekend on their own, having no problem entertaining themselves while taking that welcome respite before getting back to work again on Monday.

With Dale, Brian, and Jason in France for the long weekend, it was pretty quiet around the Cottage. Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah had spent a quiet evening at home on Friday, gone to the pool party at Al and Carolyn's on Saturday, and then brought Callie, Mark, Alice, and Lenny back home with them for dinner and a movie that evening. Sunday was a hang around the house and relax day until the three boys were dropped off late in the afternoon, along with Carissa, Millie, and Amy, who were staying overnight and giving Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle an evening off to get some things done around their houses after being away four days.

James was working at the Academy for most of the weekend, helping out while they were running half-staff for the two holiday weekends. Arianna, Erin, and Quincy went with him most of the time, except they did go over to Al and Carolyn's for the pool party on Saturday afternoon. Arianna was back to work at Canons stadium on Monday, and James was working at the Academy. Joe was having a Ravenclaw Quidditch practice on Monday, so Erin and Quincy went to that practice at Joe's Uncle's house after breakfast.

They met Myra there, and apparently Quincy was the only friend or family member dedicated, or crazy enough to sit outside in the freezing cold and watch the team practice. With the loss against Hufflepuff, everyone on the team understood that another loss against Slytherin would put them out of the running for the Quidditch Cup this year, but at least Joe, Erin, and Myra understood that the Slytherin team was in the same position, and would be fighting hard to get a win too.

The practice did go very well, and after two and a half hours, Quincy took Erin and Myra to the Mall food court, where they met up with Adam and H for lunch. After that, they wandered the Mall for a couple of hours before Myra went home to her house, and Erin and the boys went to the Academy to hang out there until James was done work for the day.

Slytherin had their first practice of the holiday on Monday too. Millie had offered to go watch the practice, but it hadn't really been that difficult for Jason to talk her into staying at the Cottage with Joel, Sarah, Amy, Brian, Dale, and Carissa where it was warm, while he went off to the practice. It might have been because he'd worked out with Gryffindor less than a week ago, but Jason didn't think that the Slytherin practice went very well.

Where he hadn't been able to score a single goal against Hugo, he'd scored eleven goals against Thomas, who had thought that scoring that many goals was a good thing. Jason didn't really think so, since he and the other Chasers were going to be facing a much tougher challenge when they faced Myra in January, and Darrin was going to have another tough match against Erin at Seeker. Ravenclaw might have two young Chasers, but they'd done well enough against Hufflepuff, even though they'd lost that game, and Jason didn't think that Thomas was any better that John Madley was for Hufflepuff.

After the Slytherin Quidditch practice, Jason went back to the Cottage, where they had lunch together with Harry. Joel and Sarah went to the Residence for a few hours after lunch with Harry, while Jason, Brian, Dale, and the girls decided to just hang out around the house and relax after having a busy long weekend in France with the Delacour family.

Lily and Kieran were spending their day in the recording studio on Monday. This was the last working day they had scheduled for the rest of the holidays, and had five songs they wanted to get done for the next album. While they were busy with that, Vanessa, Nadine, Cassandra, and Violet hung around together in the sitting room, playing a little GameWizard, watching a couple of shows on the WWVN, and having fun. They helped Ana out with lunch, and then went over to the Mall in Paris to play in the Atrium Amusement Park for a couple of hours.

By Monday, Malcolm was counting down the hours until he'd be going to the Cottage on Tuesday morning. His long weekend had not been fun or restful. On Friday, Malcolm had tried his best to keep out of his father's way, but had still ended up having another duelling session in the evening. On Saturday, he had a miserable day when he'd gone to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bletchley, which was never good, since his father thought his Grandfather was a weak-minded fool.

Having to spend most of the day there, pretending to be nice to his parents, and a few detested Uncles, Aunts, cousins, and their offspring had Miles in an especially foul mood by the time they'd gotten home. Malcolm wasn't surprised when another nasty duelling practice was ordered that night, and another one on Sunday morning.

On Monday, he'd gone with his father to the Knight's meeting, where he'd repeated the half-truth filled report about his day at the Potter's house. This time, he was mentally holding his breath, terrified that Lord Chernobog would be able to see what he wasn't telling them, but for whatever reason, the Lord Commander gleefully accepted every word without question. His father had been happy to report that he was continuing Malcolm's training over the holidays, and that his son was ready for anything the Knights needed him to do for them. Malcolm thought darkly that the only thing his father had him ready for was to endure hours of torture.

The only good thing about having the meeting on Monday had been that it had put his father into a comparatively good mood for the rest of the day, and Malcolm got a one-day reprieve from those 'training sessions'. He'd gone to bed early, and had been up before dawn, though he had to wait until he heard his father moving around before having a shower and getting ready for his second visit to the Cottage.

When he left home, Malcolm took the TransPortal to the Mall, where Colin met him, and then they went together to the Cottage. The two boys were among the first arrivals for the Quidditch practice and study session. Hugo, Emily, Frederica, and Liam were there, and it wasn't long before the rest of their study group began arriving, except for Nadine, who would be coming after the Hufflepuff Quidditch practice.

When Ophelia and Philip had come into the kitchen, he'd had a lump in his throat, and his heart was pounding when she came over and hugged him first, before making the rounds with the rest of her friends.

"Are you okay?" she asked him in a whisper as she hugged him, then leaned back so she could watch his eyes when he answered her question.

"I'm suddenly doing pretty great," he told her evasively, but he knew that she saw right through his attempt to avoid answering what she'd really wanted to know. "Thank-you for the Christmas present. I loved the picture, and the watch was really great too."

Ophelia hugged him again. She could tell that he really had thought the picture was the best part of her gift, which was what she hoped would be the part of her gift that meant the most to him.

"You're welcome, Malcolm," she told him. "Let me go around and say hello to everyone, and then we can sit down and talk for a while until we start studying."

Harry had been cleaning up from breakfast again while the study group and Quidditch team were getting to the Cottage. When he was finished with that, and after welcoming all of the kids, he got ready to go, apparently off to spend the morning running errands that included picking up some of the back to school supplies for quite a few of the students in the study group.

When all of the Quidditch players were there, they took their gear and went outside to the Qudditch pitch. Since Malcolm had told them that he was going to stay inside and study with Ophelia, Philip, and the others, Erin volunteered to play Seeker for the practice team, and Lily took the third Chaser position along with Kieran and Jason.

Joel and Emily were the only NEWT students studying during the Quidditch practice. Sarah and Claire were working with them, except on their own sixth-year studies. Malcolm, Ophelia, Philip, and Vanessa were in the OWL year group, while the younger students were split in two, with the first and second year students in one group, and the third and fourth years in the other.

Malcolm had been having fun as he worked next to Ophelia, and hadn't realized that more than two hours had passed until the thirteen Quidditch players came inside, the thirteenth being Nadine, who'd gotten back to the Cottage and gone out to the Quidditch pitch to watch her boyfriend finish out-duelling Erin, and winning the Seeker battle three catches to two.

"I think we should blame our loss on Malcolm," Lily was saying as they came into the kitchen. "If he'd been playing Chaser instead of me, maybe our team would have scored a goal or two against Hugo." Malcolm had a worried look on his face when he'd looked up after hearing the first part of Lily's comment, but then smiled when he'd heard the rest, and seen her smile and wink.

"Well, I think it's very unfair that my brothers were ganging up on me," Myra said. "If they do that when we play in May, I'm telling Mum on them."

"Tell her what?" Aiden asked. "That we had sixty shots on you and could only get the quaffle past you twice? If we were ganging up on you, I'd say you won anyway."

"When Erin and I start winning games against the other teams, instead of these moral victories, then I'll agree that we won something," Myra told her younger brother. "Until then, we are just not going to be happy about losing games."

"No we won't be," Erin agreed.

Lily and Kieran worked on getting hot drinks and snacks together, while the others, except Kevin Keitch, joined the rest of the study group. Colin and Nadine sat in empty seats next to Malcolm, where he was now the outside edge of the OWL group, while she was next to Alice, Lenny, and the other fourth years, while Lance did the same thing across the table from them, sitting next to Vanessa. They started studying even before getting their drinks and snack this time, though they did talk about the practice for a while as they worked. Kevin stayed long enough to have a hot chocolate, and then left everyone else to their studies, while he went to meet up with some of his buddies with plans that definitely did not include working on revision.

Malcolm had thought that the pizza lunch at the study session last week had been pretty great, but this time, Harry had returned to the Cottage with an entire take-out buffet, and the teens had all lined up to fill plates with a great assortment of food options. There were cold cuts and freshly baked buns for making sandwiches, a big pot of homemade soup, salads, and several hot dishes, including lasagne, some chicken dish that Malcolm went back later for seconds of, and a vegetable casserole that actually had him thinking that maybe his previous animosity toward most legumes needed to be reconsidered.

"Don't you want any dessert?" Ophelia asked him when she'd sat down after going to pick out a small piece of apple pie.

"I'd love to, but I don't have the room after going back for seconds," Malcolm answered. "Maybe I'll be able to try something later if we stop for a snack later like we did last week."

"I'm sure we will," Ophelia told him.

All of the first and second year students had their holiday revision finished by the time they stopped for lunch, as did all of the third and fourth year group except for Erin, Nadine, and Lance, so they all went into the sitting room to play GameWizard or watch WWVN. Ophelia, Philip, and Vanessa had been studying both Tuesday mornings, and they finished their last assignments shortly after lunch. Philip went to join the others who were hanging out in the sitting room, while Ophelia and Vanessa stayed with Malcolm and Lance.

When they stopped for an afternoon snack, everyone except for the NEWT students were done their homework, so after the kitchen had been invaded by everyone to have that snack, Malcolm and Ophelia went into the sitting room, and sat down on a sofa along with Colin and Nadine.

"What are you doing for the rest of the holidays?" Malcolm asked Ophelia.

"Philip and I will be going to the Ministry of Magic's New Year's Eve party with Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope tomorrow night, and then on Thursday, we'll be going away until Saturday. Will you be doing anything?"

Malcolm shook his head. "Not that I know of. It sounds like you're going to have fun, though."

"I'm a little nervous about the New Year's Eve party," Ophelia told him. "There are going to be a lot of Witches and Wizards there, and I don't want to make any mistakes."

"You don't have to worry about that," Malcolm told her. "With that many people, nobody will even notice anything that a couple of teenagers are doing."

"I can hope," she answered. "I guess Philip and I did okay at the Minister of Magic's Christmas Eve party, though he was off dancing with different girls most of the night."

"And hopefully some of them will be at the party tomorrow night," Philip said with a grin, having overheard his name from where he was sitting on the sofa next to the one Ophelia and Malcolm were using.

"You'll probably get asked to dance a lot too," Malcolm told her, looking a bit sad, and she squeezed his arm and smiled.

"Maybe, but don't you worry about that, because there's only one young Wizard I'm interested in right now, so those other guys are out of luck."

Malcolm smiled back at her. "You know I can't help wondering – why me?" he asked quietly, and she squeezed his arm again.

"Because I think you have a lot of potential, Malcolm," she told him just as softly, "and because I believe you want to be the Wizard I think you're meant to be."

"I wish I could believe in myself that much," he said wistfully.

Ophelia laughed softly. "Don't worry about that for now either. I'll believe in you enough for both of us until you can."

Malcolm stayed until a little after four, when he got his book-bag, wished everyone a happy New Year, and then Ophelia walked him to the door. She was smiling again as she put her arms around him, but was looking all around the hallway.

"What are you looking for?" Malcolm asked.

"Stray MagicMistletoe," she told him. "We seem to be safe this time, though." He wasn't sure he was safe at all when she kissed him, and his world tilted just a bit to one side. "Just five more days, and you'll be safely on the way back to school. If you can, stop in to our compartment on the train and say hi, but if you can't, I'll understand, and we'll see each other on Monday night at our first study session."

"I'll try," he promised. "I'm going to miss you, Ophelia. These study days have been the only good days I've had over the holidays."

Ophelia hugged him tightly, and then kissed him one more time. "Just keep counting down the days, and we'll make sure that things are better for you when we get back to Hogwarts."

Malcolm wished that could be true, but then she didn't know what was going to happen to him within a few days of getting back to school. He had returned both of her hugs, and still had his arms loosely around her waist, so he gently pulled her closer for one last hug, then stepped back to take a long look at her pretty, smiling face, a memory that was going to have to hold him over for the rest of the holidays, and then went outside, and took the TransPortal back home.

"Are you okay?" Philip asked Ophelia when she got back to the sitting room, and she sat down next to him, let him put his arm around her, and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Whatever it is that's happening to him at home is not okay at all," she said quietly.

"I know, but be careful, Ophelia. I think it's too early to tell whether he'll end up like us, or let the hate eat him up instead."

Ophelia nodded. "You're right, but I really hope he'll make the right choice."

When Malcolm got home from the Cottage, his father questioned him extensively, for more than an hour, about everything he'd learned while at his study session, and he continued the deception he'd begun the week before. Harry had been out running errands all morning while they'd studied. No, Malcolm didn't know where all he'd gone, but he had come home with bags of food, put lunch together for everyone there, and handed out bags of school supplies to a bunch of the teens in the study group. Malcolm also reported that he'd seen Harry do the dishes from both breakfast and lunch. Ginny had been gone to work, and hadn't gotten back before Malcolm left to come home.

The good news was that his father had liked what Malcolm had reported. The bad news was that he still wanted to practice duelling after dinner, though at least it was never as bad for Malcolm when his father wasn't angry. When he went to bed Tuesday night, Malcolm was still even able to manage a smile as he closed his eyes and thought about how great his day with Ophelia and the others had been.

On Wednesday, at the Cottage, and some of the other Marauder homes, there were teens getting ready for their trip to the island. Not everyone was going this year like they'd done last year, but there was still going to be a good-sized group there for the next few days.

There were two groups going to the island, one that was spending New Year's Eve there, and another group that would be coming on New Year's Day after going to whatever parties they had happening. Harry, Ginny, Sarah, and the four boys were in that first group. Ginny was working most of the day, and would join them on the island when she was finished at the lab. Jason had what ended up being a short Slytherin Quidditch practice, and when he got back to the Cottage, he packed for the trip that everyone else was ready for, and then after having lunch, they headed to the island, taking Carissa, Amy, and Millie with them. Stewart, Isabelle, Teddy, and Victoire would be coming to the island after the Ministry's New Year's Eve party.

Hugo and Emily were going to spend New Year's Eve there too, and her parents were going to spend the long weekend on the island with them. Kirley and Ana were staying with the four girls in one of the guesthouses, mostly so that Lily and Kieran could have their house to themselves for the few days they had left before Kieran went back to school. Kieran, Lily, and the girls left for the island in the early afternoon, but Kirley and Ana wouldn't be there until much later, since she and Laura had almost all of their bands working New Year's Eve parties, and they would be busy working until at least midnight back at home.

Colin and Lance were going to be there with three out of four of their parents too, and Demelza and Luna took them over to the island when they were done work, but both sets of parents were going to the Ministry New Year's Eve party that night. Luna and Neville were going to the island after that party, and would get there in time to ring in the New Year again on the island, while Demelza would join Colin on the island on New Year's Day.

The Canons Quidditch playing and coaching members of the family had talked about going back and forth to the island over the long weekend, but since they had practices on Wednesday and Friday, and the game on Saturday, they'd decided to just stay at home and concentrate on the game, and hopefully keeping their undefeated season going.

Since James had worked on the Christmas long weekend, he had the New Year's weekend off, but since Arianna and Aaron were staying home, he and Tracey came up with a different plan for Erin, Quincy, Adam, and H. Erin had her second and last Ravenclaw Quidditch practice on Wednesday morning, and she, Quincy, Myra, Adam, and H did the Mall lunch thing again after she and Myra had finished another pretty good workout. Myra went back home after they'd eaten, and Erin and the boys went back to James and Arianna's place to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.

For New Year's Eve, James and Arianna were hosting the party for eight, which was going to include dinner, movies, games, and probably staying up and watching the New Year counted in at the Emerald City Centre party on WMVN. Then, on New Year's Day, the two couples were going to take the four teens to Marauders Paradise for a play day. On Friday, while Aaron and Arianna were having their last workout before the game, James and Tracey were going to take Erin and the boys to the island to spend most of the day with everyone there, and then on Saturday, they were going to take the kids shopping for any back to school supplies they needed, take them out for lunch, and then go see the Canons game at the Kenmare Kestrels' stadium.

The second group that was going to the island for the long weekend, but getting there New Year's day, included Al and Carolyn; Percy, Penelope, Ophelia, and Philip; Scorpius and Brianna; Frederica, Liam, Myra, Aiden, and their parents; and Nick, Allie, and her parents. Nick and Allie were going to a family New Year's Eve party with her Mum and Dad. George and Marietta were having their own party that the Murrays were all attending, while everyone else in that group were going to the Ministry party at the Emerald City Centre. Hermione was going to the island on New Year's Day too, after going to George and Marietta's party with Ron, Charlie, and Nathalie.

Al and Carolyn had worked almost all day, and then hurried home to get ready for the party. The doors opened at five-thirty, but they didn't get there until six, met Scorpius and Brianna outside of the hotel, and went inside together. Dinner was starting at six-thirty, and by the time that the boys finished waiting in line to get drinks, they didn't really have much time to mingle. They found out which table they were going to be at, and made their way into the Grand Ballroom.

They were the last two couples to reach their table, so they spent a few minutes greeting the other four couples. The newly-engaged Moira and Nigel were at their table again this year, along with Brianna's receptionist, Willow, and her husband Zack, and Wendell, who was one-half of Brianna's research team with his twin sister Wendy, and his date for the evening, Angie, who was one of the Goblin Liason Officers. Their table was rounded out with Al's fellow Aurors, Jake and Emma.

"I wonder how we rated this table two years in a row?" Emma asked Jake.

"That's exactly what I was thinking too," Moira told her. "It was probably a mistake – maybe whoever was setting up the tables was trying to save some time, and used last year's seating chart, and forgot to move us around."

"That's possible, but if that is what happened, I'm glad it worked out like this," Brianna told them. "We're going to have a lot of fun together tonight."

It was only a few minutes after they'd taken seats at the table that the first course of the dinner was delivered. For the next two hours, the six couples enjoyed the wonderful food, and had fun talking about work, their families, the holidays, and about what was going to be new in the New Year.

A couple of rows over, and a dozen tables down, Ophelia and Philip were the only teens at a table with Percy and Penelope, Ernie and Parvati Macmillan, Bill and Fleur, Teddy and Victoire, and Stewart and Isabelle.

"I should have tried to get you two at a table with some other teens," Percy said after they'd taken their seats. "You probably won't find hanging out with us old folks all that entertaining."

"We're not all old folks," Victoire protested. "Even you old folks aren't really that old."

"Gee, thanks," Fleur told her daughter. "I think Ophelia and Philip will find hanging out with us very entertaining. How many students get to go partying with two of their Professors during the holidays?"

"Ernie and I have lots of times," Parvati told Fleur, "though I guess since we were Professors too by then, that might not count."

Ophelia and Philip weren't bored at all as they mostly listened in to the dinner conversation, and enjoyed every course that was put in front of them. The only time they really joined in on the conversation was when Ernie and Parvati started talking with the others about school, and they were asked about their experiences at the Academy, and the differences with how the students were being taught there, and how successful the techniques were, if maybe not practical for a school with as many students as Hogwarts had.

After dinner, there was a half-hour break until the first band went on stage. Percy and Penelope went off visiting nearby tables, and while Ophelia and Philip stayed at their table, they were visited by Grandma and Grandpa Weasley, Carolyn and Brianna, and Philip had three girls stop by, and get him to promise them each a dance.

"Apparently you made an impression at the party Christmas Eve," Ophelia told him, and he grinned back at her. His newfound popularity with the girls was something he was shy about with anyone else, but he could talk with Ophelia about without feeling weird.

"It seems so, but I have no idea what they're looking at that I can't see when I look in the mirror."

Ophelia patted his arm, still smiling at him. "I think you're very handsome, and you look great in that suit, Philip, but I imagine the girls are coming back because you're such a sweetheart."

"If that's what you think, how come we never dated?" he asked, even though they both knew the answer to that.

"Because I love you like a brother, not a boyfriend," she answered anyway. "If you're seriously looking for a prospective girlfriend, though, you should ask Heather to dance with you."

"Heather?" Philip asked. "As in your roommate Heather?"

"That would be her," Ophelia agreed. "She's sitting one row over and two tables to the left of us. She looks pretty good dressed up."

Philip tried not to make it look like he was checking her out, but when he saw her, Heather was looking right at him too, and she had smiled shyly at him and nodded when their eyes met.

"She looks way better than 'pretty good'," Philip said quietly. "How did I manage to miss out on noticing just how pretty she is?"

"We spend most of our spare time with our study group, Philip, and she's so shy I doubt she's ever said more than 'hi' to you, if she's even said that much."

"I'm not a big fan of rejection, Ophelia. Do you think she would dance with me if I ask?"

Ophelia laughed softly. "She's been watching you off and on all through dinner, so I'd say your chances are pretty good."

"Okay, I'll ask her in a while, but you'd better be here to pick up the broken pieces of my little heart if she blows me off."

He didn't need to worry about that, and while he did dance with those other three girls as he'd promised, and danced a few times with Ophelia, he ended up dancing with Heather most of the night, and by eleven o'clock, she had joined Philip and Ophelia at their table, after her parents had met Philip, and found out that Percy and Penelope were his Guardians.

"I'd say those other girls might as well stop coming around asking Philip to dance," Ophelia told Penelope when she and Percy were sitting with her and taking a break after being up dancing for quite a while. "Heather seems to have captivated my best friend."

Penelope nodded. "No wonder at that. She's a very sweet girl. Hi, Al. What brings you over this way?" Ophelia had looked up at Al, following Penelope's lead when she'd turned her attention to him as he walked up to them.

"I was told that there was a beautiful young Witch at this table who hadn't been up dancing for a while, and thought maybe she'd agree to go dance with me for a couple of songs," he told his Aunt, as he held out his hand to Ophelia.

"Whatever will Carolyn say?" Ophelia asked, smiling up at him, and he laughed.

"Since she was the one who told me to get over here and ask you, I'm pretty sure she'll be okay with it. Shall we?"

Ophelia took his hand, and walked with him out to the dance floor, and a moment later, they were swept up by the music, and the swirling mass of dancing couples.

"It's too bad that Malcolm couldn't have come tonight," Al said as they danced, and he smiled at Ophelia's look of surprise. "I've heard through the grapevine that the most recent member of your study group is quite fond of you," he explained.

"I'm quite fond of him too," she said with a nod. "Since his family would never allow him to have someone like me for a girlfriend, though, I don't know what to think about how I feel." Al was one of the members of this family that she didn't really know very well, but somehow she still felt completely at ease talking with him about Malcolm.

"Have you heard that Divination is one of my talents?" he asked, and she nodded. "I saw Malcolm in the Mall before Christmas, and I could feel that there are some bad things that he's dealing with at home, and even more that he'll be facing soon. He's going to have choices to make when those bad things happen, and what I see very strongly is that your relationship with him may be what will help him make the right choices." Ophelia felt a little dazed as she looked up into those dazzling emerald eyes. "You've already figured that out for yourself," Al added.

"I'm not sure I have anything figured out, Al, but I do sense that he needs my friendship, though it's more than that drawing me to him."

"You should trust those feelings, Ophelia, but don't forget that they'll also warn you if Malcolm does choose the wrong path in the end."

"Can't you see which?" she asked hopefully, and Al shook his head.

"I can see the possibilities, but until those choices are made, there's no way to be sure of which possibility will be the one that actually happens," Al told her.

Ophelia nodded. "That's really too bad, but I guess it makes sense. I guess all I can do is keep being his friend, and hope I can help when he needs me most."

"That's a lot all by itself," Al told her, "and I think that will be exactly what Malcolm will need most."

She danced with Al for one more song, and then Scorpius and Brianna conveniently danced by, and Scorpius cut in to dance with Ophelia for two more songs, while Al and Brianna danced their way off of the dance floor. When it was almost midnight, Philip and Heather made sure they were with her for the countdown. When Ophelia gave Philip a New Year's hug and kiss, she and Philip were both surprised, and he was very happy, when Heather took the opportunity to hug and kiss him too.

The dance continued until two, and then Percy and Penelope took Ophelia and Philip home – after they gave Philip a few moments for a goodbye hug with Heather. Stewart, Isabelle, Teddy, Victoire, Luna, and Neville all left from the party and went directly to the island and their second, though much smaller and quieter New Year's Eve celebration.

The gang on the island were up for several more hours, until after midnight island time, which was why Al, Carolyn, and the others had decided to go home after the party instead of going to the island so they could go to bed, sleep late in the morning, and then still get to the island with the whole day ahead of them.

Al and Carolyn had slept in until eleven o'clock, home time, taken their time getting up, packed, and ready to go to the island, and then taken the TransPortal there by shortly after noon. He started cooking breakfast for four, and Carolyn got the table on the lanai ready. Lily and Kieran came over a few minutes before Al had everything ready, and they helped carry everything outside before sitting down together to eat.

"How was the big party for you guys last night?" Lily asked. "Victoire told us that they had fun, and we hear that Philip may have a girlfriend now too."

"The party was great, and since by the end of the night, Philip and Heather were practically inseparable, I'd say that it won't be long after they get back to school that Kieran and the others will be gaining another member to their study group. What's going on around here today?"

"It's every family for themselves for breakfast and lunch," Lily answered, "and we're all doing a potluck dinner at the lagoon. Kieran and I are meeting up with Kirley, Ana, and the girls at the lagoon in an hour or so, but I think some of the family was planning on just hanging out around their own houses this morning, and coming to play at the lagoon after lunch."

"Did Mum and Dad have anyone at their house last night?" Al asked, and Lily nodded.

"Dale is staying with Stewart, Isabelle, and Carissa while we're here, and Jason and Brian are doing the same at Teddy and Victoire's with Millie and Amy, so Joel and Sarah are staying with Mum and Dad instead of using one of the guest houses. The four of them will probably be at the lagoon this morning."

"I was expecting that you and Kieran would want to hide out at your place the whole time we were here," Carolyn said, and Lily and Kieran both laughed.

"We're thinking about doing that tomorrow and maybe Saturday too, but I'm sure that we'll come and hang out with everyone at least some of the time anyway," Lily told her. "Are you guys staying until Sunday?"

"We are, so if you want to come back here and hang out with us after seeing Kieran off on the train, we're just going to be having a lazy day here with Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie," Carolyn offered.

Lily nodded. "Thanks, Carolyn. I'll let you know later if I'll take you up on that."

The two couples enjoyed having a quiet breakfast together, and then Lily and Kieran went to get ready for their morning at the lagoon, while Al cleaned up, and Carolyn packed a bag for her and Al too. They met up again outside, and walked together toward the lagoon, splitting up when Lily and Kieran got to the guest house that Kirley, Ana, and the girls were using, while Al and Carolyn went on to Harry and Ginny's house.

"You two are way more motivated than we are this morning," Ginny told Al and Carolyn as she welcomed them with hugs and kisses. "I was ready to sit down and rest after walking out here to the lanai."

"We probably got a few more hours of sleep last night than you did," Al said. "Are you all coming to the lagoon this morning, or doing something else instead?"

"That's what we were just deciding," Harry answered. "It's tough having to decide between a lazy morning here by the pool, and a lazy morning at the lagoon."

"Well, Kirley, Ana, Lily, Kieran, the four girls, and probably Colin and Lance are heading to the lagoon, if that sways your decision," Carolyn told them.

That did, and Al and Carolyn waited while their Mum, Dad, Joel, and Sarah got ready to go with them to the lagoon, and then they walked the rest of the way there together. Luna, Neville, Demelza, and Hermione were already there with Colin and Lance. Demelza and Hermione had come to the island together after having brunch with Dennis and Ron, before leaving their husbands to work on their game plan for Saturday's match against the Kestrels, while they got to come play here.

Having fun and playing was what the next three days were all about for everyone on the island. Whether this was a last holiday blast before going back to Hogwarts, or starting a New Year of work out in the real world, it was a chance for each of them to enjoy some quality time with their friends and family.

On Saturday, only Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Hugo, and Emily left the island for a few hours to go watch the Canons win their ninth game of the season, beating the Kestrels in just under two hours by a score of three hundred and forty to twenty. They all came back to the island after the game, along with Ron, Dennis, Aaron, Tracey, Arianna, James, Erin, and the boys, getting there shortly before noon, island time. They had another potluck lunch, and had another couple of hours to play, but then it was time for everyone with students who were going back to Hogwarts on Sunday morning to pack up and leave for home so that those students had time to get their trunks and bags ready to go back to school, and have a good night's sleep.

Harry and Ginny had Sarah and the four boys all at the Cottage for their last night of the holidays, while Lily was staying at Kieran's house again as they got ready to be separated for just under six months, except for those brief visits in Hogsmeade and at the school Quidditch games.

While Ophelia and most of the other members of his study group were getting back from their tropical island mini-vacation, Malcolm was slowly packing for the trip back to Hogwarts too. His New Year had not been fun at all so far. His parents had gone to a New Year's Eve party at one of the other Knight's homes, his father had overindulged again, and the past three days had been really unpleasant around the Bletchley house.

He was packing, and doing everything else slowly, because the three duelling sessions his father had insisted on to make sure he was ready when he went back to school had left him so sore that moving quickly wasn't an option, except for when he was keeping up appearances around his father.

Despite the pain, Malcolm was smiling to himself as he worked. Tomorrow he'd be out of the house, and away from his father and those training sessions. He was pretty sure that these last few sessions had been especially hard because his father wasn't going to have him around to vent his anger on once he went back to school. Getting away from here was one good reason to smile, but the biggest reason was because he'd be able to spend time with Ophelia again.

When he finished packing, Malcolm got ready for bed, got under the covers, and quickly went to sleep, glad to escape the discomfort of reality for a better dream world full of hugs and kisses from Ophelia that were a balm over the hurts and pain in his life.

Ophelia was thinking about Malcolm while she was packing on Saturday evening too. They'd gotten back to the townhouse by around eight-thirty, home time, and she and Philip had gone right to their rooms to start getting their things ready to go for the trip back to Hogwarts.

"You look lost in thought," Penelope said quietly as she came into Ophelia's room with some just-cleaned clothes. "Do I need more than one guess to figure out whom it is you're thinking about?"

Ophelia smiled up at Penelope, and took the clothes from her. "Thank-you, and no, one guess is probably enough. I'm really glad that the holidays are almost over for Malcolm, but I've been worried about him, and I hope he's okay."

"I do too," Penelope told her. "If there's anything Percy and I can do to help you help him, let us know."

"I will," Ophelia promised. "Until he's ready, though, except for being his friend, there isn't much more I can do to help him."

"You might be surprised how important that can be," Penelope said, hugging her. "I'm sure that knowing there are people who care about him means a lot to Malcolm."

Ophelia smiled and hugged her back. "I know it means a lot to Philip and me that you and Uncle Percy care about us. Thank-you for making this our best Christmas ever."

Penelope laughed, and wiped a tear from Ophelia's cheek. "We're way past just caring about you, sweetheart. We love both of you very much, and I'm glad you've had a good holiday. It's been pretty great for us too."

Ophelia hugged her again. "I love you too, Aunt Penelope."

The two Witches talked for a while longer, until Ophelia was finished packing, then after Ophelia went to say goodnight to Percy and Philip, she got ready for bed and was quickly off to sleep.

As seemed to be the case every year, when the student Marauders, their friends, and family went to sleep on Saturday night, the end of the Christmas holidays also felt like the real end of the last year, and the start of the new one. Twenty twenty-six was a Quidditch World Cup year, and Lily and Kieran were getting married in less than six months. There was lots of professional and school Quidditch excitement ahead as the Canons continued their drive to get one last League Championship for Ron, and Gryffindor tried to get Hugo a Quidditch Cup for his last year at Hogwarts.

That was all fun that could be looked forward to over the coming months, but for Al, while he enjoyed a long weekend away from Auror Headquarters, he was also acutely aware that events were coming together with everything surrounding the Knights, and it was going to be up to him to find out what they were planning, and ultimately find a way to stop them.


	136. You Have a Friend

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six – You Have a Friend

"You'd better get on the train," Lily told Kieran as she hugged him fiercely. "I'll see you in two weeks at the game."

"I thought this would be easier, now that we're starting the last term apart, but it seems I was wrong about that," Kieran said, hugging her too. "I love you, Lily." He leaned back, wiped away a tear that had escaped and was trying to make a getaway down her cheek, and then kissed her one last time. "I'll talk to you tonight after you get home from the island."

"I love you too," Lily answered, letting him go reluctantly, and stepping back while he put his luggage on the train. With one last look, he climbed the steps into the Prefect car to join Emily, who was already getting things ready for their meeting.

Lily went back to where the parents were mostly still gathered and watching as the last few students boarded the train. Wrapping an arm around her father, she lay her head against his shoulder as he put an arm comfortingly around her.

"This is so not fun," Lily told her parents. Ginny was on Harry's other side, and reached over to brush a hand through Lily's hair.

"No it isn't," she agreed, handing Lily some tissues. "We should probably go shopping for a while before you go spend the day with Al, Carolyn, and the others on the island."

Lily smiled wanly at her Mum. "I know it's hard to believe, but I don't feel much like shopping."

"That's okay," Ginny told her daughter. "You're just coming along to help cheer your father and I up. We could get him a new doll or dragon to play with, and I'm sure there's a new top or pair of shoes there at the Mall just waiting for me to find them."

"Thanks, Mum," Lily said with a laugh. "I guess if that's what it'll take to help you get through your first day without Sarah and the boys, I'll just have to make the sacrifice and come along."

Ginny laughed too. "We really appreciate you doing that for us too," she assured Lily.

They waited until the train started moving, and then Harry, Ginny, and Lily, along with Kirley, Ana, Percy, Penelope, George, and Marietta left for the Mall with plans to do a little shopping, and have lunch together before the parents would be going home or off to other destinations, while Lily would be going back to the island.

On the Hogwarts Express, the family students were either settling into their compartments, or leaving for the Prefect car as the train began to pull out of King's Cross Station on it's way to Hogsmeade. Ophelia and Philip were in a compartment with Alice, Lenny, Vanessa, and Lance for this trip, and had all put their luggage away, and were sitting down and chatting as the train picked up speed.

"What will you be doing during the trip?" Lenny asked Lance. "You don't have any Quidditch fanatics to talk shop with in this compartment."

Lance laughed. "I think it will be refreshing to not be talking about Quidditch today. If I start going into withdrawal, though, I can always go visit Colin, Nadine, Frederica, Liam, and Hugo later."

"I'm pretty sure you'll survive just fine," Vanessa told him. "Any predictions on how long it will be before Heather stops to see Philip, or whether Malcolm will be able to get away from his Slytherin mates and come see Ophelia?"

"I sent Heather a QuillMessage to let her know where we are, so I don't think it will be too long before we see her," Ophelia said. "Malcolm said he'd try to stop in, but it isn't very likely that he could do that without being spotted by other Slytherins, so I don't expect him to get together with us until Monday after dinner."

Vanessa nodded. "I suppose, though it's too bad that he can't hang around with us without getting in trouble at home or with his mates in Slytherin."

"Did you see him on the platform?" Lenny asked. "His father was staring daggers at all of us, and he's a mean-looking Wizard. I wasn't surprised when Malcolm didn't get any hugs."

"I saw him too," Philip said, and Ophelia nodded. "When he comes to our study session tomorrow, I'm sure Ophelia can give him a hug or two to make up for the ones he's not getting at home."

"That's definitely part of my current plan," she confirmed with a smile. "He may even get a kiss too."

The train ride back to Hogwarts after the Christmas Holiday never seemed to be quite as exciting as the one on September first, but most of the students did have fun getting back together and visiting with school friends, talking about their respective holidays, and enjoying the few hours they had left before they'd be back to the daily grind of classes and homework.

When they did finally get to Hogsmeade, The students piled out of the train and lined up for the carriage ride to Hogwarts. Kieran and Hugo were in charge of making sure all of the students, and their luggage got to the school, and they'd be coming with the last load of first year students, while Emily, Sarah, and the other Prefects were able to go up to the school either right away, or with the groups they were assigned to help.

It was cold out, and by the time that last group entered the Great Hall, both the firsties, and their NEWT year chaparones were freezing cold, and ready for hot drinks and dinner. Cassandra and Violet were in that last group with the boys, so Cassandra went with Hugo to the Gryffindor table, and Violet went with Kieran to sit with the other Hufflepuffs.

Professor McGonagall welcomed her students back to school, and went over a few things with them before calling for the welcome back feast. The Professors and students both dove enthusiastically into their meal, and the familiar, warm buzz of happy conversation and laughter filled the Great Hall as they ate.

At the Slytherin table, Malcolm was sitting with his mates like he always did, and while he was careful not to make it obvious, he'd look around the room frequently so that he could get a quick glimpse of Ophelia where she was sitting with Philip, Frederica, Liam, Colin, and a few other friends. She was smiling, and seemed to be having fun, and one time, their eyes met for a brief second, and her smile immediately brightened, making his spirits soar.

He'd told her at the last study session that he'd try to stop and see her on the train, and he had gone past her compartment twice, but there had been other Slytherins around each time, and he hadn't gone in. 'You chickened out,' he berated himself. Why should he even care what his mates thought – in a few days at most, he'd be on the outs with them, and the target of their scorn anyway.

On the train, and now during dinner, Malcolm had been pretty quiet, while the rest of the guys had been their usual rude and obnoxious selves. For some reason, though, he didn't find their crudities funny anymore, and hadn't sworn or cursed even once. He hadn't even joined in for some parent bashing when the guys started in on that, even though he had some serious anger going on about his own parents.

When dinner was over, he'd gone straight to his dorm room, unpacked, gotten ready for bed, and climbed in, opening a book, and ignoring his roommates' conversations as they began coming into the room to unpack and hang out too. He didn't have to worry about a call with Dirk, since they'd decided that unless something important came up that the first report wouldn't be until next weekend, so after reading for a while, he put his book away, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

That wasn't an option for Kieran, Emily, or most of the Prefects, as they were kept busy with all of the little problems that happened every time with the first few days back at school. Kieran didn't even get to have much of a goodnight call with Lily, since their call had been interrupted after only a couple of minutes, and he'd needed to cut the call short to go deal with another minor emergency.

While the student Marauders and their friends were settling back into their rooms at school, or dealing with Heads and Prefect duties, in the outside world, Al, Carolyn, Lily, and the others had returned from the island, getting home in the early evening. Rose and Matt were back from their New Year's Cruise, and would be home until Saturday, when they would be off again for two weeks in Egypt. Nick, Allie, Scorpius, Brianna, and Lily were all going to be getting right back into their jobs on Monday, while Al was going to get back to his surveillance of the Knights, beginning with the Knight's office in Russia.

With a three-hour time difference, that meant that he was going to be getting up at three in the morning, and planned on being at his stakeout location in Moscow by seven o'clock local time. They'd only been on the island four days, but adding in that time change to the early start, and getting up at three on Monday morning had been tough for Al. He did manage not to wake Carolyn while he got ready, had breakfast, and then left, but even with the new cloak she'd gotten him for Christmas, he hadn't been at his stakeout long before he was really wishing he was back in bed, warm, and snuggled close to his wife instead of freezing his tail off watching a still-empty Knight's office.

Al had been at that cold and uncomfortable stakeout for hours before the other members of his family began getting up and starting their days. At Hogwarts, after breakfast, that meant getting back to classes. The Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch game was only two weeks away, so both of their teams were going to be jumping right into a heavy practice schedule, and the Professors began piling on the assignments right away too.

The first meeting of the New Year for the Knights started at around ten o'clock on Monday morning in the drawing room at the Avery Estate. Lord Chernobog had everyone make their reports for the first hour or so, and when that was done, he turned their attention to deciding how best to handle Malcolm's disinheritance.

"You'll have to make it all official," he told Miles, who nodded.

"Yes Lord Chernobog," he agreed. "I will send the appropriate notifications to the Ministry and to that old bat McGonagall at Hogwarts."

"We need word to get around to the students, too," Dirk suggested. "It would look suspicious if Malcolm went around admitting he'd been disowned by his family, but we need these Weasley blood-traitors and their friends to know for sure, and also make sure that the other pureblood students treat him like they'd treat any other Witch or Wizard who had been disgraced by their family."

The Knights worked that out, and by the time they'd moved on to other matters, had decided what to do, and that putting the plan in motion right away was best, so Tuesday would be the day that Miles would officially disinherit his son. Malcolm would not have been surprised to find out that his father did not care at all about what consequences those actions would have on his son's life at school. He had been worrying about the matter all day long, knowing the decision was being made this morning, but at least during classes, and for most of the day, he was able to just focus on his schoolwork, and look forward to spending time with Ophelia after dinner at their study session.

Ophelia was looking forward to getting together with Malcolm too, and after dinner, she had been the first member of their group to get to the classroom, not even waiting for Philip, who had been sitting with Heather during dinner. She had all of her books, parchment, and everything else out and ready to go, and maybe half of their study group were there already by the time Malcolm made it to the classroom too. There were a lot of smiles, and several laughs when Ophelia threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly for a long minute, then kissed him once before taking his hand, and leading him over to the table where she'd put her things out.

"How are you?" she asked him quietly. "I've been so worried about you."

"Pre-hug, I've had better days, but now everything seems pretty great," he answered, and Ophelia hugged him again.

"Good. I'll have to make sure that you get regular hugs to help you have some more of those better days."

"That sounds like a very good plan," Malcolm said, smiling at her. He started getting his books and things out, and then they both sat down, and she put her hand on his arm when she saw he was wearing the watch she'd given him.

"You're wearing it today," she said, and he nodded.

"I couldn't back home, since Dad would want to know where I got it from, but I can here," he explained, and Ophelia squeezed his arm reassuringly.

"I'm pretty sure she hasn't taken the necklace you gave her off since she got it," Philip told Malcolm as he joined them at the table.

"And I don't plan on doing that anytime soon, either," she told the two boys. "It was definitely my favourite Christmas present."

"Maybe, but if Malcolm gets the chance to cuddle with you sometime when you're wearing that cashmere sweater that Aunt Penelope gave you, I'll guess that he'll think that was one of your best presents," Philip joked.

"Maybe I'll wear that to the Canons game day party on Saturday and we'll find out," Ophelia answered, and laughed when both Philip and Malcolm were grinning. "We should probably invite Heather too," she told Philip. "She knows some of us, but it would give her a chance to get to know everyone else, unless you're planning on inviting her to join our study group before the first week is out."

Philip shook his head. "We're just getting to know each other, so I don't expect that she'll be interested in studying with us for a while, but inviting her to watch the Canons game is a great idea."

"Then you should definitely do that," Frederica told him. "Just make sure to warn her that if she's a Montrose Magpies fan, she'll be coming into friendly, but enemy territory, and the Canons are looking to stay undefeated at the halfway point of their season."

Philip laughed. "I'll do that, though I don't know if she even likes Quidditch, let alone has a favourite team."

"Well, if she doesn't like Quidditch, she can always just come for the fun and entertainment value, like Dale, H, and a few others do," Colin said.

They all got to work on their assignments, though they did continue chatting, mostly taking turns telling Malcolm about their fun in the sun long weekend, although they left out some of the more pertinent details – like that they'd been on their own private family island. When Malcolm went to bed, he was happier than he'd been since before going home for the holidays.

That happiness came to a crashing end at breakfast on Tuesday morning. He was sitting with his mates, and when the Owl Post arrived, there was a letter delivered for him, but not just any letter – a howler! The colour drained from his face when it dropped into his hands, and his mates all started sniggering at him.

"Bletchley's got a howler! Better open it, mate," one of them told him. "You know they're worse if you don't."

Malcolm's hands were shaking as he opened the bright red envelope, and then he, and several others nearby jumped when his father's voice boomed out at him.

"MALCOLM BLETCHLEY, HOW DARE YOU! AFTER ALL I HAVE DONE FOR YOU, I FIND OUT THAT YOU'VE BEEN CONSORTING WITH THE WORST SORT OF WITCHES AND WIZARDS BEHIND MY BACK! YOU MAKE ME SICK, AND I WILL HAVE NOTHING MORE TO DO WITH A MUDBLOOD LOVING, DIRTY, LYING BLOOD-TRAITOR LIKE YOU! I HAVE NOTIFIED THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC AND HOGWARTS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN DISINHERITED. YOU ARE NOW DEAD TO ME, AND TO EVERY OTHER TRUE PUREBLOOD. I HOPE YOU DROWN IN THE SQUALLOR AND MIRE WITH ALL OF THE OTHER MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD-TRAITORS LIKE YOU ALL DESERVE!"

With that, the howler exploded in a fiery burst of light, the concussion deafening even in the cavernouse Great Hall. Malcolm sat there stunned, shaking, and feeling sick to his stomach. His father had disinherited him using a howler! The Great Hall was completely silent for several moments as every student and Professor were just as shocked by what they had just heard in that terrible message.

"Get away from us, blood-traitor," one of his mates hissed under his breath. "You're contaminating our air."

"Yeah, get out of here, Bletchley," another boy said. "You might want to hurry, 'cause you look like you're about to cry."

All of his now ex-mates laughed, and Malcolm, too stunned to do anything else, stood up, grabbed his book bag, and started to walk along the table. It seemed like everyone in the room was staring at him – probably because they were. He kept his eyes on the ground as he walked, and nearly bumped into the person who stepped in front of him, and put a hand out to stop him.

"Come sit with us," Jason said quietly, and Malcolm looked up to see Jason smiling at him, though there was concern and compassion in his eyes. He looked over to where Millie, Alice, and Lenny were all looking up at the two boys, and nodding in agreement.

"If you have anything to do with me, you'll be outcasts too," Malcolm whispered back, and Jason grinned at him.

"You think we're not already outcasts with your old buddies and the rest of their lot now?" he asked. "We do all right with the friends we do have, and there are more students in Slytherin who do still talk to us than you might think. I have no idea why anyone would want to be friends with the ones who won't."

"Come on, Malcolm," Millie said encouragingly, reaching out and putting a hand on his arm. "Everyone will stop gawking after you sit down. I know that this really sucks, but I can think of at least one or two things about the situation that are going to be pretty great for you."

Malcolm laughed bitterly, but allowed her to pull him to the table, and he sat down on one side of her, while Jason sat on his other side, buffering him from the other students around them.

"What could possibly be good about any of this?" he asked, still talking quietly, and Millie put her arm around his waist, hugged him, and leaned close so that only Malcolm and Jason would hear her answer.

"Well, for starters, you can hang out with Ophelia whenever you want. You know, all the holding hands, hugging, and kissing that all the rest of us couples get to do all of the time. It's not like you have to worry about what your mates would say anymore."

Jason laughed. "That's true, since your new mates think that'd be brilliant."

Malcolm hadn't thought about that possibility even once during all of the time he'd been worrying about his father disowning him, and Jason was right - it was brilliant. Suddenly he wasn't feeling nearly so terrible, and he was smiling when he looked up and searched out Ophelia. There were tears in her eyes when he found her looking at him, and his heart skipped a couple of beats. He went to send her a QuillMessage, and found out that he couldn't – his father must have had his service cut off.

"Can you send her a qm and let her know I'm okay?" he asked Millie. "My ViComm won't let me send one."

"I'll do that right away," she promised. "You probably didn't get much to eat before the Owl Post came, so why don't you eat something quickly before we have to get to our first class?"

Malcolm didn't feel much like eating, but he did get a muffin and eat that, knowing he would be hungry later if he didn't eat at least something now. The other students did start turning their attention away from him, and the normal buzz of conversation began returning to the Great Hall until the students and Professors began leaving to get to their first classes of the morning.

Ophelia, Philip, and Heather were waiting outside of the Great Hall when Malcolm came out, surrounded by Jason, Millie, Alice, and Lenny. She smiled at him uncertainly, and he walked up close to her and held out his hand.

"Walk to class with me?" he asked, and then laughed when she hugged him.

"That seems to be a yes," Philip teased.

"I think so," Millie agreed. "Let's get going, though, or we'll be late."

When they got to the classroom, Ophelia had Malcolm sit with her, Philip, and Heather. His old mates were all at their normal tables, laughing, and making loud, snide comments about him, and about Ophelia too, after seeing them come into the classroom holding hands.

"Ignore them," Ophelia told him. "They're a bunch of gits. If they were truly your friends, they would have been there for you this morning instead of doing this to you."

Malcolm nodded. "I know, and outside of my House, when I can hang out with you and the others, it might not be too bad, but I'll be in the same dorm room with a bunch of them every night, and that is not going to be good at all."

"You just tell them to leave you alone, or your girlfriend will hex them into next week," she told him.

"Do I have a girlfriend?" he asked, smiling at her, and Ophelia laughed quietly.

"I'd say we're getting there, yes. It's a good thing I don't have to worry about meeting your parents anymore, though. After this morning, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like your Dad at all."

Malcolm laughed too. "He's not exactly on my favourite Wizards and Witches list right now either. It's bad enough to be disowned, but to do it like that was just – I don't even know what to call it."

He might not know, but Ophelia and Philip were happy to entertain him with some suggestions until class started. Ophelia and the other Gryffindors were only in two of his classes, but Jason and Millie stayed with him all day, and their Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw OWL study group members were there for him during the other classes.

He had a message to go see Professor McGonagall after his last class, and while he was worried about what she would have to tell him about his new future as a ward of the Ministry of Magic, he did hurry to her office after class. When he got there, and was invited in, the first thing he noticed was that the Professor wasn't alone. There was a handsome young Wizard with her, sitting in one of two chairs that were in front of the Professor's desk.

"Come and sit down, Mr. Bletchley," McGonagall told him, and he did that. She waited until he was seated before continuing. "I'm sure that you've guessed that this meeting has been arranged because of your father's actions this morning." Malcolm nodded, but didn't trust himself to say anything.

"While you are at the moment a ward of the Ministry of Magic, some of your friends have made some calls, and the Phoenix Foundation is in the process of having your case transferred to them. I'd like you to meet Teddy Lupin, who is a Junior Account Manager for the foundation, and he will tell you what they will be doing to help you." Malcolm turned to the other Wizard, who was smiling at him, and shook the hand that was held out to him.

"Nice to meet you, Malcolm," Teddy told him.

"Um, nice to meet you too," Malcolm told him. "Who called the Foundation about me, and why? It couldn't have been any of my old mates."

Teddy laughed. "Well, I had a lot of QuillMessages come in about you this morning. The first was from Ophelia, but my cousins Hugo and Frederica called too, and then there was Colin, Lance, and a half-dozen others. I'd say the why is because they care about you. You can ask them about that later. Right now I'd like to go over your situation, ask you a few questions, and let you know what the Phoenix Foundation will do to help you." He waited for Malcolm's nod of agreement, and then continued.

"Your father did a very unpleasant thing this morning, Malcolm. There's no easy way for me to ask this first question, so I'll just get it over with. What your father did this morning gives us a very strong indication of an abusive parent. Have either of your parents ever hurt you?" He left the question hanging for a long time, waiting for Malcolm's answer.

"Yes," Malcolm finally admitted in a shaky whisper, and he was a bit stunned by his own admission, and the fact that he finally truly understood that it was true. "My father has many times."

"You've only been back at school for a couple of days," Teddy said next. "Do you have any injuries that should be treated?"

Malcolm shook his head emphatically. "No. I don't want any Healers looking at me. I'm fine."

"That's your choice, Malcolm, but if you want the help, let me know, and I'll get it for you. Have both of your parents hurt you?"

"No, just my father. My mother barely acknowledges I'm alive, but she's never hurt me."

"Is she okay, Malcolm? Does your father hurt her too?" Teddy asked, and Malcolm stared at him. The thought had never occurred to him – or had it? He raced through his memories, trying to remember.

"Malcolm?"

"I don't know," Malcolm finally answered, focusing on Teddy again after hearing his name. "He yells at her, and our old servant a lot, but I can't remember him ever hurting her."

"That she's so distant with you could be a sign that she's been hurt before too, Malcolm. If you remember anything that makes you think she may need our help too, let me know," Teddy told him, and Malcolm nodded, his thoughts still churning while Teddy moved on.

"Over the next few months, while you're here at school, we'll find a home for you to live in during the holidays. I took the liberty of having your ViComm reactivated, and you can contact me anytime if there's anything you need." Teddy reached into his cloak pocket, pulled out a pouch of money, and handed it to Malcolm. "Here's some spending money for Hogsmeade weekends and getting your normal school supplies. If there's anything special you need to get, or if you need more money later in the term, let me know."

"Um, Thanks," Malcolm said, putting the pouch into his robe pocket. Teddy smiled to himself. The boy would be in for a bit of a surprise when he took a look in that pouch later.

"I don't think there's much more to discuss from my end of things right now, but I will keep in touch with you, and let you know everything we're doing on your case," Teddy told him. "Do you have any questions?"

"I guess not," Malcolm answered. "This is all better than I expected, though it won't help me much around the Slytherin Common Room, or in my dorm room with my old mates."

"That's true, Mr. Bletchley," Professor McGonagall told him. "I've taken steps to help you with that. Your things have been moved to a new dorm room, and you'll be in with Jason and the other boys in his dorm from now on. I think you'll find that this arrangement will be better for all involved."

"Thank-you, Professor," Malcolm said, heaving a huge sigh of relief. "I was really not looking forward to facing my roommates tonight."

"You're welcome, Malcolm. If you have any problems at all with any of the boys in your House, please let your Prefects or Heads know, and they will help you deal with them. If that's everything, Mr. Lupin, we should let Mr. Bletchley go so he can stop in to his new dorm room before dinner."

Teddy didn't have anything else, so Malcolm was excused, and after shaking hands with Teddy again, left the office. Ophelia was waiting for him in the hallway at the entrance to the spiral staircase that went up to McGonagall's office, and Malcolm hugged her tightly.

"Thank-you," he said simply, and she smiled, kissed him, and then took his hand as they started walking down the hallway.

"You're welcome. What would you like to do until dinner?"

"Professor McGonagall suggested I go check out my new dorm room," he answered. "She's moved me into the same dorm as Jason."

"Why don't you do that now, since Jason probably hasn't left for his Quidditch practice quite yet, and I'll meet you in the library, and we can hang out there until dinner," Ophelia suggested.

That's what they ended up doing, and Malcolm was a bit surprised when not only Jason, but Bill and Terry welcomed him to his new dorm room. They were the only three in the room at the time, all of them getting ready to head for the Quidditch pitch. His new dorm room was pretty much the same as his old one, but the atmosphere was completely different. He didn't stay long, just enough time to get the books he wanted for the study session after dinner, and with a wave goodbye to the other guys, left the room. When he stepped out into the hallway; his old mates were waiting there and looking to have a little of their kind of fun at his expense.

"Look what we have here," one of them told the others. "The blood-traitor has been moved in with the rest of his kind. That's really too bad - we were looking forward to making you our dorm room official punching bag."

"We can just come here and pound on him instead," another suggested.

"Or you can leave him alone," Terry said, stepping out of the dorm room, his Beater bat in one hand as he slapped it meaningfully into the palm of his other hand. Bill was right behind him, with Jason bringing up the rear. The three boys stepped up next to Malcolm, and the other boys had quickly lost their bluster.

"Let's be clear about this right from the start," Bill told them. "You bother any one of our roommates, and Terry and I will make sure you all regret it for a very long time."

"Are you threatening us, Warrington?" the guy that had suggested pounding on Malcolm demanded.

"No, mate, _we're_ threatening you," Terry said ominously. "Get away from Malcolm, and leave us alone before Bill and I decide to use the lot of you gits to warm up for Bludger practice."

Malcolm and his three new roommates were outnumbered, but even his old roommates weren't going to go up against both Bill and Terry. They blustered a bit, and then backed down and went off toward the Common Room.

"Thanks, guys, but why did you help me?" Malcolm asked. "Up until this morning, I was one of them, so it's not exactly like I've done anything to deserve your help."

Bill laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "True, but you're our roommate now. We've seen you around school the last couple of months too, and I don't think you're like them anymore at all."

"Definitely not," Terry agreed. "Two or three months ago, I'd wager you wouldn't be caught dead holding hands with a Gryffindor, no matter how pretty she is."

"Come on, guys," Jason said. "We'll be late for practice if we don't get going."

The four boys went into the Common Room together, and Malcolm tried to ignore the laughing and comments from a few of his fellow Slytherin as he went past. When they were in the hallway outside of the Common Room, Jason, Terry, and Bill went toward the Entrance Hall, while Malcolm headed toward another stairway that would get him to the library faster. Ophelia was already there when he got to the same pair of chairs where they'd talked that one afternoon before Christmas holidays. She had another hug for him, and then they sat down.

"Everything okay with your new dorm room?" she asked.

"My old mates were going to make trouble for me, but Jason, Terry, and Bill persuaded them that they should just leave me alone. I'm sure they'll keep making the rude comments and stuff, but that will probably be it now. I'm still surprised that they did that for me."

"There are a lot of decent Witches and Wizards in your House, Malcolm. I think you'll see that a lot more now. The good ones were probably very careful with how they acted around you before."

"No wonder at that," he said with a laugh. "I'm not liking seeing the way that I used to act from the other side of things."

"Don't beat yourself up about any of that," Ophelia told him gently. "There isn't anything we can do about yesterday, it's what we're going to do today or tomorrow that matters."

That didn't exactly make Malcolm feel better, since what he was expected to do over the next weeks and months was spy on and betray the very people who were doing so much for him now. Ophelia sat with him, holding his hand, and they talked quietly together until dinnertime. Jason and Millie were waiting for them at the entrance to the Great Hall, and after Ophelia gave him a hug of encouragement, Malcolm went with them to where they always sat for meals with Alice and Lenny.

Malcolm's disinheritance had still been big news at lunch, and his old mates had been continuing to make a bunch of loud, rude comments about him, but now it seemed that his fifteen minutes of fame was nearly up, and most of the Hogwarts and Slytherin students were willing to let him get on with his life. He even managed to smile a few times during dinner as he mostly listened to the two couples talk about everything that had been going on during their day in fourth and fifth year classes respectively.

After dinner, he walked with Ophelia to their study classroom, and he was in for some extra hugs of support before they all got to work on their assignments for the night. Al was still working on his assignment by then, though he was planning on packing up for the night soon, since he had another three o'clock in the morning wakeup call coming on Wednesday. He was hoping that one more evening of going through the office would allow him to finish going over everything, and then he'd only need to watch the office during the day until he'd identified all of the members of the Russian Knights.

He'd seen Terrance stop in and spend an hour there shortly after lunchtime, and that helped Al out, since a few extra Knights had shown up for that meeting that he hadn't identified yet. Terrance didn't look very happy when he left that meeting, and was again thinking that the Lord Commander would not be happy if he or Byron told him the truth about how things were actually going with all of the other groups of Knights. Al didn't get any idea about what they were not getting done from Terrance, but that was really something he was going to keep digging for, since it seemed to be important, and be something that all of the groups were supposed to be doing for the Lord Commander.

He finished up in Moscow at around eleven o'clock local time, so he was back at home around eight o'clock. Carolyn had been working in their office since she'd had dinner, and she came out to visit with him while he threw together a sandwich and a bowl of soup.

"What do you think about all of this with Malcolm today?" she asked Al after telling him about her day, and hearing about his.

"I think it was intentional," he answered, and Carolyn nodded.

"So do I," she agreed. "Will you be talking it over with Kieran and the others later?"

"We both will be," Al said. "Malcolm must have known it was coming, but I really doubt that made much difference for how it made him feel. Knowing about it might even have been worse, since he'd have lots of time to think about what his friends would do, and what getting disowned would mean for him at school."

"Especially in Slytherin House," Carolyn added. "Being willing to do that to your own son, regardless of the reason why tells us a lot about Malcolm's father, but doing it with a Howler was just horrid."

"That's for sure. Even Lucius Malfoy didn't do that when he disinherited Scorpius."

"He had Dirk Avery to spread the word for him instead," Carolyn reminded him. "So they've done this, presumably to get Malcolm deep into our family. What do we do now?"

Al grinned at her. "We let him in, of course," he said, and Carolyn laughed.

"Why am I not surprised about that being your answer?" she asked, and Al laughed too.

"Because you're brilliant and very perceptive, that's why. Now that he can spend time with Ophelia and the others in the open, this is our chance to really show him the difference between the Knights and their ilk, and our side."

"Well, from the few messages I've been sent, I'd say Ophelia is doing a pretty good job of showing him at least some of the advantages to being on our side."

"She's going to be the difference maker for Malcolm," Al predicted, "though having Colin and the others for friends will be important too."

Carolyn nodded. "Are you going to keep using Malcolm to pass information on to the Knights?"

"I'm going to ask Kieran and the others to reinforce the information from that report we concocted, but other than that, I want to wait until after I see whether the Knights check things out at the Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch match or not before deciding anything. Once they take care of that, I think they should just concentrate of being his friend."

That was basically their conversation with Kieran and the others when they met in VirtualChat shortly after nine-thirty. They didn't meet for very long, and then Al and Carolyn went up to bed so he could at least sleep for the five hours or so he had left before needing to get up again at three.

On Wednesday, Al must have had a little luck going out with him, and he got the chance to identify all of the other Knights for the office in Russia, so after getting that break, he worked late to finish going through their office that evening. He didn't get home until nearly eleven o'clock home time, but he was finished there, and planned on working on his cold cases for the last two days of the week, since he had a Wizengamot meeting on Monday, and would probably be working all weekend with Scorpius and Callie to get ready for that.

At Hogwarts, Malcolm was finding out fast that there were a lot of good things happening for him now that he'd been disinherited. Ophelia was certainly the very best of those good things, and he really liked starting his day out with hugs from her outside of the Great Hall before breakfast, and all of the hugs and occasional kisses that came through the day until the goodnight hug and kiss after their study session at night.

The rest of the week seemed to breeze past, and except for that really rotten start to his day on Tuesday, Malcolm was pretty sure that this had been the best week of his life so far. He was definitely happier than he'd ever been before. On Saturday, the only break they took all week or weekend was to watch the Canons' home game against the Magpies. He and Ophelia shared a sofa with Philip and Heather. The game only lasted for an hour and a half before Liselle caught the snitch to end a game that the Canons had already been way ahead of the Magpies on points.

There was some discussion about whether to get back to their studies, or take the rest of the afternoon off, but starting their studies early, with a chance to get all of Sunday off won out, and they wrapped up the party, and got back to work. Nearly everyone did get their work done by curfew on Saturday night, so Malcolm and Ophelia made plans to meet up after breakfast, and decide what to do then with their day off.

It was not a day off on Sunday for Al, Scorpius, Callie, or for Carolyn, Brianna, and Mark. While Callie and her two Elders were busy pouring over another stack of time-wasting proposals, Mark had gone out to train for the Iditarod Broom Race that was coming up on the following Saturday. Carolyn and Brianna took over the office and worked on PBP Investments and Goblin Liason business, though they did take a couple of swim breaks and Carolyn and Al made lunch and dinner for their friends.

By shortly after dinner, the proposals had all been scoured over, and the rebuttals prepared, so Callie and Mark, and Scorpius and Brianna left Al and Carolyn's place, and headed home. At Hogwarts, Malcolm had spent nearly the entire day with Ophelia, hanging out at the library in the morning, and with Philip and Heather in the afternoon once she had finished her weekend revision. It wasn't until it was nearly time for his weekly report to Dirk that he really spent any time thinking about the Knights, or what they wanted him to do.

"Since this call went through after Miles had cut off your ViComm service, I guess our plan worked," Dirk said, skipping any pleasantries.

"Why didn't anyone warn me that I was going to be getting that howler on Tuesday, and who's idea was that?" Malcolm asked, and listened as Dirk laughed.

"That was your father's idea, and the Lord Commander didn't want you warned so that your reaction would look realistic. Tell me all about what they've done for you since then."

Malcolm told him that the Phoenix Foundation was going to be taking his case, and about select parts of his meeting with Professor McGonagall and Teddy Lupin. He skipped over his confession to Teddy about being abused by his father, and downplayed the spending money he'd been given, which had been way more than he'd expected – quite a bit more than his father allowed him for spending money at Hogwarts.

"I've heard from one of your old mates that you've got yourself a little girlfriend from that study group," Dirk said after he was done. "What do you think you're doing?" Malcolm had thought about what he'd do if Dirk found out about Ophelia, and he was ready with the lie he'd come up with for them.

"The Lord Commander wanted me to get close to them – make friends with them. Hugo, Frederica, and a lot of the others all have boyfriends or girlfriends. If I wanted to get in on doing all of the things they do as couples, I needed to have a girlfriend too."

"I'll pass that on and see what Lord Chernobog thinks about it, but you should have cleared that with us first. Have you learned anything new this week?"

"They've mostly been talking about the holidays, Quidditch, and Broom Racing," Malcolm told him. "The only thing I picked up that was interesting was that Hugo and the other NEWT students got an Outstanding on that report, but Professor Williamson asked to keep it instead of handing it back."

"That is interesting," Dirk agreed. "I wonder why?"

"Maybe he doesn't want what they figured out to become public knowledge," Malcolm suggested, and Dirk nodded.

"That could be it," he agreed. "Okay, keep your eyes and ears open for anything – especially about the game this weekend. If you hear anything that suggests we should call off our little test on Saturday, let me know. If not, I'll talk to you next Sunday."

Malcolm would have answered, but wasn't surprised when Dirk just ended the call abruptly without waiting for an answer. He took his ViComm out of his ear and put it on his night table, doing the same with the book he was using for a prop. Looking over at Jason's bed, he saw that his new roommate was already asleep, as were Bill and Terry. A few of the guys farther across the room were still awake and either reading or talking quietly together, but Malcolm was ready to get some sleep too, so he lay back on his pillows, pulled the covers up, and closed his eyes.

The entire second week of school for Malcolm was all about long days and early bedtimes as the Quidditch team roommates would be off to sleep immediately after he and Jason got back from their evening study sessions. From the looks of how tired Myra and Erin were by the end of each night, the Ravenclaw team was obviously working really hard to get ready for the game on Saturday too.

Outside of Hogwarts, it had been a busy week for Al as well. On Monday, he and Scorpius had again spent their day battling their Wizengamot opponents over all of the proposals they had submitted, defeating them one by one until at the end of the day, the twenty-one member group were left without winning a vote on even a single proposal. On Tuesday, he went back to work on the Stanton Colter murder case, spending the next two days tracking down the two thugs his investigation had led him to believe were the Wizards who had botched the robbery and killed the poor businessman.

Russell and Larsen were still a couple of thugs, though everything that Al had learned about their recent activities suggested that they were more into tavern brawling than criminal activities now. On Wednesday, he and Hestia went to arrest Larsen, who Al had determined was the brains of their little duo, but not much of a threat to fight them, and sent Garret, Miles, Edward, and Patrick to capture Russell, who probably would put up a fight, even against four Aurors.

Larsen had been cooling his heels in one of the interrogation rooms for over half an hour before Garret and the other Aurors got back to Headquarters with a still-struggling Russell. When they took him into the room with Larsen, he stopped his struggling and took the seat across the table from his friend that Garret had told him to sit in, before the four Aurors left the room again.

"Did they tell you why we're here?" Russell asked, and Larsen nodded.

"Of course. They told me I was under arrest for the murder of Stanton Colter. Didn't they tell you that?"

Russell shrugged. "They might have, but as soon as I heard the words 'under arrest' I was too busy trying to get away to pay attention to their yammering. I almost did get away too."

"Sure he did," Garret said with a laugh from the observation room, where he, Miles, Edward, and Patrick had joined Al and Hestia. "He must have been at a different capture than the one we were at, though it was a pretty entertaining little fight."

"I'm sorry we missed it," Hestia told him. "Our guy came quiet as a mouse, just like Al had predicted. Are you picking up anything interesting?" she asked Al, who nodded.

"I am. Larsen is thinking about making a deal with us. It seems that they were hired out for this job."

"Did you have any hints of that during your investigation?"

"Not a clue," Al answered. "If there was somebody behind this murder, the only evidence he left behind was these two Wizards."

"Well, if there was someone else involved, we should find that out," Hestia decided. "You go ahead and start working on them, and we'll see what happens."

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Al said, taking a seat at the table with their two suspects that was opposite the observation room. "Since Larsen and I have already met, I guess we should be introduced," he told Russell. "I'm Auror Al Potter, Russell, and from what your arresting Aurors tell me, you may not know why you're here. I've been investigating an old murder case of a businessman named Stanton Colter, and you're here because I believe the two of you are the Wizards who murdered him."

"I never heard of no Stanton Colter," Russell told Al, "and I had nothing to do with no murder."

That was Russell's line for the rest of the day, while Larsen was much more careful with what he said. Al grilled them all morning, took a break for lunch, and then continued the interrogation all afternoon, and into the evening without cracking them. He worked on them again for most of the day on Thursday before finally getting the breakthrough he expected from Larsen.

"Well, I guess since you boys don't want to cooperate, we'll just take you before the Wizengamot tomorrow morning, and send you off to Azkaban to wait for your trial," Al told them. "I'm sure that murder while in the commission of a felony should get you each about a one hundred year membership at the prison. I'll go get a couple of extra Aurors to take you back to your cells now."

"Wait!" Larsen said, his voice suddenly sounding a little desperate. "What if we make a deal?"

"Shut up, Larsen," Russell growled.

"Do you want to spend the next hundred years in Azkaban?" Larsen demanded. "We've got information they don't know about. Let's make a deal with them! You know as well as I do that the evidence they have on us will get us convicted." He didn't wait for an answer, but turned to Al and started talking very quickly.

"It was an accident, I tell you! All we were going to do is rob the place like we were told to, but then that Stanton guy tried to fight us, and he got killed. We got hired for the job, though. That's the guy you should really want."

"Why should I care about who hired you for a robbery?" Al asked. "They aren't responsible for what you did to Stanton."

"We would never have been there if we hadn't been hired," Larsen said quickly. Al had been listening in on both men's thoughts, and was surprised at what he'd found them each thinking.

"You're lying," Al told him bluntly. "Not about being hired, but you were supposed to kill Stanton all along." He looked over at Russell and nodded. "Larsen didn't tell you that, did he?" The look Russell was levelling at Larsen was enough to confirm Al's statement, and Larsen paled, and shrank back from Russell's ominous glare.

"You told me we were just going to rob the place!" Russell spat at Larsen. "I didn't know nothing about that," he told Al. "You gotta believe me!"

"I do, Russell," Al assured him. "If you want to testify, under veritaserum, against Larsen, and whoever it was that hired you, I'm sure my boss will be willing to make a deal with you."

"I don't know who hired us!" Russell said. "Larsen took care of all of that."

"So he told you," Al said. "I should be able to get another fifty years in Azkaban for him with your testimony that it was premeditated murder. I wonder what he'll look like when he gets out of prison at the age of two hundred or so years old."

"We were hired!" Larsen said emphatically. "I can prove it – testify under veritaserum, or show you the memories in a pensieve. It was Marco Oakley who hired us to kill him! Stanton was a business rival, and Oakley wanted him taken out. We were never supposed to actually get into the building, since he was planning on buying it from Stanton's widow for a pittance of what it was worth – and he did! I can prove it! Make me a deal!"

Al now had what he needed, and turned the two Wizards over to Hestia and Rick, who would work out any plea bargains with them, while he went looking for this Marco Oakley fellow. It didn't take him long to look the Wizard up in the Ministry records, and he went to his business and set up a stakeout to watch the place. When Oakley left for the day, Al followed him home, and then returned to Auror Headquarters to meet with Rick and Hestia.

"Did you get everything from them that we need?" Al asked.

"Yes," Rick told him. "We've got their complete confessions under veritaserum, and Larsen's memories of his meetings with Oakley."

"We had to restrain Russell when Larsen admitted he'd been paid ten thousand galleons for the hit, but had only given Russell five hundred, and kept the rest for himself," Hestia added. "Apparently there isn't any honour among thieves after all."

"What kind of deals did you make with them?" Al asked Rick.

"Twenty-five for Russell, fifty for Larsen," Rick answered. "I'll shoot for getting life for Oakley, but won't be surprised if he gets somewhere between fifty and a hundred years."

Al nodded. "Neither will I, but you could have him investigated for other crimes, since if he's been willing to have his rivals murdered, you can bet he's been involved with lots of other shady deals."

"That might be something for Jake, Emma, and their trainees to play with for a while," Hestia suggested. "When do you want to pick up Oakley?"

"Go get him in the morning," Rick decided. "You and Al can decide how much help you want to take along. Since he hires out his dirty work, I doubt you'll have any problems bringing him in, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

Al had a busy day on Friday. He, Hestia, and four other Aurors went to pick up Marco Oakley at his business first thing in the morning. Then he sat through a comparatively short interrogation of Oakley that Rick and Hestia took care of while he watched from the observation room. Thanks to some creative questioning, Al was able to write down quite a few other potential crimes that Oakley may have committed that Jake, Emma, Kendra, and Shae would be able to investigate as they looked into the man's unscrupulous past.

In the afternoon, he was part of the group that took Russell, Larsen, and an utterly stunned and devastated Oakley before the Wizengamot, where the first two Wizards agreed to their plea deals, and were handed their sentences, while Oakley plead not guilty, a tribunal was picked, and a trial date set. From there, he went along for the trip to Azkaban, seeing the three Wizards safely into the prison before returning to Auror Headquarters, where he worked for another hour finishing reports before going home for the weekend.

News of Al's arrests on Wednesday and Friday had been covered by the media, and had made the gossip network at Hogwarts, but compared to the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game, or Mark's Broom Race, it didn't make much of a splash. By Saturday morning, the talk around school was all about the Quidditch match. Since it was a pretty cold day, not very many students or Professors went to the Quidditch stadium until it was close to game time, and then the place filled up quickly. The two teams had gone out more than a half hour before game time ot get ready and have their pre-game team meetings, and the only other student leaving early was Kieran, who went out to the gates in time to meet Lily. They shared a quick hug and kiss, and then went straight to the stadium, where they huddled close together in seats that were along the line between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor sections, where most of their friends and family were going to gather to watch the game.

Al got to the gates in time to watch Kieran and Lily in the distance as they made the walk to the stadium, but they wouldn't have seen him. He entered the gates, found an inconspicuous place to watch from, and then settled in to wait and see whether any of the Knights showed up for the game. There weren't very many visitors coming to the game at all, and only a few more that arrived up until about fifteen minutes before the game when most of the visitors all came in a rush, not wanting to spend any more time out in the cold than absolutely necessary.

The Murrays, James and Arianna, and his Mum and Dad all passed him as they came to watch Myra, Erin, and Jason play today, and they, along with Lily, were the only members of their family coming to this game. Al was looking forward to watching his parents when he did eventually get inside the stadium, because he was sure that it was going to be fun watching them sit in the Slytherin section with Millie, Sarah, Joel, Alice, Lenny, Ohphelia, and Malcolm to support Jason. Okay, so it would be the reactions of the other Slytherins that would be fun to watch.

He was beginning to think that maybe he'd been wrong about the Knights taking this opportunity to check out Malcolm's information, or maybe even that Malcolm hadn't passed on what he'd learned, but five minutes before the game, Melania Gamp came walking through the gates, and while she didn't show any outward signs of concern, her thoughts were all focused on what she'd do if the school defences were set off by her arrival. When she saw that nothing happened, she had a mental shout of victory that was impossible for Al to miss.

Melania continued on to the stadium, and a couple of minutes later, Marcus and Madeline Flint, two of Daphne's Aunts and Uncles, strode in confidently. Melania must have sent them a ViComm message to let them know of her success, since they were both thinking loudly about how pleased the Lord Commander would be about this news.

Since there was no way for him to mask making footprints in the snow, he waited until the Flints were out of sight, and nobody else was coming before following them to the stadium. Even though there weren't as many visitors as usual, and fewer students out today, it was still too crowded in the stadium to risk trying to sit there for the game, so Al took a look for where the Flints and Melania Gamp were sitting in the Slytherin section, and then went under the stands to find a spot where he could still see most of the stadium, while being able to watch them too.

The two teams were already on the pitch and ready to go when Al got settled in to the spot he'd picked, and he watched the teams take off while at the same time listening in to the conversations going on in the stands close to him. Most of that was about his parents, and Al could see them from where he was too. Professor Slughorn had joined them, and since he usually sat in the section where all of the Professors usually sat, he must have been impressed that Harry and Ginny had come to support his House team for the game.

It took Al a little while to pick out the thoughts of Melania Gamp, and the Flints, but once he'd done that, and tuned everything else out, it had been very interesting to listen in on their thoughts as they watched his family and friends. They were all confused about Harry and Ginny sitting in the Slytherin section with Slughorn and a bunch of kids, and didn't know what to make of that. Marcus had one loud thought about Malcolm and Ophelia as they were cuddled warm under a blanket that he didn't know how the boy could stand getting that close to a Witch like that, or being that near to Potter and the rest of their kind without hurling.

The cold didn't seem to be bothering the two Quidditch teams, and the pace of the game was terrific as they fought back and forth above the pitch. Slytherin had a pretty decent edge for shots on goal, but Myra was putting on a really great performance. Her Chasers weren't getting as many shots on goal against Thomas, but they were having a little more success. An hour into the game, the score was twenty for Ravenclaw, and Slytherin had yet to score on Myra. Ravenclaw's Chasers scored three more goals on Thomas in the second hour, and Myra gave up two goals, one each to Jason and Samantha.

She'd faced over one hundred shots by then, while Thomas had only had forty-eight shots reach him. The teams exchanged one goal each in the first sixteen minutes of the third hour, with Jason getting Slytherin's third goal, and then Joe nearly knocked Darrin off of his broom with a nasty bludger hit that gave Erin a shot at chasing down the snitch uncontested. The Ravenclaw fans cheered when she made the catch to end the game, and give her team their first win of the season, with a score of two hundred and ten to thirty.

After being out in the cold for two and a half hours or more, most of the Professors, students, and visitors headed for the exits. Al would have liked to go congratulate his friends on their game, but he had needed to get out of the stadium first, and hurry back to the spot he'd picked near the gates. He didn't have to wait long for Melania Gamp to pass him, followed maybe five minutes later by the Flints. When there was a break in the stream of departing visitors, he left the grounds, and apparated home.

"You look frozen solid," Carolyn told him when he came into the Great Room. "Let me put a pot of coffee on, and I've already started on lunch, since Lily sent me a message that the game was over. She'll be here in ten or fifteen minutes." She laughed when Al hugged her. "You feel frozen solid too. Come and sit down while I get that coffee for you. How'd it go? Did the Knights show up?"

"Three of them," Al answered. "They were pretty excited that they were able to walk in too."

"I guess that's good, since it's what you wanted. Did you get any hints on why they want into the school?"

Al shook his head. "Nothing from them on that. They couldn't figure out why Mum and Dad sat in the Slytherin section today, and they kept an eye on James, Lily, Hugo, and Frederica, but seemed to dismiss pretty much everyone else, including Arianna, Kieran, Emily, and Liam."

"They don't believe that any of us orphans or friends of your family are any threat to them," Carolyn told him, and Al laughed.

"Maybe they should check out your NEWT results in DADA before thinking that." Carolyn laughed too, and hugged him again.

By the time the coffee was ready, Lily had joined them. She sat next to Al and talked while Carolyn went back to work on a soup and sandwiches lunch for them.

"I think the students in the rest of the Houses were just as surprised as the Slytherins when Mum and Dad went to sit with Millie and the others," Lily told them. "The game was good, but except for getting to cuddle with Kieran, watching and listening to all of that going on was my favourite part of being at the game today."

"Are they on their way to Alaska for the Iditarod Broom Race already?" Carolyn asked, and Lily nodded.

"Yeah. They're meeting Owen and Natalie in Toronto first. They're dropping the kids off with Grandma Valerie for the weekend while they're in Alaska, and then they'll go on to Anchorage in time to be there for the race start."

"That's going to make for a very long day," Carolyn said. "If Mark does as well as last year, he won't be done until eleven-thirty or so tonight our time, and then they'll still have all of those interviews, and have to wait around for the other racers to finish before the ceremony."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they leave after Mark's done, and just come back home," Lily suggested. "Owen's really the only one who needs to be there for the awards ceremony, and while it might be cold here, it's way colder there today."

Carolyn, Lily, and Al had lunch, and then went for a swim before getting comfortable on sofas in the Great Room to watch the start of the Iditarod Broom Race by three o'clock. At Hogwarts, the Marauders and friends study group were all back to work by the time the race was starting, except for their Ravenclaw members, who were in their Common Room at the victory party for the afternoon.

It had been a strangely conflicting morning for Malcolm. Cuddling under a blanket with Ophelia while they watched the game had quite possibly been the best time he'd ever had at a school Quidditch game, including when he'd played, but that had been tempered by seeing the Flints and Melania Gamp at the game. They hadn't made any move to contact or acknowledge him, but he knew they'd been watching him.

He was pretty sure that they hadn't been there when Harry and Ginny had hugged him before and after the game, and had spent a few minutes asking him how he was doing and if he needed anything. There was no doubt that they must be wondering why Harry and Ginny had been sitting with him and the others in the Slytherin section. He'd probably find out on Sunday night what the three Knights had thought depending on the questions Dirk asked him during his weekly report.

Those hugs and kind words from Harry and Ginny were another little event happening to Malcolm that left him wondering what he was doing. They were supposed to be the greatest enemies of the Knights, yet seemed to have more genuine concern for him than his own parents ever showed him. He was glad when most of the study group decided to work all afternoon so he could push those thoughts away and concentrate on his schoolwork. If he hadn't been so preoccupied, he would have laughed at the idea that he actually wanted to concentrate on his revision, since that had never been a particularly high priority for him before joining this group.

Just before three o'clock, they stopped to watch the start of Mark's broom race. Joel gave everyone the rundown on the Iditarod race, and they watched the first fifteen minutes or so while Mark, Mariposa, and a dozen or so other racers pulled into the lead together. After that, they left the race turned on so they could listen in, or stop to watch if something interesting happened, and got back to work until dinnertime.

The Ravenclaw contingent of their study group joined them again after dinner, and they worked until a little after nine o'clock, and then packed up and went to Kieran's office to watch the first racers, with Mark in the lead, go through the ghost town of Iditarod. The racers had been dealing with blizzard conditions for about half of the race, but were out of the worst of that by the time they approached Iditarod.

Mark's race record wasn't in any danger this year, and he was probably going to reach the ghost town by around a quarter to ten. He might be running fifteen or twenty minutes slower than last year, but the rest of the racers were quite a bit farther behind than that. Mariposa was nearly an hour back, in third place, with a rookie racer in second place about five minutes ahead of her. All of the other racers were either in the pack, an hour behind her, strung out along the route behind them, or had retired from the race, unable to deal with the brutal weather conditions.

It was fun watching the ghosts caper around, trying to get Mark to crash, but he was using the virtual racing program again, so it was a bit anticlimactic to watch him completely ignore the intense apparitions and fly right through the town without any problems. Once he was on his way out of town, there were still a couple of hours until he would reach the finish line. Professor McGonagall was letting the students stay out until after Mark finished the race, so they sat around Kieran's office, mostly just talking and having fun as they kept an eye on the race.

The rookie racer in second place reached Iditarod by twenty to eleven, and promptly crashed spectacularly into one of the dilapidated old buildings after the ghosts converged on him, and he lost control.

"I thought all of the racers were using the virtual BroomRacer program that Mark tried out last year," Hugo said, and Joel nodded.

"Most or all of them are," he confirmed. "You do still have to do it right, though. If he didn't switch his ViComm completely into game mode, and left visual mode on too, he'd still see what the ghosts were doing. It could be a problem if they use that mode with other racers around them too, since they won't see them in the program either. If they try doing that in groups, they could just end up crashing into each other."

The medic team was there to help the young racer immediately, and were still working on him when Mariposa flew through. It was hard to tell whether she was using the virtual program or not, since she had slowed down dramatically as she went through town like she had in past years, making sure that she got through town safely before speeding up again and making the last push toward the finish line in Anchorage.

Mark crossed the finish line at eleven fifty-four, home time. The group in Kieran's office watched him being congratulated by Callie, Owen, Natalie, Harry, and Ginny, who were all heavily bundled up to deal with the intense cold, and then they all helped clean up, and began heading back to their own Houses.

Malcolm walked Ophelia back to Gryffindor Tower, and she hugged and kissed him goodnight before going into her Common Room, while he hurried back to Slytherin House, grinning at Joel when they crossed paths when he was on the way to Ravenclaw tower after saying goodnight to Sarah.

Lily had gone home to the Cottage after having dinner with Al and Carolyn, and spent a quiet evening there with Fluffy and a good book for company, while keeping an eye on Mark's race. She'd ended up drifting off for a little nap between Mark's trip through the ghost town, and the end of the race, but had been awake in time to watch the end of it. After that, she went upstairs, got ready for bed, and waited for her bedtime chat with Kieran before going off to sleep again.

Sunday was pretty much a lazy day for most of the family outside of Hogwarts, and just a half day of studying for the Marauders study group, since they were able to finish up by lunchtime, and then take the afternoon off to relax and have fun. For Malcolm, the only exception to that fun day was his Sunday night call from Dirk.

"Did you see the Flints or Gamp at the game?" Dirk asked as soon as Malcolm had answered the call.

"Yes, they were all at the game," Malcolm confirmed. He wondered why Dirk wouldn't know that already, but for whatever reason, the other three Knights hadn't contacted Dirk. Maybe they'd wanted to save the news for their Monday meeting with the Lord Commander.

Dirk nodded. "Good. Anything else happen at the game?"

"Harry and Ginny Potter, and Professor Slughorn, sat with us in Slytherin to watch the game," he told Dirk.

"You're joking, right?" Dirk accused.

"No, I'm serious. They were sitting with us and cheering for Jason on Saturday. Ginny told us that the only reason they didn't sit with us last time was because they couldn't cheer against Gryffindor for that game."

"Was your information on who was coming to the game accurate?" Dirk asked next.

"It was," Malcolm assured him. "Just Harry, Ginny, James, Arianna, Lily, and Myra's parents came today."

"Okay," Dirk said with a nod. "Lord Chernobog wants you to stay close to them, and let us know about everything they're doing, or have planned. I'll send you a message if there are more instructions for you after the meeting tomorrow."

With that, the call was over, and Malcolm was left alone with his thoughts. The Lord Commander had seemed confident that Malcolm would be able to avoid being corrupted by the Potter and Weasley family influences, thanks to his training from Dirk and Miles. As Malcolm went to sleep after that call, his unsettled thoughts about everything to do with the Knights were replaced by sweet dreams with Ophelia in a starring role. The last thought he remembered having before falling asleep was that there was a very good chance that Lord Chernobog and the other Knights were wrong about that.

The third week of January was all work and no play. The business members of the family started getting busy again with Valentine's day just under four weeks away. Al was working odd hours as he was doing a stakeout of the Knight's office in Pakistan. With a five hour time difference, he was starting out from home at one o'clock in the mornings, working until mid-afternoon, and then going home, where he cooked dinner for himself and Carolyn. After that, he would go to bed until midnight or so, and then get ready to start his next day of surveillance.

Scorpius and his team were busy laying the groundwork for the next conference he had in March, while Brianna and her team in Goblin Liason continued to work hard to improve relationships with the Goblins, and resolve the many problems between Goblins and Witches and Wizards. Rose and Matt were in Egypt for the second week of that trip, and then would be home for five days before leaving on the two-week long Valentine's tour in Hawaii.

Lily was having fun in the lab with her Mum, and had made daily trips to the house after work. She had dinner with James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey on Wednesday night, catching up with all of the news for the Canons and at the Academy. Everything she was doing, though, was to just keep herself busy until Saturday, and the first Hogsmeade weekend of the New Year.

This year, the first couple of Hogsmeade weekends were going to be a bit different than other years because the second Hogsmeade weekend was actually on Valentine's Day. That meant that to get gifts to give girlfriends or boyfriends first thing in the morning on Valentine's Day, the students who could go to Hogmeade would need to use this first trip to the town to buy gifts, order flowers and sweets, and pick up the wheezes they'd want to play with in the weeks ahead of the big day.

In other years, the boys were able to do things like that while the girls were busy at their SpaMagic day, but they were going to have their spa day on February fourteenth this year so they'd be ready for the Valentine's dance that would be held at Hogwarts that night. To deal with that, most of the couples were going around together to get supplies, and then the girls were going to go shopping, thinking about getting new dresses for the dance, while letting the boys do a little holiday shopping until meeting for lunch.

Kieran had talked Lily in to waiting at the house for him instead of going and standing out in the cold by the gate, so when he got to the house, they spent several minutes inside sharing a really great hug and kiss before going out to pick up his supplies. He had this weekend off for helping out with the supply shopping for the younger members of their group, so it didn't take long to get through his own supplies and get back to the house to spend the rest of the day together there.

"Don't you have some Valentine's Day shopping to do?" Lily teased, and Kieran laughed.

"I took care of that over the holidays so I didn't have to miss out on any time with you during these two Hogsmeade weekends, or have to shop with you there watching."

"That's not fair," she told him, pretending to pout. "I was expecting to get some sneak peeks today."

Kieran hugged and kissed her. "Maybe not fair, but I'll find a way to help you get over the disappointment."

"That should keep you busy, because I'm very disappointed," she told him, and he kissed her again.

They weren't going to have lunch for a while yet, so they went into the sitting room to cuddle, chat, and catch up on some serious kissing time.

"How did the move go for your grandparents this week?" Kieran asked when they were catching up on what had been going on in the outside world.

"They were all moved in when Mum, Dad, and I stopped in to see their temporary house on Thursday night. It was strange seeing a bunch of their things in a different place, though most of it either went into storage, or they gave it away, since they'll be getting mostly new furniture for the new house when it's finished. The builders are going to start taking the old house down next week."

"That part of this must be hard for them," he suggested, and Lily nodded.

"It is, but they've decided not to go over there until after the new house is started so they don't watch the Burrow coming down. I'm sure they'll be okay once the construction gets going, since they really are excited about the new place."

"I wonder what we'll all call the new house?" Kieran asked. "The Burrow won't really fit anymore, but I guess it could always be called that anyway."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Lily agreed. "Has TNM been working on Valentine's Day for the kids you're helping this year?"

"Frederica and Millie are leading that, but yes, they're already working on it. With the dance this year, I think dresses are big on their list, along with everything else they're doing."

"I'm sure they'll have everything under control, and they do still have three more weeks," Lily said. "You should probably keep an eye on Frederica and make sure she doesn't overdo it with that, her studies, and getting ready for the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff."

"I will," Kieran promised.

While Lily and Kieran were spending the day together at the house, their cousins and friends had been out shopping all morning. They'd hurried through the supply shopping, and when they split up, Malcolm went looking for Valentine gifts with Philip, Colin, and Lance. They all ordered flowers for their girls to be delivered on Valentine's Day by Owl Post, and then stopped at Honeydukes to get boxes of sweets.

"I don't even know what kind of sweets Ophelia likes," Malcolm said, and Philip laughed.

"Then you're with the right Wizards, since I can help you with that. She loves the toffee chocolates, and Honeydukes has a Valentine's box of those, or she also really likes their double chocolate fudge here. You can't go wrong with either one of those."

"Are you getting anything for Heather?" Malcolm asked, and Philip nodded.

"I'm going with the mixed box of Valentine Chocolates that has all the different centres. We need to hurry, though, if we're going to look for jewellery too before meeting the girls for lunch, and then we're supposed to get back to Kieran's office to watch the Canons game."

The four boys picked out sweets for each of the girls, and then moved on to the jewellery store. They each picked out one or two pieces for their girlfriends, and then had to hurry to the Three Broomsticks for lunch, where the girls, and most of their other friends were already gathered.

"Were you boys having fun?" Ophelia asked Malcolm and Philip as she and Heather welcomed them.

"We were having a lot of fun," Philip told her. "Colin and Lance are Valentine veterans, but it was all new for Malcolm and me."

"This isn't your first Valentine's Day," she reminded him.

"It's our first when we've had someone special to spend Valentine's Day with," he answered, and Heather hugged him, a shy smile on her face.

"You mean someone special like a girlfriend?" Ophelia teased, and Philip laughed.

"Maybe we should wait until Valentine's Day, and see what you and Heather think before answering that question."

"Or you boys can just admit you're both caught right now, and just start getting used to the fact that you do have girlfriends that like you quite a lot, regardless of what you do for Valentine's Day for us," she suggested.

"Are we caught, Malcolm?" he asked, and Malcolm laughed.

"Yes we are," he confirmed, "and I think it's brilliant."

Ophelia hugged and kissed him. "Good answer," she complimented him. "Let's get some food, and then hurry back to the school so we don't miss any of the game day party."

Kieran and Lily had made and eaten lunch, cleaned up, and then went back to the sitting room to cuddle on a sofa. They turned QSPN on to keep track of the Canons-Arrows game, but didn't actually watch much of it. There was going to be three weeks until they would see each other again, and they both thought that an afternoon of snogging was a much better use of those few hours together than watching the game would be.

While Kieran and Lily were entertaining themselves at the house in Hogsmeade, Hugo and Emily were hosting the game day party in his office until he got back from town. They had drinks and snacks for everyone, and by shortly before one o'clock, the office was full, and they watched as the Canons and Arrows were introduced, and the game got started.

"Hopefully this game will be better than the last couple of matches," Frederica said. "I'm glad we're still winning, but the Kestrels and Magpies didn't give us much competition."

"The Arrows are having a pretty decent season," Hugo said. "This game should be one of the better ones."

The Arrows hometown fans were thinking the same thing when their team scored first, on just the third shot on Ron, and it did stay close for a while, but by the end of the first hour, the Canons had a thirty point lead, and they continued to grow that lead as the game continued. For three hours and fifty-two minutes, the two groups of Chasers fought back and forth, while the Beaters kept everyone scrambling, and Liselle battled fiercely with the Arrows' Seeker.

Kieran was back from Hogsmeade by then, and watched Liselle win the game for the Canons after Sebastian all but took out the Arrows Seeker with a solid, rib-cracking bludger strike that gave Liselle the opening she needed while her opponent dealt with his injury, and with avoiding crashing into one of the goals after being hit by the bludger.

"I'd say you've missed most of a really great game," Hugo told Kieran, "but I sort of doubt that either you or Lily mind at all."

"Why don't you and Emily skip a game sometime, and go spend the time snogging in her office instead, and then let me know which is more fun?" Kieran suggested, and Hugo and Emily both laughed.

"I don't need to actually do that to know what the right answer would have to be to that question, mate," Hugo told him. "I really should be watching all of these games, since I want to be playing against all of these teams next season."

"That was pretty quick," Emily complimented him. "How's Lily doing?" she asked Kieran.

"We had a really great day," Kieran told her, "but it's not any fun when we have to say goodbye – especially when it's for another three weeks like this time." He'd sat with Cassandra and Violet after getting back to the office, and Cassandra hugged him.

"It'll be okay, Kieran," she told him. "Violet, Vanessa, Nadine, and I will help you get through the tough days like this."

Kieran hugged her too. "Thanks, Cassandra. I really appreciate that."

With the Hogsmeade weekend, and the Canons' game over, it was time to get back to studying for the rest of the weekend. At Hogwarts, the last week of January was all about school work for everyone in the study group. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch players were also busy with practices that were getting tougher as they got ready for the game that was less than four weeks away. Frederica and Millie led the TNM group putting together the Valentine surprises for everyone they helped, and the only thing that seemed to be missing all week was a little quality time for the couples in the group.

Frederica took care of that too, when after a long week, she suggested a pool party for the group on Sunday after everyone worked hard to get their revision done by the end of their study session on Saturday night. That was Malcolm's first pool party with Ophelia, and after having such a brilliant start to February, he really hoped it wouldn't be his last.

Outside of Hogwarts, Al was on stakeout in India all week, and other than a dinner with Rose, Matt, Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, and Lily on Tuesday night, it was mostly all work and a little sleep for him until the weekend. While their friends at Hogwarts were starting their February out with a pool party, the long week at work for Al, Carolyn, and the others was followed with a long weekend with Al, Scorpius, and Callie working on the stack of Wizengamot proposals she'd been handed on Friday by the incompetent, but persistent group of twenty-one Wizengamot members who seemed completely incapable of conceding that they were never going to get any of their money-wasting, or bigoted policy proposals passed by the majority of the Wizengamot.

Carolyn and Brianna had both worked in the office on Saturday, and Mark had gone to spend most of the day training, but on Sunday they all took the day off, and while Callie and the boys worked, they took it easy, watching a little WWVN, going for a couple of swims, and trying to at least make the day entertaining for their respective spouses while they were stuck working.

Harry, Ginny, and Lily had spent their morning on Sunday at the Residence with the kids, and then gone to Molly and Arthur's temporary home for the afternoon and to have dinner with them. By the end of the week, the Burrow had been completely taken down, and the foundation for the new house was started. All of the kids, and most of the grandkids had stopped by the Burrow over the past weekend to say their goodbyes to the old place, and on this first Sunday of February, Molly and Arthur were still a little sad about the house actually being gone, but they did have a model of the new house in the sitting room, and Arthur had the drawings up on one wall in the office that he and Molly shared in this house, so there was no doubt that they were excited about the new house too.

On Saturday afternoon, Rose and Matt had left on their two-week Valentine's tour to Hawaii. Percy and Penelope were going again this year, and it started out great right from the start with a little surprise. George and Lee had set up what Marietta and Cho thought was going to be a date night, but when they met up with Rose, Matt, Percy, Penelope, and the other two couples going on the trip, the girls found out that they were going on the two week tour instead.

February was going to be another busy month. There was the Valentine's Day Hogsmeade weekend, and there were Valentine's Day dances at Hogwarts, the Academy, Residence, and also at the Emerald City Centre for the Marauders Institute. Mark had his Broom Race across Africa on Valentine's Day as well, which was going to all make for a very busy day for quite a few members of the family. The Canons had a home game against the Wanderers on the seventh, and then had a road game against the Pride of Portree on the twenty-first, which was also the day of the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game at Hogwarts.

There was a lot of work that was going on along with the planned Valentine's fun, but whether doing Wizengamot business, working on cold cases, or investigating the Knights like Al was doing, or any of the other family jobs, everyone in the family was looking forward to enjoying the season of love with their friends and family.

Not everyone felt that way, and that included all of the Knights and their cronies, who mocked everything about Valentine's Day and the fools who wasted their time, money, and effort on it. They did see it as an opportunity to keep ahead of their despised enemies, and while they were certain that their foes were otherwise occupied, they continued to work on their plots and schemes. With January now over, and after having success with their test at Hogwarts, those plots and schemes were going to continue to take shape in the coming weeks.


	137. Playing with Hearts

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven – Playing with Hearts

Miles Bletchley got shakily to his feet, and then returned to his chair in the drawing room at Avery's mansion. His face was drained of colour, and the pain from the Cruciatus Curse the Lord Commander had just released him from was just now beginning to fade.

"Will that help you to remember that we are _not_ going to be killing anyone and risking being discovered by our enemies, Bletchley?"

"Yes Lord," Miles said in a ragged-sounding voice. "I will not forget again."

"See that you don't," Lord Chernobog said coldly. "When we have returned to power there will be time enough to deal with those fools in the Wizengamot.

Malcolm's father had earned the wrath of the Lord Commander after forgetting the previous warnings from the Lord Commander, and suggesting that their twenty-one Wizengamot members should be killed for once again failing to accomplish anything they were supposed to get done for the Knights. Not one of the other members of the Knights had any sympathy for Miles. The lessons the Lord Commander had given Dirk and others in the past had taught them all to do everything possible to avoid angering him, and Bletchley had been warned before about this stupid kill first answer that he had whenever someone failed the Knights.

"Dirk, continue with your report," Lord Chernobog said, turning to face him. "What have you heard from Peasegood and Malcolm?"

"Potter is continuing to work on the cold cases, though he had the meeting today, and will be working at the Oakley trial starting tomorrow," Dirk answered. "Malcolm's information corroborates what Peasegood has told me. There wasn't much other news from Malcolm, but he did report that Lily Potter will be at Hogwarts both for the Valentine's Day dance and for the game on the twenty-first. He's also reported that Hugo, Colin, and Lance's mothers, and Frederica, Kieran and Liam's parents will all be at the game, but none of the other Weasley's or Potters will be there."

"None of them are anything for you to worry about," Lord Chernobog told Herb Burke and Bertha and Winston Warrington. "You can go ahead with our second visit to the school, and you know what you are supposed to do there."

"Yes, Lord Commander," Herb Burke agreed.

Terrance and Byron's reports were next, and over the next hour, Lord Chernobog received nothing but good news from the two Wizards, and the rest of the Knights as they gave him glowing progress reports on what they were all accomplishing. When that was done, the Lord Commander passed on new instructions to most of his Knights, and then sent them off to continue their work.

The only member of the Knights not attending that meeting was in the library at Hogwarts, holding hands with Ophelia, as they sat in their usual spot, talking quietly, and doing a little homework research while they waited for dinner. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams were busy with their Quidditch, and the rest of their friends were each doing their own thing, but Ophelia and Malcolm liked coming to the library between their last classes of the day and dinner. There weren't very many other students in the library at that time, since most of the kids hung out with their friends in the Common Rooms until dinnertime.

"I won't be able to come here after classes tomorrow," Ophelia told Malcolm. "Now that Philip has asked Heather to the Valentine's dance, Erin suggested that he take some dancing lessons if he was thinking about keeping her as a girlfriend. She and I are going to help him with that on Tuesdays and Thursdays after classes for the next two weeks."

Malcolm grinned at her. "If I ask you to the dance, can I sign up for those lessons so I can maybe keep my girlfriend too?" he asked. "I haven't danced much – probably because my few attempts haven't been very good – especially for the feet of my dance partner."

Ophelia laughed and hugged him. "Definitely."

"Then in that case, will you be my date to the Valentine's dance, Ophelia?" he asked.

"I'd love to go to the dance with you," she answered, hugging him again. "I'm sure that Philip will like having someone else to share the pain with at those dance lessons."

"If you and Erin aren't wearing steel-toed shoes while you teach us, the pain might be yours, not ours," Malcolm joked, and Ophelia laughed again.

"Don't you worry about us, we'll have the two of you ready to dance the night away in no time," she assured him.

There were other dance dates being made that afternoon too. Horatio had been scared half to death when he invited Myra to the dance, but had been thrilled when she'd hugged him, kissed his cheek, and told him that she'd love to go to the dance with him. Violet's reaction hadn't been quite as demonstrative as Myra's had been, but she had been just as happy when Aiden asked her to the dance before their last class of the day.

When Horatio and Violet had been happily talking about the dance and their now-confirmed dates while they hung around in the Common Room before dinner, Adam realized that he was running out of time, so he left for the Great Hall early, and waited outside for Cassandra. She came down to dinner with quite a few of the other Gryffindor first year girls, who all giggled when Adam asked to talk to her for a minute. He was pretty sure that his stuttered out request to take Cassandra to the dance had made him sound like a complete idiot, but she had thought he was adorable, and had hugged him and agreed to go to the dance with him.

"I guess we don't need to ask what you were doing," Violet told Adam, hugging him when she and Horatio caught up with him at the Hufflepuff table. "Since you're smiling, and Cassandra and her roommates are over there giggling at the Gryffindor table, you finally got around to asking her, and she obviously said yes."

"Despite my near-total loss of ability to talk," Adam confirmed. "Why is asking a girl on a date so bloody nerve-wracking?"

"Because most guys would rather take a bludger in the head than have the girl they like turn them down," Horatio told him. "I don't think I was ever more scared than I was earlier when I asked Myra to go to the dance with me."

"That's saying a lot, considering our backgrounds," Violet joked, and hugged H too. "So, when do you guys want to start your dancing lessons? I don't want you embarrassing our House, or injuring my friends."

Both boys laughed. "Whenever you have time to help us," Adam told her. "Do you think you can teach us enough to be ready by then?"

"I'm sure we can teach you the basics in two weeks," she assured him. "We can start tomorrow after classes if you want."

"We can do that," H agreed, and Adam nodded.

While love was in the air at Hogwarts, out in the real world, the first week of February was mostly about work. Al was on guard duty for the Oakley trial on Tuesday and Wednesday after the long day in the Wizengamot on Monday. The trial for his murder charges wouldn't have taken that long, but by then, there were already several more charges against him, so the Wizengamot tribunal heard the evidence on all charges over the two days. Marco Oakley was convicted on all charges late in the afternoon on Wednesday, and sentenced to a total of one hundred and sixty years at Azkaban. In addition, his mostly ill-gotten gains had been ordered seized by the Ministry to use for compensation to his many victims and their families.

"I'm glad they're going to help out those families," Carolyn told him when they were having dinner on Wednesday night after he and Jake had taken Oakley back to Azkaban.

"So am I," he agreed. "We should do a lot more of that in cases like this when we can. This guy literally ruined a lot of lives over the years, and from what Jake told me, they're just getting started on finding out all of the crimes he's committed."

Carolyn nodded. "I hope they keep that man in prison for the rest of his life. Did you ever think that when you got those cold cases for a cover that you'd be doing so much good by getting some of them solved?"

"Not really, but I'm glad it's working out that way. It seems to be helping motivate the other Aurors too, since everyone's arrest rates are way up this year."

"Since before you got there, those arrest rates weren't very much above zero, that's not saying very much," Carolyn said with a laugh. "I guess it has to start somewhere, though. Are you going to stay around now, or get back out on the road again?"

"I'm going to stay around here for the rest of the week, and I'll be going out on my next stakeout in Indonesia starting Monday. Will you be working all weekend?"

"Unfortunately, with Aunt Penelope away, I will be," she confirmed. "There's a lot going on with just a week left until Valentine's Day."

"Then I'll just have to take care of you all weekend while you work," Al told her. "Is anything else going on that I need to know about?"

"Not for us this week," Carolyn answered. "Lily said she might stop in to visit tomorrow or Friday after checking in on how their house is coming along, but we don't have anything extra happening until Valentine's Day, and the Institute party at the Emerald City Centre."

"That's probably a good thing anyway," Al said. "I'll need to sleep in the evenings to do those stakouts in Indonesia. Maybe we should have gone and spent a week at Marauders Escape while I was doing this."

"That would have been nice, but your surveillance schedule is a little hard to plan for ahead of time, and my schedule needs to be set up quite a bit in advance. Maybe if you talk to the bad guys, and ask them to let you know what they're going to do for the next year or so, we could work stuff like that out."

Al laughed. "I'm thinking they wouldn't be interested in cooperating with that, though it would make my job a lot easier if I could just show up at the scene of the crime, and they'd all surrender."

On Thursday and Friday, he definitely didn't get anyone coming forward and confessing to the lone assault cold case he'd decided to work on after the Colter case. When he'd first started to take a look at Gerry Lawson's case, he'd hoped that maybe the Wizard could be healed, and be able to just tell Al what had happened to him. Unfortunately, it still wasn't, and might never be, possible to heal him.

The case file had been very small, and other than some evidence from the scene of the robbery/attack, there had been very little progress made before the Aurors working on the case shelved it as unsolvable. Al had spent most of the Christmas holidays searching the Ministry, school, and medical records on Gerry Lawson. On Thursday and Friday, he began the process of interviewing the Wizard's family and friends, searching for any clues that would help him with finding out who had attacked the man.

Al hadn't found any new leads on that case by the end of the day on Friday, but he knew that since this was a weekend where he could get some rest, and because he'd be starting in Indonesia late Sunday night, he needed to set that investigation aside, and go home to spend the weekend taking care of his wife while she spent the weekend working.

The Canons were working on Saturday too, playing the Wigtown Wanderers at home. Harry and Ginny were hosting a group of family and friends in the Owner's Box for the game, starting their game day by having lunch together at the Diner in Chudley.

A win today would continue the undefeated season, but would also give them a win against every other team in the league before they'd start the last eight games of the season where they'd be playing teams for the second time of the season.

Harry and Ginny had Hermione, Lily, James, Tracey, and Trinity with them in the Owners Box, as they usually were for most home games. They also had Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James; Lisa, Marcus, and Jair; and Mandy, Terry, and Timothy there for the game too. The two nearly six-year old boys were sitting on the carpet by the windows watching for any sign of the Wanderers or Canons, while Kira was glued to Lily as usual, and Jair was being passed between Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Harry.

"How does Arianna feel about the game today?" Lisa asked James.

"The whole team is fired up," James answered. "They've got three games left, including this one, before the Quidditch World Cup team will be selected on March fifteenth, and they'd like to see the whole Canons team get picked again."

"I think they should pick the best team from the league to be our national team for every World Cup," Marcus said. "Throwing together the best players from the different teams in the league just seems to make a bigger mess more often than it makes for a great team. After what the Canons did in the last Quidditch World Cup, I wouldn't be surprised to see more countries try sending their best teams this summer."

"I wouldn't' argue with that this year," Harry said with a laugh. "My opinion might change in a season where our team wasn't in first place, though."

"Well, even if they were picking best players in the league, all of our players are at or near the top of the league at every position," Trinity told the others.

"That's true," Ginny agreed. "Hopefully they won't get caught up too much in worrying about all of that, though, and stay focused on each game, or that could end up being a problem for the team."

"I don't think they will, Mum," Tracey told her. "If Coach even gets a whiff of them losing focus, he gets their attention back in a big hurry."

Ginny laughed. "He is very effective at that," she agreed.

The Wanderers were announced, and they made a quick circle of the stadium to the good-natured jeers of the Canons fans, and then waited at centre pitch while the Canons flew around to the cheers of the faithful. The pre-game niceties didn't take long – they never did during the winter games – and the quaffle was thrown into the air, and all of the players took off.

"Yeah, Arianna!" Erin said excitedly as Arianna scored the first goal of the game on a great no-look pass from Aaron.

"We need to get Sebastian and Trinity, and Tristan and Liselle set up as guardians so that they have a cheering contingent at our game day parties," Emily suggested. "Aaron, Arianna, and Hugo's dad seem to get all the glory around here."

"I cheer for Liselle too," Erin protested.

"You cheer for Seekers in general," Quincy told her. "Unless they're playing against Liselle or against you."

"It wouldn't look very good if I flew around during our games here cheering for Colin, Nadine, or Darrin, would it?" she told him. "My biggest problem here is who to cheer for when Colin and Nadine play against each other."

"That's easy," Nadine told her with a laugh. "You cheer for the Witch. Us girls have to stick together."

"That seems very unfair," Colin said, and Nadine hugged him.

"It probably is, but I'll help you get over the injustice of it all," she promised, kissing his cheek.

That first goal put the Wanderers on their heels right away, and Kimberly, Aaron, and Arianna didn't let up all afternoon. When Liselle caught the snitch to end the game at the three hour and seven minute mark, the Canons finished with a score of four hundred and ninety to seventy.

"Any votes for studying, or are we unanimously in favour of goofing off until after dinner?" Kieran asked.

They were all for the second option, and sat around chatting, watching Andy's post-game show, and relaxing for a while longer before they would have to get back to work for the evening after dinner, and all day on Sunday. With the Hogsmeade weekend and Valentine's dance on the next Saturday, and the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match the weekend after that, they were all going to put in some extra study time now and hopefully work ahead on their studies.

"I don't think I've ever asked you what your favourite team is, Malcolm," Hugo said while they watched the post-game show. "Your father probably isn't a Canons' fan since he played against my father when they went to school here."

Malcolm laughed. "I've never thought about that, but then Dad only ever talked about the years that Slytherin won the Quidditch Cup, not the years they didn't. Growing up I mostly watched the Falcons, since that was the team my father watched, but he thinks they've gone soft – not enough violence in the game anymore. I really don't think you need to hear what he thinks about your Dad, and no, he is not a Canons fan."

"That doesn't surprise me at all," Hugo said, laughing too. "My Dad probably finds it strange that you and I are mates here, but then again, compared to Scorpius Malfoy being mates with Albus Potter and his cousins, our being friends is pretty mild."

"Well I think it's brilliant," Ophelia said, hugging Malcolm and smiling brightly at him. "Our parents could learn a lot from us, you know."

"They are starting to," Frederica suggested. "We've seen a lot of changes just in the last few years."

"Yeah, like Uncle Harry dancing with Narcissa Malfoy," Liam said with a laugh. "That was priceless to see at Scorpius and Brianna's wedding."

"Why was that such a big deal to you guys?" Malcolm asked. "I heard that the Malfoys and Potters had become friends the summer Al and Scorpius became Elders, and all that other stuff."

"That started back then," Frederica agreed, "but they didn't become best mates or anything overnight, and Narcissa was one of the Death Eaters who spent all of those years trying to kill Uncle Harry. He's got a really big heart, but even for him, that's a pretty big thing to get past."

"How'd we get into such a serious discussion from talking about what Quidditch team Malcolm likes?" Hugo asked. "Quick, change the subject!"

Emily laughed. "Okay. What are you all wearing to the dance next weekend?" she asked the girls, and then hugged Hugo when he rolled his eyes and groaned. "That was just too easy."

"True, but it was fun too," Frederica told her. "We'd love to hear about which suit you're wearing too, Hugo," she added. "Maybe you'd let us practice colour change charms and make it red to fit in with the holiday."

"Thanks, Frederica, but that's a bit over the top for me," Hugo answered, and most of the others in the room laughed. "What's so funny?"

"You think that a red suit would be too loud, and you're going to be spending your professional life wearing bright orange," Kieran answered for everyone. "That's why we're laughing."

There weren't a whole lot of other laughs for the rest of the weekend, although they did still have fun together, even with all of the work. While they were mostly studying at Hogwarts, Al and Carolyn had pretty much hidden away at home all weekend. She was busy working at her BusinessMagic system most of both days, while Al cooked meals, baked her some treats, and pampered her all weekend.

On Sunday, they'd had an early dinner, and then he'd gone to bed to get some sleep, planning to get up at around eleven-thirty, getting ready, and leaving for his first stakeout in Indonesia. Having to work starting around midnight wasn't much fun, but at least the stakeouts this week were going to be warmer than some of the others had been over the last couple of months.

The weather might have been nicer for Al, but the stakeout often wasn't any more interesting. There was a lot of waiting around in between the few moments of activity when a Witch or Wizard would show up to the Knight's office, or leave the building. Having those basically empty hours to spend allowed him to work through the information he did have on the Knights. He spent time looking over the records he'd copied from recent surveillances, and continued to try to put together what everything he was learning was telling him about what the Knights were going to do.

Including his current stakeout, he had just five offices left to finish checking out, identifying the Knights, and going through the offices, and then he would need to decide where to take his investigation next. From everything he was getting out of the Knight's offices, and what seemed to be happening with Malcolm and Peasegood back home, an intense effort to collect information was still primarily what the Knights were doing, although that effort often included bribing or blackmailing Ministry of Magic officials.

The Knights knew just about everything there was to know about pretty much every politician, Ministry employee, and the business leaders in every country plus most of the other countries in the world through those forty-nine offices. There was no doubt that the Knights at home had the same information about the Ministry of Magic through their twenty-one members of the Wizengamot, Peasegood, and whoever else they had bought and paid for at the Ministry, and probably about many of the business leaders too, though he expected they likely had very little on PBP Investments or Witch Investments, considering how few Witches and Wizards knew everything about the family companies.

What were the Knights going to do with all of that information? How was Hogwarts a part of that? Whatever the connection, why were Terrance and Byron lying to the other Knights back at home about what was happening at the other locations? He hadn't worried too much about who the new leader of the Knights was up until now, or about identifying the Witches and Wizards that had likely been chosen to replace the arrested or incapacitated Knights. He knew that Selywn had been replaced in New Orleans, just as Vincent Goyle had replaced Macnair at the Tangier office.

With Rosier and Travers in Azkaban, and the loss of the Averys, Lestranges, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Yaxley, the Knights must have ten or eleven new members. Malcolm was the only new member he was aware of from that group of replacements. Al was getting the feeling that the time was getting closer when he was going to need to find out who these new Knights were, and identify the new leader, so one decision he came to during the week was that as soon as he finished with these last five offices, it was going to be time to hit the road with Terrance or Byron, and start getting some of those answers.

While Al worked his stakeout and the entire investigation of the Knights, at Hogwarts, the work was all about schoolwork and Quidditch practices. The gossip was almost entirely discussions surrounding the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend and Valentine's Day dance. It seemed vitally important for many of the students to know which Wizards and Witches were going to the dance together, and while there were many new love stories happening, there were also a few broken hearts too.

It had seemed like a very long week, but finally Saturday morning arrived. For some of the students at Hogwarts, the day started before four o'clock in the morning, as they got up to watch the start of Mark's Africa Broom Race. This one was expected to be very competitive. The Common Rooms didn't have many students in them to watch the start, but there were at least a few students out in each of the four Common Rooms.

In Slytherin House, that was Alice, Lenny, Sarah, Millie, and Jason, along with a couple of other closet race fans who took a chance that their secret would be safe with the two Marauders and their friends.

"This seemed like a good idea last night," Alice said quietly as they waited for the race to start. "Right now, being asleep still would be very nice."

"We won't stay up much longer, and then you can get some more sleep," Lenny told her. "Why don't you send Callie the QuillMessage wishing Mark good luck for us." Alice did that, and they watched the first fifteen minutes of the race, until Mark, Mariposa, and the usual dozen or so racers pulled ahead of the pack, and then they all went back to bed for another couple of hours.

When the students all gathered in the Great Hall for breakfast, the room was buzzing with excitement as the girls especially waited expectantly for the Valentine Owl Posts to arrive.

They were not disappointed either, as hundreds of Owls flew in and began delivering letters and packages to students throughout the hall. This year, the Marauders had friends around them in all of the groups who were not part of TNM, so they couldn't talk about how their gifts to the students they helped were being received, but they did all try to watch at least some of those students opening their packages, getting to at least privately enjoy the excitement and happiness their efforts gave to those Witches and Wizards. The girls especially had packages of their own to open too, and the boys were watching for the reactions from their respective girlfriends.

"Why are our girlfriends hugging and kissing Kieran?" Lance asked Colin, who shrugged and shook his head.

"I have no idea, mate. Maybe he was just the closest friend around? Hopefully that means they liked what we got for them."

Vanessa and Nadine had definitely liked what their boyfriends had gotten them for Valentine's Day, and would deal with thanking them after breakfast, but they'd been hugging Kieran because he had sent a gift to them too – and to Violet and Cassandra.

"Thank-you!" Vanessa told Kieran as she hugged him. "These rings are beautiful."

"What are the different coloured stones for?" Violet asked him, as she looked at the eight stones in two neat rows on the beautiful little pinkie ring.

"They're the birthstones for you, your sisters, brother, Mum, Dad, and soon-to-be sister-in-law," Kieran told her, and then handed her a few tissues when her eyes filled with tears.

"I really hope those are happy tears," Kieran teased, "or Aiden is going to be very cross with me."

"They definitely are," she assured him, hugging him tightly when it was her turn after Nadine. "Thank-you, Kieran."

"You're welcome, sis," he told her. "Let's get back to breakfast, though – I've got a fiancée to go see pretty soon, and I don't want to be late."

Aiden had been wondering the same thing that Colin and Lance had been wondering until he saw Cassandra open her gift from Kieran, and since he had been next to her, she'd hugged him, and he had handed her some tissues so she could wipe away the tears.

"I take it that Kieran sent that to you, and to Violet, Vanessa, and Nadine," he said, and Cassandra nodded. "Can you explain the special significance of them to the cousin who knows nothing about jewellery?"

"They're family rings," she explained. "He's given us rings with the birthstones of everyone in our new family. She pointed to the different stones, and named off who they represented to him.

"How did you know that?" Aiden asked curiously.

Cassandra laughed. "I asked around to get everyone's birth dates that first week we spent with all of you on the island," she explained. "I wanted to be ready to send birthday cards and presents. Most Witches could probably tell you which birthstone is for each month of the year."

Aiden laughed too. "You know more about your adopted family than I know about my own," he told her. "if Myra didn't remind me, I wouldn't remember my own birthday let alone the birthdays for everyone else in my family."

"You must at least remember your own birthday," Cassandra told him. "After all, you were there, Aiden."

"That's true, but I was very young back then," he joked.

All of the girls in their group received flowers and sweets, the flowers all by Owl Post, and the sweets and other gifts either by post or given to them in person, depending on whether the couples were in the same house or not. Malcolm had sent all of Ophelia's gifts by Owl Post, and then had watched her as she opened the packages over at the Gryffindor table. He wished that he could be hugging her like Jason and Millie were doing when she opened her gifts, but he was sure that she'd liked the flowers, sweets, and the pair of diamond earrings that he and the other guys had thought would look nice with the necklace he'd given her at Christmas, because Philip had needed to hand her several tissues. Malcolm saw Heather hug and kiss Philip several times, so she must have liked her gifts too.

When breakfast was over, Malcolm met Ophelia, Philip, and Heather in the entrance hall, where they got in line with the other students waiting to leave for Hogsmeade. They were near the back of the line because Ophelia had hugged Malcolm for quite a while when they'd first gotten together, and had missed out on the early rush to get in line.

"I guess we should have gotten in line and then hugged," she said while they waited. "Now Heather and I are going to have to hurry so we're not late for our SpaMagic appointment."

"You'll have some company," Vanessa told her as she, Lance, Colin, and Nadine joined them. "Not all of us can be as lucky and Philip and Heather, and have our boyfriend or girlfriend in the same house with us."

"I don't think that's getting in your way too much," Philip told them. "Either you meet up with Vanessa and Nadine in Emily's office a lot, or you two are way bigger trouble-makers than I ever thought," he added, talking to Colin and Lance.

"That doesn't even include when they're visiting Kieran's office instead," Ophelia said.

"How would you know that?" Philip asked with a grin, and Ophelia laughed.

"Malcolm and I might have stopped in to visit once or twice and seen them there," she admitted. "Are you guys going shopping together this morning?" she asked the four boys.

"We might as well," Colin told her. "With your lists, we have a lot to get done, but at least the shopping lists are shorter this week, since everybody seems to be stocked up on sweets and wheezes from the last trip. Don't worry, we'll somehow manage to muddle through, even though we don't have our best shoppers this morning."

"The extra work will be worth it when you pick up your dates at the dance tonight," Nadine told him.

Colin, Nadine, and the others might have been at the back of the line, but Kieran had been one of the first students out the door, along with Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah. When they got to the gate, Lily was waiting for Kieran, and she nearly knocked them both over into the snowbank by the side of the road.

"Do you think she liked her Valentine's presents, or just missed him a lot?" Hugo teased as he, Emily, Joel, and Sarah waited for their friends.

"I'd guess both," Emily told him. "Come on, Lily. Some of us have appointments at SpaMagic, though it's obvious that you've been there recently. When did you go? Yesterday?"

Lily let go of Kieran and took his hand, laughing as she turned to answer Emily. "I did," she confirmed. "There was a bunch of us that took the afternoon off to get ready for the various dances we're going to tonight."

"That sounds like more fun than we had yesterday," Sarah told her. "We were doing homework right through until curfew so we could take the whole day off today, and start later on Sunday."

"Then we should make sure that today is really brilliant for all of you," Lily said. "Let's hurry to town so you can get started on that."

Lily and the boys dropped Emily and Sarah off at SpaMagic, and then went to work on the supply shopping. They were picking up everything for the two couples, Kieran, Cassandra, Aiden, Adam, and Horatio. For the next couple of hours, they went around making the usual stops, the last one being to pick up all of the corsages for the dance tonight, which Kieran would be taking back to Hogwarts and getting to the guys later in the afternoon while their girls were getting ready later in the afternoon.

When they were done, Lily hugged Hugo and Joel goodbye, and she and Kieran went to the house to spend the rest of the day together. Lily put on a kettle to make hot chocolate for them to warm up with, and Kieran turned on the WWVN so they could see how Mark was doing in the race. When the hot drinks were ready, they went into the sitting room and cuddled close on a sofa together.

The race had been going on for about seven hours, and Mark, Mariposa, and eight other racers were all still fairly close together, and had crossed the halfway point of the fifty-three hundred and fifty kilometre race over an hour earlier. Mark was currently in first place, but from what the commentators were saying, the lead had changed hands quite a few times during the race so far.

"This is more exciting to watch than when Mark is way out in front," Kieran said as they sipped their drinks and watched a short recap of the race so far.

"I'm sure he likes these races better too," Lily agreed, "but it must be a lot more strenuous battling the other racers on top of the difficulty of flying at such high speeds for so many hours."

"From the looks of a couple of those crashes, I'd say you're right about that," Kieran said. "I wonder how Mark is training for that closer contact racing now that so many racers can keep up with him now?"

"Dad's still working with him sometimes, and he's doing some work with Liselle and Tristan, since they're used to fighting for position in a race, even if it's just races around a stadium."

"Hopefully that will help him a lot. It's amazing how thorough he is with his preparations for all of the races. Have you and Isabelle been working on his race planning too?"

"Nothing major for this one, but we're working on the Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific races to see if we can come up with anything better for those races than what we've done for the last two years."

Once they caught up with the highlights of the race, they pretty much lost interest in that, while spending an hour or so doing a little talking and a lot of hugging and kissing. They had lunch after that, and then spent an hour practicing for the dance before returning to some constructive snogging until Kieran had to go back to Hogwarts.

"You seem pretty happy," Ana told Lily when she welcomed her with a warm hug. Lily had gone home for a while after leaving Kieran, but was having dinner with Ana and Kirley before they'd be going to Hogwarts to set up for the dance. "Is that because you'll only be apart for a few hours until you see Kieran again?"

"That, and having spent a really brilliant day together," she confirmed. "What can I help with to get ready for the concert?"

"Not a thing," Ana told her. "You can come play in the kitchen with me if you want, though. Kirley has everything else under control."

"I can do that," Lily said, putting an arm around Ana and walking with her to the kitchen.

They got to work together, making dinner for three, and then sat down with Kirley to eat, spending most of that time going over the song mix they were going to use for the dance. Since it was Valentine's Day, they'd go with more ballads than they normally would, and were going to throw in a little session that Kirley was going to join them for, but they still wanted to make sure there were enough upbeat songs to keep the energy level up, at least until maybe the last quarter or half hour when they'd wind down to the end of the night.

The Great Hall was going to be closed from six forty-five until seven thirty to be set up for the dance, so Kirley, Ana, and Lily were there just a few minutes ahead of that, and once the students had been cleared out after dinner, they got to work, along with some students who were doing decorations.

Kieran had a few things to get done, including getting ready to go on stage with Lily, so he'd eaten quickly and left the Great Hall early, as had a lot of the Witches at the school. He also had all of the guys in their study group stopping in to pick up the corsages for their girls before going on to their dorms to put on suits and get ready themselves. He had that all done by about ten after seven, and he hurried to the Great Hall, where his parents and Lily nearly had everything set up already.

"You look wonderful tonight," he told Lily, coming up and hugging her. "Can we just let Dad do the concert, and we can stay out here and dance all night?"

"It's a bit late to back out now," Ana told her son, and he hugged her next. "Besides, maybe I want to dance with your father all night. It's Valentine's Day for us too, you know."

"How did the girls like their rings?" Kirley asked Kieran.

"They loved them," Kieran answered, hugging his father too.

"What rings?" Ana asked, and watched as both of her boys grinned, then handed a small gift to her, and one to Lily. They were both laughing when Ana and Lily opened their last presents of the day, and then hugged them both.

"What a really great idea!" Lily told Kirley and Kieran. "Thank-you!"

"You're welcome," Kirley told her. "Now, we've only got a few minutes before the doors open, so lets get a quick sound check done, and then you can take a little break until you're introduced by Professor McGonagall."

While they were busy with that sound check, the rest of the Marauders and their friends were meeting up with their boyfriends, girlfriends, or dates for the dance. In the Gryffindor Common Room, Frederica and Liam, and Philip and Heather were the only couples actually in their Common Room, with both boys greeting their girls with hugs, kisses, and flowers. Hugo met Emily in her office for a few private moments together, while outside of Gryffindor Tower in the hallway, Malcolm and Adam were meeting Ophelia and Cassandra, giving them their corsages, and escorting their dates to the Great Hall.

At Ravenclaw Tower, Brian and Quincy met Amy, Erin, and Myra in the Common Room, and then went out into the Hall together where Horatio was waiting for Myra, corsage in hand, and a nervous, shy smile on his face.

"If I trip over my jaw, keep me from falling over," H told Brian and Quincy, and all of his friends laughed. "You look wonderful, Myra."

"Thank-you, H," she said, hugging him before he handed her the corsage. "The flowers are lovely. Will you help me put it on?"

Horatio laughed and held up his slightly shaking hands. "That might be a really bad idea," he answered. "Maybe Erin or Amy should help you instead."

"Here, Myra," Erin said, holding out her hands. "I'll get that for you." She smiled at Horatio. "You look very handsome tonight, H. You make a great looking couple."

"Thanks, Erin," Myra said in response to both the help with the corsage and the compliment. "Shall we go?"

Kieran wasn't in his office, but he'd told his fellow Hufflepuff Marauders and friends to go ahead and meet there with their respective dates, so Colin, Lance, Dale, and Aiden were there, meeting Nadine, Vanessa, Carissa, and Violet, while Sarah had come here to meet Joel instead of having him meet her in the hallway outside of Slytherin House. They spent a few minutes together, the girls helping each other with their flowers, and the boys being rewarded with a hug or three before going up to the dance together. Jason and Millie, and Alice and Lenny met in the Slytherin Common Room, doing the flowers and hugs too, and then hurried off to the Great Hall, catching up with Sarah, Joel, and the others in the entrance hall.

The doors to the Great Hall were opened right on time at seven thirty, and the students quickly filed in. There were tables set up all over the hall, with a large dance floor in front of the stage where SpellBound's equipment was set up and ready to go. There were fifteen couples from their study group who gathered together at several tables that were next to each other.

Professor McGonagall gave the students about fifteen minutes to take their seats, gave them the usual instructions for the dance, including the eleven o'clock end of the dance for the first and second year students, introduced Lily and Kieran, and let them take over the show from there.

They started the night out with a twenty minute long session where they got the dance rocking with a high-tempo series of pop songs that had most of the students up, dancing, and having a lot of fun. From there, they mixed up the songs with ballads and more pop tunes. Their friends, cousins, and new sisters were all enjoying themselves as much as everyone else in the Hall, and they were out dancing nearly all of the time.

Erin and Quincy, and Alice and Lenny had come to the dance together, but were the only members of their group that had come as friends, not as boyfriends and girlfriends. They took a few more breaks than the others did, and danced with other teens. They were sitting together at one of the tables for a break during one of the slow dance songs, where it was a lot quieter, and easier to talk together.

"This dance is way better than the ones we've been to at the Academy," Alice said happily.

"They were fun too," Lenny said. "I'm sure you're liking this better because we – I – joined Philip and Malcolm for the dancing lessons."

Alice laughed and hugged him. "That has made my feet much happier, Lenny, but this is just bigger and better with all of the students here, and having Lily and Kieran performing like this. I just really love it."

"Me too," Erin agreed, "and I'm very happy with how much better you are at dancing," she told Lenny with a big smile.

"You'd only danced with me once before tonight," Lenny told her, and then laughed. "That's why you were dodging me the rest of the night at that dance at the Academy, wasn't it? I'm crushed."

"Probably no more crushed than my feet were that night. I'll dance with you again later tonight to make it up to you," Erin promised.

Out on the dance floor, Hugo and Emily were dancing close together, swaying slowly to the soft, beautiful 'Ocean's Apart'. They'd both been having a wonderful night so far, both of them enjoying what would be their last school dance before graduating in June.

"Can you believe that this is our last dance here?" Emily asked. "Sometimes it makes me a little sad that it's almost over."

"You're not supposed to be sad on Valentine's Day," Hugo told her. "We could go back to your office, and I'll spend the rest of the evening cheering you up."

Emily laughed. "Nice try," she told him, hugging him tightly. "If we go back there now, though, every first and second year Gryffindor will be knocking on my door from eleven o'clock on if they know I'm there. We're better off staying here."

"How about Kieran's office?" he suggested, leaning close to place a soft, suggestive kiss on her neck.

"How about you cut it out?" she suggested, smiling at him. "We'll have some time for a little snogging later."

Hugo sighed. "Alright, if that's the way it has to be. How is the dance partnering going tonight?"

The girls were making sure that any of their fellow students who weren't getting out dancing got invited out by members of the Marauders, or a little matchmaking was done in a couple of cases.

"Frederica's keeping an eye on that, but last time I talked to her, she said it was going fine," Emily answered. "I haven't noticed any lonely hearts around, so she probably has it under control."

She did, and was happily dancing with Liam not far from the stage. "That cute little third year you danced with earlier has apparently attracted some young Wizardly attention," Frederica whispered, and Liam looked over to where the girl was now dancing with one of the boys in her House.

"Good for him, she was really shy when we first started dancing, but seemed to be a really bright, sweet girl."

Frederica hugged him. "Maybe I should be more careful with the Witches I pick out for you to dance with."

Liam laughed and squeezed her gently. "You don't have to worry about that. You're the Witch I love, and nothing's ever going to change that."

"That is exactly the right answer," she told him. "I love you too, Liam."

While the members of TNM and their friends were having a great night at Hogwarts, quite a few members of their extended family were enjoying parties at the Academy, Residence, and the Emerald City Centre. James, Arianna, Aaron, and Tracey were at the Academy dance for the night, along with Sebastian and Trinity, and Tristan and Liselle.

"How late will this dance be going?" Sebastian asked when the four couples were sitting around having drinks and taking a break. "This is already past our bedtime."

Arianna laughed. "Right. You're just ready to head over to our place and have a couple of drinks that are a bit stronger than these. The dance is over at eleven, we'll have the younger kids tucked in by midnight, and you'll probably get your second wind shortly after that when we can head home."

"You're having fun here anyway," Trinity told him. "I love spending some time with these kids, and you love them too."

"Cut it out, honey," he told Trinity. "You're going to ruin my rep, and none of the other Beaters will take me seriously anymore."

"You're telling us it's past your bedtime at nine thirty on a Saturday night, and you're worried about Trinity ruining your rep?" Aaron asked with a laugh. "That's really funny, mate."

Sebastian laughed too. "So I'm inconsistent, what can I say?"

Harry and Ginny were helping out at the Residence Valentine's Day party, and were hanging out with Susan and Wayne, and Tracey's parents, Trent and Katie Rivers as they had fun with the under-eleven dance and party. Some of the kids played at dancing together, but most of them were either in the dining hall for drinks and snacks, or out playing in Common Rooms, game rooms, or the lounges watching a movie or playing. The boys had been playing dolls earlier, while the girls played GameWizard, or helped chaperone the dance.

"They're so cute when this little still," Katie said as they sat around a table having fruit punch drinks.

"Yes they are," Ginny agreed. "It's fun getting to come to one of these – most of the time they're in the afternoons when Valentine's Day is during the week."

"The kids love having all of you here too;" Susan told them. "You must be getting tired, though," she added, talking to Ginny and Harry. "What time were you up this morning?"

"We got up at two-thirty, and were in Egypt by three-thirty," Ginny answered, "and yes, we're getting a little tired. I'm sure we're not nearly as tired as Mark is by now. Hopefully he, Callie, Owen, and Natalie won't stay at the Valentine's dance they were having tonight after the racers all got to the finish line, but since he won, getting away might not be very easy."

"They can sleep in all day tomorrow if they want," Harry suggested. "Grandma and Grandpa Cauldwell have Kira and James for the weekend."

"Maybe we should think about sleeping in all day," Wayne told Susan, who hugged him and smiled.

"When was the last time we took a whole day off from our kids?" she asked, and Ginny and Harry both laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, really, just your timing," Ginny told her friends, then pulled an envelope out of her bag and handed it to them. "We were thinking the exact same thing a while ago, and wanted to give you a Valentine's present."

Susan opened the enveloped, and pulled out the letter that informed her that she and Wayne were going on an all-expense paid luxury tour with Matt and Rose for two weeks to Brazil.

"This leaves in two weeks!" Susan said. "We can't get away on that short of notice."

"You can if it was all set up ahead of time," Ginny told her, "and it was. Your staff, and Wayne's company were very happy to accommodate our requests to help get you two away on a vacation." Susan got up and hugged Harry and Ginny, after hugging Wayne.

"Thank-you so much! This is going to be so great." Susan was smiling, had tears in her eyes, and was looking around at her kids. "I'm going to really miss our kids, though."

"I know you will," Ginny said comfortingly, "but you and Wayne really need to have some couples time, Susan, and you are really going to love what Rose and Matt do on these trips."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Wayne asked, and Ginny laughed.

"Because we're pretty sure if you'd known too far in advance, the two of you would have found some excuses not to get away from here. None of your friends wanted to give you the chance to let that happen."

"You make it sound like we never take vacation," Susan protested. "We go on vacation."

"You can't include the week at Marauders Paradise as vacation, Susan," Katie told her. "Trent and I have been volunteering here since before Aaron and Tracey got married, and I've never heard of you going on a vacation since at least before then."

"Give it up," Ginny said. "You probably really don't want to actually come up with just how long ago your last real vacation was. Go have fun on this trip, and maybe you can try to make sure it won't be so many years until your next vacation."

The biggest party going on was at the Emerald City Centre, for the Marauders Institute. Al and Carolyn were at that dance, along with Ron and Hermione, Molly and Arthur, Bill and Fleur, Stewart and Isabelle, Teddy and Victoire, Nick and Allie, and Scorpius and Brianna. The last three couples weren't involved directly with Marauders Institute, but Fleur scooped the extra tickets, and two out of three of the couples were part owners of PBP Investments now anyway, and Nick and Allie could stand in for Percy and Penelope, who were still in Hawaii.

"Are you going to be back on the road tomorrow night?" Nick asked Al. They were taking a break for drinks with Carolyn and Allie while the others at their table were off mingling or dancing.

"Yes I am," Al confirmed. "This week I'll be in the Philippines. I'll be heading out at around ten o'clock tomorrow night."

Nick laughed. "So you can stay out and party until dawn, then sleep all day! I'm with you, mate."

"Have you ever, even once, seen me party all night?" Al asked his cousin. "I'm really not having any fun with this whole night shift thing at all."

"Neither am I," Carolyn told Allie and the boys. "If you're going to have a lot of weeks like this as an Auror, I may have to think about getting a kneazle cat to cuddle with when you're away."

"We can get a kneazle if you'd like, but hopefully this won't be how the job goes all of the time."

"What are you guys all doing sitting around?" Lisa asked them as she and Marcus stopped by to see them for a minute. "Your grandparents are out-partying you."

"Grandma and Grandpa could probably out-party most of the Wizards and Witches in this room," Nick told her with a laugh. "If you think you can keep up, though, go ahead and try."

"We wouldn't think about trying that," Marcus told him. "Jair's only with a babysitter, not away for the night. If we stay out much past midnight, tomorrow morning is not going to be fun for us once he gets going."

"Not to mention that it's double pay after one for our sitter too," Lisa added.

"Uncle Al and I would love to take him sometimes for an overnight visit if you need a cheap pair of sitters, you know," Carolyn told them. "We just need to plan a little in advance to make it happen."

"You don't have to make an offer like that to us twice," Lisa said with a laugh. "We'll compare schedules soon and see what we can come up with. I'm sure Jair would love to do that."

Lisa and Marcus only stayed for a few more minutes, and then moved on toward the dance floor. Scorpius and Brianna, then Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, and Isabelle joined them at the table, a change in music tempo bringing them all back to their seats for drinks and a break.

"How do you like this party compared to a Hogwarts Valentine's dance?" Victoire asked Carolyn, Brianna, and Allie.

"The wine's a nice improvement," Carolyn said, "and not having to be separated from Al in our dorm rooms after the dance will be pretty great too, so I'd say this is definitely better."

"Have any of you heard how the dance is going at Hogwarts tonight?" Isabelle asked. "We may get to have more spirited drinks, but they got the better band."

"Lily sent me a message during their first break," Carolyn answered. "It sounded like everything was really great there. She said that Myra and H, Cassandra and Adam, and Violet and Aiden were especially cute to watch out on the dance floor. Hasn't Carissa sent you anything yet?"

Isabelle shook her head. "No, but she's probably just having fun. I'm sure she'll send a message in the morning and tell me all about her night."

"So will Millie and Amy," Victoire said. "It should make for some entertaining reading at breakfast."

"I'm sure their Valentine's Day is a best ever this year now that Jason and Brian are at Hogwarts with them," Brianna told the other girls. "I'm sure liking mine better this year than last," she added, smiling, and hugging Scorpius.

"So am I," he assured her.

"At the risk of inflicting a political conversation on Nick," Victoire said, "how are things going with your upcoming conference?" she asked Scorpius.

"Nick might actually like this conversation, since one of our negotiations has to do with standardized building codes, and other than a few fairly minor points we're working out, our negotiations are all going very well," he answered.

"That'd make life easier for us architects," Nick agreed. "It takes a lot of time to learn all of the different codes in each country. Just don't let them go too crazy on that. Things like anti-earthquake spells are not cheap, and they're not needed everywhere."

Scorpius laughed. "Don't worry mate. Things like that are being taken into consideration, and while the standards will be the same, there will also be risk zoning done for things like earthquakes, hurricanes, and everything else. I'm sure the whole building industry is going to love what we're doing."

"How about over in Goblin Liason?" Victoire asked Brianna. "If Allie and I are going to begin investing in businesses geared toward Goblin females, we are going to need things stable on that front."

"The Goblins have been mostly happy with us – probably more than the Witches and Wizards have been since I took over," Brianna answered. "I think investing in that is going to help my job as much as you're hoping my work with the Goblins helps you. I take it that you'll have Goblins running that part of the business?"

Victoire nodded. "We're investing, but Goblins will run these new businesses. There will be other partnerships too, where they will have products we'll buy for our retail sales, and we'll be developing and producing new products exclusively for them. We're pretty excited about the whole project."

"Do you think they'll be interested in our BusinessMagic systems?" Carolyn asked.

"We haven't really discussed that, though it would make our life easier if we didn't have to do business on parchment there, and keep transferring records to our systems at the point where transactions pass in and out of Witch Investments. There are only a comparatively very few Goblins that use our systems, even at Gringotts, though."

"Have you offered them a system that they can use in Gobbledegook too?" Al asked. "Maybe they aren't interested in using them because they don't want to work in human languages, or they might need other changes to the systems to be more usable for our Goblin friends."

Carolyn hugged and kissed him excitedly. "Those are very good suggestions," she told him. "I'm going to get right on that on Monday."

"Me and my big mouth," Al joked. "Now you'll be back in the lab with Lisa and Natalie for the next six months working on this."

"Maybe some time," she agreed, "but I'm thinking we need to get some of our Goblin researchers to take a look at joining the BusinessMagic group."

"That should be fun for Emily when she gets done school," Nick said with a laugh. "What a way to start her new career running the BusinessMagic department."

"Okay," Nick said, standing up and holding his hand out to Allie. "That's my quota of politics and work talk. Let's get back to the dancing and Valentine's fun."

The Valentine's Day fun at the Academy and Residence both wound down by eleven o'clock or so, and at Hogwarts, the first and second year students left their dance then too, while the older students could stay until the dance ended at one o'clock. That didn't mean that all of the older students did stay, though. There were couples that did wander off to find quiet, out of the way places for a little Valentine snogging, and as usual, there were a few dates that didn't really work out and ended early.

The first and second year couples of the Marauders study group all had Valentine dates that had gone very well, and they were all very happy as they ended their evenings after leaving the dance at eleven o'clock. Adam walked Cassandra to Gryffindor House, Horatio walked Myra to Ravenclaw Tower, and Aiden escorted Violet to the Hufflepuff Common Room entrance. Each of the couples ended their first dates with hugs and kisses before the boys had to hurry back to their own Common Rooms.

Lily and Kieran took a few short breaks during which they just used canned music for ten or fifteen minutes, and the session with Kirley ended up being close to an hour long. They were really having a great night on stage, and were having just as much fun as the students they were entertaining. By one o'clock when they finished up for the night, though, they were both tired out after more than five hours from the time they went on stage, and more than four actual performing hours.

"You guys were amazing tonight," Emily told Lily and Kieran after they'd gotten off of the stage.

"Thanks, Emily," Lily said, hugging her, and then hugging Hugo too. "I suppose you have to both go on patrol now?"

"For a while," Emily agreed. "Hopefully it won't take too long to find all the hidden snoggers and get them back to their Houses before they get caught by Filch or one of the Professors."

"Do you think you'll catch any of our friends?" she asked, and Emily laughed.

"It wouldn't be the first time. Didn't Brianna rescue Joel and Sarah once or twice last year?"

"I do believe she did, yes," Lily said, laughing too.

"We should get started," Hugo said. "We'll see you at the game next weekend, cuz," he told Lily. "Thanks for helping to make this such a great night for all of us."

"You're welcome, Hugo," she told him, hugging both of them again before they went to leave the Great Hall and start their curfew patrol. "Do you have patrol too?" she asked Kieran.

"Not tonight, but I'll be on call while Emily's on patrol, so if any of the Prefects have any problems, I'll be helping out with that instead."

Lily put her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Then I guess we better say goodnight, and let you get to your office. Take care of yourself, and I'll see you next Saturday."

"I will, and you do the same," Kieran answered. "Thanks for making today a really great Valentine's Day for me too. I love you, Lily."

"I love you too," she answered before kissing him tenderly.

Kieran hugged his parents, and hugged and kissed Lily one more time, and as he left, Lily, Kirley, and Ana got to work packing up and getting ready to leave. While they were doing that, the older Marauder and friends' couples were saying goodnight to their girlfriends and boyfriends. Malcolm had walked Ophelia to Gryffindor House, and they spent several minutes on a long goodnight hug and kiss that left them both a bit breathless, and was a great end to their Valentine's Day.

"You should probably get going, or you'll be out after curfew," Ophelia said quietly between a few last kisses. "Thank-you for asking me to the dance. I really had a great time tonight."

"You're welcome, but I should be the one thanking you," Malcolm answered. "I wasn't sure what the others meant when they'd talk about what 'best day ever' days were, but thanks to you, now I do."

Ophelia hugged him tightly, and kissed him again. "You're welcome too, Malcolm." She let him go regretfully, and smiled at him. "I'll see you in the morning. Have a good few hours' sleep."

"You too," Malcolm told her, smiling too, and watching her go into the Gryffindor Common Room before hurrying down the hallway to get back to Slytherin House.

Lily got home to the Cottage at around a quarter to two, and her parents must have already gone to bed, since other than leaving a hall light on for her, the lights were out both downstairs, and upstairs. She'd briefly thought about a little bedtime snack, but decided to go upstairs instead, get ready for bed, cuddle with Fluffy, and get some sleep. Going home and getting some sleep was what most of the other members of her family, and their friends were doing over the next hour or two, depending on which party they were at. Some were off to sleep right away, while others went to bed too, but were happily extending their Valentine fun for a while longer before getting some rest.

Getting some rest was high on the list of priorities outside of Hogwarts on Sunday before the start of another workweek, while at school, it was a catch up day to get their assignments done after taking the whole day off on Saturday, though everyone in the Marauders' study group were very happy all day while they worked.

The week after Valentine's Day was all about work for everyone. At Hogwarts, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams were working day and night between classes, homework, and practicing for the game coming up on Saturday. The Canons were getting ready for what should be a tough match on the road against the Pride of Portree. At the Academy, James and his teachers had a small group of students ready for some testing, and they were doing that over the last couple of weeks of the month. The Valentine shopping might be over, but in the world of business, all that meant was that they switched from that holiday to gearing up for Easter, which this year was just seven weeks after Valentine's Day.

Carolyn was busy right from early Monday morning getting the BusinessMagic systems for Goblins idea that they'd discussed at the dance into program development at the Institute, while Al was putting in very long days in the Philippines. Identifying the local Knights was going slowly during the week, and other than seeing Byron on Tuesday while he was doing the week two schedule of his Knight messenger service, the days were not very exciting. After the Knights left their office for the day, he'd go get something to eat, take a break, and then return to the office to search the place, and go through all of their records.

By Friday, Al finished identifying all of the Knights in the Philippines, and had finished his search of their office on Thursday. Even after being in the Philippines most of the day local time, he was back at Auror Headquarters by shortly after eight o'clock in the morning, with a full day ahead to keep working. He joined the other Aurors for the morning workout that he didn't get to nearly often enough, had an update meeting with Rick and Hestia, and then spent the rest of the day on his cold cases.

He'd been sleeping every evening after an early dinner all week, but on Saturday, he needed to be at Hogwarts to watch for any visits from the Knights again, so he needed to stay awake until later on Friday night so he wasn't up and ready to go for the day before midnight again.

Lily and Carolyn helped him with that by letting him make them dinner, taking a tour of Lily and Kieran's house to see how it was coming along, and then hanging out in the sitting room, chatting and watching a movie on WWVN until Al finally started falling asleep at around ten-thirty. The girls had let him go up to bed then, although they did stay in the Great Room to finish their wine and movie before Lily went home to the Cottage, and Carolyn went up to bed too, managing to cuddle close to Al without waking him from the deep sleep that had claimed him for the rest of the night.

Al was still up early on Saturday, had gotten ready for the day quietly, and then gone downstairs to make breakfast for two. Carolyn was happy to wake up to those sweet breakfast aromas for the first time since Sunday, which always made for a better start to her day. Everything was ready when she joined Al in the kitchen, and after a warm hug and kiss, they both sat down to eat.

"You're probably going to be gone at least all morning," she said, and Al nodded. "Brianna, Allie, and I are going to meet at the Mall later, and do a little shopping, and Nick and Scorpius are going to meet us for lunch there, so if you can come too, send me a message. If you can't, you can meet us back here for the afternoon game day and pool party whenever you can get away from the school."

"With Colin and Nadine facing each other today, I don't expect this game to be a short one," Al told her. "Hopefully I'll at least get back in time for some of the party here."

Carolyn laughed. "I really hope so too. We really do not want Nick and Scorpius cooking dinner for us. If you're that late, we may have to consider ordering in."

"If the game goes that long, I'll want to order in too," Al suggested, laughing too.

They had time for a nice leisurely meal, did the cleanup together, and then Al kissed Carolyn goodbye, and left for Hogwarts when it was almost time for the school grounds to open, while Carolyn got ready to go meet Allie and Brianna at the Marauders Mall.

Lily had been up early too, and spent a nice couple of hours with Harry and Ginny before leaving for Hogwarts. She was at the gates a few minutes before she could go in, unaware of the fact that her brother was there, watching from under his invisibility cloak. Kieran was already on the way to meet her, and they were both smiling as he closed the gap. They talked for the last minute or so before it was safe for her to pass through the gates, and then shared a long hug and kiss before holding hands and walking up the drive, then turning to go down the path to the Quidditch stadium.

Al knew he'd likely have a decent break before the next guests would arrive, so he moved from where he'd been watching on the side of the road to the other side of the gates. He'd only been in position again for a few minutes when two Wizards and a Witch appeared outside the gates, looked around, and began walking up the drive.

When he had instantly sensed their nervousness, then exuberance when successfully passing the gate, Al knew he had three of the Knights. It took a moment longer to recognize Herb Burke, since he'd only actually seen him once before after Travers had been captured. The other couple, and he sensed they were a couple, he didn't know. They were moving away quickly, and Al had to make a decision whether to follow them, or stay to see if any other Knights came along. When they didn't turn toward the Quidditch stadium, he decided to follow them, albeit at a distance.

There was a path that went off from the drive toward the Memorial stone and the lake that Herb Burke took, splitting off from the other two, so Al kept a lock on Herb's thoughts, and continued along the drive, following the new couple. They went on a walk along the path looping around the school and greenhouses, then passed Burke, and went the opposite way from what he'd done along the lake, and past the Memorial Stone. Al was far enough back from them that he wasn't able to hear what they were saying, but what he could read from their minds just made it so he knew what they were going to say before they said it.

They were doing a reconnaissance of the outside of the school and grounds, which Al thought was pretty funny for a couple of reasons. They had several recent graduates of the school who could have given them detailed memories of the school and grounds to look at instead of risking attracting attention to themselves like this, and because it was obvious that they were incompetent to do the job anyway, since at best, all they managed to do was identify entrances to the school, greenhouses, and a few other things like Hagrid's cabin.

He identified the couple as Winston and Bertha fairly early in their walk, and got the last name, Warrington, from Herb Burke when he passed them on the path. They'd taken their time on the walk, and by the time they were all done, other guests were beginning to arrive at the stadium too, so they moved along to the stadium too, taking seats in the Slytherin section. Winston and Bertha sat together, and Herb sat a dozen rows away from them, joining another group of visitors.

Al went under the stands again, picking another spot where he could keep an eye on the Warringtons, and see most of the game, though he couldn't see Burke from that location. Since they were still there a good twenty minutes before the game would start, he had time to start adding this new information to his records in the Auror Case Manager program, updating his file on the hometown Knights.

While he was doing that, he could also see quite a few of his friends and family coming into the stadium and taking seats. The Gryffindor group included Aunt Hermione, Luna, Demelza, Uncle George, Aunt Marietta, and Liam and Aiden's parents, while on the Hufflepuff side, Kirley, Ana, and Lily were there to cheer on Nadine, and Miranda's mother, Gwenog sat with them to cheer on her daughter.

The student Marauders and friends were mostly split between the two groups. The Gryffindor students had a larger group of their friends join them. Malcolm, Joel, Sarah, Millie, Jason, Amy, Brian, and Myra, who all came to sit with their friends, while getting to have a visit with the parents. In the Hufflepuff section, Cassandra had come to sit with Adam and Violet so she could visit with Kirley, Ana, and Lily. Alice, Lenny, Erin, and Quincy sat with the Hufflepuffs too, and while they were a smaller group than what Gryffindor had, they were ready to cheer on Nadine and Miranda in a big way.

Malcolm had been busy with introductions for the first ten minutes or so when he and Ophelia had gone to sit down in the Gryffindor section, but he had seen the Warringtons and Burke in the Slytherin section. He'd already told Dirk during his last report that he'd be sitting in the Gryffindor section with Hugo and Frederica's family, so that wouldn't be a surprise to them, but for him it had still been very different, and was taking some getting used to.

One thing that didn't feel strange at all was getting to cuddle under a warm blanket with Ophelia again as they got settled in before the game started. That was something that felt wonderful, just like he felt pretty much all of the time that he was with her.

Al was listening in on those thoughts too, while he was keeping track of what the other three Knights were thinking about, and he'd smiled to himself. Malcolm was definitely coming along just fine. The other Knights were busy looking around the stadium, noting where the Professors were sitting, the adult members of his family, and other adult visitors. Since this was again something that Dirk, Terrance, or any of the other younger Knights could have told them all about, it didn't make much sense to Al why they'd be doing that.

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams were finally called out into the stadium, and the game got underway fairly quickly after that. Miranda led her team out on the attack, getting to the quaffle first, while Lance, Liam, and Aiden hurried into defensive positions, and the battle began at a wildly fast pace.

Even the three Knights that Al was keeping an eye on couldn't help getting caught up in the furious pace of the match. Alaida, Greg, and Miranda had a game plan that seemed to be to throw everything at Hugo, while the Hufflepuff Beaters tried to keep him off balance. They were able to do the first, but Eric and Brody were not nearly up to the challenge against Frederica and Kevin, who had them on the run more than Eric and Brody were able to do anything to get in Hugo's way.

After the first hour, the Hufflepuff Chasers had gotten forty-eight shots on Hugo, without scoring a goal. Gryffindor's Chasers had a more patient game plan, and while they'd only taken nineteen shots, they had scored three goals on John Madley. That pattern continued throughout the game. In the second hour, Hufflepuff had another fifty-three shots against Hugo, but he continued to play brilliantly and kept his shutout going. Liam, Aiden, and Lance had twenty-four shots on John, with Aiden scoring two goals, and Liam and Lance getting one more each to make the score seventy to naught.

The game continued, with hardly any breaks in the action, and by the end of the fourth hour, Hufflepuff had still failed to get a single goal past Hugo on one hundred and seventy-two shots, while the Gryffindor Chasers had now scored fifteen goals on ninety-nine shots. With the game just one goal away from being out of reach, Nadine put on a brilliant attack against Colin, trying everything she could to shake him and get a shot at the snitch, but he kept with her every step of the way, and neither of them could get the advantage and catch the snitch.

Liam scored their sixteenth goal at the four hours and twenty-four minute mark of the game, and Hugo waved Colin off of chasing Nadine down, knowing that if she caught the snitch now, Hufflepuff would lose the game. She knew that too, and now had to play defence against her boyfriend as he flew around, patiently waiting for any advantage to outrace her to the snitch.

With her team now down more than one hundred and fifty points, Miranda redoubled her efforts at Chaser, attacking Hugo over and over again, to no avail, as he stopped everything coming his way. That strategy had the downside that it gave the Gryffindor Chasers the occasional two on one or three on two plays against the Hufflepuff Chasers, which they were able to take advantage of three more times to score on John before Colin finally got his chance, and while Nadine tried her best to block him, he caught the snitch to end the brilliantly played four hour and fifty-one minute long game. Gryffindor had won their second shutout game with a score of three hundred and forty to naught.

This time, instead of leaving right away, the Warringtons and Burke stayed in their seats, watching the two teams meeting at centre pitch, with their friends and family joining them. There were a lot of dark emotions from all three of the Knights while they watched the scene played out on the field, which was a contrast to Malcolm's mostly warm feelings, except for a tinge of regret at having to end the cuddle session, and that Ophelia would be gone to the Gryffindor victory party until they got together for the after dinner study session.

Malcolm had walked with Ophelia out to congratulate their friends, and they spent most of the time with Philip and Heather, letting Hugo and the other players have some space for the short visit they'd get with their family before the visitors would need to leave the grounds. When Lily had hugged him and Ophelia before she and Kieran had left to take the long way around on their walk back to the gates, he'd wondered what the other Knights would make of that, but there wasn't anything he could do about it, and he'd liked being included in the hugs anyway. The two couples were standing near Frederica and Liam, and could hear the conversation between them, Uncle George, and Aunt Marietta.

"I guess we won't see you again until our game against Ravenclaw near the end of May," Frederica said, as she hugged her mother and father goodbye. "Three months seems like a long time away."

"It won't be quite three months if you can get up early and meet us at the Memorial Stone at sunrise on May second," George reminded her. "That's three weeks sooner, even if it's only for a half hour or so, and you know everyone else will be there too, so you'll get a chance to see all of us."

"I forgot about that," Frederica admitted. "We'll be there for sure, Dad, so I guess we'll see you in ten weeks instead of thirteen." She hugged both of them again, as did Liam, and all of the parents began leaving the stadium in groups.

Malcolm barely noticed for a moment, as his mind was racing at the news. Al caught those suddenly chaotic thoughts, and what was behind them, and his own mind was working at blinding speed as the impact of what Malcolm had learned caused a significant shift in the future probabilities, but then he nodded to himself as the path they were all heading down became a little clearer to him.

"Earth calling Malcolm, come in Malcolm," Ophelia said quietly, snapping him back from his musings. "Everyone's leaving. Would you walk me home?"

Malcolm smiled at her. "I'd love to," he answered, his heart beating faster as her smile lit up his day, and she hugged him before taking his hand again and they joined their friends on the walk back to the school.

Winston and Bertha Warrington were on the move, and Herb Burke wasn't far behind them, but with so many people leaving together, it wasn't possible for Al to immediately join the exodus from the stadium. He instead followed their thoughts as they walked, and they went straight to the school gates, walked out, and a moment later, apparated away – the Warringtons first, and Burke less than two minutes after his fellow Knights.

When Al was finally able to leave for the gates, when he got close, he again had to wait, moving off to one side, as he watched Lily and Kieran share a heartbreakingly sweet goodbye that brought tears to his own eyes as well as those of his sister and future brother-in-law. Lily left through the gates, and Kieran watched until she apparated away, heading for Al and Carolyn's house, though Al didn't know that yet. Kieran passed him on the way back to school, and after waiting until Kieran was far enough away, Al hurried out of the gate, and left for home.

Lily was still taking her cloak, boots, and the rest of her winter garb off in the entranceway when Al came inside, and laughed when the first thing he did was give her a long hug, and kissed her cheek. "I didn't know you were coming, but I'm really glad you did."

"Last minute change of plans. What was that all about?" she asked, and Al smiled at her.

"You and Kieran broke my heart with that goodbye a minute ago," he explained, and Lily laughed again.

"Are we under Auror investigation?" she joked. Carolyn had been helping Lily with her coat, but the comment was only for the three of them to hear, since the rest of their guests had not been told where Al had been working all morning."

"No, but I couldn't take the chance of being seen, even though I really wanted to hug Kieran too. Hopefully his sisters will be taking care of him by now."

"I'm sure they will be," Lily told him.

"Get those wet things off," Carolyn ordered as she hugged and kissed him. "Since Lily called ahead, I've got hot drinks ready, so both of you can come in here and get warmed up."

Lily and Carolyn went in ahead of Al while he got his things off and put away, and he could hear Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna welcoming her.

"Are you paying the players money to keep these games going so long this season?" Nick was asking her as Al joined them, and Carolyn handed him a hot coffee before they both sat down.

"I would have if I thought it would work, but the teams are just all that good this season," she told Nick. "I'm sure glad we aren't playing Gryffindor this season with our old team. They're really good, and Hugo had a two hundred and eleven shots against shutout."

Scorpius whistled. "That's a lot of shots on goal. It sounds like the Hufflepuff Chasers haven't lost much of their edge without Kieran."

Lily nodded. "Alaida's young, but I'd say she's as good as Aiden, or close to it, so they were very evenly matched with Liam, Aiden, and Lance this year. They sure out-shot them by a lot, but that was more because the teams had different game plans."

"You didn't actually say it, but I take it that Gryffindor did win the game, right?" Carolyn asked, and Lily nodded again.

"Three hundred and forty to naught," she confirmed. "The game was way closer than the score shows, though. Colin and Nadine had a great battle, but once Gryffindor got to one-sixty, she was in trouble having to just play defence while Colin could wait around for any chances to come up."

"How's the Canons' game going?" Al asked, waving toward the WWVN.

"Uncle Ron doesn't have a shutout going, but he is having a great game," Nick answered. "The Pride is holding on, though, and the score's two hundred and twenty to eighty."

By the time Nick had said that, Arianna was scoring another goal, adding ten more points, and the new score popped up on the screen for a few moments before disappearing again as the game continued. The Canons and Pride fought on for another two and a half hours before Liselle finally outraced her opponent to catch the snitch and end the game.

Al, Carolyn, and their guests had watched some of it, and fit in a nice long swim in the pool over that time, and near the end, Al had also started cooking dinner for seven. It was a little after six before they sat down to eat, and they were all ready to dig in.

"Are you going over to the victory party later?" Carolyn asked Lily.

"James and Arianna are doing this one, so I'll probably stop in for a little while, but I'm thinking about making this an early night, with maybe a nice long, hot bubble bath and a book before Fluffy and I go to bed."

"I suppose you're on the road again starting tomorrow night?" Brianna asked Al, and he nodded. "You should try to stay around home more often. Carolyn is not nearly as happy a camper during the day when she doesn't have you around at night, or to make her breakfast in the morning."

"I'd much rather be doing that too, but right now, I have a lot to keep up with. I'll try to do better, though," Al promised. "What are the rest of you doing for your last week of February?"

That diverted the conversation nicely, and for the next hour, they talked about work and politics, and what social activities they all had going on. When they'd finished eating, Lily, Nick, and Allie decided to all go over to the Canons' victory party, while Scorpius and Brianna stayed, helped Al and Carolyn with cleaning up after dinner, and then left for Grimmauld Place. Both couples had decided that a quiet evening at home sounded like more fun than going to another party did.

Having a quiet evening together or going to a party would have sounded like more fun to the Marauders study group on Saturday night. They all had a lot of assignments to do. Since the Quidditch players had all gone to bed early on Friday, and they'd all lost most of Saturday to the game and parties, the rest of the weekend was going to be filled with long hours of studying.

"Is it just me, or did the Professors forget they were supposed to wait until next week to start piling the homework on until Easter," Hugo asked.

"Easter's earlier this year than last, so maybe they're starting early too," Sarah suggested. "This really isn't that bad, though. We're just usually farther ahead or done by Saturday night instead of really just getting going."

"I think our Professors have been really nice," Nadine said, smiling at Hugo. "At least they give us a fighting chance to score some points, unlike some supposed close friends do."

"What about Colin?" Hugo protested. "I had nothing to do with whether you scored any points – I wasn't playing Seeker."

"He let me score some points," Nadine answered with a laugh. "They just weren't on the field."

Most of the girls laughed, especially when Colin blushed, and Nadine hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"So how am I supposed to get back in your circle of friends, since snogging you into forgiveness isn't an option for me?" Hugo asked, laughing too.

"Well, if we win our game against Slytherin in May, you could lose your last game against Ravenclaw," Nadine suggested. Then we'd have two wins each, and then we could declare a tie for the Cup."

"I love you, Nadine," Hugo told her, "but I wouldn't throw a game if my Mum asked me to."

Nadine got up from her seat, went over to Hugo and hugged him, and then returned to her seat next to Colin.

"Um, Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Hugo asked. "What'd I do?"

"You said you loved me," she told him happily. "That's something a girl never gets tired of hearing from her friends, and I love you too."

"Note to self," Hugo said. "Tell your friends you love them more often." Emily laughed, hugged him, and then they all got back to work.

Al started his last workweek of February off on Sunday night, leaving for his stakeout in China. When he was leaving for Beijing, Malcolm was doing his weekly report with Dirk Avery. As usual, Dirk hadn't asked how Malcolm was doing, whether he needed anything, or anything else that might suggest the other Wizard had any concern for his fellow Knight.

"What have you got for me this week, or have you come up empty again?" Dirk asked as soon as Malcolm answered the call.

"Everyone that they'd said was coming to the game today was there," Malcolm reported, and Dirk laughed.

"Tell me something we don't know," he said coldly. "It's been weeks since you've had anything useful for us."

"Okay, how about this?" Malcolm shot back. "Everyone will be here at the Memorial Stone at sunrise on May second."

"What do you mean, everyone?" Dirk demanded.

"Fredica's father said that she could see everyone here if she got up early and met them out at the Memorial Stone," Malcolm said. "That would suggest to me that all of the members of the family who fought in the Battle will be here to commemorate the anniversary. Probably all of the grown-up children like James and Al will be there too. I'd never heard that they all came at the same time, but it makes sense considering when the History books say the battle ended."

"See if you can confirm this some other way," Dirk told him. "I'll pass it on to the Lord Commander and get back to you if he has any other instructions."

With that, he hung up, and Malcolm shook his head. Dirk could be a real jerk. It was getting harder all of the time to remember what it was he'd ever admired about him when Dirk had been the leader of their group of friends here at school. When he'd told Dirk about what he'd overheard from George Weasley, he'd fired it off angrily after being put down by the other boy to prove he wasn't useless like Dirk had implied, but now, as he got ready to go to sleep, that nagging voice was back to bug him, and there was an ugly, uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

On Monday morning, at the Avery Estate, there were some ugly feelings going on too, but they weren't making anyone feel bad – quite the opposite. Lord Chernobog had listened to Dirk's report from Malcolm excitedly, and the other Knights all liked what they were hearing from Dirk too.

"So they'll all be there at sunrise?" he asked Dirk, who nodded.

"That's what Malcolm's reporting. I told him to try and get more confirmation on this, but we may be able to corroborate that ourselves through our contacts in the Ministry."

"Do that," Lord Chernobog instructed. "We must consider some changes to our plans," he told his Knights. "If this proves out, it is an opportunity we dare not miss out on. Just imagine! We may be able to take out all of our enemies, and achieve all of our other goals in one masterful surprise attack!"

"It's a brilliant plan, Lord," Gwendolyn told him, her eyes blazing, and her voice a little breathless.

"It will be," he assured her. "Continue with your reports, and we will come back to this later," he instructed the others, motioning for Dirk to finish his report first before moving on to Byron and Terrance.

The Knights were still meeting in Dirk's drawing room when Al went into their office in China after the few Knights who had been there had been gone for several hours, and he'd completed his always thorough check of the defences. When he finally went inside, he looked around in amazement. This office had maybe as many file cabinets as all of the Knights offices in America combined – probably more. These Knights must be the hardest working of all of the groups to have collected this much information.

For the next five hours he began what was going to be a much longer search than he'd anticipated, and had still barely made a dent in the total mass of files he was going to need to comb through. He went home in time to make dinner for Carolyn, ate with her, and then went to bed to get a few hours of sleep before doing it all again.

The rest of his week was pretty much a repeat of Monday. He watched the office all day, local time, searched the office after everyone had gone home, went back to his own home to have dinner with Carolyn, and get some sleep, and then get up and head back out the China again.

By Friday afternoon when he went back home, he was maybe slightly more than halfway through searching that office, but on Monday he and Scorpius had another Wizengamot meeting, and Callie had already let him know that their faithful opponents had dumped another load of files on them so that they would be able to end February, and start March with an all-weekend work session.

They weren't the only Witches and Wizards working over the weekend. At Hogwarts, the Professors had been happy to prove to Hugo that they hadn't started the homework overload before the Quidditch game by piling the assignments on until the students were all groaning under the weight of the workload. They were ending one month, and starting the new one with one of those rare weekends with nothing extra going on. The Marauders study group spent the entire weekend working on their revision. It was hard to believe, but that open weekend was the last one they had for the remaining just under four months they had left before the end of school.

There were just five weeks left until Easter, with two Hogsmeade weekends, three Canons games, and Mark's Trans-Atlantic Broom Race to look forward to. TNM would definitely be doing another Easter adventure ride this year, now planning on making that an annual event like they did with the Hogwarts Haunted Adventure. Harry, Ginny, and Lily had their big trip to Marauders Refuge coming up in two weeks, and with Canons' Quidditch, Broom Racing, work, and helping out at the Residence and Academy, they were going to be very busy. Al, Carolyn, and the rest of their friends and family outside of Hogwarts were going to be having some fun too, though they did need to also find a little time to get some work done. The last weeks of winter were definitely going to be busy, fun and exciting for everyone.


	138. An Exciting March and Easter

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Eight – An Exciting March and Easter

Lily and Ginny came into the kitchen together, each of them hugging and kissing Harry before getting cups of coffee and sitting down at the table, where Harry was just starting to set out breakfast for them.

"Will you be going to the Residence this morning?" Lily asked Harry as he put the last platter on the table and sat down with them.

"I'll wait until after lunch," he answered. "The staff don't need me looking over their shoulders all of the time while Susan is gone."

"I sent Rose a QuillMessage asking how Susan and Wayne were doing, and she sent me a reply telling me that she and Wayne had to take Susan's ViComm away from her, since she kept checking in on the kids yesterday," Lily told him. "If she's good for a couple of days, they'll let her have it back."

Ginny and Harry both laughed. "We should have sent them on vacation years ago," Ginny said. "Susan's forgotten how to have fun without all of her kids."

"It's been a couple of years since the two of you went on vacation without kids too," Lily reminded her parents.

"That's true," Ginny agreed, "but we've loved getting to spend so much time with you over the last two school years. I'm going to really miss you in the lab after you get married and move away."

"So will I," Lily told her mother. "I'll probably have to come play there with you every so often in between whatever else Kieran and I will be working at after we're married."

"I think it would be brilliant if you could do that," Ginny said, smiling at Lily. "I'm sure Mandy would like that a lot too."

Al and Carolyn were having breakfast then too, getting to at least start their week together, though he'd be back in China again starting tonight. After a long, busy weekend going over the Wizengamot proposals, Al was not looking forward to another long, tiring week.

"When will you guys decide what you're going to do about that proposal you found yesterday that had been charmed?" Carolyn asked. "That was a new tactic by the other side that is a bit more serious than what they've done so far."

"I'm not sure yet," Al answered. "Scorpius, Callie, and I are going to discuss it this morning before the Wizengamot meets. My first thought is to just hand out copies of the proposal with the Charm removed, and let it go for now. Confronting them about it now might cause more problems than we want to be dealing with right now."

Carolyn nodded. "If you send out a new copy of the proposal, they'll know you found the Charm."

"True," Al agreed, "but they won't be able to say anything about it, and they'll wonder why we didn't confront them about that, since that's an offence that could cost them their seats in the Wizengamot."

"I understand they're getting desperate, but taking those kinds of risks just seems ridiculous," Carolyn told him.

"Greed is a very powerful motivator, and I'm sure whichever members were responsible for that Charm probably thought that it was undetectable."

"It's a good thing they were wrong about that," Carolyn said. "That stupid proposal would have put Goblin and House Elf relations back twenty years."

"And then some," Al agreed. "They're really starting to get on my nerves, though. No wonder Dad was ready to pass the Wizengamot seats on to us. Twenty-six years of this foolishness is enough for anyone to put up with."

That foolishness continued less than an hour later, when two of their Wizengamot opponents stormed into Scorpius' office, where he, Al, and Callie were having their meeting.

"What is the meaning of sending around this supposedly corrected proposal?" one of the Wizards demanded, throwing the document on Scorpius' desk. "This is not what we submitted to the Wizengamot for consideration."

"That's exactly what was in the proposal once we removed the Charm from the documents that were given to us," Scorpius told him.

"That's a lie!" the other Wizard spat. "We are going to protest to the Minister of Magic, and demand your resignations for this!" Al turned and levelled the two men with a flinty look, and both men took an involuntary step back.

"I would recommend that you drop this, gentlemen," he told them. "We can prove that the document had been tampered with, and have corrected the problem. You know it was tampered with, and probably which members of your group did the tampering. Since we all know it's an offence that can cost your Wizengamot seats, and put you in Azkaban for twenty-five years, you might want to reconsider a public confrontation. If you insist, I will be happy to make the time to take on the Auror investigation into the matter personally. I'm fairly certain you would not like the outcome if I do that."

"Are you threatening us?" the first Wizard stammered, and Al stood up to face the man eye to eye.

"We were going to give your group of Elders the benefit of the doubt on this incident, that maybe you just had someone make a foolish mistake," Al told the two men. "You're welcome to protest this before the full Wizengamot when we meet shortly, but if that's what you decide to do, I want you to understand that we can unequivocally prove the documents were Charmed, and that I can find out everyone involved in this serious crime." The first Wizard looked ready to make a hot retort, but the second man put a hand on his arm.

"Of course, Elder Potter. I'm sure you are right, and this was just an unfortunate error by an over-enthusiastic member of our staff. We will withdraw the proposal immediately." With that, they turned and left the office, and Al sat down again.

"That was fun," Callie said, smiling brightly. "That makes me want to reconsider getting those fools arrested and charged for this outrageous move of theirs."

"Is stupidity a crime now?" Scorpius joked. "I can't believe they actually came here to threaten us. The depths to which they can go when underestimating us is apparently bottomless."

"Hopefully this will keep them from trying anything else like that again," Al said. "Let's get back to work before Scorpius and I have to go to that meeting."

The Wizengamot meeting was an all-day waste of time, with the predictable disappointing results for the twenty-one member pureblood faction. After that was finally over, Al checked in to Auror Headquarters for a quick meeting with Rick and Hestia, and then left for home, an early dinner with Carolyn, and a few hours sleep before he'd be getting up to go back to China again.

The only thing that changed over the weekend at Hogwarts was that February ended, and March began. The class and assignment load continued, and most of the students were busy all of the time keeping up with the workload. With all of that work going on, when the first weekend of March finally arrived, with a Hogsmeade weekend, and the Canons' home game against the Harpies going on, the Marauders and their friends were all more than ready to take most of the day off on Saturday.

Malcolm and Ophelia were on the way to Hogsmeade on Saturday morning near the front of the first pack leaving the school. They were going to be hanging out with Philip and Heather, Colin and Nadine, and Vanessa and Lance while in town, and having lunch with them before going back to school to catch the Canons-Harpies match.

When they got to the gates, Lily and Kieran were still sharing a hug and kiss, and the four couples were all smiling as they watched the happy reunion, while Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah were waiting for their friends.

"Come on, mate," Hugo was saying to Kieran. "It's not so warm out today that we want to stand out here and watch you snogging Lily all day."

For the first weekend in March, it was a warmer day than normal, and all of the students going to town were enjoying what would surely be a brief break in the cold weather. Several of the students around them laughed when they overheard Hugo, but then, so did Lily and Kieran. They didn't stop for a round of hugs and kisses, but Ophelia, Malcolm, and the rest of their group did join the other three couples for the remainder of the walk to Hogsmeade before splitting up again.

"Where to first?" Philip asked.

"Why don't we start with the apothecary," Vanessa suggested. "Honeydukes and the Wheezes store will both be packed at first, so we might as well get our potions refills, quills, inks, parchment, and the rest of the boring part of the supply shopping done first, and then we can hit those fun stores last."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Nadine said. "Who's booking the SpaMagic appointments for the next Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Frederica's doing that first thing," Vanessa answered. "I hope the boys appreciate the sacrifices we make to look beautiful for them."

Lance hugged her and smiled. "We appreciate it a lot, even though we know it's not a sacrifice at all, and sure hope that you do it mostly for yourselves."

"Has your mother been giving away our most classified girl secrets?" Vanessa asked him, and Lance laughed.

"Of course not," he told her, "but if you want us to believe it's such a sacrifice, you should at least attempt to look like you're about to endure some suffering when you go into the SpaMagic shops. Most Witches and Wizards don't smile, laugh, and dance around if they're about to do something unpleasant."

"We'll try to remember that," Nadine told him. "Who do you guys have to shop for today? Colin and I have Cassandra."

"Malcolm and I have Adam," Ophelia answered, "and Philip and Heather have H."

"Lance and I drew Violet," Vanessa told them. "Her list is pretty small, so it won't take long."

They got started on the shopping, and a little over two hours later, they were finished, and went to have lunch in the crowded Three Broomsticks. Quite a few of their friends were already there, wanting to get an early lunch and be back to school before the one o'clock start time for the Canons' game. They ended up with two separate tables, so Ophelia, Malcolm, Philip, and Heather sat at one, while Colin, Nadine, Lance, and Vanessa took the other table.

"The first Hogsmeade weekend we got to come here, I thought that having lunch in town was really great," Ophelia told her three friends after ordering and getting their drinks. "Now it's just not very exciting anymore. Did you guys feel that way back in your third year?" she asked Malcolm and Heather, who both nodded.

"I think everyone feels that way after coming a few times," Heather told her. "From what I've heard, you only have to try the Hog's Head Tavern once to have experienced that as often as you would ever want to. I haven't tried it myself, though."

"You're not missing anything," Malcolm assured her. "It's probably worse than you've heard."

"How does it stay in business?" Ophelia asked, and Malcolm shrugged.

"Beats me, but I guess even their normal patrons need someplace to go drinking, and the place has been there a long time."

Their food was delivered, and they ate fairly quickly, talking mostly about school and the game day party they'd be heading to next. When they were done, they grabbed their bags, left town, and walked bag to Hogwarts. They split up in the entrance hall, with Malcolm taking his purchases back to his dorm, while the three Gryffindors did the same, going up to their House before going to meet up again in Kieran's office.

While the game day party was getting started at Hogwarts, Al and Carolyn were in the Owner's Box at Canons stadium. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, James, Tracey, and Trinity were all there as usual, and this week's extra guests included Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, Allie, Percy, Penelope, and Grandma and Grandpa Weasley.

"No kids for this game?" Carolyn had asked Ginny, who shook her head.

"We're going to have five kids with us for the week at Marauders Refuge, so we thought it was time for an adults only game day."

"It'll just be Kira, James, and Timothy with us," Harry said. "Patricia and William will be with Gabrielle and Kevin."

"Maybe you two should stay with Gabrielle and Kevin, and let all five kids stay in the other suite with Lily," James suggested. "That would keep her from getting bored and missing Kieran."

"Did you know that your sister's bat-bogey hex has Beater bats?" Ginny asked, and James laughed.

"No, but now that I do, I withdraw the suggestion," he joked. "I was beginning to think Carolyn was keeping you locked up somewhere it's been so long since I've seen you," he told Al.

"I've thought about it," Carolyn told James, smiling and squeezing Al's hand.

"I'm sure that would be more fun than some of the Auror work that I've been busy with," Al answered. "Between that and Wizengamot business, it's been a busy couple of months."

James nodded. "How are the cold cases going?"

"The one I'm plugging away at right now is going pretty slowly, but I am making progress."

"Are the Canons ready for the game?" Nick asked. "I imagine the Harpies weren't happy about losing at home, and in only their second game of the season last September."

"I'm sure they weren't," Harry told his nephew. "This is the last game we have before our Quidditch World Cup National team is chosen, though, and nearly half of the teams will be playing next Saturday, so all of our players, and the Harpies players want to be playing their best today. We're as ready as we can be, and I expect they will be too."

"How's the house coming along, Grandma," Tracey asked, and Molly smiled brightly.

"They've got the frame up, roof on, and the rough floors and outside walls done already, and I'm told the windows and doors will go in next week. Now I know why Lily visits their new house nearly every day – it's exciting to watch it all going up."

"You mean it's more exciting than watching all of our Malls and resorts getting built?" Penelope asked.

"They have all been pretty great, but I think this has been the best of all, except maybe when we built those first houses on the island. They were really special."

Penelope laughed. "That was before you rescued me from my job at the Ministry. Are you going over there too Nick?"

"Most days I make a stop at both houses after work," he answered. "If they stay on schedule, in another couple of weeks, they should be starting on Grandpa's workshop while the other crews get working on the inside of the house. Lily and Kieran's is about a week ahead of schedule, so I'm pretty sure it'll be done near the end of May."

They kept talking about houses and work, while listening to Andy's pre-game show. When the teams were introduced, they stopped to watch the start of the game. Lily and Kieran stopped to do that too, but they had not been talking about work or houses – they hadn't been talking at all. Lily snuggled close to Kieran, her head on his shoulder, and his arms wrapped around her.

"Too bad you couldn't stay in town until after these games were over," Lily told him. "If you could, I'd ask Coach and the team to keep the game going all weekend."

Kieran laughed. "That'd be great if we could, but then I'd never get any of my revision done."

"Maybe not," Lily agreed, "but we would have fun."

"Yes we would, but the study commander in you wouldn't really let me do that anyway, so I guess we'll have to make do with the time we are allowed to have."

Lily kissed him and smiled. "Sometimes it sucks being so responsible."

"Sometimes," Kieran answered. "Neither one of us would change a thing, though."

They watched the game get started, and while their plan had been for a little game watching and a lot of snogging, the Canons and Harpies were having a brilliant match, and they got caught up in watching the fast-paced match.

"Uncle Ron is playing a brilliant match today," Kieran commented as they watched a replay of another great save. The Canons and Harpies Chasers were pretty close on shots on goal so far, but the Canons were up one hundred and ninety to just fifty for the Harpies at that point in the game.

"They all are," Lily told him. "I hope we get over one hundred and fifty ahead soon, though. The Harpies Seeker and Liselle are so closely matched, either of them could win their battle today."

Kimberly scored another goal to give the Canons that one hundred and fifty points lead a few minutes later, and Lily cheered. "Way to go, Kimberly! She's certainly making her case that she deserves to be on the National team this summer."

"I wonder how much of her image in the league is affected by the fact that she followed your mother's record breaking season on the team," Kieran mused. "When you look at her stats, especially this year, she'd be the number one Chaser on just about every other team in the league. It's only because she's playing with Aaron and Arianna that she's the number three Chaser for the Canons."

"Taking over from Mum probably did make a big difference, but so has playing with Aaron and Arianna," Lily answered. "She's really improved this season, but those first couple of years, her numbers were better because of who she was playing with." Kimberly scored another goal, and Lily laughed. "Nobody can go around suggesting that this season. She's not very far behind Arianna in the league scoring race right now."

Arianna and Kimberly were both improving their scoring numbers as the game continued. The Harpies Seeker had to go on defence now that the Canons were over one hundred and fifty ahead, and while both teams did continue scoring, that margin continued to grow as the game went on and on.

The game was still going on when Kieran had to return to Hogwarts, so he and Lily apparated to the gates, shared a long, tearful hug and kiss goodbye, and then he hurried up to the school, while she went on to the stadium to join her parents and family in the Owner's Box.

"Did you catch any of the game so far?" James asked her with a grin, and Lily laughed.

"We watched most of it," she told him. "I've just missed the last ten minutes or so getting packed up, saying goodbye to Kieran at the gates, and coming here. It's been a really great game so far."

James nodded. "It sure has. You've probably missed three goals, then - two for us, and one for them. How's Kieran?"

"He's good, but these days are never long enough for us, and I already miss him," she answered. Lily had sat down with her grandparents when she'd finished the round of hugs and kisses, and Arthur put his arm around her and hugged her.

"Is this another one of those three week stretches before you see him again?" he asked. When Lily nodded sadly, he hugged her again. "Do hugs help? There probably isn't anything I can say that will change the fact that not seeing your fiancée for three weeks really sucks."

Lily laughed and hugged him back. "I love you Grandpa," she told him, "and making me laugh does help a little."

There had been a round of hugs and some kisses for Kieran too before he sat in one of the recliners and resumed watching the game. That was something different for this game and the last one. Before Valentine's Day, Cassandra and Violet had wanted to sit with him during the game day parties, but now they seemed to prefer sitting with Adam and Aiden instead.

The game continued to be a tough battle, even though the Canons were pulling far ahead of the Harpies on the scoreboard. It was still going on when they had to go to dinner in the Great Hall, and while they'd planned a study session after dinner, since the game wasn't over by the time they'd finished eating, they had all returned to Kieran's office to continue watching the match.

"Is this the longest game so far this season?" Joel asked Hugo.

"I'm not sure, but it probably is," he answered. "It is for the Canons and Harpies for sure, but I haven't kept track of every league game this year, so there could have been a longer one I missed."

"I get why the Harpies Seeker doesn't want to give up the battle against Liselle, but the score is getting a bit ridiculous," Erin told the others. "When your opponent is up by over three hundred points against you, maybe it's time to stop wasting all of your efforts on this game. The season still has a long way to go."

The Harpies Seeker didn't agree with Erin's game analysis, and the battle between her and Liselle continued until after nine-thirty, when, after more than eight and a half hours of tough battling, she finally made a mistake that gave Liselle the opening she'd been patiently waiting for ever since the Canons had pulled more than one hundred and fifty points ahead. The final score in the eight hour and thirty-nine minute long game was five hundred and ninety points for the Canons, and just one hundred and twenty points for the Harpies.

"Gee, it's really too bad that we didn't get to do any studying today at all," Hugo said insincerely, and Emily laughed.

"Remember you said that when we're stuck studying all day and night tomorrow," she told him. "We have a lot of catching up to do now that we've skipped tonight's study session."

Hugo nodded, but was smiling. "Maybe, but the extra hours of cuddling was worth a little more work tomorrow."

"Anyone who wants to hang out here until curfew is welcome to do that," Kieran told his cousins and friends as he stood up and stretched. "I need to go spend some time in the Common Room, and then get a little work done before going to bed, so I'm going to get started on that."

Hugo, Emily, Frederica, and Liam decided to go to her office then, and a few others, like Alice, Lenny, Erin, and Quincy chose to go back to their Common Rooms to hang out, while all of the cross-House couples decided to take Kieran up on his offer to hang out there until just before curfew.

While most of the Marauders and friends study group were ending their game day party with a post-game snugglefest, the Canons post-game party ended up being a late dinner at Ron and Hermione's house that Harry and James put together. The rest of the usual party was cancelled, since by the time they finished dinner at a little after midnight, everyone was ready to go to bed.

On Sunday, Al and Carolyn were continuing their weekend off, but since Al was going to be moving his stakeout on to South Korea this week, the nine hour time change meant that he was going to need to leave for the stakeout by no later than ten o'clock each night, though he was going to make it nine o'clock for this first night to make sure he was watching the office there before any of the Knights would arrive to start their day.

After having a late night on Saturday, and having his sleep pattern messed up as it was switching back and forth from days to nights, other than taking an afternoon nap with Carolyn for a couple of hours, he ended up heading to South Korea without getting any really solid sleep all day.

Afternoon naps were not an option at Hogwarts on Sunday as the study group started right after breakfast, and only stopped for lunch and dinner through the entire day as they worked to get all of their weekend assignments finished. By the time Al was in South Korea, only the OWL, sixth, and NEWT year students were still studying, with a couple of fourth-year students staying around to offer moral support for their boyfriend and girlfriend.

"This is the last one," Ophelia told the other OWL students as they started on their Charms assignment. "We're almost there."

"Yeah," Vanessa said tiredly, and without much enthusiasm. "Remind me again what we're doing in Charms again? My brain is on overload."

"Summoning Charms," Colin answered. "A report on ways, other that 'Accio', to get objects to come to you."

"Can we practice by summoning my bed so I can have a nap?" Vanessa asked.

"No, but putting legs that work on things like beds – or like the teacups we did earlier in the year – is one way to get objects to come to you," Ophelia suggested.

That idea got them started, and it didn't really take all that long to get finished the last assignment, use their VirtualQuills to print them off, and start packing up to get back to their rooms and Houses before curfew.

"We don't have much time left," Ophelia told Malcolm once they were ready to go. "Let's say goodnight here, so you can go straight to Slytherin House. I don't want to make you late walking me back." She put her arms around his neck, and proceeded to hug and kiss him goodnight.

"Come on, Ophelia, or you'll both be late," Philip told her. Heather had just joined their study group, so the couple were at the door waiting for Ophelia so they could walk back to Gryffindor Tower together.

"I'll see you in the morning," she told Malcolm with her usual bright smile. "Have a good sleep."

"You too," he answered, smiling too. She kissed him one more time, and then they both left the room, Ophelia going one way with Philip and Heather, and he going the other alone. Millie and Jason caught up with him about halfway back to their Common Room, and they walked the rest of the way there together.

"Are you going to hang out in the Common Room for a while before going to bed?" Jason asked him, and Malcolm shook his head.

"No, I'm pretty much wiped out already. When we get back, I'm just going to get ready for bed, and maybe read for a while before going to sleep."

"If I could cuddle with Jason in bed, that sounds like a good plan," Millie told him, "but since we can't, I'll have to settle for a little cuddling time in the Common Room. I won't keep your roommate out too late, though."

"I probably wouldn't notice if you did," Malcolm answered. "Once I'm asleep, the Hogwarts Express could go through our dorm room, and I probably wouldn't notice."

Malcolm would have liked to be asleep when Jason did get back to their dorm room but he wasn't, though he'd had his eyes closed by then to make the other guys think he was. Instead of being asleep, though, his mind was racing as he struggled with what to do about what he'd been ordered to do by Dirk Avery during their weekly call.

"Start working on the Draught of Living Death," Dirk had ordered him. "You need to have it ready for when we need you to use it."

'When we need you to use it', was what Malcolm had running through his mind over and over again. Making the potion had been one of the things that Dirk had taught him during the summer – at great pains for Malcolm, since Potions had not one of his better subjects. Now, after working with Ophelia and the others for the last four months, his Potions abilities had improved a lot, but even though he could make the Potion, it was the what they wanted him to do with it that was keeping him awake now.

He'd been putting off dealing with everything to do with the Knights, but now he had to make a decision that wouldn't just affect him, but could very well endanger his parents. He might not feel any love for them, and even though he had a lot of anger toward his father, Malcolm did not want the Lord Commander hurting them because of something he did. The first decision that he did make, and which was surprisingly easy, was that he was not going to be making the Draught of Living Death at all. Hopefully, he could keep the truth about that from Dirk and the Knights, and keep his parents safe too, but he knew that now he was going to actively deceive the Knights, and disobey their orders, he and his parents were all in much greater danger.

That little voice in the back of his head was cheering him on for the decisions he did make, while continuing to nag at him about decisions he was still refusing to deal with. Malcolm felt good about the first part of that, and finally was able to get to sleep and silence the part of him that was urging him to do much more than he was prepared for.

On Monday morning, the Knight's Lord Commander was urging the other Knights to do more too, but unlike Malcolm, most of the other Knights were fanatically willing to do that, with the only two other exceptions being the Terrance and Byron, who continued telling Lord Chernobog what he wanted to hear, but were in the game only for their own gain and profit.

Those two young wizards were both able to mask their real feelings when dealing with the Knights, but while the others were getting more and more worked up as the day of their expected return to power approached, Terrance and Byron were getting closer to a panic over what they were going to do. The continual lying about what was happening with the other groups of Knights was going to be exposed then, and when that happened, their lives wouldn't be worth anything if they were anywhere near the Lord Commander or the other Knights. After the meeting, they went out for lunch together to discuss the problem.

"We're running out of time," Byron told Terrance. "Don't you think it's time for us to get our affairs in order?"

Terrance nodded. "Definitely, but we can't let anyone else find out, and we need to keep up appearances while we do that."

"When do you think we should make our getaway?" Byron asked.

"That's going to be a tougher decision," Terrance answered. "If we leave before the attack, they may think we're traitors, cancel their plans, and come hunt us down."

"You're right about that," Byron agreed. "If what we're doing doesn't get discovered before that, we pretty much have to keep the ruse going right up until the attack starts, and then we might be able to make our escape then. Maybe we could even get the Lord Commander to let us go on the pretence of helping the other groups."

"That's a good idea," Terrance said with a curt nod. "Let's be ready to go early if we need to, though."

"What are you doing about your family?" Byron asked, and Terrance shrugged.

"Nothing," he answered. "I could care less about any of them, and they certainly return that sentiment toward me. How about you?"

"Same thing here," Byron answered, though he didn't mention that there was a certain Witch in Tangier that he was hoping to take with him into hiding when they did leave, or that he was pretty sure that the Lord Commander would not be very likely to go after his relatives.

They spent the rest of their lunchtime talking over their plans, and then Terrance went back to the crummy room above the Tavern in China where he and Byron normally stayed when on the Asian-Pacific part of their week two route each Monday night. Byron went to do the shopping that he normally did every other Monday before starting the week one schedule.

The rest of the second week of March was mostly about work at Hogwarts and out in the real world too. Harry, Ginny, and Lily were also getting ready for their trip to Marauders Refuge, and Mark was doing his last week of preparation for the Trans-Atlantic Broom Race on Saturday. That was one more thing that Lily was working on too. She and Isabelle were putting together his flight plan for the race. Since Mariposa had won this race last year, they were looking to see if there was any way that they could give Mark any advantage this year.

Since the Trans-Atlantic race start time was seven o'clock in the morning, there were quite a few students up for the day and in the four Common Rooms to watch the racers take off from the start line near Paris. Mark's biggest fan at Hogwarts since he'd started racing had been Joel, and he was in the Ravenclaw Common Room watching the start of the race, but now he had some competition for that title in Slytherin House, with Sarah, Alice, and Lenny cheering him on too. Jason, Millie, and Malcolm were with them to watch the race, along with quite a few other Slytherins who had stopped to see what the small group of students were watching so early in the morning.

Kieran had all of the Hufflepuff members of their group of friends in his office by a quarter to seven, and they were watching the cameras following Mark as he was getting good luck hugs from Callie, Owen, Natalie, Harry, Ginny, Lily, Kira, and James.

"How did Lily and Isabelle's flight plan work out?" Violet asked Kieran.

"They think it's their best so far, but I guess we won't know until the end of the race just how good it is," Kieran told her.

"If the two best Arithmancers in the Wizarding World can't give Mark an advantage with that part of the race, nobody can," Vanessa suggested.

Mark and the rest of the racers were lined up and ready to go, the top twenty-five together, and the pack all crowded together behind the lead group. The starter's pistol went off right at seven o'clock, and the racers took off, heading west along quite a few different flight paths, which was a big change from the races before Mark had joined the circuit. Since Mark and Mariposa were two of the favourites, and the last two race winners, the cameras followed them a lot. They were going out on slightly different tangents, and she had three racers following her, and he had two following him, including Raffaele.

"Do you think they're going to attempt following Mark and Mariposa all the way?" Nadine asked. "That must be nearly impossible to keep doing for the whole race."

"It probably is," Kieran agreed, "but having two or three racers creating a drag behind them could really affect both of their race plans. Hopefully they can shake them early, since part of those race calculations depend on getting to certain points of the race on time."

They watched the beginning of the race until it was time to head upstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast, and after eating, it was time to start studying. Each of the smaller study groups kept a portable WWVN turned on so they could listen to the race as they worked, though with this particular race there wasn't nearly as much action as there was in most of the other races, since the fliers weren't all following the same route.

The plan for this weekend was to get all of the homework done by the end of the day on Saturday, or at worst, after a Sunday morning study session so they could take most or all of Sunday off. The first to fourth year students managed to do that, since they only stopped for lunch, dinner, and for nearly a half hour at around a quarter to eight to watch Mark win the Trans-Atlantic race in twelve hours and forty-four minutes, beating his own race record from the first season by nine minutes.

Mark had the same group welcoming him at the finish line as had seen him off in the morning, and Callie had been there first to congratulate him with a hug and kiss. The studying continued to be on hold until Raffaele came in second place shortly after eight o'clock, twenty-three minutes behind Mark, with Mariposa coming in third four minutes after Raffaele.

The Marauders study group got right back to work after that, and worked until curfew, or for the younger students, until they had finished their assignments. While they were busy doing that, Harry, Ginny, and Lily were saying goodbye to Mark, Callie, Owen, and Natalie, and taking Kira, James, and Timothy to Marauders Refuge for their week-long vacation at the South Pacific island paradise.

They had been able to get out of New York by four o'clock in the afternoon, or nine o'clock home time, which put them at Marauders Paradise by eleven o'clock Saturday morning, with nearly another whole day ahead of them. Gabrielle, Kevin, Patricia, and William were already there and checked in. They had been given rooms next to each other, a five-bedroom suite for Harry, Ginny, Lily, and the kids, and the three-bedroom suite for Gabrielle, Kevin, and their kids.

"What would you like to do with your nearly all new Saturday?" Lily asked a very bouncy Kira.

"Can we go do some rides first?" Kira asked, and her brother and Timothy were both nodding excitedly too.

"That sounds like a very good idea," Lily agreed. "Let's go meet up with Patricia, William, and their parents, and go play for a while. I'm probably going to need to have an afternoon nap later, though. It's already been a very long day for us."

It hadn't been as long a day for Gabrielle, Kevin, and the kids, and while it felt like late evening for Harry, Ginny, Lily, and the kids, it was only late afternoon for them. They went out to play for a couple of hours, had a light meal, and by then, Kira, James, Timothy, and William were all ready to have that nap Lily had suggested. Patricia hadn't been tired, so Gabrielle and Kevin took her to play at one of the pools while Harry, Ginny, and Lily went to have that nap with Kira and the boys.

The boys had wanted to have their nap on the balcony so they could watch the rides, but Ginny managed to convince them to nap in their rooms instead. She and Harry had William snuggle in bed with them, and while Kira did have her own room, she had her nap with Lily. After they had a nice little rest, they took the kids to play at the WaterPark, had another light meal, spent an hour checking out the Marauders Refuge version of the Ice Cream Bar and play centre, and finally took the kids back to their suites. Once they were there, everyone except Harry and Ginny took the potions that would help them with the time change before they all went to bed for the night, Lily again getting Kira for a cuddle buddy for the night.

Harry and Ginny hadn't taken the potion on Saturday night because they needed to get up at two o'clock in the morning, island time, get ready fairly quickly, and take the TransPortal back home for a special party at Ron and Hermione's house. The entire Canons' team, their spouses, Coach and his wife, and Dennis and Demelza were all there for lunch, and Harry and Ginny were surprising them by coming in time to watch the show on QSPN at one o'clock where the choices for the National Quidditch team that would be representing Britain for the Quidditch World Cup competition in the summer would be announced. For the first time, Andy and his broadcast team were going to host an entire show, instead of the normal press release, and the players and coaches who had been selected to the team would be finding out for the first time along with the rest of the viewing audience.

"Thanks for coming," Hermione said, hugging Harry and Ginny. "This is a really great surprise. You must be tired, though."

"We didn't take the potions when we went to bed, so we're not doing too bad so far," Ginny told her. "We won't be staying long, though. The kids are going to want to start playing when they get up in a few hours."

They were all set up with drinks and ready when the show started at one o'clock, with Andy spending a few minutes explaining what they were doing this year, and how they were going to reveal the team and reserve squad selections.

"They're milking this for every advertising galleon, aren't they?" Ron said. "Do Witches and Wizards who don't play in the league even care about this stuff?"

Tracey laughed. "I'm keeping an eye on the ratings, Coach Ron, and I'd say the answer is yes, since there are about eleven million viewers all over the world watching this right now."

"That's more than we get for an average game," Arianna said, and Tracey nodded.

"We do better in games like the one last week with the Harpies, but I'm sure QSPN is delighted with these numbers."

The format that Andy and his team had decided on was to announce the top five players selected at each position and coaching spot, reveal the player that made the reserve squad, and then finish with the player selected to the National team. They started with the coaches, for which there were just three positions – Head Coach, and an offensive and defensive Assistant Coach.

There wasn't anyone in the room who had been surprised when the undefeated Coach of the Canons, and his own two assistants, Ron and Dennis were picked as the Coaching staff. Coach had been selected over the coaches for the Harpies, Tornados, United, and Falcons, while Ron and Dennis had been picked out of a group of ten assistants from a total of seven different teams, including the Canons.

With that done, Andy moved on to the Beater positions. There were a total of ten players selected as finalists, with each player getting a short biography done on them explaining why they'd been selected. The Beater duo from the United team were chosen for the reserve squad, and when Andy announced that Tristan and Sebastian had made the National team again, there were more cheers and hugs and kisses in the sitting room at Ron and Hermione's.

Chasers were next, and the fifteen players vying for the three team and three reserve positions were reviewed, each member of Andy's team taking turns doing the player bios before Andy announced the reserve Chasers. The Harpies, Falcons, and Pride each had their top Chaser picked for the team, and then Andy was ready to announce the National team Chasers.

"Here we go," Kimberly said nervously, and her husband, Paul, hugged her close. This had been a big deal for her, and she'd worked so hard since the end of last season, that he really hoped she wouldn't be disappointed.

"Our first selection to the National team Chasers is our league's current top scorer, Chudley Canons' Chaser Arianna Potter!" Andy called out, smiling into the camera. James hugged Arianna first, but the others didn't have time as Andy was already continuing with his announcement.

"The second Chaser position goes to the league's assist leader, and number five scorer, Aaron Ryan of the Chudley Canons!"

"He's trying to torture me, isn't he?" Kimberly said, and everyone else laughed while Tracey hugged Aaron, and Andy finally got to the third and last position for the team.

"Finally, I am especially pleased to announce that our third and final member of our National team Chasers is Kimberly Branstone of the Chudley Canons!"

"I knew you'd make the team," Paul told her as he hugged his now teary-eyed but ecstatic wife.

They didn't have much time for celebrating, since the finalists for the Keeper position were being highlighted. The first four Keepers were from the Catapults, Pride, Arrows, and Tornados. Andy, Robert, Patrick, and Erica had taken turns doing the bios for them, and finally, it was Hannah's turn to announce the fifth finalist. Everyone in the sitting room, except one, was waiting expectantly for the Canons' nomination streak to continue.

"Our last finalist for the Keeper position is a first for our League," Hannah told her audience. With the possible exception of Andy, she was by far the most popular member of their little broadcast team among the viewers, and had become a real star for QSPN, not to mention the object of teen Wizard crushes all over the Wizarding World.

"We'd love to show you some highlight footage for this nominee, but unfortunately, none is available," she continued. "His unanimous selection was made after watching him win two games this season in which he kept his opponents scoreless in both matches after facing a total of three hundred and eight-four shots on goal. I am honoured to announce our fifth finalist, Hogwarts NEWT year student, four-year Captain and seven-year Gryffindor House Keeper, two-time Quidditch Cup Champion, and Chudley Canons signed rookie recruit sensation, Hugo Weasley! Congratulations, Hugo, and well done!"

There was pandemonium in the sitting room at Ron and Hermione's as everyone cheered. Hermione had hugged Ron, but then had noticed that look in Harry's eyes as she'd looked past Ron at their friends.

"I wonder why the selection committee would have been scouting school Quidditch matches for the National team?" she asked loudly enough to be heard by everyone in the room, and as the others looked first at her smiling face to where she was looking over at Harry, he couldn't help but laugh."

"Busted," he admitted. "It was your fault, though," he told Hermione.

"Why is it my fault?"

"You told Ron he could only play until the end of this season or you'd do something to him and his Lightningbolt that neither one of them would like. The Quidditch World Cup is after the end of this season, so since he couldn't play, I made a few suggestions that the committee should check Hugo out, since I personally think he's going to be the best rookie Keeper to come into the League in fifty years. It seems after seeing him in action, they agreed."

"Hey, that means you think he's going to be a better rookie than I was!" Ron said, and Harry laughed.

"He is going to be better than you were, mate," Harry told him, "and you know it."

They didn't have time to continue the discussion as Andy took over from Hannah, and announced that the Keeper from the Arrows team was selected for the reserve team.

"And our National team's Keeper will be Hugo Weasley!" Andy announced. He paused for a minute, then grinned into the camera. "If you're all very quiet, you can probably hear the shouts of excitement all the way in London from Hogwarts. Congratulations Hugo, and to all of our Quidditch fans watching at Hogwarts, you should be very proud of your fellow student, and all of your Quidditch teams!"

Hugo had been stunned speechless when he'd been selected as a finalist for the Keeper position. All of the Marauders and their study group friends had met in Kieran's office to watch the team selection show, wanting to see if everyone on the Canons' team would be playing for the National team, and to hopefully bring the Quidditch World Cup home to Britain again this year, but none of them had been prepared to see Hugo be named a finalist. The room had gone wild with cheering, hugs, and kisses when he'd actually been named to the team.

"Congratulations, Hugo!" Emily said, hugging and kissing him. "This is absolutely brilliant!"

"We're not having a mass hallucination are we?" Hugo finally managed to ask, and his friends all laughed.

"No, we're not," Kieran assured him. "This really is brilliant! You won't actually be a student anymore when the Quidditch World Cup starts, but since Erica said this is a first, then you're either the first student Keeper ever selected to our National team, or the first student picked for any position. Way to start out your professional career in a big way." Emily started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Hugo asked, and she held up her hand for him to wait while she dug into her bag. She pulled out a letter, and handed it to him. Everyone else had stopped and watched as he opened the envelope, and pulled out the two sheets of parchment, then laughed when he saw what was written on the first page.

"Dear Hugo," he read aloud, "Congratulations on making the National team, and good luck in the Quidditch World Cup tournament. Here's a little bonus to thank you for getting such a great start to your career with the Chudley Canons. Uncle Harry." He flipped the page and whistled as he showed it to Emily. "When did you get this?" he asked, and Emily hugged him.

"In the Owl Post on Friday," she explained. "It was inside another envelope with a note telling me to give this to you if I got a message from Uncle Harry to do that this afternoon. That's why I laughed – he sent me a message a moment ago."

"How does he do that?" Hugo asked, not expecting an answer, since it really didn't matter all that much.

They held off on continuing their celebration while the Seeker finalists were announced, but none of them were surprised when Liselle was chosen to be the National team Seeker – she was the only one in the League who had caught the snitch in all of her games so far this season. The Harpies Seeker who had battled so hard against her a week ago was named to the reserve team.

"You're going to need to go to your Common Room, mate," Kieran told Hugo. "Your House mates are going to want to celebrate with you. Why don't we meet back here after dinner, and we'll do a movie night for anyone who wants to come."

Kieran's proposal was unanimously accepted, and with the QSPN show wrapping up, so did the little party, as most of the students returned to their own Houses. There was an impromptu party started up in the Gryffindor Common Room, but the other Houses were all buzzing with the news too as most of the students were excited to have one of their Quidditch players earn such an honour.

Back in Ron and Hermione's sitting room, Liselle was being congratulated by everyone and when everything had settled down again, Harry and Ginny went around handing out nine envelopes, which quickly got everyone fired up again for a few more minutes.

"You'll be happy to know that I've already made reservations for hotels in all of the cities where each round of the competition is being held this summer," he told everyone.

"That should be a shock for all of the players on the reserve team," Kimberly said with a laugh.

"Not as big of a shock as training with Coach, Ron, and Dennis all summer will be," Sebastian said. "The only bad part of that is they'll all be better players come next season."

"Maybe," Harry agreed, "but they'll have also missed most of training camp with their own teams, while our team will have been working together all summer, and playing some of the best teams in the world."

"Just make sure that the summer after next you take some extra time off," Hermione told them. "With your early start to training camp this past summer, you'll be going two years straight without any real time off."

"Yes dear," Hugo promised. "By then, we'll all be ready for that."

Harry and Ginny visited for maybe another fifteen minutes, and then they said their goodbyes, and let the others continue the party while they went back to Marauders Refuge to get a few more hours of sleep before starting their Sunday over again.

Al and Carolyn had watched the QSPN show at home, while they both worked in their office for the afternoon. They'd slept in, had a mid-morning brunch, and were going to have a mid-afternoon dinner before Al would need to go lay down and try to get a few hours of sleep before going back to South Korea, leaving at around ten o'clock. They had sent out ten QuillMessages to congratulate the seven players and three coaches on being named to the National team, and then got back to work. Al started making dinner shortly after three, they ate, cleaned up, and he went upstairs for that nap while Carolyn went back to work on PBP Investments Easter business.

The students at Hogwarts were still fired up, and Hugo was getting a bit embarrassed by all of the attention, which culminated in a standing ovation, and twenty-five points being awarded to Gryffindor at dinner in the Great Hall. With all of the back-slapping and cheers, by the time dinner was over, he was glad to escape to Kieran's office with just their close friends for a couple of hours of cuddling time with Emily while they all watched a movie together.

That movie night had been Malcolm's favourite part of the day. Ophelia had spent most of the afternoon after they'd left Kieran's office in the Gryffindor Common Room at the party for Hugo, but getting to cuddle with her nearly until curfew after dinner had been brilliant. When they left Kieran's office at the end of the night, he walked Ophelia back to her House, going along with Philip and Heather, and then shared a really great goodnight hug and several kisses with her after the other couple went on ahead of Ophelia into their Common Room. The only lousy part of his whole weekend was the way it ended – with his weekly report to Dirk Avery.

"I suppose they threw all sorts of parties for Weasley this afternoon," Dirk began after Malcolm answered the call.

"Gryffindor did," Malcolm agreed. "Professor McGonagall awarded Gryffindor twenty-five points for it at dinner too, and he got a standing ovation."

"I suppose you stood up and cheered too?" Dirk sneered, and Malcolm nodded, then remembered to send a mental 'yes' too before Dirk could again berate him for not remembering that he couldn't see Malcolm.

"That's what a friend would do, and that's what I'm supposed to be making sure he believes I am, so it wouldn't have looked good if I hadn't."

"Whatever. How are your potions coming along?"

Malcolm had worked out exactly how much he should be able to get done each week, and told Dirk that he'd prepared that amount so far. After that, Dirk spent a few minutes asking him about anything else new, or whether he'd gotten any other confirmation about everyone in the Weasley family being at the school at sunrise on May second, and Malcolm answered all of those questions as best he could, though not always with the truth. When Dirk cut him off abruptly as he always did, Malcolm had been relieved that it was over, and that it didn't seem he'd attracted any suspicion from the other Knight.

The big news in the Wizarding World for the following week was Scorpius' conference. This one was being held in South Africa, and while most Witches and Wizards probably didn't care much at all about the standards that the committee was dealing with, they loved the whole story surrounding the handsome, charming, and brilliant young politicians who were continuing to make such a splash in International politics.

Brianna liked this conference much better, since there was a much easier time difference to deal with when going to the dinners and parties on Tuesday and Wednesday night, while still keeping up with her job during the day. When she and Scorpius got to work on Friday morning, they both knew right away that TeenWitch magazine had struck again when there were copies of the publication on desks all around their departments, and they were stuck with another round of 'hot' jokes for most of the day.

Al had spent Monday and Tuesday, or Sunday and Monday night, depending on which time zone you looked at it from, finishing up in South Korea, and then spent the rest of the week in Japan, running his stakeout on the last International Knight's office he had left where he needed to identify the Knights in the group, and thoroughly search their office. When he got home on Friday afternoon, he cooked dinner for eight, and had another dinner party with Rose, Matt, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna before Rose and Matt would be back out on the road for a two week tour in China.

Since Carolyn was going to be working most of the weekend again, Al decided that staying home, resting up, and taking care of his wife all weekend, or at least until he needed to go back out to Japan on Sunday night, was what he would be doing for the next two days.

Harry, Ginny, and Lily were having a great holiday with Gabrielle, Kevin, and all of the kids. They weren't coming back until Sunday, so James, Tracey, and Trinity had the Owner's Box to do with what they wanted for the Canons' game on Saturday against the Tutshill Tornados.

James had suggested that they try to do something special for Scorpius, Brianna, and his family, and had invited them, Teddy and Victoire, Andromeda and Robert, Draco and Astoria, and Narcissa and Lucius to watch the game with them. The only other guests were Stewart and Isabelle. Narcissa had balked at the idea at first, not wanting to take Lucius out in public like that, but had relented when James had suggested that Draco could apparate directly into the Owner's box with Lucius so that nobody else in the stadium would know he was there at all.

"This was a really great idea," Scorpius told James. "Thank-you." He and Brianna were sitting on one sofa with Draco and Astoria, while Narcissa, Andromeda, and Robert sat with Lucius, who was as excited as any two-year old would be coming to their first Quidditch game.

"You're welcome, mate," James told him. Teddy and Victoire, and Isabelle and Stewart were on a third sofa, while James, Tracey, and Trinity rounded out the smaller than usual gameday group.

"This is fun, Cissy!" Lucius said excitedly. He hadn't been able to learn to say Narcissa any more than he'd learned to say Draco instead of 'Dayco', and probably never would. "Start soon?"

"Yes, honey," she told him. "Very soon."

"Yeah!" he answered, looking all around the stadium for any sign of the Quidditch players.

He only had to wait a few more minutes before the Tornados, and then the Canons were introduced and did their circuits of the stadium.

"Fast!" Lucius said. "Vewy fast!"

"They sure are, Lucius," Robert agreed. "Wait until the game starts. It gets even better."

Trinity hadn't been around Lucius before, but James and Tracey had prepared her for his being there at the game, and she'd been wonderful with him, and put Narcissa at ease right away, by starting Lucius' visit to Canons' stadium out by giving him a big, Canons' orange stuffed snitch that she, Tracey, and James had gotten all of the Canons' players to autograph for him. He was still holding that toy in his lap as the game got started.

Whether the Canons were fired up from having six out of seven of their players, and all of their coaches named to the National team, or that the Tornados just hadn't been ready for what the Canons threw at them, the result was a two hour and twenty-three minute long game that was pretty much a blow-out in every area of the game. The Canons won with a score of four hundred and ten to just forty for the Tornados.

Lucius had been on the edge of the sofa the entire time, and had cheered and shouted more than anyone else. Nobody was bothered at all by the fact that he cheered and shouted for both teams. When the game was over, Scorpius and Brianna took everyone except James, Tracey, and Trinity home with them to Grimmauld Place for the rest of the afternoon and dinner, while James and the girls went back to Tracey's house to start getting the victory party and dinner ready while their team was busy with the post-game press conference.

There wasn't a post-game party at Hogwarts. Since the game had been short, the Marauders study group had decided to get back to working on their assignments until dinnertime.

"I liked the marathon game against the Harpies better," Malcolm told Ophelia after they'd gotten back to work in the study classroom. "We lose out on a lot of quality cuddling time with those short games."

"That wasn't a short game," Hugo told him. "You wouldn't have had time to put your arms around Ophelia and hug her if this game had been like the one where Uncle Harry won it in something like three seconds."

Emily laughed. "I seem to remember you grumbling about some of the games being too short in past years, Hugo."

"I'm sure I did, but that was usually as much to tease study Commander Lily as it was about really bothering me."

"Well, I think more cuddling time would have been nice today too," Ophelia told them. "You should talk to your Dad about these short games and see what he can do about the problem."

Hugo laughed. "I can pass your request on, but the last thing the Canons want this time of year is longer matches. A few short games right now would help a lot in keeping everyone from getting too tired out before the playoffs start."

"Oh well," Ophelia answered, "I guess we'll just have to take whatever cuddle time we can get then."

There wasn't any more cuddle time on Saturday, although most of the couples did manage to find a little time on Sunday evening once they finished their studying for the weekend just before dinnertime. Harry, Ginny, Lily, and the kids were back home by late afternoon, though since they'd left Marauders Refuge right after breakfast to make the TransPortal trip home across the ten-hour time difference, they were not interested in having dinner quite yet.

Natalie and Owen, and Mandy and Terry came to the Cottage for a visit, and to pick up their kids. This first night back home was going to be a bit of a pain for them with the kids feeling like their day was just getting started, but later Sunday night, the potion they'd give the kids to get them used to home time again had an addition to the formula that would help the kids fall asleep too.

Getting to sleep wasn't a problem for any of the members of the Marauders study group on Sunday night, or for any night during the last full week of March that led up to the Hogsmeade weekend before Easter. For the Marauders, with just two weeks left until Easter, they had to find extra time to work on the TNM Easter, while still keeping up with classes, homework, Quidditch practices, and Head and Prefect duties. When Saturday finally arrived, all of the third-year and above students of Hogwarts were more than ready to escape school for a day in town.

The Hogsmeade weekend was also another Canons game day, and this second match in their back-to-back pairing of games was on the road against the Caerphilly Catapults. That made for a busy morning for the guys as they hurried around town to get the big Easter supply shopping done while their girls were getting the always-stunning makeovers at SpaMagic during the morning.

Lily had met Kieran at the school gates again, not wanting to wait until he got into town after three whole weeks apart. They'd gone into town with Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah as usual, and after dropping Emily and Sarah off at SpaMagic, she had helped the boys with their shopping all morning. When they were done, and it was time for Hugo and Joel to go meet with the other boys outside of SpaMagic, Lily hugged the two Wizards goodbye, and happily took Kieran's hand and led him to Al's Hogsmeade house. Her plan for the rest of her time with Kieran was simple – have a quick lunch together, and follow that up with a brilliant snogging session. This time she wasn't even going to turn on the Canons' game so there would be no chance that watching the game would mess up her plan.

While Lily was keeping Kieran occupied, the rest of their student friends had lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and then hurried back to school, and into Kieran's office to watch the Canons-Catapults game. A few of them probably wished they'd missed seeing the match too, as their team's undefeated streak came to an end in less than an hour and a half when the Catapults' Seeker had one of Sebastian's bludger attacks deflect off of him, and then hit Liselle solidly just above her right wrist, breaking her arm in two places.

The two Seekers had been battling close together, and the deflection and hit had happened too fast for Liselle to dodge, but since they had been chasing the snitch at the time, her reaction to the injury had been enough to give the Catapults' Seeker the advantage, and he did not make a mistake as he caught the snitch to end the game with a win for the Catapults before spinning around and going to help Liselle even before Tristan could get there.

"That was nice of him," Emily said as they watched the post-game scene with both Tristan and the Catapults' Seeker staying with Liselle until two Medi-Witches came over to help her. "There are still a lot of players in the league who wouldn't offer that kind of help to their opponents."

"That was a bit of bad luck for Liselle and our team, though," Hugo answered. "Another ten or fifteen minutes, and we'd have been more than one hundred and fifty points ahead." The Catapults had just barely gotten the win with a score of one hundred and eighty points to the one hundred and sixty points the Canons had scored.

"At fifteen wins and one loss, with four games left to go, I'd say there hasn't been very much bad luck for the Canons this season," Joel told Hugo. "The only thing I thought was surprising today is how poorly most of the Catapults' players were doing considering they'd had two weeks off, while our team had just played last weekend."

"So was I," Hugo agreed. "Especially since they're at home too. They'll need to play better than this if they want to get anywhere in the playoffs this year."

"It looks like they fixed Liselle up right on the field," Frederica said as the cameras showed Liselle moving her wrist around to test it after being healed by the Medi-Witches. She got up, stretched, and held out her hand to Liam.

"Come on," she told him. "We have lots of work to get done this weekend, and even though hanging out here would be more fun, I don't want to be working right through to curfew tomorrow night, so let's go get started now."

"You've spent too many years hanging around Lily," Liam told her, but he did get up too. "If it wasn't for the fact that you're right, I'd try to convince you that we should stay here and pick the 'more fun' option instead."

The rest of their group picked the study option too, and after straightening up Kieran's office, they all left for their Common Rooms to get their book bags, and then meet up again in their study classroom. Kieran joined them there after he got back from Hogsmeade, and they spent the rest of the day working, only stopping for a break to go have dinner in the Great Hall.

With the loss earlier, the Canons were not having a victory party, but everyone except Coach and his wife had come over to the Cottage after they were done at the Caerphilly stadium. Harry and James were cooking in the kitchen, with most of the guys hanging around there, while the girls had gathered in the sitting room.

"I really hope Coach doesn't decide to add a couple of extra bludgers into our practices after today," Liselle said as they chatted while waiting for dinner.

"He didn't seem all that upset after the game," Arianna told her friend. "By Monday, he'll probably be ready to work us half to death, but I doubt anyone could have avoided that hit you took. It was just a very strange deflection."

Liselle nodded. "Probably not, but I may wonder about that for a while. After getting the win over the Harpies' Seeker, I was starting to think about maybe having a shot at matching Harry's twenty-three catches in your undefeated season. Maybe I did make a mistake."

"You didn't," Lily told her. "Arianna's right. Nobody would be fast enough to dodge that deflection. Not getting one of Dad's records might be a good thing. He'll probably tease me forever about beating his Hogwarts fastest catch."

"Your father is very proud of you doing that, even if he does like to tease you about it," Ginny told her. "He'd be just as happy for Liselle too."

"I know he would be," Liselle answered. "We haven't seen you in two weeks, though, so instead of talking Quidditch, why don't you tell us how the vacation was, and everything else that's going on?"

That request moved the conversation away from Quidditch, and into talking about what was going on in the real world. Al and Carolyn were both working in the real world. She was continuing to work with the different PBP Investments divisions that were all busy with the Easter sales season. Whether that was manufacturing, distribution, or retail sales, she was helping to keep everything going smoothly.

With Carolyn busy doing that, Al was working on the cold case file for Gerry Lawson. His investigation into this case had really been the hardest so far, but over the last couple of days of the week, he knew he was getting close to bringing the poor man's attackers to justice. He'd reconstructed Gerry's life, pretty much from childhood, and the man was like a friend to Al now. His family had loved him, and he still had close friends who stopped in for visits in the hospital, even after this many years.

There hadn't been a single Witch or Wizard that Al could find anywhere in the man's life who hadn't liked the gentle, caring young man, and Al hadn't found anything strange at all until he'd began interviewing the residents of the apartment building where Gerry had rented a flat just a few months before he'd been attacked. There had been a surprising number of residents who still lived there from when Gerry had been there, and the red flag that Al had gotten came from several Wizards who had been thinking about the 'filthy mudblood' when answering Al's questions about Gerry.

It was hardly Al's first exposure to bigotry, but it did finally give him a possible motive for someone attacking such a well-loved person. He'd focused his investigation on that building, and it's tenants at the time, and was now going over the files of every Witch and Wizard who had lived there.

At Hogwarts, and with most of his family, getting ready for Easter during that next week as March ended, and April began was what they were all busy with. TNM was finishing up their preparations for their Easter Adventure. Harry was helping Susan and Wayne get everything ready for the Residence, and James, his staff, and their volunteers were doing the same at the Academy.

Al had gotten nearly obsessed with the case as the weekend went on, and he put in long days on Monday and Tuesday, before putting together a team of Aurors on Wednesday, and going to pick up two Wizards who he was certain had been Gerry Lawson's attackers.

Stan Langstaff and Bert Knapp had lived in an apartment on the same floor as Gerry, and both had a record with the hit squad at the Ministry for more minor assaults – tavern fights and the like. What had caught his attention in those seemingly mild incidents was that every fight they had was with Muggle-born Wizards. The rest of Al's case came together as the evidence finally fit the two suspects he'd put together with the assault, and it was with a great deal of satisfaction that he led the team to Stan and Bert's workshop to arrest them.

Wednesday was April first, and when Al, Hestia, Geoff, and Vicky walked into the front door of the building that Stan and Bert used for a workshop where they made a modest living as metalsmiths, they were not surprised by their suspect's response to their arrival.

"Can I…" Stan Langstaff began, and trailed off when he saw Al and the other Aurors. "Um, Can I help you?" Bert Knapp hadn't been facing the doors, but had turned when he'd heard Stan stammer, which his always self-assured friend never did.

"Stan Langstaff and Bert Knapp, my name is Auror Al Potter, and you are both under arrest. Please surrender your wands, and come with us to Auror Headquarters."

Stan attempted a laugh, but it came out more like a croak. "Is this some April Fool's Day joke?" he said, but he and Bert were both stepping away from their respective workbenches and reaching for their wands.

"It is not," Al assured him. "You're both being charged with the felony assault and robbery of Gerry Lawson."

"Who?" Stan asked. "Never heard of him. You must be mistaken."

"We can discuss that when we get to the Ministry of Magic," Al told him. "Shall we go?"

"I don't think so," Stan said, pointing his wand at Al and firing without warning.

Well, without warning to anyone else. Al knew it was coming, and had his shield firmly in place, protecting himself, Hestia, Geoff, and Vicky. Stan had started the attack, but Bert joined in right away, and both Wizards sent several attacks at the Aurors in their shop while rushing toward the back storage room, and what they hoped would be their escape. Several of their spells missed, and they were doing a fair bit of damage to their own shop as they tried to flee.

Hestia took Bert out with a blast that blew apart the man's shield, and threw him into the wall, where Vicky pinned him in a body-bind. Geoff sent his counter-attack at Stan, but his shield held firm. The problem with that was when he reached the wide doorway into the storage room, and found Garret, Patrick, Jake, and Emma waiting there for him, that shield was protecting his rear flank, and left him vulnerable to the four-pronged attack that hit him from the group of Aurors who'd been backing their friends up and covering the rear escape that Al had checked out on Tuesday night after the two Wizards had gone home for the day.

Since Stan had not been shielded, the spells hit him at full power, and he was thrown back across the room, and rendered unconscious after striking his head against a workbench. With both of his suspects subdued, Al dropped his shield, and the anti-apparition spell he'd put over the building. Hestia retrieved the two wands, and Garret, Emma, and Jake joined them in the workshop.

"We seriously need to work on your reputation, Al," Jake told him. "These criminals of yours obviously haven't heard that resisting arrest is a total waste of time – not to mention painful for them."

Al laughed. "I didn't even use a single offensive spell this time, mate. The rest of you did all of the work. How are they?" he asked Hestia and Vicky, who were checking them over.

"I'd say we probably have a concussion, a few broken bones, and a few cuts on Langstaff," Hestia told him.

"Mr. Knapp here has some bruises, and his wand hand is burned where the magic flashed over when his shield was destroyed," Vicky reported. "Nothing too serious."

"Good. Let's get them ready to move, and leave for Headquarters," Al suggested. "I'll call for a couple of Healers to meet us there."

It only took a few minutes to do that, and then they were back at Auror Headquarters again. Bert's injuries were readily healed, but Stan needed to be taken to St. Mungo's for more extensive treatment. Jake and Emma took their two trainees along, and went to guard Stan while he was being treated for his injuries. That left Bert at Headquarters by himself to face Al and Hestia's interrogation alone, which they got right to after taking a short break.

"Why have you arrested us?" Bert demanded. "Stan told you we've never heard of that guy you're accusing us of assaulting."

"That's funny, since he lived in a flat just down the hall from you back when you and your mate assaulted him, and injured him so badly that he'll likely never recover," Al told him. He slid a current picture of an emaciated Gerry in his hospital bed. "Recognize him now?"

Bert's face paled, and his mind clearly showed Al that he did recognize the man, and was shocked by what had become of him, but he shook his head. "Never seen him before."

"How about now?" Al asked, showing Bert a picture of the younger, healthy Gerry, who was smiling in the picture, along with the rest of his family. Again Bert shook his head and denied recognizing the man in the picture.

"That's quite unbelievable, considering the evidence we've collected that places you and Stan at the scene of the assault," he told Bert. "I'll tell you what we're going to do while your friend is busy being tended to for his injuries. We'll go over that evidence with you, and depending on how cooperative you want to be, we may consider saving you from an extra decade or two at Hotel Azkaban."

"Do we have to?" Hestia asked. "I was thinking we could just keep them there until Gerry Lawson gets better, or if the poor man should happen to die, just leave them there until they do too."

"That's an idea," Al agreed. "Maybe my friends on the Wizengamot will agree with you, depending on which of them sit in judgement at their trial."

Al was sure that Bert was afraid now, but he did not cooperate with Al and Hestia at all, regardless of the evidence put in front of him. Since Al could easily read his thoughts, he knew that each bit of evidence brought memories flooding back of the night Bert and Stan had attacked Gerry. The man was completely unrepentant, though, and still fiercely held on to his pureblood bigotry.

Stan didn't get back from St. Mungo's until late evening, so Al and Hestia agreed to continue their interrogation with Bert in the morning, and have Stan join them then. They did have one other problem to deal with on Wednesday. Bert and Stan's very irate wives came to Auror Headquarters, demanding that their husbands be released immediately. Bert's wife even made the ridiculous claim that she remembered the night in question, and that her husband had been with her. That tact was abandoned when she was questioned about which date that had been, since she had been so certain, and she couldn't even come up with the correct decade, let alone the date of the attack. When Hestia suggested that she could be charged for making a false statement to the Aurors, the anxious woman quickly abandoned any further attempts at making up an alibi for Bert.

On Thursday, it was obvious that when the two men were together, Stan was the leader of the pair, and Bert took his cues from his best mate. Al had listened to their thoughts all morning and into the afternoon, and both Wizards had their confidence growing as the day went along, believing that Al didn't have enough evidence on them, but then, he'd been holding back on them. He'd kept working with them, as he had with quite a few of his suspects before, in the hope that maybe one or both could not just be put away, but also see the truth of what they'd done, and be remorseful. Before laying out the last, unequivocal evidence on them, he decided to try one more time.

"Bert, your bigotry toward Muggle-born I can at least understand, since you are from one of the pureblood families that everyone knows is like that, but Stan, since you're practically Muggle-born yourself, I don't get why you'd do something like this," Al said.

"That's a lie!" Stan spat vehemently. "I am a pureblood!"

Al opened the file he'd put together on Stan, and started reading. "Stanley Langstaff, mother Pamela, Muggle-born; father Stanton, half-blood, though it's really more like a quarter, since your Langstaff grandmother was Muggle-born, and your grandfather on that side had a Muggle father and pureblood mother." He pulled out the Ministry record from the file, and slid it across to Stan, but Bert's hand snapped out and grabbed the sheet of parchment.

"All these years you lied to me!" Bert spat at Stan after reading the information for himself. "You're nothing but a filthy mudblood yourself!"

"They're the ones lying," Stan shot back. "They're trying to divide us so one of us cracks. It's just an Auror trick."

Bert laughed. "I've met your parents, Langstaff. I've met your grandparents. Now it all makes sense, though. I thought maybe they were just a bunch of do-gooder blood-traitors, and I could overlook that since you obviously weren't like that. It's all right here, though - practically everyone in your family are Muggles, mudbloods, and half bloods. Did you think that starting that attack on that piece of dirt, Lawson would make what you are any better? You're worse than he was!"

Al was ready when Bert tried to get across the table at Stan, and quickly bound the man before he could do any harm, his upper body dropping to the table as he was subdued.

"Instead of turning to hate, Bert," Al said conversationally, "why don't you ask yourself why you hate anyone who isn't a pureblood. You and Stan here have done some bad things, but you have been friends with him for what, thirty years? Yet right at this moment, you want to throw all of that away because you've found out he lied about his family." He returned Bert to his seat, released the binding, and took a drink of water before continuing.

"Don't try to do that again," he told Bert. "Now, while you're thinking about what I said, why don't we continue. "So Stan was the one who started the attack, was he?"

"What are you talking about?" Bert began, but then realization of what he'd said during his rant against Stan came to him.

"Nice going," Stan told him. "What part of 'it's just an Auror trick' didn't you understand?"

Al sighed to himself. He'd tried, but their thoughts told him clearly that neither Wizard had even the slightest care about anyone but themselves – not even for their wives, children, or families. With that decided, he spent another hour laying out the rest of his evidence, which included witnesses they'd bragged to that he'd found in their favourite tavern, the items stolen from Gerry found at their workshop and homes, plus a couple of key pieces of evidence that he hadn't told them about from the crime scene that hadn't even seemed important until these two men became suspects.

They were taken before the Wizengamot at the very end of the day on Thursday, where they plead not guilty. A tribunal was chosen, and then they were escorted to Azkaban in time for the Easter weekend. Both Stan and Bert were very angry when Al, Garret, Patrick, and Hestia dropped them off, but they also knew that the Aurors did have them well and truly caught for their crimes, and they were very likely going to be spending a lot of time in Azkaban.

With that case on the way to being closed, Al decided to take a three-day weekend off. That didn't mean he wasn't working, though, since Callie got another stack of proposals from their Wizengamot opposition. She, Scorpius, and Al were going to be busy with that all weekend, and would have to work around their Easter plans. The main events that had been planned there had been helping out Easter morning at the Academy and Residence, and a dinner at the Cottage in the afternoon for Al, Carolyn, Callie, and Mark, while Scorpius and Brianna were doing a dinner at Grimmauld Place with the Malfoys, Andromeda, and Robert.

Al and Carolyn both made some calls on Thursday night, and had gotten everyone to agree to bring both dinners, and the one that Bill and Fleur had planned with their family to their house instead, with Kreacher, Winky, and the rest of the family pitching in to put the dinner together for everyone. That way they could all still be together for the afternoon while Callie and her two Elders had to work.

They all agreed that they'd just have to work around helping at the Academy and Residence, with Callie and Mark at the Academy, and Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, and Brianna helping Harry, Ginny, and Lily at the Residence. Carolyn was working Friday and Saturday too, though that was winding down for her, since manufacturing was over with, and Easter product inventories were allowed to sell out toward the end of the day on Saturday. One of her jobs was to take back any wanted inventory from stores in the east that were near or past closing, and move it to stores that were still open in the west, which was an idea of hers that was proving to be quite profitable for PBP Investments, though it did require a little extra effort.

At Hogwarts, for the Marauders and friends study group, it was mostly work through until Saturday night. The Heads and Prefect members of TNM had met every night after curfew in either Kieran or Emily's office to work on the TNM Easter Adventure too. That had been the only way they could get the extra work done without the non-TNM members of their group finding out.

That made for some very long days, and not as much sleep as they'd have liked, but with all of the hard work, by Saturday night, they had all of their assignments done, the TNM surprises for the morning were ready to go, and they were going to get to take the day off on Sunday to enjoy the fun with their friends.

The fun began when the Hogwarts students woke up in the morning to find soft, fluffy bunnies hopping around all over the school, making their first return to the Hogwarts TNM Easter in a few years. That entertained them while they were getting ready for the day, and many of the teens carried bunnies with them when they left their Common Rooms, and got into the waiting bunny cars that would take them on the Easter Adventure Ride around the school before dropping them off outside of the Great Hall.

Hugo, Emily, and Kieran especially had wanted to make their last Easter at Hogwarts special, so there were also baskets of treats waiting for the students at their tables, each of them filled with treats that would keep everyone having fun all day, and probably well into the next week.

Malcolm had joked about the stupid bunny ride with his mates the last two years, but they had all gone on the ride anyway, even as they'd mocked it. This year, even though he couldn't go on it with Ophelia, it had still be fun taking the ride around the school with Sarah, Millie, Jason, Alice, and Lenny.

"If this ride is as stupid as your old mates think, why are they going back to the Great Hall for another go at it?" Jason asked Malcolm, who laughed.

"Don't say that too loudly. You'll ruin their reps. I'm sure they could come up with some excuse why, though – another chance to heckle everyone else, or something. TNM really bugs them with those bunnies you have to pet to get them to turn into chocolates."

Sarah laughed too. "It must be tough having to choose between your ego, and petting a cute little bunny to get them changed into the chocolate treats."

"What are you and Ophelia doing this morning?" Millie asked him. "The library, or somewhere else?"

Malcolm shrugged. "Probably the library first, but it's supposed to be warmer today, so we'll likely go spend some time outside later this morning or after lunch sometime. I expect that Philip and Heather will hang out with us too. What about you guys?"

"Jason and I will be hanging out with Amy and Brian, as usual, and we'll be spending some time outside too. This afternoon we're thinking about Transfiguring a couple of sofas in a classroom somewhere, watch something on a portable WWVN, and have a little quality cuddling time."

"Lenny and I are going to hang out with Erin and Quincy, and we're planning on just figuring out what we want to do as the day goes along," Alice told Malcolm.

"And I'll be hanging out with Joel, Hugo and Emily for most of the day," Sarah said. "We're thinking about doing the movie thing this afternoon too, except in Emily's office."

The rest of their friends had the same sort of plans – getting together in smaller groups and having a relaxing, fun day together. Outside of Hogwarts, the Easter fun had been going on at the Academy and Residence too, and they also had hopping Easter bunnies that turned into chocolates for their students and kids to play with. There were other Easter surprises at the Academy, including Easter Baskets, and small gifts, while at the Residence, with just the under eleven-year old kids there, the highlight of the morning had been the Easter egg hunt.

When Al, Carolyn, Scorpius, Brianna, and Lily were finished helping out at the Residence, they went back to Al and Carolyn's place, where they met up with Mark and Callie. Al, Scorpius, and Callie went into the office and got back to work on the Wizengamot proposals, while Carolyn, Brianna, Lily, and Mark first checked out how Lily and Kieran's house was coming along for a while, and then came back and started getting the dining room ready for the large dinner party they'd be having late in the afternoon, and making sure that everything would be ready to entertain their guests when they arrived.

They had lunch together at around noon, and Kreacher, Winky, and Dobby came over shortly after they'd finished so that they could start working on the parts of the meal that they were cooking. Callie and the boys went back to work, and their spouses began welcoming their guests when they started arriving by one o'clock.

This was the first time that Narcissa and Lucius had been to Al and Carolyn's house, and a first for Fleur's parents too. Lucius had immediately been drawn to the pool as any child would be, and there'd been some fun when he'd fallen in with his clothes on, and Draco had to help him out of the pool and get him dried off. The funniest part had been the fact that Lucius had thought the whole incident was so funny that he'd gone back a few minutes later, and 'fallen in' again. Even Narcissa hadn't been able to keep from laughing until there were tears in her eyes after that stunt from her husband.

"He's making a break for it," Harry warned Draco, who was able to catch his giggling father before he'd made another dash for the pool. "Why don't we just get him into a swimsuit, take him to the shallow end, and let him splash around for a while? After that, I've brought a few 3D GameWizard games for little kids that he'll probably love playing."

"I guess we might as well," Draco agreed. "He won't stop until he's had his fill of playing in the water, and it's not all that easy to pull him out of the deep end all of the time."

Mark and Robert joined them to help entertain Lucius in the pool, and they played for nearly an hour before playing GameWizard sounded like more fun to Lucius than staying in the pool. Some of the others went for a swim during the afternoon too, though most of the guests stayed in the Great Room and enjoyed having a nice long visit with their family and friends.

"I knew that Scorpius and Brianna both worked a lot on the weekends," Narcissa was telling Andromeda and some of the other girls, "but I didn't know that Scorpius, Al, and Callie put in this much time getting ready for Wizengamot meetings."

Carolyn laughed. 'You should see Al when he starts getting close to solving one of his cold cases. He's going day and night when that happens."

"Look who's talking," Brianna said, laughing too. "If Easter shopping wasn't done, you'd probably be on your BusinessMagic system right now too, and I'm just as bad as you are with my work."

"That's probably why you're all so good at what you do," Narcissa told them.

"Thank-you, Grandmother," Brianna said with a smile. "It also helps that we love our jobs too. If it wasn't fun, we wouldn't want to spend so much time working."

Narcissa laughed. "I'm sorry, Brianna, but I find it very hard to believe that spending days pouring over Wizengamot proposals is fun."

"Okay, so maybe Scorpius doesn't find that particular part of his job much fun," she conceded, "but at least he has fun with his friends while they're stuck doing it."

In the office, Al, Scorpius, and Callie could hear their family having fun, but they were concentrating on getting their work done, hopefully by dinnertime so they could at least spend the rest of the evening with them, though it was looking like they'd have to do another hour or two after dinner.

"All in favour of turning the Wizengamot opposition into pink Easter bunnies tomorrow say 'aye'," Callie joked.

"Aye," Scorpius said quickly. "I'm sure Al's too nice to go with us, but you and I have a two-thirds majority, so the motion is passed."

Al laughed. "You are not going to change them into bunnies, no matter how funny that would be to see, mate."

"I guess you're right," Callie conceded, then grinned. "Besides, if they were all bunnies, we'd still have their stinky messes to clean up, and twenty-one bunnies could make a very large mess."

Al and Scorpius both laughed. "Thanks, Callie," Al told her. "We needed that laugh."

They got back to work, and at around five o'clock, Carolyn came to get them to take a break, and have a drink before dinner. This was the biggest indoor dinner party that Al and Carolyn had put on so far. Harry, Ginny, and Lily would have had seventeen at their dinner. Scorpius and Brianna had eleven, including three House Elves, and The Delacour-Weasley contingent was fourteen strong. With forty-two for dinner, it was a fun, noisy, and entertaining dinner together. Not everyone had been able to come. Rose and Matt, and Ron and Hermione were with her parents for dinner, and Nick and Allie had been committed to dinner with her family. They were all missed, but were certainly having a good Easter too.

At Hogwarts, Easter dinner in the Great Hall had been fun and noisy too. That wasn't really a surprise when you combined fourteen hundred or so students, most of whom took the whole day off from their studies, and filled them full of chocolates and sweets all day long. For the Marauders and their friends, it had been a brilliant day. It had not really gotten all that warm outside as the tail end of winter seemed to be trying to hang on, but today it had been a fairly warm, sunny day, and by the afternoon, there were quite a lot of students going outside to stretch their legs, and enjoy being outdoors when it wasn't cold, rainy, or cold and rainy.

Malcolm, Ophelia, Philip, and Heather had gone outside for an hour or so before lunch, but in the afternoon, they'd decided that Millie's idea of Transfiguring some safas and having a quiet afternoon cuddling and watching a little WWVN was exactly what they'd like to do too. Malcolm had dinner with Millie, Jason, Alice, and Lenny, hearing all about what they'd done all day, and then after dinner, everyone in the study group met in Kieran's office to end a really great Easter with a movie night.

Dinner at Al and Carolyn's had taken a bit more than two hours, and it was after seven-thirty by the time that the cleanup volunteers began taking care of that. Al, Scorpius, and Callie made a round of hugs and goodbyes with everyone, and then sequestered themselves back in the office for what ended up being another hour and a half of work to finish everything they had to do for the Wizengamot meeting on Monday.

By the time they reappeared in the Great Room, Carolyn, Scorpius, Mark, Harry, Ginny, and Lily were the only Witches and Wizards left, and they were having glasses of wine and visiting. Scorpius and Callie joined Brianna and Mark, while Al poured three drinks, handed them each one, and then sat down next to Carolyn.

"You know it's a work night when the party is over by nine o'clock," Al joked. "I thought Lucius said he was going to move in with us. Has he gone to bed already?"

Harry laughed. "Draco and I took him for another swim before they left, but we managed to convince him that he'd miss all of his toys and things back home. Astoria loved the pool too, so I wouldn't be surprised if Draco takes a look at having an addition built, or maybe a separate building, and putting a pool in for them sometime in the not too distant future."

"I'm glad Narcissa agreed to let him come," Ginny said. "I know they're all doing the best they can for him, but it must be tough for him to understand why he spends most of his time at the Malfoy Estates, and doesn't get to go out and do some of the things other kids get to do."

"He asks about it sometimes," Scorpius told her, "but most of the time he's a very happy kid."

"When James had him watch the game from the Owner's Box it worked out pretty well," Brianna said. "Maybe we could work out doing other trips for him."

"I'm sure we can come up with some ideas," Ginny agreed. They talked for another half hour or so, and then Callie and Mark left for home.

"We're going to get out of here in a minute too, but I wanted to talk with you, Brianna, and Lily about the dress fitting you have coming up for the wedding," Ginny told Carolyn.

"The three of you, Ana, and I are going to Gladrags in Hogsmeade next Saturday morning to see the dress designs. Lily will pick the one she wants, and we'll choose the Maid of Honour and Bridesmaids dresses too. Emily and Frederica will do their fittings on the weekend after that when they're in town for their Hogsmeade weekend, and we'll work something out to get Daphne fitted. Maybe she can pop over on a day off for an hour or so, or we can just send her dress there, and have one of the shops in the resort do the fitting."

"That should be a fun morning," Carolyn said. "Is anyone else going to be there when Emily and Frederica go to their fitting?"

"I'll probably go too," Ginny answered. "You and Brianna are both welcome to come to that too if you'd like, but Lily has other plans."

Carolyn nodded. "I can probably do that too now that Easter is over, but I'll let you know for sure later this week. Is there anything else coming up soon?"

"That's all we have for now," Ginny told her. "Ana and I pretty much have everything else dealt with until June. We'll have a few things to do during Kieran's last week at school, and then there will be most of the regular parties and appointments during the last week before the wedding."

"We can do a little honeymoon clothes shopping anytime you want, though," Lily suggested. "You can never start shopping too early, and I could use some help with decorating and furnishing the house when it will be ready so I can start doing that near the end of next month."

"I'm surprised you haven't ordered everything for your house already," Al told her.

"I've done some of that, but there's still a lot left to do," Lily said. "Once I get going on that too, the last five weeks or so that Kieran's at school should really go by fast."

"Speaking of going fast, we should get going," Ginny suggested to Lily. "It's been a fun day, but I'm getting tired out."

Scorpius and Brianna agreed with that, and they joined Harry, Ginny, and Lily as they all got ready to go, hugged and kissed Al and Carolyn goodnight, and left for Grimmauld Place or the Cottage. Al and Carolyn cleaned up the last few glasses, and then went upstairs to get ready for some sleep too. At Hogwarts, once the movie was over, Malcolm had walked Ophelia to her House, hugged and kissed goodnight, and then he'd gone to his own dorm room and gotten ready for bed.

While the rest of his study group friends, and their families had good endings to their Easter as they went to sleep, Malcolm's ended with another weekly call from Dirk Avery demanding his weekly report. Malcolm had continued to fabricate his progress on making the Living Death Draught, and had nothing else of interest to report to Dirk. When he'd ended the call, the nagging voice had continued to bug him, and followed him right into a night of restless dreams.

In April, the Marauders had just one Hogsmeade weekend to look forward to, but there were also two of the Canons four remaining regular season Quidditch games, and Mark's New York to Los Angeles Broom Race over the coming three weekends. The Hogwarts Quidditch teams were going to be practicing harder, with less than four weeks to the Slytherin-Hufflepuff match, and seven weeks until the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game.

There was less than four weeks to what Al was now confident would be the culmination of his investigation with the Knights. Now that his surveillances of their International offices was done, he was going to be focusing on the local group, and now it was time to find out what their plans were, put all of the pieces together, and somehow stop the Knights before it was too late.


	139. Lies and Deception

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Nine – Lies and Deception

Al was working in the kitchen on Monday morning, making breakfast for two while Carolyn was upstairs, probably just beginning to wake up now that the coffee was nearly ready and the sausages were just starting to sizzle. His Wizengamot meeting was just a couple of hours away from starting, but it was the rest of the week, and what he wanted to get done that Al was concentrating on while he cooked.

It had been over a year now since he'd located and been inside of the first Knight's office he'd searched, and since then, he'd identified over a thousand Knights, with just a very few back here at home left to find. He had tens of thousands of pages of parchment stored in his Auror Case Manager program, and he hopefully knew where all of their secret offices were. Now it was time to find out who the new Lord Commander, and the other Knights were, and put everything together. Since he was stuck dealing with the Wizengamot meeting today, Al was going to start doing that by following Byron Bulstrode on Tuesday morning, since he would be starting the week one loop of the two-week messenger schedule that he and Terrance took turns rotating through.

"What are you so deeply in thought about?" Carolyn asked as she came up to Al and hugged and kissed him good morning.

"Just working out what I'll be doing for the rest of the week to work on my investigation," he answered with a smile. "You look beautiful. Maybe we should take the day off and spend the time together instead."

Carolyn laughed. "Thank-you, and I'd love to, but neither of us can just skip out on work," she said, hugging him again. "It's just you and me tonight, though, so hang on to that thought, and we can talk about a little you and me time after work."

"I'll do that," Al promised. "Are we getting together with Rose and Matt this week?"

Carolyn nodded. "Yes, but I'll work that out with Rose, Brianna, Allie, and Lily today. That could end up being Thursday or Friday. Do you have any preference?"

Al shook his head. "No, but I probably won't be able to cook this time, and I may not be done until late each afternoon, so if we could do dinner around seven, I should be done by then each night."

"Okay, and I think Nick and Allie were going to have us over to their place this time, so you don't have to worry about cooking anyway," Carolyn told him.

They ate breakfast together, cleaned up, and then Carolyn shared one of those 'to be continued later' kind of hugs and kisses goodbye that nearly went too far, when Al picked her up and offered to make that 'later' about a minute later instead of later that night. They'd both laughed, and had shared a few more kisses, but they did leave for work after that, Carolyn going to her office, and Al to the Ministry of Magic.

Easter was over at Hogwarts, and while there were still some students talking about the TNM Easter Adventure and treats, and yet others still having fun with those chocolates and candies, it was already yesterday's news. This week, it was back to hitting the books, and looking forward to the upcoming weeks and the gradually warmer weather that would come with spring. All four Quidditch teams were starting to work harder, though that was especially true for Hufflepuff and Slytherin, since their game was first, and less than four weeks away. The professional league Quidditch fans were mostly cheering on their teams too – at least the fans of teams that still had a chance to make the playoffs. Most of those teams had four games left in the regular season, and that battle for playoff position was always exciting.

The first Saturday after Easter was a double sport day, with the Canons on the road at Puddlemere United, and Mark's New York to Los Angeles Broom Race. Both the game and the race were being talked about on the Hogwarts gossip network by Monday morning. United fans weren't the only ones hoping for a win over the Canons, since a nice losing steak to end the season for the number one team in the league could help some of the other teams move up in the rankings, or boost fading playoff hopes.

"Do some of these people actually think that the Canons are going to lose their last five games in a row?" Hugo asked Emily and the others as they had dinner on Monday. "What team have they been watching all season that I haven't seen?"

"It's just the urge they have to cheer for the underdog teams," Emily suggested, and Hugo laughed.

"Whatever happened to cheering for the good guys?"

"For all of the other teams in the league, the Canons are not the good guys," Claire told him. "Even if they are all very lovable – especially Sebastian and Tristan," she added with a grin.

"Is that why you want to be a Healer?" Emily asked her. "You're hoping to get to treat them if they're injured?"

"No, but that would be pretty great," Claire admitted. "Maybe I'd even get to do the team physicals.

"That would include doing a physical on Hugo," Emily said. "I'm not sure I like that idea much."

Claire looked Hugo up and down suggestively. "Why yes, I believe it would," she agreed, winking outrageously at Hugo, who began blushing.

"That was way too easy," Claire told Emily as both girls laughed. "They're so cute when they blush."

"I think he's pretty cute all of the time," Emily told her friend while hugging Hugo too.

Al and Carolyn were both home from work and having dinner by then. The Wizengamot meeting had been another complete failure for the twenty-one member opposition, and they were getting very bitter about the whole situation as their financial well being continued to crumble, and they could manufacture no way to get anything done that would again get the money flowing from Dirk Avery and the other Knights.

With that meeting out of the way, Al was going to be back to earlier mornings again, so he and Carolyn enjoyed dinner, watched a little WWVN, went for a swim, and then that 'to be continued later' caught up with them, and they had a really brilliant end to their day.

On Tuesday morning, Al was up early, got ready to go, had a quick breakfast, and was off to spend the day tracking Byron. He'd gotten to Byron's place by five o'clock. If the Wizard's schedule was still on track to what it was when Al was following him before, Byron would be visiting Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Tanzania today, though the order was scrambled each time. Al had a little time to wait, so he pulled up his files on those five offices, and reviewed what he had on each of the members, and his summaries of what he'd discovered during his searches of their offices.

When Byron appeared, and Al was able to confirm that they would indeed be starting out in Saudi Arabia, he waited for Byron to take the TransPortal before apparating directly to the same place he'd used before to stakeout the Knight's office there, and the chase was on for the day, and the rest of the week.

There was very little happening while he followed Byron during the day, but there were some surprises in that first week for Al. He wasn't surprised when Byron didn't go to the Rosier Estate in Cardiff at the end of the day on Tuesday, but he was very surprised when he didn't go make a report anywhere. He had expected to either find out who the new Lord Commander was, or at least discover a new Fidelius Charmed location where the leader of the Knights worked or lived. When Byron went home, and stayed there, it left Al with some concern, but his instincts told him to stick with Byron, so on Wednesday morning, he was back out on the trail with Byron again.

The second surprise of the week came on Thursday. Byron had visited France, Spain, Tangier, Italy, and Germany during the day, but instead of going home after that, Byron returned to Tangier, where he met Nicolette in a small, out of the way café. Al disguised himself, put away his cloak, and after waiting about ten minutes, went into the café and was seated a couple of tables away from Byron and Nicolette.

"I've missed you so much," Nicolette told Byron, reaching out to take his hand across the table, and holding on to it as she smiled at him happily. "How have you been? You look like something is bothering you."

"The Lord Commander has been keeping all of us busy," Byron told her. "You know what's going on, Nicolette, and you know that your group will not be ready in time."

"I know," she agreed, her face taking on a serious expression. "What will he do if we fail?"

"You don't want to find that out," Byron told her. "That idiot, Goyle is a walking dead man for sure, but then I probably am too."

"This isn't your fault!" she said quietly, but fiercely. "How can he blame this on you?"

"I've been protecting you and the others," he answered. "So has Terrance, though his motivation is different than mine. When the Lord Commander finds that out, he will kill us for sure, and I expect he'll make an example of us as he does it. That's why I wanted to meet with you tonight." He looked into her eyes, and smiled. "I don't plan on being anywhere that he can find me when he does find out, and I'd like you to come with me when I leave."

"Oh Byron, where could we possibly go?" she asked. "The Knights have ears and eyes everywhere – you told me that yourself."

"Don't worry about that, Nicolette. I have that all taken care of, complete with new identities for us, and enough money set aside to live comfortably on. I love you, Nicolette. Please say you'll come away with me," he practically pleaded. Nicolette only took a moment to decide, and then got up and went over to his side of the table to hug him.

"I love you too, Byron," she told him. "Of course I'll go with you."

Al could tell that they both meant what they were saying, and while he'd seen that there had been something between these two back when he'd captured Macnair, he now had to change his perception of Byron. The man had a lot of faults that he'd shown to Al so far in his thoughts and actions, but if he could truly love this Witch, there was at least some hope for him.

Nicolette had kissed Byron too before going back to her seat, and they talked over how important it was to make sure that nobody else found out about their plans – especially Vincent Goyle, who'd go running back to the Lord Commander, or his father, in a second. Al stayed with them until they finished dinner, and then left for home.

He'd needed to order dinner and drinks while at the café to keep up appearances while watching Byron and Nicolette, and had sent Carolyn a QuillMessage letting her know that he'd be late, so she'd gone on ahead to the dinner they'd set up with their friends over at Nick and Allie's. Al went home first, grabbed a quick shower, got dressed again, and joined his wife, cousins, and friends in time for dessert, which was a wonderful Winky creation that Scorpius and Brianna had brought with them.

"So you went out for dinner, did you?" Allie said, hugging Al in welcome. "Did someone start a rumour that Nick was cooking tonight?"

Al laughed. "No, and I really wish I wasn't late, but the Wizard I was tracking had a dinner meeting, and I couldn't get close enough without having dinner in the café he was at too."

"Yet you made it here in time for Winky's dessert," Nick joked. "How convenient."

"Carolyn's message back to me suggested I didn't want to miss dessert if I could help it," he told Nick, so I was motivated. Have I missed much of the catching up talk?"

"Quite a bit of it," Carolyn told him when he sat down next to her at the table and hugged her. "I'll catch you up on everything you missed later."

The current discussion that resumed after Al was served a drink and dessert was about what Allie was doing with Witch Investments. From there, they moved on to architecture, international standards, Goblin Liason, and Wizengamot business at the Ministry, and Carolyn's work at PBP Investments. Al couldn't say much about his Auror investigations, so that didn't take up much time, but before they all knew it, it was after ten o'clock, and it was time to be getting home, especially for Al, who needed to get up by around four o'clock again.

"That was fun," Carolyn said, as she and Al got ready for bed after getting home. "Rose and Matt are only away for a week this time, so at least we'll get to see them again in a couple of weeks."

"It was, though I wished I hadn't missed the first hour and a half of it," Al answered. "You'll have to tell me all about what I missed tomorrow night, though. It's been a really long day."

On Friday, Al followed Byron through Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Poland. They finished their day in Norway, and then Byron went back home for the short weekend they'd have before heading out on Sunday night for the Asian-Pacific part of the second week of the messenger schedule. When Byron again didn't give Al any indication that he was going anywhere, or would be meeting with anyone for a weekly wrap-up, Al left him and went home to spend most of the weekend with Carolyn.

Most of the weekend did not included Saturday morning. Carolyn left for the Cottage right after breakfast, and met up with Ginny, Ana, Brianna, and Lily. From there, they all went to Gladrags in Hogsmeade, where they spent the morning choosing Lily's wedding gown, Carolyn's Maid of Honour gown, and the bridesmaid's dresses that Brianna, Emily, Frederica, and Daphne would be fitted for later.

"That is absolutely the perfect dress for you," Carolyn breathed in a hushed voice as she, Brianna, Ginny, and Ana saw Lily in the dress she'd finally chosen. She smiled, and then hugged the dress designer, who had tears in her eyes. "I thought the dress you made for Brianna was great, but I think this might be even better. Congratulations."

"Thank-you," the other Witch said happily. "Your fiancée is a very lucky young man," she told Lily.

"I'm pretty lucky to have him too," Lily told her. "Do we need to do many alterations?"

"I don't think so," the designer answered. "Everything looks exactly right. We can check it again right before your wedding, but I think we're done now."

Lily got changed, and they moved on to pick out Carolyn's dress and the bridesmaid dresses. Carolyn and Brianna were fitted for their dresses next, which took a little longer, since those dresses hadn't been pre-sized for them like Lily's dress had been. When they were finished, Ana, Brianna, and Carolyn hugged and kissed Ginny and Lily goodbye, and left to go spend the rest of the day with their husbands, while Ginny and Lily went back to the Cottage.

Harry, Ginny, and Lily had needed to pick between going to the Canons' road game against Puddlemere United and attending the start of Mark's broom race in New York. They'd all be in Los Angeles for the end of the race, so they had decided that Harry and Ginny would go to the Canons game, while Lily went with Callie, Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James to New York. Both the game and the race were starting at one o'clock home time, eight in the morning New York time, so after Ginny and Lily got back to the Cottage from their morning at Gladrags, Harry fed them lunch, and then they left for their respective sporting destinations..

At Hogwarts, the Marauders study group had worked all morning on their assignments, and after lunch, had met in Kieran's office to watch the game on the big screen, while following the race on portable WWVN's. Malcolm and Ophelia were sitting on a sofa with Philip and Heather, like they normally did now.

Malcolm was happy as they watched the pre-game show, his arms comfortably around Ophelia as she happily cuddled with him. It had been a long week, and they'd all studied hard, so all of their friends were just as glad as they were to have an afternoon off.

"This could be a bad day for the United team," Hugo suggested. "Coach really doesn't like to lose, and he'll have pushed our team even harder since losing the Catapults' game."

"United may be hoping that the Canons will be down now that their undefeated run was over," Joel suggested.

"If they worked out thinking that, it'll be even worse for them," Hugo told him. "The Canons are going to come out fighting, and they're not going to let up all afternoon."

When the game got started, Hugo's prediction was proved right on the mark. It looked like Joel had been right too, and if United had been expecting a team that was de-motivated after losing their last game, they found out quickly that those expectations were very wrong.

Over in New York, while Arianna was winning the race to the quaffle at the start of her game, the New York to Los Angeles Broom Race got started. As was the case in most of the races so far this season, Mark, Mariposa, Raffaele, Wyn, and the usual group of racers who could keep up with them began pulling away from the rest of the pack as they topped two hundred and twenty miles an hour.

Once the race leaders had settled in to begin the long race from the east to west coast of America, everyone in Kieran's office kept most of their attention on the Canons' game. Over the next three hours and four minutes, Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly put up big numbers against the United team, while Ron only allowed eight goals. The United team's Seeker played a great match against Liselle, but unfortunately, all that did was extend a game that was out of reach for his team within the first hour and a half. Liselle did finally catch the snitch, and the Canons won by a score of five hundred and thirty to eighty.

Instead of getting back to their studies until dinnertime, they all decided to just hang out, watch the Broom Race, and enjoy the rest of the afternoon together. As the race neared the halfway point, the lead racers ran into a storm front that slowed them all down significantly. Mark, Mariposa, and Raffaele flew off course in between checkpoints to avoid the worst of the rain, wind and lightning, while the other leaders stayed on the normal race flight path, thinking that they had an advantage by not taking the longer path that Mark and Mariposa had chosen, with Raffaele deciding to follow them.

Two of the lead racers that had stayed on course crashed while in the worst of the storm, and by the time they all reached that next checkpoint, they found themselves ten minutes behind the three leaders. That gap continued to widen as the race continued. The game and race watching party broke up when it was time to go to the Great Hall for dinner, and after eating, it was time to get back to studying, so they all met up again in their usual classroom, set out a few portable WWVN's to keep an eye on the race, and got busy working on their weekend assignments.

Mark's race record was not going to be in danger of falling this year as the storms had slowed all of the racers down quite a bit. Mark, Mariposa, and Raffaele were still together as they closed in on the finish line. The Marauders study group stopped to watch them battle it out right to the end, and for the first time since Mark had started racing, there was a photo finish as all three of them raced side-by-side across the line.

"Who do you think won?" Lenny asked. "It looked like they all hit the line at exactly the same time."

They were all given the time of eight hours and forty-four minutes, but the photo showed that Raffaele won the race, followed by Mariposa in second, and Mark in third. The measurements showed that only about fifteen inches had separated first to third, which wasn't much when you considered they'd crossed the line at a speed of two hundred and seventy-nine miles an hour.

It had taken several minutes before the official results were announced, and the study break lasted for maybe fifteen minutes while they watched Mark being congratulated by Callie, Harry, Ginny, Lily, Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James, and as Raffaele and Mariposa were greeted by their friends and family too. By ten o'clock, they turned off the race, and returned to their studies until it was time to pack up and get back to their Houses before curfew.

Al and Carolyn had watched the game and race on Saturday too. While Carolyn had been busy with the dress fitting in the morning with Ginny, Ana, and Lily, he had spent the morning doing some work around the house, getting groceries, and doing a little shopping. When they were both done by noon, they had decided to go spend the rest of the day at their house on the island. Al made lunch for two, and after eating, they had sat out by the pool while the game was on, and went for a long walk along the paths after the game. They had dinner out on the lanai at around two o'clock, island time, and then played outside for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying having a few hours to just forget about work and everything else, and have a really fun afternoon and evening together.

Since Al was going back out on the road Sunday night, he needed to sleep on Sunday afternoon. They had lunch at the Cottage with Harry, Ginny, and Lily, and then Carolyn had sent him home to have that sleep, and she had gone with their parents and sister to spend the afternoon at the Residence while he slept.

That really hadn't worked out all that well for him, and it had been more like a short nap and some quiet time with a book, but at least when Carolyn returned home, planning to make dinner for them, he was already cooking up a storm, and had been able to surprise her with something a little better than the light dinner they'd planned on having.

"What happened to soup and sandwiches?" Carolyn asked when she came in and saw him working away. "You seem to have missed out on the whole concept of sleeping all afternoon too."

"I managed to get an hour or so, and I'll try to lay down for another hour after dinner," he told her as she hugged and kissed him. "Since sleep wasn't working out for me, it seemed like a good idea to make something special for you today instead. Except for maybe on Tuesday night, I won't get a chance to do that for you during the rest of the week."

Carolyn laughed. "Okay, you've sold me."

"Did you have fun at the Residence?" he asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"Lily, Mum, and I played a lot of GameWizard, and Lily and I had a nice little gossip session with some of the girls. We had snack time with them, and they pretty much got us all caught up on the latest gossip. Then we finished up our visit by playing dolls with Dad and the group of girls that he'd been playing with for most of the afternoon."

When everything was ready, they sat down and had dinner together, cleaned up the dishes, and then both went upstairs, with Carolyn planning on reading a book and cuddling with Al while he napped. That had been the plan, but one kiss and soft caress before Al was supposed to close his eyes and go to sleep derailed that completely, and all thoughts of naps and books were forgotten as they created another brilliant memory together. The next thing they knew, it was time for Al to hit the showers and get ready to go to work.

"I shouldn't have come upstairs to cuddle with you," Carolyn told him as he finished dressing. "You didn't get any sleep at all."

Al went over to her, put his arms around her waist, and kissed her. "I'm really glad you did," he said with a smile. "I love you Carolyn."

"I love you too Al," she answered, hugging him back.

They went downstairs together, shared a long hug and kiss goodbye, and then Al left to go wait for Byron to come out to play, while Carolyn went upstairs with plans for a long bubble bath before going back to bed, this time to get some sleep.

By the time Byron had finished up at his last stop for the day on Monday, Al was ready for some sleep too, but when Byron went to the lousy tavern inn he'd be staying in overnight, Al picked up that he was going on to Avery Estates immediately after checking in to his room. Al was able to get there before Byron again, since the other Wizard used a TransPortal stop in Falmouth before apparating to the gates of the Avery Estates and going inside.

Al was sure that he wasn't wrong about Dirk being the leader of the Knights now, but it was possible that Byron was giving his reports to Dirk. It was a quarter past nine home time when they arrived, and Al waited outside of the gates until nearly noon, when Byron and Terrance both came out of the gate and left using the TransPortal system together. He'd caught their destination, and jumped ahead of them to the restaurant they were going to. He quickly disguised himself, went inside, was seated and had ordered a drink before they arrived and were seated in the booth next to Al. They'd both looked over at the average looking and forgettable old Wizard who was busy reading the menu, and quickly dismissed him as they ordered their own drinks and were handed menus too.

"He was in a mood today, wasn't he?" Terrance said as the two Wizards decided on what to have for lunch.

Al was able to listen to their conversation and thoughts, even as he ordered his own meal. He pulled a copy of the Daily Prophet out of his cloak and set it on the table next to him for a prop so it didn't look like he was listening in while they talked on the other side of the divider from him. Terrance had gotten his attention immediately, since the Wizards thoughts told Al that the 'he' being referred to was the Lord Commander.

"Is that a surprise with less than three weeks left?" Byron answered. "When we're at those meetings, it's all I can do to keep it together. When that idiot, Bletchley shot off his mouth again, and was taught another lesson, all I could think about was what he'd do to us if he discovers what we've been up to. Look what happened to Miles, and all he did was say something stupid." They had to wait and place their orders before Terrance could answer, but when their server was gone again, he was nodding.

"Then we'll just have to hold it together until we get our chance to disappear. Have you got everything ready for yourself?"

Byron nodded. "I'll be done later this week. How about you?"

"I finished getting ready on the weekend," Terrance told him. "When we get the chance on May second, I'm out of here."

Al could see that 'out of here' for Terrance was a house in New Zealand, while Byron's 'done later this week' was a place he'd be stopping at in Argentina when he was on the South American part of this week's schedule. While it was obvious that these two men had been working together, they did not know where the other Wizard was going when they went into hiding, and Al got two very different feelings from each of them about the whole situation they were in.

While they continued to talk quietly, Al's mind was racing. When he'd seen the two messengers come out of the Estate and leave together, he'd guessed that they both now did a weekly report to Dirk after whichever one of them was on the week two schedule was finished for the day in the east, and while the other was having their bi-weekly Monday off. Now he knew that it had been a full meeting of the Knights, including with the new Lord Commander, but he was stuck here now, with no reasonable way to get out that wouldn't attract Byron and Terrance's attention.

They talked over what they were going to tell the Lord Commander at the next meeting, which helped Al a lot in making the connection between what he'd found in all of his searches, and what the Leader of the Knight thought his groups were doing. No wonder Byron and Terrance were afraid. There was a very wide gap between reality and the lies they'd been telling their fellow Knights and leader, even going back to when Rosier was in charge.

When Al had been served, and eaten his lunch, and was finally able to leave, he went back to Avery Estates in the hopes that maybe a few members of the Knights had stayed behind for lunch with Dirk, but an hour and a half after starting to watch the place, he saw Dirk return home, so that pretty much confirmed that he'd missed out on identifying the other Knights or the Lord Commander today. He abandoned the stakeout, went to spend a few minutes with Carolyn at PBP Investments, and then went back east, checked into a nice, comfortable five-star Muggle hotel, and went right off to sleep, now exhausted from being up for most of the last thirty-two hours.

On Tuesday, Byron finished the Asian-Pacific loop of their trip, and Al followed him back to his house before going on to Auror Headquarters to check in with Hestia and Rick, and get a little work done at his desk. When Al was on his way home, Minister Peasegood stopped him for a few minutes when he passed the Department Head's office. There had been two things that the Minister had wanted to know, and one of them had been whether Al and his family were going to the Memorial Stone on May second, and when, since the Minister was 'thinking about stopping by'. Al told him that his family always went there each year at dawn, and after updating him on the progress of his remaining cold cases, he continued home and started right in on making dinner for two.

On Wednesday, Since Al would be following Bryon to South America, he had time to make and have breakfast with Carolyn, take care of the cleanup while she went to work, and stop in to Auror Headquarters before going to wait outside of Byron's home for him to leave. The other Wizard did the South American stops so that he ended the day in Argentina, and after making several extra Transportal and apparating jumps, ended up in the small city of Santa Rosa, where he had a nice home on the outskirts of town.

Al watched Byron for another couple of hours as the other Wizard worked at the house and then went on to the same dumpy tavern that he and Terrance always stayed in on Wednesday night. Byron's Santa Rosa house was warded, and even though Al could have taken the wards down easily enough, doing so would have alerted Byron, so he didn't return there, but went on to one of the hotels he had enjoyed whenever he had stayed overnight in the area.

On Thursday, he followed Byron through the Central American countries, and they hopped around the region all day before ending up in Mexico City. They stayed overnight there, with Al once again picking a nice five-star hotel, while Byron was in another Wizarding tavern dive. There hadn't been anything new happen on Thursday, and Friday was more of the same as they made the rounds of the four American offices and two Canadian locations. At least when they did get home at around one o'clock on Saturday morning, Al didn't need to wait around for an end of the trip meeting. He followed Byron home, and then went on to his own house, and got ready for bed as quietly as he could. Carolyn did wake up for a few minutes when he got into bed with her, so she kissed him, snuggled close, and went back to sleep. Al stayed awake for a while longer, his mind still winding down after a long day, but eventually, he drifted off to sleep too.

Saturday was a Hogsmeade weekend, and Lily had been up early, hurried through breakfast, gone to Hogsmeade and sent Glenda and the boys off on a day trip to Moscow for a sightseeing and shopping day. She was at the gates to the school with ten minutes to spare, and waited excitedly for Kieran to get there. He was in the first group of students, along with Hugo, Emily, Joel, Sarah, and today, Frederica, and Liam. There were the usual whistles, giggles, and catcalls as Lily and Kieran shared a long hug and kiss. When they were ready to go again, the four couples walked into town together, with the first stop being to drop Emily and Frederica off at Gladrags to meet Ginny and Carolyn so they could take care of their bridesmaids dress fittings, while Sarah and Lily continued on with the four boys to get the supply shopping done while the girls were busy.

"Where to first?" Lily asked Sarah and the four boys.

"Let's go with the necessities first," Sarah suggested.

"Okay, Wheezes and Honeydukes first it is," Hugo said with a grin.

Sarah laughed. "We can do that if you want, but it's warm out today, and you may not like your chocolates and fudge much after they've spent the entire day in your book bag."

"That will only be a problem if they last that long," Hugo told her. "Point taken, though. Let's start with the apothecary and pick up the potions refills and everything else we need there."

"How are the practices going for your team?" Lily asked Hugo. "You must be getting excited again now that the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game is just two weeks away, and your last game is five weeks from today."

"We've been picking up the pace for the past couple of weeks, and after the next game, when we have two less teams to share practice time with, we'll take it up another notch for the last three weeks."

"They should both be good games, but I'm really looking forward to seeing you and Myra face off. Between the Keeper battle, and the Seeker contest between Colin and Erin, it should be a really great match to end the season with."

"I'm sure Myra will be up for the game too," Liam said. "You know if she can outplay our National team Keeper that she'll never let any of us forget it."

"Then you'll all have to prove you're better," Lily told him. "That would be really funny, though," she added, grinning at Hugo.

"Oh, it'd be hilarious," Hugo agreed with a laugh. "I'd get laughed out of every stadium we played in all summer."

"It wouldn't be the first time that the Canons players were underestimated," Kieran said. "I'm pretty sure that Myra could give a lot of the Keepers in the League a run for it right now if she played against them."

"Don't rush that along," Hugo told him. "I'm really glad that it'll be five years before I'll have to play against her in the show – assuming Uncle Harry doesn't draft her to replace me."

Lily laughed and hugged him. "I don't think you have to worry about that, Hugo. I'll be very surprised if she doesn't play for the Pride."

They had been shopping for a little more than an hour when Emily and Frederica rejoined them, having finished their fittings already, and they continued their shopping until nearly noon. There wasn't a game or race on, so most of the Marauders and their friends were planning on spending most of the day in town. Instead of doing lunch at the house, Lily and Kieran joined their friends at the Three Broomsticks. The table they were led to was next to where Ophelia, Malcolm, Philip, Heather, Colin, Nadine, Vanessa, and Lance were sitting, so Lily went around their table and hugged each of them before sitting down next to Kieran in time to order her food and a drink.

"Do you have much left to do before leaving on your trip next weekend?" Emily asked Lily. "I wish Hugo and I could go to India for two weeks with you, Uncle Harry, and Aunt Ginny."

"Mum and I are taking Dad shopping tomorrow," Lily answered, "and I'll pack later this week. I'm starting to get excited about the trip, since Kieran and I haven't actually gotten to do much sightseeing when we've been in India, so this is going to be brilliant to have Rose and Matt show us around."

"You're not going to miss the Slytherin-Hufflepuff game, are you?" Liam asked, and Lily shook her head.

"We're coming back for most of the day on Saturday," she told Liam. "Even Rose and Matt are going to come along to be with everyone at the Memorial Stone for sunrise. With the time change, the other clients on their tour can do their own thing over lunch or come along too if they want. I'll stay around, and come back for the game, while Mum and Dad will eventually go on to see Mark start the Trans-Canada Broom Race before going back to India."

"That'll make for a long day," Sarah suggested, and Lily nodded.

"It will be, and I'm going to do the same thing the weekend after that for the next Hogsmeade weekend, too, and then go back, since Rose has a shopping day planned for our last day in India, and I wouldn't want to miss that."

Malcolm had been sitting next to Ophelia, and they were already eating their lunches. He'd overheard Lily confirming her family's plans for May second, and as he thought about finally getting the confirmation that Dirk and the Lord Commander wanted, his food was not sitting very well with him. Colin, Lance, and Nadine had mostly talked Quidditch while they ate, and their girls talked about what they wanted to do for the afternoon in town.

"Are you okay?" Ophelia asked, and Malcolm smiled and nodded.

"I'm fine. Just got a little lost in thought for a minute," he answered.

He turned his attention back to the lunchtime conversation, and pushed those troubled thoughts to the side. When they were finished lunch, Nadine, Vanessa, Alice, and Ophelia all took a minute to hug Lily, and then they waded back out into the still busy town to go shopping again, starting at the FashionKnut store.

When Lily and Kieran had eaten, she hugged her cousins and friends goodbye, and took Kieran over to Al's house to spend the rest of their time together catching up on some long overdue snogging. When it was time for him to go back to Hogwarts, she walked back to the school with him. They only had time for a short hug and kiss at the gates, and then he hurried up the drive, and she apparated over to their house to take a walk around, even though she'd just been there after work on Friday, and there hadn't been anyone working on it today.

"Ready for some cheering up?" Carolyn asked Lily when she met her at the entrance, and hugged her tightly.

"That depends, did you go sneak Kieran out of school, and hide him out here with you?" she asked hopefully.

Carolyn laughed. "No, but I was thinking about that earlier. If you want to see Kieran while he's stuck at school, why don't you just go ask Teddy to do his metamorphmagus thing and turn himself into Kieran for a while?"

Lily hugged her again and laughed too. "That's very funny, but I can think of several reasons why I shouldn't, not the least of which would be how Victoire would feel about me snogging her husband if he showed up looking like Kieran. That was an unexpected way to start cheering me up, though, so thank-you."

"You're welcome. If you think that's good, wait until you see what Al's been cooking and baking up for you."

Al had been working on dinner for most of the afternoon while Carolyn did a little work in the office. Harry and Ginny were going to be coming for dinner too, and this would likely be the last chance he'd have to spend some time with the three of them before they left for India in a week. He poured Lily a glass of one of her favourite wines, and two of his favourite girls sat on stools at the island and talked while he worked.

Harry and Ginny joined the little party a half hour or so after Lily had arrived, and they joined their daughters around the island so they could all talk with Al while he finished making dinner. When he was close to being ready, Carolyn joined in to get the table set for five, and then they all sat down to eat.

"Are you going to be working a lot of late nights over the next few weeks?" Lily asked Al.

"Probably some, yes," he answered. "Are you looking for a Fluffy sitter while you're gone?"

Lily nodded. "I thought she could keep Carolyn company when you're out until all hours of the night, and two weeks is a long time all on her own, even when she does have Winky popping over to feed her every day."

"I'd love to have her come stay with us," Carolyn told Lily. "Maybe it'll even motivate me to cook breakfasts on the days that Al has to leave for work early."

"Thanks, Carolyn. I appreciate that," Lily said. "I'm sure that Fluffy will like being here with you too."

"She will if you feed her leftovers from meals like this," Ginny suggested. "Carolyn and I didn't marry you and your father for the cooking, but it is a really great added bonus," she added, smiling at Al.

"Who's hosting the game day in the Owner's Box next Saturday while you're in India?" Al asked his father. "James and Tracey again?"

Harry shook his head. "I offered it to Mandy and Terry Boot to invite some deserving Marauders Institute employees to, though James, Tracey, and Trinity will be there too."

"That's a good idea," Carolyn said. "The Falcons should make it a good match for them too. I guess you'll all have to miss it, though."

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked her, and Carolyn laughed.

"Do you want Rose taking away your portable WWVN and ViComm because you're busy with that instead of enjoying your vacation?" she asked, and Harry laughed too.

"That might be the first time they've ever done that to someone who was unemployed," Al joked.

"Don't you worry about me," Harry told his kids. "I'll have no problem at all getting right into the vacation thing, and I can always catch the highlights of the game on QSPN before we go to bed Saturday night. With the time change, if the game is long enough, we might even be able to watch the end of it."

They continued talking about the upcoming vacation, and what Harry, Ginny, and Lily would be doing in India. Since Al and Carolyn had done some of those sightseeing stops with Rose and Matt that summer the two couples had gone to Hawaii, Brazil, Egypt, and India, it had been fun spending a little time revisiting those memories for a while.

After dinner, they all worked on the cleanup, and then took drinks and sat down on the sofas, where they spent the rest of the evening chatting and enjoying a quiet time together. It was after eleven o'clock before they knew it, and since three of them had a shopping day on Sunday, it was time to wrap things up for the night. Al and Carolyn saw Harry, Ginny, and Lily off, did the last bit of straightening up, and then went up to bed. The going off to sleep didn't happen until quite a while later.

Sunday was an all day study session for the Marauders and their friends. They'd worked for a few hours after dinner on Saturday evening, but even the first and second year members of their group had taken the morning and afternoon off on Saturday and gone outside to enjoy the nice spring day instead of staying cooped up in the school while the older teens were in town. There were a lot of other students who weren't as concerned about their revision that did go spend a lot of the day outside on Sunday too, and hearing the noise and laughter reaching them from outside had been a bit of a distraction for the study group.

"Until I started working with all of you, I just thought you were all way smarter than the rest of us regular Witches and Wizards," Malcolm told Colin and the rest of their OWL group as they worked. "Most of you are," he added with a laugh, "but hardly anyone knows how hard you work compared to nearly everyone else to get those marks."

"I'm glad you used the word 'most'," Philip joked. "There are a few of us who are in the regular Witches and Wizards category with you."

"That's funny," Frederica told him, "because we think you, Ophelia, and the others from the Academy are extraordinary, and marks aren't everything."

Vanessa laughed. "Tell that to the Professors who will be using our marks this year to decide what classes we can take next year."

"Whatever they end up letting me take, it'll be more than if I hadn't studied with all of you since November," Malcolm told them. "At the rate I was going before that, this might have been my last year, unless they let me come back and take the year over again."

"I'm really glad you agreed to join us then, mate," Colin told him. "It would have been a waste of your talents if you couldn't have continued into sixth and seventh year."

"Me too," Ophelia told Malcolm with a smile. "For some reason, being here at Hogwarts has just gotten more fun since you joined our group."

"I wonder why?" Frederica teased.

They'd continued to chat as they worked, and by dinnertime, they'd finished their weekend assignments. As they packed up for dinner, Malcolm, and several others in the group were talking about what they were going to do for the evening, and Kieran got everyone's attention, and put a stop to all of that.

"Sorry, folks, but we're not done studying for the day. Exams are just six weeks away, so pick a subject or three, and meet back here for the regular evening session," he ordered.

"Is he kidding?" Malcolm asked Ophelia, and Kieran laughed, having overheard the remark.

"I'm not kidding, mate," he assured Malcolm. "We really do know what we're doing with getting ready for exams, though, so stick with us, and you'll be very happy with the results."

Colin nodded. "You'll really love the fact that we don't do any of the last minute cramming too," he told Malcolm.

"I have no idea why this should surprise me," Malcolm answered. "Sorry, Ophelia, I guess the snogging session is out for tonight."

Ophelia laughed and hugged him. "We'll find a way to make up for it some other time," she promised. "We only get one shot at our OWL's though, so I'm all for starting to get ready for them now."

So that's what they all did after dinner, and Colin, Nadine, Frederica, Liam, Vanessa, and Lance all helped to teach their friends how they got ready for their exams as they all studied together. For Ophelia, Philip, and the other Academy students, it hadn't been all that much different than what they'd learned to do during their two years there, but for Malcolm, and to a lesser extent, Heather, it was a whole new way to look at exam preparation.

When it was close to curfew, Malcolm walked Ophelia back to Gryffindor House like he normally did each night, and they had a few minutes left to share a long hug and kiss goodnight before he needed to get going on to his own House. When he got there, Jason was still in the Common Room with Millie, so he went over and wished them a good night, and then went up to his dorm room to get ready for bed. He was comfortable, and settled in to read for a while when Dirk's call came in.

"How's the Draught of Living Death coming along?" Dirk asked without preamble. "Do you have it done yet?"

"I'll have the last batch finished this week," Malcolm lied, and Dirk nodded.

"Any other news? Have any of them confirmed who's coming to the Memorial Stone for sunrise on the second yet?" Malcolm had been thinking about what his answer to this would be ever since overhearing Lily's conversation on Saturday.

"Not a thing," Malcolm lied again, and the little voice in the back of his head cheered. "They've talked a bit about who's coming to the game later in the day, but I guess that really doesn't matter much."

"No, it won't," Dirk agreed. He had gotten confirmation from another source, but he didn't tell Malcolm that. "Keep your ears open, and if you hear anything at all that could mess up our plans, call me."

With that, Dirk hung up again, and Malcolm's little voice patted him on the back, and even left him alone for the rest of the night, instead of bugging him about what he wasn't doing right like it normally did. He stayed awake and read his book for a while, until Jason and the rest of his roommates were all in the room too, and started to turn their lights out, and get some sleep.

Al and Carolyn had spent their Sunday doing a little visiting. They went over to check out the progress on Molly and Arthur's new house, and ended up getting to visit with them for a while and go for a tour of the inside of the house, and Arthur's new workshop too. The outside of both buildings were finished, except for the landscaping, and inside, the house was about half done, while they were just getting started on the inside of the workshop.

"How's the family ghoul liking his new home?" Carolyn asked Arthur, who laughed.

"He's loving it, and so will we," he answered. "Nick gave him all sorts of pipes and other things to rattle and bang on up there, but he doesn't know that the attic is also completely sound-proofed. We'll never hear a thing, no matter how much noise he makes up there."

"I'm sure the workers appreciate that feature a lot too," Carolyn said. They were walking around a Great Room that was somewhat bigger than the one in Al and Carolyn's house. "This room is going to be perfect for family Christmases," she added. "We'll all be together, instead of split up between the kitchen and sitting room for most of the day like we were before."

Molly nodded happily. "That is going to be great. Everything about this house is wonderful. It makes me wish we'd done this a long time ago."

Al laughed. "I'm not sure you'd have liked what Nick would have designed for you back when we were little, Grandma, so maybe waiting until he'd become a really great architect was a good plan."

"That's true," she agreed. "Wait until you see what he's doing for our new Marauders Mall, hotel, and conference centre in Shanghai. It's going to be the best Mall complex we have in the world."

"Pretty soon, he's going to be so popular, you'll have to get in line to get him to design new projects for you," Al predicted, and Molly laughed.

"We'll see about that. You boys are usually pretty quick to agree to anything we ask of you – especially when we gang up on you. Between Penelope, Allie, Carolyn, and I, Nick doesn't stand a chance."

Al smiled and hugged his Grandmother. "What was I thinking? Change that last comment to 'everyone else will have to get in line behind all of the projects you have Nick designing'."

After doing the tour with their grandparents, Al and Carolyn stopped in to see Teddy and Victoire, and got the double bonus visit with Stewart and Isabelle too. They went out for lunch at the Diner in Chudley, and then went over to the Residence to spend a couple of hours entertaining some of the kids. They went back home after that, went for a swim, had dinner, and spent the evening snuggling on the sofa, each of them relaxing with a good book instead of watching anything on the WWVN.

It was back to work for both of them on Monday morning. Al made breakfast for them, only a little earlier than Carolyn usually got up, and she took care of the cleanup so he could get to Byron's home by just before seven-thirty. He wasn't sure what time the other Wizard would leave the house, or whether the Avery Estate would be his first stop. If Byron wasn't on the road by eight-thirty, in case he'd missed him, Al's backup plan was to go wait outside of Avery Estates and watch to see who arrived for the meeting.

Byron did come out at eight twenty-five, and Al read that he was taking the TransPortal on a couple of jumps first, but then going to Avery Estates after that. He went straight to Dirk's family estate, and picked an out of the way place to watch the entrance and the drive leading up to the main house. Byron arrived a few minutes later, and hurried up the driveway. Al watched as Byron was admitted to the house, and the door closed again.

Over the next half-hour, sixteen other Witches and Wizards passed Al on their way to their weekly meeting. He knew most of them already – the Flints, Warringtons, Melania Gamp, Herb Burke, Malcolm Baddock, and Vincent Goyle. There were the Knights that he thought of as 'the parents' – Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, and Miles Bletchley. As the other Knights arrived, he found out that there were more parents and kids that were now part of the Knights too.

Bertha Warrington's maiden name was Bole, and her father, Bartholomew, came to the meeting with her and Winston, while Winston's father, Chauncey Warrington, came to the meeting about ten minutes later. There was just two other new Knights that Al identified before the meeting, and that was father and son, Dan and Danny Derrick. The last Wizard that arrived was Terrance, coming in after he was done his first day on the Asian-Pacific loop of his week two schedule. Since Malcolm was at Hogwarts, and Dirk was certainly in his own house already, Al had missed two early arrivals – presumably the Lord Commander, and one other Knight.

It was a fairly nice spring morning, so the Knights had their meeting out on the garden patio instead of the drawing room. Lord Chernobog was fired up right from the start, and pacing around as his Knights gave him their reports, starting with Dirk.

"Peasegood caught up with Potter on Tuesday afternoon, and got confirmation from him that he, and his whole family, would be at the Memorial Stone at sunrise a week from Saturday. Potter's still fumbling around with his cold cases, and is looking for the murderer of some petty criminal that was killed fifteen or sixteen years ago."

"Maybe you should suggest to him that it would be appropriate for him to send a contingent of Aurors to be there at sunrise too," Lord Chernobog suggested. "All of the old war vets like Savage, Jones, and that idiot, Podmore."

"You want to have Aurors there when we launch our attack?" Dirk asked incredulously, and watched as their Lord Commander nodded, his eyes flashing with excitement.

"Absolutely!" he confirmed. "They'll never know what hit them, and we'd take out their best all in one brilliant, surprise attack! Malcolm will have taken out all of the Professors and staff during the night with his Draught of Living Death, and he'll be there to attack them from behind if any of them actually do manage to get a shield up to protect themselves before it's too late. This will just make our victory that much more complete! When the Wizarding World finds out we've defeated all of our enemies, and that we have their children, they will surrender to us immediately."

Gwen laughed. "And if they don't, we'll just keep killing those snivelling brats until they do."

The other Knights all laughed along with Lord Chernobog, and then they got back to their meeting. Terrance and Byron assured their fellow Knights and leader that the other groups would be ready to act once their own attack succeeded. They had then suggested that once Hogwarts was secured, the two messengers should go out and help the other Knights with their attacks. The Lord Commander had thought the suggestion was a very good idea, and Terrance and Byron had both been relieved when he approved the addition to their plans.

The meeting went a little longer than usual, as they discussed their strategy for the attack, and everything they still needed to get done in the now less than two weeks until they were going to finally strike back at their enemies. When they were done, all of the Knights hurried off until there was just Dirk, Gwen, and Lord Chernobog in the garden.

"You need to calm yourself, Dirk," Lord Chernobog told his first Knight. "The time for your revenge is nearly at hand, but we cannot get distracted from our preparations, or get over-confident, and make any mistakes. I have Potter right where I want him, and when we attack, be certain that I will keep my promise to you."

"Yes Lord," Dirk said, bowing. "Thank-you, Lord."

Al had waited patiently, adding the information he'd picked up about the Knights he'd identified at the start of the meeting to his Auror Case Manager files on the Knights, and then doing a little research through the Ministry of Magic and Marauders Institute records on each of them until they started to leave the estate.

When he again only had seventeen Witches and Wizards leave, including Byron, Al had wondered briefly if there was something else he was missing out on, but then he saw another couple come out of the house, with Dirk himself seeing them out, and watching them leave for a moment before going back inside and closing the door.

The first thing Al noticed was that they were a young, handsome pair, around twenty-five or thirty years old. They didn't hold hands or anything as they walked, but even from a distance, Al could sense that they were a couple, not just acquaintances and fellow members of the same group. That attraction he felt between them was also twisted, though, and it was a dark, base connection that was unpleasant for Al, like touching something slimy and unwholesome.

He picked up the Witch's name first – Gwendolyn Montague, and confirmed that the young Wizard was indeed the new leader of the group, Lord Chernobog. He'd picked up the name from Gwen, though he could also read the Lord Commander's surface thoughts easily too. That had surprised Al somewhat, but mostly had disgusted him, and he'd quickly tuned out the Wizard's thoughts for the moment, since they mostly involved Gwen, and the man's desire for an outlet to the excitement that had been building up within him during their meeting.

Reading Gwen's thoughts let him know that they were going to the Fidelius Charmed Rosier Estate in Cardiff, so when they left to make a couple of jumps before getting there, Al apparated directly to Rover's Way to wait for their arrival. He let them get into the house, and spent time making sure that there were no new defences around the property before following after them, and going around to the back of the house and the room where Rosier had eaten most of his meals whenever Al had been watching him.

Apparently Lord Chernobog couldn't wait until after lunch to sate his other hunger, and it was quite a while before he and Gwen entered that room, followed by servants who set out food and drinks for them, and quickly left the room. While they sat down to eat, Al cautiously opened himself up to the pair again.

His first impressions of the Lord Commander continued to surprise him. Lord Chernobog wasn't without some magical power, but it was not exceptional by any means. That wasn't necessarily a prerequisite for being a leader, but with a group like the Knights, who only respected power, the fact that their Lord Commander was at best slightly above average was a contradiction to be sure.

For that matter, Gwen was stronger than Lord Chernobog, yet she was deferential to him in both her speech and thoughts. He didn't dare try to delve into their minds, since they would be able to detect him doing that, so Al had to be content to listen to their conversation and pick up on their surface thoughts.

Their lunchtime conversation was somewhat erratic, but informative, as they talked about what the Knights would be working on over the next week, a bit about their plans for May second, and some dreaming about life at the top after they'd defeated their enemies.

When they finished lunch, they went back into the house, but Al had picked up Gwen's thoughts that she was going to be leaving soon, while Lord Chernobog was staying, so when they were out of sight, he decided to leave the estates quickly, and follow her. Gwen left the Rosier estate about fifteen minutes later, and Al began an afternoon of following her around as she went home for a while, and then did some running around that included a stop at the Apothecary in Diagon Alley, a little clothes shopping at the Marauders Mall, and a number of other stops to different stores, and a couple of houses before she went back to the Rosier Estate to have dinner with Lord Chernobog.

Al had nearly laughed out loud when he'd first looked up the meaning of the name Chernobog. He thought that it was fairly audacious to declare yourself the 'Dark God', or 'Black God', and he wondered if any of the Knights knew what the name meant, not to mention that it came from Muggle Mythology. He thought that Gwen might, but the others probably didn't. The conversation at dinner between the Lord Commander and Gwen continued to be mostly about their dark aspirations for the Wizarding World that they could begin building soon, and Al listened to the sometimes wild declarations of their intentions to scour their world clean of every Muggle, mudblood, half-blood, blood-traitor, and most of the Magical Creatures, excepting the ones they planned on having serve them.

After dinner, they'd moved across the room and sat down on one of the sofas with after dinner drinks. The servants cleared away their dinner dishes, and then disappeared into the house, leaving the couple alone again. They had continued their conversation from dinner, but soon Al was faced with a problem he hadn't experienced before – having the targets of his surveillance getting um, excited about being together. How was he supposed to watch them without feeling like a voyeur, not to mention that their idea of passion was so abhorrent to Al that it sickened him to be near.

Instead of staying there, Al decided to leave the property, wait for Gwen, see where she went after leaving the estate, and then come back afterward to see if there was anything else to learn from the Lord Commander. That ended up being an hours long wait, but Gwen did eventually leave, and go straight home. When Al returned to Rosier Estates, the Lord Commander was not in the back room, and while Al did wait there for another hour, as the lights began going out in the rest of the house, he decided that the action for the night was likely over.

He carefully made his exit from the estate, and when he was a goodly distance away from the place, he apparated home. He hadn't eaten anything except some rations since breakfast, but since it was after one o'clock when he'd gotten back to the house, he just went upstairs, changed, and got into bed with Carolyn. She half-woke when he did that, kissing him, and then snuggling close before drifting back off to sleep, and Al closed his eyes too, falling asleep almost right away.

The next thing Al was aware of was the smell of coffee, bacon, and eggs cooking, and he was awake right away, and smiling to himself. This was a really great surprise, and his stomach was telling him to get up, get ready, and get some food, so he got up and went to take a shower and get ready for another day back at the Rosier Estate, and wherever else his investigation took him.

"Good morning," he told Carolyn when he joined her in the kitchen. He put his arms around her and kissed her warmly. "Thank-you. This was really great to wake up to."

Carolyn laughed. "It was fun to actually be able to do this for you for once, since I'm usually the sleepy-head in the mornings. What time did you get in? I vaguely remember you climbing into bed with me, but not much more than that."

"Around one o'clock," he answered. He'd already talked with her a couple of times on Monday to let her know what he was up to – or as much of it as he could.

"Will you be following them again today?" she asked, and Al nodded.

"I'll likely be doing that every day from now until May second," he said, and Carolyn nodded.

"Okay. Please be careful, Al. This whole thing is starting to get a bit scarier every day now, and there's no way anyone can help you if things go wrong when you're behind those Fidelius Charms."

"I will be," Al promised.

They sat down to have breakfast together; mostly talking about what Carolyn was busy with at work. After eating, they both pitched in to clean up the kitchen, and after a hug and kiss goodbye, left for work, Carolyn to her office, and Al going to Cardiff and a return to his stakeout of Lord Chernobog.

Al got back to the Rosier Estate shortly after eight, and ended up having to wait until nearly nine o'clock before the Lord Commander made an appearance in the back room to have breakfast. The Wizard read through the Daily Prophet while he ate, and the only thoughts that Al picked up on were mostly derogatory comments about the different articles he was reading. He went back into the house after eating, and Al knew that he planned on spending the rest of the morning in his office.

He made an appearance in the back room at lunch, and then disappeared back into the house again for the afternoon. Gwen joined him for dinner, and Al watched them through dinner, and into the evening, but when the couple went back into the main house, Al decided to go home himself, get some sleep, and be back again in the morning.

Wednesday and Thursday went pretty much the same way, with Al watching Lord Chernobog, and Gwen when she was there, from morning until late evening. He missed out on the dinner on Wednesday at Matt and Rose's house while they were home for the week before their trip to India, though Carolyn did give him the condensed version of the evening at breakfast on Thursday.

Lord Chernobog finally left the estate again on Friday, going out for lunch with Gwen, taking her to one of the restaurants at the Emerald City Centre, which had been amusing to Al considering that the Lord Commander's 'greatest enemies' owned the place. They had obviously been there regularly, and Al was in disguise, and in a position to discover that Lord Chernobog was known, at least at this establishment, as Mr. Evans.

Since Al had picked up where they were going, he'd again been able to get to the restaurant first. He wasn't seated close enough to the couple to hear their conversation, but he was able to listen in on their thoughts. Lord Chernobog had been disdainful of his name, and Gwen had briefly thought about the names Ross Evans and Evan Rosier Junior as names that her Lord Commander would soon be able to discard when he took his rightful place as the leader of the Wizarding World.

Their conversation over lunch was just a social chat, which wasn't surprising in such a public setting, but it was interesting to listen in on their thoughts as each of them would summarily make judgements on the other Witches and Wizards in the restaurant. Those assessments of their fellow diners were nearly all negative, whether the person in question was labelled a mudblood, half-blood, or blood-traitor.

They weren't just mocking people about their blood status, and their thoughts, especially Gwen's, mocked the clothing, hairstyles, and physical attributes of everyone around them. Al had nearly laughed out loud when his disguise had been fairly brutally critiqued by Gwen, marking him as a mudblood, since no pureblood could be that plain looking, and also decided that he was poor too, since his clothing was definitely on the shabby side of second hand.

Listening to her jaded, often hateful thoughts was a strange counterpoint to the quite attractive Witch that everyone saw on the outside. It was sort of like looking at that picture where you could either see the beautiful young woman or the ugly hag when you shifted the way you looked at the picture, but Gwen's ugly hag was on the inside, and was very, very ugly.

After lunch, Al spent the afternoon following them as they went around Diagon Alley for a few hours before returning to the Rosier Estates. Al didn't see them in the back room until dinner, and from the hints he got from their thoughts when they did come into the room, he was glad that he hadn't. The dinner and evening conversation had been a continuation of their plotting and scheming, though very little of it was about their plans for Hogwarts that was now just over a week away.

Gwen went home around eleven o'clock, escorted out by one of the servants, while Lord Chernobog sat out in the back room until after one o'clock. The man's thoughts were often a jumble as he continued to dream of what he saw as a brilliant future for himself and the pureblood Witches and Wizards he purported to champion. He often spoke aloud to himself, and paced the room as often as he sat down. It was close to one o'clock when Al overheard a vocal and mental comment from the man that sent a chill through him.

"Just one more week, father, and I will avenge you," he said while looking out the windows into the darkness, "and how appropriate that it come on the anniversary of your murder by that pathetic usurper."

Lord Chernobog's words, and more importantly his thoughts told Al that the leader of the Knights truly believed that he was the son of Lord Voldemort! That had sent a chill through Al, but it was also something that was completely unexpected. Al's mind began to race, quickly scanning through both his own records, and searching back and forth through possibility timelines while continuing to watch the other Wizard. There were possible futures where he could clearly see that the Wizarding World accepted that Lord Chernobog was Lord Voldemort's son, and others where he wasn't. Possible futures in any case did not necessarily reflect truth, though, and Al knew that this was something he needed to find out the truth about very soon.

With that decided, he had a good idea of where to go looking for that truth, so when Lord Chernobog eventually went back into the main house, Al went home to get a little sleep.

On Saturday morning, he had an early breakfast with Carolyn, called Hestia, and an hour later, met her at Auror Headquarters.

"What's up?" she asked him, sitting in one of the chairs across the desk from Al. "Didn't you get the memo that this is the weekend?"

"I did, but I need some help to go up to Azkaban, and see if we can get some information from Rosier," he explained.

Hestia nodded. "Since you don't want to wait until Monday, I take it that this is important. Can you talk about it?"

"Not yet," Al answered. "We can talk after you meet with him, but I don't want to affect how you act around him by telling you anything else yet."

"Okay," she agreed. "What do you want me to talk with him about?"

"I need you to ask him about Ross Evans. We need a cover story for why we need to talk to him about that – some investigation where the name had come up somehow as something that had happened since he's been in prison. We have to make sure that it in no way could get him worried about the Knights being exposed. I really doubt that Rosier, or the others in Azkaban are still in the loop about anything that's going on with the Knights now, but if they were concerned about that, they might get a warning to their friends on the outside."

They worked that cover story out, and then went on to the prison. There was an interrogation room with an observation room they could use, and they had to wait about fifteen minutes for the guards to bring Rosier to meet with Hestia. Al hadn't seen the man in about ten months, and he thought that Rosier actually looked healthier now than he had last year.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of Savage sending his favourite dog to come bark at me?" Rosier asked, and Hestia laughed.

"Actually, I'm only second favourite these days, and Rick didn't send me. This visit is about a little case I've been working on."

"Ah yes, I heard that your puppy was promoted early. You must be so proud, though the rest of us are just amused at how low the Aurors have fallen that Potter's the best you've got. Not that I plan on helping you, but since I am bored here, why don't you go ahead and ask your questions. Just make sure you're done by lunchtime. Saturdays we get to have pudding to go with our usual gruel."

Al watched for the half hour it took Hestia to spin her story to Rosier, who professed having no idea what she was talking about. His thoughts had been much different, though. During that short time, Rosier's thoughts flashed trough memories of the past, and Al got the answer to his question, along with what was probably all of the highlights of Lord Chernobog's childhood. Rosier's thoughts had calmed by the end of the interview with Hestia, after deciding that Evan had at least not blown his cover identity, and that she probably didn't have anything on him at all, other than the name showing up in some Ministry records.

They hadn't put together a particularly deep cover story for the questioning, so when she'd run through her questioning, she wrapped up the interview with Rosier, and after he had been taken into custody by the guards again, met up with Al and left the prison to return to Auror Headquarters.

"Did you find out what you wanted to know?" she asked, and Al nodded. "Good. So tell me what this was all about."

"Alright. You already know that I've found the new leader of the Knights this week," Al began. "Last night, when I was watching him, I found out that he believes he is the son of Voldemort."

"Say what?" Hestia exclaimed loudly. Fortunately they had Auror Headquarters to themselves. "So we went up to Azkaban to find out what Rosier knew about him?"

"Exactly," Al agreed seriously. "Our little plan worked just fine too." He spent the next few minutes giving Hestia a recap of what Rosier had been thinking during her meeting, and she'd been amazed at what they'd found out.

"I sure hope he isn't as ugly as his father," Hestia told Al. "I'd met his mother before too, and there was no way she would have made the hottest Witches list in TeenWitch magazine – she'd be more likely to make the cover of one of the hag-mags."

"He's actually a handsome young man," Al answered. "The ugly is all on the inside, and it is really, really ugly."

"That definitely came from his father, then," Hestia suggested. "What are you going with your investigation next?"

"I'm going to go back to my surveillance, but I think it's time for you, me, and Rick to sit down for a meeting and make some plans of our own. Can you set something up with him for after lunch on Monday?"

"Sure, I get it. You get me to come in and work on the weekend, but Rick can just work his nine-to-five," Hestia joked. "I'll set it up, and send you a message when I've got a time."

"Thank-you," Al said as he stood and got ready to leave. "Try to enjoy the rest of your weekend."

"I'd tell you to do the same, but long stakeouts and rations isn't going to be anything to enjoy, and I'm not sure either of us are going to feel like enjoying anything after today," she answered, hugging Al. "Be careful, and if you need me for anything, call."

When Al was working with Hestia, his parents and sister had already left for India with Rose, Matt, and the other clients going on the tour. Lily was the only single in the group, and Rose and Matt had gone with eleven clients instead of ten, but including Rose, there were two other younger Witches on the tour, so Lily was sure that they'd have fun.

By the time he was back at Rosier Estate, after making a quick stop at home for a sandwich and a few minutes with Carolyn, at Hogwarts, it was lunchtime in the Great Hall. The Marauders and friends study group had been working hard all morning, and were now ready to get some food, and then move on to Kieran's office to watch the Canons' home game against the Falmouth Falcons.

"Have you talked to Lily since she got to India?" Violet asked Kieran.

Kieran nodded. "She's sent a few QuillMessages, and a couple of pictures of their hotel, and her room. Would you like me to send the pictures to your ViComm?"

"Sure," Violet said happily. "Is she having fun?"

"It sounded like it," he answered as he was sending the pictures on to her. "They were just hanging out around the hotel, and they're going out to check out the nightlife in a while. The sightseeing trips start tomorrow with a safari."

"She'll probably be out there hugging the cute little striped kitties," Hugo joked, and Kieran laughed.

"That wouldn't surprise me, but if she does, I hope her Mum or Dad sends pictures."

"I guess we can't hope to have that much fun," Vanessa said, "but maybe if it's nice tomorrow afternoon, we can have a study safari outside instead of being cooped up in the classroom all day."

"Could we do that safari without the study part of it?" Nadine asked.

"No," Emily told her, "but I do like the idea of an outdoor study session. Those of us who don't get out to play Quidditch every day could use the fresh air. I vote yes for Vanessa's suggestion."

Everyone else did too, weather permitting, and they moved on to talk about their past week, and about school and Canons Quidditch. Andy and his broadcast team had a split vote on which team would win the game today as they wrapped up their pre-game show, and then the teams were introduced, and the game got started.

For the next four hours and seventeen minutes, the Canons fans in Kieran's office watched a frenetically paced match where both teams had a lot of scoring opportunities, but also had great Keeper performances on both sides. The advantage at both Keeper and Chaser positions went to the Canons, but it was a slim advantage, and the Falcons did not let the Canons get more than one hundred and fifty points ahead of them.

There were two plays that decided the game, and they happened about two minutes apart. The first was what Tristan saw as a cheap shot by the Falcon's Seeker against Liselle in which the Wizard crashed into Liselle hard after making a run at her. The second came when Tristan sent a bludger at Liselle's opponent that hit the man in the stomach so hard that it sent him spiralling out of control, fighting for both his breath, and to keep from crashing. That had been all that Liselle had needed to get a clean shot at the snitch, and she caught it to end the game and give her team the win.

"When will some of these players ever learn?" Frederica asked. "Tristan and Sebastian have no problem if everyone's playing fairly, but don't take cheap shots at their team mates."

"Especially the one Tristan's married too," Hugo agreed. "I'll be glad to have them watching my back when I start playing on the team."

There wasn't enough time left before dinner to bother going back to their studies, so some of the group stayed to watch the post game, while others decided to go outside for a walk before dinner. Al had missed the game, and had not been surprised that Lord Chernobog and Gwen had not watched the game during the afternoon.

They had gone out for a walk around the estate, sat outside for a while, and then gone inside, where they'd gone somewhere else in the house until reappearing in the back room for dinner. They spent most of the evening out there until retiring to bed at around eleven o'clock. From what Al had picked up from them, Gwen wasn't planning on going home, so once they'd left the room, he went home to go to bed, cuddle with Carolyn and Fluffy, and get some sleep so he could be back at his stakeout before they had breakfast.

Carolyn and Fluffy got up early with him on Sunday morning, and after sending Fluffy off with her breakfast treat, Al and Carolyn sat down to have breakfast together too. She told him about her afternoon at Nick and Allie's, where they, along with Scorpius and Brianna, watched the Canons win their game and after that, they had dinner together before she'd gone home to spend the evening doing a little work, reading a book, and cuddling with Fluffy. He hadn't taken long to eat, and had hugged and kissed Carolyn goodbye before leaving for the Rosier Estate, and another long day of surveillance.

It turned out that he could have spent another hour or more with Carolyn and still been there before Lord Chernobog and Gwen made their first appearance of the morning to have breakfast in the back room. They went out again for the day, this time beginning with a trip to Falmouth in the morning, lunch in a café there, and then an afternoon with Gwen's family that ended with dinner before they went back to Rosier Estates and spent another evening together. This time, Gwen went back home at around ten o'clock, and Lord Chernobog went into the main house with thoughts of spending some time in his office, so Al took the opportunity to go home.

Carolyn was still up, so she sat and talked with him while he had a late soup and sandwich dinner. Since he hadn't really had time to tell her about what had been going on over the last few days, they took the time then to do that. He'd told her as much as he'd told Rick and Hestia about what was going on with his investigation, and now, with less that a week to go, he also told her what his plans were – the plans he'd be discussing with Rick and Hestia on Monday afternoon. Carolyn was afraid for him, and he wouldn't lie to her and tell her there was no risk involved, but he also felt very deeply that he was doing the right thing. They went to bed when he'd finished eating and going over everything with her, and she had held him a little closer, and shared a few extra kisses with him before they'd drifted off to sleep.

At Hogwarts, Malcolm had been on his weekly call with Dirk Avery while Al and Carolyn had been talking in their kitchen. He'd assured Dirk that the Draught of Living Death was ready to go, and then Dirk had spent a full fifteen minutes or more giving Malcolm his final orders. Some of them he'd known about already, and others were new, but he did his best to stay calm, assure Dirk that he understood what was expected, and get through to the end of the call when Dirk hung up on him. He was awake for quite a while after the call, and when he went to sleep, it was another troubled, restless night.

Monday morning came too early from Al's perspective, but he got up, had a shower, and got ready for the day. Carolyn and Fluffy were still asleep when he went downstairs to cook breakfast for them, and he got to work making coffee, eggs, sausage, and toast. Fluffy made her appearance just as the sausages were ready, and she meowed at Al to let him know she was ready for her meal.

"Good morning, Fluffy," he told her. "You're a little ahead of me, but I guess it's easy enough to cool the food a bit for you. He did that, and tossed her a whole piece of sausage that she caught deftly in mid-air, and then left Al again, going back upstairs. "I hope you're not having that breakfast in our bed," he called after her, and heard Carolyn laugh as she came down the stairs.

"She goes and sits on the windowsill of the north-east bedroom," she told Al, going over to hug and kiss him. She likes the sunshine there in the morning, and watches the birds in the trees while she eats."

Al laughed. "Dinner-theatre for kneazle cats. There's a concept. Did you sleep well?"

Carolyn shrugged. "A bit restlessly. I can't help but be nervous about what's going on with the Knights."

"I know, honey, and I'm sorry," he said, hugging her again before she went to sit down. "The one good thing about what's going on right now is that at least it'll all be over with soon." Neither of them bothered to add the 'if we win' that went along with Al's assertion.

They ate, cleaned up, and then Carolyn hugged and kissed him for a long time before they left for work. Al went to the Rosier Estate, and Lord Chernobog was already having breakfast. Al could sense the man's excitement as he ate, and then got up and went back into the main house less than ten minutes after Al had gotten there.

Al was going to leave the estate right away and wait for his quarry outside of Dirk Avery's, but had to wait for a couple of minutes when he rounded the front of the house, and saw Gwen walking toward the house from Rover Way. When she had been admitted by a servant, he hurried down the drive, walked the couple of blocks he normally went before leaving the area, and apparated to the spot where he'd been watching the Avery Estate just a week ago.

Lord Chernobog and Gwen were the first to arrive, and Al again checked off all of the other members as they got to the estate too. Malcolm Bletchley was the only member unable to attend, and this week, Byron was the last to arrive, getting there shortly after nine o'clock. He waited around for nearly four hours this time until the Knights began leaving, and other than Terrance and Byron, they were all sub-vocalizing excitement, and confidence that they were going to soon be led to a glorious victory and future by their Lord Commander.

He waited another ten minutes before Lord Chernobog and Gwen came out too. Al let them leave first, wanting to make sure that they were going back to the Rosier Estate, and then he apparated there too, and hurried to his usual stakeout spot near the back room. The couple weren't far behind him, and had come straight to that room to have lunch together.

For the next nearly an hour, Al listened in on the conversation and thoughts as they re-hashed the morning meeting. If he didn't get the rest of their plans over that hour, there couldn't have been much missing. He now knew that the original goal of getting into the school had been to use the students as hostages to bring the Ministry of Magic to it's knees, killing students until the Minister surrendered, and they took control of the Ministry of Magic. The hardest part of the stakeout for Al was the fact that while he was listening to the conversation and hearing their thoughts, his Sight was also showing him possible futures where anywhere between a few and hundreds of students were killed by the Lord Commander, Gwen, and the other Knights. There was even one dark possibility where the Knights lost, but all of the students at Hogwarts were killed in the process of defeating them.

He heard about what Malcolm was to do, but already knew that the youngest member of the Knights had made choices that had eliminated nearly all of those possible futures. The fact that Al and his family were all supposed to be there at sunrise had just presented them with the extra opportunity to take out their most hated enemies at the same time that they put their main plan into action.

There had been a lot of other details about their plans for Hogwarts, and for all of the other groups of Knights, and Al was taking it all in, and working quickly to add all of the information to his ACM program. When they finished eating, they went back into the main house, and Al left the estate, heading for his meeting at Auror Headquarters.

"It's funny that you should want a meeting about your investigation this afternoon after Minister Peasgoode gave me orders to go to Hogwarts on Saturday at sunrise with Hestia and Sturgis to represent the Aurors for the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts," Rick told him, and Al nodded. That had been one of the details he'd just learned from Lord Chernobog and Gwen.

"I'd just heard about that during my surveillance today. That will be a good thing for us with what I want to do." He went on to outline what he'd learned, and then told them what his plan was to deal with the situation. They spent over an hour talking it all out, and had what would hopefully be a winning game plan put together when they were finished.

"This is going to be a very interesting weekend," Rick told Al with a grim smile.

"Or a very short one," Hestia added. "I hope not, though. A friend of mine sent me tickets to the League Championship game this year, and I'd really like to go."

Al laughed. "If everything works out like we hope, I'll get you tickets to the Quidditch World Cup final too," he promised.

"I'm going to hold you to that," Hestia told him.

Rick and Hestia stayed in his office, and Al left them, went into the training room, apparated back to Rover Way, and went back to his surveillance. That was pretty much all he did day and night for the rest of the week. He watched Lord Chernobog most of the time, but also followed Gwen around on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Her Thursday afternoon outing had been to go for a SpaMagic treatment. That had been something Al could hardly believe. He wondered if any other Witch in the entire history of the Dark Arts had gone to get their hair and nails done before attacking their enemies. That had seemed over the top, but she took it a step further when she went shopping after that, and actually picked out what she was thinking would be the perfect outfit to wear on Saturday morning.

"You have got to be kidding," Carolyn told him as he ate after getting home Thursday night at around nine o'clock. "Is she completely delusional?"

"I doubt it," Al answered. "She's definitely got vanity in spades, though. Unfortunately, from what I've seen so far, that's about as close as she gets to having any good qualities. Have you been able to get everything ready for tomorrow night?"

"I have," she answered. "It'll be after midnight in India when Mum, Dad, and Lily come here, so nobody in their group will miss them, and they can stay here with us to get some sleep before we leave for Hogwarts in the morning. Everyone else has been invited to dinner, starting with drinks at six-thirty."

"Good. I'll probably be late for dinner, but I'll get here as soon as I can."

That had been the plan, but it had been closer to eight o'clock when he finally made it home after watching Lord Chernobog and Gwen all day. They'd still been in the back room, but Al needed to get home to have this meeting with his own family, and then get some sleep so they'd be ready for what was coming in the morning.

"You missed dinner again, mate," Nick joked. "This arriving just in time for Winky's desserts is looking a bit suspicious."

Al laughed. "I'm sure your dinner was way better than my trail rations, Nick. We have a lot to discuss tonight, though, so let's get our drinks filled up, and I'll tell you all why you're here."

The 'all' was Harry, Ginny, Lily, Grandma and Grandpa Weasley, all of the aunts and uncles, and all of the kids except for Rose, Matt, and the students at Hogwarts. Most of his family were not aware of the real investigation Al had been working on with the Knights, so it took him an hour to get everyone up to speed, explain what the Knights were planning for the morning, and tell them his own plans, including what they needed to know and be ready for.

There was another half hour of questions and answers, and then there was a long round of hugs and kisses before everyone except Harry, Ginny, and Lily went to their homes. Al and Carolyn talked with their parents and Lily while they cleaned up, but by a bit after ten, they were all more than ready to get some sleep.

Malcolm had been having a tough time all week. He'd had trouble sleeping, and had trouble concentrating on his studies. His anxiety got worse and worse as it got closer and closer to Saturday. By Friday, he'd been nearly paralysed with fear about what was going to be happening on Saturday morning.

Ophelia had known that Malcolm had been wrestling his personal demons all week, and could tell that it was coming to a head as the week went along. She had no idea why it was happening right now, but she made sure that Malcolm got extra hugs and kisses, and when he'd sit with her in the library, lost in thought for an hour or more, she was happy to just hold his hand and offer whatever comfort being there for him could give him.

When they were done studying on Friday night, he was so obviously upset that it made her want to cry for him as he walked her back to the Gryffindor Common Room entrance. When she put her arms around his neck and hugged him, Malcolm held on tightly, and when he'd kissed her, there had been a desperation in it, like it'd be the last one. Ophelia looked into his haunted eyes after that kiss, pouring her heart out to him with that glance, and took a deep breath.

"I love you, Malcolm" she told him, watching as her words registered with him.

He didn't answer her right away, but instead pulled her into another long hug. She could see tears in his eyes when he let go, and he kissed her one more time before turning to leave. Ophelia had tears streaming down her own face now as he started walking away, not sure what had just happened. Malcolm stopped, and she watched him turn around to face her again.

"I love you too, Ophelia," he said quietly. "I may not undertand what's true or false about anything else, but I do know that for sure."

With that, he turned around again, and left her standing there, digging through her bag for tissues as she continued to cry softly. Malcolm waited until he turned a corner to lean against a wall and roughly wipe the tears from his own face with the sleeves of his school robe. It took him a couple of minutes to get himself together, and then he continued walking toward the Slytherin Common Room.

Ophelia loved him! He'd heard those words, and they'd been both the best and worst words he'd ever heard. His heart had soared that she did love him, and his spirit had crashed at the same time, knowing that by tomorrow, she'd either hate him, or could even be dead. That thought completely ripped him up inside, and consumed him as he walked blindly along the familiar school hallways.

When he was again actually aware of where he was, he was just steps away from the door to Kieran's office, not almost to Slytherin House like he'd expected. Now that he was there, though, that voice in his head finally won out, and he knew what he had to do. He squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and knocked on Kieran's door. It took a couple of minutes for Kieran to open it, but he had called out that he was coming, so Malcolm guessed that he had been in bed, or maybe even asleep.

"Hi, Malcolm," Kieran said when he opened the door. He took one look at the other boy's face and opened the door wide. "Come on in," he added. Malcolm's legs felt like lead as he walked through that door, and his heart was pounding, but there was going to be no turning back now. He'd made his choice.

"Kieran, I don't really have time to explain, but I need you to get in touch with Al Potter right away. I really need to talk to him, and it can't wait."

"Okay, mate," Kieran agreed without question. "Let me go grab my ViComm, and we'll give him a call. He went into his bedroom, and was back in a moment. "Do you need to talk to him alone, or should I just call him and put it on speaker?"

"Put it on speaker," Malcolm told him. "You need to hear this too." Kieran nodded, and placed the call to Al, who answered immediately, though in audio only mode.

"What's up, Kieran?" Al thought into his ViComm. He and Carolyn had only been in bed for maybe fifteen minutes, and had just been starting to drift off to sleep.

"Can you get your two way mirror open?" Kieran answered. "Malcolm's here with me, and he needs to talk to you." Al reached for his ViComm main module, and after letting Carolyn know what he was doing, sat up in bed and opened it so that he and Carolyn could both see and hear Kieran and Malcolm, and they could see him.

"Hi, Malcolm," Al said, smiling. "What can I do for you?" He watched Malcolm take a shuddering breath before he answered.

"Al, there's a group of Witches and Wizards who are going to launch an attack on you, your family, and against Hogwarts tomorrow morning at sunrise," Malcolm said in a rush of words that felt like a dam bursting inside of him as he spoke them. "I was – am – part of that group, and have been spying on Kieran and the others here at school for them all year. They wanted me to do other stuff too, but I lied to them, and didn't do it. I'm supposed to help with the attack tomorrow, but I can't do it, Al. You need to warn everyone before it's too late!"

Malcolm had tears in his eyes again and Kieran put his arm around the younger boy's shoulders. "It's all my fault," he sobbed. "I told them how they could get into the school. What are we going to do?"

"Can I trust you?" Al asked, his emerald eyes seeming to see right into Malcolm's heart, even through the ViComm mirror.

"Yes, Al," Malcolm said without hesitation. "I'll do whatever you want if it will keep Ophelia and the others here safe." He didn't drop his eye contact with Al's image, and saw him nod after just another moment.

"Good. First of all, I'm very proud of you, mate. The choices you've been making were really hard, and I know that they weren't easy for you." Kieran and Malcolm watched as he looked away toward Carolyn and smiled as she hugged him.

"Now it's time for me to tell you a few things," Al continued. "I've been investigating the Knights for nearly a year and a half, Malcolm, and I know everything about them – probably more than you do."

"That was before they had me join!" Malcolm exclaimed in shock. He looked from Al to Kieran, seeing that his friend wasn't surprised at all. "You knew? About me too?"

Kieran nodded. "I did," he agreed. "There are a few of us who knew, mate." He watched as Malcolm's thoughts immediately jumped to Ophelia. "She doesn't know anything about this, Malcolm. Ophelia loves you, so don't even think that how she feels about you isn't real."

"What about you, and whoever else does know about it?" Malcolm asked. "Was it all a setup?"

"Did we pass on information to you?" Kieran said, even though he could see Malcolm was already figuring that out for himself. "Yes. Try to understand that part of our motivation was to protect you. Al knew that you could have been in much more danger if you'd continued to go back to the Knights without any successes, so we made sure that you had some."

"Why would you care what happened to me?"

"Because you're not like most of the other Knights," Al answered.

"I might have been," Malcolm countered, and Al nodded.

"That's true," Al agreed, "but you've chosen not to be. Are you going with Ophelia to the Memorial Stone at sunrise?"

"You're going ahead with opening the school?" Malcolm asked, and watched Al nod.

"We are, and you should be there just as they've instructed you. Stick close to your friends, Malcolm, and you'll all be fine."

"Are you sure?" Malcolm asked.

Al smiled. "I'm trusting you, mate. Trust me. I won't let you down."

"Thank-you," Malcolm told him, deciding to do just that.

"Anything else, Kieran?" Al asked.

"I think that's been enough excitement for one call," Kieran told him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, guys," Al said before Kieran ended the call. "Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day."


	140. Truth and Consequences

Chapter One Hundred and Forty – Truth and Consequences

Al's internal alarm clock went off right on time at four o'clock, but he was confused for a moment. Carolyn was still snuggled in his arms, and yet he smelled breakfast cooking downstairs. Then he realized that it must be his father who was up already and getting food ready for everyone. He extracted himself from Carolyn without waking her, went and had a shower, got ready, and dressed in the bathroom.

When he came out, Carolyn was awake, and sitting up in bed. He went and sat on the side of the bed, and she put her arms around his neck, and pulled him close for a long, sweet kiss.

"You be careful today," she told him. "I will not be happy if you get yourself hurt."

Al laughed. "I won't be happy if I get myself hurt either, so my plan does include a 'don't get hurt' clause. Hopefully the Knight's will have read the fine print."

Carolyn laughed too, even though she really hadn't wanted to. "Very funny. You'd better get downstairs and I'll go get ready before I decide to lock you up and keep you here instead of letting you go to work today."

Al kissed her again, and then went downstairs, where Harry was busy cooking. They hugged, and then Al poured himself a coffee before sitting on one of the stools around the island.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked, and Al nodded.

"I am, though it's a bit surprising that I don't feel scared at all. Any guesses why that is?"

Harry laughed. "If you'd been Gryffindor, I'd say it was a little too much bravery and not enough good sense, but then you were Ravenclaw, so you should have lots of both. Seriously, though, for you and I, part of it is being able to see our own path ahead, even if we can't control everyone else's decisions. I feel the same way you do this morning, even if my own abilities in Divination don't go as far as yours."

"Well, let's hope that we're both not wrong, then," Al said.

They moved away from talking about what was going to be happening soon, and talked about India, Broom Racing, and Canons Quidditch. Ginny, Carolyn, and Lily joined them, and while the rest of them still had a little time before the school would be open, Al had to eat quickly, hug and kiss everyone goodbye, and get over to the Rosier Estate.

He'd gone onto the grounds, and had started to go around the house when he caught sight of Gwen coming in from the road too. He watched her approach, and was about to continue to his usual spot when he saw Byron appear outside fo the gates too. He did not come onto the property, though, and Al watched as other Knights began arriving. Gwen went inside the house, but the other Knights were all gathering outside of the gates. By five-thirty, the other seventeen Knights had joined Byron outside of the estate, and when they were all together, he led them onto the estate grounds. Al made a note to see if he could find out later how Byron found out that he was the Secret Keeper for the Rosier Estate, but that was pretty low on his immediate list of priorities.

Lord Chernobog and Gwen came out of the front door, and waited for the others to arrive. Al could see that he and Gwen were both fired up, and there was something more that he could see in the Lord Commander this morning that hadn't been there before, and it took Al a moment to understand. 'So, that's how', Al thought to himself, another piece of the puzzle fitting into place with a click. The Knights gathered around their Commander, and only Terrance and Byron looked nervous. The others were all as fired up and fanatical as their leader was.

"It's nearly time," Lord Chernobog told them. "This morning, on the anniversary of my father's murder, we will avenge him, and re-take what is rightfully ours from our enemies, and crush them utterly!"

With that start to his speech, Lord Chernobog went on a fifteen-minute long rant that was apparently meant to rally the troops before finally getting to a point where he seemed near ready to move out.

"Dirk, make the call. I want to know for sure that our enemies are truly there," he ordered, and Dirk nodded.

Malcolm was at the Memorial Stone, holding hands with Ophelia. Their entire study group had come out to the Memorial Stone to be with their family at sunrise, so when Dirk's call came in, he had been surrounded by Witches and Wizards who were greeting each other with hugs and kisses.

"Is everyone there?" Dirk demanded curtly.

"Yes. They're all here," Malcolm answered. That was all he had time for before Dirk ended the call, and he hoped fervently that Al knew what he was doing, because their time was obviously up.

"They're all there," Dirk confirmed a moment later.

Apparently it hadn't occurred to either Lord Chernobog or Dirk to ask Malcolm if he'd 'taken care of' the Professors and staff at the school. Al had been moving around to get between the Knights and the road when Dirk had been asked to call Malcolm, and he was in place when Lord Chernobog shouted in triumph at Dirk's news, and ordered them to march.

The nineteen Knights and their Lord Commander had time to turn and take about three steps before a shimmering blue shield appeared out of nowhere. None of them even noticed when the anti-apparition spell went over the entire estate.

"What's going on?" Melania Gamp asked somewhat shrilly, pulling her wand out and pointing it at the shield. "Who's doing that?"

"I am," Al told her, swirling his cloak off of his shoulders, folding it up, and putting it in his bag even as a dozen killing curses were fired at his shield. He was smiling when he looked up after doing that, and faced the Knights who were already spreading out in front of him.

"Potter!" Dirk snarled, sending another killing curse at Al's shield. "You're a dead man!" Al's smile got even brighter, which just infuriated Dirk, and he sent another curse at Al's shield.

"Dirk, you of all of the Knights here should know what a complete waste of time that is," Al said conversationally. "You didn't have a chance when it was seven to one, so what makes you think you can get past my shield all by yourself?"

"In case you haven't noticed," Dirk snarled, firing another curse, "I'm not all by myself."

"I did, in fact, notice that," Al answered. "While you're trying to kill me, would you like to make the introductions?"

"Why bother," Dirk panted, continuing to fire curses. "In a minute, you'll be dead, and I will finally have my revenge on you!"

Al laughed. "Revenge for what? For stopping you from bullying Scorpius Malfoy in second year, or defending myself against your pathetic scheme at the end of seventh year? Other than that, there has been nothing between us, and I have never held any ill will toward you."

"You and your family have taken everything from my family!" Dirk spat. "You turned my father and grandfather into hopeless imbeciles! You have ruined my life!" With each exclamation, Dirk fired yet another killing curse at Al, and the shield dispersed it as harmlessly as it had done for all of the others.

"I tried to warn you, Dirk," Al said, shaking his head. "What happened to your grandfather and father was their doing, not mine or my father's. You did not need to choose this path." He gave no warning, but Dirk's wand flew out of his hand, flew toward Al, and as it reached his shield, seemed to disappear with a flash of light.

"Apparently we're not going to observe the niceties," he continued. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Auror Albus Potter, and you are all under arrest for conspiracy to commit multiple acts of murder, conspiracy to kidnap all of the students at Hogwarts, and conspiracy to overthrow the rightful government of Wizarding Britain. There are a whole host of other charges, but those should suffice for the moment. Please surrender your wands immediately, and come with me."

When Dirk's wand had been taken from him the other Knights had shielded themselves, and closed in ranks around their Lord Commander, though closed ranks behind him might be more accurate.

"You think to arrest all of us, Potter?" Lord Chernobog said derisively. "That is very amusing."

"I do, Mr. Rosier," Al agreed, "though I really doubt that you're going to be amused for very long. Let's do this as civilly as possible, shall we? There is really no need for anyone to be hurt here."

"The name is Lord Chernobog, and I think that the only person who is going to be hurt here is you," he told Al. "This shall be perfect justice – the son of our most hated enemy shall die here at the hands of the son of the Great Dark Lord."

"Is that why you picked that stupid name?" Al asked curiously. "Tom Riddle was known as the Dark Lord, so you thought to name yourself the Dark God? That's fairly egotistical, don't you think? Even so, what is really pathetic about the whole thing is that Tom Riddle wasn't your father at all, isn't it?"

"That's a lie!" Lord Chernobog screamed, and fired a powerful killing curse at Al's shield, which easily held firm and continued glowing a bright blue.

"How do you know that, Evan? Who told you that you were his son?" Al asked, and listened to the man's thoughts as he recalled a childhood memory when he was maybe four or five years old, when he'd overheard a conversation where Rosier had told a friend that Evan Rossier Junior was not actually his true grandson. Over time, the young boy had decided that he must be Lord Voldemort's son, and that Rosier and the other former Death Eaters were protecting him from their enemies.

"I've always known!" Lord Chernobog lied, and Al laughed again.

"You misunderstood a conversation your grandfather had when you were a little kid, and made up the rest," Al told him. "If you'd asked Rosier, I'm sure that he would have explained that you are actually his grandnephew. Your mother was his niece, Harriet Rosier, and your father was a former Death Eater named Gibbon. She died when you were born, and he died before you were born, at the Battle of the Tower, killed by another Death Eater's killing curse."

"He lies!" Lord Chernobog practically screeched. "I am Lord Vodemort's son and heir! Kill him!"

Nineteen killing curses were fired at his shield this time, and Al stood firm, patiently watching as the barrage dispersed harmlessly away. He flicked his wand, and Danny Derrick's shield was destroyed, he was thrown back against the house that was about fifteen or twenty feet behind the Knights and pinned there, while his wand shot toward Al's shield and disappeared in another flash of light, just as Dirk's had. Two down.

"You know that I'm not," Al answered, his voice still conversational and calm. "Your whole group is built on nothing but lies," he continued. "You lie to them, they lie to you, and now your whole scheme is about to come crashing down. Even the power you use to assert your authority over them is nothing but a fraud. More than half of these Knights are stronger Wizards and Witches than you are. It is a pretty good trick you're using, though."

"I am the most powerful Wizard in the world, and I have foreseen our victory and return to power!" the Lord Commander shouted, firing several killing curses that crashed against Al's shield, each of them dispersing, and his shield still strong.

"You've seen nothing but your own dark delusions that you've built on a childhood fantasy that was no more real than any child's pretending to be someone famous or a character in a storybook. You're using power transfer spells to siphon power from the other Knights and your staff," Al told him. "They don't know it, but I can see the energy flows." His wand flicked again, and Dan Derrick joined his son in a body-bind, his shield destroyed, and his wand shot toward Al and vanished too. Three down.

"More lies!" Lord Chernobog declared, striking out at Al again and again with his curses to no effect.

"That's just the beginning of the lies that you've all told each other," Al told him. Two quick flicks of his wand, and the Flints were disarmed and bound, both of them looking wild-eyed at him. "I'm going to have to apologize to your niece about this someday," he told them. "Not today, though. Considering how I've heard you treated Daphne, and husband, Karl, she may not want any apologies anyway."

The other Knights were getting more desperate as their numbers were dwindling. The attack on his shield grew more intense. Al's own wand flicked out three more times, and Chauncey Warrington, Bartholomew Bole, and Malcolm Baddock were each taken out of the fight. When Malcolm's wand had flown out of his hand, though, Dirk Avery had jumped in front of it, and caught it. He spun around triumphantly, and fired a curse at Al's shield that was pathetically puny.

"I guess that wand doesn't choose you, Dirk," Al said even as his own wand flicked again. Dirk's hastily erected shield was blasted apart, and his second wand was ripped from his newly burned fingers, disappearing like the others when it reached Al's shield. This time, Al put Dirk in a tight body-bind too, and even though it was probably wrong, gave him a little magical nudge that toppled him over on his side. Dirk couldn't move, but Al could see the hate burning in his eyes as he impotently stared daggers at Al.

"You are a coward!" Lord Chernobog shouted at Al. "You hide behind your shield like a cowardly dog, yapping insults and lies at your betters. Can you not fight like a real Wizard, you half-blood abomination?"

Al laughed. "That's quite the statement in contradictions," he said. "Not to mention inaccurate, since at the worst, you could accuse me of only being three-quarters pureblood, though my family could care less about such idiocies. If you're all powerful, this little shield should be no problem for you, Evan."

While he'd been talking, he smoothly blew away the shields for Bertha and Winston Warrington, Herb Burke, and Melania Gamp, making four more wands disappear, and binding each of them.

"I will kill you!" Lord Chernobog raged, and he, and the other Knights, redoubled their efforts. Al's shield grew darker as their magic continued to crash against it, and Lord Chernobog crowed gleefully. "We've almost got him! Keep attacking!"

Al allowed his shield to continue to darken as his opponents threw everything they had against him, while continuing to pick them off one at a time. He took down Vincent and Gregory Goyle next, followed by Theodore Nott. When he got to Miles Bletchley, Al definitely hit the Wizard's shield too hard, and when he hit the wall of the house behind them, he slid to the ground, unconscious, staring sightlessly toward Al as his wand disappeared when it reached the outer edge of Al's now deep purple shield.

The attack was faltering, though. Only four of the Knights remained, and Al could tell that they were all nearly drained. That was when he let his full power loose, and his shield threw off the darkness, growing, and again shimmering it's bright blue. At the same time that he did that, he disarmed and bound Terrance and Byron, and then turned to face Lord Chernobog and Gwen, who both faced him defiantly.

"It's over," Al told them. "Your Knights are defeated. Surrender your wands and put an end to this stupidity."

"There are more Knights than you can possibly imagine!" Lord Chernobog told him, "and we will destroy you!"

He took Gwen's hand, and their magic flared again as they both pointed their wands at Al and fired, each shouting 'Avada Kedavra'! Al's shield grew brighter, not darker, and he flicked his wand one more time. Both streams of energy stopped as Gwen collapsed and her wand flew out of her hand and popped out of sight. Lord Chernobog turned to watch her crumple to the ground as he released her now-limp hand, and howled as he was pushed over the edge into an insane rage.

What have you done to her?" he shouted as he turned back to face Al and hurled another barrage of curses at Al's shield. Without any power transfers from the other Knights, though, the power of his curses were a shadow of what they'd just been even a moment ago when Gwen had been helping him.

"Let's see now," Al said. "First of all, you will not destroy me, and as to there being more Knights than I can imagine, since I know who all of them are, and that there are just over a thousand of them, you're not giving me much credit for an imagination. Gwen will be fine, she just didn't have enough strength left to stay conscious after giving so much of her power to you." He looked at his watch, and saw that nearly an hour had gone by since he had arrived. "Time to end this, Evan. I have people who are worried about me that need to be told I'm okay. Are you ready to come peacefully?"

"Never!" Lord Chernobog shouted, and attacked again.

Al sighed, and his wand flicked again. Lord Chernobog, leader of the Knights, self-proclaimed most powerful Wizard in the world watched in stunned incomprehension as his shield was shredded, and he was thrown like a rag-doll through the air. The last thing he saw as he lost consciousness was Al's blazing emerald eyes, and his wand landing in Al's outstretched hand as he dropped his shield.

"What a total waste," Al said. He waved his own wand, and the other nineteen wands he had taken from the other Knights re-appeared, and he put them all in his bag. Evan Rosier and Miles Bletchley both had minor injuries from their crashes into the house, there were a few other Witches and Wizards with some magic flashover burns, and Gwen would likely be unconscious for a while, unless the Medi-Witches or Medi-Wizards brought her around early.

He levitated all of them, and the twenty bound Knights floated along behind him as he left Rosier Estate. When he stepped outside of the gates, he made the call for help to Hestia, and had a QuillMessage sent to Carolyn to let her know that he was fine, and that they were safe at the school before Hestia, and ten other Aurors arrived on Rover Way and joined Al where he stood with his twenty prisoners.

"You had us all a bit worried," she said, hugging Al. "Harry kept assuring us that you were just fine, but I'd seriously think about popping over to see your wife for a few minutes before we get started with all of the interrogations."

"I'll do that," Al promised. "Evan Rosier," he said, pointing at the man, "and Miles Bletchley," he added, pointing at Malcolm's father, "will need some medical attention. They likely both have concussions, and definitely have a few broken bones." He pointed at Gwen next. "This Witch used up too much of her power in the fight, so she should be looked at too, though I think she likely just needs a day or two of rest. Dirk Avery, and a few others have some minor burns that will need tending as well, but other than that, they're all okay. If you can take over dealing with them, I'll go see Carolyn now, and visit the others at the Memorial Stone while they're still at the school."

"As soon as we've taken over the binding spells from you, go ahead and do that, Al," Hestia agreed. "We'll meet you back at Headquarters."

Al did that, and then apparated to the road outside of the Hogwarts gates, and hurried up the drive, turning onto the path that led to the Memorial Stone. He'd sent Carolyn another message, and she met him partway down the path, and hugged him for a long time, then kissed him before taking his hand and walking with him to join the rest of their family and friends.

"Sorry I'm late," he joked. "Did I miss anything exciting?"

Lily laughed and hugged him. "See?" she told the others. "They couldn't even hurt his sense of humour."

"So what happened?" Hugo asked Al, and there were several other nods to let him know that everyone wanted the question answered.

"I can't stay long enough to tell you the whole story," Al told them, "but basically, I stopped the group of Witches and Wizards who had wanted to come here and attack our family, and then take over the school. They're all in custody now, and I have to get back to Headquarters to help deal with them."

"You may be a really great Auror, Al, but you're not much of a storyteller," Liam accused, and Al, and most of the others around them, laughed.

"I'm sorry, mate. I'm sure that you'll get all of the details soon enough." He turned to Malcolm and nodded. "I need to talk to you for a moment before I go. Can you and Ophelia walk out to the gates with Carolyn and I?"

Malcolm swallowed hard, nodded, and Ophelia squeezed his hand reassuringly. Al did a quick round of hugs, and then he, Carolyn, Malcolm, and Ophelia left the others to their extended round of goodbyes and walked down the path toward the gates. Al waited until they were far enough away from the others before speaking.

"Your father was among the Witches and Wizards I arrested," he told Malcolm, who nodded. "He has some minor injuries, but is probably already being treated. I'm planning on visiting your mother later today to make sure she's okay, and see if there's anything she needs help with, and I'll get a message to you later to let you know how things are going with both of your parents, okay?"

Malcolm nodded. "What happens now? Will I be arrested too?"

Al shook his head. "No. As far as I'm concerned, you've done nothing wrong. I want you to go back to school, have breakfast, watch what will hopefully be a really great Quidditch match with your friends, and then get back to your studies," Al told him. "The Phoenix Foundation will work with you and your mother and we'll take that one step at a time. Your father, and most of the other Knights will unfortunately be spending a very long time in Azkaban." They had reached the gates, and both Al and Carolyn hugged Ophelia and Malcolm.

"When you get some time later, your should tell Ophelia everything," Al told him. "She'll understand." He smiled at Ophelia. "If he tries to leave out the good things he's done, give me a call, and I'll fill in the blanks for you."

"I will," Malcolm promised, and then Ophelia led him away, having seen that Carolyn wanted to have a few moments alone with Al before he needed to get to Auror Headquarters.

"Will I see you much this weekend?" Carolyn asked when they were alone, and Al shook his head.

"Probably not much," he answered. "Taking these Knights into custody is just the start, and it will probably take a few weeks to deal with the cleanup."

"I'll let Scorpius and Callie know that they won't have any help this weekend with those Wizengamot proposals," she told him. "I'm sure you're really disappointed about missing out on all of that."

Al laughed. "Normally, I'd agree, but not when I'm trading that for doing something that's even more work." He hugged and kissed her. "I'll keep in touch, and call when I can," he promised. "I love you, Carolyn."

"I love you too, Al," she said, and kissed him one more time before letting him go.

Al turned and went out of the gates, and apparated to Auror Headquarters, where it was as busy as he'd ever seen it on a Saturday. Most of the Knights were still in the training room, being guarded by Aurors. He nodded to Garret, Jake, Emma, and the others, and went into the offices. He saw that Hestia was in the office with Rick, and so he went that way, and joined them when Rick waved him in.

"I wonder why I'm a little disappointed that at least a few of these Knights didn't get past you, and reach the school," Rick told Al with a smile. "It's probably a character flaw or something. I'm glad to see you're okay, Al."

"Thanks, Rick, and I'm thinking all of us have that same character flaw, or we wouldn't have become Aurors."

"Who do you want to talk with first?" Hestia asked. Al was about to answer, when Minister Peasegood came rushing into Rick's office.

"What is going on around here?" he demanded. "I got a call from a friend, telling me that you've arrested members of some of the oldest and most important families in the Wizarding World! I have not authorized such an operation, and you have told me nothing about this. I want answers, and I want them now!"

"Calm yourself, Minister Peasegood," Rick told him. "The arrests today are the result of a more than year-long investigation that has been led by Auror Potter."

"You all told me that he was working on cold cases," Peasegood told Rick. "On what grounds have you been running an unauthorized investigation?"

"On the grounds that you have been passing on information about what Auror Potter has been doing to one of the members of the group we were investigating," Rick told him.

"I have done no such thing," Peasegood retorted, and Rick nodded to Al to continue.

"Minister Peasegood," Al said, "You have been informing Dirk Avery, at his request, about everything I was working at. Dirk is a member of a group that call themselves the Knights, or the Knighthood. I've concluded that the name was chosen to be a revival of the Knights of Walpurgis. Does that last name ring a bell for you? It should, since it was what Tom Riddle called his group before they became the Death Eaters. Anyway, in addition to that, he got you to order our veteran Aurors to Hogwarts for sunrise this morning, which was when the Knights that I have arrested were planning on attacking and killing everyone who was at the Memorial Stone for the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, and then take over the school and kidnap all of the students."

Minister Peasegood's face had paled, and he stared at Al in disbelief. "That is impossible!" he declared. "You must be mistaken."

"We are not mistaken, Minister Peasegood," Rick told him. "Whether you acted intentionally or not, what you have been doing to help Dirk Avery has aided these Knights, and put me, and my Aurors in considerable danger. Because of your involvement with at least one of the Knights, you should not be involved in any discussions that have anything to do with this case, and your actions are going to be investigated. I'm sure the media is going to want to know how the Minister of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement could have been involved in this dark conspiracy at all."

"You are going to investigate me?" Peasegood asked incredulously.

"You know that I must, Minister," Rick told him. "At this point, though, I'd recommend that we end this discussion, since it is inappropriate for us to continue until we are ready to formally question you about your involvement in this, so if you could excuse us, please, we have a lot of work to get done this weekend."

Peasegood's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but then he turned and walked out of the office, leaving Rick, Hestia, and Al to get back to dealing with what they were going to to with handling so many interrogations.

"I'd like to start with Byron Bulstrode," Al told Hestia, answering her earlier question. "We can make a deal with him to testify and to help me put the other groups of Knights out of business."

"What are you recommending?" Rick asked.

"Full immunity, and I'll put him into hiding," Al answered. "I believe that if we give him the chance, he'll start making the right choices from now on, though I will keep an eye on him too."

Rick nodded. "Okay. I take it that you have a good reason for being so generous with him. Having one of the Knights as a witness will help lock up our cases, though, so I can live with that. What about the others?"

"Let's see what they have to say, or are willing to give up," Al suggested, "but most of them deserve to be in prison for a long time. Especially those former Death Eaters that were never caught for what they did back then. We can't do anything about that, but we can nail them all for this."

"I'm with you there too," Rick agreed. "Anything else?"

"Not right now," Al answered. "This should be a lot of fun today. Has the media gotten word yet?"

"If they hadn't you can bet that Peasegood was shooting his mouth off when he came in, so it's just a matter of time. I'll worry about that later. You start with Byron, and then we'll start interviewing the others after that. Hopefully, we won't be here all month getting through our interrogations."

Al and Hestia both got up and left the office. "I'll go get Byron and put him in the usual interrogation room," she told him. "Why don't you get the coffee and water, and meet us there." Al did that, and ten minutes later, he was sitting down next to Hestia, across the table from Byron Bulstrode.

"We have a lot to get done today, Byron, so let me make this short and sweet," Al told him. "Tell us everything you know about the Knights, testify against the others, and help me out with a few other matters that would be easier to take care of with your help that without it, and we'll cut you a deal."

"They'll kill me for that," Byron told him, and Al nodded.

"Probably, but then again, they'd kill you if they knew what you and Terrance have been up to anyway, so what do you have to lose?"

"What kind of deal, and help you with what other matters?" he asked.

"I'm going to put all of the other groups of Knights out of business," he told Byron, and watched his mouth drop open. "You help me do that, and like I said before, help put the others away, and I'll see that you, and your young lady, Nicolette are given amnesty and go into witness protection. We can discuss the details of that later."

"How do you know about her?" Byron asked.

"I know pretty much everything about your life, Byron, and about all of the other groups of Knights. So, do we have a deal?"

Byron looked at Al for a long minute, and finally nodded. "Yes," he agreed. "We have a deal."

"Good," Al said approvingly. "Hestia, why don't we have Jake and Emma lead Kendra and Shae through taking Byron's statement, and we can move on." She nodded, and he turned back to Byron. "For now, tell them everything you know about the other Knights in your own group, about Evan Rosier, and what they were all doing since Evan took over as your leader," he said. "That'll probably keep you busy all weekend."

"Is what you said back there about Lord Chern… er, Evan true?" he asked Al, who nodded.

"Yes, it was," Al assured him. "You, Terrance, and most of the other Knights were all lying to each other."

He and Hestia left Byron alone, and she went to tell Jake and Emma what they would be spending the rest of their weekend doing, while Al went to set up another room, and have Evan and Gwen brought in for his next interrogation. Rick was joining him for this conversation with the young leader of the Knights, and Hestia was going to watch from the observation room.

"Good morning, Evan, Gwen," Rick said when he and Al sat down at the table with them. "I am Rick Savage, Head of the Aurors. The Medi-Witch who took care of you tells me that you have been completely healed, so if you're feeling up to it, why don't we get started, shall we?"

"Why don't you start by releasing us, and our friends, and arrest Potter here for his unprovoked attack on us this morning," Evan told Rick, glaring for a moment at Al, who just sat back and smiled at him.

"Are you aware that ViComms can be used to record what a Witch or Wizard sees?" Rick asked Evan. "Your little confrontation was recorded, so don't you think that it's time to stop wasting my time with such ridiculous and spurious accusations?"

"Why don't you let us go before the rest of my friends find out that we're here, and tear this place apart," Evan told him. "Do that, and maybe we'll let you live for a while longer."

Rick laughed. "I appreciate that, Evan, but unfortunately that's not possible. We've got a lot to go over, so why don't we start with who's idea it was to occupy Hogwarts, and use the kids as hostages so you could take over the Ministry of Magic? I personally thought it was a fairly brilliant, albeit evil plan. It might have even worked if we hadn't found out about it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Evan told him.

Al sent Rick a QuillMessage to let him know that Gwen had been the brains behind the idea, and turned his attention to her.

"I'm guessing it was Ms. Montague," Rick said. "She looks like the brains of this operation. Is that the case, Gwen?"

"How dare you disrespect Lord Chernobog with such assertions!" she told him vehemently.

"Do you mean Evan here?" Rick asked her. "You'll have to forgive me, but I've battled a real Dark Lord, and his minions, and Evan wouldn't have been any more of a power back then than his father was. Gibbon was nothing more than an expendable goon for Voldemort."

"His father was Voldemort!" she told Rick, who shook his head.

"Al, maybe if you show them what you learned from Rosier, we can get past this nonsense, instead of running around in circles with these lies." Al closed his eyes for a moment, and sent them that information, and mental pictures of the records for his parents, including the death records, with the one for his mother on Evan's birthday. In addition, he also sent Gwen Evan's own memories of finding out that Rosier wasn't his true grandfather, and bits and pieces of how he decided for himself that he was Tom Riddle's son.

"They've got all of it," Al told Rick. Evan was shaking his head in denial, and Gwen was levelling him with an agate-hard glare.

"Good," Rick said with a nod. "We can talk about the impossibility of your plan succeeding later, but why would you pick kidnapping and killing children, Gwen? Why go after innocents like that?"

"Innocents?" she sneered, "most of them are abominations that shouldn't be allowed to live!"

"Isn't Evan the one declaring himself a God?" Rick asked her. "That's pretty audacious of you to decide the fate of everyone's children."

"We think it's audacious of our enemies to believe they have a right to be a part of a world that was meant for purebloods only," she told him.

"Don't forget to exclude the purebloods who don't think like you do," Rick told her. "Your world wouldn't have them in it either. I'm not really interested in re-hashing ages old pureblood elitist dogma, though, so let's move along. We have a lot to go over today."

Rick and Al took turns asking the pair questions until lunchtime, and then sent them off to spend the rest of the day in cells. They joined Hestia in the observation room to have sandwiches for lunch and discuss their plans for the rest of the day.

"This is going to take a long time, even like this," Hestia said. "Let's split up and at least get initial statements from everyone, tell them that we may consider deals for any information they have, and let them sit in cells tonight and think things over. Sturgis and I, and Garret and Patrick could do interviews too, and if there's anything we think Al should come check out, we can call for him."

"That sounds better than staying here all night," Rick agreed. "Why don't you and Sturgis take the husband and wife pairs, have Garret and Patrick take the younger Wizards, and Al and I will start working on the older group that were probably old Death Eaters, or at least supporters of them."

When the Aurors were having lunch, and getting ready for a long afternoon of interrogations, Harry and Ginny were in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. They'd just finished watching Mark begin his Trans-Canada Broom Race, and were getting ready to go back to India to rejoin their tour. While the morning's events had been tense, since Al had succeeded in defeating the Knights by himself, there had been somewhat of a letdown when the situation was over and they were all safe. Harry, Ginny, and Lily, along with the rest of their family and friends who had been visitors at the school went back to Al and Carolyn's house after Al had left, while the students and Professors had gone back to the school for breakfast.

Harry had put together another breakfast for everyone, and he, Ginny, Lily, and the others who'd been told about what was happening spent an hour or so telling the rest of the group about what had really been going on earlier. Most of their breakfast guests had moved on after eating, and Harry and Ginny had gone with Lily on a tour of her house, since she wanted to see what had been worked on while they'd been in India all week. After that, Lily was off to Hogwarts. Since the grounds were open all day for anyone wanting to visit the Memorial Stone, once Kieran was done breakfast in the Great Hall, and taken care of a little meeting with their study group in his office, they were going to meet at the gates, and go spend the time until the game would be starting hanging out together by the lake.

Nearly all of the students in the school were completely unaware of how close they'd come to being attacked by the Knights, and they went about their Saturday morning as normal. When game time approached, the stadium started filling with students, Professors, and visitors. Kieran and Lily were there early, sitting in the section bordering Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. They had all of the parents sitting with them for this game, and most of the members of their study group.

Malcolm and Ophelia were among the exceptions, as they sat in the Slytherin section with Sarah and Joel, Alice and Lenny, Amy and Brian, and Millie to cheer for Jason and their team. It had been a tough morning for Malcolm. He and Ophelia had gone to Kieran's little meeting so Ophelia could hear everything he told them about what he knew about the morning's events, though he excluded anything about Malcolm.

After that, he'd gone outside with Ophelia, and spent an hour telling her all about his involvement with the Knights, including what he had and had not done since being brought into the Knights at the beginning of summer last year. What his father and Dirk had done to him had made her cry, and she'd been immediately forgiving and understanding of the things he'd done to help the Knights. He'd tried to downplay the few things he'd done right, but she coaxed the whole story out of him, and had assured him that she'd always believed in him.

Al had been right, and instead of spurning him like he had feared, Ophelia promised him that what he'd done in the past didn't matter to her, and that she loved him for who he was now. He'd cried when she'd told him that, and how proud she was of him for defying the Knights, and going to Kieran and Al to try and warn them. Now, sitting in the stadium with his arm around Ophelia's waist as they sat close together, he felt like he was finally alive for the first time in his life, and happier than he could have ever imagined possible.

On the Hufflepuff side of the stadium, the visitors included Kirley, Ana, and Miranda's parents to cheer on Nadine and Miranda, and the Murray's, Ron and Hermoine, George and Marietta, Dennis and Demelza, Luna, and of course, Lily, who had all come to spend a few hours with their kids, or fiancée in Lily's case.

All of the Quidditch fans at the game were treated to a three hour and fifty-one minute long match with Hufflepuff and Slytherin battling it out for their last game of the season. The Slytherin team was trying to get at least one win this year, especially since this was Thomas' last game. Hufflepuff wanted a win so that if Ravenclaw managed to win the last game against Gryffindor that there would be a chance for another co-championship year with three teams having two wins.

Nadine won the game for Hufflepuff moments after Miranda scored a goal to put their team up by a score of three hundred to one hundred and forty. Darrin had been playing his best to keep up with her, but when he'd seen the lead go past one hundred and fifty, he'd been disappointed and the momentary let-down had been all Nadine had needed to break away from him, and chase down the snitch.

"We could use a little help from our girlfriends when you play Gryffindor," Nadine told Erin and Myra. "We're definitely going to sit in the Ravenclaw section and cheer you on."

"We'll do our best," Myra promised her, "even though your team did beat us back in November."

"When you face off against your brothers, I doubt you'll care about anything except keeping them from scoring goals on you," Lily told Myra as she came over to hug her, and the other girls, goodbye. "I'm going to get out of here," she added. "Make sure you find me in Hogsmeade next weekend and say 'hi'."

"We will," Nadine promised as she hugged Lily too.

Once she had made the rounds, Lily took Kieran's hand and they took the long way around on their walk back to the gates. When they were done sharing a long hug and kiss goodbye, Kieran had gone back to the school to join the Hufflepuff victory party, and Lily had popped back over to India. By the time they were doing that, Al had been back at work interrogating Knights with Rick.

They'd started with Melania Gamp and Herb Burke, who'd been tight-lipped and unrepentant, and they were now meeting with Miles Bletchley, Theodore Nott, and Gregory Goyle.

"You have no idea how disappointing it is for me to see all of you in here," Rick told the three men. "It seems that not only did you not learn anything from the last war, but you taught your hate and bigotry to your sons, and brought them in to this dark conspiracy with you."

"They will thank us when we are again restored to our rightful places as leaders of the Wizarding World," Miles told him. "The Lord Commander has forseen this."

Rick shook his head in disbelief. "Are we going to keep hearing this from every one of you?" he asked. "Can't any of you think for yourselves? Evan Rosier is not the son of Voldemort, he hasn't got any more power than you do, and your fellow Knights are all either here in Auror Headquarters, or in the cases of your other groups, will be dealt with in the coming days."

"I don't believe you," Miles told him. "You're just trying one of your pathetic Auror tricks."

"There are a lot of things you don't believe in," Rick told him. "Did you believe that practicing your duelling on a fifteen-year old boy would prepare you for a fight with a fully trained Auror? I think we can manage to toss in some child abuse charges to go along with all of the others you're facing."

"Teaching my son how to duel is not against the law," Miles scoffed.

"It is if you injured him in any way, or used unforgivable curses on him," Rick told him. "That's really just an aside, though. We'd like to discuss your own roles in this plot. We're not interested in making any deals with you to reduce your own sentences, but we will consider leniency for your sons if you cooperate with us."

"He's playing us," Miles told Theodore and Greg. "Don't even think about making any deals with them."

Rick peppered them with questions for another hour, but the three fathers apparently didn't care enough about their sons to help them out. When Al and Rick sent them off to be taken to cells, they grabbed drinks and snacks, and took a break in the observation room for the interrogation room that Garret and Patrick were working in. Right then, they were working on Danny Derrick. The twenty-five year old Wizard looked scared, but hadn't been cooperative.

"I don't understand why the older Knights who were around during the war have been completely unable to change their ways, but I'm even more confused about how these younger kids can grow up with the amazing wonders and opportunities that we all enjoy now, and still accept the beliefs of their parents like this."

"There will always be those who want to tear us down, and hate us," Al told him. "That's why we'll always need to be around to stand up to them."

"Do you think they'd thank you if we told them that part of the reason you faced them alone wasn't just to protect your side, but to protect them too?" Rick asked, and Al shook his head.

"I'm sure they wouldn't," he answered. "If we'd allowed them to go to Hogwarts, several of them would almost surely have died, but I was also thinking about what that does to the Witch or Wizard who causes the death."

Rick nodded. "That definitely changes a person," he agreed seriously. "Well, it changes people like us," he amended. "We should get back to work."

Al nodded and pointed toward Garret and Patrick. "If they haven't met with Terrance or Vincent yet, maybe you should suggest that they tell them about the deals we offered their fathers, and let them know that those offers were rejected. Maybe it'll give them something to think about when it comes to making deals of their own."

"That's a very good idea," Rick agreed. "I'll stop in and mention that. You get our last group, and maybe we'll get out of here by dinnertime."

Al went and got Chauncey Warrington, Bartholomew Bole, and Dan Patrick. They were being guarded by two Aurors, so when Al took custody of them, they were able to go take a break. He offered the three Wizards drinks, and then waited a few minutes for Rick to join him for the questioning.

For the next hour and a half, they questioned the men, offered them a similar deal of leniency for their children, and had those offers rejected. When they were done, and had sent them off to be taken to cells for the night, Al and Rick met in one of the conference rooms to go over everything that had happened with each group of interrogations. When they were done, and had a plan together for Sunday, Al went home to have dinner with Carolyn.

"I didn't expect to see you until late," she said, hugging and kissing him when he walked in the door. "Did they all just give in and confess to everything?"

Al laughed. "Hardly, but we used three teams to do the first round of interrogations, so we finished up early today. I have to go out after dinner, but I thought maybe you'd like to come along. I'm going to see Malcolm's mother."

"I would like that," she agreed. "Why don't we start making dinner, and you can tell me all about this morning, and your day."

He did that, and it took until after they'd finished eating before he was done going through the whole story. Carolyn had asked a lot of questions, and had made some suggestions for what they might try when they continued their interrogations on Sunday that he thought had been brilliant.

"Was I one of them?" she asked quietly after he'd finished. Al understood right away that she was talking about what he'd seen in the possible futures.

"It's not really a good idea to worry over the possibilities that didn't happen," he answered, "but you are the best dueller in your year, honey, and yes, in some possibilities, you defeated one or more Knights." He purposely didn't use the word 'killed', but he hadn't needed to.

"Thank-you," she told him. "For telling me, and for keeping me from having to live with being responsible for something like that."

When they'd finished eating and cleaning up, the went together to the Bletchley estate, walked up the drive, and knocked on the door.

"Can I help you?" the old servant who answered the door asked, and Al nodded.

"My name is Auror Al Potter, and this is my wife Carolyn. We've come to speak with Mrs. Bletchley."

"Please come in, and I will advise my lady that you are here," the servant answered. Al and Carolyn stepped into the entrance hall, and waited while the old Witch tottered off, then returned a few minutes later. "Mrs. Bletchley will see you now," she told them. "Please follow me."

"Auror Al Potter and Carolyn Potter to see you, my lady," the old Witch said with a slight bow as she ushered Al and Carolyn into the drawing room. She led the way, and Al and Carolyn followed her across the room to where Malcolm's mother was sitting quietly in a wing-backed chair. She was younger than they'd expected. Her long black hair was dull, flat, and tied back in an unflattering ponytail. Her eyes were blue, and just as dull as she looked up at them nervously.

"Thank-you, Miriam," she told the old servant gently before the woman left the room. "Please sit down," she told Al and Carolyn in a soft, timid voice. "Why have you come to see me?"

Al had quickly scanned her thoughts, and while he didn't do a deep scan, he had seen enough to know that Malcolm had not been the only person in this house that Miles had been abusing. He sent Carolyn a quick QuillMessage even as he answered her question.

"This morning, your husband Miles was among a group of Witches and Wizards that I arrested on a number of different conspiracy charges," he told her. "I will want to talk to you another day about what you might have known about what he was involved with, and the Aurors will want to search this house, but tonight, we've come to talk with you about Malcolm."

Mrs. Bletchley had put her face in her hands when Al told her that Miles had been arrested, but at the mention of Malcolm's name, she'd looked up at Al.

"Is he under arrest too?" she asked, and Al shook his head.

"He is not, and will not be charged with anything," Al assured her, and was glad to see the genuine relief both in her physical and mental reaction. "Malcolm is currently under the protection of the Phoenix Foundation after your husband disinherited him," Al continued. "Now that Miles will be going to prison for a very long time, though, we wanted to talk with you about what we should do to care for Malcolm from now on."

"I don't know what to do," she told him, and he felt the fear well up within her – fear of her son, not for him.

"Malcolm is not his father," Al told her gently. "He refused to follow their orders when he was at school, and he warned me about what Miles and the others were plotting. You do not need to be afraid of him. He is a good, gentle young man – it just took him a while, and a young lady who loves him, to finally realise that."

"He has a girlfriend?" she asked, and Al nodded.

"I'm sure you'll love her the moment you meet her. She's another one of the students that are in the Phoenix Foundation's Child Abuse program." He heard her unspoken thought at his answer – 'too bad there isn't a program for abused Witches'.

"Mrs. Bletchley," Al began, and she stopped him.

"Call me Lydia," she told him, and he nodded.

"Lydia, I have some gifts that allow me to sense certain things, and I'm able to tell that your life here has been as bad, or worse, than it has been for Malcolm." Lydia had begun to cry, and Carolyn went over to her chair, knelt next to it, and put her arms around the woman.

"You and Malcolm are both safe from Miles now," he continued. "There will be a lot for both of you to work out together, but if we help, would you like to bring Malcolm back home again?"

"Yes," she answered. "More than anything."

"Is there anything you need right now?" Carolyn asked. "With Malcolm disinherited, who takes over the estate from Miles?"

"I do," she told Carolyn. "This is my family estate, not his. That was never changed, no matter what he did to try and make me put everything in his name."

Carolyn hugged her again. "Good for you," she told her with a teary smile. "If you'll let me, though, I'd still like to help you and Malcolm."

Lydia had tears in her eyes too. "I'd like that, Carolyn. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome," Carolyn told her. "Al has to work tomorrow, so why don't you and I get together for lunch, and we'll take it from there and see how things go."

"That sounds really great," Lydia told her.

Once Carolyn and Lydia had set that up, Al and Carolyn left and went back home. They got glasses of wine, and cuddled on a sofa for a while, mostly talking over what they could do to help Lydia and Malcolm. They turned on the WWVN, and watched the end of the Trans-Canada Broom Race, or at least the first five to finish. Mark crossed the finish line in nine hours and thirty-nine minutes, setting another record for the race. He'd once again pulled away from the other racers once they'd gotten into the Rocky Mountains, and left the other lead racers far behind. The next closest racers had finished together, seventeen minutes after Mark, racing to another photo finish for the second through fifth places, with Mariposa in that group getting second place, and Raffaele winning fourth place.

They watched the race and Mark's interview until about a quarter after ten before turning it off. Al cleaned their glasses, and then Carolyn led him upstairs and took him to bed. She didn't let him get to sleep anytime soon, but that was just fine with both of them as they created another brilliant memory together.

On Sunday, Al was disappointed, but not surprised, when all of the Knights, except Byron, had been completely unwilling to work out plea bargains. They had even brought in spouses and children to visit their parents, and even a couple of grandchildren, but none of that had made enough of an impact on the heart-hardened Knights. The Aurors still went through the exercise of continuing to interrogate each of the Knights, and would continue that on Monday before taking all of the Knights before the Wizengamot to be formally charged with what would surely be just the first round of charges.

When Al was done with that for the day, he took Byron, and a group of twelve Aurors with him to the Rosier Estate, and Byron told the rest of the Aurors his secret so that they could enter the grounds. Geoff and Vicky were in charge of the team of Aurors, and they would be spending as much time as needed over the next days and weeks to search the property for any new evidence. Al stayed there for a couple of hours, going through the home office, and hit the jackpot with one set of files that he took with him when he left to go home for a late dinner.

"Good timing," Scorpius told him when he got home. "Callie and I just finished going through all of these proposals, and dinner's nearly ready." Al laughed at his friend's comments while going over to hug and kiss Carolyn, who was in the kitchen getting dinner for six ready.

"I thought so," he agreed. "This would have been more fun than my day has been, though. Most of today was a total waste of time." Callie and Scorpius were sitting at the dining room table, with their files spread out, while Mark and Brianna were sitting on stools at the island.

Congratulations on winning the race yesterday, Mark," Al said, stopping to hug Brianna on his way to go sit at the table with Scorpius and Callie. He handed her one of the files he'd brought with him, and smiled. "What do you think of this?"

Callie and Scorpius put their heads together and looked through the first few pages of parchment, and they were both soon grinning too.

"I think it's brilliant," she said, hugging Al. "Are we thinking about having some fun tomorrow?"

"Definitely," he agreed. "I think it's finally time to do a little house cleaning."

"Is the whole file full of records like these?" Scorpius asked, and Al nodded.

"All of these files are," he told Scorpius. "Apparently Rosier was very confident in the security that the Fidelius Charm provided for his estate."

"What a shame that he was wrong about that," Callie joked.

"Pack it up, folks," Carolyn told them. "I need to get the table set for dinner, and there are some glasses of wine with your names on them."

They did that, but the conversation while they pitched in to help set the table, and through dinner revolved around what was going on around Auror Headquarters, and the Ministry of Magic in general. Scorpius, Brianna, Mark, and Callie left for home shortly after they ate, all three couples wanting to have a quiet evening at home before starting what was going to be another busy week. Al and Carolyn cleaned up from dinner together after their friends had left, and then gone and cuddled on a sofa.

"Has the media been covering the arrests today?" Al asked, and Carolyn nodded.

"They don't have much of the details yet, but they have been told that the Aurors foiled an attack on Hogwarts, that all of the conspirators have been arrested, and that the students at the school were at no time in any danger. There is a lot of speculation, but no other real facts being reported."

"It was too much to hope that we could keep a lid on this. Hopefully, it won't make my job harder when I start dealing with all of the other groups starting on Tuesday."

Carolyn nodded. "How long do you think that will take?"

"Best case would be two weeks," he answered. "Worst case will be if I have to go after them one at a time, which will take a lot longer."

"Then I'm hoping for the best case," Carolyn told him. "I'd really like to have you back again soon."

"I'll really be glad to be back too," Al said, and smiled. "Of course, by then, you'll be going day and night getting ready for the start of summer shopping season, but at least I'll be able to take care of you while you're working."

"That's something I would have no problem with," she told him, smiling too.

"How'd lunch go with Lydia?" he asked.

"It was a pretty good start," Carolyn answered. "She's got a lot of issues to deal with, not the least of which is a lot of guilt that she couldn't protect Malcolm. She's not going to talk with Malcolm yet, but I'm going to go with her to Hogwarts for the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game and surprise him. She and I are going to get together a few more times between now and then, including a SpaMagic visit."

"That's very nice of you to make sacrifices like that to help her out," Al teased, and Carolyn hugged and kissed him.

"That's me, willing to do whatever it takes to help others," she agreed with a laugh.

On Monday morning, Al was ready to do that too. He started out by making breakfast for Carolyn, and then was off to the Ministry of Magic to have a meeting with the Minister of Magic ahead of the Wizengamot meeting. It took nearly an hour, but he eventually got what he wanted from the meeting, and then he went to have his usual meeting with Scorpius and Callie before the Wizengamot session.

When it was time to leave for the courtroom, Al and Scorpius both hugged Callie, she told them to have fun, and they went to the meeting together. The room was already about half full when they arrived, and there was a bit of a commotion going on in the hall outside where the few court reporters and visitors were told that this meeting was beginning with a short closed session to deal with matters of state before being opened to the public.

"Our opponents look a bit uneasy this morning," Scorpius whispered to Al, who returned his friend's grin.

"I wonder why?" he asked Scorpius innocently.

When all of the members were there, the doors were sealed, and the Minister of Magic stood up to address the Elders.

"This closed session has been requested by Elder Potter," he told them. "He came to me this morning with some information relating to the arrests that were made over the weekend, and I agreed that dealing with the matter as privately as possible would be best for the Wizengamot, and the Ministry of Magic as a whole. Elder Potter, you have the floor."

Al nodded, and stood up. "Thank-you, Minister," he began. "As I'm sure you are all aware, on Saturday morning, just before sunrise, the Aurors pre-empted a planned strike against Hogwarts by a group of Witches and Wizards who call themselves the Knights. You also know that there were members of their group from some of the oldest and wealthiest families in the Wizarding World."

"So you say," one of the opponent Elders called out. "We have yet to see any proof of anything more than an out-of-control Auror attacking and arresting innocent civilians in their own home."

"All of the evidence is irrefutable," Al told him, "and the entire arrest was recorded, so do not bother yourself with concern that anything about the incident was improper. That is not the reason why I've requested this closed meeting, though. Today it is my sad duty to inform the Wizengamot that during our continuing investigation, I have discovered records proving that no less than twenty-one members of our court have been taking bribes from these Knights, and actively working on their behalf in all of their duties as Elders."

"How dare you make such accusations!" the same Elder shouted, jumping to his feet. "I demand an apology and your resignation immediately!"

Al smiled at him and pulled out his wand. The other Wizard took a step back, his face going pale, and fell back into his chair.

"Guards! Defend me!" the man bawled, even as Al waved his wand, and a file appeared in front of each Elder.

"Defend you from what?" Al asked. "Paper cuts? In those files, you can all read the detailed records that were kept by the leaders of the Knights, that show the payments made to each of the Elders listed, what they were paid to do for the Knights, and records of their successes and failures in those tasks."

All of the Elders immediately delved into those records, and the twenty-one members named in those pages of parchment had emotions that ranged from fear to spiteful hate displayed on their faces and in their thoughts. Al gave them a little time to at least get a good idea of what he had against them before continuing.

"Now, I would personally prefer to have each of these members prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for their crimes," he told his fellow Elders, "but I do understand what such a scandal would mean to the confidence the Wizarding World has in their Wizengamot, and the Ministry of Magic as a whole. To that end, I am offering all of the members who have been documented in these records, and have worked in collusion with a group that have been conspiring to overthrow our government the opportunity to resign and forfeit their seats in the Wizengamot, and any other Ministry positions they may hold by the end of the day today."

This announcement caused an uproar among his twenty-one opponents, and he only let them scream at him for a moment.

"ENOUGH!" he roared in a voice that even those waiting outside of the sealed room could hear, stunning everyone to silence, it was so unexpected from the always calm and unassuming young man. Al didn't lose his patience very often, but he was there now. His eyes were blazing with power, and he'd started to glow as he fought to bring his anger under control. Nobody said a word while he did that, and more than a few of the Elders were visibly shaking with fear as he stared them down.

"I am giving you this opportunity for the benefit of our fellow citizens," he told them. "This is not a discussion, and we are not going to vote on this. You can each resign by the end of the day, and if you choose not to, I would suggest that you report to me at Auror Headquarters at the end of business today, because if the Minister of Magic has not received your resignation, I will be issuing arrest warrants for you, and will be coming to find you."

"This is blackmail!" another Wizard spat vehemently. "I will not forfeit my seat, or resign from the Ministry."

"Good for you," Al told him. "I'll see you at the end of the afternoon at Auror Headquarters. I believe you personally had just over six hundred separate bribes, and at ten years in prison for each conviction, you should be out of Azkaban in, well, never."

"I will not be surrendering to you either," the man shot back, and Al shrugged.

"You are welcome to your day in court, but when I issue those warrants, if you have not turned yourself in, I will be coming to arrest you. You have choices in this matter, but I only have duty." He turned to the Minister of Magic and bowed.

"That is everything that I needed to discuss, Minister. For the sake of their families, and our Ministry, I fervently hope that these Elders make the right decision. I'm fairly certain that an early retirement is preferable to life in Azkaban." With that, he sat down, and the Minister stood again. He looked around the room at the other Elders for a moment before speaking.

"While I'm sure that the members named in the documents that Elder Potter has provided here may wish to speak on this matter in their defence, I must respectfully remind all of you that in such matters, a Wizengamot meeting is not the place for that to be done. These cases are now in the hands of the Aurors, and the Wizengamot will only deal with them in the event that charges are filed, and a tribunal and trial date is requested." He stopped and took a drink of water before continuing.

"We will take five minutes, and then begin our regular meeting," he concluded. "Guards, you may open the Chamber to the public."

Some of the members of the Wizengamot left the Chamber for a few minutes, but Al and Scorpius stayed in their seats. Word had gotten around about the closed session, and quiet a few more members of the media had gathered, along with some spectators, but when the meeting resumed, and the regular business of the day was started, they were all disappointed as the usual business was conducted. The opposition members of the Wizengamot still put forth their stack of proposals, which Scorpius and Callie had rebuttals for, but there was none of the usually heated arguments, and the votes all went against them.

They recessed for lunch, and then spent the afternoon hearing the charges against nineteen members of the Knights. When the tribunals to hear those cases were chosen, none of the twenty-one members of the Knight-loyal opposition were chosen, and the trial dates ranged out all the way into the fall. When that was over, Al returned to Auror Headquarters to check in with Jake and Emma, and see how everything had gone with Byron during the day.

"Were you able to convince them to gather the troups for meetings?" Al asked Byron. His job on Monday had been to set up meetings with all of his Knights over the next two weeks.

"They're suspicious," Byron told Al, "but I convinced them that the arrests were just a setback, and they will get new instructions at the meetings, so they've all agreed to come at the times you wanted. Everything is set up."

"Good," Al said. "Emma, Byron and I are going to be doing a lot of travelling for the next two weeks, and sleeping in a cell each night isn't going to work very well. Let's put him under house arrest while he's working with us."

"That works for me," she agreed. "Do you need him for anything else today?"

Al shook his head. "No. I've got other matters to deal with. Why don't you guys, and your trainees take him home, see if he needs any groceries to get him through the week, and set the wards and protections. I'm sure that'll be something interesting for Kendra and Shae to learn how to do. Send me what I need when you're done, and I'll monitor the wards, since we'll be leaving fairly early in the morning anyway." They did that, and Al went on to meet with Rick and Hestia in his office.

"What's your guess for what the Elders will do?" Hestia asked.

"I think they'll take the resignation route now that they've had all day to think about the alternative," Al answered. "How did the Knights enjoy their trip to Azkaban?"

Rick laughed. "Hestia and I took Evan and Gwen personally, just for the fun of it, and then we went to the Guard Room that overlooks their Common Room, and watched the reunion between Rosier and his grandnephew. That was priceless. The last batch is still on the way there. I don't know what the first thing was that Evan asked him, but Rosier was laughing so hard it was five minutes before he answered."

Hestia laughed too. "And Evan did not like the answer," she added. "He and Gwen both stormed off, while Rosier just started laughing even harder."

"I'm glad we were able to bring a little happiness into the old guy's life," Al joked. "What do they do in Azkaban with couples anyway, give them a double-wide cell?"

"Well actually, they do," Rick told him, laughing again. "We've sent them more couples today than they've ever had at one time before, though, so they'll have to split most of them up for a while until they can get extra cells ready for them."

"Why don't we go over your plans for all of these other groups now?" Hestia suggested.

Al agreed, and they left the jailhouse humour behind, and got back to business. They talked over what Al was going to be doing for the next two weeks, while Rick and Hestia were going to coordinate expanding their investigations to include searching the Knights' houses and estates.

After that meeting wrapped up around five-thirty, Al went to meet with the Minister of Magic, who by then had twenty-one written and signed resignations from the Wizengamot, and those Elders who had also worked elsewhere in the Ministry had resigned from those positions too.

"When will this be announced?" Al asked.

"I'll be holding a press conference in the morning," the Minister told Al. "We'll start the nomination process rolling after that, and hopefully, by the next meeting we can vote on the nominations and elect the new members."

"Yes sir," Al agreed. "I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do when we're all working together, instead of wasting all of our time fighting against each other."

"That should be a refreshing change," he agreed.

That was the last thing he had to do for the day, now that he didn't have to work on arrest warrants for Wizengamot Elders. He went home, and found out that Carolyn had decided to work in their office until he got home and have a late dinner with him. He hugged and kissed her, and then let her keep working while he went into the kitchen to make dinner for them.

It had seemed that most of their conversations over the past few days had been all about his work, and Carolyn had wanted to know all about everything that had happened today too, but Al also made sure that she told him all about what was going on with her, and with the rest of their family, since he'd mostly been out of the loop for the past three days on pretty much everything except Auror business.

Byron was ready to go when Al got to his house on Tuesday morning, and Al handed him his wand, which had been a really unexpected surprise.

"How do you know I won't just attack you when the chance comes up?" he asked, and Al smiled at him.

"I don't think you'll screw up the chance we're giving you to turn your life around, and if by some chance I'm wrong about that, you might want to think the idea over first. When I faced all of you, I was able to control everything that was going on. If you just attacked me without warning, I don't think you want to find out what would happen if I had to defend myself on instinct." Byron remembered all too well what Al had done on Saturday morning, and he nodded.

"You don't have to worry, Al. I'm not going to mess this up for Nicolette and me."

This week's messenger schedule would have been Byron's week one, starting with the day four rotation through Western Europe and the stop in Tangier, Morocco. Byron had scheduled that meeting first, so they took the TransPortal to Tangier, and apparated to the office. All of the Knights were there already, and they jumped to their feet, most of them drawing wands when they saw Al with Byron as they walked into the office. Al threw his shield up around both himself and Byron, but nobody fired at them.

"Please put your wands away," Al told them. "I'm here to meet with you, not arrest you, but if you attack, I will be forced to take steps to defend myself."

"Do what he says," Byron told them. "You can trust him."

Nicolette hadn't drawn her wand, and she turned to her fellow Knights and urged them to put their wands away. When they had all done that, Al dropped the shield, and he and Byron went over to stand in front of the twenty Witches and Wizards.

"Sit down, please," Al told them. "We have a lot to discuss, and you might as well all be comfortable. Byron, I'd like you to start by telling them what the Knights were really doing, and what your Lord Commander had really expected the Knights here to be doing had their plans back home succeeded."

The Knights all sat down, and as Byron told them for the first time what had ultimately been planned for all of the groups of Knights, their faces had paled, and a few of the Witches had started to cry. It took Byron about fifteen minutes to give them the condensed version, and then he went and sat down next to Nicolette while Al took over.

"Now, I've been investigating the Knights for over a year," he told them. "I know about everything that you've been doing here."

"Then why aren't you arresting us?" one of the Witches asked in a voice choked with tears.

"Because it's been decided that most of you did not truly know what your leaders were actually intending to do, and because of that, you are being offered the chance to get out of this mess. At the end of this meeting, I am going to seal this safe house, and it will be unusable to you. Disband your group, and stop all of the activities you've been involved in. Tell the Witches and Wizards that you've been bribing and dealing with in your Ministries and businesses that I know who they all are, and that you are now out of the information business."

"That's it?" another Knight asked, and Al nodded.

"That's it," he agreed. "I will be watching to make sure that you do stop, and if you don't, all of the information I have on you will be forwarded to your local law enforcement, and we'll stop you the hard way."

"How do we know that you're not making all of this up?" another Witch asked, and Al laughed.

"I'm here, aren't I?" he asked. "Isn't my being here in your safe house proof enough?"

"Byron led you here," she pointed out, and Al shook his head.

"Byron isn't the Secret Keeper," he told her. "He couldn't have. I've known about this place since before I arrested Macnair. We could sit here for another hour and I could give you names and places, but I think you all know I am telling the truth. You can have fifteen minutes to get any personal belongings you have out of here – none of the files or anything like that, and then I'm going to seal this office."

It only took ten minutes for them to all get outside, and then the Knights watched in awe as Al Transfigured their office into a solid block of stone, in a feat that they'd have guessed was impossible until that moment.

"Why not just take the Fidelius Charm off of the house?" Byron asked him.

"The identity of the Secret Keepers for these offices is a Fidelius Charm protected secret itself," he told all of the Knights. "Because of that, the only way to break the Charm would be to kill each of them. Since the Secret Keeper for this office is one of the members of your group, I'm sure you can all understand why I don't choose to do that."

"Yes, we can," Byron agreed.

"Okay, everyone, time to go. Please do the right thing for yourselves and your families, and don't give me any reason to come back for you. This is a one time only offer." The Knights all began leaving, until there was just Al, Byron, and Nicolette remaining.

"Stay a moment, Nicolette," Al asked, and she looked at him in surprise, but nodded and waited beside Byron. When the other Knights had all apparaed away, Al smiled at her.

"When Byron is finished working with me, he will be going into witness protection," he told her. "He's going to need a new identity, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to marry him and go live happily ever after together."

Byron and Nicolette both laughed. "You're proposing to her about marrying me?" Byron asked.

Al laughed too, reached into his pocket and tossed a box to Byron. "I'll meet you at the TransPortal site in Madrid in ten minutes. Ask her yourself, and don't be late."

Byron wasn't late, and from the smile on his face, she'd said yes. Al thought that turning around the lives of just two out of twenty-one Knights wasn't that impressive, but then again, there was still hope for the other thousand or so Knights who were soon going to get their chance to change too.

The other four stops, in Spain, France, Italy, and Germany went almost exactly the same way each time, except for the ending with a marriage proposal, and when they were finished for the day, Al went with Byron to meet Nicolette. She'd still had her bags packed and ready from when she'd planned to leave with Byron on Saturday, so they tagged them with Translocators, and sent them to his house before taking the TransPortal there too.

"I don't need to put the wards up again, do I?" Al asked Byron, who shook his head.

"No. I've got all the reason to stick around right here already," he answered, smiling at Nicolette.

"Good. I'll see you in the morning at about ten to six. If you need anything, call me."

Al stopped in to Auror Headquarters, gave Rick and Hestia his update, and they brought him up to speed on the events of the day with the investigations at the Rosier Estate, and at the homes of the other Knights – including Miles Bletchley's house.

"I hope they're taking it easy on Lydia and her old servant," Al said. "With some of the things she's told Carolyn, I sort of wish I'd hit that man quite a bit harder on Saturday."

"Emma, Jake, Kendra, and Shae went there," Hestia told him. "I'm sure they were gentle with her."

Rick got a call, and turned away from them for what ended up being a few minutes, so Hestia and Al continued to talk about the rest of the information they'd been getting through their investigations.

"I was over at the Avery Estate," she told him quietly. "You can't imagine what they'd been doing to Dirk's father and grandfather. It was absolutely disgraceful."

"Dirk's Chief of Staff is a good man," Al told her. "I'll go talk with him tonight and get him some help with learning how to deal with those two Wizards." He'd sent a QuillMessage to Scorpius even as he'd made the suggestion to Hestia, who had nodded. Rick turned around in his chair, and he was smiling at them.

"That was the Minister of Magic," he told them. "Arnold Peasegood just told him that he was retiring effective immediately. He'll get his pension, and go quietly, and we will drop our investigation and give him amnesty."

"Hopefully our new boss will be an improvement," Hestia said, and Rick grinned at her.

"As interim Minister for the department, I'll do my best," he told her, and Hestia laughed, stood up and went around his desk to hug him.

"Congratulations," she told him, and Al echoed her congratulations. "Will you be moving down the hall?"

Rick shook his head. "Not now. I'll be doing both jobs for now," he answered, "and this is where most of the action will be for a while. If I get the permanent job, we'll name a successor for me, and I'll move then."

"Don't even throw my name in the hat, Savage," Hestia told him. "You know how much I hate paperwork, and I'm quite possibly the worst person in the entire Ministry at politics."

Rick laughed. "With the most recent departures, that might just be getting closer to being the truth," he agreed. "It would be entertaining, though."

Hestia pulled out her wand and pointed it at him. "How entertaining would you like it to be?" she asked, waving her wand threateningly.

He held up his hands in surrender, still laughing. "Not that entertaining," he assured her. "I'm just teasing, and I know you wouldn't want the job."

Hestia smiled and put her wand away. "Don't even joke about something like that. I'm very happy with my job just the way it is."

Rick joined in on the review of the other events of the day, and then Al left them to go home to have dinner with Carolyn. After that, they went over to Grimmauld Place, where they met up with Scorpius, Brianna, Draco, and Astoria.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice," Al told Draco.

"You're welcome. Scorpius said that you think I can help with a problem. What's going on?"

Al told him about what Hestia had found at the Avery Estates, and Draco nodded sadly. "That doesn't surprise me," he told Al. "Let's go see Lawrence and offer him some help. Do you know how the others are being treated?"

Al shook his head. "I don't, but we're going to find out. They're all just innocents now, and it's just wrong to be mistreating them."

"Yes it is," Draco agreed. "Thanks for calling me, Al. This is something I'm really going to like helping with."

Al, Scorpius, and Draco left the girls to visit in the drawing room, while they left Grimmauld Place, apparated to the Avery Estates, and walked up the drive to the main house. Lawrence answered the door, and invited them in.

"Since you must know that the master is not here," he told Al, "there must be another reason for your call this evening."

"There is, Lawrence," Al agreed. "Auror Jones advised me that Dirk's father and Grandfather were not being treated very well, and we've come to offer you help with them."

Lawrence sighed. "Master Dirk had given us little room in his orders to care for the old Masters with any dignity," he told his three guests. "I'm afraid that they have become quite difficult to care for because of that."

"Then let me help you, Lawrence," Draco told the man. "They're just children, and if we handle things right, they will forget what has gone on until now."

"I can make it so they forget," Al told them. "You could start over just as with Lucius."

Draco and Lawrence both nodded. "That might be best," Lawrence agreed. "When do you want to get started?"

Al grinned at him. "Got anything pressing right now?"

Lawrence returned his smile. "Nothing that is more important. If you'll follow me, I'll reintroduce you to them. Be ready to duck, though. They are quite proficient at throwing books and anything else they can get their hands on, and their aim is excellent."

The two Avery men were in a foul mood when Lawrence and his guests got to the room where they spent almost all of their time, and Draco, Scorpius, and Al were all moved by the sad condition they were in.

"Call your mother and have her come over," Draco told Scorpius. "She can heal them." While Scorpius did that, Draco moved into the room slowly, not wanting to frighten the two men.

He had to dodge two books and a rock, but didn't draw his wand, or do anything to agitate them further. Talking soothingly to them, he introduced himself, Scorpius, and Al, and eventually, they let him come sit with them.

"You have some boo boos," Draco told them. "There's a very pretty lady coming over in a few minutes who can help make them go away. Will you let her make you all better?"

"No more hurt us," Dirk's father pleaded, and Draco nodded.

"No, nobody is going to hurt you any more," he told them.

Lawrence had gone to meet Astoria at the door, and he led her into the room, and watched as she gently healed each of the men. They'd had welts from where they'd been tied tightly with rope spells, and quite a number of half-healed sores and cuts. When she was done, Al took over, and both of the Avery men went blank for a few moments as he wiped their minds clear of the past year of their lives.

"Do you have rooms that are better than this to keep them in overnight?" Draco asked Lawrence, looking around at the filthy conditions they were living in.

"I'll move them to a guest room for the night," Lawrence told Draco.

"Good. Astoria and I will come in the morning, and start helping you, and your staff, learn how to take care of them properly. Are you in control of the estate finances while Dirk is – away?"

Lawrence nodded. "I am," he agreed. "There is not a problem with having enough money to adequately care for them."

"Excellent," Draco told him. "Don't let anyone hurt them between now and tomorrow – we don't want to start over the wrong way. If you have any staff unwilling to treat them with the care they'd give any two-year old, you might want to reassign them, and find staff who will." He smiled then. "If all costs are at your discretion, and you want decent workers, I'd suggest paying double the Ministry minimum. That has proven quite effective for us with caring for my father."

Lawrence smiled too. "That's an interesting idea," he told Draco. "Maybe we could discuss that in the morning."

Draco helped Lawrence get the two men moved to a clean, decent room, get them ready for bed, and then Astoria helped them off to sleep. Lawrence saw them to the door, thanked them, and then they left the estate and apparated back to Grimmauld Place.

"I wonder if that's how mother envisioned me treating father?" Draco asked after they'd sat down with drinks and told Carolyn and Brianna about what kind of condition the two former Death Eaters were being kept in.

"She probably did," Astoria agreed. "If you find that any of the others are being treated like that, let us know," she told Al. "We'll do what we can to help them."

"I'll let you know," Al promised.

He and Carolyn only stayed long enough to finish their drinks, and then Al needed to go home and get some sleep. He and Byron were going to be visiting Turkey, Poland, Norway, Serbia, and Bulgaria, and their first meeting was at eight o'clock local time, or six o'clock home time, so he was going to be up by four-thirty.

Al and Byron continued meeting with each group of Knights, repeating the same speeches, disbanding the group, and closing down the offices. There were the occasional stubborn Knights who wanted to challenge Al, but he dealt with each of those cases as they came along, and was sure that when he was done, they were convinced that it was time to do exactly what he suggested.

On Thursday, they went through Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, and on Friday, it was Uganda, Togo, South Africa, Angola, and Senegal. As Byron worked every day with Al that week, and saw just how honestly his compassion for his enemies was just as real as it was for his friends, it had moved him a long way toward understanding the true differences between the path he'd been on, and the one he was taking his first tentative steps on now. When they were done on Friday afternoon, Al went back to Byron's house with him, and Nicolette was waiting with a hug and kiss for Byron.

"We've got another week to go, mate," Al told him, "and you'll have to come back to testify at some or all of the trials, but by next Saturday, you should be able to relocate to your new home, so why don't you go spend as much of the weekend there as you can and finish getting everything ready?"

"What do you mean finish?" Byron asked, and Al laughed.

"You've already done a very good job getting your new life set up," he said. "It seems like a shame to waste all of that effort just to start over and do the same thing. I'll be the only one who knows where you are, or your new identitites. I took the liberty of making a better legal paper trail for those, so you should never have a problem with them. I saw that your accounts are very healthy, but if you do need help in the future, I'll just be a ViComm call away." Nicolette had tears in her eyes again, something that she and Byron had both had happen a lot in the past week. She went over to Al and hugged him tentatively.

"Thank-you," she told him. "We won't ever forget everything you're doing for us."

Al smiled. "You're very welcome. I have a feeling you two are going to have a really great rest of your lives."

They talked for a few more minutes, mostly setting things up for Sunday night, and then Al left for another end-of-day meeting with Rick and Hestia at Auror Headquarters, while Byron and Nicolette went to pack for a trip to South America.

"I know you have to go back out on Sunday night," Rick told Al when they were wrapping up their meeting. "Take the rest of the weekend off. We can muddle through for a couple of days without you."

"Yes sir," Al agreed.

"That was easier than we thought it would be," Hestia told him, and Al shrugged.

"I don't mind admitting that I'm getting a bit worn down," he told her. "A little down time is probably a good idea right now."

Hestia laughed. "He takes down twenty Knights in an hour-long battle, and turns twenty buildings to solid stone, and he's a bit worn down. Get out of here kid, you're bothering me."

"I'm going," he said, standing up. "Have a good weekend, and I guess our next meeting won't be until I get back from the East on Tuesday afternoon."

Hestia stood and hugged him, and Al left for home, where Carolyn had already started to cook dinner. He hugged and kissed her, and then joined in to help with the work.

"What have you got planned for the weekend?" he asked Carolyn as they worked.

"Nothing, really," she answered. "I brought some work home with me, but since I didn't know what you'd be working, I didn't make any plans."

"I'm off until Byron and I leave for New Zealand on Sunday night," he told her, and Carolyn stopped long enough to hug and kiss him again.

"In that case, why don't we go shopping tomorrow for a present for Lily's birthday party on Sunday, watch the Canons game and hang out here tomorrow afternoon, and then go to what will hopefully be a victory party after the game. I'm pretty sure that Aaron and Tracey are hosting it this weekend."

"That works for me," he agreed. "Did you want to go out tonight?"

Carolyn smiled. "No, I'm pretty sure we can find something to do around here to entertain ourselves, and I don't feel like sharing you right now."

Carolyn might not have been in a sharing mood, but the Professors at Hogwarts had been sharing a lot with their students all week. The Marauders study group was working extra hard to keep up with that – especially the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch players who were training hard all week too. On Friday night, they were all working right through to curfew, since they'd be taking the day off on Saturday for the Hogsmeade weekend and the Canons' road game against the Wanderers.

There wouldn't be many students who would agree with him, but for Malcolm, even with all of the schoolwork, this had been a best week ever for him. For the first time all year, he didn't have to worry about the Knights, or what would happen to his parents if he failed them. He didn't have to worry about what they wanted to do to his friends, and really didn't have to worry about anything except being a regular Wizarding teenager, go to classes, do his homework, and have a little fun with his friends.

When the news about his father had come out, and hit the school gossip network, there'd been some nasty comments around the Slytherin Common Room until Jason, Terry, and Bill had made it clear that those comments were not welcome, and wouldn't be tolerated. Ending the week with a day in Hogsmeade just made everything that much better.

Everything was much better for Lily and Kieran when they met at the school gates, and shared a long hug and kiss. They'd both been busy, and it had only been a week since they'd seen each other, but it had still felt like a long time apart. Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah all waited for them to finish their greeting, and then walked into town together.

"Six weeks of supplies to get," Hugo said as they walked. "We'll be lucky to get back in time to watch the game."

"Don't you worry," Emily told him. "it's just more of everything, not all that many extra things, and we have hardly any wheezes this time."

"This is the last Hogsmeade weekend I'll have with Kieran too," Lily told Hugo. "I'm ready to kick in to super-shopper mode to get it done so I have more time to spend with him back at the house."

"Where'd you send Glenda and the boys this weekend?" Sarah asked.

"Nowhere this time," Lily told her. "They're all getting close to being ready to take their OWL's, so they wanted to study at the Academy today."

Lily told them all about what she'd been doing in India all week while they shopped, and even though there was a lot to get, it really didn't take any longer than usual. When they were finished, Lily hugged Hugo, Emily, Joel, and Sarah, and got ready to go to the house with Kieran.

"Wait a second!" Emily said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a present. She handed it to Lily and laughed. 'I almost forgot to give you your birthday present. Happy Birthday a day early from all of us."

Lily had them all laughing as she tore into the wrapping paper, and opened the box. She started bouncing, and immediately hugged everyone again before handing Kieran the box for a minute so that she could switch her current earrings for the pair that her friends had given her that had tiny, but perfect baby grand pianos made of gold and dangling from short gold chains.

"Thank-you," she told them. "They're adorable!"

"You're welcome," Emily told her. "Now go have fun with Kieran, and we'll see you at the game in two weeks."

Lily did another round of hugs first, and then took Kieran's hand and happily led him away. They spent the rest of the morning mostly snogging, had lunch together, and after cleaning up, turned the WWVN on to QSPN, and then missed the entire game while they went back to enjoying what would be their last snogging session until after Kieran got done school in six weeks.

The rest of the Marauders study group, including Claire this time, were in Kieran's office to watch the game. They'd done lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and gotten back with enough time left to pass out supplies to their first and second year friends, put their own supplies away, and get the party ready in the office before the game started.

This was the Canons' second to last game of the season, and it was against a team that was really struggling, so some of the media pundits had suggested that the Canons might be looking ahead to their final game against the playoff bound Arrows. If those pundits were hoping for an upset, they didn't get it. The Canons came out in high gear, and didn't let up for the hour and eighteen minutes that it took them to beat the Wanderers by a score of three hundred and twenty to forty.

"They just wanted a short game so they could rest up for the playoff run," Frederica said. "I vote for going outside to play until dinner and going back to our studying tonight. All opposed, report to the hospital wing to get your heads examined. Everyone else, let's clean up and get out of here."

Lily and Kieran had left enough time so that they could walk back to the school, and had a few minutes left for a long goodbye hug a kiss.

"I'll see you in two weeks," Kieran told her. "Have fun with your shopping day tomorrow."

"I will," she promised. "I love you, Kieran."

"I love you too, Lily," he answered. "I'd better get going."

Lily nodded, hugged and kissed him one more time, and then watched as he turned around and started walking toward the gate. Kieran had to hide his smile when he turned around.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Before you go back to India, go stop by the house. Your birthday present is there." He laughed as Lily bounced into his arms again, hugging and kissing him one more time. "Happy birthday, honey. Have a really great birthday weekend."

"Thank-you. I love you. You have a good weekend too," Lily told him.

Kieran left her then and walked up the drive to the school, while Lily apparated to their house. It was impossible to miss seeing her birthday present when she walked into the Great Room and saw the beautiful, gleaming ebony baby grand piano with the big red bow on it in the corner of the room next to the windows that overlooked the pool atrium. She walked over to it, and ran her hand along the ivories, pulled the bench out, and sat down.

"Let's find out if you sound as gorgeous as you look," she told the amazing instrument. Lily was supposed to catch up with her parents and the rest of their tour group after Kieran went back to the school, but she got caught up in the music, and the next thing she knew, it was two hours later. She regretfully stopped playing, and hurried back to India.

"I think she liked his present," Ginny told Harry when Lily stopped by their suite to say goodnight to them. "She got back a half hour earlier than we predicted, though."

Lily hugged them, and then sat down in the chair closest to her mother. "I loved my present," she told Ginny. "Have you had a fun day?"

"Apparently not as good as yours, but yes, we had a pretty great day too. We've all got to go get some sleep soon, though, or we won't be at our best for a day of shopping before we have to go back home to the real world."

There was a party going on back home for quite a few members of their family, and a bunch of their friends. The Canons game had been a short one, so Tracey, Trinity, and James had gone back to Aaron and Tracey's place, and with most of the afternoon still left, had decided to set up the victory party in the back yard. When the Canons players and coaches got there an hour later, the party was already rolling.

Al and Carolyn had been at the party by then too. They'd slept in a bit in the morning, had a leisurely breakfast, and spent a few hours shopping before coming home to have lunch and watch the game. It seemed to Al that he hadn't just had a day off to have fun with his family in a long time, even though that was more because of how much that had been happening over the past few weeks.

"You must be ready for a vacation," Ron told Al. He and Hermione had stopped at the table that Al and Carolyn were sitting at to visit with them.

"I could say the same for you, but that's not going to be an option for you this summer," Al answered. "You'll have to start training as soon as Hugo gets home."

Ron nodded. "True, but we do have a week after the finals, if we make it that far, so your Aunt Hermione and I will probably go to the island or something while we can get away before that."

"If we didn't have Lily and Kieran's wedding to get ready for then, I'd be tempted to kidnap Al and go along," Carolyn told them.

They talked for a while about Quidditch, Hermione's work in the lab, and about everything going on around Al at the Ministry before Ron and Hermione moved on, and that was pretty much how the rest of the day went for Al and Carolyn as they enjoyed spending a few hours catching up with everyone.

Al and Carolyn went home by around ten o'clock, but the party went on long after they left, and by the time it was winding down, Rose and Matt were having breakfast with their tour group, and getting ready for a shopping day before they would all be going home late in the afternoon. It was also Lily's birthday, and for the second year in a row, she got to spend it with her parents, Rose, Matt, and some new friends.

She had to blow out the candle that had been placed in the middle of a breakfast pastie, and then opened a few presents before eating. The shopping day had been really great too, and Harry and Matt were loaded down with bags when it was time to leave for home, and the birthday party lunch that was being set up for her at the Cottage.

Al and Carolyn were part of the set-up crew for that luncheon, along with James and Arianna, Aaron and Tracey, and Scorpius and Brianna. They'd met at the Cottage for ten-thirty, and gotten to work. Harry, Ginny, and Lily got home at eleven-thirty, and after a quick round of hugs, went upstairs to freshen up before their guests would be arriving. By twelve-thirty, Al, Carolyn, James, and Arianna were setting out the buffet lunch for thirty-three.

"This is really great, Al," Lily told him when he and Carolyn joined her, Scorpius, Brianna, Rose, Matt, Nick, and Allie at one of the tables. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome, sis," Al told her with a smile. "Are you glad to be home?"

Lily nodded. "We had such a great trip, but yeah, I'm glad to be home again. Mum and I are ready to get back in the lab, and there's a lot going on between now and the end of school that I definitely want to be around for."

"I wish we could be here," Rose told them. "On Saturday, Matt and I will be starting three back-to-back tours over the next four weeks. You'll be able to go see Dad's last games live, and we'll probably have to catch the highlights on QSPN long after they're over."

"You do know that just because we live in Britain doesn't have to exclude it from your tours, right?" Carolyn told Rose. "We've got great hotels and some of the best dining in the world, and I'm sure there are lots of Witches and Wizards that would love to come here on one of your tours. Maybe you should just always do one week that starts with taking your guests to see one or both of the semi-final matches, and ends with the League Championship game here. Then do all of the local sightseeing during the rest of the week."

Rose laughed. "I have to admit that I've never thought about doing a tour at home, but that is a great idea, and there are Quidditch fans who would love it."

"I know one fan right here who would too," Matt said with a grin. "I guess we can't look at that until our fourth year, though, since next year has already been scheduled and sold out."

"So where are you off to next for these three tours?" Allie asked Rose.

"We've got a week in Hawaii, followed by two weeks in Brazil, and then back to Hawaii for the last week. After that, we're home for three weeks until after the wedding, and we'll be back on the road for the last two tours of this year, with two weeks in China, and two weeks in India."

"And then we're taking the rest of August off," Matt said happily.

Brianna laughed. "Right, and probably trying out new vacation destinations, going to the Quidditch World Cup final, and maybe a trip or two to the island."

"We're so predictable," Rose told Matt, hugging him.

"Maybe, but we're a lot of fun too," he answered. "So, other than ridding the world of a group of pureblood elite nutcases, what else has been going on while we've been gone?"

The nine friends talked about everything that they had each been doing over the past couple of weeks, and what was coming up in the coming days and weeks. Since Al was going to be leaving by ten o'clock Sunday night, he only stayed until after Lily had opened her presents. By three o'clock, he left Carolyn to stay and have fun, while he went home to get a few hours of sleep.

"Time to get up, sleepy," Carolyn said quietly as she sat on the bed next to Al. She leaned forward and kissed him, then sat back up again and smiled down at him as he opened those amazing emerald eyes of his and smiled back at her.

"Hi, Carolyn. What time is it?" he asked.

"Eight-thirty. Why don't you go have a shower and get ready, and I'll go downstairs and heat up the dinner Dad sent home with me for you to have before you left for your trip." She laughed when Al put his arms around her, and pulled her over him, and onto the bed next to him, but then he kissed her rather seriously, cutting off her laughter and feeble protest.

"Or we could stay here and find something else to do," he suggested, nibbling on her neck.

"We could," she agreed, "but we won't." She kissed him again, and then reluctantly pushed away from him and got up before he could change her mind with those soft kisses along her neck that had been sending shivers of delight dancing through her.

"Go have your shower, and I'll meet you downstairs." She saw him grin, and laughed again. "Get dressed too, and completely ready for your trip."

"Yes dear," he said, and she had to step away from one last attempt where he tried to ensnare her again.

"Cut that out," she told him. "What would the other Aurors think if they knew this was how you got ready for work?"

Al laughed and got out of bed. "They'd wonder how I'd managed to catch any bad guys when I can't even catch you in our bedroom."

Carolyn walked around the bed, since he'd gotten out on the other side, and hugged and kissed him. "You've already caught me," she told him. "I love you, Al."

"I love you too," he assured her.

They shared another few kisses, but then Carolyn firmly pushed him toward the bathroom, and he went and got ready for work, while she went downstairs to the kitchen and warmed up his dinner. Carolyn told hm about what had gone on at the Cottage after he'd left, and before long, it was time for him to get going. There was a lengthy hug and kiss goodbye, and then he left to go get Byron and head out to New Zealand.

The two Wizards visited New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea on the first day of their trip. When they were finished with the last stop, Al had a little chat with Byron.

"Now, I'm sure that you really love those dumps that you and Terrance stay in overnight, mate, but my tastes run a little better than that."

Byron laughed. "I would certainly hope so. Where did you stay when you were following us?"

"I've stayed in different hotels, depending on which order you did the stops in on Monday, but to make sure I wasn't recognized, I stayed in Muggle hotels. We're going to stay at The Peninsula hotel in Beijing tonight."

"You're joking, right?" Byron asked, but could see Al wasn't. "How can you stand being around them?"

Al laughed. "This is why I wanted to talk to you first, Byron. Try to keep an open mind when we get there, and forget what you think you know about Muggles. Our hotels like the Emerald City Centre are fairly new to our World, but Muggles have had luxury hotels for a long time, and I think if you give it a chance, you're really going to love them."

Byron shrugged. "I'll try, Al, but I don't see how it can be anything like you say when they can't do anything with magic."

"Talk to me about that tomorrow, and see if you still feel that way," Al suggested.

By Tuesday morning, Byron was a changed Wizard, at least when it came to Muggle luxury hotels and fine dining. He'd mostly stayed quiet while dealing directly with Muggles, except for ordering his dinner and breakfast, and a few other encounters around the hotel. When they were alone, Al spent some time teaching Byron about Muggles and everything from money to etiquette, and other than making sure that they didn't use magic around them, the whole experience had been really great for both Wizards.

They spent the day on Tuesday shutting down the Knight's offices in China, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Russia. When they were done, it was just after lunch back home, and after dropping Byron off at home, Al went into Auror Headquarters for his update meeting with Rick and Hestia.

"Good afternoon, Acting Minister Savage," Al told Rick as he came into his office and sat down.

"Funny, Al," Rick told him. "How'd things go over the last couple of days?"

"No major problems," Al answered. "Out of ten offices, I only had three Knights who wanted to be difficult, but I just convinced them that they were not going to like my plan B."

"Did you have a plan B?" Hestia asked with a laugh.

"Not really, but they didn't know that," Al told her. "I'm pretty sure that after they saw what happened to their safe houses, the Knights won't be in too big of a hurry to get involved with anything illegal for a long time, and hopefully never."

Rick nodded. "We can hope so. What time will you leave for South America tomorrow?"

"Not until around eleven o'clock," Al told him. "We probably won't get back until sometime early Saturday morning, our time, after we finish up in Los Angeles."

"Okay. Next week, you can work with Hestia on the rest of the investigation. We'll all be working on this to get all of the evidence ready for the trials, and we're collecting a lot of records, and there are going to me more charges coming."

"There have been a few more resignations and retirements too," Hestia told him. "It seems that after seeing twenty-one Elders and a Department Minister leave that there are some others who are worried about their futures."

"I can live with that," Al said with a smile. "Getting rid of all of the bad apples will go a long way to helping us restore a little public confidence in the Ministry of Magic. My cousin Nick might even have to concede that politics isn't all bad some day."

"It isn't?" Hestia joked. "I must have missed that memo."

Rick and Hestia told Al about everything else that was going on in the investigation, and then Al went home for the rest of the day. He had time for a swim, and made a special dinner for two that was ready when Carolyn got home from work. They spent the evening at home, happy to spend the time together before he'd be gone for another three days starting in the morning.

That last three days, with Byron helping Al close down the last eighteen Knight safe houses were all long and tiring, but they were getting the job done, and both Wizards were looking forward to getting this done, and putting an end to the Knight's without any serious incidents. The only glitch in the trip came on Friday. Al and Byron had already shut down the offices in Montreal, New York, and Miami, and had gotten to New Orleans at a little after eleven-thirty.

Byron had given his little speech after getting past the initial panic that Al's appearance with Byron caused with every group, and Al was telling them what he expected of them once he shut down the office when the door opened, and a happy, smiling Sylvie came into the office.

"Come on, Daddy, we're going to be late for lunch with Mum and Kaleb," she said before it registered with her that all of the Knights, plus Byron and Al were there with her father. "What's going on, Daddy?" Sylvie asked her father. "You're Auror Potter – the one who arrested all of those Witches and Wizards in Britain – I saw you on the news," she said to Al.

"Come on in Sylvie," Al told her. "You and your father are going to be a few minutes late for that lunch." She looked as beautiful as the last time Al had seen her, and judging by the ring that hadn't been on her finger before, and her thoughts, Kaleb was her future husband.

"Daddy?" she asked, now looking scared.

"It's okay, honey," her father said, holding a hand out to her. "Come on over here."

"I'm not going to go over everything we've covered so far, Sylvie," Al told her. "You were never a member of this group, and we're nearly done our little meeting. Your father can answer your questions later." He returned to what he'd been talking about.

"Byron has told you what the leaders of the Knights had really wanted from all of you. I am here to close down your safe house here. You're all being given the opportunity to end this now, and go back to your lives. There will be no more bribery, no information gathering, or anything else you've been doing. I know everything about your local group, and everyone you've been dealing with. If you don't do as I've instructed, I will know, and will come after you. Please don't make that mistake." He gave everyone a minute for that to sink in, though Sylvie was obviously confused.

"You've got fifteen minutes to get any personal belongings out of here, and then I will be making this building unusable," he added, finishing up the same way he did with all of the groups. "Don't take any files or anything else from the building, and meet me outside by then."

Sylvie went with her father to his office, while a few of the other Knights started getting their own things together from the desks in the main part of the office. Al and Byron both went outside to wait for them, and the twenty-two Witches and Wizards were all outside in time, with Sylvie and her father making sure that everyone was out before joining them. When Al turned the entire building to solid stone, he was not surprised when he was asked why he did that to a perfectly good building.

"The identity of the Secret Keeper for this place is also a secret being protected by a Fidelius Charm," Al explained as he did every time he answered this question, and he was looking at Sylvie's father at the time. "The only way to break it would be to kill the Secret Keeper, and that isn't something that I am willing to do. This seemed the better solution, wouldn't you agree?" All of the Knights had visibly paled and nodded.

"Go home to your families, ladies and gentlemen. Forget about this foolishness you got caught up in, and don't give me any reason to come looking for you again. This is the only chance you'll get from me."

Al and Byron left then, going to have lunch before moving on to Calgary, and then finishing up with the office in Los Angeles. It was after five o'clock local time by the time that they had finished sealing the office there, so it was after one o'clock Saturday morning when Al dropped Byron off at his house.

"Send me a message when you've finished moving," Al told him, holding out his hand. "I'll take care of this place once you're gone, and let you know when we need you to come back and testify."

Byron took his hand and shook it. "Thanks, Al. I've learned more in the last couple of weeks than in most of the rest of my life put together. It seems that I have a lot to make up for."

"Start by taking care of that sweetheart of yours, and I'm sure you'll both figure out the rest of how to do that together," Al told him. "You have made a good beginning with helping me, so keep up the good work and you'll be just fine. Have a good night, mate, and I'll see you around."

"You too, Al," Byron said, and then Al apparated home, while he went inside where Nicolette was waiting up for him, and ready to get that new life started.

While Al had been busy in Los Angeles, the Trans-Pacific Broom Race had started at nine o'clock on Saturday morning, Tokyo time, or midnight home time. When he got home, instead of going right to bed, even though he was exhausted, he got himself a glass of wine, turned the race on to catch a replay of the race start, and watched for a while to see how Mark was doing.

While the Great Wall of China race took longer to complete because of it's technical difficulty and slower average speed, the Trans-Pacific race was the longest distance at seventy-five hundred and seventy kilometres, and was an impressive test of stamina and concentration. While Al was watching it, the commentators were estimating that Mariposa was in the lead, with a group of sixteen racers, including Mark, all within minutes of her estimated time, though the calculation was based on distance to the finish line from their current position, and there were a lot of factors out there that would affect the outcome of the next fifteen or sixteen hours.

"You're home," Carolyn said quietly, and Al opened his eyes immediately as she came and sat down next to him. He'd started to drift off to sleep.

"Hi, honey," he said, smiling at her. "Sorry that I woke you."

Carolyn laughed, and snuggled close to him. "It seems I woke you too. Are you all done with these trips now?"

"Yes, and I'm really glad about that. Hopefully none of those Knights will try starting things up again, and I won't have to go back and deal with them again."

"When they start hearing about the sentences that the Knights here will all be getting, they'll have more reasons to stay far away from doing anything else like this again," she suggested, and Al nodded.

"They're estimating that Mariposa's in the lead right now, but Mark is right up there with the leaders," he told her. "Let's go upstairs. I'm definitely ready to get some sleep."

"Okay," Carolyn said sleepily, snuggling closer into Al's arms.

Al wasn't all that motivated to move either, but their bed was much more comfortable, so he pulled her into his arms, then stood up and carried her upstairs. He put her to bed, got changed, and joined her there, putting his arms around her before closing his eyes and going to sleep too.

The Marauders and friends study group had mostly stayed up, either in their Common Rooms, or in Kieran or Emily's offices to watch the start of Mark's race, and then gone to bed. They had just over two weeks left until exams would be starting, and except for the Quidditch players who were getting ready for their game in a week, everyone else was studying during every spare moment, every day.

On Saturday morning, it was right back to the study classroom for everyone. They had portable WWVN's tuned in to the race, and were able to keep track of how the race was going. Lily had been helping them virtually since Monday, though she mostly helped the NEWT and OWL year students. During the week, she'd done two hours each evening, and for the weekend, she had promised to do a morning session, and another one during the evening both days.

In the afternoon on Saturday, she was in Vancouver with her parents, Al, and Carolyn to watch the finish to the Trans-Pacific Broom Race. Through nearly the entire race, Mariposa and Raffael had been switching back and forth as race leader, and the commentators had been sure that Mark was not going to catch either of them, but in the fifteenth hour of the race, he caught the tail wind that Isabelle and Lily had calculated would push him past the competition if he hit it at the right angle and time. For Mariposa and Rafaelle, what was a tail wind for Mark was a cross wind for the angle they were approaching the finish line from, and they had to fight it the rest of the way in.

Mark crossed the finish line in first place at eight twenty-four in the morning, local time, or four twenty-four in the afternoon back home. He didn't break his record, but it was the second fastest time in the record books. Mariposa was second again in a time of sixteen hours and thirty-nine minutes, while Raffaele ended up three minutes behind her.

"That was way better to watch live than on the WWVN," Carolyn told Al as they watched Mark land and Callie hug and kiss him. "We should have gone to see the finish of one of Mark's races sooner."

Al hugged her and smiled. "We just always seem to be busy with one thing or another. I'm glad we decided to come today too. Kira and James have been fun to hang out with, and we can still be home in time for dinner if we want."

Harry and Ginny were going to spend the day in Canada with Owen, Natalie, Kira, and James. They had hours to wait for the rest of the racers to get in before the winner's ceremony, so they popped over to Toronto to spend the time with Natalie's mother Valerie, and the rest of her family. Lily went back home with Al and Carolyn, having dinner with them before going back to the Cottage to get ready for her virtual study session.

Al had been able to take the weekend off again, but Carolyn had some work she needed to get done, so Al did a little work of his own when he wasn't making meals and taking care of anything that Carolyn wanted while she concentrated on what she had to get done.

It was back to work on Monday outside of Hogwarts, and back to classes for the students at school. The only talk around school that wasn't about the upcoming exams was about the last Quidditch match of the year. There were really only two possible outcomes for the Quidditch Cup race that seemed likely – either a three-way tie with two wins each for Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, although nobody thought that Ravenclaw could score enough points on Hugo to pass them in the points race, or Gryffindor would go undefeated and win the Cup outright.

The Canons were playing their last regular season game of the week on Saturday too, and everyone in the family wanted to see both games. That included Ron, who wasn't very happy that his job was going to keep him from seeing Hugo's last match playing for Gryffindor. Some of the family was going to try to do both, and would either leave the Hogwarts game if it went too long, or stay and miss part or all of the Canons' game, since at least they'd be able to see Ron play in the first round of the playoffs, and hopefully in the League semi-finals and finals.

Before getting to gameday, though, there was some news that made the headlines of all the major news media. On Friday morning, the Minister of Magic held a press conference, and announced that Rick Savage was officially promoted, and became the Minister for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. That hadn't been unexpected, but the news that Al Potter was promoted too, and was now the Junior Minister in charge of the Aurors had definitely been stunning.

"I have no idea why anyone would be surprised by this," Hestia told Al after the press conference when they were back at her desk. "Other than Rick, you're the only Auror in this department crazy enough to want all of the extra work that goes with the job."

Al laughed. "Who says I wanted the job?"

Hestia laughed too. "I guess there is a difference between wanting it and being willing to do the job," she conceded. "You're going to be great at it, though, and I'm going to really like working with you as the Head of the department."

"Let me know if you still feel that way after I've been doing it for a while," he suggested. "You might change your mind."

"Somehow, I don't think I will, but don't worry – if I've got a problem with anything you're doing, you will definitely be the first to know."

They got back to work on reading through the files that they'd confiscated from the Warrington's estate, and other than stopping for lunch, that was all they worked on for the rest of the day. Al went home and made dinner for two, and he and Carolyn had another quiet evening at home with a little swimming, a little snuggling on a sofa while they watched a movie, and a little extracurricular, clothing-optional, bedroom entertainment before going to sleep for the night.

On Saturday, they were going to the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match, and they had company going with them. Carolyn had been helping Lydia get ready for her first meeting with Malcolm where Miles hadn't been controlling how she was allowed to act around her son, and that help had included a SpaMagic makeover, a new wardrobe, and a lot of listening as the woman worked through her own demons. She'd also been in contact with Ophelia, and coordinated things so that the mother-son meeting could take place with as little intrusion as possible.

"Why did you want to walk all the way out here to the gates?" Malcolm asked Ophelia. "Are Aunt Penelope and Uncle Percy coming to the game?"

"They are coming," she agreed, "but we came to meet them." Malcolm had been looking at her while she'd answered him, and when he turned his head to see who she was now pointing at, his jaw dropped open in amazement.

"Mum?" he asked, his brain still trying to start working again.

His mother, Lydia Bletchley had been, for as long as he could remember, a short, thin, plain, dull-looking Witch who rarely spoke unless answering his father, and had never, shown any emotion toward him at all. Now he was facing a Witch who was still short and thin, but stood taller, and was absolutely beautiful, with lustrous, long black hair, and where he'd only seen dull eyes before, now her brilliant blue eyes sparkled with the tears that had filled them when she'd seen Malcolm and Ophelia. Her clothes were obviously new, and Malcolm thought she looked absolutely amazing.

"Hello, Malcolm," she said tentatively, and he could see the uncertainty in her eyes. That was something that he completely understood now, and he didn't hesitate to walk up to her, put his arms around her waist, and hug her tightly. She had tensed for a moment until she realized that while he was hugging her tightly, he was also being very gentle.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, and her tears began falling onto his shoulder.

"So am I, mother," he said, pulling back so he could face her. "I should have known it wasn't just me that he was hurting, but I was too messed up myself to see what is so obvious to me now." He smiled, and handed her some tissues from the package Al handed him. "You look absolutely beautiful, Mum. It seems that getting away from my father has been a good thing for both of us."

"It sure has been," she agreed, smiling up at him. "Is the young lady with you someone I should get to know?"

Malcolm laughed and nodded. "Definitely. Mum, this is my girlfriend, Ophelia McBride. Ophelia, this is my mother, Lydia Bletchley."

"It's so nice to meet you," Ophelia said, stepping forward to hug Lydia for a moment before stepping back next to Malcolm.

"Carolyn and Al tell me that I have you to thank for helping Malcolm."

"She saved me," Malcolm told his mother, and Ophelia laughed.

"You saved yourself," she said, putting her arm around his waist and smiling at him. "I just wanted to help someone else like me who I thought had a lot of potential. It was an added bonus that you were so darn cute too."

"Why don't you two go take the long walk to the stadium?" Carolyn suggested to Lydia and Malcolm. "Ophelia, Al, and I will meet you there." Ophelia hugged and kissed Malcolm, and then went off with Carolyn and Al, leaving him alone with Lydia.

"I get the feeling that she was in on this plan," he said, holding his hand out to his mother. "Am I going to like this talk they've set us up for?"

Lydia smiled. "If coming back home to live with me is something you'd like, then I really hope the answer to that is yes."

They'd just started to walk, and Malcolm stopped and hugged her again, easily lifting her off of the ground. "That would be a yes," he assured her. "What about the fact that I'm disinherited?"

Lydia laughed. "I'll be happy to be disinherited from Miles too," she told him. "We'll lose out on a little money, but that's okay with me if it's okay with you."

"That's fine with me too," he agreed. "I'm sure the Phoenix Foundation will help us find a flat, and I can get a summer job to help out. We'll figure something out." He watched as his mother laughed again, and this time, she hugged him.

"Oh honey, I love you," she told him. "We'll miss out on a little money. The house, and most of our fortune is mine, not your father's. He disinherited you, but I didn't, and we don't have to move anywhere."

"The money's all yours?" he asked in surprise, and Lydia nodded. "Why did you stay with him?" He watched as she took a deep breath before answering.

"Your father wasn't much different than your grandfather was in how he treated me," she told him. "If you get knocked down often enough, you don't even try to fight it anymore, since that always made it worse."

Malcolm nodded. "I understand. So what do we do now?" They started walking again, and Lydia linked her arm with his as they went along the path that went down by the lake and around the far side of the school.

"Well, at home, I'm going to start by retiring old Miriam, and we'll take care of her from now on. "That's the least we can do for everything she's had to put up with from Miles over the years. I'll probably hire someone to replace her, since keeping up with that house by myself would be nearly impossible. When you get home, we'll decide what to do for the summer."

"I'd still like to find a summer job," Malcolm said, and Lydia nodded.

"If that's what you want," she agreed. "I'm sure we can find something for you easily enough." Malcolm was smiling again, and had the strange look in his eyes that she'd noticed now a few times. "What? You keep looking at me rather oddly, Malcolm."

He laughed and gently squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry mother, and this is probably impolite to ask, but how old are you? You look so amazing, and at least ten years younger now than I thought you were, and I don't remember you or father ever saying. Actually, I don't remember ever celebrating your birthday at all."

"It's not impolite yet, though I reserve the right to change my mind on that when I get older," she told him with a smile. "I'll be thirty-seven in September, and yes, I am a lot younger than Miles. I was barely out of school when my family and his matched us."

"You look younger than that," he told her. "None of the guys are going to believe you're old enough to be my mother."

Lydia laughed. "I love you, Malcolm," she told him for the second time. "Your father wouldn't let me say anything like that to you – he said he wouldn't have me coddling any son of his – but I do and always have loved you."

"I wasn't always very loveable, Mum," he told her. "If it wasn't for Ophelia and my other new friends, I might have ended up becoming just like my father, Dirk, and the others."

"You weren't always likeable," she answered, "and sometimes I was as afraid of you as I was of Miles, but you were always loveable."

"I love you too, Mum," he said, stopping to hug her again. He looked at his watch – the one Ophelia had given him, and smiled. "We have to hurry, or we're going to miss the start of the game.

The stadium was already nearly full by the time they got there. Ophelia had saved them seats in the Gryffindor section, where they were going to be sitting with Percy, Penelope, and the rest of the adults cheering for the Gryffindor team. Ophelia made the introductions, and Lydia shook hands with most of the men, and was hugged by all of the women. Harry had been the one exception among the guys who hadn't hesitated, and hugged her too.

Over in the Ravenclaw section, Lily, Kirley, Ana, Meghan, and James made up the group of visiting adults cheering on Erin and Myra, though Meghan was cheering on her boys too, even as her husband was cheering for Myra from the Gryffindor section. Vanessa, Nadine, Cassandra, and Violet all sat with Kirley and Ana, even though they were all cheering for Gryffindor. Horatio sat with Meghan, James, and Quincy to cheer for Myra and Erin, and Adam was sitting with Violet. The rest of the Marauders and their friends were split between the two groups, depending on which parents or guardians were there for the game.

The two teams were introduced, and flew around the stadium once before landing. They shook hands, and Myra and Erin hugged all of their friends and brothers, wishing them good luck. They were given the pre-game speech, and then the quaffle was thrown into the air, and the teams took off.

Gryffindor and Ravenclaw both seemed to have the same game plan – throw everything they had against the other team's Keeper, try and get a few goals, and leave it up to Colin and Erin to decide which team would win the game. For the next three hours and forty-two minutes, it was non-stop action as the players raced back and forth above the pitch.

After the first hour, Gryffindor had a ten to naught lead. Hugo had thirty-nine saves, while Myra had forty-one. When the second hour wrapped up, it was forty to naught, with shots on goal rising to eighty-three against Hugo and eighty-nine against Myra. The offensive attacks continued through the third hour, and the score was sixty to naught for Gryffindor.

Harry and Ginny had to leave before the end of the third hour to go over to Canons Stadium to be there before that game started. James, Lily, Al, Carolyn, and Lydia would be going to that game too, but they weren't going to be there until after this game was finished.

Erin and Colin were both having a brilliant game, but this time, it was Colin who managed to finally outrace Erin to catch the snitch, and get his team and seventh-year Captain an undefeated season and Quidditch Cup victory. By the end of the game, Aiden and Liam had each scored one more goal on their sister, and Gryffindor won by a score of two hundred and thirty to naught. Hugo had stopped all one hundred and fifty-five shots that had reached him, and Myra had faced one hundred and sixty-four shots and allowed just eight goals.

"Congratulations, Hugo," Myra said after they'd landed. "You guys played a great game. I wish you were going to be back next year for a rematch."

Hugo laughed. "Thanks, Myra, but even though we won the game, I'm glad I won't be. The competition in the professional league is going to be easier. I'm going to have to figure out a way to explain why I'm the Keeper for the National team, when you saved more shots than I did in this game."

"I let in eight goals," she reminded him.

"And had one more save than I did," he countered. "There were a lot of scouts here today that I'm sure wished you weren't still so many years away from graduating after seeing that performance, and I'm sure they liked what they saw from just about everyone else on both teams."

Their families and friends joined them, and the hugfest got going. Since the Canons game was already going on, some of those congratulations and goodbyes were short and sweet. Ophelia and Malcolm walked to the gates with Lydia, Al, Carolyn, and most of the other adults that were going on to the Canons Stadium.

"I'll see you at the station in four weeks," Lydia told Malcolm and Ophelia. "Take care of him for me," she added when Ophelia hugged her goodbye. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you this summer."

"I will, and so am I," Ophelia answered. She stepped back, and Malcolm hugged his mother for a long minute.

"I love you, Mum," he said quietly. "Take care of yourself, and we'll keep in touch with you."

"I love you too," she told him, smiling as she reached up and brushed a tear from his cheek.

Ophelia and Malcolm watched her leave the grounds and apparate away with the others, and then turned around and walked back to the school.

"I'll have to make an appearance at the Gryffindor victory party," she told him, "but I thought maybe we could meet in an hour or so and go sit by the lake and study for our exams."

"That sounds great," he agreed. "I'll see if any of the others want to come study outside too, but most of them are probably going to Kieran's office to watch the game."

Ophelia nodded. "I wasn't thinking about that. I'll meet you there if the game's still going on, and we can decide what to do then."

Lily and Kieran had taken the long way back to the gates, and they had seen Ophelia and Malcolm heading back to school when they were still down by the lake on their way toward the gates.

"This is going to seem like a very long four weeks," Lily said.

"It does right now," he agreed, "but by tonight, I'll be doing non-stop studying until exams are done, and you're going to be busy with getting the house ready, the wedding, virtual study sessions, and work at the lab, so hopefully it will actually go by fast."

"Not to mention Quidditch playoffs and Mark's last Broom Race of the season," she added. "Maybe it really will go by fast. I sure hope it does."

When they got to the gates, there was a long hug and several kisses before they finally said goodbye for the last time, and Lily left the grounds and apparated to Canons' Stadium. Kieran walked back to the school, and went to his office, where the gameday party was already going on with the Hufflepuff and Slytherin members of their study group.

"Who's winning?" he asked, going to sit down next to Vanessa and Nadine after getting hugged by them, and by Violet.

"The Arrows were up by ten," Jason told him, "but in the last ten minutes or so, the Canons have started pouring it on, and they're now up thirty points, and Uncle Ron is stopping everything."

"Could it be that they found out that Hugo had another shutout, and Gryffindor won the Cup?" Kieran asked. "That'd be about the time that Al, Carolyn, and the others got to the stadium."

"That, and I'm sure Arianna is more fired up now that James is in the house and watching her play," Vanessa agreed.

It was pretty obvious from the Owner's Box that the Canons had gotten fired up too. Tracey had gone down to the pitch to pass the news about Hugo and the Gryffindor team win on to Coach, and she was laughing when she returned to the Owner's Box.

"Uncle Ron may have been disappointed about missing Hugo's game, but he seems to have gotten over that after Coach asked him why he was playing so lousy when his son had been able to have a shutout game against Ravenclaw to wrap up winning the Quidditch Cup without letting in a single goal all season."

"We thought something like that must have happened," Ginny told her. "I'd say things are going to be going badly for the Arrows for the rest of the game."

'Badly' ended up being an understatement, as a close match was blown wide-open by Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly, while Ron completely shut out the Arrows from that point in the match until Liselle ended the game at the four hour and nine minute mark. The win ended Ron's last regular season with a nineteen and one record.

Back at Hogwarts, Kieran's office had filled up as the afternoon went on, and they all got caught up in the Canons' game. There wasn't really enough time after the game to get much studying done before dinner, so they just stayed in the office, watched the post-game show, and talked.

"Do we know who the Canons will play next weekend in the first round yet?" Adam asked.

"The Canons will be playing the Falcons," Jason answered. "Some of the other placings can still change today between second and seventh in the league standings, but the Falcons will be in eighth place regardless of what happens with the late games today."

"If the Canons play like they did today, the Falcons are not going to have a very good day," Nadine predicted. "Maybe if we're all good and get enough studying done, we'll even be able to take the time off to watch the game too."

"I don't know if I'll be able to do that, since exams start on the Monday after that game," Kieran said, "but you're all welcome to use my office to watch the game if you want."

"We'll see," Vanessa told him. "What inquiring minds want to know right now, though, is why Malcolm never told us that his mother was so young and pretty. When I saw you walk into the stadium with her, I thought you had an older sister we didn't know about."

Malcolm and Ophelia both laughed. "I'm sure she'll love hearing that," he told Vanessa. "I didn't say anything because if you'd seen her before pictures, you wouldn't have thought that at all. She looks completely different now, and she told us that Carolyn has been helping her with the makeover."

"Good for her," Vanessa said with a bright smile. "If she's been hiding all that beauty until now, it's way past time to let it out."

They talked until dinner, and then after eating, it was back to hitting the books, which was going to be the name of the game for the entire coming week as they got ready for exams. While they were doing that, the victory party was going on at the Cottage. Lydia had been invited to that too, and was a little overwhelmed by the large group of family and friends who were so happy to invite her into their circle and make her feel so welcomed.

"I think you and your son have been adopted by the family," Lisa said as she sat down next to Lydia at the table she'd been sitting at with Al, Carolyn, Harry, and Ginny.

"Do they adopt a lot of people?" Lydia asked, and Lisa nodded.

"I'm one of their adopted," she answered. "Harry and Ginny became my volunteer mentors when I went to live at the first Phoenix Foundation Residences for orphans the summer I finished my first year at Hogwarts. They've helped a lot of kids like me since then, but then there are other families that get adopted along the way too – like Owen, Natalie, and their kids, Kira and James."

"This is all really overwhelming, but it's brilliant too," Lydia said, and Lisa nodded.

"It can be, and is," she agreed.

Al and Carolyn joined them, and Carolyn hugged Lisa. "Did you and baby need a rest from the action?" she asked.

"Just for a few minutes," Lisa answered. "It's not like I'm that far along, but Jair could tire out an army when he's fired up like this."

"That's when you're supposed to hand him off to Grandpa Harry, and tell him to deal with it, since he's the one that probably got Jair fired up in the first place," Carolyn told her.

"If he keeps sneaking him sweets, Marcus and I may decide to leave him here overnight," Lisa only half-joked. "Unless Uncle Al and Aunt Carolyn want him for the night instead."

"Let's see how it goes," Carolyn told her. "We'd love to have him spend the night, but I'm not sure he's going to be available."

The party went on at the Cottage until late in the evening, and Al and Carolyn did end up getting to keep Jair with them for the night. Saturday had been the end of the regular season for the professional Quidditch League, and the end of the Quidditch Cup season at Hogwarts. There was just one week left until the Hogwarts exams would be starting, and four weeks until school would be out for the summer.

Al was going to be learning how to do his new job as Head of the Aurors. The Canons drive toward one last League Championship for Ron was nearing an end. The business members of the family were all getting ready for the home from school, start of summer shopping season, and at the Ministry of Magic, they were dealing with the fallout from the arrest of the Knights, and all of the resignations and retirements that had been going on since then. Add in getting two houses ready – Lily and Kieran's, and Molly and Arthur's, and the continuing preparations for the wedding, and there was a lot of both work and fun going on around the famly. Al might have hoped for life to slow down a little for a while after everything he'd been through with the Knights so far, but with all of that going on, if anything, the next month looked like it would just be getting even busier for everyone as the countdown to the end of school, and Lily and Kieran's wedding continued.


	141. Endings and Beginnings

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-One – Endings and Beginnings

Al and Carolyn started the last week of May by spending Sunday morning playing with Jair Allen before taking him home to Lisa and Marcus. After that, they were meeting Scorpius, Brianna, Nick, and Allie for lunch at the Mall, and a little afternoon shopping.

"Have you thought about who you're gong to nominate for the Wizengamot?" Al asked Scorpius. "We have to submit our choices by tomorrow."

"I've thought about it, but haven't made a decision. How about you?"

"I'm going to nominate Nick," Al said, and laughed when Nick drew his wand and pointed it at him. "I'm joking, mate," he told his cousin. "Relax. Actually, I'm nominating Natalie Cauldwell," he said seriously.

"That's a really great choice," Allie told him. "Why did you pick her?"

"I think we need more Witches in the Wizengamot, and she'll make a very good Elder."

"Maybe Scorpius should nominate Brianna," Nick suggested.

"Or not," Brianna told him. "I think he should either nominate his father, or if you want more Witches, maybe Susan would consider taking the job."

"If I nominated my father, it'd just put two seats onto our children some day," Scorpius pointed out. I like the idea of asking Susan, though. Does anyone else have any suggestions?"

"I can think of lots of choices," Carolyn said, "but none any better than Susan. If you want a few choices, though, you could think about Laura, Ana, Serena, Professor Parvati Macmillan, Mandy Boot, or Lisa Allen."

Scorpius laughed. "Apparently I wasn't really thinking that hard about this at all," he said. "Brianna and I can stop by the Residence later today and ask Susan if she'll stand for the nomination, and if any of the other Elders ask Al or I for advice, we can make those other suggestions."

"Is this the point where I remind the politicos of our group that this is a day off?" Nick asked. "Can we please talk about something other than the Ministry of Magic?"

They humoured Nick and moved on to talking business, family, and even a little architecture while they had lunch and went shopping. Allie and Carolyn both had work they had brought home with them, so after a couple of hours at the Mall, the shopping trip was wrapped up, and the three couples split up to go do their own thing for the rest of the day.

The Marauders study group spent the day on Sunday together in their study classroom. They all had a few assignments that were due at the first of the week, and made sure that those projects got finished along with the long hours of exam preparation. For some of the exam studies, the different groups needed space to work – especially for subjects like DADA, Charms, and Transfiguration, so they actually used several extra classrooms at different times during the day to work on the practical exams in those subjects.

One of the exams that all of the students always thought was the most fun to study for was the DADA practical, and the best one of those was always the sixth year group duels. Sarah and Claire were the only Marauders in sixth year, so they had put together a group with four other Witches from Slytherin and Gryffindor, two from each House. They had Hugo, Emily, Kieran, and Joel take turns helping them design and practice their duel, and since Sarah was the strongest of the six of them, she was the focus Witch for the Impervious Totalis shield that they were working on for the bonus points part of the exam.

"You've got it!" Emily told them excitedly. "Hold it for a minute – and that's good, let it go." She was clapping, and the six girls hugged each other. That had been the hardest magic that any of them had ever worked on. They'd been learning how to do that spell in steps over the past three weeks, and now, with exams just over a week away, they'd finally done it for the first time.

"Thanks to you, Hugo, Joel, and Kieran," Claire told Emily. "This was very cool, and learning how to do the power sharing spells will help me a lot if I get into med school too."

"I don't think there's any 'if' about that," Emily told her. "You're going to get your pick of schools."

"Yes you will," Sarah agreed, hugging Claire again. "Now, let's try this one more time, and then let Emily get back to her own studies."

Lily liked getting to help Kieran, Hugo, Frederica, and their friends with their studies, even if it could only be virtually, but the fun part of her days began on Monday, when she was handed the keys to the finished house. Over the next four weeks, she was going to be busy furnishing the entire ten-bedroom home.

Al didn't get the keys to a house, but he did get the keys to his new Junior Minister's office home on Monday. He'd come in to work in the morning to find out that Rick had ordered that his things be moved to Peasegood's old office, and had Al's cubicle cleared out, and everything put into Rick's old office.

Hestia and the other Aurors continued working the evidence on the Knight's case, but Al spent most of the week working with Rick, learning his new job and responsibilities, and interviewing candidates to replace Gertrude, who was going to move on to be Rick's assistant, while Peasegood's assistant would be reassigned elsewhere in the Ministry of Magic. On Friday, he had made his decision and twenty-two year old Cameron would be starting to train with Gertrude on Monday.

"Is Cameron pretty?" Carolyn wanted to know when Al was telling her about having hired Gertrude's replacement, and he laughed.

"Well, Hestia thinks so, but I'm guessing that Cameron would really prefer the term 'handsome'," he answered, and Carolyn laughed too.

"How sexist of me to assume your new assistant was a Witch," she joked. "Let me know how that works out. Maybe I should consider hiring a young Wizard to be my assistant."

"I can do that," he agreed, "but since I know you love your current assistant, I doubt you're seriously considering a change."

"Probably not, but you never know," Carolyn told him. "Are you working at all this weekend?"

"I'm thinking about putting in a few hours on Sunday, but we've got the playoff game tomorrow, and Lily will need some help with the house over the weekend, so that may or may not happen."

Carolyn nodded. "Lily is going shopping for a couple of hours after dinner tonight, before doing her virtual study session. Why don't we go along and help her?"

They did that, meeting her at the Mall after having dinner themselves. Lily's plan for getting everything done had been fairly simple – to try and get two rooms a day done. Including bathrooms and change rooms, and counting the dining, kitchen, and sitting areas of the Great Room as three rooms, there were thirty-five rooms, so if she could keep on track for two rooms a day, she'd be done by the weekend before Kieran got home. That didn't mean that she shopped for just one room at a time, since there were some things that she could do for all of the rooms, but by the end of the weekend, she wanted to have the entire guest wing done, and at least two of the family bedrooms finished.

"How's everything going so far?" Carolyn asked Lily as they checked out the beds in one of the furniture stores.

Lily laughed. "I've been making a lot of stores happy this week," she told Carolyn and Al. "I've finished the linens for all of the bathrooms in the house, plus a lot of towels for the change rooms in the atrium. The guest bedroom bathrooms are all decorated, and I'll start on doing that with the other bathrooms next week. The only thing I'll have left for them is the supplies, and I'll leave that until later when I'm ready to stock the pantry."

"Are you looking to do all of the beds tonight?" Al asked, and Lily nodded.

"Yes," she agreed. "For the guest wing, we need to pick out three kings and four doubles, and for the family wing, there will be one king, and eight twins."

"Are you expecting to have a lot of twins?" Carolyn teased, and Lily laughed.

"They do run in the family,' she told Carolyn, "but I'm actually thinking about extra guest rooms for now, should we need the extra space, and when we do have kids, they'll have an extra bed for having friends and hopefully some cousins stay for overnighters."

They picked out the sixteen beds in about an hour and a half, and had them sent by TransPortal to the house before going over there too. Lily and Carolyn mostly supervised and directed, while Al got the beds set up in each of the rooms. When they were done, Lily came back home with Al and Carolyn, and they set her up with a glass of wine and snacks while she got started with her virtual study session.

Carolyn had done those sessions with her last year, and it was interesting to watch Lily work at them from this end. Tonight, her tutoring was open to all years, and they were working in VirtualPotions. Lily was sitting on one sofa, while Al and Carolyn had the WWVN on and were snuggled on another sofa. Since the ViComm programs all worked by thought, you didn't need to talk aloud or have any other physical reaction, but doing that was harder than it seemed. Lily could do that when she wanted to, but when she got excited with what she was doing, it was fun to watch her work as she studied with the students at Hogwarts, and also talked with Al and Carolyn, switching back and forth between her virtual study group and her visit with her brother and sister-in-law. She'd get up and pace in the real world, even as she was pacing in the virtual potions lab, and Al and Carolyn had to sort between her comments directed at them, and the ones she said aloud that were directed at her study group.

"This is more fun that watching a movie," Carolyn told Al as Lily was off and pacing again, explaining aloud how to get a Befuddlement Draught mixed for the OWL students.

"I'm glad that I can provide a little Friday night entertainment, sis," Lily said, flashing a smile before going back to concentrating on her tutoring.

"Last year, everyone else, except Brianna, Kieran, and I were using their Virtual GameWizards when we were studying with Lily, so we usually just worked in game mode when we were working in the virtual programs. I wonder if now that they all have the ViComms this year that they get up and move around like Lily is doing?"

"Probably not when Lily's teaching," Al suggested. "She's really great at this, but you do have to pay attention."

Lily stayed, and worked with her virtual session right through until just before curfew at Hogwarts, hugged Al and Carolyn goodbye, and went home to the Cottage to have her bedtime chat with Kieran before getting some sleep. On Saturday morning, she had another study session, this time just with the OWL students who would be taking their Potions exams on Monday, wrapping up in time to go for lunch with her parents and everyone else who would be guests in the Owner's Box for the playoff game.

The Marauders study group had all worked until lunchtime too, and then most of them were taking the afternoon off to watch the Canons-Falcons game. Kieran, Hugo, Emily, Joel, Sarah, and Claire had all decided to work, but instead of going to their study classroom, while the others sat on the sofas and chairs, they set up at Kieran's little conference table, and would study there so they could work and still hang out with the rest of their group.

"Which teams are playing in the other games today?" Horatio asked, and Liam answered his question.

"The Catapults finished in second place, and are up against the seventh place United team. The Harpies were third, and play the sixth place Tornados, and the fourth place Arrows play the fifth place Bats."

"So if the Canons win, they'll either play the Arrows or Bats?" Horatio asked, and Liam nodded.

"Yes, and whoever wins the second and third place games will play in the other semi-final next week. It could be an interesting day, since two of the top four teams are going into the playoffs after losing at least their last regular season game, and the Arrows lost their last three, which is why the Harpies ended up third, even with losing their last game."

They sat around chatting while the pre-game show was on, and when the teams were introduced after Andy's team unanimously predicted a Canons win over the Falcons, the conversations dropped off as they all began watching the game.

The Canons' team came out fired up, and for whatever reason, the Falcons didn't. The Marauders group weren't disappointed that the Canons won the game, but they'd all really hoped for more than a eighty-three minute long match where the Canons scored three hundred and seventy points, while the Falcons could only manage twenty points against Ron. There was a little bit of discussion about whether to watch one of the other games, but the Commander Lily in them won out, and they packed up and went to their study classroom to get ready for their first exams that were now less than two days away from beginning.

At Canons Stadium, since the game had been so short, the post-game festivities were dragged out for nearly an hour and a half. The victory party was at James and Arianna's house, so James, Tracey, Al, Carolyn, and Lily left after the game to get everything ready for when everyone else started coming over after the game and press conference.

"How was your first week as Head of the Aurors?" James asked Al as they worked together in the kitchen.

"I spent most of it with Rick getting the tutorials on the new job, and interviewing for my assistant. The training with Rick will probably go on for the next month or so, and then we'll see how it goes after that."

"I heard Carolyn laughing with Brianna and the other girls about her assumption that your assistant was a young Witch. That was a pretty smooth move on your part."

Al laughed. "I thought so too. There were quite a few applicants that had the qualifications, but Cameron was one of the few who weren't applying for the job looking to play politics by getting close to me."

James nodded. "What kind of politician are you going to be if you don't encourage the fawning and pandering that so many Witches and Wizards are used to at the Ministry," he joked.

"Hopefully the new kind," Al answered seriously. "We've got the chance to really make some big changes over the next few months, so hopefully we'll take advantage of that chance."

"Are you going to make a lot of changes with the Aurors?" James asked, and Al nodded.

"Yes, but I have some time to get everyone used to the new way we'll be doing things in the future."

"I'd say that you're doing business with the Aurors differently already," James suggested. "You haven't killed a single bad guy, and haven't lost a single Auror either."

"It's a novel concept, but I like it," Al said with a smile. "There have been a lot of improvements over the years, but if you saw some of the Auror's own histories, there were some times when I wonder if we weren't nearly as bad as the bad guys with how we worked."

"That wouldn't surprise me," James told him. "The public history gives enough hints about that."

"What's new and exciting at the Academy?" Al asked.

"I've got quite a few students getting ready for exams over the next couple of months," James answered. "Glenda, Gabe, Bert, and Chris are all taking their OWLs, along with Candice, Kylie, and seven other students. There are other students taking exams in other levels, and it looks like maybe three or four of our kids that were eight when they started with us will be ready for Hogwarts in Septemer."

"Will any of the OWL students be continuing on to sixth year?"

"Just four," James told him. "The other nine, including our four Hogsmeade students, have told me that they want to go out and start working once they have their OWLs. They'll all be eighteen or nineteen, so I'm not that surprised."

"Too bad the other five students haven't gotten to spend a year learning finances and everything else like Glenda and the boys have," Al said.

"They're all going out to work, but we're looking at having three or four of them stay at your house in Hogsmeade for the next school year and do the same thing. Chris and Kylie plan on getting married after they get their OWL's, so unless Candice and Bert get a place together, she'll live at the house in Hogsmeade with Krystal, Elron, and Tyler. I think that Krystal is hoping Candice will do that."

"You don't have any students that need the house while taking classes with you?"

James shook his head. "Not until next year, since none of the eighteen-year old students want to go on. The four seventeen-year old students going on to sixth year are going to be at the Academy for next year, and then in Hogsmeade for their NEWT year."

Al nodded. "It sounds like you're going to be busy this summer, and that doesn't even include keeping up with the National team. Are you and Arianna going to get away at all before she starts the chase for the Quidditch World Cup?"

"We're going away with Aaron, Tracey, Callie, and Mark for the week after the finals, but we'll be back on the Friday for when Erin and the boys get home from school."

"That's not much in the way of a vacation this year," Al said. "Are Erin and Quincy looking for jobs this summer? Dad said that Brian, Jason, and Dale have asked them about working over the holidays."

"They have, and we're working on that for them, and for the others," James told him. "We've got a lot of students looking for jobs this summer, so we're trying to coordinate it with the rest of the parents and guardians."

"What are Aaron and Tracey going to do with Adam and H all summer while he's busy with Quidditch?"

James laughed. "We're working on that too," he answered. "I guess we need to get it done, since we've only got three weeks left, but we're all so busy, we just haven't gotten that all worked out."

"I can relate," Al said. "Other than the playoff games and helping Lily with their house, it's nearly all work for Carolyn and I right now, and in another couple of weeks we'll be adding in everything going on for the wedding, and the first Knights trials will be starting."

"Have you two been talking about work the whole time?" Carolyn asked, coming in to get a load of plates to take out to the buffet table in the back yard.

"Not the whole time," James told her. "Just most of it."

"Well, cut it out," Carolyn said. "You're supposed to both be taking a day off from work."

"Yes dear," Al agreed. "We'll find something else to talk about. Do you, Tracey, and Lily need any help?"

Carolyn shook her head. "We've got everything under control outside."

The party guests started arriving shortly after that, and James and Al had a steady stream of family and friends pass through on the way to the back yard. They joined everyone else once they had their buffet dinner ready, and for the next several hours, Al and Carolyn had another fun evening.

On Sunday, Al went in to Auror Headquarters in the morning, while Carolyn worked in their home office, and Lily did a morning virtual study session with the Marauders. They met at the Mall for lunch, and then spent the afternoon buying dressers, nightstands, lamps, paintings, and other decorations for all of the ten bedrooms. They also picked up sitting area furniture for the three guest rooms with the king-sized beds, and the master bedroom.

When they had everything purchased and Translocated to the house, they went there too, and worked for another couple of hours on setting up the five guest bedrooms before wrapping up for the day. Lily went back home to the Cottage, and Al and Carolyn went home to have a quiet evening together before another busy week got started.

The last night before exams started was Malcolm's first experience with one of the advantages of the Commander Lily exam study method. He had always studied until way after midnight for exams before now, usually because he and his mates were trying to cram all of the information into their brains that they hadn't actually worked at learning for the rest of the year. He and Ophelia went for a long walk outside after dinner, spent a little time together in the library, and then went back to their dorm rooms early, following Lily's orders to get a good night's sleep.

On Monday afternoon, after the first day of exams were over, the Marauders study group was in their classroom, already getting ready for their next exams. Malcolm, Ophelia, and the other OWL students were studying for either Arithmancy, which was on Tuesday if they were taking it, or for History, which was on Wednesday.

"Slughorn is going to be shocked when he sees my OWL results," Malcolm predicted. "I've never had an exam go as well as that one in any subject before."

"This is when all of the work we've done all year pays off," Colin told him. "That was still a really tough exam, though."

"It was," Malcolm agreed, "but it was nice to actually know the answers to almost all of the questions, instead of guessing on half of them like I used to do."

They were talking about their DADA exams in the NEWT group. None of them won their duels with their Auror opponents, but they did all duel to a draw, which would earn them Outstanding marks.

"I wonder if the Aurors are working harder at these tests since James, Al, Lily, and Carolyn won their duels," Hugo suggested.

"They probably have," Emily agreed. "I'm just happy that I was able to keep going until getting the draw."

"So was I," Joel told the others. "I'm not sure that would have happened if we hadn't trained with Wizards and Witches as strong as Lily and the others, though. My Auror certainly seemed impressed, and I think he was having fun."

"Al's told Lily that nearly all of the Aurors have been tied up with searching through files and evidence for the upcoming trials for the Knights, so compared to being stuck doing that all day, doing this instead would be fun," Kieran said.

He was right about that, and there had been no shortage of volunteers for Al to pick from for the NEWT testing on Monday, or the OWL testing that would be on the Monday of the third week of exams. This year, they also would be sending one team to test the nine Academy students, which would be their first testing there.

Al didn't have much time on Monday for any Auror business, since it took most of the day to vote in the twenty-one new members of the Wizengamot, help get them introduced to their new jobs, and take care of some new business, including assigning some of the Knight's trials to the new members from the rest of the Elders who were a bit overloaded with cases.

The new Elders included Al and Scorpius' picks, Natalie Cauldwell and Susan Hopkins. Arthur had nominated Catriona McCormack, and Professor Slughorn had nominated Professor Parvati Macmillan, and they were both elected too. Al had gotten the list of other nominees ahead of the meeting, so he'd known the names of the other Witches and Wizards who were being considered, and when the voting was done, he was glad to see that Trent Rivers, Tracey's father, and Tony Goldstein, Matt's dad, had both gained enough votes to also be named to the Wizengamot.

"Does that mean you'll have Matt and Tracey in the Wizengamot with you guys some day?" Callie asked when they were doing their meeting at the end of the day.

"Maybe some day," Al agreed, "though Trent and Tony are both young, so it might be one of their future grandkids that they'll eventually name as their replacements when they're ready to retire."

"Are there any new members that we shouldn't be happy with?"

"I think they were all really great choices," Scorpius told her. "The intelligence level has certainly gone way up with the new group. You're going to love the job a lot more now that we'll get to actually work on developing proposals that make things better for the Wizarding World."

"Nearly all of the assistants of the Elders that resigned have left too, and that's going to make things a lot better in the office here too," Callie said. "Hopefully the new members will get off to a good start by hiring some talented assistants."

Al nodded. "I'm sure that they will. What's on our schedules?"

"You mean mine, don't you?" Scorpius asked. "Some of us can't work on any of the trials of the Knights because of conflict of interest."

Callie laughed. "Actually, this may be a shock to you, but there are other trials going on, guys, and Al is booked for some of them over the next few months."

She gave them each their upcoming Wizengamot schedule for the next month or so, and Al and Scorpius both added the information to their ViComm personal schedulers. There were a few other issues to deal with, and then they split up, Al and Scorpius each going back to their department offices to work at their day jobs for a while before going home for the day.

After having dinner with Carolyn, they went over to Lily and Kieran's house. Scorpius and Brianna joined them, and while Lily mostly worked on her virtual study session, they finished decorating and setting up the furniture they'd picked up on Sunday.

"What was the subject tonight?" Brianna asked Lily when she was finished working with the students at Hogwarts.

"I was helping the third and sixth year groups with Herbology," Lily answered. "The thirds have their Herbology exam tomorrow, and Sarah and Claire have it on Wednesday."

They were in the master bedroom, and Brianna and Carolyn were showing Lily the results of their efforts. "This is perfect," she told them. "I wasn't thinking about how much time these study sessions were going to take when working out getting all of this done. If you guys weren't helping, I'd already be nearly a week behind."

Carolyn hugged her. "That's what sisters are for. Let's go check out the other rooms, and then get home. We've all got work in the morning."

That was how the rest of the week went for Al and Carolyn. Work all day, have dinner at home, and then help Lily out in the evenings for a couple of hours. Kirley and Ana helped out for two of those nights, after the recording studio equipment arrived. They'd still had to buy the furniture and decorate the studio and control room.

The lower level of the family wing was the area of the house that they concentrated on, and while Al and Carolyn were there every night, they did have help on different nights from Nick and Allie, Scorpius and Brianna, Harry and Ginny, James and Arianna, and Aaron and Tracey. The guys spent two days decking out the games room with everything that any kid of all ages would love. Ana, Ginny, and Carolyn spent that time a bit more productively with putting together an amazing office, complete with a pair of BusinessMagic systems that were set up with the new systems that the Institute had developed with Ana and Kirley for the music industry, and would be launching publicly in a few weeks.

"Are you boys having fun?" Ana asked when she, Ginny, Carolyn, and Lily joined the boys in the game room. Harry, Al, and Kirley were 'testing out' the 3D GameWizard.

"Yes we are," Kirley told her. "We did get a lot of work done too. The studio is set up, and this room is ready except for the decorating, and we were waiting for you to tell us where you want the paintings and everything else located."

"That was very quick," Harry complimented Kirley, who grinned at Harry and Al.

"Thank-you, I thought so too."

The girls got them back on track, and before they went home for the night, they finished the game room, and did a quick tour with Lily of the rooms she hadn't seen while working with the students at Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny had needed to physically pull her away from the studio, or she might have stayed there to play all night, and Ana had to do the same with Kirley, who had thought that testing out the new equipment would be fun too.

"You'll have lots of chances to come over and play here with the kids," Ana promised him, "but you can't stay late and play tonight. You have a morning recording session, and I have to be in London to meet with a new client."

"We'll have to figure out a way to get past the practical police sometime soon and give this studio a spin," Kirley told Lily, who laughed and hugged him.

"Maybe we'll find some time to do that this weekend," she suggested.

"Just let me know when, and I'm there," Kirley promised.

Saturday afternoon was the only break from the work for the study group at Hogwarts, and for most of their family and friends outside of school too. The only exceptions were the Canons' players, and Mark, who had his final race of the season – the London to Moscow to London race.

Al and Carolyn had gotten up early, and gone to see the start of the race along with their parents, Lily, Callie, Owen, and Kira. Elder Natalie Cauldwell was getting to sleep in, since James had not been interested in getting up so early in the morning, so Owen and Kira left them cuddled together in the master bedroom, and went to the race without them.

The start of the Broom Races were always pretty exciting, especially watching the pack all take off together and battle it out for position. They started right on time at six o'clock, and once Mark's support group had seen him safely off, and among the leaders, they went back to Al and Carolyn's, where Al and Harry started making breakfast for everyone. Natalie and James joined them a bit after seven, and they all sat down to eat and have a visit before they were all off to do other things for the morning.

For Lily, Al, and Carolyn, it was another shopping trip, this time, looking for patio furniture for both the pool atrium, and for the outdoor garden patio. When they finished that, they went back to Lily's house, and while she started her virtual study session with the Marauders study group, Al and Carolyn got to work setting up all of the patio furniture.

"This atrium is just amazing," Carolyn told Al when they were finished everything, and taking a break while waiting for Lily to wrap up her study session so they could go meet their parents and the others for lunch in Chudley. "We probably can't do the gardens and trees like they have in here, but maybe we could put some smaller potted trees and flower boxes in our pool room."

"I think that's a great idea," Al agreed. "Why don't we see about that this summer, after the wedding."

"It's hard to believe that the wedding is three weeks from today," Carolyn said. "We're going to need to get this place done over the coming week, since Lily's going to be busy with the wedding for the last two weeks, and Brianna and I will be helping her too."

Al nodded. "We'll get everything finished in time. The Great Room will be the biggest part of what we have left, so by next weekend, we should be ready to stock the pantry and get all of the other supplies."

"Then while we're busy with the wedding, you can help your grandparents with their house," Carolyn suggested, and Al laughed.

"If they need it, I'll be there, but I'm pretty sure our Uncles and Aunts, and Mum and Dad are going to have all the help for them that they need."

"Probably," Carolyn agreed. "Grandma's pretty much ordered everything ahead of time too, so it's all ready to be delivered when they get the house next week. They'll just have a lot of work moving everything in and setting up all of the rooms."

"Ready to go?" Lily asked them, coming into the pool atrium from the Great Room, where she'd been pacing while doing her virtual tutoring.

"Sure are," Carolyn told her. "Let's go get some lunch, and hopefully cheer our Canons into the finals."

The Canons were playing the Ballycastle Bats, who had won a minor upset in the quarterfinals against the Appleby Arrows. There had been two upset wins, the other being when the seventh place Puddlemere United team defeated the second place Catapults to make it to the other semi-final match against the Harpies.

Canons Stadium was sold out for the last game that Ron Weasley would play there, since win or lose, the finals were at the Quidditch World Cup stadium. Harry and Ginny had a full Owner's Box too, and there were quite a few conjured sofas added to the normal furniture so that there was seating for everyone. Kira, James, Timothy, Patricia, and William were all there too, and the five kids had all staked out spots on the floor right next to the windows. Jair was there too, but he was stuck like glue to Grandpa Harry and Grandma Ginny, happy to sit on their laps, and chatter happily with them while they waited for the game to start.

The Bats had put some big numbers up against the Arrows the week before in what had been the highest scoring game of the weekend. That win certainly had their team fired up and expecting big things against the Canons, but right from the start of the game, they ran into a Canons' Keeper who was determined to lead his team into one last League Championship game, and his MVP performance had the rest of the Canons players out there playing their very best too.

That ended up being a combination that knocked the Bats out of the Stadium, and out of the playoffs in three hours and twenty-three minutes. Liselle ended the game then, but the score had already been way out of reach for the Bats, who had only scored seven goals against Ron. The moment the game was over, Harry, Ginny, and about half of their guests hurried out of the Stadium, and over to the field where the broom race had started, and would be finishing very soon.

Mark had been in or near the lead for the entire race, and as he approached the finish line, he was in a surprise battle with Andrei, a rookie racer from Russia. The two Wizards had been part of a pack that had made the turn together in Moscow, but then they had left the others behind on the way back, and were now more than a quarter of an hour ahead of that small group that was being led by Mariposa and Raffaele.

Andrei was right on Mark's broom tail as they approached the finish line, and right near the end, used the drafting effect he was getting from Mark to slingshot himself into the lead to become just the fourth racer of the season to win a race, while Mark blasted through less than a second behind him, both racers being timed at ten hours and forty minutes.

"He timed that to perfection," Harry said as they watched the two racers fly around the field as they slowed down to land. "You better see about getting that kid signed up to a sponsorship deal for next season, Owen. He'll make your stores a lot of money in Russia, and probably all of Asia and Eastern Europe."

"I was thinking the same thing," Owen agreed.

When they landed, Mark congratulated the excited young man first before Callie reached them, and hugged and kissed him. The rest of Mark's fan club gave them some space, and waited until he and Callie came to them before offering their congratulations and hugs.

He didn't have very long with them before needing to go do interviews with the race commentators, who wanted to talk with both Mark and Andrei while they waited for Mariposa to race to the finish in third place, with six other racers coming in within a minute of her ten hour and fifty-seven minute result.

Ron and Hermione were having this week's victory party, so after they'd watched the second group of racers finish, Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their group went there next, where they celebrated both the Canons' win, and Mark's third straight Overall Broom Race Championship and his second place finish in this race.

At Hogwarts, Kieran's office had been full for the game, and they'd switched to the race after the game ended so they could watch Mark's finish. They decided not to go back to their studies until after dinner, so once Mark was done the race, the party wrapped up, with most of the Marauders and their friends going outside to get some fresh air and stretch their legs before dinner and another long evening study session.

Kieran had been given lots of help with the cleanup, but when everyone else was gone, he sat down at his desk to catch up on some of his Head Boy duties. His first week of exams had gone even better than he'd hoped for, and he was confident that there would be O's on his report for all three subjects so far. This coming week, he would be taking the NEWTs for Transfiguration on Monday, Potions on Wednesday, Ancient Runes on Thursday, and History on Friday.

There hadn't been much time to think about how close they were getting to being finished school, and Kieran was purposely not thinking about his impending wedding that was three weeks from today – well, he was trying not to think about it. That wasn't because he was nervous about marrying Lily at all, but that thinking about Lily was very distracting, and he really needed to concentrate on his NEWT exams.

He didn't have that long to work in his office before it was time to grab his book bag and go upstairs to have dinner in the Great Hall. The noise level seemed higher than it had been during the week while everyone was concentrating on their exams, and the conversations seemed to mostly be about the Canons' win, the still on-going match between the Harpies and Puddlemere United, and the Broom Race.

"I hope that there aren't too many students who go back to watching the game after dinner instead of studying," Vanessa told Kieran, Nadine, and the others who were sitting with them.

"There likely will be," Kieran said. "If it wasn't the game, though, those students would have just found some other reason not to study anyway."

"Sometimes I wish that was an option for us," Nadine joked. "That would be more fun than all of this work, at least until it came time to get jobs after school."

"At least you know what you want to be when you grow up," Vanessa told her. "I haven't got a clue about what I want to do, and I'm pretty sure Kieran and Lily aren't going to need me helping out at SpellBound concerts for the next hundred years or so."

Kieran laughed. "That'd be pretty cool if we could, but you're right about that. Our major concert days are definitely numbered. After that, Lily and I will have to figure out what we're going to do too."

"Oh, I don't know – how about whatever you want to do?" Nadine suggested, laughing too. "I don't see you working in the lab with Lily, but I suppose you could always let her do that, and you could go play dolls at the Residence with your soon to be father-in-law."

"That would be fun," Kieran told her, "but I think Lily and I want to do a lot more with our music for a while, even if it's something completely different than what we do with SpellBound."

When dinner was over, they met up with the rest of their study group in their usual classroom, and got to work. Lily did a two-hour long virtual study session with the OWL and sixth year students for Charms, and with the fourth year students for Potions. Kieran worked on Transfiguration for about half of the night, and then did an hour of Potions, and an hour of Ancient Runes before the session was wrapped up in time to get back to their Houses before curfew.

When Kieran and the other Hufflepuffs got back to his office, they found out that the Harpies-United game was still going on, so they sat down and watched for over half an hour. The score was close, and neither team showed any sign of giving up, but since they all had a long study day ahead of them on Sunday, they called it a night, and went to bed. The highlights would be on QSPN in the morning.

The Harpies-United game had been on the WWVN all evening at Ron and Hermione's, but even the gang who had stayed late at the party eventually all went home to bed without seeing the end of the match. Lily, Al, and Carolyn had been the first to leave, Lily going to the Cottage so she could do her virtual tutoring, and Al and Carolyn wanting to have an early night so they could help Lily on Sunday, and get some work of their own done too.

Wizarding Britain woke up on Sunday to find out that the underdog United team had pulled off another upset by beating the Harpies in a match that lasted just over thirteen hours before the United Seeker caught the snitch to send their team to the finals against the Canons.

"Do we need to get tickets, or is Dad ordering them for everyone?" Carolyn asked Al as they ate breakfast.

"I'm sure he'll be buying a block of seats," Al answered. "The post-game party will be at the Cottage, so we should probably offer to help out with that."

"We can do that," Carolyn agreed.

They had breakfast, and then met Lily at the Mall for another shopping trip. This time, they picked up everything for the kitchen, and then they again went back to her house, and she did her morning tutoring while Carolyn and Al unpacked all of the dishes, pots, pans, utensils, and put it all away as they got the entire kitchen set up. They were finished by noon, so they took Lily home with them, and fed her lunch. She went back to the Cottage after that, and Al and Carolyn spent their afternoon working.

The second week of June, and of exams at Hogwarts was another busy week. Al and the Aurors had the week to get ready for the first two trials of the Knights. Evan's trial was booked for the coming Monday and Tuesday, while Gwen would be in court a week from Wednesday and Thursday. Carolyn, Molly, Penelope, and most of the business members of the family had less than two weeks before school was out, and the summer shopping season would be launching. The Canons' players were completely focused on getting ready for the Championship match, and the Ministry of Magic family were busy with everything going on there with the continuing shake-up among the Ministry managers and employees.

Lily worked in the lab with Ginny during the day, and spent every evening doing shopping, working on the house, and doing a nightly virtual tutoring session with Kieran and the rest of the study group. Al and Carolyn continued to help her all week, and they had Scorpius and Brianna, Nick and Allie, and Callie and Mark over for one night each to offer a few hours of free labour to help get everything done except for the grocery and supply shopping by the end of the night on Friday.

There were other groups helping with house set-up at Molly and Arthur's new house starting on Wednesday. They would be working on that for a couple of weeks, but Harry and Ginny, Percy and Penelope, Bill and Fleur, Ron and Hermione, and George and Marietta all pitched in to get the kitchen, sitting room, dining room, and master bedroom and bath all ready by Friday night so that Molly and Arthur could move in, and work on the rest of the house while living there instead of going back and forth from their temporary home.

By Saturday, the Canons were ready for their chance at winning another Quidditch League Championship, and all of their family and friends were ready to hopefully get to watch them do that. Harry had bought and distributed tickets to all of their family and friends, or at least all of them who were able to go to the game. They didn't do a big lunch out, but instead, Al and Carolyn went over to the Cottage later in the morning, and helped Harry, Ginny, and Lily begin getting ready for the post-game party, have lunch together, and then go to the Quidditch World Cup Stadium together.

Ron, and the rest of the Canons team were at the stadium hours before the game. They'd had their usual game day meeting, done a warm-up in the stadium, and then had an early lunch before having their last meeting, and then getting ready for the game. When it was almost game time, Ron led his team out to the home team entrance into the stadium, and waited just out of sight. The United team was introduced, and they only had moments left before they'd be called out for their lap around the stadium too.

"Well, here it is," he told them. "Let's go win this Championship, or I may decide to make your summer training for the Quidditch World Cup miserable," he joked. Arianna hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"We'll do our best to get this win for you," she promised him. "If I forget to tell you after, though, I've really loved playing Quidditch with you for these last five years. Thank-you for making the game so much fun."

Ron hugged her back. "You're welcome, and I've loved playing with all of you too."

The stadium announcer introduced them then, and Ron flew out, followed by his Chasers, Beaters, and with Liselle coming out last. He never got tired of flying around the stadium like this at the start of the games, and his heart was pounding as it always did, the anticipation of the coming match sending the familiar thrill through him. Having one hundred and ten thousand Quidditch fans in the World Cup stadium just made the whole experience even better.

When the Canons landed, they met the United team at centre pitch, and he shook hands with their much younger Captain and best Chaser.

"Good luck, mate," he told the other Wizard, who returned Ron's smile and nodded.

"You too, Ron," he answered.

The referee got them ready to go, threw the quaffle into the air, and the fourteen players took off. Ron raced to the Canons' goals, and spun around in time to watch Kimberly, Aaron, and Arianna have their opening play work to perfection as they scored the first goal of the game in just eight seconds. That fired up their whole team, and Ron took that up another notch when he made an impossible looking save on the United Chasers as they had roared right back after Arianna's goal.

In all of his years playing Quidditch, Ron had enjoyed some great games, but he had maybe a dozen where he'd found himself in a sort of zone where everything just seemed to go right all game long. When he got into that zone right from the start of this game, he just knew it was going to be his day. Even as he was making save after save against the United team, part of his mind was off reminiscing about past games. He'd laughed to himself when he thought about this game feeling something like how he'd felt that day so long ago when he'd thought that Harry had given him Felix Felicis, and had his first really good Quidditch match. That was one of the first of hundreds of memories that flashed through his mind as the game went on.

Arianna, Aaron, and Kimberly were playing a great game too, and the United Keeper was not. Their whole team seemed to be playing a lot slower than the Canons. That could have been because they were still recovering from what had admittedly been a brutally difficult game against the Harpies, or it was possible that they were just playing like a seventh place team who was now up against the best team in the league.

Whatever the reason, the Canons were up by over one hundred and fifty points within the first hour, and the gap widened as the game went on. Liselle and the United Seeker were having a really great battle, except after the Canons had the big lead, the United Seeker had to play defence against Liselle for the rest of the game. That was pretty much an impossible task to give to any Seeker, and while it took Liselle four hours and forty-four minutes to finally catch the snitch, there wasn't really anyone watching the game who didn't think that she'd do that once it became clear that the United team's Chasers were not going to be scoring anywhere near enough goals on Ron to give them a chance to catch up with the Canons.

Arianna was the first one over to congratulate Ron after Liselle ended the game, and the rest of the team was right behind her. The United coaches and players all came out onto the pitch to congratulate Ron too. Hannah, Andy's field reporter, came out to do the post-game interviews, starting with Ron, and then worked with the League officials to present Ron with the game MVP trophy, and give Coach and Ron the League Championship trophy – their fourth in five years.

By the time that the trophy ceremony was finished, at Hogwarts, the Marauders and friends had to pack up their party, and go to the Great Hall for dinner. The Championship match was by far the number one topic for the dinner conversations around the hall, and all of the Marauders were talking about the game too. When they were finished eating, they went to the study classroom and were at their studies just as the victory party at the Cottage was getting started.

With just three actual exam days left, everyone in their study group had either one or two exams left. Kieran and the other NEWT students just had Herbology left on Monday, and they would be finished, getting three days off after that to relax, take their time packing up to go home for the last time, and to help Colin and the rest of the Maruaders get ready for the end of school TNM party.

Lily skipped part of the victory party to do a virtual study session on Saturday night, and helped out with one after-breakfast tutoring session, and another one just before dinnertime on Sunday so that she, Al, and Carolyn could spend most of the day stocking the new house with nearly everything that she, Kieran, and any guests would need when they moved in on Friday.

The students at Hogwarts were busy with their last exams of the year, but in the rest of the Wizarding World, the big news on Monday was no longer League Championships, it was the start of Evan Rosier's trial at the Ministry of Magic. Witches and Wizards everywhere were morbidly fascinated with the story, and by the shocking contradiction of such a handsome, wealthy young Wizard with such a dark, twisted soul.

Evan did not testify, but just sat through the two days of his trial as the evidence of his crimes was presented to the tribunal of Elders, and all of the WWVN viewers to judge. There had been volumes of evidence presented, including Byron's testimony, but the most unequivocal and convincing evidence was Al's ViComm recordings of Evan's conversations with Gwen, where the man's own words chillingly described what they'd planned against Harry Potter, his family, friends, and other war veterans.

That had been bad enough, but when they went on to discuss what had been the original plan, and the things they had planned for the students of Hogwarts, even a lot of the hard-line pureblood elitists were horrified by what would have happened if the Aurors had not stopped them first. Nobody who followed the trial on Monday and Tuesday was surprised when Evan was convicted by the tribunal, and sentenced to life in prison.

By the end of the day on Tuesday, most of the Marauders and their friends were done their exams, with just a few studying on Tuesday night for their last exam on Wednesday. Kieran, Hugo, Emily, Joel, Sarah, and Claire had all worked on the TNM pool party on Tuesday, having all finished with their exams. They had help from the other Marauders, but that was harder to do for some of the Marauders like Millie and Amy who had non-Marauder boyfriends. On Wednesday, with so few exams left, most of the Hogwarts students were outside playing all day, having fun, and winding down after the stress of weeks of studying for and taking their written and practical exams.

After dinner on Wednesday, Emily and Kieran had their end of school year Prefect party in Kieran's office. They had the music videos playing on the WWVN, lots of drinks and snacks, and a small area set up for dancing, and everyone was ready to have some fun together. The party went on until just before curfew, when Kieran and Emily went around to each of their Prefects, handed out the rings they'd gotten them, and thanked them for all of their work all year.

While Kieran was busy with the Prefect party on Wednesday, Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna were at Kirley and Ana's, where they were having a last meeting with the wedding caterer and the florist, going over the dinner menu, midnight buffet, and what all was going to be done with the flowers, from Lily's bouquet to the table arrangements. They'd tried to keep the numbers to five hundred guests, but the final number was closer to six hundred.

The whole week had been busy. Lily and Ana had spent an afternoon with a photographer and reporter for TeenWitch, doing the photo shoot of their house on Monday. They'd also gone with Ginny, Carolyn, and Brianna to the appointments they had booked on Monday and Tuesday evening. After their appointment on Tuesday, they went on to the Mall so they could do a little honeymoon wardrobe shopping for Lily.

While the girls had been busy with work and wedding appointments, Al and Scorpius had kept busy with work. Now that Al was in charge of the Aurors, he wasn't doing guard duty anymore, but he did have to testify at Evan's trial on Monday to set things up for the ViComm recordings that were shown on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday for Gwen's trial. They each went home to have dinner with their wives, but when the girls went out for the evening, they'd either go back to the Ministry to work for a few hours, or worked out of their home offices.

The Hogwarts students were all fired up on Thursday morning, as they enjoyed a last day off before going home for the summer. They were also excited about the impending TNM end of year pool party, and more than a few were hunting around, trying to figure out how TNM put the whole thing together.

None of those students had any luck doing that, and while they were all in the Great Hall having lunch, the pools, chairs, tables of drinks and snacks, and the rides, including two new ones, appeared around the school grounds. When the party was announced on the big screen WWVN in the Great Hall, the room emptied in minutes as the students all went out to play in the pools and on the roller coasters and other rides.

"This party just gets better every year," Malcolm told Ophelia as they finished one coaster ride, and were walking over to get in line for another ride.

"Since this is my first, I haven't got anything to compare it to, but this is a lot of fun," Ophelia answered.

"They've all been fun," Malcolm said, "but for me, I think the best part of this party is getting to go to it with you."

Ophelia hugged and kissed him. "You're getting very good at that," she complimented him. "I think that our whole summer is going to be a best summer ever for us."

"So do I," he agreed, "or it will be once Mum and I get past my father's trial next week."

"Are you going to be at the Ministry for it?" Ophelia asked, and Malcolm nodded.

"We are," he answered. "It's not going to be very pleasant, and we'll both be testifying against him, but we both need to be there and see it through."

Ophelia hugged him again. "Would you like me to come and be there for you?"

"You wouldn't mind? Parts of it won't be very nice," he warned her.

"Malcolm, there won't be anything that will be worse than things I've had happen in my own life. You and I are both strong enough to deal with whatever happens – especially if we're facing it together."

"Thank-you," he said, hugging her again. "I'd really like you to be there too."

The Hogwarts students were having a brilliant afternoon, but at the Ministry of Magic, Gwen had not been having a very good day. Her trial was being watched as avidly as Evan's had been. A lot of the evidence had been the same for both trials, and the results had been predictable, when the tribunal sentenced her to life in prison too.

The pool party at Hogwarts ended in time for the students to go get ready for their last feast in the Great Hall, with everything that TNM had set up disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Professor McGonagall did her end of school speech, including officially awarding the Quidditch Cup to Gryffindor, and announcing that Hufflepuff had won the House Cup.

When the feast was over, the students all went back to their Houses and dorm rooms to hang out with their friends, and pack for the trip home in the morning. Kieran had pretty much finished his packing over the past three days, so he spent most of his evening visiting with the other Hufflepuff students, and starting the goodbyes. He'd been popular with all of the Hufflepuffs, and getting to spend a minute or two with as many of his House mates as possible took several hours before he went back into his office to write up a last few reports, finish packing the last few things out of his desk, and then getting ready for bed and the last bedtime ViComm call he would ever have with Lily from Hogwarts.

"Are we a little fired up tonight?" he asked when he saw Lily's excited face after she answered his call.

"We're a lot fired up," she assured him happily. "We're finally down to hours left before I have you back from school forever. If we didn't have so much going on tomorrow, I'd take you home and snog you senseless for a day or two."

"Is cancelling everything and doing that an option?" Kieran joked, and Lily laughed.

"As always, unfortunately it's not," she answered. "We've got the usual interviews on Friday afternoon, the TeenWitch magazine article with the photo shoot they did on our house comes out in the morning, and the new album comes out on Saturday."

"I forgot that the magazine was out in the morning," Kieran admitted. "I'll probably hear about it from all of the girls who'll get their copy in the morning Owl Post for the whole train ride home."

"Just hide out in the Prefect car for the trip," Lily suggested.

"That probably won't work, and I want to do a round of the train anyway. There will be a lot of students that I won't see after tomorrow, unless it's just in passing, and I have a lot of goodbyes to try and get done."

"So you're telling me that you'll be going around all morning hugging hundreds of Witches tomorrow?" Lily asked, and Kieran laughed.

"Well, yes, that's likely what will be going on," he admitted.

"Have you forgotten that you're supposed to get hugs and kisses exclusively from me? The only exceptions are supposed to be family, and the occasional special case fan."

"I haven't forgotten," Kieran answered, "but this is going to have to be an exception too, since goodbye hugs are going to be pretty much unavoidable."

Lily nodded. "I'm sure you're right, and I'm only teasing. How are you feeling about this being your last night at school?"

"I'm going to miss this place," he admitted. "This morning, I went up to our classroom and played that old piano for a while. We made a lot of great memories here, but that first night that we sang together will always be my best memory from school."

"I love you, Kieran," Lily told him. "That will always be my best memory too."

They talked for nearly another half hour, going over some other favourite Hogwarts memories, and then ended the call so that Kieran could get some sleep. He was up before dawn, and after getting ready himself and packing the last few things he'd left out to use in the morning, he left his office, and began helping to get his fellow Hufflepuffs moving too.

When the Owl Post came during breakfast, the gossip network started buzzing right away as word spread about the pictures in the TeenWitch magazine of Kieran and Lily's new house. Between breakfast in the Great Hall, and when he was finally able to get into the Prefect car, Kieran had gotten fourteen marriage proposals – two of them from Wizards who thought they were being hilarious, and thirty-one requests from younger students who wanted to be adopted by Kieran and Lily.

The Hogwarts Express pulled out of Hogsmeade Station, and began picking up speed. Kieran and Emily had their last Prefect meeting, and when that was done, Emily left with Hugo and the other Marauder Prefects to go hang out with the rest of their friends, while Kieran planned on doing a round of the train, and then return to the Prefect car to deal with any minor problems that might come up during the ride home.

School was out, and the official start of summer vacation was just hours away. For Kieran, Hugo, Emily, and Joel, it was the end of their education, and the beginning of their adult lives would be starting. For Kieran, that new life was starting out with marrying Lily, while Hugo would be starting his Quidditch career on Monday as the National team began training. Emily and Joel both had a week off, but then they would be starting their jobs at the Institute and Ministry respectively, though other than being pretty sure he'd be working for Percy, Joel didn't yet know what he'd be doing at the Ministry.

The student Marauders and their friends who would be returning to Hogwarts in September again had ten weeks away from school to look forward to, and whether that time was going to be spent with summer jobs for the older students, or long, lazy play days for the younger ones, they were all excited and ready for the fun and adventures ahead of them.

While the Marauders were taking the train ride to King's Cross Station, their families were all just as excited about welcoming them home in a few hours. Harry had been up early, and made a special breakfast for Lily and Ginny, mostly because his little girl was moving into her new house today. He couldn't help being a little sad about that, even as he was happy that their Hogwarts students would be home soon too.

Ginny was taking the day off from work, and after breakfast, the three of them moved all of Lily's things over to the new house, helped her put everything away, or into storage. By the time they were finished, it was time to go pick up Kira, and leave for the train station.

Lily and Kieran's wedding was the big event that would be kicking off the summer, but there was a lot more going on around the family. With parties, new jobs, trials, and other surprises yet to be discovered, the next eight days were going to be very exciting.


	142. Spellbound Wedding

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two – SpellBound Wedding

Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Kira had a lot of company with them at the station to meet their kids. Ron, Hermione, James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, Callie, and Mark had all come back from their respective short vacations to be there. Lydia Bletchley was there to meet Malcolm. Kirley and Ana had come to meet Kieran and their four girls. George and Marietta had both come, and Penelope had left work early to meet Ophelia and Philip. Stewart and Teddy rounded out the group, having come over from the Phoenix Foundation offices to welcome Millie, Amy, and Carissa home. The rest of the family would be meeting them at the restaurant for lunch.

They'd gotten to the station early, and as the rest of their group arrived, they talked quietly together until Kira came running back from the end of the platform to announce that the Hogwarts Express was coming, jumping into Lily's arms and hugging her before hopping down again and getting ready to rush to meet Kieran as soon as the train stopped.

There was going to be no stopping her this time, so Lily laughed and chased after her when she ran off toward the Prefect car, though she did let Kira win the race, and get the first hug from Kieran the moment he stepped onto the platform.

"Welcome home!" Kira told Kieran excitedly as she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "We missed you a whole lot!"

"I missed you a whole lot too," he assured her as he hugged her back and smiled over her little shoulder at Lily. "Hi honey, I'm home," he told her, and she put her arms around both of them to join in on the hug.

"You're squishing me!" Kira giggled, and Kieran put her down so he and Lily could share a hug and kiss while Kira ran back to Harry and Ginny, bouncing up into Harry's arms while they waited for their kids to unload their luggage and come over to them.

The welcome home hugs and kisses took a bit of time, and while they were doing that, Harry, Kirley, James, Aaron, Stewart, and Teddy started working on tagging trunks and the rest of the luggage with Translocators and sending everything to all of the homes and bedrooms for thirty-one students.

"Sarah, you've got your apparition test at the Ministry now," Harry told her, "and then you and Joel are supposed to meet with Percy in his office, and he'll come to lunch with you." She had nodded, hugged Harry and Ginny again, and then left with Joel, heading for the Ministry of Magic, and the apparition testing centre.

"The rest of us have a little time to wander the Mall before lunch," Harry told everyone else, "so if you're all ready, we can get going."

While the rest of their family and friends were shopping, Sarah took her apparition test, passing it easily, and then she and Joel had gone to Percy's office. He hugged them both in welcome, and then he invited them to sit down.

"Thanks for stopping by, and we'll head out to lunch in a minute, but before we do, I wanted to talk jobs with both of you." He handed a few pages of parchment to Joel before continuing, and Joel began reading it while Percy talked.

"I want you to come work for me in the Department of Magical Games and Sports," he told Joel. "You'll manage the Youth Sports Program for me, and will also begin working with other Ministries of Magic around the world, and the Phoenix Foundation, to start similar programs in other countries."

Sarah hugged him, and there were tears in her eyes as she got up and hugged Percy again. Joel read over the contract quickly, signed it, and happily handed it back to Percy.

"Thank-you, Uncle Percy," he said. "Getting to work with these kids is going to be brilliant."

"You're welcome, and we think you're the perfect Wizard for the job." He turned his attention to Sarah next.

"There was a lot of interest in your internship this summer," he told her. "You had a number of fans in the Wizengamot and the Wizengamot Administration who pushed the Minister of Magic very hard to get you, so I hope you'll like spending the summer working there. Callie will be expecting you to report to her a week from Monday." He laughed when Sarah was out of her chair again and hugging him.

"That seems to be a fairly emphatic yes," Joel said with a smile, and he was next to get a hug from Sarah. "I didn't look at the start date on my contract, but do I start a week from Monday too?"

Percy nodded. "Yes. If you stop in some time next week, though, we can get your office set up so we don't have to do that the day you start." He looked at his watch and stood up. "We should get going to the restaurant, or we'll be late for lunch."

Malcolm and his mother had both been overwhelmed by the reception at King's Cross Station. He hadn't been hugged by all of the adults there, but he had been hugged a lot more than he'd ever been before, with Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Penelope all hugging him after he and Ophelia had spent a few moments with his mother. When they got to the Mall, Penelope and Lydia walked around with Malcolm, Ophelia, Philip, and Heather, the four Witches doing all of the little bit of shopping they did until it was time to go for lunch.

"Is this always what it's like when your family gets together?" Malcolm asked Ophelia when they were sitting down at their table in the private dining room at the restaurant. Percy, and Heather's parents, had joined them, and they had all ordered their food and drinks.

"This is a bit on the quiet side," Percy said with a smile, answering Malcolm's question. "You'll have to come over sometime when the whole family gets together."

"There are more of you?" Malcolm said before he could stop himself, and everyone at the table, including his mother laughed.

"Quite a few more," Percy told him. "We do have a few additions today," he added, motioning toward Heather and her Mum and Dad, "but this is only a little over half of our gang."

"They'll all be at the wedding next weekend," Penelope told him. "I'm sure you'll get to meet a lot of them then."

The meals were brought out quickly, and they spent an hour mostly with the five adults listening to the kids tell them about the last few weeks at school, along with some conversation about work and politics. Lydia hadn't talked much during lunch, a little intimidated by the whole situation, but Penelope sat next to her, and nudged her into offering a few comments with some safe questions about Malcolm and what they were going to do over the summer.

When lunch was over, the working parents and guardians went back to their jobs, and most of the remaining group went out into the Mall for an afternoon of shopping. Kieran, Lily, Ana, and Kirley had to go to the interviews that were booked for SpellBound all afternoon, and they took Kira with them. Harry and Ginny had asked Joel and Sarah to go with them, and they left the Mall together, though they planned on returning to rejoin the shopping expedition. Everyone else split up into groups and fanned out around the Mall to do a little summer clothes shopping.

"Where are we?" Sarah asked Ginny. They'd taken the TransPortal together, and were at the entrance to a very new-looking subdivision.

"We're on the outskirts of Brighton," Ginny told her. "There's something here that Harry and I want to show both of you."

Joel and Sarah held hands as they followed Harry and Ginny along a gently winding street. At the third street on the right, they turned, and followed that street until Ginny stopped them in front of a two-storey house on the right side of the street. The young couple had both been getting excited as they walked, and when Ginny handed Sarah two sets of keys, they both took several minutes for a long round of hugs before Ginny finally got them moving to go inside and check out their new house.

"We didn't have it decorated or furnished," Ginny told them as they walked through the kitchen and into the dining room. "After the wedding, I'm sure there will be lots of volunteers available to help you do that, and you can stay with us at the Cottage as long as you want while you're getting this place ready."

"It's so amazing," Sarah said, hugging Ginny again. "We expected to start out with a flat in London somewhere."

Ginny laughed. "Well, if you really have your heart set on that, we can see what we can do about getting you a flat instead," she teased.

Sarah laughed too, and wiped some more tears from her eyes. "Thanks for offering, but that's okay. This is dream come true kind of brilliant."

They spent a half hour exploring the four-bedroom house and yard, and before they left to go back to the Mall, Harry handed them an envelope.

"You can both take a look at that later," he told them. "The deed to your house is in there, and we've set up a new account for you to make sure you have everything you need to get off to a good start." He laughed when Sarah hugged him again, which she'd done a lot since they'd gotten to the house.

"Thank-you so much," she told both Harry and Ginny. "Not just for all of this either – for everything you've done for us. I love you."

"We love you too, Sarah," Ginny said, hugging her for another long minute. "Now, let's go do some shopping before the other girls pick out all of the good clothes."

They did that, and Harry and Joel wandered around while their girls shopped for a couple of hours. They left Ginny and Sarah to shop a bit longer at four-thirty, and went back to the Cottage to start getting dinner ready for the gang they had coming over. There were a few welcome home dinners going on for Friday night. Harry and Ginny had Sarah and their four boys, Isabelle, Stewart, Victoire, Teddy, and their three girls at the Cottage. Since Kirley and Ana were busy all afternoon with Lily and Kieran, they'd made dinner reservations for their family, and had Kieran, Lily, and their four girls, the Murrays, Frederica and her parents, and the Creeveys and Longbottoms.

Percy and Penelope had Ophelia, Philip, Nick, Allie, Scorpius, and Brianna at the townhouse, along with Lydia and Malcolm, and Heather, her parents, and two younger brothers. James and Arianna had a dinner for twelve going on in their back yard, with Aaron, Tracey, Callie, and Mark coming over after shopping with Alice, Lenny, Horatio, and Adam. The smallest party was at Ron and Hermione's house, and Hugo and Emily were the only students attending, joined by Molly, Arthur, and Emily's parents.

"Do we get to find out about what we'll be doing all summer tonight, Mum?" Myra asked Meghan as they ate dinner in the private dining room in one of the Emerald City Centre restaurants.

"Are we in a hurry to get the fun started?" Meghan asked, and Myra nodded excitedly.

"Yes, we are," she agreed.

"No other motivation?" Meghan teased, and Myra blushed. "I thought there might be. I guess now's as good of a time as any, since we're all here together." She looked around the table and saw that Ana, Luna, Marietta, and Demelza were all nodding their agreement.

"I guess we can split this up," she suggested. "You've all pretty much got the next week off, and we'll go over the wedding activities with each of you later, but the big ones are the party tomorrow night and the wedding a week from tomorrow. You and Aiden don't have to worry about summer jobs, but there will be a lot going on for both of you with the other younger students in the family. I'll let Marietta and George tell you what you're doing this summer, Liam."

"We want you and Frederica to go around with our National team all summer," Marietta told them. "We've got a whole line of Quidditch World Cup wheezes, and you'll sell them during the week in the closest store to whichever stadium our team is playing in, and then have a booth at each stadium on game day."

"You guys definitely have the best jobs of the summer," Colin told Liam, and the adults all laughed.

"I'm glad you think so," Marietta told him, "because we were going to ask you and Nadine to go along too so you can split up the shifts at the wheezes stores, and you'll probably need four people to keep up with the sales at the stadiums – at least before and after the game. You'd all stay in a suite with Dennis when you're travelling." That announcement set of a round of hugs and kisses, so it was a few minutes before they could continue, and Luna had the next announcement.

"Your grandfather wants you to come spend the summer working at the Quibbler with him," she told Lance. "I told him that you would probably like the job a lot more if Vanessa worked there with you, and he thought that was a very good idea. What do you both think?"

Vanessa hugged Lance, and then hugged Luna and Neville. "I think it's brilliant!" she told them. "What about doing the concerts with Lily and Kieran?" she asked Ana.

"We're not doing as many shows this summer, and we thought that since Nadine was going to be gone most of the summer on the Quidditch Cup circuit that you'd have more fun doing this with Lance."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Vanessa admitted. "We haven't been apart that much since my first year at Hogwarts," she told Nadine, who nodded.

"We've got our ViComms, and I'm sure we'll be home at least once every week or two."

"You will be," Marietta assured Nadine. "The only tricky part with your jobs will be working out your own Quidditch practices, since all four of you will want to train with your teams, but we'll figure something out."

"I guess that just leaves Cassandra and Violet," Ana said. "You're both in with the younger group that gets to play all summer. You'll be coming with us for some of our SpellBound concerts, and for others, we'll have you stay over with Myra and Aiden, or with other members of the family so you don't get too bored being stuck on the road with us all of the time."

"What about me?" Kieran asked, and Ana laughed.

"You're all grown up, now, Kieran. I'm sure that your future wife, and your business manager will keep you informed on what's happening in your life this summer. You don't need your mommy to take care of that anymore."

Their conversation moved on to talk about other plans for the summer, and the next biggest after the wedding was the vacation that they'd all be taking starting with the Quidditch World Cup finals game, and then spending a week at Marauders Refuge for the last week of summer.

The other students were finding out about what they'd be doing during the summer at their dinners too. Ophelia and Heather were offered jobs with Witch Investments, a sort of junior internship that Allie and Victoire were trying out with promising OWL year girls all over the world this year. Philip and Malcolm accepted jobs at PBP Investments' London distribution centre, where they'd be working and learning all about how the VirtualMall products were delivered, and how the PBP Investments products got from the manufacturing plants and into the stores all over the world.

At the Cottage, Millie and Amy found out that they'd been invited to join the new junior intern program at Witch Investments too, while Brian and Jason were offered jobs working for Owen at GamePortal. Dale and Carissa had wanted to continue doing the day care with Kira and the three boys after last summer, so they'd already known what they'd be doing, and while they were outnumbered, other than Jair, Kira, James, and Timothy were all older, and wouldn't be as much work to care for as they had been when still toddlers.

Horatio and Adam didn't have a problem with getting the summer off, while Alice and Lenny had each been thrilled to be offered two of the Marauders Institute virtual game tester jobs. Quincy had been happy when he found out that he and Erin would be working as pages at the Ministry of Magic. Erin hadn't been quite as thrilled, since she had absolutely no interest in politics, but she did at least like the idea of a job that would have her running around a lot. That would help her stay in shape for Quidditch, and then there was also the days they'd get to work with the kids in the sports program that would be great too. Maybe they'd even let her help with teaching the kids flying and Quidditch.

After dinner, Lily and Kieran had invited everyone back to their house to take the tour, and the students in the group weren't the only Witches and Wizards who were impressed.

"Can we get one like this?" Demelza asked Dennis in her best winsome, little girl voice.

Dennis laughed and hugged her. "I don't really think we'd want something this big, but we could see if Nick could design an addition or separate building for a pool room for us. That'd be a great way to relax after a long day of Quidditch – especially in the winter."

"You can send us to stay here for the trips when we won't be going on tour with you," Violet suggested to Ana.

"Lily and Kieran wouldn't be here," Ana pointed out.

"Cassandra and I could house-sit and take care of Fluffy," Violet answered, and Ana hugged her.

"You'd be welcome to come and check in on Fluffy every day, but that would be a no to staying here by yourselves when we're gone," Ana told her.

"Kieran and I will have you come for some overnight visits after we get back from our honeymoon," Lily promised Violet.

They spent nearly an hour doing the tour, and then the parents rounded up their teens, hugged and kissed Lily and Kieran goodbye, and left the couple to what little bit of the evening was left to them before they needed to go snuggle in their new bed, and get some sleep. They had shopping in the morning, and the party at the Cottage on Saturday night, so they went for a swim, had a glass of wine in the sitting room, and then went to bed for the night.

Lily and Kieran made breakfast together on Saturday morning. She'd brought a portable BusinessMagic with her to the kitchen and they were able to use the new music industry program to track how their album was selling so far. Lily was doing most of the cooking, while Kieran put out plates and cutlery for two in front of two of the stools that lined the wide counter dividing the kitchen and dining room sections of the Great Room, and helped with coffee, juice, and toast.

"Sales are definitely down compared to last summer's album," Lily told him, and Kieran nodded.

"It's still selling well, but our fans are growing up too," he answered. "In our business, we're already way past the usual lifespan of a pop group. We'll have to take a look at what we want to do about that this fall."

"I've been thinking about that," she said. "You know that Christmas movie we invested in with the Hogwarts theatre troup?"

"Sure, it's done pretty well for us. What about it?"

"How would you feel about making a musical version of it, Scrooge?" she asked and Kieran laughed.

"Will you be my long-lost love interest, or would you prefer to be Bob Cratchet's wife, or maybe the old maid who steals the bedding."

"Definitely the first choice," Lily answered. "I've been playing around with some song ideas that we can take a look at later this summer if you want."

"I would, and it's a great idea," Kieran told her.

They ate, cleaned up, and left for the Mall. Lily was whisked away with a group of girls, while Kieran went with Al, Scorpius, Hugo, Liam, and Karl to get fitted for their tuxes. Karl and Kieran went first, since Karl had only been able to pop over for an hour or so before needing to get back to the island again to take out an afternoon diving group.

Once they were finished with tuxes, they went shopping for summer clothes, and for Kieran, Hugo, and Liam, new outfits to wear to the party that evening. Everyone met in the food court for lunch, and then while most of the group stayed to shop for a few more hours, Harry, Ginny, Al, Carolyn, and some other volunteers left for the Cottage to help with the setup for the party.

The underage party was going to be at the Cottage again this time too, so Al and Scorpius went out beyond the Quidditch pitch to set up tents for them. There were going to be just under two hundred guests for the dinner and dance, so once they'd set up the tents, they moved on to getting tables and chairs set up for the dinner, and a low stage and dance area ready for the DJ who would be spinning the music for the night.

By three o'clock, they had everything ready except for the meal that Kreacher and Winky had taken over the kitchen to do, so the set-up volunteers all went home to start getting ready for the party. Kirley, Ana, Lily, Kieran, and their wedding party needed to all be at the cottage just before five to begin welcoming guests. There was going to be a social hour and a half, and then dinner would be served at six-thirty.

Al and Carolyn had gone home, hopped in the pool for a while, and then started getting ready for the party. They'd made it back to the Cottage by a quarter to five, ahead of the rest of the wedding party. Karl and Daphne were right behind them, followed by Lily and Kieran, Frederica and Liam, Hugo and Emily, and Scorpius and Brianna.

"This is going to be a long day for you guys," Carolyn told Daphne and Karl as they lined up to begin welcoming their guests.

"We won't be able to stay very late," Daphne answered. "Karl has a diving tour that leaves at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, and I'm working through until Thursday so we can take a long weekend to be up here with all of you next weekend."

"Who's in charge while you and Gabrielle are back home for the wedding?" Al asked.

"Gabrielle's going to be there, and just come in time for the wedding, and the other managers will run everything while she's here, just like they're doing tonight."

The guests started coming, and they were all diverted by the meet and greet, which took until close to six o'clock before everyone was there, and they started getting everyone seated for dinner. Lily and Kieran had their wedding party with them at one table, while the parents and grandparents were at one of the tables next to them.

Kreacher and Winky's dinner was a two-hour long event, and the two House Elves put on another over-the-top brilliant meal. Lily, Kieran, and everyone at their table had fun, catching up with each other on everything they'd been doing at school and in the real world, and talking about what they were all doing for the summer after the wedding. After dinner, there was a half hour break before the dancing would start. Lily and Kieran spent most of that time with Karl and Daphne, who were heading back to the island.

"We'll see you Thursday afternoon," Daphne told Lily as she hugged her goodbye. "I can hardly wait to see that house of yours. The TeenWitch pictures were incredible."

"I can hardly wait to get to spend a couple of days with you there," Lily answered. "It's been too long since we've had a chance to have a nice long visit."

"Hopefully now that Kieran's done school, we can get together more often," Daphne suggested, and Lily nodded.

"We'll definitely do that," she agreed. "You guys take care of yourselves, and we'll see you next Thursday."

Karl and Daphne took the TransPortal back to Marauders Paradise, and Lily and Kieran returned to their party. They went dancing when the music started, and for the next five hours, they alternated between dancing, and making the rounds to visit with their family and friends.

While the couple of honour were kept busy all night, their guests could be as busy or as relaxed as they wanted to be. The Marauders and friends were split up over five tables including the graduated Marauders. Nick and Allie, and Rose and Matt were at a table with James, Arianna, Aaron, Tracey, Callie, and Mark, and they were all mostly taking it easy all night.

"This is nice not having to deal with all of the wedding party activities," Matt said as he and Rose were talking with Nick and Allie while they had drinks and watched the action going on around them. "These parties are fun when it's not all work."

"I think we lucked out that there were just so many of us to choose from for their wedding party," Allie told him. "With as busy as Nick and I have been, I'm glad we don't have anything more on our plates right now."

"Are you taking any time off this summer?" Rose asked, and Allie shook her head.

"We'll take a few days for the Quidditch World Cup final, but then we'll wait until after the back to school shopping is done before we take a vacation."

"We're going to spend a week on the island after we finish our two summer tours," Rose told her. "Maybe you guys, Al and Carolyn, and Scorpius and Brianna could at least come for a weekend too."

"I'd love to if we can work it out," Allie told her. "Let's talk about that next week sometime."

Whenever the whole family and their friends got together like this, there was always lots of talk about getting together more often. Sometimes that even worked out, though it was more likely that they'd all get busy, and it would be the next family gathering before they'd have a chance to see each other again.

The underage partygoers began leaving for the tents shortly after midnight, though some of the older students did last all the way through until the DJ stopped the music at two o'clock. Once the dance was over, the guests began leaving, keeping Kieran and Lily busy for the next three-quarters of an hour with the goodbye hugs and kisses. While they were busy with that, there were volunteers that went to work and started the cleanup, and by three o'clock, they had everything done, and if you hadn't been there, you wouldn't have ever guessed that there had been a big party there at all.

"Thanks, Mum," Lily said when she hugged Ginny before she and Kieran left for home. "Thanks, Dad," she added, hugging Harry next. "This was a really great day."

"You're welcome, honey," Ginny told her. "I'm pretty sure it was a really great day for everyone."

"What are you guys doing tomorrow?" Lily asked, and Ginny grinned at her.

"The same thing we do every year – go visit the students at the Residence who are home from school," she answered. "We'll be going over there after lunch if you want to come too, but you should probably think about just taking the day off and doing your own thing. Your whole week is booked starting on Monday."

"I'll let you know," Lily promised. "That might be the only chance we have to see the younger kids for most of the summer, though, so maybe we should at least come for a short visit."

Kieran had hugged Harry and Ginny too, and then he and Lily had hugged his parents, and the remaining members of their wedding party, before apparating home and going straight to bed. They were awake long enough to snuggle close and share a goodnight kiss, but then it was lights out for the exhausted couple.

It had been a whole new world for Malcolm since getting home from Hogwarts. On Friday, he and his mother had spent the day and evening with Ophelia and her family before going home, where they sat up and talked until nearly one o'clock. Other than their talk before the Quidditch match in May, it was the first real conversation they'd had together, and they had a lot to talk about.

On Saturday, they were at the Mall again, and Lydia, Ophelia, Percy, and Penelope had helped him pick out a suit for the wedding, a more casual suit to wear to the party Saturday night, and a few other summer and work outfits. They'd shopped until around three-thirty, and then he and his mother went home to get ready for the party at the Cottage.

He'd thought that the Friday afternoon lunch had been something amazing, but the party had been completely brilliant. The dinner had been incredible, but seeing Harry, Ginny, Lily, and Kieran hugging House Elves, and a hundred other new experiences had been what had really impressed Malcolm and his mother. When the music started, he and Ophelia were out on the dance floor a lot for the next few hours. He danced with his mother several times too; surprising her that he'd even known how to dance.

The other students who'd been at previous parties like this one had told Malcolm, Ophelia, Philip, Heather, and the rest of their group who were new to the family all about other years when they'd had a separate underage party. They were all going to be camping overnight, and when the dance was over at two o'clock, they hugged and kissed their parents goodnight, and walked back beyond the Quidditch pitch to where the tents were set up.

Malcolm and Ophelia had been a bit surprised when Colin and Nadine, Lance and Vanessa, and the other couples began pairing up in the tents. After a couple of minutes, they found themselves standing in the main room of their tent with Philip and Heather, both couples shyly smiling and uncertain.

"Well, there are four bedrooms," Ophelia said, "but it seems that we do have the option to cuddle together instead if we want." She smiled at Malcolm. "Why don't you go get changed and meet me in my room? I think snuggling with you will be much nicer than sleeping alone."

She hugged Philip and Heather goodnight, and went to get changed herself, while Malcolm went to the room where he'd put his overnight bag, and changed too, before nervously going to Ophelia's room, and waiting outside until she invited him in. Philip and Heather were both in their rooms by then, but not long after Malcolm and Ophelia had started to tentatively figuring out the whole snuggling together before going to sleep thing, they both heard Philip join Heather in her room. Falling asleep with Ophelia in his arms was a perfect ending to an absolutely brilliant day, and Malcolm knew that this one would definitely get a spot that was very high on his best day ever list.

Waking up to Ophelia's smiling face, and good morning kiss had been pretty great too. They'd taken their time getting ready, and then joined all of the other teens in the kitchen at the Cottage for breakfast at ten o'clock. That had been fun too, and after spending an hour with Harry, Ginny, Joel, and Sarah, the campers all went to pack their bags, help take the tents down and put them away, and then leave for their respective homes.

Malcolm had spent the rest of the day with his mother after saying goodbye to Ophelia, and it had seemed strange to be apart from her for the first evening since they'd gone back to school after the Christmas holiday. That afternoon and evening at home was his first chance to actually take notice of some of the changes in his home life now that his mother was in charge of things.

The first was that his mother had already retired Miriam, and while she was beginning to look for a new assistant, he and his mother were going to be taking care of all three of them. For Malcolm, part of that meant taking his first lessons in cooking and cleaning, which was something his father had absolutely forbidden – Wizards did not cook or do housework. He found out quickly that he actually liked cooking, and earned a little insight into why Harry liked doing things like this for Ginny and their kids.

On Sunday evening, Malcolm and Lydia talked over what would be happening on Monday at his father's trial. Facing him and testifying against him was not going to be easy, and it helped to share their fears with each other. Monday morning, neither of them felt much like eating, so after picking away at breakfast, they left for the Ministry of Magic, where they met up with Ophelia in Percy's office, and then went to the courtroom where Miles' trial was being held.

They sat in the visitor section, and watched all day on Monday as the prosecutor began with presenting evidence against Miles that had been collected at their own house, and at the Rosier and Avery Estates. That took most of the morning, and then after a lunch break, Byron took the stand and testified for the first two hours of the afternoon.

Miles' mouth had dropped open the first time he'd seen his wife looking like a million galleons in the visitor gallery, and had turned around to look back at her and at Malcolm several times during breaks in the testimony. Those looks had been inquiring the first couple of times, and became more angry and demanding as the day had gone on when he apparently didn't see from either Lydia or Malcolm what he'd expected to see from them.

Monday's session ended with Al's testimony setting up the ViComm recordings that would be played on Tuesday morning, and that was when Malcolm and Lydia found out for sure that they were going to be the last two witnesses for the prosecution on Tuesday.

That made for another restless night for both of them, and they were both nervous as they sat through the early morning playback of the recordings Al had made that referred to Miles' involvement with the Knights' plans, and his actions during the arrest, which had included launcing dozens of unforgivable curses at Al's shield.

When that was done, there was time for Lydia's testimony before lunch, and Miles spent the entire time that she was on the stand staring daggers at her as she testified about everything she'd known about what he'd done for the Knights, and the things he'd done to their son. When she was finished, and they broke for lunch, Miles looked murderous when his Auror guards took him back to his cell so they could go for lunch too.

Malcolm was the last witness, and while he was really scared, he faced down his father, and told the tribunal about everything that his father had done for the Knights, and done to him over the previous summer and Christmas holidays. Miles had been exuding anger and hate up until lunch, but he'd been calm and controlled all through Malcolm's testimony. That outward calm, and the look Malcolm saw in his father's eyes had scared him more than when he'd looked ready to explode before lunch.

Ophelia and his mother had both been there to hug him after he'd finished testifying and returned to the visitor seating. The defence didn't have any witnesses to refute any of the evidence, and after a short afternoon recess, the tribunal convicted Miles on the dozens of charges against him, sentencing him to life in prison.

Malcolm had been watching his father's reaction – or lack of it with growing apprehension. When the Auror guards began leading Miles from where he'd been sitting at the defence table, he'd been unable to keep himself from having his hand on the wand in his pocket.

He was the first to see what was going on when Miles attacked, first punching the Auror on his left in the face, knocking him to the ground, and then spinning to grab the other Auror's wand even as he knocked the other Wizard to the ground and kicked him in the face. Malcolm watched the look of triumph on his father's face as he put up a shield and turned to face his wife and son.

"You dirty blood-traitors!" he shouted at them. "After all I did for you, and this is how you repay me?" He pointed the wand at Lydia and smiled cruelly. "For your betrayals, I sentence you to death!"

Malcolm didn't even think about what he was doing. His mother was frozen with fear, but he jumped up, stood in front of her, and shouted 'REDUCTO!' even as he was pointing his wand toward his father.

There was shock on Miles' face when his son's spell hit his shield and utterly destroyed it, even as the force of that explosion threw him across the room. That shocked look didn't last long as he crashed into the wall so hard that it knocked him unconscious, and from the sounds that everyone could clearly hear, that was probably a good thing, since he definitely got some broken bones when he hit the wall. Malcolm hadn't noticed that Al Potter was in the courtroom, and he walked up to Malcolm and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Put your wand away," he told Malcolm quietly. "Lydia, could you please bring Malcolm and Ophelia to my office in Auror Headquarters? I've sent a message ahead, and Auror Jones will meet you there until I can deal with this and join you."

"Is he in trouble?" Lydia asked. "Malcolm was just defending me."

"I know," he assured her, "but until we straighten everything out, I want him where we can keep him out of the public, and away from the media."

"Okay," she agreed. "We'll go there right away."

Al watched them leave, and then went over to check on the two Aurors that Miles had attacked. The one that Miles had kicked in the face was unconscious too, and it looked like he had a broken nose. The Auror that Miles had punched in the face was sitting up, but looking around a bit dazed.

He'd come to watch the end of Miles' trial because he'd seen the man's thoughts on Monday, when he'd been testifying, and he'd kept a mental eye on Miles all day today. When he'd felt the changes in the man over lunch, Al had disguised himself, and come to sit in the back of the visitors gallery.

When Miles attacked, he could have stopped him, but then he could also see the possible futures, and had a strong feeling that he needed to hold back unless there was no other choice but to defend Lydia, Malcolm, and Ophelia. Malcolm's pre-emptive defence of his mother had been the result of that decision, and that was when Al had lifted his disguise, unseen in the confusion, and approached Malcolm.

"Are you okay?" Al asked the Auror who was sitting up, and the Wizard looked up at him in confusion.

"What happened?" he asked, trying to collect his thoughts.

A pair of Medi-Wizards rushed into the room, one of them going to where Miles was crumpled on the floor next to the wall, and the other to look at the two downed Aurors, starting with the one that was unconscious. Garret and Patrick came into the courtroom on the run too, less than a minute after the Medi-Wizards.

"What's going on?" Garret asked Al.

"It seems that Mr. Bletchley there decided that he didn't have anything to lose after being convicted," Al answered. "He attacked his guards, took one of their wands, and had said he was going to kill his wife and son. Malcolm defended his mother, and apparently has some talent in DADA, judging by how impressively he destroyed his father's shield. Miles had been standing here at the time."

Garret grinned at Al and Patrick whistled. "That must have been a very strong spell to throw a man that big more than thirty feet through the air," Patrick suggested. "I'm impressed."

"I'd like you to stick with Bletchley," Al told them. "From what I heard when he hit the wall, he's probably going to be making a visit to St. Mungo's. If he'll be there for a long time, set up shifts with Jake and Emma until he can be taken to Azkaban."

"Yes sir," Garret told him, and he and Patrick went to help the Medi-Wizard, who wanted them to be very careful with the still unconscious Miles as they bound him and then left for the hospital.

Al stayed with the other two Aurors until the Medi-Wizard working on them had them both healed, and then sent them home to rest instead of going back to work. When they'd left, he had a short discussion with the three Elders who had been on the tribunal, and then left the courtroom and returned to his office in Auror Headquarters. By the time he got there, Percy had joined Lydia, Malcolm, Ophelia, and Hestia, and he was smiling when he walked into the small room.

"Relax, Malcolm," he told the young man. "You're not in trouble, and the Tribunal Elders will be advising the proper Ministry officials that your underage use of magic was justified."

Malcolm visibly relaxed at that news and nodded. "Is my father okay?" he asked. "I don't know how I did that, but I was so scared, that I just didn't even think."

"I haven't heard yet," Al told him. "He's been taken to St. Mungos. When we find out how he is, I'll let your mother know. Sometimes when you're in a situation like that, you can do more than you might normally be able to do," Al told him. "A couple of my Aurors were impressed, though, so you might want to think about a career with us after you graduate in a couple of years. You could make a very good Auror." Ophelia hugged him, and Malcolm couldn't help grinning, despite the seriousness of the situation. The Head of the Aurors thought he might make a good Auror!

"What do we do now?" Lydia asked.

"Why don't you let me take care of getting them out of here?" Percy suggested. "I can help them deal with the media that is probably already waiting in the Atrium to pounce, and you have other issues to deal with."

Al nodded. "Thanks, Minister Weasley. I'd appreciate the help. You acted quickly and well in the courtroom," he told Malcolm. "Just be honest when you answer the reporter's questions, and you'll be fine."

"Anything else before we go?" Percy asked, and Al shook his head.

"Not that I can think of," Al answered. "The Ministry will send Malcolm an Owl Post overnight about the incident, but that's just a formality." He stood up, shook Malcolm's hand, and hugged Ophelia. "If you need anything from me, you can give me a call anytime."

Percy led Lydia, Malcolm, and Ophelia out of Al's office, and toward the lifts, leaving Al alone with Hestia. They both sat down, and she looked at him inquiringly.

"I'm sure there must be a reason why you let that happen," she told him, and Al nodded.

"There was," he agreed, "though I'm not sure of the why yet. I just know it was supposed to happen that way."

"I doubt your two injured Aurors will think that's much of a reason."

"Probably not, but then I'm not very happy about having two of my Aurors allowing an unarmed Wizard to overpower them, take one of their wands, and be in a position to attack innocents. It's not one of our department's better moments."

"There isn't any excuse for letting that happen," Hestia told him. "We'll need to take a hard look at what we're doing wrong and fix the problems. Those guys were lucky they weren't killed."

Al and Hestia got back to work, and before he went home for the night, he'd gone to St. Mungo's to check in on Miles. The Healers there let him know that they were keeping him overnight to keep an eye on him, since the concussion he'd received from hitting the wall had been fairly severe. Malcolm's father also had a broken shoulder, a collapsed lung, two broken ribs, two fractures in the hand that had been holding the wand, and a sprained ankle that he'd rolled over when he'd fallen to the floor after hitting the wall.

"You've had a very bad day, haven't you?" Al told Miles, who looked up at him from his hospital bed. Garret and Patrick had him in a body-bind spell, and he was not going to be underestimated again.

"So did your pathetic excuses for Aurors," Miles spat. "The only mistake I made was to train that blood-traitor brat too well."

Al laughed. "Oh, he learned to duel like that from my cousins and his other friends. If he'd used your training, you'd be dead right now, wouldn't you? As to the Aurors, you probably didn't notice, but I was there backing them up. I just thought there was some justice in letting Malcolm defeat you instead of doing it myself."

"You're lucky he caught me by surprise, or that would have been a fatal mistake – for those two traitors."

"We both know he didn't catch you by surprise, Miles, but if it makes you feel better to lie to yourself, instead of admitting that a sixteen-year old kid is a better Wizard than you could ever hope to be, then have fun with that. You obviously learned nothing that morning at Rosier Estates if you actually believe that I would have allowed you to attack Lydia or Malcolm. You'll have a lot of time to think about everything you've done, though. I don't expect to see you again for a very long time, so enjoy your life in Azkaban. You've earned every day of it – many times over."

Garret and Patrick had both been grinning as Al talked with Miles. They had Jake and Emma set up to take a later shift after going home to get some sleep, and then they'd be back in the morning to take Miles to prison. With that finalized, Al went home, and had to hurry to get ready for the dinner and roast they had for Lily and Kieran at Kirley and Ana's house.

On Monday, the girls had gone for a final dress fitting after Carolyn and Brianna were done work and they'd all had dinner, except for Daphne, who would be doing that through one of the Witch Investments clothing stores in the Marauders Paradise hotel. Tuesday night at Kirley and Ana's was the McCormack and Murray family's chance to roast the pair, though most of the stories were about Kieran's childhood.

Lily was off work all week, so she and Kieran had played in the recording studio with Kirley a couple of times, hung around with their student friends, run some errands, and just enjoyed being back together again. Hugo was the only student who had needed to go to work right away, and the National team had started training camp at Canons' Stadium on Monday.

That was quite a bit different for the team, as they had an all-star reserve team to train with. The mostly veteran players had teased Hugo at first, until they saw him in action, and then they weren't laughing anymore when they realized that he was very likely faster and better than his League Championship and MVP winning father was during the past season.

Being in training camp did mean that he wasn't able to stay out late at the dinners the wedding party were attending on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening. Wednesday night's party was the dinner at the Cottage. Where the McCormack roast had been mostly about Kieran, for this one, Harry, Ginny, their kids, Molly, and Arthur told each other stories about Lily's childhood and both Kieran and Lily's school years.

The Thursday night party was for the wedding party, and they were having that at Al and Carolyn's house, so Al had taken off from work early to cook for everyone. Lily had wanted this to be a bit bigger than just herself, Kieran, and the five couples that made up their wedding party. They had so many friends that they would've liked to have in their wedding party, but couldn't, so they invited all of them to this dinner. That added Joel and Sarah, Vanessa and Lance, Nadine and Colin, Nick and Allie, and Rose and Matt.

"So, should we start the roast from their births, or jump in with the Hogwarts years?" Rose asked as they began dinner.

"I've got training curfew," Hugo told her. "Let's start with Hogwarts, and if you still have time after I have to leave, you can always go back and talk about their early childhood."

"We can do that," Rose agreed. "I guess if we're starting there, though we should at least start with the precocious little girl who helped her big brother and cousins with their holiday revisions two years before she even started at school, and became our first New Marauders shopper."

"I don't think it's fair to use the word precocious," Lily protested.

"Really?" Rose asked. "How about that day you grabbed the snitch out of mid-air from the ground after Rick Davies wouldn't let us play Quidditch the year he was Captain?"

Lily grinned. "Okay, maybe I was occasionally precocious," she admitted. "That was one of my favourite Quidditch moments at school, though, even if we weren't even on the team that year."

The roasting got going then, and continued through dinner, and into the evening after they moved into the sitting area of the Great Room. They took a break from that for a while when it was nearly time for Hugo to get home before his training curfew. Lily and Kieran handed out gifts to both the official and unofficial members of their wedding party. Each of the girls were given a ruby and diamond bracelet, and each of the boys were given a diamond and ruby cufflinks and tiepin set.

"Well, the rubies must be for Lily, so does that mean that Kieran is supposed to be the diamond?" Hugo asked. "Maybe you should have gone with black onyx to represent him as a diamond in the rough."

"Thanks a lot, mate," Kieran said, laughing. "That would have been a really funny line to use if we'd thought about it, though."

"Maybe," Lily agreed, "but we girls will pick diamonds over black onyx any day, and I happen to think you already are a diamond."

Hugo talked Emily into staying while he went home to bed, so she sat with Rose and Matt, and they all continued reminiscing about the past for another hour or so. Karl and Daphne were still on island time, though, and most of the others still had to work on Friday, so they wrapped up the party by shortly after ten o'clock, and after a round of hugs, Al and Carolyn's guests all left for their respective homes.

Friday had been a busy day for Lily, Kieran, Daphne, and Karl. Ginny and Ana had both taken the day off, and they ran around with the two couples, going to appointments, and doing a little shopping. On Friday night, Harry, Kirley, and the wedding party had a quick dinner out, and then went to Kirley and Ana's house for the wedding rehearsal. That took about an hour and a half to go over everything, and when they were done, Kirley and Ana stayed at their house, Harry and Ginny went back to the Cottage, and Lily, Kieran, and the other five younger couples went back to Lily and Kieran's house.

They sat in the atrium, had some wine, and talked until nearly midnight, when the boys hugged and kissed their girls goodnight, and went over to Al and Carolyn's house for the night. Al got drinks for his cousins, friends, and about to be brother-in-law before they sat down in the sitting room.

"Have I mentioned how unfair I think this stupid tradition is to the members of the wedding party?" Hugo asked, and the other guys laughed.

"Well, no," Scorpius told him. "Usually it's Nick saying it. Thanks for reminding us."

"So what do you think the girls are doing now that they've gotten rid of us?" Liam asked.

"Pool party," Al answered.

"We should have done that earlier," Liam said.

"If we'd been hanging out with the girls in bikinis, do you really think we'd have gotten out of there by midnight?" Karl asked Liam. "Daphne would have had to hex me over here to get me to leave."

"What time are Kirley and your Dad coming here?" Scorpius asked Al.

"Eight o'clock, and breakfast is at eight-thirty," Al told him. "Some of us are doing haircuts in the morning, and I'm sure they have some make work jobs to keep us busy until it's time to get ready for the wedding."

"Have you got everything ready at your house on the island?" Karl asked Kieran, who nodded.

"Lily and I took care of getting groceries and everything earlier in the week," Kieran answered. "We could hide out there the entire two weeks if we want."

"Considering how many magazines and WWVN gossip shows are out there offering money for pictures or video of you and Lily on your honeymoon, that might not be a bad plan," Hugo suggested.

"How much are they offering?" Liam joked.

"Like you'd do that," Kieran said. "If Lily didn't hex you for it, Frederica would."

They sat up until a bit after one, and then Al cleaned up, and they went to get some sleep. Kieran, Liam, Karl, and Hugo took the four bedrooms in the guest wing, and Scorpius stayed in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The girls had gone for a swim after their boys left, had gotten ready for bed, and then met in the Great Room to have a drink before going to bed too.

"Breakfast is at seven o'clock," Carolyn told them. "Then our appointments at SpaMagic are from eight until twelve. We'll come back here when we're done at the spa to eat and then get dressed and ready to go over to Kirley and Ana's place by a quarter to two."

"I can't believe it's finally here," Lily said. "By this time tomorrow, we'll be married, and I'll have Kieran all to myself for two whole weeks."

"She doesn't seem nervous at all," Brianna observed. "I wonder if Kieran is?"

"If he's not," Daphne answered, "He will be when he sees you in that wedding dress."

"Not to mention when he sees you in that little number you picked out for your wedding night," Carolyn added.

"Let's not go down that road, or I may decide to go over to the other house and sneak into Scorpius' room," Brianna told them.

"Is that an option?" Frederica asked hopefully.

"We have to get up in about five hours," Carolyn told them with a laugh, "so no, neither one of you have the option to go sneak into Scorpius' room."

"You know I didn't mean Scorpius' room," Frederica protested when the other girls had all laughed along with Carolyn.

"That's true," Carolyn agreed, "but pretending I didn't was much more fun."

They finished their drinks and then after a round of hugs, they went through the atrium, Lily to the master bedroom, and the other five girls to the guest bedrooms. Ginny and Ana were at the house early with Kreacher and Winky, and had to help get some of the girls moving. Lily had been up already, showered, and nearly ready to go by then, so she joined them in the kitchen, having a coffee while waiting for the other girls to join them.

"I guess we don't have to ask if you're excited this morning," Ana told Lily. "Did you get any sleep?"

Lily nodded. "Nearly five hours. Did you leave everyone sleeping at home?"

"Kirley and the girls are all up," Ana told her. "He'll drop them off at the SpaMagic in Hogsmeade for eight o'clock. They're with Sarah, Millie, Amy, Carissa, Isabelle, Victoire, and the other girls going there this morning."

"Your father's up, but Sarah was the only teen awake when I left," Ginny told Lily. "He's cooking breakfast for them, and then heading over to Al and Carolyn's house for eight o'clock. Kirley's going to meet him there after dropping the girls off for their appointment. Joel's going to hang out with Brian, Jason, and Dale, and make sure they're ready for the wedding on time."

Carolyn, Brianna, Daphne, Emily, and Frederica made their way to the kitchen, they had breakfast, and then hurried off to their SpaMagic appointments. Al had been up by then, gotten ready for the morning, and went down to the kitchen to start cooking breakfast. The other five guys woke to the smells of breakfast cooking, and got up and ready too. Kieran was the first to make it to the kitchen, and he hugged Kirley, Harry, and Al before getting a glass of juice and leaning against the island.

"Been here long?" he asked Harry and Kirley.

"About five minutes," Harry answered. "Sarah was up early with Ginny and I, but the boys were not very motivated this morning."

"With the girls gone all morning, they really don't have much to do until it's time to get ready for the wedding later," Kirley pointed out. "Sleeping in wouldn't be all that bad a plan."

"Can we do that?" Kieran joked. "It seemed like a very short night, and for some reason I wasn't sleeping very well, and a little extra rest might be nice."

"No we can't," Kirley told him. "We're going to have breakfast, give you a bunch of useless errands to run, come back here, have an early lunch, get ready way too early for the ceremony, and then go over to our house and pace around until it's time for the ceremony, while your mates seat all of the guests. It's tradition."

"Maybe we should start a new tradition," Kieran suggested. "How about going to an amusement park, or having a Quidditch match or something instead?"

"I'm sure there's a department at the Ministry to deal with such requests," Al told him. "Maybe Scorpius will know where to send your proposal."

"I do," Scorpius answered as he came down the stairs and into the Great Room. "You have to submit them in triplicate, and it takes about two hundred years of practical and demonstrated application of the proposal before it will be considered for approval as a tradition."

"You're kidding, right?" Kieran asked, and Scorpius laughed.

"Yes, but it sounded good, didn't it? Good morning, mate."

"Good morning," Kieran said, laughing too. "That was pretty quick for first thing in the morning."

"Thank-you," Scorpius answered. "So what are the make-work projects?" he asked Harry.

Harry and Kirley gave them their schedule as the other young Wizards joined them. They had breakfast, cleaned up, and left for the Mall. Half of the guys stopped for haircuts, and then went to do some shopping. Kieran may have thought that he and Lily had taken care of everything for getting the house ready for their honeymoon, but Harry and Kirley had the guys running around picking up flower arrangements, special bottles of wine and champagne, freshly-baked goodies for their first couple of days on the island, and a half dozen other errands.

They were back at the Cottage by a bit after eleven, had something to eat, and then split up to get showered, cleaned up, and into their tuxes by twelve-thirty. When they were all ready to go, they went over to Kirley and Ana's house. Everything was set up in the yard, and it wasn't long before they were joined by most of the other Marauder guys, who were going to be helping with seating the six hundred guests.

The approved media photographer, a young Witch from TeenWitch magazine, took some pictures of Kieran and the rest of the guys in the wedding party, along with a few more that included Harry and Kirley. When it was time to start seating the arriving guests at one, Karl stayed with Kieran while Al, Scorpius, Hugo, Liam, and the other guys got to work. There were a number of VIP guests, so Al and Scorpius took care of escort duty for most of them. Al also escorted his mother, grandmother, and aunts, while Liam was in charge of doing the same for Ana, his own mother, grandmother, sister, and a few other McCormack and Murray relatives.

When it was nearly two o'clock, the Witch who was performing the ceremony led Kieran, Karl, Al, Scorpius, Hugo, and Liam to the low platform at the front of the rows of wedding guests. All of the other guys, except James and Aaron went to sit down with their girls, while the two friends waited near the back right until Frederica led the bridesmaids to the back of the rows of seats before going to sit with Arianna and Tracey.

The music started, and Frederica began the walk up the centre aisle. The girls all had flowers in their hair, they carried small bouquets in their hands, and the gowns were breathtakingly beautiful. Frederica's smile got even brighter when she saw the reaction she was having on Liam. The other bridesmaids, and maid of honour were having the same effect on their boys too, as Emily, Brianna, Daphne, and Carolyn followed Frederica up the aisle.

There were a lot of gasps from the guests when they could see Lily. Her hair was done so that it cascaded playfully over one shoulder in a beautiful, fiery counterpoint to the pristine white of her wedding dress, and reminded Harry a lot of the way that another bride looked quite a few years ago. There were flowers woven into the crown of her veil, and if her bridesmaids had been breathtaking, Lily was heart stopping.

Cameras had been going off during the whole processional, but now it seemed like everyone was taking pictures. Harry and Lily were both smiling as they walked slowly, four or five paces behind Carolyn. When they reached the front, Lily hugged her father and kissed his cheek before he put her hand into Kieran's, helped her to step up onto the low platform, and then went to sit with Ginny, James, Arianna, and the rest of their kids.

Al had gotten much better over the past few years at paying attention during wedding ceremonies, though admittedly, a lot of the time, that was because Carolyn could give him a nudge to bring him back if his mind wandered off. He was paying attention today, but his mind was also flashing back through favourite memories he had of growing up with Lily.

It wasn't that he was feeling maudlin or anything – their relationship had changed somewhat after he and Carolyn had gotten married, but in a way that made it even better for all of them. Kieran was going to make a great brother, and they had a friendship that was like James and Aaron, or Nick and Scorpius had.

His reverie was interrupted when the Witch called for Harry and Kirley to come and perform a wedding song for their guests. He'd nearly laughed out loud when he'd made eye contact with his father and heard the thought that Harry opened up for him – surprise, we couldn't have a SpellBound wedding without music.

Kirley was handed his guitar from the side by one of the catering staff, and he and Harry stood between the bridesmaids and the wedding guests. Both fathers were smiling as Kirley began to play, and for the next nearly five minutes, the two Wizards had everyone there completely mesmerized as they wove a beautiful song of love filled with wishes that all of the young couple's hopes and dreams would come true.

When they finished singing, Kirley handed his guitar back to the same Wizard, and he and Harry returned to their seats, and hugs from their teary-eyed wives. The ceremony continued, and when it reached the 'I do' part, there wasn't a dry eye left among the gentler half of the wedding guests, or with most of the wedding party, the Witch performing the ceremony, or the photographers and WWVN camera operators. Al smiled when he had to nudge Karl to hand Kieran the wedding ring. He couldn't see Kieran's face as he turned back to face Lily, but Al could see Lily just fine, and his heart soared to see her so incredibly happy.

"Lily, from the first time we met, and sang together, you've captivated me. Since then, we've been able to make and share some amazing memories together. I love you with all of my heart, and I promise to spend the rest of my life making you happy, and filling your life with as much joy and love as you've brought into mine." Kieran slipped the ring on her finger, and Carolyn handed Kieran's ring to Lily.

"When I first heard your beautiful music in that classroom at school, it was like finding the missing piece in my life, and suddenly having it all fit together. Right then, before I even knew your name, I knew that we were meant for each other. I love you, Kieran, and I pledge my heart and love to you forever." She slid the ring on his finger, and they turned toward the front again.

There was another little speech, and then Kieran and Lily were pronounced husband and wife, and he was invited to kiss his bride. Kieran might have done that if Lily hadn't exuberantly thrown her arms around his neck and kissed him first.

That had sent a happy ripple of laughter through the rows of wedding guests, and it was a moment before the Witch could announce Lily and Kieran McCormack to their family and friends, and then lead the recessional back down the centre aisle. Carolyn and Daphne switched places for that so they could each walk with their own husbands, and the six couples were led off to the glade and gardens where the wedding pictures would be taken. When Harry, Ginny, Kirley, and Ana joined them a few minutes later, Lily had gone to both men and hugged and kissed them.

"That was so beautiful, and such a wonderful surprise," she told them. "I love you both so much!"

"Thank-you," Kirley told her. "We love you too."

"Yes we do," Harry agreed.

Kira, Ginny and Ana were next in line for the hugs and kisses, followed by the rest of their family before the photographer took control of things, and began setting up pictures. That took until nearly four o'clock to finish, and then the wedding party had nearly an hour to take a break in the house before going out to face a reception line that kept them busy all the way through until dinner began at six-thirty.

There were fifty tables of twelve set up around a large dance area, with a stage at one end. The wedding party was seated at a round table like everyone else, to the left of the stage, where pretty much all of the other guests could see them. The parents, grandparents, and the rest of their aunts, uncles, and older siblings and cousins were at tables close to the head table, while most of their younger cousins and friends were on the other side of the stage from them, having their own little block of tables away from the watchful eyes of their parents.

Dinner was a two-hour long event, interrupted occasionally with calls for the happy couple to stand and kiss for the entertainment of their guests. There was another half-hour break for the wedding party, and then Lily and Kieran were called out on the dance floor for their first dance as a married couple. When Kirley came out on the stage with his guitar, the guests were all expecting another musical treat from the father of the groom until Lily and Kieran walked all the way over to the stage and put on headset microphones before going back out to the centre of the dance floor.

They'd written a new song for their own wedding, and while Kirley played a soft, uncomplicated accompaniment, Kieran and Lily poured out their hearts to each other, singing another ballad that once again had all of the Witches, and quite a few of the Wizards in tears as they were all drawn into the lyrics and the wonderful, perfect harmonies that Lily and Kieran wove through the song.

When they finished singing, the newlyweds went back to the stage, hugged Kirley, dropped off the microphones, and then waited as the Weird Sisters all took to the stage to perform the next few songs, bringing out the wedding party, the parents – with Ana borrowing her father-in-law from Catriona for the first song, and then dancing with Percy for the song when the grandparents were called out onto the dance floor. After that dance, all of the guests were invited to join the happy couple and their family, and it wasn't long before the area was nearly filled with guests who were ready to get up and have some fun.

The Weird Sisters played until nearly ten o'clock, and then they gave the stage up to the band Ana and Laura had picked, a group they were managing that was just breaking big now, and was quickly becoming very popular with the teens all over the Wizarding World.

At eleven o'clock, Carolyn, Ginny, and Ana took Lily into the house to start getting her ready for the last dances of the night, and to leave for their honeymoon. They were back at their table by just before midnight, and it wasn't long after that when they started their farewell dances. There were two songs where Lily danced with each of the Wizards in their wedding party, and Kieran danced with the Witches. Then there were grandparent dances, a father of the groom, mother of the bride dance, and the mother of the groom, father of the bride dance. Finally, it was down to one last dance for Lily and Kieran, and they danced slowly to the guitar instrumental song that Kirley had gone back out on stage to play for them.

When that was done, they did a round of goodbyes, and then, by a little after one o'clock, the five couples in the wedding party, their parents, and James and Arianna went around to the front of the house to see Lily and Kieran off with a round of goodbye hugs and kisses.

After the happy couple had left, they returned to the party, dancing until the band stopped playing shortly after two o'clock. Harry, Ginny, Kirley, Ana, and the couples in the wedding party spent the next hour thanking their guests and seeing them all off while the catering staff cleaned and packed up as the party wound down.

By three thirty, just the seven couples were left, so after another round of thank-you hugs and kisses, Karl and Daphne left for Marauders Paradise, and everyone else, except Kirley and Ana, went home too.

Harry and Ginny went home to the Cottage. Joel, Sarah, Brian, Jason, Millie, and Amy were already in bed when they got there, and Dale was spending the night with Carissa, Stewart, and Isabelle. They went up to their room, got changed, and tiredly climbed into bed, snuggling close together.

"That's it," Ginny said softly. "They've officially all grown up on us, gotten married, and have their own lives now."

"Whatever will we do now?" Harry said just as quietly, and she laughed when he kissed her neck tenderly and ran a hand along her side that sent a shiver of delight through both of them.

Ginny turned in his arms, and smiled encouragingly at him. "I'm sure we'll be able to come up with some way to keep our lives exciting," she told him confidently. "That's the really great thing about life – the story about our kids growing up is coming to an end, but now we have a whole new story just waiting to begin."

Harry returned her smile, and kissed her. "Then if this is the start of another story, we should definitely make sure that it has a brilliant opening scene." Ginny laughed, kissed him again, and together, they did exactly that.


	143. Where are They Now

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three – Where are They Now?

Molly and Arthur Weasley

Molly retired from PBP Investments, and Arthur retired from the Ministry in 2068 as a one hundredth anniversary present to each other. After retiring, they travelled the world, spent lots of time with their great-grandchildren, and split their home time between the new Burrow, and their house on the family island.

Bill and Fleur Weasley

Bill retired from curse breaking in 2070 for his one-hundredth birthday, taking his cue on that after watching his parents in the two years since they'd retired. With Charlie's help, he began a career as an author, becoming world-renowned as the pre-eminent expert on curse breaking.

Fleur continued as CEO of PBP Investments until 2098, when she handed control of the company over to Al and Carolyn's daughter Lily, and joined Bill in retirement.

They had Nick design them a new house in 2027, having Shell Cottage torn down to make room for their new home, and still live there, though they do travel frequently, and spend most winters at their island home.

Charlie and Nathalie Weasley

Charlie retired from the Dragon Reserve in 2030, and Nathalie transferred from the Dragon's Lair Residence, to take over Dumbledore House Residence when she and Charlie moved to England, having Nick design and build them a house near to Bill and Fleur on the outskirts of Tinworth.

Percy and Penelope Weasley

Percy and Penelope both retired from their jobs in 2076. They bought an estate near Nick and Allie, in the Overton area, and had their retirement home built there. Like Molly and Arthur, they travel a lot, spend time with their grandchildren, and are frequently found on the family island during the winter.

George and Marietta Weasley

George and Marietta retired from actively running the wheezes chain in 2096. Their grandchildren, twins Fred and Georgina take over the family business.

Ron and Hermione Weasley

Ron took over as Head Coach of the Canons in 2049, and plans to continue coaching his team until they bury him with his broom. Hermione was awarded her second Order of Merlin first class in 2042. She partially retired in 2099, though she continues to work in the lab on a regular basis.

Harry and Ginny Potter

Harry and Ginny took care of Brian, Jason, and Dale until they each graduated, then took a break from being guardians for any new kids for quite some time while they enjoyed spending time with their grandchildren as they grew up. Ginny won the Order of Merlin first class in 2042, and retired from working full-time in the lab in 2049, though her lab was always left ready for her, and for Lily, whenever they felt the urge to come play. They both stayed involved with the Residences and Academy. They were never able to bring themselves to replace the Cottage, but they did have Nick help them give it a facelift, and put on a pool room on one side of the house, and a three-car garage on the other.

Kirley and Ana

Kirley and Ana adopted Vanessa, Nadine, Cassandra, and Violet in 2026 at Christmas. They retired in 2044, though Kirley did occasionally take on special projects, and the Weird Sisters did a couple of reunion concerts, one for the fiftieth anniversary of the first SpellBound album, and the one hundredth anniversary of the Weird Sisters.

Draco and Astoria

Draco and Astoria had Nick design and build a Residence at Malfoy Estates, and they brought all of the former Death Eaters who had broken the vow they'd taken with Harry to live there, where they cared for all of them. Astoria went to Medical school from 2030 to 2033, graduating first in her class. She joined one of the Phoenix Foundation's medical teams and now works three days a week treating the poorest Witches and Wizards at the Foundation's mobile day clinics in Africa.

Gabrielle and Kevin

Gabrielle retired in 2053, and while Kevin continued to paint throughout his life, retired from working in the store, handing the business over to Michael and Rebecca. In retirement, Gabrielle and Kevin split their time between the Delacour family home in France, Marauders Paradise, and their home on the family island.

Victoire and Teddy

Victoire and Teddy had three children. Vicky was born in 2028, followed by Izzy in 2030, and Dora in 2031. Victoire and Teddy retired from Witch Investments and the Phoenix Foundation in 2100, though they had been semi-retired for more than thirty years by then.

Isabelle and Stewart

Isabelle and Stewart had two children, Rochelle in 2028, and Andrea in 2031. Isabelle was awarded the Order of Merlin first class in 2042. Stewart became the CEO of the Phoenix Foundation in 2035, and they both retired from their full-time jobs in 2100, starting their retirement with their best friends.

Art and Serena

Art and Serena had four children, Charles in 2031, Nate in 2032, Anna in 2035, and Jamie in 2036. They continue to practice medicine, and also began teaching at the medical school in 2045.

Michael and Rebecca

Michael and Rebecca had three children, Gabe in 2029, Courtney in 2031, and Keva in 2034. Michael's artwork became as famous as his adopted father's, and his portraits and landscapes are sold, and displayed in galleries, all over the Wizarding world.

James and Arianna

James and Arianna had two children, Ginger in 2029, and Harrison in 2032. James took a year off from the Academy for each season Arianna took off to have their children, and played Chaser for the Canons, winning his only League Championship in the 2031-32 season. He retired from his Director job at the Academy in 2065, after which he continued to work as a freelance wheezes inventor, and to volunteer at the Academy. Arianna won three Quidditch World Cups, and nine League Championships in her nineteen-year career. In September 2040, she took the job of Quidditch Coach and flying instructor at Hogwarts, and worked there until she left in 2065 to join James in retirement.

Aaron and Tracey

Aaron and Tracey had three children, Kate and Annie in 2030, and Trent in 2032. Aaron played for the Canons until retiring the same year Arianna did, winning one more League Championship than his sister during the year that James won his Championship with the team. After retiring from playing, he joined the team front office, and worked with Tracey until they both retired in 2065.

Al and Carolyn

Al and Carolyn had six children – Ginette and Lily were born in 2030, Allan and Jimmy in 2032, and Carol and Lynn in 2033.

Carolyn became a Senior Account Manager in 2036, and continued to work at PBP Investments until retiring in 2125. Al completely reformed the Aurors, and then taught his ethics and training methods to Aurors all over the world. In 2079, he led more than a thousand Aurors from all over the world against the Dark Lord Matchitehew and his army of Dark Wizards at a battle fought in different places around the United States and Canada, ultimately defeating them after Al won a six hour long duel over the Dark Lord. Al was awarded the Order of Merlin first class in 2079, and in 2080, became the Head of the newly formed International Aurors. He retired in 2125 with Carolyn, though he was called back into action to battle other Dark Lords in 2153 and in 2209, helping his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren during those battles.

Lily and Kieran

Kieran and Lily had three children, Stacey in 2034, Ryan in 2035, and Evan in 2037. After SpellBound, Lily and Kieran began a successful career making movies. In the summer of 2027, SpellBound Investments bought the Pride of Portree team, and had Nick design and build them a brand new stadium. In 2028, Frederica and Liam Murray were given contracts with the Pride, Erin joined the team in 2030, and Myra became their Keeper in 2031. Aiden joined the team for the 2032-2033 season, and for that one year only, Lily and Kieran played for the Pride too, joining Liam, Frederica, Myra, and Aiden to win the League Championship, while Erin happily agreed to be Lily's reserve Seeker to give her the chance to play professionally with Kieran.

Lily was awarded the Order of Merlin First Class in 2042, along with Ginny, Isabelle, and Hermione for their work in developing a process that they were able to use to return the world's atmosphere to where it had been before the Muggle Industrial era, saving both the Muggle and Wizarding Worlds from the Muggles inability to fix the global warming mess they'd gotten into over the past century and more.

Rose and Matt

Rose and Matt had two children, Anthony in 2036, and Ronnie in 2038. They built their tour business into a worldwide chain by 2035, and launched their first all-magic cruise ship, Marauders Siren, in 2056, captained by their son, Anthony. They retired from leading tours in 2075.

Hugo and Emily

Hugo led Britain's National team to the Quidditch World Cup in 2026, winning MVP, and then proposing to Emily live on QSPN in front of tens of millions of witnesses. They were married on December 26, 2026, moving into their Nick Weasley designed house in the country a few kilometres north of Chudley that weekend. Hugo played Quidditch for the Canons for thirty years, winning eight League Championships, and two Quidditch World Cups. When he retired as a player, he became one of Ron's assistant coaches. Emily began her Marauders Institute career running the BusinessMagic division, and eventually became Executive Director of the Institute after Mandy retired. They had four children, Donahue in 2034, Emma in 2035, Herman in 2037, and Roseanne in 2039.

Nick and Allie

Allie worked as Victoire's second in command until 2100, and stayed on as an advisor to her successor for five more years before retiring. Nick became a world-famous architect, designing homes, resorts, Quiddtich Stadiums, Malls, and even Ministry of Magic buildings. He retired in 2105 along with Allie, though he did continue to do freelance designs. Nick and Allie had two children, Summer in 2030, and Penny in 2031.

Scorpius and Brianna

Scorpius and Brianna had three children, Sirius in 2031, Cissy in 2033, and Luke in 2034. Scorpius became the Minister of Magic in 2044. After the War of 2079, the Wizarding World came together and decided to create the United Ministry of Magic, or UMoM. Scorpius was elected to be the first Minister of Magic for UMoM, and Nick designed the UMoM building, which was located in Greece. When Scorpius became the Minister for UMoM, Brianna was elected as the Minister of Magic for Britain, and she served in that capacity until 2130, when she and Scorpius both retired from politics.

Frederica and Liam

Frederica and Liam were married in July 2028, and had three children, Fred and Georgina, who were born in 2037, and Meg in 2040. They played Quidditch for the Pride of Portree for twenty-five years, and they won four League Championships, and one Quidditch World Cup. After retiring from playing, they both went into broadcasting, joining the QSPN network, and enjoying a second long career in that business.

Patricia Whitby

Patricia went to work for the Marauders Institute after graduating from Hogwarts, having transferred there for the last two years of her schooling after falling in love with James Cauldwell. They married in 2040, and had two children, Kevin in 2044, and Rowena in 2046.

William Whitby

William had a long, successful career as an XBR racer, followed by a second career in broadcasting for XBRN, a PBP Investments company. While he'd grown up knowing Amber Allen, it wasn't until after she'd graduated from Hogwarts in 2044 that the young witch three years his junior finally captured the wizard she'd been in love with all of her life, and they were married in 2045. They had four children, Marc in 2049, Allen in 2051, Megan in 2054, and Ambrose in 2055.

Myra and Horatio

Myra and Horatio were married in 2031. Myra had a thirty year playing career with the Pride, winning five League Championships, and two Quidditch World Cups. Horatio went to work for PBP Investments, eventually becoming the Executive Director of their Global Distibution Division. They had two children, Murray in 2042, and Myriam in 2044.

Aiden and Violet

Aiden and Violet were married in 2032, and had four children, Cassie in 2035, Mack in 2036, Anastasia in 2038, and Joline in 2040. Aiden played for the Pride for twenty-nine years, retiring from the team the same year as Myra. Violet worked for Ana after graduating from Hogwarts, eventually becoming a partner in their agency after Ana retired.

Other Marauders and Friends:

Lisa and Marcus

Lisa and Marcus had three children. Jair was born in 2024, Amber in 2026, and Mark in 2028. They worked at the Institute until retiring in 2113.

Megan and Devon

Megan and Devon had two children, Coral in 2027, and Tegan in 2029. Megan retired from managing the hotel in 2063, and worked with Devon on their diving business after that.

Andy and Laura

Andy and Laura had one child, Lorilea in 2031. Andy moved up from broadcasting into management at QSPN, eventually becoming the CEO of the network. He retired in 2175. Laura became equal partners with Ana in her music agency, and she eventually took over managing the business after Ana retired.

Jon and Therese

Jon and Therese were married in August 2026 after she graduated from Med school top of her class. They had three children, Reese in 2035, Joanne in 2037, and Ariel in 2041. Therese went to work for the Phoenix Foundation, as Director of Operations, and Chief Healer for their new medical services division. She put together and lead teams into regions where there was little or no medical care, and provided those services for free. Jon continued his career at the Dragon Reserve in Romania, working there until he retired in 2205.

Mark and Callie

Mark and Callie had two children, Jimmy in 2027, and Therese in 2029. Mark only raced on the pro tour until his five-year contract ended at the end of the 2027-2028 season. After that, he created Extreme Broom Racing, which was a short, three-dimensional racecourse that could be fit into a Quidditch Stadium or be set up in a field. He and Callie, along with their friends, put up the significant investment for creating a new sport, and within five years, they'd created a sport that was second only to Quidditch in popularity, especially among the kids and teens of the Wizarding World. Callie continued her career working for Scorpius and Al. She became Scorpius' assistant when he became Minister of Magic, and continued in that capacity when he became Minister for the United Ministry of Magic. She retired in 2130 when Scorpius and Brianna did, and while Mark continued to manage XBR, as Extreme Broom Racing had become known, she became a Professor at Hogwarts, teaching an optional class in Politics that was added to the curriculum in 2085.

Karl and Daphne

Karl and Daphne had two children, Karla in 2033, and Danny in 2035. Daphne took over running Marauders Paradise from Gabrielle when she retired in 2053, and managed the resort until she herself retired in 2100. Karl had the most successful diving business on the island, and after Daphne retired, they handed the business over to one of their grandchildren, moving back to England, and working part-time in their retirement doing luxury tours for Rose and Matt's company.

Joel and Sarah

Joel and Sarah got married in the summer of 2027. They had three children, Joseph in 2032, Julianne in 2035, and Cal in 2036. Sarah became the Wizengamot assistant for Elder Natalie Cauldwell, and Elder Susan Hopkins, working there until 2080, when she and Joel moved to Greece, where he became the Minister for the UMoM Department of Magical Games and Sports.

Colin and Nadine

Colin and Nadine were married in 2029. They had three children together, Demi in 2040, Dennison in 2041, and Nadia in 2042. Colin joined the Canons in 2028, and played for twenty-two years, winning five League Championships, and one Quidditch World Cup during his career. Nadine played Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies for ten years, starting in 2029, winning two League Championships. After their children were grown up, they started their own Quidditch supply store called QuidditchPitch, building an international chain of stores over the next fifty years.

Lance and Vanessa

Lance and Vanessa were married in 2029, and had four children, Alex in 2035, Francine in 2037, Madeline in 2038, and Rachel in 2040. Lance and Vanessa went to work at the Quibbler after graduating, and took over running the magazine in 2032. While they managed the Quibbler, they turned the company into the premier print news business in the Wizarding World before retiring in 2129.

Jason and Millie

Jason and Millie were married in 2028, and had three children, Amelia in 2036, Jase in 2037, and Mattrum in 2040. Jason became a District Manager for GamePortal, in charge of the Africa district, while Millie went to work for Witch Investments, and became the Director of their Technology Department.

Brian and Amy

Brian and Amy married in 2028, and had two children, Ginny in 2035, and Nolan in 2037. Brian joined Jason at GamePortal, and became the District Manager in charge of the European District. Amy went to work at the Phoenix Foundation, becoming the Director of the Foundation's Food Program.

Claire

Claire was accepted to Medical School in 2027, earning a Phoenix Foundation scholarship, and graduating in 2030. She went to work with Therese in the Medical Services Division of the Foundation, deciding to dedicate her life to that project. She married another Healer in 2036, and had two children, Peyton in 2041, and Terri in 2043.

Dale and Carissa

Dale and Carissa were married in 2029. With a little help from their friends, they opened a daycare business for low-income families in London, and eventually started a chain of daycares. They had three children, Carrie in 2033, Jay in 2034, and Kim in 2035.

Erin and Quincy

Erin and Quincy graduated from Hogwarts in 2030. She was hired by the Pride of Portree, and played Seeker for them during all but three of the next thirty-five seasons. Quincy went to work at the Ministry of Magic after graduating, eventually rising through the ranks to become the Minister for the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes in 2071, where he worked until retiring in 2140. It took Erin until 2041 to realize that she loved Quincy, while he had patiently waited for her to see how much he loved her, and they were married that summer, during the off-season. They had two children, Ari in 2044, and Valerie in 2047.

Miranda

Miranda graduated in 2029, and joined the Harpies along with Nadine. She played Chaser for twenty-six years, winning four League Championships, and one Quidditch World Cup.

Ophelia and Malcolm

Ophelia and Malcolm were married in 2028 and had four children, Mary in 2029, Kyle in 2030, Pauline in 2032, and Vivian in 2034. Ophelia and Lydia Bletchley started a Spouse Abuse program through the Phoenix Foundation, funded by Witch Investments, and they helped other Witches get out of abusive situations, and start new lives. Malcolm was accepted into the Auror training program in 2028, became a full Auror in 2031, and fought with Al in the War of 2079. He retired from the Aurors in 2083, joining the staff at Hogwarts to teach DADA.

Philip and Heather

Philip and Heather were married in 2029, and had two children, Nerina in 2034, and Barry in 2035. Heather went to work for Witch Investments, in their management-training program. She became the CEO of the Teen FashionKnut stores in 2043. Philip went to work for PBP Investments, working in their Head Office, and becoming the Director of their Technology Department.

Adam and Cassandra

Adam and Cassandra graduated from Hogwarts in 2032, and were Head Boy and Head Girl for their year. They married in 2035, and had three children, Sandra in 2038, Aaron in 2040, and Murphy in 2041. Adam went to work at Marauders Institute, working in the Glassalloy manufacturing division for Marcus, while Cassandra joined the Auror trainng program, becoming an Auror in 2035. When Al became the Head of the International Aurors, Cassandra joined that force, and continued to work with him until she and Adam both retired in 2095, and started their own security business.

Alice and Lenny

Alice and Lenny graduated Hogwarts in 2029, and joined the Phoenix Foundation, moving to Chile to open an Academy in Santiago. Alice became the Academy Director, and Lenny became one of the teachers. They each met and married while living there, Alice in 2036, and Lenny in 2039. Alice and her husband had one son, Matias in 2041, and Lenny and his wife had two children, Josias in 2042 and Bianca in 2044.

Sebastian and Trinity

Sebastian and Trinity had one daughter, Christine in 2029. Sebastian played for the Canons for twenty-five years, and then continued to work for them as a trainer. Trinity continued to work for the Witch Investments cosmetics company until she retired in 2146.

Tristan and Liselle

Tristan and Liselle had four children, Lisa in 2029, Juliette in 2030, Corey in 2032, and Ryanna in 2034. Tristan played for the Canons with Sebastian for twenty-five years, retiring too. Liselle decided to retire in June of 2028 so that she and Tristan could start their family. After Tristan left Professional Quidditch, he and Liselle started a Quidditch camp to work with and train kids and teens that came to their camp from all over the world.

Kira Cauldwell

Kira went to Hogwarts from 2029 to 2037. She joined TNM in her first year, and became the group's leader after Myra graduated. In 2026, she had a part in Lily and Keiran's musical version of 'A Christmas Carol', which launched her acting and music career, and made her a teen star before she started at Hogwarts. She married one of her leading men in 2042, and they have both enjoyed a lifelong career in both film and music. They had one daughter, Valerie, who was born in 2045.

Kreacher and Winky

Kreacher and Winky had two children, Dobby in 2025, and Regula in 2028. Dobby, and his sister Regula both chose to be free elves when they became adults, and they, their spouses, and children all took service with the Black-Potter family. Kreacher and Winky asked Harry and Ginny for their freedom in 2099 as a one hundredth anniversary present to the masters that they both loved so dearly, and joined their children and grandchildren as free House Elves in service to their family.


End file.
